Farming

I set about to raise my level.

It was a very tedious process.

I wasn’t stupid enough to go running into that restroom and hoping for the best. There were probably at least 10 or so goblins in there, and I didn’t really fancy being ganked by a mob of ugly green midgets today.

Instead, I chose to play it safe.

I would wait, from behind my little corner in the wall, and eliminate the occasional goblin scout that left to venture solo. As time went by, and as I killed more goblin scouts, everything got easier. Not only did I gain more combat experience (and real experience), but the whole thing desensitized me to killing.

Normally that would be bad. I’d be labeled a psycho in the “Old World”. But now, when everything’s gone to hell, being a little crazy can be helpful.

So I continued my meticulous process of goblin farming.

It was slow going, of course. A goblin scout left the restroom every 5 minutes, so most of my time was spent waiting. At most, I had less than a minute of combat between each 5 minute interval. I wouldn’t say it was a very exciting process, but it was necessary.

While I hunted, I also collected all the weapons they used. In the process, I also identified all the goblin short swords that my grubby hands could get. And while doing so, I noticed that, like with the boxcutters, they varied in quality. The best quality sword I ran into was one that did 13-17 damage, and added +6 to agility, +3 to strength, and +4 to dexterity.

Doing the obvious thing, this was the sword that I was currently using.

I also noticed that all this physical activity sapped stamina from me. Luckily, the 5 minute intervals were enough time for me to recover that lost stamina, so I didn’t need to use the granola bar just yet.

Also, as I was killing the goblins, I noticed that in fact, they did drop loot.

Now, before I go any further, let me just say, the short sword I acquired from the monsters wouldn’t be counted as monster drops. No, they were just things I scavenged from their dead bodies. “Real” loot, were the things that randomly blinked into existence once I slayed a monster.

For example, the only thing that has dropped so far; Goblin Ring.

Goblin Ring

A very ugly ring carved by an amateur goblin jeweler.

+3 strength

*Equip Skill Bonus*

+3 Vitality

+2 Dexterity

-3 luck

Normally, the goblin ring wouldn’t have helped all that much. I mean, sure, it’s nice to have a boost in strength, but its not like +3 is anything fantastic.

What made this a good item were the added effects given by my [Equip] skill.

At first, seeing these effects really did surprise me, I didn’t expect that I’d get such a boost, but after thinking about it for a bit, I understood why.

I deduced that the goblin ring was an item that any other player could use. It wasn’t like the boxcutters, or the granola bar which only had beneficial effects due to my special skill. If any other player were to get this item, I’m sure that they would have gotten the +3 in strength.

But in my case, that’s different. I received an additional +3 in vitality and +2 in dexterity (also a -3 in luck, but hey, what has luck really done for me at this point?) thanks to my skill.

I was happy for the boost of course, I predict that if I ever acquired a higher grade drop, then the inherent skill bonus would be greater as well, which would be good news for the future me. What I was wary about was whether the effects of this skill outweighed the demerit of being denied the fantasmical ability to use magic.

“...It probably doesn’t.” I lamented to myself.

I mean, its not a matter about efficiency, but about whimsy. It’s always been a dream of mine, or for this matter, a dream of any imaginative person, to be able to use magic.

The idea that I was left out of this possibility was...saddening.

But if I delve too deep into this growing bitter feeling, then I might end up getting myself killed, so I brushed it aside for now and went back to hunting goblins.

When I slayed my 16th Goblin scout, I reached level 5.

I don’t know whether my leveling up speed was high or not, but considering the fact that I was getting double the exp for a week, I think I’m going at a decent pace.

When I reached level 5, I acquired 15 unallocated stat points. I pondered how to distribute them for a while, but in the end, I choose to allocate them in either dexterity, strength, or agility.

So as follows; 5 went to dex, 3 went to str, and 7 went to agi.

I put a lot more points into agility since, in most mmorpgs that I’ve played, I always went for rogue builds, or any type of character which emphasized speed.

For now, I choose to ignore my wisdom and intelligence stats.

I knew that from experience that wisdom and intelligence rises mana capacity and magic damage. But seeing as how [Equip] stopped me from using mana, I thought it was unnecessary to waste points on these stats.

Of course, the possibility existed that wis and int boosted some other portion of me, like my memory or processing speed, but for now, this was a field which I couldn’t really investigate too deeply.

Once I got out of the immediate danger (i.e. this dungeon), then I’d investigate to what extent those two stats affect me.

After I allocated the rest of the points, I went back to quietly waiting for my next victim-- er, goblin.

This time around though, instead of the one, two goblin scouts left the restroom.

I bet they got suspicious that none of their scouts were coming back.

They scanned the empty hallway vigilantly, as they moved slowly, back to back.

One of the goblins held the usual short sword, but the other one had a bow that was too big for its size.

I smirked upon seeing the bow. It went above the green abomination’s height and was obviously quite a burden for the thing to drag around. Luckily for me though, that sort of thing was the perfect size for a human, and by extension, it was a perfect size for me.

I contemplated whether it was safe for me to fight two of them at once, but in the end, I recounted how all my encounters wouldn’t necessarily constitute as “safe”. It was kind of stupid to be worrying about safety right now.

Plus, I reasoned that they don’t pose that much of a danger to the current me. As long as I got rid of the goblin with the bow first, I could handle the sword wielding goblin like I did with the rest.

Before the goblins could get any closer to my current position, I made my move first.

As inconspicuously as possible, I threw the boxcutter which I still had at a window adjacent to me.

Even though my normal throwing strength wasn’t that great, with the added bonuses to my strength, I managed.

The boxcutter hit the window pane with a pang, attracting the attention of the two goblins for a split second. They turned towards the noise in a way that there backs were now facing my direction.

