Goblin Hunting

In the morning, Damien and Bluey left early to head for the area with goblins. As they made their way, Bluey kept getting distracted by murder-rabbits, smashing them whenever one got near.

Damien held his forehead. “Bluey, I know you like smacking them, but we're hunting goblins today.”

Bluey hopped back towards him. “Huwah...”

Damien shook his head, “It's fine, just save your energy.”

After an hour, they got to the area the map designated as a goblin area. Almost immediately, they could see one in the distance.

Damien grabbed Bluey before it could hop away. “Hold on...” Looking around, he thought he saw four goblins in the clearing in front of them. “Okay, here's the plan. Tackle that close one, then use Lightning Bolt on the others.”

“Huwah!” Bluey said, before jumping out of his arms.

Right as the first goblin saw Bluey, it had already activated Lightning Enhancement and smashed into it's face.

While it seemed to do the trick, the other goblins were alerted right away.

Bluey turned left, and a crackle of lightning soared out of it, hitting the goblin squarely in the chest.

The other two let loose arrows at Bluey. One flew wide, but the other hit Bluey in the side.

Bluey seemed unphased, turning around and using Lightning Bolt again. The goblin who got hit didn't instantly die this time, instead falling to it's knees and clutching it's chest. The last goblin started running from Bluey, but before it could get away, another Lightning Bolt hit it in the back, and it dived face-first into the ground, dead.

Bluey looked around, hopping over towards the goblin clutching it's chest.

Damien was in awe. Bluey is low on MP, but even so, dispatching four goblins so easily... He watched as Bluey clobbered the last goblin in the face, bending it backwards while still kneeling. Sheesh.

“Huwah!” Bluey said after reporting back.

Damien pulled out the arrow, and then used Heal, although Bluey had only lost a few HP.

Bluey nuzzled into him as he Healed.

“Haha, it's too early for that. We still got six more goblins to kill! Actually, more would be fine too, for the XP.”

“Huwah!” Bluey said, before hopping away.

Now that Bluey had run into them, it seemed to be able to track down goblins, finding them in groups of one or two and smacking them around. Some of the larger goblins were able to survive a hit, but Bluey was destroying them with ease.

Are we just over-leveled for goblins? Oh wait, I can check, can't I? The next time they ran into a goblin, he pulled up the Reader and aimed it at the goblin. Oh, this one's level 3? So it's on my level...but way below Bluey...

“Huwah!” Bluey shouted, smashing the goblin into the ground.

As Damien shook his head, he noticed Bluey and he both got the level-up notification. Finally! Goblins must be worth a lot more than rabbits.

He went and leveled himself up first:

Damien leveled up

Summoner – Level 4

STR – 18

VIT – 22

MAG – 51

DEX – 21

Stat Share

Heal (summon)

Summon Boost

New Ability Available

Alright, about what I expected. Let's look at these abilities...

All Stats +5

MAG +10

Summon XP Trade Boost – Trade 10% of XP gained to Summon

Damien squinted while thinking. Ugh...I could use those stat boosts, but...10% extra XP!? I'd go up slower, but... He looked over at Bluey, who was looking at him eagerly, presumably waiting on its turn to level. I'm going all in on boosting summons, right? Let's just go with it.

Selecting 'Summon XP Trade Boost', he then pulled up Bluey's level:

Bluey leveled up

Slime – Level 7

STR – 73

VIT – 54

MAG – 28

DEX – 57

STR +21

Lightning Attunement

Lightning Bolt

New Ability Available

The ability options were:

STR +10

MP +10

MP +10!? That's new. I bet I know which one Bluey will pick though... he thought, as he once again selected the option to let the summon choose.

With zero hesitation, Bluey jumped up and selected the STR +10 option.

Yup.

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After getting the needed ten goblins defeated, they continued traversing around, as Bluey seemed gung-ho on smashing them and Damien figured it was good XP.

Towards the middle afternoon, his stomach started grumbling. “Bluey, let's go turn this in and get some food. I don't think goblins are are ed-” he stopped, as he saw Bluey nibbling on one right then. “Uhh...is it actually?” he asked, remembering the raw slimes.

Bluey answered by spitting out. “Huwahhh...”

“Yeah, let's get something else. Maybe the meat-man has something good.”

By the time they made it back to town, it was late afternoon. Ugh... he said, holding his stomach. I need to be smarter about bringing food when we leave town. After stopping by the guild (Beatrice as sleepy as the day before) and collecting his money for the goblins, he stopped by the meat-man's stall.

