by Daniel Annan
During that time, I allocated my AP points carefully, sending 2 into strength, 2 into defense, 2 into intelligence, 2 into endurance, 1 into speed and the final one into luck. Since my rare gains so far could only be described as lucky, it might pay to have my luck stat higher than it otherwise was. As for the SP points, I held onto them. I had far too little in the way of skills to spend these precious points haphazardly.
As usual, I felt the power flow through me as I allocated the points. Surprisingly, I did not see any physical changes to my make-up, meaning that the stat increases worked similarly to ‘powering up’ in Bragon Dall Z where changes were more internal than external, though blonde spiky hair and green eyes would be welcome. Not to mention that golden aura. Still, it made sense for it to work this way. If I reached 150 in strength, would I swell into the size of Broly? That would be unspeakably bad for stealth.
By the sixth hour in the forest with no real action, I was about to scream and just duke it out with Clarent, hoping that maybe we might get something at all out of this. Suddenly, Clarent raised his hand and pointed downwards. Instantly, I crouched and activated stealth, looking around for whatever Clarent saw.
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Well done! You have learned the skill ‘Sneak’
Crouching allows you to sneak past almost anything. Except your tax collector.
“One step… two step… almost there…. Got it! Whew, imagine what would have happened if I had been seen sneaking out of the Lord’s daughter’s bedroom!”
“STOP RIGHT THERE!!”
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He also bent his knees slowly, stealthily moving through the thickets. I followed him as quietly as I could, cringing whenever I snapped a twig or scuffed my shoes against a rock. Clarent didn’t seem bothered, as he – obviously – made the same mistakes as I did. I guessed Dragonkin training did not involve the art of stealth.
I quickly equipped my sword in my right hand and my Thunderbolt spell in my left. Whatever forced my companion to enter stealth will certainly not get the jump on me. Clarent suddenly stopped and slowly drew his longsword, pointing it straight ahead – right into the first clearing we’d found today.
And wow, was it packed.
It seemed this was a forward camp for Goblins, as the filthy greenskins milled about, either fighting, fucking or shitting. Literally. I found myself thoroughly disgusted in a matter of seconds, seeing a mirror of my expression form on the Dragon Knight’s face. We looked to one another and through simple eye communication, came to a decision.
We were going to rout these foul things and teabag them viciously as we bathed in their drops and experience. Well, that second half was mostly me, but that was in the past.
Fei, I need you to stay airborne during the battle and feed me info, okay?
Okay! Should I go now?
Yes love, go now and give us an idea of the numbers we face.
My tiny familiar took to the sky immediately, angling upwards till she was level with the tree tops. Her small form should make her virtually invisible to the monsters on the ground. Even should they look up – which no one ever did – they’d receive an eyeful of the glaring sun for trying to be clever.
“So, should we sneak in and take them out from the inside out or should we enter with unrelenting force?” Clarent asked me while puffing a plume of smoke idly.
I thought about it. While they did seem to be quite heavy with numbers, goblins have always been fodder. Of course since we could respawn and they couldn’t, we could handle this however we like but I did not as a matter of fact, relish the idea of being stabbed during the full immersion VR mode.
“Let’s sneak and take out as many as we can before we’re spotted and then we can go all out,” I answered. That way, we could gain levels in sneak and backstab until the inevitable time to dance the rodeo came.
Fei, what do you see?
There are lots of them, master. Plenty small ones, some slightly bigger ones and one huge one! Then there’s one who stinks, even from up here! He smells of evil!
Is he holding a staff, my dear?
Yes! How did you know?
I had a hunch. Thank you, dear. Stay airborne and let me know what you see.
Alright master! I will do my best!
“Let’s go,” I commanded my companion, pointing to the right side of the bivouac. He nodded and started crouch-walking towards the left side of the camp.
We both rushed towards our respective targets while maintaining stealth; me a goblin couple procreating in a very…. romantic… manner and Clarent two goblin sentries. Since our targets were at different points in the encampment, I lost sight of him as soon as I reached the tent.
My quarry were so focused on their interaction that they did not notice a suspiciously tall shadow looming over them with a blade. By the time they did realize what was going on, they were both headless corpses, staring glassy-eyed into the sky.
God, the stench!
I almost vomited when I smelled the mixture that was their flesh, sex and innards. I noticed a combat prompt pop up and auto dismissed it before reading, setting them to relay the details to me mentally without the distracting info box.
__________________
You have killed a level 1 goblin with 102 DMG
Standard: 10 + Strength: 24 + Backstab bonus x3
Exp: 15
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__________________
You have killed a level 1 goblin with 102 DMG
Standard: 10 + Strength: 24 + Backstab bonus x3
Exp: 15
__________________
There were also skill gain prompts, but I ignored them for now. I could always filter through all of them after battle. I needed to remain focused here, lest I end up spawning back into the town and leaving my overpowered ally here to lap up all the experience points.
I focused on the two slain greenskins and saw a small box hover over their rapidly decaying corpses. It then occurred to me that I hadn’t even bothered to examine them. How foolish of me. The box displayed the loot they had on them. Just rags, fur and a rusty sword as well as a rusty dagger. I didn’t even look at them twice. They did drop two coppers and two silvers each, so there was that.
