I scanned the goblins sprinting at me as I settled into a stance. Four had wooden spears, while two carried torches. The Hobgoblin carried a sword.
Seven total. It was a far cry from the twenty-one I originally had to contend with, but more difficult considering I didn't have the element of surprise on my side anymore.
The spear-wielding ones led the charge with their spears lowered, while the torch-wielding ones were just behind them. The Hobgoblin was farther behind the group, with a vicious scowl.
I wanted to take out the torch ones first. My skin might be able to offer me a bit of protection against the spears based on what I've experienced so far, but I don't want to test it against fire.
It would also deny them vision. Not much, considering that the campfire in the middle of the clearing was still burning, but it would help a bit if I ever wanted to run into the woods.
Now, how to do that?
I didn't get time to come up with a plan to answer that question when the first spear was thrust at my face, causing me to duck back and kick the offending goblin.
My foot connected with its pudgy stomach, sending it stumbling backward as it lost its balance. I wanted to follow up on my attack, but lost my chance when another spear stabbed toward my kidney.
I put my left hand out, deflecting the spear away from me while letting the goblin get within striking distance. I threw a punch at its face, breaking its nose and shattering a few teeth as I sent it tumbling to the ground.
I quickly followed up on the attack by stomping its throat while it was still prone. It let out a painful gasp before going limp. I didn't get a chance to relish my victory when a spear stabbed me in the side before another flew up toward my face.
I grunted in pain as the spear made contact with my side, but didn't let it distract me from swatting the one aimed at my face away. The spear went tumbling out of the goblin's hands as I backed up a few steps to give myself breathing room.
I quickly ran a hand along my side where the spear made contact, only to be pleasantly surprised that while it was bleeding, it was just a scratch rather than a stab wound. Emboldened by the knowledge that I was tougher than before, I did a heel kick to the goblin who had just stabbed me.
My heel made contact with its temple causing its head to violently jerk to the side as a crack sounded and the goblin fell motionless. I quickly dodged out of the way of the one I disarmed as it tried to scratch me.
I grabbed its wrist as it went past me before pulling it up and kneeing it in the chest. I brought it down to the ground with my knee pinning before I reached up and twisted its neck.
I kicked off from my crouch to lunge at the torch-wielding ones. They let out a scream as they tried to dodge. One was successful, the other one got a flying kick to the chest as I landed on it. My entire body weight proved enough to collapse its rib cage and leave it to suffocate from its punctured lungs as I moved on and went after the last torch one.
It frantically waves its flaming stick around, trying to keep me at bay, but a well-placed roundhouse kick to the arm sends its only defense flying off into the distance. I followed up with a knee to its chest.
I followed it down to the ground, my knee stealing the breath from the goblin as it struggled underneath me. I balled up my fists and started punching its face until it stopped moving, leaving me covered in blood and its face a mush of gore.
I felt my heart pound in my chest, and my breathing became uneven as I kneeled there above the dead goblin. Good, one spear wielder who I kicked away at the beginning, and the Hobgoblin are all that are left. I can do this.
'Wait, where are they?'
Suddenly, I heard a faint whistle through the air, along with my gut screaming at me to move. I complied and frantically threw myself to the side as I tucked and rolled before hopping to my feet.
What greeted my sight was the Hobgoblin removing its sword from the bisected goblin corpse I had just been on top of. I felt something wet run down my arm and saw that I had a small cut on my left shoulder.
If I had been just a fraction of a second I would have gotten bisected by the Hobgoblin's sword. I felt a shiver run down my spine at that thought.
The Hobgoblin snorted as it saw me touching my shoulder, a sadistic grin appeared on its face as it brought its bloodied sword up to its mouth. A long tongue slithered past its sharp teeth and licked the blood off before it lowered it and pointed it at me.
'This fucking bastard is taunting me!' I felt rage burn in my chest at the action. The sheer glee and smug that emanated from the fucker was undeniable. It filled me with a loathing and hatred that I had never felt before in my life.
