Foe Eliminated - Lvl 17 Homo Sapien - Blood Peak Tribe

  Experience Gained!

  You have leveled up!

  You are now level 13!

  +5 Vigor

  +5 Strength

  +5 Dexterity

  +9 Attunement

  +7 Sense

  I exhaled heavily. I may have defeated the humans and gotten another quick level out of the deal, but the battle took a lot out of me. Not just related to vitals, but my head now felt in a daze.

  I stared down at the dead human at the bottom of the cliff. I couldn’t help wondering if it was really wise to have taken this fight.

  I was glad to have killed them, don’t get me wrong. But I thought it would be easier.

  The system had nudged me towards doing this… I think… Or maybe I just read too deeply into the wording of the apex predator achievement.

  Still, counting the three red masks killed thanks to the Black Prowler in the forest and now these two, they had lost five of their numbers in hunting me and Lily. Not to mention all the ones my dad had killed.

  This thought made me feel like it really was a winnable fight ahead of me. Perhaps it wasn’t great for my mental well-being to find satisfaction in tallying up my body count, but… It was also necessary. I needed this confidence to keep moving.

  I turned away from the cliff.

  I couldn’t get ahead of myself. A swarm of red masks were on their way, and this fight was enough to show me that every single one of them was a true threat.

  I winced as I moved, each step disturbing my injuries, and with the adrenaline of the fight already fading, I knew I was in bad shape even before checking my vitals.

  Vitals

  Health: 120 / 430

  Mana: 322 / 525

  Stamina: 70 / 448 (+40)

  Damn it…

  I needed to revisit the arcane cavern on my way back, then collect Lily and get moving. I haven’t even slept!

  That’s okay, though. Even if I was exhausted, I’d be able to walk… And maybe the system would grant me another boon to help me out.

  I looked up expectantly, but nothing came.

  Didn’t even get anything for that last fight, huh? Is it because the system already gave me too much recently?

  I made it back to the arcane cavern after squeezing through the collapsed tunnel that I had previously cleared with earth magic. The dead Earth Tyrant had made for a basically unlimited supply of earth magic so long as I could keep going back for seconds.

  However, once I got through, I went right for the first patch of healing mushrooms I saw and forced down the chalky stuff as quickly as I could. The Earth Tyrant’s corpse was still lying right out there in the open, and when I was ready for a little element-replenishing snack, I saw a pack of Fire Martins scurrying away.

  I ignored them and chomped on the Tyrant’s belly, just until my earth reserves were full, leaving behind enough meat for days’ worth of eating. Finding this cavern yesterday had made everything possible, and the terror that was far too large for me to eat myself seemed an appropriate gift to leave behind.

  I squeezed back through the tunnel, then continued down to the skylight cavern. The soft glow of morning was already lighting it, and surely some early morning predators were already on the prowl.

  Lily… I hope she wasn’t too worried while I was—

  Before I even made it to our temporary den, she bolted out, running right at me. I was knocked on my side as her tail wagged ecstatically, and she smothered my face with kisses. I would normally be happy to return the enthusiastic greeting, but now wasn’t the time.

  I let out a sharp bark. She instantly backed off with her ears folding back and tail drooping. I gave her a soft growl and motioned for her to follow, and she obeyed, following tentatively behind.

  Sorry, Lily, now's not the time for fun. I’m sorry I worried you, but you have to understand the gravity of our situation.

  I wished I could communicate that to her more clearly, but dogs didn’t really need direct language. I think she understood.

  As we continued to the river, Lily eventually sped up to walk alongside me, her head tilted fully as she looked me up and down, probably taking note of my evolution. I was much bigger than her now, had a blue tint to my undercoat, and my claws, eyes, and teeth had changed.

  I didn’t think escaping back to the forest was the best idea. Even with my advanced level, there were too many threats, and it was a closed-in area that the red masks could systematically scour until they found us.

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  Though one benefit is they wouldn’t know that we didn’t escape back that way, and upon discovering their dead guards, they would surely allocate some of their manpower to searching the forest. I knew the further we made it into this cave, the harder it would be for them, and if we were really lucky, we would find another exit entirely.

  No hunting today, no training, and hopefully no fighting. Just keep moving… Once we made it far enough, I would have to sleep. At that point, everything would be different, and I’d be ready for battle.

  We continued alongside the river, following where it drained into a spacious tunnel. Before we descended back into the dark of the underground, I looked back to the hole in the ceiling. It was getting brighter by the minute. The sun was surely up by now.

  Then, at last, the system gave me a much-needed boon.

  [Achievement! Burning the candle at both ends!]

  You’ve fought all day and all night! A little work/life balance is never a bad idea, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

  Stamina recovered 25%

  Damn, that still keeps me well below the halfway mark on my stamina. It seemed like a weak reward compared to some others I’d obtained recently. But, it was enough to keep me going.

  Twelve hours… it would fly by. We’d get out of this damn cave or at least find a safe place to rest. I hadn’t slept fully through a single night since before my family got separated, so I could only imagine how refreshing it would be. Then I’d be ready to take on the world.

  Though stamina kept the fatigue out of my muscles and lungs, I realized my vitals did not exactly track my mental exhaustion. The haze of my thoughts and the irritation it caused me were entirely different. It was kind of like drinking caffeine to force yourself to stay awake but still feeling like crap.

  As we continued deeper into the tunnel, the path alongside the river narrowed. The flowing water echoed like a constant earthy breath.

  At some point, Lily let out a soft whimper as she paced forward a few steps and looked at me.

  What’s wrong, Lily? Are you worried about me?

  I paced closer and nosed the side of her face. She responded with a lick.

  Then, I stopped as I noticed something ahead. A very faint light… like a lantern. I squinted through the dark and spotted a shape sitting next to it.

