Part 21: This is Not a Drill

It's time to get to work, with all the tutorials out of the way we can really start making some headway. Heading up the hill from the Cave's entrance leads to freshly-created hole thanks to Einst's bombs. Be sure to nab that Cure in the corner and then drop down to enter the Cave proper. There's only one way to go, and that's up - killing a couple Gels along the way until reaching the Use item for this area.



Well, sort of. It can't be used right now because it's rusty. Fortunately, I've been keeping tabs using Brain's status screen and making sure that I'm one kill away from leveling up - this is going to avoid some unnecessary backtracking, so I just hop across this fast-moving stream and kill the Gel on the other bank.







We keep the Power/Guard/Speed train going here, and then combine the Rusty Drill and a Clean to get a usable Drill. Unfortunately, since it's a Use item, the mouse form has to be dropped temporarily to make use of it. Which is a bit of a pity, since seeing a mouse go at a pile of rocks with a drill seems pretty awesome to me. I'm sure there's a Gurren Lagann reference I could make here, but it'd probably be in bad taste.





Anyway, by using our rust-free Drill, we immediately use here to open up a path. Nabbing this Cure, we head up to continue the plot. You could technically follow the stream to the area behind Einst's cave-in, fighting a new enemy type and getting some of the loot early, but that's only going to lead to a dead-end at the moment.





So we instead free the children and then return home for 1000G of reward money from the Mayor. This money is going to see a lot of use this update, but not right now. There's a new schematic I could pick up since I leveled, but I'll be skipping it for now since it's nothing useful (Bomb 1). It will be picked up, just later.



Also one of the kids didn't come back and Pops is going on a trip. Whatever. Back to the Cave!



There's two ways to get to where we need to continue. If you want to do some more killing for whatever reason, you can go back through the hole at the top and then ride the stream to here as I mentioned before. The simpler method, however, is just to drill through Dr. Einst's bumbled attempt and hop across the stream there.



The path splits in the next room, with one of the two paths being blocked by another rock pile. It has another Cure behind it, so it's worth the detour since we can never have enough free Cures. Seriously, the game's difficulty is going to take to take a bit of a spike. Mostly due to one specific enemy.



The reason I pushed Pinky's Guard up so high is because of the Spider. It can shoot webs that have a chance to Stop your robot, but that's not the problem. Without a high Guard, a single melee attack from this guy can do upwards of around 15 damage - and they take single-digit damage from Run commands. Nasty stuff.

So, you're going to need to either close the gap and melee them or - more preferably - shoot them at range since they seem to take extra Shot damage. It usually only takes one Shot to kill them, especially with our Shot 2. Which is a good thing since we'll be coming across them for the rest of the Cave. Sometimes with Gels.



While fighting through Spiders and Gels, don't forget to take this little detour. There's another capsule up through the drill-able wall - and between the two you'll nab a Clean and 250G. Not too shabby.





Spiders give a decent chunk of experience compared to everything else, so fighting groups of them and getting extra Megs from Bonus Time and capsules means the next level comes quickly enough. It's a good level too - giving you the experience needed to craft a Shield 1 - but not really worth doubling back to town to read the book. You'll want your ranged weaponry for dealing with the enemies ahead anyway.



Suddenly plot. The area that would've been a dead-end earlier is now a hole like above the cave entrance. This drops you down into a new area full of Spiders and Hackers. Taking out the Hackers is simple enough - kill-all Run commands remain the order of the day. Just watch out for the ones with swords, they share the Spider's Run Resistance.



Along the way, we come across a crab who likes taking showers.



And use the Surprise Horn to get past an easily distracted guard.



Then agree to help a random stranger escape his imprisonment and hop on a trolley.







Scraps are always nice, as are levels. This level is going to be very important - even more so than hitting level 3. For the same reasons, though. We're still neck-deep in Hacker territory, however, so we'll press on for now.

Also, as a fun little thing to note - check out Pinky's torso now. After he hit 25 Guard, his body changed a little bit. This happens at regular intervals as you increase a robot's Guard stat, which is a nice touch.





