Chapter 6 – Puzzle.

(…)

(4.)

(This is the fourth tree I found…. But…)

[Big Evil Rabbit – Level 15]

(The monsters are getting much stronger after I passed the third tree.)

(I don't think I'm going to the deeper area of the forest, if not I'm not just moving away from it.)

(I think I'm at right track!)

(A weird clues and path! And even higher level monsters suddenly appearing!)

(The developers definitely put something hidden in here!)

(Hm… Did they put things like this in each starting locations or something?)

(But then, is it the "First come, first served" thing?)

(Then I'm lucky.)

(The inky spot was hard to notice at first since the grass is dark green and the inky spot isn't that big in the first place, so unless you pay attention to it, you won't notice it.)

(And I think that broken ink bottle was to make it look like an some random trash that just got broken by accident.)

(Whoever came up with this idea must been big brain.)

(I wonder if there are other puzzles or secrets like that in game?)

Suddenly an giant rabbit monster rushed towards the Phantasia, forcing the man to quickly jump to the right.

(SHIT!)

(He almost got me!)

[Big Evil Rabbit – Level 16]

"Oh, fuck off!"

[Phantasia – Level 13]

The rabbit monster rushed at the Phantasies again, but the man quickly deployed poison, blocking the rabbit vision before then running away and having the charging rabbit hit the tree.

(Fuck me!)

(Those fuckers are the same like those rabbits from before, but they are much stronger in many different ways!)

Phantasia quickly aimed with its crossbow and fired at the rabbit…. It hit the rabbit in the head, but it was still alive…. And now it was even more bloodthirsty.

(…)

(WHO THE FUCK DESIGNED THEM LIKE THIS?!)

The giant rabbit monster charged at the Phantasia. The man tried dodging again, but he wasn't able to dodge in time and his left leg ended up being rammed, dealing damage and making him lose balance before falling to the ground.

The rabbit stopped in tracs after managing knock down Phantasia before the running towards Phantasia.

"!"

"[Poison Blow]!"

Phantasia fired a poison smoke arrow at the monster, hitting it and hindering its vision.

Phantasia quickly rolled to the side, dodging the rabbit attack and making it head butt the ground.

After successfully dodging the attack, Phantasia took out two daggers and began stabbing the rabbit over and over until it died.

[Level up.]

"FUCK!"

(They do give a lot of fuking EXP, but they are hard opponents! Even when it was lower level ones, they can still hit like a truck!)

(I couldn't even bring out my monsters since it was already coming after me!)

(Well… I think it was good idea to buy a dagger. I still have my failure dagger, but at least I have melee weapons in case of emergency.)

(Those bastards do give a lot of EXP and have nice loot, but they are tough son of bitches!)

(Anyway, if more of these bastards start showing up, I will be in trouble.)

(The further I fallow this path, the more dangerous it becomes.)

(But I can tell that whatever is at the end will be worth it!)

(Now where was that last marked tree?)

I began fallowing the path marked by the grass and trees.

I already noticed, but I'm moving further away from the hunting grounds, but I sometimes end up encountering some stronger monsters.

The higher level evil rabbit or one of those big evil rabbits.

"…"

(Wait… What if I just… Put all of my points into the [Tamer] and the [Taming Mastery] stat and tame those big evil rabbits?)

(…)

(Huh… That would make things much easier.)

So, I did like I planned and spend all the class points and the stat points that I didn't used and ended up trying to tame those rabbit bastard.

And I got to say…. THEY ARE ANNOYING!

Even by weaking them with poison and stuff, they were still hard to tame without killing them.

Well, I did managed to tame them in the end.

I tamed precisely 3 of them.

They were tough bastards, but I did it!

But not only that, but I also got new title.

[Newbie Tamer]

[Title Rank: E]

[A title given to the tamer that has tamed at least 5 creatures.]

[Effect]

[Increase [Taming Mastery] stat by 20 points.]

Huh.

I wasn't expecting that, but okay.

Well, those damn big rabbit do eat a lot [Taming Mastery], but they are worth it.

Thanks to those rabbits I'm also hunting way easier!

They can act like tanks or beat up the weaken enemies while I put my debuffs or wear off the enemies so the poison can finish them off.

Huh…. Things suddenly… Became much easier?

I mean I did used all of my saved points, both the class points and stat points and I even used points from the leveling up I just had as well… But I think it was worth it.

I may share the EXP with those monsters, but thanks to them, I'm getting a lot of EXP.

Not only that, but because of the danger of the path was increasing, I was getting a lot of EXP.

I did get rid off the small evil rabbit and wild wolf, but with those 3 rabbits, I'm able to face tough opponents and level.

I think I will not get rid of them afterwords, since they seem quite strong.

Anyway, how long is this path?

I was walking according to the markings, but sometimes I did 4 right turns.

Not only that, the small evil rabbits are no longer appearing.

There is also the fact that I walked for quiet long time already and was hunting those big rabbits a lot. I think good few hours had already passed. Even my new equipment durability had dropped by a lot.

