Chapter Eleven: On the Move

Agatha had just wanted to confirm what I’d been doing by leaving during the beast wave and wasn’t too surprised that I’d been chosen by the System as a victim for a Hunt. Then we discussed the beast wave itself and brainstormed ideas for how to better defend against them, which quickly resulted in me clearing land for better sight lines with the sword Rahesh had just gifted me.

[https://i.imgur.com/Q7uYDoX.png]

Somehow the edge of my new weapon didn’t noticeably dull until after I’d chopped down every tree and bush within twenty meters of the entire parking lot. Must have been made of a strong material because there was no way infusing it with my Chi had substantially increased its durability. After all, my stats only applied to me, so any objects I infused without a technique only gained the extra power of Level 1 Chi.

After clearing all that land I spent another few hours leading all the cultivators in meditation of the elements and the Dao. Having acquired two Specks in one day—Kindling in the morning and Sharpness in mid-day—I would be an absolute fool not to share my insights, limited as they were, with my students. Many things from Earth could be left behind as worthless memories, but the phrase “Time is money” could not be one of them. In our case, the more time spent meditating on the Dao, the better.

Even if I was more talented than normal in these particular elements, I had comprehended them in just three days, so it was likely that whatever Dao-comprehending-boost newly initiated Races received was a big factor in my success. In that case, more people would no doubt succeed so long as they were pushed in the right direction.

Unfortunately, by the time night fell only Sam had begun seeing his chosen element. He had wisely decided to follow in my footsteps and piggyback off my specific experiences. I had repeatedly manipulated the surrounding fire Chi, agitating it and lightly burning a spot of concrete in the middle of our circle. Since the fire Chi was made active it became visible to even those with the weakest spiritual senses and it became easier to concentrate on the essence of fire.

But it wasn’t enough to comprehend the Dao, apparently.

……

Without another Dao treasure to invigorate me and restore my stamina I slept through the third night like normal and awoke on the fourth day well rested. After the usual hygiene maintenance and relieving of self in the forest waste trench we’d dug on the first day, I made my way to the giant refrigeration rooms in the grocery store’s back, where I cooled the air with my Frost Cloud technique until the thermostat on the wall displayed a good food storage temperature. I’d done that every day several times a day since we came back from the Tutorial’s first session, and every time I returned the rooms to a freezing temperature I was eternally grateful for my decision to purchase the technique. I hadn’t considered using it this way until I’d returned from the Tutorial, so it was mostly luck that I’d decided to buy all techniques I could find and happened upon the Evergreen Zone.

The Frost Cloud technique was also why there were concerns about me departing for Goblin territory… Very justified concerns. We still had plenty of uneaten meats, both raw and cooked, and if my trip took longer than a day or two—which it definitely would—they might have to chuck most of the all-important calorie-dense food out. I didn’t like the fact that I had to justify wasting all that sustenance, but I sure as hell wasn’t losing +20% to all Attributes.

Agatha insisted that I had enough power and could stand to lose a little bit of it for the sake of my community, but…she was dead wrong. Not only did the grocery store, small as it was, definitely contain enough preserved foods to last a few weeks for 200 people, but I did not have enough power. Not by a long shot. Although I had hopes that I was The Chosen One of the Multiverse, I had to ground myself at least a little bit.

If it was possible for me to become as strong as I had in the last four days, then others had achieved it too. Not only at least a handful of us Humans, but surely members of other Races, like whatever was put on Yorgefan as our direct competition. If I rested, they would get ahead. There might come a day when I fought another top-tier elite who managed to kill me solely because they had one more Title’s worth of Attribute Points, or a Dao Speck of one stage higher, or slightly more battle experience.

Then Humanity might be doomed to servitude, or worse.

So I spent our fourth day on Yorgefan doing three things: clearing the surrounding forest, bestowing my wisdom of the Dao upon my subjects, and unraveling the Frost Cloud technique so that I might figure out how to teach it.

Of course, passing on what I knew of the Dao was the most entertaining.

“You’re doing it all wrong,” I said to Kate suddenly as she opened her eyes and sighed through her nose, tired of meditating. A few other disciples opened their eyes to watch our interaction.

“Doing what wrong?” she snapped at me with a frown. “You said to have a good picture of what I’m trying to achieve, right? So how would you know what I’m imagining?”

‘She’s really too impatient to be a cultivator,’ I laughed internally. ‘But she’ll get used to this…or die in a beast wave.’

Apparently I hadn’t hidden my amusement very well because her frown deepened, but to her credit, she sat still and listened.

“Well…” I began with a smile, pointing at the cool sword laid across her lap. “Have you shot that before? Activated its circuits and seen the electrical blast?”

Kate knitted her brows in confusion. “Of course. In the Tutorial, and then yesterday during the beast wave.”

I nodded. “So, it basically just shot a bolt of lighting, right?”

“Yeah. It’s a lightning sword.”

“Wrong,” I said, shaking my head.

“What do you mean wrong?!” she half-yelled through her teeth, her temper flaring. “First you think you know my mind better than me, then you call me a liar?!”

I laughed into the sky.

“You’re half right. I don’t think you lied, but I definitely know that you don’t understand that lightning ability.”

Kate crossed her arms and glowered, but closed her mouth and gestured for me to go on.

“Hit me with it,” I said.

