Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 186 Perception, Black Cat, White Bones
The task itself lacked even the most basic information such as "task description," "type," and "number," appearing extremely casual. It seemed as if the task was simply a temporary assignment of similar difficulty, given to the user as a stepping stone to advancement.

Xia Nan had already made up his mind on his way from River Valley to Newme.

The task itself has no time limit for completion, and there is absolutely no penalty for failure.

No one even mentioned to him the rewards he might receive after completing the task.

Compared to the bounties he had accepted before, this was extremely simple.

This could certainly be due to a "makeshift team" or dereliction of duty by relevant personnel.

But recalling his impression of the association's attitude towards professionals, and the words the association staff member used when handing him the small piece of paper with the mission address written on it:
--investigation.

Yes, it's not the "handle," "eliminate," or "kill" commonly used in bounty information on the mission wall...

Instead, it was an ambiguous "investigation".

To some extent, does this mean that he doesn't need to kill "Buck," the key figure in this incident, but simply synthesize the information he has gathered and report it to the association, and the mission is complete?
Perhaps the so-called promotion task is just a formality?

Xia Nan felt a little conflicted.

Involving high-level professionals, the upper echelons of Newm, the Church, and other forces, plus that powerful and mysterious golden elf, this is clearly not an event I can participate in at the moment.

Therefore, after he left the secret realm and returned to the real world,

After calming down a bit, I handled the situation at the scene with the utmost care and attention.

He wiped away the remaining traces of the battle from the ground, even picking out a single hair stuck in the cracks of the rubble and burning it to ashes.

To avoid being discovered, he made contact with the blonde elf and left unharmed, which led to a series of troubles later on.

He even threw Buck's corpse—which could serve as proof of completing the mission—into the swarm of rats in the sewers without a second thought.

I watched with my own eyes as those hungry, gray-skinned rats swallowed even the bone scraps.

They inspected the site again in detail before leaving the slum.

Otherwise, if the body is brought back to River Valley, and someone asks why Buck's head has become such a smooth, fleshless brown bear skull, he will have a hard time explaining it.

It doesn't matter.

In total, it has four attributes and a valuable and powerful feat.

Compared to the potential rewards of the mission, his gains were already substantial enough.

Even if things don't go as he expected after he gets back, and he doesn't complete the advancement mission.

Then just take one more and you're done.

He was in a phase of accumulating and improving his proficiency in several combat skills, and he wasn't in a hurry for just a few days.

Xia Nan has always been patient.

He also believed that he had done everything he could think of in a short period of time.

If things have come to this point and someone still manages to find traces of him in this incident... then we can only admit defeat and tell the truth.

On the other hand, to be honest, he has only been an adventurer for about half a year.

One mission after another, and during the downtime, I mostly stayed at the White Sparrow Tavern, with a clear and definite growth path.

Moreover, he's just a "newbie" who has just obtained a professional level, so there's no way he could be associated with someone of this level.

even though……

"Meow!"

In the darkness of the night, a cat's meow suddenly came from beside his ear, bringing Xia Nan's attention back to reality.

My gaze followed the direction from which the sound came.

What came into view was a small cat with an elegant figure and an entirely black body.

The moonlight on the night of the "Moon Feast" was so bright that he could even see the fine down on the other's body and the long tail that swayed slightly behind him.

At this moment, it is sitting obediently on the eaves of a roadside house, gazing at itself from afar.

Gazing into the other person's bright yellow eyes that shone faintly in the darkness, Xia Nan felt, for some reason, as if he could sense the vague emotions hidden beneath their dark exterior.

Fear, wariness... and a little hunger?
Suddenly, it dawned on me.

It wasn't that they awakened a natural talent like "Druid".

The reason I can feel this way is probably because after the encounter in the Secret Realm Pavilion, I have now reached the highest point of my six-dimensional attributes, with a perception attribute of "10".

It is a data-driven manifestation of the ability to observe and understand, and the degree of coordination with the surrounding environment.

"Perception" may not be as easy to understand as "strength" or "agility".

However, in reality, this attribute is applied in all aspects of life.

