The situation is really bad. We can’t fight so many spiders, not even counting two behemoths in the room.
“Follow me!” I shout and run to the side. I need to make spiders fight with the snake. To my delight, most of the spiders rush for the snake; only two bigger ones and six smaller ones are going for us. Great! This is still bad, but the situation is no longer impossible to resolve. The bigger spiders shot their spit, and we hide behind a boulder. I take the chance to observe two behemoths.
Both are in a wretched state. The snake has a lot of wounds. The end of its tail, a few meters, looks crushed, with only a few scales remaining. I smile. The bastard must have failed to escape the cave-in. Blood still seeps from it, but it seems the massive vitality of the snake has mostly healed it over time. The rest of its body isn’t much better. One of its eyes is destroyed. The snake has a lot of wounds on its body, with many scales broken or even ripped out. Some of its wounds are black, no doubt the effect of spiders’ venom.
The massive spider is no better, assuming it could even be named a spider. The monster only shares the same shape with insects. The monster is around five or six meters tall, and that's when it’s lying on the ground. A massive carapace covers most of its body, now cracked in many places and some of it crumbled. Its leg is very muscular, also covered in a carapace, with a massive claw on the end. I say leg because, of the four front legs, only one remains. It still has four legs in the back, though.
My observation is interrupted as small spiders come around. Axi kills the one on her side with a single strike. The nameless goblin kills another with a few spear pierces. I watch as another spider comes from above after climbing the boulder. This is no good at all. I wound it with my spear, but we are going to be surrounded soon. We need to move. I grab Axi and we run to the next boulder, venom flying after us. Some land on my armor.
What to do? Spiders approach again as I cover behind the boulder. Axi takes action. She rushes forward, kills one smaller spider, then grabs it and runs for a bigger one. She uses the spider's corpse as a shield against venomous spittle. Spider claws at her, but she blocs with the corpse, lets it go, and rolls under the spider. Axi hits the spider's abdomen and rolls from beneath the monster, hitting it again. I wish I was that good!
Axi runs back, killing another small spider on the way, and the nameless goblin throws a spear at the remaining big spider. I feel a wave of mana from the snake’s direction. What’s now?! I need more time to think! Wait... I forgot about my perk! I activate the Moment of Clarity. Everything slows down. It will be at least half a minute of my time until the next spider gets to me, assuming the perk lasts that long.
Can I observe? Would that count as an action? I’m currently looking at spiders, and at the moment, it's still working. I take a peek at the snake without moving my head. It aggressively attacked the spiders’ reinforcements and is in the middle of swiping using its wounded tail. Really? Does the snake even feel pain?
Oh. It probably doesn’t. That wave of mana was probably a skill activating—I would guess some type of berserking skill. It’s no wonder, actually. The snake fought for a long time. Its vitality is probably low, so it has to mind its wounds. The big spider is probably in the same situation. Both behemoths haven't been eager to duke it out; rather, they have tried to fight smartly and wear opponents down. The reinforcements changed the situation.
The snake can’t play this game any longer in the same way as before. The battle comes to an end there, which is as bad for me as it can be. Maybe the snake would be more interested in the treasure, but I still bet it would kill everyone first. On the other side, the spiders winning is the end for us too.
Can we run back to the tunnels? Now that I think about it, the behemoth spider is too big to squeeze into the tunnels. How got it here? Probably when it was smaller than evolved, I realize. Can we run back? There is still one big spider and three smaller ones, but that’s manageable. We aren’t wounded so far, so if Axi can keep her momentum…
My thinking is interrupted as the skill's effect ends. I’m a bit disoriented, but I recover quickly, only to observe as Axi runs back to me and grabs my spear.
“Take!” She grabs it and starts running in the snake’s direction, and the ongoing battle there. My mouth opens up in shock. What? What happened? One of the smaller spiders jumps at me. I’m going to die.
“Spear!” The nameless goblin shouts, and I grab the flying short spear just to block the spider's claw from going for my head. Great! Now it’s two of us against four spiders. Another small spider goes for me, while two others go for the nameless goblin. I mostly block while stepping back. How am I to kill them? I think of charging Mana Orbs, but that requires concentration, which I’m currently spending on blocking! I got hit in the armor once, then twice. The third one partially goes through, and I feel the blood flowing from my wound.
