3.Traveling

"That's enough for today."

"Thank .....hah.. hah ..... the ..... hah ..hah ...heavens."

It has been a week since we started hunting bluecaps, and I've managed to level up twice while Flora leveled up once. Although she has taken up the horrendous habit of kill stealing. We started our trek back to my cave.

"Status."

------------------

Name : Jamal Hendricks / no name monster

Level : 7 points available : 0

Species : Akkedis/ human soul

Strength : 115

Increases the ease to lift and damage objects and opponents

Intelligence : 140

Makes resisting mind control, solving complex problems, reading people, learning magic and skills easier

Durability : 100

Resistance of disease, sleep deprivation, injury of body and soul, temperature, starvation

Energy : 135

Increases pool of energy and energy rate

Health : 107

Increases pool of health and healing rate

Stamina : 129

Increases pool of stamina and stamina rate

Luck : 77

Odds play out in your favor

Speed : 165

Increases reaction time, sensory perception, rate of travel, time perception

Agility : 200

Allows for complex movement's

Special ability : adaptation

: party leader

Adaptation : ability to adapt to any situation to survive. Dependent on energy levels.

Party leader : ability to add recently deceased sentient creatures into your party. You will be limited to one command they have to follow once a day. This will go up upon leveling.

Slots : 1/ 2

------------------

All the points I got I put into luck, and that's 'cause I'm sick and tired of every damn thing going wrong. I'm almost at an average person's luck, I'll celebrate the day.

"So, I want to ask you something."

"No."

"You didn't even listen to what I wanted!"

"Probably the same thing you've asked all week, or am I wrong?"

"Well no, but it's still valid. How long are you gonna keep me down here?"

"Considering that when I step into town the townsfolk will try to gut me, I'm thinking for the foreseeable future."

"I have to go to a settlement, any at all! I'd take a brothel in a heart beat. I need human companionship, a bath, real food not the cooked corpses of monsters, and would you look at my gear."

"What's wrong with your gear?"

"What's wrong?! What's wrong is I'm basically naked! All these nonstop fights has completely destroyed my clothes, and my boots are basically soleless. My calluses have calluses."

Now that I really focused on it, her gear is ragged. Due to my high-speed and agility I dodge most if not all attacks, she unfortunately sometimes gets hit when I can't protect her.

"Okay, next time we cross an adventurer's corpse we'll make sure to loot their gear especially."

"You're kidding right? How often do we come across a corpse that has intact armor, never mind regular clothes? What, you think the monster ravishing them took special care not to damage their armor, cause someone else it's hunting needs it?"

"Okay, I get your point, but I really don't see the need to worry about gear."

"Of course, you don't, you're a monster who runs around naked all the damn time."

"I'm not nak...."

I had to stop myself there cause I was indeed all natural at the moment. When I first got here I too was worried about being naked and tried to find - steal - clothes, but after almost dying a multitude of times I decided survival took precedent.

"I still think it's too much of a risk."

"But don't you want to get stronger? So that no one can kill you?"

"Well yes, but I can just stay on these floors killing bluecaps."

"Yeah, up until you get to a higher 'level' where it takes thousands of bluecaps to get stronger."

"You leveled up."

"Yeah, once in a week, and that was only because of the unusual bounty of bluecaps. All I'm saying is that I might be amazing around these parts, but there are thousands way stronger than me. When they hear about the Akkedis that talks, and can change its body at will, they will come to subjugate you- either as a pet, or a stuffed trophy. They won't make the same mistake I did with that lightning bolt."

I swallowed hard, I didn't think about anyone wanting to use me as a pet or worse - a trophy. And Flora said all these bluecaps being here was lucky, but I'm notoriously unlucky. So, is this Anovotis' plan? Lure me into a false sense of security with all this abundant XP, all to just be cut down by an adventurer that is competent - unlike Flora.

"I've decided, all by myself, that we need better gear. So, that we can go further into the dungeon and become stronger."

She jumped onto me giving me a hug.

"Thank you! I can't wait to get out of that shit hole cave you call a home, and return to real civilization."

I didn't know whether to be thankful that she showed gratitude, or insulted because she called my cave a shit hole. She broke off the embrace, and started forward again at a brisk pace to pack whatever we'd need for the journey.

