Hudd, as a spy, was useless. He only reported trivial things; such and such goblin was doing one thing or another. Gossip and rumors. Still, Daggat listened. Since the declaration of war against humans, goblins have been busy. Constantly moving in and out of the camp in groups. Shiny trinkets started to appear around the village as well. Jewelery, bits of human armor, glass ware, and even human weapons. Other useless items were stolen as well, things Daggat would learn are called paper, books, scrolls, and maps. Still, he gathered whatever he could as ingredients for potions. But, without the fundamental understanding, Daggat was making no progress.
One fortnight since the attack, the wall was finally complete. The camp had expanded into the making of a village. That night’s revelry was grand. Hog the ogre, bruised and still slightly broken from a lesson taught by Rika days ago, placed two large dark barrels taken from the humans in the middle of the camp. The brew within was rich and potent, and everyone got a taste.
After one thimbleful, Daggat’s senses swam. Gobma, face bright red, was dancing with an equally drunk Glut. Even Rika and the clan leaders crawled from their respective lairs to participate. Daggat feasted with Zuss and Klaw, one upping each other with exaggerated stories and made up tales.
The village leaders and the Nilbog Shaman joined Rika around the barrel of spirits. Daggat, decision making enhanced by the power of alcohol, saw an opportunity. A rare opportunity to listen in on the higher ups and get a better idea of how things worked. He skulked and scuttled his way towards them. Even an inebriated Daggat knew he would have to hide to not give away he was eavesdropping. A sack laid open nearby, and Daggat crawled in. It was a bag of dirty potatoes. Well, beggars can’t be choosers. He strained his hearing to listen to them and peered through a hole in the sack.
Lijj Snakebitter, who took over her fathers position, wobbled on her feet. “I’m telling ya… just a few barrels of snake rot into their well. Clear out the town.” Hogo brittleblade, a large bugbear who wore armor made of tied together rusted blades snorted.
“And give up the experience? Nah… just gotta fight ‘em. Go in and…” He waved a sword in the air enthusiastically. Gobog Glitterteeth ducked to avoid the blade, then grinned. Light glinted off actual diamond teeth as he spoke.
“What?” asked the shaman. Everyone ignored him.
“Hogo, you think too small! Let them build and make things. Then we take it slowly… milk them like a pig!” Liji giggled as she watched the sword continue to flail in the air.
Another leader, John greenthru, who appeared to be just… a normal goblin, simply watched. Rika spoke, her voice sawing through the chatter.
“After that human, I’ve almost leveled. He was… potent. Still weak, naturally. Just a few more feasts…” Daggat’s heart nearly skipped a beat. “For now, we just need one, maybe two more successful attacks. Pick them off. Don’t let them escape. We can’t afford to lose the experience.”
“What trait are ya going to… going to… gonna.” Liji looked like she was holding back vomit. “Gonna enhance this time, boss?” This was it! The missing piece. Daggat would have cheered. All he expected was just some hint at future plans now that the walls are done. Just a bit more information was all he needed.
Daggat rolled as something large lifted the bag. Panic seized him. He swayed back and forth, dirt and potatoes clobbering him from all angles.
“Just dump them in. Stews getting low.” With a gurgle of fear, Daggat scrambled to crawl out of the bag. He managed to grab hold of cloth just in time for the bag to be turned inside out. By some miracle, Daggat managed to cling onto the bag as the rest of the contents tumbled out, splashing into a thick porridge below.
Hanging from the bag, which was now inside out, Daggat could see Hog the Ogre holding the bag over a bubbling cauldron of the communal stew. He had a defeated expression on his face. A hungry looking pot seemed to stare up at Daggat like a waiting dog. A bubble launched boiling sludge onto his foot. The ogre peered at Daggat, who smiled up at him despite the burn. He appeared to have been seriously injured, not just beaten. Rika’s work, he thought. “This go in, too?”
“Umm… no?” Daggat said, unsure.
“Right then.” The ogre tossed Daggat to the side. He hurtled, screaming, through the air. Time seemed to slow as the gremlin contemplated his life and upcoming death. The few short years he remembered flowed past. The long hours of work, the unending bullying from his peers, Gobma’s stupid face, and every mystery unsolved.
