**Day 4: Cave**
Wake up, get food, do some exploration! So, now I'm heading upstream in the forest. Not that my mood's suddenly pumped; if anything, it's dropping. I want something besides mushrooms. Not fancy stuff like rice or ramen, just food that isn't mushrooms.
Exploration time. Charging straight into the depths is scary, so sticking to the open riverbank with good visibility.
Mushrooms still everywhere. Everything else still extinct. There they are, as usual. Upstream has more, as expected. Weak ones, though.
Presence Detection pings goblins—two, Lv12 and 11. "Movement Lv1" + "Mana Cloak" for blitz. Charge Goblin A—one hit down. But "Movement Lv1" too fast!! Slammed right into it while hitting—pure "Fugyuuuuuuu!" That huirt!
Tangled with Goblin A, now rolling toward Goblin B. It's surprised. So am I. Mana Cloak on stick too, weave through attacks, strike—effect unknown, but two hits down.
Maybe it's working, maybe placebo. Well, faith can make even sardine heads effective. Mushrooms only, but eventually I'll join the Mushroom Cult?
Deeper exploration. Food plenty, too bad it's mushroom overload… More goblins, three this time. Lv14, 11, 10. "Movement" + "Mana Cloak" blitz again. Goblin A one-shot, stumbled a bit off course—OK, distance opened. Blitz B… crap… guh, counter hit. "Movement" still unavoidable, crashed right in again.
Goblin C flanks. Dodge, "Movement", dodge again—chaos fight. Chaos ends in sticky win. "Movement" perfect = instant advantage, but fumble = instant disadvantage. Double-edged sword. Wooden sword, though.
Kept practicing "Movement" consciously. Found = real combat. Mana Cloak now auto-wrap, no thought needed. Problem is "Movement", I tripped twice (ssh, secret). I'm not crying.
Took more damage than expected, so early return to cave. Damage from self-stick crash, goblin collision, tripping. True self-destruct. Not self-destruct attack—true self-destruct. Special attack club-kill clumsy girl. Didn't check Lv, but last one took effort. Wore bracelet—stripped it. Pure villain. Thief? Robber? Unemployed? Which is best…?
Late lunch in cave. Don't ask what. Status appraisal time.
**NAME** Haruka **Human**
**AGE** 16
**Lv** 03
**Job** --
**HP** 8/35 (12 UP)
**MP** 10/32 (11 UP)
**ViT** 37 (15 UP)
**PoW** 35 (14 UP)
**SpE** 38 (13 UP)
**DeX** 38 (13 UP)
**MiN** 36 (15 UP)
**InT** 40 (15 UP)
**LuK** Max (Limit Break)
**SP** 13
**Martial Arts** "Staff Technique Lv2" "Evasion Lv2" (Up) "Perception Lv2" (Up) "Mana Cloak Lv1"
**Magic** "Temperature Lv2" "Movement Lv1" "Weight Lv1" "Packaging Lv1" "Fire Magic Lv1"
**Skills** "Health Lv2" (Up) "Sensitive Lv2" "Gymnastics Lv2" "Walking Lv2" "Servitude Lv1" "Appraisal Lv2" "Clairvoyance Lv1" "Presence Detection Lv2" "Enemy Search Lv2" "Mana Manipulation Lv1"
**Titles** "Shut-in Lv1" "NEET Lv1" "Loner Lv1"
**Unknown** "Report-Contact-Consult Lv1" "Jack of All Trades Lv1" "Wooden Puppet Lv1"
**Equipment** "Wooden Stick?" "Cloth Clothes?" "Leather Gloves?" "Leather Boots?" "Cape?" "Contacts?" "Dire Soul Ring" "Item Bag"
Yesss, level up. InT finally 40s, others mid-to-high 30s. Stats way stronger than goblins now? Yet still struggled 1v1 at the end, so frustrating. Oh yeah, bracelet. Took it out, appraised.
"Bracelet – PoW +1% Monster Bracelet"
Yeah, power boost. +1% but better than nothing. Using it. Not a monster, though.
Evening, stamina recovered, so upstream scouting. This route fewer goblins, only weak ones expected.
