In the way to nearby town

There wasn't an absolute path leading down the mountain, so Shingi and Anna had to climb down a few places.

Fortunately, among the things they found outside the mine, there was also some climbing equipment.

As they progressed, they weren't interacting much with each other and focused on advancing down the mountain.

Shingi had nothing to discuss with her, but Anna seemed to want to say a lot but keeping herself from doing so. He was the first one she met after so long and could interact with, but she didn't want to be the first one to act.

Since both of them were pretty agile, even if Shingi was in a weakened state for using his Breaking-Limit state, as also HASTE, so they reached a standard path leading down after a few minutes.

It seemed the path was to travel through the mountain. Fortunately, it was going the opposite direction from where the mine was.

They followed this path going down.

Anna wasn't wearing her hood, so her short brown hair that fit her, also brown and white fur, was out.

She was wearing her mouth mask, and she could focus on it and give her face a different appearance to look like a human. However, she didn't want to draw too much attention as Catfolks weren't typical around towns.

In less than an hour since they left the mine, they were at the bottom of the mountain. They then headed towards the west after checking the sun to give them the direction they needed.

Anna told Shingi that the town was just a few hours from here, but they could make it in half the time if they pushed it with their speed.

Shingi had decided to take it slow, even if that meant they had to make a camp outside.

It could be dangerous outside, but he wasn't optimistic about the town they were heading to, so he wanted to get there while there was light to investigate it and not in the middle of the night.

He kept looking for any familiar landmarks, but nothing caught his eyes.

It seemed like they were somewhat far from Carda, but it didn't seem like they were too far from the climate, but not within walking distance.

When it got dark, they started looking for a suitable place to make a camp.

Shingi had some tents, bedrolls, and such ready at his Spatial Ring. He was always trying to prepare himself for the future, so he kept his Ring almost full with many items that some would consider useless, but they showed their use at some point.

"So what can you tell me who was the one who made the Seal of the mine?" [Shingi]

Since they left the mine, this was the first time that Shingi spoke to her, which surprised Anna.

She was thinking about what to say, and Shingi detected something familiar.

Her reluctance was like Zhen's, and he was getting this feeling from her when he tried to get information from Zhen.

"I can't say much, as I am not allowed. The individual was an old acquaintance of mine that was powerful. That is the only thing I can share." [Anna]

If it were in the past, it would surprise Shingi to hear about an individual like that, but after meeting Mikhail and learning from Aella and Zhen, more individuals like him could create Seal like his; he wasn't that startled.

"Then what about going to visit your Father. I am sure he would be happy to see you after that long. He probably will even give you something from his collection." [Shingi]

Anna seemed to be amused by the idea of a gift from her Father but soon put the thought away.

"I doubt he will get at this point. He most likely will ask me why I didn't bring any fancy mineral from the mine and laugh at me be trapped there for so long." [Anna]

Shingi nodded on this as he was confident that this could be the case with the personality of Dlog. He was a greedy fellow but open-hearted as far as he didn't have to give any of his shinies. But in the rare case, someone has done a big thing for him. He was open to reward him but rarely was from something materialistic.

Even Ameanum, the only thing he has taken from him was his Blessing, and he even had lost some of his gems or equipment by getting outsmart by Dlog. However, he was a crafty fellow in getting something that drew his interest and lazed for anything else, unless it came to his children.

He wasn't a model Father, but when he was with there, he was a different man, full of energy and letting them play with his collection, while if anyone else tried even to breathe near it, he would be lucky to feel the release of death.

They went over some small talk until Shingi made a sign for her to get quiet, and he put out the fire they had made.

He enabled his detection Skills at full power as he, and Anna started hiding behind nearby trees.

Not much time after that, two humanoid figures came towards their camp.

They didn't look human at all but were more lizard-like but very short, almost at the height of Shingi. Their face followed a similar design as a dragon, while their body was more human-like and had a dragon-like tail.

Shingi recognized them as Kobolds, and they were Monsters met at the low floors of the Tower.

They were a little more powerful than Goblins as their natural defense was a little higher as they had some scales on their body resisting some of the force of the weapons hitting them.

The two were only wearing a simple loincloth and had a simple dagger drawn and ready at hand.

One of them was sniffing the air like he was following a scent.

Shingi knew that their smell was a little better than humans, but not by far.

They could also see better in the dark, so he had to be careful not to be caught.

