Feyre

  "I will be a [Wayfaring Knight]!" I had kind of expected something cool or terrifying to happen... Like I might start glowing or something but instead all I got was a notification from the System.

  [System]

  [Sub-Class: [Wayfaring Knight] has been chosen! This action can only be changed at official Church of the System's class hall.]

  I smiled and stood up, feeling better than I had in what felt like eternity. Sure, I was alone on the outskirts of a forest littered with wolves of varying sorts and probably a whole compendium of other monsters and beasts... but I had a solid chance of survival now, plus my mentality towards life in general was obviously affected by my transition over to another world. It was only logical really, in this world even if killing is frowned upon, it's a common occurrence here, whether that be monster or not. That was a terrifying thought for myself... or it would've been, yet I strangely felt absolutely fine with this outcome. Definitely some mind warping or something going on here. I'll look into it later.

  My guess was that the System or that [REDACTED] guy who helped me out had made it so I had the mentality of someone who was used to this screwed up kind of world rather than the mentality of someone from earth, who'd feel incredibly guilty or scared after killing people, usually. I half grinned and half grimaced at the sky. Again, it was quite a terrifying thought, that my whole personality could be entirely different and I'd never know it because that's just how my personality was now. However, this wasn't a time for existentialism and philosophy or whatever, that was for later, when I wasn't in the lair of possibly the biggest threat in the forest.

  "That's odd... I don't think I was this observant or cautious back on Earth... Damn... Is there anything original about me other than my memories?" I sighed and walked out of the dungeon, heading around the mountain. I was going towards the East, if the sun was anything to go by. "She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes. She'll be-" I sung as I walked. I was bored, comfortable, and confident now that I had all this cool loot and a Sub-Class. But still not a sign of a Main Class, unfortunately.

  It took a while before I saw anything of worth. By that I meant that I had started my trek at about noon and by the time anything interesting was found it was well past midnight and into the early hours of the morning. My stomach was, once again, not very happy with my decisions but there wasn't really much I could do. After all, all the edible fauna would be in the forest and that's where the Dire Wolf was and, as confident as I now felt, I wasn't a complete and utter overconfident idiot.

  On earth, finding a big cave was quite rare in my experience. Especially if you weren't looking for them. This was obviously different here though because yet another massive cave, not dissimilar to the Dire Wolves', was before me. The main difference here was the skulls on spikes and the rickety structures one could possibly called a watchtower if one stretched their imagination to the limits. "Reminds me of those stupid Kobold or Goblin structures in fantasy genre. It's kinda cute." I stepped forwards, testing to see if it was anything similar to the previous cave I had entered.

  [System]

  [Dungeon Notice: You have entered Tier 3 Dungeon [The Goblin Kingdom of Iftania], Dungeon Quests [Kill the Kuryuk King 0/1 and Kill the Kuryuk Elders 0/12 and Clear the Dungeon 0/1].]

  [Notice: Since you are the only living party member in the dungeon, System Quest difficulty tier has increased to [Hard]. Quest rewards will be scaled to the difficulty of the Quest.]

  I wasn't surprised. In fact, I was positively buzzing. I had been quite confident in my earlier assumptions and I had entered fully expecting something like this to happen. After all, this was very clearly a Dungeon. "It is scary that my first thought was 'Free XP' but... Oh well. Guess it's just the System. Eventually I'll get around to that absolute insanity." I drew Lucius' old arming sword and Started delving a bit deeper. The System had deemed this quest as [Hard] but I had no clue as to how hard that was in relation to, the only other quest I'd seen being [Improbable] which seemed leagues above what I could feasibly manage at the moment. It was disappointingly obvious that I'd have to try this difficulty out to find out how difficult this quest actually actually was.

  It wasn't long before I saw my first supposed Kuryuk. My mind was instantly occupied with something I found quite odd, the word 'Goblin'. The thing was not only the size of a short adult but was vivid orange and black, like a tiger except it had a leopard's pattern. It was disgusting to look at on a base level, its nose stunted, curved upwards and fleshy. Its skin was full to the brim of wrinkles and patches of overgrown hair everywhere but its head which was smooth and almost reflective. Bulbous eyes far too big for its head adorned its already grotesque face slightly to the side like a pigeon's to really bring the whole show together. It wasn't alone, a nearly identical one stood off to the side, both of them holding some sort of machete that looked quite nasty while also being clearly rusted beyond repair.

