The Reluctant Hero - Vol. 1 - Chapter 11

With the crazy stuff done for the day, Axel moved deeper into the copse of trees and looked around for the various herbs he wanted to collect. Like many commoner children, he’d been educated on what herbs were good for what uses. Whether they were herbs for cooking or medicine, every herb that could be useful was drilled into his head. He just needed little refreshers here and there.

Thankfully, the herbs he was searching for were common ones to the area. There were rarer ones but they could take an eternity to find and he didn’t plan to waste that much time. Rather, he calmly searched for and found the more common herbs. He was also very careful when collecting them. A professional didn’t just rip the herb our of the ground, rather they carefully trimmed the plant and tried to do their best not to harm the plant’s roots. This let the plant live and allowed it to regrow for future harvests.

He found several small clusters of herbs within the copse. As he was harvesting his fifth one, he heard a twig snapping a little ways away. As he turned to look at whatever made the sound, there was a loud yell that was meant to be an intimidating warcry. However, the high-pitched almost child-like sound of the shout took away a lot of the possible intimidation it was meant to have. It became even less intimidating, if possible, when Axel spotted the small creature that emitted the yell, a Goblin.

Goblins, little green monsters the size of a young child with bald heads, pointed ears, long noses, and sharp needle-like teeth. Despite not being much taller than three to four feet with stick-thin limbs and distended bellies, they were as strong as a civilian adult. Despite that strength, they were considered to be pest monsters. They only became dangerous in large numbers or conditions where they could be sneaky and ambush unaware targets. A single goblin alone in the woods was only a threat to lone children.

The goblin wore little more than a dirty loincloth and its weapon was a stick. Not even a big stick, just a stick that was too big to be called a twig. Axel felt zero threat from the small monster that seemed to be trying to intimidate him with its ‘battle cry’. He just stood up straight and looked at it with a curious gaze. Despite goblins being prevalent throughout the world, this was his first time seeing one up close. Back home his parents and other retired adventurers kept their farming community clean of monsters.

With another yell in its high pitched child-like voice, the goblin charged at Axel on its stubby little legs. Axel contemplated which spell he wanted to cast at the little monster. He had plenty to choose from now but he needed to get a feel for his new spells. He lifted his right hand and pointed his palm at the goblin, “Firebolt.”

Flames instantly appeared in front of his palm and condensed into a small ball of fire about the size of his hand. As soon as it condensed it launched from his hand and flew straight at the charging goblin. The goblin barely had time to register the deadly ball of flames before they slammed into its chest and blasted it off of its feet. If Axel had been a normal beginner doing these quests it might have taken a bit more effort but given his higher Int and weapon damage, the single Firebolt was enough to blow open the goblins chest and scorch its lungs and heart killing it instantly.

Axel sighed and ignored the goblins corpse, it could become fertilizer for the plants. His guild card would register the defeat of the goblin and if he defeated enough he could turn that in for a quest. Until then, he returned to looking for herbs while deciding that the next goblin would get the same spell but with a different element thanks to his Elemental Substitution metamagic.

It took him about an hour to check the entire copse for herbs. Once he was certain he’d found all he could, he left the copse and took to the air once more with ‘Fly’. Thanks to it leveling up he could currently fly at sixty feet per second which was significantly faster than just walking. On the downside, it was costing him four hundred mana a second. Other mages his level could probably fly permanently. It didn’t matter. He’d make mana regeneration items until he was covered in Mithril!

He flew for a few minutes, his speed increasing slightly every time his Fly spell increased in rank. He eventually landed at a new copse further away from the city and other adventurers. He knew he made the right decision as soon as he heard multiple child-like yells. There wasn’t just a single goblin hiding in this bunch of trees, it sounded like a decently sized group.

With a flourish, Axel spun his staff around and looked at the group of Goblins coming out from the shadows of the trees. He quickly counted ten, but could see the shadows of more further inside. These goblins had crude leather clothing and weapons made of stone. Things such as stone-tipped spears, sticks with stones attached to them by leather strips to act as clubs, even an archer with a garbage bow and arrows with stone arrowheads. All-in-all, they at least looked deadlier than the last one with its stick.

First, he cast Protection from Arrows on himself. The spell was a basic classic. Even though it would only protect him from mundane, as in non-magical, projectiles, it was a classic for a reason. With it activated, he was now protected from any ranged attacks that these goblins might throw at him.

Second, he decided what spell he wanted to cast. His first thought was casting Explosion and blasting most of the Goblins apart. However, he restrained himself from doing that. If he did, he would not only kill the Goblins but he would also destroy the trees and other plants nearby. Including any herbs he might want to collect. Instead, he lifted his hand and pointed his palm at the first goblin charging at him, “Firebolt, Sub Ice.”

