Heading out of the village, Sol made his way to the cave where the kobolds lived. Being informed that their numbers were around 20, he felt confident about being able to take them all on, as his basic sword attacks, which did more than double damage from [Intermediate Swordsmanship], would kill them in a single strike.
Sol then toggled his passive ability [Silent Steps] to minimize the sound he made and snuck towards the kobold cave.
Once the cave was in sight, he hid behind a tree and peeked over to see 3 kobolds loitering outside and used [Analysis] on one of them.
Name: Jib
Race: Kobold
Talent: [Throwing]
Level: 4
HP: 30
MP: 10
Str: 5
Vit: 3
Agi: 7
Int: 3
Wis: 1
Talent Skills:
Passive Skills:
[Basic Throwing] Lv 2, [Foraging] Lv 3
Active Skills:
Sol inspected the other two kobolds but found nothing too different from the first. One had the [Throwing] talent while the other had [Nimble], neither with talent skills. This didn't surprise Sol, as not all talents gave talent skills, and even if they did, it was not guaranteed to gain one. Even for talents that had multiple different talent skills available, one could simply be unlucky and get none.
Watching the kobolds for a while longer, he saw one of them take a nap and judged it as the best time to attack. Sol quietly approached, trying to keep his presence as low as possible, and once he got close enough, he wielded his sword and used [Leap] at them.
Not given any time to react, the nearest kobold was swiftly struck.
You have slain a Lv 4 Kobold! Gained 30 Exp.
“Eek?!”
The other kobold yelled in surprise but was instantly met by Sol’s sword and also killed before it could muster any resistance.
You have slain a Lv 4 Kobold! Gained 30 Exp.
The final kobold that was still sleeping throughout the fight was then silently killed, clearing the cave entrance.
You have slain a Lv 4 Kobold! Gained 30 Exp.
‘Normally, I wouldn’t have anything to gain from these low level enemies, but with my talent, there is a lot to obtain.’
Sol used [Siphon] on their bodies and took all the skills they had, as each only had 2. In total, he obtained [Basic Throwing] Lv 2, [Foraging] Lv 4, and [Agility Up] Lv 1.
‘I can even obtain attribute skills easily.’
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Skills like [Agility Up] were ones that give a direct increase to one's base stats, commonly known as attribute skills. There was one for every stat, and theoretically, anyone could gain the skill. The problem was that attribute skills required years of training to gain even the first level of the skill. Unless you have the talent for it. In those cases one can gain it easily, and leveling took much less effort. If it would normally take the average person 4 years of dedicated training to increase [Agility Up] from level 1 to 2, someone with the talent for it would be able to raise it in less than a week.
[Agility Up] Lv 1: Body becomes faster and more flexible. Agility +5.
‘Since these attribute talents are common, with some effort, I should be able to easily max out all the attribute skills. This is insane; it's rare to max out one, but to be able to max out all of them?’
While Sol wanted to think about the incredible possibilities he could do with his talent, he had a more urgent task at hand. Sol grabbed the bodies of the slain kobolds and hid them away from the entrance. Once done, he looked towards the cave and headed in.
The cave itself had a very narrow entrance, likely to prevent larger monsters from entering, but once inside, he found it much more spacious. There was lighting provided by glowing moss, and a few crude torches were placed in areas devoid of moss.
Trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid alerting the entire kobold group, Sol slowly made his way deeper, occasionally killing random stray kobolds, siphoning their skills and hiding their bodies. Sometimes there were no good hiding places and Sol had to drag them to the darkest corner away from sight and hope they weren’t found anytime soon. In total, Sol killed 8 kobolds and eventually found a passage that led to a large area that had been dug out.
There he saw 6 kobolds kneeling on the ground before a much larger kobold, and unlike normal kobolds who only had a few scales on their shoulders and back, this one had them covering its entire body like armor.
Never having heard or read of this type of kobold before, Sol used [Analysis] on it to learn more.
Name: Rak-Un
Race: Variant Kobold
Talent: [Draconic], [Gluttonous]
Level: 21
HP: 1000
MP: 300
Str: 55
Vit: 50
Agi: 20
Int: 15
Wis: 30
Talent Skills:
[Scale Armor] Lv 3, [Dragon Claw] Lv 4, [Endless Appetite] Lv 8
Passive Skills:
[Basic Unarmed Mastery] Lv 4, [Leadership] Lv 2, [Foraging] Lv 1
Active Skills:
[Charge] Lv 2, [Rapid Consumption] Lv 4, [Snap Punch] Lv 3
‘That answers why the kobolds have been stealing food; a variant appeared among them.’
Variants were beings who had been born with mutations that made them significantly different from their brethren. Variant strength could vary wildly, as it could make them much stronger than their peers or weaker but they’re always special in some aspect. In this case, it greatly enhanced the overall power of the kobold, which was bad news for Sol.
‘While I think I can take it solo, with those normal kobolds, it will be much harder. I'm gonna need to figure out how to draw them out.’
As he was thinking of a plan, he heard the variant kobold speak.
“Bring food.”
One of the normal kobolds replied nervously, “Others g-getting food.”
“NOW”
“Y-yes, we bring food!”
The kobolds quickly stood up and headed to the exit, not wanting to stay and face the wrath of their leader.
The problem was that the kobolds were heading straight to where Sol was hiding.
‘They’re coming towards me! I need to move!’
Sol immediately backed away from the room and headed to another passage that didn't lead to the entrance, hoping none of the kobolds would stop by where he was hiding.
The place he ended up hiding in was where the kobolds seemed to sleep, with a lot of small mounds of sticks and leaves which he assumed were simple beds. There, Sol also found 2 sleeping kobolds, which he quietly took care of, and waited for the group to leave the cave.
After waiting for 15 minutes and deeming it safe, he left the resting area and snuck back to where the variant kobold was. This time there were no other kobolds, making it the best time to attack.