Готовый перевод Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Вторaя глава

I deliberately postponed checking my status. It's like birthday presents: waiting is sometimes much more pleasant than the gift itself. Instead of sorting out the gifts, I received from the System, I began to skin. In the role of maniac and lover of guro - poor me, as a test subject of my butchery skills was already a dead bear without heels.

After an hour, I admitted that I was a worse taxidermist than the creator of the stoned fox. I must have ruined everything - the skin, the meat, my own clothes, which, though still stripped, were covered in blood. The sight of what must have been a bear loin brought tears to my eyes. And it wasn't because of the stench that rose from the gutted belly and the filth that crawled from it. If the skill of tannery existed in the System, it was not given to me, apparently because they considered my actions a mockery of the craft.

Deciding not to mess around I knocked out the bear's teeth with a pebble tore out (almost overstrain in the process) the claws, and thought about taking out the heart that was shining in alchemical perception, but after looking at myself and the goblin knife clutched in my hands, I gave up and went for a swim second time.

Surprisingly, no underwater creeper came at the smell of blood this time and I calmly washed the blood off, washed my clothes, which were dead to the ground, and walked forward. Not far, a hundred yards, just to get away from the dismembered carcass and the nasty smell. When the breeze stopped bringing the smelly ambiance of the slaughterhouse to me, I decided to unpack my present.

As I expected, my basic shadow control ability has really grown, becoming really useful. It was cool before - poor fish, goblins, and faggots would confirm my words from the other side - but now it's become really awesome.

Shadow Control: 3/5

Allows you to masterfully control shadows in your field of vision, giving them a tangible physical manifestation; shadows can freely take on a solid form and are limitedly suitable for creating barriers and barriers; control range and speed increased.

Now I have a full-fledged weapon to fight those opponents I can't stab up close. If it weren't for my energy reserve showing the bottom, I wouldn't have been able to resist trying to do something like that right now. Alas, my strength was only enough for physical actions. If I tried one more session of special street magic, I'd faint down right here.

I feel like I was grossly deceived about the purpose of my classes. So far I haven't seen any use for the Dreamlord class. Unless you count the lack of nightmares and the ability to get two hours of sleep as superpowers, it's useless. On the other hand, my shadow class, so far, has been nothing but a pleasure to me and a pain to my enemies.

The shadows allow me to hide from the enemy, which has already saved my skin at least once, the shadows serve as a universal tool without which I would die of hunger, and the shadows help me kill and gain levels. Virtually all of my achievements were due to them. Now a question for the experts: What's the use of the dreamwalker class? It would be better to really give some healer or a normal combat mage. So, once again I ask, why the fuck do I need a sleepwalker?

Alchemy, of course, is very useful, because only with its support I did not die from the typical dangers of a novice survivalist: gnat, poisoning, and pneumonia. But even the basic one point in the basic ability is enough for my continued existence in the world of the living. More would be more useful, I suppose, but I'm fine as it is!

However, these are the lyrics.

I still have a mythical class, even if it's useless. I'm not sure whether it's useful or not, depending on whether or not I can survive in the forest. I'm not talking about getting out of the forest, because I'm not sure if I should leave it at all. I know very little of this world, though-a book of accounts of fallen Heroes is not a detailed encyclopedia. But I do know that we, Heroes, are not very loved here. Or rather, they do, but not as much as I would like.

And if I have a chance of fighting off a tribe of goblins or, say, a pack of wolves right now, then fighting the state machine, being at, - look at the status, - the sixth level... Well, there are nicer ways to commit suicide.

In order not to fall into the abyss of self-pity, I always prefer to do something useful for me and unpleasant for others. Alas, but forums, with their delightful zoo of psychotypes, were nowhere to be seen, and the goblins of my trolling will not understand. So I had to get down to business.

“Status.”

