With the skeletons for protection, Jake could finally start heading deeper into the forest. He needed some food, some water, and a few other things to survive, and he was sure that this forest would have some of that.
"Alright boys, let's go." He started walking in the direction of that village in the distance. They walked through the forest for quite a while, but they hadn't come across anything. His stomach was already starting to grumble.
"Shit, I need some food to eat. I can't take this much longer," he said. He paused and looked around, his eyes darting for anything that could be food in some way.
And then he spotted a couple of red eyes staring right at him through a bush.
'Something is there, and it's watching me. I should attack, but I don't want it to get away easily. I need to flank it.' Jake quickly thought about what to do. He looked at the two skeletons and was ready to give them their instructions, but it seemed that pair of eyes had a different plan.
From the bushes, a goblin leaped out. Standing in its glorious three-foot height, its eyes blazed red, its jagged teeth showed from its mouth. It was hunched over, with bodily proportions that were simply too much.
A head bigger than the body, a stomach that looked similar to the beer-drinking addicts on Earth, and legs that looked too scrawny to carry all that weight. Its green skin looked like puke. This creature was entirely displeasing to the eye.
The goblin charged in, running with its hands stretched out, its blackened claws ready to attack.
'So this is the first thing that I fight in this world. It's pretty crazy, but for some reason, it makes me happy. Maybe because for the first time in my life I have the option of making a decision,' Jake thought.
He had his reluctance to recklessly take a life, especially a human life, but he was not naive—far from that. He understood that there are contexts where you must do what must be done.
"If I don't kill you, you'll kill me. That's something I can't allow. Sorry," Jake said, and with only a thought, one of the skeletons charged in.
The goblin leaped into the air and slashed at the skeleton, but it blocked it with its shield. And while the goblin was still mid-air, it struck, slashing into its arm.
Dark red blood spilled in all directions. The goblin screeched in pain, fell to the ground, and tried to scurry away—but Jake was not going to allow that.
"Finish it," he said, and in that small moment, his voice was cold. The skeleton did as he said and charged in, stabbing the goblin through the chest and killing it.
[You have killed a goblin. 5 Exp, 10 soul shards.]
[Your undead skeleton has gained 2 Exp.]
"Ohh? My skeleton also gained something? That means it can level up as well—it can get stronger," Jake said. The realization put a smile on his face.
He walked to the goblin on the ground and collected the sword from the skeleton. He bent down, looking at the body of the goblin, and had one thought on his mind.
'Is this shit edible?' He stared at it for a while, not sure of what to do. It didn't look like it would be edible.
'I don't want to make a fire and cook something only for it to give me food poisoning.'
He imagined himself lying on the ground in his own vomit from eating the goblin, and it made him shudder.
"Arrghh, screw it," he said and decided to give it a try. But as he lifted the blade, his hands froze mid-air. This creature didn't just seem right to eat—it had a human-like structure, and that made it feel all the more wrong.
He got up on his feet and walked away from the goblin. He couldn't bring himself to cut it up.
'Sigh, I'll have to find food somewhere else. Hopefully, there is something actually good in this forest, else I might just starve.'
He looked around a bit and continued heading in the direction he was going. The skeletons followed behind him like two menacing security guards.
A few minutes after he left the goblin's corpse, over ten goblins came to the site. And immediately, when they saw the goblin on the ground, they rushed it, ripped it to pieces, its blood splattering in all directions.
They ate the goblin down together, leaving only its bones at the end. After they were done, they began sniffing the air, and all ten of them locked on to the direction that Jake had headed. Immediately, they charged that way, leaving the blood stains on the ground and the bones as the only memory of that goblin.
Jake, on the other hand, had finally spotted something that he felt was edible after minutes of walking, but even it didn't seem to be an easy catch.
He stood there in a stalemate against a rabbit. It was a foot and a half tall, which was big for a rabbit. Two horns on its forehead. Its fur was pure white, but the tip of the tail, feet, and ears were blood red.
'I don't know why, but this rabbit gives me bad vibes. Still, I have to take it down,' Jake thought. Then he pointed at the rabbit. The first skeleton immediately rushed in and slashed at the rabbit, but the rabbit moved.
It jumped so fast that Jake's eyes could barely follow it. It pressed against a tree and used it to gain more propulsion, shooting toward the skeleton.
The skeleton managed to raise its shield to block, but the attack knocked it a few steps back.
'The attack was that strong? I'm sure I would have a few broken bones if that was me.'
The skeleton immediately attacked again, even after getting pushed back, but it only managed to graze the rabbit slightly, barely drawing any blood.