(Max)

That be a very big goblin! Takes lots of hits, me thinks!

"Max!" Braden-friend calls out. "Get back here!"

Me run back to Braden-friend, look at big goblin again, this time be with Appraisal.

Goblin Giant Level 2 Health: 987 Mana: 45

It be have that much Health, but that little Mana? It be stupid? Need lots of Mana for attacks! Me not want fight big, ugly, stupid goblin, just all the regular goblins around it. Well, some are regular goblins. A few not be. One even has a sword!

Caster goblin throws needles of stone at Max and Braden-friend, so we jump to sides, avoid being struck.

"Dammit, Zack!" Me hear Braden-friend mutter.

What be Boss's fault? He not do this! We need be fight monsters here to retrieve banner! Big, ugly goblin be wearing it like it be a cape. Bad big gobby!

"Max!" Braden-friend calls out. "Focus your attacks on the Goblin Giant! I'll deal with the others!"

Does Braden-friend be stupid? Max give him look that say he be stupid. Me not able to kill Goblin Giant on own! No spells strong enough! Look at all that Health! It probably be have strong Willpower!

"Max! Look out!" Braden-friend exclaims, so me smack the arrow shot at Max. Ooh! Caught it! Not what Max meant to do, but it be work, too! "Max, stop goofing around and attack the Goblin Giant!"

Arrows of green light attack caster goblin, and Max decide attack giant goblin.

"Fireball!" Max start casting Fireballs as run around.

Must be careful, not use all magic at once. That be bad. Very bad. Got cut doing that! Small cut, not fun anyway!

Target -28 Health! Target -34 Health! Target -26 Health!

Ooh! Doing damage! Hey! That be lots of damage! Me no use Firebomb, though, that not be as strong as Fireball yet. Need work on that first. But on other monsters. Different fight for sure!

So me keep casting Fireballs at the big, ugly goblin. But we maybe have problem. Max not have enough Max Mana to kill big, ugly goblin from full. That be even when all Fireballs hit! Which mean me need recover Mana during fight. That be take time, though. More than three minutes back to enough, if me right about what be what Boss say. If so, then it be take Max around three minutes and fourteen seconds to recover 120 Mana, which be how much more Mana me need.

It be what Boss say, though, so it definitely be right. Yeah!

"Max!" Braden-friend calls out. "Stop munching on a rat and help!"

Huh? When did Max find the rat? Oooh! Must have picked it up while running, it not be from stored! It still be warm! Yummy!

"Fireball!"

Big, ugly goblin dodged it. Bad gobby!

"Fireball fur-" only cast two Fireballs before stop. "Bad Max!"

"Good Max!" Braden-friend exclaims. "Good Max! Hit it with everything you've got!"

"Okay!"

Me cast all the Fireballs, then! One after another, boom, boom, boom! Most hit the big, ugly goblin, but a few miss and strike others. Bad gobbies! No getting in me way!

Hm. There be a few more bodies than before. Oh! Because Braden-friend killed a few! Yay! Max kill, too! Die!

(Braden)

Max is having far too much fun for this fight, but it made me realize something about him. Fireball Fury isn't actually Fireball Fury. It's just him saying 'fury' whenever he starts rapidcasting Fireballs. The fact that he had already cast two Fireballs, yet hadn't said the full thing, is what told me.

He's just repeatedly using the Fireball Skill without chanting. I thought it was supposed to be rare, but Zack, Luca, Max, and I can all do it. I can't if I'm in a stressful situation like right now, but the others seem to be able to do it on a whim.

Does that mean Gavin can do it, too?

"Max!" I call out once he's run out of Mana, making sure to raise my voice so he can hear me. "Focus on the weaker goblins! You and I can't hurt the bigger one with our attacks, only your magic!"

I could take on the Goblin Giant with a critical shot to its eyes, but the few times I've tried so far, it's blocked my arrows. It might be slow, but even a slight turn of its head stops my shots. It wasn't even doing it intentionally, I don't think.

That, or it purposely keeps moving its head around so that I don't have a good aim. I could stun it if I had the right Skill, but the problem for that is that my stats are too low. If I remember Brandon correctly, Lightning Arrow adds an additional amount of damage to the attack based on my Intellect and Strength, and will stun the struck targets so long as its Willpower is lower than the damage of the attack.

