Ezra felt bored, now. He supposed that was the real disadvantage of [Calm]. Sometimes it made things too easy.
He moved over to the other three goblins to mop them up.
Yuki looked at him with a neutral expression before dashing off toward Pete.
“Pete, it’s okay! You’re fine!” she said.
The three goblins came at him in a frenzied rush, their snarls filling the air as they brandished crude weapons.
Ezra ducked under the first goblin’s wild swing, his body low to the ground as he drove his needle forward. The weapon punctured the goblin’s chest with ease, the creature’s eyes widening before its body crumpled to the ground.
The second goblin hesitated, but Ezra didn’t. He leaped into the air, flew forward, and stabbed the goblin in the throat. It gurgled and clutched at its neck as it fell to its knees before collapsing.
The final goblin, now alone, charged at Ezra with a high-pitched screech.
Ezra sidestepped at the last moment, sweeping his leg out to trip the creature.
Ezra twirled the needle between his fingers, then brought it down into the goblin’s back. The creature gasped, its body convulsing once before going limp.
He wiped his needle off on the thread of his tunic.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Perfect. He looked over his stats.
Name: Ezra Hawthorne
Age: 16
Race: Human
C̴l̷a̸s̵s̵: S̸t̵u̸d̵e̸n̵t̸
Sub-class: N/A
Bonded Spirit: Filamenta, Spirit of Binding
Health Points: 300/300
Mana Points: 245/245
Level: 23
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 40
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 15
Personal Skills:
[Calm] - Lv. 14
[Inspect] - Lv. MAX
[Canefighting] - Lv. 3
[Needle Mastery] - Lv. 27
[Stealth] - Lv. 15
[Ranged Needle Mastery] - Lv. 2
Abilities:
[Bind] - Lv. 1
[Spirit Weapon Storage] - Lv. MAX
[Spirit Weapon Recall] - Lv. MAX
[Restrain] - Lv. 10
[Web Trap] - Lv. 7
[Entangle] - Lv. 9
[Polymorphism] - Lv. 8
[Lockpicking] - Lv. 20
[Poisonous Prick] - Lv. 1
Skill points: 27
Stat points: 29
Ability points: 16
The first thing that jumped out to Ezra was the fact that his skills and abilities had leveled up despite him… forgetting to level them up. He resisted the urge to kick himself in the face. He’d thought he was so clever for grinding his skill gains and then he forgot to grind! Well, there was nothing he could do about it. Instead, he took a look at his abilities, there was only one ability left in the robin constellation. He clicked on it.
As soon as he did so, the outline of the entire constellation flashed a bright white.
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[Note: upon the unlocking of this ability, the user will receive a special bonus ability.]
The pop-up disappeared and was quickly replaced.
[Precision Prick]
[Enhances your aim and allows you to precisely strike a pressure point to disable the opponent’s movement.]
[Cooldown: 10 minutes]
[Requires Wisdom 40 Dexterity 40]
[Use 10 ability points and learn?]
[Yes] [No]
Ezra clicked his tongue. So he’d have to pump up his Wisdom as well. That was fine. He switched back over to his stat tab and got his Wisdom up to 40.
Once again, there wasn’t any obvious change.
Ezra was confused. Wisdom sounded like something rather… conscious. Yet, it all seemed to be happening on instinct. Ezra could feel the difference in battle—he’d been uncannily accurate when it came to hitting areas that gave critical hits, after all. But beyond that, he hadn’t noticed too much of a difference. Well, it was giving him a higher mana regen rate, so it was fine.
Ezra hopped back over to the ability screen and clicked Yes.
As soon as he did, the constellation of the bird flashed, then flashed again, pulsing in time to some rhythm Ezra couldn’t hear. There was a sound like glass shattering and Ezra could’ve sworn he heard some kind of jingle in the background.
[For obtaining all requisite abilities and skills, you’ve obtained the bonus skill “Air Attack”!]
Ezra raised an eyebrow. Air attack? That didn’t sound super exciting. Nonetheless, he moved over to his ability tab and popped it open.
[Air Attack] - Lv. MAX
[Allows you to attack using melee techniques in midair as if you were on the ground. When swinging these attacks, you obtain a burst in momentum toward the direction of the attack. In other words, you’ve just become a video game character, dude.
Can only be used once before needing to land on the ground or get hit by an enemy. Once on the ground or hit by an enemy, the counter resets and you can use Air Attack again.]
Ezra blinked.
Well, that was unexpected. Granted, Ezra wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but… that?
He jumped into the air. For a moment, he hanged in midair. He winded his needle back, then stabbed.
A burst of air exploded from behind him and he was rocketed forward.
Taken by surprise, he wasn’t able to do anything as he fell into a tangled heap. Ezra pushed himself off the ground and grinned. This would probably come in handy. The ability to just… get a boost in momentum from nowhere? That was almost broken.
He glanced back toward Pete and Yuki. Pete was looking at him with unabashed shock. Yuki had a raised eyebrow.
“New ability?” she said.
Ezra walked past them and shrugged.
“What can I say?” he said. “It’s not as cool as your little dimension manipulation bullshit, but this is still pretty cool.”
Yuki sighed and fell in step behind him. Pete hurried over to Ezra’s side.
“Ezra,” he said. “Can you… can you do a meteor smash?”
Ezra paused, furrowed his eyebrows together, and looked at the ground with wide eyes. “You know, that’s a good question.“
Yuki held up her hand.
“Look, we’re here for a specific reason, right? Can we focus on hunting that sub-boss down?”
