Authors Note:

Sorry for being quite. I got distracted by things and just couldn't work up the motivation or energy to write. Thank you for being patient.

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It's been a week since Ren discovered the city and he hasn't done much besides trying to translate the weird book he found though he did get a new elemental affinity. He now had the rank of Very Low in the fire element since he's spent some time surrounded by lava. He also made some progress but is still isn't close to finishing. He was also bored, very bored. Ren wasn't a scholar, He preferred to do something active like making something or fighting or even training. Just sitting somewhere trying to translate a long lost language with only a few symbols that look similar was difficult, frustrating, and very dull. At least he got a few points of wisdom out of it. Ren tried to entertain himself by training and wandering around the city but they could only do so much and he was getting restless.

By conversing with Powell Ren was kept up to date on the activities and progress of the force assaulting the goblins. It seemed like they were making slow but steady progress through the tunnels. Whenever they talked Ren thought about finding a way to join them but quickly dismissed the idea since he would probably die again but the more restless Ren became the more he actively considered it. By the end of the week Ren felt like if he stayed in the city any longer he would go mad. It was lonely and the entire city being empty compounded with the lava giving off a red-orange glow that lit the whole place up made the city give off a rather eerie feeling. Ren packed up what he wanted to bring with him, he was leaving the items he got from the last king in the treasury since he couldn't use them and was taking the ring with him. Ren walked through the city and though the massive black gates. Ren had explored the city menu at one point and had found that he could lock the gates, though he had to be near them to do so. This gave Ren some relief since he didn't want anyone to break in and take it away from him while he was gone. As soon as that was done Ren set off, glowing sword in hand and excitement coursing through his body, Eager to reach the surface again.

Ren walked for hours through labyrinthine tunnels, cave, and passage ways. Sometimes going up, other time going down, navigating the twists, turns, and forks along the way. He had yet to find and creatures but he has found various glowing plants, which he stayed away from, and some intriguing rocks, which he collect if he could. Ren passed magma flows and underground rivers and lakes. He saw fascinating rock formations and mind-blowing geological features. He even walked over what looked like an ancient stone bridge crafted by some long forgotten race. As he was walking Ren made sure to write down the directions back and to make parts of the path. Hours stretched into one day then two. He had finally began to ascend towards the surface.

Towards the middle of the second half of the second day Ren finally saw a dull glow up ahead. He began to walk faster but stopped abruptly and quickly stored his glowing sword and drew his steel one, crouching low to the ground. Up ahead Ren heard high-pitched, guttural voices. They were fairly faint but it sounded like there were a lot of them. Ren crept forward slowly and as quietly as he could. It took him a few very stressful minutes before what was causing the noise to come into view and when Ren saw it he felt like his heart stopped. Ren was crouching on a ledge high up the wall of a massive cavern. Below him were thousands upon thousands of short, green skinned creatures.

Goblins.

Ren went cold as he gazed over them. It wasn't the numbers that terrified him but how they were organized. Instead of standing in a large mass the goblins stood in groups of ten, two columns of five. These groups were organized into blocks of ten groups, again two columns of five, to make up a groups of 100. In turn the groups of 100 were organized into groups of 1000, this time two rows of five. And finally they were organized into large blocks of 10,000, again two rows of five of the groups of 1000. There were five of these large blocks and they were all facing the same direction. With some simple math Ren figured out that there had to be around 50,000 goblins standing in the cavern.

50,000

Ren almost laughed. How were they going to fight a force that size? Sure they may be weak but they cared little for their own lives and would swarm their enemies, taking them down with sheer numbers. A force this size could wipe out cities with ease and threaten entire kingdoms. All of the goblins looked towards a raised stone dais that held a large jet-black throne that held the largest, fattest, and ugliest creature Ren had ever had the misfortune of laying his eyes on. On top of its head was a crude crown of bone and standing around him were five goblins with better armor and weapons then the rest.

These must be the Goblin Kings and his generals thought Ren.

