Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Skill upgraded. Fistfighting (I) → Fistfighting (II)

Through the battle haze, Jack grinned. Everything suddenly became so much easier. The trajectories of the shortswords were clearly telegraphed before his eyes, and he could tell where the next attack would come from before the hobs even moved to enact it.

Suddenly, he realized they weren’t really veteran fighters, only familiar with fighting. Their stances weren’t carefully refined, just decent. They had holes he could see and punch through.

And he did.

Through the maelstrom of attacks, a fist jumped out and fell on a hobgoblin’s face like a meteor from the side. It stumbled, and in that moment, Jack turned at the other hobgoblin, dodged an attack to get into its guard, and stared it down.

Its face was hideous, but in its eyes, he saw fear. He was a head taller, to begin with. Right now, he felt incomparably grander.

The hobgoblin froze in fear as a fist shot into its gut, then the same fist slammed its falling face into an uppercut. The impact was so strong that the hobgoblin’s feet left the ground, and it flew a couple of feet before it landed on its back, unmoving and very dead. This was the same hobgoblin he’d punched at the start—the amount of punishment it could take was limited.

Jack then turned to face the other hobgoblin, dodged the strike that was heading at his head, grabbed it hard from the throat, and pummeled its face into mush with his other hand.

A second later, the hobgoblin was dead.

He then turned to the third goblin, the one that couldn’t stand due to its broken ribcage. He frowned as he looked it over. Its eyes were still fearless and full of fire, but he couldn’t just execute a fallen enemy.

“What should I do with you?” he asked.

“Kill me,” the hobgoblin spat out in a rough, calloused, yet slightly high-pitched voice, “or I will kill you.”

Jack shook his head. “No. I think I’ll—”

Whatever he was going to say, it disappeared. A stick snapping behind him was the only warning Jack got. He jumped aside and barely dodged the earth bear’s charge, which barreled through his previous position and into the kneeling hobgoblin.

It hadn’t been more than two minutes since it stopped chasing Jack, so it was still nearby. Hearing the sounds of combat, it had come to investigate.

Jack rolled upright and eyed the beast, already moving backward. “You can’t catch me,” he said slowly. “Just get the fuck out.”

The bear met his steady gaze, and this time, it didn’t chase. It was still exhausted from the previous run. So was Jack, actually, but the bear didn’t know that. It only knew it had lost once.

Jack had already retreated a couple dozen feet, more than enough to dodge any surprise attack and run away.

The bear growled once, clearly dissatisfied, then turned to the hobgoblin, which lay by its feet. It tried to grin heroically. “I—” A claw easily snapped its neck. The bear threw a last glance at Jack before leaning in for its meal, and he only grimaced before turning away.

Despite his Skill upgrade, he still didn’t feel confident against an earth bear—not without an ambush.

However, that was fine. Jack was now confident in his strength. He had finally graduated from prey into a hunter.

He even had choices on what to hunt. The bears were doable. He’d still be in huge trouble if he failed the ambush, but he liked his chances. He had succeeded twice, after all. However, the risk of death was still there, even if not high.

The only problem was that Jack was reluctant to kill too many bears. There had to be bigger, meaner variants deeper in their territory, along with a group boss, and that mystery filled him with a sense of dread he’d rather not provoke.

The other option was the goblins, who also had the promising High Speed Bush. They had holed up in their tribe, leaving Jack helpless before, but now, he was forced to reconsider. His current power was enough to steamroll hobgoblins, of which there were only two left. There were dozens of regular goblins, but he could face those in his sleep by now.

They could only be a problem if they had ranged weapons, large numbers, as well as…

The shaman.

The Goblin Shaman was at Level 9, close to Jack. Plus, his powers were still a mystery.

Finally, there were the monkeys, but Jack still felt somewhat apprehensive. Not only were they dangerous, with the only group he’d seen sporting the equivalent of five hobgoblins, but they were also monkeys, which implied a level of intelligence that could doom him if he wasn’t careful. The System could have installed a Monkey Sage as their leader, or something equally ridiculous, and he didn’t want a bunch of gorilla bouncers scouring the forest for him.

Plus, they hadn’t tried to kill him. That was a major concern for Jack.

In the end, the High Speed Bush of the goblins won him over.

Alright. I’ll take one more bear to level up, then try the ice pond again, and then…I will destroy the goblins once and for all.

***

Night had fallen in the Greenway natural reserve. The moon was hidden tonight, but the stars shone bright, lending their light to the night like fireflies stuck on ceiling glue.

For the first time, Jack was out and about in the dark. He’d only used the night to cook before, but now, he was using it to skulk. To prowl through the undergrowth unseen, to hunt his enemies.

The goblin tribe was arrayed before him, an amalgamation of little green things, rough huts, and random squealing from said huts. There were more than thirty of them—of huts—each housing two goblins, indicating their original number to be around sixty or seventy. Jack estimated there were around forty left, including the Goblin Shaman and the two hobgoblins—as well as any hobgoblins he’d missed the first time.

