The great northern forest wasn't called 'great' for nothing, as it occupied one seventh of the Truden continents' land area. On the far west of the forest next to the sea was the territory of the woodland elves, while on the far right was that of the gold elves, further eastwards came the Kallana plains where the Orcs thrived.
Every six months the imperial council organized a large expedition consisting of high level soldiers to exterminate monsters which wander to the southern edges of the forest. In an attempt to ease the burden of the developing northern kingdoms.
Thus, it is not for no reason that the weak kingdoms occupying the north were able to live in relative peace. This had been done for a long time and as time went by a strong aura of death hung around the southern edges which could be sensed by the more powerful and sensitive creatures, causing them to avoid the edges and instead choosing to fight for various resources and territory within the chaotic forest. Only those too dumb, bloodthirsty or newly spawned monsters that arose from recently formed dungeons would head to the southern edges. Those few were then dealt with by the soldiers of the northern kingdoms or hired adventurers.
After many expeditions across the southern boundary of the forest a line had been marked out on the map called the 'fortitude line', it separated the boundary from the deeper recess of the forest. The southern part was known as 'the creche', here newbie adventurers and soldiers usually trained in these parts. Here they only had a small chance of encountering monsters above tier 2.
Crossing this line northward would be entering an entirely different ecosystem where high tiered monsters, powerful mythical beasts and plants flourished. This was the beginning of the real great northern forest otherwise known as 'Drekor' in elven and translated as 'Monster haven' in deman language.
At this moment, Riot sat on a tree root, crossed leg staring at a slime the size of a beach ball. This was a weak tier 0 creature. It was three meters away from him. Unlike the cute creatures he had seen in movies this one wasn't appealing to Riot in the least. It looked like a lump of semi-transparent light brown mucus, it wobbled in place silently. Riot wasn't sure if it was staring at him as it didn't have any facial features.
Riot tossed a small piece of roasted fish he had stored in his ring at it and watched as it sunk into the slime. After a while bubbles began coming out the fish within and it slowly shrank in size.
While he had been saddled on by Cain. Riot was been taught how to make the most of his new organs. He had quickly made his body assimilate all the food he ate and now he was in prime condition, though his belly felt a bit empty, he didn't feel hungry.
He was just a few miles away from the fortitude line when Cain suddenly hopped off his head, telling him that his training had begun and that he should stay alert before he left to Cain-knows-where.
At first Riot was on his toes, but after some hours passed the only thing that came to see him was this lump of mucus.
Now he just sat languidly, wandering if Cain had fallen asleep somewhere.
He signed. 'Rather than rely on this unreliable god i should work with what I've learnt. So my abilities ranges from lightening, tremor, gravity and soul according to my status. Let's test them one at a time then, I have somehow been able to use the tremor authority but mistook it for an ultra hearing organ. I guess I should start with that first.'
After deciding, Riot closed his eyes and tried to enter a meditative state, slowly he sank into calmness. He tried to sense all the sounds he could as far as possible with his normal ears. He could hear the sound of trees rustling by the soft winds, insects chirping and the caws of small birds from a distance.
He then focused and tried to hear farther away. Then suddenly he felt some small changes happening in his body clearly this time, as he was in a meditative state. The mana in his tempest core engine evaporated out. As soon as it came out of the orb Riot felt it turn into magical energy. But it was a bit different than the latent energy his body produced to strengthen itself. This was something he felt instinctively.
Magical energy then radiated out of him. It was so minute that the slime didn't even react to it. Like it couldn't feel it at all. If he got into the voltage state for example the weak slime would feel threatened by the pressuring magical energy waves and try to flee immediately. But it just sat there staring at him.
Shaking his head, he then tried to listen to sounds far away again. Immediately like the central point of a rader his senses spread far and wide. The once quiet forest suddenly became really noisy. Monster howls and battles of creatures could be heard faintly because they were very far away.
He then tried to listen further, the moment he did this he noticed that his mana was being consumed rather faster than usual.
