NNNGGGGG~ I'm awake. Yup. The sun is currently setting. Looking around, everyone else is awake. Last night, before I went to sleep... I did a thing. I made sure that when I transformed into my Cat form, that I would hold onto the clothes at certain spots. My mission was to be able to transform back into a Human and remain fully, perhaps sloppily clothed due to how I'm currently positioned. It was tough, but I held on. I poked small holes where I thought I should have my paws positioned. It's all ready now. My claws are currently in the positions! [Shapeshift]
To everyone's surprise, I nailed it. Almost. My scarf is currently choking me, my sunglasses and straw hat are nowhere to be seen. My dark purple trench coat straddled over my head and behind my shoulders, making it actually a challenge to release myself from the deadly murder weapon known as yellow scarf. My shirt and pants are about the only things that actually worked. They're all that matter~ Success! Cloaked Hunk #2 seems to be withholding a laugh while I adjust my accessories and regain my ability to breath properly. A moment later, I found that my old lab coat had been thrown out of the hut due to the smell. It was probably something that happened as Cloaked Hunk #2 woke up to having slept in… Them. Cloaked Hunk #1 is stoic, as always.
So without further ado, lets eat! Fetching the gross lab coat and procuring Fish from its bottomless depths, I notice that Goblin Chief and I seem to be on the same page. He is currently starting a fire. It's time for food! Cloaked Hunk #2 seems to be vomiting in a corner, but I'm starving~ The meal? Delicious. The exotic Fish from the Demon Kingdom are just that. Exotic. I might just need to return there someday for the Fish alone. This one might not actually step paw into the City of Orpia ever again, though.
Making some small talk, I learn that there's a bandit camp somewhere towards the north side of the Lost Kingdom. Humans. The talk is grim. It's somewhat comical to see how serious Village Chief gets every time Humans are brought into the topic. It's just what you would expect from a Goblin Village in that aspect. After all, Humans are terrifying beings who pillage their people. Little does he know, this one was once a Human. It can't be helped, I'm a Cat meow.
Sitting around the campfire and learning of the bandits, I overlook my status to see what my MP situation is like. I want to get nice clothes, thanks. This is my plan for the next few days. I don't have much else to do right now. I would love to find more Clansmen, but I'm terrified of what will happen after I receive any attacks larger than my MP. I feel like all of the clothes I create are actually quite weak. Going off of Mr Scarecrow's stats, I still only have about half of his resistances. Judging from the past, my only way to raise resistance is with better clothing. I didn't get resistance buffs from leveling up. I also didn't get offensive boosts from clothes, only from leveling up. I need to find a nice balance between the two. I did however get slight offensive boosts from my weapon choice, which then enhanced my total MP. I might even be able to get offensive boosts from my mount choice... Perhaps the Common Wooden Broom is too basic to grant a boost?
Apparently the Bandits have been mainly focusing on intercepting Human & Beastkin trade routes. It's pretty standardized stuff. They're probably camped somewhere between the two Kingdoms. The route isn't that long, but it passes through the Lost Kingdom. So, it's always at least a little dangerous to traverse it. Otherwise, Humans and Beastkin can settle with Elves to secure the safer trade route but that costs some profit being given as settlement to the Elves. I understand why the Humans and Beastkin would rather use trading routes in the Lost Kingdom, but isn't it way more dangerous to lose the entire caravan of supplies to bandits than to pay a small fee to travel it? I guess Human greed truly knows no bounds. I'm reluctant to even get involved. It really doesn't concern me at all, if anything it might even be helpful.
Think of it this way. If the Human and Beastkin Kingdoms are losing valuable supplies often, it makes it less feasible for them to start wars with the Demon Kingdom. That means that they have little reason to pass through this here Goblin Village. I'd like the Demon Kingdom to be stopped as much as the next guy, but it also might mean the end of my peaceful life here. I have three monsters, okay? I can't go against a freaking Human army set out to slay the Demon Kingdom.
If things go ever south like that while I'm here, I think my prime objective would be to save the Goblin Chief and Tier 2 Goblin Villagers. No offense to the Tier 1 Goblin Villagers, but I can't save everyone. No doubt, the Tier 2 Goblin Villagers would all try to fight and give the Tier 1 Goblin Villagers a chance to escape. The Tier 3 Goblin Chief would resurrect them as many times as it takes but even he has his limits. When he's nearing his end, I would swoop in and save as many of the Tier 2 Goblin Villagers as possible, with the main objective being to save the Tier 3 Goblin Chief. They may not be my Clansmen, but they are still my allies. If I can get them away from the battle after they give the time for the Tier 1 Villagers to escape, then I effectively save the entire Village. Getting them out of the battle, and somewhere to recover so that they may live another day and gather their fellow Villagers. Yes. That's what I'd do.
