Entering the deepest layers of the forest area, Shesmu once again found goblins roaming, foraging, and hunting monsters and wild animals. Killing his way through, Shesmu breezed through the outskirts of the village to the inner circle. After he reached this deep, Shesmu started encountering bigger packs with stronger members. After some time, Shesmu had to face off packs with hobgoblins leading them. The latter was quite strong and had a level ranging between 15 and 16, with stronger weapons mainly consisting of bats and cleavers. One group happened to be especially annoying to deal with as it had two hobgoblins leading them.
Shesmu was making his way through the dense forest filled with large roots and shrubs when he saw a group led by two hobgoblins ending a hunt against a pack of deer. Once the group appeared in his line of vision, the goblins were too able to notice him and immediately reacted.
Ordering themselves in a battle formation, anyone could see that this group of goblins was battle-hardened. To this sight, Shesmu could only let out a sigh of frustration and annoyance. With his lack of aoe and cc skill, Shesmu had a hard time against a group of monsters, especially when the group reached the higher 20s. Not wanting to waste the time and brain cells needed to kill these mobs, Shesmu charged Ki on his Silvermoon wolf sword and dashed towards them. For a second, Shesmu thought it was good that the group organized themselves in an orderly fashion, this way, he would be able to kill them with one thousand slashes. And, as predicted, Shesmu used one thousand slashes to kill both of the hobgoblins and most of the goblins behind them.
The amount of Ki that could be gathered in a short period of time vastly overwhelmed the measly amount that could be gathered by the basic trash sword. If before Shesmu was able to gather 2000 Ki points in around 2 seconds using the basic sword, he was now able to gather the same amount in less than 0.5 seconds. This amount of Ki was already enough to deal with any normal monster under level 30, so of course, these level 13 and 15 monsters weren’t enough to pose a challenge. It’s true that he used an AoE skill so the damage output is lesser than if it was single target one, however, the damage was still enough to overpower the mobs.
Killing the last few remaining goblins, Shesmu continued his hunt until he completed the requirement. Finishing what he came to do, Shesmu returned to the military camp to submit the reputation quest.
“What a strong and promising young man. Being able to kill those monstrosities is an achievement anyone would feel proud of and I’m sure that even the Commander in Chief would like to hear from such a hero. Do you want to meet him?”
Hearing the captain’s question, Shesmu immediately accepted. Entering the main building, Shesmu went past multiple offices and high ranking military members. All of the officers he went past were surprised that an Adventurer was allowed inside the building.
The duo in a flash reached the highest floor to the room of the Commander in Chief. Knocking on the door, the captain said.
“Sir, I have important news, sir.”
After a short period of silence, a deep voice replied.
“Come in.”
Opening the door, the captain was visibly nervous. He put his left arm on Shesmu’s back so as to keep him close, he was as if afraid that he would come out running.
When Shemu entered the office, the first thing he saw was a man with a gigantic frame at around 210 cm. His body was full of muscles and showed much energy and potential. He had a golden hair special to the nobility that was shaped like a lion’s mane. Overall, he looked incredibly fierce.
“Oh, who is this esteemed guest?” The deep voice of the Commander in Chief was filled with prudence. Seeing that the person in front of him had the golden duality of both the hair and the eyes, he felt apprehensive.
The captain respectfully saluted before saying “Sir, this is a young adventurer with formidable spirit. He had made great contributions to the goblin front and switched the tides to our side.”
Hearing the captain’s report, the Commander in Chief looked to be deep in thought for a fraction of a second before he showed a happy expression.
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“Oh my, what a talented young man indeed. At such a tender age and already so strong, your future is indeed limitless.” After finishing his pleasantries, the Commander showed a serious expression as he continued. “The battlefront at the goblin village’s side is one of the ugliest and most dangerous. I have been thinking for a while if we should go on an all-out war with them but was hesitating. However, with your addition, I’m now more confident. As one of the golden generation, you showed the potential of your kind. Thus, I’m going to announce a quest to every one of the golden generations to help with the defense of our city and human honor. Would you want to command your kind to victory?”
