Time slipped by in a blur. Next thing I knew, I was getting my level 29 level notification. I gained nothing by it as far as I could tell, but it was still nice to see.

I dismissed the blue text box and went back to my peaceful unawareness of everything. The only thing that brought me all the way back was when Club and Dagger came back. Dagger went and got another horned rabbit for them to eat, of which I still haven’t seen one cross my Domain of Awareness, yet he still managed to capture one in a few short hours while Club sat around under my branches.

Club leaned his weapon against my trunk and leaned against me right next to it. He seemed to fall asleep rather quickly, having eaten his fill. I knew this would be the best chance to mess with him again. I mentally rubbed my hands together and prepared my mischief.

I drained a Stamina Berry that was right over him. The berry shriveled as it was emptied of its nutrients and fell. Its remains dropped from the branch it was growing on and fell straight down on Club’s head. A new berry started regrowing as the old one fell.

The Goblin jolted up, having had his nap disturbed. He looked around, searching for the source of his disturbance. Having found nothing, he picked his weapon back up and did a couple laps around me. He still couldn’t find anything, so he went back to sleep.

As Club put his namesake down, he noticed the shriveled yellow berry laying on the ground next to where he was. He picked it up and inspected it. It just looked like a yellow raisin, so he popped it in his mouth. He spit it, the berry having lost all of its flavor as I drained it of the resources.

Club sat back down in his spot to presumably nap again. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. It was at this point I remembered I still haven’t tried using Telepathy.

I pulled up my status and concentrated on using the skill. I felt an energy boil up from deep within me. One that I had never felt before. One that felt strange yet familiar, both hot and cold, soft and hard, and smooth and rough, all at the same time. It felt like both Health and Stamina on steroids mashed together. I shuddered a bit as the feeling enveloped my mind. I imprinted that feeling into my thoughts, making sure I would always remember it for the future, that way I could make a few Mana Berries.

The mana inside me pulled on my mind, making a sort of tendril not dissimilar to what I used to look at the finer parts of my roots and branches. It continued pulling my mind, bringing it to the vine closest to Club, who I was aiming to use the skill on. When my mind reached the end of the vine, it continued to be pulled. The tendril of thought breached my bark and beelined straight for Club’s forehead. It made me feel quite exposed and vulnerable.

When the tendril made contact with Club’s skin, I felt it dig further into him, almost like it was reaching for his soul. Then the connection was made. I felt a shudder run through me as I was able to ‘see’ inside the Goblin’s mind.

Since Club was sleeping, the feeling I was getting were very mixed. He seemed to be reminiscing about the rabbit he just finished eating, about a female Goblin he had met a few months ago that he fought with Dagger to impress and won, about the following... activities the two enjoyed.

At that point, I decided I could wait for a few hours for Club to wake up before I tried with him again. I took my mental tendril out of him and guided it towards Dagger, who was also resting. He still had his eyes open though, so I guess they were taking turns on watch.

My mental tendril retreated through the vine it was snaked through and went down a similar vine closer to my new target. I felt the similar exposedness as my tendril reached out to the Goblin. When it made contact with him, I was a lot more prepared for the feeling of our minds connecting. It appears the Dagger also felt our minds connect as well.

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He shot up and looked all around for the source of the unease I could feel running through him. I sent him a soothing feeling. I didn’t notice a visual difference in his posture, as he still held his rusted and slightly bloody dagger in his hands, but I did feel his mind start to relax. I chose this moment to try speaking to him. I was nervous, as this would be my first time having a conversation in over a year. Possibly two, given how long I was only half aware of time passing around me.

“Hello there, little Goblin. Be at ease, as I hold no ill-will towards you or your companion.”

Dagger’s mouth moved, presumably talking. Club opened an eye to see what was going on, but quickly closed it. I noticed his hand get closed to his weapon, but that was his entire reaction to his friend talking all of a sudden.

I still couldn’t hear, but I could tell what he said through the mental link I had formed. It felt like broken English to me, but the meaning was still there.

“Who is you? I no see nobody?”

“I am the tree that you have taken refuge under.”

Dagger quickly turned and faced me. He didn’t say anything in response, but I could feel his confusion. It only grew as he walked around me, looking for any sign of mobile life.

“I no see you?” He said questioningly. “Is you high in the tree? The branches is too slippery for Gobs to climb. I try before, but keep falling. Brother is good at climb though. I wake brother up.”

“Let your brother sleep. We can keep talking ourselves.” I’d also rather not have to talk to a horny Goblin right now, so it’s best that we pretend that he’s still sleeping. I saw Club’s hand inch towards the weapon as we continued talking though.

“Okay. What you want talk about?” Dagger asked.

“What is your name?” I asked the little Goblin.

“Gobs no has names. We just is,” the simple-minded creature responded. I guess I’ll keep calling them Dagger and Club, then. He kept walking around me as we talked.

Dagger and I continued talking for about 10 more minutes, with every question I asked getting responded with something along the lines of “It is what it is” or “I no know.” It seemed that Dagger was a rather simple being, not having much in the way of an education or knowledge about the world. He didn’t bother asking me any questions of his own, anyhow.

Throughout the conversation, or more accurately, interrogation, I noticed Club’s hand getting closer and closer to his weapon. When he reached the weapon, he slowly opened his eyes and started looking throughout my branches. He obviously didn’t find anything, so he moved to start looking around him at ground level, hand never leaving his club.

“Well my friend, it appears your brother is awake.”

Dagger stopped walking around me and went over to Club.

“Brother! You awake!” Dagger exclaimed.

I was tempted to connect myself to Club again, to see if he could provide better answers to my questions. The only thing sopping me was how angry he looked. The little Goblin had a mad scowl on his face, one I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of.

“Who you talking to?” Club asked Dagger in the same broken English. Dagger just pointed to me, not saying anything.

“Trees no talk, dumby,” Club bonked Dagger on his head.

Dagger just rubbed his head and walked back around so he was out of sight od Club. I continued asked Dagger questions for a few more minutes, with him reverting to whispering instead of talking out loud. It made no difference to me as I was reading his mind more than anything. I still had no way to hear.

And so the rest of the night went. I asked Dagger a few more questions, trying to keep my growing displeasure at how little he actually answered to myself. The Goblin clearly knew nothing of the world. The only thing he could tell me about was that he was level 3 and Club was level 5. It seemed ridiculously low level compared to me at level 29, but I had little else to compare them to, so I let it slide.

I wanted to ask Dagger more about skills and the letters next to them in the skill descriptions, but by the time I got to that part of the conversation, Club was back to being awake. The two Goblins switched places and Dagger took his nap while Cub stood watch.

I doubted that Club knew anything that Dagger didn’t, so I didn’t bother trying to make a connection with him again. I just let the sleep. They still go tired, whereas I didn’t need sleep anymore. Though I still could if I wanted to. I just watched over the two as they took turns sleeping for the rest of the day.