[Anastasia’s POV]

I teach Smag my runic knowledge. Honestly, I never expected it to be useful after I abandoned my dreams. Alas, my knowledge is limited, and I’m afraid of my future. Soon, Smag will have no more use for me, besides breeding. Can I increase my worth? Maybe he wants to learn my language better? It’s a possibility.

Honestly, even that runic knowledge is not that great. Sure, you can theoretically use runes to cast any type of magic, as long as you know the correct runes. In practice, though, it’s not so easy. There is always a price to pay. Runes using only ambient mana can only do things that ambient mana can do. To use an earth rune, for example, you need earth mana. This means you either need to personally supply earth mana (which means you can do the effect manually since you have access to the mana type) or also place another rune for gathering earth mana. The second option places a soft limit on runes' power. There’s only so much mana around.

Basic runes are not very useful. You need time to draw them, so they are only useful when you know you will need them. Enchanting is more useful, but the only way to have a reliable enchantment is to use a mana core as a battery.

Smag's runic dagger is the same. The runes most likely use some of the transferred vitality as payment, if not the souls. I shudder. This is far too similar to stories of evil warlocks sacrificing souls in their evil rituals.

Because of all these reasons, runic mages are only useful outside of combat, for things like wards and enchantments. Enchantments are probably the most iconic use of runes, but proper magic items need a source. Sources, usually the cores of monsters and natural treasures, are very pricey. They allow for creating self-sustaining magic items, though, so there’s always a market for them.

I can maybe ration my knowledge, but there’s only so much of it. I need to make a decision. The first option is to escape. I will need some kind of weapon to survive in the forest or rather to have a chance to survive. That’s assuming I can leave the goblin’s camp without being spotted, which means probably at night. Goblins have better night vision, but they still sleep at night. Then, I will need to somehow reach the next human settlement.

After that… I lost my equipment. I will need to take another loan. Good thing I mostly paid off my old one. Then, it will be a grind once again, hoping to earn enough money to not only live like a human but also pay off my new debt. I’m also afraid for my reputation. Being held by goblins for weeks and still escaping is very unusual. People are going to have ideas.

Smag comes again and asks me to teach him runes. I comply. After the session, I have a question of my own.

“Kill monster. Inner monster lost?” I ask, pointing at the ritual site. He thinks for a moment.

“No. Word for inner self?”

“Soul.”

“Soul.”

He repeats.

“Soul no sacrifice.”

He got the runes from the system, so the process must have been explained a bit.

I sigh. This brings me to the second, crazy option. I can ask to participate in hunts. The outcome of this option is way better for me. I would get a bow, probably not as good as my old one, but still functional. I could maybe get some light armor. I would get more levels. After a while, I'd hopefully find something expensive and then flee to another town where no one knows who I am. I could start anew.

The problem is that Smag has to agree to it. Theoretically, Axi is the chieftain, but I noticed long ago that Smag can convince her of nearly anything. How can I convince him, then?

My knowledge? He can just keep me bound.

My skills? They should be useful, but not revolutionary. I could maybe teach goblins archery.

There are also my womanly charms, but I don’t want to whore myself to a goblin. I especially don’t want to give birth to more goblins.

Then, there are obvious problems. With a weapon, I will be a danger to goblins. Can I minimize it? I don’t know.

In the meantime, Axi walks into the shack. She is often hunting these days, only returning for rest. Smag does his experiments elsewhere, so we are alone.

“Good hunt?” I ask in goblin’s language. I tried to learn it for some time. Axi is pretty childish and seems to have fun teaching me or even having a conversation. I suppose it makes sense. Only I and Smag are intelligent enough to have a proper conversation with her.

“Good. Killed ####. #### goblins #### wounded, but Smag healed ##### with ###### ### ###### ########.” I only recognize maybe half the words. Smag understands our language barrier and tries to simplify his speech as much as possible, while Axi doesn’t seem to care.

“#####, what?” I ask for clarification. Axi is nice, actually, and usually gives me some explanation. I need to learn goblins’ language, even if its usefulness is only limited to this tribe.

[Smag’s POV]

“Let’s kill all ants!” Axi shouts in my face.

“That’s actually not smart.”

“But why?! It’s a lot of Experience!”

I sigh and proceed to explain the food chain.

“That’s why we need to maintain the ants’ population. We can’t afford to spook humans, with a lot of predators crossing into their territory looking for food. We would need to migrate anyway, so maybe that’s not a problem, but it’s still not a good idea.”

Ultimately, we agree to hunt down other predators in the area and then concentrate on ants, keeping their numbers in check. This should earn us the most Experience Points. Anastasia is going to give birth soon, and I will have to decide what to do with her. In the meantime,

You have killed 76 1st tier monsters. You have earned 3050 Experience Points.

