Deep within Shadowfen Vale lay the Crimson Star Mine, a dangerous maze of caves crawling with Goblins, where every step could lead to an ambush.
After the brief but terrifying encounter with The Phantoms, Jason decided they needed to move to a more secluded grinding spot.
Their drunken brawler strategy was effective, but it left them exposed.
His new plan involved something a bit more… smoky.
They arrived at the entrance of the Crimson Star Mine.
The air was dry and smelled of sulfur and rusted metal.
Inside, the chattering of Goblins and the rhythmic clink-clank of pickaxes echoed off the cavern walls.
"Okay, new plan," Jason said, pulling out several small, tightly-bound sacks.
"These are Obscuring Fog Pouches.
We find a nice, crowded area, I run in and get their attention, then you toss one of these.
It'll blind everything in a twenty-meter radius for a full minute."
Jay's eyes lit up.
"And while they're stumbling around like idiots?"
"You unleash hell," Jason said with a predatory grin.
"Your Hellfire Rain spell is perfect for this. We'll herd them, blind them, and then burn them. Rinse and repeat."
A short while later, their plan was in full, glorious effect.
Jason moved like a shadow through the dim mine, darting from cavern to cavern as he skillfully drew the attention of dozens of Level 4 Goblin Miners and Level 5 Goblin Overseers.
With a crowd of screeching, green-skinned creatures on his tail, he'd lead them into a bottlenecked passage where Jay was waiting.
"Now!" Jason would yell.
Jay would hurl a Fog Pouch.
POOF! A thick, impenetrable grey fog would instantly fill the corridor.
The Goblins' angry screams turned into confused grunts and cries as they bumped into each other and the cavern walls.
"Let it rain!" Jay would cackle, raising his staff.
A swirling vortex of dark energy formed above the fog, and moments later, fiery meteors rained down, each one slamming into the ground with a thunderous FWOOM! The damage numbers that burst through the mist were massive.
In less than thirty seconds, an entire mob of thirty-plus Goblins would be reduced to ash and loot.
They were a machine of mass destruction.
Jay leveled up to Level 3, and Jason was well on his way to Level 4.
Their bags were overflowing with Astral Iron Ore, a key material for forging.
Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.
High on a ledge overlooking the cavern, Blazing Fang and the remnants of his Phantom team seethed.
He had respawned back in Crimsonwood Village, lost a level, and dropped his favorite battle axe.
Humiliation burned in his gut.
"Look at them," one of his members whispered.
They're using some kind of smoke bomb.
That's how they're grinding so fast.
We should wait for them to leave and take the spot.
Blazing Fang's eyes glinted with avarice and a thirst for revenge.
Take the spot? No. We'll do better. We'll take the spot, their gear, and their lives.
They just cleared a wave.
They must be low on mana and health.
This is our chance. Move in!
His team stealthily descended from the ledge as Jason and Jay were busy looting.
Blazing Fang pulled out his own Obscuring Fog Pouch, a cheap version he'd bought from a shady merchant.
"Time for a little payback," he sneered, tossing the pouch right into the middle of the clearing.
"Enjoy fumbling in the dark, you losers!"
Another cloud of fog erupted, engulfing the area.
Blazing Fang and his men drew their weapons, ready to slaughter Jason and Jay as soon as the fog gave them cover.
But from within the grey haze, he didn't hear screams of panic.
He heard a soft chuckle.
Jason stood calmly beside Jay, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Three… two… one…"
Blazing Fang's cheap fog pouch sputtered and thinned, its thirty-second duration expiring.
Their own vision cleared… but the thick, magical fog from Jason's superior pouch remained.
The problem was, the Goblins had just respawned.
Dozens of them.
And now, the only targets they could see through the thinning haze were the ten members of The Phantoms, standing there like idiots with their weapons drawn.
A massive, two-headed Goblin Berserker, the leader of the cavern, let out a furious roar that shook the very stones.
It pointed a stubby, clawed finger at Blazing Fang.
For a moment, there was a stunned silence.
Blazing Fang looked at the horde of angry Goblins.
The Goblins looked at him.
"Uh oh," he managed to peep .
The ground began to tremble.
It was a stampede.
"What's happening?!" one Phantom shrieked as the first wave of Goblins hit them.
"The fog! Our fog is gone but theirs isn't!"
"Heal! Heal me, you useless Priest!"
"Aaaargh!"
It was utter carnage.
The Phantoms, who thought they were setting a brilliant trap, were now the sole focus of an entire mine's worth of enraged Goblins.
They were swarmed, hacked, and beaten.
Their party was wiped out in less than a minute.
Blazing Fang was the last to fall, crushed under the giant club of the two-headed Berserker.
He died with a look of pure, unadulterated disbelief on his face, dropping a shiny new battle axe he had just equipped.
When Jason's fog finally cleared, the cave floor was littered with dropped equipment and coins.
Jason and Jay walked out from their hiding spot behind a large pile of rocks.
Jason whistled. "Well, that's one way to get a delivery service. They even brought us a new axe."
As they were looting the spoils of the Phantoms' spectacular failure, Jay's hand brushed against something different.
It wasn't a piece of armor or a weapon.
It was a small, crystalline shard that pulsed with a faint, starlight glow.
"[Celestial Shard]?" Jay read aloud.
"Looks pretty, think it sells for much?"
Jason, who had just picked up a rare skill book for Swordsmen, froze.
He snatched the shard from Jay's hand, his eyes wide.
He knew what this was.
It wasn't just pretty.
It was a one-in-a-million drop, a core component for upgrading an Epic-ranked item.
In his past life, guilds had waged wars over a single one of these.
"Sells for much?" Jason's voice was a reverent whisper.
"Jay, my friend… you just picked up a lottery ticket. A winning one."
He pocketed the shard and the new skill book, which he saw was for a mobility skill called [Zephyr Strike].
With their bags full and their enemies thoroughly humiliated, they returned to the surface to meet with the blacksmith, Silas Blackhand, to turn in the 100 Astral Iron Ores.
Silas grunted in approval upon seeing the ore.
Good work, lads.
But your trial ain't over.
The one who commands these Goblins, the Chieftain, still resides in the deepest part of the mine.
He's got my grandfather's hammer.
Bring it to me, and I'll teach you the true meaning of the forge.
A new quest notification appeared: Kill the Level 5 Chieftain-rank Goblin King.
Jay gulped.
A Chieftain-rank boss was on a whole other level than the Elites they'd been fighting.
But Jason just smiled.
He had a new skill to learn, a Celestial Shard in his pocket, and a burning desire to test his limits.
He even had his ultimate trump card, the cursed magic sword he'd been hesitant to use, the Abyssal Blade.
"A king, huh?" Jason murmured, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Let's go see if he's ready to abdicate."