[Arc 1] Chapter 5: Blessing and [Appraisal]
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*Chomp**Chompity**Chomp*

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Nameless individual, [Lesser Grey Demon], has reached LV4.

0.1 skill points acquired.

Damn, why did I get a 3-for-1 bargain like that? I like the new level though.

I’ve just finished off a group of three monsters that looked like those small dinosaurs called velociraptor. You know, like those small and fast ones from that famous dinosaur-park movie? Those guys.

Instead of the feather-like appendages that normal raptors have, these guys have back-fins like a shark and there’s something that looks like fins that flying fishes have on their arms.

Despite their threatening appearances’, they were some real meatheads. They tried to breach my webs by running through them. In their defense, they did break through web nr.1 in the south passage but managed to roll themselves with the web, making one big thread-ball and crashed into web nr.2 where they stopped.

So glad that I made a double web barrier. If not, I could have been flattened like a pancake by that dino-web-ball. Should I make some more webs to increase my nest’s defense? Yeah, let’s make a third one. I’ve hit the jackpot in terms of meat with the raptors, so I have a surplus of stamina now for creating threads. But first, I should start setting up web nr.1 in the south.

With the three raptor brothers accounted for, the total amount of monsters I’ve defeated totals five now. The spider from the beginning, these guys, and a frog between those two.

The frog came sometime after the spider-attack. It had jumped straight into web nr.1 in the east. Night vision blind or just stupid. Probably both, but I say it's stupid.

It was a regular blue-greenish colored frog when you look away from the fact that it's as big as a school desk.

Like the spider, it tried to break free by destroying the web with its tongue.

Unlike the spider, this guy had the brains to aim at the web's foundation instead of just shooting wildly. Unfortunately for it, that ended up in trapping the tongue to the web, killing any chances it had to escape. Then it was just for me to poison it and wrap it up for take-away.

Thinking back now, the spider must have been a high-leveled monster. It alone gave me enough EXP to level-up twice, while I needed a frog and three raptors now to reach LV4.

That would also explain why I got a title in that one fight. [Giant Killer] is when a weakling defeats a super-strong opponent, wasn't it?

Well, compared to myself, all these guys are giant-class monsters. Good thing all these guys are either muscle-brains or simply just stupid.

There is no progress in getting a skill list yet. I think at least that I have some sort of poison resistance. The reason is that when I killed the frog, the pain in my ‘teeth’ was weaker now than before.

It could just be that the spider was poisonous from the beginning, but there was barely any pain when I chomped the raptors too.

If I did have a poison resistance skill, then it would have leveled up when I used that poison bite skill and when I ate the poisoned spider and frog.

Didn’t ninja’s do that, eating poison to increase their resistance to poison?

When we are on the subject of eating, neither of the aforementioned ‘dishes’ was any good, even without poison. The spider was a straight out gross. Why gross? It’s a spider, how can't it be gross!?

The frog wasn’t any better. The meat was slimy and tough, and bitter to the B!

I hope that these raptors are any better. Damn, why does a demon have to have taste buds?

Yes, you heard right. The truth is that I am not a slime. I am a [Lesser Grey Demon], whatever that is.

I got this from the level-up announcement. It called me “Individual [Lesser Grey Demon]”. The ‘individual’ part must be because I’m nameless at the moment, and instead, it called me after my race. I think that’s it.

Oh yeah, there isn’t just me that’s leveled up. My skill did so too, just before the raptor attack.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Skill [Concentration] has reached LV10.

0.1 Skill Point(s) obtained.

My most used skill, [Concentration] reached LV10 back then. I know I gained this skill at LV1 when I first reincarnated, but there must have been no changes with the skill itself when the level went up. Since I asked Skvalv to limit my System Messages to just important changes in the skill, I didn’t get any announcements until now.

If a skill reaches a level of the multiples of ten, then you’ll be rewarded with skill points. That must be important enough for the system to tell me about it.

I also found out how to use those skill points. Right after [Concentration] reached the LV10 mark, I retried what I had started in the tunnels leading to the lake, by just thinking out commands wildly.

After half a dozen off dozens of commands, I got up this:

SKILL SHOP

Available skill points: 1.3

Search by word:

Search by skill []

Available skills:

Guess that's something. I had 1.3 skill points back then, with 0.2 from the two level-ups and 0.1 from [Concentration LV10]. The remaining 1 point must be a default point any living being is born with. I think.

My total amount is at 1.4 points now, with the latest level-up though.

I tried to search after some system-related skills, but I got nothing in the 'Available skills' tab.

Am I missing some skill points? Skvalv did say that the lowest price for a Skill was 1 point.

In the end, I left the skill shop after just window shopping a little. Better to save up skill points to get stronger skills later on. I've got 1.4 skill points now thanks to the raptors leveling me up again, but I don't think that will do any difference. 

