It didn’t take long for Leo to find himself in the center of the village where an old man holding a cane was sitting on a bench in front of a small decorative fountain. The elderly mans head perked up when he noticed the young man approaching him.
“Welcome Young lad to our humble village. I am the village elder of this quiet village. My name is Sssamuel. If there is anything you need, I will do my besssst to assissst you acclimate to thisssss village.”
Leo could see that the man had a long grey beard and when he got closer, he also saw that the elders skin was covered in small scales, indicating he was a reptile of some sort.
“Oh my, A youngling like yourssself is quite rare around here. I can ssssee a bright future ahead of you. Feel free to explore the village and complete the villagers requests and receive rewards in exchange. When you are ready to journey out into the world, please consider helping ussss reduce the goblin population on the outskirtsssss before you go. Its been so long ssssince we have had an adventurer here. The goblin horde has gone untouched for too long. If nobody takesss care of them, we may be overrun!”
Despite his advanced age, the village elder spoke quite a bit. He also appeared to be extremely anxious about the potential dangers that surrounded the peaceful village he called home.
“Leave it to me! I will wipe them out for you!”
Seeing the elders distress, Leo couldn't help but feel motivated to assist as he let out a fierce growl before charging towards the nearby forest.
“W-wait! I dont think you are ready yet!”
The elder was stunned by the bravado of the Level 1 newcomer. However by the time the man yelled it was already too late as Leo had already rushed out from the village centre.
“The child doesn’t even have a weapon. Oh Goddess, please let that child survive”.
Clearly shaken by the young boys’ unfounded confidence, the elder could only mumble a simple prayer.
“Hahaha! This feels so nice~!”
Leos voice was tinged with glee as he ran, loving everything about this in the moment . He felt so free, the soil beneath his feet, the sun upon his skin, the scent of fresh plants and the wind rushing past him were nostalgic feelings that he had almost forgotten after being confined to a hospital bed for so long.
“KIIIIIEEEEEK”
Leo came to a stop in a small clearing when a small green humanoid leapt out from behind a tree. Startled slightly about the monster in front of him, He couldn’t help but look at it a bit more closely. It was the size of a small child, sickly pale green skin with a head that was far too big for its body and wearing nothing but a dirty loincloth.
Its head was misshapen with pointy ears and with its mouth open, Leo could see that its teeth were jagged, its tongue hanging out a bit as it drooled. But when the cat boy looked into the monsters beady little eyes, confusion quickly turning to horror and disgust as the young man recognized the goblin was staring at him lustfully!
“OH HELL NO!”
he instantly recoiled from the deviant beast in front of him. He hated to admit it but his slender arms and legs, his demure height, somewhat long hair as well as his cute kitten tail made him look like a cute and adorable little girl.
The monster lunged forward with a feral intensity, acting as if the person before it was merely easy prey it could pin down. With that and his own masculinity being questioned by a mere monster, Leo felt something in his mind snap.
Like lightning, Leo sidestepped the goblin as it charged last him, spinning in a tight circle, using his own arm as a whip to lash out at his attacker. Leo felt something on the tip of his fingers catch briefly before continuing on with a splash of blood.
“Oh this is cool!’
He couldn’t help but remark when he glanced at his hands where claws had sprung from the tip of his fingers like a cat. Turning back to the goblin, he saw Two notifications fading above the goblins head.
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-[Critical Strike]
-[-60!]
The goblin was holding its throat as blood began to bubble from between its fingers. It slowly collapsed to its knees as it tried to speak but no words came out. It reached out for Leo with one bloodied hand but slowly collapsed forwards and became motionless
-[Level 1 Goblin Defeated]
-[+20 Exp]
“Heurp-”
Leo instantly felt nauseous, retching a bit as if he was about to throw up. The realistic nature of the game with the blood made it feel like he had just committed murder. When the body slowly disappeared into particles of light,he feIt a slight relief was over him. Within seconds, the body completely disappeared, it left a single copper coin on the forest floor.
With a moment to breathe, Leo briefly marveled at how his body had reacted the way it did, it had been years since he had been in a fight but the ease that he had fought scared even him a little bit.
Deciding to forgo thinking about it too much, he walked over to pick up the copper coin when he heard the rustling of leaves up ahead. Looking up, he saw 3 more goblins enter the small clearing, coming to a stop about 20 feet away from him. Unlike the previous one, these 3 were equipped with weapons, albeit crude ones in the form of clubs and wooden shields on their backs.
“KIEK!KIEK!”
“KRAAAIIE!”
“SKREE!”
