Startled, I turned around and saw the Malay butler standing there. He looked directly into my eyes and said, "Young Miss, I must warn you, that place is dangerous. If you really must go, please take the utmost care. Please think of your parents waiting here."

I just nodded mutely, not knowing what to say. I had guessed he knew something about Shyi'eld, but didn't expect him to warn me like this. "Y-you won't tell my parents, will you?" I finally asked.

"Would they believe me if I did?" he replied, shaking his head. "Magic doesn't work here, and I doubt you want to bring them there to show them the other world."

"I'll be back as soon as I can," I reassured him. "I just want to do a bit of exploring to decide whether I want to continue."

"That's how it all starts," The man sighed. "Well, it's your own decision and I don't have the right to stop you. I can only pray you come back safe."

I nodded again and gave him a smile. "I promise I'll come back safely. Thanks for your warning," I said, walking into the garden. When I glanced back again, he was still standing there with an enigmatic look on his face. Shrugging it off, I went towards the hut and then headed to Shyi'eld.

This time, I had prepared a notebook to map out the old mansion and its environs. If I spotted any monsters while exploring, I would be sure to inspect it first to see whether if could be defeated with Eins. Otherwise, I would weaken it first with Deux and figure out a way to kill it. With only two HP left, it would probably die if I threw a rock at it or something.

I spent some time exploring the old mansion, but apart from some of the usual occupants like geckos and spiders, there weren't any monsters. Neither were there any in the garden surrounding it. The large garden was fenced in by a green wire mesh like those commonly seen around schools and houses in Singapore and Malaysia, and there was a metal gate at the end of the driveway. I had thoughtlessly opened it and exited the last time I was here, but this time I stood behind the gate peeking out first to check for any monsters.

There was one! It resembled the goblins I had fought before, but was much smaller, about half my height. Maybe it was a juvenile? It appeared to be digging in the ground for roots or something with its curved fingernails that resembled claws. This was my chance to use Inspect!

Lesser Goblin

Race: Monster

Level: 1 | Condition: Normal

Attack: Low

Endurance: Low

Agility: Low

Speed: Low

Intelligence: Low

Mana: Low

Skills:

Digging, Foraging

Description:

Small and relatively harmless monster at the bottom of the hierarchy of goblins. Usually gangs up with others of the same type to hunt larger prey.

Level 1! I could use Eins on this fellow! But it looked pretty harmless though... Could I kill it in cold blood? I had only killed the previous goblins because my life and the life of the fracox was in danger. This goblin wasn't harming anyone at the moment, but if I wanted to level up safely, I had to steel myself to do it. It was the survival of the fittest out there. Getting as many experience points while I could was the best way to do that.

I took Eins out of my Void and gripped it tightly. Then I slowly opened the gate and walked towards the goblin, trying not to make any noise. My breathing sounded abnormally loud in my ears, and no matter how hard I tried to step quietly, my footsteps still rustled the grass below my feet. Instantly, the calmly foraging goblin whirled around and leaped at me, fangs and claws bared. It didn't waste any time on intimidating noises and went straight on the attack.

Fortunately, I had been prepared for that. I slashed at it with Eins diagonally downwards from the right. As with the previous times I used this sword, there was no resistance at all and the goblin fell towards me in two pieces, disappearing into smoke before it hit the ground. I gave a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly, still holding Eins in case there were other monsters nearby.

I inspected myself again and noticed what appeared to be an experience bar just below my name. It was blue and grey with the grey representing the remaining experience points I needed before levelling up. About twenty percent left then? I hadn't noticed it earlier since I assumed it was part of the interface design. Since I was already Level 2, I must have levelled up either after killing the first or second goblins. Those two had to be either higher levelled or higher ranked than the one I just dealt with.

So this system did not inform you whether you levelled up or not. That meant I had to keep using Inspect to check my own status from time to time. Well, that wasn't a problem since it would probably level up my Inspect skill too. Not being able to see actual numbers for the various attributes was a little inconvenient though. Maybe if I levelled Inspect up it might show more details? It would be nice if the system informed me whenever I gained a skill too though. I wondered if I could give Feyril some feedback on that. Who knew when i would be able to meet him though? In the meantime, I would search for some more easy monsters and explore a bit more of the area outside this mansion.