I assess the damage. The pit’s camouflage is destroyed, but I will rebuild it quickly, just like always. My armor has scratches and holes now, but it is still usable. I take it and look at my shoulder. I have bite wounds, but they are rather shallow. I take a look at my HP.
Health:23/24
Minor damage. HP is regenerating as fast as the body, though. This means it will take me around a week to recover completely. I’m mostly worried about a disease. Who knows what wolves ate before? I shake my head and check notifications.
You have learned Dodge skill!
You have killed 3 1st tier monsters. You have earned 210 Experience Points.
Your Wood Working skill has advanced to level 5!
Your Fortification Construction skill has advanced to level 3!
Your Mana Manipulation skill has advanced to level 7!
Your Mana Sense skill has advanced to level 9!
Your Iron Stomach trait has advanced to level 5!
My Mana Sense is level nine already. This means I only need one more level to get a skill perk. I hope it will be something useful.
I stay in the cave for the rest of the day, butchering the wolves and repairing the trap. My meat reserves are increasing. I also have more hide now, but I don’t have any idea how to use it, besides creating more armor for myself.
The next day, I decide to create a bow. I hoped for ranged magical attacks, but no luck so far. My research is progressing, but all the new skills are weak. I guess I won’t even get Mana Orb, but Weak Mana Orb after figuring it out. I doubt it will be very useful at the beginning. It's depressing, but I just have to push on for now.
The conclusion is that I need a bow. I find a nice branch and start the work. I want a bowstring made from guts. My B plan is to make a bowstring from plant fibers, which I have stored quite a bit already, mostly to repair traps.
Making a primitive bow is simple enough, but I also need arrows. Those are more tricky. I spend the remaining time of the day on that. Ultimately, I made seven wooden arrows with the bone arrowhead. I didn’t do any fletching. I don’t have any feathers. I tested the bow, and it works. Arrows sometimes spin around, but this depends mostly on my firing technique. Anyway, I won’t be killing big targets with it. This bow doesn’t need much drawing force, but I don’t have much strength to pull a heavy bow anyway.
You have learned Marksmanship skill (Common)!
I decide to keep the skill for now.
The next day, I check out the wolves’ trails. Those wolves were pretty big, so it’s not very hard to spot rather fresh tracks. I don’t want to find them—the opposite, actually. I want to know their migration pattern so I can avoid them. I don’t follow too far from the camp and return after going a bit beyond my trap area.
You have learned Tracking skill (Uncommon)!
I will keep it this time. It will be easily capped anyway, as I don’t know anything about tracking.
I check all my traps around the cave and go to check on the rabbits’ place. I sneak all the way. Rabbits won’t attack unprovoked. They are not carnivores, but wolves could still be around.
I check my traps and find nothing. It may be time to change the location of my traps. Some of them were destroyed, most likely because something big got caught and then escaped due to their high weight and strength. I notice something in the bush. I frown. Another predator eyeing rabbits? Should I stay? I could maybe kill one or two rabbits in the chaos. I shake my head. I can’t risk myself like that. I have a huge stockpile of meat; it’s better to take it slow, steady, and most importantly, safe.
I slowly back out, but I notice it’s not one predator. A pack? No. I slowly move away, but before I can escape, I notice what they are. Goblins! They are goblins! I creep closer instead and observe. There are five goblins. Only a five? Unless they are elites, horned rabbits would kill them. They don’t look like elites. They are thin and anorectic. Their weapons are twigs. They are actually a bit smaller than me. Damn. They are going to die. They need a strong and smart leader. Someone charismatic. Me.
I approach them. When they notice me, they step back in fear. I grunt in a goblin way and wave my hand. I approach slowly and then gesture with my hand for them to follow me. They are hesitant, but I mimic eating, and they gulp their saliva. They follow. Great. I take another look at them. Wow! There is a female goblin among them! I didn’t notice her earlier, as I don’t have a habit of looking at dangling goblins' penises. She has small boobs, but that may be because of starvation. But… aren't female goblins nonexistent? I thought the system said so. Well... I'm not going to complain.
