AJ POV:

Although many esteemed businessman may have reported a robbery on my behalf concerning the deal with Felix, I for one thought it was a splendid turn of events. I had been waiting the better part of a day in my cell, itching to get the filthy manacles off of me once Thomas went to sleep. So, in my weary eyes, I see this deal as a net positive.

Standing up I arched my back, glorious cracks sounding throughout my vertebrae. What a strange body we do indeed find ourselves in, could we not have made it at least 4 feet tall? Meandering my way over to the group of little playthings Veronica had been caring for, I considered what I could do with Mind Magic, hungry eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.

One of them, the big oaf that Thomas named Chad, quickly stood up, greeting me with a right angle. I had never been a fan of people bowing to me, I much preferred hand kissing and kneeling, but this would have to do.

“MASTER, HOW CAN CHAD HELP?”

Grimacing at the distasteful amount of decibels this subject produced, I considered the apparent growth in intelligence since I last noticed him. Looking at his status, I was curious as to what I found.

[Status:

Name: Chad

Race: Goblin (hatchling)

Level: 1 (0/10 exp)

Class: None

Statistics:

(Health: 10/10

(Mana: 10/10 Stamina: 20/20

(Strength: 12

(Agility: 6

(Intelligence: 3

(Resistance: 9

(Charisma: 1

(Luck: 2)

Skills:

(Common: sturdy muscles

(Rare: None

(Unique: Loyal Dog

(Legendary: None)

Blessings: Lesser Blessing of the God of Anarchy (Apostle)]

First, this goblin gained a Lesser Blessing, of who else but me, the apostle of our glorious God! Frankly it bothered me how easily this Chad got our Blessing, merely by being named by us, although this did give me a multitude of ideas. Another change was the obvious increase in intelligence, by 2, a massive increase for a monster.

You see, although monsters may look like a sentient being, it isn’t lack of intelligence that separates monsters from people, it is the control they have over their own wills. Any unevolved goblin may be completely docile and friendly, but put it in a room when it’s mating season, and the notorious libido will come into play. What I mean to say is, goblins are controlled by their urges, instincts and blood.

So an increase in intelligence was astounding as, not only did it triple, but this was an unheard of scenario. Although, I do remember when Thomas was looking at that page of information about the goblins, it said something about Gods helping other races become sentient. Could it be these Blessings that do such a thing?

With these thoughts rampant inside my skull, I turned back to the present, wishing I had some alcohol to process things better. Chad had an expression of concern on his face, twiddling his meaty fingers.

“I need a research specimen, find a suitable candidate please, with vigour now come on!”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

With an appropriate amount of concern on his face Chad went to go and find a suitable goblin for my experiments. Although seemingly random, I had thought of what I wanted to do with the unlimited amount of options provided by the Mind Magic skill. I wanted to find my limit, and I had plenty of mana to spare.

At a brisk walk Chad came back to me, a goblin unusually small was in his arms, about a foot smaller than my own small stature. Frail with disproportionately sized hands and feet, he whimpered in Chad’s vice grip.

“MASTER, WILL THIS DO?”

If I wasn’t mistaken, it seemed like Chad was speaking more eloquently than when Veronica was in control, so the intelligence had indeed boosted his language capacity. Interesting, what if I named an animal then?

Taking this small goblin by the wrist, I led him over to the side of the cave I had been sitting on, motioning for him to sit on a log by the fire across from me. He sat, legs dangling with a scared, but oddly resolute face.

I activated the All Seeing Eye skill, trying to glean some information from this weird critter.

[Status:

Name: None

Race: Half-Goblin (hatchling)

Level: 1 (0/10 exp)

Class: None

Statistics:

(Health: 9/10

(Mana: 10/10 Stamina: 14/20

(Strength: 2

(Agility: 8

(Intelligence: 6

(Resistance: 10

(Charisma: 1

(Luck: 3)

Skills:

(Common: None

(Rare: None

(Unique: Steely Will

(Legendary: None)

Blessings: None]

Several things jumped out to me, firstly this was a half goblin. I’m not one to ruminate on things I know nothing of, so I will ask Felix about this later, I think he’s asleep already. Secondly, his unique skill sounds like something useful, and I can still take unique skills, so we’ll have to see how useful this little mutt is.

Now, when I had seen Anthony use this skill it had been during combat, so I couldn’t really get a handle of what he did, all I knew was he found it relatively easy to kill someone as well as subdue someone like Chad.

Activating the skill, I directed the feeling of a tendril, an extension of myself, towards the goblin. Although I couldn’t see it, I felt it latch onto his brain like a leach, going deeper until it hit a wall.

Curiously, I hit the wall, and oddly it didn’t break. I repeated this attempt at brute force for at least 20 strikes to no avail. I guess Steely Will applied to resistance, or maybe intelligence? How does the system quantify a person’s will? After 32 strikes, and a look of pain on the half goblin’s face, I finally entered his mind.

I couldn’t read his actual thoughts, I could only feel what he felt, which was mainly the usual sorts of emotions, fear, respect and pain. I was flummoxed as to why he didn’t hate me, but you never can understand some minds.

I wondered how Anthony knew what to do in regards to brainwashing, when I read the skill it said you had to have a ‘deep understanding’ to brain wash. I guess because of our collective intellect and mind power from the personalities we have that needed understanding? I’m not sure, I just know I can start with my experiment.

Grinning, I cackled like a goblin, which I guess I am, so I’m going to lean into that. We already know that with a weak mind you can meld it almost effortlessly, but Chad had indeed delivered the perfect specimen to conduct experiments on.

With the invisible tendril still tethered to this small goblin, I tried to command him to stand up. I did this mostly through a nerve system connected to his being, which controlled his movements, and what I did was take control of that.

Speaking of all that biology hogwash, does that even apply to this world? I don’t believe I’m controlling his brain, or else it would be called brain magic right? So is Mind Magic all about the soul and the conscious part of the person? Does Mind Magic work on creatures without brains but with sentience? So many intricacies I can’t bother to think further about.

The little goblin looked as if he was straining, a look of confusion directed at me, but he didn’t stand. I guess I have to study this skill more before I can use command spells, although ‘spells’ seems like a loose term, Mind Magic is really creative, almost like art, in that all you need is the knowledge to back up the insane ideas you have.

I could most probably with enough time and resources develop an automated tendril that regularly gives a command to people in a ranged area, for example. See what none of the other personalities know is that I hold a wide range of skills that Thomas had wanted in our past life. That included things like coding, zoology and other weird and wacky skills. All those years I spent not in control I was developing myself, bettering myself in the hopes that it never happens again. I will be ready next time.

Another idea that had been rattling around in this old skull was the different psychic powers commonly found on Earth in the media. I know already I can use a form of telepathy, but what about telekinesis? To start my test, I shall again try to move this puny half goblin, this time using my own power.

I unlatched the tendril, willing it to expand and encompass the goblin. With a momentary pause and a slight shudder, the tendril complied to my demands, becoming less dense buy having more surface area. I guess I have a certain amount of tendril to use, most likely based on the amount of mana I put into it. Looking at my status briefly, I had used 8 mana already.

With this wider tendril, I wrapped it around the half goblin, an invisible layer of energy stopping the tendril from going through the body emanating from the half goblin. Is that an effect of Steely Will? I proceeded to try and lift the critter up, a manic grin now plastered upon my face.

Experimenting is fun!