Miles didn’t have a timepiece like his father, but it was still somewhat dark out. Somehow they woke up even earlier than they normally would. Despite that, Miles wasn’t tired at all anymore and got up. Seeing him sit up, his Dad greeted him from his place by the fire opposite of Miles.

“Good morning, Miles.” He said gently. “You got up rather early,”

“Good morning, Dad!” He replied, “I guess I’m just pretty excited, I don’t really feel tired anymore.”

“Ok,” his Dad said, “I wasn’t expecting you up so soon, so I don’t have breakfast ready. Let’s cook it together?”

“Ok!”

As his Dad was taking out a cast iron pot from his bag, he said “Mom will probably be arriving soon after breakfast.”

That didn’t sound right. It had taken them hours to just get to the edge of Brasswood, and much more to where they were now. “So soon? Did Mom not get any sleep?” He didn’t like the idea of his Mom travelling alone in the dark either, with all the monsters about.

“No, I’m sure she got enough rest. Don’t worry, she just travels fast.”

“But, should we go get her? What if she runs into monsters?”

His Dad laughed, and rubbed Miles’s hair. “Don’t worry, son. She’ll be ok. You know, she’s just as strong, if not stronger, than I am. She’ll be ok.” Stronger than Dad? He was still worried, but he let the issue drop.

As the sausage and eggs were sizzling, Miles suddenly realized that he was so excited about his new skills that he had forgotten about his free stat points. He had leveled up four times yesterday, so he had 12 free points to spend. He thought about his fights from yesterday. For the most part, it seemed like he was too reliant on his Thrust to deal damage. Especially during his fight with the tier 1 goblin. He also noticed that he was only barely keeping up with the kobold archers, and the tier 1 goblin was much faster than him. He thought for a bit, then put in 6 points into Strength, 4 points into Alacrity, and 2 into Acuity for balance. He was a little behind on Intelligence, but that could be handled with his next level.

[Status]

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General Info:

Name: Miles Reamore

Class: [Child of Ateia / Linus Reamore (Sta)]

Race: Human

Level: 0th 64

Age: 8

Experience: 59.6 / 64

Health: 270 / 270

H. Regen: 3.6 / day

Stamina: 110.05 / 515

S. Regen: 5.25 / day

Mana: 95 / 95

M. Regen: 1.75 / day

Stats:

Strength: 57

Intelligence: 11

Constitution: 46

Willpower: 8

Alacrity: 48

Acuity: 24

Pending Stat Points: 0

Favored Skills:

Running 0th 61

Tumbling 0th 44

Parry 0th 13

Spearmanship 0th 60

Footwork 0th 59

Thrust 0th 30

Skills:

Cleaning 0th 20

History of The First Empire 0th 14

Standard Language 0th 27

Empirical Language 0th 23

Mathematics 0th 32

Stealth 0th 12

Lightning Resistance 0th 12

Pain Resistance 0th 26

Meditation 0th 10

Analyze 0th 6

Jumping 0th 31

It was after they ate and packed up their camp, and were in the middle of a light training session to get warmed up, when Miles heard a light rumbling sound. They paused their spar, and Miles looked around in confusion, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was getting louder, so he scanned the treeline carefully. “What is that, Dad?”

“That’s Mom, she should be arriving soon.”

Mom? That made him less nervous, but he was still confused. Just then, from above the treetops, his Mom came flying over. She hovered in the air above them, with concentrated jets of flame shooting out from the bottom of her feet and hands. She looked down, saw them, and the flames cut off. She dropped, landing in front of them without so much as a bended knee.

His Mom wasn’t dressed in her usual robes and dresses that she wore in the city, but rather she was dressed in a similar fashion as them. She was dressed in a longer tunic, pants, and boots. Over those, she had a breastplate and bracers. She was ready for battle. Unlike them however, she didn’t have a spear with her, only a dagger sheathed on her belt.

Miles ran over and gave his Mom a big hug. “Mom! That was so cool! How’d you do that? You can fly! How’d you find us?” She bent down and hugged him back.

