I was inside the goblin city. The little green men settled at the shores of a massive underground lake - maybe an ocean? - of dimensions unknown. The water was cool and clean. It was a wonder given that goblin treated their hygiene like rabbits sharpened their swords. Both had no idea what they were doing.
The fight with the tunnel checkpoint guards was a week and a half ago. From there I went to town, figuratively and literally. Any goblin carrying a weapon was fair game. I left the civilians and the young alone because I was afraid they would give me an Exp penalty.
Goblin architecture was something completely alien. Just think about what kind of building materials were available underground. Wood? Wood was a luxury item. And the goblins were frugal as fuck. No. They used bone, carapace, leather. Some sort of glue made with the fat of the noideasaurus. There's no such thing and I had not a clue. Some sort of resin? That and the lake water quality were the biggest puzzles.
They built haphazardly. The roof of a goblin's hut was flat terrain as far as the next goblin was concerned. Giant spider carapace and legs were some of the most common materials. They had no concept of rooms either. The sleeping area was inches away from the cooking area inches away from the sitting area that doubled as a toilet.
I slept on the roof. The giant stalactites in the massive cave had holes and nooks, some of them big enough for me to sleep in my bedroll. I hadn't assumed my human form yet. When I was out hunting, things were hectic. The goblin warriors were all mobilized and patrolling the city all the time. While I watched them, they would erm, requisition, or commandeer whatever they needed from the civilians. I saw more than one goblin joe make a rude gesture to the back of a patrol.
The civil unrest was helping me. At first, the goblin civilians would help the guards, join in the fight even though I did the best to avoid killing them. I did shove them with my claws whenever necessary. But yesterday, they would either flee, keep away and watch, and in two cases, attack the guards with rocks and other objects.
Goblin spellcasters were rare. I only fought two of them so far. Until now.
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Because it seemed I'd caused enough trouble to make the mayor of this city send in the shock troops. Lined up a hundred meters ahead of me were ten goblin shamans. They all started to cast different spells and I did what any brave cat-girl would do in my situation. I bolted the hell out of there.
A wave of panic struck me. I went through the goblins habitations as much as I went over and under them. The blasts of fireballs and peals of thunder rocked the city behind me. The goblins shouting and squealing as I moved past them gave the troop chasing me a clear indication of where I was going. With my mind clouded by fear, I couldn't even think of hiding or anything. I ran and only at the lakeshore did control return to me.
> Fear debuff wore off.
Why, thank you, System. I looked around and found myself in a natural rock peninsula. There was water all around me and the only way back was closed by ranks of tall hobgoblins. Probably the second evolution of their foot soldiers. I was boxed.
They started to march forward. I rummaged in my pack and took one of my pollen balls. The leather was thin and delicate. Any impact would burst and release a deadly cloud of deathberry pollen. I didn't test it in the forest for obvious reasons. No time like now.
Before the shamans could reach the blockade and ruin my life, I moved forward and searched for the perfect patsy. A hobgoblin with a big club. I pointed at him and hissed from a dozen meters away. The goblins were holding the line and the big hob just laughed. I pointed at my ball and then at his club. He bashed his crude chitin helmet with the club and laughed more.
I mocked the pitch in slow motion. The goblins flinched but the big one kept watching. I pointed at his club and did the batter motion. The goblin grunted with a smile. He barked something and the other goblins moved away. {Mime} did its job. He readied his club and I tossed the ball. An easy one that would get the junior league kids calling me a little girl. He did exactly as I wanted, smashing the ball with the club and spreading pollen dust all over themselves.
The big hobgoblin waved the dust away to no effect. He picked some in his hands and smelled it. The other hobgoblins were all coughing and A stream of messages popped up in my sight.
> You poisoned hobgoblin.
>
> ...
>
> You poisoned hobgoblin.
Twenty of them. The hobgoblins gave me a look of terror and charged. Yeah, gotta give these guys points for their guts. I stood at the end of the peninsula, where only two hobgoblins would have room to stand and attack me. I used feints and mock attacks to keep them on their toes but I was focused on avoiding their blows. We still exchanged some grazing wounds. The goblins would get too weak to fight and either fell in the lake or were pushed aside by another goblin eager to get a go at bashing my skull.
