Ron could hear Horace’s labored breathing. The pointy edge of his sword was down as the squire had no strength left in his arms. He was wide open and the goblin saw it.
The creature snickered and lunged forward, closing in on him. Its eyes filled with malicious intent. Horace shook in fear as death was coming closer. His quivering eyes were tearing up, thinking of his family back home. He had promised them a good life once he became a knight of Foghaven, but now such a dream was gone. He closed his eyes and prepared to accept his fate.
But the blade of death did not come. A loud thud echoed as if something hard smacked against the skull of a person. As Horace opened his eyes, Ron stood before him. The young lord was battling against the goblin and the sight left his jaw wide open.
Horace couldn't take his eyes off the scene before him, transfixed by the deadly dance between the two combatants. The goblin darted and weaved, its movements fluid and graceful, but Ron was relentless in his pursuit.
At first, their speed seemed similar. But out of the blue, Ron unleashed a fierce thrust of his sword at a higher speed. In that split second, it was like a blur in Horace’s vision. Ron struck the killing blow, plunging the blade deep into the goblin's chest. The creature let out a bloodcurdling scream before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.
Horace felt a mixture of fear and awe at Ron's display of martial prowess. It paled in comparison to veteran knights that he knew of, but such ferocity and precision were unlike he had ever seen. For a moment, he wondered whether the rumors he heard about the young lord were all baseless.
Ron wiped his sword clean using the tablecloth on the floor. It was his second kill of the day and for once all the training he had done for the past five years had paid off in a rather unexpected way. He was fighting monsters, of course, but not the ones back home. From his understanding, those portal invaders were on a whole different level compared to these goblins.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have gained 10 Status points]
[You have gained 5 Skill points]
[You have unlocked ‘Greylock Sword Art'.]
The sight of the windows briefly lifted his spirits, causing a fleeting smile to grace his lips. However, the sudden, jarring thud of Horace hitting the ground snapped him back to reality. Rushing to the side of the fallen squire, he opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the sudden appearance of another set of windows.
[Quest Completed!]
[First Fight: Goblin]
[Tier: 2 Star]
[This is your first step in growing your potential. Kill the goblins and nurture your combat skill through this quest.]
[Objectives: Eliminate the goblins around the area.]
[Here are your rewards!]
[You have obtained All Stats +1]
[You have obtained Dastan-style Leather Cuirass.]
He swiped them off and focused his attention on Horace. Ron knelt down beside Horace and turned him around. Horace lay motionless on the floor with his eyes rolling upwards. His chest rose and fell with each breath but far slower than normal.
‘Something’s wrong with him,’ Ron thought.
“It’s poison,” a voice answered his thought.
Ron raised his head and saw Bron descending the stairs. He was leaning close to the wall, limping.
“Hey, you okay?” Ron asked.
"Excuse my dumbness for not understanding that word, but judging from that tone of yours, my lord, I'm assuming you're asking if I'm fine or not," Bron said, wincing as he moved closer.
Ron couldn't help but notice the bleeding cut on Bron's elbow. "Those bastards took me by surprise," Bron explained, pulling a chair to sit down. He slowly removed his gauntlet and arm guard to reveal the injury.
“How many?” Ron asked.
"Eight," Bron answered solemnly. "And they are all heavily equipped, with their weapons laced with poisons."
“Then Horace?” Ron eyed the unconscious squire.
“Here, my lord,” Bron handed him a small pouch. “Feed him this.”
“A cure?”
“No, just enough aid to keep him alive,” Bron said.
Without hesitation, Ron dissolved the bead in water from a nearby jar and carefully fed it to Horace. The squire jerked a few times, and Ron feared the worst. "Is that common?" he asked, looking up at Bron with fear in his eyes.
Bron nodded, his face grim. "It means the medicine is taking effect. We need to act fast."
“Where to?” Ron was quick on his feet. The unconscious squire rested on his shoulders.
“A healer,” Bron said.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
They left town and headed for the forest on foot. Ron trudged deeper into the forest, following the path led by Bron. The injured knight seemed like he was in his backyard as every twist and turn of this winding trail was all too familiar to him.
Soon, the shape of a small cabin nestled among the trees entered his sight. Not long after, they arrived in front of the cabin. The beautiful cozy sight Ron expected to see was not there.
“Bron?” Ron said.
“Damn it!” Bron raced the last few yards, bursting through the door of the cabin. He was shouting a name, over and over again.
While Ron gently lowered the squire to the ground, his eyes roamed the perimeter. The moment the squire was safe on the ground, his blade screeched against the scabbard. Ron held his sword up high and prepared for whatever might lurk in between the bushes.
In his sight, countless dead goblins lay in the front yard of the cabin. It was as if a battle had passed here and perhaps the survivor had left to find safety.
“My lord,” Bron called. Ron looked and saw Bron at the door with a big silhouette by his side. He was alarmed. The figure was taller than six feet ten or so and he could not even see the shape of its head.
But Bron’s beckoning soothed his anxiousness. He sheathed his sword and carried Horace back on his shoulders. His feet brought him to the doorstep and Ron couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He gawked at the creature inside the cabin with awe and a little bit of fear. Right at the get-go, he was about to ask whether this was a bigfoot or not. But Bron beat him to it.
“My lord, this is the healer I speak of,” Bron said. “Her name is Kaktag, a druid.”
“I see,” Ron replied.