I hear a cry of pain. I take a peek at the nameless goblin, and the bigger spider bites his hand while the smaller ones bite his leg. It’s over. I release his mark, and he hits the bigger spider, but that does nearly nothing. I can’t go rescue him; I have enough monsters to fight on my own. He dies, bitten to death. Now it’s one against four. Damn it!
I run! The spiders start pursuing me. I take a look at the bigger battle, and the snake is wrapped around the spider and is crushing it. The spider is clawing the snake's flesh and removing parts of it. Axi runs at them through the field of broken spiders’ parts, holding a big ax in one hand and a spear in another. She jumps onto two behemoths and climbs up. She goes for the snake’s head! The blind eye! The monster is blinded in one eye after the fight. I release Axi’s mark. She jumps on its head and strikes!
The snake trashes its head to the sides, and Axi is thrown a dozen meters back, her ax flying in the opposite direction. The monster slithers down from the spider with an angry hiss, and I can see the damage. Axi destroyed its second eye! The monster is blinded, but it's not the end. It still has more senses. Axi landed on a corpse, so she should be fine.
The spiders pursuing me are faster than me. Should I try to run to the snake? No, that’s stupid. Unfortunately, the snake seeks a new target, and I and spiders are the only things currently producing sounds. The snake slithers our way. Damn! How can I escape with spiders on my tail?
I take a look back, and I’m stunned. The spiders had already started escaping from the snake! I jump behind a boulder and stay still. The big bastard hesitates and then goes after the spiders.
“Stupid!” I hear a shout and look around. That’s Axi. She’s at the entrance to the treasure room, standing on the corpse of the behemoth spider. She has something in her hand—a venom sack! She butchered the behemoth and took out its venom sack! The snake ignores her, so she jumps back and strikes its tail. The snake tries to hit back, but Axi lies down and avoids it. I charge Mana Orbs and start firing. The monster should have low health now, so hopefully my spells are going to work now.
The beast finally acknowledges Axi, and turns back, while she hides close to the big spider’s corpse. I hit it with another Orb, to which I’m thanked with a swipe of its bulk. The boulder I hid behind flies, but I’m fine. Eat this, bastard! I fire another Orb. Axi climbed back atop the corpse, and she is making noise. The snake lunges in attack, planning to eat her. She jumps back into a hole in the spider’s carapace, leaving only her arms outside, holding a braced spear with the sack on its tip. The snake strikes.
I charge another Orb and send it as the snake hisses in pain and shakes its head. The spear is lodged into its eye hole. The monsters here don’t have brains, so I don’t think it’s a mortal wound, but if the entire venom sack of a similar-tier monster is released inside the snake’s body… I charge another Orb, even though my will is lacking. This is a chance to kill the bastard! Axi crawls back from the corpse, all covered in goo.
The monster falls to the ground but is still alive. Axi grabs her ax and butchers a 2nd tier spider’s corpse for another sack. She spreads it on her weapon and runs for the monster. She starts hacking exposed flesh. The beast spasms and contorts its body, hitting Axi. It’s not a very strong strike, so Axi jumps back to her feet and continues to chop.
After a minute, she stops and shakes. Is it dead? I slowly walk toward her. The snake could still be alive. However, I hear sounds behind me. I look back and see spiders. They are still alive! I’m out of mental stamina; maybe I can create one small Orb, but that’s all. I grit my teeth. I will need to fight them with my physical strength.
I hope Axi can help me, but she should be exhausted. I don’t know how much help she can provide in her state. Just as I’m about to clash with the first spider, I see Axi running toward the big one. She dodges venom flying at her, then kills the big spider in one go. Wow. When did she get so strong? She then jumps back to kill all the smaller spiders without me even doing anything.
“How have you done that?”
“Got stronger. After killing the snake.” She responds, and I’m even more surprised. Goblins are usually too stupid to speak like that. Did she get the credit? Even if, she didn’t have time to evolve… Titles!
“Did you get a title for killing it?”
“Yes!” She replies with a smile. It must be some +X to all stats title. But how? The behemoth spider surely did more damage. I have already figured out that a kill goes to the dealer of most damage, which should be… right. The spider is dead. She is simply the biggest contributor who is still alive! I’m a bit bitter that I didn’t get it, but Axi deserves it. She saved me a few times, plus we are still in the same team. Also, who knows? I may be able to also get it in the future.
“That’s great! We should find the exit now. Right! You should probably evolve now. I bet that kill gave you a ton of experience.”
