In the town of Green Flower, there was an adventurer party of seven currently conversing with a receptionist of the Adventurer Organization.

“I would like this task receptionist, my party agrees that we can handle it.” Said Kone.

Kone was a blonde-haired 26 year old man with a charming face. The receptionist nods and gave him and his party approval. After getting their quest they prepared thoroughly as possible and went off to hunt some white sharp. White sharp were hard to find in the winter because of the snow and they were extremely sensitive to sound. Very few white sharp can be caught and hunted.

The meat of the white sharp tasted amazing while making a person stronger if they ate it and their fur was beautiful while offering great resistance to cold and protection against sharp things. The most valuable thing about the white sharp were their horns which were great materials for making arrows and spears that could pierce through steel armor.

Elite soldiers and adventurers alike liked weapons made from white sharp horns and would be willing to offer a high price for them. People have also tried to domesticate white sharp but the white sharp wouldn't even grow up to be white or have sharp strong horns at all. In the end, people could only conclude that wild white sharps were better than domesticated white sharp.

The adventurer party traveled the land with bolas feeling hopeful but also cautious. The fatality rate of being an adventurer was around ten percent which doesn’t seem like a lot but one must understand that for every ten adventures an adventurer goes on there was a chance one of them would kill them.

Kone party after a while of traveling reached a forest far from the town and proceeded to place bite traps with baits called sharp iron. This was a type of mineral that white sharpers loved because it made their horns stronger. The white sharp could sense the mineral from a mile away and would head towards its location. The mineral was brittle like salt so weapons couldn't be made from it but swords could be grounded on it to become sharper quickly.

There was an abundance of this mineral around mountains and white sharp usually hanged around it. Unfortunately for the white sharp of this mountain range, the goblins were hoarding the sharp iron so they couldn't do much besides look for other sources on the mountain.

Kone and his party hid while covering their smell in the snow and waited. After a few hours a white sharp showed up but Kone party didn't make any excitement or sound. His party just hid silently and still. The white sharp came close to the bite trap and licked the sharp iron. The bite trap set off and clamped on the white sharp face.

Kone and most of his party got out of hiding quickly and threw bolas at it which landed and impaired the white sharp movement. Some might be thinking why they didn't just shoot arrows at it and that's because white sharp usually battle each other with their horn for male dominance and getting stabbed was a norm so white sharp had adapted their hide to the point where they couldn't be pierced by sharp things like an arrow.

Seeing the white sharp immobilized they came close to it and used a hammer to break its neck while making sure the horn wasn't harmed. After making sure the white sharp was dead they happily celebrated. Little did they know that in the woods a goblin was watching them.

The goblin was Stake and he had been hunting the white sharp for a while. Stake looked at the humans laughing happily and calculated his chance of winning against them. From their numbers, he saw that there were five of them with two still hiding under the snow most likely waiting for enemy attack. Stake was confident in his strength since he was at least a mid-rank 1 killer goblin.

Among Stake kind, he had earned the respect of their mages and even their king. Currently, he was the right-hand man of their king and he struck fear into most of his enemies.

Through the year the army of the goblin kingdom had grown vast and so strong that they would have no problem besieging human kingdoms and only empires could stand toe to toe with them.

Stake king was close to rank 2 currently and he wanted to become a rank 2 quickly. With the mana core of another peak rank 1 creature, his king could become a rank 2 creature. The only other creatures in this mountain range that were known to be peak rank 1 were the Pure Yeti, the Pure Sharp, and the Pure Talon.

The reason Stake king wanted to advance to rank 2 quickly was because he was running out of lifespan and would die in five years. As long as his king could become rank 2 he would gain an extra lifespan of a thousand-year. His king wanted a peak rank 1 creature core but the other three peak rank 1 were superior to him.

To explain would be like this. A rank 0 goblin didn't stand much chance against a rank 0 white yeti, white sharp, or white talon simply because of the biological difference. A rank 0 goblin challenging a rank 0 white sharp was like a ten-year-old kid challenging a battle harden wolf.

Stake king couldn't beat the other peak rank 1 solo and sending a vast goblin army wouldn't do much since they could just run away. Since he wanted and needed a peak rank 1 core badly he decided to invade the human kingdoms and hold their cities hostage while demanding a peak rank 1 creature core. They might not give it to him since he would become a low rank 2 goblin emperor but they had to if they didn't want their entire kingdom wiped off the continent.

Now you might be asking this. Since human kingdoms have peak rank 1 core, why don't they just use it to make a low rank 2 human and fight off goblins? That's because human lower than peak rank 1 can't handle mana core like peak rank 1 can. The biggest reason though would be not wanting someone who you couldn't control become low rank 2 and take over your kingdom.

There's also the fact that a human kingdom is considered very lucky if they have even 1 peak rank 1 core. Most peak rank 1 core are obtained by reaping the rewards after a peak rank 1 creature kills another peak rank 1 creature.

You might also be asking this. Why don't human kingdoms just send out a bunch of rank 1 to fight goblins? Becoming a rank 1 human requires talent, talent that are obtained through hardship, and hardship that human avoid. Not everyone is willing to cut of a finger everyday so that they can grow their talent in magic. There's also the fact that cutting off your fingers could instead break your will and lower your talent for magic.

