Observing the battle, I think about what I can do. The best option seems to be to run back to the tunnel. Some of its sections are narrow enough to hold back the snake. Maybe the monster could even stick in there. It would be great. We are not targeted, though.

Axi and two others still have marks. I consider splitting up, mostly to ditch Axi and two other marked goblins, but it’s better to just risk their deaths and forcefully remove the runes. So, we are together in this for now.

The cave shakes as the snake hits the wall. The bastard is really big—like a few dozen meters. Its whole body is now in the cave, and it uses its massive body to kill spiders by slamming its tail. The spiders notice their venom is ineffective against scales, so they attack in melee. The snake thrashes its body around, crushing spiders under its mass.It coils when possible, and bites with every oppurtunnity. When the snake does not hit a wall, a squelch of smashed spiders can be heard.

Why is it not attacking us? In fact, why attack the spider's den in the first place? Does it think itself so powerful? I don’t think so. The earth mana! I use Mana Sense and confirm it. The snake tries to move in its direction, while spiders block the way. The bastard must have followed us here, but then sensed that source of earth mana and changed its target. This is great. I smile.

There are two possible outcomes now. Either the snake wins or the spiders win. In the first option, the exit should not be guarded too much, allowing us to escape. In the second option, we are going back to try to dig ourselves out. Actually, it’s better for the snake to win now. Come on, bastard! Win this!

More spiders come out of holes in the cave, presumably from more tunnels. I frown. One of the pillars in the cave cracks and falls to the ground after being hit by the snake’s tail. Some stones are dropping from the ceiling. This doesn’t look good.

However, what can I do? The battle continues, and the snake is pushing forward. Another shake. Damn. I observe as a big part of the ceiling falls down, killing a dozen spiders. Another hit. Shit! It's falling on us!

“Scatter!”

I jump to the side and roll on the ground. My body hits the wall, and I hear the sound of a heavy hit. I look around. Most goblins escaped, but one unlucky bastard has been crushed. There are only five of us now, but that’s not the problem. I look at the boulder. After falling, it rolled a bit toward the tunnel, mostly blocking it. There are some holes. I look around to see where I can squeeze through, but… the cold realization grips my heart. The tunnel is blocked.

I look the other way. We are now in the open. The spiders are not interested enough to attack us; the snake takes most of their attention, but there’s no more hiding. I hear another heavy hit. The snake is rampaging, crushing spiders. The floor has become a sea of spidery entrails. Only their legs are visible, sticking out from the gore.

Another pillar crumbles down. Second-tier spiders tightly guard the tunnel the snake wants to enter. I guess the only weak points of the scaly monster are on its head, like its eyes, so it’s hesitant about diving in with its head first.

The situation changes, though. There is only one pillar supporting the ceiling, but stones are falling constantly. I watch as one of the side walls crumbles and the ceiling falls. It’s a cave-in. The falling stones further destabilize the cave, and it's all slowly crumbling down. The snake must see it too.

“Move! Follow me!” I shout and start running. I don’t look back. I only notice the snake is no longer hesitating, and it jumped into the swarm of spiders, forcefully crawling in the tunnel, even as they bit it. Some spiders start to notice me, but I just avoid them. One of them attacks me, so I throw Mana Orb at it. I jump on a stone, then on the spider, and forward. Forward! A stone hits me in the head, and I stumble.

I get up and continue. I jump into a tunnel leading down. There’s a spider there! Crap! I’m going to land on it, so I do the only thing I can. I stomp on the spider’s head! The spider loses its footing, and we both roll down the slope of the tunnel. I try to hit it while rolling, but I fail to do any damage. We are practically hugging each other! The spider claws at me too, but my armor blocks most of the damage. Damn it! I bite the spider! This should kill it.

You have killed 1 1st tier monster. You have earned 50 Experience Points.

