Learning (3)

Although it was quite tiring and nerve-wracking, Kane was waking, holding his spear with his right hand and the torch with his left amidst the darkness of that forest. He could barely focus all that much while walking, but he still could hear the sound of things aside from himself and two behind moving in that forest. Some of those things were hesitating in approach, probably thanks to the torch or perhaps because it was night and they were tired. Still, their presences alone were enough to make Kane feel very tense.

Fortunately, he wasn't more tired because Jacob offered himself to carry the snake's hide he had obtained. Reacting on time while carrying something like that would not be easy since both of his hands were already busy. So, Kane was thankful for it.

Kane's first goal was to move at least thirty kilometers away from the village because he doubted that the people of that place would be able to cover that distance in just three hours. The terrain wasn't easy, so at that distance, Kane was sure that he would never meet them again. After that, he would find a decent place to create a simple camp. Nothing fancy, just a place where he could protect his body from the wind of the night and the rain. Although he could recover a lot of energy by eating monsters, he couldn't just get rid of the fatigue by filling his stomach after all.

Suddenly, Kane felt something approaching from his right side. Immediately, he turned his body in that direction. Meanwhile, Emma and Jacob positioned themselves behind him again. Maybe it was a talent that he had, but it looked like Emma and Jacob couldn't hear, so they could only trust Kane's instincts. Although they thought he had imagined things since nothing appeared after several seconds, Emma and Jacob eventually confirmed that hadn't been the case. A shadow jumped from the tall grass in front of Kane and flew toward his neck.

Kane tried to hit the snake by swinging his spear horizontally and making it fly for a few seconds, but he wasn't fast or skilled enough for that. In the end, the tip of his spear hit the snake's head but only scratched it. His single-hand attack barely had any strength to stop the momentum of the monster. The creature enveloped his spear in its viscous body and then moved to attack him, but without a hint of hesitation, Kane threw his spear on the floor and then stepped on the snake's head.

"Shit… too much resistance. As expected, I need a lot more strength to cause enough damage by using blunt trauma."

Things haven't gone as planned on their first try, but Emma and Jacob reacted fast enough to offer support. Although Kane's attacks barely wounded the snake, his stomp stunned the creature, and when the snake recovered, it saw Emma and Jacob about to attack its head. Emma destroyed one eye, and Jacob pierced the upper jaw of the creature, but only that wasn't enough to kill the beast.

They tried again since the monster was still around Kane's spear, and this time, Jacob damaged the other eye… after the third wave of attacks, the snake finally stopped moving, and they received the notifications.

(Congratulations! You killed an enemy. You received two reincarnation points.")

(Congratulations! The skill Spear Mastery leveled up. You received one reincarnation point.")

(Congratulations! You leveled up. You received one reincarnation point.")

"Mmm? Already? I thought it would take two more battles before I level up… I guess the difference in power between goblins and snakes is really big. Fighting in groups isn't so bad as expected, even more so when my teammates don't hesitate in killing snakes, the same snakes that almost killed them."

There wasn't anything weird about that, and even though it was apparent, Kane only noticed that all his skills were passive skills. He didn't want to call that because they consumed stamina, but since they could work without even wishing for it, that was definitely the case. Regardless, it was clear that Kane needed more strength, so he allocated the points he obtained to it.

Health: 31/31 Regen: 1.0 per hour

Mana: 15/15 Regen: 1.0 per minute

Stamina: 25/25 Regen: 1.0 per minute

Goblin Lv 02 (0/200)

Strength: 18 + 1

Speed: 15 + 1

Magic: 03

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 10 + 1

Control: 05

Hunger: 100/ 100

Thirst: 100/100

Lust: 25/100

Reincarnation Points: 50

Knife Mastery Lv 01 (0/100)

Effects: Speed + 2

Cost: 02 stamina per minute while in battle

Spear Mastery Lv 02 (00/200)

Effects: Strength + 4

Cost: 03 stamina per minute while in battle

Bow Mastery Lv 01 (0/100)

Effects: Dexterity + 2

Cost: 02 stamina per minute while in battle

"As expected, strength really increases my total health… since I'm the only member of the front line, I guess I need to keep doing that. My survivability will increase a lot by doing that, and I will be able to stop and even wound when the monsters try to attack me."

Kane also noticed that the stamina cost of Spear Mastery increased by fifty percent; meanwhile, the bonus of strength increased by one hundred percent. As the skill levels up, the cost of stamina would increase by one point and the strength by two… but it looked like that bonus wouldn't raise his overall health even during the battles.

Surprisingly enough, even Emma and Jacob leveled up. Kane confirmed that when they were looking at their status screen, which he couldn't see. They also needed more strength, but they were hesitating about where to allocate the status points. Unlike Kane, they didn't have confidence in their reflexes, so they were wondering if they should increase their speed or constitution in case they got wounded again. Considering that they were still injured and didn't want to suffer even more, that was only obvious. So, Kane decided to keep quiet about it. The last thing he wanted was to determine things for others and then feel responsible for the consequences of things that weren't directly related to him.

Without wasting time, Kane began to work, but then he stopped because someone had to keep an eye on the surroundings. In the end, Emma and Jacob were the ones who worked to dismantle the snake's body. Only Kane had ears good enough to hear the sound of monsters smashing the grass and approaching, after all.