"NATHANIEL ARMIS!!! WHAT HAPPENED!?! MY BABY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

These words greeted me as my mom saw me walk through the door.

After I had gotten back to where the wagon was, I reunited with the driver and Lufis. They had been attacked by two other goblins when I was facing the goblin leader, though they dispatched them quickly. The driver had sent up a magic flare which soon had guards arriving to the scene, soon after I had returned to the wagon. I was given some basic first aid(no magic) and rushed home on horseback. That leads to where I am now.

"Hi mom, hhu, good to see you?"

Thankful the guard who brought me home came in and explained the situation to my parents.

"Gobklins! This far north and near the capital? Something must have driven them from the south where they usually are." My dad replied after hearing the guard's story. He seemed to bit mad and worried at the same time.

Also gobklins? Never heard of that term before. Well, their either a type of goblin or there are no such thing as goblins in this world.

"They may have run from that demon that appeared down south a while ago." The guard shrugged in response.

"Listen, get some guards ready by the town gate tomorrow at 9. Me and Mikel will be there, and we can go make sure there aren't anymore gobklins or a gobklin camp in the forest."

"It would be an honor, Xetralite Armis." The guard soon left after that.

Meanwhile mother fussed over me.

"Nathaniel?!? What happened to your arm?" Her voice was full of motherly worry.

"Well. . . It's nothing much, just a big scratch." I replied as innocently as I good.

"Nathaniel, that definitely more than a scratch, tell us what happened." My dad asked me.

"There was this gobl- gobklin with a chain mace. It snuck up on me and this happened."

My dad gently grabbed my arm and examined it.

"Nathaniel, tell me honestly. If your arm had got hit with a chain mace, there is no way you would have taken this little damage without using xetral."

Fuck.

Looks like the cat's out of the bag on this one.

"He he" I laughed nervously.

Realization dawned in my dad's eyes. "Nathaniel. . . . . . Don't tell me. . . . . . You. . ."

I smiled meekly.

"Show me." My dad's eyes were sparkling.

Seeing no other option, I raised my non-injured arm and formed a xetral barrier around it.

My dad stared at my arm for a bit, silent. My mom had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were glistening.

Suddenly, my dad stood up.

"LET'S GO! HA HA! TAKE THAT MIKEL! MY SON WAS FIRST! LOOKS LIKE I WON THE BET!"

"Um. . . Dad?" My dad stopped shouting.

"Lufis can do this too? How do you think we both survived?"

"Oh..." My dad's face fell.

My mom treated my arm after with some healing cream and told me that I would be better by morning.

At dinner my father assured that Lufis was okay. He had gone over to tell Mikel about the plan for tomorrow. It seems that Mikel had figured out about Lufis' xetral abilities similar to how my dad had found out about mine.

That night in my room, I focused on something I had ignored earlier. After I had killed the gobklin leader, I had leveled up. He must have given a lot of LP.

"Status"

{Status:

Name: Nathaniel Armis

Level: 21

LP: 3/217

Tier: 3

HP: 69(53)

XP: 106(94)

STR: 44

VIT: 40

DEX: 45

DEF: 43

INT: 147

WIS: 109

LUK: 57

CHA: 72

Deviant: Unique-Lightning

Description: Tired, Sore}

I'm going to have to guess that the numbers in parentheses are my current condition. It would make sense. Also, why did my charisma jump up so much?

I woke up the next morning to the sounds of my parent's voices. Stretching, I walked over and put my ear to my bedroom door.

"You are not taking our son with you."

"Beldria, you saw what I did. Nathaniel learned how to control xetral on his own. I think he has earned the right to come with me."

"But-"

"You also know he can't go to school if there are gobklins in those woods. This will be a good learning experience for him also."

"But it will be dangerous, Arthur,"

"Don't worry, me and Mikel will both be there."

"But what if you two are busy fighting?"

"There will be guards there too. Also, remember Beldria, Nathaniel fought off gobklins and took down a gobklin vice by himself. He can look after himself till I get there."

After that, they didn't say anything for a minute or two.

"Okay. . . Keep watch over him and make sure you both come home."

"Of course."

Next thing I knew, I was with my father heading for the gates of Cree Village. As we walked down the path, we were joined by Lufis and his father.

"So, your dad also convinced your mom to let you come?" I asked Lufis as he walked in stride next to me down the path.

"Yeah, it made for a tense dinner."

"Ouch, sounds like you had it bad."

"It didn't help that may parents had both just learned their child could use xetral."

"Same, though my dad used it too his advantage."

Soon enough, Cree Village was in sight. I could see around eight guards standing by the gate. They were holding spears, with swords strapped to their waists.

Mikel turned toward us.

"Lufis and Nathaniel, listen. I want you guys to stay in the back with the guards, just to don't get in their way. Be ready to defend yourself with xetral at a moment's notice just in case. Also do not, and I repeat, do not engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary. Do you both understand?"

"Yes sir." We replied.

"Well that's good," He said, clapping us on the shoulders, " because looks like it's time to hunt some gobklins."

The formation was simple. The two experienced fighters, me and Lufis' dads, were in the front. The guards were in the back with me and Lufis. There were two guards behind us, and than six in a spear formation in front of us.

The forest itself seemed pretty quiet as we trudged through. The only big sounds I had heard, so far, was some birds and the horses at the beginning of the forest. The horses we had used to get here had been left by the road next to the forest.

After a bit of a walk, the formation suddenly stopped. One of the guards in front of me whispered something to the guard behind him.

"I think they found the gobklin camp."

The message spread to all the guards. Some adjusted their equipment as quietly as they could at the news. The young guard next to me tightened the grip on his spear.

As we neared closer, I could start to see the clearing. One thing I could see clearly, however, was smoke from what looked like a campfire in the air.

A hand signaled in front of the formation to stop. All the guards stopped, tensed.

"Now!" I heard my father scream, "Charge!"

And the hunt began.