I was not sure how long I had been cutting the trees down, but when my focus broke, I had felled three hundred trees rolled them outside of the forest and cut the branches off them, I had then taken those branches and planted them in the ground near the stumps so they would have a chance to grow into more trees. After I had managed to plant the last branch I laid down on the ground looking up at the ceiling. Only it was the sky, a dark starry sky. I smiled and slowly closed my eyes, as I was drifting off to sleep a notification appeared but I was too far gone to read it.
90% Installed.
Soul Assimilation 100% Complete.
Your soul has now bound itself to this body, if it dies so do you.
My eyes fluttered open as the first rays of sunshine hit my face. I slowly sat up rubbing my back as I looked around, nothing had changed since I went to sleep.
“I wonder what that notification said… ah well too late now.”
I got up, walking back over to the fallen trees, I stopped at one that looked big and began to cut it into manageable logs. It was hard work and took me most of the day to finish off all the trees. The sun was just setting again when I began to move the logs to the workshop. I stacked them up against the back wall for easier access. The sun was just rising by the time I had managed to finish moving all one thousand two hundred logs. I slumped down next to the wall wiping sweat off my forehead as I yawned. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the deep gravelly voice of Donald.
“Two days and that’s all you have done? I would have expected you to be finished by now!”
I groaned as I looked up at him, I was about to reply when he held up his hand.
“Don’t wanna hear it. Just finish the task by nightfall, if you can’t then maybe you should go find that weak Douglas to teach you something.”
He turned and walked away. I could feel the anger bubbling under the surface as I got to my feet. I wanted to go after that damn dwarf and wring his neck. I picked up the axe as I thought about how much better I would feel planting its blade into his neck. As I grumbled and mused to myself I began pulling the logs onto the stump and using the axe to split them into fours. I then took those pieces and moved them to the side of the workshop where I could see a few others already stacked there. Each time I cut into the log, I imagined the dwarf was on the chopping block. This seemed to improve my speed and as time passed my accuracy got better too.
I didn't even notice that I had split most of the logs when I heard Donald again.
“Down to the last three logs and the sun is setting, I don’t think you will make it.”
The log I was splitting fell into four pieces as I turned to see three logs sitting by the wall. I quickly looked around, taking note that they were the only logs left. I had split one thousand one hundred and ninety-seven logs. I smiled as I quickly moved the four pieces of firewood to the stack and ran back and buried the axe into the side of the log.
“Actually, I am done. Those last three are a D.I.Y project for you.”
I smiled happily as I watched him. My smile faded fast when I noticed he had a plate with food on it and was eating it. My stomach growled as I watched.
“Want some?” he asked as he continued to eat the food off the plate.
“This one is yours, by the way, it’s very delicious.”
I shot forward to snatch the plate but he moved it out of my reach before I could get my hand on it. I frowned and lunged again only to miss again.
“My my you are very slow aren't you, not going to make a very good blacksmith with such low agility.”
He started laughing as he let me snatch the plate but as I pulled it towards me I dropped it and glared at him as he held the pieces of meat from it in his hand before tossing them into his mouth.
“You will need to learn to be faster if you don’t want to go hungry tomorrow.” he turned and walked away laughing.
I chased after him, quickly catching up. I decided to ask him a question instead of wringing the infuriating twat’s neck.
“Why are you teaching me? I mean I’m a hobgoblin, not a dwarf.” Donald turned suddenly to look at me.
“You're a hobgoblin?” he asked in a surprised voice.
I blinked a few times as I stared at him, not sure if he was joking or not before he burst into a fit of laughter.
“I'm not going to teach you blacksmithing, I'm going to give you a recommendation to my cousins’ forge in the city we are headed for, she will teach you.”
As he walked past a cupboard over his work desk in his forge he pulled the doors open and slid a false panel out of the way before tossing two books into my arms.
Beginners' skill book of rune crafting.
Journeyman skill book of rune crafting.
“You can have those, the beginners' book is all Douglas would have taught you anyway and he would have done it over the next twenty years, plus he is a little stingy with his knowledge because those two books are all the knowledge he has on rune crafting and you can learn it all in 5 seconds with a skill book and the system injecting the knowledge into your brain like you already knew it.”
