My thought process behind killing the goblins was simple. The coins weren't going anywhere, and I needed to level as fast as possible. Well, I didn't know the coins weren't technically going anywhere, but the only issue I remember Nexa bringing up about them is something about non system integrated beings using them and since we were obviously on a system integrated world, we were good. Or so I hoped. With the gear all sorted and packed into the ring besides my armor and new spear we set off to hunt down some goblins. I'm sure my gamer logic is taking over, but at this point I needed any edge to find the coins, and this made the most sense to me, plus 750 experience a mob wasn't anything to scoff at. We followed the barely visible trail that left south out of the town left by the warg.
We followed the trail in silence at first, the dense forest swallowing the sound of our footsteps. Despite Bram’s occasional quips, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the right move. It wasn’t just the experience—though the prospect of 750 experience per goblin was enticing, it was the practical need to gain any advantage I could. I needed stronger skills, better reflexes, and gear upgrades, and the goblins would provide all of that.
As we pressed on, I noticed subtle signs of their passing, broken branches, faint footprints, and discarded scraps. It was a breadcrumb trail leading me straight to my targets. My gamer instincts were in overdrive, but they had rarely steered me wrong before. I started moving at a quicker pace at the clear signs of the footprints, hoping we would be able to catch up to them before they got to close to their main camp.
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An hour into jogging through the dense forest, I finally slowed to a stop. The signs of movement—trampled grass, disturbed undergrowth, and the occasional claw mark on tree bark—were growing fresher. They weren’t that far now. Judging by the tracks, it was a small party of goblins, likely scouts or a raiding group.
My grip on the spear tightened as my eyes darted between the shadows of the trees and the gaps in the canopy. The midday light filtered through in patches, casting dappled patterns that played tricks on my vision. Every rustle of leaves or snap of a branch set my nerves on edge, but I couldn’t afford to let my guard drop.
Bram floated beside me, uncharacteristically quiet, though the smirk on his face suggested he was more amused than concerned.
“You think they’ve noticed us yet?” I whispered, still scanning.
“Not unless they’ve developed eyes in the back of their heads,” Bram replied nonchalantly, though his gaze flickered to the shadows ahead. “But don’t worry, Liam. I’m sure you’ll make a very dramatic entrance when the time comes.”
Ignoring his jab, I crouched slightly, lowering my profile as I moved to a thicker patch of brush. The goblins couldn’t be more than a few hundred feet away now. Every fiber of my being screamed caution, but I forced myself to stay focused. This wasn’t just a hunt, it was practice, survival, and progression all wrapped into one.
The wind shifted, carrying the faintest trace of something foul: the stench of unwashed bodies and decaying meat. Goblins. They were close. My heart began to pound as I readied myself for whatever was about to come.
Stalking them for a little while longer while gaining ground, I noticed that they never checked behind them. That would be a mistake I would capitalize on, the smell got increasingly worse the closer I approached them, but I fought through it. When I was within 40 feet from there back line Bram scouted ahead to get a count for me.
"Fifteen of them, you should of went with the woodsman class, this would have been easy, Thwap, run, repeat." He chided while shooting an imaginary bow.
Pulling out my other spear out, he gave me an idea worth trying even though he was trying to be a prick. Stalking forward quicker than the little things walked, I was surprised when a screen appeared.
"Congratulations, you have learned the passive skill:
Stealth level 1, experience: 25 of 100"
Description: Every level increase in the passive skill stealth will improve your chance of remaining undetected by 2%
I scanned over it quickly and closed it. A smile growing across my face. Bram had mentioned that skills were a thing, but I didn't know you could gain them with practice. I thought they were purchased. This made things a little more interesting, I continued stalking and checking my experience every 5 minutes. Only spending 15 minutes doing it, not wanting to waste too much time and on the fifteen-minute mark the skill reached level 2.
Deciding to attack, I moved within ten feet of them, with both spears in hand, I clambered a few more feet before tossing the shorter spear in the middle of the pack. Hitting a goblin center mass and watching him drop as I sprinted to the back line and activated Sweep Strike. The ability was impressive, the spearhead skipped across the three goblins lower stomachs making them instinctively clutch their new wounds as their organs spilled from their bellies. Four down and eleven of them to go, luckily, I didn't see any ranged combatants, they were armed with a variety of weapons though. All of a sudden, I was getting bum rushed from the rest of them, running off the dirt path and into the bushes alongside it, I swung my spear out wildly. Trying to at least catch some of the closer goblins. It didn't work out how I planned, but it did create a few more feet of breathing room for now. If they were smart, they would've tried spreading out and surrounding me, but for whatever reason they huddled in one mass trying to overwhelm me head on.
Keeping the lunging goblins at a distance with my spear, I saw something interesting going on within the back of the group. The tops of the goblins heads were vanishing from my view. Shit, are they retreating? I thought to myself, hoping if they were they wouldn't come back with reinforcements.
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I was currently facing four in the front, swinging my spear at any that started to come to close. There were three in the second row eagerly snarling waiting for the front row to overwhelm, but I saw something peculiar in the mass in front of me. It took a moment to process what I was seeing. The goblin in the back wasn’t just trying to get ahead, it was actively taking down its own kind. The snarling, eager mass in front of me didn’t even seem to notice their own falling to the ground, clutching their ruined legs and howling in pain. Finally, Bram decides to join in on the fun. I said thinking to myself.
