Chapter 12

  It took only a period of ten minutes for Adam to direct me towards the next lone Goblin that was wandering the forest. Once again, I hid behind a tree before the Goblin could spot me, I then activated my Spectral Sight skill and peeked my head around the tree until the monster was in my line of sight.

  Again, the world became awash with the glow of vibrant colors as everything in my vision glowed, but when my eyes landed on the Goblin a new sight greeted me.

  The Goblin shined with a menacing deep red glow that felt as if I was looking at unbridled rage and chaos itself. Quickly moving my head back behind the tree, I then deactivated my skill, and my vision returned to normal.

  “You saw and felt that didn’t you; Adam?” “You bet I did. That was very unpleasant to watch.” A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the experience, but then, taking a deep breath, I quickly calmed down before speaking again.

  “I believe what we just witnessed is confirmation of what you speculated about. My skill truly did attack the Goblin’s soul and destroyed it.” I felt acceptance of my statement come over the link I shared with Adam, with a hint of smugness, no doubt, over the fact that his theory was proven true.

  Rolling my eyes, I began to think about what my next course of action would be. Adam had not gotten the chance to practice any of his other spells yet and I was willing to concede this Goblin for that purpose. But I got a different response from Adam.

  “I think you should have this Goblin as well. We still do not know enough about how your Sub-Skills function. I could feel how you were going to let me have this Goblin, but I am interested to see more of how these soul-based skills and our soul stat perform in battle.”

  I was a little surprised by Adam conceding this monster to me, but I was not going to turn down the chance to see what my other skills could do. With the intention of observing the Goblin so I could formulate a plan of attack, I maneuvered my head out from behind the tree. As soon as I could see the Goblin, I could suddenly feel a skill activate from within me.

  I swiftly pulled my head back in response to the sensation as I heard Adam say, “I just used my Scholar’s Eye skill to size up this monster and this Goblin is no different from the last one. You should have no problem dispatching it with your strength.”

  A little warning would have been appreciated from Adam, but I pushed it behind me as I prepared to engage the Goblin. I pulled my sword from its scabbard and took a deep breath to center myself as what I had planned was a little reckless, but it was necessary to understand what I was capable of.

  Emerging from behind the tree the Goblin took immediate notice of my presence and began to spew the same gibbering noise the previous Goblin had as it began to charge at me.

  I just stood my ground and patiently waited for the Goblin to get within range of me. Once the Goblin was near enough to reach me with its claws, it began slashing its arms back and forth attempting to harm me. In response to the Goblin’s attack, I shouted in my head Soul Shield.

  As my skill activated, I felt the same pulling sensation from last time within me and then a silvery-white circle the size of a small shield appeared in the air between me and the Goblin. The shield had the same glow my Soul Slash skill imbued into my sword, but the shield was slightly transparent as I could see the Goblin warring with it in a vain attempt to use its claws to injure me.

  Not knowing how long my Soul Shield skill would last, I transferred my sword to my left hand while raising my right arm towards the silvery shield and the flailing Goblin with my palm facing them both. It was a good thing I had because as soon as my arm was raised the silvery shield disappeared in a shattering of silvery-white splinters.

  Freed from the obstruction, the Goblin once again began a mad scramble to get at me with its claws and in response I shouted in my head Soul Blast. I then felt another pulling sensation from deep within me and my arm locked in place as an orb the size of a crystal ball formed in my palm. It had the same silvery-white glow that all my soul skills seemed to have and as it formed it seemed to get cloudier in its appearance.

  Once my skill had fully formed, the orb shot from my palm with the speed of a galloping horse as it closed the distance between me and the Goblin. As the attack connected with center of the Goblin’s body, the Goblin then folded in on itself before being flung back a good ten yards from me.

  After the Goblin’s unceremonious journey through the air, it skidded across the ground before coming to a stop and going limp. Returning my sword to a two-handed grip I approached the Goblin cautiously; although, it was probably unnecessary as the Goblin became as still as the other Goblin after my Soul Slash skill had killed it.

  After confirming that the Goblin was indeed dead, I began to inspect its body but just like before there was no physical sign that the monster had been injured by my skill. The only change that could be observed was that the Goblin’s eyes had gone from red to white just like the other one.

  This left me a little confused as it seemed that each skill, I had used, achieved the same result, so what was the difference between them. It was during my pondering that Adam voiced his observations.

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  “It’s okay Callum, I was observing what was happening each time using my Scholar’s Eye skill and I believe I know the answer to what makes the two skills different.” Listening attentively, I waited for Adam to begin explaining.

  “Callum, when used your Soul Slash skill on the first Goblin, what your skill did was physically damage its soul with a manifestation of our soul as a razor-sharp blade. And like a blade that has enough power behind it, it can end a life. However, when you used your Soul Blast skill what occurred was that a portion of our soul was pulled from your body, imbued with power from the soul stat, and then fired as a projectile at the Goblin.”

