The cold detachment he felt to this whole situation had Ethan a bit worried, he felt so distant to it all and the smile on his face only grew when he heard the goblins scream. A stray thought made his way to the front of his mind, asking if it was the tutorial or the blessing of his new patron that kept him away from a mental breakdown. But as fast as it came the thought also vanished again.

  He crawled to the hilltop and looked over the edge, curious how much chaos he managed to inflict so far. He emptied his mana pool multiple times over the night to cover the camp in caltrops, even then it only covered half of it at best. He focused on the camp and grinned.

  In the camp itself chaos was spreading like a wildfire, the guards that relieved the night shift were the first to encounter Ethan’s little surprise. Stepping from their makeshift tents they grabbed their crude weapons and still half asleep they stumbled to each of the camp. Some got lucky and didn’t even step on one caltrop but most of them stepped hard on those small spiky traps. The feeling of ice cold spikes piercing the soft skin on their bare feet made them scream loud enough to wake the whole camp, falling to the ground and holding their feet.

  The goblins that tried to get to them stepped in caltrops themselves and soon the whole camp was in turmoil, guards ran around looking for attackers that weren’t there and still nobody decided to check the ground for trouble, only those already wounded picked up caltrops and inspected them, grunting and snarling in their language with each other.

  Ethan nearly giggled when some inflicted wounds on each other when fighting over a caltrop to look at it themselves. I know they’re stupid but this…? He looked at Nora and smiled. The white snake watched with him and scoffed. I’m glad that I was born a snake and not as one of those creatures, are you ready for part two?

  Ethan nodded and closed his eyes, he tried to concentrate, what he tried now was hard but not as hard as creating the caltrops, but without system assistance it drained a lot of his energy. Pointing his palm to the sky he focused his energy on it and willed his energy to become reality. The feeling of molten metal returned but he gritted his teeth and continued, veins pulsed on his neck and temples but then a long sigh escaped him.

  It’s done, let's hope that works, with anticipation he looked to the sky and saw the clouds growing darker by the second. While waiting Nora had a devious idea, with the middle of the camp covered in caltrops his damage was focused there, but what else would it do? Attracting the other goblins to his trapped area of course, the guards followed the screams, to his surprise even the crafters got called to remove the caltrops from the goblins and to bandage them with dirty rags.

  The clouds now gathered above the goblin camp. Like huge dark structures full of magic they prepared themselves and suddenly it started to snow, gently at first but it soon increased in intensity. The snowflakes transformed, becoming toothpick size spikes that shot straight down to the ground and inflict minor wounds on the goblins, even killing some of them when they looked straight up and the ice needles pierce their eyes, making them rupture and drip from their sockets while they lodged themselves in their brains.

  Ethan shivered, I’m glad you’re on my side Nora…I didn’t think that would even work. He looked at her for a moment before watching the camp again. At this point goblins are running around, screaming and shouting. Small fights broke out that only helped with Ethan’s plans. The ice rain continued for a while longer before it petered out.

  Watching his plan and feeling the amount of notifications waiting for him he could only smile, his plan worked better than expected but only some level 1 goblins died so far. The guards were too tough to be killed by the ice needles, still he felt his poison in almost all of them. How long would it take to kill them? He didn’t know but after an hour he noticed something, even a goblin should be able to cleanse this basic poison but it just continued. Curious, he asked Nora about it.

  You have an intelligent head on your shoulders but you really ask me why your poison is still active? You remember the patron you accepted, right? Ethan looked at his stats his eyes looked on the new line on his status

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  Patron: Ouroboros, the Eternal Serpent

  The concept of eternity influenced his ability, he groaned internally, why didn’t he even think about asking his patron about the blessing? He looked at his snake companion and never thought a reptile could look this disappointed. I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that, so it just keeps going forever? He asked Nora and looked back at the camp.

  I think that would be a bit much for someone on your level but maybe one day with enough time? When you reach godhood maybe but that is far, far away. For now I would say it keeps up for a few hours, maybe half a day in the weaker ones. Nora’s long tongue tasted the air and wrapped around his arm and dozed off into sleep.

  Ethan kept watch, feeling his poison working on the goblins stamina, over the day some of them collapsed and got carried away, still alive but drained of stamina they couldn’t move a muscles, in the afternoon the first of them died, a small goblin that looked like he already had injuries before. Ethan felt the experience settle into his body and he tried to hold this feeling, the poison draining the last bit of health and reaping a life. It felt wrong but right at the same time, it was exhilarating but left a bad taste in his mouth.

  With nothing else to do he worked on his ice spikes, summoning them, compressing them, expanding them and transforming them into snow. The flow of magic felt smoother now than before, his increase in level and his training showed it’s worth already. While doing that his aura was activated at the same time, the ground around him was frozen when the night finally came again. The first thing he noticed was the sudden increase in guards, the goblins posted twice the amount than before, making sure nothing could get into their camp.

  He was curious why nobody was posted on the hill he was so casually sitting on but why should he complain, maybe they thought patrols are enough to keep it safe or they’re just stupid, Ethan believed it was the latter of the two. So he repeated his strategy, throwing caltrops into the camp like it was handing out candy on halloween, watching them drift to the ground as snow and transform into ice again. The kind of assistance was very welcome to increase his range. Even with all the crazy things going on he still thanked the system in silence and waited.

  The next day was mostly the same, the first few goblins still stepped into the caltrops like idiots but most of them avoided them all. During the evening and night more goblins died from his frost poison, but even then the camp was still mostly intact. He needed something else, a plan to bring them down. Again Nora came to the rescue, the sadistic snake knowing more ways to harm them.

  When her tail pointed to their water barrels and food supplies she sent a simple thought towards him. Drop some ice spikes into it and wait. That’s what he did, with some concentration and he pain he managed to lodge multiple ice spikes into the water barrels, stuck between the walls they didn’t float up and the clear ice wasn’t visible in the water.

  Ethan didn’t know if it would even work because he hadn’t inflicted a wound with it but maybe the poison in his ice could be consumed like that.

  A few hours later one of the cooks collapsed, coughing up blood before dying right there in the field kitchen. Nora, looking all smug, just nodded her head. Told you it would work. Ethan rolled his eyes and watched the camp, it was kind of funny. He felt like a conductor that fabricated his own concert only with his screams and curses instead of instruments and singing.

  When night once again claimed the tutorial Nora vanished, saying she needed to do something. What she had in mind Ethan didn’t know, only when he saw the first lamp at the edge of the camp drop did he realize it. Nora was killing the guards, his poison also working with her fangs. But even then she didn’t need it, her ambushes aiming for their necks with ruthless efficiency.

  Only on the next day did he notice his mistake. I think we have gone too far Nora, those aren’t goblins…, he looked at the brown mountains of muscles and fat that came from the cave in the hill. They sat down in the middle of the camp and started snacking on goblins like they’re roasted chicken. While crawling back he identified them.

  [Ogre - Level 7]

  [Ogres are large hulking beings, those brutish creatures are blessed with strength and armor like skin. They have exceptional regenerative abilities and can withstand most attacks. Ogres eat everything to satisfy their enormous hunger]

  I think we’re kind of fucked here right? He sent it to Nora but before she could answer one of the three ogres lifted his head and sniffed around, his eyes locking onto Ethan’s position. The things screamed, pieces of goblins and saliva flying from his mouth as he stood up and lumbered with heavy steps towards the hill, the others following him after they smelled Ethan.

  Oh we’re so dead right now…That was the last thought he had before running down that hill, how could he have known that the goblins had ogres?!