To my surprise, Kate didn’t hesitate a second before grabbing the sword and slamming it onto my head, blade facing down, with a loud thud. Had I not powered up I might have died.

“Okay, not what I meant, but I’m glad you trust me?” I chuckled nervously as laughs resounded from around the circle. I stood up and gestured for Kate to do the same. “Shoot me with the lightning ability.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

I sighed. “Now you hesitate?”

“Shoot him!” Malachi chortled from the sideline, and Kate shrugged.

She poured Chi into the sword’s handle, where I felt circuits absorb the energy before rapidly gathering lightning Chi from the atmosphere. The next instant a tiny blast of lightning released from the blade toward me.

Being powered up I managed to step to the side and catch the blast in my open palm, leaving Kate gaping in awe.

“You… You’re faster than lightning?!”

There were gasps all around.

“No, I’m not,” I said simply. “That just isn’t lightning.”

She stared at me in confusion.

“What?”

“It’s not real lightning, Kate, which is what I bet you were imagining shooting from your palms. Blasting foes with such strong electrical currents that they were fried on the spot, and whatnot. But the truth is that the magic you’ve seen me perform…”

I drew the Chi circuits for Fireball before creating one.

“This isn’t real fire, Kate.” I swept my gaze across the entire Alpha Squad. “If I was creating anything real then you’d have seen my Water Whip or Stone Skin splash or drop to the ground when I stopped using them and remain there, but they just kinda…evaporate back into motes of energy, cuz that’s all these techniques are: energy taking conceptual form. People stronger than me can probably create real matter from Chi, but I currently cannot.”

I paused to let everyone soak in the information.

“So although understanding the science behind real lightning or fire probably helps our meditation in some ways, it also hinders it. Instead of imagining yourself wielding real lightning, you need to imagine everything in terms of how Chi interacts. Learning a lightning Dao will not let you shoot lightning bolts right off the bat. You’ll start off slightly enhancing your techniques and being able to control the related Chi. I can’t even burn myself with fire Chi despite having the Kindling Speck. Watch.”

Still powered up, I channeled neutral Chi into the surrounding fire Chi, activated it with my Dao, and lit my head on fire. But only my head because my Level 1 Chi wasn’t strong enough to protect my clothing.

“See?” I asked, letting go of the fire Chi and letting them see my beautiful face again. “What I can do with fire Chi alone is probably only enough to hurt entities with around 20 Endurance. It’s the combination of the Dao Speck with a fire technique that matters—at least until I improve the Speck. Perhaps when it’s at Peak it’ll be strong enough to hurt people with 200 Endurance on its own. I don’t know.”

I gathered my thoughts for a moment before deciding on a finishing statement.

“My point is that you’re aiming too high, Kate. Continue casting that sword’s in-built technique in order to feel the agitated lightning Chi until you can see it on your own. THEN meditate with the image of recreating that technique, since it is roughly what you’d be able to do with lightning Chi alone if you comprehended an Early Speck.”

Contrary to my expectations, Kate’s expression remained sour as she asked, “And why didn’t you tell us this sooner? Did you waste the entirety of yesterday just so you could look cool today?”

I shook my head, noting the looks of concern in the other members of Alpha Squad who seemed to wonder the same thing.

“I neglected to tell you guys this so you could spend a day meditating incorrectly, yes, but not so that I could look cool. It’s because anything you learn sticks better if you were doing it wrong before.”

Kate looked offended and didn’t speak, but Diana skeptically asked, “Did you major in psychology or something?”

Again, I shook my head. “Just personal experience. I’m not the only one who has those persistent and embarrassing memories of times I believed something wrong and was corrected or just said something too awkwardly, right?”

Heads nodded sympathetically all around, though they were still not okay with my decision.

……

The fourth day passed without any surprises…unfortunately. Diana and Lock began sensing their chosen Chi aspects and Roger managed to gather the willpower necessary to pull Chi from the world to become a cultivator, but nothing special happened beyond that. The System did not begin another beast wave nor sent cultivators to kill me, and no other Quests were doled out. I just chopped down trees, guided my students in their pursuits of the Dao, and studied the Frost Cloud technique.

Then night fell, and I slept peacefully.

I couldn’t figure the technique out by the time our fifth day on Yorgefan began, so I was left embarrassed as I faced Agatha, Alpha Squad, Mr. Scott and a large crowd.

“This is it. I can’t wait any longer without risking failing the Quest. Only got, like, six days left until the next Tutorial session. I think the trips’ worth losing our perishables.”

A myriad of expressions met my declaration. Some indifferent, others annoyed, and yet more fearful. I was their powerhouse—a demigod compared to them. I was their safety net, and with my departure they’d actually be in danger of the local wildlife, if more had come around after the slaughters I’d committed.

Or if an event embroiled this community, like a beast wave or worse.

A few random people chipped in their thoughts but I ignored them. I doubted they had anything new to add, since they couldn’t see the bigger picture. They were weak, and thus their perspectives were narrowed, too focused on their own safety, instead of my greater goals.

I didn’t blame them.

“I’m hoping to gain support from the Goblins,” I continued, speaking over the randos. “Trust me, I won’t go anywhere near anyone who even might be too powerful to escape from,” I lied. “I want to meet with Sahndo, spread the word that Humanity has at least one very capable elite willing to make an alliance, and retreat. Simple as that.”

