Zellin walked into the house to see the lights were off. Guess no one’s home, he thought. As he moved to turn on the lights…
“BOO!!!” Someone shouted from behind Zellin.
“AHHH!” Zellin cried as he fell to the floor.
“Hey, big bro. Why so startled?” The person said as the lights turned on to reveal Coral’s smiling figure.
Zellin hurriedly stood up to straighten his new robe. “Ahem… I wasn’t scared. I was obviously just playing along with your joke.” He quickly explained, making his voice a little deeper as he tried to sound manlier.
Coral simply giggled. “Don’t worry, big bro. I know you’d never be scared of anything. Come, the others are in the backyard.”
In the backyard Reyal was currently sending fireballs toward Liu who roared every time a fireball would explode on his bare chest.
“What are you guys doing?” Zellin asked with a raised eyebrow.
“This idiot asked me to help him raise his Fire Resistance by sending fireballs at his chest. And of course I wouldn’t give up the chance to bully Liu.” Reyal replied with grin.
“Really?” Zellin asked in surprise. “Does it work?”
“Who knows?” Reyal replied, shrugging his shoulders. “At least it hasn’t worked yet.” He said as he sent another fireball at Liu who roared in pain as he was blown several meters back.
“Okay.” Zellin responded, totally ignoring this act against humanity. “Do you guys want something to eat? I’m going to make something.”
Some time later after their meal…
“Hey do you guys want to go hunt a Level 5 Goblin Boss?” Coral asked at the table.
“You know where to find one?” Reyal asked as he washed the dishes. As they were still kids, Reyal had to use a small stool to reach the sink.
“Yeah, my dad gave me a map of a goblin camp in the forest.” Coral replied.
“Let me see.” Zellin said, reaching out to grab the map. “Hmm… I think we should wait till we’re all at least Level 4. Otherwise I might disappoint my dad and not survive for 5 years.” Zellin continued cautiously before suggesting something else. “How about we go to the Quest Hall instead and get some low level quests?”
“Okay!” Coral nodded with a smile. As long as she wasn’t bored she’d be happy.
The Quest Hall was what it sounded like; a place to get quests. After fulfilling a quest, you can go there and receive a reward. They offered a badge to all the new quest seekers which they could level up after gaining enough QP or quest points. Leveling up your quest badge allowed you to earn some XP and also allowed you access to quests with better rewards. Leveling up with a quest badge could be quicker than simply killing monster if you chose your quests right.
The group all went to sign up for a quest badge except for Coral. Apparently she already had one. No wonder her level is higher than ours, Zellin thought to himself.
The group accepted a herb gathering quest for a plant called Spice Flower. It was an ingredient used in many popular dishes such as the Flower Curry recipe. It was also useful for making smoke bombs as it emitted a thick, black smoke when burned, which would be extremely irritating to the eyes.
They received a map of some general areas where they grew. At first the quest seemed quite simple as gathering the herbs was quite easy. They even leisurely hunted monsters as they looked for the herbs. But as they went deeper into the forest Zellin gradually grew worried. What’s this familiarity I’m feeling? He wondered.
“Ah, there’s another one.” Zellin exclaimed as he rushed ahead to pick the yellow flower which emitted a spicy aroma. He pulled it out with a smile, but that smile quickly turned into a depressing frown. When he lifted his head he saw that ahead of him was a four-foot Level 4 goblin giving him a curious look.
Zellin gradually got up, and patted his clothes into order. “Good to make your acquaintance.” He said, nodding at the goblin as if it was a gentleman passing by. “I’ll be going now.” With that he turned around and prepared to run.
The goblin grew annoyed at this and simply struck out with its wooden spear, stabbing Zellin in the back. Zellin was immediately pushed forward a couple meters ahead as he felt an intense pain in his back. If it wasn’t for the fact that his mom made him that robe, he’d most likely be pierced through and bleed to death.
Zellin winced in pain as he turned around and took out his own bronze spear. “Everyone! Hurry! Goblins ahead! Prepare for battle!” Zellin cried out to his companions as he wasn’t confident in fighting it on his own. Unfortunately this also drew the attention of some other nearby goblins. Zellin didn’t know, but he unknowingly walked towards the goblin camp he cautiously avoided before, in his search for Spice Flowers.
“Urkgh!” The goblin exclaimed as Coral suddenly slit its throat from behind. On Earth, this would surely have ended its life, but as the rules on this world were different this only counted as a critical hit which inflicted the Bleed effect. You could have multiple holes in several important organs, but if your HP was high enough there was still a chance at life.
Before the goblin could react Coral sent a flurry of stabs toward its back, which quickly depleted the goblin’s health as a result of the *2 multiplier. Zellin rushed forward and swiftly made a stabbing motion, piercing the goblin’s head with his spear; ending the goblin’s life.
At this point, Reyal, Liu, Leggy, and Bear, who were all looking for Spice Flowers, approached as Zellin pulled out his spear.
“Why’d you call all of us over? It’s just one goblin.” Liu asked, unimpressed.
“Idiot. It’s never just one goblin. Quick, into the trees.” Zellin ordered, hurriedly climbing up a tree to hide under its foliage. They heard a horn sound out in the distance as Coral quickly followed suit, followed by Reyal, Leggy, and Bear who leapt back and forth on different trees to climb higher.
Liu was a little slow, but hurriedly followed.
“Human!” Came a scratchy voice off to the side. A pair of goblins were quickly approaching.
“Crap!” Liu exclaimed halfway up a tree. He was going to climb higher but a thick branch was suddenly thrown at him, causing him to fall to the ground. Liu angrily looked up at his despicable friends to see Zellin mouth the words, “RUN!” He also made a circular motion with his fingers, which Liu furrowed his brows at. What’s he trying to say? Liu wondered.