The batter hobgoblin came last. He was wobbling on his feet but he still had some fight in him. I readied to dodge his attack and strike his unprotected leg. That's when the shaman with the fear spell struck me again.
My heart seized. In my mind, the hobgoblin with the club was the most terrible thing ever. I jumped in the water and swam for my dear life. But this time I knew what was happening. I fought tooth and claw against the fear effect and it wore off faster than before.
The death notifications followed right after.
> Fear debuff wore off.
>
> You killed level 44 hobgoblin. You gained 242,000 Exp (19,360 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 2 size x 1.25 perk x 5 Class rank).
>
> Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
>
> ...
>
> You killled level 52 hobgoblin batter. You gained 676,000 Exp (27,040 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 4 size x 1.25 perk x 5 Class rank).
>
> You reached Monster Hunter level 17.
>
> You gained 1 Attribute point.
>
> You gained 3 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 2 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
Sweet. Six and a half million for the next level and a perk.
I swam back. Hobgoblin corpses were floating in the lake and more goblin soldiers were coming along with the shaman. I had to get out of the water fast or my poison jam would soak and seep. I had no idea how much death that would cause but I didn't want to know. I dumped my Skill points purchasing the Skill I wanted.
> You purchased the Improved Detect Monster (rare) Skill, novice 3. Improve your Detect Monster radius by Rank x Willpower x 1% (current 33%).
That boosted my detection range by almost four meters. Just enough to detect the tentacles coming for me and the goblin corpses.
> Cave Squid attacked with tentacle. You lost 158 HP. Testing Strength... failed. You are grappled. You are immune to poison.
Fuck. The monster pulled me underwater. I didn't have time to catch my breath. In fact, the tentacle squeezing my ribcage did exactly the opposite of letting me breathe.
The squid bolted with his meal. I hope he ate the poisoned bodies and died but that would take too long. While I could extract some oxygen from the water with my pseudopods, I didn't test if that would be enough to sustain me. My three guesses were no, nope, and not gonna happen. The thick tentacle didn't even let me enough room to move my paws. I did what I could and shifted to kitten form the fastest possible.
The tentacle would squeeze more as I lost bulk but it was too thick to properly wrap around a kitten. I had room and I extracted my pound of flesh. I clung to the sucker's suckers and rapid-fired my bites. My trusty workhorse {Vorpal Bite} granted me freedom and vengeance. The squid had four huge bleed debuffs and paused to squirm in pain. I swam to the surface to breathe as I shifted back to hybrid form. It would take a while for me to notice I'd lost all my gear.
I surfaced and a fireball flew straight at me. It hit while I was gasping for air.
> Goblin shaman's fireball hit. You lost 77 HP (x 0.33 cover x 0.5 wet).
A cloud of steam hid me. The water was hot as a Japanese bath. I breathed and was about to decide if I should swim to the shore or away when my buddy cave squid robbed me of that decision. He grabbed my leg and pulled me down.
> Cave Squid attacked with tentacle. You lost 68 HP. Testing Strength... failed. You are grappled. You are immune to poison. Your leg is broken.
Before my head sunk I did catch a lungful of air. My leg was on fire and I was afraid he would rip my foot off. I had no idea if it would grow back. I tried to shift my stance and get closer to bite the tentacle off when another tentacle wrapped around my head and chest. I clawed the squid but this time the monster squirmed the tentacles to grind me against the suckers and barbs. With my free leg, I raked the tentacle that was holding my broken limb.
> Cave Squid squeezed and ground. You lost 248 HP. You are bleeding.
Both of us were bleeding. My {Stunning Bleed} triggered and the squid went still. I chewed my way out of another tentacle and dove down to free my leg. I clawed the tentacle and climbed closer to the squid's body, making sure to rake with all claws possible as I went to stack more bleeding debuffs on the giant mollusk.
I shouldn't get away from it. With my perks designed to keep me latched to a bigger creature, It was more dangerous away from it than up close. The monster was so big I only got its whole body in the range of my detection perk when I was close to the head. The water felt murky and thick. The monster was bleeding more than a hundred HP per second and I had no idea how long it would take for it to die from bleeding alone. I would drown first.
