William walked with firm steps toward the direction he saw the meteor fall in recently and eventually ended up in an area of the woods burned black with celestial fire.
"Crackle!"
His feet stamped onto the burnt earth and the top layer of fire roasted dirt shattered like glass, eliciting a slight shattering sound which cause William to nock an arrow in anticipation of a potential enemy finding his position, but after a few seconds of nothing happening he once again moves forward towards the location of the meteor impact although this time with softer and more deliberate steps.
Eventually he reached a hill where it seemed the celestial rock struck first creating a divot within the hill where fires burned even now.
Cresting the small hill Williams eyes narrow when he catches sight of a small group of goblins surrounding the fallen meteor who were attempting to dislodge it from the ground it rests in with great effort.
"I see seven of them near the rock but who knows if they have scouts nearby or not, i had better do this stealthily as best as possible!"
William's thoughts rang out in his head as he slunk into the shadows that seemed to welcome him with a loving embrace.
(Ding - Sneak Skill attained - Common -> Upgradeable - Passive Effects: Become 10% harder to see and hear in the shadows)
He weaved through the shadow of the nearby tree line and as he decided to work his way from the watchers and after few minutes of sneaking and repositioning due to the goblin's own movement, he unsheathes his small goblin swords that gleamed with a cold light when they were revealed and dashed toward the unaware goblin while stabbing downward with whiplike arms.
"SHHHK!"
The goblin tried to let out a yell but one of the daggers had pierced its neck and destroyed its voice box while the other managed to slip between a rib and pierced a lung making it doubly hard for the creature to call for help even as it struggled for dear life.
"SPPPTTTSSS!"
(Ding - Sneak skill leveled up 1->2 increasing its effects from 10% to 11%)
The goblin managed to pull the dagger from his neck causing a spurt of blood to shoot out as the creature soon choked on the blood flowing into its lungs and collapsed into a heap with bubbles forming on its crusty lips.
(Ding - Name: William Conwell
Age: 16
Race: Human
Class: Unassigned
Title: Chosen by Phosphorus
Level: 3
EXP: 0 / 300
HP: 170 / 170
MP: 150 / 150
Stamina: 180 / 180
[Stats]
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 13
Endurance: 11
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 8
Luck: 8
Stat Points: 5 Available
Skill Points: 10 Available)
William immediately allocated two of the five free stat points into luck and strength while putting the final point into intelligence and his stats visibly changed on the screen to his side.
[Stats]
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 13
Endurance: 11
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Stat Points: 0 Available
Skill Points: 10 Available)
He felt his muscles swell in places he had never worked out before and he suddenly felt like he could finish the goblins in a much more efficient way if he allocated a few skill points into (Sneak)
He immediately pulled open the skill screen and allocated half of his points into the skill via the addition symbol on the side of the skills.
(Ding - Sneak skill upgraded: Common -> Uncommon - Effects:Become 21% harder to see and hear in the shadows)
William seemed to become one with the lengthening the shadows as he moved like a snake towards his next target, he still had six enemies to kill and one of them appeared to be heavily armed and armored giving him slight pause when thinking of engaging the goblin.
He allocated the rest of his skill points into his focus skill as well feeling it would be necessary for the upcoming fight with the goblin in command.
(Ding - Focus - Lvl 1 (20/100 EXP) - Uncommon -> Upgradeable - Active Effects - Use 15 Stamina to slow down your perspective of time by 10% -> 20% allowing you to plan ahead in times of need)
He approached a goblin who was waiting for the scout he had killed to report and managed to slink behind the creature using the shadows as a cover until he found the perfect timing to slip a dagger through the back of its neck preventing any attempts to call for help.
The helpless goblin struggled for a few seconds before the light left its eyes, and the gurgling stopped before falling to the ground and being carried by William to a more secluded spot to prevent any accidental spotting from other goblins.
(EXP - 100/300)
A blue bar appeared in his peripherals showing his bar of experience which William thought was really convenient.
He equipped his bow and prepared his arrows on the ground besides him as he needed quick access.
The rest of the goblins were much closer to one another in comparison to the other two and he was outnumbered so he must whittle them down from a distance before fully engaging with the rest of them.
"Hopefully I can kill most of them before the armored one shows up, the increase in my skills should give me an edge but not much of one!" William took a deep and fulfilling breath of the strange atmosphere around him and closed his eyes.
After exhaling he opened his eyes, and his gleaming blue eyes began to glow a predatory yellow gold while turning into slits.
"FOCUS!"
He thought as he activated the skill causing the goblins in the distance to slow down to a near crawl compared to their normal speed.
William moved quickly even despite the slowed perception of time and plucked the arrows from the ground letting them fly in the air to his side.
If one would be observing him it would look like he was wasting arrows by tossing them away but suddenly his hands started moving once again in a blur.
"TWICK, TWICK, TKK, TWK, CLANG, CRASH!"
The arrows were fired almost simultaneously but in William's perspective he was lining up each shot perfectly before grabbing another arrow from the air and continuing the onslaught causing four of the arrows to strike true and deadly before the last two who were further away including the commander and a shield bearing goblin with a club in his right hand who respectively slashed through the arrow with a blade and blocked and arrow with its shield.
"GRAAAAA!"
The heavily armored goblin that was clearly the one in charge roared into the sky clearly enraged at the thought that most of the goblins under its command were slain and he would likely be demoted or even killed for his incompetence.
There was only one way to repent for the sins of failure and that was bloodshed!
"GRAAAGAAAAA!"
The goblin roared commanding the shield bearing goblin to assist him in slaying the puny human.
