Goblins

Alice's gaze was fixed on the spear-wielder with a cold, calculating intensity. Something about him stood out distinctly from the others, a difference that became unmistakably clear when Thaleia opted to circumvent him rather than dispatch him outright. With a scrutinizing eye, Alice discerned that his footwork paled in comparison to the Amazonian's agility, yet his proficiency with the spear hinted at a mastery of the first realm—a noteworthy revelation.

As Thaleia methodically eliminated the remaining adversaries—a strategy Alice found commendably prudent—she finally confronted the spearman, the sole survivor. In truth, Thaleia's superiority in stats was unmistakable, and the activation of Heavy Strike only widened this gap. Alice silently applauded Thaleia's tactical acumen, observing her reluctance to engage hastily. Instead, Thaleia meticulously evaluated her foe, unleashing her attack at the most opportune moment. Alice watched as the spear-wielder's body was almost bisected, a scene accompanied by the emergence of several prompts in the periphery of her vision.

With a detached curiosity, Alice watched the blood gush forth, pondering the macabre aesthetics favored by the gods that rendered such a spectacle strangely mesmerizing. Or perhaps, it was her own perverse perception of reality—untainted by normative experiences and references—that found a dark beauty in it.

Title Gained: Instructor (Rank 1)

Awarded for helping another player reach basic mastery on a rank 1 skill

Award: +2 All stats, 1 SP

2,000 Tutorial coins acquired

Hidden Quest completed: Defeat 'Alberto, the Spearman' and his band

Rewards: 

1 SP 

3,000 TC

Alice was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Skill Points she had gained recently, something she had been severely lacking. It was fortunate that The Game offered several ways to obtain them besides leveling up. She had no idea how she would upgrade her skills to an adequate level otherwise.

She then reviewed her companion's information, noticing the new title and evolved skill.

Heavy Strike (R1 L2)

Gain 30 Might for the following strike or until the duration ends.

---The weight of the user's body, weapon, and armor can be increased by up to 20% for the duration of the skill.

Duration: 11 s

CD: 110 s.

It was a significant upgrade that, while leaving the duration and cooldown unaltered, increased the gifted Might by 50% and allowed the caster to increase their overall weight. This increase would translate into greater strength behind the strike.

She then reviewed the completed quest. It was unexpected and something she had not considered before. It introduced even more variables, but that only made things more interesting. She had noticed Thaleia's main quest long before, something starkly different from her own.

Main Quest: Defeat Olex, the Minotaur

It was quite straightforward, as straightforward as the Amazonian herself. Alice supposed he would be what they faced at the end of their journey—one of two journeys she herself would have to complete.

Main Quest: Guide two Heroes to complete their challenges.

She looked at the basket in her hand. Only a couple of figs remained. She had been rather conservative with food, a difficult task considering her companion's appetite. The only piece of good news was that the Amazonian was not very fond of dried figs.

She looked up ahead. 'It's about time you made your appearance.'

***

Virgil tackled the goblin riders one by one, moving with the precision and swiftness of a practiced assassin. He darted from shadow to shadow, his movements almost a blur, exploiting the slight hesitations and openings his enemies presented. Each encounter was brief, a swift strike here, a dodged arrow there, showcasing his superiority not just in stats but in the art of combat itself.

However, as adept as he was, the battlefield was unpredictable. Eventually, he was discovered, and a grenade hit him on the edge of his position. The explosion was a shockwave of force and debris, but Virgil emerged with only minor damage. His HP had not decreased by much, a testament to the power of the Might attribute. The blast, though startling, was a mere inconvenience to someone of his resilience.

With that strategy in mind, Virgil became more proactive, aiming to eliminate the enemies as quickly as possible. And it worked; he was steamrolling the goblins, either mitigating the damage from the grenades or even deflecting some of them, and dispatching the riders with just a couple of well-timed hits with his staff. After fighting the Forgotten Monarch and the Halberd Knight, these goblins were mere children in his eyes. However, after he had taken out half of the two dozen riders, the remaining ones started to move more erratically, running away from him in all directions while ignoring the level 1s. This behavior was weird and differed from any enemy they had faced until now, who knew no fear and kept fighting until the end.

