Day 9- The Cave

MY GOD, what a raucous morning! What's with all that chattering?

I just wanted to sleep.

"It's bright out now. I guess it's about time?"

To say thanks for all the intel, I handed the nerds a knapsack stuffed

with ten days' worth of mushrooms. One of them staggered under the

weight. Oh well, not my problem. So long, mushrooms! Goodbye, fun guys!

They headed into the forest. Weren't they planning to go to a town?

"Don't get captured by any classmates!" I called. "Now shoo!"

"Shoo? Fiiine, we're going!"

They turned to me and shouted in unison: "Are you sure you don't

want to come?!" How did they always manage to talk in unison? A mystery

for the ages…

They just didn't take the hint! If they were cute girls, I might've been

persuaded to follow them. Even a loner like me, with the right enticements,

can be lured from this cave. I mean, I'm practically a klutzy anime girl, I'd

fit right in.

"I refuse!" I said, posing like a Joestar rejecting the call to Bizarre

Adventure.

"Aren't we supposed to be the nerds? You've been one of us all

along!" they cried. What were they trying to say about me?

"Sure, I read manga and light novels, but I don't get all moé about it

like a big otaku!" I retorted.

"We don't have moé feelings over manga!"

"Yeah, not usually!"

"Well, only sometimes…"

"I've only felt it once! Well, twice!"

All the nerds started talking over each other. They were loud until the

very end. Shame was not in the vocabulary of an otaku.

"Thank you for everything! See you again soon!"

"We really appreciate it. We'll make it up to you, so come into town

sometime!"

"Now that you mention it, if we don't go soon we'll all become

lawless barbarians."

"Good point!"

Uh, it's not like you guys have even found a town yet! And you're not

gonna become barbarians—just shut-ins!

"Just get out of here already! See ya."

"See you soon!" they all cried in unison and set out toward a

hypothetical town.

I sighed. Quiet at last.

Gnawing on some rabbit jerky, I entered the forest in search of

goblins. The nerds had suggested that I level up by killing them with

physical attacks. A kobold or an orc was probably worth way more

experience, but they were likely too strong to bother with. Goblins were

fine for now. I could fret about kobolds and orcs if I ever encountered them.

I couldn't even formulate a strategy for something I'd never seen before.

The nerds weren't able to Seal my horrible skills before they left,

though they tried. So I needed more experience. Fighting monsters was my

only option.

I found a goblin and went after it, screaming.

"Hiyaaaaah!"

Then another one—I took it down with a battle cry.

"Hiyayayaah!"

Am I just a murderer now? I thought. Maybe I was going to get a new

title, like Bloodthirsty Mohawked Outlaw or something. I checked—

nothing yet. The nerds claimed that the goblins around the cave were

strong, but they were all level 10 to 15. All they had was Hammer Mastery,

Great Strike, and Body Slam. All weaklings.

I figured they must've run into the goblins when they were totally out

of magic, and panicked. Still, it was pretty pathetic that level 16 guys with

cheat skills couldn't beat them.

They did get bullied all the time, and were completely out of shape,

so maybe they were way weaker than their level suggested.

Wait a second, there's something else here! It was blue, tall, and thin,

with a dog's face. I had read about creatures like this—it was a kobold. I

used Appraisal.

Kobold A RACE: Kobold LV: 11

HP: 40

MP: 6

VIT: 26

POW: 24

SPE: 37

DEX: 25

RES: 6

INT: 8

LUK: 18

COMBAT: Claw Mastery Lv3, Bite Lv2, Body Slam Lv1

SKILLS: Jump Lv1, Intimidate Lv1, Presence Detection Lv1, Smell

Detection Lv3, Pack Tactics Lv1

EQUIPMENT: Wooden Stick

It was definitely stronger than the goblins. Could I win against an

opponent that had triple my speed? Then I noticed it wasn't alone. There

was a second kobold, also above level 10. I tried to put some distance

between us, but our eyes met. Don't notice me! Shit, it has Presence

Detection! It charged toward me—fast—but it paused before attacking.

