Slowly he reached with his will just as when he created Charged Arrow into his heart trying to coax the energy to flow out of his heart so he could try to manipulate it. He would not directly send it to his eyes. That would be stupid. He didn’t know the consequences of using the energy in its raw form on his body, what if he destroyed his eyesight with this.

He noticed that when he had Stealth up the energy circulated in a very strange rhythm through his blood vessels and concentrated within his diaphragm, then going back to his heart and repeating the cycle indefinitely. He also noticed that some of the energy overflowed into other organs and soon disappeared, he guessed that that may be the reason for the cost of the ability and its reduction with higher levels of the Skill.

With that, he could conclude that if he found a way to decrease the energy spillage to other organs during Stealth, maybe he could decrease its cost, or speed up the leveling process.

But for now, he would try to draw the energy out of the blood vessels and send it into his back and arm muscles to see if he could increase his physical parameters using Stamina. If so, maybe he could create a skill that could boost his body, which would be immensely useful during a hard fight, or when he needed just that little extra kick.

Slowly he willed the energy out, at the start it was slow, but in the end, it moved and when it started, Mark found it was much easier to move the energy within his body than drawing it to the outside world, like with the arrow. He spread it evenly through his muscles and paid attention to any changes. He gripped his fists and flexed his muscles only to find that the energy rushed back into his heart the moment he stopped paying it attention.

Working with it was frustrating, like dealing with a toddler. After carefully checking his surroundings, Mark once again tried to draw the energy to his muscled and test it out this time concentrating his will on the energy so it couldn’t escape him.

He flexed and this time he could feel it, the improvement wasn’t that big, only about five to seven percent of his current strength, but he could tell that with more energy input and a stronger body, this technique could be very powerful and flexible, with a multitude of uses besides just augmenting his strength, he was about to let go of the energy when he felt something click in his head.

The strain of holding the Stamina in place lessened, he no longer had to forcefully settle the energy with his will, and could just summon it at will, though such haphazard usage was much more wasteful, with a big chunk of the energy dispersing and not returning to his heart after staying in his muscles.

He looked at his wrist just in case to check if there were any changes to his status, but there was nothing new, it would seem he would have to wait till tomorrow to check on that skill.

At that moment Mark noticed a squad of goblins approaching Donny from the left, they were still about a hundred meters from them but that was not the problem. Ahead of them, another squad was moving in the direction of the other goblins. If Donny sees all of them he should just let one group pass, wait for a little and take care of them separately.

Donny stopped in his tracks and focused on the group approaching from the front. He went into Forest Stride and nocked an arrow on his bow readying to shoot into their midst, he even found an archer in the goblins’ midst and took him as his target. If he weren’t about to be flanked it would even be a good decision. Slowly he drew and released all in one smooth motion, the arrow flew, penetrating the archer’s throat.

Momentarily the goblins were in a disarray, screaming and looking for the origin of the arrow, quickly Donny crouched low and ran along a couple of bushes before he peeked out, and when he was about to shoot he finally noticed the second group that started running in the direction of the attacked party when they heard screaming.

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He composed himself and aimed at the leader of the already smaller squad intending to finish them as fast as possible to not be discovered by the other goblins.

Another arrow flew striking the leading goblin in the heart, dropping him instantly, by this time the last goblin finally found the direction from which the arrows were coming and started running towards Donny while screaming and pointing with his rusted sword.

He turned his head to look at his companions but all he saw was an arrowhead protruding from his left eye socket before he lost sight forever. Though he was partly successful, sending the other goblin party running in Donny’s direction. Donny started backing up while he drew another arrow, shooting it towards the squad, the goblins now clearly seeing their attacker managed to dodge the shot, shortening the distance.

Donny didn’t have much time left, he could only send a last arrow before they were upon him, the arrow hit the leading goblin in his thigh, sending him sprawling on the ground. Donny threw back his bow and drew his mother’s sword from his hip.

One of the remaining goblins was holding a half-rusted saber, the thing looked like it would fall apart at any moment, and the other one was holding a big knife curving slightly towards the blade. It was a fairly interesting weapon, and though its condition was better than the saber, it didn’t shine as an exemplary weapon.

Donny decided to strike first, hinging on his bigger reach to take one of them as fast as he could so he would only have one to deal with. He took a swing at the goblin with the saber, but the goblin evaded the strike and went for a strike himself.

Donny quickly tried to defend himself from it and managed to rise his sword back up, just in time to block. When the two weapons collided, the goblin's saber exploded in shards of metal and rust.

Not letting this opportunity go he lunged, skewering the goblin, the sword passing right beneath its heart. The goblin whimpered and with what was left of his strength tried to claw at Donny but it was futile.

Donny felt amazing, he wasn’t used to fighting with the sword but it felt exhilarating, when he was coming off the high of the adrenaline he realized something. He forgot about the other goblin with the knife. He turned rapidly expecting to see the goblin lunging at him but all he saw was a dead goblin barely centimeters behind him with its arm outstretched in his direction, its throat just about to finish pumping out the last of its blood on the ground.

He looked around and realized that the goblin he hit in the leg was also lying on the ground its head practically separated from its body not far from the first group of the goblins, its hand clenching around the bow he was about to use. He once again felt like he failed, he was becoming more and more anxious, and he couldn’t allow Mark to leave him behind.

But he failed every time he met simple Goblins, what about bigger dangers, what about his revenge on the Bandits, how did he want to kill the Bandits when he couldn’t even take care of a couple of Goblins properly? He started spiraling out of control, but at that time he once again hear the words of his Father.

“There will come a time in your life when you find your goal your purpose. When you find it, do everything in your power to pursue it, and don't let anyone discourage you from following it. Only you can dictate your path. Remember that.”

He couldn’t give up, no matter how much he messed up he would keep going until he fell over unconscious from exhaustion. He would do anything as long as it would further his goals and maybe he could impress Mark that way. If not, then he would find another way, he would convince Mark that he was worthy of coming with him no matter what.

Mark was about to reveal himself and have the boy go back to town when he saw him standing in place trembling, when he saw the boy raise his head, a burning fire, raging with determination behind his eyes. Mark was secretly pleased. A technique could be learned, a skill mastered, but it all took the determination to continue on your path to happen. Without determination, there was only mediocrity. He would never allow mediocrity. That’s why, without even knowing it the boy has already passed the most important test.

The boy came back to his senses, looted the goblins, and gathered his arrows. He sat down and ate a couple pieces of dry jerky with some fresh bread, drank some water, and continued on his mission.

He would not be the first one to give up.