In the forest, the temperature cools down considerably. This is probably because of the shade from the trees blocking out the sun. Today is my first day of hunting, and I made sure to gain the last little bit of Experience needed to be Level 5 before entering.

I also made sure to buy a pair of boots before coming in. Going around barefoot wasn't an issue in the slums or in the fields, but the forest? That's a different story. Even if I have a high Constitution, I don't want to be walking on sticks and rocks and roots and whatever. They probably won't hurt me, but they'd still be uncomfortable against my bare feet.

Thomas told me about a few different things if I want to earn some real coin. Thanks to being a seven-affinity at Level 5, I can handle stuff most people can't even at Level 20. Heck, he said even Level 30 people would fail against some of the beasts I can take on now.

That's the difference between a seven-affinity and a one-affinity. Being a five-affinity, Thomas wasn't that far behind me when he was my Level, so he probably could have handled some of this stuff in just a few Levels.

Having an affinity for lightning really boosted him, though – it apparently gives +6 to all, the only individual elemental affinity which affects everything and the only one which gives a boost that high to any individual Attribute. It's also the rarest elemental affinity, too, so Thomas got really lucky.

I'm not trusting Thomas about the worth of the monsters, but I did some investigating on my own and confirmed his statements. That's the only reason I'm doing this right now.

Taking a deep breath, I continue walking through the forest, following the path at first. After about half an hour, I step off the path and walk in a random direction, trusting my gut. Thomas said monsters like to attack on their own, so I won't have to be too careful.

As I look for monsters, I start examining the forest more. It's really pretty, with the trees and the flowers and bushes and the rest of the undergrowth. The forest floor isn't too dense, allowing a decent degree of visibility and movement. Thomas said the undergrowth becomes much more dense further in.

A flower catches my attention, and I crouch down and examine it. It's a bright, vibrant purple with seven petals, and it looks really nice. I want to pluck it, but don't. The only place I could put it would be behind my ear, and it'd probably not last until tonight.

Returning to my feet, I spot a quintet of goblins in the distance. They're a little shorter than me, with green skin, large noses, and skinny limbs, their ears pointed and eyes black. All five of them are wearing loincloths, two are holding clubs, two are holding rusty swords, and one is holding a staff with a green crystal atop it.

A magic staff? If I remember what I've heard correctly, magic items allow for cheaper casting of certain spells. The bigger the crystal, the more spells the item can let you cast for cheaper, but the spells are always set based on… things I don't know.

If I were inclined to thieving to make coin for food, I don't think I'd go after magic items. Their owners are… too dangerous to go after. Though I suppose with some more Levels, that wouldn't be an issue for me.

I'm not a thief, though, and even if I were, why go steal someone's stuff to sell when I can just kill monsters and get money that way?

How much would that goblin's staff sell for?

With a flick of my wrist, I send an [Air Bolt] at the goblin mage. Even though they're fifty feet away, my spell reaches them in only two seconds. Somehow, the goblin mage noticed it and turns, facing me. The crystal atop his staff glows and a barrier tinted green forms in front of him, my [Air Bolt] slamming into it.

Though my spell is powerful, the goblin mage's barrier is potent enough that despite my spell breaking it, it's used up. The goblin must be close to me in power, unless magic items have their own magical power and just need Mana to be activated?

Chattering, the goblin mage directs the other four goblins to me, and the five of them begin attacking. The four melee ones brandish their weapons and start charging toward me while the goblin mage lowers its barrier and sends a green-tinted [Air Bolt] my way.

Rather than trying to dodge the [Air Bolt], I send another to intercept it, following it up with two more aimed at the goblins wielding the rusty swords. One of them deflects it with its sword, while the other attempts to dodge. The goblin doesn't dodge fast enough, getting struck in the shoulder with the [Air Bolt].

"GRAAAAH!" It cries out in pain as it's thrown back, its shoulder messed up and bloody.

That was its left shoulder, and it's right-handed. It's already picking itself back up and moving forward again. I'm already sending three more [Air Bolt]s at the goblins as it acts, all three aimed at the one that deflected one before.

It manages to cut one of them, one slams into the ground a little past it, and the third strikes its right shoulder. Another trio of [Air Bolt]s are already on their way, and two of them punch into the goblin, one into its chest and another into its head. The third flies past it, barely missing the side of its head, and strike a club-wielding goblin in the head.

+47% Experience! +45% Experience! You have gained a Level!

These things are tough, but they're not tough enough to withstand my attacks. I'm breaking bones and my face shots are sending bone fragments into their brains. They also give me a fair amount of Experience, too! Not even an hour into my trip (I think) and I'm already up a Level!

With two down, I up it to four [Air Bolt]s, my limit for quick casting at the moment.

Two slam into the chest of the other sword-wielding goblin, while the other two intercept [Air Bolt]s from the goblin mage. My spells are definitely stronger than his considering that they're stopping his spells, but it's not by much.

The remaining club-wielding goblin is almost to me, and my response to that is to thrust my hands out to the sides, summoning a pair of [Light Orb]s. Each of the yellow orbs is twice the size of my fist, and the sudden bright light distracts the goblin clubman. Another pair of [Air Bolt]s slam into it, one into the chest and one into the head, then I gesture forward with my left hand.

