Chương 1: Floor One

Apple's Dungeon Adventure [Crafting Progression LitRPG] · Aimay · 518 chương · ~124 phút đọc · Tạo 05/07/2026

She hits the ground hard on her elbow, crying out at the impact and expected pain. Before even checking to see if she's bleeding so she can start crying, she turns to the red shimmering barrier that covers the entrance to the dungeon. She's never been here before, she's not supposed to be here! Scrambling to her feet she bangs her hands against the barrier preventing her from leaving, getting no reaction from the inanimate wall. What did she do? She was just standing there and then…

Then those Godsent had approached her. A cruel chuckling from the Godsent in the lead alerts her to their presence. She turns, having been idly walking around with her prize of the day, her namesake; a shiny red apple. She tends to meander around within the town limits after acquiring her treat for the day before actually consuming it, savouring the taste and textures.

"Hey, it's that tutorial kid," the leader observes, Apple mostly used to the strange terms the Godsent use, "ever seen her this close to the dungeon?"

"Maybe she wants to give it a try?" The Godsent with the large hunting bow offers. The third silences the explanation that Apple was about to attempt with a noise she could only describe as a 'guffaw'.

"Well if that's the case-" and he's grabbing her, turning on heel as he picks her up with his Godsent might before throwing her straight at the shimmering blue entrance. Apple shivers at the replaying of the memory through her mind. They'd done it on purpose? Why? Her mother always tells her that the Godsent are strange and foreign to their world, not to be trusted entirely but not to be feared.

But Apple was always drawn towards them, something about them pulling an oft repeated question to her lips when she got close. A noise behind her pulls a squeak of fear from them instead. Backing up against the impassable wall, Apple takes in her surroundings with wide eyes. Like the outside would suggest, the dungeon leads into a rocky cave, green moss growing along the walls, wetness dripping from almost every surface, pools of water around the area full of life and greenery.

If Apple had ever been underwater, this is what she'd expect to see. A moment passes, her breathing picking up its pace as if catching up on some unknown number it needs to beat for the day. Nothing. Had she imagined it? No! There it is again! A noise from somewhere behind her but from where she is again. Is the noise inside her? She tries to focus on the noise, if she can make it go away it will probably stop potentially alerting anything else in the dungeon to her presence.

To her surprise, focusing on the noise seems to activate something, a transparent panel appearing in the air a few feet away. Turning her head slightly, it doesn't follow her. Her hand reaches out to try and swat at the panel, her fingers brushing straight through it with no feeling or resistance. She tries to slow her breathing, which is also making noise. Making noise isn't good right now.

'Health' seems oddly abstract but it makes her think of the fall she'd taken after being thrown. Checking her elbow has her find nothing there, no bruise, no scrape or cut, no pain even. She'd been hurt in the past and always there had been some evidence of the event. But here, nothing. Could it be that whatever this 'Health' thing had shielded her from the damage? She shelves 'Anima' for a moment as her eyes are drawn to the word below it; 'Freelancer'. She knows this one!

The female Godsent with the large rimmed pointy hat hands her an apple, staring just above her head for a moment like they usually do when they present her with the shiny treat. She'd already presented her usual question that bubbles within her around them and it seems the Godsent is thinking, touching at the air, another thing they all seem to do at some point. Eventually her eyes focus on Apple, a smile coming to her lips for a second.

"Well, everyone starts out the same. We call it 'Freelancer'. It's the jack of all trades class but it has a good xp curve so-" the Godsent chuckles to herself, probably realising she's speaking in that strange way most of them do, "sorry, it's the basic job we all are sent to this world with." Apple knows that when a Godsent says 'job' or 'class' they usually mean something like how her mother is a tailor and father is a guard, but somehow more important. Not something she can attain. They are Godsent after all.

"What was I saying? Right. Freelancer. It's able to pick up any skill bar ones unique to other jobs, and use any weapon or armour." The woman continues, again seeming to be distracted by something Apple can't see.

"It has downsides but it's good to stick with until you learn how the game works." Another Godsent rushes over from the strange contraption at the centre of their village, the female Godsent turns away from Apple before leaving with the newcomer without saying another word. Freelancer! A job that only a Godsent can acquire. And now she has it? But she's not Godsent, you can't just become a Godsent, that makes no sense! She'd not been trained or anything for this.

The things below the name of the job don't make much sense to her but that stops being a problem for her as she realises that she's still trapped within the dungeon. She's not supposed to be here either so it looks like there's several things going wrong right now. Apple tries to collect herself, think about anything else that could help her at the moment.

She knows she's not allowed outside of the town borders, she knows that she's not allowed in the dungeon, she knows that she shouldn't ever be able to acquire a job that only a Godsent can. So. Is that worth panicking over? No. All of these things have happened now and she can't change any of them so accepting it is the only way to keep moving forward. But she's scared!

Apple returns to slapping her palms uselessly against the red barrier, not even able to strike it hard enough to cause her Health to go down at all. In fact, after a short while of panicked slapping, she finds that her Health had gone up to 100% like her Anima. She pushes her back into the red barrier before letting out a frustrated whine and sinking into a seated position. She really can't escape. There's no getting out of here… Except.

"The starter dungeon here has… Twenty-five levels." The Godsent looks around at a giggling man with a sword strapped to either hip. They seem to be waiting for something. Hadn't there been a third a moment ago?

"After every fifth floor there's a safe room. Only way to leave is there or by dying." There's something strange that the Godsent seem to treat rather flippantly; they can die and come back.

"There's generally a boss on the fifth floors but… Whatever, go go!" The Godsent starts to laugh, rushing behind Apple with his friend, catching up to their third that is suddenly there, the three of them laughing together as they go. Apple shrugs and looks down at the… Where is the apple the first Godsent had given her? Right! She can leave if she gets past the fifth floor of the dungeon. So the only way out is forwards. How that makes sense she doesn't know, but Godsent aren't known to lie, right?

Why would they, they're Godsent! The only issue she can see with this plan is that she knows monsters live inside dungeons, that's something her father had told her many times. She'd heard him say the same to Godsent that passed through the town's borders. Apple clenches her fists as she peers into the murky tunnel. Should she try to run? If any monsters get in her way she could run around them. But if they're faster than her or have a weapon…

She can feel her breathing picking up again, really wishing it would stop trying to break the daily breaths world record, she slides across the floor and wall towards the corner of the tunnel. How can she protect herself? There could be loose rocks on the ground to throw at monsters, maybe a few broken bushes she could get a whacking stick from? She doesn't know! She isn't meant to be here!

