Kill All the Goblins

Lance watched the dense mass of data on the panel, his heart experiencing a sharp jolt.

So this was the secret of professionals.

The health attribute for a normal adult was 5 points across all stats, and strength alone required twice that of a normal person.

This string of harsh numerical requirements was enough to make ordinary people back away in despair.

He calmly re-examined the youth in front of him.

Despite the kid's immature appearance, based solely on those two high-level swordsmanship techniques, if a real fight broke out.

He, a half-baked cheater, might not actually be able to beat him.

Unless he exploited the opponent's limited stamina, if it came to a burst of power, this kid was definitely a fierce character.

He was a genius.

Lance gave his evaluation inwardly.

But soon.

As he stared at that face for longer, the sense of familiarity grew much stronger.

Golden hair...

It was Kyle, the fellow who used to carry a greatsword, who had golden hair just like him.

Lance lowered his voice, deliberately making his pitch sound deep and hoarse.

"Why did you come back from White River City?"

He stared into the boy's eyes, asking slowly.

"I remember that place is the commercial center of the province, far more prosperous than Grayrock Town."

"Since you have such talent, wouldn't it be better to stay there and develop?"

Hearing these words.

Damian, who had still been wearing an excited expression with light shining in his eyes, had his expression instantly freeze.

His hand involuntarily gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist; this was a gift from his older brother.

Facing Lance's questioning, he fell silent.

After a moment, the boy finally opened his mouth.

"The tuition at the White River City Swordsmanship Academy is five gold coins a semester."

"If I could study for another year, I might have a chance to pass the assessment and become a swordsman. With the Exceptional Tier talent my mentor rated me with, I definitely would have been chosen by the city's defense knight order."

"That way I would have a stable salary and a big house, and I could bring my older brother over to enjoy a good life."

While saying these words, a certain glimmer of hope flickered within Damian's gaze.

But that glimmer lasted for only a fleeting moment before being completely extinguished, like boiling water doused with cold water.

Yet his older brother was already gone.

The person he needed to strive for was gone.

"My older brother... used to be an adventurer here. His name is Kyle."

"Every month, he would punctually mail me letters and living expenses. Every letter wrote about which monster tribe he had subjugated recently, how the guild handed out a huge bounty, and how comfortable his life was."

"He told me not to skimp on money and to buy whatever I wanted to eat. He wrote in his letters that he was a famous great adventurer in Grayrock Town, that he had formed a formidable team, and that he was respected in the small town."

The boy's voice began to carry a trace of a tremble.

"Until a week ago... I came back to collect his remains."

"What the guild staff handed me was merely a shriveled, moldy money pouch."

"Inside there were no gold coins, only a dozen heavily worn copper coins, and half a piece of black bread as hard as stone that he hadn't finished eating."

Damian's hand gripped the sword hilt very tightly.

"That was found later, after other adventurers swept through the Goblin tribe that killed him, fished out from the lair of those beasts."

"Among the relics was also a letter he had written to me, but hadn't yet managed to mail."

"In the letter, he still told me to study hard... saying I was the family's pride and that I must definitely become a respected noble knight in the future."

The boy's eye sockets turned red as he looked up at the hooded Lance.

"How am I supposed to keep studying?!"

"He was no great adventurer at all! He was just a liar who couldn't even bear to buy the most basic protective potions just to scrape together my tuition!"

"A single bottle of maintenance oil that I casually squandered away while practicing swordsmanship on ordinary days could equal half a month of his food expenses."

"This skill of mine was hard-earned and piled up coin by coin, with every few bloody copper coins coming from him killing Goblins one by one."

"Senior, you asked me why I came back."

The boy fiercely wiped his face with his sleeve, fire seeming to burn within his bloodshot eyes.

"Because I don't want to be some noble knight."

"I only want to be his younger brother, take over his wish, and replace him to become a true great adventurer."

"I want to kill all the Goblins."

"Senior, can you help me?"

Damian extended his hand toward Lance.

That hand, although young, was covered in calluses left behind by practicing swordsmanship.

Lance looked at that hand.

He knew very well in his heart that as long as he reached out and took it, relying on this kid's talent and his own system, perhaps an adventure team that would shake the world in the future really could start right here.

But...

Damian only saw that hooded man whose face was unclear coldly shake his head.

The boy's hand remained frozen in mid-air, his gaze instantly turning incomparably dejected.

"Is it... am I still not strong enough?"

Lance offered no cheap comfort whatsoever for Damian's tragic encounter.

In fact, his tone even carried coldness.

"I think you've misunderstood one thing."

Lance's voice came out from beneath the hood, sounding muffled and stern.

"If I were you, I would go to the counter right this instant and retract that foolish application to recruit a new team."

"Don't think about forming your own team and acting as some leader."

"Go find a veteran team lacking muscle, even if it means going to work as a coolie or carrying packs for them."

"Go see how those veterans carry out commission quests, and learn properly how they sleep in the wild, how they distinguish water sources, and how they escape with their lives."

"Use your proud swordsmanship as a bargaining chip to trade for the survival experience inside those old fellows' brains."

Lance stepped forward, looking down at the boy from on high through his hood.

"A person who only knows how to fight cannot be an adventurer; that is called a reckless brute."

"Only by staying alive can you kill more Goblins to avenge your older brother."

Having said this, Lance gave Damian no opportunity to offer any rebuttal.

He pulled his cloak tight around himself, turned, and walked toward the guild doors.

As he walked, he tossed back his final few words without looking back.

"There are plenty of trash people wasting time in this guild, but there are also true experts."

"If you don't want to fail your older brother's expectations."

"Then first learn how to survive like a cockroach."

"Don't let him die in vain."

Lance waved his hand, pushed open the doors, and his figure quickly vanished into the street's flow of people.

Leaving Damian standing all alone in place.

He blankly watched the direction where that back had vanished, as if something deep inside his chaotic mind had been fiercely touched.

Everything Lance had just said to that youth was without a single word of falsehood.

The three words "stay alive" were not only an admonition, but also the primary creed etched into his very bones ever since his trans-migration.

In this cruel world, only the living were qualified to speak of ideals.

During the past few months behind the guild counter, he had witnessed far too many adventurers' stories.

Some were inspired by dreams, some were swallowed by greed, or like Kyle, they carried a heavy load to protect their loved ones.

Yet no matter how wonderful the original intentions were, the majority of people ultimately fell on this road full of thorns, paying the painful price of their lives.