They both charged in the direction where the arrows came from but the only thing they found when they reached the high point was confusion.
But before they could think too long from the shadows behind the shield wielding goblin a hand reached around from behind holding a blade still slick with the ruby blood of the goblins he had slain before.
"SLK!"
The goblin shield bearer fell forward onto its commander and seemingly begged for help before the life quite literally drained from the gaping wound on its neck.
(Ding - Level up 3 -> 4)
He noticed the level up notification in his peripheral, but he had no time to look at his gains due to the fact that the goblin commander lunged at him with killing intent wielding what in the goblin's hands could be considered a great axe.
"GRAAAAAA!"
The green skinned creature attempted to bisect William with the blade of his axe, but he managed to move to the side and narrowly dodge the business end of the battle axe before it sunk into the ground.
"BOOM!"
The strength behind the blow was higher than William expected and the axe carved the burnt and rigid dirt into makeshift projectiles which he launched toward William.
"AHHH!"
William stifled a complete scream and grunted but from his forehead blood began to pour over one of his eyes and prevented it from full opening earning him a demonic grin from the goblin as it approached to slay the intruder.
The goblin performed a horizontal slash with the blade of the axe forcing WIlliam into a dodging roll which thankfully brought him within arm's reach of the dead goblins shield.
He lifted the shield just as the goblin commander was about to perform another bisecting downward slash.
"CRACK!"
The axe was buried into the shield and carved into William's arm on the other side causing his arm to begin bleeding but taking the chance, he was given he reached across the gap and slashed at the goblins neck between the gap of its helmet and its rugged and misshapen plate armor.
The goblin managed to move out of the way just in time to prevent a deadly blow and ended up with its face being slashed giving the goblin commander a distinguished red scar along its green face.
The creature left its axe and pulled a couple of short swords from a sheath on its back and charged at William who let go of the useless shield with hate filled eyes as it leaped into the air with its blades pointed downward at the human who was only equipped with a pair of daggers and a bow.
But unfortunately for the goblin Williams eyes began to shimmer a yellow gold as time seemed to slow down in his perspective making the goblin appear to be floating slowly to the ground as spittle left its mouth in rage fueled goblin speech.
William moved quickly which in the goblin's eyes appeared in a blur as he threw his daggers toward the incoming goblin.
The goblin commander was unable to dodge as he was already mid-air and was stunned when he felt one dagger penetrate his armor slipping between the shoddily placed plates and the loose chain underneath in his ribs while the second was coming straight for the creatures eye which was slowly shrinking as it slowly witnessed the blade approach before sinking into the jelly like surface of the goblins optical organ.
The goblin fell to the ground unable to complete its attack but still managed to pull the daggers from its body while giving William a look that could kill if it was possible with its single good eye.
"HHRRRRRR!"
Steam seemed to form on the sides of the goblins mouth as the creature went from a forest green to a blood red.
(Ding - Quest Received - Survive the Blood Goblin)
The suddenly burning red goblin chuckled with its serrated teeth as a dim light began to form within its body which slowly escaped through its pores.
William felt the hair on his neck stand up when the goblin turned red and began running through the shadows of the woods at maximum speed.
Back on the battlefield the goblin spread its arms and charged after William although was soon unable to keep up as its body fell apart.
"HEHEHEHE!"
The goblin let out a final mischievous laugh as the creature seemed to be devoured by a deep red crystal within its body which itself began to shake in the air as iridescent lights left its surface.
"CRACK!"
The gem finally cracked before the energy inside erupted like a small nuke!
"BOOOOOOOOOOM!"
An eruption of fire and blood created a mushroom cloud behind William and despite the distance he had managed to run thus far he was blasted away by the force of the explosion which displace the surrounding air.
William was dragged through the trees managed to desperately grasp onto a nearby branch to stop his flight.
That was when he saw the aftermath, the already burnt and dead clearing that the meteor had created had expanded several times and some of the dirt had even become superheated into a lesser form of lava.
Even the clouds above had formed a clearing as the afternoon day sun poked through a massive circle in the cloud cover.
As he peered closer, he could see the meteor or more specifically what was left of it as the majority of it had been reduced to slag but once William approached, he noticed a faint shimmer inside the recesses of the melted meteor.
Before he could reach the meteor though a screen popped up congratulating him for surviving the potentially deadly explosion.
(Ding - Survive the Blood Goblin - Completed - Reward -> Hidden skill gained - Danger Sense - Rare -> Upgradeable)
(Ding - Danger Sense Skill - Lvl 1 (0/500) - Rare -> Upgradeable - Passive Effects: When you are being targeted by an outside danger within five levels above the user, you can instinctively sense the bloodlust directed at you, allowing you to detect hostile presences even through walls, illusions, or invisibility.)
(Ding - Level Up)
(Ding - Level Up)
He had leveled up twice due to a combination of the previous goblins and the last one in addition to the quest rewards and he scanned his stats with a pleased expression.
(Name: William Conwell
Age: 16
Race: Human
Class: Unassigned
Title: Chosen by Phosphorus
Level: 6
EXP: 120 / 600
HP: 100 / 200
MP: 175 / 175
Stamina: 75 / 200
[Stats]
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 15
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Stat Points: 10 Available
Skill Points: 15 Available)
William thought heavily about where to allocate the stat points and soon decided to round off his strength and dexterity to twenty which emptied what little stat points he had gained.
[Stats]
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Stat Points: 0 Available
Skill Points: 15 Available
William had a foreboding feeling as he allocated the final points into the twentieth point on the screen but chose to ignore it as he was currently unused to the (Danger Sense) ability and suddenly before William could come back to reality his entire body had begun cramping all at once.