The World of Tactics

Chapter Seven I: A Battle In The Night

"Remember, anything that annoys you. It could become deadly for enemies.

Items in battle are useful. There is nothing like popping healing herbs and vulnerary during battle. It would vax your enemies and keep you alive like a cockroach. However, keeping you alive in battle would take much more than healing herbs.

Guerrilla warfare, items like magic scrolls come into good use when setting up traps for the enemies. Magic scrolls are barely enough. First, creating traps before the battle begins would annoy the enemies to death. A pit with sharp pikes, flying arrows, and such are not enough to deal substantial damage. More research on this aspect is needed." -Noted by an annoying strategist.

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The map before him was not that big. Just ten by five and was quite small. Before rushing into starting the battle, he quietly formulates a plan. He also went through the trouble of memorizing the strength and the defense of the goblins. The levels on average were ten, the highest strength he saw was seven, the highest defense he saw was five, and he looked at where he was at in comparison to where the eight goblins were.

His surviving gear starts to kick in and he realizes something. On the corner of the map, if he were at the corner, he could potentially completely close off two attacks, which would minimize the four attacking places to just two attacks per turn. Not only, if he stacked Goon adjacent to him and covered up one of his sides. Then he only needs to face up against only one goblin at a time. This would indeed work. He could just set everything up properly because he and Goon were close to the opposite ends of the map. Not only that, he did not have to worry about being attacked from behind or to his sides. He just needs to focus on the front and quietly level up and slowly shave away the health of the goblins.

If he gets injuries, he could recover with his herb batches. But, he had considered it well since he did not like the 'if' part of the plan. He will prioritize his defenses when he levels up. This way, he will not feel that dangerous pain and lose many health points. He checked his plans and went over everything many times before he [Start] the battle within the [Start Battle] tab. Now, it is all or nothing and he finally decided to press the [Yes] button.

He was no longer able to view the tabs, but in return, he was much more confident than before. He had a higher chance of surviving this without any hobgoblin involved. Naturally, it was [Player's Turn] and he was the first to move. He moved two squares to the right and made a left turn one square. This is in the bottom right corner. The map was pretty small and he was able to move there with just three movements.

He had also positioned Goon adjacent to one of his sides. The most he could describe where Goon was that Goon was on the right side of where he was looking at. Which, he is right now looking at the bottom-most edge that is separated by the roaming fog. Their turns ended quickly and it was moved to [Enemy's Turn]. He was quite happy that it was always [Player's Turn] whenever a battle started. This just gives him a lot more space to maneuver before the enemy does.

The enemy or goblins did not have any strategy at all and were pretty straightforward. They went directly down to where they were at. The [Enemy's Turn] ended quicker than he had expected. It was within expectation, so he was fine that the goblins ended their turn this quickly. His screen flashed blue and it was [Player's Turn] again. Moreover, it was his turn now. He did not move any square nor anything similar, he just positioned where both of them would be facing and it ended their turn just like that.

It was back to [Enemy's Turn]. It was also within his expectation that they would target Goon first. Goon suffered two damage and was barely able to deal one damage back to the goblin. He was quite happy to receive a notification message. The message reads:

[Unit Goon receives EXP + 100.]

[Unit Goon levels up to 11!]

[Unit Goon gains 1 unallocated point!]

[Please assign the unallocated points!]

He did not hesitate to give Goon one more point on defense. Only with more defense would they survive this encounter. Honestly, he never thought that Goon would be able to gain that many experience points. This might be due to how similar levels are and due to the double experience when dealing damage to enemies.

Unfortunately, his battle came much faster than he had thought. He had forgotten that there was also the tree that was obstructing the adjacent left side of Goon. The second goblin to attack him had similar strength and defense as the first goblin. He suffered three whole damages and was able to deal two damages to the goblin. After the battle ended, his expectant reward was much more off-ed than he had expected. The notification messages he receives read:

[Obtain EXP +34]

He did not get it. Goon was able to get one hundred experience points from dealing with damage. Why is it that when it was his turn he would be the one to gain less experience? He was only confused for a bit because the pain in his left thigh was swelling with pain. The pain was real and his eyes became tearier because of the sharp pain. Sometimes, later, he will gear up so that there will be less pain. This is just a quick afterthought, but he quickly regains some clarity because he needs to survive first.

