2nd Blocking that stone had increased Mana Shield skill to level 3 Which seemed like an awfully quick level up even though level 2 was usually quite easy
Finally hitting the Monkey in the chest with the mana bolt had increased it to Lvl 9 For a while Randidly had been wondering whether it was a common thing to hole up in a safe room where the regeneration is doubled and grinding up their skill level But he was beginning to suspect it wasn’t Because it seemed that actually using the skills in real battle was much more effective at leveling them
Sighing Randidly used a PP to finish off the Trainee Path
Congratulations You have earned +2 to M Stats
Congratulations You have completed the Trainee Path (Mage Branch) +10 Mana +1 Mana Regen +1 Mana per level
The two stats went into Control and Intelligence If I was going to start trying to grind outside of the safe room I needed a bigger mana pool It wouldn’t be feasible in the short term to try and raise my regeneration to the point where it could matter
When he went back to the path screen there was only one option the from before with 0/20 He clicked on it and the name shifted to Wandering Survivor
Seems relevant Randidly muttered and put his remaining 3 PPs into it And to his surprise he received something each time
Congratulations You have earned +2 to Health
Congratulations You have earned +2 to Stamina
Apparently it was a rather helpful path as well
Pleased Randidly wandered over to view his growing plants His initially planted berry bush was beginning to bud Fruit would come soon The others were growing to a good size except
Randidly frowned at the final banana plant which was around double the size of the others and about twice as tall Abruptly realizing something Randidly got out his dagger and began to dig After about 5 minutes he leaned back on his heels As he thought the red crystal that had been nearest in the ground to the banana was gone The lone blue crystal and the red and blue together with both still there
So the red crystal had been absorbed somehow by the plant And that was likely where the Plant Breeding skill had came from
Thinking this Randidly looked around abruptly realizing that the room seemed slightly larger than he remembered But he ignored it instead going to the side and digging 6 holes very far from one another 3 were bananas 3 were nuts He did the same line of crystals one red one blue and one both just to see the effects
Satisfied he laid out the bedroll from the satchel and prepared for a nap
Chapter 8
When Randidly awoke he realized that he honestly had no idea how long he was asleep and awake for so there was no way of knowing how much time had passed He believed it had been 4 or 5 days but it was hard to know for sure
But then he turned his attention to the notifications Farming had risen to 13 Plant Breeding had risen to 5
Expectantly Randidly threw those points into the Wandering Survivor Path
Congratulations You have earned +1 to Stat
Congratulations You have earned +1 to Perception and Reaction
Although not receiving a skill was somewhat of a letdown the extra stats also helped The extra stat he put into Intelligence committing entirely to his new grinding plan
The morning proceeded as usual with physical exertion interspaced with Iron Skin and Mana Bolt Even though it had reached the point that Mana Bolt could be cast every 15 minutes Randidly could tell that he was reaching the limit of what could be really grinded out here Mana Bolt only increased 1 Lvl Iron Skin increased two but that too was slowing Running and Physical Fitness didn’t go up but Sprint went up by 1
What was disappointing was that getting Mana Bolt to 10 didn’t unlock a path for it But Randidly supposed that it hadn’t worked that way with farming either Focusing on the now he threw his 4 PP into the Wandering Survivor
The nice surprise that Randidly did receive was that his Equip also leveled up while he was applying PP giving him enough to get the +2 Stamina boost from the Wandering Survivor Path again The stat point again went into intelligence
Next Randidly proceeded outside to start his new type of afternoon grinding having rocks thrown at him by the monkeys Although the rocks could do about 50 60 damage Randidly believed that the combination of an improved Mana Shield and Iron Skin he could shrug off most of the damage
Randidly also noticed that there were no longer patrols of frogs in the opposite direction which made him feel better That fat frog was welcome to the berries He was growing plenty of his own or would be soon
There were three Howler Monkeys waiting for Randidly this time which made him nervous but he figured he could handle it They hooted to each other pointing at him knowingly and the smallest ran to the ground to fetch some rocks When the small one returned the bigger two smacked it then took the rocks from its arms and started throwing them at Randidly
The first was a bit off in terms of the target namely him and simply glance off the shield But the second struck it squarely sending long cracks through the shield of mana But apparently it had leveled enough to handle a hit because it barely survived This seemed to annoy the first monkey and the second hooted its glee
Furious the first monkey grabbed another stone and whipped it as hard as it could Which it turned out was a lot harder than Randidly was ready for The shield broke and even with activating Iron Skin Randidly fell to his back He checked his stats and the stone had done 60 damage
But also both Mana Shield and Iron Skin leveled up from that one stone
This was of course ignoring the significant ache in Randidly’s chest but he ignored that slowly straightening Or he planned to slowly straighten but the viciously thrown rocks meant he hastily rolled to the side causing his throbbing chest to tighten
Congratulations You have gained the skill Dodge Lvl 1
Hopping side to side Randidly sighed Well at least he was still grinding a skill
He also raised his hands and shot a few mana bolts keeping the monkeys on their toes However even when they took them directly to their body it only seemed to annoy them causing them to throw stones faster
After 10 minutes which felt like an eternity one of the monkey’s finally hopped down lumbering towards Randidly and he took this chance to quickly check his mana It was unfortunately only 27 and that 8 would take forever to regenerate Frustrated Randidly blasted the monkey twice in its face with Mana Bolts and then turned to run
But as he did so a stone struck his leg sending him sprawling The monkey that was on the ground jumped forward aiming for Randidly’s scrambling form but he managed to get his feet out from under him and roll forward Then he started sprinting not stopping until he was safely back in the Safe Room
However as he entered he froze Sitting in the pond with his back turned to Randidly was an extremely tall and broad individual From the way his gaze was pointed it looked like he was looking at Randidly’s plants Based on the blood stains on the floor the figure was heavily wounded but he currently was healing
As quietly as he could Randidly closed the door behind him He even got another point in sneak
But still the figure turned His skin had a strange bluish tint and he was bald but other than that he was a rather typical looking fellow Except for the third eye in his forehead
He said something in another language and Randidly felt something happen in his head the sounds he made twisting in his mind and suddenly they snapped together
ah you had not met Travelers from other worlds before There now you can understand yes Hello little friend Are you the one who brought these things here
He pointed at the plants Randidly nodded wary
The man shook his head laughing slightly Do not worry friend we are both Travelers And you are from one of the newly acquired world yes For you to proceed into a Lvl 35 dungeon after such a short amount of time is truly a wonder