Chapter 537 - 2 Obtained the Lust Trait

The next morning, miraculously, I didn’t have a single muscle ache.

What’s more, the left arm that had been bitten by the Kobold was almost healed?

Normally, such an injury would take at least two or three days to recover, but it seemed the effect of the Regeneration trait, even at just E-rank, was working properly, which made me feel good.

On the way to the hunting grounds with a cheerful heart, I couldn’t just pass by without using my Appraisal Skill to check people’s status windows.

Unlike their outward appearances, some people had high-level traits, and some who looked strong had weak traits, which was quite fun, but I couldn’t overuse it because I didn’t have much mana.

Arriving at the entrance of the Beginner’s Forest, I found Thomas fighting two Goblins in a similar spot as yesterday. Checking the Goblins’ status windows, I discovered a unique trait.

[Status Window]

Trait: Lust (E)

[Lust: Slightly increases sexual desire.]

[E-Rank: Creates Pregnancy and Contraception Skills.]

[Pregnancy: Guarantees pregnancy upon ejaculation inside.]

[Contraception: Absolutely prevents pregnancy even with ejaculation inside.]

What kind of trait is that? A trait that can grant skills is quite fascinating.

Although it doesn’t help in combat, it could be considered essential for fulfilling sexual desires.

Thomas, having defeated all the Goblins, belatedly noticed my presence and greeted me with a nod.

"Thomas, thank you for yesterday. You were a great help."

"It was nothing."

"I’m going to try hunting Ratmen this time."

"Alright, Ratmen aren’t much different from Kobolds, so there’s no need to worry too much."

"Ah, by the way, do you know what kind of traits or skills monsters have?"

"Well, I know some. Ratmen are said to have the Agility trait."

"I see."

Those with Appraisal Skills have written books and compiled monster encyclopedias, so that knowledge will be helpful for hunting. I thought I should definitely check out a monster encyclopedia next time.

Since I already obtained the Agility trait from the Kobold, I decided to give up on the Ratmen and change my target to hunting Goblins, as I was curious about the Lust trait.

However, I was still uneasy about going alone, so I suggested a party hunt to Thomas.

"Would you mind joining me for a Goblin hunt just once?"

"Sure, even if you don’t ask, Goblins always travel in groups of two or more, so it’s easier if one person takes on one. There are many Goblins in this area."

Following Thomas, it was clear he had been in the Beginner’s Hunting Grounds for a long time, as we quickly found Goblins.

There were a total of three, with a good mix of Strength and Lust traits.

They were similar in height to Kobolds, with hideous faces and somewhat human-like features, which was a bit disgusting, but adventurers have to endure everything. I took the lead and approached the Goblin with the Lust trait.

"I’ll take on two. Terry, please take on one."

"Okay."

The Goblin growled and threatened us with the club it was holding. But perhaps because of the Agility trait, it was slower than the Kobolds, and since I had swung my sword several times yesterday, I had gotten a bit of a feel for it and could handle it easily.

After obtaining the Lust trait, I helped Thomas, who was fighting 2-on-1, to eliminate the remaining Goblins.

The Lust trait... It’s not very useful right now. It doesn’t help in combat at all, and being able to determine the possibility of pregnancy is very convenient, but I’ve been living alone so far, so there’s no one to use it on.

The only fortunate thing is that the Pregnancy and Contraception Skills went into my unique skill window, not the Plunder skill window. Since there’s no rank, it seems to be a complete skill on its own.

"You’re strong. I didn’t expect you to take them down so quickly."

"No, it’s thanks to Thomas for taking on two Goblins. I was able to defeat them easily thanks to you."

"Excuse me, but what are your traits, if I may ask?"

"Ah, I’m sorry, but that’s..."

"No, it’s rude to ask such a thing in the first place. I’m the one who should be sorry."

It’s an unspoken rule in this world not to ask about traits and skills unless you’re close to someone like family, a lover, a friend, or a colleague. There’s no point in revealing your hand.

Conversely, I heard that there are quite a few cases where people reveal their traits to appeal their strength in order to become a knight for a Noble, but I had no intention of belonging to anyone, so I decided to keep quiet.

"Do you know the traits and locations of any monsters other than the beginner monsters here?"

"Ah, yes, I haven’t been everywhere myself, but I’ve heard things here and there."

Thomas-ssi kindly explained the characteristics and skills of other monsters again.

Since I had already gained all the benefits I could from here, I thanked him and left. There are four traits that increase physical abilities.

Among them, I had obtained Strength, Agility, and Regeneration, so the only one left was Stamina.

Heading to the location Thomas mentioned, I found a Rockman, a monster that looked like it was made of solid stone, similar in size to a Goblin.

The Rockman was also one of the weakest monsters, but it seemed he only told me about the first four types because it was quite a distance away, and the result was, as expected, an easy defeat. It was just a bit tougher, so I had to hit it more, but I didn’t feel much difference from hunting Goblins.

[Acquired the Stamina (E) trait.]

[Stamina: Increases defense and health.]

[Condition met. Would you like to combine Strength (E), Stamina (E), Agility (E), and Regeneration (E) into Limitless Body (E)?]

[Limitless Body (E): Strength (E), Stamina (E), Agility (E), Regeneration (E)]

[A body with talent for nothingness. Provides additional enhancement effects beyond the current rank of Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Regeneration.]

