The World of Tactics

Chapter Eight I: Where Am I?

"The Green Bridge Forest was located northeast of the capital. The reason why it was dubbed as the Green Bridge Forest is because of the huge bridge that was built dating back during the previous rulers. Way back before, the marquis had overthrown the previous kingdom and took over as the first new king. Now, the bridge is too old and decrepit within the forest and turns green in response to the growing moss. Hence, that was why the forest was called the Green Bridge Forest. However, that was not the only reason as to why it was called 'Green.'

The reason why it was called such was because of the some 'green' that dwells within the forest and populates over time. The 'green' were such a pest in the eyes of humans. No matter how many times the previous kings and current king cleaned up the Green Bridge Forest. They were never really able to round up each and every single one of those peskiest bunches. The 'green' were known as goblins and to make matters worse. Within every ten years, there will be at least five or more goblins that turn into hobgoblins.

However, today, the topic is not about those greenies. It was a human child, at the age of ten that was laid flat on the cold solid grass. There were some green bodies nearby that were rotting and each green body had suffered from catastrophic injuries. The green bodies laid dead, unlike the human child that is holding onto a piece of wood?

With a grunt, the child's eyes fumbled and trembled. After what seemed like a long hour, the child finally woke up. Everyone knows who he is, he was the greatest knight of all, John Smith. " Told by a self-claimed bard in a tavern, while surrounded by kids. A self-claimed bard with a curly mustache along with two similarly handsome lines of freckles. The self-claimed bard smiled as he ended the story with such an amazing story. The kids begged for the story to continue.

---

John Smith was already awake, but his sore body could not do its job at all. He felt no motivation to get up. It only took a long hour of staying in the same spot and getting the heat from the sun to cool off his cold body during the dewy morning. The only thing he felt after barely being able to stand up was soreness, tiredness, exhaustion, thirst & hunger, and the throbbing pains. He picked up Goon's soul core before he started to chew on the few remaining strips of meat and swallow it dried. All that he could taste was his saliva and the salt and the tough meat.

His hunger was close to the cap, but the thirstiness was unavoidable. He could feel his bladder bugling and he had to take a draining piss in the bush. It did not help him with anything. In fact, it only increased the throbbing headache that he had. He found a good wooden branch and moved on with what he got. He did not even have the motivation to feel the crisis of not having food. His current state is already a huge crisis in itself.

He moans once in a while in pain. Whatever things he did, his condition has never gone away at all. He could only valiantly move on. The walking pace of his was unbearably slow. Thirty minutes into the walk and he had tripped over multiple lumps on the ground. He could not tell where to go because of the leaves that had dried up on the ground. Sometimes, he could not tell the direction because of the complicated terrain around him.

An hour during the walk and he came to a stop by a tall tree for some rest. Throughout the way, he found no water within sight even with careful observation. He was about to sit down when he heard some kind of trickling sound. He was familiar with this sound, it was the sound of water and it seemed to be just behind this tree. He quickly went forward and he missed a step and slipped down the small trench. He hit his face on the flat ground, which created another throbbing headache and he choked on water. Water!

He found the water of life, he shed tears of joy. The universe has not yet wrongly faulted him into a devilry hell. He drinks the small flowing stream in a large gulp. He had never known that plain water had such a delightful and heavenly taste. Oh, he just could not get enough of them. He drank while in his fallen pose because his stamina had given out and he could not muster any more strength within his limbs.

After replenishing his body with the water of life. He started to feel much stronger than he was during the morning. He certainly could feel much stronger than before, he took a quick wash by the stream, and ate some herb batches for lunch. Considering his previous situation, it was much better than before. He laughed and cried, he was alive! And he felt much more alive than ever! And he was abandoned...

It seems that in the face of death, anything else could be possible. He did not hurry because he was still tired from walking. He is also taking a break in the cool stream. He checked his clothing and realized that it was in rags. He checked his arms, legs, and chest. He had never noticed he had such a rock hard and bulging muscular frame at all. The only possible explanation was because of his strength and defense stat. He was a bit too bulky for a ten-year-old.

