George was on a grassy field, running as a wagon pulled by a horse was behind him, following. Grim was holding the reins as George's teacher, Catherine shouted at him as he ran.

It all started an hour ago, the three met at the gate at the right time as Catherine stated. Catherine told the two that she would be training George in the fields and rented a wagon as a result. She informed George about the tournament and what he was going to learn. The tournament would start three weeks from now so that gave them an opportunity.

The first thing that Catherine made George do was for him to run until he couldn't anymore.

"Come on George! If you want to win the tournament then you'll have to endure it more than that!" Catherine shouted as she stood on the wagon. Grim seemed like he was done with all this shit. "The Warrior Tournament is filled to the brim with stronger warriors than you!"

The Warrior Tournament was a tournament that started 31 years ago by the lord of the city, Count. Malroose. At first, the only rules were to only use melee weapons, magic was okay to use but due to collateral damage and injuries sustained by spectators, the rule was expanded to banning the use of Offense Magic. Though with the ban, the fights were still popular as strong warriors fought.

With the information, George needed to learn how to fight and fast.

"Endure it, George! Endure it!" Catherine shouted as George's speed started to wane.

"Can you please lower your voice?" Grim grumbled, irritated at her shouts.

"Aren't you going to encourage your dad?" Catherine asked, making Grim silently grumble. "Anyways...Go, George! You can do it!"

After the whole endurance run, George took a short break before Catherine proceeded to make him do an intense workout.

This continued for days until she saw an improvement in George's stamina and endurance.

After that was sword training which George had a hard time learning.

"No! Don't swing it that hard! It causes you to lose your balance and your sword might get stuck in the ground!" Catherine shouted when George swung his sword too hard.

They were inside a different forest. Grim was there, watching them. He was very focused as he watched them, not taking a second to look away.

"Are you sure you're not a cranky old man?!" George shouted sword stuck to the ground.

"I'm not old!" Catherine shouted in anger, offended by his remark. "I'm only 21!"

"Oh..." George replied. "Moving on."

They then continued training for weeks on end. One day, after countless days of training, Catherine announced something.

"Okay, my student." Catherine spoke to George who had his broadsword in his hands. "Today, you will be fighting a goblin."

"...should I be...worried?" George asked curiously.

"Yes and No." Catherine replied, further confusing George. "Due to their size and weak stature, they prefer to travel in groups. But in this forest, are Ratcha Goblins. They prefer to travel alone."

"So, I shouldn't?" George asked.

"Ratcha Goblins are distinguishable because of their red skin color. They are ridiculously fast, even for you..." Catherine said.

"So, I should?" George asked, going down a spiral of confusion.

"But, they do have a weak stature and primitive equipment." Catherine informed.

"I'm sorry, but you lost me at but." George replied.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to fight it." Catherine eased George's worries. "And be sure to kill it!"

"K-kill?" George asked nervously, sweating a bit.

"Yeah. The tournament allows killing and the chances of being killed are higher than being knocked unconscious." Catherine informed him, making him gulp.

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That was a fucking lie.

"Aaahhhhhh!!" George screamed, scared, he was running away from something inside the forest.

"Gaaahhhhh!!" Oh yeah, a Ratcha goblin was there running with him as well at the same pace as him. From behind, tree roots followed them.

"GRAH!" A monster screamed behind them, appearing out of the shadows of the trees.

The monster was tall and bulky. Its skin was made of wood, its forearms were long with each finger being as long as a 9-inch penis, while its legs were short but bulky, and its eyes were only the size of a marble as they shun bright green. It also had a large mouth. Overall, the monster was scary.

How did this come to be? Well, we better do a flashback.

~Flashback Time~

After Catherine eased George, he proceeded to go into the deep thick forest with nothing but his broadsword. Carefully, he ventured, guard up and ready to kill.

'Kill? Can I even do it?' George thought to himself. 'You can do this George, you can do it.'

'But do I want to?' George continued to think. 'You may not want to, but we have to.'

George stopped walking before shaking his head violently. After that weird act, George continued forward.

After a few minutes of walking around, George found himself his target. In an open patch of land inside the forest, a Ratcha goblin sitting on the ground holding a wooden club, bashing a rock open.

The goblin was short and stubby. As Catherine said, it had red skin color. It also had long ears, slanted eyes with a yellow color, and a long nose.

He decided to hide in a bush, trying to catch it by surprise.

It was right there in front of him, back turned and prone to an attack by him. Yet, George couldn't do it.

His mind was torn between doing it or not. That caused his body to shake and move a lot. His palms were sweaty, knees weak, and arms were heavy.

The Ratcha goblin heard the rustling of a bush and turned around to it. There, it saw George...

Not really hiding that good.

