Shooting a prone enemy in the back of the head from close range was quite effective, but it wasn't exactly a very impressive feat. The system all but openly agreed with Solomon's assessment.

Congratulations on completing a successful combat encounter!

You have demonstrated Marksmanship, Lvl 1. Would you like to add this skill?

Solomon added the skill with a thought.

Congratulations! You have earned 1 Grid Point!

He dismissed the message without looking away from the goblin. With the back of its skull blown open, it looked human. Disturbingly so. All the more so for its small size.

Solomon shook his head and made himself look away. The goblin was a puppet of the system. Just another tool being thrown at him in whatever twisted game the system was playing. This outpost had been set up by the system so that only one of them could walk away alive, and the goblins certainly weren't going to hesitate to kill him. He needed to get his act together.

The dead goblin's companions had to know he was here. If they hadn't heard the goblin's yells, they must have heard the gunshot. He needed to get out of sight before they came to investigate.

Where the dungeon had been situated in a heavy forest, the outpost was located on a spacious grassland. Trees scattered around him broke up Solomon's line of sight, but they were too far apart to block off the sunlight shining down from overhead. There was a thicker copse of trees back in the direction from which Solomon had entered the dungeon.

As soon as he saw it, he used his dash ability to race in that direction. He didn't stop running until he was a few trees deep, with his back up against a tree that was between him and the dead goblin. After his heartbeat settled down he chanced a peek back towards the body.

Nothing.

Now that he had a moment of calm, he noticed a flashing mail icon in the corner of his vision. Focusing on it caused a new message box to appear.

Welcome to the Outpost!

The defenders must protect the Outpost Totem for three hours. They are not allowed to move it.

Attackers must gain control of the Outpost Totem. Victory shall be declared if they maintain physical possession of the Outpost Totem for fifteen consecutive minutes.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Either team may also triumph by killing all of the members of the other team!

Good luck!

Time remaining: 2:53:23

It was unusually considerate of the system to explain the rules before his life was put in danger. Not only that, but the message that might have distracted him as he was dropped straight into combat had been held back until he had a free moment. It was almost enough to make Solomon suspicious.

The gifts from the system didn't end there. His minimap had been decorated with a golden X, presumably the location of the Outpost Totem. From where he was standing it was in the direction of the dead goblin and a little off to the side. The X was pegged against the edge of the minimap, so he couldn't tell how far away the totem was.

The contest being a violent game of Capture the Flag explained why nobody had showed up looking for him. All they needed to do to win was to protect the totem. Killing him was surplus to requirements. Sending patrols after him in dribs and drabs would just hurt their overall defenses. Considering the behavior of the goblin he had seen, he wasn't sure if their behavior could be put down to wisdom or cowardice, but either way, staying back was the smart play.

Solomon was in no hurry to seek out a fight himself. First things first, he reloaded his pistol. The bullet was noticeably harder to jam home. He frowned. He hadn't expected fouling to set in so quickly. He'd have to rig up a swab before he got into combat again.

Before that, though, he wanted to check out the new options that had opened up for him with his new skill. Just like before, adding a skill added a new base level grid. He wasted no time spending seven points to fill in Marksmanship.

The Marksmanship grid offered an attribute point for every other grid point, the way that Bladed Weapons had. Where Bladed Weapons had tied half of its awarded points to physical attributes, though, Marksmanship tied half of its points specifically to Dexterity. Solomon didn't mind. Especially when he considered the special abilities that came along with it.

The first was the passive bonus of Steady Hand. Solomon tried drawing his pistol and holding it out in front of him. His aim was steady as a rock. Look as close as he might, he couldn't see the pistol tremble at all.

The second ability was the active magic of Aiming Dot. For a low investment of MP it would give him what was effectively a laser sight for thirty seconds. As an added bonus, the projected dot was visible only to himself. His smooth bore pistol wouldn't be much for target shooting no matter how much aim assist he received, but it was certainly better than nothing.

Clearing the initial grid opened up a choice. He could pick between Volume Shooter and Sharpshooter at the nine point level. The Volume Shooter grid offered a passive boost to reload speed and a spell that would cause two bullets to leave the barrel for every real bullet fired. Over on the Sharpshooter side of things he could receive Hawk Eye, a passive boost to his eyesight, and a spell that would cause his next shot to pierce through enemy armor.

Both passive abilities would eventually be made obsolete by technology. Semi-automatic weaponry and telescopic sights were well out of his reach at the moment, but neither would remain so forever. He might even be able to scavenge sights if he ever returned to civilization, assuming the system hadn't done something to disrupt their operation.

The active abilities were also evenly balanced. Did he want to fire two bullets at once, or one souped up bullet? He wasn't sure.

For now, he assigned his attribute points. One mandatory point in Dexterity, and two in Magical Capacity. With all the little magical abilities he was picking up, he could burn through MP in a hurry once a fight started. That done, he started heading towards the X marked on the map.

He wanted to see what the goblins were up to before he made any plans.