A few minutes later, with the last of the buzzing in his head having faded and his Mana bar half full, Robin decided to finally get up, have a quick meal, and look for some more firewood.

He reached into his pocket, action which caused every bit of pride and happiness from his progress to instantly fade away. It was empty.

After spewing a few unfriendly words through gritted teeth, Robin thought about going out to get some more fruit.

Even though the journey would barely take about half an hour, last night had driven home just how terrifying any given moment could become in this forest. Literally having his back against the wall in a cold, silent darkness through which only the shifting glimmers of a sea of attentive eyes penetrated gave birth to a level of horror and hopelessness that he didn't even know he was capable of feeling. He shivered.

He was so weak and had so little information that each moment the difference between his life and death was wholly dictated by luck.

There had already been two instances in which he survived out of sheer coincidence only in the last 24 hours. It was frustrating. Helplessly being crushed and choked to near-death, then just hoping for a fire so he would not freeze to death or get eaten by unknown horrors prowling in the darkness.

He needed to do something, at the very least until he could walk around for 30 minutes without being afraid for his life.

"But taking into account that I'm still alive after hours of walking yesterday and that they seemed to leave after seeing the fire, I hope that means those things are only active during the night."

Which, after a look at the sun's position in the sky and the reddish hue of the light it was emitting, Robin estimated would be arriving in about an hour.

"Great, I love being on a timer."

With that in mind, he still couldn't afford to go out with his Mana bar half empty. Taking into account his overall strength, an additional cast or two of Spark would mean a generous increase in his fighting power.

After waiting for more than he was comfortable to, daytime was running out but his pool was full again. Going out obviously held significant risks, but he would have to go out at some point anyway. Considering he knew next to nothing about the ecosystem he was in, there could just as well be even stronger creatures prowling around whenever he did decide to go out if he postponed it.

"Better to be unlucky when hungry than unlucky while starving I guess."

Even though he knew it probably would not help that much, Robin was set on being as prepared as he could be in his current situation - so he picked up the stick that seemed the most solid from the pile before finally making his way towards the Thu'heah tree.

----------------------------------------

The short walk had been uneventful so far, however when Robin got within eyeshot of the tree, he froze.

Next to his precious source of food stood a green creature, seemingly analyzing the tree. It didn't look taller than 140 cm, even while standing up on its two legs, and it seemed to be completely naked except for the dirty cloth strapped to its midsection.

It looked similar to a type of creature he had seen before, but this world had its way with surprises so he tried Identifying it.

Goblin - Common

Humanoid

Hostile

"Finally something I'm familiar with-"

The creature made a weird squealing sound, which made Robin tense up and raise his stick in what he thought to be a defensive stance, ready to intercept whatever the thing was going to throw at him.

"Fuck!"

Once again, he had made a mistake - he had no idea if his using the Skill on something could be felt by the creature, and wasted the precious element of surprise for obvious, useless information...

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Only the creature didn't charge, as it actually hadn't detected him. Instead, it started clawing and kicking the tree, as though it had just seen the tree slaughter its entire family right before it.

Spotting the partly consumed fruit now laying on the ground besides the goblin's feet, Robin assumed that to be the reason for the goblin's sudden attack.

Unwilling to risk potential permanent damage to his only source of food, Robin decided to intervene and protect it from the attacker.

With his stick firmly gripped and his focus solely on his enemy, Robin moved. He hadn't been completely devoted to stealth in his approach, and with about 10 meters between them, the goblin heard him and turned around, its emotions clearly visible on its slightly deformed face.

Irritation turned to surprise, then fear, then shifted into amusement as it's gaze landed on Robin's weapon.

Its hand went towards its right thigh, strapped to which was a small sheath, its bottom half only now visible below the cloth that was covering the goblin's waist.

With 5 meters separating them, Robin saw his opponent pull out a dagger, hold it in a reverse grip and bend its knees - a position closer to a stance than the current Robin could ever hope to achieve. While still running he realized his chances of winning were much lower than he initially estimated. From the current angle and distance, Robin could now also spot a few lines and dots on the goblin that looked to be closer to gray than green, most probably scars.