Name: Constantine

Race: Human

Level: 6

Titles: Hero; Inaudible Assassin

Characteristic Points: 25

Class Points: 3

Characteristics (standard):

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 23

Endurance: 12

Perception: 21

Concentration: 11

Energy: 24

Characteristics (class):

Shadow: 6

Dream: 1

Inspiration: 2

Class: Lord of Shadows

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: Shadow, Agility, Perception.

Abilities:

Shadow Control: 3/5

Allows you to masterfully control shadows in your field of vision, giving them a tangible physical manifestation; shadows can freely take on a solid form and are limitedly suitable for creating barriers and barriers; control range and speed increased.

Sense of Shadows: 0/5

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Shadowborn: Stealth skills grow five times faster; in case of danger, the shadows will cover you as their brethren.

Dexterous: Dexterity grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Class: Master of Dreams and Reflections

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: Dream, Concentration, Perception

Abilities:

Create Dream: 1/5

Allows you to control the dream you are in, and allows you to influence the passage of time in it within limits.

Send Dream: 0/5

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Dreamer: Social and magical skills associated with class grow five times faster; no one has control over your dreams except yourself.

Undeterred: Concentration grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Class: Mystical Alchemist

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: Inspiration, Perception, Energy

Abilities:

Creating a compound: 1/5

Allows you to create alchemical compositions from available reagents by instinctively understanding the creation process.

Reagent breakdown: 0/5

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Understanding the essence: the ability to see and, with reservations, understand magic in things and reagents; all crafting skills related to alchemy grow five times faster.

Attentive: Perception grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Special:

Perfection Limit (from the title Hero): Increases the maximum stat development limit to 50 (Now: 60), speeds up learning and increases the amount of experience gained.

Will of the Hero: Skills below your rank that affect thinking have no effect.

Hero's Gaze: allows you to see a certain amount of information about others; depends on your level

Mythic: Stats development cap increased by 10 (Now: 60), making it possible to choose three classes at the same time.

Silence in the Hall (Rare; from the title Inaudible Assassin): An active skill that completely dampens sounds in a small area. The duration and area of ​​exposure depend on the user's level and energy value.

Skills:

Provocation: 4 (apprentice)

Running: 6 (apprentice)

Stealth: 27 (journeyman)

Swimming: 5 (apprentice)

Alchemy: 23 (journeyman)

Herbalism: 16 (journeyman)

Fishing: 13 (journeyman)

Spear: 3 (apprentice)

Secret Penetration: 13 (Journeyman)

Dangersense: 4 (apprentice)

Deathstroke: 12 (Journeyman)

Dagger: 17 (Journeyman)

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

And again, the question of the distribution of characteristics arises before me. With simple stats, I have a simple opinion: wait until I get to the maximum of natural development. Then it will be possible to start a much more fruitful leveling, but not earlier. Here, a simple pattern is obvious, which is that the higher the stat, the more difficult it is to grind it. It would be much wiser to save points now, getting the maximum return in the future, than to spoil the incredible benefit of natural growth at the very start.

And my meeting with lolihunter only convinced me that I was right. Whatever may be said, but I flunked the bear. And my strength was enough. It is necessary, of course, to prepare everything I need in case I suddenly find myself in the middle of a giant ass so that you can easily and quickly throw in all the available stats and start overpowering. But I will leave this option as a last resort.

But with the class points, everything is not so simple. I would even say that everything is much more complicated than with standard characteristics. My problem is that I seem to have leveled well and so, but common sense tells me to use class points and increase my combat effectiveness. The task is also complicated by the trivial number of class points - there are only three, as well as classes. Either one for each, or, uncle, choose what you want, but then don't cry.

Elections, elections, candidates fa ... But no, it's from another opera. (*)

Choice.

Yes, the choice.

I need to choose very carefully so as not to screw up the Persian, otherwise, bitches, do not allow me to create a new one. And I like my Persian - smart, handsome, charismatic, and just fucking awesome! I will never give up on this build, I swear by my collection of kinder toys!

The dream walker (or the reflector?) goes far away, at least for now. I have no fucking idea what its abilities are, but so far it is useless. The starting point is enough for it to give me good sleep, so let one point stay there. And I will start raising it when I am confident in the future.

