《Can you please stop killing me? a lit RPG adventure》 1. Rising into a new world Prologue The glow of a strange liquid illuminated the insides of a warehouse sized room as it flowed through tubes, interacting with a plethora of scientific implements. The shadow of a man in a lab coat moved, ever changing, as he walked across the room. He came to a stop in front of a group of three cylindrical tanks filled with the glowing blue-green water. The tanks held two differently sized young adult men. One of a middle eastern descent, and another of seemingly European heritage. ¡°Been a while hasn¡¯t it?¡± A second man asked, motioning towards the tanks with a dagger. He was twirling the ornate knife between his hands as he moved in between the shadows. The man wore a set of leather armour, and all but the tip of his beard was hidden under a dark cowl. ¡°They will be released soon,¡± The scientific man replied in a monotone analytical voice. ¡°It is only a matter of recovering the small one¡¯s injuries.¡± A shuffling of tools drew attention to a man at the back of the room, he was leaning over a desk whilst fiddling with a small mechanical device. He stopped and leaned back, turning towards the others. ¡°Yes, it is quite notable that you have a fascination with these two. I do wonder if they would compare however to the specially organised individuals you had previously selected. Indeed, you have also mentioned the fragmentation of their memories. Which, to be frankly honest, does not seem to fare well for them even working with us.¡± ¡°The prof has a point,¡± commented the rogue. ¡°Just give me a clean line of sight and I can finish this. None of this pussyfiddling around.¡± The apparent doctor sighed, conflicted over if he should correct the soldiers use of the phrase *pussyfooting*to correct the soldier on his . ¡°I assure you, breaking into the citadel is no easy task, and that is only the beginning. We will need a solid hold in the area before creating any significant change.¡± ¡°What, and these two are gonna help with that?¡± The dark figure added. ¡°They will be far enough away as not to interfere, we hope they will not be needed. They should build up strength and embed themselves in society along with the woman that has already left. When the alignment is right, then you will be able to return to your world and make a difference. Now let me make myself clear, the three of them have proven themselves. They were found in one of the largest conflict zones, having taken out numerous high level enemies with little more than their own ingenuity. They may not be of any value to the cause, but it is of my humble opinion that they have earnt themselves a second chance.¡± A silence hung in the area. Scepticism flickered across the rogue''s face as if he doubted the story and even the scientists ability to make rational decisions. Furrowing his brow he moved on towards one of the tanks and stared at the man¡¯s naked floating body. The rogue tapped on the side of a tank before stating: ¡°Got a floater.¡± The object he was looking at appeared as if it was a silver crystal moving in and out of itself as it steadily grew. It floated and moved within the battery tank, with some form of newly found sentience giving it coordination. ¡°Ach, not another.¡± The scientist said. The scientist slammed his hand into a button on the side of the tanks. The bodies grew limp as their supporting liquid was drained. The crystalline manifestation moved out with the liquid before more arrived to refill the cylinders. The rogue¡¯s eyes did not stop following the thing, he gazed at the shapeshifting crystal as it moved through the tubes, until eventually flowing into a large container to the side. The scientist moved and then kicked some creature at his feet. ¡°Kurt, you have food,¡± he stated. The creature lowered a tablet from in front of his face, showing the hint of a Cheshire cat smile against eyes like portals to the stars, before quickly disappearing in a puff of smoke. The creature reappeared within the tank and grabbed at the shapeshifting crystal, the manifestation appeared to resist and wriggled as the creature munched and sucked it into his being. Then, in another puff of smoke, he reappeared by the doctor¡¯s side. This time he appeared to be dangling his tablet as water seeped from it. ¡°The thing¡¯s stopped working,¡± he chimed. ¡°It is not waterproof you fool. Get another from the pile. Then you can get back to watching your Netflix...¡± The rogue looked on blankly, taking in what had just happened. Both creatures appeared to be beings of magic, formed from the strange equipment around him in this strange new land. He knew the process, it was like evolution sped up, a strange process where the mana forms intricate patterns through repeated trial and error at speeds close to that of light. That was how the ¡®floaters¡¯ emerged. Whatever strange changes the scientist was doing to them created this crystalline form of living mana as a by-product. The strange dark creature moved on to a corner of the room, his abnormally wide grin growing wide as he appeared to have accessed the app he wanted. ¡°I ain¡¯t ever gonna get used to that,¡± the rogue remarked.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Fascinating, how you are connected to the other world from here,¡± said the man at the desk. ¡°What do you mean connected?! I thought you said the portal was closed!¡± The rogue shouted. The scientist sighed. ¡°He is referring to the Netflix. And yes, I can pick up remote signals from your world, but I am not currently able to transmit matter. We have been able to send and receive radio transmission since ¡®77.¡± They waited until finally the sound of books falling could be heard from across the room. A bespectacled man in suspenders and a bowtie appeared from across the wall, he displayed a warm smile that appeared shyly as he quickly moved to pick up his books. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll be just a moment.¡± The scientist motioned for the others, the rogue and the inventor appeared to be waiting for something. ¡°Ah finally, this is your third member.¡± ¡°You¡¯re kidding, another nerd? Do I have to do all the work?¡± The scientist rubbed his forehead in frustration. ¡°Fred is a historian, political scientist and anthropologist. His is the best bet you have at creating a foothold in this land. These areas represent close to what you remember as the dark ages. Gareth will be your merchant and inventor - he will help you with equipment - and you, Mark, are the-¡° ¡°Muscle, yeah I know.¡± ¡°The help.¡± ¡°Sure whatever¡­ Five years SAS and six months covert operations.¡± He mumbled under his breath. The scientist pointed to a space in which shining runes coated the floor with intricate designs. Suddenly a shining white portal emerged and highlighted the green of trees coated by a slight shimmer of snow. ¡°Take your crystal from the side and don¡¯t deviate from the plan,¡± the wizard-like scientist commanded. ¡°When you go through, the system will activate. I expect you to be level five within a week.¡± The group grabbed their crystals and moved through the portal, to the other side, and as they did so the portal abruptly closed. The mystical scientist had been left alone with nought but his small creature. He rubbed the side of his sharply cut beard and looked at the battery tanks. ¡°I do wonder what you will do,¡± he said before getting back to his notes. ------- Chapter 1 A searing light in a bright blue sky shone through crisscrossing arches of a cavern roof. Within the cavern there was a patch of grass and on top of that grass were two men lying on the floor wearing cloth clothes that seemed to be taken from the early sixteenth century peasantry. Thomas, one of the two on the floor had just begun to wake up. Groggily he opened his eyes trying to adjust to the blinding light of the sun. He took a deep breath as he pushed away his sleep inertia. After sitting-up, an icon appeared in the corner of his vision. Something so unusual he could not think of it as anything but his imagination. LVL1 0% progress It disappeared in an instant, which helped his psyche reinforce the idea of it being little more than an errant thought. Still it felt as though after it had disappeared the information was still ever-present in his awareness; it was a feeling that he couldn''t quite grasp. Amidst his confusion he tried to remember how he got where he was when a feeling like a burst of motion sickness threw him back. Thomas felt sweat as his heart caught a beat. He soon replaced instead by the feeling of being well-rested. As he took in the surroundings the sound of the wind brushed through the grass and brought with it a slight chill. Then slightly puzzling him, he noticed scattered across the floor were the remains of armour coating an assortment of semi-deteriorated skeletons. Though it was strange, it wasn¡¯t like a field of gory corpses. Instead, it seemed peaceful. Flowers and grass penetrated the cracks and chips in the scattered armour, mixing with the remains and almost bringing to it a sense of calm beauty. Then, Thomas saw something move in the corner of his eye. He noticed someone else was lying on the grass. Looking at the person on the ground his head throbbed for a moment until he recognized the person. It was his friend Rob, a long-time friend, one he was sure he should have recognized sooner. Rob groaned as he was beginning to wake up. "Urgh," he whined. Rob had grappled onto one of the bodies next to him and started spooning. Looking closer Thomas saw that the body was of a large skeleton coated in a silver-blue armour, its skull at Rob¡¯s height as he slept. ¡°Hey, Rob,¡± Thomas asked, noticing that Rob had heard him but decided to carry on trying to sleep. ¡°Rob,¡± he repeated, giving a pause to see a response. There was no response. ¡°ROB!¡± Thomas shouted,leading Rob to become alert with a sudden jolt. When Rob woke up and looked at what he was spooning, he let out a yelp and immediately scuffled back. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Rob exclaimed, looking around at the new place he was in. ¡°Yeah... I can¡¯t remember, where are we?¡± Thomas asked. ¡°I have no idea,¡± Rob replied. ¡°Yeah. Also, is this French? are we speaking French?¡± Thomas added. Rob rubbed his head, he still wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, he did realise however that he could now understand French. So well in fact, that he confused it with his native tongue of English... but then again... He wasn''t entirely sure what either French or English was outside of how they were both languages. Rob got to his feet and quickly wiped whatever dirt he¡¯d gotten on his clothes from the decrepit corpse. In front of Rob was a wooden stick stuck into the ground which he noticed had a piece of paper nailed to it. ¡°Cool,¡±Rob said, moving to look at it. The paper stuck to it appeared to be folded over, it conveyed a message that had likely not been there long, well, not as long as the corpses since paper would likely have withered away in that time and the paper he was looking at looked like it could have been freshly printed. Rob took the paper and read it aloud: "Wait here, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± ¨CKurt He put the paper back where he found it. "Odd," was the only response Thomas could give. He looked around at all the corpses and back to Rob. ¡°I think I have worked out one thing though,¡± he added his memory trying to piece together what was happening around him. ¡°I am confused,¡± he surmised, getting a nod of agreement form Robert as they both agreed that they were, confused. They waited around for a while trying to appease whoever wrote the letter, but nothing came to visit them, the note just hung in the middle of the cavern. After a few more minutes they started exploring the area. At the edge, Thomas moved to the edge of the enclosure and attempted to see what was outside. The path out appeared to be like a white shining light. As he approached and walked into the light it faded away, revealing a large barren red landscape. The stark contrast to the lush greenery within the cavern forced him to turn back, but behind him now was a red rock-wall. After a few seconds, the space in front of Thomas began to shimmer and through a pulse of more blinding light, Robert appeared as if through a portal. "Ah shit," Thomas stated. Robert looked back to similarly see how the way was blocked off. He came to the same conclusion; they could not return. ¡°Well... fuck. ¡± Robert remarked. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can find some food or people around here¡± Thomas ascertained. Rubbing his stomach. ¡°I¡¯m going to sue someone if this is Derren Brown,¡± Thomas announced. Robert snickered. "Whoever the fuck Derren Brown is..." Thomas added, slightly more depressingly. 2. locals The floor they walked was more rock than dirt, a hard rock red maze. The paths interchangeably gave way to open spaces the size of a small field or chasms so narrow they had to jimmy their way through. There was little vegetation apart from dry grass and the occasional dead tree. It looked like the area was once a savannah turned now into the deserts of Mars. The heat of the sun bearing down on them like eggs on an old car engine. ¡°And so we enter the badlands,¡± Adil stated. Starting to sweat as he was pulled up onto another tall rocky protrusion. ¡° I always wanted to live in a game,¡± Swift said, as they worked their way through the route. ¡°I bet. Can''t be worse than home anyway.¡± Replied Adil. ¡°Home.. why would you say that?¡± Swift asked stopping to face him. Adil scrunched up his nose as he realized he didn''t know either. "I can''t remember." A brief silence followed them both. "Well, this sucks.." "It can''t be a game though, in seriousness that just sounds crazy" Adil replied. "Ok then... How about a government experiment?" Swift added. "What?" "Like, an experiment by some organisation, to help start-up humanity again." "Come again?" "OR OR .. we died!" "Jesus man, how do you even, why do I know our government is too broke for that but not anything about our home?" "Why are you in shitty clothes like a noob from a basic RPG?" They both stopped and looked at each other. They were wearing the standard brown villager rags they give to starter people in most video games. ".. Ok... I guess let''s just accept this is a litRPG and move on," Adil added almost sarcastically. They carried on, walking further into the rocky maze. The paths abruptly changed their course at each cross-junction, and they soon became so hopelessly lost it was unclear if they had gone in circles. Further and further, they went through the barren landscape trying to stick to one direction. ¡°We need some food and drink,¡± Adil stated. "Yeah, the game already told me that," Swift added. Swift noticed a hunger and thirst icon in the corner of his awareness, like a leg of meat and an empty flask. It was as though they really had an rpg user interface, small icons flashing in the corner highlighting that they were in the same player party. Their ¡°health¡± was also visible under each username next to flashing symbols of hunger and dehydration. ¡°So thirsty,¡± Swift exclaimed, staring up at the sky. As he looked down he noticed strange shapes moving in the distance. After squinting he saw the shapes change into something more human, but a bit green. Adil moved closer and saw about five of what roughly appeared to be... goblins? The goblins suddenly noticed their presence, moving slightly towards them the group raised their fists and tolls into the air shouting words of a strange language. The language was strange and animal. As time passed and the groups drew closer, the noise from the Goblins grew more ferocious. They started slamming their makeshift tools into the ground as if to frighten them. With each passing moment, Adil felt he was gaining a better grasp on their language, odd phrases standing out. The meaning of the phrases developing from angry shouts into a more refined "bad thing go away".This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Well, this is new,¡± Swift said, still trying to shield his eyes from the light as the goblins began circling. ¡°Hold up; this isn¡¯t a game. These guys look like people; they can probably be reasoned with,¡± Adil started walking up to the group with his hands held high showing he came in peace. The goblins moved closer as Adil began to mouth some odd sounds he thought could be understood. The goblins started shaking their makeshift weapons at Adil as he drew closer. He carried on talking. *peace* *friends* he slowly said. Adil carried on talking, and the goblin was almost taken back as Adil mouthed what he thought was the word peace in goblin speak. Having surrounded the group, one of the goblins had begun staring at Swift. Swift looked towards him, and a gob of spit was shot out of the goblin''s mouth, just missing Swift''s feet. "Oh fuck off," Swift shouted, then kicked a rock at them. The goblin threw his tool and *crack* Swift had ducked, and the tool swatted Adil in the side of the head. The goblins club had brought Adil tumbling to the floor. ¡°Adil!!¡± Swift shouted and charged in. He ran towards a goblin besides Adil, but instead, the goblin in a turning motion clubbed him across the side of his head. Swift then fell down to the floor, losing consciousness. ... Adil awoke; both he and Swift had been tied up, they were being dragged on a raft made from few broken planks of wood. The goblins here were now all dressed in armour; a shitty metal made darker by a mix of ash and dirt. ¡°We really suck at this,¡± Adil said quietly. With a throbbing headache, Adil could see a health bar at ''sixty of one hundred'' and a shaky head symbol in the corner of his vision, thirty minutes next to the symbol counting down. ¡°It was my bad,¡± Swift replied with a slight smirk. For the time that past Adil carried on picking up on the odd sounds that came from the goblins as he tried to figure out what they were saying. "It''s ok you know, there''s always a way out if you think and try hard enough. I think I¡¯m getting the language... It''s kinda primal but has a nice flow to it,¡± Adil added. "Right," Swift replied a slight smile on his face. Adil motioned towards the goblin leader and attempted to speak their language: ¡°Where.. take..?¡± In reply, one of the goblins dragging the planks spat into the dirt, the others ignored him. At this point swift was trying to untie his bonds, he thought enough squirming and grating it on a nail would either loosen it or fray it enough to break free, feverishly squirming whenever the goblins looked away. One of the goblins came up to Adil, and got into his face, a scar visible over the goblin''s right eye. The small-statured humanoid said in French: ¡°Human¡­ weak¡­will break you,¡± then spat to the side. They really liked spitting. This one seemed like the leader Adil thought, he was different, bits of bone built into his metal armor and he seemed slightly bigger than the others. When they reached the end of their journey, they had been dragged into what seemed like an enclosed goblin outpost. A base that was held together with little more than jagged pieces of wood and rope. Both Swift and Adil were taken off the planks and pulled onto a raised stage. Swift had not yet broken free, so the goblins tried to use the same binds to tie them to stakes by hooking another rope through their arms. Adil looked around and saw ten or so more goblins had gathered and were now shaking makeshift weapons and shouting in front of them, aggravating his headache. The goblin leader started addressing the small crowd, Adil had perked up his head, listening and focusing enough to gather meaning within the goblin language. ¡°Will¡­ Revenge¡­ War¡­. Bathe... destroy," it all seemed so strange. The goblin pulled out a jagged knife from his side and walked towards Adil. Swift had just loosened his binds enough and broke out, charging at the Goblin. The leader''s face was so unsurprised he almost seemed expecting, when Swift was close enough, he punched him in the face and plunged his knife into the ragged clothed noobs chest. Something clicked in Adil. This was real. Cheers from the crowd of Goblins as Swift was bleeding out and Adil was broke into a panic. Swift was on the floor now, Adil staring in horror, the last gasp left his mouth, and a shimmer only visible to Adil seemed to leave his body. Adil tried one last time to talk, using a rudimentary understanding of their language: Adil was in shock, unsure of how to take what happened. He tried one more time to talk to the goblin as he approached. ¡°Stop... Don¡¯t... wh-¡± and Adil¡¯s neck was cut. He choked on his blood and slumped down the stake. He was collapsed forward with blood pouring out of his neck. Adil felt cold, in his vision, an icon of a big red drip started growing less opaque. His health bar was slowly lowering, and the sound of the chanting Goblins became dimmer. He looked up one more time and saw the goblin, a raised bloody knife in it''s hand, raised to the crowd. Everything faded to black. 3. Rebirth Darkness surrounded Adil. He had died. The last traces of consciousness were fading as he felt a pull. The pull transcended into a more forceful yank as it wretched him from the darkness. He felt as though his mind was being dragged through a thick viscous liquid until it was as if he was opening his eyes. He found himself in the midst of a strange vision as if he was inside another body with no control over it. He soon realised that he was staring through his own eyes from another point in time. It was as if he was reliving a memory, a memory where his past self of Thomas was lying on the floor in an old pub, staring up at a dimly lit bar counter. Adil saw how some drinks had fallen over, pouring down the side of the counter. As Thomas changed his glance to the ceiling Adil realised this was probably because whatever had destroyed half the building''s roof had knocked them over. A bit where the ceiling fell away shone moonlight down on him. Thomas lay on the ground for a while longer, now staring through the hole in the roof, towards the bright and eerie full moon. Adil felt extreme pain as Thomas coughed, a bit of blood sprayed around his mouth. Bracing through a more excruciating pain he rolled over to his side. Adil saw across the pub floor his friend Rob being cradled on the lap of a woman Adil could have sworn he knew. Thomas''s vision was out of focus, and his attention was not aimed towards his friend, instead, he looked at the growing pool of blood around him, sparkling in the moonlight. There was an occasional distant explosion, disrupting the silence. A puff of purple smoke seemed to appear in and out of the pub. Adil was sure he could see the distorted image of a small black humanoid creature appear in one of the smoke clouds, disappearing in another. A sudden bright flash and Thomas/Adil was blinded. Opening his eyes again they saw a man holding what looked to be some sort of staff. As the light began to dissipate, a glowing hole in space became visible behind the man. Still blinded by the light they saw the man slowly approach and then their consciousness faded into nonexistence. ... Then Adil woke up again, the hints of rage, clawing across from the thoughts of his murder at the hands of the goblins. Both Adil and Swift now up, reached for their injuries but found nothing, alive and unharmed they tried to gather their thoughts. Adrenalin rushing to the point it took them a while to realise where they were. They had respawned back in the cavern. ¡°What the fuck!¡± Adil exclaimed. Swift still just holding his chest in shock. ¡°We died, we fucking died!¡± Adil cried. There was a loud and impromptu fake cough that grabbed both of their attention to something in front of them on the grass. Their eyes focused until they realised a small black-blue humanoid creature was hunched in front of them. ¡°Not even a single day¡± It stated flatly. Adil and Swift stared blankly at the creature. ¡°We uh, just died,¡± Swift replied in shock, Adil remained speechless. ¡°Yeah I can see that, I think you guys broke a record.¡± ¡°You were in my dream,¡± Swift said to the creature. ¡°Listen, I really don''t care. Let me just ask you a few questionsso I can be on my way.¡± ¡°Have you seen that.. lady...¡± Swift added. Struggling to find the name as if it was a fleeting memory he was clawing to get back. The gremlin took notice of what he said. ¡°Her... Yeah, she is here, don''t think about it ..." the thing rubbed in. "Where is she?" Adil asked "Just don''t think about it...¡± It said seeming a bit bored. Adil tried to remember the woman, what happened, he grasped a name *Ros- * suddenly he was overcome with a splitting headache forcing him to stop all thoughts until the pain disappeared. He groaned in frustration. The name though, he could remember it was ''Rosie'' it seemed like the name of someone or something he knew. The dimorphic being appeared to be growing impatient. ¡°You see that pain you just had. That''s the stupid pain, that''s what happens when you don''t listen to me. And you know what, I get the pain too because when I think about how I have to explain this shit to you and I imagine all the stupid questions you''ll aks after that,¡± Adil stared blankly at the small angry creature in confusion. "Ok, now let''s get this over with," the thing added. It got out a piece of paper and put on a pair of reading glasses. Seemingly taking them out of a portal in space itself. ¡°Right, so I have some questions to ask you." *shuffles the paper* "Have you, A, Been killed by an animal B, been killed by accident or C, Been killed by something self-aware." Swift was taken off guard and looking toward the gremlin blurted: ¡°Uh what? A?¡± Adil shouted ¡°C!.¡± ¡°Ah yeah,¡± Swift added. The creature scratched a finger on the piece of paper. ¡°OK, if they see you again, will they realize that you were the one they killed?¡± ¡°Yeah, probably, right?¡± Swift said ¡°Probably, yes¡± Adil confirmed. ¡°Ok, finally. Are they, A. Associated with authority, guards, soldiers, etc. B, lawless, or some sort of underground groups, C tree huggers, dryads, campers. Hunters. People that live alone. or four Civ-. ¡°-They¡¯re goblins¡± Adil interruptedUnauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The creature, holding some sort of a checklist in his hand just lowered it looking at them with a questioning look. ¡°Goblins,¡± the creature replied finishing his checklist and dematerializing the note. He seemed disappointed with that response and stopped the line of questioning. ¡°So, how do you feel after your first death.¡± It asked. ¡°Confused,¡± Swift replied. Adil was more... Unsure why he was answering these question but didn¡¯t want to say that allowed, he just kept silent. ¡°You have no memories and are on a different planet... I don''t mean *do you feel lonely*¡± The creature berated before continuing. .. "So, can you tell us what we are doing here?." "Yes," it replied. The creature saw the two of them look on expectantly. he frowned. ¡°Right. So you were brought here from another world. Earth. You can''t remember anything because of how we rushed your adjustment to this world. You are unimportant wastes of resources tha the boss man decided to give out of charity. You have one job. Stay low, don¡¯t let anyone know where you came from and if you have the ability to, get a job. If the time comes we will get you and take you back to where you came from. Good?¡±" Swift nodded whilst Adil help up a hand. The creature looked onto Adil distastefully. "So, do you want your gear?" The creature asked. The interdimensional being disappeared for a moment and reappeared with a set of clothes, they were a rough tattered leather with some padded protection. They put the armour on then looked at the protection stats. Armour tab
item????????State???? ????Armour Cotton clothes?? well-made???????+.1 global Leather armour??well-made???????+7 slash +3 crush
Upon further inspection, it seemed as though the protection washow much damage it would take to penetrate the armour. The creature disappeared in his cloud of violet space dust and arrived back with a bow, a quiver of 10 arrows, and a couple of steel short swords. Swift walked over to the bow, and the interdimensional being said, ¡°Leave that for him, Boss says to do something else for you.¡± The two of them picked up their equipment and put it on. AdilNew notifications (5)
Acquired item ??????State ??????Rarity Cotton clothes ??????well-made ????common Short sword ?????? well-made ????common Short bow ????????well-made ??? common Leather armour ????? well-made ???common arrow(10) ????????well-made ??? common
Again, Adil tried to focus on the Sword and bow to see their details which similarly came up.
Name???? size ??????material Short bow ??3 feet ???? oak hemp string *Including 10 arrows and quiver, both attachable overlapping on back.*
Name???? size ????material Short sword? 22-inch ??Steel *Including sheath, attachable to waist or over the shoulder for ease of access.*
Swift at the creature¡¯s call had come closer, awaiting the gift that would apparently compensate for not having a bow. The creature brought out a crystal in one hand that glowed with silver energy. It reached forward and pointed one of his hand''s three fingers to Swift¡¯s head, laying the crystal against Swift¡¯s chest. The hands of the creature glowed a faint black and purple as Swift¡¯s gaze was stolen by the being. it seemed to connect to Swift. Their eyes shone a brilliant red and a trail of orange energy drifted in a line between them. Swift felt a feeling of warmth as his mind was taken to another place. Swift was mentally transported as time itself seemed to freeze. He now appeared in a vision of a time long ago. it was a memory of a time he went camping. Swift was sat in an open field, a stack of wood and staw in front of him. He was feverishly trying to spin a stick on a piece of wood. He had spent over an hour trying to gather the materials and spent even longer trying to start a fire with little more than a spinning stick. As swift tried repeatedly to start the fire he found that nothing seemed to be working. He managed to fashion a rope to another stick like a bow and used it to spin the fire starting stick faster. He placed bits of dry straw onto the wood and kept at. Over and over he tried until suddenly trails of smoke began to appear, still, it looked like it wouldn¡¯t last. He added straw desperate to make something happen carrying to spin the stick as steadily as he could. Finally, a fire emerged. Stoking it further, adding more straw, more sticks and it took hold fo the other materials, igniting the stacked wood above it. Swift sat there for a while then, staring into the fire, seeing the deep glow flickering with a powerful intense presence. Then he had a single thought, something that meant more to him at that moment than anything else,*this is only the beginning*. His mind was brought back, now one with his body as he shot into the grass behind him. Now in the material world, he noticed a glimmer of fire spark from his hand. Notifications (2)
Learnt Magic type Fire magic A skill affected by mental clarity. You are now able to channel and control fire through the management of your mana.
Swift stretched and felt the strange power rushing inside him. He felt within his awareness that he could safely amass roughly a hundred and twenty units of mana at a rate of eighteen per second. Which was somehow dependant on his mental attributes as they facilitated a mental clarity and split focus needed to channel this strange energy. ¡°I feel amazing¡± Swift silently stated. A new warmth seemed to be growing within him, energy roaring deep inside. The strange interdimensional being looked visibly exhausted, his material form seemed to have difficulty maintaining consistency as bits of him leaked and faded into smoke. He waved a hand and looked away before letting out a sort of cough, causing a pray of purple space-dust. "Before I go, remember, don''t let anyone know you can come back from death. Don''t tell anyone you come from Earth. Keep it down low. If you get to a human settlement just say something like you''re adventuring hunters or something. And whatever you fucking do. Don''t ask me any more questons." The creature turned and looked like he was about to go, but looked back to both Adil and Swift. "You''re name?" Swift asked. He gave a deep chuckle before beginning to visibly deteriorate. ¡°You should really try not to die so much. Listen, go west, away from the black mountains and you should find your friend.¡± He left then slowly disappearing into a puff of smoke trailing into nothingness. ¡°That was ominous,¡± Swift stated. Adil sighed knowing Swift was probably right. Mentally strained the two of them collapsed on their backs, looking around at the cavern. Light began to fade as the sun had started to set. "The fuck are the black mountains?" Swift called. Adil sighed. "Let''s go and find out." ¡°I guess we go a different way to last time though, right?¡± Swift asked. The feeling of hunger had disappeared, but he knew it would come back and that way had only brought death. ¡°Hopefully,¡± Adil replied. Adil started searching the decomposing corpses. A notification popped up taking over their vision again. Message *Here''s your first task thing. Or. "Quest".*
Stop being some fucked up masochistic idiot and stay alive. --- Joint Task: the objective is split between those given the quest. --- Spend three days without dying.... twice! Exp: 100 non-declinable
"That *twice*, on the quest we were given. Really hurts." Adil said to Swift. 4. Trial by fire Looking around the area Adil started moving the bodies around, turning them upside down and inspecting their armour. He figured that he could improvise something to use from at least some of the metal in the ground. Swift took the time to meditate, he could feel a new power within him and wanted to see what it was. He felt a strange warmththat was both deep within him but like that of a roaring inferno. He tried to draw it out. He focused the energy through his hand and fire coalesced around his fingertips. Withjust his will Swift cast a bolt of fire, sending a small burst forward to dissipate on the rocky cavern wall. Adil quickly stopped what he was doing. "Did you just?" "This is my calling, I am now a pyromaniac," "You mean pyromancer?" "Yeah, either one." Adil mentally facepalmed and then went back to his search, leaving swift to meditate. Swift tried to experiment. To understand his limits, he focused onthebursting power roaring within him, the root of his fire. Swift mentally reached inside himself and pulled at his energy, it grew, like an erupting volcano. The fire came out without resistance, overwhelming his being. Swift wanted to hold it back but couldn¡¯t, he didn¡¯t even know-how. Swift opened his eyes and was frozen in the realisation of what he had just done. Swift was suddenly and rapidly engulfed in flames, an explosion of fireerupting fromhim. Thankfully too quickly for him to feel pain. ¡°Fucking hell" Adil exclaimed jumping back. Trails of fire andash were scattered aroundSwift''s charred corpse, his face and eyes looked to have exploded and much of his blood was burnt to his skin. Adil was backing away from the grotesque sight. Energy suddenly shot from the ground and hovered in the air, a wind fathering as threads circled about one spot in front of Adil. Then it began to take shape; a ghostly ethereal figure became more contrasted and solid, slowly reforming a body bit by bit. Tendrils of mana starting from bone and building to skin. Before long the Swift wasalive again. His body reformed with a new set of nooby cotton clothes. Attempt failed! (1/2) (try not to die so much) ¡°Are you ok?¡± Adil asked the now newly formed Swift in all his confusion. ¡°Didn¡¯t feel a thing,¡± Swift replied with a smirk. Then looked over at his mutilated body in concern. "Well, that me hadseen better days," he replied. Adil just looked at him with an expression fo exhaustion, "what?" Swift tasked. ¡°Please don¡¯t do that again,¡± Adil asked as though Swift was just going to go for another try. ¡°Can¡¯t make any promises,¡± Swift said in reply. He got an awkward stare in response. "What I''m kidding," he said making it out like he wouldn¡¯t but secretly suppressed his urge to try.He really wanted tofind out how large an explosion he could really make. Adil took another glance around the skeletal corpses, decrepit old things, the leather from any straps had worn away. He thought about carrying some of the armour or even taking bitsoff for small amounts of protection. In the end, he only found a small piece of armour something he could graft into his leather arm piece for some added forearm protection. Taking the dark metal piece he wiped the grime off it and strapped it to his forearm. Looking towards Swift, he had managed to take the leather armour off of his old mangled body, strangely still intact. Unlike his body which seemed to have incinerated itself. ¡°Still good?¡± Adil postulated. ¡°Yeah,¡± Swift said standing overhis charred remains, an arm had come off the body and was within a piece of armour. He shook the armour until the arm fell out. The amour hadchanged slightly in colour and trimmed around the edges but it still held together. Hepicked up his short sword and was set up just as before. notification Swift
Acquired item?? State Cotton clothes ?? ?burnt Short sword ??? ?well-made Leather armour ???burnt
"Round two?" Adil asked. "Ye boi," Swift earnestly replied. They went to both leave and exited the cavern in the same way they had previously. The maze of rocks gave them two clear directions, one leading towards the goblins and another potentially more dangerous, unknown direction. ¡°The other way,¡± Adil said to Swift as he noticed him eyeing the path to the goblins. The thought about what would be awaiting them this time made them pause before continuing. They left the Cavern, walking in the opposite direction of where the Goblins were.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The maze of rockswas still just as messy, climbing over jagged spikes and ducking through overlapping walls being the only way to get through. Adil went ot get a view. He climbed one of the larger rocks and looked around. In the distance towards the goblins, and further out that way a black sky hung against taller black mountains. In exasperation they knew, this time, they had made the right choice. Not that way. They kept low and avoided any open spaces as they carried on along their course. Eventually, as stomachs began to grumble the area became less barren. The vegetation was not all dead and tufts of yellow grass popped up in different areas. Suddenly swift saw in the distance a fast-moving and small creature, it was in fact, a rabbit. He quickly motioned to Adil. ¡°RABBIT! Kill it quick!¡± He shouted. Adil looked at him with apathy ¡°..I¡¯m vegetarian,¡± he explained. ¡°What?¡± swift rhetorted. ¡°But we could die?" ¡°We will respawn anyway¡± ¡°And then die again... Hungry." Swift placed a hand over Adil and said calmly. "Listen, if this is an isekai there are two things you gotta not fucking do. First have a mental break down goingOh no how do I handle being in this new world, and second. Have some screwed up empathy trip, cus you gotta kill something, like, this ain''t Kansas anymore motherfucker." With a solemn expression, Adil gave in "Whatever man," he said and lifted his bow to aim. They stalked the pray, a feeling of shadows wrapping around them as they moved. They began to feel more Intune with their surroundings, blending in and silent. Aloading notification was in the corner of Adil''s awareness. A message that he seemed intuitively aware of like a computer working inside his mind. Skill acquisition commencing. assessing skill functionality, Simulation complete. Calibrating muscle-memory.Skill formulated. Notification skill acquired, sneak.
Skill Stealth You have an innate awareness of motion pressure and limb placement to conceal your footsteps. Blending in with your surroundings feel second nature.
Ignoring the notification Adil focused on his task at hand. Adil took out his bow and aimed his first shot, the more he held the bow the stronger he could feel a connection to it, as though he could the size and shape of it in his hand. Then he fired. It missed, and the rabbit just about noticed and ran off. ¡°Uuh.¡± he exclaimed in exasperation, his hunger overwhelming. Another progress notification comming into his awareness. Simulation in progress, enhanced time allocation due to spectacular failure. skill formulated.
Learnt Skill Archery A skill affected by dexterity. Your essence has bonded with the bow so that it can act as an extension of our arm.
"This is so damn weird." Adil now felt the bow as though its movements were Intune with his own, if he closed his eyes he could feel the bow''s shape and even flexibility. Like a sudden change made the bow feel second nature. As they came to accept the loss of their food source they decided to carry on and as they did the land started to grow the occasional tuft of dry grass, slowly tuning from barran to a savannah. Soon the sun had set and the area turned to darknessturning much colder, a chill hit them as though the heat of the day was a far gone dream. Then Adil saw it, in the distance a collection of bushes and not just any, but ones lush with berries and fruit. The team went over to the area desperate for any sustenance they could find. As soon as he got there Adil grabbed a berry from the closest bush, but it collapsed in his hand deteriorating to a flaky mush. notification
Failure This is a special mana bush, to pick the fruit from this bush you must feed the plant mana. You lacked the ability or willingness to try in a way that a skill could be formed for this.
Acquired item ????State ????effect Withered herbs ????ded??????none
¡°WHYYYY¡± Adil shouted out. He had only picked up the plant and could not understand what happened. ¡°The berry literally withered away. I¡¯m not joking, we finally got something to try and eat, and it in my literal hand, it just turned to mush.¡± Or Adil threw the mush on the ground and in a surprising burst of energy started fervently stamping on it. ¡°fuck you, fuck you, fuck you¡± He said to the bush. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re doing it right?¡± Swift asked. ¡°Do you want to try?¡± Adil asked in elation. Swift went and grabbed a herb from the bush. ¡°I got a notification, apparently this has been turned into garbage because I didn''t have herblore," ¡°Oh really? And that makes so much sense, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Adil exclaimed, looking like a curious Nicolas Cage. His hunger was getting the better of him and he collapsed to the ground. Swift attempted it one more time, he had now learnt the skill but didn''t feel he should relay that information to Adil in his delicate state or fear that he could start screaming about the bees. Trying to feel around the plant and see how he was meant to take it off Swift connected his mana to the plant. His mana seemed to be accepted and slightly pulled, he felt that there was mana in the plant but this could not be held in the fruit, in order to sustain it he pushed mana into it creating a distinct change within the fruit. ¡°I think I get it,¡± Swift said He pulled the berry from the plant knowing it would last on its own. Notifications Swift
Acquired item ????State ????Effects Badlands berry ????Fresh ????+25% focus
Learnt Skill Herblore your ability to harmonize with plants has been enhanced.
Swift handed Adil a berry to eat. The reverence Adil gave it was akin to discovering an oasis in a desert. ¡°Please sir, can I have some more.¡± Adil asked before Swift with a smirk dropped the berries in his hands and went back to gathering. Swift gathered as many as he could, finding off bushes on the way along their path growing more varied and bountiful. He had differing success across the plant variation but managed to hoard enough to be satisfied. Though he didn¡¯t get all the berries from each bush, as he felt his connection strain when he took too many or if they were not ripe enough. Notifications (31)
Acquired item, State, Effects Badlands berries (18) Fresh, +25% focus Taint grass (6) Fresh, unknown Sundering oat (2) Fresh, intense vomiting Glue berry (4) Fresh, unknown lunar fruit (2) Fresh, unknown
Level up! Herblore level 2 10% increased chance of finding rare herb effects, 10% increased chance of gathering herbs, 10% increased speed in gathering herbs.
*That was fast* Swift thought. he popped a berry into his mouth "Ohh, coffee," he said with a smile 5. Berries Swift and Adil had gathered as much food as they could from the bushes nearby, only Adil had yet to be able to successfully harvest. As the night began to start they decided to set up camp. They managed to find a dead tree and quickly harvested it for flammable material placing it where they wanted to set a fire, shivering in the encapsulating cold. Swift crouched next to the stacked pile of wood and shot out a few small burstsof fire bringing forth the much-needed heat. The wood was ignited andgrew asteady flame. Both of them huddled around the fire. Swift handed out some berries to Adil. "Watch out for the poisoned ones," he said. Notification Item???????state?? effect Sundering oat ?? Fresh, ??intense vomiting Lunar fruit???? Fresh???unknown Badland berry?? Fresh???25% increased focus Glue berry?????Fresh???Unknown "I bet." ¡°You''re not goingto try the glue berry, right?¡± Adil asked. Noticing it was included in one of the ''unknown berries.''Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Probably not, but what about the lunar fruit.¡± He said, putting his hand out and showing 2 large red fruits, almost like plumbs. They appeared like they would be a lot more satisfying than the other fruit. Adil sniffed it and even nipped a bit of the surface. It seemed to just taste a bit bitter. "I don''t trust it." He said. But saw that Swift had already huffed his in one. He furrowed his brow quickly ate the fruit thinking if they both died they would at least be able to find each other. No notifications came and so they started lying down, about to take turns on watch whilst the other attempted to fall asleep. They hung in silence unable to rest until Adil started talking. ¡°You know man, you¡¯re great. You¡¯re literally the best.¡± Adil said to Swift. ¡°I fucking love you man.¡± ¡°Ayy, you¡¯ve always been so cool, love you too dude,¡± Swift replied. ¡°Man, this place, camping in this crazy world, surrounded by the stars. Check out those moons. It''s just amazing.¡± Adil said pointing into the sky. The light of one of the moons was a husky red with a ring of rocks floating around it, another was larger but a grey-blue colour. ¡°We should just do something, right now. I¡¯m not in the mood to just lie around, I wanna get moving.¡± Swift added. ¡°Yes mate. Let¡¯s do it!¡± Adil replied, got to his feet and picked up a burning bit of wood waving it around in the air. A cascading wave of howls sounded off in the distance accompanied by a collection of growls. ¡°Oh my god¡± Swift replied. ¡°There are dogs!!!¡± he exclaimed. Before he could add anything, else Swift had run off into that direction. Adil could only follow suite, he noticed a notification pop up stating *new effects identified* and a smiling emoji icon appear in the corner of his vision.
Status: Mania effect: Impulsivity increased, fear lowered, appreciation increased, Rational analysis lowered, social barriers lowered.
6. Dodge Adil chased Swift, the light of his torch flickering as he ran. He went across the rocky paths, climbing higher and jumping over the obstacles in the way. ¡°Wait!.¡± Adil shouted, having finally caught up to the panting Swift. ¡°Let¡¯s... not just run around right now,¡± Adil added trying to regain some of his senses. A howl echoed again and around them, the night sky drew an ominous presence, yellow eyes glinted in the dark. The eyes approached closer, the steadily moving outline of wolf-like figures became visible in the torchlight. The stick of fire was still held firmly in Swift''s right hand, his night vision not accustomed to the surroundings. It was obvious that the wolves could see a lot more than they could. They would have stood out like a lighthouse in a fogless night. ¡°Look at them,¡± Swift said as one of the wolves steadily moved closer. The wolves'' eyes seemed to have white pupils instead of black, visible in the pronounced yellows that started steadily increasing in number. The other eye glints spread further around Adil and Swift, jumping occasionally over rocks as they could surround them in their pathway. The wolf that approached was now visible, he was patched with brown and red fur. It looked almost like a large feral fox, rugged patchy fur and bright yellow eyes. As the wolf''s fur became visible Swift could see a stark black morbid writhing infection spread across the side of its face leading into its back. An infection that seemed like a living disease. The wolf came closer and so Swift decided to lean in, placing his hand out as if to show he didn¡¯t mean any danger. Trying to get the wolf to sniff. ¡°It¡¯s alright pup,¡± He said. The wolf didn¡¯t seem to take notice, its focused eyes began to shine in the fire. It began to growl its teeth showing as it stared daggers at them, then suddenly it dove. Swift let out a scream of pain as he braced the dogs locked jaw around his arm. ¡°Aaaaagh,¡± He shouted. ¡°Shit!¡± Adil called out in alarm. He drew his sword, having left the bow by camp and charged tackling the dog off Swift and to the floor. Its growls grew more vicious, Adil couldnot see any life left in the beast, just a deep feral instinct. He could do little to hold the beast down and to prevent it from jumping up at his neck. Angling the beast away he stabbed his sword into the dog¡¯s side. The beast struggled for just a moment longer before it collapsed. Two notifications appeared in Adil¡¯s eyes. Notification (2)
Learned Skill Medium blades Your blade can now feel like an extension to your arm, as you intuitively know its length and sharpness.
Slain creature experience gained Feral taint wolf 20
Getting up from the assault Adil looked around and saw they were trapped. Swift turned to face the ones that had surrounded them, and they stood there, back to back.The other wolves were making choking growling sounds. Swift dropped the torch, bringing out his sword to face the horde. The approaching wolves took steps closer, now growling more menacingly. Adil felt different, moving his weapon felt more refined, as though he had the muscle memory of a practised swordsman. ¡°Bad dog, bad dog,¡± Swift said, swatting his sword from side to side. Unsure about how to deal with the approaching danger. He looked down at the collapsed wolf and to his arm, glad the teeth hadn¡¯t dug past his armour. He could only stand next to Adil and hold out his sword in wait for the beasts to make a move. Two wolves charged Adil whilst another went for Swift. Swift flailed his arm out and slashed the wolf across the face. The wolf flew past and landed sprawled out on the ground. A trail of corrupted black blood spew after it. Its nose cut clean through. Adil had the other two charge towards him. He plunged his sword deep into the first dog''s skull, but its corpse momentum dragged the sword, tearing it out of his hand. He could only brace as the other one attacked. He collapsed on the floor trying to push the wolf away, its gnashing teeth pressing towards him. It seemed like he wasn''t that good at swordsmanship after all. He batted at the wolf pushing it down. It stopped trying to get at his face and bit into his leg. Adil only just managed to kick the wolf off having been scratched and bitten enough to pierce his armour. A trail of blood leaking from multiple lacerations. Adil was now on the floor staring down the wolf. He had just enough time to see more eyes appear in the shadows, their choking growls sounding like distorted laughter. The wolf dove again. This time it didn¡¯t get far before a sword smashed into the side of its head. Swift having thrown it. "Shit," Swift said now swordless. *why didn''t he just stab it* he thought. An army of wolves seemed to jump in at that moment, but Swift in blind instinct shot out a gout of fire catching all eight, the wolves collapsed to the floor and began to wreath in agony, the flames igniting their fur. "Why didn''t you do that earlier?!?!" Adil shouted in exasperation. Swift just looked at him with his arms up in the air. "I''m really high!" He said. Adil spun his feet flicked his body up and pulled out his sword from the side of the wolfs head he had stabbed. Two wolves remained, they fiercely growled and charged towards them. Adil picked up the other sword Swift had thrown and then duel wielding he ran in. Swift shot a bolt at one of them catching it and causing it to shake as it further caught alight. The last one managed just a small move forward before Adil slashed across its side, enough force to instantly put it down. Panting Adil looked around, seeing piles of taint ridden wolf carcasses spread along the floor. He collapsed to one knee. Then the air around the two began to swirl as tendrils of energyspew from the dogs corpses. Adil let out an arrrgh and Swift gasped as energy accumulated around and into them. They felt like they were overloaded with energy, then it eased in anda feeling of strength and power rushed in.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Notification (14)
Learnt skill Medium blades Your blade can now feel like an extension to your arm, as you intuitively know tis length and sharpness.
