The entire floor was engulfed by a scream that came from all three of them, while also sporting a 'What the fuck did this fucker say!?" expression. The look of amazement slash gangster robbing someone of their money on their faces seems to have reached critical levels, since they were looking at me with their mouths agape and eyes like saucers.

"So after all, the assimilation of experience is not part of their knowledge. Instead, how do they level up I wonder?"

[Michael! Is that true? What you said right now? Did you indeed level up so much after killing two Goblins?] (Charles)

"Yes sir. However, that happened because of special circumstances in my case. But I was able to confirm something I've heard before in my travels, about how to level up easier by exterminating monsters and gaining their life experience."

[And did you find that to be true?] (Laurence)

"Indeed. Simply put in one word, it would be 'assimilation'. To explain it, since the monsters have occupations as well, is would be safe to assume they have levels also. Since that is the case, it means that they gain experience just like humans."

[Indeed that seems to be plausible. Some of our researchers also reached that conclusion a couple of years ago when the first dungeons appeared. But what do you mean by that?] (Charles)

So they DO call it a dungeon... For the love of...

"...it means that, if a person kills that monster that gathered experience for a long time, that experience will become his own. That is what assimilation entails."

[And that would explain why you increased your levels so fast.] (Ronald)

"Yes and no..."

[Meaning!?] (Laurence)

"In my case, the occupation that I have provides me with an extra increase in experience for every monster I kill with a surprise attack that proves to be fatal to it. Meaning that with the blessing of the world as well, my experience gain is higher based on monster kills."

[I see. Indeed there are professions with that kind of description. But this is the first time I've heard of level increase by monster kills to actually be confirmed. Laurence, haven't our men fought the Goblins and killed some of them before?] (Charles)

[They did, but most of those were Gatherers or Guards. After losing men to the Soldier Goblins, I have instructed them to fight only if they greatly outnumber them at least 5 to 1. But they always travel in groups of five, so that was near impossible.] (Laurence)

"Groups of five you say?"

[What's the matter Michael? Did you think of something?] (Charles)

"That might be the case, however I need to finish the story so you can understand. What you should understand also, is that each level requires a certain amount of experience to increase it to the next one. Correct?"

[Indeed. Is known to be around 10 points for first level, 25 for the second and from then onward it doubles for each level.] (Ronald)

[Is common knowledge after all...] (Laurence)

"Then commander, let me ask you this. If a level one that has a requirement of 10 experience, kills a soldier that is level five which has a requirement of 200 to level up, isn't it natural to take that experience as its own and level up instead?"

[You mean to say that they have the same quota requirement as us for leveling up!?] (Laurence)

Can this man talk any other way than shouting? I mean, I get that you're strangely activated and want to go on a Goblin slaying rampage, but tone down your damn voice a bit!

"Would it be that strange? If they have occupations the same as humans? If they have levels just like humans? If they have skills just like humans?"

[I see...] (Laurence)

[This is very insightful and will help us hugely to fight them and increase our own strength for the following wars. Please proceed with your story since you said you might have something relevant beside this to share.] (Charles)

"Understood. The next morning after I killed those two, I began wandering again west immediately once the sun was in the sky. Soon enough, I found a group of seven Goblins carrying baskets in the same direction I was heading. The group had two Goblins with spears, probably Guards and the other five were unarmed and held the said baskets filled with fruits and plants."

[Gatherers...] (Ronald)

"That seems to be the case. Since they stopped and prepared to roast a rabbit and some small birds, I gave into my hunger and decided to kill them and steal their food. I also felt confident since my level went up."

[From those words...do you have the Identify skill?] (Charles)

"Oh shit...I fucked up that one, didn't I..."

"Indeed I do. I was born with it, but unfortunately the only one I had. So I wasn't exactly suited for war against others or monsters. Also my stats were very low compared to others."

[Does that mean you can see our levels and stats as well?] (Laurence)

"Unfortunately no. The only thing I can use it on are myself and beings that have no life, like objects or plants, but it strangely worked on those monsters as well."

[That's a shame... But probably worked in your favor since if you weren't able to see their stats and levels in the forest, you wouldn't have attacked and killed them. You might've thought of them as too much to handle given their numbers.] (Laurence)

Well I guess they were half right. Any sane person who would've been in my position, would've decided to hide and wait for them to leave before fleeing themselves. That's also why I didn't tell them the truth about my skill and lied instead.

I really don't want to be dragged by their pace in their wars and be used as a tactical nuke...

