[Chapter 7: Books]

It has been two days since my encounter with the goblins. After quite some time of trying and failing, I had managed to finish my creation, the stone sword. It was incomparably more difficult to make than my sharpened stick even with my increased stats.

The finished product was a moderate sized stone in an elongated teardrop shape with sharpened edges. A small stick with an indent for the unsharpened rounded side acted as the handle. The whole thing was held together by vine rope tied in an X shape held in special groves made specifically for it. It seemed more effective than the sharpened stick and with far greater durability which should make it last longer than three goblins.

The impromptu first test of the new sword was against a deer I saw drink from the stream. I mused the forest to ambush the deer before going for the throat. I also managed to test out mana reinforcement while catching it. Through this I found mana reinforcement uses up 1 mp every second, as for the sword, well it was pretty sharp.

Taking the carcass back to my cave, I started my second attempt at butchering. Using the knowledge of last times failure my work goes far smoother than last time. After working at it for what I guess was about an hour I reach success.

[Obtained skill]

[Butchering| lv: 1]

[Butchering speed increased by 20%]

While most of the meat became useless, some actually survived which I began cooking over the fire immediately.

The meat ended up a bit burnt but it was an amazing change of pace compared to my previous all fruit diet. However, the biggest draw was the skin I managed to get from it. By tying it to a long stick I can hang it the caves entrance to block moisture. I guess I should be thankful to the hyper realistic novels that taught me how to do this.

Not content to just sit around, I decided to explore the goblin territory now that I can defend myself rather well. Taking my sword in hand I ventured out while still taking the precaution of staying in the underbrush. Despite having killed three goblins, it doesn’t seem like security had increased. I haven’t seen anything in the clearing since that day which makes gathering fruit much easier.

Despite being deeper in the woods than ever before, I hadn’t seen many goblins. Although there was a small group here and there it was rather underwhelming compared to the hordes I was expecting. Eventually I say a single goblin standing alone under a tree. Sensing opportunity, I decided to test my new powers against it.

I get into a stance, ready to dash out for the kill. Activating mana reinforcement I blast with a high speed and launch a strike towards the neck. Before the goblin even turned their head the sword collided with a crunch, snapping the neck along with making a huge cut in it. With that over I made a shallow hole and covered it up to hid all the evidence.

Moving on before something happens I kept going while preparing to turn at the first sign of trouble. Eventually in the corner of my eye I see a flash of white amongst the brown and green of the forest. Getting closer I see that it is a human skeleton.

“Well this tells me I am not the first human here.” Inspecting closer I find the skeleton is rather old and a bit…. Chewed on? Not addressing that new discovery I turn to a small tattered sack, presumably his. In it I find three hardcover books.

Comprehensive forest survival guide

Apprentice botany

Basic guide to magic

When looking at the titles it is English seems to be superimposed over the foreign words by my mind. While it is slightly disorienting, it is very useful for now. Anyways, these are three very useful books that are surprisingly fine despite being here so long. I try to see if I can use what the bag they were it but it practically disintegrates in my hands, its job now complete.

I managed to bring the books back without any trouble on the way. Bringing them in I appreciate that I managed to set up the “screen” to keep out moisture. Now I finally have direction through these books I will reach new heights. Now, which to read first.

[  |Name: Yellow Stone|

   |Species: human|

   |Class: Scholar|

   |Lv: 2|

   |Hp: 20/20|   |Mp: 45/45|

   |Str: 2|   |Dex: 2|   |Agi: 2|   |End: 2|   |Int: 15|   |Cha: 2|   |Luk: 2|

   |Skills:  [Basic sword proficiency| lv: 2] [Incomplete mana reinforcement| lv: 0] [Butchering| lv: 1] [Stealth| lv: 1] [Flee| lv: 1] |   ]