Chapter 9: Growing Stronger Again
[Life Simulation Begins]
[Through your efforts, you became the leader of a hunting team. Under the leader's orders, you headed to human territory to capture humans. You led the team northward and successfully reached the edge of the Goblin Forest.]
[Standing atop a mountain, you felt a sense of confusion about your future.]
[A large river blocked your path, but you built a raft and successfully crossed.]
[You encountered a Gale Rabbit. Please make a choice:]
[1: Hunt the Gale Rabbit.]
[2: Take a detour to avoid the Gale Rabbit.]
[3: Do nothing and scare the Gale Rabbit away.]
"Gobuka, have you ever seen a Gale Rabbit?"
The sudden question from the leader made Gobuka's eyes light up.
He immediately approached with a fawning expression.
"Boss, the Gale Rabbit is an advanced form of the Wind Rabbit. It's a Tier 2 magical beast, very large, with delicious meat. It's strong, but also dumb. It can get scared and run into a tree to its death."
An advanced form of the Wind Rabbit?
Li Meng's eyes brightened, and he began to ponder.
The Wind Rabbit possesses magical abilities, so the Gale Rabbit must have even more powerful magical skills.
Perhaps he could gain his first magical skill.
"Choose the third option!"
[The Gale Rabbit was frightened and ran into a tree, dying. You devoured the Gale Rabbit and obtained the magical skill *Wind Blade.*]
[You grew stronger, and your mindset subtly changed.]
[You entered a forest full of spider webs. Please make a choice:]
[1: Continue forward, ignoring everything.]
[2: Sense danger and choose to take a detour.]
[3: Believe that spider-like magical beasts might appear and decide to hunt unknown creatures.]
Which option to choose?
Sitting on the large rock, Li Meng appeared deep in thought.
The first option was the most foolish.
A forest full of spider webs clearly signaled danger.
If there was danger, ignoring it and moving forward was reckless.
Li Meng did not believe he would be so careless.
Between the second and third options, Li Meng leaned toward the second.
The second option was the safest.
The third seemed too risky.
Hunting an unknown magical beast without understanding its strength was also foolish.
"Choose the second option!"
[You chose to take a detour. A team of human adventurers ambushed you. You died.]
[Your right ear was cut off and became a trophy for the human adventurers.]
[Gobuda narrowly escaped. After the adventurers left, he returned and took your corpse.]
[You were eaten by Gobuda, who successfully evolved into a Hobgoblin.]
[Your skull was preserved and daily soaked in urine.]
[As a transmigrator, you were cautious, but it did not change the fact that you were weak. As a goblin, you were both hunter and prey. Your death held no significance to the world. It changed nothing but the fate of a single weak goblin. Your death had some value, but only barely.]
[Life Simulation Ends. Score: 30.]
[Please choose one of the following rewards:]
[1: Consume 5 points for +1 level.]
[2: Consume 5 points for +5 attributes.]
[3: Consume 10 points for +1 level of *Steel Bones.*]
"Choose the third option!"
Li Meng glanced speechlessly at Gobuda, who was gnawing on a piece of meat.
What kind of obsession did this guy have with his skull?
Why was he always fixated on it?
Was soaking skulls in urine some sort of goblin ritual?
[*Steel Bones* level +3.]
The familiar sensation surged through his body again.
Li Meng felt his bones shifting and cracking noisily.
Intense pain coursed through his body, causing him to take a sharp breath.
Under his skin, his muscles visibly writhed and swelled.
After a while, the changes in his body finally subsided.
Li Meng hurriedly opened the character panel to check.
[Name: Gobumeng]
[Race: Goblin]
[Level: 8]
[Strength: 112]
[Defense: 93]
[Agility: 31]
[Magic: 5]
[Charm: 0]
[Luck: 11]
[Skill: Devour – Devour the flesh of magical beasts for a chance to acquire their abilities.]
[*Steel Bones*: LV4 (Strength +80, Defense +80, Agility +20)]
His strength and defense attributes were high, but his other attributes were lacking.
Li Meng thought of Gobuba's stats.
As the goblin leader, Gobuba had high strength but more balanced attributes otherwise.
Of course, magic was not included.
"Boss, are you about to evolve?"
Gobuka looked at his leader with fear.
Earlier, the leader's body had twisted and writhed like a monster.
Although Gobuka didn't know what had happened, he knew his leader had grown stronger.
"Yes, perhaps soon."
Li Meng accepted his newfound strength with satisfaction.
But it wasn't enough—he needed to become much stronger.
Although he was strong now, he was also vulnerable.
Without the life simulation predicting the future, he would have died countless times already.
Standing up, Li Meng dusted off his animal hide clothing.
"Let's move out!"
The goblins, who had just climbed the mountain, began descending.
This time, the life simulation didn't provide much information.
It didn't specify which direction to take after descending the mountain.
The lack of details on what to do next didn't bother Li Meng.
No matter what he chose, it seemed the life simulation had already accounted for it.
Five hours later, a large river indeed blocked their path.
Standing on the riverbank, Li Meng felt uncertain.
Goblins could swim; earlier, Li Meng had wondered why they didn't just swim across.
Now he understood why rafts were necessary—the river was incredibly turbulent, with raging currents.
The river spanned more than six hundred meters.
Swimming halfway would likely exhaust anyone.
"Boss, let's go downstream to find a better crossing point."
The overwhelming force of nature filled Gobuka with fear.
Crossing here was certain death.
"Go gather wood and build a raft!"
If they went downstream to look for a crossing, wouldn't they miss the Gale Rabbit?
Li Meng didn't intend to deviate from his future.
"Boss, what's a raft?"
Gobuka looked at his leader with a puzzled expression.
Li Meng suddenly realized he had overestimated goblins.
But it made sense—goblins had no need for rafts.
Their swimming abilities and forest lifestyle rendered such technology unnecessary.
"Go collect…"
His words trailed off.
Li Meng gave up on having the goblins chop down trees.
Cutting trees wasn't easy.
With the weapons they had, felling trees was impossible.
"Go gather some deadwood. The bigger, the better."
Compared to chopping live trees, gathering deadwood was much easier.