“Okay,” Malachi said with a shrug. “Good luck. Don’t die.”

Sam nodded. “What he said.”

I looked between the cultivators and Agatha, surprised that nobody had anything to say. But then again, I’d already discussed my plans with them for the last two days, giving them plenty of time to think and argue with me. It looked like they’d finally accepted that I was leaving and they couldn’t stop me.

“Then…I’ll be off. See yall hopefully before the next Tutorial session.”

Just like that, I was off. Gone, zooming through the birch forest to the east and a little north. I felt…strange. Anxious, but excited. Almost like I was walking to my friend’s house for the first time back in elementary school. Exploring a new frontier all on my own.

……

Even after a lifetime of conflict and reaching Level 63 I couldn’t seem to function at full capacity without my morning brew. My peers and family called it an addiction, but I liked to think that it helped me wake up just like a morning run through the dew-covered grass did for others. I looked out over the fields around my barracks from my office window watching the soldiers run as I put the bitter drink my Race had brought from our homeworld to my lips, trying not to think about the wave of paperwork I was to drown myself in today.

[https://i.imgur.com/rnD5SCE.png]

Last night just before I’d retired to my bed a scout had come in with a world-shaking report. “New Races on Yorgefan!” she had said before collapsing at my doorstep, and I had joined her on the floor by falling to my knees, lamenting my choice to take this clerical position at the outskirts of our territory. If there were really new Races to the west then they’d be closest to me, and I’d be the one stuck with the role of ambassador—I had complained in my head.

However, thanks to the power of sleeping medications I had put off the stress of thinking about my problems to come…until now, when I stood in my office watching over our new and old soldiers running drills and exercising, while I categorized the types of forms and letters I’d need to fill out before the day was up.

I glanced at my messy desk and the cabinets against the wall, imagining how I’d soon be stuck here for hours to come, drafting official reports that I’d have to personally transport to Yayger. Then I’d be forced to sit in on meetings for a dozen days or so before being sent back here, likely on my own because all our professional ambassadors were elsewhere and it would take a long time for them to arrive.

I stared at the last inkwell on my desk, sitting empty, in need of refilling. The monthly reports on my desk that someone from the city would eventually bitch about if they weren’t written on time were to be overlooked in favor of the breaking news. And my awful, uncomfortable chair that hurt my thighs yet wouldn’t be replaced at the government’s expense because, like my indispensable morning brews, I was to pay for “creature comforts” out of my own pocket.

“Fuck it,” I muttered before trudging out of the office, down two flights of creaky stairs, and out the doors onto coarse dirt. If I had superiors around here they’d chew me out for putting off this all-important paperwork for later, but no one existed above me in Yayger Outpost 3 so I’d take a walk with my drink in hand to relax for a bit without anyone to raise a stink. It was for the good of the paperwork, I convinced myself. Being irritated would only make the quality of my writing worse. And nobody wanted the quality of a report of this magnitude to be bad.

My first stops were the cafeteria and the medical hall as they were relatively empty at this specific hour, where I was smiled and waved at by the women on duty. I quite enjoyed the looks of their cute little hats and how their uniforms tugged at their hips, and they seemed to like the masculine way my graying, tightly trimmed beard framed my square jaw. I exchanged pleasantries with a few I was closer with through having served alongside them for longer than the others, and I reminisced over the old days when I was a fresh, bright-eyed cultivator who’d joined the military to fight Orcs but instead found a better cause to fight for—WuYino. Once I even foolishly allowed a spear to graze me at the end of a battle so that I could receive her personal attention. She wrapped my arm in bandages, and I promised to wrap her wrist in a marital bangle.

My chest grew warm at the memories as I exited the medical hall with a broad smile, thankful for taking WuYino’s advice to leave the combat to other people, even if it meant annoying paperwork. After all, despite apparently being assigned close to where one of the new Races was dropped, I wasn’t in any real danger. That was for the soldiers beneath me to handle while I would count their victories, successes, accomplishments, and deaths.

But the main advantage of this job was the distance from my wife. Counterintuitively, our passions for each other only grew the longer we spent apart, making for our reunions to be quite special, and wild, every time. Had I worked somewhere closer we would have seen each other much more regularly and lost the youthful spark of romance, like what happened when we raised our second child together.

Our relationship was perfect, seeing each other only a few times throughout the year with much to make up for and never enough time. It helped a lot that we both were cultivators and capable of not having children with any of our flings, preventing uncomfortable conversations like those often required by mortal couples who tried maintaining the same kind of system.

I moved on to the barracks, where I wiped my smile away and pretended to perform a surprise checkup on some bunks. There were minor violations here and there but I gave not a single swine’s ass. Being cultivators, we had bigger things to worry about than messy cots or restricted reading material. Those wouldn’t impact one’s comprehension of the Dao at all, and I was a living example.

Finally I perused the training grounds, where my inspections actually mattered. There were always a few soldiers too lazy to give exercising their all. They’d lift weights too light to provide Strength. Run too slowly down the strip to increase Agility. Lose the stomach to sustain hits for building Endurance. Those of weaker spirits would be weaker soldiers, and never became anything more than spear fodder.

