Walking over to the crystal, I pulled it from the wall and examined it. It was small in size. Something this small would only go for about 100 Zen coin.
Sigh.
"Dungeons were a real grind."
Mumbling to myself, I walked over to the goblin corpse lying on the ground. The pamphlet they gave me before said that the weakest goblins' core in the dungeons go for about 150 Zen coin. So I needed to kill at least 6 of these lower-level goblins before I even began to break even after selling the crystal.
The beast core for a zombie lay beneath its rib. Right where its heart was supposed to be. That was why I aimed for its stomach instead of its chest. If the beast core was damaged, I'd be lucky if I could even sell it.
The light source which I had bought and placed on my chest was flickering on and off. The room would be brightly lit for a few seconds before descending into pitch black. It seemed it was damaged during the battle with the goblin.
Looking at the light source on my chest, I couldn't help but sigh.
Buying a light source meant to be placed in a vulnerable area like my chest area was dumb. No wonder it was cheap. It was common sense for people of this world, but for me, it didn't even cross my mind.
Sensei Barrett said that a dungeon is where a person is reborn or where they are laid to rest. He said it would test me in ways I wouldn't even dream of.
This was certainly a test since being in a dungeon without any light source was basically suicidal. The light source flickered on and off a few times before it went out completely.
I then knelt down in front of the goblin and began feeling around what was left of its remains until my hand brushed against something solid.
I pulled it out and felt something spherical in my palm since I didn't have any light source to see. I wiped the blood and innards from the sphere, and after that, it began shimmering faintly. A brilliant blue light.
This blue crystal held mana inside of it. Mana in its purest form.
Just as I examined the crystal, I sensed a slight movement from the corner of my eyes, and just as I turned around to see what it was, something pierced into my back. I swung at the darkness behind me, but whatever it was, was long gone.
Luckily, I had caught a glimpse of the moving silhouette, which allowed me to use my appraisal eyes on it.
+-----+
Appraisal
Name: Gobby
Race: Goblin
Strength: G
Agility: C
Vitality: G
Intelligence: F+
Skills
Special Skill: [Shadow Cloak] Proficiency: 3.7
Proficiency increases as long as user stay in the darkness.
Talent: D
Skill Description: Allows user to create a cloak that allows them to merge seamlessly in the darkness.
+-----+
Damn.
It was a goblin. One with its own skill, no less. That was another thing with this world. Monsters could have their own unique skills. How powerful their skills were depended on the type of monsters.
Reading through the description of the goblin's skill, I realized that something didn't make sense. If the goblin could perfectly cloak itself in darkness, then how was I able to detect it before?
The goblin's proficiency wasn't that high, considering that the way to increase his proficiency was relatively easy. All he had to do was stay in the darkness, and for this dungeon, that was relatively easy. But he was only a D-ranked talent, so there was a limit to how fast he could progress.
Seeing his proficiency was so low, there must be some drawbacks to him using his skill.
Maybe he could only stay hidden in the darkness when he was staying still?
That was most likely the drawback of his skill. I could most likely see the goblin only when it moved to attack, and knowing it would attack my centerline, I could counter.
With this plan in mind, I lowered my dagger and pointed it upwards.
The stab wound on my back burned like hell. It felt as if someone had doused me with gasoline and lit a fire underneath my skin, only ten times worse.
The amount of pain I felt after an injury was my weakness. Normally, in a situation like this, the human body would produce adrenaline, so you wouldn't even feel the pain until after the battle was over.
But in my case, not only did I feel it, but it was 10 times worse.
I made sure to crouch down on one knee while holding my wound. This would give the goblin easy access to strike at my neck. To him, I would look like an injured human nursing his wounds after being stabbed in the back.
This gave the goblin the confidence to attack once again. Just as I predicted, the F+ intelligence stat goblin went for my throat, not even noticing my dagger lying below for its arrival. I struck perfectly between the joint in its shoulder.
I learned from last time that a strike to the gut wouldn't be able to kill these cockroaches, and my dagger wasn't sharp enough to break through its thick skull. By striking in between its shoulder, I made sure the goblin could no longer wield its weapon.
The goblin let out a piercing scream from being stabbed and began thrashing around violently.
I used my strength to overpower him and knocked it down to the ground. I didn't have time to pick up a rock, so I used my fist instead. The first blow to the goblin's head felt as if I was trying to punch through concrete, but still, without missing a beat, I continued to pound away at its head.
The goblin screamed and thrashed, but it was far too physically weak to do anything. My fingers must've broken and healed over ten times already, but still, I paid it no mind and continued the monotonous action until my fist adapted.
The bones in my fingers became denser, making my knuckles as hard as steel, and soon, a single punch was all it took to crack the goblin's thick skull.
Finally…
"Gruu!"
The goblin's voice grew strained, as if all its strength had been zapped away with that single blow to the head.
The next blow caved in its head, killing it instantly. With the goblin dead, I slit open its stomach and took out its beast core.
Unlike the previous goblin's beast core, I didn't intend to sell this one. A beast core held everything about a creature, including its genetic information, which included special abilities and traits, like skills, for example.
This beast core was far too important for me to sell. Instead, I swallowed it.
[A/N: The pacing of the novel will pick up from here. By the end of this major arc that is to come, you will get a sense of what I plan to for the entire story. You'll understand the mc ALOT more. I hope you'll enjoy it :)]