End of the Settlement and The Dungeon City
With the boost to perception from his Mind Cycle, Nox could see in the dark almost as well as during the day. He wasn't quite sure about the goblins' eyesight but he had nothing to lose by doing a night attack.
He climbed a tree on the edge on the clearing where the settlement was located and readied his bow. With the enhancement of his Mind Boon its power and range were extended and by using it on the arrows, they impacted with enough force to cause small explosions.
Lifting the visor of his armet to better sight down his targets, the arrow was nocked and the warbow drawn although not fully since his arms were a bit too short.
His aim true, Nox started taking down the goblins, each kill brought his rage closer to the surface but he kept going. Eighteen kills in all the remaining goblins were charging at his tree and only two arrows were left in the quiver.
Since the goblins were tightly packed now, his last two arrows earned him five more kills as he drew the enemies closer and as soon as they got in range, Nox unleashed five successive Mind Missiles. The results were staggering. The Mind explosions were devastating towards the tightly packed goblins and the resulting shock waves knocked most of the rest of their feet.
The goblins that were fine kept charging but those who had only been knocked down and not killed started to reconsider their course of action.
Nox who hadn't dispersed the magic circle for the Mind Missile spell wanted to ignore the fleeing enemies and take out the charging one since they were the only ones that posed any danger but at this point, his hatred and bloodlust had become nearly unbearable.
"All of them. MUST, DIE!" Nox shouted as he pointed his wand at the fleeing goblins.
He swiftly annihilated them but during this short period of time, the charging goblins were all ready too close to the tree for him to use Mind Missile. This wasn't even in his mind though, as Nox had already gone berserk.
Activating Mind Cycle and applying Mind Boon on his sidesword and shield, he jumped down into the mass of charging goblins, barely remembering to lower his visor.
What followed was a bloody mess. With the effects of the Mind Boon, Nox's sidesword faced no resistance from the goblin's flesh and bone in fact, not even their weapons but his rage had left the boy completely careless with his defence. The shield was merely another weapon that with the boost could even decapitate goblins with its rim.
It barely took a minute and all that was left was an armored boy, covered in blood alone in the clearing. His sword and shield were fine since they had Mind Boon cast on them. Nox's armor on the other hand was an entirely different matter. Nicks and scratches everywhere and even some dents on the plate.
The violence of the battle left Nox not only dead tired but also bruised even if his armor absorbed most of the impact of the goblins' blows. He forced himself to search the settlement but all he got was the magic stones of all his casualties along with a few drop items, certainly more than he expected but he was too tired to care.
Dragging himself back to his cave, Nox just dropped onto his futon, not even cleaning himself and fell into deep slumber.
The next day already into the afternoon, he woke up sore and smelly from the blood on him but, for the first time since he arrived in this world, his mind was clear. He tossed away the futon out from the cave since it was soaked in goblin blood then to a nearby stream to wash up and as he did so, Nox started reviewing yesterday's battle.
'Now that I'm calmer, I can see a lot of problems with yesterday. Not only did I prioritize fleeing enemies rather than those who posed an actual threat, the way I fought in the end was deplorable. I felt stronger than ever during that rage but all my skill and technique went out the window. If there was any strengthened species in the settlement, I might've been a goner . . .' He thought considering his missteps last night.
"Well, I certainly needed to get that out of my system but at least now I feel a whole lot bett- OUCH!" ". . ." "Emotionally at least . . ." Nox said to himself.
His armor was quite banged up but still wearing it, Nox threw anything that might be of use into his Item Box and set out on the way to his next adventure while chewing on some jerky.
The journey was a bit too uneventful for his taste with the only thing out of the norm being a random traveler he crossed when he started approaching the more populated areas, giving him a strange look.
Still, after a day of travel, Nox had finally arrived. The Dungeon City, Oratio, right in front of him!
His excited expression hidden by his armet, he approached the guard who stopped him.
"Name, race and age?" The guard asked.
"Nox Lyros, human, thirteen years old!" Nox answered in an upbeat tone.
"Reason for your visit?" The guard continued while giving him a strange look.
'With the gear, I thought he was some pallum warrior but to think he is actually a human child.'
"Adventuring!" Nox responded not even noticing the look the guard gave him in his excitement.
Such an answer was all to comom so it didn't even raise any eyebrows.
"Finally, do you have the entrance fee?" Asked the guard.
"How much?"
And soon, Nox was already touring the city, he checked the locations of shops and even bought a jagamarukun to eat but after this, he went straight to the guild building to inquire how one should go about getting in a Familia and dungeoneering.
He spotted a familiar looking Half Elf and asked himself "Why not?" before going to her counter.
"Hello! My name is Eina Tulle. How may help you today?" Eina greeted very professionally.
"Hello there! I'm new in town so I wanted to know about the ins and outs of being an adventurer." Nox greeted and informed.
"Certainly! Please follow me into one of the side rooms so we may discuss this at length." Eina replied.
She was a little surprised at Nox's age when he said he was a human and not a pallum but she ultimately didn't say anything about it even though it was pretty clear to Nox she wanted to.
So, long story short, there was no dungeoneering until one receives a falna. If you have one, you don't even need to join a familia but for those who don't the guild provides assistance in finding one if the client so desires.
"If you know what type of Familia you want to join Nox-kun, I can prepare a list." Eina offered.
"No thank you, Eina-san! Although I would appreciate if you could help me contact the Loki Familia, please!" Nox requested.
"Loki Familia!? Nox-kun . . ." Eina started after being surprised but Nox stopped her.
"I have an unique magic that I'm quite sure will interest them!" He declared.
"May I know what that is, so I can, you know, give them a valid reason to come . . ." Eina said.
'Come on beautiful! I can sense your suspicion form a mile away.' Though Nox.
"Are going to be my advisor?" He asked.
"Why?" Eina asked, even more suspicious due to the sudden change of topic.
"Well, there's no way I'm gonna go around telling random people about my abilities! So unless you're planning to be my advisor, I won't give such sensitive info even to a beauty like you Eina-san." Casually explained Shiki, even throwing in a flirt from the side which was quite comical since he was only thirteen.
Completely ignoring the flirt, even though she felt good being complimented by an "innocent" child or so she though at least, Eina then said she would become his advisor and swore to keep his secrets even if she didn't.
Knowing she already was trustworthy from the series, Nox explained his Item Box which immediately surprised Eina. Being a professional dungeoneering advisor, there was no way she wouldn't realize the value of such a spell and so she entered into contact with the Loki Familia. She she knew Riveria, the vice-captain, it all went smoothly. In fact, since they were available and Eina repeatedly said it was a great boon for the Loki Familia, the meeting would take place today.
Two hours later, Eina returned to the side room Nox was waiting in with Loki and Riveria in tow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novel Kage of Kages, do check it out!
I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.