**Day 2: Cave**
I woke up inside an unfamiliar cave. Yeah, this was way beyond just worrying about the ceiling.
It seemed that even following the standard isekai tropes was difficult in this world. Apparently I had to start by looking for a ceiling first.
The night had passed without any problems. The tent and lantern both had monster repellent effects, and thanks to the Shut-in title, my home was protected while I stayed inside it. But what happened when I went out? I might need a door. Just in case, I should also get a delivery box for packages.
I used fire magic to relight the campfire that had gone out overnight. It would not ignite unless I held something, so something like a fireball was impossible. Throwing it from my hand also seemed too hot. I did not want to get any hotter after seeing that old man.
From the item bag I took out a knife, cutting board, frying pan, some preserved dried meat, and mushrooms. I also pulled out salt, plates, and cups. Of course these were all Villager A goods. Did this person actually live properly inside a village?
I placed the frying pan over the campfire and heated it until smoke rose, then added finely shredded dried meat and thickly sliced mushrooms and stir-fried them. When they started to brown, I added a small amount of water, covered the pan, and steamed them while shaking the pan frequently to prevent burning. Once the water evaporated, I lightly salted everything to adjust the flavor. Mmm, it smelled good. For now the only ingredients I had were the dried meat from the item bag and the mushrooms from the mushroom forest. The only seasoning was Villager A's salt, so my recipe repertoire would run out soon. I needed meat, fish, and whatever else I could gather in the forest. From what I saw yesterday, this really was a mushroom forest. Maybe there was a bamboo shoot village somewhere too. That would mean war was starting.
While I was outside fetching water, I used Clairvoyance to scan the surrounding area. There was no bamboo grove. War had been avoided, but bamboo shoots were out of the question.
As I ate, I thought about what to do next. First priority was securing food and a shelter. After that came safety and countermeasures against monsters.
For now this cave would work as my base. I had a tent so nomadic life was possible, but a cave I could barricade felt safer. A cave I could shut myself inside sounded nice too.
Once food around here ran low, I would think about moving. Securing food and safety came first. Hmm? Normally an adventure would start right away, but I was already planning to shut myself in. Well, I was already a loner anyway. Did that mean I would stop working soon? As expected of other world skills—terrifying.
With that settled, I headed into the forest and began mushroom gathering. I advanced while appraising and using Enemy Search. Yesterday I had gone downstream, so today I would circle around upstream.
There were tons of mushrooms and I occasionally found medicinal herbs too. I avoided any direction where I sensed a presence. While picking up firewood, timber, and vines, I kept moving forward.
But normally in these stories the standard ironclad pattern was to start by living in a castle or something. Instead I got survival countryside life. I never even reached the castle before getting kicked out—I went straight to the forest. On top of that, the cast was only me. Zero other characters, meaning the entire story was a solo monologue. What exactly was an isekai summon supposed to be? How was this any different from the Robinson family's solo posting story?
It was about time to head back to the cave once. It felt like it should be around noon by now. I had no clock or phone so I had no idea of the exact time. There was no need to ask why I did not have a phone. Do not ask. Absolutely not.
I was almost out of the forest. The cave was close. But I could not move. I felt something there. A monster? An animal? Maybe a classmate? It definitely was not a friend. Yeah, no mistake about that.
It was in the way. Go somewhere else. I hid so I would not be seen, listened carefully without making noise, erased my presence and searched for theirs. Found it. Appraisal.
Goblin A
Lv 08
HP 36
MP 4
ViT 27
PoW 22
SpE 13
DeX 8
MiN 2
InT 1
Luk 16
Martial Arts: Hammer Technique Lv2, Heavy Strike Lv1, Body Slam Lv1
Skills: Sexual Expert Lv1
Equipment: Club
Goblin B
Lv 07
HP 41
MP 4
ViT 22
PoW 17
SpE 10
DeX 9
MiN 3
InT 1
LuK 11
Martial Arts: Hammer Technique Lv1, Body Slam Lv1
Skills: Sexual Expert Lv3
Equipment: Club
It was some short humanoid thing. An ugly face that resembled neither human nor animal, with a stocky gray-brown body. So these were goblins. The weakest of the weak, the smallest fry among small fry. If I could not beat these, there was no point continuing. Depending on the story even kids could beat them, supposedly, but these felt a bit strong. And there were two of them.
