Let's talk about forests. Common forest on Earth are... somewhat boring. There are animals, funny looking plants, sometimes, and all forests become some sort of dumpsters. There are almost no aggressive animals left, any animal starts to act violently, they are put down. A few centuries ago that was not the case, humans fought tooth and nail with nature for resources, man could be killed by a wolf just as easily as wolf could be killed, but now... now most campers and tourists carried standard issued protection devices ranging from pepper sprays, which were worse than death to many animals, to military issued firearms. Last time I've gone on a stroll to forest I brought with me incendiary bombs, toxins and hazmat gear, as well as modular rifle. Oh boy, that was fun. Actually that was in the jungles, got mission to dispose of some lab ran by pharmaceutical company, managed to infiltrate with the new team of scientists, which managed to get themselves killed on the second day. Poor bastards...
Anyway, forests on earth, or Earth, whatever you wish to call that dumpster, had few types of creatures, mainly wolves, rabbits, squirrels, bears (though they were rarity after what some morons labeled as bear flu), annoying insects and whatnot.
Now let's talk about forests here, whatever this planet might be called. First of all, those rabbits are HUGE! Ever encountered an elk on earth? Those fat bastards weight more than 200 kilos on average. Well, now imagine yourself same frame, kangaroo hind legs and teeth out of Jaw, well proportion, not that they are serrated or anything. That's one type of rabbit, another one is twice as big as one from earth, just with horn sticking out of it's forehead. Wolves come in two types, big bad wolves and big bad wolves with horns. Haven't encountered bears as of now, but I think that they will be just like normal grizzly, just with horns. How should I name these creatures? Horny rabbits/wolves/bears?
You know, despite all those differences, they are still quite tasty, even if eaten raw. Must confess, that was an accident, I was just quite enjoying myself in the hunt, when I bit Big Rabbit on the neck. Taste of fur was terrible, I dunno in which spawning pits it was, but the meat was so tender, juicy, and a bit sweet, which ended in me gnawing on that rabbit for quite a while, which resulted in half of it's carcass eaten. On another note, it's even better fried, but when you decide to fry it, better check your surroundings!
“-Grrr” Else you might get surrounded by some tough wolves WHICH CAN TANK EXPLOSION!!!
As you might have guessed, I just happen to run for my life. Nothing bad here, but I'm spending mana like chips in Vegas. Good news is that river is nearby, bad news, I can't get there without getting by head bitten off, and chewed on by those doggies, as it's behind them, and maneuvering in between BBW is somewhat scary...
The easiest way to lose them would be going to the river, or trying to dive under the ground, but I'm unable to do it without preparations, I mean diving underground. Best bet are treetops... now I just have to jump as high as possible, while at the same time not to break some branch which I might land upon. Also closest branches are quite high, from my point of view at least. Therefore I need some additional force to my jump, and what's better at launching you in the sky? That's right, ROCKET LAUNCHER! In my case it's [Explosion].
As soon as I was confident in my trajectory, I jumped in the direction of the tough, more or less, branch, while simultaneously casting [Explosion] just under the soles of my... oh damn, I WAS NAKED THIS ENTIRE TIME!!! No wonder I felt a bit uncomfortable in the groin region. But I guess being a goblin makes wonders to your skin, which is as tough as leather... Well, no point dwelling on that now, as if I don't grab this branch, I'll become nutritional dog food.
Gracefully landing face first in the tree, and landing on the branch with grace of drunken sailor, it was time to take things slowly, and cast some heals on my now slightly scratched and heavily bruised body. Having less than 100 hp is not what I would call a good fall... and considering that explosion might have left me without a foot for a while is not that comfortable either... Also wolves still see me.
Seeing as those annoying mutts won't leave the area in the near time, my only course of action would be sitting here, casting some heals and looking for a way to deal with them. But first, appraisal.
Direwolf (Alpha)
HP
3200
STA
1180
MP
540
STR
44
VIT
56
VIG
52
END
33
AGI
26
SPD
30
DEX
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
11
PER
24
INT
9
WILL
14
MAG
4
LUCK
8
Nice, leader of the pack?
Direwolf
HP
2400
STA
950
MP
410
STR
33
VIT
42
VIG
39
END
28
AGI
19
SPD
24
DEX
8
PER
23
INT
7
WILL
9
MAG
4
LUCK
5
Others are not that far off. That's basically a cheating! I'm much weaker than you guys are! Slower too. At least my magic is better than yours, but... you guys tanked explosion. Is it that weak?
Locating looking at the most distant wolves, I launched explosion at one of them. I must say that explosion only took around 600 hp from that bastard. Are they resistant to magic? Not to mention that it's a group of 30 or so mutts. Other spells might work better, but I doubt that inferno will work...
-0-0-0-
My analysis on mutts.
