– Day 3 –

A Failed Ambush

Three hours from the woman’s house in the direction she pointed, the forest vegetation seems to have gotten much denser than previously encountered.

I’m trying to use the sword to hack away the vines that are blocking my path, but a machete would be much more adept at this than the sword. We make do with what we have--

Hmm?

I spotted something blurred dart along my peripheral vision. It’s too dark in the dense forest vegetation to make it out..

Duh; I should activate--

[Activate Night Eye]

[ — Minus 1% max mana while active ]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 162 / 198

Seriously love this magic!

The creature I’ve spotted is a probably a goblin. I say probably because it’s unlike any goblin from the games and movies I’ve ever seen or played.

It’s small, like a six-year-old child with patchy green skin and it’s ugly as sin. A face that even a mother would struggle to love.. A real face for radio.

Hmm. It looks to be missing an ear, it’s left one to be precise. It’s wearing wooden planks as a chest plate affixed with rope. Seems to be carrying a rusted iron sword which is too big for its own size.

Most definitely a goblin.

Now, where there is one, there are always more. Everyone knows goblins are pack creatures! Where are–

An arrow flies past my head. I look to the direction it came from, and sure enough, there’s another goblin there attempting to draw its next arrow. Strangely, it’s also missing its left ear… No armour this time just a short bow and quiver. I can’t tell what the bolts are made of from here.

Hmm?

Based on it’s position to the melee goblin, I get the feeling there should be another one….yep there!

It’s another archer type that’s still getting into position. Just like the others, no left ear. They must identify themselves as the One-Ear Goblin tribe.

Ha, just like dim-witted goblins to launch a surprise attack before everyone’s in position.

Well congratulations second archer, you get to be the first target as it will result in the melee goblin being out of the fight for the most extended amount of time and your position is already firmly in my line of sight.

It has an added benefit of putting me out of the first archers firing range if I stand beside this tree here as well.

Step one and two complete.

Step three, hmm yep no enemies to the rear. Silly goblins. Escape route in case of the unexpected to the rear.

Now then–

[Blood Boil]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 156 / 198

Nice, it looks panicked. Should hurt its aim considerably. Its health is not decreasing as quickly as the boars, but I guess that is to be expected. It’s most likely a higher level.

Hmm? The first archer looks to have decided not to reposition… Oh well, might as well use my damage over time spells on everyone first.

[Blood Boil]

[Blood Boil]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 144 / 198

Right, Mr melee goblin is closing in fast. I need to cast my next spell and reposition to that large tree, towards the second archer--

[Blood Wound]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 124 / 198

*AARCH daaie ado!*

[ Goblin Language: One-Ear Dialect acquired ]

…Guess I nailed it with the tribe name, but surely a useless skill has been acquired today.

I run for my next cover to perfectly position myself to hit the second archer with my third spell while still being covered from the first archer's arrows–

[Blood Syphon]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 118 / 198

Just like the fight with the boar, all the green goblins blood is being drawn out of the wound caused by [Blood Wound] and the second archer is dead already dead.

The melee goblin is nearly on my position. Oh well, it will need to be the target of my next spell before repositioning.

Hmm?

I look at the health bars above both goblins heads quickly. It seems I’ve clearly under-evaluated [Blood Boil]’s effectiveness. The bars indicate the goblins are at 50%-ish health. At this rate of decline, if I just dodge, they’ll both be dead in less than a minute…

Nah, skills get Exp after all so I should use them if I have the chance.

[Blood Wound]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 98 / 198

*ARGH DYE! ASGR!*

I can guess what the melee goblin trying to say as it was hit with the spell, but sorry, game over for you buddy and you didn’t even reach me–

[Blood Syphon]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 92 / 198

Two down, 1 to go–

*Slosh*

No sooner had I thought that did the blood from the second archer reach me for absorption, courtesy of [Blood Syphon]. To be honest, I had completely forgotten that this spell did this as I was enthralled by the fight.

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 128 / 198

Hunger: 4% Thirst: 0%

Blood State: Normal

As it was absorbed into me, a disgusting taste of lemons mixed with copper filled my mouth. Yuck, I think I might be sick… wait nooo–

*Slosh*

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 164 / 198

Hunger: 0% Thirst: 0%

Blood State: Better

*Barf*

Oh, oh my…ugh..–

*Swfwe! Dxa! Drfdfie jfwne*

Hmm? I pop my head out from behind the tree to find the first archers' health has stopped decreasing at roughly 10%. One spell will kill it, but it seems like it wants to surrender.

It’s placed it’s bow and arrows on the ground and looks to be prostrating itself to me…

Looking at the arrows, they’re extremely crude. The arrowheads are made of stone and don’t look very sharp. Looking at the tree I had used for cover, the arrows aren’t embedded in the tree but scattered around it. They must have bounced off it; well, whatever–

[Blood Wound]

HP: 90 / 90 MP: 144 / 198

You attacked me after all. You can’t expect mercy after the fact. Letting you live is just plain silly.

[ Level up! ]

Oh bonus, let's take a look.

Class: Awakened One Level: 1 EXP: 160 / 350 HP: 120 / 120 MP: 144 / 237 Hunger: 0% Thirst: 0% Blood State: Better STR: 015/999 Strength. Your physical strength is governed by this. AGI: 010/999 Agility. Your speed and reflexes are governed by this. STA: 019/999 Stamina. Your overall perseverance and tolerances are governed by this. VIT: 014/999 Vitality. Your overall health and resistances are governed by this. PER: 019/999 Perception. Your overall ability to spot and understand is governed by this INT: 024/999 Intelligence. Your spell power and understanding is governed by this. WIS: 020/999 Wisdom. Your mana and brilliance are governed by this. Stat points remaining: 10

Skill Points: 5

I see, so I get 10 stat points and 5 skills points per level. My HP and MP automatically increase based on my current stats and level exp is accumulative, not set and reset.

I guess that means levels can probably decrease if exp is lost as well.

Hmm, interesting.

For now, let's leave everything as is. No point picking stats and skills without clear direction as it will only harm my development in the future.

As I think this, I remember [Herbalism] and [Achelmy] skills I acquired from Agamenty’s book. I’m travelling through a forest right now; I should use these 5 points on [Herbalism], so I can hopefully make some money when I get to the Capital by selling plants with alchemical properties.

>>>>>

Herbalism Lv 5 / 10 [>]

Skill Points: 0 [ Herbalist Eye learned ]

[ Herbalist Touch learned ]

[ Plant Identification learned ]

[ Toxicity Extraction learned ]

[ Potency Enhancement learned ]

Nice, so magic next.

Magic:

- Night Eye Lv 10 / 10 Exp: 0/0 [Racial]

- Blood Scythe Lv 1 / 25 Exp: 0/100 [Learned Art]

- Blood Syphon Lv 5 / 50 Exp: 40/500 [Racial]

- Blood Boil Lv 5 / 50 Exp: 40/500 [Racial]

- Blood Wound Lv 1 / 50 Exp: 50/100 [Racial]

- Herbalist Eye Lv 5 / 5 Exp: 0/0 [Skill based]

- Herbalist Touch Lv 5 / 5 Exp: 0/0 [Skill based]

- Plant Identification Lv 5 / 5 Exp: 0/0 [Skill based]

- Toxicity Extraction Lv 5 / 5 Exp: 0/0 [Skill based]

- Potency Enhancement Lv 5 / 5 Exp: 0/0 [Skill based]

Okay so skill-based magic doesn’t increase the same way racial or learned arts do but is directly attributed to their skills. [Herbalism] max level is 10, so the max level of the new skills is 10. Its parent skill is [Herbalism] which is currently level 5, so the magic is level 5 for the new magic.

Simplistic is best! ..Especially when you don't have a new player guide.. *sigh* I guess no matter how many times I complain, it's falling on deaf ears.

I wonder why some of my racial skills started at Lv 5 then? Perhaps an inborn racial trait?

For now, let’s just add it to the list of things we don’t know and move on.

[Activate Herbalist Eye]

[ — Minus 4% max mana while active ]

HP: 120 / 120 MP: 144 / 227

Expensive active cost but I’ve learnt two things doing this. Max mana means my max possible mana regardless of active magics and also that I can combine [Night Eye] with other eye magic.

Handy.

Moving my sight around the immediate area, I can tell that I’m going to busy for quite some time as there looks to be useful herbs and plants everywhere.

First though, to the goblin corpses.

The taste of the blood alone is enough to tell me that these aren’t edible… The very fact that I entertained the thought of eating them as it crossed my mind meant to me that I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m no longer human. I guess it’s best just to keep moving forward. Just because I’m not human any more, doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a monster does it?

I guess I better store the corpses for now. They might be worth something to a garrison, or perhaps a bounty exists for goblin slaying at an adventurers guild? This is a fantasy world after all…

*blink blink blink*

Now then, let's gather some herbs and make camp!

– Three hours later –

I’ve collected a lot of plants and roots. Most of what I’ve picked are primer ingredients which will increase the potency of other effects when used in combination.

I’ve found some herbs that can be used for healing and mana tonics. Some that can be used in fortification tonics and some that can cure most illnesses…or though I’m not sure how I know that; regardless, its quite the haul.

I discovered quickly that using [Herbalist Touch] sometimes resulted in it double the acquisition.

- Purple Flower hestis x32 -

- Blue Flower ampist x23 -

- Red Flower alfist x19 -

- Blue Root tealist x45 -

- Red Root geltis x63 -

- Green Weed herist x21 -

- Red Weed urist x18 -

- Taproot x12 -

- Ash Flower x8 -

- Teakish Pollen x2 -

Of all these, [Teakish Pollen] is the most valuable. It’s a potency fortification type that far exceeds the others. I will keep my eyes peeled for this as I travel through the forest.

The sun is going down so I should probably make camp and rest. After all, I never slept yesterday, and I’m seriously tired out. I also need to check on my hands. It’s been an entire day without changing the bandages, and I haven’t felt any pain in them since yesterday which concerns me greatly… I fear… well, let’s just take a look.

I unwrap my hands… I pause for a moment as I’m not sure my eyes can be believed.

I finally finish unwrapping the make-shift bandages, and yep, it’s like they were never injured in the first place. No cuts, scars, infection, nothing…

[Blood Syphon], I mean, it has to be, right?

Despite the disbelief, I am relieved not to find gangrenous digits hanging on by a thread so I will accept this like everything else. I mean, what else can I do?

Anyway, enough of this. Let's make a fire and get some needed sleep.