"Did everyone receive that notification?" Brandon asked while looking around at everyone. They all nodded in response to Brandon's question, and he looked excited while he turned towards Trinity. "Thanks Trinity! You're awesome! Receiving EXP from your tutorial was unexpected."

It honestly was a bit surprising. They hadn't received any experience points when they each killed a goblin, so they were all starting to wonder whether they would receive anything even though it come up as a quest.

"No problem!" Trinity said with a proud look on her face. "Every guide pixie can give you access to the same tutorial, but you can only take it once though, so we won't be able to go back there to do any further training." She explained.

"What!? Then we should have stayed longer and practiced more!" Felix complained.

"We couldn't stay there long! Once everyone slays the goblin the quest is over!" Trinity explained.

"Well, that's all right." Brandon stated. "I think we got everything we needed to out of it, and now I think we should explore the surrounding area to see what we can find."

"I agree!" Cass concurred. "We need to get a lay of the land here. We should focus on finding good hunting spots, a water source, and some shelter too."

Everyone agreed with Brandon, and Cass's idea. The group could see a large rock formation in the distance, and agreed to move that direction to scout it out. Cass was thinking if it was safe it might be a good place to setup a base camp, and serve as a meeting spot in case they got separated.

The group proceeded forward with caution. Even though they each had easily defeated the goblin in training they weren't really sure what would jump out at them.

Trinity said that the island they were on was the safest of the Mirage Island, and all the monsters were below level 5 as long as they stayed on this side of the rock. There was nothing above level 10 on this entire island as well, but they still wanted to be on guard nonetheless.

They proceeded forward with Tenjin and Felix taking the lead on the on the left and right side respectively, Ava and Cass were in the next row behind them, and Brandon stood in the back covering their rear. They all walked through the forest with weapons drawn.

They had probably walked for a full hour without running into any trouble. If this world had truest been like a video game they would have encounter weak monsters, or a pack of beasts by now, but so far they hadn't encountered much.

Cass spotted a wild boar in the distance, and decided to shoot it for its meat. It didn't give her much though. In their world a wild boar would be more then enough meat to feed all of them, but here she was only able to loot one boar meat, one boar hide, and a boar tusk.

It wasn't much at all, and the carcass disappeared shortly after she looted it. It was nice not having to actually skin the boar, but Cass wished she could have gotten more out of it.

However, she was happy she received another 10 EXP for killing it. She was ahead of the rest of the group now, but everyone else also noticed that when she killed the boar they all received 5 EXP. Trinity explained that since they were all in the same party they would all received half the experience points whenever another party member defeated an enemy, or completed a mission.

The group proceed to travel to the rock formation, and after not running into anything for the past hour the group began to relax a bit and let their guard down. Brandon decided it was a good time to finally assign those to unspent stat points he had.

Currently all of his stats were at 10, and his HP and MP were at 50. He decided he would try to have balanced stats across the board to become the jack-of-all-traded kind of fighter because he thought it would benefit the group the most.

He decided to first start by increasing his Strength and Constitution first. Increasing stamina or magic wouldn't do him any good right now since he didn't have any magic or abilities, and he didn't need to rely on speed to much yet. The difference one point in speed would make at his level was probably pretty minimal he thought, so increasing his attack and defense would serve him better in the short term.

The group walked about another hour before they could see the rock formation clearly. It looked like it was about 100 feet tall, and it went almost the entire length of the island. They decided they'd explore the entire length of the rock formation, and turned to follow the left side first until they got to the end.

About 20 minutes later they discovered a cave entrance in the rock formation. The group was eager to explore, but Tenjin insisted they continue exploring the rest of this side of the rock formation first. He was concerned that there could be monsters camped out ahead, or patrols that could come in and surprise them from behind, so the group decided to go along with Tenjin's plan.

"We'll come back and explore the cave later!" He said adamantly. 'Once we've checked the rest of the area, and cleared out any enemies we can do some dungeon delving."