High resistance to most types of magic attacks, work good in groups, managed to fell a few trees around me, as well as those that I was sitting on. Not that intelligent, but have quite annoying habbit of trying to kill me. Dunno what I did to deserve that fate. Next is they also have some magic, their furs 'harden' on the impact of my spells, wonder if I can use their fur for getting myself some magic resistant clothes, as I don't want to fight naked, from the point I get their furs that is, and don't want to have mundane furs. Also I managed to kill one, but they showed no reaction to it. Wish I could use my psychic powers to make them fight amongst eachother, but my limit was rupturing mind of weakwilled creatures when I could manifest my powers... I hate being goblin. Stupid curse, stubid race, stupid limits, couldn't I be born as vampire or something?
No reason dwelling on it now, better just dispose of those mutts... also arrows are even worse than magic on them, but if I'll poison my arrows and aim for their weak points, then I could, probably, dispose of them, or at least make a run for it, but it's basically impossible for me to aim at their weak points, and arrows are just harmless for them if I hit their body... try other types of magic then?
-0-0-0-0-0-
Forest of Albino houses many creatures, ranging from usual animals like rabbits and squirrels, to dragons, albeit only 2 dragons are located withing the forest, and most common animals are located on the outskirts. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Pyro was currently located in the deeper parts of outskirts, which mostly house rather weak magical creatures like Horned Rabbits and Direwolves, also sometimes there could be found stray Horned Wolves, but that was quite rare, as they prefered magically rich sites. Direwolves, however, were not fond of magic places, as well as any magical creatures. Any magic creature that was found on their territory would be hunted down and eaten, as there was common rule in the animal world "Want not, waste not", waste part way more than the want part. Therefore Pyro was the one who got himself unlucky, as having higher than average mana reserves marked him for the hunt.
Wolves were already sure of his fate, that is being devoured, what if that goblin shaman was lucky in killing one of them? They just had more reasons to kill him. They already got themselves separated in a few groups, one of which would always be on lookout for arrogant goblin, and the others, which would slowly but surely uproot trees, so goblin won't have any place to escape. Their 'plan' had failed, however they were not going to leave it, goblin is only able to hide in the treetops, and he was already tired, lost it's quite tasty leg, which Alpha took entirely for himself, and all wolves know that if you inhured your leg, you were as good as dead. What they didn't expect, was that this goblin by the evening would already be healed of all injuries. And throwing spells at them.
As usual they were ready for it, the desperate fight of little critter, he used all types of spells in his possession, and wolves just shrugged them off, but then one of the spells managed to kill one of them, but wolves were just sure it was another lucky shot of the goblin and paid it no mind. Next minute, however, was true horror for the wolves. After first wolf died, another one followed him in a few second, then another one, and one more. Wolves just stayed like statues unable to comprehend what was happening, why would their pack just lay down without any sighns of being hit by spell. And then they understood. It was the spells of goblin.
Pyro was just trying to find any spell that might work on them, he started by using fire type spells, and continued until he managed to use one of the few death spells he learned, [Heart Grasp]. This spell was quite costly in using, despite being the basic of basics, and was rarely used by any mage, as it used both mana and stamina of the caster. For Pyro, however, it was still costly, but with the regeneration of hist mana and stamina he could recover himself in two minutes, mostly due to the fact that it used more stamina than mana.
[Heart Grasp] was the bane of most brawn oriented creatures and professions, as in order to resist it's effects, to a degree, one had to have the will on the same level of caster or higher as well as high enough vitality, and wolves, despite being quite sturdy, were not able to resist this spell, nor their hide could resist it, as this spell targeted not their outer bodies, but their innards, mainly heart. Unlike more powerful [Death Grasp], which targeted the soul directly, [Heart Grasp] could be called the bastard child of death and blood magic. Also if the target managed to resist the primary effects of this spell, they still had to suffer from secondary effects, weakness, drowsiness and, sometimes, hallucinations. Out of the 38 wolves, including Alpha, only 23 died immediately, while others were trying to stand up, but only Alpha managed to scramble on his paws, albeit shaking like leaves on the stormy weather.
"So, it's really something to do with your fur, huh? Be glad doggies, as your death will allow me to finally make some clothes!" Pyro smiled happily, like a child, only his gaze was malicious. He turned to look at the alpha, their gazes met, and the wolf had fear in his eyes. "You know, if not for your wish to kill me, whatever the reasons might be, you and your pack might have lived." With such words goblin took knife in his hands, and was slowly coming towards wolf. "That is, if you wouldn't be running after me." He then used [Earth Grip] to secure the wolf in place. "You see, I'm not that unreasonable, I might've even left some of you alive, but-" Pyro stabbed wolf in the eye, damaging it's brain, but not killing it yet. "You bastard decided to feast on my figgin leg!" he stabbed wolf again in the other eye, and again, and again, until his dagger and hand entered wolf's skull. Afterwards he proceeded killing the wolves in same manner, and after he was done with the last, he came back to the alpha and cheerfuly said. "On another note, thank you for the fur~".