Apple can feel the sniffles building up, doing her best to restrain them lest she bring the wrath of some unknown monster, she pushes herself into the corner as much as she possibly can. What had that one Godsent told her?

"Well," the girl with the vibrant green eyes starts, Apple likes this Godsent, she comes around often and always seems to like spending time with her, "let's see, huh? Oh, I know. Your dad is a guard, right?" Apple nods, happy to answer a question of her own.

"Okay," the Godsent chuckles, ruffling Apple's hair in praise, "then your dad should be able to tell you that observation is something to always think of when in new circumstances. Observe, plan, prepare, act, improvise. OPPAI!" The Godsent giggles like she's said something funny, causing a bubble of mirth to spring up in Apple.

"If you observe everything, you won't usually be caught off guard by something. Then you make a plan from what you can observe. You prepare as best you can for that plan. Then you act on your plan, don't hesitate. Finally, improvise to the outcome of your plan. Some famous guy once said something about plans not surviving enemies. I think he was smart. That makes me smart for knowing what he said." The Godsent giggles again, causing Apple to mimic that noise, still holding her prize tight.

"Anyway. That's how you can survive in the world wherever you are. Just remember OPPAI." The Godsent finishes, grinning like a wise master of some kind. Right! Oppai! Observe! So she'd been on the right track in noting the moss and stones and fish and stuff. But how does she know when she's observed enough stuff? She looks around at the wet rock, the green ceiling moss, down towards the curve of the tunnel and the pools at either side of it containing fish and… What's that green stuff in water?

She lives by the sea but the town borders don't stretch all the way to the water so she's never been there. Could she get closer? Push herself over there? If there's monsters around the bend then she might get found but she has to follow the advice, right? Right. Okay. Apple takes a quiet breath and, with wiggly legs, pushes herself away from the corner of safety and towards the pools close by, keeping an eye on the bend as she can see around it further and further.

A single step gets her moving and several more after that get her closer and closer to the small bodies of water. With enough steps she finds herself crouched next to one, eyes still fixed on the bend, finding that the tunnel leads down and to the left. She can't hear anything yet other than the slight splashing of fish in the pools and dripping of water from the pointy things on the ceiling.

Dragging her eyes away from the darkness ahead, Apple looks into the pool, feeling a little of her fear leave her as she spots many different coloured fish swimming around. They're so small and shiny! Some of them are even carrying tiny rocks from the bottom of the pools to different sections with their fins. Maybe they're building nests like she's seen birds do? Fish most likely makes nests, that's what makes the most sense to her.

Looking from the fish (even though she knows she's going to get back to staring at those soon enough) to the green plant under the water. It's like grass but if it was way bigger and wiggly. It's odd because-"Don't overwater plants." A Godsent answers her question without even turning to her, the apple she'd half thrown her way almost falling from Apple's hands.

"It's bad for them. Don't keep them in a pot too small for their roots either. But what do I even know? This game is weird." -she knows that too much water is bad for plants. So are these plants in danger perhaps? Apple reaches a hand into the water, eyes widening at how cold it is to what she was expecting. She grabs one of the plants quickly, pulling it out with a tug, splashing water around and on her.

She turns quickly to the darkness of the tunnel ahead, waiting for any noise that she'd alerted some strange monster to her presence. Many seconds pass before she lets out the breath she'd been holding, going back to inspect the plant. To her surprise the plant had gone from the dark green it had been under the water to a brown and almost leathery colour in the time it had been in her hand.

She pushes it back under the water quickly, expecting its colour to return, only to find it stays that same brown it had become. What had she done? Is this plant perhaps the opposite of grass? Not enough water is bad for it? She tries again with a few other plants, pulling them out of the water and waiting for them to turn brown, counting down each time. Five seconds. It takes five seconds for the plants to go from green to brown. Every time.

She keeps pulling at the plentiful amount of plants, feeling how the rubbery, almost sticky texture, fades into a rough and hard texture. Again she's reminded of leather, specifically the kind many Godskin and her father wear. Is this where it comes from? Content to keep experimenting with the plant, Apple pulls a few more, pressing them against each other, bending them strangely, and shaping them a bit whilst they're malleable. Then watching as they turn solid and difficult to move anymore.

They stay stuck, layered over each other like they'd begun that way. Could she make things with this? She picks another and almost shouts in surprise as that noise from within herself happens again. Not knowing if it's audible to anyone but herself she flails to try make it go away, once more pulling that panel into view.

"It's bullQUACK." One shouts, getting a round of laughter from the assembled group, causing the shouty one to get even more frustrated.

"And that QUACKing profanity filter needs to be turned off."

"It's a personal setting apparently." One informs.

"Whatever. It's still bullQUACK. We start with no skills at all? And what do these stats even mean? Where's my proper stats?" The shouty one keeps shouting.

"There's a mod to show them apparently, 'derivative stats' or something." A Godsent says as they flick through something in the air that Apple still can't see.

"So it doesn't show our full stats, it doesn't give us any skills. Where are we supposed to QUACKing get them?" The shouty one grumbles once more.

"Says here…" The Godsent that had mentioned the 'mod' thing speaks up.

"It's trial and error. Immersive skill acquisition system."

"Immersive skill system my QUACK." The shouty Godsent responds.

"It's bullQUACK." It's a skill! She'd gained a skill from gathering up a lot of the plants. That must mean it's important. And equally it must mean if she continues to do certain things, she could acquire new skills! That will help a lot with the Prepare part of OPPAI! She's skipping a step but in her excitement at acquiring a skill, Apple starts pulling plant after plant out of the pool, creating a small pile of browning plantlife.

It takes a little while but eventually she hears another one of those strange noises and finds that her Gather skill had increased by a little, the rank going from 'F' to 'F+'. She can improve! However… Apple looks at the solid pile of rough browned plants by her side. It feels like she wasted something in her excitement. Touching the pile has her frown slightly. If the plant turns into leather like the armour people wear, could she not make armour out of this plant? That's another part of Prepare, right?

She could add it to the plan! Moving to a pool with a little more of the plant than the one she'd just harvested from, Apple tries to remember what the armour she'd seen looks like. There's a big piece on the chest that she's not sure she can make in the seconds the plant changes. But they usually have bits on their arms and legs that seem like she could make. All she has to do is wrap the plant around her arm really fast, right? Remembering OPPAI, Apple applies it to this scenario as well.

She observes the plant, checking for lengths she can see being able to wrap fully around her forearm. That's easy enough, she's not exactly very large. Plans exactly where she wants to wrap them, in this instance above her wrist so it doesn't stop her hand movement and below her elbow for a similar reason. And acts without hesitation, grabbing at the plants she'd mentally marked out earlier.

