People assumed that Jackie Imperial was a man who had been born into wealth at first appearance until he had decided to publish his life history and made it obvious that he had come from humble origins.


    The truth was that despite his family having owned a coffee plantation it never meant that he was enjoyed a good quality of life early on. His parents had saved as much as they could to try and expand the business and give Jackie a good chance at education when he finally became an adult.


    They didn’t care if he had to wear second hand worn clothing to school as a teenager as long as he produced top academic grades and standards. Nor did they know that he used to have to match himself up against local youth gangs which tried to steal his textbooks or thought that he was an easy target to relieve stress on.


    In short Jackie had learned to fight, and learned how to fight dirty from a young age. He had enhanced this with decent enough training from various private military companies and even had an instructor for six months who called herself Riko Zero but in fact preferred to be called Mariko.


    Even with all this, Jackie was aware that he was ill equipped to handle a single swipe from the massive jagged sword resting on the shoulder of the old, jacked goblin. He had trained to stop people from kidnapping him, from being able to physically and mentally resist forms of mild torture and coercion until he was rescued.


    Fighting hand to hand was one thing, and even though Jackie had become a young man again in his early twenties the memories of the old man he had been remained. He’d learnt to calm down with time, to talk and to work with others. And then to pay people obscene amounts of money to protect him and beat up those who threatened himself or his adopted children and grandchildren.


    ‘I’m guessing you don’t understand me either. How about hand signals? You understand some hand gestures then? Seeing as how all the other goblins decided to take their cute kids and leave you’re either the boss of this encampment or a bully. You look a little long in the tooth for that. Handsome though. Not my type though. Granted I don’t have a type or preference. How about some of this?’ said Jackie as he gave a few hand gestures of his own.


    One of them must have been universal because the face of the jacked old goblin twitched a little and his face reddened as he let out a deafening roar of anger. A muscled green arm grabbed the sword hilt as the goblin pointed a hand at Jackie and spewed out a series of rapid words which could have been curses given the tone behind them.


    This is getting ridiculous. A perfectly good bonfire in the centre of this encampment would make for a decent party. A little food, a little dancing and some music and everyone would get on fine. Wait, is this meant to be part of the tutorial? Am I meant to fight this old geezer?


    A huffing sound came from behind him as Jackie kept his eyes fixed on the jacked old goblin giving back the hard state he received as a familiar voice from behind called.


    <J...Jackie. Hi. Uh, I got caught up with an old friend who was giving me some advice about the tutorial and….uh wow. Hey there. Do we have a situation? Wait a second Jackie. I need to talk to this guy. Rules of the tutorial and all that. Be a quick moment.>


    Linas was half bent over out of breath and he had removed his own blue furred imitation jacket variant of Jackie’s to reveal a tight blue compression shirt and military style fatigues.


    Wait. Isn’t he meant to be a god? Gods get tired? Forget it. Trust in your business partner Jackie. Or at least make him regret his bad choices.


    Standing there next to the bonfire, Jackie failed to experience heat or the desire to remove his own jacket. The moon remained brightly lit overhead and lightly turning his head to the side, Jackie saw that the goblins and their kids were all on the outsides of their own wooden village huts. Not close enough to get involved but enough so that they could visibly make out what was happening. Some of them noticed Jackie looking and gave him a thumbs up.


    Wait. Do they know what thumbs up mean? Am I the idiot here? Did I walk in and cause massive offence because of….huh. Maybe I did. I guess I should have waited for Linas and….wait a moment. I know this trick. I played it as an old man.


    Jackie decided to relax a little and sat himself down on the ground as he moved a little closer to the massive bonfire in the centre of the goblin encampment. He mimed eating food and drink and the sensation of hunger and thirst as he waved back at the goblins in their own homes.


    Watching Linas approach the jagged sword bearing jacked old goblin Jackie tried his best to listen to the language but it simply slipped past his understanding. He could hear the words, the tone and the intent but the words were impossible to identify.


