Time passes. Asaru doesn't want to remain the chieftain, so I promised her I would find a new one. I need to find a few talented hobs and bring them into my inner circle anyway. Divide and rule, they say. I need to create factions and then sic them on each other.
While most elites died in the fight, some survived. Hobs are also leveling. Just after Axi died, there have been a few ambitious hobs. Obviously, those I won’t recruit. My criteria is simple: average, passive, but loyal. I don’t want ambitious hobs in my inner circle. They say that you should keep friends close, but enemies closer. If you make enemies your followers, though, you need to always watch your back.
That’s not what I want. I don’t even mind creating a puppet chieftain that will take care of day-to-day affairs, as long as he listens to me in all other aspects. So, I’m going to find passive, but somehow talented hobs and give them commanding positions. The ambitious hobs can create their own factions. As long as there are a few of them, I can keep them in check by forcing them to fight each other for resources.
A month passed. Axi evolved into an epic mage type hobgoblin using an air core. She actually got another title, Speed-run, for evolving before becoming an adult. It gives her another +10 to all stats. That makes her as strong as most hobs, even when she is just a regular goblin.
Speed-run (+10 All Stats)
She killed herself after that, forcing Anastasia to bear her again. Let’s say Anastasia wasn’t happy about that. Neither was I, since I wanted to complete my Soul Blade.
In the meantime, I recruited three hobs for my faction. I named them Gen, Gon, and Greenek. I gave Greenek the freed air mana core, the only one I could spare.
In my opinion, earth magic is strongest in our environment, but I no longer had any earth core. Foary has one, while Eonat has another. Eonat became leader of the strongest faction beside mine. He is the only greenskin in the tribe that has a core and isn’t loyal to me.
My current goal is to train up Greenek and make him my puppet chieftain. I’m hoping that with some runic tattoos, acting like my magic, he will be strong enough to assume the mantle of the chieftain. I could buff him, but I can’t follow him everywhere. High level hobs are too smart. They will notice the discrepancy and simply challenge Greenek outside the tribe, where I won’t be able to interfere.
Axi had been born again, and at that time I forced her to help me complete Soul Blade first. She ate water core and once again picked Epic evolution, officially becoming a better mage than me stat-wise. Scary. I reincarnated her using Samantha. It's easier this way, since this is practically Samantha's job within the tribe.
More importantly, it’s time to start my soul experiments. The soul blade is practically a milling machine, but for souls. I pick up a soul and throw it inside. There, several enchantments create condensed barriers using isolating mana. If someone were to physically grab a soul, getting it out would be easy. When I try to push my hand through the barrier, I can. There’s just a slight resistance. After all, isolating mana means isolating other mana types from each other, not physical matter.
Regardless, it’s enough to keep a soul stable. Then, there is the actual soul blade. It uses a chaos core. The blade is draining chaos mana and turning it into chaos at its tip. I hope it will be enough to scar the soul. I’m not sure about the long-term consequences, but I can experiment. I also plan to sacrifice most of my Experience Points from my skills to upgrade Transplant Soul. The system should have the necessary knowledge and inform me if there are any problems.
Asaru already gave me runes for fake mana, but they are very basic and not suitable for my problems. It’s possible to store, create, or move away fakeness, but not create a specific effect. For example, if I were to create a wooden sword and paint it to look like it’s made from metal, I could use runes to make it behave like a metal sword for a while. However, I can’t fake a normal wooden sword into something else. If I want to use this in my Soul Blade, I still need to create some fake effect and then enhance it. Moreover, the effect has to specifically create fakeness. That could be even harder than doing stuff in a normal way.
I turn on enchantment and observe. The arm reaches the soul. I sigh. There is some effect, but it will take hours before the soul is damaged. Elemental mana is a bit too weak. Whatever. It will just take me more time. A day later, I created a simple rune on the soul that should attract ambient mana to it. I transplant the rat's soul before it disperses and wait.
Axi’s wins the race of fetuses, this time aiming for the chaos core. I remove it from my machine and give it to her. Half a day later, she completes her evolution and kills herself. I sigh. At this point, she has nearly twice my mental stats. Since only the order core is missing from her build, I take Prisham and Greenek for a hunt and kill them, making sure they won't notice it was me.
"I want it too,” Asaru tells me as I return to the camp.
“What?”
“Reincarnate me.”
“Won’t you lack physical strength after? Isn’t it why you didn’t go for it until now?”
“Yes, it's peaceful now. I can afford it. Also, after watching Axi decisively kill herself for power, I feel like a coward.”
I kill her and earn EXP for killing a 3rd-tier monster. I transplant her soul into the same batch as Axi and two other hobs.
In the meantime, the rat with soul modifications is born. Its soul has some light scaring, but most damage is healed without scarring over. I kill the rat and try to do over, this time avoiding places that are already scarred.
