060 [Kumo] – Getting stronger bit by bit

After bullying my friend the pillbug for a while, I’ve gotten up to [Cutting Thread – LV3]. To be honest, I want to keep leveling it a little more, but the pillbug’s remains are at this point entirely unfit for daytime TV, so I can’t really keep going. [Cutting Thread] still isn’t inflicting serious injuries, even at level three, but the garbage still keeps piling up. Pillbug, I will probably, surely, absolutely never, ever forget you. Oh, of course, once I was done I ate it and, of course, it was disgusting as always.

Hmm, now that I think about it, there really wasn’t any reason for me to use the pillbug for target practice! Hitting that rock over there would probably been good enough. Oh crap, did I hurt its feelings? Nah, nah, I bet that its soul is weeping tears of joy, since it was so useful to me. Hm? “Brute”? I have no idea what you’re talking about!

So, after I finished up with bullying the pillbug, a new monster showed up, drawn by the sound or something like that.

{Anograch – LV 8 – failed to appraise status}

First time I’ve seen one of these. It’s a monkey-looking monster, about two meters tall. Since I couldn’t appraise its status, I wanted to just slip past it, but, nope, it spotted me.

Well, somehow it turned out splendidly. It looked like the type that used speed to its advantage, and, guess what, I’m faster. I just dodged around its flailing arms and then, in an instant, snagged it with my thread and tied it up.

That was really scary! No, seriously. It’s been a super long time since I’ve had to fight head-on like that! And this monkey was really strong, too! That terrible whooshing noise its arm made while it was flailing around made it abundantly clear that this guy wasn’t a joke. If it hit me, I was absolutely dead. I dodged every swing as if it were life or death. If I had a mouth, I would have been screaming. Like, “Eeeeek!!”? Yeah, of course like “Eeeeek!!”.

Thanks to my frantic scrambling around, I earned the [Evasion] skill. Appraising it gave predictable results: it’s a skill that raises my ability to evade. Finally, the king of speed-specialization skills! On top of that, as soon as I defeated the monkey, I leveled up.

<Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Taratect has increased from LV3 to LV4.>

<All basic attributes have increased.>

<Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Concentration – LV1] has become [Concentration – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Throw – LV1] has become [Throw – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Hit – LV1] has become [Hit – LV2]>

<Skill points acquired.>

Three skills leveled up in one go. Sure, they’re the plain, utilitarian skills, but I’m still really happy! After leveling up, my stats now look like this:

Just as before, everything but my speed stat is terrible. If I didn’t have [Skanda], my speed would be terrible as well, and then all I’d have going for me is my thread. Praise be to [Skanda], and all that.

I may be happy that I got a bunch of stuff just now, but now’s not the time to get careless. I could have attracted more monsters here than just the monkey. So, first things first, time to eat.

Mmm. This guy isn’t poisonous! It’s not bitter at all. It’s got a really peculiar stink to it, though, so it’s still not in the slightest bit tasty. Man, I really miss cows. And pigs. They were the best.

My stamina might be full, but thanks to my [Overeating] skill nothing went to waste. [Overeating]… when I first got it, I was really cautious about it thanks to its negative-sounding name, but now that I know more it’s really quite a useful skill.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I am extremely dependent on my stamina. Spinning webs and running around both drain it considerably, so a skill that lets me store up an extra pile of stamina is super useful for me. If I could use any of my magic, I might wind up spending less stamina, but there’s no point in dwelling on things I can’t do anything about.

Oh, on the subject of magic, I got around to appraising each of the spells I know.

{Discomfort: Manipulates the target’s soul to directly induce discomfort.}

{Phantom Pain: Manipulates the target’s soul to induce illusory feelings of pain.}

{Dark Shadow: Darkens target shadow.}

{Poison Touch: Inflicts poison damage on target touched.}

Discomfort is, just like it’s name, a mind attack. Phantom Pain is pretty similar, too. Poison Touch seems to be pretty powerful, but it’s a level one spell, so there’s probably some sort of downside. Dark Shadow… does exactly what it says it does, but how useful is this? Hmmmm. Do I maybe link this up with higher level Shadow Magic spells? It looks like there’s not really a good basic use for this.

Well, of course, it’s not like I can use any of it anyway! Now then, I’ve finished eating up this monkey, so let’s get back on the road.