Chapter 10

Poisonous Essence

After the rest, he felt ready to venture into the second stage of his exploration. He had to be careful; it wasn't a good idea to go anywhere down here without being in top condition now that he had found enemies that could kill him in a few seconds.

While Meditating, Jay had thought about what to do, coming to the conclusion that he should go toward the place where the Slimes had come from. For some reason, he couldn't let go of the hunch that the Slimes were involved with the black liquid; they were, after all, both poisonous liquids.

Standing, pushing his hand against the wall, he looked at the blocky stones; they looked even more ancient and worn down than the walls on the floor above. It was as if someone had stacked newer floors on top of each other with a long period of time in between. And now that he thought about it, remembering the haphazardly assembled buildings inside the Magician's Guild, that might just be exactly what had happened. But why didn't they use these lower floors then? He couldn't think of a reason. Well, not a reason except that monsters roamed these corridors. Which, would explain them being abandoned, but could also have been something that happened after this structure was abandoned. Circular thoughts seldom paid off. Jay began walking, exploring with gentle steps.

Every step Jay took, he was careful not to make a sound, trying his best to not attract any attention. The corridor stretched into the darkness far ahead, his torch flickered, the damp air seemed to influence its bright light.

On either wall Jay saw different sized and styled doorways, not a one had any door however, making him have to be extra careful. Every single doorway he encountered was the entrance to a large room filled with critters. He now had no problem killing the Giant Rats, Cockroaches and Spiders. Only needing to back away and block the entrance with a few Magic Walls made his hunting akin to shooting fish in a barrel. The Experience he gained from these monsters made little difference now though since they all gave 10 or less Experience per kill. View Experience.

Experience (to Next Level) (% to Next Level)

14165 (3435) (74.67%)

The only truly dangerous things were the Green Slimes. But he couldn't ignore the rooms filled with the rats, cockroaches and other small stuff, only because when he encountered a Slime he didn't want to be entangled and held up, giving the Slime a chance to connect with an attack.

Just as he was clearing out the last rat from a room, a chill ran down Jay's spine, and he reacted on instinct, jumping backwards and away from where he stood. It was a good thing that he did; a Slime had crept up behind him and from its body a string of slimy liquid had shot out, hitting the floor where Jay just stood. Another tendril flew out from the Slime and Jay backtracked as fast as he could, barely avoiding another of its attacks. Inattention, it seemed, would be very costly down here.

Now that he was aware of the Slime though, it wasn't difficult to kill it. It only took time. He walked backward quickly, shooting the Slime with Magic Bullets, and soon it was dead, but Jay was back where he had earlier killed the first two Slimes he had encountered. It would take a long time to explore the entire floor if he had to go back and forth like this. Especially since where the Slime had died, it had pooled out, covering the entire breadth of the corridor, making it impossible to go past without touching the green viscous fluid that was the Slime's dead body, or the wisps of smoke that rose from that liquid.

Jay sighed, deciding to take another corridor further away. As he was about to walk away, he saw a glint of something on the floor. If he remembered correctly, this was where one of the Slimes had pooled out after it died. Jay looked closer, going down on all four and searching the floor with his torch close. He saw the glint again; it was the small crystal he had seen earlier inside of the dead Slime.

The little crystal was smaller than a grain of rice and had a barely visible dark green tint in its center. Jay hesitated, wanting the crystal, but not wanting to pick it up; it had come from a Slime, and would most likely be poisonous. Observe.

Lesser Mana Crystal (0.08g) A crystal infused with solid Mana. It was the core of a green Slime. If consumed: Increases Poison Resistance by 0.1 for 1 hour. Poisons you for 10 HP per minute for 60 minutes.

Okay, that's a strange thing. It seems I can eat it, but it doesn't seem like it would be a good thing to eat. Weird, Jay thought.

Yes, Claudine said. It can also be used in Crafting things.

Oh? Jay thought. That's good. Maybe it has a high value.

Not wanting to touch the little crystal—in case it was still poisonous to touch—Jay reached out with a tendril of Mana with his Mana Manipulation and tried to pick the crystal off the floor. As he did, the little crystal did not move, but for some reason Jay lost Mana. He stopped trying to pick it up without touching it and tried thinking of some other way to put the little crystal into his Inventory.

After some thought, it seemed there was an easy solution to his problem. Bringing out the second of the two pieces of paper he had bought for creating a map, he slid the paper under the crystal and lifted it without problem. He opened an empty Inventory Space and deposited the little crystal inside, laying it in the middle of the space so it could be easily seen.

