Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Is this kind of thing a Legion?
As the gate formed and after a brief moment, what leapt out was, naturally, a goblin.
"A crazy rabbit and now a goblin next. Isn't this cheating?"
"Kieeeek!"
After grumbling for a moment, my eyes kept trained on the goblin.
All the goblin had was a worn dagger—same as mine.
Compared to that, I also had the small stones I'd picked up earlier.
The thing stared at me for a moment, then charged at me.
"Kieeeeeek!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
At least I won the volume contest.
I hurled the dagger at the goblin charging toward me.
At a naturally very close distance.
I threw a dagger loaded with an adult male's full power straight at it from close range.
Thwack!
"…Huh?"
The dagger lodged itself straight into the charging thing's eye.
I'd figured there would be some damage given how close it was, but it was stronger than expected.
Whether from shock or otherwise, the goblin was foaming at the mouth and shaking violently— and subsequently, I placed my foot on top of it.
Squelch.
The dagger sank straight in and pierced through its brain.
[You have successfully cleared Wave Stage 2. The Crystal Orb is enhanced.]
[20/20]
The Crystal Orb's durability had increased again.
"…Wait."
I quickly placed the Gatherer—who had been maddeningly gnawing at weeds next to me—on top of the goblin.
The rabbit's hide had been incredibly tough, so I'd set it aside for now and started with the goblin.
"That's it!"
[+0.1][+0.1]
I hurriedly placed the ant Gatherer on top of the goblin.
A sound that came once every second.
Meaning a whopping 6 points per minute were coming in.
As I was moved with joy, something appeared again.
[Tutorial (2)]
[Obtain a Coin.]
[Reward: 1 Coin]
"A coin?"
Wondering what it meant, I looked around—there was nothing on the fallen goblin's waist.
"…Don't tell me."
Swipe.
I used a branch—short, but still better than nothing—to lift up the loincloth, and there was a golden coin stuck between the thing's legs.
"Holy—holy sh—!"
I hurriedly pried it off using the branch and then picked it up using the weeds.
The coin then disappeared into thin air.
When I reached my hand toward the Crystal Orb, an item labeled [Coin 1] appeared.
"No matter how I look at it, this is for use in the shop."
I was rejoicing over getting a coin when the sky shook again.
[1:00:00]
1 hour.
Now a 1-hour rest period had been given.
And since the rest period was confirmed, I had to collect my rewards.
[You have survived Wave Stage 2.]
[Trialseeker HP: 100%]
[Crystal Orb Durability: 100%]
"Yes, do you have any idea how hard that was? Hand it over already!"
Along with those words, the reward appeared.
[Reward: Random Trait Draw Ticket]
"Ah, a draw."
Still, it's a trait, no less.
A Unique Trait is usually the powerful one, but even so, more traits are always better.
I made my intent to claim the reward immediately.
"…Oh, right."
I quickly placed my hand on the Crystal Orb and a window appeared.
[Name: Kim Hyeon-woo]
[Unique Trait: Mechanical Legion Commander]
[Trait: Throwing]
"…Throwing?"
I pressed the ‘!’ next to it and a description appeared.
[Trait: Throwing]
[Gain a boost when throwing something.]
"Ah…well. Better than nothing."
With a lukewarm expression, I stepped away from the Crystal Orb.
The first thing I had to do right now was none other than retrieving the dagger.
"I now have a grand total of 2 daggers."
It was a bit of a distance from the Crystal Orb, but there was a flowing river nonetheless.
While washing the sticky, brain-covered dagger, something nagged at me.
"Why am I okay with this? Isn't this like…murder or something?"
I had taken a life for the first time.
And yet I was fine.
Is it okay to be like this?
"But then again, I was always daydreaming. Honestly, I used to think about killing villains too…so maybe I've mentally trained myself for this?"
Whatever.
Isn't this actually a good thing?
This is total lucky bicky!
That said, I don't feel particularly bad or good about it.
I was just numb.
Anyway, after rinsing the dirty dagger enough, I returned to the Crystal Orb.
With that red sky, it was a brightness where you couldn't quite call it day or night.
Maybe because of that, I began to feel sleepy little by little, and hurriedly got up.
"Huh—"
I was certain I hadn't fallen asleep, yet a full 30 minutes had passed.
"Wait, so then—"
I placed my hand on the Crystal Orb and checked my points—there were a whopping 240 points.
"Lowest-Grade Summon. Right now."
What appeared again from the ground along with a gear.
[Lowest-Grade Gatherer]
"Again."
Kwaaaa—
What appeared from within the summoning circle that let out a needlessly grand sound that put people on edge.
[Lowest-Grade Combatant]
"It appeared!"
A Combatant finally appeared.
And of all things…of all things…
"Are you kidding me? A Chihuahua?"
To be precise, it wasn't exactly a Chihuahua, but it was still a very small dog.
"What the— …a Gatherer would've been better at least."
Still, goblins are reasonably efficient.
I'd decomposed 2 out of 3 of them and gotten 240 points from it.
Spending time with the somewhat cute Combatant like that, the 3rd wave finally began.
