Chapter 22: Level Up!
2 Days Later
Forest, Goblin Lair Entrance
David and two elf scouts hid quietly behind the bushes, their eyes fixed on the massive cave entrance ahead of them. Two goblins stood guard outside, lazily gripping rusty weapons while occasionally glancing into the forest.
“We call it Spitfang Dungeon,” one of the scouts whispered. “When we surveyed this area six months ago for the village, this cave was empty. Those goblins must’ve moved in recently.”
“Hmm… I see,” David whispered back. “And that over there sure ain’t helping ease my mind.”
He pointed toward a pile of human bones stacked not far from the entrance.
“Yes,” the second elf replied grimly. “Most likely their victims. The males get eaten immediately. As for the females…” His expression hardened. “Once they can’t reproduce anymore, the goblins eat them too.”
“So there’s a good chance they’re still keepin’ prisoners alive inside…” David let out a troubled sigh. “Damn. That complicates things.”
---
Few Hours Later
Stone Ravine, Demon Hound Enclosure
At the top of the stone ravine, several scavenger villagers carefully lowered a rope carrying Theo down into one of the demon hound enclosures. Alongside him hung the roasted carcass of a goblin from the previous battle.
As soon as Theo reached the bottom, he stepped away from the rope and slowly approached the demon hound waiting inside.
This one wasn’t ordinary. It was larger than the others, broader, far more intimidating.
The Demon Hound Alpha.
“Grrrrrr…”
The Alpha growled deeply as Theo approached, but Theo simply raised one hand toward it, palm open.
The reaction was immediate.
“Whimper…”
The Alpha hesitated and lowered its posture slightly, its tail tucking between its legs. She recognized him. After all, Theo was the only person who repeatedly blasted her with fireballs.
Seeing the Alpha back down, Theo relaxed and lowered his hand. Then he continued walking forward and dropped the roasted goblin carcass onto the ground.
This time, the Alpha’s attitude changed instantly. Her tail began wagging as she eagerly prepared to approach the food.
“Wait,” Theo ordered.
The Alpha immediately stopped.
“Waaait…” Theo repeated slowly.
The Alpha stayed in place, tail still wagging.
“Waaait…” Theo dragged the word out again before finally pointing toward the carcass. “...Go.”
The moment she heard that specific word, the Alpha rushed forward and began devouring the roasted goblin happily.
Theo watched the scene with visible satisfaction.
---
A moment later, Theo came out from the stone ravine entrance.
The area around the stone ravine had changed drastically compared to when Theo and David first arrived three months ago, a large circular wooden fence stood on the grassland near the entrance like some crude ranch built by amateurs.
Except normal ranches kept livestock inside to protect them from predators. This one kept the predators inside.
The enclosure was filled with demon hounds lazily wandering around, sleeping on the grass, or socializing with one another like oversized wolves that had forgotten they were supposed to be terrifying monsters. At this point, the hounds were already used to human presence.
Several villagers could be seen outside the fence training them. One handler was teaching a hound basic sit–stay–come commands. Another was practicing leash training while carefully walking a hound in circles. A different hound happily received chunks of meat from its handler after successfully following instructions.
So yes, it was basically an oversized dog training center.
“Kyaaaahahahaha!!”
Erika’s laughter suddenly echoed across the field.
She was currently riding one of the demon hounds around the enclosure like a horse, holding onto the leather rein with a huge grin on her face.
Unfortunately, the handler chasing after her looked far less happy.
“Miss Erikaaa!” the exhausted villager shouted while trying to catch up. “Please! You need to get down now! It’s dangerous to ride it for too long!”
Erika pulled on the rein, finally making the demon hound slow to a stop.
“Whaaat? Already over?” she complained immediately.
“It’s been over for a while,” the villager replied after finally reaching her, sweating heavily and struggling to catch his breath. “Please… just get down now.”
Erika climbed off the demon hound with a pout.
“Hmph. I still wanted more laps.”
Theo walked over toward them.
“How long has it been?” he asked the villager.
“Ah, Vice-Chief,” the villager replied respectfully. “Actually… I’m not sure anymore. I counted to six hundred five times, but then Miss Erika suddenly made the hound start running around, and after that I lost track.”
“It told me it wanted to run,” Erika lied shamelessly while feeding the demon hound a meat snack as a reward.
“Hmm…” Theo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “So more than fifty minutes then…”
His eyes shifted toward the hound.
“And it still doesn’t look agitated.”
One of the unexplained things about isekai worlds in stories is how nobody ever explains their measurement of time. Why do medieval people suddenly understand what “minutes” and “hours” are? How do they know the current time when clocks don’t even exist yet?
For now, the best Theo could teach the villagers was simple counting. Count to sixty for roughly a minute. Count to six hundred for roughly ten. Primitive, but functional.
Theo glanced toward the demon hound Erika had been riding. It had already finished the meat treat and was now happily licking Erika’s face.
