3 The Store and The Surprise.

Let's see, [MP 195/345]

Hmm, it'll take approximately 30 minutes to get back to max mana, and I won't be exploring unknown territory without all the advantages I can get, so i'll have to wait until its back to full.. there are a few things I need to try in my house anyway.

So, slipping into my house, I first opened one of the draws in the kitchen, and took out a thin screw driver and some paperclips, I can use these to pick most common locks, I can enter peoples houses and see if when the system said 'Survive the Integration' that people actually died, and if nobody is home, I can raid the place for nonperishable foods.

I also went into a cupboard and pulled out a huge rucksack that I haven't used in a while along with another backpack, I can wear the smaller backpack first, then the rucksack, allowing me to have as much space as I can.

Next, I sat down with my legs crossed, closed my eyes, and thought of nothing, many people claim to find it difficult to clear your mind into nothing, but you just have to not think at all, or even concentrate on your bodies movements without thinking. After around 5 minutes, I opened my eyes and, like I thought, there was a window in front of me.

[Skill Created: Meditation, Level: 1]

[Allows you to increase regeneration speed of MP by 5%, this number increases with each level]

'Bingo!'

Ok, it'll take 20-25 minutes for my magic to regenerate back to full, in the meantime, I only have one magic skill, and if my enemy is immune to basic cutting attacks like a slash of wind, then i'll probably just die.

I know there are most likely only fairly weak monsters who don't have much resistance to something like a 'Wind Slash' in the world at the moment, but I'm not betting my life on something 'likely'

However, I can't create any at the moment, I don't have unlimited time or mana, so instead, i'm going to try and make a physical skill.

I'm not sure how this will work, will it take away MP? Or maybe i'll test my endurance instead?

I have no idea what the process is for creating skills though. I managed to make a 'Wind Slash' just fine but I have no idea if it'll work for physical skills or even other magic categories.

But, might as well try it. 'HAH' I quickly did a backwards movement as powerfully and quickly as I could. Nothing happened, so I did it again, and again.. I ended up doing it a total of 30 times before I gave up, either a dodging skill doesn't exist.. or I can't get one without being in combat.. I mean, technically i'm not really dodging anything so suppose it's not too surprising.

Sigh.. then let's try ..This! I quickly jabbed my Dagger forward, and again, and again.. After 5 stabs, I got a notification

[Skill Created: Stab, Level: 1]

[A basic forward stab that increases attack damage by 5% and attack speed by 2%, this increases with each level. Cost: 10MP]

Oh? It costs MP, that means that eventually, everyone who survives will have to increase their MP to use skills, and considering how useful skills have the potential to be, there's no way people can survive for long without having some skills in their arsenal.

Hmm.. I see. For now, it seems being a mage was a great choice, however, I have no idea how other people are able to use magic. I'm aware that my stats related to mana are far above average so I have an innate advantage, but can everyone else create a magic skill on their first try? Or what skills would they create? Would they be even more powerful than mine?

There's always one thing I take into account with things like these. 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong'.. If i'm not sure how strong other people are at the moment then at the very least I should assume they're as strong as me, one of the things that always bothered me in real life and even novels, you don't need experience to not make stupid mistakes.

I don't need to experience a near death fight before I can finally comprehend that I can't afford to be be lazy and need to train and practice as hard as possible, trust me, i'm smart enough to figure that out on my own thank you.

Sigh, there's still 15 minutes left before i'm able to leave, I suppose I'll meditate until I have all of my mana regenerated.

I waited for around 12-13 minutes before opening my eyes,

[Skill: Meditation, levelled up!]

[Allows you to increase regeneration speed of MP by 7%, this number increases with each level]

Hmm, regeneration improved by 2% with meditation, nice.

Quickly checking my MP, it read [334/345]

Ok, that's enough mana regenerated to leave, it'll be regenerated after a few minutes on my journey.

The nearest convenience store is 15 minutes away if I walk, it would be better to run, but that would be too loud and careless, I have to make sure I don't bump into any monsters unexpectedly.

Spraying myself with deodorant all over my body to mask any scent that could be considered 'appetising' to a monster, I was finally ready to go to the Convenience Store.

..

[Skill: Stealth, Levelled up!]

[Makes it 7% harder for enemies to detect you, increases with each level.]

Huh, that's useful, so it increases by 2% each time? That means the upper limit would be.. 99%, that won't be happening anytime soon, so let's get back to the mission.

It's been 15 minutes of me sneaking around towards the store and i'll be there within the next 3-4 minutes, I didn't encounter any other monsters so far, and my mana is back to full again.

I've been thinking and considering that there are monsters in this world who i'm sure have great noses.. if they smelled something like meat in the store, then they would definitely try to eat it.

Humans are considered to have very bad noses, even among animals here, before the portals opened, i'm sure even the goblins have far better noses than humans. How they didn't smell my scent before? Well, there's not really any wind for the smell to travel, and I didn't really smell of anything strongly, and i'm guessing while goblins noses are stronger than humans, they're not to the point of being amazing.

[Skill: Observe, levelled up!]

[Allows you to see basic information of some items, will be able to see more information on higher level items after every level increased]

Hmm, the description is the same as before, nothing has changed but the reason it levelled up is because, my whole journey so far, I've been using Observe on everything I possibly can along the way.

Anyway, I can finally see the convenience store, I can't see any movement at the moment, but it's not a very open shop so that doesn't tell me anything about what's inside.

Making my way steadily close, I leaned on the left side wall of the store, leaning my head over the edge to look at the door and to make out if there is any noise inside.

I could faintly hear some weird high pitched mumbling that sounded suspiciously like a goblin, I also heard the tearing of flesh every few moments too..

