A few hours have passed since Faron had fought the Grell, His wounds were now patched up to the best of his ability. Which wasn't much. Basic first aid that anyone would know. He got the debris out of his wounds and poured the last of his water onto his shoulder and stomach. Ripping up his shirt he made thin strips to tie larger sections of his shirt onto the wounds, the blood was still seeping and Faron's vision was blurring fast. Dehydrated, tired, wounded. Faron still needed water so after his rest and patchwork he made his way toward the river. Finally, after a grueling 4-hour hike, which should only have taken about an hour, Faron made it to the river.

The sight was breathtaking. a giant 2-mile wide crystalline cool river, vibrant fish swimming in its depths. Beautiful trees with fruits Faron had never seen before. Some were shaped like the stars children drew, some looked like apples but were multi-colored and some were even faintly glowing. Before deciding on any of that though, Faron rushed to the water. his canteen out, taking big gulps. With a sigh, Faron lay on his back. Remembering a movie he saw about a heroic sniper from almost 50 years ago, Faron knew that he should pack his wounds with Mud, to help stop the bleeding. Unsure if it was utterly sanitary he had no other recourse. Grabbing handfuls, Faron began to pack his wounds, the pain caused him to sweat, swear and complain. His left arm was mostly useless at the moment. His energy quickly depleting.

Standing up, a sudden sense of dizziness came over Faron, He walked over to the trees and decided to grab the first fruit that looked good. Looking down at the ground he saw the apple-shaped one was eaten a lot by wildlife so he grabbed that one. He bit into the flesh of the fruit. A very sweet sensation wrapped itself around his tastebuds. Warm, then Cold, Spicym then tangy. This fruit seemed to be a hybrid of many kinds of fruits around the area. It was one of the most delicious yet bizarre things that Faron had ever eaten. His pain started to subside quickly, though the wound didn't look affected at all, some painkiller he guessed. He laid back on his side under the shade. Keeping his spear nearby, deciding to rest again. His eyes feeling sore and heavy, closed them, just for a moment.

The next morning Faron woke up in a panic, A loud sudden yell woke him from his fever dream, Standing near the lake were 4 small green men, with pointy ears and teeth that looked like they could bite through a tree. They were holding buckets and bladders to transport the water. They quickly pulled out some primitive weapons. 1 with a sling, 2 with small scimitars, and 1 with a spear with a rock tip. evil glints in their eyes as incoherent words came out of one of their mouths.

"{:L>_&(UP>+{)U(^R$E"

"USER HAS FOUND A LANGUAGE HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND. TRANSLATING LANGUAGE FOR USERS. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT?"

"Yes please."

A visual representation appeared in front of his eyes translating in real-time. "put the weapon down now, or die, you come with us. be slave. work mine. or die. you want to die?"

Reaching for the power that he knew was there Faron felt the magic around him and...nothing. He was utterly spent still. even with his full night's rest, he was maybe at half capacity.

"Run, Fight, Die. You are not leaving me with many options. Is there some kind of agreement we can come to perhaps not do this?"

Faron was well-versed in trying to diffuse situations. The only good thing that years of bullying had helped him with was. However, with his simple statement, the Goblins didn't seem to care about his arrangement. They rushed him. Their speed almost looked like they were casually at Olympic sprinter speeds. Three approached Faron while the one with the sling sat in the back and started tossing rocks with fairly decent precision. Faron ducked a large swing with the Spear and pulled away from the two swords that were being stabbed at his gut. A sense of relaxation seemed to overcome Faron as he realized these two did not properly know how to use their swords, they were horrible stabbing weapons. However, the one with the Spear and sling was fairly adept. With quick movements Faron stepped forward, using a small amount of what remained of his magic to create a foothold for him to step upon. With this elevation he was now twice as tall as the Goblins, which allowed him to stab his spear down twice in quick succession into the clavicles of the two shoddy goblins, Blood sprayed into the air as the two slumped into the ground.

"You can still leave" Faron was putting on a brave face, even taking out the two amateurs took a toll on him.

With a primal yell the goblin charged at Faron brandishing its spear, the stone spear dug into Faron's thigh, coming out the other side. The pain felt searing, almost as bad as the pain he underwent for his first meditation run. Faron jumped to the side with the spear still implanted into his leg, wrenching it from the goblin's hands which probably weighed no more than 30ibs. Tumbling at the tug of the weight, Faron tripped back and grabbed and broke the spear shaft in his leg, pulling it out on both ends. More wounds to add to the collection. Faron Stood up before the goblin had a chance to kill him on his back and used the reach of the spear to his advantage. controlling the fight while trying to watch out for the Goblin that was holding the sling. moving behind rocks and trees, yet he was still caught in the side a few times. Coughing up blood, Faron finally managed to with some luck stab his spear into the Goblin in front of him and kill it as well.

