Looking around the battlefield, Elijah saw the corpses of several snakes lying on top of soil and grass stained with blood. During the battle, Elijah used his skills several times over a short period. This rapid use of energy left Elijah feeling drained, although he still had more than fifty percent of his energy left.

Despite feeling a little tired, Elijah had a satisfied expression on his face. Having used the lives of the snakes to vent his anger, brought Elijah a certain amount of mental and physical pleasure. However, this wasn’t the only source of Elijah’s satisfaction.

Using his astral sense, Elijah was able to see that none of the goblins were fighting over the snake’s flesh. There were a few bite marks on some of the snakes, but overall, they were untouched. Elijah was satisfied that the goblins remembered his order and they were able to resist their innate desires without any threats from him.

However, after a few seconds passed, Elijah realized his thought process was wrong. Currently, his Supreme Will was still active. Combine that with the timid behavior of the goblins and it was obvious why they didn’t touch the snakes.

Shaking his head, Elijah accepted reality and addressed the goblins after he stopped using his Supreme Will. “Alright, although there were some deaths, we managed to avenge them and kill all our enemies. You all did well. Goblin One, take my bag and collect all the snake corpses.”

Goblin One wasn’t confused by the name, but he didn’t look like he was used to it. Nonetheless he caught the bag Elijah threw at him and started collecting the corpses with eyes full of desire. Elijah hesitated for a second before he continued. “The rest of you can eat the meat from the tier one beast right now.”

Immediately, all of the goblins became excited. “Hold it,” Elijah said. “The weakest goblins get to eat first, and I don’t want to hear any complaints. We will hunt for the entire night, so everyone will have the opportunity to feast on the flesh of tier one beast. For now, let the five weakest go first.”

Spending the entire night in the forest was a decision Elijah made on the spot. Although he didn’t feel any guilt over the goblins that died, he did acknowledge that he had some level of responsibility for them. They may not have followed him willingly, but they still followed him. Therefore, as a way of acknowledging their deaths, he would take a more proactive role in supporting the growth of the goblins that were still alive. Also, he didn’t like the number of tier one beast he encountered so far, and he wanted to do some spring cleaning.

Clink and many other goblins were unhappy, but they complied with Elijah’s orders. While the goblins carried out his orders, Elijah focused his attention on the notifications he received. It was only two skill upgrades, but it was enough to put a smile on Elijah’s face.

Congratulations! Your Supreme Power skill has reached the next stage.

Skill: Supreme Power

Tier: 0

Stage: Middle

Effect: Increases strength by 20% to deliver a powerful attack capable of knocking back an enemy. Slight chance the enemy will be stunned by the supreme power the attack contains. Attack +60

Cost: 20 stamina and 10 mental

Congratulations! Your War Chief skill has reached the next stage.

Skill: War Chief

Tier: 0

Stage: Early

Effect: When you are fighting in front of your people your attack and defense increase by +20.

Cost: None

“Wah!” a goblin cried out.

Naturally, the dark forest couldn’t let Elijah be happy for too long. Turning his head, Elijah saw a bird, specifically an owl, flying away with the half-eaten corpse of a tier one snake. At that moment, Elijah didn’t think about trying to get back the stolen meat, nor was he concerned about the goblins that were knocked to the ground.

“It fucking happened again,” Elijah thought to himself. “I stopped paying attention for a few seconds and some beast got the drop on me again.”

Supreme Will

Ruler Suppression

Supreme Eyes

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Supreme Astral Sense

Elijah went from zero to one hundred in an instant. Elijah’s Supreme Will didn’t apply any pressure to the goblins, but they did feel the powerful presence Elijah was emitting and became alert. For those that weren’t Elijah’s followers, well, they now knew that someone in the area meant business.

Sweeping his eyes and astral sense in a circle allowed Elijah to get a basic grasp of the threat they were facing. To Elijah’s surprise they were being targeted by several types of birds. Eagles, crows, bats, falcons, and owls charged toward the group, and they were all at the first tier.

With the combined effects of his two talents, none of the avian creatures were able to escape Elijah’s senses. Some of them flew extremely fast while others relied on dark energy to conceal their movements. In total, there were eighteen birds.

“Stones,” Elijah commanded. “Goblin One, pick up the pace.”

Clink raised his staff to gather energy and the other goblins took out their slings when Elijah uttered the preestablished command. They were moving to slow. A level fifty-four falcon was zooming toward Goblin One and none of the goblins were ready yet. Elijah took action.

Supreme Shout.

“Stop!”

