After being saved by Noah, the group that was led by the short sword wielder quickly introduced themselves, the group consisted of 6 members of 2 males and 4 females:
The one that wielded the short sword was a boy named Lucas Nimblewood, a rather adaptive and capable person that managed to fend off and killed a few goblins on his own.
Two of the females were classmates and a friend of Lucas, Diane Pinelope the girl with the long flowing blonde hair and Ruby Wright the girl with long black hair tied to a ponytail.
The other male in the group wielded a dagger, Noah was familiar with his face due to the fact that he was a member of the boxing club, that boy was an african-american named Nigel Halfstone.
The two last girls were twins from the same class as Nigel, Fiona Heliath wielded a staff and Mina Heliath wielded a shield.
The group also revealed their ability:
Lucas acquired an ability called 'Sword Mastery'.
Diane acquired an ability called 'Marionette'.
Ruby acquired an ability called 'Fire Manipulation'.
Nigel acquired an ability called 'Critical Strike'.
Fiona acquired an ability called 'Healing Touch'.
Mina acquired an ability called 'Attention Seeker'.
'I'm not going to judge but… these people must not be the smartest tool in the shed, how come they revealed their ability so easily? Or do they think that they can kill me easily?' Noah thought, his face darkened for a moment before he loosened his grip on his spear.
"So what would you guys do now?" Noah asked, his face masked his true intention.
"Well, we would like to escape this place as fast as possible. Anyway, Noah, would you like to join our group? It would be beneficial to have you in our team." Lucas spoke, his voice still carried a hint of hesitation.
"Sure." Noah said with a smile on his face, within his heart he spoke, 'That girl's ability is quite good for farming goblins.'
"Ah, that's good to hear!" Everyone was delighted to hear Noah's agreement and they quickly took off.
'Status.'
-Ding!
[Status]
[Name] Noah Ashton
[Age] 17
[Species] Human
[Job] None
[Title] Goblin Slayer (Tier 2)
[Level] 4
[Experience] 340/800
[HP] 400/400
[MP] 150/150
[Physical] 40
[Mental] 38
[Spiritual] 15
[Ability] Regeneration
[Skill] Item Repair (F)
[Trait] Goblin's Nemesis
[Universal Coins] 777
Nigel walked towards Noah's side and asked, "Noah, may I ask what your level is?"
"4, how about you guys?" Noah asked as he looked around him.
"I'm only 2." Nigel said.
"I'm level 3 and the girls are all level 1 except miss hot headed over her-" Before Lucas could finish his sentence a ball of fire flew above his head.
"Huh, is that so? Have you guys fought against Hobgoblins?" Noah asked.
"Hobgoblin? Is that the same as the red one before?" Lucas replied.
Noah nodded before he said, "Kinda, that one was probably an irregular, Hobgoblin is practically just a bigger goblin, almost no difference other than it was stronger."
"Ah, is that so? We usually avoid combat against creatures like that, we don't have a death wish." Lucas said with a deadpan expression.
Seeing Lucas' reaction made Noah notice that if he doesn't change their ways, he wouldn't be able to farm experience points using Mina's ability, so he decided to take control.
"Wouldn't that slow down your strength growth?" Noah said.
"I'd rather be alive and weak than dead but strong." Lucas replied.
"That would be viable if the world wasn't filled with countless monsters already." Noah said.
"Even if that was the case, then we would just rely on each other and push through obstacles together!" Lucas said.
"You're just lazy, right?"
"What?"
"Lucas, you just don't want to put in the work to fight, like how in the previous battle you quickly gave up when your sword was disabled by the chains."
"Well, the sword was kinda heavy…"
"Just say you're lazy."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Yeah, I'm lazy." Lucas said with a deadpan expression.
"So now we know you're not fighting because you're lazy not for the safety of your comrade," Noah turned towards Mina and put his hand over her shoulder, "Please use your ability and catch all of those living experiences—I mean monsters' attention and bring them to our location."
"Alright." Mina said as she held her shield tightly.
"Hey, you guys should've already cleared the tutorial mission, right?" Noah asked.
"Uh, yeah, that's where I got this shield." Mina replied.
"The same for my staff too." Fiona added.
"I got this bracelet." Ruby said.
"I got this ring~" Diane said.
"Well, I got this gauntlet, it's kinda heavy so I don't really use it…" Nigel said.
