continued - 5/8

"Yes, Joe! I grew!" He bounced excitedly and Joe just chuckled as Garnedell and Kilniara excitedly congratulated him as they hadn't pulled their second goblin yet, either. He almost asked to see his stats, excited for more data but then realized there was no point. I already know his stats, they don't change much just with one level. He's only level ten… wait, skills? Joe almost grew excited to see what he might have but then stopped, realizing it would have to wait until tonight. Joe frowned with a bit of annoyance but let it go and decided to see what he'd gained instead. He whistled slightly while Zilnek continued to bounce in excitement and Joe glanced at his current job, wondering about its stats before frowning. Why? I didn't gain a lev… He's not in my party! Joe grimaced at that but didn't say anything. He wasn't concerned about it too much, although now he was really regretting being in such a small town where he wasn't able to have a party of six. Well, I'll make sure I get some of the kills with Kilniara and Zilnek. Ooh… should I put them in a party together?

Joe pondered the idea before tossing out a pebble to smack another goblin upside the head and then caught Zilnek's attention so the two once again prepared for the goblin. This time, Joe let Zilnek struggle with it at the beginning before stepping in and utterly destroying it quickly. Joe then quickly whipped out another projectile.

Joe then called a third goblin but this time fought it first, grinding it down quickly until Zilnek would be pretty safe on his own and he backed off to let Zilnek fight it and win on his own. Zilnek took a good minute or two to deal with it and Joe waited carefully for a few moments until he was certain that Zilnek was fine and he popped up his status to look at what his current job could offer him. He flipped the page over to his current job display then cursed silently under his breath before stepping forward to parry a strike that Zilnek looked like he wasn't going to be able to protect himself. Zilnek took advantage of Joe's interruption and was this time able to knock the goblin out easily.

"Careful, there. You just let him come at you and didn't protect yourself. You need to always be ready to protect yourself."

Zilnek took a bit to reply, his intelligence once again hobbling his reply, "But you are my partner. You would block him."

"Of course I would, but if I was dead or hurt?"

Zilnek seemed to grow a bit sullen at this and Joe stifled his sigh before continuing, "And you are being trained right now. You need to be able to fight on your own. Killing something or someone is easy if someone else protects you for everything."

Zilnek nodded, sobered, but still not very respectful and Joe felt a flash of anger slither through his thoughts a bit but let it go, "OK. This time, you find a goblin and catch its attention."