Ratmen

Jack sprinted towards the forest, making his way towards the ratmen's dwelling. Although he had grown stronger and could defeat them more easily now, he was still wary of facing multiple enemies at once. His strategy was to stalk the ratmen and take them down one by one, a simple plan given his limited knowledge of the ratmen.

Jack spent the next few days following his plan, waiting for groups of ratmen to leave their cave and then taking them down one by one. He would often engage in combat with one of them to test his strength and gain more experience. Over two weeks, he successfully exterminated all of the ratmen in the area. To his surprise, it was much easier than he had anticipated, and he even managed to gain two levels from killing them. Given that they were lower level than him and he had attacked them separately, this outcome was expected.

As Jack pulled his ax out of the side of a slain ratman, he expressed his disappointment. "So this one was a dud," he said. "Just got two levels but no portal. It would have been way too easy." Despite the lack of a portal, Jack continued to hone his skills and started to develop his ability to throw his ax.

"I suppose my next step is to keep exploring the area," Jack mused to himself. As he exited the cave, he allowed the flame in his hand to disperse. Over the last two months, Jack had spent countless hours practicing with his magic circle, and there were many failures along the way. However, his persistence paid off as he eventually succeeded in creating a stable flame that didn't shoot out in random directions.

After a long day of exploring, Jack returned home to rest and recover his mana, preparing to venture deeper into the forest the following day. As he made his way through the forest, he encountered several monsters that followed him, but he ignored them and pressed on. Eventually, the creatures gave up and left Jack to continue his journey undisturbed.

[ + 128 exp ]

With a sense of satisfaction, Jack retrieved the mana core from the goblin's skin using his knife. "Well, that was easier than expected," he remarked. Leaving the goblin's remains for other creatures in the forest to scavenge, Jack continued on his journey deeper into the forest.

Jack contemplated the nature of the monsters he had encountered. "So they evolve," he mused to himself. "Either they can't get stronger without evolving, they evolve when they reach a certain strength, or possibly they just got lucky." Jack encountered a new type of monster: hobgoblins, as indicated by his appraisal. These creatures had physical differences compared to goblins, such as their gray-colored skin. The hobgoblin in front of Jack was around 5 feet tall and more muscular than he was.

Jack observed that the hobgoblin's intelligence had also increased, as evidenced by its smaller nails. Unlike Jack's knife, which he had crafted by sharpening a river stone, the hobgoblin carried a knife with many little spikes. Jack assumed that the hobgoblin had likely smacked rocks together until it had created the sharp weapon.

Jack was hiding on top of a branch while looking at its stat.

[ species: hobgoblin ]

[ Level 3 ]

[ Health: 98/100 ]

[ Strength:69 ]

[ Speed: 51 ]

[ Stamina: 67]

[ Magic: 112/112 ]

"It beats me in stamina but that is it," Jack said as he grabbed his spear and threw it at the hobgoblin. The creature managed to move slightly before the spear pierced its heart, causing it to collapse. Jack stood by, watching as the hobgoblin struggled and its lifeblood flowed from its body until it finally succumbed to its wounds.

[ + 179.4 exp ]

Jack examined the hobgoblin's knife and confirmed his suspicions about how it was likely crafted. Impressed with the weapon's design, he took the knife with him as a throwing weapon. However, he noted that the knife was relatively delicate and could easily break if struck from the side.

As Jack continued exploring the area, he encountered a new monster. One of them was an armadillo-like creature with a carapace similar to that of an armadillo but with the ability to stand up and run on its legs.

This creature was enormous, standing about 5 feet tall. Jack watched as it finished its meal and returned to its burrow. The creature's method of attack was similar to that of Sonic, it curled up into a ball and rolled, squishing its prey in the process. However, the downside to this approach was that the creature lost track of its prey's location while it was curled up.

Jack moved on to explore another area, Jack found a different area. The area was covered in purple smoke. The plants near it seemed to be dead apart from a few special ones. Jack guessed it to be poison.

"Hmmm I wonder"

Undeterred by the danger, Jack ventured into the purple smoke, despite the obvious signs of poison. He approached the edge of the smoke and inhaled, wondering about the mysterious area and its potential benefits.

[ foreign substance detected ]

[ poison has been detected ]

More messages started appearing, Jack hid away until the notification passed and then he repeated the process multiple times. He later headed to keep exploring the area and found one more monster that had spikes in its back, its arm was also spiked.

Later on, Jack encountered another monster with spikes on its back and arms, adding to the unique and diverse range of creatures he had already encountered. However, most of the monsters in the area were still hobgoblins.

After finding some fruits to eat, Jack returned to the area covered in purple smoke. This time, he ventured inside the smoke, where it was more condensed. Jack sat down and focused on breathing in and out, ignoring the constant stream of notifications that appeared. Although he attempted to go deeper into the smoke, he found that it was still too much and had to retreat.

Despite the danger, Jack's persistence paid off as he managed to level up his poison resistance twice, a significant boon in his quest to explore the area.

As Jack headed back home, he reflected on his progress and planned his next steps. He decided to spend his days sneaking and killing monsters to raise his levels of poison resistance and stealth, before venturing into the area covered in purple smoke again. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time before he needed to level up and proceed to the next portal, but he was determined to make the most of it.