The defenders had been lucky. The orcs were just as dumb as the goblins had painted them to be. They may have been exceptional pack hunters, but when it came to entrenched warfare, they were not equipped for the task. Nenn and company sat in a circle as they went through the debriefing process with one another.
This, of course, happened after Harper and Nenn had helped to heal the injured defenders. Harper using her [Healing Bolt] spell had managed to save the most critically injured, while Nenn had formed a circle using [Nature’s Regrowth] to form a recovery area where he could promote natural healing process increasing the density of unattached ambient life energy through [Nature’s Absorption]
Sure, it wasn’t an active healing spell, but when both [Nature’s] spells were combined, it made for an effective, if not a bit too slow, of a healing circle. It wouldn’t save anyone critically injured, but for cuts, bruises, and pulled joints, it was doing wonders.
Returning to the debriefing, the group had come to the conclusion that had the ogre’s been smarter, and decided to attack from different sides, all at once, they would have lost the battle. The same was true if the orcs had decided to split the attention of the ranged defenders. There were only so many of them, and there was a lot of fortress to cover.
The melee fighters on the front line had seen the worst of it. The alliance had lost four humans and two goblins in that line. Three of the range defenders had also been killed. Arrows and bolt spells from the orcs had turned out to be especially nasty when your attention was split between targets.
In the end, it came down to luck. Well, luck, and outsmarting an opponent who seemed to be resistant to trying new tactics, even when what they were trying was not working. There must have been a hundred dead orcs, thirty-some half-orcs, and thirteen ogre corpses lying inside the fortress’s walls, not to speak of the twenty-some bodies that had managed to die before entering.
Ortango waltzed over with a huge amount of pep in his nearly silent steps.
“What’s gotten you so happy?” Harper asked.
“Oh, just that I’ve made it to level 10 and now I have [Piercing Shots] as a passive skill,” Ortango said.
“I trust that it's a good skill?” Harper asked.
“Let’s put it this way. I won’t have to turn the next ogre I see into a pin cushion to have even a hope of taking it down. Just a carefully placed shot at its head should, hopefully, do the trick.” Ortango said. “But, it might be a while before I get that opportunity.”
“What do you mean by that?” Harper asked.
“Well, there are thirteen subservient orc clans and one superior clan. Each of the thirteen clans were headed by one of the dead piles of muscle over there,” Ortango said as he gestured to the field of charred and rotten bodies.
Interestingly, Nenn’s [Rot]spell did not fully engulf the massive ogres, but seemed to run out of steam after a period of time. This resulted in a good half of the ogres looking half like a charcoal briquette that had transitioned into a black ooze. It made it hard for the defenders to pull the corpses out of the fortress as they were liable to fall apart as soon as they were disturbed. The other druids were busy using their [Entangling Roots] spell to turn over the charred and rotten earth while burying the rotting corpses.
“So, what you are saying is that there is only the ogre leading the superior clan left?” Harper asked.
“That’s right. For now anyways. Who knows how long it will take the orcs to replace the numbers they’ve lost today. By our estimations, with the last three days of battle, the orcs should have lost at least half of their hunters,” Ortango said. “But, with the removal of the ogre leaders, the half-orcs will be busy fighting each other to try and succeed as clan rulers. More will perish in the days to come due to in-fighting.”
“So what you’re saying is that the orcs are not a threat anymore?” Aiden said.
“Mostly. I expect that the individual hunting groups will be still roaming around hunting. One does not suddenly stop needing to eat, afterall,” Ortango said.
Nenn had to suppress a laugh. He had yet to tell everyone about his inability to eat and the fact that he put down roots when he fell asleep.
“So did anyone get anything good?” Aiden asked.
“I completely forgot to look,” Nenn said. A moment later a piece of parchment appeared in everyone’s hands.
NEW ENTRIES IN COMBAT LOG
Party has slain 13/13 enemy combatants. Bonus experience earned for level difference, and difficulty of encounter. Raid has slain 167/241 (0 Individual, 13 Party, 154 Raid) enemy combatants. Bonus experience earned for average level difference, and difficulty of encounter.
STATUS
COMBAT LEVEL: 15
COMBAT CLASS: Druid (Tier - Undefined)
SHIELD: 400/400
HEALTH: 400/400
STAMINA: 400/400
MANA: 360/400, 10% of total mana locked in reserve.
