3 The Arcane Scholar (1/2)

After walking for close to three hours, he had noticed a stronger light shining around a corner. He pressed himself against the wall. The bolts around him conformed to avoid touching. Silently he peered out.

Seven goblins huddled around a fire eating...well, Rainer decided to ignore what they were eating for now. An occasional guttural voice leaked out. It seemed to form a language though up until a message appeared in the bottom right, Rainer couldn't be sure it had any logical form.

[Skill Gained: Muknar Language lvl 1/10]

The message accompanied a small burst of information. It was like he knew it all along. Of course, the amount of information likely equaled someone who watched subtitled anime for years, tried to watch it without any subtitles and then, only catching a few scattered/common vocabulary plus context clues, realized years of their life had amounted to little more than any other consumer of media.

Hesitantly, Rainer placed 3 skill points into it. He already knew he couldn't learn it with sleep learning and it wasn't like they were going to teach him. It cost 1 point to raise to level 2, and another 2 points to raise to level 3. Now, it felt like an elementary school student's level of knowledge. He began catching their conversation.

”Why Grum long. Grum slow.”

”Even Magpie long. Magpie slow.”

The one who seemed to be the leader of the group as well as the only Goblin that wasn't level 1 called out. He wanted another Goblin to go next.

Rather what the fuck? It's been who knows how many hours and they don't think something is wrong? Maybe they just don't care?

[Goblin, Male, Warrior lvl 3]

”Pigtongue you go next. Find good ore place, good Be'tar Huktar get.”

Judging by the strange laughs that followed he assumed Be'tar was slang for a female, probably similar to bitch, though he hadn't recognized the word until now. The thought of said female combined with the content of their current meal set a deep revulsion in Rainer's stomach. Huktar, he didn't know, but the context made it seem like a race. He understood enough about the language to make this prediction even if his vocabulary was lacking.

Rainer needed to act now while they were all sitting and distracted. If he surprised them, getting off another 2 bolts after and finishing off all 7 wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Just as he moved to turn the corner, he stuttered his steps for a second. Guilt racked him for a moment. In the first place, the earlier two Goblins appeared mindless, yet these ones clearly had a language.

Am I killing...people?

But one reminder of what they were eating was enough to push down any guilt, for now. He was, however, a firm believer in the survival of the fittest. Raising and breeding pigs may be no different, logically speaking, than what these goblins were doing with the possible human they were eating. To eat meat in any capacity was to Rainer no different, not that he refrained from that, though of course the thought of someone eating a human still displeased him.

He was human after all.

But the stutter in his step had caused him to move around the corner ever so slightly. The merry goblins became alerted.

The leader instantly stood up, grabbing his club and screaming out, before rushing towards Rainer at a speed far greater than any of the previous goblins. His metal boots making sparks at his speed.

”HukTar!”

”Kill!!”

Rainer was unable to even react before the Goblin was in front of him, but he was saved by all four of his armed [Arcane Bolt]s firing off at once. They obliterated the Goblin leader in front of him. An arm tore off the Goblin, his head became partially caved in from the sheer force of the bolts and he was catapulted straight past the fire that was cooking their meal.

The remaining 6 of the Goblins were shocked for a moment before they ran completely in the other direction screaming the Muknar word for mage.

Reacting slowly, but quick enough to still be within range, Rainer fired off [Arcane Bolt]s towards them, managing to hit and kill three before the rest fled around the corner. Even though the attack was ”successful” Rainer paled at what could have been. If the bolts hadn't automatically fired in time, death. If the goblins attacked instead of fled he wouldn't have returned to reality quick enough to kill more than 1 or 2, death. And what was the reality? The fact they'd likely come back with an army.

The general shortness of the tunnels in height gave some relief. At least nothing big could come for him. Though that hope was shot down by the idea of some sort of troll crawling on all fours and chasing him down like a rabid animal. Now that, was unpleasant.

Collecting himself Rainer took a quick look at the messages that appeared before casting [Arcane Bolt Armament] another four times. His mana lowered to 4 from 11(13).

[Experience Gained: 16%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

He managed to get an entire 16% added on from killing this level three Goblin. Whether it was the class the Goblin had or the level, Rainer didn't know. The other goblins originally sitting with the leader were all Level 1 and their class was listed as none. It seemed even without a class everyone was simply level 1 rather than a 0.

Looking at the direction the Goblins fled, Rainer had no intentions of pursuing. Even if he could sprint at full speed for several minutes, what did it matter? He might not even come close.

Rainer looked at the corpse of the person he killed. Hideous and grotesque it was. It hadn't been much better even before he caused such damage. He didn't know if he could continue doing this and still remain the same. Did he even want to keep his past self? Would humans be just as easy to kill now? Was he on the path to becoming such an individual? Even now his happiness with the experience gain exceeded the weight of taking that Goblin's life.

He sighed, understanding that no matter what guilt he had or decision he came to he still valued his life more than anything else. He headed in the direction that the goblins had run to—not, however, before noticing the lack of a ceiling above his head. The night sky was clearly visible shining down where the still burning fire pit roasted whatever poor individual had become the goblin's meal. Rainer didn't have the heart to look, staring instead at the 2 bright moons shining down. The walls were far too high to climb reaching a height of 5 or more stories.

One moon shone with a slight gold tint while the other glistened with a violet blue. Both gently blended in amidst the stars in the sky.

I'm really not on Earth anymore, am I?

Rainer walked forward and was soon met with another dilemma, a split in the tunnels. 6 different tunnels appeared and almost all showed clear signs of recent travels. One did not and made the choice for him obvious.

His mana was low after arming another 4 [Arcane Bolts], as well as the 3 he shot off towards the fleeing goblins, so meeting anyone anytime soon wasn't a part of the plan. At least if they came back here to search for him they'd struggle as well. Or not. A dog of any variety and likely some monstrous version these goblins might have could track him quite easily. Even a complete idiot would notice his steps in a formerly unvisited tunnel.

So his lack of mana made time a priority. He could try to level a melee combat ability with sleep learning but it wouldn't be the same as before. While training for 8 hours straight, if he could even sleep that long, was impressive, it stayed well within the realms of possibilities for a melee combatant. Especially normal for someone of say, level 10.