There we go. A nice, safe hideout, located on one of the hills sticking out of the Dungeon walls. I kinda wanted to set up camp in the same place as before, but it's too far away? Why so? 'Cause I wanna bust open a can of Rogue-action right this instant!

Alright, people (meaning me) have waited for this moment for too long, so here we go!

R-O-G-U-E... there! It's ready to be sold! Well then, don't mind if I do...

Yes, I wanna buy the Rogue class.

Yes, I know that it will be my main class. That's the point, for Pete's sake!

SO ANNOYING! Yes, I do. So give me the class already!

There we go! Aren't all these safety protocols annoying for people in this world? No matter, I've taken a large step towards the path of obtaining the evolution to Kur Kigal... I think.

Even in the slightest chance that I'm all wrong about the evolution requirements, the fact that the Rogue class fits me like a glove doesn't change.

The class allows me to buy previously unobtainable skills that have a connection to sneaking, thievery, trap-creation, and other roguish activities.

It also increases the growth of the SPD and DEX stats... while the increase is pretty minuscule. Better than having the growth of other stats reduced, I guess.

The class isn't exactly helpful in tanking a blow, but so what? 'It's not scary if it doesn't hit' after all. I just need to make that line true. I'm not saying it will be easy, but that's a life I've been living up until now anyway.

Even the skills I got from the class are telling me not to fight as a vanguard. [Parkour] is a skill that enhances one's movement abilities. [Climbing] didn't get integrated into this one 'cause the former also includes techniques for climbing, not just improving the movements while doing so.

[Ambush] gives my attacks an extra oomph when launching a sneak attack. And [Lightwalk] reduces my weight while in use. That one has hidden potentials alright.

Now then, that's the skills I've just obtained, but there's more to come. First off, I wanna use that Skill Scroll I obtained from the Chain Quest. Just gotta take it outta my Storage, and then... how am I supposed to use this thing? Too bothersome. [Identification]!

And of course, there's no instruction manual... or there is!? Way to take someone off-guard, [Identification]. The reason why it lacks a "quality value" must be 'cause any such scrolls will give the user the skill in question.

Okay, now to use it... is applying my magic power on it the same as when I use [Aura of Darkness]? Only one way to find out... don't break on me now, scroll.

It worked! Wait, if applying magic power is that easy, why do you need a skill that lets you control it to use magic? Ah, 'cause making it appear is different from finely controlling it. 

The matter with magic can wait for later. I need to consider what skills I'm gonna take. Let's see, with [Parkour] in mind, I should refrain from picking skills such as the frogs [Jump], and the [Running] skill that the dinosaur monsters living on this floor have. They would just be sucked right into [Parkour]. 

Speaking of frogs, didn't some of them have the [Whipsmanship] skill? I need that one. And some more thread skills. I'm out of the sauna, so I'm free to use as many threads as possible now. But most of all, I need something to help me with this.

The branches themselves are no problem, but running away from the whole floor that loves the fruits from those trees, and would terminate anything that tries to harm them, that's could become a problem.

Good thing that getting around without being noticed is kinda my specialty. Still, I wanna have something that can help me with this one. Skills that help you collect stuff are handy either way. Let's see...?

Wait, if you get both skills and classes from the Skill Shop, and you can use the skills you already have to search for new skills... then what if you search using your class?

Let's try... it worked! But geez, just four? [Lockpicking], [Lip Reading], [Eavesdropping], and [Odorless]? Wait, you know what, that last one sounds kinda logical. I'll buy that one. The other three sound more like humans in the city rather than for a monster in a Dungeon, so I'll shelve them for now.

As for something to help me with the Quest, how about something like... this... or maybe this... oh, this one looks nice... yeah, this is gonna take a while...

---

A while later, and I'm ready for action! I've pruned 5 trees already as test runs. I used 7 points to get 4 new skills, one of them being [Odorless], and this is the result:

Not bad, right? [Gathering] is a skill that helps you collect items and stuff easier. It's best to say you instinctively know the best way to harvest, pick up, or collect an item. It works wonders with other gathering skills, according to the Note. The [Piercing Thread] skill works in the same way as the cutting-variant. The only difference is that you stab with the thread instead of slashing.

As said before, my work on the other trees has been relatively painless... except for when I misjudged the MP consumption of the new [Lightwalk] skill. My poor head...

However, all those were simple no-name trees, located on the Floor's most forsaken places. No monsters would wanna spend time or energy watching over those. Meaning that this is the real deal. There's bound for something to come once I start working on this tree. Better ready myself for anything that may happen...

---

I arrived at the targeted tree. It stood tall in a pool of river water. Maybe the reason why the Quest involved the trees' because they're connected to the Dungeon in some way? Not my problem, as long as I get paid here.

Are there any big bad monsters here? Left, clear. Right, clear. Back, clear. Front? Only the tree. We're ready to go! 