There's no point in thinking about it though, because the Human and Beast Kingdom are still currently struggling with trade due to the bandits. Yosh~ I'm safe! The peace of mind brought about by this seemingly trivial conversation has been immense. I can't say it enough, Goblin Chief... Just where do you get this intel?! I wonder if Mr Scarecrow were still in the wild, would he be on a similar level to Goblin Chief in terms of intelligence? He seems pretty smart to me, but he doesn't talk. I saw him roar one time, so it's not that he can't produce sound. He chose of his own free will to play in the Lake with Cloaked Hunk #2 and I as well. He definitely has his own will, and the intelligence to know that we were playing and not fighting in the water. He even masterfully blocked my nudity from Cloaked Hunk #2, for crying out loud! Maybe I should ask him if he can talk? Maybe later.
Finishing up the meal, I checked over my MP. It was full~ with this, I decided to go ahead and create some new clothes. I'm gonna make another 5 pieces for 20 MP each while I sit to recover MP. I think I might just spend my entire night this way. Eating Fish, talking with my pals by the fire while steadily producing clothes out of thin air. Yosh~ This is the life for me!
I learned that there's a Forest of Witches beyond the Elven and Beastkin Kingdom, but I didn't learn much else about it. Even Goblin Chief has his limits, eh? In addition, there's also a Dwarven Kingdom beyond the Lizardmen Tribes. There are even Savage Lands beyond the Human Kingdom. The Savage Lands are apparently the most northern Kingdom of the Continent, and because of that... The snowy land is often separated by freezing waters or ice. It sounds kinda cool, but there's limited information to go around; so I'll probably ask more about these places after travelling elsewhere. It also sounds as though the Savage Lands might be a less developed territory as well, similar to the Lost Kingdom.
I'm actually quite interested in the Forest of Witches. The Halloween Cat class is technically a mix of the Witch and Tamer classes. So, if I'm not welcome in the Beastkin Kingdom... There's a chance that I will be in the Forest of Witches. What's more? These two areas are connected, so I can go to them one after the other. I'd be willing to try checking out the Elven Kingdom too, but there's something about people having extremely more knowledge than me which frightens me. Elves live long lifespans. Counting my last life, I'm more knowledgeable than most at my age here... But I still feel pretty clueless. The Elves are probably decades or even centuries older than me. I wouldn't stand a chance going in there alone if they determine that they don't want a Halloween Cat to exist. A whole lot of those older Elves probably have [Appraisal]. It's a terrifying thought.
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Now that I think about it, I wonder if there are other continents? There's no way that the Goblin Chief would know about them if there were. I know that I at least saw an Island south of the Demon Kingdom. If the Demon Kingdom jungle is accurate, then that's near the equator. Thinking about it, if the Savage Lands are north enough for there to be snow and ice lands... Then that's gotta be pretty freaking far north. That would mean this continent only makes up to 50% of the planet's total surface vertical wise. That's if the Savage Lands stretch far enough north to reach the pole. If they don't reach that far, it wouldn't be strange to assume that there are other continents on this planet.
But to think… There are like a dozen different places claiming independence on this continent. And they're all mostly made up of one race or... In The Forest of Witch's case, class. I wonder what the other continents... If any, would be like? Would they be just as prejudiced as this place? Would they also hold unique races living in seclusion just like here? There are a lot of diverse races on this continent. I can't even imagine what would be on the other continents if this trend of 'let the entire race live in seclusion together' continues. Why can't we all just be friends?! Ah! Crap. I don't even go here...
Honestly speaking, aren't the Lizard Tribes actually descendants of the Dragon Mountains? Why are they disconnected like this? Is it a matter of not having the purest of blood? Now, whenever I think about Dragons; I'm going to imagine them with concave noses. Yosh. Take that, you supremacist Dragons! Actually, aren't Cats supposed to have nine lives? Am I actually the one who shall not be named?! Thankfully, I don't have any inclination that I have been given a horcrux ability. Even so, I can't ignore the fact that my [Land on Paws] Ability from when I hopped out of that tall tree to avoid the Bear seemed to be a hidden Ability related to race that doesn't show on the status at all. I was practically fine after that 20ft jump, and that's saying something for the me who has horrendous HP. It must be a hidden passive related to fall damage. There's also the fact that I can see at night perfectly fine. That wasn't in the class description, nor is it mentioned in my status.
Anyways, I wonder what is required for someone to gain a name? I was born without one, and so was everyone else here. While that's true, the others all call me Nero. It's not like I have never been named. Even Lily the Loli and Victor who both have names have recognized me as Nero. Why am I still without a name? I should be named! I want to be a Cat with a name! I already succeeded at gaining a hat! I want a name now! I want more in life!
