Frank had been observing the goblins for a little while, he had long since taken his camera off his chest harness and aimed it at the patrol squad. He hadn't taken into account how unbelievably boring this mission would be. But then again, boring was better than dangerous. If he was doing things right, they would never know he was even around.

The goblins sat down doing various activities. One was tending to the cooking pot hanging over the fire by a wide metal spit, another was sharpening a knife, two goblins played some sort of tabletop game over a stump set between two of the rough looking logs they sat on. Frank couldn't quite tell how it was played from where he was, but it seemed to be almost like a game of dominoes at a glance, just with different symbols. The fifth goblin was circling around camp with his spear in hand. He was on watch, and the one Frank had to be most wary of.

If that goblin was even half as bored as Frank was, he might look up absentmindedly at his tree and discover the lazy hiding spot the human had made for himself. If he did, Frank would have to act quickly and kill all of them before they could report back to their camp.

As if to remind Frank that he wasn't the only deadly being in the forest, a hideous wail went echoing through the trees. The only sound Frank heard for a little while was the sizzling of some of whatever soup the goblins had cooking, the sound caused the cook to drop the ladle in such a way that some of the liquid had dropped into the fire. The goblin sharpening his knife was the first to break the silence. It was hard to tell, but Frank got the impression this goblin was older than the rest, and was likely their leader.

The goblin spoke in what sounded like an authoritative tone, asking the watch goblin a question.

"O-orikavi, Hurgab" He responded in a stutter. The lead goblin questioned him again, clearly unsatisfied with his answer, "Orikavi friskabit gref, Hurgab!"

The lead goblin sighed and massaged the tip of one of his long ears.

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Gahnol heard the noise echo through the fog, stiffening as he pricked up his ears to scan for another sign of the disturbance. Sensing no immediate danger, he called out to the goblin on watch, a freshly blessed smooth-ear by the name of Hebok.

"Well, what do you hear, freshling?" He called out to his subordinate, he could practically feel the boy's previously brimming confidence splash to the forest floor alongside the fresh piss down his leg.

"P-prowler cat, gob-captain!" He reported back, far too timidly.

"What in the Sanavrona cursed hells are you saying, freshling? My old ears can't hear you past your dribbling piss" He scowled while the other goblins stifled laughs, save for Hebok.

"A prowler cat hunts in the brush, gob-captain!" The recruit responded, with certainty. Much better.

Gahnol massaged the tip of his old, gnarled ear. He'd been doing this job too long, and too well for him to be as old as he was. A good goblin died in battle, such was the way of the orc.

He had hoped to fight filthy curse bearers today, the bright flash of light and the standing orders from battle priest Jaykra prompted a team to be formed and he was the lucky one to lead a band of fresh recruits to check the old portal ground. He was certain it had to be a curse bearer, the old portal ground wasn't used anymore and an incoming portal from there meant it wasn't likely to be an orc or goblin patrol. When they got there, it was empty and bore no signs of trespassers, save for the normal mixing of tracks upon the trail.

Gahnol was skeptical of Hebok's assessment. While prowler cats did sometimes have a wailing scream as they attacked, this didn't sound the same way to him. More than likely, it had come from the old barrows. Shaman Kazkom warned the goblin captains to steer their patrols away from the barrows, citing an old curse the elves had placed upon the structure. While the ruins of the old elven kingdom had long fallen in this area, that damned big barrow and its smaller neighbors remained. The whole thing was an affront to goblin-kind, hell even to orc-kind though they had their love of war trophies.

Nope, the old goblin captain didn't like this one bit. But they'd be back at the camp tomorrow, and he could raise the issue with Battle Priest Jaykra on his next visit.

As he pondered what ill omen might be brewing in the barrows, Likra spoke up. He was made of sharper stuff than the rest of these freshlings, and Gahnol had taken him under shade of his ear to personally teach this boy the ways of the warrior. In doing so, he also told of some of the dangers of the area they were assigned to.

"Gob-captain, are you sure that was really a prowler cat?" He stirred the soup as if he were searching for answers there, "That sounded more like an intelligent being than an animal. Could it be the wailing of the damned elves, wandering lost trying to find rest in their distant hell?"

Gahnol chuckled, tending to his knife once more.

"Ah, Likra, I was having those same thoughts. I cannot be sure, but I did hear at least two noises. The quieter sound of the two did not sound like any horned beast or any of the prey animals I can recall. No, it sounded more like the shouting of a goblin on his last breath. I dearly hope it was one of the lowborn. It would be a damn shame to lose a blessed goblin to such filth as the shade of an elf"

Gahnol and Likra smiled, licking their lips and laughing at the thought of a lowborn goblin, one who hadn't accepted the blessing, being torn to blood-soaked pieces by elves as his blessed betters watched from a safe distance.

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Frank watched the goblins talk and laugh, unsure of what they were saying. Whenever they addressed the leader goblin, he noted that they used a specific word, "Hurgab", which could be the equivalent of anything from "yessir", "as you wish", "right away", all the way to being the rank of the leader or even just his name. He had a lot to learn, and he was nowhere near coming close to figuring even a bit of it out.

Before long the soup was ready and the blanket of night fell around the goblin party and their unseen stalker. Every member of the goblin party had two helpings as well as what seemed to be some kind of alcohol, save for the watch goblin. After the two domino playing goblins had one last game after dinner, the loser called out in frustration and swapped places with the watch goblin, who took what was left of the soup for himself and polished off the rest of the alcohol.

