WARNING! Potentially Upsetting Content in this chapter!
Potentially Upsetting Content will only be in 1 paragraph, but I felt the need to give a warning anyways.
***Offending paragraph will have stars around it, like this.***
Cashew watched all the goblins flood the area from behind the tree he chose to hide behind. He counted 39 Goblins and decided he wanted to try his luck. See if he can kill all the goblins using what he learned from his dad and from casting Magic until Mana Exhaustion.
Sneaking around from tree to tree, bush to bush, he kept sneaking around the area the goblins were in, planting a Poison Rune between every single tree and bush until the area the goblins were in was completely surrounded by Poison Runes. A few Goblins did hear him during the sneaking and came to investigate by themselves for some reason instead of letting the others know, and when they got close, Cashew used the dagger his dad gave him to stab the Goblin in the head.
Originally, Cashew would not have been strong enough to even attempt that, causing a gash to appear on the goblins head at best, but thanks to all the practice swings and push ups, Despite being only 3 years old, Cashew had some good strength in his arm. Enough to penetrate the skull of a Goblin, at least.
"My dad originally gave me this dagger so I could skin and prepare and meals I kill, who knew I'd use it to kill goblins?" Cashew thought after he killed his first Goblin for today.
Hiding the goblins Body behind the tree he was originally hiding behind, he continued his rounds of surrounding Goblins in poison Runes.
"17 Runes... I only cast Two spells before the goblins found me, 1 Ice Spike is equal to 3 Water balls in draining... I could originally cast 47 Water Balls... Poison Rune and Water Ball cost about the same. -6 for the Ice spikes, -17 for the Poison Runes. 23-47 would be... 24. Heh, that's how old I was when I died in my previous world." Cashew did the mental math, smiling, finding the two numbers being the same funny.
"Unfortunately, I didn't do much over the past year regarding improving the camouflage of Rune spells, so I'm not sure if I want to attack them or let them leave the area and trigger the runes on their own." Cashew pondered, sneaking his way to a bush to hide behind. "Maybe if they don't know they're being ambushed, they are less likely to notice my Runes?"
***After finally reaching the Bush and thinking for a few moments, Cashew decided to let the Goblins leave and trigger the runes on their own. Watching them search the area, Cashew learned a bit about Goblins. Not to sound crude or anything, But with Goblins, this phrase doesn't exist in this new world, but goblins seem to take the phrase "If it's a hole it's a goal" very literally. Finding a Rabbit in a bush and taking turns with it, Goblins are also very violent. As they tortured that same rabbit as well. Goblins also seem to have a very fast reproductive system where the others gender and species don't matter. As soon as they were done with the Rabbit, in the span of a minute, 21 more Goblins came crawling out of the rabbit and grew to full sized goblins in the span of 30 seconds.***
The new Goblins brought the total number to 60, the new ones seemed eager to go and do something Cashew doesnt know. The old ones stayed put while the new ones immediately started venturing out, keep in mind, the amount of time that has passed since the new goblins were fully grown and now was less than 5 seconds.
The new Goblins immediately started heading in the direction of one of the Runes Cashew pre planted. If Cashew was directly South of the old goblins, then the new goblins were heading to the Rune planted Southwest Of the old Goblins, they were getting uncomfortably close to where Cashew was and there was even the possibility of being spotted, Cashew shrunk down even further, trying to lessen the chances of being spotted.
Luckily, One of the goblins stepped on the Poison Rune before spotting Cashew and Poisoned himself and the ones near him. 8 Goblins headed in that direction and all of them were poisoned and dying. The ones closest to the runes original location died instantly while the ones farther away died slowly and painfully.
Thanks to a perfectly timed gust of wind, the poison fog was even blown in the direction of the Goblins who didn't start leaving the area immediately.
A few of the stationary Goblins being effected by the poisonous fog caused the others to start fleeing in the opposite direction, only to trigger the Poison Runes in that area as well. They triggered 3 Runes and in the span of 10 seconds, 35 of the goblins are dead or dying. Unfortunately, the gust of wind blue the poison mist from the 3 Runes in the opposite direction of the Goblin crowd, and the poison didn't stick around for long, disappearing over the span of 5 seconds.
The remaining Goblins are too scared to move, not sure what direction to head in, before. A few of the older looking goblins grabbed one of the goblins born recently and pushed him in a random direction, the Goblin in question seemed absolutely terrified only to realize he is still alive, but before he can get comfortable with the fact that he survived, the same Goblin pushed him even further, this time, he wasn't so lucky and he stepped on a Rune, dying instantly. The Goblin who pushed him was standing too close and started dying slowly as the poison reached him too. Unfortunately for Cashew, the wind didn't blow the poison back at the Goblins, instead, it blew the poison in a different direction, not away from the goblins, but not towards them either.
