[QUEST!]
KILL ALL THE GOBLINS INSIDE THE CAVE.
Looking at the quest, a sense of anxiety assailed him. As enemies they were nothing much, but they were still the first monsters Samuele would face. He hoped that everything would go well.
"See, what did I tell you? Goblins are the weakest creatures. I am sure you will have no problem dealing with them."
The group looked around and saw that the portal that had transported them here closed the way out of the cavern behind them. They were practically trapped.
Seeing the looks on the Newbies' faces, Marco added: "As you have understood, the portal has transported us to a closed place. But, be careful, this is because the portal is of a very low level. This is not the case with higher level portals. For example, there are some portals that will give you quests where you will be forced to explore the world around you in order to complete them. The higher the level of the portal, the larger the exploration area of the world will be."
Samuele had heard about those portals. Especially in interviews with adventurers above level 50, several portals of that level allowed one to explore a large part of that world.
The experts theorised that the levels of the portals were due to the size of the explorable area. The higher the level, the larger the explorable world. Even those fortunate enough to face portals of level 100 claimed that the entire world was explorable, with magical creatures never seen in other portals.
The group advanced in search of these goblins. The cavern seemed to extend hundreds of metres in length. It was so dark that without a torch, it would have been impossible to see within an inch of one's life. Fortunately, the group had prepared properly and the leader in front of the group led them by light.
Small but numerous footsteps could be heard coming towards them.
"Be careful! They are coming! I will give you light as best I can, but you will have to face them." Leader Marco warned them and now positioned himself in the centre of the group.
"See that you stick together as best you can, otherwise I won't be able to light your view."
A horde of goblins advanced towards them with an expression that declared they wanted to kill them. They all took up fighting positions and waited for the creatures to get closer to them, so that they could attack them without having to move away.
Samuele swallowed the saliva and his expression changed to one of determination.
'Come on, Samu, you can do it! You have to get stronger and level up. This is a good chance for you.' He said to himself inwardly, giving himself a charge.
As soon as the goblins approached them, the Adventurers began to attack them. Even though many of them were at level 1 with such low stats, they managed with very few sword blows to kill one each.
With no more coming, Samuele counted the number of carcasses on the ground. Ten had been killed in total. Counting that there were nine of them without the leader, who was only watching them, someone must have killed one more than all the others.
''Perfect, guys. The first horde seems to be over. Let's keep walking!" This time, leader Marco stayed in the middle of the group, seeing that none of them had any problems facing them.
A few minutes passed before another horde of goblins approached them. This time, from the sound of footsteps, there seemed to be a lot more than ten of them.
"Get into position!" Marco ordered.
Using the same tactics as before, the Adventurers were killing the little monsters more and more easily. They now understood better how to deal with them.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2!
'Yes!' exulted Samuele internally, as he was killing some goblins. Initially, he was afraid to face the portals, because he thought they would be too dangerous and he definitely wouldn't like risking his life in there. But now, he really seemed to reconsider. Killing those goblins was satisfying him. It was amusing him, in a way. He felt seriously inside a video game. However, he knew the danger here was serious. One distraction and it could have ended badly.
Samuele continued to face the various goblins coming at him with his heart pounding with excitement. Now he understood why those who became Adventurers rarely gave up this career. It could easily become an addiction.
That battle could no longer be considered one. No. In Marco's eyes, it had become a complete massacre. With a smile, he watched the Newbies easily kill all the goblins that came his way. Then he sighed. As a leader, he would have to leave everything to them to gain experience, but he had to admit that he felt like joining them.
Sure, it wouldn't be much of a challenge for him, being a level 20, but he'd still want to join in. Just to pass the time.
As the group killed them, the horde coming at them diminished more and more, until they came no more. Many sighed in disappointment that they had run out of monsters to kill. Looking at their expressions, Marco spoke.
"'Cheer up, boys. As long as the system doesn't tell us we've completed the mission, it means there are still more to come. Let's move on."
Some of them whispered to others about their achieved level.
"Hey, I've already reached level 3! What level have you reached?" Asked one boy to another. The latter smirked.
"Heh! I'm at level 4!"
"What? Come on, I've seen you kill the same amount of goblins as me!"
"What are you talking about! Look I've faced a few more than you!"
