Chương 14: Chapter Fourteen: Arson is…Bad?

I feel the level up settle in and wait before I invest my points. I'm not in good shape, and my left hand isn't even in any shape as it hangs from my wrist. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised it is still attached at all, but I also think that if I hadn't infused it with mana before the impact, the hand would be gone. If there ever was a time that I needed to invest in BDY, it would be now. I look at the mess that is my hand for another beat before investing all of my free stats into PWR.

I close my eyes and revel in the feeling of the unstable energy surging in my body. There is something so intoxicating about the sensation of the immense heat roaring right underneath my skin, just begging to be unleashed. No, I do not have a problem. I am about to head out toward the valley, but quickly notice that my mace is no longer usable.

The goblin crafted weapons don't seem to be well put together, as after only a handful of uses, the head is dented and cracked in places, and the entire handle is bent somewhat. It could be partially due to the flood of heat I was constantly running through the metal, but I choose to believe it is due to the goblin's incompetence rather than my own. Heading over to the seeker's charred body, I grab the two knives it wielded and the belt it used to sheath them and then head down the left path.

As I start a brisk jog down the long path, I begin to think about what I should plan for the endgame of this floor. According to video games, this would be around the time that the difficulty gets harder as I get closer to the objective. For all I know, there is a boss waiting for me at the entrance to the valley. My thoughts continue down the path of a final boss at the end of the road, so I begin to analyze my past fights in an effort to further my experience in order to not make as many mistakes in the future.

It only takes a few minutes of pondering my technique and what the boss could be before I finally remember the Train. My gait slows slightly as a seeping feeling of dread settles in my stomach. So far, I have only seen the Train one time during my encounter with the first goblin, and even then, I didn't get a good look at it. After that, I've heard the familiar rumblings of the Train bulldozing through the trees somewhere in the distance a few times.

Absently turning my attention to the woods, I soon realize that the sound of the roaring flames is too loud for me to identify any other noise. The dreadful feeling worsens as I think about how the Train could pop out of the woods at anytime without me knowing. So far, I have been given no reason to believe that the mysterious monster would come for me, as I have only ever seen it kill a goblin, but that doesn't comfort me much.

It would be better if I knew what I was dealing with, but the dread slowly fades away as I accept the fact that there isn't really anything I can do about it even if it did come for me. Instead of worrying about the Train, I turn my attention back to replaying the previous fight in my head. I shortly remember that my arms were scored up pretty bad due to the seeker's struggles, but I had not really noticed afterward because my skin is almost fully covered in soot.

I take a look at the wounds which are partially caked in wet blood and ash before deciding to take a small detour into the woods. Tossing off my clothes as to not get them scorched, I quickly dash to the nearest tree where some bubbly sap is dripping from the burning trunk. I grab a handful and smear the boiling sap all over my arms where the cuts are to attempt to seal the wounds. I think for another second and grit my teeth as I pour as much as I can on my injured hand as well.

After this is done, I put my clothes back over the sticky sap and continue on my way. I do my best to adapt to the weird feeling of the sap on my clothes and reroute my thoughts back to how to approach future fights. Within a few minutes of jogging at a steady pace, I slip into autopilot and use <Cogitation> to replay my fights as best as possible within my head. I think it is very clear that I am not proficient in combat. The fact I'm constantly having to adjust to each level up's new capabilities makes it worse.

To top it all off, I am still trying to figure out my natural gait and way of moving, as I haven't used ninety-five percent of the muscles in my body for five years before this. These thoughts make me somewhat self-conscious, as I passively wonder if I look strange in the way I move because of this. Well, it's not like anyone can really make fun of me anyway. After all, any humans that I have met on this floor are dead. Chuckling at the darker joke, I get back to the task at hand.

I have already identified that the goblins aren't very smart. Any goblins below the level of five are fairly stupid, and I assume are non-combative in nature. The ones that I have come across so far usually aren't carrying around any real weapons, and they are quite short-sighted when it comes to any sort of strategy. I'm unsure why the non-combative goblins are roaming the woods, especially since the Train is a large danger factor, but like I said: They aren't very smart. Love this novel?

Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The goblins' main strength is their physical stats, as they dwarf me in size and speed on average. Secondarily, any goblins I have met level 5 and over have been some sort of specialized class which determined their strengths. I'm unsure if this is the norm for the rest of the goblins, but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to assume that this is the case. There also could be a factor involved that arises from the existence of other humans on this floor.

