<>(Zack)<>

The trio of Goblins eat their meal, chattering away in their primal language, unaware of their observers. Two of them are regular Goblins, Level 5 each.

Goblin Level 5 Health: 102 Mana: 23

Goblin Level 5 Health: 103 Mana: 12

I don't think regular Goblins really use magic. None have against me before. Both of those are armed with short swords, one with a rusty dagger and the other with a shield. They're both subordinates to the other Goblin, which is clearly younger than the two of them, considering it's only Level 2, and Goblins naturally gain a Level every week, unless they manage to gain enough Experience before then to boost that speed.

This Goblin has pale blue skin, is dressed in a pure-white loin cloth, and has a pure-white staff strapped across its back. It wears a blue-white crystal hanging from a white leather cord as well, the crystal glowing with a faint light. It's muscled well, and smacks the Goblin with the shield in the back of his head. Hard.

Frost Goblin Level 2 Health: 596 Mana: 1,089

Unlike the Spook Goblin I faced a couple of nights ago, this one hasn't managed to boost its Level up. That Spook Goblin must have done a fair bit, to hit Level 3 in under a week.

This tells me that the Frost Goblin will likely be physically weaker than the Spook Goblin. However, its Mana Pool and name suggests it uses magic – likely ice magics.

Levels?

Wait.

Levels.

I've seen a fair few Goblins at Levels 2, 3, and 4, but only about a dozen total at Level 5. If Goblins gain a Level naturally every five days per Level already attained through passive Experience gains from their monster nature…

How come I've faced so few Level 5 Goblins? And so few specialty Goblins? I haven't actually seen any that weren't normal Goblins. Where are they all?

Are they hiding, waiting for the time for battle? How come I haven't seen any traces of them, though? And where are they all hiding? Are they moving farther away from where people are, even though there aren't any coming out to play?

Well, other than me, and now, Bryce.

But even with me coming out to hunt… there weren't that many from the start.

Did Alexander do something? Has he been sending them instructions to stay back, away from the areas people inhabit and travel?

Why?

The Frost Goblin stops moving, freezing completely for several moments. Then, it turns its head, looking directly at the bush Bryce is hiding behind.

It lifts a hand, aimed right at the bush.

"Icicle!" It exclaims in a gravelly voice.

A icicle ten inches long forms in front of its hand, immediately shooting at the bush.

"Deflect!" Bryce exclaims just as the icicle penetrates the bush.

Immediately after, the icicle shoots off in a random direction, followed by Bryce bursting out of the bush, weapons drawn.

I taught him how to use Deflect after Jackson stopped by this morning to ask us to stop by the tailor's so he can get our measurements for the armor. Then, we went there to do that, then came out hunting.

I'm glad he thought to use it, though he could've saved the Mana for…

Ah, right. He doesn't have anything else that really uses Mana.

The Frost Goblin, on the other hand, does, raising its hand to cast more icicles.

Only to find a knife flying at it from another bush, followed by a thirteen year-old Dark Warrior with his sword drawn.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The Frost Goblin deflects my knife with a quick draw of its staff. It then blocks my sword, chanting a spell. I kick upwards, nailing it in the crotch with my boot, and its chant cuts off as a frosty magic began to form between us, the frost dissipating without the spell to power it.

The two regular Goblins attack Bryce as I take on their leader. Or rather, Bryce taunts them to keep their focus on him as I fight the stronger one.

The Frost Goblin blocks every attack I make, though I can tell I'm stronger than it, as evidenced by it needing to step back every few blows and readjust its grip on its staff. It can only manage single-word spells like Icicle, and those are easy enough to avoid or stop with my sword.

The Frost Goblin is able to stop my Fireballs with a Magic Shield, a thin, translucent blue barrier formed of magic, and as a result of that, our fight becomes a battle of attrition.

One I will win. It may be a Special Monster with nearly as much Health as I do and far more Mana, but its spells aren't able to connect and while mine can't, either, I have more raw strength, and Goblins don't have enough stamina and endurance at just a week old to withstand a constant flurry of blows at my strength.

After several minutes, our Mana depleted, I manage to drive my sword into the Frost Goblin's shoulder, right into the artery. Blood begins spurting out, and I withdraw my sword as the Monster drops to its knees.

