Facing down a pissed off goblin chieftain who over-topped him by a full head with a magical axe and strength, was not how Dane had originally seen his week panning out. Yet here he was, face to face with the spitting and raging incarnation of some particularly angry god of old earth. His sword trembled in his grip somewhat, and it wasn’t due to how heavy it felt. Swords on the whole weren’t particularly heavy objects, they weren’t designed to be mass weapons despite some misconceptions that had prevailed amongst the laymen of the old societies. However, after swinging it around nonstop in a high energy, adrenaline fuelled combat situation, even a feather would start to feel leaden.
The goblin was hurt badly, one hand was crushed and could not grip the axe haft, Dane could even see several of the small fragile bones of the hand sticking out of the skin like white spines. His gauge rose a little at the sight, but still he managed to close his visor and face down the beast. The injuries didn’t seem to slow the goblin as he roared and charged, the axe rising and falling in a big overhead chop, the weight apparently not an issue in one hand. Lines of red stood out on the chieftain’s skin as they pulsed with magic and reinforced its musculature.
Dane stepped off line, moving himself down the left hand side of the charging goblin, he powered a thrust into the lower abdomen where breastplate ended and maille covered the area between it and the leg harness. The point turned on the strong steel of the links and was forced away and back by the momentum of the charging goblin. Dane let the momentum pull him around, the sword rolled off the blow and behind his head, the blade dipped point down as it ran parralel to his back and shoulders and whipped back over his left to strike the back plate of the goblin as he moved past.
The speed of the blow, coupled with the sheer strength of Dane brought it crashing into the black steel that made up the armour of the goblin. It was not inconsiderable, and it left a finger width deep crease in the plate, and was enough to send the goblin sprawling in a heap, unable to control the speed of its own attack as Dane rounded, turning on the balls of his feet to turn almost one-eighty degrees to face the goblin, his sword following its trajectory down to once more be held out behind him over his right hip. It was disheartening to see the strike hadn’t done more damage than some bruising and dented steel, but he had the monster’s measure now, it might be a boss monster with above average strength and some form of enhancing ability, but it was still just the first floor boss monster and reacted mostly on instinct than any real skill with his axe.
Typically one did not use a longsword to take on an axe, and there are good reasons for this. Namely the deceptive range of an axe. Due to the shape of most combat-intended axe heads, parrying the blade itself is difficult if not downright impossible as the curve will simply sweep the parry away, in effect deflecting a deflection, so the best way is to block the haft, but this means the block has to connect well away from the body as the axe head will extend far further into the cut than the haft will, and give the penchant for axes to be used in quite close and personal it makes parrying with a sword next to impossible. Unless the swordsman in question is very good and knows what they’re doing.
Dane was in fact, very good, and so when the goblin came in for a second charge he bet his life on how far inside the creature’s guard he could get before his parry connected. He took his sword at the half sword, his left hand wrapping around the blade of the sword about six inches from the point, he caught the haft of the axe on the mid point of the blade as he slammed chest to chest with the goblin, feeling his throat catch as its foetid breath washed over his face. The axe head extended behind his head, useless for the moment as he rolled the blade over the top of the haft and let the point glide into the goblin’s eye unprotected by a visor as it was. His hand was cut as he rushed and pushed the blade through rather than with, laying his palm bare to the bone, his own blood mixing with the goblin chief’s as the point found brain and carried them both backwards to the ground, as the goblin lost control of his legs.
The greenskin’s heels drummed out his life on the dust as Dane fell off him and rolled onto his back, utterly spent, his chest heaving as he struggled to suck in oxygen, his hands refusing to do their duty and open his visor. He had a moment to contemplate how unfair it was that he had managed to win the fight only to asphyxiate because he couldn’t open his damn visor.
It was only a moment before he felt hands grasping at his visor, and true fear spiked now as he remembered the other goblins might have come back to take revenge for the death of their leader. Instead when the visor fell open it was to meet Brigid eye to eye as she fussed over the buckles and drew the steel away from his scalp, an actual rivulet of sweat falling out of the helm from where it had pooled at the base of his skull.
“Still with us big man?” She asked with a grin as she saw his eyes clear.
“Just about,” he managed with a few gasps.
“Good, Erik is pissed by the way, don’t think he’s going to forgive you for sending him away in a hurry,” she informed him as she inspected the cuts on his left hand with gentle probing fingers.
“He’ll get over it, but I wasn’t sure that would work,” he hissed as she touched the ragged edges of the skin.
