I look at Asaru and ask her again. I can’t help it. “You mean, you want to have sex with Axi?”
“Yes.”
What do I do? I can’t help but think about the political benefits of this. Damn! I can’t sell Axi! But… I remember Axi actually trying to pimp me to Asaru back in the dungeon. Should I be happy we think similarly, or cry instead? Damn.
“I have been present there, though. I mean, with other girls.”
“That’s fine. I want Axi, but I don’t mind doing it with you as well.” Asaru calmly says.
“I see. Regardless, I will need to talk with Axi about it. How about we discuss it again in a few days?”
She nods and leaves. I loudly exhale. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. I hope talking with Axi will clear up the situation a bit. I didn't think Asaru was bisexual as well. Hm. How are the chances that only two female goblins I have ever met will be both bisexual? It seems like I’m lucky.
Or maybe not. One is happenstance, two is coincidence; three… I raise up from the chair and walk to the door. I take a look at the tribe. Some goblins are carving, others are sleeping. One group is eating. Nothing unusual is happening.
Why is there no permanent gay orgy in my tribe?
Like, seriously. I try to find a goblin who is gay. I never saw any. But it doesn’t make sense. A place full of males and a lack of females. Society is largely based on strength. Hobs should be raping regular goblins all the time. Why not?
I take a few breaths to calm myself. On earth, I have been straight. That is to say, I didn’t have a strange phobia of gays or disgust toward male bodies. While I wasn’t attracted to males, if a billionaire offered a lot of money for sex with me, I would agree without problem. Sure, it probably wouldn’t be very pleasurable for me, but I also don’t think I would have nightmares. As long as it's normal sex and not kidnapping and rape, but that’s not important here.
How do I feel about it right now? I try to think about having sex with one of the male hobs. It’s… just… impossible? It’s certainly possible to have gay sex. I know that. But… thinking… Damn! It’s like my being is telling me this is definitely impossible and I shouldn’t even try. Why?
That’s obvious. Whoever created goblins, a Dark God presumably, didn’t want permanent gay orgy, but conquest and rape. What about women? The system says that goblins are exclusively male. I even wondered if Axi was even a goblin due to this. Could female goblins be genetic mutants or some kind of aberrant greenskin?
Maybe they are no longer under some law that makes all goblins male and straight. I frown. Why are they bi, then? I suppose the simplest theory is that they only escaped partially.
I don’t like having my mind messed with. On one hand, it’s not like this knowledge will help me much, or the restriction is troublesome. Even without that restriction, the chances of me engaging in gay sex are little to none. That is, unless a gay billionaire with a taste for goblins appears. I suppose I won’t be able to profit from such a situation. I don’t feel particularly cheated.
But, damn! I hate that becoming goblin messed with my mind. I knew that it gave me goblin instincts, but I mostly ignored that. It’s not like humans don’t have instincts. I just got a different set. The restriction is significantly more violative. It’s near mind control.
In the evening, Axi comes home from the hunt. “Axi, we need to talk.”
“Did something happen?”
“I suppose.” I grimace. How should I start this? This is awkward. “What do you think about Asaru?”
“Didn’t we already discuss this?”
“It's about something else. Look. Asaru came by earlier today. She said she was interested in you.”
“Interested?”
“Just like you, she also desires women in her bed. Apparently, you are quite attractive in her eyes.”
“Oh. That’s what you mean.”
“Yeah.”
We sit in silence for a while, until Axi asks me. “Do you think I should do it with her?”
I grimace. “No, not necessary. I mean, “ I exhale. “Axi, I don’t want to lose you. I treat our marriage agreement seriously.” She nods. “That said, we could gain quite a lot from Asaru's infatuation. But it’s up to you, and we need to make sure this won’t create a rift between us.”
Axi thinks for a while. “After evolving, she is middle aged now.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t want to do it with a granny hobgoblin, but middle aged orc is fine with me as well.” I reply.
“Ok, I don’t mind.”
“Wait. It’s not that simple. What next? We have our agreement. What about Asaru? How will she impact it long term? It’s fine for one night, but if this is to last…"
Axi frowns. “I don’t think you should worry. It’s not like she can impregnate me.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t want you as an incubator. I want you for who you are as a person. I want your time. Asaru will take some of it.”
“That… I never thought about it in that way.
“Think about it.”
Time passes. Axi talked with Asaru and told her to wait a bit. I still don’t know what would be best. I suppose I just want Axi to stay mine. As long as that’s true, it’s fine if Asaru joins us, I suppose.
“Foary!” I call my disciple over. “Show me your formation.”
