Damon decided to head south. There wasn’t anything good up north near civilization. He knew that other creatures and monsters awaited him deeper in the forest. He could come back when at least one of his magical skills levelled up.

“Where will you go?” asked Stolas.

“Down south into the marches.”

Stolas nodded and gave Damon a pamphlet on the beasts of the south. “Have a safe trip. But wait a second, I have something to hand you.” The owl flapped his wings, went inside the Tree and came back with what seemed to be a sword wrapped in a linen cloth.

Damon removed the wrapping and found a beautiful sword sheath made of black leather. He pulled the sword and saw a dazzling steel short sword engraved with durability and sharpness enchantments.

“These enchantments are medium grade and the sword itself isn’t anything lower than high. With this you can kill a troll if you catch it by surprise,” said Stolas.

“Thank you.” With this Damon left for his journey into the deeper forest. Yet first he had to test his blade. He headed towards a new goblin nest located at the entrance of the march. This was according to the pamphlet. It also stated that deeper in the forest lived amphibious or reptilian like creatures. The forest wasn’t a land filled with magical beasts but beasts of brute force and stealth. A good training ground for a young elf such as himself.

Damon followed a dirt trail he’d used a thousand times to enter the march. And soon he found a snake lying in wait. Damon climbed a nearby tree and jumped down, piercing his new sword through the snake’s cranium. The difference with his previous sword was incomparable. As long as he could sneak up on his enemies, killing them wouldn’t be hard.

He didn’t bother with the other snakes and used the trees to pass them, directly heading to the goblin nest.

Half a day later he found the entrance. This one seemed smaller, and there weren’t any goblin scouts in the area. He waited for a few minutes and a patrol numbering two goblins exited the cave in a casual manner. They were talking while dragging their bats on the forest floor. Damon didn’t bother to hide in trees for them and simply used his lesser shadow meld and hide behind a tree in the direction which the goblins were walking. When the goblins neared his position, he lunged in front of them and cut their necks with a horizontal slash.

Although the other goblin nest served as a goblin farm, this one could be wiped out without issue. He’d collect a fair bit of experience points in this manner.

Damon increased his shadow meld intensity and entered the goblin cave system. There weren’t any goblins moving inside the cave. He guessed that in the other cave, the goblins moved around at the entrance as a second layer of protection. However, here they seemed relaxed, perhaps due to the fact the sect didn’t attack them, well not until now.

Damon proceeded into the caver and heard noises in the first room. It was in the same area as the other cave. He decided to hug the walls and scuttle forwards. He peaked inside and saw what looked like a nursing area. As any society the way their accommodations were set up reflected their values. In human cities the wealthier would congregate towards the centre. And goblins who reproduced like hot cakes, thought of their children as of the lowest caste, so they were the closest to the exit. Although Damon could easily deal with them, he didn’t feel up to the task. They weren’t a threat to him so he could let them be.

Deeper inside he found another room. Here there were ten goblins in a massive orgy. Their mud-covered bodies squirmed on the ground. Damon created three dirt walls to close the tunnel which led further in the nest. This should at least muffle the noises made by the goblins and prevent any ambushes.

The goblins participating in the orgy weren’t armed, as such it shouldn’t be dangerous. He still cast smog and Sandstrom. The goblins noticed the sand entering their eyes and the smog prevent them from smelling out his location. He then rushed in with his new sword. Since the room wasn’t large, he swung his sword in a semi-random fashion. He felt his blade crack and piece skin and bone. When he felt his arms start to tire, he stopped his flurry of attacks and listened for sounds of life. He didn’t hear anything, however, since nothing had attacked his dirt outside of the room it seemed that no goblin heard their compatriots’ screams. He decided to wait for the smog to dissipate and sand to settle.

When it did, he got a better look on the goblins. All the corpses were lacerated or pierced. However, some seemed too shallow to be deadly. As such he went around and pierced their necks to make sure they had all died. He didn’t bother collecting their blood, but he would still dissect the strongest member to increase his intelligence stat and learn a bit for when the time came to create a living dead.

Since there didn’t seem to be any shamans here, he wasn’t interested in their bodies.

He collapsed the three earth walls and proceeded forward. Another ten metres in front found another room. He dearly hoped goblins didn’t make nests like ants. It would take an eternity to clear out. He peeked inside. This time the room wasn’t small but incredibly large and had corners which he couldn’t see. This worried him since there may be paths to other rooms from which reinforcements could come from. Inside, twenty goblins ate lacerated meat. He could now clearly see their yellowish and brown teeth. He didn’t know how the teeth didn’t fall out or stay stuck inside the meat.

Since the room was so spacious, around a thousand square kilometres he decided not to use his smog and sandstorm right away since it would alert everyone. He sneaked in and cut off the head of one goblin. The other didn’t seem to notice him, whether due to his shadow meld skill or their own gluttony he didn’t know. In such a manner, he managed to kill two other goblins before one noticed him.

The goblin let out a resounding high pitch scream which echoed in all directions. The scream sounded more like a call, as such he looked around for any other entrances into the food chamber. He found two smaller holes in the walls. He quickly cast smog and sandstorm while heading for these entrances before sealing them with two earth walls. He couldn’t do more to conserve mana. He proceeded to cut down the goblins in the room, however, before he could finish, he heard the wails of goblins on the other side of the earth walls. The earth started to crumble.

