Being the massive lake that it was, it took me well over thirty full minutes to reach the east side of the lake, and from there I ventured back into the forest hoping to find something I can hunt. Then after slowly advancing into the forest, I finally found something. Is that… an ostrich? It really does look like an ostrich, well maybe except for the fact it had long saber tooth-like fangs coming out of its mouth.

Why the heck does a bird have fangs that long anyway, whatever for now I’ll just call it a saber ostrich. Alright now how to kill it? I don’t know how fast or how strong it is, so running in rashly is probably a bad idea, dying before I even kill one new monster would be kind of pitiful right? That’s why I waited and thought out a brilliant plan before acting. What’s this plan you ask?

Rashly running into attack. I’m just a Goblin after all.

I say that, but it’s more than just me being a Goblin, it has everything to do with the fact in my previous life I was nothing but an ordinary college student, how the hell was I supposed to know various battle strategies, I wasn’t some genius in school either, just a simple kid. Which explains why I only know basic things like trying to sneak up on a monster, or the sidestep after a charge with the horned rabbits that Jaba showed me. After that? I have no idea what to do, which just leaves me with charging in. Which seems bad now, but I really think it’s necessary for my growth, I’m not just out here to get essence.

Although everyone can be taught how to fight, it’s completely different from actually doing it, so with my plan of essence gathering and constantly getting into more and more fights, my fighting instincts should improve as well right? Hopefully to a point where I don’t have to think about my next move, to be so in tune with the way I battle that I do it based solely on muscle memory. Well, that's a long way off, for now, I’m gonna take a step towards that goal by charging at this saber ostrich, as I’ve named it. A brilliant name if I might add. Plus I need to test out my new Goblin body!

By the way, I’m not running at full speed while screaming on top of my lungs to announce to the ostrich and probably the whole forest that I’m here. I never understood why people did that, anyway, might as well cut your own leg off while you do it too.

Either way, I finally started running! With the distance between us only being about thirty feet, I pushed my green legs to run as hard and as quietly as they possibly could, and it wasn’t until I passed the six feet mark, when the saber ostrich turned around, then immediately let out an ear-piercing screech. Although it wasn’t so bad as to make me wanna cover my ears and cry, it was bad enough to make me abruptly stop my charge.

I didn’t fall over though so I just readied my spear which now felt a little smaller in my hands after evolving.. Guess I need a new one?

Anyway I waited to see what the ostrich would do from here, and while being up so close I realized this beast is a lot smaller than the ones back home on earth, at least in terms of height, with his body only around four feet in height, and its long neck bringing up its total to six feet, it was definitely smaller but still bigger than my size albeit not by much, it seems I’m little taller than 5 feet in height? I didn’t have time to think about that, though, because it suddenly pointed its entire neck in a line towards me, while charging full speed at the same time! With only a distance of around six feet between us, all it took was one giant step for the ostrich to quickly half that distance!

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So I did the only thing I thought I could do! I threw my freaking spear as hard as I could towards the face of the ostrich which had its mouth gaping wide as it charged at me showing off its two large fangs. I don’t know why I thought to throw it, it was much less about If I thought it would work, and more about that I thought that its wide-open mouth was a nice target, but to my absolute surprise, the damn spear throw worked!

Flying through the air, at a speed I didn’t think I was capable of producing, the spear hit the saber ostrich firmly in its wide-open mouth! And with the spear coming out the other side of its head the saber ostrich immediately died, falling down, it slid forward a little bit right at my feet due to the momentum of its charge.

That might appear like I easily killed the saber ostrich, but I knew it was far from that. If that spear throw had missed, by not even more than an inch, I’d most likely currently be staring at some pearly green gates in Goblin heaven at this very moment. Or at least in some weird first fight with the damn saber ostrich.

After taking a few moments to digest what just happened, I quickly cut out the two fangs from the head of the ostrich, I then immediately began butchering the ostrich. Though I’m definitely not doing a good job of it, I knew the smell of another dead monster would instantly attract others, and it was still a little too heavy for me to haul back to the lake despite my recent evolution, so I had to butcher it here.

Quickly gutting the creature and cutting off all the meat I could store in my waist pouch I got from Jaba, I somehow made it a little bigger from the hide of all those rabbits I killed. I left the rest of the carcass to use as bait. And though I definitely don’t know any crazy fighting strategies, anyone can figure out that other than when the target was sleeping, the second easiest time to kill your target is when they’re eating.

Yes, I know that might sound a little evil, target this and target that, even using bait to kill unsuspecting victims, but this is real life, and I rather them than me. So with that being said, I backed off around fifteen feet from the carcass and while holding the spear in my mouth I climbed a nearby tree. I’m hoping that is far enough so that whatever comes for the dead saber ostrich won’t notice me but instead focus on the meat in front, but at the same time that I’m close enough to be able to get a good strike in from the air, before whatever the beast that shows up can see me coming.

So I patiently waited in the tree, silently perched on a branch thick enough to hold my weight as if I was a veteran predator. With my eyes darting back and forth in the area around the bait, I looked on hoping to spot my soon to be victim just in case It might potentially spot me instead of the bait. I waited and waited and waited some more and while waiting I took a peek at my status to see that the saber ostrich only gave me .5 essence.. Just like the horned rabbits.

A little disappointing but whatever. Anyway before I died of boredom waiting in the tree something finally showed up. It was big, it was massive, it was undoubtedly fear-inducing, truly a being that could deserve to be called domineering. The most alarming feature of the monster in front of me though? The fact it was another saber ostrich.

Dammit.

I definitely almost died killing its child or something like that right.