CH 10.1

Chance Encounter

“Where are you looking, you idiot? –Rush!”

I kicked its head after it came out of the hole, facing the opposite direction, as I approached it with the speed of Rush.

All right, things are going better than I expected.

Time is now 3:00 PM, and I reached level 5 around 9:00 AM.

Today alone, I have already defeated four goblins, five horned rabbits, and the second mole I just killed.

Monsters tend to congregate in bodies of water, so it is easy for me to encounter them, and since the routine of defeating each monster has already been established to some extent, I don’t have to spend much time on each monster.

Since I repeatedly moved and killed monsters, I should have gained a lot of distance.

Unlike yesterday, today’s journey is in the mountains with the river on the side.

This is a good way to defeat the monsters with the skills that have been discovered.

Taking this into consideration, it is better to aggressively defeat horned rabbits and goblins, which can be defeated consistently.

Of course, the priority is to reach a human village, so I never move away from the riverside…

If I am going to move around, it will be more efficient to go through the mountains, where I am more likely to encounter goblins.

In particular, two types of goblins can be found in the area: “bare-handed” and “stick-carrying” goblins.

It is possible that the same goblin may have different skills depending on whether it is a high-ranking individual or a rare one, so it is better to kill as many goblins as possible to obtain valuable experience for later growth.

By the way, all of today’s goblins are not rare, but bare-handed types.

It is a sad fact that bare-handed goblins tend to have no skills, as they are nothing more than a generic mob.

Say’s the guy who got hit and scratched by that mob with his claws, though.

And that mole in the example lying in the ground.

Because of this monster, I had to walk along the riverside yesterday, but honestly speaking, I realized that the skills possessed by the mole were too delicious to be avoided.

It turned out that he had [earth magic] and [Presence Detection] as well.

If both of the two skills are useful, it would be a clear loss to run away from them.

I’m uncertain whether that’s a good idea, but if I can get it for free, I might as well get the experience while I still can instead of wasting points.

Especially, the Presence Detection skill is seemingly more meaningful when I’m too weak, and if I can get it, I may be able to progress even further defeating the moles.

This is not a safe place to live. It’s a forest, a field where monsters roam.

Of course, I value my life and I don’t want to die, but if I am too scared and passive, I will lose the chance to survive.

Because I don’t want to die in vain, I will hunt the desirable enemies.

That said, of course, I am not recklessly attacking the moles.

Even now that my level has risen a little, there is still a possibility that my head will cave in if I am targeted in the head, so for me, it is still an object of fear.

So, I thought about it, I review my previous encounters.

When I have encountered it before, the magic was released around 10 meters behind me.

Including this is the fact that there was about 5 seconds before the stone was generated.

Adding to that is the time needed for the mole to crawl out of the ground and release the magic right after I passed by.

Because otherwise, the distance between me and the mole would have been much greater.

I see.

I plan to use [Presence Detection] against them and make them mistakenly show their heads, then attack before it noticed me.

For this reason, both pockets of my jacket are stuffed full of pebbles.

They are a little heavy, making me less mobile, but if I throw them at a distance of about 10 meters in front of me, they might appear and confuse the vibration from the stone as me.

That was the pattern I thought of earlier.

It is not a perfect countermeasure because they may appear on the side, but it will greatly reduce the possibility of being caught by surprise.

All right, let’s go.

I could go on for another two hours until the sun went down.

With that in mind, I started walking.

“–!”

I involuntarily raise my face and look around.

(What that…? Voice…goblin? …No, no…a woman’s, or rather…a person’s voice? …Human?)

At that moment, I gasped.

The voices, faintly audible and gradually growing louder, are screams and shouts.

The urgency of the situation makes my skin crawl, but even so, the thought that I might be able to see a living person predominates.

My feet naturally rush forward.

I almost lost my shoes, but I kept running.

The stones in my pockets are thrown away because they are obstructing me.

The fact that I hear human voices suggests that there must be at least a village nearby.

Finally, at last. I can find human civilization… but I will think about that later!

First, I have to save them.

I don’t want to see dead people anymore.