However, today I was mildly surprised to not spot a single person who wasn’t sweating. Tomorrow I’d allow everyone a rare second dessert at dinner, both to reward them and build morale for the monumental news that would soon become common knowledge.

Then I spotted Ariel, and all I could do was sigh. The beautiful young lady sat far away from all the other soldiers at the top of a small hill, covering the entire area with her willpower, controlling all the surrounding air Chi and forcing it still, causing the grass around her to remain frozen in time while the stalks outside her circle of influence bowed to the wind. No doubt she was training Intelligence.

The sight conflicted me greatly. On one hand, she was a very capable mage, talented in her chosen profession, and a good person all around. On the other hand…I did not wish the sorrows of war on any woman. They were naturally softer than men, more gentle, and predisposed to social and mental activities like being teachers, working with arithmetics, raising our children, and keeping the government running smoothly. In my heart I wished that no woman, regardless of whether they were individually as competent a warrior as the next man, had to fight, which made the fact that 10% of my soldiers were female unpleasant to think about. I would never understand what made them want to join, because the majority of our forces came voluntarily.

However, I would not complain about it aloud. Perhaps had I been born just two decades sooner then I would be vocal with my beliefs, but the System changed many things, to include how useful a woman could be as a soldier. For one, most of the female soldiers here possessed wood-aspect Cycling Techniques and were part of programs to use the military as a faster path to power so that they could retire early as physicians with higher Levels than usual for their ages. And though Ariel specifically practiced an air path and wanted only to defend our Race as a soldier…she possessed the Breeze Dao Speck, making her a superior asset compared to even many of the men here.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I could not complain about a female soldier if she possessed a Speck and wished to do our Race a service with it.

Sighing once again I turned my feet back to my office building. I had wasted enough time not thinking about my duties. But most importantly, my mug was empty.

Just as I set foot inside the building I heard a tired voice call out my name, and with a bad feeling growing in my belly I stopped and waited for the scout to approach.

‘Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, please don’t—‘

“NEW RACE TO THE SOUTH!” he shouted with the last of his stamina before collapsing at my feet and struggling to remove hastily written reports from a satchel.

I brought both my hands to my face and groaned over my schedule being packed even further.

It was imperative I finished writing everything as soon as possible so that no more news came in before I departed for Yayger, because every new thing my scouts brought in required their own individual reports. Whoever designed this blasted bureaucratic system deserved to die at the hands of a foreigner!

……

I liked to think of myself as a patient person when I needed to be, but this…was too much. I stood atop a tree overlooking a vast swathe of the birch forest that I was still inside, impatience and boredom threatening to eat me from the inside out. The sun was currently teasing the horizon, making the clouds blush, preparing to set. I had been running for an entire fucking day with no signs of civilization! I now felt stupid for underestimating the size of this planet. Despite my Agility being 158.25 I was apparently still not fast enough to cross the distances between Race territories within a day.

[https://i.imgur.com/Fw1WfVJ.png]

Sighing, I dropped down from the tree and continued my trek eastward…before nearly tripping over the carcass of some kind of giant insect.

“Whoa, that’s pretty fucking cool!”

Inspecting the corpse I was surprised to find that its carapace refracted light in very interesting ways, muting its colors while it sat in the shade, then reflecting nearly everything when directly under sunlight. For the sake of science I drew the pseudo-meridians for Fireball before creating one and watching the carapace’s surface refract the light in mesmerizing ways.

“Maybe if I had enough of this carapace I could commission some kind of stealth suit from some Goblin armorsmiths, but alas…”

My Fireball dissipated back into motes of fire Chi as I shrugged in disappointment. The insect was only “giant” in comparison to the insects of Earth. In reality, it was about the size of a medium dog..and chopped apart very finely.

“Wait a minute… That’s not right.”

I crouched low to trace the insect’s dismembered body parts with my finger, finding the cuts too clean to have been performed by a spirit beast.

“I must be close to people, then,” I reasoned with a grin, hoping that the insect hadn’t just been slain by a creature with huge claws. “And now that I’m looking for it, there are more signs of struggle all around here.”

Having been traveling for probably 10 hours with few breaks I hadn’t cared much about my surroundings, since the local spirit beasts stood almost no chance at threatening me. Only the highest Level beasts that happened to have most their points in Agility could catch me, and even then my other stats were far higher, causing a very lopsided fight to ensue. Thus I hadn’t paid much attention to stuff like damage to vegetation and small troughs dug into the ground seemingly at random like what currently surrounded me.

‘Guess I’ll keep going until it’s too dark to see.’

I didn’t have to wait much longer. From atop another tree I saw several controlled columns of smoke, and from the bottom of one column there was even the top of a chimney. Even better than just having found people, there were houses! If the presumed-Goblins here turned out to be aggressive and uncooperative I could threaten the lives of their civilians, forcing them to do my bidding.

It sounded cruel when put into words, but it wasn’t as though I was going to follow through with a plan so heinous.

An arrow bounced off my butt and a whispered expletive resounded from somewhere below me. For a moment I was entirely caught off guard, not having expected to be discovered before I physically saw anyone.

Then a Cheshire grin spread across my face as I flipped my intimidation switch on.

“You can’t hide from me!” I snickered aggressively. “Put your hands in the air and drop your stealth technique or be fried alive!”