We both stop at the bottom, and I throw the still-twitching corpse to the side. I’m greeted by three more spiders. One of them jumps at me. I have no way to defend myself! I try to block with my arms as another goblin rolls down the tunnel and hits the jumping spider with its body, and they both roll further. The remaining two spiders attack as Axi rolls down and skewers one of them with her spear, halting her momentum.

Both I and the remaining spider are stunned, but I recover quickly and cast Mana Orb. The remaining spider stumbles, and Axi uses this to finish the monster off. Damn! Axi is such a killing machine!

We both look at the remaining goblin, but he raises up. His spider got crushed by his momentum. Lucky bastard. There are no more spiders around, so I assess the situation. Looking up into the tunnel, there are only some rocks rolling down. The cave really collapsed. Great. There is no way back. Also, we are down to three. The archer guy is also dead.

A look at what’s before me. Webs? I thought this spider species didn’t do that. I think there’s something hidden in the web. Prey? Eggs? I’m too afraid to check. We move. Only Axi has a weapon. We don’t find more spiders, but we hear a heavy hit. The bastard is still alive. I sigh. It may be good for us. It’s attracting the attention of spiders.

The tunnels are quite spacious and filled with webs along the sides. The air here is hot and wet. There are even more glowing mushrooms in the tunnels than before. As we wander around, Axi notices something. I look over, and it's a pile of bones. A big pile. These have to be the remains of captured animals. Axi picks up a few bones and starts grinding them. Right. She is recreating an ax. The remaining goblin is also looking for a weapon. I join them and pick a long bone, maybe a rib.

I want to mess with the web. I’m afraid to push my hand there, but I think it should be safe to use a bone. What can happen? The bone would be struck. No worry! There’s a whole pile remaining. I first touch the webs with the bone. No glue. I destroy some of them and find the round object inside. I pierce it with the sharp part of my weapon.

You have killed 1 0th tier monster. You have earned 5 Experience Points.

I watch as the egg’s insides flow out. Yep, these are eggs. I pierce another.

You have killed 1 0th tier monster. You have earned 5 Experience Points.

This… There are hundreds of eggs here. I smile. What a windfall of experience! I start popping eggs. I don't tell Axi or the remaining goblin anything. This is my chance! After getting experience, I will be able to pick up more perks and, even more importantly, evolve! My best bet may be to evolve into some subterranean goblin species, or just into any species that is good at digging. I suppress notifications for the moment, until…

You have advanced to level 10!

You have reached the maximum level for your species!

You have at least one option for evolving! You can evolve now!

I didn't notice it before, but when I finally reached level 10, I notice a change in the flow inside me. All my stats increased with the final level, so this is probably the result.

I don’t stop popping eggs, observing as my skills still level up. I spend half an hour, and finally, I get a massage.

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 God to store experience.

Interesting. This means I can store some experience. This is also a serious advertisement for gods. I kill some more unborn spiders and allow the rest of the notifications to appear.

You have killed 1297 0th tier monsters. You have earned 6485 Experience Points.

Your Iron Stomach trait has advanced to level 14!

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Your Spear Fighting skill has advanced to level 15!

Your Sneaking skill has advanced to level 18!

Your Hiding skill has advanced to level 17!

Your Tracking skill has advanced to level 8!

Your Tactics skill has advanced to level 32!

Your Mana Sense skill has advanced to level 26!

Your Mana Manipulation skill has advanced to level 24!

Your Weak Mana Infusion skill has advanced to level 16!

Your Mana Orb skill has advanced to level 16!

Your Wood Working skill has advanced to level 17!

Your Fortification Construction skill has advanced to level 9!

Your Trap Making skill has advanced to level 18!

Your Leadership skill has advanced to level 8!

Nice! I have seven more skills to choose perks for! Actually, my Tactics skill has jumped up the most. Does the system know I have some advanced knowledge from another world? Alternatively, it could be because of my reforms in the way our tribe fought. Regardless, it’s time to pick perks. I’m afraid of evolving now. In all the novels I have read on Earth, it usually takes some time, and I’m not in a safe location.

