"Aylwin is dead?" Daedalus exclaimed when John told him about the situation in the village. "Nobody deserves such a fate...the poor soul. Sadly, this is but a taste of things to come in these lands should the Rath'een be allowed to survive. Between the Rath'een attacks and further reports of the goblins mobilizing to the southeast, our troubles are only beginning."

Daedalus sighed and looked at the Training Hall in the distance. He glanced at John and continued, "It seemed you have leveled up once more. That's good to know. Come, let me teach you a few more things while we still have the time."

"Okay. I need all the skills I can get."

And so, John trained under Daedalus for a couple of days. During that training session, Daedalus described the importance of speed for Shadow Walkers and helped John increase his swiftness. With an increase in quickness, John's movement speed, attack speed, and reflexes have all increased as well. In addition, Daedalus helped John increase his mastery over the basic attacks so that the young Shadow Walker would make less inexperienced mistakes like he had in his previous battles. After spending a few days on training, Daedalus presented John with a barbed net. The barbed net was dipped with a type of weak poison that would whet away the vitality of its prisoner. The skill needed to use this equipment was known as Ensnare, which was a valuable asset to a Shadow Walker's repertoire. After John learned Ensnare, news of the Rath'een resurfaced and Daedalus had to leave for the frontlines once again, leaving John with a new skill but no mastery over it.

Before he left, Daedalus told John to go visit Colette and see if she had a task or two for him to do. John agreed and headed towards the inn. It had been days since he last saw Miss Colette. He wondered how she was doing these days. As he arrived at the inn, he noticed that there was a board posted outside by the door. There were a number of papers pinned onto the board. As John curiously scanned over the papers, he realized that they were all bounties...tasks commissioned by the villagers and other adventurers. A bounty caught his eye. It was offered by Daedalus.

The task was to defeat five goblins and bring back their ears as proof of kill. There have been reports of goblin sightings in the Glenfort Plains to the southwest of the village. Apparently, with Daedalus and his forces fighting off the Rath'een army in the outskirts of the village, he was worried about how the goblins in the Glenfort Plains have been getting a bit too close to the village. Daedalus wanted anyone, who was available, to go and slay five goblins in order to remind those dirty bastards to keep their distance away from the village. The task seemed relatively easy. John ripped off the bounty from the board and walked into the inn.

"Welcome! Oh, it's you!" A sweet voice chirped.

John looked up from the bounty and saw Ellen. "Oh, Ellen, how are you?"

"Good! Thanks to Colette, I was able to find some part-time work here." Ellen smiled.

"Who's at the door, Ellen?" Colette called out from behind the counter as she stared at some papers.

"Miss Colette! It's me, John! I've come to visit." John strode towards the counter with a chuckle.

"Ah, John! It's been a while. How you been? How's your training?" Colette grinned as she walked out from behind the counter to greet John.

"Good, training's good. I've learned a lot. What about you? How've you been? How's the chef? Is cooking without me too much of a burden for him?"

"Nah, the cooking thing wasn't nearly so tough on the head chef as I thought it would be!" Colette shook her head as she pointed towards the kitchen, "He's doing fine by himself."

"That's good."

"Besides, even when the nights get busy and the head chef needed help with the kitchen, I would roll up my sleeves and help around."

"With your cooking? Really?"

"What about my cooking?"

"N-Nothing...nothing. So anything going on around here?"

"Ah, yes...now that you mention it, I do have a problem I could use some help with."

"What is it?"

"For some reason, this nearby goblin tribe had taken such a liking to this stew I made that they kept sacking my basement looking for leftovers. I hired some locals to fend them off but they needed all the help they can get."

"Goblins eh? So, you need my help too?"

"Yea, these Gobblin' Goblins - as I nicknamed them - needed to be taught a lesson! They're located outside to the east of the village. The locals are grouping up outside right this moment. Head over there and join a group of adventurers and fight those goblins off!"

"Alright! You can count on me."

"That's good. Thank you, John, for your help."

"No problem. You've helped me plenty in the past. It's natural for me to repay your kindness."

After accepting Colette's task, John headed out the door. Before he took on the innkeeper's task, John wanted to first familiarize himself with his new skills in battle. Thus, he decided to leave the village and look for some enemies to fight. As he headed towards the Glenfort Plains, John decided to go to Glenfort River and kill off a few goblins in order to get used to using the Ensnare skill as well as to complete the bounty he had just taken. Upon arrival, he scoured the surrounding area and strangely enough...couldn't find a single goblin. Glenfort River was known to have quite a few goblins, but why was empty now? Where have all the goblins gone to? John decided to walk south along the river in order to see if he could encounter some goblins. After walking for half an hour, he finally spotted an encampment. The camp was fortified with a large wooden fence along with two lookout towers by the entranceway. Whose campgrounds was this? The size of this camp...it could house a small army! John stealthily approached the camp's entrance and noticed that the lookout towers were empty. The young Shadow Walker peeked past the entrance and was struck in the nose with a sharp stench, causing him to reel back in disgust. This smell! It was familiar but different from that of a Rath'een. It...it's goblin! This encampment was a goblin camp!

