I jerked awake and looked around but I was still alone, laying on that beach. I laid there for a while watching the waterfalls come out of several openings in the wall of what appeared to be a large tube half-filled with water. However, what scared me the most was while I watched them. Six people came flying out of those waterfall openings. I watched five of those people fall onto the spiked rocks skewering their bodies. The last person hit the side of a spike tearing open a wound in her side before she fell into the water. As I looked at these spiked rocks I noticed many of them had skeletons with various types of armour and weapons around and on them. There were even a few of them in the shallows of the water, they appear to have survived the fall and dragged themselves to the beach before dying. Most likely from blood loss. The person that had managed to survive the fall, stumbled out onto the beach coughing out water before slumping onto her side. I walked over, looking down to see an elf wearing green leather. Blood was slowly trickling out of a cut across her ribs, she was carrying a bow across her back and a dagger on each hip. My eyes travelled down to one of those daggers. I reached down, pulling it from the sheath as I looked at the blade. Slowly turning it over, I smiled softly and shifted my eyes to the elf woman as I began to consider what to do with her. I began to tap the blade against my palm as a thought started to bang around in my head.
“I wonder…” I mumbled as I turned the blade.
getting it ready to end this adventure's life. I leant forward to place my empty hand on her neck.
Soul Assimilation 27% complete.
I hesitated and was about to ask what the hell that meant when I heard a loud explosion of water behind me. I turned slowly around to see giant tentacles reaching out of the water towards the corpses. However, one of those tentacles was also reaching for me. I let out a whimper as I felt my body do the unthinkable. I defecated. As I let the dagger fall to the ground.
“fuck that!" I squealed before turning away and ran as fast as I could up the beach.
heading for a gap I could see in the wall It appeared to be an archway. I ran faster than I had ever run before. I could hear the elf screaming behind me.
“Wait, come back!” she screamed “I don’t want to be eaten by a Kraken.”
I was ignoring her of course. But I did glance over my shoulder to see the elf reaching for me as the tentacle lifted her off the beach. There was no way I could save her and with another tentacle turning in my direction and coming for me I was not about to stop and try. I managed to reach the archway and blew through it. I kept running down the long tunnel. It was not until I tripped and fell down scraping my arms and knees on the ground that I finally stopped. Looking back down the tunnel I could see nothing was chasing me. I let out a groan of exhaustion as I flopped back onto the ground and lay there. Once I managed to gather myself back together I got to my feet and continued to walk down the tunnel.
“I need to stop getting myself into these near-death events.” I mumbled to myself as I looked up, seeing a light at the end.
I quickened my pace. When I reached the end of the tunnel, shielding my eyes as they adjusted to the brightness, I froze and stared. I could not believe what I was seeing. There was a bright blue screen in front of my eyes and I could not see anything past it. Then words started scrolling up from the bottom of it.
Congratulations. You have made it to floor one hundred and fifty.
Basic Monster system detected.
Uninstalling the Basic Monster system now.
25%
50%
75%
100%
System uninstalled.
Installing Kahleskar System.
25% Installed.
The blue screen vanished. In front of me was a beach. Not like the one behind me. This one was huge. The water went to the horizon. My eyes slowly lowered to the beach where a ship was beached and tilted to its side while humans ran around it with tools and junk scrapping them against the hull.
“The hell just happened?” I asked as my eyes noticed the cages sitting closer to me but still near the boat.
“You became a slave.” A voice said from next to me.
I turned to look at the man who smiled then hit me over the head with a club. My vision went black as I fell to the ground.
I slowly rolled into a sitting position as I reached for my head, all before opening my eyes.
"Ow, my head." I groaned.
I opened my eyes to see metal bars in front of me. I quickly figured out I was sitting in a cage. There was another cage on either side of me and one behind me they had creatures inside them. I crawled to the front of my cage and looked around. In front of me was a path between all the cages. At one end of the path was a narrow stairway leading up. At the other end was a narrow stairway that led down. In the middle just above the pathway was a lattice hatch.
50% Installed.
My eyes focused on the text that appeared in front of me. The moment I read it the text began to slowly fade out until it was gone. I blinked a few times and noticed the little red dot was missing as well. Someone opened the hatch to the top deck and a human man descended the narrow stairway. The human was followed down by a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin was a few inches taller than the man and wore a collar around its neck. They walked over to stand in front of the cage I was locked in.
