Goblins were surprisingly fast and clever at times. Kaizen learned a lesson when he was lured by the fleeing Goblin, who led him into an ambush, so he would not underestimate them.

After killing six Goblins, there were still six left, but Kaizen didn’t even know how many more there might be in that valley. Even though Kaizen was as strong as a level 15 player and was wearing armor that gave him +50 Defense, it would be tricky if there were dozens of enemies. They could corner him and then attack him from several directions, applying massive amounts of damage.

Thinking about this, Kaizen shook his head to send his pessimistic thoughts away and focused his eyes only on the monsters in front of him.

The remaining Goblins were more careful and retreated cautiously, hiding in the tall vegetation.

The entire valley region was predominantly green, and the Goblin skin was also green, so they had a natural camouflage.

In a way, Kaizen believed he could predict everything the Goblins wanted to do, at least if they were as intellectually limited in Rise Online as in other games. When these monsters started going back into the woods, it was obvious that they didn’t want to run away because the valley was their region. What the Goblins really wanted was to be able to surprise the player with many attacks from different directions, once again.

Kaizen smiled when he came to this conclusion and uttered:

“If you want to surprise me, then try your best.”

He allowed the Goblins to retreat and disappear amidst the area’s greenery.

Above anything else, Kaizen aimed to have fun and experience new feelings like any other newcomer to the game. Allowing himself to be attacked by these fast-moving creatures would train his reflexes to deflect or counter-attack blows from various directions.

As the Goblins retreated, they began talking in whispers, even after believing themselves completely stealthy.

“Hargho li dramedr.”

“Kokaer de dramedr oporra.”

“Dramedr? Ulihar drik.”

After the whispering ceased for twelve seconds, all the Goblins jumped out of the woods simultaneously.

However, this time they had a plan. The first attack together was just a learning experience, and the remaining Goblins were the most talented, expert, and fast. They fixed the mistake they made last time when they didn’t focus on a specific part of their enemy. As soon as they jumped out of the undergrowth, facing the enemy again, they all tried to attack Kaizen’s head, the only body part that was not protected by armor.

Kaizen was amazed at how bold the Goblins were; however, from the beginning, the little monsters had no chance against this player. The reason for this was not because Kaizen was faster, stronger, or smarter, but because the Goblins were very small, making them ideal creatures for Kaizen to subdue with <Telekinesis>.

During the ‘surprise’ attack, a mysterious force held the Goblins in the air. The faces of each of them were paralyzed in a moment that mixed features of impetus and anger.

Smoothly, Kaizen stuck the tip of the Spear of Theus into each of them, hearing in sequence the same notification from the system.

[You killed an ordinary Goblin and gained +100 XP].

This was not the most exciting way to end the battle for Kaizen, but it was his only alternative, as the Goblins’ goal was to decapitate him.

The thud of the monsters’ bodies on the ground might sound a bit cruel to someone with a soft heart, except that for Kaizen, it was something natural. After all, these were just monsters in a game, and it wasn’t as if he had created empathy or found it cute that the Goblins were talking to each other for brief seconds.

Kaizen touched the body of each of the Goblins, causing them to disappear and automatically collect their drops.

[You earned ‘Goblin’s Tooth’].

[You earned ‘Goblin Claws’].

[You earned ‘Goblin Heart’].

There was nothing special about the drops, just parts of the monsters’ bodies.

‘I knew it… There’s no reason to take up space in my inventory with that. I bet it’s pretty common for people to go sell Goblin drops at the Adventurer’s Association, so I’d rather focus on the Mantis drops from the Howling Cliff and not fill my inventory with unnecessary items.’

Kaizen dropped all the items he picked up from the Goblins on the ground and chose not to move on just yet. In the real world, it was late, and he knew he didn’t have much more time to play, so he decided to look for some other Goblins and farm more XP while looking for a safe region in the valley.

After not too long, he came across more Goblins who, with their cries of fear as they ran from Kaizen, got the attention of the other Goblins scattered in the area.

Kaizen took the opportunity to kill them all, each with a stab from his spear.

[You killed an ordinary Goblin and gained +100 XP].

[You killed an ordinary Gobl…]

The voice continued to sound in his mind, increasing his excitement. He made his way through the valley and killed more than twenty Goblins.𝑶𝐕𝓁xt.𝒸𝒐𝑚

*

Klank was also on his way to the Valley of the Goblins, quietly meditating on his own bad luck.

His parents owned a large construction company famous for building many luxury condominiums and were considered business geniuses. However, he played Rise Online all day, where he had no friends or acquaintances.

Klank thought that if he was as successful as the big stars of this game, his parents would finally see him as an equal, a genius too. However, he soon realized firsthand how brutal this game was. Since he wanted to be recognized by his parents at any cost, Klank could only choose to follow Blood Lily to be able to maximize all his attribute points and become an Evolved, something that only a few hundred players had ever achieved in the four months after the open beta of Rise Online.

Evolved was the title given to the highest-level players in the game, whose power alone could surpass even that of Mythic creatures.

Obtaining the title of evolved was a social status symbol, and since there were estimates that Rise Online would reach 1 billion players as early as next year, the best time to obtain this title was now. Most players didn’t even know what an evolved was and how it was done to evolve, so only players who looked at secret forums daily knew this information.

However, the requirement to become an evolved was extremely difficult. Getting 500 points in every main attribute in the game was impossible for Klank alone. He used a lot of money to buy secret information and items on the black market, but the money could only buy Primal or Mutant Rank weapons, as few people would sell Epic Rank weapons because they were so rare. Only people who aimed to maximize attribute points, like Bloody Lily, would sometimes sell the Epic Rank weapons she had. However, it was not money she wanted but loyalty and service.

So Klank was now running errands for Blood Lily, exploring the lesser-known places and looking for traces of epic or mythical creatures, he was just gathering information for her. With the information, she could assemble a team to hunt these creatures, and the team members would split the drops. In Rise Online, it wasn’t just expensive weapons; rare drops could cost as much or even more than a high-level weapon.

Klank had been exploring for two weeks and found no trace of epic creatures, not to mention mythical monsters. When he passed through the Valley of the Goblins, he thought there might be a Goblin Lord around since the area was usually teeming with Goblins, as it was so sparsely inhabited. Running out of supplies, he returned to the Starting City of Holinda.

After he entered the valley, he felt that something was strange.

He didn’t see any Goblin, not even one. After walking a mile into the valley, he saw a few messy traces in the undergrowth on the ground and Goblin corpses.

“Someone must have exterminated the Goblins. Taznaar or Korgrak? No. Although there are signs of a struggle, it should have more damage if it was a group of people…”

Surprised, Klank sped down the valley, wondering what had happened.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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