Xavier woke up the next morning feeling knackered. He rubbed his eyes lazily as he dragged himself off the bed. The Marshals were still in bed all asleep as it was not time for training yet.
He decided to start his own training earlier. Pulling his low level sword from under his bed, he silently left the male hall. He greeted the guards at the palace door before heading off to the training ground.
He had only two hours before the other Marshals are woken up for training so he has to make the best of this.
'I don't even have a sword mastery skill yet', he remembered as Knight Pete had made him clean his shield instead of training.
'swing, parry and stab', Xavier tried to remember what Knight Pete had explained to be the basics of swordsmanship. Although he had not joined his teammates in the training, he never stopped paying attention.
Taking a battle stance, he started to copy the moves the knight had shown. After several minutes of swinging, parrying and stabbing, he received a notification.
"You've gained sword insight"
[basic sword mastery proficiency (0/20)]
He threw a fist in the air to celebrate his 'breakthrough'.
'I guess I am not that useless.', he felt relieved. After training for few more hours, the proficiency rose to level 1. It was slow but manageable.
Not long after, warriors and mages were beginning to show up for their own training. Soon, the Marshals also showed up but this time they weren't in teams. They all arranged themselves in a formation and were listening to a familiar mam.
Xavier joined the formation and stood beside Jace.
"Where were you?", Jace whispered, his eyes not leaving the knight captain in front.
"Training", Xavier answered casually. Jace nodded and said nothing further.
Shandock stood as huge as ever in front of the Marshals, his eyes fixed on a scroll in his hands.
"Okay today we will be going outside the kingdom. The summary is, a goblin hideout has been found close to the kingdom and there have been cases of them harassing and robbing travelers. We have been ordered to take them out.", Shandock closed the scroll.
"Well, from our reports, they are just low level goblins. The highest, their leader is just at level 10.
This is an F rank mission and actually a mission for a unit captain and few members of his units but we want you to gain experience and increase your level quick.", Shandock said.
Experience just like every game, were gained from taking the lives of creatures. The more you kill and the greater in power, the more experience you gain and the more powerful you become.
"I'll be going with only a few of you and those are the ones that have at least reached level 1 in either sword proficiency or magic proficiency. So if you have reached or passed level 1 in either, do step out.", he added.
Twenty four people stepped out including Xavier. If he hadn't trained this morning, he wouldn't have been among these ones.
Shandock raised an eyebrow when he saw Xavier step out.
"Ohh... not bad, Trash", he smirked.
Xavier ignored him. He actually was impressed with himself. Out of a hundred people, only twenty four had reached or passed level 1 in either magic proficiency or sword proficiency, and he was among them.
"The rest of you can continue with your training.", Shandock left with the twenty four Marshals.
They walked towards a spot where a man was busy drawing on the floor.
"It's ready sir", the man said as he finished the drawing. Shandock nodded and ordered the Marshals to stand in the drawing. He also did and by whispering something, they disappeared.
Xavier's eyes swirled as they suddenly appeared. It wasn't him only as some of them even vomited.
"You'll get used to it", Shandock mocked heartily.
Xavier stared at his surroundings, they were no longer in the kingdom but a forest.
"Let's move", Shandock ordered.
They started to walk silently deeper into the forest and soon they came to a cave. They hid in shrubs outside the cave as they waited for orders from the knight captain. Shandock studied the cave for a while before nodding for them to move in.
Unsheathing their swords and preparing their mana, they moved in.
"No matter what little damage you are dealing, just keep attacking. Support experience right now is pretty useful."Shandock tried hard to whisper.
They walked deeper into the cave as quietly as possible. It was pretty dark and they had to strain their eyes to see just faint outlines of things.
Guila had suggested to use her fire magic to light up their path but Shandock had rejected the idea. It would definitely ruin their sneak attack plan. With much effort, they successfully came to the core of the cave. They stood on the rim of a huge earth basin. Beneath, several short green creatures could be seen moving around performing their businesses. They had long noses and long ears and their heights ranged from 3'5 to four feet excluding the kids which were much shorter.
The basin looked like an underground cavern. Fire torches were used to light it up. The Marshals covered their noses in disgust as a stench filled the cave.
"Goblins are filthy creatures, forgive their hygiene", Shandock smiled.
"Sir, this is a whole civilization, there should be more than a hundred goblins here. We will die if we try to attack", Drake, whom had also come for the expedition said.
"Now that's if we attack head on", Shandock smirked. Although Shandock was a level 53 knight captain, he had leveled up after his fight with the crystal hounds, he still couldn't come out unscathed if he were to attack this lair all by himself.
"I have a plan. One of the easiest way to beat an army is to destabilize the army.", he said.
"Who has fire proficiency that is already at level 1 here?", he asked the group of Marshals expectantly.
"I do", a boy answered. He was tall and gruff. His short blonde hair gave him a more mature look. He obviously was a senior.
"Good"
Shandock turned and pointed to some hay stacks placed around the lair. Some goblins were cuddled up on them, mostly children.
"Aim your fire at those hay stacks!!", he ordered. The boy whose name happened to be Maroon paused. A frown appeared on his face.
"Sir those goblins are kids. Moreover, they are pretty harmless.", Maroon shook his head.
"I'll tell you this boy, these creatures grow fast. In less than four months, they will become adults and start pilaging and killing just like their parents. Now, do what I ordered you to do!!", Shandock growled as low as he could.
Maroon sighed bitterly, he knew he could be killed if he disobeyed. So, with a pained heart, he stretched his hand forward and aimed at the hay stacks.
"Fireball", he activated his new skill which he had got after raising is fire proficiency to level 1.
A fireball the size of a basket ball shot out of his palm.
Boom!
An explosion rung out as it clashed with the stacks. The goblins screamed in anger and fear immediately they heard the explosion. The fire was beginning to spread real quick. That was Shandock's plan all along. Hays were dry grasses and they burned well.
Maroon, whom was the perpetrator wasn't looking at the scene at all. Instead, his eyes were fixed on something else. His notification screen.
He was leveling up like crazy. Just from a fireball, he had gone up four levels and was still gaining experience points.
The fire ate its way across the lair, consuming everything in its path. The remaining goblins could not do anything and decided to flee but Shandock and the Marshals were waiting for them at the top of the basin.
"Get your swords and your magic ready, the slaughter is about to begin", Shandock grinned as he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.