“Say again?” Will wasn’t sure if he heard right, there was no way he could have. That was ridiculous.

“Little green bastards have a hob, a big green bastard… Not paying more but kill the hob and a few of the little ones… should send them running,” Mister Lemar repeated, “Watch out for those, they're strong bastards. Saw the big one running away with a sheep under each arm. He also had a blunderbuss on his back. Not sure where he got it. Probably just using it as a club, dumb as they are.”

“Ummm… okay… Which way… Any idea where I can find them?” Will was coasting mentally. He was still trying to get over the fact that it wasn’t some strange species of wolf but actual goblins. Like fantasy movie goblins. Little green men that lived in caves, had sharp teeth, threw spears, and ate people, goblins.

“Isn’t that your job?” the rancher stared him down, “Eh… suppose it’s better to get it over with. See that hill over yonder? There’s a cave on the backside of it, my guess is they’ve held up in there. If not, that’s what tracking skills are for.”

“Alright…” the man gave Will a skeptical look as he walked towards the barn. He’d completely forgotten he had tracking skills. He approached the side of the barn where he’d been told the big goblin had run out of and looked at the ground. There were plenty of tracks of various animals, shoeprints, and a few that might have been bare feet. The ground was hard, so there wasn’t much to go off from.

“Wait didn’t I have a different skill?” Will mumbled to himself. He opened up his status but didn’t see it but he was pretty sure he’d gotten it with his bounty hunter class. He focused on that and it opened a new screen.

Vigalent Bounty Hunter

Level:1

Exp: 0/100

Skills:[Tracking Sight]- Active

Seeing the skill and realizing how it worked he focused on it and the window disappeared and was immediately replaced by another.

[Tracking Sight]- Active

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

A general tracking skill that highlights visible tracks within your vision. Increased levels increases range and clarity. Enhanced by perception.

Cost: 5 Mana/minute

Range: 15 feet

There wasn’t much information and he looked at the tracks again. They didn’t seem highlighted but maybe that’s what the difference between active and passive was. Did he have to turn it on?

He tried focusing again and willed it to activate. This time it worked! The various tracks in the dirt were made slightly brighter than their surroundings. He still had to look for them but it was easier for him to spot them and he could make out the shapes far easier. He did some quick math in his head based on his 75 mana and realized he could only use it for fifteen minutes.

He unslung his rifle and walked further away from the animal prints, following a pair of bootprints surrounded by child-sized footprints with four toes. He followed them away from the barn and into the brush. He felt excited and kind of stupid at his new ability. The rancher had already pointed out that was the area they left from.

Their path was fairly visible thanks to the disturbed soil as he made his way through the ranch. When he got to the pasture he decided to turn the skill off. He might need it later and at least for a moment, he’d have to be blind not to see where they’d trampled down the grass. But decided to check his other active skill while he was at it.

[Quick Aim]- Active

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

General Aiming assist. Provides the ability to quickly get on target, aiming your weapon directly where you’re looking. Requires line of sight. Enhanced by Perception and Dexterity. Increase levels decreases mana consumption.

Cost: 20 Mana/use

[Fear the Hunter]- Active

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

Attribute based skill. Provides area of effect to any bounty targets that are aware of you. Targets feel sudden fear by your presence which may influence their decisions. Enhanced by Strength and Level. Targets of a higher level are immune to effect. Increased level increases range and effect.

Cost: 15 Mana/use

Range: 15 feet

He wasn’t sure what either meant by enhanced but he could at least deduce that it meant the higher those two stats were, the more the nanites would help him. It felt a little dumb to even think it and it sounded like a game but that could just as well be a part of the spooks' experiment. He could imagine playing a little game would be right up their alley from what he’d heard.

“But would they let me go out and kill goblins?” Will stopped. From what he now understood, goblins were humanoid, wore scraps of pelts for clothing, had their own language, and used basic tools. Which made them sentient beings, very primitive but sentient. Mister Lemar had said they were dangerous and it was lucky they hadn’t attacked anyone yet but the fact was, they hadn’t attacked… should he even be hunting them down and killing them for killing a couple of cows? Stealing a sheep and some chickens? He wouldn’t shoot a starving human for nabbing some poultry.