Far too weak. Max's Fireballs have an effective 140 Intellect, or around there, but they were only taking out an average of 27 Health per shot, which means the Goblin Giant has around 110 Willpower.

"Magic Arrow, Power Shot, Multishot," I whisper as I draw my bow, a shimmering green arrow forming again as I aim at the two goblins coming up behind Max, who is currently dodging the Fireballs of the Goblin Shaman.

I release the string, and the arrow soars forward, splitting into two as it travels. Each strikes true, right into the eyes of the goblins. Those were ordinary ones, though, so it wasn't too hard, especially as they were distracted.

I try to get a good aim on others, but realize I'm not going to, even as I adjust my position, moving from building and floor to building and floor. It takes me a few minutes to realize that while Max could continue attacking the Goblin Giant, he's only avoiding its attacks…

As he continues to dodge the Goblin Shaman's attacks. But almost the entire time, he's keeping the Goblin Shaman's eyes in my line of sight. My line of fire.

Max is distracting something he can't take on his own in order to give me the opportunity to take out the second-strongest thing here. Thank you, Max, for not being as much of an idiot as you seem at times.

Drawing my string, I summon up another Magic Arrow. Inhale. Exhale. Focus. Channel. Draw upon the powers within. This is not an ordinary Magic Arrow, this is an arrow of lightning.

Sparks begin to dance on the arrow, and a Skill notification appears in my vision.

New Skill! Lightning Shot Active Arrow has increased flight speed and the attribute of lightning Damage: +10% Intellect and Strength per Level of this Skill Stun: 5 seconds per Level of this Skill if target has less Willpower than the damage of the attackl Cost: 25 Mana

"Multishot," I aim at both the Goblin Shaman, which the stun probably won't affect, and the regular goblin coming up on Max.

Then, I release the string, and my Lightning Shot zips through the sky with a light crack, striking true on both. I wasn't able to nail the second goblin in the eye, but it was still stunned by the shot.

The Goblin Shaman was struck directly in the left eye, and as soon as the Critical Kill notice appears, Max has moved, striking at the goblin I stunned.

30 Mana for a Lightning Shot, plus an extra 10 Mana for every additional arrow fired through Multishot. The good thing about Multishot, though, is that it's only an additional 10 Mana, and I don't spend the full cost of each extra Arrow.

Well, that's only good if I'm not using just a Magic Arrow, or it's actually extra Mana.

I'm sure my arrow didn't penetrate deep enough into the Goblin Shaman to kill it, but the extra power and the electrical aspect to the arrow took care of the rest, and I stopped the other goblin, so I'm glad I don't have to pay the full price on special arrows with Multishot.

It's still draining, though. I've been firing quite a few arrows and am low on Mana, even with what's regenerated over the last few minutes.

"Max! Take out the big one! You've the Mana for it!"

"Fireball!" Max jumps onto a goblin, then punches towards the Goblin Giant, a Fireball forming and bursting out. "Fall, you big, ugly gobby!"

Max jumps off the goblin only a moment after landing on it and does a backflip, performing several more punches in the direction of the Goblin Giant, then lands as his Fireballs connect.

He didn't use up all of his Mana, and the Goblin Giant still has a little Health left.

"Me take care of others!" Max charges one of the Goblin Knights. "Braden-friend kill big ugly gobby!"

As Max attacks the goblins, I aim at the Goblin Giant, then spot an archer on another rooftop and change my aim. Multishot can only spread so much, and I wouldn't be able to stop that if I went after the Goblin Giant first.

So I summon up a Magic Arrow with Power Shot, using Multishot to summon two additional arrows, then release my string. The arrow splits into three, and all three strike at the Goblin Archer before it can release its arrow. Unfortunately, that causes it to, but the arrow pretty much falls down rather than actually shoots.

Damn you, Zack. You knew that Max and I weren't good for frays against a lot of monsters, so you put this banner – and probably the others – in areas where not only would be be forced to fight large groups of monsters, but draw the attention of others.

Luca and Braden are probably dealing with ranged monsters, since that's their weakness.

With that archer dead, I scan the surroundings before turning my attention back to the Goblin Giant, which is recovering some of that Health Max took out. That's only natural, though, but I need to get in a good shot on its eye, so it doesn't matter. My arrows can't harm it otherwise. Even if I learned Piercing Shot right now, I'm still too weak.