The alchemist, unlike Mr. Useless, is quite helpful in life. But there is the trick. This class is already useful, even with one point. And I don't need more, the treatment of diarrhea it's enough. Anyway, alchemy needs at least some kind of resource base and the semblance of a laboratory. Without these two things, I can only create the simplest mixtures that are not a pity to lose. I had a buffing elixir, and what happened to it? The whole thing spilled out, simply due to the lack of any suitable container!

And, of course, my favorite shadows. It is simply impossible to convey what efforts it took me to restrain myself and not invest all three points in this particular class. Bring shadow control to the max and slaughter goblins like blind kittens! Only the legendary greed of the isekai and the classic thirst for accumulation held me back. Well, and common sense as well.

I did not want to throw out all the trump cards at once, but it would be extremely stupid to refuse to use them. Eventually, I decided to invest one point in the shadow class. You will probably be surprised, but not in the control of shadows, but in the remaining unrevealed sense of shadows. As I understand it, it is quite possible to grind the already open skills, even if it is associated with considerable difficulties. But improving a skill that is at zero will be much more difficult, simply because I have no idea how to develop it.

Unwavering (I'm lying, it was a pity to tears) hand I spend a class point.

Sense of shadows: 1/5

Allows you to vaguely feel all the shadows in a small radius around; gives a limited opportunity to feel the movement of shadows and, at the limit of concentration, their belonging.

A sensory skill that is far from perfect and has some disadvantages. And I made this conclusion even before I read the system help. Yet the sudden realization that you have received additional senses raises certain questions and prompts very obvious conclusions.

For example, I need to learn to walk again. Seriously. My head was spinning so much that I involuntarily fell to the ground, clutching it with all my strength. It seemed to me that now I was not only a set of arms-legs-heads but also something ephemeral, splashed around me, the main one. It took a long time before it dawned on me that this was how I felt the shadows. And almost immediately it became easier as if the knowledge of every shadow in the sphere of my perception had gone to the cords of my subconscious.

For another half hour, I got used to the movement. Quite difficult to put into words, but I was, in a way, the center of a sphere created from cast shadows (a hemisphere, if you consider the absence of shadows underground). Each step I took moved the boundaries of this sphere, leaving me in the center. It was not me who was moving, my sphere was moving, the shadows were moving, and I just followed them, indicating the direction of movement.

In short, that was a really “bad trip”.

Only in the evening, I got used to the skill enough to move and navigate as well as before receiving such a peculiar gain. I was even happy with the ability itself even if not so much as I would like. The remaining two points burned through my imaginary pocket and demanded to spend them too, but with a willful effort, I suppressed this impulse. I must first get used to what I have, and only then move forward.

All of a sudden I realized that walking through the woods became much easier and ... more understandable, let’s say. I knew where and how to step in order to leave as few footprints as possible, to make as little noise as possible, to remain as inconspicuous as possible. The stealth skill, which is my highest (which is not surprising), worked continuously, and even without my direct involvement. In general, I realized this only when I decided to crawl through the dense bushes (other routes were even harder) and prepared for a noisy crunch and twigs clinging to me.

And I heard almost nothing.

And the branches were much less troublesome.

Marveling to myself, I continued to move. Well, yes, I became a cool stealth GI (hussars! Well, you get the idea ...), but with all those wonderful miracles that have already happened to me and continue to happen, this is not so surprising. But at least it is useful.

I stopped by the river and began to arrange a bed and dinner. Moreover, my powers have already managed to recover, and now is the time to try new tricks. But first I will collect firewood for the fire and try to catch fish. And that is, you really want to.

I left the fish to bake in the clay on the coals. I started testing different funny things with my power. The longer I experimented, the wider my smile became, threatening to arrange a cosplay of the Cheshire Cat. The shadows responded like part of me, in a hurry to fulfill my wishes. Even energy costs have clearly become less, and noticeably less. Only at that moment, I realized that in the phrase "Lord of Shadows" the word "Lord" and an explicit letter were added not at all for pathos and a cool name.