Fei, do you see my location?
Yes! There are two small ones coming!
Thank you, love.
I lifted the flap of the tent ever so slightly, looking around for the two monsters Fei highlighted. I saw them coming from the right side, arguing about something or the other in what I could only assume to be Goblin speak. They did not even consider looking in my direction – making me question their use as patrols – allowing me to exit the tent and quietly sneak up behind them. This time, I used examine on them.
Name: Borak
Age: 20
Title: Runt
Race: Goblin
Liege: Gorank
Class: Scout
Level: 1
HP: 20 MP: 0 SP: 30
Disposition: Hatred
Upgrade skill to gain more information on target.
Name: Brok
Age: 22
Title: Runt
Race: Goblin
Liege: Gorank
Class: Scout
Level: 1
HP: 20 MP: 0 SP: 30
Disposition: Hatred
Upgrade skill to gain more information on target.
Such lovely and unique names. It seemed they were following the command of a liege. Huh, this was interesting. I wondered if this ‘Gorank’ was a King, Warchief or just a Commander. Did his influence extend outside this forest or was it limited to just this camp? Was he even here?
Well, I’d definitely find out soon enough. For now, I settled for plunging my sword through Brok’s throat, letting go of it to grab Borak’s head, prying its mouth open with force. Before it could scream or alert anyone, I copied Clarent’s signature move and poured flame down it’s throat.
The fire coming from me didn’t
feel hot in anyway. It felt like an extra-long and extra satisfying belch one made when they’d had too much soda. For the monster in my arms, it wasn’t the same fluffy experience as it burned rapidly, dying before my ability’s time elapsed. I then wiped my mouth – it had blackened a bit – and tossed the two bodies into the tent after retrieving my sword. Like the ones before them, their loot was next to worthless. Still, I pocketed the coins like the miser I was. You didn’t stay rich in our world by dropping coins like you were Bill Gates.
These Gobbies are poor as hell. Maybe I might create a Robodroid for them too.
Though, without Keith, that would be next to impossible. Of course, I wasn’t the sole source of my group’s success. Keith was the other half of the equation. Where I could fashion an ‘Iron Man’ suit with the right materials, it was only Keith who could manipulate the zeroes and ones to give them the necessary intelligence.
I continued to crawl through the camp, taking out small groups of goblins with speed and brutality that felt strange yet did not bother me in the least. Whenever I started to feel disgust or shame, it would bleed out as if some ethereal tube had been applied to my emotions. Fei’s input was critical in my endeavor though, as she saved my hide more than three times and counting.
The encampment was not particularly overwhelming, but it was larger than I thought. I guessed about a three hundred goblins resided here. While that number may seem like a bit, it really wasn’t much given their individual levels and our careful approach. Still, low levels or not, if I allowed them to swarm me, it could be game over.
By the time I had stealth killed my fifteenth pair of Goblins – they always seemed to be in pairs – I heard a loud keen in the air, followed by a blast from a horn. So, they were onto us. Well, depending on how many Clarent put down, we may have very little resistance remaining. I didn’t exactly keep my hopes up and mentally prepared for the worst. I quickly sent my mind above to get some recon on what exactly was going on.
Fei, what’s happening? Where is Clarent?
Uhm… he’s fighting a group of goblins alone. I think he’s a little bit to your left.
Thank you love. Drop in when you see things getting hot and use your screech. Heal me and feed me mana whenever I go low on either, okay?
Yes, Master! I will!
I leapt over the bodies I had just looted, angling towards the leftward side of the campsite where Clarent was reported to be. Then again, I might not have needed Fei to tell me where he was. The Dragon Knight was kicking up a storm in one of the clearings, routing the Goblinfolk like an adult would a group of angry critters. Screams, curses and cries in Goblin tongue mixed with the occasional gout of fire were a beacon that let me hone in on my companion’s location quickly. When I entered the clearing, I paused for a bit blinking in surprise.
There were scores of dead goblins, their bodies scattering the grounds in various states of destruction. The lucky ones had simply been run through, the more unfortunate were beheaded and the downright cursed were blackened husks. Still, more poured out from the tents, trying to overwhelm the Dragonkin, who from what I could see, would soon be overwhelmed unless I did something.
Leaping into the fray, the battle was joined when I sent a Thunderbolt into the back of a Goblin with an upraised sword, aiming for the Dragon Knight’s back. The monster keened and keeled over as my combat log told me I had scored extra damage from a critical hit as well as backstab. At that moment however, I knew I would no longer get such benefits as the critters fixed upon me, hatred and anger in their eyes.
I just shrugged and entered into a random defensive stance. A few of the arriving Goblins angled straight for me while the half of the veterans attacking Clarent broke off, hoping to find an easier kill in me. I hate disappointing people, but I’d make an exception this time. The closest assailant spun it’s sword in an arc, trying to part my abdomen and release my innards. I easily parried the clumsy attack with my sword, grabbing it’s face with my left hand – my magic hand – and casting Thunderbolt again. The beast screamed as the combined damage from the shock and the proximity ate away at it’s life force.
