Day 1-10/Day 8

undefined Our trio consisting of me, Gobukichi and Gobumi went out hunting this day. At any rate, for the past few days we have managed to become quite fully equipped, although the equipment is so crude that I don’t know if it should count.

From several horns, I chose two comparatively large ones which I dual wielded. In case I was ever hit, I created a simple body armor full of gaps by binding the remaining horns together with ivy which I fastened around my body. The horns are surprisingly hard, but against thrusting attacks the armor has little effect, however against blunt damage it’s quite effective. This should be plenty enough protection to ensure I don’t get any serious injuries.

Gobukichi is covered by wooden chest armor and is wielding a club. The club is so thick that he has to use both hands to hold it, and the handle was shaved using horns to make it thinner. Well, since he’s both the physically strongest out of us and the most stupid, hitting stuff with his full strength is the style that he can use the best to his advantage.

Together with the scraps from the horned rabbit pelts and a sturdy piece of ivy, I had constructed a simple staff sling, strengthening Gobumi's ranged capabilities. She used stones lying around as ammunition, and was our rearguard who could deal with birds and so forth, specializing in ranged combat. She was currently not equipped with armor, but given the time I’d like to construct some for her. By the way, the worn-out loincloth is still standard equipment. I want new clothes. However yeah, with increased numbers it gets easier as expected.

With Gobukichi as the vanguard, me as mid-range, and Gobumi covering the rear support, this formation was surprisingly effective, so the fruits of today's hunt was in addition to the horned rabbits also new prey. One was a poisonous snake with a length of 60 centimeters, a diameter of approximately 6 centimeters, covered with black scales with a speckled pattern. There were three of them and I named them “Night Vipers” (temporary name). Another one looked like a bat, although I fear that it’s probably something else, they couldn’t help but stand out since their wings were shining in seven different colors. We found one of them and I named them “Sevencolored Bats” (temporary name). The third one looked like what you get if you combined an armadillo and a racoon dog together, the back was covered with a hard shell. We found two of them and I named them “Armored Tanuki” (temporary name). And this time we routinely caught two horned rabbits. This is a perfect result.

However at any rate, Gobukichi and Gobumi seemed to be strongly hinting at something by staring at me with round and cute eyes while uncontrollably drooling. Well, it’s not like I don’t understand them. While the other goblins would have eaten the captured spoils on the spot where they caught them, because I wanted to appropriate the usable parts to make weapons of them, which compared with eating them took more time.

I also wanted to disassemble everything at the same time, so we didn’t get to eat in the middle of the hunt. That’s why I understood why’d they get hungry. But I ignored this, continuing the work. When they disappointedly hang their heads I felt that was enough. Oh well, It can’t be helped.

After removing the horn from the horned rabbit, I threw the body towards Gobumi and Gobukichi. Originally I wanted the pelt too, but the drooling appearance of Gobumi and Gobukichi was too pitiful to look at. But Gobumi and Gobukichi were for some reason staring blankly at me after receiving the meat, slightly bending their heads to one side in puzzlement.

Even though I told them not to eat I handed them food, so I think they were wondering what to do, so this time I told them: “Because this is going to take a while, go ahead and eat that". After looking troubled for a while, Gobukichi and Gobumi greedily munched on the simple food. Both goblins had bloodstains around their mouths.

After averting my eyes, I first decided to remove the shell of the Armored Tanukis. Since I couldn’t break the shell with the horned rabbit horn, I had no objections to using it for the construction of armor. Here the pseudo-knife I made yesterday of a material that looks kind of like obsidian became handy. It’s cutting edge wasn’t really stellar, however compared to cutting with the horn it was leagues better.

I already knew how to dismantle it, however it seemed like the Armored Tanukis shell had stuck together to the skin, so it was easier to remove the skin with the shells attached. After a slightly close fight, I managed to tear off the entire skin together with the shells and a mysterious announcement was heard again.

[ Goburou has obtained Shell beasts skin furnished with shells!!]

Like usual I thought, What’s this?. However, I soon concluded that I should leave it alone. I decided to also gain some nourishment before I continued, so I tore the Armored Tanukis heart, brain and right leg to pieces and ate them. I gave the rest to Gobumi and Gobukichi. There was still meat left after all. Nevertheless, the meat of the Armored Tanuki tasted good! The texture when chewing it was seriously awesome. When chewing the flavors mixed together into a wonderful blend. Aah, I’ll try to eat a bit of the shell to assess it.