“Kyaahaha! It tickles!”
Erika looked completely delighted.
---
A while later, Theo and Erika were walking back toward the village.
Theo was busy checking his status window while walking, but Erika kept interrupting him with an endless barrage of excited questions.
“So why do they need fences if the hounds can easily jump over them? Why didn’t you use them to fight the goblins? Why did you only let me go there now?” she asked rapidly in one breath.
Theo let out a long sigh.
“One, because the fences are only there as clear boundary markers for the hounds,” Theo explained. “They’re meant to understand where they’re allowed to roam freely.”
Erika nodded enthusiastically.
“Two, because we never trained them for battle,” Theo continued, sounding more irritated now. “It’d become a huge problem if the hounds couldn’t tell the difference between goblins and us.”
Erika nodded again.
“And three,” Theo added with full irritation, “because I already knew you’d get carried away the moment you started riding them like today.”
Erika blinked.
“If you pulled that stunt a few weeks ago,” Theo continued, “they would’ve eaten you as a treat instead.”
Erika gasped dramatically.
“Which honestly would’ve been fine by me,” Theo scoffed, “if I didn’t still need you for the meeting with the other village chiefs next month.”
“Jerk.” Erika stuck her tongue out at him.
“Now can you please stop talking for one minute?” Theo muttered while opening his status window again.
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[ GENERAL INFORMATION ]
Name : Theo Poliznev
Title : Village Vice-chief
Class : Necromancer
Level : 2
EXP : 74 / 2000
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[ CORE STATS ]
HP : 110 / 110
MP : 85 / 85
Stamina : 31 / 60
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Theo grinned to himself while staring at the status window. After all the nonsense he had gone through, his level had finally reached 2, and his core stats had increased alongside it.
“You know,” Erika said casually from beside him, “you’ve been giggling to yourself like an idiot for two days now. You really need to stop doing that.”
“It hasn’t even been a minute!” Theo snapped immediately.
“Sheesh… counting to sixty is way too much effort,” Erika muttered.
Theo only shook his head and ignored her before tapping another button on the status window.
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[ BRANCH : ⚙️ TECHNOLOGY ]
"Build with minds that shaped civilizations."
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[ ERA : AGE OF ORIGINS ]
[ AVAILABLE ASSETS ]
→ Archimedes
Role : Engineer / Inventor
Specialty : Siege mechanics, efficiency systems
Information : He who moved the world, given only a place to stand.
Requirement : Lv. 2
----------------------------------------
→ (???)
Role : (???)
Specialty : Healing efficiency, disease control
Information : He who listened to the body, and taught others to do the same.
Requirement : Lv. 8
----------------------------------------
→ (???)
Role : (???)
Specialty : Primitive automation, experimental devices
Information : He who set matter into motion, long before it was needed.
Requirement : Lv. 12
----------------------------------------
“Hmm… Archimedes…” Theo muttered with a grin.
“Is he a great warrior like David?” Erika asked curiously.
Theo slowly turned toward her with a tired look. At this point, he had already accepted there was absolutely no chance Erika would leave him alone.
“No. Archimedes isn’t a warrior,” Theo answered with a sigh. “He’s a famous inventor. A genius from his era.”
“Hmm. Sounds boring,” Erika replied immediately. “So what can he make?”
“I…” Theo hesitated.
Then his expression stiffened slightly.
“I actually don’t know,” he admitted. “I forgot what he actually invented.”
“What? how come you don’t know what he made if he’s famous in your world?” Erika frowned.
“We got too many famous geniuses back on my world,” Theo replied with a tired sigh.
He scratched his head in annoyance.
“If I had internet, I could just search his name instantly.” Theo clicked his tongue. “Now the only way to know is by summoning the guy himself and asking directly.”
“Well, you’ll need a dead body first if you want to summon him like David,” Erika pointed out.
“…do you think somebody’s gonna die today?” Theo asked.
“Hmmm…” Erika actually looked thoughtful for a moment.
---
The Village
“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”
A male villager shouted in pain.
“Oh, suck it up already!” a female villager yelled back while continuing to pour liquid onto his wound.
The shoulder injury he received during the goblin battle was currently being treated with salt water, one of the medical treatments Theo had taught the villagers.
Thankfully, the village had an abundant supply of salt thanks to the salt walls found in several caves around the stone ravine.
Unfortunately, it also hurt like hell.
Around them, other injured soldiers were receiving treatment inside a tent that had now basically become the village hospital. But despite their injuries, none of them looked close to dying.
“Normally, people with wounds like these would die unless we bring them to the healer in agricultural tribes,” Erika explained while watching the treatment. “But your salt treatment seems to work really well.”
She then looked toward Theo.
“So nope,” Erika said cheerfully. “Nobody’s dying anytime soon.”
“Sigh…” Theo let out a disappointed sigh.