Three days after the party of Skulk’s victory the goblin visited the beaver's territory again, it was near the Digit River. As usual, the beavers were noisy and was still on a partying mood, they really enjoyed the things that Skulk introduced to them added that they were really good builders.
The territory of the beavers literally became a water park, from large slides to water wheels where a beaver could ride up. Water sprays that almost looked like an artificial rain.
The group of beavers who were swimming on their way to the giants slide instantly saw the familiar goblin as the goblin reached the river.
Author’s Note: All of the beavers for some reason speak in rhymes and the MC will try to speak on their way too! Though on a human’s POV, they sound like whines and burps.
“Our goblin! My friend! How’s life at your end?” one of the beavers began the conversation while floating in the river.
Skulk posed like a rapper “I got a new project, what do you expect?” then while maintaining the pose he began following the floating group of beavers. “A new project to perfect, A subject where you guys are always correct.”
“Woo! Hoo!” the beavers rejoiced as Skulk brought down his piece.
“Talk to our boss! How about a ride before you get lost?” one beaver offered him to ride on its stomach. Gesturing his stomach.
“Thanks for the ride! I hope you don’t subside!” Skulk said and he jumped with a somersault in the air, he landed on the stomach of the beaver and the group clapped happily.
…
The boss was really huge, the beavers rejoiced as he waved at the top of the highest slide in the territory. He grandly growled which actually meant “Let’s go!! and so!” then he rolled into the slide.
The slide was almost 350 feet long. At the end was a ramp that led into a deeper part of the river. The boss slid while growling a laugh, it resounded into the slides even infecting the beavers that were watching.
Finally, reaching the ramp he made 3 twisting somersaults followed by a rotating dive. “Splash!!”
The beavers erupted after the display of his prowess in diving. From slapping their tails in a plank, it was a total show of appreciation and awe.
“Boss good dive! Looks who is here to join the jive!!” the beaver who arrived first greeted the boss of the beaver that was absorbing the applause of its kin.
“Skulk! Good to see you, my boy! Check out our new slide and enjoy!” the boss said and threw in a hearty laugh. He then pointed up from where he slid from, it was certainly not there when they partied last time.
The goblin scratched his head thinking of how useful the beaver’s constructing skills “I need some help, here! I brought some kelp!” Skulk answered taking out a bunch of it. The beavers that saw it clapped and rejoiced.
“Come to my house! The favorite goblin of my spouse!” the boss answered and they began swimming.
<--->
The house of their boss was a bungalow that was half submerged in water, they actually had to swim underwater to enter the house. It was not that far and the Goblin was good at holding his breath.
“Hubby! You brought a friend! Luckily I prepared some blend?” the beaver that was waiting in their house was the boss’s wife, and seeing the goblin wronged the tone of her last sentence. “Skulk! You son of a bulk! How’s Johanna that human of a hulk?”
The frontal tooth of the wife of the beaver showed.
“Hello missus, all hearts and kisses! She is resting, she needs a break after all that feasting” Skulk said.
The female beaver shivered in excitement as the goblin blew some hearts at her.
“Oh, she loved that you teem! If you were only a beaver who could swim then we could do her a favor and give her a tag…” Before the boss finished his sentence the goblin grabbed his teeth stopping him from further speaking.
“Oh! Honey, you little bunny! Let's have some bluefin-ie!” the missus of the beavers said. She then turned around showing her tail.
One by one with the boss in the lead slapped her tail.
“Okay! Let's see what you got in your sleigh!” the boss said as they sat, the other boys began eating the prepared tuna.
<--->
Skulk smiled he got the deal, but he still needed one more piece in the puzzle and he had to talk with the hard-headed moles. He should have begun his travel a day ago but the beavers still invited him for a small party.
He remembered the goblin chief saying where the moles lived. It was on the far edge of the Forest of Reed, on the east side, there were many paths he could think of but he was walking on a roundabout path, hoping to meet some other denizens of the forest.
One of the hardest denizens to befriend in the goblin's opinion.
“Caw! Caw!”
It was the sound that he was waiting for, he looked up and there were these creatures flying, half human and half bird, it was harpies.
“Caw! Caw! Caw!” Skulk imitated the sound, adding a bit of a different tune to it.
The harpies that were about to attack were baffled by the sound that they heard and they slowly went down.
Authors Note: Harpies actually communicate using squeaking sounds and caws, they could actually speak in human words since they use it to attract humans as prey.
Skulk immediately put his hands on his bag and began rummaging, in a few moments before the harpies landed he took out a fan made out of feathers. He waved it and the curiosity and hostility from the harpies instantly disappeared.
“Friend! Hello! There!” the harpies began speaking in human language.
Skulk then took out some nuts and fruits and began distributing them to the harpies one by one, they began eating them as soon as they received them.
“I want to go to the east side of the forest! Anyone who would agree to bring me, more food! I’ve got Sakri Nuts and Pompous Berries!” Skulk said then throwing again another bunch of it to the galley of the harpies.