“Ah, good you are awake. Martin said you talked right before he captured you. Of course, the captain didn’t believe him so now Martin is in a chest. If Martin’s claim is actually true then I have an offer for you.”
I looked up at the man then at the hobgoblin before looking back at the man, “what’s the offer?” I asked him.
The human’s eyebrows rose to his hairline and his eyes widened before he let out a loud laugh. He got his laughing under control moments later and smacked the hobgoblin forwards.
“You will follow me or Bobo here will kill you”, he said before turning and walking back down the path.
Bobo took a ring of keys from his belt and unlocked the cage motioning to come out. I scrambled out of the cage and stood up noticing I was only as tall as Bobo’s hip. The cage was closed and Bobo motioned me to follow the human. I slowly began to follow him down the path but he had already reached the stairs and was halfway up them. As I walked past the cages, I saw hobgoblins and goblins as well as a few other creatures I had no idea what they were. The goblins and hobgoblins were chained to the deck of the ship with metal collars and cuffs. The creatures with them, I could not identify but could tell were obviously dangerous. They were locked in cages some thicker than others. The few chains I saw containing humans weren't that surprising. It was surprising and a little terrifying that they were all female though. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I looked up through the hatch to see no one standing guard over it. I felt the hobgoblin poke me in the back as he grunted.
“hurry up, someone wants to talk to you.”
I knew he would be distracted at that moment and if I could make it back to the beach I would be able to escape...hopefully. I turned suddenly and struck out with my fist punching the hobgoblin in the dick as hard as I could before thrusting my other fist up into his throat, then turned and bolted up the stairs as I heard him fall to the floor and make a whimpering sound. I blew through the hatch. In the light, I could see the ocean surrounding the ship.
“Crap” I groaned.
I quickly spotted the human waiting by a door and hurried to catch up with him.
“Bobo said he would catch up after he took care of his dick”. I told him as I stopped next to him, my eyes looking at the door curiously.
He made a face of annoyance then knocked on the door.
“First Mate Chen, the goblin is here to see you” he called out.
“Enter” came the reply before he opened the door and pushed me inside then stepped through himself and closed the door behind him.
“Ma'am, this is the goblin Martin said could talk.”
In Front of me, a woman sat on a wooden chair with her feet propped up on a chest. She was wearing a pink bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.
73% installed.
Soul Assimilation 34% complete.
I blinked as I looked at the numbers before they faded away. Ms Chen was looking me over before turning to the man next to me.
"Doesn't look like much, where is bobo? Wasn’t he with you?"
the man grumbled before replying.
“taking care of his dick.”
Ms Chen’s face soured before she growled,
“I am sick of that useless horny creature, take my new goblin and have it kill Bobo, maybe this one will level up and evolve into my new hobgoblin.”
She reached down, pulled a dagger out from its hiding spot under her leg and held it out to me.
“Take this and prove you are valuable to me.”
I reached out to take the handle but before I could the knife suddenly moved and then the pointy end was jabbing at my hand.
“Dumb goblin, do you really think I would give a wild animal a dagger!”
she started to laugh as she waved the point of her dagger back and forth.
“oh, wow, the look on your face.”
she smiled at me like I was an adorable little puppy before she turned to look at him.
“take this goblin and beat bobo nearly to death then have this goblin finish him, with any luck this goblin will evolve into a hobgoblin. If it doesn’t then toss it into the chain of other goblins.”
the man nodded once then grabbed the back of my neck causing me to let out a squeal of surprise before lifting me up. He pushed the door open and deposited me back down outside. I quickly spotted Bobo walking across the deck towards us with a scowl on his face. The man grabbed my shoulder and made me wait for Bobo to reach us. As Bobo did he looked up at the man.
“Mr Wu I would like to repor-”
Mr Wu had cut Bobo off mid-sentence when he drew his sword from its sheath cutting Bobo from left hip to right shoulder before turning the sword and stabbing it into Bobo’s stomach.
“finish him now” Mr Wu said as he looked down at me.
