Drifting ever slowly forward towards the darkness the pressure began to build. As he neard the weird powerful source of darkness a prompt gave him the information he was looking for.
[ Time and Space Magic]
It was impossible to stop his excitement, well that was until he saw the price tag associated with such an amazing power.
[Cost: 200 Skill Points]
Dejected, but refusing to give up hope Eric glided back towards the Alchemy upgrades which had low cost values of 2-10 a piece. This didn't mean he was giving up oh no far from it, he now had a long term goal to work towards aside from survive, and don't get eaten by a dinosaur. Exiting the Skill Tree section of his menus 20 points poorer, He had taken up Alchemic Clarity which helped him increase the potency of potions, and "Where theres a Will theres a Way" both of these skills were passive in nature. The latter of the skills gave Eric a higher percentage of success when crafting potions with unknown ingredients. He had chosen this skill because it offered a branching path that had a skill called "The Way" which allowed the user to substitute certain potion ingredients for others as long as they shared similar properties.
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The prospects alone excited him; Deep in thought he seemed to have forgotten a now sleeping goblin huntress who had unbeknownst to her been worried about him for more reasons than the safety of her tribe. While that was important she had yet to realize how reliant she had become on his company. She was used to being a lone hunter, but that wa smostly because goblins were very carnal in nature, although she seemed to be the blacksheep of the brood. She had never knew the want of good companionship until she had met Eric, even if she still had yet to realize this consciously otherwise her stubborn nature wouldn't have allowed her to remain by his side.
Smiling as these thoughts never entered her consious mind she thought of only one thing saving her people. After watching this man take down a golem made by the Shadow King's minions she knew she hadn't placed her faith in the wrong person. Dropping deeply into R.E.M sleep she became figuritively dead to the world around her.
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Alise Ralolar
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Touching down on a secluded mountain peak Alise breathed deeply taking in the clean air. This brought tears of joy to her eyes, because the offices they worked in ran on stale air recycled through enchantments. The memory brought chills down her spine, and she decided to keep moving forward before the games wardens could track her position after beaming down. She knew that Alpha testing of the world's biomes was going smoothely, and they were more focused on that at the moment, well aside from her boss that is.
"I never will fully understand why he is so obsessed with the weird little race he had helped create. If he knew the future roadmap the other god's put in place he won't be too happy either way." She mused to herself, which she found helped make the treacherous journey down the mountainside less tedious than it was in actuality.
She was in no hurry she knew what her current goal would be; She had to get her stats up with the help of the primitive dwarven tribes, and work on gaining a secret class like the once human Eric Kenwood had. Knowing full well that legendary hidden classes were only a one person ever kind of thing having two happen so fast in succession of each other would arouse suspitions. For now she would fill all the pre-requisites, and when the full release hit the rest of the universe she would be ready to take her prize. Of course her headstart at this point wouldn't last long, as her employers had to have noticed that she went native.
Laughing as she imagined their horrified faces, and how her dad would react made her feel bright, and bubbly inside as she continued her leisurely half stroll half freefall down to the base of the mountain.
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Eric
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Waking from his trance like stupor he lightly pushed the goblin girl to the side, and off of him so he could go find the chief of these people, and get to upgrading their civilization. So many ideas flashed through his skull, but he didn't know which would be possible to impliment at the moment. Everything from temperature controlled houses to plumbing he would work on organizing this group into the most fit to trudge the death zone located above their heads. It seemed like ages ago when he was first beamed to this planets surface in a body that wa snot his own. He was still adjusting to his different skin tone, and height, but he had been worried about much more pressing matters, than vanity related issues.
"I think I will introduce structured housing to them, and what I do after that who knows, at least I'll have somewhere to stay as shelter, it would do wonders for my mental health." He muttered quietly to himself as he stumbled out into an unknown hallway.
'They must've taken me down into their tunnels while I was unconscious.' The smell from before he also noted had disipated. Whether it was related to the golem's curse or not he was unsure, but that was more than likely the case. He stumbled down a few passages, before he finally ran into someone, a Gnomosapian. Dressed in a simple robe made from a course fabric unknown to him dyed a deep maroon in color draped the persons androgenous body unelegantly. Unsure of how to precede he took a stab in the dark.
"Um, Excuse me I was hoping that maybe you could take me to the chieftain to discuss what has happened." His voice piercing the deathly quiet hallway cause the gnome to jump in shock as they realized they weren't alone in the tunnel.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"R...R.Right away honored one, I would be most honored to take you to Chief Christoph DarkIron. Ma ma may I say we are very thankful to you for saving us. If not for you we would have all become but common beasts for the slaughter. We all owe you our lives, and if you find yourself needing something please don't be afraid to ask it of us." Stammering through her speech she seemed to gain some confidence in the end, because when she mentioned how he had saved their lives a fire seemed to light behind her iris's.
'Wow I was justing fighting for my own gain here, but these people are super grateful to me for helping them. Even though ending up here was merely by accident, and I may have killed a few of them before I found a good way to perform a mass cure. Despite all of this they still feel very indebted to me.' This all threw Eric for a whirlwind of self reflection, he almost didn't notice the little person as they started to waddle away guiding him to their chief.
