Chapter 37: Going into the Hidden Layer(2)

Inside Urt’s cave

Cathie and that girl, Leah, were seated on a stone bed while looking around them in wonder. The cave was designed after the goblin lord’s personal dwelling. Urt’s admiration for him was no joke. Due to its design, it looked a bit like a human’s handiwork. Especially the carefully cut cupboards in the wall that goblin lord had inside his cave to store his records and bottles. Although this Urt had no use of them, he still made them.

That’s why these two girls were giving the cave one too many glances.

“You won the war, huh?” Cathie asked to which I nodded eagerly. Then she smiled once again. “You grew up even more since I left. You must have worked hard. Am I right?” She was smiling, and I could tell she was genuinely happy about it. I was confused as to why she cared so much about me. Not me, even Logier too. Was she the kind to love all living beings, like some guru of peace? Or was it because of her immense gratitude towards us took the form of this love? Which one was it?

Suddenly I recalled her expression when she sucked those goblins dry to recover her vitality and concluded that she was definitely not the ‘Dalai Lama’ of this world. Probably it was the later. Her immense gratitude was the cause of these strange emotions towards us. Either way, it wasn’t a bad thing. I had no hidden agendas for her or her friend. I just want to make friends, someone to talk to, and know about the outside world.

“Logier, ask them to tell us about the outside world,” I whispered to my orc pal. I was just a normal imp, who was a bit intelligent. I couldn’t let this cover to blow away so soon. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, I will have to depend on this Logier to communicate.

“Human. Tell us about the outside world.” Logier relayed what I told him while stumbling three times before he could even finish the sentence. I could tell that he was really uncomfortable with the human language. It was like how I would try to speak Spanish sometime. Despite knowing the language, I couldn’t speak it fluently.

“Oh, you guys want to know?” Cathie smiled then clapped her hands with her eyes closed. “Ahem!” She coughed to clear her throat before starting her explanation. I listened attentively to everything she said. Logier was not so much interested, as he never thought of going outside this dungeon.

Her explanations continued for close to an hour before she stopped. Rummaging through her backpack, she pulled out a water skin pouch and drank the contents. From the moment of my summon to this world, everything I saw painted a picture of the medieval era in my heart. The way people dressed, the weapons they used, the carriages, all this pointed towards that direction.

But there were also some differences as well. For example, flying carriages exist in this world. Some of those big ones could carry hundreds of people at a time. As far as I was concerned, such advanced machines didn’t exist in the medieval era of my Earth. Then the device to communicate long distances. According to Cathie, it was a bit like telegram from the 1830s. But I could tell, it was more advanced than that. After all, with this device, one can send video feed too.

Listening to all these fantasy stuff made my heart flutter in anticipation. I wanted to see them with my own eyes. I wanted to experience this world. But I knew that was a faraway goal for now. That goblin lord’s diary contained records about the light barrier that prevented me from going out. Unless I do something about it, I couldn’t go out. According to my system, I had to complete two more achievements to be able to go out. Even after wracking my brain, I couldn’t come up with a solution. The system was way too vague about it.

…

“Here, taste this. What do you think?” After her explanation, the next thing she brought out of that bag was snacks. She didn’t tell me the names of those snacks. Perhaps, according to her, it would be useless even if I know about it.

The thing I held in my hand was something like a chicken drumstick, but it tasted different. It was way tastier, crunchier, and juicier than a typical chicken drumstick. Also, it was way bigger. I happily munched on them, as it felt so delectable to my new taste buds. Logier was also enjoying them. I can see it on his face.

“Like!” He would say every now and then. I stopped eating after a few of those drumsticks as my stomach felt like it would burst. However, Logier that orc was still going at it. He alone had finished more than seven of those drumsticks.

Leah was also munching on them with reckless abandon. It seems, somewhere amidst our talk, she had started a competition with Logier. They were comparing who can eat more, and from the looks of it, Logier was going to lose. I squinted my eyes towards Leah’s stomach, wondering where she put all this stuff. Her body was smaller in size than him, and yet, she was eating more than this orc.

“Haha! Don’t think it impossible. Leah is a master in training body. It was nothing to her.” I nodded after Cathie’s explanation. This Leah was a warrior, meaning someone who only knows how to strengthen his or her body. All their abilities and fighting styles also revolve around that. There was a pretty popular technique taught to those who joined the Warrior Guild. This technique would convert the food they eat to their vitality.

