So, didn´t make it on thrusday sadly. But today it worked out fine ! Hope you will enjoy the chapter. Between this an the next one will be a little Time skip !
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After we had subdued the Mountainstalker it was time to take care of things. Gob had taken some serious wounds so he was taken under the care of the apprentices. Kitty still looked reluctant but went with the goblins as they headed to the dungeon and settled somewhere a bit away from the little greens. The goblins in turn made sure to stay far out of reach, they respected the hell out of the furball. Anyway, after they settled in for the night i finally had time to take a look at what i had gotten out of the night's haul.
[Cruel Overlord]
A title that only cruel rulers receive.
Your subjects will fear you a lot more as they learn your cruel methods.
Your Avatar will receive the trait
Intimidating
[Sadistic Researcher]
A title for those that delight in the pain or their test subjects.
Skills unlocked
Appraisal
Well those are mean titles! Though i can't deny they are true. Well then next was the level up?
You reached level 2
You gained:
3 Skill points
1 Evolution point
Unlocked function
Area expansion
Skills available
Appraisal
Dungeon radar
Neat ! Let's take a look at the skills first.
Spawn insects -
Spawn plants -
Growth lvl 1
Universal language max
Spawn Ore vein lvl 1
Appraisal lvl 0
Dungeon Radar lvl 0
Hmm well I will of course need Appraisal. I HAVE to confirm if it is as much a cheat skill as those novels made it seem. Growth is likely also a good choice. But ore vein is useless at the moment. The goblins neither have the know how to make a oven nor a smith or do they? Guess i'll take the radar instead.
As far as the goblins were concerned I had to admit that I had underestimated them. After the screen had mentioned them plant the mushrooms around for light I paid closer attention. They actually kept the caves clean of excrements and even used some of them to fertilize the snail nursery´s. They didn't make a fire inside the caves because they knew they would suffocate if it was too much. Of course they had no idea why that happened. But they also made sure to only use fire outside during the day to not draw attention to them during the night. Which was smart because if something stronger than the Stalker noticed them now they were as good as dead. I would have to take a look at their skills later on.
For now 1 point in Appraisal, Growth and Radar.
…
ARGH! What the fuck !
Suddenly a piercing pain went through me. It felt like a severe headache just without head.
Appraisal lvl 1 was activated
Dungeon Radar lvl 1 activated
Map contains now extended information.
Knowledge about servants was extended.
Influx of too much information caused momentary painspike
Momentary !? Fuck you screen I was dying here!
It took a time to calm down again after that and some phantom pain remained as well for a good time. But the curiosity was stronger and I took a look on the map.
*Whistle* Screen really didn't lie that is some detailed information.
The 3d map now had different modes. The first one was the one with the radar integrated. I could actually see small green figures that represented my little minions with a little name tag attached to them. The next one was probably created from appraisal. It showed me all the ores that were already present in the stone of my dungeon. After playing around with the new functions for a bit i caught myself again and went on.
Right there still was the evolution stuff. Now what is that going to be about.
Evolutions:
Evolutions are changes to your dungeon and yourself.
Choosing some of them may prevent other evolution paths.
The range of Evolutions are dependent on what you do with your Dungeon
and what level you are.
2 Points
Evolutions currently available
Mana crystallization: Let´s mana crystallize in your dungeon
Earth affinity: Strengthens your affinity with the element earth
Goblin Dungeon: offers bonuses for your servants
Nursery Dungeon: unlocks certain building options
Insect Dungeon: offers bonuses for your servants
Hmmm well how about some more info on those options?
....
Ok guess i'll have to buy a blind bargain… Give me Mana crystallization and Goblin dungeon.
Evolutions Selected
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
entering suspended state for changes to being
Huh? oh not this again !
And with my yell i faded to blackness once again.
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The next morning:
Evolutions finished
Added effects
Random crystallization
Added construction options
Crystal geode small
Crystal geode medium
Crystal geode Large
Sun Crystal
Goblin Home small
Goblin Home medium
Goblin Home large
Well that is a pretty impressive haul! Those will be interesting to look through.
