Ichor Cell-Chapter 53: Goblin Slaying I

Grenil frowned. “What do you mean?”
Alex ran a hand through his hair, searching for the right words. “You’re telling me you haven’t noticed any issues with Duran? With how he’s acting? Well, not-acting, to be precise.”
Grenil tilted his head. “He’s always been quiet. I don’t follow.”
“Quiet, yes,” Alex searched for words. “But not… empty.”
Grenil’s confusion gave way to concern.
Alex continued, voice dropping. “He barely talks anymore. He doesn’t comment on anything, doesn’t argue, doesn’t act unless told to do something—hell, he doesn’t speak at all unless spoken to. I don’t know what’s going on with him and what’s causing this, whether he’s just in a bad mood or if it has to do with my magic, but I’m worried.”
“He didn’t even argue when I told him to stay behind and watch over our stuff, for god’s sake!” Alex exclaimed. “He just sat down and accepted it like a puppet!”
Grenil crossed his arms, his fingers drumming a beat. “When do you think this started?”
“A while ago, maybe around the time in the dungeon.” Alex admitted. “But it’s gotten worse recently. Even back then, he at least took the initiative to run out and save me from the spider thing, but it’s just been getting worse and worse since.”
Grenil nodded slowly, then suddenly frowned. “Do you think… it might be related to the mana burning ability he activated? If you say this started back at the dungeon, then that’s the main thing that could have triggered it. That or him running out of mana.”
Alex froze. “So… you’re saying it’s my fault.”
“Now, don’t go blaming yourself.” Grenil sharply admonished, slapping him on the shoulder. “Without you, he wouldn’t be waking around at all. Plus, you’re very new to your abilities, so of course you wouldn’t know how they work and you’d make mistakes. It’s not the end of the world. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
The word ‘mistakes’ reverberated inside Alex’s head, bringing up images of torn bedsheets, a wall, a dark alley—all the ways he had fucked up since coming here and gaining these powers.
He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, pushing the feelings deep down and shoving them in a corner.
‘Later. You can break down and blame yourself later.’
Shaking his head, he refocused on Grenil. “It doesn’t matter whose fault this is. All that matters is why it’s happening and how we can fix it. Before we figure that out, I’m gonna force him to stay out of any and all danger to prevent him from burning up. I’ll also re-up his mana more often to prevent him from ‘running out’. Hopefully that should prevent him from getting worse, at least.’
Grenil tilted his head. “And how are you going to figure it out?”
“By learning.” Alex said simply, looking in the direction of the guild. “And the first step to learning is getting stronger.”
Alex scanned the Wood section with increasing frustration. He had expected it to be underwhelming, but actually reading through everything made it worse. Every slip he looked at was some combination of low pay, low risk, and mind-numbing work.
[Herb gathering] again.
[Pest extermination] in someone’s basement.
[Missing chickens]
[Transporting crates], in at least five separate postings.
A cellar-clearing job described as [light physical labour].
[Missing cat].
Another [Missing cat]—Alex was pretty sure it was the same one.
He let the last slip fall back into place with annoyance.
“That’s it?” he muttered.
Grenil stood behind him, studying the board with far more patience. “You already checked this board a few days ago. Why would the quality and difficulty of tasks change drastically now?”
“I know wouldn’t, but still…” Alex whined. “Why are half of these even adventuring tasks? Who’s willing to pay one and a half silver to have someone find their cat for them? And even if they are, why send it to the adventurer’s guild?”
The old man gave him a flat stare. “And who exactly should they pay, then? If you needed someone to find your cat for you right now, who would you contact to have it done?”
“Well, I’d obviously…” Alex trailed off, frowning. “I don’t know. I guess I’d put up missing cat posters in the street. Maybe ask around if anyone’s seen it.”
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“And you think that’s a better method than simply putting up a small bounty and having an adventurer do it?” The old man asked skeptically.
Alex pursed his lips. “I see your point. That is pretty convenient.”
‘So, Wood rank adventurers are basically this world’s Fiverr. Fine then.’
He inspected the board once again.
‘Ah, screw it. I’m not hauling boxes around for half a day to get paid 100 bucks.’
“I’m gonna bite the bullet.” He suddenly walked further up the board, stopping in front of the Bronze section. “I’ll find something here and drag a few other woods along.”
He didn’t want to do this, but he also didn’t want to spend another week chasing chickens and hauling crates like a glorified pack mule.
“Alright,” he muttered. “Before I pick anything, I need to know what the rules actually are.”
He pivoted on his heel and marched toward the reception counter. Grenil followed a few steps behind, hands clasped behind his back.
One of the receptionists, a tired-looking woman with her hair tied back in a neat knot, looked up as Alex approached. “Yes? How can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m a newly registered Wood rank adventurer. I have a question about Bronze missions,” Alex said. “Specifically—do I have to team up with Wood-ranked adventurers to take one? Or can I join a Bronze party instead?”
The woman didn’t even think about it. “It must be Woods. All members must be of the same rank for it to count towards your rank progress. You can of course team up with a bronze adventurer despite this, but the mission won’t go towards the twenty required for rank progress.”
