Chapter 38: Killing Goblins to Grind EXP!
Chapter 38: Killing Goblins to Grind EXP!
"Grrryaarrr!" roared the red-skinned little demi-human, a Goblin.
Its wooden club was directed towards Frank's back at an incredible speed, but Frank himself managed to sense the presence of the creature a few seconds earlier.
This was due to his augmented senses, by leveling up, not only strength or magic was developed, but his quality as a human being increased, this also included all five senses, such as hearing, smell, and the natural detection of an ominous foe.
[An ominous presence has been detected!] 𝘧r𝘦𝗲w𝘦𝚋𝐧o𝘷𝘦𝙡.co𝑚
The System alerted Frank about such presence, but it was not like he had already realized it beforehand.
Frank quickly averted his gaze from Matsuo's fox-like smile as he moved his eyes towards the Goblin, raising his axe, he released a fast yet incredibly precise stabbing attack through the use of his Spear Technique Skill!
CLASH!
Matsuo glanced as Frank's superhuman capabilities showed themselves in his actions, his body had been strengthened through leveling, and although Matsuo was now aware of this, he knew that he had some kind of growth-type ability within himself.
He wanted to test Frank's capabilities by letting him be surprised by a weak monster, to see if he was more than a simple Healer.
Frank's spear suddenly was covered in blueish ethereal energy, Frank's mana, which enveloped the spear and which power was absorbed by the jewel at the tip of the weapon. The spear moved even faster than the goblin's arm holding the wooden club, striking the Goblin's chest with a loud 'Clash!' sound, as the Goblin roared in pain.
"GRRRYARRR!"
The Goblin, however, was still somehow alive, gnashing its teeth with anger and fury, its yellow-colored eyes glanced at Frank's eyes with anger and the savagery of a monster!
However, Frank had already experienced what was taking the life of another living being after having hunted many Horned Rabbits, and although killing a Goblin certainly gave a different feeling as it was a humanoid being, Frank's mind was as calm as ever, he frowned as he gnashed his teeth as well, putting more of his strength into the lance and fully penetrating the goblin's chest with the tip.
CLASH!
"G-Grrryaaa…!"
Ding!
[You acquired a small amount of EXP!]
"It's dead…" sighed Frank, as the Goblins' body suddenly became a black-colored mist and disappeared out of existence, leaving a small, blue-colored jewel in the ground.
"…What? It disappeared?" asked Frank in surprise.
"Good job! Frank, you surprised me there, you know how to infuse your Mana into a Magic Weapon? Who taught you that? Or did you figure it out on your own? You might be more talented than I thought! Oh, and that? Well, it's simple," said Matsuo.
"I think I am rather untalented, to be honest… But it was easy to use, I just needed to point the tip at the goblin and kill it, nothing particularly complex… And what do you mean by simple? I thought you used monsters' materials. How can you get materials if the creatures disappear after they die?" asked Frank.
Ah! That's because there are different types of monsters in this world. This special Hunting Domain is made cheaply, so the monsters in here stop materializing after they die, it is an efficient way of doing it because it's not like goblin corpses are worth anything anyways aside from the Magic Crystal'' said Matsuo.
"So there are monsters that continue to be materialized after dying and others that simply… don't?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, well, you see, monsters are born through various means. One of them is for negative emotions to accumulate in a certain area, like inside this Domain… these goblins are like this, this is why they often called monsters as Evil Spirits in the past, they materialized through the accumulated negative emotions of humans. Our brains are pretty strong, and the mental energy we produce and exude does not simply go away and disappear, all matter transforms in this world, and so does that energy we exude… And the more population there is, the more negative emotions are created and converged, resulting in these adorable little, green-skinned men… and other things," said Matsuo.
"I guess I kind of understand it a bit more now… Then those that stay materialized are made by even more concentrated mana, negative emotions, and mental energy?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, usually, those that stay materialized have more concentration of mana. These are weak monsters, with not much mana within them. The mana becomes these magic crystals and the rest of their bodies simply goes back into the environment, feeding energy into creating more in the future" said Matsuo.
