Chapter Fourteen: Arson is…Bad?

I feel the level up settle in and wait before I invest my points. I’m not in good shape, and my left hand isn’t even in any shape as it hangs from my wrist. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it is still attached at all, but I also think that if I hadn’t infused it with mana before the impact, the hand would be gone. If there ever was a time that I needed to invest in BDY, it would be now.

I look at the mess that is my hand for another beat before investing all of my free stats into PWR.

I close my eyes and revel in the feeling of the unstable energy surging in my body. There is something so intoxicating about the sensation of the immense heat roaring right underneath my skin, just begging to be unleashed.

No, I do not have a problem.

I am about to head out toward the valley, but quickly notice that my mace is no longer usable. The goblin crafted weapons don’t seem to be well put together, as after only a handful of uses, the head is dented and cracked in places, and the entire handle is bent somewhat. It could be partially due to the flood of heat I was constantly running through the metal, but I choose to believe it is due to the goblin’s incompetence rather than my own. Heading over to the seeker’s charred body, I grab the two knives it wielded and the belt it used to sheath them and then head down the left path.

As I start a brisk jog down the long path, I begin to think about what I should plan for the endgame of this floor. According to video games, this would be around the time that the difficulty gets harder as I get closer to the objective. For all I know, there is a boss waiting for me at the entrance to the valley. My thoughts continue down the path of a final boss at the end of the road, so I begin to analyze my past fights in an effort to further my experience in order to not make as many mistakes in the future.

It only takes a few minutes of pondering my technique and what the boss could be before I finally remember the Train.

My gait slows slightly as a seeping feeling of dread settles in my stomach. So far, I have only seen the Train one time during my encounter with the first goblin, and even then, I didn’t get a good look at it. After that, I’ve heard the familiar rumblings of the Train bulldozing through the trees somewhere in the distance a few times. Absently turning my attention to the woods, I soon realize that the sound of the roaring flames is too loud for me to identify any other noise. The dreadful feeling worsens as I think about how the Train could pop out of the woods at anytime without me knowing.

So far, I have been given no reason to believe that the mysterious monster would come for me, as I have only ever seen it kill a goblin, but that doesn’t comfort me much. It would be better if I knew what I was dealing with, but the dread slowly fades away as I accept the fact that there isn’t really anything I can do about it even if it did come for me. Instead of worrying about the Train, I turn my attention back to replaying the previous fight in my head.

I shortly remember that my arms were scored up pretty bad due to the seeker’s struggles, but I had not really noticed afterword because my skin is almost fully covered in soot. I take a look at the wounds which are partially caked in wet blood and ash before deciding to take a small detour into the woods. Tossing off my clothes as to not get them scorched, I quickly dash to the nearest tree where some bubbly sap is dripping from the burning trunk. I grab a handful and smear the boiling sap all over my arms where the cuts are to attempt to seal the wounds. I think for another second and grit my teeth as I pour as much as I can on my injured hand as well.

After this is done, I put my clothes back over the sticky sap and continue on my way. I do my best to adapt to the weird feeling of the sap on my clothes and reroute my thoughts back to how to approach future fights.

Within a few minutes of jogging at a steady pace, I slip into autopilot and use <Cogitation> to replay my fights as best as possible within my head. I think it is very clear that I am not proficient in combat. The fact I’m constantly having to adjust to each level up’s new capabilities makes it worse. To top it all off, I am still trying to figure out my natural gait and way of moving, as I haven’t used ninety-five percent of the muscles in my body for five years before this. These thoughts make me somewhat self-conscious, as I passively wonder if I look strange in the way I move because of this.

Well, it’s not like anyone can really make fun of me anyway. After all, any humans that I have met on this floor are dead.

Chuckling at the darker joke, I get back to the task at hand. I have already identified that the goblins aren’t very smart. Any goblins below the level of five are fairly stupid, and I assume are non-combative in nature. The ones that I have come across so far usually aren’t carrying around any real weapons, and they are quite short-sighted when it comes to any sort of strategy. I’m unsure why the non-combative goblins are roaming the woods, especially since the Train is a large danger factor, but like I said: They aren’t very smart.

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The goblins’ main strength is their physical stats, as they dwarf me in size and speed on average. Secondarily, any goblins I have met level 5 and over have been some sort of specialized class which determined their strengths. I’m unsure if this is the norm for the rest of the goblins, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to assume that this is the case.

There also could be a factor involved that arises from the existence of other humans on this floor. If my suspicions are correct and some other people have already cleared this floor or are still running around, then I expect there to be some disorganization amongst the goblins. This could help explain why there were lower leveled goblins roaming around the woods by themselves, but I have no real way to prove it, so I table the topic for the time being.

< You have defeated: Goblin – Level 3 >

…What?

I skid to a stop, and my hands fall down to my knives as I look around. The fire still rages along the wood line to my sides, but there is nothing else in sight on the path.

< You have defeated: Goblin – Level 2 >

I stare at the new screen and look around once again. Nothing has changed.

What is hap-

< You have defeated: Goblin – Level 2 >