I had obtained new information about the challenger system on my arm. I could see the amount of experience monsters gave after killing them, if I wanted to. The goblin had just given me 2 experience points, leaving me with 2/10. Logically, that would mean that reaching 10 would make me level up, right?
This caused me some doubts about the ogre. Could it be that the first monster is simply to reach level 1 and then you can see the information? Could there be other things I can't see? There was no one to ask, and even if there had been, I doubted it would be someone in my situation. After all, only 17 creatures had perished.
<999,811,248 vs 1,999,999,983>
Finding someone else already seems complicated enough, let alone being lucky enough to find someone else capable of eliminating a monster. After all, the first one was pure luck, and the second one was thanks to the sword granted by the second system, which I still don't know much about.
Finding someone else seems complicated enough, let alone being lucky enough to find someone else capable of killing a monster. After all, the first one was pure luck, and the second was thanks to the sword granted by the second system, which I still don't know much about.
"I have to do something with the goblin's body. Its blood smells really bad."
Doing it wrong would be a problem, so I'll quickly investigate the cave while I think about what to do with the body.
Entering the cave, I was finally able to give it my full attention. It was a rather elegant cave with rough, ash-gray walls and a few small holes in the surface that not even a goblin could pass through. These holes acted as skylights, illuminating the interior. It was also high enough to walk around in without any problems. Even an ogre could walk inside, although with difficulty due to the narrowness of the path, which was no more than 2 meters wide.
A few meters in, the path split into two, so I took my sword and stuck its blade into the ground to mark where I had entered, scraping it into the sandy soil to get an idea of how to get back if the cave turned out to be very large.
"This way I won't get lost. Dying trapped in a cave would be very foolish after everything that has happened."
The first path was unremarkable, simply leading to an exit from the cave, or should I say another entrance? It took me about five minutes to travel from one entrance to the other, so the cave was quite long.
"Let's think about it. If a person walks at 5 km per hour, how far is 5 minutes? About 400 meters? Yes, I think so. It's much longer than I thought. From the outside, it doesn't look very big."
"So this cave has at least two entrances. That could be good or bad, depending on the situation."
I went back on foot and this time tried the second path, which led me to a fairly large area compared to the narrow paths that ran from end to end, as if it were a room inside the cave, almost as if it had been built or formed for that specific purpose. The walls were much smoother and brown in color, which made visibility difficult.
In the center of the dark room, a small opaque white stone glowed, illuminating the place with its radiance. Picking it up was like an inevitable reflex.
"What is this?"
The soft voice of the second system was heard in my mind, immediately answering my question.
{Skill Stone}
{Rank: Common}
{Skill: Pulse}
{Pulse: You can emit a pulse from your hands}
"This... this is incredible, fascinating, the heavens have looked into my eyes, this really is like a game, it will be a common skill and I don't really understand what it does, but !!it's a skill, man!!"
Right after the system finished giving me details, the first system on my arm appeared. These two are really useful.
-YES!!!
"Oh man, consuming stones also gives experience? Maybe the evil voice from the sky wasn't telling so many lies and this was actually balanced, I just had a rough start."
I needed to see to believe what I had just read, so I quickly opened my panel.
I had gained +2 exp, a skill, and magic to use. Without further ado, I put my hand in front of me and grabbed it with my other hand as if trying to reach for something in front of me.
"Pulse"
The moment after reciting the name of the skill in my mind, I felt a slight pulse that emitted an incredibly soft sound like the blowing of the wind coming out of my hand, causing my hand to recoil slightly as if it were the recoil of a weapon.
"I don't quite understand what it does. It seems to shoot out a wave of air, but in that case, why is it called a pulse?" "Besides, it only costs 2 magic points, so I can use it 3 times before I run out of magic."
I decided to repeat the experiment, this time with my eyes closed for greater concentration on the skill, hoping to perhaps launch an even stronger wave.
"Pulse!"
Instantly, my hand shot backward with greater force than the first attempt, pushing my arm back about 15 centimeters. Even so, what was remarkable was what the pulse caused. For a moment after using the skill, I could see the entire room in front of me even with my eyes closed.
"It's a skill..."
Before I could finish thinking, my mind clouded over for a moment, causing me to fall to my knees.
Now that I had magic, running out of it gave me a mysterious feeling of fatigue, totally unrelated to physical exhaustion, as if my mind had vanished for a moment, leaving me in a suspended state. I don't understand why, but even without the magic recovering, I quickly recovered from the sensation.
"Does it only happen when it runs out, or is it related to physical endurance as well?"