I threw a thread up to the tree and pulled myself up with [Thread Control]. When I landed, I made sure to use [Lightwalk] and [Silence] to reduce the amount of noise as much as possible. It worked... to a certain degree. Not enough to catch the attention of anyone in the city, but you can never know in this stupid-large, empty area. Which is also located underground, in case you had forgotten. Sounds down here can travel damn far.

Let's take another look. Nothing west, nor east, and south... ugh! Dinos at 6 o'clock! No, the two of them are just passing by. They're not even looking over here. I'll wait for them to walk away... two? Don't those guys travel in a herd of three?

*Crash!*

The bad feeling came true! The third dino had crashed into the tree from the other side! Not to mention it has the skills to slip through the [Danger Sense] radar until it came this close...

The dino used its clawed legs to climb the tree more skillfully than I had expected, I climbed higher up the tree in hope of the dino slipping on the thinner branches. Unfortunately, this guy's got some smarts. It doesn't climb higher than the branches that could withstand its weight. We're at a standstill-.

*SPLASH!*

Wha-!? Water? Where did... the remaining dinos! They came back! It's a freaking trap! 

The two dinos stayed on the "shore" and spewed blasts of water from their mouths, so I had to use the limited space at the top of the tree to dodge the blasts. And below me is the climbing dino, ready to snap me up, or in half, the moment I lose my grip.

Fine then! Take some [Aura-]-yikes! Now even this guy's starting barfing water blasts at me! Then, what about some thread... nope. I almost got hit by a blast from the shore. Then should I go personal with a venomous bite? Nah, the dino can just jump into the pool with me along with it.

Urgh, this is bad. There's no way out... unless I get a little drastic...

I jumped back from the latest water blast and ended up on the tip of a branch, barely able to hold me. The dinos saw this and wasted no time. The two on the shore tried to keep me at that place with their bombardment, while the third one climbed higher up.

I tried to fight back, but the constant bombardment kept me from doing anything except clinging on the tree branch for my dear life. Before I could act, the climbing dino reached the branch I was on, and-!

Cut it. In one swipe. Damn those claws are sharp. That's was all I could think of while falling into the pool below. The dino looked pretty smug about his action... sucker! 

*Splash!*

---

*Cough, cough* bleah. I must have swallowed half the river... 

The plan worked. A brilliant escape. The dinos have no idea that I could escape the river torrents after getting dropped into the water like that. The trick is simple; I made an opening with [Spatial Storage] big enough to store all the river water flowing towards me, while also making an opening on the other side, which resulted in a current-less area of the river. Then I just needed to pull myself back on land with my threads. 

This strategy was only possible due to my body being incapable of sinking. I'm like a lifebuoy. That, and because I already knew about the topography of this floor. Spending a long time on this floor worked out in the end for me. It's a strategy that only I could use.

Still, no matter how brilliant (or whatever you want to call it) my plan was, this was my first real defeat... and it ended with one of the worst experiences ever. Imagine that you're riding the biggest, baddest waterslide ever, but inside a laundry machine... that was running at max speed. 

The only good thing is that the pool part of the "ride" was relatively calm, so I could get a grip over the situation before being thrown into the currents, but damn, that's an experience I don't wanna relive. I crashed into the rocks in the river, I was afraid that my HP would reach 0 before I could activate [Spatial Storage]. It's a miracle that I could keep my breath for so long under those circumstances.

If I ever get a humanoid body, the first thing I'll do is to get the [Swimming] skill. I mean, if there's a skill for jumping and running, then one has to expect a swimming skill as well.

I tried to look after one before, but I couldn't find one even with 7 Skill Points. It must be my body's fault. It's not screaming "swimming athlete" or something.

As for why that dino manage to bypass my [Danger Sense], it's because of one of the skills it had. I got a look at it while falling from the tree. It was [Sneak], the moving version of [Hiding]. Oh, and why I know that is because [Stealth] is the combined, evolved version of the two former skills.

[Sneak] or no [Sneak], it was pathetic of me not to notice the dino. And here I was so proud of becoming a Rogue...

There are two problems with the current me that led to the defeat by the dinos before, and it will bite me in the future if I don't resolve them.

"If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles", was it? Those are famous words from Sun Tzu, so let's honor them now.

I'll go over them while chewing on the recovery herbs that I've got stored. They sometimes pop up as mutations along with the more dangerous types such as the Crackerberries, so only someone with [Identification] like me would even think of picking them up.

My first problem is that my detection abilities are too weak. I can notice any sneaking bastards easily with [Magic Sight] and [Danger Sense], but the moment they use a hiding-type skill, I'm doomed. To think my worst enemy would be the same type as myself.

I can fix this by getting some skills that specialize in countering hiding skills, but I won't be aiming for those right now. The reason lies in the Rogue class. 

Like skills, classes award the owner with something when it reaches a level that's a multiple of 10. The difference is that classes awards skills instead of Skill Points. And one of the skills the Rogue class gives is called [Discovery].

