Chapter 20: Goblin Cave
The small party of Ameanum started moving with Tycoon at the front and Ameanum not too far and Phoenix next to him. He would typically be in front since he knew the place better, but since the challenge he gave to Tycoon, she was in front to be the first to be attacked.
Of course, Ameanum was fully aware of what they were waiting for them ahead and kept his senses up for any change.
"So what was your choice Phoenix?" [Ameanum]
"Hmm... about what?" [Little Phoenix]
"About your choice of how you want your class and magic to progress." [Ameanum]
Phoenix felt awkward about hearing this and forgetting about it, but it wasn't her fault since she was ready to say it the last time they ambushed them.
"I want to be strong enough not to be in the way of others like you or Nat." [Little Phoenix]
Hearing that, Tycoon froze in place and turned towards Phoenix, who then understood what she just said.
"I am guessing from both of your reactions; this is Tycoon's real name?" [Ameanum]
At that point, Phoenix seemed to be a little down and nodded in agreement but was also disappointed in her actions.
"Well, you shouldn't worry about it, Phoenix. It isn't like Shingi knowing my name changes anything. It isn't like I am a demon. Hahaha." [Wild Tycoon]
"I am sorry" [Little Phoenix]
Phoenix spoke in a lower than a normal voice, but Tycoon, who now stood next to her, would be the only one to hear. But Ameanum, with his great hearing, wouldn't miss what she said.
There was a moment of awkward silence and then broke by Ameanum.
"You need to learn to control the right elements early on so that you can increase your chance to get access to a multi-element Mana Tree with the right combination. Fire had explosive power, but there are many monsters that fire isn't affecting them or will have a lesser effect. Light is also useful against a few foes but only some demons, while it gives no benefit in most cases. It is also good if you want to act as a healer. Earth is more for close-up spells or increasing your defense. While strong, Water has the least advantage over most monsters over the rest of the elements and is mostly used to weaken or slow others rather than damage them. Instead, I suggest you try to go for Darkness as one of your elements, which is one of the Arcane Elements, with the least amount of monsters being fully based on this element. It is the most effective but harder to learn. Also, go for Air that can increase your speed of dodging attacks and moving around and even aiming your spells." [Ameanum]
"A dual-element type Mana Pool of Dark and Air? Isn't Dark supposed to be a high-level element only? I thought you were suggesting her for an option to take early on." [Wild Tycoon]
Ameanum once more sighed on it, and Tycoon at that point had gotten used to it and didn't react at all.
"It is normally available for High-Level Players cause they don't do their preparations early on. If they did, their power would be even greater and would be easier to get." [Ameanum]
Tycoon had heard of few players that had a Dark Element type Mana Tree. All of them were powerhouses, as Dark Based mana wasn't available in great quantity in the environment, so the Dark based mana element Mana Pool users were rarer than the others.
"Getting used to Air element is easy, so you can take care of it at any point later and can find ways at the town's library. As for the Dark element, but I am aware of one exercise. Do you have your MANA MANIPULATION and MANA SENSE Skills?" [Ameanum]
Phoenix nodded in agreement as she learned all available skills, even if some were unnecessary. For example, most players were considering worthless the skill MAKE CAMPFIRE as it was one skill that you couldn't level more than level 10 and wasn't granting any advantage of using it. But Shingi knew that a level 10 campfire would cook stuff that would contribute extra benefits with a high enough COOKING skill. On the other hand, a weaker campfire didn't have that kind of effect, as they weren't granting any extra benefit.
"What is their Level?" [Ameanum]
"Both are still level 1. I haven't tried using them yet. Although... I am not sure how to." [Little Phoenix]
It surprised Ameanum since most players tested their skill to grant them a couple of Levels, as it wasn't too hard to get at Level 10 for most. But he understood that all this was new for her, and she probably wasn't much of a gamer and probably was playing cause of Tycoon.
He explained how the skill was working and gave her some exercises that she could do while moving. She had the System's advantage, helping her at early levels, unlike his NPC body and Annoue.
For now, she had to get them at Level 15, which would allow her to start the proper exercise, so she let her at that as they kept moving on.
And not too far into the cave, they came across their first encounter. 5 goblins were humanoid creatures of small, childlike size and had yellow-green color skin, somewhat long pointy ears. They wore a loincloth and wore some parts of leather armor that seemed bigger than them and got cut to fit them. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to grant extra defense cause of their current state.
Ameanum could tell their level, and four of them were level 5, while the fifth, who was better equipped than the rest, was Level 10. Unlike the others who seemed to have two daggers, the Level 10 had two shortswords instead and a longbow at its back.
Fortunately, when a Player noticed a monster, they could see their levels unless it was under some special effect or was a much higher level than the player.
Ameanum stopped the two girls before they noticed. It surprised Tycoon that Ameanum first saw the goblins but then remembered him detecting the ambush party and hitting them with plain stones while they hid.
