Not Human

I wiped the rapier's blade with a cloth. The corpse of three goblins lying a few meters away.

[Your skill, Sword Mastery, has leveled up!]

[Sword Mastery-E

Description: Increases your skill and damage caused by swords.

Effect: 15% More Damage when using swords.]

I smiled and turned towards my two companions. "I'm getting pretty good, right?" I asked them.

""Indeed, My Lord," they agreed. Expected, but nonetheless, it made me feel good.

'Okay, I think I'm ready to finish this,' I thought to myself.

'Hopefully there's still the reward system, else a lot my plans are going to go down the drain,' I prayed inwardly.

Using my memory, that seemed to get better as my mental stats increased, I navigated the dungeon. Eventually, we heard sounds of voices, getting louder the closer we approached. Light shined through an archway, carved by hand from the damp cavern walls.

We entered through the archway, and what first entered our sight was...

Goblins, lots and lots of goblins. At least a hundred, standing or sitting on wooden bleacher esque seats. In the center of what I could only call a wooden, poorly built, mini colosseum, were two humans. One particularly special goblin, sat on a throne of wood, overlooking the entire colosseum where the humans fought.

"..." I glanced at my two companions, they had no reaction. 'Right,' I thought. Only then did I realize, once again, that they weren't human.

I wasn't fully human either, as what I felt as I watched the two humans fight each other, was indifference. I took in a deep breath to calm my stirring mind.

I had no need for these thoughts, I only wanted to live. To do that I needed a few things. That boss has one of them.

'For them to be caught by mere goblins... they're even weaker than me.' Looking at it objectively, they had no use to me, alive or dead, it wouldn't make a difference. After killing this boss, making contact with humans wouldn't hinder me anymore. From a subjective standpoint, they were much more pleasing to the eye than the goblins.

I jerked my head towards the humans, "Save all of them," I told them.

In an instant, they disappeared, like they popped out of existence. It would take at least a minute for them to save all of them.

[Free Points: 300]

Looking at my free points which I had saved up until now, I finalized my decision. I would become a wizard.

I put all three hundred into magic, and mana began to fill up my vessel. With so much intangible energy filling me up, it felt like I was empty up until now.

My guards returned a little later, with seven unconscious humans.

"Back away," I ordered them.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. I focused on the chaotic whirlpool of mana inside of me. My use of magic was still ignorant, do to having low intelligence and wisdom. But what I was about to do didn't need delicately handled mana.

"[Domain]," I activated my skill. The atmosphere of the cave changed in the blink of an eye. The air had a certain stillness as a deep, bone rattling chill settled in. My already stirring mana riled up more.

I opened my eyes and let out the breath I had been holding in, releasing a white, misty cloud.

[Ice Shard]

I used the only spell I knew. My mana flew out from within my body. It formed a small, crystalline, shard of ice in the palm of my hand. Without further ado, I unleased the flood that was my mana, pouring all of it into my spell.

The air around me froze, it hurt to even breathe. The blood in my body felt like it hardened. Frost layered my arm the spell resided in, as it became longer and bigger. My eyes stung.

A javelin formed in my hand. I clenched my fist around it, and my hand stiffened as it freezed from touching the spell directly.

[You have learned a new skill, Overcharge!]

[You have learned a new spell, Ice Javelin!]

My muscles, taut from the strain of holding this spell, became even tighter. So much so it felt like all the muscles in my body would snap like a rubber band.

But I pulled. I continued to pull, and pull, and pull. I exerted all my strength, my will allowing me to push myself further.

I forcibly moved my tense body, it creaked and groaned in protest, yet I bore it no mind. After so much extraneous effort, I managed to release the javelin towards the ceiling of the cavern where the goblins resided.

The skin on the palm and fingers of my right hand tore off. It hurt. It hurt like hell. But I would finally get what I came here for. Experience.

Yet for now, I would sleep.

[You have been inflicted with the debuff, Mana Exhaustion!]

I quickly activated Hibernate, so that I didn't have to deal with consequences of my actions.

...

I woke up on my bed, in my manor. I brought my right hand up. The skin of my palm and fingers were a pale color.

'Hibernate sure is a good skill,' I thought. I brought my hand down, and let out a deep sigh.

[Level: 23]

'Choose number 1 for my Boss Hunting Reward,' I chose.

[You have acquired the skill, Mimic!]

I lied back down, staring at the ceiling. Then I recalled the people I had saved.

"Guards," I called out, and the two came in. They knelt down and bowed their heads.

"What did you do with the humans, Righty, you speak," I pointed at her. She was a bit confused at my label for her, but didn't say anything.

"Yes, My Lord. Since you didn't give us any command, we considered your intentions carefully," she told him.

"So, we gave the males to Lady Lust, and the females to Lord Gluttony," she said, sticking her chest out a bit in pride.

'What...?' I wondered if I had misheard. "You gave them to Lust and Gluttony?" I asked.

"Correct, My Lord," she affirmed.

"Right... Okay, you may leave." After they left, I took in a deep breath, and sunk deeper into my bed.

They may look human, but they're not. They were demons, a race volatile to all life. A sense of alienation permeated me.

It finally hit me. It was a dog eat dog world. I couldn't lie still if I wanted to live.

I stood up from my bed.

It was time to do what I do best, grind.