Chapter 3: Training and Eating
Souta was much more stronger now than before. A single piece of Universal Treasure gave him the power above his level. Universal Treasures were the highest grade treasure that can be found in the whole game. Even those top guilds in the game only had a handful of universal grade treasure holder. He didn't expect that he would arrive in this place in the first place but the real effect of this earring could only be felt after absorbing countless souls. So it's pretty much useless right now except for the added few stats.
"This item will help me build a better stats foundation now that I'm back at level 1."
He stood up and picked up his sword. With the stats he had right now, he could probably conquer this dungeon in just a single day. Well, it all depends on the size of the dungeon.
"I should get the other skills for now to increase my battle prowess." He rubbed his chin as he looked at the sword on his hand.
"First, I would try to acquire the [Sword Mastery] skill. To acquire it, I need to swing a sword a thousand times in a proper form." He said as he fixed his posture. This was the same in the game.
Swoosh!!
He began to swing his sword.
"One... Two... Three... Four..."
...
After a few hours, Souta finished swinging his sword and he successfully acquired the [Sword Mastery] skill.
He sat on the ground as he tried to catch his breath. The muscles on his arm were sore and he could barely move it.
"This will boost my fighting power."
He felt that this was really out of this world. When he acquired the skill, he felt he already became well versed in using swords. In the game, it will only increase the players' damage when using a sword. Also, some of the sword skills require the [Sword Mastery] skill.
[Sword Mastery] Level 1: The most basic level of the Swordsman. At this level, a person could be truly said a Swordsman. Effect: +20% damage when using a sword.
Souta picked up the sword and played with it. He really felt that he was a real Swordsman right now. With this, he could accurately pinpoint his [Stab] to the bones of the skeleton. He wouldn't need to worry about not hitting the bones when he used [Stab]. Before he was reluctant to use the skill [Stab] as he was worried that his sword would pass through the body of the skeleton, so he mostly used his fist and elbow. But now, he doesn't need to worry as he had the [Sword Mastery] skill. The combination of [Sword Mastery] and [Stab] was great.
The added damage of the [Sword Mastery] and [Stab] was enough to pierce an iron not to say the bones of the skeleton.
"Am I really in the game or not?" He said with a sighed. He doesn't have any information, all he had was the [Soul Blood Earring]. This was proof that he was inside the game world.
What if he died? Gamers never died right? They only respawn.
He doesn't have the guts to try this. He still doesn't want to die and he had many things that he wanted to do. He wasn't afraid of dying, the thing that he was most afraid of was the unknown. No one knew what will happen if someone dies.
"And one of that is to finish this game." He said with a smirked on his face. This was a super difficult game as he would finish it without dying. This was not the same as a virtual game when he died the system will only give him a penalty.
He couldn't help but tremble while thinking about this.
He could dominate the game at that time because of his powerful set, unique skill, and his super high level. If he was really inside the game, he wanted to know the date right now. He wanted to know what version he starts.
He could already recall most of the things in the game, which must be because of the added 10 intelligence of the [Soul Blood Earring]. But the problem was that he couldn't remember anything outside the game except his real name.
"Hmm...?" Souta saw something while he was looking at his stats. He found that his exp increased while he was practicing.
"So training can also increase a person's level here. It must be because this body wasn't an avatar anymore but my real body."
The increase in exp was low compare to what he gets from killing the skeleton soldiers.
Suddenly, he felt his stomach growling. He still hasn't eaten a single meat ever since he transmigrates into the body of the goblin. He forgot that he had to eat to survive. His head was only filled with leveling up and forgot one of the most important things, the food.
"The monsters here in the dungeon were only undead. I couldn't eat something like that, plus when the undead died their body withers." He said in a low voice. There's no animals here or other monsters. Monster? There's a corpse of the goblin inside this dungeon.
He exited the room and went to the corpse of the goblin that he found before.
He looked at it with a frown on his face. "I'm going to eat this! I don't have a choice but to eat this to survive, I still want to finish this story!"
He carried the corpse inside the room. He felt nausea just from the thought of eating this goblin. His face contorted in disgust.
