A Tamer’s Adventure

It was odd how the barrier was still active. Martyn grunted, twisting his body to avoid another arrow and hacking at a goblin’s face, killing it.

Soon enough, avoiding the chieftain's dark magic projectiles, he killed the extra goblins, his attention now fully on the chieftain, who frowns while drinking a mana potion.

‘He’s got potions too?’ At that, Martyn frowned further.

Quickly, he scanned his appraisal and spatial awareness stretching to its limit, but he didn’t find any adventurer corpses, which meant.

‘Either it got rid of an adventurer with an artefact,' he thought, raising his scimitar and covering it in mana, ‘or it has a way to make artefacts and potions.’

He charged, swinging at the barrier, and his slash cut through it, creating an opening. He opened his palm, conjuring a magic bolt, and the goblin chieftain did the same, their magic attacks colliding point blank.

Martyn skidded back holding his ground with the goblin chieftain.

A faint grunt came from one of the dens, drawing Martyn’s attention, but before he could check it out, the chieftain screeched, stabbing its staff into the ground.

Martyn had to focus as magic circles appeared on the floor around him. "fuck," he blinked from the spot as dark chains emerged, but that didn’t stop as the chains swerved through the air following him.

Martyn cursed as he blinked again from his spot, reappearing elsewhere as the chains curled around him.

‘First, what was that sound?’ He thought while moving around the cavern with the dark chains hunting him down.

Amber was still facing the large drake on her own; her muscles burned, but she could sense from the mana in its body that its time limit was running out.

Amber charged, bashing her shield against the construct’s head. She followed with a stab to its chest with her spear. It clawed at her, but she leapt above it, landing on its back.

Her spear coated in mana, she slashed at its spine, running back along its body, and with focus, covered the tip of her spear with a heavy concentration of mana, slicing its tail off.

The dark construct hissed, its body regenerating and focusing all its intent on Amber.

She huffed, rolling to the side, the construct's head crashing into the walls and breaking through them easily. She raised her shield, tanking a tail swipe, her feet quaking as she skidded across the floor, maintaining her stance.

A burning breath left her as she hissed at the construct, “Round two, I guess.” She huffed and charged.

Martyn was tired of using his blink spell, though it didn’t use much mana. The real issue was the chains following him; it didn’t take a genius to know he’d be in deep shit if they caught him.

With an idea coming to mind, he disappeared once more in a spark of light, reappearing next to a dead goblin. He grabbed its body and watched as the chains lunged at him.

In the last second before contact, he vanished, and his idea bloomed. The chains wrapped around the goblin’s corpses, and spikes emerged, puncturing the body in a gruesome display.

Appraising the Drake, he checked up on Amber; she seemed winded but overall was doing fine. He blinked in front of her, summoning a barrier shielding them from the construct’s attacks.

“Its mana is down to two hundred; if you keep it up, it won’t last much longer. Drink while I keep the barrier up.”

Amber nodded, pulling out a mana, fatigue, and healing potion and drinking them all. She let out a sigh, as her body rejuvenated and with a nod Martyn removed the barrier and moved away, letting Amber finish her fight.

“If anything goes wrong,” Martyn said.

“I know. I’ll call for you. I’ll be careful. The same goes for you.”

Martyn smiled with a nod and scanned for the goblin chieftain. Seeing his figure run into one of the dens, he followed it with his blink spell.

Arriving at the entrance, he saw another goblin beside the chieftain, who shrieked, firing another dark bolt that Martyn blocked with his barrier.

That didn’t stop the chieftain from firing more dark projectiles; Martyn blinked back and forth to avoid them.

Quickly, he appraised the other goblin, who wore a leather robe that was slightly too big for it.

It was a female goblin with a bald head and very little hair, unlike the chieftain, who sported a mad wizard’s long hairstyle.

The goblin smith growled, throwing rocks at Martyn. He chuckled, forming a simple barrier when the rocks exploded, shattering it.

‘What?’ He jumped back, appraising the rocks in her hands.

[Exploding rock, rank: enchanted]

‘Seriously A fire mage goblin blacksmith who can enchant?’ Martyn changed targets, blinking towards the blacksmith swinging down. He swung at her, only to jump back, seeing that she had dropped her enchanted rocks.

They exploded, pushing them all back. Martyn recovered, seeing the chieftain grunting as it stood. He saw a bracelet that was covered by his leather garb. A quick appraisal, and he knew what it was.

[Protection bracelet, rank: enchanted, durability: 19%]

It wasn’t an artefact; it was an enchanted item, and knowing that made Martyn smile for more reasons than one, greed flashed in his emerald eyes, scrutinising the goblin smith.

‘Enchantments are temporary.’ He charged at the goblin chieftain.

The chieftain, in response, cursed at the goblin smith before firing another dark bolt. Martyn dodged and blinked right next to it, firing a point-blank blast of mana. The barrier rose to protect him, but Martyn, appraising the bracelet, saw its durability drop by four percent.