If my suspicions are correct and some other people have already cleared this floor or are still running around, then I expect there to be some disorganization amongst the goblins. This could help explain why there were lower leveled goblins roaming around the woods by themselves, but I have no real way to prove it, so I table the topic for the time being. < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 3 > … What? I skid to a stop, and my hands fall down to my knives as I look around.

The fire still rages along the wood line to my sides, but there is nothing else in sight on the path. < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > I stare at the new screen and look around once again. Nothing has changed. What is hap- < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > It finally occurs to me, and a feeling of panic settles into my stomach. The wildfire I set off is raging through the floor. Apparently, the System recognizes the kills that come from it as my own.

< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 4 > < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > More notifications begin to ping one after another, and I immediately dismiss the screen and let them continue in the background while I awkwardly resume my journey. Objectively, getting free kills like this sounds like a huge advantage, but I am not an optimistic person by nature, so I just feel a sense of foreboding from the constant notifications.

It is hard to think while I feel pings rolling in now and then, but I also haven't leveled yet, so I think that I might only be getting a portion of experience usually allotted for a normal kill. This would make sense, as earlier I had leveled a lot later than I had expected while I was taking potshots at the goblin traitors. Maybe the System recognizes some level of participation to factor how much experience you get per kill? I don't know.

For now, it is just another question amongst the sea of other things I would like to ask about. < Congratulations! You have reached: Level 9 > I feel another level up hit and glance at my notifications to confirm. My theory is correct to some extent, as it has been around ten minutes and I have gotten twenty or so more notifications about kills yet only just now got a level. I absently allocate the free stats to PWR and push through the odd feeling of the pressure while I continue my run.

I am a fair distance from where my last fight was, but it is hard to approximate how much farther I have left due to the winding path of the trail. As I round another corner to continue my descent, I hear a crash to my right and watch a green behemoth run out of the woods. < Goblin Brute - Level 9 > Its skin is smoking and blisters cover the surface of its broad chest, but the brute is very much alive as it spills onto the path while patting itself off to extinguish any remaining flames.

The goblin has not spotted me standing nearby, so I quickly charge it while using <Cogitation> to identify any weak points on the two-and-a-half-meter monster. There are leather straps across its chest that hold a large axe close to its spine. Other than that, the goblin is basically just a normal goblin on super steroids, so I use my element of surprise to plunge both of my knives into its thick, muscled thigh.

The goblin reacts much faster than I thought was possible for its size, and I abandon my knives to barely dodge one of its meaty hands that swing by. Hopping away, I give myself more space while the goblin struggles to get up due to my weapons still in its leg. It begins to reach for the axe on its back, and I <Infuse> mana into my legs and dash back into the fray to deliver a knee straight to the goblin's face.

It frees its axe and swings in my general direction with a pained grunt, but I don't want to give the goblin any time to get its bearings, so I duck underneath its chest to circle back around to my grab my knives. Yanking the blades out of its leg with a gruesome twist, I immediately drive one of the knives straight into the knee of the other leg before using my strengthened limbs to jump away once again. The brute roars and slams its huge weapon into the ground where I was standing only a moment before.

Its swing is definitely fast, but I think I actually pull ahead of it in raw speed due to my mana infused body. I run back in and weave around a couple more swings while I score long gashes along the chest of the goblin, sending it into a rage. It begins to swing its axe around wildly and tears up the compacted dirt the path is made of. Large clods of soil fly around, and I am careful to keep my distance while the brute continues its tantrum.

As the goblin's energy finally dies off due to the extended rampage and the weeping cuts and burns all over its body, I move in for the kill. The goblin surprises me at the last second by dropping its axe and picking up a large dirt clod to throw at me, but I infuse my good fist with mana and deflect the piece of earth with a solid punch.

I can feel vibrations of the impact through my arm, but I recover easily and fill my leg with enough mana to make me burst forward and I drive my knife straight through the goblin's thick skull. < You have defeated: Goblin Brute - Level 9 > < Congratulations! You have reached: Level 10 > < Congratulations! You have completed a quest! > < Augments have been pre-selected for you based on your performance. Choose one of the options provided.

> < Warning: Any options not chosen will not be available for selection in the future. > < Warning: Humans have a fixed Augment limitation of three. >