I clenched my bloody fist as I stared at it. It was almost six feet tall, nearly double the size of the little ones, with a bloated gut and arms as thick as tree stumps. It gripped the sword tightly as it returned my glare with a wide, toothy grin before its ear-grating voice rang out.
I got the message clearly: 'I'm going to eat you alive.' I heard footsteps to my right after the Hobgoblin finished speaking and reacted without breaking eye contact.
I struck out my hand to grip the throat of a goblin trying to sneak up on me while the Hobgoblin distracted me. With my hand now around its throat and a grunt of effort, I lifted it and threw it toward the Hobgoblin.
The Hobgoblin simply swung its sword and cut the makeshift projectile in half with an unimpressed snort.
'And then there was one.' I didn't move but took in my surroundings, checking to make sure I hadn't miscounted, even as a majority of my attention was focused on the monster in front of me.
I could just leave. Run away and try to lose it in the forest on the way back to town. I could also try and make it to where the guy I rescued went off to.
I was injured, the wound on my side from where the spear hit me, the scraps along my arms and hands, and the gash on my shoulder were all clear signs that running away was a good idea.
I could heal up in about two days and come back to fight the Hobgoblin if I wanted to. I'm sure I could find it in the forest if it decided to leave camp now that all of its followers were dead.
But running away was the last thing on my mind. No, the thought that was currently consuming me was that I needed to kill this bastard now.
I settled into a well-practiced stance and slowly began to circle the ugly fucker. It responded by lifting its sword.
"Come at me you ugly fuck!" I shouted, and the Hobgoblin obliged. A few quick steps and it covered the remaining distance between us.
I ducked out of the way of the sword swipe aimed at my head and did a quick jab to the Hobgoblin's stomach.
My fist met it with a mighty smack, but it did nothing to stun the beast. I jumped back, avoiding another sword swing, and replanted my feet.
The Hobgoblin was laughing, a low, ear-grating rumble came from its mouth as it slowly closed the distance between us.
'Annoying,' I thought before suppressing my anger at the mockery. I jumped out of the way as it retaliated with a stab at my chest.
I landed and kicked off the ground, rapidly closing the distance and getting up in the thing's face. My fist came up and landed an uppercut on the Hobgoblin's chin, causing it to stumble back and blindly swing the sword again.
I dodged back and saw that the Hobgoblin was now missing a few teeth. Its tongue probed the spots where the teeth were missing before a look of angry realization came across its face.
"Heh, look at that. I can hurt you," I smirked, and the Hobgoblin let out a roar as it charged at me, sword poised to strike.
What followed was a flurry of sword strikes that saw me focusing solely on dodging.
I felt my heartbeat roar in my ears as I ducked under a swipe of steel before rolling out of the way of an overhead strike.
A new cut appeared on my chest as I jumped back a little too late to fully dodge a horizontal swing.
But as the Hobgoblin followed through with the swing, I saw that it had over-extended. The rage had been building throughout the fight as it failed to kill me and caused it to get sloppy.
My right hand lashed out with a punch to its chin at that moment. I watched as its head went flying back as it stumbled to the side.
I didn't let up and followed up with a strike to the nose with my left elbow before kicking off the ground and once again dodging the horizontal strike to my chest. This time it didn't even cut my shirt.
I landed and saw that the Hobgoblin's face was covered in blood, and one of its eyes was swollen and nearly shut.
This time, I went on the attack first, intent on pressing my advantage. A flurry of punches made contact with the Hobgoblin as it covered its face with its hand while the other lashed out with its sword.
But now that it was partially blinded, its swings became less accurate, which let me duck under a particularly wild swing and get in its guard.
I popped up to my full height and planted my feet. I took a deep breath before twisting my hips and punching the thing in the gut again, with much better results than last time.
I heard the Hobgoblin wheeze as all of the air left its lungs, causing it to stagger back and take a swing at me with its sword again.
