The dungeon’s layout was fairly similar to that of the cave. I could see some monsters in the distance. Probably just goblins.

Wide floor, tall ceiling, and lots of earth and rocks. I was tempted to just dig and absorb the stuff to reveal what was underneath but for now, I had to be patient. There were people here, a lot of people. Like in the hundreds. Some were chatting, some were fighting, some were just napping in the corner, like there was no tomorrow.

“I’m not good at fighting, just so you know,” Sen said. “I’ll probably just drag you down.”

“You won’t. And you don’t have to fight at all.” I didn’t have any reason to bring her here and I wasn’t planning to either. But she insisted she come with me. She wanted to help and she wanted to be useful. I could understand the feeling but I really didn’t need much of any help these days.

If they’re adventurers, they must have good skills, right? I still had no idea how people got skills. Since I hadn’t fully assimilated the people, I’d already devoured, I couldn’t extract information from them like a search engine.

“How do people develop skills?” I said, walking ahead.

She stayed in my shadow. “By practicing?”

“But how do you know you’re good at something? How do you know what to practice?”

She seemed really confused. “I mean, if you’re good, you know you’re good.”

I guess?

Anyway, we had our first goblin up ahead. It was smaller than the ones I’d dealt with in the cave. No just younger. Guess they didn’t have time to grow up yet.

I took a spear from Sen and spun it around, trying to get a good grasp. It was like I’d used the thing for years. I really should just absorb everything here. Instantly overpowered!

But no, I needed to consider the risks. Just because things had worked out till now, didn’t mean they were going to be fine in the future. There wasn’t anyone powerful in that village, but there could be someone monstrous here. And there was a chance people with systems were lurking around too. So far, I only had a dataset of N=1. I needed to know more before I could act. Guess I had to devour someone who knew really how the world worked and then start from there.

I could have sworn I heard the Bestiary sigh. Okay, maybe I was neglecting the damn thing. Alright, alright, I’ll spend some time with you tonight.

That sounded wrong but oh well.

“Pay attention!” Sen was screaming and stuff. But I wasn’t bothered by a goblin child which barely stood three feet tall.

 It charged at me with determination in its eyes, desperate to save its home, I guess?

Plunge! But I casually impaled it with my spear, and it died almost instantly. “Cut it off,” I said, pulling my spear out. I wanted to absorb the corpse too but there were way too many eyes here. This is really going to become a drag.

***

Sometime later, after killing about twenty or so goblins, we descended to the second floor. There were hobgoblins here and they seemed to be decently strong. We still had at least a dozen or so people fighting.

“Left!” Sen shouted.

“Yeah, yeah,” I already saw it coming anyway. Big Hob swinging its club at my head. I ducked and planted a kick on its neck. I quickly absorbed a bit of its neck, exposing the bone. I then proceeded to impale that spot and the thing topped over.

My dress wasn’t fluttering around and actually didn’t get in the way. Since it was woven with mana threads, it stretched and made mobility way too easy.

“Holy shit,” a boy yelled. “Awesome Sis!” Ten? He didn’t even seem ten. He proceeded to pull out his sword from the goblin below, spraying blood all around. Covered in blood the boy smiled and waved.

He saw me absorb…. But it wasn’t anything significant and he probably brushed it off as some weird skill.

I waved back with a similar smile. “Right back at you bro, awesome stuff.”

I got a laugh and proceeded ahead while Sen got busy cutting stuff. She seemed a bit disgusted by the whole thing but she didn’t spat anything verbal, just yet.

A hob here, another hob there, things proceeded smoothly.

Before long we were at the literal center of the second floor and although we didn’t have any bosses here, we did have rooms. Most were plundered. No, all were plundered. This place was frequented by adventurers after all.

“Normally it would be way crowdier, huh?” I mumbled. It was probably late evening by now. Most adventurers were going back home.

“We should go probably head home for today,” Sen said.

I was tempted to go down though. That lady warned me not to but… I won’t be able to sleep without-

I looked back and Sen was basically waving. No, she wasn’t waving at something, her whole body as waving instead.

Sigh.

Seriously, this is going to be annoying. But I couldn’t lose miss Fluffy tails after all this. I need the comfort of her soft tail after all.

I picked the girl up like a kitten as she passed out, and together marched out of the floor. Most hobgoblins knew their place and steered clear of my way. Some didn’t and ended up dead. Even with Sen in my arms, it wasn’t hard to kill hobgoblins. I was too fast?

I didn’t bother taking anything from them. At the very end of the floor, near the stairs I found the boy again. He was apparently waiting for someone?

Is he alone? A kid that young?

“Bored already?” He said.

“Kinda. Wanted to go deeper but she’s out.”

“Sucks.”

“Is that why you go solo?” I asked.

“Pretty much.”

My type of gamer. He wasn’t a gamer though. “Seeya.”

“Name’s Ben. Maybe we can hunt sometimes.”

“Not interested,” I said. “Clyde.” Wait no, you’re in a girl’s body!

I got a laugh from him and he probably had something to say but I didn’t wait and marched to the top floor where almost all goblins were dead.

“A new batch would take their place tomorrow,” Sen yawned. “Poor things.” Conscious again.

“Leave them alone and these poor things will go about ravaging and eating you whole while you sleep.”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

It was either we kill them or they kill us. No time for middle ground. No time for sympathy.

And so, we made way for the city and reached just after the evening. The guard made a weird face when he saw me carrying Sen but let us in anyway. Sen said she was fine and could walk but I didn’t let her. I was faster anyway.

The whole city was lit. Mostly by torches but they had lamps and some sport of pink thing that lit up like a firefly. The damn things were about the size of a football and were kind of like footballs though.

We stopped by the guild to turn in the wieners. It was quite crowded in here.

“That’s… you also hunted Hobgoblins? Impressive,” the guy behind the counter admired my face for a couple of seconds. “Alright. That’s about 17 silvers miss.” With fees and stuff, I only got 12 silvers back. So basically, 1 gold and 2 silvers. A lot of money, but definitely not enough.

Seriously?

Yeah, I was definitely going to stick to money frau- I mean, creating money through alchemy….