~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Daniel

Race: Human

Class: NONE

System: Crouching Dragon System(Legendary)

Merit Points: 6724

Life Force: 100/100(10 years)

Strength: 13

Agility: 12

Mana: 60/60

Physique: Conditioned Physique - Lvl.1

Magic: Mage Apprentice(Beginner) - Lvl.3

Spells: NONE

Techniques: Magic Circulation(Common-Lvl.6), Imperial Swordsmanship(Common-Lvl.3)

Active Skills: True Dragon Eyes(Supreme)

Passive Skills: Comprehension of the Argon Language(Common), Dragon's Pride(Epic), Heart of a Dragon(Epic)

Curse: Unnoticed Potential(Legendary)

~~~~~~~~~~

Nobody in the village had dabbled in the field of magic so a lot of people thought I was meditating when I was actually performing Magic Circulation. I was certain that achieving a level 6 Magic Circulation was no easy feat.

My swordsmanship on the other hand was lacking, especially when compared to father. For reference, father had reached a bottleneck at level 9 Imperial Swordsmanship while I was still at a measly level 3. He told me that after surpassing level 9, the technique had a chance of evolving which was what he was striving for.

That morning, Sam and I gathered at the entrance of the village waiting for father. Father had also trained Sam in Imperial Swordsmanship because he frequently visited my home and was also my only friend.

'System appraise Davis'

~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Davis

Race: Human

Class: Knight Captain(Rare)

Life Force: 380/380(38 years)

Strength: 94.21...

Agility: 67

Physique: Knight Captain(Beginner) - Lvl.9

Magic: Ordinary - Lvl.0

Techniques: Swordplay(Common-Lvl.8), Imperial Swordsmanship(Common-Lvl.9), Imperial Footwork(Rare-Lvl.3), Sword Intent(Rare-Lvl.2)

Active Skills: NONE

Passive Skills: Leader(Rare), Bravery(Common)

~~~~~~~~~~

'I had always wondered how people knew about technique levels when they did not have systems. Father had told me they used an item called a status mirror which reflected their information.'

'System appraise Sam.'

~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Sam

Race: Half-Human, Half-Angel

Class: NONE

Life Force: 100/100(10 years)

Strength: 20

Agility: 12

Mana: 0/0

Physique: Tempered Body - Lvl.2

Magic: Mana Sense - Lvl.1

Techniques: Imperial Swordsmanship(Common-Lvl.3)

Active Skills: NONE

Passive Skills: Motivated(Rare), Righteous(Epic)

~~~~~~~~~~

'What the f*ck is this. Angels exist?' I thought, looking at the blonde haired kid who was the same age as me.

When I saw his swordsmanship level, I started despairing at the fact that he had caught up to me through a single year of training. Was I that unskilled?

'I had spent a long hard four years to reach my current level...'

I seemed to have forgotten a crucial detail about Sam.

'Life is truly unfair...'

"Haha! You kids ready?" Davis popped up in front of us and ended my depressive thoughts.

"Why wouldn't we be? Let's go!" Replied Sam with sparkles in his eyes.

"Alright, stay behind me, the forest is a dangerous place for kids."

We then set off onto the main road which merchants used to get to our village. After some time, we reached a junction with two diverging roads. We headed onto the side that was grassier with a lot more trees; this should be the path that led to the forest.

—30 minutes later—

Our small group of three were now deep into the forest.

"This here is a delicious berry bush. That's a poisonous vine, don't touch those." With father guiding us along, it was a rather simple hike in the wilderness; it was something I rarely experienced in my past life. Nature in a sense gave a vibe of freedom.

"We are now somewhere around the hunting grounds, stick closer with me." Warned father as he cautiously looked around.

Out of nowhere, a dart came flying straight at father's neck. He prematurely ducked and dodged it with ease as if he could see the future. Immediately after, he charged toward the direction from where it came from. Following along, when Sam and I reached the clearing, everything had already been handled. A single goblin with a blowgun in hand was laying on the floor with a slit throat.

"Something's wrong." Said father intuitively.

[Ding!]

[System Notification: New mission]

~~~~~~~~~~

Mission(Epic): Escape

Description: Return back to the village with Davis and Sam.