The rest of the goblins kept coming directly to their position as possible. The goblins were too straight forward and he could easily read their movements on the map. He was waiting for the [Player's Turn] and went into the [Item] option and [Use] one strand of herb batch from the first herb batch that he had. Fortunately, he had harvested a lot of stacks of herb batches. The instant afterward, his swelling thigh completely recovered and the pain went away as if it had never been there before.

As for Goon, he was not willing to risk anything, considering that the goblins are equipped with wooden clubs that have the critical attribute within their weapon. So, he made sure Goon used a strand of herb batch as well. In turn, they had the luxury of healing their health points to the maximum. Thus, they ended their turn.

As for [Enemy's Turn], Goon was the prime target and was attacked again. This time, however, Goon had only gained ninety experience points (Goon, EXP +90, Level up). This was enough for another level up, so he was fine with the outcome, considering that Goon had only suffered one damage compared to before. Goon was able to deal two damage in total to the attacking goblin. He did it again and put one more defense into Goon's defense. Now, no goblin will do any actual damage.

He was also attacked right afterward and suffered another three damages and was able to deal back two damage. After this exchange, he finally got enough experience to level up (John Smith, EXP +34, Level up). Just like Goon, he prioritized defense and allocated two points to defend. Now, with both of them leveling up and having the same defense of seven points. There are only two more goblin routes on the back of the pack of goblins that can deal substantial amounts of damage to them now. His heart eased quite a bit and hope was just bursting through his eyes. It was not false to say that he even saw hope visualized right before his eyes.

On the map, right after he got attacked. He saw a goblin attacking the tree that was adjacent to Goon. Once the tree is chopped off, Goon will have to face off against two goblins at a time. The first one dealt three damage to the tree and the second one dealt four damage. The tree was left with just eight health points left. It seems like the tree was also considered a living being, but he did not have any sort of dots showcasing that the trees were neutral at all. It was just a grayed-out square on the map. It might be because trees do not have high mobility like animals and such. This would also be another case of study later down the line when he has time. But the tree does have quite the amount of defense, which was five considering the strength of the two goblins and their weapons' might.

Finally, after waiting for a long time with the new pain. It was finally [Player's Turn], he went into [Item] and [Use] the first herb batch again. After that, the pain finally eased away and he could see that his health points had finally reached a new maximum. He lets Goon attack the adjacent goblin, knowing that this will help Goon level up and this will help reduce the goblin's numbers faster. Goon gained eighty experience points and was able to reach the next level (Goon, EXP +80, Level up). The gain was quite good and that also means that Goon will no longer take any damage from any of the goblins here.

He also noticed another important thing to note. Goon's current defense was able to reach the maximum possible points and the defense stat within Goon's status screen was highlighted in shiny rainbow color. Rainbow colors, he will look out for those who have green stats and note them down. He did not know if having maximum rainbow colors was something common or not, but what he did know was that he could no longer put any points into that stat no more.

On a closer look at Goon's status screen. He had just noticed that Goon had the same rank as him now. It might be due to Goon's high level or uncommon defense that it was able to reach the maximum. Anything is welcome since it means that Goon has the qualification to be ranked. Unfortunately, according to Goon's soul core description. Goon had no chance of evolving into a stronger monster. The same goes for Goon Two and Goon Three. Up till now, he only had goblins' soul cores. He has yet to get a soul core that explicitly said that the soul within the soul core could evolve at all.

Their turn comes to an end as Goon finishes its turn. The turn has been switched over to the [Enemy's Turn]. He was just waiting for the first goblin to attack Goon and he would then be able to increase Goon's strength afterward. This time was not like any other time before. This time the enemy goblin was able to deal zero-damage and the thing that scared him was the fading "Critical!" and "Damage X3" above Goon's head. He wiped the cold sweat that was forming on his face.

Up till now, he was quite lucky that he had not faced any critical hits before. When he thought of a critical hit, his first battle was truly precarious. If he were to be hit with a critical hit, he would have died during his first encounter with the goblins. He had been lucky up until now. This made him realize that the critical attribute in the wooden club that the goblin equipped was not a joke at all. Even if the attribute only has a plus one or plus two critical hits. That is still quite dangerous because, within a long stretch, a battle, and the possibility of being hit by a critical hit could come at any time (Goon, EXP + 70, Level up, Str up 1).

