Roy waited, crouched behind a boulder out of sight from the entrance, and peered around the corner, waiting. He was unsure what he expected would happen and, having no way to know what was going on inside, he waited patiently. He had at least confirmed that there were multiple goblins down there, which would be dangerous to confront on his own within their own territory. Taking them out whenever they surfaced would be ideal, and he hoped they would, after that commotion, if not to look for their already dead friend.

After some moments, Roy began hearing scraping sounds and the occasional grunt coming from the mouth of the cave, just before the head of a goblin poked out into the light. It was momentarily blinded, shielding its eyes, before turning back to lift something up, which turned out to be a branch attached to a moving tree. Soon enough, it had managed to heave the treant out of the cave, revealing a second goblin that had been pushing from below. The treant seemed unharmed as it lay on its side, and after the second goblin adjusted to the light, they hoised it up on either end and began carrying it to the river.

It was an unexpected and curious outcome Roy had not expected, and a little disappointing they had not killed each other. At the very least, the two goblins were too preoccupied with carrying the treant to have any weapons on them. This was an opportunity he was not going to miss, and just as they began swinging the treant to toss it into the water, Roy began his approach.

He silently moved as close as he dared on the gravelly ground, glad to have the stream masking some of the noise, but soon began a mad dash to the nearest goblin, afraid they might spot his much larger form.

The further one, facing more toward Roy, spotted him as soon as he started running, dropping the treant and screeching. The sudden dropping of the load caused the one Roy was aiming for to lurch forward as it held on, its hands having gotten entangled in the branches. It barely turned to look behind it as Roy grabbed the back of its head with his left hand and, in a cross-motion, shoved it into the dagger which was already at its throat. He pulled back the dagger slick with blood as it easily sliced through its throat and immediately tossed it by the head to the side as it desperately clutched at its wound.

The other goblin, weary after seeing the swift execution of its comrade, was carefully watching the dagger. It growled as it spread its clawed fingers, trying to appear intimidating but not stupid enough to lunge directly into the blade.

Roy was not taking any chances at getting swiped and threw the dagger immediately, imbuing it with a split shot. The goblin did not even have time to react as one embedded itself in its forehead and the other in its ribcage, and it screamed in pain as it staggered back, clutching at the wounds.

Not breaking momentum, Roy grabbed the treant at his feet, lifted it, and swung, using it as a makeshift club as he struck the goblin on the side of its head. The impact sent it hurtling to the ground, where a crunch was heard as its skull hit the ground.

Roy quickly turned to the first goblin, making sure it was dealt with as it lay still gurgling blood and slowly spazzing on the ground. Satisfied the danger was over, he strode up to the impaled goblin and yanked the dagger out of its chest, only to have it dissolve in his hand in what appeared to be blue static. Disappointed he could not permanently duplicate his dagger, but expected, he grabbed the other, seemingly original one from the ground where it had landed after his swing. This one luckily did not dissolve, which had been his real worry.

Roy quickly made sure to put both the goblins down for good, putting the suffocating one out of its misery by impaling them in the heart. He then waited a few moments for them both to dissolve, all the while observing the cave, which took only a matter of seconds.

You Gained 17 EXP

You Gained 15 EXP

Strength: +7 EXP (1/15 EXP) Level 2!

Speed: +6 EXP (8/10 EXP)

Endurance: +2 EXP (3/10 EXP)

Stamina: +10 EXP (6/15 EXP) Level 2!

Cognition: +4 EXP (7/10 EXP)

Mana: +3 EXP (5/10 EXP)

Roy did not feel much different, even with the level up. At the very least he was glad the experience needed did not double. It was very likely he would not experience a massive change until his tier goes up.

In the meantime, the treant had righted itself, seemingly unperturbed at being used as a weapon, and began suspiciously eyeing the cores that had dropped. Not taking any risks, Roy quickly snatched them both up and examined them with his guide, which he was starting to get the hang of using without having to ask verbally. It was similar to his other skills, which when it would try to activate, prompted him for an input, which he mentally had to indicate, in this case being the two cores.

They turned out to be identical to the first one he had received. Roy already knew what he was going to use them for.

The first, without hesitation, transformed into a simple buckler adorned with a thin spike jutting out of its center and a leather strap to grip onto. It provided him some measure of protection from the nails and teeth of the goblins, which he was more worried about than any weapons.

For the second, while tempted to go for some sort of explosive, he instead settled on a short spear as he would rather not have the cave collapse. It provided him with the safety of range over a sword and could be thrown much easier.

Feeling much more confident with his new arsenal on hand, Roy once again grabbed the treant by the branches and dragged it off to the cave.

"Round two, buddy. Let's see if you can do that again."