Thinking about trivial things while mindlessly creating clothes every hour, it seems that I have gained a suitable amount of clothing. It's almost morning. Everyone else went to sleep like 3 hours ago, so I was left to continue my dream of having a walk-in closet. Now that I'm looking at the pile of clothes, I'm too tired to deal with this. I'm going to go to sleep, and I'm going to do this again tomorrow. Yeah. I'll do this one more day and then I'll compare all of the clothes. That way, I might even be able to get picky about my fashion choice. Yosh! [Daily Candy], goodnight~
***********
After I woke up, my buddy; the Goblin Chief was already rarin' up the fire~ He knows me so well. I literally did the same thing as yesterday. It seems like the Goblin Chief and his Guards have started to adopt my strange sleeping schedule. I don't mind, but isn't this inconvenient for the rest of the Village? We had plenty of Fish left over from my time in the Demon Kingdom, so everything's happy go lucky around here. Eating the Fish, I began to start making more clothes. [Disguise]~
Mindlessly chattering as usual, I decided to splurge a little to make even more clothes than normal! Yes, I'm spendin' some candy~ I currently have 3 full buckets and another which is about 2 thirds full. I'll just polish off the one that's already been dug into and leave the rest for storage. Doing so, I managed to procure a hefty amount of clothes. I'm quite impressed. The Goblins seem a little jealous that I have all these nice clothes, so I think I'll share the extras that I dont need when done. [Disguise] is technically a gacha skill, after all. There's gonna be plenty to spare.
I haven't really learned anything new today in terms of the other Kingdoms, or about any news related to the Lost Kingdom either. It seems like more days are peaceful in the Lost Kingdom than not, but that might be because of the Tier 3 Goblin Chief's haki. I honestly don't understand it, because in my opinion; Tier 3 isn't even that big of a deal. But i guess it's more about the numbers, huh? He's a Tier 3 with plenty of second Tier Goblins backing him up, and hundreds of Tier 1 Goblins nearby. I guess that's how it is. Even if the Tier 1 Goblins don't try to fight, it's not as if enemies know that. Why don't the Tier 1 Goblins freaking fight already?! It's good that they're safe and all, but wouldn't they be safer if they Evolved?
Before I knew it, it's already close to morning again. The night went by quickly. I'm still steadily munching on Fish, even though the fire went out awhile ago. Everyone else is asleep. I guess they still wake up a bit earlier than me... But they genuinely do stay awake most of the night. I can now confirm that Cloaked Hunk #1 and Cloaked Hunk #2 often sleep outside of the hut. They remain at their post. Always, if possible. They're dedicated, but I guess even I remain at my post if possible. It's actually beneficial for me to be focusing on making these clothes though. These guys might be lazy.
I suppose it's time to compare. I'm aiming for the highest stats possible, so I stripped nude and began comparing the stats of all of the new clothes. Everyone else is asleep, so I have nothing to worry about. I separated them into piles based on what I think their level of clothing is. Looking at it in the end, quite a lot of things were duds. There are 32 pieces in the level 1 category, 18 pieces in the level 2 category, 12 pieces in the level 3 category, 7 pieces in the level 4 category, and 4 pieces in the level 5 category.
With this, I should be able to wear fully level 4 or 5 clothes. Maybe a level 3 accessory here or there, but I'll be considerably more sturdy. With that in mind, I started trying to find a style that I liked among the clothes while aiming to get the best stats possible. This is honestly a pain. Most of this stuff is junk. I would never wear that!
My result? I am now wearing a level 5 Fedora with a white laced ribbon tied around it. It gives 5/5 P./M. DEF. Aside from that, I have a pair of black level 5 jeans giving 10 P. DEF and a level 5 silver hoop bracelet giving 10 M. DEF. I also have my trusty murder weapon of a yellow scarf which gave 10 M. DEF. From the level 4 pieces, I chose a white v-neck tee shirt for 4/4 P./M. DEF, and a large panther fur coat for 8 P. DEF. I also got a level 4 pair of black leather boots for 4/4 P./M. DEF. Sadly for eye-wear, I needed to drop down to level 3 clothes. I secured a pair of sunglasses with tints gradually changing from yellow to dark depending on the angle with 6 M. DEF. With this, I should be fine for a while. [Status]!
Name: Unnamed Monster (Nero Miki)
Race: Cat (Halloween)
Weapon: Lantern (Poor Iron Lantern)
Mount: Broom (Common Wooden Broom)
Class: Halloween Cat (Sub Class: Witch/Tamer)
Level: 5
HP: 25/25
MP: 7/104(+4)
SP: 36/100
FP: 81/100
P. DEF: 31
M. DEF: 39
STR: 20
INT: 52(+2)
DEX: 15
LUK: 5
AGI: 30
Titles:
[True Halloween Cat], [From Another World]
Abilities Learned:
[Flying Broom], [Soul Merge], [Clansmen Capture], [Hallowed Gate], [This is Halloween], [Wailing Keep], [Language Comprehension], [Shapeshift], [Barrier], [Daily Candy], [Claw Fishing], [Disguise], [Recovery by Sleep], [Enhanced Meditating]
I am happy to know that I am now questionably as sturdy as Mr Scarecrow. I specialize in defense against magic damage while he specializes in defense against physical damage. This is good. This is a nice feeling. I'm still immeasurably more squishy, though. My HP is still far too low, because I'm level 5. Actually, my HP's rate of progression is subpar at best. I'm doomed to be susceptible to hits without my Barrier. The thought of a poisonous fog sends shivers down my spine. Would it pass through my Barrier?! It's time for bed! Tomorrow I will raise my level, so help me god! [Daily Candy], [Shapeshift], Sleep!~