Of course, I contemplated the risk of making so much noise, but considering the lack of other monsters in the vicinity, I thought it was safe enough.

Once the goblins’ attention was preoccupied, I dashed forward.

I monopolized on my agility and dexterity to strike first.

From my position, the goblin with the sword was closer, but I didn’t care. Although it would have been great to kill the bow wielding goblin first, I couldn’t just dash past the goblin with the sword. It would surely notice me while I was getting rid of its companion.

To remedy the situation, I chose to disable the sword wielding goblin first, before I jumped at the second one. Once I killed the second goblin, I could finish off the other goblin rather easily.

With the boosted hand eye coordination I received from dexterity, I slashed out at the achilles heel of the first goblin while I dashed forward. Without stopping to see the results of my attack, I continued to run at the bow wielding goblin, who was just now beginning to notice the commotion.

I heard the other goblin fall to the ground, as I jumped at the goblin in front of me. It frantically cocked its arrow as it saw my approach, but it was a bit too slow. With an amateur horizontal slash, I sliced of one of its bony hands. It screeched in pain.

I grimaced at this noise. I hadn’t anticipated this, as I had previously dispatched the other goblins before they could scream out or make any other sound.

Surely the screaming now would attract attention.

Before it could scream any louder, I sliced out at its throat, landing a fatal blow, and instantly killing the monster in the process.

Although that was done, I didn’t have time to relax.

I frantically turned towards the goblin behind me. It was currently crawling on the floor, screeching for its comrades. Since I bisected its achilles tendons before hand, it lost the ability to walk, thus it was pathetically crawling towards my direction with a look of seething anger plastered on its face.

I wasn’t particularly worried about this goblin. What I was worried about was all the noise it was making. I wasn’t that far away from the restroom, so any loud noise could potentially be my downfall.

With quick movements, I ended the crawling goblin’s life with a stab in the back.

Afterwards, I picked up the weapons they were using, which were a sword, a bow, and a couple of arrows, before I made a quick scan of the surroundings for any dropped loot. Seeing none, I frantically ran for cover behind my trusted wall.

I was afraid that the goblins’ earlier yelling really had attracted its friends, so for now, I sat and waited. A budding anxiety was welling up inside me as time seeped away in silence.

As if to prove my fears, a random goblin exited from the restroom.

I knew something was up, this goblin wasn’t a scout, like the usual ones. It had a leaner body, and was kind off taller by like an inch or two. To my comfort, I was glad to see it was just as ugly if not more so, than the others.

Goblin Warrior - Lv. 8

50/50

The goblin in question surveyed the hall in front of him and gasped in surprise. Its eyes fixed on the two corpses I had recently slain.

Unlike my previous encounters, where I took the time to hide the goblin scout bodies so that the new one wouldn’t notice, I didn’t exactly have the luxury to be so meticulous this time around.

It squealed in anger upon seeing its slain comrades before it returned to the restroom.

A moment later, it came back out, this time, followed by a few of its friends.

The mob of monsters consisted of 5 goblin warriors and another monster that looked to be the boss.

I squinted at the blue panel above its head and gasped at the information it displayed.

Goblin Commander - Lv 20

(???)

Level 20! That was even higher than those huge minotaurs from earlier!

I determined myself to stay hidden as this party of monsters investigated the case of their slain comrades.

Although I said that, I still prepared the bow in my hand just in case. Although I didn’t identify it, so I wouldn’t get any bonuses, it would make do for now as a long ranged weapon.

I quietly observed the scene in front of me.

The Goblin Commander barked orders as the goblin warriors moved about in the hallway.

Two of the warriors approached the bodies, while the rest fanned out into the hallway. As one approached my location, I could now clearly see that they were fashioned with a broadsword. Well, a goblin sized broad sword.

The Goblin commander, on the other hand, was weaponless, as it approached the dead bodies of its fallen subordinated.

It looked down at them for a moment, as if lamenting their loss, before it scowled and stepped on their faces.

Its foot had enough strength behind it to completely cave in the goblin skull with one stomp. I inadvertently flinched at the crunching noise such an action produced. Luckily, nobody noticed me.

The goblin commander returned shortly to their hideout, while the rest of the goblin warriors remained to stand guard.

While this situation produced a conundrum for me, seeing as how the steady flow of goblin scouts had come to an abrupt end, this situation could also be looked at from another perspective. Now, I had the chance to fight stronger monsters, and by extension, I had the chance to gain greater blobs of experience.

First though, before I set about hunting, I identified the items I recently aquired.

The sword was just like any other sword I had collected, so there was nothing spectacular about it, but the bow and arrows were different.

Goblin Bow

A long ranged weapon made for goblin use. It is poorly crafted, as it is too big for a regular goblin to use efficiently.

Damage: 7-19

+7 Dexterity

+5 Agility

I smiled at its stats. They were pretty good, and since I reasoned that like any mmorpg, dexterity would affect long ranged damage, my earlier boosts in dexterity would greatly increase my attack potential.

The down side though was that I only had 4 arrows, so I was limited to four hits. If I was lucky, I could probably kill 1 or 2 with just this bow, but that left 3 more warriors who could all potentially kill me.

I moved into a nearby room, away from the present danger, and quietly devised a plan to collect my expe-- kill the goblins.

***

Author's note: Well, since this is a new story, there are still a bunch of what ifs and things I haven't completely thought out yet. One of those things is the name T.T For some reason, I don't like it... maybe that's just me though.

If any of you have suggestions on a new name or anything else about the story, please tell me, I'm open to anything. And if you like the story so far, comment, favorite, follow, rate, etc. This is new, so it needs a little boost right now. Thanks.