Right as I woke up I got a heap of text in my view. But for now i put them aside. There were more pressing matters to take care of right now. A look through the cave let me know the Goblins had woken up already and i called Gobar to the crystal cave.
“Gobar, i want you to send out 10 male goblins along with one of your apprentices. They are to bring back every insect and plant as they scout the vicinity, or course they are to be alive or respectively with roots. Tell the Kitty that it is to accompany them as well and guard them.”(Me)
The old goblin nodded as he listened to my orders and bowed
“As you wish Lord, anything else ?”(Gobar )
“Yes we need more tools as well. Do we have someone that can do that ?”(Me)
“Lord, Gobuto our novice builder can make simple tools. What shall i have him make?”(Gobar)
“Spears and other weaponry. If he can some easy to handle clubs, knives whatever. Also i will be doing some constructions so don't be too surprised.”(Me)
The old goblin went to organize the things i had told him right away. MEanwhile i turned my attention to the latest addition in functions ‘Area expansion’. What came into vew was my map with. On each side glowed a mark where i could extend my area by the 100x100x10 sized blocks. Each one cost 20.000 Mana.
Woa that is some cost but I didn't really spend any so far. Give me the 3 plots that are inside the stone. Outside would be too defenseless.
What came now was a really strange sensation. I had never used that much mana before and really felt how something was leaking out of me. But at the same time i also could feel myself growing larger.
Whoa that was strange ! Gotta see how I am standing right now.
Name: Goblin Cave
Rank: F
Mana: 46.186
Mana recovery: 5784 Mana/h
Level: 2
Hmmm seems it is 1000 per block that i get in mana recovery. Good to know. Now then time to build !
Looking at the map i begun to plan the layout for the future cave
Well then what we need is a place for the gobs and some where i can let some of the insects evolve. Those will make some fine disposable minions i bet, especially the spiders.
I could not help myself as i went from the crystal cave to the right. I had decided to keep the general layout and make the right wing into a insect domain while the left would become the goblins home. For now I simply dug a huge cave into the new territory. I made it in the center with roughly a third of the available space. It had various pillars, hills and other things strewn about to give it a more natural feeling.
Now then let's see, give me info on the Sun Crystal.
Sun Crystal
Creates a crystal that emulates the outside sun.
As the sun rises and falls the crystal will shine stronger or weaker.
Helps in growing plants.
100M
20 M/h
Awesome ! now i can just let everything grow in here. Hmmm but this huge would consume too much mana if i put everything under Growth. Show me the new level info on Growth.
Growth lvl 2
Accelerates Growth of infant and young beings. Simpler beings will go through growth faster than more complex ones. Will not affect fully grown beings or incorporeal ones. Beings affected by this will have reduced i lifespan. You can select which beings are affected and which are not. Activating Growth in a room will cost a certain amount of mana continuously supplied according to the rooms size.
lvl 2
Can now target specific species to reduce the cost of upkeep
Ahh perfekt ! it paid off to invest in that skill.
With that information i planted a crystal in the ceiling and the whole room came alight right away. Though there were of course still plenty of shadows with all the obstacles. Next i used most of the points i had left for free plants to plant patches of moss all over as well as some of the shadowgrass and luminous mushrooms. Then i activated Growth just for the moss, grass and mushrooms.
Hmm i should let the plants grow first. But let's move the snail nurseries.
With that I took the two snail rooms and moved them behind the huge cave, connecting them with two short tunnels. Then i placed another 3 nurseries next to them, 2 for flour bugs and 1 for cavespiders. Of course on each one I spawned 200 of the insects. In the spiders case it was just 100 spiders and 100 flour bugs. One of the useful things i had found out previously with the snail farms was that they would obey roughly what i wanted. Such as not leaving their caves. Now i set it so that they would only leave the cave after maturing. For the finishing touch i took the tunnel that previously led to the nurseries and made it bigger before connecting it to the giant cave.