The goblin snarled at him, causing him to snap back to reality.

The goblin then started to move all around the place like a ball in a pinball machine.

George stood up, putting his guard up. He moved around, looking for the goblin.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of pain as the goblin hit his back with its club.

Once George turned around, the goblin was nowhere to be seen.

Then again, the goblin hit his back with its club. Then again, and again, and again.

George was in pain and tired. The goblin then appeared again but this time George ducked and turned around quickly to face the small rodent.

But before he could strike it with his sword, the goblin clung to his face.

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"Aaaaahhhhhh!!" George screamed as the goblin's short but sharp claws clung to his skin. This made him stumble backward.

The goblin kept attacking him and George kept moving backward.

Then, as the goblin was about to use its club.

Woop, there goes gravity.

The two of them fell as they were on the edge of a cliff.

"Aaaaaahhhh!!" George screamed in fear.

"Raaaahhhhh!!" The goblin screamed in fear as well.

The two didn't notice it but they already stopped falling. George stopped screaming once he felt the ground.

"Oh," George said. "You can stop now."

The goblin replied with a short 'gah.' before stopping.

They were silent as they took their time to relax first. But that ended when the ground started to move.

Both of them looked at the ground and saw that they were on a wooden rock thing.

"Gah." The goblin muttered before letting go of George and running away.

"That doesn't seem good." George said to himself as he watched the goblin run away. George went and got off the wooden rock thing.

The rock thing then started to transform into something. George heard a growl.

"Yup. Not good." George ran away from it, going in the same direction as the goblin.

~Flashback End~

Now that the flashback's over, George and the goblin were still running away from the monster.

George was beginning to outrun the goblin as it was getting tired. Tree roots caught a foot of the goblin, making it fall forward.

The goblin was scared, it then grabbed onto George's foot.

"Oi! What are you doing!" George said, looking back, stopping when he felt a sharp pain in his foot.

"Gah gah gih gah!" The goblin shouted, distressed. It then let go of his foot.

"I don't speak goblin but." George went to the tree roots that were holding the goblin down and broke them by using his other foot, breaking the roots and freeing the goblin.

The two then continued to run as the monster was still behind them.

Seeing a small river approaching, George saw the opportunity to escape whatever was chasing them.

George quickened his pace, and once his foot was on the edge of the river, he used the momentum and jumped.

The goblin saw him and did the same.

George made it to the other side while the goblin nearly made it. George quickly went and grabbed the goblin as it almost fell into the river.

The goblin clung to George's arm, scared and frozen in fear.

George looked at the other side of the river, the monster was just standing there, staring at him with menace. The monster then went back into the forest, leaving the two alone.

George let out a sigh of relief and so did the goblin.

George then went inside a nearby cave, the goblin, still clinging to George.

He sat down inside the cave, finding the time to relax for a bit. The goblin let go of the arm and sat next to him, resting as well.

The two were silent again as they stared at the river.

"Goh gah gih gah" The goblin spoke up.

"What?" George asked before sneezing.

"I said, do you know what that creature is?" The goblin said, now in perfect English.

"Oh, uh, I don't." George said, shocked that he could now understand the goblin before answering it.

"That was a Wood Grove. A wooden monster that always sleeps." The goblin explained. "But since we woke it up, it's now cranky and won't stop till it kills both of us. It's probably finding another way to us."

"Oh, shit." George mumbled.

"Yeah, shit indeed." The goblin replied. "That's why I'm asking now if we could work together."

"Work together?"

"Well, it's hunting both of us so we need to."

"S-sure," George said, he then went to grab his sword but when he looked everywhere, it wasn't there. "Shit, I don't have my sword."

"And I don't have my club." The goblin replied. "We are going to have to get our weapons back."

"That's...dangerous." George argued.

"Do you have any other idea?" The goblin countered.

George was thinking before concluding.

"No." He answered. "So, what's the plan?"

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"Okay, the Wood Grove is coming near. George, you better not mess up." The goblin muttered to itself as the monster was nearing it. The goblin was inside a bush.

The goblin then exited the bush.

"Hey! I'm over here fucker!" The goblin shouted, gaining the attention of the Wood Grove.

"Raaaahhhhh!!" The Wood Grove screamed, echoing through the forest. It then ran towards the goblin.

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George meanwhile, was running in the forest, trying to find his sword.

'Just like Rackshit said, we need to hurry up.' George thought to himself. Rackshit, the goblin, told him the plan in which Rackshit would distract the Wood Grove while George would find their weapons.

George hurriedly looked everywhere. He heard a scream echo through the forest.

'Where is it?!' George was panicked. When he was walking, he saw a cliff, immediately, he looked near the area and there it was. His sword and Rackshit's club.

