“Alright, let me see them.”
With a wave of the god's hand, more screens appeared in front of me.
Ground-Shake Select an area of the ground of a radius of 1 meter, and cause that ground to shake, causing cracks to form, sinking the victim into the soil. Castable within a radius of 50 metres from the user. Cast time: 5 seconds, Mana Consumption: 20, Recharge rate: 30 Seconds, Persistent.
Sling Stone Lift a stone from the earth and throw it at your enemy. The range of the stone is as far as one can throw it, but a stone can only be used from within a radius of 5 metres. The size of the stone can be varied. Cast time: Depends on stone size, Mana Consumption: Depends on stone size, Recharge rate: Depends on stone size, Persistent.
Sapphire-Spear Conjure a sharp spear made from sapphire and magically launch it at your enemies. The range of the spear is as far as one can launch it, while it is castable only 1 metre away from the user. Cast time: 3 seconds. Consumption: 40 mana, Recharge rate: 20 Seconds, Non-persistent.
Stone-Skin Turn your skin hard like a stone to increase your defences against all physical attacks. However, this spell provides no defence against magical attacks. Although one's defences are increased, the user will become much slower. Cast time: 10 seconds. Consumption: 5 mana / second, Recharge rate: 4 hours.
Gem-Scent A passive skill, which allows to track the scent of valuable gems. Upgrading this skill will allow one to detect rare gems from greater distances.
Stone-Shaper Mould and shape stone according to your vision. The user must be in physical contact with the stone they wish to shape. Cast time: Instant, Consumption: 2 mana / second
Powered-Strike Imbue mana into your next blow for additional damage. Can be used in conjunction with any weapon, or any attacking implement. Cast time: Instant, Consumption: 30 mana, Recharge rate: 5 seconds.
Peridot-Punch Turn your hand into a fist made of peridot, and launch a power punch against your foe. This skill cannot be used with any weaponry. Cast time: Instant: Consumption: 40 mana, Recharge rate: 10 seconds.
I quickly glazed through the spells, their use seemed pretty simple and I had plenty of options to choose from. While for the gems, I only had a choice of three:
Blood Scarred Opal Your blood becomes toxic to those to touch it, at the cost of being unable to close your wounds as easily. Removal cost: 500 health points.
Sun Kissed Topaz Manifest the light of the sun to illuminate your surroundings. The longer the light burns the stronger your hunger will grow. Removal cost: Skin will burn faster in the sun.
Ghostly Silent Quartz Turn your body invisible to the common gaze for 10 seconds, with the cost of deafness for 10 minutes afterwards. Removal cost: Permanent partial deafness in one ear.
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All these skills seemed very interesting, but I needed to take into account the situation I was heading into.
"Before I pick my spells, can you tell me more about the state of the goblins?" I asked.
"Hmm..." Yantago rubbed his jagged, crystal chin. "I can't see 'em directly, but I can tell they're all okay. They're in a nice forest right now, and what I got from some of their prayers is they got away safely from some baddies," he said.
"Anything more concrete?" I asked pleadingly.
"'Fraid not. I can't really take a look down there at 'em, don't got the juice for it. The goblins are fine, fer now."
That did not provide much information for me, but I could tell it was useless to prod too much. This god was not all-knowing, much less so in its current weakened state.
Strength was not my strong point, so if I were to come anywhere close to melee range I would probably lose. As such there was no point in getting [Powered-Strike] or [Peridot-Punch]. [Stone-Skin] was interesting but in a life or death situation, I'd rather run away instead of standing my ground. [Gem-Scent] could be useful to find more magic gems, but it was not as immediately useful as attack skills.
That left me with 4 remaining spells, [Ground-Shake], [Sling Stone], [Sapphire Spear], [Stone-Shaper]. The first spell seemed useful, it had a good range, and it could be used to trap enemies. [Sling Stone] didn't sound particularly exciting, I could probably achieve the same thing by throwing stones myself. [Sapphire Spear] seemed strong. [Stone-Shaper] was a curious skill, did it imply I could mould stone as if it was clay, or was it like a 3d printer? Regardless, I felt having at least one utility skill was more balanced compared to having 3 offensive skills.