As fast as her hands allow she rips out the plant, wraps the first around her arm above her wrist so that it fully sticks to itself, then quickly grabs another plant before the first dries, layering it above the first and upwards towards her elbow. It takes six individual plants to cover her forearm and it's not really that difficult to do given how the stickiness of the wet plant isn't so much that she can't unstick them when she places one slightly wrong.

The plant hardens into leather and Apple marvels at her new armour. She'd done it. Is it that simple? It has to be. Okay! She has one more arm and two whole legs to do now. Her other arm goes just as well as the first, able to wrap the plants around her forearm and layer them just right so that they stick together. She does have a moment of worry that the armour might have stuck to her skin, but finds that the leather has just enough give that she can slip it off with a little twisting and tugging.

The plant only sticks to itself. Her legs now, that's different. She could wrap the plants around her lower leg and then her thighs, but if anything hits her knee it won't protect her at all. Should she just do her lower leg and try to figure out something else after? Sure. That's the plan! No hesitation.

Apple gets right to it, creating armour around her lower leg akin to the armour present on her forearms, not knowing the actual word for these but knowing that it will protect her from getting hurt in these places. With both legs done she stands up and moves her limbs around to get a feel for the new armour. It doesn't restrict her movements any but she can feel the added weight to each body part. Not much, but it's there.

Picking up a rock she taps it against her forearm, then a little harder, then even harder than that, wincing slightly at that, finally feeling an ache for a moment from the impact. She checks her Health, finding that it has gone back down to 99%. So she feels the pain but her health shields her from damage? That's good. She hopes the armour helps with that somewhat. Now, she's pretty sure she can't layer the plant around her chest like she'd seen with other leather armour.

She can't reach behind herself anyway and the plants don't stick to themselves whilst under water. What else do some Godsent have?

"I prefer sword and board," the Godsent holding the shield says, bashing his weapon into it, "increases your damage mitigation."

"Not by much," the Godsent in the robes counters, "evasion is clearly the better thing to focus on."

"What does a Mage know about evasion? Have you ever been targeted your entire time with that job?" A third Godsent asks with a sneer.

"QUACK off, dumbQUACk." The robed Godsent shouts suddenly, the three Godsent devolving into a quacking brawl only broken up when other Godsent start pulling them apart. A shield! She could make a shield. That's just a shaped bit of something you can hold, right? She could even layer that a few times so it's even more protective! And unlike something meant to go around her body, she might be able to layer the plant under the water before removing them.

Without much else to do, and the splashing she'd been doing not drawing any monsters, Apple gets right to it. Hands back under the cold water she tests a few plants by pulling them out, hearing another noise from her strange panel at that, the rank going from 'F+' to 'E-'. It seems the plants, only start to brown when pulled out of the water entirely, whilst they're under the water they stay malleable but not sticky. How could she make this easier?

She's just been laying the plants over each other slightly as she went, but what if she weaved them between each other like how her mother does her tailoring? She'd watched her for years just tailoring away at handkerchiefs, shirts, and sometimes robes. She could do that. Once again Apple starts on her plan quickly, weaving the plants through each other, creating a messy pattern slowly and surely, the plants leading her into creating a square shape that she tries to round out by pressing corners in.

Godsent shields are circles far more often than squares so it feels right. Feeling like it's about done, Apple pulls out two plants, laying them on the weave of them and pulls the entire thing out of the water, placing it on the ground, the water collected in the centre creating a small dip in the shield. She takes the two pieces she'd grabbed and tries to hold them onto the indent, watching the water drain through the small gaps in the weave, hoping they stay there so she can hold the shield.

Slowly her creation dries, turns brown, and finally sets, sticking the entire creation together. She's done it! Another noise alerts her to the strange panel. She checks it again, finding a new section entirely!

Apple holds the newly made shield up to the panel, almost as if to show it off. Proud of her work and accomplishment that came from it. Her shield doesn't look the best but she can slip her arm through it and grab onto one of the loops so she won't drop it. A proper shield! Another noise from the panel has her let out an excited shout of glee.

She takes a quick look at her shield again, trying to use Inspect somehow and being rewarded with a new panel. Makeshift Shield Common Crafted by Apple Apple is about to celebrate even more when she hears a new sound, a sound that has her sounds of excitement turn into ones of fear. Sounds of monsters! She drops the shield in her shock, eyes flicking to the dark tunnel before she bends down to grab her shield.

There's a whistling noise and the feeling of wind over her head before something impacts the ground behind her. Twisting to look at what it was, she spots a gnarled length of wood with a large jagged tooth attached to one end with the same plant she's been playing with. Another panel pops up. Sahuagin Spear Common Turning again towards the darkness ahead of her, a monster moves from the shadows, slightly taller than herself with damp green skin and an awful fish head where a normal head might be on a person.

Its head juts forwards so it can see her, rows of sharp thin teeth in its open mouth. The monster, a Sahuagin by the name of its spear, lets out a gurgling noise as it unsheathes a smaller version of the spear, the tooth cut down the middle to create a dagger. She can see its pair still on the makeshift leather belt the monster is wearing. The monster plods closer on long toed, webbed feet. Apple is rooted to the spot, fear keeping her mind from working properly. What can she do against something like this?

A creature so prepared to hurt and likely kill her? She feels herself shivering, tears wetting her cheeks. The monster is getting closer, the plodding almost comical if she was in a mind to allow comedy be something she recognises. What can she do? Observe. The creature has only two of its knives now, it had thrown its spear away when it tried to attack her from the shadows. It isn't wearing any armour like she is and it's slow. Her Inspect skill only shows her its name. Plan. It wants to kill her.

She wants to get away from it. She can run but that will just trap her against the entrance barrier. So she needs to beat it or get past it. If it gets the spear behind her it can throw it at her. So grab the spear, get around it, outrun it and attempt to hide. Prepare. She doesn't have time to prepare much but she has her armour on her limbs and her shield that can cover most of her torso. Once she has the spear she also has a weapon! Act! She suddenly isn't weighed down by the fear or incoming threat.

She simply moves, turning and rushing towards the spear behind her, scooping it up with one hand, the other slipping into the straps of her makeshift shield. She can see the red glow of the entrance ahead of her. She doesn't want to get trapped by that so turns, pulling her shield up, unsure what to do with the spear. The Sahuagin is plodding its way towards her a little faster now, probably angered by her taking the spear from it. But it's still in the middle of the tunnel.

