Despite the great risk of moving in dark we decided to not leave this loot here, we had to return couple of times and carry them to our tribe

Before that, we made sure to choose the best of them and equip ourselves

I personally chose the leather armor of level 5 goblin, despite being worn, one would discern the high quality and neat leather working skills of whoever made this, my torso was covered by leather but my hands were not, I could move them freely, it was designed like that, it was thin yet sturdy

As for pants, they would not get in my way since it was short, reaching my knees

As for boots, I found a good one, the stepping side was made of oak wood, whatever it is, it's what appraisal said, the remaining part was made of wolf pelt, it was fluffy but not hindering

For weapon, I was hesitating, I used daggers recently but I really wanted to have a short sword and shield, like that time when I fought for the first time, in the end I decided against carrying a shield back and forth so hid the one I liked in order to take it last, as a weapon I chose a steel gladius sword, its handle was comfortable to hold and I found it fitting

I have not really thought of it before, but what if enemy sneak attacks me with an arrow? I want my head to be safe so I also chose a steel helmet, it was crude and oval, it only covered my bald head, my ears were sticking out, but if was better than nothing, leather one would be like paper defense, as for steel ones, there were not full steel helmets that covered the whole head, neither did I want to wear something like knight helmet, completely covering my head and obstructing my vision

In the end the equipment did not matter as much as level and skills, but it was still needed, at least the damage would be reduced slightly, here are the appraisal results

Sleeveless Leather top Quality: Common Effect: Armor +2 (Only includes the guarded area) Durability: 38/45 Gladius Quality: Common Damage: 7-12 Durability: 71/75 Wolf pelt shoes Quality: Common

Effect: +7% Agility

Wolves will be more hostile

Durability: 24/25 Oval steel helm Quality: Common Effect: +5 armor(Only includes the guarded area) Durability: 88/90 Leather shorts Quality: Common Effect: +2 armor(Only includes the guarded area) Durability: 30/30 Small steel shield Quality: common Effect: Deflect, parry, block Durability: 169/175

The tribe received us with cheers, it was dark but they have not slept yet

Leader asked for the audience with the chief, His guardsman Gruntar and Gnar responded fiercely, but once they knew of circumstances they did not dare receive any measures instead of chief so chief showed himself, now that I looked at him from up close, he seemed different

He was taller and slimmer than others, despite that the vibe he gave off was even more dangerous than his guardsman, that orc from before would not even be worth a fart in front of him

His ears were also less pointed and with all his attire and staff embodied by gems he looked like a priest, his face did not have many wrinkles either

Once he knew of circumstances, and because of the great loot and the good news we obtained he rewarded us with whole 50 mana stones, others showed greed but they could do nothing about it

The next time we did not have to enter the forest alone, many goblins and even Gruntar was assigned to aid us carry back all the loot, they had displeased expressions since we were under chief's protection for a while but I ignored them, I grabbed my shield and we returned with all the loot

On the way we were encircled with stray wolves, but with all the army we had they were easily butchered, unfortunately we did not receive any rewards since they finished them off and we were already given enough rewards

As for wolves, it makes sense for them to mostly hunt at night, they should have good night vision and other advantages at night

That day leader distributed the stones almost evenly among us, each of us received 14 while he received 15

In total now I had 16 mana stones, this was the big harvest, I could not sleep because I knew that I would become level 3 tomorrow, I did not plan on consuming them just yet, I wanted to make that hunchback refine them first

By the way I lived in my own hole that I dug before now, but I deemed it dangerous since many greedy goblins would shamelessly nag me because of my riches and I slept on a huge tree branch

As for why there was no greed between us four was because leader needed us, we all knew that we were not invincible and needed someone to watch our backs, even higher level goblins did not dare go out solo, because all the predators aim for the lone wanderer, if they have not enough firepower, they can overwhelm the enemy with numbers, that's why it's dangerous

We have many enemies and we live in constant mini wars in order to survive, even if we are monsters mostly driven by our nature, we don't want to die in a stupid way

