Serin examined the exhausted goblins. As much as she wished to immediately begin training and leveling these monsters. She could recognize that they just managed to survive an attack from humans and then were subsequently harried by wolves. A rest was needed.
As best as she could, she signaled to the goblins with hand gesture for them to follow. Azahl and many other scholars had theorized that common was not a language learned but originally granted by the system. Which she dearly hoped. Otherwise it was going to be very tedious to communicate with these monsters.
Serin had come across many advanced monsters that could speak. She supposed that as monsters without classes like humans possessed, common language would be granted when their race evolved. There had been many claims she heard over the years of this being achieved in experiments. It was something that needed to be seen to be believed though. As soon as these goblins evolved she would find out whether that was true.
Serin went a short ways into the woods with the goblins in tow to a small clearing that she found suitable for a makeshift camp. She sat on the ground her legs crisscrossed.
The goblins looked at her with confused expressions. They appeared to be unsure whether they could join her. All Serin could do was again gesture with her hands to try to get them to rest in this clearing. It took some back and forth, but eventually the goblins understood what she wanted.
The brief night fell as they rested together. No fire was made with all of them being capable of seeing in the dark and the darkness wouldn't last long anyways. Serin was unsure how cold it was as she was unable to feel such a sensation any longer, but the goblins did not shiver or show any other signs of discomfort.
The female that was fighting earlier took back her infant from the injured male goblin. Serin examined him and could see that his survival was to be determined. She considered briefly giving it basic aid, but wasn't quite concerned enough with just a single goblin to do so. With that his life would be up to fate. It would soon be clear if it would survive.
With the three mothers feeding and caring for the infants and the only other male down with tis injuries, the remaining able male left on its own into the woods. Serin assumed it went to hunt.
This gave Serin plenty of time to organize her thoughts. Both Serin and her son were killed by the Legend. She was unsure if it was her just her muted emotions or just her true feelings, but she felt little about her son's death. He was always a disappointment that squandered his potential. His only redeeming quality was siring such an amazing daughter.
What Serin did feel strongly about was her own torturous death. The memory of the pain of the incessant burning of her insides was still strongly resonating in the forefront of her mind. Not to mention the shame of having her hand still skeletonized despite healing of her body after the test earlier. Perhaps wounds before her undeath would never heal. This shame made her clench her fist and imagine all the cruel things she wanted to do in return to that Legend.
Then her granddaughter had now been in The Betrayed's care for several years now. She felt a distant anger rise further at the thought that Dalene wouldn't know her true origins. That the Betrayed would craft her a false life so she would never seek out her true lineage. It was difficult to imagine, but the girl was probably four or five by now. She was walking, talking, and learning everything that wretched cult was telling her.
Her skeletal hand scrapped loudly as she squeezed her hands in anger. Which was all suddenly quenched in a cold realization of the Seer. Paranoia griped at Serin's thoughts at the implications of the class. Serin didn't know how their skills worked. Was it simply focused on her granddaughter or did there need to be a link of thought. There were many types of prophets that served the powers of the world. All them tightly guarding the inner workings of the prophetic skills.
Her life had just started again. Serin couldn't risk bringing attention upon her if a thought was all it took. And with that she quickly pushed all thought of The Betrayed and Proth away into the recess of her mind. It was not anything she had the power to do anything about at the moment anyways. To sit here stewing in anger and shame would be counterproductive.
Instead she must look forward to the best path to get stronger. Which would most certainly be a dungeon. Not only would it be best for gaining levels, but it should still be a good method to avoid any prophetic skills.
She looked down at her skeletal hand and saw no ring. It was gone or melted down. Not that it mattered when she didn't quite have her exact position anyways to be able to navigate with her map. Then again what use was a map when the goblins here probably had the best idea of the locations of this forest.
The question then is how to get them to lead me to one. Serin thought.
The sun had risen again by the time the male that left had returned. In the goblins hands were a few fish and an eclectic assortment of scavenged food. Serin could see that there were mushrooms, acorns, berries, and various leaves. The goblin had a big grin as entered the clearing with this bountiful harvest. The other goblins too were excited and chittered at him.
However, before he presented the food to the goblins. He knelt before Serin and placed the largest fish at her feet. The goblin's full attention was on her at this moment. There was a hopeful eagerness in their eyes as they waited for Serin's next move.
