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After the hour had come and gone, I reentered NFO to look at the result.
Ah, human hands. HANDS! Real ones! And a single pair of legs! Rather, this is completely a human body! I almost expected to have a smoke-like lower body, but it seems I'm spared from that this time around.
However, the good parts end there. Because this new body? It's broken.
Parts of my body look like it's made of broken, black glass. Black smoke is seeping out from the cracks, almost as if I'm on the verge of collapsing completely. I won't take more damage if I'm hit on those places, will I?
I seem to have a "damaged area" on my right leg, my left arm, on the right side of my waist, and when I looked into the fountain pool, I could see I had one on my face that went across my left eye. Said eye had turned white with black sclera as a crack went through it. I've also got a pair of down-turned, black-and-purple horns on both sides of my face, a common trait for all humanoid demons.
Other than that, the avatar looks just like how I designed it. Long, white hair with stripes of black and a glossy appearance, indigo-purple eyes, and pale skin. The avatar's a demonic me, to say it simply.
And I'm half-naked. Half because the system gives humanoid avatars some basic clothing with no durability, meaning it can't be destroyed. Can't be sold or traded either. Got no defensive properties or special effects.
It's basically to prevent forced nudity and will automatically be equipped if the user doesn't have anything else equipped. People with the R-18 DLC can remove them, but not in public areas.
The clothes consist of a tattered black cloth to act as a shirt, one of the same standards that act as a skirt, and sandal-like shoes.
...aren't the treatment of demons a little harsh here?
Whatever. Let's go and see what else is new. There's a system message here, probably telling the result of the evolution.
And I was right..., skills! Yay!
And I got another trait. Not sure how to react to that one. Never focused much on the old one. And it's "unstable"..., will it be fixed if I evolve again?
Wow, that's an upgrade. But my STR..., is still low. Better not rely on that in the future...
And there are the two new skills. As for their effects...
[Create Trap] sounds useful, but how should I use that sleep skill? Forcing someone into a sleep-hold? With my low STR? Maybe if I could trap them..., but then I don't need to make them go "zzz"!
Okay, as for the trait...
What? Did I just turn worse in tanking magic!? Considering I've never thought of tanking hits, it's not that big of a problem..., and "Purification" is also an element, no? Reduced physical damage is sorta nice. I can start hunting red spiders for real now. And ironically, it's the yellow ones who've turned into my nemesis. Times are changing.
The "functionality of the five sense" thing though..., yeah, I can barely feel anything. I kept on trying to touch the stuff in my Player Room, but I can't feel anything with my hands. Or the rest of my body for that matter. I can barely see anything, especially on my left side. The scenery changes into darkness just five-meter in front of me. And my hearing is worse as well. I bet even my senses of taste and smell are out then.
Tch, this is one heck of a handicap. Was I too hasty with evolving? No, let's hope this will lead to something incredible further down the line. I can also equip the "Tool Belt" I got from one of the spiders' Quests, so I can equip the Iron Dagger I bought from that black-market guy. Not sure if I can use it, but having a weapon on hand is somewhat calming.
The last two effects are..., the first one isn't related to my current situation. After all, there is no sunlight or moonlight inside the Dungeon, which is what I think this effect does. Improve the status-altering effects from the Demon trait. And Karmavision..., got no clue!
Okay, that's all of my new abilities. And now..., I should learn how to walk with a half-functioning body. One step, two steps-, ouch!!
---
A while after I learned how to walk with these feelingless limbs, and...
Despite this body being trashier than my real one, it's surprisingly nimble. Or maybe it's just that the sudden increase in my DEX is making me think so?
Anyway, the Quests were easy to clear after I evolved. Having decent hands is way more practical than those claw feet, and I'm taller as well. Plus, it's easier to use [Mystical Threads] now when I can use my fingers to produce the web. It's damn cool to make a handgun and shoot the magical threads from it too~.
Still..., where are all the Quest givers? They have a yellow "!"-mark over their head, meaning even my faulty eyes should see them, but there are no spider women with that marker on their head...
Let's go and ask the mayor. She may know what else I can do. And she's the only spider who's yet to give me a Quest, the "main Quest" not included.