"What about you Lucas?" Noah asked as he looked at Lucas who had a guilty expression on his face.
"Um, I don't have it…" Lucas muttered.
"You haven't opened it? Then open it now."
"Well, it's not like that…"
"Then what's it like then?"
"I kinda broke it…"
"Is that the reason you're acting like this? Let me fix it then." Noah said with a calm expression.
Lucas revealed a surprised expression as he heard that Noah can repair his broken weapon, "You really can repair it!?"
"Let me see it first, who knows? Maybe it's a lost cause after all." Noah said sarcastically.
Lucas then pulled out a silver sword splitted in two.
"Let's see." Noah muttered as he touched the sword hilt and broken edge.
[Item Description]
[Name] Basic Sword
[Type] Sword
[Grade] Normal
[Attribute] +8 Physical
[Skill] Slash (F)
[Details] An ordinary silver sword that possessed above average slashing power
[Status] Broken
"Hm, I can repair this sword for you but you need to pay me back double." Noah said.
"How much?" Lucas asked with a trail of sweat dripping from his forehead while thinking, 'Fuck, I'm broke, the only thing I got on my wallet are 15 cents and a random poker card I found!'
"12 hobgoblin cores."
"Ruby, can I borrow a little amount of money—Wait, 12 hobgoblin cores? Ruby, do you perhaps have any spare hobgoblin cores I can borrow?" Lucas asked Ruby with a genuine expression.
"Are you an idiot? Hah, am I really asking that? Of course, you are. Lucas, we haven't even fought a goddamn hobgoblin, how am I supposed to have any!?" Ruby said, her voice was filled with anger.
"Please don't use God's name in vain. Anyway, who knows? Maybe you had fought against a few hobgoblins like a hothead you are—" Lucas' speech was interrupted as Ruby left a bump on his head.
"Anyway, give me that sword." Noah was handed over the broken sword by Lucas.
"Item repair."
On Noah's left hand was a core the size of a tennis ball and on his right was the broken sword, after Noah had spoke, the sword suddenly emanated a bright light as it absorbed the energy from the core.
Soon after it finished, Noah take a look at its status.
[Item Description]
[Name] Enhanced Sword
[Type] Sword
[Grade] D
[Attribute] +18 Physical +10 Spiritual
[Skill] Mana Amplified Slash (D), Lifesteal (D), Sharp Blade (E),
[Details] An ordinary sword restored with the power of a Blood Hobgoblin's core gaining magical properties, blood attributes and an artificial mana veins to circulate mana more efficiently
A thought formed in Noah's head as he saw the description of the sword.
'Should I kill them all…?'
Noah contemplates on that decision before abandoning the idea.
'I shouldn't let greed be my downfall, but still this sword are really tempting…' Noah thought as he analysed the new sword design.
It was identical other than the fact that it was colored in blood red.
"Here." Noah said as he handed over the blade to Lucas who was drooling at the sight.
"This look so sick!" Lucas said as he sized up the weapon and then inspected the item description.
…
"What the hell!? It ranked up twice!?" Lucas exclaimed in surprise.
"What!?" The others exclaim in surprise too.
"Hey, Noah, can you like… upgrade my equipment too? Pretty please?" Nigel asked.
"No? I can only repair not upgrade, I can't do anything for item in a great condition." Noah explained.
'That's also why I don't use the Blood Hobgoblin core for my spear, it need to be broken or dull to repair it and there's no way I'd wait until then so using it for Lucas' sword was an investment and also a gamble, if he were to backstab me then I had just given my enemy a great weapon…'
"Now that everything is settled. Mina, do your thing." Noah said to Mina as he gave her a thumbs up.
"Alright…" Mina said as she sighed before slamming her shield on the ground and screamed.
Her voice travelled through a large area of the school and invited a lot of monsters to their location.
Bracing themselves for a fight, everyone quickly get into a battle formation except for Noah.
"Noah? What are you doing?" Lucas asked as he saw Noah begin to stretch his body.
"Warm up." Noah replied nonchalantly before he quickly rushed at the enemy that had already appeared.
[You killed a Hobgoblin, +100 Experience +100 Universal Coins]
"If you guys keep going like that, I'm going to wipe them all out and hoard all the experience for myself~" Noah said as he skewered through three goblins.
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]