5 Day 21 - 25

- Day 21

After going hunting for a bit with Gobudo and Gobufu, I noticed that Rou seems to be reading a book on the basics of magic. I'm glad I knew how to use mine from the beginning. After failing to understand he decides that everyone in the cave would have a sparring match to determine who's the strongest. I, as someone who hasn't partaken in any of the training, was told to go first against one of the stronger goblins. Although I didn't take kindly to being ordered by someone or being pitted up against someone far weaker than myself, I participated just the same.

The result was one sided with me delivering a swift kick to the goblins chin and knocking him out cold, possibly with a concussion. In the end, the only people left were Rou, Kichi, Mi, Fu, Do and myself. Fu faced off against Mi and won by a small margin thanks to her having more experience in close combat. After the fight though, she quickly resigned and came over to me, biting me on the shoulder before going off to rest. The next fight was between Kichi and Do which resulted in a surprisingly close match but in the end, Do went down and Kichi remained the strongest second hand.

The final fight came down to myself against Rou. Knowing that if he is who I think he is, a normal spar will result in my loss, I asked if he would like to make it interesting. I noted the fact that he had multiple skills while also telling him I had a few of my own. When he showed that he was against it, preferring to spar normally, I told him that if he won using the rules I suggested, I would show him my magic. This got him interested and after some thought, he agreed.

We both told the spectators to step back a bit and to be on guard. After talking for a little longer, we've come to the conclusion that the only rules of this fight are

1: No killing.

2: No use of Magic.

3: No collateral damage to the cave.

After agreeing to the terms, we began. He charged me with fire in his hand and I ducked under it, grabbing his wrist while using {Hydro Hand} to put out the fire and wet his arm. With my hand still grasping his wrist, I switched to {Electrokinesis} to shock him. Unfortunately he noticed what I was doing and pushed me away with a strong palm Strike to my chest, causing me to lose my grip and balance. Rolling back to my feet, we began fighting with our fists. I used {Pump Up} and {Toughness} to fight back and it seems he did something similar since neither of us could beat the other. Adding {Grow Armoured Shell} to the mix, I was able defend to the point where his fist connecting with my arms hurt him. This created an opening for me to use a combination of {Screech} and {Evil Eyes} paralysing him long enough for me to use {Earth Control} to encase his legs and {Silk Creation} to bind his arms.

I asked if he would yield but he responded by attempting to burn the silk with {Pyrokinesis}. I reacted by dowsing him with {Hydro Hand} before electrocuting him with {Electrokinesis}. He seemed beaten until he used {Earth Control} himself to lock me in place before tackling me to the ground with his charred body. His hits were effective but my {Regeneration} was healing me about as much as he was hurting me and {Physical damage reduction} kept it from doing that much damage in the first place.

In order to get Rou off of me, I used a combination of {Luck Manipulation} which caused him to miss and punch the ground, along with {Stench} which caused him to reel back from the smell, allowing me to land a powerful punch to his face and, after getting up and using {Presence Concealment} to get behind him, I used {Intimidating howl}, {Screech} and {Evil Eyes} on him which let me land quite a few more blows to his face and stomach. I may have overdone it a little with the intimidating howl because a few of the goblins watching appear to have fainted from fear.

As I'm laying into Rou's body with my fists, he managed to fight back with a {Evil Eyes} of his own and as he went for a punch to my face, I could see the grin forming on his. If I could see my own face, It'd probably look very similar, though with less injuries.

When the paralysis wears off I spin around his blow and use {Presence Concealment} once more before kicking the back of his knee and forcing him down, followed by putting my arms around his neck and head in a chokehold. Through the use of {Pump Up} and {Toughness}, I manage to force him to tap out. When I release him, he falls to all fours and breath in heavily, trying regain the breath I was preventing him from receiving. I offered him a hand to get back up and he happily accepted. Apparently the prospect of someone of similar strength to him, someone a little stronger, has him pumped up. This likely means he'll be getting stronger at a much quicker rate from now on, so I should do the same.

The surrounding Goblins and Hobgoblins were all astounded by the fight they just witnessed between the two variants, though that probably means they'll be avoiding me more from this point onwards. After healing Rou, he decided to take Gobue with him and his group on another hunting group tomorrow. Seeing that everything appeared to have finished here, I found Gobudo and healed him of the wounds he received from his fight with Kichi. Gobufu on the other hand was resting in my spot so I simply pushed her over a little and went to sleep myself, though not before feeling myself being entrapped within Gobufu's arms once again.