Reward: 1000 Merit Points

Curse Bonus: Rewards x2

~~~~~~~~~~

"Goblins usually stay in a pack, it doesn't make sense for there to only be a single one..." Four darts came flying in at once, two aimed at father while the other two at Sam and I. Everyone was on guard so none of the darts should have hit their target.

"Ouch! Why does my butt hurt so much?" Cried Sam.

I̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶p̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶.̶ I checked his body for any wounds and found a dart that penetrated through his pants from behind. I quickly pulled it out.

"I'm feeling a bit dizzy..." Just like that, Sam fell to the ground and blacked out.

"Sh*t. Don't let the darts hit you, It has goblin venom on it. The moment it enters your body, you will be knocked out for around five minutes." Shouted father.

With one of us down, the gang of goblins started making their appearance. We were completely surrounded from all sides.

Father got into action and lunged straight toward the dart goblins, killing all of them with one slash. With the back-liners handled, I dove straight for the ones holding rusty daggers.

Naturally, it would be a hard fight for someone who had never killed anything before. But I was different, I had already experienced death once and I didn't want to try it again. I felt the magic particles circulating rapidly throughout my body as if they were encouraging me to make my move.

Brandishing the metallic sword I used for training, I stabbed as hard and fast as I could at the neck. At the last moment, the goblin had shifted to the right. I did not successfully kill it, but I left a deep wound on the side of its neck.

Enraged, the goblin leapt at me. Being airborne created many opportunities for me to kill it. I dashed forward and using the momentum, I slashed my blade in a diagonal from the top-right to bottom-left. Just like that, I slashed a goblin in half using a blunt training sword. It did not make sense for a blunt object to be able to cut through flesh so easily; but I'm not one to complain about physics when it was working to my favor.

Two more goblins came at me while the rest were preoccupied by father. I guess he wasn't just at the Knight Captain realm for show—to be able to handle so many goblins on his own. I ducked and cut off one of the goblin's limbs and kicked the other one away.

Moving toward the one I had kicked away, I pierced through the area where its heart should be. I tried pulling out my sword but the goblin wrapped its arms around it, not seeming to have any intention at letting go at all. The goblin who had its arm cut off by me earlier rushed at me with rage. Disgruntled, I took my hands off the hilt of the sword and proceeded to grab the rusty dagger the goblin had dropped when I kicked it.

Rolling away like they did in those Chinese Kung-Fu films and parkour movies, I surveyed the area. Father seems to be almost done with the rest of the goblins and the ones on my side were about to make a move. The goblin with a sword impaled into the left side of the chest pulled out the sword and swung it randomly. It was clearly inexperienced in using anything beside these crude daggers.

I quickly rushed in and slit his throat. The rusty dagger was surprisingly sharp in comparison to how run-down it looks.

'I guess I should really stop judging things from Earth's standards.'

Wielding the training sword in my hand again, I slashed horizontally and ended the miserable life of the other goblin.

Watching my father, I saw him displaying many crazy moves like creating an energy wave by slashing the sword. I felt something was wrong. This seemed too easy especially for a mission with a rarity of Epic. As if answering my curiosity, a loud roar came from the far left.

Squinting my eyes, I could see a distinct visage of an ugly green smirk. It was definitely a goblin, but this one was shockingly four meters tall! It was double or maybe even triple the size of father.

"Look o—" I tried to warn him but I was too late. The giant goblin wielded a giant club and smashed my father away, immediately knocking him out.

'System appraise that goblin'

~~~~~~~~~~

Name: NONE

Race: Goblin

Class: Goblin Chief(Epic)

Life Force: 1500/1500(3 days)

Strength: 118.92...

Agility: 43

Physique: Knight Captain(Intermediate) - Lvl.10

Magic: Ordinary - Lvl.0

Active Skill: War Cry(Epic)

Passive Skill: Leader(Rare)

Evolution Requirements: 12/10000 kills

~~~~~~~~~~

'What is this evolution requirement?'

[Evolution Requirements are a way for creatures to evolve. By fulfilling the requirements, they can break past their limits and reach a new level as a species. This Goblin Chief has recently just evolved as it is three days of age]

'How the f*ck am I supposed to contest against this monster? It has a whopping 1500 Life Force even when it was three days old. Not to mention the strength stat that has far surpassed father.'

The Goblin Chief looked around at its fallen comrades, then at me. As if making fun of me, it started walking slowly toward me with a devilish grin.

At this point, I only had one thought.

'F*ck.'

—Sam's PoV—

'Why do I feel so nauseous?'

'Wasn't I hunting with Daniel and Davis?'

As I awoke from my slumber, I heard a loud bang and saw Daniel being tossed on the ground effortlessly by a giant goblin. Being a witness to this scene, I was scared sh*tless but also mad. Daniel had been my only friend in the village and the only other kid I knew well. He couldn't just die like this!

I recalled the moments when we first met at the village festival and the times we spent together over the past years.

"Hey, my name is Daniel."

"You wanna be friends?"

"I will become the greatest side character in existence!"

"I'll beat you this time! I can't be losing to a newbie in swordsmanship!"

The time we spent together was not little. In fact, I could even say that I had spent most of my life with Daniel, even more so than my mother. As a companion, I could not help but to be mad. Mad at the goblin for beating up Daniel. Mad at Daniel for not running away. But most importantly, mad at myself for being so weak.

'I— I need...no. I want strength.'

'I want all the strength...'

'Enough strength to protect others!'

...

At that moment, Sam started to float in the air as if disproving the existence of gravity. There was an orb surrounding him as if protecting his metamorphosis. His muscles became much more defined and his already golden blonde hair shined in a deeper tinge of yellow. His once green eyes had also turned amber in color.

Out from the cloudless and clear blue sky, came a mighty bolt of lightning. It went straight toward Sam's head and circulated throughout his body for a couple seconds. This miraculous scene forced every creature there to pay attention to him. Davis had awoken from his previous state and was watching closely. Daniel who had almost died started to stare at him with questioning eyes. Even the previous grin on the goblin chief started to turn into a frown.

When the lightning receded, a clear symbol was imprinted on his right hand. A golden sword in the shape of a key. As Sam started to settle on the grass, everyone could see a clear yellow aura radiating around him.

With his newfound strength, Sam clutched his practice sword in hand and slashed downward, creating a massive energy wave. Said energy wave went straight toward the goblin chief. It tried to run but the energy wave was like a homing missile, following the exact path of the goblin chief wherever it ran.

The moment it touched the dark green skin, the energy wave had already cut the entire body in half. It was like the speed of light—maybe even faster. After witnessing the death of the goblin chief, Sam slumped down, not able to control his newfound power as it rampaged across his body. The golden electricity that was circulating throughout his body started changing colors from one end of the rainbow to the other.

Thus, he blacked out yet again for the second time of the day.

—Daniel's PoV—

'Damn! This crazy son of a b*tch should have told me he was a Super Saiyan!'