The shadows just obeyed me. Maybe I was progressing in some kind of mental disorder, but it even seemed to me that the shadows were looking at me. Not the ones that were flat and clear, but the ones that I was controlling. It was as if they, at that moment, were becoming not only three-dimensional and thicker but also deeper. And it was there, in that depth, that something was looking at me. It was quite a creepy feeling-I had a growing sense of danger-and I didn't want to look back there at all. Some part of me knew that it was too early for me to venture into something like that.

For now.

The creation of shadow bags, strangleholds, and nets has become much easier too. I was even able to get my shadow to shoot with several sharp spikes. Here you stand and then hop, and two stakes stick out of your shadow! True, after that I already without joking felt the approaching exhaustion.

Using the remaining energy, I tried to create a barrier and throw pebbles and twigs into it. I created it and even did couple throws, but on the fourth try, my head start hurt too much. No, I was sure that I could still repeat both attack and defense in a circle, but I was not going to exhaust myself in vain. And I didn't want to fall asleep so that, if something happened, I would not be able to repulse a sudden attack.

Well, to hell with it! This is not paranoia, but only common sense and caution.

I was not going to linger in one place, and in the morning I will hit the road. I really, just really really wanted civilization. Or at least a cozy and warm cave, where I can set up a normal camp and not be afraid to wake up every night with a throat ripped open by someone's fangs.

Alas, I have not even found a suitable place for a camp, not to mention the path to civilization. Perhaps somewhere in the forest, there were comfortable places and caves, but I was frankly afraid to move away from the river, simply because I was afraid of getting lost completely. The river provides me with food and water, and without it, it will be very difficult. So it's better to stick to the route than to wander through the woods as the ghost of the Internet.

On the way, I still collected weed (no, not that one), but practically abandoned long-term alchemical experiments. Of the really valuable ingredients, I had only the fangs and claws of a bear, which there was nothing to crush with and nowhere to crush. And it was also a pity to spend them because there was a lot of magic in them. For the rest, it turned out only any useless trifle, half of which I generally threw away.

I paid much more attention to practicing the new class ability. I shouldn't have whined at her, it's a very useful thing. Both for creating an ideal three-dimensional picture of the surroundings and for controlling the environment. I felt the movements of the shadows. Extremely vague, with a delay, and only the most obvious, but that was enough. Anything that casts a shadow will move it along with its movements. Even if I am sure that high stealth skills will allow bypassing such observation (at least, stop casting a shadow), but at my level, this was enough.

Determining, as the help said, "belonging" to the shadows was a real pain. I'm not kidding, the longer I try, the more headache I have. Conclusions were drawn more from the shape and size of the shadow than from an incomprehensible sense of "belonging." However, it was still possible to distinguish trees, bushes, birds, squirrels, and one fat chipmunk. But I won't strain like that unnecessarily.

As a reward for my efforts in shadow control, I raked out a stock of hazelnuts from the chipmunk's hole. I didn’t rob the animal that was desperately squeaking something that strongly resembled swearing words completely taking only the nuts. It's not me that kind, it's just that the rest of the grains were unfamiliar to me and I didn't know how to cook them.

According to my calculations, I was already close to my first camp, and the area was recognizable. I wanted to go and spend the night in the old place, or at least look at it if there is still a pile of corpses lying around, but the night was getting closer and I decided not to walk in the dark. Although high perception and moonlight made it possible to feel good at night, but not good enough to run through the forest. And the phase of both moons was such that there was not enough light, especially in the thicket of the forest.

The evening was quite warm, but I made a fire for the night more out of habit than out of necessity. In addition, lately, the coolness has been felt more and more tangibly from the river.

The warmth coming from the quietly crackling flame, yesterday's fish baked in the same clay that I had collected with a reserve just for such an occasion, and the general goodness of the situation overcame me much faster than I myself expected.

