Chapter 72: Reward
In the forest, they had been wandering around for most of the day.
At last, in the afternoon, Gauss spotted goblin tracks on the ground.
On a patch of gray stone, there were several small dried footprints.
“Total monsters killed: 94”
After slaying those five goblins last night, he was only six kills away from reaching his target of 100.
In other words, finding a goblin nest would likely be enough to meet the requirement.
The excitement was shared not only by Gauss, but also by the two villagers who had been trailing him through the woods all day.
Once he found the tracks, Gauss intensified his search around the area.
Eventually, in a muddy patch, he discovered a goblin group.
He hid a distance away to observe.
He realized that this goblin group was rather small—only eight green-skinned brats were currently enjoying a mud bath.
He wasn’t sure if the five goblins from yesterday came from this same group; even if they had, that would only bring the total to thirteen.
These goblins were noticeably small in size; most stood around one meter tall.
A well-developed goblin typically grows to about 1.4 to 1.5 meters.
So even among goblins, there was a clear size disparity.
This size difference explained why many people couldn’t accurately gauge goblin combat strength—because even ordinary goblins can vary significantly in power.
“You two wait here,” Gauss said, to prevent the villagers from following. “I can handle this myself.”
Part of the reason was that he felt confident in dealing with them alone; another was his concern that if the villagers accidentally “stole a few heads,” he might not reach the one-hundred kill mark—which would be frustrating.
“You be careful, sir,” the villagers answered.
But in reality, they had not planned to help at all.
Gauss moved swiftly through the forest.
He silently approached the muddy area.
Perhaps because they were enjoying the refreshing coolness of their mud bath, the goblins’ vigilance had significantly dropped.
Gauss got nearly within reach before one goblin suddenly noticed him.
“Wah wah wah!”
As it sounded an alarm to its companions, Gauss stepped into the ankle-deep mud.
He pressed his foot down, sending mud flying.
His body lunged forward.
A cold rapier sliced through the air.
From above, he pierced one goblin’s throat.
“Goblin killed *1”
“Total monsters killed: 95”
The other goblins were a beat slow, scrambling to grab their weapons with both hands.
In their terrified eyes, another goblin was swiftly beheaded by Gauss.
“Total monsters killed: 96”
Gauss’s swordplay became even cleaner and more precise.
Approaching the one-hundred kill mark wasn’t just about stacking numbers—it was a testament to his overall combat growth.
Kill efficiency, mental resilience, on‑the‑spot tactics, familiarity with monsters’ behaviors and attack methods—all these intangible skills demanded heavy real‑combat experience to refine.
A few minutes later.
As the last goblin thrust its stone spear toward Gauss’s abdomen, the spear’s tip was absorbed and resisted by an invisible force.
With the goblin’s unwilling gaze upon him, Gauss lifted his rapier and severed its neck.
Its head thudded into the mud.
The battle was over.
Having killed all the goblins, Gauss eagerly looked at the Adventurer’s Handbook.
Sure enough, after reaching the milestone of 100 kills, the system, just like in previous stages, issued a new reward.
“Goblin killed *1”
“Total monsters killed: 102”
“Reward obtained: Talent [Magic Resistance]”
“[Magic Resistance]: Based on the quality of your magical energy, grants corresponding resistance to hostile external spell effects, thereby weakening enemy magic. The effect of this talent is linked to the quality of your own magical energy.”
“Reward obtained: Strength +1”
“Next stage: Total monster kills to reach 200.”
A mysterious heat surged quickly through Gauss’s body, especially soaking into his muscular tissue as if countless invisible hands were kneading within.
His muscle fibers became visibly firmer and more toned; previously loose tendons quickly turned solid.
Within just a few breaths, Gauss felt his physical strength grow immensely.
Opening his eyes, a smile appeared on Gauss’s face—not only had his strength increased.
Unlike earlier stages where the rewards were spells or attribute points, this time a new kind of reward had appeared.
He had received the talent [Magic Resistance]!
The moment Gauss saw the talent, his eyes lit up uncontrollably.
There was no need to explain which was more valuable—spells or talents.
Spells, even without system rewards, could theoretically be learned from spellbooks, teachings from others, or other means.
But talents were different.
At least based on the intel he had, other apprentices could only obtain a corresponding talent when advancing into a profession, based on the skills they had practiced.
But him?
He hadn’t even advanced into a profession yet and already had two growth-type talents.
One was [Rapid Digestion], gained from the increasing goblin kill count.
The other was the newly obtained [Magic Resistance], which, according to the description, seemed to scale with the quality of his magical energy.
So in theory, the stronger his magic became, the more potent his magic resistance would grow.
A terrifying effect!
Moreover, this magic resistance made up for one of Gauss’s shortcomings.
A few days ago, when he had just learned how to cast Mage Armor on others, he discovered during testing that Mage Armor provided far better defense against physical attacks than magical ones.
When his Magic Missile struck Mage Armor, the clashing energies would cause vibrations, destabilizing the spell itself.
He had speculated at the time that either Mage Armor inherently lacked protection against magic or that his training wasn’t up to par.
But now that he possessed the Magic Resistance talent, he no longer needed to know the cause.
With this talent, he would surely be much more adept at handling magical attacks.
Perhaps, with Mage Armor layered on top of magic resistance, his defense against spells would dramatically increase.
And if he were to promote Mage Armor as a core skill upon advancing into a profession—
The spell itself would evolve further, and his overall defense would stack to a terrifying degree for someone of his level.
After reviewing the effects of [Magic Resistance], he turned to examine the second reward.
Strength +1.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t added to his most powerful stat—Intelligence.
He strongly suspected that the stat bonuses granted by the Adventurer’s Handbook weren’t random.
Still, Strength wasn’t a bad gain.
Feeling the solid power now coursing through him, Gauss was quite satisfied.
As a mage apprentice, he had to admit that, especially in the early stages, this sword in his hand helped him immensely.
An increase in strength was a huge boost to his current combat capabilities.