Slain creature experience gained Feral taint wolf 20 x12
Level up! Level 2 Congratulations, you have achieved essence level %$. You may spend your collected essence through your integrated essence management system. &
The great feelings after eating the fruit had disappeared, instead replaced by an adrenaline rushed misery. As though their mental energy had been sapped from them, as though everything was an effort and life itself seemed like a crippling mess. ¡°The.. Fuck.. is... this.¡± Swift said softly, looking around at the carnage and still shaking with adrenaline. Adil started feeling intense pain, his leg thrummed in agony around the area he was scratched and he collapsed into the fetal position, rocking side to side as his arm burned in pain. Swift noticed something was wrong and ran over, inspecting the wound.
Status:Diseased (taint) effect: Agonizing pain until the taint takes control. Duration: 73 min until the next stage
Swift quickly gathered some herbs and brought them to Adil hoping he could eat them and maybe feel a bit better. The berries only made him feel worse as it increased his focus on the pain. Adil pressed into his wound and screamed more in pain, a black ooze coming from the parts where the wolfs claws had broken the skin. He pulled his hand back not wanting it to spread into any slight grazes there and left the leg alone, clenching his teeth. ¡°Aaaaah, it''s alive, it''s fucking alive!¡± ¡°Cut it off.¡± he insisted. The infection looked like it was whiling under his skin. ¡°Either that or kill me,¡± he was now breathing through his teeth, closing his eyes and trying to do all he could to cope. Swift rushed to find something, anything that could solve this. He looked down at the infection and tried to focus on it.
Status:Diseased (taint) effect: Agonizing pain until the taint takes control. Duration: 72 min until the next stage
¡°Oh god no,¡± Swift said frantically pacing around taking glances towards Adil in his pain. ¡°There has to be something else.¡± He looked at one of the wolves and saw the cursed disease still over them, wreathing through their skin and even protruding out of their wounds. Other''s burnt though didn''t appear to have any of the taint left on them. He took some of it on a sword and saw the black gunk coat the top.
Acquired item ??State ????Effects Tainted blood????corrupt????unknown
On a whim Swift shot fire across the taint on his sword and saw it wretch before burning away. ¡° Hold still¡± Swift commanded. Adil¡¯s eyes bulged as he saw him approach. ¡°No no, wait what are you gunna- Aaaaarghh!¡± Swift started a minute jet of fire into Adil¡¯s leg, catching the ooze like a minor explosion and spreading inside. Adil screamed and passed out.
Learnt skill Cleansing flame Your power of fire is pure and focused, with intense control it can be used to burn away the bad so the good might regrow.
Swift left Adil to lie there and began on his new-found task. He burnt away all the taint in the area. Spreading and intoxicating smell of burning dog flesh, he would stop for moments and run away gagging before bracing, trying to accept the smell and diving back in. That level of quantization could put a person into shock, probably killing them in the real world. swift wasn''t sure if he made the right decision. Then he carried Adil back to camp. Keeping guard until morning whilst burning away anything he saw as tainted. In the wait, he tried to figure out what it meant to level up. Swift sat in a meditative position in front of the fire and started focusing on the ability interface. Skills
Points available (3?) Point allocation choices Focus ?????????? agility ??????????Swords fire control ????????Strength???? ????Fury meditation ?????? taste ??????????Poisons *unknown* ??????? ma%*$^taition ????fishing poison resistance ???? Stealth ????????memory vision ???????????mental resistance ??Endurance Slovak dancing?????? cooking???????? intuition
He dove into a rabbit hole of information, trying to understand every detail, reading into any minor bit of information, assessing and reassessing. If he refreshed it the options would change, as he tried to see more, the logic became jumbled and the words nonsensical. It was like an amateur web developer had made his first website on his thesis of ''if inception had time travel'', without finishing. There was something that made sense in there, somewhere, he just had to spend the time to find it. Each change altered the options very slightly, and he found out, sometimes it depended on what he was doing. He stopped and refreshed his mind, he focused on the fire and saw the options change again, a few icons of heat control and resistance emerged. As he kept working around the options he found one that occasionally popped up flashing brightly and changing, but without any words, it would only say ¡°unknown¡± or come out as a mix of different text symbols. Even this, he decided was probably worth the time to investigate. He tried standing and sitting to see if it was different, exercising, stretching, spinning his fire and then trying again. He then tripped walking around whilst he was in the interface and the unknown one became more visible. Curious, he thought. He tried again walking around and tried to trip but nothing happened. Trying it as though he was not aware, he tripped but fell this time and again nothing happened. He picked up his sword and sat there on the ground. Suddenly a blur of growling gnashing teeth came out of nowhere, but he just braced lifted his sword defensively and skewered the beast almost completely by chance. He was still on the interface; the icon came right to the top and began to take shape. ¡°Luck¡± it said for a moment before letters began to disappear. Quickly he chose it before it disappeared. The information explaining the choice seemed non-sensible for the most part, but the words influence, desire and strangely, bullshit. Came through. A feeling of anxiety rushed over him as things began to feel like his body was rejecting itself. Then as though the essence of his body began correcting itself he started to feel pieces coming together. He came back, stronger with some sort of connection to the things around him. Swift thought to himself it might not have been the best choice, to pick the unknown glitchy choice most likely to go wrong. Thinking he was like a mad scientist experimenting with his very being regardless of any certain benefit at the first chance he got. Knew options emerged and he investigated them. Instead of doing it again, he went through the choices he picked out that seemed like they could be useful, or he possibly just liked. Piano: All the muscle memory of a professional, you can effortlessly recreate any sound you had once heard no matter the speed or complexity to the best your fingers can move. Flame control: greater power over your flame element, you can shape the fire into unnatural forms and direct it more easily Poison crafting: The deadly nature of each herb and material can be felt through its touch and a focus of its presence. For all that you see, you can know the damage it can do to all that you have seen. Enhanced memory: To collect knowledge with ease, a simple thought can recall the real reason that the argument started and be able to go. ''Oh yeah, that¡¯s where I left my keys''. Agility I: Strengthen your bones and muscles to allow for fast reactions, flexibility, and bursts of strength. (not to be confused with strength I) With cleansing flame and the screams of Adil still reverberating in his head, he picked flame control. It was something that fascinated him to no comparison, that is apart from the memory one. 7. silver lining The midday sun shone through the clear sky over the rocky cliffs surrounding the campsite, Adil¡¯s eyes opened, and he came to. Swift wassitting on a rock, having failed to stay awake, his head resting on the side of his hand. A dead wolf lay beside the fire, its flesh both cut and burnt. Adil saw his bow and arrows and put them over his back. ¡°Swift?¡± Adil asked getting to his feet and rubbing the side of his leg. ¡°Hey man,¡± Swift said. Trying to stay awake. ¡°Thanks¡± He replied. Swift grew a teary smile,having been worried he had made the right call. Adil had fully healed. He stretched his leg outas though it was brand new. He dreaded to think what it would have been like if Swift had not healed it, but stillshrunk away from the thought of burning again. ¡°Check this out,¡± Swift said to Adil. He went over to the corpse that lay in front of them and reached out his hand. Focusing on his energy he injected some mana into the remnants. The corpse began to vibrate and compress as a glow illuminated around it. As the wolfs remnants appeared to slightly raise up in the air it began to deteriorate, pieces of it falling away in a fading orange. inside tendrils of energy were compressing t a single point, now visible and floating in front of the two. A single arrowhead appeared, levitating in the air. Adil got up and walked forward grabbing the item before it fell to the floor. Acquired: wolf fang arrowhead. Description: The essence of the wolf has been compressed into this fang making it significantly stronger than a normal fang. This fang can be used for crafting or as an ingredient. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Adil exclaimed. ¡°I know right,¡± Swift replied. And Adil had a slight tear in his eye as he softly said the word ¡°Loot.¡± The maze of rocks and crevices stretched high and low. Mountainous spikes and deep caves. Different layers of the area made them wonder what could be held beneath. The land would move up to a plateau and down to caves, force the two to pass through narrow crevices and let them walk over areas likeopen fields. Giant spikes of rock adorned the landscape, reaching high enough that a couple pierced the clouds, making each space hidden from the next. Adil tried to climb up from his camp to get a view of the surroundings. He grabbed onto bits of red rock and swung himself around, managing to get high enough on one of the rocky pillars he tried to look out into the distance. He saw that they had barely travelled, the maze gave the illusion of travel as they tried to find the most direct path. Still far into depths of the landscape darkness emanated, barely visible in the backdrop, mostly hidden in the horizon, but its presence was unmistakable. The other way now showed a steep cut off point, just past appeared to be covered in mist but through it, all Adil could just make out the presence of green, a single grassy hill unmistakably popping out and covered in trees.his eyes grew wide. Quickly Adil climbed and jumped back down, quickly going to grab his things. Adiltapped the side of Swift''s head, ¡°Sorry mate, but we need to keep moving.¡± ¡°Yeah hay, I don¡¯t have a¡ª¡± He said waking up from some sort of half-dream. ¡°You okay?¡± Adil replied, ¡°Muuuhh, I''ll just get my things,¡± Swift started fumbling around picking up a sword and what looked like a bunch of berries to pocket. He threw some in his mouth then carried on. Notifications started flashing for Adil as he noticed the icon to the corner of his eye,
lvl 2 37% progress
He saw the list come before his eyes, a selection of choices and paths. The idea of power and the ultimate utility.
Points available (3) Point allocation choices Aim and measure?? agility I ??endurance metalwork??cartography?? Spanish wood carving ??taste ??Charisma Strength I?? slippery I ??fishing poison resistance ??camouflage ??Leg power II vision ??mental resistance ??Endurance Gnome dancing ??cooking ??astrology
Without much analysisAdil chose agility I, cartography and aim. Notification you have unlocked: Agility I: Strengthen your bones and muscles to allow for fast reactions, flexibility, and bursts of strength. (not to be confused with strength I) Cartography: To know where you have been in the detail of a map, and to be aware of the spatial position for those you are connected to. Aim and measure: To know the distance and position of your target as well as where your projectile will be, to the best of your vision, sound, and smell. After allocating abilities a map appeared in the corner of his awareness highlighting where he had been and where Swift currently was. They carried on down and further round the rocky outcrops. As they went further down meandering the maze of rocks, they felt a windy gust drifting through, a path through the rocks only showed the open sky through it as they rose towards it. This was unusual, normally mountainous rock spikes distorted their line of sight. When they came closerthey saw fresh-cut grass. They had not come across anything this green since inside the cavern. Even then it was only never this much. Without saying a word to each other they started running frantically. Trying desperately to reach the other side. They arrived and stood panting in the archway. Open fields and a hilly landscape were stretched out before them. In the distance a river went down from the hills meandering around the landscape until it reacheda small fortified town, great walls stretched across what was otherwise a small settlement. Adil noticed an icon of 269 meters distance away in his awareness, instinctively he felt like he knew the exact proportions of the walls and the width of the town.He could even focus on and highlight the dimensionsof anything he wanted before him, from flowers and distant trees to the shape of his hand. He had to see it clearly and have something to compare it too, but it was now as though he had a supercomputer inside him calculating the measurements of everything in sight.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Upon stepping outside, they could see the large outstretched walls of the rocky chasm they exited. Cascading jagged rocks all held as high as buildings stopped just where they stood a height Adil knew as 322 feet, butthey soon disregarded this peculiar wall as theycared much more about the settlement. Thoughts of meeting people, or some intelligent humanoids, maybe finding an explanation to the world. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know better, I would say that¡¯s a human settlement,¡± Adil said. "Are you trying to jynx it?" Swift said smiling back at Adil. ¡°Good point, we have to go right now. It might even disappear¡± Swift said almost not in jest. Adiltook his first step and Swift again sprang forward and started running. ¡°Wait! Hold up. Everything we have met so far has tried to kill us, let¡¯s not assume it won¡¯t be the same. Try to move up slowly.¡± Swift slowed his run to a jogging pace and then looked back thining about what him running off had done before he slowly went back to Adil. As they came closer they saw guards standing over the wall and a couple by a gate, a few were already looking at them as they approached. The place looked as though it was ready for an assault, reinforced stone walls and along the walls were archers staring down at them. It was a small town for such defences. After a brief walk down, they arrived at a gate and found a couple of guards staring them down. ¡°What happened to you.¡± One of the gate guards said, pointing to Swift with a jovial expression. An archer was curiously looking over the wall. Swift¡¯s clothes looked clearly burnt and further covered in the blood of diseased wolves. ¡°Accidents happen,¡± he said in response trying to casually walk in through the gate. The guard stopped him. ¡°Stand back, seriously. Where have you just come from?¡± The guard insisted. Swift looked back at Adil, it was clear he knew the rocky maze wouldn¡¯t be the right thing to say... and probably not Earth. Adil moved forward hoping his silver tongue would help somehow gain the guard''s trust. ¡°We went for a walk,¡± he said. Then stopped and started looking back at Swift for advice realizing how stupid what he said was. The guard gave out a laugh, and replied: ¡°Oh yeah, and I¡¯m just standing here to admire the view.¡± ¡°Now, what have you really been up to?¡± He further insisted. Before Adil could answer, the archer shouted from above ¡°They¡¯re not goblins are they, just let¡¯em in.¡± The guard looked back up at him and down again to Adil then replied: ¡°Alright, alright, just trying to have a bit of fun.¡± Then looking towards Swift the guard bowed and said: ¡°You may enter, good sir.¡± They got into the town and looked around, finally thinking they had made it. Not even murdered by the guards. Thomas realized he hadn¡¯t thought this far ahead, and now he was actually in civilization had no idea what to do. ¡°I need a bath¡± Swift called. ¡°I need a drink¡± Adil replied. Adil rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a few wolf teeth. ¡°I can probably get something with these¡± he added. Swift had already started walking off and eating one of the berries, he replied: ¡°Sure,¡± without even looking back. They looked around until they found what they assumed was some sort of ¡®general store¡¯ and Adil went to the counter. ¡°How much for this.¡± and he put forward a couple of the teeth on the table. The man looked up and down at him and peered through the door to see the slightly charred Swift waiting outside. He looked back to Adil and further inspected the teeth. ¡°I guess they might be useful for some potions,¡± he said in a matter of fact way. ¡°I can give you 37 franks, as a friendly offer,¡± he added. The silver-tongued Adil looked back at Swift again seeing him stare down the pool decorating the centre square of the village. Then he looked back to the shopkeep. ¡°Here,¡± he said and gave 2 more of the same, getting 60 in total. He walked out after the trade, much to the surprise of the man. *Aaah* Adil thought, *am I meant to barter? *. The realisation hit him a bit too late and he felt a pang of embarrassed regret. Then he saw Swift there, half passed out and lying in a pool of water only a few inches deep. People eyeing him down in curiosityas they passed through the centre square of the town. Adil went back into the shop and managed to buy a large makeshift fur blanket that he soon handed to Swift. The cold tired Swift was going to freeze if he stayed out as wet as that. Fifteen franks left each, they went to the local tavern, ordered two drinks for three each and they got a rough idea of how much things cost. Sort of. Sitting down on a table Adil said to Swift. ¡°Looks like this is our life now,¡± Adil said. The drink tasted like a dark lager, bitter but refreshing. Swift took a sip himself, the bags under his eyes were really starting to show at this point. ¡°At least it¡¯s not all bad,¡± He said with a smirk. Two more drinks down, and they were starting to feel tipsy, in normal Adil fashion he slurred. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m gunner try and talk to the girls over there,¡± Swift was too tired to stop him this time and just murmured a ¡°Mmmhmuuh¡± his head in his hands. Adil arrogant from his abilities, silver tongues, and what he was keenly aware of now; ¡®drunken prowess¡¯, he walked over to a group of two ladies and one guy who were laughing in their own social circle. Waving around he exclaimed ¡°Hey, how you doin?¡± trying to put on his best Boston accent. Swift cringed refusing to look over, it wasn¡¯t his problem he was too tired. His drink still in front of him half-finished. He bent a bit further down into the table and waited for either sleep or a situation he would have to resolve. He nodded off a bit but a sharp second long dream of a wolf diving towards him woke him with a start. Then saw that Adil hadn¡¯t been shoved away, in fact, the laughter started growing. Swift came over to see what madness had happened. ¡°Hey, this man, he¡¯s ma boy, he¡¯s a good fella.¡± Adil said hunching over Swift. ¡°Your friend is highly unusual,¡± one of the ladies said, motioning towards the Adil. Adil went back to what he was doing. He started again. Talking to the guy on the table now Adil said ¡°Hay you, you are a big man right, I¡¯m one of these special people here you know, you should know, we¡¯re something big! We might be like, super people, but I really don¡¯t know. And shu gutta ksheep jat a sheecrut.¡± One of the girls burst out laughing again. ¡°Alright fella, I think you¡¯ve had enough,¡± said the guy. ¡°Naah. ONE MORE ROUND ON ME!¡± Adil exclaimed, his drinking problem was seriously coming full force. Swift moved in ¡°No seriously, I think you¡¯ve had enough,¡± then he took the drunk slowly away. ¡°What? I thought tis wus America, this was America!¡± He said. Increasing the very confused laughs from the table. Even the man that had been trying to stop him from drinking started hunching himself over his hand on the table trying to hold back bouts of laughter. Swift was carrying him away when Adil broke off. ¡°I¡¯m getting another round,¡± he said. Swift went to grab him back, but Adil easily held him off. In the spirit of the moment, he even lifted Swift up. Swift in absolute surprise managed to glance his companion¡¯s status and saw to a dangerous surprise:
Status: Inebriated effect: impulsivity increased, reason lowered, self-perception increased. Special effect: Strength increased +10 base, (10). Special trait unlocked:alcoholism, the person''s essence is highly conductive of alcoholic substances.
Adil unleashed his newfound strength and held Swift high above his head. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Swift exclaimed. ¡°Let me down, let me down... Come on man, please¡± Swift called out. Finally, Adil placed him carefully on the ground. ¡°Sorry¡­ I have had too much,¡± he said to Swift and shouted to the bar ¡°A water!¡± still furthering Swift''s embarrassment, he wanted to shrink into a corner and cry. "You are the worst sort of alcoholic," Swift said. Then suddenly both Adil and Swift were lifted into the air by the back of their collars and then thrown into the table. The people at the table stood up and backed away. Adil and Swift turned around readying defensive positions and to see who did that. It was a woman clad in armour; medium-long black hair fell to either side of a fierce grin on her face. It took a while of them looking at her in confusion, but then they realized. ¡°ROS¡ª¡± Adil spilt out. Stopping himself as hefelt likereal names aren¡¯t meant to be known in Snowball. Rosie¡¯s grin grew larger and she reached in to do one of the most vicious bear hugs, her heavy armour crushing the two. ¡°Captain,¡± said the man Adil was entertaining. The man was holding a salute towards Rosie. ¡°Give us a moment,¡± she said and then he quickly dismissed himself with the other ladies. ¡°So, what can I call you guys¡± ¡°Adil and Swift,¡± Adil said. Pointing to everyone concerned. She chuckled. ¡°I usually call you your Gamertags anyway," she said. Then announced proudly "I''m Captain Seras. And you bitches better not forget it.¡± 8. friends in weird places To Adil, Seras was like a fellow social outcast. Someone they knew from the old world of Earth. She had met them after moving home and starting up in a new city.They first started hanging out over drinks but they soon grew closer than just that, making small movies together and playing dungeons and dragons. They were as close as childhood friends could be. The strongest bond they had was in their subtle disagreements with society. They thought everything was in a strange way pointless, the constant social comparisons, the number of random assholes that seemed to appear from nowhere. People trying to make yourself important just to seem that way in another person¡¯s eyes, people bring political to the point of losing their own identity or just the strange idea people had that it was not good to just try and constantly get fucked up. A world they had little respect for or admiration. In that way, they didn¡¯t fit in with society, and in that way Seras understood them. More than anything, it made them enjoy each other¡¯s company. Seras grabbed a Drink and Swift mindfully kept his eye on his as Adil sipped at water. ¡°So, how are you finding Snowball?¡± Seras asked casually. ¡°Well, we died, got infected by wolves and then found a pub. Which honestly, is pretty much like what happened in Ireland. But you know.. more death, less sheep.¡± Seras laughed, her voice like it had always been, it brought Swift and Adil a warm feeling like home. The small amount of sound she made, had everything feel normal, like whatever they left back in Earth couldn¡¯t match what they brought over. ¡°You know, the guards said they saw the weirdest sight of some blood-covered half-burnt guys walking up to the front door from the rocky chasm. And then saw one of them passed out in the centre pool.¡± Seras said. Swift gave a bit of a smirk up from his drink. Seras chuckled genuinely happy. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I knew it had to be you guys¡± She added. The other''s in the bar appeared to leave, and the bartender even shut out the lights. "Last orders have gone, put the glasses on the side when you''re finished," the bartender said to Seras getting a thumbs up in return. When the place was empty of strangers Seras looked at the two with a smile on her face. ¡°So I guess I''ll tell you how I got here,¡±she said and then space seemed to flicker and change as she started talking. Adil could feel a strange presence emanate from Seras as her words distorted space around them. Notification Player:Seras has used a skill ''storytelling''. She can now convey events into your mind through her words. words forming from Seras mouth appeared to not make sound instead distorting the world further until Adil and Swift were brought into a vision, seeing an image of Seras on the ground in a dark cave, wearing little more than the noob starting clothes. Seras woke up, the light glow of plants and insects illuminated the area just enough to see. A well was in the centre, an ominous presence felt around it. As she got to her feet she noticed a small chest, the same chest Adil had seen containingthe''introduction'' to the world of snowball. She was In the dark cave illuminated slightly by glowing insects and fungi. But even in this darknessshe still did not struggle to read the note. The note, however, was more confusing thanexplanative, Unsure what to do she screwed it up and threw it down a well sheseemed to have wokennext to. After a brief look around was on her path to find the way out. Past the well was a passageway, the darkness intermittently mixed with the glow of insects and luminous plants dotting the walls. As she walked down the path she cameto a dead-end, a small amount of light seemed to leak through a part of the ceiling, through what appeared to be floorboards. As Seras grew closer, she heard scuffles and banging. Drawing in further, she quickly started hitting the planks and shouting through the cracks. ¡°Hello!¡± ¡°Hello?¡± She shouted. She heard nothing back, but then soon a banging began to erupt again ¡ª this time accompanied by the occasional whine or moaning sound. She left to look around and came back a bit. *Enough of this* she thought. She lifted a rock from the side of the cave and started smashing it into the wood. Splinted flew off and sprayed around the cave, a small hole eventually appeared. She could break away bits of wood until it was big enough to put her hand through and pulled off plank after plank. Finally, it was large enough to go through. As she was halfway through, in what looked like a storage room, a man in a robe opened the door. ¡°Are you ok there?¡± He asked. He had some well-kept grey beard and an extensive beer gut.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Seras gave the man a confused and annoyed look. ¡°Can you give me a hand?¡± She asked. The man helped and pulled the lady through the hole, into the storage room. ¡°Well, now I''ve done that, maybe you could do something for me,¡± the man said and leaned in for a kiss. Shocked Seras backed away into a corner ¡°Excuse me?¡± she asked, her realisation turning into anger. ¡°I¡¯ve already paid, are you not going to do your job?¡± the man asked. Seras was fully taken back and finally paid more attention to the moans and echoes from around the building she was in. Without another word, she pushed the man away, giving him a look that told him to back off. She then quickly moved out of the joint eyes forward, not giving a glance to anything around her until she exited. A few days went past, and Seras started work with the guards, she went on mission after mission immersing herself in this new world, trying to take advantage of her newfound abilities and skills. She became increasingly aggressive, pushing on far-reaching and extreme quests. Then one day, Seras died,appearing again in the cave wearing the cotton garments she had before. This she realised was morepainas her only exit was still through the brothel. Coming back in the skimpy cotton clothes would not help. As she rose through the ranks, she eventually grew a reputation of valiantly getting everyone else out and then appearing at the brothel before any of them returned. Eventually, Serastook over part of the brothel, trying to hide her respawn and then went back to immersing herself in her new role as captain of the guards. A strange reputation was growing behind her back. Now a captain, she was a fierce leader that the guardsadmiredand followed. ¡°What was that?¡± Adil asked when they seemingly were taken back to reality. ¡°A skill," she said, broadening her smile. "Haven''t you gotten any yet?" She asked, almost pedantically. ¡°Ah yeah, I got alcoholism,¡± Adil said proudly in reply. ¡°Yeah, you fucking did, and it''s no fucking skill¡± Swift added in a strop. Adil grew a pout looking at Swift and then ignoring him turned back to Seras. ¡°Seriously though, like we were killed by the first thing we met, goblins, then nearly died on our way here, and you''re a damn captain?¡±Adil stated. ¡°Twice,¡±Swift added. Adilshuffled in his chair a moment. "Twice?" "Nearly died twice." ¡°Thedogsattacked when you slept,¡± Adil put a hand over his head and realised what he was talking about. Seeing thenewwolf corpses when he woke up. ¡°Turns out fire attracts monsters at night. I was up for hours trying to fend off the wolves, and they came pretty close to getting me, once.¡± Adil thought about what he was saying for a moment; he didn¡¯t realise how much effort Swift had put into keeping them awake that night. And instead just forced him to move as soon as he woke up and forced him to take care of his obnoxious drunkness. ¡°Thanks, and sorry," he said, taking another sip of his water. *I''m never going to drink again* he told himself. "Well Idid get us killed by goblins and shoot fire into your open wound," Swift explained. Seras'' eyes went wide, and she rubbed her hand over her face in exasperation. "What the hell have you guys been up to?" She stated. Adil looked ather,trying to asses her stats and see how far off he was. They were partied up and so he could look through the interface when everything fizzled together.
Name:SerasStatus:Tipsy Level:8, Physical average (18)Mental average (9) Race:Human (Earth) Title:Captain
Acquired item Effect Blood bathregeneration when bathing in the blood of your enemies. As they die around you, their blood essence is siphoned out and into your wounds, giving you aid.
Acquired item Effect Rage:The ability to turn anger into power. You can harness your rage into increased damage at the risk of losing control.
¡°Killed by the fucking goblins,¡± shestated glumly. She didn¡¯t sound like she was insulting them more that she had a deep-seated hatred for the creatures. ¡°Goblins are the worst scum this world has.¡± Sheadded. Adil took another sip of water; he didn¡¯t feel that much anger towards them, even though they had killed him, still thinking about it, he could imagine the feeling of the blade cutting into his neck. ¡±Well, I guess we know what we¡¯re doing tomorrow.¡± She said, gaining a look of confusion from both Adil and Swift. ¡°We will get your revenge.¡± She exclaimed. ¡°We just got out, and you want to send us back?¡± Adil asked. ¡°Not you, all of us. We can go together.¡± She added, taking a sip from her beer. Swift and Adil looked at each other and back. The offer was for a job of sustainable work; they didn¡¯t want to have to run into the forest and pick berries every day. Plus, they were used to suffering in search of random jobs. ¡°I¡¯m game,¡± Swift said creating a small puff of fire In his right hand. A smile from Seras was illuminated in the fire. ¡°Yeah, that sounds.. great¡± Adil replied a half-hearted smile, he wasn¡¯t sure if the killing was what he wanted to do, but if no one else had these abilities he definitely had an advantage in it. ¡°Great, you can stay at mine, we will sort everything else in the morning.¡± Seras took them down the street and into one of the alleyways. They went into a tall building illuminated by candlelight. They walked in getting a nod from the person at the door and an awkwardlookfrom Seras. Fuchsia curtains were scattered overhead and scantily dressed women seemedto greet anyone who came in. For the group, however, they just smiled and nodded at them as Seras lead them through. As they stepped further in a large man with an unbuttoned shirt was strolling through, his pleased expression quickly grew shocked and fearful when he saw Seras, then he sprinted to run and hide. Seras blew a strand of hair off her face and grimaced at the sight of him. They carried through the surprisingly large area and found a couple of rooms just past a dining hall, seemingly more or less shut off from the rest of the area. ¡°You can sleep in this room, both of you. I¡¯ll be in the one next to it¡­ But please, have a bath before you go to bed¡± She pointed to the bath held to the right side of the room. ¡°See you in the morning,¡± Swift said giving off his trademark smirk to Seras before she left. ¡°Rest now, for tomorrow. We hunt!¡± she announced in some sort of reference, a smile on her face in the doorway before she went to bed. When they finally got into bed they started talking about how the day had gone, then a bang reverberated on the wall from the room next door. The one Seras was trying to sleep in. ¡°Go to bed¡± She shouted. They quietened down until Adil said a final comment prompting a sword to be plunged through the wall, the blade glistening next to his head. After that, it was a silent night. 9. Horatio The morning came, and a light shone through gaps in their curtains. Adil and Swift put on their clothes and headed out to meet Seras, she was waiting in the dining hall already eating breakfast. Seras was already eating, obedient well-dressed staff waiting for attention around her as she ate. The staff got chickenand bacon for Swift whilst Adil awkwardly ate bread and a few pieces of melon. A customer seemed to pass by the doorway being dragged by a woman in lingerie, *I guess the brothel still ran in the morning* Adil thought. The jarring difference between them and the workers made eating the food feel surreal and unnatural. Seras looked towards Swift and inspected his ragged burnt out clothes. ¡°How have those clothes stayed together?¡± She asked. Swift gave a shrug. ¡°I try my hardest,¡± he replied. Seras grimaced and threw him some coins in a small pouch. ¡°Get something, I¡¯d give you one of my spare armour sets, but I doubt it would fit you.¡± ¡°Whilst that¡¯s happening. Adil. Want to train with the guards?¡± ¡°If it would please you, sirrr...¡± With a smirk, she threw an apple towards Adil¡¯s head, which he caught and started eating. ¡°Good,¡± Seras replied. "You said the wolve''s were infected. What infection, were they just sick?" "They had a black ooze coming out of them, it was like it was alive like the infection had taken over their brain. They had white eys and acted in a manic sort of rabid way," Swift replied still happily eating his eggs. "Weird. Do you know what it could have been?" "I have some grass with the same stuff on," Swift replied. He pulled looked into his satchel. The berries looked to have also now been coated in the stuff, infact everything now was, the berries and wolves fangs were infected, but not the bag itself, the mouldy black tar on the inside appeared to be growing and trying to reach out. "Ehhh," Swift said. "yeah, I have the stuff here," he threw the bag to Seras which she caught in her hand justbefore the saw contents inside. "Jesus!" She exclaimedthrowing the bag on the floor. "We need something better to hold that shit." A servant of the brothel went and got a chest, they put the bag inside but it was too late. The seeping oozehad come out ofthe side and splatted on the floor. Swift taking action startled the servants by brandishing some fire as he went to the remnants of black slime. He shot a small flame of fire into the gunk immediately igniting it, everyone silentas the goo wretched before burning out. The servants whispered amongst themselves as they took great care of the case. The phrase ''a mage'' was heard by Adil. It seemed that magic might not be that common here. "Take it to the carts and tell them to send it to headquarters," Seras commanded the servants. The servant hurried off with their new parcel to deliver. "That looked nasty," Seras stated before getting up from her chair, screetching the wood across the floor. "Are we ready then?" She asked. They put on their armour, clothes, adorned their weapons then gathered outside. Seras was wearing a bright steel set of heavy armour decorated with red fabric covering any gaps and a kite shield decorated with a lion sigil positioned on her back over two double-sided axes. They arrived at the guard post, a construct of wood stuck together with bits of scaffolding. The post was held against the wall and lead up to a group of guards looking out into the distance. The wall stood 30-foot-tall, a gay stone, well put together, and as Adil, Seras and Swift walked to the top, they could see the light illuminate the stone wall as the sun rose. The guards were called to attention, a few of them clad in armour like Seras, some in what appeared to be of a lower-tier and others bore a different leather setup still trimmed in red. They all took a knee at the address of their captain. ¡°These sorry excuses for humans are my own personal recruits. I want you to treat them like the shits they are until they show a monochrome of promise.¡± ¡°Any report Sargent?¡± A man spoke up from the crowd, he didn¡¯t look as battle ready as the rest of them, but a cut over his chin and a large enough stature made it appears he had seen his fair share of combat. ¡°Well, the scouts have found less goblin and non-goblin threats. But, the goblins appear to be more organized.¡± ¡°Could they be planning something?¡± Adil asked.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The sergeant looked at him with a bit of a puzzled expression. ¡°They are goblins boy, they don¡¯t plan.¡± Seras looked at Adil and back to the sergeant slightly annoyed. ¡°If they are more organized we need to be more vigilant, we can¡¯t take any chances. Ill leave tonight and scout the maze.¡± The area seemed more silent, it didn¡¯t appear like anyone had anything left to say. ¡°Dismissed¡± Seras announced leading everyone to go back to what they were doing, a few walking off whilst others took post. Seras called out to a lone straggler. ¡°Horatio.¡± The guardsman was called to attention. ¡°Teach this shit-waggon how to use a bow and sword¡±. She said pointing a thumb to Adil. ¡°Yes captain,¡± the man said saluting her before coming over. He was one of those wearing leather armour but had one arm plated with metal over the forearm. Horatio went to pick up a bow resting on the side of the wall. ¡°Let''s go,¡± he said. Adil followed him down a set of stairs from the guard post, towards what seemed to be a training area, people sparing with wooden swords and firing arrows at targets. Horatio picked up a wooden training sword, throwing another to Adil. He took a low fighting stance holding out his plated arm and sword respectively like sword and shield. Adil more of a fencer style, he put his sword forward and his left hand back. Adil felt knowledge from his past, the image of fencing as a boy passed through his mind. He knew that defending then attacking was faster than attacking then attacking. That he should not play passive or aggressive but think about his actions as he fought. He felt ready. ¡°Show me what you¡¯ve got.¡± the man commanded. Adil taking the challenge put up a stance as he had as a child, getting an inquisitive look in return. He went in first, as Horatio went to defend, instead of letting his stick be backed out the way Adil had avoided Horatio''s stick and looped his stick aroundit finishing with his pointingtowards Horatio''sface. Taken back Horatio shouted. ¡°Hit me.¡± Then backed away for the start of the new round. Adil did the same again and Horatio similarly went to block but moving his stick to where his opponents were no longer Adil managed to get his stick pointing at Horacio¡¯s face. ¡°Hit me, or are you trying to insult me?¡± Horatio said this time. ¡°Ok man, but you asked for it,¡± Adil said Horatio went back to a fighting position, leading Adil to do the same. Horatio let him carry out the same manoeuvre but when Adil went to jab into his face Horatio had moved forward and to the side letting it brush past his head and over his shoulder. Horatio grabbed the outstretchedweapon pulling him forwardand proceded to knee Adil in the chest. Horatio stood over Adil as Adil got up from the ground. ¡°You fight like your playing for first blood. A Goblin won¡¯t stop its momentum just because you poked it.¡± wheezingAdil said in a shallow voice "Fair point." Adil and Horatio kept fighting for a while longer, blocks, feints painful hits and the occasional dodge. Adil was slowly gaining and soon they were on equal ground. Then after taking another hit around the back of his head, he lost technique and dove in. Horatio stepped forward past Adil¡¯s guard with his heel facing away. Then he spun on the heel with incredible speed elbowing Adil in the chest, again winding him. Getting the lower centre of gravity he then grabbed Adil¡¯s extended arm and threw him over his shoulder to the ground. Winded and on the floor, Adil was wheezing to catch his breath. Staring at Adil on the floor Horatio held out his hand and said ¡°I hit you because I respect you¡± Then pulled him up. ¡°Yeah, I feel all this respect... it¡¯s great,¡± Adil replied still catching his breath and then got back into fighting position. The fighting carried on a while longer, back and forth they attacked each other, countering moves and learning new techniques. Experimenting with different angles putting in all their effort and working off a mean sweat. ¡°So, having Seras captain, that must be a bit rough right?¡± Adil asked. Ray winced a bit at the question but still smiled in reply. ¡°Two weeks ago, I was a prisoner of some raiders, they knocked me out and dragged me to a camp. When I was held there, I saw my brother killed. The captain was the one that saved me, she risked her life... One of my greatest memories is the sight of her making the bandit fucker choke on its own blood. We are not just guards here, we are family.¡± Adil rubbed the side of his headfeeling hehad misspoken. They moved onto archery shortly after, this time it was more about posture, technique and focus. As Adil lined up his shot he focused on posture and aligning the shot, firing one after another with long breaks in between. Ray had him work on speed, trying to shoot multiple shots as fast as possible. He showed Adil it was faster to hold the arrows in his hand than take them from the quiver for every shot. Ray showed him how to focus a single shot, that he should hold your breath, without having empty or full lungs, just in the breath he was breathing. He was good at hitting the target with enough time, able to see the exact distance to and time for the arrow to reach the target, numerically in his vision. He was just taking too much time and needed to do it instinctually. But taking the bow off Adil Horatio showed how outclassed Adil was, quickly firing three shots before the first one even landed, and all into the centre of the target. ¡°Well, that¡¯s bullshit¡± Adil exclaimed. ¡°You learn fast¡± Ray exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you could do that if you put in the effort,¡± By the time he finished he noticed the notifications that had built up: Calibrations complete: Congratulations you have learnt the skill snipe shot. Congratulations you have learnt the skill multi-shot. Congratulations you have learnt the medium blade technique feint. Advanced starter technique starts this skill at rank adept. Congratulations you have learnt the technique dodge. Adil felt as though the muscle memory of what he had learned was developed as if he had practised for months. He knew how to dodge by falling with gravity and lowering his body to avoid an attack, how to block out everything from his mind and focus his shots on a single target. The exact place to put an arrow into his bow or the intricacies of combat where he knew if a feint would or would not work, carried out in the slightest of motions a heightened special focus on the opponent¡¯s weapon. Further inspection showed that he had even advanced his feint skill to adept, all of his others were only classed as "learnt skill," When he pictured the motion it seemed more specific and fluid in his mind. 10. eh Having separated from the group Swift walked into the centre of Town, a glint in his eye as he looked at the stone buildings around him. He was excited. Exited to explore and investigate, see the wonders only possible in a magical world. He wanted to find out its history, its conflict and why he was there. More than anything he wanted to find out about magic. He passed some signs for the general store, a clothes store and even apothecary. He checked his pouch of coins and looked back at the stored,contemplating abouthow he was meant to buy some clothes. Helooked over past the shops andinstead to a relatively large building that was slightly secluded. The building appeared open and seemed to be built partly into a lower ground with space around it to clear drainage. A building that seemed like a library. He could tell from a sign saying so, itwas written with strange wavey triangular symbols that he could somehow actually read. He walked in through the front and was greeted by the sight of an old man trying hard to peer into whatever ledger he was looking at. "Hello?" The man asked looking up from his work. "Hi," Swift said. "Do you have any business here or are you just going to stand in the doorway?" "Yeah, I might want to read some of your books." The man furrowed his eyebrows and inspected the boy. "Well, you can go down to the bottom and read if you pay for entry.. you can read can''t you?..." "Last I checked." Though he wasn''t entirely sure. Swift threw a coin to the old man, the old man looked at it and then quickly clasped it in his hand. "Well, wipe your feet before you go downstairs. And please put the books back where you found them." The man shook his head as Swift walked passed and went down some stairs to a small chamber underground. The books appeared to have been stacked high across a number of bookcases. Swift wanted to find something on history and also some things about magic, but he didn''t want to appear too unknowledgeable of the world''s basics in case the man came walking down, so avoided children''s books. Swift looked through and found a number of books that he wanted to read through, Origins: Snowball and the great beyond, a dusty ''History of magic'', ''The Glorious History of the High Church''. ''Mythos and legend: the story of the heretic mage''. ''Expeditions to the Dark Lands vol II''. The stack of books Swift was making seemed unreasonable for him to even be able to read but he felt a thirstfor knowledge and couldn''t quite seem to put them back. Feeling slightly nostalgic for a room filled with books he hadn''t gotten round to reading. A homely yet somehow torn feeling of something long gone, somehow more unattainable than a place he had just left. As Swift read he felt like a craving of knowledge was being fulfilled, everything went in like his brain was a sponge, he could even read from memory as he looked at the page and thought about it in his mind. In under an hour, he had gone half the way through the first book, Origins: The world of snowball and the great beyond. Swift realised his skill point in enhanced memory must have done this, and thus growing new reverence for the strange system he seemed to be in. The Origins book seemed peculiar and strangely contradictory, coming up with theories that didn''t seem to make sense. Swift managed to find that the world was covered in iceroughlysix thousand Snowball years ago and that humanity didn''t really exist back then, likely giving its name of Snowball. Further, the book describes an endless chasm of darkness that constitutes some sort of eternal void of death though only mentions it as somewhere seeming pretty out of place to the rest of the book. The theory is that the energy or mana within the void had been the route cause of the cold disappearing, the landscape giving strange appearances as mana melted the glacial ice and terraformed the landscape. After this, the bookdetailed ''unknown times'' a period of savagery with no known records, where the people of the land were visited by the greater beings, the ''high elves''. These great saviours helped sculpt the world to what it is, as the kingdoms were otherwise unable to rule themselves and resorted to ''savagery'' and ''wandering without purpose''. The high elves further helped bywarning the people of the dangers of magic, how it could only be controlled under their influence in their church.Only certain people blessed by the elves could better control the magic which would otherwise poison them. The magic bringing forth luminous blue veins across the skin of those that used it making them sicker as their internal source of mana leaked into the outer world ultimately ending in their death. This was a religion that seemed to be centred around the belief in the higher beings instead of a theoretical God. These almost all-knowing beings, thehigh elves seemed to run the kingdoms of the west, which by counterbalance werenot the ''heretics'' of the east. Further, according to the book, this was because the high elves allowed the creatures of the land to have free will. This took Swift for a turn, he had to pause and think about it, contemplating what he had just read he thought: *The people of the west were controlled and restrained by the church according to their will, yet they used the excuse of free will to explain the limits of their control. So, they have free will, but only when the church is not helping them, but the church doesn''t help them because they always have free will, but the church still helps them so they couldn''t have free will. But they do because the church doesn''t help them?*If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This seemed like a contradiction to Swift and he was getting intense cult-like vibes from the whole thing. The book did subtly address this, highlighting how simple beings could not understand the greater plan the high elves possessed, but then Swift came across further sort of convoluted contradiction. There appeared to not just be one ''different being''. The book described ''tainted'' species of elf amongst the people of the land. The dark elves, an antithesis to the high elves regarded as below even humans, and there were dryads a great higher people in tune with nature. Though all dryad passed a long time ago, it was strange how the seemingly convoluted and tangled religion appeared to still stand strong. These almost higher beings seemed to highlight a lack of absolute superiority, that their existence should have shown the elves to not be that omniscient. Even against this Swift felt he knew that a ''religion'' could becrazier than that, especially when so ingrained in society and without... Internet? what was that... Internet... strange... There was a creak on the stairs. "You''re still here," the old man said, seeing the piles of books next to Swift. Though he must have known as there was only one way out. "Yep," Swift replied, refusing to look away from the book. "I didn''t take you for a scholar. There aren''t many in this hick town," The man added. "Sure," Swift said. The man came strolling down and looked at the stack next to Swift. His eyes grew wide and he went to grab one of the books. Swift caught it in his hand. ''History of Magic''. "I was reading that," Swift exclaimed. "This shouldn''t be here, I''m sorry you saw it just please let go," the old man with surprising strength said. "I just want to read it, ill give it back after I''m done." "You know you could be charged just for touching it?" The man asked. A slight gleam of interest in his eyes. "So what. You had it." Swift said. The old man let go of the hand and it fell back to Swift. He looked across the stack of books. "If you''re going to learn at least do it properly," "You don''t want that one, it''s bullshit propaganda," he said grabbing ''the glorious history of the high church'' and then replacing it with a book titled the ''history and origins of the western continent''. "That one is forbidden but not as much as the other, don''t go telling your friends about it!! ?!?! %" "Can I take this outside?" Swift asked without looking up. The man was exhausted by the implication, he clearly didn''t want the authorities to know about the book. "If you have the coin, but I doubt-" Swift threw him a couple of gold francs. "Tell you what, you can keep those books if you say you never got them from me, no one in this hick town can read anyway." Swift didn''t say thanks but instead had carried on reading, ignoring the old man. This didn''t annoy the man but instead made him almost welt with pride. "let me get something," he said aloud. The old man disappeared whilst Swift carried on. He brought back some clothes, some bits dusty and some clean. The assortment matched a fashionable leather set designed as though for a kind of explorer, it came with two satchels. "If you''re going to act like a scholar you might as well look the part," he dropped the clothes in frontof Swift. "That''ll be two more," he added with a dirty smile. Swift feeling like he had been ripped off felt bad about throwing away Seras''s money, but he handed the man the coins regardless. He was happy that everything worked out, he even had the clothes he needed to get. swift got changed into them behind a bookcase and then walked back with what he changed out of, the armoured explorer set well-fitting. "I''ll burn these out the back," the old man said reaching over and snatching Swift''s old clothes out form his arms. Later that day Swift arrived at the guard post, greeted by Adil and Seras.His clothes looked newer, even almost fashionable. A few straps of leather shone out with a pattern that looked to hold it all firmly together. Another thing different though, was the large pile of books under his arm, in his new pack and the one he was reading on the way. ¡°Hey yo,¡± Adil said, Swift looked up from his books and gave a smile. ¡°Got some books fam, give me a bit," He said motioning to the book he was reading. The book''s title was *Mythos and legend: the story of the heretic mage* ¡°Yeah sure¡± Adil replied, slightly confused at his new-found interest in reading history books. ¡°Did you get anything for me?¡± Adil asked. ¡°Yeah¡± Swift threw Adil a rucksack. Notification Obtained - adventurers gear rogue set. includes *Backpack, rope, camping equipment, trap disarming kit, lock pick, black cloak.* Swift set down his sack and started cramming more books inside. It made him appear more like a tourist with guides than someone about to go on an adventure. He shone with a new aura about him, one that seemed to emphasise a thirst of knowledge, possibly inspiring or maybe just annoying. Seras came close to Swift and playfully punched him on the shoulder. ¡°You didn¡¯t spend all my money on books did you¡± Swift rubbed his side and gave a smug smile to Seras before saying ¡°Take it up with the librarian, that guy is a rip-off," Swift replied, dropping a pouch with only a few coins left in them into Seras''s open hand and getting a stale unentertainedlook from her.From that Adil concluded what change he sawin Swift might be more annoying than, inspiring. ¡°Next time, drinks are on you,¡± Seras added and scuffed the top of his head. Swiftwalked off from Seras then and went back to reading. With that Seras turned to the guards, going about their duty at the post and said: ¡°Hey Bernie, we''re going on an expedition. I''ll be back in a few days so report to Ray or Eudis, tell them I''ve gone on a walk. They''ll get it.¡± One man shouted, ¡°Go get em, Captain!¡±. With a smirk, Seras gave a nod of acknowledgement to the guard. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She said and instead of going through the gate, she lowered a rope ladder down from the side. Swift and Adil followed suite, down the ladder before it was pulled back up. ¡°So, where are these goblins?¡± Seras asked. Clear of anyone else that could hear their conversation. ¡°Oh uh, we were knocked out close to where we started, spawned. I have no idea where they took us.¡± Replied Adil. ¡°One of them had bone armour.¡± swift spoke up, still mostly focusing on his books. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad start, we can find some tracks then ask the locals.¡± She replied. Her stance and expression bore an element of experience and confidence that seemed to shine in the rising sun. 11. Through the taint They travelled across the fields surrounding the small town until they came across the entrance to the maze. They came across the giant red rock face staring down at them. The group enteredand went into the landscape of jagged spikes. There was a strange change in heat as though the landscape was truly in a different ecosystem. The sun beat down into them like in a harsh desert. Soon it seemed as if they had walked to a different part of the planet, most plant life was dead and there wasn''t even a slight indication they had justwalk offa grassy field. The landscape drifting from the savannah and then to the barren red they remembered. Swift was still staring into his books, reading: ''history and origins of the western continent. "Hah," Swift shouted, engrossed in the book. "Read something interesting?" Adil asked. "Wouldn''t you like to know?" Swift asked, looking over his books withinquisitive eyes. "Hit me." Swift let his smirk stay as he began to explain, carrying on to read at the same time. ¡°Well,apparentlythere are elves, and they also used to be human,¡± he offhandedly said. Seras looked towards him,"No shit, those stuck up assholes?" Seras joked, "I heard they live alone and dont like visitors." "Something like that," Swift replied. ¡°So, your pretty into that reading now?¡± Adil asked. ¡°It¡¯s like I can sink into the world of books. Everything is so much more interesting and sticks in my memory like I don¡¯t even need to try.¡± Swift replied without even taking his eyes from the book. His eyes grew wide and even the hairs on his head seemed to perk up as hecame acrosssomething even more, interesting. Seras found no trouble climbing over the obstacles they came across, even in her heavy armour. The only problem that arose was waiting for Swift to put down his book just so he would use his arms. They travelled until they came across a strange black weed. The grassy plant seemed to be wafting in the wind exhibiting a sort of spore-like aura. Swift went over to examine it.