Instead of fire forming in the palm of his hand, a ball of jagged ice formed and was launched at the goblin. The jagged lump of ice slammed into the goblins chest slicing and crushing it before bursting apart into freezing cold wind and flash freezing the monster’s chest. It let out a gurgling scream as it fell backwards and died.

His hand moved as he targeted the next closest goblin, all the while ignoring the crude spears and arrows being launched at him. Whenever one of the projectiles got close they would veer off in a different direction leaving him perfectly safe, “Firebolt, Sub Lightning.”

There was a crackling sound followed by a sound like a whipcrack. Axel couldn’t even see the lightning projectile as it was launched from his palm and struck the goblin. What he did see was the goblin’s entire body go stiff while nasty electrical burns suddenly covered its chest causing its skin to burn and blood to boil. Without even a sound, the second goblin fell down dead.

For the next goblin, he decided to switch it up, “Ice Lance.”

Once the spell was cast, ice gathered over his shoulder and formed into a sharp projectile about the length of his arm. It floated there until he waved his hand and commanded it to launch at the next goblin. The sharp spike of ice flew at the goblin, pierced its chest, and came out clear through the other side to pierce into the next goblin behind it. Axel blinked in surprise since he wasn’t aware that the lances from the spell could kill multiple targets.

“Ice Lance, Sub Fire.”

Red-orange flames erupted out of thin air and formed into a lance similar to the ice one launched previously. The fire one, however, simmered and danced as if the flames were alive and raring to go. With another flick of his wrist, the flame lance pierced into a goblin and burst. Unlike the solid ice lance, the flames seemed to pierce a bit then erupt to burn the target.

“Ice Lance, Sub Lightning.”

Unlike when he used Elemental Substitution on his Firebolt to use lightning, this time he could see a vibrating crackling lance of lightning floating in the air. Just being near it made his hair stand on end and sent a tingle down his spine. Just looking at it felt dangerous. When he launched it, the lance disappeared from his sight and a goblin fell down dead while its whole body emitted smoke. He had no idea how fast the lightning lance was, but it seemed to move instantly.

“Ice Lance, Sub Earth. Ice Lance, Sub Wind.”

The earth lance was just like one would expect, a sharp rock. Still it was heavy and pierced multiple targets like the ice lance had. The wind lance though, that one was weird. When he first cast it he thought the spell had failed. He couldn’t see the lance at all, he could feel it though. Right where all the other lances appeared previously, he could feel the wind moving a little more violently. When it hit a goblin it was… gory. The wind lance ripped the goblin to shreds and showered its companions with pieces of its body and globs of viscous blood. It would, perhaps, be best not to use that one near any companions in the future.

After seeing that gory death, he was no longer in the mood to play with his new spells. It was time to put this fight to an end, “Detect Monsters, Telekinesis.”

With just a flick of his wrist, the copse was filled with the sickening sound of goblin necks breaking as their heads turned to impossible angles. Bodies dropped lifelessly on the ground while he walked into the copse of trees. As soon as he either saw a goblin or felt it withing the range of Detect Monsters, there would be a cracking sound as its neck was snapped like a twig. It only took him a little over two minutes to slaughter fifteen goblins.

Naturally, the goblins gave no loot and so little experience that he wouldn’t level up without killing hundreds of them. He just left their bodies where they fell and went back to looking for more herbs. It would be a few more hours before night fell so he had plenty of time to find more.

It was pretty boring but every member of the guild had to pay their dues and work their way up from the bottom. At least this way he would be able to take appropriate quests when he moved on to a higher level area. It would also make finding a group easier. No one wanted to team up with an unproven newbie with a rank of F and no completed quests.

Axel smiled to himself as he gathered herbs. This particular copse was pretty large and had a nice amount of herbs growing within it. It seemed like it hadn’t been raided in a while. That explained why there were so many goblins hiding out inside of it. He even found their little campground and small tents around a campfire. Naturally, he destroyed it. It wouldn’t do to have a ready made home for more goblins to just move into.

As the sun began to make its way down the horizon, Axel opened his magic box and pulled out his camping supplies. He didn’t want to travel all the way back to the city just to head out again tomorrow morning. Besides, it was a good excuse to use one of his new spells, “Unpack Camp.”

All of his camping supplies began to move around and arrange themselves properly on their own. His tent sprang up, his bedroll unrolled inside of the tent, and his cooking supplies laid themselves out to be easily used. The ground even moved a little as a small hole for a campfire formed. Axel whistled as he looked over his pristine and ready camp, “Daaaaamn. I expected that spell to be useful but this is impressive.”

That night, Axel ate simple stew rations and enjoyed the night outside. It reminded him of camping with his father when they journeyed to the lake to catch fresh fish. He’d been so busy in the city that he hadn’t taken the time to think about his parents. It had only been a couple of days but he missed them dearly. Maybe he would go back for a visit after he ranked up to tier two and got his Rogue class. He could tease his father and spend some time with his mother. There was no rule that said he needed to wait months before returning home for a visit!