"How did you do it, Matthew?" The old kobold is currently looking straight at Matthew with a confused look as he thought that the weird-looking young kobold in front of him could access his consciousness in a split second without meditating at all.
"Um…." Matthew on the other hand is trying to come up with an excuse to not expose the system that he has. He doesn't know whether he should really tell them about it or not, but he didn't think that telling them about something that didn't exist in this world at all is a good idea.
And after thinking for a while, the best excuse he could come up with is,
"It just suddenly popped up in my head! Ever since I was little, it was always easy to see my level and even I don't know why that is the case!" Matthew said as convincing as possible to avoid the old kobold asking further.
The old kobold could only look in confusion, but he didn't continue to question Matthew as how Matthew looked at his info tab is irrelevant to him.
Matthew just barely avoided the topic, but he is also curious about how the people in this world access their info tab, so he asked,
"What level are you Mutt? And how do you usually see your info tab?"
"I've been stuck at level 19 for the past 10 years and I don't think that I will advance anytime soon. As for how I see my info tab, it's the same as the others. I need to go into my consciousness by meditating to focus on myself and look within the consciousness to see it."
Hearing how the native people in this world looked into their info tab, he felt that the system is actually a really huge help to him as he didn't even understand how to go inside his own consciousness let alone access the info tab from there.
But Matthew was not only thanking God for giving him such a helpful system, he also noticed something that the old kobold had said to him that was really shocking for Matthew's ear to hear and for his mind to comprehend.
'He was stuck at the same level for the past 10 years!?'
Matthew thought that his progress was not that fast as in the games he played, level 10 until level 20 is where the players usually just got out of the starter town and started their adventure through the dangerous world.
Now that he heard that someone is stuck at level 19 for a decade, is something that he, who reached level 18 in a few weeks, couldn't imagine.
The reason why he was a bit cautious to fight against the humans was the fact that he should be fighting against adult humans that had been living in the world for at least 15 to 20 years old for the youngest soldiers while he could even meet a veteran that had lived for more than 30 years! He expected that his enemies would be at least level 20 or even 30.
But after he thought about it a little more, the creatures that he fought in the forest were also very weak. He didn't know how old the deers, bears, and crocodiles that he had fought were, but they are also in their adult form while their level is not far above or below level 10.
And the scary bear that the kobold village had been avoiding for a long time, was only at level 22 which is not that high if Matthew considered that the bear already existed for at least a decade.
Matthew realizes that he had the system's help that allowed him to change his body parts and even said body parts that weren't even part of his original chameleon body were even evolving along with the original chameleon body parts that he had.
But what he didn't realize was the fact that such ability gave him a huge advantage over the other creatures as he was able to add the most important and essentially the most beneficial body parts of other animals onto himself which makes him a combination of all the goods of the animals.
For example, he got the wandering spider's venom that is able to affect creatures way above their own levels added to his body. He also got the wolf's head, along with the wolf's ears and nose that enabled him to sense his enemies from quite a distance. He could even track down his enemies using his nose, but Matthew wasn't that proficient in it yet as he was relying more on his eyes, the scanner, and the heat sensor.
And don't forget about the wolf's mouth and teeth that were also boosted by the crocodile's jaw muscle and second jaw joints that enabled him to break bones quite easily. Other body parts such as the crocodile scutes that protected him from external injuries, and the monkey limbs that gave him the agility to move around trees freely as if he was defying gravity are also one of the best perks of the monkeys. And all that was also enhanced even more with his long chameleon tongue and the chromatophores that enabled him to change his skin color and blend in with the surroundings.
To sum it all up, Matthew was basically using a cheat to get the best thing that each creature could offer and add them to his original body that previously had a lot of limitations.
Despite forgetting this at the moment, Matthew still remembers that his achievements of power leveling are most likely due to the system even though he didn't know the details. But just to satisfy his curiosity, he wanted to know how long the old-looking kobold take to reach level 19,
"Mutt, if it is okay, can I know how old you are?" After a brief moment of silence after hearing Mutt's answer about his level, these were the first words that came out of Matthew's mouth.
