Guests

The journey back was uneventful but slow, it took over two hours to carry the boar in his arms all the way back while avoiding the Slimes littering the fields, he knew he could have made the trip in under an hour but was sure no longer having to worry about meat for the future would be worth it.

After entering his harvest into the Storage panel he was satisfied with the day so far.

Tinder x 18

Sticks bundle x 2

Twigs bundle x 9

Boar tusk x 1

Boar pelt x 1

Bones x 3

Boar meat x 8

Boar leg meat x 4

"The boar legs always look so good in games I can't wait, rat meat can stay in there. The pelt! I can't believe I forgot that!"

Taking the pelt out to feel it and admire its size he headed to the shack to add it to his collection and refill his water skin from the bowl.

While in the shack he left the items he had picked up from the zombies he didn't want to sell and anticipated the evening meal.

Copper spoon

Copper plate

Travellers salt

"Do zombies just drop cooking based loot or something? What an odd situation"

Selling his Slime crystals at the converter he found he had just enough coin for another length of rope.

"1 copper leftover, I better hope it rains tonight"

Once again heading out, this time with his rope and hacksaw he started the long jog back, resting on arrival and finishing the last of his berries he pondered how long he could realistically survive on berries and meat exclusively.

"I feel like I should be unwell from this diet but I feel fantastic, the stats must be outweighing the weird diet or something"

He also considered the mana rich environment might be making some difference but decided to just not worry about it, he had a lot of work to do prepping and transporting the wood and really didn't want to look into anything too deep while he had such clear direction.

After another few hours he had just finished storing the last of the wood he'd prepared; he was happy with the result and was scanning the horizon for clouds while trying to decide what to do about the water problem when he noticed something out of place.

"No way, they actually followed me?"

As he was scanning he saw 3 goblins and a wolf in the slime fields, they were still some way off but the wolf clearly had its nose pressed to the ground. They didn't seem to be looking directly at the dome but Daniel immediately wondered how they could miss it, was it invisible to them? Some special camouflage God applied to help him out or were they just incredibly short sighted?

Either way the wolf certainly wasn't having their difficulty, from the direction they were approaching he guessed it had followed his trail back from the river with the Crackbill ducks from yesterday.

"Using the scent from the rope or something? Maybe it took them this long because of the slimes"

He doubted the slimes were slowing them down by being a threat but figured the way they slowly dissolved everything probably wouldn't help with the wolf's scent tracking.

"Whatever the case I can't let them get back to their people and report where I am, I still don't know how strong they are, I do not want to be under siege here"

Preparing all of his weapons and drinking the last of his water he even made sure to have his chisel on his waist. He left everything that wasn't a weapon and steeled himself, he was pretty sure he could out run them given their stature but the wolf was another matter.

He'd never fought a wolf before and although it wasn't large he felt it was probably the biggest threat both to fight and to report back on his location.

"I have to assume they'll notice me as they get nearer but with the numbers advantage I don't think they'll run if they see me outside. I need them to set the wolf on me before they decide to run and report back"

With this in mind he left the protection of the dome on the side between them and where he knew their home forest was, the angle of his return from the river was lucky, if they'd headed straight here from the forest he wasn't sure he'd try this.

He moved quietly and tried to make some distance before moving towards them but almost as soon as he left the protective barrier the Wolf raised its head in his direction, as soon as it noticed him he saw it growling and the goblins began looking towards him too.

Their cries were almost jeering and they immediately started towards him in low stoops, thankfully they all seemed to be brandishing short spears. One of them shouted at the wolf which immediately sprang towards Daniel snarling, it barely took it any time to close the distance and Daniel had to stop himself dashing back towards the dome; instead he stood firm with his spear braced in front of him ready to stab the beast as soon as it jumped.

It was clearly well experienced enough with humanoids to be wary of his spear however and started to cautiously circle him, he made a couple of feints towards it with the spear but it was nimble enough to not be fooled or caught off guard, hearing the cries of the goblins getting closer he moved his spear to the side in one hand holding it like a club and leaving a clear opening for the wolf to attack.

Without a moment's hesitation the wolf sprang towards him and his now open palm. He used the flame spell without reservation burning through his MP as he tried to kill the wolf before its weight could carry it on to him.

[11 exp received]

The burning wolf's body slammed into him as he tried to dodge it, shoulder barging the dead weight as it crashed into him he was able to stumble into a forward run towards the now less confident and clearly confused goblins.

The two in front were shouting desperately as they prepared to meet his charge with their stubby spears, not having the time to change tactic he held his spear in front of him and simply kept running into the right most goblin who was lifted from the ground as it was pierced by the spear.

This initial unlucky goblin was reaching desperately forward with its own spear, but the reach just wasn't enough, its cries dying out as Daniel released the spear and let it fall. He had turned to the next goblin on his left trying to use what little momentum remained from the charge to overpower it quickly with his now drawn wooden sword, he now had a sense for their physical strength and was sure he could break its guard and beat it to the ground before the last goblin could charge in.

[19 exp received]

Surprisingly however something hard and incredibly fast moving had connected with his leg and made him stumble.

A fist sized, moss covered rock had been fired at him from the third goblin which he now saw was holding a crude wooden staff to support itself with one arm outstretched, it looked visibly drained as it scrunched its eyes up clearly concentrating on casting another spell.

Before he could do anything about this however the spear wielding goblin was already on him aiming to take advantage of his faltered advance. Swinging his wooden sword wildly as he stabilised Daniel managed to raise his free hand and throw out the last few MP worth of flame at the goblins face. By the time the terrified goblin realised it wasn't going to be immolated by the weak burst of flame filling its vision Daniel had already brought his sword around for a second, much more controlled, swing which smashed through the unprepared guard of the goblins spear and knocked it to the ground.

Not wanting to leave the magic goblin any room to act he immediately swung around ready to charge over; his sudden shift in position saved him as another, though much smaller, moss covered rock flew past his shoulder and he could clearly see the broken look on the exhausted goblins face when its attack missed.

Charging towards the now terrified goblin caster he saw it was lifting a crude dull metal dagger as it clutched its staff for support, without finesse Daniel crushed the goblins arm with his wooden sword and repeatedly struck it until he received the notification from his HUD

[31 exp received]

As light particles rose from the corpse Daniel took the opportunity to slowly walk back to the downed goblin he had just left, it lay still and apparently lifeless on the ground, its spear lightly resting in its hand.

"Do they not know their bodies disappear when they die?"

Standing a few feet away he drew a spear from his back and stabbed the wretched thing in the chest, an almost indignant and abruptly ending cry rang out before this last goblin again turned to particles of light and a few copper coins

[20 exp received]