Chapter 38 – Cat Dad is Cursed
Cursed items were also a feature in Pangu Online 2. Cursed weaponry and armor usually had low requirements to use, and their bonus attributes and effect were a lot better than items in the same tier.
This gauntlet, as well, was one of the cursed items. It had the attack power of the level 40 weapon tier, but its requirement was only level 20.
At a glance, cursed items might have the best quality. However, upon equipping a cursed weapon, armor, or accessory, the user would suffer from a random abnormal status effect – Some may poison the player. Some might decrease the player’s max HP or MP, and some might even decrease the player’s status attributes.
The detail of the curses was never disclosed in the item description. The only way to identify the curses was to put the item on!
But at the bottom of the item’s description, Xiaomao noticed a line of red texts.
*[???]: Curse of Hunger – Upon attacking monsters with this gauntlet, your satiety bar will decrease by 1% per attack. Randomly decrease your satiety bar to zero every day.
Once again, the mysterious bloodline skill was useful.
Last time, it warned Xiaomao not to trust Otto, aka the Adventurer Guild’s branch manager. Now, it showed the hidden detail that was not supposed to show in the item description screen.
Xiaomao burst into laughter, and he put the gauntlet onto one of his front tentacles.
By wrapping the wrist strap onto his tentacle arm, the gauntlet let out a howling cry and emitted a dark aura. It also shrank to fit Xiaomao’s tentacle arm.
Ding
<You have equipped Cursed Claw Gauntlet!>
<The Cursed Claw Gauntlet has become one with you. You cannot remove Cursed Claw Gauntlet for 72 hours!>
<You are cursed by the Curse of Hunger. Every time you attack a monster, you will get hungry.>
Ding
<The Curse of Hunger has been activated. Your satiety bar has decreased to zero!>
<Your HP will decrease every second until your satiety bar is recovered.>
<Your Fish Gourmet Skill has been reset. You can now eat more fish.>.
“How convenient, munya!”
Instead of getting panicked, Xiaomao couldn’t stop laughing. He put on the other cursed gauntlet to get the double effect.
The daily food limit was reset because of the cursed item. Now, he could eat more fish to increase his skill level.
Xiaomao brought out a goldfish from his inventory slot and swallowed it whole.
The satiety bar increased by 1%. He gained Fish Gourmet EXP and Protein from Fish EXP.
Xiaomao didn’t stop there. He brought out random fish from his inventory and leisurely ate everything.
The sense of taste of a catopus was strange. Although the game allowed Xiaomao to taste the food, he felt like he had eaten top-graded sashimi from a renowned chef, and he was never bored of the slimy and gooey fish.
“Nom-Nom, munya!”
20 minutes later, Xiaomao ate fish until his satiety bar reached 100%. His Fish Gourmet Skill also reached the daily cap for today, again.
But Xiaomao couldn’t stop laughing. He brought out ANOTHER cursed gauntlet and put it on the other arm!
Ding
<You have equipped Cursed Claw Gauntlet!>
<The Curse of Hunger has been activated. Your satiety bar has decreased to zero!>
<Your HP will decrease every second until your satiety bar is recovered.>
<Your Fish Gourmet Skill has been reset. You can now eat more fish.>
“NYAHAHAHAHA!! Nom-Nom, munya!”
…
Slave One left the dungeon after he had transported all items to the front of the dungeon to avoid complications. He went back to his ship and sailed it back to the city.
A few minutes after Slave One had left, monsters on the first level were respawned, and their number doubled. Slave One could no longer get back to the second level of the dungeon as Xiaomao had predicted.
Fortunately, all equipment items were stacked in front of the dungeon cave. Slave One didn’t need to go back in there to bring everything back to town.
Meanwhile, Xiaomao didn’t stop eating. He ate over a thousand fish, and the Fish Gourmet Skill warned him that he couldn’t eat anymore… for the third time today.
Xiaomao clicked his tongue and inspected the remaining fish in his inventory.
Unfortunately, his stock was low. Only less than 1,000 blue-rarity fish remained in his inventory. He needed to restock soon.
But as Xiaomao was worried about fish, the game sent him a notification.