She has to get close to it if she wants to go around it.

"When you're in a fight, breathing is key. Actually breathing is important for a lot of things." The Godsent informs her once she asks him her usual question.

"Control your breathing and you're more prepared than your opponent if they're just panting away."

"Come on, it's just a tutorial-" Another Godsent tries to interrupt, the first man holding a hand up to stop him.

"You control your breath in a fight, you're one step closer to victory." The Godsent continues, watching to see that Apple understands. She doesn't but she nods, getting a smile from the Godsent. Apple takes a breath, letting it out a second later. She understands it now. If she's controlling her breath she won't run out of it, if she's controlling her breath she can stay calm, keep a cool head. Improvise. She rushes to her right and down the tunnel, keeping her eyes on the Sahuagin the entire time.

Once she's close she watches it move towards her, attempting to intercept. She lets it get close, watches as it brings its arm back to stab at her and she leaps into action. If she can't stay away from the attack, she should become the attacker. Apple turns her body into a battering ram with the shield in between herself and the monster to protect her from the impact. She puts all of her strength into the attack, watching the monster's eyes widen in surprise as her attack knocks it back and off balance.

She could run now but she needs to knock it further off balance. She rams into the monster again, this time sending it falling back into the wall of the tunnel and into a pool of water. The water isn't deep enough to contain it for long so she turns to get running, crying out as something strikes the side of her head. The monster had thrown its dagger at her from where it was. Apple can imagine that the dagger has cut open her head and her brains are leaking out.

But with a quick scan of her Health it had only dropped down to 89%. Sticking to the plan she starts to run, focusing on her breathing as she rushes down the wet tunnel and away from the first monster she'd ever encountered. The sounds of her feet on the slick ground accompany her escape from danger and into the unknown. She turns with the tunnel, passing by several more larger pools of water, these ones devoid of fish from a glance, only stopping when she encounters something unexpected.

The tunnel branches, one part heading to her left, the other going straight on. Which way should she go?

"I've got several!" An overjoyed Godsent answers with glee, "when trapped in a maze, always stick to the left wall."

"How is that going to help her?" A Godsent with long blonde hair asks the other, sounding amused. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Shush." The first Godsent laughs gently before continuing.

"Second! Never head directly to your objective. Side paths usually contain helpful things."

"Or don't be a hoarder." The blonde Godsent chuckles, getting a huff and a grin from the first.

"When in a fight, always take out the weaker enemies first."

"Come on, stop teaching the kid game mechanics and let's go explore the actual game." The blonde says as she gives a friendly shove to the other Godsent's shoulder.

"See ya, kid." Apple returns a wave that both the Godsent give her. Left! She starts running again, down the left path and either towards the exit or something that might help her, either way she'll likely be safer. Hopefully. Following the similar turn to the previous portion of the tunnel, Apple finds herself in a dead end, the tunnel bubbling out slightly into what she could describe as a small cave inside a cave.

The pools of water seem to have been replaced by a thin layer of water enough to cover Apple's shoes, in the centre of the small cave is a strange object, a wooden chest covered in some sort of colourful plants. Assuming this chest is the helpful thing that Godsent had mentioned, Apple moves closer, stepping through the shallow water and trying her Inspect skill once more. Coral Infused Chest So that stuff is coral? It's sort of pretty. Although the chest itself is rather large compared to any she'd seen before.

Is there perhaps something inside she's allowed to take? If it's helpful she might have to and remember to apologise to whoever it belonged to. If it belongs to the Sahuagin then does she have a right to take whatever it holds? They did try to kill her after all. Deciding that she could at least take a peek, Apple unlatches the chest and pulls the lid up. That simple action is made a little more difficult by the shield on her arm and spear she just now realises she's gripping so hard her knuckles are white.

Inside of the rather roomy chest sits a few items, a net of some kind with fish charms and shells attached in various locations, a small pouch holding something Apple can't see without opening it, and several more of those large jagged teeth the Sahuagin use for weapons. Unable to really take anything whilst she's holding her shield and spear, Apple considers taking them off for a moment before she realises that even if she does that, her clothes have no pockets, she has no way of carrying anything with her.

How is it that Godsent do this? She's standing near her father at one of the entrances to their town, holding her prize she'd acquired earlier and watching the Godsent mill around outside the borders. Her father warns one that enters the town about the monsters that live in the dungeon. Apple notices the green eyed Godsent leaving the town, a sturdy staff over her shoulders, balancing two baskets full of rocks and what look like mud bricks. A few other Godsent find amusement in this, laughing between themselves.

"Not figured out your inventory yet, newbie?" One asks, strange given that the green eyed Godsent has been around for a long time now, far longer than the other Godsent. The green eyed Godsent ignores them, spots Apple, and gives her a toothy grin then a wave. Apple returns the wave. Inventory? Right! Godsent sometimes pull things out of nowhere! They must have some way of keeping things separate from themselves.

Apple tries to focus on where that strange noise had kept coming from, asking it for an inventory in the hopes she has one. The noise repeats itself before showing her a new panel. It's labelled 'Inventory' and has four rows of five boxes outlined! She has an inventory! She focuses on her spear and watches as it vanishes from sight, a small icon of it appearing in the first box of her inventory. So that's how Godsent can carry so much!

Grabbing at the contents of the chest now, Apple stores the teeth away after inspecting them. Shark fangs? What's a shark? It must be pretty big for it to have teeth that large. She inspects the net next, finding it labelled as a 'Sahuagin Net'. She stores that away. Finally she gets to the pouch, opening it to find only money inside. That's disappointing but the pouch is helpful! If she makes a belt like the Sahugain had she could tie the pouch to it and hold things she finds.

The green eyed Godsent always had containers like that around to carry things so it must be a good thing. She empties the coins out into the chest before placing the pouch into her inventory. She's about to turn back when she hears faint plodding coming from the direction she'd just travelled. Panicking, realising that she's trapped here again with no exit, Apple climbs into the chest, laying on her side with her shield above her body, letting the chest close with a far too loud snap.

Trying to control her breathing so as to not make any more sound, she strains her ears to listen for noises coming closer. She needs a plan. If the chest is opened she has just enough room to spring up and bash the Sahuagin with her shield. That should give her enough time to escape or re-evaluate the situation. The plodding moves closer, Apple's heart beating so hard it feels like just the sound of that in her ears would be enough to alert the Sahugain to her hiding spot.

