The Recycler

The sound of metal clashed against metal echoed through the dense forest. A teenage human was trying desperately to fend off a series of attacks from a strange humanoid green creature. A goblin.

The boy wore a thin leather vest as a body protection. He wielded a rusty short sword that probably aged older than the boy himself. A round wooden shield was strapped in his left hand.

His opponent was a head shorter and wore nothing but a loincloth to cover its nether region. No tits and looked like something was swaying behind the dirty cloth. It was definitely a male goblin. He was not an expert of goblin anatomy so he was not sure about it.

The green creature swinging an iron mace wildly. The goblin attacked the boy haphazardly since it had no pattern of attack.

KRAAAAAA

With a screech the goblin swung its mace upward. It hit the boy's sword and broke it into two. The swing also successfully scratched the boy's chin. He lost his balance and stumbled backward.

The goblin didn't pause to give the boy a second to breathe. It began to rain down blows after blows with the iron mace. The boy raised his wooden shield to block the attack. The mace was heavy and so was the swing. Thanks to the shield's thickness every time the blunt weapon hit, it only left a tiny crack.

The boy knew that his shield would break apart at any moment. He was preparing a last attack but he needed to tire the goblin.

Several blows later the goblin's attack became sluggish.The next hit, the boy tried to parry the mace by swinging his left hand.

TTWAAACCKK

The boy parried the swing and he was sure that his left hand was bruised or worse he got a fractured bone. The sudden change in tactic baffled the monster and made the green creature lose its balance.

"Reuse!"

In a second the broken sword glowed and became intact. The boy quickly slashed downward but his attack barely left a scratch on his opponent's body. The boy continued his attack with a thrust and the sharp end of the sword pierced the goblin's chest.

Green blood sprouted from the falling goblin. It thrashed and flailed its hands wildly. Several punches landed on the boy's head but thankfully he could press the mace to the ground so he didn't need to worry about the blunt weapon.

The goblin gurgled as the last breath left its body and the hands limped to the side. Its eyes rolled back and the monster stopped moving. The boy pulled his sword to see whether the goblin was breathing or not. When he saw it wasn't breathing anymore he let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat and blood from his face.

He dropped his weapon as both his hands trembled from tens of blows. He was quite sure that his left forearm was cracked from the battle. The wooden shield was gone and sharp pain coursed through his left arm.

The boy fell on his back. The pain was excruciating as the adrenaline wore off. He might pass out from exhaustion and could no longer hold his consciousness.

With his last mana, the boy directed his right hand over his left hand.

"Reduce!"

He concentrated on healing his cracked forearm by reducing the crack on his bone using one of his skills. The pain subdued and eventually disappeared. The now sealed arm was still throbbing but at least it wasn't hurting anymore. He took a glance at his broken sword and reached it. A wave of dizziness came from the sudden movement. He took a deep breath to clear his head.

The skill 'reuse' enabled him to restore a broken object to its former condition. At this level the effect would last for fifteen seconds. It's not much but in a life and death situation, the skill was quite handy.

His other skill 'reduce' enabled him to decrease the amount of any object he desired. Quite an overpowered skill but has its drawbacks. He needed a large amount of mana and willpower to activate the skill.

With a swipe of his hand, he opened his status screen. Millisecond later a transparent blue screen appeared from nothingness.

Name : James Ryan

Age : 17

Class : Commoner

Job : Recycler

Level : 5 (25 / 500)

HP : 129 / 300

MP : 10 / 100

Skill Point : 25

Skill :

Reduce Lvl. 2/10 (1/2)

Reuse Lvl. 2/10 (1/2)

Recycle Lvl. 2/10 (1/2)

His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. The dark haired teenager whistled as he checked his level. He leveled up 5 levels after defeating the goblin. He was rewarded 25 skill points which he distributed evenly.

Ever since he was summoned to this world along with hundreds of other people a week ago nothing good happened to him. He was exiled from the Crussant Empire thanks to his commoner class. It was the lowest class possible for someone to be allowed inside the castle except for slaves.

His assigned job as recycler didn't help either. Without any divine skill he was a laughingstock even around commoners. Hunter, Farmer or thieves held more honor than a recycler.

The only thing he could do to avoid being hunted down and sold as a slave was that he had to register as a mercenary. Thanks to the guild's protection, his mercenary status prevented other people from messing with his business.

It was true that he got money from the Emperor to compensate for his inconvenience. But the castle guards decided that 5 gold coins was way too much for a commoner and decided to ask him nicely over several beatings. He was left with a gold coin, bruised ribs and bloodied lips.

The goblin laid motionless with dried green blood pooled around the creature. It was a gruesome sight but James had to kill it to earn some money.

He picked his broken sword and put it into his knapsack. It was a cheap iron sword that cost him a silver coin. It came with a wooden shield. Sadly the shield was broken beyond repair. Something that even his third skill could not do anything about.

Looting the goblin was an important yet a gruesome process. He had to cut one of its ears as a trophy and proof of his victory. Their fangs and eyeballs were valuables too so he pulled them and put them into a glass jar. If he was lucky he could get 10 silver coins from slaying a goblin.

He picked the iron mace gingerly and put it into his knapsack. Using his 'recycle' skill later he wanted to recycle it into another type of weapon. It brought a smile to him as finally something good came out of this skill.

The day was still early but he didn't feel like continuing his hunting. A goblin for a day was too much. It was time to walk back to the city to sell his loot.

It took him another twenty minutes to reach the front gate. The guards gave him a dirty look when he passed the city gate. He felt dirty mentally and physically.

"Thought you died there, boy."

"Even animals won't have anything to do with you!"

The guards barked out a laugh and did a high five. James ignored them and continued to walk down along the busy street. He dragged his feet to one of the stalls where he bought his sword and vest.

"I got you two fangs and two eyes." James threw the glass jar to a bearded man behind the counter which the man caught it deftly.

"It's still fresh, good job." The man peered over the glass, opened the lid and poured some kind of potion. "Anything else?"

"Nothing that I want to part with."

"Come on boy. You must have found something interesting."

"It's for my personal use."

The man nodded understandingly. "Alright. five silver for each eyeball and a silver for the fang."

"Twenty or nothing." James said curtly.

"Listen kid! I have no time for a silly bargain. thirteen."

"Fifteen. Deal?"

"Deal!"

The stall owner poured several silver coins from a pouch and counted fifteen. He slid the coin to James. The younger man pocketed the coins and shoved his bag into his chest. He turned to go, but paused as he felt the man grabbed his shoulder.

"Someone asked me for some goblin balls. He needed at least a hundred or more. 10 silver each."

James raised his eyebrows. That much for goblin balls, some people really need their morning wood working. Or it was for something bigger. Nevertheless, it raised James' curiosity. He gave no response from his astonishment, he nodded curtly. "I'll try to find a goblin nest."

"Don't get yourself killed in the process. Goblin is a vicious bastard. Today you might be lucky, another day it would be the death of you."

"Yeah, yeah." He walked off again, this time without looking back. The goblin nests usually lived in small, dark crevices in trees or under the bushes and leaves, so they weren't easy to find. But he would make do. No point wasting energy on something that wouldn't be found soon enough.

Now, a really nice dinner and a good nap would do to recharge his mana. He had a mace to recycle after all.