Ultimate Level 1

Max took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

Staring at the notifications and his improved stats, he felt overwhelmed with how his skill seemed to work.

Since he was full health, it made sense he hadn’t gained any hit points back.

But why was there no stamina… was it because the goblin had run out? Perhaps I can only consume so many things at once.

Max decided it would be better to consider that later, as he had been attacked once for not paying attention. Grumbling, he set about cutting off the ears of the two smaller goblins.

With that task done, Max turned back to the hobgoblin and realized it had a ring in its nose. It was just a copper ring, but still, he didn’t want to leave it. Wincing as he slipped a finger into its nostril, he cut it out and then finished chopping off its ears. The hobgoblin's ears were twice as large as the smaller goblin ones.

Rummaging through its clothes, he cut off the nasty leather belt it had, freeing the small pouch that was tied to it. Inside was a treasure of two silver coins and a few colored rocks.

What is it with these rocks… they must be quest items.

Realizing what he was missing, Max smacked himself on his bald head and winced, not because he had hit himself that hard but because the top was sunburned. It wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier. The consuming of the hit points healed his injury and also lessened the stinging of the sunburn.

The hobgoblin's sword was longer, straighter, and felt sharper than the first sword he had gotten from a goblin. Letting out a gulp, he was thankful it had never managed to cut him, or he might have lost a limb.

“I’d rather not find out I can’t grow back an arm,” he muttered as he flipped the goblin over, checking it once more for anything else of value. Finding nothing, he tied the sword to his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. It was time to call this day a win, turning everything in before anything else bad could happen.

The trek back through the forest had netted him two more mushrooms and as he got close to the open fields, he spotted a group of two fighting a pack of four goblins a good bit away. They were solidly handling the goblins and so he stopped to watch, trying to learn what he could about how they worked together.

One appeared to be a mage, casting flashy spells. It took a moment, but Max figured out the mage must have a snare spell or something that immobilized enemies as two goblins were unable to approach even though they were moving their hands and weapons.

The warrior wore a metal breastplate, judging from the reflection of the sun on it.

His massive two-handed sword carved them in half and before Max knew it, all four were dead.

With that distraction gone, he focused on getting back to town, walking faster and watching for any possible goblins.

“What the hell happened to your hair and my spear?!” demanded Sherry as she looked at the items he had put on the table while he waited for her to appear. “I’m not saying it doesn’t look good on you, but…”

She stopped, tsking her tongue as she rubbed it against her teeth a few times before finishing her thought.

“You could probably use a helmet based on how red your head looks.”

Laughing, Max nodded and gave a slight shrug.

“I was trying something different. I will probably keep it, but I’m glad you don’t think I look too bad. As for the spear, a hobgoblin managed to get a few good hits on it with its sword before I could kill it.”

Her eyes widened, and he saw her face lose a little color at his comment.

“You fought a hobgoblin and won? Was it alone?”

She had lowered her voice and leaned in, putting her hands on the other side of the table and leaning against it. Distracted by her massive arms that seemed to form into mountains of muscles as she pressed her weight against the table, Max forgot what she had asked.

“Seth!” she said, snapping her fingers. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah… Uh… it had two smaller goblins with it. Both with spears,” he replied. “Thankfully, my armor stopped their attacks, and your spear did amazing, slicing them open like a knife through fresh butter.”

She beamed at his praise, leaning back and folding her hands across her chest as he gave the details of the battle.

“Sherry! Stop flirting and make a trade!” someone shouted from behind, causing her face to turn candy apple red for a moment.

“Shut your pie hole or I’ll shut it for you, Fred!” she snapped back, her tone reminding him of a time his mother had dressed down his father.

When she turned back, she saw the look on his face and blushed again.

“Sorry, Fred’s a pain in the arse and well… yeah I need to get back to work. You need a new spear?”

Nodding, Max pointed to the spots where wood was missing from the shaft.

“Do you have another one?”

She shook her head.

“I can salvage the tip, sharpen it up, and put it on another shaft. I could have it ready by tomorrow if that would work.”

Max nodded.

“What about your shield I see on your back? Selling it?”

Pulling it off his pack, Max knew he wanted a shield now that he could use one effectively.

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“Do you make any shields about this size and maybe this weight that is solid metal?”

She grimaced, and the way her face looked reminded him of a time he saw Caleb eating a lemon. It was scrunched up like she was in pain.

“I’m not sure you have enough material for a shield like that. The sword from the hobgoblin is nice and worth more, but a metal shield you’re asking for… well, let's just say you would need another good haul of daggers.”

“That’s fine. I’ll keep this shield for now and see about collecting more and trading for a shield in the coming days,” Max stated as he buckled it to his pack before tossing it over his shoulder. “Will you be here in the morning an hour or two after the sun is up?”

She nodded and motioned for him to hand her his spear.

Max hesitated a moment before handing it over the table.

“Sorry, it did such a great job I didn’t want to let go of it.”

Sherry smiled as she took it from his hands.

“That’s good because if it didn’t, I doubt you would have made it back to let me know it failed.”

She winked and began to collect all of the weapons on the table.

“Thanks again for trusting me with making you a new one!” she said, excited to get back to work.

Max turned and waved as he moved on to the next stop.

“Mr. Gerald, it isn’t that big of a deal,” Max tried to explain as the man insisted on checking his back once more. "It barely penetrated the armor before cutting me and a quick drink of the potion I had healed me right up.”

Gerald, the man who had sold him the leather piece the other day, didn’t seem to buy that lie.

“How is it you had a healing potion? You told me you didn’t have any money left when you haggled me down to almost no profit!”

Pretending to be ashamed, Max stared at the ground for a moment.

