The party finally had a chance to take a break, and finish distributing their available Stat and skill points. Just like before Tenjin, Felix, and Ava had to choose to place one of their points into one of two stats. Tenjin chose to increase his strength and constitution increasing the to 12 and 13 respectively, Felix increased his strength and constitution to 13 and 11, Ava decided to increase her magic by 2 points for a total of 14, and Cass increased her strength and constitution to 13 and 11.

Unfortunately, Cillian's stats didn't increase at all except for his HP which was now 10, but she managed to acquire an ability called quick shot which increased the speed of her arrows in exchange for 1 stamina point.

Tenjin and Ava decided to each acquire the spell light sphere which allowed them to create a ball of light that would hover above their head and follow them around. It was a tier 1 spell that only cost 1 MP to cast, and lasted for a full minute.

Felix found a similar spell called torch light that he could use to conjure a torch. He could use it like a lighter to light flammable liquids or materials on fire, and even hand it to another person or place it somewhere. It only lasted for a minute, and cost 1 MP just like light sphere.

As for Brandon, this was the first time he had taken the opportunity to look at the magic/abilities tab since he had leveled up. He had forgotten to when the rest of the group reached level two, but this time he was going to see what skills he'd be able to acquire. He decided to hold off on increasing any of his stats until he looked at the magic/abilities tab.

When he opened that tab he found two boxes side by side each with different category lists inside them. The box on the left had the word magic on the top right side, and there was a list of several different types of magic. He saw the elements of fire, water, earth, wind, light, and dark magic. He also saw nature, ice lightning, and a few others types as well. As for the right box the word abilities was on the top left side of the box, and there was a list of several weapons, and a category for shield and armor.

Brandon was curious, so he opened up the shield abilities list and found the ability shield bash which basically allowed him to do what he already did, except it would increase the damage he would do and it wouldn't affect the durability of the shield in exchange for 5 stamina points. The damage it did would use the same formula that was used to calculate damage when using a weapon, and would include the modifier in the calculation as if it was increasing his strength instead of his constitution. The stamina point cost was a lot, but it was worth it for Brandon.

He also acquired the power slash ability for his sword which increased his attack power by 5% on the next strike in exchange for 1 stamina point. Since he acquired two abilities Brandon decided to place both of his available pints in stamina increasing it to 12.

Once everybody was done distributing their points the party headed out once again, but this time they'd be able to light the way with magic rather than just simple torches. When they reached the fork in the road the group decided to traverse down the left side this time instead.

They followed the left for about 5 minutes when Felix spotted what looked like a bright light around from around thr corner. Once the group approached the corner they could see that it was just another exit leading to the other side of the island.

They decided to double back, but this time Tenjin decided to lead the group. They didn't have anywhere else to go, so they took the right path that they had originally taken. Thee group was on high alert when they traveled down this path since they ran into a group of over a dozen goblin last time they were here. Nobody was sure what they were in for, but they carried on for several minutes.

It felt like they had spent at least a couple hours exploring this cave. Brandon was thinking that it had to be getting dark outside right about now, so they'd need to hurry and find a place to camp before nightfall.

They continued walking down the path for what felt like an hour, and came across several forks in the road. Several of them just lead to another exit, or went in a circle, but they eventually came to a path that lead to a large cavern that looked like if was the center of the entire cave system.

As they approached the cavern they heard the sounds of snarling, and saw what looked like a fire coming from the cavern.

As Tenjin peaked around the corner he saw what looked like a large camp with about three fires going with several tents surrounding each one of them. There were also a few tents on the outskirts of the camp that just had torches planted in the ground to provide light.

The cavern itself was over 100 feet in both directions and it looked like the ceiling went up all the way to the top of the rock formation.

However, what really surprised Tenjin that most was what was happening in the middle of the camp at one of the camp fires.

There he saw about half a dozen goblins dancing around the largest of the campfire and laughing. The sound of their laughter was menacing, but he wasn't as frightened by them as he was by the one sitting closest to the fire.

There sitting next to the center most fire with six other goblins surrounding him sat a goblin that looked just a little taller, and a little more muscular than the others. Even it's skin was a darker shade of green then the others.

He wore a large headdress made of feathers on his head, and had a necklace with little teeth on it. He had what looked like a human sized breast plate laying right next to him, and had a bone in his hand that he was eating meat off of.

