Chapter 16-

I stared down the steps. They seemed to go on forever.

"Should I go down?"

I wasn't prepared when I first met the giant snake. So I knew that I needed to be prepared for whatever's down there.

I left the door and returned to my shelter.

I then started to explore and gather resources around the jungle.

I started to gather some branches and toss them near a fire. This caused them to absorb the heat and start leaking the sap, which I used to make more batches of recovery water.

I then started increasing my training. The Divine Cloth was already healing my tired body after training. But with the recovering water, this allowed me to train longer. Although at the end of the "day", this increase in training left my body in the worst condition as I slept on the grass.

It was hard to tell how many days had gone by, so I started counting them by the times I slept.

Since the giant snake was dead, I didn't have to hide. So I mostly slept anywhere I collapsed from exhaustion.

Whenever I wasn't training, I started making tools and weapons.

Since there wasn't much, most of the tools were made from branches and stone.

I also started carving the snake's corpse.

I used the fangs to make two daggers, it's scales to repair and improve the leather armor that I had, and carved the meat off to get to the bones.

I used its ribs to make six spears, its spine to make arm and shin guards, its lower jaw to make two clubs, and its skull to make a large shield.

I didn't want to eat the meat since it was starting to decay and it had animal waste on it. So I buried them in ditches.

Most of the animals didn't bother me since they weren't hostile. But they did walk around my shelter and knock over stuff that I was working on.

It was hard to keep them away, but I soon got them to avoid my shelter by 'marking my territory'.

I kept checking up on my tools and weapons.

I made them from my experience working at a blacksmith, but I kept worrying that I didn't wrap them correctly or that they might break immediately after a couple of uses.

I also used my time to hunt fish, since who knew how long my rations would last.

It took awhile just to manage to get one. After that I started to get the hang of it.

I smoked them and coated them in the sap. This was to hopefully preserve them and give them recovering properties.

I then got some of my empty jars and started gathering sap.

I did this by making a hole in the tree, sticking a bone pipe in it, and lighting small fires around the tree.

This started a slow process of collecting the sap. So I spent the time waiting by training, hunting fish, and reading the books that Tashin gave me.

Why? It's because I had nothing else to do with my time and I missed reading, even though they didn't have any pictures.

I also noticed that my adventurer card wasn't working.

The screen that showed my stats wasn't working and just showed a blank screen.

But after making sure everything was ready, training enough, and gathered all that I could, I made my way to the door.

When I arrived at the door, I saw that it was still open.

I was still amazed at how there's a staircase leading down, despite the fact that the door wasn't attached to a wall.

I then noticed the elk from earlier was walking up to me.

"What, you're here to say goodbye?"

I started petting the elk.

"Um… thanks for not attacking me while I was here?"

Belch!

The elk had let out a burp close to my face, probably made all of my nose hairs to shrivel up.

I started coughing and fanning the air.

"Wow, what did you eat?! It smells foul! Gonna miss you too, big guy."

I gave the elk a pat on the side and started walking down the stairs.

I looked back and saw the elk staring down at me while the doors closed between us.

I then continued walking down the stairs.

****

After walking for what felt like an hour, I saw that I still couldn't see the bottom.

"How far do these stairs go?"

Then an idea came to mind.

"Mom always said to never do this again. But she isn't here to stop me!"

I placed the skull shield on the stairs and sat on it while using a foot to keep myself steady.

“Alright, here I go?”

I then let go and allowed myself to slide down the steps.

It was bumpy on the way down and I was slowly building up speed.

“Steady, Steady, Steady, Steady!”

I was zooming down the stairs faster than I thought I would.

"Sh**, Sh**, Sh**!"

What made things worse, was that I could see the bottom coming at me and fast.

I quickly used my backpacks like an anchor to slow me down, but it wasn't slowing me down fast enough.

Thud!

I soon hit the bottom and flew off of the shield, tumbling on the ground and landing on my back.

