Syl

Chapter 33: Goblin Sparring

The goblin training ground was sparse, mostly open space except for a few archery targets. The sparring was done armed with sticks and trying to dodge each other's blows. I questioned why they only focused on dodging and not blocking with shields or parrying. Garz pointed out that raw strength was a rarity amongst goblins, and instead, they prioritized their small size to focus on evading.

When I asked if I could join the practice, the goblins were surprisingly accepting, and I soon found myself locked into a duel with sticks. My non-existent sword skills made me unable to land a blow on my opponent, but likewise, he couldn't land a blow on me. After a lot of back and forth, eventually, his stamina must have run out, and I managed to land a swing on his head, causing him to admit defeat. I kept getting called Tarz by the other goblins, which irked me and made me wonder if the Chief had kept my real identity a secret.

One of the more experienced warriors then decided to challenge me, and he baited my dodges into a direct thrust to my chest. He had a smirk on his face until he realized that I hadn't flinched or even reacted at all to his blow, and then he had to dodge my clumsy counterattack. Not feeling any pain through my slime was an unfair advantage, and then the outer layer combination of [Slime Density] and [Mana Reinforcement] likely made me invulnerable to sticks.

"Shit! Why Tarz so tough?" He cursed and then charged at me again.

The spectators were baffled at the display. Blow after blow landed on me, but I didn't show any reaction beyond simply trying to hit him back. This strange fight progressed much longer than my first, and even though I was finding more success evading, I realized it was likely due to his building fatigue. I was so desperate to land a blow that when one finally connected, my stick shattered into splinters, sending him tumbling across the field.

"Shit..." I muttered softly, "I might have put too much force into that. Maybe I shouldn't be using [Enhanced Strength]."

I was expecting panic, but the audience actually cheered, "Tarz! Tarz! Tarz!"

The goblin was unconscious but only had superficial wounds, so he was carried home without much fuss. Garz approached, congratulated me on my win, and apologized for the goblins misunderstanding my identity.

"It's not a big deal. If they knew the truth, it could cause too much panic." I responded, "Although, won't they ask questions about my abilities?"

"I guess that works..." I reluctantly agreed.

The rest of the day was some more dodging practice and a small break where Garz had me try to use a bow, which I was embarrassingly bad at. I even got some raw meat and mushrooms for lunch and dinner, and attempting to fake eating them was likely my greatest challenge of the day. I spent the evening trying to improve my elf transformation while using [Mana Sight].

Once again, I spent my morning trying out weapon shapes until Garz picked me up. We went straight to the training ground, and I participated in back-to-back sparring, and shortly after lunch, my effort was rewarded.

During dinner, the Chief and the crafter both came to visit.

"Greetings Syl, I hope you've been enjoying your stay." Chief Krutz began, "I've heard you've been giving quite the workout for the warriors."

"It's been fun. I'm finally actually evading rather than just being a training dummy." I replied.

"Yuzz here has been working with the leather you gave her. Your outfit should be ready tomorrow, but she had some questions-"

"Why is this hide so good? I've never gained a skill level so fast before." Yuzz blurted out, interrupting the Chief.

Krutz cleared his throat before speaking, "Yes. I had a look myself, and it's exceptional."

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"I harvested it myself with my [Dissection] skill," I started to explain, causing Krutz to nod in agreement, "As for your skill... I'm guessing you're getting bonus experience either from perfection or, perhaps, a quality bonus? I'm not sure how it works for crafting skills."

Yuzz's eyes were wide with astonishment while Krutz scratched his chin in deep thought. Maybe I was giving too much away at this point, but I felt like they earned it since my last few days had been rewarding.

"I'm one of our best crafters, but I don't think I'd call my work perfect," Yuzz responded.

"I didn't even know there was such an experience bonus," Krutz added, "The only bonuses I'm aware of are tutoring and risk."

"Oh, it's risk and not just a combat bonus?" I asked, hoping to dig out some valuable info nuggets.