  It took a moment to register the scrawny limbs and the tattered loincloth over its waist. It was staring into the river and holding a… stick?

  No, a fishing pole.

  I nudged Lily, and we both sank to our bellies to observe from a distance.

  The creature had pale green skin, and it was smaller than even a human child. It was sitting, but I could tell that it only stood about two and a half feet at most. I didn’t need Marrow Sense to tell how easy it would be to snap its bones. Though, it did not look like an appetizing meal at all. Actually, my stomach churned at the thought of eating something with such a humanoid shape. Besides, it had little in the way of meat on its scrawny limbs.

  I supposed this thing was a goblin of some sort. Though, it did not appear as threatening as other versions of goblins I could remember from games or stories from my old life. This thing just looked downright pathetic.

  Its long, pointy green ears twitched as the end of its makeshift fishing pole bobbed. Then, it stood and yanked up, pulling a fish free from the water.

  The goblin pivoted from one foot to the other over the flopping fish, looking almost like a happy dance as it reached low. When it finally snatched the fish off the ground, he brought it right to its mouth and began chomping. The wiggling fish lost its fight as pointed teeth tore open its belly. I felt sick as the goblin tilted its head back and dropped the fish into its mouth, swallowing what remained of it whole.

  The goblin let out a relieved sigh, patted its tummy, then picked up the fishing pole and sat down again. It lifted the lid on a small metal box beside it and pulled out a worm, which it attached to the hook, then dropped back into the water.

  It was… kind of cute in a weird way. I mean, it was ugly—really ugly. So ugly that it turned full-circle through the threshold of disgust to something you’d feel more inclined to want to protect than shoo away.

  Lily looked at me with her ears folded back. She didn’t seem interested in eating the strange creature either.

  I would have been fine with just leaving the creature alone and continuing on without interacting with it at all, but unfortunately, the path alongside the river was too narrow to outright avoid it.

  I bobbed my head in a shrugging gesture and continued forward, Lily following closely behind.

  As we got closer, I could see the inside of its lantern was packed with Healing Shrooms. That at least hinted there were probably more further back. I could now also hear the goblin softly humming to itself, the tune barely revealing itself over the roar of the river.

  Then, it spoke. Or, muttered was the better word.

  “Good fishies, tasty fishies. Nice wormy for fishies.”

  I exhaled. There was no way I was going to kill this thing. I’d definitely feel like a monster if I did.

  Then my paw landed on a loose stone, scraping it softly.

  The goblin instantly shot its gaze towards us, yellow eyes going wide, catching the soft glow of its mushroom lantern.

  For a second, we just stared at each other.

  Then, the little thing shrieked and pointed. “MONSTER!”

  It flung the fishing pole at me. It was such a pathetic weapon I didn’t even try to dodge as it just bounced off my chest and clattered on the ground in front of me.

  The goblin scrambled backwards on all fours, snatching up its metal box and clutching it to its chest, continuing to scoot away. “No eat Grick! Grick not tasty!”

  I hesitated, caught between ignoring the strange creature and having a strange curiosity about it. It was speaking in a language I could understand. Actually, come to think of it, Genzo also spoke my language and could even read the word Earth when I wrote it in the dirt. Not to mention the red masks. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I guessed this world just had a single universal language that just so happened to be English? That was rather strange, but the least of my concerns for now. I hadn’t really thought about it until hearing this barely humanoid use words as well.

  “Puppy want wormy?” asked the goblin. Grick, perhaps. He extended the box forward with shaking arms.

  I huffed and shook my head, then continued walking, sticking close to the side of the wall to make it clear I had no interest in him or his offering.

  Grick lowered the box, puzzlement coming over his face. “Two monsters,” he muttered. “Small one wag. Wag mean not hungry?”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Lily’s tail was indeed wagging. She extended her muzzle towards Grick and sniffed.

  Grick froze as Lily leaned closer. Her nose twitched as she sniffed at his lantern, then the box of worms, and then finally his face. The goblin froze completely, like a terrified child pretending not to exist so the monster under the bed wouldn’t notice them.

  When Lily gave his cheek a cautious lick, he squealed and flailed backward, almost toppling into the river.

  “Gah! No eat Grick! Not tasty! Bad taste! Bad taste! See!?” He cringed, turning his cheek away.

  I gave Lily a soft growl. “Leave that thing alone.”

  Lily let out a soft yip, which made Grick flinch back a little further before freezing in place again. When it was clear she wasn’t planning to take a bite, he blinked, and the tension eased from him.

  I huffed and continued walking, glancing back to make sure Lily was following. She delayed for a moment, walking slowly as she stared back at Grick, but finally broke away from her curiosity and followed me.

  Grick let out a sigh of relief as he got up and shuffled over to his fishing pole. He checked that the worm was still on the end, then prepared to drop it back into the river, but stopped. He looked between us and the river, then shuffled after us a few steps. “You… follow river?”

  I looked back at him.

  Grick shook his head. “Bad way. Scary things.” He nodded his head as if agreeing with himself, then gathered up his lantern and the metal box. He clutched his three possessions to his chest, the fishing pole propped over his shoulder as he scurried after us. “Grick show good way. Shiny things, good things.”

  He walked right past us, leading the way down the tunnel. We both stopped, just watching him for a moment until he extended a few fingers off the metal box to usher us forward. “Come, come. Good puppy follow Grick. Grick show good way. Good things this way.”

  For the time being, there wasn’t exactly any other way to go, so we really had no choice but to follow him.

  His lantern bobbed ahead of us, casting uneven glimmers across the wet, stone walls. The little goblin had a sort of self-importance to his stride, as if proud to have become the guide of two much larger, much deadlier beasts.

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