You have killed 5 2nd tier monsters. You have earned 1900 Experience Points.

You have advanced to level 9!

Your Tracking skill has advanced to level 10!

Your Mana Infusion skill has advanced to level 11!

Your Move Soul skill has advanced to level 4!

Your Leadership skill has advanced to level 12!

Your Soul Perception skill has advanced to level 9!

Your Rune Basics skill has advanced to level 8!

Stolen novel; please report.

Your Rune Scribbling skill has advanced to level 11!

Your Tactics skill has advanced to level 36!

Your Mana Sense skill has advanced to level 31!

Your Mana Manipulation skill has advanced to level 29!

Your Transfer Vitality skill has advanced to level 16!

And I got all of this without leaving the tribe. Axi probably got more experience, but she is also way stronger than me. I suppose it’s hard to fight with the momentum of the main character. Sigh…

I have five new perks to pick. The easiest perk to pick is for Mana Infusion. I already figured out most tricks on my own, and even reset the skill for it. I pick Affinity I, just as planned.

Next, Tracking.

Smell Prey

Become better at tracking by smelling

Temperate Forest Lore I

Learn how to better track in temperate forest

Tracks Lore I

Learn how to track better.

All options seem meh. Smell Prey may allow enhancing the rest of the senses later on, but it’s only a possibility. Actually, I probably shouldn't dismiss knowledge perks so easily. Whatever. I’m keeping the Tracking skill for now, but I don’t really need it. Stats it is. Intelligence I.

Rune Scribbling next.

Rune Scribbling Specialist I

When scribbling runes, do so like with 30% more Dexterity

An Eye For Flaws

Learn how to better notice flaws in runes.

I currently have problems with drawing the runes precisely., while I can spot flaws from time to time, so I pick Specialist.

Leadership.

Charisma I

Learn how to be more charismatic.

Authority I

Emanate aura of authority.

Loyalty I

Emanate the aura of a competent leader among your followers.

These… smell like mind fuckery. I’m kinda spooked. I’m thinking of taking Authority, hoping it or the next perks in the tree would defend me against similar skills. I pick Will I, though. I don’t want to emanate any aura. I didn’t level up stealth skills to pick an aura now. Sure, I don’t know how it works, but I can always use more stats. I also don’t really need these perks; I'm already a glorious leader.

The last on the list is Mana Sense. I’m hoping for something good.

Resolution II

Be able to feel mana in even greater resolution.

Two-merged I

Become better at differentiating two-merged mana types.

These are the new options. I would have chosen Two-merged without hesitation a few weeks ago, but now I'm not so sure. Two-merged is not going to be very helpful. Until I find a mana treasure, I’m stuck with ambient mana and runes. What would be most helpful? Runes don’t really require Mana Sense. I’m left with improving my already existing skills, like Mana Orb and Infusion. I’m picking Vitality Mana Sense. It’s one of the options from the previous threshold.

Why? It would help with Infusion. It would help to some extent with Mana Orb, by showing me better how Mana Orb damages vitality. It will also help me with the Transfer Vitality skill, and a bit with Soul Perception.

I look inside, and my vitality flow becomes even more detailed. I think I see where vitality behaves as a neural system. This is going to help. I’m thinking of picking up more skills, just to use them for more stats. I don’t want to concentrate on learning them, so I need to already have some experience with them. For now, I’m just going to cap my existing skills.

Time passes, and Anastasia gives birth. I’m helping, though goblin children are smaller than humans, so the delivery is unproblematic. Anastasia gives birth to eight goblins. I give her boiled water to drink. Goblins don’t have any problems with dirty water, but Anastasia requires more care, which is a bit annoying.

“Smag. Wait?”

I stop.

“Can I help? Hunt?”

I’m taken aback.

“I think.” I leave.

Does she really want to hunt with the tribe? No, that has to be her way to escape. I can see it. There are some benefits to it, like learning more about humans in this world, but I believe there are too many problems with it. I don’t care for an average goblin. Actually, there are too many goblins in the tribe right now. Axi forced goblins to fight in formations, and with my advice, this tribe also has better weapons. All of these led to a lower death rate and too many goblins. In a month or two, we will have a big problem, but that’s a problem for the future.

I’m afraid Anastasia will kill Axi or me. I can’t just take a chance. I live now in a stable environment with a good job and plentiful opportunities for self-growth. You could even say that my family life is nice too. Axi is going to give birth as well, in a week or so. I don’t want to lose it all with one nonchalant decision. I have to kill Anastasia. I groan. I don’t want to, but this is the smart decision.

I decide to do so in the evening. More time should firm up my will. I go back to my experiments. I cut off a rat’s leg a few days ago and bandaged it. I know my transfer of vitality can regenerate limbs, though it uses a lot of vitality for it. I want to check if there is a time limit. Once again, I can cheat my perk by placing the rat in my mouth. This way, all three of my perks help me.

