Mastery Is Earned

“Rookie...”

The death of the big goblin drew everyone's attention, including that of the other goblins. They had never held any advantage against the mercenaries to begin with. Once Raymond joined the fight, the battle became even more one-sided. With the goblin they had relied on dead, the others lost all will to resist. In the end, the last three simply turned and fled.

The remaining mercenaries exchanged bewildered looks, then stared at Raymond in disbelief. Once the goblins had completely vanished into the night, Raymond's legs suddenly gave way. He landed hard on his backside, gasping for breath. His right hand shook uncontrollably, and it took a long time for his breathing to settle.

“Tom, go make sure the goblins have really retreated. Check the surroundings for any others lying in ambush while you're at it.”

After recovering from the shock, Carter quickly began issuing orders to the other mercenaries. He then stood in silence over the dead mercenary for a long moment before handing the man's sword to Raymond. “This sword is yours now.”

Raymond accepted the weapon almost without thinking. Only then did he begin to recover, struggling to his feet. Unlike his old, rust-covered sword, this one-handed sword had been properly maintained despite its many battle scars. It was of considerably better quality.

Raymond took a deep breath, then looked at the big goblin's lifeless body. “Is this... a goblin too?”

“Yes. It was undergoing a throwback mutation, and it was still immature,” Carter said bitterly, kicking the corpse.

Another mercenary finished off the goblins lying on the ground and cut off their ears while he was at it. His name was Guy. He carried a battle-axe and looked thoroughly intimidating.

Carter examined the big goblin's corpse, paying particular attention to the fatal wound through its eye socket. Then he gave Raymond a curious look. “You did all this? Your swordsmanship...”

“I got lucky.” Raymond sighed and shook his head.

Carter gave him a long look but ultimately said nothing more, apparently accepting his explanation.

“It's strange that these goblins attacked us first,” Guy said as he cut the ears off the dead goblins.

“Maybe the mutation made it overestimate its own strength,” Tom replied casually.

“Greater Goblins that have completed the throwback usually remain in their nests. They rarely venture out to attack like this,” Carter remarked abruptly.

His words made Guy's eyes light up as he cut off the goblins' ears. “A nest!”

Tom's voice went shrill with excitement. “A goblin nest—an empty nest!”

Carter nodded, seemingly calm, but his eyes glittered with the same excitement and delight.

Goblins produced nothing for themselves. They lived by raiding and stealing. Besides food and other supplies, their nest was bound to contain plenty of valuables.

More importantly, if a goblin in a nest began undergoing a throwback mutation, it generally meant no Greater Goblin there had yet completed the process. The big goblin was already dead, along with many of the ordinary goblins. The nest was most likely poorly defended. For a mercenary band that still had most of its fighting strength intact, this was a rare opportunity.

“Well, rookie? Are you coming or not?” Carter asked Raymond.

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“If you don't come with us, you'll have to leave Blackpine Forest all by yourself,” Guy added theatrically.

Raymond truly did not know much about goblin habits. But now that the memories of his previous life had awakened, he had no desire to take such a risk. Unfortunately, the decision was not his to make. Carter and the others clearly were not really asking what he wanted.

In a place like Blackpine Forest, both staying behind until they returned and making his way back to Blackstone alone would be extremely dangerous. Besides, he did not know the way back, so he had no reason to refuse.

“Kid, you did well today—better than I did back in the day.” Seeing Raymond lower his head in thought, Carter continued, “Once we get back, you'll become a full member of our team. You'll get a share of the reward for this mission and the loot from the nest too.”

After an offer like that, Raymond had even less reason to refuse. He could only nod in agreement. After all, it really did sound as though there was little danger. He might even earn some extra money. Whether in his previous life or this one, money was important.

“Your swordsmanship is a lot better than I thought, kid!” When Raymond nodded, one of the mercenaries came over to tease him. “You must've been sneaking in plenty of extra practice on your own, huh?”

Raymond smiled awkwardly but did not answer.

His memories had come with something else: a Proficiency system panel. After two days of research and experimentation, combined with the results of the battle just now, Raymond had more or less figured out how the system worked.

The system would not teach him anything. It only organized, refined, and permanently retained whatever useful experience he gained through actual study, training, and combat, ensuring that none of his genuine progress ever went to waste.

Since gaining the system panel, Raymond had practiced Basic Swordsmanship frequently. But his Proficiency did not increase every time. It only changed when he made some genuine, however slight, improvement.

During his battle with the big goblin, Raymond had discovered that real combat could also increase Proficiency—and by a considerable amount. With a thought, he summoned a very simple system panel before him.

[Basic Swordsmanship Lv. 1 (27/100)]

Twenty-seven?

Seeing the change in Proficiency on the panel, Raymond raised an eyebrow. During the fight, the system had indeed kept sending him one +1 notification after another. But at the time, he had been far too occupied to pay attention to them.

He had never imagined his Proficiency would rise all the way to twenty-seven in a single fight. He remembered that after his last training session, it had stood at only sixteen. The practical experience from fighting the big goblin had increased his Proficiency by a full eleven points?

On second thought, however, it seemed reasonable. Training was methodical and the moves were fixed, but an enemy would never play along. In real combat, many flaws that went unnoticed during training would be exposed and corrected. As expected, actual combat was the best way to gain experience.

Still, given the Proficiency panel, there was no real need for him to seek out actual combat just to raise his Proficiency. Rather than put himself in danger, it would be better to train at home and focus on raising his Proficiency all the way to the maximum level.

For now, the Proficiency panel seemed capable of recording only combat skills. Otherwise, his skills ought to be [Cleaning: Lv. 7] and [Horse Feeding: Lv. 2]. Instead, the entire panel contained only Basic Swordsmanship.

If he got the chance, perhaps he should experiment with other skills as well, such as archery and spearmanship. Of course, that assumed he had enough money to support himself through such a long period without working.

...

They soon finished cleaning up the battlefield. Most of the goblins' weapons were crudely made wooden clubs and spears, not worth any money at all. Only their ears could be turned in for a bounty; everything else had almost no value.

As for the dead mercenary, they could not conveniently take his body with them to the goblin nest. They had no choice but to dig a pit together and bury him there.

Carter was even “considerate” enough to strip him of his equipment and supplies, leaving him dressed in nothing but a patched, threadbare linen tunic. After offering a brief prayer and observing a moment of silence, they departed.

Unfortunately, the battered hard leather armor did not fit Raymond. Although he could just barely squeeze into it, the armor was too short and severely restricted his movement, so he had no choice but to bundle it up for later.

The blood here would soon attract the attention of large predators. Lingering would not be wise. Loaded down with packs and carrying torches, the group found another location and set up camp again. In light of the earlier night raid, they took great care to lay traps this time.

Even so, Raymond still felt uneasy. When his turn came to stand watch, he gave it his full attention and did not even practice his swordsmanship.

He was in a somber, conflicted mood, though even he could not say exactly why. Perhaps it was the death of a teammate, the mercenaries' callousness, or the discomfort of taking a life for the first time... Or perhaps it was his anticipation and unease over the goblin nest...

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