'They must have found the meat already and started eating it'

Slowly shuffling my way towards the door, I peeked my head through, and after a moment, quickly moved it back.

Phew.. they're feasting on raw meat alright.. only, it's human meat, One of the goblins had a cut on their arm and there was a knife near the corpse, I'm guessing the man.. or woman.. they were too disfigured to really tell, had the same idea as me and tried going to the store.. only, all they had was a knife.. and the goblins were able to beat an ordinary human with a knife fairly easily.

The average person might have puked after seeing it but.. I just can't bring myself to care about a random human dying gruesomely, the only thing that made me feel like puking was the horrible smell, but, I held it down.. I suppose that might make me a bit of a psychopath.. or maybe a sociopath.. meh, who cares, it's time to hunt some goblins..

Of course, I won't be careless, I only saw some of the store, for all I know there might be more inside. Ok let's think, I have a range of 6 meters after my Wind Slash levelled up and the cooldown is now 4 seconds, though the the cast time is still 2 seconds..

There were 3 goblins eating the corpse.. there's no way to separate them, if I attack one, I attack them all.

My Wind Slash has a general diameter of 50cm... Ok that should be enough, I can't move my position while casting the skill, but I can move my body however I like.

Quickly taking another peek, I confirmed that they had barely moved... phew, ok.. 2.. and 1!

Quickly leaning over and channelling the skill towards the goblins, it seems they sensed an attack as they looked up but had no time to move before I shot the spell at them, I hit one of the goblins head on, destroying most of it's right shoulder and chest, pretty much killing it, it also hit another goblin in the ankle, significantly limiting its movement.

The remaining 2 goblins started charging me, with one limping slowly. I quickly ran backwards as fast as I could away from the goblin, I ran for 4 seconds before turning around and instantly charging the skill.. 3 meters.. 2 meters.. 1 met- Wind Slash! The goblin had its Dagger over its head about to strike me when I used the Wind Slash to sever it's upper body almost entirely from its stomach and lower body, I felt a little sick looking at it, it really looked and smelled disgusting, but quickly discarded the thought.

What a dumb way to charge, what sort of idiot attacks with their dagger by lifting it over their head.. a goblin would, I suppose.

Analysing the situation before me.. the other goblin was still limping towards me with utter primal hate in its eyes while the other goblin inside the store was still moving a little, but definitely incapacitated.

Sighing, I waited for the cooldown to end and when the goblin was a few seconds away, I charged the skill and decapitated it, Picking up the coins from the dead goblins, I made my way towards the other goblin.

I already got 2 [Killed Lesser Goblin, 10 exp gained] notifications, but it seems the 3rd needs a bit more for it die, checking my mana it read [195/345], I suppose the limping goblin I could have killed with a dagger, but I wasn't confident in leaving unscathed if the goblin started randomly slashing its dagger everywhere.

Making my way into the store, I was still on guard, but mainly concentrating on the almost dead goblin, I pulled out my dagger and was about to stab the goblin in the head, killing it, when I felt something wrong.. relying on my gut feeling, I jumped backwards as fast as I could make my legs move. Where I was a second ago, now housed a large club, with a few cracks in the floor that it hit.

I didn't even bother to look before sprinting as fast as I possibly could out of the store, and behind a low wall, I did this because whatever just tried to kill me, was definitely a heavy monster, and it's dexterity and agility can't be it's strong point.

After jumping over the wall, I tried getting a good look at what just attacked me and what I saw was what was most likely a Hobgoblin, it was the same height as me, 5'11, with far larger muscles on its body, wielding a giant wooden club.

Not hesitating for a moment, I quickly charged the Wind Slash, and it hit the Hobgoblin right in between the chest and neck, the Hobgoblin paused for a second, looking at it's bloody chest, before sprinting at me with renewed vigour and a huge roar.

As soon as I had shot the skill, I was running, but it seems this Hobgoblin was a little faster than even me, 'damn, it's a lot faster than it looks'

Hearing another roar, I quickly rolled to the left, narrowly dodging another huge strike from the club, there was 1 second left on the cooldown but I can't cast a Wind Slash right now unless I want to die.

'Ok, think, think! It's faster than me in a direct run, and it's too close for me to charge the spell, I need an obstacle.. there!' I quickly spotted a building with an open door and made my way there as fast as I could, side-stepping another hit from the club, which I only managed to do on a basic instinctual feeling of danger, and jumped into the building, rolling to the left, I didn't even stop as I charged up the spell, and as soon as it entered through the door, another spill hit it in the same area as before, causing it to stop and finally fall backwards.

[Killed Elite Goblin, 30 exp gained]

'that was only an elite? Not a hobgoblin? Damn.. I seriously need to get stronger.'

Checking my mana, it read [95/345]

Sigh, that was really too close. Still breathing hard, out of breath, I looked around the room and quickly froze, there was blood on the floor and walls with what could only be the eaten remains of 2 humans..

I focused on my ears and heard some light footsteps coming from the stairs..

'Ok, ok, calm down.. it'll take it at least 5 seconds before it can get to me from the stairs, and my cooldown is finished too, it's fine.

Preparing myself to cast the spell, I waited for the goblin to show itself, but what I saw coming down the stairs definitely surprised me, it was what could only be human legs, and after a second its body was revealed, it was a middle-aged man, covered in blood, with a knife in his hand.

Not letting my guard down for a second, I looked at him cautiously, I think it's pretty obvious that a goblin got into their home, killing two humans, who I am guessing were his family, and now he killed the goblin, and is most likely the only survivor, for all I know, he could be in a state of shock at his family being killed and will attack me without even thinking straight, speaking slowly and clearly, I said,

"Hello."

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