Since the loincloth I have been wearing literally has been ripped off during my evolution, I'll have to walk around in my birthday suit until I can kill something with a hide and turn that into clothing.
Hopefully, my pride as a male Goblin can survive until I find something. For now, I’ll just take the nearly foot-long fangs from the giant saber ostrich and go back to the camp. These will come in handy in making a new spear since that other one broke..Actually now that I think about it if Jaba didn’t already show me how to make a spear I’d really be struggling now.
Well I still kind am since I would need to make a spear fit for my new body instead of those little ones from before..sigh.. ah the meat is also a little ruined since I didn’t get a chance to butcher the damn bird.. double sigh…even my pouch that had meat in there was destroyed…TRIPLE SIGH…... .whatever back to the lake I go...
Once Rick got back to the lake he made the trek back around to the south side of the lake where he started from and plopped down on the forest floor in all his naked green glory.
It’s only day two of my solo adventure yet so much has already happened..I killed some rabbits and evolved, then fought a mini saber ostrich and a large saber ostrich then spoke to some dream invader who is supposedly god or one of them? Then evolved again.. Now here I am naked and afra..- well mostly just naked and alone sitting next to a lake.
[You are not alone.]
Shit !, That's right I have you now..that might still take some getting used to.
[That is understandable. I recommend getting some sleep, since it appears finding clothes and shelter is not happening. Just for your awareness I will not sleep while you sleep and I’m able to sense your surroundings at the same level you're capable of.]
Damn, I kinda wasn’t thinking of the whole keep watch thing when I left on the journey, that's what happens when I make rash decisions like leaving alone to go on a journey in a world I know nothing about huh..bad Goblin Rick!... let's take a deep breath in..inhale out..exhale.. Alright I feel a little better, can’t change the past let’s just be better going forward.
Okay so you can keep watch as I sleep is what your leading to there right Velora?
[..Yes.]
Is that sarcasm I sense?! I needed a second to recalibrate okay!
[It was your imagination.]
Whatever you say, well fine, I’ll take you up on that offer and get some shut eye. Talk to you in the morning!
[Understood.]
…..
Alright it's a brand-new day to bring glory to gang green! But first things first, food and some type of clothing! Let me mosey on over to the lake, sip some water then I’ll go on the hunt for rabbits using the saber fangs as daggers.
Killing the little horned bastards should be far easier at tier 2 right?
[Yes, it will be far easier.]
Ahh! dammit I forgot again.. sorry about that Velora, I guess getting used to knowing there's a permanent presence in my head is a little hard.
[No offense taken.]
Now onwards to the rabbits!
It only took a few minutes to find my first rabbit, but I suddenly had a revelation upon seeing it.. with my newfound height and the trajectory that the rabbits usually jump at.. won't it be aiming for my exposed Royal crown Goblin jewels?! This fight might be more serious than I planned for. Okay I’m super focused now… I step a little closer to the rabbit before it turns around at me, shrieks hysterically and then… RUNS! What the hell?! It actually took off running! I’m not that scary looking you rude rabbit!!
[To a creature as weak as that rabbit, you are an apex predator and quite literally it’s worse nightmare. Its reaction is justified.]
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Sigh I suppose that makes sense.. but now I can’t or don’t need to use the great Jaba rabbit hunting strategy anymore, what a sad day in Goblin history.
Anyway after wandering around in the forest I found another rabbit, although this time I simply crouched and creeped as closely as possible before throwing one of the saber fangs at the rabbit. It was a perfect headshot. You’d think I was a javelin thrower in my past life or something, I’m kinda good at this throwing stuff!
So Rick simply went around for about 30 minutes or so killing rabbits until his kill count reached eight, to both have meat, and have enough hide to make a small loincloth. It was only after skinning and butchering the rabbits to the best of his ability for an hour and laying out the hides next to the lake where no trees stood to block the sun did he finally take a break.
Alright I scraped off all the guts and stuff from the hides and they will probably dry in a couple days maybe? For now I have some questions for you Velora.
[Ask away.]
Since you're technically a skill, does that mean I have the opportunity to gain more skills?
[It seems I have a programmed answer that fits this question. It says ‘Apart from Velora, you will not be receiving any sort of skills for free. Though if you work hard enough on one particular action, the world itself may reward your work with the creation of a powerful skill. This is something that is extremely hard to accomplish and it is rare for people below Tier 5 to have a single skill.’ That is the end of the message.]
Wow.. no free skills, but mama nature can reward the grind basically? That sounds like I need to begin training every day huh, sounds like …a good time…yes a good time... Well, let's see my status!
{Name - Rick}
{Age - 20}
{Race - Royal Goblin}
{Tier 2}
{Essence - 4}
{Evo Points - 0/180}
{Skills}
{Velora}
Hmm, no need to absorb that amount of essence, I guess I can keep walking around in my birthday suit hunting more monsters? Hopefully I can find more tier 1 guys. Which is what I’m assuming that big ostrich was, actually maybe even tier 2? Who knows.
Oh wait Velora I have another question, the dream invader voice person said something about my status card being one of the ways I was helped. So does that mean, no one else has a status card?
[Yes and no, every single living thing has a status, but based on the knowledge I was given, only you possess the ability to freely access it without the use of any kind of device.]
I wonder how other folks know what skills they have then, sounds extremely annoying. Well, that should do it, for now, let's eat some of this meat, it's still mostly raw and not dried yet but hey it works.
Since it's not even midday yet, I can go hunt some more, hopefully, something with a nice fluffy hide. By the way, Velora, I know you can check my surroundings and you have that discern skill so are you able to scan large distances and you know tell me everything that's around me from monsters to plants and stuff?
[Not currently. Neither abilities are passive so I can only activate one at a time, and only at short distances]
Not currently huh..does that mean you might be able to do it in the future?
[Yes, there is a possibility of that happening. My growth is tied hand in hand with yours.]
Ah, that makes sense then, well hopefully I can give you some crazy-ass powers soon, for now let's go back to the saber ostrich corpse and see If there are any monsters lurking around.
[Understood.]
Anyway, we’re just about at the corpses now, so let us see if we can use the whole bait plan again. Slowly walking to where I can get a clear view of the corpses, I eventually enter within earshot of what sounds like...eating?
[It seems something has already taken the bait, if you're able to get a sight of it, I’ll be able to use the discern function of my skill.]
Okay no problem, so instead of continuing forward, I stepped back a little bit then proceeded to climb a nearby tree, and due to my new size and strength, climbing the tall tree only took a few seconds. Now that I’m up here, I can clearly see just exactly what’s been eating away at my hard-earned saber ostrich corpse. Is that a wolf? Yeah, it’s definitely a wolf...And its dark black coat seems extremely fluffy...Is this plot armor?
[What is plot armor? But I can use the skill now, would you like me to do so?]
Ah! Don’t worry about it haha, and yes yes discern my new fur coa- er I mean that wolf.
[Understood. Discerning now.]
{Name - ??}
{Age - ??}
{Race - Black Wolf}
{Tier 1}
Hmm well, that doesn’t show much, but it shows enough! I should be able to beat a tier 1 wolf that’s barely at my knees right?
[More stored data is required in order to see more, and yes in theory your current self should be able to easily dispose of the wolf, but as you've never seriously fought with this new body before, I advise you to be cautious.]
Understood, fur coat here we come!