  I winced and ducked backwards, back out of the possible line of sight of the peculiar looking Kuryuk that were there. They were indubitably the most ugly looking things I'd seen other than maybe those depressurised Blob Fish pictures... I was just glad these ones don't have any sort of genitals or I might puke due to them not having even a loincloth. I gently removed a rock from my inventory and threw it, about 8 strides away from a stalactite that almost reached the floor and 3 strides from me, silently hoping that only one would go check it out. I didn't want to be in a one versus two and suddenly find out they're genetically really good at pincer attacks or something.

  One of the ugly beasts sauntered over, not a care in the world. That was short lived because as soon as she was within my range I covered her undersized mouth with one hand while my other hand's tightly gripped blade snaked out and skewered the skull like a kebab before retracting. I gently lowered her body and put it in the storage in an isolated section. I guessed this would teach me if the storage preserved fresh food... I smirked as not a sign of the dead Goblin remained. It was quite brutal but I consoled myself with the fact that she would probably have attacked me just as ruthlessly if given the chance. That rusty machete, also in my inventory, was telling me that she wasn't some nice girl.

  I doubted the same method would work twice so instead of the hitman approach I just decided to try and distract the now lonesome Goblin as I rushed her. I readied myself for a sprint. As soon as I broke off running I threw a rock and muttered a single phrase. "[Identify] this Goblin in front of me."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  [System Target Status]

  [Name: Oblo Redblood]

  [Title: Reprobate]

  [Race: Kuryuk]*

  [Race Level: 13]

  [Class: Warrior]

  [Stats Blocked]

  It looked like my diversion worked. Not only did 'Oblo' not try to dodge the rock I threw but he was thoroughly distracted enough for me to not even have to try as I swung and cut deep into the flesh of his neck. The feeling of severing of skin, muscle and tissue from itself and bone was a bit unpleasant and it was slightly too gory, even for my seemingly altered mind. I put him and his equipment in the inventory with the other Goblin, ignoring the System kill notifications for now and focusing on the identification result. I mentally tapped the [Race: Kuryuk] hoping for a description.

  [System]

  [Race Information]

  [Kuryuk: Biologically a Kuryuk is the only one of the 'Favoured Races' that cannot mate in the same way as the others. This is due to the fact only females are born. In order to reproduce a Kuryuk will split itself in half in a magical version of Mitosis. This takes up a lot of energy so a Kuryuk raiding party will usually leave the dwelling and take members of other races to eat them, as they have innate magic and are easier to hunt than the other monsters that reside near [Kuryuk Dwellings]. They are often scorned by every sentient and sapient race that can access the System and are culled to extinction wherever possible. The Kuryuk are seen a pest and one of the very few mistakes of the System by most.]

  I read the description and sighed. So they were a mistake of the System and also extremely morally reprehensible. It was good that I killed them then, was better for my Psyche to know that as well. I looked down and contemplated. "I guess that is one trope of monsters and stuff that is quite universal." I was definitely going to struggle if I had to fight more than one. However, this wasn't a bad situation. I now knew that identifying a monster or person or whatever else I ended up fighting would lead to at least a small amount of hesitation from them. That was all I needed in order to win a fight of course.

  I frowned, so far all of my fights had either been quite easy or very very hard. Plus half of my actions had been utterly instinctual. Did that mean that the body I took was good at fighting already? Was it my body or my brain that was acting when wielding the sword? I didn't know and it wasn't important at the moment. Why did I keep letting my thoughts stray when I was in the middle of a cave filled with goblin things called Kuryuk? I didn't know.

  I delved deeper, reaching an open cave with four more Kuryuk and another thing, almost identical if not for the fact it was three times the height and heavily armoured. I instantly ducked back behind cover, my right lip lifting into a snarl. Of course there's some sort of Troll or Hobgoblin here. Quietly I tried sneaking closer, only stopping behind a stalagmite once I was in range. This part of the cave was filled with both stalagmites and stalactites that dwarfed me so I was confident that I wouldn't have too much trouble. After all, what was the use of another body's skills if I didn't utilise them to full effectiveness?

