[Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG] The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm

Chapter 94 - I Bow-lieve This is a Bow-nified but Minor Bug Exploit

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The next day, I put on a comfortable cotton bodysuit over my underwear and donned my trusty [Iron Plate Armor]. My long hair was becoming a problem, so I used the Cash Shop to change into a shorter, more practical hairstyle. Then I went down the ladder to level 51 as quietly as I could.

“Wow,” I breathed when I saw my new training ground.

It was a huge cavern that was so large I could barely see the other side, where there were dozens of entrances to more caves and tunnels in the rock. Whereas the level above had been carved out and tiled by people, this one looked entirely natural. Bioluminescent lichen and mushrooms gave off an eerie glow that bathed the scene in a soft, gentle light. The floor was uneven, but mostly clear except for a few rocks here and there that I could mine.

Players normally ran as quickly as they could to the other side whenever they reached this level because of the [Cavecrawlers]. I could see a few of them right now.

[Cavecrawler:

An insect species native to level 50 of the Chitinous Caverns. Their long bodies are covered in segmented white chitin and they move fast on their 30 legs. They are fragile but dangerous because they attack in a swarm. The older ones can spit a weak acid from their mouths.]

Dang it, even though they were just insects, they were much stronger than me!

[Cavecrawler:

Type: Melee
Element: None

BR: 79]

My Battle Rating has hardly risen since it was primarily calculated using equips, and I hadn’t changed mine.

[Violet

Level 1

HP: 100/100

BR: 28]

I was still level 1 because a player’s combat level was identical to the player’s highest combat stat. However, that was only after one had at least level 5 in either Strength, Attack, Archery, or Magic. Below that, a player remained level 1, which was all to my benefit since combat experience was partially dependent on one’s combat level. The lower your level was, the more experience you got from attacking enemies with higher BR.

[Violet

Level 1

HP: 100/100

MP: 35/35

Strength: 1/99

Attack: 3/99

Archery: 3/99

Magic: 3/99]

It would practically be suicide for me to engage in melee combat with a bunch of [Cavecrawlers], but I had another plan in mind. One time, when GodIAm and I wanted to get the drops from the monsters on this level, we deployed our [Potato Cannons]. This place had been filled with players, but our cannon strategy drove most of them away since the barrage of explosive [Thunderbolt Tubers] not only attracted all the bugs, but also the complaints of the other players who were disgusted by our profligate ways.

Though [Thunderbolt Tubers] did indeed cost a lot, it wasn’t like they cost that much more compared to high-level players’ topnotch arrows. Rather, the speed in which the [Potato Cannon] shot out the ammo, coupled with how it “wasted” exp since the cannon only gave half of the regular combat experience, made it nothing more than a toy for rich players to amuse themselves. Or, in that one memorable occasion, a way of driving other players away from a spot.

I smiled when I remembered how a particularly upset player had posted in the player forums about “hackers bullying users who play politely and don’t abuse others.” That had ignited a flame war which had GodIAm gleefully reveling in his infamy.

Those were fun times!

I cautiously walked five steps away from the ladder, moving as slowly and quietly as I could to place the [Potato Cannon]. The insects here were attracted by noise, and I didn’t want to be attacked by a swarm. Then I loaded the weapon with 10,000 [Thunderbolt Tubers] from my inventory. This should last for about three hours since the cannon had a rate of fire of one tuber per second.

[Potato Cannon:

Happy Adventure Incarnate Anniversary!

This magical autocannon can rotate 360°. Guaranteed to never hit a human.]

A small blue rectangle appeared on my combat screen with controls for the cannon, but I quickly dashed back to the ladder’s safe space before examining it. The [Potato Cannon] controls were quite simple. The screen showed me its current state and the number of ammo it held, and there were buttons labeled Start/Stop, Load, and Retrieve. It also had one inventory space filled with disposable earplugs

Heart pounding with barely suppressed glee, I mentally clicked on the Start/Stop button.

The first [Thunderbolt Tuber] hit a [Cavecrawler] and exploded with a loud booming sound. One second later, while the sound of that first shot hadn’t yet died down, the cannon rotated ten degrees clockwise and fired again. Monsters crawled out from every single cave entrance on the far side of the cavern and swarmed the cannon.