.-Mutated taint weed. A plant that has been mutated by the taint that covered it.
¡°I haven¡¯t seen anything like that before¡± Seras mentioned. ¡°It''s like what happened to the grass we gave you. But when we found it, it was nothing like this. Also... that¡¯s what she said,¡± Swift said. Swift was ignored but he then went in to reach for the plant, the spores appeared to react to him coming close, a portion of it leached and jumped up, like a tentacle and wrapped around his hand. On instinct, he vaporized it, a small puff of flame and it all disappeared. ¡°What the hell was that.¡± ¡°Tainticles¡± Swift said an educated look on his face. No one was happy. Especially the reader. I assume. ¡°It''s a bit like the stuff on the goblins?¡± Seras chimed. Swift looked up at her. ¡°I don¡¯t think we''ve seen any of the goblins with this.¡± "The black stuff that grows on them, there was always more on the crazier ones, but never seemed to develop too much and It had never infected something else before... If it''s spreading and turning into something like this. There''s no telling how much is out there.¡± Adil patted Swift on the shoulder and said: ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.¡± Swift didn¡¯t give a response but just grunted. He just carried on immersing himself in the world of books. "He''s turning into a bit of an ass isn''t he," Adil quietlyaskedSeras. Getting an awkward smile in reply. The few carried on further and Swift burnt away any sign of taint they came across. soon they arrived in a small enclave of plants that appeared to be developing taint to an extreme point. An area of mass taint mutated and ridden plants developing together in an almost wreathing mass. Swift put down his book and held out his hand, shooting a burst of fire towards the oozing plants of death. Tactically blasting different locations meticulously generating the most efficient spread of fire. The fire lapped up as the cursed taint began to move in dismay. ¡°Nooooooooooo,¡± Swift cried out. A tainted tentacle had jumped out as fire enveloped it, disintegrating it but making a lick of flame fall onto one of Swift''s books.He quickly ran towards it and started patting it out, the fire had only singed away part of the cover. Swift sighed in relief. Adil and Seras gave a little snicker until they met the glare of Swifts angry glare. Seras turned to face the burning plants. Seras exhaled and looked across the area of burnt plants. ¡°This can¡¯t be good,¡± she said. "looks like the taint has spread further than we thought," Adil replied. ¡°I guess we have our work cut out fur us," Seras added. ¡°You mean you, haveyourwork cut out for me?¡± Swift added. Swift walked forward into the area of burnt plants, a fog of smoke still emanating from the ground. He found the dead body of a wolf and goblin, next to the remnants of a broken barrel. He kicked the patch and the animal carcass flew out. A wolf. Its eyes had dissolved, and fur melted away, its teeth protruded from its face like disfigured spikes. A few broken spears appeared to be jutting out of its side. *mutated taint wolf -- deceased* Swift clenched his hand around the wolf carcass and saw it glow. Tendrils of purple light were drawnout of it until the corpse deteriorated to nothing. Swift looked disappointed. Trying again with the goblin he grasped the decomposing corpses head, It seemed to slowly disappear in the same light and concentrate an essence into a toolheld firmly in the goblin''s hand.
Acquired item????? Quality Taint-forged shiv ?? Poor special effects: Chance to infect with taint.
Swift furrowed his eyes at reading theeffect and focused fire in his hand dissolving the weapon. "What was that?" Seras asked. seeing Swift do what he did.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Getting the loot?" he replied. "I, what?" "You didn''t know? Push your will into dead stuff and it gives you goodies," Adil said. Seras furrowed her brow. "no i didn''t know that, since... what the actual fuck dude." "Didthe goblinnot tell you?" "I am going to kill that fuckign gremlin shit." Swift and Adil laughed at that. Then Swift inspected the ground where the mutant wolf was.¡°I¡¯m not sure if the taintspreads on its own or under special conditions. If it just spread by spores I think we would have found more than this.¡± They carried on further, dissolving away all that was tainted along the journey. ¡°Pass me some food Swift,¡± Seras commanded. Swift gave her a puzzled look ¡°I don¡¯t have any.¡± ¡°Then what the hell is in your pack?¡± Swift opened his bag and pointed it to her, it was filled to the brim with books. Seras rubbed a hand over her face, massaging her temple in an attempt to rid herself of the annoyance. ¡°Then let''s find something to eat¡± ¡°We found some berrieson the way before,¡± Adil said. "Of course you did," Seras added. They came across a few more bushes and Swift decided it was a good idea if Adil knew how to collect the stuff as well. He helped him through the skill until he leant herblore himself. Swift looked around for more evidence of mayhem, bits of broken wood from the barrel seemed to have scattered along a path where the passageways seemed to fork. ¡°I can see a trail,¡± Seras said. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°it¡¯s a skill¡± she explained. They started following Seras as she inspected the path and bush to find the occasional footprint, broken twig, rock. She seemed to know exactly where to go as though following their shadow. Loki began checking the things Seras had inspected, trying to see what she saw to no avail. Eventually, he could tell slightly what creatures created what marks on the ground and after something appeared to be calibrating across the side of his awareness he grew a notification.
New kill! Tracking You can identify tracks of those you have seen, and perceive their lingering essence.
They followed for a while clearing out anything tainted along the way. They came across a solid trail of the tar along the ground that seemed to follow into a cave. A splash of the black tar was clearly visible along the side of the entrance. Adil felt a rush through his eyes and mind, the path seemed to highlight prints and splashes of tar along the entrance of the cave. A keen sense of what belongs to each track came across his mind. He could see a shadowy afterimageslowly appear around the prints he inspected. ¡°Goblins,¡± he said. Looking at one of the tracks. ¡°Hah, well done Adil, the skill of tracking is a hunter''s best tool.¡± Adil gave a slight grin and they carried on following the trail. Within the cave little was visible, Swift managed to find a dead tree and broke a branch off which he fashioned into a torch as not to risk running out of mana. They walked inside hearing out for any noise as they tried to follow the trail. They didn¡¯t walk inside far before they came across what looked like dead goblins. Decrepit and mutilated carcasses, torn to pieces by something. With the smashed remnants of what appeared to be another two barrels next to them. The black substance was splattered along the cave side and floor around these barrels. Adil went to inspect it, picking some upon his finger. *refined taint* Adil lurched back pushing his hand into the fire and seeing the ooze seem to catch slightly on fire but then almost come to life before Swift shot it with some of his purer cleansing fire. Noticing that it might not have just been normal fire that was its weakness, but his special kind. Somehow neutralizing whatever was in the cursed taint. The sound of collapsing rocks echoed in the cave, a pause of silence as the group braced trying to find out what that was. Then cascading thumps growing ever louder forced them to defensively turn to face the noise. They looked around, searching for what could have made the noise, then suddenly a blood-curdling roar reverberated against the walls. Out of the darkness, illuminated in the flames of torchlight, a troll¡¯s face emerged. wretched and disfigured by black tainted Fungus coating its facial features. It swung toward the group, just missing Adil as he moved out the way. The lumbering giant was not coordinated, and Adil''s recent training engrained a new awareness in him. Seras had charged, taking a low pose and swung into its side. The axe embedded itself in his upper thigh, before tentacles of darkness wrapped around the axis¡¯s edge launching up towards her hands. She dropped the axe and moved back, not taking the risk of letting the darkness touch her. The monster gave out another cry then Swift shot fire in a narrow stream towards it. The troll caught and was torched in a furious fire, shaking away at the flames it thrashed in agony. Swift stopped, out of mana and the flames receded from the beast''s skin, taking with it the corruption. The Trolls face suddenly looked, cognoscente. More aware, its eyes bore colour where before it was just dull whiteness. Then the black tentacles of corruption spurted out from newly formed wounds. Sprawling over the creature as it struggled in pain. Adil after dodging had run towards the entrance. He grabbed three arrows and quickly fired them into the beast doing minimal damage but getting its attention. As the creature ran towards Adil, Seras doveinto its side andhacked at one of the beasts¡¯ legs, slicing its thigh. It collapsed onto one side. Getting up as its wounds rapidly healed, tentacles stitching him together, the troll only seemed angrier. Swift began shooting bursts of fire, bit by bit causing the creature to wretch without his mana running out. Adil followed in from Swift, firing arrow after arrow whilst Seras sung at its sides, dashing past it as not to get caught. The creature being slowly whittled down The creature came slightly into the light of the entrance, staring Adil down. Adil was waiting,just past the entrance. He focused on his aim and like a sniper shot one and two arrows into the creatures¡¯ eyes. The Troll now struggling and losing momentum as the fast-paced Seras cut into its sides. The beast could do nothing but flail about. The black ooze moved around the creature receding then appearing, changing location as the fire was shot into it. Unable to see its surroundings the troll seemed unable to tell where anyone was. Then Adil saw an eye materialize within the black ooze facing Seras as she came in for another attack. ¡°Get back!!¡± Adil shouted. It was too late, the creature reached around and grabbing Seras. She struggled to force the things hand open as it slowly began crushing her. The armour around her sides began to ripple, then Swift came in from behind. A fire in his eyes. He stuck his hand into the creature and let forth all his energy. The beast screamed in pain as flames erupted all around it, Seras took the opportunity to peel herself out from the creatures grasp and collapsed to the ground. The beast nearly fell on her as it went unconscious. But she had just managed to roll out the way. Picking up her axe, Seras executed the final blow, decapitating the creature and letting the head roll away. ¡°Holy fucking shit,¡± she gasped. Adil let loose a held breath, ¡°That was.. so.. intense.¡± He said panting, though he was barely in the fight. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Seras asked Swift., ¡°I figured it would work better if I burnt him from inside.¡± ¡°I saw that, but how, its skin is so thick, how did you do it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to go into details,¡± he said sheepishly looking away. Notification
Slain creature???? ??experience gained Mutated ¡®taint¡¯ troll ?? ??233 Special mutationeffect Increased taint regeneration and spread.
Adil stepped over to a rock and collapsed on the ground "Do you want to have the honours?" he said. Seras looked at the corpse and back to Swift. She stuck out her hand and grasped the inside of the troll''s neck focusing her energy and pushing in tendrils of mana. A purple and grey essence seemed to pour from the beast as the corpse disappeared. The head similarly combining its essence into a vial of liquid.
Acquired item???? Quality Troll healing essence??fresh uses:3 effect: quickly heal non-mortal wounds.
Seras grew a dark grin as she stared into the concoction. "I fucking love loot," she beaned. When going back into the cave they saw how the remains of the goblins had been entirely split open, it looked like the troll attacked the creatures when they accidentally stepped into its cave. The barrel next to the body still notably held a large amount of black slime, some also scattered over the floor. Swift gathered some of the gunk and inspected it more thoroughly. ¡°This is inert,¡± he said ¡°Come again?¡± ¡°This stuff can¡¯t infect people directly, it has to be eaten or changed in some way I think. It¡¯s not like the taint in the mutated plants, it''s like its safe until people want it not to be.¡± ¡°It''s the damn goblins, I knew it.¡± Seras chimed in. They collected some in a vial taken from Swifts bag and bunt the rest. They scouted around the cave, illuminating the walls. Swift scoured the cave and shot fire out at anything that seemed corrupt tearing through the darkness at any slight movement. It was meticulous work. They found the remains of another two goblins in the troll¡¯s base and what appeared to be a mess of black bile around his habitat. The cave wasn¡¯t very big but large enough to hold them in constant fear that another troll could jump out at any time. 12. Dreamers The sun was falling into the night and the temperature started steeply dropping with it. They began putting up a fire. Before the night grew too dark itsteadily blazed beside them. Theyrested around it, Aldi and Seras staring at the many luminous starswhilst Swift kept at his books. The red moon was now bright in the sky with its rings like Saturn, it had drifted further from the grey-blue goliath of a moon which had just poked over the horizon. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t feel real,¡± Seras said. ¡°Every time I look at that sky... But maybe it¡¯s because even after all this time, it''s so terrifying, that we are really stuck here.¡± Adil was near her, inspecting the arrows he collected for traces of black gunk, not finding any. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± he offhandedly said. Swift threw some wood into the fire. He had moved onto the book ''magic history'' its pages seemed old and delicate, and he took good care when turning the pages. Swift felt as though he now knew more into the history of the world he now found himself in than most who lived there,each text highlighting key differences in knowledge between the banned texts he held and common knowledge. It appeared that the ''high elves'' were the reason for this as they tried to strip away any reference to the old world. Originally, there were no other races, it was just man, a time when the world was in a roughly shaped peace where society was most interested in developing magic. Magic, however,came at a cost . Though each mage trained for years before he practised they all soon developing the sickness as they were poisoned by their own new powers. Sometimes the sick changed in other ways, elements of their humanity taken away as their flesh mutated.Researchers and users of magic tried desperately to fix this problem and find a way people could use magic for longer. Intheir attempts,they looked atthe way people harnessed magic, changing their crystalline manna, commonly known as a person''s essence. The altering of a person''s essence was a rough science, dangerous and caused disaster after disaster. As a person was changed there was a large chance they would lose what made them, themself. They would change in unprecedented ways, most commonly were, cancerous growths that developed sentience and the unsurprising spontaneous combustions. However, many changes were stable, creating creatures with mismatched proportions and strange abilities. More so,all these changed creatures lost any semblance of a rational or empathetic psyche, turning into dangerous monsters. Eventually, the mutated creatures spread far and infested areas of the landscape, creating what today is still called ''the dark zone.''Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Eventually, top researchers and magic users gathered their research, both to find an answer to the magic problem and to stop the more dangerous experiments. They joined forces and pushed into the alteration of a person''s essence to create a new person, a better being able tolive longer and use magic with impunity. The results of their research and experimentation created the ''high-elves'' and the ''dryad''. This remarkable achievement made a method to turn humans into longer living beings that could use magic without care for its poisoning effects. However, it came at a slight cost. As a person''s essence was altered they were restricted in the forms of magic they could take. Each high elf was only able to use magic in its purest form, emitting something close to pure mana, unable to fully shape it into different effects without using items like crystals to redefine the manas properties. Whilst each dryad used magic associated with nature, focusing on enhancing the effects of the environment than forging them into something new, whilst human magic only increased in its variety. ¡°Hay Swift tell me something interesting,¡± Adil said, resting on the ground and looking over at Swift, he was still reading his books. Without taking his eyes off the book Swift repeated. "Birds can''t fart," he said. "What, do they just like explode if you give them beans?" "Something like that," "That''s cool.But in your book is there anything interesting?" "The book I just finished said the high elves had a war with humanity." "Really?" Seras asked. ¡°Yep, all the people in one place turned into high elves and dryad, but the high elves wanted to stay pure so they made their own kingdom, and it seems they don¡¯t and didn¡¯t want anyone in. But the Dryads wanted to stay with nature and the people. And they were like, I know what to do, let''s have a war. you know.¡± "Seems like you might be blowing over something important," "Is it ever really a good reason though?" Swift said "point taken." ¡°Anyway, then the high elves didn¡¯t want to spend any more of their own people because it was slow and hard for them and they didn''t have many kids. So, they started messing with biology again and created a warrior race called the Orc. The race was all-male, was meant to be an honourable strong race to be ¡®chosen¡¯ by and they grew to adult by the age of seven or so.¡± ¡°If they are all male, then how do they breed?¡± Adil asked. ¡°An elf or even man would be chosen by an esteemed Orc to raise the next generation of soldiers. It¡¯s not clear on how. I think it¡¯s a society thing. And their ¡®genes¡¯ or essence, seemed to overpower parent species.¡± ¡°So, to carry on. They crushed the humans and Dryads. And then, it¡¯s not clear what happened, but I think all dryads and orcs are now dead.¡± Seras was staring into the fire intently listening to the conversation. ¡°Funny how the goblins are like that... All male I mean...¡± She said. Swift closed his book and saw the trouble in her eyes. There was a serious hatred for the creatures. "Sure..." swift added. The three of them ended it on that then took turns to try and sleep, only a few final words left drifting in the air as Adil said. ¡°Pretty miserable thing to end the night on,¡± Adil said. "You asked for it," Swift added. 13. Getting ready As the others drifted off Swift hung awake reading throughout the night. It was a situation he knew was going to be bad for him as his tiredness was sure to ravage him in the morning he would have to force himself through. Yet he could not put down the book. It was an odd situation he feltas an ingrained habit. notification backend defragmentation inhibited. mental coherence decreased Chance of delusion increased temperature regulation decreased mental statistic lowered 2 points. (7, base 9) sleep required to regain base stats. "Aaah," Swift wearily looked over at his companions, they were asleep by the fire. He stoked the fire a bit more and went back to reading. He was starting a new book, ''the heretic mage''. Swift read the synopsis, ''He was a danger to the kingdoms, a man of pure horror. Hugo the maleficent, experimenter and killer. Having carried out experiments on countless people he developed magic too strong and evil to comprehend. A blue-green fire would circle around him as he strode onto battlefields. Exiled to the dark zone for the crimes he had committed. The dark sorcerer, a historic evil or mythical horror, decide for yourself. Swift had enough and put down the book. He needed some rest and felt the morning sun coming on. He went over and kicked Adil.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "You''re up," Adil stirred awake and rubbed his eyes. "Sure, yeah I''ve got it." Then Swift went down to sleep for the rest of the night. The next day they moved further into the maze, abandoning their camp. Further along the path, the horizon revealed a distant black mountain, ashy clouds hovering overhead clashing against the baron red landscape. They had come far enough that ash drifted in, covering thered rock with a thin layer of grey. Adil and Swift tried to find their way back to spawn, but themaze-like land and similar-looking formations seemedto confuse them, some of the land seeming as though it had changed from before. They resigned themselves from finding it, with the knowledge it was intentionally hidden they thought it could have been impossible anyway. Eventually,they saw tracks. There was a trail of footsteps left in a layer of ash over the floor. Seras bent over to the ground and rubbed ash onto her fingertips, inspecting the ground to see how thick the layer was and how long it took for another layer of sediment to cover the ground. Adil saw the image of a small humanoid creature slightly hunched over appear above the tracks. It looked like a goblin. ¡°The hunt is on.¡± she said, concluding that they must be nearby. "Two seconds," Adil announced, then he pulled out his bow and shot, careful calculations in a moments notice. He saw the arrows slide through the sky and pierce what appeared to be a dirty rabbit. "Let''s eat first," he announced. Just then Adil realized how different he had become. Shooting a rabbit as though it was nothing just for a source of food. He wondered if he could hunt and kill a living thing. He wondered what the past him would think about what he had become after only a few days. He looked around at all the tracks seeing the outlines of animals and goblins. In one part the outline of goblins fighting in dust appeared, he could some sort of story as he noticed the scuffle spread through the difference in tracks, eventually, the fight seemed to stop both goblins getting up and walking with each other along the tracks. It was like a story of children messing with each other. 14. On the trail After eating the rabbit, the group followed the goblin tracks to what appeared to be a goblin outpost.Debris, dead plant life and jagged outcrops of rock adorned what would otherwise be an open plane. They snuck close enough to inspect the area and with that, they saw how the outpost was only a gathering of low-tier goblins, even weaker than the goblins that had attacked Adil and Swift. Hiding out of view Seras motioned to Adil: ¡°We¡¯re taking over this camp and you, Adil. Get first kill.¡± ¡°So are we just going to charge straight in?¡± Adil asked. ¡°No, we will draw out any we can, reduce their numbers, get some reconnaissance and then we charge straight in.¡± Swift patted Adil on the back. ¡°it¡¯s cool man, you got this¡± a slight grin on his face. Swift then moved in sneaking and opportunistically jumping from cover to cover. He was happy to flex his new skill in stealth. ¡°Swift will set up a shot for the old-lady window peaker over-there,¡± Seras said. With a few hand signals from Seras Swift moved in, he dipped low and quickly hid behind a large rocky protrusion. Swift was now close enough to hear loud clashes of metal and the goblins awkward shouts. He saw a goblin working on a makeshift furnace whilst another dropped off lumps of coal. The delivery goblin began shouting at the Smith before getting shouts in return, it was hard to tell if they were working together or about to start a fight. Then Swift noticed barrels placed around the camp, they were mostly holding what appeared to be a black ooze similar to what they found in the cave. Agoblin started approaching closer and with that Swift decided to throw a rock near the goblin''s feet. Alert was shown on the goblins face and he quickly went to where the sound came from. This gave Swift the opportunity to run to another point of cover, casually throwing another rock to see if the goblin would walk further out. It worked, and so testing his luck he threw another rock, this time closer to his cover, just enough to give Adil a clean line of sight. Adil could see the goblin move up as he crouched in cover. *Silly mobs* Swift thought. The goblin carelessly moved around checking for the source of the noise, peering into a bush and out of view from the others in the camp. Adil held up his bow, he was aiming at the goblin that came looking. It was clear none of the others would see if it died. ¡°Shoot,¡± Seras commanded. Adil held his bow up and.. didn¡¯t fire. The goblin started to get back on track, findingnothing that could have caused the noise he started walking towards the outpost. ¡°Fire¡± Seras insisted. ¡°These are goblins, kill them.¡± She added through gritted teeth. Adil still held his bow aiming the arrow at the goblins face. Seras drew a throwing axe from her side. The Goblin now walking back was spooked by a sound, he looked and saw Swift not fully hidden in his cover. The creature nearly shrieked but an arrow lodged straight into the side of his head, knocking the creature down to the ground. Notification
Slain creature experience gained Goblin 40
Skill Level up! Archery, novice II 10% Increased stability and control with bows.
Note Using skills in new and highly focused situations will increase the systems simulated skill refinement. Adil felt a slight change, as he reached for the bow it was as though it was easier to carry out certain actions without much effort. The strange mechanism of this new world seemed to have built and reinforced the muscle memory within him. Swift began dragging the goblin back into cover, making sure it was out of view of the outpost. None of the goblins seemed to have noticed. He gave a quick thumbs up to Adilwho gave a grim nod in reply. Swift came back dashing from rocky protrusions to the place the others were hidden. ¡°The goblins have the black slime,¡± Swift told Seras. Seras thought for a moment and managed to formulate a battle plan. ¡°Do you think you can set the barrels on fire?¡± She asked Swift. Swift nodded in reply. ¡°Goblins hate fire.¡± She added. ¡°Adil set up in a bush and shoot the barrels open. Swift, you can start a fire then move in and remember to leave some for interrogation or we won¡¯t find your killers,¡± the two nodded and then moved like soldiers into the battle. Still, though, the goblins seemed too human and Adil couldn¡¯t quite shake what he had done from his mind. Adil moved in biting his tongue, was he selfishly killing another living being. The goblin seemed like a person and could have even had a family, but Adil felt in this world it was kill or be killed, and some things weren¡¯t meant to be. He rationalized that down the road it would just end with more problems if he had let the creature live. But Derekcould have been a good goblin. *No, don''t give them names!* Adil shouted in his head. Swift entered the camp again, rushing from rock to rock and quickly shuffling behind a tent. The nearest goblin, the blacksmith hadn¡¯t noticed him. Instead, the blacksmith was still battering away at what Swift assumed was a makeshift anvil. Swift waited until the blacksmith went back into the tent and then motioned it was clear. Adil moved in whilst Seras still stayed behind, she had to stay some distance away as no one could sneak in with that heavy armour. Adil held his bow up as Swift went further in. Adfil could see three barrels he could openbefore the goblins could even respond. They needed to be more open for Swift to ignite the tar. Adil fired at the barrels, one hit and smashed it open, the second aswell. The third arrow though, lodged into the side of the container allowing only a trickle of the black goo. Goblins all around were alerted,some of them immediately running towards the group beforeAdil managed toshootthe other barrelbursting it open. Swift then charged past and used firebolt to set the tar alight, flame erupting from the barrels between Swift and the creatures. The goblins confused, they did not immediately attack due to the fire-based distraction but started to run around the flames. *Aren''t they meant to be scared of fire* Swift thought as they closed in on him. Then Seras came in through the front both battle-axes waving in the air, the goblins immediately fled in fear. ¡°The demon is here!¡± one of them exclaimed, though only Adil understood. ¡°See what I told you, fire makes them scared¡± Seras chimed. It seemed to Adil that she may have developed a taste for fireabout the time she was known by the goblin as ''the demon''. The goblins were scuttling around, none of them brave enough to fight. Then one with an almost high-pitched screech braced his fear and charged in. Seras dropped her axe and grabbed the creature by the throat, held it in the air and in the midst of all of them broke its neck with a quick squeeze. A cough of blood spurting from the goblin''s mouth sprayed onto the side of her face. No other goblins resisted.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. They bound five remaining goblins and put them forward in a line to be interrogated. ¡°You¡¯re up¡± Seras called out to Adil. Adil came forward, he was to question the remaining goblins about the location of their bone-armoured leader, the goblin that slit his throat. ¡°Seen¡­Goblin¡­. Leader¡­Armour¡­ Bone.¡± He said in goblin, pointing to areas of his armour the bone would have been. The first goblin spat in his face, and a second laughed. ¡°Man talks like baby,¡± he said in the goblin tongue. Seras immediately slammed her axe into the first one¡¯s headcrushing it, then drew the blade out letting the goblin fall to the ground. She then motioned for Swift to step forward. ¡°Your turn,¡± she said. Swift looked at her puzzlingly and then let out a burst of fire in front of the goblins, nearly singing their barley present eyebrows. They only looked confused. Seras came over ¡°See fire. Scary, we will burn you.¡± The goblins seemed to whimper and shiver away on her approach. A third one looked to Adil for help and Adil was taken back. He moved forward and down to the goblin before he asked again. ¡°Goblin. With bone armour.¡± This time the goblin spluttered¡°He chief, big camp north, keep demon away. I¡¯ll tell anything¡± The group pushed and gathered more information. Adil relayed it and they both formulated a plan. Seras placed her axe to the ground and put one foot on the top of the blade ¡°Can we trust what the goblins say?¡± She asked Adil. ¡°If we don¡¯t, we take one as a guide and kill the others¡± added Seras. ¡°That''s so brutal, we can¡¯t kill them... They surrendered?¡± Adil protested. ¡°They¡¯re goblins!¡± Seras replied sternly. ¡°You''re starting to sound like a mass murderer¡± Adil retorted. She looked confused. ¡°Like someone who wants to commit genocide,¡± Adil added. ¡°Genocide of what, goblins? You can¡¯t compare goblins to a human race.¡± ¡°What? because some of them are bad, you paint them all as evil with no exception?¡± ¡°Do you even hear the things coming out from your mouth? These ones even had the black shit. You think we should just let them go till they come back and kill us all? You... Comparing a human race to... Goblins¡± ¡°Guys!¡± Swift exclaimed. ¡°Stop that. I have a plan,¡± He explained. After a brief discussion, Adil worked over and said to the group of goblins ¡°You''re free to go.¡± After thatAdil, Seras and Swift wentaround the tents trying to collect anything useful exerting their will over the goblin corpses for loot. After transforming the bodies into tendrils of energy they found 12 ''mana forged'' arrows, and a decently weighted throwing dagger. Then they began to wait outside, just far enough awayto follow the goblin tracks without being seen. When it grew dark, the goblins left camp heading north.Adil and Swift decided it would be better if Seras waited back. Her shinyarmour and its metallic sounds still making itdifficult to sneak. The goblins were moving fast, in an almost frantic pace, likely spurred on by memories of the demon they spoke of. Still, Adil and Swift managed to follow them easy enough, their stealthiness made them feel like they were one with the darkness. They all travelled far, Adil and Swiftkept close to their mark and no other humanoid shapes arose across the distance. The journey appeared to be approaching a conclusion as the paths drew narrow and winding. When they finally started seeing the distant lights of a settlement Adil and Swift stopped, hiding out in part of the path that was now wedged between two cliffs. There, they saw the goblins walk towards an enclave where a large camp lay. The walk was longer than they thought it was, but they had been dragged the journey unconscious last time. Swift even decided to lay on his back with his head in the direction of the camp just to check. "Yep, seems familiar,¡± he said. They started waiting for Seras to catch up. As they waited they saw some torches appear, waving around in the distance. Adil and Swift backed up further into the darkness. Upon closer inspection, they noticed three goblins on route to their location coming from where Seras should have been. They waited in silence to avoid the troupe, but as the goblins approached Adil and Swift started to hear the echoes of their cries. The goblins were frantically running. They suddenly realized the goblins were running to alert the camp, and probably because of Seras. Adil and Swift hunched down, pushing further behind the rocky formation. They waited in ambush and once the goblins finally drew close enough, Adil shot an arrow, lodging it into one of their legs whilst Swift fire bolted the other in the face. Both goblins stumbled and fell. The scorched one had cracked its neck as he tripped over, head first and on the floor, twitched his last death roll. The other having been shot in the leg tripped to the side, landing on his arm, he was quickly silenced by Adil¡¯s second shot hitting into the face. The final goblin carrying the torch was spooked by the others and narrowly avoided Swift''s fire, bracing his face with an arm. But soon he was taken by Adil¡¯s blade plunged through his chest. New notifications appeared for both Adil and Swift. Notifications Note Using skills in new and highly focused situations will increase the systems simulated skill refinement.
Slain creature experience gained Goblin 40
Skill Level up! ArcheryIII 10% Increased stability and control with bows, your essence is further integrated with the bow.
Learnt skill Medium blades II Your blade can now feel like an extension to your arm, as you intuitively know its length and sharpness.
Swift''s notifications
Slain creature experience gained Goblin 40
Skill Level up! Fire magic II Your control and emission of fire magic is increased by 10%
Swift could more easily focus on his mana. It was as though an internal reservoir of mana was being pushed through his being and shaped into the fire he controlled. Now able to shape the fire instead of just shoot it out. The roaringfire he could manifest now frightened him.He felthis limits as much as his potential. Seras took her time coming along as Adil and Swift waited. It was long enough that Adil started to think something might have happened. He focused on his internal map, the area they had travelled appeared vast but along the route they had taken was a detailed path highlighting the winding path they had taken through the rocky maze. Then Adil noticed Seras had an icon showing where she was. She was moving quickly through a dark spot, off from the path they had travelled. ¡°Seras has gone a different way,¡± Adil said. ¡°She can track us and knows where we went.Should we wait or go help?¡± ¡°This is Seras. I¡¯ll just scout out the area before she arrives.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Swift replied. He created a controlled burst of fire, holding a small flame in the air and using that lightbegan to finish the book he was on. Instead of waiting, Adil moved in closer to the goblin camp. The camp didn¡¯t have many rocky outcrops like the other one, and instead, he could only crawl through dead bushes and long yellow grass. They weren¡¯t under any false impressions that they could take the camp on their own, but Adil came to realize how difficult it would be, the organization these goblins had, by comparison, was like the stone age to medieval. The camp consisted of two watchtowers, three small tents, and one larger main tent. He could see the height of the watchtowers was 20 feet, they would have a significant range advantage to Adil. A group of goblins were roaming around, drinking and moving torches clashing against the darkness. Adil thought they were too drunk to pay attention and so in the patch of tall grass he thought he could shuffle closer, trying to get a better view. He noticed how his tracking skill came in useful, seeing the paths goblins took in rough detail. He grew a slight grin as a new notification popped up. Notifications (1)
Level up! StealthII +10% harder to see, +10% harder to hear. Your essence becomes more adaptive with the environments, your farts even start to smell like the bush your hiding in.
Adil saw a scuffling in the torchlight, a couple of goblins had launched at each other. Approaching even closer Adil shuffled through some tall grass and managed to make out enough of the goblin¡¯s features to tell them apart. It was then he saw him, sitting on a log in front of the fire, the glow of the fire glinting off cleaner bits of the dark armour adorned with bone. It was the goblin that murdered him. Adil backed off. He tried to signal at Swift to say he was coming back but before he did he noticed that one of the goblins was walking up to the fire. It was a goblin they had been following. The goblin scuffling nervously as he walked up to their leader. Adil couldn¡¯t make out the conversation but saw that the goblin was almost immediately slapped down with the backhand of a gauntlet. The leader pointed in multiple directions across the camp and non-armoured goblins started sprinting around the perimeter. The armoured goblins had barely moved, instead just staring into the fire. Suddenly the leader pointed at Adil and let out shouts ¡°There!!¡± he shouted. Adil immediately got up and ran, a goblin with a crossbow jumped out from one of the camps, looked at Adil and fired. Hitting him in the leg, Swift came out into the open, but in response, Adil shouted: ¡°RUN!¡±. Swift started running back, he got around to the crevice that lead to the camp but suddenly Swift was grabbed by the scruff of his collar. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Seras asked. ¡°Adil, he¡¯s in there!¡± swift replied in a haste pointing to the glowing camp. ¡°What the fuck did you guys do?¡± A moment passed whilst Seras tried to suppress her annoyance in an effort not to comfort Swift. She put her hand on Swift''s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯ll be ok, I have a plan¡± she said. Then swift noticed, she was standing next to a barrel of the black oozing slime. 15. Goblins hate fire The leader barked some rough command then pointed for the guards to deal with Adil. The guards dragged him by the scruff of his shirt. The pain was so great Adilcouldn''t help but hyperventilate through his teeth, the wound on his leg bleeding a trail as he was dragged. Adil could just make out the orders the goblin leader laid out for his followers. "He come from death. Hold, questions," the leadersaid. The goblins pulled Adil further the inside of the camp and tore off his bow, arrows, and swordbefore throwinghim into a cage. Adil still wheezing from the pain saw that the goblins had not chased after Swift. He realized then he was likely a bait for the others to come. ¡°Uuuurgh¡±. Adil groaned. He was grating his teeth as he further tried to suppress the pain. Some of the other goblins were visibly getting annoyed. One of the armoured ones let out a noise, something as a cross between a grunt and a roar at the sight of Adil, and moved over to him, he pusheda canister of whateverthey had been drinking towards Adil. Adil drank tup some of theglowing liquid and immediately felt less pain. It was refreshing and awkward to get such a gift from his captors. Another goblin, one of the many drunk ones came up to the cage and burped some vomit through the bars. ¡°You fucking human shirt¡± the goblin said. The words came to Adil like perfect English, perfect drunk English anyway. ¡°Fuuukk youuuuu¡± Adil replied, the goblin taken back, also understanding the words. ¡°You think you''re better than me? we fucking rape your but, we will rape you in the fucking but!¡± The goblin exclaimed. The armoured goblin grunted in response turning back to staring into a fire him and other armoured goblins sat around. ¡°Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries.¡± Adil added in a strangely drunk French goblin accent. The goblin was about to start on a torrent of rampaging insults when *BOOOOOM* a flaming boulder came crashing down. The bolder demolished some makeshift barricades just to the side of the cage. The camp erupted into shouts and action all the goblins taken back by what happened. Then Seras appeared having surfeddown the side of the rocky chasm on her shield, a flaming battle-axe in each hand. Following her, a slower-moving Swift gently slid down at a respectably slower pace. looking around in the panicked commotion Seras let out a great roar, and spun both her axes around, slamming open the cage and freeing Adil before starting on the rest of the goblins. Swift rushed to Adil, the crossbow-bolt had managed to go through his leg, so Swift broke the top off and pulled the rest out. Swift pulled out the troll potion form Seras and opened it to pour some on the wound. ¡°Anything?¡± He asked. ¡°No,¡± Adil replied. Swift gave him the rest to drink and Adil was thankful, as he drank it, he felt a strange energy rush into the core of his being. The wound on Adil''s leg started to close before healing from the inside, two uses left in the vial.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Swift then turned to the goblins, the weaker ones appeared to cower and panic but the stronger stood their ground. As Sera focused on the three warriors clad in armour, the leader was nowhere to be seen. A non-armoured goblin came running towards Seras, and so Swift quickly threw a vial of tar at his face before casting a firebolt. The goblin fell back clawing at its face retching on the floor until Swift pulled him closer, wrestling the fighter into a different position and stabbing him in the belly. Adil, better than ever, downed the goblin¡¯s brew and went over to get his bow. Notification:
Status: tipsy. Effect: Impulsivity increased. Reason lowered. Pain perception lowered.Endurance lowered. Special effect: Endurance increased +10, base (6).
Adil ran for his gear but only found the bow and arrows. One of the goblins had clearly taken the sword. Turning to face the others, Adilspotted Seras dancing around the three armoured goblins. Her flaming axes wooshing through the air. Suddenly in a coordinated effort, the three advanced armoured goblins menacingly launched themselves towards Seras. As the first one came close she knocked him to the ground by a sweep on the leg. Then as the next one approached she immediately parried his attack with enough force to hit it away and put him off balance. Off-balance, it was easy enough to pull him into the way of the third goblin¡¯s attack. An axe had struck the shoulder of the held goblin. Seras snapped its neck before spartan kicking the body into the one attacking. knocking both bodies to the ground. Then the goblin on the ground saw an opening and launched his sword towards her, stabbing his jagged metal sword and chipping into Seras plate armour it got stuck. Almost uncaring from the attack Seras saw him trying to pull the sword out and slammed both her axes into the hapless creature¡¯s head. The last living armoured goblin was stillpushing his dead comrade off him. Seeing the bloodied grin of Seras all he could do was crawl away. The fear and realization started seeping through, he knew he was finished. Adil mesmerised from what he saw noticed three sets of 240 XP delivered to Seras from a party icon. Adil, cocked another of his arrows as he started trying his best to take aim at the panicked creatures. The first was at a goblin crossbowman, he hit it in the shoulder taking the crossbow out of his hands. The goblin got out its knife and started charging in, but Swift finished him off with a small stream of focused fire, charing its face. Another goblin went running towards the big tent, Adil knew the leader must be in there and tried to stop the goblin before it was too late. He drew three in his hand, managed to shoot one in the goblin''s leg, then the chest, and the last iron arrow Adil had hit the goblin in the head. The remaining goblins only cowered in fear and were easily mopped up. Notifications
Monster?????? total XP Goblin x4??????240 Goblin Archer????120 Goblin fighter????120 Total: 320 XP, 40 till next level.
