After two more days of hard work, I managed to finish building the new shelter with the interlocking wooden blocks. Although it wasn't the most beautiful and the blocks weren't all the same size, it was habitable.
I decided to make double-layered walls for safety. To prevent leaks, I created a one-sided waterfall from the ceiling using stacked wooden boards. For a comfortable floor, I made a wooden floor and used rabbit fur to make mattresses stuffed with dry leaves.
The only problem was the lack of windows, but since the goal was protection, I decided to forgo that option. The door was similar to the one in the cave, a large, heavy trunk that fit perfectly and could only be removed and stored with the help of my inventory.
With the shelter problem solved, there was still another pending issue. It had been more than fifteen days since the incident with Rin, but there was no change in her belly.
I tried to research in the glossary, but as Rin's race was recent, there wasn't much data about her. In the end, the most likely answer was that she wasn't pregnant. Perhaps, due to her change from a common goblin to a variant, she lost the ability to reproduce with any other race.
As for the reason why Rin was so close to me, it wasn't because of pregnancy, but simply because she became more attached.
Suddenly, I began to feel a mixture of sadness and relief. It was a difficult feeling to explain.
While my mind wandered with dozens of thoughts, Rin's large green eyes appeared in front of me, staring at my face.
"Hmm," I murmured to myself. "Although this is still the face of a goblin, I can't say it's that ugly."
Come to think of it, they say love is blind... It could be...?
"Nah, it must be just familiarity," I concluded. "It's like pugs, they're so ugly and weird that they break the barrier of ugliness, and you wonder if they're really ugly or if it's a misunderstood beauty. I mean, I know owners find the dog cute, but maybe it's just because they're used to the pet or simply because they... love it?"
Oh God, I think I need to socialize with real people as soon as possible, otherwise, I run the risk of leaving this forest as the romantic partner of a goblin…
Determined to alleviate my frustration, I started gathering all my camping gear and prepared to relieve my tension by hunting goblins.
"Let's go," I said. "It's time to move on."
With Kurama and Usagi's exploration, we concluded that the northeast is where there are many goblins, so that's where we were heading.
***
Several days passed, and we hunted tirelessly as we followed the river's coastline upstream. The mobile camp was even better than I expected. If I ignore the fact that I needed a spacious and relatively flat area, the shelter was perfect. Thanks to that, we no longer had to worry about how far we went during exploration.
During our search, we exterminated so many goblin dens that I've lost count. It was as if every corner of the forest had a small cluster of goblins, and it didn't take long to find more.
After killing so many of them, I started feeling like a certain adventurer in full armor.
I noticed something interesting during this time: when goblins are born, their levels are as low as those of a rabbit, but they increase as they age. And well, that doesn't take long to happen.
Although goblins were our main targets, whenever a stronger enemy appeared, we eliminated it. Unfortunately, such enemies were not as numerous as goblins.
Among the countless number of monsters we killed, there were two wolf packs. And despite being numerous, they didn't give us as much trouble as the first one.
***
After my breakfast, I sat down and leaned my back against the trunk of a tree, placing my hand on my bulging belly.
"Fuu~~" I sighed in satisfaction.
I feel like I'm getting better and better at cooking. Could it be the Cooking skill showing its effects?
Approaching me, Rin seemed ready to lie down as well.
"Nope," I stopped her. "You still have things to do."
Pointing to the dirty dishes, I then pointed to the river. "Those dishes won't wash themselves."
"Gui Gui!" she complained, pointing at Kurama and Usagi.
"Even if you're unhappy about it, besides me, you're the only one with thumbs," I pointed to her hands and continued, "So if you want to keep eating delicious food, go wash the dishes."
Rin was getting spoiled and lazy, so I started delegating some tasks to her. Of course, this is also a punishment for all the distress I went through thinking she was pregnant.
Since she had never done anything like this before, she broke some dishes at first because of the slippery soap, but after a few tries, she got used to it.
It's been almost two months since we started our exploration with the mobile camp, but we haven't found any other source of XP better than the goblins. The good part is that even though we've killed thousands of them, it seems like they never run out. As a bonus, I've already accumulated a few hundred magic stones, but I don't see any use for them at the moment.
Despite everything, all of us have reached level 19, but the absurd amount of XP needed for the next level indicates another bottleneck. First level 9, now 19... is this a pattern for bottlenecks? If so, I'm likely to encounter another one at level 29.
During the time we've been hunting, the mastery of Body Reinforcement: Physical Strength reached 100%. However, contrary to my expectations, nothing happened. Nevertheless, I was satisfied because this skill was very useful.