It was not the night cold from the extinguished fire that woke me up, and not the bites of mosquitoes (the repellent, perhaps, was made of poor quality?), But a quiet tingling sensation throughout my body, danger sense working correctly. The dream took off in a blink of an eye, more effective than any alarm clock and even cooler than a bucket of ice water poured into his pants (my daddy had peculiar ideas about ways to wake up).

I get to my feet gently and quietly, without making any noise, and then start listening to my surroundings. The answer comes almost instantly. First I sense, at the very edge of my shadow sphere, the organized movement of a group of humanoids, who could not be anything but goblins. It was only then that the sounds of their footsteps reached me, barely audible (if I hadn't listened, I would have missed it).

Is it time to retreat?

Or not?

There are quite a few goblins, even in the shadowy perception. At the very least, there are more of them than there have been in the past. I've developed my skills quite tangibly lately, including stealth, so that I can hide freely from the Goblins and go my own way. Except there are a few little, as the corruption problem in my home country, but.

Most importantly, even if my stealth is enough to get away without leaving traces, the goblins aren't going anywhere. And I'd still have to build fires if I didn't want to eat raw fish (I hated it already, damn it), which would automatically allow the savages to find me. Time after time, and probably in much larger numbers, so that I'm sure I won't get away.

I thought about this as I moved between the tree trunks, stepping behind the back of the goblins. The darkness was undoubtedly disturbed, but I used the shadows to feel my way. Not so much probing as using them for spatial orientation. It helped, and it helped a lot. I think I would have been able to move with my eyes closed, especially since it was pitch black, but I decided not to show off and to use all my senses.

About three minutes of very careful sneaking on the part of the nocturnal visitors, and the goblins were in the clearing with the barely smoldering fire, and I went behind them, ready to stage a grim nightmare. Apparently, the goblins could see in the dark, even if it wasn't very clear. It's some sort of racial skill, I'm sure.

Well, that means I have to be much more careful what to do next.

The action, by the way, was already quite obvious. I had already had time to get rid of my piety for the xenocide of the vile runts, but looking at the way the camp was organized and prepared for an assault, I no longer doubted my decision at all

The cannibals, who were on the hunting trail, rushed forward toward the pile of driftwood on which I'd recently slept. And it was only the most highly ranked fighters who came forward, and the rest did not even move from their seats. After a few seconds, the attackers realized I wasn't there anymore. But the bedding itself was still warm and held my scent (if they were guided by the sense of smell). The leaders were still grumbling at each other, but I was already in action.

In one motion, I jam my trophy knife into the back of the bastard's head, sending him to his ancestors instantly. I held the body back from falling and stepped forward and slightly to the side. I grab the neck and plunge the blade into his temple, again trying to be as quiet as possible. The main thing is not to disturb them, the main thing is not to let them see me, otherwise, they will trample me. Or else I'll have to gut the pile, using up the characteristic points I'd saved.

I realized that if I continued to stay here, sooner or later someone would notice if not me, then the corpses of their fellows, so I stepped back, waving my blade across the throat of another freak. This time there was blood and gurgling, but by the time they noticed it, I'd already gone around the other side of the squad.

Some of them screamed some started wailing, and then the whole bunch started barking together, making the already crooked speech completely unintelligible. I wasn't really listening to them, so it's okay.

While the highest-ranked green tried to organize a crowd of associates, I attacked again. The same dagger to the back of one's head and a broken neck to the other. No one heard the crunch of vertebrae in the noise. They didn't hear the crunch, but the general panic made them look around, and one of the runts saw me retreating back into the darkness.

A shadow that rose in a loop instantly wrapped itself around its owner's throat, tearing downward with all its might. Another proud owner of broken cervical vertebrae fell to the ground, and I walked away unnoticed.

One more lap, searching for the best possible angle of attack, and I had to admit that the goblins were not as degenerate as they seemed. When they realized that they were being killed one at a time and connected that fact to the still-warm bed of their failed prey, they began to gather near the fire, forming a circle.

