Chapter 8
Embedded Learning
Honestly, I blame myself for what happened next. In a way I should have seen such a chain of events coming. Most people’s general reaction to hearing about the unknown and a potentially invaluable resource like a previously unknown mechanical schema would be greed. I know that, and yet somehow, I failed to recognize greed as the primary motivator for any interaction.
Thus, when I went to the Mechanic’s Guild, when I spoke of a new device that seemed groundbreaking and even gave the mathematical formula that I had found and proved the way the math seemed to work. At first people were skeptical, but then slowly came around to how just how groundbreaking the find was. That was when the guild said they would investigate.
I should have known that to the guild Investigate means something entirely different than what it means for me. I am after all still new to this world, and while I mentally know that excessive over the top methods are the norm, I didn’t expect that to be the case with a Tier I dungeon. Apparently, I was wrong.
The next day, I went to the dungeon. Once again flashing my Adventurer’s badge.
“This will be recorded as your secondary dungeon trip for the month. We should also warn you that the dungeon had a full clear yesterday.”
“Yesterday? But the chief was only level 11?” I asked.
“Yes, apparently the Mechanic Guild got a tip and followed up. They came out with a rare blueprint and a semi functioning suit.”
And there it was, my contribution to this world. I knew I would likely gain faction and reputation within the Mechanic guild for this discovery, but it would be minor in comparison to what could have been gained from just letting the goblins continue to build independently on their own.
“Thank you.” I said, as I went into the dungeon.
Once again, I felt that odd sense of magic as I entered the dungeon proper. As soon as I entered, I felt that everything was wrong.
I had never seen fields that were burnt to ash, but that is what I found. I found that entire sections of crops had been completely burnt. Every house sat vacant, even the chauvinistic chief and his mini-harem were gone.
Badump, badmup.
With a start I wondered if all life in the dungeon was lost, but fortunately the nursery under ground was still safe. The mothers who had been tending the young before were still at it now.
I did this, I caused all of this.
I disabled traps, only to find that they didn’t reset afterwards. Apparently, the game had some feature that recognized someone needing to be there in order to reset these crude traps.
I was at a complete loss for what to do. There was no way to train. Even as the first denizens from the nursery began to grow at an accelerated rate, and begin to go up and populate the houses, their appearance felt hollow. As if they were mere imitations of the greatness that had once been there.
As soon as the first citizens began to take up proper residence again, things slowly changed. The burnt fields began to repair themselves rapidly. The traps that had been disabled suddenly began repairing themselves again, albeit at a much slower rate.
Then something wonderous happened, the moment a goblin first entered the chief’s hut, I could all but see the magic spell take hold of them. The goblin went from being a slender scrawny thing to a level 10 being almost instantly.
The same thing happened for the goblin that first entered the workshop, I saw a wonderous transformation overtake the goblin, as they seemed to be flooded with inspiration and immediately moved to the bench and began working on their own designs.
Then slowly over the next few hours I saw the way the village magically repaired itself. So that after a time it looked like nothing had ever happened, that the village had always been a peaceful little village. Watching this, I was once again reminded that this was both a game, and surprisingly real. Here they were a village full of monsters who were the bare minimum level, all ready to be slaughtered by the next adventuring party.
I know I said it before, but there were enough murderers in this world, enough people who all but got excited at the idea of fighting monsters over and over. Maybe I would eventually get numb to the idea, but I could see the way these people, no the way these goblins, interacted with each other. The way they held hands behind closed doors. The way they spoke lovingly to each other.
At that realization, I decided to try to understand these people. To understand their language both written and spoken. I really had nothing better to do and leaning the language would help level my Polyglot skill, while also leveling my Sneak and other skills. I also spent the day working on hiding in plain sight.
Somewhere in the day I got two new skills.
New Skill Gained: Camouflage has increased to level 1. Skill Camouflage is a Dexterity, Endurance, Perception, and Intelligence based skill.
New Skill Gained: Obfuscation has increased to level 1. Skill Obfuscation is a Dexterity, Endurance, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
Camouflage it seemed was the art of having some type of local flora attached to your outfit that helped to hide you. While Obfuscation was the act of hiding in plain sight but being so still that no one seemed to notice.
I also used the time while the goblins, they aren’t monsters, while the goblins were this low level to practice other activities. I performed push ups in patches of grass near houses. Trying to do as many pushups as possible. Then collapsing from muscle failure, then hiding in plain sight with shrubbery on my back to blend in with the area. I also made sure that while holding different poses I would reset the traps around me.
