In order to synthesize those two S-rank talents, John had practically driven the tarblobs in the entire swamp to extinction.
Thankfully, he had those modified incendiary bombs.
Otherwise, if he had to kill them one by one on his own, synthesizing two S-rank talents would probably have taken forever.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, John opened his status panel.
…
[Player]: John
[Level]: 10
[Class]: Assassin
[Talents]: Wrath of the Raider (SSS), Universal Synthesis (S), Absolute Stillness (S), Annihilation of All (S), Shift…
[Attributes]: Strength 260, Agility 300, Mind 150, Stamina 570
[Skills]: Instant Move (B), Throwing Knife Technique (B), Detection (B)
[Equipment]: Novice Dagger, Novice Robe
[Wallet]: 39 Gold Coins, 618 Silver Coins
…
"With a stat panel like this, I should be able to challenge every player in Zone 5 at this stage, right?"
John was very satisfied with his current build.
At the same time, his hands were starting to itch.
After training for so long, he naturally needed to find a place where he could really cut loose.
Ordinary players were no longer enough to satisfy him.
If he wanted to test himself, then he had to challenge powerful monsters!
With that thought, John turned and left the swamp, heading toward the northern side of Novice Village.
…
Forty-five minutes later.
After taking a long detour, John finally arrived in the northern region of Novice Village.
In this area stood a large Goblin Tribe.
It was also one of the most popular leveling spots for beginner players.
The tribe covered a vast area, with half the mountain range having become goblin territory.
Crude wooden structures were crammed together in crooked rows, forming a sprawling encampment.
John stood at the rear of the Goblin Tribe, halfway up the mountainside.
From his position, looking down below, he could clearly see quite a few novice players grinding mobs in full swing at the front of the tribe.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Priest, give me a heal! Can't you see my HP's about to bottom out?!"
"Focus the goblin archer first! Its damage is way too high!"
"Archers, watch your positioning! Don't get crowd-controlled by the goblin priest again!"
If the system had never awakened, perhaps John would have been one of them too.
These goblins dealt high damage, but the EXP they gave was definitely worth it.
And since their HP was low, they were not too hard to deal with as long as you paid attention to positioning.
John could already see that some of the elite players had reached Level 5.
But none of that caught his interest now.
As someone reborn, John knew very well that the real treasure of this tribe was hidden in the back.
"If I remember correctly, it should be inside that cave."
His gaze swept back and forth before quickly locking onto a certain cave.
Without hesitation, John immediately activated Instant Move.
His figure flashed forward, rushing toward the cave at astonishing speed.
At that moment, inside the cave—
A huge Goblin Chief was sitting cross-legged in the center.
Below him was a treasure pile as large as a small hill.
The pile contained everything imaginable.
All kinds of gold, silver, and copper coins, weapons and equipment, and even quite a few locked treasure chests.
These were all the riches the Goblin Tribe had accumulated through long years of plunder.
Anyone who could take all of that wealth for themselves could probably raise a large guild in an instant.
But to seize that treasure, one first had to deal with the goblin army inside this cave.
The Goblin Chief alone was already a Level 15 Boss!
Not only did it possess an enormous 10,000 HP pool, it also had a B-rank talent.
And in addition to that, goblin troops were stationed throughout the cave.
Even the strongest guilds at the current stage would have no choice but to go grind more levels before daring to attack this place.
The Goblin Chief held a spiked club in one hand, yawning as it listened to its subordinate's report below.
"Reporting to the Chief, more and more humans have been appearing outside the tribe.
Their coordination is quite impressive. We've already lost nearly a hundred brothers.
At the moment, they seem to be planning to push deeper into the tribe. Should we—"
The Goblin Chief waved its hand and interrupted impatiently.
"A bunch of trash who aren't even Level 10 yet. Why bother with them?
Don't report such trivial matters again. I—"
Before it could finish speaking, a damage number suddenly popped up above its head.
[-3078!]
The Goblin Chief froze on the spot like a statue.
The goblin guards below had not even had time to react
when they saw a frenzy of damage numbers erupt above their chief's head.
[-3078!]
[-3089!]
[-3212!]
Four terrifying damage numbers appeared in succession.
The Goblin Chief's head instantly rolled off.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The massive head slid down the treasure pile, its face still frozen in that same dismissive expression.
The goblin guards were completely dumbfounded.
They stared blankly upward, only to see a lean figure standing atop the Goblin Chief's headless corpse.
It was none other than John, who had made his way in with Instant Move.
In his previous life, he had come to this cave to grind levels before.
He knew the structure of the cave even better than the goblins themselves.
Using a hidden passage he had discovered on his own in his past life,
John had slipped inside like a ghost.
Then, without making a sound, he had circled behind the Goblin Chief and struck four times in a row, killing it instantly.
Under the effect of Absolute Stillness,
the Level 15 elite boss, Goblin Chief, had not even the slightest chance to resist.
[You killed Goblin Chief Lv.15. EXP +31100!]
[Your level has increased to Level 13!]
[You have plundered the B-rank talent "Goblin's Strength"!]
[Goblin's Strength: Passive talent. Every attack deals an additional 5% true damage.]
…
Killing a Level 15 elite boss
had directly boosted John up three levels.
With a heavy stomp, he kicked the Goblin Chief's headless corpse down from the treasure pile.
The body crashed to the cave floor with a dull, thunderous thud.
Only then did the goblin guards finally come to their senses.
The entire cave immediately erupted into chaos.
"Assassin! It's a human assassin!"
"Kill him! He assassinated our chief!"
"Recall the troops at once! We must avenge the chief!"
Fear simply did not exist in goblin brains.
The moment they saw that John had openly assassinated their leader right before their eyes,
every single one of them flew into a berserk rage.
The warning horn was sounded.
Dense waves of goblins poured out from every corner of the cave, surging toward John atop the treasure mound.
Faced with the siege of this horde of green-skinned monsters,
John stood motionless on top of the treasure pile.
A faint smile hung on his face.
"Come. The more of you, the better."
The goblin guards charged all at once with every kind of weapon in hand.
Short spears, stone clubs, and bone knives rained down on John in an overwhelming torrent.
But before the Novice Robe, which now boasted a massive 600 Defense,
those attacks were no different from scratches.
[-0!]
[-1!]
[-0!]
[…]
Large swaths of feeble damage numbers rose from John's body.
The occasional point of damage that did appear came only from the goblins' innate true-damage talents.
He stood there like a god of war, allowing hordes of goblins to surround and attack him, yet his body did not move even a single inch.