XXI

  A piece of parchment unrolled in front of his eyes, Kaz rolling his eyes in annoyance as his [ Archive ] couldn’t wait anymore. The golden text settled, turning into black, and it read:

  You have received a Quest, head to —

  Another parchment rolled out in front of the current page he was currently reading. He sighed deeply, wondering why his [ Archive ] was acting up. It was a thin parchment and had the simple text written on it, the writing quickly going from gold to black:

  You have learned the Skill Ability, [ Mana Shield ]. Due to the threat of losing your life, the [ Archive ] deemed it necessary for you to acquire the Ability.

  He was shocked and slightly concerned at the implications of the message, but his heart rate rose in excitement. Another Skill Ability! The parchment disappeared, revealing the other message that was rudely interrupted by the [ Skill Ability ] page. He read it again:

  You have received a Quest, head to the location and use the key to unlock the Elite Stonerock Goblin’s chest. Rewards will be given from the chest for defeating this monster.

  Kaz was slightly confused, as he wondered where the location it was referring to. He tried to look around but felt a sudden tug in his mind, pointing his head to the northwest. That answered the question he was about to ask his [ Archive ]. He thought about the Quest again, and again he felt this tugging sensation in his head leading his head to the northwest.

  Satisfied, he closed the quest announcement and began reading everything in his [ Archive ]. He began with his [ Status ] page, and saw his Resonance made another leap, this time his Resonance elevated to the number 13, with his progress bar already halfway full to the next tier of Resonance. That excited him, as the Stonerock Goblin, actually the Elite Stonerock Goblin as his quest informed him, pushed him to the point he was able to go up two full tiers. His Mana Points total was now at 86, and his Health Points were up to 99 now, which comforted him slightly, recently needing every little addition to his Health Points he could get.

  He enthusiastically moved onto his [ Skill Abilities ], ignoring his [ Mana Burst ] for the moment, even though he saw it Ranked up to Rank 17, a full three Rankings. He focused on his new Skill Ability, which was already at Rank 3, [ Mana Shield ], his first defensive Skill Ability, one he has been trying to obtain since the beginning of his journey. This would greatly improve his close combat ability, allowing him to be slightly more reckless and experiment more with his dagger. He focused on the Skill Ability, and it read:

  Manifest a pure form of mana to construct a defensive shield, reducing damage obtained. Uses 2 Mana Points per activation, and 1 Mana Point per second after activation. Reduces 3% of damage done to Health Points while activated. (Rank 3)

  That confused him slightly, as why would it only reduce 3% of the damage he would receive? So, would he still take damage from the incoming attacks? His enthusiasm quickly died down, as this seemed quite useless. He shrugged, as this would be good later on, and was still better than nothing.

  Moving back up to his [ Mana Burst ], which was now sitting at Rank 17. He focused on it and noticed a lot more words appearing on the parchment. It now read:

  Manifest a pure form of mana and attack an enemy, up to 30 yards. Uses 5 Mana Points per use, dealing 26 damage to Health Points. By spending double the Mana Points (10), the attack travels to the target at twice the speed. (Rank 17)

  Kaz reread the information provided to him several times. It made sense, as he noticed his attacks seemed to fly through the air a lot quicker to the goblin, catching both him and the goblin by surprise. It also explained the draining feeling he felt in his core, as he burning through his Mana Points twice as quickly compared to his regular casts. He did the calculations in his mind, knowing he used 53 Mana Points during that encounter, and honestly, it wasn’t even that much even when he occasionally used the double speed mana attack.

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  He would try to open with that version against enemies he felt were of higher strength to catch them off guard. He also noted the damage he was outputting, which slightly concerned him, how many Health Points did these Powerful monsters have? At this rate, with him having to use his Skill Ability around six times, that meant that this goblin had three times his Health Points. Or did his armor provide a reduction to the damage he received? He would ask all these questions once he reached town and spoke with someone at the Adventurer’s Guild.

  Kaz then looked at his [ Passive Skills ], which only his [ Evasive Step ] Ranked up, going up to Rank 13. No new changes to the Ability, just the usual percentage boost to the effectiveness of his dodging.

  Closing his [ Archive ], he gathered his bag, which he had to repair his strap, again, and the strap getting very short with all the knots holding it together, reaching up all the way under his armpit when he put it over his neck crossbody. It was it a bit uncomfortable, but he moved it around until he was satisfied with its position, having it slightly aligned towards his back. He mentally recalled his quest, and he moved in the direction that his mind tugged him in, beginning the journey to his glorious rewards.

  Walking through the sparse forest, he ran into a pair of goblins who didn’t stand a chance against Kaz, as he quickly shredded through them, and picked up the Tokens they dropped, continuing on his trail to the location.