He then tried to ignore some sounds, isolating others and focusing on specific directions which made him hear farther and more clearly
After a while he stopped as he began to feel a headache.
He thought maybe if he increased his intellect stat he could use it for longer periods of time.
'It's a good thing I have a lot of books on me. I'm going to try making time to grind my intellect stat.' He thought with a smile.
After two more hours of waiting. He suddenly heard some sounds like footsteps. He used his authority and noticed that the sounds of footsteps and voices coming from different directions.
'People? ...And something else.' He thought a bit before deciding what to do.
A while later two girls that looked like teenagers dressed in common disordered light armor, arrived at where Riot previously had a stare down with the slime.
"Look look! It's a slime."
"Slime? it isn't valuable, ignore it."
A cold wind blew and Fanna suddenly had a bad feeling. "Luis, don't you think we've gone too deep into the forest?"
"We haven't found anything valuable yet, how are we supposed to get the money for mother's healing? The priest won't heal her without a price you know."
"I think we've tested our luck enough, let's just get some normal G class quests at the adventurers guild instead."
"...Alright, just a bit more then we'll head back ok?"
"ok..." They younger one replied before they both went northwards.
Riot who hid within the branch of the 15 meter tall tree watched them and didn't think much of it.
From what he observed. It seemed they were normal adventurers, who wanted to test their luck on finding something precious in the forest or some valuable herb that had suddenly sprouted, instead of going through the normal route of taking up a quest.
A minutes later a troop of goblins also passed by, they were sixteen in number and they wore ragtag uneven armor way worse than the ones worn by the girls who just passed by.
Riot guessed they had stolen them from the adventurers who probably went to hunt them for their slightly valuable body parts.
Among them, there were four hobgoblin, three goblin archers and the rest were common goblins.
Goblins were ranked as tier 0 monsters but because they normally worked in groups it was advised that at least a skilled grade G combatant should handle them, but many times normal people underestimated them and ended up getting wrecked by them.
They suddenly stopped under the tree sniffing the air.
'Was I discovered?' He thought as he hid deeper within the leaves.
"Uohh Okarah!" A goblin archer made strange sounds pointing towards the direction the girls headed.
The hobgoblins were suddenly excited as they all rushed towards that direction.
'Hmm, it seems they were found out. Can they handle them?' Riot pondered.
'what to do... Wait this development! Cain must have something to do with this!" Riot smiled, thinking he had seen through the plot.
'Heh, I'm not saving them. It can't be helped, another one bites the dust, it's just how life is.' He then tried to relax within the leaves.
A few seconds later the air rippled like water and a small white lion cub jumped out. Riot climbed down, his eyes shining as he went to Cain. "You have to teach me that!"
"Why didn't you kill the goblins?" Cain looked at him.
"Ah. That was a test wasn't it? As the heir of an evil god you had to find out if I was the type easily swayed by my sense of justice or emotions. Therefore, you manipulated the goblins and humans to create this situation to test me right?"
His guess wasn't without reason though, as the new gods which Cain talked about getting revenge at where the current gods. And from the actions of those who served them, Riot could discern that they were actually the good ones as they strived to help others within their available means and create peace.
While from Cain's moniker alone Riot had already smelled evil. Well, it was all just speculations as he hadn't heard the true story behind the moniker anyway. Even if Cain was proven to be truly evil he didn't mind as long as he was given power. For good and evil where just ideas, in the end if you weren't powerful enough in this world you would be eaten. A monster wouldn't listen to your preaching of what seemed right or wrong and would just gobble you up before you even showcase your talking skills.
Cain looked puzzled. "Humans? No, I just influenced the thoughts of some goblins I found in a cave to head towards this direction because I wanted you to fight them."
"So... you didn't influence the humans? Then why did you take so long if you weren't looking for humans to make this 'plot' complete?"
"Oh! I just had a little nap at the cave where I found the goblins. It felt so cool there I just couldn't help it." Cain smiled.
