Day 11-20/Day 15

Our first hunt since our Rank Up to Hobgoblins.

Since we were displaying the might of our new bodies for the first time, I’m a bit nervous.

Today, the first prey we encountered was a humanoid with the head of a dog and fur all over its body. I don’t know where it got them from but it was wearing rusted armor with a just as rusty longsword. I decided to name this monster, “Kobold”. From observation, it seems the Kobolds are a higher rank than Goblins and about the same rank as Orcs.

If we include the equipment, then compared to the Orc we ate, it’s probably an even higher rank. In physical strength, the Orc would be more powerful, but the Kobold would be superior in terms of speed and agility.

These two traits.are embodied in the Kobold.

If it were the ‘us’ from before, we would’ve retreated immediately, or more likely, used my abilities to avoid the fight altogether. Using Gobumi-chan’s accurate, poison-covered stones as support, Gobukichi and I faced the Kobolds from the front.

Excluding myself, who has evolved into a subspecies, Gobukichi’s combat ability increased significantly thanks to his equipments. His cudgel was reinforced by wounding shells around it while his shield was made of shell. The Kobold only had its rusty armour while Goblin-kichi had various shell armours to help him. Gobukichi attacked the Kobold directly.

Rank Up is scary isn’t it?

Someone who was weak only just yesterday turned into a great warrior in one day.

Goblin Kichi got some minor wounds and had Gobumi-chan treat them using some of our medicinal herbs. The Goblin Elder taught us about medicinal herbs earlier.

While they did that, I took the opportunity to strip the Kobold of its possessions. On his waist hung three stones. Using my [Appraisal] ability, I discovered that they were “Fire Spirit Stones”. Apparently non-sentient low-level fire spirits dwell within the stones. I pocketed them and then started stripping off him of his armor. I hung the slightly rusty longsword together with two books I had on my waist.

From the corpse, I took the brain, the heart and the right arm. Gobu Kichi and Gobumi-chan decided to split the rest evenly.

They left an impression as they had a strange texture. Although the taste is subtle, they were still delicious.

Ability [Kobold Language] learned. Ability [Predict] learned.

As I thought, Kobolds are stronger than the average Hobgoblin. The reason Gobu Kichi could win was because of the huge difference in gear quality. On the other hand, I could win due to my numerous abilities and combat experience.

Also, after eating the three Fire Spirit Stones,

Ability [Pyrokinesis] learned.

I gained the ability to produce fire. In the natural world, it’s hard to overcome this difference. With this I can finally make yakiniku, I thought…

And this was the outcome of the battle.

After that, we hunted some horned rabbits, then returned.

Today, the tribute my Goblin subordinates gave me was horned rabbits mixed with Armored Tanukis, which surprised me. “These guys, they’re finally growing up…” I lamented to myself. I think I’ll give shell shields to the Goblins who are sent to fetch Armored Tanukis in the future. For the evening meal, I grilled the meat the others brought, and we had a yakiniku party.