Of course, like fish on a bait, a harpy immediately agreed.
The goblin spread his arms out as the harpy clutched on his shoulders and began ascent, the other harpies felt jealous. After gaining a bit of height, Skulk began throwing some of his Pompous Berries and the harpy happily tried to catch it by her mouth making the ride a bit shaky and the two laughed their way into the air.
Then from the clouds, a large creature began approaching them. The harpy who was by instinct reacted to the impending danger. (Imagine that you are a bird and a shadow loomed over you.)
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“Relax! Its Horus! Horus!” the second time he said the name he was actually trying to notify the dragon that was flying above him.
Dragons could not speak in human language and spoke using deep gorging words. The dragon began making echoing sounds. Skulk needed to keep on feeding the harpy to calm it down.
The dragon’s words were as follows: “Skulk! I finished the sword! Basking in the sun for now! Be careful! Fenn the Owl is looking for her eggs, and she is very agitated!”
Then the dragon flew upwards skimming the clouds. Finally, the harpy breathed a sigh of relief.
“We should fly lower! Fenn the Owl is flying around!” Skulk warned the harpy and the harpy followed. “I will give you a lot of rewards afterward!” Skulk said, happy with the harpy’s response.
In a few more minutes they could finally see the mountains in the edge of the forest.
<--->
Skulk was waving at the harpy who literally had to carry bundles of Pompous Berries and Sakri Nuts. He was now on the foot of the mount. Earlier before their descent he already had seen the holes on the side of the mountain. His target was to climb the mountain and go inside it.
Skulk learned to decipher monster language from the dragon, Horus who could speak all the language of monsters. He also said that monsters could understand words even if you don’t speak their language as long as your heart meant what you were trying to imply.
Far simple yet, he had a scale of Horus that allowed him to analyze the words of the monsters around the forest.
He began the climb, it was easy for him because he was already considered to be high level. He arrived at the hole that was dug in a perfect circle. With no doubts, he went down. Goblins could see in the dark.
A few moments into his travel he finally heard echoes of vibrations of possible monsters speaking. Skulk took out the dragon scale and placed it near his ears. It began translating the sounds that he was hearing.
From the use of the dragon scale: “Something stinky entered our hole!” “Stinky! It’s a goblin!!”
The goblin began vocalizing as he was listening to the conversations around him. The goblin’s throat was actually a bit the same as a human one. The only difference was that he can’t sing.
Skulk began vocalizing, he was sure that he was good at this part since he could already communicate with the dragon which needed a deeper gauge of whines and breaths.
From the use of the dragon scale: “What is he doing?” “I think he is trying to speak to us, can’t you hear? He is already doing the vowels! The vowels!!”
Skulk smiled, he was ready to talk now. “Friends! Can I talk to you for a while?!” the goblin began speaking in the mole’s language.
“The stinky just spoke our words! What the hell!” one voice reacted.
“Should we approach him? I think he will going to run away from us if he sees us!” another voice was shaky.
“Let’s wake up elder brother, he had a deal with a goblin before!” then the tunnel began shaking, they were moving. The goblin smiled, this confirmed that those were really the moles that were living in the mountains.
Skulk smiled and sat wherever he was. He was sure that they would come back.
…
But that was a big mistake. It had been already 10 hours since the moles had disappeared into the oblivion of the mountain heart.
It must be already morning outside. He then tapped his chest to check out his stats.
Skulk Lv57
Title: Degaya, Weirdo, Hunter, Disciple of the War Maiden, Razorback’s Friend
Status: Well Conditioned
Job: Spell Blade
Skills: Sword Mastery Lv10(+3), Sword Wave Mastery Lv9, Elemental Sword Lv0
Magic: Fire Magic Mastery Lv9, Wind Magic Mastery Lv10(+2), [???]
He really did gain a lot of levels when he defeated Razorback, he knew even before that he didn’t have to kill anything to gain more levels. Everything he did or accomplished could net him exp points. Even the old lady who trained him told him to try different things. The only positive things about the job and the skills gained were that you become better much faster.
That meant something for the humans who only had a finite span of life, he also learned from the old woman that the humans were in a constant threat of monsters and war among themselves. Skulk believed it because he knew how humans think.
He tapped it back. And just decided to sleep for a while. He was really prepared, he took out a sleeping sack made out of lamb’s wool. It was starting to get cold, he never knew that it would get so cold inside the mountain.
He had a sizable collection of lamb's wool in his bag, much of which he had processed during his spare time. The blanket he knitted resembled a camping sack, a testament to his skills. It felt strange to him that he possessed this knowledge from his past, especially since his memories were supposed to have been wiped out. Despite this oddity, he still appreciated the familiarity and comfort it brought him.
‘Oh the god said: a part of memory.’ Skulk thought as he began to lose consciousness to the warmth of the sack.