Adil and Swift gave each other a high five before Adil went to collect a few arrows, finding his sword on a dead goblin with another charred face. Seras ignored them and only walked towards the large tent, Adil and swift followed closely behind not looting any of the goblins. As Seras opened the tent she seemed to stop. ¡°Oh, shit¡± Seras stated. 16. Encounter Inside the tent, Serassaw the bone-armoured goblin walking down a long path towards her,besides him a figure in decorative robes. A few smaller goblins seemed to be running in the opposite direction, down into the depths. It appeared that thelarge tent had been obscuringa cave entrance embedded in the rock face. On the goblin leaders approach hisexpression grew focused and angry, staring with a fierce fury towards Seras. ¡°I could have sworn I already killed you.¡± The robed wizard said. The figure spoke in an elegant female voice, matching the smooth features of her face that poked out ofher hood. The robed woman lifted her wooden staff and pointed it forward. A yellowing crystal appeared to glow on its end as the wood of the staff appeared to almost ripple. Immediately Seras levitated into the air, a prism of shifting black and white light seemed to be surrounding her, Seras struggled, wretching against the force that now controlled her. ¡°Fuck you bitch, I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± Seras shouted. The mage constricted her, and she gave a shriek in pain. Adil lifted his arrow and Swift quickly shot a firebolt. Holding the staff in one hand the mage waved her free hand and the firebolt dissipated on it. ¡°Please child, there is no need for that,¡± The mage assured. Adil still thinking of something to do pulled his bowstring tighter. The mage looked unimpressed. ¡°You there, I will let you go if you shoot the young lady," She said. Adil looked to his side at Seras, she struggled, bracing the pain and glanced down toAdil with furrowed eyes. Adil thought, at least ifSeras died she could resurrect. He shot the arrow at the witch in dark robes, she seemed to wave a hand again and a strange bark grew from it, shattering the arrow against the wood. ¡°Pity,¡± she said. The witch took a step towards the two, Swift tried again, this time with his short sword. He ran forward. The mage moved her free and brushed it against what seemed to be a dead tree growth embedded in the rock wall, a dark root cascaded across the floor, splitting the ground as ti travelled. T-he snaking roots hookedSwift''s legdragging him to the ground. The dark mage pulled him closer, constraining him further as therocky rootswrapped around him. She put her hand under his face. ¡°You''re a pretty one,¡± she said. The goblin leader with his bone-decoratedarmour went forward and in a human tonguesaid ¡°Before¡­ seen them... Killed..¡± ¡°Are you sure you haven¡¯t confused them with someone else? I know how they look the same to you.¡± ¡°No... These... Weak¡­ Killed¡± The mage looked into the goblin''s eyes and nodded solemnly. She turned again to the others. ¡°It is interesting. I have to wonder what sort of strange magic could have brought you back,¡± She said, rolling a finger on the side of Swift''s face, he winched as the finger got closer to his eye.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Adilquickly understood he couldn''t win this fight, but he could talk his way out of it. "Why do you work with the goblins?" Adil asked her "What could controlling these people possibly give you?" A slight grin appeared in the shadows of the dark-mages hood. "I work with them because I think that it is right." "Are you against the violence?" "I am not against violence dear one, especially violence towards the church and the likes of this here young lady." Seras struggling under her captivity murmured "Run." "Boy. The colour of your armour on your wrist, it looks peculiar. Where di you find it?" The goblin turned away and looked over to what appeared to be his master. He said in a goblin tongue some wording Adil could nottranslate.- The mage pushed Swift further to the ground and put a foot down on him, holding him in place. She lifted her staff to Adil. The mage then said in a stern voice. ¡°If you do not tell us where you found it, you and your friends will suffer a lot of pain.¡± Adil glanced at his arm, he had added a piece of armour he found from his spawn spot. It was scratched and dented from the tainted wolves attack. After a moment went by the dark mage''s staff appeared to shift and Seras crashed into the ground, tendrils of rocky roots shooting out fo the ground and wrapping around her. Adil shot an arrow but she blocked it with her staff. She shifted the staff once moreand then theprism of light cascaded around Adil, lifting him into the air. "Aaaaah," Adil screamed. The magic force began crushing him, intense pain felt as his bones began to press into positions they shouldn¡¯t.Luckily the painwas still being suppressed by the goblin brew. The mage stopped. ¡°Well?¡± She asked. Swift looked up to Adil and they met eyes, Swift had a serious look on his face and when Adil saw it somehow he knew. He nodded and then closed his eyes, ready. ¡°Run.¡± Adil murmured, and Seras grumbled an ¡°Uuhrhrh?..¡±. The witch shone a dark and vibrant aura,tendrils of black and whitepassing around her: ¡°Tell me where you found the armou-.. what?¡±. She looked down at Swift only to see an expression coated in fire. An explosion erupted from her feet knocking her back as she did all she could to minimize the damage. Swift had focused on his inner fire energy again. Releasing all his power, finding his centre point and relinquishing control. He focused on the pain Seras felt, how she was driving through, how this was the last chance and he could not give up trying only to enhance the surging power. Only when the Witch had noticed what was going on did he let out a smile. A smile coated in fire as an explosion burst forth from his eyes, mouth and his very being. *BOOM* notification Party member Swifthas died Adil and Seras were blown out of the tent and landed on the floor, in a smouldering wreck they saw no remains of Swift''s clothes. The mage was on her knees an expression was like that of a toxic player bested by a noob. She coughed out some blood and trying to get upshe collapsed back down. The goblin leader, however, had taken little damage, he launched himself out the tent and went for Adil. Adil managed to parry but the blow still pushed his sword intoshoulderinjuring him through pure force. Seras slammed her fist into the goblins head, it battered it and he was knocked to the side, he got up again but seemingly he was finding it difficult to walk. ¡°No!¡± cried the lady on the ground. Seras had grabbed Adil and they started running. It seemed that Adil had gained enhanced endurance from goblin alcohol. Which came in hugely useful as they ran as fast as they could. They kept running, through the camp and past the rocky formations, Seras and Adil held the pace until Adil began panting. They looked back towards the camp, seeing a black-white glow in the air of that direction. They kept moving a distance more not stopping. 17. Spawn and "The simulation" Adilfocused on his internal map, andSwift''s icon flashed into existence. It was as though he was still a part of his party even after death. Swift''s icon was in ablack area of the map Adil knew was as spawn, a place he had only been before he got his internal mapping ability. ¡°Follow me. I can get to Swift.¡± Adil announced. ¡°You what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a talent,¡± he replied, taking on a sly expression. Seras acknowledging his response only said, ¡°Lead the way.¡± Theysped through the maze,avoiding any sign of goblins along the way, but as they travelled, it felt like they were being followed. As though the strange robed lady was fresh on their trail. notification
Quest failed: Try again! ¡¤ Non-repeatable ¡¤ No XP ¡¤ Earnt the scorn of Kurt Note: Are you serious?
They carried on a while further, scouting path after path until they came to a dead-end, still a while away from Swift. "Where now?" Seras asked. "I don''t understand it should be this way." Adil reached, pressed into the wall and his hand disappeared through it. "Well now," Seras said. "You don''t see that every day." Passing through, they found themselves on another path. The way they had come still visible. ¡°Looks likeit wasmore hidden than I originally thought,¡± Adil said. Seras passed through and saw still a multitude of paths for them to take. Adil looked concerned. "Who was that, in the robes? She seemed to know you." "We crossed paths, she took out a lot of my friends and killed me in a pretty bad way. That was about a week ago. I think she is responsible for spreading the plague, or whatever that black shit is." "We should hurry before it''s too late." The narrow paths they followed came to an outcrop of rocks that now seemed familiar to Adil. The foundation was firm to the touch until he came across a specific area filled with jagged spikes protruding from the ground. Walking into the rocks, he passed through them, each spike just a distraction to move them along another path. Seras again followed behind. They passed through another wall, the and as they did the wall became a shimmering light that disappeared, leaving him in the grassy field he remembered. Swift was there in his nooby cloth clothes, waiting for them. A black purple creature appeared to be berating him. ¡°You had three days!!¡± The creature shouted. ¡°Does it not hurt??¡± He added. When Swift noticed Seras and Adil walk in through the pathway, he waved a hand. ¡°Hay,¡± he said. The creature noticed the two and drew eyes to Seras. ¡°You see this fine lady is a pristine example of a traveller. Died early, though two weeks was not that early by comparison. But she was already level four. Think of my surprise.¡± ¡°Hay Sm¨¦agol, have you got anything to help Swift out?¡± Seras replied. Ignoring her name-calling the creature went back to Swift. ¡°Some books would be nice¡± Swift chimed. ¡°you damn scrubs aren''t worth my time.¡± The demonic thin stated. Adil gestured to Swift ¡°We need to talk,¡±he said. An explosion erupted behind them and rocks flew across the cavern, a cloud of dust slowly dissipating, revealing who was behind. The dark-robed mage walked out, alone. ¡°Shit,¡± The interdimensional creature said and quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The mage raised her staff andseemed to draw the creature back. The creature was choking now,almost moving in and out of its point in space. There was a smoky cloud where the creature''s limbs would repeatedly disappear only to rematerialize moments later. Swift gathered a burst of fire and threw it with tenacity whilst Adil fired a shot at her. The mage reached out a hand andcreated a small shield of rock like wood around her arm. The dark mage blocked thearrow with her guard but allowed some of the flame to rush over her. The fire had not visibly damaged her, but she appeared to show discomfort as her hood flew back.Whatever they did seemed to work. ¡°Dryad¡± Swift exclaimed in a hushed tone. Small tree-like growths appeared around the mage''shead. As the flame cleared more details emerged, a slight green tint to her skin obscured by glowing blue veins that lead even to her pointed ears. The mage started coughing and the channelled spell dissipated, allowing the black-blue creature to disappear. Swift got another fireball ready. Adil fired a shot towards her. The dryad pushed the arrow away and then seeming to push mana into her staff, flung Adil to the side. Adil''s head smashed against the rocks. A concussion icon appearing in his awareness.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Swift got rid of the fireball, dispersing the heat. Seras had charged forward but was thrown to the side before being wrapped in rocky roots. The witch began coughing some more, a drip of red visible around her mouth. She was more injured than they thought. She shouted something at Swift before collapsing to the floor. Adil¡¯s focus slowly faded, struggling to stay conscious, drifting away. He saw Swift talking to the dryad. He fought the urge to pass out and got to his feet, ready to help. Suddenly an excruciating pain took over as Adil saw Swift being circled by a strange power. The mage held her hand over Swift as he was coated in roots. Tendrils of black and white mana resonated around him. A chord between Adil and swift across the distance became visible. The cord snapped, and Adil received a notification. Member: Swift has been forcibly removed from your party. System unstable; loop uncaught. The pain was so great Adil could barely focus. Swift looked towards him in panic before the rots receded from covering him. Before Adil''s vision faded he saw Swift walk with the mage into the rock face. A path cleared and a cave was now visible. Space itself then seemed to warp as Adil¡¯s vision faded to black. New chapter insert title:The simulation Adil''s mind was awash, he felt as though something in his core was leaking out before being pulled back in. In his awareness system, messages seemed to move in and out of existence. Loop uncaught, mana matrix denied. Party member Swift has been replaced with party member Adil in Adi''s party. Party Adil isinterferingwith party member Adil due to presence of party member Adil. Removing from the party. Error, the party leader is Adil. Leaving party leader Adil''s party. error error containing an error in the sandbox. essence moved to simulation. Simulating experience failed. consciousness contained within a simulation. Adil managed to open his eyes and found himself in a new area, a sandy plain that slowly shifted. suddenly the sand fell, changing and forming into a rocky landscape like the outer ends of the maze. Adil had a bow in his hand, he was in a place from his memory, taking his first shot on the rabbit again. The bow seemed to fumble within his hand compared to how it normally was. With a strange compulsion, he took aim and fired at the rabbit. Missing worse than he had before. Another message formed in his awareness: Ineffective adjustment, non-constructive to enhancement. Repeat. He was again in front of the rabbit. It''s beady eyes staring at him as it always had. The compulsion came again, and he drew the bow to fire. He shot at the rabbit. This time, almost hitting as the arrow grazed passed the rodent. simulation success, adjusting muscle memoryanalysis. Failure archery I already met. Repeat. He was once more in the same position, the rabbit in front of him. He held the bow and felt the compulsion but refused to fire. He fought against it with all his strength. He held the bowdown as it shook in his hands. "No," Adil stated forcing himself down. His mind was his own and he would not be manipulated into repeating the same task. Simulation error encountered, assessing error. Forming new sandbox parameters. Recalibrating simulation. Adil found himself in a small arena, a beast-like creature in front of him that appeared to be an amorphous blob-shaped into the outline of a humanoid creature. As he focused on it the creature formed more into that of a goblin. Adil looked down to see a sword had appeared in his hand. He felt a compulsion to attack the turtle, an urge to use his sword and end the being''s life. He fought the urge but saw as the creature finally formed it stared daggers towards him. The creature ran out at him and attacked. Adil braced the first hit but lost his balance as the second in a fury struck deep. Failure, event non-constructive to system configuration. Recalibrating. This time there was just a turtle, a creature of quaint beauty before him. He felt the compulsion to attack the creature. He considered just following the events to try and get out of it. "Hey, turtle. Sorry I have to do this." He dove in chopping at the turtles head as it appeared to look confused and bleedingly towards Adil. His sword sank deep, Failure, non-constructive to system configuration. Recalibrating. He opened his eyes. This time, he was looking up from the ground at what appeared to be himself. He saw the man, or himself approach the now him. "Hey, turtle. Sorry I have to do this." The man dove forward cutting down at Adil as Adil tried to speak in surprise ."I''m not a turtle" before his poor turtle neck was cut. Recalibrating he woke up again, but this time in some sort of orcish body. Another orcish being on the other end of the arena. He felt emotions he had never felt before. It was as though his brain was not working the way it normally would. Was he really himself. He felt angry. "Fazurah gometu ramathos!" he shouted. He meant to say "This shit is messed up," but instead in some strange tongue it was more like "In these cold nights, rage keeps us warm." Across the space in front of him. Wasanother creature ofthe same size build and race. He charged in, a war hammer seeming to appear within his hand. An uncontrollable rage building inside him. But the thought was constantly in the back of his mind. *what are you doing?* He clashed with the humanoid adversary in front of him,avoiding a swipe. *why am I fighting?* He pondered. He slammed his war hammer into thehumanoids knee. *Is this really me?* He thought The creature gritted its teeth collapsing and then uppercutting with a spiked gauntlet *Or was I the turtle?* Adil smiled with the taste of blood in his mouth and grabbed the humanoids hand. He then grabbed the back of the creatures head and brought it down as he lifted his knee. Adil struggled with what or who he was, existential thoughts flowing through him, *Am I my body?* The creature still seemed to be desperately holding on, then a glint of metal showed in his hand as he tried to stab a small dagger into Adil. Adil felt like he knew what to do and tried to recall a some of his training, but could not. *Am I my memories?* he thought, *but what If I can''t remember who I am?* The knife sunk in, but to the great beast he was, it only fed into his rage. *Am I my feelings, my actions? What makes me who I am?* He channelled the rage into his arm and brought the war hammer down for one final swing. *If I am not me what am I, what is my purpose?* Failure, Recalibrating. Adil found himself in what appeared to be a pub, he was standing behind the bar. There was a man on the floor in front of him appearing to wear some sort of blue army uniform. The man on the floor appeared to be bleeding out as though something had stabbed into his stomach. Adil looked down at himself and saw the knife in his hand, bloodcoating the blade. A throbbing pain robbed Adil of all his senses, his vision began toshake and his essence felt as though ti was compressing. A strange indescribable feeling but he was aware of what it was. Failure: Recalibrating. Adil appeared in a white space with many people around him, all of them looking and dressing just like him. Adil looked down and noticed he was also him.* That''s good * he thought. "Check this out." one of them said, before letting out a massive belch. The others laughed. "Wait, I can do you one better." another said, trying but making a sub-par attempt, only acknowledged by a few grunts. He shrugged. Adil smiled at one getting a smile in return. He went to high fivehimand his hand met with Adil''s but then seemed to pass through, a strand of ethereal energy being left behind. Adil started to play with it as the other him gave a shrug. He felt a push, and pull, he could push it further out and pull it further in. Twist it and shape it. He pulled at the strand and saw the other Adil disappear, pulled into the strandwith an expression of surprise. He looked at the strand of energy still visible as he brought it in and out and moved it around himself. It was as though he could push out and pull in a part of himself. *Maybe I''m just a mess* He thought. trying to conclude his existential breakdown. Then he saw as though each one of him started slowly disappearing, each clone vanishing from within the blank space. In unison, theremainder murmured an "Uuuuuh." Success. Simulation complete. Look fixed. 18. Kurt When Adil woke again there was an old man standing over him, shining a staff across his belly like a medical fleshlight. The man wore a lab coat and had a sharp, short, black beard, matching unkept thick hair. ¡°Hold still,¡± The man said in a sort of analytical Scandinavian accent. It was like a stoned Elon musk. a strangely analytical voice that wants to detail the impending death of the world from killer robots. ¡°What are you-¡° Adil objected. ¡°Just hold still,¡± he repeated and Adil obliged lying back down. Adil looked across his stomach and saw there were a series of symbols passing through a small screen, it was where the man''s torch-like staff was shining. ¡°You appear to have fixed the problem in an unusually unique method,¡± The man said, moving back and bringing his staff up from Adil''s chest. ¡°I believe I will add your details to later patch notes. The development will help inhibit any future tampering talented individuals may attempt,¡± The man added. Notification Patch note: Hugo has remotely updated your mana and translatedessence system. interference from external mana sources severely inhibited. Adil steadily sat up and looked around again at the spawn area. The strange black-blue creature again appeared, he was climbing over the shoulder of the mysterious old man.Adil looked across the cavern and with acloser inspection noticed a faint change in hue. It was as though everything was a shade darker and bluer. He saw the armoured skeletons were still on the ground in an area of the cavern, but now, next tot he sceletons an opening in the wall showed an open cave entrance. Further away and blocking off the cave''s entrance he saw there was a bubble enclosing them. The bubble was a sort of dome made from jagged polygons attached to each other, shifting as they reflected the light from outside. The wizardpulled back his strange glowing staff and reached out his hand. ¡°Hugo Lefebvre,¡± he said with a smile. Seras was standing behind him looking disgruntled. ¡°He¡¯s the one that sent us here. To this world. He also saved us just now and apparently froze time,¡± She said bluntly. ¡°By the world, do you ever calm down?¡± Hugo asked. Adil looked around in confusion. ¡°So why are we here? Can you take us back?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯ve already tried that,¡± Seras added. ¡°He says we need to figure it out.¡± The man gave a sympathetic smile and put a hand on Adil¡¯s shoulder. "It would not be nice if I were to trigger the memories. I advise you to let it come back to you naturally." "But... This has to have some purpose. Why here? Why us? Can you tell us anything?" ¡°Well, You know how in your world there is, a computer screen. Just a screen. A thousand by a thousand pixels. Yet, in just a few seconds it could convey a message, a piece of information that would make the poorest man the richest. Something that could change your world in an instant. This, all with just a small number of lights working together. Now, if I think that way when I see a screen like that, imagine what I think when I see something like you. The possibilities you have. That is why I did this.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Seras gave a shrug, showing that¡¯s the best, he was going to get. The scientist laughed. Adil struggled to recollect his thoughts. ¡°We need to get Swift back, he¡¯s been taken,¡± Adil blurted out. He attempted to get up. When trying to stand his legs seemed to wobble for a moment until he appeared steady. ¡°I¡¯m well aware, but I can¡¯t help you. If I don¡¯t get back before time unfreezes there will be unavoidable consequences,¡± hetapped Adil with his staff. ¡°But it¡¯s your fault we¡¯re here,¡± Adil said pleadingly. ¡°I understand how you might see it that way. I do, but there is more to this than you can readily imagine.Knowing the capabilities you have unlocked I believe youshould be more than able to take care ofthe troublesyourself.¡± Adil didn¡¯t look happy at this response ¡°You appear still troubled. I will leave you, Kurt, until this matter is handled you are to accompany these people.¡± The wizard added. ¡°You¡¯ll what?¡± Said the black-purple creature appearing beside them. ¡°Kurt, there is a time for action, not apathy or reticence.You have spent the last week watching Netflix, it seems appropriate that you help in this situation.¡± The creature started walking forward, looking displeased. ¡°Fucking noobs¡­.¡± He replied softly and out of earshot. ¡°Have fun,¡±Hugo said, and then with a wave of his staff a portal appeared, it was just large enough for him to step through. The portal disappeared as he passed and then space itself seemed to change, the background imagery seeming less fragmented as time started moving normally again. ¡°Where, where has he gone?¡± Adil said. ¡°That¡¯s none of your concern¡± replied Kurt. ¡°No, Swift,¡± Adil added. Seras pointed to an opening in the side of the cavern, revealing a sort of pathway down. Rocks that had been blown out of the wall lay scattered along the passageway.Light shone in,highlighting ornate designs across the walls of the cave. Like tribal markings etched into stone slabs. ¡°He went down there with the mage,¡± Seras explained. ¡°Why did they take him?¡± He asked. ¡°Probably so he doesn¡¯t respawn,¡± Seras replied. Adil saw his notifications around his screen, a concussion iconhad just tilted to 0:00 and as that happened he felt like he could think more clearly. Another set was visible, he had reached level three, but seemingly the ability points had already been spent.
New trait Mental tether You have learnt how to expand a part of your essence into the outside world without risking damage. Allows you to connect your essence to things in the outside world.
New quest
Reunite! Task: Find Swift, and solve the mystery of the hidden caves. Exp: 600
Adil shook his arm, trying to make himself feel normal again and said to Seras. ¡°I have a weird new talent, it says I can my essence to things. Like people.¡± ¡°Like a telepath?¡± Seras asked not even phased. ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Ok, try with me¡± ¡°If you¡¯re sure.¡± Seras didn''t reply but seemed ready so Adil focused on his internal mana. He reached out with his mind, a tether of essence seemed to link to Seras and he soon started to feel her presence. He let out a gasp as he felt the connection. Suddenly he was in a room, shattered glass was spread across the floor and a broken chair smashed against a kitchen table. A girl was being held by a woman in her mid-thirties. ¡°Why are we still living with him,¡± The child asked. ¡°We¡¯re going Rosie, it doesn¡¯t matter where, but we need to go.¡± ¡°Mum, you still love me, right? Even if he''s my dad. Even if I did that?¡± ¡°Of course honey, don¡¯t ever say that.¡± Adil was ripped back to reality. Seras looked furious. ¡°No one fucks with my mind. You had no right to see that!¡± Seras shouted and she stormed away. Adil ran up to her ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t Adil, just don¡¯t.¡± They were silent for a moment then Seras said again. ¡°I know it¡¯s not your fault, let¡¯s just go.¡± Adil came next to her and thumped the side of her plate, getting a smile in return. They moved in towards the cave, Kurt teleporting onto Adil¡¯s shoulder,morphing intoa small raven. "Hey," Adil said turning to the now little creature, getting no reply in response. They entered the dark of the cave and ventured through to see what awaited them, glowing insects and mushrooms illuminating deep in the path. 19. Desperation The collapsed entrance of the cave had scatted rocks inside forcing the two to climb through. Still, the path was illuminated enough to see the decorations across the sides with an occasional tree trunk like formation holding the ceiling up. Adil and Seras walked in, trying to stay to the sides and gather the most darkness. In the distance shone a scattered assortment of torches and they could see tracks of the mage and Swift showing the direction they left. Drips of blood were scattered across the floor, Adil could see the after-image of the mage, stumbling as she walked. Moving in further they saw how some of the tree like root formations holding up the ceiling were cracked. The occasional one showing a hollow inside, whatever was in there seemed to have broken out. Tracks suggested something smaller than goblins emerged from the cavities, but it was hard to tell or follow as they had not seen it before. Adil moved further in down long corridors and rough-cut steps. The area seemed hastily built, large spaces in each corridor held up by the tree-like formations, hard as stone. Etched rocky decorations where half imprinted into the walls with the occasional broken torch hold. Adil¡¯s internal mapping let him know where he had been. He saw the tracks of the witch carry on down a pathway into a set of winding stairs, but he noticed on the map how a section of the cave system avoided an area. The paths would circle it in an odd way that took longer than it needed to. ¡°Let me see something.¡± He asked Seras. She gave a nod and they took a slight detour to an area Adil had noticed. He arrived at a wall slightly out the way in a dead end. As he moved towards it he seemed to pass through a bubble-like illusion. He ended up in another pathway and was able to see everything behind him. Lights from gems in the walls and bright insects illuminated the path. ¡°Knew it.¡± He said.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Where the fuck did you go!¡± Seras whispered. Kurt gave a mild grunt, still perched on Adil¡¯s shoulder. Adil stood there for a moment, only a meter away. He moved closer and quickly tapped the side of her shoulder. Seras turned to face that direction ¡°That shit is not funny.¡± She added. Still unable to see Adil. ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡± Kurt replied. Adil quickly pulled her in and she went with a held in screech, she ended up in the secret path. ¡°Ready?¡± he said, smiling that he saw Seras do that. She gave a sly smile back and moved past him, punching his shoulder a bit harder than normal. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± Adil had seen the way the mage went and noticed how he could take a shortcut down, avoiding the winding circular path the mage would have followed. Through the illuminated area, they came to an open space, looking into a large pit, the stairs the mage had walked were winding around it. Over the edge and into the pit they saw a ritual taking hold. The dryad was facing the centre of the pit surrounded by a horde of goblins. The dryad mage twisted a crooked wooden staff in the air and began resonating with her black and white magic. tendrils of the black-whiteenergy shone and spun in a cascading rhythm around the horde. The goblins had dark wreathing masses along their backs and across their faces. She slammed the base of the staffto the ground and a stream of darkness shot from the goblins. The black oozing essence pooled to the centre of the pit and as she lifted her staff it shot towards her staff and was absorbed by it. She let out a fit of coughs, spluttering blood across the arm of her robe. Then Adil noticed the blackness was gone from the goblins, the taint that marked them, and the goblins looked so young, they looked like goblin children, if that. Swift was in the back, not restrained but walking freely. He came forward, to the side of the witchpulling forward an empty barrel. The goblins across the pit seemed to loose energy and collapse. The witch poured out the liquid from her staff and ejected it into the barrel. ¡°So that¡¯s how they get it.¡± Seras said. Swift lit it on fire, the barrel erupted, a flame shooting to the sky. The still awake goblins seemed mesmerized and in awe, staring into the fire. ¡°The fucks going on.¡± Adil said to Seras. ¡°No clue.¡± She replied. ¡°Let¡¯s just get Swift out of here and go.¡± ¡°We need to kill the witch, this is our best bet. Or we can¡¯t get out of here anyway. Now, before the goblins get up.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± 20. Essence of hope Adil found a path to head down, with his strange insight into the exact distance down he used his rope from the rogue kit Swift had boughtand slowly lowered himself to the bottom whilst Seras stood at the top behind one of the pillars. Waiting with Kurt. Adil at the bottom saw Kurt appear in one of the shadows. ¡°You¡¯re sure you want to do this?¡±Kurt asked. Adil just gave a nod in reply. Adil hidden in the darkcorner of the pit focused the aim of his bow. He shot forth an arrow, and it fizzled away as the mage caught it with her strange magic. Disintegrating it in the air. Then the mage shot a force at Adil, seeing the outline of his cloak slam into the back wall. Before she could turn, to her blind spot two axes swung, an uppercut of pure fury managed to get close but barely as Seras was frozen in place and pushed away. ¡°Is that all?¡± The dryad asked. ¡°No¡± Adil replied, appearing just behind her, without a cloak and Kurt on his shoulder. He focused on the tendrils of essence that were torn open from her magic. Trying to connect to her mana he shot in grasping hold of her black-white essence. Suddenly he saw a forest, a young lady dryad, the mage, was walking through rubbing her hand along the sides of trees as shouts of panic began to emerge in the distance. Banners appeared through gaps of the forest, theimage of red-black armoured warriors. Another dryad came running forward. ¡°Run.¡± He said as an arrow shot through the side of his head. Hidden behind the tree she began to panic. She fell to the grass unable to get away before the banners came closer, passing where she waited. A unit passed by and turned. A face of a goblin, no more sublime, refined and fierce, stared down at her. It was an Orc, blood on his ornate armour the shine on its dark metal illuminating in red. ¡°No¡± The witch cried, as Adil was ripped back to reality. A panicked look on his face, the dryad went to lift her staff and as Seras came close again pushed ather with a force of her hand. Adil dove in again. Stabbing in with his tendrils of mana. He saw the Dryad standing beside a tree, a look of sadness and contemplation on her face. She was staring into the tree, a creature¡¯s face visible on it. That of a baby, a strange upturned nose. Adil was drawn back into reality.Stolen novel; please report. Swifts hand was on Adil¡¯s shoulder now. ¡°Stop this.¡± He said. Adil released his power, Seras was mid-dive towards the mage. Leaning in for a finishing blow the dryad was on her knees unable to move. Swift got in the way. ¡°Move, what are you doing?!¡± Seras shouted. ¡°You don¡¯t have to solve everything with violence.¡± He replied. The goblins around had started moving in, not threateningly but pleadingly. They were all small, infant goblins. They didn¡¯t seem like they were ready to hold a sword, or even capable. They could have stopped them at any time if they could, but they didn¡¯t, either out of fear or lack of understanding. ¡°We are surrounded.¡± Seras said. "What?" Adil replied. Seras was taking glances to the goblins then looking forward again a blank expression on her face. A goblin came closer, crawling, it went towards Seras and touched her foot, she drew her axe and was about to swing when another goblin dove in the way to protect the little one, staring at her fiercely. She dropped the axe. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± She said and began to look panicked. She collapsed to her knees staring towards the ceiling breathing heavily. Unable to look at the goblins. The witch was collapsed on the ground, but furiously turned and held Seras inher magic for a second, exerting all her magical power and then collapsed again coughing blood and releasing the energy. ¡°They will never understand.¡± She said to Swift. ¡°Everybody just relax.¡± Swift shouted. ¡°Do I need to freeking spell it out¡­ Adil, it¡¯s Spec Ops: the line.¡± ¡°No. Fucking. Way.¡± Adil replied. The woman was collapsed on the floor and began coughing a spray of blood on the floor. Adil walked over to her and she turned furiously. A glow of black-white around him that faded without doing anything. He knew she was now incapable of magic. white-blue vein-like lines were visible across her face, leading through her neck. Even on her hands. ¡°Mana poison,¡± Kurt said. ¡°She won''t last long.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Adil asked. ¡°A mage cannot use much magic without poisoning themselves, high elves and dryads can use a lot more than a human, but she is at her limit.¡± Swift said. Adil could sense her aura, it was thin, melting too and combining with the space around it. He knew that wasn''t what it was meant to do. He felt through his open connection tot he world something wrong like he knew what was happening. ¡°I think I can help.¡± Adil said. The woman looked up at him in disdain. Distrust and pain evident in her eyes. ¡°He can help.¡± Swift said. moving over to her. She looked down, she knew she had little left and was practically at their mercy. ¡°Do what you will. Just make it quick¡± She said, ¡°I may have to go into your mind.¡± He said. She looked up at Swift distrustfully, and again at Adil seeing enemies around her but still a glimpse of hope. It was hard to tell what she wanted. She refused to answer. Adil looked around to see what was acceptable, he looked back at the dryad and saw something like hope, before she seemed to latch on to her safety net of distrust. Adil couldn¡¯t let it end here and so reached out his mind, an ethereal connection spreading to a lumping mass of dissipating mana. He reached further, searching for a consistency that he could connect too and linked in. He could feel the connection happen, the poison, the lack of consistency in her essence. He pulled at it, sucking in the excess and building the contrast to space around. Hewarped into her memories again. 21. Duty ¡°Do you think this will work.¡± Said the Orc. A child beside his feet. If the tree is accepting and your heart is pure, I¡¯m sure it will work. The orc reached out and seemed to shimmer mana into the wood, as he reached away a small child''s face seemed to appear where the wood was once flat. ¡°By powers untold. It has worked.¡± Gasps emerged as the many sitting orcs got up to take a closer look. Another orc placed his arm on the one by the tree, a look of happiness and congratulations to the first. It worked. Space and time seemed to shift and distort as the memory started to fade and change. Adil came to see an army of Orcs dressed in rough metal armour, as the dryad hung in the back, her face covered by a hood. A lead orc walked up to what appeared to be a high elf, silver blue armour elegantly held against a stern uplifted expression. ¡°We no longer wish to work for you.¡± Said the orc. ¡°What!¡± The elf said. ¡°We have had enough of doing your bidding and being your cannon fodder. We will no longer serve.¡± ¡°You dare. You betray the honour of fighting as our legion. You are unworthy.¡± The elf backhanded the Orc warrior. The Orc looked at the elf in sympathy. Then walked off, his legion following. Time shifted again, Adil could feel the dryad¡¯s essence forming, coming into itself. He pulled and felt the excess mana culminate in himself. The remnants collecting itself becoming more contrasted and different to its surroundings.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Adil saw fire and carnage, a fierce battle. The dryad was shaken from her bed, a small orc to her side looked up in alarm. The orc from before barged in through the wooden door. ¡°We must leave, now.¡± He shouted. An Orc jumped from the side, collapsed onto him, a fury and deranged madness in his eyes. He was collapsed to the ground and could do little to fight it off. As the dryad ran, the little orc dragged at her side she saw back, the orc on top had a black fungus stretched across its skin. A wreathing disease that seemed to be alive. Adil gasped reeling back from the memory, brought back to reality. *Jesus, mc tityfuck*. He thought. Suddenly power whirled in Adil, he felt energy like a hurricane run through his being. His mind took him back to climbing the hills near his home. The wind was racing, and he held his coat down, a gust of wind too hard blew it away and he was left in the rising winds without a coat. It wasn¡¯t that cold, instead, he could just feel the rising winds rush past him. ¡°COME GET ME YOU FUCK.¡± Adil said. Shouting into the wind. His sound trailed off, obscured by the sound of gusting air. Thunder shot off in the distance and Adil felt the wet of cold rain in the rising power of the wind. He embraced the weather, feeling the storm brush against him. ¡°FUUUUCK YEEEAH.¡± he shouted. A gust of wind shot at him and he braced it fighting with the wind he smiled, almost lifted off his feet and he thought to himself, this is only the beginning. Shot back to reality Adil found himself drift back. His hand strained and whilst he focused a sharp brush of air circled it. ¡°Holy shit.¡± He exclaimed.
Learnt Magic type Storm magic A skill affected by mental clarity. You are now able to channel and control Storm magic through the management of your mana.
New status Mana A form of energy dependant on the essence level. It is derived from changes in internal essence and refills over time to a maximum amount.
The dryad had no lines about her, she looked at Adil trying to keep her eyes open as clear tiredness took hold. She then collapsed to the ground. 22. Why now. The baby goblins hung around Adil and Swift, one of them began to cry before another tapped him. ¡°Show no fear.¡± The goblins said in its native language. The smaller goblin shuffled back in silence and began sucking its thumb whilst the other stood in front clearly trying to look brave. Seras was having a silent mental breakdown, still avoiding eye contact with the goblin creatures, not sure how to take what was going on. ¡°Aaaah¡± She growled. ¡°The fuck.¡± The little goblins recoiled in fear. ¡°Cool your shit.¡± Adil said to her. She gave a stern look but ultimately ignored him and carried on self-deprecating. The sound of clattering steps resonated behind them and a goblin appeared in the doorway. A look of despair and trauma as he saw everything around him, he had a faint blue skin contrasted to a bone and metal armour. He dove in to cut at Adil, but Seras reacted and caught his blade halfway, stopping the blade but flinging her axe out of her hand. She chopped down at him with her other axe but the goblin changed the angle of his sword and caught it. As Seras pushed down on him the goblin drew to one knee, dropped a hand from his sword and pulled out a dagger stabbing into Seras as he shifted the axe to the side.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Seras braced the pain and kicked the goblin away, the dagger still in her side. She pulled it out as the goblin looked around. Adil and Swift still hadn¡¯t made a move but he only looked at the dryad on the floor with a stone sadness. The goblin dove with his sword forward,running in. Seras stood to the side seeming fed up, Adil made little movement trying to show he meant no harm but fell back as the blade pierced his arm, went through and clipped his neck, Adil shrieked in pain as Swift jumped forward, tackling the goblin.Suddenly the goblin and Adil were held ina magic force. Then the dryad lowered him in a walking position to the ground. The contrast between the angry expression turned towards Adil and the casual walk he was making was unusual. ¡°Stop fighting.¡± She said. Adil clenched his teeth and gave a look of pain and confusion to the Dryad. A quest notification appeared.
Reunite! Task: Find Swift, and solve the mystery of the hidden caves. Exp: 600 - complete
Space suddenly seemed to warp around them. 23. Lets start again the area seemed to change,the light in the area shifting into a darker blue. A small area around the group seemed to enclose itself in a bubble. Outside of the bubble, everything seemed to again become fragmented in appearance, broken into shards. A portal appeared in between the group. ¡°Glad to see you made it,¡± Hugo said, coming through the portal. The dryad rose from the floor, the blue veins clearly gone from her arms and neck, she looked confused. She turned to the man in a lab coat andseemed to be taken back by something. ¡°Lady Morgana of the red forest. I was acquainted with your mother.¡± The man said to the lady. ¡°Wha, who, You. Hugo Lefebvre.¡± She said. her eyes wide and in shock, her confusion only increasing. The manwent on one knee and grasped her hand. ¡°At your service milady.¡± Kurt seemed to be impatiently tapping his foot in an effort to speed them along. The dryad pulled her hand out of the man''s grasp. ¡°This trickery. You cannot possibly be alive.¡± She insisted. ¡°It is not a trick milady. I am truly here, and also I behold to you, my squires.¡± Adil twitched at hearing this, but Swift was looking from side to side trying to figure out who the man was. He walked over to the side of the bubble they were in inspecting the barrier that shone distorted space past it. ¡°How did you just freeze everything?¡± Swift said almost taking to himself. Hugo grew a smile looking towards the seeker of knowledge.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Well.. after I learnt the debroli pilot wave theory of quantum mechanics was accurate I tested the influence of mana over the extrapolation of energies in a given field in order to escalate the speed of causality to a point where the disparity of speed to a normal time frame suggests or causes, time to be frozen.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Ah, well. You know how if you shoot a laser into a crystal it bends.¡± ¡°yeah.¡± ¡°well, that is like gravity... Gravity makes light bend like that, because the light moves slower. When part of the wavefunction is slowed it bends, meanders... I use mana.¡± He shines his staff. ¡°To make space have less energy, so the ''E'' or energy for the mass times speed of causality squared, does not need to be as high as outside this bubble. So the laser beans, and photons. Can move faster in here than out there. And this works because matter is just a box filled with things like photons... Does that make sense?¡± He asked. ¡°no¡­¡± Swift said. He was still trying to get his head around what was just said. He went to touch the side of the barrier, it was connected to the outside. ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t do that.¡± Swift looked back. ¡°The speed we are moving, that¡¯s basically a barrier holding back a black hole.¡± Swift turned around and looked between Adil and Seras to see if this was something he was meant to be ok about. ¡°So Kurt, I guess you can come back now.¡± He notices the goblin sheepishly hiding behind the dryadic lady. ¡°That¡¯s unusual.¡± the wizardtist said. He walked over to the goblin behind the lady who seemed to move further back. ¡°Please.¡± The dryad said holding up a hand. Hugo ignored her and put his staff slightly forward, towards the goblin, letting it glow a bit. ¡°I knew it.¡± ¡°There is a barrier in the essence of this species, I have never seen it before, but it appears so vividly in this one here.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Some of them are meant to be girl goblins.¡± He said. The dryad was taken back and grew a shade redder in an almost panicked, guilty realization. ¡°Can you fix it?¡± She asked. ¡°No, sorry, I would need the original source code. Uh, I would need something to reference the difference between them and vanilla *cough* normal humans.¡± She looked visibly disappointed, Kurt jumped onto Hugo¡¯s shoulder. "I think if that''s it I should be off" he said. Kurt and the man were about to walk through another portal before he stopped. ¡°I think.¡± He said. Then turned to Adil Swift and Seras. ¡°How would you want another quest?¡± He asked. 24. Stilted conversation ¡°To the northwest is a city named Durandal, This city does not let any in who are not high elf, I want you to infiltrate this city and break out another Earthman. To do this you will have to meet up with the merchant group ¡°additional pylons.¡± They are also from Earth and have also been given this task. But you will also break into Durandal and try to find the secret of the goblins. ¡®Aditional pylons¡¯ will be in a human city just west of the mountains in a weeks time. If you meet with them then, they should be able to take you to Durandal. Do you want to accept?¡± Adil thought for a moment and focused on what he said, he could feel an influx of manabinding him as he chose to accept the new path.