"Indeed. But at that time I was blinded by hunger and decided to attack them. When the Gatherers were sent to gather firewood and one Guard left the small clearing, I also decided to kill them one by one. I started with the Guard first and killed him from behind while he was peeing on a nearby tree. I hid his body and then attacked the gatherers. I killed four of them, before coming up with a plan that might help me survive. So I stopped there and kept an eye on the remaining two, while returning to where I killed the first one to make sure I didn't alert them."

[A plan?] (Charles)

"Yes! Since I didn't know the forest and this creatures seem to have a larger number than what I could possibly handle, if I let only one of them escape he would run to his camp, I would follow it and I could see where it is in order to avoid it."

[Brilliant! And? Did you?] (Laurence)

"I did. After the remaining Guard noticed the absence of his companions, he sent the last one of the Gatherers my way to notify the missing boss of the group. I knocked it out cold and hid it at the same place as the first Guard. Soon, the remaining one came along. After I sneaked behind and killed it, I dragged the unconscious remaining Goblin and tied him up. I did that for two reasons: one, I needed to scare him enough to have him run home and two, I wanted some time to eat that rabbit. So after I had my fill, I pretended to drop a makeshift knife I took from one of the Goblins I killed and dropped it in front of the tied up one. Then I left, circled back and headed in the direction they initially wanted to go and waited there. After some hours passed, the stupid green creature managed to finally release itself from the bindings and ran towards me. I kept a safe distance and followed it while marking the way on the trees with my sword until I reached the village. That's when something unexpected happened again."

[So you did reach it properly! Quite dangerous since you were so close to it.] (Charles)

"This guy...he was more enthralled by my story than he should be about the technical details. Pay attention old man! I'm not going to repeat this!"

"Indeed. Soon after that, I moved to the right side of it and ran towards the tower that was in the same direction as the village, when heard a really loud cry from within the poorly built huts. I panicked for a bit because I didn't know what happened, but soon a surprising sight came about in front of my eyes explaining the situation. Tens of Goblins were returning to the village and then left in the direction I killed the monster party."

[A rally cry! It might be one of the skills that the Guard Goblins have sirs! When we captured one, it released a similar loud cry and soon, tens of other Goblins appeared to fight us. We were forced to back down and run with the tail between our legs, while abandoning the hope of bringing that one with us.] (Ronald)

"I see. But remember what you said about the Soldiers and that they are always in a group of five?"

[Hmm!? Yes, what about it?] (Laurence)

"Immediately after that cry, I saw in the distance groups of five of this creatures returning from four different directions. Then, another group of four passed right in front of me. They would've probably discovered me if they weren't in a hurry while headed towards the village. After that I didn't see any other of this groups, unless more were hidden in the village..."

[...meaning that, with the one you killed, there should've been five of this groups outside patrolling the forest, remaining only 24. Worst case scenario, there are at least one more time same number in the village. More than that wouldn't make sense since they created camp there recently.] (Laurence)

"Not necessarily. I watched while running and it seemed to be around 40-50 Guard Goblins and the five groups previously mentioned that headed towards the clearing. If I were to guess, some remained at the village to protect it. So maybe around 70-80 Guards in total and around 30-35 Soldiers. It is a rough estimation though."

[One hundred!? We were expecting it, but still... to hear it is quite frightening. And then?] (Charles)

"I headed out of the forest following the direction of the setting sun. That's how I was found by Ronald. I, of course, marked the trail back with arrows on the trees, pointing towards the Goblin village."

[I can confirm that sirs! I had one of the guards with me search for it and they reported that after venturing in the forest, that the trail keeps going and the trees were indeed marked each four to five meters.] (Ronald)

[How much did you ran towards the wall Michael?] (Charles)

The nobleman closed his eyes, almost like making such a hard decision, that it was breaking his heart in the process. I could roughly guess what he had in mind, but didn't say anything yet. I need him to reach a decision first, if I wanted to minimize my involvement in this.

"About two hours if I were to estimate."

[Haaah... Laurence prepare the men! We will attack two days from now! Prepare at least 500 of them that have experience in fighting the damned things and tell them to be prepared to lose their life for this city!] (Charles)

[Understood! They will gladly do so!] (Laurence)

Here it is! Chanc... Wait, what!?

"Excuse me but, is that really necessary? You could easily kill them with about 100 men."

[[[???]]]

What the fuck!? Really? They really have no experience with wars? Haven't these guys fought against each other at least, if not monsters.

I just dug myself into more shit, didn't I !?