Day 21-30/Day 22

Today I crushed a Goblin who was growing a little impudent.

Of course I didn’t kill him, but recently he was becoming too overconfident in his new abilities, he’ll die one day if I don’t correct him like this. For that reason I steeled my heart and punished him.

I think this is a reasonable thing to do in an environment where carelessness means death.

Well, even if this Goblin does develop some rebellious sentiment against me I can just beat him up again, no problem.

Today the four of us went out hunting again as usual.

We searched for and found some Kobolds I could gain new abilities from.

There are six of them, it’s the largest group we’ve come across up to now, but as we are now we can crush them without a problem. Although they have numbers on their side, we have superior individual abilities and equipment.

We decided to give it a try. Gobumi-chan, armed with a crossbow and short-bow, aimed at a Kobold and prepared to pull the trigger, but then it came out from behind the rocks.

A Kobold of small stature wearing on its head what looks like a triple horned horse skull by the three horns growing on its forehead, and a twisted and crooked wooden staff in its hand, it approached the group while muttering something.

From its appearance, I think it’s a Kobold Mage.

I knew since I heard from Goblin Elder that Goblins and Orcs and other lower-class monsters like Kobolds are generally unable to use magic to interfere with the laws of the world, with the exception of subspecies.

But exceptions do exist where ordinary Kobolds and Goblins can wield magic.

These are called Kobold Mages and Goblin Mages. It is a highly prized and rare ability though not as rare as subspecies.

Without a sense for handling magic I couldn’t wield magic at my leisure yet, and this time I’m facing a Kobold Mage accompanied by six Kobold followers, this could be difficult.

Even so, this is a good chance.

If the Mage used magic, perhaps by observing it I might be able to learn to wield it. Even if not, I can just take the ability anyway.

Thinking that, we tailed the Kobold party and that somewhat troublesome mission was a success; we were able to see magic being used for the first time. The victim of the Kobold Mage’s magic was a Green Slime.

Even with the ability “Invulnerable to physical damage”, the Slime’s bodily fluids evaporated before the roaring blaze of fire, leaving behind a green stony core. It was quite the flashy scene.

But having seen that I gained a general understanding of magic. If I go back to the cave and practice a bit I think I could do it without a problem.

With that matter settled we went on the attack. The enemy were promptly annihilated.

The Kobold Mage died instantly from a poisoned arrow to the back of the head by Gobumi-chan. The rest were silenced by me and Gobukichi-kun, with the help of Gobue-chan’s poisoned stone and Gobumi-chan’s rapid fire. No matter how strong, they’re no problem if we crush them before they can show that strength.

We stripped the ordinary Kobolds of equipment and put it in Gobue-chan’s backpack, then I secured the Kobold Mage’s staff. Moreover, we took eight “Water Spirit Stones”—strange stones that give off water when tightly gripped—, six “Thunder Spirit Stones”—strange stones that discharge a strong electric shock—, and ten “Fire Spirit Stones” like the ones I ate before, all separated into three small sacks.

I took the Kobold Mage and the six hearts for myself, the rest are eaten by the others, two for each Goblin.

Incidentally, I also ate the Green Slime core.

Ability [Physical Damage Reduction] learned. Ability [Internal Mana Control] learned. Ability [Magician Proficiency] learned. Ability [Intimidating Roar] learned.

It seems the Green Slime did not have “Invulnerability to Physical Damage” but the reduced version “Physical Damage Reduction”, but that’s remarkable enough as it is.

This way we now know how to deal with green slimes the next time we should encounter one: Simply burn them down with “Pyrokinesis”.

Then, I ate the Kobold Mages’ staff and the three kinds of “spirit stones”. Doing this to gain abilities has become sort of a habit of mine.

Ability [Hydro Hand] learned. Ability [Aqua Resistance] learned. Ability [Electromaster] learned. Ability [Lightning Resistance] learned. Ability [Flame Resistance] learned. Ability [External Mana Operation] learned.

Yes, these are good abilities. By practicing these I can finally use magic.

After that, we encountered Armored Tanuki and Night Vipers on the way back. They were killed mostly by Gobue-chan to gain experience then eaten.

Ability [Endurance] learned. Ability [Evil Eye Resistance] learned.

With this it looks like I have learnt all the abilities I can from Night Vipers and Armored Tanuki. Well, it was good food nonetheless.

After that, night fell and I went practicing by myself.

It was hard at first but after one hour I figured out the trick; although it needed a bit of activation time I was able to do it without problem.

Incidentally a Green Slime decided to attack me under the cover of night, and seeing it as a good practice target, I decided to take care of it. I crafted a lance with magic and shot it at the Green Slime, killing it in one hit with fearsome power.

I took the core that was rolling around and began to eat it.

Ability [Self Body-Fluid Control] learned.

And with that I gained this ability.

Yeah, I’m now able to turn my sweat into acid (make my sweat highly acidic?), which is useful and makes me satisfied. However, the fact that my equipment didn’t corrode when I used it is another strange mystery of this world.