Quest: The curse of the Orc Task: Break the curse on the orcs and restore their civilisation Exp: 3000
Quest: Operation: tame the wolf Task: Find the man from Earth and free him from his captives. Exp: 2000
Stage one: meet with the merchant group ¡°Additional pylons¡± location: Nimes Hugo nodded to the group at noticing their acceptance and turned to walk into the portal. After entering, space seemed to transform, the area around became visibly darker as it transitioned to how it was before. There was an awkward Silence in the cave as the group looked at each other. ¡°Soo, you up to much,¡± Adil asked the dryad. She turned to Adil and bent the knee. "Squire of Lefebvre, I humbly request your assistance." She asked. ¡°I need help to free the other children, will you assist me?" She said. Her robe covering her face but a fierce determination still visible in her visible features. A quest was prompted for Adil as that was said: Break the goblin curse- stage 1: You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.free the remaining goblins. Adil furrowed his brow at the sight of it. "So, this is just a guess but you have been freeing goblins, gathering them and taking a toxin out of their body to make them less savage." The dryad was silent lowering her head. "Yes." she finally said. "And this black liquid has been infecting other creatures and plant life, and spreading further because you have no way to contain it?" "Yes." She said again. "Why did you not burn it?" Swift asked instantly. "Heat activates it. At least most normal heat." She said glancing to Swift. "And then it becomes alive, able to infect the goblins again and.. it''s harder to get rid of. Adil felt like he should stop. He had that itching feeling what he was saying wasn''t going to go down well. Like telling an alcoholic they have a problem. "So you just kept it around, hoping no one else would touch it? What if the taint spread outside? What if civilisations were wiped out because no one knew how to get rid of it?" The dryad looked agitated at that comment. ¡°I had it under control. We were trying to hide it, it would die if left alone long enough.¡± She growled. " We found some of your hidden taint broken open in a cave, it had... mutated a troll." The Dryad got up from her knee and faced Adil, tears in both her eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything, you don¡¯t know what I''ve been through. I finally managed to take this infernal curse off their souls and this. This.¡± She looked distressed. She turned away from the Earthers and tried to regain herself. "It has just been so hard." She said. "We have all made mistakes. I mean honestly, if I wasn''t so disassociated to everything here I would probably be traumatized from killing those goblins. Like if this wasn''t so similar to an RPG from my world or If I arrived in this world a week earlier. This would have mentally fucked me up." Adil said. Then looked over to Seras, she was rocking back and forth against the wall, arms wrapped around her legs. Swift came over and put a hand on Adil''s shoulder. "What he means to say is, we are here to help and so you don''t need to worry anymore." Quest objective activated: Find the remaining goblin children and free them. "I appreciate your words of comfort, There is a cave system that contains the remainders of the goblins outside the maze. It was where the nearest human settlement was built." ¡°You can¡¯t trust them.¡± The blue goblin said. The dryad rubbed the side of his head and said, ¡°It¡¯s ok child, if not them have your faith in me.¡± She carried on. ¡°As you can probably tell. It would be impossible to release the children without traveling through the settlement.¡± She told Swift. ¡°Oh. I know where that is.¡± Seras spoke up, she was still resting against the side of the cave entrance. ¡°I think it¡¯s where I started. Under the town. The insects and plant life were the same as in this cave.¡± "Can you take me there?" The dryad asked in a firm and cold voice towards Seras. "She is the demon." The goblin leader said. the dryad put a hand down on his head. "Can you?" She asked again to Seras. "I can try, but it might be difficult to get through without any questions. There is a back entrance to the city behind the.. the shrine." "I will come with you." The goblin said. "No! It is too dangerous, you must stay and watch the children." "But mum." "Stay! my strength has returned. Gather your brethren and bring them here. We will build this place into the first real home they''ve had." The goblin sheepishly looked to the ground "Ok." he said in goblin-speak. The dryad pointed to Seras and said: "Lead." With that, they departed the cave and were on their way back to the town. 25. The press onwards The new group of four moved out into spawn point, the armoured skeletons were still ever-present aong the floor in the open cavern. Now though, the side of it was collapsed and a clear opening to the outer maze was evident. The area was no longer hidden to the outside world. "The orcs here died protecting their children against tyrants only wishing to control them. They claimed their lives as forfeit, thinking the creation of their race gave the right to do so." Swift went and looked at a silver armoured corpse. "So the silver ones where the invading high elves and the black armoured ones where the orcs?" The dryad nodded in reply. "They held well but lost so many compared to the elves." Adil added the dryad to a party with just a thought and she became an icon on his mental map. her eyes glowed white for a moment and it looked like she understood what happened. "Your magic is strange squire." She said. He gave a smirk in reply. Adil noticed how he was still unable to see Swift as a party member, he tried mentally adding him but a prompt came up *unable to add party member, compatibility issues* "What did you do to Swift? I cant add him to the group" He asked the dryad. "When he said he wanted to help, I had to separate him from anything that could be used to spy. I was not about to trust a man that killed so many of the ones I was trying to help." "can you undo it?" She shook her head in response. Whatever she did destroyed their bond and she had no idea how to fix it. Adil walked over to Swift and tried to sense with his mana where the problem lay. he could feel a fire, a burning essence contained in a solid shell. "If I connect to you I can fix the problem and add you to the party, but it might hurt, and I think I see your personal memories." He said to Swift. Swift was slightly awkward on hearing that. "I guess it''s alright. I dont have anything to hide but it seems a bit intrusive you know?." He said. "Well if you don''t want to do it I don''t want to pressure you." "No, it''s fine. just a bit weird." He replied then held out his hands closing his eyes. Adil focused on his mana and reached out, connecting to the essence within Swift. He tried to open pathways clearly shut and filter out the foreign mana blocking the way. His consciousness drifted and he ended up in a pub back in Earth.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "You, know, if you just went traveling you would really change yourself. like seeing Iceland really made me realize who I was and where I came from you know?" The lady said to Thomas. They were on the outside of a pub drinking and talking. It was a memory Adil realized of his, he wasn''t sure when. It felt so strange. "Yeah, that sounds great but I don''t think traveling is something for me though. I wouldn''t want to be on my own walking around. I could just be lonely and I can do everything I want here." he said lifting a drink and taking a sip. "It''s just, you find out who you really are, you know. Like, I visited all these spiritual places and really took it all in. This material world with phones and computers can really damage the soul." "Yeah, I get what you''re saying but I find it really hard to think that way and I don''t have the time off work, or the money.." "Typical Libra. You know I''m a Gemini, astrology is the new science and i think it will really help you." The lady said. "That makes, yeah, I''m gonna get another drink." Thomas said. he downed the rest of his cider and walked inside. Thomas saw a shorter man put down a drink before he tied his shoelaces a few men walked by and one of them picked it up. The shorter man walked over to the others and grabbed their attention. "I, wh, was drinkin, that." the shorter man said to the man. He was pointing to the drink the person had in his hand. "This drink, Nah mate this is mine." the man replied. "I s, s, saw." "Mate, this is mind sweep rules. You can''t leave your drink on the table anybody can take it." "th, that, that''s not fair." A couple of other men got up from close tables and walked over to the two. "Is he giving you trouble?" "H, he, h, he stol, my drink." Said the shorter man. "Shut up you retarded fuck, I was talking to the brother." said the man, similar badges on all three. Thomas had bought his other drink and walked over to the men. "Jesus Christ. The fuck are you assholes doing." Thomas said. "What did you just call us?" said a badge-wearing man. Thomas recognized them, it was some political party he had seen before. "The fuck do you think I said, you stupid sack of shit." The one on the left punched him in the face, as his consciousness faded he heard the words "fucking traitor." He woke up a while later, resting on the floor of a police cell. The stuttering short man across from him was resting on the floor. "Your tinder date left said she didn''t want to associate withviolent types." The policeman said. Thomas groaned as he got up from where he lay, seeing a pack of ice to the side he put it over the side of his swollen face. "What happened? "You''re in a police cell, you can leave anytime. Last night you fought with the blue badge political party. Your friend over therebroke 2 of their noses and smashed a glass round one of their faces." "what the fuck." Thomas said. The man to the side began to wake up, he also had a swollen eye. It was a younger Rob. "You, ok mate?" Thomas said to the other man. "Y, yeah, sorry about last night." He said. Adil was taken back into reality with Swift and they both saw the notification appear in their vision that Swift was now in the party. "Damn." Adil said. "Good memories," Swift said with a smile. "When you were passed out, I kicked the living shit out of those assholes." The team was then ready and they left through the gaping hole to the side of the cavern and walked back towards the town. 26. The camps After leaving spawn they could see the open cavern clearly through the path they had crossed. The illusion was broken and with it, the main defense of the soon to be goblin hideout was lost. "There is a camp to the east, I would wish to visit them." the dryad said. "is this a goblin camp?" Adil asked. "It is a camp of the ones I have freed from the curse, yes they are the ones you call goblins." Seras looked uncomfortable. "Will they be hospitable?" She asked. "One such as yourself may find the occasional discomfort, but they will not attack you in my presence." The dryad Morganna explained. They traversed the maze as a group down a dark path, it was a lower passageway in which you could see outside only through cracks in the wall. As they came through the torchlight illuminated the area beyond. A human skull was on a post, the sound of their footsteps was an echo reverberating across the walls. "It shouldn''t be this quiet." Morganna said. They approached closer and the dryad let up a hand to show they should stop. "we are here." she said. Slime was spread across the floor and the area was a mix of crudely fashioned wooden posts holding up tents of interspersed animal fur. A tangental atmospheric smell of rot was everpresent the closer they came. "this is disgusting even for a goblin pit." Seras stated. "This was never this bad. Something must have happened." Morganna said to the group. They traversed the area and falling past the barrels of fermented liquids and fur beds to come across the mutilated corpse of a goblin. The dryad held a robe covered hand over her mouth. "I''m sorry." Swift said to the dryad. "This is nothing I haven''t seen before. The humans are creatures of no mercy." She said glancing to Seras. "Goblins did things that deserved no mercy," she said quietly. A crashing sound was heard off in the distance followed by a high-pitched growing. They went to investigate, a small goblin covered in a thick black growth was gnawing on a bone. As we approached it looked at us showing white eyes and a deranged expression. it dove trying to grab at the dryad. Seras swung both her axes and chopped its head. "You didn''t have to do that." the dryad exclaimed. The goblins head began to bubble and warp, a stream of black leaking from its decapitated head and the body got up, starting to crawl over as the sound of a gnarling began again. Seras went to press her axe into the back of the crawling body stopping it from moving any further. Its arms contorted and broke as they tried to spin around and grab at the axe.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Burn it Swift, burn it." Seras shouted. He started gathering flame in his hands whilst he walked over. "Stop." Morganna commanded. She tried to pull at the creature with her power, launching a stream of black slime upwards. An eye appeared within the stream and the dryad shuddered, collapsing the stream and it warped back into the creature. "There is nothing but death in there." She hissed. A spike of pure black shot out to the group and Morganna froze it prompting Swift to launch a stream of fire over it leaving nothing but the sound of cascading groans. Mutated goblin - stage 2 80 XP "Something must have happened with the taint." She said to herself. Though everyone else was well aware at this point. "You had it under control did you?" Adil said slyly to the witch. She ignored him but furiously stamped away. Swift reached out a hand and forged the goblins loot from its remains. notification: Obtained: eye of taint: used for potions. More clattering reverberated from deep inside the cave and the faint sound of a rumble. "can you hear that?" Adil asked. As everyone tried to pay attention the sound grew louder. Adil drew 3 arrows from his quiver loading one into the bow. A sound of gnarling could be heard from further into the cave as the rumbling increased to a level they could tell what was coming. "Get ready," Seras said. The dryad took a step back before the first mutated goblin came rushing in a horde following it. As the army approached, Adil had focused into the distance and like with a virtual-tech assisted targeting system, he saw the distances, sizes and time for each of the things to reach them, shooting all three arrows out of his bow into the first three goblins along the way. "Launch a large constant stream of fire when they get in range," Adil said to Swift. "I''ll run out of mana," Swift replied. "Just trust me." The goblins Adil had shot rolled their eyes forward again and began running down as they got ready. After a brief charging swift short forth a stream of fire across the first wave, large enough to hold them back for a second. As this happenedAdil focused a stream of wind. Harnessing his newfound power into the fire and combining it. The mana charged wind reacted in such a volatile nature an explosion shot towards the horde coating all of them running forward. One by one they slowed their pace and fell down. Some close enough that Seras could finish them with a swipe whilst others were shot down with more arrows. notification: mutated goblin killed x 12. 960 total XP. Swift and Loki saw tendrils of essence launch from the carcasses, the mass of energy fell into the two and came with a surge of energy. Their muscles felt tight and rigid as they seemed to absorb the essence. Suddenly a relief like blood finally managing to rush theory their veins came in and they saw a new notification reach into their vision. Congratulations you have leveled up. choose from 2 abilities. lvl 3. 6% progress. "Congratulations," Seras said to the two, a grin over her face. Her mysterious abilities were still mostly unknown to the two. "Your power is both great and mysterious." the dryad said. The dead carcasses of the mutated goblins were scattered over the floor. They were burnt away revealing disfigured and strange figures under what was a coating of taint. "The infection is spread deep into the catacombs, I pray we can clear this out." The dryad said "The more time that goes by the more I think you had no plan when it came to storing the taint.," Seras said picking up one of the goblin carcasses and absorbing it to see if they dropped any loot. "Do you need to do that, the ones that died here are innocent and you defile their corpse." The Dryad replied. Seras looked back at her and to the next goblin, she absorbed. "Loot is loot." She replied. The team acquired 3 more tainted goblin eyes and moved towards the depths of the catacombs. Where the goblins came from. Swift seemed nervous upon peering into what depths awaited them. The echo of each footstep highlighting the space they were to walk through. "We must move forward to clear out this infestation." The dryad said. "I won''t have enough fire for everything in there," he replied. And they carried on down the path 27. What lies below Adil fell to the ground his back against the cave wall and put his hands over his head as he lent in. "Is this ever going to end?" he asked. Swift had walked through the camp lighting torches, fashioned from the sticks, cloth, and oil like liquid still present in the camp and peered into the cave system. "How big are the catacombs?" Seras asked the Dryad. "The caves can extend further down than the mountains go high. We can only hope that the taint does not stretch into its deepest depths." Adil looked into his inbuilt interface, inspecting the choices around him. he looked through the choices and found what he thought would be the best for the time. *Alchemy an intuitive understanding of the processes within all you have eaten, able to know what combinations catalyze for the most effective use. Further able to enhance its effects by an injection of mana. *Levitation The power to control the power of air for moments of levitation which can be further enhanced into flying. *Air spear The power to focus the force of air and spin it into a whirling drill so thin and fast it is shot out like a spear of lightning. *Mighty gust To focus the power of air into a mighty burst of air, shooting everything away from the caster suddenly and with a great cost of mana. *Agility 2 Further enhance agility, through strengthening bones, the flexibility of muscles and intuitive reflexive action to allow for the most impressive feats of acrobatics. *Strength 1 enhance bone structure skin density and the power of muscle tissue to allow for feats of strength disproportional to one''s size. *Sense mana To use the opened tendrils of essence as enhancements of one''s own senses. Looking into the surrounding landscape to see high concentrations and differences in essence even through the walls. Adil wanted to levitate, soaring through the air could be unbelievable, but in a system of caves, he felt as though it had to be the first to go. Only two choices were available and with more levels to come, he thought about only what could be used within the catacombs. In the end, he chose mighty gust and sense mana. To know where your enemy is and to escape felt like his best options. He formulated a plan of gorilla warfare. in which after each attack he uses gust to run away, only to wait for his mana to recharge and dive in again. Swift had a different selection, and with it immediately he chose a single skill, taking both ability points. titled "That which illuminates heaven." It gives him greater control over a longer-lasting fire created by an infusion of a more solid essence. All members of the party were handed a torch by Swift and gathered together, ready to enter the depths. The dryad held out her hand to Adil getting him up from the ground. They then walked into the entrance of the catacombs. The cave held a faint illumination from the glowing insects andmushrooms spread across the walls. Adil walked up to Seras and gave her a slight smile "I just upgraded my air magic and ability to sense mana." He said. "When did you learn magic," Seras asked. "When I fixed the magic of the Dryad, I think when her mana ran through me it triggered something." He replied. Seras looked towards him and wondered for a moment. "Can you?" he saw the expression that Adil had and knew it would risk him seeing her memories. That was not something she wanted him to see. "never-mind." She added. And they walked further into the cave.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. A small creature scattered across the floor in front of them, just catching the light for part of a second. "It''s not tainted." Adil said. "at least not completely." They still stood on guard waiting for the next event to take hold. "Over there," Adil said. He pointed down a path to the side where he could sense a dark corrupt energy. They started walking in that path when the thing crawling about came rushing out of the side and took their notice as it was illuminated in the light. "No, do not go that way. Bad thing down. Evil" it said in goblin speak scuttling to the side. It was a small goblin, an infection slightly present over its side, but stagnant. Almost like their natural growth. "Come here child." the dryad said to the creature. The goblin came forward keeping low to the ground, as it approached. She used her powers enveloping the creature and sucked the tainted energy from it leading it up and in a ring above its head. Swift came forward and set it alight. It hung in the air like a halo of fire above a purified goblin. An animal like scream echoed from down the tunnel. He shot the fire forth into piles along the cave, illuminating the space. The goblin had the corruption removed from his mind and body, his eyes now with pure untarnished pupils and Iris looked at himself anew in awe. "I, I . great mother of the blue moon, thank you." He said prostrating himself onthe floor. "Lift your head, we are not in a place for this. Now speak of what lies beyond" She replied. "The cave?" The goblin said remembering what his corrupted mind kept contained. "There is a Cursed dark evil. It covers the walls andwatches. you must run, escape" "Relax, and tell me what you know." She insisted "Tentacles of madness, eyes, always watching. It is evil, it corrupts your mind eats you from within. I beg you please leave. It is not safe." he said in a hushed tone. "Are there any others past this point?" She asked. "Few. many turned, many eaten. Maybe none live I cannot remember." The dryad Morganna held out her hand and placed it on the goblins head. "You have done well, now run back to the camp and barricade the entrance. nothing must escape or be let into this area until we are back." The goblin inpuzzled realisation looked around at the other members of the party, a more confused agitated expression when he saw Seras. "As you wish moon mother." He ran to the exit of the cave. The group looked towards the darkness of the path and progressed down the pathway which held the evil corruption. Adil saw the black tar liquid dripping down the side of the wall. "the force is strong in this area." "Anger, fear, aggression the dark side of the force are they, easily they, flow," Adil said putting on his best Yoda impression. Seras punched him in the arm. A drip of black tar landed on Swift''s shoulder and he spun around, the oozing mass started slowlyspreading and covering his armuntil he set it alight illuminating the area as he lurched in pain from the heat. A growl emanated from above. The group looked up and saw a seething mass of darkness smile down on them, a sharp pointing jaw of teethhung on a slender creature clawed to the ceiling, covered by a thick cloakof shadow exuding a fog of death. It roared and dropped down between them, slamming down on Swift, a leg piercing his upper chest and a sharp spinal tail whipping round to smash at Seras. Seras dove in blocking the attack fromthe tail and went to hack at the legchopping it off to free Swift. Seeing the creature wreath in pain and fall away Adil launched out a fierce gust knocking it against the cave wall. ThiscausedAdil to collapse onto a knee as he suddenly felt depleted, but now the beast was away the dryad held it in place with her magical forceseeing, it squirmed and thrashed as ti tried to break free. "Vial!" Seras shouted. And Adil remembered the liquid healing potion he was given earlier. He threw it to Seras who nimbly caught it and held Swift as she fed it down his throat, Slowly Swift regained his strength and got to his feet, a fury inside him as he formed fiar within his hands and shot it out like a bean towards the beast. Its long face pointed up and opened wide to let out a guttural screech. Up now, Swift launched fire towards the creature, coating it in mana infused napalm, the corruption and flame mixed together creating a fire that burst into black red and orange licks. Adil brought up his bow and tried to focus a shot with all his power shooting it into the creature. It burst on impact in an explosion as a charge of air was carried within. The creature was on the floor now as Swift stopped pressing in. it tried to crawl forward, as parts of it flaked away in the heat, molten flesh like a balrog covered most of its body. It let out a last croak before collapsing to the ground. *Enemy slain??????????XP Mutated taint wolf, stage 6.???? 400xp "Holy shit, that was a wolf!" Adil said. "Shut the fuck up," Seras said in a hushed tone. Looking around to see if anything was left. Swift coughed as he tried to get up, collapsing again before Seras got under his arm. "This will be harder than we thought. Do you know how deep this path is?" She asked the Dryad. "As I said before, the catacombs can go to the depthsas a mountain goes high. It is impossible to map their routes." Seras looked to Adil. "I can only see a mass of corruption past this point. It would be impossible to tell." An eye appeared on the wall to their right within a stream of black tar-like slime, closing itself when they met eyes. A rumbling occurred and the path they had taken appeared to shut down. "Well, I guess its too late now," Seras said. 28. Dungeon crawling Swift sat back against the wall and collapsed, his heart beating through his chest. just a moment ago a giant demonic leg has pierced his chest, slamming him into the floor. The fast recovery of the troll liquid healing potion had brought him back with enough time to shoot fire at his enemy. The dryad tried to move the rocks that blocked the entrance, the rocks resonating with her strange magic. Then she stopped. "Curses," She said. " It appears that moving these rocks would affect the whole area''s structural integrity. In fact, the area we are in would undoubtedly collapse." She added and returned to the group. Adiused his ability to sense mana whilst checking his map and casually said. "I guess the only way is through." Adil tried tonot focus on thefear he had slowly growing in him. Unknown to the others, Adil had looked further ahead, sensing the extent to which the corruption had spread. The vast amount of power emanating from the space they were walking towards appeared overpowering, an endless dark madness but more than that, when he gazed into the depthshe felt something looking back. "All yours, you''ve earnt it." Adil said to Swift, looking down at the mutated wolfs corpse. Suddenly Swift shot flame out and burnt away part of the wall. "The wall held eyes." said bluntly. A slime-like creature fell from the cave wall. Burning still whilst it lay on the floor.Patches of darkness the were hiding next to the shadows seemed to recede from the area. Showing just how much death they had entered into. "It''s death notification called it *shirime*" Swift said matter of factly. "Described as eyes born from the taint," Swift added. The others grew further silent feeling ever more unprepared for the horrors awaiting them. Adil felt a bang of guilt he could not sense the creatures easily enough to find them. Swift then went over to the mutated wolf and held out his hand, collapsing the creature in a bright flash as the tendrils of energy shot out and collapsed it. Facilitated by the purpose of Swift''s essence it formed into a shimmering cloak.
Acquired item????State ????????essence level Infernal shroud????unyielding ??????Ancient Effects: A cloak made from the essence ofbeast one with darkness and death.The cloak will absorb mana and enhance the power of the user through it igniting in a protective fire.
Swift picked up the leathery cloak and wrapped it around himself. When he let forth a spark of energy it ignited in a cascade of sparks until it became a coat of flames. Spinning it around he appeared to be a spiral of fire. He let the fire disappear and said. "not bad." They approached the next area, a tunnel from this area that wen further down. Adil senseda strong collection of essence. A presence that was both large and powerful. Contained in one place, waiting. "Wait." he said to the others and sat down in a meditative position. He felt the draft through the cave and the essence that came with it like a quiet before a storm bringing with it the feeling of dormant chaos. He peered into the other space and saw it waiting. Whatever the beast was before, the taint had transformed it into something unrecognizable. Its skin exuded thin cascading darkness butshone with a tint ofred. The jagged patterns of black and red tribally mixing across the creatures surface. It was large and fat reaching over eight feet.Two horns ornatelycurved out from its forehead matching itsvicious teeth.Its furrowed expression hid its eyes in shadow. in its hand, it held a black spiked club 5 foot in length, coated in a wreathing mass of dark essence. Adil opened his eyes and looked towards the group.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "There better not be something on that ceiling," Swift said. "I have some good news and some bad." "Enough of your shit Adil, tell us what''s down there." "Well, something bigger than what we just killed, and the strangest thing is. It''s just waiting for us." "We''re being toyed with," Seras said to the group. "They knew we were here from the start. We weren''t prepared and fell into their trap." Swift reinforced. "They say a bad decision is better than no decision," Adil said trying to keep the mood light. "How are you helping." She added. "Powerful squires you may be, but you are still fools." Morganna turned tot he group "We need to move, we can think of something else when there are other options."The dryad said. "Seras go in first, the dryad and I will support whilst you tank. Then Swift will be the heavy weapons." Seras walked forward axe''s drawn. "Obviously." She said taking the lead. They stepped into the room ready information. The ogre-like being stared down at them, it was breathing a fiery black gas from its mouth, trailing away.The bodies of deceased armoured goblins lay scattered away from the beast. Seras ran in singing with both axes, as the ogre went to swipe the dryad moved Seras out the way, avoiding a large spiky club that left a trail of black. Fire shot out from swift and scarred the beast as he shot across its front whilst Adil charged an arrow. Seras went in again, as the Ogre roared from the fire. A slice to the leg and the ogre took a knee looking around to Seras. Then it let forth a guttural roar resonating an aura of dark red. Adils arrows shot it in the face and explosion on impact. The beast charged the back line aiming for Swift and the dryad. "Now," Seras said and went out the way. A gust was burst forward as the ogre drew closer. It braced the wind holding off against the stream of air and force the mage pressed against it. Swift charged his fire and then shot into the torrent. A bursting fire flew against the ogre and it held up its free hand to brace it. When the gust ended the free arm of the ogre collapsed to dust, but he was still there holdinghis club he took a step and swung forward at Swift. The Dryad held out her staff andforced the club to stop, but it was too late.Swift igniting his cloak was battered by the club as he moved out the way, he flew back, coated in the fire of his cloakand appeared alright. He managed to stand up and face the beast again, seeing it struggle against the dryads magic. Seras came out charging at him and sliced into his back, chopping at its side.The Ogre roaredpulling back his club to swing away at Seras before again looking to Swift. Another arrowstruckthe ogre''s leg and an explosion made him collapse to the floor. It let out a final roar when Swift had finally charged enough of his mana he could shoot out a final burst. Leaving nothing but the charcoal body of the beast and its corrupted club behind. A scream echoed from further into the depths.
Enemy slain????XP mutated troll ??? 400 (stage 6 )
"They''re aiming for Swift." Seras said panting. "They must have a hive mind. something that connects them all. Maybe they think if Swift is gone they can infect us." Adil replied. Seras walked over to the Ogre corpse. She stuck her hand into its chest punching through the rocky charcoal and began to absorb its essence. The power of the creature seemed to glow within the cracks of the corpse before the tendrils came out. Shooting into the club it took a new form. A two-handed axe of a distinct ornate design. a thick chaotic pattern coating all but the shine of the blade.
Acquired item????State ??????????essence level Demonicbattle-axe??Self-healing?????? Ancient Effects: An axe born from the fury of a powerful beast corrupted into solid darkness. Hits with this weapon create an aftereffect explosion, rupturing the world around it.
Seras looked pretty happy with her to find and slot it next to her others. "Never have enough axes. If we live through this, it''ll be so worth." She said. Another eye popped out of the wall before Swift managed to shoot it down. "Got you fucker," Swift said. Trying to loot it he got nothing. There was a roar from below. Cascading sounds of movement started echoing from the tunnel before them. "I think they figured out we can loot." Adil said. "Quickly, we must move!" Morganna exclaimed. The went forward and took a right from the pathway as Adil lead them towards a place of least concentration. They heard movement from all around. "That thing about structural integrity. Is there any way you can shut off those paths." Adil said pointing to specific areas around the cave. "it will create much danger for us." She said. "Hurry. We have to do something." he insisted. She went to a few paths and focused on the rocks. She raised her staff and started pulsating flashes of black and white light. The movement became closer accompanied by the gnarling thrashing sounds of deranged beasts. Before it was too late Seras smashed her new axe into the wall just to see the light of a corrupted wolf stare at them an after-explosion shook the side of the cave and the ceiling began to collapse. Surrounded by the magic of Morganna and the helping gusts of wind they managed to stay safe seeing the path fall. Seras collapsed to the floor as tendrils of essence seem to fall into her from beyond the path. She had levelled up. "Your power is vast, and your potential appears endless." The dryad said to the group. "you''re not so bad yourself." Swift said to the dryad. Seeing the faint sign of a blush. "The power I have was accumulated over a much longer time." She replied. They looked at the paths before them, and after Adil had checked both his map and sense of mana he pointed them in another direction to go. 29. 8d6 The group looked around the dust and debris from the collapsing tunnels. Swift only spun in fire as he activated his cloak to rid himself of all the dust, whilst the dryad similarly lifted it off her and Adil shot air out blowing the dirt away from him. Seras looked around at the team magically cleaning themselves in disdain as a gust of air blew dirt her way. "Are you ladies ready yet?" She asked, now coated in more dirt than before. "This way." Adil said. leading them towards another distant path. They heard growls and clatter along the path and Adil sensing what was going on picked up the pace. Reaching a space more brightly lit with insects and mushrooms he saw a black mass with teeth moving towards an armoured goblin defending an unarmoured one. One gust of air blew the beast to the side, collapsing it against the wall and then he loaded up an arrow. "Get back," Adil said in goblin. having the other two back off slightly. he shot out one of his explosive arrows ad it caught the beast in the leg, making a black sludge pop off from it scattering on the floor. Swift came then and shot out a fire that caught all the black leaving it to stay alight along the pathway. Seras then arrived putting the goblins on alert, until the dryad had caught their gaze.
Enemy slain????XP Mutatedwolf??? 100 (failed) First kill note: The taint failed to combine with the wolf. Instead, the wolf was consumed and turned into a manifestation of pure taint.
"We are here to help," Adil said in goblin-speak. The smaller goblin was holding his misshapen weapon at the group waving it at them, not trusting what they said. The armoured goblin put down his weapon and pointed further down the tunnel. "More fighting, darkness takes. Kill slowly. Many trapped." Taint was clearly visible protruding from under his chest plate. The dryad took the cursed liquid out from the two as Swift burnt it again. The goblins were again taken back, the feeling of relief clearly visible on them as though they had never known such mental clarity. "Lead the way." The dryad said trying to hurry them along. They came to an area closed off within the catacombs, where a small barricade had was holding off creations of taint like he had just seen before. The creatures though, as frightening as they were, did not seem to be making much of a move, just staring down the goblins ferociously trying to hold them in one place. Swift shot fire into the first one as Adil fired three air empowered arrows into the other beast, finishing them off quickly. "We''re getting you out of here," Adil said to the other goblins. The area heldheavily mutated goblins unable to move half collapsed to the floor, a wreathing infestation coating their body, all the conscious goblins could do was look up in utter confusion. Though it was clear that the goblins could handle the corruption more easily than trolls or wolves, it was tearing their bodies apart.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The group got to work cleansing the goblins taint. Swift got another notification as his ability to cleanse had reached the status of holy fire. Echoes of gnarls and screams resonated once again down the tunnels as they progressed through the goblins. "If you hold them we can finish here and move out together," Swift said to Adil. "I''m on it," Adil replied and gathered with Seras to the barricades, a goblin crossbowman two fighters and one with armour stood next to them. The first demented creatures shadow appeared in the distance, Adil shot an arrow into the creature hearing a screech. "What''s your name bud." Adil said to the armoured goblin, he didn''t reply for a while but then after a brief pause said. "Ezra." "Well Ezra, we have to hold the line here and then we can get out, are you ready for that?" The goblin looked at Adil wide-eyed and over to Seras, she held her new axe with two hands staring down the upcoming forces. "You help goblins?" He asked. "Yeah, we help goblins." Adil replied. A wave of black congested clawing arms seemed to charge out of the depths. Adil shot another two arrows focusing the storm within him to fly them through the sky. The impacts held a strong kinetic force but it appeared to have little effect. The other goblin archer fired off shots with him and one of the fighters pushed down a barrel. The barrel fell down until he threw a lit torch onto it seeing it explode and cover the beasts like napalm. The creatures screeched in pain but didn''t appear to take much damage from this fire. When they finally reached the barricade Adil stepped out and let out a mighty gust, exerting all his mana built strength. The creatures flew away and the goblins looked towards Adil in surprise before bracing again for the creatures. With that Seras had stepped out, slamming her axe into each creature making it fly away before exploding with the after effect the weapon brought. Each goblin fighter helped closer to the barricade pushing the beasts back so they could get a few more arrows and slams from Seras. Adil was still recovering from the ground and could only see Seras get swamped with more of the creatures, demented corrupted goblins and masses of black tar encircling her. As Seras slammed another wreathing mass with her axe bracing for the impact a dog launched at her back. The armoured goblin dove into elbow the goblin out the way, and connected eyes with Seras as she saw what he had just done. They seemed to be winning the battle, the monsters before them being too weak that even in their numbers they could be held back. Adil had managed to get to his feet again when he saw the mass of darkness spread out amongst the creatures slain congealing into something more. "Get back!" Adil shouted, and Seras managed to spot the incoming danger, slamming her axe into the side of the wall before backing away, an explosion of rock and dust scattering what was chasing her. They managed to get behind the barricade as the fighters pushed over another barrel with a spark of flame. The scattered fire did little damage to the mass as it took shape, only illuminating it. "Swift, are you fucking done yet," Adil shouted. "Last one." he replied. Adil got ready, charging a final burst of air as the group saw what had formed before them. 5 differently shaped legs connected to an abdomen protruding some sort of head made only for teeth. Eyes appearing across its body, moving around. It took a step towards them, Seras and Ezra holding behind the barricades while the other fightersovercome with fear and trepidation could only move back. Suddenly a blast of fire as bright as the sun shot through, burning through the creature like a beam. A fighter back to his senses launched another casket at the beast catching it onto the flames and scattering napalm around it which dissolved through the black mass, spreading the cleansing properties of Swifts fire. Adil on that mark launched out a gust of wind into the fire. The area beyond had a wall of cleansing fire pass through, dissolving everything in its path. Reaching the end of the passageway to make the place appear like a normal cave it once was. A series of notifications popped open for Swift and Adil. killed behemoth, 4 mutated goblins 2 failed mutations 6 mutated wolves level up. 30. Kojiki The goblins stepped out from behind the barricades cautiously looking around at the remains and or lack of remains that stemmed from the monstrosities they thought would be their end. "What now?" Ezra asked. The armoured goblin looked exhausted from both the fighting and confusion. "Now we get you out of here." Adil explained. The goblin looked up at him with esteem, ready to follow his every command. "Squire, we are in need of a plan. I can see no escape from here without vanquishing the focus of this evil." The dryad explained. "I''ll look for a way," Adil explained. Swift went to his side and put a hand down on his shoulder as Adil sat to the ground in a meditative position. As he looked around, feeling essence travel in the breeze Adil could feel the creeping sensation of evil corruption blow through him. He braced through it trying to see where it was. A mass of madness before him. Looking further past he began to understand. Adil spread out his mana and leached into the darkness. Adil opened his eyes, no-one was with him. He found himself sitting in a large, dark, open space. Out the corner of his eye, he noticed a slithering black entity dripping with a tar-like substance extending out from the darkness. Another soon followed, and then another leading straight for him. It lifted its head, showing him glowing red eyes. one head after another came out of the darkness to face him. Silken scales became visible dripping a black liquid. The faces started to face him, teeth white dripping with darkness. Suddenly they dove towards Adil and he was pulled back into his body. Shocked and breathing heavily he was sweating when he looked up at Swift. "Good news first," Swift asked. "I know where the boss is." He replied. "Jesus Christ Adil. You fucking did it." Seras said. pulling him up for a hug. "The bad news is, its some sort of giant 8 headed dragon, really, really far down," Adil added. "We should rest before moving out." The dryad said. "How can we rest here, they will kill us." "You have done many things I once thought impossible, but one thing is certain. If we continue like this, the darkness will not be what kill us." She said. The bags under Swift, Adil and Seras''s eyes showed how tired they were. "I agree with the dryad, we can move from here and find somewhere new to hide. At least then we will know if they can track us." Seras motioned. They travelled through the cave following Adils lead and avoiding any creatures in the area. They arrived at a wall in the side of one of the tunnels where Adil stopped. "Smash your axe here." Adil said to Seras. "Do you want to draw the monsters?" She asked. "No, just do it." Seras smashed her axe into the side of the wall having the after effect explosion rip it apart. Beyond the wall was a hole just large enough to cram everyone inside. When they moved in Seras had stacked the rocks just enough to cover the hole. Swift created a small flame to see everyone one was there. Then they tried to rest. Swift and Adil both had 1 ability points left for their fourth level. Swift was stuck between three choices. Pillar of flame After targetting an area, infusing it with fire a pillar of flame will launch up towards the sky. living bomb infusing a creature or entit#y with an explosive burst of fire, turning them into a time bomb. This explosion may pass to nearby entities if enough mana is expended and absorbed by nearby entities. searing chains. Infusing more solidity to your mana, you may create and launch chains of fire towards a given target. Eventually Swift picked searing chains. Hoping that he had some crowd control to help his glass cannon lifestyle. Adil, on the other hand, had nothing significant change from his previous options. he felt like Agility level 2 was the best option. concentrating power within the fibres of his body. he coughed as impurities from his system were released. Seras held him down to stop the noise but wreathed in disgust as the brown-green flem came out his mouth. The group tried to sleep as the goblins took watch. Resting his head on Swift''s shoulder whilst Seras put her boot close to his face, he lay down. Adil was in Earth again. He saw a portal slowly materialize and a creature crawl its way out. Like Kurt, but not, a different person. It looked as though it was searching for something. he was woken up, he heard the clicking sound of a creature beyond the wall, the sound of scurrying and the sound of large thumps from a large creature passing their hidey-hole. It soon passed and enough time went by he could get back to sleep. The bartender shouted "Their coming!" As a blast shattered the wall. It was night time now. he could tell by what he saw through the side of the pub. He woke with a start, the flashed of his dream still vaguely held in place. It was both confusing and an unnecessary thing to focus on. Adil shifted Swift until he was up and they all got ready to leave. On Adils mark they peeled away the rocks and exited the hole. The armoured goblin walked by Adils side again. "You must have fought many hardships to sleep in such a place." The armoured warrior asked. "Well, my dad used to snore pretty loud as a kid, I could hear it through the walls and I had this crazy old clock-" He replied, but stopped noticing the goblins confusion.Ezraseemed to be thinking these words were references to something of great power and might. something that could traumatize a normal man. He realized again how much he had changed, thinking back to when his tinder date told him "Going someplace new will help you find yourself." and jokingly thinking, *well I guess I found out I''m a sociopath*. Adil stopped. he could feel a strange presence and started to feel a thin veil of darkness surround them. "Hold," he said tot he group lifting up one hand. A thud echoed across the area and he felt the movement of larger creatures towards their location. Then he realized. "Swift, the walls now!" he shouted.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Swiftsaw before he had a chance to act, the walls light up with an amalgamation of eyes. A black coating was now visible across the walls with eyes of different shapes and sizes staring down at them. Spears of darkness shot out as the wars began burning in bright fire. The last Shirime crumbled to nothingness. "We have to move now!" Adil shouted. A giant taint ridden troll clambered into the room a demented goblin trapped within a mass of darkness coating it. When they turned to the other side, there was a pack of three heavily mutated wolves, coated in capesof darkness. Swift charged up his fire as one of the shadow coated wolves dove towards him. his cape activated and he moved through a gust of fire. The beast swung at him but only caught the remnants of flame he had once been in. Now between two of the wolves, he let out his fire pointing hands to either side. A stream of liquid molten fire transformedinto a coagulation of chains that wrapped around each enemy they hit searing their flesh as it contained them. Whilst that had gone on Seras had run towards the troll. It reached for her but missed as she nimbly dodged past, slamming her axe into the troll''s leg. The troll let out a dull moan before a shocked cry of pain as its leg exploded. The seething mass of darkness clawed at his scattered tissue and began reforming the leg. The third wolf had charged towards the goblins whilst Adil tried to fire shots. As the wolf dove with unprecedented speed, he missed an arrow, slamming it into the wall which scattered dust across the dryad. One of the goblin fighters barelymovedas the beast tore past, flicking its tail into one of their heads.The fighter''sguts poured to the floor whilst a worker''s head was skewered on the end of the beasts, second tail. The dryad was trying to push back with her magic, but seemingly in panic, her attacks had little effect. "Shit." Adil exclaimed. he couldn''t launch a mighty gust withoutserious friendly fire. he launched another desperately charged arrow towards the wolf. It dodged but not fast enough as it flicked off the beasts left hind leg. The troll was undying but too slow for Seras to have trouble with. Its demented goblin, however, was fast, it dove off and caught onto Seras. The gnarling creature coated in dripping darkness was not very strong. Seras held it by the head and planted it into the wall finishing it off with s slam of her axe, splattering the guts everywhere. Just then Seras saw to the troll a mighty roar as the troll saw his compatriot explode. The troll now had speed. Swift finished gathering his mana, having over-exerted himself with the two chained enemies. He launched fire at the screaming wolves trapped in their chains. They lit ablaze until their cries quietened. Then swift turned to the others, the wolf attacking the goblins seemed like the most trouble. He shota burst of fire towards the beast. Itscape lit on fire forcing it to jumpaway dropping splashes of fire onto the goblins it was attacking. The dryad then in a burst of energy focused white and black mana to slam the beast into the wall, trying to hold it in place as Swift helped the fire spread "Sorry," he said but knew the goblins couldn''t understand him. He turned to the side seeing the heavy troll running towards him. Ezra jumped in the way pushing swift out the way. The goblins armoured body was kicked up and into the side of the cave. Adil was now out of arrows. "You mother fucker!" He screamed jumping towards the troll and planting hisbarely used sword into the side of his leg. The Troll''s black tar-like coating lept up and grabbed the sword trying to get Adil but he nimbly avoided any damage. Now in a position where all his friends were behind him, he shot out the gust ofair. The troll braced the wind easily as tar-like ooze sprayed the exit of the cavern behind it. As Adil collapsed to the ground the troll reached forward. Swift was ready now and launched his attack, searing the troll in the fire. It roared as flames caught on its black ooze. Swift only seemed to pick up pace as the darkness began to recede. His fire started to bubble the trolls tissue until it burst out its back disintegrating the rest as the darkness evaporated in flame. Adil saw a list of kill notifications: *mutated wolves 2 - Swift 580 XP *mutated wolves 1 - Swift Adil 165 XP *mutated goblin 1 - Seras 90 XP *mutated troll 1 Swift Adil Seras. 