How To Get Strong(3)

Thinking of the search skill was a pain. I had no idea where I should begin.

Do I just look for footprints on the ground? Maybe broken branches could be an indicator.

I can train that skill in the future. Next time I hunt in the forest, I will try to look for signs of monsters.

After enough times, I would probably get the skill. For now, I need to train my bow so I can get that skill.

I stood up and waited next to where the pile of weapons would drop. The angel appeared again, and I trained my resistance to the pressure.

After the angel dropped the weapons, I picked up a bow and made an X target on a tree.

This time, I didn't party with anyone. There was no need to party up, as I didn't know anyone who was good at the bow.

Kim Jihoon doesn't count; his skill is straight-up cheating. He doesn't need to aim at all; his arrows will just lock on the targets.

Thinking of his skill, I started to get annoyed. Luckily, shooting arrows was pretty stress-relieving.

I shot arrows from 10 meters away, and I hit a few bullseyes here and there. So I increased the distance to around 15 meters.

It still wasn't enough to use in battle yet, unless the target is 10 meters in front of me and stands completely still.

I doubt any of these monsters will do that, especially given their anger issues.

Time passed, and it was about to get dark. Honestly, just practicing was pretty boring.

But seeing progress is always satisfying, so I kept on doing it. But there was another problem.

I haven't slept for a long time. Because every time I regress, all my fatigue goes away.

So there really wasn't a need for me to sleep.

There was also another reason that I didn't sleep. I knew that if I slept, I would probably get a nightmare.

The cause is Yon's death. It really traumatized me, but seeing her alive made me feel a lot better.

I need to stop thinking that the Yon I made a promise to is dead. Instead, it's better that I think that I came back in time to prevent her death.

A part of my mental stress dissipated slightly.

Rumbling. 

My stomach growled, and I was getting hungry. I could wait for the middle-aged group to appear, or I could regress right now and get rid of my hunger.

I took my dagger out. Every time I go to the pile of weapons, it has become a habit to always equip a dagger.

Wait, couldn't I also get a dagger skill? That would be super useful to have, as I always carry a dagger with me so I could regress when I wanted to.

Therefore, having a dagger skill that gives me a stat buff is super convenient.

I mentally noted another thing to add to my list of things to train.

With the way I am adding things to my list, I will probably never be done.

The next thing I should do is kill some more goblins so I can get to level 5.

I stabbed myself in the eye with no hesitation. 

[Skill activation]

- Perfect Clear[X]

[Returning to the moment you first entered this floor] 

*****

I was getting very used to stab myself in the eye to regress. I don't know if I should be scared or proud.

I stood up and immediately walked to the usual spot. Here I waited for the angel to appear, which was becoming a habit.

In the meantime, I would look at the people here. They all had different expressions.

Some were confused, some were scared, and some were even excited.

The people who were excited were young people.

They probably thought that something new was finally happening in their mundane lives.

Most of the people that got transported here were mostly young people.

Which made me think that the tower is deliberately choosing younger people.

Or maybe there is some different kind of criteria?

Ripple! 

The portal spawned again and the angel came out of it. I again tried to fight back, but with small results.

"Sigh... Still a long way to go". I sighed and took a sword and dagger from the pile of weapons.

I sprinted to the west side of the forest. With my agility stat of almost 9, I was twice as fast as regular people.

It was pretty nice to be that fast, as I could feel the wind hitting my face.

Before I was about to enter the forest, I stopped and thought about the south side.

The west side of the forest had a lot of goblins, but there were no traps. The only place that had traps and goblins was the south side of the forest.

"Are they trying to prevent us from going that way?". I said my thoughts out loud.

I have noticed that I keep talking to myself more and more. Maybe it's because I am actively trying to avoid communicating with the other players.

Well, I am trying to avoid conversations and confrontations as much as possible.

So it makes sense that I am starting to talk to myself.

But let's go back to the problem. I think I need to explore the south side, and there are two reasons for that.

First, it feels like they are trying to prevent us from going that way.

And maybe if I leave the forest from the south side and explore further, I could find something different.

When I left the west side of the forest, there were straw houses. And when you went even further, you could find another forest.

So maybe there is something different in the other direction. I was dying to know, both literally and metaphorically.

Second, I could train my skill in detecting and avoiding traps. If I could get a skill in swordsmanship, what was stopping me from also getting a trap detection skill?

For those two reasons, I ran to the south side. 

one hour later.

I think I am about a third of the way there, as I needed to walk in a regular pace if I wanted to dodge the traps.

And I have found out that there are way fewer goblins here.

But instead the number of traps is numerous; I don't know how many I have barely avoided.

Even with my stats, it was hard to dodge all of them.

Pitfalls, snares, tripwires, quicksand, swing log traps. and so many more different types of traps.

Even other goblins have been hit by those traps. This was evident by the goblin corpses that were here and there.

If not for those goblins, those corpes could have been me instead.

So I was thankful for the goblins that tanked some of the traps for me.

But it also made me wonder. I thought the goblins made these traps.

But what kind of monsters get caught in their own traps?

This made me think that the goblins probably didn't make the traps.

creaking! 

I heard a faint creeking sound, and without hesitation, I stepped with all my might on the ground to dash backwards.

Bang! 

I fell on my back as I saw two massive logs hitting each other.

I barely avoided the massive logs that would have smashed me to paste.

"There is no f*cking way that goblins could make that trap". 

The massive logs would be way too heavy to carry for the goblins. But I also don't know how a swinging log trap is made.

I have died a few times, but never from something like that.

And I would prefer to let it stay that way.

It made me want to turn around, as I was a little scared to continue.

Is there even a need to go through the south side of the forest?

Couldn't I just exit from the west side of the forest and walk to the south?

Is there even a need to brute-force my way through the traps?

The goblins that died tothe traps would probably agree with me.

I stood up and dusted dirt from my clothes.

"Yeah, I like that approach more". 

The plan is that I will regress, exit the west side of the forest, and move to the south after I have left the forest.

It's way easier that way.

The trap detection skill can wait for another time.

I took my dagger out. I looked at the dagger, and thought about something. 

Wouldn't using the dagger to stab myself, count as a way to train my dagger skill? 

"Well time will tell". I said as I stabbed myself in the eye.

[Skill activation]

- Perfect Clear[X]

[Returning to the moment you first entered this floor]