Chapter 36: Hunting Monsters
"That's all the previous examinees have to say about this test," said Wren after turning away from the stone and facing the crowd.
He earned a lot of thumbs up from the crowd and two from Eugene for relaying the clues to them.
"Everyone, hear me out."
Earthlings gathered around Eugene and Wren.
"As I expected, the forest is riddled with danger."
He pointed at the forest down below and said,
"First of all, while crossing the forest, there are not only monsters that we need to look out for but also unexpected dangers. Secondly, we'll be helping trouble find us if we make a noise. So we must keep quiet after descending the cliff. Thirdly, some kind of danger would approach anyone who makes a noise. It might harm those unlucky to be on its way to its target. Lastly, we need to get as many goblin ears as we can as it may help us in unexpected ways."
He brought his hand down.
"Since we will be facing monsters, it's best to go together."
Eugene advised the crows to stick together.
"I Knew my gut feeling about the man in white was right. He's a liar. He lied to us to break us down into smaller groups so that we won't overpower the monsters in the forest with our numbers."
"Who was arguing for his sake just a few moments ago? Come out and eat my punch."
Some people in the crowd were seething with anger as they realized Sebastian had made a mockery out of them.
"Shut up."
"We don't have time for internal fighting."
The others told them to stop crying over spilled milk and focus on the situation at hand.
"I will be going ahead. I will kill the monsters in my way and leave traces for you to catch up to me. You must stay behind and act as their leader. Please direct them to the correct path and help them fend off the monsters. I am counting on you."
"Be at ease. I will be on your tail you with the Earthlings."
Eugene shared a short conversation with Wren before jumping to the cliff's edge.
He looked down below and saw a forest dotted with green trees.
At the opposite end of the forest, he saw a massive Green Symbol.
It highlighted that he would encounter some kind of fortune there, or it was the way to the third testing ground.
Swoosh!
Many rocks protruded out the wall of the cliff, and people should use them to climb down, but Eugene took a step forward and plunged towards the ground.
Mid-way, he smashed his foot on the wall and shot forward like an arrow just released from a bow.
Under the amazed eyes of the onlookers, his figure landed on the branch of a tree before vanishing within the green scenery.
The sight of a group of goblins out on patrol appeared at the edge of his vision.
Three of them were goblin warriors, and only one was an archer.
'I can take them out in a few moments if I play my cards right.' Eugene thought confidently.
Jumping from one tree to another like a ninja, he moved toward them discreetly.
He was able to perform such complex movements because all his stats surpassed 40 points after he gained the Black Magician Class.
Thud!
He produced a not too loud sound when he landed on the branch of a tree very close to the goblins, but it still caught their attention.
They turned to look at the source of the noise but only saw a shadowy figure jumping down the tree and plunging straight towards the goblin archer at speed so fast that they couldn't react to it.
[You've summoned the Sword of Full Moon out of the secret storage.]
The surprised monster pulled an arrow out of quiver on its back, but before it could hook it on the bow, Eugene sliced its head off with his sword.
[You've killed an LVL 3 Goblin Archer.]
Plop!
Its head landed on the ground.
Tumble, tumble.
It rolled away from Eugene as two goblin warriors roared in anger, gripped their weapons more viciously, and immediately ran forward to stab him to death.
To their surprise, he remained standing still even after they brandished their swords toward him.
Was he looking to die?
Just as it looked like their swords would chop him apart, he suddenly vanished from where he stood, confusing them so beyond belief that their eyes widened to the size of saucers.
[Void Travel]
An instant later, he appeared infinitely close to the third goblin at the back of the group.
Only after he had sunk the metallic body of his sword halfway into its neck did It sense his presence behind it.
Blood spurted out of its bloodied neck and splashed on the green thicket of leaves, dying them red.
It became overcome with fear and let out a dying screech.
Attracted by its barely audible call for help, the goblin warriors turned around and saw Eugene cutting their brethren's breath short by pushing his sword forward and beheading it.
[You've killed an LVL 2 Goblin Warrior.]
They looked at each other, nodded, and ran away from Eugene as if they were such cowards that they dared not fight a man stronger than themselves and only dared to bully those weaker than themselves.
With an expressionless face, he chased after them.
[You've run at full speed for half a minute.]
[You have temporarily lost one stamina point.]
