So I noticed an immediate difference about the next floor.
Actually 2 differences, 1 is that it no longer looks like a cave. That's not a big deal because now it just looks like one of those Egyptian tombs, except made from grey stones, now sand looking ones.
Then second is where it gets more, well, interesting.
This floor is absolutely littered with goblins.
Like they are in groups of 3, but they are just far enough away from each other that they can't see, which may not sound so bad if it weren't for this floor having as many twist and turns as it does.
So imagine this, kill the group of 3 goblins somehow, turn the corner, kill another group, another corner, another group, etc, etc.
Yeah, I don't have the stamina for that. Also what if I fuck up and make a sound? If they were alone I have confidence that I would be able to get all goblins silently, maybe 2. But three?
Let me just go and grow a third arm how bout.
Hmm, well I haven't done anything yet so I don't have anything to worry about so far, I have just been sitting here thinking about a plan that would make me not die.
If you're wondering how I know about the goblins without moving my retort is I have a map, remember? I can see a certain distance away from myself on it, so right now I see 5 groups of goblins and I am pretty damn sure that there will be more.
So yeah, don't wanna die.
Hmm.
Let's look through my inventory and see what I have that will help.
Toilet paper... Toothbrush... Body wash... Body pill-Lets um, uh, look at the weapons instead.
Lots of daggers and knives, lots of swords, a few guns. Okay fine not a few, I got enough for a small army.
What are they gonna do? Investigate me while I am in another world?
Not gonna use those guns though, it ruins both the fun of having a world with no guns and the fun of a challenge. Plus I wanna be sneaky.
Oh, here's something, a bows, crossbows, and a shit ton of ammo for them. Let's do some archery!
I pull a simple recurve bow out and a quiver with 40 arrows in it, which should be fine for now I hope.
I set the quiver onto my belt so that I can just grab it from my side quickly, knock the arrow, aim, and fire. Hopefully all in one fell swoop.
Well I think I'm all set to deal with the goblins now, at least some of them... hopefully.
I slowly approach the corner before the first group of goblins and crouch down. It seems that they haven't noticed me yet still.
I put my back again the corner and slowly lean the side of my face around till I can see them.
They still haven't noticed me and aren't doing... well, anything. They're just standing/sitting there.
One's picking his... nose and his ass? He just kinda, threw his stick on the ground by him and is going to town.
Another has his hand in his pants and is sitting against the wall, don't want to think about what he's doing.
The other I think is peeing on a wall, something somewhat normal at least.
[Skill [Hide (Novice)] Acquired]
Oh that's handy, it'll make it harder for them to see me now.
I put an arrow on my bow and draw it back before exhaling. It's been years since I've done archery, let's set my expectations low and just aim for the bodies.
I peek out once again to check if I'm clear, then I turn out with my bow slightly so I'm still hidden, aim at the one that's picking his nose and fire!
After shooting I turn back to the corner so that I can try and stay hidden.
[Skill [Bow Handling (Novice)] Acquired]
Did I get him?
I peek back around and see that I got it on the shoulder. The other two are still doing there own thing so they haven't noticed so I get ready to fire another arrow.
Aim... and fire!
[[Bow Handling (minor)] Level up!]
I got the one with his hand in his pants barely, he got hit through his leg killing him.
Now for the last one, repeat the steps...
I think the skill made me better, at least by a bit. I got the goblin square on the back this time!
I walk out and pull my arrows out the goblins and wipe the blood off on their pants\loincloth fur thing.
I then put their bodies and their sticks into my inventory because firewood and bait is important.
Time for the next group of goblins
*****************************************
So I realized right after killing that group that I never looked at their stats so I made sure to look at them at the 2nd group.
Goblin
Level 1
Strength: 2
Cunning: -1
Intelligence: -3
Dexterity: 0
Endurance: 0
Luck: 0
Hp: 6/6
SP: 3/3
MP: 0/0
Holy shit are these stats bad, no wonder they died to one arrow, if I sneezed I think that these guys would die.
Well it didn't matter to me, I just kept clearing out goblin groups, and after taking out 6 more of them I finally got my Archery skill up to Novice level 4!
Now it may not seem impressive but I can now feel comfortable hitting them 90% of them time, the other 10% the goblins still seem to find a way to die...
If you think I'm joking I'm not.
One of the goblins I tried to shoot, but missed tripped over his own stick then impaled himself on the arrow I shot at his friend.
Another time I shot an arrow and his friend attacked him thinking that he woke him up. This led to that guy being beaten to death.
Thinking back on it, I don't think they were friends, I think that is a reasonable assumption.
Well at least I kept leveling up other things too, I know have Hide up to 3, and my own level is now at level 4 too.