“Sure!” He agrees and starts manipulating the soil. He picked a path a few days ago. His intelligence went up, so he can now speak half sentences. He isn’t good enough to create his own formations or even adjust them, but coping is fine. Goblins are good at coping.
The formation starts to work, and a strong wind blows inside. I inspect it with my skills. The lines are sturdy enough. A direct attack will break the formation, but it will hold against someone walking above it. The wind isn't strong enough to help against anything other than birds, but it's still good enough for an ambush.
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“Create an enchanted wall for me.”
He pulls soil toward him and creates a wall. Then, he creates runic lines inside. It takes him about thirty minutes to complete everything, and by then, all of his mana is gone. The wall is two meters long, two meters high, and half a meter wide. I inspect formations. Half of them reinforce the wall. They suck earth mana from the ground and pour it into the wall.
I walk closer and hit the wall with my fist. It goes two centimeters in. I sigh. A proper wall must be built with stone. This one is still good, but to be useful, it needs to be much larger. Essentially, we need a small hill. That’s doable, but it will take years to complete it at this rate.
I keep inspecting formations. The most important formation prevents using earth magic against the wall. All earth mana is bound to the formation, so a mage trying to use earth mana to collapse the wall will need to first take control of that mana. It won’t stop the mage, but it will delay them long enough. I would estimate that with only a crude attack, it will take at least a minute to break that restriction for 2nd tier mage.
The rest of the formations defend against the magics we have runes for. Mostly chaos, water, and mud.
“Good enough. Now, show me your Vitality Sharing Link skill.” He nods and starts to create a runic formation on my skin. I allow him, constantly monitoring his work. “It’s working.” This is one of two new skills I have created. This one was classified as Rare by the system. It allows goblins with this rune to share a surplus of their vitality with each other by touching. Effectively, this is a first aid skill. It won’t allow transferring more than 10% of a person's vitality, but a group of ten hobgoblins can theoretically stabilize one of them from even the most grievous wounds.
“Now, show me Vitality Mana Blessing skill.” He nods again. I use my mana to break his Vitality Sharing Link runes, and he starts to create runes for the new skill. It’s also a Rare skill. The skill allows one to siphon vitality mana from another. I just give mana from my core to the rune. Normal goblins will have to agree and won’t resist. Losing vitality mana won’t decrease HP, but it will debuff. Everything becomes stronger when saturated with mana, while becoming less of itself when its mana is drained.
Taking someone's vitality mana makes them overall weaker. The lacking mana is restored in a few minutes afterward. Drained mana is stored in Foary’s body, and he can bestow it back on someone to give them a buff. It’s around 20%, but don’t interfere with goblins buffing themselves with ambient mana via Mana Infusion skill. Vitality mana can’t be stored this way for long, so this skill is only useful before a planned battle.
Ideally, I would recreate my Vitality Buff skill, but that would require at the very least creating runic tattoos or another permanent and extensive form of leaving magic on goblins.
“Good! Now, you need to polish your skills. I want you to start enchanting the walls of our settlement. Later, we may even work on a grand formation.”
“Yes, master!” Foary smiles enthusiastically. I suppose the fact that he suddenly eats his fill helps. I threatened him a few times that I would throw him away if he kept failing, and it’s his skills in formations that keep him sated.
Now, Zerenek will have to show off his disciple as well, or he will lose popular respect. Both outcomes are fine, though I would obviously prefer to recruit his disciple and then kill Zerenek, as originally planned.
After that, I may actually work a bit on the grand formation. My plan is to use regular goblins as batteries of vitality mana and use that mana to buff veteran goblins. That would be a 20% buff to all my strongest warriors, as long as they are close to the formation. It would be even better if I could start husbandry and use animals.
Obviously, creating a grand formation that uses fake mana would even be better. Asaru must know some fake mana runes. I’m not sure how advanced they are or how useful they would be for a formation, but I still desire them. Generating fake mana is relatively easy. I just need to camouflage something in such a way that it starts resembling something else. I sigh thinking about Asaru. I desire power, but I’m not a guy to sacrifice my happiness for it. Not if this is not necessary.
Life is good. I just need to kill Zerenek and Rike’grak, and I will be able to enjoy life in peace. I don’t mind staying put for a few months, maybe even for a year. I should be able to finish my soul blade in a few days. There is so much to do.
[Zerenek’s POV]
“It’s good you finally agreed to some action. It was getting boring.” Rike’grak admonishes me. I would rather wait more and prepare better, but Smag, that bastard, forced my hand. He showed off his disciple to the tribe two days ago. My own disciple is coming along fine, but I’m not sure I will win. Regardless, I had agreed to waste time. I just didn’t expect him to work so fast. I suppose it makes sense. He must have been teaching his disciple for weeks before starting the competition. How devious.
