The humanoid stone golem slams a fist into my stomach, making my gasp. I reacted a little too slow on that, but I respond to the punch by grabbing the arm of the golem. Twisting my body, I throw the heavy thing. It reacts quickly, twisting and landing on its feet before charging forward, punching at me again. I manage to block this strike and deliver a solid punch to its chest.

It stumbles back a little from the force of my punch, cracks spreading out a little from the impact point. There are already a dozen spots with cracks spread across its body, and I probably only need to strike it a few more times before it breaks apart entirely.

My next strike is blocked pretty well, and as I try to follow that up with another, the golem gets inside of my guard and grabs onto me, wrapping its legs around my waist and its arms around my neck. Crap, no!

The golem pulls me down to the ground before quickly flipping us over, putting me into a headlock from behind. Rather than trying to pull its arms off as I feel my head getting light, I bring my fists upwards and in front of me for a moment, then slam my elbows back and inward.

This isn't too effective a maneuver due to the position and angle I manage, especially against a golem made of stone. If I could lean forward, I'd have been able to really get the golem with my elbows, but I wasn't able to. The actual purpose of that was the shift in my shoulders, not an actual attempt at elbowing the golem.

Thanks to my immense Strength, the sudden jerk of my shoulders forced the golem's arms up. I hear cracking as its shoulders are forced into a sudden shift out of position, and its grip on my slackens, just a little. In that moment, I jerk my head backwards, feeling something crunch behind me.

Okay, that actually dazes me because that was stone I hit my head against. But I recover quickly enough to break out of the golem's grip and turn the tables on it, wrestling it into a lock before I snap its right arm off. Without emotion, the golem shifts the full force of its body, throwing me off of it.

I tumble on the ground a little before I'm able to catch myself and start returning to my feet. As I do, however, the golem slams a foot into my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. I still manage to grab its foot and pull despite that, the golem falling to the ground as I right myself. In a moment, I'm on the golem, driving the heel of my right foot into its stomach.

That's the final blow, the damage to the thing far too much. It breaks apart, the battle finally over.

Collapsing to the ground, I conjure an orb of water and just dump it on me, not caring that it's going to soak my pants. They're already soaked from sweat, the fight against the golem took way too much effort from me.

But it was a good experience.

Clapping near the door draws my attention, and I look over to see Hailey, Aiden, and a couple of the older kids standing there, all of them dressed in their training outfits. The boys are all wearing black pants, while Hailey is wearing black pants and a light, blue tunic. They're all barefoot, having taken off their boots after entering the room about a minute ago.

"That was a nice fight," Hailey says. "Why did the golem look like ya? And why was it naked?"

"Lord Trenton came by earlier," I tell her. "He taught me this spell before he left. It's easier to make it as a clone of your own body than something else. Once I've practiced with the skill a bit more, I'll be able to change its shape more easily and make it not look like me. Or look like me, but clothed. Figured since it was just me fightin' it, there ain't an issue with me not doin' that."

I mostly wanted to test my ability against the golem. According to Trenton, a golem created like this has all of the abilities the caster did at the time of casting, but is incapable of using magic. It knows all the same martial arts that I do, which makes it good for training against, especially since my high Magic means I can make it very durable.

The only reason it was covered in cracks was because I had been hitting it repeatedly, weakening it throughout the battle until it cracked all over. My first blows didn't cause any cracks at all.

Part of that came from my repeated hits, though part of it was probably because it was starting to die, anyway. The golem could only last so long due to the Mana put into it, and once that Mana runs out, the golem would cease to function. Being made of stone, it would have just stopped moving, though one made of fire or light or whatever would just fade out of existence.

When I get better at casting this spell, I won't just be able to modify how it looks so that it doesn't look like me anymore. In addition to being able to do that and the Mana cost being reduced, I'll have other things I can do. I can give it more complex commands, allow it to stick around for longer and do more, and even have it cast spells.

Even better than all of that, though, is that I'll gain Experience from the kills of a golem, if Lord Trenton is to be believed. They are, after all, a cast spell, and things killed by my spells count as my kills.

Once I'm more experienced with the spell, I can also sense all of my active golems at all times, direct them into new actions, or even take full control of them if necessary. How the golems can see, I'm not sure, but the one I just destroyed can definitely observe its surroundings. Maybe my next one, I'll try looking through its senses to see what's going on.

Though I'll probably never control them directly in a fight, I don't think I'd be able to focus on the battle if I'm controlling something.

