"Good lad!" The Eternal Lion exclaimed in a loud, booming voice tinged with a hint of joy.

Noah had already started to move deeper into the forest because while others couldn't see or hear his ghostly companion, he had yelled a bit too loudly earlier to comfortably remain in that area. He really didn't want to face angry goblin reinforcements right now, not until he got some essential information from The Eternal Lion.

"Kid, you can call me Liam. You might be a bit of a wuss, but you've got the right spirit to climb the tower. I give you the right to address me by my true name." The Eternal Lion told Noah as if he were doing him a great favor.

"Seems a bit too melodramatic, don't you think? What's a true name?" Noah asked, wondering if The Eternal Lion's massive ego would cause him a headache later on.

"You muppet! Do you think you can just address a demi-god by their real name as if they were your bowling mates? Well, nevermind... it's nothing important. " Liam gave an exhausted sigh as he reached into the pizza box and pulled out a slice of Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Noah had stopped by the side of an oversized tree to catch his breath, exhausted from the non-stop fighting and running he'd been forced to do today. Seeing the cheese pull from the corner of his eye as Liam wolfed down the pizza slice only served to add insult to injury.

"Don't worry, Goblin Rogues always bring Goblin Skirmishers along with them that act as cannon fodder, so they can swoop in for an easy kill. Sneaky little tossers, those things are mate. So what I'm implying is, there won't be any more of 'em falling out of the skies for now." Liam explained in between bites.

"Those blue-skinned goblins are called Rogues? What's the difference between them and the, um, skirmishers?" Noah asked, taking a moment to recall the term Liam had used earlier.

"They're far more intelligent compared to the green ones, but also far fewer in number. While the green ones are the most common by far, they're pretty dumb. If they see you, they'll just madly rush you and try to kill you without any utilizing any tactics. The blue ones are terrifying adversaries in this forest, they have the patience and intelligence required to time their attack perfectly. Oh, and they belong to a different race of goblins, so they have no attachment towards the green ones. You're pretty damn unlucky to encounter a Rogue this early on though." Liam explained in detail, giving Noah a glimpse of the massive advantage he now had access to.

As Noah mulled over Liam's words while scanning the surroundings, his train of thought was abruptly interrupted.

"Wait kid, what's your luck stat?" Liam asked, in an inquisitive tone.

"Can't you just check my status screen and see for yourself?" Noah asked in a slightly bitter tone because Liam had already violated his privacy once. Plus, his luck stat was kind of a sore spot for him.

"I can only do that when you've got the status screen open. There was nothing worth looking at earlier, so I didn't bother." Liam explained.

"...... Zero" Noah reluctantly replied.

"That's impossible" Liam muttered, and his sofa flew right next to Noah to get a better look at the status screen. "Unless......" Liam silently whispered to himself, as if he were in deep thought.

"Unless what!?" Noah asked, slightly worried. Anything that could give a demi-god pause.... scared him.

"Oh bollocks!" Liam exclaimed and looked at Noah guiltily. "I guess an apology is in order mate. Having a demi-god around as a guide has completely over-drafted your luck beyond its natural limits. That number is gonna stay at zero for a while, unfortunately. " he said, trying to break it to Noah gently.

Noah's face paled, wondering what the repercussions of that would be. "So....am I going to trip and break my neck? Or find myself at the Goblin Lord's doorsteps despite whatever route I take?" asked Noah in a panicked tone.

"Relax, relax. Take a deep breath. Nothing like that is going to happen. You'll just run into a few more monsters than the norm, is all. If your luck was in the negatives then you'd be toast, dodged a bullet here. Besides, if you take a look at your notifications you'll realize that it's not all bad." Liam consoled Noah, though he himself didn't seem to be worried about this matter at all.

Noah realized that he'd completely forgotten about the Essence Points and the items he had looted earlier. There was a small, beeping blue symbol at the bottom right corner of his vision, which Noah assumed to be his quarry. Pressing it, a flurry of notifications bombarded him.

Killed Goblin Skirmisher (Level 1) x 2 - 50XP, 20 EP Awarded. Killed Goblin Rogue (Level 1, adept)- 200 XP, 100 EP awarded

Looted- Goblin Shortsword, Inferior

Generic Mace, Inferior

Assassin's Dagger, Common

Goblin Boots, Inferior

Congratulations! You have reached Level 2. You have 5 unassigned stat points.

Noah was surprised at the massive amount of experience the Goblin Rogue had provided him with. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry at his predicament, him nearly dying to that sneaky rogue now rewarded him with a free ride to level 2, and the additional stat points were definitely something that he needed. Oh, and that dagger seemed pretty sweet too.

"Put two into constitution and three into dexterity." came Liam's voice from behind, grinning as he saw Noah's conflicted expression.

"Why?" asked Noah, but he followed the instructions anyway. Liam was a bit off the rocker, but his guidance so far (apart from getting him into this damn mess, to begin with) had been pretty reliable and he found the man's personality tolerable. Or maybe it was a classical case of Stockholm Syndrome... Either way, he had already tied his ship to Liam's a while ago.

Name Noah Smith Level 2 Race Human Primordial Spirit (0/8 slots filled) Combat Art - Intelligence 4 Strength 2 Wisdom 2 Constitution 1+2= 3 Dexterity 2+3= 5 Luck 0