Hey, Giri are people of this world aware of levels?

“Not completely, but they understand the more they kill the stronger they become.” (Giri)

I see…

“Marilyn, how powerful are these Treants and Dryads.” (Blade)

“Extraordinarily so. Bornean Forest is extremely large, and holds a large amount of resources but there are a few things that reside here that keep the neighboring kingdoms from coming here to plunder it. The first is the mighty Earth Dragon, the second is the Elder Treants. The Earth Dragon itself is easily capable of burning down this entire forest, and destroying any normal army by itself. But the Elder Treant is a monster that easily surpasses the Earth Dragon.” (Marilyn)

“A normal army?” (Blade)

“Yes, an Earth Dragon is powerful, but they’re considered a Lesser-Dragon. They can’t hold a candle to those legendary dragons born from the very world itself.” (Marilyn)

“They’re born from the world?” (Blade)

“Yes, every God is born from one way or another. They could’ve started as a normal person and ascended to Godhood, they could’ve been born from people’s very beliefs or emotions, or they could have been born from the world itself. And of the many Gods in existence the Dragon God was born from the world itself. He then created the Lizard-kin, and the powerful Lesser Dragons. But the Dragon God isn’t the only Dragon born from the world itself, and those dragons live on to become legends.” (Marilyn)

"But has anyone defeat those Dragon's before?" (Blade)

"Yes, there are tales of heroes battling the dragons and at times winning." (Marilyn)

So at least their not unbeatable , but I still need to watch out for that Earth Dragon for now.

"What would it take to take care of an Earth Dragon?" (Blade)

"Well powerful elite groups of larger kingdoms like perhaps a Unit of Dragoons, or maybe a Unit of Advanced Mages could probably take down the Earth Dragon but usually subjugating an Earth Dragon is the Adventurer Guilds duty, unless of course the Dragon attacks a city or an important official. Usually it would take Raid Group of A Class adventurers, or a party of S Class Adventurers. Though there are some S Class Adventurers who've single handedly defeated an Earth Dragon." (Marilyn)

Oh? That's interesting. Were those adventurers otherworlders? That is a possibility. Anyway I suppose it's time to get out of here.

I pull my legs out of the vines, and help Marilyn out of the ones covering her legs as well. It’s getting a little late, we should head back now and see if we can spot any Adventurers still around. Let’s see if we can spot any Adventurers.

I hurriedly make my way through the forest eliminating a few animals on my way. I would have been able to get there faster, but the Marilyn’s body was far too weak. She might be higher level than me right now, but that was only the Flesh Devil. The Marilyn behind me right now is only a level 9 human, and she can only keep up with me right now, because the Flesh Devil’s pushing her body.

I talked with the Flesh Devil, and it seems that if she felt like it she could ignore her body's limitations but doing so would wreck the body she’s possessing. Afterwards she’d forcibly be ejected from the skin, and return to her true form.

I look through my minimap, and I can’t seem to find anyone just yet. So I climb onto a nearby tree, and wait. After a bit of waiting, I was able to spot three white dots walking through the forest on my minimap.

And as I look in their directions, I’m able to spot three adventurers walking down the road. I signal Marilyn, and quickly jump from tree to tree to as I approach the group with Camouflage. As soon as I’m 20 meters away from them, I have Marilyn stop, and I scan their group.

Perfect, the strongest of the group was a level 17 male swordsman, so all of them were in Mind Control range. So I activate Mind Control, and have them get off the dirt road and enter the part of the forest where we were. And as soon as they were all in front of me, I asked

“Which one do you want?” (Blade)

Marilyn points at the only girl in the group, she had brown hair and wore light leather armor. On her back was a quiver with a few arrows inside. She also had a single dagger, and a bag.

“I’ll take the female archer. She’s weaker than the other’s but a female body has more uses than a males as a flesh devil.” (Marilyn)

“That’s fine” (Blade)

I have the girl walk forward, and the Flesh Devil pops out of Marilyn’s skin taking it off as if they were clothes. He walks up to the girl and with his sharp fingers stabs into her neck. Slowly all the flesh and bone was sucked out of her just like Marilyn and she to became nothing but skin.

Once again the Flesh Devil possessed the leftover skin, and became the female adventurer. And naturally her level rose to 16.

“So who are you now?” (Blade)

“Stella Foster, Age 21. I’m sure you suspected it , but she’s an Archer. Her Adventure Rank is D. She was born in Lexel, a city to the west. She’s from an orphanage so she has no family. This one over here is Toby, and the other one is Jackson.” (Stella)

The strongest adventurer in there group was Jackson, and then there was Toby who had both a short sword and a long sword.

“They’re both D Rank Adventurers, and this party seems only to be a temporary party.” (Stella)

I see, I could use them, but I can only maintain Mind Control for so long. I could change their memories with Mind Control, but I can’t guarantee they’ll be loyal to me. They could also end up being hindrances.

Hey, Giri I still gain experience from having the Flesh Devil kill right?

“Of course, but since she’s absorbing them you get less that half the exp. If she just kills them you get half. ” (Giri)

I see, then I’ll kill Toby, and Stella can absorb Jackson. I pull out my machete, and cut of Toby’s head. Then I order Stella to absorb Jackson, and she levels up to level 18.

It’s a good thing that I have Mind Control, the absorption of someone stronger than her takes quite a long time after all. I put Toby’s corpse in my inventory, as well as what’s left of Jackson along with both of their equipment. I also pick up the Robe, and Marilyn’s skin and put it in my inventory.