It wasn’t a fight he could take. The shaman was an unknown variant, the hobs needed time to neutralize, and the goblins were so many they could swarm him.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to fight them head-on. Hence the night.

Killing the leader would despawn the entire monster group, according to the System. All Jack had to do was infiltrate, reach the shaman’s hut—the largest one, obviously—and slit its throat. Then, goodbye, goblins.

Despawning them would lose him some experience, but, at this point, goblins just weren’t worth it. They were too low-level for him. Even if he manually took out the entire tribe, he’d only get two levels at most, and half of that would come from the leader himself.

Risking himself for a smidgeon of extra exp—to speak in game terms—just wasn’t worth it. He would assassinate the leader, benefit from the High Speed Bush in the middle of the tribe, then go fight bears and monkeys to level up.

High Speed Bush (F-Grade)

A resource guarded by the goblins of the Forest of the Strong. Commonly found in the wet jungles of planet Peruvian, the leaves of this bush can enhance a person’s reflexes, speed, dexterity, and agility. They can also make you high as a kite.

The stat increase is a one-time bonus.

According to Jack’s estimate, this bush was exactly what he needed right now. The bonuses could help him consistently outrun the earth bears, at least the low-level ones, significantly decreasing the risk of his ambushes. It could also help him escape the monkeys, when he decided to head that way.

Plan determined, Jack inspected himself a final time before jumping into action.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: -

Grade: F

Level: 11

Physical: 30

Mental: 9

Will: 7

Skills: Fistfighting (II)

He’d killed an extra bear for a level-up, and he’d also managed to take an extra step into the ice pond—the seventh one—almost reaching its halfway point. His Physical stat had reached the nice round number of 30. He overflowed with power.

He also checked out his upgraded skill.

Fist Fighting (II): Grants expert knowledge of fistfighting. While fistfighting, enhances the user’s physical attributes, reflexes, and kinetic vision.

It wasn’t a large change from the previous version. Only some adjectives had changed.

Fist Fighting (I): Grants basic knowledge of fistfighting. While fistfighting, slightly enhances the user’s physical attributes, reflexes, and kinetic vision.

Still, Jack wasn’t going to complain. The difference between basic and expert was massive, as he’d realized when fighting the hobgoblins. He clenched his fists, and suddenly, he was filled with the confidence that comes from skill.

He looked at the goblin tribe and prepared himself for the coming action. His eyes sharpened. His bare feet—given his high Physical, shoes slowed him down tremendously—were tickled by the moist grass below. The night breeze swept around his bare chest, hugging it, and his nape-length hair fluttered.

He smelled blood in the air. There wasn’t any yet, but there would be.

Jack slid into the bush and down the hill. He was quiet. His bare feet made no sound on the grass and soil, while his breath was deep and steady. He was used to high adrenaline by now.

He darted from bush to bush like a rabbit, easily hiding from the sentries’ sights. Though their leader had devised an excellent patrol pattern, the goblins were too dumb to understand it, and they ended up looking the wrong way. Jack snuck through the gaps, a human-shaped wolf entering the sheep pen.

There were many guards tonight, but that was expected. The three hobgoblins hadn’t returned. The goblins were undoubtedly on high alert.

The tribe was situated in a large clearing—System-made, as Jack didn’t remember it being here before—and he reached its edge without being noticed. Then, things got tough.

There was a thirty-foot gap between the last bush and the first tent, a gap he couldn’t easily cross. The goblins had no torches—they could see in the dark—but the starlight was enough for Jack. The problem was that the lack of torches meant a lack of shadows for him to sneak through.

But, well, Jack was Jack. If there weren’t holes in their defense, he’d make one.

The moon swung overhead as time passed. The ten goblin guards were split into groups of two, patrolling in and around the tribe. There weren’t walls or palisades; only these ten little goblins.

As a duo of goblins circled the clearing, arguing about something in low voices, two hands sneaked out of a bush, grabbed their mouths, and pulled them in. Then, silence.

The other goblins didn’t realize a patrol had gone missing. The gap was enough for Jack to go through.

He slithered across the clearing as quickly as he could manage while remaining stealthy. He reached the first hut and dived in its base, making himself one with what little shadow it could cast. Low squeals came from inside, but he didn’t pay any mind. These goblins had been at it for a while.

He circled around the hut to avoid a passing patrol, then headed deeper inside. Stalking in the dark, Jack felt like a primal, nocturnal beast looking for prey. The feeling was wildly exciting, and he could feel his body adapting to the hunt.

He followed the hut walls as he headed deeper. There were patrols even inside the tribe, so he had to be careful, not to mention that the entire camp was so small he could be seen by pretty much anywhere.

As Jack skulked by a wall, a door opened right in front of him.