So I've made some decent progress I think.
Being honest though, this is boring as shit. I'm not a stranger to grinding in video games, but I prefer the kind of grinding like in those idle games. Being able to just get a shit ton of money, buy upgrades, then come back hours later after it gets more money on its own is great.
This isn't that type of grind if you can tell though, this is that kind of bullshit RPG grind where, I'm sure eventually it'll take years for me to go and gain a single level. Hell I don't even know if I can get to level 100, for all I know the level cap is 10.
Now that would suck.
My point in all this, is this is slow as shit. I can stand grinding more if it went by faster, or if it was at least fun. I was never that person who could just go and grind trash mobs till I go and get to level 999. That would take way too long.
No, I'm the kind of person who likes to just go and fight a horde of monsters and get a huge amount of XP and skills.
That's why I'm going to use one of the swords I brought with me and alert all the goblins that I am here. Let the bastards come and I shall greet them with my sword.
Or well I could just go and grind out my unarmed fighting too, just keep punching and kicking could be fun.
Or blindly firing arrows just to rack up the experience.
Or use a dagger.
Or... Wait a second. No matter what I do will be more efficient than what I was doing before.
Fuck. I'm too used to stealth games that it didn't click, these guys are weak as shit. I can just go and kill them in one hit.
I pull out a short sword and hang it and it's sheath on the opposite side of my belt from where I have the quiver hanging from.
I am very glad for the invention of belts because from all this weight I would have had my pants around my ankles and people would have seen me in my boxers. Not that this world has boxers (Probably. Maybe. Well at least not like mine).
Well lets get the goblin horde coming towards me.
I cough to clear out my throat, I plan on screaming out at the top of my lungs for this one, because if I miss any goblins I don't want to have to hunt them down because that's just inefficient.
I inhale and exhale a couple times before finally inhaling a large breath, "LEEEERRRRRRRROYYYYYY JEEEEEEEEENKINNNNNNNNNS!"
I cough a little bit after that, holy shit that made my eyes tear up.
[Skill [Shout (Minor)]Acquired]
[Skill [Suffocation Resistance (Minor)]Acquired]
Holy shit I almost suffocated? Well, that's kind of reasonable I guess with how long I shouted for.
Wait if I maxed out that skill would I be able to survive without oxygen?
'Yes?'
Wait X why did that sound like a question.
'...'
X? I know you're there. I'm not upset that you were speaking, I genuinely want to know.
'...I don't know. Theoretically you should not be able to survive without oxygen because that leads to you suffocating. But with this skill it makes you more resistant to suffocation? This is causing me to have a headache and I don't have a head which just adds to the confusion of this.'
...oh. Um, okay. Sorry, um X. I'll leave you alone to deal with whatever it is you're dealing with.
Sorry for breaking you and probably the laws of nature.
Well. Um, at least the scream worked, there's a lot of red dot's heading towards me, and I do mean a lot. At least 200.
'It is 456'
Oh. Thanks for the exact number X... Um, you can go rest till you feel better okay?
'...'
Mmkay. Well, I feel like being risky right now so I decide to do something I've only ever seen in fictional things, shooting multiple arrows at a time!
I put three arrows onto the string and draw it back so that it is ready for the goblin horde.
After waiting for a minute a stream of goblins finally turns the corner and start running toward me so I unleash the arrows, and I gotta say.
This is the most satisfyingly stupid and ineffective thing I think I've done in my life.
Only 1 arrow managed to hit a goblin, the other 2 hit the wall and floor.
I'm not gonna give up though, I put another three and fire.
[Ability [Multi-Shot(Bows)(Novice)]Acquired]
Success! Wait why does that Ability have bows specifically by it?
'You haven't done it with other things so it doesn't apply to those. I.e you can't use the skill for bows and crossbows, you need to unlock the skill with crossbows as well.'
Oh. Also why are you so talkative right now? I keep telling you to rest.
'I am still trying to figure out the answer to your question so I am forced to be active'
Sorry. I feel bad still.
No time for that though, I got goblins charging at me! Wait a second...
An ability?
Knock 3 arrows, fire, knock 3 arrows, fire. Rinse and repeat till I run out of arrows, then pull more from inventory.
[[Multi-Shot(Bows)(Novice)]Level up]
[[Bow handling (Novice)] Level up!]
[[Multi-Shot(Bows)(Novice)]Level up]
[[Bow handling(Novice)] Level up!]
[[Bow handling (Novice)] Level up!]
[[Multi-Shot(Bows)(Novice)]Level up]
Now this is Efficiency!
Or at least it would be but they got close to me now.