All that was left was the goblin that was holding onto the sling, and Faron was much slower, even without because he has taken many serious blows over the last few days and his walking was hobbled. Faron quickly thought up an idea and started running to the goblin, slowing down and then finally falling over. The Goblin, not one to be so easily tricked by dead prey slung two more stones into Farons back and one clipped the side of his head. Warm blood was pouring all over the ground. The goblin walked up to faron and reached out for the spear he was holding so he could finish the job.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Reaching deep, Faron grabbed at all the magic in his body and grabbed some dirt on the ground. Throwing burning embers into the goblin's eyes, with a cry it tumbled backward. Standing up with extreme difficulty Faron rushed the creature stabbing it in the chest with his spear. before falling into a seated position. After the last goblin died they all started to dissipate. until 4 crystals were left behind. grabbing them a golden light pinged in Faron's eyes.

"CONGRATULATIONS, FIGHTER FARON ALVERONE HAS GATHERED 5 CORES. YOU MAY RAISE A STAT POINT BY .5 OR ATTEMPT THE LOTTERY. CURRENTLY UNLOCKED LOTTERY "5 CORES, 1 BRONZE DRAW"

Faron saw this and decided not to open it right now, The other goblins would come looking for their water gatherers before too long. he needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. He ran towards the south, in the same direction as the goblins but also more to the east, He needed to kill them eventually he couldn't run forever. and training in the tutorial was much slower than it would be at the later stages. Faron looked around eventually finding a cave. it seemed empty, and it was somewhat shallow so he didn't think many things would use it. Grabbing some loose branches he quickly started to clog the entrance and use this time to meditate and try to see what he could do with the lottery, trading in his statistics for skills.

"Open store," Faron said while leaning against the cold stone walls of the cave, his body finally stopped bleeding, and his mood was better now that he was still eating the pain-suppressing fruit.

"WELCOME TO THE USER. CONGREGATING ASSETS THAT CAN BE PURCHASED AT THE CURRENT STAGE. ALONG WITH ITEMS THE USER MAY WANT"

Name Cost Effect Body Cleansing pill (F) 2 stat points

removes impurities in the body, allowing one to grow faster with less effort in the future. must be ingested 10 times before full effect.

Sholarnas Ointment 4x uses (E+) 4 Stat points Heals the body full of all nonfatal wounds. cannot remove disease, or infection or restore lost appendages. Well-balanced Chrysilis spear. (F+) 8 stat points A wonderful Rookie spear.

Faron looked at his stat points, if he were to upgrade himself he would be at 8 total. Also based on the standard conversion rate of the Monster cores he had, when he was able to bring them out, he would be able to get about $300-500 for each of them. It was a fortune in his current predicament. but it was not something he could worry about if he were to Die here instead. how could he face his parents in the afterlife if he were to die for money? So quickly he Took the 5 Cores. Deciding to risk is all on the lottery. Faron was not a gambling man, but using his stored .5 and using these for .5 he would be unable to purchase anything. He could only leave it up to Fate. Faron pressed an ethereal button to roll on the bronze lottery.

"CONGRATULATIONS USER'S LUCK SKILL HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. REMOVING TRASH OBJECTS, AND SLIGHTLY LIMITING TO OBJECTS USER WILL WANT"

Faron looked up and saw an ethereal wheel and he used his mind to spin it. He saw many things including additional pets, land, and money that he could take out now without reaching a higher rank. He saw the 3 items on the shopping list. Until finally it started to slow down. Until an image of a small silver ring could be seen, a small ornate working of a star on it. "LOTTERY DRAWING WINNINGS: RING OF THE NIGHTS RAIN"

"Ring of the Nights Rain:" Can be used twice. Heals all injuries on the body, cannot recover lost body parts, and can remove minor diseases. Does not work on curses. After 10 minutes user falls into a deep slumber for 8 hours. If awake for longer than a couple of minutes. sleep time is doubled.

"Awesome!" Faron was excited about this, He still had a couple of days, He just needed to make sure he could remain hidden during his time of sleep. He was a bit saddened by the drawbacks of this item. Sholarna's Ointment seemed better. But this would also do and save him 2 stat points.

"I could still buy the ointment but that would leave me a tad weak. The spear is nice but it would wipe me out. The system assigns .5 stat point to mana. Exchange 1 stat point from mana and.5 stat points from Fortitude and Strength. Purchase the Body cleansing pill."

immediately Faron felt the energy swell then received in his body. A Small black pill appeared on the ground in front of him. After struggling for the next 2 hours. Faron managed to block most of the cave from sight and cover the tracks nearby. He took the pill, lay his head on his pack took a deep breath.

"Activate the Ring of the Nights Rain"

This was a long day, Maybe now he would be able to go find the remaining Goblins. He would have 2 days left when he woke up before his real body awoke. He would need to be fast. Despite his downgrade, He should at least be safe.

Strength

.5   

Fortitude

.5

Mana

2

Speed

1

Intelligence

2

Soul Sworn Items

Blue Sheen Heart,

Skills

(Novice, Anima Magic 12.%), (Novice Elemental Magic 12.5%),

(Dormant, Bloodline0.01%), (Novice, Spear proficiency 2%).

Body Cleansing (1/10)

Luck

3

Total

6 - Grade F