Chương 39

Emptying the bowl of water over me, I was finally feeling a bit refreshed. I couldn't have gone into the river water due to the mysterious dangers lurking within its depths, so I had to resort to repeatedly filling my small bowl and splashing it over myself. On three separate occasions, a crab had decided to crash my bath, and I had to relocate each time. Still, I had successfully completed it, and was feeling all the better for it.

Equipping my clothes and armour, and securing my new dagger on my scabbard, I started moving along the river. Nearing the base, I went into concealed presence and looked around for the group. Not finding them, I went inside my room and waited to recharge my mana. While I was waiting, I opened my Status. I still had 9 free stat points, and I could assign them to dexterity or perception, but I instead wanted to address another shortcoming of mine.

Quick Step used four stamina with each use, not to mention the steady drop of stamina during combat. During the snake elite fight, I had to use Quick Step a lot of times, and running out of stamina wasn't something I wanted to have to face. Moreover, my stamina was lagging behind the other resources. Doing a bit of mental math, I calculated that adding 5 points to Endurance would not only allow me to get to the 10 threshold in that stat, but it would also increase both stamina and health to be at a nice, even 100.

Committing to my thoughts, I assigned the points. Everything within my body felt like it expanded. My heart, lungs, and blood vessels all enlarged and a rush of blood encircled my entire body, empowering each muscle and tissue as it passed by. I took a deep breath in, and it felt like I had much more room within my lungs. My weariness from the fight vanished away as well. The rush of energy soon ended, and I went over my status in detail for the first time in quite a while.

Name: Alex Grant Race: Human Age: 24 Level: 11 Exp: 193/400 Grade: E Class: Assassin Health: 100/100 Stamina: 86/100 Mana: 113/150 Regenerations: Health: 5/min Stamina: 10/min Mana: 10/min Attributes: Strength: 5 Agility: 25 Dexterity: 13 (3) Endurance: 10 Vitality: 5 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Perception: 12 (4) Free Stat Points: 4 Ability: Subtle Influence Skills: Active: Concealed Presence, Critical Sense, Quick Step, Mana Sense, Internal Mana Manipulation Passive: Tactical Insight Wealth: 11 Gold, 3 Silver, 8 Bronze I was pleased at the growth that was evident in my stats.

However, two things did concern me. First, agility kept increasing at an alarming rate, and I knew I had to start assigning stat points into dexterity and perception to keep up. The memory of becoming an uncontrolled speedster before the fight with the kobold elite was still fresh in my mind. My new item bonuses were helping somewhat in that regard; increasing both dexterity and perception to 16. Second, my Strength and Vitality now seemed painfully low. I needed to get them both to 10 at least to keep up.

Luckily, I would now be getting 5 stat points with every level up, and I would just need two more levels for strength and vitality to reach the threshold. Then, I would be able to assign points to dexterity and perception, with a few in intelligence and wisdom as well to keep my current fighting style balanced. Once Strength and Vitality reached the thresholds, I would assign two to dexterity, two to perception, and alternate one between Intelligence and Wisdom, until dexterity caught up to agility.

Then, I could shift one point from dexterity to intelligence, and have 1 to dexterity, 2 to perception, and 1 each to intelligence and Wisdom for the foreseeable future. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Plan made, I took note of my wealth. So far, it had been absolutely useless, and I would get a random amount added with each kill.

The only thing that I had been able to use any wealth for had been through the system store, and with its lackluster options, there wasn't much to be spent there either. The most expensive items currently in the system store were all for less than 10 bronze coins, implying that I was rich. However, I didn't believe having a mountain of dry bread, flint, bowls, and spoons, would make me actually rich. Let's hope there's something to spend on after the tutorial… My mana was now full, so I got up and headed outside.

Going under concealed presence, I exited the longhouse and made my way over to the goblin camp. I had to make sure that what I was planning on doing was even feasible. Also, the fight against the snake had made me think of a possible change in the plan, which could be extremely beneficial. It took me about 50 minutes to reach their camp, and I moved towards the hillock again to observe. Immediately, I could see there was a change. The camp was much more active than last time.

Goblins were running about everywhere, some with arrows in their hands, while others had crude weapons like clubs or sharp wooden spears. The hobgoblins that I could see were all armoured now, and each had better weapons with them. It looked like they were getting ready for something, and I had a pretty good idea what it was. They are preparing to attack us! I wasn't sure if they were going to attack right now, or if we had some time, but I did know that I needed to do something quickly in order to delay them.

