Chapter 3: Day of Bloodshed

It was now morning in this dream world, everyone got up at an early hour and packed up. Bell called for us to round up and discuss our next decision. 

"Let's go back to our home, we need to report on what happened! Then maybe we can also get some rest there!" 

Until now I hadn't realized, but I could now understand Bell just as if I were talking to someone else. It's a huge relief that I can finally understand what they are saying clearly. 

Although this is still a dream, I'm not capable of waking up for some reason, so I'm forced to play along. 

After that we departed, our group consisted of 5 girls and me. Bell in the front leading the group, since I didn't have any battle experience, I was placed in the middle. Clara was in the back, Yin and Tally were on the sides. 

It was a weird formation, but I didn't know much about formations and such. Half an hour through the way I was pretty tired since my body was out of shape. But I kept walking, I didn't want to seem like a wimp in front of these powerful ladies. 

Two and a half hours later we were suddenly caught by surprise when 7 goblins appeared out of the path we were walking on. Each goblin had a little stone axe, I was too shocked to explain much but I appraised the goblins 

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Name: Goblin Hunter 

Gender: Male 

Age: 0.3 

Race: Goblin 

Skill: None 

Status: Alive 

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I didn't get too much information from the appraisal. And I was shaking in my boots, while Bell and the others got ready. 

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New Quest: Defeat the Goblins (7) 

Reward: 1 Stat Point 

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"Protect Akira!" 

The part members readied their sword and got on the defensive, forming a circle around me, there wasn't much I could do to help them, I felt so powerless. 1 Goblin launched up forward, swinging his axe down while in striking distance of Bell. But Bell then blocked it, pushing the Goblin back. 

"Grrr" 

"Guys remember what we trained for!" 

<Bellphis has used [Battle Cry]> 

A green aura came out of everyone's bodies including mine which felt like I was excited and boosted. The goblins shrank and began shaking, but they were no match for the force that was going to be pushed upon them. 

I thought of something else I could do though, I activated my [ General's Growth ] ability on the part, I wasn't sure what it would do just yet, but I wanted to test it out. 

The members used their abilities to shorten the gap, we were outnumbered by a small amount but we had more strength, so it was easier to tackle. 

While I remembered the contents of < Basic Magic for Muttonheads > , I still had not collected any mana or casted any spells. So there was a little percent chance of me ever doing any action while being this weak. 

One by one all the goblins were killed. <Due to [Generals Growth] all XP and Drops have been multiplied by 1.25> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

<Level 1 Up! Rewarded Stat Point> 

<Mission 1 Completed: Rewarded Stat Point> 

Sweet lets check my status! 

[Status] 

LVL: 2 

XP: 10/100 

STR: 2 

CON: 2 

DEX: 3 

INT: 5 

WIS: 4 

CHA: 2 

MP: 1 

Alright I'm level 2 now, what should I level up? Let's level up MP 

<2 Points Assigned to MP> 

MP: 3 

< Your Mana Core has expanded > 

< You have learned Earth Magic > 

WHAAT! My Mana Core leveled up and I learned Earth Magic? Sweat, that's so nice to have. After patting my self on the back for this great victory which I did nothing in expect steal experience, I noticed that the party members were looking at me. 

"Uhm did I do something ha...ha...?" I asked nervously. 

They were all silent until Bell decided to speak. 

"You didn't tell us you had such a good skill!" she said surprisingly she wasn't mad. 

"How does it work? Tell us!" 

"I don't know I just applied a growth buff I guess..." 

I was too nervous and didn't know what to do so I just told them. 

"Well that's nice, we all got more Experience Points than we usually get! I'm so happy!" 

After the whole thing, we readied ourselves and picked up the loot which the goblins had dropped. 

Since my skill had helped them get more items than expected, they gave me half of the extra loot. Which was 3 Stone Axe, Goblin Teeth, and Goblin Leather. 

After reorganizing ourselves and cleaning ourselves up we departed and continued down the path. After around 20 minutes we arrived in the outskirts of a little town, It had wood palisades surrounding the village with thatch huts inside. It wasn't fancy and as strong as I thought, these people are more like primitive and stone age. 

I am also surprised by my imagination, If it could create something like this in a dream, what else could I create? Without much time to think after that, Bell opened the medium sized wooden door. 