Ah, she could only absentmindedly think. After her own feast earlier she had no need to eat. Serin, however, could see the importance of playing the part. The goblin chieftains received tribute and always ate first. That much she knew from her decades of dungeoneering.
With a grin she picked up the raw fish and took a large messy bite. A part her screamed that she needed to be more civilized than this. That such barbaric behavior was incredibly unbecoming. But the other part rejoiced in the societal hierarchy of goblins. She had been wondering how she would convince them to do more than just follow her. Now though they had solved that issue for her. With them already viewing as a chieftain or protector of sorts it would be just that much easier to train them for her purposes.
The goblins cheered with her taking the offering and the male goblin then started to distribute the food to the rest. The mothers got first pick, the distributor himself got seconds, and last was the injured male that ate the scraps.
Serin noted with an objective perspective how harsh such an order was for the injured members of goblin kind. Although, with how fast goblins could reproduce, it made sense to her that those that couldn't provide for the tribe wouldn't get anything but scraps. Serin just made note of how that goblin was further unlikely to survive long without proper nutrition.
After their feast the goblins curled up in a mass of bodies and started to sleep.
Serin just let out a small sigh as she prepared for the long, boring rest. The benefits of not needing to sleep ended when there was nothing she could do while others slept.
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The monotony of watching goblins sleep was broken when Serin felt strange connections form within her. It felt as if she had just gained another skill. She could tell that with a mental flex it would do something. What it would do she couldn't tell without trying it. Wary of the sudden formation she did not test it immediately however.
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Focusing on it Serin could distinguish that there were two connections. Following the connection it lead off away in the distance from her. She could roughly estimate the direction and it seemed to be coming from where she had travelled down from. It only made sense to her that it was near where the goblins had been attacked.
Which was an exciting prospect as it gave Serin an idea what the connection could be. With that she decided to pull on both of the connections. Immediately she could feel a successive return from the connections that signaled that her command was received. The connections started to move and they were coming towards her.
As the sun began to rise high into the sky, Serin waited for the approaching connections.
The goblins woke while Serin had been busying herself exploring the connections. The mother's tended to the needy babies. Meanwhile the healthy male was checking on the injured goblin. Its condition had only worsened while they slept. The goblin was pale and the wounds had festered. It was clear it would not recover and would soon perish. By its appearance Serin was somewhat surprised it had not died in its sleep.
The goblins eventually looked to her as they finished waking up. Serin made no attempt to communicate that she was waiting here. They chittered amongst each other trying to figure out her intentions. It was futile and with the language barrier how could Serin explain what she was waiting for anyways. They would simply have to wait and see.
At an impasse the goblins started to busy themselves with miscellaneous tasks. From weaving fibers from the nearby plant matter, sharpening their blades, and to tending wounds. There was plenty to do for the goblins.
It was hours before Serin finally felt the connections start to approach them. She rose and did her best to gesture to the goblins that something was coming and that they should stay. She wasn't sure how much got through though.
Then nearby the brush was pushed aside Kordin and Mayer shambled through. Kordin was headless just as she had left him and was missing large portions of flesh from his torso. His chest had been reduced to little more than a hollow cavity due to her hunger. Mayer was in much better condition only baring stab wounds and few chunks missing on his neck that had been taken by her .
The goblins were absolutely terrified at the appearance of the walking corpses. In fact, the mothers were screeching as they gathered their babies. The male drew his blade ready to fight as a distraction. They would have certainly fled without Serin's intervention.
"Stop!" She yelled. Her hoarse, grating voice stopped them in their tracks. She needed to show that these undead were following her orders.
With wide fearful eyes the goblins watched as Serin approached the undead.
Serin went to Mayer first. She grabbed him by his head and shook him. The undead wobbled wildly with her light force doing everything it could to keep itself from falling.
"See," she said to the goblins. "Not so scary."
The goblins relaxed a little, but were still clearly ready to flee if the new additions made a sudden move. They spoke to each other in their chirps trying to understand the situation. Serin thought she might have seen that the at least recognized these as the humans that had attacked them.
It would do for now, she thought with a sigh. As long as she didn't have to search the forest for them if they ran.
Now to see how far this connection can control these lesser undead. It was a humbling sight for Serin to see these monsters. Merely days ago she was the same as them. Mindlessly wandering the forest in search of prey. Not only that, but there was a another worry to add to her list. Serin assumed that she had control over them because she had infected them. A natural ability of zombies she had forgotten. However, would a higher ranked undead have some form of control over her? It was something she would have to prepare for just in case.
