Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
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For now, I’ve secured a source of food. This wasp is big enough that I’ll be able to stave off starvation for another few days, so I don’t need to worry about my stamina at all. I have way more options available to me now.
Most realistically, I should keep doing the same thing, doing this small-scale hunting thing until my level goes up. I can eke out a safe, honest living that way, not taking any unnecessary risks.
I had another idea, though: work on expanding my nest. Upward.
Exploring this floor warrants a big fat “nope”. It’s not a question can or can’t. Nnnnoooope! That dragon’s too scary. Noooo can do.
So, if that’s my plan, creeping my way up this wall will let me get back to the tunnels from before. In order to do that, I’m going to need some way to avoid all of those wasps. If I were to just climb up as-is, those wasps would eat me alive! I need some sort of countermeasure.
I’ve thought about it somewhat, and my best plan so far is somehow extending my nest vertically. It’s less a plan and more of an application of brute force… ah, and what a blatant use of force it is. Really, though, it’s all I’ve been able to come up with so far.
There are, of course, problems. First of all, weaving a nest like that is going to burn through all of my stamina. I’ve never tried to build a nest up a wall before! I have no idea how much more stamina it’ll take than usual. This is a seriously huge project, and the stamina from the single wasp I’ve caught so far isn’t going to last me very long at all. I’m going to have to replenish it, somehow.
On top of that, there is an excellent chance that I’m going to have to fight a bunch of wasps. Down here, they’re overlooking me, but if I start to encroach on their domain up above, they’re going to have problems with that. A violation of sovereign airspace. I wonder if they’ll be able to overlook that… The absolute worst case scenario is that hundreds, no, thousands of wasps will all swarm in and attack me at once. This would be a straight-up nightmare; there’s no way my nest could withstand an attack of that magnitude.
I shouldn’t just be worried about the wasps, either. There haven’t been many other monsters that have come wandering into this pit, other than the snake and the Earth Dragon from before. If that dragon were to wander in here, though… Last time, I escaped by hiding in these crags, but if I start extending my nest it is going to stick out like a sore thumb, and if the dragon takes notice… I’m dead. Even after all this time, I”m terrified that the Earth Dragon is going to appear at any second.
So, if this works, I can finally get out of this mega-danger zone, but there are some serious risks involved. I really don’t have a better plan, either. There could be one, but I certainly haven’t thought of it.
So, then. Commence the preparations for nest extension!
First up is the foundation. When building a house, you must start with a sturdy foundation, after all; it’s not a stretch at all to say that the quality of a house is decided by the quality of its foundation. And, here’s a good, sturdy rock!
It’s the first rock that I took shelter behind. It is seriously huge, about seven meters high and five meters wide, sitting slightly away from the wall. I’ll use that one as the foundation, so I’ll start expanding my nest over that way.
What I’ve got so far is a web connecting one side of the rock to the wall, with a little horizontal bit jutting out. First, I need to link the other side of the rock to the wall and web that up. Next up is a diagonal thread that connects the top of the rock to the wall… then, using that as a base, connect it to my other walls. With this, my foundation is complete!
Now, it’s time to try to expand things up a little bit. I snack on the wasp to get my stamina back up, then get back to work. While I’m working, I notice a few wasps silently watching me, but, as expected, they don’t approach. Looks like I’m still far enough down that they’ll keep overlooking me.
I wrap up my work for the day, finish eating up the wasp, and call it a night.
Day Five. It feels like my back is a little less sore than before. My health is, of course, still six. Since the wound hasn’t gotten any better, I guess my [Pain Mitigation] skill leveled up again while I was sleeping. Probably.
It’s really great that the pain’s going away. I’ve still been able to move around without any trouble thanks to [Pain Nullification], but there’s a night-and-day difference in my mood now that I’m not hurting any more. Ah, no, the pain hasn’t gone away completely, and the wound still isn’t cured, but this is way nicer. I never had a wound nearly this bad when I was a human. The worst pain I can remember was stubbing my pinky toe on the doorframe. That really hurt, but it doesn’t even begin to compare to having a huge, gaping wound opened up in my back.
Thanks to my elevated spirits, work goes great!
As I’m working, one of the loner wasps buzzes over. There’s a full squad nearby, though. Umf…
Now’s a pretty good opportunity to run a little experiment, so I think I’ll provoke this loner wasp. If I threaten the loner, will the squad react? If they do, I can immediately escape deep into my nest. If they don’t, I can do it like I did before
I ready my Ku-morning star. Oh, yeah, didn’t I pick up a [Concentration] skill last time I did this? What does that do, just increase my ability to focus? …Eh, it’s level one, so the effects aren’t going to be huge, so I’ll just leave it be for now.
Wait, no, concentrate, concentrate. Heh, thinking about [Concentration] ruined my concentration. Aim caaaaarefully… there!!
Ah, it hit.
Wha, what?! I’m awesome, aren’t I? I was thinking “oh man there’s no way this is gonna hit, heh” and then I got a direct hit two out of two times! Me, who consistently ranked lowest in the class for physical strength; me, who could barely even throw a softball…
Uh, whoops, in my surprise I completely forgot to keep track of that squad. They are… oh, there they are! Umf, no reaction at all. Man, can I really attack these loners without facing a counterattack? That’s really heartless, you know, guys? Or maybe this is just how severe life in the wild is. Well, regardless, either way this is great for me. I can pick off the loners at my leisure.
Chuckling happily to myself, I bring the captured wasp back into my lair, and finish it off with [Poison Fang].
APM - Translation 