Bait

"Why do you fight?"

I heard the newborn Xenos ask me as we finally reached what I believed to be the tunnel leading to the 5th floor.

I glanced at the little guy, my nose twitching as the acidic smell of fear that had been clinging to him shifted into something else, something I couldn't yet identify.

I might have gained a kobold's keen sense of smell, but that didn't mean I instantly understood the myriad of new scents I could now detect.

It was like a baby seeing everything for the first time, my brain struggling to memorize their significance.

"Why do I fight, huh? That's an interesting question..." I began to speak slowly, only paying a modicum of attention to Golbin as for the moment, I was primarily focused on surveying our immediate surroundings, searching for any signs of danger.

It wasn't paranoia if there were real monsters around, waiting to tear out my throat when I expected it least.

The color of the walls had been shifting gradually over the past hundred meters, the light blue morphing into a greenish tint. I had a sense that once I passed through this tunnel, the transition would be complete.

The 5th floor, the threshold for medium-ranked level 1 adventurers, those who had "graduated" from being rookies, in a certain sense of the word.

Still pathetic ants when compared to the real Monsters prowling on the surface and within the deep floors, but slightly bigger ants.

I haven't held myself quite to that standard yet, having only started delving yesterday and all that, so going any deeper wasn't on my to-do list for today.

After all, I had no intention of testing my horde-extermination capabilities against Frog Shooters and Wall Shadows with my stats.

That being said, my stats were...impossible, to say the least, for someone who had barely started their "adventuring" career.

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Basic Abilities:

Power: 48-95 (I) 

Endurance: 53-111 (H) 

Dexterity: 61-104 (H) 

Agility: 43-81 (I) 

Magic: 127-231 (G) 

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Still not all that impressive compared to someone like Bell, but comparison was the thief of joy.

Peak I-grade Power and Agility.

Low H-grade Endurance and Dexterity.

Fucking G-grade Magic...that I still had no way of using, unfortunately.

By now, even a braindead person would have realized that consuming monster meat had the effect of raising my stats somewhat, something I was deeply thankful for, as otherwise I would have been forced to resort to...unorthodox methods.

After all, I had some half-forgotten memories about some "Promised Time" thing being mentioned, something which basically equated to the Monster Apocalypse in normal human lingo.

Sure, I might become a slave or a Creature, but as long as I survived in the end, without forgetting who the hell I am...

Did it really fucking matter?

As I heard a wise man once say, no matter what happens, as long as you are still alive, you haven't lost.

You've learned.

And I fucking loved learning.

∞

Thankfully, such dangerous plans wouldn't need to be implemented as I was very satisfied with my current rate of progress.

Even if the strength gained by eating the same monsters seemed to decrease near-exponentially, there was the simple solution of hunting new prey.

'That being said, the stats I am so fucking proud of are still pathetic for someone wishing to get rid of the Rookie stigma'

It was just like the first time I entered the dungeon, all over again.

Barely able to kill a single monster, yet having to NIGERUNDAYO the fuck away should more than one attack me.

And to top it all off, despite being able to run, I couldn't instantly retreat back to the surface like I could when I was fighting on the first floor near the Marble Stairs.

'But I fought like 70 monsters simultaneously! There's no way a few more would pose any threat! Let's go kill!' 

This was what I would be thinking if I were suffering from a particularly severe mental disease.

The only reason I could fight a horde of goblins and kobolds was due to my Hysterical Hunger state, the relatively weak attacking power of the monsters, and most importantly, my ability to heal mid-fight.

I had a nagging feeling that my stats were also being updated in real-time compared to average adventurers, giving me a tiny trickle of increasing power all throughout the fight.

'None of these advantages apply now...I would probably die should I be struck directly by a Frog Shooter and a Wall Shadow will simply mangle me like a cheese grater on soft fruit if they are even half as dangerous as I remembered them to be...'

Truthfully, someone with basic stats still in the I-range shouldn't even think about going past the tunnel right in front of me...and thankfully, I wouldn't have to.

'Why would I, when I have the perfect bait to reel in a manageable fish?' I thought as I finally shifted my attention to the pitiful Golbin, who had begun to look slightly awkward after being completely ignored for half a minute or so.

Its tiny green hands were fidgeting, betraying his concern that he had stepped out of line.

Yet, he met my vacant stare with either defiance or determination, refusing to shrink under my scrutiny.

Using human psychology on a monster would be useless as I didn't know what I was working with, and trying to understand Golbin's character would only be a waste of time if he couldn't survive the task I would force him to do.

"You are not worthy of hearing my reason, my belief, my creed... " I began to b̶u̶l̶l̶s̶h̶i̶t̶ speak, feeling the guttural sounds of Goblin Language reverberate through my throat, and I got to see in real-time how the expectant gaze of the small goblin began to turn into a frown filled with disappointment.

His hopeful expression wilted like a flower in a sudden frost, and his eyes dimmed with sadness.

His small form seemed to shrink in on itself, his shoulders drooping and his ears flattening against his head, resembling a kicked puppy more than anything.

He even fucking flinched, as if the words physically hurt him, and if he were a human, I might have even believed I ended up touching a sore spot.

'Scratch that, this little shit clearly has human...ish emotions'

Still, I didn't wait for the disappointment of my refusal to fester into rage or hatred before continuing with my sales pitch, "But...I have a task that I could give you...a very important task.

Should you perform well, not only will I share the secrets of my strength with you, but I will also bestow you with a gift..."

I couldn't help myself from grinning the tiniest bit as I saw the raw happiness blossoming on the little guy's face, a view that would probably have horrified any other adventurer with just how genuinely human this monster's emotions seemed.

His huge eyes sparkled with delight, as his many pointed teeth revealed an...expectedly bloodthirsty smile that stretched from ear to pointed ear.

But I didn't care about any of that.

Instead, the only thing in my mind as I saw the rekindled flames in the goblin's spirit were four simple words.

'Hook, Line and Sinker'