My Intelligence had always been around the same as my Wisdom but I had neglected to use it due to lack of practice. It was less intuitive than just…being able to fill my techniques with more energy. With Intelligence one needed to spread their awareness out to permeate the Chis they could affect, grab them with willpower, and form Chi circuits from both neutral and the other energies they controlled. Of the techniques I bought in the Tutorial, only Frost Cloud was Intelligence compatible and could grow in size. Fireball, Stone Skin, Gust, and Sharpness were limited in their size and basically only affected by Wisdom.

However I didn’t cast Frost Cloud, because I had something just as good for this specific occasion.

Fire Chi from dozens of meters around came surging in my direction according to my Dao-Speck-infused will, and all it would take to ignite anybody hiding nearby like kindling was my wanting it.

“Wait! Please! No!”

A desperate plea for mercy erupted not four meters away from a bush that seemingly materialized a young Goblin woman whose bow lay beneath her.

‘What mechanism makes this stealth possible?’ I wondered upon seeing the ambient light cease shrouding their figure. ‘I couldn’t sense her at all! Sahndo said I had a talent for perceiving even his stealthy Dao, so shouldn’t I have seen through her technique at least a little bit? Plus I’m way stronger! From her aura I think she’s probably Level 30, which would mean all my stats are higher than hers.’

I watched the young quivering Goblin with interest as she tightly clutched a dagger, noting how despite her utter terror she maintained some level of combat training. Though, realistically, she couldn’t do anything to defend herself if I wanted to harm her.

“Hello there,” I said in my best impression of Obi-Wan.

To my disappointment, the Goblin simply gulped as her eyes darted around.

“You’re waiting for reinforcements,” I inferred confidently, causing her misty eyes to fully break out in tears as she lost her grip on the blade.

‘Am I a sadist? This is kinda fun.’

While rationalizing the fact that I was enjoying making this girl cry, an aura approached from the direction of the buildings.

‘Huh. Is the Level 50 range the median for cultivators here? Then again I only have a sample of 3 people. Sahndo, Rahesh, and this new guy. Maybe most average cultivators are weaker or stronger than this but I haven’t met those yet.’

A burly Goblin as tall as me with rippling muscles exposed by an article of clothing that could definitely not be considered a shirt came charging at me through the forest, a hatchet in each hand. I considered using any number of techniques or strategies to subdue him before remembering that I was in possession of a prime defensive treasure—I lifted the sobbing and trembling girl by her armpits and slung her over my shoulder.

“UNHAND HER!” the warrior roared, before coming to a screeching halt when he entered the perimeter of my fire Chi circle. “Please,” he added after a moment.

“Sure,” I replied nonchalantly as I walked toward the man, bringing the fire Chi under my control closer to him.

“Stop!” he commanded with rage as he backpedaled. “Put her down and leave us be!”

“I said I’d unhand her, so come take her. Drop your axes and I’ll place her safely in your arms.”

The warrior’s snarl grew even more fierce. “Do not play games with me Hu…Humah…Human! You may be a powerhouse amongst your newly integrated people, but to the rest of Yorgefan you are but a child! Harm a hair on her head and you’ll find yourself and your community hunted to the last member!”

While wondering whether he’d learned my Race through a prompt like Sahndo had, I sighed, having hoped that this warrior would have taken my confidence seriously instead of assuming I was a brash fool. Though perhaps I was one, because the new auras I sensed making their ways toward me didn’t feel like they belonged to weaklings, yet I did not lose my bravado.

“Y’know, this person here shot me in the butt with an arrow as soon as she saw me.”

My words made the man blink as he looked between me and the girl. “That does not matter! Someone with your power should not have been affected by that! In her eyes you are an invader, and it is untoward behavior to…”

He pursed his lips, probably having realized I’d acted exactly as he was in the process of saying I should have.

“Yeah, bro, I haven’t done anything untoward—I just scared her a bit. I’m here to ask for directions. Can you point me toward the closest Goblin City? I’m a…diplomat, for my people. Let’s go with that.”

The warrior said nothing more, simply baring his teeth at me in rage as he waited for his allies to arrive. It was awkward for me to just stand there patiently with the young, sobbing Goblin woman slung over my shoulder.

“RELEASE HER, POWER DOWN, AND I WILL LET YOU LIVE!” a woman’s voice rang in the air as what felt like a storm of water and wood Chi enveloped the entire area, trying to disperse my fire Chi and placing a great pressure on me as though gravity had increased. It seemed that while the newcomer had much more Intelligence I still had slightly more Wisdom, but it didn’t take her long to disperse my fire Chi. Her water Speck was more advanced than mine combined with the fact that she was maintaining a real water technique. My Speck was Early and I didn’t have an Intelligence-based technique to form from the fire, so it didn’t stand a chance at holding up.

“Yes, no, and yes!” I shouted back as I gently placed the lady back down on her feet, before she stumbled like a newborn fawn toward the man with disgustingly chiseled muscles. As I watched a posse of three more green-skinned people approach, spearheaded by the powerful Intelligence-focused woman, I wondered if I’d ever look as badass as this dual-hatchet-wielding dude.

Probably not. I was kind of a twig.

“Foreign cultivator invading our lands, state your business or perish!” the old woman whom I could now see was probably in the later quarter of her life demanded.