Bobo fell to his knees as he looked up at Mr Wu, surprise and shock clear on his face. Mr Wu had let go of his sword so I grabbed it as I turned, pulling it up over my left shoulder. I spun around, I swung it like I was playing baseball and the sword was my bat. It connected with Bobo's neck and cut his head clean off.
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I stared at the words as they flashed a couple of times before fading away. Mr Wu leant over and stripped the hobgoblin of the keys and a pouch, he thrust the pouch into my hands and picked the sword up off the deck from where I had dropped it.
“Down here, on the open ocean, you keep what you kill or capture, that is the law of the one hundred and fiftieth floor!”
I nodded my head as I took the pouch from him.
“What about” I asked as I motioned towards the body.
Mr Wu looked at the body then at me before scratching his chin.
“this is a difficult question, the hobgoblin is property of Ms Chen. However, she did tell you to kill it and its corpse is useless, So I say, you decide.” he smiled at me then looked at the side of the ship and the water beyond.
78% Installed.
Soul Assimilation 49% Complete.
I looked at the text before it faded and then quickly nodded.
“overboard!”
Mr Wu nodded and then picked up the body carrying it to the side and tossed it into the ocean. I looked down at Bobo’s head and whispered.
“nothing personal.”
I then kicked it, sending it bouncing across the deck before going overboard. Mr Wu then walked back over to me and looked down into my eyes.
“You still look like a goblin… no urge to evolve?” he asked as his eyes roamed over me.
I slowly shook my head. He cursed under his breath then snatched the pouch out of my hands before he waved me towards the stairs back down.
“damn, maybe I injured him too much and you didn't get all the experience from his death?” Mr Wu mused as we walked to the stairs.
“You said i got to keep the pouch, yes?” i asked curiously.
He shook his head as he chuckled.
“no, you are still a goblin slave this pouch will go to Ms chen, your owner.”
As we reached the stairs we quickly descended them and I was led over to the chains holding the goblins. Mr Wu locked cuffs around my ankles and wrists as I sat next to a goblin. Mr Wu suddenly looked around before kneeling down next to me and I felt him slipping a dagger’s hilt into my hand as he whispered into my ear.
“there is more than one faction aboard this ship and let’s just say you evolving into a hobgoblin and blending into the crew would be in our best interests.”
He looked at me then glanced around meaningfully at the goblins near me before looking back at me.
"Understand?"
I nodded my head as I slid the dagger under my leg to hide it. He stood up and let out a sigh.
“Shame you didn't evolve, I hear Donald down those stairs and third door on the left was looking for a hobgoblin to become an apprentice blacksmith, ya know to help him with his work in the forge”
He then shrugged and walked back up the stairs we had come down. I turned my head to look at the goblin on my right and saw him snickering at me.
“Yeah too bad a filthy turd like you couldn't evolve and now you are restrained and stuck here with the rest of us” he laughed.
I smiled at him as I slid the dagger from under my leg and stuck him in the side with it. I kept poking him in the side and turning the dagger before pulling it back out as I continued to smile at him.
“Yes it really is a shame” I replied to him.
as he leant over to grab at his side, I tucked the dagger back under my leg. As I was hiding the dagger the goblin had recovered enough from his shock to start screaming. I turned back towards him and headbutted him as hard as I could. The goblin fell limp. I wobbled almost passing out myself, my head felt like bells were ringing inside my skull.
“Oouch” I groaned. "that fricken hurt!"
I slowly opened my eyes to see a goblin sitting in front of me that I never thought I would see down here.
“Holy crap biscuits, how are you here?” I asked in shock. my sore head now forgotten as he smiled at me.
“Got kidnapped. They had a teleportation stone that took us to that beach by this ship.”
I rolled my eyes.
"figures, hows Plick and Dani?" i asked as i looked at Gobo.
“they are loyal, said they were setting out to find you asked permission and everything, I, of course, gave it to them. Wanted my salt back, didn't I” he laughed as he watched me.
I glanced down at the goblin on my right, he had bled out and was dead. I then turned my head to the left seeing a goblin that was trying to distance himself from me.
“So, where is my salt?” Gobo asked as he reached across and yanked the goblin on my left closer to me.
I took the opening that Gobo had presented to me, and rolled onto my left hip as I stabbed the dagger into the goblin and twisted it.
“As I don’t have my pouches on me, I am assuming the crew of this ship has it” I replied.