Running even further back toward the staircase to the first floor, to where the other Slime had died, Jay felt good. He only had to wait and then he could get the loot from Slimes, and they gave a lot of Experience too; it wasn't so bad that it took a long time to kill a Slime now that he knew he would get some loot he had never seen before and lots of Experience. It was a balm to his stressed mind. Maybe he wouldn't need to struggle to just get by now and could finally focus on getting some better equipment. The things he wore now could only be called good when compared to having nothing, and he wanted something that actually helped him with his magic.

He arrived where the other Slime had died and picked up the little crystal, it was exactly the same as the other one, making Jay feel something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Maybe it was only something he felt because he didn't have enough knowledge about what these crystals were.

- - - - - - - -

After knowing that he could get loot from Slimes if he only waited for a while Jay marked down where Slimes died on his map as he explored this second floor of the sewers. A few hours passed by, and Jay became accustomed to killing Slimes and had now killed fourteen, gaining fourteen exactly similar small crystals. He hoped they were worth lots of money.

As he progressed deeper into the sewers, clearing out rooms and exploring the empty places on his map, Jay soon found another skeleton covered in black liquid. He didn't look at it for more than a moment, only using is at an indicator that he was moving in the right direction. His map showed that the structure of this floor was similar to the floor above, but with less corridors and more large rooms. It didn't have a circular corridor however, and after a while Jay found himself at a dead-end and had to go back.

When he had gone back for a few hundred meters he found an unexplored corridor he had earlier ignored because it was at a crossroad. He went to the right again, like he had done here earlier, following his simple thought that if he just kept to the right he would slowly, but surely, explore every part of the structure.

He progressed slowly, exterminating everything in his path. And he began to understand just how over-powered the spell he used to fling metal pieces into creatures actually was. It killed anything he encountered except the Slimes in one shot and it took less and less Mana to do the same amount of damage. The only strange thing was that he hadn't gotten an actual Spell in the list of Spells even though he used his Fling Shot almost exclusively when there was more than one enemy. Maybe it had something to do with continuity? He had never actually used the home-made Spell with exactly the same amount of Mana consumed every time. Was this the reason for it not being put as a Spell in the list? He didn't know, but it was something he had to figure out later. Now wasn't the time to do experiments.

The corridor he walked down seemed to be the right way to go, because more and more black smudges could be seen, now not only on skeletons, but also on the walls and floor. Streaks of black liquid began to appear more often than before, but Jay couldn't find any reason for it. He only did everything in his power to avoid the liquid, and followed the trail.

All creatures except Green Slimes stopped showing up now too. It was a good thing he had cleared out any other creatures while exploring the area, because he had to go back a long way when he met with four Slimes, and after he killed them all he had to wait for almost an hour before he could go back to where those four Slimes had come from; the poisonous liquid from their bodies covered the corridors completely in places. It was a real hassle, but he had gotten to Level 12 when he killed the last Slime, so he was satisfied, spending his time waiting in thought about what he should do with all his available Stat-Points.

Hours passed and Jay walked back and forth in the corridors where only Slimes resided, killing every Slime he encountered, exploring the directions that had more black smudges. And after following the black smudges for a long time he finally found where he needed to go.

Emerging from a doorway Jay looked at a familiar scene; in front of him was another large circular room with lots of doorways leading off to other places, and a staircase going down to a lower floor. The only difference was that this room was spotted with so much black liquid that Jay felt like he was walking in a minefield. With great care, he advanced, stepping carefully on the patches of floor that was clear from the black liquid. He was glad the black liquid didn't give off any smoke like that from the Slimes. Had the black liquid actually given off smoke he would not have been able to continue.

He had no delusions about how dangerous the black liquid was anymore, because one touch with the finger of his glove had made him almost lose half his Health after it had run its course. If he ever got any on his skin or in anywhere in large amounts, Jay would certainly die quickly.

Walking through the minefield, he arrived at the staircase after about ten minutes. He had been careful not to touch any piece of the black liquid and at the same time figured out the easiest way to get back through the minefield if he had to run away from something on the lower floor. If he encountered anything dangerous, he had to flee, and going through the poisonous minefield quickly would only be possible if he had already found a good path to take in haste.

At the staircase, Jay looked down, lighting another torch. He threw down the almost spent torch to the floor below, and saw nothing except gray stone covering both floor and walls. These stones looked even older, and a part of one wall looked like it was actually made from a larger block of stone, as if parts of the corridors on this lower floor had been carved out from bedrock.

