บท 3: Training and Eating

Souta was much more powerful than before. A single piece of Universal Treasure bestowed upon him power beyond his level. Universal Treasures were the highest grade treasures available in the game. Even the top guilds in the game had only a few universal grade treasure holders. He had no idea he'd end up here in the first place, but the true power of this earring could only be felt after absorbing countless souls. So, aside from the new stats, it's pretty much useless right now.

"This item will help me build a better stats foundation now that I'm back at level 1."

He rose to his feet and took up his sword. With his current stats, he could probably complete this dungeon in a single day. Everything depends on the size of the dungeon.

"I should get the other skills for now to increase my battle prowess." He rubbed his chin as he looked at the sword on his hand.

"First, I'd try to gain the [Sword Mastery] skill, which requires swinging a sword a thousand times in proper form," he said as he straightened his posture. The same thing happened in the game.

Swoosh!!

He began to swing his sword.

"One... Two... Three... Four..."

...

Souta finished swinging his sword after a few hours and successfully obtained the [Sword Mastery] skill.

He sat down on the ground, trying to catch his breath. His arm muscles were so sore that he couldn't move them.

"This will boost my fighting power."

This was truly out of this world, he thought. When he learned the skill, he felt he had already mastered the use of swords. When using a sword, it will only increase the players' damage. In addition, some sword skills require the [Sword Mastery] skill.

[Sword Mastery] Level 1: The most basic level of the Swordsman. At this level, a person could be truly called a Swordsman. Effect: +20% damage when using a sword.

Souta took up the sword and began to play with it. He had the impression that he was a true Swordsman right now. With this, he could precisely target his [Stab] to the skeleton's bones. When he used [Stab], he wouldn't have to worry about missing the bones. He was initially hesitant to use the skill [Stab] because he was concerned that his sword would pass through the skeleton's body, so he mostly used his fist and elbow. But he no longer needs to be concerned because he possesses the [Sword Mastery] skill. The combo of [Sword Mastery] and [Stab] was fantastic.

The added damage of the [Sword Mastery] and [Stab] was enough to pierce an iron not to say the bones of the skeleton.

"Am I really in the game or not?" he sighed. He has no information; all he has is the [Soul Blood Earring]. This proved he was inside the game world.

What if he died? Gamers never died right? They only respawn.

He lacks the courage to attempt this. He still doesn't want to die, and he had a long list of things he wanted to do. He was not afraid of death; rather, he was terrified of the unknown. Nobody was sure what would happen if someone died.

"And one of those is to complete this game," he said, a smirk on his face. He would complete the game without dying, indicating that it was really challenging. When he died, the system just gave him a penalty, which was the case when it's still a virtual game.

He couldn't help but tremble while thinking about this.

Because of his powerful set, unique skill, and super high level, he was able to dominate the game at the time. He needed to know the date right now if he was truly in the game. He was curious as to which version he would begin with.

He could already recall the majority of what happened in the game, which had to be due to the [Soul Blood Earring's] added 10 intelligence. But he couldn't remember anything outside of the game except his real name.

"Hmm...?" Souta saw something while he was looking at his stats. He found that his exp increased while he was practicing.

"So training can also increase a person's level here. It must be because this body wasn't an avatar anymore but my real body."

The increase in exp was low compared to what he gets from killing the skeleton soldiers.

His stomach growled unexpectedly. He hasn't eaten a single meat since transmigrating into the goblin's body. He had forgotten that he needed to eat in order to live. He was so focused on leveling up that he forgot about one of the most important things: food.

"The monsters in the dungeon were only undead; I couldn't eat something like that, and when the undead died, their bodies withered," he said quietly. There are no animals or other monsters here. Monster? There's the goblin's corpse.

He exited the room and went to the corpse of the goblin that he found before.

He looked at it with a frown on his face. "I'm going to eat this! I don't have a choice but to eat this to survive, I still want to finish this story!"

He carried the corpse inside the room. He felt nausea just from the thought of eating this goblin. His face contorted in disgust.

He suddenly recalled that there were torches everywhere inside this dungeon. He would at least cook the meat of this goblin before he eats it.

He chopped the meat of the goblin and roasted it to the point that he couldn't recognize that it was a slice of goblin meat.

Chomp!

Souta directly bit the meat and quickly gulped it. He felt that he was going to puke the meat. He closed his eyes and erased those thoughts inside his mind.

"Souta eat, you won't survive if you don't!" he told himself. He felt like he was about to cry just thinking about eating this every day. Souta reasoned that he should return home. He does not want to stay in this place and live like this.

...

Souta rested for a few hours before he exited the room. He was going to conquer this dungeon.

He attempted to collect the soul of the deceased goblin, but the soul had already left the body. When they died, the soul left the body after three hours. That means the goblin died more than three hours ago.

Huh? He just remembered that he practiced sword for a few hours and that took most of his time.

Those skeleton soldiers still had their souls on their bodies that's why they could still move like a living creature.

A necromancer had that kind of skill. They could call the soul from hell back to the living world to serve them.

But he couldn't collect the souls of those skeletons unless he defeated them first. He still needs to defeat them in order to weaken the link between soul and body, making it easier to collect their soul.

"All right, it's time to finish this," Souta said quietly while playing the sword in his hand. He felt like a seasoned swordsman after acquiring the [Sword Mastery] skill.

He left the room and proceeded to conquer the dungeon. He encountered many skeleton soldiers along the way, but with his current stats, those skeletons were no match for him. He could easily defeat them with his 16 points of strength and 20% increased damage when wielding a sword. For a goblin like him, gaining ten points of strength was a significant boost. Each time a goblin leveled up, its attributes increased by one point, so ten points equaled ten levels up.

It took him one day to arrive in front of the boss's room. He's going to rest because fighting for an entire day has exhausted him.

"I want..." Souta slowly closed his eyes and took a little nap.

He woke up exactly four hours after he fell asleep.

"Ah!" he yawned, looking at his surroundings. He had not anticipated falling asleep. He only intends to rest for a few minutes before confronting the dungeon's boss.

He looked at his stats.

Name: Souta Ieshi

Race: Goblin

Level: 6 (453/1,300)

Class: «none»

Health: 40/40

Stamina: 20/20

Mana: 34/34

Strength: 20 (10+10)[+]

Agility: 11 [+]

Dexterity: 8 [+]

Intelligence: 17 (7+10)[+]

Vitality: 20 (10+10)[+]

Free attribute point(s): 8

Skill(s): [Dash], [Stab], [Sword Mastery]

Equipment skill(s): [Harvester of the Soul(Soul collected: 31/100)]

Skill point(s): 6

'It's enough.' Souta nodded while looking at his stats. His stats were enough for this Boss battle.

He also collected the souls of those skeletons. He gathered 31 souls from those skeletons in total. He still requires a large number of souls before he can use the skill to increase his attributes.

"All right, let's do this," Souta said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes with a will to fight.

To defeat a dungeon boss, a group of players is required. But in the game, Souta always fought alone. He does not have any party members. He only needs himself.

He put his hand up and placed his palm on the cold metal door. He pushed it open and peered inside the Boss room.

Woosh!

A cold wind brushed his face.

Souta took a step forward and entered the room without hesitation. He couldn't see anything as it was too dark.

Suddenly, the torches around the walls lit up and it illuminated the entire room.

The room was circular, with no four corners like a typical room. A skeleton in a black robe stood in his opposite direction. The skeleton stood two meters tall and exuded a haunting aura. A black staff with the black orb at its tip is held in its left hand.

With one look, Souta immediately knows what it is.

"Undead Skeleton Mage!"