Both of the [Light Orb]s shoot forward, and the goblin mage hastily erects its barrier again. I was right, the thing expected those to be more than just light.

Unfortunately for it, I'm not that skilled. Those are just orbs of light, so they pass through the barrier of condensed air unhindered, blinding the goblin mage. Its barrier falls, but the crystal atop its staff continues to glow, more [Air Bolt]s shooting out of it.

This thing didn't hesitate for a second. As soon as it realized I was aiming to blind it, it sacrificed its barrier and began casting offensively. Did it suspect I wasn't following up with attacks? I should have done that, but I hadn't thought about it because I wanted the barrier gone.

Even though my [Light Orb]s have blinded the goblin for a bit (they're gone now), its attacks are consistent, all of them shooting within a foot of me. I manage to stop most of them with [Air Bolt]s of my own, but I'm running low on Mana. This thing must be as well, even with its barrier.

Despite being able to deflect most of the goblin mage's attacks, a few still hit me. The attacks aren't as powerful as I thought. I'm going to have bruises later, but they aren't enough to do more than that.

An idea comes to me and I cut down on how many [Air Bolt]s I'm casting. The goblin mage notices the decreased amount after about ten seconds and grins, cackling a little. It thinks I'm closer to running out of Mana than it is, and it's figured out that I can't dodge that easily even though I haven't moved.

Oh. I guess it's recovered its sight if it can see that I'm deflecting less.

As for not dodging things, I'm not that skilled at moving around during combat yet. I'm more likely to hurt myself dodging something than I am stopping the attacks or just taking them chest-on.

The goblin mage realizes that its attacks aren't hurting me much. They're hitting me, but they're not powerful enough to knock me back and all they're doing is hurting.

When the creature frowns and momentarily stops its assault, that's when I pull out a battle-winning spell. I already know the ice version of it, so calling upon the air in my Mana to create the air version of it isn't difficult.

[Air Spear] Learned!

The goblin's eyes widen as it sees the spell soaring towards it. Though it stops its assault to conjure up another barrier, it's not enough. My [Air Spear] pierces straight through it, passing through the goblin's head and two trees before embedding in a third one.

+97% Experience! You have gained a Level!

I look around to check for other goblins, then approach the corpse of the goblin mage, picking up its staff. The staff really is crude, but it's still a magic item. I examine it for more information.

Staff of Greater Wind Grade: 3 This staff improves the power of defensive wind magics by 10% while reducing the cost of wind magics channeled through it by 10%. When channeling a spell through it, the same spell can be cast again immediately with no wait time and no increased Mana cost.

No increased Mana cost? I don't have to spend extra Mana to cast spells immediately after each other, and I don't have to wait between them, either. I just create the spell and cast it, and it takes me only a moment. The only reason I wasn't matching the goblin mage was because I'm just not good enough to do more than about four in a row without having to wait.

This staff's description implies it's usually needed to wait a moment between spells. I'll ask about that when I sell this. Maybe it's because I'm a seven-affinity, so my ability to cast spells is better? They did tell me that the more affinities someone has, the easier it is for them to learn and develop skill in magic.

I'm sure someone would be happy to buy it, even if it doesn't really do much other than that last bonus.

This isn't my main goal for today, even if I did gain two Levels from the fight. My main goal is killing something big and selling it for parts, that will definitely sell more than a cheap staff like this. I'll need to carry this around, and fortunately, I came prepared for needing to carry some loot. I didn't buy a tunic, but I did buy a rope.

The rope is wrapped around my waist, and I unwrap it, then use it to strap the magic staff to my back before continuing forward.

As I walk, a realization comes to me. Goblins are stuff that adventurers under Level 10 usually go after to hunt once they've got some skill. Thomas told me earlier that low-level fighters and mages and mercs are the ones who usually keep their populations down.

These ones could go up against a Level 5+ seven-affinity.

Did I just kill a boss goblin and its entourage?

I must have, those were too strong for normal adventurers who handle goblins. At least the fight net me more than two Level's worth of Experience, today's hunt has already gone well on that front. Now, I just need to recover my Mana – which takes less than seventeen minutes – and find something good for hunting.

My next battle occurs when I'm just a few minutes away from recovering all of my Mana. The beast is a deer with a blue-green pelt and antlers that look as if they're made of water. It also finds me first, attacking me from behind with a high-pressure jet of water that pushes me back a little bit.

"Ya think I's weak 'nough to fall to ya?" I ask the deer. "Ya are too weak!"

I gesture with my left hand, an [Air Bolt] shooting forward. The deer attempts to dodge the violet-tinted projectile, which cuts through its left side. As soon as it moved, I sent another [Air Bolt] its way, this one slamming into the deer's neck, punching through it.

+19% Experience! You have gained a Level!

I was already close enough to gaining a Level that this boosted me up. Three Levels in under three hours, and none of the fights were really a struggle. The only reason the fight with the goblins took me so long was because I'm not good at dodging and don't have any defensive spells yet. A fight like that won't be too much of an issue for me now, though.

Being a seven-affinity is awesome.

Looking at the deer carcass and considering how long I've been out here, I decide to head back now. I want to sell these two things and see how much I get from it.