Chapter 17
The main cavern of the Lost Tooth Tribe wasn't as crowded as usual, but still pretty packed.
The raid on the Misty Mountain Tribe was either still ongoing or their raiders were dead.
The atmosphere in the main cavern was lively.
When the dogs are gone the sheep roam free.
Divine saw many goblings running all over place and making a nuisance of themselves. Stealing and throwing stuff around.
And he saw even more younger goblings in the arms of their mothers and caretakers.
Goblin population was booming.
Divine's extraordinary figure caught many looks.
Being clean and dressing well were foreign concepts to the goblins. An attraction that gained a lot of attention.
Since the tribe's elite, if you could call Chief Mouth, his followers and the rabble they had gathered elite, was out on the raid, it was a good occasion to look around the rest of the tribe's territory.
Maybe he would find a good place for light qi cultivation near the other entrance to the tribe's tunnel system.
Divine had repeatedly put the exploration of the whole tunnel system off and if he didn't do it now when it could serve another agenda, when would he ever?
Of the five tunnels in the main cavern one led outside to the forest and one down to Divine's cavern.
Three left he hadn't explored yet.
Divine left the chief's tunnel located behind Shaman Witchtooth's fireplace for last.
The first tunnel he went through was very similar to the one leading to Divine's cavern.
Many caves in the tunnel, of course packed full with goblins, leading to a dead end, but without a cavern there.
No one made a move on Divine in the whole tunnel. He could still collect seven blood qi essences on the way without having to kill anyone himself.
The second tunnel left to explore in the main cavern was the same as the others, but it led up to a poor version of the main cavern.
The goblins here were even dirtier and thinner than the goblins hanging around the main cavern.
Many of the goblins had old injuries, some were even crippled.
Divine didn't want to stay long in this cavern.
There were two additional tunnels to the one he just came from in this cavern.
Divine made his way through the crowd to explore the two tunnels in the cavern.
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
Divine only had to spread his qi sense and could collect more blood qi essence in this dirty cavern than in the whole tunnel he had wandered earlier.
The corpses from their fellow goblins were just ignored by the crowd and sometimes even stepped on. It was still better than eating them.
For a second Divine thought he recognised one of the goblins in the crowd.
The face was gone from his field of vision so fast that Divine couldn't be sure but it had looked like Barky. Or Barktooth like he had wanted to be called.
Divine remembered his first day in this magical world clearly.
With Barky had been his first fight in this world. Divine had taken the group gathered by Barky out to hunt and made them his lackeys.
Barky had disappeared before he could rise up to become a minion.
Almost at the next tunnel, a goblin shoved another goblin at Divine, planning for the collision to create an opportunity.
It was really an admirable try and it would have worked if it wasn't for Divine's superior senses.
For Divine it was almost too easy to see coming.
Divine dodged the goblin coming at him and stepped in the shover's direction in one move.
Divine gave the shover a hard slap with his open hand.
With a crack the goblin's neck broke and she fell to the ground.
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
An anguished scream came from behind Divine and he almost wasn't fast enough to block the knife coming for his midsection.
Divine caught the goblin's hand in a vice-like grip right in time.
After getting hold of him, the goblin didn't stand a chance anymore.
Divine was so much stronger than him.
It was as easy as moving the arm of an action figure to turn the goblin's hand around and shove the knife's blade into the goblin's face.
[+1 Blood Qi Essence]
Divine stepped over the two corpses and went into one of the two unexplored tunnels leading away from this cavern.
This tunnel looked roughly the same as the others.
Glowing mushrooms and many goblins in their caves. What a discovery.
It ended in a dead end.
The last tunnel leading away from the poor cavern was familiar to Divine.
It was the one Divine had woken up in right after his transmigration.
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The tunnel led to the exit farther up the mountain.
Divine met some goblins in the tunnel carrying stuff back to the poor cavern. Mostly water, in whatever they could transport it in.
There propably was a stream coming down the mountain not far away from the exit. Where else would they get the water?
Since they didn't have a well in the poor cavern they had to get water from somewhere.
Logically, getting the water from outside shouldn't be harder for the goblins living in the area of the poor cavern than getting it from the well in the main cavern or they would really get it from there.
Like humans, goblins loved to take the path of least resistance too.
When Divine stepped outside, it was night. The moon was almost completely covered by clouds.
Not the best conditions for finding a place to cultivate light qi arts.
At least it was a nice and warm night.
Divine enjoyed the clear air for a moment and looked around.
Even in this darkness he could see pretty far.
He could see the outlines of the trees at the foot of the mountain.
When he looked up, he saw the top of the mountain reaching up to the sky. There was still a long way up.
He really should consider naming the mountain with how often he thought about it. In English of course.
He didn't know if the goblins had a name for the mountain, propably not if he didn't know it.
He only knew they called the mountain range this mountain belonged to Misty Mountain Range in Gobble.
'Henceforth this mountain' name shall be Heavenly Alpha. So I say it, oh no, so I'm thinking it, so mote it be.'
Divine wanted to rise to the Heavens, figuratively, and this mountain was his starting point. Ergo Heavenly Alpha.
Heavenly Alpha was small in comparison to the rest of the mountain range. The highest parts of the Misty Mountain Range reached above the clouds.
It reminded Divine that he still had far to go.
Suddenly he noticed some dark shapes flying through the night sky near the top of Heavenly Alpha.
It looked like birds but with the distance and the darkness it could be anything.
The propability of it being dragons was small, but he quickly went back inside the mountain anyway. Heavenly Alpha. He should really remember to use it if he named something.