STATS:
VITALITY: 40
STRENGTH: 40
DEXTERITY: 40
INTELLIGENCE: 40
WISDOM: 40
NEW SKILL OBTAINED
New Skill obtained: (Active) ???. Skill requires additional parameters to be unlocked.
“Uhh, did anyone else get a new skill that did not unlock?” Nenn asked.
“No?” Liz said, stretching out the sound as she quickly shuffled over to look at Nenn’s status sheet.
“You see it too, right? Skill requires additional parameters to be unlocked. That’s some kind of advanced System fuckery right there,” Nenn said.
“Maybe it's something like a class quest?” Jack said. “You know, like, a ‘prove you're actually a competent druid and one with nature’ kind of trial? Maybe it's a ‘save a cat out of a tree’ kind of deal?”
“Or a ‘tend the garden to learn about nature’ kind of quest,” Aiden said. The group took turns making fun of various possible druid-esque class quests. It seemed a bit silly to lock skills and abilities behind an unknown requirement. Shouldn’t it be a guaranteed reward for leveling? Wasn’t putting one's life on the line enough of a trial to achieve a new skill. In Nenn’s case, apparently not.
“Well, let’s just hope that since the skill requires extra parameters that it turns out to be a superior skill,” Nenn said.
“There are no bad skills. Only a lack of creativity,” Jack said. It was one of their favorite sayings. Truely, over the years, Jack had demonstrated some very clever usages of game mechanics to the point at which it was expected that they would manage to turn a benign skill into a hilariously effective one. Nenn remembered the teapot incident and smiled fondly.
“I can’t wait to get the [Flower Picking] skill,” Nenn said. “It lets the druid delicately pluck a flower from the ground without disturbing it. Allows the flower to survive days longer before wilting if placed in water.”
“That would be useful for alchemy,” Ortango said. “Keeping reagents fresh while gathering everything required can be a challenge. When our village’s alchemist wants to make a batch of healing potions he requires multiple hunters to go out and forage for different components all at the same time.”
“Ah, but it does little in combat. Level 15 should reward an active skill. Besides, I think flower picking should be relegated to a Profession or Hobby skill,” Nenn said.
The group then fell into a discussion about the finer points of the System, and the lack of guidance and features they would have expected. They hadn’t been given a profession to select, or a hobby to pick from. And none of their previous Earthly talents made the translation over to The Trial.
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The day progressed without much interruption. Nenn and company were kept nearby in case their talents were needed. A bunch of the goblins had unlocked their System Access and were busy chatting amongst themselves. A lot of the older rumors were flying around and it was hard for Nenn to try to keep it all straight.
The sun soon rose to high noon, and the Obelisk shimmered. It was the first time Nenn was able to see the integration process happen from an outsider’s perspective. The Obelisk shimmered again a moment later, then again, picking up frequency. It eventually flashed twice without delay, then stopped. Around the base were forty newly integrated bodies. Nenn’s jaw dropped, and the rest of the camp came to a complete standstill.
Standing around two of the sides were the expected humans, fresh from Earth. And on the other two sides there were twenty new goblins who were decked out in starter gear, just like the humans were. There was a bit of a stare off happening as everyone involved didn’t know what to do next. The newly integrated goblins were confused to see humans, and the humans were confused seeing goblins, but thankfully before either side could take the hasty step and ruin potential relations with one another, Aiden and Hetruvensho were quick to get over their shock and engage the newly integrated population.
Nenn could only hypothesize that when he and Hetruvensho had formalized an alliance it allowed the goblins equal access to an obelisk. Maybe it could be shared with more races? But that was a question for later, potentially. For now there was the question of when these integrated goblins were from.
With only one wave of 40 people arriving per day it only made sense that the Obelisk had some kind of buffer memory. It should have been able to load everyone who wanted to volunteer into the queue, then integrated them only when it was their turn to enter The Trial. Otherwise the System’s threat of 10% of Earth's human population having to enter every year would have been an unachievable goal at 40 people per day. That only amounted to 14600ish people getting in for every obelisk, and only if the obelisks remain in human control. And now that their obelisk was being split with the goblins, that number was halved. Thankfully there were many Obelisks on Earth, so more people could enter.