I ignored the disgusting smell of its breath and stayed close to it, bringing my left arm up and bringing back my right one as I settled my footing.
The Hobgoblin's arm came up with the sword in hand, only to quickly get stopped by my left hand and have a swift but brutal uppercut delivered to its elbow via my right one.
A crunch rang out as my fist made contact with the joint and broke it. The sword dropped from its hand as the Hobgoblin screamed, taking a swipe at me with its other hand as it ripped its ruined elbow from my grip.
I tried to jump back, but couldn't make it as the Hobgoblin's claws made contact with my right shoulder and the base of my neck.
I bit back a scream as I felt my flesh rip and moved my head out of the way so it didn't claw my face.
We both stumbled back from each other as a momentary pause in the battle occurred. My left hand went up and gripped my right shoulder as I tried to put pressure on the wound.
The Hobgoblin wasn't much better as it cradled its arm and glared at me from its non-swollen eye.
The sword now lay discarded on the ground, at equal distance from both of us. I put the pain out of my head and leaped forward with my hand outstretched.
It seemed like the Hobgoblin had the same idea as I saw it move its ass into gear and heard its feet pound against the ground. Unfortunately for it, I was faster.
I ended up kneeling next to the sword as I saw the Hobgoblin barreling toward me with a look of utter fury, but it was too late. With a two-handed grip, I grabbed the hilt of the sword and rose to my feet, slashing in the Hobgoblin's direction.
Only instead of feeling the sword make contact and getting to see the Hobgoblin spill its guts over the ground, I was treated to the sight of the sword slipping from my hands and flying off into the distance.
'Oh right, no talent with weapons of any kind,' I felt the memory of trying to train with the knife run through my head before I was brought back to reality by the very angry Hobgoblin in front of me.
I regained my bearings even as the ugly fucker closed in on me and barely had enough time to dodge the left hook that flew at me. I felt it graze my left shoulder and cursed myself for getting distracted in combat again.
I felt the pain in my shoulder increase as I was forced to roll on it to get away, and could only wince as I tried to lift that arm. I wasn't going to be able to throw any meaningful punches with it for the time being.
I felt a surge of anger and frustration run through me before I quickly clamped down on it. Not the time. It's time to be calm and focused.
I saw the bastard charging at me again, its teeth bared and left arm extended. Looks like I'm not the only one with anger issues.
I took my stance and waited, forcing myself to be patient and let it come to me. I ignored the smell of sweat and dead goblin, I drowned out the sounds of the forest, and pushed the throbbing pain of my shoulders from my mind.
I focused solely on the footsteps of the Hobgoblin as it closed the distance and waited.
Breathe in through the nose.
Breathe out through the mouth.
I focused on my breath, and when the Hobgoblin entered my range, I struck.
I brought my foot up, feeling the wind rush by as it cut through the air and landed squarely on the Hobgoblin's temple.
The Hobgoblin's head violently snapped to the side, the rest of the body following as I followed through with the kick and watched as the Hobgoblin tumbled to the side and fell to the ground.
I didn't waste a second, I quickly closed the distance before it could get back up again. I saw it just beginning to raise its head and turn to look in my direction before I was upon it and stomped down on its throat.
I saw its arms go up to swipe at me and stomp on its throat again. I only stopped when I saw it stop moving completely. Its arms lay at its side, and its chest remained still.
It was dead.
I felt relief flood through my body as my legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the ground next to it. My legs burned and cried out in protest as I tried to move them, my lungs greedily sucked in oxygen as every cut and scrape on my body radiated pain.
I wanted to move, to at least sit up but it wasn't happening. So, I stayed on the ground and tried to focus on cultivating.
It took about a minute, but eventually, I was able to fall into the comfortable and familiar breathing rhythm as I focused on my body.
I was a mess. My arms and legs were covered in scratches and cuts, the wound on my side where I got stuck with the wooden spear had gotten worse, and my stomach was covered in blood from the cut across my chest.