I quickly flipped open the beginners' skill book to rune crafter and began to read the first page before the book suddenly dissolved into dust and vanished.
You have mastered the beginner's level of rune crafting.
I smiled happily as runes began to flash through my mind showing me how to draw them while injecting my mana into the rune. It also showed me what would happen if I injected too much or too little mana into the rune as I was drawing it. This came in the form of an image of a big explosion and a tiny mushroom cloud. My smile widened as I opened the next book and began to read it too.
You have mastered the Journeyman level of rune crafting.
Instantly more runes rushed through my mind showing me how to draw more complex runes and how to combine them to create more powerful or mysterious effects.
“What a rush!” I exclaimed excitedly.
The dwarf smiled at me and nodded his head a few times before dropping a bombshell on me.
“Good, you now owe me 600 gold for those two skill books.”
I looked up at him, feeling a little confused.
“Is that a lot?” I asked
He nodded his head as he laughed.
“Yes, not many people can afford to spend 10 gold on a skill book let alone the 100 gold that a basic rune crafting skill book costs or the 500 gold that the Jouneyman rune crafting skill book sells for and don't even get me started on the price for the expert level book.”
The dwarf mouthed the word thousand.
I stared at the dwarf as my face slowly paled and I began to splutter.
“How am I ever going to afford the basic book let alone the half bag of salt I still apparently owe Gobo?”
I slowly dropped into a crouching position as I held my head and stared at the ground. The dwarf rolled his shoulders as he reached back into the cupboard and pulled out another book before turning back to me.
“I have no idea how you're going to give whoever Gobo is, a half bag of salt but it's going to be okay, I'm going to help you with your newfound debt. You can easily pay off the three skill books debt by delivering something to my cousin for me.”
I looked up at Donald with confusion all over my face.
“Three? You only gave me two” I whined.
The dwarf smiled at me before tossing the book he was holding into my lap.
“And that makes three,” he said as I read the cover of the book.
Beginners' skill book of Blacksmithing.
I slowly opened the book and began to read the first page before the book went the same way as the last two. I slowly tilted my head back to look up at the dwarf but all I could see was a young dwarf in a huge forge surrounded by dwarfs at thousands of forges deep underground hammering ingots into armour and weapons. The memory focused on the young dwarf as he was told to sit at the bellows and pull the lever back and forth pumping air into the forge, he did this endlessly until his arms and body couldn't take it anymore and he fell from his seat. This happened again each day and each time he fell from the seat exhausted. I felt the exhaustion, the inability to move as I breathed heavily but each time he returned to the seat I felt stronger and more capable. After the three hundred and twenty-sixth day, the older dwarf that had been using the forge stopped the young dwarf from sitting down at the bellows and instead guided him to a forge that had up to this point been unused.
He showed the young dwarf how to create the ingot molds and set five of them up next to the coals before he placed a cauldron on top of the coals. The young dwarf was then shown how to measure out the silver scraps placing them inside the cauldron before he sat down at the bellows. The next twenty minutes passed as the young dwarf pushed and pulled, pumping the bellows. He let the bellows go and peered into the cauldron, the silver had melted and the impurities were in a puddle in the middle. The young dwarf was shown how to carefully scrape the impurities from the cauldron with an iron spoon in order to not waste any of the silver. Then he repeated the process. This time when they looked into the cauldron, everything was the same colour, a perfect silver, which was exactly what the older dwarf wanted. Using the pulley system, he moved the cauldron above each mold, pouring the silver into them until they were full. As the silver was cooling in the molds, the dwarfs returned to the bench beside the forge and got the next five molds ready. With the next set of molds in place, the older dwarf made the younger one measure out the silver and dump it into the cauldron. Then they turned their attention to the bars they had already made. One by one, the young dwarf was shown how to pull them safely from the embers and moved to the workbench. I felt a strong urge and understanding that the silver had to be perfect, no bar was allowed to have a blemish in it. Once the young dwarf understood what was now expected of him he was left to create the ingots. Everytime an ingot had a blemish, from a drop of sweat or a trapped air bubble the ingot was tossed back into the cauldron and melted down again. I watched and felt the experience of doing this over and over day after day until finally, the memory ended. My vision cleared showing Donald standing in front of me with a smile on his face.
