Behind!

Locke rushed forward dodging a greatsword slash from the boss that would have cleaved him in two. Slamming into the wall the oversized weapon took a huge chunk out of it, the power behind that swing made Locke nervous. There was no way he could survive a single hit from that weapon. Quickly turning around to position himself better he finally got a good look at the boss. The monster was bleeding from wounds all over it's body. Even with the wounds the sergeant was still standing strong, as if the damage it has taken didn't matter at all.

Do boss monsters like this get extra stats or something? Why is a goblin boss this strong? How is it still able to fight like this. Was it able to eat and didn't get a hunger debuff or something? Or is the debuff actually applied but it remains this powerful despite that.

They continued to stare each other down for a few seconds, sizing each other up. At least until the boss got into a stance Locke immediately recognized. It was the one that took his arm. There was no way he was going to stay in range for that and quickly started leaping backwards. During that time he was preparing an ice spear to send at the sergeants face when it charged forward at insane speeds.

Good luck dodging this one!........huh?

The active skill never went off and the sergeant just tossed a dagger at him instead. It looked like the boss canceled the skill because it wasn't going to land....smart. Locke was ready this time and dodged to the side easy enough while he sent his ice spear towards it's right leg. The hobgoblin sergeant avoided the spell with ease and started to close the distance between itself and Locke. Normally he would not waste mana in a situation like this on spells that can easily be avoided. However, he already started the cast during the dash skill activation and couldn't stop the spell or refund the mana.

Locke continued to retreat backwards while avoiding the bosses melee attack range as well as making sure to be able to dodge any range weapons it decided to throw in his direction.

180 mana left, it's endurance is high enough to where I need to continue casting short range spells of 40 mana or higher to cause any sort of damage. How do I guarantee these spells to land.

His brain continued to run through scenarios until.

Not a bad plan....risky though, but I don't really have many options. The boss is still as agile as me even with those wounds...it will corner me eventually. This is annoying, I didn't expect it to be this fast.

With his plan set in stone it was time to put it in motion. He moved into close range and continued to dodge the creatures attacks while simultaneously sending minimum mana cost ice spears towards it's face. The boss had no idea if these spells could harm it or not forcing it to dodge each one. Locke didn't care if these missed, he just needed the boss to react in a way that left an opening to exploit. Everything was going well aside from the couple close calls where the massive sword barely clipped him, or when the boss almost grabbed a hold of his arm.

Eventually the opening showed itself and Locke launched himself forward with a shocking touch ready to connect with it's face. The monster flashed a slight smile before it bellowed out a roar causing Locke to halt in his tracks. Locke remained frozen in front of the creature with visible fear plastered over his face. The boss moved slowly towards him laughing and raising it's greatsword overhead ready to cut him in half down the middle.

“dumbass.”

Locke dropped the charade as he was never feared in the first place due to his wisdom. The monster was in no position to defend against the attack when it took a shocking touch spell to the face. The hobgoblin sergeant dropped its sword on the first hit and then fell to the ground on the second. Locke wasn't letting this chance go and continued punching the boss with his electrified hands. Over and over he cast shocking touch and slammed the bosses face until the deed was done.

With a heavy sigh Locke got up and stumbled backwards onto the wall of a nearby building to give himself a moment. He knew it wasn't over yet especially if the five hobgoblin's returned right at this exact moment but it didn't matter. This fight taxed him both mentally and physically. After roughly thirty seconds passed Locke looked down at the weapon the boss was using and attempted to pick it up. The weapon wouldn't budge as it was too heavy.

What is this made of.....I want it.

Locke healed up the small amount of damage he recieved from the boss fight with healing touch. Most of the damage taken was due to the recoil from punching the boss with 5 endurance. Locke surveyed the area for any enemies and then found a spot with decent cover before opening his status windows to see what he missed.

The hell is this?

First thing Locke noticed was he was now level 13 and had 35 free attributes to spend. Then going through the notifications he found out that he completed five world firsts as well as the goblin fort quest. One thing Locke couldn't understand is how he was the first one to complete an optional dungeon objective, were they rare? He could somewhat understand being the first to kill an optional boss and dangerous monster solo. This sergeant was hard to find in this place and if a tutorial optional boss is this difficult, one could only imagine how strong they are outside of it.

