The next fight was even easier. Not just because there were fewer monsters and Zera was less nervous than the first time. The main difference was his new levels. Those 3 extra strength points definitely made a difference. Now the staff felt way lighter, and that meant it reached the goblins' heads a lot faster. Plus, the recoil was barely noticeable.
After defeating them, Zera leveled up to 4 and got 3 new stat points, 2 went into agility and 1 into endurance. He thought about spending his free points on strength and agility but decided to save them until he understood the system better.
Apparently, he didn't need more power to kill goblins. Almost like the system could hear his thoughts, the next group had five of them.
"Zera, do you want to go out and come back in?"
"Why?"
"Five is too many. If we go back in, we'll probably get a group of two or three."
"Nah, no need. Right now our tactic is flawless."
Zera could see the disappointment on Diamante's face. The girl really didn't like to fight. In the last two battles, all she did was stand there while the monsters slammed into her. That was enough to kill them, but it was kind of weird to watch.
They used the same strategy again: Diamante stepped forward to draw aggro. While the monsters attacked her, Zera took them out one by one with his staff. Once he had dropped two of them, the other two lost interest in Diamante and charged him instead. Zera simply backed off a few steps, using his boosted speed from the recent level-ups. The goblins chased him for a few meters, just until they reached the edge of their spawn zone, then turned back to Diamante.
Zera waited a few seconds and dashed in full speed. He had just enough time to smack one goblin in the face as it turned, before the other tried to strike him. With only one enemy in front of him, Zera felt totally confident. It was almost like fighting a child. When the goblin swung its claw, Zera bashed it with the staff, then used the recoil to snap it back into the goblin's face. After that, he ran back to Diamante and finished off the last one. Piece of cake, honestly.
"I think I'm gonna puke."
Diamante looked like an elephant had mistaken her for a spiderweb. Or a toilet.
"You know that blood's not yours, right?"
"That just makes it grosser."
"If we go out and come back in, will you clean yourself up?"
"Yeah, but… don't you think we should take a longer break?"
"If you want, you can stay behind. I think I can take them out without your help."
"Well…"
Diamante did something that pulled them back to the simulation interface. Then Zera saw that the level 5 dungeon was glowing with the same light as the level 1. That meant it was now available.
He thought about asking Diamante to change the difficulty, but he didn't know how to talk to her through the interface. Besides, he had just promised he'd handle the goblins on his own, and he wasn't sure he could if they were stronger. So he simply accepted when she re-invited him to the party.
Zera rushed the two goblins as soon as they spawned in the field. He smacked one in the head with his staff, dodged the other's strike with a side-jump to the left, kicked its knee to drop it to the ground, then finished it off with the staff. The fight lasted about six seconds.
But the next group had five goblins.
Before Diamante could stop him, he charged at them, screaming like a madman.
When he was about three meters away, he jumped and extended one leg forward, going for a flying kick he'd only seen in movies. And it actually worked, too well, even. He thought he'd hit the goblin in the chest, but ended up landing a clean shot to the face. Somehow, the impact straightened Zera mid-air, and he managed to land a staff strike on another monster as he fell. As soon as he hit the ground, he jumped forward to dodge any follow-up attacks, and kept running until he was out of the goblins' range.
When he turned back, he saw the two goblins he'd hit were motionless, dead on the ground. He couldn't help but smile, happier than he'd been in months. Maybe even years. And with only three goblins left, the rest of the fight was over in less than ten seconds.
When he killed the last monster, a female voice surprised him in his ear:
"You have reached level 10. You may now select your starting class. The mission hub will unlock once you choose your class."
Apparently, the system only spoke when it had something important to say.