His journey back to the main cavern was quick and uneventful.
Divine surveyed the crowd in the main cavern and made his way to the chief's tunnel right behind Witchtooth's fireplace.
He had kept his distance from the only goblin rumored to possess magical abilities until now.
But he should be much stronger than her now. Propably.
Since he was so conspicuous he didn't want to just stand around and only had the time it took to walk there to survey the situation.
Divine hadn't laid eyes on Witchtooth before, but he had heard the goblins talking.
How Witchtooth was a shaman and could use magic. Conjuring flames, burning herbs and goblins with them.
How she could brew potions that healed and poisons that killed.
And how one always had to pay back what they owed her or suffer the consequences.
One time, a goblin that she had helped with one of her potions hadn't wanted to fulfill her request in return. Instead that Goblin had wanted to make trouble for her.
Wichtooth had splashed him with some home-brewed liquid.
The liquid had eaten the goblin's flesh. Everything but the troublemaker's skeleton had dissolved on the spot.
Propably an exaggeration, but that's how the rumors went.
That story was such good lesson that even some years later, or how the goblins would say it, some winters later the tribe still told the rumor fearfully.
Every goblin wanted to be on her good side and no one on her bad.
To be Witchtooth's follower was an honor and a position that brought many priviliges, but it was extremely rare for her to pick one and no one knew her selection criteria.
When Divine saw Witchtooth he knew right away it was her.
Witchtooth looked even older than Old Tooth. Even the wrinkles in her skin had wrinkles.
Instead of being bald she had long but very thin white hair.
The white hairs growing from the ears were the same as Old Tooth's.
Witchtooth wore an old pelt of what could have been a shadow cat at some point.
One of her eyes was covered up and the other looked very cloudy and bloodshot.
One saw that Witchtooth couldn't see well by looking how she handled the herbs another female goblin was handing over one after another. Always holding them right before her eye and checking them more with touch and smell than eyesight.
Witchtooth asked her little helper something but Divine couldn't hear it.
Whatever the answer given, Witchtooth didn't like it.
Her displeasure was obvious for everyone. Because she grabbed a stick used for walking or for stirring or whatever and started to hit her little helper.
Witchtooth's mastery of the ar of punishment, stick fu style, was great. Every blow hit the same spot on her little helper's thigh.
It was obviously painful but not debilitating.
The female goblin taking the hits was propably one of Witchtooth's famous followers.
The goblin crowd didn't look sympathetic at all, more envious.
'Someday all of these goblins will dream about me beating them up too. They will come begging for it.'
The onlookers were keeping a respectful distance away from Witchtooth's fireplace.
Some were waiting to consult the shaman.
Some were only there to stare at the little helper who was one of the prettiest goblins in the tribe. These ones got especially excited when the female let out little moans of pain.
Not that Divine could tell if she was pretty or not, to him the goblins were all equally ugly.
But the goblins demeanor made it really obvious.
Witchtooth was sorrounded by a variety of herbs in different conditions. Many containers filled with dubious substances were there too.
Not far away was the well that was accessible to all goblins.
There was a pretty long line of goblins waiting for their turn to get water.
A little further behind was the chief's tunnel, the last tunnel Divine had yet to explore.
Because the crowd was looking in the direction of Witchtooth's fireplace they didn't see Divine coming and didn't automatically make way for him.
He didn't like it.
Divine had to push his way through the goblins. He didn't use his arms, he used his qi to push them back.
It was easy. The goblins were easily pushed aside and as soon as others noticed him they made way for Divine.
One goblin got thrown to the ground by Divine and landed painfully on his chin. The goblin got up quickly and turned to the one responsible in anger.
Only to cower back when his eyes fell on the richly dressed and impressive looking Divine.
When Divine stepped out of the crowd and walked by Witchtooth's fireplace to the entrance of the chief's tunnel, Witchtooth suddenly cried out and jumped up.
Swifter than her appearance suggested she grabbed a stone bowl and threw it at Divine.
The liquid inside the bowl was already splashing.
Right before bowl and liquid could hit Divine they stopped in the air as if hitting an invisible wall and sticking to it.
With a calm gesture Divine threw floating bowl and liquid to the side on the ground.
A few drops splashed on a spectating goblin not far away. It burned the goblin's skin like acid.
It was acid.
Whimpering the goblin sank to the ground holding her injured arm.
And she only got splashed a little. Getting hit by the whole load would have been immensely painful for Divine.
Not deadly, with his cultivation, but definitely painful.
All the other goblins only stared, totally stunned, while Witchtooth hopped closer to Divine.
Witchtooth had the most qi of all the goblins Divine had ever met. Even more than the disciples and Minion Scarface.
But not more than the Demonic Venus Flytrap.
And his qi dwarfed hers like the Misty Mountain Range the mountain Heavenly Alpha.
Withctooth's qi felt a like herbs, fire and blood.
He was getting ready to kill her when Witchtooth suddenly stopped.
She put her sharp nose in the air and sniffed visibly.
She made a sound of delight and started giggling.
Her giggling evolved into full blown out laughter. Witchtooth laughed so hard that she couldn't stand anymore and sat down on the spot.
Laughing and laughing. Coughing and laughing.
Divine was totally weirded out. Everyone else just stared silently.
Divine thought about attacking Witchtooth again to rid himself of future troubles.
But seeing that old goblin crone sitting on the ground, losing her breath of laughter, Divine couldn't be bothered.
He just walked on into the chief's tunnel.