With light pockets, Logan made his way through the southern exit of Tinte, the guard towers up high keeping a watchful eye on the newbie adventurer. Thinking he didn't need any permissions, he simply walked on through the wide-open gates with no issue. “System, open map”, he commanded his program.

As he walked on to the south, Logan inspected his System map, while it didn't paint a wide picture it did detail the location of Tinte along with the destination of his newly acquired quest. It seemed that any mission given to a PC is marked on the map, allowing them to easily find and complete their assignments, something a window told Logan as he left the adventurers' hall. Moving his head slightly, he re-read the quest he had obtained.

“Decrease Goblin Scout Numbers: The goblins of the south have been scouting too close to the edges of their forests, making notes and maps of Tinte as well as the surrounding area. For any able adventurers, kill 5 goblins and take their plans if any to the adventurers' hall in Tinte. You're free to do with their other loot as you see fit. Difficulty: Low-hunt. Reward: 2 silver pieces, Gobbo-Ear Necklace recipe.”

“Pretty straightforward quest, the map tells me the exact forest they inhabit too. I did ask a few people along the way and it seems like the forest is mostly infested with goblins, no worry of wolves. I will have to keep an eye out for anything resembling a different breed or type of goblin, but the quest noted it as a low difficulty mission”, Logan collected his thoughts.

While he still held some worries about returning to a forest, Logan resolved to improve himself for the future. He made sure that his enemies were weaker than wolves, to not rehash his first day in Avanar.

During his investigations prior to leaving, Logan had also paid a visit to Osc'n, getting advice on what types of components he could acquire from goblins.

“Ah, an adventurer's first blighter. Well, tha main thing yer want from those lot is their ears. Only tha right one mind you, their lefts often have chunks missing due to a biting ritual for their adolescence. Aside from tha right ear, you can sell their clubs to the market sellers in town. I'd advise you take their pouches too, you look to be lacking one and you don't want an ear in yer pockets”, Osc'n instructed, from Logan's memory.

With the information in mind, Logan also had the foresight to check over the SKoLs for something that would aid him in using Backstab. It took a while, but thankfully it wasn't too far from the centre point of the SKoL window, the skill “Stealth” which would allow Logan to get in close for the kill. The skill mentioned being able to hide from the senses of his enemies, and with a bit of experimentation closer to the goblins, he could try to unlock it.

Tinte slowly became a blur in the background as Logan approached the forest's edge to the south, around a 20-minute walk from the town. His map noted a large round shape, following a wide stretch of the forest's outskirts as well as a portion of the deeper parts. “I hope there isn't a large group of them if the area is this big”, Logan wished.

Approaching the closest tree, Logan hugged its trunk and looked around it to observe the immediate vicinity. “Nothing so far, gotta find a straggler so I can test out Backstab in safety”, planned the young Spellthief. Sneaking from tree to tree, Logan moved into the forest proper, the trees blocking his view in most directions. As he made his way deeper a window appeared to interrupt Logan. Ducking to a tree, he inspected the window.

Reading over it, Logan was pleased he was able to unlock such a valuable skill that synergized with his class. “Gaining Stealth XP is restricted to hostile environments, so an enemy must be near”, Logan concluded, peeking his head around the tree he hid at. A turn to the left, and then the right, Logan couldn't spot an enemy. As he was about to move from his position he spotted the saunter of a goblin.

Walking across a patch of grass, the disgusting creature was seemingly picking at some mushrooms nested within the base of a tree. Its stature was short, around 3' or so, wearing a fur loincloth and a sash across its torso, some pouches hanging from his front. Its skin was shades of green with some brown patches scattered around. Floppy yet pointed ears stood adorning the sides of its head, the left missing over half with teeth marks showing it was bit almost clean off. “Stopping for a snack ey? Well, let's see how my second kill goes. Hope my stomach can handle it”, Logan wondered with anxiety, he wasn't ready to kill a sentient being just yet but a goblin was still a monster.

Slowly, Logan stalked from his tree into the open ground towards the goblin whose back was turned. With the goblin bent over picking his meal, shoving it into its mouth quickly, Logan was given the best distraction. One foot in front of the next, Logan approached in an almost crouched manner. “That's it, eat up, don't look back”, Logan pleaded, getting ever closer. Flicking the lock from his knife, Logan drew his blade a few feet away from the goblin, raising it in anticipation of the strike.

