"System: Congratulations, you have reached level 5."
Wain continued his hunting, when the familiar sound of the system notification rang out in his years. Over the past few hours, he had grown better in using his spells while encountering and killing various creatures.
Fortunately, most of these creatures had about the same intelligence and levels as the first goblin he had encountered. Even the strongest creature he faced, a level 7 Black Wolf, stood no chance against him.
However, all of this was thanks to Wain's vigilance as well as the strength of 1st-grade. Since no creature he met could use any skills just as him.
Over the course of his hunting, Wain had managed to accumulate quite an amount of Chaos Points, so currently, he sat underneath a tree and browsed through the Chaos Shop, which the system previously talked about.
With his 47 Chaos Points, there weren't too many items he could purchase, but he still found several which he found usable.
The main sections he found interesting were buying more spells, or summoning soldiers.
Although the summoned soldiers were sold in the form of consumable cards, Wain was convinced that they would help him accumulate even more Chaos Points.
However, at the moment, he mainly needed to increase his own strength. Although he didn't meet any creature that could match him till now, he was convinced that wouldn't be the case in the future, so he bought a spell called [Flame Dash].
It was an escape spell which could help him cross a distance of five meters instantly. Moreover, it would leave a trail of flames behind him, rendering his enemies unable to pursue him. The spell cost him 20 Chaos Points and had a cooldown of 30 seconds, but Wain still found it worth it.
Afterwards, he looked through the Chaos Shop once more, wondering whether he should buy some cards to summon skeletons, who will assist him during his fight, when he came across a section with familiars.
According to the description, the familiar would be linked to his soul, and he would receive 10% of its attributes. Unfortunately, there weren't many familiars he could afford with his current Chaos Points, but he still found buying a familiar beneficial.
And so he bought [Chaos Octopus] for 25 Chaos Points, unaware what the creature looked like until it appeared before him.
[Chaos Octopus] (Chaos Beast, No-grade)
Level 1
Hp 16/16
About a foot tall creature with eight feet-long tentacles appeared before him, looking around itself, clearly confused about what happened. It was wandering through Ollios' treasure hall just a second ago and now it was in a forest, where a human stared at it.
"How is this supposed to help me?" Wain questioned, wondering whether he didn't just waste his hard earned Chaos Points.
From the octopus' stats, it was clear that even a goblin would be stronger than it. Moreover the creature appeared slightly out of its element, as it was slowly moving through the forest's terrain by pushing against the ground with its tentacles.
"Should I just leave it behind?" He wondered, since he would need to carry it around and it would be a burden. 25 Chaos Points weren't that much anyways, he thought.
In the meantime, while he was lost in his thoughts, the little octopus had arrived before a corpse of the goblin he previously slain and to Wain's surprise it devoured the whole corpse with its tiny body.
Ding!
Hp 17/17
Wain stared at the scene in disbelief, noticing that the stats of his familiar increased after it ate the goblin's corpse.
"Could it be the effect of Devour?" He realized the octopus must have used its only skill, [Devour].
If the octopus could increase its attributes by enting corpses, then it would be beneficial for Wain in the future, since he shared a part of these stats. Finding out the benefits, Wain decided to make sure his new familiar would have enough food.
He then picked up the little octopus and looked at him in a wholly different light. It was no longer a burden, but an investment to the future.
"System: You have acquired a familiar, would you like to name him?"
"A name..." Wain pondered for a while, unsure what was expected from him. "It is an octopus, so let's call him Octader." He placed his little familiar on his shoulder and continued looking for goblins.
He just hoped that his new pet wouldn't grow larger, otherwise it would become troublesome to carry it around.
…
Wain's routine continued as he hunted goblins throughout the night, until the morning came and the unexpected arrival of sunrise shocked him, since he never saw anything similar, or at least he didn't remember it.
After the sunrise, the forest came to life and considerably more monsters now traveled through it. Wain had to become more careful while hunting and feeding his familiar, but it didn't restrict him in any other way.
It was around noon, when he witnessed another situation which piqued his interest. He was about to hunt a goblin, when suddenly another goblin emerged. The two goblins then began to make some sounds and went somewhere together with a dead rabbit they hunted.
If two goblins could work together, then maybe there is somewhere even more of them. He deduced and decided to follow the two goblins, who were still unaware of his existence.