He hastily grabbed both and went to Rackshit.

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Rackshit wasn't having a good time. The Wood Grove went and gave a right hook aiming at it. Rackshit was able to dodge it by jumping and climbing the trees. The right hook was able to destroy and critically damage trees. So if it were to hit Rackshit then it would be fatal.

Again, the Wood Grove attacked, giving a left hook this time. Rackshit did the same thing from before and with the same effect. Rackshit was getting tired of dodging them.

As the Wood Grove was about to attack again, a voice was heard.

"Hey!" George shouted, sword and club in hand. Rackshit quickly went to his side. George gave the club and went into a stance, sword pointing at the Wood Grove's face. Rackshit ran to the side, doing the same strategy used on George from before.

As Rackshit did so, George attacked the distracted Wood Grove, striking its arms. Noticing George's movements, the Wood Grove readied its right hand, preparing for a punch. Not letting it happen, Rackshit bashed the Wood Grove's head with the club. It was all fruitless as it brought the punch towards George.

George rolled forward, dodging the punch as it smashed the ground, and quickly recomposed himself, he then sliced half of the right arm off. The Wood Grove screamed in pain as green ooze exited the wounds.

"Raaaaahhhh!!" The Wood Grove screamed, angry and in rage. It then proceeded to stomp on the ground, causing it to shake. George and Rackshit had trouble composing themselves as the vibrations were too strong.

The stomping stopped, then, the Wood Grove proceeded to use its last arm to hit George.

"Watch out!" Rackshit shouted at George. George rolled to the side, the punch nearly hit him. George quickly stood up and sliced the forearm off. This caused an imbalance for the Wood Grove to fall forward. George quickly ran and dodged the huge body.

Seeing this, George positioned his sword near the neck of the monster, preparing to decapitate it.

'You can do this George, kill it. kill it!' George thought to himself. But before he could do it, he heard it weakly groan.

"What are you waiting for George?" Rackshit was on top of the body of the Wood Grove. George hesitated before closing his eyes and raising the sword high. Then, with one fast movement, he used his strength to bring it down to the neck of the monster, quickly decapitating it.

It was dead, the head rolled away from its head as the light of its eyes faded to black.

George felt accomplished, yet guilty. Like he just murdered an innocent creature who was just trying to sleep.

'You did good George. You did well.' George said in his mind, trying to comfort himself. He then grabbed the head by the eye sockets like a bowling ball.

"See you." George replied to Rackshit who was bashing the corpse.

"Yeah, goodbye." Rackshit said as he finally managed to crack the wooden exterior of the body and grabbed some of the insides of the corpse.

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"I told you to kill a Ratcha goblin...and you give me...the head of a Wood Grove?!" Catherine asked in disbelief.

"You do not know how hard it was." George said, dropping the head of the beast and wiping off some of its blood that was on his cheeks.

"I'm impressed. I didn't even know you knew the weakness of a Wood Grove." Catherine remarked, impressed at George's actions.

"...Can we end the training for today?" George asked bluntly.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. You and your son can go now." Catherine pointed to a sleeping Grim that was on a rock. George sighed as he put his sword in the carriage that they had there. Then, he put Grim on the carriage as well. Catherine went to the front and grabbed the reins.

They then went back to the city.

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Catherine was returning to the barracks where she stays at. She had a smile on her face as she went.

Grim and George returned to the inn.

The soldiers that were there stared at her with shock and disbelief. She saw their looks and grumbled, the smile disappearing. The soldiers then stopped staring at her before returning to their duties. She went to the bathroom and changed her armor and clothes into something more comfortable.

After that, she went to her bed and rested.

"Hey Cat." A person spoke up to her. She looked to her left where she saw a fellow knight in their respective bed. The person was her friend, Marcus. He had a goatee and long black hair.

"What?" Catherine asked.

"Why were you smiling earlier?" Marcus asked.

"Oh you know, my student accomplished something." Catherine answered, looking up at the ceiling, the smile returning as she recalled what happened.

"What did he accomplish?"

"Instead of killing a goblin, he killed a Wood Grove instead."

"Huh, no wonder." Marcus said, going to a more comfortable position in his bed. "I still remember you crying when we were tasked to kill goblins."

"Shut up." Catherine grumbled.

"You were all pissy about it." Marcus let out a chuckle.

"I said shut up!"

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-"Jolt..." I heard Mark talk to me.

"Yes?" I asked, clicking the mouse two times. I was on my computer playing.

"Can you stop playing War Thunder?!" Mark shouted.

"Why?" I asked calmy.

"You have a job! This is no place for games."

"Don't worry, only three more chapters then we'll be going on hiatus for a month or two."

"Fine..." Mark left, grumbling.-