He swung his blade with more force, and an exploding rock came to his side. With a grin, he blinked back as the stone exploded, cracking the barrier further.

As the smoke cleared, the chieftain moved next to the goblin smith, barking at her infuriatedly. The latter shrieked back, only for the chieftain to forcefully grab her by the arm, a dark mist of mana coating the grip.

She shrieked, trying to pull away, as Martyn observed with his appraisal and realised the chieftain was draining mana from her.

It pointed its staff at him, conjuring a magic circle. Martyn wasn’t going to let that happen, so he blinked to the chieftain, using the force behind the swing of his scimitar.

The barrier cracked. Martyn saw its durability fall to zero, and before whatever spell it was casting could activate, he sliced off its arm.

The chieftain fell to his knees, howling, and the goblin smith fell as well, breathing heavily from having all her mana drained.

Martyn kicked the staff away, and with a magic flame, he seared its arm, stopping it from bleeding.

A few seconds right after, a heavy thud shook the goblin mine, and Amber walked into the den, with the dark construct fading and turning to smoke.

“So what do we have here?” She said as she walked next to Martyn, eyeing the two goblins on the ground.

The chieftain cursed in goblin tongues, clutching his singed arm. The blacksmith was shaking, but Martyn had a tough time knowing whether it was from the draining fatigue, fear, or just both.

“I think I found our next member. Luckily, she’s a capable craftsman,” Martyn said, eying the two goblins.

For a moment, Amber forgot her fatigue while scrutinising the female goblin; she had little to no hair on her bald head, a skinny frame, crooked teeth, and yellow pointy toes and nails.

Martyn chuckled as Amber didn’t hide her disgust, her tail lashing against the ground.

“She’s just a goblin; she hasn’t evolved. A proper diet and she'll look like any human, but only green.”

“Alright then, why keep the chieftain alive?” Amber asked.

Martyn said nothing, casting the bonding spell. It took a second as both goblins grew a dazed look.

He offered the bond to the goblin blacksmith, but she was taking longer to respond. The chieftain, however, crawled, speaking at Martyn, pointing at the goblin smith, and talking some more.

Amber couldn’t understand, but by reading the chieftain’s body language, she understood.

Why choose her instead of me? She’s worthless I am more powerful. Goblins had no sense of loyalty or care for one another; they'd be willing to throw any of their kind in a pit if it meant survival. Love or compassion was not something they understood. They were vain, greedy, and lustful creatures.

Neither said a thing and only watched as the goblin blacksmith’s face soured; she rose, her body shaking with rage, and she barked at the chieftain, throwing an exploding stone at its face.

It was still alive, crawling to Martyn, begging to be chosen, but the goblin girl walked over. She shouted rage-filled words at the chieftain, who seemed to plead for mercy.

But with a large stone in hand, the goblin girl brought it down on the goblin chieftain’s head.

Its bones crunched and brain matter spilled, but it brought the stone down once more, and again after that, turning its head into a bloody, mushy mess.

“So it was a test?” Amber asked.

“Not really; that’s just how goblins are. I just wanted to see if she’d just killed the chieftain or had anything she wanted off her chest.”

Martyn offered the bond to her. And finally, after regaining her senses, the goblin girl accepted.

[Your soulbond has been accepted!]

[Congratulations! You have tamed a female goblin!]

[You have gained +50 experience!]

[You can view her status window and grant her a name.]

Feeling the extra limb in his mind as the soul connection between him and the goblin girl, he smiled, feeling an odd sense of clarity and sincerity from her.

“What if she said no?” Amber asked.

“Well, I’m not going to lie and say I’m a saint; if she said no, I’d kill her. Same for you; if I couldn’t face you and win, I’d be dead and wouldn’t be worthy. The moment I realised she made the bracelet, I wanted her,” Martyn said, staring down at the goblin girl.

“What should we call her?” Amber asked.

It was then that Martyn and Amber sat down with the goblin girl, not minding the area they were in, and went through a list of names. Until they reached one that they agreed on.

“Jade?” Amber suggested.

“Yes, Jade, good!” Jade said with a nod.

During that time, they also practised teaching her the common language and formally introduced themselves; in no time, she was developing as quickly as Amber in communicating.

It was then that Martyn’s status appeared, notifying him that both his soulbond and monster talent skills had levelled up. And as a result of the latter's increase in level, he could copy a skill from Jade.

This prompted him to summon her status to see what he was working on; he made it visible for all three of them to see.

“Your mana veins are higher than ours; not only that, but you’re a fire mage; I expected as much with the exploding stones you threw; elemental enchantments need an affinity,” Martyn said.

‘It’s a common affinity; being common isn’t a bad thing, though.’

Jade nodded eagerly and said, "Yes, the chieftain taught me mana to make more boom rocks!”

Martyn and Amber chuckled, “Boom rocks?” Amber repeated.

“Ah, sorry exploding rocks; I like boom rocks, okay, because they go boom and everything’s gone! Ahem, it’s one of the three enchantments I can do.” Jade flushed.