“Oho, sonny, you got anything for me today?” he asked with a grin.

“No, actually, I was hoping to buy today.”

“Of course, of course!” he replied, before looking in his cooler. “Did you like that piece I gave you yesterday?”

Damien nodded, “It was delicious.”

“Haha, of course! Here's a cut off the same boar.”

Damien nodded, taking out some coins to pay, before having an epiphany. “Did you give that for free yesterday because you knew I'd come back for more?”

The meat-man leaned in, grinning. “Of course! I know my product is good, it sells itself! Hahaha!”

Not having an argument, he wrapped the meat up and put it in his bag.

Saying goodbye, he went and found a simple bedroll (he didn't have enough for a tent yet) and purchased it. Walking outside of town, he found a tree and started setting up camp.

Within a few minutes, the fire was going and the meat strips were cooking. Bluey was rolling up and down the bedroll while Damien was busy flipping the meat slices. He had gotten a separate plate for Bluey, and slid a few slices off onto it. Bluey seemed to never be bothered by the temperature of the food, immediately gobbling it off the plate as soon as it hit.

Damien, who was mindful of the temperature, blew on it a bit before gently placing a slice in his mouth. This is so good...

After finishing off the meal, he laid down on the bedroll. It was around dusk, so there wasn't much point to doing anything else that day.

Bluey also seemed content, rolling up next to his chest.

Damien scratched on top of Bluey's head.

“Huwaahhh...” it let out, seemingly satisfied.

The next morning, they woke up at dawn, the heat from the rising sun having ended their slumber. “You ready for the day?” Damien asked.

“Huwah!” Bluey replied confidently, hopping towards the forest.

“Hold on, we gotta get another request,” he said, motioning towards the town gate.

Bluey seemed to think for a moment, before hopping that direction.

“Honestly, we should probably always grab at least one whenever we leave.”

Walking through town, they grabbed a loaf of bread to split for breakfast, and then headed straight for the guild hall.

Inside, Beatrice was there at her window, this time awake, although yawning. They went over to say hello, and she said, “I was a little worried, I didn't see you at the inn last night.”

“Oh, yeah, I wanted to save a bit of extra money, so I slept on a bedroll outside town.

Beatrice gave a wry smile, “I understand. I wish I could save up, everything basically goes to my rent...”

Trying to reassure her, Damien replied, “Well, I'm gonna pick up some more requests, so hopefully that helps.”

Beatrice blushed a bit in embarrassment. “Thanks...I'll be here when you're done!”

Damien walked over to the Porcelain board. Hmm...let's try those gnolls this time? It shouldn't be too hard if it's Porcelain...right?

This time, the map screen led them to the northwest of town. Here, the forest was morphing into more of a wooded steppe.

Bluey seemed to be in as good of spirits as always, but Damien was struggling whenever they hit an incline. I wonder if getting my VIT up will make it easier to climb?

The gnoll area started about half an hour into the steppes. Unlike with the goblins, this time, they didn't find any of their target right away.

“Do you sense anything Bluey?”

“Huwah,” Bluey replied.

That doesn't help much... “Alright, let's take it slow.”

Bluey stopped hopping and started sliding in front of Damien. After a few minutes of slow, deliberate progress, Bluey let out a “Huwah!”

Damien felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder as he heard whooshing sounds around him. He grunted as he noticed an arrow had bloomed where the pain was. Dammit!

Bluey rushed ahead, while Damien knelt behind a log. Gritting his teeth, he yanked the arrow out, causing another jolt of pain. He quickly pulled up his status screen to check his HP:

HP – 51/63

Really!? That hurts a lot more than just twelve HP. Damien tried to steady his breathing, before looking over the log at Bluey.

Bluey was smashing through trees, attacking what he assumed were the gnolls. They looked like large, bipedal hyenas, and even made cackling sounds like hyenas. They had been taking cover behind the sparse trees, but Bluey was just smashing straight through the trees to hit them. Most seemed to be going down in just a couple hits.

After just a few were left, the remaining ones dropped their bows and pulled out knives, before getting on all fours and charging at Damien.

Dammit again! he thought, before getting up and running in the opposite direction. However, he only got a few steps before he heard crackling behind him. He turned to look, seeing the two closest gnolls writhing on the ground, having been hit by Bluey's Lightning Bolt.

Damien breathed a sigh of relief, falling to his knees, as Bluey hopped over and nuzzled into him. He noticed Bluey had somehow lost a few HP during the fight, despite having not seen it getting hit, but used Heal anyway to replenish them back.