Our overall team power would rise tomorrow, I believe everyone would reach a level up, as for the payment that was nothing but the money for temporary hired team members, as for us, we trusted each other and would most likely stick together

Sooner or later I would quit but I was not ready just yet

The next day I woke up with almost a heart attack, seems in sleep I wriggled around and was on a brink of falling off the tree branch, I could not calm my beating hard and thought it was dangerous to sleep in such narrow place, but it could not be helped

I visited the hunchback and with a discount he only received 4 stones in exchange of purifying other 12

I was excited and immediately ran off, I got up rather early for that, I woke up the hunchback with the kick, he was angry but with the stones I showed he calmed down and even showed a surprised expression, I did not listen to his comments, I was excited for soon to come level up!

Goblins have a sense of comaraderie, but their greed is even bigger, they do not know the concept of family and they are mostly driven by their desires, of course I am an exception and I am getting used to controlling my monster nature since my brain is much more intelligent and emotions can't really weight down my self conscious

I locked myself up in the hole and consumed the mana stones one after another, I did not hurry, I did not want to let the single strand of energy escape and wanted to fully refine them, I was feeling down since my first refinement was crude and most of the energy from stones dissipated, so I had to make up for it with higher quality ones

It took some time to fully refine them, I got up rather early when others were soundly sleeping, I did not want to be disturbed

Finally

I reached the level 3!

I felt my power further raise, as for other things like perception, thinking speed, agility and others would also undoubtedly raise, but it was not very noticable and apparent, still, I had to spend some time to get used to my body

Now the mana stone requirement for next level doubled again, I needed 20 in total, since I consumed all, my progress was at 7/20 mana stones

I was not a shrimp soldier any longer, though I was not really strong, my power definitely rose

I suddenly had the urge to try out my new strength and went out, found a decently short tree with thick branch, hopped in the air and grabbed the trunk, I wanted to try how many times I could lift my body up and touch my chin to the tree trunk, in my past life I could do it about 30 times before being exhausted

1...

2...

...

17...

18...

I was doing it continuously and with average speed but I did not feel my muscle strength diminish by much, I could go on for longer

31...

I exceeded my record, that means my strength exceeds the one I possessed in my past life, I am starting to feel my muscles stain though, I can still go on!

40!

I was breathing heavily and I could barely lift my body, my whole arms went numb

41...

42...

And I fell, panting heavily, I smiled while huffing, despite being a little 1 meter tall maggot my strength is satisfying, not to mention the level damage bonuses that follows the level ups, I feel I can deal with level 4 enemy if I try my best, my new equipment is also more depending

At this early stage mostly enemies do not have enough skill, that's why I have advantage, but I am sure it will lessen over time since the higher the level of monster, the more experienced and skillful will they be

After tiring myself out I rested for a while then I remembered rather important thing

I have not bathed for a whole 3 days!

And here I thought I was missing something

The smell of sweat and blood does not bother my monster nature but! I have the urge to shower

Oh yeah, there is a small cliff behind the tribe, there is a river, I should go there

I followed the path and got past our tribe, walking through grass that reached my torso and saw small steep cliff, there was a path carved, I followed it while supervising my every step and breathed in the fresh air, then I started to undress

That's when I noticed that I was not alone, near the river there was a goblin that was washing tribal clothes

I felt embarrassed being all naked, even more so when I realized it was the female goblin, but I soon calmed down, I did not really have any kind of feeling while looking at her, I did not really hate her but I did not have an ounce of liking towards opposite sex, I wondered was it because of my human mind?

I ignored it and jumped in the river, it was cold

It took some time to get used to the temperature and then I unintentionally looked at her direction

She did not even lift her head, she continued her job, she gave off a gloomy aura, I started getting curious of her circumstances and hesitated whether to converse with her or not

I did not really know much about the female goblins, the male ones got all the attention, I also rarely saw the female goblins and female warriors were even rarer, I suddenly had the urge to know the reason