"This guy seems to have been fighting for a while... I really hope to fuck he doesn't have magic as well." was his last thought before he made a two-handed swing with his stick in a wide arc.

His weapon was bigger and he had a longer reach, but that didn't mean Robin knew how to use those advantages.

The attack was easily dodged with a quick duck. Before Robin had even finished the swing, the goblin stepped in and its dagger whizzed through Robin's thigh. Before Robin even got to feel the pain, the goblin had already taken another set of steps and was now turned around, its sadistic smile exposing long, caramel teeth.

Robin's thigh was burning and something warm was slowly dripping down it, but with adrenaline now gushing through his veins, each beat of his heart lessened the discomfort. Robin somehow knew his health had gone down by 4 points, but had no time or attention to spare that train of thought.

It seemed the cut wasn't deep enough to hinder his movements as he tried reposition himself to face the goblin and he succeeded without issue. Robin this time held his weapon in front of him - a weak imitation of a longpoint stance - and waited for his opponent to strike, with hopes of parrying, or countering if lucky.

The goblin seemed to immediately understand his plan, but didn't deem Robin a dangerous enough enemy for prudence to be necessary. It brazenly walked forward, its smirk unmoving.

Robin took a step back, then another, and then was stopped by the trunk of the tree he was fighting to protect.

The goblin did not stop, and before it would get in dagger range, Robin - half out of panic, half out of anger - swung his stick diagonally.

The goblin side stepped to its left once again, and rewarded Robin with another shallow incision, this time in his triceps, before a high-pitched chuckle escaped its filthy, grey lips.

"Another 6 health down the drain, and all I managed to do in return is make the fucker giggle."

It was obvious Robin was far outclassed by his opponent.

The goblin realized this as well, and decided it was high time to take the lead.

It crouched, then exploded forward with a speed no normal creature should be capable of reaching on its own. The next thing Robin knew, more than half of his stick had been cleanly shaven off, and the goblin's weapon was guard-deep in his small intestine.

Notice

You have been Severely Wounded.

Physical regeneration effectiveness reduced by 33% until medical aid is received or health level surpasses 75%.

Never had a -20 been so terrifying in his life. Another attack like that would mean the end. He needed to do something. He needed to do something now, while the goblin was enjoying his terrified expression, certain it had already won.

His opponent was much faster than him. The difference was so great that Robin couldn't even react to that last attack. He had massively underestimated his opponent, but luckily that was true for both fighters.

Even though a blade was currently probing his insides, Robin didn't give up. This was his last chance to turn this around, now that his enemy had lowered his guard and was reveling in victory.

Robin caught the wrist of one of the hands that stabbed him with one hand while his other went straight to the neck of his opponent.

The goblin seemed to mildly dislike the fact that its prey was still struggling, its smirk dissipating quickly and one hand trying to dislodge the vice-like grip pressuring its throat.

While holding the hand in place, preventing it from pulling the dagger back out, Robin touched the handle of the dagger with a finger and used Spark on it.

The goblin shrieked and let go of the weapon, unable to handle the sudden heat. Its expression once again shifted, this time from irritation to shock, then fear. It understood that for the first time in this fight, it was at a disadvantage. Disarmed and immobilized, it started desperately clawing at the fingers strangling its neck.

Robin was pleasantly surprised the goblin did not go for his neck as well, but wherever the goblin would have touched him, he would have used Spark to burn its hand anyway. When the goblin yanked back its hand Robin used the opportunity to quickly plant his foot down between the goblin's legs, and then by using his superior body weight he pulled the goblin sideways and toppled it.

This was his chance. Robin took full advantage of the goblin's daze and somehow managed to swiftly bring and pin down both of the goblin's arms under his knees.

Without enough Strength to free itself, the only thing the goblin could do now was spit and watch helplessly as its presumed prey choked it out.

"Thanks for being a cunt. Couldn't have beaten you otherwise." were the last words the goblin heard before it stopped moving.

After a few more seconds of choking it after it went still, just to be sure Robin also stomped a few times on its neck until he heard a crack. There was no way in hell he was going to risk such a dangerous enemy ever recovering.