The wind howled, and with its gale, the leaves rustled. Amidst the falling leaves, Issac walked, dry leaves crackling underneath his feet. The trees surrounded him, and their crown of leaves blocked the sunlight from intruding.

Issac was anxious; his nerves stretched taut, trying to pick up on every sound and hint. There’s something in this forest; there always is. And he won’t place his hope that it’ll be a good something.

“I need to find a water source first,” Issac kept his ears open for the sound of any running water and for stationary water sources like ponds- he just prayed he would be lucky enough to stumble across them. God knows he needs some luck right about now.

He didn’t have a weapon, so he held his grappling gun. Even if the grapnel didn’t pierce them, it would stun them long enough for him to subdue any enemy.

After minutes of walking through the forest, he heard something—tap tap tap. Something was walking this way. Carefully avoiding all the leaves and twigs, Issac hid behind a tree opposite the footsteps’ source. He slowed his breath and waited.

The footsteps became louder and louder. It had reached where Issac was standing and stopped. Slowly peering from behind the tree, Issac looked at the creature.

It was a humanoid creature with grey skin. It was short, almost four feet. Despite its short stature, it looked fatally thin. Its grey skin stuck to its bones with almost little muscle mass. Rather than being an outright skeleton, it looked like a severely malnourished child. Except it didn’t have a human face. On its face was a crudely carved wooden masked with a surprised expression. It reminded Issac of tiki masks on Earth but with terrible craftsmanship. The skin on its face looked like it had been welded to the mask.

It had patterns on its body made with red paint and protruded a long nose that constantly sniffed at the air from the middle of its mask. Issac’s pupils contracted, “He’s going for my smell.” Issac looked at his feet and picked up a rock. He threw it over the creature’s head, and it bounced off a tree behind its back.

“Tuktuk?” with a strange cry of confusion, it turned around and looked at the tree behind it. Finding nothing, it walked closer and looked around vigilantly. Observing the bark of the tree, it noticed that there was a small dent in it. Before it could poke the dent, the sound of pressure releasing rang from behind it.

Before it could turn around, a strong rope coiled around its neck and wrapped it tightly, it clawed at the rope, but it didn’t tear. With great difficulty, it turned around and saw Issac holding the grappling gun with his hands on the trigger.

Issac pressed the button again, and the rope constricted. Along with it, the creature was lifted off its feet and flew towards him. Issac whipped the grappling gun mid-flight, and the beast smacked headfirst into a nearby tree.

The creature fell to the ground with a loud thud accompanied by a crisp crack. Black blood dripped from its forehead and dyed the grass below. Issac slowly crept closer to its twitching body. He took a good look at it. Its bony fingers held a crudely made iron dagger.

“What…is this?” Issac wondered, and a screen appeared above the creature’s head. There were some words on the screen. It read-

Goblin (Level: 6)

Class: Scout

Status Ailment: Gravely Injured

“Goblin?” he whispered to himself. “Goblins don’t look so…morbid.” He couldn’t help but feel bewildered looking at this goblin’s appearance. It looked completely different from the short and green monsters from the mangas. It looked terrifying. The abyss-like eye holes of its mask evoked a deep sense of dread in Issac.

He quickly wrested the dagger from its fingers and held it over the goblin’s cracked mask. He slammed the tip of the blade in its face. Its black blood sprayed onto his hand. Issac quickly let go of the dagger and wiped his hand with the other as though he feared getting infected.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“F-Fuck me! This sucks,” after he was done wiping, he stepped on the goblin’s head and took out the dagger. Swinging it around, he felt that it was a very light weapon. But he still wouldn’t fight head-to-head. He looked at the goblin again; the text on the screen above its head had changed. It now reads-

Goblin (Level: 6)

Class: Scout

Status Ailment: Deceased

“D-Deceased? So it’s dead for good now, right?” Sol questioned, but another thought popped up in his mind, “Wait, no, levels! I killed something; my exp should rise, right? Status.” He took a look at his own stats.

