Three Weeks Later

In the arena, Rae and Norton were currently in a deadlock. Norton had the upper hand, but Rae was holding his own just fine.

Norton was anticipating the next action, of this monstrous goblin that exceeded his expectations.

Rae decided to break the deadlock by sending his left fist across Norton’s face. Norton dodged it but was met with a headbutt.

Except, out of Rae’s expectations, he was the one who became dazed. With Rae unfocused, Norton took that opportunity to send Rae flying with a kick to his chest.

Rae managed to gain his bearings on time and blocked the kick with the flat side of his sword. He was flying through the air until his feet met the ground and he slid across with his hands and feet fighting against the dirt for so long, there were trail marks.

Norton didn’t let this chance slipped and「Dashed」at Rae. Rae was in no position to clash again, so all he could do was to back step while dodging Norton’s strikes.

Norton kept slashing until his blade traced horizontally. That’s when Rae ducked, swiping his legs across Norton’s. Norton’s physical attributes were too strong for Rae, but the kick did make him momentarily lose his balance.

Rae saw that and attempted to strike Norton in his abdomen with his fist, unfortunately, what Norton did was a faint and Rae felt a fist making contact with his face.

*Bang*

He went flying into a tree. Around the tree Rae was planted in, there were other trees surrounding the arena with indentations of a 4 ½ ft. body.

Rae groaned as he pulled himself from out of the wooden shell he had been all too familiar with over the past three weeks.

“Hahaha, got you there that time didn’t I? That was a feint. Not everyone fights cleanly. Also, both of the moves you pulled just now didn't work because my Strength and Endurance are out of your league. You’d do well to remember that, goblin,” Norton said.

Over the past three weeks, Norton had been constantly impressed with Rae to the point he no longer saw him as a mere goblin. He was even disappointed that he would have to stop training such a promising elite within Silver Ridge in a week, because of the Auction.

“I will remember, Master,” Rae said genuinely and bowed his head with his hands to his side. Although they had a “teacher/master-slave” relationship, Norton had sincerely trained him and never treated him badly. He had learned a lot while increasing his attributes and skills and saw him as his second-half teacher. The first being his Kendo instructor, Kawazoe Sensei.

One of the things Norton liked about Rae was his sincerity at the advice given to him. He would even show manners that goblins should not have by bowing, despite Norton not being bonded to his collar. “Good! Rest up for five minutes and we’ll work on your「Dash」,” Norton said. Norton turned to look at a boulder almost taller than Rae and then turned to Rae with a mocking smile. Then he sat down, waiting to see Rae’s miserable face while he kicked back and relaxed.

‘FUUUUUUUCK! The boulder is bigger than yesterday’s.’ Rae hated training his「Dash」because, although it was actually quite good training as it could raise up Dexterity/Agility and Endurance, all it entailed was pulling a boulder for over an hour while performing 「Dash」. He then sighed inwardly and decided to look at the boulder as one really big pebble on the road to get back to Earth.

After Rae was done complaining, he performed his regular breathing exercise and pulled up his status.

『Status』

『Titles』[Hidden]: 『Electra's Gift』『Origin Vampire』

『General Information』

Name: Rae [Hidden] Gender: Male Age: 31 Days Race: Mutated Goblin Level: 1 Class/Level: 「N/A」

『Resistances』[Hidden] :「Lightning: 0%」「Fire: 0%」「Wind: 0%」「Water: 0%」「Earth: 0%」「Light/Holy: 0%」「Darkness: 30% 」「Poison: 0% 」

『Status』[Hidden]

Health Points: 406 / 406 (+12.18/s)

Mana Points: 494 / 494 (+4.94/s)

Stamina Points: 304 / 304 (+3.04/s)

Origin Vampire: Fledgling

『Attributes』[Hidden]

Strength: 115

Endurance: 88

Intelligence: 152

Dexterity/Agility: 137

Perception: 304

Wisdom: 95

Charisma: 110

Luck: 100

『Skill List』[Hidden]

「Blood Manipulation LV1」「Blood Absorption LV1」「Appraisal LV5」「Noble Aura LV1」「Status Concealment」 「Perceptive Eyes LV6」「Night Vision」「Enhanced Six Senses LV3」「Magic Perception LV6」「Darkness Magic LV2」「Universal Language」「Pain Resistance LV2」「Mana Control LV2」「Hand-to-Hand Combat LV3」「Concentration LV3」「Breathing Technique LV5」「Swordsmanship LV3」「Dash LV2」

‘My attributes and a lot of my skills have been raising quite steadily. Unfortunately, my「Darkness Magic 」and「Mana Control」have not made any progress since that one night because I’ve been constantly training with Norton. There’s also the skills I haven’t used like「Blood Manipulation」,「Blood Absorption」and「Noble Aura」,’ thought Rae.

But then he came up with an idea. ‘Why haven’t I thought of it before? Can I use my own blood for「Blood Manipulation」? I’ll have to test it after they auction me off since that’s when I’ll be done with this training. And if it does work, will I cut myself every time I want to use the spell? I do have high regeneration, but... I'll decide on it when I first see it in action. As for「Noble Aura」…? I actually have no clue what it does. Appraise 「Noble Aura」! ‘

『Akashic System』「Noble Aura」- Host may send out an aura of nobility. Those affected by it will begin to hold the Host in awe and high esteem. The effect is amplified or lessened depending on Charisma.

‘Well, I should probably not use that often, or at all,’ thought Rae. It’s not that he didn’t find it useful; he found it incredibly powerful, but with his status as a slave goblin, it would only begin to draw suspicion should the people around him begin to worship him. Worship and treat a slave goblin as a noble? What kind of nonsense was that? Also, he had some slight reservation if he should use such a manipulative skill. Thus, he decided to shelf the skill for now.

As he was contemplating when he would be able to make use of the powerful skill, he heard someone running towards the arena with his enhanced hearing.

It was Eric Crane.

Rae then got up to greet his “Master” and Norton got up as well.

“Eric, why are you in such a hurry? You’ll ruin those pretty noble clothes of yours,” said Norton as a jab.

Eric ignored him as he always did. “I have news! Vice-Captain Thomas that you left in charge since you’ve been training the goblin, has heard reports of a Dire Boar at the edge of the Dark Forest to the south of the compound.”

“Why are you telling me instead of a grunt? Matter of fact, why are you telling me at all? Thomas could’ve handled it.” Although a Dire Boar was a strong creature to the average soldier or adventurer, it was nothing to Norton.

Eric almost blew up on Norton for his lack of foresight but took a deep breath. “I remember you saying that you didn’t have time to train the goblin’s levels because there were no dungeons you could go to within a month. So, you should take the goblin and hunt the Dire Boar,” said Eric.

‘I’m going to be hunting my first monster?’ Rae became excited at the thought of getting his first level and killing his first monster but realized he had never killed a monster before nor did he even know what a ‘Dire Boar’ exactly was. ‘Breathe… Calm down. It would be the crappiest story if you died from recklessness.’

After Rae managed to calm his excitement, a notification popped up.

『Akashic System』Wisdom +1!

『Akashic System』「Breathing Technique LV5」Leveled up!

After Norton thought about it for a second, he decided it was actually a good idea. ‘The goblin has gotten much stronger in the past weeks so he should be able to kill a ‘Dire Boar’ easily with his natural abilities and what I’ve taught him despite being only Level 1 and Classless.’

Eric had a big smile on his face thinking about the gold that was going to come from selling such a rare and strong slave, but as he was counting gold coins in his mind, he was interrupted by Norton.

“Did the report say why a Dire Boar was at the edge of the forest?” wondered Norton. The Silver Ridge compound was a bit to the south-east of Frento, one of the cities they ran their auction in, and south of the compound was the Dark Forest. Because the compound was close to the east side of the forest, the Silver Ridge guard usually made sure the edge of the forest was clear, but never dared to enter further than that because it was vast and unknown; very few people survived when they wandered deep into it.

“No, but it should be fine. You’re personally going.” Although, he and Norton didn’t really get along. He recognized Norton’s ability as the Captain of Silver Ridge Auction House’s Guard.

“I suppose you’re right. Okay, Eric. I’ll get one of my Rangers to come with me to track it. We’ll set out tomorrow.”