Jumping up above the treeline, Aaron followed Zach’s outstretched finger toward the sounds of battle and used [ Spectral Rush ] to shoot through the sky towards it.

  It didn’t take him long before he spotted two dozen or so little figures stretched across the land, battling back a swarm of giant toads between the towering trees and marshy lands.

  Redirecting himself downward, Aaron sent himself flying toward the ground with another burst of power. And as he got closer, his brow perked curiously. It wasn’t a group of humans engaged in battle.

  “Goblins.”

  The little greenshins were scattered about and poorly equipped, from the looks of it. And despite the strongest giant toads being mostly level 50s to 60s, they were struggling.

  In fact, more of the goblins were avoiding the bigger toads and doing all they could to take out the weaker, smaller ones that were mostly around level 30 or so.

  It’s not looking good for these little guys, Aaron thought as he landed with a bang that sent a shockwave blasting out.

  What had caught his eye was the largest of the toads. It was called a hivemother, and at level 90, it was surrounded by four of the little greenskins.

  Three of the goblins held shields high and appeared to be working purely defensively to distract, while a fourth was using Skills to empower its large hammer, to strike where it could.

  It was lucky they had some kind of plan and strategy; otherwise, they’d have been wiped out quickly, as they weren’t a match for the toad's head-to-head.

  But despite this, Aaron didn’t rush off into battle. Standing near the hivemother, he studied the battlefield for a short moment. He didn’t know if the goblins were friendly yet, but it was pretty clear that they weren’t a threat. Not far away, he spotted a couple running away from a toad, and just before it caught up to them, arrows cut it down.

  Coming in for the save. Thanks, Zach!

  He decided he wanted to help. It felt wrong not to.

  But before engaging the hivemother, he stood there for a moment, feeling his energy and comparing it to the giant toad. Everything felt a little off now that he had the ring on. Calibrating himself was important, and it was important to do it during a real battle.

  There was something about the way his energy fluctuated, and he knew it was important to get a feel for it.

  That’s enough of that. I'd better do something before these little guys get themselves killed.

  But when Aaron finally decided to enter the fray, he did so far more calmly than he had in most recent battles.

  This was the inner zen that he had been missing of late. He’d been falling too in love with power and Skills, and needed a little bit of a course correction.

  Instead, charging in, he forced himself to slow down. Didn’t just rush in with overwhelming power. In fact, he didn’t even use Fate Weaver, not wanting to rely on the crutch unless he needed to. Instead, he felt the toad's energy and watched its muscles and body for tells.

  “Watch out!” One of the goblins yelled as the hivemother’s tongue lashed out, slapping two of the goblins on their shields and sending them flying into lush, viny vegetation.

  The toad then turned its attention to Aaron, but when its tongue shot out at him, he simply sidestepped and ducked the bullet-like appendage, while calmly walking toward it.

  A bit too far, he thought, frowning.

  He slowed his speed, allowing the toad to strike again, and this time, he barely moved, simply tilting his body. The tongue brushed past his side, ruffling his clothes before retracting.

  Perfect.

  As he got closer, poison barbs shot out from the toad’s serrated, leathery hide. But just like when he was attacked by its tongue, he effortlessly placed his body exactly where it needed to be, dodging the attacks he could and using [ Equal and Opposite ] to cancel the ones he couldn’t.

  Still too much, he thought.

  He had overestimated the strength of the attack and burned too much energy. Once again, he slowed down on purpose, allowing the toad to attack again. This time, he reduced the energy in his defense, and unfortunately, he overcorrected, and one of the barbs pierced his skin. It didn’t go deep in, but it was toxic, and he was forced to cycle his Vitality Heart. It wasn’t much, and usually, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but with the ring sapping his energy, every little bit of waste was impactful.

  On the third volley, he finally nailed it. The barbs he couldn’t dodge were slowed by [ Equal and Opposite ] until they just barely touched his body with no force behind them before dropping to the ground.

  Not an ounce of wasted energy. Everything movement measured and perfect, he told himself as he continued walking the toad down.

