Red truly turned his life around after the awakening. He thought what awaited him after the awakening was even a harsher reality. Especially after the Shaman put a curse on him. However, the curse became a push for him, which led to this day.
The Chief agreed to give him Darla, but Darla still needed to do her job to cook for the whole village. Then he got a new house, a bigger one. Of course, he picked a new weapon as well.
Even though he was appointed as the head of the hunters, his daily routine didn't change that much. The difference was that he had Darla, who attended to him, and he dedicated a certain amount of time to learning his new skill, especially the skills related to the Manasmith.
Aside from that, he always left the morning to hunt, looking for a worthy prey. The Dire Lupus and the Dire Wolf were thinning out after the Dire Wolf King was killed.
Thankfully, he found the pond with the fish when he visited another goblin village. If he could not find anything that was level 7 and above, he would visit the pond.
Today was another day that he failed to find a beast that was level 7 and above. He had to visit the pond, which was quite far from the village, but it was quite a big haul as he managed to kill twelve Crimson Scales Biters.
While it was unfortunate that three of them were level 5, which could not be exchanged for loot. He is level 6 now. The benefit of becoming the head of the hunter allowed him to exchange the prey he hunted for loot without limit.
In fact, it was the Chief who told him to do so. The Chief wanted him to evolve into a hob so he could join them in raiding the human village and caravan.
He just needed to make sure that the village had enough food, then he could do whatever he wanted. With the Chief away, he was the one with the most authority in the village after the Matron.
Thanks to the privilege, he reached level 7 in two weeks after the Dire Wolf attacked the village. He was halfway to level 8. That was why he only looked for level 7 beasts and above. The three fish in his hands were level 5; the loot would only give him coins with no core.
The reason he brought them back was that he wondered if Darla had made something good with the fish.
The sun had already set by the time he returned to the village. The goblin guards acknowledged him with a nod, but the adult worker goblins still disregarded him.
Even though it was the Chief's decision to put him in his position, many could not accept the decision. It was proven by these gazes. Especially from the kids of his generation. While they were not outright hostile toward him anymore, they still badmouthed him behind his back.
He had gotten used to that, so he didn't bother stopping them. As long as he listened to his order, he didn't care what they said about it.
He followed the path to the center of the village. His house was close to the main building, and he noticed the light lit up in his house. Darla had returned from her cooking duty.
"I… am home…"
Red said it in human language, something Darla understood. Apparently, that was what the human said when they returned home.
A head poked out from the kitchen door. Darla smiled at him, waving her hand, indicating that she was still making food for him.
It had been two weeks since she stayed in his house. She regained her smile, her lips no longer pale, and her cheek regained its rosy color. She looked even better than before he took her in.
Red entered the kitchen and placed the fish on the table. He understood a few words, but they could not really communicate in human language. However, he didn't say anything as she quickly understood the assignment.
Darla was surprised to see the crimson-scaled fish. She then quickly examined the fish. It seemed she used a skill because he could sense mana flowing from her toward the fish.
Darla's next words confirmed his guess that she had expended a man to use a skill. A skill to identify the fish, "It's not poisonous. Fish is delicate and needs preparation to make it good. But I can make a simple dish like grilled fish if you want."
Red furrowed his brows, trying to make out what she said. He only understands one or two words. Darla was quick to catch and realized that she was still talking to a goblin, a peculiar one who didn't fully understand her language.
"Wait…" She pointed at the table while making a gesture, "I will cook for you, wait, okay?"
Red understood what she tried to say. He took off his armor and changed into more comfortable clothes. He put his armor and weapons in a small room, a dedicated room for them. He didn't forget to take the metal ball from his room.
He turned a rusty dagger into three metal balls with Mana Smelting. Then he shaped it into a ball with Mana Forging. He tried to make it spiky just like previous metal balls, but it was much harder than he thought.
The metal would crumble every time he tried it. On top of that, using the skill required a lot of mana, so it took him three days to smelt the dagger, and another two days to shape it into a ball.
The skill was different from the other skills he had, as he didn't have extra control to use the skill. He must be precise with the mana, as it would help him reduce the mana consumption as well.
The learning experience was quite slow, and he was stuck on making the metal ball spiky after two weeks. All he did was Mana Forging and Mana Refining so far.
While waiting for Darla, he made another attempt to make the spike on the metal balls. The metal ball was floating, pushed by his mana. The metal ball was surrounded by the mana, and he could not immediately shape it, or else it would crumble into pieces.
He needed to soften the metal with his mana before starting to create the spikes on the metal ball. Only then did he start to shape it, creating the spikes.
The metal had turned like a liquid as he pulled up spikes from the smooth surface. The spike was wobbly and unstable. The single spike was crooked and too thin.
He reforged the spike part, returning to the original smooth surface ball, and he repeated the same process until his mana was low. Of course, he still could not recreate the ideal metal ball he wanted. It was much harder than he thought.
"Status!"
Name: ???
Level: 7
Health: 728 Stamina: 687 Mana: 38
[Tier 0 Might]
Strength: 72.8 Endurance: 74.6 Vitality: 71.8 Dexterity: 73.2
[Tier 0 Magic]
Intelligence: 112.8 Wisdom: 113.4 Arcane Perception: 114.6 Mind: 115
Skills:
Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense - Level 12, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 18, Appraisal - Level 16, Bleeding - Level 2, Fireball - Level 3
Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 4, Mana Refining - Level 2, Mana Sharpening - Level 1, Mana Repairing - Level 1
Tier 4: Mana Forging - Level 1, Mana Tempering - Level 1
Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1