Nenn wondered how the rest of the world was doing. He hoped that all of the Obelisks had been placed in what could be defined as starter areas. If an Obelisk dropped in an already conquered territory, or city, there was no way that forty level 1 humans could defend it. Hell, if it hadn’t been for the Obelisks assistance, Nenn and company would be dead and this Obelisk would have belonged to the orcs.
After a couple of minutes Hetrevensho made his way over with a couple of newly integrated goblins in tow. The two fresh-faced goblins looked like fish caught out of water. They were slightly taller and thicker built than their Trialborn counterparts. Either from the customization choices they made, or that these goblins had been raised on a more bountiful diet.
“I’d like to introduce to you Vento and Tulu. Vento has selected rogue as his class and Tulu has selected shaman for hers. I think these two have some information to share with you regarding The Trial,” Hetruvensho stepped out of the way and let the two newly integrated have the floor.
“Heyya!” Tulu said with enthusiasm. “So it looks like we finally made it in. Hetruvensho here has told us that you humans, that's your race's name right? Am I saying that correctly? Hu-mens? Hum-ans? Anyways, he was saying that your race just started The Trial a couple of days ago, is that right?”
“That’s-” Tulu continued before Nenn could get another word in.
“Well, that’s good, your people still have a chance at avoiding the Culling. Maybe.” Tulu said, her enthusiasm dropping off towards the end. It was as though she was remembering an unpleasant occurrence.
“What Tulu means to say is that you’re lucky to be here right now. The Cullings are horrible. The system is mostly indiscriminate. Only the immature and pregnant were spared from The Culling,” Vento said, he too was now staring at the ground.
“H-how many did you see?” Nenn asked.
“I lived through eighteen,” Vento said. “My dad was Culled when I was three. My Mom was Culled last year. I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“I also saw eighteen. Back on Stelvu, our world, it's illegal for a female to enter The Trial until they are past childbearing age. I have no intent on having children, so I snuck past the guards one night, and here I am now.” Tulu was now looking up at Nenn with a level of renewed conviction.
Nenn’s mind reeled with the influx of information. But there was one question that stood out in his mind.
“Do either of you know how many Cullings there were?” Nenn asked.
“We were on our fifty-first,” Vento said. “But, there's more to it than just fifty-one Cullings. See, I guess the Goblins who were integrated into The Trial managed to lose a great number of Obelisks. Stelvu had 100 Obelisks places all around the world. And most of them, after a couple of days, no longer were taking volunteers. A couple of them would activate from time to time, but gradually the number of active Obelisks shrank down to just three.”
“The world sat at three Obelisks for years, but then five years ago they deactivated. There was no way to enter The Trial, but yet The Culling still happened. Three years later one lone Obelisk reactivated. As soon as I turned 18, I volunteered. I didn’t want to miss the chance to not be Culled. And I guess I’ve been sitting in the queue for quite a long time now.
“There was a big push to volunteer quickly if you wanted to go,” Tulu said. “No one knew how long the Obelisk would stay active this time. And judging by how no one knows anything about this or about Stelvu, it looks like they were right.”
“The Forest Goblins can count back 3000 years into our histories,” Hetruvensho said. “But our meticulously kept legends don’t even hint about about our past involvement with Obelisks, or about the Stelvu. Up until 3 days ago we thought Obelisks were merely myths.”
“If I had to take a guess, that means that whatever society the Forest Goblins had been a part of 3000 years ago, was also not involved with Obelisks, so it's been a very long time since the Forest Goblins have had access to one. That’s not to say that there couldn’t be a long enough queue that even with the goblins having access to an Obelisk somewhere else, that Tulu and Vento just so happened to be next in line,” Harper said.
“It could also be that the Obelisks are not linked one to one, and the queue isn’t shared between them,” Jack said.
“That can’t be true,” Nenn said. “This one appeared when ours appeared on Earth. Otherwise the Goblins and Orcs would have found this one a long time ago. We just watched both Humans and Goblins integrate out of this one.”
“Hmm, I guess that’s true, but I think there’s more nuance to it. So far, every human that’s come through has been Canadian, and perceivably, had entered through the Obelisk in Ottawa. If it’s possible, if not inevitable, that humans have already lost some of the Obelisks, shouldn’t we start seeing other nationalities coming through?” Jack asked.