300 XP "What the fuck was that!" Seras shouted to Swift. "What, the skill? It''s like fire chains." "The crowd control is Adil''s and the dryads job, stick to your role. You nearly had us all killed." She screamed. "Hay we''re all trying our hardest here." "Do you realize how much is relying on you?" She asked. Adil nodded with a solemn look on his face. Swift realized she was right, the chain ability needed a charge period, took all his mana, and only hit 2 targets. But conversely, his power over fire was now strong enough he could kill most of the enemies in one burst. Swift turned from eye contact and looked towards the floor. "I''m sorry, ok." Adil was now next to the armoured goblin on the floor, a cough of blood had shown he was awake. "Vial!" he screamed to Swift. Swift threw over the last dose of troll healing potion they had and Adil poured it down the goblin''s throat. They hung there for a small while in anticipation. The goblin coughed again spitting out a wad of blood before raspy deep breathing turned normal. "You made it." Adil said to the creature. The goblin looked around and saw the decimated corpses of a few goblin fighters and workers about the cave. "I did." he said. he got to his feet and said with a solemn look: "I do not know if I can go on much longer." "What do you mean?" "you may be the mightiest of warriors, but we are not. Even the great moon mother appears to have had too much." he pointed to Morganna. She was failing to hide panicked deep breathing as though she could topple over at any time. "We need a new plan," Seras said again to Adil. "Let''s get look, then we can try something else." As Seras launched her fist into the troll trying to absorb its essence she found the energies of the being pool into her axe. She received the notification: *50% progress till upgrade* As much as she loved the axe, she felt a large discomfort a not getting another healing potion, she even got Adil to check the mutated goblin in case it was absorbed by the axe, though the corpse dropped nothing. The wolves had been scattered amongst the floor, and Adil collected their loot along with Swift. They received: spear of binding, - a short spear that temporarily disrupts the mana of those sabbed by it. Silencing enemies. shield of echoes -A shield that protects the user from attacks and recoil as the kinetic energy is absorbed by the dark void of tt''s front chains of apologies - binding oneself in these chains can reduce your power over mana. Just then Adil realized something. he had received equipment perfect for the goblins whilst Swift had received something that would only be good to punish him and strip him of responsibility. It was as though the loot they were gathering was intuitively shaped bythe essence of the one gathering it. Forged out of the essence in the corpse. Adil handed the weapon and shield to Ezra, placing him in charge of protecting the goblins, hoping that brought them a slight amount more comfort.The chains were kept by a worker goblin. Hoping that it would somehow come in useful still. "Ezra" Adil called. The goblin grew to attention and came towards the squire. "those barrels of liquid you threw yesterday. What was it?" "It was mushroom drink, sir. dizzy drink (alcohol)." He said. "Can you make more or would it take too much time?" He asked. "I would need time, and it would be difficult. it cannot brew easily. If you wish I can get you a drink" He said. Then motioned for a goblin worker to bring a flask. The goblin ran over to where Adil was carrying his flask earnestly. "what are you doing?" Seras asked about to slap Adil. "I tried to ask if they can brew more of this flammable stuff they had yesterday and they thought I wanted a drink." Seras stopped for a moment. "What? I wasn''t going to drink it?" "Not that. I have a brewer skill. I can brew that stuff instantly with essence." Adil looked at her in a moment of pure wonder. To him, that was the key to everything. "We need as many mushrooms as we can find," he said aloud. For the next few moments, Adil directed the group as they picked all the glowing mushrooms that illuminated the cave system. They filled their hands filled fashioned rags of clothes and overflowed Adils rucksack bringing them to a specific spot in a specific cavern. The mushrooms piling high in a small hole in part of the ground. Seras began smashing the mushrooms together before focusing her essence. She slowly fermented the brew, glowing green-blue mushrooms congealing within a yellow liquid.Eventually, there was a thick broth of sparkling yellow. "How are we meant to move this?" Seras said. now looking at the pool of shining yellow with a hint of pride. "it doesn''t matter. We''re here." "Where?" Seras asked. "We''re at the boss room." he replied. The team looked around they were just in the centre of another small cavern. One of the many they had passed through. "Directly below us," Adil added. He pointed to a spot on the floor. "If you smash that spot, it''ll lead right into that things room." 31. kusunagi Adil sensed through the ground thesize of the cavern, it was a huge space dripping with an evil corruption. As the entity wreathed across the floor below him it sent a creeping chilldown his spine. Adil got up from where he was sitting. "The plan is to bomb it. We drop enough of the brew for the creature and it''s 8 heads then Swift and I will try to incinerate it.We can set up defences by coating weapons with the flaming brew. " He said. Morganna stepped forward. "I will help coat the vile creature with this substance," she said. Swift solemnly said in a quiet voice to Adil. "The more you talk about it the more I think it''s not going to work," "Not everything has to be a fight with a huge struggle," Adil replied. Adil scratched a circle into the floor and the goblins stepped back before the dryad focused her magics and Seras moved into to take a smash. She raised her axe over the impact space and looked to the others before striking the rubble. A shattering blow erupted from the floor as rocks and dust coated all around. Adil felt the creature become still, he was unable to detect its position. "Shine some light," Seras asked. Swift focused on his mana and shot out a small orb of liquid fire. it highlighted the size and darkness of the cave but as it hit the floor all it did was show how the prominence of taint could hide anything and everything there. "We need to draw it out," Swift said. They looked around and the goblins sheepishly backed away as they felt the image of cannon fodder over themselves. "I''ll do it," Ezra said with a stony expression. "No. I''m going to be the one doing it. You cant even respawn." The Dryad shuffled uncomfortably. "Forgive me squire but I do not believe that you will respawn if the taint was to corrupt your essence." She said. Adil realized what she said was likely true. he thought his fear of death was taken away by the chance he could respawn, but here now he felt no difference on that realization. "It still has to be me," he said. tying a rope around his body. He dipped his sword in thealcoholic substance and had Swiftcoat it in the longest lasting fire he could muster. Each member of the group was grabbing onto the rope apart from the dryad and Swift and he was slowly lowered into the hole. Hehung in the air unsure of how deep the pit wentand saw spores of the darkness flicker into the flame of his sword. When heswung around, the darkness receded further from him. He checked looked up seeing the rope dangling through the pit, the faces of his friends looking down wearily.He was gladthe rope was still attached to him. He swung forward and towards a wall, scraping his sword against it created a cascade of fire. which burnt away a section and let himself swing back, dangling in the dark depths ready to be eaten by a giant hydra of darkness. He felt the presence of the beast move and thought he saw one of the heads slither behind him. When he turned he saw nothing there. He swung his head around again, looking from side to side. He wasn''t sure how long he was going to wait, but like with the firefighters at Chernobyl. It seemed like a decent idea at first.and then out of the darkness, he saw a demonic serpent head approach. Head the height that he was tall. neck the width that his arms could reach. He pulled the rope. "Pull me up!" he shouted as one by one the heads came into vision,three heads shot towards him as the rope grew taut. He shot aburst of air from hisfeet launching himself higherthan the rope was pulled taking him to the side.Nimbly he landed against the wall as the rope tried to catch up with him burning the size so the tentacles of darkness could get no hold. Another head was ready and waiting, it dove towards Adil whilstanother grabbed at this rope. With another burst of air, he dove again off the wall whilst the rope was pulled at through he serpents attacks, pulling on both him and the ones holding the rope above. Adil used the momentum change to launch him further up and the rope snapped. Before he fell to the ground he landed on the serpents head, quickly jumping off with a burst of air he reached for the exit but was just too short. Morgana waved her staff and pulled him the rest of the way up. "Now, do it fucking now!" heShouted as he flew into the cavern. The head launched itself through the hole cracking the rock around it before they had time to react. Adil had hit the roof with his feet and shot off again this time clashing against the Hydra''s head with his sword, before sliding across the floor. The place he had hit fizzled and left a streak of burning fire across the creatures face. Morganna lifted the yellow liquid into a large bubblesplashing a section onto the now present head seeing it mix in with the darknessand with thatSwift launched a torrent of fire towards the creature lighting it''s head ablaze.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The goblins had not backed off enough, frightened by what they saw they had cowered to the rims of the room. A head of agiant dragon was thrashing through the hole, it''s skin alight as it screamed. Burning black essence cascading from its scales. The heads eyes grew pale as it started thrashing about,a thunderous crash came from all around. Another head burst through the rock staring down towards the group, more followed as the snaking heads of darkness climbed out of their pit. the floor started cracking and crumbling away forming a large gaping hole in the middle of the cavern. The burning head had its eyes grow a dim white before it collapsed and fell back to the bottom causing another head to come out and replace it. "Wait for the body!" Serasshoutedto the dryad. Then Adil realized something, he realized why it was so hard to find, how it was coming out from the darkness and able to climb so high, bursting through the hole. "It doesn''t have a body!" "what?!" Seras asked shouting over the crashing sounds. "It Comes out of the darkness!" The primordial serpents were darkness incarnate, they were one with the realm of madness, seeping out of the taints maddening corruption. "Shoot it all with fire!" Seras shouted. A burst shattered the wall as a serpents head came out of it, endless darkness from where it spawned. Explosions ruptured the surroundings andanother demonic serpentine-head shot forth. swift shot down another stream of fire towards the beasts, but it did not catch without the liquids help. pushing them back and not caging them with flame. Shadows came from the hole down to the bottom and rose upwards as more heads started to appear. Seras had coated her weapon in the brew and stood with Adil ready to make a move as another head dove towards her. Taking the flame from Adil she was ready as to strike, the giant serpentine head didn''t expect the impact as it dove in skidding off to the side before an explosion ruptured its insides. Adil had leapt onto and around the creature as it crashed to the side. Its face cracks and fire leaking from breaks in the scales around its eye. He stood atop the side of the beings face and plunged his sword down towards the cracks of the eye pushing forth a bursting gale of wind through the crack and along the fire. catching the cleansing flames and shooting them around the creature''s innards. The creature let out a last scream before it was dragged back into the darkness where the creature burst out of the wall. As that happened Adil threw his sword piercing the darkness and forcing it to dissolve away. "Got one." He shouted. The goblins were with swift and the dryad. he was still firing flames one after another, occasionally catching with the liquid and bursting one of the heads down. Then more heads came forth, replacing the old ones. The dryad had made a semi=circle of flaming liquid between them and the spawning mass of heads. Then a head came forth with a crack over its right eye. "We just killed that one," Adil said in anguish. "Don''t let them retreat to the darkness, they regenerate!" Swift shouted. "if we kill them all at once," Adil questioned, now standing next to Swift. the semi-circle of fire between them and the gaping hole was not holding the creature back well, Adil decided to let out a large gust of air. Pushing his essence into it and igniting it with the fire. The roar of fire reaching up from those points forced some of the heads to cower back, but they took no damage. Another 3 heads re-emerged, the beast was now complete. "All the oil. now!" swift commanded. The yellow alcohol was shot over the beast and then in a focused effort swift and Adil crossed streams, combining their fire they coated the beast. Its dark burning flamewas a bright infernal raising the temperature of the room to a sweat. the creature wreathed, screamed and dove. The dryad created a dome of protection around the group empowering Seras''s attack when she launched a powerful smash at the first beast, cracking its jaw and flailing it into the others. Swift and Adil had not let up the burst shooting towards the creatures base. Then suddenly they collapsed, engulfed and charred by the flames. "It''s done," Swift said in trepidation. "no" Adil quietlyobjected as he saw the heads moving again as they were being dragged back into darkness. Adil and Swift let out a burst of air and fire again, coating the thing as the heads receded.Swift looked towards Adil a strange looking in his eye, meeting the desperate focus of Adil. Suddenly he stopped his stream of fire and wrapped himself in a coat of flames as he jumped towardsAdil''s stream. Before the last head was taken by the darkness Swift shot towards it grabbing onto a hold on last head to be taken back. Before the team could stop him, he went into the darkness, his cape giving off a strange essence as his eyes closed over fire. An explosion shocked the cave and rocks began to tumble, the darkness itself began to rupture and fizzle from every part of the room. A shirime fell from the ceiling, shaking and struggling its essence fizzling in a sort of flame that spawned from within it. A bubbling mass of darkness began erupting from the shadowed hole and then caught alight. Its fire melted away to reveal that the hole was only a few feet deep, no longer leading into some sort of interdimensional endless pit of darkness. A small, well 9 foot long mutated serpent with 8 heads lay dead in the middle, next to what seemed to be Swift''s cape. Notifications flashed for Adil but he ignored them as he walked over towards the hole. he stared down at Swift''s cape before turning to the serpent. Adil jumped into the hole and as everyone looked down toward him he grabbed a head of the serpent and lifted it to the air. the group roared Seras raised her axe in the air amongst chants of goblins. The dryad appeared to collapse onto her staff. "You fucking did it," Adil said to Swift. The serpent seemed to condense and combine through Swift''s grip. The flowing pressure escalated, essence coiling in tendrils of mana. The tendrils flowed form black, purple white, yellow and red into a faint blue. Condensing the tendrils shot off from all parts of the serpent''s body into its tail. The creature''s body dissolved as the tail changed formcondensing into a rigid black shape. A sword appeared, contrast darkness trimmed with an icy white. As he held the weapon he felt hie essence pour into it, a spark of lightning shot down the blade before an icy cloud like trail began coming around it. He sliced away from him and saw a wind produced slice through the rock before him. Enemy slain:?????????? ?XP (assist) tainted Orochi serpent???? ???2000 (mutated)grade 10, hive mind. level up x2 level up spend 4 ability points *Item acquired????? State???????? Grade Grass-cutting sword????Stable????????Ancient Regalia 32. Back on track After climbing out of the hole Adil looked at his current steel sword. It once had a leather around ti''s handle but this had become so ripped it was in tatters. The blade itself was cracked and dull a saw you wouldn''t trust to cleanly cut bread. He threw it to one of the goblins, he caught it but swaggered a bit from the unexpectedness and weight. "Take it, I hope it helps," Adil said. He looked back to his new sword again, the white trim on its single-edged blade seemed almost frosted over. It was shorter than most Japanese style swords and unlike a katana, straight. Staring into the blade he could see the blackness of it move like clouds. It was as though there was an enormous ever raging storm inside with it holding clouds as black as night. Suddenly Adil notice parts of his internal map seemed shakey and started turning grey. bit by bit the parts disappearing seemed to be getting closer. A crashing sound was heard in the distance. "We need to go, now!" Adil shouted to the party. another thundering sound crashed closer to them as dust trailed through one of the conjoining pathways. "lead the way" Seras shouted to Adil before they went on their way. They went down path after path, the dryad holding her staff high to clear both the dust and help sense the areas structural stability as Adil went down the paths his map suggested were the most stable, trying to find a way out of these catacombs. They quickly moved through, trying to stay close they didn''t move as fast as they could. In the next cavern, a stalagmite fell as a quake happened and Seras managed to slam it out the way, saving Ezra from the crushing blow. The goblin looked in shock gasping in the cloud of dust. The area began to collapse as the team moved to another area. Dust echoing through the tunnel. They emerged in a new area, surrounded by the dome of protection Morganna produced The area was a fresh part of the catacombs, a cave untouched by the damage of the taint, the glow of fauna along the walls combined with the presence of luminous insects. The walked further under Adil and Morganna''s guidance. Eventually, they appeared in a place decorated with ornate glyphs on the walls. A solid tree-like growth seemed to be holding up the wall. Morganna walked to the stony wood and placed her hand on it. "By the abyss," Morganna said. Then she focused some form of green-white energy on the root, it appeared to resonate against the pressure before coming undone. As it fell apart a small goblin fell to the floor. Slowly raising consciousness the creature started moving and eventually opened its eyes. Another goblin rushed over and quickly held its arms before it started to get up, struggling slightly from the effort. unlike before when the goblins were infected with the form of taint corruption, affecting their psyche and physique, this goblins was purely a goblin alone. The goblin held up by one of the fighters and workers was looking towards the dryad as she stroked the side of his face. "There''s nothing to fear little one, you''re safe now." She said. The goblin let out a tear staring up at her before under the hold of the fighter fully getting to his feet. under the arm of the fighter, the infant goblin moved with the rest. One by one the dryad opened the woody formations releasing the goblins held inside. eventually, they arrived at a small part of the cave system a large collection of child and older goblins behind them, A well was in the middle of the path, glittered with luminous insects.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "Ho-ley-shit" Seras said. "This is my spawn." She added. Looking up just ahead she saw the glowing light coming through cracks in the floorboards. A newly made trap door with rope ladder lead to her slot in the brothel. The telltale sign of banging with a collection of moans cemented her belief. Turning around she saw that a couple of the adult goblins had their hands around a few of the children''s ears. Seras pulled Adil closer. "How are we meant to get 50 goblins and a Dryad through the town and into the maze?" She asked. "Maybe you can give them all blankets and pretend you found a bunch of sick children?" Adil replied half-heartedly. "Fuck it, we can move at night. I might be able to convince some of the guards to back out." Morganna had begun setting things up, and the goblins started collecting mushrooms. They refused to clear too many from one area letting the growths come back and appeared to be setting up camp. Something the goblins looked used to. Adil decided to look at his new power choices to spend all he had earned from his last two levels, after reaching the heights of level five. Browsing through the choices he desperately tried to find levitate, but it appeared to have disappeared. He found the options he liked before, air spear, alchemy and an increase in strength but bis dream of gliding through the air had taken an arrow to the chest.He scrolled through thenew options trying to find some redemption. Then he created a plan, finding new interesting abilities to replace the old. Flowing momentum Without thought but merely the desire, your movements are augmented by air around it. The wind will guide and push you towards your destination enhancing your acrobatic potential. A focused version of this can create a wave-like vortex of air around your hands and feet. Enhance element Unlock the second stage of your essence, the power of electr^%. Detect emotion Expand your mana towards a target and lightly connect to their essence. This can detect their desires, fears, urges and instincts without going into their mind. However, doing this your own intentions can be seen more clearly as they more easily sense your emotions. To Adil, it seemed like he could go another magic path, upgrade to control both air and electricity but it costs two points.At risk of the option disappearing, he chose the power of electricity along with sense emotion but couldn''t bring himself to take the flowing momentum. He instead went for the old one of ''strength 1''. Finally, ready Adil looked towards Seras. she had started trying to break the trapdoor open whilst swinging from the rope ladder underneath. Finally seeming to have had enough, she took out the axe and tapped the side of the door, a second later, splinters erupting from the location and she managed to jimmy the door open. "The fuck?" Seras questioned as a blue sky was revealed beyond the door.Aware that the trapdoor was only meant to lead into her room she pulled herself up. The brothel was destroyed, both floors and most of the walls.She turned around to see atroll lying across its broken frame resting on aclumpof silken pillows. the beast''s eyes opened up and it saw Seras. Clambering across broken bits of furniture and wall the troll charged towards her. crashing into the impact of an axe across its chest cutting through half off it. the troll collapsed to its knees holding over the wound before it ruptured and exploded, spreading blood and gore over the half-destroyed brothel. Adil popped his head out of the hole after dodging some of the blood. "Looks different," he said after a brief look around. "This was my home Adil, show some respect." "I''m sorry for your loss." He said. A portion of the wall collapsed between the both of them. Seras gave out a low groan. "I Was gone for 2 days!" She said collapsing to the ground and burying herself in her hands. She got up and stood next to Adil, staring out onto the town. There was a goblin in the distance running from another two, it held a loaf of bread between its arms. 32. Ray Adil looked out over the strangely peaceful view. The crumbling buildings that were once Seras''s home. he saw a goblin in the distance running from two others, it was clutching a large piece of bread. "Give it back!" shouted one of the goblins chasing it. "It''s miiiiine," The running goblin said. They both stopped upon seeing Seras covered in a fresh layer of troll blood. Then they ran off again. "The demon, the demon is here!" Before they managed to retreat an arrow lodged into the chests of the chasers and the head of the one carrying the bread. Adil tried to move forward to their rescue but was held back by Seras. Three men popped up from cover behind a half crumbled part of the town wearing the guards leather armour. Horatio was one of them. "Captain," Horatio said coming to salute and looking impressed at the sight of the troll corpse. One of his guards had gone to the goblin and ripped the bread out of its death grip before retrieving their arrows. With all that had happened Adil and Seras winced at seeing their dead bodies. "What happened here?" Seras replied looking around and raising her arms to show she meant everything. Horatio took a glance at Adil and back to Seras briefly inspecting their clothes. "An attack, all manner of demonic creatures launched an assault last night, they were coated in a black liquid. Then, suddenly when morning seemed to come they burst into flame, some of them turning back into whatever was underneath the black stuff whilst others just died." Adil and Seras at each other, a knowing thought between them. "What sort of black stuff?" Adil said. Horatio postulated on what it was holding a hand over his head as he tried to think. "It was.. like a seething evil. Darkness that...." he stopped his train of thought "Like the shadow of madness," Adil said to himself. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. it took over some of the residents, seemed to make them turn on the rest of us" The other guards had finished gathering their arrows and moved back to Seras. "Ready for orders cap''in."Thebigger one said. "Well Lucian," Seras said facing him. "We need to rescue anyone in danger and push out the monsters. Can you report on the situation? " She added. "Well, uh, after the trolls and that stopped being all black, they pretty much scattered. Seen them fighting each other more than us... So, we have the civilians all hold up in the library whilst us guards clear out the rest of em." Seras looked towards Adil and back to the group. "I think, it would be best if.. you all went back and held up in the library whilst me and Adil here, dealt with the rest of the monsters." the guards looked at each other and back to Seras. "But Cap''n There''s just too many of em." "Ah, yeah. Well, we can take them. It''s probably the safest option. Just get back to the library, and we will deal with the rest." Horatio stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Seras, I can''t let you do that." She took a step back, "Ooh, yeah. It''s just that. It really would be the best idea." Adil put up his hand to interject. "I think Seras is right, we should just... be the ones to kill the other goblins."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "Ok, but you should really go back to base first." A banging erupted from behind the group, they all turned around. The trap door, as damaged as it was seemed to be making a sound. Seras moved over to the door and opened it to see what wanted them. Ezra''s head popped up. "We are ready to move," he said. "Ok, just wait in there. Ill come back and get you guys in a bit." he tried to look outside of the trap door and Seras slammed it over his head to stop him from being seen. A red face of embarrassment she moved back to the group hoping they didn''t see anything. "So, base right. Good idea, let''s go to the library," she said. They walked through the town, the open roads near carcasses of withered demonic beings. Adil moved over to one about to look before Seras gave him a stare that could kill a goat. Adil helped direct them through town in a way that avoided the goblins in favour of trolls or wolves. Using Adils sense he focused on the essence of goblins, trying to avoid any of them on the way to the library. He saw that he would need to take a large loop as a bunch were almost directly in the way. he nudged Seras and pointed to a path out the way. "Left," Seras said. the guards looked at her in alarm. "That''sa long way round," he replied almost sceptically. "monsters the other way, this way is safer." She replied, slightly putting Adil on edge. They walked around the corner and saw a troll asleep spread on the floor. "This way is safer one huh?" Lucian said. Seras ignored him and moved forward waving a hand motion to the others. The group tried to sneak around to pass the troll and make it safely to the other side. A head popped up from inside the remains of a building, then a large 4-meter tall ogre stepped up,one of its arms holding half a bench as a makeshift club whilst the other held part fo a tree. The ogre roared at the sight of the group binging the troll to alert. "Fuck!" shouted Lucian. "in Position!" Horatio shouted Horatio had already fired three rounds, firstly into the ogre''s mouth hitting the back and coming out of its neck, then another into its right eye and another into the ridge of its left, only penetrating slightly.Lucianonly just got his arrows ready as the beast began to charge, the other guard taking out a sword. Seras dove in alongside Adil, but Adil was the faster. Having no arrows left he dove in through a gust of air. Lucian''s two arrows hit the Ogre in the arm but one bounced off from the beasts thick skin and the angle it was shot. When The beast put its eyes on Adil it swung with the tree trunk but Adil glided around it and ducked underneath. Close enough now he chopped off the Ogre''s right leg, putting him off balance. The Ogre fell, and at that moment Adil burst air from his feet and shot up cutting across the creature. A spray of blood erupted from its chest as it collapsed to the ground crushing and immobilising the troll before it even managed to get up. Having caught up Seras planted her axe into the helpless Ogres head, splitting it until the aftershock created another eruption of guts. Killed enemy????xp Large Ogre????? 450 troll (assist)????? 80 The other guards were not prepared for what happened, the precision and speed in which the beasts were killed. "That''s one fancy set of skills you got there," Lucian said. Horatio walked towards him, seeing the blood on Adil''s short sword seem to evaporate off it. "That''s a nice sword and some fine skills you''ve gotten...It was almost like you movedwith the wind." He said. "Heh yeah, I have a few tricks," Adil said, he then created a small bolt of lightning from his hand and shot it into the ground. At that even Seras seemed surprised. "New tricks," he said with a smile to her. They walked on further, the library becoming visible. There was a barricaded area in which the library was the centre, a priest like a figure was around a few makeshift beds where sick people seemed to be held. the crowding of the library extended to its roof where a new guard post seemed tohave set up. They waved at the building and a few troops around waved back. upon approaching the groans fo the wounded appeared more apparent. The troops arrived at a woman in a white gown and glasses a checklist of some kind in front of her and she held what seemed to be a piece of charcoal. "Name and will you be staying," the woman asked. "Uh, Adil, I''m just popping in." He replied. The woman wrote something down and then moved to the side. a small child ran past the group and jumped up at Horatio. "RayRay!" the child said. He lifted her up with a large smile across his face. "Hey Bella," Seras said and then saw the child''s eyes spread twice as wide. "You''re so dirty!" she said. Seras blew back a piece of her hair and looked around at her dirty blood covered armour. "You get used to it." "Do you have any new stories!" she asked. "Maybe, but not for today. We have some things we need to do." Seras replied the endearing nature of the child brought her a smile. Someone stepped over the side of the library roof. He looked older and wore a trimmed version of Seras heavy plate armour, the sergeantAdil had seenbefore was on his right. "Seras. I expect you to have a good explanation for your absence." The fancy looking one said. 33. Sargent Seras, Adil and the three guards walked past a crowd of bustling people to reach a ladder stuck into the side of the library which they climbed on their way to the library''s roof. Arriving at the new guard post they saw the fancily dressed man talking with another over a piece of paper. "Seras. I have been told you went on a goblin hunt." He said. "I went with an associate to push back recent goblin activity within the maze. This led to us taking down the source of the corruption that attacked the town last night, Sir." head in the post turned towards Seras, their expressions held looks of either intrigue, scepticism, acknowledgement of an expected outcome or even amazement. The high ranking official turned to the lieutenant and began whispering something. "Is she uh, really capable of doing something like that." "Sir, this is Seras, the one that did the ''you know what''." "With its own intestines, that was real?" he turned back to Seras. "Well, captain. I''m glad your trip was fruitful. But I have to ask, how you went about doing this." Seras turned to Adil, he gave a shrug again, it seemed as though he wouldn''t give any helpful input. "We had an associate with control over fire. Using his abilities we were able to destroy the scourge at its source. This involved incinerating a creature at the source which seemed to be controlling the corruption through a sort of hive mind." "That is quite the accomplishment, and is that fire mage with you right now." "No sir, he, unfortunately, did not make it, but my associate lightning mage is currently present." "Interesting, interesting. Would this associate mind showing a display of their lightning magic," he said. Adil stepped forward, which alone seemed to give the official a shock, he then held out both his arms and began focusing on the all too familiar feeling of mana running through him. Then turning it into his desired element he generated forks of lightning between his hands. "By the beyond." Said the lieutenant. "Such strength in such a rare element. And at such a young age." The official said. Adil looked at Seras and back to the official. "You honour me with your praise," he said to the man. "Well if you could, please do me the honour of sticking to the military honorific of sir. I am a knight major and as such the highest ranking military official here." "So, Seras. Along with your journey did you have any other associates I should know about?" Seras appeared visibly agitated, rubbing the back of her head as she tried to think about what to say she looked to Adil and he nodded in reply. it was up to Seras now to keep what happened a secret or not. "Along our travels, we joined up with a group of goblins sir."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Goblins?" "Preposterous." Shouted the lieutenant. "We had found that the black contaminant originated from a curse removed from the goblins. Upon finding out that this was the cause of a dangerous and highly developed hive-mind contaminant, a dryad-" -for the love of" "- helped us to stop the evil and clear the taint from all goblin-kind." The lieutenant said in a hushed tone to the major. "This is what happens when you put a woman in such a position of authority." He said. Horatio took notice and seemed to clench his hand at the sound of it. "This story gets more amazing the more I hear from it. Tell me, why had a Dryad come back from the dead and for what reason would it be helping the goblins." "I''m afraid I do not understand the question, sir. "Well, my good captain. The dryad species have been dead for hundreds of years, and goblins are not exactly friends of humanity." The lieutenant had begun staring towards Seras, his face turning red. "I was unaware of that sir, but I insist everything I have said is a truthful account of the expedition." The major laughed. " Oh, I know it is true. I tell you, the reports we have been having over the last few weeks. you have shown through your many accomplishments to be a worthy captain, both in integrity and ability. The question is, what that means to you." He said. The lieutenant beginning to grow uncomfortable. There was a moment of silence before the words were drawn out of Seras. "I think we should leave the goblins alone. Not fight them and go our separate ways" "This has gone on far enough. they are an abomination. A treacherous, miserable plague. We cannot think of these... goblins as anything more than a stain needed to be cleaned as fast and thoroughly as possible!" the major turned to the man. "She is your commanding officer. treat her with the respect of her due post lest I strip you of your rank right now." Lieutenant turned to Seras and disingenuously said: " I''m sorry... sir. But if you were to have your way, we could trade with them, share food with them. Maybe one day they could be our... friends.." Seras waved her hands in an expression that said *why even bother*. "And would that be such a bad thing?" she said almost sarcastically. The room became stiffly quiet, for the warm sunny day it was chilling. "You''ve lost half the room, but the others are still thinking about it," Adil said to Seras with a supportive smile. His new detection of their emotions was letting him tell how far gone they were. "But, gobo''s are gobo''s," Lucian said from the back. "You''ve seen how they changed though, they don''t seem as itchy. Like they want to eat their arm one moment and then attack a tree another they look almost, human."Said another guard. The room looked stuck, half of it wanting to get out their ideas whilst the other fiercely wanted to defend theirs. Seras''s eyes went to Horatio, she knew out of everyone here he had been dealt the worst of it. "I support Seras. If she wants to treat goblins like people, then I think we should." Horatio stated. Seras thought about what he would have gone through to say that, the trust he must have in her and started forming a tear. "All that support Seras and her plan show hands," Horatio added lifting up his hand. The space was silent again as the guards began looking amongst themselves. A hand went up, and then another. Slowly hands began to rise. As her eyes drifted amongst the crowd they gave knowing nods before lifting hand after hand. "You have all gone insane! Seras you will doom us all." The lieutenant shouted. The major having given up with the lieutenant seemed to just sigh. "Well, I''m afraid it''s too late. A crusade has been organized to push back and destroy established goblin settlement, killing all goblins within that area. "The major added. "No," Adil said "They should have just entered the maze, they gave the word of a large orange pillar of light in the distance. I realise this might be upsetting but there is little to no chance that you can stop it now." "We have to go! Right now!" Adil insisted to Seras. reducing her volume and speaking close to Adil she said. "Ok, but the dryad and the goblins." "I''ll kill my self then warn the rest, you move with the others to come and help." "Ok, you do that, I''ll finish off here-" "Oh, and Seras. That''s just the first lot. I want you to know, I''ll be joining the others when they arrive and kill every last one of your goblin friends." said the lieutenant. Seras walked over to thestaut man. his confusion and furrowed expression made his nose stand out more than Rowen Atkinson playing Mr Bean. It stood out less when Seras had planted her fist between his eyes. Noone else interfered or seemed to mind. Self sacrifice "Bring it with Swift''s cape," Adil said, handing his sword over to Seras. He knew that he couldn''t take it with him. he went to jump off the roof before Seras held him back with a hand. "Hold it." She said. Adil turned around. "Don''t you need help with the... you know..." she added. "You got any plans?" He asked. "Stay with me until I rejoin the goblins. You can kill yourself there." "It has to be now." Adil jumped over the side of the library''s roof and startled the few he landed next to. He looked from side to side. He needed to die fast but had no idea where he could without leaving an unusual bloody corpse. He walked past the wounded. He looked for the wounded bodies and tried to find where they were cared for. Maybe there was a pile of bodies out the back from the recently deceased. if he died there then if he was found would it matter? He would never have to return. Does he even need to hide the body? Adil looked around for a tool, he had just given away his sword after all. He found a sharp shrapnel like fragment on the floor and picked it up. Bracing for the pain he was about to slit his throat. Holding the piece steady he got ready and then. he couldn''t do it, *I just need to pierce the skin then it''s all good* he thought to himself. He pressed the metal into his skin and pushed. "Aaah it hurts, fuck, what the hell," Adil said to himself. it seemed that regardless of the changes he had been through, he couldn''t just kill himself that easily. "Hay mista, what are you doing?" A small child said looking up at him. "Just.. uh... checking out how sharp this metal is." He replied. The child looked like they wanted to say something else but Adil quickly walked off before he could get a reply. Standing over the wounded he looked at all the materials around. For whatever respective age this world was meant to be in, they seemed to care about cleanliness. "Are you here to help or watch?" Asked a worker. She appeared to be one of the doctors in the area, carrying some kind of medicine. "I.. uh..." Adil managed little of a reply before the worker handed tools into Adils hand. "Help me over here." She almost shouted as she ran to another patient. the man in question had one eye blanked out, without a pupil like the eyes of the creatures taken over from taint. he seemed unresponsive to anything the doctor did.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "hold his mouth," she said. Adil put his hands around the person''s mouth, opening it whilst he pinched her nose. She seemed to put some sort of tube through his throat making sure it inst in any windpipe before funnelling a small amount of the strange liquid down it. "What''s that?" Adil asked. "Poison." She said. Then she began holding hands out to the person''s chest, they glowed a faint green before she pressed in. She was trying to use healing magic. "What?" Adil replied. She looked annoyed at the questions. "It''s poison to fight the bacteria whilst I use healing magic." she finally added with a hint of frustration behind it. "It''s no use. I can feel his life slipping," she said. with a solemn expression, she lowered her hands. "Is he dead?" Adil asked. "His heart stopped," she added. Adil pushed the items he was given back to the doctor, she seemed annoyed at his indifference to the man. Then Adil put his hands towards the man''s chest and focused on his mana. Using a sense enhanced through his open connection to the world he looked inside the person, connecting to his heart. Almost as though there were signals he knew where to push. He shot in a burst of electricity. He could see the message pass along the nerve, how the ventricles compressed and generated blood pressure throughout the man''s body. Skill unlocked focused strike: Your power over electricity has combined with your mana sense to allow you to feed electricity along specific routes to reach a destination. The healer''s eyes grew large as she saw the life energy come back into the dying man. "That was amazing, thank you," She said. Adil bean walking off and placed a hand on the side of her shoulder. "No, thank you, healer." He replied. After Adil had walked off the healer looked around herself in confusion. "Ah wait, uh, has anyone seen my poooiison.," she said aloud to no one''s notice. Adil had moved away from the healer to try and find somewhere nice to ide. Strangely the basement of the library was empty. The only empty space in the area, crammed with books and with only one exit/entrance it was so indefensible the only use of it was for the books. Looking down at the poison the healer had he thought he was good to go. With the amount, the healer used on the man taking the whole bottle is surely going to kill him fast Adil thought. he downed the bottle in one. The stomach pains kicked in immediately, throbbing pain as his veins began to show through his skin. He shat himself and moaned in agony intermittently fading in and out of vision. "AHHRGAAAAAH," he said unintelligibly to the area. He passed out. A moment later he woke again, still in the same place. His horrible mistake of a choice placing him in more agony. Was he going to be stuck here? he asked himself. The pain staying a constant whilst his pants grew soggier, he couldn''t move. A lady was looking down at him now. "You really fucked up." she said. Yeah, it was Seras. "Hou lon as it been," Adil asked (how long has it been). "An hour. I was asked to check on what was happening in here. The guards are too scared, say it''s haunted by some kind of shit monster." "Uhooh."Adil wheezed. Seras bent down towards him. "Your liver is dead, but that won''t kill you quickly. do you want me to help?" She asked. "Please," Adil said and when he saw Seras with a surprisingly glum expression lean in he closed his eyes. A slight ding rattled in his head then. It hurt a bit, but not much. He opened his eyes to see Seras standing and said with a sad expression. "Harder-" and his head exploded. 34. mindfulness Adil opened his eyes, a tendril of essence still wisped off his hand. He was alive again. A horde of goblins gathered around as some looked towards him at his naked body. Most though were staring at a light so bright it was almost blinding. In the centre of the cavern was an orange fire shooting towards the sky, forming a beam of light like a beacon. "What is that?" Adil asked in a dawning realization. "Swift?" he asked, slowly approaching the blazing fire. The goblins grew progressively more wary of him as he came closer. The blue-green, bone armoured goblin noticed Adil arriving and ran towards him. "You! Friend, fire. Stop now!" The goblin leader said in human speak. aggressively pointing his arm out towards the blaze. "why is he on fire?" Adil asked in goblin. slightly taking him by surprise until he remembered. "Noone knows, he is creating a beacon. anyone can see where our base is and it''s attracting all the animals." He replied in goblin. Adil looked further into the fire, focused on his tendrils of mana and reached out, trying to sense Swift within. He could see Swift''s body floating within apowerful mass of fire essence. Adil''s mana being pushed back as he reached further in. the forced against his mana as he tried to pass through felt like swimming upstream. Forcing his way through he came closer to the floating body that was Swift, his glowing eyes and mouth shone a raw power that seemed to be forcing itself out by any means necessary. Finally, he connected. Immediately it seemed as though Adil was transported to a forest of evergreen trees. There was a thick smell of burning hanging in the air, a trail of smoke, coming from further in. Adil ran towards the smoke, passing thourhg a wall of smoke he came to a new area wherethe trees had turned to charcoal, fire flickering to life., further ahead he could see a blazing fire, orange and red engulfing the trees. Swift was there, staring at the fire blazing in front of him. "PUT OUT THE FIRE!" Adil shouted. Swift didn''t respond, he just carried on staring. Adil ran closer, reaching close before ajet of fire seemed to launch out of the fire. The heat and pressure seemed immense. "HAAAAY" Adil shouted, noticing now he could not take Swift''s focus... Adil pushed a bit closer and started channelling his mana. He shot out a mighty gust, and with just enough time he jumped through the opening in the fire to where Swift was. Adil was now surrounded by fire, an immense heat in the air, twigs on the floor smouldering away, butit didn''t hurt. He placed his hand onSwift''s shoulder. Swift turned and caught his eyes, the pressure from around disappeared and they. "Bit much isn''t it?" Adil asked. "I c, c, c, can, can''t stop," Swift replied. An explosion erupted from within the trees and Swift lurched a little. "t, there''s too much." "I, I, it, it wo, won''t stop," Swift replied. He was struggling with the power within him. "It''s alright.Just take your time and think about it. I can help " Swift closed his eyes and started breathing deeply, Adil focused on his mana trying to connect to Swift. He felt how energy was shooting into him from everywhere in the world. It was too much to handle Swift''s body couldn''t keep up. Adil stretched his tendrils of essence out, he tried to redirect the flow of energy away from Swift, into the area around. He wanted to insert his own mana, try and cancel out the fire, convert the coming energy into something new. A storm cloud emerged in the sky and wind began to pick up. A bolt of lightning struck a tree near them and the fire started roaring more into life. "You''re not helping," Swift said. His teeth clenched as he was focusing. Adil tried something else, he felt where the essence was coming from. The destruction of containers of the essence. the hive mind, the creatures infected by the taint. The corruption burning away from the fibres of reality. Adil tried to make a path for it to go back into the world as the more pure essence. He leaked it out to the landscape around him. The fire receded from the trees in that. theinferno immediately replaced by the greenery of a normal forest as though the world had just changed rather than the fire coming off the plants. When the forest was back to normal he looked around and saw only a small bonfire burning in the centre Swift staring into it and holding his hands out to keep warm. Adil was brought back to reality just before the fire around Swift''s body began to recede.The beacon slowly lowered astendrils of mana shot off from it, pouring into the world around. The glowing base of the fire diminisheduntil Swift''s body could be seen. Flames that once coated his body vanished in patches, his hovering state slowly lowered into a standing position. When the last flick of flame evaporate a pressure and energy around Swift faded away. Swift collapsed onto one knee and started breathing deeply. Adil walked over to him and held out his hand, the horde of goblins waiting to know what just happened. The grass in the cavern seemed to be glowing and the goblin''s eyes shone a deep silver. Even the rocks of the cavern seemed more dense and ornate. A few tendrils of mana had begun coalescing around the area before shooting into a plant rock or goblin. A slight light blue gas was being emitted from the plants around him. Notification Area bonus gained: Warmth the essence in the area is enriched generating a warmth allowing slow regeneration and cleansing of impurities. Adil walked over to Swift. "You ok mate?" He asked. Steam was emitted fromSwift''s skin now the pressure was gone. He started coughing as he bent over towards the floor, he got up and grabbed the hand Adil was holding out. "Yeah. I''m fine," Swift replied. They soon realised the both of them unfortunately naked, One of the goblins threw over some rags for Adil and Swift to get changed into. Saying something unintelligible by Adils standards. Swift was lost in his own world. The bone armoured goblin came running towards them. he pushed swift to the floor and said: " Why shoot light into the sky, all creature and human see it.Many come, too many. Animals, not welcome." Swift just looked at him confused. "He''s asking you why you shot a beam of fire into the sky," Adil explained. Swiftsaid to Adil "I just killed that hydra and ended up here, Fire started bursting out of me, the best I could do was shoot it to the air. Suddenly it was like my mind was trapped in this forest."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "I guess it makes sense with the amount of experience you got. You just killed the whole tainted army," Adil said with a smile. Swift was speechless and looked to Adil with his eyes wide open. "What do you mean?" he asked. "When you killed the boss, you killed all the infection, you must have got the experience from everything connected. There was even an army attacking the town Seras was from." Swift looked around himself, seeing the tendrils of mana drifting in the sky. Slightly disappointed at the wastefulness. he grew a glazed over expression as he seemed to be looking at his interface"That explains all these notifications," he said. "72kills on mutated taint bats, 33 on taint ferrets. It says 1146 kills on mutated taint vines" Adil''s eyes opened wide at hearing this. "Damn, what level did you get to?" Adil asked. Adil started staring off into the distance as he was going through the many notifications that would have filled his vision. "It uh... doesn''t say... Wait... I got, over 8, no 9000." "What 9000?!" Adil exclaimed in surprise. "NINE thousand!!" Swift replied clenching a fist in front of him. Then added after a light chuckle he added, "Sorry,that was a joke.It says I reached level 7 then a ''loop'' got uncaught, and my essence collection grew unstable. Then, you released an unknown amount of essence and gave it to the surrounding landscape, fixing the problem." Swift said. "So now I''ma level behindSeras and have 10 points to spend on abilities." Adil smiled before he hada moment of realization. "Ah shit." He exclaimed. "We don''t have time for this. After the townwas attacked theysent the militaryon a crusade to here.Two or more groups of soldiers are coming todestroy any goblins or goblin settlements this side of the maze wall," he said. Adil looked towards the goblin leader in his bony armour standing at about 5 foot. He seemed to be stunned by what happened and how passive the two of them were acting towards it.The leader was firmly holding his sword and trying but failing to give an expression of emotionless resolve, his eyes were glowing a faint grey and he seemed to be struggling with something. The goblin leader suddenly collapsed onto one knee as his eyes started glowing a deepsilverand his body began slowly changing. Adil saw around the cavern how the other goblins and animals were similarlycontorting themselves on the floor as the tendrils of mana shot into them. The surroundings began to morph and alter itself, the rocks grew more of a gavel grey, different brightly colouredveins grew into the sides as crystalline formations of gems burst out of the walls. Each goblin young and old grew to a size that more resembled the orcs in the dryad''s memories. twice their previous size they were now larger than humans. The armoured goblins began to stand out like fierce warriors, clothes having grown with them, seeming to have absorbed some of the metal from the area around their armour took a different shape. Patches of purple shining where the sun hit the dark metal. A fierce yet ornate spiked full plate design across the structure, matching their jagged metal blades. The archers had their crossbows grow in size and ferocity whilst the fighters no longer holding makeshift tools stood proud as orc-like barbarians wielding large two-handed katana, heavy spiked maces and double axes. Notification the spawn crystal has been activated. A function can now be chosen. *Spawn crystal?