"I thought you would be asking something about what my race had turned into after I evolved or something, but that is the first question that you asked after hearing my level?"
"Umm… I was just curious, but I also wanted to know what your current race is if you want to tell me about it."
"Aren't you a rude boy Matthew?"
"Umm no sir, I'm really sorry I didn't mean to.."
Matthew's apology was cut halfway as the old kobold was laughing out loud
"AHAHAHA, I was just joking Matthew, I don't know what they teach you where you were born, but aren't you too similar to humans?"
"What did you mean? Have you ever talked to the humans before?"
"No, I haven't." The old kobold shook his head.
"But my grandfather had told me a story where the humans used to trade stuff with the demihumans in the forest before and he said that the humans have strict customs about courtesy and politeness. And I only said that to you as I assume the humans are also like that."
The old kobold was only saying it nonchalantly, but one word caught Matthew's attention.
"Demihumans??" Matthew asked the old kobold as his eyebrows were lifted up from curiosity.
"Yes demihumans, if you go deeper into the forest, you could find their dwellings scattered all over the forest."
"What kind of demihumans are there?" Matthew asked the old kobold once again.
"I don't really know as I have seen only a few throughout my life, such as the goblins and the orcs, but my grandfather also said that even more existed in the forest. But as the forest was big and the demihumans settlements were quite a distance away from each other, we rarely made contact with each other."
The old kobold's face was filled with a certain emotion that Matthew could only guess as regrets as he said the last sentence, before continuing,
"Maybe we could ask for their help to fend off the human attackers if we keep contact with each other…"
Matthew and the three kobold children could only stay quiet as even Matthew didn't know what to say to comfort the old kobold other than saying,
"Don't worry Mutt, I will try my best to fend off the humans tomorrow if they decide to come again."
The old kobold nodded his head at Matthew before once again saying,
"Thank you, Matthew."
Matthew replied the old kobold with another nod, but right after that, he raised his right hand while saying,
"I have another question!"
"What is it? Just quickly spit it out as you need to rest."
"Umm...So...How old are you and what is your current race? You haven't told me about it yet."
"Ah yes, about it. I'm about 30 years old I guess, I don't remember quite clearly as the kobolds here didn't really think much about their age. As for what my race had turned into after my first evolution, didn't you find anything different from me and the other kobolds that you've met before?"
Matthew looked at the old kobold up and down from his head to his toe, but he really didn't see much difference other than the fact that his body looked older, with some loose skin that is usually seen on the elders and wrinkles can also be seen under the old kobold's fur that is somehow also looked duller in color compared to the other kobold.
"Umm, I don't see it…?"
"Look once again and observe carefully, it was very clear to see!"
Matthew scanned the old kobold's body once again, but he still didn't see anything different from his first observation. But as the old kobold insisted that there is something that was clearly different, Matthew then gave and just said,
"You're old and more wrinkly than the others?"
"..."
"...?"
"Come here you little…!"
The old kobold shouted as he lifted his staff again and was about to hit Matthew square on his head as Matthew finally remembered the long staff that was carved with weird symbols as he hurriedly shouted as he covered his head with his hands,
"The staff! You have the staff with symbols on them!"
After finally hearing the correct answer, the old kobold then put down his staff and let Matthew go from the staff beating. The old kobold then calmed himself before asking Matthew,
"Do you want to see why this staff makes me different from others?"
Matthew only nodded as he didn't want to get another staff aiming at his head if he answered wrongly.
The old kobold then proceeds to mutter some words as he holds the wooden staff with both of his hands.
The symbols carved on the wooden staff then began to glow a shade of red before suddenly, a fireball was floating right in front of the staff.
'HOLY BEARDED GOD! IS THAT… MAGIC!?'