  This monster was perfect for the task at hand. It had just the right level of power; it wasn’t too strong for Aaron, and he wouldn’t be forced into bad habits. He could find his center against a beast like this, get back into the swing of things without going overboard, but also strong enough that it was a real threat. At least, if it hit him.

  As he got closer, almost within melee range, little craters that dotted the toad’s body spewed toxic fumes, and he nonchalantly used [ Oozagh’s Breath ] to blow them away.

  Then, the toad tried to escape, hopping away, but a [ Spectral Rush ] brought him right up beside it, and with swift, simple punches, kicks, and elbows, he began to break it down.

  The attacks were nothing special—no extra power. Just infused with minimal Stamina, but used expertly, hitting weak spots at great speed.

  Within seconds of his precise, but measured strikes, the toad tried to leap away again, but was knocked to the ground, and Aaron finished it with a perfect strike to the back of its head, killing it instantly.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  You killed: Wart Toad Hivemother [ Level 90 ]

  Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  48 → 49

  The fight was a poignant reminder of what he was capable of, he realized. He hadn’t needed any flashy antics to kill the toad: just well-placed precision and exploitation of weak spots.

  He would need to fight something stronger, though, he knew. It was one thing to beat the relatively weak toad using the techniques taught by Yendal, but if he needed to keep pushing himself. He needed to up the ante and fight something actually powerful.

  Okay, good first step. But this isn’t going to iron out all the creases.

  He needed this measured technique to come more naturally to him. He needed practice. He needed to get to a point where he could combine everything he had learned into a single fighting style without letting any one element supersede the rest.

  Because it was exactly this weakness that caused him to forget and rely too much on strength, he had learned a lot, but he had also done it in a very short period of time, relative to the lessons.

  Focus.

  There was still a battle raging on around him, and he realized that even with the big one down, the goblins weren’t in a great position.

  But then he spotted an engagement at the far end of the battle; arrows began to fly from the trees, and when a few toads turned to attack in their direction, they were promptly caught in traps.

  Oh, look at them go! Good work, team!

  Aaron watched as his new companions took down several toads, evening the odds. Soon, the goblins outnumbered the remaining toads and cornered them, finishing off the stragglers.

  He wouldn’t just sit back and watch people die; if possible, he would avoid killing weaker monsters and avoid it having an effect on his unlocks.

  But the moment they finished with the toads, the little greenskins turned to Aaron and Marko, who had appeared nearby. As it turned out, the goblins were far more apprehensive of them than they were of the toads.

  Spears, shields, bows, and swords lined up, and they backed up into a defensive formation. Aaron spotted the goblin that had been attacking the hivemother with its big hammer at the heart of the formation.

  They were trying; ultimately, the goblins weren’t the most intimidating lot. It wasn’t just their struggle against the toads, either. Most of them ranged from level 20 to level 40, except one, the goblin with the big hammer, who appeared to be the leader and was level 54.

  But when neither Aaron nor his two human companions attacked, the one he suspected to be the leader broke rank and stepped out of the formation toward him.

  He was a little guy, as were all goblins from the looks of it. Bald, greenskin, long pointy ears, and several piercings. Pretty standard. But what made him stand out was that he was dressed in plated metal armor and wielded a large hammer with both hands. Not what Aaron imagined typical goblin attire to be.

  “Can ya understand me?” The goblin growled as it stepped closer.

  “Yep. Sure can, mate.”

  The goblin gave Aaron a cold look, but didn’t look like he wanted to attack, unsurprisingly. “Friend or foe?”

  “Me?” Aaron thumbed his chest. “Mate, do I look like a foe?”

  The goblin gave Aaron a good, long look up and down before relaxing a little. “What are ya then? A monster? Where’d you come from?”

  It was at that moment that he realized anyone who didn’t reach the trials wouldn’t have met the other races. And to these goblins, he and his companions were the aliens.

  “I’m a human. This is my… Um, new world. Like you.”