He had for a moment been lost in the world as a game to help save his depleting psyche, but that almost allowed him to make terrible decisions. He had toyed with the idea of subjugating these people to save time, and hopefully gain an exp bonus from it. He was starting to realize however that he was becoming more, and more capable of horrible things, and he needed to keep himself in check.
Sitting before Chief DarkIron who still hadn't revealed his name to Eric even after he had saved his people. This annoyed Eric greatly, because he had put his ass on the line when he fought that golem, he could have ran like a coward, and let these people fall into the darkness. He however almost died overloading his body on raw energy, and using it like a bomb. All of this, and he still refused to give me his name. His annoyance must have been evident as the wrinkly bastard began to chuckle at his consternation.
"It seems young one that you are feeling wronged, may I ask what bothers you."
Ready to burst a blood vessel Eric let loose some of his pent up aggression shocking the younger girl who had helped him find his way here.
"You never told me your name you smug old prick. After all of that you still refuse to speak in anything but riddles, and act like youv'e passed on some sage like advice, and to be honest it gets under my skin. I want to put that aside though Chief DarkIron."
A glint of realization was briefly visible on the old mans face, one that told how the game was up, and he no longer held all of the bargaining chips. This hint of realization made Eric understand something very clear, and that was even though he had literally saved this man's tribe he was looking to find a way to cut the reward to make it easier on himself. Possibly to save face, but Eric really couldn't prove his inclinations to anyone.
"Whatever you may think old man I am not here to ruin what you've built, quite the opposite in fact. I have ideas that would help all of us live more comfortably, and hopefully safe at least from wild beasts. I'm not sure how many wander down here, but I'd like to think that increased comfortability is something anyone would want." Eric's pride flaired as he thought of all the things they could accomplish for the betterment of not only himself, but those around him. He really missed having a comfortable bed to sleep in, and an climate controlled house. Many many things would have to wait, but he didn't mind, after all he had nothing but time it seems. For now anyways.
The old man appeared to be interested, but tried to hide it by feigning indifference to Eric's passion.
"One may offer the sweetest of fruits, but give you the most bitter."
Back to the riddles again this agitated Eric, which seemed to happen alot lately, but he refused to give into the old man's bait instead opting to wager with the old coot that he could improve their style of life.
"Ok chief I'll take that bet, but when I win I want to have some say In what goes on around here, because where I come from we vote on things, not just accept things at how they are presented." With that Eric stood and gave the man a small bow of respect for the sake of it. He may annoy him, but that doesn't mean they can't have a good working relationship.
While he waited to see if the chief would send some workers to help out, Eric decided to build some primitive axes to cut lumber, and judging by the first one he made he would need alot of them to get enough lumber for one house let alone a village. If the locals decide to help out he could pass along the recipe, and maybe teach these little buggers to be self sufficient. Sighing he began to gather all the necessities to build himself a home, if he could show them the value of what he offered maybe just maybe they might survive long enough to be able to fight on their own without fear of death waiting around every corner.
Altogether he managed to gather 200 thing [Olba Tree Vines] to weave into the bindings for axes, 150 [Sharp Stones], and last but not least 100 [Olba Tree Branches] to use for the handles. The wood seemed stirdier than what he found on the surface, maybe it was due to the ambient magic in the air, or maybe it was just a healthier tree Eric knew not the answer only that he wa shappy with the find. The ash grey wood was smooth with a light blue hue covering the outer bark layer. He began the tedious work of putting together his primitive technology, and thought back to the skill trees, and remembered seeing upgrades to primitive tech for really cheap so he decided to go back and buy them a few points wouldn't set him too far back.
As he finished binding the first axe head to its shaft the Goblin Huntress snuck up on him while he was distracted. When he noticed her inches from his face he screamed, and fell backwards trying very hard to still his over palpitating heart.
"Jesus lady you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days, what am I saying you can't even understand me." Picking up the necklace he was wearing she plunged one of the bones into her hand causing blood to cover a decrepit tooth in a black ichor. He was about to complain, and ask her what the fuck that was all about, until the tooth seemed to glow a vibrant green was tiny runes began to abosorb her blood. At a loss for words he looked to the now smiling huntress giving him a toothy grin. Flustered he opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.
"Can you understand me now mr naked man?"
Confusion was written all over his face until he realized that he was naked. If his complexion would alot it, it would be a brilliant fire engine red right about now. This shock seemed to bring her joy as she chuckled at the mans embarrassment. Nonchalantly she sat down next to him while asking if it was ok. It appears she wasn't really looking for his approval as she did it anyway. Before he could say he was busy however he looked from the corner of his eye to see a small tear escape her as the calculating determination she embodied reappeared like magic. Curious Eric still said nothing, and continued on with his boring work.
"I'll make this simple, Mr Eheric. I need your help....saving my tribe. I know you barely know me, and we only just began to be able to talk with each other, but I've lost alot of time, and without the magic I have seen you do my people are most certainly going to die off."