"Most of the group wasn't sure what he meant by dungeon delving, but they were all excited to start exploring the cave.

Man I bet there is treasure in there." Felix said with a goofy grin on his face.

'Doubtful, it's just a cave. At best there is probably some ore, or precious metals maybe." Ava declared.

"Yeah, and there are probably monsters in there too!" Cass looked excited at the prospect of there being monsters, but this didn't really surprise anyone. She was a hunter after all, so monster hunting would probably be something she'd really enjoy. "Ah, I can't wait to see what's in there!" she screamed.

"Shhh keep your voice down." Tenjin demanded in a low, hushed whisper. "You were a hunter weren't you? You should know loud noises will attract predators, or scare away any potential prey."

"Sorry!" Cass said apologetically, then she continued to keep an eye on the tree line for potential beasts or monsters. She put Cillian to work as well. With his acute sense of smell he'd be able to sense if there was danger nearby.

They walked for about another 40 minutes when they suddenly hit the coastline. The group stood just in the edge of the water, and decided to take a short break. They were mentally tired from all the walking. They didn't experience much physical fatigue. Just like a video game they didn't expend any stamina just by walking, but they did get hungry, thirsty, and they were starting to get a little sleeping.

They had been walking for approximately three hours, and they could tell the sun was getting lower in the sky. It was well last mid-day, but they still had a couple hours left before nightfall. They decided they would soak their feet in the water for a little bit, eat some of the rations they received as part of their starting equipment, and decided how they wanted to approach the cave once they got back.

After soaking their feet in the water for a few minutes the group finished their meal, and sat in a circle to begin their strategy meeting.

Tenjin was the first to speak.

"So, now that we've checked this side of the rock formation to see if it's clear how do you want to proceed when we enter the cave." Tenjin and the rest of the group looked directly at Brandon patiently waiting for him to respond.

Brandon began to speak after thinking things over for a moment. "Well, the cave entrance itself looked pretty tall and wide so we should have plenty of room to move and fight with our melee weapons at first. But, it could get more narrow further down, so we should start with the same formation we have been using."

Brandon then turned to look at the rest of his party to see if there were any objects. He waited for a few seconds, but nobody said anything so he decided to move on. "When it starts getting more narrow we should have Felix go in the front. His main weapons are essentially his fists so he'll have the easiest time moving around it right spaces. Next I want you Tenjin as our other melee fighter to support him from behind. Ava and Cass will be at a major disadvantage since they are mainly ranged fighters..."

Once Brandon said that Cass interjected. "I can fight with my hands, or with melee. I'm better with a bow, but if you give me an extra dagger I can fight two handed with them. I also have Cillian who can assist me with close quarters combat as well." she explained.

"You can have my dagger." Felix said while pulling out his dagger and tossing it to her. "All I need are these fists."

Cass caught the dagger, and gave Felix a little smile. "Thanks Felix." she said after pulling the knife out of its sheathe to check its quality.

Everyone started with a dagger and village clothes already equipped when they arrived on Fantasia, but nobody had actually checked the quality of everybody else's equipment. From what they could tell everyone who received a weapon and armor started out with iron versions. When they further inspected their equipment they all saw that they were all tier 1 just like the spells that some of the party had access to.

Cass placed the dagger Felix gave her into her inventory, and Brandon continued to go over the strategy. "Okay, so Ava, you'll be right in the middle of the group. You're at the greatest disadvantage in tight spaces like this, so we'll want to keep you furthest from the action to give you the best opportunity possible to make use of your magic. Cass you'll be behind her with Cillian, so that way you'll be able to assist me in the back in case we get ambushed from behind."

Once the group had their strategy all figured out the proceeded back to the cave entrance they had seen earlier. Everyone could feel the excitement in the air over the prospect of just getting to explore a simple cave. Even Tenjin who seemed like he was usually incredible serious couldn't help but crack a smile, and chuckle every once in a while.

