13 Now… Where were we?

The scenery, nighttime, in the 4th forest of Soltica, with monsters crawling everywhere. Mainly green and blue goblins, hoblins are mature goblins. They just got more muscle than your usual batch of goblins. Jastria hates them, their insides reek.

"Jastria, take out the green goblins!" I yell. "I'll get these blue ones."

I dash in the hoard of goblins and slash away with my magic boosted daggers. Blue and green goo was splattered everywhere once we were finished.

"Al! I got hoblin insides all over me, again!" Jastria screams.

"Don't complain too much. You'll gather more hoblins with your whining…" I smell the air. "Yeah, we're bathing in the river tonight."

"I will go first." Jastria says.

I think to myself, 'Of course, like every other time.' I walk away and Jastria follows. We walk through a pathway leading to a wall of tree branches and huge green leaves.

"What do you want to eat for dinner tonight?" I ask.

"Some pork would be nice." Jastria responds.

"You gotta be kidding me…" I sigh. "Well, I'll ask Klotic to catch some for you, we're getting close to him."

Clashing sounds come from nearby and we part a way past the huge leaves. Klotic, in a dark green cloak, is seen and not seen a fighting lighting speed sloth.

"I still have wandering thoughts of how he has come this far." Jastria stands in awe. "It has only been six months…"

"He's a really great learner, and we all still have long ways to go, Jastria." I say. "Hey, Klotic, finish em off already, she wants pork for dinner!"

We see Klotic glance our way and quickly finishes the sloth off and it vanishes, leaving a huge emerald behind. Klotic picks it up like a feather and walks towards us. He gives it to me with a soft smile and walks off. I struggle in attempt to hold it and put it inside Jastria's bag.

"You need to get stronger, Al Krelin…" Jastria looks at me in disappointment.

"Honestly, we both do." I look at the sky. "Jalia would think the same…"

"You say that like she is a deceased being!" Jastria lightly slaps my head.

"Eh, she's just so far away right now…" I sigh.

Jastria mimics me. "'She's so far away~' We are the ones who are venturing for her!"

Jastria turns and walks away to Klotic. I sigh again and follow them. I'm a little iffy about leaving Jalia, she's in the care of my best friend, Greffosh. Though it feels like a safe idea, who knows what could happen.

"Guys wait up!" I run to catch up.

We start heading towards the river that we have stationed for us. Walls were made and firmly put in by Klotic, our strongest. Jastria signals to look the opposite direction and starts to go in the river to wash up.

"You reek of goblin, Al..." Klotic slightly scoots away.

"You can say that again..." I shrug.

"Maybe I can take care of all monster hunting duties tomorrow." Klotic says. "It can be the perfect time for the two of you to finally rest."

"That wouldn't go good on you though, you can't excessively use your skills." I say. "Let the monster hunting go as usual."

"Ah, yes, you need to improve in mastering your skills and magic spells." Klotic says.

"Oh, don't remind me..." I groan. "I already asked all those elves to help, it was such a failure!"

I pout and look at the sky. Jastria seemed to be done and calls me to go wash up next. I start to go and enter the water, leaving Klotic and Jastria to talk. I gladly place most of my body inside the water and wipe all over to get the goblin goo off. It was so relieving to finally wash off the disgusting smell of goblin insides. Well, during my little bathing time, I should probably explain what has happened.

Quick summary of this time skip, I was in a deep sleep for a few weeks. Whatever was invading our cave, somehow helped me unlock different skills that I can get fast. The insects were just a signal of someone already being there. That then had me hear the voice that spoke to me, it was oddly calming. We had a conversation about how I can get Jalia a human form, and for me to get stronger. Though, I wouldn't get stronger before Klotic and Jastria. I need to get out and see for myself how long it takes until I get stronger than the two of them combined.

"Many delicious groups of big pork are nearby!" Jastria gleams.

Jastria can sense almost any sort of being that could be close by. She gained this skill from practicing with expert elf hunters. This was a little after we started getting closer to the 4th Forest. Klotic got speed skills that are greater than lightning. This was because he went through a little life or death trial for lightning skills. I'm just stuck here with my usual skills from the start, I help heal them if needed though. That's all I've really been able to profess in at the moment.

"Klotic, go fetch us a big meaty pig!" Jastria smiles. "Al, you go find some spices!"

"Let me make a small fire before looking for spices, you'll get cold waiting." I say. "Klotic, you can start getting a pig now."

Klotic nods and vanishes, I gather up twigs and sticks to make a little fire. Jastria starts to lay out our mats to sleep on and our food pot for the fire. I get the fire started and tell her to let water boil in the meantime. Jastria gets the water, she waits as I walk nearby picking out plants for spices.

"Al, are you not in fear?" Jastria asks.

"Fear?" I say. "What could you possibly mean by fear?"

"The fear of you not surviving during our trip..." Jastria says.

Klotic appears behind Jastria. "I have returned with a pig."

"EEK!" Jastria jumps. "Klotic, I told you to stop doing that!"

I start to laugh at the two and Klotic seemed to have giggled a bit with a slight smile. He's been able to develop more emotions since he turned human. I'm not fully sure if he's actually human though, we never really confirmed it but that's what we're going with for now. 'The fear of not surviving… what could she have possibly meant?'

"This night has been rougher than the others." Klotic sighs.

"Do you thinks is getting closer?" Jastria gasps. "Al, you may get stronger in near time!"

"That might be a possibility. It's been getting tougher like Klotic said." I look at the star-filled sky. "I'm hoping for the best to come out of this trip."

"Remember, this is no vacation." Klotic says. "We are out to gather information in getting Jalia a new human form."

"If we're lucky enough, we might even be able to once we get back." I look at the two. "For now, I'll work on mastering my skills to be a better help."

"How are you with your allusion spell?" Jastria asks.

"I'm not sure if I want to know how to correctly use that one yet." I say. "I made a clone of my past self in front of Jalia the first time using it. She wanted to go towards it even in her horrible condition she was in. I don't want something like that to happen again."

"I will get resting now, fair night to you both." Klotic yawns.

"I will go rest as well." Jastria includes. "Make sure you get rest, Al. Keep watch tonight."

I nod my head and watch the two pass out on their matts. It's a little hard to believe that I'm actually being productive for once. Though, this life isn't that bad… I like it.