The smell coming from the cavern reminded him of his first ride along back on earth when he and his training officer responded to a call for officers in the middle of a high-speed chase. By the time they arrived on scene the suspect had crashed into a power line, and the car lit on fire.

Because of that day he recognized the smell in the cavern. There was a strong metallic smell in the air, and the breast place next to the larger goblin who appeared to be the boss confirmed it. These monsters had killed and eaten another human...

Tenjin watched this gruesome scene, and whispered to the others to retreat back down the way the came. The group went back several feet away from the entrance to the cavern, and Tenjin began to fill them in on what he saw.

"They were doing what?" Ava asked. She was obviously disgusted and horrified, but was still having a hard time believing what she was seeing.

The rest of the group was feeling the same, but nobody knew what to say.

This time Felix was the one to begin speaking. "You know I know I wasn't a soldier for long in my last life, but in my short time with the military I saw several atrocities being committed by the enemy. One of the garrisons we assaulted on the Polish border also served as a concentration camp for dissidents; basically people the enemy had considered traitors."

"According to the official report it was just a regular prison where they were holding prisoner, but the reality is they were torturing them for information in a facility underneath the base. When we took the garrison I saw people without any toe nails, a man had his eyes gauged out, and some had even being severely burned."

"Seeing what had happened to those people was hard, but I promised myself that I'd never let any monster who does this to their own people get away with it." Felix paused for a moment, and rested his forehead on his hands for a second. After a brief moment he looked up at the rest of his party and said. "We have to get rid of these goblins!"

The rest of them looked around at one another, and Brandon spoke up. "Okay Felix, we're with you." He then turned his head towards Tenjin and began to asked him what else he saw.

Tenjin began to go over everything he remembered while he was looking around the cavern, there were three campfires. "There are seven goblins surrounding the bonfire in the middle including what looks to be their boss. There are several tents around the three fires, and a few here and there on the outskirts of the camp. I couldn't get an exact number of enemies, but there definitely was more than enough tents to account for the number of goblins we've ran into."

"Hmm so we might be dealing with an unknown number of enemies." Brandon stated as he continued to think about how they should approach the enemy.

As everyone was thinking about what to do they all received a notification; Side Quest: Clear Out the Cave of all Goblins. Reward: 200 EXP

"Woah, are we seriously getting a quest for this?" Felix was surprised to see that pop up. He was planning on doing it anyways, but now that there was a quest available which came with more EXP he was even more motivated.

"This should be pretty standard." Trinity explained to the party. "In Fantasia, if you have the resolve to do something it will become a quest that will reward with experience points based on the difficulty of the task you're given."

Cass interjected. "Well, if defeating these goblins will give us some extra EXP, and we get to get rid of some evil monsters there's no longer any reason not to. And I think I might be able to help us get the drop on them while getting a better look at the battlefield.

Brandon looked at her curiously. "What do you have in mind Cass?

"I'm a hunter remember." She reminded him. "I'm used to having to sneak around and ambush prey, especially prey that has much more sensitive hearing then we do. I'll sneak around the outskirts of the camp and try to get to the other side of them. When I shoot my first arrow that'll be your signal to attack."

You're not a close quarters fighter." Tenjin asserted. "So, if they charge after you, you'll be at a major disadvantage."

"I'll go with her." Felix offered. "I've done a stealth mission before, and I'm just as fast as she is. I won't have any trouble keeping up with her, and between Cillian and I we'll be able to protect her just fine until you guys get to us."

"I thought you died on your first mission." Ava stated noticing the contradiction in his own words.

"Well, it wasn't an "official" mission, but it still counts." Felix admitted.

"Well, doesn't matter, and it should work. Oh, and Tenjin and I can charge the enemy after Cass shoots off her first arrow. Ava can then follow behind us providing support, Brandon suggested.

Well, looks like I'm going to be the one falling behind in level of this keeps up." Ava complained while she rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry." Brandon assured her. "We'll leave a few for you to take out so you can gain some extra experience."

"Oh, one last thing." Tenjin stated with a sense of urgency in his voice. "Watch out for the other paths leading out of the cavern. I saw at least three others; one on each side."

With their plan finally out together the party decided it was time to begin. They let Cass, and Felix sneak out into the cavern while the rest of them waited patiently at the entrance for the signal.

Cass and Felix crept along the outside of the camps ducking behind the tents on the outskirts. Little did they know that they'd be in for a much tougher fight then they had expected...