Dalmai cautiously appeared on the other side of the cave weary of enemies that would be hiding in plain sight. Sofia had advised him to come through this way if he was to gain new mimic forms for him to utilize.
This part seemed to be a cavern in the cave and Dalmai could feel a breeze blowing through the pathway.
Dalmai had a feeling that following that breeze would lead him toward the exit of the cave, but he knew there was still much for him to do down here.
So he continued on deeper into the cave to find out as much about mimics as he could. The cavern was lit by rocks and mushrooms that glowed in the darkness, Before long Dalmai came across what appeared as an abandoned campfire. Scattered around were worn plates, spoons, and cups.
'Mmmh seems to have been abandoned ages ago…' Dalmai wondered curiously.
「New object forms acquired!」
'I was wondering when you would register that Sofia.' Dalmai stated sarcastically. 'Any decent plate I could use.'
Dalmai chortled at his own mental jests. Speaking with Sofia was odd, while he could tell that his voice was only in his mind, Sofia's voice seemed to resound as though it was coming from several outside sources.
「Warning, new lifeforms detected!」
'What do you mean lifeforms? More mimics?' Dalmai queried, seemingly annoyed by Sofia's sudden outcry.
「Unknown! Unknown! Unknown!」
'So not mimics!'
Heeding Sofia's caution, Dalmai immediately shifted forms and took on a newer shape to blend in with his current surroundings.
With a shiny new appearance, Dalmai revealed a new False Appearance form by changing into a metal plate, like a few of the ones that littered the old campsite.
A pair of two humanlike silhouettes appeared and slowly approached the camp, Dalmai remained still not wanting to alert the figures. As the figures came closer, Dalmai noted that their shape was smaller, they had green skin, large yellow eyes, and oddly large noses.
'Goblins?' Dalmai identified the creatures. 'They are not as large as I expected.'
「Identifying Targets」
「Targets identified!」
[Enemy Status Acquired]
[Name: Tudkal, Yudkn
[Species: Goblin Scouts
[Titles: None
[Magic: None
[Skills: Scout, Bash,
[Passive Skill: Padded Feet, Spotter]
Dalmai noticed that the status panel of these two goblins was fused together, it appeared that these goblins shared the same skill sets as they moved along together.
'These are interesting…' Dalmai stated.
「Threat Level: Low」
'Low? That's ridiculous, Goblins should be a lot more dangerous Sofia!' Dalmai tried to reason with Sofia. 'Especially to a mimic like me right?'
Sofia remained silent.
By the looks of the acquired status, Dalmai figured that these goblins were weaker than other goblins.
These goblins stood barely half the size of a regular human and by the looks of it, Dalmai was almost half the goblin's size and nearly as large as their heads in his plate form.
'It wouldn't be hard to kill one of them if they were alone, but the two of them together would pose a higher threat.'
Even though Sofia had informed Dalmai that the goblins were a low-level threat, it would be foolish to act without making a thorough plan.
In his former life Dalmai had practically lucked his way to success in most of his endeavors, he also had friends and family to watch and guide him as he grew.
Unfortunately, neither of those boons existed in this world, Sofia may be his guide now, but it was up to him to bring Sofia's guidance to reality.
With a quick posture shift, Dalmai flicked a rock toward the goblins with the side of his plate-like body.
The goblins noticed the rock and quickly turned their attention to the campsite.
'I got their attention!' Dalmai noticed. 'They should begin to look-'
「Warning! Use of skill on User imminent!」
Sofia woke from her silence and cautioned Dalmai on what was about to happen.
'False Appearance should have me covered, shouldn't it?' Dalmai queried cluelessly.
「Negative!」
'What?! Are you kidding me?'
One of the goblins moved ahead of the other chattering in a gibberish-like language.
「Translating…」
'Translating? Wait, you can understand them?' Dalmai sounded surprised.
"Stand back Yudkn! I will use my skill to check out the area before we investigate!" The goblin called out to its comrade and then proceeded to trigger a skill.
The goblin's yellow eyes flickered a light blue, and then the goblin known as Tudkal scouted the abandoned campsite where Dalmai had concealed himself as a metal plate.
"Aha! I knew it! There's a creature hidden there!" Tudkal exclaimed almost gleefully.
"A creature? I can't see it?" The other goblin Yudkn jumped back in fear.
