Whenever a kill is taken back to the settlement, it's divided amongst everyone and even the ones who killed it only get a limited first dibs. Even if I wanted to take certain parts of a beast, there's only so much I can claim. So what if I take what I want from the stag, and then report that I 'FOUND' it dead in the forest? Sure it's a lie, but they wouldn't have this stag anyway if it wasn't for me. It should be fine.
Pulling out my stone knife and scythe claw, I got to work. "Oh right! My points." Without a moment's hesitation, I immediately dumped all of my points into Dexterity. I was used to taking an animal apart by now and with my new Dexterity, my claws moved with surprising finesse, cutting open the legs and taking the sinews without a single mistake.
As I held the stag's leg, I could feel the tough stony plates at the bottom of it's feet. These very plates shattered rock as if it were glass, I absolutely have to take them with me. Using my hand to move up the leg, I found the ligament it was connected to. Carefully cutting all four of it's feet off and stashing them away. I'd like to take the antlers too, but there's no way I'm strong enough to do that.
As I removed the wooden stakes from it, I noticed a faint glow coming from inside the creature's body. "What...?" Cutting open the hole, I found a small yellowish-brown sphere the size of a golf ball.
"What is this?"
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Beast Core (Earth)
Beast cores are the inner essence of a monster or creature that sometimes appear. Possessing some of the monster's latent power and are sought after by monsters and humans alike.
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"I see! Seems I found something pretty valuable!" Truly the greater the risk, the greater the reward. If these cores are sought after by monsters, then there's really only one thing a monster could do with this with it's limited intelligence. Tilting my head back, I opened my jaws, putting the core in my mouth.
"Ak...guk..." Shortly after doing so however, I realized I should have washed this thing first. Honestly now, getting so excited over my prize I immediately started chewing on it?
Thankfully the core quickly dissolved, sending a rush of raw energy into my body.
***************
HP has increased by 2 points
Resistance has increased by 2 points
Earth Seed has been acquired
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Earth Seed? "Status."
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STATUS
Name: Marek Antos
Species: Kobold
Level: 18/20 Progress to level 19: 22%
HP: 18/25 Strength: 19
Agility: 20 Resistance: 21
Endurance: 18 Dexterity: 27
Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 9
Available points: 0
Element: Earth Seed (36%)
Skills: Provoke Lv. 3, Archery Lv. 5, Crafting Lv. 5, Trap Mastery Lv. 3
Abilities: God tongue, Hard scales Lv. 2
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The area "Element" which had previously been marked N/A was now replaced with Earth Seed. I don't know exactly what Earth Seed is, but judging by the percentage, I'd say I need to get it to 100%. If that happens, I think I'll get the earth element? I don't know how strong earth is, but being a weak little kobold, I can't exactly be picky.
Packing away the stag's parts, I returned to the settlement after killing a sickle badger on the way back. If I came back with nothing but only parts for myself, they might get upset.
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"He's still alive..." Arydia murmured thoughtfully. The goddess drummed her fingers on the armrest of her throne as she watched Marek return to the settlement. "I didn't think he'd last this long. Much less hunt down beasts far more powerful than him."
While Arydia was in a hurry to get rid of him, she had to admit the former human had gone beyond what she expected. "You know, it's almost a pity. If I didn't need him to die, he might make good entertainment."
*THUUUUUM!*
"Oh dear..." The goddess frowned at the noise as a large tremor suddenly rocked her domain. "He doesn't give up." She quickly stood up and clawed the air tearing through space to create a portal.
No sooner had she done this when a giant blade, shining like a star, erupted from the ceiling, cleaving her entire temple in half. A large muscular man wearing a full set of white armor and a furious expression glared at her through the gaping hole from above. The god's eyes shone with a white light, making it impossible to see his pupils. His hair and beard were dark black, but were immaculately detailed and tended to, as if perfection was the normal standard.
"ARYDIA!" The man boomed, descending from the sky, and landing in front of her. "Seems I've finally caught you!"
"What? Nonsense, Hakim..." Arydia erased the portal behind her. "You make it sound like I was avoiding you." The goddess snapped her fingers, and her temple, which had been torn asunder, was now in its former pristine condition. "You could have just knocked you know."
