Livia and I set out to find some chameleon mantises to kill. We could easily kill them as soon as we found them, and they were unable to harm us since they couldn’t get the drop on us.

Rather, I felt a bit bad about it due to how one-sidedly we were obliterating them.

“Oh right, were Goblia and Rufina the first monsters you made into companions, lord Crest?”

“Yeah, they were.” It took quite a long time before I met those two. …Now I have a lot of companions though.

“Do you plan on finding more from now on?”

“…I guess so. My original plan was to find a nice peaceful spot and find more companions. Monsters like Goblia and Rufina of course.”

“Yes.” Livia listened to me with a smile.

“But things have changed now. I’d never really expected there to be monsters with enough intelligence to speak like werewolves and goblins.”

“Is that right.”

“Why did you want to ask about that?”

“I think there are various monsters living south of the village that would be helpful for lifestyle improvements, who you would be able to collect things like milk and eggs from if you tamed them.” Livia saying this was surprising. That was exactly the same thing I was thinking, how taming monsters like cows and chickens would provide a lot the necessary ingredients I need for my lifestyle.

If I wanted to tame them, then I could just kick back and raise some livestock. “You’re right. I’d been thinking about doing that.”

“I see, as expected of you.” That was exactly the reason I started by learning to control Goblia and Rufina. Once I’ve gathered more monsters they can act as their leader. That was my plan.

We continued hunting chameleon mantises as we talked, racking up some points. Like that I reached 10000 points. Since I now had enough points for twenty two gacha rolls we could stop hunting there.

“…We’ve killed enough now. Let’s go find Rufina.”

“Understood.” Livia and I met back up with Rufina’s group. When I saw Goblia and Rufina, they caused evolution technique to react. …Looks like they can evolve now.

“…Looks like you can evolve. Want to?” Goblia and Rufina nodded in agreement. …Well of course they would. Evolving will make them stronger. Evolving showed no drawbacks at the moment.

I’ll start with evolving Goblia. For some reason I was a bit concerned about it.

I activated evolution technique, and evolved Goblia. Her body shot out light. Once the light died down, a more human-like Goblia was standing there.

As if to confirm that she was in fact female, she looked more feminine than before.

I tilted my head when I saw her status. …What is that? Apparently Goblia has acquired a new skill called goblin technique.

“Hey Goblia, could you give goblin technique a try for me?”

“Gobu!” As I watched Goblia use goblin technique, I examined the skill with appraisal.

…I see. Goblia’s body was definitely giving off the faint glow of magic from using it. Not sure how much it strengthens her.

Her status didn’t change after she used it either. But Goblia did look really really happy as she moved her body around. It probably strengthened her in its own way.

As Rufina was watching from the side, she gave my clothes a tug. …Looks like she wants to evolve right away. Although Goblia and Rufina got along quite well, they still seemed to view each other as rivals.

She probably doesn’t want to lose. I used monster evolution technique on Rufina right away.

Looks like Rufina acquired a new skill too. Rufina charged her body with strength. Looks like she’s trying out her new skill right away.

I also took a look at her skill with appraisal.

…Even under ground? The moment I though this, Rufina moved to a spot nearby and began digging into the dirt with her paws.

Then she pulled out an iron magic ore.

“Aroo!” Rufina brought it over to me to show it off. …I see. Guess she can find unusual things buried beneath the earth.

“Thanks Rufina.” I pet her head. Rufina looked content being pet as usual. Orphe and Livia exchanged glances when they saw this.

“…Guess we need to hurry and evolve so we can get a bit stronger.” Said Orphe.

“You’re right… But still, to think you can get a skill from evolving. I didn’t know that was possible.” Hearing Livia say this, I tilted my head.

“…Is it unusual?”

“I myself have never heard of it happening. It may be happening specifically because of you, lord Crest.”

“I haven’t heard of anything like that either. Skills have always just been something you’re born with.” Is that so.

“Oh yeah… us humans get our skills from god, but who gives monsters their skills?”

“I’ve heard that we are also bestowed skills from god.” Explained Livia.

…So god just gives everyone skills equally then? …No, perhaps god just doesn’t recognize monsters as harmful.

I’m living together with monsters like this. Although they’re monsters, that doesn’t mean they can’t coexist with humans. I’ll accept this explanation for now.