“With some momma magic. How are my two boys?” She asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek, “did you find any trouble yet?”

His Dad came over and gave his Mom a kiss. “We were able to find several hunting bands of kobolds and goblins. Including one tier one goblin. Miles was able to handle all of them by himself!”

She looked at his Dad, raising an eyebrow. “Really? A tier one by himself?” She examined Miles and fingered the torn sleeve, where he had been hurt by the arrow in that first encounter. She scowled angrily for a moment, but it faded to a tender smile. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead. “At least you’re in one piece. So, how did it go? Was it scary? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, it was kinda scary. Even with a warrior potion Dad gave me, it was way stronger than me, but it’s skills were really bad. I had Parry and was able to get it in the gut.” Miles cleared his throat, somewhat embarrassed. “But it did get a few good hits on me. I had to use a healing potion.”

“Well, are you ready for another day of hunting with your mom?”

“Ah! I can’t!” Miles cried with sudden realization. “I’m nearly out of Stamina. I’ll run out.”

“Don’t worry Miles,” his Dad said beside him. “We planned for that. We have some Stamina potions for you once you need them. But we wanted you to experience what it is like to get too low first. There will be times when your pool runs low, but you still need to stay on your feet for whatever reason. Knowing what it’s like beforehand will help you be better prepared.” Miles looked to his Dad, wondering. He felt like there was potential for a skill there.

“Is there a skill for that? To push through the effects of low Stamina?”

“There are many. The one I have is called Warrior’s Endurance. Helps me stay conscious when I’m below 5% Stamina. It’s still a pain in the rear, but possible.” Awesome. I totally want that! Miles’s mind wandered, thinking of all the different skills he had to learn. “Camp is already packed, so let's get going! The day is young and we have kobolds to hunt!”

His Mom took a deep breath, breathing in the crisp forest air, and sighed contentedly. “It has been too long since I’ve been out of the city. So on the way over, I noticed a goblin camp a ways north of us. What do you say we go take care of that? Even with the split experience it should be great for Miles.”