Thinking of the critical hit, if he were to take three damage a while ago. Then the possible damage he could handle was up to nine points of damage. That would have drained over half or roughly two-thirds of his health points. Two consecutive critical hits without healing from the herb batch and he would have died then and there. He had to wipe out his arrogance and make sure that he had more defense than the goblin strength & weapons might altogether. Or increase his cautiousness or else he will never know how he died.

Wiping away any distracting thoughts, he readied himself again for the second goblin's attack. He is not about to risk his life by not paying attention in battle. Luckily, the critical proc did not activate because of how low the critical hit was. He had only suffered one painful bruise on his left arm (Damage). Otherwise, he also returns two damages to the second goblin (John Smith, EXP +34).

The two goblins by the tree kept destroying the tree while the remaining goblin had no choice but to end their turn on their same spot. He was delighted to see how useless the goblins had become. After all, there was no long-range at all. At this rate, he would level up soon and be able to increase his defense again. As for Goon, Goon will also level up easily. Comparing the amount of experience both of them gained, Goon was able to outpace him by one level.

His experience gain was constant, which did not seem to be affected by his levels. He had no reason why, so he could only leave this at the back of his mind for now. Again, it was [Player's Turn] and he was not about to miss it. He had Goon attack the goblin to grind for experience points (Goon, EXP +60). Goon was able to deal up to nine damage to the goblin and left the first goblin hovering just seven more health points. Three more solid hits from Goon and the first goblin would be dead for sure. But, he received a never-expected notification message that reads:

[Unit Goon Axe Mastery Rank Up!]

[Axe Mastery: E -> D]

Even though there are no visual benefits. A higher weapon rank means that Goons can equip and use stronger weapons that require higher mastery. Being able to equip stronger weapons means having the ability to face higher-level beings. In the end, it means becoming stronger overall. If the Goon were able to get a good iron ax, Goon would also become a miniature hobgoblin.

He had seen how powerful having a good weapon and a good weapon rank means. He felt happy for Goon and he was determined to get a solid iron lance after that. He needs to fight more often and get his weapon mastery rank up to 'C' to be at the hobgoblin's level. Then, with more levels, he could take on the hobgoblin. The plans sound simple, but it will take him a long time to get there. He became much more determined now.

He had already done some calculations, he would not die just losing three health points. So, he did not even heal himself and blatantly attacked the second goblin. In the end, he suffered one damage in exchange for dealing with two damage (John Smith, EXP +34). He ended his turn right away. He did not let Goon turn go to waste either. He made Goon attack the first goblin again with no other purpose, but to grind experience out of the goblins (Goon, EXP +60, Level up). He put the unallocated point into Goon's strength.

He could see how Goon's current muscle structure was becoming bigger and even rivaled the goblins that they were facing at the moment. Truthfully, Goon was much weaker than the goblins and was barely able to catch up due to the huge amount of experience Goon got in each bout. Otherwise, there is no way that Goon would be capable of growing stronger than the average goblins that they are facing right now. Sadly, Goon will never become the strongest possible at max level.

He felt a bit regretful, but there was nothing that he could do to change that fact. Well, the only thing that could help Goon out right now was the Goon's weapon mastery rank. As long as Goon's weapon mastery rank reaches a higher rank, Goon will be able to equip stronger weapons. Otherwise, once Goon reaches max level. There is nothing that can make Goon stronger.

It might not make sense now, but later on. He felt that he would have to replace Goon with some other monster's soul core. Then the only use Goon had was an experience. It was a sad thought, but it was true. Before ending Goon's turn, he readied himself for the [Enemy's Turn]. He could afford to relax while within [Player's Turn], but as it was [Enemy's Turn]. He can not become careless anymore.

Since Goon currently has seven points and the first goblin that attacked only had four defense and health points. He had expected Goon to completely kill off the goblin, but he had underestimated the tenacity of the first goblin. The first goblin would not just die off and managed to dodge at the last moment of Goon's attack. He became speechless at the huge "Miss!" message on top of the first goblin's head. He did not have time to worry about Goon's attack. Which missed the target, and readied himself for the second goblin.

He got hit in the face with the wooden club and his gaze dazzled. He stabs his training lance at random and somehow manages to poke through the goblin's body. He got a lucky critical hit! He dealt a total of six damage in the return for getting his head hit by the wooden club (John Smith, EXP +34, Level up). The result of the exchange was very good, but his head is now throbbing in pain and a headache started to set in as well.