n

n

n

"Heck no!

" Terlas shouted in protest. Eldrian did not care, simply continuing he explained what he thought would be best.

n

"You will have to go recover your arrows. You do not have to get close to the goblins, but you can't do nothing.

" Eldrian said, indicating to the arrows Terlas had left. Which was only about a half of what Eldrian had given him.

nTerlas grumbled but did not argue.

n

"Floyd will naturally just stay here. We will need him if something unexpected happens. Margit can also stay here since she simply needs to rest after a certain amount of spell casting.

" Eldrian continued, unsure when he actually became the leader of the group.

nHe did not mind, but he found it strange. He was the weakest, so how had this landed on him? He felt this was somewhat Zamia's doing, by her having given him the task and not the others. She had indicated that she wanted him to be responsible for what happens.

n

"Sabrea, I don't like having to ask you to do this. But can you try and copy what I did?

" Eldrian asked, feeling bad that he would place her in the most danger. Even Terlas, who needed to recover his arrows, could simply run when the goblins approached. Yet he was asking her to stay with him.

n

"No problem. It should not be hard.

" She replied quickly, with a bright smile. She had looked at how clumsy Eldrian had been in the start. Yet he had managed, as such, she felt she should be fine. This would also have her not simply wait around and doing nothing, something she did not enjoy doing.

n

"Just be careful when we go. Especially of all the dead goblins, I almost tripped twice the last time.

"

n

"That is because you aren't used to a battlefield,

" Terlas said mockingly, causing him to receive angry stares from everyone but Floyd. Floyd was simply gazing at the Cephaphyr who had finally finished the spear and come to the platform. Holding the spear in his mouth.

n'How's this?' Cephaphyr asked Eldrian in excitement, rushing towards him. Causing Terlas to almost be knocked off of the platform. If he had not seen the spear coming he might now be lying down on the ground. Everyone smirked as they felt Terlas deserved this.

nEldrian stopped his planning and turned to Cephaphyr, looking at the spear in amazement. The spear was not very large, only slightly over a meter long. Yet it looked amazing.

nCephaphyr had clearly put a great deal of effort into making it. The back end was sharpened, but not much. Forming a short point instead of a round end. The front, instead, was in the form of a leaf blade.

nEldrian was surprised that Cephaphyr could actually make such a complex thing. It might not seem like much, but getting the dimensions correct must certainly have been quite the struggle. Especially on the first attempt.

nThis blade was not long, only as long as Eldrian's hand. But this enabled it to be used not only with thrusts but also with swings.

nNaturally, the shaft of the spear looked amazing, with some strange patterns all over the shaft. These patterns seemed to complete at the blade. Where they all met and then formed into a single wave-like pattern.

nAfter overcoming his amazement Eldrian used Inspect on the spear. Happy at what this informed him of.

nAlderleaf short spear

nGrade: Magic, Failed

nTier 0

nDamage: 15

nDurability: 235

nAttribute requirements:

nStrength: 95, Agility: 90

nA special spear made from the tree of an Alderleaf, through the magic of an Alicorn.

n

nEldrian wanted Cephaphyr to make more spears for him immediately. But he stopped himself and instead thought about it a bit more. He did not quite know how much effort Cephaphyr put into making them. He did not want to ask for too much.

n'This is amazing. Thank you.' Eldrian said to Cephaphyr, giving him a good rub as thanks.

nCephaphyr enjoyed the praise, replying, 'No problem. It was quite fun to make.'

nShould I ask him to make more of the arrows or spears? Eldrian wondered after hearing the light-hearted reply. He wanted a few of the spears for emergency use. He also realized that no matter what, Cephaphyr would be unable to make enough arrows to cover Terlas's usage.

nAfter thinking about it for a few minutes he asked Cephaphyr to make an entire quiver of arrows for Terlas. Both of them did not know how many this was and as such asked Terlas. Who said that that would be 24 arrows.

nThis was far less than Eldrian had expected. Upon further questioning, he found that this was the normal quiver size for traveling. If instead, the person was going to war then a slightly larger quiver would be used which can take anywhere from 48 to 64. Terlas had taken two 24 arrow quivers since he had not expected they would need to face so many enemies.