If I'd chosen to sleep in the clearing, that would have been a problem. I couldn't have hit the natives in the circle from behind. But in the middle of the small clearing between the trees, there was simply not enough room for them to take up a defensive position.

And brains as well.

And most importantly, they began to be afraid.

When they came here in hordes, they expected easy prey, perhaps even a battle with the enemy. But not to be killed by something they couldn't see or understand. Not even a smile spread across my face, but an angry and anticipatory grin. Today I'm going to take revenge on those little creatures for all my misfortunes.

How does that old song go?

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

I accelerate sharply and hit the spearman who had strayed too far out of the crowd with my hilt in the solar plexus. My increased strength, multiplied by the inertia of the blow, causes the goblin to spurt a fountain of blood from his mouth, falling backward onto his companions. I accelerated even faster, giving up on my useless eyesight in the darkness, trusting instead in my sense of the shadows, guided solely by their position. I am the center of the sphere, everything outside it is unimportant. I walked around the panicked crowd in a long arc.

The emptiness in my chest begins to eat away my insides, but the shadow of the goblin standing in the very center - armed not with his usual spear, but with some kind of club - strikes him sharply in the back of the head, fracturing his skull. He falls quite silently, which is why his loss was not immediately noticed. But when they noticed, they began to look at the branches of the forest giants overhanging them.

That's a good idea, by the way!

I accelerate again, switching to a half-run, without fear of making a fuss - all the terrain, along with the position of the shadows, have already been imprinted in my memory, allowing me to maneuver much more effectively in the area I've studied.

Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.

I strained the muscles of my body and my magical abilities as hard as I could, literally throwing myself up with my own shadow and hooking my arm into a branch, and sitting down in the wide crone. It may not have been a completely silent act, but in the warlike clamor of the goblins demanding to prove themselves and put up a fair fight, you could miss a lot more than that. Another strenuous effort and the emptiness in my chest erupted with renewed vigor, but the most vocal goblin, the one no one was looking at that very moment, soared upward. The shadowy lash of a tree branch around his neck stifled a scream, and his own shadow prevented the twitching legs from catching the turned-away comrades-in-arms from attracting their attention.

I'm pulling the undersized guy up.

Crunch.

The shadow of the tree literally hits the dead goblin as a tennis racket on a ball. A drop of blood drips down his nose, but it's lost in the bloody splatter where the unwitting ball landed. The three bodies, besides the projectile, don't even move. The goblins are already one step away from running, but still reflexively raise their heads up. I'm no longer there, though, for I've jumped down in time. I tumbled down and gently got to my feet, punching the throat of the witness who'd noticed the shadow that had fallen next to him.

Sixlittle nigger boys playing with a hive

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

I broke off a twig from the nearest bush and rubbed the strongest poison I had on the sharp edge, sincerely hoping that I was lucky enough not to cut myself. The poison isn't very strong, but given that the twig had stuck a goblin retreating slowly toward the river in the neck, puncturing his jugular vein, it was not so important. And the green-skinned man's frailty played a part, making him cramp and froth at the mouth instantly.

Five little nigger boys going in for law.

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

The goblins are panicking for real, sticking together only because there is no one who dares to run first. Or maybe their instincts are different, requiring them to stay in a pack rather than scatter. More importantly, one of them, in his panic, saw a silhouette approaching him and, shouting something audible even in the general background, struck the human figure right in the belly. The weightless shadow returned to its place, and the comrade-in-arms stabbed in the back, standing right behind it, muttered something perplexingly, blowing bloody bubbles. The traitor was literally torn apart by his frenzied comrades.

Three little nigger boys walking in the Zoo.

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

The bear claws, especially if it's a harsh fantasy faggot, are quite long. If you stick a pair of them in your eye or neck, you can easily kill. Especially if you're talking about a creature less than a meter and a half tall (a teenager or something?) and with a very thin neck. I pulled the agonizing body up with a sharp jerk and gave it a savory kick, tossing it right into the spears of his comrades who'd noticed something.

Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun,

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

I had to distract the goblins who spotted me by sacrificing some more of my insides to the void, shadowing the remains of the fire, and hurling still hot embers into the face of the tallest goblin, who had never once lost his guard or come out from behind his subordinates during the slaughter. The bastard squealed like a circular saw when it caught the charge of my warmth, and the surviving goblins scattered in every direction. Apparently, after the loss of their leader, they'd lost their sense of pack.

There weren't many goblins left, only five of them if you count the leader who was blindly wandering around.

I took a step toward the two of them, who had not yet had time to scatter in opposite directions, and I was forced to leave the knife in the skull of one of them. I'm too valuable a time to waste on digging out a stuck weapon. The second one gets a swell kick to the chest, feeling his ribs crunch. I pushed away from the crouched body, breaking his back as well, and landed on top of another fugitive. I had to help myself by shadow, but not much. I didn't even feel a little weakness.

I cut off the scream with the shadowy noose, and then, with an effort, turn the noose into the thinnest thread, slicing through my throat. I was almost off-balance from my weakness, and then I let go of the shadow, and the thread disappeared without a trace. It's not a bad way to get rid of the evidence! I'll have to keep that in mind if I decide to become an assassin.

The last running goblin was about to leave my sphere, so I was going to take extreme measures. I was a little too close to the edge, so I was going to take extreme measures. I was a little too tired for my own good, but I was still able to demonstrate something. I might still be able to demonstrate something, but the edge was frankly close. However, the sharp shadowy blade, which appeared only for a fraction of a second, performed an exemplary traumatic castration of the runner. The distance does not hide the wistful and gradually subsiding howl at all.

What do you expect? In the groin are some of the most important vessels, so the wound is guaranteed to be fatal.

The only surviving goblin had stopped howling, though, looking around warily and rubbing his dirty paws over his eyes regularly. He could probably kill me, and I wasn't hiding right now, and the weakness that gripped me was very unpleasant. He might have killed me if he hadn't been blinded at that moment-the goblin's night and light-sensitive vision was unable to move away from the hot and, more importantly, bright embers.

I calmly get to my feet and go back into stealth mode.

I stepped behind the back the leader, who had not blinked, and who had not even thought to lean against the trunk of a tree

I put all my remaining heroic magical power into the shadow control, making the shadow from the branch snap a noose around the leader's neck and hang him up. So that his feet can't touch the ground. The strength goes and goes quickly, but I'm confident enough in my reserves now that I don't have to fear losing consciousness. And the goblin himself, even though he's a level seven, is no bear to tear my shadows like paper.

The twitchy movements of the hanged humanoid falter, and I find enough sarcasm in me to fatiguingly recite the ending of a classic poem:

"One little nigger boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none..."[1]

I limped with difficulty to the nearest tree, which has no corpses nearby, and, curled up in a ball in its roots, I fell asleep as a baby. I will deal with loot and system messages tomorrow, and preferably not in the morning. And I won't use my sleepwalking skill to get a fast sleep, either. I think I deserve a good night's sleep.

I woke up this morning because of the damn flies.

And no, they weren't bothering me although I'd used two doses of repellent their buzzing was so annoying that it was nerve-racking! Add to that the stench of dead bodies, and you can see why I thought I could sleep elsewhere. However, I could have started to sleep after I had collected all the loot of last night's battle.

It didn't take me long to collect the loot, because the goblin stuff was still primitive and useless. I threw away all the meat, including a few goblin arms and legs. I threw away most of the weapons, too, for their quality was about the same as that of the previous batch. Some of the weapons even looked suspiciously like those I had left once before.

I took another dagger, also obsidian, but enchanted only for strength, without sharpness. I took another spear that belonged to the hanged chieftain, and it, too, had a tip made of a piece of ore.

I also found a normal bag (it didn't even smell!) I threw in some little things, like talismans made of stones and bones that had magic in them. Maybe I could decompose it for reagents, which would be useful.

