The villagers were saved and safely escorted back to the village without suffering further casualties. From what the village elder told the two, the moment the goblins started raiding the village, the locals took to arms. For a while, they managed to fend off the attacks but couldn't keep up after suffering injuries. The renegade group of goblins numbered around twenty and were between the levels 18 and 23, outleveling the locals. Villagers used up what little mending herbs they had on the injured and without any other option left, sent one of the young ones on the fastest horse to the nearest town for help.

The young man they sent, left yesterday and was yet to return. The goblins didn't stop their assault over the night and kidnapped the villagers that didn't manage to barricade themselves in time. The villager Solin saved was a man that desperately went after the kidnapped, having his sons taken away. If it wasn't for Solin's and Bones' timely arrival, the goblins would most likely take or kill all the villagers eventually.

The village elder offered money as compensation which Solin refused but gladly took up on an offer to stay for lunch. Later that day, the young man returned with a few, well equipped men, following behind him.

The leading man of a party introduced himself as Wilmer, a silver ranker at level 42 and a captain of the guard. His party came as soon as they could after the young man rode into the nearest town with urgency to find help. Wilmer thanked Solin for being responsive to his adventurer duties and looked at Bones with scrutiny after not being able to identify him. He marked the two as completing the subjugation quest and of course, checked his quest too right after. Solin didn't seem overly friendly with the captain and his men and he didn't hide his displeasure.

Bones didn't really have an opinion on the matter but understood where Solin was coming from. If it weren't for the two of them, the party of adventurers would come to the goblin infested village, without any villagers left alive. He recognised what fate awaited the captured villagers the moment he saw the goblin's camp. The little greenskins weren't at the top of the food chain and the villagers were an easy meal. "C'mon Solin, it's time we set off." Solin agreed and after saying their goodbyes, the two continued their journey. The estimated time they would reach the last village was around noon the next day if they travelled at leisure pace and over the night.

The duo didn't encounter another situation like the one with the goblins and only stopped once to rest the horses. Around noon the next day, they reached the last village and left the horses at the stable. Solin bought a few more necessities he deemed necessary, one being a map of the local area. Bones didn't ask why but Solin offered an explanation anyway. The map of the area given by the guild was often outdated and could prove to be inaccurate which they couldn't afford on a quest like this one.

The quest had no time limit but would be voided if they didn't report back once before a period of one month had passed. They also wouldn't be the only ones in the area doing the quest. The quest was posted not long ago and already multiple hunting parties were involved. It spoke of urgency with which the quest was posted and needed to be completed.

Last sighting of the trolls was about an hour away from the village, marking it a bit too close to a civilization. Solin and Bones watched as the party of three adventurers were dealing with one of the Forest Trolls. The party noticed them watching but didn't react as their attention was solely on the troll in front of them. The fight was a mess as the troll was a big, wobbly-moving and tree-trunk-swinging giant. It was bigger than its counterpart from the mountains, both in size and strength.

The two watched the fight for a while longer, then Solin broke silence reminding Bones to watch for the troll's weak spots and remember its attack patterns. The troll didn't bleed from the wounds and seemed unphased by the crippling traps the hunter in the party continuously placed around it.

Solin frowned and said, "this spells trouble. It doesn't bleed due to its absurd high regeneration." He turned to Bones and added. "The two of us will have to out damage its regeneration to have a chance of putting it down."

Bones nodded but corrected him, "you mean the three of us, no?" Solin smiled and nodded. He didn't seem worried. Both of them were damage dealers and used mobility to evade their opponent's attacks. The troll would be like any other opponent, only sturdier and more resilient. "Fuck, this is going to be a drag." Solin commented and motioned to continue moving deeper in the forest.

They haven't met any other parties on their way and soon, they encountered their own tree trunk swinging troll. Their meeting was rather unexpected as they entered a clearing and found themselves not even ten meters away, directly in front of the troll. Their eyes met and Bones was first to react by popping a golem next to him and directing it to flank the troll from the right while he casted Bone Lance. Solin jerked forward in motion, quickly catching up to and passing the golem from the left and was the first to strike the troll. Bone lance hit right after, embedding itself in the troll's shoulder.

Without a pause, the troll sweeped the area with the trunk, sending leaves flying in a whirlwind around them. Through the leaves jumped golem, thrusting its spear against the troll's side. The spear hit, but it didn't pierce thick skin.

"Solin!" Bones yelled. "This thing seemed to be as sturdy as a treeman! Woodman?"

Solin jumped back and turned to Bones, cocking his head, looking at him questioningly. "What are you talking about? Do you mean Treant?"

"I don't know. A big, menacingly looking walking tree!" Bones replied and Solin laughed, evading another sweeping attempt. "Where did you pull a Treant out of?" Solin asked and Bones simply answered, "Books!"

The fight wasn't limited to a clearing as both parties continuously moved between the trees, the trio taunting the troll and employing the hit and run tactic to the best of their abilities. Bones expected some form of mana manipulation from the troll, controlling vines perhaps but contrary to his expectation, the troll didn't have any. It was just big, had high vitality and its affinity with nature boosted its higher-than-normal health regeneration even higher.