* Adil thought. It made sense that he would be attracted to something when he spawned.He looked at his visual interface and noticed a new icon blinking in the corner. He waited for the changes in the cavern to finalize before he checked out what this meant. As he stood there, the grass carried on growing and with it, the blue emission that seemed to give out an area buff, boosting experience gained and health regeneration. It seemed to have stabilized before sudden bursts of changes happened in the surroundings. Fruit plants shooting out, vines growing along the walls,the rocks turned a gravel grey before veins of brightly coloured ore grew alongthe sides andjagged spurts of crystalline gems burst out. Adil now looked to the goblin leader, who seemed to have finished his changed. He got up from the floor, his arms coated in metal blades, a bone skull across his chest meshing with his purple-ish, full plate armour. he now stood in front of Adil wielding a dark purple zweihander in one hand and an ornate kite shield decorated with bone in the other, but above it all he now had hair. A flat black hair was down the sides of his shoulders clashing against his blue-green skin.Adil couldn''t help but think that a cape would suit him perfectly and with that, a strong purple cape shot out and around his shoulders blowing in the wind as he stood up. It was as though Adil was somehow guiding the direction of these changes, that they were somehow influenced by his subconscious thought. The goblin leader now stood tall facing and looking down on Adil, his cape drifting in the wind. The leader dropped his sword and shield, looking at himself in shock. "Such, power. Was this from you?"The leader said. Looking down to Adilin confusion. "Thank him," Adil said. motioning towards Swift who was still staring out towards the cavern. A rabbit had morphed into a jackalope, grabbing almost all of his attention. "Thank you, great squire," The leader said in the human tongue. The leader collapsed to his knees facing Swift, as the other goblins saw from around the cavern they too followed. Soon everyone in the field lay on the floor facing him, even the animals with their newfound powers gathered around him seemingly in a form of respect. At that moment an earthquake shook the ground and a glow appeared from its centre. Two rotatingcrystals stuck to each otherappeared out of the ground,rotatingat a great speedin the air. One of bright orange and another of a cyan. they seemed to coalesce, Adil and Swift approached theshining orbs. Adil saw an icon appear over the crystals. He could sense and see how the two coalescing lights were being emitted from the spawning crystals. He walked over and saw how they had combined to each other. Half was like that of a solid hexagonal ball, glow residing inside seemed to hold immeasurable power as Adil stared he could see a storm held inside, giant thunderclouds violently raging. The other side was jagged spiked crystalline structure, orange and glowing. The depth of it was a warm pure fire. As he approached, the crystals slowly lowered themselves into his open hands. Notification Due to a large amount of essence being passed through the spawn crystal all primary functions are unlocked simultaneously and the nearby spawn crystal has merged with your crystal. both crystals combine all functions. Primary functions unlocked. Forge Channel essence generated into forging new weapons. The process is a combination of essence pushing, similar to looting and material work such as smithing. Teleport hub Create links throughout the world to teleport to connected locations including but not contained to other spawn crystals. Focusing large amounts of mana can also teleport to other locations. Terraformer Any landscape within the bounds of the spawning crystal will be enhanced by the presence of the crystal. alterations to the landscape can be created by the owner of the spawn crystal. Special trait: Generate storm Control the wind and rain in the surrounding landscape. Special trait: Warmth Generate a passive heat in the hub of the area, healing wounds and cleansing impurities. Adil passed the crystal to Swift. "Looks like we have a lot of work to do," he said. Swift took the orb and lost himself in thought as he delved into the mass of knowledge before him.Speechless Adil just stared at the cavern, mesmerized by the sudden changes that had taken hold. The beauty and wonder. One of the fox-like wolves had jumped onto a child goblin, its stature had grown smaller and it left behind a trail of fire which didn''t damage anything in the vicinity. The small goblin seemed to bemaking sounds ofdelight as the child played with the creature. At that moment, Adil felt a strong urge and duty to protect everything here. 36. arrogance Whilst Swift held the conjoined crystals the reforged goblins were still collapsed to the ground in honour of him, his lack of attention to them was almost insulting as he stared into the crystals. Adil grabbed the attention of the leader and attempted to talk. "We need to prepare for war. They are coming to kill us." The leader looked alarmed and confused. "Who?" "The cursed ones?" he asked. "No, they are all dead, the humans have gathered to attack. Strong humans in armour." Adil added. He didn''t seem to take much consideration over it. Looking down towards Adil the leader said in his new deeper voice "With this new power, no mere human could pose a threat." "Mere human?" Adil asked. Looking towards him. "Are we not, mere humans?" he added. "I mean little offence, but you do not appear strong." "Do you wish to test that theory?" Adil asked casually opening his arms with an annoyingly cheeky smile. "I do not wish to hurt one that has done so much for us," He said. Adil slapped him. "Pleasestop that," he said. Adil punched the goblin in the face, he brought back his fist a throbbing pain in his hand. The goblin had a small cut from his lip hitting his teeth. "If you must, I will show you our difference." The leader said. He stood forward towards Adil dropping his sword and shield to the side before taking a fighting stance. Adil dove in for a punch at the blue-green giant, but the giant easily batted his armaway. When the bone-armoured leader went in to reply it looked as though Adil was wide open, bearing a look of emotionless resolve he lunged. Adil''s smile grew larger as he saw the attack coming in. With a twist of his body, he nimbly dodged the attack and planted three consecutive punches into the larger one''s chest. The punches had little effect, but the bone-wearing goblin now took him more seriously and went to swat him away, pushing Adil back before taking a serious stance. "You are fast." he said. Adil went in for another attack and but the leader feinted an opening just wide enough for Adil to come in, as Adil dove he went to grab ahold of him. Adil seeing this coming channelled lightening mana into his elbow to bat off the hold on thearm and spun to plant his heel into the goblin''s chest. The goblin leader was pushed back and now on one knee, feeling slightly winded gritted his teeth, eyes locked on Adil. Adil, now light on his feet was jumping from foot to foot, awaiting the goblin''s approach. The leader now felt his pride on the line. Letting out a roar the goblin dove lunging with one of his fists. As it failed to connect he braced for another punch, shrugging off the force of lightning and then reached out for another grab. The fight went on like this, the strength of the goblin against Adil''s speed. Adil slowly chipped away whilst avoiding attacks until the goblin grabbed a hold of Adil''s shirt. Seeing the problem he held onto the giant hand and pulled it down with him, trying to slip between the leader''s legs, helped by a push of air. This did not work, and the goblin managed to instead get a hold of Adil pulling him up with one hand. Adil was flung onto the ground where the leader went to dive in and finish him off, a smile now on the goblin''s face. But in the moment of panic Adil burst a mighty gust, throwing the leader up into the air. The goblin crashed down and the fight was over.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The leader of the goblins slowly got up to his feet, an audience was now at full attention. Awestruck by what had just happened. When the leader looked to Adil his face was solemn. "If they are all as strong as you, it will be difficult."The leader said. "I must ask you, what is your plan." He added. The goblins slowly approached, being interested in what was happening, and having a newfound respect for the one who beat their leader. In a few of them, he saw what he had before withgoblins in the depths, a deep respect. Looking to him like some divine creation. Whilst others stillshowed signs of distrust, seeming to think of him as human first. "Everybody!" Adil shouted across the cavern. The orcish goblins all stood to face him, even the occasional creature looked in his direction in quasi-obedience. "There is an army coming, waves of soldiers from the strong humans. They are coming to kill everyone here. To crush homes, kill children and burn away any sign of life." Some of the goblins held their hands to their chests in emotionless resolve at the sound of this, whilst others just appeared confused. That was all Adl had planned to say but the goblins seemed to be expecting more. "They, will walk over here. Killing everything they find. Burning all the trees, grass. Everything you had ever known and everything you have ever done. They will do this because of their beliefs that none of this should exist. They believe that people like you do not deserve to exist." The goblins grew more fierce in their stares. A stare of respect, a stare of admiration and a stare of resolve. Adil felt inside him a power rising,his voice grew deeper and more distinct as it was carried across the cavern. "But we, we will show them that everything in here hasworth. That everything here should exist. That we deserve to be here, tolive in this land." His mana seemed to be flowing through his words, flowing through the air. "We will show them, That we are better than they will ever be! We will show them that we are-" A prompt shone in the eye of Adil before he finished his speech. Name your village_____________ Caught in the moment Adil gathering all the stares of the many creatures before him shouted the first thing that came into his head. "The Cave!" Realizing what he had just done he wondered if he could just backtrack a bit. "Crap!" Adil exclaimed seeing the cheers of the goblins before him. A bang sounded off as a mix ofgolden flame and electric mistshot off from the spawning crystals, almost shocking Swift enough to drop them. The coalescing lights grabbing the attention of all the goblins. notification: name: "The Cave" has been accepted. Spawn crystals have been intrinsically connected to the village "The Cave". *Oh dear god, there must be a way to change this.* Adil thought. Achorus of chants echoing throughout the cavern as goblins cheered and animals hooted. "Crap!!" the occasional goblin shouted, not understanding the language. The goblin leader, however, looked at Adil in pity. A sense of confidence in himself seemed to be apparent in his new larger form. In his new deeper voice the leader said. "Once a name has been set, it cannot be changed. For the world will all know what it was once called it is marked within the nature of its very essence." He saw the crowd begin talking amongst themselves, a few of the children had started playing with the strange new creatures. Adil raised a hand to the newly formed village stopping the talking. "We have a day to prepare, to build barricades, to create weapons, armour. Then the armies will come here. They will think us weak and we can use that to our advantage. Draw them into the caves where can use the surroundings against them." he started. He relayed the plan in detail. Each goblin warrior followingwhat he said. Listening to the human that beat their leader and spoke their language. The one that works with the moon mother and gave them a new found power. 37. Punching trees to get wood. Thegoblinswent to collect rocks, sticks and shovels. In a gorilla warfare style effort, they were going to delay the approaching army by any means necessary. barricades, pitfall traps and landslides would collide against the armies before they saw their first goblin. "That was a good speech." the bone-armoured goblin said, picking up his sword and shield. "Thanks," Adil replied. The goblin came over to Adil now a hand reached out for him to grab. ~"I am Aku. Great squire" He stated. "Adil," Adil replied. Adil grasped his hand and shook it firmly, pulling out for a fist bump which confused Aku until he eventually understood and accepted the odd gesture. Then Aku the giant bone-armoured blue-green goblin, walked away, his great two-handed sword held to the side. Finally, Adil had grabbed the attention of Swift, as he came closer Swift appeared to walk away, he came to the entrance of the cave system and stood there still gazing into the crystals he held in his hands. "How long until the crusade?" Swift asked. "Wasn''t sure you were listening. It should be about a day." "Have you factored in the horses?" Swift asked. Adil had a moment of panic "What do you mean horses?" He asked. "The horses, a crusade should have at least a hundred horses. The church controls the army, according to the books I''ve read." He replied. Having clearly read it from one of the books. "You''re kidding," Adil asked out of desperation, but Swift only gave a solemnpained lookin response. Swift reached out with the crystal to Adil in a sort of compensation for the soon to be army. As Adil touched it a notification emerged. Crystal focus Options: choose one: Opencrystal A branch of crystal functions that centre around the development of hostile entities with the aim of increasing the development and progression of the crystal and increased essence collection. Also called a dungeon core, the crystal is able to enhance entities so that upon their death the essence absorbed is greater than what was put in. Malleablecrystal A branch of crystal functions that are based around portable crystal functions. This can be used to augment items carried by the user and enhance productivity on travels. The crystal is called a worker crystal, due to its use as a tool of craft. It has also been called the "destroyer''s crystal" for its enhancement of arms. Hard crystal A branch of crystal functions that centre around the development of a stationary environment of friendly entities. The crystal becomes increasingly attached to its surroundings and as such will be impractical to frequently move. This crystal function allows for increased control over the area and is commonly called the "Citadel crystal". Adil and swift were both staring into the crystal as it was held within their hands. "Have you chosen a focus for your crystal?" Adil asked. "No, I only got the option now," he replied. They both leant in and placed their mana into the crystal intuitively knowing what to do. As they focused on the crystal they both felt each other''s decisions. Adil chose differently to Swift, he went for the hard crystal. He felt his desire to build the area into a great fortress citadel, to develop the maze into something amazing. Swift, however, was enamoured with the possibilities in the dungeon core, the idea of designing monsters, the wonder, danger andoutlet of creativitywas breathtaking. They both chose their selection and saw the crystals morph. The crystals began to glow and morph next to each other, as it raised into the air it grew in size, the jagged orange crystal spikes began to separate from the mass and start moving around the solid hexagonal body of the other crystal. The energy grew within the central crystal and electricity began jetting out connecting to the other jagged spikes, the jagged spikes separated from the crystal body rotating around as if magnetized to the central core. the crystal was now above their heads with a meter long diameter. A beam of energy shot off of the rotating crystals and into the ground, a wave of energy emanating from the location the beam hit. Each creature in the area now holding a silver glow within their eyes. Adil looked to Swift and saw an intense focus, his eyes glowing deep silvery-orange. Adil looked as well to the crystal, trying to inspect its systems. He saw through the crystalline amalgamation, a sort of map. The crystal did not just extend to the cavern but loosely affected all of the lands inside the maze fading off into the distance. Adil felt a slight tug as he tried to see through the rest of the zone. Hard crystal function: Add hard crystal function: localized scrying? yes/ no Consumes 500 of crystalized essence reserve. (spawn crystal experience) requires user ability:sense manna. Adil focused on the power the crystal had accumulated, a feeling of overwhelming surge of energy rush over him, sweat trickled down his forehead. *well, its definitely over nine thousand* Adil thought to himself. The crystal had reached the level of ten with close to a hundred thousand experience. It was as though the majority of levels Swift would have earnt had transferred into it. He accepted the function and focused on the maze around. he could see how the effects of the leaking essence had spread outside the cavern.Grass and wildlife were spread across the once barren landscape. The red rocks and savannah landscape now seemed more like a rainforest. Adil saw further out and came across a sort of campsite. There were many men dressed in armour in a clearing, horses held in their own space to the side. "Where did this all come from!?" said one of the men, as he tried to cut away some of the trees seeing a vine move back to replace it. "Get the mages to burn it." chimed another, he was riding a horse and galloped back to the rest at the camp. A large armoured man was sitting by a table, a knife in his hand as he talked with others around him. "We will carve a path through here, and burn away any sign of this magical infestation we come across." He said. His aged complexion made him seem ill-fitting to be a frontline warrior. A call echoed from the distance: "Brace for attack!" They shouted. An orange wave of energy shot through the area, Coating all that was around, it was coming from the direction they appeared to be travelling, towards the cave. "At ease." said the official. Noticing there was no incoming danger with this wave of energy. A religious figure hovered over the high ranking old man "This is a sign of great power."he stated. The people gathered in this area appeared to be the ones in charge. They were building a tactic to move ahead. "Wemust reach the location of the orange beacon before quickly, there is little chance this power will not develop itself further." Added a large armoured man "They said this was caused by goblins. That goblins could do any of this is ridiculous." Said one of the men, spitting to his side. "Goblins, aye. Goblins would not havethe power to take a city, they would not even have the brains toband together, but we all saw what happened to the town. How the buildings were crushed as if they were a child''s sandcastle on the heel of my foot." There was silence as he stopped talking. "It be not normal for goblins to do this, but we are here for the goblins first and whatever else second. I''ll let ye fuckers in on a secret, when the elves heard about goblins banding together. They got this crusade before the rumours of man-eating darkness emerged. They was propainterested in crushing these goblins. There''s something about these here goblins that they aren''t telling us." "hold your tongue major" The church official said,Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "it''s coming!" Shouted another soldier on the side. He ran out of a patch of bushes and trees before a giant goblin chased him down. The goblin had scars over the side of his face, large silver eyes and a mace the size of a person''s head. It stood at almost seven foot and bared its eyes at the crowd of armoured humans before letting out a fierce roar. An unnecessarily large stream of arrows impaled its body and half of its face was blasted off from some sort of explosive magic, silencing the large goblin fighter. The religious figure walked over to the area the goblin was in, staring down at the creature he said. "These truly are dark times," he said looking down towards the creature. "By the divine. Is that a goblin?!" cried out one of the soldiers. Adil backed out from the area, looking over the path they had travelled. The obstacles of the maze and pathways had been blown open. What was originally a jagged mix of paths that gave the area its signature maze appearance, was now just an open landscape of destruction. It looked as though the army was only hours away. They were building a path directly to their base. Adil tried to exert some influence over the area feeding essence and mana into the plants around. It recovered a slight amount of the path. The expression of the soldiers grew stern and determined as they saw in the sky above them, black clouds began to appear. Mages seemed to emerge from tents and look towards the sky, a cover of white light covering a tent before lightning struck it. Soon mighty winds and torrential rain coated the area, a place that was just moments ago clear blue sky. "Fuck" Adil stated, focused on the disaster that was awaiting them. Before he had a chance though another problem seemed to have taken hold with a commotion in the cavern. He saw Swift''s eyes shining a bright orange, his hair levitating around his head. "Stop him!" called out Aku. The goblin leader was shouting whilst pointing towards Swift. Another goblin tried to wrestle Swift down but was repelled by some sort of force field. "What''s going on?" Asked Adil.before astag-like creature popped up to the side of them and started changing, its eyes grew bright silver before its horns extended. Its eyes drew a trail of silver gas as it moved around. With the silver glow now encompassing its horns, a focus of energy appeared to form betweenthem as it lowered its head. A goblin tackled the creature to the ground just before a beam shot out from the focused energy, taking a chunk out of the wall of the cavern. "Another one!" cried out the goblin. he was now wrestling the large magical stag to the ground, an elemental stag which appeared to be able to charge and fire burstsof energy from between its horns. Adil quickly extended his tendrils of mana onto Swift, he tried to break him away from the crystal but came to see him in a sort of crystal enhanced zone. Swift was looking around a field filled with both normal animals and ones which boggled the mind with their strangeness. Swift was looking down at a small group of meerkats, a flame around his hand before he reached out and touched them. Suddenly the meercats eyes grew silver and their fur stuck out as if caressed by lightning. At unimaginable speeds, they ducked and dove from point to point chasing each other in this ethereal mindscape. "Oh hi mark," Said Swift turning to face his new visitor. "Stop that. What you''re doing right now. Stop." "I thought you liked bad movie references." "No, I mean, yes I do. but no stop doing this to these things. Jesus Christ, what you are currently making, the creatures, they are attacking the goblins in the cavern." "Oh.. shit," Swift replied. "What do I do?" he added. "This," Adil replied. Adil focused for a moment and got out some sort of city builder interface. He tried to use his desires to orientate the interface combining the power of his crystal with Swifts. Connecting to the creatures he managed to stop their mutations, power them down and remove their ability to function properly in the main cavern. The mindscape warped and changed, it was no longer just an open blank space with the occasional creature, but a representation of the land around them. He mentally traversedinto the cave systems, there seemed to be connections betweenthe empty wild caves and the goblin''s new base. Adil beganpushing mana into patches of rock and dirt, trying to expand areas and reinforce the walls, he felt that changing the shape of walls took too much time and power, it was as if his terraforming abilities were inhibited. He felt his job was a success though, the creatures no longer capable of using their new abilities were disappearing from the cavern, into these new areas seemingly attracted by the use of manna. Adil with Swift''s help,built a sort of space, capable of housing the animals. The animalshad mostly left the base, a lot of them in the outside whilst many now in what seemed to be Swift''s own private dungeon. Now connected to the outer landscape Swift let out his full powers and began enhancing the area. New ores,gemsand plant life now adorned the landscape. Swift now connected to the creatures,lead his new experiments into the area, building them a new home. if this worked as it had before, the essence he used to change them would come back greater as they grew and developed. It appeared as though Swift could change the creatures and surrounding landscape but not with direct control, increasing their power massively with minimal effort whilst Adil could only design with extreme control, it required a large amount of effort and power just to suppress the new abilities of these creatures in the land. Adil wiped some etherial mindscape sweat from his brow. "Thanks," Swift replied giving a thumbs up. "No problem," Adil said before he saw Swift draw in another badger-like creature towards him and start increasing it in size. Adil then, instead of coming back to reality embraced the new mindscape and saw what he was able to do. It was base building time. He reached out his mind to try and feel the extent of his capabilities. It seemed as though there were preset schematics already present, able to be harnessed and embraced. He tried to look into these ideas to see the power he could unleash and give tothe underground city he desired to create. Construction options: Portal hub a base for teleportation between established locations. Can link to other spawn crystals. Beacon A light to show the central location of your base. Basi forge A focus for constructing and modifying armour with the help of the spawn crystal. Golem Animated creation of designated material. Adil saw a plethora of options racing past. some seemed of great use whilst others appeared to strangely niche, from air filtration systems to rock spider swimming pools. Each element adding onto the next. It was easy and fluid to both use and understand. Seeing into the depths of the cavern he looked into the cave system where many of the child goblins had come from. traversing the cave system he came across the illusionary wall he had seen the last time he came here and with that, a notification appeared. Add schematic:Illusionary wall yes/no He chose yes and was able to bend light in a way that appeared to blend in with the surroundings. He went back through the cave, creating false deadends and directing it towardsSwift''s newly forged dungeons. Then he went backto the secret path hidden by the illusionary wall. Adilfloating through the wall or maybe in the mindscape the wall floated through him. He eventuallyarrived atthe ledge. This was the point he could see into the pit, the pit where he had once fought the dryad.This pit, Adil thought, is where the base would be built. He tried to expand the area beyond the pit, make it larger, but felt too much of a push on the surrounding landscape. Notification: You are attempting to terraform too far from the spawn crystal. Spawn crystal manna cost is increased and effects are reduced. Adil tried to focus on thespawn crystal and move it further down into the cave. He felt it move through the earth and a small while later end up in the ledge, the light pouring off it illuminating the cave space. he then focused on the nearby walls, pushing essence towards it but still, there was little effect.He focused on the schematics and found something that was painfully obvious to make. construct: Drone Created from minor amounts of spawn crystal manna.Used for construction, able to build constructs from the spawn crystals schematics and users instruction. Will cost more mana to function further away from the spawn crystal. Adil spawned a small army of drones, they appeared like cockroaches with long mandibles, seeming to be taken from what his mental idea of a drone was. They were two foot in height and five in length but appeared to be able to change size according to what was most useful. As they forged parts of rock shifted from around the spawn crystal until a strange ethereal construct of fluid silvery material was formed and a new drone was born. When he reached fifty-six a notification emerged stating the spawn crystals current mana. 87% mana remaining. Adil was shocked, their spawn crystalspower was vast. Adil began laying out the directions for the drones. He could see clearly a blueprint in his mindscape, switching between the finished products and the current state. He created a forge under the spawn crystal according to the schematics. A silver glow resonated from the ground and a runic table started raising out of it. Suddenly abeam shot from the spawn crystal to it, before it faded leaving the runes glowing silver. notification forge linked to spawning crystal. Mana pushing items is now available. Then drones began working around the sides of the area. One started pushing its mandibles into the wall, it worked as though when it touched the surface the mandible liquidated and coated the area of the wall it was working with. soon an anvil, hearth and many of the smithies tools appeared in the background. An entire smithy was created to combine with the spawn crystal. The focus appeared to be the strange enchanting table, something Adil was sure would not be in most Smithies. Finally looking down into the pit Adil decided to let the drones loose. He gave them orders to clear the area out, reinforce the ceiling and expand. He looked to expand the area until it reached the size of several football stadia. Within it, Adil set out the blueprint for a river, feeling through the caves a nearby source of water, flowing it through a filtration system and winding it through the landscape. Lights on the side of the walls helped illuminate the area in the absence of sunlight and melded with the glowing insects and plant life. The first buildings he decided on were small, scattered around the river, the mass of which was created by pushing essence into the surrounding landscape until the building took form. Then Adil forged a great castle in the centre, little of the space had been taken and Adil could not think of what to put inside. Accepting his blueprint he saw the drones delve towards the pit, some growing wings before they flew to the top of the cave. SatisfiedAdil brought himself back to reality to see what he had accomplished. He saw how the Goblins were pressed to the floor grabbing onto the grass as if tostay steady. Wiery and nervous looks across most of their faces whilst childrenheld each other. "What happened," Adil asked. "Th, the meercats." exclaimed one of the goblins in both shock and horror. "And then it wouldn''t stop shaking, it kept shaking." He cried out. "Ah" Adil recognized, realizing that he had just shifted hundreds of tonnes of rock. ~"well, I just finished making you a new home." Adil added with a sort of nervous smile. 38. Game sense After the tremors felt from Adil''s base construction, only a few of the goblins wished to investigate. But after a few words form Adil and the direction of Aku they were lead inside. They progressed through the entrance huddled together, nervous to any slight movement. A chattering sound echoed from the depths before what appeared to be a sizeable silvery creature came out of the darkness. It was one of the drones,a goblinfighter panicked and swatted it with his mace. The splattered remains of the thing ended up like a silvery goo along the floor. It seeped through cracks in the rock, slowly dissolving away until it was no more. Notification One of the drones has been killed, mana reaccumulated. Replace drone? yes/ no Adil replaced the drone, knowing it would come back again but he was unsure why it was this far out in the first place. Navigating the system of caves they came across illusionary wall after illusionary wall. Adil easily led them down the right way through the directions of the map on his interface. As they went further in the occasional drone was found scurrying around the cave, their silvery mandibles rubbing along the walls. Upon inspection of the creatures, they seemed to be engineering the tunnels to create the deceptive illusionary walls that Adil had set out to design before. As the creatures worked,it was as though their mandibles reached out and changed shape into whatever form helped for the situation ¡ª even melting into a silvery paste that enveloped places, glowing slightly to imbue the walls with magical illusionary properties. Eventually, the group walked towards the ledge, a space that housed the forge, anvil, spawn crystal and enchanting table. The plethora of scurrying silvery insects was challenging to avoid, and as they peered towards the pit, they were like shimmering silver veins coating the walls beyond. Bits of rock would be chipped away and then carried off to the Spawn crystal, where the terraforming properties of it would absorb the matter as if it was an afternoon snack. Adil reached towardsthe spawn crystal, his mana connecting, his eyes glowing brightly. The drones around the groupdispersed, leaving the forge empty and open so that they could move around freely. Aku had come with the group, and as a leader of the goblins, Adil thought it would be best to involve him inwhatever plan he had set out. "You ready?" Adil asked. Swift nodded in reply, and they both connected back into the Spawn crystal. Using their combined powers Adil opened up a table in the centre of the room, it pulled out from the surface connected to a tangible string of mana that was pouring from the crystal. Eventually, it was as though a large stone circular table with many chairs was in that part of the space. A temporary base of operations until the expansion was complete. The table itself appeared to hold an ethereal, ghostly layer over it as though there was a layer of mana imbued to its surface. On Aku''s direction, a group of armoured, crossbow-wielding, and fighter goblins stepped forward to gather around the table. Adil reached down, the knowledge imbuedfrom the crystal connected his mana to the table as he did that the ethereal layer over it began to warp and change shape. The goblins started staring into the changing mist on the table; each one of them focused on a different area and having their sight zoom in. It was as though they had to physically will themselves to separate from the sight to see the rest of the room. The smoky layer over the table began to form shapes build in consistency and then turn into bushes, trees and pathways. A raging storm was turning the ground into a paste, horses riding through this splashing the thick mud as their powerful hooves scooped it up. A bright light shone through the darkness as another explosion burst through the rocks and trees, allowing the horses to carry on along their straight path. One of the goblins was so shocked by this mind focusing magic he backed away from the table in pure terror, looking around the space in a panic, sweat trickling down their face. A few others had broken away, refusing to accept what was happening as usual. Adil pushed a bit of his mana into the table and brought everyone''s focus to a view, raising the image on the table so all could see. "This is just the first wave," He said, Showing them the breadth of the battalion. Their long formation, galloping through the maze, the Crusaders rode in blocks of two by two, the first group would blast away rocks and debris before others came in to spread the path, swapping out when a group grew tired,other mages moving in to take their place. The back section appeared to be more of an escort, pulling a carriage and storage wagon. A sort of blue-green shield buffeted occasional lightning hitting the battalion. Adil could see the distances how far they were away, the speed of their travel and how long it would take for them to arrive. It was only in a few hours.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As another bolt of lightning struck their magical shield, it echoed throughout the cave, many of the goblins jumping at the sound. "Hey, Adil. The kids" Swift stated. A few of the smaller goblins now shifted to one of the corners, dashing their eyes between the images, the scurrying drones in the distance and the Giant glowing crystal rotating above them. Adil pulled his mana from the table and stopped the image from showing to the group leaving silence in the room. "What do we do," Aku asked. "We can''t beat them yet; we need to hold them back until the defences are ready. They won''t be able to break through the cave without risking collapse. So we rely on the fake walls until dawn." Adil replied. "You think a fake wall will stop them?" another goblin said. Swift seemed frustrated at his lack of ability to understand them. a glow erupted from the spawning crystal; it seemed to connect to Swift and Adil Notification Unlockarea translation ability yes/no Adil chose yes, and there was a sudden change in the air. "What just happened?" Swift asked. Aku looked towards him with a small amount of surprise; he was sure Swift couldn''t speak goblin. However, what he had recently seen greatly outweighed this. "We are about to be attacked. Did you not see the army approaching?" He asked, almost angry. Swift was taken back by his clear speech, how the goblin language appeared to be a simple way to convey the same words. Adil put his hand in the way to silence the two. "If they go the wrong way, thenthey will fall into swift''s dungeon," Adil explained. Swifts eyes grew large. "Wait. No... I''m not going to let my dungeon creatures be your cannon fodder," Swift said stubbornly. "They are monsters, of course, we should use them," Adil said in exasperation. The goblins appeared uneasy at that remark. Were these the small animals they had just been playing with? The meerkats and their electrical abilities may have been, surprising. But The goblins were a mostly vegetarian race that had built up a long friendship with the wild, especially since their corruption had been removed. "I agree with the man of fire," Aku said. "If they are to find these creatures, we will just be feeding their ambition, delaying the inevitable and sacrificing what little we have for moments of peace; we cannot leave it just up to them." Adil rubbed his hand over his head; somehow, these giant greenish brutes had become virtue signalling pc assholes who wouldrisk their lives for a wild flaming bunny he joked to himself. "Ok. So we can build more traps and fight them off if anything with the help of the dungeon. Swift and Adil began highlighting a plan; they designated choke points, sent the drones to build pitfalls. They created secret passages to run away. I might not have been built in time, but at least they could try. In the presence and with the connection to the spawn crystal, it began to glow again. Swift turned to the crystal. "I know what I can do," He said ¡ª focusing on the crystal. Notification unlock function spawn other The spawn crystal can respawn select beings through the use of mana. costs: 1000 essence/experience They chose to accept, and automatically many of the goblins present appeared to resonate with the crystal, a mark of lightning surrounded by a dust devil of fire appearing on parts of their being, shoulders foreheads, arms. Notifications flooded through. Creature: Aku has been added to respawnables Creature: Massa has been added to respawnables Creature: Sumi has been added to respawnables "There has to be a manual for that thing," Adil said, looking towards it. Swift seemed to fidget on something. He had to get the ideas behind Swift''s crystal side; more focused on creatures then buildings. "I could have done it earlier, but I was trying to figure out how to make things fly." "We live underground." "So what?." Swift replied defensively. Adil facepalmed, part of him thought Swift had a point, but it just seemed too disturbing for now. "This should be easier," Adil said to the goblins, as they felt the new power rushing through them, they remembered once again who they were talking to, that it might just be better to rely on their strength and direction. He then shimmered open the map on the new war table, showing a layout of the cave system, hidden walls included for every goblin, drone and, Swift to see. He carried on building up the plan. Choosing locations to send the drones, areas to fight. The goblins were going to resurrect if they died and there would be continuous fighting across the caves. Part of Adil seemed to flow at this moment; he saw points for an exact concave, where his archer team would get the most significant damage against them. He saw points in which the armies could be lead down narrow pathways, forcing them to get trampled by the largest of the goblins and even areas of steep terrain where the goblin horde could siege up, letting them assault and take apart the slow-moving troops. notification- tactician level 1 You feel an intuitive understanding of micromanagement overcome you, able to understand the basics of combat the knowledge of army movements will always be in the back of your mind, ready to be retrieved and acted upon for the fastest actions and directions. This new mental enhancement let him see the areas of the highest effectiveness glowing on the map, stored and taken from the back of his mind in a way that was now second nature. 39. The first wave The soldiers rode through the storm, rain pounding the ground and lightning deflected off their makeshift mana shields. The first group of horses blew open another section of the maze and rotated around for another group to take the lead, travelling through a cloud of dust and debris. They saw strange flashing glitches as though part of the walls were illusionary and being interfered with by both the rain and the partial destruction of their surroundings. As they passed a downhill slope, the troops began to slow down and gather; they had arrived at the location the beacon was last seen. A lone man appeared to be waiting in the open cavern; he was wearing rags drenched in the rain. "Who goes there!" one of the men shouted through the rain. "WHAT?!" Adil shouted back. The men gathered their horses in the cavern, one of them getting off and walking towards him. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked. "I am the guardian of this land. Leave now or feel my wrath." Adil thundered, aiming to inspire intimidation he only appeared as an out of place whining young man. Thesoldierlooked up and down the wet, rugged adventurer, not seemingly impressed by his appearance. He claimed to be a caveman that wanted to stop a regiment of the church''s crusaders. Seemingly fed up, the person seemed exasperated, especially after the arduous travel he had just taken. "Right, if you don''t get out the way you will be obstructing the church which is treason. You will begiventhe death penalty and repercussions for three generations of your family." The man said. Adil was still finding himchallenging to hear, the sound of the storm raging appeared to beinterfering too much. He reached his hand, into the ground and tried to send a message to the spawn crystal. As he focused his mana, a slight silvery glow resonated around him, and soon, the clouds began to clear. Rain immediately stopping and the clouds dissipating into nothingness. Soon the sky was only blue, a glowing heat resonating from the sun, together with the areas warmth ability it felt like a pleasantly dry summer day. "That''s better," Adil said. The other man seemed in shock and scuttered back shouting "shit." before getting on his horse and galloping away, Other soldiers in the area appeared to move to surround Adil. Eventually, a more official man came towards Adil, his armour made him stand out like the knight major from town, Adil remembered seeing him in the scrying image from before. "So I hear you''re the one that made the storm?" the man said. "Yes I am Major, and you''re part of the crusaders?" "Aye I am, and it seems your aware of what stopping us means, correct?" "We only wish for peace." The army man shuffled to the side a bit at that comment: "We''ve been killing monsters and purging evil fora few hundredyears, now why would you want to stop that?" he said. As much as the man seemed to be coming from a firm stance, Adil could feel that he was more curious than aggressive. He tried to push further in and see if he could calm the crusade. "Do I look like a monster?" He said with a half-hearted smile. "Aye, you do have me there, ye ain''t looking like a monster, but I have my orders, and there should be a goblin base around here. Also, we have no idea how you controlled the weather like that. Now I -" Abolt of energy wasfired andconnected with Adil''s face; his head ruptured off his body.The older man looked towards one of the religious priests; he had taken one of the crystals from the mages, channelling his mana through it and shooting a bolt towards Adil''s head. "Ye didn''t have to do that; I was talking to the man." The knight major said. Adil woke up under the spawn crystal; the crystal appeared to be resonating. Its manna replenishing from the action it had just taken. "fuck," he said to himself, quickly gathering himself he focused on the task at hand, he went over to the war table opening up a map of the land. Drones had been placed at tactical locations and opened lines of communication between the groups. Initiating interaction with the first group Adil found it was a battalion of goblins crouched togetherin a small hidden extensionabove the cave withSwift when he connected with the drone the silvery creature now emitted an almost robotic version of Adil''s voice.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Ok, they killed me mid-conversation and are currently moving into the cave," Adil said through the drone. The group appeared to be expecting this outcome. The knight major moved towards the cave entrance, and suddenly a roar echoed from within, and a storm reemerged in the sky. The chilling echo of Adil''s voice was robotically emitted from deep within. "You Dare threaten the creatures of this land. This is your last warning, begone or feel my Wrath!" Swift face palmed himself at the generic nature of Adil''s speech. "You heard him boys, let''s all go." The knight major said, a laugh erupting from the people behind him as he started to walk into the cave. A rogue type seemed to scratch the back of his head when they started walking towards the cave, a coat of mana forming around them as they passed in, pushing away a bolt of lightning which seemed to strike the group. "You know, as much as I think this is allfun and games. There''s clearly something dangerous in here. Are you sure you want to go in?" He said The major looked at him with disdain motioning his hand for the rogue to follow. "That shield''s going to be a real pain," Adil said through the drone. The other group waited in ambush for what was likely their impending doom. "Got any ideas?" Adil asked. Swift looking pensive tried to think about what he had just seen. "Maybe. If it doesn''t um, protect from close things, or it could like, turn off when they shoot stuff." Swift said. Adil considered Swift''s thoughts, it did seem the shields were being activated, but he couldn''t tell how. "Let''s see if your right." The drone said. Swifts glared at it, unsure if the drone was smiling or not. The crusaders traversed the fire and walked inside, hidden in an upper area Swift, and a small group of nimble goblins began watching them. The drones had built tiny passageways, almost like ventilation shafts. It allowed the drones to carry on construction and traverse the map without being easily seen. Further, the new tunnels were perfect for the new task, Swift, and his new group were given. A chilling echo resonated from down the corridor as Adil''s voice stated. "You have been warned." The group consisted of two crossbow wielding goblins anda fighter andthreegoblin rogues. The fighter was wielding a twohanded katana whilst the other goblins appeared like ninjas. The crossbowers were the most basic, their weapons enormous in size but still looking like makeshift goblin weapons adorned with bones against its wood. The group shuffled ahead of the crusaders and away to their designated spot. They were now in a larger cavern awaiting the crusaders'' arrival just before a fork in the path.The goblin championwas in the centre waiting for the crusade to come closer. The army of men were not impressed, a single goblin waiting to fight back roughly 40 armedsoldiers directly working for the monster killing faction of the church. A group of 20 had already moved into the cavern and were staring down this goblin before it had made a move, a bead of sweat seemed to be appearing over its face as it held the washing pole sized katana in one hand. The major was flicking something out of his teeth as he walked in. A small wooden pick was sticking out of his mouth; he saw what was awaiting him, bit down on the pick and spat it away. "Shoot him," he said. Two people from either side appeared to channel jagged-shaped crystals and focus power through it. A bolt of energy shot out and blew apart the face of the goblin samurai, seeing it turn into a silvery pasty mush melting into the floor. In true admiral Ackbar fashion, the man shouted "It''s a trap!" and fire erupted from behind the group separating them. Swift had dropped down from some illusionary hiding spot into the mass of them, a couple of goblin ninjas to either side managed to get close enough to impale the soldiers with short daggers injuring themand taking them out of the fight. A mana shield focused on Swift, holding back the force of fire trying to envelop half of the battalion. A sword quickly impaled Swift''s back, but he did not let up with the fire, exerting his last breaths. The katana-wielding fighter dropped down from the sky now diving straight for the major. He managed to clash swords with the beast forcing back the sword with a new smile on his face. A mage turned to the goblin a charged bolt ready to fire before two bolts impaled the soldier. Firstly his arm, putting his aim off and stopping his ability to channel energy into the crystal, secondly his neck, the soldier choked on the arrow before he collapsed to the ground, his essence taken in by the cave. The man who had impaled Swift forced his sword in further, lifting it and adding a dagger to the mix. Swift now slammed to the ground had his flames diminish, collapsing around them, the ninjas too had barely managed to fight off the others before they were repelled. That was when the floor began to collapse. Half of the soldiers screamed as they fell; one of the injured soldiers didn''t make the landing. Swift''s lifeless body appeared charred by the flames, bloody and empty. Three soldiers of the forty were killed for the four enemies they had beaten. The crossbowmen still alive and above. 40. Separated The major got up from the ground surrounded by the cries of pained soldiers around him. He looked up and saw that a large portion of the army had avoided falling. In fact, the majority were still above. When the major looked around him, he saw only eight living soldiers. "Is everybody ok?" one of the soldiers called from above. in a muttered breath, the major said. "ye can bloody well see can''t you." "What?" "We''re alright, just a few cuts and bruises." "Didn''t one of the mages take an arrow through the neck?" "Aye, he did. But the rest of us are fine. best ye run along while the rest of us deal with this." "Are you saying you want us to leave?" "Just find ye own bloody way is what I''m saying!" Under his breath, the major added. "like walking a bloody dog." The rogue type had landed on his ass, he stood and dusted himself off. "Your not the best at this leadership stuff, are you?" The rogue asked. "Shut yer mouth or I''ll have you reprimanded," the major replied. "Just my luck," the rogue-type said to himself. "Followed you in, and now I''m trapped," he added. The man dressed in more religious robesseemed to be with them all; he appeared over them seemingly without a spec of dust on him. "Gather your soldiers and move on, lestI inform the church of your careless charge,"he said, acold Stoney look across his face. "Get a load of grumpy here." The major said to the rogue. "You''re one to talk." The rogue replied. The Major grunted and turned to carry on down the tunnel. Adil saw them progress further through the tunnels sitting at his war table, formulating new plans on the fly. He saw Swift appear next to him and noticed the mana drain from the spawn crystal''s reserves. Experience from the slain enemies seemed to add towards the spawn crystal''s level, a couple percentages added to the bar. Spawn crystal level 10 13%progress to 11 "How''d it go?" Swift said, grabbing some new clothes by the anvil and putting them on. Adil was keenly focused on the dynamics of his new war table; his attention only wavering for the odd glance. "Good, or... We found something new." "New good?" "It''s this priest." The screen focused around a religious figure that seemed to be with the leading group. What appeared to be the ones in charged, had fallen to a lower path. When the priest was highlighted in the picture, there didn''t seem anything abnormal about him, just another standard religious zealot wearing religious clothes. The man looked like Adil and Swift would imagine most attached to the church would look like. "What about him?" "See his clothes?" Adil said. "Yeah, basic robes, some pattern, probably religious." "It''s not damaged, even though it''s just a robe, he fell something like 20 feet, everyone would have been caught on some rocks. It''s not even dirty," "You might be reading into that a bit too much, did you see him fight?" "Maybe, but I didn''t see him fight, and this thing doesn''t seem to record anything... So I can''t even tell how he fell." "I think you might be focusing on him too much." "Maybe, but he has that look you know?" "What look." You know,just looks like a massive asshole." The war table was still hovering over his head. The priest''s angry and dismissive expression and mannerisms seemed to show a considerable distaste for everything and everyone around him. "K, about the shields though." "Oh yeah, I don''t know why the shield didn''t block the arrows or people but blocked the fire and lightning." Swift a bit miffed. "Round two then?" He asked. Adil gave a thumbs up before carrying on his path. The other goblins then appeared next to the spawn crystal, almost warping in. The marks onthat symbolised their allegiance to the cave were glowing. They seemed to be naked but quickly gathered more weapons from the forge, a collection of the makeshift tools enhanced to fit their needs. "Down there," Adil said, pointing in the same direction Swift had just walked. After a moment of realising their miraculous resurrection, they moved down the path Adil pointed to. The next stage now ready in Adil''s plan, he moved to interact with the now separate forces. The larger group further split trying to cover more ground as they came across a fork in the tunnels. Adil looked at them closely. They appeared to be walking around with torches in their hands; the cave lights turned off for their invasion. There was a nervous air about one of them. "hay, this doesn''t feel right." none of them replied. "Should we really be going further in, what if something''s in here?" he added. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "Guys, I don''t think this is-" "Shut the fuck up, Steve," said another. "But-" "If you''re going to keep bitching, just leave. You can just go-" The group turned to see the path they had just taken appeared different, as though some sort of illusionary magic was deceiving them and getting them lost. "That''s odd. I could have sworn" A growl could be heard in the distance, a sudden shake emerged, and suddenly some giant mole creature popped its head out of the dirt, looked at them, and then backed away again. The growling continued until a few moments later a small greyish-blue creature curiously popped its face in front of them. "Aw, look, a meerkat," one of the soldiers said. Adil felt he knew what was coming and was going to look back to this group at a later date. He turned to the goblins he had commanded to wait in another section of the cave. This time the group coming towards them seemed well orientated, silently moving forward in two squad-like formations holding all fifteen of them. One of the soldiers gave out a hand signal, and the group stopped. It was almost as though they saw the new group waiting up ahead. Seeing the opportunity, Adil took ahold of one of the drones in the area and spoke through its robotic mechanism. "Flee now; it is your last chance." The group seemed to be stationary until another hand signal pointed in the direction Adil was hidden. An arrow was fired with power and ferocity from one of the men, it went through the illusionary wall into the hiding spot and splatted the drone, silver goo spread across the wall before it dematerialised. The troop then charged in weapons drawn. Arrows were flung again pastthe illusionary wall, hitting one of the goblins before they had a chance to emerge. The goblins burst forward, roaring as they appeared through the wall. A single goblin fell and dropped through, an arrow impaled in his head. More of them were killed before they reached the church''s forces. Finally, they clashed as the armoured and fighter goblins smashed against shields. The goblins were thrown off their kilter through expert bashes before spears and sword shot through their hearts. A single soldier was hit, but he was quickly taken away, the injured, soldiers removed from the fight. In the end, every goblin appeared behind Adil, whilst none of the soldiers met their doom. "Wooo!" exclaimed one of the men. "Wait till we tell the boss about this," said another. One of the soldiers went to lift up a goblin''s mace. This group appeared to be well trained and coordinated especially compared to the others. Adil quickly turned back to the meerkat group for a check-in. There was a lot of screaming and blood along the walls, one of the soldiers was on the floor having had his neck ripped out, from the crystal by his deceased body he was likely a mage. "Where''s it gone? where''s it gone!?" One of the soldiers shouted. Another soldier keeled over. "I, I can feel it inside me," he said. And then an explosion of guts erupted and sprayed everything around them. The meerkat stood there in what was left of the soldier''s upper torso, lightning coating its body as it looked around for the next target. That was enough for Adil to see. Over the war table, Adil could see one group had left the cave; they were setting up a sort of camp, battlements and a safe position. Another with the main forces was underground, having had the floor collapse under them. Then there was the one in Swift''s dungeon, facing off against the meerkat. Finally, the expert group, slowly progressing through the caves. Aku was waiting on standby in the underground whilst the other goblins moved in. Adil checked the spawn cores mana, hoping it was keeping up. Eighty percent left, it was plenty left to revive the group. The collection rate would restore another five before the next fight, and it was still recovering from the work Adil had to do before the invasion began. Aku was waiting with his sword in hand, fidgeting as he stood there, so its wait was not overbearing. A few goblin fighters and armoured goblins came running in. "Is it time?" Aku asked. The goblins arrived just before a silvery drone approached form the other side. "They are coming. These ones are tough, but if you can, aim specifically for the priest. Try to make him fight." The silvery drone said, then it carried on travelling down the path to further down, seemingly trying to escape the conflict. Down the corridor, the group of soldiers seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated with each other''s company. The major took a swig of something brown; it seemed to spill a bit across his moustache. "You sure you should be drinking that on the job?" The rogue type asked. "Shut ye mouth merc, like you would know any better." "I''ll have you know me and my men are professionals. I don''t-" "MY men," the major stated. "Well, yeah, your men. When we used to be mercs, we took it seriously." The major gave a guttural grunt. The group moved further ahead, and therogue stayed back a bit. "Are you not coming?" "Do you not see that?" The rogue said, looking down the path. "What." "The shimmer, me and the boys once came across something like this in some rebel mines." The major looked impatient; he looked towards the ex-merc-leader as the man drew an arrow with his bow. He was aiming at a wall down the path. "What are you-" Adil could see the actions of the person and using a drone next to Aku he shouted: "Brace!" An arrow flew through another of the hiding spots Adil had placed throughout the tunnels and clanged against Aku''s shield, which was held over his face. Then Aku jumped out of the spot and landed safely on the ground facing the soldiers. His zweihander, as intimidating at his side as his size and bone adorned armour. A few other goblins followed suit; fighters, armoured goblins, crossbowmen and dagger-wielding rogues. Aku looked around for the priest, but he had appeared to have vanished. Adil too looked around the space, having lost track of the priest. He enhanced the image and seemed to see a faint shimmer of gas moving around the area. "Just my luck," the rogue said "You better not hold me back merc." The major said, pulling out his sword. The rogue type was starting to have enough of this guy; he had gathered four more arrows for rapid-fire in one of his hands. The goblins charged forward, a few arrows flew towards the goblins, three from the rogue hit the legs of fighters stopping their advance, another impaling the side of the neck of an armoured goblin, but not killing him. It seemed as though the other soldier archers only hit shields and armour, to the disapproval of the rogue.The arrows from the goblin crossbowmen seemed to collapse to the ground when they passed through some magical field. Then a man holding some crystal orb seemed to lose energy an arrow then hitting a soldier in the gut. One of the mages appeared to cast a bolt of energy at one of the goblins, but the goblin raised his shield even letting go of it. The shield shattered with the blast and the goblin shrugged off the slight concussive force appearing through the cloud of dust and destroyed the shield. Aku swung for the major, but his sword was parried, just after the clash the major threw some of his brown liquid into Akus eyes, making him reel back from the sting in his eyes. Aku kicked out and pushed the Major away, the major went back but was not taken off his feet or even out of his fighting stance. Adil had made the drone much smaller, now even implanted in Aku''s shoulder, the slight gassy drift had seemingly moved to an open space just behind the Major. "Throw your shield at him!" Adil said through the drone. "What? I''ll lose my." "Just do it." To the major''s shock, Aku threw his shield, which the major easily avoided by a simple duck. The large metal shield struck the gassy area, and the shimmer faded to reveal a displeased priest. His dark, furious expression seemed enhanced by the slight trickle of blood down his head. "Enough." The man shouted. He raised his hands to the goblins and launched out a furious barrage of arcane energy. The goblins were all frozen, and even a couple soldiers the priest had been too lazy to check for. The soldiers looked shocked. "Could you not hav-" "Quiet your mouth merc; you are all a disgrace to the high church." The priest wiped the blood trickle from his face onto his robe, seeing the mark it made he tsked. The major looked down and away from the priest before he carried on walking down the tunnel. The goblins frozen solid appeared to be breaking down as they thawed. Aku was still alive though, his legs seemingly frozen into the ground buteven without his shield to brace through some of the freezing death he was thawed enough to move. As he shuffled against the cold, bits of ice breaking off his skin, he tried to spin his sword. One of his legs seemed to snap off in his incredible exertion of will.Trying to stab at the priest as he moved past the priestly wizard put one hand to his face and shot out a burst of cold that both froze nocked off and shatter Aku''s head before he managed close enough to a swing. 