Still, isn't the acquisition rate for skill points pretty low? Maybe a Grey Demon has a low skill point rate from the beginning. And I'm a lesser variant...

Moving on! How should I get the skill points to get system-related skills? The best idea is to go on a monster kill spree but to do that, I need system-related skills so that I don't end up dead after challenging a hidden boss. What a chicken-and-egg paradox.

So should I just be a man and fight without any information? NOPE! NEVER! See what happened with these three raptor brothers here when they rushed forward without looking out for traps. Remember what happened with the frog from before? The spider? The monster spider!? I've made my point.

It could be just me being a chicken, but I've lived my new life by utilizing the monsters' low information-collection powers. Who said that I would not end up in the same way if I ain't careful?

Not that some brilliant solution to the problem is gonna fall from the sky. Not that I can see it, as I'm in an underground dungeon.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Congratulations!

Blessing [Lesser Blessing of Arts] has been acquired.

Due to [Lesser Blessing of Arts], the following skills are acquired.

Acquired skill: [Appraisal LV5]

Acquired skill: [Language Adaption] 

Or, maybe it will just pop up?

Blessing? What kinda blessing? Lesser, arts, arts, AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

SKVALV! This has to be him! Lesser blessing of arts, I mean, there's no one else that I know of with those characteristics!

And I gained a skill, no, two skills with it!

Thank you Skvalv. This is a godsend, literally and figuratively!

One of the skills doesn’t have a skill level, but I get what kind of skill it is. [Language Adaption] is straightforward for a skill name. This eliminates one of my problems when I’ve evolved into a human form. The language barrier is after all the biggest wall when dealing with otherworld transferring.

The second skill is more of a mystery. [Appraisal], huh. Does that mean that I can deduce the price of items now? Let’s test it out on the raptor corpses for now.

[Appraisal] Result:
Name: Corpse of Glavras Slipraus
Description: The corpse of a Glavras Slipraus. Killed by poison.

Huh? That's not a sales price. Then, [Appraisal] is to get information then?

I-I mean, o-o-of c-course I k-knew that. Hahaha...

A-anyway, what's up with this result. Even if you tell me it's a corpse, that's not gonna help anyone to understand what creature...

[Appraisal] Result:
Name: Glavras Slipraus
Rank: E
Type: Dinosaur (Monster)
Attribute: Water
Description:

A Water attribute dinosaur monster and a subspecies of the Jungle Raptor. The Glavras Slipraus is a monster unique to the Dungeon [Water-Knot of Glavras].

They travel in a pack of three and hunts down monsters with impressive speed and teamwork. They are loyal creatures, and would never think of betraying the person, or monster, that they see as their master.

SERIOUSLY, DON'T DISS SOMEONE LIKE THAT [APPRAISAL]!

But this is good. I can double-appraise the appraisal result. This is definitely a cheat skill. Or is it the skills high level? It was at LV5 from the start. Thanks again, Skvalv. And, there is something interesting hidden in the result. Yup, the result is talking about the dungeon. Then without further ado:

[Appraisal] Result:
Name: Water-Knot of Glavras
Description:

ERROR!

INFORMATION ABOUT [Water-Knot of Glavras] IS HIDDEN BY [!¤#&/!%].

REACH [Appraisal LV9] TO BREACH CONCEALMENT.

Error!? The appraisal was blocked? How is that possible? 

Wait. If there are skills that let you read the information recorded in the world system, then there should be skills to hide it as well. The culprit has even hidden their own name with the same method, probably.

This is starting to look kinda dangerous. Who would go all this way to keep their dungeon hidden? Isn't dungeons supposed to lure adventures with treasures and then kill them? Why hide from them?

No way to know for sure. I guess I'll know when [Appraisal] reaches LV9. That could take a while. Skvalv said that skills had different level caps, with 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 being the limits.

If [Appraisal] needs to be LV9 to reveal the hidden information, then the level cap should be at LV10.  Training a skill up to right before the max level will be difficult. If I'm lucky, then it's just the concealment skill is at a low level, while [Appraisal] can reach LV50.

Let's just think that the level cap is at 10 and use the skill as much as possible to gain proficiency in it. That will give me the answers faster anyway.

Then, as a start, let's check out myself:

Name: Nameless
Race: Lesser Grey Demon   | Gender: none
Level: 4
Karma Value 0
Skill Points: 1.4
Main Class: none
Sub Class: Locked
HP: 2/2 MP: 1/1 SP: 13/13
STR: 2 VIT: 2 MAG: 1
RES: 8 SPD: 14 DEX: 19
INT: 120 LUC: 150

HEY WAIT A MINUTE! HP is at 2!? And the MP is even worse!? Isn't that worse than that cave explorer in that game? The one that you will die from the smallest heights and when unspeakable stuff hits you?

Come on...

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