Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Little Rat Devoured the Gold
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The mission on the first floor of the Challenge Tower was to hunt five goblins.
It might sound ridiculous.
Grunt Goblins, low-grade monsters.
Their physical abilities were on par with an upper elementary schooler, and their intelligence was at kindergarten level.
Even a regular adult male who wasn't a Hunter could take one down barehanded. They were insignificant little pests.
If there was only one of them, that is.
The first floor field was a forest from another world, teeming with goblins.
A squad of them—ten in total—were your opponents.
The task was to take down five, but that didn't mean only five would show up.
Plus, unlike elementary school kids, goblins were ferocious, tenacious, and armed with daggers.
If you honestly tried to bash them one by one, you'd get stabbed in the side from behind and die a perfect death.
In fact, back in the early days of the Hunter era, quite a few Hunters had underestimated the towers due to the easy Tutorial Tower difficulty and screamed their way to death on the first floor of the Challenge Tower.
Of course, that didn't apply to modern Hunters.
As humanity grew accustomed to the towers and Hunter standards rose, casualties in the towers plummeted.
Hunter sites, internet streams, government guidelines—you name it.
Information on cleared floors was easy to find.
Of course, intel on the latest floors being tackled was hard to come by, but for long-cleared areas like the Challenge Tower, you could easily get field details, mission objectives, monster appearances, and drop item info.
Strategies, too.
For example, a post from a few years back on the Tower Climbing Gallery went like this.
This year's Challenge Tower floor 1 fatality rate: under 0.01%.
Rumor has it even that's from drunks who entered hammered and got themselves killed.
Know the strat, and anyone can climb it. An easy floor.
...Except for one person. Me.
There was no strategy online for clearing without attack skills.
Well, yeah.
I was the only Hunter saddled with trash skills that had zero attack power.
I tried over and over without giving up... but I nearly died from a side stab every time.
Without proper skills or weapons, no amount of respawns would've let me clear.
That's how I ended up spinning my wheels on Tutorial Tower floor 1 until I could save for tower-exclusive weapons.
But that was yesterday.
Things were different now.
Right after class-changing, I came straight from the Tutorial Tower to stand before the Challenge Tower.
With my new partner perched on my shoulder: Ramju Thunder.
"Ready, Thunder?"
"Chirp!"
Thunder nodded with a confident face.
I grinned and nodded back.
A thrilling, exciting buzz.
Couldn't blame me.
The one-of-a-kind class 'Trainer.'
The unique ability to have monster partners.
It felt like I'd become someone special.
Even if my partner was the weakest monster, a Mountain Squirrel... the system said naming it changed Thunder's fate.
Potential jumped from F to B+.
So maybe the stats got a boost too?
At least it wouldn't lose to goblin trash.
"Entering Challenge Tower floor 1."
Brimming with anticipation, I entered the Challenge Tower after a long time.
The scenery shifted instantly from city streets to a dense forest.
This forest was the Challenge Tower floor 1 field, home to the green goblins.
"Kreek, kreek."
A few steps into the woods, and two ugly green midgets greeted us.
Scouts.
One bolted the moment they spotted me; the other slunk around, keeping distance.
Same pattern as three years ago.
One to call reinforcements, one to watch me.
Let the runner go, and the other eight goblins come charging.
Before, I'd get bogged down killing the one in front and couldn't stop it... but today was different.
"Go, Thunder!"
"Chirrp!"
Pababat!
Thunder leaped off my shoulder and shot forward like lightning.
The scrambling goblin was fast, but no match for Thunder's speed.
Closing the gap in a flash, Thunder leaped with all its might at the last step.
"Chiiik!"
Thwack!
Thunder's swift Body Slam nailed the goblin right in the face.
The goblin's reaction to that brutal killer move—
"Kreeek...?"
It tilted its head and scratched the spot.
Like, "What just happened?"
What the hell? Why's it fine?
I blinked in disbelief, but Thunder didn't falter and leaped again.
"Chiiik!"
"Kreek!"
"Chiiik—!!"
Then it got clipped by the goblin's wild dagger swing and vanished like a hologram.
"Huh?"
What? A dream?
This weak?
Unbelievable, but no time to zone out.
"Kreek."
"Kreek kreek."
The goblin horde arrived, drawn by the noise.
No chance now.
"...Mission abandon."
For the 10-second return countdown, I ran for my life.
What was I expecting from this squirrel?
Gonna ditch the little rat right now.
But I couldn't ditch it even if I wanted to.
Flipping through the Monster Guidebook at home for a 'sever partnership' function, the system spouted that nonsense.
Forcing me to spend my life with a squirrel that couldn't even take one goblin.
What the hell was that ^^ supposed to mean?
Deliberately pissing me off?
Damn system.
Felt like my system glitched out during class change.
Bad news didn't end there.
1/1.
An ominous number I spotted in the Guidebook.
No need to overthink it.
Denominator 1: max partners I could recruit.
Numerator 1: my sole partner, Ramju Thunder.
In other words, no room for more partners besides Thunder.
Remembered that shady comment from yesterday, checked it out—useless.
The comment was gone.
Who the hell posted that?
Was this all that guy's doing?
Zero clues.
Time to search the gallery.
Figures.
Maybe post something myself?
Mostly mockery.
Makes sense. No such thing.
Guess I'm the world's only case.
'World's only' sounds cool... but reality sucked.