Locke was curious why it counted him soloing the boss though as he did receive a ton of help from the worgs. There was no way he would have been able to kill the boss if it wasn't as wounded as it was. His only thoughts were since no other player helped and that his contributions were high enough the system still counted it.

Alright well first things first lets dump all these stat points into strength. I am tired of dealing with inventory carry weight restrictions and I want that great sword. If I am to use it with one hand I will need much more strength anyways. I can then switch my boost between agility, endurance and perception instead.

He grabbed the sword and stored it in his inventory before finding a good spot to lay low. There were still some enemies left around even though the quest completed. Locke figured that with the small amount of goblins remaining they could not run this fort any longer, especially with the leader dead.

Alright let's try my luck at these item rolls. Let's start with the world first reward.

Locke selected to receive an armor slot as it seemed like the most useful. A notification window appeared on his screen showing him the stats of the item that was shoved into his inventory.

Half plate of minor spell warding

Craftsmanship - C

Material Grade - D

Material Tier - 2

Type – Heavy Armor - Increases mana cost for all spells by 40%

Durability 150/150

Enchantment - Raises the wearers endurance attribute by 10 when spell damage is calculated.

This armor is quite good....that drawback though makes it almost useless for me. Increasing the mana cost of all my spells included the small physical attribute boost. The defensive properties seem good.....no it's not worth it.

How strong equipment is was determined by three categories, craftsmanship, material grade, and material tier.

1) Craftsmanship - Depending on how well an item is crafted it will receive a rank from F to A. When a crafting profession creates the item it is given a rating based on multiple factors. mastery, technique, and working conditions etc. The higher the rank the better the item.

2) Material Tier - The biggest factor on how strong an item is. The system didn't say how many tiers there were. For example Tier 1 for metal weapons and armor was bronze and Tier 2 was iron.

3) Material Grade - Material tiers can come in different grades. The higher quality material used will increase the final grade given when an item is crafted. The higher the grade the stronger the end resulting craft will be.

There were two catagories for armor light and heavy. Light armor was the most commonly worn armor type as they gave less defensive properties than heavy armor but had little to no penalties. Heavy armor increases the players defence greatly in protected areas, but had harsh penalties. All heavy armor will raise the mana cost of spells and if you didn't have enough strength your overall speed would be reduced.

All in all even before the enchantment this armor would most likely give quite a defensive boost. However, Locke didn't really need defence right now. He was confident in his ability to stay alive for the time being and didn't need to sacrifice his offence or utility just yet.

Well....maybe it will sell for a lot later. Let's try a glove slot item next.

Leather gloves of minor strength

Craftsmanship - D

Material Grade - D

Material Tier - 2

Type – Light Gloves

Durability 75/75

Enchantment: Increases Strength attribute by 5 while worn.

Locke was extremely statisfied with this result and put the gloves on right away, then took out the greatsword.

Hobgoblin Masterwork Greatsword

Craftsmanship - C

Material Quality - C

Material Tier - 1

Type - Heavy Greatsword - Requires higher strength to wield properly

Durability – 32/80

The weapon was quite large roughly five feet in length. It had a single sharp edge that rounded itself out at the tip remaining sharp the whole way. The entire backside of the weapon was completely dull and flat all the way to the tip. The weapon was also approximately one foot wide with a slightly larger hilt at the bottom to cover your hands. The handle was pretty basic though, decent grip and sturdy. There were chips throughout the blade from overuse most likely.

What a ridiculous weapon....I like it.

There were a couple glaring problems with his new greatsword. Even with 45 strength the weight of the weapon was unwieldy with one hand, once he activated his boost he could use it though. The other issue was carrying the damn thing. There was no sheath for it so he would either have to rest it on his shoulder the whole time or throw it into his inventory. Tossing it in his inventory was the best choice, but he decided to keep it out at least for now. He wasn't exactly sure but getting used to the weight of the weapon by constantly holding onto it seemed like a good idea.

Opening up his character screen Locke was quite satisfied with his progress.

Maybe I should push for a little bit more? There could be even more undiscovered secrets waiting for me.