Ability [Shell Defense] learned.

From just chewing it slightly, I learned the ability.It might have been because I ate the heart, brain, and right leg earlier. Incidentally, [Shell Defense] is the ability to when using objects made from organic shells increase defensive power, increase chance to block damage and reduce the chance of being hit with fatal attacks. Yes, it’s a fairly good ability. It’s profit, profit. Feeling good, I finished skinning the other Armored Tanuki quicker this time, since I now knew how to do it.

In my previous working place I got used to dissecting creatures, as long as you have the know-how it’s easy to do. This time I ate half the meat and I threw the remainder to to Gobumi and Gobukichi, after which I ate some more shells in order to raise the level of [Shell Defense] slightly. Ah, calling it levels is just an expression of mine, to make it easier to understand I’m just calling it levels and there's no specific meaning behind it. Understanding that the ability has gotten stronger is enough.

Next I started to disassemble the seven-colored bat. I removed the entire pretty seven colored wing, and drew out the fangs who looked like they were for sucking blood. Then I split the meat and we all shared it. The flesh of the seven colored was very tender compared to that of the Armored Tanuki, yes, a very good taste. Or how should I put it, ever since turning into a goblin, all food I’ve eaten has tasted good.

Is this perhaps because I’ve gotten the sense of taste of the race I was born as? Not that I really care anyway. I’m afraid that I didn’t learn any ability from eating the bat, however my physical ability seemed to be slightly increased, and after eating the meat my body felt a sense of fulfillment.

My ESP ability [Absorption] didn’t only give me abilities like [Shell Defense], but also could increase my physical strength, defensive strength and vitality and such, thus strengthening my body which I was very thankful for. Even so, I wonder if my ESP ability originated from my soul? I had the feeling I’d heard about how a famous scholar from somewhere had written a thesis named [Getting infected by a special virus causes ability to appear in compatible persons] or maybe I haven’t.

While looking slightly puzzled, I realized that I had no means to ascertain the truth of this matter, and since the knowledge wouldn’t be of any practical use anyway I decided to drop this line of thought. Finally I started disassembling today's main dish, the three night vipers.

First I cut off the head of the snake with my obsidian knife, but since the snake skin was awfully hard the edge of one of the knives got chipped. When I hung it up and tried to cut it again it tore off. I thought I could make something of the snake skins so I tore it off. With their heads cut off and the snakeskin peeled off, each goblin received one snake each.

We ate. It was quite delicious. Yeah, if this was splashed with sake and burnt, it would be the same as Kabayaki (eel dipped and boiled in soy sauce), is how delicious I thought it was. Just from imagining it, I started salivating. The horned rabbit and the Armored Tanukis crispy and slightly hard meat is delicious, and the super tender meat of the seven colored bat is also delicious. However, the night viper slightly exceeded those in taste. This tastiness caused us to stop working, and all three goblins greedily wolfed down their share.

Ability [Thermography] learned.

Ability [Snake Venom Administration] learned.

Ability [Poison Resistance] learned.

Ability [Presence Sensor] learned.

Ability [Evil Eye] learned.

After eating it, I learned five abilities. Apparently the night viper was in a different league compared to the current me. When I eat something stronger than I am, the probability that I receive abilities from it significantly increases. This is one of the characteristics of my [Absorption] ability. But getting five abilities at once it truly a first. My guess is that this is because goblins are a weak species.

Well, I am truly satisfied with the results of this days outcome. The remaining poisoned fang could probably be used as a tool, however if Gobukichi and Gobumi who don't have [Poison Resistance] were to even graze it, they would without doubt immediately be on the verge of death. Worst case scenario is that they’d die instantly.

Besides this time I also received the ability [Snake Venom Administration], which I can use to apply poison to the tip of the horn that I’m using currently. If I’m not in direct contact this ability doesn’t manifest itself, but compared to the poisoned fang it’s a lot safer to use. That’s why just in case something were to happen, I ate the three heads of the snakes myself. Because this way is a lot safer.

Yeah, poison (which is completely harmless to me because of the two abilities [Poison Resistance] and [Absorption] working in concert) only made the food taste better to me by giving the food a slight sting. However, two goblins were directing envious gazes at me. Hey, if you ate this you’d die, you know?

Translation group: Re:Translations