"Haa—"
"Chiiik—"
I flopped onto the floor with a deep sigh.
Thunder mimicked me, plopping down beside and sighing too.
A pathetic squirrel that got one-shot by a goblin.
It respawned next to me shortly after escaping the tower.
Partner monsters must resummon after some time post-death.
The squirrel's sigh translated to that.
Ridiculous.
One whisker away?
After getting slashed once?
Come to think of it, its personality was 'high self-esteem.'
This was beyond high self-esteem—pure bluffer.
"Chirp~♪ Chirrp~♪"
Thunder bounced around the room excitedly when it first arrived, full of wonder.
Today's bitter defeat already wiped from memory.
Its eager paws halted before the coffee peanut bag.
"Chirp?"
New food—sniffing, rolling it around.
Then chomp, straight into its mouth.
Crunch crunch.
Munch munch.
Gulp.
"Chiiik—!!"
Thunder's eyes sparkled with感動, squealing.
It went into a trance, shelling and devouring coffee peanuts.
Three thousand won bag of coffee peanuts, that much感動?
Beasts are so simple. Nice.
...But can squirrels eat coffee peanuts?
Raw nuts fine, but... processed food.
Probably bad for health.
Should stop it.
"Hey, stop eating that."
"Chirp? Chirrp."
The little rat shook its head no.
What kinda squirrel logic is that?
Snacks I bought with my money.
Beast logic—no common sense.
"Hand it over."
"Chirp!"
"This!"
"Chiiik~"
"Huff, huff..."
Damn fast.
Struggled awhile, but couldn't catch it.
"Chirrp~♪"
Exhausted, I collapsed. It taunted me, munching peanuts openly.
Infuriating...
But helpless...
Its highest stats were reflexes and magic power, right?
No idea why a melee-only guy needed high magic, but yeah, way faster than goblins.
"Speed..."
An idea sparked.
"Hey, Thunder. Let's try again tomorrow."
"Chirp!"
Thunder nodded confidently.
The same one sliced by a goblin today.
Never gets down. I like that.
Sunny weekend morning.
I headed to Tower Street at dawn.
"Entering Challenge Tower floor 1."
Unlike yesterday's bare hands, I gripped a laundry pole from home.
My weapon from three years ago.
Experiments showed the tower didn't count stuff like this as a weapon.
"Kreek, kreek."
Entered, same as yesterday: two goblins greeted us.
One kept distance, one fled.
Up to here, identical.
"Thunder! Go draw their aggro!"
"Chirrp!"
Thunder jumped off, chasing the runner—but keeping distance, unlike yesterday.
Yesterday was attack; today, disruption.
Not fighting head-on, but using speed to hold the goblin pack.
While I picked them off one by one.
"Kreek!?"
We split, and the watcher panicked.
I seized the gap.
Crack!
"Keeik!"
Precise strike to the goblin's wrist—dagger dropped.
It scrambled to pick it up, but my pole said no.
Thud! Thud!
"Where you going, punk! Where!"
"Kiiik...! Kik!"
No mercy—bash the head relentlessly.
It screamed, fleeing toward allies.
Limping badly.
Not much HP left.
Meanwhile, Thunder's chirps and the horde's angry howls.
'Finish quick while Thunder buys time.'
Grabbed the dropped dagger, pursued.
Caught the limper easy.
Stab.
"Kellk, kiiik...!"
Mid-body stab—goblin groaned, puked blood, faded away.
[Defeated Grunt Goblin!]
[Acquired Goblin Dagger!]
[Partner list is full! Cannot activate Taming!]
[User is first to defeat Grunt Goblin! First clear bonus: Acquired Low-Grade Magic Stone x3!]
The goblin vanished.
"...Did it."
Third year as Hunter.
Finally took down one goblin.
What I couldn't solo to save my life, done easy with one partner.
Moment for emotion, but not over.
Mission: five goblins.
Four left.
Lure and hunt carefully one by one.
'Just like that, doable.'
Heading cautiously toward Thunder and the pack, I realized the plan failed.
"Kreek! Kreek kreek!"
Goblins clustered around a tree, raging up at it.
Some climbing.
"Chiiik..."
Thunder atop, alive but limp, panting.
Exhausted.
'Stamina issue...'
Thunder was faster, but not a robot—would tire eventually.
Hard to be nimble when spent.
Inevitably caught.
Quick decision.
"...Mission abandon."
No point hurting Thunder if failing anyway.
"Chiiik..."
Back home, Thunder said the same as yesterday.
"One whisker my ass..."
But progress made.
First goblin kill, three magic stone shards, dagger too.
Dagger only +3 attack, short reach—not super useful.
But holding it made the kill feel real.
Hope after three hopeless years.
If Thunder had more stamina, maybe cleared floor 1, got EXP, leveled up.
"Can't Training just be cardio or something?"
Rolling the bonus shards, pondered Training skill use.
'Strengthens partners.' That's all the description.
How?
If push-ups, sit-ups, squats made it jacked like comics, perfect.
Plop.
"Oops."
Slipped—shard fell.
Damn.
Precious 50k won each.
Trash to others, gold to a floor 1 scrub like me.
The rolling 'gold'—er, shard—landed before Thunder.
"Chirp?"
"Grab that for me."
Thunder picked it up at my request.
"Chirp..."
Stared... then popped it in its mouth.
Crunch crunch.
Munch munch.
Gulp.
"...?"
This little rat devoured the gold.