Ackster found a clearing lit up by a beam of moonlight. It wasn’t the clearing itself that he was looking at. It was the creature in the middle of it, staring up at the sky with an airheaded gaze. The creature was too far away to make out details, but Ackster could tell that there wasn’t much going on in the creature’s head. So, he convinced himself that he had found the right target and that it wasn’t a goblin. It had to be.

There was no way a goblin could stargaze so peacefully. And a goblin would have most likely noticed Ackster’s presence and grown hostile. The creature in the middle of the clearing showed no signs of noticing Ackster or of becoming aggressive.

Ackster forced his trembling hands to stop shaking and tried his best to calm down his beating heart. It seemed like the near-death experience from last night affected him more deeply than he thought it did.

But he didn’t have time to deal with his trauma. He didn’t have much time before he had to return to bed. And he had to secure the creature before thinking of leaving the forest. So, he pushed his fear aside and sharpened his mind.

Although the creature looked exactly like a goblin, it shouldn’t have the fighting strength of one. However, Ackster also didn’t have the fighting strength of a goblin, even if he had managed to kill one.

He also had to stay alert since he was deeper in the forest than he was last night. If he caused a ruckus, he could accidentally attract something more fearsome than just a simple goblin.

So, before he stepped into the clearing, Ackster carefully surveyed the surroundings. He took a slow lap around the clearing, and while looking for any signs of other monsters, he also looked for a suitable weapon.

The fight with the goblin last night had shown him how much difference a simple wooden club could make in a fight between weaklings. The wooden club instantly erased any advantage Ackster had with his height and long arms. A weapon also helped deal more damage.

And since it didn’t look like the creature in the clearing had any weapons, Ackster would be the one with the advantage if he could find a suitable branch to use. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything as good as the wooden club last night’s goblin used. So, Ackster settled for a less-than-optimal branch that was still better than nothing and a stone that was slightly larger than his fist.

But before he entered the clearing, Ackster threw a pebble at the creature. The pebble landing on the creature’s head confirmed Ackster’s hunch that it was what he was looking for.

As soon as it received an outside stimulus, the creature turned toward the source of the pebble with a glare. The creature locked onto Ackster with its gaze.

Ackster felt as if he was being hunted by an apex predator. It was like last night when the goblin had stared him down with its yellow eyes but worse. Ackster felt like a sheep, away from its pack, in front of a bloodthirsty wolf. His only option was to run.

The trauma Ackster fought so hard to push to the side struggled its way back to the forefront of his mind. Combined with the intimidation from the creature, Ackster was trembling so much he was about to jump out of his boots.

The only thing that kept him in place and with his gaze on the creature was the fact that he had confirmed the creature’s identity.

An ordinary goblin wasn’t this scary, even if it made use of Ackster’s trauma.

Ackster forced his mind to work through the situation with cold-blooded rationale. Since his blood was frozen in fear, it was surprisingly easy.

The creature didn’t move unless provoked. And even when provoked, it only faced what had provoked it. The creature didn’t move from its spot. It just stared at Ackster, trying to scare him away.

Now, why would it scare him away instead of attacking him? It might be because it didn’t feel like it.

But goblins aren’t that advanced. Goblins are lowly monsters driven by their more primal instincts. Only in rare exceptions are goblins able to refrain from their desire to kill humans.

Even the goblin from last night and the fact that it didn’t attack Ackster at first sight was something that only seldom happened. But in the end, the goblin still attacked Ackster in a frenzy.

However, the goblin-like creature in the clearing didn’t even show any signs of moving to attack Ackster. It just sat on the rock and glared at Ackster.

Acksted used that logic to try and calm down his racing heart. He wasn’t very successful, but that didn’t stop him from moving his trembling body into the clearing.

Each step he took gave Ackster more confidence since the goblin still didn’t show any signs of moving from the spot. The shaking in his legs gradually calmed down.

Eventually, Ackster was only a couple of steps away from the creature. His heart was still racing, but he had at least managed to stabilize his hands to the point where he was sure he would manage to hit the creature.

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Ackster raised the stick in his hand, and the creature still didn’t show any signs of moving.

Ackster couldn’t help the smile forming on his face. After the misfortune from last night, he seemed to have been blessed with great luck.

The branch in his hand whizzed down through the air diagonally and knocked the creature to the ground.

The creature in the shape of a goblin sprawled on the ground with its limbs in some maggot-like way of trying to escape. Ackster briefly noted that the intimidation suppressing him was gone. But most of his fear came from his trauma, so it wasn’t that much of a change.

With the goblin on the ground, Ackster already knew what to do. He staked the branch in the ground as he straddled the creature that was crawling on its belly.

He raised the stone above his head with both hands and smashed it down on the creature’s head, unleashing a shower of blood.

'Wait. Blood?'