Kaktag stood tall and broad, with fur as dark as the shadows that danced among the trees. Ron looked into Kaktag’s yellow eyes and he could sense intelligence and wisdom behind them. She was adorned in a druid-like attire, made of rough, simple materials, woven from plants and animals.
Kaktag nodded respectfully to Ron, and he replied the same. Ron brought in Horace and lay him down on the straw bed nearby. The inside of the cabin described perfectly of a herbalist’s house. The air was thick with the scent of herbs, grass, and flowers. Jars filled with powders, tinctures, and potions of every color imaginable lined the walls. While bundles of dried herbs hung from the ceiling beam like an upside-down garden.
Ron lowered himself onto a nearby stump, his eyes fixated on the surreal scene before him. A towering, hirsute creature adorned in druidic robes tended to the knight and squire with otherworldly grace. The herbalist's cabin was a refuge from the world outside, an island of peace in a sea of chaos. Ron found himself transfixed by the sight as if a spell had been cast upon him.
He exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and allowed his shoulders to relax for the first time in hours. The scent of herbs and earth filled his nostrils, a soothing balm to his frayed nerves. For a brief moment, he forgot the danger that lurked beyond the walls of the cabin and let himself become lost in the mystical aura of the druidic bigfoot's healing ministrations.
Yet another sight amazed him. He thought he could rest his eyes for a second, but his ears were quick to hear something. He listened intently to the chatter between Bron and Kaktag and noticed that the language the two beings shared was not one of the words, but rather a series of guttural moans; each tone, and pitch conveying its own distinct meaning.
It was a strange sight, but not stranger than the likes of Bron knowing how to speak bigfoot. In a way, he was pretty impressed by Bron. As Bron chattered in moans with Kaktag, Ron turned his attention to his status window.
[Status]
[Name: Sauron Greylock(Sauron Williams)]
[Level: 3]
[Class: 1-Star Knight, Mage In-Training]
[Title: 1. Descendant of Greylock 2. Curse of the Envious Serpent 3. Blacksheep of Greylock.]
[Strength: 15]
[Agility: 28]
[Vitality: 10]
[Intelligence: 11]
[Spirit: 9]
[Charisma: 14]
[Mana: 6]
[Available points: 20]
The surge in agility had worked wonders in Ron's first fight in this strange world. Without the added speed, he doubted he could have defeated the goblin so swiftly. Ron scanned the status window, weighing his options carefully. Instead of evenly distributing the points across all attributes, he chose to allocate them to his Mana, hoping to circumvent the curse that had been inflicted upon him. “Ten points to Mana,” Ron said.
But a new window emerged.
[Error]
[Status points are eligible for all attributes except for Mana. User is requested to grow your Mana through the method of this world.]
He clicked his tongue after reading the error message. From his understanding, the curse inflicted on him would make growing mana to be extremely arduous and he hoped to use the available points to circumvent the curse. But alas, the system was not that generous.
He shifted his focus to Kaktag, who was emitting a glowing green light from her hands as she healed Horace of the toxin. Though the sight was impressive, Ron had more pressing matters to attend to.
He postponed distributing the points and opened up the skill window. A list of skills appeared, and Ron's attention was drawn to the Greylock Breathing Formula and Greylock Sword Art.
[Skill]
[Greylock Breathing Formula][Lv.1]
[Greylock Sword Art][Lv.1]
[Skill Points: 15]
[Greylock Breathing Formula][Dormant]
[Rank][Rare]
[Level][1]
[Description][A breathing technique founded by the first Lord of Greylock. It allows for a very stable and slow accumulation of mana through proper exertion of motion. At a later stage, may imbue earth-element mana within the user.]
[Effects][1. Activate the body’s mana circulatory system to accumulate and utilize mana.]
[2. Passively increases STR, AGI, VIT, and can permanently improve them further through training. Actively further increases STR and AGI at the cost of mana, and upon reaching level 5, mana imbued attack can be used when active.]
Ron's eyes widened in amazement as he saw the 'rare' rank attached to the Greylock Breathing Formula. As a member of a noble family, he had always expected to have access to the best skills, and it was a good start for him in this new gaming world. He hastily distributed his skill points but another blood-red window appeared.
[Error]
[No skill to learn. Please obtain a manual or a grimoire to use skill points.]
Ron let out a frustrated sigh as he realized that the points were only meant to be used as currency to learn a new skill. He would need to obtain a manual or a grimoire before he could put his skill points to use.
“My lord,” Bron came up to Ron.
He gave a short glance at Bron’s previous wound and noticed it was already a scar.
“You good?” Ron asked.
“Better than dying,” Bron replied, slightly smirking.
“How’s Horace?”
“The squire will live,” Bron said. “But the boy won’t be able to continue with us.”
The young man furrowed his brow, his gaze piercing and inquisitive. His lips twisted into a slight frown as if trying to decipher a cryptic message. With a voice tinged with skepticism, he spoke the words that had been on his mind, "And what does that mean, exactly?"
“We’re going back to Billy Jon’s house,” Bron said.
“Who?”
“The eyewitness, the house where we were attacked,” Bron replied.
“You want to find clues, is it?”
Bron nodded gravely. "Kaktag fought valiantly against a horde of goblins, defending her cabin with everything she had. She told us that she had never seen their kind in these woods before, and they were unlike any goblins she had ever encountered or even heard of."
Ron's forehead creased with a deep frown, but it quickly dissolved into a resigned sigh. "Well, that doesn’t sound great," Ron said. "If the goblins are acting all weird, it could mean something bigger is going down here."