As soon as I reach Level 25, I'm becoming a Novice Elementalist. That will boost both of the important things for me, my Wisdom and my Intellect, directly increasing my Mana and magical power.

Almost there.

My first few shots miss the Goblin Giant's eyes entirely due to its movements as it attempts to strike at Max, who is mixing his rogue style with his magic to do what damage he can. However, one shot connects with one of its eyes. It doesn't pierce deeply enough to penetrate the brain, though, but critical damage is critical damage.

Then the Goblin Giant succeeds in striking Max, and the beastborn is thrown into a building. That has to hurt.

We're too weak to handle this right now. We got here without a single fight, and it turned out that we probably should have fought monsters. Max probably could take care of the Goblin Giant, but everything else? Far too much for us at the moment.

"Max!" I call out. "Retreat!"

"Never!" He calls back as he charges back towards the mountain.

"Max, even if we kill the giant, everything else will kill us! Retreat!"

"Meanies!" Max exclaims. "Smoke bomb!"

A cloud of smoke erupts around Max, and it takes me a moment to realize he used an item, not a Skill.

I track where Max exits the cloud of smoke and hastily move to join him in the retreat as the goblins are blinded by the smoke. We run for several blocks, then duck into a building and collapse against a wall, breathing heavily.

"Me kill Goblin Giant!" Max pouts.

No, you didn't! I know you didn't!

Oh. That's what he was saying. He was saying he could have killed it.

"I know, Max," I say, my voice as soft as it usually is. I really don't want to say everything I'm about to, but I need to because of the situation and the fact that it's Max. "But we were already fighting for a few minutes, and while you might have been able to kill the Goblin Giant, what about the rest? What if another Goblin Shaman showed up? I had to take out six archers while we fought.

"In addition to that," I continue as he pouts again. "There were fifty of those monster there, and most of them had decent Health, Endurance, and Willpower values, which means that even your Fireballs wouldn't be able to kill them all before you were exhausted."

"Me have lots of stamina!" Max thumps his chest. "Me be fine, Braden-friend!"

"One," I hold up a finger. "I've told you to call me 'Braden', Max. Please do, Max. Two-"

"But-" Max interrupts as I hold up a second finger. "You be Max's friend! You be Braden-friend!"

"Do you call Zack 'Zack-boss'?" I ask.

"No, he be Boss," Max gives me a look that says it should be obvious and I'm a moron. "Why be call Boss Zack-boss? He be Boss, Braden-friend. That be right. Always call the boss 'Boss', just like always call the master 'Master'."

"And you call your friends by their names," I tell him. "That's what you're supposed to do, Max."

"You be sure?" He asks uncertainly.

"Yes," I nod. "So call me 'Braden', okay?"

"Okay," Max nods. "What be second?"

"What?" I ask.

"You holding two fingers up, not one," Max points at my fingers, which I realize I'm still holding up. "And say 'two'. But you no finish because I talk."

"Second," I say. "You do have a lot of stamina, but the goblins here are stronger than the slimes we fought outside. Remember yesterday, when the four of us had to take on those five Goblin Knights? You were tired after, right? And got hurt?"

"Yes," Max nods. "But these not be Goblin Knights!"

"You're right," I nod. "They aren't all Goblin Knights. They're a variety, that's true, but there are a lot more of them, and they take more effort and power to kill. You'd be using a lot more Mana to wipe everything out, and that might leave you vulnerable."

Max thinks on that, and after a minute, he nods.

"So what be our strategy, Braden," he says my name carefully and with emphasis, as if needing to remind himself not to add on 'friend' after it. "Me happy do strategy if it be make us win."

"First," I say. "How many smoke bombs do you have, and did you buy them and not tell Zack?"

"Huh?" Max makes a face. "Why me be tell Boss me have smoke bombs?"

"We were supposed to tell him everything we bought the day before we came here."

"Ooooh!" Max's tail wags and he giggles. "Max no buy smoke bombs! Make them with servant beastborn."

"On the day we were supposed to be shopping?" I ask.

"No, silly Braden!" He rolls his eyes, and I do a quick check to make sure nothing's hearing us talking. "What you be doing? Nothing there. Max listening."

He points to his ears.

"I still wanted to check," I tell him as I sit back down. "And you're keeping an eye-and ear out?'

"Yes," he nods. "Me have good Perception, so me be listening. Only hear hearts from Max and Braden."