Whether or not I'd get more Experience from their kills by doing that, I don't know. I didn't ask Lord Trenton, and again, I'm not planning on doing that in a fight, anyway. Though I am curious how different the Experience will be if I kill something with a golem rather than myself.

"I plan on using them to help me train my martial arts and swordsmanship," I tell Hailey. "But if I'm around, I'm open to allowing you or any of the others to train with one of them. Probably not with martial arts, though. I'm not skilled enough to weaken them down so they won't kill any of you by accident. Did you guys want to train?"

"Not if ya are still using this," Hailey says. "We can wait."

"I was planning on taking a break from this after the fight ended," I tell her as I move out of the way, gesturing with my hand to move the dust and stone pieces from the golem to the side. "Ya are all fine for training now."

"Ya ain't going to the fields?" Hailey asks as the group comes further into the room. "I know it's cloudy, but it ain't that bad, is it?"

"There's going to be rain soon," I tell her. "And hunting in the rain ain't fun. It's harder, and then I end up soaking wet all day and my feet split on the bottoms 'cause they're wet the whole time. Is also s'posed to storm, too."

"It is?" Hailey asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "I can feel it in me scars. I ain't going out there in a storm."

I'm glad I managed to get the guild hall some soundproofing enchantments before today. They finished just a couple of days ago, and they're not just on the external walls. If I'm lucky, I won't hear the thunder at all. I'm also going to avoid going near windows that allow seeing outside so I don't see flashes.

"Okay," she says.

They start training their spells some, and I sit cross-legged. For the next hour, I practice creating and sustaining spells simultaneously. I'm able to cast five simultaneously right now, though actually holding them for more than a few minutes becomes a struggle for me. My limit for spells sustained together is seven, and I always have my invisible air armor and one or two invisible [Flashbang Bomb]s active.

Even then, I can only sustain around four spells at once for up to five minutes before it becomes a struggle. That's part of why I want to practice this today, I'm going to need this ability soon. Very soon. At least I know I can control spells far away from me, I've practiced that a few times.

Like yesterday, I had a [Light Orb] hovering in my room while I was training martial arts and swordsmanship in the fields after breakfast. It was one I was actively controlling, and from about two miles away while focused on something else. I've been building up that skill for a couple of weeks now, and am quite pleased I managed to succeed yesterday.

At the moment, I have a [Light Orb] hovering above the boulder, which is why sustaining five additional spells is making me struggle. When I feel my control over the [Light Orb] outside of the city start to waver, I cancel the additional spells and take ten minutes to rest before starting again.

After about three hours of this, everyone from the guild is in here, training. Paul wanders over to me and watches for a bit, then starts to poke at an orb of fire that's floating there, water wrapped around one of his fingers.

My eyes are mostly closed and he's on the side, so he probably doesn't think I noticed him approaching. The kid probably just wants to see what it's like to poke an orb of fire while his finger is covered in water.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I state, and Paul jumps, startled. The others all look over here. "These are [Fireball]s. If you do that, you're going to trigger it. This room might be enchanted to resist such high heat, but you are not."

The spell is actually just a [Fire Orb], and a low-power one, too. I just don't want him touching it.

"Sorry!" Paul squeaks, then runs over to Hailey.

"I think I'm done," I stand and walk over to my boots, slipping them and my tunic on. "I'll be in the kitchen if I'm needed."

"Max," Hailey follows me out of the room. "I was lookin' at the rooms, thinkin' 'bout which one would be best to set up Aiden's alchemy room in. One of 'em had a map on it, and the map was confusin' me."

"Lord Trenton gave it to me when he stopped by earlier," I tell her. "Want me to explain it?"

"Is it important?" She asks.

"Not to you," I tell her. "Come on."

I lead Hailey into the room I've decided will be a room for meeting with people who don't qualify for a special meeting up on the third floor. Normally, I'll probably meet with Lord Trenton upstairs if he stops by, but I wanted to ask his opinion on this, anyway. He's a much more experienced Guild Master than I am, and an adult, so I figured he'd know best.

He agreed, saying that upstairs was reserved for special meetings with him in the Spear of the Forest Guild's hall. They have a few rooms on the first floor for when someone needs to talk with a client or member in private.

A small stone rests on each corner of the map, which shows Kedridal and the Great Northern Forest in pretty good detail.