The whole party was seemed giddy with anticipation, but Tenjin managed to keep everyone focused with Brandon's help.

As they approached the cave Brandon actually stepped forward to the entrance first. He and Tenjin both had shields, but Brandon proved in the tutorial to be better at using his shield and weapon simultaneously. He crouched down into his fighting stance, and Felix stood behind him placing his right arm over his shoulder. He shot out his hellfire spell, and they both kept a close eye as the dark crimson fire ball traveled through the cave until it died.

The group didn't have any light sources to use, so this was the best option they had for light at the moment.

"Looks all clear guys, we're good to go!" Felix stated excitedly.

"Wait, hold up!" Brandon said abruptly before the other began coming over to them. Brandon had a gut feeling that something was coming their direction, so he stood his ground completely still waiting for an enemy to approach.

The rest of the group stood there in silence, and right when they were about to speak Cillian began to growl. They could hear footsteps coming from the cave that sounded like they were moving pretty fast. Before the others could react or say anything a goblin charged Brandon. Part of the cave wall was in front of the others, and Felix didn't have a chance to cast Hellfire before the goblin was on top of them.

Brandon however, was expecting this, and before the goblin could strike he thrust his sword forward right into the goblin's chest. The goblin's forward momentum carried it right into his sword, and as his sword pierced the goblins torso blood sprayed out towards Brandon.

He instinctively took a step back while pulling his sword out, and moved his shield in front of him to block the blood spraying at him. Brandin saw an alert; Critical Hit, which was followed by Goblin defeated: +30 EXP. Lvl 1: 60/100

"Wow, thirty EXP!" Brandon thought to himself. That's a lot more than he expected. Apparently monsters, even weak goblins, gave a lot more experience then regular animals.

Suddenly another goblin jumped out at Brandon who had gotten distracted, but luckily his shield was already up. The goblin struck Brandon's shield with his club, and Brandon shoved it with his shield.

He followed up the shove by making a diagonal strike on the goblin, and he managed to bring its HP down to 6/25. This was followed an attack by turning his arm just slightly right after making the diagonal slash, and the comeback around this time cutting the goblin horizontally.

Brandon saw green blood splatter on the ceiling of the cave which was maybe about 10 feet high. A little bit of blood got on his face and shield, and he had to prevent himself from instinctively turning away. He was expecting the see another goblin charge at him.

The second goblin dropped to the ground, but unlike during the tutorial it's body didn't disappeared. Brandon received another alert, but before he had time to read it another goblin was running towards him to make a strike as he expected.

Brandon took a quick step back and got back into his starting fighting position, and managed to block the attack just in time. So far it seemed like as long as he actually blocked attacks with his shield he wouldn't take any damage, but he wasn't sure how long that would last, so he decided to go on the offensive this time.

Brandon struck the goblin with the front of his shield, and watched its HP go down, but this time instead of it going down by 5 points it went down by 6 because of his extra point in strength. He followed up the shield strike with another diagonal slash followed by another horizontal strike. That goblin's HP went down to zero and fell to the ground, but Brandon saw two more coming at him.

This time he had no choice but to take his usual defensive stance, and make a quick stab at the one closest to him. It's HP went down to 6/25, but the other one managed to get a hit on him.

Brandon saw his HP go down, but thanks to his armor it only went down to 43/50. This was the first time Brandon had ever actually been hit before. He could feel a dull pain after the goblin slapped Brandon with its club, and in a panic he thrust his sword at the goblin slashing it across its chest.

The other goblin tried to go for another strike, but Brandon managed to block it and finish it off by driving his sword through its left eye. With Brandon back now turned towards the other goblin it tried to go for him, but Brandon didn't even bother pulling his sword out of the goblins he had just killed, and swung his body around hitting the goblin with the thin edge of his shield while it was mid air trying to jump on him.

