Goblin were nasty creatures. They were cruel to anyone that wasn't of their race. Usually, they moved in groups to hunt or protect their area. They were green in color with flapped skins and lots of blisters.
Nikolai's second year in the academy wasn't better than the first. Luke and Julian made sure that he wouldn't spend a day without feeling any pain. One time, they were taken to the Alm Forest to hunt as training.
At that time, Julian, Luke, and Erza were his team. They would do this to ensure that, first, he gets wounded, and second, he gets no crystals from the hunt. This stagnated his growth during his early years, making it impossible to catch up later on.
At that time, they chanced upon a Goblin's Village. Julian and Luke were already E-rankers at that time, making it easy to take down that village.
Nikolai was used as bait, to be chased by the goblins as the other three struck from behind. At that time, the Goblins riddled him with holes using their spears. He needed to lie sick in the hospitals for two weeks.
Now, he's going to have a leap in strength exactly because he participated in that raid. As Nikolai ran silently through the forest, his eyes glowed as they captured every detail in the surrounding.
The Enhanced Vision potion not only allowed him to see well in the dark but also increased his perception by at least ten points. These ten points were an improvement for a normal F-ranker. As for the weak Nikolai, it was another realm altogether.
He felt like his body can finally do what his mind was trained to do ever since he got here. It was, a delusion, as he was nowhere near that level.
The forest was dark but it also served to hide him. Like a shadow, Nikolai ran through the trees until he heard low-pitched growls. He stopped running and changed direction.
He hid behind a tree when he heard a nearby bush move. Three dark green and short creatures emerged from the bushes, looking for something.
Nikolai held his breath as he waited for them to get closer. He took out a Dizziness Fumes vial, which he threw between the goblins. The potions turned into vapor as the Goblins started wobbling and staggering.
Nikolai jumped from behind the bushes with his gun in hand. He fired the gun toward their vitals but the bullets weren't powerful enough to penetrate their organs.
"Gaa!!" The goblins screamed as they ran clumsily in his direction. However, he didn't wait and ran away because even a simple blow would kill the current him.
He ran away toward a group of protruding roots that would hinder the goblins. After jumping over them, he turned and waited for his pursuers.
The fumes worked better than he expected, making a goblin pass out completely. As for the other two, who seemed to have more resistance to the potion, they kept running after him. One of them had his eyes rolled over revealing nothing but the white of his eyes.
Nikolai took out his gun again and fired several shots. They landed in the same position, each pushing the other and making it easier to penetrate the organ.
The Goblin issued a scream and fell on the ground twitching. Nikolai hurried to change the probability of him dropping crystals, tripling it using two points.
The other one kept running after him. As earlier, Nikolai kept running through the trees while firing shots at the same place. However, it kept running after him.
Nikolai gritted his teeth and dived toward the monster. His dagger was in his left as he held his gun with his right. The goblin retracted its arm and launched a spear attack toward Nikolai.
Before the spear could reach him, Nikolai shot two bullets at the goblin's wrists. The goblin screamed and let go of his spear as Nikolai closed in on him. Using his dagger, he stabbed the goblin in the biggest wound it had and twisted it.
He spent another two points on changing the probability of this goblin dropping a crystal. From a 20% chance of it dropping any, Nikolai raised it to 60%.
This meant that F-rankers would need to hunt five goblins to obtain a crystal. As for Nikolai, he only needed to hunt one. The goblin's body fell to the ground as a red crystal came out of it.
Nikolai bent his knees and picked the crystal up, admiring it. It was then that a set of hands wrapped themselves around his neck and began to strangle him.
"Agh!" Nikolai's throat was being crushed as he gagged. However, he didn't give in and kept firing through his gun. The bullets riddled the last goblin as he began to let go of Nikolai.
Nikolai saw the life leave him as his red and swollen eyes, caused by the fumes, turned lifeless. He rubbed his bruised throat as he took deep breathes to make up for the oxygen.
Through his blurred vision, Nikolai changed the probability without opening the menu. All he had to do was to think about the event and the points invested for it to work.
A purple crystal appeared from the goblin's body, making Nikolai grin despite his pain. He finally got his hands on his beloved Intelligence stat.
He stood up and kicked the goblin away as he tottered toward the last goblin which had a green crystal over his body. Nikolai picked it up and looked for a place to absorb them.
From his 17 Fate Points, Nikolai only had 11 left. He invested one point into the event 'get two points from the crystal' for both Strength Crystal and Vitality, making their probability 50% each.
[2 Strength Stats Points have been absorbed.]
[2 Vitality Stats Points have been absorbed.]
He held into the last crystal with a troubled face. Intelligence Stat was usually a rare stat unless you hunted certain monsters. As someone who relied on his gun, he needed this stat greatly.
'Invest 3 points into the event of not getting a one-point outcome.' Nikolai tried again in different phrasing.
[You can't increase the probability of more than one event at a time.]
It also didn't work. By excluding this outcome, he would increase the probability of getting two or three points from the crystal.
Nikolai sighed and used three points to get a 100% outcome of 2-points. He can't spend a lot of Fate Points to get an extra Intelligence stat, that would be a waste.
He felt the change in his body and his pain lessened. Nikolai stood up from the tree he was leaning on and went back toward the goblins' bodies.
He took out his vials as he stabbed them again and filled the vials with their blood. He filled three vials that he needed before deciding to hunt one more group before he goes back to the city.
After all, his ambushers will be waiting for him near the gate tomorrow morning. He can't ditch them, can he?