  After a little while sitting behind the stalagmite I reasoned that the Kuryuk and the big one didn't see or hear me and if they had, they ignored me as a non-threat. I looked back over the description of Kuryuk and frowned. An unwanted mistake, universally hated, culled off because they're evil. It was a bit relatable, except for the evil bit. Although it wasn't that they're actually very evil though, if it's just instincts. I shrugged and opened my storage, searching for a way to kill the Kuryuk without having to risk myself. I wasn't confident enough in my abilities to fight armed assailants without at least the benefit of surprise.

  Nothing in there would have been wieldable enough to be very useful as a projectile, usually. Thankfully, this wasn't usually so I prepared to launch all the things in there that I saw as worthless at the Kuryuk and big one before trying to get a kill.

  I tried to put my plan into motion, gripping the sword tightly before activating my storage and jettisoning a Kuryuk corpse at stupidly fast speeds straight into another Kuryuk. It would probably have been quite a sight for the other Kuryuk and the big one if I hadn't dashed out of my hiding place and gone for the big one as it turned away from me.

  That ended up being a mistake, as it somehow managed to notice me in the ensuing chaos and took a swipe. Almost instantly I was reminded of my death previously. The immeasurable force slamming into my side this time sent me flying into one of the many stalagmites protruding from the ground. The sword, meanwhile, flew from my hands and skittered away, landing near the door which was now on the other side of the cavern.

  The pain wasn't as bad this time. Although, perhaps this body was just more resistant this time and I got my answer as to why quite quickly.

  [System]

  [Passive Skill: [Grit your Teeth] acquired through carrying on through moderate to high pain time and time again.]

  Either way I had the ability to attempt to move, so I did. I clawed at the ground and wrenched my body onwards, away from the advancing big one. "[Identify] it."

  [System]

  [Skill: Identify has failed.]

  I grunted, of course it failed on something that strong...

  It was a lumbering, beast of a thing, really, advancing on me like it didn't even care if I suddenly made a bolt for it. Rolling to the side, I tucked myself behind another stalagmite and checked myself for external injuries. There not being much I could do against internal ones, I didn't find anything more than a superficial scrape or cut, quickly hidden by the self repairing clothes. I was definitely going to bruise all over my arm, but it had managed to not snap, dislocate or shatter from the hit so I assumed it would be fine. It was my left anyway, better that than my right.

  In order to not get completely totalled again I scurried from stalagmite to stalagmite, throwing rocks at different areas of the cave to try to confuse the big one and the remaining Kuryuk that weren't tangled with the corpses of their brethren.

  Suddenly, the big one let out an animalistic screech, deafening me momentarily and making me extraordinarily frustrated. I should've just killed it... Why wouldn't it shut up? I shook my head and held my mouth shut, eyes wide.

  [System]

  [You have successfully resisted the effects of Skill: [Tormentor's Taunt].]

  I froze. What was that? A taunt? Like an Aggro spell? What sort of mind perversity is this!? It alters my thoughts and feelings!? If there's more skills like that then it's surely entirely possible for mind control to exist. I was even more angry than the taunt would have made me now. This was thoroughly disgusting set of skills.

  [Passive Skill: [Mind Manipulation Resistance] acquired through resisting the taunts of three different creatures, knowingly or otherwise.]

  I almost sighed in relief that there was a resistance skill. Didn't make it better but it certainly made it more bearable for my psyche. If I ever find the guy or god who made that skillset... I shook my head and focused on the problem at hand. I had severely underestimated the big one's speed and now my stinging arm and laboured breathing was evidence of that folly.

  I had dropped the sword when I got hit, understandably and perhaps even luckily. What was truly lucky was that it was still within easy range of my inventory and so I could get it back whenever I needed. Now, I just needed to work out how to kill that brute I couldn't identify. I furrowed my brow and curled into a ball, wracking my brain to its max in order to try work out the solution.

  Nothing. Nothing came to mind. Not immediately at least. I'd have to at least kill the small Kuryuk first obviously.