Chapter 5 (1/2)

It took around an hour and half for his health to regenerate back to full, even with the bonuses of this room. It made Randidly realize about the different uses of End and Vit even more. He resolved to put a few more points into Vit when he had the chance.

But at the same time, he needed to get his Agi and Per even higher, and without more points in Int, his magic was useless…

But during that time, he had been grinding his Stamina skills, including Iron Skin.

Iron Skin: Concentrate on your skin, increasing your defense. Higher mastery means quicker activation and localized application. Costs 10 stamina per second. Defensive boost based on level of the skill.

Although the cost meant it was more of a one time use thing in battle, rather than a constant buff, the quickness of the recovery still meant that Randidly could keep it on for 6 seconds, wait two minutes for his stamina to recharge, and then do it again.

Through this method, he already pushed Iron Skin to Lvl 3, allowing him to put another point in Control and one in Per. This room really was designed to be an area that allowed one to grind stamina skills incredibly efficiently. The regeneration tripling made Stamina fill up within minutes.

But he was unable to rely on this for much longer. The berry bushes inside the same room were growing, and much faster than was natural, but it wouldn’t be quick enough to save him from hunger.

He needed to go out once more for food.

As his hand gripped the doorknob, it trembled, and Randidly closed his eyes.

But then he opened them. ‘I’m not just Randidly… I’m also the Ghosthound. And I will make these damn frogs pay.’

And with that thought, he pushed his way outward.

Much to his surprise, he immediately saw frogs, although they didn’t see him. As he watched their movements in the trees, it seemed as though… as though they were searching. Randidly felt another chill, but this one was even more quickly smothered. Instead, he turned and crept away along the wall, moving away from the frogs. He even earned another point in Sneak, raising it to 3.

After moving some distance away, Randidly quickly cut towards the treeline. Much farther, and he would reach the area of the Howler Monkeys, which were also outside his ability to deal with. When he moved past the ferns and into the trees, he was disappointed to find no berry tries, but there were several other trees within sight that seemed to have fruit or nuts. But that would require going even deeper into the rainforest area…

But he needed food, so he headed towards a tall, slender tree that was the closest, around which was what appeared to be tan walnuts. After peering carefully around, he knocked one against the tree until it cracked, and inspected the insides. Seemed like a nut.

He nibbled on it, and was delighted to discover that it had a savory, almost smoky flavor. He quickly cracked open several others, taking the edge off of his hunger. Satisfied, Randidly was preparing to gather more in his shirt to take back, when he caught a whiff of death.

Moving very carefully, he looked through the treeline to a small clearing he saw earlier, but had ruled out as too far in. But still his eyes had been dragged there, to what appeared to be glowing red crystals hanging in the tree.

Now his eyes went to the ground, where he saw a long, scaly green body, lying still in the clearing.

His eyes flickered, and then, once more against his better judgement, he approached, letting his intuition guide him. His Sneak increased to Lvl 4, as he quickly circled the area, moving on light feet. The entire area was silent, and Randidly was finally able to see why.

A strange creature with pointed ears was waist deep in the large snake’s mouth. But at the same time, that creature had managed to drive a blade through the top of the snake’s skull, where apparently the snake had died, either from brain damage or blood loss. They were both caked in dried black blood.

But Randidly couldn’t take his eyes away from the dagger, the handle long and slender, wrapped in leather, with a simple amethyst set into the hilt.

A weapon would certainly make this much easier…

Deciding to go for the speedy route, Randidly sprinted out into the clearing, grabbing the dagger, pulling, and then turning to go.