The basics were to beat goblins while they were weak and level up. At the start it was supposed to be goblins or slimes. That was how it was supposed to work, but their stats were higher than I expected. Actually they seemed stronger than me. Could I win? No, if I could not beat goblins I was done for. Once I entered the forest I would have to fight eventually.
Right now I could launch a surprise attack. If I was suddenly attacked I would be too shocked to do anything—that was certain. Attacking first gave an overwhelming advantage. I could aim for defeating them one by one, choose favorable terrain, and control the timing. It was an absolute good opportunity, as long as I could finish them.
The problem was their HP and ViT, and also PoW. If I used my own base of 10 for everything, their HP was about 4 times mine and ViT around 2.5 times. That meant I would need to attack them roughly 10 times as much as a goblin would need to attack me. Factoring in their 2 times PoW, it became 20 times. I would need to land more than 20 hits before they landed even one.
On the other hand, my HP was 10 while a goblin's PoW was around 20. One hit would probably take me out. That meant I needed to land 10 hits without taking even one. A surprise attack alone made those numbers impossible.
SpE and DeX were about the same so I could not overwhelm them with speed. The only things I had an advantage in were InT and LuK. InT was 10 times higher and LuK was so much higher it made no sense. If InT was intelligence I might have a chance, but if it was magic power it would be meaningless.
For now I also had the wooden stick with PoW "?". I did not know what the question mark meant, but there was a possibility I could defeat them in fewer than 10 hits. The opponent also had clubs, but since one hit from them would finish me anyway it was the same. If that heavy-looking club slowed them down, it might even be an advantage.
Moreover, attacking from behind targeting the back of the head or neck should do more damage than a normal hit, right? If I got a double bonus it would only take 5 hits. The effect of a surprise attack would be high.
Since I did not know how reliable the status numbers were, I needed to experiment. Real combat was that experiment.
I would understand once I tried, but I would not understand without trying. Ideally I could handle it easily, but if I could not it would be dangerous. First I needed to secure an escape route.
SpE was the same, but height difference was surprisingly big, especially leg length. Leg length. Yeah, it was important so I said it twice. This would probably be on the test.
If I needed to run, the cave was best. Returning to my home might activate the Shut-in effect, and the narrow entrance would let me fight one-on-one. Even if I fled inside I would have the terrain advantage.
I would circle around and attack from the edge of the forest. If it failed I would run immediately. I moved slowly while erasing my presence and making no noise. From this side I could target only Goblin A. If I could take it down quickly before Goblin B arrived, I might turn a 2-on-1 disadvantage into back-to-back 1-on-1 fights.
I held my breath and approached quietly until I was in jumping range. Goblin A had its back turned and Goblin B was even farther away. When to strike? Now, obviously. The fighting god waste school was scary, right?
I leaped in all at once and delivered a strike from an overhead diagonal stance. The goblin staggered and bent over, so I hit it again. Then from a side stance I swung through and swept its legs, knocking it down for a flurry of blows. I kept hitting nonstop until Goblin B arrived. By the time it got there the first goblin had completely stopped moving. Even if it was not dead it would not be able to fight.
The goblin charged while raising its club. The swing was big, but because it was short it was surprisingly hard to dodge. I dodged and struck, dodged and struck.
The goblin's attacks were simple with no tricks. It just raised its club and swung.
I kept watching those attacks.
Once I could calmly see the movements, I could read the next action. Matching that, I dodged and thrust out my wooden stick at the same time. Counter.
From the goblin's perspective, every time it attacked and charged it ran into the stick and got a follow-up hit. It must have been unbearable.
Even as it weakened its ferocity increased. It grew irritated and its swings became wider. While dodging I slapped its face and it roared, raising the club high overhead. I thrust the stick into its wide-open throat. It tried to move to dodge the descending club, but the club never came down.