My plan is fairly simple. I want to engrave runes on the soul that would allow it to move using ambient mana. I would then create a beacon, which I would keep for myself. This way, Axi’s soul would always move in my direction, unless someone else captured her soul.
I never encountered a natural force strong enough that could move a soul against the theoretical force my runes will generate. In most situations, this level of preparation should be fine to recover the soul of someone I want to save. The range won’t be very far since I lack runes of many-merged mana types, but I don’t plan to separate with Axi.
I also experiment with treating traits as body cultivation. I don’t want to experiment on myself, so I find a few more rats. I place each one in a container filled to the brim with either air mana or water mana, plus another for vitality mana. Normally, a high concentration of mana will result in mana turning into an element. Air getting into a rat’s blood will kill it, so I had to engrave runes around containers to prevent it. I don’t know such runes for vitality mana, but vitality should be harmless.
Soon, Samantha bears Axi, Asaru, Greenek, and Prisham together with another regular goblin.
“What?” They are confused.
“You died in an ambush, but don’t worry. I sacrificed some of my power and brought you back to life.”
“That’s…” Pisham looks at me in wonder.
“You are my loyal minion. Obviously, I’m not going to abandon you, even in death.”
“Grand Shaman!” Greenek prostrates, to which Axi rolls her eyes. I give her a look. ‘Don’t sabotage my brainwashing!’
“Raise! You need to eat well and become adults. I recovered your core, Greenek, but Prisham's core has been damaged. Don’t worry. I will repair it; just give me a few weeks.”
Greenek is going to pick a stronger class now. He will also get the Speed-run title. I don’t want Prisham to be too strong, but I had to recover his core. He seems meek enough, so hopefully there won't be any problems. On the other hand, this will make it easier for him to become the chieftain.
I ask Prisham to drop his Order Mana Control skill since I want to test what will happen. After complying, he can no longer control order mana. I know for sure that a monster without a skill but with a core can control their element normally. It seems that skill somehow allows Axi to control mana, even though she doesn’t have a matching core or is attuned to mana types like enlightened.
I ask the same for Asaru. I have her fake core, so she can easily regain her magic. Losing EXP is a bit of pain, but she will be able to recover the levels in a few weeks. She can still use all her tricks, even after dropping the skill.
“I think I could even condense another fake core in myself without eating my old one.”
Asaru told me she got her fake core from a moment of enlightenment. Is this some form of Dao cultivation? Do cores allow us to manipulate mana, but our understanding is flawed and not internalized? After losing core, we can only manipulate our old mana types because of the system, unless we have some deeper connection with the mana type.
This would mean Anastasia actually has some understanding. She can manipulate mana even without skills. Asaru’s understanding would be the greatest. She can do things none of us can do, even without any skills. Even without a core. I observe as she uses several trinkets to store fakeness in them. She can probably also slowly drain fake mana from them. I sigh. Should I meditate on the nature of mana and Dao?
Two weeks later, Axi eats the order core and kills herself after evolving. She already has all six skills for the basic elements, but she doesn’t want to keep order, as its best use in battle is to keep your equipment in top condition. She prefers something more offensive. I can’t give her the chaos core, as I need it for experiments. Besides chaos core, I have Axi's old fire core, air core, and water core. She doesn't want any basic mana cores for now, believing that could make the skill consolidation harder.
Asaru wants the water core.
“What about the fake core? Maybe you should try to condense another first. I can keep your core safe for now, but it’s ultimately a possession. It can be stolen. It can be lost.”
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“Fine.” She shrugs. I wait a few minutes. Suddenly, I notice ambient mana rushing toward Asaru. “Done.”
I stare at the fake mana core in my hands. What should I do with it? Should I give it to Axi? That would make her an even scarier monster. Asaru just showed me that we can farm fake cores. I could give one to nearly everyone in the tribe. I shudder. That’s certain death.
Four-merged cores should be immensely expensive. If someone figures out that we can farm them, even top tier forces in this world may be interested. This is four-merged magic! Sure, maybe 9th tier powerhouses can also farm cores. Actually, they probably can, simply using the same method. There should be others who have experienced enlightenment. The top force can probably remove Asaru’s core without killing her. Still, how many can experience enlightenment that leads to four-merged magic? Even if they can farm some four-merged mana cores, they probably lack fake mana.
The core in my hands is both a treasure and a curse. I think about my five-merged core and shudder in fear. I’m not planning to stop using my own magic, so I can try to use this core. I just need to make sure nobody important learns about it. How ironic. I need to fake that the fake core is not a fake core.
Asaru uses her magic to fake being an orc for the next two weeks and then gives up her position as a chieftain, making every old hob fight for the position. I only help Greenek a bit. He wins over Eonat in the final fight and becomes our chieftain.