At its simplest, people with high perception can easily tell whether someone is lying and understand their true thoughts and attitudes by observing subtle changes in their actions, tone of voice, and other details.

Or, like a famous detective, discover subtle clues at the crime scene, detect traps and hostility during the mission, and increase awareness of the surrounding environment.

If combined with relevant knowledge, it can also be applied in fields such as "survival", "medicine" and "animal taming".

It also determines the spellcasting strength of classes such as "Ranger", "Priest", and "Druid".

According to the data on the attribute panel, on the continent of Aifara, the attributes of an average adult should be around "5" points.

Even though individual differences may cause the specific values ​​to fluctuate, they generally will not exceed one or two points.

Xia Nan's current perception attribute has reached a proper double digit—10 points!
Compared to the attributes of ordinary people, the difference is far more exaggerated than the literal meaning of "doubled".

Having traveled this far, Xia Nan has gained a very profound understanding.

Whether it was earlier at the entrance of the Moon Goddess Church, where a single glance revealed the tense mood of the passing guards, or the priest and mage's disheveled appearance as if they had just finished a fierce battle;
Still those same panicked residents from the houses on both sides of the street, awakened by the noise; the unknown birds and beasts flying overhead in the night sky; the little mice scavenging for food in the garbage heaps in the corners of the alleyways...

Details that were previously impossible to notice are now so clear, captured by his five senses.

It is foreseeable that in his future adventures, unless he encounters a few enemies with sophisticated stealth skills, it will be very difficult for him to be ambushed by monsters without realizing it, just like when he first transmigrated.

Even when venturing into an unknown cave, his heightened senses allow him to anticipate the situation beforehand.

Of course, these are just some conservative predictions made by Xia Nan based on his own understanding and his current vague feelings.

After a prolonged period of actual experience, you will definitely be able to further experience changes in your body in daily life.

Just like the three points of physical attributes provided by Dettol before, he originally thought that they would just mean more physical strength and stronger combat endurance.

Later, I discovered that my sleep efficiency had been quietly improved, as well as my resistance to various effects such as toxins, plagues, and cold.

A perception score as high as "10" will obviously have a huge impact on his daily life.

Right now, I'm facing a black cat on the roof in front of me.

Xia Nan is not a druid and does not have the ability to communicate directly with animals.

However, he is able to passively and instinctively observe the details of the other person's body movements with his heightened perception, and then summarize and analyze them in his brain in an instant to draw a conclusion.

His right hand lightly swept across the pocket at his waist, and a small piece of jerky was already in his hand.

I took two steps forward and, under the black cat's wary gaze, placed the jerky on the ground.

Step back slightly, leaving some space.

Then it looked at the other, carefully jumped down from the eaves, stared at it with its golden eyes, and tentatively approached, its nose twitching as it sniffed the surface of the jerky.

Xia Nan had assumed that this small creature darting through the night would, like his proud and cautious counterparts, snatch the jerky and find a safe, undisturbed spot to enjoy it slowly.

But what I didn't expect was.

The black cat in front of me, with its pure and flawless fur, actually came forward with a piece of jerky in its mouth and came to my feet.

Its long tail coiled upwards, arching its slender waist, and gently rubbed against Xia Nan's trouser leg.

He even made a comfortable "gurgling" sound. Feeling the warm, soft touch on his calves through his pants, Xia Nan's face showed a thoughtful expression.

He's been here for over half a year now, and he's seen plenty of stray dogs and cats in River Valley Town.

I know I don't have much of a connection with these small animals.

Sometimes, the smell of blood and monsters clinging to them after an adventure would even make them too afraid to utter a sound, and they would flee at the mere sight of them.

But this black cat is behaving so strangely right now.

Is it simply its familial nature, or...?

What is the effect of that 1 point of Charisma attribute?
Xia Nan pondered to himself that he might ask a couple of acquaintances later to see if there had been any obvious changes in his demeanor or appearance.

I bent down, wanting to gently stroke the black cat's head.

Before my fingertips could even touch that layer of delicate, soft down, a loud bang suddenly came from afar.

boom--

The sudden burst of noise seemed to startle the black cat beneath him.