nBefore starting on making these Cephaphyr told Eldrian that this would be the last he would be able to make for the day. And that if Eldrian wanted more spears that he would only be able to make two or three each day.

nEldrian had showered Cephaphyr in some flattering praise, most of which was his honest opinion. He was simply astonished at the amount Cephaphyr could do and asked Cephaphyr to not push himself too far.

nHaving dealt with this amazing sidetrack, Eldrian returned to the matter at hand. By which time it was nearing 11 in the morning. Something which Eldian had been keeping an eye on. He could not help but worry that they would take too long.

n

"If no one has any problems, let's go,

" Eldrian said after a bit more of discussing the details. As he said this Sabrea stood up from her comfortable spot where she had been enjoying the view into the forest. The tree they were on giving a surprisingly good one, somehow it aligning perfectly to allow one to see quite far.

nShe quickly climbed back into her armor and equipped her longsword over her shoulder. As they climbed down Margit gave them an encouraging thumbs-up.

n

"Are you ready?

" Eldrian asked as they passed from the forest to the barren lands.

n

"I think so.

" She replied, looking at the distant caves with a little apprehension. No matter what, she could not stop herself from imagining what would happen if she were to be taken prisoner by the goblins.

n

"Relax, just remember to always keep enough distance between you and them. If you feel it is too much you can simply run. There is no need to do everything this time.

" Eldrian said encouragingly.

nKiting was certainly not something Sabrea would be used to and as such he made sure to tell her she was allowed to run. This was something players often forgot when doing it. When they got cornered or made a mistake, they would then fully commit to fighting.

nThis was not needed, looking for a new way to run was also viable. Eldrian wanted her to know that.

n

"Thank you,

" Sabrea replied, embarrassed that someone so weak was encouraging her. Yet somehow she failed to see Eldrian as someone weak. He rather seemed to be someone far past his level, appearing like a veteran reborn.

n

"Now it is time for the nerves,

" Eldrian said as they passed the 60-meter mark and the goblins took note and started charging.

nFrom the corner of his eye, Eldrian could see Sabrea shaking. Taking a step closer he patted her shoulder,

"You can always simply run.

" He said, jokingly. But also wanting to remind her of this. He was all too aware that she could die for real.

nShe smiled embarrassedly as her cheeks turned red. Luckily for her, the goblins charging at them hid this as they both had to start running. Having waited until the goblins first came close enough, so as to not make them give up.

nFor the first few attacks, Sabrea struggled quite a bit. Often rushing to regain her distance. But after a few minutes of running, she got used to it and soon she was cutting two or three goblins with each attack.

nShe was also constantly becoming better at it and soon she was able to attack almost every other step.

nWhen they entered the forest Eldrian had only managed to kill about 40 goblins. She instead had killed nearly a hundred.

n

"Aren't they a little too weak and dumb?

" She asked as she wiped her sword to get rid of the blood.

nEldrian, struggling to regain his breath, looked at her with envy. It took a great deal of effort for him to kite the goblins. Yet she had made it seem like nothing. Sure she had struggled a bit in the start, but once she got used to it, she had been able to almost walk backward.

nSeeing her do it with such ease had caused Eldrian to push himself harder and try to attack more. Which he now regretted as he was close to being completely out of stamina.

n

"I think...

" Eldrian started saying, taking a deep breath between.

"That you are rather too strong. And as for the weak part...

" Again taking a deep breath,

"They are the weakest of the goblins. The outcasts. Of course, they... Won't think much.

"

nSabrea smiled embarrassedly as she realized that the strength difference was truly too great.

nThis settled they both started heading back, during which Eldrian ended up asking for some tips he could do while kiting the goblins. He was still struggling with not making a mistake, Sabrea instead had had time to perfect or rather improve her method.

nWhile most of her advice was useless since Eldrian could not even follow it if he wanted. Some things she said did click with Eldrian.

nLike the fact that he did not need to spin to attack. He had a spear which gave him great reach. If he only twisted his body and swung, he would be able to attack almost 2 meters to each of his sides. This might not allow him to hit anything right behind him, but he could angle it to hit a large area.

nShe also indicated that he could swing over his head. While this would be a blind attack, it was not like he needed to see when so many goblins were charging. Any attack would land.

n