When I challenged Rin to another strength contest, I managed to win this time. But I couldn't boast too much since she didn't have the body reinforcement skill and the difference wasn't that big. Moreover, thanks to Self-Evolution, she'll probably gain that skill soon.
Another good news was that my unique skill, Monster Tamer, reached level 4 and was about to reach level 5. Although this skill progressed very slowly, I was fine with it, as I didn't want any more tamed monsters for now.
Moving on to the downside, unfortunately, the magic book I received was right. Learning magic is a time-consuming process. Even with daily training, I still can't use magic.
"Guii Guii Guii!"
Saying that she had finished washing the dishes and wanted a reward, Rin jumped onto me with her arms still wet.
Despite the incomprehensible words, with each passing day, I can understand her, Kurama's, and Usagi's intentions more and more perfectly.
Placing her on my lap, I stroked her head. I've been doing this quite a lot in the past few weeks. She really likes it.
I treat it as a reward for her doing the tasks I assign and for becoming less reckless.
Interestingly, her hair was growing considerably fast; it had reached ear-length. Her hair wasn't the only one, my hair had also grown quite a bit and was a little past my ears. Since it covered my eyes, I always tied it back.
I may not be sure, but I believe the growth rate must be due to one of the fruits we were eating.
While I was petting her, she rubbed her face against my chest and closed her eyes. She really liked it when I let her sleep like this.
Despite our behavior seemingly indicating that we were quite close, I won't lie, I had become quite attached to her.
Looking back, I think it all started after she saved my life the first time we encountered the wolves.
But even though I was attached to her, it wasn't to the point of consciously going to bed with her again.
To be honest, I feel conflicted about her. Even though I thought a lot about it, I was undecided about how to treat her, and it ended up like this.
I guess I can consider her as a pet that I like a lot, right?
I mean, it's like my grandma's old cat, I used to pet him while he purred. Doing the same with Rin, even if she is a female humanoid creature doesn't mean I have feelings for her, right?
After rambling for a while, as there was nothing beneficial in dwelling on this, I shook Rin's shoulders, preventing her from sleeping.
"It's not time to sleep, let's start our hunt."
On yesterday's exploration, we found a massive goblin colony, too many to count. They live inside an underground cave, and although it's hard to say for sure, I believe their numbers were in the hundreds.
The trees around their den were all nibbled on with sharp teeth. Since there are so many of them, it seems that when they can't find prey, they satisfy their hunger with tree bark. According to the glossary, they can go up to a month without food and make do with very little, but when they have food they like, they eat until they can't fit anymore.
While we observed from a distance, we could see some different types of goblins. According to the glossary, they were hunter goblins, warriors, barbarians, and lords. This was the first time I saw goblins of different types, and even with such variety, none of them were called variant goblin.
Apparently, surpassing the level 9 bottleneck to level 10 doesn't guarantee an evolution. Among the goblins I saw, many of them were normal goblins with a level higher than 9. With that, I think I can be sure that Self-Evolution is very OP for guaranteeing an evolution.
Interestingly, some of the goblin variations we saw had levels lower than nine. Maybe they are rare cases or they are simply the offspring of evolved goblins.
One very obvious thing was that they were all larger than normal goblins, and their rounded heads had a more oval shape.
Among the variations, each has its specialty. Hunter goblins, for example, have considerably longer legs, their hands have longer and stronger claws, and they are the only ones who walk around without holding a club. They also have sharp hearing and specialize in speed to chase their prey. During combat, they usually aim for lethal points.
Warrior goblins, on the other hand, are similar to normal goblins, but larger and more robust. They have a balance between strength and speed. Interestingly, their heads are even more oval-shaped than those of other goblins, and they have a pointed chin. Despite their skinny arms and legs, they have evident muscles. This seems to be the most common variation, as most of the goblins I saw were of this type.
Barbarian goblins were obviously specialized in strength. Their arms were at least three to four times thicker than those of a normal goblin, and their bulky muscles were evident all over their bodies, even from a distance.
As for the lord goblins, they had a balance between strength and speed like the warrior goblins, but without the pointed chin and slightly taller. Unlike warrior goblins, they are more intelligent, and the goblins obey them.
This last type was the minority in the colony; when I tried to search, I only saw two of them. From the glossary, I know that there are more variations, such as king and queen, but I didn't find any around here.
Whether they are stronger or not, it doesn't matter. They will all turn into XP.
Placing my hand on the shelter wall, I stored it in my inventory.
"Let's go, it's time to hunt goblins and overcome this damn bottleneck!"