I led them to the cave, walking confidently. I hope no predator will ambush us. The goblins watch me in awe. It’s not strange. Compared to them, I may be a goblin special forces member. I sigh in relief, looking at the cave entrance. I motion for them to follow, and I start to move through the spike field. I notice one of the goblins becoming interested in the pit. Curses! I move quickly toward him. Obviously, he steps on it, and the trap gives up. I watch as he starts falling in, swinging his arms wildly. I reach up and grab one of his arms. Eh….
The rest of the goblins look down and clench their hands on their twigs. I roll my eyes and help the idiot out. I motion again for them to follow me. Maybe they will get it this time. They follow me and enter the cave. They are astounded. I led them to my stockpile of meat. Seeing this, they throw themselves on it, eating like beasts. I smile. They are mine now.
They eat for more than an hour. Their stomachs are bulging. I sit and practice magic in the meantime. After eating, one of the goblins gets up and walks to the female. I observe initially, but it quickly becomes obvious he wants sex. I raise up in anger! I’m the chieftain! I decide on this! I walk to him and hit him in the head. He grows.
“Mine!” I shout one of the few words of goblin language. He tries to punch me, but he is too weak and inexperienced. I dodge or block his hits with ease while hitting him a few times, and he accepts my superiority. I walk to the female and take down my armor. I think goblin's instincts are influencing me a bit. Whatever.
I look down, and the female goblin is red with excitement. She crawls to me. I take a step back. Wait! I'm not prepared mentally! I'm still a human inside! I suppose I can think about her as an alien. She crawls into my bed, and she is immediately surprised at how warm and comfortable it is. She lays on it, and I get on her. It’s not very romantic. I stick it in and move. She either isn't a virgin, or goblins don't have a hymen. I caress her body, and soon we both peak. I lay down on the bed. Life is nice.
I wake up the next day. I sniff. Piss. I look around. The female just pissed into my bed. I shout in anger. I grab the female’s head and push it into the wet hay.
“Dammit! Do you want to sleep in moldy hay?” I just shout in English. I slowly calm down. I won’t get anything like that. I collect wet hay and push it into the female's hands. She is somehow afraid, and rightly so. I make her hold the wet hay and follow me outside. We dump it, and I collect new hay. We go back to the cave, and I place the hay on the bed.
“Look. Now it’s clean and, most importantly, dry!' I sigh. I doubt she understands much, but I really hope she won’t defecate in the bed. I frown. In the worst case, I will just let her sleep with other goblins. Right. I need to check on them. They are eating. I frown and take a closer look.
I feel faint. These idiots… They had the whole stockpile, and they ate rabbits! My entire farm!
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“Idiots! Morons! Mine!” I shout as I hit them. After yesterday's fight with one of them, they know that they have no chance, so they don’t fight back. I wish they had!
I slowly calm down. I need to teach them a lot, but it’s better than being alone, right? I hope that’s right. I will teach them English. They seem to know a few terms that I am unfamiliar with. I mean, it’s possible there is a complete green skin language out there, but I don’t think it’s anywhere close. I bet most tribes have their own version of the language. I’m just going to fill the void with English.
I’m slightly afraid there are English speakers out there. I may not be the first reincarnator or transmigrator. However, if the language is common, then there is no problem. It can be easily explained. If it isn’t common, then nobody will figure it out. Nobody should have any reason to talk to us anyway.
I spend most of the day teaching them how to get out and into the cave swiftly. The main challenge is to avoid falling into the pit. I also say "Trap," pointing at the pit. In the evening, I take them to the forest to check on traps. I punch them when they are loud or stray too far from the formation.
These idiots are oblivious to their surroundings, so it doesn’t surprise me when one of them gets caught in one of my traps. I just facepalm. The moron keeps shouting in fright, and I have to beat him up. I then lower him and point at the trap.
“Trap!”