As the Commander finished his statement, Shesmu received a quest notification.
The leader of the Law(Hidden) Description Lead the army to a win against the Goblin Village Rewards +10000 reputation with Pliyx Stal Capital City’s army.
+5 gold
+40000 Exp
Looking at the quest’s rewards, Shesmu was about to drool. 10000 reputation points were enough to let him reach level 3 reputation rank with the Capital’s army. This will let him experience a very favored treatment and get access to information, equipment and facilities none of the players or the guilds would have for a long time. Plus, the 40000 Exp was enough to sway him, as it took Shesmu around two hours and a half of farming in a high-level map to get that much.
“Sir, I would gladly serve the kingdom and lead my brethren to victory!” Shesmu passionately exclaimed. He already knew that the Commander wasn’t being sincere and that he was most likely planning something. Shesmu had a few ideas about what the commander was thinking, however, without some clear indication he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint exactly which of the possible plans the commander was using. In the end, Shesmu could only play with the cards in front of him and reveal as little of his inner thoughts as possible.
“Good, the expedition will take place tomorrow. I will have to see you off now as I need to plan out the strategies for the war with the other generals.”
Seeing that his presence was no longer welcomed, Shesmu quickly excused himself. He wanted to check on Seth’s progress and see if he can advance to the second level of training.
Going out of town and entering the cemetery, Shesmu heard from afar the sound of explosions and rocks breaking. An orange light will loom over the whole cemetery for a second before disappearing again with the sound. At the center of all the explosions, a magician stood, sending one fireball after the next at different targets. Sometimes, he would weave in between thunderbolts, scorching the ground that served as his target. To a normal player, this display of skill would be flashy, but that’s it. However, to an expert, what the mage was doing was nothing short of a miracle. For mages to cast fireball, even the fastest would need around 1 second to cast the ability and would take some time to cast another spell, due to the position of the staff. However, the mage in front of them was able to cast the spells in half the time the best mages could muster, and switch between skills with no delay.
At this sight, Shesmu nodded in satisfaction. He knew that just a 0.1 seconds difference was what decided the fight between decent players, forget about having half the casting speed. With Seth’s new casting speed, he effectively doubled his damage output without changing his stats, making everyone succumb to despair.
“Cough, cough” Announcing his presence, Shesmu coughed loudly.
Hearing the noise on his back, Seth stopped his training and turned around to see who it was, only to notice that it was Shesmu.
“Seems like you improved by a lot. Effectively halving your casting speed and meeting my bare requirement.”
Hearing Shesmu’s appraisal, Seth felt somewhat proud. The level that he attained easily made him stronger than every other mage currently existing. However, it was also that knowledge that made him even more awed by Shesmu’s prowess and deep knowledge of the game’s mechanics.
Looking at the emotions coursing through Seth’s eyes, Shemu chuckled softly before saying.
“Anyway, this is the end of the first phase of your training and the beginning of the second one. The latter would take a long time and thus you are free to hunt monsters as you train, you’re now strong enough to survive while playing solo.” Shesmu then paused for a second to think of how to word what he wanted to say before continuing. “When you use a spell, you just think about it in your mind and that activates it, right?”
At Shesmu’s question, Seth just nodded. This was basically common knowledge.
“What I want you to do as a start is to try and understand what happens in your body as you activate the skill, and try to do it manually without activating it through the system. This is the first part the second phase of your training.”
Hearing Shesmu’s order, Seth was surprised. Can skills be activated manually? This was something he didn’t know. However, at this point, Shesmu already showed things many would consider inhumane or cheating.
Looking at Seth’s resolute face, Shesmu heaved a sigh of relief before saying.
“The reason for this part of the training is for you to ultimately be able to simultaneously cast two skills. For now, I’ll let you train on your own.”