This likely wasn’t the best use of my time, but it fulfilled the basic need I still found I desperately needed. With this, I was able to improve my one Physical Attribute that was still lacking, Strength. I also made sure to alternate my time moving around the village. Moving at a low crawl quietly. Then climbing up onto buildings, where I would again move slowly and steadily over the different houses. Then getting near the end of the houses, I would practice tumbling off.
I would also listen to the way the goblins would talk to themselves. It almost sounded like benign gibberish, but I was determined to understand the language. After all it wasn’t like I had much better to do, as a minor I didn’t need to eat or drink. In fact, doing just what I was doing now was encouraged. Maybe not exactly what I was doing, going out and stalking sentient monsters, but taking this time to enter dungeons and level up as many skills as possible was definitely encouraged. Seeing as I was also leveling the one skill that was closest to a combat skill that I had Telekinesis, by disarming the various traps, I felt I was also helping myself for a future where I might need to fight to survive.
This was how everyday for my next month went.
I didn’t leave the dungeon. Instead, when I got tired, I would exit the village proper, first go wash off in the nearby pond on the hill that had a runoff stream that fed the village. Then that necessity taken care of, I would go find a small nook inside the cave that was well ventilated but could only be entered via Personal Teleportation.
When other groups came to reset the village I would retreat to a safe spot, and practice my skills on them as well.
At first multiple groups noticed me.
“Hey, do you want to join us?”
Fortunately, I had my mask on so my revulsion at such a comment didn’t show. Instead, I shook my head and answered honestly, “no I am just skill grinding.”
“Oh, okay. Well, if you change your mind, the name is Sashka.”
“Thank you.” I said, as I then moved out of the way, in an attempt to avoid being collateral damage in the ensuing fights. I did notice that my skills went up when I managed to avoid being detected by humans, and other factions of the city.
During these times, I would make sure to enter the workshop area first, loot all blueprints and notes. Along with going into the different homes and gaining any books or other items that had the goblin writing on it. Surprisingly, most of the books came from the females in what I could only assume were diaries of some sort.
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In fact, oddly enough it wasn’t until I started assuming that the books were diaries of some sort that I began to unravel the mysteries of the language. While I could read the texts exceptionally quickly and accurately, I still found that the language was something I couldn’t understand until I realized the first two words of women’s books were titled “Dear Diary.” With that discovery, the nuances of the language slowly, and I mean painfully slowly began to break down for me.
I took all my reading materials to my little nook in the caves. Since my skill was designed for me, it didn’t matter how much light was present or not, as all I needed was the text to be exposed to the air. With that minor act, just the exposure to air, I was able to read anything. I could only read one document at a time, at least at first.
I did find that the more I focused, the more I could sort of split my attention between two different documents. But I would have to alternate.
My thought was, were the people of the village random variables that would reset or were they all copies that would eventually reset. The way I would prove this would be to keep taking these diaries after each restart and compare them. I noticed that the women who had tomes from previous house owners began to work on their own diaries, regardless of how many were already there. If a new bookshelf was needed to house the new tome a new one would be created. Call it what you will, wanky magic, or what, but that meant that the first few tomes would be related to the oldest of goblins and the rest would slowly show the changes of time, until we were finally at the current day.
Of course, the workshop didn’t have this, there was no previous generation of mechanical engineers, mainly because that was always looted as a form of prize with the Mechanic guild. In fact, most times, it could be assumed that both the Chief and the Lead engineer would be cleared at least once every other day, by one group or another.
Apparently, I was also one of the main attractions during dungeon raids.
“Hey, I found her, that ghost elf everyone talks about!” A loud boy said, as he slowly got within my range of perception. As he entered, I could easily identify why he noticed me so readily.
Maximus Gloryhound Level 24 Ranger.
A Ranger could still notice me from much further away than I could effectively see.
“What where?”
“Right there.” The Ranger said as he got closer and closer, before standing right on top of me and pointing down.
“What? I still don’t…” He trailed off as I stood up.
“Look I don’t want any trouble.” I said, holding up my hands in a defensive gesture.
“No, you are like a legend. People keep swearing that they see you, but no one ever sees you leave.”
I shrug. “I’ve been working on my skills.”
“I can see. Even I had a hard time finding you.” He said, as he spoke, I could see that he had a number of Magic Items on him that made him stand out to my senses. I wonder if my soulbound items did the same? Were they causing me to be noticed, going out on a limb, I asked just that.