None of those injuries were as bad as the ones on my shoulders, though. The cut on my left arm from when the Hobgoblin clipped me at the beginning of the fight was worse than I thought, which in turn had caused me to lose a lot of blood. The grazing blow I caught at the end of the fight only exacerbated matters.
As for my right shoulder, four slash marks went so deep they reached the bone. I could barely move my right arm and I realized that it was pretty much useless at the moment too.
I knew everything would heal. Despite how grievous the wounds were, with time, I would be as good as new.
I could feel the Qi from the surroundings flooding into me as I focused on my wounds, starting its work to accelerate my healing and make sure I didn't die due to blood loss. Probably.
Unfortunately, while the Qi would prevent my death due to blood loss, it couldn't do anything about the exhaustion that came with it.
I wanted to just lie on the ground, let the breathing exercise do its work, and go to sleep, but I was interrupted from my concentration by the sound of footsteps.
I opened my eyes, the starry sky greeting me before summoning up all of my remaining strength and sitting up. I felt my vision swim with dark spots as I did so, but ignored it and pushed on, staggering to my feet and facing the direction of the sound.
'If it's more goblins I'm gonna lose my shit,' I thought as I readied my beaten and battered body for another fight. I hadn't healed and could hardly move my arms let alone fight, but I'll be damned if I let some fucking goblins kill me.
Luckily, it seemed that my fears were unwarranted, as what burst through the clearing was a group of humans.
They were decked out in leather armor with metal studs and carried lanterns with swords drawn. Less like soldiers and more like guards, but who was I to judge? They weren't monsters and looked like they were here to help.
They frantically looked around the clearing before they saw me.
It was kinda funny watching their faces, flushed from the effort it took for them to run here, draining into a pale white when they laid eyes on me. If I had the energy, I'd probably laugh, but maybe that's just the blood loss talking.
The leader of the group, I'm assuming they're the leader since they're in front, slowly lowered the sword in their hand before making their way over to me.
I wanted to greet them, but I felt my legs give out again, and my vision swam as the relief of not needing to fight more monsters flooded me.
I heard startled voices yell as I collapsed, but I was long past the point of being able to make out words.
As I closed my eyes, the starry night sky wished me goodnight, and I was carried away to the land of dreams.
===========================================
I awoke to warm rays of sunlight tickling my eyelids and the chirping of birds going about their morning.
My entire body felt like lead, everything radiated a dull pain as gravity pressed me down onto a surprisingly soft surface.
I slowly pried my eyes open, and the first thing I saw was a ceiling. Meaning I was inside.
But I was outside when I went to sleep.
My brain finally woke up and supplied me with the memories of what happened.
Right, I had passed out after my fight with the Hobgoblin, and some other people had arrived. They must have brought me back to the village that the young man I rescued told me about.
I looked down and saw I was wrapped in clean white bandages that covered the entirety of my upper body. My legs were covered in fluffy, warm sheets, though I could guess that they had gotten a similar treatment.
The bed I was lying on was soft and about the size of a full mattress in my world, with a wooden frame that had simple carvings on the bedposts.
I looked around the room, and there was an open window that allowed the morning breeze to flow into the room, bringing with it the scent of flowers.
On the other wall, there was a small table with two chairs that had a flower vase in the middle. Oh, that's where the smell was coming from, makes sense.
Finally, there was a plain wooden door that was slightly cracked open. I would have liked to go to it but with how tired I felt, I probably wouldn't be able to stand up from the bed.
I still had the necklace that the woman had asked me to put around my neck, as well as the spatial ring on my finger. I heaved a sigh in relief, glad that they weren't taken from me when I was brought here.
That, combined with the obvious treatment I was given, settled any antsy thoughts I had about jumping through the window to escape. I could at least meet these people first; the window can always be a good backup plan.
Once that was settled, I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. The outside world disappeared, and I was left looking at the state of my body.
