Nathan emerged from the tunnel with measured steps and his spear held low. He had collected the ears from the goblin's body and stuffed it in his bag.
The darkness of the tunnel behind him receded as he entered the central chamber.
The moment his boots crossed fully into the administered area, his body relaxed a little as he acknowledged that he was safe here.
He stopped near the tunnel entrance and looked around.
There were noticeably more people than before.
Hunters moved back and forth across the chamber, most of them moving toward the middle three tunnels.
Groups were formed and dissolved with efficiency as there were brief exchanges of words, nods, and hand signals between the hunters as they quickly entered the tunnels.
Nathan followed their movements with his eyes.
'Those tunnels are the busiest.' he thought.
'Maybe those are the fastest route to reach the deeper areas of the rift.'
It kind of made sense, as more people meant more safety. And these routes were probably mapped, tested, and optimized over decades.
His gaze moved away from the crowd and drifted toward the tunnel he had entered initially killing his first goblin of the day.
It looked less frequented as no one stood near its entrance, no hunters approaching it.
'No one's probably been in there since I came out.' Nathan realized.
His mind began piecing things together quickly.
'If that tunnel is untouched… Then the conditions inside should be similar to before.'
'There should be a goblin scout or two in there.'
Nathan felt a sense of rhythm forming in his thoughts, like a route revealing itself piece by piece.
'I can rotate between multiple tunnels', he reasoned.
'Go in, kill scouts, exit and enter this tunnel back again.'
The idea felt solid methodical, this ensured security and consistency when it came to gathering stats.
But as soon as the plan settled in his head, another question surfaced naturally.
'Wait...'
'How do these monsters reappear?'
The thought stopped him between his steps.
'And how do people even know which tunnel will have scouts?'
Nathan frowned slightly.
Up until now, he had been acting on observation and inference. It had worked, but relying on assumptions alone felt sloppy.
If he wanted to keep improving, he needed reliable information to lean on.
His eyes shifted toward the soldiers stationed around the chamber.
One of them stood near the barricade with his helmet of and posture relaxed.
This was the same soldier from yesterday.
Nathan took a breath and walked toward him.
The soldier noticed him almost immediately as his gaze sharpened for a split second, then widened slightly when he recognized him.
"Young man." the soldier said, surprise evident in his tone. "I really had not expected you to come back here."
Nathan stopped a few steps away.
The soldier looked at Nathan assessing his gear, his posture and the way he stood without the stiffness he had yesterday.
Then the soldier exhaled and added, "I owe you an apology young man."
Nathan blinked.
Before the soldier could continue, Nathan shook his head lightly.
"No," he said. "I think it should be the other way around."
The soldier paused.
Nathan met his gaze. "What you had said yesterday… it gave me resolve. I think maybe I really was afraid after that encounter."
For a moment, the soldier just looked at him, a smile appearing on his face as he chuckled.
"Huh," the soldier said. "I did not expect that response at all."
He rubbed the back of his neck briefly. "Alright, fair enough."
The soldier straightened slightly. "Tell you what. I'll answer any questions you've got. Consider it my way of making up to you for yesterday."
Nathan didn't hesitate.
"There's something someone told me earlier," he said. "They said I should get my awareness to ten as soon as possible."
The soldier nodded immediately.
"Yeah," he said. "That's good advice."
Nathan's interest sharpened. "Why?"
"Because awareness ten unlocks a system feature," the soldier replied. "A big one."
Nathan's grip tightened slightly on his spear.
The soldier continued, "Once your awareness hits ten, you gain the ability to view monster records in real time."
Nathan frowned. "Monster… records?"
The soldier nodded. "When you killed your first goblin, you probably saw a system message, something like records acquired."
Nathan's eyes widened slightly.
'I did see that.'
"I thought it was just a complimentary text," Nathan admitted.
The soldier smirked. "Most people do."
He continued, "Every time you kill a unique type of creature, the system logs its record. And once you hit awareness ten, you can focus on a monster and pull up its status window as long as it's similar to something you've already recorded."
Nathan's mind raced.
"So… if I've killed goblins—"
"You can see any goblin's stats," the soldier finished. "Strength, agility, health, no matter what variant."
That landed hard.
'That's huge.'
Nathan felt a brief surge of excitement before forcing it down.
"That explains why awareness matters so much," he said quietly.
The soldier nodded. "It's the difference between fighting blind and fighting informed."
Nathan absorbed that silently, then moved to his second question, one that had been nagging him since he started planning his rotation.
"Where do these monsters come from?" Nathan asked. "And how do I know which tunnel will have scouts?"
The soldier hummed, clearly considering how to answer.
"That one's trickier," he said. "Truth is, we don't really know where monsters come from yet. Maybe the higher ups do."
Nathan frowned. "You don't?"
The soldier shook his head. "There are plenty of theories but none are confirmed."
Then he raised a finger. "But we do know how they behave."
Nathan leaned in slightly.
The soldier gestured toward the tunnels. "Here's what we've observed... Every thirty minutes, if a tunnel hasn't been entered by a hunter, a goblin scout will emerge from that tunnel and enter the chamber."
Nathan blinked. "Enter the chamber?"
"Yeah," the soldier replied. "That's when we kill it."
Nathan's eyes widened slightly.
"So… if no one goes in-"
"There's probably a scout inside," the soldier finished. "Or two depending on how long it's been."
Nathan's thoughts clicked rapidly.
The quiet tunnels were the best ones to rotate between, if it took him 20 minutes clearing one tunnel he can directly enter the other one.
'That the most efficient way to kill scouts.'
"That means…" Nathan murmured.
The soldier smiled faintly. "Exactly."
Nathan exhaled slowly, a sense of clarity settling over him.
The goblin appearance weren't random, instead they were predictable.
Nathan glanced back toward the secluded tunnel.
'This is perfect for me.'
He looked back at the soldier. "Thanks."
The soldier nodded. "Just don't be reckless. Remember, we are not allowed to interfere."
Nathan tightened his grip on the spear.
"I won't," he said.
He meant it.
Nathan turned away from the barricade and walked back toward the quiet tunnel, his mind sharper than it had ever been.