From the direction opposite the river, a Goblin came thrashing through the brush and low hanging branches of the small trees. His chittering was more maniacal than anything he experienced and he could somehow tell that this Goblin in particular was not aiming for him. Maybe it was, but it seemed to be an afterthought to a bigger issue.

The larger issue revealed itself in the form of a giant black cat. It was a panther, if panthers had large sabre-like teeth. Sabretooth panthers were more of a novelty than Goblins were, if he were to be completely honest.

The Goblin chittered and ran to where the impromptu camp was, the fish still roasting in the small pit. It stopped in its tracks, its head darting between him, the fish, and the panther that now stood a few dozen feet away from them.

There was a clear debate going on in both the Goblin’s and his heads, although he couldn’t really tell which side was winning in the Goblin’s case. For him, though, it was probably worth a shot to lose a fish, as he was probably not going to win against the panther alone.

“Hey you–” he shouted at the Goblin, who flinched at the words. “I’ll give you that fish if we kill that cat,” he said pointing at the large panther that was now approaching them.

He wasn’t sure how cat tasted like, but it certainly would be preferable than the cat tasting him.

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He tossed his dagger in front of the Goblin, then took out the other one from his Inventory. The dagger, unlike the last time, didn’t pop out of existence and stood firmly in his grip.

The Goblin shook a bit, eyed the fish, then the cat, then the dagger. “And you not kill,” it chittered through his jagged teeth. He wasn’t sure if Goblins spoke English or if he spoke Goblin. Maybe it was neither and there was a translator at work. The world seemed weird enough for it to exist.

“Sure.”

Just as he said that, a small green screen came into being, just enough to partially obscure his vision.

[Party formed]

[Effects: Party members cannot harm one another]

Why didn’t this happen with the human thing in the tutorial?

In any case, the cat now had a numbers disadvantage. He was concerned as to how the Goblin was alone this time where the previous encounter was a pair, which could imply the cat already killed one of them, but then again, it would’ve probably stopped to just eat the first one. Unless this was just the cat killing for sport.

Before any moves, he eyed the MP on his left and sighed as the bar showed a measly 37. It was enough for two casts of Shield. He needed to figure out his mana economy and he need to figure it out fast. Or acquire mana potions. Did mana potions even exist?

He tossed the questions aside as he needed to focus on just one objective at hand — live long enough and prosper.