The first one who had come to the camp turned toward the one who was sniffing the air using their strange language.

*Smell here?*[Kobold #1]

*Yes... smell close. Very close.*[Kobold #2]

Shingi had heard their language in the past and knew the basics, and understood it. Fortunately, their vocabulary wasn't that large as they weren't monsters with a lot of INT.

*Should go talk...Chief?* [Kobold #1]

*NO. This I... and you... Chief no talk.* [Kobold #2]

The second Kobold had brought his dagger toward the first to show it as a warning to keep acting as ordered.

As Shingi was thinking of the best approach, he barely noticed something as the two Kobolds fell unconscious.

Of course, the one behind this was Anna.

She had thrown some of her needles at the Kobolds and hit some specific areas of their forehead, which led them to pass out with the needles' pressure.

Anna was familiar with the anatomy of many creatures, especially humanoid ones, so she could make similar attacks and have similar effects on many. But she had to be quick and surprise them so that they couldn't defend against it.

Shingi extended his detection Skills to ensure no other Kobold was around, even if he was confident of it being the case after hearing their discussion. But the rest of their people wouldn't be too far, but at least for now, they weren't heading towards them.

Shingi brought out his robe and started tying up the two Kobolds by having one back facing the other's back.

After making confident it was tight enough, Anna took her needles from them, releasing the pressure on those points and letting them wake up.

When they were back conscious, the first Kobold seeing Shingi, who stood in front of him, tried to stand and charge him. But because they tied him to the other Kobold, he couldn't move.

*Me talk. You listen* [Shingi]

================================

LANGUAGE LEARNED

The language DRAGONIC has been learned

================================

The Kobold seemed confused about hearing the boy speaking their language, while the other one hadn't seen Shingi yet, so it was still fighting to get itself free but had no luck on that.

Anna appeared in front of the Kobold, who was still trying to get free and holding some of her longer needles, which were around ten centimeters in height each, brought them near the Kobold's neck.

She seemed to pierce a little an area there, and even if it didn't seem to be something big, the Kobold appeared to be in pain but couldn't scream as Anna was keeping his mouth shut with her free hand.

After a few seconds, Anna brought out the needles and starred at the Kobold for a few more seconds before leaving his mouth.

The Kobold didn't move a muscle or said anything after that. It understood its current situation.

Anna's skills impressed Shingi, but he returned his focus toward the other Kobold.

*You clan. Size?* [Shingi]

The Kobold, even if it didn't see what happened to the other Kobold or heard any screams, could understand that it got tortured from the movements of its back.

Kobolds aren't courageous creatures unless they have the advantage of the numbers, but it isn't rare to see them run away even then.

*Clan small. Big man attack. Big man, make clan leave home. Stupid Chief say no return... no attack flesh ones. We hungry.* [Kobold #1]

Shingi seemed to grasp a little of the situation.

Their leader seemed to be smart enough not to attack the nearby town as it would likely eradicate them, especially if they were as few as Shingi assumed them to be.

He wondered who that Big Man was, but he couldn't get an appropriate description from the Kobolds after interrogating them more, but he was confident that he wasn't a human.

He seemed like five-time, his height which was a size no human could reach with ordinary means, so it seemed to be some giant humanoid monster.

But their home place seemed to be quite far from here, so Shingi just put it as a note of it in his mind for the future.

He freed the Kobolds and even gave them some simple rations with him that were enough for two dozens of people, typically. He took them from the mine as Players have to get feed as in reality or get debuffs, and also some foods were giving extra benefits, but those he gave were normal ones.

He wasn't just going to kill any monster he found with no reason, as they were out to survive too and would help them if he could.

Anna seemed impressed with his approach, but said nothing.

She was curious to learn more about this strange boy.

After the Kobolds left, they moved their camp to be safe.

Shingi said to keep watches as they rest, but Anna pressured him to let her take the full watch while he got some rest.

Shingi, this time, didn't go to his TRANCE ROOM but instead tried to use his Light Mana to speed up his restoration of being at full power after using the Breaking-Limit State.

After seeing and feeling the effects of Narlin's Spells, he had a few ideas of using his Light-Element mana better to heal himself.

Early in the morning, he seemed to have restored himself to 100% saving him some time as if he waited, he would be back to normal at some time after noon.

He stood up and saw that Anna seemed to have fallen asleep during her watch.

Shingi smiled at the view and didn't wake her but went to his meditation stance.