Chapter 53: Viagra strawberry and shifting in floor 2
The group chat blew up the moment Alex dropped the confession.
Alex:
[He used a Berserking Strawberry like Viagra.]
Three seconds of silence.
Then chaos.
Dominic sent fifteen crying-laughing emojis in a row.
Jake typed [NO WAY], deleted it twice, then sent it anyway.
Jack added:
[Bro. You start min-maxing romance now?]
Janet replied:
[I knew those berries were dangerous... But god.]
Séline:
[Mon dieu. Tactical enhancement.]
Camille:
[I respect the commitment.]
Then someone asked about the weakness debuff.
Alex answered with fake innocence.
[The system considers his default state already “extreme weakness.”]
That did it.
The chat dissolved into wheezing messages.
Dominic sent a voice note of himself laughing.
Jake posted a meme of a half-dead stick figure labeled [Lv1 Farmer].
Jack added:
[Bro really living in the Nightmare difficulty.]
Phong stared at the screen, deadpan.
Then sent a lazy weasel emoji.
Phong:
[Imagine being me for a full day. Unacceptable.]
Dominic fired back at once.
[Being you WITHOUT your plants! Be honest with us, brother. Where did you rip those from, PvZ concept art?]
Phong replied:
[Got robbed by PopCap. Off doing boring couple stuff. You all keep grinding adventures.]
Janet answered:
[Define boring.]
He did not reply to that.
Meanwhile, Floor Two was anything but boring.
Dominic’s team, reinforced by Alexei and Séline, moved through the ruined structure they had marked days earlier.
The Wraith Fort.
Black stone walls.
Torches burning with unnatural violet flame.
Nightmares, humanoid shadows with toxic claws, prowled the halls.
Shadowwraiths hovered near the ceiling, chanting curse spells that bent the air around them.
It was a hostile place.
It was a force to be reckon with across floor 2.
But Dominic was no longer level 29.
He was level 31.
The elite Wraith in the central tower fell under coordinated assault.
Janet’s buffs widened openings.
Jake flanked the boss whenever he saw an opportunity.
Jack stone structures provided the team with covers and footholds to jump into the air when needed.
Séline’s fist strikes blocked escape routes.
Camille hid between stone pillars and attacked if the boss forgot to check its back.
Alexei, newest addition to the team, anchored the front with radiant force that made shadow creatures recoil. His aura surged outward, buffing everyone’s stats exponentially.
He really showed everyone why a Paladin was welcomed in any team comp despite being a common class.
Dominic delivered the final blow.
The elite dissolved into a vortex of dark motes.
A notification flashed.
Level up.
He had heard the rumors.
Seeing them confirmed was different.
From level 1 to 10, growth had been modest.
One stat per level.
Usually the class’s strongest stat.
From 10 to 20, three stats per level.
Usually including the main one.
From 21 to 29, three stats per level, chosen manually.
Control.
Optimization.
Min-maxing.
But level 30?
Explosion.
All stats rose.
Not selective.
Not partial.
Everything.
Now at 31, every new level gave plus one to every stat.
Strength.
Dexterity.
Constitution.
Intelligence.
Wisdom.
Charisma.
All of it.
The rumor was true.
Level 30 was the wall.
Past it, every step mattered on another scale.
Alexei hit 30 not long after.
His paladin class evolved.
Radiant aura brighter.
Defenses sharper.
He felt... complete.
Not finished.
But anchored.
Dominic grinned.
“I want my rematch.”
Janet sheathed her blade.
“With whom? Alex? She would hand you your ass again.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea either.”
Séline wiped black goo off her gloves, and everyone nod in agreement to her remarks.
Dominic snorted, pretend to be offended:
“Why is everyone lowering my morale? You do that on purpose so I lose to Alex, huh?”
That earned him a laugh of the whole squad.
They secured the fort as a foothold.
Cleared the lower chambers.
Fortified the entrances.
Set temporary defensive barricade.
From there, they pushed outward carefully.
The land beyond shifted from ruin into forested riverbank.
And that was where they saw it.
A river that did not belong on Floor Two.
The water shimmered with dense mana.
Wrong.
Unfamiliar.
Shifting residue.
A fish broke the surface.
Large.
Sleek.
Then it leapt.
A three-headed bull grazing near the bank barely had time to turn.
A jet of pressurized water cut clean through its torso.
All three heads came off in one sweep.
The body fell in halves.
The fish dragged the remains underwater.
