Upon returning to the Safe Zone, Mark immediately set to work processing the goblin carcasses. However, there were so many that he could only manage a fraction of them. After stowing the edible meat and Monster Cores in his inventory, he moved on to analyzing today's battles.
His physical condition was quite good. Thanks to the new boot that compensated for his shorter left leg, his gait had become much more normal. While his martial arts and staff techniques were simple, they had proven to be highly practical; nonetheless, he felt no rush to advance to more complex forms just yet. His proficiency with Senses had also improved significantly. He had maintained Mana Sense throughout the entire day and found no difficulty in using other senses sequentially or simultaneously. Although headaches and mana depletion remained limiting factors, in this state, Mark could no longer truly be called "blind."
Air Repulsion remained practical as ever, especially against goblins. Stone Bullet also yielded the expected results. Currently, there were five potential paths for developing this spell:
Scaling: Using more mana for a larger projectile. However, this could negatively impact velocity.
Multicasting: Increasing the number of bullets. This requires more focus and might decrease aiming precision.
Vector Control: Altering the bullet's trajectory mid-flight would offer a strategic advantage, but it requires highly complex mana manipulation. For now, it's easier to simply change the bullet's trajectory at a specific angle.
Elemental Fusion: Combining Air Repulsion and Stone Bullet to ensure faster and longer-range flight. However, long-range capability isn't crucial for him right now. His current firing range is limited by his sensory radius, which is around 35 meters. Even though he hit a target further away today, that was merely a lucky guess based on the incoming arrow's trajectory. A faster bullet would certainly inflict more damage, but for now, the standard speed is sufficient for goblins.
Utilizing a Barrel: Constructing a barrel from mana or other natural materials. This is currently too difficult, so Mark is focusing on giving the bullet a spiral, rifled motion for now.
For the next two days, Mark hunted and trained in the zone where only lone goblins roamed. On the third day, he finally planned to venture into the territory inhabited by groups of goblins. After passing through the Safe Zone gates and stepping onto the first floor, he buried all the remains of the processed goblin carcasses from the previous day using a shovel. This had become something of a ritual. A specific area near the gate could now be described as a "goblin graveyard." In truth, Mark knew that even if he just left the remains, the dungeon would quickly "digest" them, but he did this mainly to rid the air of the stench as quickly as possible.
Then, he headed straight into the forest. He was now in the section where goblins moved in groups. He had only been to this area once—when he first discovered the dungeon—and hadn't returned since. Consequently, the terrain was mostly unfamiliar, forcing him to focus heavily on scouting the environment. He avoided conflict on the first day, only beginning to engage in combat on the second.
Using Earth Sense, he located a group consisting of three goblins: two G-ranks and one F-rank Goblin Swordsman. Mark decided not to take any chances. Before the goblins could even sense him, he leaned his Blind Staff against a tree. Then, extending both hands forward, he aimed at the two G-rank goblins and fired Stone Bullet spells. As soon as they fell, Mark snatched up his staff and charged toward the Goblin Swordsman. He struck the goblin, who hadn't yet fully grasped the situation, with full force. It followed the other two goblins into the afterlife—it was dead.
Mark located two more similar groups and wiped them out. The group compositions were identical, and he employed the same tactic: thinning their numbers with Stone Bullet and finishing the fight with his staff. After scouting the perimeter one last time, he decided to head back to the Safe Zone.
On his way back, however, a remarkably pleasant scent stopped him in his tracks. His nose, which had nearly shut down due to the constant stench of goblin skin and blood, began to function again as it picked up the aroma. Mark approached the source of the scent and, through Blind Sense, identified it as a rose. The System provided an evaluation:
[Blue Rose]
Every part of the plant, except for its pollen, is a paralyzing neurotoxin.
Can be utilized as a poison or a fragrance.
It all made sense now. Normally, goblins devour everything in their surroundings, yet the Blue Rose seemed to flourish undisturbed. Clearly, the local goblins knew of its poisonous nature. Mark decided to harvest a few of the roses. Having secured them, he wasted no time and headed straight for the Safe Zone.
Back in the Safe Zone, Mark realized he needed to analyze a few things. Lately, especially after mastering Earth Sense, he had stopped relying on his sense of smell entirely. Previously, he had sensed goblins primarily by their scent—except for the Archer goblins, who were relatively less pungent, they all carried the same reeking odor. But as his other senses sharpened, he had unconsciously begun to ignore smells. After all, if a person is constantly exposed to the same scent, they eventually become desensitized to it. Since every scent he had encountered so far was just "goblin," it wasn't a problem yet, but it could become a liability in the future.
He then checked his inventory. Aside from the fresh Blue Roses, he had accumulated a hoard of F-rank goblin weaponry: short swords, bows, and arrows. The bows and arrows were useless; Stone Bullet was more than sufficient, and the bows were sized for goblins, not his own frame. As for the short swords, they were crude and likely brittle. However, he had over twenty of them. He could use them as disposable weapons—if one shattered, he could simply pull a fresh one from his inventory.
As he thought about swordsmanship, a wave of nostalgia washed over him. During his time as Thaddeus, he had trained under several instructors since childhood. One man in particular had taught him physical conditioning, martial arts, and the fundamentals of the blade. This old man was known as Simon Stonehead. The surname wasn't his birth name but one given to him by those around him due to his character; eventually, the nickname became a permanent part of his identity. Mark had trained with him for about three to three and a half years, from age six to nine.
The instructor had been incredibly foul-mouthed and refused to let Thaddeus use his eyes for anything. "Fck off, brat! If I catch you mimicking something by watching it instead of truly learning it one more time, I'll kick your ass so hard you won't be able to sit for a week!"* he would bellow. His sword lessons were even more blunt: "Listen, brat, I'm not repeating this. You hold the hilt like this. You cut with the edge, you thrust with the point. The rest is just parrying or dodging. That's all there is to swordsmanship. Don't you ever talk to me or even think about those flowery, useless 'sword arts' with fancy names!"
He was a harsh old man, indeed. Yet, Mark realized that most of the skills he found indispensable now were thanks to him. In particular, Aura Sense, which had saved his life multiple times, had developed out of a desperate need to dodge the old man's unpredictable strikes. Unfortunately, the man had left when Thaddeus was nine. Mark wondered if the old man was still alive. More importantly, would he still be alive by the time Mark escaped the dungeon? If he was, Mark vowed to find him.