Assimilate All Talents

Chapter 9: Variant Kobold

Heading out of the village, Sol made his way to the cave where the kobolds lived. Being informed that their numbers were around 20, he felt confident about being able to take them all on, as his basic sword attacks, which did more than double damage from [Intermediate Swordsmanship], would kill them in a single strike.

Sol then toggled his passive ability [Silent Steps] to minimize the sound he made and snuck towards the kobold cave.

Once the cave was in sight, he hid behind a tree and peeked over to see 3 kobolds loitering outside and used [Analysis] on one of them.

Name: Jib

Race: Kobold

Talent: [Throwing]

Level: 4

HP: 30

MP: 10

Str: 5

Vit: 3

Agi: 7

Int: 3

Wis: 1

Talent Skills:

Passive Skills:

[Basic Throwing] Lv 2, [Foraging] Lv 3

Active Skills:

Sol inspected the other two kobolds but found nothing too different from the first. One had the [Throwing] talent while the other had [Nimble], neither with talent skills. This didn’t surprise Sol, as not all talents gave talent skills, and even if they did, it was not guaranteed to gain one. Even for talents that had multiple different talent skills available, one could simply be unlucky and get none.

Watching the kobolds for a while longer, he saw one of them take a nap and judged it as the best time to attack. Sol quietly approached, trying to keep his presence as low as possible, and once he got close enough, he wielded his sword and used [Leap] at them.

Not given any time to react, the nearest kobold was swiftly struck.

You have slain a Lv 4 Kobold! Gained 30 Exp.

"Eek?!"

Agi: 20

Int: 15

Wis: 30

Talent Skills:

[Scale Armor] Lv 3, [Dragon Claw] Lv 4, [Endless Appetite] Lv 8

Passive Skills:

[Basic Unarmed Mastery] Lv 4, [Leadership] Lv 2, [Foraging] Lv 1

Active Skills:

[Charge] Lv 2, [Rapid Consumption] Lv 4, [Snap Punch] Lv 3

’That answers why the kobolds have been stealing food; a variant appeared among them.’

Variants were beings who had been born with mutations that made them significantly different from their brethren. Variant strength could vary wildly, as it could make them much stronger than their peers or weaker but they’re always special in some aspect. In this case, it greatly enhanced the overall power of the kobold, which was bad news for Sol.

’While I think I can take it solo, with those normal kobolds, it will be much harder. I’m gonna need to figure out how to draw them out.’

As he was thinking of a plan, he heard the variant kobold speak.

"Bring food."

One of the normal kobolds replied nervously, "Others g-getting food."

"NOW"

"Y-yes, we bring food!"

The kobolds quickly stood up and headed to the exit, not wanting to stay and face the wrath of their leader.

The problem was that the kobolds were heading straight to where Sol was hiding.

’They’re coming towards me! I need to move!’

Sol immediately backed away from the room and headed to another passage that didn’t lead to the entrance, hoping none of the kobolds would stop by where he was hiding.

The place he ended up hiding in was where the kobolds seemed to sleep, with a lot of small mounds of sticks and leaves which he assumed were simple beds. There, Sol also found 2 sleeping kobolds, which he quietly took care of, and waited for the group to leave the cave.

After waiting for 15 minutes and deeming it safe, he left the resting area and snuck back to where the variant kobold was. This time there were no other kobolds, making it the best time to attack.