Chương 13: Please Take Care Of Me

Note to self, do not mess with the gluetrap potion. Anyways, after getting myself free, I continued brewing potions for the rest of the day and went to sleep soundly. The next day, I woke up happy. It just felt like a joyous day. In fact, I don't think I've had a bad day since I've awakened… Actually, scratch that. I can think of some days that come at a particular time of the month. But besides that, I've been living smoothly.

No longer am I broke, no longer am I wandering aimlessly, and no longer do I stay inside all day… Well, that last one's a lie. It's just changed from playing games inside all day to brewing potions and then playing games or watching YouTube videos. It's really nice to have a goal. I guess that's why I want to be ambitious with my goals, so that I always have something to work towards. After tending to my plants, I cooked myself a nice healthy breakfast—Chocolate chip pancakes. Today's plans were simple.

Clear floor 2 a few times and experiment with the gluetrap potion while I'm at it. Laze around on my bed and watch YouTube videos. * And finally, play games, hopefully with Mouse. … Hm?

"Wait a minute…" I widened my eyes. I completely forgot about Mouse yesterday. I informed them that I was entering the tower and even playfully set up some death flags. I was planning on logging on yesterday, but the gluetrap potion stole my interests.

"Ah…" Though we've never met or talked outside of the game, Mouse and I were friends. If they had said the same things I said two days ago and I didn't hear from them the day after, I'd be worried. I messed up. Bad. Immediately realizing my mistake, I headed to the computer and launched the game. [BinLover has logged on!]"Mouse is offline…"

"Haah…" I sighed and logged off. Hopefully they'll be online later. Heading to my room, I flopped onto the bed. I wasn't going to enter the tower without talking to Mouse first. Else my mind would be too distracted and I might mess up. What's the saying?

"Don't do research with wandering thoughts"? Or something like that? Could've swore I heard something like that somewhere. … A few hours later it was afternoon, around the time Mouse usually logged on. [BinLover has logged on!] [Friends Online: 1]"Ah!" [BinLover > ElectricTypeMouse: Mouse!] [ElectricTypeMouse:?] [ElectricTypeMouse: I'm sorry, who are you?] [BinLover: It's me! Bin!] [ElectricTypeMouse: Sorry, I don't know someone like that.] [ElectricTypeMouse: Sounds like the name of someone who could be a ghost.] [BinLover: Mouseee, I'm sorry I forgot to log on yesterday...] [ElectricTypeMouse: …] [BinLover: It's me! Your friend! We've been playing together for over 3 years now!] [ElectricTypeMouse: Haah] Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. [ElectricTypeMouse: I'm glad you're alright, Bin.] [ElectricTypeMouse: But I was really worried when you didn't log on yesterday.] [ElectricTypeMouse: You shouldn't do things like that.] [BinLover: I'm sorry…] [ElectricTypeMouse: I'm sorry too, I'm just… A little upset.] [BinLover: I won't say things like that and not contact you afterwards again.] [ElectricTypeMouse: Thank you.] [BinLover: … Um. But…] [ElectricTypeMouse:?] [BinLover: I really didn't think of using the computer or playing games at all yesterday after clearing the floor…] [BinLover: And… honestly, I'll be climbing the tower again. But the days after I might forget to log on the game to tell you.] [BinLover: So… Um, if it's okay with you… Could I have another way to contact you…? For example… A number?] [BinLover: Ah, sorry, if you don't want to just forget about it.]"…" Did I… mess up? I tapped the desk anxiously as I waited for a reply. To be honest, I knew there were other forms of contact methods, but I wanted to become real friends with Mouse. Not just internet friends. [ElectricTypeMouse: Yeah. Text me.] [ElectricTypeMouse: 954-###-####]"Haah…" I let out a sigh of relief as I read the message. Perhaps Mouse wanted to be real friends with me too. Otherwise, why else would they give out their number. That thought made me smile. Then, I paused as I read the number.

"954…?" That was a Broward area code. Did Mouse also live in Broward? Did we live closer to each other than I thought? The world works in mysterious ways. I sent a text. [Me: Hihi! This is Bin, is this Mouse?] [Mouse?: Yes. You have a 954 area code too…?] [Me: I was just thinking that! Do you also live in Broward? What a coincidence ^^] [Mouse: Wow, that's a crazy coincidence. I do.] [Mouse: But, since we're texting now, we should properly introduce ourselves… Unless you want to stick with nicknames…?] My eyes widened at their suggestion. To know each other under our real names rather than game names. The thought made me happy. Well, 'real' names. I couldn't use my former name—rather, I didn't want to. I already discarded that a month after I awakened. As for my new name… I had thought of one. But to think I'd be using it for the first time introducing myself to a friend. It's a little nerve wracking. [Me: Nono, let's introduce ourselves (｡'▽'｡)] [Mouse: My name's Luna, let's get along well:)] [Me:???] [Me: Huh? Luna? Eh? You're a girl???] [Mouse:?? Yes…? Problem???] [Me: Nonono, just wasn't expecting that;;] [Me: My name's Stella! Please take care of me ｡• ᵕ •｡ ♡] [Luna:?????] [Luna: YOU are a girl?????] [Luna: What???] [Me: … Yes? Are you being sexist right now?] [Luna: No, you're telling me the same person who said 'Yeah, I can take a bear in a fight 1 on 1' BEFORE you awakened?] [Luna: Oh, and the same person who said 'Yeah, I bet I could land a plane if I had to.] [Luna: Or 'Queen Hynarella is so hot, she can step on me'] [Luna:???] [Me: Yes. That was me.] [Luna: So matter of fact?!] [Me: hehe.] Anyway, our introductions went off swimmingly. Nothing had really changed between us other than the fact we now had each others numbers and knew our names. After that, we ran dungeons together a couple times and then I logged off. By the way, I maintain my stance. I could definitely beat a bear one on one. And I could land a plane. And Queen Hynarella can definitely step on me.

