The sneeze sounded deafening in the hut’s relative silence. I was completely frozen by now, half because of shock and half because I didn’t dare make any more noise.

There were at least forty-something goblins stuffed into this hut, if even a quarter of that woke up and attacked me then I would be dead.

Frozen, I watched as another goblin lazily opened an eye and batted at the goblin that sneezed.

Goblin and mushroom eyes met.

I quickly changed the direction of my finger, “Poison Spores!” I muttered with urgency as green spores puffed onto the goblin.

It turned another shade of green as it violently jerked up, but it managed to slap another goblin before it died, prompting it to jerk up blearily.

I had already started running by then, not caring about the grunting goblins as I dashed over them.

Quickly bending down, I grabbed the wooden board I left outside and threw a Sneezing Mushroom behind me, turning around and catching sight of the waking goblins as I muttered “Sneezing Spores,” as the shroom was mid-air. Bursting and spraying spores onto a group lying by the entrance.

Wedging the staff in my left armpit and holding the board over my head with my other hand, I dashed out of the hut. Barely registering the sneezing fit happening behind me.

If I didn’t wake them before then I definitely have now. Right now stamina didn’t matter, I needed to get out of the sun as soon as possible, then use my remaining sneezing shrooms to CC and create distance.

I started hearing yelling and the sound of metallic clanking as the goblins grabbed weapons.

Ten meters before I reached the shade, I began hearing urgent footsteps as the goblins started pursuing me.

I threw down the board huffing as I reached shade, quickly turning around and throwing back two Sneezing Mushrooms. “Sneezing Spores! Sneezing Spores!” I yelled as both mushrooms burst in mid-air, spraying the first few goblins. Shit, there were at least fifteen right behind me.

There were still more coming, I grabbed my remaining mushrooms and started throwing them with abandon, yelling as I activated them one by one. Even in the dark, I couldn’t outrun them, I needed to get a headstart before disappearing into the shadows.

I heard an angered yell as the wizened goblin stepped out, it glared at me as it raised both hands and muttered something in a language I didn’t know but still knew the meaning of. ‘Mass Cure’ It had said.

The goblin’s hands briefly glowed a blue light, before exploding outwards, blanketing the sneezing goblins in a similar blue light. Almost immediately they stopped sneezing.

Shit.

The goblins glared at me as they started charging at me again. “Acid Spit!” I yelled as a glob of liquid ejected out of my mouth and into the face of the foremost goblin.

The goblin screamed as the liquid sizzled. But I was already casting another Acid Spit at the next goblin. It dodged this time and jumped behind a hut. Another one was almost on me.

“Acid Spit!” I yelled again as the liquid caught the goblin in the arm, causing it to go down screaming in pain as it clutched its limb.

I quickly turned to find that all the remaining goblins had disappeared, barely catching a flash of green as one jumped behind a hut.

They were using cover. The goblin mage from before stepped into my sight, about fifteen meters away from me. It smiled viciously at me as it chanted another spell, ‘Firebolt,’

Fire blitzed out of its hand and towards me, I jumped to the left into the cover of a fallen bench. Feeling the heat tinge my cheek as it passed by me. Shit, it outranged me.

I quickly raised my head above the cover, before quickly dodging back down as another Firebolt passed by.

The hiding goblins had changed positions, they were closer now. Damnit, they’re using the mage as cover fire as the melees move closer in.

I quickly cycled through my options. If I didn’t throw a spell to discourage the melees then they’ll eventually close in on me, but every time I do so, the goblin mage will have a free shot at me and the melees will be able to close in anyways. If I started running now then the goblins will eventually catch up to me without spells to slow them. Fighting retreat it is then.

I ran towards the nearest corridor. Hearing the goblin mage yell out something and the melees breaking out into a run.

“Grow Sporage, Poison Spores,” I muttered as I ran.

I quickly reached the corridor, making it about fifteen meters inside before I turned around and threw the Poison Shroom into the face of the first goblin which was barely five meters from me. “Poison Spores!” I yelled and the goblin dropped. I then grabbed the last Sneezing Shrooms and threw them forward.

Several goblins screeched to a halt and jumped out of the way. Three continued forward and made it past the mushrooms. Quickly slinging my new staff into my hand, I swung forward, socking a goblin. Hearing a sickening crunch as it was sent flying. I quickly reversed the swing and tried to get the next goblin, but it dodged down. In a smooth motion, it jumped forward and quickly slashed my leg with a dagger.

I winced at the sudden pain, yelling “Acid Spit!” as I nailed the goblin point blank with the spell.

I quickly turned my attention to the third goblin, it took a longer route and came from my left, I swung my staff towards it. The goblin dodged, throwing a dagger towards me that embedded itself in my stomach.

