Scan Results

Creature - Oni, Demon of Divinity, Servant of the Will of the World

Name - Whisper

Combat Type - Ranger, Rogue

Threat Level - E

Special Skills - Shadow Step, Backstab, Deep wounds, Multi Shot, Enhanced Physical Strength, Enhanced Magical Strength, Natural regeneration, Access to Light Magic, Access to Dark Magic, Access to Healing Magic, Access to Fire Magic, Access to Nature Magic, Resistance to Light Magic, Resistance to Dark Magic, Resistance to Fire Magic, Augmented, Healing Magic, Augmented Nature Magic, Soul Sight, Capture Souls, Transfer Souls, Rage

I had the goblins collect the belongings from Thorn’s body and informed them that if they reached a certain level. I would turn them from goblins to Oni as well. In an attempt to motivate them.

It worked. All the goblins lined up asking me to divvy out tasks for each of them. Having a few in mind I did so. First, we needed to make Whisper some clothes. I could use something new as well. But the goal here was to not have Whisper in Thorn’s clothes. Then they were to make a training arena. Once those were done, we needed to make a garden for food and crafting ingredients. I told them by the time they finished that I would have more work for them to do.

They jumped to it without a word and started finding plants they could break down into fibers to make clothes. While they did that, I took the gear I made for Thorn and gave it to Whisper. Dressed in the clothes of a commoner and geared to the teeth. We decided we would take Thorn’s body back to the village for them to hold a proper burial. Also, to let them know what Halvar did and what became of him.

During our walk Whisper asked me, “Now that I have no attachment to the village what’s our plan? I assume you want to tackle more dungeons to gain more power. There are a few around here we should be able to handle. We can also farm them for materials, so you aren’t just scraping by all the time.”

Not sure what he meant by that; I asked him. He told me that anything collected from a dungeon would regenerate over time. This included not only the monster but things like ore deposits, gem veins, rare to common plants, and more. He also suggested that once we cleared one out and determined its difficulty. We should send in the goblins to maintain the farming of the dungeon. Due to the reduced presence of dungeon defenders and with us being able to help them come up with proper battle plans to ensure their survival.

I agreed with him and paused in thought. How do dungeons obtain such materials? What could I do to empower my dungeon? Pondering this for a while, I didn’t notice when we made it to the village. I spotted the gate guards rushing up to where we were. Clearly seeing me carry a body in my arms with reverence.

“Ohy, you! Stop!’ one said, “By the gods. Is that Thorn? What happened to him? Is… Is he dead?”

The other said, “Head to the guard house while I fetch the elder. Make sure the locals don’t see this before we’re prepared to give some kind of statement.”

Nodding the one guard led us to a garrison. Taking us through back allies and clearly taking pains to avoid the eyes of the people wandering around roads. It didn’t take us long before we entered the building. The guard led me to a room where I could lay Thron’s body on a table. Away from prying eyes and curious stairs.

I grabbed a blanket from a pile and laid it over top of Thorn’s still form and made my way to another room where Whisper and I waited for the elder’s arrival. Which only took about 10 minutes.

Once inside the elder asked what happened and I told him everything I knew. Including Halvar’s crazed state, it didn’t take long for the elder to come to the conclusion that Halvar had in his rage attacked Thorn. Killing him for reasons unknown. Then I went on to tell them that Halvar saw me and attacked me, and I ended up dispatching him and the two he brought with him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

At first the elder didn’t believe me, until Lady Evalina showed up and confirmed Halvar’s hostility towards me and the fact that I’d beaten both of them in combat before. Letting them go out of mercy. This statement caused the elders' eyes to widen in shock. It took him a minute to process everything he'd just heard. Once he had a handle on all the information he came to a decision.

There would be a funeral for Thorn and the other hunters. He didn’t want to cause distrust among the people. He also requested that I join the village as its new Hunt Chief. He told me that I would be provided with a house and stable income among other perks. Lady Evalina seconded this, nodding her head up and down with obvious agreement.

I declined. I was about to offer to spend some time training a new hunt chief but then a thought came to me.

“Why doesn’t Lady Evalina become the new hunt chief?” I said to the elder.

At first, he seemed offended. Then he seemed to think about it. It was clear he had plans for her, but they were now in a time of need, and they had an obvious solution staring them right in the face. The lady just seemed to pout there waiting for the elder’s decision. Which came a short while later. She would become the new hunt chief until a new one could take her place. At that time, she would leave the hunters and join the council. She didn’t seem to like either of those ideas but didn’t voice her opinion.

With matters settled, Whisper and I promised to visit as often as we could and went on our way. We had dungeons to conquer and resources to gather. With a wave we made our way out of the village and towards a new dungeon. Excitement filling our steps along the way. We talked about the dungeons for a while, and I learned a few things. Dungeons typically have a thyme of some kind. They represent a force and use that force to grow and empower itself. For example, the goblins dungeon. It uses goblins and anything goblin related to empower its defenders so they can go out and collect resources for it to use to further expand its area of influence. I also learned that the forest we currently live in is called Maze Forest and it has 6 dungeons in its territory. There’s the goblin, Plant, Earth, Beast, Shadow, and Illusion dungeons. Some say that Maze Forest is a dungeon itself, but I don’t know about that.

We ended up deciding to go after the plant dungeon for a few reasons. Mostly because we thought it would be the safest of them all except the goblin dungeon. It was about 2 days away but that didn’t matter to me, and it seemed like it didn’t matter to him either.

We finally made it to the plant dungeon’s zone of influence, and it was something wild to see. It was like the forest came alive. Vines slithered along the ground like snakes and giant flowers stomped around like good smelling behemoths. Every now and then one of the giant blue flowers would stop to spray pollen all over the plants around it. Causing withering, damaged, and malnourished plants to burst with vitality once again.

Not wanting to take a chance and get us killed we waited to enter for another day. Observing the behaviors of the plant life here. It seems like the blue flowers are healers, the orange flowers are summoners, the red flowers are warriors, the white flowers are poisoners, and the vines are rogues. Now that we had an idea of what to look for, Whisper and I entered the plant dungeon through a massive flower that had an opening in the center the size of a horse drawn carriage.

Once inside things my mind went into overdrive. I didn’t remember making a world like this. Excitement filled me as I gazed upon a floral utopia. Endless light shone from above, saturating all the greenery in its warm rays. A warm wind carried pollen and mist through the air. Keeping the plants hydrated and full of life. The place was a rainbow of colors as different plants grew from all kinds of unique places and formed unique shapes.

I could feel my divine blood stirring within me. I wanted so badly to pull back the layers and see how this ecosystem worked and duplicate it on a massive scale. Giving them their own entire planet to work with. I wonder what kinds of new things I’ve missed and how did this place evolve into such a place.

I realized I was lost in thought as I was shaken by Whisper asking me if I was ok. Apparently, I’d been just standing there lost in thought as I gazed across the landscape.

“Oh, ugh. Sorry about that. I was just taken aback by the sight of all this. I don’t remember making a place like this, so I was kind of excited when I saw it.” I said with a sheepish smile.

Now fully embarrassed, I scratched the back of my head as Whisper just stared at me with a knowing look on his face.

“Well, don’t let me stop you. Let's explore this place as we hunt for resources, shall we?” he said. Sweeping his arm out. Gesturing for me to lead the way.