Listening to their quarrel, Samuele had the curiosity to check his current level, but his eyes widened and a bewildered expression spread across his face.
{PROFILE}
NAME: SAMUELE RUA LEVEL: 2 (MAX)
TITLE: NEWBIE
CLASS: NONE
PV: 250
{STATISTICS}
STRENGTH: 2 SENSES: 2
INTELLIGENCE: 2 AGILITY: 2
VITALITY: 2 STAMINA: 2
"That's not possible..." He whispered to himself in an incredulous tone.
'My maximum level limit is 2...' He couldn't believe it. He knew that it was common for a great many Adventurers to reach a very low level limit, but the lowest attainable was level 10. No one since the systems existed had ever had a limit level lower than 10.
Every second that passed, Samuele felt worse and worse. It seemed that his luck had hit rock bottom. He had always felt worthless. He had never managed to achieve anything in his life and when he had agreed to become an Adventurer, he had at least wanted to reach a level that could make him feel somehow fulfilled. He really hoped that, being an Awakened One, this might change something in his life. But, it turns out.
'I don't even serve as an Adventurer... I'm really useless.'
Marco, seeing the boy's lowered back, approached him and realised that something was wrong. His expression clearly contained disappointment.
"Boy, did something happen?" Samuele gasped at the sudden voice and turned to him with a fake smile.
"No, it's nothing. Everything is fine, Mr. Terranova."
"...If you say so." Marco didn't believe him, but he couldn't force him to talk.
Once he had moved away from him, Samuele looked forward again with a sad expression.
'I can't even find the courage to tell anyone. What am I going to tell my parents?' Would they be disappointed in him? Would they have looked at him with pity? Or maybe they would have given him words of comfort? Honestly, he did not want to hear anything, he did not want to be comforted. At that moment, he wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.
"Look out, here comes another horde!" This snapped him out of his thoughts and he immediately prepared to fight. He would never level up again, but at least they were easy monsters to deal with.
After a few minutes of fighting, only one goblin remained. This one, unlike the others who acted as if he did not give a damn about their lives, became agitated with fear and began to back away from the group of Adventurers.
Someone was about to go at him to finish him off, but was stopped by the leader.
"Stop!"
"What? Why?" A newbie asked in frustration. Marco did not answer. He simply observed the creature slowly backing away until it turned and quickly retreated into the darkness of the cavern.
In all his life, nothing like this had ever happened to him. Monsters such as goblins usually acted under the orders of a goblin leader. These orders were absolute for them and they would do anything to complete the task entrusted to them, even if it meant death. Looking around, he observed the goblin carcasses on the ground and, noticing something unusual, opened his eyes wide.
He approached one of those carcasses and looked at its chest. It was branded with a mark. His eyes trembled. He realised what was happening in that cave. To be sure, he also checked the other carcasses and they all had the same mark on their chests.
"Guys, get behind me! At the bottom of this cave is not a goblin chieftain, but something else far more dangerous!" He ordered the group of newbies and stood in front of them.
These gobins were not commanded by a goblin leader. At least, not any more. These goblins were the slaves of other creatures, and Marco knew well that there was only one kind of creature that used firebrands to enslave weaker beings.
" At the bottom of the cave there are...!!!"
As he was about to continue, something greenish flew towards them and fell to the ground, dragging itself very close to the Adventurers, who saw what it was.
"A goblin...?" What was left of a goblin, at least. The one that had fled at the drop of a hat was now lying before them in an unrecognisable form.
Samuele looked forward, wondering who had done this and why, but he did not have to wait long for an answer.
In front of them, larger, more muscular green monsters emerged from the darkness. If small green creatures were often associated with goblins, these large, muscular green creatures would then be associated with only one type.
No one paid attention to the sound of the system, but a warning screen appeared in front of each of them.
[WARNING!]
THE MISSION HAS CHANGED!
[QUEST!]
KILL ALL THE ORCS INSIDE THE CAVE
END OF CHAPTER.
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I've just noticed that in the WN app you can't see the author's thoughts at a glance, so I'm posting them here.
What do you think so far? Is it nice? Is it trash? Comment and let me know. In case this story interests you, please give this book some Power Stones.
Thanks for reading the chapter!!