Ding
<The Curse’s power has been weakened as you have relieved its desire.>
<The Cursed Claw Gauntlet has grown stronger!>
…
Cursed Claw Gauntlet (Rare)
The origin of this claw gauntlet is unknown, but Mama Warden has been using it ever since she has become a warden of this place. Its four claws can cut to iron plates like tofu, and it is light, which makes it easy to use for beginners.
However, this item is cursed. Upon use, you will not be able to remove it for 72 hours. Equip it at your own risk.
Item Type: Cursed Weapon (90%)
Requirement: Level 20
Effect: ATK + 220, AGI + 55
Durability: 500/500
*[???]: Curse of Hunger – Upon attacking monsters with this gauntlet, your satiety bar will decrease by 1% per attack. Randomly decrease your satiety bar to zero every day.
…
The increase was subtle, but 20 extra ATK was a lot for Xiaomao, especially when he had two items. He gained an additional 40 ATK and 10 AGI for the trouble.
Now, Xiaomao was confident that his damage output was not inferior to Slave One.
…
Name: Xiaomao
Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Race: Catopus (Evolvable)
Job: Slave Master (Evolvable)
Unique Skills: Enslavement (0%), Slave Training (0%)
Racial Skills: Fish Gourmet (17%), Catnap (2%), [???] (MAX)
Add-On Skill: Protein from Fish (17%)
Title: Nut Cracker (Unique)
LEVEL: 20
EXP: 436,000 / 1,960,000
Contribution Level: 1
PACT Weekly Income: 1/100
EXP: 10/160,000
Status Attributes
STR: 60 +30
DEX: 60 +30
AGI: 60 +140
VIT: 60 +30
INT: 60 +30
WIS: 60 +30
Allocable Status Points: 500
Spiritual Roots
Fire: 1
Water: 1
Wind: 1
Metal: 16
Wood: 16
Lightning: 1
Darkness: 1
Light: 1
Allocable Status Points: 500
Combat Status
ATK: 470 + 15
DEF: 30 + 15
HP: 900 / 900
MP: 900 / 900
…
Xiaomao had the urge to allocate all points to boost his attributes, but he held it in. For the sake of maximizing his character attributes, he patiently waited to grind his add-on skill tomorrow.
Also, he had another urgent matter. He had been idling on the second floor for too long, and the elite monsters would be respawned soon.
Before the elite monsters of the second dungeon floor were respawned, Xiaomao rushed to the last level of the dungeon.
Soon, Xiaomao reached the stairs to the last level of the gnoll dungeon. He walked down the stairs and carefully checked the interior of this place.
The last floor of this dungeon was a hallowed area. In front of the stairs were a mysterious 500-meter-long and five-meter width suspension bridge.
The bridge looked man-made, but it was currently occupied by an army of gnolls in metal plate armor. Their names and level also seemed intimidating.
Gnoll Soldier, Level 42
Elite Gnoll Shaman, Level 45
Elite Gnoll General, Level 50
They were the three gnolls of the dungeon that Xiaomao hadn’t collected their cards yet.
The soldiers patrolled the bridge in a formation of 100 per unit, and an elite shaman in a magician robe accompanied them. The general had been camping at the opposite side of the bridge along with 10 lieutenants and 1,000 gnoll soldiers, acting like the floor’s boss. As for the number of the monsters on the bridge, they were about fifty 100-man units there.
In Xiaomao’s previous life, this place was the most famous grinding spot as the gnolls gave rich rewards.
The gnoll soldiers usually dropped heavy armor gears, swords, spears, and pikes. The shaman dropped intermediate spell books, mage short staff, and mage’s accessories.
As for the general, aka, the gate guardian, he was famous for level-50 super rare skill books that every NFT character could learn. Although the drops were random, every skill book could be fetched for at least a million USD because of their usefulness.
Xiaomao salivated as he stared at the Gnoll General, who had been sitting on the throne in front of the boss room’s gate.
‘If my bloodline skill gives me a 100% drop rate, what will that boss give me after it died? Will it drop every skill book that it has? What about the gnoll mages? How many spell books can I get?’