The effects of that skill can be considered the nemesis of my build. It reacts to anything that tries to stay hidden, skill, or no skill. Just how much you can discover is determined by the level of the skill, but even so, it's just what I needed to solve this problem. 

So, solution nr.1: train the Rogue class like there's no tomorrow!

The second problem is my lack of power. When faced against the dinos without any threads or plans, I was a sitting duck... or a sitting spider. Looking at it logically, the dino monsters have a racial rank of E while I'm an F+.

I've beaten cookies tougher than me before, but that was when I had a plan, several traps, the element of surprise, and a damn big portion of luck on my side. Another thing to point on is that all my fights were either defensive battles or battles which I started with a trap or some other advantage.

This time, however, I was the one initiating the attack. And I failed miserably. I may be strong against individuals, but place me against a group that works to defend an area, and I'm not worth even a penny.

Therefore, I need firepower. I've only focused on my strong points of traps, webs, and debilitating, but I lack something that literally packs a punch. Therefore, I need to find a way to produce the said punch.

It could be easily done by farming EXP and evolve again, but since my goal is to evolve into the Kur Kigal race, or something similar to it, picking an evolution just for its battle prowess would be like putting the carriage before the horse. If I have no other choice, then I have to do so, but let's not do anything too hasty.

Ugh, I'm beat... Wonder how my HP is holding? Maybe some of my less popular skills got something outta this? Then the whole first-loss deal will be a little more bearable.

Not that big of an increase... but this is in a short time pocket, so it's not bad?

Hmm? Karma Value of a negative 102? How did... ah. My escape plan could be better from the System's point of view as well, huh.

Crazy plans or judging Systems aside, this is perfect! A negative 100 on my Karma Value is just what I needed for 'those' skills! 

But first, let's deliver the branches before picking 'that' skill. Along with the branch that the dino was so 'kindly' to cut off for me, I retrieved the other 2 branches that I hadn't delivered yet from my storage and started fiddling with the Quest controls to send them to the Quest giver... or wherever they're sent to.

A magic circle appeared underneath the branches and disappeared into it... except for one!? Wait, why!? Is there something wrong with the quality? The Quest description didn't say anything about... 19/30 branches delivered? 

Is the knight group working overtime? No, that's not it. Since the remaining branch is too dry to be the one that I just got, and it's not been that long ago since I obtained the fifth branch either, so I know that tree ain't missing any branches... I think

So, by the process of elimination, the branch that remains would be from practice tree nr.4. This is strange, as it's the tree that's the farthest from the entrance to Floor 2, meaning there's a low probability that it's the knight group who are also playing gardener. 

As I've secured the rewards for this Quest already, why not see who this gardener is? But first, I wanna pick the skill I still miss. So...

WOW! More than I hoped for. I think we can skip the last three, they sound more to be used on humans than on monsters. And that fear-eye ain't worth wasting one of my bonus skills on. I've got [Intimination] already. Even if I don't use it that much.

The two attack-type eyes must be the darkness-eye and the... grudge-eye? The latter one is more of a pseudo-attack, but even [Aura of Darkness] can't reduce the Life Stats. It's probably due to the Aura that those two skills popped up though. I mean, there aren't any fire-eyes or heretic-eyes here after all. Or maybe it was that Technique User title?

The remaining four options aren't that bad either, as they can stop any charging monsters dead in their tracks in many different ways. So, the question is, do I want attack-power or an improved method to trap monsters without needing any preparations?

...It gotta be that one. I'll take that, then go and investigate my potential new competitors. Wonder who they are?

---

"Faster, you idiots, FASTER! Get those trees a new haircut already, or I'll give you a new CUT!" 

"But sir, we do not have hair to shorten." 

"And I look snazzy as a cueball."

"I didn't say anything about hair."

.........

"Get those trees pruned right now!" 

"Yeah! And cut off those branches while you're at it!"

"Urgh, why do I have to deal with these rustbuckets? And you, are you sure you saw that demon?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"So, a Darkness attribute demon, only found in the jungle, is inside an underground Dungeon filled with Water attribute monsters?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. DUE TO LACKING EQUIPMENT, FAILED TO EXTERMINATE THE PEST. REQUESTS FOR HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE INCINERATOR ROUNDS."

"Are you trying to burn the whole Dungeon to ashes with us still inside!? You are on guard duty for the rest of this operation! Warn me if anything tries to approach us."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"Good. Then-"

"REPORT. A GROUP OF KNIGHTS, PROBABLY DEFECTORS FROM THE AVALAR KINGDOM, HAVE BEEN SEEN ENTERING THIS FLOOR OF THE DUNGEON."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"THIS UNIT WAS NOT ON GUARD DUTY UNTIL NOW. EXTERMINATION OF PESTS MORE IMPORTANT."

"Ughnaaaagh!!"