I was overjoyed when I saw that the cannon had its own magical protection The insects beat against an invisible force field to no effect.

The sound was becoming deafening, so I belatedly put on the noise-canceling earplugs that came with the cannon.

A few seconds later, three [Cavecrawlers] died messily, leaving behind insect [Chitin], [Venomous Sacs], and various body parts. Green blood spattered the rocks and earth nearby.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Archery level!]

[Your Archery level is now 4.]

Whohoo! I couldn’t believe how easy it was! The cannon was a great idea. I watched in open-mouth fascination as more and more [Thunderbolt Tubers] exploded. The insects were swarming the place, which meant that each explosion hit at least six of them at a time.

“It’s an insect massacre!” I couldn’t keep quiet any longer and pumped my fists in the air.

The words had barely left my mouth when I got another System popup.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Archery level!]

[Your Archery level is now 5.]

This was almost too easy. I loved it!

“Yeeeees! Kill it! Give me exp, baby!” My shouts attracted a small group of [Cavecrawlers] who tried to attack me but were stopped by an invisible barrier.

From my safe spot, I struck them with my [Iron Sword]. I was so much lower level compared to them that I hacked away at one [Cavecrawler] for what seemed like an eternity before it died, even with Mr. Bear helping me out with his [Fireball] attacks.

While I was busy fighting, I leveled up again.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Archery level!]

[Your Archery level is now 6.]

Of course, the cannon only gave Archery exp. If I wanted to level up my melee skills, I would have to kill the insects myself.

I devoted my efforts to swinging my sword at the bugs that were swarming the ladder area.

The first time an insect spat venom at me, I sprang back in alarm, hitting my head on the ladder behind me.

“Ow!” I took my helmet off and rubbed the back of my aching head. That was gonna leave a lump for sure.

Thank goodness that the mysterious protective enchantment stopped the venom as well. It hit the invisible field and then slid down to the ground, bubbling rather nastily.

“Gosh.” I definitely hadn’t expected the “weak acid” to look so scary.

The pain in my head was mitigated by yet another popup.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Archery level!]

[Your Archery level is now 7.]

I waited until I felt a little better before attacking the monsters again. This time, I tried to swing more thoughtfully, targeting different spots on their bodies to see if they had any particular weaknesses. The [Cavecrawlers] seemed to have weak underbellies, or whatever the part that wasn’t covered by their chitin was called. I rather suspected it was actually the part where they expelled waste.

A few minutes later, I killed my third insect with [Blade Flurry], and I finally got the System message that I was waiting for.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Attack level!]

[Your Attack level is now 4.]

“Oh, Mr. Bear, this is like taking candy from a baby! They’ve got no chance against me.” I laughed out loud in sheer joy for a little while before attacking the bugs again.

We had only been here for half an hour, but the ground was thick with the remains of dozens of bugs. I gathered up the [Chitin], [Venomous Sacs], and [Cavecrawler Parts] into my inventory. Though I didn’t need them, I thought it would be best to keep the place as clean as I could. Who knew what would happen if I left them in the cave to rot? I mean, they would nourish the soil, most probably, but I didn’t want unknown bacteria to breed unchecked in a place where I planned to spend a lot of time.

An hour later, my arms began to ache. On Earth, I had never been much of an athlete, but here I had done a lot of manual labor and training with melee dummies, so I had greater stamina than before. Even so, I had my limits.

It should be fine to take a break. I took off my armor and placed a small, comfortable armchair from my System inventory on the space directly in front of the ladder, making sure that it was within the protected zone. I sat down and drank some water while I rested. Of course, the cannon continued to provide me with exp while I relaxed.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Archery level!]

[Your Archery level is now 8.]

This almost felt like I was cheating.

I smiled at the thought. Was this how it felt for my old friend GodIAm whenever he found a bug in the game and “tested” it?

Of course, GodIAm always reported these bugs and only abused, I mean, “tested” them on a different account from his main, but many suspected that he secretly profited from them.

Was using a safe spot to attack monsters considered bug abuse? This was no longer a game, of course, so there were no such rules here, but I think this would be considered an exploit in Adventure Incarnate.

“Dear Mr. Bear, I think this means I can be called a bug abuser, in more ways than one!”