“This could be good for us; with her fire magic, she could be our ranged support in the dungeon and our craftsman outside,” Amber said.

Martyn agreed, sharing the same thoughts. All that was left was to choose which skill to learn, and though tinkering and enchantment were tempting, knowing he could actively learn their skills in the future, he chose Iron Gut.

[You have gained the skill Iron gut!]

Passive skills such as these were hard to level up. Once this skill was high enough, he wouldn't die from consuming anything toxic.

Now glancing at her status, he stood up, walking over to the dead chieftain. With his scimitar, he sliced his body in two, pulling out its monster core.

“Are you planning on evolving her?” Amber asked.

Martyn shook his head. While her attributes were decent, he’d want them to rise by at least one more point before doing so. Jade looked at the core expectantly, then at Martyn.

“Not yet; first we’re going to get your attributes up slightly, and then you’ll evolve. Are you good with that, Jade?”

“Mn! I work hard for you, master!” Jade saluted him.

Amber chuckled, standing up. “You can call him Martyn, though I’m sure he doesn’t mind which you go with. So how are we going to report this to the farmer and the guild too?”

"First, we’ll gather most of the goblins’s heads as proof; second, Jade, how is it that your chieftain’s a dark apprentice?” Martyn asked.

“What are you talking about, master?” She asked.

Martyn hummed. Genuine confusion was felt through their bond. He and Amber shared a glance before focusing on the goblin in front of them.

"Alright, then that’s for later. Go gather your things, Amber and I will get the proof we need. Before that, are there any other goblin tribes in the mines here?”

“No, we’re the first to make a camp in here,” Jade said, speaking more fluently.

With Jade going to gather her crafting supplies, Amber and Martyn decapitated all the dead goblins and stored them in the inventory along with the monster cores they found. Martyn picked up the chieftain’s staff and appraised it.

It was a slightly curved metal rod with a mana crystal floating on top of it.

[Magic Staff, Rank: Enchanted, Durability: 69%]

Curious, he called out Jade, “What’s the enchantment on this staff?”

“The staff has a durability enchantment.” Jade said proudly, “My best creation, besides the boom rocks.”

“This could be worth something,” Martyn said, storing it in his inventory. “You did great.”

Jade chirped happily and went to gather her things. Martyn told her she had access to their inventory and chuckled at her surprise to be able to store her things easily.

“Already liking Jade?” Amber said, nudging Martyn.

“I’m warming up to her; besides, I’d rather she evolve first.”

“Oh, sure.” Amber rolled her eyes.

Gathering their proof, they examined the dens, and with Jade’s help, they discovered a variety of things. For one, they’d been mining iron and had some ore saved up.

All of which they pocketed in the inventory; they also took the iron bits of their weapons and whatever mana crystals were around.

“The inventory’s almost full.” Martyn hummed feeling the space in his inventory.

“I think that’s everything,” Amber said, scrutinising the cave.

Agreeing together, they left the mines, and stepping out, they were greeted by the warm light from the sun.

As they descended to the farm, Martyn looked at Jade walking by his side. It would be better received if she didn’t look like a typical goblin.

‘I should ask Noah if we could stay at the farm; it's not the best idea to bring her into the village.’

As they arrived at Farmer Noah’s place, he sat up from his chair and walked up to them with a smile.

“So is it taken care of?” He said this before glancing at Jade.

Martyn explained his class and that he tamed Jade, who helped clear the goblin den. After explaining the details and ensuring the quest was completed, Noah signed the quest sheet with his signature and left a magic thumbprint on it. Martyn offered to bring him up to the mine to show him visual proof, but the goblin heads were more than enough.

“I’m also sorry, sir, that we caused you trouble,” Jade bowed, apologising to the farmer.

Noah chuckled, waving his hands.

“It’s alright, I get it. It’s the way things are; there is no need to apologise, girly. We also have a tamer in the city, though he could only tame one beast and chose a monster falcon. I can see why you chose her. A polite girl is a great girl; that’s what my mom always said.

So, thanks for taking the quest. I didn’t know that many gathered up there; I only assumed like ten or so. It would’ve been bad if they planned for a wave. Well, the farms would be in trouble, and the village would be fine. For that, I’m glad.”

“No problem, sir, and if you don’t mind, can I ask for a favour?” Martyn was glad Noah felt thankful and satisfied, clearing his throat.

“Depends on the favour.”

“Could we rest in one of your barns? We’ll pay for the lodging. I just want to evolve Jade before we return to the city.” He said.

Noah hummed in thought before his eyes gleamed, reaching an understanding. He glanced at Jade again; he’d been used to the sight of goblins, her appearance didn't bother him, like an old woman, but not everyone would react the same.

“Well, you did great work, so for how long?”

“A week or two.” Amber chimed in.

“I can do that; I’ve got a barn I use to stack hay. You can use that one.” He said as he led them across his farm.

‘Thank you, master,’ Jade thought, silently following behind Martyn and Amber, her mind forming an understanding of Martyn’s character.

 

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