"Since combat is inherently risky, I can see why you came to that conclusion," Krutz said with a chuckle, "But no. The greater the risk, the richer the rewards."

"Maybe I should get the warriors to use real weapons against me, or maybe even the archers to shoot arrows at me..." I murmured in thought, "And tutoring?"

"If you get direct guidance from someone with a higher skill level than you, you get a bonus. The greater the level difference, the bigger the bonus. Since I have some of the highest crafting skills, I often help tutor the others." Yuzz explained matter-of-factly.

"Indeed. You should seek someone to tutor you in [Evasion] if you wish to focus on it, although your actual weapon plan would also work, especially if combined with tutoring... I only ask that you keep using sticks since our warriors don't share your endurance."

"So what's the perfection bonus?" Yuzz excitedly asked.

"I don't think it's only for perfection, but when you work with or produce something, you get a bonus based on the job done. I've gained massive amounts in [Dissection] by doing flawless extractions and harvests."

"Like I said, my work is good, but I don't think it's that good... Not enough for me to gain a skill level so easily like that."

"You mentioned quality, Syl? So your theory is that better materials give a bonus?" Krutz questioned.

"I don't have a crafting skill, so I can't guarantee it, but it makes the most sense."

"I get extra experience and better products. You should do all our harvesting." Yuzz proposed.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe I could arrange a tutor for you in exchange?"

"I don't mind as long as you remove any meat you want to keep beforehand and consider anything beyond claws, bones, hide, and fangs lost once you give me the carcass."

There was a pregnant pause before the Chief agreed to my terms. I now had a source of extra slime mass on the side for minimal effort. We exchanged a few more pleasantries before they departed, Yuzz telling me to fetch my outfit tomorrow.

My evening and the following morning were both a repeat, but when Garz arrived, he told me he would be out hunting today. He offered for me to join them, but I wanted to visit Yuzz and do some more training.

Yuzz was vibrating with excitement to see me when I arrived. I found out the reason when she took me not to my new outfit but to the carcass of a strange creature I had never seen before. Roughly midway between a wolf and a bear in size. It had black and white fur that was thick and coarse and two massive front claws that I'd hate to be on the receiving end of.

"I was wondering if you could harvest this for me. Miners ran into it, so I made sure no amateur took it apart." Yuzz requested.

[Dissection] was already frantic to start work on a new creature and highlighted the claws and fur.

"Alright. My skill tells me its fur and claws are the only things valuable, but I assume you want the bones as well?"

"Yes, we use the bones for tools or reinforcement. This creature has a sturdy skeleton, so those should be very handy."

I nodded, placing my hands on the carcass and extracting slime mass till I had enveloped the creature. I thought this method might be more subtle than having pseudopods erupt from my goblin body. Yuzz stared in fascination, with plenty of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' thrown in. Then, it was a simple matter of mentally excluding the fur, bones, and claws and turning on [Acid Slime]. Rapidly, all the unneeded bits melted away.

'Only 30%? Maybe because I didn't eat enough of it?' I thought to myself.

I withdrew my slime, leaving behind the monster parts, and Yuzz started clapping frantically with joy.

"That was amazing! Although, with how quickly you did it, it felt like cheating!" She said while picking up a bone, then a claw, and finally touching the fur, "No, this is undoubtedly cheating. What the heck? I've never seen such a clean harvest."

I smiled nervously, not expecting so much genuine praise, and mentioned I'd be glad to harvest more of those creatures. Yuzz said that they live throughout the mountain and tunnel wherever they please, sometimes popping up in the cave accidentally, and other times, a lair of theirs is discovered when the miners expand.

She finally gave me my new outfit and helped me put it on. It was visually appealing over the random bits and mismatched pieces I was wearing previously. The armor was light and comfortable, emphasizing mobility and stealth, and decorated with little patches of bear fur on the wrists and ankles. She also included a cloak made of bear fur; I was genuinely surprised she managed to get so much usable material out of that partially melted monstrosity.

Depositing my old outfit, I started heading towards the training area after saying farewell to Yuzz, who was already all over the badger parts.

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