Chapter 8 – First Battle

With the aid of See Invisibility, Punk spotted about six or seven small green-skinned monsters hiding in a bush nearly as tall as a person. These were Goblins – common beginner monsters found both in the Faerûn Plane and in Earth’s online games.

Goblins were related to Gnomes, a fact proven by both history and genetics, though no Gnome would ever admit it. After all, while Gnome civilization had declined, the ancient Imaskari Empire of Wonderous Devices had once held prestigious renown across many planes! Goblins had remained uncivilized since ancient times, making it no wonder that Gnomes looked down upon these “poor relatives.”

Standing only as tall as children, Goblins possessed large hooked noses and disproportionately large heads. Dressed in ragged animal hides, they resembled starving refugees more than bandits. While they typically preyed on the weak and avoided the strong, this didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.

They possessed strength matching adults and agility comparable to apes. Generally, two ordinary militiamen were needed to handle one Goblin, meaning this group’s combat effectiveness equaled that of a full militia squad!

Judging by their ambush location, their original targets were likely the herd of deer approaching the river to drink in the distance. Their short legs made them ill-suited for pursuits requiring speed!

But now these intellectually-challenged monsters had clearly changed targets. Their clenched fists gripping stone axes indicated they had set their sights on the closer, seemingly weaker Punk!

However, Punk was no weak prey.

He calmly stopped walking and retrieved a small piece of rabbit fat from his robe pocket!

Any creature with an IQ above 50 would immediately take evasive action upon seeing a mage produce spell components, but these ignorant Goblins still thought they remained undetected, anticipating their prey to come closer before launching their assault!

With the triple assistance of spell components, gestures, and incantations, Punk easily cast this Apprentice Rank Summoning Magic – Grease – in under two seconds.

A large mass of Astral Oil was created by the soul and summoned into reality through magical power. The small piece of rabbit fat had vanished, replaced by a basketball-sized glob of Astral Oil shimmering with white specks. As the final syllable of the incantation completed, the built-in minor catapult array in the spell structure propelled the Astral Oil toward the large bush where the Goblins hid. The speed was modest, comparable to a slingshot firing a stone, far from the sniper rifle-like velocity of Minor Catapult, yet still too fast for these confused Goblins to react.

The Astral Oil drenched both the bush and the Goblins within. The startled monsters jumped up trying to escape the bush, but the slippery Astral Oil quickly sent them tumbling to the ground. They flailed wildly, but they would never get up again!

Shortly after completing the Grease spell, Punk had already begun preparing his next magic. This time, he cast the simplest spell from the Evocation school – Mini Fireball.This spell had extremely low lethality; its main function was actually to start fires. But when used now in combination with the control spell Grease, it produced tremendous power.

Since the mini-Fireball was remarkably simple, Punk completed it in about a second. An orange-red fireball the size of a ping-pong ball shot out right after the Grease spell. Almost simultaneously with the goblins slipping and falling, the mini-fireball slammed hard into the bushes drenched in Astral Oil.

The Astral Oil, shimmering with white specks of light, was more flammable than Punk had anticipated. The entire bush quickly turned into a massive fireball, with thick black smoke spreading above the shrubs. The burning Astral Oil generated temperatures close to a thousand degrees, creating ripples of heat shimmer within a one-meter radius of the fiery bush even in the cool morning air. As for the poor goblins inside… aside from a few “little fire figures” with thicker leather armor who managed to burst out of the bushes and roll a couple times on the nearby grass, most only had time to let out horrifying screams before turning into charred corpses.

The fire ignited by the Astral Oil burned fiercely but died out quickly. After about a minute, all flames had extinguished – after all, plants in the tender season contained considerable moisture.

As the last few wisps of gray smoke dissipated in the wind, the tragic scene on the ground was laid bare without concealment. The bushes had turned to ashes when the burning first began, leaving only a few barely recognizable charred remains on the ground.

Seeing this, Punk whistled lightly and strode toward the charred corpses. He kicked aside some of the “charcoal” with his shoe sole, but found nothing except for a few stone tools baked pitch black.

“Just as expected, this is a realistic world. Better not fantasize about loot drops.”

Punk scraped his shoe sole clean on a riverside rock, curled his lips in dissatisfaction, and continued on his journey.

Walking downstream along the river, Punk recalled the group of goblins he had wiped out. Surprisingly, he felt no nausea – instead, a faint excitement emerged from deep within.

“Maybe because they were burned beyond recognition!”

Punk genuinely considered this a good thing. It proved his mind was adapting to this world of survival of the fittest.

Following the river’s course, the water gently lapped at the banks. Thanks to the blue glow from the small fishes’ horns, the entire river was scattered with blue points of light. In the sky, two suns – one large and red, one small and orange – slowly moved toward their zenith.

A little past noon, a village came into Punk’s view.

This village possessed the most typical characteristic of medieval settlements – poverty.The village was encircled by a fence made of uneven branches. This dilapidated barrier seemed less for defense against wild beasts and more for marking the village’s boundaries. Vast, irregular, and sparsely distributed farmlands were separated by winding paths. In the distance, clusters of shacks served as the villagers’ homes. Most of the farmers working in the fields were sallow and emaciated—had it been nighttime, one might have mistaken them for skeletal undead. They were using wooden tools to weed the fields while a tall, fierce-looking man patrolled nearby, cracking a leather whip at anyone who worked too slowly. Most of these peasants were tenant farmers under a landlord, as the Faerûn Plane operated on a landlord-based agricultural system.

As Punk approached, some of the peasants stole glances at the well-dressed, handsome stranger.

But upon noticing the staff in his hand and the Mage Robe he wore—clear markers of a mage—they quickly lowered their heads and pretended not to see him, resuming their weeding. Only a few children, despite being tugged by adults, kept turning back to gaze curiously.

Punk paid no mind to the villagers’ reactions. He felt a twinge of disappointment upon realizing this was merely a rundown village. Still, even the poorest settlements had some contact with the outside world, and he hoped to gather information about nearby towns.

He had no intention of asking the illiterate peasants. Instead, he beckoned to the tall man who looked every bit the lackey.

“You, come here. Tell me which Noble’s fief this village belongs to.”

Punk spoke expressionlessly, his voice just loud enough for the tall man to hear.

The same man who had been menacing the farmers moments earlier startled at the summons from an unknown mage. Trembling, he hurried over.

(End of Chapter)