Red Monster

Chapter 66: Bewildered Red

The dark jungle became darker as the sun was setting. Strands of orange light barely pierced through the gap of the thick canopy. That indicated that Red must return to the village. He then glanced at his third haul of the day, eighteen cores with a small pile of coppers.

He just finished the third hunt of the day, and this third one was the largest kobold group, eight kobolds. However, the highest level was still level 10, doable for him, which was why he decided to hunt the group. If there are two or three level 11 kobolds or even above, he might hesitate.

The hunt was a success, and he got eighteen more cores: eight mighty cores and ten magic cores. He stuffed the copper into his pouch, then absorbed all the cores. It became his habit to check his status after he absorbed the cores.

"Status!"

Level: 8

Health: 80 Stamina: 756 Mana: 1212

[Tier 0 Might]

Strength: 83 (+3) Endurance: 82.4 (+2.4) Vitality: 82.6 (2.6) Dexterity: 82.6 (+2)

[Tier 0 Magic]

Intelligence: 123.4 (+2.6) Wisdom: 123.8 (+2.6) Arcane Perception: 122.4 (+1.8) Mind: 124.2 (+2.6)

Skills:

Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense - Level 13, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 19 (+1), Appraisal - Level 16, Bleeding - Level 3 (+1), Fireball - Level 3

Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 5, Mana Refining - Level 3, Mana Sharpening - Level 1, Mana Repairing - Level 1

Tier 4: Mana Forging - Level 1, Mana Tempering - Level 2

Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1

He smiled in satisfaction, seeing his progress. If he could get the same amount of core every day, he would reach level 9 in six or seven days. It was a great progress, but he kept reminding himself not to get ahead of himself.

Then his eyes fell on his skills. He gained a level in Levelheaded and Bleeding. Both skills gained a level in his last hunt. Then his eyes fell on Fireball, next to Bleeding.

Bleeding was a passive skill that was hard to level up since it was a passive skill. He could not use his skill at will, as it required luck to trigger, yet it was on the same level as Fireball.

The reason he didn’t use it was that he didn’t want to be overly reliant on the skill. He was afraid that using the skill too much would dull his hunting. Sure, Fireball made his hunting a lot easier, but there was a chance that the skill might not work on his enemy. If that day came, he needed to rely on his fighting ability. That was why he didn’t use the skill, afraid it would dull his instinct to hunt and fight.

"But maybe I should use it occasionally to increase the level..." He muttered in a low voice. There was one day that his spear and blade might not work against a certain enemy, and he needed a Fireball for that.

Then his eyes fell on other skills. He had many skills, but half of them were low-level. "I need to work on my other skills too..."

He had been slacking in his crafting skills. He had given up on making the spiky balls because of his lack of control. At least in the last three days or so.

Red remembered why he had not been training his skills. It was because of his night activity with Darla. That made him remember that he forgot to put aside one or two might cores as well. He needed to increase her endurance, after all.

"I should get her two or three cores tomorrow..." He mumbled as he made his way back to his home.

The journey back to the village was quite exhausting as he had to drag back the weapon and armor from the fourteen kobolds he killed today in the second hunt. The uneven terrain made it hard for him. The weight and the number of armor and weapons made it hard for him to climb the tree.

He had to find the main road and drag them back. It took more time than usual. He threw all the weapons and armor at the sight of the guard before heading back to his home.

Red was late, later than usual. When he opened the door, he spotted Darla behind the table. Her expression was full of worry as this was the first time that Red came back so late. What made it worse was that he didn’t tell her that he would be late.

The moment she heard the sound of the door opening. Her head snapped toward the direction. Her eyes went wide as a smile formed. Then she dashed toward the door and leaped toward Red.

Red was caught off guard, but his reflexes were quick to catch her. He was utterly confused by her behavior, and then he felt her hurried breathing on his neck as she was clinging to him. She tightened her grip on her; she could feel the added pressure on her finger. It didn’t hurt him or anything, so he let her be.

He walked in with a human clinging to his chest. Even when he opened his small space armory, she was still clinging. He leaned the five spears against the back, then he put the two blades on the right side, and his slingshot had its own separate section.

The only issue was that he could not take off the armor. The good news was that Darla’s breathing had stabilized. Not knowing what to say or do, he just sat at the table. She had prepared the dinner.

The soup was clear; he could see orange-colored veggies, sliced thinly. Then there was bone with shredded meat that was still on the bone, also red meat, which he assumed was Rabbon’s meat.

Then he glanced at the second plate. Another meat dish that was cut thinly, but this was dark brown in color. It was not the color of the meat, but the thick liquid that coated the meat. He could not tell what meat it was, but it was mixed with green and red stuff.

The third plate was grilled rabbon; a whole rabbon was grilled, and he saw something stuffed inside the rabbon. His mouth was watering, but he didn’t move.

He was sitting on the chair, and Darla was sitting on his thigh. Her hand was around her neck right now, and her cheek leaned on her neck as well. Then his hand moved, stroking her back. He didn’t know why he did it, but he just felt it was the right thing to do.

He didn’t know why, even though he asked himself. It just felt right, and he did. It was just like an instinct when he fought. He felt it was the right thing to do, and he executed the idea. Just the circumstances were different. He was not in the jungle, hunting.

Red could feel that Darla’s body was visibly relaxed, meaning he was doing the right thing. He wanted to say something, but he still lacked the human vocabulary.

Darla was the first one to move, pushing herself away from Tang Shaoyang. There, she stared at his face. He could see the redness on her cheek. Without words or warning, she kissed him.

Red was confused for a moment; his instinct quickly took over. He responded to the kiss, something he had been learning to ensure not to accidentally bite her lips or tongue. It was still clumsy, letting her lead him, but he didn’t bite her lips or tongue. As his hand wandered, she stopped and came off his thigh.

Red was bewildered as Darla slowly walked to the seat across from him, then started to serve the food while explaining the dinner she had made.