I let go as another of its larger kin tried to separate my wrist from my arm, using its own forward momentum from its heavy attack to take its head it with one swing. I took a step back in shock. I wasn’t much of a biologist, since I focused on applied sciences, but I knew that cutting a head off something that size should not be that easy. I wasn’t given enough time to ponder as an arrow struck my knee, causing me to gasp in pain as I lost a whole 50 HP.
I barely avoided a second arrow – aimed at my eye – thanks to an attack by a melee-focused greenie, which I counterattacked by knocking its blade aside and running it through.
Fei, find those archers and use screech!
Y-Yes master!
I closed communication as I had to employ my relatively high speed stat immediately when two goblins attacked at once. I dodged the first, and parried the second, sending a complimentary Thunderbolt to the first assailant while allowing the second to taste my sword as an entrée. The shocked foe writhed on the ground like someone had tazed it, making me wonder if Thunderbolt had a secret stun effect.
Plunging my sword into its back, I pulled it out to receive another arrow to my abdomen, the tip lightly penetrating my skin.
Fei!
I’m on it! He was hard to find!
Grimacing, I pulled the barb out slowly, causing a bleeding status to pop up in my mind’s log. I had no fucking idea why it hurt this much though. When I played VR mode before, it was always just a mild irritation, but this was full on agony. Fighting back tears, I cursed Vena for being a psychotic, sadistic chick. When my wound closed, I surveyed the battlefield.
Clarent was very slowly becoming exhausted, as he had been pulling aggro while I was whimpering like a little babe. The fact that the Dragon Knight could even fight so many foes for so long could only be attributed to his high endurance and strong will. Still, there was a limit to everything and Clarent was slowly reaching that limit. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a goblin fall from behind a tent, clutching its ears and screaming in pain. So, the mysterious archer then.
Name: Gork
Age: 18
Title: Runt
Race: Goblin
Liege: Gorank
Class: Archer
Level: 5
HP: 80 MP: 10 SP: 50
Disposition: Terrified
Upgrade skill to gain more information on target.
Well friend Gork, you and I have a dinner date, where I’m the date and you’re the dinner.
I stalked over to the fallen archer and brought him up, clutching his jaw in a move I was starting to become all too familiar with. The terror in the monster’s eyes made me falter for a bit. I mean, for a VR game, this was a tad too realistic for me. I had seen terror in the faces of the Goblins I had stealth killed so far, but that was normal for a game with an ingenuitive AI and great character design.
But this… this was different. The look in Gork’s eyes did not seem like one an AI would possess. The fear of death in his eyes were as real as anything I’d see in real life.
In a rare moment of clarity, I let go of the Goblinkin, watching him flee like a scared rabbit, looking back frequently to see if I were giving chase… which I was not. Something was wrong with me. Ever since I entered this game, I stopped asking questions… it seemed inconsequential. In my mind the Goblins were nothing but mere monsters that could be killed easily for Exp. I did know that they are actually monsters, but still. It wasn’t the act of killing them that had me questioning myself.
It was the fact that I was killing them without feeling anything. Remorse, anger, shame, pleasure. I felt nothing like that when I was slaughtering them. That was the problem. I didn’t feel anything. Why didn’t I feel anything?
The moment I started to ponder, the similar feeling of emotional dissolution happened and I lost interest in my former train of thought.
; Who cares? They’re monsters that are going to give me free exp and loot!
“Hey Jax, get your head in the game, we have company!” bellowed my harried companion, who was in the middle of a rather ball busting combo, his red sword aflame with beautiful red fire.
I snapped out of my reverie to see that Clarent had made a huge understatement. It was as if we had been facing a half opened tap, a mere trickle. Now before us, arrayed in order behind a larger Goblin and his shaman, was a true force.
Name: Gorank
Age: 35
Title: Warchief
Race: Goblin
Liege: None
Class: Captain
Level: 40
HP: 1350 MP: 100 SP: 3200
Disposition: Hatred
Upgrade skill to gain more information on target.
Name: Gorm
Age: ???
Title: Necro
Race: Goblin
Liege: ???
Class: Shaman
Level: 45
HP: 600 MP: 5000 SP: 500
Disposition: Curious
Upgrade skill to gain more information on target.
“Ah, Humanshite. I was wondering when you’d be brave enough to venture here after I saw your filthy kind set up shop in that plain. I had no idea it’d be the headshite of them all!” Gorank laughed, his mindless minions picking up the merriment until he run one of them through.
For a Goblin, he was big. He was a few inches off from reaching my height, with a well packed, muscular body that looked like it bent nails for leisure. Unlike his runts, he wore full banded iron armor with a sigil marked over the chest. He wielded a large Greatsword easily in one hand and he looked like he knew how to use it. The fact that he was a captain alone made me wary.
The goblin beside him however, drew my gaze for a longer period. He was short, barely around my waist if I were to guess. His hunch was so sheer, he might have been a horse. Most of his body was covered by a dark robe, minus the eyes which allowed me to see how… evil they were. I didn’t have any supernatural senses, but if someone’s eyes glowed a malevolent green, you knew they were steeped in the evilest form of Necromancy.