97 Exchanging Gases

"Big brother!"

"Big brother Matthew!"

"Wake up wake up! It's already morning!"

Hearing a voice calling out to him, Matthew opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling a few meters above his head. He wanted to complain about why he was woken up when his head was still slightly dizzy from the night before and he wanted to get some more sleep. But then he realized that the ceiling looked different than the usual ceiling that he had used to see every time he woke up in the morning.

The ceiling was different from the usual ceiling as it wasn't made of dirt like his first nest nor it was made of stone like his second nest.

However, the ceiling wasn't the most unusual thing for Matthew right now, but someone waking him up in the morning is.

He usually sleeps as long as he wants and his sleep schedule is non-existent since he didn't have one in the first place. He only sleeps when he feels tired and he wakes up when his body decides to do so. But for the first time ever since he arrived in this world, this is the first time that someone had woken him up.

Matthew's urge to grumble had disappeared after he remembered that he was currently living with the kobolds and the wooden ceiling above him was the ceiling of the house that the kobolds had given to him to use.

Naturally, it was the same house that the first kobold kid had shown him before and Matthew didn't have any complaints since every house in the village has the same facilities and relatively similar sizes, and the fact that they had given Matthew a free house is something that he should be thankful for.

Matthew's head was still slightly dizzy that he thought he was lacking sleep, but then he also remembered that the kobolds had made him drink the weird tasting liquid yesterday and Matthew guessed that it's the cause of his current headache and not because of the lack of sleep.

So he sat up from the straw bed and looked at the culprit who had woken him from his beauty sleep.

The culprit turned out to be a cute-looking wolf that stands on its 2 feet. Despite its face resembling a wolf, the sharp features still haven't come out, and calling it a wolf pup is more appropriate. And its short stature didn't help but make it look more adorable.

It was the first kobold kid who was beaming with energy as he woke up the big brother that he admired so much.

"Come on brother Matthew the sun is already shining and you're still on your bed, grandpa said that only lazy kobolds wake up when the sun is already right above our heads!"

Matthew who was still gathering his consciousness that was scattered after being forcefully woken up answered the first kobold kid with a slightly hoarse voice,

"Yes kid, wait a minute, I need some time to reboot my body"

"Reboot? What is that?"

"You know when a comput… It means that I need some time to gather my focus after just waking up."

"I see, so it's called rebooting…" The kobold kid mumbled as he nodded his head.

After spending about half a minute staring blankly at the ground, Matthew took a deep breath and stood up. He then does a light stretch to make his blood flow properly to help get rid of the remaining sleepiness that was still attached to his eyes.

Looking at Matthew moving his hips left and right and twisting his body, the first kobold kid wondered what his big brother is doing and asked,

"Brother Matthew, what are you doing?"

"It's called stretching. Stretching has lots of benefits. You should try doing it too. It can help relieve any tension or pain from sleeping the night before and it also helps increase your blood flow and prepares your body for the upcoming day." Matthew answered while he half-squatted and stretched his legs.

Just like when he first heard about rebooting, the first kobold kid nodded his head with a face full of understanding.

'This might be one of the secrets to brother Matthew's strength, I should do it every day too.' The first kobold kid thought to himself.

After Matthew finished stretching, he followed the first kobold kid outside the house and started walking.

"Where are we going this early in the morning?" Matthew asked.

"I don't know, where do you wanna go brother?"

"Wait, you're waking me up early in the morning and you don't know why you're waking me up?"

"Umm…No? It's the time to wake up, why won't you wake up brother?"

"..."

Matthew was speechless, but he couldn't argue since if it was the custom of the kobold village, he should just follow it.

'Besides, waking up early in the morning is known as a good habit, so maybe this will also be a good habit for me.'

While the two were walking past the entrance of the village, Matthew saw some kobolds coming in from the outside of the village while carrying some spoils from yesterday's battle.

There are a few bows along with the arrows, and there are also some swords that were left behind by the rapidly retreating humans. The kobolds had taken them in and brought them inside the village to use.

The kobolds didn't have access to metals, hence why their equipment and tools are made out of bones, and the rest are made out of woods and plants that are available from the forest.

'But now that they got a few swords from the humans, they might be able to hunt the boars and deers easier.' Matthew thought.

'How do they hunt them anyways?'

Matthew was curious since he heard that the kobolds usually hunted the deers and the boars, but their levels are stuck at around level 16 and the highest of them is the old kobold which had been stuck at level 19 for the past decade.

'Did they always hunt the low leveled boars and deers? That should be the case since it's impossible for them to not level up if they hunted the level 15 deers for years and not even one of them reached level 20.'

In the end, Matthew decided that the best thing to learn about something is to see it for himself.

"Hey kid, can I join the hunting team to hunt the deers and the boars?" Matthew asked the kobold kid.

"You should be able to brother, but just to be safe, let's visit grandpa and ask him first."

—---------

"Sure!"

The old kobold agreed straight away when Matthew wanted to come along with the hunting team. Not only Matthew was strong that the safety of the hunting team guaranteed, but they might also be able to bring home more meat for the kobolds to eat.

"Yay! Wait a minute, I will prepare myself before going!"

"No! You're not coming with him!"

The first kobold kid was the one who was the most excited when he heard that Matthew will be joining the hunting team and he wanted to follow along to learn from Matthew and follow him since now Matthew is the most amazing kobold in his eyes other than his already deceased father.

"Why can't I come along!? I want to be as strong as brother Matthew and the best way to achieve that is to learn from the person himself!" The first kobold kid argued.

"You're so weak right now that you will only become a burden for Matthew and the hunting team, they will be busy hunting and chasing down the animals, they won't have time to protect you."

"No! I will stick close to brother Matthew and run away when there's a small sight of danger, but with brother Matthew, I don't think there will be any danger at all!"

The old kobold wanted to refute but he didn't want to deny the first kobold kid's last sentence since Matthew might be offended if he underestimated his strength.

Seeing this awkward situation, Matthew got an idea then he whispered something to the old kobold's ear.

The old kobold listened closely and after Matthew finished talking and returned to his place, the old kobold's face was slightly smiling as he looked at Matthew then looked at the first kobold kid.

He then said, "Alright, you can go, but promise me that you will always be close to Matthew and listen to whatever he has to say."

The first kobold kid was in awe once again as he saw his stubborn grandpa relented for the first time since forever and it was because of Matthew.

'Big brother really is awesome…' he thought.

"Thanks, grandpa!"

"Wait a minute brother, I will prepare some things before we go!"

The first kobold kid then ran outside of the old kobold's home and went somewhere else.

Matthew and the old kobold then exchanged gazes and nodded to each other, Matthew also added a thumbs up while he smiled towards the old kobold. The old kobold who already knew what thumb up mean after he was told by the first kobold kid, replied to Matthew's gesture by giving Matthew a double thumbs up.

A few minutes later, Matthew was already exchanging conversation with the hunting team that he will be joining and the first kobold kid finally came back to him.

"Thanks for waiting brother Matthew! I'm ready now!"

Matthew looked closely at the first kobold kid but he didn't see any equipment or weapon on him and instead, he saw two other kobold kids behind him, their faces seems too familiar for Matthew, and the identities of the other two kobold kids were no other than the kobold twins.