I found myself slightly disappointed by the challenge that the goblins had given me. These weren't of the same species of Goblin that I had fought.
They were weak and could barely take a punch from me. Not the ones that I could barely get a hit on.
Or maybe it was that I had grown stronger, but either way they were weak. And it was grating on me.
It was like a blade that couldn't be tempered only ever given haphazard protections. It would shatter at the slightest pressure.
I needed stronger enemies. Ones that could push me.
My head turned to the sky as I felt something approach. It was not human nor was it a being.
I jumped back as what seemed like a meteor fell to the ground. My arm reaching to my head to block the air that rushed towards me from the impact.
A moment later and I found myself slashing towards something. It was barely visible in my eyes but I still slashed.
It was useless to dodge as anytime I did I would just be pushed back. A position I did not want to end up in.
For that very reason I cut through the boulder that was poised to crush me. The slash took all of my power to do.
I cut it vertically and watched as the pieces fell to the side. Shards circling around to hit me from the back.
They were not fast though. As long as I kept my pace and dodged at the appropriate times they would not be a problem.
I dashed forward the area open and allowing me to see my enemy.
And for just a moment I hesitated. It was not what I had thought it was.
It was not a goblin. It was a Kobold.
I would recognize those features anywhere.
It was that moment of distraction that caused me damage. The orbiting fragments of earth finding their targets, my back.
It pierced through and I could feel blood rush from the impact sites.
For just a moment I stilled before resolving myself and dashing forwards once more.
Moments later and I was in front of the caster and slashing downwards with as much power as I could.
I could feel the mana rush around him as a shield of earth attempted to block me. To bad that my sword could cut through that.
Red spilled through my vision, the head of the kobold split in two from the top. Brains splattering around me.
I held my mouth in my hand and swallowed the vomit that threatened to free itself from my mouth.
I took deep breaths, finding myself on my knees moments after.
Minutes passed by as I tried to regain control over myself.
If it was anything else then I would have been fine, I had already been exposed to violence and conflict surpassing what I had done myself but this was different.
Kobolds, they were my subordinates in the second round. And maybe because of that I couldn't let go of my attachment to them.
I felt the wind gush around me as my mana flared wildly with my emotions.
I took deep breaths to dry and calm myself down. And it seemed to be working.
As moments later I found myself back on my feet rather than my knees.
Using my sword as a stick I started to walk.
Towards where? I didn't know. But I knew that if I just stayed where I was then I would be ambushed.
As I was then I was vulnerable and I couldn't allow myself to be seen that way.
Not while I was actively in a combat situation.
…
I watched as some kid pranced around the battlefield.
Leaving in his wake mountains of corpses. He was efficient, I would give him that but he could be better.
Much better. He had the talent. I could see it in his swordsmanship.
Constantly shifting, trying newer and better ideas as he got more and more combat experience.
And as he got more and more comfortable he would get that much more deadly.
But there was one flaw that I saw. This kid, this boy was not using his mana to the most efficient manner.
Yes he was using it in its most basic way, reinforcing his body and allowing for ease of movement and strength.
But he could be doing so much more, creating shields to block damage, elemental attacks to add to his patterns.
Or just plain reinforcing his sword as he had done to his body.
There was so much that he could do and I could tell that he was talented at it.
As from what I knew he was fresh. This was his first time going through this trial which meant that he had just come from his own tutorial.
And with that talent it either meant that he was the descendent of some major clan or that he truly was a natural.
But looking at that equipment, the haphazard clothes and lack of any ID in the system I could only conclude it to be the latter.
I licked my lips as I turned to the screen monitoring the trial.
I would be watching this kid's ascent.
But for now…
I tapped away on the keyboard, changing some of the key parameters. It wasn't anything major just a few changes that would highlight the difficulty for this kid only.
…
I felt a shiver go down my spine as I walked through this vast plain. I had already killed hundreds of goblins. Yet there was no sign of any more Kobolds.
Which was both good and bad.
Good in that they were powerful and I doubted I could take on more than one at once and bad in that I wouldn't be able to get over my trauma as easily without them.
I hummed as I cut down another goblin and took the third of a rune from its stomach. There were only a couple of hours left in this trial, I wondered what would be next.