Not that he would complain, he also noted that his hidden stat [CON] had increased by one point. In the heat of battle, he would forget to look at such a thing. He had also checked up on Goon as well:

[Name: Goon][Race: Goblin][Level: 18/20][Rank: 1][HP: 17/17]

[STR: 8(8) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] ] R

[MAG: 0(5) / [][][][][] ]

[SKL: 1(6) / [1][][][][][] ]

[SPD: 2(8) / [1][2][][][][][][] ]

[LCK: 0(10) / [][][][][][][][][][] ]

[DEF: 8(8) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] ] R

[RES: 0(5) / [][][][][] ]

[Hidden: [CON: 4][MOV: 4][SKILL: N/A][EXP: 75/100][WEA: Axe: D]]

[Equip: [Wooden Club (Crude): Might +1, Hit +70, Crit +5, Weight=6.9, Durability: 1/25]]

[Absorption: 50 EXP]

He gave Goon a closer look and noticed how buff Goon was. The wooden club that Goon had equipped had multiple cracks and chipped damage. Coincidentally, the wooden club only had one durability left. Later on, he had to change Goon's weapon because he did not want the weapon to break during battle. There would not be any consequences if he acted early. He made Goon equipped with the second wooden weapon that Goon Two was equipped with.

Looking at the status of Goon's, he had forgotten about the soul cores of the eight goblins yesterday. These were eight soul cores that he could put into use. But, he was not about to miss another hour's walk to go back there and risk encountering goblins along the way. He did not have any weapons at the moment and it would be bad news if he encountered any hobgoblin along the way as well. Getting one lucky night away from the goblins is enough already. In fact, he would have died already if there were another group of goblins nearby while he was knocked out.

However, everything has passed and he has to continue on. Before that, though, he had to find some sort of way to store water and put it into his inventory. This way, he will not have to worry about finding another source of water. He managed to find a huge leaflet that was long enough and made a quick cone-like cup to scoop up the water into it. At first, when he tried with his hand to scoop it up, he was not able to store the water in his hand in the inventory. Now, though, he was able to store the leaflet cup of water in his inventory as a whole item.

He was able to store ten good portions of water in the ten leaflet cups. He took a final drink at the small stream and marched on forward. He knew that he could not go back, so the only way to go was forward. Noon was settling in and the sun was blocked by the tall trees above. It might have been a forest, but the trees are very tall and big in size. He had no doubt that it would require at least three to five adults to be able to hand-to-hand hug one of the trees. That was just how big the threes are.

Everywhere forward he found nothing but bushes, forest trees, greenery, and a moss-covered bridge. He became excited, a bridge made out of carved rocks and it still holds on to this day. It was a dandy thing to see, since that means that civilization is near. He is able to meet people again and with the amount of gold that he had. It would be no problem to buy a bunch of food to store it in his inventory. Then he would continue on to the capital and give the written letter to the one in the barrack's office. And then, he can come back home.

He can come back to his warm, safe and secure home. It had only been three days and he had already missed his younger brother Hugo and his younger sister Savannah. He wonders what they have been doing. He laughed to himself, remembering the two, the silly boy and the moe-y girl. He had wanted to run at first, but he decided that it was safer to use less stamina whenever possible. He walked up to the Elden Bridge and he did not even feel that the bridge would collapse anytime soon. The bridge was magnificently straight and the beautiful support that it got from the bottom of the body of water up along with the high rising structures that framed the top part of the bridge.

He had never seen such a beautiful bridge before. The beauty of aged wine shines through the layers of moss and vines that covered the bridge. This is what they call fantasy coming alive and his heart thumps with the rush of adrenaline. He is truly in the world of myth and fantasy. He had never felt like that before because of his boring life training with the lance and the slowness of the countryside. Goblins was also a fantasy encounter, but comparing the feeling of fantasy. This bridge is what brings that feeling of fantasy to life.

It was great to be alive. He walked along the massive bridge. The view within the bridge has such an amazing view. Through the gap of the bridge holder on each side, he could see the gleaming light blue water. He saw a few spots of big shadow down below within the water. It obviously has the shape of a fish and it might have been quite big as well. The reflecting sun reaches its highest point. Even with the sun way high up, the touch of the bridge is cool and it helps him relieve some of the heat.