"Slimes don't have hearts."

"No," Max giggles. "They go 'pulse, pulse, pulse'. Sounds all funny and gross, so easy to hear."

I never noticed that. I'm also pretty sure I have a higher Perception than Max, which means that it was something I didn't observe. Something I didn't think much of, no doubt. I've listened for their bouncing, but when they slide across the stones of the streets, they don't really make much noise at all.

When it's not important, I'll listen to the slimes, see if they really do make a pulsing sound. It could just be Max's imagination.

"Okay, Max," I say. "What all do you have? How many smoke bombs, and anything else?"

"Max has ten smoke bombs," Max tells me. "Five poison cloud bombs. Sparky bomb. Only one sparky bomb. It be for revenge."

"Revenge?" I ask.

"Yes," Max nods. "Evil slimy hurt Max, so me make sparky bomb with Gold and Thalia and Gracie. Slimy gonna be go zzzzt when hit with it!"

Max giggles in excitement at the thought of… whatever he's doing. I suppose it's a strong Water Slime he faced during the individual training sessions, there were a couple of larger ones in the fields during our grind together, but they were in the distance.

"You have poison cloud bombs?" I ask.

"Yes," Max nods. "Me have five of them and ten smoke bombs."

"Is that ten including the one you used?"

"No, silly Braden," Max rolls his eyes. "Max had eleven before using that one. Now me have ten."

He opens up his Inventory and pulls out the ten smoke bombs and five poison bombs. Each one is around two inches in diameter, with the former being wrapped in some sort of grey paper, the latter in green paper. I suppose that makes it easy to know which one is which.

"Why do you have poison bombs?" I ask.

"In case me be need them," Max tells me. "Max need be very careful if use, or me might get hurt by them, too."

"Yeah," I nod. "Let's not use the poison cloud bombs unless we can't avoid it, okay? Especially without Luca here to heal us."

Max nods.

"Okay," I say. "Give me a few minutes to think over the plan, okay, Max? Keep watch for monsters, but don't be obvious about it."

He nods, and I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes, listening as Max occasionally peeks up out the windows.

Zack put our banners in areas where we would be forced to fight groups of monsters. This was done intentionally to play at our weakness of dealing with large groups. We also have several Goblin Giants to face off against, which takes a lot, even for Max.

Gavin would be more suited for this because of his warrior style. He can get in close and strike with his sword. With Luca healing him, he wouldn't have to worry about his Health too much, either, and he has Heal, too.

They're probably fighting ranged things, which is what Max and I would have been better off fighting.

In other words, this isn't just a challenge for us. This is more than that – it's training. Zack wants us to think outside of just acquiring the banners. If we simply go for the banners, we'll wear ourselves down and possibly risk dying and needing actual rescue.

Max could probably take out half of the goblins before being taken down, but unless I do eyeshots, I'm useless. My attacks are too weak at the moment. We both need more Mana and more Intellect, so that we can cast more and do more damage.

Which means that Max and I need to push ourselves against groups of monsters, of which there are plenty here. Unlike our past five days of training, nearly all encounters will be against at least three to five monsters.

A recipe for rapid growth in Levels, when they've begun to stagnate.

In other words, Zack set things up not just to challenge us, but to allow us to grow. Fighting as a pair will cause us to struggle a little more, which would earn us a little more Experience. If we push things hard, I might be able to reach Level 25 by lunch and take on Novice Elementalist then.

And then I would be able to grind out a few Levels for that, raising my stats more. If Max takes down the Goblin Giants, he'd probably gain a few Levels before lunch as well. By dinner, he might even be Level 25, too.

"I have a plan," I tell Max.

"Does it be involve killing goblins?" He whispers, an actual whisper, not one of those noisy ones, and drops down from where he was looking out the window. "Lots of goblins?"

"Yes," I nod. "For the next few hours, you and I are going to hunt down any group of goblins we might be able to take on. We'll need to increase our stats and Levels higher, along with our Skills, if we want to take out the boss fights that Zack set up for us. Try to raise up Skills other than just Fireball, okay?"

"Okay!" He nods, tail wagging. "Let's go kick gobby ass, Braden! There be ten outside!"

Now that I'm listening to everything again, I can hear them moving down the street. I suppose that's why Max asked if the plan involved fighting goblins.