Speaking of Cashew being unfortunate, he made a grave oversight on the Rune spells. He didn't notice it in the past because he never used many Runes at once, but it turns out, Rune spells are cheap to cast and get expensive after they detonate. Their cost isn't a 1 time thing. After the Rune detonates, it's price is comparable to an Ice Spike. Casting Ice Spike one time costs the same as Casting Water Ball 3 times and he can only cast Water Ball 43 times before Mana Exhaustion. Simply planting the Runecost the same as Casting Water Ball once. So technically, 1 Poison Rune costs as much as 4 Water Balls. He should only be able to cast Poison Rune 10 times before losing consciousness because of Mana Exhaustion, with an 11th cast causing Mana Exhaustion, but he planted 17 Runes. Not to mention the 2 Ice Spikes he cast before the Goblins showed up.
Only 5 Of the Runes have been triggered so far, so Cashew can only hope the Goblins are scared and flee when given the opportunity. The Goblins started pushing a different Goblin ahead to see if there are any other traps they need to worry about, which there aren't, but they don't know, So Cashew stayed hidden, Watching the Goblins and hoping they don't spot him, which thankfully they don't, they keep pushing a Goblin ahead, giving that one particular Goblin a panick attack every time only to realize he isn't dead, only to be pushed forward again and think he's gonna die.
Cashew can't help but feel bad for that Goblin, only to remember what they did to the rabbit and he no longer feels bad.
Once the Go lines were out of sight, Cashew pulled out his spell book and started looking for a way to dispell runes that don't detonate. Surely there is a way. He doesn't wanna trigger the Runes out of fear that he could die from too much Mana Exhaustion.
"What if Mana Exhaustion is like being cooked in extremely hot weather? You'll be miserable in Hot weather, but you'll die after being hit by a fireball. What if losing too much Mana at once is lethal?" Cashew thought as he flipped through the spell books pages, looking for a way to dispell Runes. Right when he started losing hope, he finally found the page and was able to dispell all remaining Runes.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Cashew looked around to make sure the Goblins were still gone before getting up and approaching the dead Goblins.
Cashew: Last year, I was hoping to keep the dagger that one Goblin had, but I got kicked in the face, lost conscious, and was unable to retrieve it, so lets see if these goblins have any new looking weapons...
Cashew started looking for any new weapons that the goblins had, any weapons that weren't wooden clubs or rusted and falling apart. Unfortunately, Cashew couldn't find any and left empty handed.
Cashew: What a shame. I use the dagger my dad gave me for food and Preparing animals I hunt and kill, I was hoping to keep it as an animal preparation knife, but I guess not...
Cashew sighed and headed back home. After a few minutes of walking, Cashew suddenly felt himself being picked up.
Cashew: Who goes there?! It's Rude to pick up strangers without consent!
Cashew exclaimed, hoping the person would put him down,but the scent was familiar.
Meredith: You're finally talking! Your voice is so cute!
Meredith said in a happy voice, But Cashew went back to his silent self. Deciding to be difficult since Meredith mentioned him talking.
Meredith carried Cashew home, not putting him down no matter how much Cashew tried to free himself.
They were eventually inside the house and Eric came in shortly afterwards. Meredith was sitting in a chair with Cashew in her lap, clearly wanting down, but she won't let go.
Eric: Cashew. Did you do the exercises?
Cashew gave a thumbs up, still being difficult because Meredith mentioned him talking.
Eric: By the way, Simon has been trying to give you the gift for months, but you never came up to him, so he gave it to me to give to you.
Cashews head shot up after hearing that, Remembering that he asked for a book on magic and not looking forward to what his dad has to say.
Eric: It was a book onGolem construction magic, I told him that you'd never be interested in magic and he can return the book.
Cashew looked at his father with a hint of betrayal in his eyes, just a hint of betrayal because he figured his dad wouldn't approve.
Eric: Anyways, since I'm gonna try and have you read the books from last year again. You'll be starting with this book.
Eric said while handing a book to Meredith, the Book title was "101 Reasons why Magic is Inferior to the Sword".
"Great, this book again..." Cashew rolled his eyes, not caring about this book.
Eric: Meredith, can you read that book to him?
Meredith: Uhm, Sure...
Meredith opened the book and Eric went into a different room in the house.
Meredith: 101 Reasons why Magic is Inferior to the Sword. Reason 1.- Swordsmanship requires less effort to become proficient. We all know that most magic users started practicing magic at a young age, usually the early half of their teen years and most magic users are well into their 60s and 70s by the time they can effectively use magic. I'm not saying all magic users take that long, but prqcticing the sword takes about 5 years to become proficient and only a few months of you want them to be good enough to send into battl-...
Cashew suddenly Jumped out of her lap and bolted outside, planning to hide, he doesn't wanna listen to the anti magic book.