Chapter 9: The Berry Woods(2)

The Berry Woods(2)

Dílis awoke to the soft rustling of the leaves around him.

He slowly opened his eyes as he began looking around.

"Well, it wasn't a dream," he muttered to himself as he began untying the vine from around his small waist.

Dílis made his way down the tree, he used to climb trees quite often back when he was growing up so he was quite used to the movements.

He smiled as he recalled the memory and chuckled to himself as he realised he was about the same size as he had been then.

After safely making his way to the ground, he began snacking on the apple he had found the day prior as he moved further into the woods.

Dílis' current goal was to find a shelter, somewhere he could rest in without the fear of encountering a wild beast.

He looked around for a while before coming across a cave, it's entrance easily quadruple the size of his current self. As he explored he began thinking about making this his new base, it was a bit chilly but he could so something about that.

'Crunch'

All of a sudden, a loud crunch echoed through the cave, the sound had come from below Dílis' foot, he lifted it up and, although hard to see in the darkness of the cave, he could see thousands of tiny white bones strewn across the floor.

Cold sweats ran down his back.

Dílis had found a home.

Just not his.

The moment Dílis realised what he had just stepped on, he began sprinting back towards the direction in which he came.

Dílis ran and ran and ran some more, as fast as his little feet could take him, until he spotted the light from the exit, around the corner.

Relieved, Dílis began slowing down, he would be safe once he left the cave and got far away, his lungs were burning as he approached the corner.

Dílis was just about to step around the corner when he noticed something, the light had moved.

He immediately brought his foot back, sliding across the floor as he stared at the wall.

The light moved again and this time it kept moving, closer.

The wall kept getting brighter as Dílis kept getting further back.

One monster from Soulkin Online popped into his head as he watched the light get closer.

The Anglear.

The anglear was a monster which was rarely seen in the game, this was because it only resided in darkly lit places where many players tended to avoid.

The anglear stood tall at ten feet in height and about seven feet in width, its body resembled that of a giant bear, however, the head looked like that of a mole with the exception of its unnaturally large teeth.

The special characteristic of the anglear would be the fact that it is actually blind, however, if you get caught by the light which shines from where its eyes should be, it will lock on to you and its accuracy will rise to an unbelievable level, better than most monsters in Soulkin.

Dílis was panicking, he couldn't fight an anglear, especially with the equipment he currently possessed.

He started searching frantically for somewhere he could hide until it passed, if he got caught within those eyes, he would die.

Luckily to his right, he spotted a small crack, just barely wide enough for him in his goblin form to squeeze through.

Dílis practically leapt through the small space, scraping his knee on the way, losing one HP.

Dílis wanted to curse but he held himself back as the anglear approached. By the time it reached where he was, Dílis found it hard to breathe, the pressure it emitted was intense. Too much for him to handle.

The anglear continued on, passing him by, heading further into the cave.

Dílis let out a breath he had unknowingly been holding in.

He had realised it earlier as well but, he really was in trouble.

His stats were nothing compared to the monsters he could encounter, he would be annihilated were he to try and go up against these things.

After Dílis was sure the anglear was gone, Dílis slipped out of the crack in the wall and swiftly made his way to the exit, all the while thinking to himself one thing.

'I need to get stronger'

After seeing just how weak he was compared to the anglear and even the boar, he realised he needed to get stronger.

---

Dílis had resolved himself to get stronger, but before that, he would need a base, a place where he could relax and train without being interrupted.

As he ran through the forest he came across many possible locations but none quite fit what he was looking for. They were neither large enough nor safe enough for him to make them his base.

Dílis was about to give up hope when he saw it, a small cave, about the size of his previous flat.

Moss and vines covered the entrance shielding it from prying eyes, Dílis himself almost mistook it for a wall the first time he saw it.

Luckily though, he managed to spot a small crack in the vines which led to the discovery that it was actually a cave.

After looking around for a bit, Dílis concluded that the cave would be a suitable place to train.

The walls were rough and uneven much like the floor, but it had potential, Dílis could see it.

Dílis now had somewhere to rest but it was currently very empty so it couldn't quite be called home yet, so he set out in search of materials to improve his new home.

On his way, he came across a large stone, three times the size of the one he used to make his knife. Dílis used his skill, eyes of the demon king, on the stone.

[Medium sized stone]

Category: Stone

Rank: -

-A medium-sized stone

Dílis had been looking for a larger stone for a while now and luckily, this one was just the right shape for what he wanted to make.

