The day started quite calm, I collected food and helped to prepare wood, I didn't know what type of wood was necessary for the construction, so I used what I thought was more convenient.
Of course, I don't use it right away but wait,
I didn't remember all the steps but I had heard a long time ago that you needed to rest the wood or something. So I stack the wood under the sun.
Doing so was not difficult considering his strength was that of a super-human.
"I haven't seen my level in a long time now that I think about it," Gabriel murmured,
he hadn't felt the sensation of leveling up in a while, so he hadn't checked his level for a long time.
Without much thought I invoke the Status Window.
—Status Window—
Name: Gabriel
Level 9
Features: [--]
Stigma: [Realization]
→Skills: [0]
→ Traits: [0]
"…. That?"
He was surprised
his level was one step away from reaching level 10.
He thought that his level hadn't risen at all for a long time, but actually he was already one step away from completing her first goal and he didn't even know it.
That was unexpected. He thought as he lay down on the ground.
He didn't know exactly what would happen once he reached level 10,
nothing will probably happen, although he had long felt that there would be a big change once he reached that level.
There was only one level left anyway, he didn't know how much experience he needed. Raising his level for some reason was very slow, since he had killed countless monsters indirectly with the monsters,
but his level had barely risen after subjugating many, many more.
He lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky.
At any moment it should increase in level, so be relaxed until that moment arrives. He thought as he seriously considered sleeping in that very place.
But that quickly faded from his mind,
when an inorganic voice was heard in his mind.
[The First Stage of the Testing Field has been Completed]
[Congratulations to the Regulars who managed to survive the first stage]
[My deepest condolences to those who didn't make it past the first stage]
His voice was full of regret for a second, but that was as fast as it came.
[The second Stage will begin shortly]
[I recommend that you find a safe place or meet in groups]
[The start of the second stage will be in five days from this day]
[I wish you my greatest blessings, and may the will to fight never die out]
It was all he said.
Gabriel stood still, not knowing what to say or do.
He had gotten used to this environment to some extent, as monsters weren't impossible to subdue and he wasn't even a combatant from the start, he didn't have to worry about his life.
But now things had changed.
He did not know that he would hold the next stage,
but that was enough to know that things would not stay the same.
It was the same feeling when the new monsters appeared, a feeling that he was not in control. An incredibly unpleasant feeling.
Sigh. I had to reach level 10 as soon as possible, also strengthen the strength of my familiars, they were already strong,
much more than he could be, but he felt that it was not enough.
It was never enough.
He thought to himself, as he gathered my relatives with mental orders.
From then on, the peaceful days in the entire Proving Grounds were over. Humans both strong and weak knew that new dangers were coming,
dangers that they could not withstand with their current strength. So they sought to quickly increase their forces.
And what better way, than the uncontrolled hunting of monsters that roamed the entire test field, they were located and subjugated so quickly that it was very difficult to believe that it was even possible.
Quickly the number of monsters dropped to a point where it was practically impossible to find any. Some even thought that it would take days for the monsters to return to their original numbers.
But to the surprise of these people, their numbers returned to normal in a matter of a day.
And worst of all, their strength was far greater than what they originally had.
The overall strength of all the monsters had changed significantly.
Once Gabriel used his Stigma on them he found the reason.
The stigma of him had analyzed a goblin, and instead of the usual [Wild Goblin], what appeared was slightly different.
.
[Normal Goblin] All monstrous species changed from [Wild] Attribute to [Normal] Attribute. He didn't know what other possible changes would have, but that was already a noticeable change.
The monsters had also begun to resume their original features.
The Goblin's Cunning
the strength of the ogre
Orc's Domain
And Troll Sovereignty.
Each of them regained their racial traits, though their overall strength did not increase, their intelligence did.
That was enough for countless humans to die from overconfidence.
The monsters began to Gather with the strongest species at the top.
Originally the groups would only be between similar species or irregular individuals, but now that was extremely common.
The monsters that although they had a presence from the beginning did not have the attributes to become a troublesome enemy,
now they had become a real threat that if left alone could wipe out all humans.
Exceptional individuals from both the monster and human side began to appear. Although also individuals who did not fall into either category.
The Proving Ground had changed,
and death was getting closer to the unfortunate who fell in this place.
****
Three days had passed promptly, there were still two days left before the start of the Second Stage.
Gabriel had a spear in hand, it had already lost all edge of it, rendering it practically useless,
so now he only used it as a cane more than anything else.
He had been training using Normal Goblins, now that the wild Goblins had directly disappeared, he could only fight them.
Her strength had increased drastically to her surprise, since in individual combat, if it weren't for the difference in level,
he would probably be killed in a matter of time just because of his high proficiency in combat.
His instincts were far greater than they were in their wild stage, so the very measures taken with them were ineffective, even tending to use the enemy's own traps against them.
The superior versions of the other monster races were no better. This had started to give him a headache, so he was rapidly improving both his and their strength.
Luckily he felt that he was one step away from level 10, but he felt that he was missing something to pass it.
Like a piece he needed to complete the puzzle, and until he found it, he couldn't get past that last gap. But once he filled that part he would finally take the last step to level 10.
He felt that he had to give everything to get stronger, and if he continued on this path, it would only be a matter of time before he reached that level.
With an even more determined will than before, he set out to continue training and subjugating normal Goblins.
But that was quickly interrupted by a familiar figure.
"Goblin, what's wrong?" I asked while he looked at the girl with a gray-green complexion, with features between a Goblin and a human. He was obviously the Elite HobGoblin Girl.
Behind her and following her were a group of 10 albino Kobolds with pink eyes. They were all slightly taller than an ordinary kobold, while the kobolds in front of him were slightly similar in height to the goblin girl.
Although that was not the most remarkable thing about the group, but that absolutely all of them were girls.
It really came as a surprise, since I originally thought that they would either be mixed or have no sexual abilities at all, but I didn't expect them to be all completely female.
When I asked Stigma about it, she just replied.
[I thought the teacher would like it better like this]
I couldn't tell him anything after hearing that,
since it would be lying to say that he did not like being around women, even if they were his relatives and he had no intention of touching them in any way
He just stayed silent and blamed himself for being a sinner.
Apart from that small event, the strength of the Kobolds was greater than he expected. Being that they were Elite versions of the normal ones,
unfortunately they did not manage to become variants like Goblina.
I suppose that in their next strengthening or reform they could reach it.
He thought to her as he looked at the Kobold girls.
"Master, the Monsters are approaching the edges of the forest again," the Goblin girl reported.
I nodded, it wasn't the first time this had happened.
More and more monsters are appearing and getting stronger, their previous spawn rate was a joke compared to the current one. He didn't know why they didn't enter this place, but he knew that they were looking around, watching us.
The first day after the start of the second stage was extremely uncomfortable because of that,
we did not know if they would stay out of the valley or attack at any moment. But after two days they confirmed that they really did not want to enter.
Even if you stayed a few meters away from them, as long as you were in the valley, they wouldn't attack you.
It is thanks to this valley that they were able to comfortably get through the days even with the large number of monsters brewing outside.
"Come on, it's hunting time" He muttered as he walked to where the monsters were gathering. Even if they weren't going to come in and cause trouble, he'd rather eliminate them than have them pushed aside with those annoying looks.