Damon pressed to finish the other goblins. When he did, he quickly placed himself in front of the most battered earth wall. It soon crumbled and a goblin shaman with a large club entered the feeding ground. When he stepped into range, Damon immediately cast an earth pillar and impaled the goblin shaman. The six goblins behind the shaman flew into rage and tried to assault Damon. However he reacted faster and cast an earth wall, took a step forward and cast earth an earth pillar which should have impaled one. The remaining goblins broke down the wall, only to face Damon’s sword which reaped the lives of three neatly aligned goblins. The last two goblins faced Damon two on one. The first one swung down its club towards Damon’s head, but the dark elf dogged it and parried the second goblins low sweep. He kicked the goblin in the face and slashed the first goblin’s stomach. The goblin although small were strong and the kick didn’t make the second goblin fall, just stumble backwards. However, before it could charge into Damon again, he used rock spear to make it stumble backwards once again. It fell and Damon stabbed its neck.

Damon stayed vigilant and tried to listen for anything else approaching. Since he heard nothing, he entered through the shaman’s tunnel. It led to a throne room with multiple different exits. Damon explored them but found nothing else. They led back to the feeding ground or smaller rooms which looked like sleeping quarters. Damon went back outside but it was already nighttime. He decided to seal the entrance to the cave and sleep in a somewhat hidden room inside the goblin nest.

The next morning Damon headed out once again. Although the sun shone brightly in the sky high above. Deep under the sea of brown trees and above the murky waters filled with sticks and leaves. Damon felt the eyes of beasts under the mud; he decided to climb a nearby tree. Damon kept travelling from tree to tree, and ever so often he broke off some dead branches and threw it in the mud to see if any beasts would pop up. The further he went into the march, the darker and murkier the environment became. The leaves over head became numerous and grey in nature and resembled the tree of the sect. The previously untraversable muddy ground became laced with islands made of dead trees and pilled up leaves.

However, when Damon threw a large branch on one of these islands, a large salamander head popped out. Seeing that it noticed the branch was just that, a branch and started to head back under the leaves he threw another branch on its head. This time came out fully of leaf island. Damon threw a few other branches, however, no other giant salamanders came out.

Its grey and brown body squirmed around as its low eyes scoured the ground for prey. Damon decided to make his move. Since it was alone this time, he decided to face it head on and get a feel for this new beast.

When he landed on the ground, the salamander turned around and twisted its head sideways to grab Damon’s leg. Damon jumped above it. However the salamander twisted it head and bit down on Damon’s leg. Damon quickly cut its eyes. The salamander let go of its prey and twisted in agony. Damon didn’t let this opportunity pass and stabbed the beast’s chest.

He started to walk backwards and wait out the creature’s death; however, his leg felt heavy. Thankfully salamander didn’t have teeth, however, at the very least he’d have a massive bruised, if not fractured leg.

He climbed a tree letting his left leg hang and searched in his bag for a recovery potion. He didn’t feel a difference, and his leg still hurt which probably meant the leg had been fractured. But with the potion it should only be bruised now. He’d have to sleep here tonight. Thankfully, trees didn’t make for bad beds. He’d noticed it himself; his mentality, cravings, and desires had steadily changed ever since he’d become a dark elf. When he thought about it, he guessed that it might be due to the fact that what had transferred wasn’t his body, but his spirit and your spirit could be put inside a fish, a bear, or a human. Your thoughts and feelings weren’t based on your spirit, but your body. But this also put into question the utility of spirits.

The next morning Damon felt that his leg had recovered a slight bit, not to the extent of a full recovery; however, it shouldn’t impede him from running or scaling trees anymore.

He’d learned his lesson. He wouldn’t face beasts head on, even if they looked like puppies, unless he’d learned of their behaviours. Perhaps he should have learned archery instead.

Damon continued through the trees and threw branches on the ground ever so often. When salamanders or giant earth snakes popped up, he’d jump down and stab their heads. If there were more than one of them, he’d draw one away with a twig, kill the other and use an earth spike to impale the other.

After doing this for two weeks, he wondered if the earth flattening spell could trap the beasts under the ground.

Damon threw a stick on a pile of leaves. A salamander popped out, but since he didn’t throw a second one it went back into hiding. He climbed down the tree and used the flattening spell as he approached the salamander. When he made sure the salamander’s previous position was under the new earth, he threw a stick above its head. If this worked, he could farm Exp like there’s no tomorrow. He prayed to the god to be a kind maiden to him.

The compact earth exploded, and a salamander emerged from the ground. Damon had already placed himself in front of the salamander’s hiding place, as such he used an earth spike as soon as he saw it.

Although he couldn’t walk around continuously casting earth flattening spells to earn Exp, he could slow down the reaction speed of the beasts. But for now, he’d continue using his previous tactic.

Damon proceeded in this manner for another week, in that time he killed another twelve salamanders and four giant earth snakes. The forest had started to thin out and sun rays pierced the leaves. For most of this would be a welcome sight, but to Damon, a dark mage, and a dark elf it disturbed his eyes and mood. The night let him use his dark magic at without hindrance and the lack of light seemed to relax his eyes.

Damon through another stick on the leaves waited for the salamander to show itself and jumped onto its head and let his sword pierce its skull.

However, on his way back to a tree he felt a piercing pain in his chest. When he looked down and saw an arrowhead poking out of his chest near his armpit. He turned around and saw two human males and a female with bows. No, they couldn’t be human, their bodies look thin and refined. They held the distinct aura of elves; however, they were neither sun elves, nor dark elves. Before he could do anything, he felt his vision blur and he cursed his life once again.