I guess I'll go with gratitude, and just let it slide for today.

"It's a good thing you decided this, it's not like you don't need the good karma."

Wait, what did she just say?

The question was rhetorical!!!

I was about to ask why she asked that, when I realized I didn't want to talk about it. I still miss my old world - even Jesus now and again - I want to avoid remembering it as much as possible.

____________________

A few days later we were in the woods at night cooking a deer I had killed over a make shift fire. By deer I mean a deer look-a-like, it had the basic layout right, but instead of fur it had scales.

"I can't believe you caught a k'nali bare handed. These things are considered a delicacy because they're so hard to catch."

"Yes, well it's a good thing I got heat vision, otherwise I would have missed it in the underbrush. I can't wait to eat two-thirds of this."

Flora picked up a small rock and hit my hand.

"Ow! What the fuck."

"You ain't eating two-thirds. If anyone is," She pointed at herself. "it's gonna be me. I mean you made me eat monster carcasses for over a week! I'm eating my full, then you get yours."

"You know for someone as scrawny as you, you sure do pick a lot of fights." I puffed my chest and looked as intimidating as possible.

"Only dullards think violence is an acceptable way to convey their intent."

"That's cause violence gets shit done, and did you just call me an idiot?"

"Oh, you caught that? I thought you didn't pay attention in English lit class."

"That's it! That's the second time you've said something that you shouldn't know."

A huge grin appeared on her face.

"Wait, you mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Didn't you ever wonder where I go when you will me into that jewel of yours?"

"No, but from your tone I'm guessing I should've."

She got up and put her finger on my forehead.

"I go right here."

"Wait, you can see my thoughts?!"

"Well, originally it was too scrambled to make any sense of it, but when I calmed down my own thoughts it calmed down as well."

"Shit."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed, I wouldn't be. Your world is magical." She had stars in her eyes thinking about my world.

"No, it's not. We don't have magic."

"Figuratively, not literally, you boob. You have machines that: fly hundreds of people anywhere on the surface of your world, cure disease, and even carry you to the stars. And that's just the surface of the knowledge your world has to offer, I've so much to learn."

"I'm glad you're fan-girling over my memories, but I didn't pay attention to a lot of that stuff so you won't learn much."

"That's just it, you might not have paid attention, but your brain did. It soaked up everything while you were sleeping, partying, or fucking Carla."

"Why does everyone bring up Carla? We both got what we wanted."

"Bitch please, I've been in you, remember?"

"Can you please word that differently, especially around other people."

"So, all of the times last week you asked to be willed back inside my jewel - I got to come up with a better name for it - it was to learn about my world?"

"Yup, and because I didn't feel like walking."

"Flora status."

------------------

Name : Flora Dreyas

Level : 14 points available : N/A

Species : human

Strength : 40

Increases the ease to lift and damage objects and opponents

Intelligence : 1400

Makes resisting mind control, solving complex problems, reading people, learning magic and skills easier

Durability : 120

Resistance of disease, sleep deprivation, injury of body and soul, temperature, starvation

Energy : 700

Increases pool of energy and energy rate

Health : 300

Increases pool of health and healing rate

Stamina : 150

Increases pool of stamina and stamina rate

Luck : 130

Odds play out in your favor

Speed : 100

Increases reaction time, sensory perception, rate of travel, time perception

Agility : 50

Allows for complex movement's

Special ability : Obliteration

Obliteration : all left over energy will be converted into unrefined mana and used to obliterate anything. Anyone or thing within ten levels will be instantly killed, no magic or defence will help.

------------------

What the hell! She earned eight hundred points in intelligence just from looking through my memories.

Patty, if Flora earned that much from my memories, shouldn't I already have that many intelligence points?

They're still my memories, and you don't have to be an asshole.

<You've had me well-over a week now, you should know better. This is why you don't have those intelligence points.>

Good to know, good to know, asshole.

<You're welcome.>

"I still don't like the fact you've been spying on me."

"Well, I could tell you I've only stuck to non-private memories and would never betray your trust ... but I think we've come far enough in our relationship that I don't have to lie to you."