"Tycoon, I will draw the attention of the four with the daggers while you work in the other one. It should fit the requirements for your challenge. Phoenix, stay over here and bring the Goblins nearby, and you should hit them with Mana Bolt. I will keep them distracted until Tycoon is finished with the others and come to finish them so that you both take the exp." [Ameanum]
Both girls agreed and said nothing of Ameanum not getting anything out of it since he wasn't in the same party as them, and he would take no exp. They knew he was at a higher level than them. This monster was most likely giving him nothing either way.
He wouldn't take any either way exp either way since the System considered him a spirit.
So Ameanum progressed his plan as he took another small stone. As he moved towards the goblins, he threw the stone towards the main goblin, hit him in the head, and became somewhat dizzy. The rest of the goblins noticed him and charged at him since he was all alone. Then, he disappeared, and appeared in front of them one by one, and kicked them between their legs.
The goblins were male ones, so this attack was quite effective in keeping their attention towards him and not noticing Tycoon heading towards their not anymore dizzy leader.
Of course, Ameanum controlled his STR to do no damage as he could kill them with his kicks cause of the difference in their level and stats. That was possible cause he had the MARTIAL SKILL of his, which was Level 41, just barely being considered Master Rank.
Now and then, he also threw or kicked some stones toward the goblin that Tycoon was fighting, making him dizzy and allowing Tycoon to catch her breath somewhat. This action wasn't doing any damage so that it wouldn't affect her progress.
It took Tycoon almost 5 minutes to kill that one goblin as she let it hit her enough times. But, of course, she had to be careful not to get hit too many times and die in progress.
Phoenix kept using her MANA BOLT spell, which was similar to the ROCK THROW spell, but it was just a sphere of mana thrown and not a piece of rock. Her casting time wasn't the faster, and her aim wasn't the best, but she never missed as Shingi moved the targets to get hit when she would normally miss.
And after 4 minutes since the battle began, it was finally over as killing the other goblins took her way less time since Ameanum kept them occupied, and she just had to deal damage.
The battle was over, and they had their first benefits after entering the cave.
Phoenix's level went from Level 1 to Level 3 and wasn't far from Level 4.
Of course, since Tycoon did most of the damage, she would take most of the exp, but they tried to let her take at least the last hit, which would grant to the one who did it also an extensive amount of the exp. She would earn more exp if she took part in Tycoon's fight with the Level 10 goblin, but she couldn't do it since Tycoon had to face it independently.
So they started resting for Tycoon to restore her health and Phoenix training on her Mana Skills. Ameanum was on guard duty in case any goblins came towards them.
And so an hour passed, and Tycoon was finally at full health. Her health was slowly getting restored cause she was in an unsafe environment and didn't use any potions or magic to help her. Finally, she stood up and was ready to move on as Phoenix jumped into the air in happiness.
"I DID IT "[Little Phoenix]
Tycoon looked towards her friend, confused, but Ameanum spoke before she could ask why.
"I am guessing this means your Mana skills are both Level 15. You are a fast learner. Good job." [Ameanum]
After hearing that, Phoenix's face became a little red, and she was back to her usual shy self.
"Well, now you can work on the real training." [Ameanum]
Hearing that, Phoenix had the same reaction as Tycoon when Ameanum was ready to tell her how to train herself as she was ready and focused on Ameanum's mouth.
"Manipulate the shadows, or more specifically, the mana in them. But not every shadow contains mana, and some are harder to detect or manipulate. But with your current skill level, if you focus, you will feel the one at yours, so try to manipulate it and move it around. You should know that they will be minimal and have greater resistance, but you should get used to it as time passes. If you make a ball of mana big enough to fill your palm, you should fulfill the requirements. You should do that before level 10, or you would have to make a bigger ball, so we probably stop grinding your level at 9 unless you progress it that fast, but we don't have that much time." [Ameanum]
"What do you mean we don't have that much time?" [Wild Tycoon]
"I have to take care of some business in a few hours and have to log out, so we should do as much as we can before then." [Ameanum]
"Oh, I see. Then we should organize our next hunt." [Wild Tycoon]
Phoenix nodded at that suggestion, but Ameanum's response surprised the girls.
"I won't be able to join you as I have other things to take care of." [Ameanum]
"I see..." [Wild Tycoon]
Tycoon was sad to hear that and missing that splendid chance as she knew that without Ameanum's help, it was most likely close to impossible for her to earn the particular skill.
"No worries, I know someone that can help you, but he is a little far but can help you get easily." [Ameanum]
"Oh, really?!? Who is that, and where is that place?"
Ameanum smiled as, after spending some time with those girls, he had decided that they were worth his time to help them, and they could be helpful in the future.
"It is a young boy at a place called Carda." [Ameanum]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheShingPen
TheShingPen Chapter edited at 23/09/21
Slowly the protagonist is making and gathering his team. But they have ways to go and even find out why they are gathered. Hope people enjoy the direction things are going even if we are still in the beginning
You can join my discord server. Link in the synopsis of the novel
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone