Exp Feast

Before heading into the dungeon with the resolve to clear it, I hacked and redeemed two random item cards and a random resource card at the astral beacon for a Horned Joey skull bowl, a horn knife, and dried Horned Joey meat. 

Then I handed the knife I received during the death match, the Horned Joey skull bowl, dried Horned Joey meat, a pouch, and a water mana stone to Sova so that she can use them to dig mud to make clay, make drinking water when thirsty, and eat when hungry. 

I had no idea how long I would be in the dungeon but I decided to make proper arrangements for my only subject. Sova had undying loyalty toward me and it would not decrease if I kept her hungry or thirsty for a few hours but I did not want to abuse her. Thanks to my Astral hack skill I did not have to worry about the hidden Karmic stats either but we were all human here, and also she had trusted her life to me. If I could not take care of one person what kind of lord I be? 

"May the blessings of Gods be upon you, My Lord," Sova wished me success as I headed into the Horned Joey dungeon. 

Returning to the dungeon I viewed the dungeon map and noticed that the number of Horned Joey had not increased but the Horned Joeys had moved from their previous locations also it no longer displayed the dungeon pound. 

From this, I concluded that the number of Horned Joey monsters and the dungeon pound would not recover until I killed the dungeon boss or the dungeon refreshed. This means any changes I make to the dungeon will continue to remain until I clear the dungeon within six days or it naturally refreshes after six days. 

"Okay let's do this," I muttered to myself as I gazed at the vast grassland covered in tall grasses reaching my waist. It appeared peaceful and serene but thanks to my Astral Hack skill I was aware of the dangerous Horned Joey monsters hidden in it. 

Looking at the dungeon map, I found a lone Lv2 Horned Joey grazing not far from the dungeon safe zone. I chose this one of all the other lone monsters near the safe zone because there were no other monsters in its proximity as I had something else in my mind to complete this dungeon at the fastest speed humanly possible.

I stealthily walked toward the monster with my knives tucked in my pants as I did not plan to kill this monster but capture it. Arriving behind the monster, locking the purple alignment markers on the monster I used my Astral hack skill on it. 

Once the purple digital distortion and glitches vanished, I pounced on it from its blind spot and caught it by its legs. Before the startled monster could struggle I applied immense strength in my grip instantly breaking its legs thanks to the max crit rate effect of the Astral hack skill.

The monster immediately began to shriek in pain fracturing both of its legs. Having taken care of the monster's lethal legs, I wasn't done, I grabbed it by the horn and dashed toward the safe zone at the fastest speed I could summon. 

As the shriek of the monster resounded in the dungeon, all the Horned Joey monsters in the dungeon stealthy grazing hidden in the tall grass with their heads down immediately perked their heads out of the grass. 

Soon thirty-three horned rabbit heads were peeking out of the tall grasses threateningly searching for the invader in the once seemingly empty and peaceful grassland. Despite their near-sightedness following the cries of their brethren the monsters tracked the intruder and shot toward the sound at their fastest speed while letting out angry cries.

I ran toward the safe zone without any care for my surroundings while dragging the Horned Joey by its horn. Since I have previously been through this path I was not afraid of anything tripping me. Yet, it was reckless however I had to be because if I was slow and did not reach the safe zone in time I would be surrounded by thirty-three of these monsters and have to face them all by myself. 

As soon as I was a few feet away from the safe zone I could hear the sound of the enraged cries of monsters and rustling grass sound grow louder. It meant the Horned Joey monsters had grown closer to me. Afraid for my life I ditched the burden I was dragging and ran in a zig-zag trail knowing that monsters could leap and tackle their enemies with their sharp horns. 

Fortunately, losing the extra weight my speed increased and I entered the safe zone quickly. However, entering the safe zone before I could relax my nerves I heard a series of loud collision sounds from behind. When I turned to look, I noticed the monsters leaping into the air, their sharp horns aimed at me, only to crash into the invisible barrier covering the safe zone. 

The enraged Horned Joey monsters not only failed to attack me but crashed into the barrier to suffer from recoil and stun themselves. These monsters were so stupid that even though they had seen their fellow monsters fail miserably they continued to tackle the barrier only to crash, suffer from recoil, and stun themselves for a few seconds. 

Looking at the scene unfolding in front of me I could not stop grinning as my plan to gather all the monsters around the safe zone and to kill them from within the safety of the barrier worked more brilliantly than I had anticipated. 

I did not think the Horned Joey would be stupid and stubborn enough to repeatedly tackle and crash into the invisible barrier. However, I felt partly responsible for their stupid actions as I stood by the edge of the safe zone just behind the invisible barrier to instigate them.

Then looking at the stunned Horned Joey monsters right by the safe zone barrier, with a wide grin I took out my knives preparing to eat the exp served to me.