"I think I'll subtract points from your intelligence until you're a blubbering idiot."

"You couldn't, even if you could."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means you can't add or subtract points from my stats, and if you could do that you no longer have the privileges."

"And how would you know that? The only one who knows anything about this is me and my abili....."

"Your Patty?"

"You and her?"

"Got to talking while I was in there? Yup. She said unless you assign administrator privileges it stays with the original owner -I.E me. And all this is probably going right over your head, it's a crying shame she's stuck in there while you're out here."

Shut up Patty.

"Well, you can say goodbye to her right now, because I'm never letting you in there again."

"You can't do that! I just got used to not walking to travel, and we're still miles away from the town."

"Well, you should've thou..." I stopped mid sentence and willed her into my jewel.

Thunk!!!!!

An arrow landed where she was sitting just a second ago.

"Damn! The bitch could teleport."

An elf said coming out of the brush. Eleven more people came out of hiding, a mix of elves, humans, and one female cat beastman.

I know what you're thinking, the cat girl is obviously a cute girl with cat ears on the top of her head - you're wrong. Don't get me wrong she is still hot, just not in that way. She had the basic human setup except she stood on digitigrade feet, she has cat ears, she is covered in fur, her tail swayed back and forth, she had human hands but every time she flexed them claws slid out of slits on the tips of her fingers, a cat-like face with sharp fangs, and finally she had feline eyes.

Now if books, manga, TV, and God only knows how much porn are right, she is a helpless slave being forced to do this. And when I save her, she will gladly fuck my brains out. I know you can't see this, but I'm smiling on the inside.

"The witch might have escaped, but she left the thing of true value here. I haven't even heard of a lizard talking before, which means it's rare and must cost a fortune. The witch must have tamed it to sell it, but ditched as soon as she feared for her life. SHE WAS PATHETIC, THINGS LIKE THIS OCCURS ONCE IN A LIFETIME, WE'RE SET FOR LIFE!"

(Hot cat woman)

"Yeah!!!!"

(The rest of them)

I could be wrong though.

Shut up Patty.

I started to tear up, and looked at the K'nali.

I'm so sorry dinner, you would've been so good. I swiped my tail knocking the sticks - holding the K'nali up - down, making it fall on the fire, snuffing it out. The area went pitch black, but with my heat vision they lit up like Christmas trees.

I have to take out the leader so the rest scatter, sorry kitty.

I kicked the ground, and flew forward.

When I'm about a foot away from the beastman I notice her hand, palm up claws out, flying upwards trying to gut me, I stop on a dime and leap backwards just in time for claws hit nothing but air.

"You're not the only one that can see, you got to love night vision."

Before I can register her words she's at the place I was, punching a foot deep crater in the ground. I said was because when she moved so did I, and I'm faster.

"Damn, you're fast. But you can't dodge us all. He's about ten feet in front of y'all, all of you attack."

(Hot cat woman)

Archers started shooting in my general position, I dodged them all and jumped into a tree.

"He's on a tree, ten yards up to your left Kurd."

(Hot cat woman)

Damn! I got to take her out if I'm gonna have any chance at escaping, but she's nearly as fast as me and is way stronger.

Patty, anyway out of this?

The short of it is I got to take out their long-range capabilities.

Mini status

------------------

Health:107

Energy:100/135

Stamina:120/129

------------------

That question took thirty-five points of energy! I guess it was useful.

What really worries me is my stamina, going my full speed uses stamina, and I only got so much.

Patty, can you harden my scales to resist those arrows?

Five seconds, okay then, I guess I better make this count.

Patty, do it.

My scales extend a little, and crystallize.

One.

I jump down from the tree headed for the cat woman, but pivot just as an arrow was about to hit my head. The arrow brushes against my cheek as I head toward the archer who loosed that arrow.

Two.

Once I get to her I slash her bow in half with my claws. I twist around swinging my tail breaking her legs. I evade another arrow, rush to my left and gut punch an elf into a tree.

Three.

An arrow glances of my back causing searing pain, but I continue forward picking up another archer and smashing her against the ground.

Four.

The cat woman appears before me and slashes my leg. Making sparks fly. I jump up and kick off her face, pushing her back and sending me deeper into the forest.

