A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 324: First Strata [II]

Chapter 324: First Strata [II]

"So this place is called the First Strata? Is this how the labyrinth labels its floors?" Elaina mumbled to herself as she looked at the map of the floor she was in.

A first-floor labyrinth is comparable to a 3rd to 4th floor of a dungeon due to its sheer size alone. Compared to the dungeon above which is just a literal cave filled with small monsters which is very easy to deal with, the labyrinth is like an abandoned hall made during the time when Gods once dwelled in the land. The walls are made with stones and even pillars present, making the place very grand and similar to the hallway of a modern castle. If not for the growing plants on the floor and walls alongside the various litter scattered all over the place, the area would easily be mistaken as the interior of a temple.

But Elaina is not here to dilly-dally and admire the place. Quickening her pace, she followed the map of the almanac and started locating the next floor’s stairs. According to how the labyrinth works, the whole place will be considered clear if the boss is killed in the process. Normal monsters will continue to spawn once one is killed and until the boss is killed, the monsters will not stop spawning.

Continuing her search, the moment Elaina turned on the corner, a few skeletons appeared before her. They have glowing cores underneath their ribs, making them very easy to deal with. Elaina didn’t even bother to use her sword and instead started kicking and stomping on them one by one. Considering that they don’t wield any weapons, Elaina didn’t care much about the skeletons and just dealt with them.

Compared to the regular monsters in the dungeons where they still needed to be slaughtered and skinned to retrieve any loot from them, the monsters in the labyrinth vanish the moment they die. They do fall to the ground after dying but they will disappear a few seconds later. Not only that but some of these monsters will drop items after their disappearance, allowing Elaina to obtain a few items that remained after she stomped the monsters. All of them went straight to the bag.

"Those skeletons would have been good workers on the farm who would not need any rest, food, and water to continue working. A tireless machine...sadly, they are not something that can be controlled unless I have necromancy abilities," Elaina muttered to herself as she finished collecting all the monster drops.

Once she finished all the skeletons, Elaina continued to follow the map of the almanac. She also didn’t forget to smash various objects on her way. Vases, wooden crates, wooden casks, and boxes, nothing escapes Elaina as she breaks them into pieces.

"No wonder many adventurers said that the labyrinth is more profitable compared to regular dungeons. These random breakable objects seem to be a lot more useful than I thought," she muttered after a bottle of mana potion rolled beneath her feet after she broke one of the wooden crates. As usual, the thing went straight to her bag.

Thanks to the almanac’s map, Elaina managed to save enough time going through the maze of a labyrinth. It didn’t take her too long to arrive at the staircase where a big tree with big apples grew underneath its leaves. Regular adventurers who have less experience in monsters might have fallen victim to these traps...but for Elaina, this is another set of blessings for her.

"Well, well, well. Looks like it is my lucky day today. To find a treant out there must be a stroke of luck!" Elaina chuckled as she slowly approached the "tree" while eyeing the fruits hanging underneath.

As she got real close, various roots appeared on the ground and started to shoot toward Elaina at frightening speed. However, this isn’t the first rodeo of Elaina against treants. In fact, the treants and her go way back when she is still a young kid without experience.

Easily dodging the first few roots, Elaina closed the gap between her and the treant which prompted the treant to use the remaining roots close to its body to attack Elaina in the front while leaving Elaina no place to retreat with the previous roots coming on her back. But like before, Elaina had already experience with the treants. And for her, these attacks are child tricks and nothing new.

Pulling her sword, Elaina swiftly cut through the blocking roots with a few slices, allowing Elaina to fully stop the treant’s attacks. Leaving defenseless, Elaina jump high by stepping on the treant’s trunk before stabbing the treant.

Unlike many adventurer’s preconceptions like how a treant is just a tree that has a mind of its own, treants are actually living monsters that mimic a real tree. Unlike a regular tree trunk, the treant’s trunk is soft flesh that can be easily destroyed with weapons like a sword. One can easily chop the treant’s body down and defeat it by stabbing its body and dealing enough damage on its internal parts. Burning is also an option but it is a waste of the treant’s body parts.

As soon as Elaina had killed the treant, it fell to the ground, lifeless. Elaina was about to grab the fruit of the treant and put it inside the bag when all of a sudden, everything, including the fruit that she was eyeing earlier disappeared.

"Ah..." that’s when she remembered how the dead bodies of the monsters do not linger and last long. They disappear after death which also means that she cannot loot their dead bodies for any goodies.

In just a few seconds, the body of the treant that was lying disappears without a trace, only dropping a few stuff that are it’s drops. One of them is the fruit that the treant had on one of its branches.

"Ugh... the quality is just not the same..." Elaina sighed as she picked up all of the items dropped by the treant and put them in the bag...

"Guess I have to remember that the monsters here are different from the regular ones. Gotta make sure I don’t forget about it or I will only get disappointed again and again."

Making sure there’s nothing left for Elaina to check on the first floor and no more things she will be leaving behind, she heads down to the flight of stairs and continue down to the next level.

...

...

...

"Looks like it is still the same First Strata...which means this labyrinth floors is being contained by a theme which means unless the scenery drastically changed, that must mean I am still in First Strata," Elaina muttered to herself as she glanced at the surroundings the moment she descended from the stairs.

Just like the previous floor, the place is expanded and has lots of hallways that can be explored. This time, something caught Elaina’s eye as being labeled on the map.

"A treasure mimic..." Elaina creased her eyebrows after seeing the icon on the map of the Almanac. A treasure chest drawing but it is open and it has a huge tongue and a glowing eye inside.

She have heard various stories related to the mimics before. They are hard to distinguish between a regular treasure chest and those who usually fell victim from them will be having a hard time dealing with them unless someone helps out.

Still, it was said that it isn’t a big loss if one encounters a mimic and one successfully identified and killed it. Considering that it is a mimic, the treasures it used for luring adventurers are real deal and one can obtain them if they have slain one.

Because of this, Elaina felt the need to deal with the mimic and see what ever drops it may have. It won’t be as abundant of a harvest compared to the regular dungeon mimics, but Elaina still hopes that those things does the same thing in the labyrinth.

And so, she continues her exploration. Compared to before, the floors contains various medicinal herbs that Elaina have recognized and one that she didn’t recognize yet the Almanac did. And unlike in monster carcasses disappearing after a few seconds after they die, the plants she have discovered are real deal.

Seeing it all like this, Elaina happily collected her share of items that contributes with her foraging ability and a few of the stuff that the Goddess of Medicine might need.

Just like before, Elaina is once again met with the skeletons, but this time, they are much numerous and some are even wearing various protection now.

As she dealt with all the monsters after some time, she then went straight to the loot and checked on what dropped. Then, Elaine’s eyebrow creased as one loot appeared particularly before her.

Picking up the seed bag, the Almanac’s pages flips quite fast to the point that she didn’t understand what I happening... Then, it stopped over on a plant that Elaina is quite sure to have seen it go extinct.