And a long night it was, I ran and fought tooth and nail as best as I could for hours into the night. Whoever said Goblins weren’t very strong was an idiot. It definitely wasn’t me. Either way I’m finally at the end of my rope.

  With my back leaning weakly against the trunk of a large tree, a pouch filled well over 50 cores, and of course countless other cores littered the ground of the forest around me.

  Oh, and I was also surrounded by at least 40 Goblins. I’m far too weak to count accurately, and I definitely haven’t seen all of them, but nonetheless I was royally fucked. I truly am an idiot.

  Though in true idiotic fashion I was smiling. Grinning even. This battle where it’s likely I could lose my life, was the most fun I’ve had in my entire life. I don’t want it to end, I don’t want to stop fighting. I want to win, I want to defeat all my opponents and scream to the world that I won.

  What did that metal man say...yes… “I want my flames to burn eternally and my spear to be ever swift!”

  And with that I took off in a charge into the waiting Goblins to fight till I can’t fight anymore.

  ….

  Raizen didn’t know it yet, but as he spoke those last words out loud, his heart began to pump and flow with a lot more power. It was as if a slumbering giant was finally waking up. It thumped and thumped until the blood running through Raizen’s veins began to thump themselves.

  Raizen, oblivious to this, continued to fight with mad fervor and almost reckless abandon. A wide grin plastered on his face as he dealt blows and received them just as well. This delicate balance of fighting with everything he had while doing his best to avoid too damaging of a wound began to come undone as he seemed to relish in the fight and began to grow wilder and wilder until he even began to yell. The roaring blood in his body seemed to roar with him.

  “AHHHHHHH!!!!”

  It was during the next exchanges that something remarkable happened.

  His heart had fully come to life now and was no longer thumping, instead it slowed so much that it no longer pumped at all, and as Raizen jumped forward to thrust his spear forward into the body of a Goblin, with at least thirty more closing in on him, he bellowed out once more stabbing forward with all his might. Though his yell was the only thing that left his body.

  His heart, as if syncing with his intention to bring forth everything he had roared to life once more and pumped so loudly that it could be heard outside of Raizen’s chest.

  Flames so beautifully black and flooded with power blossomed around the spear head as it moved to the chest of a leaping Goblin.

  The spear made contact.

  And then Raizen’s world went black.

  …

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Going back to before Raizen’s spear made contact with the Goblin. All the way back to Outpost G where a green man was watching Raizen wreaking havoc with his life on the line in the forest. In his mind, Raizen was clearly fighting above what was expected of the Earthlings on just day 2 of the Tutorial.

  This man was not the guard that Raizen was first met, instead it was Jrino. The Leader of Outpost G. Unlike what Yamaal and Greja believed, the man was not oblivious to the importance showed to the boy. He simply didn’t like the idea of a brat just getting something handed to him on a platter.

  What happened to working for your meals and clawing your way to the top? He didn’t understand those metal freaks. At least that was how he thought until he decided to watch Raizen battle. Something he only decided to do on a whim.

  Anyway, not only was he watching, but he was floating high above the Outpost, seeing and truly observing absolutely everything.

  He saw how Raizen’s initial plan of gathering more Goblins together went to shit and instead he gathered over a 100 Goblins all at once, he thought that Raizen was a fool and would die shortly after.

  But he then watched on as Raizen ran through the forest and fought more and more like a ravage beast as the day turned into night. He hid when he had to, he ran when he had to, he fought when he had to, he screamed, he clawed, he endured, fell, rose, lost, won, bled. But most of all.

  He was always grinning.

  Jrino watched on as Raizen’s fighting spirit roared to life, growing a better fighter with each engagement, running away smarter with each engagement, learning how to hide better with each engagement, learning how to not flinch better when hit, with each engagement.

  He was watching a warrior.

  One that was clearly a Genius. No normal person improved this fast in a fight, especially not one on day 2 of a damn Tutorial.

  Jrino eventually admitted to himself that he judged Raizen too soon. Though he wouldn’t admit that to anyone else.

  It was during this self-reflection late into the night as Jrino watched on, that he saw something that made his eyes widen like saucers. Raizen’s spear got coated in Infernal Flames.

  “A bla…black...fla...flame…”

  “No...no fucking way.”

  “He’s a fucking Infer...-”

  BOOOOOM!!

  As he was struggling to come to terms with what he had just realized, Raizen’s spear eventually made contact with the chest of an unfortunate Goblin, and a massive explosion shook the surrounding area.

  Black flames exploded out from the epicenter and immediately engulfed and burnt everything in the area. The sturdy tress became ashes, the earthy forest floor became black, bodies of both the living and dead Goblins no longer existed, down to the bone. Gone. Everything.

  Everything except Raizen.

  Including his clothes, his spear, his coin pouch now filled cores, and surprisingly enough, all of the cores from the deceased Goblins laid perfectly fine. Not a single sign of being covered in flames at all.

  Jrino watched all of this happen with his fist clenched so tight his nails started cutting into his palms.

  He waited until the last of the flames dissipated, before flying towards Raizen. Even though he was far stronger than the current Raizen, and could kill him before he could blink, one does not simply touch the flames of an Infernal no matter how weak unless you had a death wish. Of course, it was likely that the flames wouldn’t be able to harm Jrino, but he was still cautious.

  After gathering the now unconscious Raizen in his arms, who was of course still gripping his spear tightly, he then quickly gathered all of the cores in the surroundings laying around from the slain Goblins, he made sure not to miss a single one.

  After his task was complete, he quietly flew back to the Outpost, with nothing but the darkness of the night and an unconscious Infernal in his arms to accompany him.

  He had only one thought in his mind at that point.

  ‘I fucked up.’

  Trying to over charge and practically almost rob a young Infernal.

  Was he an idiot?

  An Infernal that caused Yamaal himself to enter the Tutorial to deliver him something. Who else could make Yamaal, a Second Stage Immortal justify using his emergency entry just to play delivery boy, if not an Infernal, or even worse one of the boy’s Elders?

  He was truly a fool.

  ‘Fuck.’