Pretending to be unaffected by the pressure applied by the old woman’s technique I looked between the four Goblins, pausing to stare into each of their eyes for a moment, judging their capabilities based on their equipment and auras.

Hatchet man definitely specced into Strength and Agility, judging by his axes and the speed with which he arrived. I might’ve gone down a similar path to his had I found a good Cycling Technique for it in the Tutorial.

The old woman was obviously the wielder of a powerful water Dao Speck of some kind. Probably Late-grade, with over 200 points in Intelligence. She was definitely my biggest threat here, because even if she personally didn’t have the power to kill me—which she may or may not have had depending on the power of her techniques—so long as she kept her attention on limiting my mobility the others might find it easy to cut me down. I couldn’t be sure.

The last two women weren’t so easy to judge. The beautiful, copper-haired Goblin to the water mage’s right—both of them wearing combat robes reminiscent of Chinese styles—seemingly only had metal gauntlets as weapons, while her aura was kept tightly under control. So though I didn’t immediately feel threatened by her, I knew for sure that she was hiding her real power. Perhaps she’d teleport behind me, say “Nothing personal, kid” and knock me out with one glorious punch to the back of the head.

That mental image made me feel something funny. I hoped I hadn’t awakened something weird.

The last woman was probably related to the dual-wielding hatchet warrior because she was just as tall and possessed a good amount of muscles. However she had clearly not been prepared for battle when she was summoned because she wore a bloody apron while wielding what was definitely a kitchen knife. Still, she looked confident and her aura gave away power just below that of her hatchet-wielding relative, so I couldn’t underestimate her. Maybe unlike the burly dude, who probably focused Strength, most her points were in Agility, giving her a better chance of landing a blow on me. Or maybe she went all out in Wisdom and had a fast technique capable of putting holes through me before I could blink.

“Well?!” the old woman demanded again, laying the intimidation on her voice rather thickly.

“Oh, sorry, I was just comparing how powerful we are to each other and I’m not liking my odds of survival if you decide not to trust me. Oh yeah, we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Niko Tess, and you are?”

The wrinkly Goblin raised an eyebrow in apparent confusion before curtly replying, “I am KarriSah Gilliam, Matriarch of this Gilliam Clan. You have one last opportunity to state your business before we capture and torture the information out of you.” She displayed just her name from her Status Menu, proving her claim.

I gave KarriSah a formal martial artist’s bow like Rahesh had taught me, pressing my left fist into my right palm to show I was peaceful and respectful. Had I pressed my right fist into my left hand like Rahesh had done before we fought, that would have indicated I saw her as a worthy opponent.

“Greetings and salutations, Matriarch KarriSah Gilliam of the Gilliam Clan. I am on a System Quest to find a Goblin man by the name of Sahndo Bedri. He is an old magus with a Middle Shadow Speck who was training a small group of scouts someways west of here—a military man. He was my first contact with the Goblin Race because my Human Race was only integrated five days ago, and we got along well when I ran into him in the wilderness. I first received the slaughter Quest giving me the opportunities to either kill him and his recruits, capture them, or spare them, and of course I chose the latter. Long after we separated the Quest evolved into one requiring we meet again.”

Before anyone could get a word in I also proved my claims.

[Quest: (v3-2/3) New Neighbors—Having chosen version 3 you are now obligated to follow through lest lose 20% to all Attributes. Amicably meet with the Goblin Sahndo Bedri again before the next Tutorial session.]

All four Goblins sucked air in through their teeth upon reading the penalty for failure.

“TWENTY PERCENT?! To all his stats? At Level 1…” the muscular man almost whimpered.

“Then he is not powerful due to Specks,” the copper-haired pugilist reasoned with a gulp.

The Goblin woman who’d been cooking before all this didn’t say anything, merely continuing to glare at me while she held the younger Goblin archer in her arms, who’d stopped crying.

“Earning many Attribute Points within the Tutorial is no substitute for talent and a lifetime of combat.” KarriSah said haughtily, pointing toward the hatchet man. “My grandson here could likely strike you dead in under a candle’s wick.” She gestured toward the beautiful pugilist. “My niece could do the same with just a little more time, judging by your lack of fine control over fire Chi.”

I snorted. “Your point? I’m not showing off my stats, I’m asking you for help. Have any of you heard of this man or not? You guys are the first Goblin community I’ve run into, since the place I was transmigrated to is just a day’s run that way.” I pointed behind me to the west.

“With that being your Quest it seems there will be no need to capture you,” KarriSah said. “But what reason would you possibly have for apprehending young Gildemer?” she asked a bit angrily before giving the young woman of about my age a kind, grandmotherly look.

‘Her name is Gildemer Gilliam?’ I thought with a silent chuckle, liking the alliteration, before saying aloud, “She shot me in the butt with an arrow as soon as she saw me while I was up one of these trees taking a look around. I just wanted to scare her, to teach her a lesson for putting a hole in my pants. She clearly overreacted at the sight of me, given that she was safe thanks to her stealth technique or whatever.”

KarriSah gave Gildemer a look before turning back to me.

“As her grandmother I would normally be less patient with you, but given the fact that you really did not hurt her despite having the opportunity, all I can say is…fair enough. She will better learn to stay her hand at the sight of potential invaders, that much I can assure you.”