"No way! You can combine traits? And Limitless Body? I’ve never heard of that before!"

[Status Window]

Name: Terry

Race: Human

Age: 20

Occupation: None

Trait: Limitless Body (E)

Skills: Appraisal (E), Plunder (E), Pregnancy, Contraception

Plunder [1] Trait: Fortitude (E)

Plunder [2] Trait: Lust (E)

I had been using Appraisal while hunting, but I had never seen or heard of anyone with the Limitless Body trait.

Moreover, combining the traits created three more open slots for Plunder.

’Is this just good luck, or is it a jackpot?’

In most cases, people awaken to traits related to basic jobs such as Swordsman, Archer, or Mage, but very rarely, there are beings who awaken to unique skills, and these people are called Ability Users.

Ability Users are very rare, and each one is known to be very powerful.

The number of traits and skills that can be stolen is limited to five, but that alone was amazing, and if synthesis is possible, that’s a different story.

I couldn’t imagine how strong I could become, and my whole body trembled with joy, feeling a sense of exhilaration at the expectation of being able to reach a much higher level.

Lost in my imagination, I continued to hunt only E-rank monsters for the time being. This is because even if I hunted a D-rank monster, the skill would be stolen as an E-rank since my Plunder skill is currently E-rank.

After hunting monsters for several days and continuously using the Plunder skill, it finally ranked up, and in the meantime, Appraisal also rose to D-rank, adding ’Skill’.

[Skill Plunder (E) has been upgraded to Plunder (D).]

[Skill Appraisal (E) has been upgraded to Appraisal (D).]

This time, I went deeper to find the other monsters that Thomas-ssi had told me about.

[Status Window]

Trait: Earth Magic (D), Stamina (E)

Skill: Earth Magic (D)

There was a Gnome, a small spirit that looked like a person. It was similar in size to a Rockman, and upon closer inspection, its body seemed to be made of hard stone, but it had a much more human-like appearance than the Rockman.

It hadn’t been long since I hunted E-rank monsters, but I had the Limitless Body and my Plunder skill had been upgraded to D-rank, so I came to challenge a D-rank monster.

As I approached the Gnome, I saw a magic circle forming in front of its body.

Before long, a stone was summoned from within the magic circle and fired forward, but it was quite a distance away, so I was able to avoid it without difficulty.

As it tried to prepare magic again, I quickly ran up and swung my sword at its face, but it was blocked by its hard body and bounced back.

’Tch. It’s tough. Should I attack with something blunt?’

The Gnome is an earth spirit. It was common sense that sharp blades don’t work well on hard stones, but I overlooked it. The Gnome was slow in terms of movement speed and attack speed, so I knocked it down and then repeatedly smashed its head with a large rock nearby.

Kang Kang

"Die! Die!"

Kachaaak!

The rock shattered, but the Gnome wasn’t in good shape either. After finding a new rock and hitting its head several more times, the Gnome’s head shattered and its body gradually crumbled and disappeared.

So that’s what D-rank is like. It was stronger than it looked, so it was quite a struggle.

In the case of ordinary monsters, the corpse doesn’t disappear, but spirits are made of souls, so their bodies turned to dust and disappeared. It’s common sense that if you have a Magic trait, you have a Magic skill, unlike Swordsmanship, etc.

[Acquired the Earth Magic (D) trait.]

[Acquired the Earth Magic (E) skill.]

"Why did Earth Magic drop to E-rank?"

The trait remained the same, but I figured the skill ranked up the more it was used. In the spot where the Gnome disappeared, there was a brown magic stone instead of the purple magic stone I had seen before, and it seemed to be the spirit stone I had only heard about. I had heard that spirit stones are used as food for spirits.

"This is completely made for cannibalism? Well, I heard that monsters get stronger if they eat magic stones, so... Let’s put aside the difficult stuff for now and do what I can do right away."

Now that I had learned magic, it was time to use it. But I didn’t know how to use it, so I kept thinking about it and imagined the magic the Gnome had used earlier, but nothing happened.

This time, I closed my eyes and imagined a stone coming out, and I felt mana draining away.

When I opened my eyes, a magic circle had formed in front of me. Was it a success!?

My joy was short-lived as my concentration wavered due to my excitement, and the magic circle quickly disappeared again.

"But I got the feeling. I just need to think of the image."

This time, I even thought about firing it, and a stone popped out of the magic circle. But I didn’t have much mana, so I quickly felt exhausted.

This happened after using Earth Magic only twice.

In a way, it was natural. I didn’t have a Mana trait, and I hadn’t done any mana training so far. I succeeded in magic this time entirely thanks to the skill.

Originally, people without skills or traits attend magic school separately to feel mana and understand the formulas of magic.

In other words, just as you can use a sword without a Swordsmanship trait, you can use magic without a Magic trait.

However, it’s better to have traits and skills because you can use it much more easily, with abilities close to divine power.

My mana was slowly running out, but I still had stamina left, so I hunted a few more Gnomes.

[Acquired the Stamina (D) trait.]

After catching a few more Gnomes, I got a job.

[Acquired the job, Swordsman (E).]

’I finally got a job!’

If you use a sword to catch monsters, you become a Swordsman, and if you want to become a Mage, you use magic. It’s just common sense. I had to move further to catch other monsters, so I decided to hunt only here today.