"It's probably cowering in fear! Let's get it!" Tudkal raised his miniature spear and rushed toward the campsite with Yudkn trailing behind him.
Dalmai watched as the goblins scoured the campsite rummaging through the piles of abandoned wares. As the goblins were preoccupied, Dalmai imagined how he would take them both down.
When Yudkn noticed the shiny plate, he carefully approached it and then picked it up from the ground.
"Look Tudkal! Look!"
"What?!" Tudkal turned angrily to look at what Yudkn was going on about.
To his horror!
Large jaws seemed to jut out from the plate as Dalmai revealed his true monster self and clamped his jaws around Yudkn's head.
"No!! Yudkn!" Tudkal screeched at the sight of his comrade being devoured by a monster.
'That was easier than I thought.' Dalmai thought as he gulped down Yudkn.
"Gah! Another mimic! Isn't that master of theirs keeping a leash on these little pests?" Tudkal complained then brandished his weapon. "Well, if he won't discipline his children, then I Tudkal will!"
The goblin waved his spear before charging at Dalmai, however, Dalmai was more concerned with getting rid of the screens of his experience gain and title achievement covered his view.
[Exp Gained: 1600Xp]
[Consumtion Exp Gained: 800Xp]
[2480xP/2000xP]
[Level Up!]
[Requirement Achieved: Consume a Goblin. Reward: Gobbet Dinner.]
"Sofia..ah!" Dalmai exclaimed as he squirmed out of Tudkal's reach.
Tudkal relentlessly assaulted Dalmai with a flurry of stabbing motions as Dalmai struggled to clear the clutter of windows glued to his sight. However, Dalmai did not notice as he was slowly moving himself to a corner.
"Aha! Got it!"
"Aha! Got you!"
Dalmai exclaimed in tandem with Tudkal, when Dalmai realized what had been said it was too late.
"Gaaah!"
「Sustained heavy damage!」
[-50HP]
[70/120HP]
"Hey!" Dalmai boomed. "That hurt!"
Tudkal froze in his tracks, stunned when being addressed by the monster that had swallowed his comrade, Tudkal could not evade when spears suddenly jutted out from Dalmai's body.
The spears stabbed Tudkal across his abdomen killing him instantly.
「Ability acquired: Partial Imitator」
[Partial Imitator, allows the User to morph parts of their bodies into different objects simultaneously.]
"Oh, that will be useful." Dalmai noted with his limbs poking into Tudkal. "Hey! Stop bringing up notifications when I am fighting! It's distracting! "
Sofia remained silent.
"Did you hear me Sofia?!" Dalmai inquired sternly.
「Affirmitive. Adjusting…」
"Good."
Dalmai sighed in relief as Sofia adjusted the settings and made sure to bring Dalmai notifications only when he was not in any imminent danger. Dalmai proceeded to consume Tudkal's lifeless body gaining a new skill and a ton of experience points in the process.
[Exp Gained: 1600Xp.]
[Consumtion Exp Gained: 800Xp.]
[New Skill Acquired: Scout.]
[New Passive Skill Acquired: Creeper.]
'Nice, new skills.'
Dalmai noted as he scrolled through the skill menu and looked at the skill description.
[Scout: Allows the user to be aware of an area of 20 feet around them, as well as scan an area of at least 100 feet ahead of the user.]
[Creeper: Gives the user a 15 percent stealth bonus when moving in any area.]
"These will definitely come in handy."
The goblins may have stumbled upon him by accident, but he had no right to dominate them like he did, They were bigger and had weapons to use, he should not have won as easily as he had.
'I didn't level up this time.' Dalmai wondered. 'However, judging from the number of level-ups I have seen...'
「Suggestion. Update user on current status?」
'No, not yet.' Dalmai responded. 'Keep distributing the stats like I told you to until I am level 10 okay.'
「Affirmitive.」
Dalmai continued on the trail that the goblins had been coming from in hopes of encountering more easy enemies to get him to level up. There had to be more to these level-ups than gaining stats and titles, there had to be a way to be a way to evolve.
The rocks on the walls lit his path as he made his way deeper. Using his Scout skill Dalmai was able to see different foottracks left by the denizens of the cave including the two goblins he had slain.
As Dalmai scoured ahead he noticed a new trail of tracks in his vicinity, These tracks glowed a red hue which in most circumstances meant:
「Danger!」