All in all, a terrible life, he thought. But, The last pieces of the mystery began to take shape. In the end, he gained clarity. Gaining a level to escape the pens. Rika almost leveling from slaying the human, and the simple question of what trait she would advance. Moments before he crashed into the ground, it clicked. In this world, you kill or feast to gain experience, which gives you levels if you do it enough. Traits can be enhanced by levels… somehow. It was just out of reach. Teasing him. Seemed everyone except the gremlins could see this, use it, and interact with it. A system that governs growth and experience.
[Feat achieved: System Knowledge. Cause: Discover the system. Reward: One level in System Aptitude.]
Daggat was saved in the same instant text flowed through his vision. He could read it innately, but had no time as he crashed into the, relatively, soft body of a goblin on the far side of the communal fire area. Throbbing in pain, Daggat looked to see who had saved his life. Gobma glared back at him, one eye twitching in anger and dripping from the drink Daggat just spilled. Of all the goblins... The gremlin smiled up at him.
Seconds latter, Daggat was desperately running from the drunk, enraged goblin. Weaving in and out of legs, stool legs, and other dangers. Bottles, bricks, and other objects were narrowly avoided. Finally, Daggat lost him, dashing through a tent and under the back.
Daggat took time to catch his breath. Then he groaned. If Gobma remembered, he would get terrible treatment the next day. Well, he would find a way to shift that to someone else. Now, he had to focus on the priorities.
The Mystery!
Daggat danced in glee. He had solved it! Well, mostly. There was a change in his perception. As though he had a third eye that had been covered for his whole life, and suddenly the veil was lifted. He could see plainly with this new sight. A white void with a small blue box floating just above him. With the same instinct a newborn uses to breath for the first time, Daggat clicked the box.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Information flooded his second view, filling the white void with blue text.
True Name: Daggat
Soul: Monster
Genseed: gremlin
Monster Level: 3
Attributes [2]:
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 14
Will: 5
Charm: 5
Feats:
Encounter: True Angel
Act: Fledgling Alchemist
Knowledge: System Knowledge
Skills:
Alchemy: 1
System Aptitude: 1
Biotraits [2]:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
Other:
Variant: +10 Intelligence
Daggat stared for a long moment at the new information. There were more buttons to press. Which meant more information to be learned. One was labeled [Alchemy], another [Party]. Amazed, Daggat didn’t hear the monsters approaching.
“What do we have here? A little morsel? Quick snack for tonights celebrations.” The voice was deep and ingoblin. It rumbled and growled, rather than spoke. Snapped out of his trance, Daggat saw the beast. A giant wolf loomed over him, draws dripping with saliva. Its eyes glowed red and its fur was black as oil. A warg. Behind him, four more red glints hinted at two other beasts. Daggat shook. “Well? What brings you to our territory, little snack?”
“I was running…” Daggat could hardly speak. His words faded away into the chattering of teeth. The beast rumbled a laugh.
“What is wrong? Scarred?” It sniffed long and deep. Daggat felt something leave his body, mists of fear that only left despair behind. “Yes. Delicious fear. Deeper than other gremlins. They have an… instinctual fear. Like that of a rabbit or raccoon. Yours is more… cerebral. You UNDERSTAND the danger you are in. Curious.” The other wargs approached, lapping up Daggat’s fear.
“Please, I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll be no bother, promise!” He looked for a solution, an escape. Nothing. He might be able to squeeze back the way he came, but they wouldn’t just let him do that.
“Intrude? No, no. This is YOUR camp. We are guests.” Daggat relaxed a little, if they were guests, they wouldn’t want to cause trouble. Right? “Of course, no one would miss one gremlin.” Daggat fear spiked again and the three wargs inhaled sharply. “What is your name, morsel?”
“Da- Daggat.” He squeaked out.
“Your fear is delicious, Daggat. You know how to despair. I have your sent. We will keep an eye on you, tasty gremlin.” The wargs parted. Their jaws seemed to quiver in excitement. “Now… run!” Daggat did.
The three beasts chased him half heartedly, laughing and chortling. Spurned on by his fear, Daggat sprinted further into the night. Eventually, he found himself back at the communal fires. Glancing behind him, there were no red eyes in the dark. Only the dark of the goblin camp. A shadow that seemed to hunger for Daggat to return.
