102 How About A Bet?

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-Level 12 Scrofa Boar Killed-

-Level 11 Scrofa Boar Killed-

-Level 11 Scrofa Boar Killed-

-Level 13 Scrofa Boar Killed-

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4 lines of notification appeared at the side of Matthew's vision confirming that the 4 boars were all killed by his own hands.

Matthew was currently standing beside the two boar carcasses and he was surrounded by the six kobolds.

The kobolds were confused at first when they heard Matthew's voice shouting at them to get ready. Luckily, Nass was quick to respond and told the other kobolds to hold their spears and be prepared for whatever was about to come.

Then in the next moment, they saw Matthew suddenly reappear on the other side of the group, standing in front of one of the boars. And they also saw Matthew send the boars running away by only revealing himself.

With Nass' lead, the kobolds didn't panic when seeing the remaining 2 boars were running with all their might towards them. Nass commanded the kobolds to form a line with their spears pointing towards the charging boars and reminded them to hold their position.

The boars then saw the sharp bone spears pointing at themselves and hit their break as soon as possible to avoid running their heads straight into them. But it turned out to be one of the worst decisions that they had made.

The moment they lose their charging speed and momentum, Nass immediately commands the kobolds to circle around the boars and trap them inside while slowly slashing and thrusting their spears towards them.

As their victory was guaranteed, Nass took his time and planned to just drag out the fight and tire the boars before finishing them off.

However, Matthew thought differently when he suddenly jumped off from a tree and mounted one of the boars, and killed it only within a few seconds. All the kobolds, including Nass, didn't expect Matthew would suddenly jump into the encirclement and kill one of the boars.

Their surprise wasn't over as they saw Matthew suddenly charge towards the last remaining boar barehanded without using any weapons. Nass was shocked and slightly terrified that Matthew would be hit by the boar's tusk head-on, but he didn't expect that in the next moment, Matthew's bare skin had deflected the boar's tusk away.

And with the boar's charge incapacitated, Matthew easily killed the boar with a thrust of his hand.

All of this had happened in under a minute and hence the reason why even though Matthew was now the only one that remains standing in the middle of the encirclement, the kobolds couldn't understand and process properly what had just happened right in front of their eyes.

Even the kobold kids who were talkative and can easily react to a lot of things were speechless as they saw Matthew one-sidedly kill the group of boars alone without leaving a single survivor.

The silence in the area was all due to the spectators were shocked and awed by Matthew's strength, but Matthew thought that the silence was due to something else.

Matthew looked at his surroundings and saw that both the adult kobolds and the kobold kids were all looking at him as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Matthew then looked down and realized that half of his body was covered in red with the boar's blood and even his left hand was still dripping with wet red blood.

'I completely forgot that there were kids watching!' Matthew thought that he had done something that he wasn't supposed to do and he almost face palmed himself hard but stopped after realizing that his face might look even scarier with the blood from his hands.

'Is this too bloody and graphic for the kids…? But why are the adult kobolds also looking at me like that???'

Matthew was about to apologize to the group for showing them an unsightly sight, but before the words came out of his mouth, Matthew heard the first kobold kid first,

"Brother Matthew! You are so freaking cool!!"

Matthew tilted his head because he didn't expect that the first response the kid gave him would be complimenting him and not grossed out by the sheer amount of blood covering his body and the ground on his feet. But Matthew didn't need to ask to confirm what he heard was correct as the kobold kid continued,

"You were here and then whoosh you disappear then squeal one boar dead then poof you appear and two boar dead, after that you go up then jump down then three dead and next you rush forward then bam four of them dead. Please teach me, brother Matthew!"

Seeing his brother was pumped up, the second kobold also shouted,

"Brother I saw you jumping from one tree to another and you moved so fast! Can you teach me how to do it!?? And how are your claws so sharp and strong? How do you train them? Tell me, brother, I want to be like you!"

The third kobold kid was also amazed by Matthew, but all the lines she wanted to say had already been taken by her elder brothers so she only said,

"I also wanted to be like you!"

Matthew wanted to question the kobolds why their children weren't affected at all by all the blood, but after he remembered that they might have already been used to it after seeing or maybe even helping the kobolds in the village butchering and preparing the game that the hunting team brought ever since they were born, then it makes sense that seeing the boar's blood didn't affect them at all.

But Matthew wasn't able to respond to the kids yet as the other kobolds started bombarding him with their own praises and questions just like the kobold kids do.

And in the end, Matthew ended up overwhelmed by their questions and he needed to ask for Nass' help to ease the kobolds' excitement first. Although Nass does his job properly by reminding the kobolds not to get too excited when asking Matthew, Matthew noticed that even Nass was paying close attention to every word that came out of Matthew's mouth whenever he answered one of the kobolds' questions.

However, Matthew feels kind of bad for the kobolds as they asked questions like,

'How were your claws so sharp and strong?'

Umm… I stole them from the wolves and added them to my body?

'Why are your limbs so flexible and agile?'

I also stole them from the monkeys…?

'How did you make your skin strong enough to repel the boar's tusk?'

I'm sorry but it was stolen too…

'How were you able to disappear and appear out of nowhere?'

It's the chameleon's exclusive aura ability?

