XVIII

  Kaz didn’t know what to do, he was in utter disbelief. These weren’t people, these were Stonerock Goblins. While on one hand, it was great he finally reached their territory, so he was able to test himself against new monsters, it was still a shock to him that it was goblins and not people, as he wasn’t prepared to be facing them. He tried to focus on the goblins charging at him, but his mind couldn’t form anything, feeling his brain lock up along with his body.

  The first goblin to reach him was the one wielding the wooden club, and the goblin winded up his club and swung at Kaz. The club landed on Kaz in the upper right arm, causing him to slightly stagger to side, which in his favor helped him, as it moved him out of the way of the other goblin, who was trying to thrust his sword straight into him.

  The contact from the attack of the club allowed him to break free from his mental and physical paralysis, allowing him to function again. He used the momentum from his staggering and hopped to the side, giving him space and cast his [ Mana Burst ], aiming for the nearest goblin, which happened to be the one wielding the sword. He decided to go after that goblin first, as he had a weapon that could do more damage to him. His attack struck the goblin, who in turn got knocked onto his back from the impact and damage from his attack.

  Kaz realized this was the first time he was attacking two opponents, as he was immediately rushed by the second goblin wielding the wooden club. This was a new experience for him, as he thought to himself, because after the first goblin fell victim to his mana construct, Kaz would’ve been able to confidently strike once or even twice more into his exposed opponent. Instead, he had a goblin charging into him recklessly, swinging his oversized wooden club at him.

  Kaz’s Passive Ability, [Evasive Step], activated just in time, letting him slip past the overhead swing of the goblin who was similar to his own height. He swiftly took out his dagger and used it to swing at the midsection of the goblin, but due to his lack of skills of using it, missed badly. He quickly cast his Skill Ability, and managed to get it off, hitting the wooden clubbed goblin straight in the chest, causing it to stagger backwards, maintaining its balance on its feet.

  To his left, he felt a slice accompanied by sharp pain through his upper arm, and immediately a warmth filled that area. He glanced to the left, and he saw the other goblin completing his swing with his sword, now slightly coated with a small smear of blood on the rusted blade. His own blood. In his slight shock, the other wooden clubbed goblin managed to regain its focus, and swung into his legs, and connected to his calf, causing his leg to buckle, and Kaz found himself sprawling into the ground.

  He gritted his teeth, and rolled to the side, quickly getting back on his feet, ignoring the burning pain in his left arm and the throbbing pain in his leg. He cast his [ Mana Burst ], and decided to attack the goblin with the sword, as his blade caused more damage to him, proven by his arm slowly getting covered in blood through his robe at the moment. Thankfully, his attack hit the goblin in the head, causing him to get swept off his feet again and stunning the goblin for a few seconds.

  Kaz focused on the other goblin, who was now rushing at him with its club raised above its head. Kaz ducked at the last second, and stabbed straight into the gut of the goblin, who froze in place, slightly choking on air, a dagger embedded into its gut. Kaz left the dagger in the goblin and stepped back, beginning to cast his Ability again. He hit the goblin straight in the chest with his mana attack, and the goblin fell on its back, unresponsive.

  The other goblin with the sword, which has now gotten back on its feet and steadied itself, warily approached the Gnome, pointing the sword at him. Kaz decided to begin casting again, as the goblin was taking its time approaching him. The mana construct hit the sword of the goblin, which caused the attack to glance off the sword into the distance, not hitting the goblin directly. It caused the goblin to recoil from the impact, causing it to momentarily lose its grip on the sword.

  The sword clanked onto the ground, and Kaz swore another chip of metal fell off the already very worn sword. The goblin hastily picked up the sword, but before it could level it and face the Gnome again, another bolt of mana struck the goblin in the chest, causing it to black out and never wake up again. Kaz walked over to the other goblin, the one who was wielding the wooden club, and kneeled next to it. He gripped his dagger and tore it out of the goblin, spraying Kaz with a bluish blood. Kaz gagged when the blood splashed onto him, and slightly closed his eyes, blindly stabbed again into the chest of the goblin, ending its life.

  Kaz stood up and was hit with a wave of nausea, causing him to throw up his meager amount of food he had earlier on in the day. He quickly drank from his flask of water and washed out his mouth, having to take a breather. He took deep breaths, as he felt a slight pulsing in his head, which meant he has Ranked his skills once again. Kaz decided to ignore it and walked up to the goblins after he recovered his mana through his Passive Ability, [ Mana Regeneration ].

  He noticed that the goblins didn’t drop any crystals. Instead, they dropped something else that shined in the sunlight. In his surprise, he stared blankly at the three Copper Tokens that were laid out in the ground in front of him. He quickly kneeled down once his shock passed and picked them up, examining them thoroughly. They were legitimate Copper Tokens, as Bartley mentioned, and the same ones he once had before the Bandits stole them from him. They were slightly worn out, but they still had the same carvings and the same weight as the ones he once had back in Forith. He carefully put them in the bag that contained his rations, putting the food into his main bag, not wanting the Tokens to slip through the small tears in his bag. He would hunt these goblins till he couldn’t fit anymore Tokens in his bag.

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  After an hour of eagerly walking, Kaz came across another pair of Stonerock Goblins. One held a slightly larger, curved dagger, while the other gripped a spear-like weapon. This time, he hid behind a slightly larger tree, and cast his Skill Ability, attacking the goblins from afar, using the thirty-yard range his Ability offered for the first time.