Plodding becomes splashing of the water around the chest. Apple moves her free hand to cover her mouth, staying as silent as she can. Seconds pass, turning into a whole minute of listening to sounds of splashing nearby but not moving closer. The noise in her head nearly makes her shout out in fear. She'd gotten a new skill but right now she's not even thinking of checking. If that noise is heard by the Sahuagin then it's about to find her! More seconds pass and the splashing noises don't change.

She tries not to let out a grateful breath of air, the noise isn't heard by everyone else. But the monster is still out there, pacing perhaps, or maybe circling the chest and planning how best to attack her, she doesn't know. More seconds, more minutes, another noise from her mind, the splashing is sounding close but not so much that it's near to the chest. Almost like the monster is shuffling its feet near the entrance of the cave portion of the tunnel. She can't just stay here, can she?

It will eventually find her and she'll make some sort of noise. So what now? She has to defeat this monster, doesn't she? Nodding slightly to herself she creates a quick plan for if the monster spots her right away, then pushes the chest open just slightly to observe where it is. The Sahuagin she'd struck earlier is standing, staring out of the cave and into the darkness of the tunnel. It has both of its knives on its belt. It hadn't seen her.

Apple very slowly opens the chest further, leaning the lid backwards, letting the chest sit there while she takes a step out of it. She jolts at the feeling of the water on her foot, pausing in her movements to watch the monster for any signs of movement. Her foot sinks slowly into the water. She knows that if she walks like normal there's going to be a lot of splashing and her surprise is bust.

So when she straightens slightly, instead of walking like usual, she lifts her foot out of the water slowly before taking a step and inserting her foot just as slowly into the water. Breathing evenly, she spots the knives on the Sahuagin's belt again. She'd disarmed it of one weapon, but it still has two of its own and has shown previously it's not worried about throwing them at her if that's all it can do. So if she can take one of those knives, she'll be in a greater position of power over this monster.

Clenching her free hand, moving carefully towards the monster, Apple lets out a quiet breath as she reaches for the knife. Another noise from her mind has her freeze, heart pounding in her throat. Letting the shock of that dissipate slightly, Apple slowly pulls the first knife out of the loop it's bound in. It slides out easily, making no noise, and once it's fully in her hand she considers using it against the monster.

"The combat in this system is based a lot on realism, you know?" The Godsent with the ponytail offers, Apple nodding up at him.

"So that means spear and shield is by far the superior way of fighting. You have a much further reach on your enemies, you see?" He says, pulling out his own spear and showing how far away he can poke with the weapon without moving from the spot he's standing.

"It's better to have reach than a flashy weapon," he continues, "but if your opponent has a higher Agility than you they might be able to get close. Good job that Freelancer has moderate stats all around and most beginner enemies have low stats." The Godsent gives a few more stabs at invisible enemies to show this off some more. No. She puts that knife into her inventory. She has her spear and- Oh no, the monster is turning to face her! And why does her head keep making that noise!! It's distracting!

She grabs her spear directly from her inventory, takes a hurried step back and stabs at the monster in front of her. She watches as the jagged edges of the tooth scrape against the creature, expecting maybe to see it burst with blood, only to find that where she'd struck only shows a red line. She'd watched her spear hit the creature and it clearly reacts to pain, so why isn't it bleeding? It must be like her! It has 'Health' and it protects it in a similar way to her own.

The Sahuagin grabs at its remaining knife as Apple backs up and away from it, lifting her shield to protect her chest and head. If it throws the knife she has a higher than likely chance of being able to block the weapon. Apple jolts as the monster charges at her, far faster than it had ever been before, the water itself surging up as if controlled by the monster. It's fast!!

She stumbles back, raising her shield to cushion the blow from the monster, she feels it in her whole arm as it slams the knife into her shield. She can tell her Health just took a large hit and that it, for some reason, hadn't recovered from earlier. Not letting herself be pushed back any further, Apple drops her shield to quickly assess the distances. The hit had pushed her slightly away from the monster, so she jabs out at it with her spear once, twice, both creating painful looking red line across its body.

The Sahuagin stabs at her again, once more hitting the shield and crushing into her arm. It's not blocking all the damage at all! She goes for another stab, her hand shaking now, her mind racing as she watches her stab go wide when the Sahuagin uses its strangely enhanced movement to circle around her to the side she's not protected from. It stabs at her, Apple only just managing to throw herself forwards and away from the knife.

Landing in the water has her groaning and feeling somehow weighed down even further than before. Her clothes allowing her to become soaked. That's putting her into an even worse situation than she had been. She can't stop to feel sorry for herself, she scrambles forwards, turning herself to face the monster once more and just in time to lift the shield to block the knife thrown her way. Once again, the strike is not being fully blocked by the leather of her shield.

The Sahuagin reaches for its other knife, looking confused when it doesn't find it. This is her chance! Apple rushes forwards, moving her grip on the spear so the bottom of the length is over her shoulder. She stabs the weapon into the torso of the monster, driving it back and into the chest that's now behind it. The creature stumbles as she continues her charge, following it down when the Sahuagin trips over the sturdy chest, driving the tip of the spear through it and into the floor of the cave underneath it.

Still no blood. She's about to run away when the monster goes limp, it's entire body glowing white before exploding near soundlessly into mist, a small white orb dropping where it just was. Letting her breathing do what it will, Apple pants, dropping the spear from her shaking hand and sinking to her knees, entire body feeling weak. She checks her strange panel for the first time since before the initial scuffle with the monster.

She had been hiding in that chest for a while and she did steal from the Sahuagin. It's strange that her Inspect skill hasn't got anymore points in it. She knows Freelancer levels a little faster but that skill itself seems stubborn. Her Anima hasn't moved at all, what is it even used for? Without any clues to go off, Apple slowly gains control over her breathing and the shaking of her body.

She watches her Health carefully as she picks her spear back up, placing it into her inventory and moving over to the orb the Sahuagin dropped. She inspects that and giggles quietly to herself as she hears a familiar noise in her mind. Her Inspect skill ranked up from checking out the 'Sahuagin Core'. She picks that up, turning it around to look at the odd misty texture within the core. It's pretty. She stores it in her inventory for now, smiling at the four filled in boxes. Then tilting her head slightly. Four?

Checking her inventory, happy to find she can keep both panels up at the same time, she checks the shark fangs she'd found, noticing a little number five next to their box. She looks around for the knife the Sahuagin had thrown at her, finding it nearby still. Picking it up and placing it in her inventory the knife takes up its own spot instead of stacking on the other knife. So the weapons take up their own spots, but the fangs don't?