“Congratulations you are now an apprentice blacksmith, work hard to maintain the perfect ingot or you will bring disgrace to your work and shop, one bad ingot and no one will trust your work again!”
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I quickly nodded my head, the book had reinforced that perfection was a must and no excuses would hold up. To a blacksmith, your reputation was everything and perfection was important!
“I understand, I will not let you down!” I exclaimed passionately.
Donald nodded his head and held out his hand offering me a ring.
“Put this on your finger, inside this storage ring are the memoirs of Grimwald the royal prince and must be delivered to my cousin Tishma, she will know what to do with it.”
His golden-eyed gaze held my eyes, as my heart rate increased, his voice got sharper as he tried to impart the severity of this task.
“This is more important than your life, make sure it is delivered!”
I gulped nervously as I nodded my head quickly and slipped the ring onto my left index finger.
Donald suddenly looked up at the field between us and the door and let the false panel fall back into place with a thunk before he closed the cupboard.
“Seems Wu needs something,” he said.
I turned my head to look back and could see Mr Wu walking across the field towards us.
“Hopefully it's not me” I mumbled as I turned and moved to stand next to Donald.
Donald glanced at me and then my hands before looking back to Mr Wu.
Mr Wu stormed into the small forge room as he let out a huff of annoyance.
“Why is your room so big Donald it takes forever to walk across it.”
Donald rolled his shoulders as he looked the man over before responding.
“I don't know, it was this big when I got it and I didn't need much room for my forge and house.”
Mr Wu let out a sigh as he turned his head to me. He then reached out to grab me but Donald stepped between us.
“What do you think you are doing Wu!” Donald growled.
Mr Wu looked confused as he looked down at Donald slowly lowering his hand back to his side.
“I am taking Ms Chens' property back to her, of course.”
Donald shook his head before replying.
“I don't think I can let Ms Chen steal what I have spent a lot of money on.”
Mr Wu looked confused as he looked down at Donald.
“What are you talking about Donald?”
Donald glared up at Mr wu and snarled.
“I have spent 650 gold on educating this hobgoblin into an effective blacksmith and I am not about to let anyone steal her from me!”
Mr Wu took a few steps back as he looked at Donald in shock.
“You spent what on a stupid hobgoblin?”
Donald stepped forward as he poked Mr Wu in the chest.
“I spent 650 gold on that hobgoblin so unless Ms Chen can pay me 800 gold for my property then she can find some other hobgoblin to do her work!”
Mr Wu’s look of confusion deepened as he looked between me and Donald.
Looking at me he asked.
“Isn't that the goblin that Martin captured on the beach?”
Donald glared as he threw his hands up in frustration and then pointed at me.
“Does that look like a goblin? No, it doesn't because I purchased this ‘hobgoblin’ at our last port so I could give it to my cousin to work in her forge.”
Mr Wu frowned as he looked me over before narrowing his eyes at Donald.
“That seems unlikely. There is a goblin missing from the chains and there are a lot of dead goblins in those chains. This leads me to believe it killed its way to evolution and then escaped down here. The reason I believe this one is that goblin, is because I told it that you were looking for an apprentice so..” he trailed off as his eyes moved back to me.
Donald frowned as he looked up at Mr Wu.
"That is a serious problem, how did the goblin manage to kill all those slaves?"
“It seems a dagger was dropped nearby during a fight and not recovered. As a result, many goblins got stabbed” Mr Wu said turning to leave
As Mr Wu walked away, he said over his shoulder, “I’ll just go and tell Ms Chen that your hobgoblin can’t be the one who evolved near the slaves, because even though you were still asking for an apprentice this morning, you bought one in our last port over a month ago.”
Donald raised his finger pointing at Mr Wu and was about to say something before a loud noise pulled his attention to the door where a man had thrown the door open and was now sprinting across the field towards us. The entire way I could hear him screaming. “Sir Donald, Sir Donald!”
Donald turned back to Mr Wu and glared at him before stomping past to see what the running man wanted as he left he called over his shoulder.
“Come, Rastel, oh, and Wu this ain't over, I'm going to find out how those goblins got their hands on a dagger.”
I smiled at Wu as I walked past him and followed Donald who had stopped a few feet outside his forge. The man stopped in front of Donald gasping for breath.
