15 Weird Encounter

"Your grace… I-I implore your pardon! The capital has not told us that someone as important as you would be a member of the training regimen!"

The instructor was sweating profusely, stuttering in his talk as he apologized to Shesmu.

I really will never get used to this. And it's not even a title that I could just deactivate. Ah, I guess I just need to get used to it.

"Oh, why is he being so respectful to you, Shesmu? Earlier he was being full macho, talking to us as if we were soldiers under his watch," DepressedRyan was confused, and for good reasons. The difference between the attitude of the instructor that he remembered and now was night and day.

"Ah, I just discovered it lately, but it seems that having golden eyes make you a noble in this country," Shesmu wasn't stingy about information. He already considered DepressedRyan as a friend, same as Leo. Moreover, he got this information from reading the description of the countries in character creation space. There was no way to link this knowledge to his time travel secret.

"Oh, that's weird," DepressedRyan answered with a low voice. His frown deepened, he was visibly concerned about the balance of such a feature. He then continued, "You think it's a bug?"

Shesmu was about to burst out laughing from Ryan's comment, Even ten years in the future, they still kept saying that it's a balanced system. I call bullshit!

"Maybe?" Shesmu could only answer this way. He had to stop himself from talking his mind to protect his secret of going back in time. At the very least, he should keep it until he understood its cause.

While the duo was whispering in each other's ears, the middle-aged instructor in front of them was fidgeting in place. Seeing him acting this way, Shesmu finally turned to face and console him.

"Don't worry about it. They have an hour lead, so what?"

"But your grace, your ranking in the race to reach the Tower of Might will be affected. If you don't get the rewards you deserve from Goddess Aida due to my fault, I won't be able to forgive myself for all my life!" The instructor lamented.

When Shesmu heard that, he was surprised for a second. A reward? I don't remember that kind of thing for the second phase, only for the third phase do I remember them giving out rewards. Maybe I just don't remember stuff right.

""Rewards!"" Both Leo and Ryan exclaimed. They looked at each other for a second before they both burst out laughing.

"If there are rewards down the line then what are we still dilly-dallying here for? Let's get going!" DepressedRyan exclaimed.

"Milords! Please, before you go, I need to give you the map of the forest. In this place a lot of monsters resides, from the lowest level of one to the highest of ten. Some places in the forests are dangerous, you need to have a map to avoid them."

Suddenly, a notification reached Shesmu

Map Acquired

Forest of Beginning Map

"Here it is. With this, I won't take anymore of your time, milords. Please, have a safe journey." The instructor opened the gates and bowed.

"Well, let's get going then," Shesmu declared before stepping out of the gates.

The duo quickly followed suit, before they started marching down the main road. From there, they could see the Tower of Might. It was an ivory tower covered in red and black carvings of dragons and demons.

"Wow, that looks pretty cool. Plus look at how tall that tower is -- Easily, 20 floors in there," Leo exclaimed in surprise. Before, he couldn't see the tower due to the gargantuan trees surrounding the tutorial hall. But now that he could see it, he was amazed by its glorious figure.

Shesmu looked at the map for a second. He saw many red circles all around it. **I guess those are the danger zones he warned us about.

"That's the tower of might that we need to reach. Also, from the map I see that we can't reach it through the main road. Plus, if we go straight to it from here, we'll only go through two danger zones. It's the safest route."

The duo just nodded and the party went in. After 1 minute of walking, they finally heard something.

"Stop drawing in more monsters you idiots!"

"I'm not doing anything-they're just coming for me on their own! Ahh!"

Oh, players. Also, did they aggro a shitload of monsters?

Once Shesmu's thoughts reached this point, he immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Guys stop, let's hide for a bit," He ordered in a calm tone. Shesmu wanted to first check out the situation before deciding on how to help the distressed players.

Both Leo and DepressedRyan understood the thought process of Shesmu and acted according to his instruction. The trio hid behind the shrubs, waiting for the players and whatever was chasing them to come.

They didn't have to wait for long, as the moment they hid is the moment the distressed players came. One girl, one boy, both holding their sword clumsily, ran into the clearing as if their lives depended on it.

Seconds after the clumsy duo came in, three small green humanoid creatures appeared. Goblins? And baby goblins at that? How in the world do these creatures beat you? Shesmu was surprised to say the least about this situation. Level one goblins are so weak that even the biggest noobs in the history of mankind can win against with their eyes closed.

"Do you know who I am? I am the hero foretold by the prophecy of old! The savior!" The guy then turned towards the girl before continuing, ""Don't worry, I will protect you from those evil creatures! Just watch my power!"

Looking at this scene, Shesmu, Leo and DepressedRyan thought the same thing, It's a roleplayer…The trios' eyes showed disappointment that cannot be described by words.

"Oh, Kazuti, you're so cool!"

So even the girl is in the roleplay.

Once the trio saw this scene, they turned to look at each other. Reaching a silent mutual understanding, they nodded their head. They turned around, and silently made their way out.

"Don't worry, I will protect you from those vile creatures! Just watch my power!"

"You can do it. I believe in you, kyaa!!"

The trio kept walking as if they heard nothing. They were eager to get out of this place before the two roleplayers noticed them.

"Shit! I got hit! How dare you goblins?!" For a second, the guy dropped his role-playing voice. The pain was clear from his tone.

"Kazuti, are you hurt?! We should run!"

When Shesmu heard the panic in the duo's voice. Something inside of him made him stop.

They probably don't know how to change the pain setting.

When the duo saw Shesmu stopping, they looked at him incredulously, "Shesmu, what's going on? Let's get out of here before those two nutjobs notice us," Asked DepressedRyan.

Shesmu looked at the sky for two seconds before looking back at both of his teammates, "I'm sorry guys. I probably will regret this the moment I do it, but I've got no choice."

Without waiting for their response, Shesmu ran back towards the two roleplayers. They were already disarmed and the goblins kept hitting them with their blunt knives. But the baby goblins could barely output any damage, only dealing five with each hit.

Really how can a person possible lose to that. Even your punches deal more damage than them.

In less than five seconds, Shesmu arrived at the clearing. Without saying anything to the duo, he used his skill Dash to teleport towards the goblins.

"Krii, krii!"

The screeching of the goblins made Shesmu even more irritated than how he already was. He looked at one of the goblins, and before it could even react, he slashed open its neck using an Empowered Slash Cancel.

The damage was enough to kill the goblin who barely had 100 HP.

Without wasting any time, Shesmu grabbed the second goblin and threw it on the ground on its head. Its skull caved in, and blood gushed out from its orifices. Seeing its ally being killed, the last baby goblin jumped towards Shesmu, trying to main him.

That is fortunate. They cannot even make out the difference in our strength.

While the goblin was in midair, Shesmu muttered, "Empowered thrust." His sword glowed green and he plunged it deep into the goblin's neck. Blood gushed out and painted Shesmu's face red. He then took out his sword and with one final slash, he ended the goblin's life.

Once Shesmu finished his job, he turned around to look at the role-playing duo who were still shuddering in fear. His bloody-faced cracked into a big smile before he said.

"You guys are trash."