"Hey, What Skills Do You Know?"

Yoahim smacked away the incoming arrow with his mace and asked Emily,

"Hey, what skills do you know how to use?"

"Pardon? S-skills?"

Right, these guys don't know what skills are. Emily was originally a resident of this game world, so she didn't call the techniques she used "skills."

"I mean your holy spells. Besides healing spells, what else can you do?"

"Just a few minor blessings..."

"Save just enough holy power for healing spells and cast every blessing you've got on me. Quick, unless you wanna get killed by those kobolds!"

"O-okay!"

Emily hurriedly cast her blessings on Yoahim. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠A blessing to boost strength, one to increase defense, another for agility. They were the most basic ones, and since her skill as a priestess was lackluster, the effects weren't all that impressive.

But better than nothing. Yoahim felt his body lighten noticeably. At her level of spellcasting, though, these blessings would probably wear off in a few minutes. He had to wipe out those filthy kobolds before then.

It wouldn't be hard.

"Just keep me healed from the back—don't let me die!"

"Yes, got it!"

Emily didn't know what "heal" meant, but she got the gist: keep casting healing spells.

Yoahim activated the Dark Knight's blessing skill and kicked off the ground hard. With the priestess's blessings stacked on top of the Dark Knight's, he moved much faster than usual.

"Kieeeek! Die, human!"

The kobolds charged at Yoahim. Ten of them—he'd have to handle them alone. But he wasn't too worried. A kobold was still ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just a kobold, no matter how tough. He'd killed them by the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundreds in the game... and now here.

"Die!"

Crack! His mace smashed into a kobold's head, sending a satisfying jolt through his arm. The kobold staggered back, body twisting—that alone told him the hit had landed solid.

Yoahim bashed the staggering kobold a couple more times. Same level as him, plus those blessings—it only took a few swings to finish it off.

Ignoring the alert ringing in his head, Yoahim swung his mace to bat away an arrow aimed at his head. Then, in one fluid motion, he brought it down, shattering a kobold's skull. Next, he kicked the gut of a nearby one, toppling it. He stomped its head with his booted foot, using the body as a springboard to leap high.

His targets: the annoying kobold archers.

Splat! The mace plummeting from above turned a kobold archer's head to mush.

Ignoring the blood and brains spraying everywhere, Yoahim swung at the next archer.

"Hah!"

With a kiai, he pulverized another kobold archer's head. Then he drove his fist into the face of one straight ahead. As it reeled back from the impact, he stomped its skull without hesitation and leaped toward the archer behind it.

This one was bigger than the rest—clearly a named monster. He had to kill it.

"Kieeeek! Kill human!"

The kobold archer loosed two arrows in an instant. Instead of blocking with his mace, Yoahim took them head-on. They stung like hell, crumpling his face. But in that moment, his mace accelerated.

Pushing through the pain, he swung. Crack! The mace smashed the kobold archer's head.

The creature shuddered violently. Yoahim swung again, shattering its jaw. Blood streamed down, broken teeth clattering to the ground. One more strike to the head.

"Whew, good workout."

With the named kobold archer down, mopping up the rest was easy. Yoahim swept through the remnants alone. Even with their leader dead, the kobolds didn't flee—they just kept coming at him. Saved him the hassle of chasing them down. Score.

He swung his mace relentlessly at the kobolds until the last one's skull cracked open.

Ding!

The clear, thrilling chime never got old, and his level rose. Yoahim let out a surprised "Huh?"

Leveled up? From just ten kobolds?

Leveling up was great, but this was weird. Sure, he'd been close to leveling, but ten kobolds shouldn't have done it.

Wait, come to think of it—their names and levels didn't show up.

No name or level meant first encounter. You had to hunt a monster type multiple times before they appeared. But Yoahim had seen kobolds plenty. For them not to show... something was off.

They gave way more experience than expected, too. Even for dungeon mobs, these were stronger than regular kobolds.

Yoahim eyed the kobold corpses warily.

First things first—stats.

He dumped the five points from level up: two into strength, two into vitality, one into intellect. In a game, it'd be a crap build—no DPS, no tanking. But for surviving reality, it was practical.

"Um, excuse me..."

Emily approached hesitantly. She gulped when their eyes met.

"A-are you okay? Should I cast a healing spell?"

"Nah. Rest up and recover your holy power. Before the next fight, stack every blessing on me again."

"Yes... but did I help at all?"

Honestly, her low level hadn't made much difference. But again, better than nothing.

"Yeah. Helped a ton. I've got stuff to do, so you rest."

Yoahim rummaged through the dead kobolds' bodies. Time to loot.

No direct item drops like in the game, but checking pockets sometimes yielded valuables.

"Let me help too."

He'd told her to rest, but she shuffled over, offering to assist. Made sense—three dead friends, sitting idle would feel wrong.

Yoahim shot her a sharp glare.

Look at her, making sure to get her share. Not as naive as she looks. Can't let my guard down.

Trapped in this game world, he'd been screwed over enough to distrust everyone. Emily might mean well, but he didn't buy it.

"Ahem. Alright, let's check what we found."

Yoahim laid out the items from the kobold corpses. Mostly junk, nothing valuable. He'd already pocketed a few coppers and silvers in his inventory.

"I found this. What is it?"

Emily held out a purple crystal. It looked pricey at a glance.

Yoahim's eyes widened. Damn, I should've grabbed that first!

He'd blown his chance to monopolize it. Clearing his throat, he said,

"Mind if I take a look? Just checking—no funny business."

"Of course!"

Emily beamed, handing over the purple crystal without a second thought.

Yoahim took it, steadying himself. Text only he could see floated up.

What the hell? Evil Purple Crystal? Boosts monster stats?

Yoahim had never seen this item before. Maybe it'd been in the lore but cut for file size. Now that the game was real, no limits—so it appeared as intended.

Turning the crystal over, he figured why the kobolds had been stronger and given more exp. Same looks, boosted stats—the system treated them as new monsters. That's why no names or levels.

Powerless now, but still a crystal. Mages'll pay for it. I'll hold onto it.

They'd searched every body—only one crystal. Probably enough to buff a whole pack.

"So?"

"Eh, just a crystal. I'll hang onto it, just in case."

Yoahim lied without blinking. Emily just smiled obliviously, like a puppy.

"Um, so... what do we do now? Martin, Sila, Lili—they're all dead..."

Emily's mood sank again, tears welling up. Yoahim sighed.

"What else? Push forward. Kill mobs, beat the boss, loot. Like I said—while you're alive, you survive."

Emily nodded through her tears. Yoahim was relieved the last survivor was an obedient priestess. If it'd been Sila or Lili? He'd have used them as bait, no question.

"But what's 'loot'?"

She didn't know game terms. Too lazy to explain properly, Yoahim waved it off.

"What we just did."

"Rifling through corpses? But the gods say not to covet the dead's belongings..."

"You did it too."

"That was to help you—not for greed."

Man, she's a pain. Yoahim stashed the crystal as he replied,

"The gods also said to bless the dead's path onward. Got it? Looting's like a ritual. Light pockets mean they leave without regrets, right?"

Pure bullshit, of course. Yoahim had made it up on the spot.

But Emily's eyes sparkled with awe.

"Oh! I was so ignorant! Looting has such meaning! Then, Yoahim—let's loot with vigor! For Martin, Sila, and Lili too!"

"Uh, yeah..."

She bought it? Yoahim felt a tiny pang of guilt watching her grin.