Trying to figure out why, Apple is distracted by watching her Health tick up from 58% to 59%. How long was that? About a minute perhaps? So she'll be back to full in forty minutes or so? That's a long time. Why hadn't it gone up when she was hiding in the chest? Is the increase disabled when monsters are nearby? Way too many questions! She sighs, looking around at the quiet of the small cave. She spots the chest, gives a quick try to place it in her inventory, grumbling when it doesn't seem to work. That's fine.

She didn't want a large chest anyway. Right. What now? Keep going and head forwards or prepare even more? Well, first she should observe, she doesn't want to start going through OPPAI out of order. Observe. She nods to herself, making her way out of the cave, spear back in her hand, crouching a little and sticking to the left wall as much as she can. She treks until she gets to that split, continues following the left wall, her shoulder scraping into it slightly. She has to move when the pools of water reappear.

As she's doing that she notices movement ahead and freezes. Two Sahuagin are standing around in a slightly larger stretch of the tunnel, both with spears, both with several knives. She backs up before noticing a red glow at the end of the tunnel. The exit! Why is it red? The outside of the dungeon was blue, showing she could enter, the inside was red, showing she can't leave. But why is this exit also red?

"An hour!" A Godsent is shouting as he marches out of the dungeon, several other Godsent following behind him.

"A QUACKing hour. Just because you pushed a QUACKy mob into one of those pools and it got stuck. I thought you'd dealt with it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry that I tried to help our newbie out with my First-Aid." The small Godsent counters with an eyeroll.

"You're on thin ice." The leader(?) growls.

"Can't believe magic is so QUACKing difficult to get in this game… Can't believe you need to clear the whole floor before moving on… Can't believe I'm playing this game when I could be partying."

"Submit a bug report then?" The small Godsent suggests.

"The Devs are pretty responsive." Right! She can't move on until every monster is defeated. Which means she needs to defeat two more of those monsters. Sighing internally, she backs up and away from that area, thinking over any way to get past them. She almost dropped to half health from just fighting one. A second Sahuagin would be extremely risky. Although that one seemed faster somehow. What was the difference? She pictures the fight again whilst she backtracks to where she'd harvested the plants earlier.

The water was the only change. Does that mean the Sahuagin are faster when in contact with water? It's the only thing she can reason so it must be right. When she gets to the pile of leather she'd made, Apple moves over to that pool, she never did Inspect the plant itself. Or the fish!

'Leather Kelp' and 'Nesting Guppy'. She grins at the guppy, picking up a little stone for it and watching as the tiny fish assesses the offered rock before taking it from her fingers and swimming over towards its nest to find a good spot for its prize. That causes Apple to smile despite her dire circumstances. Now, what had that Godsent said? Had to care for someone with First-Aid. That sounds like another skill. She knows about that at least, so it must be treating wounds in some way.

But she doesn't have any wounds, her Health protects her from those, right? She sits, back to the pool, eyes flicking towards the darkness ahead of her occasionally as she takes her shield off alongside her armour that Inspect tells her is a 'Makeshift Bracer'. She gives a quick check of the armour on her leg, finding it labelled as 'Makeshift Greave'. With the bracer off her shield arm, Apple feels another gasp escape her, she has two large red lines across her arm!

She touches at them quickly, finding that there's no depth to the wound or pain when touched. Just a red mark across her otherwise unblemished skin. What had her mother done when she'd fallen before? She'd simply found a clean rag of some kind, pressed it into the wound and kept it there until the bleeding stopped. Could she do that here? All she has are the kelp around the room. Well, she has time to test some things.

The first test comes when she picks some of the kelp, trying to store it in her inventory right away without removing it from the water. It sits there, green and wet looking, labelled as 'Leather Kelp (Wet)'. She takes another piece of kelp, pulls it out and places it into her inventory, watching as it sits next to the dry kelp, this time labelled as 'Leather Kelp (Sticky)'. Finally she lets one dry out and gets the expected result of 'Leather Kelp (Dry)'.

She waits, watches, and finds the kelp doesn't change its status whilst inside her inventory. She pulls the sticky kelp out and it starts to brown right away. When placed back into her inventory it stacks with the dry one, leaving an open spot once more. So she can collect them and use them later? That's helpful. The wet version would give her more time to create things. The sticky version seems lesser because of this but it seems unique in its own right so it must be useful for something she doesn't know just yet.

Actually… Apple starts grabbing kelp after kelp, storing different kinds in their respective boxes within her inventory. She moves over to each pool, not taking too much as they probably have some use to the fish within. She gets two pings from her skills as she does this, managing to find that the kelp itself stacks to fifty before using a new box. Her Gather skill had gone up two ranks to E+. Her Health having gone up several percentage points by the time she stops.

Looking over the red lines on her arm, she notices they're slightly smaller now. So they'll probably be gone by the time she's fully healed. Wanting to test some things before that happens, she takes out one of the wet pieces of kelp, wrapping it tight around her arm and pinching the ends together to keep that pressure up. She has to do that another four times to mostly cover the wounds on her arm.

The leather becoming rather bulky, stopping her from being able to wear her left bracer but still allowing her to use her shield. Given her shield protects that arm anyway, it seems fine to put her bracer away for now, her inventory now half full. With the final 'Makeshift Bandage' on, (whatever is naming these things seeming to understand her intentions) a sound alerts her to a new skill.

She'd gotten it! So it seems like a lot of skills need a few attempts at it before they're acquired. She'd only stolen one thing, unless taking from that chest counted. She had assumed the things belonged to the Sahuagin so it might have counted. Gather seems pretty fast to rank up but she'd collected over a hundred kelp at least and three different types. And now there's a plus sign next to her Health.

She watches that number, counting as it ticks over, this time getting to about forty seconds before it ticks again. Her First-Aid skill had shaved off twenty whole seconds! Although by the time her Health gets to 68% the plus sign vanishes. She looks at her arm, finding the makeshift bandages have dyed red where they'd been in contact with her wounds. She pulls a knife from her inventory, slipping it between the leather and her skin, cutting the bandages off one by one.

Finding the red marks are lessened but not gone right away. So, that means she shaves off twenty seconds from the time to regain a single percent, and it lasts either for a set period of time or until five percent has come back? That means she needs to use First-Aid about six more times. That would use thirty of her collected wet kelp but it means she gets to full Health thirty percent faster? That seems about right. Not that she needs to heal faster given what seems to be the relative safety of her current area.

But it lets her try to rank up her skills which makes her more prepared. So she gets to it, wrapping her arm up once again and getting to work on figuring out how to make a belt to tie her pouch around, freeing up a space in her inventory and then she can do the same by placing the core she'd received into said pouch. She could just use the same tactic as she'd done before, layering some of the kelp and wrap it around her waist. But she doesn't just want to keep doing the same thing over and over again.