“No more killing. Tired. Need rest.”
“Ok. Then I will go check on the earth treasure. Maybe I can figure something out in the meantime.” Axi follows me. The treasure room is mostly empty. Its entrance is actually smaller than that of the big spider. There is only a strange rock in the middle, which Mana Sense pinpoints as the source of earth mana. I feel the urge to take the rock for myself, but I stop myself. This could be dangerous.
I go near it and sit down. This close, earth mana hits my vitality hard, practically acting like poison. I’m mostly fine, with only a few wounds, so my vitality is strong enough to ward me, but it must have been another source of the snake’s downfall.
I try to grab earth mana with my mind, but it’s the same as always. No luck there. I use Mana Sense on the rock, but it’s like looking at the sun. It seems like a huge ball of earth mana. No luck there as well. There is still one aspect I can benefit from. I concentrate on my vitality. Earth mana shows me more about vitality as it clashes with the invader.
My understanding is that vitality is a life force. It provides homeostasis in the body. A body with high vitality will heal fast, but that would deplete vitality, which acts as fuel for it. Health points could be a numerical representation of vitality, but I’m not sure.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Now, I observe as vitality swims around my body. From the clashes, I can observe more rules. There are some more important places, like a heart. Destroying a heart would stop the flow of vitality, at least partially. I think a being with vitality strong enough can recover from even that, but it would still be a tremendous effort, so its vitality would be mostly depleted. This means it's still important to aim for vital points. Assassins should also be able to kill with one precise strike.
I think about Mana Infusion. The entire technique is about feeding mana to the vitality stream, making it bigger and flowing faster. My approach has been rather crude so far, considering recent findings, as I just applied it to the biggest streams. I should probably use it on smaller streams as well, many of them going where my internal organs should be.
You accumulated enough experience in Weak Mana Infusion to fill knowledge gaps and evolve it! Do you want to do so now? The level of your skill will reset.
Interesting. Does this mean I can keep levels if I can figure everything out on my own? I ask the system, and the answer is yes. Do I want to evolve now? I would only lose the perk, which is Affinity I. Can I wait to figure it out? No. I’m still not safe.
Your Weak Mana Infusion (Common) skill has evolved to Mana Infusion (Uncommon).
The system gives me more knowledge. I immediately notice something interesting. I know I don’t have a physical brain, but I also noticed all monsters don't have any nervous systems. Vitality must also work like that. Since I don’t have a brain, I need to have something else, like a soul. Now, I know vitality must transmit neural signals, so it must be connected to the soul in some way. I track vitality flows with my new understanding and notice an anomaly in my head.
Some vitality disappears, and new vitality appears. I don’t think a soul is a source of vitality, or at least, not the only source. The body should produce vitality. I try to track disappearing vitality. It’s hard, and meditating for a while gives me nothing. But the earth mana strikes my head and creates a disturbance. I saw something just then.
You have learned Soul Perception (Very Rare) skill!
Wow. I check again. It’s the same. My first Very Rare skill! I concentrate on my soul with renewed effort. It’s not like a curtain fell; I can just sense something more. This is going to be a long grind to master this new ability. I concentrate on my soul for now, but I feel the disturbance of earth mana. I open my eyes and see Axi holding the rock in her hands.
“Watch out! The earth mana is poisoning your vitality. You shouldn’t be touching it.” Axi just shrugs and eats it.
What?!
I observe as Axi becomes the source of earth mana. Damn. I rush forward and grab her stomach to squeeze out the rock. Come on! Help me here, Axi! To my surprise, the mana in her starts to condense at one point. I step back, and Axi falls to her knees. After a few seconds, she gets up, and looks around with a confused expression. Then she points at a random rock. Some earth mana shoots from her, and the rock starts to levitate.
“I magic too!” She shouts with glee. Damn it! Is this really so simple? So the big bastard wanted to become an earth magician? I wanted to become a mage! I understand the title. That’s fine. But this! I look at Axi. She smiles. I just sit down. Whatever. I can always find another treasure.
“Do you have a mana pool now?”
“What?”
“Check your status. There should be mana. Is something different there?”
She takes a while and nods. So this is it. I wonder, does it mean she has to eat another treasure to get a different affinity? Or is she a mage now?
“Do you have Mana Sense skill? Do you see mana?”
“Yes.”
“Can you control another elemental mana just like you control earth?”
She tries to grab something, probably some air mana, but with no success.