  “I see. So does that mean you’re one of the races we share our world with?”

  “Exactly! So you do know?”

  “I know only what the Tutorial told us. That we would share our new world with two other intelligent races.”

  “Well, that’s pretty much it,” Aaron shrugged. “There are plenty of monsters and beasts around, so I figure there’s no need to be each other’s enemies, right?”

  “Right,” the goblin nodded warily.

  “I’m Aaron, by the way,” he said, stepping forward with an extended hand.

  “Treg,” the goblin said, eyeing Aaron’s hand for an awkwardly long moment before taking it. “And this is what’s left of my… my Tutorial.”

  There was grief in the goblin's words, and Aaron almost felt bad for it. However, he was pretty desensitized at that moment.

  “Oh, all from the same Tutorial?” Aaron nodded. “So, you came here with a Waypoint, then?”

  “We did. Our levels… they are insufficient for this place. Our casualties have already been too high, and we’ve only been here for several hours.”

  “Bummer. Sorry for your loss. Well, I guess you can tag along with us if you like. Just make yourselves useful.”

  Treg didn’t immediately respond.

  “Aye, ye can join us if ye like,” Sooty proclaimed as he appeared from the jungle surroundings.

  “What is that?” Treg blinked in Sooty’s direction.

  There were undeniable similarities between the soot goblin and the actual goblins. Sooty was far smaller than the actual goblins, though, who stood between four and five feet tall, while Sooty was only about a foot tall, pointy ears included. But as for features, they were pretty much the same.

  “Meet Sooty, my traveling companion. Are goblins and soot goblins related?” Aaron asked, suddenly curious.

  “Nah, not really, bossman. We soot goblins are a magical creation modeled after goblins, but not related to them. I doubt they’ve ever seen one before.

  Sooty was probably right, given the curious looks the goblins were giving him.

  “Anyway, we’re meeting up with a friend of mine. Dunno how long it’ll take to find her. Or how far we’ll have to walk, or what we’ll bump into along the way, but if you like, you’re free to join.”

  Treg looked back at his disheveled little army, then to Aaron again. He was clearly a long way from trusting a human, but Aaron represented a sliver of hope in a sea of misery.

  “How do we know you’re not going to cut our throats when we sleep?”

  “Ahh, you don’t, I suppose. I’m not forcing you, though. Stay here if you want.”

  “Treg, we can’t keep going like this! Our wounded…” One of the goblins called out from the formation. “What’s going to attack us next? What are we going to do?”

  “Anyway, we’re not going to be waiting long. Also, I claim the big one’s hide and meat. I did do the killing, after all. And if you’re not planning on using the other corpses, we’ll take them too. Hey, Marko, over here!”

  Marko ran over, slowing as he neared the suspiciously eyeing the goblins.

  “That big one over there. I scored that kill fair and square. It’s ours. And Treg, was it? What about the other corpses? Are you claiming them? Or can we have them?”

  “We ahh,” Treg stopped mid-word to consider himself. “We were going to take some meat, but I suppose you can take them. As long as we get protection.”

  “Fine by me. So, I take it you’re tagging along then?”

  “We are.”

  “Great.”

  Aaron sat back as everyone got to work. This was nice. Although he was aware that if his motley crew of tag-alongs continued to grow, it would only take longer and longer to get to Talia.

  But it wasn’t like they were useless. The goblins had herbalists already out collecting plants as they waited for Marko to finish up with the corpses. There were also a couple of lumberjacks picking out valuable trees and felling them for timber, which they then worked into smaller pieces that they could carry.

  His storage space wasn’t big enough to carry large amounts of timber, but they could keep some of the most valuable items. Also, Treg had his own very small storage, which helped.

  There was even a shapeshifting druid amongst them that turned into a hare and delved into a burrow to ask the inhabitants about the local monsters, and if they’d seen humans, at Aaron’s request, which they hadn’t. They had, however, seen something else. Up ahead, in the exact direction that the compass was pointing, was the territory of a D-grade.

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