Chapter 19. Fast I woke to bright sunlight, nestled in a hollow tree trunk. My body ached as it reminded me of the event that happened yesterday. I saw the notification hovering before my eyes making me realize that I had in fact killed it, the guardian goblin, and it was not me hallucinating. One mistake and I would be dead, this closeness to death made my heart beat faster. A smile on my face made itself known, it had been so long since I had felt like this, the rush, the adrenaline. It was like I was on a high but another emotion was seeking my attention. Loneliness. At some point in time, I had started to miss people, my parents, friends, even Chris(The part-time job guy). I wanted to share my experiences with someone and listen to their own tales. "I wanna meet them. And for that, I'll have to get rid of some obstacles, fast." I really wanted to rush out and finish this quest as fast as possible. But doing that was bringing death onto myself, I was weak, too weak. Fighting two goblins at a time was not something that I was currently capable of. I had to train my skills only then it would possible to kill the goblins, gaining the ability to control sprint and cleave would behave and the amount of stamina they needed was wait-. "I did that last time! I was able to walk back all the way and even had the energy to find a suitable place to sleep!" I was excited because every time I had used sprint before this, I was left dead tired not able to move a single muscle. I had to try it out, a day wasted for this was worth it, not like one day would make much difference. I got out of the dead trunk and checked my surroundings once to see if the goblins had found my hideout. Still, I was rushing it a bit, and the reason was also just for my actions. If mana control or something else actually helped me control how I could use my skills a little more properly the situation that happened the previous day would never happen again. Steadying myself, I used sprint and instead of just running in a straight line, I made this test a little more than just a test. Clearing out this forest as fast as possible was my topmost priority and using this as a chance to train, was not something that I was going to leave. I was not going to waste time, not a single second. The activity I decided to do was simple, run while dodging every obstacle that comes in my way. Keep my senses at their peak and respond to them as fast as possible, but always keep thinking. Dodging a tree root that's grown out, fallen trees, sharp branches, and other things while running a hundred miles per hour, not hundred but still fast. I ran without rest, not that I could stop. I was thinking about two things while running, how to perfectly avoid the next root after dodging the current tree and stopping this skill. And I did stop but it was only when five percent of my stamina remained, enough for me to walk for a few minutes and find a place to rest. But I was still left with five percent, not all of it was taken away. I still had a chance to turn this around and come out on top before the goblin evolved. And so started the grind. Training my skills, sprint, and cleave. When I was recovering from one, I meditated. Weapon masteries, martial arts, mantra, everything. While I was working on the mantra I also was paying attention to mana control. The flow, speed, position, timing everything was being taken into consideration. I wanted to sneak around find some more goblins but it was risky. The goblins probably knew that I was capable of killing one or two of them in a one vs one. My chances of getting away or outrunning them were abysmally low compared to the first time. I still had five points that I distributed according to my regular pattern but this time, something within me moved when I did that. The energy that got collected within my body after every kill moved, and was distributed all over my body. I couldn't pinpoint where it exactly went but it was currently being absorbed by my body, strengthening my body. "So this is how I get my stats, the energy or life force or something that I called gained upon killing is used to make my body stronger." I got an answer to one of my questions, the question being 'from where did stat points come or how do they increase.' One mystery solved, a hundred to figure out and a thousand more to come. Yay. It was after two weeks that I felt somewhat confident in my ability to beat them. The last ten floors I had rushed to complete them, only doing finishing my daily training which occasionally raised skills levels but never had I stayed and fully focused on leveling them up. And to be honest the results were pretty amazing. [Sprint gained a level] [Sprint gained a level] . . . [Sprint gained a level] [Cleave gained a level] [Cleave gained a level] . . . [Cleave gained a level] [Mana Control gained a level] [Mana Control gained a level] . . . [Mana Control gained a level] And the other skills. Too much for my eyes. ----------- [Status] Name: Ray Species: ??? Bloodline: Demon of ??? General Skills: Identify lvl 10, Mantra of ??? lvl 22, Demon's martial arts lvl 19, Axe Mastery lvl 18, Dual wielding lvl 18, Mana Control lvl 11 Strength: 39 Agility: 39 Endurance: 39 Vitality: 39 Dexterity: 30 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 15 Perception: 44 Bonus point remaining : 0 ----------- [Primary Class: Demon Fighter] Level: 35 Skills : Active - Bloodlust lvl 1, Sprint lvl 20, Cleave lvl 17, Carnage lvl 1 Passive - Demon's Perception lvl 23, Demon's Control lvl 21, Demon's Sense lvl 19, Demon's Flexibility lvl 18 ----------- It was hard to level up my skills after they crossed ten and it became even harder after they crossed twenty. The speed was slow and frustrating but it was rewarding. My gamble selecting all of my passive skills just based upon their demon prefix had also paid off. My reactions, control, movement everything had improved by a lot, they were more of a natural instinct by now, not a skill that needs to be thought to activate. Truly passive. My ability to handle Thirst, my axe, had also increased by leaps. I was finally ready to duke it out with some of those goblins, more to say like all of the goblins. And hopefully the unevolved chief. My perception had increased a lot, almost reaching fifty and it was slowly starting to show the benefits. I was starting to feel, something. The area around me, not by much, maybe half a meter or probably even less but I could feel everything inside it. And if I focused on it trying to make it clearer, 'aagh,' all I get is a splitting headache. Even after all that, the feeling was not clearer. But still, the more this skill leveled up the more useful it would become. I had no defense and my best choice for overcoming that was to not get hit by anything. "Looks like they have finally come." Even though I had searched for an entire hour, the only things that I found were used camps and small marks on the trees that I did not understand. I was prepared I knew they won't chase me with everything they had. The village was always protected, even more so now that their chief had to evolve but still I did not expect them to send so many goblins after me. I felt two arrows coming towards me. One pointing to my head the other at my heart. Thirst was brought to my chest as my head moved aside, blocking and dodging the arrows. "Finally show time."