His Dad nodded, “I had noticed that yesterday. I was only waiting for you.”

~~~

It took about an hour’s walk through the forest, with his parents matching his slower pace. They had followed a natural ditch to get up close to the goblin's camp without being seen and we're now peeking over the edge to get a good look.

The camp was a set of crude wooden fences defending the entrance to a small little valley between two hills. Although the trees made it a little awkward to see, Miles could just make out a handful of goblins set as lookouts on either hill. In front of the wooden fences, there were more goblins. Presumably as guards, though the ones that weren't lounging about lazily were fighting each other. With just the goblin's that Miles could make out, he could count about 10 of the monsters. 3 on either hill and four in front of the fences. There were more of them inside the camp for sure.

Quickly Analyzing them, he saw that they were all roughly around his own level. Seeing that, he felt a little more confident. He had, after all, already killed one much higher leveled than himself.

When his Dad saw the camp, he murmured appreciatively. “Dang, that’s nearly a Lair already.” He turned to Miles and pulled him close, and whispered to the two of them. “Ok Miles, with a camp this large there can be anywhere from 40 to 100 goblins in there. Now, most of them will be handled by your Mom. She’ll fly above and blow up the camp. For us to count as a team and share in the experience though, we’re going to have to attack as well. You and I will attack the guards in front. Don’t worry though. I know there’s a lot of them, but I’ll watch your back. All you have to worry about is sticking the goblin in front of you.”

Miles nodded nervously, though far from being afraid he was kind of excited. His Mom leaned in and ruffled his hair. “You may already know how strong your Dad is, but now it's time for you to see how strong your momma is! I’ll give you a head start.”

His Dad leapt up out of the ditch and started running forward bellowing out a warcry. Miles gave chase, belting out his own shouts. The goblins snapped out of their reverie, scrambling to get to their clubs and spears. Miles didn’t even get halfway to the camp before his Mom flew high overhead. He glanced up at her just in time to see her point, and a brief streak of white, before the hilltop on the right exploded. He stumbled a little with the impact of the shockwave. He felt it hit his chest lightly, but he kept going. The hilltop on the left exploded soon after. The goblins he was running towards, which were gearing up to take them on, gawked in fear towards the two hills now on fire.

The two of them, his Dad had slowed again to keep pace with Miles, reached the creatures before they could regroup to face them. Miles took the closest one in the neck with a quick Thrust, and it nearly decapitated. Blood across him as the body flopped limpy to the ground. He couldn’t quickly dispatch another one, as they had quickly recovered. His Dad was facing the other two right now, so all he had to do was face this one that was left. It wielded a large club in two hands and a quick Analyze showed that this one was roughly around level 80. Higher leveled.

More explosions boomed in the valley and loud goblin shrieks could be heard. Miles glanced up at his Mom. She was done shooting those explosions and was now firing balls of sparkling green fire to pick off individuals. So cool! Miles thought, right before he was bashed in the side of the head and was sent spinning into a nearby tree.

His mind reeling and ears ringing, he looked just in time to see the goblin leaping at him. Club raised above its head, going in for the kill. In pure terror, he raised spear and Thrusted. He would have screamed if his jaw was working right, instead it was a gurgled moan. Luckily, he got his spear up just in time for the goblin to impale itself. It wasn’t dead yet, but the wings on the spear kept the thing at bay and out of reach.

It was shrieking at him, blood and spit dripping from its mouth. Miles got a close up view of its ugly warty face. Its eyes full of hate and murderous intent. Its rows of sharp triangular teeth.

Miles cried out in anger, shoving it away and stabbed another Thrust at it. This time Miles pierced it in the heart. The goblin looked dumbly at him, its strength too weak for any more shrieking, and slumped to the ground, dead.

Miles fell down there, too weak to continue standing. He cursed himself with the foulest language he knew. That was one of the dumbest things that he had done, letting himself be distracted in front of an enemy. It just goes to show how thin of a line that he’s been treading with this training. The monsters he was facing were often a higher level than he was, and he was only able to get by with concentration and skill. One slip up, and he was nearly dead.

He could barely think, but he took stock of his situation. By now, his right eye was completely swollen shut, his nose was broken, and he couldn't feel his jaw. Squinting through his left eye to look at his Status. He had to blink through tears, but he could vaguely make out his remaining health. Only 70 left. That one hit had taken out nearly all of his health. In fear, he called out to his Dad.

“It’s alright, Miles, I’m here. The fight is over.” His Dad said, soothingly. His Dad propped him up gently. Miles felt a bottle be placed in his hand. “Drink this.” It was hard, trying to drink with a broken jaw, but the soothing energy of the health potion was a relief. The pain cleared up, the swelling of his face vanished, and his health returned. He hugged his Dad with relief and wept into his chest, letting loose the fear and terror of the situation. A moment later his Mom was there, holding him as well.

When he was finished crying, he wiped away his tears and pulled away from the parent-sandwich. “That was really dumb of me.”

