When Ryan raised his face, he saw Mia and Daniel running toward him. Daniel reached first and then tried to help Ryan, but he stopped when a Flame Arrow suddenly appeared and hit the ground near his right leg.

“If you touch me, I will make sure to hit your face with that next time,” Ryan said while he was cleaning his mouth.

Daniel gulped, he didn’t see Ryan in a few days, but he couldn’t help but feel shivers while looking at his eyes. He was obviously weakened thanks to the surprise, but he still scared the crap out of him. Even though he was much taller and physically stronger.

Ryan directed his anger toward only Daniel, but even so, Mia decided not to approach him carelessly. She was fully aware that the current Ryan was unstable, so she hid half of her body behind Daniel. He was fully aware that she didn't have the intention to make him even angrier, but just knowing didn’t help Ryan calm down in any way. Mia was a bit of an airhead. In the past, Ryan thought that that trait of her was endearing, but now he could only see that as a pain in the ass.

“Is this shorty the guy you mentioned?” The other guy armed with a sword said. “He certainly is skilled and learned a few tricks, but I can’t imagine a guy who gets this nervous in front of his friends can help us.”

Ryan was about to leave without looking back, but that comment gets on his nerves, and his effort to try to calm down vanished. He was kind of short, indeed. He was just 1,7 meters tall if compared to the 1,95 meters tall Daniel and the other guy who was even taller. He was really short.

“Oh, yeah… I’m short. It must be nice to be so tall,” Ryan smirked. “Even if I miss your head, there is plenty of places where my arrows can hit.”

“What did you say?” The other warrior asked after a vein begin to bulge in his forehead.

The other warrior was almost two meters tall, and he had a shaved head, but his eyes were green. Added that with his bulging muscles, he really looked like a cool basket player. Daniel and that guy had many similarities, they probably knew each other, but Ryan couldn’t care less about that. He was too pissed to think straight… the other three were looking at Ryan as if he was a madman, but he couldn’t care less. Still, looked at the other three only made Ryan feel many dark emotions… jealously, anger, sadness. He didn’t want to waste time and energy, feeling those things thanks to that kind of people. So, he just got up, turned around, and begun to move away.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Ryan… I heard about your parents,” Daniel said. “I’m sor-.”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Ryan stopped and then said. “Unless you want them to be your last words.”

“… My father got captured by the goblins, Ryan,” Daniel hesitated a little bit. “I need to rescue, Ryan. Please, help us.”

“He is dead… I saw them dragging his body, and he didn’t move an inch,” Ryan said after he resumed his walk. “Forget about him.”

“That isn’t true,” Daniel said. “Unlike most monsters, goblins don’t eat humans. We confirmed that they keep them alive to train their skills. Although goblins can’t talk, they are smart enough to understand that they can train their skills like that. Keeping humans locked is a move convenient for them.”

That was some interesting pieces of information, but only that wasn’t enough to make Ryan stop. He interacted with Daniel’s father for a while, and he was a good man, but only that wouldn’t make Ryan join forces with Daniel. Ryan would rather do it alone, even if it were very risky.

“We will attack the goblin’s camp in one hour again,” Daniel shouted. “I’m counting on you, Ryan!”

“Asshole… I would rather eat horse shit than help you,” Ryan muttered, annoyed.

It was around 04:00 PM, so Ryan could understand why Daniel needed to rest for a while before trying to rescue his father again. It would be too troublesome to wait for the next day since the number of goblins would duplicate. They couldn’t attack at night either, since it would be too dangerous… in the end, their only option was to attack as soon as possible before the goblins can consolidate their base and strength.

After walking for a few minutes, Ryan finally managed to calm down. In the end, he couldn’t help but feel a bit scared of his past actions… he just threatened the life of the man who had been his best friend for over ten years. He indeed did something unforgivable, but he didn’t deserve to die for it.

“… In the end, I’m as much hot-headed as that asshole,” Ryan said after a long sigh. “I can’t let anger control me; I have to keep my head cool at all times.”

It was easier said than done, but Ryan had to keep trying whenever possible. Regardless, without wasting time, Ryan began to create his arrows. He wouldn’t wait for Daniel, but he would rescue his father because he was also a good friend of his late father.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Transfusion has leveled up.

Mana Transfusion Lv 1 ➞ Lv 2

Effect: Transfer one point of mana per second to objects.

Cost: 01 mana

You obtained 01 status point.

“Even if I increase my recovery and mana, I won’t have enough arrows to kill three hundred goblins by myself in less than one hour,” Ryan muttered. “Still… that asshole will probably join the battle once I begin the commotion, so I won’t need three hundred arrows.”

Ryan wasn’t that confident that a single arrow on the heads would be enough to kill the goblins. Still, he allocated the status points he had into mana and recovery. He couldn’t afford to run away again, so he would have to kill as many goblins as possible.