Slowly creeping down the stairs, crouching and sliding against a wall, not making any noise, Jay soon stood at the bottom of the staircase. The room with the staircase was not large, and only a wide doorway led out from it in one direction. He felt a chill, knowing he was in a dangerous place now. Almost too dangerous. He thought about going back because he didn't know what would come from this third floor.

But he couldn't leave; few cowards ever got great rewards. And he knew that he could most likely flee too... if the creatures down here were as slow as the Slimes from the floor above. He hoped his intuition wasn't leading him astray and that the creatures down here would follow the same pattern as above. The Quest had, after all, been given to him at a very low Level and shouldn't be extremely dangerous.

Just in case of an emergency, he opened his Stat Window and added 6 to Dexterity, increasing his Movement Speed and Flexibility. He had not wanted to do this, but he didn't believe he had a choice. If he couldn't escape he would die, and he was rather safe than sorry. And he still only had a total of 15 in Dexterity; it would be fairly easy to gain more by training still.

Walking up to the large doorway by sliding against the wall, Jay looked out, seeing nothing of immediate interest, except a trail of small black blotches in the corridor. There were no creatures in sight, and he didn't feel that peculiar feeling of a creature being near that he had felt a couple of times before either. It was as if the black liquid was a repellent to all other creatures. This was both good and bad for Jay, he knew that he didn't have to worry about much for the moment at least, but if there was a creature that made that black liquid it would be extremely dangerous. For now, it was best to go forth with the greatest of caution.

He picked up the fluttering torch he had tossed down earlier and threw it into the corridor ahead, wanting to know if anything hid in the shadows beyond his light. The torch landed on some of the black liquid, and to Jay's delight, the liquid went up in flames, burning as if it really was tar. Soon his delight turned into horror, however. The liquid burned, sure, but it also sent out massive amounts of heavy black smoke that crept out on the floor as if alive. He could only guess how dangerous that smoke would be.

Now he had to wait for the smoke to dissipate before he could advance any further. Nothing to do about it, except accept it. Jay sat down, ate a piece of bread, drank some water and Meditated until the smoke was completely gone. It took less than half an hour, but still felt like a waste of time. Well, at least I know that the black liquid can be burnt and then it disappears. That's information that Fairwater guy probably wants to know about, he thought while waiting, waiting for a reply from Claudine. She, however, said nothing. He could never understand what prompted Claudine to interact with him.

After the smoke had disappeared completely, Jay walked down the corridor, being careful not to touch his torch to any of the black liquid. After about a hundred meters the black spots became less and less frequent, but that also meant he had to be more careful. If the black liquid was a deterrent for monsters, now he probably would meet some sooner or later. He looked around, straining his eyes and ears, trying with all his might to figure out if there was any enemy close by. Ping!

Perception has increased by 1. By constantly observing your surroundings to your utmost ability, you have become more perceptive.

Jay's body felt weird for a few seconds; he could see a little further into the darkness and a slight drip drip noise could be heard from some distant dripping. He had not heard that noise earlier. However slight, he had actually become more aware of his surroundings. Maybe it would be a good idea to increase my Perception? Jay thought to himself.

Yes, Jay, Claudine said. Perception is important if you want to learn about your surroundings. It also increases the ability of the Skills and Spells that tell you about the world around you.

You don't say? Jay said, thinking of the implications of that. If he could raise his Perception high enough, he would never be ambushed. It felt like he could get super-human sensory organs if he raised Perception high enough. Maybe he could even see in darkness without the need for a light-source? If so, it would be incredible. What if he had over a hundred in Perception? He now had 11, and with just one point added, he could clearly feel the difference, although it was slight.

His contemplation was rudely interrupted by a slowly advancing Green Slime. In the distance he could see it coming toward him, and he had little space to retreat. He ran toward it, firing off Magic Bullets as fast as he could. He had learned earlier that flinging metal pieces into the Slime did almost no damage whatsoever.

When he was almost at the distance where the Slime could fling out its tentacles, he stopped, raising Magic Walls in front of him and then slowly walked backwards at a speed matching the Slime's. He shot Magic Bullets until he was close to the corridor filled with dots of black liquid, but couldn't stop, so he went backward carefully. He needed to kill the Slime quickly before he accidentally touched some of the black poison.

Deciding it was time to expend all his Mana in the effort of killing the Slime quickly, Jay stopped using Magic Bullet and used Lightning Spark for the first time. A thin arc of purple lightning flashed out from Jay's hand, snaking its way to the Slime in an instant. A flash of light and a hiss came from the Slime. And the number 39 flashed above the Slime; it wasn't very cost-effective. 80 Mana for 39 Damage wasn't good at all, but it was quicker, and because he had enough Mana to kill the Slime even with the less cost-effective Lightning Spark, Jay kept using it and Magic Bullet interchangeably until the Slime died a little time later.

