4. Smallville: Killer Croc
7.
Heavy breathing emanated from the Suicide Crocodile's breathing hole. He did not move, and his words were full of distrust: "What is this?"
A woman who appeared inexplicably in a strange place. If he had been so careless as to accept this gift, Gotham would not have had the name of Killer Croc.
Aria felt her hands ache from holding them up. This was the first time she'd encountered someone who refused to accept a gift. When she first started playing the game, she'd given live fish to NPCs. Although most people didn't like it, they still accepted it, only complaining about its sliminess.
...The game difficulty has indeed increased now, but this makes it more interesting.
"It's sap." The woman standing on the shore held out her hand, her shadow dimly reflected in the water by the torches in the cave. She seemed certain he would accept it. "It's the stuff that flows down from trees after they're felled."
When Killer Croc didn't know what it was, his animal caution made him alert, but after he knew what it was, his pragmatism made him unwilling to accept it.
"I don't need this." He remained in the water and said in a muffled voice, "I don't need this."
It seems that interpersonal communication has also added a confrontational element? Aria decided to persuade the other party.
"Well," Aria said, looking a little disappointed as her dark eyes dropped slightly, "I just thought the color was as beautiful as your eyes, maybe you'd like it."
The yellow droplets of sap did bear some resemblance to Killer Croc's neurotic animal eyes, but even the lunatics in Arkham Asylum would not associate crocodile eyes with the word beautiful.
Killer Croc was a bit annoyed. He didn't want to stay here any longer. The once cool lake water also made him uncomfortable. He wanted to turn around and leave, but his words preceded his thoughts, laced with sarcasm and anger that he himself was not aware of: "You think this is beauty?"
Normal humans are not like this: they don't have fangs or terrifying scales all over their bodies, they won't be ostracized or isolated from society, and they won't be stared at strangely when walking on the street. Crowds have their advantages - humans always like to exclude those who are different from them and hurt those who are different from them. Staying in a group means safety most of the time.
Unfortunately, Killer Croc is neither human nor crocodile. Fate has left him on an ambiguous line, doomed to endure criticism for the rest of his life.
"Hmm..." She seemed to have something to say.
"I have a good friend named Krobus, but you probably don't know him," Aria frowned slightly, feeling a little troubled about how to introduce him. "He looks a bit like a black winterroot—though I prefer to call him 'my little black licorice candy'."
"It likes humid conditions and will get sunburned. If other humans see it, they'll be startled because it's a bit 'special'."
"But it's a very cute little guy." When Aria mentioned Krobus, her voice softened, like the ripples that had formed when she washed her hands by the lake, gently spreading out and spreading far away. "I think people who truly care about you won't care what you look like—that's what I'm trying to say."
"Okay," she put the sword into her backpack and held the sap in her hand for the time being, preparing to go down the stairs and continue what a qualified miner should do. "It doesn't matter if you really don't like it. I just want to make friends."
"Next time if we meet again, I will try to give you a different gift."
Sap, sap, I can't believe you can't sell it even after adding mods. It's a disgrace to the collection...
"etc……"
Waylon Jones rose from the water and stretched out his hand toward her, his scaly claws reaching out to humans, more like a death wish than a gesture of friendship. Between his fingers, the shadow of the strange woman was stretched out a little by the torch.
He looked very tired, with a hint of resignation in his expression.
“…Give it to me.”
The plan works!
Perhaps Aria's gift had an effect, and his attitude was much better than it was at the beginning. After learning that this place was "Aria's Mine," Killer Croc took the initiative to mark his territory: "I won't come here again."
He left these words and sank into the water just as he had appeared, disappearing into the distance with a string of bubbles.
Aria was not worried that someone would come into her mine through this passage. On the one hand, the NPC did not have the authority to do so. On the other hand, even if someone really came in, it would be difficult for them to defeat so many slimes, bugs, bats and ghosts that were almost as tall as a person.
There are few places in the game more dangerous than the various mines.
8.
After solving the sap inventory problem, Aria opened the treasure chest to take her steel sword reward, humming a little tune as she went down.
It had to be said that any weapon was better than a broken sword. She was afraid that the monsters would get tetanus if she used the chipped, rusty sword in her hand to fight monsters. However, if Aria were asked to choose her favorite weapon among all the weapons, she would definitely look at the Galaxy Sword with the most affectionate eyes.
When the Galaxy Sword is unveiled, who can contend with it? What farmer hasn't cherished a beloved sword like this? It's a divine artifact, acquired in the desert with precious multicolored shards! Back then, Aria, unaware of the shard's usefulness, donated the first one she dug to the museum... While the museum's gratitude was wonderful, the pain she felt was so intense that she'd wake up in the middle of the night and curse.
She didn't know when she'd be able to dig up the multicolored fragments in the new game, and the place where the Galaxy Sword was exchanged had been moved by the mod. She'd heard Martha say that there was no desert in Smallville...
After picking up the last emerald, Aria looked at the late hour and decided to go home for bed. She planned to save the copper, iron, and coal to refine into ingots in the foundry for the sprinkler. She would also keep a portion of the tear crystals, aquamarines, and emeralds she had mined, and sell the rest. She would use the money to upgrade her backpack tomorrow and have the carpenter build a stable. That way, she would have a means of transportation!
There's so much to do tomorrow that I might not have time to give Martha a gift. Aria thought about it and decided to try the new mailbox feature. She stood in front of the mailbox at her doorstep, put the gems in an envelope, and wrote a small note inside.
After confirming that everything was correct, Aria put the letter into the mailbox and rushed to her single bed before two o'clock.
Today is also a happy day for farmers!
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Martha, who picked out gems from a pile of junk mail:?
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