“Dag?” He screeched, turning to see Glut looking at him with a worried expression. He was wavering on his feet. “Where were you?”
Daggat grabbed his arms. “Don’t go into the dark! Wargs…”
“Dag?” Daggat felt stupid. They were probably just bullying him. Besides, they let him go.
“Nothing.” Suddenly he searched the goblins in the crowd. “Where’s Gobma?” Glut grinned.
“He fell asleep. Gobma was mad at you.”
“Yes, he was. You better not have screwed us over, Dag.” That was Zuss, calling from a perch above. She was eating mystery meat wrapped in flat bread.
“We’ll figure it out. I solved-” Daggat hesitated. The goblins didn’t want the gremlins to know about the system, for some reason. He would have to discover why. He couldn’t trust his siblings to keep it a secret. “Nothing. I’m tired. Going to go back to the nest early.”
“Alright. Well, be careful.” Zuss looked at him suspiciously. Without another word, he scurried off.
The nest was what they called their little hole. An old tree that was uprooted left behind a deep hole, and it was covered with discarded scrap. Klaw found it, but Daggat discovered its potential. A hidden safe haven for the four of them. Klaw was already inside, curled up in a discarded cloth and snoring. Klaw wasn’t one for crowds. They collected anything soft, warm, and comfortable. The walls were decorated with bits of glass, metal, and colorful stones. When all four slept here, it was cramped, but warm. It was their home.
Daggat settled into his spot, then brought up his stats again. He may as well go down the list. He clicked expand next to gremlin.
Species: gremlin
Stage: Genseed
Base Attributes:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 2
Will: 3
Charm: 3
Biotraits:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
He had lost and regrown teeth before. Every gremlin and goblin did. But, now he knew it was a gremlin trait, not the norm. What was the norm? Did orcs regrow teeth? gremlins were tiny. He knew that, but what was normal size? Goblins? They were bigger, but they were also smaller than humans, orcs, and ogres. He closed the gremlin expanded information.
The next button was to distribute growth points. Selecting it, he discovered he could place his growth points into whichever attribute he chose. His instinct was to enhance intelligence even more, but compared to his other stats… well, he had plenty. Besides, he was already a genius. He could make himself stronger, faster, tougher. Increase his will to resist fear. Charm called to him. With more charm, he could better manipulate his peers.
Daggat smiled wickedly. He was about to select charm, but then had a thought. He was already a genius, what was beyond that? He placed one point into intelligence and the other into constitution. Improve strengths, cover weaknesses. It was only logical. No point in being so smart if he was going to be weak.
[Feat achieved, mighty intellect. Cause: Raise intelligence to 15. Reward: one skill point.]
Instantly, he felt healthier. He breathed deeper. Various aches on his body that he didn’t know were there faded away. At the same time, his mind cleared. Like there was a slight fog that was suddenly lifted. The effect was not as extreme as the effect on his body. Daggat almost shrieked in excitement at both the changes and the skill point, but didn’t want to wake Klaw.
Opening his full attribute list flooded his view with page upon page of information. Strength was broken down into different kinds of strength. Speed, mass, and angles for every part of his body. Constitution was even more complicated. Intelligence was an incomprehensible mess of symbols and math that seemed to wriggle and move. Daggat closed that information as his head spun. That was something to explore slowly, over time. Too much all at once.
He decided to open the skill menu. There were dozens of options available. His head swam again. Daggat decided to hold off on a skill at the moment, at least until he figured out how they worked.
Next was the biotraits. These were more straight forward, changes to his body. But now there were hundreds of choices. This was going to take a while to sift through. They were grouped into evolutions, which seemed to improve a body part, and grafts, which added new body parts. Organs, limbs, and the like.
Settling down, he began to mull over the options. He didn’t know how easy it was to come across experience to level, so he did not want to make a single mistake.
Daggat
True Name: Daggat
Soul: Monster
Genseed: gremlin
Monster Level: 3
Attributes [0]:
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 15
Will: 5
Charm: 5
Feats:
Encounter: True Angel
Act: Fledgling Alchemist
Knowledge: System Knowledge
Ability: Mighty Intellect
Skills[1]:
Alchemy: 1
System Aptitude: 1
Biotraits [2]:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
Other:
Variant: +10 Intelligence