Frank sat back and sighed. He had gone from watching goblins all day, to fighting and chasing them for the better part of the night. Going by his watch, the night was about halfway over. But that was going by Earth time, he had no idea how long a day or night would be on this planet. He decided he would make a lean-to, put a tarp over it for waterproofing and ironically for camouflage given how most of the plants here were blue, and then try to get some rest.
While Frank set about gathering the larger pieces of wood for his shelter, he read over his notifications which had been gently bothering him since his encounter at the camp came to an end.
'You have gained 20 spiritual power for killing a fallen goblin
You have gained 20 spiritual power for killing a fallen goblin
You have gained 20 spiritual power for killing a fallen goblin
You have gained 50 spiritual power for killing a fallen goblin captain
You have gained 20 spiritual power for killing a fallen goblin
Bonus: outnumbered, 50 extra spiritual power
Hidden Quest completed, A Change of Heart: Your actions caused a recently converted fallen goblin to turn back toward the light of the path in his final moments. +2 attribute points'
Not bad for a first night. One hundred-eighty spiritual power and two attribute points. Of course, Frank didn't really do much to the last goblin except torture him for a little bit of information. The stupid bastard did the rest of the work himself, but at least Frank got to reap the benefit and keep his arrival mostly unannounced. The goblins had an idea that he was around, otherwise they wouldn't have sent the patrol, but they hadn't reported back yet and had nothing concrete to determine if he was around. Except the bodies, of course.
If Frank had his way, he'd be long gone by the time they had him figured out. That or be several steps ahead of his enemies, which was easier said than done.
Frank also netted the prized knife of Gahnol, which was in excellent condition, and a new toy to mess with.
'Psychometry activated
Minor Elemental Essence Stone (Wind): A carved crystal that pulls spiritual energy in from the world around it, then converts the energy into magic charge for a spell or enchantment. This stone has an enchantment that activates the spell [Wind Dash] when an activation rune channels spiritual energy.
[Wind Dash]: Running executes a burst of wind in the direction you wish to move, greatly increasing movement speed. When under the effect of [Wind Dash], agility is increased by 5.
Charge required for enchantment activation: 30
Total charge: 45/75'
Frank learned from Likra's interrogation that the activation rune was carved into the spot where a bunch of the lines running through and around the other runes met, a circle carved deep into one side of the lightly shimmering crystal. Inside the circle there was a symbol, a rune apparently, that resembled two spirals going in opposite directions and meeting in the center to form a point. In Frank's [Supernatural Sense], he found the spirals were surrounded by a strange light that seemed like a third spiral that floated up above the other two, connected where they all met in the center. This one had the distinction of being surrounded by a lot of thin, triangular rays. That and it clearly wasn't physically present, since Frank couldn't see it with his naked eye.
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The stone was gaining power steadily, Frank decided he would use it on the way to the camp when he woke up just to see what it could do for him. It wasn't like he really needed a way to go faster, since he could teleport at the blink of an eye with a short enough cooldown that travel and surveillance were no issue. But in a fight, every second counted, as he learned when he fell prey to Gahnol's vile [Chains of Submission] spell. If it came down to a serious fight, something like the essence stone would be a nice ace in the sleeve, if nothing else.
Checking back over his skills, he realized he got a few more levels from using his skills in combat.
'Congratulations, you have reached level 9 in [Teleportation]
Congratulations, you have reached level 8 in [Total Invisibility]
Congratulations, you have reached level 2 in [Hide Object]
Congratulations, you have reached level 4 in [Psychometry]
Congratulations, you have reached level 5 in [Firearm Marksmanship]'
Frank continued to gather logs as he wondered what would happen when he reached level ten in one of his bread and butter skills. No better way to find out than to get there, another task for the list.
----------------------------------------
After sitting down under his makeshift shelter, the tired scout unrolled the sleeping bag from his backpack and ate a handful of trail mix as he recounted the past day of his trip. Before going to bed, Frank wanted to make sure he wrote down everything he had figured out so far. He took out the pad of paper he had with him and one of the pencils, still nicely sharpened.
'Day 1
-Ended up in the middle of a weird blue forest. Turns out the plants around here feed on magic energy in addition to (or instead of?) sunlight.
-The grass grows especially thick around the spot my portal opened up, and apparently the place was close enough to the enemy that they saw me arrive and sent a patrol. I'm not 100% sure, but the portal probably shot up a beam of light like when they come through to our world. I don't remember my entry portal doing that, so that might be an exit portal thing.
-I watched goblins for the better part of the day, other than being ugly and unsettling they didn't seem to do anything remarkable on the way back to their camp. They eat soup just like we do, and can use fire. They even have something like tobacco which they smoke in roughly made cigarettes, they burn it with a weird crystal lighter. Note: lighter crystals explode violently when shot!
-I stole a map from the goblins I was watching, turns out they have a larger camp nearby and are forbidden from entering some sort of hilly area in the center of the forest. Probably related to the orcs somehow, illustration indicates a set of burial mounds but I haven't been able to observe it yet myself. Could be temples full of treasure?
-Engaged the goblins, learned they can use magic the hard way. Telepathy with the leader taught me the fallen goblins are fanatically devoted to the orcs and to an as of yet unknown leader. Learned from another goblin that his name is pronounced Hy-err-ahs, and that he is given credit for the transformation of goblins into fallen goblins, though at this point I'm not sure how true that claim is.
-Fallen goblins persecute and enslave true goblins, and apparently torture them for fun and to prove devotion to their master. Sick bastards.
-Telepathy is weird, I can talk back and forth to the goblins and the skill translates, but little snippets of their memories and experiences seem to come through the link for me to see. Not exactly a pleasant experience thus far. I should be wary of the possibility that I can also send memories through by accident, so far every goblin I've used telepathy on hasn't lived to talk about it. I intend to keep it that way.
-Goblins have magic items called "essence stones", and they seem to suck up energy from the world around them, sort of like what my core does when I focus on it. Not sure how to begin making them, but I'll try to find more to use if given the chance. Maybe I can sell them back home? Might be able to charge them with enchantment skill, need to experiment later.'
Frank left it at that and began to focus on his core to build up more spiritual power as he drifted off to sleep. He had a clear goal within reach for tomorrow, and an uncertain path ahead when he finally reached it.