At the same time, it wasn’t like he hadn’t volunteered to go in after insurrectionists before. Some of those missions were based on intel for attacks that hadn’t happened yet. There probably had been some people there who had never harmed anyone in their entire lives but the threat was there and warranted a preemptive strike. If they surrendered, they were captured. If they ran, that had been fleet's problem, and if they fought… that’s why he knew how to shoot.

At the time it was better to proactive than reactive and have dead civilians on his conscience. At least that’s what he’d told himself. In reality, someone was going anyway, so his squad would always volunteer for missions like that. They ended up getting quite a few rewards in return. From higher performance reports, medals, promotions, liberty passes, ship privileges….

It suddenly made sense why the nanite AI or whatever it was considered his experiences and upgraded his class. He was already a bounty hunter! Just a state-sponsored one and instead of cash he got things like three full days in port or a chest full of medals.

thinking about it, he told himself it wasn’t anything different and even more than that. The rancher was genuinely worried the goblins would eat him out of his ranch or worse, eat him. He would play it by standard rules of engagement, the rancher wanted them gone. So again... if they fled? He’d let them run. If they surrendered? He’d take them prisoner and figure it out. If they fought? That was easy.

With his course set, Will pressed on with a slightly clearer conscience. The path continued to be easy to follow and as the rancher had said, it looked to be making a direct path to the hill. When he got closer he had activated his [Tracking Sight] to get a rough direction of where they’d gone. The rocky hillside meant he’d lost their trail. He moved back and forth for a moment but picked it up again including handprints where they’d climbed the hill instead of going around.

He wasn’t sure if there was a reason for it. Maybe it was just their last-minute effort to hide their trail before making their way to their lair. In any case, he dropped his skill and decided to follow them up. If nothing else but to give himself the high ground.

He moved up to the top of the hill and didn’t even need to recast the tracking skill. Even his recently level 2 passive one wasn’t necessary as he could see them plain as day sitting outside a small cave in the side of a spur halfway down the hill. He squatted down and watched. His enhanced eyes made it a little easier to get a count on them and he could make out six outside the cave. The big one wasn’t there.

He waited and watched for ten more minutes. He felt the need to check to make sure they didn’t have a security patrol somewhere. The last thing he needed was to take cover only to have half them come up from behind and stick him with spears. He also wanted to see if the hob would come out, he knew it was there. He could see the musket leaning against a rock at the edge of the cave.

When his observation time was up, Will slowly made his way down the hill.

Feat: +1 luck

He froze and slowly shrunk down behind a rock. He looked at the window and quickly dismissed it. He started looking around him expecting to see a sleeping hob or a pile of money nearby. There was nothing though. He peaked over the rock to check on the goblins but they seemed business as usual still. Well except them sniffing… each other.

Will just realized the wind was blowing at his face! He’d nearly approached them from upwind. He had no idea about the nasal capabilities of goblins but judging by the fact that the nanites thought it was lucky, he imagined that if it wasn’t for luck they would have smelled him. He was used to normal sentients, only a few known species had an enhanced sense of smell and even if he’d fought them before, there wasn’t much risk of his scent carrying its way through a deck door in the middle of a ship or station.

Utility Skill Learned: Hunting-Knowledge basic Level 1

Will dismissed the window after barely reading it but it was too late to stop the transfer of information. He bit down as he learned basic knowledge about hunting and blinked a few seconds later when it ended, he had a slight headache. Now was NOT the time for that!

He remained still for a moment and then peaked out from the side of the rock. He didn’t see any change and pulled his head back in. He looked at the rock where he’d just peaked out and the top of the rock where he peaked before. It took him a moment to realize why he’d just done that. The new knowledge made him realize it would be harder to see from the side. The same amount of his head was visible but most people don’t expect to see a head poke out a foot above the ground.

Taking it for what it was, Will quietly crept to the next cover and then the next after that. He kept moving forward until he was within 50 meters. He took a breath and checked where the goblins were sitting and what they were armed with. He could see crude spears and a couple of bows but nothing too worrisome. Even the blunderbuss was an inaccurate muzzleloader. If the hob did know how to use it, he’d have one shot before Will took him out if he was still breathing long enough to use it 1after pointing it anywhere near Will’s direction. He took a few more breaths and went forward with his plan. He set his extra ammo on the ground next to his revolver with the hammer cocked and stood up from behind his cover.