Also, I was able to learn the differences between the energy used by Cathie, the magician, and Leah, the warrior. When a magician uses the magic in the air, they call it Mana. Mana is purer and more powerful than the magic circulating in the air.

As for a warrior, the energy they use was called Chi. Basically, Chi was no different than mana. Only it had a bit of vitality mixed into it.

“Then, Chi strong!? Mana weak?” Logier asked for me.

To his question, both Leah and Cathie smiled. Actually, I was sure they might have been thinking about why we were asking so much about their energies. In fact, they must be wondering whether we even understood their explanation. However, Logier’s question made them realize how intelligent we actually were.

Logier’s intelligence shouldn’t be underestimated as he was far from a common orc. An adult orc’s IQ was like that of a human child, but Logier’s was a bit higher. Even without my prompting, he would have asked about it.

Leah smiled and explained in place of Cathie. “That’s not the case.” Shaking her head and collecting her thoughts, she continued, “In pure power, Chi is superior. But, when it comes to versatility and overall strength, mana is superior.”

“Let me show it to you.”Seeing our confused look, especially mine, she decided to demonstrate it. She gently touched the wall behind her and took in a deep breath. I narrowed my eye and activated Infrared Vision to observe everything in full detail. Suddenly her palm enveloped in a yellow glow and then,

Boom!!

The wall cracked below her palm. I was taken aback at the show of strength. This rock cave had formed naturally, and it was incredibly sturdy. And yet, She made a crack on it with just a light touch. I realized that the golden glow around her palm must be the cause.

“See? It is strong. But look!” Then she manipulated that golden energy to lift the cracked rocks, but couldn’t do so. She tried some more but couldn’t. “Although I could use this energy to strengthen myself, I couldn’t make it leave my body. Unless I am physically touching it, my energy couldn’t affect anything around me.” I nodded in understanding. Her explanation was simple, and that demonstration was rather eyecatching. Even Logier nodded, showing he understood as well.

“But if it was mana, sis you show it.” Leah asked Cathie while looking at her with anticipation.

“Hoh! Someone excited about teaching stuff…” Cathie’s joke made Leah blush. She coughed to her and said, “Ahem, I was just trying to teach them since they saved you.”

“Really?” Giving her a look, Cathie continued where Leah left off. She lifted her index finger and pointed towards the fallen rocks. With my visionary ability, I saw a strand of sky blue energy coming out of her finger and wrapping around the rocks. Then they were lifted from the ground and hovered in midair.

I finally understood the difference from this show. By comparing with three states of water, if magic in the air was in a gaseous state, mana was the liquid state, and Chi was the solid-state. Ice was stronger than water physically but wasn’t flexible like the former. But, all three share the same base substance, water.

I drew an irrefutable conclusion. Mana and Chi, neither was stronger or weaker than each other. They have their strong and weak points that mutually countered and supported each other.

…

“So this is the place where a powerful foe lives,” Leah commented while inspecting the huge iron gate that led to the Hobgoblin’s layer. It was the hidden boss of this first floor. After the explanation and demonstration, I leaked the news about this foe to them. I wanted to partner with them and kill this tumor at the back of my home.

That goblin lord tried many times and failed. Why was that? The reason was there in his diary as well. This Hobgoblin had overwhelming strength, but it lacked ranged abilities. It was because he didn’t have goblins who could do damage from a distance that they were defeated every single time. As for those pole darts, they were simply useless on it. Almost nothing could penetrate through that thick hide.

“Is it so strong that even your people couldn’t defeat it?” Cathie asked with a frown.

“We lack magic,” Logier answered her, which sounded cryptic due to lack of his explanation. But Cathie and Leah understood it nonetheless.

“Oh, you were defeated because you didn’t have a magician in your team.” Cathie nodded and then looked at Leah, “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a melee type monster. From our investigation, the first floor of this dungeon belonged to these goblins. If I am not mistaken, the enemy should either be an evolved adult goblin or a Hobgoblin. What do you think?” Leah gave her two cents on it.

“I believe it’s a Hobgoblin. Adult goblins aren’t strong enough to be a hidden boss of a floor.” Cathie agreed with her.

‘So they are also called ‘boss’ in this world, huh?’ I thought while listening to their discussion silently.