Fake Survivor 5

Chapter 5

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Edited by: Kanaa-senpai

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 I head out to hunt for magical stones as usual.

 As expected, there aren’t any monsters or even animals around this rocky mountain base.

 That’s a bit concerning, but…it’s actually convenient for me, so I’ll just go with it.

 When I venture further out to search for prey, I sense multiple reactions that seem like goblins.

 One of them has a slightly stronger magical stone reaction…I’ll just take a look.

 After getting a bit closer and using my binoculars, I confirm that there are 4 goblins.

 The number of magical stone reactions matches, so I decide to hunt them down and start looking for a spot to set up my Lotion trap.

 It’s a bit narrow, but this is the best spot around here.

 I plan to reduce their numbers before leading them to this spot, so it should be okay.

 Thinking that, I set up the trap, cover my right hand with Magic Armor, and create a crossbow with a bolt set. Then, I approach the goblins again.

 ”…”

 Three of them have clubs, and the remaining one has nothing in its hands but has a small bag tied to its waist.

 Is it a baggage carrier? The bag is too small, and the strong magical stone reaction is coming from that one…oh well, I’ll take care of the ones with clubs first.

 The ones with long reach are just a pain.

 First, I’ll take care of…that one.

 Whoosh! Thud

 ”Gi.”

 …Thud.

 ”Gi?…Gigyaa!”

 ”Gyagya!”

 One of them falls, and the goblins become more cautious and alert.

 The bolt I fired hits its head, and I quickly recover the magic power, so they don’t know where the attack came from.

 They still haven’t noticed me, so I’ll take down another one.

 Whoosh! Thud

 …Thud

 ”Gih!…Gigyih!”

 ”Gyiih!”

 The goblin with a club that I hit with my second shot seems to have noticed me and is now approaching me with the empty-handed goblin.

 I quickly turned my crossbow back into magical energy and covered my abdomen with Magic Armor, then floated in the air and headed towards the trap.

 Rustling… Bang!

 Thud, Whoosh

 ”Giii!?”

 Crash, Thud

 ”Gii!”

 The stick-wielding goblin that came out of the grass got caught in the trap and slid, and I shot it again with the crossbow I recreated.

 The other goblin that was a bit late to arrive noticed the trap and stopped in its tracks, but since it was only 2-3 meters away, I could definitely take it down.

 Thinking that, I turned my crossbow back into magical energy to recreate it, but… The goblin stuck its left hand into its waist pouch and turned its right hand towards me.

 ”Gyagyagyagyagyi…”

 ”?”

 Is it saying something? Maybe it’s begging for its life?

 Is it saying it’ll give me what’s in its pouch if I spare it?

 But I need to earn magical power with magic stones, so that’s not an option.

 Besides, I’ll probably end up hunting it anyway.

 So, I recreated my crossbow and pointed it at the goblin, and

 ”Gyagya!”

 it cried out, and at the same time, flames were released from its right hand.

 Boom!

 ”Uwaa!”

 Is that magic!?

 In a flash, I covered my left arm with Magic Armor to defend myself, bending my elbow to block the flames.

 But what’s coming at me is fire.

 Of course, my arm, which had grown a bit thicker with Magic Armor, couldn’t block it.

 That’s what I thought…

 ”…Seriously?”

 But a black wall had appeared in front of me, hiding my body and blocking all the flames.

 The damage itself seemed to have occurred, and the magical power that had taken the hit was consumed, but…

 The wall appeared from my left arm, and when I touched it, I could feel its texture, so it seems this is also Magic Armor.

 However, the consumption of magical power is intense… but I can change its size and shape.

 If I’m alone, I can cover my entire body with Magic Armor, but if I have someone to protect, it might not be usable.

 ”Gi… Giyagigagi…”

 The goblin, with its hand still stuck in its waist pouch, utters some kind of words again.

 A magic-like phenomenon occurred, and it’s probably an incantation.

