Quest

Soon the mercenaries began to gather in a courtyard like area, as some gathered into groups while others stood alone. 

Damien seemed to be arguing with Seigfried again, but I couldn't hear them from here, only catching the occasional shouts from Seigfried. 

After a bit of arguing, Damien created a water platform as he rose slightly into the air.

"Alright everyone! Listen up!" He shouted as the chatter among mercenaries died down.

"We'll be heading into the forest in a bit, civilian sighting and drone scouting have confirmed the presence of a large goblin tribe who have taken control of a significant part of the forest."

Damien said as he displayed drone shots from a projector like device.

"As you can see, these bastards are smart, they've built pretty crude structures and even have weapons made of decent material."

The shot switched to a picture of a goblin wielding a stone spear. 

Goblins resembled their traditional appearance, humanoid structure, green skin, pointed nose and ears with sharp fangs. 

However, unlike the traditional fantasy these goblins stood at the same height as most adults around 170 cm and instead of having human like skin, had thick, rough leathery hides. 

Their fish like yellow eyes paired with the blemished green hide and talon like hands were a disturbing sight.

A man wearing full plate armor and wielding a great shield laughed at the sight of the stone spear. 

Damien having heard this said "Don't underestimate it, they are somewhat intelligent and can tell when a material has mana conducting properties, it may look harmless but when they imbue mana into it-"

Damien paused as he showed an image of a goblin piercing an armored drone with a spear.

"It cuts through metal like butter." He finished.

"Please! Is this what mercenaries amount to? Being afraid of goblins?" Seigfried said with a scoff.

Damien somewhat ignored him as he continued.

"Now if you're like rich boy here and this is your first real combat experience, you may expect goblins to be easy as you saw in video games and anime."

He sighed as he looked at the new mercenaries including me.

"Well don't. These fuckers pack a punch if they hit you and they may be easy to take out individually but if they catch you in an ambush, you could be in trouble, some even have affinities and in rare cases, shamans who are like mages will appear.

Their individual ranking can range from G- to F+, so be careful out there and don't get greedy, you can't spend the money you earn if you die."

The crowd nodded silently as Damien wrapped up his speech.

"Alright folks, let's get to it and ensure these goblins don't harm any more people."

The mercenaries got ready for battle and chatter filled the air again, some were already heading into the forest. 

"Excuse me." 

I approached Damien as he walked off his platform.

"Oh hey. What's up?"

"How do we know the location of the goblin tribe?"

"The live map on your phone should be updated, the dark green areas are known goblin camps and light green marks where wandering goblins can be found."

"Thank you." 

"No problem, you got a team?" Damien asked before I could leave. 

Looking around at the many groups of mercenaries I shook my head no.

"Thought so, here." Damien tapped his bracelet on my phone.

Another dot lit up on the map, blue in color in contrast to the black representing my location. 

"Hunt in proximity to me, not as a team but stay close enough that I could help you in case something goes wrong." 

He said as he extended his hand as his grimoire flipped through a few pages. 

I felt a cooling mana envelop my body as a slight cyan glow appeared on my hands. 

"Water veil, supplemented by your mana. Prevents blood from getting on you and conceals your scent in the forest."

The glow disappeared but the cooling sensation remained. 

I thanked Damien once again as I headed towards the forest, unslinging the bow as I increased my speed. 

The trail very soon grew wooded, but the trees were not dense enough to be an obstacle, the soil was an orange-brown color, and the trees were coniferous trees with pines scattering the ground. 

I occasionally glanced at the map to make sure I was heading to a light green area that was close to a dark green area. 

I wanted to catch as many of them wandering as I doubt, I could take out a camp on my own. 

I used perception to find optimal routes, avoiding tripping over exposed roots and rocks as I surveyed for threats and allies. 

I soon arrived in a wandering zone, slowing down, focusing on stealth rather than speed. 

Looking up at the decently tall coniferous trees, I decided to climb on top of them for better vantage points. 

I doubt I could do it normally but with the help of a few traits and wind steps I landed on top of a sturdy branch. 

I tried leaping from tree branch to tree branch, avoiding the needle like leaves.

"GRRK!"

A grunt arrived from my left and I came to a halt, stabilizing on the branch and getting into proper form. 

'Three goblins.'

A part of a hunting party I guessed; they wore a red bandana along with a loincloth and wielded spear like weapons.

They moved through the forest trying to find prey and soon arrived just below the tree I stood on. 

I shortened my breaths, slowly and quietly nocking an arrow. 

The goblins kept patrolling as they smelt the air, trying to find the scent of prey. 

I aimed at the head of the tallest one, emitting the most mana and released.

'TISS' '

The arrow flew with considerable speed, cutting through the air and reaching the back of the goblins head.

*SQUELCH* 

The arrow continued without resistance, striking the tree in front of the goblin. 

