01 - Welcome To The Dungeon [1/2]

Chapter 01 – Welcome To The Dungeon [1/2]

Written By Dr Armstrong

->Drakka POV<-< strong>

"RAAAGH!!!" Drakka squealed like a git as his body spun around like a fidget spinner, arms flailing about in panic and fear.

The Snotling tried his absolute best to mitigate or at least dampen the incoming fall damage that was about to befall him, using his decades' worth of skydiving experience.

~KABRAM~!

But all was for nought as he had instead fallen into a shallow pond of water, not the solid earth.

Although, this wasn't really a good thing. Remember, this wasn't Minecraft where fall damage could be mitigated with just water, such a shallow pond naturally had a solid rock floor…

A few cracks in his skeletal structure could be heard as the pond turned a scarlet red with the stench of hot iron proliferating the waters.

"Grr…" The popping of bubbles ensued upon the surface of the pond as something down under stirred in annoyance.

~Ripple…KABAAM~!

The surface rippled shortly before a huge shadow broke through and emerged out of the pond with a great, dolphin-like leap into the sky.

Emerging from the murky depths of the pond, the top portion of the Snotling surfaced, revealing an ominous shadow trailing closely behind.

"GRAAAAGH!!!" The Snotling screamed in surprise as his left leg was chomped down upon by a great monstrous beast. 

It was the fearsome and domineering form of a gigantic crocodile, bearing a jaw that was more akin to a valley of daggers, a short sail that stretched from the back of its head all the way into the tips of its tail, and sinister golden eyes that glanced into the Snotling's very soul.

Too used to the great and fearsome strength of his former body, the Snotling readied his fists and punched the Beast's snout with ferocious intensity.

And although the technique was precise and brutal, the strength behind the Snotling's punches was laughable.

No matter how great a Human was at swordsmanship, they wouldn't be able to slice an Elephant with a feeble stick.

The same goes for the current Drakka, all that his fists had managed to accomplish was to enrage the Beast even further.

With a visibly annoyed expression, the Beast crashed back down into the pond with a great burst of water, his snout still above the surface, gripping the Snotling's leg with great force.

And then, as if swinging a deadly yoyo, the Beast swung his head in a horizontally circular pattern with the Snotling's leg still in his mouth.

"…LET ME'Z GO, YOU STINKIN' GROT-" It didn't take even a couple of seconds before that wish was fulfilled.

The Snotling flew sky high before abruptly having a date with a faceful of dirt, his body landing on the side of the pond with a great crunch.

"Fock…!" So this was how the Snots always felt…looking back, Drakka felt good about what he used to do to those damned gits.

"Hrr…Grot, where'z me leg!?" Drakka calmly looked toward his lower body, only to find out that his left leg had been cleanly bitten off, obviously by that Beast.

Looking back toward the pond, the Beast could be seen with a smug expression that seemed to have been smelted into its face. Blood dribbled down from its fang-filled maw as it swallowed the Snotling's leg as if it were a lollipop.

Although it was a sinister and frightening sight, the former Warboss appeared unfazed. With an ice-cold calm expression, the Snotling casually got up on his singular leg and-

"Kunnin' Retreat!!!" He screamed out before using a deadly technique taught to him by a certain Orkish Prophet.

The Beast stared, wide-eyed at the sight before her as the Snotling jumped up and down with one leg, somehow managing to not fall out of balance even once, like a professional ballet dancer…

It then pondered whether or not to pursue this strange prey…

It smelled like a Monster but looked like a malformed mutant of those surface dwellers, it was a strange creature the Beast had never seen in the Dungeon, but the Beast herself didn't seem all that surprised by its shocking appearance.

After returning to the water, the Beast submerged itself in the pond. It didn't find it necessary to continue focusing on such an obviously weak monster as it would only waste its energy.

"Huff, huff, huff…" The Snotling leaned against a bioluminescent, blue-leafed tree as he only managed to run about a dozen meters from the pond. Turns out, trying to flee with one leg was a herculean task for this puny body…

"Huff, huf…shite me arse…" He cursed before sitting on his ass, leaning against the tree while finally getting the opportunity to appraise the surroundings. 

It was a forest of illumination, giant trees filled with blue light towered over the sapphire horizon, a sky there was none, for a cavernous ceiling veiled above. The telltale sign of a subterranean forest…

This place was underground.

Beside the pond was a tall hill with a straight drop into the water, Drakka supposed that this hill was the original location of the log that he had been reborn in. 

Something must have kicked the log down and inevitably fell onto the pond…

"Grr…" The Snotling looked down upon his jibblies, a look of consideration present on his goblinoid face.

Red bubbles resembling fish eggs rippled and burst where his left leg was missing. A small stump emerged from the wound, trailing the bubbling blood.

Looks like the regeneration was kicking in…

He felt little to no pain from the mutilation of his leg, Greenskins were not much affected by the repelling sensation, but they still feared death which the Snotling thankfully managed to avoid.

He thought back on the events leading up to this moment, specifically the strange numbers and words that appeared before his reincarnation.

"I remember…that git said somethin' bout…err…Stats…?" The Snotling muttered before strange glowing words suddenly appeared before him.

*** *** ***

  [Drakka Armzstronk]

  [LV 1]

Might: 13  Toughness: 9  Cunning: 19

Will: 35  HP: 26  MP: 0 

  Skills:

[Bash LV 2] - [Craft LV 3] - [Hear LV 1] - [Regeneration LV 1] - [WAAAGH! LV 1]

  [Species: Snotling]

  Biomass {1}

  Skill Points {1}

*** *** ***

"Hm..." Although he was from a muscle-headed and barbaric race, the Snotling was far from stupid, he quickly realized what the strange words and numbers represented.

"Might...daz me muscles, Toughness...diz Snot body ain't 'ard at all..." The Snotling analyzed his stats, taking in the numbers and what they represented. 

"Cunning...yeh, me'z used to be mostest kunnin' in the Waaagh back den...and Will..." Of course, he was a genius amongst his kind, the lord of the smarty pants...

But he wasn't sure why Will was the highest among his stats, it seems he was just the best.

"Skills...? Wot are those?" The wording was pretty vague. He was a skilled Shoota in his past life, but there weren't any shooting-related Skills here...

[Skills: Abilities granted upon by the System to assist its users.]

"Ooo...em, that makes sense." The Snotling muttered to himself before bringing up his Skills to the System, who he still thought to be an incarnation of a certain Chaos God.

"Then wot'z me Skills?" He asked out loud. 

[Bash: Increases the damage and potency of blunt attacks.]

[Craft: Grants innate knowledge on the creation of various items.]

[Hear: Enhances the radius and effectiveness of detecting audio.]

[Regeneration: Boosts the natural speed of HP recovery.]

[WAAAGH!: For the WAAAGH!]

"Noice, noice, very noice..." The Snotling praised as he briefly glanced back at his regenerating leg, which had become a slightly larger stump at this point.

[Do you wish to use your Skill Points?]

"Err...wot are those?" He asked the System as a metaphorical question mark appeared on his goblinoid face.

[Skill Points: Used to enhance existing Skills or purchase new ones.]

"Oooh...err...den wot new Skills cud I get?" They were called Skills for a reason, they should be able to be upgraded with training or something similar.

If the acquisition of new Skills were locked under the requirement of necessary Skill Points, it was better to utilize the resource in that department rather than just using it to speed up the levelling of his Skills.

Resource management was the lamest part of being a Warboss, but it taught him a few things...

*** *** ***

[Skill Points: Used to enhance existing Skills or purchase new ones.]

[Biomass: Used for the enhancement and mutation of your monstrous body parts.]

-> Skills available for purchase:

• [Stealth] 1 SP, improves your ability to avoid enemy detection.

• [Dash] 1 SP, temporarily increases walking speed but also increases stamina consumption.

• [Proliferation] 1 SP, boosts the ability to asexually reproduce via spores and create more Greenskins.

• [Throw] 1 SP, increases the accuracy of ranged attacks, particularly throwing attacks.

• [Brawl] 1 SP, sub-consciously guides you to the most optimal moves in a fight, effectiveness depends on the Cunning stat.

• [Build] 1 SP, grants innate knowledge on the building of various structures.

• [Dig] 1 SP, sub-consciously guides you in the act of digging to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

-> Mutations available for purchase:

• [Hide +1] 1 BM, hardens the hide and makes it more resistant to mundane damage.

• [Ears +1] 1 BM, improves the sense of hearing.

• [Nose +1] 1 BM, improves the sense of smell.

• [Eyes +1] 1 BM, improves the sense of sight.

• [Teeth +1] 1 BM, sharpens your teeth and improves their ability to pierce.

• [Legs +1] 1 BM, increases walking speed.

• [Arms +1] 1 BM, improves the dexterity of your hands.

• [Spore Gland +1] 1 BM, increases the amount and potency of your spores.

*** *** ***

"Hn..." He considered what to purchase...

===

Thoughts?

Remark: Orks are single-handedly the most based race in fiction, change my mind.

Give me yer stones, bruv.

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