As far as Ackster knew, Doppelganger Slimes didn’t bleed.

Ackster was momentarily surprised by the sudden splash of blood. He quickly resumed his movements. But he still couldn’t understand where the blood came from. According to his understanding of the creature, there shouldn’t be any blood. There were bones and muscles and the like, but there shouldn’t be any liquids.

But his lack of understanding didn’t stop Ackster from continuing to smash the goblin-like creature until it was nothing more than a droopy mess. The creature’s skeleton slowly lost its hardness before even starting to lose its shape as the fragments that remained after Ackster’s beatdown started blending with the melting muscles.

However, the creature’s bones and muscles didn’t mix with the splattered blood, which told Ackster that the blood didn’t come from the creature. That solved half the mystery, but since he had to continue beating the Doppelganger Slime until it completely lost its shape, he decided to scour the clearing for any source of the blood after he was done.

And after only a few minutes of steady beating from Ackster, the slime completely lost its shape and returned to its original form. It was surprisingly small, considering it had imitated a goblin. But Ackster didn’t care too much and shoved the colorless slime that was slightly bigger than his two fists inside a bag.

Since Ackster had beaten it so much, the slime would be dormant for a while, so he wasn’t worried about it moving around. However, he had to sneak it inside the city somehow, so he prepared the bag to use as an excuse. He was officially leaving the city to collect herbs, so it only made sense if he had something to collect the herbs with.

Now that he had found his target, he had to carry the bag in his hand, so Ackster moved the Sun-kissed grass from his pockets to the bag. It would also serve as a way to hide the Doppelganger Slime in case the guards decided to inspect the bag upon his return.

After stuffing the slime and the herbs in the bag and securing it, Ackster felt giddy. He could barely stop his smile from reaching his ears. Now that he had found the slime that would help him fake his death, he had overcome possibly the hardest part of his plan.

Only the fact that it wasn’t a guaranteed success and that he hadn’t yet actually escaped The Hero’s grasp helped Ackster calm down.

Ackster grabbed the bag before taking a look around the clearing. He didn’t actually need to do it. But he wanted to know if the blood in the slime came from something in the clearing. Since it smelled like the goblin blood from last night, combined with the fact that the goblin corpse was missing, Ackster was a little curious.

He just wanted to appease his mind since it was more than likely that the slime had simply found another dead goblin to imitate and drink a little blood from. But Ackster couldn’t quite let go of the feeling that the slime had somehow managed to copy the goblin from last night.

Thankfully, the clearing wasn’t very big, and Ackster quickly found what he was looking for. Though he had to admit he was worryingly surprised by it.

Hidden behind a few of the rocks littered around the clearing was indeed the goblin’s corpse from last night. The missing fingers that were in Ackster’s room made it easily identifiable. Though, the lack of a head was also a clear sign.

However, what surprised Ackster wasn’t the corpse itself. It was the dead hound laying next to it with a greenish forth still dripping out of its maw. The hound was dead, and if the froth in its mouth and the discoloration of its eyes were a sign that it had died from poison.

From what Ackster could see, the hound had died of poison after taking a few bites out of the goblin’s corpse. He couldn’t help but lift his shirt and look at the scars on the side of his chest.

Ackster didn’t know if he should feel lucky that he had survived his encounter with the poison goblin, which was apparently potent enough to bring down a hound, which should have a more resilient physique than Ackster. Or if he should feel unlucky that he even encountered such a dangerous goblin on his first trip outside the house since his transmigration.

However, since the misfortune had balanced out by making him lucky enough to find the Doppelganger Slime, this time without encountering any other monsters, it made Ackster feel it was a good and a bad thing, but mostly good, to have encountered the poison goblin.

After putting his mind at ease and finding out the potency of the goblin’s poison, Ackster turned around to start getting back to the Phileam estate before it was too late. Finding the slime but being caught trying to escape before he could prepare it would make his transmigration short-lived, after all.

However, when he turned around, Ackster caught something moving out of the corner of his eye.

“That’s….”

Unsure of what to make of it, Ackster stuffed it into the bag before returning to the estate.

Since Ackster had said he was going to collect herbs while he was outside the city and came back with Sun-kissed grass poking out of the bag, the guards didn’t bother searching him or the bag. Although, based on the looks on their faces, it could have been because they didn’t want to touch him or his things.

Ackster felt a little discomfort at the guards’ attitude, but since it let him pass through with ease, he didn’t let it bother him.

The kind guard’s shift had ended, so Ackster didn’t see him.

Ackster walked toward the fountain and quickly rinsed his hair before heading toward the estate.

He was a little worried about how to go about things. But since throwing a stone worked last night, he threw two stones at the gate this time before sprinting to the back of the estate and sneaking through the garden to his room.

He had to hold on to the bag with his mouth, but it was still easier than climbing into his room with a broken arm.