Goblins on the other hand struggle for survival everyday the moment they're born so they grow strong quickly. Now wouldn't that mean goblin are superior to humans? Well no and yes because goblin are born weaker than human by at least 3 times and they can be considered lucky if they make it to adult hood.

There's also the fact that most goblin are born with fear so that they can survive, fear that moves them away from hardship, hardship that can make them strong. Without fear a goblin could challenge a dragon and end up dead.

If a goblin tribe produce a strong goblin, their tribe grows quickly which can snowball into massive hordes of goblins because of one individual goblin. Unfortunately for most goblin tribe the individual prioritize their own survival because that's what kept them alive in the first place.

Back to the topic of invading kingdoms. There was one problem with invading kingoms for the goblins. Currently, Stake arch-nemesis was still roaming around the forest and would most likely stop them from attacking the human race. One thing about her with his years of experience fighting her was that she couldn't seem to leave the mountain she lived by.

Stake king could bring his army out in the open and run far enough to where she couldn't attack them anymore but that wouldn't be possible since they couldn't outrun her. They could also send their troops out one by one but once they were discovered she would most likely come into their goblin kingdom again and rampage around.

So Stake thought of a plan where his nemesis wouldn't be able to find out anything. He told his king his plan and got approval. The plan was simple. Dig under the mountain far away enough to where Jill couldn't go towards and assemble an army to start besieging kingdoms.

Looking at the human still cheering Stake attacked. They were prepared and expected an attack, but not one where the one attacking made death inevitable. They saw that the goblin was nine feet tall with a red Mohawk and thin with dense muscle. The sheer pressure it gave off meant they didn't stand a chance.

Kone screamed for everyone to group immediately since they couldn't run, but Stake was already in front of one of them and simply grabbed their head off like a fruit. Kone's party grouped up immediately and started throwing bolas and fire spells.

Stake dodged around their attacks and tighten his grip on the head in his hand which made holes in it. He then threw the head at a fast speed causing it to explode brain matter and blood when it impacted with a shield.

The blood and brain matter blocked their vision and when they opened their eyes Stake had already swung both of his hands at two of them sending their heads flying immediately. Seeing an opening Kone and his party attacked forth but Stake simply backflipped out of the way with a spear in his hand from one of Kone's dead party members.

Arching his back Stake sent the spear flying and impaled one of them into a tree. If they had not split up before Stake had thrown the spear he could have gotten two of them. Looking at the three people left Stake saw that the mage was still standing calmly while the warrior guarded him. The other one had simply started running away.

Before the guy could get far Stake grabbed some rocks and threw them like bullets which didn't kill him instantly and made him scream. His scream echoed through the forest and Stake decided to leave quickly but before he could leave he felt a presence and instantly shielded his body with all of his mana.

The presence was Jill and she punched the side of his stomach sending him flying through the forest breaking tree after tree till the momentum slowed down and Stake quickly got up and ran away.

Seeing him run away Jill turned to the two people in front of her who looked at her tensely and calmly waiting for her to attack them. She placed a shield around them and a large tree branch that flew like a spear shattered on it. Jill looked back at Stake again and fired a wind bullet which Stake simply dodged and then ran away again.

The guy screaming on the ground stopped screaming since he was already dead. His mana had only prolonged his pain and he knew he was going to die anyway so he quit using his mana and died before Jill could even save him.

Seeing that he was gone for good Jill spoke.

"Your very unlucky to have met Stake, take your white sharp and go back. If you want, I can burn your comrade's body away."

Kone and the mage left wanted their comrade's body to be burned away and they soon left with the white sharp without asking any question. From the information they got from the town before coming into this forest she was most likely the one they call forest goddess.

Seeing them leave Jill went back into the woods with Tesra coming out from hiding and following her. Tesra had seen death, but never something brutal like what the goblin did. She felt fear towards the goblin called Stake and decided to know more about him.

"Who was that goblin you called stake?"

Jill shrugged her shoulders.

"He was the first goblin I met and fought, even though his rank is lower than mine he still manages to survive every encounter with me."

Tesra thought Jill had some emotional attachment to the goblin and that's why she didn't kill it. Jill seeing what she was thinking laughed.

"Your underestimating Stake too much, he's the only goblin in this forest who could stomp me like a bug if his rank was on par with me. The reason I wanted to learn swordsmanship was also because I wanted to close the skill gap between me and him."

Tesra was surprised and nods. For her, a goblin who could fight people with a higher rank than theirs was inconceivable but if Jill said so then it must be true. Thinking of this she asked Jill a question.

"Could I become like him and fight those above me?"

Jill shook her head and laughed.

"It's possible for you to be like him if you had a talent for fighting but without a talent for fighting, you will most likely not be able to achieve what he does."

Tesra wasn't disappointed too much and wondered if she had fighting talent like the goblin.

"How can I tell if I have fighting talent."

"That's easy, you just gotta beat three of yourself in a fight and that will prove you have fighting talent, currently we won't be doing that until after I grow your ability to use magic more."

Tesra nods and the two walked undisturbed.