Ch002-Hellos and Goodbyes

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Ch002-Hellos and Goodbyes

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The moment the needle entered his finger, Ciege was gone. Pulled out of his body, and very smoothly shoved into an abandoned corner of Sylver’s mind, and given just enough energy to continue to exist.

Sylver on the other hand was now lying on the floor, blood, bile, and more blood, pouring out of his mouth, his left arm completely dislocated, and his whole body screaming out in pain.

He felt the hobgoblin wrap its fat hand around his wrist and moved the minuscule pool of mana he had into his arm. Uncoiling the pool, like one would a thread, he sent a slither of mana through his hand, through the hobgoblin’s arm, and up into its core. In a split second, he had it perfectly secured and yanked at it.

The hobgoblin paused, as it felt something missing inside itself and grabbed at its chest to try and fix it. It looked down at its fat hands and bulging stomach, as both were very rapidly decreasing in size, and drying up. It barely felt its body hit the ground, as the last remaining piece of its life was removed.

[Hobgoblin (None) Defeated!]
[Skill unavailable. Requirements not met]

[??? ??? Cured!]

Sylver stood his body up, and let the hobgoblin’s energy spread out through his body. He first fixed his lung, then the poisoned arrow in his shoulder, and lastly returned his skin to its regular unburned state. He watched with relief as the health bar started to tick back up. It was the only reason Ciege made it this far inside, he just had enough raw strength and resistances to tank his way through the poison and swords.

*Goblin Shaman

The goblin shaman watched on in wonder, as his brother was reduced to a pile of dried up meat, and he couldn’t take his eyes away from the human standing in front of him.

Its hair was now turning ashy and pale, mirroring the shamans remaining specks of fluff. Its body stood straighter than before, hands at its side, constantly twitching and moving around. But most noticeable were the eyes. Completely black, as if he were staring into a never-ending void. Activating [Mana Perception] the goblin shaman saw something it couldn’t believe. The human in front of it raised its hand to its chest and pushed something into its heart.

The previously unstable mana, running rampant through the human’s body, was now steadily circling the area it had just touched. The shaman watched as the mana condensed, and just short of solidified itself around the human’s bones and muscles. While the quantity was extremely low, this level of control was something the shaman hadn’t considered possible.

*Sylver

“I can’t believe I’m actually alive!” Sylver shouted, using his free hand to push his dislocated one back in place. It went inside with a wet sounding crunch and continued to crackle as he waved it around. The pain was eye watering, but Sylver barely felt it thanks to Ciege’s high pain tolerance. Yeva had stopped screaming at some point and was now laying on the table, unconscious.

“Wut are you?” The goblin shaman asked. He was staring into Sylver’s eyes, and couldn’t see any whites.

“Ciege. Apprentice blacksmith.” Sylver said, bowing ever so slightly. “Will you let her go? I can kill you painlessly if you do. Because otherwise, I’m going to make it hurt..” Sylver said, still waving his arm around in a circle and not even looking at the shaman. The health he had stolen from the hobgoblin was already used up, but thankfully there was enough to give him relief from the pain.

The goblin shaman tapped its long needle-like sword against its teeth.

“Ok. But mak it quick.” The goblin shaman said. It reached up and started to undo one of the straps holding Yeva down. It kept glancing over at Sylver, but only got a toothy grin in return.

Hobbling over to the legs and pretending to start on the straps, the goblin shaman spat out a lightning-fast incantation, and sent a torrent of sparks at Sylver.

The goblin was temporarily blinded, too afraid to look away, in case the human managed to dodge it. But he could see the human’s feet hadn’t moved an inch, and the flames had struck true.

When its eyes regained their sight, the goblin shaman expected to see a charred corpse or nothing at all. Instead, it saw the human, standing perfectly fine. In his hand was the corpse of the shaman’s brother, now glowing red and the dried flesh reduced to nothing.

“Good effort. Lightning at close range. Brilliant combination. Most wouldn’t expect it, given how much of a backlash you would get if you missed and had it bounce around and hit you. However, I recommend being a little less obvious about moving your mana around, if you ever attempt it in the future.” Sylver said, discarding the scorched corpse, and wiping the ash on his hand on his shirt.

“Yu will let me go?” The goblin shaman asked, scratching its face with the blunt side of its knife.

Sylver laughed at this, the sound bouncing off the walls of the cave, and walked up to the defenseless shaman. Lighting is great, but one of the most expensive magic there is. Most consider it too inefficient to even bother with, truth be told. The shaman didn’t have enough for a ball of light right now.

The goblin shaman smiled in return, a toothy grin of an old man, with the expression of a child getting caught eating sweats it shouldn’t have.

“Oh god no. Just a bad habit from playing around with my apprentices. You kidnapped and tortured a woman. Two women. And then tried to kill me. Either one of those is enough for me to kill you. Not to mention, I already made you an offer, and you rejected it.” Sylver said, poking the goblin in the chest.

Where his finger had touched the goblin, a tiny black spot appeared. The goblin looked down at it and touched it, before falling to the floor and convulsing with pain. It screamed so loudly, Sylver had to kill it prematurely, to save Ciege’s hearing.

[Skill unavailable. Requirements not met]

[Goblin (Mage) defeated!]
[Due to defeating an enemy 20 or more levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]

[Blacksmith’s Apprentice] has reached level 16!
+5AP

[Notice: Due to the presence of [???? ????], complete reset available.]
[Do you accept?]

He moved the reset option out of the way for now. His understanding of this thing was far too vague right now, to start making decisions.

Checking her vitals, he was relieved she was perfectly fine. A few cuts here and there, but nothing major.

Picking up scraps of clothing lying around, he fused them into a makeshift blanket and covered Yeva with it. Gently lifting the surprisingly heavy woman over his shoulder, he made his way out of the cave.

In the next room, there was a hobgoblin, who had managed to place its insides back into its stomach, and fell victim to the classic bolt of pure energy, to the face, technique.

[Hobgoblin (Warrior) defeated!]
[Due to defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]

That’s going to get annoying, pretty quick. Hard to believe people live their whole lives with a screen in front of their faces. But it does make killing them, a little more fun. Sylver thought as he pressed further out of the cave.

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The goblin archer nearly got him in the head, missing by a small margin. As it fiddled around with its next arrow, it too fell victim to the classic bolt of pure energy to the face scheme. Sylver’s consciousness was still a little hazy, it’s not every day you get to possess a body and have to immediately start fighting. Thankfully he had enough control over the measly tea cup of mana Ciege had, that these simple attacks weren’t an issue.

[Hobgoblin (Warrior) defeated!]
[Due to defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]

As he walked through the dark cave, he couldn’t help but marvel at the steel-like muscles, and the well-maintained physique. His only complaint was that Ciege’s body’s mana conductivity was too low for Sylver’s preferences. Luckily, there are several ways to increase it. It’s simply a matter of gathering all the necessary ingredients and performing a few rituals.