Chapter 42: Level Up
"Let’s take a look first," Azalea said indifferently.
She got off the horse and pulled a pair of gloves from her leather bag, slipping them on before crouching beside the carcass. Carefully, she examined the body.
The sight of spilled intestines and pooled blood didn’t seem to scare her in the slightest.
Lumien stayed on the horse, watching her action from a distance. While he wasn’t overly appalled by the scene, he’d much rather avoid it if given the choice.
After a couple of minutes, she stood up, peeled off the bloodstained gloves, and casually tossed them to the ground before returning to Lumien’s side.
"It’s just as I thought. This was the work of goblins," she said with certainty.
"How can you be so sure?" Lumien asked, suddenly realizing he had nearly forgotten to ask the most important question.
"It’s hard to explain... You remember the story I told you about that Adventurer party that was nearly wiped out by goblins, right? Well, after that incident, I made sure to learn more about monsters diligently, especially goblins. Their hunting habits, behavior, weaknesses... everything."
"I’ve also taken on a lot of quests that involve dealing with goblins. You could say I’ve become somewhat of an expert in handling them and pretty familiar with their patterns after all that effort and process," Azalea explained.
"You sound oddly obsessed with exterminating them," Lumien remarked.
"Obsessed? Not really. Compared to that guy—the one who made slaying goblins his hobby and has probably killed several thousand or probably more—I’m practically a saint. My kill count is barely in the hundreds." Azalea shrugged.
"A hundred?" Lumien was taken aback. He couldn’t help but admire Azalea’s indifference. To her, a hundred seemed insignificant, but to him, it was unimaginable. A hundred goblins was comparable to a number of people in a small village!
"That number isn’t surprising at all. Goblins are weak creatures that always move in groups, making them easy to track down—and just as easy to wipe out. Unfortunately, Milois is a relatively peaceful city, with barely any quests involving goblins or other monsters," Azalea sighed in disappointment.
"Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?" Lumien asked, puzzled.
"It’s good for the residents indeed, but it’s not so much for adventurers. With so few monster threats, most are stuck taking on trivial quests—finding lost cats, tracking down missing persons, investigating affairs, and other menial tasks."
"That’s why my kill count barely reached a hundred, and it took me over a year just to climb to Silver rank. If I had been somewhere like the Capital or Arsnova, or any other high-activity region, I probably would’ve advanced much faster."
"Even so, I doubt there are many people out there with the same goblin kill count as you."
"Well, you’re not wrong on that. Not many adventurers are fond of hunting goblins since they’re low-ranked creatures that drop worthless loot. And when quests involving them do pop up, the rewards hardly match the effort. But for me, it wasn’t about the rewards." Azalea’s expression darkened. "What drove me to keep hunting them was what I saw—what they left behind. I’ve witnessed firsthand the aftermath of a goblin invasion. The victims... most of them were so broken, so devastated, that even after being rescued, many took their own lives."
There was a rare, unconcealed anger in her tone, something Lumien seldom seen on her.
Lumien was about to respond, but he froze when he noticed Azalea pressing a finger to her lips, signaling him to stay silent.
Her expression turned serious. Without warning, she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to duck.
As they crouched, Lumien instinctively felt something sharp slice through the air just above his head.
When he looked back, he saw an arrow embedded in the tree just behind him, one he hadn’t even noticed before. If Azalea hadn’t forced him to duck, he was sure the arrow would have struck his head instead of the bark.
The realization sent a chill down his spine, and he felt sweat trickling down his back.
Seemingly able to sense his unease, Azalea took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don’t worry. I’m here. Did you already forget your big sister is a Silver-Rank Adventurer?"
Her words seemed to have a calming effect on him, easing his fear almost instantly. As he stole a glance at her, he noticed her sharp gaze locked onto a particular bush.
"To be honest, I knew from the beginning that it was strange for the goblins to leave the horse behind. They weren’t as brainless or dumb as people thought. And I was right—they’ve been lying low nearby, waiting to catch anyone off guard and ambush them. Fortunately, my danger premonition ability warned me. But even if it hadn’t activated, I already sensed something was off when I examined the horse’s corpse earlier. Now that they’ve exposed themselves and I’ve confirmed their whereabouts, it’s time to exact revenge!"