“Killjoy,” Ezra said.
Yuki adjusted her grip on her staff, the wood creaking under the sudden pressure.
“I didn’t say anything while you were acting like a psychopath,” she said. “So don’t accuse me of getting in the way of your little power fantasies.”
Ezra’s head snapped over toward Yuki and he paused for a moment. What kind of an accusation is that? Where does she get off on that?
“How rude,” Ezra said. “I’m not ‘like’ a psychopath. I’m the real deal. The whole enchilada. The big cajuna—“
Yuki marched on ahead, flipping him a middle finger.
Ezra stared after her.
“Think she’s mad?” he said.
“Maybe?” Pete said.
Ezra rolled his eyes and followed after Yuki. “Wasn’t talking to you.”
“W-what!? But who else were you talking to, then? Yourself?”
“Yup,” Ezra said. “Only intelligent conversation I can get down here.”
Pete groaned and slapped his face into his palms. Yuki made a left turn, going down the center hallway they’d passed, earlier.
Ezra continued walking and glanced around.
It wasn’t long before they came upon a large, amphitheater-like space. In the center was the boulder that they’d run from not so long ago. Yuki had come to a stop and crossed her arms.
“It’s right in the middle,” she said. “Why…?”
Ezra furrowed his eyebrows. There was a sinking feeling in his chest. Something that was screaming that he’d missed something. His eyes glanced around.
Footsteps.
Ezra’s head snapped forward.
It was a goblin. But unlike the other goblins, it was… tall? Reaching up to Ezra’s shoulder. Not only that, but it was adorned with some kind of gold jewelry. It was surprisingly well-built, strapped with muscle, unlike the other goblins.
[Goblin Prince] - Ruler of Stone - Lv. 27
Ezra clicked his tongue. That level was high. And what was up with that title?
The goblin slapped its palms together. There was a rumbling noise, then five boulders burst through the amphitheatre wall to Ezra’s left. A moment later, three more appeared from the right.
The goblin raised it’s hand and twirled its finger in circles. Following his movements, the boulders rolled along in circles around Ezra, Pete, and Yuki.
Ezra groaned.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
A moment after he said this, three boulders launched toward him from each direction.
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Ezra leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the three boulders. Meanwhile, Yuki raised her staff and created a barrier. The other two boulders slammed into the barriers with a loud bang.
The goblin’s eyes shot ever toward Ezra, then it raised its hand. A boulder flew into the air, aimed toward Ezra.
Ezra grinned and stabbed out to the left. A burst of air from behind drove him in the direction he’d attacked. He fell to the ground in a roll, then sprung up.
The goblin’s smirk turned into a tight frown. It slammed its palms together, then did some kind of throwing gesture. A moment afterward, another three aimed for Ezra in a similar formation. Ezra’s eyes darted out toward the goblin’s backside. There was another rock coming, one that would intercept him in midair.
“[Restrain].”
Threads ruptured out of the ground and wrapped around one of the boulders, halting its momentum.
With one of the boulders gone, Ezra was able to easily dodge by simply running away. Ezra drew his weapon inward, then tossed it out toward the monster. The needle was in its small form… but that worked out fine for what Ezra was planning.
“[Precision Prick].”
The small needle hit and landed on the goblin’s skin, on its left arm. The goblin prince didn’t even seem to register the attack, then it tried to raise its arms.
Only one responded. The other flapped like paper in the wind.
It’s eyes widened.
Ezra dashed forward, his fists clenched. As soon as he was close enough, he threw a solid hook. The goblin scurried backward in a desperate attempt to avoid the shot. But it was too late. The hook landed, slamming against the creature’s jaw.
461/490
It blinked, then started cackling.
“Recall. [Polymorphism].”
The needle appeared in Ezra’s hand and expanded in size. He then stabbed out and into the goblin’s chest. The goblin’s eyes widened and it jumped clear, Ezra’s needle slicing against its neck.
343/490
It made a tugging motion.
Ezra didn’t have time to react. A boulder rushed over and slammed into Ezra’s back, sending him flying into the air. Inside, Ezra’s bones bent and crunched from the pain. He resisted the urge to cry out as he flew through the air. He gritted his teeth and converted his flight into a smoother roll to the ground, his armor groaned and screeched from the unexpected pressure and shock.
112/300
Okay. This wouldn’t be as easy as he’d been suspecting.
The monster growled, only to jolt back in shock. A moment later, an arrow had zipped by the part of his face.
“Oh, come on!” Pete said. “For once, couldn’t I hit something!?”
Yuki held out her staff. Ezra felt his wounds and injuries stitch back together in real time. Note, it’s not as fun as it sounds. He glanced at his health bar in the top right of his vision.
300/300
Perfect.
Ezra looked back at his opponent. He didn’t understand how he was supposed to beat this guy. His reflexes were fast enough to keep up with Ezra’s… which was ridiculous! Not only did this guy have this absurd ability, but he had enough stats to just dump them into Dexterity? Ezra resisted the urge to grind his teeth together. This was rapidly looking worse and worse.
The goblin looked at him, then clapped its palms together. Then it did it again. Then again. Then again.
Ezra could feel the ground shake.
It wasn’t just 3 coming for him. No, it was 5, 7, 10–20! Some coming from the ground and some were shooting through the air and toward him! How the hell was he supposed to get out of this one!?
Ezra’s mind raced, looking for a gap.
But it was too late. They were going to hit him, and there wasn’t a way out.
He shut his eyes, bracing for the coming impact.
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Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 33