Leo felt his rage being reignited despite the cries of his opponents that now outnumbered him. Those bastards were staring at him with the same lustful gaze that the first goblin had! However it seemed that the three goblins were smarter than its companion as they looked around briefly, checking to see if Leo had any reinforcements.
“You lil shits!”
Leo took the initiative to attack first, rushing at them and launching himself into the air so he could use his knee to strike the goblin in the leads face.
-[-25]
The monster let out a startled shriek as its head snapped back, blood gushing from its broken nose, its two companions letting out their own confused cries before raising their clubs in an attempt to swing at Leo.
In response, Leo used the remaining momentum from his attack to flip his body over the bleeding goblin, his hands grip the monsters head as he swings his arms. The result was the goblin lost its already unstable footing and was used as a makeshift blunt weapon that smashed into one of its companions causing both of them to collapse in a heap.
-[-35]
-[-40]
-[Level 1 Goblin Defeated]
-[+20 Exp]
“KYEAH”
Only one goblin shrieked in pain while the one that hadn’t been hit was stunned by the unexpected violence. In the heap, the goblin that had been weaponized had it’s neck twisted in an unnatural way, its dull eyes betraying its fate while the other was pinned beneath it.
Before it could pull itself out from beneath its kindreds corpse, Leo was already by its side, his leg coming down like an axe, his heel digging into the goblins skull with an audible crunch.
[-40]
[-10]
[Level 1 Goblin Defeated]
[+20 Exp]
“Damn it…”
A curse slipped from his lips as he winced from the pain shooting up his leg, his heel had been injured from breaking the goblins skull. The remaining goblin took a step back, intimidated by the ferocity the small boy had displayed.
However, instead of fleeing, the goblin raised its club and charged with a snarl. With his foot damaged, Leo was unable to dodge in time so he could only raise his arms in an attempt to block the blow. The goblin swung the club and unfortunately for Leo, it struck one of his elbows.
“AHHHHHH”
-[-27]
-[Maimed!]
He screamed in pain.as one of his arms fell to his side, broken at the elbow. With a damaged leg and arm, Leo was getting desperate.
Without thinking, he instinctively used his remaining arm to grab the Goblins wrist, pulling it towards him before it could swing again. Off Balanced, the Goblin stumbled forwards and Leo crouched before launching himself forward, tackling it to the ground.
[-5]
Scrambling to a kneeling position after knocking it down, he was able to mount the goblin but with no immediate means to kill it, he used the only weapon that he had left.
Using his one good hand, he pushed the goblins head to the side before lunging in and biting down on its neck before fiercely pulling away, tearing out its throat.
-[-71!]
-[Critical Strike]
-[Level 1 Goblin Defeated]
-[+20exp]
He felt the heavy taste of iron on his tongue as the goblin underwent its final death spasms beneath him, blood spraying wildly from its torn throat, covering the young man in it.
Unable to bring himself to stand up, Leo continued to kneel in place as the mounted goblin began to fade into particles of light, trying to catch his breath and allow his mind to comprehend what he had just done.
‘Child, I don’t know if I should call you brave or foolish. You killed 4 beasts with your bare hands. That alone is worthy of praise. As expected of someone we chose to be our partner’
“What the hell did you do to be so great?!”
The immediate snap back at the compliment betrayed his agitation. How could a pair of bracelets who had played no role in the fight praise itself while he himself had to taste the flesh of goblin meat. If anyone asked him what it tasted like he would tell them this: It SUCKS!.
Even now, he kept spitting, trying to get rid of the disgusting aftertaste akin to licking a toilet brush out of his mouth.
“I had no help here! Also why is this so hard? How the hell are people supposed to clear this?!”
There was a moment of silence before he heard a reply that made him jerk a little.
‘You entered the forest alone with no equipment or armor. If you had listened to that old elder, you probably could have grown stronger before your first fight….’
Each point made Leos ears twitch as he realized that every single thing that was said was indeed factual and a result of his own impulsive behaviour. He could only lower his head in defeat.
“I get it… its my fault this time”.
When his head was lowered, he noticed that the loot dropped by the goblins this time was more substantial than a single copper coin. This time there were 2 wooden plank shields, a bottle with faint pink liquid inside and 4 copper coins
‘Oh? We could make use of those. Shall I teach you how to make us stronger? That wooden trash shall be the start of our rise! HAHA!’
The boisterous laugh coming from the ‘bracelets’ caught Leo off guard. The way the bracelets laughed was a bit crazy to him, perhaps it had a bit of a complex at being labeled as a Normal Grade item.
“I don’t know which is crazier, me or the voice in my head.”