John observed the goblin camp and saw that there weren't any guards patrolling around. In fact, there wasn't a lot of noise bustling within the camp. That's strange. Goblins were a noisy bunch. So, where have all the goblins gone too? John silently crept inside and peered inside each tent. After finding three empty tents, John thought that the place was truly void of goblins...that was until he saw an open tent. Inside, there were two Goblin Thieves rummaging through a couple of large crates. John scurried over and hid behind the flaps of the tent. The goblins were talking...something about how the goblin army had headed over to the Fallow Fields and were currently fighting the bandits there. And then the conversation switched over to how they should hurry up and take as much as they can hold and then meet up with the others.

Well...it seemed these Goblin Thieves had deserted from the army and were trying to run off with some valuables. Wait! Others? Shit, there was more than just these two? John quickly looked around him and saw no one. Luckily for him, the other thieves must have been busy stealing things from other tents. John decided he should take care of these two Goblin Thieves first before looking for the others. Carefully, so to not make any noise, he unraveled his barbed net and aimed at one of the goblins. With a swing of his arm, John tossed the net towards the goblin. However, he had misjudged the distance and the net fell heavily on the ground. The thud startled the goblins as they sheepishly spun around and fumbled for their weapons. John lunged forward with his sword and unleashed a Piercing Strike onto the closest Goblin Thief. The goblin staggered backwards as it grasped its bloody chest. Both Goblin Thieves quickly threw down a smoke bomb each and vanished from sight. Or at least one of them succeeded in disappearing. The wounded goblin's blood gave away its position. John swung his sword towards the spot with the largest pool of blood and felt his attack connect. Blood sprayed out as the sword attack revealed a cleaved Goblin Thief, its eyes faded in hopelessness.

As the corpse plopped onto the ground, John turned around and inspected his surroundings. Where could that other goblin be? He knew that he could not trust his eyes when dealing with vanished opponents, so he could only rely on his other senses. John sniffed the air. Since goblins were filthy creatures that emit a rather distinct smell. By sniffing the air around him, John was able to quickly determine that the Goblin Thief was not in front of him but rather somewhere behind him. However, he could not just swing around and wave his sword randomly. He did not know exactly how far the goblin was away from him and if he was to swing blindly and miss, then he would be wide open for a counterattack. John steeled his nerves and pretended to look around in front of him. As he faced the front, he strained his ears to listen to any movements from the back.

Without warning, a whooshing sound approached John at a fast speed. John dropped on one knee and felt the air slice apart above him. Having dodged the attack, John was able to discern, with some certainty, the distance between him and the Goblin Thief. He turned around and slashed his sword forward, tearing flesh and drawing blood. The Goblin Thief revealed itself as it screamed in pain. Fearing that the shout had alerted the other goblins, John rushed forward and clamped its mouth shut. With one fell swoop, he beheaded the Goblin Thief. Ignoring the bodies, he rushed out and hid to the side of the tent. Seconds later, two more Goblin Thieves made their way to the tent. So close! Any second later and he would have been caught. As the goblins entered the tent, they saw the bodies of their dead comrades. The Goblin Thieves roared in anger as they vengefully searched around for the murderer. All of a sudden, John rushed out from his hiding spot and attacked the nearest Goblin Thief.

He launched his barbed net once more and was able to successfully ensnare the little green monster. John crashed into the ensnared goblin and punctured one of its lungs. The Goblin Thief gasped for air as it tried to free itself from the net. However, it did not have the chance. John swung his sword down and halved the goblin from shoulder to waist. Quickly, he glanced towards the other Goblin Thief and stabbed with his dagger. The goblin countered with an attack of its own. Both attacks landed and the force of each attack knocked the respective warrior back a couple of steps. John checked his wound and sighed with relief. Shallow. However, when he eyed the wound on the Goblin Thief, he gnashed his teeth. Shallow! John grimaced. He could just imagine that the Goblin Thief was thinking of the same thing.

Both warriors lunged at each other once more. John with his Piercing Strike while the Goblin Thief with another cut from its dagger. Once again, both attacks landed simultaneously. But this time, while the Goblin Thief dealt another shallow hit, John's Piercing Strike was able to do a critical against the goblin's defenses. Ignoring the superficial wounds, the young Shadow Walker rushed forward once again and launched a mighty knee attack. His knee smashed firmly into the Goblin Thief and broke a couple of its ribs. As the Goblin Thief collapsed onto the ground, John reached forward and slit the goblin's throat. Having killed both Goblin Thieves, the young Shadow Walker paused as he panted heavily and listened for any more goblins. Doesn't seem like it.

