Roy had dropped the sticks he had been carrying back when he finished his descent and was currently unarmed, but he had not intended to use them to clobber anything anyway.

He laid himself low in the water and fished up a trio of rocks, two smaller and one fist-sized. The goblin seemed to have come to the river to bucket water, carrying two of them. It had also stopped to take a drink itself, crouching on the bank and cupping the water.

Roy kept a low profile, leaving himself submerged save for his head as he made his approach. It did not seem to have a weapon on it, and it wore filthy rags that barely covered it, but it had pointed teeth and long, grisly-looking nails. A scratch or bite could spell the end for him if the wound got infected, so he knew he had to be careful.

After getting within comfortable throwing distance and taking the opportunity before it notices him, Roy burst out from the water, startling it, and threw one of the smaller rocks imbued with his Homing Shot aimed right at the goblin's beady yellow eye.

The goblin yelped and recoiled from the impact, clutching at its eye as it took a step back. It watched Roy with its good eye, filled with hate and malice, and he took this opportunity to throw a second homing rock. Unfortunately, it raised its arm in time to block it, but Roy wasted no time in throwing the larger rock he had picked up earlier, using the Splitting Shot to duplicate the projectile right before impact. One of the rocks struck it in the head as it tried to avoid the original projectile, and the second landed right on its foot. It staggered backward slightly, knocking one of the buckets over and clutched at its head this time as blood seeped down its forehead.

Roy was already fishing for another rock, having found a loose one with his foot, and kept his gaze on the goblin, who seemed to take a quick glance at the water separating the two before turning and limping away.

Annoyed at it being too smart to fight him in the water, where its size would greatly impede it, Roy gave chase after hefting his new weapon onto his shoulder, running up onto the bank first. Its short legs and limp meant he easily caught up with a short dash, but his opponent used that opportunity to suddenly turn and leap at him, aiming right for his neck with its open mouth. Roy was not caught unprepared, however, as he immediately swung the large rock straight in its face, sending it straight to the ground with a nice crunch. It was not out of the fight yet, as it tried to prop itself back up but Roy slammed the rock onto its right arm, breaking it. The goblin let out a guttural wail of pain and tried to crawl away.

Remembering the details of experience gain as he stood above the creature and caught his breath, Roy decided to try something out rather than bash in its skull.

He grabbed it by the back of its neck and with a firm grip on its other arm, dragged it to the edge of the stream and dunked its head under the water. It struggled to escape but it had the strength of a child's body and holding it under was simple as Roy leveraged his greater weight. Bubbles soon began to rise and its struggle slowly subsided but he waited just to be sure it was truly dead.

You Gained 18 EXP

Strength: +4 EXP (4/10 EXP)

Speed: +2 EXP (2/10 EXP)

Endurance: +1 EXP (1/10 EXP)

Stamina: +6 EXP (6/10 EXP)

Cognition: +3 EXP (3/10 EXP)

Mana: +2 EXP (2/10 EXP)

"Oh boy. This is going to take a while."

Roy finally let go of the goblin after the message popped up and plonked himself down next to it in exhaustion. His heart was beating hard and fast but was glad the fight went well. From the look of things, the experience he receives gets distributed based on how he performs during the fight, and being exhausted caused his stamina to improve the most. That is probably the stat he needed the most right now to survive this environment, but how much it would actually improve with levels he had yet to see. Endurance worried him slightly, however, as it seems he would need to be hit to improve it, but he would rather not receive any injuries if possible.

As he was pondering over his experience distribution, the goblin body rapidly began to turn black, as if it was being burnt, and Roy hastily got up and retreated a few steps at the unexpected development. He watched as the blackened parts began to crumble, looking like charcoal, before turning to dust and eventually vanishing until the body was no more. Only two things remained behind: the rags the goblin had worn and a shimmering azure crystal.

"I'm guessing that's meant to happen. Gaia? Explanation please."

Core Crystal

Tier: 1

Purity: Low

Charge: High

The remains left behind by a denizen of the underworld, containing the remnant power of their bodies. It is a vital source of power, used in the making of magical tools and equipment, or can be consumed to form an object of a lower tier.

His stomach growled in hunger as he contemplated what he could turn it into, but ultimately settled for a combat knife, as killing more goblins meant more cores, and they were not too difficult to deal with. He would have preferred a ranged weapon, but ammo would be a limiter, and a knife he can at least throw if needs be.

Roy held out the core and felt the same sensation as he had when using his skills, with an input of what he wanted being a trigger to transform it. Pleased with the simplicity, he pictured what he could remember of a modern, military tactical knife, but got interrupted as a window popped up in front of him.

Error

You attempted to create materials that do not yet exist in this world. The creation process has been aborted.

Conflicting Materials: Plastic, Stainless Steel

Roy let out a groan of frustration and gave up on modern, settling for a much simpler dagger of wood and steel. With the updated and outdated design in mind, the azure glow of the core overtook the entirety of the crystal before morphing into the shape of the dagger, vanishing in a puff of harmless sparks to reveal the dagger.

"Tactical" Knife

Tier: 0

Made with frustration and desperation. It's at least a little sharp, so try not to cut yourself.

Roy was dumbfounded as he read the description of the very basic-looking dagger, and realized a mistake he made in not including a sheath. He let out a sigh of resignation and began looking around.

"Now where did the firewood go?"