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Seeing that his friends wouldn’t let him climb the tree in fear of attracting the other goblins, he quickly sped off into the forest.
The two goblins hurriedly gave chase, after which much more goblins came, following the angry yells of the goblins ahead.
Zellin and the others waited a while to see if more goblins would come before hopping down from the trees.
“Quick, follow me.” Zellin instructed before running into the forest.
Zellin lead them to a clearing off to the north-east of where they immediately went about setting a trap, with the help of the very convenient Leggy. Earlier, Zellin had told Liu to run in a circle, but he didn’t know if Liu could comprehend it. At this point I can only hope, Zellin thought with a sigh.
Zellin scouted the area for Liu, and after hearing the rustling sounds of a mob running, Zellin ran ahead and tied a piece of his purple undershirt on a tree before moving forward and planting more signs. As Zellin had the Sprint skill, he was naturally much quicker than Liu.
Liu had noticed the purple ribbons on the trees and hoped deep down in his heart that it was a sign. Liu continued running for his life, following the signs, but stopped for some reason. The goblin’s behind him immediately let out excited shrieks as they quickly approached, preparing to end this little human’s life. But as they approached, a black smoke quickly flooded the area, causing them to cough and their eyes to burn. Liu who had been trapped in a thinner version of Leggy’s webs was suddenly pulled up into the trees.
The black smoke only lasted for a small while before it dissipated, allowing the choking goblins to breath in some fresh air. When they looked up they saw Liu a distance away waving at them.
“Stinky goblins, you’ll never catch me! Hahaha!” Liu taunted, pulling down his pants and presenting a beautiful moon to the goblins. Liu then laughed at the angry shrieks of the goblins as he hurriedly ran away again.
The goblins chased after him in a fury but immediately afterwards a large net-like web was pulled up from under their feet and trapped them all within, leaving them hanging a meter above the ground. Leggy spent quite some time on this web, making it much stronger than usual. Leggy also made sure to leave out the stickiness, allowing the goblins to freely walk on top of it.
Zellin immediately fell down from a tree and began stabbing at the goblins with his spear. Reyal also joined the stab fest with his longsword. Rocky and Coral would team up against the goblins that were able to struggle free and Liu came back and ignored his exhaustion as he slashed furiously at the trapped goblins. Leggy crowd controlled some of the goblins who made it out of the web with more webs.
Sparky even joined in the fun and electrocuted a goblin before trying to swallow it whole. Sparky’s three-foot long body stretched quite far before swallowing a pitiful goblin whole. The goblin struggled to get out but Sparky sent a continuous stream of electricity to numb its body as it was slowly digested.
10 minutes later the slaughter was over and the goblins bodies have all dissipated into the air, leaving behind some money and a few items. Strangely enough, they left behind a lot of Spice Flowers, which the group was happy for as Reyal burnt all the Spice Flowers they gathered to create that black smoke. A horn was also left behind, which Zellin assumed was what the goblins used to signal each other.
Liu let out raucous laughter. “HAHAHA! Stupid goblins! That what’s you get for chasing me for so long!” Liu exclaimed, letting out some pent up anger. He really thought he could die as he couldn’t outrun the goblins. But after figuring out what Zellin was trying to say, he let himself hope and ran all the harder.
“Easy, Liu. You could have really died this time. Good thing god showed you the way and lead you back to us.” Zellin responded, ignoring Liu’s intelligence.
“What are you talking about? I figured it out by myself!” Liu cried out, annoyed.
“The gods are merciful indeed.” Reyal said, nodding his head in agreement.
“You guys are jerks.” Liu responded helplessly, regretting his decision to befriend these people.
Coral suddenly let out a mischievous grin. “Do you guys want to find the boss? It won’t have as many goblin minions as before, and since it isn’t here it’s probably sleeping or something.” Coral urged.
“Yeah! Let’s go. Maybe it’ll drop something cool.” Liu said in approval.
Zellin simply shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not?”
The group first waited a half an hour for Sparky to digest the goblin; also to recover their energy. Sparky managed to level to Level 2 after quickly digesting the goblin, his body growing to four and a half feet long. Zellin was amazed at this guy’s progress. He wasn’t even a week old.
Then the group made their way back to where they saw the first goblin and sent Coral out to scout the area. Soon after, she came back to report.
“They’re in a clearing, about 2 kilometers to the south-west. I saw 5 minions out and about, and also one shaman. There could be more in the tents, and I didn’t see the boss so it could be sleeping.” Coral reported. “It’s basically a camping site. They have no defenses we should worry about.”
“Right,” Zellin responded. “Come, heroes. Glory awaits us.”
With that they went off to hunt more goblins.
It was a peaceful afternoon in the goblin camp. The sun shone through trees and goblin minions were lazily lounging about. If there were children goblins, they’d surely be frolicking through the forest.
The goblin shaman, the spiritual leader of the goblins, was giving offerings to the spirits and mumbling prayers to the dead. He suddenly stopped when he heard a horn sounding out in the distance.
The goblin shaman hurriedly gave out some orders to the nearby goblin minions and they woke their sleeping brethren to go see what the trouble was. As the ten or so goblins left, the goblin shaman simply went back to mumbling prayers. As the goblin chief was currently ‘busy’ with other matters, the shaman was in charge of the overseeing the others.
The shaman didn’t take the horn too seriously. Those idiots are probably just having trouble taking down a boar. Those lazy goblins minions will blow that horn for anything. The goblin shaman thought to himself in goblin speak. Also, he sent all their available minions just in case it was serious, so the goblin shaman wasn’t too worried.
Meanwhile, as the shaman prayed to the dead, the other goblins had split up in the forest to search for the goblins who sounded the horn, not knowing that they have become prey to Zellin and his friends.