The deeper he walked into the forest, the more the world grew quiet.
Nam moved carefully, brushing aside tall ferns and low branches as he scanned his surroundings. The Forest of Elton was divided into layers — an outer ring filled with harmless critters and curious animals, a middle layer crawling with weak monsters like goblins and slimes, and an inner territory where stronger beasts lurked.
He wasn't dumb enough to go too deep — not yet.
He stopped in front of a thick cluster of trees, checking the map the system projected like a translucent parchment.
"Just near the border of the inner layer… goblins should start showing up around here," he murmured.
The forest felt different here.
The air was denser with mana, vibrating faintly against his skin. The trees grew taller, their roots coiling like sleeping serpents beneath the moss. Patches of sunlight struggled to break through the thick canopy, casting dim streaks of gold on the forest floor.
Somewhere in the distance, a crow screeched.
Another answered.
Nam inhaled, feeling the faint crackle of mana inside him — the new thunder attribute thrumming like a restrained engine.
"Good. This should be enough to deal with that"
Nam moved slowly, each step deliberate, the fallen leaves barely crunching beneath his boots.
His blade was already drawn, its edge catching faint strands of sunlight seeping through the forest canopy.
His eyes swept across the dark layered shadows between the trees, every strange silhouette putting him on edge.
"That place should be near here…" he muttered under his breath, more to steady his nerves than to reassure himself.
A faint rustle—soft, quick, unnatural—cut through the stillness.
Nam's instincts screamed.
He didn't think, he reacted.
He immediately dropped low and rolled behind the massive trunk of a fallen tree.
The old giant lay cracked open, split from age or the strike of some powerful beast.
Moss clung to the fractured bark like patches of damp fur, and insects scurried inside the exposed wood.
It was tall enough to hide him completely if he stayed crouched.
His breathing quieted.
His muscles tensed.
The rustling came again.
Closer.
Deliberate.
Nam pressed his back against the dead trunk, forcing himself to remain still.
His heart thumped loudly in his ears, but he kept his hand firm on the hilt of his weapon.
Slowly, painfully slow, he leaned to his right and peeked over the broken wood.
His pupils tightened.
Between the bushes, silhouetted by thin shafts of moonlight, he saw them—small hunched bodies, long ears, and green skin glinting faintly like wet moss.
Goblins.
Fictional monsters that was often considered the weakest monsters anyone could encounter.
Even in E.F.O, where power scaling can get ridiculous, goblins still sit comfortably at the bottom of the food chain.
Veterans mock them, beginners underestimate them, and guides label them as "harmless starter mobs."
But reality is never that simple.
In truth, goblins are among the most hated monsters to meet during the early game or during a beginner's journey in this world.
Their weakness isn't the problem—the circumstances around them are.
Early on, when the body is untrained and the stats barely reach human limits, even a "weak" creature can turn lethal.
Especially for custom characters, whose starting builds often sacrifice survival for creativity or long-term potential, facing a goblin becomes far more dangerous than the game ever warned.
One goblin?
That's manageable. Anyone with a stone, a stick, or even a bit of courage could take down one if they had to.
But the problem with goblins is this: there is never just one.
Every hunter, every player, every wanderer in this world eventually learns a simple, terrifying rule:
"Where there is one goblin, there are a hundred."
Goblins travel in packs. They breed quickly, hide well, and communicate with crude clicks and growls that echo through the forest. A single straggler is almost always a scout—bait, even. Something to lure the careless into deeper territory where dozens of yellow eyes are waiting in the bushes.
That is why goblins are feared.
Not because of their strength…
But because of their numbers… their persistence… and the simple knowledge that a harmless green runt might be the front line of a hidden swarm ready to tear a beginner apart.
Even seasoned adventurers tread carefully when they see the prints of goblin feet.
"A group of goblins scouts"
Five of them, creeping through the underbrush, sniffing the air in short, sharp breaths.
Two carried a jagged stone knife; another dragged a crude wooden club behind him.
Their yellow eyes flicked around restlessly as they searched the area.
Nam quietly observed the goblins from behind the fallen tree, eyes narrowed, studying the rhythm of their movements—their spacing, their blind spots, and the timing of their patrol-like wandering. They were sloppy, predictable, and loud… but still dangerous in numbers.
"If I strike fast enough, I can take out two before the others understand what's happening." he confidently thought
He steadied his breathing.
A slow inhale.
A longer exhale.
Then—
Now.
Nam exploded out of hiding.
The goblins had barely turned their heads before he was already upon them. His dagger flashed upward in a clean, practiced arc—
shk!
The steel pierced the first goblin's neck, silencing its cry as it dropped like a collapsed rag doll.