I gnawed its tentacles one by one, clawing and flailing the squid's skin at the same time. My lungs burned and I had to get out of there. The monster still had four or six tentacles left - I couldn't remember if it should have eight or ten - but I had to go back to the surface. With barely no air in the lungs and a broken leg, it was a daunting challenge. I released bubbles to see in which direction they went. In this murky water, swimming down was as easy as any other direction.
The water beneath me churned. I sensed more monsters enter and leave my detection range below me. It seemed dinner was served and the main course was squid, with an entrée of poisoned goblin. My only wish was no girl for dessert.
My leg was itching. My HP was recovering but too slow for my tastes. Maybe there's an improved moon-bound regeneration skill out there. I could dream.
Reaching the surface, I watched for fireballs. Instead of struggling to breathe like last time and make a show of myself, I put my nose up and inhaled slowly. Given the feeding frenzy down there, the last thing I wanted was to stir the water enough to draw the attention of something with too many teeth to count. And headbutt another fireball for my troubles.
> You killed level 49 lacustrine serpent. You gained 1,620,675 Exp (24,010 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 12 size x 1.25 perk x 6 rank x 0.75 contribution).
Eh? What the fuck just happened?
I checked my log. KIll messages for goblins and lake monsters were popping left and right. Less noticeable were the poisoning messages. The monsters down there were vanishing as I got more kill messages. The squid showed up next.
> You killed level 67 cave squid You gained 8,978,000 Exp (44,890 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 20 size x 1.25 perk x 10 rank x 0.8 contribution).
>
> You reached Monster Hunter level 18.
>
> You gained 1 Attribute point.
>
> You gained 3 Skill Points.
>
> You gained a perk.
>
> You gained 2 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
>
> You reached Human [moon-bound] level 17.
>
> You gained 1 Attribute point.
>
> You gained 4 Skill points.
>
> You gained 6 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
>
> You reached Cartographer level 7 [15]
>
> You gained 5 Skill Points.
>
> You reached Apothecary level 15
>
> You gained 5 Skill Points
It didn't stop. Next, the system granted me a new Skill.
> You gained the Saboteur (rare) Skill. Your acts of sabotage are Rank x (Dexterity or Charisma) x 0.5% more effective.
I spent some time trying to figure out what happened. It led me to pat my shoulders. I found no straps and also no belt holding the bags of concentrated poison gel next to my hips. The kill messages were still going strong.
That's when the first batch of giant fish and monster bodies started to float up. I swam to shore, trying to aim for a spot with fewer goblins. If I took too long, anywhere would fit the bill. My leg was already functional when I reached a stone bank and got on my feet. The water was still covering my chest but I could at least rest without fear of sinking. I gained {Swimming (common)} for my troubles which were good. I looked around. There were dead goblins all along the shore, which was bad. The messages were still floating up. It looked like a busy livestream chat.
My head spun while I let my body drift with the waves. But I didn't risk going for dry land. I was too afraid of those shamans. I dumped my Skill Points to raise my detection and fished for two Skills in the human pool.
> You purchased the Accelerated Regeneration [moonbound] (very rare) Skill. Increase your regeneration by Rank x Endurance x0.5%.
>
> You purchased the Mitigate Weakness [moonbound] (ultra-rare) Skill. Reduce the effect of your weaknesses by Rank x Endurance x 0.2%.
>
> You purchased the Concentrate (rare) Skill. The potency of ingredients you refine is increased by Rank x Mind x 0.5%.
>
> You purchased the Precision Drawing (rare) SKill. Increase the precision of your penmanship.
>
> You purchased the Monster Exp Boost I (uncommon) Perk. Increase Exp gains from monsters by 25%.
These Exp boosts might seem big, but given the exponential Exp requirement, they were in fact fixed additions. A 2x Exp boost meant you would be a level ahead than where you would be without that boost.
The messages slowed down to a crawl after a long wait. I was halfway to my next level already. I thought where did this water go after leaving this lake and shuddered. I might've triggered a catastrophe.
I was too tired and wounded. I became a jaguar kitten and crawled my way back to the cavern ceiling.