John rummaged around the tent and looted the corpses, obtaining 500 pieces of silver. He reached over with his dagger and cut off the goblins' ears. Then, he took out a piece of cloth and wrapped up the bloody ears. As he was busy with the process, he suddenly heard some footsteps. John scampered up and hid behind one of the crates. He peeked out just in time to see a Goblin Thief walk in. The Goblin Thief froze in mid-sentence and quickly threw down a smoke bomb. However, the goblin was too hasty. Before the smoke stabilized, the Goblin Thief had begun to move. John could see the fluctuations of the smoke as the goblin walked through it. The young Shadow Walker leaped out and thrust his sword towards the goblin. However, little did he know, there was another enemy in the midst. It was a Plains Spider...a tamed pet of the Goblin Thief. The spider monster unleashed a Web Trap, which covered John's arm and caused his attack speed to decrease. Seeing that his Piercing Strike had failed because of the webbing, he lashed out with his other hand and punched the handle of the sword. The sword flew over and pierced the Goblin Thief, revealing its location to John. The goblin staggered a couple of steps and threw its dagger at the young Shadow Walker. John was just about to dodge the dagger when a excruciating pain erupted on his leg. The goddamn spider had bit him! Because of this little distraction, the flying dagger was able to find its mark. As John spat out a mouth full of blood, he reached over and kicked the spider away. Then, he grabbed a hold of the dagger protruding from his gut and pulled it out.

John rushed towards the goblin and executed a flying kick. His foot landing on the sword handle and the overwhelming force of his kick smashed the embedded sword completely through the Goblin Thief. The goblin spewed out some blood as it slowly gaped at the hole in its chest. It looked up at John for a few seconds before collapsing, lifeless and empty. John quickly threw the dagger in his hand at the Plains Spider who was about to pounce on him once more and rolled towards his sword. He pulled out the rusty steel sword and unleashed a Piercing Strike at the Plains Spider. The spider suffered a critical blow and lost over three-fourths of its health. As John withdrew his sword for a second attack, the Plains Spider countered with an all out bite. The young Shadow Walker grunted in pain as his arm swelled up in size. A wave of dizziness rushed through his head as he stumbled and held onto a crate. Damn! He had been poisoned. John feverishly glared at the dying spider and ended its suffering with a stomp to the head. After killing the spider, John immediately reached into his bag and pulled out two potions. One was a small healing potion while the other potion was light-blue in color and had a glistening sparkle about it. This potion was known as the cleansing potion and it could remove up to three negative status effects including poison.

John uncorked the glass bottle and brought the container to his lips. He tilted his head back and downed the cleansing potion in one quick motion. John's eyes bulged as he nearly spat out the drink. Unlike the tangy taste of the small health potion, the cleansing potion tasted unlike anything he has every experienced. It was bitter, salty, and...dry. It took all of his willpower to stomach the disgusting liquid. After the poisonous status effect was removed, John quickly drank the small healing potion. As he healed up, John sliced off the last Goblin Thief's ears and wrapped them up with the others. Then, he looted the body and found a couple of silver as well as a small healing potion. After checking the tent once more, he left and entered another tent. Since he was here, he might as well rob the goblin camp of its valuables.

Half an hour later, John left the goblin camp with a full bag. He had stolen...collected over a thousand silver coins and a number of potions. Before the goblin army returned, John hurried back to the village. Upon arriving, he immediately made his way to the inn. The bounty said that he could submit the completion to Colette and receive the offered rewards from her. When he handed over the proof of completion to Colette, the innkeeper congratulated him and handed him a bag of fifteen small wooden squares with an H symbol carved in the middle.

"What is this?" John took out one of the wooden squares and scrutinized it.

Colette smiled and explained that those wooden squares were known as Hero Tokens. Each token was worth ten Hero Points. Thus, the fifteen Hero Tokens totaled to 150 Hero Points. As for the uses...John could trade these Hero Tokens for Tomes from the Training Hall, which can permanently increase his capabilities. When John heard that he could raise his stats without training, he thanked Colette for the Hero Tokens and left the inn. At first, he thought about going to the Training Hall to buy some Tomes, but then he realized that Daedalus was still fighting in the outskirts of the village and won't be back for a while. Thus, John decided to head over to the goblin raid expedition and join a group. After searching for a while, he found a group of five who were still looking for members. As they introduced to one another, the leader of the group - a level 5 War Mage by the name of Robert - told John that they will wait for an hour more, to see if anyone else wanted to join, before beginning the raid.