I was in better shape than before, whatever their treatment method was it was damn good. Unfortunately, I was still a far cry away from better. I give it about a week or so of me just breathing for a couple of hours a day to get back into top shape.
It was a drastic improvement from what I had assumed to be months when I first saw the cuts on my shoulders, so I wouldn't complain. Maybe they'll tell me how they treated me when I leave. If I could use it myself, my cultivation progress would skyrocket.
Speaking of cultivation, I was now maybe half way done with the muscle refinement stage, which didn't seem like a lot until you remember that before the fight, I had just broken through to the muscle refinement stage.
In one fight, I had progressed by what is most likely months.
…
I need to find some more monsters to kill. As soon as possible.
No wonder everyone beats the shit out of each other in the xianxia worlds, this was too good to pass up.
I know it was because I had gotten myself almost killed and thus damaged a lot of muscle, which then allowed more Qi to flow in and progress my situation, but I feel like there was more to it.
I have no basis for this, it is purely speculation and gut instinct on my part, but I have a feeling that getting injured fighting monsters versus getting injured while not fighting monsters is completely different.
More testing would be required, of course, but I feel like there is an underlying factor or method here as to why I progressed so much in just two fights with monsters compared to two months of punching trees.
I needed to figure it out as quickly as possible otherwise I had a feeling I would run into one of those so-called bottlenecks that cultivation novels were so fond of talking about.
With a new goal in mind, I refocused on my current cultivation. While the jump by months in progress was very nice, the main thing I noticed, though, was how the Qi felt against me as it entered my body.
Whereas before it was an almost non-existent feeling of something brushing up against me, now it was akin to a faint breeze against my skin.
I could now feel it in my skin and just a bit in my muscles in comparison to the surface feeling I was used to before I broke through.
The Qi would enter through my skin, where the majority of it would stay, slowly meandering around in circles, while the rest of it would continue and soak into the muscles below.
My rate of absorbing Qi was already slowing down, and I had only broken through a minor realm. I wasn't looking forward to what it would be like after I passed the body refinement stage.
I shook my head and got rid of those thoughts; that was a problem for me in the future. Currently, I need to focus on getting better and finding out where I am exactly.
I slowly sat up in bed, wincing at the wave of soreness that made its way up my body, but pressed on until I was able to sit cross-legged on the bed.
Now in optimal position, I refocused on my breathing and let the Qi flow into me as all other sensations of the outside world slipped away.
I don't know how long I stayed cultivating, but I was broken out of my state by the scraping of wood on wood and the creak of a hinge.
I opened my eyes and saw that the person who had come in was the guy I had saved at the goblin camp. Now that it was morning and he wasn't covered in grime, I could get a good look at him.
He was maybe a year or two older than me, tall and tan with short black hair and eyes. He wore a green shirt and brown pants, which, while clean, were very worn out. He held a tray in his hands with a white cloth on it and a bowl.
The tray was then dropped, producing a loud clatter and spilling the contents of the bowl over the floor as he locked eyes with me. His mouth gaped up and down like a fish as he tried and failed to get words out.
It was at this point that I remembered I had never gotten his name. I should probably introduce myself then.
"Hi, I'm Leon. What's your name?" I asked and suppressed a wince at how hoarse my voice was. I didn't get a response, though, as the dude quickly got out of his stupor and ran away.
"I'll go get Grandfather!" He yelled, his footsteps growing fainter as he ran down the hall and left me rather stunned.
'Am I that bad at socializing after two months of being alone?' I questioned in my head as I wondered what I had done wrong. He ran away like it was an emergency, so maybe I spooked him with my voice?
Would a hoarse voice count as a symptom of something greater? Maybe I'm not a doctor, but I think that I shocked him somehow.
I was broken from my musings by the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching, before both the dude, an old guy, and a middle-aged guy busted into the room.