  He ran into a goblin who was casually strolling alone through the forest, and Kaz decided to experiment with his new Skill Ability. He walked up to the goblin, who yelped in fear when Kaz appeared before it. It quickly slashed its sword at him, and he ignored his [ Evasive Step ] reaction, opting to use his [ Mana Shield ], summoning the mana construct on his left arm. The blade bounced off his shield, and Kaz didn’t feel any pain in his arm. Confused, he quickly cast [ Mana Burst ] twice, using his [ Mana Shield ] in between attacks to block the pitiful goblin. The goblin fell over, dead, and he picked up the singular Copper Token it dropped. He quickly opened his [ Status ] and saw that his Health Points were down to 83, which means he took 16 points of damage in that fight.

  Concern flooded his thoughts, as this Ability was very dangerous. He was still taking damage, but he wasn’t physically feeling the pain. Kaz decided he would only use this sparingly, only when his [ Evasive Step ] couldn’t avoid the attack from his opponent. He also noticed that [ Mana Shield ] reached Rank 5, and it was just another base percentage increase. It was Ranking quickly, so hopefully he wouldn’t have to use it often to reach Rank 50 for his Revelation.

  He only had one slot left for his Skill Abilities and Passive Abilities, and so far, he was content with the choices offered to him, as they helped him immensely. He wondered if something like [ Evasive Step ] was an Ability a Mage like him should have taken, while yes it saved him more than enough times, but what if he was missing out on future Skill Abilities because this Ability was taking up the slot. He pondered on it and then did his usual shrug, nothing he could do about it now.

  He mentally triggered his quest and went in the direction his mind pointed him to, continuing on his way to the chest. Kaz wondered what was waiting for him at the location, would it be the Elite Stonerock Goblin’s house, a camp that he was from, or a chest that was hidden under a massive rock? There were so many possibilities, but he frowned when he thought about it being in a camp. That would mean he would have to do even more work taking out the goblins to get the loot that he had already earned. He hoped this wasn’t the case, because he was mentally strained from risking his life on a daily basis. Only for something that should already be in his bag and not in a chest far away from the place of the battle.

  Something tugged in his head, guiding him slightly more north, which probably meant he was approaching the destination. He ran into a few more groups of goblins, and easily disposed of them, occasionally using his [ Mana Shield ] near the end of the fights when he was sure the amount of damage he sustained could be easily covered by his meager number of Health Points. He again checked his [ Passive Skills ] page and was greeted by more Rank ups for his Ability, now up to Rank 8. Kaz was honestly surprised by the low cost of Mana Points, and thought it was a good trade off, as the Ability itself wasn’t the most useful at its current Rank, and would probably have a way higher cost in the future when the Rank actually provided a decent amount of damage absorption.

  Kaz was starting to feel uneasy in his stomach, as the increase in number of goblins meant he was approaching a place where they likely resided, most likely a camp where they lived. He sighed to himself, of course it would be in the middle of a camp of those Stonerock Goblins. Kaz simply had the worst luck one could possess, and nothing about him made up for the lack of said luck.

  A massive stone formation was staring back at him as he made his way through the sparse forest. It looked like a set of small rock formations, almost like a mini version of the mountains he saw from the top of that tree a few nights ago. Kaz analyzed the mountains from afar, wondering why his intuition was guiding him to this location. He suddenly had a thought that almost made him want to abandon the quest, what if he had to cross this small mountain range in order to receive his loot that was already his.

  He felt a weird pulse in his head, almost as if someone lightly slapped the back of his head. Did his [ Archive ] just smack him in the back of the head for his current thought process? He felt another similar pulse in his head, almost as if the [ Archive ] just confirmed his question. He groaned dramatically, shaking his head as he walked towards the rock formation ahead of him. He walked out of the sparse tree line, and walked towards the rocks, which only seemed to get taller the closer he got to them.

  Kaz’s head pulsed again, pulling him slightly to the left again, and he followed the guidance provided to him. He walked for close to half an hour and finally saw a small entrance in the rock formation, most likely a cave that went into the rocks. His hopes were slightly raised, meaning he wouldn’t have to go through the rock formations, and also it wasn’t a whole goblin camp, or so he hoped.

  Reaching the entrance to the cave, he was met with darkness, with no vision far into the cave, as if the sun did not exist in this part of the realm. Kaz took a deep breath and prepared himself before entering. He did a quick check on his [ Status ], checking if his Mana Points and Health Points were all restored back to fullness. He was quite close to reaching 14 Resonance, so if there were any goblins in the cave, maybe he would also gain another tier of Resonance from fighting in a new environment. He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head, stopping himself delaying this even further, and began his adventure into the cave.