“And what did you learn?” His Dad asked.

“I was too overconfident, and so I let myself get distracted.”

“Well, at least it's a lesson you won’t be forgetting anytime soon!” His Dad joked, trying to lighten the mood. His Mom glared at him.

“I think we’ve had enough hunting and killing things for this trip.” His Mom said. “We’ve power-leveled Miles a bit too much too soon. If we keep this up, he won’t have enough skills and skill levels to get any good Class options.”

“Agreed, but seeing that camp was just too good a chance to pass up. From now on, during these hunting trips, we’ll focus more on developing his wilderness skills.”

That sounded fine with Miles. He did want to learn as many skills as he could, after all. Having collected himself, he stood up and looked around. They were still in front of the camp, which wasn’t burning anymore. Goblin bodies were strewn about the forest floor, making for a grisly scene. What surprised Miles though, were the four goblins that were standing off to the side, staring at a floating green ball of fire. It churned and waved hypnotically, occasionally shooting off sparks that blinked gold and purple.

He almost couldn’t look away from the strange ball of fire, but he eventually wrenched his eyes away from it and asked his Mom. “Hey, Mom! What’s that magic? How is it controlling the goblins?”

Mom looked happy at the question, having the chance to explain magic to him. “That is a spell called Mesmerizing Fire. It captures the attention of anyone and anything. If they have low Willpower then they can’t look away without my say so. If I move the ball, then anything that has succumbed to the spell will follow it around.”

Miles looked back at the green fire, fascinated. Then he remembered what she said about the weak-willed and forced himself to look away. “ So, um. I know you said that we’re done with killing monsters but can I try going against another one?” He was honestly exhausted, both physically and emotionally, but he felt like he needed to do this.

She frowned. “No Miles, I think you’ve had enough for today. We should be getting back home soon.”

“Please, Mom? I don’t want the last thing on my first hunting trip to be a big failure. And it's not like we’ll just let those goblins go anyway. Please?” Miles looked up into his Mom’s eyes, pleadingly.

She obviously didn’t like the idea, and she looked to his Dad for support. He shrugged. “I think it's a good idea. If the last thing about this trip is that moment of fear, then the next time it will be a lot harder for him to overcome it. But if he faces the fear now, without stewing over it for a month, it will be good for him. Only one though, and you and I will be standing watch so nothing will happen.”

Miles jumped in to add another point. “Plus, you wanted me to feel what it's like to get below 10% in Stamina. That’s 50, right? Only need to use it once more and I’m there!”

She wavered, then sighed. “Ok then. But only one goblin!” She threw a hand towards the mesmerized goblins, and three of their heads exploded in a little ball of fire. The fourth one made no reaction at the blood that spattered it. “Grab your spear and tell me when.”

Miles looked at his Status really quickly, to make sure his Health and Stamina were ok. His Stamina was low, but that was the point, and his Health was back to full with that potion from earlier. He was good. He did notice though that he had gained a whole seven levels from this whole fight. He gawked and looked at the notifications tab. A large list of kill notifications of the goblins in the camp. Aside from the goblin remaining, there were 40 goblins in the camp. There were a lot of them that were too low leveled and only gained him one EXP each, but there were several of them that were tier 1 and, with him being tier 0 still, netted him with a lot of experience.

From the seven levels he had gained, he now had 21 free Stat points to spend but he decided to wait until after this fight to spend them. Partially because his Stamina would increase, and might mean that he wouldn’t dip to 10%. But mostly because he wanted to prove to himself that he could beat the goblin as he was. It sounded silly when he thought it, but he felt he needed it for some sort of closure to that whole mess.

He picked up his spear and quickly Analyzed the remaining goblin. It was level 81, 10 levels above him. He looked over to his Mom and nodded. The green fire winked out. The goblin blinked in confusion, then noticed him as he charged. It hissed and shrieked, bearing its rows of teeth at him. It dodged his first attack, but Miles kept the pressure on it, working the spear in many quick jabs. The goblin retreated from him, not having any opening or reach to attack back. Miles stopped, slightly lowering the spear, baiting it to attack. It wasn’t very smart, because it immediately bared its teeth again and jumped at him to bite him. That was the moment he was waiting for and used Thrust. He stepped into the attack, using his whole body to add weight to the attack. It stabbed straight through its ribs and the whole blade all the way down to the wings of his spear pierced into the chest of the monster. With the skill finished, he was now just underneath 10%. His muscles ached with exhaustion and he wanted nothing more than to rest. But with an effort of will he lifted the goblin at the end of his spear and slammed it to the ground. It gave a last warbly cry and died.

When the fight was over, he noticeably sagged and leaned heavily on his spear for support. He looked over wearily to his parents. “I did it!”

“Good job, Miles!” His Dad exclaimed. “Now let's go home. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.

“Wait,” Miles blinked, thoughts moving slowly to register what his Dad said. “Without a Stamina potion?

“It won’t be training without a trial! Last as long as you can, okay?” Try as he might, Miles didn’t even make it out of the forest before he fell asleep.