Shin balanced on his fingertips, his body perfectly vertical in the air as he let his body lower deep and push up again slowly. A large rock lay on the flat of his feet, 190 or 200 pounds by Shin’s estimate. A steady and long set of arduous pushups, the latest of many, yet no sweat fell from his body, no veins bulged in his hands and forearms. There was no need, after all. Shin could regulate the temperature of his body and push as much oxygen in and lactic acid out as needed for standard exercises such as this.
As he pushed up again, a subtle boost of power flowed through his body and the practice became easier, a feeling Shin had become intimately accustomed to these past 5 days. Shin dipped low and curled in his body, then pushed the rock out behind him as he hopped back to his feet. No sooner had he landed his body burst forward in a medley of movement, martial arts strikes and positioning, interspersed with sudden unnatural changes in direction.
Graceful and erratic, Shin strained his body to twist and turn in the most dexterous and agile way possible. The bizarre dance continued until another brief surge of power caused him to come to a stop. It had taken all morning for those two increases, Strength and Dexterity respectively. Agility and Vitality had ceased to rise since a day and a half ago. Perception had never budged once and he had reached the limits of Constitution through a regime of bone tempering strikes against a tree and healing with Treat Wounds. On that note, Force had risen by one, a product of his healing.
Shin checked his status once again.
[Human Priest (common) - Intermediate Peasant]
Strength - 28
Agility - 32
Constitution - 31
Vitality - 34
Dexterity - 33
Perception - 29
Force - 22
Spirit - 82
Control - 83
Willpower - 36
Skills:
Treat Wounds lvl. 10, Holy Screen lvl. 4, Summon Angel lvl. 10, Cushion lvl. 3, Call Petty Spirit lvl. 5, Basic Martial Combat lvl. 10, Jab lvl. 10,
Traits:
Body Supremacy, Eyes of the Spirit King,
10 points in Strength, 7 in Agility, 3 in Constitution, 9 in Vitality, 6 in Dexterity, and 1 in Force, his reward from five straight days of training. He had also maxed Summon Angel and Jab, putting all 20 points into Spirit again, and had recently started to focus on his other skills, Call Petty Spirit most of all, figuring its versatility and lesser short term cost to be of the greatest value.
There was no change in the strength of his angels but they now lasted a full hour and he could summon up to 10 of them, though he lacked the mana to even summon half of that at full capacity. Though he mostly used them in combat, he also tested their strikes against his Holy Screen. A regular strike would pierce through with ease and an enhanced strike shattered it completely.
Even with the durability rising with level and it seeming to be affected by the Force stat, Shin determined it was near useless against physical attacks he couldn’t already deal with on his own. Although it did provide some protection against magical attacks. Some of the spirits he had called could use more directly damaging skills, and as such made for good testing and training. The veil of protection Cushion offered was geared to physical impact and its durability unrelated to Force.
With the effects of his training slowing down, Shin felt it was time to start moving again. There were 20 days left of this tutorial, and he couldn’t shake the feeling he had not yet approached the true benefits to be found. The word of the system was to ‘move’ not just ‘survive’. His stats now surpassed that of regular lesser goblins and with the aid of his Body Supremacy trait and superior skill and tactics, he could likely hold his own against an intermediate variant, a theory he intended to test.
---
Shin watched the tribe of tree goblins from a safe distance. Intermediate rank just as the murim bastard said, but all were uncommon tier. They numbered 27 in total, including one that stood out from the rest. Wearing a mask made of bark with plumes of large leaves and carrying a furled wooden staff, it was obvious by the way it carried itself that this Tree Goblin Chief was the leader before Shin confirmed it.
However, calling what grew in the center of their camp a ‘giant tree’ hadn’t done it justice. Standing around four stories tall, its truck a weaving mess of a dozen different origins, the crown spanned sparsely but wider than it was tall. A massive, deformed bonsai tree was the most apt descriptor that came to mind.
A steep challenge to say the least, but one Shin could overcome if luck was in his favor today. He cast Call Petty Spirit and from the spiritual veil materialized a fiendish imp like creature. It was shorter than a goblin, with dark purple green and a wide face with a devilish mouth spread from ear to ear, hopping in place from side to side with a mischievous shrill cackle.
“Good.”
There were only a few spirits Shin could pull this off with and a gremlin was one of them. It had near no offensive capability but was specialized in making the lives of others more difficult. Its two skills, Muddle and Flash, putting a target into a stupor and creating a blindingly bright flash of light, respectively.
Shin summoned three angels and mentally commanded them to protect the gremlin. “Go and blind the goblins.” Every second cost him mana while the spirit was out, so there was no time to waste.
The gremlin rushed off towards the tribe with giddy enthusiasm and the angels followed. It wasn’t long until one of the goblins spotted them and alerted the others. With no hesitation, all 26 of the regular tree goblins charged towards the trespassers. Shin moved closer into position, awaiting the opportunity that would follow.