“No.”
I come closer and take her finger into my mouth. I want to check her vitality with my Mana Sense, and I get a bonus for mana inside my body. It’s icky from the spider’s insides, but I’m a goblin now. I ate worse things. She blushes. Her vitality is now mixed with earth mana. It’s like she became a partial earth creature or something.
“By the way, what class have you evolved into?”
“Oh. I forgot.”
She closes her eyes. I sigh. Small steps. Small steps.
[Axi’s POV several minutes before]
I chop again. The stupid snake doesn’t want to die! I chop again.
You have killed 1 4th tier monster. You have earned 84000 Experience Points.
You have advanced to level 8!
You have advanced to level 9!
You have advanced to level 10!
Your Iron Stomach trait has advanced to level 9!
Your Ax Fighting skill has advanced to level 34!
Your Sneaking has advanced to level 14!
Your Dodging skill has advanced to level 12!
Your Throwing skill has advanced to level 18!
Your Spear Fighting skill has advanced to level 17!
Your Battle Concentration skill has advanced to level 24!
Your Wood Working skill has advanced to level 12!
Your Trap Making skill has advanced to level 12!
Your Bone Working skill has advanced to level 11!
You have killed a monster three tiers above your own, with no direct help from higher-tier beings!
You have earned the Titan Slayer (+10 to All Stats, +5% to All Stats) title!
You have capped all your skills and race experience. Evolve or learn more to allocate experience. As this is the first such situation for you, please be aware that you can only store limited experience, and any excess would fade away quickly. Get a blessing from a God to store experience.
It’s dead! I feel a rush of power. Everything just becomes clearer. Wow. It’s incredible. I look for the chief, and there he is, fighting three spiders on his own! One of them is even 2nd tier! Chief is incredible! I mean, he is not super good at fighting with his spear; I suddenly recognize that, but he is super smart! He always stopped me from fighting strong enemies in the past. I didn’t even know some of them were so strong!
Honestly, I only fought the snake because he didn’t stop me. I rush the spiders to help Chief. I’m so much stronger! I chop one, two, three! Done!
“How have you done that?” Chief asks me.
“Got stronger. After killing the snake.” I reply. Chief must have known it would help me!
“Did you get a title for killing it?”
“Yes!” I reply. Obviously, the chief knew everything! He is so smart! Chief wants to kill more spiders next, but I’m tired and wounded. I need to rest. He agrees and goes to find some treasure.
What is a treasure?
I go after him and pick up my perks. It’s a lot of thinking sometimes, but it’s always easy when Strength stat is offered! As I pick up perks, I notice it’s suddenly become much easier!
I walk into the next cave room and see the chief staring intently at some rock. Is it really so interesting? I come closer and stare as well. Actually, I can feel something.
You have learned Mana Perception (Common)!
Your Mana Perception skill has advanced to level 2!
New skill! As I observe the rock, I notice it’s shining brightly with my new skill. I use that new sense to observe it, but the system constantly interrupts me.
Your Mana Perception skill has advanced to level 5!
Fortunately, it stops after some time.
Your Mana Perception skill has advanced to level 7!
I notice the chief no longer stares at the rock and now sits with his eyes closed. It seems the rock no longer interests him. I go forward and grab the rock. It’s a strange rock, and its touch is a bit painful, but it feels like an opportunity. I feel a desire for it. I swallow it. Earth mana sweeps my insides, and I only feel pain. I fall to the ground, and the chief runs to me and tries to help me throw it up.
But the rock is still inside me. It’s so painful. Suddenly, earth mana starts to gather at one point.
You have bonded with Earth Mana!
You have unlocked Mana Pool!
You have learned Move Mana (Common) skill!
You have learned Earth Mana Control (Rare) skill!
You have gained Earth Mana Affinity (Rare) trait!
Pain stops. I get more knowledge, and I can move earth mana now. I send some of it and move another rock with it.
Your Earth Mana Control skill has advanced to level 3!
Incredible! Now I can do magic, just like the chief! I ask the system about all skills, and then I play some more with mana while the chief asks me some questions. At some point, the chief takes my finger into his mouth. Is it a child-making session? I love making children, but I hate having them. A bloated stomach is handicapping me in fights. If only I could make children without getting pregnant…
Chief asks about my evolution, and I’m embarrassed that I still didn’t do that! The system told me something about time, right? Like I should do it quickly. I remember that the chief evolved very fast. I should just do it. I pick the option, but there are a lot of possibilities. A lot more than perks. Fortunately, the system tells me how good each evolution is, so I just pick the best – sole Epic rarity evolution. I fall asleep.
