First Instance (2)

It was a lot more damage than she was expecting to take. As a level 9 player, she only had around 110 HP. Yet this mob shaved away over a third of it in one hit...

*Alright.*

But that hit gave her the information she needed to eliminate the threat.

The monster screeched again. And this time, now that she was familiar with the sound, Jisha had a much easier time locating it.

*Wait... 1... 2!*

It took two and a half seconds from the first screech for the monster to land a hit.

So, precisely two seconds after the second screech, Jisha fired her slingshot in the direction of the screech.

*-72*

It was a hit! But...

*... It didn't die?*

This was a bit surprising. The only mob that hadn't been one-shot by the Golden Slingshot thus far was the boss of the Corrupted Land. Any regular mobs in the area were easily killed with one pellet.

On top of that, the slingshot didn't do as much damage as it had been doing previously. This monster's defenses were higher than expected, too.

*Is this really a level 10 dungeon?*

If this was a natural mob of the area, then it was impossible for this to be a level 10 dungeon. Its difficulty was likely 10 to 20 levels higher...

Fortunately, the Golden Slingshot was still a lethal weapon.

*-138*

*>+31 Copper*

After another screech, Jisha landed a critical hit. The monster died as confirmed by the coins that appeared in her Coin Pouch.

*So this is this a level 31 dungeon?*

This "bat" was a level 31 common monster.

Though this level difference seemed quite large, the reality was that stat differences below level 100 were fairly small. So, even a 22 level difference wasn't the end of the world.

Tier 0 "common" mobs would drop Copper equivalent to their level. "Uncommon" mobs would drop Copper equivalent to 1.5 times their level.

And it was highly unlikely it was anything of a higher rarity due to it being the first mob she encountered here...

*What did it drop?*

To find its loot, Jisha hesitantly stepped away from the wall.

She didn't want to spend too long away from the wall as she didn't want to risk getting lost. If she accidentally wandered through a mazelike cave system... Well, it would be game over.

*>+1 Winged Cave Dweller's Larynx*

*>Name: Winged Cave Dweller's Larynx*

*>Type: Mutator*

*>Description: *High-pitched screeching**

*>Rating: Tier 0, Epic*

*>Ability:*

*>Echolocation (Toggle, No cooldown): While enabled, emits an ultrasound pulse every 5 seconds allowing the user to see with sound rather than light.*

*Huh.*

When she read the description for this item, she was a bit surprised.

Though it wasn't unheard of for a Common monster to drop an Epic item, it was still rare. The probability varied throughout the world, but... the rule of thumb was around one in a thousand...

On top of that, it was a "Mutator" type, which was rare in and of itself. Only about one in fifty items were of the Mutator type, and this was a conservative estimate. It was likely to be even less than that.

So the odds of receiving this item here and now were...

*A one-in-fifty-thousand drop?*

And there was one more thing.

It was another item that was extremely convenient for her circumstances.

Jisha couldn't help but wonder if the system's drop rates were suddenly rigged in her favor.

*Well, I'm not complaining!*

With gratitude, Jisha equipped the Mutator item.

Mutator items were a bit dangerous. They were not stored in the inventory or armor slots but rather on the body itself. Once applied, they could not be removed. They permanently changed a player's physique. Because of this, using too many mutators could either change your race class or completely destabilize your character.

The reason Jisha didn't hesitate to use this one, though, was because it was a Tier 0 item.

After every tier, a player's physique would receive something akin to a reset. After a tier evolution, all mutators would be reset along with a myriad of other changes.

The only mutators she truly had to worry about were the ones after Tier 9, but that was still years away.

*Time to try this thing out... Let's toggle the ability on.*

A pulse radiated with Jisha at the center, and the reflection of this pulse loaded a wave of information in her brain. The information she received was akin to a snapshot of the cave with only the outlines of objects visible.

In other words, she was now seeing the game with no color at 0.2 frames per second...

Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance when she drew this analogy, but... it was better than being completely blind.

With this ability, she would have absolutely no trouble anymore dealing with small fry monsters. Another bonus was that she didn't need to stick to the wall anymore.

After a deep breath, Jisha picked up her pace and began to run through the dungeon.