Revel was looking at him, waiting for his answer.
"I don't have one."
"You don't?" she said, tilting her head. "Then we need to get you one soon. I'll check with you later." She started walking toward Lira. "Good job," she added without turning back.
It was a decent fight. Aside from the mistakes his party made at the beginning. Even the guards were far stronger than regular guards in his old world. Far stronger.
The blessing made regular humans stronger. But he still didn't know what the high ceiling was. His party was similar in strength to apprentice mages, maybe even mages. Clay was around the level of a squire as well.
The casting was far quicker in this world. In his old one, spells needed to be imagined, calculated, and made into reality. There were multiple steps one needed to go through before casting a spell. With training, the cast time became faster, but the steps were never skipped.
At his current level, Adolin didn't need to go through the steps manually. It was easier than breathing.
Here, chanting handled most of the process. He would have to learn to cast the same way if he wanted to understand it.
Chanting would be faster in the early stages compared to mages from his old world. But experienced mages would cast far faster than chanting.
Glancing around, there were no more screams. The goblins were already executed. Most of the guards were sitting on the ground, resting. Clay was talking to Master Eldritch. Blaise was still sprawled on the ground, exhaustion clear on his face. Revel was talking with Lira, who was also on the ground, drained of mana.
Adolin clicked his tongue.
He would need to teach Lira a lot about spells and casting. And positioning. Among other things.
It was time to check his status again. It had been a while since he last did, and he had cast a lot of spells. "Status."
The translucent window appeared, showing the notifications he got from the blessing.
[New Skill Detected: Ice Spikes.]
[Skill Tier: 4]
[Level Increased.]
[Attribute Points Available: 5]
[New Skill Detected: Freeze.]
[Skill Tier: 3]
[Attribute Points Available: 5]
[New Skill Detected: Ice Spear.]
[Skill Tier: 6]
[Attribute Points Available: 6]
From the three new spells he used, he only gained two levels. It was the first time he gained less than a level per spell. It seemed it wouldn't be as easy as he thought to progress through the levels.
He was probably wrong about that. He still hadn't used high-tier spells. And there were two he could use with the low mana he had, but he wasn't in a hurry. He didn't want to be left without mana. It was a terrible feeling. He finally felt better about the mana he had.
[Status:]
Name: Dareth Wood
Race: Human
Mana: 56/190
Level: 15
Class: /
[Attributes:]
Strength: 16
Agility: 17
Endurance: 18
Intelligence: 19
Constitution: 16
Attribute Points Available: 6
He was beginning to feel the improvements. He wasn't getting tired as fast as when he first came to this world. He was faster on his feet and felt better about his abilities. Increasing his level felt addictive. Improvement he could feel after every level, and more mana for more advanced spells every few levels.
He was beginning to like the system.
He spat on the ground, but it didn't remove the bitterness from his tongue.
He had six attribute points. Even using all of them wouldn't give him enough mana for the mind spells he needed to remove Lira's addiction. He preferred round numbers, so he put one point into Intelligence. That left him with five points for emergencies.
He looked around again. This time, a few of the guards were cutting the ears off the goblins and putting them into bags. There were probably several uses for them, from alchemy to bounties. He would ask Revel.
Revel and Lira were still in the same spot, so he walked over.
"What's that for?"
Revel and Lira glanced toward the guards.
"Bounties. Fifty bronze per kill."
He nodded.
"How are you holding up?"
Lira smiled. "Better. Thanks."
He felt like he needed to remind them of their mistakes during the battle. But he quickly caught himself. He was in no position to do it. He had just joined the party. Starting to lecture them now would be a bad choice. He could probably tell Lira, but that would require them to be away from the rest of the party.
"Not your first fight," Revel said.
"No. There were a few."
She chuckled. "They must have been quite a few. You didn't waste a single spell, and every one fit the situation."
"Lucky," he said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Indeed." She winked at him.
Revel was back to her old self. She didn't seem angry with him. He didn't know if that was better or worse.
"And you," she said, looking at Lira. "Your grimoire is large. Stop relying on just Wind Blade."
Lira looked at the ground. "It's… it's been a while since I practiced. And Wind Blade is the easiest to use."
"We'll practice when we arrive at Zent Village. And whenever we have spare time. You'll be back to normal in no time," Revel said, tapping her shoulder.
Blaise and Clay walked over.
"This was too much for a goblin tribe. What's up with that?" Clay said, wiping his blade with a dark cloth.
Blaise stood next to him, a little pale, but back to his usual sleepy self.
"Not sure." Revel stood. "There shouldn't be more than thirty, maybe forty. How many did they count?"
"Eighty-one was the count before I left. That's without the hobgoblins. And the goblins that were blown apart."
"Two tribes? Could that even be possible?" Blaise asked.
"No. There aren't any recorded cases of that. And there were too many hobgoblins for two tribes," Revel said, leaning against the wagon.
"A dungeon break?" Lira asked.
"This close to the capital?" Clay said. "No chance."
Adolin just listened. Based on what he heard, the goblins were mostly like those from his old world. He had no idea what a dungeon was, so he hoped they would say more about it.
"Master Eldritch is coming. Maybe he knows more," Clay said.
A few seconds later, Eldritch was standing next to them.
"What do you think about the ambush, sir?" Clay asked.
"Everything points to a dungeon break. But it's too close to the capital. I will report it in Zent. Let the guild deal with it."
"But what if it's an undiscovered dungeon? We'll have to deal with it all the way to Zent if it's a break," Revel said.
"Even if that's the cause, we're not fit to handle it," Eldritch said. "The goblins should only be the first wave. Maybe we can deal with the second, even the third. But what happens at the fourth? Fifth? The boss level?"
Revel stayed silent.
"It's out of our hands. The best thing we can do is leave the region and warn the villages. They need to take defensive measures or evacuate," Eldritch continued.
"Maybe we can scout the woods. Confirm if it's a break?" Clay said.
"The priority is reaching Zent first. We can try to scout tomorrow before we move out. If we find evidence of a break, the guild will send a party to deal with it. It might even skip the scouting quest," Revel said.
Eldritch shook his head. "You can try, but it has to be done before the caravan is ready to move. That gives you two hours after sunrise. I won't allow more than that."
"That should be enough. At least we'll have better information moving forward," Clay said.
Adolin put the information together. He still had no idea what a dungeon was, but he understood what a break meant. Monsters would attack the surrounding settlements in waves. If almost a hundred goblins were just the first wave, and the next ones were stronger, the villages would be massacred.
He decided to go with Revel tomorrow, to scout the woods. It was the least he could do. And he could keep her safe. Clay would probably join them as well, the only warrior in the party. That would be enough for a scouting mission.
He was glad he didn't ask about the dungeon or the break. It seemed everyone already knew. It was probably common knowledge. He really should have bought some books while he was in the capital.
They talked a bit more before the guards finished their harvest and the drivers readied the wagons. They were ready to move.
The walk toward the village was quiet. Lira spent most of the time inside the wagon, recovering, while Adolin stood watch along the caravan.
"Village up ahead," the driver from the first wagon shouted. The call was passed down to the rear.
The sun was already setting, but a few plumes of smoke were visible in the distance.
It took a few minutes before he saw it. The path ran along a high ridge, with the village in a valley two hundred meters below.
The village was larger than he expected. Five hundred, maybe even seven hundred people. It was surrounded by tall palisade walls, with six watchtowers spaced along them.
The gates opened, and a dozen mounted riders rode out toward them.