 I just waited for it to happen.

 A few seconds later, the goblin releases flames again.

 ”Giyagiga!”

 Boom!

 ”…No good.”

 The flames coming towards me were blocked by my shield, just like last time.

 That means… my experiment has failed.

 Whoosh, thud

 Whoosh, thud

 Whoosh, thud

 ”Gi…”

 Bang

 The goblin, bare-handed, tried to defend against the crossbow with its arm, so I couldn’t take it down with one shot. But after firing several times, I managed to hit its head and defeat it.

 Earlier, what I tried to do against the goblin’s magic was an experiment to “absorb magic as magical power”.

 Since there was only one enemy, and the situation allowed for it, I decided to try it, but… unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

 Magic might not be the magical power itself, but rather a “phenomenon” caused by magical power.

 The experiment ended in failure, but I learned one thing.

 When a monster uses magic, the magical power of the magic stone it possesses decreases.

 It’s been reduced to about half after 2 shots.

 For now, I’ll prioritize taking down those who use magic.

 It’s a hassle to have the magical power of stone reduced.

 As I thought about it, I tried to collect the magical stones, but my eyes fell on the bag the goblin had when it used magic.

 When I use magic, I’ve stuck my hands in this bag twice…

 I picked up the suspicious bag and checked its contents.

 ”…”

 Inside were red stones.

 They were smaller than marbles, and rather than being perfectly spherical, they looked like natural, unprocessed shapes.

 There were only 2 or 3 left, but what did this goblin use them for?

 It was muttering something like an incantation while touching them, but… of course, I didn’t remember, so I didn’t think of trying it myself.

 I put the stones in my pocket and began collecting magical stones, wearing my Magic Armor on my right hand.

 Then… one of the red stones I had just put away disappeared, and at the same time,

 BOOM!

 My right hand was engulfed in flames.

 ”Wha–?!… Huh?”

 I was startled and panicked for a moment, but I realized I didn’t feel any abnormal heat, so I observed my right hand.

 Only my right hand was on fire, and there was nothing unusual above my wrist.

 So… it was only within the range of my Magic Armor.

 When I touched a falling leaf with my right hand, the fire spread normally.

 It seemed that the red stone could change the properties of my Magic Armor.

 However, it increased my magical consumption a bit.

 When I released my Magic Armor, didn’t touch the red stone, and used my Magic Armor again… it was back to normal.

 Hmm.

 This might be useful, so I’ll pick it up and keep it.

 I hadn’t seen anything like this before, but… that’s because I never bothered to collect anything except magical stones, right?

 I thought, and after finishing my magical stone collection, I restarted my hunt.

* * *

 After finishing my hunt for the day, I returned to my base and took a bath first.

 ”In the end, I didn’t find the red stone. Well, I can’t let my guard down and get ambushed by a monster, and if need be, I can just make one with ‘Imitation’…oh.”

 I muttered to myself as I got out of the bath, and saw that it was snowing.

 It’s finally winter…or rather, it’s snowing around here too.

 Back in my hometown, we’d get around 10cm (� 4 inches) of snow, so I should be careful around here too.”

 Hometown…New Year’s food and decorations, I should prepare them.

 It’s been 5 years, so I’ll splurge a bit.

 I’ve realized that the menu, which is basically just photos, can be made at a relatively low cost, and if I create something based on that, I can conserve my magic power.

 Well, the magic power I use on dishes that aren’t in the menu will be wasted, but if I turn the menu back into magic power, it’s no problem.

 According to that logic, the knowledge-packed book won’t go to waste either, but I don’t feel like studying the writing system of this world.

 For now…let’s decide on tonight’s dinner.

 ”Alright, tonight I’ll make cheesy doria and a vegetable-packed minestrone!”

 I said, and created the dishes on the table, turning a certain restaurant’s menu back into magic power before starting my meal.

 ”Mmm, delicious.”

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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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