“Indeed. It’s time to return to good old times.” I smile back. Sixteen hobs are marching behind us. I turn to them. “Don’t worry, you will all rise in status as the Rike’grak reclaims our tribe's glory!”
“No need! That female must have cheated!”
“How could she defeat Rike’grak?”
“Boss,” I start, “how about you let me bless you before a challenge? This will balance that foul magic her shaman cast on her.”
“No need! She may be a cheater, but I’m an honorable orc! I will defeat her with my own power, just like our ancestors did! As a chieftain, I will lead you all to glory, unlike that woman who just listens to her shaman’s dick!”
“Rike’grak!”
“Rike’grak!”
“Rike’grak!”
“Time to fight! We will get enough Experience to become the strongest!”
I snort in my head. Smag, that accursed being, created a system that gives him a lot of Experience Points. We may be getting more of it, but he is getting his EXP with minimal effort AND sharing it with Axi via his resurrection magic. Unfortunately, only these sixteen hobs stayed loyal to Rike’grak. Most of the tribe just acknowledged Axi’s victory and moved on. If not for that, I could just gather everyone and kill Axi and that idiot Smag.
After half an hour, we find our goal. Kobolts. To win, I must first create a war as a distraction.
[Smag’s POV]
“Skirmishes?”
“Yep.” Axi explains while lying on our bed. I massage her feet. “Kobolts keep attacking our hunting parties, sometimes getting quite deep into our territory. I had to run around all day. How could I be so tired otherwise?”
“Why?
“No idea. They just started doing this suddenly. Maybe they have trouble hunting enough food.”
I grimace. “Are their incursions getting bigger?”
“Yep. We are mostly losing, but we hit them back a few times. We lost over thirty goblins already. They probably lost half that number.”
“At this rate, it’s going to end in a proper war.” I grimace.
“Please, I would prefer it. Make it war.” Axi begs while sprawled on the bed.
I shrug. “Get a bunch of warriors and hit them in their territory. That should do it.”
War is not a big deal to me. It would be annoying. Nobody will fight for survival, so after a few weeks, both sides will probably go back to hunting. It’s not like we can fight and hunt at the same time.
We will probably lose that war, but it should only end with losing part of our hunting grounds. It’s not a big deal. In the worst-case scenario, I just need to delay enough to establish a grand formation under the villiage. Then, we can feign defeat and lure them to the formation.
“I want to do it.” Axi interrupts my musings.
I chuckle. “Go ahead. Just watch out for any strange magic.”
“Not that. I meant about Asaru.”
Oh.
“I think it will be fine.” She continues.
“Do you? I’m somehow apprehensive.”
“Aren’t we having sex with Samantha and Nancy already?”
“It’s different. Those two are our subordinates. I can control them. I can’t control Asaru.”
“So you just want control.”
“Don’t you?”
“Hm. I think a bit of chaos is enjoyable.”
I snort. “Sure, but we have to minimize the chaos to be safe.”
She smiles. “Anyway, I think it will go differently than you think. I think she believes I will be different than Rike’grak because I’m a girl. She doesn’t know you are different too.”
The three of us meet a few hours later.
“Asaru, we agree.”
“Great! But why now? I heard kobolts are gathering, and there will be a fight soon.”
Axi chuckles. “They won’t move very fast. I’m planning to gather our warriors and go meet them tomorrow. I would rather fight in a place I know. We prepared some traps as well.”
Asaru nods. “I noticed.” She smirks. “I won’t delay, then.” She starts stripping. Her body is rather lean. Muscles are still visible when she moves, but that makes it sexy. She does have some winkles here and there, but overall, she has a fine body. “Do you like it?” She asks Axi.
“We will see.” Axi challenges her and starts stripping as well. I join.
Two hours later, Asaru lays on her back, looking at the ceiling absentmindedly. I cuddle with Axi by her side.
“I think we should have held back.” Axi says this while looking at Asaru with a bit of worry.
I chuckle and kiss her. “You taste like Asaru.”
Axi smirks. “It would be stranger if I didn’t. Seriously, we shouldn’t have concentrated only on her. She will be pregnant for sure.” I roll my eyes.
Asaru initially wanted only Axi, but after doing it two times with me, she happily jumped on my dick for another round. Poor Asaru never had a good sex, and it seems we blew up her mind.
I smile. “I think I can go for another round. How about it?” Vitality magic has its perks.