The gremlin jittered in barely restrained self control before submitting to its whims. A glittering swirl of purple mist surrounded its hands and the same appeared on one of the goblins. The victim’s expression of rage was replaced with one of confusion as its charged came to a half, only for its tribesmen to push and trample over it. Two more fell victim to the gremlin’s magic before they drew close.
With malicious glee, the gremlin flashed a blinding light that stopped all the goblins in their tracks, clutching their closed eyes in pain. The angels made their move first, thrusting their spears in coordinated formation, and Shin followed, rushing out and drawing throwing knives in both hands. Two well placed throws found purchase in a faltering tree goblin each and two more met the same fate in quick succession.
The tree goblins regained enough of their sight to pounce once more only to be met with another Flash. Half of them were smart enough to shield their eyes from the worst and the others who feel victim once more were fortunate that the gremlin vanished into thin air. Shin wasn’t fazed as spirits tended to do as they pleased within the broad confines of what they were told. Two flashes was about what he expected and enough to work with.
The angels furiously attacked the goblins, under orders now to fight with abandon to lower their numbers before they lost the advantage. The rugged bark-like skin served the tree goblins well against his knives but did little against the bronze spears of his summons, their only saving grace being their high vitality, necessitating two or three attacks depending on where the angels’ struck.
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[Tree Goblin (uncommon) - Intermediate Peasant]
Strength - 66
Agility - 59
Constitution - 82
Vitality - 93
Dexterity - 68
Perception - 75
Force - 50
Spirit - 41
Control - 39
Willpower - 52
Skills:
Claw lvl. 7, Lunge lvl. 5,
Traits:
Barkskin (uncommon), Photosynthesis (uncommon), Minor Poison Resistance (uncommon), Minor Disease Resistance (uncommon),
The dead laid their status bare, and Shin clearly saw the gap between them. Even overstraining his body past its natural limits via his clan trait barely brought his physical stats over half that of theirs. Still, they lacked a Combat skill and their intelligence seemed only marginally better than their normal kin. He could win.
Just as Shin thought the fight was going smoothly, the chief who had remained in the back let out a bellowing snarl and raised its staff, waves of mana emanating from the furled point. Veins bulged in the remaining dozen tree goblins, muscles expanded and their eyes turned red. Stronger and fiercer now, they rampaged against the angels in mindless frenzy. Wounds that would have signaled their end before did little to slow them now. Shin switched his order to prioritize defense and attack in counter but it was all the angels could do to survive.
Another raging tree goblin fell and its tribesmen trampled his body underfoot, clawing and bashing ferociously against the angels’ shields. Shin ceased throwing his knives, not wanting to pull them over. He glanced at the chief who appeared to be doing nothing more then turned his focus to directing the angels. He needed to thin their numbers before the summons perished.
With little more than 10 mana left, he channelled it into a gamble. In front of him appeared a small pale green humanoid figure, less than a foot tall, smaller than the pixie he had saved some days back but bearing a lean wildman build and a ferocious gaze through its dark grassy hair.
[Pygmy (common) - Intermediate Peasant]
Strength - 23
Agility - 47
Constitution - 26
Vitality - 30
Dexterity - 46
Perception - 28
Force - 24
Spirit - 29
Control - 32
Willpower - 27
Skills:
Enhanced Strike Lvl 6, Pounce Lvl 9,
Traits:
Photosynthesis (uncommon), Petty Poison Resistance (common), Petty Disease Resistance (common),
“Blind them.”
The pygmy raced through the grass in a green blur towards the fray and leapt, plunging his thorn spear in the eye of a frenzied goblin. Just as quickly as it arrived, it rushed away again, avoiding the swat of the goblin. Down and up its other side, it pierced through the second eye.
The vicious tiny warrior dove to the ground as a bronze spear impaled the throat of the blind goblin and raced to another. Just as deftly as it did before, it blinded another and then another, darting across the ground and over the bodies of its targets, dodging swipes and stomps as it reaped their eyes. The destruction of an angel took Shin’s attention away from the bantam bringer of carnage, and ordered his angels to go on the offense once more.
Shin drew two hand axes and charged the blind goblins. The nearest thrashing one’s face twitched and turned towards Shin, detecting him through smell and hearing, but it didn’t matter. Shin feinted a swipe of its claws out with his movement and chopped into its neck. The barkskin proved tough as his axe only bit into its flesh halfway. Shin let go of the axe and jumped back as another swipe tore harmlessly through the air in front. The tree goblin felt for the axe, leaf green blood pouring down its neck, and pulled it out with a roar, only for Shin to place a second through the same wound and take its head.
Shin plucked the axe from the headless goblin’s hand, flourished the blood off both and stored them, switching for a shield and war hammer, as he felt another angel lost. He rushed a second blind goblin, flipping the war hammer backwards and burying the spike in the top of its skull. The tree goblin spasmed and reached out for a moment before collapsing.