A final step on the grass, a slight hush as it was crushed, Logan slashed down with his weapon, digging it deep into the top of the goblin's spine where his neck met his back. A quick “Yargh” was let out by the goblin as its body shook all over from the impact, a small piece of red text with a golden border appearing around Logan's hand stating “Backstab” to confirm his skill activated.

Logan dragged his knife back, pulling the goblin with it, but instead of falling to the floor, the goblin steadied itself with its foot as it twisted its head up to Logan. “Grah” it yelled as it started to swing its club upwards in retaliation. Narrowly dodging backwards, Logan avoided the clumsy swipe. “What? That wasn't enough? Damn knife!” Logan exclaimed in his head, annoyed that the skill did not bridge the gap made by his low tier equipment.

“Before it calls for others!” raced through Logan's head, kicking forward with his left foot, his left hand planted on the end of his hilt to plunge the knife deep. Lunging forwards, Logan stabbed his knife into the chest of the goblin who let out a final “Preh” as it fell backwards to the floor, Logan falling on top of his quarry.

Stabilising himself against the floor with his arm, Logan was above his first kill of the day. The eyes of the goblin were still and watery, blood pooling from his chest and back, a final compulsion of the creature's fingers and it fell stiff. Small text appeared once more, confirming the situation.

Logan held his position for a few seconds, realising he had been holding his breath during his last two attacks he started to gasp. “Wasn't anticipating that, tough blighters. But, I did it, two strikes with a Backstab, not bad, I just need to act quickly”, Logan formulated his further ambushes. Raising his leg, Logan knelt on his knee by the goblin and began to slice through its right ear.

As he tore it from the monster's head, a window popped up describing the new component. “Goblin Ear: This right ear once belonged to a goblinoid, you will hardly ever find a left ear as those are normally missing portions due to goblin rituals and adolescent trials. Goblin Ears are used in some low-level potions and poisons, sometimes even magical trinkets. 1x shoddy”.

“Well, that's one form of money taken care of, now, let's see those pouches”, Logan demanded as he picked the small cloth pouches from the corpse's sash. Picking up two pouches, one had 2 copper coins inside whereas the other had a crudely drawn map, though Logan couldn't make much sense of it. “No clue what that means, but it seems to be what the client wants”, Logan rationalized as he put the coins in his pocket from the pouch, replacing them with an ear. With the two containers, Logan tied them onto his belt with the small pieces of string that were used to tie them to the sash.

Standing up from his victory Logan looked down at his shirt and knife, both had splatters of blood over them. His stomach churning Logan held back another volley of vomit, he had enough of that the day prior. “It still isn't a simple thing, taking a life, but it's them or me”, Logan argued. Centring himself once more Logan's ears perked up as he heard the quiet footsteps of another goblin behind him.

Darting around, Logan clenched hard onto his dagger in anticipation of an attack, his instincts were correct as a club came down hard onto the fledgeling adventurer. Bashing into his forearm, the club swerved off to the side as the goblin drew it back for another attack, a window popped up warning Logan he had taken 2 damage. Recoiling from the blow, Logan quickly returned the strike with a slash of his blade into the chest of the goblin, stepping to the side to slice once more.

With 2 cuts into its body the goblin swung its club in rage, Logan did a clumsy roll around narrowly ducking under the hunk of wood. Another slice into the back of the leg, with a final reverse grip plunge into its neck left the goblin limp on the blade. Slowly the goblin slid off the knife to its knees, then face-first into the grassy floor, its leg twitching once then twice, leaving its body to stiffen up. Text appeared to confirm the kill just as before.

Breathing heavily once more, a combination of exhaustion from the fast movement and the mental toll of combat, Logan stood up straight to look over his fresh kill. “Looks like his stealth failed, they don't hit as hard as that wolf but I still can't take too many hits. Either my knife is way worse than my spells, or these things have a lot of health”, Logan surmised, moving to retrieve another ear.

Adding up to 2 ears, he found another pouch, this one containing some scribbled notes in a language he didn't recognise as well as 1 copper piece. “2 goblins, 2 notes. The XP from these guys is alright, 5 more and I hit level 2, only issue is my ability to consistently kill them. That last dodge was lucky, thankfully my status has made me a lot more nimble than when I was back on Earth”, Logan judged.