The nearest goblin jerked in surprise, its yellow eyes going wide. It opened its mouth, ready to screech an alarm—
But Nam was faster.
He twisted his hips and delivered a brutal kick to the goblin's chest. The impact sent the creature sprawling backward into the bushes, air blasting out of its lungs in a squeal. Before it could even hit the ground—
fwip!
Nam's fingers flicked, releasing a second dagger from his belt.
It spun in the air once, twice, and buried itself straight into the goblin's skull with a wet crunch.
No time to breathe—
The third goblin lunged at him from the front, claws wide, teeth bared.
"Too quick—!"
Nam activated his skill.
Charged.
Mana surged through his body like a jolt of electricity.
His senses sharpened, his muscles tightened, his speed noticeably spiked.
The world seemed to slow—
—but not enough.
The goblin's dagger grazed his shoulder as he leaned back, pain stinging across his skin.
"Tch—too hasty!" he cursed under his breath. He had misjudged the timing.
Before the creature could follow up, Nam pushed mana into his right leg and stomped the ground.
Shock.
A burst of force rippled outward from his foot, the air trembling as the wave struck the goblin point-blank.
Its body convulsed violently, limbs locking up as it let out a strangled noise, completely stunned.
Nam didn't hesitate—he slashed once across its throat.
Three down.
But the last two came at him together, one circling to flank while the other charged directly at him with a crude wooden club raised high.
Nam ducked the first blow, feeling the wind brush the top of his head, but the second goblin swung at his legs with surprising cunning. He barely jumped in time, losing his balance mid-air.
He landed hard, rolled, and came up with a desperate slash, cutting across one goblin's arm. It shrieked, but the other used the moment to tackle him to the ground. Claws raked across his clothes, missing flesh by inches as he twisted violently.
A knee to the goblin's gut stunned it long enough for Nam to shove it off. He pounced on the wounded one first, plunging his blade into its chest, then turned to finish the last goblin with a final, heavy downward stab.
Silence.
Only the faint echo of the struggle lingered in the forest.
Nam stood still, chest rising and falling, blood dripping from his dagger.
Five goblins defeated.
"…If I made even one mistake back there, I'd be the one lying on the ground instead."
The forest around him remained quiet…
Too quiet.
As if there wasn't a bloody fight that just happened.
"Anyway… I need to take what I came for."
Nam wiped his blade clean with a torn scrap of cloth, then pulled out a small leather pouch from his belt.
The fight was over, but the real task wasn't. He stepped toward the fallen goblins, careful not to make unnecessary noise—old habits from the game world mixing with instinct.
He knelt beside the first corpse.
He gripped the goblin's ear, drew his dagger, and sliced cleanly at the base. A cold, wet sound followed as the severed ear dropped into his hand. Nam grimaced.
"No matter how many times I do this," he muttered, "it never stops feeling disgusting."
He continued the process with the other corpses—five goblins, five ears—working methodically. Each cut, each drop of the ear into the pouch, sent a faint smell of iron drifting into the forest air. When he finished, he cinched the pouch tightly and lifted it up.
He whispered to himself, recalling the rules of this world:
"After completing a subjugation in the forest, adventurers are free to take anything from the monsters that isn't part of their official quest. But… they must present proof of their kills. For goblins, that proof is the left ear."
He shook the pouch slightly; the ears inside made a soft, unpleasant thud.
"But there isn't much reward for them. Goblins are… well, goblins. They don't have valuable materials. No special hides, no mana-packed organs, no useful claws or fangs. Just filth, bad odor, and trouble."
He looked down at the bodies again. He knew the truth—goblins weren't profitable.
"But what is valuable," Nam continued, "are their settlements."
Goblins themselves were worthless, but goblin communities were a different story entirely. They loved stealing, hoarding, and piling up junk. And among that junk were often lost items from caravans, stolen tools, sometimes even magical trinkets they were too dumb to understand.
"That's why adventurers flock whenever a goblin settlement is discovered. They might ignore single goblins, but a nest? That's a treasure chance."
Nam stood, brushing dirt off his clothes. He glanced toward the deeper part of the forest—the direction from which the goblins came.
"In Eltonit… it's been years since a goblin settlement was last found. The adventurer business here has been slow ever since. Hardly any big quests. Hardly any monster migrations. Just… routine, boring work."
He tightened his grip on the pouch.
"But if I report this…"
His eyes narrowed.
"…they'll definitely send an investigation party."
Five goblins this close to the border meant something. Goblins never wandered far from their nest unless driven out or unless their population grew too large.
Either way, adventurers would be interested.
The guild would be interested.
And Nam could use that.
"After all I needed then to get that thing"
----
✦ End of Chapter.