I was hurt, but wasn't hurt too bad.

I just layed there, staring at the ceiling and processing what just happened.

I then burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha! I now remember why Mom never wanted me to do that!"

The last time I did that, my sister and I used a laundry basket to slide down our stairs.

The basket caught itself on a step and we both tumbled down the rest of the stairs. We then ended up crashing into one of our mother's flowerpots and caused it to shatter on the ground.

We both ended up getting grounded for a week after that.

"... I miss those times. I hope they're doing alright?"

I got up on my feet and stretched my back.

"They're most likely doing better than me right now?"

After cracking my back, I picked up my stuff and proceeded through the tunnel.

This was when I noticed a weird neon glow in the distance.

Once I reached the end of the tunnel, I saw that it led to another jungle.

But this one was dark and had plants that gave a slight glow.

"This place looks like the scene for an outdoor rave."

Just then, I felt as if something or someone was watching me.

I then got the two fang daggers ready and kept an eye out around me.

Soon my eyes spotted two glowing lime green eyes and the sound of growling could be heard.

"You sure came here early?"

Then a large black panther jumped out of the bushes and towards me.

I didn't waste any time. I lunged one of the daggers into its open mouth, causing it to pierce through and out the back of the neck of the creature.

I then thrusted the other one into the belly of the panther, stabbing it repeatedly to the ground.

Soon enough the creature was dead, but this felt way too easy.

I gave the panther's body a small kick, but nothing happened.

"This isn't the hunter on the floor, is it?"

I looked around and didn’t see any other creature in the area. So I was left there confused.

But as I was thinking to myself, the sounds of coins clinking could be heard behind me.

I turned around and saw that the dead body of the panther was gone. But there were a few gold coins where it was.

“Coins?”

I picked one of them up to inspect it.

“Did… did I just get gold for killing that panther?”

I then felt something small and heavy land on my head. Then a soft female voice spoke up.

“Yep, that’s the rules of this floor.”

I shaked off whatever was on my head and it leaped on the ground in front of me.

It was a strange small hooded figure and it was wearing a small grey cloak.

But I noticed that it was standing on two feline legs and it had a cat tail sticking out. The fur on both the legs and tail was a light orange color.

“Who or what are you?”

The small hooded figure gave a small bow towards me.

"I'm Q, the guardian of this floor. But you'll know me as the 'Hunter' of this floor."

Hearing this, my eyes went wide as I jumped back and got my knives ready.

"What, are you here to kill me?!"

Q then wagged a finger at me.

"No,No,No! Unlike Marv, I'm not one to be savage."

"Marv?" I said while raising an eyebrow.

"The large Horned Serpent. Nasty manners on that one. Always quick to anger."

Q then started to walk around me, scratching her chin and inspecting me.

"But since you're here, that means you've slayed him, correct?"

"Yeah… you're not mad about that? You're not here to avenge him, right?"

"Like I said, he and I never got along. So him kicking the bucket isn't anything to get upset over. Like I said, I'm not one to let my savage nature get the better of me."

"So why are you here?"

"Well to test you of course!"

Q then threw both of her hands, or well paws in the air and stared up at the ceiling.

"Out of all of the humans, travelers, or any other race out there, only you've managed to enter this place and managed to slay the first guardian! If that doesn't catch anyone's interest, then they don't see true talent!"

"So what kind of test am I taking?"

Then Q lowered her hands and stared at me.

"Well I can't tell you that, obviously! But!"

She then pointed at the strange dark and neon-lit jungle. She was doing a strange pose while doing it.

"I could tell you that every animal that you slay here would turn into gold coins and possibly other items. They're very much real and would belong to you. Small creatures like that panther would give you a few gold or simple items, but the bigger beasts would give you more gold and valuable magic items."

"So like an RPG or MMO game?"

That made Q slouch alittle.

"If you wanna kill the fun, then yeah. It's very similar to one of your RPMM-whatever you called them."

