Thane kept staring at the paused Celestial TV and was cursing.
"Praise the Lord, He placed this feature! I could have died! Again!" Thane prayed with a grateful heart.
"Hmm... maybe that's why God made me so busy that I can't watch TV. I was so hooked on that Goblin documentary that I forgot there were actual goblins trying to kill me! If a man broke into my house while I was watching TV, I would have been robbed and not know it!" Thane shook his head in an aghast state of self-reflection.
"At least the time dilation can now be saved. I am blessed, and the Holy Spirit prompted me to learn more about the Spirit. Bruh. Is this the empowerment of the Holy Spirit?" Thane began to ponder.
The screen shook and Thane felt a jolting sensation.
"Right! The goblin!" Thane reacted with gratitude at the feature to keep him focused.
He flicked his gaze toward the tunnel entrance. The goblins were still creeping closer, their movements slowed by the Ambrosia's time-dilation effect. They were drawing closer. And this time, Thane could see that there were seven of them.
"Alright… think, Thane. They can see through the pulse of the earth… which means if I'm on the ground, I'm basically ringing their doorbell."
He tilted his head up. The cave ceiling was a tangled web of roots, thick as ropes and dripping with moisture. Some had pushed down through cracks in the rock, curling like giant fingers reaching for something.
"Okay… Plan A: jump up there and pray the roots don't belong to something worse than a goblin... Then... I'll use that technique the adventurer showed me." Thane glanced at the goblins.
With his superb vision, he could see a strange bulge that the goblins tried to cover with their worn and thorned shirt.
"I need to use Spirit to attack their cores... Then... That's right! Spirit Point Strike!"
His hands were clenching as he tried to remember what Merodoth had done in the training episodes. It was an explosive burst of Spirit Energy, focused and released at once.
"I could ambush them. With the other technique, Spirit Dispersing Deflection Strike, I could jump high enough to reach it!"
Thane slowly tried to channel the Spirit Energy. The Celestial TV did not disappear.
"Good! I can channel it! With the TV on!
Another strange jolt was felt as the monsters drew closer.
But Thane began to concentrate the energy on his legs.
Instantly, he turned off the TV and sprang up with great haste.
He ran forward and, with a stomp that cracked the cave floor, Thane released the energy. The burst kicked outwards in a shimmering shockwave, his body rocketing upward.
SNATCH! He managed to cling to the tree. "Hey... I'm strong!" Thane was amazed. He could now easily carry himself! "Wow...! The next time some muscle man bully asks me if I can lift, I won't have to answer with I lift the Lord's name on high..." CRAWWWW! A strange growl echoed and awakened Thane from his inner monologue. The goblins were surprised that their target suddenly vanished. They all ran inside the cave and found nothing! Thane was channeling his Spirit energy into his hands. "Here goes nothing!" He released the vine as he swung his body to aim at the goblin beneath. STOMP! Thane stomped the face of a goblin, but was surprised that his kick caused the Goblin's head to sink in. Using the force of his step, Thane found unbelievable control and balance as he leaped at another goblin. In his second flight, he could somehow perceive and react faster. He harnessed Spirit and made a drop kick at the bulge near the lower-right rib of the secondary goblin. POW! The goblin howled as Thane fell on the ground. But with quick reflexes and with Spirit, he pushed against the ground and made him leap up once more and managed to grab onto the vine at the top. Thane glanced down, expecting to see the goblins preparing to hurl things at him, but realized... They were all confused and began swinging their clubs and spears randomly. Thane smirked. The TV guy was right, Goblins can't see!
Thane was surprised but kept all his surprise to himself. He slowly willed it and clicked on the remote, pointing it at a distance.
[Enemies detected. Turn on Celestial TV?]
[Note: Celestial TV will automatically turn off when engaging in combat.]
[Only Thane can see the Celestial TV at this level and settings. Increase your level and unlock more abilities to awaken more abilities of the TV.]
Thane saw it and quickly turned it on to see his user profile again.
Level: 5
HP:260
STR:35
DEX:33
VIT:40
MP:38
MPr (Magic Power):36
INT:42
Note: Average stats for a Level 5 Human Adventurer range from 10–20, depending on training and background. You have exceeded all known benchmarks.]
"So this means my stats are pretty awesome given my level? Plus I have Spirit Energy..." Thane was in deep thought. He recalled the explanation of Dexterity and realized this was why his movements were so sharp and how he could react quickly. "My stats are doubled... This body is already far stronger than my previous life, but now those stats have doubled!" Thane grew more confident. "In Jeremiah 16, there were fishers and hunters. I was a fisher of men all my life, spreading the gospel. But now... I shall be a hunter! And this hunter... is hungry!" Thane sneered. This time, he did not aim for another goblin. He let go of the vine and landed on the ground, right in the middle of the five goblins that were still standing. "Come," Thane called out. A goblin charged in front and swung his sword. Thane could measure the exact length of the sword and smirked. He knew that he would only need to lean back to evade the sword swing. "Hmp! You're sword was too short! I could-" SMASH! "UGHHHEGGGHHH!" Thane choked. He did indeed evade the sword in front, but the goblin behind him managed to land a strike with the club behind him!
SMASH!
The club caught Thane square in the back. His eyes bulged, mouth hanging open in a silent scream as he stumbled forward like a man doing the world's worst limbo.
"No... fair! You shouldn't attack all together! Attack one at a time!" Thane cried as he was in tears due to the pain.
Thane stood up in rage, but he felt his knees wobble, and his vision was slightly blurring!
The back of his head felt heavy, and he felt blood trickle down his neck.
At that moment, Thane knew that his wounds were not that light!