It works but there could be a better way. She removes her used bandages after a few minutes, wrapping more around and feeling her eyebrows raise as she finally notices something. Her Anima has gone down by fifteen percent! All she'd done is use First-Aid! Which means that only some skills use Anima, probably ones that give her a special effect of some kind? And if fifteen percent for three tends means one tend is five, she's using up about thirty-five percent of her Anima to heal faster.

At what rate does Anima even regain? She watches that percent as her Health slowly ticks up, finding that it doesn't seem to be going up at all. Not good. If there's five floors she needs to get through and her Anima never comes back, using her First-Aid skill like she's doing will only drain her resources that she gets back over time anyway. She does finish up her third tending however, getting a slight surprise as her skill in First-Aid ranks up but also her Tailoring as well. Both now sit at an 'F+' rank.

So turning the kelp into bandages counts as tailoring?

"Crafting is a little obtuse." One Godsent is saying to their friend, holding the apple they were about to give her just out of reach.

"How are you even supposed to know how to craft certain things?"

"There's that weird player who's been around since Alpha, could ask her?" Their friend suggests.

"Isn't she a weirdo who tries to cosplay as an NPC?" The first asks, not sounding enthused.

"Yeah but she stays in the basement of the Library just reading and sorting the books down there. She can probably find you a book on what you want to do."

"I suppose…" The Godsent murmurs, looking at the apple in their hand like they'd just noticed it.

"Thought about your specialisation yet?" Their friend asks as Apple finally receives her prize.

"No. Kind of hate you only get one per Craft skill." The first murmurs, walking away before Apple can even ask her question. So she can train her craft by creating specific things, but if she doesn't know exactly how to, then it won't help. She knew that already, but specialisations interest her. Only one per Craft seems fine, and as for what she's been dealing with so far she figures that working with leather is going to be something that helps her along. But what benefit does a specialisation hold?

Maybe it just makes her creations better overall? There's only one way to check. She focuses on the panel, deciding that her specialisation for Tailor will be Leather, watching as a new line pops up under the skill, showing exactly that. Her rank doesn't change at all and she gains no little squares for choosing this, but with it showing up on the panel, it has to help her somehow. Thinking over what she could do now to check, she checks the amount of kelp in her inventory, hesitant to take too much more currently.

The inventory isn't weighing her down but she's already half filled it with stuff. She has thirty-two sticky kelp and forty-one dry at the moment. The sticky kelp keeps drawing her eyes for some reason. Sticky… Like glue perhaps? But why is it in its own section and not just stacking with the wet version? Does that mean she can do something special with it? Only one way to find out once more. She pulls a piece from her inventory, running a thumb over the surface as it starts to brown.

She can feel the stickiness under her thumb, and is able to push it around until the browning catches up to the spot she's touching. Putting that piece away into the dry section, she grabs one of the knives she'd taken, setting it next to herself before kneeling and pulling several more wet kelp from her inventory, scooping them up around her hands she forms a rudimentary bowl, letting it dry until it's all set. Not her finest creation but she's just gotten started.

Grabbing her knife, she pulls a sticky kelp out and immediately presses one end under her knee whilst scraping the sticky substance into the makeshift bowl. It comes off easier than she expects, even giving her enough time to flip the kelp over and scrape the other side into the bowl. When the browning process finishes on this piece of kelp it becomes far more brittle than the other pieces of leather she'd created.

Checking over that she finds the leather not as tough as the other pieces but much easier to bend and flex. She stores it away, checking that it doesn't stack, and grins when it shows up under a new box with the named 'Leather Kelp (Scraped)'. She starts on three more pieces, scraping them of the sticky substance, filling the entire bowl up and storing the four strips away for now.

She then tries to store the bowl away, almost cheering when it vanishes from her hand and appears in the inventory under 'Bowl of Glue (Full)'. She'd done it! Found two whole new items! This is going to help even more than before. With the glue she can stick pieces of leather together to create seamless lengths and maybe even armour that fits her form. It's time to get crafting!

Twenty minutes later and Apple is sliding her new armour on for her chest and back, a thing that gets labelled as 'Shoddy Leather Cuirass' by Inspect. She'd laid out several strips of leather and interwoven the wet kelp between them to shape them, gluing them on once they dry and harden. She'd used the scraped leather for straps over her shoulders and around her waist to keep the armour snug and sturdy. She'd even gone so far as to cut off the edges of the strips to make it look cleaner.

It was almost a little hurtful that her skill had called it 'Shoddy' but that might be an improvement on her previous 'Makeshift' items, she doesn't know. For the belt she'd glued two stripped leather pieces together to create a longer strip, then cut holes at certain lengths on one side. After that she'd broken some of the jagged parts off a shark fang she'd found, getting a handful of bone bristles that are about as long as her thumb.

Sticking that to the other end of the belt she was able to use it as a hook to fasten into one of the holes so that her belt doesn't fall off. From there she'd looped a couple pieces of scraped leather she'd cut from a single strip, gluing those to her belt when looped so that she can slide her two daggers into them. As a final part of this she'd pulled the pouch from her inventory, placed the core inside, and tied it around the belt so that she can free up a couple spots in her inventory.

With that done she pulls her bracer out from her inventory, considering pulling it back up her wrist and understanding now how she can improve on that for if she needs to later. Maybe that specialisation is really paying off. Checking everything she has once more she- Her stomach grumbles at her in protest of the uneaten apple she'd acquired before being thrown into the dungeon. Apple groans, shoulders slumping as she looks towards the entrance of the dungeon.

She doesn't remember if she'd lost it before or after being thrown… She can still check. Standing up properly, storing her spear and shield away, grabbing the leftover strips of leather from the floor and placing those in her pouch, she sets off for the entrance in the hopes of the single piece of food she knows exists within this level of the dungeon. It's a short trek back up the tunnel and an even shorter search as she spots a circle of red in one of the small pools by the door.

Rushing over Apple pulls her namesake from the water, checking it over and grinning as she Inspects it. Fresh Apple (Cooled) Common Cooled? The water it was in is pretty cold, would that change the flavour? She can't wait any longer, with the fight ahead and not wanting to risk her stomach noises hindering her stealth, she bites into the flesh of the fruit. It tastes better than any apple she'd ever eaten and she's eaten plenty.