Checking his statuses, he found that Backstab had gained 5% towards the next tier, his harvesting had increased from 3% to 5%, with his XP sitting at 530/1000. Checking for any additional goblins, he moved to take the sashes from the two he had killed, using them to tie their clubs to his back. “Every little helps, and while I don't know their worth they can still be sold”, Logan reasoned.

With the cleanup of his first encounter complete, Logan snuck around the forest more, this time moving eastward where the last goblin attacked him from. Finding a suitable tree he decided he better wait for his Backstab skill to come off of its cooldown, to that end he determined that passing time atop a tree would be safer. Sheathing his knife, seeing the damage the last climb dealt to it, Logan slowly climbed a nearby tree.

2 minutes passed by the time Logan was a good 15 feet off the floor, sitting somewhat comfy on a large branch. To utilize his time efficiently, Logan looked over the skills menu and his statuses.

Finding a timer option for his Backstab skill, a “ding” went off in his head as a small text blurb floated in the air “Backstab ready” it read. “That'll be a useful function, now to hunt again”, Logan praised, starting his descent after an 8-minute rest. Back at ground level, Logan snuck off to the east yet again.

It wasn't long until Logan found another victim of his blade, a lone goblin eating a raw leg of meat. This particular goblin looked to be carrying around a large sack, much bigger than the coin pouches of the others. Aiming to deal with it swiftly, Logan drew both his dagger and a club for a dual attack. Getting down to a crouch walk, Logan crept up on the munching goblin, raising the club high while keeping the dagger in a middle-stance against his chest.

With a quick jab and smash over the head, Logan stabbed and bludgeoned the creature. Small text appeared once more to confirm the Backstab, and the club was enough to bring the goblin down to the floor, no twitch was observed, but the experience appeared nonetheless.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Logan moved to take his gains. “Simple, dual-wielding helps with the ambush, though I don't know how long that club will last”, he thought, seeing the club was at 64% durability already. Checking over the large sack, Logan was disappointed in its contents. Hunks of meat covered 3 coins in sinew. Unloading the sack, Logan thought it best to reuse it, for now, placing the unused clubs inside and strapping it to his back, mounting the sling across his chest and over his left shoulder.

With his loot starting to weigh him down, Logan deduced he better leave the sack at a nearby tree before the next ambush. Preparing for another sneak attack, Logan climbed another tree to wait out the 10-minute timer.

Time went on as Logan repeated his tactic. Find a lone goblin, Backstab and club, loot, rest in a tree. This went on for another 40 minutes or so, easily dispatching 3 more goblins on their lonesome. Deciding it would be best to take out the ones eating, Logan only ever attacked preoccupied foes, possibly a cheap way to win but he needed every advantage.

Finally, Logan had his 5 map pieces collected, 6 ears in the larger sack, 5 clubs after the one he was using became unusable, and a total of 11 copper pieces. Looking at his status he saw his skills rising in mastery, Backstab sitting at a cool 25%. “Well, I think that 27-day record is going to be destroyed at this point, 1 more goblin and I hit level 2 in under 2 days”, Logan congratulated himself. Though he did wonder if he would draw attention with such rapid growth, compared to NPCs who took about a month to level up, how could it possibly be so slow for them?

Hoping it was a combination of caution due to the 1-week death timer as well as being a smaller settlement, Logan tried to push the thoughts from his mind. “The capital may have faster risers, it'll be fine when I get over there”, he theorized. Making sure his gear was in order, Logan moved onto the last goblin for the day, wanting to end it on a high.

Finding his last quarry of the day, Logan came across another lone goblin, this one relieving itself against a tree. “That feels a bit low, but it's going to die either way”, Logan argued, beginning his stealth routine once more. As he got closer, a raised club and readied knife, Logan was about to attack as the goblin finished and turned around. Two seconds passed as the hunter and hunted eyed each other. Acting quickly, Logan dashed forward, attacking with his knife first and clumsily bringing the club down.

The knife grazed the goblin as it rolled to the side, Logan's club attack missing completely. “Ryah! Mono! Hyse hyse!” the goblin shouted, causing nearby bushes to rustle around the clearing. “Shit, he called for backup, time to use these spells I've been saving”, Logan cursed, dropping the club to the floor in an instant.