The vitality flow in the rat changed. Cut leg made vitality pool around the stump since it also cut its flow. That pool was probably helping to heal up the stump but also lowered the rat’s overall vitality to dangerous levels. Nothing new. I've always known that vitality can be used for healing.

Now, the pool exists no longer, and vitality flows have merged and created once again a closed system in the rat’s body. I kill another animal and pour vitality into the rat. No effect. As I thought. There seems to be a day-long grace period for regenerating limbs before vitality flow stabilizes into a new form. For the rest of the day, I analyze runes and try to classify and systematize them. I want to figure out more about them and understand their rules.

Evening comes around, and I pick up my spear. I need to be merciless. It's just the way life is. I step into the shack, and there’s no Anastasia. What?! I rush forward and investigate. She must have loosened her bindings. Did she escape? That would be rather hard in the middle of the day. This could be a problem. I sigh. I should have killed her earlier.

I walk out and go check on Axi. To my immense surprise, I find her with Anastasia by her side. Anastasia has a short bow and shows Axi how to use it. I shook my head. No need to panic. Just behave normally. I walk over and pretend everything is fine.

“Psst! Axi! Why is the human here, out of her bindings?”

“Anas? I let her! She told me she wants to hunt with me!” She says it cheerfully. I nearly facepalm.

“I didn’t know you learned her language.”

“Hm? I didn’t.”

“Then, how did you understand her?”

“Normally?”

Anastasia then decides to say something.

“Hello, Smag. We hunt together?” In goblin’s language. Damn! I can’t even plot with Axi without her listening now!

“Yeah! It’s going to be fun!” Axi shouts. I groan. How am I to convince Axi to kill Anastasia? Axi is not going to agree just because I tell her Anastasia could be dangerous. Axi is still the chieftain and only listens to me because she acknowledges that I’m smarter.

These lefts me with only one option, I need to assassinate Anastasia. I sigh. Politics indeed start when there are at least three people gathered.

The next day, I barely raise up from my bed. I managed to convince Axi to not sleep with unleshed Anastasia in one shack, but I still didn’t sleep for most of the night, wary of Anastasia. I suppose I could use the night to kill her instead, but the trick is to not let Axi know about my involvement. I can’t let our relationship sour, as that would remove my hold on the tribe. I need to kill Anastasia during today's hunt. I walk outside and find that she didn't escape. I hoped otherwise. I could just order the tribe to migrate after that.

A few hours later, we march through the forest in a strange group of seven goblins, two hobgoblins, and one human. I’m carrying around two live rabbits for emergency healing in the back of the group. Axi and Anastasia are in the front. Anastasia uses her skills to track monsters and then helps by shooting arrows. I help a bit as well, but I’m mostly busy keeping an eye on Anastasia. Most monsters are only 1st tier with occasional 2nd tiers, they are no problem.

Axi completely incorporated her earth magic into her fighting style, using it not only to defend but also to trap enemies and remove dirt from beneath their feet to trip them. I also see her throwing dirt into monsters' eyes and noses. Unfortunately, Dust is probably another combination of Earth and Air, so Axi can’t control it.

“Anas! You are strong, too! Let’s kill something stronger. How about wolves? Can you lead us to them?” I groan. Wolves have to have at least a few 2nd tier combatants. It’s going to be a dangerous fight.

“There’s no need to risk ourselves in dangerous fights. How about we go back to the tribe and attack with greater numbers?” I propose. Regular goblins are cannon fodder, so they should be used as such.

"But that would be no challenge," Axi complains. "Everyone would steal my Experience Points. Better to kill them all myself!”

“Axi, wolves are strong. Better no fight." Annastasia adds. Finally, someone with some sense! Too bad she is a human.

"We are strong too!"

"Slow and steady wins the race." I shake my head. No need to rush. I look at Anastasia, somehow expecting her to back me up. I doubt she actually wants to enter such a hard fight.

You have learned Plotting (Uncommon) skill!

I mentally groan. Is it because I try to scheme with Anastasia, whom I just tried to kill, against Axi, who is my long-time ally? I keep the skill. It's a crafting type, and it should give Will. I actually should try to pick up more skills. I can take my time.

"Can check. Can go back, wolves strong.” Anastasia says it like a hob to Axi.

“Then let’s go!”

I scoff. The damn human is playing Axi against me!

We track wolves’ den. I must admit Anastasia’s skills are useful. She is a competent hunter and archer. Overall, I would say she is around an average hobgoblin, so way weaker than Axi, and maybe a bit stronger than me.

We try to sneak at the final distance, but wolves sniff us anyway and start growling. There are a few pits, so we don’t know how many of them are there. Most of the group is apprehensive about the direct attack.

“Great! Let’s kill them!”

Oh no.