    For all he heard they could have been a pair of robots talking in binary code and he would have been able to hear the same numbers in repetition.


    Linas had bowed in the direction of the jacked old goblin and waved a hand in Jackie’s direction when he saw him sitting on the packed dirt floor making himself comfortable.


    <Jackie, we made a mistake. A serious one. He’s the Guardian of the Encampment and we didn’t ask, well you didn’t ask for direct permission so he takes this as a deep insult. He wants to..he...wait. I didn’t give you the blessing did I? Ah...that makes sense. Here.>


    Waving a hand which glowed Jackie experienced a tingling sensation on his tongue as he received a message inside his mind’s eye.


    [Congratulations Avatar: You have received – Gift of Tongues.


    -All languages for Human, Demi-Human and Non-Human will be understood by you.


    -This only applies to sentient beings and not any undead, constructs or demonic beings.]


    The sensation of having a message in his minds’ eye wasn’t an odd one. He knew that the level of technology back on Belphus had resulted in all sorts of genetic plug-ins and implanted technology being used. Obviously in this place magic was simply another method for it.


    The words which the goblins had been calling became clear to him. He heard the word fashionable repeated a few times along with idiot. Then he clearly heard the grizzled tone of the old jacked goblin who remained holding onto the jagged blade perched over one shoulder without any signs of discomfort.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ‘Combat. Combat to the death for the right to enter the tutorial stage! Why did you bring such a fashionable, handsome but idiotic person to the tutorial stage without giving them a set of armour and weapons? Ahhh….the young these days are so stupid. In my day we fought to the death when we needed to choose who would get first rights to fresh food. Hey, hey you understand me? Linas, does your chosen understand me? Good. You and me boy. You and me are going to...going to...wait a second. I need to put this sword down. May back isn’t what it used to be.’ said the jacked old goblin as he casually lifted the jagged sword off his shoulder and let it drop to the ground keeping a tight grip on it.


    Jackie simply smiled. He’d been old once and when he’d built up enough muscle he’d grown mischievous when he grew bored and wanted entertainment. Just because his body had grown young in an instant wasn’t going to wipe away more than seventy-five years of living. Someone was having him on here and he’d roll with it a little, just a little until the situation changed.


    ‘Yeah, being old sucks. Hey there Grandad, do you need to warm up a little before our big fight? I mean we have this massive bonfire here to keep me warm but I bet your feet get cold in bed at night don’t they? Hey Linas, go and get me a weapon. He has his massive sword so you need to find me a hammer. We can have a fight to the death right after we exchange our names unless Grandad here is so old that his hearing is gone and he can’t remember if he needs to go to the bathroom before or after fighting.’ said Jackie.


    He remained sitting in the same position and made his voice loud enough to easily be overheard. Jackie would never had spoken that way to his own grandparents when he’d been a young man, they would have beaten him for it and told him to work on the coffee beans with dry milling for a week as a punishment. Using his hands and the bare minium of tools.


    With his fresh energy from his status as an avatar Jackie noticed that there were definite physical and mental improvements that went beyond him simply been returned to having a strong body of an early twenties young man.


    For one thing, he had been fairly scrawny when he’d been young and the fashionable clothing he was wearing should have been far baggier than he was wearing. His chest was muscular and his arms and legs were toned, not to mention his full head of healthy mid-length hair.


    Jackie wanted to have a little more fun so he reached inside his pocket and pulled out one of the expensive items of gold jewellery he’d decided to wear back in his walk in wardrobe and still sitting down threw it casually in the direction of the old jacked goblin who had remained standing.


    The gold bracelet clanged against the edge of the large jagged metal sword as Jackie looked up and waved a hand.


    ‘Grandad, hey there Grandad, how about you buy yourself a new sword. Something that doesn’t look all worn out. Just like you in fact. Why, you can even go and buy me a weapon as well given that our mutual friend Linas is standing there with his mouth open like the young idiot he is. I’m pretty comfortable here and I don’t feel like moving. Oh, hey Grandad, how about you buy yourself a hat as well. That bald head of yours must get cold in the winter, maybe throw in a pair of socks to keep those feet of yours warm in bed.’ said Jackie.