'Was that your strongest attack?'

Well, my claws are one of the strongest since I can also incapacitate the boars by only grazing them with my venomous claws.

There's no way Matthew would be able to answer the kobolds' questions truthfully and all his answer so far boils down to either

"I have been using them to fight ever since I was born so I guess that's why they are tougher and sharper than usual."

or

"I don't know, I have had them since birth."

Which wasn't the best answer for the kobolds that wanted to improve their own strength because most of them already reached level 12 and one of them is even level 14 which means that it was too late for them to train their bodies and evolve into a similar kobold race to Matthew when they reached level 15.

And it's even sadder news for Nass who knew that his body won't be able to change anymore since he had already changed to a kobold warrior after reaching level 15 and to evolve once again he needed to reach level 20 where even the village chief couldn't achieve after trying for over a decade.

But in the midst of the depressed adult kobolds, the kobold kids were rejoicing that they're all still under level 10 and there's still a chance for them to be able to evolve to a similar type of kobold to Matthew.

Of course, the first one to notice this is the first kobold kid, who immediately tells his 2 other peers about the good news and planted the idea on them making the three of them say,

"Brother Matthew, from now on, please train us!"

With the first kobold kid taking the lead, the three kobold kids bowed their heads while saying the line as if the first kobold kid had briefed them about it first.

"Wait a minute, stop right there. I know what you're thinking kid, but I don't even know if it would work in the first place." Matthew said to lessen the kids' excitement and tone down their expectations.

"It's okay brother Matthew, In the worst-case scenario we will only evolve to ordinary kobold warriors when we reach level 15 and we've had nothing to lose by imitating your training method!"

'It's more like my circumstances that I don't ever use any weapons rather than training… But I am curious as well, would the kobolds be able to evolve to something else other than a kobold warrior or a kobold mage? It's an interesting experiment for sure, let's do it then!'

'But wait a minute Matthew! You promised the old kobold to help him coax the kobold kid, if you just poach him away just like that then the old kobold's beating staff will come aiming straight at your head!'

"I can help you two," Matthew said to the twins,

"But for you kid, I still think learning to become a kobold mage is more beneficial for you and for your village. Your grandpa is the last kobold mage and there's no one else that can replace him right now. The village will be significantly weaker if there's no kobold mage in the village." He said to the first kobold kid.

The twins were happy at first, but after hearing that their eldest brother can't join them, they became hesitant to leave the first kobold kid alone.

But of course, the first kobold kid being someone who was gifted with an excellent mind didn't just back down and be depressed with a simple rejection. He then said,

"It's not my fault brother! Grandpa is the one who refused to teach other kids and forced me to learn magic even though I wanted to become a kobold warrior!"

"Well if the training succeeds then you probably won't be a kobold warrior right? What's the difference?"

"It's different! If the training succeeds and I become as strong as brother Matthew, then I will be able to lead the other kobolds just like my father did when he was the strongest kobold warrior! A kobold mage fights from the backline and the others have to protect the mage while fighting. I don't want to be in the backline and only rely on the others, I want the others to rely on me and I will protect them instead of the other way around!"

Matthew was starting to get another headache while being assaulted by the first kobold kid's flawless logic and debating skills that are probably on par with some politicians that he knew.

Matthew knew that he still got the parent card to use, but in this situation where the first kobold kid is seriously talking about his future, Matthew couldn't afford to use the parent card since he knew how bad it will affect the first kobold kid based on his personal experience.

In the end, Matthew decided to take a neutral way out where all sides will get a win-win situation.

"How about this, let's make a bet."

"A bet?"

"Yes, if I win then you will have to learn magic in the morning with your grandpa, but I will still train you later after you finish with your magic training."

"Then if you lose?"

"I won't bother you about learning magic anymore and I will still train you along with the twins."

"What is the bet?"

"How about this, I bet you that I could predict where a boar or a deer will be tomorrow. Well, just do it like this,"

Matthew then walked a few distances away from the puddle of blood and the boar's carcasses, he then made a circle using a twig and stabbed the twig onto the ground before he continued saying,

"I bet that tomorrow, either a boar or a deer will be standing inside this circle when we arrive here tomorrow."

Being the smart kid that he is, even though he knew that the chance of that is happening is slim because nobody can predict the movement of the deers or the boars, the first kobold kid won't take any chances and asked,

"The boar or the deer will be alive right?"

"Of course"

"You won't use ropes or vines to bind their legs?"

"No"

"You won't incapacitate them?"

"No, as I said, they will be standing inside the circle"

"If more than half of their body is out of the circle then it won't count!"

"Yes, of course."

"Then, we have a deal!"

Matthew and the first kobold kid then shook their hands while each of them have their own different thoughts,

'Brother Matthew must be searching for a legitimate reason to give up telling me to learn magic so that grandpa won't be angry at him. Since there is no way that he could predict the exact time and location the boars or the deers will be spotted, and if they really do come here, there's no way brother Matthew would be able to keep them inside the circle without binding them or breaking their legs! Maybe I should thank brother Matthew for giving me a legitimate reason to escape grandpa.'

'I'm sorry kid, I might be cheating a little, but this is for the village's future and your own future.'