Azalea turned to Lumien with a radiant smile. "Lumien, are you ready to kick some goblin ass?"
If not for the current circumstances—and the fact that she was specifically referring to goblins—her words could have easily been mistaken for an innocent invitation to play.
Naturally, since Lumien’s main purpose for venturing outside the Safe Zone was to test the limits of his ability, he didn’t hesitate for a second. "Of course!"
"That settles it! Lumien—fireball, now!"
By the time Azalea’s shout rang in the air, he was already concentrated, and without wasting a second, he turned toward the bush she pointed to and raised his hand.
He aimed his palm at the spot and began conjuring a fireball.
The entire event unfolded in a split second—so fast that Lumien was confident whatever creature was hiding behind the bushes wouldn’t have time to react.
More importantly, his control over his ability had improved dramatically after repeated practice and Azalea’s guidance. It took him less than a second to form a fireball before launching it straight at the target.
Whoosh!
A blazing orb of crimson flames immediately shot through the air from his palm at incredible speed.
The fireball struck the bushes in no time and collided with something hidden inside, exploding on impact.
Bang!
"Eek!"
He quickly heard a sharp, shrill cry coming from behind the bushes.
Lumien didn’t have time to wonder what he had just hit. The creature hiding in the bushes immediately stumbled forward, pushing through the scrubs.
The leaves rustled as small, green, rough-skinned humanoids emerged. It had a hunched posture, sharp pointy ears, and yellow eyes. It got a bald head, and its expression was looking in pain.
As Lumien’s eyes took in the creature’s appearance, they gradually widened in shock.
It’s indeed a goblin! Holy hell, how had Azalea figured it out just by examining the horse’s corpse? Did being a Silver-Rank adventurer turn her into some kind of detective?
But before he could dwell on his amazement, something else caught his attention. On the goblin’s chest, there was a large ashen hole, with charred marks surrounding it. The goblin staggered forward, its yellow eyes unfocused, before collapsing to the ground.
It quickly dawned on him that the hole in the goblin’s chest was likely the result of his fireball hitting it. The blast had left a massive, gaping hole.
His shock quickly turned into amazement.
"D-did I just kill it?" Lumien stammered, his emotions swirling out of control. It was his first time killing a monster, and he felt a mix of excitement, disbelief, and nervousness all at once.
He had known it was only a matter of time before he would get his first blood. But he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, less than a day after he first learned the ability!
What surprised him even more was that he had one-shotted the goblin. It was a stark contrast to what he had imagined. He had thought his first fight with a monster would be a grueling struggle, full of hardship and effort. Instead, it had ended in an instant.
Azalea looked just as surprised as he was. Her mouth opened a few times before she finally found her voice. "It seems I truly underestimated the power of your fireball. It’s far deadlier than I thought. That goblin might be weak, and even an adult with a strong physique could handle it, but I’ve never seen such a clean and effortless kill—especially from a rookie like you."
"Normally, other Aspirants would need to recite an incantation for several seconds to unleash magic as powerful as your fireball. But you... you did it instantly. Chantless magic, what an enviable and outstanding ability."
Although she said that, her tone carried no jealousy, rather, she sounded proud of him.
Lumien was about to respond to her praise when a system screen suddenly flashed before his eyes.
[You’ve leveled up to level 2. You acquire three stat point to distribute freely.]
He blinked twice, and thrice, before realizing it wasn’t just part of his imagination.
After ten long years... he had finally fucking leveled up!
Lumien instinctively felt the urge to drop to his knees and cry. The last time he had felt this way was when he completed his first daily quest.
He had finally achieved something that had always seemed both within reach and impossibly far away at the same time.
More importantly, he had finally uncovered the secret to leveling up. Before, he could only guess that killing monsters was the key, but now, he had solid proof.
Excitement surged through him. He couldn’t wait to hunt down more goblins and grind his level.