In its wake there was now a headless corpse, gore littered the forest floor as the corpse began to fall.

"GRAA-"

The other goblins jumped in surprise in reaction, but I wasn't going to give them time to recover. 

Arrows cut through the air again, eviscerating the goblins as their headless corpses fell to the ground. 

I waited for a while before jumping down, stepping over the now red dyed green skin of the goblins.

I retrieved the arrows from the trees and soil, they retained their sharpness, but some had skull fragments stuck to them while others had patches of green skin.

I was beginning to get used to this now, monster corpses mutilated beyond belief by my actions. 

They were no different than the targets I practiced on; the gore was just a byproduct of a good shot.

=========================

Trait acquired: Cold Blooded.

===========================

I dismissed the notification as I could guess what it was about and also because the bracelet that Damien had given me was acting up. 

'Abnormal Mana Surge! 2300 mp/s!' 

I widened my eyes as I saw the numbers, and quickly focused on circulation, ensuring that every bit if pure foreign mana entering my body was absorbed. 

How had I not noticed this before? 

I realized that with adrenaline and how slowly the mana is integrated without concentration into my body I would have had a hard time noticing. 

The latent mana breathing trait sped up the process now as it helped with circulation as I felt invigorated. 

I tapped on the bracelet a few times as 2300 was recorded as the value I received for killing an average goblin and my kill counter went up to 3.

As the mana began to integrate and the initial thrill began to wear off, I instinctually jumped back up on the tress, looking for more goblins to kill. 

========================================

The vessel has discovered: Mana Hunger.

Completion percent increased to 6%

Initiating control protocol.

========================================

I came to a stop as the previous fog covering up my mind dissipated, the instinct to hunt was still there but far more controllable. 

'What was that?'

I questioned as I pressed my temples and looked at the notification. 

'Mana hunger?' 

I couldn't understand what was going on, but I realized that I had forgotten that I wasn't human. 

The differences weren't noticeable, so I had forgotten about being a vessel. 

That was a mistake, I realize that now. 

I instinctually wanted to avoid everything related to the void and to me being a vessel was one of those things and so I pretended I was human. 

But I wasn't, and what I had experienced was something that was probably related to the mana craze that beasts undergo. 

Could I have become like that? A mindless killing machine, driven only by a hunger for mana?

I don't know. I was a bit afraid of continuing. 

However, I also felt something else. 

Exhilaration. 

This was the way forward, the way to gain power. 

This was what I was missing. 

And I didn't want to stop. 

I knew it was probably a bad idea, but I decided to hunt a few more goblins and gauge how I felt. 

I jumped on branches as I looked around for prey, eventually finding a hunting party of 5 with blue bandannas on and slightly larger than the previous ones.

*SQUELCH*

Within a matter of a minute, they were nothing but a gory mess and as I retrieved the arrows, I felt the invigoration but not the burning instinct to hunt. 

I assume the loss of control was triggered by the discovery not the mana, as I had killed beasts before. 

So, I continued wiping out any wandering groups I could find leaving the camp. 

The goblins were easy to fell, I wasn't even using charge shots to kill them as now every shot I took was instinctually powered by wind mana. 

And I could release about 2 arrows a second making easy work of the goblins or at least the weaker ones. 

*THUNK*

One of my arrows buried itself in the hide of a giant goblin standing almost 10 feet tall as he cried out in pain.

The goblins surrounding him were normal and so I decided to focus on them, eviscerating the 2 before they could get into a battling stance. 

The last giant goblin swung his body around and threw his spear in my direction like a javelin as I jumped out of the way. 

The javelin nicked my shoulder as a small cut appeared on it, but I was mostly unharmed as the tree shook from the force of the javelin throw. 

Midair I used a variation of wind step to stabilize momentarily releasing another arrow aimed at the eye of the goblin. 

This time as he saw me release, he put his hand in the way as the arrow pierced his palm causing it to cry out once more.

"GRAAAA!"

It let out a horrible roar as it picked up the spear of one of its dead comrades throwing it at me again. 

This spear was much smaller than the javelin, so I simply tilted my body to the side as dark mana began to condense at the tip of the arrow I had nocked. 

*BANG*

The arrow released with a lot more force towards the goblins head who attempted to raise his hand again. 

The arrow was faster than it anticipated, and it went straight through one of its fingers before burying itself into its eye. 

*PUCHIK*

A disgusting sound was heard as the goblins eye popped, and the arrow dug deep into its brain. 

As expected, the goblin collapsed shortly after as my mana intake bracelet shone once again.

'4120 mp/s'

As expected, the mana intake depends on the enemy I kill. 

Shaking of a piece of brain matter from the ends of one of my arrows I continued my hunt, circling the goblin camp.

"Fuck!"

When a loud yell from my right broke me from my concentration.