Nevertheless, Serin needed to see the extent she could push this connection with these shamblers she decided to call them. A fitting title for their bumbling state.
Serin saw a stone jutting out from the mossy forest floor. It would be suitable for her test. With a mental flex she pulled on the connection sending out the command. It was simple, "pick up," along with an image of the rock was what she sent.
It seemed to work as both immediately went to the rock. It was an eerie sight as even Kordin without a head located the exact rock she had commanded to lift. Yet when they attempted to pick it up they failed to actually pull from the ground. Their hands just slipped off the top of the rock as they attempted to rise with it. Over and over they tried. Serin could see that they wouldn't stop either. With their tireless stamina as an undead they would try again and again until their hands wore down to lift the rock. She wondered if their hunger would interrupt her order. Something to test at a later point. It would be annoying to task them with something only for some critter to come along and distract them.
With limited intelligence neither could figure out how to pull the rock from the earth. They would never realize they needed to dig their hands underneath and lift it from the base of the rock. It was simply to complicated for them. A difficult limit, but Serin was still pleased to see them faithfully carrying out her command. They would prove to be incredibly useful to her.
Her next concern was when they evolved. She planned to use them in the dungeon, which would give them experience. Would they still be under her control once they regained their sentience as she did upon evolving? Serin could only wait and see when it happened. She wasn't too concerned. After all, It would be a simple matter to break them should they resist her.
Serin performed a few more test in an attempt to find other limits with her order. Simpler orders performed best, which was to be expected. Once it got too complicate the shamblers would simply stand still overwhelmed as if no command was sent. They picked up loose sticks easy enough. The most complicated order she could manage with them was to use the sticks to attack a tree with them. Despite being swordsmen in life these shamblers carried none of those characteristics. As they hit the tree the stick would fall out of their hands or they would miss entirely and punch the tree instead. Clumsy was all she could describe them as.
Yet this is not what where she saw their usefulness in. Instead she imagined a fearless expendable meat shield in the dungeon. Traps, ambushes, and other threats of a dungeon could be circumnavigated by simply sending her shamblers first. It would allow the goblins to level safely and get their first evolution. Serin could worry less about them after that.
As Serin had the shamblers perform all manner of test, the goblins had been watching. The monsters had finally calmed and were much less frightened by the new undead. Serin was glad they were getting used to them as they would need to fight near each other soon. However, she was surprised by what the healthy male did next. He grabbed the wounded goblin by the ankle and then drug it before Serin. Kneeling just like it had before, the goblin presented her an offering.
Serin pondered on the intentions of the goblin. Most would see turning one of their own into an undead as something distasteful. Was it just harsh goblin efficiency to not waste any resource? Did the goblin think she would happy with this? Was it seeking a reward? Regardless it presented Serin with an opportunity to test whether she could infect more than just humans.
Making eye contact with the healthy male Serin tried to once again determine its intentions, but couldn't make anything out through its facial expression. She nodded, which was enough to signal that she would take the offering. The goblin backed away leaving her the dying goblin.
It's breaths were shallow and it seemed to be delirious with infection as its eyes blankly scanned around. Serin leaned over the goblin. She hoped the hunger would have taken over for her, but it did not raise its head for the goblin. Whether that was because she was sated or if it was that it only worked on humans was still up in the air. All that matter in this moment though was that Serin would have to do this herself.
This is a new strength and I'm in no position to waste any advantage, she resolved herself.
Serin did not want to toy with the creature. She went for the neck. The goblin flinched briefly but otherwise showed no other reaction. Which only went to show how far gone it was. It bleed quickly and soon its mortal life was over.
Serin looked at the remaining goblins. They did not seemed frightened by her actions. If anything she thought they looked curious.
She instructed Mayer to carry the goblin. It was time to leave. The goblins have rested enough.
It took nearly an hour of gesturing and drawing in the dirt, but eventually Serin managed to convey that she wanted to go to a dungeon. Something that made the goblins nervous. Nearly all monsters were born in dungeons. To achieve freedom from that prison was something most monster sought. As such to purposefully go back in a dungeon was not something any monster would normally do. Yet they complied. The sole adult male goblin lead the way.
With that Serin, the seven living goblins, one goblin corpse, and two human shamblers made their way through the woods. It wasn't exactly a party Serin would have ever picked, but it was hers.