Logan followed after the dodging goblin, slashing with his dagger with increased fury, two more strikes connected but a third left Logan open for a club to the stomach. “You have received 3 damage, current HP: 7/12”, a window informed Logan, now worried he was in a bad situation. Given ample time, two more goblins charged out from nearby bushes, the closest one at 30 feet away, the other at 50 feet.

Continuing in his assault, Logan kicked at the knee of his first enemy, loosening his balance for a final strike into the face. Retrieving his blade, Logan hopped backwards, raising his hand to the closest goblin “Flame Shot!” he cried, fire forming in his hand and shooting rapidly towards the goblin. Hitting him dead in the chest, the spell exploded in a fan of flames, the creature screeching out in pain and tumbling to the floor.

The ultimate goblin had just enough time to get in close to Logan, leaping off the corpse of his non-engulfed ally, it brought down its club onto Logan's head. “You have received 4 damage, current HP: 3/12”. Dizzy from the blow, Logan's head lay low and blood flowed down his face. Halting his fall with his right foot, Logan made a claw with his left hand and thrust it to the cheering goblin.

A massive slam hit the goblin as Logan grasped its face, fingernails digging and drawing blood, Logan opened his mouth, eyes dyed red with blood he stared into the goblin's eyes. “Lightning grasp!” he yelled, a spark of life jolting along his arm, to his hand, through his fingers, and totally zapping the goblin. A skeletal frame could be seen through a blackened skin for a second, and then again, as the spell destroyed any essence left in the monster.

Cracking off from burnt skin, the goblin fell from the clawed hold of Logan, its body hitting the floor like a brick. Falling to his ass, Logan rested on the floor with his face raised to the sky. “Ahh, that. That was too close”, he said out loud, his breath quick and wobbly. Text flew over the corpses and in front of Logan's face as the bodies stopped convulsing, a wave of energy overflowing from within him.

Along with the experience, the level up came with a new window detailing the changes to his status. “Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +1 Agi, +1 Con, +1 Int. You have 1 attribute point to spend”, it read, making a tired Logan all the happier at his victory. “Thank you… Desma, sure, praise be to Desma of the forest”, he prayed. Taking several minutes to rest on the floor, Logan ignored the rest of his status.

2 minutes passed, Logan was rested enough that his heart stopped racing and his breathing slowed to a point he could hide again. “Ok, let's spend this attribute point before we move. Again, Con is a solid choice, but with 8 HP from my level and +1 to Con I actually gained another 2, putting me at 13/22. My health almost doubled, I could make it solidly double by putting that point into Con. I don't want to rely on clubs so Agility would help my melee attacks, on the other hand Int empowers my spells as well as unlocking the System's functions”, Logan deliberated for a while.

As he thought over his choice, Logan moved to loot the 3 goblins who returned his ambush to him. 3 more ears, notes, clubs, and a total of 6 copper amongst their pouches. “I didn't get any more spell slots, so relying on spells for long encounters or adventures may be a bad move. My best bet now is Agility, the spells grow with my level anyways”, decided Logan, as he placed his attribute point into Agility, confirming it with a second press.

Gathering up his gear, and retrieving the previously dropped club and sack, Logan sallied on to leave the forest, lacking any more spells for the day as well as being severely battered and bruised. “So, I gain an attribute point every level, or at least I did this one, but no skill point. Maybe they are tied to something else or are gained at different level thresholds”, Logan ruminated, sneaking through the trees to the forest's exit.

The trip back took longer than it did getting to the forest, either due to Logan being tired or because he was coming back with much more in the way of items. “A good first day, but with my health increased I could have gone on for a bit longer. I'll check the quest board before I make a final decision on the day. If I can, a new knife would be good, this one feels like a kitchen tool”, Logan reflected. It had only been a total of 2 hours for his first quest, including all of his travel time, the sun hitting its noon position.

With signs of dirt, blood, and sweat all across his body, a clear line across his eyes where he tried to clear his vision, Logan came back to Tinte looking like he fought a small army. For most new adventurers, it probably was a small army, at least for an individual, but being able to choose your skills and attributes as he had, he knew he carried a high advantage.

The clunking of his gear started to irritate him, the sack containing quite the haul, but it would all be worth it when he handed in his quest and hit the market stalls. He had a total of 9 ears to hand in, 8 notes, and 8 clubs. With a pep in his step, the guards let the returning adventurer enter without question. “Let's stock up”.

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