And we headed inside, there weren't many villagers present, but the ones that were, surrounded us, most of them were children who were curious. The others were the concerned parents who looked very worried. 

"You're back!" "OH dear thank god that you're alright!" "There's a new face!" 

There was many chatter, people were also suspicious of me since they didn't know my identity, and asked who I was. 

"We were rescued by him, we owe him a great deal," Bell said gently pushing aside the people that surrounded us and continued to walk towards the path that led to the biggest hut in the village. 

"Well come on," Bellphis shouted at the party members who were too distracted to walk. 

Once we were inside the big hut, an old man greeted us. He walked with a cane and had a huge beard, but no hair, he even had a couple of scars on his face. 

I guess this is their leader? 

"Oh who is this gentleman, he's very weak.. Hohoho" he said, laughing. 

He hadn't even greeted us and he was already cracking jokes. 

"Village Leader this man rescued us from a grave state, his only wish was to accompany us here," Bellphis explained. 

"OH! I see! Well he can stay as long as he hunts his own gain and builds his own house," The old man said sitting on a wooden log which served as a chair. 

"Thank you very much Village Leader, we appreciate us, let us tell you what happened," 

Then Bell told him the story of how they ended up almost dead and why many of the other people didn't come back. It seems like Bell's crew and a couple of other people from a different village went to scout a monster base. 

But they were found out, the other people betrayed Bell's crew and ran but they were soon caught because the Monsters valued them more value able. 

Then I healed Bellphis and she healed her crew. The old man thanked me and allowed me to stay, I don't know what to do now, I've joined Bell's crew and even came all the way to their village. Do I just keep calm now and pick berries? 

"I'll give you a small plot of land near the wall, remember you have to hunt for your own food and build your own house," the village leader said. 

[Appraisal] 

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Name: Gordius 

Gender: Male 

Age: 79 

Race: Human 

Skill: [Leader's Buff] 

Status: Alive 

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Leader's Buff huh, I guess that fits his role perfectly, departing from Bell, Gordius showed me my new plot of land, it wasn't big because the village itself wasn't big as well but it was big enough for me to build a hut like the others. 

"Well that's all, best of luck to you," he said and went back to his hut. 

With all of that, I was lost, just standing there not knowing what to do next. If I headed out of this village I would probably be killed since my stats are so low. I'm basically free prey for any monsters out there. 

I guess I still could do magic and try my hardest to not get touched once. 

I felt a cold touch on my shoulder, when I turned around Bell greeted me again. 

"I came back to give you a few stuff so that you're comfortable," she said handing me one of her sleeping bags. 

"Don't worry about what the Village Leader said, we all share our food in this village, we usually have a campfire in the middle of the town and we bring our leftovers there," She said pointing at towards the center of the village. 

"Another thing, join us in the training pen once in a while, it might be small but we all train there, and also, were going to need your skill to get stronger, I'll speak with the Village Leader!" she said. 

With that she left, and I was left alone again. I decided to fill my Mana Core so that I could practice Magic. So I sat down and crossed my legs, after that I tried to feel the Mana in the air. It was hard to get a sense of the mana, but after doing that I was able to sense the Mana and draw it inside. 

I felt refreshed when my Mana Core started to get full. Looks like I still don't have much space for Mana. 

<Current 10 Mana:> 

When I opened my eyes it was now around night time, it seems like I was so concentrated that I didn't notice that time had passed. With a few more energy in me I decided to check out my only magic. Earth Magic, when I went to the abilities tab and checked it out, it showed that I had new skills for Earth Magic. 

[Earth Magic] 

[ Golem Summoning ]: Summon a Golem that listens to your commands with Abilities depending on the skill level with the expense of Mana Per Summon, Does not have a soul and cannot speak. (1 Golem Summon/ 5 Mana ) 

Woah I can summon a Golem right now? 

[Golem Summoning] 

After I casted the skill, 5 Mana was removed from my Mana Core. And an Earth Golem came out of the ground. 

It stood around the same size of me and was blocky. I decided to equip the Golem with two of the Goblin Axes that I got from the Goblins. 

I thought of any actions that the Golem could do, and then I remembered that I needed a house. 

"Your first task is to build be a house by chopping the wood in the forest," I commanded it. 