I put the bow onto my back and draw out the sword and the pocket knife to get ready for the approaching horde.
When the first goblin arrives and tries to hit me with his stick I chop through it and slice off his head! "FATALITY"
[Skill [Weapon Destruction (Minor)] Acquired]
[Skill [Sword Handling(Novice)]Acquired]
[Skill [Dismemberment (Minor)]Acquired]
Wow three skills for the price of one? Now that is some good return.
I slice at a goblin to my left with the knife killing it, then I swipe with the sword killing 3 more.
[Skill [Dual wielding (Novice)] Acquired]
[Ability[Sword slash (Novice)] Acquired]
Oh I think I get what abilities are now, they're almost like skills I guess, well at least in how I earn them, the difference is I get these by doing certain things like special attacks. So if I was to learn magic attacks they'd be an ability?
'Think passive vs Active skills.'
Why not just call them that then?
'...'
[System updating...]
[System updating...5%]
[System updating...76%]
[Update Complete. Please view patch notes for changes.]
Uh huh. I think it's easy to guess the changes.
Ouch! A goblin just hit me with the stick. Felt like someone threw a pencil at me.
[Skill [Blunt resistance (Minor)]Acquired]
I turn around and cut the goblins throat with the knife.
[Skill[Cutthroat (Novice)]Acquired]
This is fun, I like seeing skills get unlocked and leveling up... I wonder.
I stand still and let the goblins keep hitting me with their sticks.
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[Skill[Pain Resistance(Minor)] Acquired]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
Wow six levels and they only got my health down by 5 points?
Lets see how long I can go with this. I smirk as they keep hitting me, giving me precious levels. I can't help it, it doesn't even hurt now
[[Pain Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[[Blunt Resistance (Minor)]Level up]
[Skill[Blunt Resistance (Minor)] has reached max level. Evolving to [Blunt Resistance(Medium)]]
Ooh, my first skill level up. Now, even with all of them hitting me it does no damage. So I feel pretty happy about that right now, I am at 15 health now since they only managed to take my health down by a single point in all of that.
I'm going to let them just keep hitting me while I take a nap.
After 2 hours I wake up and my body hurts, I look down and see that some of the goblins sticks broke so a few of them are biting me!
"HEATHENS!" I scream out with that shout skill.
[[Shout(Minor)]Level Up]
I look at the goblins as they all grasp their ears in pain from my sudden outburst. I decide to look at my skills to see what happened while I slept.
Here's the log:
[Skill [Blunt Resistance(Medium)] Level Up]
[Skill [Blunt Resistance(Medium)] Level Up]
[Skill [Blunt Resistance(Medium)] Level Up]
[Skill[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Acquired]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Blunt Resistance(Medium)] Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)] Level Up]
[Skill [Disease Resistance (Minor)] Acquired]
[[Pain Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Piercing Resistance(Minor)]Level Up]
[[Blunt Resistance(Medium)] Level Up]
Jesus H. Christ now that is a wall of text if I've ever seen one. I also lost 3 health because of their damn bites. On the bright side I gained new resistance, but man, I even almost got a disease from one. Little bastards.
I stand up while they are still stunned and start slashing out with the knife and sword.
At the end of my few hour long spree I cut down almost 300 of them which actually gave me
Apprentice sword handling if that makes any god damn sense. Well my dagger handling is also at an apprentice level.
I'm trying to think of key parts... Uh lets see.
I covered the sword and dagger skills upgrading. Oh yeah I almost forgot! Upgraded dual wielding 2 more times. It is surprisingly hard to level up.
Uhh, Sword slash only increased one. Same with Dismemberment and weapon destruction.
My Blunt resistance didn't level up anymore whenever I had to take a break because the goblins just don't do enough damage.
And lastly, if you're wondering why I left the goblins alive? Well to practice dodging of course! Dodging 100 goblins attacks sounds pretty efficient to me for raising skills.
[Skill [Dodge (novice)] Acquired] Unlocked]
After a single dodge. Damn. Well I'm going to just keep going till I'm exhausted now.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Level increased by 7
Status points gained:77
Skill points gained:11
John Arthur
Title:
Level: 10
Strength: 30(+0) [Up 20]
Cunning: 11(+1) [Up 1]
Intelligence: 10(+0) [Up 4]
Dexterity: 30(+0) [Up 20]
Endurance: 30(+0) [Up 23]
Luck: 19(+0)[Up 9]
Equipment:
Head: None
Chest: T-shirt
Arms: None
Legs: Boxers, Jean pants, Boots
Misc: None
Weapon(s): Pocket knife, Bow, Sword
HP: 14/90
MP: 18/18
SP: 53/60
XP: 648/3214