Albert soon returned to the gate, where he met Aran.
As soon as he noticed him, Aran waved his hand with a smile. "Yo!"
Albert smiled and said, "Thank you for your help earlier. I've gotten a job and will do my best."
"Oh, you've got a job? Nice. What is the job? Maybe I can offer you some tips."
"I am searching for something called Haze Grass."
"Oh! That's good. The grass shouldn't be that far from this area, so I'm sure you can find them easily. With this, you should have enough money to live in this town. And there shouldn't be any conflict with powerful monsters around." Aran agreed with the mission choice.
He also managed to confirm Albert's level, which should be low since a powerful person wouldn't do this kind of job as they would barely get enough money to fulfill their ends meet.
Hence, he approved Fila's choice to first train Albert in their terrain before giving him any subjugation missions.
"That's good. I will be waiting for you here. Make sure you return before the dark, alright? The forest is quite dangerous during the night."
"Understood." Albert nodded and waved his hand as he walked toward the woods.
According to Fila, the Haze Grass should be growing around this town, so he knew it must be in the woods.
His eyes were looking to the ground, searching for the purple-colored grass.
It didn't take him too long to find one. The first Haze Grass he found grew between the bushes.
Normal eyes couldn't find something like this, but his eyes managed to pick up that level of detail, so he managed to find one within a few minutes.
"Oh, I finally got one." Albert nodded and started searching again.
"This seems to be easy enough." Albert smiled and started wandering inside the woods. He maintained his distance as well to make sure he didn't leave too far from the castle as he was afraid to get lost or return far too late.
He found the second grass hidden underneath a root that came out of the ground.
He then continued to find them in succession as he felt his job was easy this time around… or so he thought.
Suddenly, a pair of Goblins appeared in his vision as they were staring at him.
"!!!" Albert was taken aback as his body flinched. He just realized he was too focused that he didn't notice them entering his hearing range.
He instinctively raised his hand and summoned his bat, trying to defend himself from the two goblins.
Name: No Name
Race: Goblin
Level: 1
Gender: Male
'What? This is my blunder.' Albert inwardly screamed as he tried to look around, checking whether there were more goblins hiding behind the trees or not.
Fortunately, his ears didn't pick another goblin in the surroundings. He hurriedly took a few steps back while pointing his bat at the two goblins. 'Tsk. I should be aware of my surroundings because my life will always be in danger outside the town.
'This is not Earth. Murder is common when you're just doing your job. If I didn't notice them earlier, I would have been ambushed.'
Albert took a deep breath and pointed his bat toward them. "Come."
He still recalled how he killed the goblins, so he thought he had the chance this time. After all, the two goblins only had wooden clubs in their hands.
There was no sharp knife, making every blow is painful but not life-threatening.
'I can expect to get hit a few times, but I don't want to if possible.' Albert's expression turned grim as he saw the two goblins rushing toward him.
They both raised their clubs, planning to hit him.
He didn't come for them because he was afraid to be surrounded. Instead, he waited and stepped to the left, using the goblin in front of him as a shield to stop the other goblin from attacking.
After that, Albert swung his bat with all his might. "Bonk Smasher!"
The bat collided with the goblin's club.
Bam.
Surprisingly, the club didn't shatter into pieces this time. In fact, their weapons were still stuck to each other as their strength seemed to be equal.
He stepped forward to gain ground and started overpowering the goblin with his bigger build, but the second goblin looped around and attacked him from the side.
Albert hurriedly jumped to the left to avoid it while getting some distance from the goblin.
'I didn't shatter it? Maybe this club is sturdier. Not a problem. If I can hit the goblin, I should be able to launch him away and deliver the last blow.' Albert thought while trying to find an opportunity.
He kept moving backward while glaring at the goblins, who didn't hesitate to follow him.
When he felt his back hit a tree and the goblins were about to hit him, he raised his eyebrows, thinking it was a perfect time.
He spun his body and looped around the tree so that the goblins would hit the tree instead of him.
Using that chance, Albert waved his bat, smacking the goblin's head.
Bang.
Unfortunately for him, the reality didn't go as he expected. The bat indeed hit the head, but it didn't blow the goblin away like the previous case.
The bat only had enough strength to make the goblin's head tilt to the side as blood started to flow from that wound.
It wasn't that powerful anymore.
'What's going on? Shouldn't it crush the goblin's skull?' Albert gasped, wondering how he didn't get the same power.
The goblins became angry at this point as their eyes turned bloodshot. They all roared and charged forward, swinging their clubs like crazy.
Albert tried his best to avoid their attacks while complaining to his system.
"What? My attacks were not effective. This is very different from the last time I hit them." Albert frowned, noticing he was in a deep problem. He asked, "What's going on? Does my swing get weaker?"
[No. They're not horny. Bonk Bat is powerful only to horny people.]
"…"