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“I can stitch this, but maybe let Erik heal it.” Dane nodded at her in thanks as he tried to push himself up on an elbow, Brigid quickly assisted by pushing up against his back so that he was able to sit.
“Let’s just get those three,” he jutted his chin towards the three tied up young men who looked at the pair fearfully, not daring to hope they were actually rescued, “and leave, I think we’re done for one day, no way will be survive a second floor.” She only nodded in agreement as she moved over and began to cut the boy’s down from the poles they were tied too.
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It took far longer to return to the exit than it had taken them to reach the goblin village. They had completed all of the objectives and were greeted with a completion notification as they stepped out into the twilight of the Tutorial Village. Guides were waiting for them and took the relieved rescued adventurers into their care, promising they would be fed and clothed. Erik had burned what remained of his mana healing the injuries he could, though their minds looked to require far more than he could offer.
“Thank you for your help adventurers, we are most grateful for your heroic efforts.” The lead guide who had given them the quest in the first place told them, “If I don’t miss my guess, you are all ready to be forged, yes?”
“What do you mean forged?” Erik spoke up first.
“You have hit the end of your growth at your current tier, from here you must choose to either forge your body or stay at your current level, the process will be quite quick at your current tier and very simple.” The guide informed them helpfully.
“Will we be told at some point about these tiers and what they are?” Dane asked.
“Perhaps, but it is beyond my authority to explain just now.” The guide answered.
“Very well, how do we go about this forging business?”
“First make sure your professions are all levelled to ten as well as your class level, once that is done, you simply need to fall asleep.” Dane nodded.
“Well I guess I just need to fall asleep, how’s everyone’s professions?” He asked.
“Yeah maxed out mine,” Erik answered.
“I’ll get cracking on our new base of operations and shouldn’t take me long.” Lucas said.
“I’ll go buy some fabric from the store and work on some clothes for us, oh what about tabards?” David added enthusiastically.
“I’ve picked mine, going to make some bows and arrows for us,” Brigid said.
“Alright, start with clothes David, we’ll discuss surcoats once I’ve seen this forging business, Brigid I love that plan, I’ll check in with you all when I wake up, Erik?”
“Yeah let’s go see what we can do.” Erik was practically giddy at the thought.
They reached their designated tents quickly and Dane wasted no time lying down on the bedroll he had received on their first day in the Tutorial village. He sighed in relief as his tired muscles found comfort in the padded mattress, oh god I have missed lying down, he thought as he closed his eyes and despite his excitement, drifting off to sleep was no problem. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm and as he reclined, he felt himself grow weightless and the waking world disappeared.
**Forging in Process, Dane Grimm Fighter (Medium) Level 10, Blacksmith Level 10, Tin Tier, requirements exceeded.**
Dane found himself floating in an endless sea of black and shining stars. The stars seemed to be just out of reach, but as the message flashed past his eyes he saw several turn into streaks of blinding light that rushed towards him and crashed into his body with all the force of a runaway train. The energy surged through his body, every nerve came alight as it felt like liquid flame rushed through his veins and scoured every pore and crevice of his body with its purifying burn. He tried to scream in agony as the pain coursed throughout but his throat was full and no sound came forth as he felt every muscle contract with enough force to crack bones and his skin began to peel away.
**Forging Complete**
**Copper Tier Achieved**
**Racial Upgrade Processing**
**Racial Upgrade Processed**
**Draconic Heritage Unlocked.**
A fresh surge of power ran through Dane’s body as he saw two more stars explode and flow towards him. If the pain before had been excruciating, it was now indescribably as he was reconstructed, atom by atom from the ground up. His body disintegrated into motes of light before coalescing again slowly returning to something approximating his former body. He couldn’t be too sure of himself as his brain hurried to sort through the changes and more notifications flashed before his eyes. It was not unlike the disorientation of a heavy concussion, like he had experienced once when a halberd had connected with the side of his head and even through his helm it had scrambled his eggs for days.
Slowly though, it all began to come back into focus, he was still lying motionless in the endless expanse of the in between space surrounded by stars as he had been at the beginning, before the burning had begun. As his thought process began to resume some level of function he could once more make out the words that floated before him.
**Class Evolution Selection Now Available**
The Guide who had first greeted him during the integration had mentioned that the class he chose was merely a base, a building block from which he would grow and evolve, and now he had the proof. The time had come to become more than a simple warrior.