As for the gems, the Topaz was pretty much useless, I would become hungry every time I used the spell. The Quartz seemed good, but the deafness would be far too crippling. The only one left was the Bloody Opal, and if I ever need to remove it, I could always recover the health.
“Alright, I have made up my mind. I want [Ground-Shake], [Sapphire Spear] and [Stone-Shaper]. As for the gem, I want the [Blood Scarred Opal].”
Yantago beamed with joy “I see you’re trying to become a mage of sorts. Very good.” He snapped his fingers, and I saw the skills appear inside my interface.
“Now it's time for you to descend to Oleogoth. Remember, after this, I will have to go into hibernation, so I won’t be able to guide you at all. You’ll be on your own. To revive me I’m going to need more worshippers.”
The god grasped me in its enormous palm. “Please save my people, that’s all I ask of you.”
I grinned. “I’ll do what I can. But I have one more question, why me?”
The deity looked at me with an apologetic face. “Because I figured you’d accept.”
Interface You accepted a quest from Yantago, The Goblin Gem God. Condition Ensure the survival of his people Optional Condition Revive Yantago Reward Heavenly Reputation Failure ???
Quickly, the brilliant cave vanished away from me. My surroundings were once more a pure void but I felt myself being violently tossed around as if in a washing machine until my mental energy faded away into nothingness.
After I don’t know how long, my consciousness returned to me. I felt sick, nauseous and confused. In the afterlife, I was completely neutral, but now I felt all my emotions rush flooding my head, like a violent flood banging against a feeble wooden damn. I had a killer headache and I could barely muster the strength to open my eyes.
Once my mind cleared up a bit, I opened my eyes, skinny yellow hands and feet entered my vision. I recoiled away from them and let out a hoarse and unfamiliar yelp from my voice, which further confused me. As the realisation slowly dawned on me that these appendages were my own, and the harsh and unpleasant voice came from the throat, a sense of dread crept through my body.
I began frantically feeling my body, I had a large nose, not long and pointy, but still enormous compared to human standards. My ears were long and slender. My arms and legs were incredibly skinny, and I could feel my own ribs. I looked down at my chest, the place where my heart was, it was discoloured, it had a dim red sheen to it, and small gem-like veins branching from the centre of it. But the rest of my skin was yellow like amber. I was no longer a human, I had become a tiny freakish little thing.
A turbulent mix of anger and fear rushed through my head, and I punched the wall next to me, immediately recoiling in pain and regret afterwards. The pain was real, this was not some fever dream of an old man on his deathbed. I needed to calm down. I looked around me, and I saw I was in a dimly lit cave. I was sleeping on what appeared to be a podium carved from the stone. There were curtains made of tattered and stained cloth in front of me. From behind them, I could hear little hoarse murmurs, similar to that of my own voice.
I stealthily peaked through the rags, and my eyes were assaulted by a small horde of yellow-skinned creatures. Goblins… As I emerged from my chamber, all of them turned their attention to me.
A hunched over goblin wearing wolf skins and holding on to a wooden stick raised his hands into the air. “The Great Jewelled One has sent us his champion! Everyone hail our saviour!”
All the goblins cried with their horrid voices in joy and quickly rushed to their feet to prostrate themselves before me.
I felt faint, I could hardly process what was going on and then a transparent screen appeared before me.
Interface You have been awarded the Title: Chieftain of the Amber-Skin Goblins. This Title provides proficiency in command over the Amber-Skin Goblins. You have unlocked new skills: [Command (Beginner)], [Orate (Beginner)], [Persuade (Beginner)]
I could feel a vein popping in my head. I was manipulated. I thought I was going to be king, a ruler of nations and a leader of armies. But instead of a royal coronation, I was greeted by a small group of skinny, tiny and vile looking creatures. With all my energy I screamed into the air, cursing myself for falling for the words of others. “AAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!”
The goblins followed suit and yelled in elation and celebration, “AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGG!”