I pulled the blade down a bit to open the wound as I rolled back onto my ass and smiled at Gobo as my hand slid the dagger back under me. Gobo kicked the goblin in the head a few times until he went limp. Then we sat there in silence watching him bleed out. I lifted my head and smiled at Gobo when I saw the message I was waiting for.
Level up!
81% Installed.
Soul Assimilation 64% Complete.
I turned back to Gobo as the words started fading away.
“why did you help me?” I asked.
He smiled and rolled his shoulders.
“when you evolve you break my cuffs, yes?”
I smiled and nodded my head slightly.
"Sounds fair." I replied as words started flashing in front of me.
Would you like to evolve?
I grinned happily before saying "Yes, yes I would."
My vision grew dark as my view was presented with options for me to choose from.
Evolution commencing, choose:
1. Goblin shaman
2. Goblin Queen
3. Hobgoblin
I stared at the three options as I considered them. From the name I could assume a goblin shaman was a regular goblin with mana or spiritual energy. The goblin Queen simply was a powerful goblin that helped the goblin king rule the other goblins. She was often considered second in command. The hobgoblin was what most goblins would choose so they could grow up and become more powerful than any regular goblin. It took me all of half a second to think about it. Goblin shaman and goblin queen were still goblins, most likely a dead-end evolution. The hobgoblin had mana and could defeat a shaman. So there was no incentive for me to choose the shaman. I had no idea if the goblin queen had mana or not. I was going to need mana, plus in order to walk about this ship freely. I was going to need to choose the only option left. I mentally chose hobgoblin. A second after making this decision my vision returned and I was staring at the goblins around me again. However, my vision was higher from the ground and I could feel that the cuffs had broken off of my wrists and ankles. As I looked down at myself I could see that my body had changed. It was leaner and more feminine. I had small abs just beginning to show. Not to mention the perky double D breasts on my chest that were exposed to everyone. In front of me, gobo was sitting with a big smile on his face as he shamelessly stared at my chest. I looked gobo over wondering if I should kill him or not. I hissed and threw the dagger. It stabbed into Gobo’s loincloth and made a thunk sound as it embedded itself into the deck. Gobo’s face paled, turning a little white as he looked down at the dagger. I got to my feet and grabbed the loincloth on one of the dead goblins and pulled it off him before wrapping it around my chest to cover me a bit better.
“I-i-in the c-crate under the stairs” Gobo stammered as he looked up at me. “T-there’s some clothes, I saw the humans store them before departure.”
I turned and quickly walked over to the crate before pulling the lid open and a smile spread across my face. I pulled the loincloths off my body before pulling out a pair of leather pants and a rough shirt. I quickly pulled them onto my body and tossed the loin cloths in before I closed the lid. I headed for the stairs down. I was walking past Gobo and the other goblins as I glanced at them to see Gobo stabbing the goblin on his left with the dagger I had left behind. I hastened my speed quickly getting to the stairs and rushing down them. As I reached the bottom I turned to see a corridor with multiple doors. I quickly spotted the third door and hurried over to it, opening in and slipping in before closing the door. As I turned to look for Donald my jaw dropped open as I stared at a field of lush grass with a three-story house in the middle. On the left side of the house was a large open space with a three walled work area. A short man stood hammering at an anvil, next to a stone forge, coals glowing orange and yellow with the bellows slumped empty on the floor near his feet. Halfway between the entrance door and the forge, another man was stomping angrily towards me. As the human man went to walk past me, he looked at me for a few seconds before losing his annoyed temperament and began to laugh.
“first time you saw an enchanted room?” he asked me.
I dumbly nodded my head as I turned to look at him.
“It’s enchanted?” I asked.
He looked at me from the corner of his eye before laughing.
“yea, very expensive but if you can use it correctly it’s well worth it, especially from a merchants point of view, image the amount of cargo you could store in this room, and if you combine that with an enchantment to reduce the weight the room applies on the ship then…” he trailed off letting me fill in the blank.
I let out a laugh as I smiled at him.
“Very impressive, but I have to wonder, why a blacksmith is in here when as you say, this place could be used for cargo.”
The man turned to look at me before his face scrunched back up into a look of anger and annoyance.
“Because the welp is the captains’ son and thinks his junk paid for the enchantments to this room and more.”