A little after Jay had passed the half-way point to the staircase the Slime died, but it was still too close for comfort. Had the Slime not been damaged by the black liquid as it slid over it, Jay wouldn't have been able to kill the Slime before reaching the staircase. It seemed the Slimes on this floor was a lot stronger than those on the floor above. His calculations had been slightly wrong about how long it would take to kill the Slime and he had spent 95% of his Mana. Too close, he thought, wiping away the cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead. He felt exhausted from using all his Mana while also being extremely careful in his retreat.

The Slime gave lots of Experience, but they were really slow to kill, and he had to Meditate after each if only to feel safe when moving forward. This made his advance very slow. But by repeating the procedure of walking backwards and killing Slimes he slowly explored this third level of a structure he had come to believe was actually something else than a sewer.

After almost seven hours, he started to feel like there was no end to this place. Sure, he had gotten another Level, but it was still slow and tedious, especially since he had to go back and retrieve the small Mana crystals after the entirety of the Slime's dead body had dissipated. Right now, the only good thing he could be certain of was that his Magic Bullet had gotten to Level 7 and did a fair bit more damage now than it had when he first got entered the sewers. But the increase in attack was not too great either; he now understood why it was called an inferior Spell. View Spell 'Magic Bullet'.

[Active Attack Spell] Magic Bullet Level 7 (9%) 10MP By focusing Mana, condensing it into a cone, you create a bullet from pure Mana with the ability to cause damage. Can only be shot in a straight line. Attack: 8 Cool-down period: 1.2s

By looking at his Stat Window, Jay saw that he now did almost 15 Spell Damage with the Magic Bullet, but that was slightly decreased on the Slimes. However, he always did more than 10 damage now; it could still be called a significant increase from earlier.

Suddenly, having explored almost all of the third floor, or so it seemed at least, Jay heard a loud gurgling sloshing noise from the darkness up ahead. A chill went down his spine, his skin suddenly feeling cold and wet; something inside him screamed that there was something dangerous ahead.

Backing up, Jay waited. Nothing came toward him. Only once in a while the gurgling noise rang out loudly, making his body shiver every time. He brought out another torch and the second of his two Healing Potions from his Inventory, then looked through his Health, Mana, Stamina and Hydration; finding nothing low, he crept forth with sliding feet and a careful gait.

Sneaking past over a hundred meters of corridor, he didn't meet any Green Slimes, which was either good or very bad; probably the latter. When he came to a place in the corridor that was filled with splotches of black tarry liquid he felt like he was in the place he should be, but in a place he really shouldn't be. However, he had no choice but to at least have a look. He tip-toed forth, taking careful steps until he reached a place where a large crack in the corridor's wall could be seen. From the large crack he could clearly hear the now almost deafening sloshing, gurgling noise; it sounded like some rapidly churning river in the middle of a storm.

Jay clenched his fist, raising his courage, and went up to the wall, putting his back against it; then he slowly looked into the crack with his face only slightly peaking out. In the cavernous room a very large pitch black Slime lay on the floor in a deep indentation. Its churning innards bubbled and let out a black smoke which flowed down into a miasma covering the floor entirely. The only reason the smoke didn't flow out from the room was that it was slightly below the floor-level where Jay stood. Bone-chilling fear shot through his body.

You have been filled with Fear. Movement Speed decreased by 30% Flexibility decreased by 15% You lose 5 Stamina per minute until Fear is dispelled

Shit, shit! Jay thought. This is bad. Observe.

Legion's Black Poisonous Ooze Level ??? (???/???HP) A black oozing creature made from a viscous roiling liquid. Potential to inflict Poisoned Wounds is 100% Potential to inflict Corrosive Wounds is 100% Potential to inflict Stun when striking is 30% Inflicts Fear on all creatures with a lower Level.

That didn't tell me much, Jay thought, except that it's dangerous beyond my wildest dream.

As if it noticed being Observed, the black ooze roiled and shuddered. Then shot six tentacles toward where Jay was hiding.

Jay was stunned for a second, then he ran, running for all he was worth, looking back once in a while. And to his dismay, he saw the black ooze slowly coming out of the large crack, sending out tendrils to where Jay stood earlier, as if smelling or maybe tasting the ground. Then it roiled again and sped up, straight toward Jay.

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