That's all trophies.

Somehow it's not very profitable to hit goblins.

On the other hand, I’ve grown a lot, and the levels in this crazy world are still much more valuable than some goblins' trinkets. I would even say that there is nothing more valuable in this world than levels and skills that are always with you.

As I pondered, my gaze fell against my will on the tattered and spattered goblin - the one that had served as the tennis ball - and it suddenly dawned on me. The giblet's guts, like the bear's guts, were an alchemical reagent. For a moment I wondered if I should play pathologist.

The squeamishness took over, albeit by a small margin.

In the future, when I grow my skills as an alchemist to an acceptable level, and at the same time set up some kind of laboratory, I will have to work with such ingredients as well. But until then, I prefer to keep the rest of my squeamishness to myself.

I picked up the bear's claws and cleaned them from the blood. I was too sorry to throw them away, especially since I can make a necklace out of them and I can have fun telling a story in taverns about how I'd killed the beast.

Unless, of course, I get killed first.

Before I began to admire the status, I noticed one more funny thing. I almost didn't notice it, though I'd been using it for a long time. It was about my new ability from the shadowy branch. Obviously, fighting at the limit of what I could do, with my vision completely off and maximum emphasis on shadow sense, was enough to level up a skill

It's not that surprising, really, because I really squeezed everything I could out of the first ability point. The system, I've noticed, only boosts class abilities after this kind of stress at the limit and beyond it. And trivial training doesn't help much, even the most exhausting ones.

Shadow Sense: 2/5

Allows you to sense all shadows within a small radius of yourself; gives you the ability to sense the movement of shadows and their belonging; allows you, at the limit of concentration, to control shadows even outside the field of direct vision.

I didn't even notice that I killed the penultimate goblin without even looking in his direction! And even before that, I'd been able to tell with impossible accuracy which way the goblins were looking, and where to look for gaps in their lines. It was only now that I realized the radius of my shadow perception sphere had grown to a hundred yards, too. And this time there was no dizziness and no long adaptation to the changes in perception.

The night battle was not about trophies, but about development. Don't think I'm crazy, but I'm even a little glad that there are so many goblins here. Killing people for the sake of experience, albeit the same bandits, would probably be a bit hard for me. At the very least, because human warriors would be more serious than goblins.

That's good news, very good news.

I put my status checking on hold again until I was far away from the scene of the massacre. It wasn't that I stank, but my sense of danger told me that the smell of blood had caught someone's attention. And that someone is too dangerous for me to face.

I'd even say that someone will finish me off. My sense of danger screaming long before he appeared. So as soon as I felt cold needles all over my body, I immediately gathered up the rest of my belongings and headed in the opposite direction.

And then I went very quickly, thanks to my stealth skills, which jumped to the rank of master, allowed not much noise, even in a hurry, as if for the funeral of a beloved tax inspector.

After a few minutes, I stopped worrying about stamina depletion and ran as fast as I could to maintain my disguise, as if the taxman's funeral I was in a hurry for had been joined by the funeral of my superiors and my upstairs neighbors.

Gradually, the feeling of the black bodybuilder's sweaty hands on my ass began to fade, and I, accordingly, began to relax slowly. My breathing was a little labored, my heart was beating too fast, my adrenaline was surging, and all that.

I may have imagined it, but in the distance - and I had run at least a couple of miles - there was an ominous chugging sound, along with the audible crunch of bones being chewed.

Whoever came to dine on the fruits of my night's battle found a different target than one skinny isekai.

For today.

Quietly swearing, I trotted towards the place of my first appearance in this world. At the same time, I'll check my abandoned camp, maybe I'll find something interesting there.

It will be much calmer for me among the good old goblins than in the company of that unknown fucking shit who stay to eat corpses behind my broad back.

Already on the move, without risking stopping even for a couple of seconds, I quietly whisper the keyword.:

“Status.”

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Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/80370/506460

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP