『Status』

『Titles』: 『Unseen Bow』『War Veteran』『Survivor』『Human Slayer』

『General Information』

Name: Roland Wright Gender: Male Age: 32 Years Race: Human Level: 28 Class/Level: 「Ranger LV27」「Scout LV21」

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

『Status』

Health Points: 982 / 982 (+9.85/s)

Mana Points: 444 / 444 (+4.44/s)

Stamina Points: 738/ 738 (+5.07/s)

『Attributes』

Strength: 255

Endurance: 223

Intelligence: 227

Dexterity/Agility: 297

Perception: 331

Wisdom: 217

Charisma: 53

Luck: 11

『Skill List』

「Hand-to-Hand Combat LV3」「Bow Techniques LV7」「Fear Resistance LV2」「Dash LV3」「Presence Perception LV6」「Enhanced Hearing LV5」「Enhanced Smell LV5」「Enhanced Eyesight LV5」「Crisis Perception LV4」 「Trap Disarm LV3」「Trap Detection LV4」 「Trap Creation LV4」 「Tracking LV5」 「Dagger Technique LV3」 「Assassination LV5」 「Silent Steps LV5」

Standing in front of Rae and Norton was Roland Wright. A Ranger under Norton’s command and one of the people serving under him the longest. He carried a long steel bow and a quiver of arrows. He was wearing leather boots, pants and a chest piece with a steel pauldron on his right shoulder and a hooded cloak draped over his left. His oily and shiny looking black hair was slicked back. He had a pointy nose, that, when coupled with the rest of his face and hair, made him look like a playful womanizer.

Rae wasn’t one to judge someone by only their appearance, but when Roland opened his mouth…

“Yo, Boss! I heard we’re hunting a Dire Boar out in the Dark Forest,” he did not deviate from Rae’s imagination.

“Eric and the higher-ups want me to use this opportunity to Level him up for the auction in 5 days,” said Norton while pointing at Rae.

Rae was perplexed at how such a guy could obtain「Assassination」 and was also curious about the skill as well.

『Akashic System』「Assassination」- Deal bonus damage depending on the level of「Assassination」when the enemy is struck unaware.

‘Given his skill list, it makes sense now. He strikes people from a hidden location and that triggers「Assassination」. Dangerous. While a Warrior like Norton warrants precaution with his high stats, a man swinging a blade in front of you is much easier to deal with than someone striking from the dark. It’s surprising his Classes aren’t assassination-related,’ thought Rae.

While Rae was thinking, Roland was also stunned at Rae appearance.

When Norton drew attention to Rae, Roland was dumbfounded with eyes nearly popping out. He had heard rumors of the elf-like goblin that was training under his Captain but seeing it was another thing.

‘Is this thing really a goblin? It’s more beautiful than the women I’ve slept with! And those crimson eyes that draw you in… No wonder the Big Bosses want to sell it. It’s bound to create an uproar at the auction.’

After they were both done evaluating each other in their own way, Roland asked, “Does it have a name?”

‘I do…’ Rae answered in his mind but would never say out loud.

“No, the goblin that gave birth to him was sent by a merchant for the auction while she was pregnant so he never received his name,” answered Norton.

Roland noticed something in the way Norton was speaking about the goblin, but decided not to mention it. ‘Does the Captain realize what he’s doing?’

“I see,” answered Roland. Then he stepped closer and looked Rae up and down as if he was examining the rare creature. “Hey, are you male or female? I mean, look at you,” said Roland with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

‘Bastard! I see that look in your eyes! I’m a man!’ cursed Rae. Rae could only sigh at his appearance that he had never even seen before. “I am male, Master,” Rae said with his most amiable smile possible while cursing Roland on the inside.

Roland nearly choked at the sight. ‘Damn, this thing is too beautiful.’

Norton began to scold Roland. “Roland quit fooling around. And he’s a goblin for crying out loud. I know you have a hard time keeping ‘it’ in your pants, but don’t go too far. Also, watch what you say. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s mutated or what, but he’s a lot smarter than average goblins. His intelligence is comparable to humans.”

“Oh? That’s interesting. I’m even more excited for the hunt now,” said Roland.

‘If he didn’t screw around so much, he definitely could have become an outstanding figure somewhere else.’ Norton lamented at Roland’s seemingly wasted potential.

After the odd introduction, the trio began to run for about a day and a half straight, south of the compound to the edge of the Dark Forest. Only making occasional stops to eat and rest. The reason they ran instead of using horses was that it was also part of Rae’s training.

Rae wasn’t surprised he could run for that long and that fast as the『Akashic System』gave them Attributes and Skills that would make someone a superhuman on Earth.

When the trio reached the outer edge of the forest, it was night mid-day.

“Roland, do you have a trail?” Although Norton scolded Roland a lot, he trusted his tracking abilities.

Roland walked around the area and while looking at the ground and sniffing the air. “Yeah, I have its scent. It’s this way. We’re close to White’s first kill,” he said with a smile on his face.

While they were traveling, Roland had taken to calling Rae, ‘White’ since goblins are often times referred to as ‘green skins’. Norton had tried stopping him but was given the excuse that it didn’t matter since he was the only one that was going to call him that anyway. Norton only sighed at his mischievous subordinate when he heard that. Rae actually thought it was better than being called ‘goblin’ constantly, but showed no emotion at the name.

Roland then led the way into the forest after confirming it was the scent of the Dire Boar.

As they walked past the tree line, Rae felt something hanging at the edge of his perception, but when he tried to focus on it, it went away. He passed it off as his lack of experience being in the wild.

While Roland was following the scent of the Dire Boar, he signaled everyone to stop and held his ear to the air. Rae also noticed something strange in the atmosphere as well but didn’t show it to keep his abilities hidden.

“Boss, there are no animals in the area. No birds, insects, nothing,” Roland said with a rare seriousness in his voice.

Norton thought for a second and then looked at Norton. “Maybe the Dire Boar scared the surrounding animals,” he said, but he was a bit skeptical at this reason.

“Maybe, or maybe there’s something bigger out there...,” Roland hypothesized.

“There hasn’t been any sighting of something stronger than a Dire Boar being near the edge of the forest though. We’ll see if there’s anything else after we deal with the Dire Boar,” Norton decided.

‘I should focus my「Enhanced Six Senses」as much as possible since someone, as experienced as Roland, is feeling off,’ Rai said to himself.

Roland kept leading them and they began to see fallen trees. As they walked further they saw a puddle of blood that had a trail of it leading somewhere.

Roland walked to the puddle, crouched down, and touched it. “Looks like it’s injured from something,” he said while touching the blood. “And it’s fresh.”

“Let’s hurry. If it’s alone, we’ll have White handle it, and if there’s something else… it’ll depend on what it is,” Norton said as the leader.

“Well okay, I’ll lead on. Oh, and Boss, you said 'White',” said Roland with a smirk.

"Shut up..."

As the two were about to continue on, they noticed Rae wasn’t moving and was staring at the blood from the Dire Boar.

‘I thought that vampires would feel an urge to gorge on blood at the sight of it, but I don’t feel that. In fact, when I look at the blood, even though it’s not connected to life-force, it feels like it’s calling me.’ Rae felt the blood whispering in his ears in a tiny voice he couldn’t hear. Trying to tempt him, to act on his instincts as an Origin Vampire.

Before he knew it, he was walking closer to the blood. The whisper became louder as it called him when he got closer.

When he was a step away from the blood, he reached out with his hand, and that’s when the whisper became loud enough for him to understand it.

It whispered, “Rule us, Sovereign.”