“Stella, did you go out on any missions?” (Blade)

“No, we were resting after going to subjugate some Dire Wolves. We just went out to see if we could get something extra to eat before we left to go to the city.” (Stella)

“Then, if anyone asks say that you guys went your separate ways and joined me. How much money do you have?” (Blade)

“My total saving are 3 Silver, 67 Iron, and 49 Copper, but I only have 7 Iron, and 93 Copper on me.” (Stella)

“That’s more than enough, make sure to buy another room in the inn. Go back ahead of me I need to go to the adventurers guild. Meet me in the morning.”

“Very well.” (Stella)

I quickly entered the village and headed to the Adventurer's guild to collect my money. And I was greeted by the energetic receptionist.

“Hello, how was the subjugation? Was it too much?” (Janet)

“No, I’ve completed it.” (Blade)

“Eh, well I suppose that’s expected from someone the Doctor vouched for.” (Janet)

That’s not what you were thinking earlier…

“Well with this you're a step closer to D Rank! Oh, and here’s 4 Iron Coins. Just give me a second. So how was it, were there a lot of them? ” (Janet)

She took out 4 iron coins and put them on the desk, and began writing a few things down.

“There were 23 Goblins. Don’t worry I killed all of them.” (Blade)

“23? That’s a bit more than usual, did they already have a chieftain?” (Janet)

“Yes.” (Blade)

“Ah, then the information was a bit off, here take this.” (Janet)

Janet took out an extra Iron Coin.

“The subjugation mission was sent under the assumption that it was a new goblin cave. Those usually have between 12-15 Goblins that were sent out from a larger cave. Once their population grows to 20 they select a chieftain, and begin organizing themselves into ranks like Raiders, Archers, and the like. Subjugation Quest with Chieftains are usually upper D-Rank to Lower C-Rank. I’m surprised you came out of that alive, let alone killed them all.”(Janet)

“I’m stronger than I look.” (Blade)

“I bet, anyway we’ll send someone to check the cave. Any loot you took from there is naturally yours too keep, but if you brought over some of their weapons you can trade it with the blacksmith. He uses it as scrap iron. We won’t send anyone for 3 days so you have that much time to head back to fetch the equipment. If you don’t want to you can pay someone to go over and fetch the equipment as well. For now I’ll just mark your achievements. Tell me if you want to take another mission, or if you have any other questions.” (Janet)

“Then can you tell me about Goblins and Orcs?” (Blade)

“Orcs? Did you happen to stumble upon one?” (Janet)

“Yeah, a mine.” (Janet)

“The mine! Your lucky none of them spotted you. That mine has an Orc Mage, and Orcs are as strong as or stronger than an adult male.” (Janet)

“I was able to spot them from afar.” (Blade)

“You ought to be careful, those guys have much strong equipment because of that mine. Orcs themselves are comparable to D-C Rank adventurers, but that mine would require a small army of C Rank Adventurers to take of it.”

I see, a small army huh…

“And what did you want to ask about the Goblins, don’t tell me you bumped into a large cave?” (Janet)

I nod my head yes

“I can’t believe it…. Do you not value your life!” (Janet)

Janet slams the desk, and stands up glaring at me.

“Ah, whatever you made it out somehow. I’m sure you know but Goblins are extremely fertile. They can impregnate any Humanoid race, any they grow extremely quickly. They’re capable of overwhelming others with pure numbers alone. They’re a real menace for us here since there aren’t too many Humanoid races out here. And since they’re male to female ratio is an absurd 20:1, they have to constantly venture out to find mates” (Janet)

Janet sighs, and sits back down. She pulls out a very vague map of the forest.

“This is our village over here, and this is the Goblin King’s cave, though he’s actually a Hobgoblin. Anyway there are hundreds of goblins here, and they leave their cave to form other caves. A cave lead by a Goblin Lord has around 50-100 Goblins, and a Goblin Chieftain leads 20-50 Goblins. I’m warning you right now stay away from those large Goblin Caves. It safer going to visit a Hobgoblin village than it is visit those caves.” (Janet)

I see, I don’t think I’ve been to that part of the forest. That’s actually rather deep. I’ll need to make a mental note about that one.

I take the 5 Iron Coins and say goodbye to Janet, and head on back to the inn.

“Oh, Mr. Blade” (Claire)

“Hello” (Blade)

“Would you like to extend your stay? Would you like a meal?” (Claire)

“Yeah, I’ll take both. I’ll also pay for breakfast while I’m at it.” (Blade)

I had Claire 30 Copper extending my stay by a day.

“Do you have any preferences for dinner?” (Claire)

“No.” (Blade)

Claire walks into the kitchen and puts on a apron, and begins cooking something up.

I sit down on the table, and wait while listening in on several other conversations.

“Oh, you’re going to back to the city?” (Adventurer A)

“Did you see that girl?” (Adventurer B)

“Oh, look Claire’s cooking. I wonder if she has a crush on the new guy?” (Adventurer C)

“Yeah, I saw her. She was oddly cold. She wasn’t like that earlier, and her party isn’t with her anymore dont tell me…” (Adventurer D)

“Shit, I gotta take a shit!” (Adventurer E)

“Here’s your dinner” (Claire)

Claire walks up to me with a tray of food. She puts down a plate of bread with some meat, and a bowl of vegetable soup. Then she sits down, in front of me, and watches me.

“Um…” (Blade)

She tells me with a smile, “Don’t mind me just eat.” (Claire)

She was acting a bit weird, but I didn’t mind it. I slowly finish my food, before I head up to my room to sleep. But just as I as was about to go to bed I noticed a single red dot, on my minimap. And as I looked through the window I noticed an oddly equipped Goblin.

The day’s not over just yet!

Authors Note

Short chapter, especially since the last one was so long, but I put out such a long one since I didn't update for a while. Anyway I posted this one cause it was snowing and decided to make another chapter. So give me a bit to make the other one. I'll have it done by today I promise.