"Got any plans for the future? I can't imagine all the stress you are feeling right now after all of this happened at once…" Gerard said.

Derrick simply gave a sad smile and shook his head, "We don't really need the money at the moment, so I think we'll take a break, think things through… We will see how things develop and go from there."

They said a few more things and chatted for a while and then split up. Although it was tragic, there was not much that could be done to improve the situation. The Goblins seemed to have sunk into the ground, and there were no traces of them left. Nobody got attacked since the last incident, heck, nobody even saw one of these creatures.

For some simple people that was a good sign, but for those that knew how the world worked, they became increasingly worried. An enemy doesn't simply disappear after an attack. Most likely they retreated to someplace, preparing for an even bigger scale invasion.

In a few months to half a year, there would be at least another thirty to fifty thousand new Goblins, just based on the number of women that went missing. It made a person sick to their stomach and many willingly ignored these facts.

Although not many noticed it, bigger cities already started to quietly stockpile food and firewood although it was just the beginning of summer. Soldiers were also slowly mobilized and used as an extra workforce, reinforcing walls and making easy-to-deploy traps around the settlements.

Gerald even spent a few days flying above the forests in an attempt at finding some clues. However, like so many before him, he didn't have much luck. Forget about finding a horde of Goblins, it seemed like even the normal animal population declined a little bit.

"I did all I could… It's been more than a week already, if there were any clues at the beginning, now they are most certainly gone." He returned to Auralba shortly after.

Deciding to check up on the Auction House and see how the potion production is going, Gerald was quite surprised to hear what has transpired in the last few days.

The Shopkeeper, Alois Mundo, of The Flask of Wild Herbs somehow managed to sell all his White Berry seeds to Arthur for five gold a kilogram! Even though they helped him recover after fainting, the man was merciless and somehow gathered his inhuman strength to argue and negotiate for days about the final price.

Exhausted, Arthur finally agreed to the price and now they had a yearly supply of seeds for their potion needs. Gerald couldn't help but laugh. This guy was really getting worked from all sides, and the culprit behind it all was him!

Jokes aside, the Potion of Focus production already started, but they decided to stockpile at least a thousand before announcing the news to the world.

Although master Ashbrew had many apprentices helping him prepare the ingredients, the final step, creating the potion with the help of magic, was still entirely up to him. Although the work was quite exhausting, he still did it with a smile on his face as the full potion vials piled around him.

"Good, it seems like everything is going on smoothly, I won't be bothering you then," Gerald said and waved them goodbye. Even though many people died and even more were wallowing in despair, he was in a great mood today. His physical strength and magical abilities were increasing exponentially and he could barely keep himself from smiling all the time.

With the newly given confidence in himself, he even decided to visit the great Warrior's Guild in Auralba and have his stats measured again.

The assistant that was helping him today was a different one from the last time so he did not make too much of a fuss. Still, after testing him for an hour, even that experienced assistant couldn't help but look at Gerald with reverence and jealousy.

The final results: Weighing in at 95kg, 193cm tall, and with physical strength reaching 1083kg, Gerald exceeded the requirements for the Iron Rank and stepped into Silver Rank-1!

His weight increased and he even grew a little bit since he was last measured, but what surprised him the most was his raw strength. 'I knew I was strong but damn! I guess it makes sense… I get around 20-30kg for each Essence Core absorbed and I was stuffing myself for weeks with them… Multiple a day even!'

Although his muscles could produce an immense amount of force, that didn't mean he was completely satisfied with it yet. His ligaments and bones suffered whenever he used his full strength, and that was before even making use of strengthening magic. His body didn't yet have time to adapt to his new strength and his speed was also lacking.

The force of a punch was usually two to three times the multiplier of a person's strength, but he could barely increase it by 50%. Not to mention that he would break his own bones if he even tried to push it further.

"I need a weapon to take the impact. And since I'm quite slow, I will need something long, like a spear or a halberd…" His thinking was, that if he had something with long leverage, with his strength he could swing it easily, and the tip of the weapon would be moving extremely fast in slashing motions.

"Maybe I should get a sword also… Something hefty and strong to suit my strength!"

After thinking about a design for a while, he went and ordered two custom-made weapons, one spear, and one sword. He specifically requested them to be made thicker than normal so they would be more durable.

"Weapons are just force multipliers and they don't need to be pretty! Give me your best quality metal and make it strong!" was what Gerald told the weaponsmith.

A good quality weapon took time to make, so Gerald decided to finally drink the Bone-Reforming Medicine while waiting for it to be done. He had nothing better to do anyway.

He went home and sat down on his bed, taking the vial out of his pouch. He stared at it intently and sighed, "A week of torture, huh? Haah..." He steeled his mind and drank the entire thing at once.

It did not taste good.

"And now we wait…" Indeed, the potion was one to start off slowly. For the first half-hour, Gerald didn't feel much different at all. But then, at the one-hour mark, he started feeling itchy all over his body, and it was an itch on the bones – he couldn't scratch it!

"Mn, that's...so annoying!" Gerald complained as he moved in weird positions, trying to scratch that unreachable itch.

After a few hours of this mild torture, he already wanted to bang his head on the wall to relieve the discomfort. The feeling was intensifying continuously until it crossed a certain threshold and instead of an itching sensation, there was the pain.

Lots and lots of pain!

"Ugh!" Gerald gritted his teeth and became red in the face from increased heart rate. Soon he felt like his body was on fire, with every movement resulting in excruciating pain, while he felt like his every joint and bone were inflamed. It was one hundred times worse than the worse flu he ever had, so much so that he couldn't hold on any longer and he fainted.

He woke up sometime later, in hellish pain, drenched in a cold sweat.

"Gah! How long has it been?" Looking through the window he realized it was still the same day. "Fuuuuu-!" He tried to curse, but his movement resulted in immense pain all over his body. His face became pale and he was sweating bullets, but he could do nothing but endure.

It was a long night.

At some point, he fell asleep in spite of the pain as he was just too exhausted. When he woke up the next day, he was feeling weak and thirsty, as well as painful.

He gathered his strength to take a pot of bone broth and drank it in big gulps, slowly regaining some strength. He had always some food and drink in reserve so he would be never caught off guard. Even if he was somehow stuck in a desert, he would still be able to survive a few weeks with his supplies.

"Just...six...days...left…" Gerald squeezed out the words with difficulty. "I think...I'll...skip...this...time!"

He stood up...and then jumped on the ground, headfirst. He didn't use magic to protect himself this time, so the concussion was enough to knock him out. And the blood that gushed out of his wound soon made it look like a crime scene.