- Day 22

Today was spent inside the cave. Due to my showing yesterday, some of Gobudo's allies have distanced themselves from him which had him feeling down. When he told me, I suggested that he could probably continue being their ally if he distanced himself from me but he rejected the notion completely, stating that he wouldn't do something so disrespectful to his boss. I'm surrounded by strange people. I'm starting to think that's not such a bad thing though.

Because of his decision, I decided to train Gobudo a bit, teaching him how to use his sword by showing him my own movements using the {Job: Light Swordsman}. Honestly, I never thought that I would use it in such a way but I guess that's life for you. It took him most of the day but he has shown a large improvement. It's possible that if he and Kichi went all out that the roles may be reversed.

- Day 23

When I took another look in the storage, I found a pair of crossbows gathering dust in a place I hadn't looked in before. I ate the essence of one which gave me the skill {Crossbow Proficiency} which likely won't come in handy anytime soon since I gave the other one to Gobufu.

Following this, Gobufu, Gobudo and I all went hunting, resulting in us discovering a golden version of the spider creatures. Using {Detect Analysis} on its web, it seems to be much stronger than a normal web so that probably fits the spider's body as well. Thinking about this, I coat Gobufu's crossbow bolt in my poison and tie some of my string to it. After telling her to aim for its eyes, she surprisingly managed to hit the mark first try. The spider let out a small shriek before I used {Electrokinesis} to run some electricity across the silk to stun it. Following his, both Gobudo and myself rush in and finish it off. After eating its soul I gained the {Golden Silk} skill.

When Gobufu walked up to us, I patted her head and praised her skills with the crossbow a little which seems to have made her happy. For the rest of the hunt, we managed to find some more of the same things. It's unfortunate but still no red hind bear.

At night I could felt the presence of magic outside and when I went to check while using the {Presence Concealment} skill, I found Rou working on his own magic. He created some kind of small black spear and threw it at a slime, killing it instantly.

- Day 24

It's raining again so Rou, myself and the others decided to have another little competition to determine the hierarchy. Once it came back around to myself and Rou I forfeited. I'm not cut out for leadership, most of the goblins in the cave seem to dislike me and they've already taken to calling Rou the chief. With that said, the results were as follows.

1: Rou (Goburou)

2: Kei (Me)

3: Kichi (Gobukichi

4: Dou (Gobudo)

5: Mi (Gobumi)

6: Fu (Gobufu)

When it came to Mi and Fu, it seemed as though Fu just wasn't all that interested. She gave a half hearted effort and received a half hearted result. Kichi and Dou were closer than they were last time but because weapons weren't allowed, he wasn't able to show off his sword skills and lost.

Rou then introduced some new rules to the cave. Mainly that the lower ranks had to obey the higher ranks. Since that took pretty much the whole day, I thought about going back to sleep. Gobufu had other ideas though and practically forced me to pamper her. She ended up falling asleep on my lap so my sleep that night wasn't all that comfortable.

- Day 25

The three of us went hunting again, coming across a pack of White Wolves. When the larger one that I'm assuming is the leader, left for a moment, we attacked. Gobufu began by raining crossbow bolts from afar, taking out a good chunk of them while Gobudo quickly dispatched the rest. I on the other hand, took it upon myself to take out their lonesome leader. Using {Presence Concealment}, {Pump Up}, Piercing Power} and {Assassination} I crept up behind it and stabbed the back of its throat all the way through, killing it instantly. {Pack Leader}, {Pack Hunting Knowledge}, {Steel Skin}, {Powerful Bite}, {Rallying Cry}. I learnt a few good things since I don't have to share the souls with everyone. No one else should be able to see the souls unless they have a skill to do so, so Gobufu's expression when she sees me eat the souls is quite curious.

As for what the skills do, they all seem pretty useful but {Rallying Cry} is definitely the best one for me, since it lets me increase the abilities of anyone recognised as an ally within range. Also, {Powerful Bite} should be fun the next time someone pins me to the ground. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be the first time I'd tasted something other than souls in this world? Something to look forward to I guess.