I turned to look at the man as I asked “I am guessing it didn’t?”
he quickly shook his head before pulling the door open and stepping out.
“No, lately it wouldn’t even pay for five seconds of Douglas’s time.”
he then pointed to a door that had runes all over it.
“That room is Douglas’s if you are looking for a real job aboard this ship and have some mana in you, then I suggest you bug Douglas before this useless welp.”
he turned to head down the corridor before pausing and looking back at me.
“Oh and tell Douglas, Murlick sent you.”
he then turned and stormed down the corridor and around a corner. I glanced back at the forge before pulling the door closed and walking down to the door with runes on it. I turned my head looking back at the door of the forge’s room.
“Enchanting or Blacksmithing?”
I turned my head back to the enchanters’ door and slowly smiled.
“yes, this one would be the better option.”
I was about to open the door when I heard a man's voice.
“oh? Why would that one be the better option?”
I turned back to see the short man with a long beard from the forge looking up at me.
“Why would a lowly enchanter be a better choice, over my grand blacksmithing?” he asked me.
I suddenly smiled as I looked down at him.
“well that’s an easy question to answer.”
I pushed the door open as I stepped through. I added
“enchanting uses mana, blacksmithing does not.”
The man grabbed my shirt and pulled me back out of the enchanter’s room, I managed to get a glance inside, seeing a giant library with thousands of shelves covered in books and papers.
“Fool, I could teach you something as easy as the basics of rune crafting, however, blacksmithing takes real skill!”
I turned my head to look at him as I pulled the library’s door closed.
“you can teach me rune crafting? You can't be Douglas if you’re encouraging me to do blacksmithing instead, who are you?”
The short man suddenly stood up straighter as he glowed with happiness and pride.
“I am Donald Murlick, Blacksmith of the Murlick Galleon known as Sparrow Runner"
I slowly smiled as I looked him over.
“Okay if you can teach me enchanting then why are you a blacksmith?''
The short man suddenly let out a deep rumbling laugh before looking me in the eyes.
“because I am a dwarf and dwarves use runes in their smithing!” He exclaimed.
I laughed but quickly began to frown.
“how are you the captains’ kid-”
I didn’t get to finish what I was saying because Donald’s face turned sour and he grabbed my arm and easily dragged me over to the door of his room and shoved me through it before slamming it closed and pressing his finger to a rune on the back of the door, it glowed for a second before the glow faded to a dull blue colour. He turned to look at me before growling.
“I am not that idiot's son, he kidnapped me and declared me his son while forcing me to forge… no, that is not your concern, just know he is not my real father, now as for the basics of rune crafting there easy, if you have the skill mana manipulation then you need only trace the rune perfectly while infusing it with your mana, and bam you have an enchanted item, congratulations. However, if you don’t have that skill then the basics of rune crafting are impossible to grasp, so don’t even waste your time trying.”
He looked me up and down before pointing towards his house.
“Go around the back pick up the axe and cut one thousand logs into firewood, build up some strength.”
I turned slowly and began to walk as a frown crept onto my face. I stopped suddenly and turned back to see him right behind me. I quickly took a few steps back to create some distance before asking.
“do you have runes I could see?”
Donald looked up at me and stared at me before he huffed.
“you have mana manipulation?” he asked.
I nodded my head and smiled. He just glared back at me before waving his hand forward.
“Fine, later, I will teach you some runes after you chop the firewood."
I smiled eagerly as I turned and raced to the back of the workshop however when I got there my excitement died as it was replaced with a feeling of shock. There were no logs waiting for me to chop into firewood, no, there was a forest waiting for me to cut down and then chop into logs. I heard that deep rumbling laugh again. I turned to look at Donald who was standing next to the wall of the workshop as he lent on it.
“oh yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you that you will need to chop the tree’s down first.”
I hissed in annoyance but decided I had better get on with it. I spotted the axe embedded in a large stump next to the wall of the workshop and walked over grabbing it before I headed to the nearest tree. As I began chopping the tree down I glanced at the workshop noticing Donald had vanished, I decided to cut the trees down, then chop them into logs before moving those logs to the stump, then I could chop the logs into firewood and stack them by the side of the workshop. I turned back to the tree I was chopping into and lost myself to the task putting all my focus into it.