“Huwah!” Bluey said in thanks.

Damien gave a pained smile as he held his shoulder. He took off his jacket, tearing off part of the back that had been previously torn by the bear, and wrapped it around his shoulder.

After that, he sat down against a tree, and Bluey took the opportunity to jump in his lap. Instinctively petting Bluey's head, “We need to head back.”

“Huwah?” Bluey asked, looking up at him.

“Sorry. I need to heal. And...get something so I'm not such a hindrance.” First the bear, now this. Even if I'm a summoner, I need to have some protection, or I'll die before Bluey can take them out.

Bluey seemed to understand, jumping out of his lap and slowly going towards town. Damien grunted a bit as he forced himself up, walking after Bluey.

The way down was easier, and quicker. Especially for Bluey, who seemed to take delight in rolling down the hill, crashing through a few trees. I guess if being an Adventurer fails, I could fall back on a lumberjack job with Bluey. It was around midday when they got back to town, making the trudge over to the Adventurer's Guild.

This time, Beatrice was back to sleeping at her window. Damien lightly rapped the desk, causing her to wake up startled.

“I'm awa-, what happened to you!” she said, half-shouting, looking at Damien.

Damien forced a smile. “Well, we defeated some gnolls, but they kind of ambushed us first...”

Beatrice looked to see if anyone was watching them, before leaning over and putting her hand on his shoulder. After a brief glow of green light, the wound was healed.

Damien's eyes went wide. “You're a healer?”

Beatrice blushed, 'shooshing' him.

Damien bent over, asking quieter this time. “You're a healer?”

Beatrice acted like she didn't hear the question. “Guild card, please?” she asked, a bit rigidly.

Damien blinked a few times, before handing it over.

Beatrice took it, completing the request and then leaning under the desk to retrieve his payment. She seemed to be spending an irregular amount of time underneath.

Just as Damien was about to say something, she came back up. “Good job, here is your payment,” she said rigidly again, sliding over the payment. “And here is your guild card back.”

Damien grabbed it. About to ask again about the healing, he stopped as he realized something was under the guild card. A small note that said 'open outside!'. He looked back at Beatrice, but she was pointedly avoiding eye contact, acting as if she was waiting for the next person to step up to her window, despite no one being behind him in line.

Reading the situation, Damien walked outside with Bluey in tow. Heading into a side-ally, he opened the note:

Can't talk about at guild. Come to address below two hours before dusk.

Damien read the address. How am I supposed...oh, maybe I can map it. Pulling up the map, he was indeed able to input the address and find it. The address showed about halfway between the guild hall and the inn that Beatrice worked at. Why does she not want to talk at the guild? Could she get in trouble? Actually, that must be it... Damien thought, convincing himself.

He stood there and thought about what to do, while Bluey was happily sliding around him. I'm definitely curious enough to go. But what to do until then? He looked down at Bluey, who was still bursting with energy. I guess some training for the rest of the day. Heading towards the east gate, before doubling back to the guild and quickly grabbing a couple requests for Sepillian rabbits, they went out of the city.

They're not worth much, and probably not a ton of XP, but I guess it's better than sitting around doing nothing. Bluey seemed more than happy to go back to smashing murder-rabbits, eagerly hopping around so fast Damien could barely keep up. He was collecting as many as he could until his bag was full, and at that point just sat down against a tree while Bluey hopped around wildly defeating any in a large area.

As he was following Bluey around on the map, a level up notification appeared for Bluey. Already!? Oh, I guess maybe the gnolls were worth a lot. And Bluey does have the XP boost now. Clicking on it, he checked out Bluey's new stats.

Bluey leveled up

Slime – Level 8

STR – 92

VIT – 62

MAG – 28

DEX – 64

STR +31

Lightning Attunement

Lightning Bolt

New Ability Available

Clicking on the ability choice, the options were:

DEX +12

Squishy Membrane – Half damage from physical attacks.

That DEX boost would be nice, but there's no way we don't take Squishy Membrane, right? I feel like the named abilities are always too good to pass up for just a stat boost. Bluey seemed to have known about being leveled up, and hopped over to him with the status screen already pulled up. I doubt Bluey would take the DEX boost, but just to be safe... “Bluey, I think you should take 'Squishy Membrane'. Even if I can Heal you, I'd rather you take less damage overall,” he explained, before pushing the button to allow Bluey to choose.

“Huwah!” Bluey replied, quickly slapping against 'Squishy Membrane'.

Damien smiled, I guess if I just explain it properly, Bluey is fine with my suggestions.