It was a scarecrow, and it was in the middle of a goblin encampment. They were all around. On the roofs, on the ground, sitting around the campfire, fucking in the tents. There was a lot of noise, and sometimes, the chest mouth added a word or a hymn or grunt, for the sole purpose of confusing any passing goblin.

262144 + 262144 = 524288. It had been the fiftieth try when the scarecrow finally managed to climb another rung. If anything, it was remarkable that it could do so, as any other mind suffocated and then drowned in bored, and begging in such a manner that it would put any starving man on the streets of Caliptus, which was this countries capital, to shame.

The skill, Mathematics, has levelled up

Math lvl 4/100

The perk, Memorization, has levelled up

Memorization lvl 2/40

The perk, Mental Strength, has levelled up

Mental Strength lvl 2/200

The goblins had captured an orc and thrown him into a pit in the floor, which was covered loosely by a layer of sticks. The pit was circular, and about three meters deep, and the orc was green muscles with a pair of eyes on top, staring furiously at whatever it could. This did not bother the goblin kid that sat on the edge and poked the orc for the sole reason of annoying it. Such was the way of goblins, be an asshole where assholishness can be.

They had captured the orc not through the limited strength they had, or through the barbaric teamwork they showed, but through a trap that they had not built but taken, for if they had built the trap, it wouldn’t have succeeded in capturing an orc.

They had of course taken the trap by succumbing to it first, then running around the forest like hungry cavemen, wondering if there was anybody around, and only then, after about thirty minutes, helped the goblin stuck in the trap down, whose head had turned red.

It took all the collective intelligence of the group to stop the trap from the being broken due to the disrespect it had shown the captured goblin. Firstly they had to realize that traps could not show disrespect, as they weren't creatures, and then they had to realize that they could profit from such a trap.

That said, their memories aren’t the best, and they managed to activate the trap at least once every day, and sometimes even more, even the originally trapped goblin walked into it, as the memory of the event didn’t capture the actual trap but the embarrassment it felt from walking in there. It knew that it never wanted to be captured by a trap, but not how to do such a thing.

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The scarecrow had to delay its plans of hunting in the forest, for any movement would surely send tens of spears shooting into the scarecrow. It would have to wait for the circumstances to change to act.

And there, it passed out the math becoming too much of a burden. When it awoke, the sun was out in the sky, and all the goblins had fallen asleep, except the one that acted as watch. It sat on top of one of the large tents, and watched, as a watches ought to do, only stopping its important job, critical to the safety of its tribe, to occasionally scratch its back, and then naturally smell its fingers.

There was a drastic change in the sky. The bright, strong sun, sitting in the middle of the sky, was blue. The leaves changed their colours from green to an orange, and the water was given a much thicker look than it originally had, not at all see through.

The sun had been affected by an event which happened once every month. Proficient science-zards had figured out that this event was clearly due to the increase in mana in the air which happened only on this day.

Even people who were not trained to the subtleties of mana could feel it lightly in the air, and in their breaths, almost scratching the back of their neck. For people sensitive to this itch, today would be a day of constant heaving and coughing. Ironically, the solution to this was not to remove the mana, but quite the opposite to add more mana to the body, as then the body would grow used to the mana.

The scarecrow felt this sensation and it also saw the goblin on top of the roof start to cough quite seriously. It quickly tied the coughing to this new and odd feeling, and realized, that if it could somehow control the sensation, it could make goblins cough which was a very useful skill at this particular moment

The scarecrow started breathing at maximum speeds. It sounded like somebody was stuck in a loop of strong and rapid sniffs. The sensation inside of its throat increased, and it was clear that this was somehow having an effect.

The scarecrow did not cease this strategy for another hour or so. But then it did, as it was realizing that this strategy could only lead to a heightened sensation. But that didn't mean that the scarecrow gave up in its mission to secure a method of making goblin throats itch. It was persistent if nothing else.

It took one large breath with its mouth fully open. The goblin glanced towards the scarecrow at this moment, and when it saw it with an open mouth, it convinced itself that it had always had an open mouth, as how could a scarecrow move? Silly mind.

The scarecrow sucked in the air until it felt its lungs, which it didn’t actually need to survive but to gather stamina, push up against its chest, and make the scarecrow's chest look like a ball. It closed its mouth and at that moment the goblin glanced once again at the scarecrow, as its mind was questioning the notion of a scarecrow with an open mouth, and upon seeing a closed mouth the mind was pleased and silent, and the goblin looked back towards the forest.

The scarecrow felt tingling sensations all over its body. They felt like snowflakes melting, a tickling cold sensation that quickly turned warm, and they bounded around rapidly. For most humans, this was all they would accomplish before said magical molecules were replaced by new ones, but the scarecrow didn’t let them exit, as it didn’t open its mouth.

It returned to mathematics, and after three hours in which a total of three naps were taken, a new notification popped up. One that told the scarecrow that it would be able to make goblins heave and cough in the future, and also potentially make their heads explode into a one time blood sparkle.

The perk, Magical Core, has been gained

Magical Core lvl 1/13