“I am Will Tempest! I’ve been sent to clear you from the area. Surrender and you-” Will had to stop and shoot at the one goblin that didn’t stand there staring at him like he was an idiot. That one snatched a bow from the ground and drew an arrow. The round hit it in the chest. He could see a spray of blood appear on the rock behind it from the exit wound.

The other goblins snapped out of it and after a glance at their fallen brethren, they grabbed weapons and charged. Will fired three more times, killing or maiming three more goblins before he flipped over his rifle and started reloading. He still had one in the chamber but he didn’t want to be completely empty. Five more rounds in with the sixth in the chamber and he aimed another wielding a bow. It dropped with another center of mass shot.

The hob came running out as he shot another and looked up the hill at him. It roared a battle cry at him and picked up its weapon. Will needed no other reason than seeing the hob shoulder the weapon and prepare to fire before he let off three rounds into its chest. He ducked and grabbed more ammo to start reloading again.

No sooner than he did, a goblin ran around the rock with a spear leveled towards him. Will dropped the rounds in his hand and grabbed the revolver at his feet. He willed [Quick Aim] to activate and stared at the mouth full of teeth. His hand moved quicker than it ought to have and when the goblin was only a meter away he pulled the trigger, sending a cascade of gore behind it. The bullet traveled through its mouth and ended up in the chest of a second goblin. As they fell he laid eyes on a third goblin he hadn’t even noticed. It stood in shock, covered in viscera. He cocked the revolver again and fired again without the need to use the skill the moment it stepped towards him with a spear in hand.

Will only had two rounds in his rifle and two in his revolver by this point. He grabbed a few rifle rounds and stood with the weapon at the ready. An arrow skipped off his cover and he immediately returned fire. He looked around and saw what remained of the goblins running northward. He aimed but let them go. It was against his self-imposed rules of engagement. Plus he could see what looked like infant-sized children in their arms as they ran.

“I’m not going to chase you! Stay away from Silverstead! Understand?!” he yelled out at them, not sure if they understood but he saw a couple turn to look at him when he started yelling before they turned to run again.

BOOM!

A shot rang out and ricocheted off the rock in front of him. He looked down to see the hob holding the blunderbuss, still bleeding heavily. It grabbed a cow horn and pulled a cork out of the end of it before tipping it into the muzzle. Realizing what it was doing, Will carefully took aim and squeezed the trigger. The hob dropped dead before it could even finish loading his barrel with black powder.

A few tense more minutes went by after that. Will kept an eye on the ones he shot, the cave, and checked his surroundings in case the dozen or so that survived didn’t double back behind him. After waiting around ten minutes, and with fully loaded weapons, Will collected his bag from further up the hill and moved towards the cave. He treated it like clearing any firefight, kicking weapons away from the corpses before bending down to check for vitals. He didn’t have any info on goblin anatomy to know if he could find a pulse but he assumed the fact that they weren’t breathing was enough to say they were dead.

He slung his rifle and switched to his revolver as he entered the cave, the shorter weapon better for the confined space. He made it through a lot quicker than he’d imagined. The cave was smelly, dirty, had bits of food, animal bones, pelts, and a few things he couldn’t identify laying around, as in just by looking. He didn't want a pop up in front of his face. It was horrid but it wasn’t that large. He uncocked his revolver and reholstered it.

“Okay… now he wants ears…” Will said to himself as he looked back out at the ten dead goblins strewn about outside the cave. He looked around inside and decided to check if there was anything worthwhile. The goblins had a firearm, so there could be other useful things in there. If nothing else there was at least gunpowder.

He pulled his shirt over his face and grabbed a half-finished spear to move around the various pelts. Near what looked like the largest bed, he found a pouch of money, a small keg filled with black powder that he quickly moved away from a small campfire that lit the cave, some round shot, a silver ring, a carved stick that made his hand tingle, and a single barrel break action shotgun with its breach blown open. He wondered if they tried to load it like the blunderbuss only to destroy the weapon in the process. He walked outside with his spoils and put them next to the blunderbuss, taking two silver earrings off the hob while he was at it. He pulled his knife and before he got to work he went inside to find the cleanest looking pelt he could find.

“Well, this is barbaric…”