'I should have known!' Riot face palmed. "...By the way, why do you want me to fight those goblins?"
"I want you to get hurt."
"Eh?" Riot was startled.
Could Cain be some kind of divine sadist!? Am I going to be his play thing to fulfill his sick desires before his death? I should have know! The sun doesn't rise without producing long shadows. I shouldn't have trusted my luck!
Just as Riot's mind was being filled with all sorts of thoughts Cain said expressionlessly.
"It is necessary to teach you how to regenerate your wounds."
"Oh? Then couldn't you have just said so in the first place?! I could just cut myself!" Riot felt like fainting.
'Sign! A lot of time wasted.' Riot himself seemed oblivious to his slight masochistic tendency.
"Well, should I cut myself now?"
"No. Go and fight those goblins and try to do it recklessly so that you'd bleed a lot."
Riot was vexed. He didn't say anything else and began running towards the direction the goblins had gone. He didn't want to waste anymore time.
"I knew it! You're truly were evil." He raced away leaving those words behind.
Cain stood there in thought. He then signed.
Such an insightful heir I've got. Well, it doesn't matter what morals or emotions you currently have, from the moment you agreed to take on my will and i completed the ritual of the higher existence... You had already been predestinated to go against the gods. It's... Fated. Hm, It's not a bad thing to be insightful as long as it helps him survive. Either way, his sense of urgency would help him grow strong faster, this is the best strategy for a guy with a nearly impossible ambition like him.
Cain then made the air ripple and jumped into it.
***
Two girls ran through the forest being chased by goblins, the hobgoblins being the fastest took the lead.
Arrows flew past them from time to time missing completely.
"Luis, I'm... getting tired. I don't think I can run anymore." She panted heavily.
"Just...haah, a little more Fanna, they'll stop when we enter the territory of a stronger monster." Luis wheezed as she pulled her sister by the hand.
They had been running in circles and over difficult terrains, jumping over tree stomps and around marshes, trying to lose the goblins, but even if they lost them for a while they would still catch up a few moments after.
'They are too many! I don't want to die!' Luis screamed inwardly as her mind raced for a solution. Suddenly an arrow hit her on the leg causing her to fall.
"Luis!" Fanna pulled out a sword running back to protect her elder sister.
"Go! Don't stay here!" Luis screamed.
"Haah...haah." Fanna just stood before Luis in a protective stance.
'Protect...protect...protect.' Was all that ran through Fanna's mind.
'...Fanna.' Luis stared at her with complicated emotions.
The excited goblins had already grown tired from the pursuit and could barely hold their weapons, the hobgoblins however still had great libido, drawing closer to their trophies, they were about to pounce on them and rip off the wrappings.
Suddenly a woman with flowing white hair that had a small patch of black hair at the side of her bangs rushed from behind the girls.
The girls only saw something blitz passed them. The wind raising their hairs.
Like a rushing wind she ran into the group of goblins. With her dual swords she cut and sliced off limbs and heads. Causing lots of blood to bloom into the air. In a few seconds, the goblins were all dead or about to be.
She then turned towards the adventurers while wiping off blood from her cheek.
"It's alright now. I'm a gold rank adventurer." She showed her shiny adventurer badge.
"We're saved!" Luis was relieved. She stood with much effort and held Fanna's still shaking hands. Which gripped the sword so tight her hands turned pink. "I'm sorry Fanna. We'll head back to the guild after this."
Fanna only nodded weakly, but her eyes still had a fierce gleam.
Riot who had just arrived at the scene a few seconds ago saw this from a distance away and thought. 'Woah! She's strong. Way stronger than that assassin.'
He hadn't sensed any energy wave from her using voltage yet the young lady dispatched the goblins with such ease, it gave others the impression that she was dancing.
He felt he would be killed if he became her enemy with his current strength.
Seeing that the goblins were done for, he turned back lazily.
Ay! Today was such a waste. I'll just cut myself and say it was the goblins.