Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 38: Goblins

Chapter 38: Goblins

...

There was no sun in the sky yet it was illuminated by an unnatural brightness, the sand near the waters was hot so many "people" went into the water to cool off.

Around them mountains seemingly spanned for what seemed to be kilometers forward without stopping.

These "people" had green skin and pink noses, a far cry from the normal human skin. They also wore crude clothing to cover up their bodies.

These were goblins; magic took over the body of normal, weak humans and changed their strength by leaps and brought them into the path of monsters.

They weren’t on the level of even rank 5 awakened but had the potential to reach rank 4 after evolution, that was one of the quirks of being a monster – evolution paths – being able to increase your strength by leaps and bounds and the only requirement was living.

Just staying alive...

They were celebrating their first year after escaping out of hell without intervention from humans, their mind had been washed cleanly so they forgot that they were once human too, that they were supposed to feel repulsed in such a form.

No humans had come to clear the dungeon.

They were celebrating.

But they didn’t know that their joy was about to change for the worse.

...

Jason appeared in the midst of a massacre, it seemed like the test to get the hearts had already begun.

’The dungeon portal spawns the people that go through it at any random location depending on the time they enter.’ Jason thought, that was a fact from the novel.

He entered at the same time as the rest meaning they all came to one location.

It was the reason he saw the monsters in front of him.

’Goblins.’ Jason thought.

’Originally weak humans who escaped from hell but due to the corruption in their body they lose their memories, they have the potential to evolve into a rank 4 monster.’

The information came to mind so he went over it.

It seemed like he would soon get to killing these monsters, they were once humans but he didn’t care.

He began to assess the situation.

At least one person was in a fight with a goblin, the ones who specialized in close combat were engaged in fights while the awakeneds who focused on long-range attacks were trying to move through the crowd, and get to a place where they could form a spell.

Zane was fending off 5 goblins easily without breaking a sweat, his movements were skilled as he effortlessly dodged all the attacks sent at him.

’If he could fight like this against me he would actually have a better chance to win in a fight.’

"Grraaah!" The enraged shout of a goblin sounded as it charged towards Jason.

Jason turned to the source of the noise before raising his weapon at the monster.

The weapon shimmered in the unnatural light, its edge gleaming with a cold promise of death.

He sidestepped as the monster charged with its rusty blade.

He brought his blade down in a fluid arc, the monster stopped abruptly.

It raised its hand as if trying to touch something that wasn’t there anymore.

A second later blood gushed out like a fountain, the monster fell to its knees then fell flat on its back.

It had died...

Again.

The monster’s head rolled to the side, its head stopping at Jason’s figure, the open eyes of the creature seemingly stared at him with an accusatory gaze.

Jason widened his eyes as he slashed at the air to remove the blood from the weapon.

"This was too easy." He muttered to himself.

It then came to his mind that he had also had an easy time against Clark, even if that was partly due to the man’s fear he had still had an easy time.

It was foolish to think that a common monster that didn’t even have rank 5 strength to give him some excitement.

"The best thing to do is to search for talents to steal." Jason decided.

[Name: None

Age: 1

Physical – Early Stage 1

Mental – Early Stage 1

Mana – Early Stage 1

Skills: Hunt, Delayed Fist.]

Apparently all goblins had hunt as a talent and only a few had delayed fist as a talent.

Jason’s foot left the ground before his body went along, he went into a full out sprint after he had found his target.

A lone goblin that unlike the others held no weapon.

It only wore a crude dirtied rag kept over its private part as it rushed around with a panicked look on its face.

In an instant it felt a foreign object on its throat, it was undoubtedly a human who was doing this.

It was lifted from the ground as the person increased the pressure on its throat.

The monster squirmed around, flailing its arms in an attempt to escape from the human that wanted it dead.

"GraaaaHHGH!!!" It’s pained voice sounded in the air, nobody paid attention to it.

Everyone had their own battle and had more pressing matters than a lone goblin struggling.

Tears fell from the goblin’s eyes as it felt the grip on its consciousness falling.

But the human did not stop, in fact the pressure increased. It was clear that something was close.

"Done." He said to himself before throwing the body away.

The monster rolled on the ground.

It felt its inside squirming around, it didn’t even have the strength to resist the force.

[Host can choose a talent to copy: Hunt, Delayed fist.]

"Delayed fist!" The human said excitedly.

The human in question was Jason.

[100P gained]

"Wait, why is it only 100 P?!" Jason questioned the system, he awaited for an answer but got none.

He could only think about it.

’Does it have to do with the strength disparity between the me and the person I copy it from?’ Jason asked himself.

It did make sense; he got 200P from Zane but got 1000P from the clan head.

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt the information flood his mind and the experience hammered into his very existence.

Jason was eager to test it but wasn’t in a hurry, instead of trying it out he went back to the corpse of the goblin he killed and tore it open.

He didn’t mind the blood, it was his second time killing but it felt natural.

Opening a body felt like... Opening a can.

After tearing the headless monster open he retrieved a rough cone shape heart with a rounded bottom, smooth sides and about the size of a fist.

At grabbing it Jason felt an urge to squish it.

But he suppressed the feeling and instead applied pressure to his space ring and sent it into the ring.

"One down." Jason muttered to himself.

He walked through the chaos without batting an eye, the monsters weren’t strong but they had numbers.

If you defeated a goblin another one would take its place, the awakeneds were being worn down.

It was only a matter of time before they died.

Jason didn’t care.

"Graagh!" One goblin lunged towards him from the side.

He turned towards the creature with disinterested eyes and in a split-second swung his katana in an upward slash, he decapitated the monster immediately.

Red blood gushed out like a fountain, Jason made sure to avoid it because he didn’t plan on sullying his clothes so early in the dungeon.

He opened the goblin up before retrieving another heart and storing it into his space ring.

"That’s two."

He looked around for Zane.

Jason saw him retrieving the hearts of the goblins he had killed.

Roughly 20!

The rest avoided him with a burning passion, the corpses that littered his surrounding made Zane seem like a predator.

For such simple monsters like goblins they’re primary instincts were to run from such an entity, even smarter beings would think the same.

Jason saw that he was behind the others, in-between fights everyone made sure to retrieve a heart.

It seemed like he would take last place if he did not act.

"I guess it’s time I get into the hunt... Wait, I should steal that skill!"

He moved forward with purpose, his eyes set on an idle goblin.

The distance between the two of them were closed quickly, before the goblin could even react to the threat in front of it Jason had acted.

"Delayed fist!"