“I uh… spent it all on a potion before I came here…”

“Fools!” he exclaimed, waiving his hand in the air and glancing at the woman Max assumed was his wife. “How many times have I said adventurers spend too much money on expensive potions with one use instead of armor that will prevent that need!”

“Too many dear, too many…” the woman trailed off, giving Max an ‘I’m sorry’ with her lips.

“But it did let me return to you!” exclaimed Max. “I wanted to come and buy a better tunic!”

Spinning around, the scowl that Gerald had been sporting was gone, replaced with a row of teeth that, even though they were formed in a smile, felt a little predatory to Max.

“A studded leather tunic?” Gerald asked, his voice higher and noticeably more excited.

“If we can work out a deal and I can afford it.”

Grunting, the smile disappeared as Gerald rolled his eyes and motioned to his wife.

“A deal, he says, after admitting my armor saved his life!”

Ignoring her husband, she left the main room and headed to the back to retrieve a few different pieces he might be interested in.

As he walked down the street, Max ran his hands over the studded armor, feeling the ridges and small pieces of metal that had been hammered in between the two pieces of leather. Small, soft metal studs held the thicker pieces that were connected, providing more protection.

Reaching up, he felt the helm on his head, which covered everything from his forehead to the back of his neck.

It had taken all but twenty copper from the two silver he had acquired off the hobgoblin, but he had even managed to procure a pair of breeches and an undershirt. Gerald had complained the whole time that he was getting robbed, finally giving in when Max had said he would take back his old tunic and maybe see if another merchant would have something cheaper.

Whining like he had been stuck with a spear, Gerald hadn’t hesitated a second at taking his money in the end.

Max found himself lost in his thoughts as he walked down the cobblestone streets. All that was left to do was turn in his trophies before returning to his inn.

The city was growing on him, with small groups of adventurers way more common than in Alundra. He finally felt contentment being on the path he was on now.

If I had known adventuring was this cool, I might have actually practiced with Stacy and Caleb.

Smiling, Max began whistling one of the tunes he had heard last night in the inn as he strode up the steps, two at a time, leading into the adventurer’s guild house.

“A hobgoblin!” exclaimed the female dwarf attendant lucky enough to be his assistant during turn-ins. Her face mimicked her shock at his F rank card on the counter, knowing he had won a fight against a hobgoblin and two basic goblins in a three versus one fight.

“That is impressive, Adventurer Seth! I take it you have already traded in the equipment?”

Max nodded as he unwrapped all five sets of goblin ears and the nose ring he had cut out from the hobgoblin, as well as the five mushrooms he had found.

He studied the dwarf woman and her fiery red hair that matched her beard, decorated with small silver loops every so often in the braids she had it set in.

“I would like to say I got lucky, but the truth is the two goblins were weak and made mistakes. My skill with a spear also helped keep the leader at bay until both were down.”

She nodded, making marks on the quest sheet that required four goblin kills.

“I can’t give you credit for the quest for ten kills unless you want not to complete the quest for four kills. Did you forget it doesn’t work like that?”

Max nodded and pulled off his helm. “I forgot… I’ll blame it on the sunburn on my head, almost bright enough to match your amazing red hair.”

She chuckled and returned to work, making notes on the mushroom quest and marking one kill on the ten goblins kill quest.

“It happens more than I want to admit. People get excited and only see money when they think about multiple quests. Good job, though, on the mushrooms. Usually, most people struggle to find this many on the edge of the woods.”

Max held back a cough when he realized most people never went deep into the trees. He was making a rookie mistake, only saved because of the skill the gods had decided to curse or bless him with.

“It was my lucky day!” he replied, flashing a grin while putting his cap back on. “Any idea how much money I’ll earn off all this?”

She nodded and moved all his trophies onto a tray and set it behind her on a counter.

“Give me a moment and I’ll verify a few things with my supervisor. I also need to see your card so I can apply the quest completion for rank-ups.”

Pulling his token from his pack, Max slid it across the counter and motioned to the job board.

“Can I go check out a few more while you take care of this?”

She nodded, barely looking up after taking his card from him.

There were dozens of quests, but what Max was looking for only took a moment to find.

A single quest sheet asking for rocks found on goblins. It didn’t say anything beyond turning them into the attendants.

Looking around, he pulled it off quickly and moved back to where he had been a moment ago.

Watching the groups and adventurers coming in after a day in the woods and dungeons, Max saw the typical number of people in a party was three people, but a few groups had five in theirs.

“Sir Seth? Seth?”

It only took two times to hear that name before Max realized he was being summoned and turned around, seeing his attendant waiting on him.

“Sorry, it's been a long day. Lost in my thoughts about dinner and turning in.”

Unphased, she nodded and placed a tray with a small coin bag on it.

“Two silver and twenty copper for the hobgoblin ears and nose ring. Two silver and twenty-five copper for the five goblins. One silver and twenty-five copper for the mushrooms. Then there was the quest for four goblins, which netted you twenty more coppers. This brings your total to six silver and forty copper. A fine haul, I would say, especially since you are not having to split it with others!”

A lump in his throat caught as Max listened to that amount and slowly reached for the coin purse, doing his best not to let his hands shake.

“Thank you,” his voice squeaked a little higher than he wanted. “It was more than I had anticipated.”

She nodded and watched him put the coin purse in his larger pouch on his belt.

“Don’t forget your adventurers' card.”

Grabbing that, he smiled and slid it into the slot on his backpack he had created for it.

“Thank you again,” Max paused as he leaned in and read her name badge, “Greta! I can’t wait till next time.”

Nodding at him, she barely waited for him to move before motioning to a group of three waiting in line.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Max couldn’t help but grin. He was richer than he had ever expected to be as a [Baker]. It would have taken countless months to earn what he had in just a few days.

Maybe he needed to visit the temple and give an offering after all.