The Great Northern Forest itself is around thirty miles at its narrowest, down here by our kingdom. It actually goes 'into' the mountain range to the west. As one travels further north, however, the Great Northern Forest becomes a little wider, stretching up to sixty miles at its widest, most of that stretching to the east rather than the west. The western mountain range is pretty tall and goes well-beyond the Great Northern Forest's northern edge.

From the start of it here all the way to the Great Northern Wilderness, the Great Northern Forest is around a hundred and fifty miles in length.

Marked through that on the map, from Mile Fifty up to Mile 100, are eight circles. Each one covers a radius of around three to five miles, with the majority of them being before Mile 80. They're pretty spread-out, though if they were human cities, they'd probably be considered too close to each other. Most of them are about seven to ten miles apart from others.

According to Evan, the mapmaker who's been helping me with some stuff for the last week, humans don't usually build our settlements closer than fifteen miles apart. About half a day's travel by horseback, he said.

"These marks," I tell Hailey. "Are the goblin kingdoms. They're fairly small because despite being numerous, goblins don't take up a lot of space and don't usually travel more than a few miles from home unless they're hunting. They maintain a one-mile neutral zone between their hunting grounds, which is a few miles away from their cities. Each goblin kingdom really only has one city.

"Oh," she says. "So the locations of their kingdoms are all well-known?"

"Yeah," I answer. "When I went to fight the shadetoads a couple of days ago, I had to take this route here," I trace on the map. "In order to avoid getting too close to their hunting grounds. I'd been fortunate so far to have not trespassed on them while hunting already. The gods must have been guiding me to avoid their territories."

Upon realizing that, I thanked the gods numerous times.

"Okay," Hailey is quiet for a few moments. "Can I ask ya something?"

"You're my assistant guild master," I say. "I put you in that position because I think you're good for it. That means ya can ask me stuff, Hailey. Especially if it relates to the guild."

"Why did Lord Trenton give you a map with the goblin kingdoms?" She asks. "So ya know where to avoid going?"

"On Saturday," I explain. "We're going to be launching an assault on six of the kingdoms. We're only able to take on a few of them, though. I'm being asked to assist with this, so Lord Trenton was showing me the map and explaining the plans to me."

He told me it was my choice and I didn't have to accept, but I did. There was a small worry about what the king would do if I refused, but I do want to help with this. If I don't help, there might be an attack on the kingdom by goblins, and I want to help defend it. Not helping protect the kingdom while I'm here will make me feel terrible.

"Lord Trenton," I indicate one of the kingdoms. "Will be leading an attack on this kingdom. His Majesty and the queen will be leading an attack on this one. Lord Benjamin will be leading an attack on this one. Colt and Thomas will be assisting Alphonse and Henry in an attack on this one. The Silver Star Guild will be leading the attack on this one. And I will be attacking this one here."

"So these two won't be attacked?" Hailey indicates the other two.

"Manpower," I shake my head. There aren't enough high-power people for attacks on the other two. "Lord Trenton said there was a suggestion for regrouping and going after them once we've taken care of our original targets, but that's being nixed."

"Why?" She asks.

"Most people will be exhausted," I say. "And wanting to recover. We aren't just attacking the goblin kingdoms, we're taking them out. Or rather, we're destroying most of their residents and killing all of the more powerful ones in the city at the time of the attack. We're also going to kill the Goblin Kings during the fights. The kingdoms will recover in time, even if we wipe them all out. Goblins always return, even when every last one of them is eradicated.

"That said," I point at one of the spots. "This Goblin King is known to be troublesome, so there's currently a discussion that those of us on the upper ends of power will group up and attack with the goal of at least killing him, after we finish in the other kingdoms."

"Okay," Hailey says. "So the goal isn't total eradication, just killing off the higher-power goblins and the Goblin Kings? And taking out a lot of the lesser goblins?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Leaving weaker ones around will also allow for more goblins to pop up for weaker hunters to kill and get Experience from. We're also not dealing with any of the goblins before the kingdoms – those aren't really affiliated with the kingdoms and are all weaker and lack magic items unless they picked it up."

"Okay," Hailey studies the map for a few moments. "And the attack is Saturday?"

"Yeah," I answer. "We're planning on the attack being between breakfast and lunch. It will decrease the odds of reinforcements coming to assist the goblin kingdoms from others. Having them all grouped together will also make it harder for them to alert the others to attack."

"Okay," she says. "Well, I think I kept ya from your lunch for long enough, Max. Sorry for all the questions."

"Is fine," I tell her. "Was good speaking practice for both of us, anyway. I am hungry, though, so I's gonna go make me something to eat now."