They seem to be getting more respect for traps by the hour. I lead them to more traps, and they are more careful now. We find a squirrel in one of the traps. They lick their lips. I groan in frustration. I force them to approach carefully. Squirrel trash in the rope, and I kill it quickly.
You have killed 1 1st tier monster. You have earned 10 Experience Points.
No skill levels. I lead them to the rest of the traps. We don’t go to rabbits, as I have a prediction they will attract some kind of predator with their shouts. I beat them to stop shouting, but they are learning these things slowly. I’m sure they will be faster with crafting.
After coming back to the cave, we enter inside. I show them how I skin the animal, and I let them eat it. We eat more from the stockpile. I sigh. The stockpile would have lasted me weeks, maybe months, by supplementing my diet with foraging. Now, it will be gone in a week or so.
I have sex with the female, and thinking about previous problems, I walk them outside to piss. I do so myself and force them to mimic. After that, we return. I suppose I should create some rotating night watches, but I survived on my own for weeks, so we will probably be fine.
The next day, I check the hay. It’s dry. Great! Some progress! I force goblins to weave ropes for traps and also craft spears. I help them a bit, but I want them to contribute. In the evening, we go again to check traps. We find a giant spider. At least in comparison to Earth’s spiders. It’s half a meter high. Fortunately for us, the spider is hanging by two of its legs. I don’t want to come too close, since its legs are rather long. Maybe longer than my spear. I use the bow. The first arrow hits it, somehow surprising me. I expected to miss it. The spider bleeds green blood and hisses loudly. It slowly and clumsily rotates itself in our direction. Does it have some sort of ranged attack?
It does. I watch some green liquid fly in my direction. I dodge to the side and observe as the bark of a tree behind me melts down. Crap.
“Retreat!” I pull everyone back and hide behind trees. I watch as one of the goblins runs in panic around, accidentally dodging another shot. I take a quick peek, and the spider is facing in another direction. Great! It can’t rotate itself too fast. I shot the bow. I miss. The spider moves in my direction, but I just jump behind the tree. I look around. All my goblins figured out that hiding is probably a good idea. One of them takes a peak. Nothing flies his way. I shrug. I can’t stay here forever. I take a peek. The spider is facing me. It spits. I hide, and immediately after that, I hear a splash on the tree.
Damn. Should I lend the bow? I doubt any of these green idiots know how to use it. Whatever. The spider can’t have unlimited ammunition. I take another peak. Another shot. Once again. Shot. Again. Nothing. I draw the bow and slowly take half a step from behind the tree. I’m afraid of deception. Spider just hisses. I fire. I hit this time. I shrug and fire again. Miss. Again.
You have killed 1 2nd tier monster. You have earned 800 Experience Points.
You have advanced to level 5!
Your Mana Sense skill has advanced to level 11.
Your Spearmanship skill has advanced to level 3.
Your Trap Making skill has advanced to level 6.
Your Wood Working skill has advanced to level 6.
Your Mana Manipulation skill has advanced to level 9.
Your Sneaking skill has advanced to level 6.
Your Hiding skill has advanced to level 6.
Your Marksmanship skill has advanced to level 2.
Your Tracking skill has advanced to level 2.
Your Spear fighting skill has advanced to level 5.
Your Iron Stomach trait has advanced to level 6.
Wow! A second-tier monster? How? I frown. I suppose that makes sense. That spit attack was super dangerous. Anyway, I walk to the spider while telling goblins to come out. I know they don’t understand words, but hopefully they will learn. I tell them to help me, and we drag the spider to the cave. I go inside and begin to butcher it. I am super careful. I don’t want to accidentally cut an acid gland and lose a hand. The spider doesn’t have that much meat, but goblins don’t care, eating entrails with a smile. Whatever. I find the gland, but I don’t know what to do with it besides throwing it at the first big monster.
After that, it’s time for the perk! I check my status.