Heavy Elite Hobgoblin Ax-woman (Epic)
Requirements:
1st tier goblin race.
At least 30 levels in a weapon mastery skill
At least 20 levels in a melee fighting-related skill
At least 15 Strength
At least 10 Endurance
At least 10 Vitality
Possessing armor
Big achievement earned in the 1st tier
A suitable mana affinity trait
No path was selected previously, or the class is compatible with the path..
2nd tier Monster
Elite Hobgoblins are practically always the leaders of tribes and harbingers of orc hordes after they evolve a second time. This elite race of monsters can usually kill above their tier. Can easily evolve into other forms of its evolutionary tree.
Racial traits: Iron Stomach
Growth per level:
+1 Strength
+0.8 Vitality
+1 Endurance
+0.5 Dexterity
+0.4 Intelligence
+0.4 Will
+0.4 Affinity
Bonus:
Suitable mana affinity skill (Very Rare)
Suitable mana affinity body trait (Very Rare)
+25 Strength
+20 Vitality
+20 Endurance
+10 Dexterity
+10 Intelligence
+10 Will
+10 Affinity
You have picked your path, along with an increase in tier! Bonus race stats gains increased by 50% to balance!
Iron stomach trait is already present. Increasing level by 1!
You have advanced to level 1!
You have advanced to level 2!
You have advanced to level 3!
You have advanced to level 4!
You have advanced to level 5!
You have advanced to level 6!
You have advanced to level 7!
You have advanced to level 8!
You learned Superior Earth Armor (Very Rare) skill!
You learned Reinforced Muscles (Very Rare) trait!
I open my status.
Name: NA
Age: 0
Race: Heavy Elite Hobgoblin Ax-woman
Level:8/20
Strength: 75 (66) +15%
Vitality: 57 (55) +5%
Endurance: 56 (54) +5%
Dexterity: 31 (30) +5%
Intelligence: 31 (30) +5%
Will: 32 (31) +5%
Affinity: 29 (28) +5%
Health:246/314
Stamina:56/210
Mana:186/408
Traits
Iron Stomach 10 (Uncommon) (Perk Available!)
Earth Mana Affinity 2 (Rare)
Strong Muscles 1 (Rare)
Combat skills
Ax Fighting 34 (Common) – Strength I, Basic Heavy Style I,
Sneaking 14 (Common) – Silent Walk I
Dodging 12 (Common) – Dodge Specialist I
Throwing 18 (Common) - Strong Arm I
Spear Fighting 17 (Common) – Basic Spear Style I
Battle Concentration 24 (Uncommon) – Awareness, Pain Tolerance
Magic Skills
Mana Perception 3 (Common)
Move Mana 1 (Common)
Earth Mana Control 8 (Rare)
Superior Earth Armor 1 (Very Rare)
Crafting Skills
Wood Working 12 (Common) – Dexterity I
Trap Making 12 (Common) – Dexterity I
Bone Working 11 (Common) - Dexterity I
Titles
Slayer of Titans (+10 All Stats, +5% All Stats)
I look around. I’m a lot bigger! Chief looks at me with a strange face.
I know my stats increased, but I don’t know how much. A few times? I bet the chief knows everything about it. I need to ask him to explain the system to me. Wait! The system told me I should be the chief! It actually makes sense. I’m bigger and stronger than him, so I should be the chief. But the chief is the chief… Right! I have a name- Axi. I just need to learn the chief's name!
“What’s your name?” I ask. Chief makes a surprised face. And then he shrugs.
“I don’t have one.”
“But I have!”
“Yeah. I give you one.”
So, can I just give the chief a name? My name is Axi, because I use an ax. Speary? No… Chief is not even good at fighting with it. Chief is good at being smart, so… Sma? Smar? No… Chief uses magic, so… Mag? Smag!
“You are going to be Smag!”
He gives me a strange look, but then shrugs. “Sure, why not?"
“And I’m going to be the new chieftain!” Smag makes a funny face.
“But I think I’m better for,” he says, starting to speak.
I interrupt him. “I’m stronger! The strongest goblin is the chieftain! Want to duel for it?”
Smag once again makes a funny face. “Fine.”
This is going to be glorious!