Noah groggily got back to his feet, and thankfully there was no immediate arrow shot to welcome him. That meant that either Will had succeeded, or the chase was still going on. Though from the burns that covered both his arms, he wasn’t in much of a position to offer assistance anyway.

Reluctantly using a health potion, he saw the burns slowly recede. Now that the adrenaline was wearing out, he was finally beginning to feel the sting. Luckily, the health potion’s warm energy that was nourishing his wounds counter-acted a significant portion of it, but Noah still moved to their agreed meeting point with a clenched jaw.

The blazing line of fire that Noah had carved out was now beginning to die down, a blaze of glory that only lasted for a few minutes before flickering out. The destruction he’d wrought offered him a clean, shrubbery-free path back home, so he definitely wasn’t one to complain.

A short jog later, he found himself back at the clearing where they had chosen to make their last stance. Natalie had run in a straight line, away from where the action was taking place, and a slight, but a visible trail of blood had been left behind in her wake. With that injury, she couldn’t be running too fast anyway, and she had already mentioned something about leaving signs.

After ten minutes of light jogging, he saw a curved branch that had been manually planted into the ground, veering towards the left. Crude, but smart, Noah liked it. From then on, it was only a matter of following the branches’ directions and keeping his eyes open lest he miss one.

Finally, he saw a tree in the distance, and knew that he had arrived at his destination.

“Natalie?” Noah asked, slightly raising his voice so that he would be heard.

“Noah?” she questioned in a frail voice. “Where’s Will?”

“I think he should be here soon. I got lucky and dealt with mine quite easily, but with Will’s strength I can’t see him having any trouble,” said Noah, finally getting some time to catch his breath. Before he rested himself at the base of the tree though, there was still one more thing to be done.

'Notifications', thought Noah, before being bombarded with a series of messages.

Killed Goblin Marksman, Level 4, Adept - 2550 EXP, 1000 EP awarded. Loot Tab Goblin Boots, Common Royal Oak Shortbow, Uncommon (Req: 10 DEX) Infinity Quiver, Uncommon Serrated Knife, Common Congratulations! You have reached level 4. You have 5 unassigned stat points. You have slain 2 Adept level foes. Bestiary unlocked. Discovery bonus for [Goblin Rogue] and [Goblin Marksman] granted. Please continue to expand your Bestiary for greater rewards! Special reward available for completing the [Goblin] Archetype. 1000 EP Awarded for discovery of [Goblin Rogue] and [Goblin Marksman]! Title Unlocked- Explorer

'Holy FREAKING Moly! I'm fucking rich!!' was the first thought that came into Noah's mind, and the excitement only increased when he saw the Uncommon bow and the Infinity Quiver. Anything with infinity in the name had to be good, right!? Though it was followed by a chilling thought, the damn goblin was a level 4 adept with at least 10 Dexterity.... the motherfucker was practically a god damn ninja. If he hadn't chosen to assault its senses with fire... wait, was he even meant to kill the thing!?

A chill went down Noah's spine, and he wondered how others were faring in the trial.

Gridlocked Survivors - 794

'Yeesh' thought, Noah, the night shift had definitely taken its toll. Though once you got over the initial terror of stumbling around in the darkness and got used to being shot at.... well as used to as you can get, it wasn't 'too' bad. Another thing that Noah noted was that the marksman never engaged in close-range combat. Because Noah knew that if it had decided to come personally along with the chumps it sent as a distraction, their odds of survival would have been much, much slimmer.

Guess there were some limitations in play, after all.

Royal Oak Shortbow, Uncommon Grade Ranged Weapon

Requirements: 10 DEXTERITY

A weapon forged from a quality variant of the oak tree, doused in a special solution to increase its pliability and endurance, and finally strung together with a mesh of natural fibers in the perfect ratio in order to provide its wielder with both comfort and power.

Viable in short to medium range, though in the hands of a skilled wielder its greatest strength lies in its ability to withstand repeated shots in quick succession with minimal inconvenience to the wielder.

Ghostly Marksman: Upon firing three consecutive shots in thirty seconds, movement speed will increase by 20% for 5 minutes. Cooldown- 1h (Loses effectiveness after level 10)

Infinity Quiver, Support type Uncommon Grade Ranged Equipment

Automatically generates 50 Common Grade Iron tipped arrows daily.

Lucky Draw: Exchange 50 Common Grade arrows generated by the Infinity Quiver for 1 Uncommon grade arrow generated at random. Note: Arrows exchanged must be generated by the Infinity Quiver.

Noah was practically heaving after seeing the absolute goldmine that he'd inadvertently struck, these were massive upgrades that he had no idea even existed on the first floor. The boxes had yielded no weapons, but just killing one Adept Marksman had given him two uncommon grade weapons that he was practically drooling over.

Without Liam on his side, Noah would feel uncomfortable in distributing his stat points, lest he make some mistake. He wanted to see the look on the old codger's face when Noah showed him his slick new tools, but that was for later. Holding out on stat points was never a smart move, and he just happened to have a weapon that needed 10 dexterity.

Name

Noah Smith

Level

4

Race

Human

Title

Explorer

Primordial Spirit

(0/8 slots filled)

Combat Art

-

Intelligence

4

Strength

4

Wisdom

2

Constitution

5+1= 6

Dexterity

6+4= 10

Luck

0

Intrigued by the new Titles bar, Noah pressed on the Explorer Title out of curiosity.

Explorer, Basic Grade Title +5 % Essence Points when discovering new species.

Noah did the math and realized that it was a pretty decent title. If he had the title when he discovered his first two adept species, he would've earned 50 EP. Hey, a free health potion wasn't something to be scorned at, after the number of times it had saved his ass.

Done collating his gains, he walked up to Natalie with another spare sword in his hands, just in case something decided to pounce on them. Will and Natalie had proved themselves to be pretty trustworthy, and Will's ability had left a deep impression on him.

If possible, he would prefer that this partnership last.