Name: NA
Age: 0
Race: Goblin
Level:5/10
Strength: 4
Vitality: 6
Endurance: 3
Dexterity: 8
Intelligence: 23
Will: 17
Affinity: 3
Health:20/20
Stamina:26/34
Mana:0/0
Traits
Iron Stomach 6
Combat skills
Spearmanship 5
Sneaking 6
Hiding 6
Marksmanship 2
Tracking 2
Magic Skills
Mana Sense 11 (Perk Available!)
Mana Manipulation 9
Weak Mana Infusion 1
Crafting Skills
Wood Working 6
Fortification Construction 3
Trap Making 6
Titles
None
I focus on the perk. A list appears before me. The first few entries are rather basic.
Intelligence I
Get 5 more Intelligence points.
Will I
Get 5 more Will points.
Affinity I
Get 5 more Affinity points.
Interesting. Five points to Affinity would more than double it. I wonder what it would change for me. I shake my head. These are very generic, so these options would most likely reappear for different skills. I check the next options.
Sensitivity for Mana I
Become slightly more sensitive to mana.
Resolution I
Be able to feel mana with greater resolution.
Ambient Feel
Become significantly more sensitive to ambient mana, at the cost of other affinities.
Range I
Be able to detect mana from a greater range.
Mana Nose
Be able to smell mana.
Inward Perfection
Become more sensitive to the mana in your body and a very small distance beyond it.
Hm… Some of these perks are interesting, while others are borderline useless. Mana Nose? Maybe for some monster with incredible smelling abilities, this could be great. Honestly, I don’t know how any of these abilities scale, so it’s hard to tell for certain what is good. What do I need from my Mana Sense? I use it mostly to research mana interactions fishing for more spells. This means I should take Resolution I or Sensitivity for Mana I. Both perks seem to have some continuation, most likely in something like Resolution II.
I don’t know which option is better. Resolution would help me to observe mana interactions on a smaller scale, but I’m not sure what’s there. The point is, there could be nothing new. On the other hand, Sensitivity is just a very generic ability. Inward Perfection is probably better for me in that case, as the text suggests it gives greater sensitivity to mana.
I don’t care that much for range. I can imagine a situation in which I can’t figure out something because I can’t get close to it, but I don’t think that’s likely. I’m taking Inward Perfection.
The change is very noticeable. I imminently figure out that this live river in my body is branching and dividing in multiple places. Should I call it vitality? Life mana? I infuse mana into it and observe how it gives momentum to the biggest flow. I try it on smaller streams and notice that I can improve the strength of only my arm or leg. Nice! I usually don’t need to strengthen my whole body. This will be useful.
On that note, I make another shocking discovery. I don’t have a brain. Actually, this is something that has been bothering me for a while. I have been butchering monsters for a while, and I noticed they had a strange structure in the head—not quite the brain, but not something completely different. That didn’t stop me from eating it, obviously. The flow inside my body is actually deeply connected to that structure in my head.
I think it’s something like a soul transmitter. I don’t know if souls exist in this world, but that’s the most obvious answer. Rather than a redundant brain-soul system, this world has only souls. Probably. Only this way does it make sense.
I continue to teach goblins. I also want to study my improved senses. The range of this new perk is really very small—not even one centimeter from my body. I cannot investigate most things that way, but there is a cheat. I just need to put something in my mouth. A stone, for example, has very small quantities of Earth Mana. I knew this before. I learn now that this mana is very unstable and quickly loses its aspect. On the other hand, ambient mana becomes Earth Mana. This is very dynamic and interesting because it suggests that it may be possible to manually change ambient mana into, for example, Fire Mana and cast a fireball. I haven't figured out a way to transform it yet.
I use Mana Reinforcement on the stone. Previously, I tried to strengthen the Earth Mana in the stone with ambient mana. I do the same now.
I get it. More ambient mana means more Earth Mana can appear out of it. My spell does so ineffectively, though. I experiment with it, trying to move mana in different ways. I also add more support, trying to keep as much Earth Mana as possible.
You have learned Mana Reinforcement skill!
The main version of the skill. I’m still not going to keep it.