Donald patted the man on the shoulder heavily as he spoke.
“Easy there lad, take your time and catch your breath, then tell me what has got you running like a mad bullhound across my field?”
The man took a few more gulps of air before he wheezed out.
"Captain…. Wants… everyone….top side…all slaves… must be… secured….in chains."
I glanced at Donald nervously wondering if he would let them put me back in those awful chains when Donald's word ‘educating’ popped into my head and what felt like a memory flashed in front of my eyes. I could see a desk in front of me and what felt like a chair beneath me, I could see a blackboard at the front of the room and windows on my left. Beyond the windows were a couple of trees and other buildings, I understood that I was inside a classroom. Then the memory was gone and left me feeling confused as I had no idea what any of that was let alone what a classroom is. I had not seen any of that down here, I turned to ask Donald when I heard a series of loud bangs beyond the forest and everyone froze. Slowly turning to look into the forest. I could feel the trepidation in the air as we all looked between the trees trying to see if anything was coming.
I jumped when a series of loud bangs from the ships' cannons went off above me.
“oh, shit, quickly get upstairs now!” Donald whispered.
We all turned to run towards the door on the far side of the infuriating field when I heard a second series of loud bangs from the far side of the forest followed by the sound of wood shattering. What happened next appeared to be in slow motion as I glanced over my shoulder. I saw wood chips flying through the forest. I noticed a round hole in the middle of a tree, burning embers flying everywhere inside the forge room with a round hole through the ember pit of the forge. Fear ran up my spine as I began to see how fast my new hobgoblin body could run. Only to trip over my own feet. As I fell to the ground I caught sight of blood flying out of Mr Wus’ neck as his head disappeared. My face hit the ground the next second as the realisation crept into my brain that if I hadn't tripped that would have been my head. I raised my head quickly back up to see a hole appear in the wall near the door.
Fear gripped me as time suddenly sped back up and I fled across the room to the door trying to escape as fast as I could. Donald was still standing in the middle of the field staring at Mr Wu’s body as I slammed into the door shoving my way through it. I fled up the passageway to the staircase, running up them two at a time.
I burst out of the stairway onto the cargo deck spotting all the cages and chained slaves again. I could hear the booms and bangs of cannons being fired from around the cargo hold and feel the shudders through my feet as cannonballs slammed into the ship. As I ran past a guard post in the middle of the room I saw a set of keys hanging on a hook. Snatching the keys I turned to see a hobgoblin chained next to me on the deck and he was smiling at me like he had just won the lottery.
“Where my half bag of salt?” he asked me.
“Gobo?” I asked incredulously.
He nodded his head as he continued to smile at me. He raised his closed fists offering me the cuffs around his wrists as he glanced at the keys meaningfully.
“How long are you going to keep asking me for that salt?” I asked as I moved towards him with the keys.
"Till you give it to me." He replied.
I frowned with a confused look on my face.
"But Gobo, I already have, that's why my quest to give it to you was completed… right before you died."
"I died? That might explain a few things"
"What do you mean Gobo? Explain what things?"
“Well, when you die you have a seventy-eight percent chance to forget the last hour before you died, that is why so many dungeon monsters wander back to the location of their death trying to figure out why they were there and what happened. Leading them to die again from adventurers. It is why you will always find certain monsters in certain areas on the first forty-nine floors.”