He quickly backed down the passage he came from and sent a message to Powell, Lixiss, and Azriel, informing them of what he saw. Hopefully they would be able to convince whoever was in charge of the forces to believe them. While Ren put his trust in his friends to do their part Ren started thinking about what he could do on his end. Obviously he couldn't defeat an army by himself but he still needed a way to delay them. Ren pondered for a bit but couldn't think of anything he could do to stall an army as large as this one. Ren opened his stats in the hope that maybe looking at them would help somehow.

Status Window Name Krono Alignment Neutral Gender Male Race Human Level 18 Class None Sub-Class None Fame 5500 Titles First Saint, First Saint of Lightning, First Lord,

Lord of Aukrokia

Health 1030 Mana 750 Stamina 1030 Ki 103 Strength 72 Defense 17(23) Agility 67 Endurance 103 Intelligence 33 Dexterity 56 Charisma 13 Wisdom 75 Concentration 100 Luck 10 Art 26 Perception 17

Status Effects None

Skills Active

Aura of the First Saint: Beginner lvl 1 - 0%

Flurry Strike: Beginner lvl 4 - 36%

Extreme Focus: Intermediate lvl 5 - 34%

Dash: Beginner lvl 8 - 32%

Sage Eye: Intermediate lvl 6 - 45%

Meditation: Intermediate lvl 6 - 32%

Passive

Fall Damage Reduction: Beginner lvl 5 - 25%

Life Skills

Harvesting: Beginner lvl 5 - 36%

Primitive Fire Creation: Beginner lvl 1 - 20%

Wilderness Cooking: Beginner lvl 9 - 87%

Blade Mastery: Beginner lvl 6 - 15%

-One-handed Sword Mastery: Intermediate lvl 2 - 25%

-Two-handed Sword Mastery: Beginner lvl 3 - 46%

-Dagger Mastery: Beginner lvl 3 - 26%

Bludgeoning Mastery:

-Mace Mastery: Beginner lvl 3 - 60%

-Hammer Mastery: Beginner lvl 3 - 30%

-Maul Mastery: Beginner lvl 1 - 56%

Polearm Mastery: Beginner lvl 2 - 31%

-Spear Mastery: Beginner lvl 3 - 53%

Dual Wielding Mastery: Beginner lvl 4 - 62%

Art of Tailoring: Intermediate lvl 5 - 49%

-Sewing: Intermediate lvl 4 - 43%

-Embroidery: Intermediate lvl 4 - 16%

Blacksmithing: Intermediate lvl 6 - 38%

-Smelting: Intermediate lvl 6 - 22%

-Forging: Intermediate lvl 4 - 64%

-Sharpening/Polishing: Intermediate lvl 4 - 8%

Spells Lightning:

-Cataclysm of the First Lighting Saint: 1st cirsle - 0%

-Static Blitz Mastery: 2nd Circle - 1%

Elemental Affinities Affinity Rank Lightning Saint (SS) Fire Very Low (G)

Elemental Resistence Earth - Air - Fire 0% Water - Lightning 15% Dark - Light - Poison -

Ren looked through his skill for a minute before his eyes came to rest on the skill [Aura of the First Saint] and the spell [Cataclysm of the First Lighting Saint]. These were the skill Ren had gotten when he became a saint and he had completely forgotten about them since he had no interest in using them because of the high mana cost and skills like these were bound to be flashy and bring him know end of trouble. Ren pulled up their descriptions to see what they did. Since he was alone maybe he could use them.

Aura of the First Saint Unique - Active

Beginner lvl 1 - 0%

As the First Saint your strength is legendary. You can release your powerful saintly

aura to sow terror in your enemies while bolstering your allies strength and moral.

-Enemies greater than 20 levels below yours have a 100% chance to get the [Fear]

statues effect.

-Enemies less than 20 levels below you have an 80% chance to get the [Fear]

statues effect

-Enemies equal to your level have a 60% chance to get the [Fear] statues effect

-Enemies less than 20 levels above yours have a 40% chance to the [Fear]

statues effect

-Enemies greater than 20 level above yours have a 20% chance to get the [Fear]

statues effect

-[Fear] lasts for a minimum for 1 minute. The longer the aura is active the higher

the chance enemies get affected and the higher the chance of the [Fear] statues

stacking to increase its power and duration

-you and your allies get a 10% increase in stats; HP, MP, SP, and Ki Regen, and are

immune to the [Charmed] and [Fear] statues effects. Higher levels increase

effectiveness and cost.