“My soulbound items?”
“Yeah, honestly it took me a second as I thought you might have been buried treasure of some kind at first. You don’t even seem to breathe.” He commented.
I of course did breathe, but I can do it at a much slower rate now.
“What is it you do…” The second boy began.
I held up my hand to stop him, as he was moving right in front of a particularly deadly spike trap that had just come off of its cooldown, when…
Shirk.
“AGGHHAA!”
“You are in the middle of a trap field. The back side of the mechanical workshop is always filled with traps.” I state, then begin to point to the different traps that are once again active. I bend down over the trap and deactivate it with a quick application of Telekinesis. Then moving onto the next one I do the same over and over.
“There you all should be able to make it out of here now without any real problems.” I say, showing a path.
“You going for some type of rogue path?”
I shrug. “Something like that.”
“Duh, she has their mask.” The Ranger says, pointing to my face that still clearly has the Thieves mask fully engaged. Then he pauses as he looks at me. “Wait you have gear from every guild, and you aren’t even classed?”
I shrug, but then nod.
“Man, see this is why the Flaw child is so OP, look at her starting off with all the gear that we have to grind for.”
“I didn’t start with this; I earned every piece.” I say, feeling a bit defensive.
“No, what my friend here means is that you managed to get it earn it at such an early stage of life, meaning you could get one of the rare or legendary classes when you finally do get a class.” The Ranger said.
At that, I nod. “Well, I will let you get on with your killing.” I say somewhat annoyed by the way the conversation went. I earned these items, and I earned my skills. Heck the fact that I spend practically every waking moment working on them should be testament to that.
I dust off my outfit, letting the branches and brambles I had been using as Camouflage fall off. “I’ll be out of your way.” I say, as I first dash a few yards, then crouch low and feel my mind shift into silent mode.
“Whoa she just disappeared.” The second boy, the one with the spike in their leg said. I assume he had some type of healing salve or something.
“Yeah, she will be someone worth noting later.” The Ranger said, loud enough for me to hear. Of course, my Perception was so high now that I could easily hear them even from twice this distance.
“Now then, lets tend to your injury. How could you be so stupid as to fall for a spike trap.” The Ranger said, bending down to remove the spike.
I of course used this time to make a getaway and then once I was out of the village, I sprinted up the field and when I was certain no one was looking I teleported into my little reading nook.
I didn’t know why I found myself getting so irritated by those boys. Well, I call them boys, when they were clearly older than me, maybe it is just my grandmotherly instincts kicking in that let me realize they were acting immature. They seemed like the thrill-seeking idiots that die early and often in this world. Still, it was odd that people were taking time out of raids to look for me, calling me a ghost of some kind.
On the one hand it is quite flattering, having something of a nickname, even if it is just for being the crazy person in a level 1 dungeon. Still, I was close to a breakthrough, my goal was to stay here and work until I fully understood this language.
Each raid got me one step closer. Each raid I could find the diaries of the different goblin women from around the village and get their thoughts. Their names always changed. There were a few repeated names, just as Paul or Peter might be repeated in the real world. But the personalities, the way each similar name wrote and describe the world changed from person to person.
It was amazing.
I also noted a distinct difference in the way the mechanical engineers, or those seemingly blessed by divine mechanical inspiration changed and all seemed to have different aspects that they focused on. Some focused on mechanoid suits, others focused on enhancing magical effects in their suits. Of course, since no goblin had magic, at least not at tier I, the magical augmentations were the iterations that were the easiest to clear. But what if? What if they were given a chance to grow and develop magic. Would the Goblins learn magic? If so, what fields? Would they be the same or different from what was currently available. So many questions were going through my mind, but it had been worth it. Everything had been worth it. I had finally broken the language barrier. After three months of constantly working to improve my skills, and work
Skill Polyglot: has increased 1 -> 35 Skill Nature Resistance: has increased 1 -> 10 Skill Stealth: has increased 1 -> 64 Skill Camouflage: has increased 1 -> 34 Skill Obfuscation: has increased 1 -> 42 Skill Mechanical Engineering: has increased 3 -> 33 Skill Latens Manifesta: has increased 1 -> 5 Skill Focus: has increased 1 -> 42 Skill Deductive Reasoning: has increased 1 -> 10 Skill Applied Physics: has increased 1 -> 10 Skill Climbing: has increased 3 -> 18 Skill Trap Detection: has increased 7 – 38 Skill Trap Disarm: has increased 10 -> 42 Skill Calisthenics: has increased 5 -> 35 Skill Weightlifting: has increased 7 -> 22 Skill Second Wind: has increased 42 -> 47 Skill Analyze: has increased 19 -> 28 Skill Multitasking: has increased 69 -> 88 Skill Telekinesis: has increased 93 -> 112 Skill Teleportation (Personal): has increased 66 -> 72 Skill Athletics: has increased 11 -> 32 Skill Alertness: has increased 50 -> 105 Skill Magical Awareness: has increased 50 -> 105
That was a lot of skill gains, especially considering I only spent three months doing so. Granted I spent the entire time inside a dungeon, which exponentially increased the rate of my skill gains. But still, with that type of improvement I don’t see why other people don’t do this more often. Of course, I have the benefit of not having to worry about constantly resupplying my rations. Or worrying about damage taken, in fact other than injuring my ankle a few times from a couple of bad tumbles I had been relatively free of injuries this whole trip, knock on wood.
