His mana seemed to fizzle out the moment it left his hand. Ronan's first three attempts at trying to mimic minor heal using sorcery were a complete and utter failure. Thankfully it was only a scratch he was attempting to remove. If it were anything more serious he might be in a real pickle.

By the time his third attempt had ended in failure, the countdown to the next stage was almost done. He missed the nice, long breaks in between stages that the hard difficulty tutorial had given him.

However, he was ready for stage 2. It would be the first time seeing Keith in quite a while—as a colleague, rather than a frenemy. For Keith it would have been barely a few minutes, he supposed.

Ronan's perception of events was so tilted now. He almost wanted to confide in someone. To tell them what had changed for him; to see if perhaps he could bring another into the loop…

But it was futile. This was his burden to bear. His gift to take advantage of. His curse to suffer through.

0…

Yanked through the void, there was no more time to wallow in what might be. All there was, were the two goblins waiting for him in that muddy field, and a chubby middle manager who was about to put on a cowardly display. Ronan would put the fear of goblins in that man, and turn him into a warrior for this iteration.

Appearing in the mud, he heard a squelch. Then he turned and saw Keith stumble, before falling face first into the wet mud. "You bloody moron," Ronan muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

Yanking his head upwards, Keith turned towards him. He blinked once, then spat out a mouthful of mud. Wiping his eyes clean, he did a double take as he regained his vision. "Ronan!? What the fuck? Do you know what's going on?"

"What do you think, mate? You had to kill one of the little green fuckers to make it this far, didn't you?" Ronan replied, conjuring a shortsword in his right hand and observing the warrior and archer in front of them. "Have you got a weapon, Keith?"

Keith frowned, then nodded. A spear appeared in mid-air, before dropping down towards the mud. Keith's hands flailed as he tried and almost failed to catch the shaft. Right before it hit the dirt his fingers wrapped around the wood and he caught his balance.

"Well, try not to fall over while fighting these two. Spears are easy. Just stick 'em with the pointy end." His piece said, Ronan rushed towards the archer.

The lesser goblin warrior stepped out to block his path. Ronan snorted at the foolish monster. Ducking low, he smashed the sole of his foot against its shield. With a squeal, the gnarly green prick went flying onto its arse in the mud.

Without stopping to see if it was getting up, Ronan kept rushing ahead. His target was the archer.

Keith could use the warrior to get some fighting experience and if he needed to step in to save the day, so be it. He knew it wouldn't last, but there was still a part of him that knew the moment he completely discarded his humanity for gains he might not be able to claw it back.

The archer saw him smash its comrade to the ground with ease. It screeched in anger, but still made the smart decision of retreating. Ronan had a feeling of deja vu. He'd done this same strategy many times before, but he was faster now. And stronger.

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The lesser goblin made it barely six metres before he was on its tail. A piercing screech cut through the sounds of clashing steel behind him. In a last-ditch attempt to save itself, the archer swung its bow at him. His conjured blade sliced through the flimsy wood. Then it snapped the bowstring and bit into the lesser goblin's skull. With a grunt of exertion, it sliced through the monster's body, cleaving it in two.

Letting the blade dissipate into the air, Ronan pivoted. Keith was doing surprisingly well. The spear was easy to use, as he'd said, and by repeatedly jabbing it at any openings the lesser goblin warrior left him, Keith had the monster at spear's length.

However, Ronan saw the sweat on his brow and his panting breaths. It wouldn't last forever.

He continued to observe the ongoing battle as he made his way towards the pair. The goblin warrior was doing an alright job of blocking the most lethal spear-thrusts, but it had accumulated a fair few puncture wounds from Keith's haphazard attacks.

In return, the stout green monster had cut at the spear's shaft, leaving nicks in the wood. Ronan reckoned a few more heavy blows like that would snap it clean off.

He was just a few metres away now, keeping his steps light so as not to alert the warrior. Intervening to end the battle would have been easy, but he wanted to see how Keith handled himself.

The warrior leaned to one side, pulling its shield with it and exposing its upper chest area. Keith darted in, stabbing his spear into the gap. It was a clear feint, but the middle manager didn't see it. Why would he, with zero combat experience before today?

Keith's spear didn't quite reach the goblin's skin. As soon as he fell for the bait, the warrior slashed at the spear's shaft. It missed the notch in the wood it aimed for, but the swing was still hard enough to cut through the wood. Most of the way.

Most of the way was enough to cripple Keith. The spear swung uselessly to the side, bending as it struck the goblin's flesh, rather than piercing it. Pulling its sword back, the monster smashed the shield against the broken shaft, snapping it in two. Splinters sprayed both combatants as they disengaged momentarily.

Keith was now disarmed. Mostly. The sharp wooden stick in his hands, the remains of the spear's shaft, would serve as a decent weapon. However, he'd lost the range advantage. Against the lesser goblin warrior, who was far more skilled with a blade than he—which was saying something, as goblins were shitty swordsmen—being up close and personal was a death sentence.

Ronan waited for the goblin's first strike. Keith didn't shy away from the monster, even without a real weapon in his hands. The pudgy man roared his defiance and leapt forwards, thrusting the sharpened stake at the goblin's chest.

The lesser goblin swatted away Keith's fury as though it were a pesky fly. As the shield knocked the broken shaft to one side, the warrior's sword thrust forwards on a collision course with his manager's heart.

Ronan had seen enough.

Instead of killing Keith, the goblin warrior found its vision spinning around and flying to the left. It realised it could see a headless goblin standing next to two tall, pink goblins. It realised that it was its own body. It died.

You have killed [Lesser Goblin Warrior Lv.5] and [Lesser Goblin Archer Lv.6]!

+47 Copper Credits

+Worn Bow Lv.6 (Common)

+Lesser Goblin Ears (Common) x2

You have leveled up to Lv.4!

You have leveled up to Lv.5!

You have leveled up to Lv.6!

You have leveled up to Lv.7!

You have been restored x4!

+4 Vitality

+4 Endurance

+8 Wisdom

+8 Intelligence

+12 Acuity

+8 Free Stat Points

Investing the free stat points into agility and strength, Ronan realised he'd never used the myriad skills tome from stage 1. Not only that, but he now had 2 endless treasury tokens to use as well. "Let's open our loot and take a breather, Keith. Good effort back there," he said.

The man in question was doubled over and panting for breath. He waved a hand non-committally before falling onto his backside. Taking that as his cue to get on with his own business, Ronan took out the skills tome and the treasury tokens.

Now, which one should I use first…

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