#028 – There’s a joke about finally touching grass again somewhere in there

#028 – There’s a joke about finally touching grass again somewhere in there Oops, sorry. Were you important? - Kill a dungeon boss from full health with a single attack. [COMPLETE] Cool. I guess the coin toss hadn’t done any damage at all. JamieWasTaken3: why do you keep nearly dying Irid123: and it should have blown up much sooner if it was that hot Jeofffff: what did you even throw before? GonguuH: I think it didn’t explode sooner because it was still in her hands GonguuH: the skill kept it from exploding KaiEbikoOfficial: nana? KaiEbikoOfficial: you’re fine, right? I took another slow breath before replying. “Oh, I’m fine... Just another brush with death. How many times was this now? Four? Five? I’m losing count,” I said nonchalantly, while doing my best to keep the trembling out of my voice. “I threw the bottle, Jeoff... Oh, you mean before that? Just a copper coin...” KaiEbikoOfficial: maybe you should take a break from the dungeon Nana... “Hahaaa... That would be great... Unfortunately, I’m still slowly starving to death here,” I replied, my tone turning just a wee bit manic at the end. The echoes in the empty dark room made it sound extra creepy. Had I already snapped? Had all this violence and near-death experience broken me? How did all those action story protagonists keep their sanity while constantly battling with dangerous monsters? I was just a Vcuber! Not a brave warrior of legends or whatever! What was I even doing here? Battling my way through a confusing mess of a dungeon filled with weird monsters just for a chance of getting some food drops? I could have kept searching for something edible outside instead. Heck. I could still do that. The exit was right around the corner. I could leave this place and go search for food the normal way instead of risking my life in this place. Sure, I’d already progressed through it a decent amount, but it wasn’t as if the dungeon would reset. It hasn’t so far. ...But maybe it would. Was there an invisible time limit? Would the dungeon reset if I left for too long? Would it reset if I didn’t leave and just took too long to clear it? I stopped, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. Maybe I should stop spiraling into a panic attack and do something more productive. Like finding out whether the boss had left some loot behind. If it was anything like the two giant coins, there would be a chest somewhere around here... I dragged myself to my feet, lit my palm on fire, and looked around the place. The first thing I spotted was my trusty sword laying on the ground. I must have dropped it during the explosion. With my sword back in the sheath – how had neither gotten damaged in the explosion? – I began wandering around the darkness, trying to find anything of interest. It didn’t take me long to find a big chest with a golden skull on it. “Look, chat...! Loot...!” I said with obviously forced excitement in my tone. As per usual, I made sure to poke the chest from all sides with my sword. Once I felt like it was enough, I stepped closer, and began fiddling with the stupid lid. It didn’t take me as long to open as the other boss chest. Once the lid slid open, revealing a soft glow and three items, I peered inside and began Appraising each object, starting with the sword-sized golden key-looking thing taking up most of the chest’s space. Golden gate key A key used to unlock the gate leading to Floor 3 of this dungeon. [INNATE] skill: Quick Fetch - Use a small amount of Tempor to teleport this item back into your hand from anywhere. This object is a Key item. Oh. It was a key for that gate back in floor one, wasn’t it? I had expected to get this at some point. But I hadn’t expected it to be an actual useful item as well. It looked more like a sword mixed with a saw than a key. The hilt resembled one from a rapier, and the sharp teeth along its blade were like that of a saw. Moreover, it had an innate skill! I reached inside the chest and grabbed the ‘key’. Just like all other equipment I’d gotten in a dungeon, it fit my hand perfectly and as soon as I had a grip on it, I felt a new mental switch worm itself into my mind. That was... kind of uncomfortable. It wasn’t the same as a normal skill. It felt... tacked on, rather than something that was a part of me. On a whim, I checked my status. Name: Nana Aoto Title: Fire blessed Race: Human Skill Points: 16 Racial skill: Streamer Innate skills: Quick Fetch (Golden gate key) Other skills(3/3): Phoenix Blessing [CURSED] [FREE] [TEMPORARY] Flameguard Fire Breath Appraisal Huh. It was even listed in my status, strangely enough. What would happen if I dropped the thing? As a test, I pulled my hand back and tossed the key like a javelin into the distance. It clattered to the floor uselessly, as expected. “Time to get out of here... finally. God, I feel like I’ve been in this stupid locker maze for