Next we found a wild boar-like demon.

　It's pretty big.
　But it's not exceptionally large either.

　There is something more noticeable than its size.
　It's a long horn growing out of its forehead.

　It's the horn that is twisted in a spiral, and is covered with chattering electricity.
　Is this thing a lightning attribute?

　I'll take a look at its appraisal.

"Thunderbore Fathead, age 5, Lv.25/38.
　The 'Lightning Boar Demon'

　I knew it had a lightning attribute.
　If you absorb this one, it might increase your resistance to the lightning attribute.

　But the level is a bit high.
　Can we beat it?

　That would be a huge increase in status when you absorb it.

　By the way, I'm watching Thunderbore from a distance.
　While watching it from afar, I'm a little torn on whether to fight it or not.

　For now, let's just drop the Meteorite.

　I don't think the meteorite can reach us from here.
　It's hard to explain, but we can somehow tell from our senses if it can or can't reach us.

　I'll have to get a little closer to hit the Thunderbore.

　I'm about to walk up to it, but the moment I got a little closer, Thunderbore noticed me.

　How did they know? Do they have a nose for that?

　The moment he spots me, he rushes forward.

　I mean, I'm fast!　This guy is way faster than me!

　Moreover, they would fire lightning strikes from the corners.
　It was too fast to avoid a lightning strike, of course. You'd normally be bitten by it. Ouch!

　The voltage isn't too high, or maybe it's not that damaging, but it's numb and stops moving for a while.

　In the meantime, Thunderbore goes full speed ahead of me and stabs me in the stomach with its horns.

　Yay!　I'm dead!

　I thought........but.

　The horn did indeed hit me in the abdomen.
　But it didn't pierce it. On the contrary, the horn of Thunderbore only broke off.

　Apparently, this thing was fast, but its attack power was low.
　Or rather, was my defense too high?

　And Thunderbore, who has lost his horns, seems to have no idea what to do and is kind of hovering around me.
　I feel sorry for him.
　But if I kill this thing and absorb it, I'll be stronger. No mercy.

　But how do I kill it? It's too close to use meteorites, and we can't even use meteorites.
　I think we should use that acid shot we just acquired.

　I knew I couldn't take out all of them, so I aimed at the head area and fired.

　It hit the target perfectly.

　With a sizzling sound, only the head melts.

　I feel like I'm seeing only egregious sights here, I think to myself as I put my hand on the corpse of Thunderbore and absorb it.

　HP increased by 10, MP increased by 5, attack power increased by 2, defense increased by 5, speed increased by 15, and skill points gained by 2.
　Skill 【Thunderbolt (Thunder Shock) Lv2】 acquired.
　Lightning Resistance [Lightning Resistance Lv. 1] acquired.

　Alright, resistance and skills gained!
　And he's a lot faster.
　And he was fast.

　I've accumulated a bunch of skill points.

　No, I'll keep it, just in case. I might be able to get some really capable skills in the future.

　Right now, we have a status.

　Name: Tetsuya Takahashi
　Age 25
　Level 1/1
　HP 158/158
　MP 39/64
　Attack Power 61
　Defensive value 113
　Speed 53
　Skill Points 7
　Skills【Corpse Absorption】【Appraisal Lv 2】【Meteorite (Meteorite) Lv 3】【Strong Acid Shot Lv 2】【Thunderbolt (Thunder Shock) Lv 2】.
　Resistance [Poison resistance Lv1] [Lightning resistance Lv1]

　Like this.
　I started to walk further down the valley.


　○


　We've walked a lot, so it's been some time.

　I'm getting hungry.
　It seems that even if you absorb the corpse, your stomach is not full.

　I'm sure the demons want to absorb corpses, too.
　If possible, I would like to eat some plants or something.

　Basically, there's nothing in this place.

　There's nothing growing here but mushrooms.

　Oh, but I've gained resistance to poison, so is it okay to eat mushrooms?
　We have an appraisal and we'll check it out.

　There are small brown mushrooms growing on it.
　It looks like a normal mushroom, and I think it's edible.
　I'll appraise it.

'Death Daze.
　Poisonous mushrooms. If you eat it, most creatures will die instantly.'

　Yeah. Let's not do this.

　No, the name is too disturbing!　A dead joke!

　They look like these ordinary mushrooms.

　I mean, there are mushrooms just like this one growing all over the place.
　Is that why this place is called the valley of death?

　The only other mushrooms are the big ones that saved me.

　Let's see what you think.

"Bouncing
　Huge, resilient mushrooms. Non-lethal poison'

　Is this guy poisonous too?
　It doesn't look non-lethal.

　I'm starving. As long as it doesn't kill you, you should be fine.
　If it's some kind of poison that makes you crazy, though, I'd rather not die.

　After much agonizing over what to do, I decided to try putting it in my mouth anyway.
　As expected, just putting it in my mouth should not kill me.
　If it looks bad, let's spit it out.

　I tore off a small amount of the white part underneath the mushroom and put it in my mouth.

　Ugh, this is so disgusting. Geez.

　It's disgusting, but doesn't that mean it's inedible?
　It seemed to work somehow.
　I swallowed it anyway.

　Yeah, it's nothing.
　Let's just eat as much as we can for now.

　To be honest, I'm desperate for fire. I want to roast it and eat it.
　But I don't have the skills to make fire.

　I'll just have to give up and eat it raw.

　I ate the mushrooms until I was full.
　Then.

Poison resistance increased from level 1 to 2.

　And a mechanical sound echoed in my head.

　You'll go up if you eat the poison.
　I don't really want to eat it because it's honestly bad.

　After I finished my meal, I started walking again.