I can see it in its eyes as it looks up at me. It knows it's about to die, and that there's nothing it can do to stop me from killing it.

I dip my head to it, to let it know I thought it was a good fight, and the Frost Goblin smiles, showing its crooked teeth. Then, I turn my sword, swing it back, then swing it forward, cutting clean through its neck.

Blood sprays onto me, and I turn to watch Bryce's fight for a moment. He's holding his own, but could use a little assistance. I walk over to my knife, pick it up, and throw it. It flies the twenty feet in under a second, embedding itself in the back of the head of the Goblin with the knife.

A moment later, the Goblin drops to the ground, and the other one freezes, looking at its fallen comrade.

That moment of distraction is all Bryce needs, and he drives his sword through the Goblin's chest. His Level went up sometime during the fight, though I'm not surprised, as he only had three percent left, after our sparring session at home.

"Good job," I retrieve my knife from the Goblin's head.

"Thanks," Bryce says.

We clean off our blades, then claim our loot from their bodies. I acquire another marble and let him keep the rest of the loot. This is his first time killing something and being able to actually acquire loot, so I might as well let him have it all, even though I technically got the kill and Kill Experience with one of them.

Besides, I have juicier rewards awaiting me.

I approach the Frost Goblin's corpse and pull the necklace off of it and holding it up, looking at the glow within it. It glimmers faintly, with movement reminiscent of a blizzard raging within it.

A quick Appraisal yields results, much to my surprise. I expected it to be like the Spook Ingots and Spook Treats, and be something I couldn't read because it's too far above me or I don't have the proper Subclass.

Frost Pendant The leather of this beautiful necklace comes from the hide of a Blizzard Hound, the metal attaching the jewel to the cord forged of Winter Steel. The jewel itself glows with the power of a blizzard, shielding the wearer from the cold. Bonus to Cold Resistance: 20%

Appraising it brought my Appraisal from Level 4 to Level 5. This thing might sell for a pretty penny, especially with its bonus to Cold Resistance.

Unless, of course, it's actually pretty common to find. Then, probably not so much. But my understand is that resistance bonuses are hard to come by, and the Skills for them take forever to even earn, meaning that this might actually be a rare find.

"You know," I say as I start going through the Frost Goblin's pouches. "This pendant giving a bonus to Cold Resistance actually brings up a good question. The Goblins don't seem to have changed their attire at all, despite the cold. Are Goblins naturally resistant to the cold? Or do they suffer from it?"

"How often do you come across Goblins at a fire?" Bryce asks from where he's carving up the Goblins for his loot.

"Usually in groups," I look at the two frost-patterned marbles I pulled from the pouch.. "Most lone Goblins I've come across are just relaxing somewhere or walking around. I haven't seen any shiver, though. But then, I haven't really been in the woods since it got cold-cold, so maybe they are affected by it, and we just haven't seen enough to really notice."

Yeah, I'm keeping these marbles.

"Maybe," he says. "You said it was just the ears and nails from their bodies that are useful?"

"Yeah," I answer, pulling out some dried herbs and a tin of healing salve, along with three tainted silver coins. "Don't forget to check their pouches. The one with the shield had two, the one with the knife had one."

"Alright," he says.

I finish looting the Goblin's pouches, then draw my knife and start carving into its chest.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"I'm probably hitting Dark Knight soon," I answer. "The actual Dark Knight, at Tier III. Once I reach it, I can sacrifice a 'Vice', that is, something from something I killed alone, to forge my own Demon Familiar, then later, power it up. I'm only two and a half Levels from reaching Level 10 of Dark Warrior. Since my special Inventory keeps things for a long period of time, I'm going to start collecting Vices from Special Monsters, like this guy. The better the Vice, the better I can power them up. Hopefully, I can get something real good before reaching Tier III."

"Oh, cool," he says. "Me deflecting that icicle won't affect it?"

"Nope," I answer. "You never attacked, only defended from a spell thrown at you. According to Nik, that won't affect it. I asked him, before you showed up."

"Oh, okay," he says. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure?"

"Regarding… the thing we can't say out loud."

"We can say it here," I tell him. "No one else comes out here, so no one would hear it."

"The way you reacted," he says. "When you realized that you weren't using the Inventory, and the fact that you didn't even know how to use the proper Inventory… did you have access to your weird one in reality? Back before you died?"