[The eyes of misfortune have detected that you're about to encounter the sneak attack of the goblins in three seconds. Please prepare yourself to fend off the threats to your life.]
As he reached close to them, they turned around and pounced in his direction.
Sadly for them, not only was he expecting them to do this ever since he willfully stepped into their trap by chasing after them and was hence long prepared to respond to them in kind, but thanks to the timely activation of the eyes of misfortune, he also noticed that they were about to harm him before they launched the sneak attack for his life.
[Speed Reduction]
In mid-air, they both slowed down so much that Eugene quickly stepped out of the trajectory of their attacks and landed a solid kick on their backs.
They lost their balance when time continued normally for them.
As a result, they fell face-first on the ground with their butts sticking out to Eugene, who infused several units of his black aura into his sword.
[Black Aura infusion]
[-7 units]
Without giving them a chance to stand up, with one swing, he hacked both of their bodies into two using his moonlight sword that was shining like stars in a night sky.
They had no chance of surviving after losing half their bodies, but they were still alive and shouting out loud.
Their cries attracted white bullets from three different directions.
Thankfully, Eugene was not in the trajectory of two of them and saw the third one coming.
He stepped out of its way.
It whizzed past him.
He turned around and saw smoke coming out of the deep holes that the white bullets had drilled in their bodies.
'So that's the hidden danger of the forest. Even I would be in danger if they caught me off guard.'
Eugene wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
'The goblins should be dead by now. There's no way they are surviving that.'
[You've killed two LVL 2 Goblin Warriors.]
As expected, some moments later, a notification popped up in the corner of his retina, informing him of their death.
'I easily took care of three LVL 2 and one LVL 3 monsters within a minute. Can you believe that? Normally, three to four newbies are required to challenge such a group of goblins. Yet I alone was enough to deal with them. I really want to keep things as they are even in the future.'
Adrenaline coursed through his entire body, making him feel alive and breathe shallowly like a turtle.
'Return to me.'
As per his will, the black aura surged out of his sword and reentered him.
[The units of Black Aura in your energy storage have increased by three.]
'Rebellion, do your job.'
Eugene mentally communicated with Rebellion as he was trying his best to keep silent in order to not attract the hidden danger of the Forest toward himself.
He had witnessed the might of the silver bullet that came out of who knows where and was sure that he would be hurt if it caught him off guard.
[You've siphoned the stats of one Lvl 3 Goblin Archer and three Lvl 2 Goblin Warriors. You get Health Point +5, Agility +7, Strength +3, Stamina +5, a +3 increase in your Energy storage capacity, and 9 Experience Points.]
Instantly, a refreshing feeling filled him, and warm waves of energy coursed throughout his body, increasing the density of his bones, improving his reaction speed and skeletal structure, amplifying the strength his muscles could release, and boosting his vitality. At the same time, he felt cold energy going into his energy storage and expanding it. He became more powerful than he was already.
"Let's get their ears."
He obtained a total of six ears from the goblin warriors before walking to the head of the Goblin Archer, which was near a thick bush that was about his height.
He crouched down next to it and cut the ears off the neck, and put them in his storage.
He was just about to stand up when something inside the green head caught his eye.
'Huh?' Eugene noticed a shiny crystal poking out the head of the Goblin Archer and became uncontrollably excited. 'Is this what I think it is?!'
Was It?
-------
[Eugene's Current stats]
Classes: Human (Lvl: 2) (0/100 Exp), Black Magician (Lvl: 1) (0/100 Exp)
[Experience points: 19]
[Strength: 45]
[Stamina: 50]
[Mental Energy storage capacity: 140 Units]
[Health: 51]
[Agility: 48]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Eugene's Current skills]
[Skills: Mental Fortitude (Passive) (Lvl 1) (Proficiency) (4/10), Speed Reduction (Active) (Lvl 1) (Proficiency (3/10), Misfortune & Fortune Seeing Eyes (Lvl: 1) (Proficiency: 2/10), Black Aura creation, Black Magic, Void Travel (Lvl:1) (Proficiency: 0/10)]
[God of Death's Handcrafted System's Skill: Stats Siphoning (Passive) (Lvl 1), Mental Energy Control (Active) (Lvl 1)]
[Titles: Fierce Newcomer (Increase All Stats by +1)]
[Equipment: Sword of Full Moon!]
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