Shin felled three more with the same tactic as the third and last angel perished. One goblin remained, with both eyes intact. The pygmy darted around and made attempts to lunge up its body but couldn’t get past the goblin’s thrashes, too deadly to chance a hit. The goblin jolted and lurched to the side, dodging the axe Shin threw but that gave the pygmy the opening it needed. A single rapid pounce drew a line of blood across its eyes and a spike through the brain ended the goblin’s cries.
Shin turned to the chief and sprinted, weapons ready. “Take his eyes.”
The pygmy overtook him in an instant, darting rapidly towards their final foe. Two hatchets took place of Shin’s hammer and shield at the same time and he flung them one after the other. The tree goblin chief sidestepped the first and leant back against the second, but a third caught the top of its mask, knocking it off. Mana wrapped around the pygmy’s spear as it put all its power in a flying lunge straight towards the chief’s face as it leaned off balance. And turned to paste with a swing of the goblin’s staff.
A bow and arrow appeared in Shin’s hands, his focus more intense. The speed of that strike was far greater than the others. It made fighting the goblin warriors seem like a childish game. He only half suspected at the start but now he was sure. The chief was something above variants. With eyes more intelligent and piercing than its subjects, the chief snarled and charged towards Shin, dodging four rapidly shot arrows as he closed the gap in a single breath and swung down his staff.
Shin’s vision slowed to a crawl as he caught the thunderous strike on the edge of his shield, carefully matching the timing to make it slide down at an angle, crashing into the ground next to him. The goblin chief grunted from the sword thrust into his side.
“Too shallow.”
With his free right hand, the goblin thrust its palm at Shin. Shin leant back, locking the shield under its arm and rolled to the ground, using power of the chief’s lunge to throw the creature across the ground away. A respite lasted only a moment as the chief sprung to its feet and charged again.
The furled staff soared and shattered the banded shield to splinters. Shin flung back through the air, limp to cushion the blow but the numbness in his arm he quickly suppressed showed the threat of the strike. The tree goblin chief burst in front of him again, thrashing his staff viciously as Shin devoted himself to dodging, straining his body and mind.
In the midst of close shaves with death, Shin felt something deeper. A sword appeared in each hand and his arms flickered as he dodged, drawing shallow cuts over the monster with every passing moment. Far from fatal the wounds were, but the chief’s intensity deepened all the same.
A sword grazed its cheek as aura coated its furled staff into a powerful swing. The staff crashed into a shield Shin equipped but he did not cushion the blow. The power broke the shield clean and slammed into his side, but the sword in Shin’s hand changed to an axe, ripping through the goblin’s neck as he was sent crashing away.
Shin rolled over the ground, but his body moved as though it were an avatar controlled, twisting upright and bursting towards the monster clutching its throat. Shin thrust a sword at the goblin’s neck with his good arm as the creature darted back, avoiding conflict with the first time.
Its movements duller, its thrashes more desperate and easier to dodge. The club swiped out and Shin’s sword changed for a shield, harmlessly deflecting it over at an angle as he crouched. Again and again the goblin tried but nothing could get passed the shield.
In its frustration, it took notice of Shin’s dangling left arm, unused since the hit, and it sneered. The goblin held its club back, ready to strike Shin’s right once more, then spun without warning, hurling his club to the broken arm. And the club slid off the shield of the arm, unhindered. Before the chief could understand what had happened, a sword pierced through its throat, and in its stagger, Shin struck the spike of his war hammer deep into its skull. The chief’s eyes twitched and then it fell.
[Basic Martial Combat has upgraded to uncommon tier skill Advanced Martial Combat.]
“There’s no limit.” Shin thought cryptically.
He stood among the carnage, checking around to make sure all were down. But no sooner had the body of the chief hit the ground dead, than the ground began to tremble. Giant roots rose from the soil and wrapped around the corpses of the tree goblins, twisting and coiling their flesh, dragging them beneath the earth. A wicked face split open in the bark of the tree and let out slow dull laughs of mockery.
Wooden fruit bloomed on the branches of the great tree, steadily growing with each passing second, and at the size of a grown man’s head, shook and fell to the ground. The fruit rippled and grew even larger, morphing into the shape of a goblin, twenty-seven in total, Shin counted.
[Wood Goblin (uncommon) - Intermediate Peasant]
The wooden goblins started running towards Shin in sporadic order, slower and more clumsily than even the normal tree goblins. Shin nailed one in the face with an arrow. The wood goblin’s head wobbled back slightly for a moment then faced forward, its stride undeterred.
Shin turned tail and fled at top speed, taking only moments to reach the forest line. He glanced back with spirit eyes and came to a stop. The wood goblins stopped at the boundary of the tribe territory, just standing motionless in his direction. Shin turned and ran again, calmly this time. Just as the murim descended monk had said about the tree goblins, it seemed the wood goblins wouldn’t follow past a certain point either.
But this presented a problem. Shin had no method to take on the golem like creatures with no vital points or even a sense of pain it seemed. And then there was the enigmatic tree itself. Shin weaved through the forest in thought. Defeating the tree goblin tribe was beyond his abilities now. It seemed he needed to find a temporary partner, one with fire.