Far upstream, presence. Not goblin? Enter forest, hide-advance, no noise, slow but quick movement. Clairvoyance stare, it's humans. Three people. Classmates. Trouble ones? Could be school delinquents, the class villains, of course they are self-proclaimed. Gang up, make noise, bully quiet otakus at best.
Hid, appraised. Only Lv and Job visible: Great sword User, Dual Sword User, Flame Mage. Lv11, 3, 2, wow huge gap.
Hid watching. Sat by river, chatting. Mostly useless talk, blooming with girls' ero-stories.
42 classmates, 20 girls apparently. Otakus active, grumbling unhappily. Makes sense—they know skills/isekai transfer best. Also, selfish bitch group of 5 clashing with other girls.
These three bully group. Won't do anything good, plotting evil now. What about girls? Planning assault? Nah, impossible. Class Rep there, she'd see through and crush. From 1st grade to high school 2nd, tamed every problem child, delinquent, she was the ultimate chairwoman.
Hm? Something. Fake delinquents chattering, no notice of me… but someone's there? …If noticed, trouble. Sneak away. Monitor from a distance—not one, but the three. No presence? Unknown, but no need to engage. I'll fall back.
At least confirmed all classmates upstream. No need to meet, I'll have trouble with their vibe, the relationships are messy. Don't let them come downstream. Environmental pollution. My shut-in environment polluted!? Or loner/NEET environment? Already polluted. As a person.
Before it gets dark, I'll go back to the cave. Hunted two more goblins enroute. Bracelet +1% effect unknown. Erasing Presence, much better.
Kept sneaking, presence off. A rabbit appeared. First animal seen, presence off needed to approach. Meat! Rabbit hunt, got shiitake-like something. First proper dinner in ages.
Thanks for the meal. Delicious. How many days since meat? Mushroom side dish fine, but mushrooms hogging spotlight too much. Solo performance!
Rabbit tiny fur, what to do? Sell?
Then leisurely magic practice, or Sunday carpentry? Trying to improve base. Packaging ground? Pulling? Stretching? Hardening? Denting? Mounding? Shaping? Huh, this is kinda fun!
…Lost track of time. Yeah, it's now midnight.
**NAME** Haruka **Human**
**AGE** 16
**Lv** 03
**Job** --
**HP** 35
**MP** 32
**ViT** 37
**PoW** 35
**SpE** 38
**DeX** 38
**MiN** 36
**InT** 40
**LuK** Max (Limit Break)
**SP** 16
**Martial Arts** "Staff Technique Lv2" "Evasion Lv2" "Perception Lv2" "Mana Cloak Lv2" (Up)
**Magic** "Temperature Lv2" "Movement Lv2" "Weight Lv1" "Packaging Lv2" "Fire Magic Lv2" "Earth Magic Lv1" (New)
**Skills** "Health Lv2" "Sensitive Lv2" "Gymnastics Lv2" "Walking Lv2" "Servitude Lv1" "Appraisal Lv3" (Up) "Clairvoyance Lv1" "Presence Detection Lv2" "Enemy Search Lv2" "Mana Manipulation Lv1" "Presence Concealment Lv1" (New) "Stealth Lv1" (New)
**Titles** "Shut-in Lv2" (Up) "NEET Lv1" "Loner Lv2" (Up)
**Unknown** "Report-Contact-Consult Lv1" "Jack of All Trades Lv1" "Wooden Puppet Lv1"
**Equipment** "Wooden Stick?" "Cloth Clothes?" "Leather Gloves?" "Leather Boots?" "Cape?" "Contacts?" "Dire Soul Ring" "Item Bag" "Bracelet PoW +1%" (New)
Shut-in and Loner up. From not talking to classmates? Playing alone in room? If NEET up from all this work, I'd cry. These titles stab deep.
Earth Magic? Ah, kneading cave counted as earth magic? Roasting mushrooms fire magic, kneading cave earth magic. Isekai OK with this? Too much daily life feel?
Sneaking helped too. Presence Concealment and Stealth good. Goblin assassination. Assassin. Tomorrow too, I'll sneak and level up.
What is this isekai life? No light novel glamour. At least protagonists don't say "Well sneaking is what I'll do tomorrow!!"
Well… sneaking it is what I'll do, of course. But I'm not the protagonist, just an NPC.