Carl was collecting the most valuable parts he could get from the goblins, joining them with the highest quality of direwolf's fangs and claws he appraised.
Cultivators come to hunting grounds to collect mana stones, but there were also other reasons. They hunt monsters, collect monster items or plants in the area.
All that were demanded by the society and deemed valuable. Back in his world, there was also a system like this one, so Carl could understand.
The most expensive part of the direwolf was actually its hide which was a good ingredient for clothing, but Carl never learned and liked ripping the skin of a creature. Nor did he have the convenience and shamelessness to actually carry a whole wolf cadaver around places.
As Carl stood up and fixed his full bag, Carl could not help but frown.
'I miss my infinity item,' he thought.
Infinity item were items that could store items to a different dimension without letting the item rot or get destroyed. With something like that, he does not have to abandon these other items.
Sighing, Carl knew it was too expensive for him right now and the original Carl really never saw the use for it. So he had none.
The original Carl always thought like....
'If I bought it, would I only carry books, pen, and some useless things? The other students might just take it too.'
Carl can't blame him. There were many instances of that happening in school and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
Carl didn't need to look back at this pathetic memory, and decided to buy one soon, once he got enough money.
'Of course, the club could at least given me one, instead of giving me a normal bag.'
Carl scoffed and turned his body around, finding himself staring at the entrance of the cave nearby. Carl smiled but his lips twitched awkwardly. Just looking at the mouth of the cave was giving him chills.
'My senses has increased, and I can tell the monsters inside are stronger. But with my strength, I guess it won't matter much.'
Putting his broken daggers away in the bag, Carl entered the cave with greater confidence.
As soon as he went inside, the temperature seemed to gone colder, and his vision slightly decreased with the darkness.
'Hunting in the dark is dangerous so I was a little nervous, but I guess this is not that serious yet.' Carl grabbed a torch he saw on the wall, and started to light it immediately with some mana stones. Mana stones could act as energy for everything so it lit up easily.
Trekking forward, Carl soon heard a rumbling noise.
Clang!
In only a few breaths of time, two goblins on the cave's throat, who was guarding the entrance, immediately noticed him and charged forward with swords.
_Kekeke_
Hearing their wretched snarls, Carl did not activate Bloody Boar and only parried the pathetic swordsmanship. There were no mana activity in Carl's body but he could feel his new strength and speed supporting him. Bursting forth through his veins, surging through his muscles, demanding to be used.
'Left, right, left, right, right, Turn around, and bam!'
Carl dodged successive attacks, passing through the goblins, and in the instant second, he turned around, the first goblin met his fist, and was pushed back in a crash.
The second was sent away flying to the wall with his kick.
"Kekkkk?"
One more goblin goblin appeared. It was the furthest and tried to get away after witnessing his friends die, but Carl immediately threw the dagger on his hand at its direction, which pierced the back of its head, and passed through its skull!
Carl felt satisfied.
'Rank 1 body made such a huge difference! With this, I could fight like I'm using the bloody boar and I can save my real strength as a trump card.'
After getting the mana stones in the goblins' corpses, Carl walked to the cave deeper with white specks of light floating inside his mouth.
In the dark, the sound of goblins being slaughtered was heard in the darkness emanating from the fat boy holding a torch.
Thirty minutes has passed before Carl realized. This entire time, he had been slaying the goblins he found, and with each kill, he consumed their mana stones, slightly improving himself.
Step, step, step.
Deeper onto the cave, Carl grabbed another mana stone from a goblin he just killed and joined it with five more in his hand. Carl cracked them with his teeth, and sucked all the mana to his body, refreshing his strength.
Carl had spent the whole time doing this trick. He might get tired after fighting several goblins, but after each win, he could regain some of his stamina back. Treating them like potions, Carl's mouth munched and munched mana stones before, during, and after the fight.
Soon two hours passed, Carl was beginning to feel tired again. He had not used a mana stones the whole hour, so it was clear he had gained some stamina.
He had reached a deeper part of the cave where the tunnels were wider and frequently darker than usual, and he could hear some noises leaking out the walls. Carl immediately sucked the last eight mana stones he had, gaining some of his stamina.
"I see it's not too effective anymore," Carl mumbled in complaint. Carl had spent eight, but did not even feel any stamina being restored. If he don't check his Centers of power, he won't even know.
Eight mana stones yet the effect to his body was weak!
Carl of course knew what was happening. He got stronger, so his body now demands more mana if he wants to keep restoring stamina this way. Since mana stones were also technically drugs, he was also becoming more immune to its effects.
"A rest is better in this situation."
Walking, Carl was doused in goblin stench and blood, and wasn't wearing any noisy items like armor so he could walk and sneak around easily. One time, he even sneaked behind a goblin and stayed five seconds without it noticing the blade about to yank his organs out.
Still walking, Carl started to follow a cluster of noises beyond the walls and arrived at a bunch of tunnels going in different directions. To avoid being seen, Carl put out his torch, and cope up with the help of his eyes and chose a tunnel going upward.
Seeing that he could use the tunnel to view what seemed to be a large round space inside the cave where the noise was coming from, Carl approached forward with careful footsteps and saw a goblin sleeping on the top.
The goblin was big. The biggest he had seen in the cave. And this time, it was equipped with a bow and arrow.
'It was guarding this place I guess,' Carl supposed, 'but since it's sleeping, it might as well sleep forever!'
Carl revealed his dagger, and precisely stabbed the goblin's neck, instantly impaling his whole body to the ground! The goblin's eyes shot open, and glared at him while trembling but he died immediately.
'This is maybe the final lair.'
Carl climbed to the tunnel even more, and he soon saw what seemed to be the goblin pack's hangout place.
Just below him, in a big dome, there were over twenty goblins almost the size of an adult human. They also have finer weapons than the others with some even bullying what seemed to be weaker and taking their weapon instead.
Carl looked around and saw other goblin archers like the one he just killed watching the lair from above. So Carl slowly approached them and slit their throat as fast as he can.
It took him over ten minutes going around, but he wasn't injured at all. And he had also gotten six more mana stones of higher quality. He immediately ate all of them, and restored some of his stamina.
After surveying the right place to start his assault, Carl quietly released his bag on a safe spot, and placed a dagger in his hands, strapping the others to his legs.
It did not take a while for the goblins to attack him. Luckily, all of the archers had been dealt with, and no one seemed to be in-charge, so Carl was very confident.
'Two from above, and three from each side.'
Carl threw a dagger to the duo of goblins from above, and the moment it reached them, Carl appeared out of nowhere with a glare in his eyes.
Then both of his arms instantly weighed heavier.
'30 pounds in each hand!'
Carl grabbed the daggers, and stabbed their skulls just before they landed to the ground. Blood sprayed like a faucet as Carl pulled the daggers from their skulls, and walked towards to face the six goblins that surrounded him.
The goblins were quite arrogant, laughing how the human was so fat, but all of a sudden, they did not expect his speed. These goblins had more intellect than other monsters, but they were not smart at all.
'30 pounds!' Carl's arms added more weight, and Carl slashed his daggers around, cleaving three goblins in half at once.
"I have become very strong for this cave. It's time I also meet other hunters."