Silence returned.
Dominic slowly checked the creature’s projected level.
56.
He exhaled.
“That river isn’t native to this floor.”
Janet nodded.
“Shifted upward.”
Alexei stepped back slightly.
“We do not test that.”
No one argued.
Survival beat curiosity.
From there, their path curved toward a familiar landmark.
The other half of Lake Baratok.
But not the section tied to Camp Stymphalian.
This part was deeper.
More hostile.
Already at war.
Lizardmen.
Dozens of them.
Holding formation along muddy banks.
Scaled shields locked together.
Mages bending water into counter currents.
Archers firing barbed bolts.
Opposing them—
Kamohai.
Shark-humanoid warriors.
Huge dorsal fins.
Saw-like teeth.
Dark, wet skin.
They surged from the lake in organized waves, staffs inset with shark teeths like elongated Leiomano held high.
Dominic saw the pattern right away.
This was not random violence.
This was border pressure.
This was war between two factions over control of lake Baratok.
Janet glanced at him.
“Alliance.”
He nodded.
Camp Stymphalian stood with the Scaled Throne.
Which meant they did too.
He raised his weapon.
“Surprise reinforcement.”
They charged.
Jake and Jack hit the left flank.
Séline pierced through a Kamohai trying to break the shield line. Her mana infused punch sent the creature into the air, knocking out several teeth.
Alexei’s radiant burst drove two shark-warriors back into the water. Camille slashed both with her mana claws, making sure they wouldn’t resurface ever again.
Dominic slammed into a clustered group, his evolved Judgenaut form taking blows that would have broken his old self.
Janet hovered over the lake, morale buffs from a War Valkyrie fell onto the lizardmen rank like a rain of gold dust.
Some Kamohai tried jumping to take Janet down, but Joanne sniped them with deadly precision.
The lizardman vanguard captain recognized them in mid-battle.
A guttural roar of recognition went up.
Morale shifted.
The Kamohai faltered under pressure from two sides.
Lizardman mages redirected currents.
Dominic smashed through another shark-warrior with a brutal downward strike.
Water churned red.
For a moment, the field stabilized.
Scaled Throne forces regained footing.
Kamohai momentum slowed.
Dominic wiped blood from his gauntlet and looked toward the lake’s dark center.
Something larger moved below.
Floor Two was clearly no longer stable.
Between shifted rivers, level 56 aquatic predators, and faction war heating up, their decision could alter the fate of an entire eco-system.
Dominic grinned grimly despite it all.
“Tell Phong he’s not the only one expanding alliances.”
Janet corrected him.
“Strengthening. Without our farm boy the lizardmen would see us as foes as well.”
Séline said, still catching her breath:
“Might need to ask him to stockpile those Relaxing Shiitake as well. I’m exhausted.”
Far above, on Floor One, a level 1 farmer checked basil growth.
Unaware that his web of diplomacy was already rippling much deeper than he meant it to.
---
Phong discovered the real value of Berserking Strawberries by accident.
Not during farming.
Not during a crisis.
During sparring.
Alex had been driving herself hard.
Three psychic constructs became four.
Four became five.
Then six.
Her split focus sharpened every day.
She could now hold a rapier, 2 shields, a vajra, and a secondary blade at once without obvious strain.
The sixth – a bow – still flickered sometimes.
But it stayed.
The Greencap Captain remained her benchmark.
Level 47.
Battle-hardened.
Disciplined.
Then that afternoon changed things.
Alex bit into a Berserking Strawberry just before the spar began.
For one minute, her stats doubled.
Not by a little.
Violently.
The air around her warped.
Her telekinetic constructs moved fast enough to bend expectation.
The captain’s spear met two shields instead of one.
Her rapier moved faster than the eye could follow.
The vajra struck with bone-cracking force.
For the first time, she broke his defense cleanly.
Pinned him.
Blade to throat.
Silence.
The Bunny Captain blinked.
Then laughed.
“Unfair.”
Alex smirked.
“Temporary.”
The minute ended.
Her body swayed as the debuff hit.
Extreme weakness.
Her constructs vanished at once.
The captain caught her before she hit the ground.
“Dangerous fruit.”
“Yes.”
She grinned weakly.
“Worth it.”
She didn’t gain levels from sparring.
None of her fights with the Troll King or the Greencap Captain gave experience.
But her control improved at a frightening pace.
Her mind learned faster than the system gave stats.
Which meant she was becoming deadlier even without leveling.