Maybe it's from the hard work she'd recently done or just her hunger playing tricks, but she sets to devouring the entire thing besides the stem and seeds. Once done she washes her face with water from one of the pools after placing the five apple seeds away in her inventory to keep them as safe as they can be. Is she ready for what's to come? About as ready as she'll ever be. Does she have a plan? Yes she does. Is there any reason to hesitate before acting on her plan? No.

She sets off down the tunnel, pulling out her shield and the other item she'd found in the chest, the 'Sahuagin Net'. She looks up at the bearded Godsent holding a fishing rod in one hand, in the other tossing a rare green apple up and down. Is he here to give it to her?

"I love fishing in VR games," Godsent says to noone, sighing happily, "the feedback is great, no terrible minigames. Just my skill versus fantasy fish." He finally seems to notice Apple standing there, giving her a rough smile that shows more in his eyes than his lips.

"Hey, kid. You'd probably be better off using a net. Takes some skill and strength to use a rod. But a net is good, just toss that sucker out to sea and pull it right back in again." The man explains without her even needing to ask any question.

"Right. Best be off." And the Godsent starts to walk away, leaving Apple there to deflate over the loss of such a treat. He then throws the apple over his shoulder at her, Apple catching it from the air with a euphoric giggle. Nets are better for someone her age. If it tangles up the Sahuagin, then that turns her two versus one match into a simple one on one. She can handle that, she's more prepared than she was before, readier to fight.

She passes by the fork in the path, heading straight towards the two monsters she'd spotted previously, crouching when she gets closer and moving slower now. She quietly rounds the bend, spotting the first Sahuagin staring towards her. Pulling her head back quickly she controls her breathing and waits to hear the plodding of webbed feet. A moment passes before she hears no change.

Peeking once more she finds the Sahuagin had turned its back on her, the other one copying that move, the two staring off towards the red glow from the exit. An entire minute passes before they start to turn again, Apple once more pulling back. Counting out the seconds feels like something that's becoming natural to her with all the counting she'd done recently. After almost another minute she peeks, finding them turning once more away from her. So they're keeping time almost as well as she is? That's interesting.

Creeping up, Apple clenches her fingers around the net, she needs to throw it just like she'd seen Godsent do at the beach. She'd never been able to get close but she could see how the net spun when they released it, spread out, and landed neatly in the water. The shells and other little items on the net are likely weights to help trap the fish, in this instance she'll be hoping they help trap this fishperson.

When she's as close as she's willing to get she pulls the net back and throws it towards the Sahuagin on the right. Her timing is off entirely, letting go of the net far too late and, luckily enough, throwing it over the monster on her left instead. She takes a second to marvel how she'd been so successful in failure when her mind kicks back in, telling her to focus on the other monster.

Not wanting to lose the element of surprise she'd created, Apple pulls her spear from her inventory and jabs at the monster, catching it in the stomach, creating a large red mark. It gibbers in potentially a fishperson language before it starts to wildly jab at her with its own spear. Apple keeps moving back and away from the enemy, staying out of its reach to avoid any damage, only resorting to blocking the attack with her shield when she has to.

So far that's not happened but she's not fooling herself by thinking she's coming out of this unscathed. Leading the monster into a thinner part of the tunnel works well enough, but with her staying away she can't get more hits on it. Luckily she'd planned for this specific scenario. When the fishperson is closing in she starts to circle around it, letting it try to stab at her to get in close, the enemy's spear cutting into her cheek.

Now that she's close enough she puts all her strength behind her shield and rams into the Sahuagin like she had the first. It lets out a loud pained gurgle as its back slams into the rock wall. She slams it a second time before jabbing her spear around her shield and into the monster's side. It lets out a gurgle of pain and starts to go limp in defeat. Just as she's turning to check on the remaining enemy she has just enough time to pull her shield up to tank the spear thrown directly at her from across the tunnel.

It pushes her back onto her rear with a pained exhalation but it's much better than taking a spear to the face. Not wanting to be alone in the spear throwing championships, she gets a sturdy footing, keeping her shield in front of herself, winding up a throw and aiming it as best she can before throwing with all her might. Either shocked or just stupid, the Sahuagin doesn't move out of the way, the spear sticking straight into its muscled arm.

While the creature is flailing in pain, Apple rushes it, circling around again before slamming into it as it tries to pull a knife. This one feels a little more sturdy so she slams it once more, watching it tumble into a pool not unlike the first she'd fought. Grabbing at the knife that had fallen from its grip, Apple readies herself for a more close quarters match when she notices the Sahuagin had sunk into the pool and… Well. It's stuck there. It can't seem to figure out how to get itself up and out.

The monster isn't drowning, in fact it seems somehow beefier than it had previously, its muscled form increasing when submerged. Ah. That's exactly it, isn't it? They get stronger in water but they also get larger. It had fallen into the small pool and, with the increased volume it acquires from the water, it can't get back out. Apple chuckles at the silliness of the monster. She still needs to deal with it but this gives her breathing room to- She feels something tap against her shoe.

Looking down, she finds another Sahuagin Core. She picks that up, looking it over, it must have rolled down towards her from where she'd defeated the other monster, she places it with the other one in the pouch on her belt. From there she collects the enemy's thrown spear, and stores the third knife in her inventory.

Returning to the trapped Sahuagin she grabs the spear still stuck in its arm, pulling it out before jabbing it back down, repeating that four more times (wow they're far stronger when in water than out) before it finally turns to mist, its core floating to the surface of the water. That's three monsters defeated, three cores obtained, and one floor of this dungeon conquered. She lets herself have a happy few hops on the spot before pulling her panel up once more to check at what she'd achieved so far.

The picture itself looks like three apples, one green, one red, one yellow. She focuses on that and text appears below it.

'Well Fed (Regen+)' The apple! It had given her a Regen bonus! Her Anima had gone up over the last few minutes, only two but it's better than nothing! She just has to hope the next floor of the dungeon has something she can eat. Before heading out she slides her shield off, wrapping a few bits of sticky kelp around the new red mark on her arm and again feeling overjoyed at another noise. Her First-Aid had gone up to 'E-' rank!

And a second plus sign had appeared next to her Health, as well as another picture above the panel with a picture of a bandage. Inspecting it further gives her-'Bandaged (Heal+)' So Heal is for her health and Regen is for both, that's good to know. And with everything slowly going up, she faces towards the now blue exit portal ahead of her.

She could stay here, use every resource possible to train her way up and improve her skills, but with nothing to challenge her, she can't increase three of her acquired skills, nor does she expect just inspecting random rocks will award her many ranks either. She walks decisively towards and through the exit of the first floor, second floor here she comes!

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