Alex blinked. “But what if a Bronze adventurer is willing to take responsibility?”
“That’s exactly what we are trying to prevent,” she replied. “If we allowed mixed parties, people would skip ranks without actually having the skills to back it up. This didn’t used to be the case, but since so many Silvers and Golds kept dying in low level missions, we had to implement this rule. Ranks exist for a reason.”
Alex sighed. “Right. Of course they do.”
“Anything else?” the receptionist asked, polite but urging him to free the queue.
“No. Thanks.” He stepped away before he embarrassed himself further.
Grenil gave him a sympathetic pat on the back. “Good on you for asking. Would have been annoying to do the mission only to find out after that it was pointless.”
“I guess. Still annoying that that’s the case though. Now I gotta somehow find four people willing to do a higher rank mission with me at night. I’m sure that’s not gonna be hard at all.” He said sarcastically. “Worst case, I may genuinely just have to grind out twenty shitty fetch quests. I’ll just treat it like I’m doing dailies.”
“Dailies?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He shook his head.
Alex scanned the hall with a sinking feeling.
At this hour, the guild was nearly empty. Maybe a few dozen people in total, and most of them were Bronze or Silver adventurers winding down from the day. Only a handful of groups looked like Woods—and the biggest one seemed half-asleep at their table, heads resting on their arms.
Alex sighed and rubbed his face. The half a dozen awake Wood adventurers were deep in conversation, discussing gear repairs and lodging costs. And to be honest, who would agree to a stranger asking if you wanted to run off to do a dangerous mission in the middle of the night?
But he had to try.
“I’ll go talk to them,” he said. “If they throw a cup at my head, I’ll take that as a no.”
He forced himself to start moving across the hall, step by reluctant step. He rehearsed what he’d say in his head, practicing a casual tone that absolutely did not match the tension building in his chest.
“Hey, are you looking for an extra?”
“No? Cool, no problem, goodbye forever.”
“Hey, you two look bored—want to risk your lives with me?”
“Absolutely not. Goodbye.”
He shook his head. Approaching a group at night was already strange, but approaching them as a brand-new Wood hoping to take on a high difficulty mission was even worse.
He was two steps away when the taller of the two Woods shifted, stretching his arms above his head with a loud yawn. The woman across from him muttered something about going to bed soon.
Great.
They were minutes from leaving.
Alex inhaled, braced himself, and opened his mouth—
The doors slammed open.
The sound cracked across the room, echoing off the stone walls. Every head snapped toward the entrance.
A woman staggered inside.
Her armour—though torn and drenched in blood—was clearly expensive, enchanted leather with fitted metal plating. The kind of set whose price was measured in gold. Her boots were reinforced for long travel, her vambrace engraved with some insignia. An empty quiver hung at her waist, though the sprawling script decorating its rim suggested it too, wasn’t ordinary.
She looked like someone who should have walked in with confidence and swagger.
Instead, she looked like a trapped animal.
Her face was pale beneath the blood streaks. Her eyes were wide, glassy, darting between shadows as though expecting monsters to follow her inside. She limped, dragging her right foot, leaving a bloody smear behind her.
Her breathing came in sharp, harsh bursts.
“Please—” Her voice cracked. “Please, someone—”
The woman stumbled further inside, gripping a table for balance. Blood trickled out of a gash on her shoulder, but she didn’t react. She looked like she barely felt anything at all.
“They’re still out there!” she cried, her voice shaking violently. “My—my party—please—someone has to—”
Her knees buckled.
Alex moved to help her, Grenil followed two steps behind him. By the time they reached her, two adventurers had already crouched beside the woman, trying to keep her conscious. Up close, she looked even more distraught, panic etched so deeply into her expression that it barely looked human.
“Miss—miss, focus,” one of them said. “You’re safe. You’re in the guild.”
She didn’t seem to hear him.
“They’re still out there,” she whispered, voice cracking. “We… we ran… I couldn’t—I couldn’t—”
Alex knelt beside her as carefully as he could. Up close, the damage was worse. Entire chunks of her armour had been torn free. Several deep gashes ran across her shoulders and torso. Blood stained her lips, so her insides probably weren’t free of injury either.
Honestly, it was a shock that she was still alive.
The receptionist finally rushed over, seemingly recognising the adventurer. “I’ve sent for a healer! Just stay with me Iris. Keep talking to me. What happened?”
The woman—Iris—lifted her head weakly when someone called her name, though her gaze still struggled to focus. Her trembling fingers tightened around Alex’s sleeve when she heard the last question.
“It was a goblin.” She whispered. “A goblin. It saw us. We were scouting out the nest and it saw us. Kael… Oh gods, Kael…” The woman choked on a sob, bringing a trembling hand to her mouth.
The surrounding adventurers had gone quiet at the mention of goblins, and Alex’s heart sank into his stomach. For a singular goblin to do this to a party that was at the minimum all Bronze…
It seemed there was a variant near the city, and not a weak one either.