[hr][center][h3]??? — Dilapidated Shack[/h3]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/JhorTIT.png[/img]
《 Level 1 Bug Hunter 》
[@ERode][@TheMushroomLord][@PKMNB0Y][/center][hr]
[quote]"...some sort of community safety patrol?"

"Safety patrol...You could call it that, I guess--"[/quote]
[i]That bastard, if he asks her who she is she's gonna wanna know who WE are! It's a reciprocal type of--[/i] Connor tried to calm himself and focus on what he was doing. Nobody seemed to be trying to sneak up on them at them at the moment, so maybe the catgirl was indeed alone. Nonetheless, having a weapon on hand seemed like a good idea. [i]Why's this so hard when the building's falling apart?! Of course, with my luck, I got the ONE structurally soundly nailed plank--![/i]
[quote]"--Does pay well enough when I'm too tired to go hunting monsters or something, even if being in this place makes me wish I didn't have a nose."[/quote]
Connor looked up at hearing that--and found the catgirl staring right at him. He froze in place, [url=https://media.tenor.com/elD2MU4p22sAAAAM/ope-uh.gif]awkwardly contorting his face.[/url] The exchange of gazes lingered for a moment longer than he was comfortable with--and of course, the damn nail chose that moment to come free all on its own. The young man fell backwards, hitting his ass with a thump as he clung to his newfound armament.
[quote]"...Right. Well, we've all got our own circumstances, I guess--"[/quote]
As Connor hissed in pain, slowly rolling until he could climb back to one knee, he used his board as a crutch until he could focus properly.
[quote][code]Contact: "Elf man"
DO NOT ENGAGE! She's either Adventurer or Town Guard! 3 Lv1s prolly can't scratch her![/code][/quote]
But, this was good! She was going to leave them alone! Once they had a few more things in order, she might even prove to be friendly. He'd been wrong about her reciprocating the elf's request for an introduction--[i]No, not wrong. She just clearly knows she could kill us, so she's not worried. Wonder if she's got some kind of Scan or Appraisal ability?[/i]

Just then, another notification appeared in his vision. He had dismissed his Status window, so he jumped a bit with fright. The Slime was answering him...

And they had a lot to say, actually. Good, at least one other member of his party seemed of above average intelligence. As Connor mulled over the slime's responses, [b]he looked for the most cobweb covered, bug-eaten corner of the shack.[/b] Upon finding it, [b]he wedged one end of his weathered plank under the loosest floorboard he could find and started trying to lever it upward too[/b]--being VERY careful of the rusty nail sticking out of his makeshift lever.

[quote][code]Contact: "Slime" 
Ye, typically "universal translation" is default thing, in most stories I've seen. Having it work w/o proper parts like u is new, but ya kno, gift horse, mouth, etc.

In a hut. Old, rotted. Whole place looks like shantytown. That's the plan so far--tryin to gather info myself.

I'll know if mine's useful if I can figure out how to activate it. It's a type of magic, too. Elf guy hasn't said anything about his. Biomancy? Healer's a good guess, but maybe more. In some stories Slimes can shapeshift, copy abilities from things they absorb, etc. If I uh... kill like, a bug, do you... wanna eat it and see what happens?[/code][/quote]

Regardless of whether the Slime wanted to eat a bug, [b]Connor intended to try squashing something small first[/b]--an ant, a termite, a spider, whatever he figured he might reasonably find under the floorboards or in a pile of refuse--[b]and see if it gave him any EXP[/b]. Even if it was only a single point, or even a decimal, whether or not killing other creatures was a path to power in this world would tell him more about how this "system" they had worked.

Find a piece of information. Extrapolate on it. Experiment, find a new piece of information or clarify what was already known. That was Connor's secondary goal right now, but it was immediately conducive to the first goal: Survive.

They had shelter, which meant they had a little leeway before they needed water. Once they found that, though, they would need fire immediately afterword--especially if this was really a medieval slum row. Last was food, although if the slime could eat what would normally be considered "garbage" this bug hunt might kill two birds with one 2x4...

[hider=CONNOR'S INVENTORY][list][*]Acquired "Caliboard, the Holy 2x4." Item Description: A dilapidated plank roughly 2-and-a-half feet long, pried from a shack's windowsill. 1 Rusty Nail embedded in the end.[/list][/hider]