Let’s start with Iron Stomach! It’s my first perk for a trait, so I’m interested in the possible options. They start with the usual stat bonuses, and then there are three main options.

Resistant Stomach

Eat even poisonous food and live.

Efficient Stomach

Gain more nutrition from food.

Big Stomach

Be able to eat more at every meal.

Big Stomach is rather uninteresting. Resistant or Efficient? I think Resistent will be better, as it will allow me to eat more things.

Next, Tactics! There are three perks here to get.

Small Group Tactics I

Learn how to better command small groups.

Moment of Clarity

Think really fast for a few seconds. Any action would interrupt the moment.

Weapons Lore I

Become better at recognizing the usefulness of different weapons.

Moment of Clarity is the best, but I’m not sure how to proceed here. Should I pick three of them? Let’s start with the Moment and see what is going to happen next. I pick the perk, but I can still pick one again. Weapons Lore I and Small Group Tactics are still here, but there are two more perks to choose from.

Mark Allies

Mark allies with mana before a battle to know their position.

Focused Intelligence I

When under Moment of Clarity power, think like with 30% more Intelligence.

So the perks get better. Should I pick Mark Allies? I don’t know how good Moment of Clarity is. I pick Mark Allies and knowledge pours into me. It’s a complicated rune I have to create and embed into vitality so it doesn’t disappear. It’s similar to the snake’s rune, and it may even have the same design.

I pick the third perk. Focused Intelligence is still here with other perks, plus two more.

Mark of Borrowed Power

Release mana in your mark to grant a power boost for one moment. This will destroy the mark.

Feint Tactics I

Learn how to confuse your enemy.

I wonder if picking Feint Tactics would open more direct perks in that tree, like the power to directly confuse the enemy, not just by using clever tricks. I pick the Mark of Borrowed Power. I get more knowledge, but not that much. The rune’s design appears again in my mind, and it's mostly similar to the previous rune. Practically, it's an upgrade to a more complicated rune. I wonder, does this mean the snake has the option to detonate its marks or something similar? That would be scary.

I will have to mark Axi and the second goblin, but first, the Mana Sense perk! There were already a lot of perks.

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.

And the two new perks:

Vitality Mana Sense

Become more sensitive to vitality mana in your body.

Intrusion Detection

Become significantly more sensitive to any foreign mana intruding into your body.

I think I’m going to pick Resolution I. Intrusion Detection is useful, but not your everyday ability. Vitality Sense seems powerful and would surely help me upgrade Weak Mana Infusion, but it’s not the direction I want to go. I want to be able to use other mana types for fighting. Become a wizard. I wasn’t sure Resolution would help me before, but now I know there are ways to permanently alter mana in stuff.

It’s interesting that the system calls it vitality mana. I suppose that’s the proper name, rather than life mana.

My Mana Sense suddenly becomes better as I pick the perk. I sense inward, and yes, both perks stack. I will have to study more later. Maybe I should have picked Range? It would be more helpful right now. There’s no point in regretting it now. Mana Manipulation perk! The old options:

Mana River

Become significantly better at controlling large quantities of mana, at the cost of precision.

Mana Weave

Become significantly better at precise control, at the cost of volume control.

Mana Shield

Create a shield from mana, blocking or weakening incoming magic attacks.

Mana Dance

Become better at controlling mana by dancing and gesticulating.

Mana Flow I

Become slightly better at controlling mana.

The new perks are these:

Dispel

Make a chaotic burst of mana to dispel the continuous magic effect on others.

Counter-spell

Become better at fighting another will for dominance over mana

Mana Lock I

Become better at creating semi-stable mana constructs.