Her petite body suddenly retreated, her long legs moving lightly, and in the blink of an eye, she disappeared into the depths of the night.

Xia Nan didn't seem to care.

He simply turned his head and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

From a great distance, one could only vaguely see thick smoke rising alongside the blazing fire.

Without the slightest intention to get involved, he turned around instantly and continued walking slowly along the road back.

I left Jeff's house in a hurry without having dinner.

By now, I'm inevitably feeling a bit hungry.

"I don't know if Mrs. Daisy is asleep yet. Could I use their kitchen for a moment?"

"What did she put in that mushroom soup she made last time? Cheese... or lemon?"

……

……

Newmead.

Outside the slums.

A small squad of guards, led by their captain, was stationed at a deserted and quiet intersection.

"Ahoo~~~"

The young-looking guard leaned against the wall and stretched lazily.

The Moon Festival should be a day for family reunions.

Being suddenly called out of the house inevitably caused some resentment.

"Captain, do you think there's any point in us guarding this place?"

"If a powerful person of this level wants revenge, they can just go back to the city center, where there are nobles and wealthy merchants."

"If they want to escape, they'll definitely head towards the slums leading out of the city."

"We're stuck on neither side, what can we possibly hold onto?"

In response, he received a slap on the back of the head.

"You've only been here a few years, and you've become this lazy?" The captain, a man in his thirties or forties with a thick beard, glared at him and scolded him.

"Stop wasting your breath, just do what I tell you!"

He seemed to have considerable authority within the team, and seeing his reaction, the previously grumbling atmosphere immediately turned serious.

The air became quiet.

Knowing that too much of a good thing can be bad, and given that the timing was indeed special—it was the night of the Moon Festival—we decided to go all out.

The bearded man changed the subject, grinning and lowering his voice:
"Keep a close watch on them, don't let anything go wrong."

"Let things settle down peacefully, and don't rush home. I'll take you to Iron Bucket Toad for a couple of rounds of drinks!"

The atmosphere instantly became lively.

The young guard, who had been hanging his head after being scolded, suddenly had a glint of excitement in his eyes, but then, as if remembering something, he leaned closer and hesitated, saying:
"Captain, of course I want to go, but I stayed at Nightingale's Nest for two days the other day, and I'm short on cash... hehe."

"Don't worry." The burly man with the thick beard patted him on the shoulder. "When you go out drinking with your captain, you're not going to have to pay."

“The Badger Gang still owes us a few dollars. It doesn’t matter if you drink until you throw up. I’ll have ‘Stubborn Donkey’ put it all on their tab.”

Upon hearing this, the last trace of worry on the young guard's face vanished.

The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up, and his gaze was slightly unfocused, as if he was thinking about what to drink later.

"Clap."

Suddenly, from the end of the street.

The subtle yet clear footsteps reached the ears of everyone on the field at the same time.

Without prior arrangement, the guards turned around in unison, their eyes fixed on the direction from which the footsteps were coming.

A tall, slender, and twisted figure staggered slowly toward them.

Bathed in moonlight, her disheveled long golden hair swayed, revealing two slender, pointed ears.

Adam's apple rolling.

The middle-aged man with a full beard immediately realized what was going on.

"alert!!!!"

"Chris, go get backup. Jack and Nori, follow me. Conrad, take your shield!"

"Conrad!?"

The hurried and frantic sounds of preparation echoed faintly in the cold air.

But there was no response whatsoever.

The man suddenly sensed something was wrong.

He glanced to his side out of the corner of his eye.

All that came into view was a clean, white human skeleton, its surface devoid of any flesh or blood.

My heart skipped a beat.

I subconsciously looked down at my chest.

The sturdy armor had melted away at some point, the skin was lifted up out of thin air, the muscle fibers were blown away by the wind, and the heart, blood vessels, and tendons were compressed and twisted into a pool of bloody mud, revealing pale ribs and the spine on the back.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something.

But then he discovered that he had already lost control of his body.

Darkness engulfed the world before my eyes like a tidal wave.

"Kara."

It's the crisp sound of bones hitting the ground.

(End of this chapter)