"OK… cool? So what's the reason or goal for this test?"

Q then struck another weird pose.

"Like I said, that's a secret. Good luck!"

She then leapt into a tree and ran off somewhere.

"Why do I get the weirdos?"

I then picked up the gold coins and stored them into my pocket.

"I miss Alice." I said while making my way through the jungle.

****

It was like Q said. Any creatures that I killed who came after me, turned into a few gold coins or into simple things like a piece of raw meat.

Some turned into raw meat, arrows, stone daggers, or even a piece of animal hide.

During my trip through the jungle, I've gathered a small amount of each. Seven pieces of raw meat, thirteen arrows, six stone daggers, thirteen pieces of animal hides, and twenty-nine gold coins.

Since I didn't know where I was going and I was starting to get tired, I decided to find a spot in the trees to sleep in.

As I found a decent tree with a bow-like center, I decided to use the backpacks as a head rest and drifted off to sleep.

The next day I decided to start turning this tree into a base.

Since we were underground, I didn’t need to worry about it raining. So I just sharpened branches and pointed them downwards along the edges of the tree, to keep any dangerous beasts from climbing up to me.

I also made a pillow and bed with some of the animal pelts.

While I was making the base, I had to stop once in a while and rub my eyes.

The wood from the trees was a dark blue color, the grass had a neon green glow, and the leaves on the trees had a pink and purple glow to them. All of this was hurting my eyes and just looking at it kept making me rub my eyes.

But that wasn't the weirdest part. It was the air, and how It had a slight bitter taste to it.

It always made me feel like I had an orange peel in my mouth and felt weird to breathe it, almost like it gave my lungs a heavy feeling.

I managed to finish building the base after assuming the "day" was over, since this place always has a nighttime appearance to it.

After eating the remaining rations I had, I decided to wander around the jungle and look for the door to the next floor, while fighting any beasts that tried to attack me.

I’ve also started to learn the locations, habits, and types of the strong and simple beasts.

The simple beasts that I’ve been encountering lately, mostly wander around the jungle and hunt weaker monsters. While the stronger monsters tend to roam the nearby swamp and tend to fight one another.

“I know that Q said that they give better items, but…”

I was standing on a tree that was close to the swamp and looking at two of the monsters fighting.

One was a six legged alligator, the size of a bus and it was biting into the neck of a giant horned toad. The fight was causing swamp water to splash everywhere.

“I don’t know if I have the proper weapons to fight any of those?”

The beasts that I’ve encountered in the jungle are Deers, panthers, rabbits, owls, wolves, giant ants, and those glowing birds. While the strong monsters consist of strange alligators, horned toads, mammoths, giant mosquitoes, and large fish.

After watching the giant Alligator kill the horned toad, I then returned to searching for the door.

But no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see any trace of the door. So I decided to head back to my base.

But during the walk back, I noticed a stronger bitter taste in the air.

“What’s with this air? It’s so bitter that it’s almost hard to breathe it?”

I’ve been noticing that parts of the jungle had a stronger bitter taste than other areas.

I then noticed that it was coming from somewhere close by. I was about to head towards the source of the smell, but then felt something land on top of my head.

“Hey there, how goes the hunting?!”

“Oh… it’s you.”

Q then hopped off of my head and landed on the ground in front of me.

“I see that you’ve been helping yourself to hunting. How much have you’ve gathered so far?

“I don’t know? I guess I gathered a decent amount?”

“So, have you decided to start hunting the stronger beasts?”

“About that… I don’t know if I could hunt them with my weapons?”

Most of my bone weapons were only helpful in hunting the simple beasts. I once tossed a bone spear at a mammoth in the distance, but the spear only broke against its fur and I had to run away from it.

Q then started to rub her chin. She then raised her head and I could almost see the face of the hooded figure.

Each eye with the mixed color of blue and orange, was glaring into mine.

“Well that’s not good? You might need more of my assistance?”

“Assistance?”