"Uooooo! Kieeeeeek!"
"Unbelievable."
What appeared this time was a whopping 3 goblins.
Absurd.
Wait, no.
Should I be grateful that no new types of monsters showed up?
During wave 2, the goblins had been testing the waters, but perhaps because they had the numerical advantage—the goblins were smirking and immediately charging in.
"A little far, but…die!"
Thwack!
'Weak.'
I'd aimed for the face, but the dagger lodged into the chest.
The goblin in the middle suddenly collapsed, and the others stared at it for a moment.
Since the 2 remaining were on either side of me, I decided to handle the left one first—easier for me as a lefty.
I switched the dagger from my right hand to my left.
The thing was looking at the fallen goblin and seemed to realize something—just as it tried to turn its head around, I launched a calf kick at its leg.
"Kieeeeeek!"
But the scream that came was not from this goblin—it was from the one beside it.
<Whirr. Whirr.>
The Lowest-Grade Combatant had dashed over, venting steam from its back, and was grinding through the goblin's leg.
Rather than biting with its mouth, its teeth were spinning and pulverizing the foot.
The goblin I had kicked seemed to have forgotten how to speak from the pain.
"!"
I hurled the dagger straight down like plunging it in from above toward the thing that was hastily raising its dagger.
Thwack!
The dagger lodged straight into its face.
Instant death.
Unlike the previous goblin, this one didn't even foam at the mouth—it simply dropped its head. I took the dagger from its hand and plunged it into the throat of the fallen goblin that was twitching as if trying to come to its senses.
Now I was empty-handed.
"Kieeeek! Kieeeeeek!"
The goblin was punching the Combatant clamped onto its foot.
Clang!
"Ow, damn…that's insanely hard."
The skull was incredibly tough.
But its brain must have rattled—the thing suddenly wore a dazed expression. I grabbed its body and went to spin it around…
"Oh…I've been watching too many cartoons."
I just knocked it down and shoved the Combatant's mouth into the goblin's throat.
Whirrrrrrrrrr—
<Whirr. Whirr.>
It ground through the nape of its neck in an instant, and all the goblins were dealt with just like that.
Soon after, the sound indicating the wave was complete came, along with an alert that my HP and the Crystal Orb's durability were at 100.
A 100% clear once again.
With a sense of pride, the Crystal Orb stats had increased not by 5 but by 10 this time—reaching 30.
Rather than just staring at it, I first left 1 goblin from the already-dealt-with wave 2 goblins in place and placed 1 Gatherer each on the remaining 2 new goblins.
[+0.1]
[+0.1]
[+0.1]
Points had increased by 1.5 times, no less.
In high spirits, I collected a coin from the goblin's waistband once more.
And the moment the coin disappeared into thin air, the system appeared.
The reward!
Watching in anticipation of what I'd receive for a 100% clear, the system finally told me.
[Reward: Trait Enhancement Ticket]
"Hmm. Let's use this right away."
In a situation where I don't even know whether I'll get a Lowest-Grade Combatant or something else, saving it doesn't make sense.
I've been maintaining 100% HP, but how long is that going to last?
And judging by the fact that it says 100% even when exhausted, this doesn't seem to be about stamina or anything like that—it's talking about pure HP.
I felt it during combat, but I shouldn't ignore the boost from this Throwing trait.
It feels like both the power behind it and the accuracy have gone up, as if I've become a baseball player.
That's why traits matter so much in hunter fiction.
"Oh right. The daggers."
Now increased to a whopping 5 daggers.
Just as I was about to move to wash the daggers, the system appeared again.
[Tutorial (3)]
[Use the Shop.]
[Reward: Physical Ability Enhancement (Lowest-Grade)]
"I'm going right now."
I set the daggers down in one place, then quickly ran over and opened the shop.
The coins I had were 4.
"Oh, the rabbit."
There was 1 coin left on the rabbit.
I rushed over and found 1 coin behind the rabbit's ear.
Watching it disappear into thin air, I came back and browsed through the items in the shop.
[Hard Bread ×3: 1 Coin]
[Soft Bread: 1 Coin]
"…Hard Bread."
Surely there wouldn't be an idiot who'd choose the Soft Bread, would there?
I chose the Hard Bread and it dropped out of thin air.
"Ah, I should've washed my hands."
I'd caught the bread with my blood-soaked hands.
Well, it's hard anyway—can't I just wash it in the river and eat it?
It's gross, but living comes first.
[Tutorial (3) Complete!]
Fwooooooosh!
Along with the quest completion message, a cluster of light appeared on my body once again.
Grip.
"…This is Lowest-Grade enhancement? Are you serious?"
It felt as though my body had returned to the one that had once received the grace of my muscle-fanatic senior after coming back from the military.
The beer belly was gone too, and my firm abs and pecs that I once had were restored.
To think the muscles that had melted away from alcohol would be restored?
If I had been taking care of my body, what would have hap—
"Let's not think about that."
What I had to do now.
"Damn goblins."
Wiping the goblin blood off the daggers.