“Maybe there is a priority system in place? Like maybe the Obelisk is set to deplete the queue of volunteers from the Ottawa Obelisk first before it starts to integrate from other queues?” Nenn said.
“Well, this is right confusing,” Liz said. “I don’t think it’s worth worrying about. We’re all here now, and we can’t affect anything to do with the Obelisk, other than maintaining control of it.”
With that the group broke apart and settled into doing other tasks. Nenn decided he would join the gatherers for the afternoon. After a brief lesson on what to look for, Nenn set out to find some fresh fruits and vegetables. Using his connection to nature he was able to meditate and find where the produce was hiding. When he returned to his goblin gathering mentor, they were surprised to see just how much he had managed to find. They were even more impressed with the amount he was hauling. At level 15 he now had 40 strength, which meant that he was now 4 times as strong as when he had integrated. At least, that’s how strength seemed to work. It was more of a challenge thinking of how to carry all of the gatherings than actually lifting it.
The day progressed without much more violence occurring. A couple of the newly integrated humans had set out hunting, deciding that they wanted to contribute game meat for dinner. They returned battered and bruised, hauling a huge boar-like creature out of the woods behind them. The clerics had their hands full patching up their wounds, but in the end no one had died, and they had all gotten a decent chunk of experience from it.
Around the cooking fires and feasting circles stories were exchanged from all three sides. Nenn was intrigued to hear about Stelvu and the culture that had developed there. From the stories, Nenn could gather that the goblins on Stelvu had been just as scientifically progressed as the humans on Earth. Although they did say that their progress had come mostly to a standstill once the Cullings started. After the first one, a decision was made to focus on automation, and to make the current technology super easy to use and maintain. The idea was to prevent the knowledge from being lost over time..
There were talks of mass migrations, and lands being left for nature to reclaim as the goblin populations began to dwindle. The System had to be working overtime on translations as the stories easily made sense to Nenn. Somehow the goblins had been using words like smartphones, internet, highschool, and memes for example, which it sounded impossible that they somehow happened to have the exact same word for those concepts.
There was talk amongst the integrated goblins asking what they had done for their highschool graduation. From what Nenn had gleaned, highschool graduation was a very big deal on Stelvu. It was like all of life's big milestone celebrations thrown into one. Nenn compared it to something it would be like a quinceañera, a wedding, and a funeral all thrown together. A celebration of coming-of-age, marriage, and the realization that death might be around the corner now that they were eligible for the Culling.
Culling night was also a tradition of sorts. Families would gather together, and have a huge feast, celebrating the remaining time they had together. And when the hour of the Culling started, the crying and mourning began. During that hour, if a person was Culled, their body would go limp and they would fall over dead, just as if they were a puppet that had their strings cut. When the hour ended, the survivors would bring out the Culled and see to the interment of the bodies.
It was a tradition born out of necessity. Nenn wished it didn’t have to be a thing, but there was nothing he could do to change it. Man, nor goblin for that matter, was not in control of their world anymore. The System had taken that from them. Nenn’s anger bubbled just below the surface, but he kept it suppressed. He took a breath and calmed himself. There was nothing he could do about it. Trying to rile everyone up would do no good. The integrated goblins intrinsically knew this. The Forest Goblins had lived this, and only now knew were they seeing a chance to change their station.
The humans from Earth were learning it first hand here and now. They had come from a comfortable world where they were on the top of the food chain. But here, it was very different. They were definitely near the bottom of the pecking order, and it would take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to change that. But, every journey starts by taking a small step, and Nenn had already started down that path. The challenge Nenn had to face was to keep taking steps, and to forge the path ahead for others. It was easy to be complacent, especially after today’s battle with the orcs and ogres.
The feast ended and Hetruvensho divided up the fire watches for the night. He gave a quick rundown of the threat the night predators posed. It only occurred to Nenn in that moment that the humans who had run off to do their own thing were probably dead right now. If the orcs, wildlife, or some other biological hardship hadn’t gotten them yet, the night predators probably had.
With this grizzly thought swirling around in his head, Nenn made his way over to an undisturbed patch of grass and laid down, feeling his body relax as he stretched out on the ground. There were plenty of makeshift beds to go around now, but given Nenn’s wooden affliction, he thought it best to lay beneath the stars. The light of the watchfires barely managed to block out some of the night sky, hiding some of the inky-black sea of stars' true beauty.