New additions are not the way I want to progress. Dispel would help in my current situation, but not enough to invest in the perk. I don’t think there are any mages around I can fight with for mana. The snake is not in my weight class. Mana Lock? That will help with marks and my orb magic. I sigh. Mana Flow I. No runic magic I have right now will help me right now, so I may as well go for general ability. There’s also a chance I will get some magic from the evolution.

Mana Orb is the last skill with a perk to pick. It’s currently my only offensive skill, so I hope for something good.

Structured Orb

Create a more stable Mana Orb by adding connecting mana to the spell.

Mana Orb Specialist I

When creating and using a mana orb, do so with 30% more Will.

Really? Only that? Damn. The specialist is a direct upgrade, but it’s not what I wanted. I want to do more, not better. I suppose Structured Orb lets me do so, but I don’t really need stability. I want more damage. I grimace. That’s what the second perk is for; these perks are kind of annoying. I pick Structured Orb. I will have more to learn due to the new perks of Mana Manipulation and Mana Sense, but I want more. Also, I hope Structured Orb will lead to something better.

Knowledge flows into my mind. I shape ambient mana into the new orb. It’s not going to disperse imminently after I stop controlling it. Actually, why not test it? I leave the orb, and it breaks after a few seconds. I suppose that’s enough time to create a second one. The structure is also interesting. I will have fun studying it later.

For now, I go to Axi and the last goblin. They are finishing their new weapons. Axi created a heavy ax, and the goblin just crafted a few short spears from bones.

“Let me try something.” I move to the male goblin. I concentrate on casting the mark. Perk helps by providing muscle memory, but I still want to know how to do it without the perk. I create structure from the mana. The process is similar to casting the new orb spell, but the actual structure is completely different. I push more mana and sent it into the goblin’s arm. The mark stabilizes and sends a link to me.

It seems it’s not a wireless connection. Anyone with Mana Sense would notice. It’s not a big problem, though. That just means they will know we are using magic. Apart from the snake, I didn't see anyone else using magic. I suppose adventurers had it, but I can’t be sure.

The range will probably be the bigger problem. I doubt that link can stretch for kilometers.

Knowing the procedure is safe, I do the same for Axi. I check my status.

Name: NA

Age: 0

Race: Goblin

Level:10/10

Strength: 8

Vitality: 7

Endurance: 5

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 24

Will: 21

Affinity: 8

Health:16/24

Stamina:22/41

Mana:0/0

Traits

Iron Stomach 14 – Steel Stomach

Combat skills

Spear Fighting 15 – Strength I

Sneaking 18 – Silent Walk I

Hiding 17 – Temperate Forest Monster Lore I

Tracking 8

Tactics 32 – Moment of Clarity, Mark Allies, Mark of Borrowed Power

Magic Skills

Mana Sense 26 - Inward Perfection, Resolution I

Mana Manipulation 24 – Mana Burst, Mana Flow I

Weak Mana Infusion 16 – Affinity I

Mana Orb 16 – Structured Orb

Crafting Skills

Wood Working 17 - Mana Wood Reinforcement I

Fortification Construction 9

Trap Making 18 – Will I

Leadership 8

Titles

None

Nice! Now, I just need to find a safe location and evolve. Reaching level ten gave me plus one stat point for everything, due to the stat growth of goblin species.

I tell Axi to break the remaining eggs. There are only a few dozen of them remaining, but it's still some additional experience. Also, I don’t want any of them to hatch and attack our backs. I notice the mana in Axi grows a bit. She probably reached level five.

Following that, I use Mana Sense to locate the source of the earth mana, and we choose the opposite direction. After a minute, I realize our tunnel had collapsed. There is a small passage, though, so I look through it. There are a lot of spiders. Now I know why the breeding chamber was so empty. We could maybe remove stones, but good luck fighting that horde. I sigh. Now I hope the tunnels on the other side are also collapsed. This will make this chamber a relatively safe place. We can still hear occasional rumbles and vibrations. Spiders are still fighting the snake over there. I don’t want to go there at all.