Hakim growled, jabbing a finger at the woman. "Don't play coy with me! Every time I've come to try and speak with you, you've been mysteriously busy somewhere else! You have forced me to take such drastic measures. I know you and Edor entered my mortal world. Edor I can ignore, he's trustworthy, but you? You changed something, I know it! There was a slight disturbance just before you left, and I want to know what it is."
"If you trust Edor so much, why don't you go ask HIM?"
"Hmph! I did. He began stuttering how he wasn't involved, and said he was busy with his work piled up. But mark my words, I WILL find out!" the god said pointing his shining blade at her.
Arydia smiled, gingerly grabbing the tip of his sword with two fingers and pointing it away from her before letting go. "Dear brother, I know you and I may not always get along due to our radically different authorities. And I know as the god of law and order, rules are important. But...I was wondering if MAYBE you could overlook this teeny tiny incident for your poor sister." She cupped her hands together, making an innocent look.
"Not a chance! Rules are absolute!" He sheathed his sword before turning his back on the goddess and began towards the exit.
Arydia's brow's scrunched, sticking her tongue out at him. Hakim turned around, but by then the goddess was still wearing an innocent look, staring pitifully at him. He snorted again and turned around, leaving her temple.
"UGGGGGGH!!!"
No sooner had he left when she yelled in frustration, her temple trembling under the cry of an angry goddess. "What is that jerk's deal!? Couldn't he just do a small favor for his cute little sister?!" Arydia groaned, massaging her forehead, trying to calm down.
"Br-r-reow?" Her cat meowed inquisitively, rubbing against her leg.
The goddess sighed, picking up the black cat and hugging him. "Thanks Midnight." she shook her head before creating a screen with Marek on it. "Okay, so Hakim knows something changed in his mortal world, but he doesn't know WHAT. He'll search his world for a long time but he won't find anything until he decides to check mine. This gives me plenty of time to deal with this little troublemaker."
Arydia frowned, tapping the screen with her nail and drawing a line under Marek's throat. "But I have to be subtle about it. If I just kill him willy nilly, Hakim might notice. And if he finds out about the kobold's death before enough time has passed for his origin to be wiped, he'll know what I did."
She smiled, noticing the many scouts on a different screen leaving the Ahnbry Kingdom and heading for the Everfree Forest.
"And I think I know where to start."
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Alright, so I've been thinking. The bow is a great weapon to try and stay safe with, when attacking at range. But if the enemy closes the gap, I'm basically helpless. Now that my Agility has reached 20, it might time for me to start using a melee weapon too. I should be fast enough to at least be able to respond to most enemies if they charge at me.
Getting the deer legs out, I began taking them apart. Cutting and removing the skin and flesh, leaving only the bones, before washing them. Right before the bone met the stony plates, there was a tough ligament holding it together. It took time, but I eventually cut the ligaments holding the stony plate for all four legs.
"It's like a square rock..." I held up the stony plate to my eyes, carefully examining it. It was a greyish-brown color and looked like a series of miniature bricks stacked together. Each of the stony plates roughly three inches long, and three inches wide. "Okay, I can work with this."
Gathering my leftover sinew strings from the boar, I tied the four plates together onto a front leg bone from the deer. Adding sky sap onto it for extra security, I made sure it was absolutely locked into place. Next, adding a layer of sky sap onto the deer's bone before finally letting it harden.
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Reinforced Kobold Club: Attack: 6
Durability 14/14 Quality: Good
-Strength Requirement: 10
+ Stuns the target for at least 1 second during a blow to the head if the target's
defense is not high enough.
Crafting has become level 6
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The end result was a rather odd-looking club composed of bone and specialized rock. The hardened sky sap on gave it a rather polished appearance, looking shiny and new. It looks like all those points into Dexterity are starting to paying off. I wonder how long it'll be before I make my first "Rare" grade weapon.
"Huuup!" I hoisted up the club, giving it a few test swings. Swinging it like a baseball bat, one could feel the heft and power behind each swing. "This is REALLY solid. It'll take a bit of time to get used to the weight distribution at the end, but this should be an amazing weapon for me!"