They took a look at me sitting up and had similar, if not milder, reactions to seeing me. The old guy rushed forward toward me while the middle-aged guy just gasped and mumbled under his breath.
"How are you feeling, young man? Any dizziness or double vision? Can you move your limbs?" The old man asked me as he began checking me.
"Sore and thirsty, no, no, and yes," I responded to his rapid-fire questions, which seemed to calm the grampa down.
"Thirsty? Yes, that makes sense. Ouka! Go get some water!" The old man yelled, to which the young man, now named Ouka, responded with a nod and ran down the hall again.
I sat there awkwardly as the old man continued to fuss over me for a few moments before nodding in satisfaction.
"Remarkable! I can't believe you are up already. When you got to me, I thought you were dead, but here you are awake just a few short days later!" The old man asked as he leaned into my personal space, causing me to lean back as I processed his words.
"Wait a few days?! How long have I been asleep?" I coughed after I yelled. Damn dry throat.
"Oh, yes, I apologize for the rather callous way my father told you, but it has been three days since we brought you to the village." The middle-aged man chose that moment to break out of his mumbling and approach.
I couldn't believe it. Three days! Three days when I could have been cultivating and speeding up the healing process were just gone!
I let out a groan and leaned my head back against the wall. I knew that the fight had taken a toll on me, but being in a coma for three days afterward was kinda shocking.
It was then that Ouka returned with a canteen of water. He handed it to me with a polite smile, which I returned before taking it and downing the whole thing with a few gulps.
I finally let up for air with a gasp before wiping my mouth and handing the canteen back to Ouka.
"Thank you. Can I get some more, please?" My mouth still felt like it had cotton in it, though my throat had gotten better. I could speak without coughing now, it was time to figure out what happened.
"Of course! I'll be right back," Ouka took the canteen from me and ran away again. After he had left the room, I turned back to the other men and introduced myself.
"Thank you for taking care of me these past few days. I'm Leon, it's nice to meet you." After a few moments of silence I remembered the setting I was in and cupped my fists before doing a light bow.
"Ahh! Please raise your head, Mr.Leon! We should be the ones thanking you! Providing you with medical care is the least we can do after you saved my idiotic son," The middle-aged man, now revealed to be Ouka's dad, panicked and bowed to me instead.
I raised my head and saw that the old man, whom I assumed to be Ouka's grandfather, had also bowed next to me.
"Like my son said, treating you was the least we could do after what happened. Thank you for rescuing my stupid grandson. Not only that, but you also saved the village with your actions. We cannot thank you enough, Sir Leon," Ouka's grandfather lost his previous attitude and thanked me with a serious and sincere voice.
I felt my face heat up a bit and had to look away to recover my composure. Getting bowed to and thanked so heartfelt was a new experience. Still, it felt good.
"Still, grateful as I am, I must ask what you were thinking taking on a goblin camp by yourself. When we removed your clothes to bandage your wounds, I almost had a heart attack when I saw you didn't have a falna," Ouka's dad scolded me, but I was left confused as to what he just said.
"Falna? I'm sorry, but I don't know what that is," I tilted my head in confusion at the unfamiliar word.
"You don't know what a falna is? How… Well, I won't pry into your secrets, but to explain briefly, it is a god's blessing and what allows mortals like us to grow stronger," Ouka's dad frowned, but I stopped paying attention as the mention of 'gods' sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
"Gods? What do you mean by that?" I tried to keep my voice as level as possible, but judging from the looks on the two men's faces, I failed.
"Gods are gods. They descended to this plane a thousand years ago and gave mortals strength through their blessing. It is through this blessing that we can fight against monsters. When we first heard what happened, we assumed you were a blessed person who stumbled upon the situation and decided to help out," The old man explained.
"I see… Do you know of any others who gained strength without a god's blessing?" I asked.
"It is rare, but it exists. However, they don't remain unblessed for long, as usually a god comes and recruits them after they've made a name for themselves," I don't like the way he said recruit. It sounds a lot more like 'I like you, join me or I'll kill you so you can't get stronger.'
