First Battle

Under the enhancement of See Invisibility, Punk saw that the bush, which was about a person tall, concealed about six or seven small green-skinned monsters. These were beginner monsters, common in both the Faerun plane and online games on Earth – Goblins.

Goblins were related to Hobgoblins. Although history and genetics both proved this, no Hobgoblin would admit it. After all, even though the Hobgoblin civilization had declined, the Imaskari Mechanical Empire had once enjoyed a prominent reputation in many planes! Goblins, on the other hand, had remained uncivilized from ancient times to the present. It was no wonder Hobgoblins looked down on these "poor relatives."

Goblins were only as tall as children, with large, hooked noses and disproportionately large heads. They wore tattered animal hides, looking more like a group of starving people than bandits. In reality, they were indeed bullies who preyed on the weak, but this absolutely did not mean they weren't dangerous.

They possessed strength no less than that of an adult and the agility of a monkey. Generally, it took two ordinary militiamen to deal with one Goblin. These few Goblins were equivalent to a militia squad in combat power!

Judging by where the Goblins were ambushing, their original targets should have been a herd of reindeer coming to the river to drink from afar. After all, their short legs were not suited for "hunting," a task requiring speed!

However, these small monsters with their deficient intelligence had clearly changed their targets. The small fists gripping their stone axes indicated they had set their sights on Punk, who was closer and appeared weaker!

But Punk was no weak prey.

He calmly stopped, took out a small piece of rabbit fat from his robe's pocket!

Any creature with an intelligence above 50 should choose to immediately evade upon seeing a Mage taking out spell components. But these ignorant Goblins still thought they hadn't been discovered. They were anticipating the "prey" to get closer before launching a full assault!

With spell components, somatic gestures, and incantations as triple aids, Punk easily cast the Apprentice Level Summoning spell – Grease – in less than two seconds.

A large mass of Astral Oil was created by the Soul, then summoned into reality by the power of magic. The small piece of rabbit fat had disappeared, replaced by a basketball-sized mass of Astral Oil shimmering with white light spots. As the final syllable of the incantation was completed, this mass of Astral Oil was propelled towards the large clump of bushes where the Goblins were hiding, propelled by the spell's inherent small propulsion array. Its speed was not fast, only comparable to a slingshot firing a stone, and nowhere near the sniper rifle-level speed of Magic Missile. But even so, it was still too fast for these clueless Goblins to react.

The Astral Oil drenched the bushes and the Goblins within. The little monsters were startled and jumped up, trying to escape the bushes. But the slippery Astral Oil quickly caused them to fall to the ground. They struggled in vain, but they wouldn't get another chance to get up!

As soon as Grease had finished casting, Punk began preparing the next spell. This time, he cast the simplest spell in Evocation – Mini Fireball.

This spell had very low lethality; its primary purpose was actually to start fires. But used in conjunction with the crowd-control spell Grease, it produced tremendous power.

Because Mini Fireball was so simple, Punk finished it in about one second. The orange-red, ping-pong ball-sized fireball flew out immediately after Grease. Almost as the Goblins slipped, the Mini Fireball slammed fiercely into the bushes covered in Astral Oil.

The Astral Oil, shimmering with white light spots, was even more flammable than Punk had imagined. The entire bush quickly turned into a large fireball, with rolling black smoke spreading above the bush. The burning Astral Oil generated temperatures close to a thousand degrees Celsius. Even in the cool morning air, it created rings of Solar Flare within a one-meter radius of the fiery bush. As for the unfortunate Goblins inside... except for a few "little firemen" with thicker leather armor who rushed out of the bush and rolled on the grass nearby, most of them only managed to let out a chilling scream before turning into charcoal.

The fire ignited by the Astral Oil burned quickly and extinguished just as fast. After about a minute, all the flames were out, as the young spring vegetation still contained a lot of moisture.

As the last wisps of gray smoke dissipated in the wind, the tragic scene on the ground was fully revealed. The bushes had long since turned to ash at the beginning of the fire. Now, only a few charcoal lumps, barely recognizable in shape, remained on the ground.

Seeing this, Punk whistled lightly and strode towards the few bodies that had been burned to charcoal. Punk kicked aside a few "charcoal" pieces with the sole of his shoe, but found nothing except a few blackened stone tools.

"As expected, this is a realistic world. It's better not to expect any item drops."

Punk wiped the sole of his shoe on a rock by the river, pouted with some dissatisfaction, and then continued on his way.

Walking downstream along the river, Punk recalled the Goblin corpses he had wiped out. Surprisingly, he felt no disgust; instead, a faint excitement rose from the bottom of his heart.

"Perhaps it's because they were burned beyond recognition!"

Punk genuinely felt this was a good thing, proving his spirit had adapted to this world of the survival of the fittest.

Following the river, the water gently lapped against the banks. Due to the blue light from the small fish in the river, the entire river was dotted with blue light spots. The two suns in the sky, one large and one small, one red and one orange, slowly moved towards the center.

A little past noon, a village came into Punk's view.

This village possessed the most typical characteristic of a medieval village – poverty.

A fence made of branches of varying lengths surrounded the village. The dilapidated fence wall was less for defending against wild beasts and more for defining the village's boundaries. Large areas of irregular and scattered farmland were separated by winding paths. The hovels, "piled up" in the distance, were the villagers' houses. The villagers currently working in the fields were mostly sallow and thin. If it were night, one might even believe they were undead skeletons. These villagers were currently weeding the fields with wooden farm tools. Nearby, a tall man with a ferocious expression was patrolling the fields with a whip, savagely lashing anyone who worked too slowly. Most of the farmers here were tenant farmers; agriculture in the Faerun plane was governed by the Landlord System.

As Punk approached, some farmers secretly glanced at the well-dressed, handsome, and dashing Punk.

However, upon seeing the staff in Punk's hand and the mage robe on his body, the two iconic items of a Mage, they quickly lowered their heads and pretended not to see him, continuing to weed. Only a few children, despite being dragged by adults, kept looking back curiously.

Punk had no time to pay attention to the villagers' reactions. He was somewhat disappointed when he realized it was just a dilapidated village. However, even the poorest village had some contact with the outside world, and Punk hoped to gather information about towns.

He certainly wouldn't inquire with these illiterate villagers. So, he beckoned to the tall man who looked like a lackey.

"You, come here, tell me which noble's fief this village belongs to."

Punk said expressionlessly, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the tall man to hear.

The tall man, who had been ferocious towards the farmers moments ago, was startled to hear a Mage, who had appeared from nowhere, calling him. Trembling, he scurried over.