Back to my experiments, I managed to scar the soul enough to create a working rune. After killing the rat, its soul pulls nearby ambient mana, which causes the soul to move. This flight is chaotic, but adding more runes should solve the problem.
More importantly, the rat seemed fine while it was still alive. Prisham used Identify skills, and informed me that the rat has the Mana Soul Siphon trait. Apparently, it gives a small bonus to the rat's mental stats. That makes sense since the rat's soul now creates a high-mana concentration environment for itself. I need to experiment with goblins next.
Time passes. Anastasia attunes to chaos mana in the meantime. This allows her to mix fire and chaos for a slightly more destructive effect, though it’s nowhere near two-merged destructiveness. I think it’s a crude form of combination magic.
We will need to make a trip to Roheb and bother Nicolas. He can’t teach us, but maybe he can enchant an arrow with genuine fire-chaos combination magic. Combination magic can mimic merged magic. Essentially, it’s perceived as a flawed merger. For example, you can create lava using earth and fire magic. Then, using combination magic, you can control lava using those two mana types. The problem is that the effect is half as powerful, while you need to spend twice as much mana on it.
Combination magic is not useful for monsters, given we can only control one mana type, but it’s common among the enlightened. At least that’s what I have learned from Anastasia and books. Enlightened have a storage of ambient mana in their souls. Let’s say that a human has a pool of 100 mana. That mage can then turn it into 100 units of lava mana, if they are attuned to lava. Using combination magic, they have to turn 100 ambient mana into 50 earth and 50 fire mana, and merge them. Then, the effect will be halved compared to genuine lava magic.
Regardless of the cons, combination magic is still immensely popular among the enlightened. High merged elements are simply too useful. So what if the effect is weak? Even a bit of high merged magic can change outcomes for a myriad of activities. Unfortunately for the enlightened, high merged combination magic is simply too hard. It’s one thing to create a lava effect, as it’s an obvious combination. It’s harder to get effects that require symbolic meanings.
If I were to guess, getting high merged mana types from basic elements is probably equivalent to the holy grail of alchemy, being able to create high merged elements from basic ones. In practice, all mages would use two-merged elements to create effects of three-merged elements, and so on. If I were to create a combination casting vitality magic effect, I would probably use flesh, bone, and blood mana. Stuff like that, rather than fire, water, air, earth, and order mana.
Axi finally achieves her goal.
“Did your skills combine?”
“No. I think I need to raise all their levels first. Only then will they combine. Can we start poison resistance training?”
“Ok. I learned how to make a few simple poisons from nearby plans. We can also catch something venomous and extract its venom.”
Axi nods. She is a terrifying existence right now. Even though she is just a freshly born goblin, her physical stats are only barely weaker than mine, while her mental stats are over two times mine. She only controls all the basic elements and received epic skills for each element. Her only problem is that she can’t drop her mana control skills for basic elements. They fill six of her ten mana skill slots. She also needs ambient mana skill for the merge to happen, so she can’t level up her epic skills right now, but she can still use them in their basic form.
As soon as she evolves into a hob, she is going to be the absolute strongest in our tribe. Even Asaru won’t be her match, unless she reincarnates a few more times.
“Do you want a fake core? Asaru will want to reincarnate again soon. She will probably aim for the same skill you do. We no longer have all the necessary cores, but given how much stronger our tribe has become, we can probably procure them.”
Axi thinks for a while before answering. “Let me check evolution options first. Actually, I also want to merge the skills before that. I can always train my smiting skills in the meantime. I’m no longer the chieftain. I don’t need to rush.”
I ramp up my experiments with scarring souls and start concocting poison for Axi.
You have learned Hedge Alchemy(Common) skill!
This fills up my last crafting slot.
Two weeks later, I create a prototype for my new skill. Rat’s soul uses ambient mana to move in the direction of my beacon. I just need to repeat it with a goblin’s soul, and I will sacrifice most of my magic skills to upgrade Transplant Soul, or maybe create a new skill. After that, I just need to figure out how to make transplantation automatic and how to engrave runes on my own soul, and I will be quasi-immortal.
I will probably have to get access to better magic heritage. Ideally, I need runes for a few mana types. Something like the equivalent of quantum entanglement, so that our souls are always connected on some level. Connection mana? Ambient mana has connecting properties, so there may not be such a mana type. I don’t know. I need knowledge. While I’m confident in completing my current work and making sure I will never lose Axi’s soul, I don’t even know how to start with the next step.
I take a look at my status screen.
You have killed 476 1st tier monsters! You have earned 40123 Experience Points!
You have killed 623 2nd tier monsters! You have earned 432 049 Experience Points!
You have reached level 12 → 13.
Your Hedge Alchemy skill has reached level 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → 11 → 12 → 13 → 14 → 15. (Perk Available!)
Your Plotting skill has reached level 33 → 34 → 35 → 36.