  Kaz noticed his mana construct slightly flared and jolted around while flying towards the goblins, its silverish color gleaming in the sunlight. It struck the dagger wielder straight in the chest area, causing it to tumble into the spear handler. In their panic, they searched the trees, looking for their attacker. Kaz took a few deep breaths, and then peeked out from the trees, already starting to cast again. His mana construct, which he decided to shape into a straighter line with only slight curves, flew straight and struck the dagger wielder again, causing it to fall on its back, dropping its dagger, screaming in pain.

  The other goblin with the spear finally saw Kaz standing beside the tree, and began charging with the spear, roaring with fury, its sharp end pointing straight at Kaz. Kaz cast his [ Mana Burst ] again and struck the goblin when it was about ten yards away. It didn’t deter to the goblin, as it kept its straight face and continued its charge, foaming at the mouth. Kaz barely managed to step out of the way of the goblin, but felt the tug on his robe, as the goblin managed to tear into his robe which unfortunately was still in the rough position where Kaz was standing moments ago.

  The goblin widely swiped his spear once he finished his charge, noticing his spear didn’t make contact with its attacker. Kaz quickly hopped out of the way, mere inches away from the spear slicing open his stomach area. He quickly got out his dagger, and charged at the slightly taller goblin, tackling it and driving his dagger deep into its side.

  The goblin cried out, as Kaz quickly stood up, trying to make distance and cast his Ability to finish off the Stonerock Goblin, but instead found himself crying out in pain.

  A searing pain flared from his shoulder area, as a dagger jutted out from his shoulder, entering his vision from the corner of his eye. White hot pain flooded his body, causing him to fall limply onto his knees. The other goblin, who was wielding the curved dagger, managed to get up and attack him, while he was focused on the other one. He still hasn’t learned his lesson to keep his attention on all of his enemies, which now cost him a dagger in the shoulder.

  Fighting the tears that tried to flood his vision, he threw himself to the other side, trying to create distance. He almost passed out from the pain when he tried to move his left arm, so he pinned his upper arm to the side of his body, and began casting his Ability, and watched as his [ Mana Burst ] struck the goblin straight between the eyes, causing the goblin’s eyes to roll back. The goblin’s body disappeared, the sign that meant he had defeated the goblin, and turned his attention to the other goblin.

  The spear wielding goblin managed to pull itself together and stand on two shaky feet, but Kaz could tell it was barely hanging on, especially with his dagger now laying to the side of the goblin. Bluish blood freely flowed from the dagger wound he caused on the goblin, the skin of the already gray goblin becoming paler. Kaz cast his Ability, and ended the goblin’s life, not wanting to delay the end of the goblin. He gritted his teeth and tears rushed down his cheeks as he pulled the dagger stuck in his shoulder. He was bleeding profusely from his wound, but when he checked his status from the [ Archive ], he still had plenty of Health Points, so he decided to recover his Mana Points to take his mind off the pain. Kaz grabbed one of his dirty shirts and covered his wound, soaking up the blood. He still had over a day left on his Status Enhancement from the three-tailed fox, so his recovery was slightly quicker and less painful.

  He only got two Copper Tokens from the Stonerock Goblins, but he was still two Copper Tokens richer. He giggled with joy as he collected his riches, adding to his now growing funds. Kaz continued on his journey after his recovery, looking to encounter more goblins, to increase not only his Resonance, but also his funds. He loved this area and the goblins.

  Kaz encountered a total of four more groups, with three of the groups containing two goblins and one of the groups containing three goblins. The group with three goblins challenged his physical, mental and magical abilities, which helped spur a massive growth spurt in his Rank for his Abilities and his overall Resonance, and only cost him a few bruises and a few shallow cuts.

  Reaching 11 Resonance after his previous encounters, his Mana Points now sat at 80 Points respectfully, and his Health Points at 95. His [ Mana Burst ] was up to Rank 14, his [ Mana Regeneration ] was up to Rank 11, but his [ Evasive Step ] saw the most improvement, sitting at a new Rank of 11. Kaz credited his massive improvement to his [ Evasive Step ] from fighting multiple goblins at a time. He had to manage his movement trying to alternate between attacking and dodging, and slowly he was able to coordinate his fighting style to make sure he output the most damage without sustaining too much damage himself.

  The sun was starting to fall behind the horizon, and he began to feel tired, a full day of fighting with strong opponents, pushing him to his absolute limits was finally catching up to him. His body was on its way to a full recovery, but his mental energy was reaching the end of its limit. He climbed onto a nearby tree and got into a spot where he was most comfortable and began eating a bit of his rations, not really trying to conserve his eating anymore, as he knew he was getting close to Sarus. Kaz reflected on his day, thinking of ways he could improve his combat skills, as he was doing steady damage, but he wondered if there was a more efficient way of going about it, especially in a way where he would take less damage.

  Unfortunately, he was without a group, so he didn’t have the luxury of staying in the back and firing off his [ Mana Burst ] from a distance while a Defender took the attacks from the monsters. He wondered how his former friends were doing, and what they were going to do in order to raise their Resonance. He knew Viragor and Meisha would enter the same forest he did near Forith in order to gain experience fighting monsters, but he especially wondered how Syvis would gain Resonance, attending the Grand Academy in the capital, Aros. It really pulled at his heart, knowing that Viragor and Meisha, along with Syvis, would have to group with people other than him. If only things turned out differently, he thought, as he idly played with the Copper Tokens and Silver Token in his fingers. Sleep slowly found him, as he drifted off, his dreams tugging him into his past.