It wasn't a difficult fight, just a long one and also served as a test fight to analyze the troll's behaviour and learn its attack patterns. Both adventurers didn't have problems evading the troll. Bones' golem though…didn't quite understand the concept of evading and had to be directed when and how to avoid hits. It was light on its feet and had a basic understanding of fighting with the spear but was often sent flying by the backhand stroke of the trunk. Luckily, the golem was swept by the trunk, more than hit so the damage to the skeleton wasn't high.

The fight went on for a while without any signs of the troll tiring. Solin turned to Bones and said he was gonna take it up a notch. In a blur of motions, he appeared behind the troll and in a flurry of attacks, sliced the troll's legs, leaving large gashes and severing muscles and tendons. The troll fell to its knees and was bombarded by bone lances. It jerked back from the impact and landed on its back, the tree trunk slipping out of its hands. The golem jumped and with a leap attack landed on its chest, thrusting the spear down and piercing its heart.

The troll didn't immediately die, but trashed around, throwing the golem off its chest. It tried to stand up on multiple occasions but failed to do so, the injuries not letting it. The troll staggered and collapsed only to try again. Solin and Bones stopped attacking and kept their distance while Bones commanded his golem to stand down. The troll bled, having a hard time healing but slowly and given enough time, it would heal itself.

The two shared a look and in the last all out attack, put the troll out of its misery. Solin exhaled a breath of relief and slumped down, sitting cross-legged and immediately entered meditation. Bones didn't need to as he permanently enjoyed the effect of meditation. He was feeling smug about it and sat down next to Solin, taking out a set of small bones and began constructing a bone cat version 2. Solin opened an eye, catching sight of Bones but didn't comment, turning his focus back on regenerating his resources.

Ten minutes later Solin asked, "Why a cat though?"

"I don't know. I like cats." Bones replied. Solin nodded and added he was more of a dog person. Before continuing, they analyzed their battle with the troll. Its attack patterns were easy to remember and easy to discern when the attack was coming. The problem was the troll's area of attack with a tree trunk. Bones would stay out of its range and Solin was capable of evading the attacks. Both turned to the golem and Bones motioned for it to come over.

The golem had cracked bones in places and Bones' tsked thinking how much work he'll have repairing the bones and redoing the engravings where necessary. Solin asked if he wanted to work on the golem now but Bones urged him to move on, saying he will deal with the golem at the next break.

The duo went further north along the border and had their second encounter three hours later. This time, they rushed the fight with the purpose to deal as much damage as quickly as possible. The fight proved to be more risky but they halved the time it took to kill the troll. Their third encounter was more paced and with less risk as the party experimented with the first two fights and learned how to fight the troll more effectively.

They stopped fighting by evening and set up camp. Solin tended to his weapons and Bones went to have a look at the damage his golem accumulated.

"What's the damage?" Solin asked

"Don't ask!" Bones retorted, clearly not happy with how much damage was done to the golem. "It'll take a while to repair the bones and redo the engraving. We plan to camp for the night?"

Solin nodded and replied there was no reason to rush the hunt and proper rest was needed between the fights. At least he needed a proper rest. Bones worked on the golem over the night, fixing and replacing the bones as needed and by morning, the golem was as good as new. The damage wasn't as high as he thought it was.

Bones wasn't exactly unhappy with how the golem fought. It was programmed with a set of instructions so he wasn't expecting the golem to be able to think and act by itself. It did bother him that he had to constantly direct the golem when to attack and when to stop and retreat. When the golem was commanded to attack, it kept attacking without stopping.

Golem mastery affects how well the golem receives and applies the received instructions. Is there a way to program the golem to be more self-sufficient? Maybe advanced golem mastery would make it capable of doing just that? Something to ask Hemdus about. He's the only one using golems that I know of.

"Morning", Solin said and summoned a meal he prepared beforehand from his spatial ring. Bones stored the golem, greeted him back and asked if the plan was the same as yesterdays?

Solin would cripple and incapacitate the troll with his powerful attacks, then fall back while Bones and golem would take the front and finish the job. At least that's the gist of it and it worked well previously. They have hunted five trolls in total so far, earning a good amount of experience.

Bones gained a level in a Race, getting him to level 24 and just one level below the anticipated race upgrade at level 25. By the end of the hunt he expected to gain a level in class as well.

"How long until you advance your race?" Bones suddenly asked. Solin looked up from his meal and replied he already had it a month ago. Bones gasped, asking him why he hadn't said anything?

"It wasn't that big of a deal. I had a classic race upgrade most humans had at level 25."

"What do you mean by classic? Is advancement the same for all humans?” Bones asked, wondering.

"It's general knowledge but I gained a fixed increase in stats and a slight increase in overall experience gained.

Unless a human had a specific path he was following that made a vast impact on his physical body like a transformation, he would have a normal, or classic, upgrade.

Solin confirmed that the majority had the same classic upgrade. "What about you? Find any information on undead race advancement?"