He headed back to the cave with the medium-sized stone in tow and sat down next to the vines and sticks he had acquired.

He headed to the back of the cave towards the right, this was where Dílis had decided would be his crafting corner, he would place any materials he would find there, for ease of access.

Dílis sat among the plants and sticks and brought the stone he had been carrying, between his legs. He rubbed his hands together and took a few deep breaths before activating the skill, 'Goblins' Craftmanship'.

Dílis felt his concentration rise as he began working away, thirty minutes had passed and Dílis was sweating profusely as he held up his new axe which he had just finished crafting.

[Stone Axe]

Category: Weapon [One-handed Axe]

Rank: -

-A stone axe crafted by someone with very little skill

-This axe was created with care

The description was awfully similar to that of his dagger, the only difference being the fact that it was an axe and that the materials were average, so much so in fact that the description didn't even bother mentioning it.

Dílis wanted to know the stats of his new tool and so he used his skill to inspect the item.

[Stone Axe]

-Durability: 18%

-Atk: 1

-Attributes: Damage to trees increased by three percent

Dílis was surprised to see that the new item he created had an attribute attached to it. Attributes weren't exactly rare but it was still strange to see an attribute on something he had crafted using some sticks, vines and a stone.

Dílis was feeling rather proud of himself as he stared at his new item, the damage was lower than his knife but it wasn't as if Dílis had meant to use it to attack. That was what the knife was for.

He had created the axe for the sole purpose of chopping down trees so that he could make himself some furniture as well as some other things.

With his new axe strapped to his back with a vine, he set out toward a tree he had spotted earlier that day.

Dílis brandished his new axe as he walked toward the tree. After reaching it, Dílis took a stance, it was a bit awkward as he had never tried chopping a tree before but he tried his best.

The goblin looked like he was playing baseball as he swung the axe with all his might toward the tree.

Thunk

Dílis pried the axe away from the tree, from where he struck, there appeared a small scratch not even a centimetre deep. He then decided to inspect its durability with his skill.

[Sturdy Berry Tree]

Durability: 99.9%

-A sturdy berry tree

Dílis grimaced at the remaining durability and sighed, "this is gonna take a while."

Dílis continued whacking the tree, slowly shaving away the durability. His technique had gotten much better from when he started. His strikes were making slightly deeper cuts and the sound of each strike had changed, they were heavier, more precise.

As Dílis truck the tree for the ninetieth time he heard a loud crack, as the stone from his axe came flying off the handle, breaking in half.

Dílis stared at the spot the stone had come flying off from, looked around and shook his head.

"Couldn't be me."

He could guess what happened, the axes durability had been reduced to zero. Dílis decided to throw away the handle as he began searching for another stone to use.

He went back to the cave then to craft another axe, Dílis didn't care for the stats this time around and went back to the tree to continue where he left off.

After one more trip to craft another axe, the tree began falling as Dílis struck the final blow. In celebration, Dílis decided to snack on the berries from the fallen tree.

As Dílis was eating, he realised that he had completely gotten used to his situation and it creeped him out a little bit. Here he was, a goblin, cutting down a tree to make furniture, and eating berries from trees and yet, he found little wrong with the situation.

Just how much time had he spent in Soulkin Online to have gotten that way? He wondered when suddenly he heard a familiar sound.

*Bing*

[Strength +1]

"What?", exclaimed in surprise, "did my strength just go up?"

In Soulkin Online there was no way to raise your stats other than by levelling up but here he was, gaining a point in strength.

"Just goes to show, this really isn't a game." Dílis had accepted the fact that he had just raised his strength but now he had another problem on his hands.

Dílis had succeeded in cutting the tree down but then realised something, how would he get it back to his cave?

He grabbed the tree with both hands as he tried dragging it along, however his weak goblin arms couldn't even make the tree budge.

He realised then that he would have to chop the tree into smaller pieces if he wanted to make anything out of it.

Dílis sighed inwardly at the thought of making more axes to try and chop the tree into more manageable pieces when once again he heard a familiar sound ring out inside his head.

*Bing*

[Woodcutting]

[Rank Common] [Proficiency 0.5%]

-Your strikes against trees now take away more durability

"YES!!" Dílis shouted out instinctively at the news that he wouldn't have to spend as much time on chopping the tree.

Dílis was in a good mood, as he made his way back to his cave, he had a big cheesy grin plastered across his face as he hummed an old tune, its name he had forgotten.