Steadily Leveling Up

I set out to explore the town again with Momo and Aka.

That said, strictly speaking, Aka wasn't walking.

I was 'wearing' it.

"It really doesn't feel weird at all..."

Aka was touching the 'jacket' it had mimicked.

From its texture to how it felt to wear, it was no different from ordinary clothing.

If anything, it was even more comfortable than normal clothes.

It was heavier than ordinary clothing, but now that my stats had increased, it wasn't heavy enough to bother me.

What an incredible Skill.

"...(shiver)"

"Ah, sorry, Aka. Was that ticklish?"

As I touched it to check how it felt, Aka trembled.

Apparently, touching it too much was a no-go.

Wearing it was fine, though. I couldn't tell where the line was...

I checked various things about Aka's Mimicry Skill, and apparently Aka could mimic 'things it had eaten.'

As a test, I fed it dishes, trash, clothes, and so on that I'd stored in the Item Box, and it was able to mimic all of them without issue.

However, it couldn't mimic things that were too small or too large.

It seemed the thing had to be reasonably close to Aka's normal size.

So I had it mimic the 'clothes' I wore.

Aka's normal movement speed was far too slow, after all.

This was easier than carrying it on my back, and Aka in its mimicked form didn't trigger 'Enemy Search' or 'Enemy Sense,' so it didn't cause any problems for my Skills, either.

More importantly, the clothes Aka mimicked were tough enough to serve as something like a bulletproof vest.

They were hard to cut and highly resistant to impact.

I'd only tested their performance a little, but ordinary bullets probably couldn't penetrate them.

Though the 'impact' itself seemed to carry through.

Even so, it was a huge help.

Thanks to Aka, my defense had increased dramatically.

Momo had made the right call.

I'm glad I made it my companion.

Incidentally, Aka could only mimic 'things' such as tools and clothes.

Apparently, it couldn't take the form of other living creatures like Momo.

Even so, it was still pretty amazing.

I wonder if it will be able to mimic weapons and such once it levels up.

I'm kind of looking forward to that.

Now, time to look for some useful supplies and monsters...

I'd like to examine Aka's Mimicry Skill more carefully, but leveling up was important, too.

I should be able to test the performance of Aka's Mimicry in actual combat, too.

Oh, Enemy Search picked something up.

This feeling... a Goblin, maybe.

There were enough of them, so I decided to hunt them.

The Goblins were relaxing in a park.

Seven in all... No Hobgoblin, it seemed.

With Momo hidden in 'Shadow,' I approached as close as I could, then, once I entered its effective range, I used Momo's 'Shadow' to bind them all at once.

"Gi... Giii?" "Gigi... Gi!?"

"Gigya..." "Gugiii...!"

The Goblins desperately tried to break free, but to no avail.

Perhaps because Momo had leveled up, the performance of its 'Shadow' Skill had improved, too.

Until now, it hadn't been able to restrain this many Goblins, but now it could bind them easily, and the force of its constriction had increased as well.

I approached the immobilized Goblins and finished them off with a kitchen knife.

I could have crushed them to death with the Item Box, but this time I used a kitchen knife.

I took aim so I could finish each one with a single blow if possible.

I could somehow tell where the Goblins' 'vital points' were.

That was probably the effect of 'Vital Strike.'

If I kept using Skills like this, my proficiency in 'Swordsmanship' and 'Vital Strike' would increase, too.

Now that my Item Box had reached its cap, I wanted to raise the levels of my other Skills even a little.

It would save SP, too.

≪You gained experience points.≫

I defeated seven Goblins and collected their magic stones.

I gave one magic stone each to Momo and Aka, then moved on immediately.

Incidentally, Aka apparently had to dispel its 'Mimicry' in order to eat magic stones.

Whenever I fed them magic stones, I carefully checked to make sure there were no people or monsters nearby.

Watching a magic stone dissolve inside a slime's body was surreal no matter how many times I saw it.

After that, I continued looking for monsters I could safely take down and hunting them.

Safety first.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

I knew firsthand that thinking, "Maybe I can keep going?" or "Just a little farther..." could get me killed.

Surviving was my top priority.

After taking down several Zombies and Goblins, I leveled up.

All right! I pumped my fist mentally.

Since I already knew how to allocate the points, I quickly took care of it.

As for JP, I raised 'Assassin' to LV 7.

I saved the remaining three points.

For Skills, I raised 'Observation' to LV 6, 'Danger Sense' to LV 6, and 'Enemy Sense' to LV 5.

I saved the remaining point.

As my level got higher, each Skill started costing more points.

I needed to raise their proficiency in actual combat somehow and save as many points as possible.

Come to think of it, I'd come quite a long way from the shopping center.

In terms of distance, the home improvement store was roughly halfway between here and the shopping center.

Still, I couldn't let my guard down yet.

Even though 'Danger Sense' hadn't reacted, there was no guarantee that a monster as strong as that High Orc wasn't somewhere nearby.

If one were disguised like a Mimic, I might not notice it.

"Maybe I should decide on my next destination soon..."

The neighboring town, the city center, or perhaps hiding out in the mountains...

There was no guarantee any of them would be safer than here, but I wouldn't know without seeing for myself.

The city center was closest, but to get there I'd have to pass through the area around that shopping mall.

I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

That left the neighboring town or the mountains.

But I wanted to level up as much as possible around here first.

Wherever I moved, there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be a monster stronger than that High Orc.

In that sense, now that I could hunt monsters without putting myself in danger, I could almost call my current situation stable.

In any case, today would be devoted to leveling up.

"All right, let's give it one more push."

"Woof!"

"...(shiver)"

I handed the newly acquired magic stones to Momo and Aka.

Both of them happily accepted the magic stones.

But the moment Momo swallowed its magic stone, something about it changed.

"...Hm? What's wrong, Momo?"

"...Grrrr..."

Momo didn't respond when I spoke to it, but trembled and groaned.

W-what's wrong, Momo?

When I approached, 'Shadow' erupted from beneath Momo's feet.

"!?"

It took on a cocoon-like shape and covered Momo completely.

W-what... what's happening to Momo?

Right after it ate the magic stone...

Could it be—no way!

I opened my Status Plate and checked the very bottom entry.

"Just as I thought..."

It displayed 'Momo Shiba Inu LV 10.'

Then this phenomenon...

Aka and I stared intently at Momo, which was wrapped in shadow.

After a few seconds, the shadowy cocoon disappeared.

The form that emerged from it was—