[Wake up.]

..Is something coming..?

[No, but it’s been several hours, and the meat has long since been dry. Unless you plan to spend the night here, I think it’s time to wake up. I’m sure you don’t want to be wasting any more time here.]

Ah shit, I guess I forgot to tell you what time to wake me up at huh...Anyway, it's good that you did, thank you, and you're right, I definitely can’t waste time, a very important future for Goblins is on the line here!

[Of course. So now what are your plans for the night? It’s now 1800 and as you can see, the sun has already set.]

Well, because I took that long-ass nap, I say let's travel through the night but at a much slower pace. Hopefully the night is peaceful, and we can cover a lot of distance even at a slower pace, heck maybe we even run into some Goblins and can find somewhere to sleep.

[Unlikely.]

Yeah yeah you're probably right, for now, can you bring up my status please? I'll take a look at it then we can continue moving.

[Understood.]

{Name - Rick}

{Age - 20}

{Race - Royal Goblin}

{Essence}

{Evo Points - 99/180}

{Health - 80/80}

{Strength - 62}

{Agility - 57}

{Intelligence - 53}

{Endurance - 59}

{Skills}

{Velora}

Since we split the essence absorbed, I’m just at 99/180. Still quite a long way to go before I reach Tier 3.

[That should be accurate. If evolving into a stronger monster was easy then everyone would be as strong as that fox.]

Yeah, I know, no pain no gain I guess.

~

So Rick gathered his dried meat, his latest spear, which was still in relatively decent shape, and began moving through the night.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

It wasn’t easy to move both silently and stealthily when one was so large but being the same color as the foliage around him played a part.

Also having his own radar to continuously scan the area around him in Velora was huge too.

He safely moved farther and farther westward throughout the entire night while avoiding monsters here and there. He had to avoid them if he could because fighting monsters at night would only be bad news, especially if he had to fight too many monsters at once. He could still see in the dark, but he didn’t have night vision, so he would be at a disadvantage against monsters who were born to see better at night.

Though he did have to fight at one particular moment during the night, well if you could even call it fighting. The monster was one that also managed to escape the constant radar from Velora.

It was probably the most dangerous fight Rick had been in since his time fighting what he refers to as a Saber Ostrich before he evolved into a Tier 2 Royal Goblin.

~

What time is it Velora?

[It is almost 2300.]

Okay gotcha, It’s still going to be a while before it hits daytime.’

[Yes it will, the sun should not rise until 07..SOMETHING IS CLOSE!! DUCK!!!]

“AHH!! MY SHOULDER!!”

[I think it’s some type of flying monster! I didn’t detect it until it was already right next to you! Stay quiet and stay alert!!]

Dammit, were you at least able to discern it?!

[No! It was moving too fast for even that!]

~

After diving in and leaving a large gash along Rick’s right shoulder that was now leaking out blood, the mystery assailant quietly landed atop a nearby tree.

It eyed Rick as nothing more than a large piece of meat that stumbled into its hunting grounds. Just like it did with every other monster, it planned on killing Rick slowly with multiple diving attacks too fast for Rick to cope with. The monster itself wasn’t very strong when it came to a head to head battle, so of course it chose to simply never engage in such things, as that would be foolish for it.

It trusted in its speed and ability to blend into the darkness more than anything. It had yet to meet another monster who could best it in speed and stealth.

If Rick had a chance to see this monster, he would immediately associate it with a hawk of some sort.

Except it was no hawk that Rick had seen on earth, it was covered in sleek back feathers that made no sound when flying through the night sky.

From its feet to its talons, to its very beak. Everything was all black. The only thing on its body that showed a different color was its eyes. They gave off a beautiful blue tint that was perfectly in contrast with the night sky.

Truly a beautiful monster perfectly fitted with the darkness of the night.

Though most creatures never really get the chance to marvel at that beauty.

~

Dammit, it’s obviously faster than me, and I have no way to track it, nor are my eyes good enough to even see it coming.

Which means my options are limited.

Velora, my survival will depend a lot on how fast you can detect it, and how fast I can react to that detection.

Focus everything on that.

[Understood!]

Cmon cmon cmon… Where are you… Show yourself…

[LEFT!]

“SHIT! My other fucking shoulder!!”

[Move positions! Try to get out of its territory!]

Dammit alright!!

[Behind! DIVE!]

[YOU BARELY MADE IT! GET UP AND KEEP RUNNING!]

[LEFT!]

[RIGHT!]

[JUMP!!]

At this point, the hawk was getting frustrated. It had only managed to properly strike Rick twice, but Rick had yet to show signs of stopping or dying.

And to make matters worse since the second strike, it couldn’t seem to hit Rick anymore.

The hawk was in peak condition and could tell that it was much faster than the green creature running away from it. Yet it couldn’t hit him anymore.

The timing and precision of the hawk’s attacks were sharp and swift, yet no matter how hard the hawk tried, Rick managed to dodge at the very last second.

Rick had even given up on trying to fight back, he was only running as fast as he could while performing various evasive maneuvers at the last moment before being hit.

Although the hawk was still full of energy, it knew it couldn’t hunt the green monster for much longer. It was moving farther and farther away from its nest and hunting grounds.

So it only chased Rick for roughly another forty five minutes after the second attack before frustratedly finally giving up on such a large piece of dinner. Of course the hawk truly found this a shame.

Rick didn’t know this information yet though. He kept running for two whole hours after the eagle left , with even Velora staying on high alert, primed and ready to warn Rick of any type of danger not just from the hawk, since they were still in the wild and anything could attack at any moment.

The only reason Rick finally stopped to catch his breath and tend to his wounds, was because his legs were simply about to give out after running that hard for that long. Stopping was better than collapsing after all. Plus he finally felt a little safe, which helped his decision to stop and well… he collapsed anyway.