He suddenly recalled that there were torches everywhere inside this dungeon. He would at least cook the meat of this goblin before he eats it.
He chopped the meat of the goblin and roasted it to the point that he couldn't recognize that it was a slice of goblin meat.
Chomp!
Souta directly bit the meat and quickly gulp it. He felt that he was going to puke the meat. He closed his eyes and erased those thoughts inside his mind.
"Souta eat, if you don't eat you won't survive!" He said to himself. He felt that he was about to cry just thinking that he would eat this every day. Souta thought that he should find a way back home. He doesn't want to stay here in this place living like this.
...
Souta rest for a few hours before he exited the room. He was going to conquer this dungeon.
He tried to collect the soul of the dead goblin but as he expected the soul already left its body. The soul will leave the body after three hours when they died. It means that the goblin died more than three hours from now.
Huh? He just remembered that he practice sword for a few hours and that took most of his time.
Still, those skeleton soldiers. Those skeleton soldiers still had their souls on their bodies that's why they could still move like a living creature.
A necromancer had that kind of skill. They could call the soul from the hell back to the living world to serve them.
But he couldn't collect the soul of those skeletons if he hadn't defeated them. He still needs to defeat them to weaken the link of soul and body so it makes it easier to collect their soul.
"Okay, it's time to finish this," Souta said in a low voice as he played the sword in his hand. After getting the [Sword Mastery] skill, he really felt that he was an experienced swordsman.
He exited the room and went to conquer the dungeon. He met a lot of skeleton soldiers on his way but with his current stats, those skeletons were not a problem. He could defeat them easily with his 16 points of strength, plus his 20% added damage when wielding a sword. Ten points of strength was a big gain for a goblin like him. Every time a goblin level up its attributes only increase by one point, so ten points were equals to ten level up.
The skeleton soldiers weren't his match at all. They became his exp pot to further increase his level. By the time he arrived in front of the Boss room, he's already level 6. At this point, it's already hard to level up as he already needs a large amount of exp.
It took him one day before he managed to arrive in front of the boss's room. Since fighting for a whole day left him tired, he's going to take some rest.
"I want..." Souta slowly closed his eyes and took a little nap.
He woke up exactly four hours after he fell asleep.
"Ah!" He yawned and he looked around his surroundings. He didn't think that he would fell asleep. He only plans to rest for a few minutes before going to fight the boss of this dungeon.
He looked at his stats.
Name: Souta Ieshi
Race: Goblin
Level: 6 (453/1,300)
Class: «none»
Health: 40/40
Stamina: 20/20
Mana: 34/34
Strength: 20 (10+10)[+]
Agility: 11 [+]
Dexterity: 8 [+]
Intelligence: 17 (7+10)[+]
Vitality: 20 (10+10)[+]
Free attribute point(s): 8
Skill(s): [Dash], [Stab], [Sword Mastery]
Equipment skill(s): [Harvester of the Soul(Soul collected: 31/100)]
Skill point(s): 6
'It's enough.' Souta nodded while looking at his stats. His stats were enough for this Boss battle.
He also managed to collect the souls of those skeletons. He collected a total of 31 souls from those skeletons. He still needs a lot of souls before he could use the skill to increase his attributes.
"Okay, let's do this." Souta took a deep breath while closing his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes with a will to fight.
It needs a party of players to take down a dungeon Boss. But Souta always fought alone in the game. He doesn't have any party members at all. All he need was himself.
He raised his hand and put his palm on the cold metal door. He pushed it opened and took a peek inside the Boss room.
Woosh!
A cold wind brushed his face.
Souta took a step forward and entered the room without hesitation. He couldn't see anything as it was too dark.
Suddenly, the torches around the walls lit up and it illuminated the entire room.
The room was circular, it doesn't have the four corners of a normal room. At opposite of his direction, there, a skeleton wearing a black robe. The skeleton was two meters in height and it's emitting a very ominous aura. On its left hand, there's a black staff with the black orb at its tip.
With one look, Souta immediately knows what it is.
"Undead Skeleton Mage!"