I was about to respond when the cannons behind me boomed and Gobo waved his wrists at my hands indicating time was running out. The returning boom from outside the ship sounded just before the boat lurched, sinking slightly on the starboard side causing me to drop to my knees as I winced and ducked my head down. I quickly started shoving the key into the cuffs and turning them until the right key unlocked them and they fell to the deck. I dropped the keys into Gobo’s hands as I turned to look towards the stairs to the top deck and began to scramble towards them as Gobo freed himself and began to free those around him. I stopped at the bottom of the staircase looking up at the sky before looking back to see goblins and hobgoblins running about the cargo deck getting freed every second while Gobo rallied them to charge the top deck. I quickly stumbled up the stairs and onto the top deck. As I got to my feet I saw a man fly past me with a cannonball in his stomach before he hit the side rail and went overboard. I stumbled away from the stairs as I looked around seeing we were still surrounded by the ocean. But to my surprise, there was a ship on our starboard side flying a pirate flag. I ducked my head as their cannons belched smoke and cannonballs, I quickly hurried to the port side of the ship away from those cannons, grasping at the side rail as I looked around. Trepidation ran rampant through my body. Feeling the shudder of the deck below my feet as the cannons fired back at the pirates I turned my head as I heard a cry from the stairs. Gobo ran up the stairs leading all the slaves that had been below and ran across the deck towards the crew of the ship. I turned my head looking towards the pirate ship again as I saw the smoke from a cannon pointed across the deck of the ship. I felt my body lock up right before the railing I was leaning on vanished in an explosion of wood and splinters. I fell through the open air, vanishing overboard. I let out a scream as I fell down the side of the ship before slamming into the ocean. I was quickly pulled under, left to stare at the bottom of the ship. I continued to sink, my head growing increasingly painful before I instinctively grabbed my nose and blew gently, allowing my ears to pop and equalize to the pressure.
A memory flashed quickly through my mind as I watched a human girl putting on scuba gear while a man called her Monica and talked to her about possible dangers at this dive site. Before she walked to the back of the small ship? Boat? She then took a long step off the back into the ocean and was able to breathe. She swam around as she sank to the bottom and began to look at fish and coral. Then the memory was gone and I was left confused again. I saw out of the corner of my eye a mast and sail. I quickly turned my head seeing a shipwreck sitting on the bottom of the ocean and saw my chance of survival as runes ran through my mind, showing me how I could save myself. I swam by copying the way Monica had swum, as fast as I could towards the captain's cabin at the back of the shipwreck's top deck. I crashed into the double doors of the captain's cabin but they stood firm and did not budge. I quickly moved my finger around the door frame manipulating my mana to carve the rune for shield as I combined the strengthen rune with it giving the doorframe the strength to hold back the ocean before I carved the unlock rune over the keyhole. The runes flashed blue and the ones on the door frame became etched into it but the rune over the keyhole vanished. I pulled the doors open and left them open as I stood in the entranceway of the room. My lungs were on fire, I had been holding my breath for so long, I didn't know how much longer I could hold it. I turned facing the wall just above the door. I began to write a rune out on it knowing I was going to have to put the rune on all the walls as well as the floor and roof. I quickly and roughly drew out the rune for bubble and coupled it with the fresh air rune. Scrambling, I followed the wall around to the left, roughly drawing it onto that wall. I had begun to slow down as my vision started to blur. I managed to get to the back wall and draw the rune onto it. Kicking off the back wall I propelled myself into the final wall and sluggishly drew the rune onto it. My eyes were beginning to feel scratchy like there was sand in them as I crawled across the floor to the middle of the room, I could barely see as I drew the rune into the floor. As I pushed off the floor with my hands, I felt myself slowly rise towards the ceiling. One more rune and I would be able to breathe but rising to the roof felt like it took ages. As I slowly floated in the middle of the room I began to think about the memories, why was I having them? Where did they come from? Who was Monica to me? Was I Monica? These questions went through my mind on a loop until finally, my head bumped into the ceiling and I slowly looked up. My body felt slow and heavy. I was having difficulty moving it. I pushed mana towards my pointer finger but trying to move it through my body to the finger felt like I was trying to push sludge through a pipe way too small for the job. Writing the last rune on the ceiling took me ages and I had to make changes to it three times after making a mistake. My vision was blurry and swimming as I tried to focus. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young blue-skinned woman walking across the deck of the ship towards me. I turned my head to look at her. She was beautiful, the most gorgeous and alluring woman I had ever seen in my short life. My entire body hurt, my lungs were screaming for oxygen, it would be so easy to let go and sleep. The young woman smiled softly at me before nodding her head and I heard her say.
“Finally a candidate I can use. Yes, you will do perfectly.”
Then she vanished as if she had become one with the water. I turned my head slowly back to the rune I was drawing as my vision faded. Wondering if I had started hallucinating, I decided I could not trust if I had completed the rune or not so I kept pushing my finger at it trying to complete it. The rune was slowly drifting away from me and I did not have the energy to struggle back to it. I closed my eyes, no longer having anything left to struggle with.