Even worse, they must be using Pack Tactics. The other kobold rushed

around me, flanking me from behind.

The second kobold barked as it swung at me from behind, but I was

able to counterattack just in time, thanks to my Presence Detection. I never

thought kobolds actually barked in battle like that—maybe I should have a

stereotypical battle cry? Aaagh— "Holy crap! That hurts!"

I wasn't being reckless, the first kobold was just too fast—it managed

to bite me. Its face was inches from mine, and I could feel its hot breath on

me as it opened its jaws wide and lunged at my throat. I barely managed to

shove it away with the blunt end of my stick, but not before it sank its teeth

into my hand. If I hadn't thrown my left hand up in defense, it would have

bitten my head clean off. It was going to chomp my head like a ripe apple!

"That hurts like hell!" I said.

My hand was caught in its mouth as it dragged me across the ground.

This is bad. It was too close to stab with the end of my stick. Because I was

pulled off my feet, my swings had no weight behind them, either. With my

hand stuck in its mouth, I could easily target the kobold's head—but I

wasn't doing any damage at all.

My hand radiated pain, and the beast kept swiping me with its claws,

causing even more agony. Damn it! I concentrated and infused my stick

with even more magical power, then used Weight and Packing Magic to

make it even heavier and stronger. I swung the stick from my shoulder like I

was hammering a nail. Take that! My stick crunched into the kobold's head,

sending it exploding in every direction.

"Oh my god…"

Crushed kobold was revolting. That was my closest brush with death.

Calming down somewhat and setting aside my thirst for vengeance, I

plucked out a magical stone from the remains of the kobold. I used

Appraisal: "Spellstone F-Class." No better than what goblins dropped, even

though the kobold was much stronger. That didn't make any sense.

In the typical light novel, you'd be able to sell spellstones like that in

a town, but if you got an F-Class stone from a kobold, you'd be way better

off sticking to goblins. Adventuring guilds have it rough in this world, if

guilds even exist in the first place.

I checked my stats. That was close! I reached level 4, but I'm nearly

out of HP!

HP: 7/50

MP: 9/47

That's bad. I won't survive another real fight. I hid my presence and

carefully retraced my steps. Sneak, sneak, sneak. After some time sneaking,

I sensed something nearby. Oh, it was only goblins.

"Hyaaaaah!" I took care of them.

"Home sweet home!"

I was so exhausted that I could barely drag myself into bed, but I

managed to tumble into it before I passed out. My bed, like all my furniture,

was made from stone, so I hurt myself landing on it.

I made it. Somewhere along the way, I really began to think of this

place as home. It was huge even with five visitors, so after the nerds left, it

was…kind of empty. But it was definitely home.

Now that I was alone, I had a lot to occupy my mind. First, the intel

the nerds gave me. I learned about my classmates out there in the forest, all

the lore about this fantasy world—although I guess that was all just stuff

they extrapolated from anime, light novels, and videogames. They were

serious nerds, after all.

Still, even after everything they told me, I couldn't understand why

we had been brought to another world in the first place. The nerds were

probably excited just to be here. They were living out their dreams. It was

unsurprising that they were way livelier than they had been back in school.

I never realized they could get so chatty. But they still got totally abused

and vilified by the rest of the class…

I was familiar with quite a few isekai light novels, but those nerds

were on another level. The rest of the class had treated them like convenient

servants to order around, but they were totally dependent on their

knowledge and understanding of what was happening. The nerds had

complete command over the rules of this world.

And if my classmates had acknowledged that, everything would be

much better for all of them. Instead, they stuck to the social order from our

old world, treating the nerds like scapegoats at the bottom of the social

hierarchy, even in a world without high schools.

I honestly wasn't surprised that the idiots in my class hadn't realized

they needed the nerds more than the nerds needed them. They didn't have

anyone left to rely on or who knew what to do. You reap what you sow, I

thought. It must be chaos over there.

I still can't believe that they carried multitool pocketknives with them

just in case they got sent to another world. All four of them! I could really

use one of those… I should have offered more juice for a multitool.