Now there will be enough for food and leftovers to have them evolve into whatever they evolve to. It's the gobs turn now !
I zoomed over to the other side and simply selected the large goblin home from the menu. This time it was like placing down a building in a strategy game. I had to do it over the map to select where i would place it.
That thing is huge !
I couldn't help but but be impressed by the sheer size. It was even a bit bigger then the insect cave. It was roughly circular and went down towards the center in 5 ring like steps. Each steps was its own level of caves that would serve as a home for goblins and the rings were connected by 4 stairways in the north,south,east and west.. It really felt like a old tribal settlement. At the lowest a large flat surface. Which could most likely host meetings, markets and any other kind of event. That was when i noticed that there was one, bigger cave at the end of the western stair.
Hah the tribe leaders cave ! That is gonna be mine.
After checking the Mana Pool, I realized that this thing cost a whopping 3000 mana, but it was worth it along the time I saved to not make this by hand.
The last feature then it is ! Show me the crystal geode stuff.
Crystal geode
A hollow stone structure.
It will serve as a more directed way to crystallize mana.
Will yield better quality and larger crystals depending on
the size of the geode.
Uses a large amount of mana
Large 600 M/h 3 days
Medium 300/h 2 days
Small 100 M/h 1 day
Woa ! that is indeed a lot of mana right there…. but i guess that would be worth it over time. Should use them to decorate my place for now.
I placed 2 large geodes right and left of my future cave's entrance. Each one was as tall as a normal human so they were indeed large. Then i went to connect the new goblin home with the old cave where most of them had spent their time. As well as redirecting the tunnel that led to my crystal cave. Now any attackers would have to go through the goblin village first before the got to me.
Hmm how much time did I actually spend on this now ?
I went to check and saw that the day was slowly nearing its end already. So I went back to the goblins that remained here and directed them to the new home so they could begin to settle down. After a while finally the other goblins returned as well and i was assaulted once more.
Your scouting force has successfully returned
Map was updated with scout information
Scouts subdued following species:
Dark tailed Scorpio
Blood Butterfly
Fly
Mosquito
Screecher
Scouts have brought back following plants:
Bladed Grass
Moon´s Love
Death´s Claw
Ankle Ripper
Mountain Flower
Plants and insects were added to you spawn skills.
Well well they sure made a good haul! Now it's time to announce some new rules for my minions !
I swiftly called all the goblins into the home and waited for them to settle in the center part.
“Goblins ! from today on there will be new rules in place. We are currently lacking in many things but most of all we need a force to fight with. ”(Me)
As is spoke these words a murmur went through the goblins.
“Yes ! we will train hard to become warriors !”(Goblin 1#)
I did a mental sigh at the little screamer and spoke back harshly.
“No you moron you won´t become warriors.”(Me)
At that the goblins seemed to become confused. So i went on to clarify.
“You are goblins, you are too weak and small to be warriors that can fight against others. This is why from today on you will train to become assassins.”(Me)
“Assassins, Lord?”(Gobar)
The old goblin seemed to be confused as well for a moment.
“Yes Gobar, you goblins are a small and swift species, your eyes can see in darkness well and your sense of smell is also better than mosts. So far you didn't make too much an advantage of that but that will change now! ”(Me)
“Hear my decree goblins !
First ! From now on every goblins is to train their stealth skills. Sneak up on each other, try to find each other before you are snuck up on.
Second ! Every male goblin will from now on join a combat training in this center place. You are to learn and train brawling and knife fighting.
Third ! the females are to learn from Gobuto from now on and develop their skills in any craft they can and have talent in.
Fourth ! From today on there is to be added a bit of poison for every meal to develop your poison resistance. ”
After i declared the rules the goblins were chattering between them. Besides those rules i also had them organize a regular scouting and patrolling shift that would accompany our Mountainstalker outside to hunt, train and survey the area for resources. Quite pleased with myself I went back to my cave intent on looking through the spoils that the first scouting mission had brought me.