ages...” I muttered with a tired sigh and proceeded to walk in a random direction. Jeofffff: wait Jeofffff: are there any gold chests? “Umm, no? I don’t think so...?” I double-checked and looked around once more before giving up. The last secret golden chest had given off light and I couldn’t see anything glowing anyway. “I guess I didn’t do anything overly stupid this time... Hah...” Or maybe I needed to do something uniquely stupid to get another secret chest, rather than repeating the same stupidity over and over. “Speaking of... I didn’t even check the second locker... Why didn’t you tell me, chat...? Eh. Can’t go back there anyway...” With that, I finally left. A few minutes of walking later, the locker’s entrance eventually aligned with where I was going and ‘landed’ in front of me and I was free from the darkness again.. I walked straight ahead to the door leading out of floor 2, opened it, and made my way back through the short winding hallways of floor 1 before finding myself back in the main corridor that had the golden gate at the end. I glanced at it with a frown, then I glanced in the opposite direction and saw darkness at the end of the corridor. Then I remembered that I had a literal magical wristwatch and checked the bracelet. It read 20:16. “It’s actually getting kind of late, isn’t it...?” I murmured. “Well, not that late by my standards, but I don’t think I should go to the next floor yet. Last time I did that, I got stuck inside and had to sleep there...” KaiEbikoOfficial: yeah go to sleep Nana KaiEbikoOfficial: mysterious gate can wait Jeofffff: spend your skill points JamieWasTaken3: awww GonguuH: understandable “Oh, yeah... I have sixteen skill points again... Hmm... Why do I always get a truckton of skill points after nearly dying? Are these pity points? Sure feels like it,” I rambled even as I opened the various skill windows and browsed through what upgrades I could possibly get. As I did that, I calmly walked out of the dungeon. “Hmm... I could get both Extreme Temperature and Mega Lungs if I wanted to... That would cost me fourteen points and leave me with two... But I think putting more points into fire is a mistake,” I mused with a grimace as I remembered the sauna again. Jeofffff: you could max your stream Jeofffff: and unlock tier2 KaiEbikoOfficial: I’m all for upgrading the stream “Tier two...? Oh, yeah! That’s right! I totally forgot about that...” I murmured as I stepped over the boundary and found myself in the forest outside of the dungeon again. “If I get all the upgrades for Streamer, it will unlock the next tier of skills... Huh... But is that really a good idea to do right away? It would cost me... nine points to get the rest of the Streamer upgrades... Then I would have seven left over... That could be enough to buy some tier two skills, right...? Maybe...? I don’t really know how much they cost, though...” I idly dropped my backpack and sat down on the grass as I mumbled to myself and consulted with chat. “Or I could get Inspiration for Appraisal, swap Craftsman back in tomorrow, get Fusion, and then try to make stuff... Ugh, but what would I swap out? I need both Fire Breath and Flameguard...” I was really starting to feel the limits of having only three skill slots and having to wait a full day before swapping a skill in again... And it would probably only get worse. Were there any ways of getting more skill slots? Ah, wait... Didn’t the limit break thing say it unlocked two skill slots after completion...? I frowned and grumbled to myself. Stupid system was baiting me into traumatizing myself. ...Actually, I’d already had several near-death experiences, hadn’t I? Was this the norm? Was whatever the limit break would do to me just par for the course? Then my stomach grumbled, interrupting my thoughts. “Argh, but I still need to find more food! I can’t even afford to experiment with fusion!” I groaned. “Chat, why is this isekai adventure so stressful? I feel like I’ve barely started! It’s only the first dungeon! Why couldn’t I get a nice and simple tutorial area first?!” KaiEbikoOfficial: maybe you should sleep Nana... KaiEbikoOfficial: you’re getting cranky Jeofffff: nonono you gotta spend your skillpoints! I pouted. “Don’t call me cranky, Ebi... Fine, fine. I’ll just flop over here and sleep then...” Then I smirked and fake yawned. “Dang, I’m sleepier than I thought. I guess the skill point spending spree will have to wait till tomorrow! Good night, Ebi! Good night, chat!” Jeofffff: dammit not again! JamieWasTaken3: lmao KaiEbikoOfficial: good night! Irid123: you know she’s doing it on purpose at this point right? I lay down on the grass and then yawned for real. Honestly, even though it was still pretty early for bed, at least compared to what I’d been used to back on Earth, I was totally spent. Maybe healing from a point-blank explosion strong enough to oneshot a boss tired me out? Well, it didn’t matter. Time to sleep.