And then there was the kobold—that was a complete disaster. It was

just too fast. It managed to bite me and shred me with its claws. Why did it

even bother holding a stick?

My bag wasn't torn, and my left glove was fine, too. When I used

Appraisal on them, they still had that mysterious question mark next to their

names. Seriously, what was up with that?

I hoped there weren't a lot of kobolds out there; they could

overwhelm me way too easily. Was this the limit of using a stick as your

weapon? So-called Cane Mastery? I just have to train and get stronger.

I was pretty familiar with swordsmanship via kendo practice. I'd at

least seen movies and anime where people fought with spears and

longswords. But cane fighting? Wasn't there a movie with a magician guy

in glasses who fought with a staff or something?

I recalled from battle scenes in manga and anime that you could

swing a staff like a sword and thrust it like a spear, so that's what I practiced

with my stick. Over and over, I struck the poses, and—through repetition—

forced my body to memorize the moves.

"Phew."

I was exhausted. Without realizing it, I had become totally engrossed

in practice.

I had pretty much figured out Shinto-Muso Cane Style. With mantras

like, "Stab like a spear, swing like a halberd, slash like a longsword," it was

exactly the style that would appeal to a barely pubescent geek. It's not my

fault I relapsed into the mindset of an embarrassing junior high student! I

twirled the stick above my head and struck a victory pose. Man, if anyone

saw that I might just have to kill myself. Luckily, I'm a loner!

The cave floor was slick with my sweat. With the floor like this, and

my stamina and MP still recuperating, it was time to test out my cleaning

experiment.

I originally got my Earth Magic from flattening and shaping the floor

with Packing Magic. What if I tried packing the water to mop the floor all

at once?

I took out a water jug I had crafted. It's still easier to carry it than to

rely on magic, but that's my little secret. I poured the water onto the floor.

Roomba time! I pushed the dirty water outside to throw it away.

When checked my status, my suspicions were confirmed—I now had

Water Magic Lv1. Perfect. The floor was clean but still damp, so now I

planned on drying it with some magically packed wind, hopefully earning

Air Magic in the process.

The experiment was a success. Now when I checked my status, rather

than seeing Fire, Water, etc. with each listed out separately, it read Four

Elements Magic Lv1. Air Magic must have been folded into that.

I had been using Magic Infusion on my wooden stick, so for all I

knew, I might have Wood Magic, too. Thunder, Ice, and Healing Magic

were all possible skills, but I had no idea how to go about learning them. I

doubted that I could simply pack up a literal bolt of lightning.

Just for the hell of it, I tried using Magic Infusion on the goblin clubs.

A loud snap echoed through the cavern.

Oh, it broke. I tried it again on the next club, this time slowly. The

sudden crack startled me. I had barely begun, yet it was already in pieces.

"Infuse! Goblin Club!"

The next one broke, too. I used Infusion on a "Wooden Stick?" all the

time, so why couldn't I infuse a goblin club? The only possibilities I could

think of were that Infusion was too powerful or that the clubs were too

weak. Could be both.

I retrieved the wooden stick looted from the kobold, but this one

didn't have a question mark in its description.

"How about this one?" Snap!

It shattered into splinters. Either my "Wooden Stick?" was somehow

able to absorb the magic it was infused with, or its durability had somehow

leveled up from using it. Either way, I had to be careful—it was my only

weapon. If I broke it with my own spells in the middle of battle, I'd be

totally done for. I gently sprinkled it with magic. Yes, this is working!

My magical power slowly infused the stick. It's still good, just be

careful, don't break. Just a little bit more… There we go!

The stick felt strange in my hands. Did I somehow break it? Breaking

out in an anxious sweat, I quickly used Appraisal.

The stick's description had changed to "Sylvan Staff." I felt it thrum

with a gentle pulse. Did I make it stronger? It felt like a living plant! I

waved it through the air a few times and it seemed fine. However, I was

completely out of MP and felt like I was going to collapse before I reached

the bed. That's enough experiments for today. Good night!