“I thought he was a spirit beast…” Gildemer muttered from within the cook’s arms.

“A spirit beast wearing clothes,” I smirked.

“I don’t have the best eyesight,” she whined softly, causing my eyebrows to rise.

“Oh, that’s…unfortunate. I accept your unspoken apology, Gildemer, because my Race has the same issue and I wholeheartedly sympathize. My own little sister was born with terrible vision and requires thick glasses to see… Well, used to require. Assuming she’s still alive, she probably received healing from Yorgefan’s Lord at the start of the Tutorial and got her sight fixed, like what happened with some of the people I was transmigrated with…”

Not for the first time I found myself wondering about how deeply the Lord’s healing affected Humanity and whether genetic diseases were cured…but looking at the Goblin of around my age whose eyesight was bad, the healing must not have done that much. If the Goblins had received the same treatment when they were first isekaied here, and it cured genetic afflictions, then their offspring wouldn’t carry such things like bad eyesight traits.

I shook my head.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked. Anyway, you’re forgiven because through watching my sister grow up I understand the pain of not being able to see what you’re looking at…but I still want to know why you’re running around with a bow if you can’t see well.”

To that, KarriSah nodded.

“A reasonable question with a simple answer. Little Gildemer here was raised like any other child with the expectation that she figure out how she wants to fight. Unfortunately she hadn’t figured out that her poor vision was not normal, thus nobody knew of it for some time, leading us to believe she was just untalented. Now we know better, but she still feels safer practicing stealth with a bow because blurry vision makes for difficult close combat as well.”

I nodded along to the story, thinking about how normally stealth-bow builds were overpowered. “Have you guys invented spectacles, or…?”

The hatchet wielder scoffed. “Of course we have! Our Race is probably more technologically advanced than yours.”

“More than fifty years ago several of our nations managed to develop simple space travel capable of bringing people to the moon,” I smirked, pointing upwards.

The brute’s eyes widened as he craned his neck to look up at the pale, barely visible circle in the sky.

This time, the woman wearing an apron spoke up, still holding Gildemer in her arms. “Our Gilliam Clan has simply not been in the best position for acquiring expensive and specialized tools or healing recently. When we did have the opportunity to have a pair of glasses made for her we didn’t know such a thing was needed.”

“Sorry…”

“Shush,” the woman commanded as she held Gildemer’s face by her cheekbones at arm’s length and bent over so that they were eye to eye. “We’ve been over this; it’s not your fault you didn’t know.”

I looked on at their sisterly dynamic with a smile for a moment before asking, “Can’t she just not be a fighter?”

Gildemer struggled out of the older Goblin’s grip to turn toward me. “But I want to!”

“Well, okay,” I shrugged. “Anyway, to return to the more important matters at hand…I take it none of you personally know the man I seek, so could you guys ask around your little community—I assume it’s a Hamlet—just to be sure? And if nobody here knows, can yall point me in the direction of the next nearest Goblin community? I need to complete this Quest as soon as possible so I can return to my own community in time for the next Tutorial session.”

Slowly, the unknown technique of water Chi in the air unraveled before the Chi completely dispersed, taking the pressure off my shoulders. I internally sighed with relief. She definitely had at least 200 Intelligence and maybe more than 50 Wisdom.

“I do not see harm in accommodating your request, Niko Tess, so please, follow us into our Hamlet so that you may wait in comfort while we search for any who might know of the man you seek.”

For a moment as the Goblins turned their backs to me I was suspicious of their change in attitude, but I quickly squashed the distrust. These people had been ready to kill me on the spot earlier. There was no harm in following them into their Hamlet where their defenseless civilians resided. If anything, they were taking a risk by letting someone with what they thought was an Intelligence-build so close to their people and seat of power. A high Wisdom attack could pierce a strong defense, but a high Intelligence attack could cause widespread damage.

“Okay,” I responded, jogging forward at a normal pace until I was in lockstep with the copper-haired pugilist. “Sounds good to me. While we walk, could you guys tell me about your Race? Your difference in stature makes it harder to discern your ages, so it’s got me curious. How many days are in a Yorgefan year and how many years old are you all? Actually, can you guys explain the calendar of this planet, if there is one?”

Such basic information as the seasonal cycle and calendar of this new planet hadn’t been explained by the Lord, so it had been up to us to discover that days here were slightly longer than those of Earth at around 25 hours. Foolishly I had forgotten to ask Sahndo about this, because my mind had been preoccupied by other matters.

“Do not presume to act chummy with us, Human. Your Quest may prove some of your claims, but you still have ways to go before earning our trust. I, for one, will not easily forgive how you treated my siste—”

“Enough, Gayhn,” KarriSah interrupted, before turning to address me as we walked. “I do not see why we should tell you anything of our Race. The calendar, however, is harmless—there are 25 hours in a day, 25 days in a month, and 16 months in a year. Are you familiar with the 4 seasons?”

“I am,” I replied, before internally thinking with a smile, ‘Gayhn and Gildemer Gilliam, the Goblins.’

“Yorgefan has them—spring, summer, autumn, winter—and each season lasts 100 days.” After a thought, she added, “Where those seasons apply geographically, of course. North, south, etcetera.”