After commanding it, It began walking towards the gate. I was worried that the villagers would get in danger so I walked with the Golem towards the gate. Then he opened the gate and walked out and headed towards the forest. I stopped following because it would be too dangerous for me. 

However, I got a notification. <Golem 1 performing Task Would you like to see> 

I clicked yes, and a panel popped up on the side. I could now see what the Golem was seeing, It was a neat feature, I could now see what the Golem was doing. Additionally, it even had a return function. 

I decided to head towards the campfire in the middle of the village where Bell told me to go. 

While there, I also saw the villagers. 

"Hey was that Golem your skill?" The village children asked, and so did Bell. 

"Yeah I guess that was my Skill" I responded. 

While I explained what happened, A loud sound pierced my eardrums. It was the sound of a Blowing Horn. I was surprised by it and jumped. 

"Everyone ready up!" Bell shouted. 

<Bell has used [Battle Cry]> 

All of Bells crew drew their weapons and headed towards the gate. Trying to look at what was happening I commanded the Golem to return. 

< Souji Akira has activated Generals Growth > 

It was the least I could do until the Earth Golem arrived. Seconds went by too long, and I felt hopeless yet again. 

"50 Goblins are rushing towards the Gate!" Bell shouted. The crew shot arrows and hit a couple of them. 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 15/100 

(49 Goblins) 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 20/100 

(48 Goblins) 

--- 

New Quest: Survive (50 Goblins)! 

Difficulty: Hard 

Reward: Loot Box, 5 Stat Points, 5 Gold Coins 

--- 

While Bell's crew kept shooting arrows, the villagers ran towards their houses and hid. But the Goblins numbers were too great, they managed to bust through the wood wall. 

Then we were outnumbered, I equipped one of the Goblin Axes. 

"We're not dying here today!" I shouted. 

I joined Bell's crew who were trying to kill the Goblins. 

< Gordius has activated [Leaders Buff], All Stats are boosted by 5 temporarily! > 

Sweat, that's a nice buff. I think I can finally be of help, I didn't know how to use an axe but I am ready to fight! Then I looked at the Golem's Sight, It was making it's way out of the forest, It had dropped the Wood Logs it was carrying around and was making its way here. 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 25/100 

(47 Goblins) 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 30/100 

(46 Goblins) 

Alright we're getting there! Blood was spattering all over the wall, and all over me. I saw a weak looking Goblin. My prey, I went to fight it getting a surprise attack on it. And my axe opened his head. 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 35/100 

(46 Goblins) 

While I was celebrating my first kill, I felt something hurt. I turned around to see that I was struck by an axe. Right through the leg, blood was coming out of the my leg. But I didn't feel anything. The adrenaline was too great, I was so excited that I killed that Goblin too and dashed towards the next one. 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 40/100 

(45 Goblins) 

< Attention, you have been hit in a vital spot! > 

Reaching the next Goblin I wacked him too. 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 45/100 

(44 Goblins) 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 50/100 

(43 Goblins) 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 55/100 

(42 Goblins) 

<Gained 5 Experience> 

XP: 60/100 

(41 Goblins) 

When I looked around, Bell and her crew had killed a large amount of Goblins, but I didn't get any experience. 

(30 Goblins) 

< Stopped gaining Experience from killing Goblins > 

"WHAT!" 

I was enraged by the notification, because this was my only form of gaining Experience. But I started feeling more sluggish, it was harden to move my body again. 

< Leader's Buff has reached it's limit > 

My stats!! No!! Our stats had been reset to normal, and now we were loosing again. Bell was slashed, and Clara was next. We were being overwhelmed by the Goblins and we had no hope left. 

We were bleeding out and saw the Goblins happily laughing after injuring us. Then like a prince on his white horse coming to save the princess my Golem arrived and awaited my orders. 

"Kill... All.. The.. Gobli..." 

--- 

"UH WHAT!" 

I left up from my bed, another horrible dream had just happened to me. I checked the time, but it was now time for school. I didn't have time to make breakfast, But today something seemed different. I was more energized than I was for 13 years of my life. I wasn't tired anymore, So I went to school, happy that I wasn't tired. 

Credits: Karrot

Discord: https://discord.gg/uy8PC7mNQ8

TO BE CONTINUED