-cost: 200mp + 10mp/sec

Cataclysm of the First Saint of Lightning Unique - Active

Beginner lvl 1 - 0%

Saints are recognized as masters of their elements and as such are closer than people

can imagine to them. Saints receive a powerful legendary ranked [Saintly Storm]

skill upon reaching that level. As the first Saint of you element you have been given

powerful unique ranked [Saintly Cataclysm] skill which is an upgraded version of the

[Saintly Storm] skill. [Cataclysm of the First Saint of Lightning] is an Area of

Effect(AOE) attack skill that causes a devastating lighting storm to form and strike

your enemies with powerful lighting. At the highest levels [Saintly Cataclysm] skills

can even reshape continents. Higher levels increase the strength, Duration, and cost.

-cost: 200mp-MaxMP (every 100mp increases the duration by 5 second)

-Duration: 10sec minimum

-Damage/strike: 400

Ren looked at his saint abilities and was once again awed by their power. If he decided to uses them openly just how powerful could he be? Of course they were also costly and even with his large about of mana he could only cast them three times and they were bound to get extremely expansive as they got more powerful. Ren read the descriptions of both and though of what he could do with them.

With the aura I could hold them back for a while but if they’re not affected of a stronger one appears I would still have to fight. If I used the cataclysm spell it could out-right kill the weaker ones and maybe make them hesitate to approach me. I don't know how strong the captains, commanders, and generals are though it this method could get them to come out quicker. Ren thought.

For most people this would be an easy decision to make but Ren's goal wasn't to just kill them, it was to keep and many on them here as possible for as long as possible to buy the army up top time to organize. After some internal deliberation he finally came to a decision. He would use his cataclysm spell to hold them back, not because it would thin their number but because it had the highest chance of success.

Ren looked around the cavern, looking for an exit the goblins would uses to leave for the surface. After a few minutes he found it. It was one of two tunnels leaving the cavern, the other being the one behind Ren. Unfortunately it was at the back of the cavern. While the ledge Ren was on was situated on one of the side walls, he would still need to avoid the notice of several thousand goblins to make it there. The cavern floor wasn't all that smooth, especially along the edges which had stalagmites, piles of rocks and trash, and shallow depressions. It was also in shadow. Ren took a few deep breaths, he knew what he had to do though he was nervous because one wrong move would get him killed.

Ren slowly and careful climbed down the rough cavern wall, making sure not to make too much noise. The goblins may be loud but he didn't want to take any chances. Ren reached the floor without any problems but he still had the hardest and most nerve wracking part left. Ren slowly crept from stalagmite to rock pile to depression, staying as close to the shadows as possible. A few time some goblins looked over in his direction and one even walked up the rock pile he was hiding behind, though it was only to relieve itself. This happened a few times and each time Ren's heart was beating so hard that he was sure that the entire goblin army would hear it. After around half an hour of sneaking, though it felt like an eternity to Ren, he finally made it to the tunnel entrance. Ren ducked into it and hid in a recess in the wall and calmed himself down and waited. He would only act if the goblins moved. Ren had turned off satisfactions while he was sneaking so he turned them back on now that he was relatively safe. Ren got a notification that he had learned the skill [Sneak] and a message from Powell

Powell||The three of us finally managed to convince the leaders of the army that the goblins had a force much larger than they had thought. They're still skeptical but the potential threat is too big to ignore. They've all request more troops from their respective kingdoms and they should hopefully around in less than a week. They told me that if I could get a message to you then to tell you to try and delay them if they move before then, I don't think they're expecting much though.

"Message Powell" Ren said as quietly as he could, "I'm already on it. Send"

After sending the message Ren sat down to wait. If all goes well he won't have to move for a week.