My Evil System

[Soarsie]

I had to sacrifice something important to access Vexana\'s Tier 1 shadow spells. And these sacrifices weren\'t just simple coins. No. They were something important to me, and the higher the tier of the spells, the higher the cost.

For now, I had all of Vexana\'s Tier 1 spells, and they were powerful enough to save my life . . . for now.

To access tier 2, I had to give up something of equal importance, and I didn\'t think that I was ready to pay the price just yet. But if this group would push me to my limits, then I had no choice but to do it.

At the moment . . . with Vexana\'s ring on my finger, only tiers 1 and 2 were available to me to unlock. The more equipment I gathered that contained Vexana\'s souls, the more I had access to higher-tier spells. At least that what she told me.

At the moment, I didn\'t have any plans of helping anyone with the quill fiends and fallen goblins. I would hide in the shadows until I decided to come out and attack or if the duration of the spell was over.

Rodrick and his gang could skewer me with their words, and they could shove their sharp curses against their asses. I didn\'t see them helping us, so why would I bother with them?

Rodrick didn\'t even let us into their group, and I was sure the reason was that they didn\'t want newbies sharing their EXP, gil, and items.

I didn\'t have to join in the fray, though. The others perfectly killed the enemies in a heartbeat.

Rodrick was finished on their end, with just Maverick and Edgar doing the work while Rodrick stayed behind with Lilian chortling close to him, fingers sprawling on his chest.

On the other side, Lancelot and the other newbies drew their weapons and charged forward, their eyes fixed on the goblins that had surrounded them from the back.

The first goblin swung a crude club at them, but they deftly dodged the blow and slashed their sword across the goblin\'s chest while Mikaela shot fires from the back.

The quill fiend swooped in and raked its talons across the back lines, leaving bloody claw marks on Gina\'s face.

Gina shrieked, stumbled, and fell on her butt.

"Gina!" Felix was quick to her rescue and made quick work of the attacking quill friends. Their poisoned spikes on their backs were troublesome but nothing Felix couldn\'t handle.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyes alert as he helped Gina to her feet.

Gina nodded while healing her injuries, blinking away the tears in her eyes.

The goblins closed in, snarling and swinging their weapons wildly. The players parried and dodged, striking with their swords when they saw an opening. The quill fiend darted in and out, distracting them while the goblins attacked.

With a final flurry of blows, the last of the goblins and quill fiends fell to the ground, dead or dying.

Lancelot and the others stood victorious, panting and covered in blood. They shared a brief moment of triumph before turning in my direction when I reappeared.

"Very handy," Mikaela sneered.

Lancelot didn\'t comment like always. His attention was already elsewhere.

"Why didn\'t you help?" Felix asked, forcing a smile while keeping his tone calm though he failed miserably.

"I didn\'t have to. We aren\'t in a group, so it\'s not like I got anything from not helping," I said without a care.

"Still . . ." Gina bit her lip, repressing her tears from bursting, "You could have helped . . ."

I cocked my head to the side. "Why?"

The question drew eyes on me, disdainful ones.

Felix stepped forward. "Because we\'re here to pass the teamwork test. If we won\'t work together, then what\'s the point of all of this?"

My lips kicked up a mocking smile. "Point? Did this test have a point, to begin with?" I nodded in Rodrick and his group\'s direction. They were hooting and pulling japes at each other at the dead goblins heads\' expense.

No one said a word, and the silence grew between us.

"Hey, newbies!" Edgar shouted, breaking the stillness. "Go and check the area already! That\'s SOP, you morons!"

"Damn, noobs. Always so clueless, you always have to tell them what to do," he muttered under his breath, his voice loud enough to be passed as a whisper.

Without a word, Lancelot and Felix searched the area around the carriage and found the bloody tracks of three Humanoids who were dragged away by several smaller, barefooted Humanoids.

"Looks like the tracks are less than a day old and lead to the Fallen Camp, roughly an hour\'s travel away," uttered Maverick as he studied the tracks.

He was the tank but he was doing Edgar\'s job.

Edgar threw his arms on the back of his head. "Looks like those damn goblins dragged those three bodies into their camp."

"Let\'s go." Without a second glance, Rodrick paddled forward with his group while scratching his hair rather forcefully. "Let\'s get this done and over with. I don\'t want to spend the night in this wretched place."

"Don\'t lag behind back there, or we will leave you behind! Let\'s see if you pass your exam by then!" Edgar hollered. He was so loud, louder than the girls I knew.

This journey wasn\'t going pretty the least as we neared the Fallen Camp of the goblins.

The camp was located on a small hill and was protected by a three meters tall wooden palisade. It required at least the passive skill double jump or spells in that category to get over that palisade.

The Gates to the north and south of the camp were each guarded by fallen goblins.

A prompt made us stop in our tracks. Briefly reading it on my screen, I suddenly had a bad feeling about this journey.

[The Goblins in this camp are once ordinary and peaceful goblins who steer clear of the nearby human villages. When the camp\'s shaman lost her only child to human bandits, her wish for revenge made her agree to a vile pact with the dark stalker matron Krista, the former abbess of Silvestre Sanctuary, who offered her power in exchange for her services.

Quickly becoming consumed by the alluring promises made by her newfound patron, the shaman used her fiendish powers to turn her brethren into Demons – some willingly, others by force. In a twisted attempt to avenge the death of her child, these goblins have been pillaging villages and capturing innocent humans to be used in the dark stalker matron\'s vile rituals.]