The treachery created enough chaos in their ranks to give me an edge. I used the confusion to thrust my spear forward, catching one of the front-row goblins in the shoulder. It screeched and stumbled back, creating a brief gap. I stepped forward, using the reach of my spear to keep the others from closing in. Four were left standing by the time they found out what was happening, two of them turned around to face the Bram possessed goblin and that's when I thrusted out again, catching one straight in the chest, quickly withdrawing letting the blood rush out of its ruined it let out a broken cry and fell forward. The other one used that moment to pounce at me swing its blade through the muscle of my calf and out the other side. I didn't let him cherish the satisfaction of actually wounding me as I grabbed him the waist and suplexed him on the top of his head, snapping his neck in the process.
Wincing through the pain from the dagger handle lodged in my calf, I bent down, ripped it out, and stifled a cry in the process. I saw Brams's goblin not looking too good as the others finally got him on the ground and were swinging wildly at him. Out of nowhere the goblin on the left grabbed his dagger and stabbed the one on the right through its throat. The goblin looked down at his hand in shock not believing he could have done such a thing. Then he looked back to Brams's possession and stabbed it in the chest over, and over again as that would somehow forgive what he had just done. I was hobbling over while he started stabbing and punched my spear through his back, a loud squelching sound breaking through as I ripped it back out. "Huh, that's a new sound." I said aloud embracing this new bloodthirsty side of me. I continued the onslaught walking alongst the goblins crawling through the dirt, leaving blood trails from their ruined legs. Stabbing through each one of them as I did.
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When I was going through the after-skirmish report, I saw that these goblins had actually shown the levels they were, not like the others I had faced within the town. I quickly asked Bram mentally about it while he surprisingly enough was somehow spitting on the goblin corpses. I let out an audible "Huh." at the sight not thinking it was even possible.
"After reaching class selection your menus system is able to present more information to you. It's a simple matter really, the more you level up the more... Was it... Uhm... Well, you get the point. Really your eyes are able to perceive more of the system or whatever."
Seeing that he was absolutely clueless on the matter I just returned to the action report:
"Descender Liam you have slain the following:
6x Level 5 Goblin Skirmishers for 22500 exp
3x Level 7 Goblin Sneaklings for 15750 exp
1x Level 6 Goblin Spearman for 4500 exp
3x Level 3 Goblin Trainees for 4000 exp
For a total of 46,750 experience, Level ups available."
"Damn, that's a big jump in experience, but the way the leveling seems to be working, I'm going to need it desperately. Doubling the cost of experience to level is outrageous." talking to myself, hoping that the experience to level would change. Looking over my stat screen I continued with the same survival strategy I was going for:
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Name: Liam Thompson
Level: 8
Race: Human (Earth Variant: Humans are known for their physical and mental capabilities which make them a well-rounded race. +5 stats per level increase.)
Class: Spearman
Primary Stats: Constitution, Endurance
Abilities:
Piercing Thrust: A focused attack that deals bonus damage to armored foes.
Sweep Strike: A wide attack to hit multiple enemies.
Brace: Reduces knockback and increases damage against charging enemies.
Subclass: Alchemy
Titles: Descender (+5), Lord of Hillgrove
Experience: 24,450 of 32,000 exp to next level
Renown: 500
Achievements: Iron Stomach (Con Threshold)
Skills: Stealth level 2, Herbalism level 0
Stats: Health: 50 (Con x2) / Stamina: 42 (End x2)/ Mana: 44 (Intel x2)
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 21
Constitution: 25
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 10
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I had decided to increase my Constitution by 6, intelligence by 3 and Endurance by 2. As soon as I closed the menu and took a long breath, a sensation started to burn inside my chest. I looked down at it in fear I had been hit by an arrow or some other weapon, but there was nothing there. The pain rapidly grew to an enormous height, and I keeled over, screaming out in pain. Then seconds later it was gone. Sweat covered my bright red face, as I slowly slid my hands forward collapsing on to the dirt path. Bram stood by my side throwing questions at me in a rush, which made me feel kind of good that he cared somewhat for me.
"What the hell did you do now?" Bram demanded an unknown number of times.
"I just got done assigning my stat points when....
A system message appeared in my vision.
"You have met your first stat threshold for Constitution. Choose your rewards from the following:
1. Iron Stomach: Immunity to basic poisons and the ability to consume otherwise inedible substances for sustenance.
2. Unyielding: Chance to resist knockback or stagger effects in combat.
3. Increased Health Regeneration: Natural recovery speed improves."
I eyed over the choices and having a difficult time deciding, I felt like I healed pretty quickly over the few fights I've been in. I haven't really come across anything poisonous as of yet but being out of food right now and being able to eat whatever I wanted out here in the wilderness to count towards sustenance was a pretty decent choice. Unyielding was nice, but if you had a party or a team to work with to have all sides covered. If I got that now I would still be swarmed by enemies, and they'd just cut me down. After the internal battle happening in my head, I made my decision, chose Iron Stomach and closed the window.
Next up was the loot:
"You have received the following:
14,000 system credits
20x Goblin Meat
50x Leather"
Knowing I couldn't afford to leave anything behind anymore, having others to take care of now. I started gathering everything that I could pick up. It took a while but altogether there were twelve daggers, two bronze short swords and one spear that couldn't be worth much given the state of the shaft. It had a staggeringly long crack in down the center, I decided to leave it behind not only because of the condition, but my ring was packed full.
"So... You want to keep going and see what we could find out here, or head back and teleport somewhere to look for quests?" I asked Bram not really caring one way or the other.
"Well seeing as the ring is full and I can't help carry the trash you insist on bringing with us, I say we return and visit Maribel" He shot back and wriggled his eyebrows while mentioning Maribel.
"It's not even like that, sure she's cute, but I have priorities." I instantly regretted what had come out of my mouth as Bram looked at me wide eyed and mouth open.
"Shit." I just started walking back towards town.