DAY 2
What would be the hardest radio exercise program of all time?
THE CAVE
I OPENED MY EYES and saw the ceiling of the cave. An unfamiliar ceiling! But why would I get worked up over a ceiling?
Nothing had disturbed my sleep that night. The combination of the monster-repellent tent, lantern, and the Shut-In ability probably kept me safe. Would this cave remain safe if I left? I still needed a front door and a mailbox for this place to feel like a real home.
My campfire had burnt out overnight, so I lit it again with my Fire Magic. To even get a spark, I had to cradle the embers in my hands. No fireballs for me. How did anyone manage to shoot fireballs without burning their hands, anyway?
From that seemingly bottomless bag, I pulled out a knife, a cutting board, a pan, some preserved meat, mushrooms, salt, a plate, and a cup. Generic Villager A was definitely the most impressive guy in the village.
I put the pan over the flame and raised the temperature until it started to smoke. I sliced the meat, chopped the mushrooms, fried them until they browned, and then added a little water and stewed them for a bit. I gently shook the pan so the bottom wouldn’t burn and let the water boil away. Then I took it off the flame and added some salt. Smells great! For the time being, the only food I had in my bag was the meat and mushrooms.
Salt was the only seasoning at hand, too. I’d be all out of food soon enough. I needed a way to get more meat and fish. Maybe I could forage more in the forest, although yesterday the only things I found to eat were mushrooms. Maybe Takenoko chocolate snacks grew like mushrooms in the woods. Man, my classmates would start a war over those.
While I was cooking, I contemplated my options. First, I needed a permanent place to live, a way to get food, and a way to protect my dwelling from monsters.
This cave would work fine as a home. Sure, my tent would make it easy to stay on the move, but it felt safer to have a cave to retreat to. A cave was the perfect place for a shut-in, too. I could always move on once the food in the area ran out. Food and safety had to be my top priorities. Typically in a game, you would just start adventuring, but I was a shut-in and a loner, right? I probably couldn’t travel too much even if I wanted to.
I returned to the forest to collect more mushrooms. I relied on Appraisal and Enemy Tracking as I explored. Yesterday, I’d followed the river upstream, so today I continued in the same direction.
I found tons of mushrooms and herbs, but I also saw tracks left by some sort of animal. I kept my distance. I gathered some kindling, lumber, and even ivy. Games usually began in a castle or small village, but this was the tale of my lonely forest survival adventure! Why even summon me into a fantasy world, anyway? I was basically dropped into Robinson Crusoe.
At around noon, I headed back to the cave. I couldn’t have used a phone or watch here even if I had them. I shouldn’t have to explain why those things were useless in this world, so don’t even think of asking!
Soon enough, I was out of the woods. The cave was straight ahead, but for some reason I felt rooted to the spot. I could sense that something was off. A monster? One of my classmates? Whatever it was, I could tell it wasn’t friendly. Go on, scram!
I hid behind a tree and scanned my surroundings with the Appraisal ability. I held my breath and strained to hear even the smallest sounds. While searching, I did my best to remain hidden. There it was! I used Appraisal.
Goblin A
RACE: Goblin
LV: 08
HP: 36
MP: 4
VIT: 27
POW: 22
SPE: 13
DEX: 8
RES: 2
INT: 1
LUK: 16
COMBAT: Hammer Mastery Lv2, Great Strike Lv1, Body Slam Lv1
SKILLS: Super Horny Lv1
EQUIPMENT: Club
It was a humanoid creature, neither human nor animal, with an ugly face and a short, stout body. A goblin, the smallest of the small fry. If I couldn’t take it down, that would be it—the premature end of my tale.
I’d been led to believe from playing video games that even kids could take down a goblin. But those stats were actually pretty high—and worse, there were two of them.
The weak had to defeat goblins and level up to get stronger. That was the basis of any game. Goblins and slime monsters were usually the weakest. So why were their stats so much better than mine? Was I really that weak?
I’ll have to beat them sooner or later.
If I moved quickly, I could launch a surprise attack. On the other hand, if they caught me by surprise, I’d be totally screwed. Surprise attacks gave a huge advantage to the attacker. I could try to separate them and defeat them one by one, or wait until they wandered into advantageous terrain. I just needed to time my attack carefully…though surprise and tactics would be useless if I couldn’t finish them off quickly.
The biggest problem was their HP and vitality, followed by their power. All my stats were 10, so they had nearly four times my health and three times my vitality. I’d have to hit them a bunch of times to take them out, but they could probably kill me in one blow. I estimated that I’d have to hit them ten times each without getting hit once. A sneak attack wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Since we had about the same speed and dexterity, I couldn’t overwhelm them with quick hits. I’d have to win based on my intelligence and luck. My intelligence was ten times higher than theirs, and my luck was essentially infinite. Hopefully, intelligence meant the same thing in this world as in Japan. It was worthless to me if it was just a spellcasting stat.
My only weapon was a stick, and I didn’t even know how powerful it was. It had a question mark in its description, so maybe I’d be able to knock them out in less than ten hits. I had to assume that the heavy clubs they carried would do a ton of damage, but maybe their weight would slow them down, which I could use to my advantage.
And if I aimed for the backs of their heads or something, maybe I would deal a lot more damage than just randomly attacking. It could be a double damage bonus, or maybe even ×5 damage. Don’t underestimate surprise attacks and other dirty tricks!
I didn’t yet understand how much the stats would influence a real fight, and I needed to get some practical experience. But before I did that, I had to make sure I had an escape route.
Our speed was the same, but since I was much taller, I had longer legs. Longer legs meant faster running speed, right? This would be an especially useful experiment. If I ambushed them and things went badly, I could hopefully still escape. I kept my distance behind them, staying as quiet as I could, and decided to go after Goblin A first. If I could defeat Goblin A with a sneak attack before Goblin B got to me, then I could make it a one-on-one match.
I closed the distance. Goblin B had wandered a decent way off on its own. When should I strike? This is terrifying… Okay, now!
I took a deep breath, leapt forward, and struck it in the back of the head. It staggered and I struck again as it bent forward. My next swing knocked it off its feet. Once it was on the ground, I swung my stick as fast as I could before the other goblin returned. By the time Goblin B drew near, Goblin A had stopped moving altogether. Even if it’s still alive, it’s out of the fight.
The remaining goblin charged toward me swinging its club. Its body was low to the ground, so dodging the attack was harder than expected. I shifted out of the way and attacked with my stick.
The goblin’s attacks were simple and predictable. It just swung with all its might every time.
I watched its attacks and quickly figured out how to read and respond—I waited for the swing, and then dodged and struck simultaneously. A counterattack! Every time the goblin attacked me, it took damage. It wouldn’t last much longer.
Even though I was weak, my attacks were ferocious. I screamed and swung with all my force every time I dodged the goblin’s club. After some time, I smashed its neck and prepared to dodge, but the goblin crumpled into a heap before it could swing the club down one more time.
Deep breaths—I stepped away and took a moment to catch my breath. Only one of the attacks had grazed me, but it didn’t do any real damage. It wasn’t a flawless victory, but not bad for my first fight to the death.