Name: Issac Noir

Race: (1/8th) Spider Demon

Age: 25 years

Level: 5(Exp. required: 50/100)

Title:

Affinity: 『Dark』『Ice』

Job: 『Demon Lord』『Illusionist』 『Night Owl』

Blessing: 『 Nyx’s Throne of Night』

Skills: Advanced Comprehension(76%), Charm(76%), Basic Illusion(45+45%), Expert Illusion Theory(98%), Translation(Complete), Danger Sense(Primitive), Truth-seeking Eyes(Max), Night Blade(0%), Night Walk(0+10%), 24 more minor skills and 20 locked skills.

“Fifty. It’s filled by half. A level six goblin gave me fifty exp. Then another one should level me up,” before Issac could think anymore, rapid footsteps came from the distance.

“Wait, why are more coming?” Issac looked at the source of the sound. As he began to run and hide, the goblin’s class entered his eye.

“Fuck, it was a scout! Of course, there’s the rest of the cavalry behind him.” He tried the same strategy again- hiding behind a tree. His mind raced as the numerous footsteps came closer and closer. Issac took a peek once the footsteps stopped close by.

There were four goblins, and all of them were an inch bigger than the scout. He saw their statuses and tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible.

“Four goblins, all of them ‘Goblin Warriors.’ But still, level six. This might be possible.” Issac observed them calmly. The goblin at the head of the pack crept closer to one Issac killed and sniffed it.

Alarms started blaring in Issac’s mind. He looked at his right hand, “Right, I have its blood on me!” Issac opened his pouch and dug around. Out came a bunch of kebabs on a skewer. They were still steaming hot. Issac freed them from the skewer and threw them in different directions.

The kebabs made sounds in four different places, and the four goblins picked up on it. The lead goblin wore a tiki mask with a wrathful expression. It made a commanding sound toward the other three and pointed toward the source of the sounds.

The goblins nodded and headed towards the sound while the leader stayed behind. Issac cursed under his breath, “Fuck me! This is just great! I don’t think I can sneak up on him without alerting him. But on the other hand, if I use Basic Illusion on him, maybe it’ll work. Let’s gamble!” Issac quietly listened to the sounds of the forest. After he had a good grasp of it, he raised his arm and quietly chanted, “Basic Illusion.”

A semi-transparent wisp of mana came out of his palm and shot forward, latching onto the goblin’s ears. As they replayed the sounds Issac had envisioned, the goblin who was examining the goblin corpse had no idea Issac was right behind him with a dagger raised high. Issac slammed the dagger right into the back of its skull with a barely audible grunt. He could feel the flesh being pierced and the skull breaking. The blade exited from the front of the goblin’s mask, and Issac took the dagger out of it. The goblin limped to the ground.

Ding!

Something akin to a notification chime echoed in his mind. Immediately, a surge of energy washed through his body, and he could feel himself become stronger and sharper.

“Is this ‘level up’? Feels powerful!” he looked at his body for any noticeable changes but stopped midway to finish off the other goblins. And he used the same strategy again and again.

He would copy the sounds around him and replay them in their ears before closing the distance and driving the dagger through their skulls.

The first goblin he killed after leveling up had its entire skull caved in. Seeing the carnage, Issac gasped. Despite feeling like he used the same force, the outcome differed significantly from pre- to post-level. After that initial hiccup, Issac went around and killed off the remaining two goblins.

Interestingly, these goblins held a much larger dagger. “Proportionately, these should be their swords, no?” he swung the goblin sword around. It was slightly bigger than an actual dagger, while the goblin dagger he used was a bit shorter.

“My exp also rose by 75, and the level cap is at 125. So, it’s just like a game then.” Issac hung the goblin sword to his belt after he found a sheath for the blade of the goblins. Now armed with a weapon, Issac resumed his search for a water source.