The loser goblin who was now on watch, sported a large, ugly scar on the side of his face and what seemed to be some sort of facial paralysis. Frank wondered if the scar was related to the drooping side of it's mouth, or if the goblin was just born that way and got the scar later in battle.

Frank concentrated as every goblin save for their sentry settled to sleep. He had seen the leader check a map while discussing with the winner of the domino game, Frank determined that it would be his goal for the night. A map was an invaluable tool, even if it was poorly done. It would help him get his bearings, and may even lead him to the goblin camp.

Frank started off by teleporting away from the camp and pulling out his pistol from its holster. He took the silencer out of his other zippered leg pocket, the one that didn't carry his phone. He quickly screwed it on the end of the barrel, pulled back the slide to chamber a round, and turned off the safety. Another quick prayer and he made his way back to the camp.

Hiding behind a tree, Frank activated [Total Invisibility] and kept a close eye on the sentry. He had pulled some sort of sloppy looking cigarette from a pouch around his neck and a strange yellow-orange crystal. The goblin held it on the end of the cigarette and caused it to glow before quickly pulling it away and taking a drag off the end in his mouth, exhaling with a deep sigh and a smile.

When the smell of the smoke reached Frank, he caught whiff of a familiar scent. Tobacco, just like on Earth. Except, it wasn't quite the same. It smelled sweeter, less harsh. Was that because the goblins didn't add any extra chemicals to their smokes? It almost smelled more like the hint of a tobacco scented cologne than a cigarette, more pure than what he was used to smelling.

Either way, Frank didn't take long to wonder about the finer points of goblin smoking habits, he was on a timer now. With the sentry on a smoke break, Frank teleported over to the goblin leader, their "Hurgab", and waited a moment. The old goblin seemed to be soundly asleep, his breathing shallow and slow. Frank slowly reached for the satchel behind the old goblin's head, using one hand to prop open the flap while he tried to figure out its contents by the dying fire. The map was one of the last things the goblin seemed to have used so it should be near the top.

Frank gently felt around, then his fingers brushed something springy and thick that felt to be about the right shape. He was expecting paper, but then remembered before paper became common, documents tended to be written on animal parchment. It would make sense for a map to be made on a thicker material like this, so Frank gently extracted it from the satchel and slowly closed the flap. As he held it close to himself, he saw it wasn't enveloped in the same strange haze he was, meaning it was still visible despite being in his hand.

Frank felt a rising panic, remembering that items he picked up were still visible. He had to think of something to hide the parchment. Could he just hide it in his shirt? No, it might rip the material and make too much noise with all his gear on. Frank decided to just turn around and teleport far away into the trees. They wouldn't even know the parchment was gone if they weren't looking for a floating map, right?

Frank slowly walked away into the trees, careful not to make much noise, He was still invisible for safety, but he wanted to try something. Could he force an object to become invisible with him?

The Awakened scout concentrated on the swirling haze surrounding his body and gear, the pistol in his other hand had the same haze as the rest of his body, letting Frank know it was invisible to others. There wasn't a hard limit to what he could cloak on his initial use of the skill, from what he could tell. Frank had thought to check to see if his backpack would be visible in stealth when he was back on Earth, and found that even when wearing his backpack he was totally invisible. So, the question was how does he extend that hazy aura to items he picked up after activating [Total Invisibility]?

Frank decided to sit down against a tree and enter a meditative state just like when he focused on his core. He swept his internal gaze away from his core and his legs, which had been aching after sitting perched in a tree for the better part of the afternoon. He swept over the outside of his body, feeling an impression of a sort of swirling motion like a light wind or a condensed mist. Was this the way his skill felt to his [Supernatural Sense] ability? It was terribly confusing, since Frank never bothered to really probe deeply into the nature of his skill, just turning it on and off when he felt like it.

If this hazy mist was the key manifestation of his stealth skill, he had to be able to manipulate it somehow. Frank thought of how he gained control of his [teleport] skill by teleporting against objects at the edge of his range and reaching to grab onto them once he made the jump. It was a way manipulate the rules imposed by the System to limit his abilities.

Frank mentally reached out and grabbed hold of the misty energy the same way he drew energy into his core. He breathed in, making sure to breathe in with his whole stomach, not just his chest. He focused on the hazy energy around his hand and wrist, taking hold of it with his will alone. Then, holding the breath, he exhaled deeply, willing the energy to move from his hands and out over the parchment. He could feel the energy settle and spread across the parchment, stopping halfway across its surface. Frank tried to contain his excitement and tried again, this time extending more of the energy from his palm to envelop the rest of the map. Frank could feel his core pushing energy out across his body to his hands to replace the energy he moved out from his hands to cloak the parchment.

When Frank opened his eyes, he found the parchment was now just as hazy as the rest of his belongings and his body, meaning he successfully made the whole roll invisible.

What Frank didn't expect, however, was the System acknowledging him.

'You have upgraded [Total Invisibility] to Rank 7.

Due to increasing your understanding of the skill, bonus progress has been earned. You have also unlocked the sub-skill, [Hide Object, Rank E Level 1]'

Frank couldn't believe his eyes, he got a skill out of manipulating his skill? What the fuck is up with this System?! There was so much hidden crap, he couldn't even begin to guess what else it was hiding from him!

But now he knew he had a new skill and now a potential clue to his surroundings. He was safely invisible for the next 4 or so minutes and made off further into the forest with the map, ready to glean whatever information he could from it.