…
As he was sleeping, there was a sound that was echoing around him. Finally, he woke up to the sound of it. He opened his eyes. He was still inside the sack and that was sure. Then he looked around, he was sure he was not in the same spot where he slept.
“The stinky woke up!” one of the voices said.
“I’m not stinking, I have a name! Call me Skulk!” the goblin said as he went out of the sack. He then pulled the sack putting it back inside. It was done in a very comedic way.
“He has some strange scales on him! It’s the large snake’s scales! He killed a lord!” one of the snakes exclaimed as he saw the bag.
“No! She gave it to me after I helped her in shedding her excess skin!” Skulk complained while showing off the bag.
The large snake whose name was Lammy was one of the Lords of the forest. Even the mole knew of her.
“What’s with the visit then?” it was a voice that he had never heard before, distinct because it was deeper and sounded wizened, it must be the big brother they have been saying before.
“I’m here to ask for help! I want to build a village! For all the monsters in the forest!” the goblin said, he opened his arms wide and as high as he could to show how big his plan was.
There were a few moments of silence before the ground began shaking again. The moles came out of the walls. As they were saying earlier, the moles were hideous, they had worm-like whiskers all over their faces and the typical teeth in front.
“...That was really interesting can you give us some details?” the elder brother of the 3 moles said.
“Sure if you gave me some time! Can you see in the dark, I could write down the form and details of how I thought of the village!” Skulk said and he retrieved a wooden stick from his magic bag.
“We are blind, but otherwise we could tell it by touching the ground, please do…” the elder brother said and his two brothers nodded.
…
The moles agreed to the job in exchange for: Skulk must guarantee that Horus won’t eat them. The dragon has been fond of their flavor and would attack them on sight. If they dig underground the dragon would try to smoke them out. The only reason that the moles were not attacked was because the dragon said that he would not as long as they were outside of its territory which was the whole of Reed Forest.
They would also like a permit to travel across the forest north since on the other side of the forest was another mountain where another colony of moles lived, they wanted to get themselves some wives.
To Skulk's surprise, the moles were detached from the idea of revenge.
With that in mind the next day he departed and had to go to the underwater cave where the dragon lived. Horus was a loner, he lived in an underwater cave that also led to a cavern.
The goblin had to swim down the lake that was in the middle of the forest and then traverse into an underwater tunnel system to reach the dwelling of the dragon.
As he rose up from the water he immediately felt the stare of the dragon on the back of his head.
“Stop staring like that Horus! That’s why nobody wants to visit you!” Skulk said as he turned.
“Sorry… I just wanted to talk to somebody, I’m getting lonely…” the dragon said. Skulk the goblin was a rare existence that didn’t cower from the dragon’s majestic existence.
“I have a problem… I will be hiring some moles, please don’t eat them!” the goblin said.
The dragon immediately placed his fingers on his chin like he was scratching it.
“Oh, those juice yummy creatures… I saw them once digging for the goblins and just had to take a bite… they can talk?” the dragon said.
“So… you ate them because they didn’t talk?” the goblin was surprised with the recollection of the dragon.
“Well, the last goblin chief was really crafty, he could control any beasts. I actually ate him along with the moles… you got it I won’t attack them… oh the sword for the War Maiden is stashed in the bottom of my water basin, take it!” the dragon said using his claw to point some sort of pool on the other side of the cavern.
“Oh! Thanks!” Skulk said and he went into the basin, rather than a basin it looked more like a small lake.
The goblin jumped into the basin and began diving down. It was really there. He pulled it out of the underwater ground and stashed it in his bag then came back out of the basin. The dragon was staring at him again.
“What is it Horus?” the goblin asked. He knew how the dragon thought. He was just a shy old man.
“Can you be so considerate and clean my mouth again?” the dragon said.
“What did you eat again?” the goblin asked as the dragon’s mouth opened up.
The dragon’s breath really stank. “Damn, cows… they are beginning to propagate too much. It has begun to damage the ecosystem of the forest,” the dragon said.
“Dabby Cows? Can you elaborate?” the goblin said as he entered the mouth of the dragon. The smell was familiar, it was of beef. The dragon’s teeth were also riddled with large slabs of meat that were stuck between them.
After a day and a half. The goblin was now back at the mole’s hole telling them of the good news. The brotherhood of the moles rejoiced, and then Skulk began telling them of the whole plan. The moles had their own suggestions to add and they were really experts of the earth magic.
<--->
A fox was sitting on his favorite tree. The citrus smell really calmed him down. As he was making his slumber a smell of tobacco and grounded meat visited his nose. The fox annoyingly stood up, he knew who it was.
“Daigo! What are you doing here!?” the fox said telepathically.
“We have to talk!” the ogre Daigo did the same “Rory we have a problem… it's about a goblin.”
Rory the Fox and Daigo the Ogre were two of the lords in the Forest of Reed.