The rocks were steep, and in between them was a silhouette of a single young man navigating his way down. 

"It was wasted effort, so we might just as well return..." Nee Chen, the young man, concluded.

Xiang Ya was standing on a relatively flatter surface from where she could see Nee Chen. "I see..." She murmured disappointedly. "I thought we could hunt a tiger to raise our levels, but the geographical obstacles were too much for us."

"Yes," Nee Chen leaped from the elevated crags and landed just beside Xiang Ya. "The wise choice was to remain in the Butterberry Forest to steadily raise our levels."

The two came to an agreement as they descended off the cliff of the Desolate Mountain Ranges. 

When they returned to the familiar green vegetation of the Butterberry Forest, night had already claimed the sky. Nee Chen and Xiang Ya prepared to camp. It was a humble camp with a fire pit in the middle and gathered leaves as bedding. 

"Chen," Xiang Ya softly cooed as she watched the star above. "I am getting used to this. Life in the outdoors, and fighting... I might have an affinity to this."

"Hmmm..." Nee Chen softly hummed.

The young lady of the One Well Village definitely had an affinity for fighting as she had proven time and time again in the duration that the two were working together. Moreover, Xiang Ya was a team player, unlike a certain reckless rabbit.

When Nee Chen was with the little bunny, it was Chen who always had to adjust so that they would have a semblance of teamwork, not that it was inefficient, but for Nee Chen, it felt good to have someone supporting him who was like Xiang Ya. In a sense, with Xiang Ya, he could rest easy.

"Outdoors, huh?" Nee Chen's mind wandered while similarly staring at the stars above.

As a human being, he had a desire to settle down one day. It was human instinct to seek home, a refuge, and a place where one can prosper in the fence of safety. Nee Chen still desired that. The Desolate Mountain Ranges and the Butterberry Forest could be their home, but it felt sad at the same time knowing this place lacked anything that would resemble home.

"Ya," Nee Chen stood up. "I sensed enemies."

At his words, Xiang Ya immediately rose and came beside Nee Chen. It was dark, and they could barely see anything.

Nee Chen gripped the hilt of his sword, preparing to strike once the enemies appeared. He was waiting for an opportunity to strike whoever was talking to them. The flames of the firepit created long stretching shadows contributing to the eerie atmosphere.

This was new for both Nee Chen and Xiang Ya. This was their first night battle. After every time they farmed for Exp, they would return to the Desolate Cave Abode to rest, thus they never encountered a situation like this.

[Nee Chen | Humble Blade | Level 31 Warrior | 2nd stage Mind Enlightenment]

[Xiang Ya | Lady Luck | Level 29 Cleric | 2nd stage Mind Enlightenment]

The wind whistled and came with it was the flying of arrows.

Xiang Ya reacted on time as she cast her martial spell: Barrier!

Translucent energy encompassed the duo in a sphere that protected them from all sides. More arrows came in uneven intervals, and every time, they failed to penetrate Xiang Ya's barrier. However, they were not entirely ineffective. Xiang Ya frowned realizing how much of her qi resource was being exhausted.

"The arrows carried quite an impact... I am at 67% qi resource." She informed Nee Chen.

Nee Chen patiently stood guard. He was deadset on waiting for an opportunity rather than just lunging off to battle regardless of the consequences unlike what he usually would do.

The new penalty system from the patch update was quite brutal, and Nee Chen would rather not have his level reduced to half.

More arrows came flying. 

Because it was dark, it was hard to see the trajectory of the arrows even with the fire pit beside them. No. It was because of the firepit he could not see well, as the contrast of the too much light only served to bind them.

"62%!" Xiang Ya shouted, informing Nee Chen of her qi situation.

Nee Chen kicked the fire pit, subduing the light a little bit. After a few more seconds, his eyes had acclimated to the environment.

When the next volley of arrows came flying, Nee Chen absorbed most of them as he used his body as a shield. He saw the direction from where the trajectory came and pounced at its direction with bestial ferocity.

Xiang Ya was observing the situation calmly, and when she saw Nee Chen move, she followed him. While at it, she picked up a branch with blazing flames on its tip to use it as a makeshift torch. Xiang Ya watched Need Chen draw his sword in one swift motion and slash at something.

A flash of silver struck in the dark of the night with the trees hindering even the light that came from the stars. 

Nee Chen saw the contours of little apes with pointed ears. He plucked the arrow from his shoulder to strike it at the little monster that ambushed him from above. With swiftness on his steps, he sidestepped while avoiding the ambush from below. He was surprised at first to find a couple of little apes burrowed from underground to attack him like that.

"Execute~" Nee Chen was forced to use his strongest skill killing the attackers that were surrounding him.

When Xiang Ya arrived with her makeshift torch, they saw who were their attackers. They were green, ugly, and mean. They were goblins. The identity of the creatures registered to the duo's mind. Though it was their first time seeing such creatures, the duo didn't panic, but instead had gotten excited. 

"Ugh..." Nee Chen was hurt and he had expended most of his qi. He removed the arrows embedded in his body, and Xiang Ya quickly spammed her martial spell: Heal at Nee Chen.

Xiang Ya was worried they might lose, so she offered a word of warning. "The Beta Expansion Pack was finally here, but this could be trouble... Judging from the way we were attacked, there would be more of them around!" She warily eyed her surroundings as she recalled the arrows that flew at them from different angles.

Suddenly, an arrow swooshed past Xiang Ya. "..." She was rattled by the unexpected arrow.

Nee Chen wryly smiled. "Then we better get off running."

The duo ran from the goblin menace, aiming to return to the Desolate Cave Abode of the Game Master to rest. 

~~~

In a few parts of the Butterberry Forest, a fortress for goblins was being built. The goblins had no prior setting as to how they would build their fortresses, thus creating a society unique to them. 

The goblins have three social classes: the newly spawned, the powerful, and the evolved. The newly spawned goblins were low-level goblins that came from either the Game Master's 3D Printer or the reproduction of goblin babies. The levels of this goblins ranged from level 1 to 15. Meanwhile, the powerful goblins were the kind that possessed modifiers on their names such as Goblin Archer, Goblin Slinger, and Goblin etcetera. They were fairly challenging opponents around level 16 to 30. Lastly, there were the evolved goblins which were at level 30+ such as the HobGoblin varieties from swordsmen, archers, shield-bearers, etcetera.

Outside of the normal goblin strata were the unique goblins such as the Goblin Shaman or the highly mutated goblins which were yet to appear. 

"Gobrou... Gobrou..." The Goblin Shaman 'Groque' was a named goblin who was the first to build his own fortress. As a unique goblin, he had the advantage of the strong from the beginning from his fellow goblins. More than just a unique monster, he was also the first named monster to appear.

Groque was quite unique not just in the template sense that he was a Goblin Shaman, but because he could talk. When others were grunting and huffing, he could make out syllables to give something in a semblance of a word or a command to his kind.

"Gobrou... Gobrou..." He ushered his subordinates to quickly build his fortress.

Because of his personal strength, many goblins chose to follow him. And now, a fortress was being built at the easternmost part of the Butterberry Forest. "GOBROU!" When Groque found a goblin slacking off from work, he punished the said goblin by feeding him to the Goblin War Pigs.

The other goblins shuddered at the sight of their compatriot. 

The 'Goblin War Pig' was a unique monster that Groque had added to his forces. It was a monster born out of his shamanic powers from breeding a boar of the Butterberry Forest with his own seed. With the continuous addition of Goblin War Pigs, the Goblin Cavalry was created which was surely a force not to be reckoned with.

"GOBROU!!" Groque screamed at the top of his lungs warning the others to never slack off.