People did look at them, but Adrian wasn’t the only one they were looking at. Sophia was equally famous, if not more. Then there was the elven beauty. Alia was a half-elf, per se, but it was enough to capture the hearts of many.
However, Adrian’s eyes only looked out for those white tiger fur-wearing gangs he had seen before. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on one’s perspective, he hadn’t seen them since they departed the ’safe zone’.
’Everyone is busy hunting monsters, but they are missing,’ Adrian wondered. ’Like I suspected, they are up to sothing. But what?’
Adrian suspected so guilds might not have liked his rise and sent so n to deal with him. He suspected it would happen and devised a plan where every guild would ’apply’ to recruit him.
That way, he could dissuade self-centred, power-mongering people from targeting him, as the other guild might not take it kindly. But it seed the plan didn’t work.
Be that as it may, Adrian already had his hands full with the quest he had been handed. On top of that, the second stage of his ascension quest arrived, and it was a simple one. Clearing a dungeon was all he had to do.
With all that to deal with, he pushed the thought aside for the mont and focused on hunting goblins.
They had already hunted thirty-seven normal goblins as a group but had yet to co across a single mutated one. As such, the quest was turning out to be a bit more difficult than Adrian expected.
"Just how bad can our luck be?" Sophia sighed, opening the map they were given before to locate the next goblin nest.
However, Alia stopped her. Sophia looked at her, confused, but then Alia jumped to the nearest tree, climbing it in one go. Despite losing an arm, she had not lost her touch when it ca to scouting.
"No need to follow the map when we have soone like Alia," Adrian comnted, gesturing for Sophia to follow.
Adrian hadn’t considered it before, but there might have been a reason why finding mutated creatures was troubleso.
He was pretty sure the DRA had used conventional tracking thods to find the mutants. But how could they track an abnormal creature with usual ans?
That’s where Alia, soone with extraordinary tracking skills, ca into play. If anyone could find those creatures in the vast dungeon, it was her.
’If Fenris were here, we could have found them even sooner, but I couldn’t do much about it. Vesper liked her, so I let Fenris stay with her to keep her company.’
Alia abruptly stopped while he was lost in his thoughts, signalling them to do the sa.
It was only then that they noticed the change around them. The luscious trees that once surrounded them had turned leafless and dark, as if all their natural energy had been siphoned off.
However, they didn’t have much ti to loiter as a monster jumped at them from behind one of the trees. Adrian struck the beast with Serpent whip without delay, breaking its montum.
The creature, standing seven feet tall, lost its balance by the sudden attack, allowing Alia to make her move. Leaping from the tree branch she was perched at, she shot towards the mutant like an arrow, plunging her dagger into its neck.
[Your party mber killed a Mutated Goblin! Exp 700]
[Accumulated EXP: 11850/--]
Suddenly, two more mutated Goblins appeared. Instead of fighting, they fled or tried to. Half a dozen fireballs erged out of nowhere and burned the creatures to a crisp.
[Your party mber killed two Mutated Goblins! Exp 1400]
[Accumulated EXP: 13250/--]
[Quest Progress: 3/10 Mutated Goblins killed.]
"That was easy...?" Sophia comnted as she didn’t expect the mutated creatures to die from one blow.
"Sothing is off," Alia responded, cleaning her dagger on the fallen creature’s kilt. "They aren’t as easy to kill as regular goblins, but I expected more from them. Especially after hearing the human called Jas talking about them."
"As easy as it was to kill them," Adrian shrugged. "The whip isn’t of any use against them. I guess I’ll have to use the sword instead."
While the encounter was considerably shorter than Adrian had in mind, they learned sothing about the mutants, and that was more than enough.
"We should look out for these... burn spots," Adrian said, pointing at the strange surroundings. "I have a feeling those goblins weren’t here by chance."
"I’m on it," Alia replied, climbing a tree again for a better view.
While she located another ’burn spot,’ Adrian knelt beside the mutant goblin and used [Analysis] on it as usual.
--
Loot Drops:
-- Mutated Tail: Uncommon crafting material.
-- Small Pouch: Contains a few random monster cores or other riches.
Devourable organs:
-- Crooked Fingers: Absorbing the fingers would increase the User’s precision when handling throwable weapons.
Grade: Common
Compatibility: Average (61~70% integration success rate)
Status: Unavailable [The User didn’t kill the monster]
-- Grin Tooth: The tooth extracted from the mouth of a Goblin that enhances the User’s charm and persuasion skills, making them more adept at negotiation and manipulation.
Grade: Common
Compatibility: Good (71~80% Integration success rate)
Status: Unavailable [The User didn’t kill the monster]
Remark: Absorbing the tooth might give the User slly breath. Reducing the effect of the charm randomly.
Note: Due to the level limitations of the skill [Organ Absorption], only one skill can be obtained from one monster.
--
’Nothing of use here. Hopefully, the shaman and the Goblin Lord will have sothing better.’
Now that he had a lot of mana, thanks to Fey’s mana core, Adrian had hoped to gain so destructive skills from the dungeon run. Skills that would lessen his dependence on weapons and not make him berserk like [Soul Devourer].
[Blood Mist] was one such skill, but since it had the massive drawback of harming friends and foes alike, it was only helpful if he was surrounded by enemies and had nothing to lose.
That said, he did take the creature’s tail and the monster cores. Shinon might find a use for them and create sothing worthwhile.
"I found sothing..." Alia said, climbing down the tree. "But I’m not sure if that’s the place we’re looking for, but it looks like a small settlent."
"It’s better than nothing," Adrian replied, wiping off the goblin’s blood after butchering it. "Let’s head there and take a look."
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