Virgil's speed, though, was still slightly faster than that of the hounds, allowing him to chase after them and finish them off. This tactic worked up to a certain point—one that Virgil would not forget.

A smoke bomb was launched, and Virgil lost vision of the enemies. Then he was struck, merely half a second after the grenade was launched. His HP felt the brunt, with a significant reduction. Not only that, but he had been struck in the joint of his leg, completely breaking his balance. The fact that the bones did not directly snap was a testament to his resilience, as the strike had been strong and incredibly fast.

As an experienced fighter, Virgil maintained his calm and tried to move away from the smoke while attempting to use his other senses to detect the enemy.

And then he heard it, an incredibly light noise amidst the chaos of the battlefield. He quickly sidestepped while attempting to parry with his staff whatever was attacking him. And fortunately, he managed; he felt the might behind the attack: the weight was small, but the speed was incredible. He had to admit that this enemy was faster than him, and by more than just a small margin.

But just as he parried the attack, he somehow felt something being thrown to the ground, and then: "Bam!" Another grenade exploded, throwing him back with the shockwave as he tried to regain his balance, but to no avail; the enemy was already there.

He caught a glimpse of it this time: it was a small goblin, similar to the rest, but outfitted in black leather armor and holding two daggers in its hands. It moved with incredible swiftness. Virgil knew he had to take this battle seriously. He could feel it, too; the enemy was not only fast but had also reached the first realm of mastery.

***

It had been several days since this had started, or so Alice guessed, given they had no appropriate reference for time. They had encountered the merchant a couple of times already, each encounter featuring the same shady figure with the odd smoke-emitting tool in his mouth. Alice noted that his appearances were becoming more delayed each time, so she decided to purchase substantially more supplies and left some for the Amazonian to carry herself.

They had upgraded the Amazonian's armor, as Alice pointed out that, aside from defense, the added weight could also be used as a weapon. However, the main investment had been in the sword, with them acquiring the best available, the level 7 Reinforced Longsword, now resting on Thaleia's scabbard.

Both had reached level 8 after several encounters, albeit no other hidden quest had been completed on their journey. As for titles, Thaleia had gained a rather macabre one on the way:

Slayer (Rank 1)

Awarded for killing 1000 Rank 1 humans

Award: +1 Might

It hinted at the number of battles they had gone through. However, the main concern lay in mastering skills.

Alice was highly motivated after she easily mastered her first skill, and saw Thaleia equally learn to master her own after some words of advice. However, things had not gone as expected afterward. Somehow, no matter how hard they tried, they always stumbled when it came to mastering another skill. There seemed to be a barrier that was difficult to overcome. It wasn't until one of the recent skirmishes that Alice suddenly managed to overcome this barrier for a single skill, Critical Insight, after much difficulty. Alice guessed that The Game somehow greatly assisted with mastering the first skill, but that assistance was reduced or completely removed for subsequent skills. So, all her days of trouble, thinking, and employing all her skills in as many ways as she could think of, had resulted in just a single mastery. As for Thaleia, her luck was even worse, as she had mastered no other skill after her first.

Alice thought she was missing something, some key points for mastering other skills. For example, she speculated that boosting skills like Whisper of Alacrity and Regen Accelerator might require more party members to better understand their effectiveness on different individuals and adapt accordingly. As for Premonition, she had no idea. She had tried to envision how an upgraded skill would look and think backwards from there, but to no avail.

As for Enlightenments, she had not managed to acquire any. It was very frustrating, especially for someone like her, accustomed to achieving any task she set her mind to after some planning and strategizing. She was not used to a hard puzzle or challenge, simply because there had never been a 'hard' one for her before. There were only puzzles that required more or less time to solve.

"Seer, I think this is it," she heard Thaleia call from ahead, but she already knew what lay before them; she had cast Clairvoyance earlier. She knew it was time—time to complete her first journey.