Five.

I use all my strength to run away. My lungs are burning when I finally stop.

Mini status

------------------

Health:107

Energy:0/168

Stamina:11/150

------------------

Damn!

A second more and I would've fainted due to lack of stamina.

That beastman was no joke, if I actually fought her .....no, I don't want to even think about it.

Shut up Patty! I said I didn't want to know.

I willed Flora out, then collapsed.

"Shit, I can't believe you lived. That animal was at least Mid-ranked."

"Mid-rank?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, you see levels. Well, as you know, you're the only one to use the term levels, everyone else uses ranks. There are three main ranks :High, Mid, and Low.

If I were to compare your term with ours, I'd say Low rank is between level one and one hundred, Mid is between one hundred and one and two hundred, and High is between two hundred and one and three hundred - that's my best guess at least. Of course, each rank is divided into tiers of four. There are those who are higher than High-rank, but there is no truly accurate way to gauge their power level - because they are literal walking disasters. So, most people just rank them as run away, runaway faster, and trip your friend while running away. Don't worry about it though, the odds of you meeting anybody around here higher than Mid is astronomically small."

As she was talking I was nodding my head while leaning on a tree recuperating my stamina, it would go faster if I went to sleep - but I'm not in the mood to get ganked in my sleep. As soon as I have enough stamina we're leaving for the town, where hopefully no one can just try to openly murder someone and enslave the other.

As for what Flora was talking about I was growing more depressed by the second. Not only was myself and my party mate weak, we're the bottom rung of the bottom rung! The only reason I got away was because I was faster, which got me thinking of another question.

"Hey, Flora if there are as powerful people as you say, why don't they just one shot the dungeon and get all of the rewards?"

"Why would they?"

"What do you mean why would they?! Isn't there vast riches down there?"

"No, our dungeon is just a beginner dungeon. There are thousands of dungeons out there that are harder and have better rewards, ours just formed around fifty years ago. Most adventurers just use dungeons like ours until they're strong enough to explore better ones."

"So, dungeons form like mountains?"

She shrugged.

"No one knows, we just know that they are weird. Once a few mages used magic to excavate the area around and under a dungeon, only to find nothing. It was literally a self-contained space, a dungeon stretches hundreds if not thousands of miles down on the inside; but the mages dug only thirty-feet down on the outside."

"You mean to say 'It's bigger on the inside'?"

"Of course I meant that."

"I thought you read my memories? That's from an amazing show."

"You mean the one about that physician who doesn't go back in time and kill all of his enemies in adolescence, even though he could?"

"It's more complicated than that. My memory just doesn't give it justice... apparently."

Mini status

------------------

Health:107

Energy:1/168

Stamina:48/150

------------------

Good enough. I stood up.

"We should get going, we don't want those creeps catching up to us."

"Okay, but I answered all of your questions so you have to answer one of mine."

"That's fair."

"You were escaping I understand that, but why didn't you grab at least a piece of meat for me?"

.....

Lynne looked at her hand thinking as she flexed it, forcing the claws hidden within to come out, then go in, come out, go in, go out.

It was a habit she had since childhood and she never kicked it.

"Boss, are we gonna finish going to camp? We finished healing all of the injured."

Before their little run-in with that lizard, they were on their way back from a raid.

"No."

"Um... boss? It got way didn't it?"

It was true none of them could keep up with it for very long, even Lynne could only sprint that fast for a few seconds at most.

And the worst part was that it was headed towards the nearest town, bandits like her only stayed in business because the law seldom ventured out here. But still...

"Send Arn and Bryx with the loot back to camp, we're gonna follow that lizard."

"Boss, are you sure?"

She looked at her hand once more, she had infused raw mana into her claws on impact - a sure kill move - and didn't even scratch it.

She didn't even want to think about how powerful something had to be to block that.

She would find away to capture it.

It was complete luck that they stumbled upon two screaming idiots in the forest at night with a bright unshielded fire, she will make her own luck from now on.

After all, with the fortune that lizard brings in she could finally afford the most elusive and expensive thing of all .... Freedom.

"Yes, I'm sure."

Next chapter