"It is a great honor. The current captain of the Amaterasu familia was the most renowned swordsman in the country before getting invited into the familia." Ouka's dad joined in with reverence and long in his voice before turning to me.
"Based on your performance, I'd say it won't be long until you are invited by some familia as well," He chuckled as he said that, but I could tell he was serious.
"What's a familia?" I had an idea, but I wanted to make sure. And Ouka's dad confirmed my suspicions.
"They are the people who have been blessed by the same god. The Amaterasu familia consists of everyone who has earned Amaterasu's blessing. They are the rulers of the country, so joining them is a great honor for anyone."
The terms are different but this is once again the peak xianxia world. The 'gods' are powerful cultivators who came from the upper plane for some reason or another. I'm gonna guess they were forced out, started giving out some 'blessings' to the mortals here, and made sects which they call familias.
The fact that the word they are using means family can be a good sign, but my gut tells me there's something a bit more going on here. Also, a pretty common trope in xianxia is 'there is no free lunch in this world.'
Which didn't make sense to me. There were plenty of programs back home in my world that gave people free things all the time. I guess it was just saying that xianxia worlds suck hard and that no one is nice.
I hope these so-called gods are nice and that their blessing will help. After all, I already met these nice people so I've already been proven wrong in that regard.
"I see, thank you. I doubt I am worthy of such a blessing with my current strength, though. I was only able to kill the goblin camp because I had the element of surprise on my side. If I had to fight them head on then I wouldn't be alive right now," I felt some bitterness in admitting it, but it was the truth. I got lucky, and I don't feel like I deserve all the praise they are giving me.
"Be that as it may, you didn't run away and decided to fight them regardless of the odds. Most people would have run away, but you didn't. It is because of your actions that… that my son still lives. For that, please accept my gratitude," Ouka's father responded after choking back a tear.
I could only nod and accept. Still, that did beg a question…
"What happened? How did Ouka get caught by goblins?" I hadn't thought about it until now, but it seems kind of odd that just Ouka would get caught. Especially by just a little hunting party of six goblins.
"Ouka…" Ouka's dad began to explain, but was interrupted when the door opened and in came Ouka carrying two wooden buckets.
"I have brought the water. If it's still not enough, I can go get more," Ouka stated seriously, which caused me to choke back a laugh. Dude was dedicated if nothing else. Still, since he's here, might as well hear it from his mouth.
"Thank you, Ouka. We were just talking about you. Could you tell me how you got caught by goblins?" I took a bucket from him and started to drink it.
"Ah, that… I am ashamed to say it, but I was going to gather some herbs. Unfortunately, I ran into a bit of trouble right after I left." Ouka's cheeks flushed as he scratched his head and looked down.
"I brought my sword with me, of course, and I thought I had some decent skill, but I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. I got surrounded by the goblins, and from there, well, you know the rest," Ouka's shoulders slumped before he continued.
"I see… What kind of herbs were you gathering?" I was picturing him almost getting killed for some sage or thyme, but I also had a faint hope that the herbs he was talking about were the ones I needed to boost my cultivation.
"Just some standard healing herbs. A lot of them were used to help heal me, but I still have some leftovers if you are curious," Ouka offered, to which I quickly nodded.
Ouka left again but quickly returned with a bundle of herbs. I took them and did a quick comparison to the ones the manual described and found that they were exactly what I was looking for, lesser organ herbs.
Lesser organ herbs were exactly as they sounded, they were herbs used for the beginning stages of organ refinement and late stages of muscle refinement.
Of course, if I did use them for muscle refinement, I wouldn't get the most out of them. The Qi contained was simply too concentrated, so a lot of it wouldn't be refined and would just disperse into the surroundings.
I felt my face break into a grin before looking at Ouka, "Can you show me where you got these?"
The nod I got in return only made my smile widen.