The falcon’s body locked up, but it continued soaring through the air toward Goblin One. Elijah stood in its flight path with his spear held steady and aimed at the falcon. Before the falcon crashed into his spear, Elijah used Supreme Power and thrusted at the bird.

Blood splattered onto the ground as the spear ripped through the bird’s body. The stun was broken, and the falcon began to screech in pain. Elijah was a bit surprised when the bird began to thrash, but he quickly adjusted to the bird’s erratic movements.

Squelch.

Placing his foot on the falcon’s body, Elijah pulled his spear out with a lot of blood and a strange sound. Once again, the bird cried out in pain, and then it dropped to the ground. Elijah delivered three quick thrusts to the wound he already created and turned to focus on the rest of the battle. Things were going well.

Seventeen birds flew around the group, but none of them looked like they were in a rush to attack. Most likely they were intimidated by Elijah’s Supreme Will and the fact that he quickly dispatched the first bird that tried a direct attack. Also, it helped that Clink and the other goblins occasionally attacked the birds from the ground. Sadly, none of them managed to land a clean hit so far.

“Looks like it’s up to me again,” Elijah thought to himself.

Focusing on another falcon, Elijah activated his Supreme Shout skill and commanded it to stop. It did not. Elijah was surprised that his skill had no effect. It felt like the falcon flew through his skill before it could take effect. Elijah didn’t think his skill was invincible, but he still expected it to have some effect on the bird.

Elijah was tempted to try again, but his own reasoning and his Supreme Combat skill let him know it would be a waste of time and energy. Temporarily giving up on the fast-moving birds, Elijah focused on the birds that relied on dark energy to conceal themselves. Elijah failed again.

Locating and keeping track of the birds concealing themselves with dark energy wasn’t difficult. However, when Elijah attempted to use his Supreme Shout skill, he felt like his skill was trying to push through a barrier. His skill got through and the bird he was targeting, a bat, froze, but it regained control of its body after a second passed. Elijah considered this a failure.

Two failures in a row made Elijah frown, but he didn’t dwell. He moved on to his next attack which was his Supreme Speech skill. It worked.

“All of you birds get down here, now!” Elijah roared.

All of the birds started flying slower and their altitude decreased. Elijah smirked when he saw his skill was effective. The birds may be able to resist or avoid the direct energy of Elijah’s skills. However, neither speed nor dark energy could stop the birds from listening to Elijah’s voice.

Clink and the other goblins were excited when they saw the birds were getting closer to the ground. They did their best to take advantage of the opportunity Elijah created for them and they managed to bring down three birds. The goblins eyes lit up when they saw the birds fall. Knowing their behavior, Elijah quickly spoke up to avoid chaos.

“Ten of you go and finish them off. The rest of you continue to attack.”

The remaining birds regained their altitude and flew away from Elijah’s group, but they didn’t completely leave. Elijah tried the get the birds to come down again, but he was unsuccessful. He tried enticing words, insults and threats, but they barely had any effect on the birds.

“Now what do I do?”

Running away was an option. Although the birds might follow them, Elijah didn’t think they would do so for long. Of course, running away meant Elijah would lose an opportunity to collect tier one beast meat for the goblins and he wouldn’t be able to vent the frustration he felt for his second blunder.

“Looks like I’ll have to give up,” Elijah thought to himself. “Throwing my spear isn’t an option and I don’t think I’ll be able to guide the goblins to accurately hit the birds. I definitely have to bring a bow the next time I leave the village. It would be best if I could get a long-range skill the next time my cultivation technique-”

Elijah’s eyebrows rose when a thought came to him. “Wait, I still have the Soul Shock skill.”

Sadly, before Elijah could act on the thought, the birds began to fly away and hide in the trees. Elijah could still sense them, but he wasn’t sure if his skill would still work. They were far away and there were several trees in the way.

While Elijah pondered on the usage of his skill, he also wondered why the birds flew away. His best guess was that they may be trying to conserve energy and waiting for an opportunity to attack Elijah’s group or another prey. Of course, another possibility was that they were forced to land by an external influence.

There was no clear answer and Elijah decided he shouldn’t waste his time trying to figure it out. Since the birds ran away, Elijah would declare himself the winner of the battle and let the victory soothe the remaining frustrations he held. Before he left Elijah swept the area with astral sense and his eyes. During the fight with the birds most of his attention was focused on the sky and he didn’t pay too much attention to the ground.

First, Elijah saw that the trees, grass and other vegetation were absorbing the blood from the snakes that were killed. Second, Elijah sensed several beasts closing in on his location. There were panthers, bears, wolves, and others. Elijah sensed dozens and each group, and the majority were all in the first tier.

“So that’s why the birds left.”