“So this planet has a tilt. Thank you.” I bowed my head in gratitude. “But in regards to your Race, I asked because Gildemer physically seems the same age as me, and that got me curious about how our Races might compare in that respect. Sahndo Bedri did not refuse to explain any of this, I just hadn’t thought to ask because I was focused on the integration process and cultivation.”

KarriSah gave me a squinty eyed look of suspicion for a long moment, during which I unflinchingly stared back, awaiting a response.

To my surprise, the old woman’s expression morphed into a sly smile.

“The same age as you? Are you 17 years old?”

“18, actually, but that’s in years from my old planet, which are shorter than Yorgefan’s—24 hour days with years of 365 days. So I guess I am closer to 17 or 16 by your standards, though I’m not gonna bother doing the math to find out. On my old planet I was legally an adult, if barely.”

“Intriguing,” was all KarriSah said. We walked through the darkening birch forest in silence for what felt like a minute before she finally spoke up again. “Presuming that our hours are the same—which is likely the case, since the Heavens make some things the same across the universes—the extra hour in every day translates to a greater difference than one might first assume. 18 years of 365 days of 24 hours each is a total of 157,680 hours. A Yorgefan year is 25 hours times 400 days, equaling 10,000 hours flat. Your life of 157,680 hours divided by 10,000 is 15.7 and some change. You are a little over 15 and a half years old here. Goblins widely consider children to have reached adulthood around 20.”

I gulped. ‘Not gonna lie, the mental math is kinda hot. If only this granny were younger…’ I shook my head clear of my horniness. Capable women were attractive women, but I feared KarriSah’s reactions if my thoughts were exposed. I was better off appealing to someone younger and around my current power level so that if they were offended I could still flee with my life. Besides, this exact moment was not the time to be horny.

“So, I’m basically still a child here.”

“Not necessarily.” KarriSah shook her head. “You seem enough of an adult to be one by Goblin standards even if you are younger. You performed well enough in your first Tutorial session to become this powerful, after all. It could simply very well be the case that Humans develop faster than us. How long does your Race live on average?”

“Between 50 and 100 years, depending on illnesses and luck, but I think it’s safe to say 70 years. Earth years.”

The wrinkly Goblin nodded before putting a finger to her lips contemplatively. “70 Earth years are…613,200 hours, making for 61 Yorgefan years. That is quite the difference to a Goblin’s average lifespan of 90 Yorgefan years, with many people being known to have lived up to 100, and sometimes 115. Though, we’ve only been here for 50 years, so we had to calculate according to this new standard year. And since you asked, I am 83.”

I gulped at those numbers. Outside of being shorter with greenish skin and long, triangular ears that had almost the same shape as a German shepherd’s, Goblins also lived significantly longer. Sounded like a good trade off to me, even if they took a few more years to mature enough to be considered adults.

“That’s pretty cool. I love learning about new people.” I imagined building a harem comprised of multiple Races from across Yorgefan and the multiverse, intimately learning about a dozen different peoples and their various differences.

I shook my head again. ‘When I have to fight a beautiful member of a different Race I might just die if I can’t keep these thoughts under control.’ I glanced at the pugilist to my right, hoping it would never come to that. In hopes of distracting myself I brought up the first relevant conversation topic to come to mind.

“So, umm, Gildemer…can you tell me about that stealth technique you employed? I couldn’t sense you at all through it.”

Gildemer had previously been listening in on my conversation with her grandmother, but as soon as I addressed her, she shrank away. It wasn’t just her to react, either, because everyone except KarriSah made some kind of face or groaned irritably.

“Is he really so stupid?” the warrior Gayhn asked without even having the gall to look at me.

A kettle of tea could have been boiled by the flash of anger that passed through me. I hated being scoffed at for asking questions, or having them dismissed. For a moment not even the pugilist’s beautiful copper hair was enough to keep me from imagining fighting everyone, minus the grandmother and Gildemer who’d either not reacted or just reacted shyly.

I forced down the bitterness and kept my expression impassive as I asked, “What? Do you guys have a problem with my ignorance? I thought we’d already established that I’ve only been a cultivator for a few days. I’m sure you’ve seen with your Peep techniques that I’m just Level 1.”

A part of me hoped that the three adult Goblins who’d acted rudely would continue to do so, so that I might have an excuse to lightly beat them up and show them their places.

“I think you misunderstood something, Niko Tess, and it is not your fault at all,” KarriSah began, gesturing toward the three who’d been derisive. “Your ignorance on the subject you inquired about is completely fine, but the subject itself seemed rude from our perspective. You asked about one of our key techniques, after all, and we aren’t even sworn allies. Would you be okay with sharing your capabilities to those who might better learn to defeat you?”

My head cooled at the old Goblin’s explanation. “Well, yes I would if we were trading information, but…right. That makes sense. Although we are from different Races, I couldn’t help myself from trying to learn. I’m…sorry.” I really didn’t want to apologize, but I was kind of an enemy entering their territory while asking for their help. Even if I personally wasn’t antagonistic toward them, at the very least I was definitely competition.

“It is quite alright, young one,” she replied soothingly with a smile. “And I’ll see to it that my niece or grandchildren answer your question.” Gayhn and the cook shot looks at their grandmother. “But not right now, because the information you seek requires a little demonstration for you to more easily comprehend it. We can worry about that when we arrive at the Hamlet.”

“Thank you,” I said with mixed feelings.