I found the mayor outside her house, a "mansion" that's simply one size bigger than the other houses.
"Gimme work." - Garami
"...seems like you've earned enough accomplishments..., here." - Mayor
The mayor took out three pieces of old-looking paper from her bag..., aren't these...
You are reading story Nightmare Fantasy Online at novel35.com
"Bounties?" - Garami
They were. They look like those flyers you see in old western movies. The "Dead or Alive" thing.
"The first one..., get rid of the thing in the Dark Cave..." - Mayor
Impossible! Not right away, at least! None of the Quests I cleared after evolving involved combat, so I haven't confirmed how well I can fight in this body!
"The second one..., find our lost treasure..." - Mayor
The flyer told me the rest. The grey spiders seem to have owned something valuable that suddenly disappeared one day.
"The third..., is this." - Mayor
...fruits?! And sweet ones!? Not to mention, in such large amounts!? Where am I..., that could work. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably.
I'm gonna try to clear them all, despite their difficulty. All of them have 0.5 AP as part of their reward after all. It would be a waste not to do so.
Nevertheless, while the third one may be clearable, the first one is impossible. At the current time, at least. I want more combat abilities before trying to face...whatever's inside that cave. As for the second..., it's a complete joker. I've got no clues regarding it.
I said my farewells to the mayor and left the nest. I wanna see how well I fare in battle...
Yeah, I gotta do something about these eyes. The patrolling spiders will see me before I can see them. I got a total of 0.9 AP from the Quests before, meaning I have enough to take a new skill...
Since it's for the sake of my bad eyes, and it fits the Scout class to a tee, I'll be choosing you!
I saw this guy when looking at [Detect Treasure]. This is like the #1 skill a Scout need in a Dungeon~. Now I can expect some growth for my class.
There we go. How does it-whoa!? Monster-signals, 12 o clock! Time to hide!
A group of spiders, yellow ones, passed me as I was hiding behind the boulder. Taking up the skill so far from the nest almost got me killed. That was careless of me.
I kept on walking through the passages as I looked for some red spiders for a quick battle. They are the best enemies for the current me. And I also wanna see the last "spider leg" on the map.
Therefore, I walked with the intent of mapping the whole outer rim~. The "core" of the map is still kinda sus in my eyes, and the other nests are off-limited unless I get some stealth-based skill.
As I walked, there was a noticeably higher amount of rubble here than in the other places on the map. It feels like I'm walking in a Stonehenge made of rubble. And that gives me an idea.
I kept an eye (detect skill) open for any patrols and started to check what traps I could make. Snares, glue traps, tripwire..., wait, glue? Oh, that's right. [Mystical Threads] can also make adhesive threads. The problem is that the stickiness is weak, so I sorta filtered that effect out from my head. Maybe it will help if I increase the skill level?
While pondering on future skill improvements, I started to prepare a nasty little prank of mine with all the rubble in the corridor while looking out for enemies. No one's coming...
Since it's boring, not to mention dangerous, waiting here, I left my little trap behind and continued down the passage.
---
Hmm, this is strange. The whole place is deserted.
I can say this because the amount of rubble has increased EVEN MORE. Not to mention that dust is starting to pile up on the floor. If the spiders would patrol here, they would at least try to remove the rubble, or even leave behind tracks in the dust.
Just as I was wondering if I'd taken the wrong turn somewhere and returned to the dust area, I discovered a new passage. One with walls in purple colors and covered in dust.
Eh..., there was a purple branch here for real. And it seems the people-, er, spiders here must have been a typical example of being "too prideful for their good"..., or they didn't wanna live on the same floor as the other spiders. Ooh, that's annoying. If I find one, I'll give them a good punch.
But to think I could create a shortcut from this place too. Is that the same for all the "spider legs"? As for the instant access to the shortcut, is it because there is no one here to complain about it?
*Rumble, rumble, rumble...*
While I was pondering over the mysteries of this new area, a distant, yet loud, noise could be heard from the path I came from all of a sudden.
Ah..., someone tripped the "crumbling Stonehenge"-trap I made..., my condolence?
Well, I've found a nice shortcut, so how about quitting for today? I looked around and discovered the door to my Player Room hidden in an alley and proceeded to enter and log out for today.