Of course the one skill that showed the most improvement was my personally created skill, the one that I spent time working on everyday. A skill I would spend the first part of my day using and the last skill I would use at night.
My personally created Blind Eidetic Speed Reading (Unique) skill rose substantially.
Skill Blind Eidetic Speed Reading (Unique): has increased 21 -> 82
Yes, a 60-point skill gain in three months, or roughly 20 levels a month, that is unheard of growth.
Of course, with so many skill gains going on, my attributes also saw a marked improvement as well.
Attribute Strength has increased 7 -> 11 Attribute Dexterity has increased 13 -> 26 Attribute Endurance has increased 12 -> 25 Attribute Personality has increased 7-> 16 Attribute Sociability has increased 6-> 16 Attribute Attractiveness has increased 7-> 18 Attribute Perception has increased 24-> 41 Attribute Intelligence has increased 29 -> 43 Attribute Willpower has increased 28 -> 36
All in all, I had to say I was doing quite well for myself, especially considering the fact that now all my Attributes, not just my physical ones were past the ten-point threshold. The only outlier of course being my Strength but considering that I should be able to carry roughly 18 pounds per point of strength, that means I can lift and carry 198 pounds of gear. Meaning that I can move about and even climb freely while carrying a weight equal to my own.
With my primary task for the entire trip done, I decided to collect my notes on the language, the research I had gained. Along with the different mathematical equations the goblins were seemingly able to intuit. I took all of them with me, and collecting only the best, I finally left the dungeon. I of course make sure to leave with my Thieves mask off my face.
As I exited, I saw the same two guards on duty.
Upon my exiting with a stack of books and parchments, they stared at me.
“We thought you died.”
I nodded at that. “I could see why you would think that, but I have been conducting research.” I say, then begin to leave, but before I do I make sure to state the current level of the chief. “Level 12 Chieftain, four main guards from 10 to 12. Mechanical Goblin is working on a magical bomb that will produce mana depleting gas.”
With my obligation to the Adventurer’s guild complete, I decide to drop off my notes on the Goblin language with the Mage’s guild. I hope they will at least be interested in what I have found.
I know I won’t be able to save them today, but maybe over time I can at least get people to come around to the idea that not only are they intelligent, but they might have advancements that we should study and learn from. Of course, there is the counter to that argument that this is why they must be killed, before they can become a true threat to the Empire, but that will be someone else’s argument. As for me. I think I am officially done observing the goblins.
After this, I intend to try to travel, to see if I can observe other dungeons. I of course intend to do something similar there, maybe even try to befriend some of the other dungeon denizens. I could also likely begin trying to learn to harvest different plants. That was one thing I found myself wanting to do more of, but sadly I found that I either didn’t have the skill or the tools to do such a task properly. Yes, I had the Apothecary gloves, but I hated the idea of getting them dirty by digging in the dirt. Maybe I am a bit weird for being perfectly okay with laying on the ground for hours on end to spy on a race of people widely considered to be monsters, while being a bit squeamish about feeling wet dirt soak my gloves causes me to freeze up in revulsion. Still, I think I am okay with not wanting to be a gardener. While I might be able to cut down some leaves, I still find the idea of digging into dirt with my bare hands repulsive. I make a note that I might want to get tools for this in the future, but that is down on my list of things to do.
For now, I am going to share my discovery of the new language with the world, or at least the Mage’s guild.