I pulled back to catch my breath. I had only been grazed once and had no injury. It was not a clean victory, but it was my first real battle, a fight to the death. So it was good enough.
Neither goblin was moving anymore. Just to be sure I delivered one finishing blow each, then took their clubs as spoils and washed my face with river water.
I was more mentally tired than physically. Toward the end of the fight with the second one I could completely see its attacks and movements. My body had reacted even better than I imagined—not perfectly, but close. It was my first real fight in my first battle. This was plenty.
There were many points to reflect on, but for now getting used to it came first.
Still, I felt like I had finally done something that actually felt like another world. Was that just my imagination?
I returned to the cave and took a short rest. While munching on roasted mushrooms I used the gathered timber and vines to build a simple lattice door as a substitute for an actual door.
I had picked up as much timber as I could, so I used Temperature magic to dry the remaining pieces and stacked them. Thank you, item bag.
Weight magic turned out to be extremely convenient for carpentry work. By lightening the timber while assembling it I did not need extra hands to hold things. I could do it alone. Even as a loner it was fine. Wait, hot cake.
I had worked up a sweat so I bathed and did laundry while I was at it. It was not that I was bad at exercise, but I hated sweating and I hated getting my clothes dirty. It seemed I really was not suited for this other world. I had not been suited for the original world either, so where exactly was there demand for me?
Hand-to-hand fighting really was tough. Without some kind of finishing move it was dangerous. Since the skills I received were completely and utterly useless, magic was my only option.
I had received some magic, but I also had the Fire Magic I acquired here. That old man was seriously useless. I did not know if magic improved with practice, but if I could light even a small flame instantly I could catch enemies off guard.
Ideally I wanted to handle everything with long-range attacks, but that would probably be impossible until my level rose. To raise my level I had to fight.
I tried doing fire-like things with Temperature and Fire Magic. With Temperature the fire only lit slowly. Fire Magic could make a fireball, but it was small and only flew a short distance—maybe 2 to 3 meters at most. Trying to throw it required a lot of concentration and would be difficult in real combat. Even while thinking that, it was fun so I practiced a bit more.
I tried making the wooden stick heavier with Weight magic and swinging it, but it was quite difficult. If it was heavy from the start it was hard to swing, and trying to make it heavy right at the moment of impact suddenly made it much harder. Stopping it was about all I could manage. For now I would just practice.
I tried wrapping the wooden stick with mana using Packing. I could do it, but I did not understand the effect. I vaguely felt like something had changed, but I had no idea what or how. For now I practiced swinging the mana-wrapped stick. I did not know if it had meaning, but even if it did not it would still be good practice for Staff Technique.
Movement was difficult to describe. Because I already had Walking, when I tried to move all at once it felt like a distance that should take 10 steps only took 7 or 8. When I had charged the goblin it had suddenly closed the distance and the goblin was surprised. I was surprised too. We could have bonded—except I beat it to death.
Even that was difficult, but when I used Movement I instantly tripped. Then I hit the wall. It felt like I was about to get the clumsy girl attribute or title. Would I charge at goblins while saying "Hawawa~" and beat them to death? That might have demand if I were a little girl, but not as a male high school student.
A thought occurred to me and I tried wrapping my own body with Packing. At first it took time, but it gradually got faster until I could finally do it instantly.
When I moved around like that my body felt like it moved well and somehow my movements seemed faster. Was it a placebo effect? Something like that?
Had I gained Body Control or something? Or maybe that was my imagination and my physical defense or magical defense had risen. Even if I did not understand the effect I still needed to practice. Wrap, move, hit with the stick. Was this a school sports festival? I would leave that direction to the little girls. There should be no demand for it from male high school students. Because even I would not want to watch it.
I kept experimenting, thinking this and that, considering and deciding. Yeah, I would not know until I tested it in real combat. If it had an effect I would notice.
My stamina was also bad, and I felt dizzy—probably from mana depletion. That was enough for today. Time to sleep.
Before that, Appraisal. Right, I had gotten some items after all. I appraised the goblin's club.