I grimaced as I yelled another Acid Spit. The goblin dodged but I barely managed to catch it in the leg. It went down screaming in pain as I hefted the staff and swung downwards, ending it.

I quickly turned my attention back to the goblins that dodged the earlier mushrooms. Eyes widening in surprise as I saw that they’ve barely moved, cautiously trying to move around the mushrooms I threw.

They didn’t know I needed to consciously activate them, and that I needed sight. I realised with surprise.

I turned around and ran. No need to correct them.

Running as fast as my legs would carry me, I heard the mage goblin berating the slowed goblins as I turned a right and hopefully out of their sight.

I turned left as I entered an empty clothing store, jumping behind the counter before I collapsed into a heavily breathing heap.

Fuck, my legs, chest, everything felt sore. Half concentrating, I pulled out the dagger that was thrown into me, activating my last Balm Sporage to cover it up, before actually casting Balm Spores on the remaining stab wound.

Shit, that hurt a lot more than before. Were the goblins becoming stronger? Why the fuck would the goblins become stronger-

I tried my best to quieten my breathing as I heard a group of goblins rush past me. Only letting out a tired breath after I was sure they were gone.

Goddamnit, they figured out that my Sporage was limited in its activation. Not only that there was still a group of thirty-something goblins roaming the mall. If the two groups met up and started hunting me then I was dead.

Fuck why the hell were the tutorial mobs this strong!? It didn’t fucking matter if I could easily solo one of them. They were capable of learning and executing group tactics. I’m fucking done if I’m caught by a group. It was almost like they’re trying to kill me!

I paused, that was actually entirely possible. Many games show you some endgame bosses in the beginning to wow you so that you kept on going until you were at the level to fight the thing. It’s a trick to keep players interested in the game while also establishing the game’s lore.

The problem with that theory is that these are fucking goblins. Literally, anyone who’s played an RPG or a tabletop would recognise them as free farm beginner mobs. So I could see scarce reason for a game doing this unless they were trying to advertise this as a hardcore game. Odd given that Hendrix implied that players only needed a few levels to do well in Indiri and this was a tutorial, a phase whose express purpose is to teach the game.

So it was teaching something else, it was teaching me to expect to die.

I quieted my breath again as I heard another group pass by. It was easier this time since I had a bit of rest, but not by much.

I considered my options, I had low stamina and more importantly, low mana. My pool was barely a quarter full at this point, any lower and I suspect the Mana Dependency will kick in. Unless it already has, there wasn’t a helpful menu showing me all the debuffs I had right now. I didn't want to waste it, but right now my best course of action was drinking a mana potion. I uncorked one, downing the entire thing in a single gulp and felt my pool fill by at least half.

Other than that, I still had my bag, which I threw off my back. That thing was really starting to get heavy. And the staff I looted-

I stared uncomprehendingly at the staff. The wooden cage was smashed in and barely hanging on by a few twigs. I had broken it when I smashed it into the goblins. The two balls of light seemed to stare back at me within the broken cage.

“Well this was unexpected,” I muttered to the twin balls of light. They seemed to nod back at me. “Umm, what am I supposed to do?” the lights exchanged glances, before rapidly jumping out of the cage, rushing along my arm, past my face before disappearing into my cap.

I involuntarily jerked back in surprise. Rolling my eyes up, I could see the soft balls of light staring at me from inside my cap.

“Well my wizard hat is finally useful for something,” I muttered.

I felt a slight change to my mana, a minuscule amount of it was now flowing outwards and feeding into the balls of light. Not enough that it might be a problem, but just enough that I noticed the tiny stream.

I stared at the two of them, “You two better be able to pay rent,” I said in a completely serious tone.

The two lights glanced at each other, then seemed to nod.

“Any idea what the two of you can do?” I asked, only receiving shaking heads as an answer.

Well frick, I didn’t have a deep enough understanding of the magic system Eve was using to definitively say if the barrier protection thing was the result of the staff or the light things, or if the lights were only a battery for a spell already inbuilt to the staff.

Examining the staff, I could find no obvious markings or magic patterns, but perhaps the weird way it was shaped was the spell. Hmm, too little information for me to make an educated guess for this. For all I know the light things would still jump out and save me when I’m in danger. But I couldn’t be sure until I was stabbed, and I’m not in a hurry to test that out.

Don’t factor it into planning then, if it does something then great! And I’ll adapt accordingly, but I shouldn’t rely on it.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. Thinking about this as a tutorial was probably incorrect, it was a challenge and I wasn’t fully committed to winning. That was a mistake I must fix.