… I laid on my bed and looked at my contact list. The previously empty list now had a friend. [Luna] Just so you know, this was self-inflicted. I wasn't some kind of loner with no friends, I just deleted every contact I had after I awakened. Those were just school friends, I didn't mind a reset. I'd rather people to know the new me—The Stella me. By the way, the name didn't mean anything special. I came up with it arbitrarily while stargazing one day. Come to think of it, isn't Luna also a star-related name?

Or at least space-related? Heh, the world works wonders.

"Haah~" Stretching, I got up. Now that I talked with Luna, there was nothing left to distract me. So, it was time to experiment. To the tower! … On the open plains, I headed to Rocky. From what I've noticed, the goblins always spawned in the same spot. Which may be because I always stand in the same spot at the start of floors. I'd experiment with that later. Heading to the goblins spawn point, I poured a wide pool of gluetrap potion. With this amount, even if I was off a little, they'd still spawn in it.

I made sure I didn't step in it or get any liquid on me. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if I accidentally got stuck. I don't even have slime mucus on me. That's a misplay. Next time, I'll make sure to bring some.

"Well, that should be big enough." I nodded as I headed back to Rocky. When the timer ran down, I watched as the goblins spawn in. They sniffed the air for a moment then charged at me.

"Tch… Didn't work." I muttered. … An hour later, I was back on the plains. Experiment #2. The first one failed because the goblins spawned just outside the range of the gluetrap. I hypothesize the tower has a safeguard to make sure that the enemies don't get spawn killed. So, this time, I headed to their spawn location and poured the liquid in the path of their charge. It was a straight line from here to Rocky, so, theoretically, they should just walk into the trap themselves. I hid behind the rock and waited.

The goblins spawned in and they sniffed the air. A moment later they began charging at me. The leading goblin stepped into the liquid and the rest followed. A few steps later, the leading goblin fell down face first. Another few goblins fell to the ground before the remainder of the group could no longer lift their legs.

"Huh…That worked?" I tilted my head as I looked at the trapped goblins. I wasn't expecting it to work this early, I still had a couple more ideas in mind to try. After waiting for a moment to make sure they were truly stuck, I carefully walked towards them.

"Stay…" I motioned to them like they were a wary animal.

"Okay…All good." Twisting off the cap, I tossed the dynokali potion directly in the middle of the group. Then, I ran. Fully turning my back to the monsters, I felt like a track star—I full-on sprinted away as fast as I could. BOOM!

"EEK!" I yelled as I tumbled to the ground, kissing the dirt.

"Blfft!" I spat out a mouthful of dirt and looked behind me. That explosion was way bigger than usual. I'm pretty sure my eardrums almost ruptured from that. I can still hear the ringing. I rubbed my ears with both hands as I tried to calm my racing heart.

"Wow…" I unconsciously muttered as I looked at the aftermath. The explosion covered the whole gluetrap; A wide crater dug into the dirt. Then, it clicked. The gluetrap potion uses denomyl liquid. Though the amount of fuel stayed the same, the amount of reagent made the explosion wider and more explosive. What would happen if I mix the two potions together…?

"No…" I shook my head. I could think about that later. Getting up, I dusted off my clothes. They were due for a wash. … [Me: Just finished my floor clearing for the day] [Me: Got super dirty, clumps of dirt are falling out of my hair lol, going for a nice, long bath~] [Luna: grats, grats.] [Luna: What'd you do to get so dirty?] [Me: Experimented with some potions, then gathered materials. ｡◕‿◕｡] [Me: Got lucky today, found both a giant huffpall and jango mushroom ✧♡(◕‿◕✿)] [Luna: Oh~ Nice profit~] …

Laying sprawled out on my bed, I thought back to my experiment. Pooling the gluetrap in front of their spawn point definitely works, but it creates a way bigger explosion. Whether or not that's a blessing or downside remains to be seen. The next experiment I wanted to try was circling around myself with the gluetrap, but now, I'm kind of worried. Would that create a ring of explosion? An idea came to mind that I'll try tomorrow. Next… Combining the two potions.

"On first thought, I would think it'd create some sort of sticky bomb. Or a bomb that explodes sticky liquid…That sounds wrong." I cleared my throat and continued thinking. But with further thought, the explosion would just completely remove any stickiness it may have had. However, that does beg the question, is there a way to make a sticky bomb variant of the dynokali potion?

"Hm…" Is there any need to make the liquid itself sticky? Rather, wouldn't making the container itself sticky be better? So…Is the solution just to dip the bottle in gluetrap…? What a simple method. I like it. If I ever needed a sticky bomb for whatever reason, that's the first thing I'm trying.

"Haah~" I yawned as drowsiness washed over me. [Me: Going to sleep] [Me: Goodnight] [Me: (Raccoon sleeping icon)] [Luna: Goodnight] [Luna: (Mouse sleeping icon)]