Moving ahead, we steam aforementioned shower-loving crustacean and take his key...



And bring the key back to our new friend.



After that we backtrack all the way back to where we fell into this section in the first place to beat up the guard who mysteriously materialized in the interim.

Now, the boss is just beyond this door, so we could go ahead and fight him now if we wanted to. Instead, though, we're going to return back home and show exactly why Level 6 is better than Level 3. And it's not just because of the extra Program points, though that does help.







First step? Get to book-learnin'. Bomb 1 is useless since you can't craft and combine it into a higher sub-level, and Shield 1 is handy and we're going to want one, but that Hammer 1 is what we're really going to want. Not for use in and of itself, of course. Not that it's a bad option, unless you've picked up a Punch 1 or 2 off the Hackers and Spiders, then there's no real point to, as shown:

Hammer 1
Level 1: +8
Level 9: +36

Punch 1
Level 1: +12
Level 9: +40

Punch 2
Level 1: +24
Level 9: +52

Heck, using that Scrap 4 we picked up on the other side of the trolly, we can upgrade a Punch 1 into a Punch 2 or even the top-level Punch 3:

Punch 3
Level 1: +48
Level 9: +76

Why not do any of these? Because we can do better.



For comparison, here's the before shot of Pinky with what he has equipped.





As I said, we're going to want a Shield 1, but we're going to make it even better by upgrading it to a Shield 2 with a Clean. There's no reason not to do this, since Cleans are cheap and easy to come across. Then we craft a Hammer.



Hammer 1 + Sword 1 = Axe 1. Axes are one of the most powerful weapons in the game. They're only trumped by one other weapon that we're not going to have access to for quite a while. In addition, since this requires two Level 1 weapons, the sub-level actually stacks. So you actually get an Axe 1 Lv 2 - which makes pushing it up to sub-level 9 even easier (and cheaper). Add that to Already having a Sword Lv 6 thanks to Equip Up capsules and...



Pinky's gotten a whole lot deadlier for very little cost. For a quick comparison, here's the stat difference between a Sword 1 and an Axe 1.

Sword 1
Level 1: +5
Level 9: +17

Axe 1
Level 1: +10
Level 9: +90



It's just as powerful as you might think. Even maxing out a Sword 1, you're talking about a difference of almost 75 attack power here. Even a Punch 3, which requires getting a lucky Punch 2 drop and uses a Scrap 4, is 15 points behind an Axe 1 - something you can make yourself with just a little bit of cash and crafting.





If that wasn't rubbing enough salt on the wound, Pinky scores another level on the way back down through the Cave. These are going to be his base stats for going into the boss fight. Add the +90 from the Axe and you're looking at 120 Power.



A quick pause at the obvious boss door to slap on the Shield 2 and...



It's time to fight Meta Crab. As our first boss of the game, Meta Crab is quite a step up from anything you've fought so far. Using a Sword 1, you'll be lucky to break 30 damage a hit on him. That's out of 200 HP and his Run Resistance, plus the fact he has a chance to inflict both Stop AND Rust - the first enemy to apply the latter if you don't count exploding capsules.



So, to circumvent that, I just hit him for almost three-quarters of his health. Probably could've one-shot him with a crit, but hey.



Then it's a matter of getting him into position again to smack him in the back - with my Shield 2 either blocking or helping me evade all of his attacks, and making any that pass that laughably pitiful - and...





Done. Oh, and I got a level out of it, too. If I had killed one or two more enemies, I could've actually gained two levels - which is usually what happens with me here. Still, I'm so close to leveling anyway that the next thing I kill will probably get me a level. For now, though, we have some more plot to go through.



Kept in because it's true. The strength bit, I mean. He was obviously a crab before the change, not a crayfish.



Talking to Carl has him lead you to this chamber. No matter which capsule you choose, you'll get a Scrap 1 and he'll get an odd thing called a Litho. Amusingly enough, he quips that "at least it's better than scrap."



You have no idea, Carl. No idea at all.

And it's only going to get worse from here.

Next Time: Getting Some Exorcise.