"That's intriguing…" said Frank, as he felt the presence of more goblins sneaking through his back while walking around the trees of this vast Domain.
"Is this place filled with these things and a forest?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, it has the size of an actual forest. This space is actually not infinite, but it goes around itself like a sphere, so you will never actually meet the 'end'" said Matsuo, as he intercepted a goblin that tried to sneak behind him with a wooden spear.
"Grryaarrr!"
"Light Barrier," said Matsuo with his fox-like smile, as a barrier of light appeared before him, blocking the goblin's attack.
"That magic…" muttered Frank with surprise and amusement.
"This is a simple defensive spell, now look at this," said Matsuo.
"Light Ray," said Matsuo, pointing his index finger towards the raging goblin's head, as a ray of shiny golden light flowed from his finger and penetrated the goblin's head like a bullet, leaving an empty hole within.
Boom!
The Goblin disappeared in black smoke as a tiny magic crystal was left behind.
"Now take care of yours'' said Matsuo, as Frank quickly evaded an attack from a nearby Goblin's wooden club. His speed was clearly higher than these critters, and evading their 'surprise' attacks was not anything hard for him, even if his evasion techniques were quite clumsy and inexperienced.
"Grryarr!" roared the Goblin, trying to attack him again as Frank's aquamarine eyes flashed with blue light, his body exuded a small amount of mana into his spear, using the tip of the spear towards the Goblin's neck, stabbing it as the creature vomited blood while shrieking, only to die and disappear a few seconds afterward.
Ding!
[You acquired a small amount of EXP!]
"Now you!" said Frank, as he used the spear to shield another Goblin's club attack.
CLASH!
"Grryarrrr!"
Frank then began to think about using something else than the Spear this time, remembering how he had gotten a new time of magic after acquiring his Mana Core, which he had not much time to practice. However, the moment he acquired that magic skill, a small amount of knowledge had flown into his mind, giving him the clues to conjure at least a small offensive spell.
He wanted to show off to Matsuo as well, to show him that he wasn't a simple Healer and perhaps, through that recognition of more strength, to be more accepted within the ranks of the clan.
Frank used the spear to intercept the Goblin's angered yet clumsy attacks, Frank's reflexes were simply superior to the Goblin by some amount, and through this, he gathered time to point the palm of his hand towards the Goblin.
"Concentrate Mana… More… More!" said Frank as he infused mana into the palm of his hand, a transparent, blue, and gray-colored sphere of ethereal energy was generated within a second.
"There!" said Frank, firing the sphere of mana towards the goblin's head, throwing the creature several meters away with great force!
BOOM!
"Grrryyaarrr…!" roared the Goblin, flying through the air and then falling over the ground, not much later turning into smoke and disappearing. ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m
Ding!
[You acquired a small amount of EXP!]
"Wow! Well done, man! I knew that you had more with you! Since when did you know how to do that?" asked Matsuo with excitement.
"Actually, I just learned it," said Frank with a plain voice, as he grabbed into the magic crystals and glanced at them… he waited for some kind of message that could let him absorb them, as Matsuo reacted to his words.
"…Eh? Really? You just learned to do that?! Man, you're a prodigy!" said Matsuo.
"Is that so? That much? You're exaggerating now…" said Frank.
"No! I actually took more than a year to learn my spells, offensive spells are the hardest to learn… yet you just did it on a whim?!" asked Matsuo.
"I guess I am quite good, but that's not so impressive amongst the many sorcerers and monsters that exist in the underworld, right?" asked Frank.
"…You're right, I guess if we compare you to the rest, yeah, you're still a rookie in training…" said Matsuo while sighing, he found Frank's humbleness quite shocking, he was truly talented, yet he saw himself as a very little… this might actually be a good trait in Matsuo's mind, as this would push Frank to not simply be content with what he had, and to strive forward to get even better.