There was no doubt within my mind that we were their target, as I hadn't seen something else that could contend with the goblins and cause them to prepare like this. Moreover, them keeping goblin scouts around our camp 24/7 was kind of a huge giveaway for their intentions. I looked around some more, and spotted goblins preparing meals off to the side. There was some sort of broth simmering away in a large pot, and a lot of meat cut up in different sizes all over.

Hastily thinking of a plan, I took out what I needed from my inventory, and set off to the gate before I could second-guess myself. Lucas is going to be so pissed at me doing this… I approached the gate slowly. I could physically feel my heart hammering, and sweat was making my dagger's hilt slippery. I took a deep breath to calm down; it didn't work. Still, I had to move. We were not ready at all. Unfortunately, it looked like we were out of preparation time. I just wished I had more time to test out a few things.

The gate was mercifully less busy than what I had seen earlier, instead, all the activity seemed to be happening within the base. Taking yet another deep breath, I started moving. Anticlimactically, I was able to easily move past the two goblin guards and enter the base properly. It felt even more frantic from here than what I had seen from afar. Goblins were rushing around so fast, I was afraid that one of them might bump into me and that would be the definitive end of me.

I hugged the wall to my right, and moved as fast as I dared to the place where all the cooking was being done. Mercifully, the closer I got, the fewer goblins were present in the area. I crept closer and was soon right in front of the massive pot of broth. It had a diameter of at least one car length, and I could see bits of vegetables, meat, and herbs inside. The smell was much nicer than I would expect from anything made by goblins, and it actually made my stomach rumble a bit.

I then remembered that I hadn't had lunch, but that was the least of my worries right now. I held out one of the poison sacs as close to the broth as I could, and looked around. Finding no goblins looking at the broth at the moment, I pierced the underside of the sac with my dagger and immediately dropped it inside. The broth started bubbling immediately, and a green hue quickly spread out from the sac.

Worried that I had overdone it, but knowing that there was nothing I could do now, I made my way to where all the meat was being prepared. I waited, keeping an eye on my mana, and as soon as the goblin who was preparing the meat turned around and went inside the hut closest to the cooking area, I pierced the second sac, being careful to make as small of a hole as I could manage, and started putting drops of poison on every piece of meat I could see.

I moved in a rush and accidentally spilled a few drops on the table, making the wood hiss and blacken, but I kept moving. Time was of the essence, and I couldn't take care of every little detail. Soon, I had managed to put a drop on everything in sight, and I held up the poison sac so it stopped dripping, being careful not to get any poison on my hands. I looked around to see if I missed any food, and spotted the hut where the goblins that were cooking went to.

Moving towards it, I chanced a glance inside, and saw that there were no goblins inside. However, my eyes were drawn immediately to a horrifying sight. There were two people inside, crammed into a small wooden cage at the back. My increased perception allowed me to see their condition quite clearly. Both of them were covered in filth, feces, and blood, and both had their heads down, unmoving. I could see the gentle rise and fall of their chests, meaning they were still alive. For how long, I had no idea.

Tearing my gaze from them, I saw something even more stomach churning. On a table in the center, there was half a body. The legs of what had previously been a person were there, with the upper body clearly missing. I looked back in horror, and spotted a few pieces of meat that looked suspiciously human. They eat humans!

"Everyone clear on their roles?" I asked, again. I had made my way back to the base, and found the group having lunch. Joining them, I told them what I had seen of the goblins preparing, but leaving out the fact that there were humans still there. I didn't want someone to make a mistake due to heightened emotions, and felt it best to leave it out. I did mention it to Lucas and Sara though, and we all agreed to rescue them as soon as possible.

My question was met with nods and affirmations, as every single combatant in the camp readied themselves. There were about forty of us. A pitiful amount against the hundreds of goblins waiting for us, but I had a plan to bolster our numbers. I just hoped it would work. Sara had gained a new skill which allowed her to improve her understanding of sword combat, and I just wished she had gotten it sooner so we could have had a chance to replicate her methods with our weapons, but now, we had no time.

Marcus had also reached level 10, and his ability was going to be a game-changer.

"Great!" I replied.

"Let's go" I turned and made my way in a casual manner to a goblin scout nearby. The others also spread out, each of them encircling a goblin scout of their own, herded into position by those of us with higher than 10 perception. Once everyone was in position, I gripped my dagger.

"Now!" I shouted, making my move.