My left arm got even ripped off and that scared the living hell out of me!

…

Until I remember that my race trait allows me to reattach limbs more easily… So, I picked my arm, drinked potion and it was fine? My arm was in place? Huh…. My race benefits came in handy…. Wait… What would happened if I wasn't undead? How would that work?

…

Anyway, let's not talk about this for now.

Well, the difficulty may have increase by a lot, to the point I almost died few times, but the risk was worth it.

[Level 18]

My level got increased by a lot.

"High risk, High reward" by the look of things.

You get more EXP from hunting the higher level monsters AND its also influenced by how strong the monster is.

For example, the same level big evil rabbit and the small evil rabbit.

The big evil rabbit will give you more EXP, even though both monsters are the same level.

Anyway, I continue using the marked path.

"…"

(Left…. Right…. Forward….?)

(…)

(Weird… No monsters?)

(About now I should have run into something.)

(I'm still taking correct path and I was making sure…?)

Suddenly Phantasia stopped in tracks as a giant stone wall stood in its way.

"?!"

(What?! A bottom of the mountain?!)

(By any chance I have to climb it or something?)

(Fuck me…. But where do I climb this thing from? Is there like a path or do I need some climbing equipment to climb it?)

(…)

(No wait… Wouldn't then be any makings here or something?)

(Is there any symbols that will point me upwards or something?)

(!)

(No wait!)

(Maybe it's like before?)

Phantasia walked away from the wall before looking on the ground and finding the spot he was in before.

After getting on the spot, he began walking forward until he hit the wall.

"…"

(I though there would be maybe something like invisible wall or something….)

(…. Fuck me.)

(Do I really need to climb the mountain then?)

(…)

(No. I mean, if that path was only to point to the mountain, then there would be fuking useless path, right? Wouldn't be the treasure right in the open somewhere there?)

(There must be something down here and not on the top.)

(Lets take a look around. Here… The symbol was pointing in this direct, so maybe there is something near this wall?)

(Maybe some sort of hidden switch or…?)

Phantasia looked to his right and saw the four symbols on the wall.

"!"

(There was something!)

(It was directly at the pointed direction, but it wasn't that high enough to be noticed at first.)

(Let's see…)

(Its all of those bow shaped symbols. Left. Right. Up. Down.)

(…)

(It's definitely not directions… Since its literally point in 4 different directions…)

(Hm…. What could it be?)

(…)

(It doesn't seem to be buttons…. Wait! Buttons!)

(Maybe it's something like a code where I have to touch this things in specific order!)

(And maybe I have to pressed in order of the symbols I found?)

(But… Em… With way?)

(Em… From the starting location where I first went would me… Like this? … Up, right, left, up, right, down, right, right, right, right, up… then, right? No, I think it was left… I think? Should I go back?.... No wait.)

(Up, right, up, right, down, left, right, right, right, right, up, left, up, left, down, right, up.…. I think it went like this? Maybe I got that one with left and right mixed up? I wasn't paying much attention back then because I got jump scared and ganged up by those rabbits…. Should I go back and make sure? I honestly wasn't paying much attention at all in with way the trees went, since I was more focused on surviving against those giant evil bunnies!)

(Fuck… If I knew I would have written them down or something… Well… I have good memories…. So maybe it will do?.... Please do. I don't want to start from the start. I already used a lot of potions and even after leveling up, those rabbits can still pack a punch… Please for the love of god my memories, don't fuck me right now!)

"…"

"Lets… Quickly write them on the ground."

Phantasia took a random stick on the ground and began writing arrows on the ground according to the directions he remembered.

(Like from the direction of the city where I found the first tree?)

(So… Does that mean I turn everything by 1 time to the left?)

(Let's try it.)

(…)

(…)

(Nope… It didn't worked. There was no reaction what so ever.)

(What about where I found that ink bottle?... Nah. Somebody could have kicked or something. It's definitely not the start.)

(What about it going the way I discovered it with the first tree being start zone?)

(…)

(…)

(…)

(Also nope.)

(Then what about I reverse all the bow marks? I did needed to go in opposite directions where they were pointing.)

(…)

(…)

(Also nope.)

(What about if I try to do in reverse from this place? I did had to go in opposite directions where the bows where pointing. Maybe… Since this place seem to something related to those arrows.)

(So, if this place is starting zone…. Then….)

Phantasia began touching the symbols in order according to his theory and after he pressed the last symbol, a sound of gears turning could be heard.

"?!"

(Did I did something?!)

Suddenly, next to the Phantasia, the part of the stone wall retracted behind before then splitting in two like a door.

"!"

"Holy shit! I'm a god of memories and puzzle!"

(So, I was right about that code thing and buttons!)

(Anyway… What is this place? A cave?)

(…)

"[Tame Summon]."

"[Summon: Soldier]."

"[Summon: Skeleton Servant]."

Phantasia took out his monsters.

(Considering how annoying the puzzle was and the monsters on the way were, I honestly doubt that it will be easy once I got past this point.)

(Its better to have my guard up just in case.)

"Let's go."