Enjoy!

In other news, with this chap the story will get to the 5000 views!

I would probably make a longer chapter soon to celebrate!

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Luke slept comfortably all night waking up early next morning. The habit of getting out of bed with the first rays of the sun was hard to break for Luke. He went down, had a quick breakfast and started enchanting things for the couple. He didn't have to think much about it, he did all the thinking last night. He used one word level symbol per object. Most of them were simple things like ‘defense' for clothing and ‘agility’ for the spears (he considered putting ‘strength' but it doesn't matter how much damage you do if you don't hit). The only interesting enchant was one he inscribed on two necklace, one for each, with ‘camouflage’ the idea was to make them harder to find for animals and humans too.

Luke didn't want to make potent enchantments for anyone but himself. It wasn't a trust issue, he trusted the couple unconditionally, however he didn't know what might happen to them. It would be annoying if something he made to come bite him later.

Steve woke up with Luke. He decided, after satisfying his rather extensive hunger, to make several rounds of the perimeter. Then he went back to Luke making puppies eyes: he wanted adventure!

Luke was going to comply but first he saw off the couple. He made the closest two hundred meters with them, it was an opportunity to scout the nearby area in a different direction. They didn't find anything out of order so the couple continued by themselves.

Once back, the loneliness hit Luke. He had never been completely alone, not even living in a house in the woods. However now he was truly alone.

A soft whimper and something rubbing against his leg, announced Steve partially successful attempts to console him.

“I know blackie I'm not alone I have you” he said while he crouched and caressed the wolf fur.

By now it was midmorning, curiously marked by an unexpected sound.

DING

New Achievement Unlocked! Mind over body Your growth is so unbalanced that the gods fear for your life. For reaching over 100 Intelligence while the rest of your attributes are below 30, you get 10% of your Intelligence as a bonus in each of the others stats.

Luke was overjoyed. The notification marked that more than fifty thousand trees or more have been awakened. Even though he knew he would receive a big boost for the forest awakening, he hadn't checked his status since he woke up so it came as a surprise. Also, this solved one of Luke’s issues: he hadn't know what to do with the ten points he got when he leveled up the previous day, he wanted to put everything in Intelligence to scale his skills, but only an idiot became a glass cannon in real life. There were too many uncertainties to do it. However, he could do it now. If you added this achievement to the bonus he got and will get from Steve (Luke guessed that a wolf growth pointed towards physical abilities more than magical and intellectual abilities), he wouldn't be so fragile. Sure he won't be a tank, but he would have the resilience to survive.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There was another benefit, Steve got noticeably smarter. He could see a glimmer of intelligence (and mischief) in the pup’s gaze.

Now, Luke had no excuses not to exterminate the goblins in spite of their unknown numbers. He had improved his endurance and the damage his Mana Bolt dealt was through the roof. Besides, no matter how tight the fight was, if he didn't die immediately, his Minor Heal could put his body back to top condition easily.

He made a mental plan of what he would need. He decided to enchant anything necessary for the expedition with the strongest and most useful symbols he could think. Then, he realized he should scout the area around the house for any possible danger. It would be important, if he had to run away from the goblins, to know which area to avoid or where he could prepare an ambush (before the System was implemented he knew the land like the back of his hand, but he didn't know what changes could have happened or creatures invaded since). Lastly, he couldn't go to battle blindly, he had to confirm the goblins population and how they were organized. Luke had come with two possible plans against the goblins depending this information, or cut the head fast or target the body slowly. That meant either he killed the leaders before being surrounded and then utilized the chaos in his favor or he killed every goblin unnoticed before the fight with the boss. Both ideas had pros and cons, but he needed more information to decide.

He spent the remainder of the morning with the enchantments. He made some leather armor with the rabbits skin and inscribed every piece with defense and another attribute, mostly Strength and Agility with Dexterity in the bracers and Vitality in the chest armor. It wasn't much per piece (up to 5 attribute points depending the size of the protection, he checked with his status) but put together was relevant. He also made a collar for Steve and a necklace for himself with an advanced version of what he gave the couple. He used the symbol for ‘camouflage’ and added ‘illusion’ and ‘nature’. He wanted to enhance the camouflage to the point that if you looked at the wearer in the middle of a clearing, the observer will think it is a tree or a large rock. It worked quite well, in part because of his high Nature Affinity (according with how high it was, Luke was considered almost part of nature) and in part because of how absurd his Intelligence has become (remember that enchantment’s power was derived of the Intelligence of the creator, restricted by the durability of the material). For his staff, he went with Strength and durability. After all it would be a nightmare to be about to win when his weapon breaks leaving him defenseless in a melee.

He didn't want Steve to go with him as Luke was worried for the wolf safety, but he didn't have a choice. The notification did say that Steve wanted to adventure and if he wanted his companion to survive in the future, they should have similar power level, or at least defensive capabilities.

Luke and Steve went scouting after putting a dent in their rabbit meat reserve. The numbers seen in the clearing, showed that the source of the supply was far from exhausted. They traveled in a spiraling path with 30 meters or so of distance between each circle. He did this until the outer circumference was five hundred meters away from the house clearing. Luke didn't found anything worrying, though he discovered a few tracks too big to be wolves (even the ones from this forest) that looked appeared to be an enlarged version of that from a bear.

Having that out of the way, Luke and his loyal sidekick went in search of the goblin base. The increased traveling marks were enough to show the way more accurately than Luke’s previous guesses. They traveled until the first goblins patrols were found. Fortunately, the goblins were unable to see through the hiding enchantments or they would have had a fight at hands.

After a little break to calm Luke’s nerves, they started the final information gathering before the raid.