He followed the goblins for some time, and just as he thought, the two goblins soon reached a wooden construction, where they joined several more goblins.
Hidden within the forest's cover, Wain observed the village for a few hours by now.
Ollios unfortunately did a horrible thing in returning Wain common sense after washing his mind clear, so Wain was like a little kid, learning everything from the beginning.
However, Wain quickly learned about the purpose of the village and analyzed its strength.
The village was modest in size, consisting of a few crude wooden shelters and leather tents. The settlement was encircled by a poorly constructed wooden wall, which had numerous openings, large enough for a human to pass through with ease.
In total, there were 23 goblins residing in the village, and an old goblin with a staff, who likely held the leadership position, since he was the strongest among them.
[Goblin Shaman] (Humanoid, lower 1st-grade)
Level 5
Hp 48/48
Wain was at level 6 at the moment, while Octader also leveled up once, after eating some goblin corpses. He was convinced that he could destroy this village with his current strength.
Moreover if anything happened, he could use [Flame Dash] and quickly flee into the forest. The only unknown variable was the Goblin Shaman. This was the first time he met a creature at the same grade as him, so he didn't know how to deduce its strength.
Although it would be safer to attract during the night, since Wain observed that goblins were less vigilant during that time. He wasn't sure if the sun would ever set again, since he never experienced it before, so he decided to attack once he spotted an opportunity.
…
He waited until the Goblin Shaman walked into the middle of the village and only a single goblin defended the entrance to the village, before he attacked.
1st-grade spell, Fireball!
-17
"Aar-!" The goblin on the guard tried to scream, when he lost most of his Hp, but before he was able to do so, an octopus suddenly flew from the forest, hitting his head.
-2
-2
-2
…
The goblin desperately tried to scratch the octopus from its face, but its tentacles were too tightly wrapped around its head, while the little teeth were biting his face.
It took just a few seconds and Octader effortlessly devoured the whole goblin.
"The first part was easy." Wain thought, leaving his hiding place in a bush. He walked towards the entrance of the village, picking up Octader which was previously thrown as a projectile and locked his gaze on the Goblin Shaman, who was still unaware of his attack.
…
The whole goblin village went into a commotion when Wain charged into the village, shooting flames in all directions. They didn't expect someone would attack them and panic momentarily took over the village.
However, even during this chaos, several goblins mustered courage and charged at Wain with wooden spears.
"Three… two… one." Wain counted, when the goblins closed in, timing [Flame Dash], to get past their lines, with a clear path towards the Goblin Shaman.
After passing through the goblins, Wain turned around, casting [Flame Burst], he covered the goblins in flames.
-13
-11
-12
-9
...
The burning goblins screamed in horror, discouraging others from facing Wain, who currently stood about ten meters from the Goblin Shaman.
Not wasting any time, Wain charged at the shaman, who reacted rather quickly, roaring something in a language Wain didn't understand and waving his staff, the Goblin Shaman creating a finger sized ball of acid which shot towards Wain.
However, Wain already long expected such an attack and with his combat abilities, he easily dodged the projectile. He now directly faced the Goblin Shaman, but all of his skills were in cooldown, so Wain used his large frame and assaulted the Goblin Shaman with his fists, hitting the shamans head.
-3
-3
-4
...
The Goblin Shaman was completely overpowered by Wain, continuously losing Hp, while other goblins watched the scene in terror.
After about a dozen hits, his enemy's Hp dropped under 10 and he noticed that his opponent no longer put up a resistance. Instead, he was sobbing, mumbling something that Wain did not understand until a system notification appeared.
"System: The Goblin Chieftain is attempting to surrender. Are you willing to accept?"
"They can surrender?" Wain was surprised by the system notification. Up till now, he saw goblins as an easy source of experience and Chaos Points. However, it appeared they might have even bigger use.
Wain looked around and noticed the horrified goblins, who were scared to approach him.
"But I am supposed to destroy everything." He fell deep into thoughts, comparing the benefits of each choice.
If he destroyed the village and murdered all goblins, he would definitely earn a lot of Chaos Points. But there was a limit to how much destruction one could cause, and he was still too weak, causing destruction and accumulating Chaos Points would definitely be easier with an army.
With these thoughts, he accepted the Goblin Chieftain as his subordinate. He hunted alone for some time now, so he wanted to try something different, at least until he would be strong enough to destroy the world.