"It can"t be more than one day request as that would just waste the time I have on the room in the inn… Something close to Morkove… What have we here?"

Mike spotted a request that seemed interesting and moved a little closer to take a look

-Goblin extermination-

Goblins have appeared in the forest north of Morkove, Warning goblin mages have been spotted in the groups of goblins although no hobgoblins have been confirmed - recommended group sizes 1 to 3 level 1"s - proof of extermination: right ear, price per extermination: 50

Mike gave a nod, although goblins in his past life had a reputation of being easy prey Mike knew that a real fight would be different from a game, especially if there was more than one goblin at a time

"Well then… This looks like the kind of request you just have to show the proof of extermination at the guild counter, so let"s get going… No I should buy a little something first"

Mike left the guild and after a brief stop at a nearby supile shop he left the city of Morkove through the north gate and after 20 minutes of walking he walked into the forest north of Morkove where the goblins had been confirmed to exist, Mike sharpened his ears and slowed his pace some as he took the knife out from his poncho.

After looking around for about 45 minutes Mike spotted his targets in a clearing just up ahead, they seemed to be feasting on a dead deer, Mike ducked behind some brushes before he took a closer look at the goblins, they were the size of toddlers, about half a meter high with greenish skin, some of them carried sharp sticks and one of them carried a rusty dagger, there was a total of 12 goblins in the clearing

"Okay… Let"s do this… First let"s lower their numbers a bit…"

Mike took aim and then threw the knife at the closest goblin hitting in right in the side of the head, the knife easily sank into the goblins skull before Mike quickly opened his hand and the knife flew back to him and he silently made his way away from the position he threw the knife from while still keeping on the edge of the clearing.

Meanwhile the goblins noticed that one of them had suddenly died, but instead of searching for the killer they jumped on the corpse and began to devour it, this p.i.s.sed off Mike as he just lost 50 from the right ear that was eaten by the other goblins

"...f.u.c.k it"

Mike decided that he had overestimated his opponents intelligence and stepped out into the clearing exposing himself to the goblins but again Mike was surprised to see that only 4 goblins ran at him as the rest were busy fighting over the copse of the goblin Mike killed first

"Well this works too…"

Mike lowered his stance and got ready as the first goblin drew near and then… He kicked it in the face breaking its neck before he slashed out and cut through the neck of the second before he avoided a stab from the third and gave it a kick to the face in return, as a snap was transmitted through his leg Mike knew he had killed the third and turned his attention to the fourth that surprisingly was running away, Mike gave a short sigh and then he threw his knife that sank into the skull of the fourth goblin

"What are the other 7 doing..? Oh… they are still eating"

Mike once again felt that he had overestimated the intelligence of the remaining goblins that were still busy eating one of their own, Mike opened his hand and the knife was pulled out of the skull, of the now dead goblin and flew over and landed in Mike"s hand before he once again threw it, this was repeated a few times until there was only four goblins left were Mike"s concentration slipped and the knife landed and sank into the shoulder of one of the remaining goblins that let out a howl of pain that woke the other three up from their food infested daze as they turned to Mike and ran at him while letting out not so intimidating roars

"Here they come...Finely"

Mike didn"t panic he just opened his hand again and the knife flew over quicker than the 3 non wounded goblins ran then he slaughtered the four remaining goblins

"And that"s that… Too easy"

Mike collected the 11 right ears and then he put down his backpack and put the ears into a pouch before he used [Drink] to drain all the blood from the goblin copses, then he gathered all the now drained corpses and pulled out what looked like a block of post it notes

"He said I just have to tear it… Let"s use one as a test…"

Mike tore one piece of paper from the pack before he tore it over on the middle and dropped it down on the pile of corpses, after a few seconds the torn paper ignited and set the entire pile of drained copses alight, Mike gave a nod as a small slime formed on his face

"It really works, this igniter paper sure is useful…"

The igniter paper had a low grade magic formation on it that when torn would ignite the paper, now Mike didn"t know exactly what a magic formation was or how it worked but seeing the igniter paper do its work he was satisfied with his purchase

"This means I can use [Drink] more often without fearing anybody discovering the drained corpses…"

Mike looked up at the sun and decided to do some more goblin hunting and so he walked into the forest to continue finding prey…

After an entire day of hunting Mike began moving back towards the city of Morkove, in his backpack were a total of 38 right goblin ears for a total of 1900 in value, Mike felt quite proud of himself having hunted this many goblins in one day, and having drained all the goblin copses of blood with [Drink] he knew he was close to leveling up if he was not able to level up already, thus he was in a good mood as he walked out of the forest. That is until his path was blocked by two burly looking men carrying swords on their hips

"Stop right there"

Mike did as he was asked but under the poncho he was already clutching the knife tightly as he asked

"What do you want?"

One of the burly men gave an unpleasant smile that showed his yellow teeth before he spoke

"Well it"s simple, we"re here to receive tax, we"ll take half of what you hunted today"

Mike gave a smile which the two burly men took as him aggring and one of them stepped forwards when suddenly a cold light flashed as the knife drew a line across the neck of the burly man"s throat, fresh blood sprayed out from his neck as the dumb grin still was plastered on his face before he fell over face first

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

The other burly man didn"t take kindly to this and drew out his sword and rushed at Mike and slashed down on him with enormous strength, Mike just managed to dodge as he quickly threw his backpack to the side as it was hindering his movements, this made an opening which the burly man didn"t miss and he slashed down and cut into Mike"s chest leaving a long b.l.o.o.d.y cut down his chest as he yelled out in anger

"That"s what you get for opposing a level 2!"

Mike backed off as the burly man continued his attacks, gradually the poncho Mike wore was cut to pieces as numerous cuts appeared on his body as he struggled to avid the sword that was way faster than anything he had ever faced before

"s.h.i.+t..! I can"t die here…"

His breath was short and Mike grew even more desperate as the cuts on his body was multiplying at a fast rate, if Mike had not received the dagger training he would have been long since been cut to pieces by the violent sword strikes from the burly man, Mike continued to dodge what he could not deflect with his knife as he was pushed back, eventually he gritted his teeth and stepped in as the burly man brought down his sword

"AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!"

Before Mike realized he had let out a howl of pain as the sword cut deep into his shoulder, shattering his collarbone and nearly piecing his lung

"HAHAHA! That"s what you get, now die!"

The burly man pulled out his sword from the shoulder as blood gushed out from the wound, clearly this was the end for Mike, or at least it should have been as the burly man felt a shallow stab on his chest

"How dare you stab me!?"

The burly man kicked Mike away, Mike crashed against a tree and nearly pa.s.sed out from pain as he looked at the burly man with a shallow smile on his face as he muttered

"[Drink]"