I had made great progress with this acquisition. I learned a tracking skill that is useful in various situations. Likewise, I now know that the more mana you inject into the skill, the more powerful it can become. Finally, I learned the effect of running out of magic. Had I learned this in the middle of a fight, it could have ended really badly.
Now I seem to be starting to understand the systems. The first one shows me my information, and the second one seems to be a kind of support, providing me with information about things.
I quickly explored the "room" in the cave because with [pulse] I realized that at the back, where the darkness gathered, there was a narrow path that led to a point halfway between the location and one of the two paths that led to the exit, almost like an emergency exit. This reinforced my belief that this place had been inhabited by someone or something before.
The light in the cave was fading, so it was clear that the sun was setting. With everything that had happened, I had completely forgotten about nightfall. To begin with, I didn't even know what time it was in this place.
I didn't know how dark it would be without artificial light sources, so I hurried out of the cave, taking the goblin's corpse with me to leave it near the river. The river was next to the cave that I would now call my refuge. I also had to hurry to gather some loose wood and try to make a fire. The mere idea of being in an unknown place full of unknown creatures and unable to see made my blood run cold.
I had never made a campfire without a lighter, but I hoped that having spent so much time watching videos on the internet would help.
Issues such as food and drink were covered for now thanks to the survival kit. Although I hadn't examined it in depth yet due to everything that needed to be done immediately, I checked the water and some portions of dried meat. If I managed it well, I could probably last about two days.
Now that I knew about the existence of skill stones, I had to pay extra attention to my surroundings in search of anomalies. Likewise, while I was looking for wood for my future survival crafts, I tried to keep testing the description function of the second system.
"System analyzes the sword."
-...
Nothing happened.
"System analyzes that tree."
-...
-Why aren't you saying anything?? I asked you to analyze the sword you gave me.
{Single-handed double-edged sword, 85 cm long, with a leather-covered hilt and a curved bronze guard.}
-Aaaaa... forgive me for everything! I always trusted you.
After quickly testing it with other objects such as boots and a canteen, I realized I needed to say it, not in a loud or demanding voice, but in a voice nonetheless.
"This is incredible, I'd like to try it more, but the sun is almost setting, I have to go back."
Having managed to collect some wood, I hurried back and as I crossed the river, careful not to fall in, I had a great idea: to test the water to see if it was safe to drink, and I quickly put it to the test.
-System, analyze the river water.
{Water}
The answer was so simple that it seemed like a joke and it was making fun of me.
-Oh come on, buddy, a moment ago you were bragging about yourself. Don't leave me hanging like this.
{Water}
"It seems like it really has nothing more to say. Maybe that means that water is just that, only water and nothing else."
Without wasting any more time, I hurried back to the cave to finish this first day. When I reached the cave entrance, the situation repeated itself from when I first arrived here.
There was a new goblin, just like the previous one, but with the peculiarity of having much darker skin than the previous one, judging by the dried blood that had splattered the old goblin. It was more than clear that simply removing the corpse was not enough; these wretches had an amazing sense of smell.
Luckily for me, there seemed to be only one again, but now I had more tools at my disposal, a skill, and a better use of my systems. Putting the wood aside and taking the sword from my waist, I hurried with the analysis.
-System, analyze the goblin.
{Name: Killer Goblin}
{Level: 3} {Attribute: Darkness}
{Health: 6/6} {Magic: 5/5}
{Stamina: 15/15} {Strength: 7}
{Speed: 15} {Defense: 5}
{Perception: 15}
{Skills: Smooth Movement, Goblin Vision}
"What the heck?! It has two skills and a new section, attribute... Why don't I have something like that? Could it be that, like the experience bar, it is unlocked by doing something first?
-System... Goblin Assassin?
{Assassin Goblin: A small dark goblin with a great thirst for blood, his malice and ambition for murder have led him to develop his speed and perception above his other qualities.}
"It's a relief that the system can see these things, otherwise I might end up throwing myself at something that looks weak and end up dead.
I had before me a goblin specialized in murder who had lost the element of surprise. The situation was once again in my favor, but I had to be careful. Its speed and endurance far exceeded mine, which meant that if it was discovered and decided to flee, I would have no way of catching it.
The moment I took a step, I heard a crack that tore through the air and echoed in the cave, causing me to instinctively turn toward the sound. My feet... I had just stepped on one of the branches I had brought for the campfire.
"Oh, shit!"
When I looked up again, the dark-skinned goblin that had been a few meters inside the cave a moment ago... was gone.
"Oh... shit..."