Both of the goblins HP had dropped to zero and Brandon received more notifications,

Goblin defeated: +25 EXP 85/100

Goblin defeated: +25 EXP 110/100

Reached level 2

+5 HP; HP 48/55

+5 MP; MP 55/56

2 stat points available

EXP 10/200

Goblin defeated: +25 EXP 35/200

"I leveled up." Brandon thought to himself, but before he had a second to process this another goblin came charging at him from inside the cave. He didn't have his sword on him, so Brandon had no choice but to use what he had on him.

As the goblin was flying towards him through the air Brandon swung his shield and hit the goblin with the edge of his shield. The goblin fell to the ground, and before it could get up Brandon was on top of it.

He took the edge of his shield again and drove it into the goblins neck over and over again until it's HP reached zero. He could feel the breaking of its neck, and here the cracking sound it made every time his shield hit the goblins neck. Even in the middle of his panic Brandon managed to cringe a little at the sound of the goblins neck breaking.

Once he was sure he had finished off the goblin Brandin stood up, and received the same system alert he had received after killing the others. EXP 60/200 was the last thing he saw. He wasn't paying close attention to the alerts anymore; he was in such a state of adrenaline rush that he was still breathing heavily after killing that last goblin.

He needed a second to catch his breathe, and collect himself after the barrage of surprise attacks he had just experienced. His heart was racing faster then he had ever thought possible, and he could feel the sticky green blood that he had gotten on his face after killing the first two goblins.

After a couple of seconds he managed to catch his breathe, and collect himself. He then went to the goblin whose eye his sword was stuck in, and managed to pull it out. It was covered in green blood along with his shield and armor.

He now could smell the scent of blood, and when he looked around he noticed the gory mess he was standing in. He managed to keep himself from vomiting after seeing the bloody mess he had created.

Once he was fully back to his senses he sheathed his sword and turned towards the rest of his party. All he could see was his new friends wide eyed, and starting at him while being totally silent.

During the fight the rest of the party was watching as Brandon stabbed, slashed, and bludgeoned several goblins coming at him one after the other. It was a gruesome scene, like something out of a horror movie, some of them wanted to actually turn away, but they couldn't. Their eyes were glued to the horrific scene in front of them.

All of them thought Brandon seemed like a pretty nice guy, and they knew he was a pretty capable fighter after watching him during the tutorial, but none of them had expected this.

Even Felix and Tenjin who have seen some pretty gory scenes because of their professions, and knew of the amazing feats people could perform when they were fighting for their life were amazed at the sight they were witnessing before them.

The whole fight only lasted for a few seconds, but for Brandon and his party it felt like a full minute had passed. When everything seemed calm they all looked around at the ground by Brandon's feet attempting to take in the gruesome sight, but before anyone had a chance to say or do anything another goblin came out of nowhere.

The group began to panic since Brandon didn't have his sword, but then they watched in aww and horror as he bludgeoned the goblin to death with his shield.

Throughout the whole fight Cillian was growling and snarling, but since the goblins didn't attack Cass he didn't engage them in battle. Cass also didn't order him to attack, so he just stood there growling and watching as his masters companion slew the enemy.

At the same time they were all receiving notifications every time one of the goblins died that they were gaining +12 EXP. After the fight was over the rest of the party had received 60 EXP, but no one even paid attention because the couldn't turn their attention away from what was happening in front of them.

Once the last goblin was defeated they saw Brandon standing there by himself in the cave amidst a mess of green blood and goblin corpses. His muscles were so tense they could see his veins swelling on his neck, his breathing was incredibly heavy, and he was sweating so much it looked like he had been walking through a desert.

When Brandon sheathed his sword and turn toward them they just looked at him with aww and amazement. They all knew that this had been Brandon's first real fight, and his first real kill. Nobody had expected it to be this brutal, even Brandon who had expected an ambush the moment he stepped in front of the cave.