    This time, there was a definite response from the rest of the goblins who had moved away from their huts a little. Jackie heard chuckles, even bouts of laughter and younger ones who were asking why the strange man was throwing gold at the encampment Chieftain.


    ***


    Linas was standing there confused. He’d been given a boost of confidence when he’d formed a contract between a continent god and a chosen avatar but his age still belied him. He’d been told by his mother who’d had come to blows with her own avatar during the early days of the tutorial when she’d refused to obey.


    He knew that it was a risky strategy but there would be times when conflict would be necessary and he wouldn’t be able to give Jackie any sufficient protection, not unless his power levels matched the popularity of coffee on the continent.


    As it was he was able to be a little stronger during the tutorial stage as a security measure to stop the avatar from slaughtering the entire goblin encampment as per the standard agreement made.


    Despite Linas only just having met Jackie, he’d support him but at the same time he’d wanted to see how he would handle the direct threat of combat. He knew that Grucs wasn’t going to hurt him, not seriously but he had little choice left. The protection of the goblin encampment and the gods who had arrived with avatars had been so few and far between that they had largely lived in peace and security for at least two generations.


    Only the older ones remembered the previous adventurers who would hunt them down, cut off their ears and hand them in for bounty for killing non-humans just out of racial hatred or an excuse to kill monsters for money.


    The rest of the goblin tribe within the encampment were secure for the future but at the cost of not being able to leave the immediate areas of the forest or beyond. There were those who chose to voluntary leave and explore the world on their own but only after they had learned the human language. Some had returned, some hadn’t.


    He’d not given Jackie the [Gift of Tongues] mostly because he’d been so excited to actually sign a contract with a mortal that he’d largely forgotten. His role was to support Jackie as he spread and introduce the plant cherries known as coffee on Belphus to sufficient popularity.


    When he’d asked his Father for advice, the old man had simply said that all avatars grew through innate conflict and struggle and he needed to make sure that it was a true partnership that was formed. Either side could end the formal contract but there would be a magical backlash on both sides which usually meant it wasn’t worth it.


    Focus Linas. You got this. Why is Jackie acting so strange? Unless...no. The [Gift of Tongues] is a standard blessing every avatar receives.


    ‘Uh….Jackie. I think that there’s been some confusion going on. How about we forget about it? I mean, a fight to the death is a little strong to start out with. Grucs we can put a hold to it until Jackie can show us what he can do with his new foodstuff. You’ll love it, everyone will. They call it coffee and you can drink it an-’ said Linas as he was interrupted by Jackie who had stood up and waved a hand but showed a look of anger on his face.


    The bonfire remained burning without anyone throwing in extra wood but there were more goblins who had decided that the drama was far too entertaining to watch from the sidelines and had either left their children or brought them closer and formed a large loose semi-circle. A few of the older ones played with the sheathed knives on their belts and looked at Jackie with a little hostility and boredom but most were cheering him or the jacked old goblin by this point.


    Linas decided to keep his mouth shut, stand still and see how this situation was going to play out. He’d followed the basic rules of the tutorial to apply pressure to a fresh avatar but somehow it had all backfired and his borrowed confidence from Jackie was going to eventually run out.


    ***


    Jackie shook his blue fur collared jacket before he took out another piece of gold jewellery and gestured for one of the adult goblins to come over as he handed over the ring and his jacket with a quick thanks.


    Then he stretched out a little and turned his full attention and the entire weight of his more than seventy-five years towards the jacked old goblin. He’d dealt with directors, ruthless competition, mad scientists looking for investment for insane Mining programs and those wealthier than gods back on Belphus.


    He’d played this little game for long enough and he wanted it dealt with and this tutorial to progress. It was time for him to have a little talk with the jacked old goblin from one Grandad to another.