Club: Wooden club, grade 10. My own wooden stick was still ?, so I had no way to compare. Well, it was heavy and short so I probably would not use it.
I pulled myself together and checked Appraisal again.
NAME Haruka Human
AGE 16
Lv 02
Job --
HP 23 (13 UP)
MP 0/21 (11 UP)
ViT 22 (12 UP)
PoW 21 (11 UP)
SpE 25 (15 UP)
DeX 25 (15 UP)
MiN 21 (11 UP)
InT 25 (15 UP)
LuK Max (Limit Break)
SP 05
Martial Arts Staff Technique Lv2 (Up), Evasion Lv1 (New), Perception Lv1 (New), Mana Cloak Lv1 (New)
Magic Temperature Lv2, Movement Lv1, Weight Lv1, Packing Lv1, Fire Magic Lv1
Skills Health Lv1, Sensitivity Lv2 (Up), Gymnastics Lv2, Walking Lv1, Servitude Lv1, Appraisal Lv2 (Up), Clairvoyance Lv1, Presence Detection Lv2 (Up), Enemy Search Lv2 (Up), Mana Manipulation Lv1 (New)
Titles Shut-in Lv1, NEET Lv1, Loner Lv1
Unknown Report-Communicate-Consult Lv1, Jack of All Trades Lv1, Wooden Puppet Lv1
Equipment Wooden Stick?, Cloth Clothes?, Leather Gloves?, Leather Boots?, Cape?, Contacts?, Ring of Struggling Soul, Item Bag
Level up arrived. My stats had more than doubled. The growth rate was better than I expected. It might only be at the beginning, but more than double was welcome. This would make fighting a lot easier. The 2.5 times increase in SpE and DeX was especially big. I could attack with a speed advantage.
Looking at how well SpE and DeX had risen, I seemed to be a speed type. If it did not hit, it did not matter, right? I had almost reached three times normal.
InT had also risen well. Was that because I practiced magic? Or because I fought intelligently? Had the effects of speed learning finally kicked in here? No, I had never done speed learning.
Huh? Oh no. Sensitivity had gone up. Hey, I did not do anything weird. Really. I only met goblins. There was no scene where I got captured by goblins and said "Kuh, kill me" or anything. Why did it go up? Had I become sensitive? Easily stimulated? Was that okay? Was I sensitive-skinned or something?
I would pretend I did not see that. Yeah. Now then, oh. Staff Technique had gone up. I had just been hitting things with a stick, but it rose. Was this the kind where Sword Arts reached first rank after killing one person? Like "kill and it's OK" level up?
If I thought that way, level gains were supposed to be slow and bad because of the curse, so I had not expected much from only two goblins, but maybe it was "kill and it's OK." Their stats had certainly looked like they could kill me in one fight, so one kill for one level made sense.
Since they were Lv 8 and 7, a level difference was also possible. I did not know the standard. I should have a delivery boy bring me a strategy guide. I wanted to know the title, but I did not even know this world's name. I might have heard it but I did not remember. That old man was completely useless.
I had not skipped morning gymnastics. Wait, today was the first time I did it. And it already went up? Was the first skill I would master in the other world gymnastics? When it leveled up would I learn the legendary Radio Calisthenics No. 2? If I mastered it, would the phantom Radio Calisthenics No. 3 come into my hands? Would I end up saying "Mr. Lattice, I want to do radio calisthenics"?
The rest were Appraisal, Presence Detection, and Enemy Search. I had used those quite a bit and would need them going forward too. Nice that they rose.
What I did not understand were Mana Cloak Lv1 and Mana Manipulation Lv1. Were they from practice, or because I used Weight while hitting during combat? Well, I would figure it out.
Mana Cloak? Since it was "cloaking," was it a derivative of Packing, or because I wrapped mana around my body or the stick? I had hoped wrapping mana around my body would give me body enhancement, but what exactly was the difference from Packing anyway?
Ah, I was getting sleepy. The rest could wait until tomorrow. But I wonder what the phantom Radio Calisthenics No. 3 is like?