  “Once the portion of our soul met the Goblin’s, because our soul was more powerful than the monsters, it caused the Goblin’s soul to explode and that manifested as the force that propelled it backwards.” Hearing Adam’s explanation of what occurred caused another question to form in my mind.

  “But that still doesn’t make the two skills that much different from each other as they are both projectile based skills.” A feeling of understanding came across our link as Adam addressed my concern.

  “Not quite, I surmise that when you first used your Soul Slash skill you desired for it to take that form so that you could keep your distance from the Goblin. I would bet that the skills primary function is for imbuing your sword with the power of our soul to strike your enemy. And that when the attack takes the form it did, it gets weaker the further it has to travel.”

  “Meanwhile, Soul Blast is a skill that is designed as a projectile and thus does not lose power over the distance it has to travel towards its target. I would imagine that the energy that was fed to the skill is to accomplish just that.”

  Everything that Adam was saying, based on what he had seen with his Scholar’s Eye skill, made sense. Now that I had time to think about it, when I first used Soul Slash, I distinctly got the feeling that the crescent slash was getting weaker the further it went. It was a lucky thing that the Goblin was so weak, or the attack may not have killed it in one hit.

  Using the time that it took to fish the Mana Stone out of the Goblin’s chest as a respite for my mind, was a welcome thing to have. It allowed my mind to catch up with everything Adam and I had learned about my skills and granted me the chance to once again center myself for the continuation of the training I had planned for the day.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent alternating between Adam and myself practicing what our new skills and spells could do.

  Through a combination of both Adam and I working together, I was able to learn that my Soul Shield skill lasted for about one minute before disappearing. Additionally, the shield stayed in place until enough force was applied to it. When such a sufficient force was applied, the Soul Shield would shatter into the silvery-white splinters I had seen before.

  As it turns out, my Soul Slash skill did function the way Adam had theorized. Specifically, that it was an enhancement skill to be applied to my sword and when used as a projectile it got weaker the further the attack traveled until it vanished.

  Furthermore, I became aware that the more I used my soul-based skills, the more exhausted I felt. Adam and I came to the conclusion that all my skills required our soul energy to activate and if too much of that energy was utilized it left me feeling fatigued.

  This just meant that I would have to be conscious of how much soul energy I used when I activated my skills so as to not leave myself in a vulnerable position during a fight.

  During the training, Adam was also able to test out his Fireball, Water Arrow, Wind Burst, and Sharpening spells. Adam and I had worked out a system whereby I would hold the monster’s attention through basic combat and while the monster was engaged with me Adam could then cast a spell either in front of us or into the blind spot of the monster.

  I was pleasantly surprised with the Sharpening spell as it allowed me to cut Goblins in half with barely any resistance. Adam and I also learned that the Sharpening spell combined with my Soul Slash skill to add a fine edge to the attack that completely decimated both the soul and body of the monster it was used on.

  Both these discoveries, towards spell applications, allowed for some interesting combinations where we could either distract or engage monsters depending on the situation.

  In total Adam and I had killed fifteen Goblins during our training session. We even decided to test our skills and strength against an E-Rank monster I had come across. The creature was called a Spine Lizard and, as Adam described it, it looked like a cross between a porcupine and a salamander.

  The main danger of the Spine Lizard was that the quills that covered its whole back side could be fired off when it was threatened. This attribute proved to be a bit of a challenge, but through a combination of my Soul Shield skill and the mixture of my Soul Slash skill and Adam’s Sharpening spell, the Spine Lizard was not too big of a hurdle to overcome.

  I was also pleased with all the Mana Stones I had collected as they would fetch a decent amount of coin from the Adventurers Guild. That was not including what I would get for Spine Lizard quills I had harvested.

  I piled all of loot from the monsters into my pack and began the journey back to my house. The sun was still high in the sky, but I wanted to get home before either of my parents noticed my absence and asked where I had been all afternoon.

  After making my way through the forest I reached the backyard of the house and carefully looked around. There was no one in sight so I quickly made my way into the house being extra careful not to make a sound.

  After I stripped off all my combat gear, I quietly made my way up the stairs to my room and hid all the materials I had gathered in my closet. I would have to make an excuse to my parents so that I could visit the Adventurers Guild tomorrow and exchange all the stones and quills for coins.

  I then quietly made my way back downstairs and equipped all my training gear before making my way to the door that led outside. I opened the door and closed it with a resounding thud as I marched into the main portion of the house to sell the illusion that I had just come in from training in the backyard.

  True to her nature mother poked her head in from the other side of the shop curtain to notice my deceitful re-entry. “Hey sweety, are you finally done with all of your training?” Wiping sweat from my brow I answered, “Uh-huh, I finally got tired and decided it was time to call it quits for the day.”

  I flashed mother a smile as she said, “That’s good. Well then, get yourself cleaned up, put on some proper clothes, and come help me in the shop till dinner time. Would you?”

  Giving a quick nod about the instructions given to me, I made my way upstairs to do just that. Making extra sure to not let mother see the smile I had at being able to pull one over on her about what I was really doing for the past few hours.