The next day.
Rustle—
Rustle, rustle—
Leaves scraped against one another as a morning breeze swept through the jungle canopy.
Sitting astride a thick branch with his legs hanging on either side, Aaron leaned back against the trunk and opened his eyes. He took out his pocket watch and flipped it open.
"Eight oh-seven… no idea if time in this world works exactly the same as in my last one." He snapped the watch shut and looked out at the forest still shrouded in dim gloom.
Even though the sun was already up, the dense foliage blocked most of the light.
Still, compared to last night, visibility was much better.
He had been awake for a while now—truthfully, he had spent most of the night in a half-sleeping, half-awake state. Perhaps thanks to the stat boosts from leveling,
despite not sleeping much at all, he felt neither drowsy nor fatigued.
If visibility in the jungle were not so poor, he would have started moving long ago.
Swoosh!
Aaron let one shoulder drop, and his body slid off the branch.
Just before he hit the ground—
Thud!
He twisted in midair and landed steadily on both feet.
"Time to move."
Gripping the iron sword in his hand, he spoke quietly, eyes calm.
Once he fully entered troll territory,
the number of goblins he ran into began to rise. At the same time, large numbers of goblins were converted into his EXP.
One day.
Two days.
...
Four days.
Over the course of several days, he cut down well over a hundred goblins, along with a few beasts and ordinary monsters.
His Sword Saint level climbed again, reaching Lv9.
The number of goblins slain sounded high, but across the vastness of the Great Forest of Tob, it was nothing. A hundred goblins were only a tiny fraction of those living in troll territory.
And that total only included the goblins Aaron happened to encounter while moving through the woods. On average, he killed about twenty a day.
Which really was not that many.
On top of that,
he discovered that not all goblins belonged to organized tribes. Many simply lived and hunted in small groups of a few.
It was not that he lacked the will to hunt more.
The forest itself imposed too many limits. For one thing, the place was fully dark for roughly thirteen hours every day.
That was brutal for a human like Aaron. Goblins might be weak, but their racial Night Vision gave them a clear edge.
Night was a bad time to be the hunter.
The dense undergrowth also restricted his movement. The distance he could cover each day was limited, which further curtailed his hunting.
As the days went by,
his routine turned monotonous: either he was killing goblins, or he was on his way to kill goblins.
If luck was with him, he would run into an ogre.
Where there was an ogre, there was always a goblin tribe.
Without Aaron realizing it, as the death toll climbed, the outer forest began to take on a faint tang of blood and rot.
The stench of unburied goblin corpses decaying in the undergrowth.
Instead of drawing more beasts, the smell actually drove many away, pushing them deeper into the forest.
The animals had realized that a terrifying monster now prowled the outer woods.
New Calendar, Year -4.
Lower Wind Month, June 11th.
He had entered the Great Forest of Tob on the 2nd. Ten days had passed.
In a small goblin camp,
"Waa!!"
"Waa—"
"…"
Goblin screams and wails rang out in a tight chorus.
Expressionless, Aaron swept his iron sword again and again, the blade flashing through the air.
Whether because he had already killed so many goblins or because his Sword Saint level had risen, his swordsmanship was becoming noticeably more fluid.
He lashed out with a kick.
The heavy blow sent a goblin flying, smashing it into several others that had been trying to run.
Aaron pushed off the ground, closing the distance in a few strides. His blade flicked up and down.
Goblin heads flew through the air and thudded to the ground.
Moments later,
every goblin in the camp lay dead. As usual, Aaron went around cutting off their ears, tossing them into a sack and then into his Item Box.
Glug—
Glug—
He grabbed the waterskin at his waist and took several long gulps before exhaling.
Then,
ignoring the bodies at his feet and the stink of blood in the air, he pulled out a chunk of cooked boar meat and bit into it.
"This goblin camp doesn't even have an ogre? What a waste."
Cheeks bulging, he chewed as he thought silently.
The goblin corpses around him did nothing to affect his appetite; after this many days in the forest, he was getting used to it.
With that thought,
he simply squatted down where he was, set his iron sword at his side, held the waterskin in one hand and the boar meat in the other, and focused on eating and resting.
He had captured the boar a few days earlier and cooked it with Heating on the spot, then sliced it up and stored it in his Item Box so he could eat it whenever he wanted.
At this point,
from a distance he looked almost like a wild man.
His sturdy linen clothes were torn in many places, with leaves and twig marks from shrubs clinging to the fabric.
His once-short black hair had grown longer and now stuck out in a messy tangle.
This was actually his fifth outfit. The previous sets had been in even worse shape.
If not for his Odorless spell, his whole body would probably have reeked by now.
However,
where the ragged cloth exposed skin, you could clearly see that his physique had changed without him noticing. His body had taken on a solid, muscular look.
"Status board."
He spoke the words in his heart.
[Status Sheet]
Player: Aaron
Justice Value: 35 [Neutral]
HP: 113 (8%) MP: 13 (1%)
Physical Attack: 113 (8%)
Physical Defense: 13 (1%)
Agility: 113 (8%)
Magic Attack: 13 (1%)
Magic Defense: 13 (1%)
Overall Resistance: 0 (0%)
Special: 0 (0%)
Total: 28%
...
[Ability Sheet]
Innate Ability: [Player]
Overall Level: Lv11
EXP Bar: 1721/5000
Classes:
Basic Class: Genius Lv1 (Warrior, …)
Intermediate Class: Sword Saint Lv10
Skill Points: 19
Passive Skills: Item Box, Slashing Boost (10%)
Active Skills:
Warrior: Instant Reflection, Fourfold Slash of Light, Quick Slash, Stealth
Magic: Paper Creation (1st Tier), Heating (1st Tier), Light Wounds Healing (1st Tier), Magic Arrow (1st Tier), Odorless (1st Tier)
Class Skills: Pharmacology, Alchemy
______
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