That night, when the debuff fully settled in, Phong realized something.
For once, they were on even ground.
Alex lay in bed dramatically weak.
Her stats suppressed.
Reflexes dulled.
Stamina limited.
Phong looked at her carefully.
She looked back.
A slow smile spread across her face.
“Fair fight?” she asked softly.
He grinned.
“Finally.”
For the first time ever, he did not feel like he was wrestling a polar bear.
He did not feel like he was sprinting uphill.
He didn’t need Stoic Garlic.
Didn’t need overdrive.
He could move at his own pace.
Meet her naturally.
Answer without panic.
And when it ended, he wasn’t gasping like a man who had just survived a boss fight.
He was... steady.
Alex blinked at him, mildly offended.
“You look too fine.”
He shrugged with fake innocence.
“The system says I live in extreme weakness. Welcome to my world.”
Later she sent a cute, dramatic pouting emoji to the group chat.
No explanation needed.
The replies came instantly.
Dominic:
[Balance patch applied.]
Janet:
[Nature is healing.]
Jake:
[Justice for lv1 farmers.]
Selena, meanwhile, had other problems.
She dropped a video into the chat.
Vanessa.
Cackling.
Holding a massive Metal Build kit like she had just found forbidden treasure.
Selena typed:
[WHY did you introduce her to Gunpla?]
Phong stared at the screen.
[She was curious.]
[She hasn’t slept properly in two days.]
Vanessa’s laughter echoed through the video.
Nyx immediately asked if she could get a robot too.
Phong muted the chat for a while.
Back in Camp Stymphalian, the basil and dill grew steadily in dungeon soil.
Unlike the combat plants, these herbs did not mutate in obvious ways.
Their mana absorption was subtle.
Richer leaves.
Stronger smell.
The lime-oak seemed to steady their growth instead of twisting it.
At the decoy camp, now officially renamed Camp Harpy by the Greencap civilians, agriculture expanded quickly.
Rabbit carpenters reinforced the irrigation channels.
Carrot rows spread neatly across the ordinary dirt.
Strawberries grew in organized patches.
Phong traded Alerting Carrots for normal strawberries.
He made one rule very clear.
“Berserking Strawberries are not casual snacks.”
The rabbits agreed with solemn seriousness.
Overdrive fruit was for war.
Not dessert.
Camp Harpy ran smoothly.
Civilian bunnies worked the fields when humans were not around.
Knights rotated through perimeter watch.
The alliance deepened quietly.
With tensions stable for the moment, Phong finally brought it up.
A break.
On the surface.
In Lyon.
During Halloween.
Séline replied at once from Floor Two.
[Oui.]
Camille, already at camp, practically bounced.
[Yes. We will host properly.]
It was sound strategy.
Public Halloween crowds meant anonymity.
Costumes meant cover.
Media attention was currently fixed on:
The collapse of the Farmer Guild.
Josh’s disappearance into Floor Three.
The Greencap conflict.
Production-class deaths.
Olen’s optics were unstable.
It was the perfect time to step sideways.
Dominic took over planning at once.
“Couple costumes,” he declared.
He already had ideas.
Phong and Alex.
Him and Janet.
Jake and Jack.
Matching themes.
Ridiculous themes.
Coordinated themes.
Séline promised to scout local events in Lyon.
Camille offered family contacts for safe housing.
Vanessa and Selena had to decline.
Too visible.
Too tied to dungeon research.
Too likely to attract the wrong eyes.
They sent exaggerated envy into the chat.
Selena:
[Enjoy croissants and freedom.]
Vanessa:
[Bring me limited-edition French kits.]
Nyx demanded a witch costume.
Bruno wanted to be a knight.
Rico insisted on something “mysterious and tactical.”
That evening, Phong lay under the lime-oak and looked up through autumn-tinted leaves.
He had not expected any of this.
Alliances.
International travel plans.
Couple costumes.
Level 30 mechanics.
Dungeon diplomacy.
He had started as a level 1 farmer with moletatoes and angry chillies.
Now he was coordinating cross-floor politics and Halloween logistics.
Alex walked over and sat beside him.
“You look thoughtful.”
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
“How strange this all is.”
She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Strange is good.”
He smiled faintly.
For now, they would take the break.
Strengthen bonds.
Laugh.
Disappear into Halloween crowds in Lyon.
Let Olen stew in the mess he made.
Because sometimes the best move was stepping away just long enough to come back stronger.
---
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