Your Bone Working skill has reached level 18 → 19.
Your Rune Scribbling skill has reached level 40 → 41 → 42 → 43 → 44 → 45 → 46. (Perk Available!)
Your Leadership skill has reached level 32 → 33 → 34 → 35 → 36 → 37.
Your Trap Making skill has reached level 23.
Your Move Soul skill has reached level 21 → 22 → 23 → 24 → 25.
Your Rune Basics skill has reached level 47 → 48.
Your Woodworking skill has reached level 28 → 29.
Your Strategy skill has reached level 37 → 38.
Your Fortification Construction skill has reached level 14 → 15.
Your Flesh Working skill has reached level 25.
Your Mana Sense skill has reached level 51.
Your Mana Manipulation skill has reached level 51.
Your Iron Stomach trait has reached level 27
Your Vitality Clot skill has reached level 32
Your Vitality Bank skill has reached level 27
Your Soul Perception skill has reached level 31
Your Vitality Buff skill has reached level 29 → 30 → 31 → 32. (Perk Available!)
Your Transplant Soul skill has reached level 24 → 25 → 26.
Your Vitality Mana Affinity trait has reached level 17 → 18.
Your Vitality Mana Control skill has reached level 33 → 34.
Name: Smag the Warlock (Common)
Age: 1
Race: Hobgoblin Grand Shaman
Level:13/20
Strength: 18
Vitality: 38
Endurance: 12
Dexterity: 35
Intelligence: 71
Will: 71
Affinity: 47
Health:192/192
Stamina:139/157
Mana:480/480
Traits
Iron Stomach 27 (Uncommon) – Resistant Stomach, Efficient Stomach
Vitality Mana Affinity 18 (Legendary) – Poison Crusher
Combat skills
Spear Fighting 29 (Common) – Strength I, Strength II
Sneaking 28 (Common) – Silent Walk I, Silent Walk II
Hiding 27 (Common) – Temperate Forest Monster Lore I, Silent Breathing
Tracking 14 (Uncommon) Intelligence I
Strategy 38 (Rare) – Will I, Lieutenants I, Command Range I
Sword Fighting 34 (Common) – Basic Sword Moves, Deflecting I, Grounded Style
Dodging 23 (Common) – Strong Legs I, Strong Legs II
Magic Skills
Mana Sense 51 (Uncommon) – Inward Perfection, Resolution I, Vitality Mana Sense, Master of Own Body, Mana of the Body
Mana Manipulation 51 (Uncommon) – Mana Flow I, Mana Lock I, Rune Casting, Mana Insulation, Mana Domain
Vitality Buff 32 (Epic) – Gates I, Gates II,
Vitality Clot 32 (Very Rare) – Sails I, Bigger Clot,
Vitality Bank 27 (Very Rare) – Stealth, Auto-Destruction
Soul Perception 31 (Very Rare) – Decay Sense, Remaining Time, Mage Sense
Move Soul 25 (Very Rare) – Grip, Soul Storage
Rune Basics 48 (Uncommon) – Basic Runes, Basic Earth Runes, Basic Air Runes, Ambient Mana Runes
Transplant Soul 26 (Epic) – Borrowed Vitality, Store Soul
Vitality Mana Control 34 (Legendary) – Vitality Flow I, Vitality Runes, Healer
Crafting Skills
Wood Working 29 (Common) - Mana Wood Reinforcement I, Rune Carving
Fortification Construction 15 (Rare) – Intelligence I
Trap Making 23 (Common) - Will I, Will II
Leadership 37 (Uncommon) – Will I, Loud and Clear, Eye for Managers
Rune Scribbling 46 (Uncommon) - Rune Scribbling Specialist I, Rune Scribbling Specialist II, Wood Expertise
Bone Working 19 (Common) – Dexterity I
Plotting 36 (Uncommon) – Acting I, Relationships Analyzer I, Relationships Analyzer II
Flesh Working 25 (Rare) – Anatomy I, Addons
Hedge Alchemy 15 (Common)
Titles
None
Rune Basics, Mana Manipulation, Mana Sense, Soul Perception and Move Soul skills I will sacrifice for sure. Rune Scribbling? Maybe. Most of my skills revolve around my vitality mana, which is not useful for what I’m doing. Will sacrificing additional skills give a better result, even if they are not relevant? I try to ask the system, but get somehow evasive answer. The new skill will be based on sacrificed skills and my own understanding. It seems like a soft no.
So, will sacrificing Dodge, for example, give me nothing, or will it actively corrupt the outcome? The system doesn’t want to answer that. I guess the example is too specific. Most of those skills are not of high rarity, so given how much EXP I’m earning each day, filling them back won’t take too long. I suppose I may try to sacrifice everything even a bit revelant first.
First, though, we need to go on a trip to Roheb. I wonder: did Adam manage to build the telegraph?