A Warlock's Ascent

The first night in Vecrus city was very tough for Dave, at first, he was very happy to sleep in the city, he thought it would be a nice thing to sleep in a secure place rather than outside, but he had the worst experience there...

He found a perfect spot for him to sleep, it was outside the city, not far away from city limits, and the best thing was, not far away from him was the homeless encampment, most of the people of the city were sleeping in tents in that area, so it was pretty safe.

He first thought that not many people would come here, but alas, he was wrong. Slowly and steadily all the homeless bums, who didn't have a penny to their name, started gathering around his sleeping place, he didn't know what these do during the day, but they were very energetic till the middle of the night, disturbing his sleep.

They were laughing, making jokes, he even found a couple doing the deed, out in the open, with just a blanket covering their shameless act. Many people saw them, but they ignored them as if this was the most normal thing to do in the world.

The worst thing was that he could not take out his pillow and blanket to sleep, they were of very good quality, and if someone were to get suspicious of where he got it from, he would be in trouble. That is why he slept with his bow and arrows by side so that no one would suspect that he had a pocket space.

He wanted to scold these people, 'keep quiet!' he wanted to scream, but these guys were in huge numbers, also he didn't want to attract any attention to him. But it eventually became quiet again, it is only then he was able to sleep.

The next day when he woke up, the sun was upon him, he looked around to see the whole place was empty, those bums were nowhere to be found, which he found very surprising. He then got up and started walking to the city.

He needed to put some food in his system, he was very hungry. He had some money of this world, courtesy of the watch tower that he looted, but if he were to remain here, he could not use the food in his inventory, so to fool everyone, he needed to buy food like everyone else. Thus he needs to earn some money.

After getting a normal porridge for 8 bronze coins, which was not worth it at all, he decided to visit the Adventurer guild, he figured that if he joined them, he could at least get some job from them…

When he got to the Adventurer guild, he found it empty, there were hardly one or two Adventurers around while the staff of the guild was present. He went to the job board for F-Rank Adventurer, only to find it completely empty.

There were no jobs for his Rank, probably other F-Ranks would have taken them early in the morning. He then turned towards the E-Rank board, which only one job posting on it. He read the job description, according to which the employer wanted the bodies of three goblins, as far as the reward was concerned, this job would give him around 70 bronze coins.

The payment was not great, but beggars can't be choosers, he took the job posting and went to the receptionist, behind which was a young man. "What can I do for you today, sir" he said with a smile on his face.

"I want to take this job." Then he put the job poster in front of the man.

"Sure, could you please give me your Adventurer's ID card as well?"

"Here."

Seeing his ID, the young man cleared his throat. "Mr. Gilbert, do you understand that what you are undertaking, is an E-Rank job? This job is pretty dangerous."

"I can read just fine man. I know what I am about to do."

"But Mr. Gilbert, monsters are not things to be trifled with…" before he could say anything further, he cut him. "I know what I am doing. Now, can I take this job or not?"

"Certainly you can."

"Then why dont you get going, do your job?"

The young man hesitated but then he smiled. "Yes sir." He then went inside to register the job under his ID.

The young man processed the job under his name, he came back to tell him some ground rules. He had till sundown to complete the job, if he couldn't complete it then he would have to pay a fine or some sort for wasting the guild's time.

He then asked the young man about where he could find goblins around the area, he knew that Adventurer guilds keep records of all the monsters that have either spawned or been spotted in the nearby area.

The receptionist told him that some goblin tracks were spotted, south of the city. After getting the information he needed, he thanked the young man, and went his way…

While heading south, he faced the first hurdle, he didn't know the first thing when it comes to tracking. He knew how to find direction, courtesy of Sanjay, so he went south but soon got confused about where he should go or not go. Due to Accumulation, there were no physical markers around the area, so it made navigating a whole lot more difficult.

He wandered in the southern forest, looking for tracks of goblins, trying to remember everything that Grump had taught him about tracking when they were in Ravenshade, but to no avail. It is only after wandering for about two hours or so that he got his first clue.

He found small humanoid tracks, he instantly recognized them as he had seen them while sweeping the area around Ravenshade. He was ecstatic, he instantly put his guard up and started following the tracks.

The tracks were not great, and the soil of the forest was a little bit dry, because of which tracks don't form well in that area, still, after searching for some time, he did find what he was looking for, he found goblins…

There were 7 of them, they all had hunted a deer, and they were carrying its carcass and heading somewhere. Four of them were carrying the deer which was tied around a stick, while three of them were providing cover, looking around vigilantly.

He wanted to attack them, and acquire that fucking deer, he didn't know that this world had normal animals like deer, and he could use the soft and squishy meat of that thing. Thus he instantly knocked an arrow in his bow and prepared to shoot…