41. Steve The priest''s strength took Adil by surprise. His power to disappear, and kill the strongest group of goblins chilled Adil to the bone. The cold uncaring waythe priest killed even his own men, carelessly freezing them to death, was deeply worrying. Adil saw where the soldiers were at, they were only halfway through, but still, it was more bad news. There were odd soldiers scattered around the dungeon having run after encountering a few of the creatures there, but a skilled group still progressed steadily through the top area whilst the elites together with the frost mage priest held the low ground. Both elite groups appeared to be going directly for the hidden base. The base he was currently in, the not completed base that only stood as a hiding spot for goblin children or a temporary hold for the forge spawn crystal and war table. Adil had accumulated a limited stack of weapons, created through the "mana-pushing" ability of the forge. Where the forge''s mana was used to enhance the properties of makeshift weapons passed through.The stack of weapons was not that great; they were enhanced in both size and damage, but the quality of the material used meant that there was little extra that could be added to them through the forge''s abilities. To battle against the diminishing quality of the weapons, Adil sent drones to try and pick up the weapons dropped. He had managed to find a way in which the drones could travel through the ground with little to no effort and though at a slower pace, drag the weapons and armour back. Which was good, because of the angry expression Aku sent him after he resurrected made it seem as though he very much wanted his zweihander back. Without time to explain though, he just pointed the goblins down the path; he gave a tsk as he passed, still angry even without direction. Now Adil saw the map highlight possibilities for him, he thought about an ambush of archers and saw options arise across the war table for where the best ambushes would work. Focusing then on ones which would work against the priest, they suddenly all went red before fading to black and disappearing. It didn''t seem like anything could work; he tried to think a while longer creating the most effective strategies he could in the limited time he had. he came up with something, it wasn''t great, but it was an idea, frustrated he threw away the other options, something his dad used to say flicked back to his ears. "a bad decision is better than no decision." Even with all the times, following that idea had not personally worked out for him, it seemed appropriate here. "Swift," Adil said in a steady tone. "I need your fire." "Why do I always fuck up." one of the soldiers cried to himself, he was now hiding in the back end of one of the caves, having run from acid spraying plants,moles that dragged others underground and even a flaming fox. "We have a big mission for you, Steve. One last chance Seve," the soldier was whimpering now. "I''ve never even used a sword before, and they send me on a crusade." The last part of what he said echoed through the cave; he realised then that he shouldn''t talk. An elk popped its head around the corner; a slight glow appeared within its horns. "That''s so pretty." The soldier said, he was staring into the light and knew it was dangerous, but now he could do nothing but stare. A blast shot into the wall where he just was after another soldier tackled him and slammed him into the side. "You fucking shit fuck fuck." the other soldier said having slammed him into the wall. He seemed to be incredibly skittish. The elk started charging another shot but the new soldier dove behind the corner of the cave into another tunnel and draggedthe whimpering man with him. Another shock erupted from the cave. The skittish man jumped back into the cave and at the elk, he managed to push the head up before another shot ripped into the ceiling and with his dagged repeatedly stabbed the beast in the neck. A light disappeared from the beast''s eyes as it fell to the floor, the man on him jumped off it and then began pacing across the tunnel.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. "This was the plan. We die, the plan, we die." He pulled something out of his side pocket and took a sniffbefore putting it back, some white powder now visible on his unshaven face. "Are you ok?" Asked the whimpering man. "Do you not SEE?!" shouted the soldier. Steve just backed away further into the corner. "Were not good enough to be here, were not meant to be here, we shouldn''t fucking be here!!" "it''s the church it has to be, they are uuup to something." "I just want to go home." Steve said. "Oh you better not do that." The man said. "what?" The man grabbed Steve this time and staring him in the eyes he shouted "DO I LOOK LIKE I KNOW WHAT''S GOING ON!?" The white powder clearly showing along his face. Just then a silvery head popped over the side, a buzzing electricity sound murmuring around it. It was a meerkat, both soldiers screamed and ran. They ran down the corridor and saw a buzz of electricityslide along the walls move ahead of them and then dissipate on the ground in front, leaving behind a meerkat. Changing directions they saw the silvery lightning scatter along the wall again, it jumped off the wall and aimed towardsSteve''s chest. He put his dagger in the way and the lightning seemed to envelop around it.Anelk appeared around the corner,he threw thedaggertowards it. The lightning coated metal hit the lower side of the elk seeming to anger it into charging up one of the larger shots.As the mana discharge reached a frightening size, lightning from thedagger shot into the elk and the elk grew a shocked expression, a second later the elk exploded, splattering its insides against the walls and leaving behind what appeared to be the meerkat. "OH SHIT" shouted thedrug addict. Whilst Steve had been staring at the elk the addict had been running the other way, and now along that side appeared two more of the elk, they all saw the carcass of the deceased animal and bared their teeth noticing the new threat to their lives. arcane blasts rocketed past them, and towards the meerkat shaking the cave as it hit. The two soldiers managed to get around another corner escaping the battle before there was a silence. They carried on running, panting and running, exerting all their stamina. looking back along the tunnle they saw flashes of bright cyan-white light. Lightning seems to caress the walls, two separate streaks were now shooting towards them. "Block it with metal," Steve said to the drug addict. The man looked at him with utter confusion before a sparkof realisation seemed to cross his face. The drug addict pulled out a bastard sword from his side, it was impressive he could carry that thing and move so fast, after losing his shield sword and dagger Steve just took off one of his gauntlets. Steve trying to pull off his gauntlet just grew a sad realisation as he saw the lightning come towards him before he even managed that. Then he fell over, falling down a slanted part of the tunnel, the rocks scattering as he bounced along. When he eventually landed at the bottom, he groand andlooked up. Seeing his closest ally jumping towards him, in the air with a bastard sword in tow as a bolt of lightning shot towards him. He looked up and instinctively held his gauntlet in front of him. The metal enveloped it and he shoved it down under a rock. Pressing hard against the gauntlet and possibly bending the metal with the rock, somehow the meerkat didn''t seem to be able to get out. He was holding it under the rock, seeing electricity scatter around it. He looked up and saw how the mad soldier was flying through the air towards him now, the lightning within his sword. He was between two things of immense danger, feeling as though this was an inevitable conclusion Steve was ready to accept his fate when an explosion ruptured the ground beneath him. Bits of meerkat were scattered around and he was pushed slightly off the ground. The spot he was on seemed to crumble then, its structural integrity lost. They fell a good 10 feet before landing on something. he saw around him goblins and soldiers alike staring in awe, they appeared to be looking more towards the drug-addicted soldier, as the man''s sword having stabbed straight down, exploded in a force of blood and guts. For some reason, everyone, goblins and soldier seemed to give a cheer. Steve thought for a moment if he had somehow taken some of the other soldier''s drugs. 42. Mercs Adil saw through the war table the priest walking down the tunnels leading the other "elite" troops behind him.The rest of the force appearing to hang behind, the major appearing to grumble under his breath. The rogue typeagain waited back just before another batch of goblins fell in from the sky. Crossbow bolts shooting through the darkness as the goblins dove in. The major wastaken by surprise at the sudden ambush, but the priest only angrily stared the goblins down. The bolts that whizzed past appeared to be all aimed for the priest, but the few that hit seemed to bounce off some sort of invisible shield around him.This left the goblins charging in to lose hope as their fate became clear. The priest moved past the ice as the goblins crumbled to white dust. There he saw one of the goblins having fallen on their back in fear. The goblin quickly got up and started running beforethe priest lazily held up a hand and shot a blast of cold air freezing the goblin, the body soon again collapsing into shards of ice. "Fuck!" Adil shouted. The goblins had been trying to lead the crusaders away from the base and into Swift''s dungeon but to no avail. No matter the side they appeared from, or the way they started running the troops carried on along the same path. Adil saw the goblins respawn again, a few of them still shivering from the cold and gave a look of despair at what they would be pushed to face, over and over again. "Just get to the back," Adil said towards him. The remaining forcesvisible in on Adil''s war-map were held up in the final cavern. The collective reincarnated armies huddled together against the others previously not sent out to fight due to weakness or age. Children and ones incapable of fighting stuck without anywhere to go. Even some of the experienced warriors stoodwithout weapons as Adil struggled to manufacture more or retrieve enough from the deceased. Aku stood facing a place in the wall that the drones seemed to be exiting. He was awaiting the potential arrival of his weapons and armour. As what seemed like his armour and shield coming through he seemed to gain a burst of hope. His armour appeared with the remains of his frozen dead body, popping out with a thud, followed by the shield. The sword, however, was nowhere to be seen; it appeared that one of the crusaders had taken it from his corpse. A few fingers missing where it was pried from his hand. Then something small round and shiny appeared to fall through the area, pushed out by a drone. Aku picked the object up and gazed into it, waved it around. "Careful!" Adil shouted from across the room. He had seemingly abandoned the war table to join everyone in this cavern. He quickly walked over there and grabbed the object out of Aku''s hand and then walked over to Swift. Swift was trying a conversation with a couple of armoured goblins. "So you guys were just hading in caves," Swift said to the goblin. "We mostly just got drunk on mushroom beer" the goblin replied Adil butted in. "Shoot me with fire," he said to Swift. Swift looked to the armoured goblin who shrugged. "you mean, shoot me with fire, please?" Swift requested, "Yes, shoot me with fire please," Adil added. Swift cracked some Nuckles then held out his hands. Adil just looked towards him and focused down on the crystal seeming to insert his mana into the underlying mechanism which drove whatever was inside. Swift shot out asteady streamof fire; from his perspective, it was coating Adil and covering him entierly with flames. The goblins around seemed to look towards them in utter confusion. "Why did you do that?" Asked one of the armoured goblins, generally in confusion before Swift had a chance to reply he saw the fire rescind. There Adil was with the crystal in his hands. The fire seemed to have not been able to pass an area, a theoretical forcefield over the area. "Cool," Swift said. Adil let out a gasp for air. Having focused so much, he forgot to breathe for a moment. He looked impressed at the item he held. "Holy shit, you have a forcefield," Swift announced. "Obviously, did you think I was just asking for you to set me on fire?" ~"Don''t answer that." Adil added quickly, a notification appearing over his vision. Adil had inspectedthe intricacies of the construct, seeinghow it converts the user''s mana into a sort of energy. As it is passed through the mechanisms to fuela kind of transference, obstructing mana in a select space or if enough is passed through, creating a sort of forcefield which if touched uses manna to repel whatever attacked it. notification
Your ability to see exact distances has been combined with your sense of mana to help you better understand the workings of magical constructs. You are now capable of understanding and creating manna based on-off switch. You are now capable of understanding and creating unrefined manna shields. You are now capable of understanding and creating unrefined elemental mana conversions. You are now capable of understanding and creating %%" manna. "¡ê$$%$%. Fuck, Adil thought. It had been so long since he had seen a bug like that. "So, can it help with the freezy guy?" swift asked, he seemed to have been given information from the resurrected goblins. "Better than that, we can equip everyone with their personal manna shield," Adil said back with a broad smile. suddenly one of the goblins came running through; he looked frantically around at all the people standing around. "There-," the goblin was frozen. Everyone in the cavern looked around to see the approaching priest. He came in with the cold, the air around him coming with him into the cavern. The priest looked around the cavern in disgust. "Pitiful." the priest said. The goblinsroared andcharged forward, a cascading cold resonated fromaround the priest seemingly rolling through the ground towards the charging goblin horde. Adil focused on the crystal in his hand andtried to disrupt the mana constructed cold. Adil felt a pull as his mana was stretched to its limits, the cold was held back only a thin layer coating the goblins as they charged forward tinting their skin and frosting their weapons.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "No!" the priest exclaimed. Blasting out a wave of cold, it did not penetrate far but blasted away a few of the goblins shattering a couple and grazinganother; the goblin struggled to move away as he found his leg frozen to the ground. "Miserable creatures." The priest muttered again. Adil looked towards Swift and saw his acknowledgement. They shot out a burst of intertwined fire and air towards the religious figure. As the manna infused air caught the infused fire, the blast shot out in a blazing superheated spiral; the priest braced, a hand of his clenched aroundthe symbol hanging by his neck. Whenthe fire appeared to be dissipating the flame rescinded to show that the priest was unharmed, only surrounded by the flickers of flames caught on the ground around him. "How novel." The mage stated. "They said not to take you lightly. Well, we expected the breaker of the orc''s curse to have some strength." The man opened his hand and generated a focused amount fo cold in one area, as the airglistened with frostand ice began to form a solid javelin of ice took shape, hovering next to the priest. The priest launched it towards Adil. Focusing on the crystal Adil tried to push back the cold, but to little avail, he only managed to take away a slight amount of its momentum. Just before it crashed into him, he gave up on area protections and created a focused solid wall, closer to him. As thespike penetrated the shield, the kinetic energy transferred to him pushing him backwards. The javelinbegan slowly penetrating the shield, as it broke through it seemed to accelerate, connecting with Adil it jabbed into his shoulder breaking off its tip before being bouncing off into the distance Adilwas pushed back a couple of meters. He wasrunning low on manna. Another goblin charged towards the priest but was frozen by the seemingly ever-present cold resonating around him. The priest gazed at the corpse as it passed through and then fell into white dust. He looked towards it in uncaring disapproval. "Primitives," he said Adil walked forward past the goblins, getting between them and the priest, suppressing the cold from reaching them as the children and unarmed goblins sought refuge on the far side. Something seemed to click inside him, as though he realised something unusual. "Why the fuck are you even here?"Adil asked the priest. It didn''t seem right; they must have known they were peaceful by now. "You don''t know?" The priest asked, The major was behind them and moved into vision, "Aye, ye attacked thevillage. Nearly killed everyone there," the major said. "Your idiocy disgraces the clothes you wear," The priest said to the major. "Removing the curse was never meant to happen. We have to get rid of any trace of orc or orc civilisation from here," he added*/ Adil charged electricity between his hands as Swift focused his fire. Adil shot the electricity, and a bolt of lightning seemed to hit his shield and then spray onto the ground around him. "That was pathetic." He pushed forward with the creeping cold enveloping the space around Adil, his shield chipping and flaking as the pressure of the priest''s manna increased. Another volley of crossbow bolts wasshown to be useless, hitting ice in the air they froze, collapsed and shattered into shards of ice, the odd hit deflected off his manna shield. The priest took a few steps forward. Ice spikes started forming around him before Swift let out a force of fire, searcing chains shot out pierced the cold, coating the priest''s shield, the chains fizzing as they pressed against the manna shield. "Not strong enough." The priest stated, seeing the chains with disapproval. Adil shot in his mana infused wind together with Adils fire, their powers combining again in a futile attempt to bat away the cold. As Adil pushed in the air, he aimed to get closer. "I had hoped to see something interesting. Not this futile attempt" The priest said, seeing Adil struggle to get closer against the force of cold. Now just close enough to the priest, he saw an opening and tried a desperate move. Adil launched his tendrils of manna towards the man and tried to connect, focusing lightning energy through it he managed to weasel past the immense pressure of mana and onto the shield. Using his new knowledge of its mechanisms he shot in and though the construct, latching onto the priest''s immense manna. "What the!" The priest exclaimed, now under the influence of Adil. Adil was trying to hold on and pull the priest under with him; the Priest felt his consciousness slipping away. He increased the pressure of ice over the forces ahead of him. An arrow zoomed through the air and hit Adil in the side of the head. Breaking the attempt and putting Adil down for good. Swift waved around and tried to whiphis spray of fire around. But three shots impaled his body and quickly put him down. The mercs had arrived. The force that Adil had forgotten about, so focused on the priest he had little time left. "Hey, boss." One of the archers said, waving to the ex merc leader who was casually resting against the wall, avoiding interfering with the fight. He gave a wave, the major disgruntled at their focus of the rogue type still as their leader. "At least some here show promise." The priest said. Admiring the clean kill and genuinely surprised that other soldiers had made it this far. "Kill them all," the priest added, waving his hand for the others to finish the job. He then walked away to recharge his mana whilst he admired what was about to happen. The mercs mover forward, seeing all the large goblinoids had been killed. Some were not carrying weapons and some half-frozen a lot of them seemed to be pushing themselves against the wall. The mercs walked into the middle of the cavern swords, axes, spears and bows drawn. Walking toward the first combatants, the goblins shifted to defend the little ones, looking at them to make sure they were alrightbut hope lost in their eyes. The knowledge that they might be continuously killed in the back of their minds. "Boss," "Yeah," "This don''t feel right." "Tell me about it." "Didn''t we stop being mercs to get rid of this feeling?" "yep," the mercs looked back to their boss who had just gotten off the wall. The boss soon joined the rest of them. "There are kids here." one of them said looked towards a cowering group in the corner of the cavern, their childlike appearances were alien to the mercs, having known goblins as only bloodthirsty murderers. "You heathenous degenerate fools. Finish them off before I charge you with treason" The priest said. "Look at them, are they even goblins?"One of the mercs added, seeming to ignore the priest. The priest walked from the wall and said to everyone there "You wear the armour of the high church, do your duty as you have been told. Even such a small task is beneath you. Or else your lives will be the ones taken." "You would intentionally kill yer own men?" The major said in disgust. "You were to die by my hand regardless of your actions." The priest said before a shocked silence was left amongst the cavern. "You mean?" "Did you really think you were worthy of a crusade, mercenaries. Your expendable livesare only good for one purpose lest you defile our good name." The armies looked towards the priest and raised their weapons. The priestly mage walked in between the goblins and sellswords charging ice with each hand, he formed spikes of ice and a cascading cold, whilst he bore the most sinister of expressions. "To think that mercenaries thought themselves good enough to-" The ceiling seemed to collapse, and two men fell down, The manna-shield tried to repel falling debris and a sword that appeared to be digging into him, but his manna was low, even spread amongst the ice spikes he had just formed, and his shield damaged taking the collapsing rocks against it. The sword broke through, strange electricity pouring through it and then embedded itself in the mage. With the rocks, another man collapsed to the ground having also fallen with the rocks. Struggling to get up, they only managed to see the cheers of goblin and soldier alike. Then, suddenly the priest exploded along with the sword, lightning and bits of meerkat? Scattered amongst the debris. The man who fell with the sword had been hit by one of the rocks and seemed to pass out, but the other man was just getting up. The crowd cheered, goblin and soldier alike. The major blinked a few times unsure at what he had just witnessed. "Steve?" The major said. looking towards the man beginning to get up in utter confusion 43. Steve did it. Adil was warped back into existence; he saw his body being formed as the energy from the spawning crystal was expended. It seemed as though hehad gotten used to the resurrection process, to the point he could consciously feeling his body being fitted back together. He soon saw a collection of goblins standing over the side of the war room; they were looking into the cavern below. His body having fully formed, Adil went to approach them. Over the edge, the goblinsstared in shock as they witnessed humans and their kind hand in hand, drinking mushroom beer and celebrating. What was more, one of the humans was being thrown into the air. The human was clearly uncomfortable with what was going on but was still a part of the celebration. "What the hell?" Adil asked. The goblins next to him looked his way and then back to the cavern. It seemed as though they must have wanted an explanation from Adil but came to realise he was just as clueless. Swift similarly warped back and walked up to him. Seeing what was below. "That''s not what I expected to come back to," Swift said. "Tell me about it" Adil replied. In a daring feat of acrobatics, Adil jumped from the ledge and into the cavern. His mana control allowing him to glide down and safely land on a cushion of air. All around eyes were drawn to him, the festivities halting, some of the soldiers whispering "didn''t he just die?", Adil saw their expressions of worry, one of the soldiers going to pick up a weapon before he saw the sad reaction of one of his new goblin friendsand dropped it again. Adil looked across them and sheepishly held a thumbs-up, there was a cheer, and the festivities continued. Adil walked towards a space in the cavern where broken rocks surrounded a mess of frosty gore; there was a man passed out on the floor to the side of it, half coated in bloody bits of entrails. "That spot there, that''s where the priest used to be." someone said, the rogue-type, a crusader resting on the side of the cavern wall. "Aarr, yer fraternising with their leader. Have ye'' no shame" Chimed the man dressed as a major, awkwardly at the beck, like a few of the non-ex-mercenariesnotjoiningin with the celebrations. "Relax, he looks like a good fella." "Yer not be draggingme down with ye." The major said before walking off to chastise another soldier. "Is he going to be ok?" Adil asked the rogue. "Honestly? I think your better asking if he''s already gone mad, bastard''s such an arse he could make a horse''s shit smell nice. By comparison, I mean." The major had walked off. "Get the fuck down from there, ye bloody -" The major shouted to the soldier being launched into the air by orc and soldier alike. "Adil," Adil said to the rogue, sticking out his hand, the rogue looked down at it in slight suspicion before firmly grasping it. "Griffon." He said. "So, you some kind of resurrecting overlord then?" He asked matter of factly. "Just a squire. This is my village." Making The rogue rais an eyebrow curiously. "It''s not like a squire to have a whole village, especially one with. Goblins? Or whatever they are," he said, looking towards the festive people. The soldier being thrown by the goblinswas brought down by the major before the major started shouting obscenities at him. A bit of goblinliquorshot over and drenched the side of his face, making it go beat red as hefeverishlyshouted for who threw it. Adil looked towards Griffon and smirked. "Tell me about it," he replied rhetorically, Griffon chuckled in reply. Adillooked across the cave, focusingon his ability to sense magic. He noticed different amounts and levels of magic resonating through the groups around him; some of the goblins had changed; some of the soldiers seemed to hold a sort ofuntapped energy inside them. Finally, he saw beneath the rocks a bit away from the gory explosion, a glowing charm of some sort. Adil walked toward the charm and picked it up from the ground. When he touched it, the charm seemed to release a wave of manaout from it. He saw a few of the people around him glance in his direction, momentarily stopping what they were doing before carrying on. Some of the light faded from the charm as he held it in his hand. Notification You have received: Overclocked mana shield charm. An object used to generate a shield with one''s mana. This token is small and compact, increasing its value exponentially. Only specialist craftsmen can create these items and only with powerful crystals. The object can also only be used bysomeone that can freely control their mana at will. This token has also been overclocked by the user, drastically reducing its life span but temporarily increasing its effectiveness. Condition:damaged. Adil remembered trying to crack the priest''s shield and wondered if he had caused the damage. It seemed to release a massive burst of mana upon being touched, which he assumed came from this damage. It appeared to be in the shape of an elongated triangle with a star at the end, the symbol he had seen before on people associated with the church. "Do you know how to make that thing work?" The rogueasked. Adil smiled, he saw how it was like a shielding crystal, just put a bit of mana in and you can stop a torrent of ice. "Yeah, and I think I can make it too." -------- Far away from the cave, there was a large ornate city. Therea manranthrough asizeable cathedral-like building. nHe passed through large archways and stained glass, illuminated from the glow of large rotating crystalsscattered about the building. The echo of the man''s footsteps highlighted the size and emptiness of the structure. The man arrived in a room structured like an arcane laboratory. He was facing another man and bent to one knee. It was clear now that both of them hadpointed ears, gaunt facial features and a clear complexion ¡ª the appearance of high elves.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "One of the royal clergy is dead, sir. his name has appeared above the summoning altar." The other man was looking into a large cylindrical storage device, inside it was a black mass consistently burning and then being extinguished. He turned to the intruding man with a disapproving look. "That is of little concern; I have more pressing matter than dealing with the death of some human." A small moment passed. "I do not mean to speak out of line, but should we not punish those who transgressagainst us?" "Adept, let me show you this. This substance implanted within the orcs has mutated, as we knew it developed as it lay dormant within the Orc creatures. Upon being released from their kind, it appeared to develop a hive mind." "Yes, as with many creatures in the dark region." "True, but somehow, the hive-mind sent an order to all the corruption, heavily charged with mana. The command was.. to burn.." "it''s interesting really if it were to be released from this chamber it would immediately combust, We are only able to contain it in a constant state of burning. The most fundamental problem, however, is that there is no natural mechanism for combustion held within the substance." "Forgive me, but I cannot see the relevance." "It''s progress; I do not care about - wait, where was this human killed?" "Exterminating the orc resurgence sir. His death was labelled ''Steve and drugs'' by the system. At least that seemed to bein line with his thoughts before death." "Now that is peculiar, investigate but do not attack. We will find out who this Steve person is," the man walked over to a larger container central to the room; a man was inside sitting in a meditative stance. He opened his eyes upon the approach of the high elf scientist. The man appeared to be in army clothes, from the real world. he tapped the glass. "Odd people seem to be popping up," he said. --------- Adil had stored his newfound charm and awaited a moment to look at it through the forge. He asked Griffon "so, what are you going to do now?" "Well, we can''t bloody well go back home, the church will have our heads. I think most of us here will go to the criminal underworld. But, that''s not my way, I think ill just stick to the wild, live of nature or whatnot. Could be nice," "You could join us if you wanted," Adil asked. Griffon raised an eye at that. "You''re not the smartest fella are you?" He asked. "It''s not like you''ve got much better to do, and besides. We need some help." "You think you can trust us? Any one of us could turn you all in." Adil could see through his sense mana the ex-mercs intentions. He seemed like a kind person at heart, someone that craved action but for some reason didn''t want tostep on the wrong side of life. Right now hecould see no deceit in the mercs heart just a longing for something, but he was unsure what. "I''m not going to say I trust you all, but I can tell you have a good heart. I want the cave to help restore trust in people, in the goblins. The cave has a lot to give which would be thrown away if you left it. If I want it to be a cornerstone, something to build this trust off and develop relations I can''t in good faith turn you away. So if you would join us, we will accept you." The merc looked to Adil and held out his hand. "Well, I''m not going to turn you down if you offer," When the man grasped at Adil''s hand Adil focused on the connection to his spawn point and pushed some of the mana into the merc-leader. Griffon''s eyes grew a deep silver, and he pulled back, looking at his hand he saw a mark appear over it, similar to that of the goblins. The image of fire circling lightening. "What was that?" Griffon asked. "The mark of the cave, now if you die within the area, you will be resurrected with the mana of the crystal," Adil said pointing to an illusionary wall which had disappeared to reveal the crystal''s room behind it. The armed forces turned to look at Griffon, at least those that were paying attention or thought they heard something peculiar, "Are you saying if we join you, we can live forever?" Asked one of the ex-mercs. Adil shrugged. "I don''t know about that, but we can bring you back from the dead." "Sounds like dark magic," one of them whispered. "Isn''t it what the royals and church do for their top people?" "if the captain will do it I''m in. Even if it means joining goblins." Adil went to the rogue-type who seemed to be looked at his hands and armour in a sceptical wonder. "Did he just say the church can resurrect their top people?" "y-yeah, the head honchos over there have some sort of alter that brings people back after a few days or so. But it costs a lot to use so if someone died dishonourably they normally toss the guy." "And if I remember right, you came back in less than ten minutes," The rogue said. The others looked around in wonder, realising how they had fought and killed many of the orcs they now stood side by side with. Swift came over to one of the men saying they were willing to join, put a thumb to his head and channelled cleansing orange mana into him. Adil saw an explosion inside the man, his eyes began to shine silver and he grew the mark above his right eye, near the location he had been touched. "I, I can see," "I''m no longer colourblind," The man anti-climactically shouted. "Holy shit, all the goblins, is thatgreen?" There was a bustle of cries as people clambered to join. One of the mercs immediately getting initiated through Swift before walking away then looking down in his pants and growing a wider smile. The major walked up to Adil, keeping a distance between him and the other soldiers. "So, you''re trying to coerce oursoldiers to join your forces," he said, "I guess you could see it that way," Adil replied. "Well.. do yer thing then." "What?" "You know, your thing." "..What?" "For the love of. I major Tully Flounder accept your request to follow me in your time of need." "You have got to be-." "Just do the damn thing!" Adil could see the stubbornness in the man but deep desperation was hidden underneath. He ignored him and looked to the distance to see if he could find someone. "Hay you!" he shouted at a soldier recently converted. The man came over; a sheepish movement made him slightly endearing but seemed out of place as a soldier. He gave an aura that almost seemed to shy away from the major. "y-yes Mr cave leader?" He asked. "This guy here was shouting at you earlier. The way he was behaving gives me doubts he is good enough to join us. Do you think I should let him into the cave?" The man turned to look at the major and seemed to cower away slightly, his intentions deeply ingrained in his aura of mana. "Awh, Steve. Ye can be giving the decision to him; he''s the most hopeless man I have ever-" Adil held up his hand. "Steve. If you think this man should join, he has to work under you. You are his boss, his captain, his major and his commanding officer. do you understand?" Steve nodded furiously. His aura seemed to brighten up at the prospect. "Ok." The major grumbled, turning a shade of red. "Then ask him?" "What?" "Ask steve if you can serve under him?" "You canni mean it. That''s Steve?" Adil looked at Steve expectantly. He sheepishly looked to the major and said. "uh,u that''s not how you talk to your commanding officer." The major barked at him, and he backed away. Adil almost losing his patience now was about to walk away, but the major finally looked to Steve and asked. "Dear Steve. Can I please join the cave and Serve you," Steve looked up, pleased at what was just said, the beet-red Major about to pop. "yes. you may." He said with a smile that seemed to annoy the major even more. Adil put a hand on the major''s shoulder and focused on the nature of the bond to the cave. He managed to intertwine their powers, somehow granting Steve a greater control, able to put others under his command and attain higher functions inside the cave. Something Adil had not realised was possible. Limiting Major Tully, he placed the Scottish sounding man under Steve''s command. Notification Adding a command option to units will allow them to remove access to powers and effects granted through theSpawn crystal. Further, upgrading units through this fashion will enhance their connection to the spawn core increasing their abilities. The amount that can be upgraded must not exceed 10 of the lower-ranked. Adil saw he had 45 goblins and now 39 soldiers. This was almost enough for the third-rank access as a hundred and ten unitsallowed for ten officers, a hundred and eleven units would allow for a captain. Adil immediately upgraded Griffon, Aku and Steve to these ranks, having three places left he chose the gallant samurai goblin and left the others to be chosen by the present officers. As they upgraded a section of mana was expended from the spawn crystal making their bodies glow the usual silvery hue. They appeared to admire changes in them, probably noticing some sort of notification appear in their vision. Adil could see a faint shift in the mana around and within them, but he would have to see what changes happened later. Instead, he wanted to try out the forge and figure out how it truly worked before the next wave arrived. 44. Mistakes were made. Adil arrived back in the war room and went over to the forge. It appeared like a normal smithy, but glowing with condensed mana. The Anvil and hearth were connected to a silver glowing generator which appeared to be pumping the strange energy through the equipment. Adil held a makeshift weapon to the forge and saw the notification pop up as it had before: Notification do you wish to push manna through this object. yes/no This will allow the object to be reforgedto an improved state. It is recommended to work itemin the forge to unlock optimal capabilities. However, that is a much slower process with chance of failure. Schematics for "makeshift tool" upgrade: Goblin war-axe Orcshort-sword Adil ignored this option, he had the time and needed to figure out the forge, or else he would be unable to build his and the goblin arsenal properly. He brought out the token from the priest and held it to a part of the forge. Notification Do you want to add the design for this mana-shieldto the forge schematics? yes/no Note: This is a construct made from mana circuits and requires specialist knowledge. Adil put the token away and searched for scraps. "Well I guess I have to start somewhere," He said to himself, bringing out one of the goblins'' makeshift tools, with the assumption it could used for parts. The makeshift tool Adil hadwas a sharp piece of metal stuck and tied to a stick. From what it appeared, it was unusually sturdy. Adil took apart the axe to get a couple of leather straps which were soon thrown away, a jagged piece of metal and a stick. Using the hearth, he placed the metal over the heat and saw mana climb through the fire into the piece. The silver hum of energy increased as flames seemed to leap out of the hearth. Bringing the metal out it seemed to be glowing a faint orange with small sparks of silver, He moved the metal to the anvil andbrought down thehammer.As he hit the metal, he almost went into a trance, repeating his hits on the metal against the anvil in a metronome-like rhythm. Then his hand almost spammed, and he smashed the hammer into his hand. Causing sharp pain shootdown his arm. Swift, having walked into the room, was now next to him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Trying out the forge, what does it look like?" Adil said, clutching his arm, a sharp electric pain tensing up at repeating intervals. "It looked like you flipped the metal and whacked your hand for no reason," "Do you want to try?" Adil asked, slightly annoyed by that remark. Swift took over while Adil tried to calm his spasmingarm. Swift dipped the metal into the fire again and brought it out to the anvil. He hit the metal once and then seemed to close his eyes. As the hammer began hitting the metal, it changed shape on its own, shifting between hits strikes. Swift turned to the stick part of the tool opening his eyes to show a bright orange fire shining out of his sockets. A tendril of mana moved towards it and grasped ahold. The stick was pushed towards the blade, and they slotted together. Lines of silver mana sparked across from the metal into the wood, spreading down the handle and chipping bits and pieces off of it. Then a sharp, high-pitched noise shot through the war room before the wooden frame exploded, splinters spreading across the floor. The glow receded from Swift''s eyes as he exited his design mode.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Notification Creation failed, Object destroyed: Each material is limited in how much mana it can handle, using too much can have destructive consequences. "Looks like the wood had a different mana capacity to the blade," Swift said. "You think?" Adil asked, though still trying to fight back the pain in his arm from his lack of ability to even hammer the metal. Notification One of your drones has been killed, do you want to replace this drone? yes/no Swift looked inquisitively at Adil, and they soon both went over to the war table to see what had happened. They were then reminded that many soldiers were still disconnected from the leading group and were waiting outside. They, however, had not killed the drone. A group combined of goblins, soldiers and even a dryad appeared to be surrounding the first group and killed a drone on their way up. It seemedSeras and the others had made record time in following the clear path made by the crusaders. The had climbed about the rocks and hidden in bushes ready to jump the unsuspecting. "Well, shit," Adil said before looking to Swift and then moving out. He called down to Griffon and Steve. Two of the new officers who could help handle the upcoming situation. They arrived with the soldiers just outside and the crusaders waiting immediatly turned to Griffon. "HAY GRIFFON, DIID YOU KILL THE MONSTERS?" One of the troop said, his voice was loud and obnoxious. Griffon sighed and looked unsure of what to say. "WELL DONE GRIFFON I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT." The man replied, thinking that he was saying yes. Suddenly there was a roar when an army of goblins charged past from the other side, soldiers between them and Seras taking the lead. "Stand DOWN! We have you surrounded." Seras shouted. Goblins waving their makeshift tools whilst Arrows lined up on the men waiting outside the cave. The group of people dropped their weapons, arrows still pointing noticing how the likes of Griffon Adil and Steve had yet to lower theirs. "It''s not what you think," Griffon said. Aku suddenly walked out of the cave, causing all the waiting soldiers to jump back. "Hold it. We''re all friends here." Suddenly a man popped his head up from behind the rocks, a part of the ambush Seras seemed to have planned. "Isn''t that the guy that shat all over the library?" He shouted, pointing a hand towards Adil. Adil took a step back realising how he had left the place. Swift looked at Adil in disgust. "W-why would you do that?" He asked, almost pleadingly. "Decisions were made, and... I regret some of them." Adil replied. Seras stepped up to them, ignoring the commotionand threw a sword towards Adil and a cape towards Swift. The cape seemed to ignite with fire as Swift caught it, donning it he then looked more like the fire mage he was, inspiring those around him. Adil, grasping the sword felt as though a part of him had been restored. "You better explain what happened." Seras started. "Hi, I''m uh ¡ª one of the officers for the cave. And We have made friends with the goblins. I, uh, we, would like to extend the hand of friendship to you and all others in the area." Steve said to Seras, looking at Adil for approval. He looked at him with endearment. "I''ll here the rest when I get inside, there''s an army coming, and I have a favour to ask. Can you unlock my mana." She said, looking at him firmly. Adil thought back to how he could use his new mana based connection to the world by pressing mana into her and unlocking whatever power he could find. An intrusive procedure. "If your ready, I can try. But I might see things in your past you could want hidden. He reminded her. "That''s not really important now, though, is it?" She asked rhetorically. Adil reached out to do it now, he launched a force of mana towards Seras and reached into her mind. The mana within her resonated and could be felt by Adil before he was taken to a different place. Seras was in a room, her room, the clothes left over the floor, and she sat cross-legged on the floor working on her electric guitar. She had a bruise over her face that she kept hidden under a strand of hair and could hear banging and shouting from downstairs. It seemed to be happening like usual for her but eventually resolved into sobs and a momentary bout of forgiveness. A process she was used too, to take her mind off it she had taken to the guitar.She had been learning Avalanche by ''bring me the horizon''. As she strummed the chords they finally started to slot together, feeling the music flow through her she played the song. The reverberations held in the air as her axe began to sing. The music made the rest of the world disappear as she embraced it, playing harder and louder. As she finished the song, she heard banging against the walls before a loud voice told her to quieten down. Little did they know this was only the beginning. suddenly she was brought back to reality, shaking she felt dizzy as her mana changed the air around her. The air vibrating with almost invisible mana, she controlled it and held her battleaxe firmly. Standing up straight and then planting the axe solidly into the gorund she channelled her mana through the weapon of death. It echoed through the floor rupturing the rock and dirt in a path in front of her until the shockwave collided with the wall. "That''s more like it." She said with a dark smile. Adil felt strange, happy for Seras whilst scared of what he had released. 45. crafting A while laterSeras and the others had had the situation explained to them. Further, Seras'' guard friend Horatio, the Goblin Dryad leader Morganna, and a few others were added as officers of the spawn crystal. In fact, the crystal itself had gathered enough members to the cave it reached the next stage in officer levels. A notification had risen for Swift and Adil, showing how an elder or captain to be chosen. With the nature of the goblin hierarchy,they thought it was fair to add the dryad to that position. The position of Elder seemed to grant different boons to that of the captain, allowing them to integrate their mana more closely with the spawn crystal itself, and thus it was chosen for Morganna. When she joined the spawn crystal and upgraded to that of an elder, her green-blue skin changed to that of subtle orange, the horns becoming less root-like, turning into dark ivory. She was like a more tanned Maleficent. The Spawn crystals'' forces count had reached a hundred and seven,not including Adil, Swift or Seras. They found themselves talking in the war room, the table set out in front of them and plans for what to do being discussed. The story Seras told of her time after Adil''s death highlighted how most soldiers were still left in the town, some planning to join the approaching army and push forward into the reported goblin base. An army of over a thousand had gathered to carry out the crusade''s purge of the maze. It seemed as though Seras had no longer planned to help defend but only facilitate an escape for all those present. When all had been explained, Adil let out a gasp of exasperation. "We are so fucked,"he said. "It''s not too late; I think our best bet is to gather everything and then leave," Seras added. "But where would we go?" "East, towards the Darklands. They will not follow us past the black soil." The merc leader Griffon objected, "That risk is greater than anything the crusaders would throw against us. Even if we could stay hidden, I don''t think we would find much food." The dryad solemnly clasped her staff and focusing mana drew people''s attention through a burst of the mesmerising coalescing white and black lights. "I have run enough of my life; we finally have a chance at freedom, a home that could sustain us and land no longer hostile. We must hold, or even if it were futile, I would rather die trying." Adil let up." Well, ignoring calls for some sort of group suicide, from the sounds of things we only have this option. I believe we can do it." All turned to him with hopeful gazes, earnestly wishing he had the answer, even the dryad still solemn and pushed further by Adil''s insensitivity. "Well. Given that we have time to build, prepare and plan, we can probably do more than we had before. That thing there," he said, pointing to the spawn crystal. "Can probably pull something else out." The others looked away from him in slight disappointment; they were expecting more than the obvious. Adil looked around for the group; they were still seeing him as a leader and expected someone to take charge. "Seras, can you work out a way to organise a fighting force, I need to sort things out here whilst Swift, and I figure out how to use the forge. By tonight, we should have sleeping quarters for us all in the back of the cave and tomorrow; we will have solid defences... Dismissed." Seras looked to him in earnest approval, as he had taken control. Having fallen into the army style leader role she had, the place rubbing off on him like in a way that gavea sort of obligation and purpose. Somehow, he needed to get mana shields up and running, but with the limited amount of time he had, it seemed almost impossible. All the others left the war room before he turned around to face the forge, Swift in-tow. The piece of metal left from the shattered tool was still there on the floor, Swift was going around picking up the pieces of wood, attempting to organise the place before they started again. "Can you give me tips on how to workthe forge?" Adil asked him. Swift looked up to meet his eyes. "I just tried to control the process like I do with my mana, it''s like controlling the amount of power that flows out, trying to keep an eye on not letting too muchand directing it.Then I just got a notification that the mana had bonded with the material and my infusion skill had been unlocked." "Thanks for the baby steps man." Adil exhaled as he thought about the process, it felt like his manawas the problem, it malfunctioned and rebounded off the material. but he had no idea why "I''ll have another go." Adil grabbed a tool out of the scrap box, broke its metal out and usingsometongs placed the piece in the hearth. It came out shinning and sparkling asit took the mana out with it. "Try to imagine what you want to make," Swift said. Adil held firm on his mana, allowing only a trickle to pass into the hammer.He beat down on the metal, but immediately his mana rebounded, strikingback through the tool. A burst of electricity causing his hand to spasm between clenched and opened. "That''s worse than last time," Adil said. Swift shrugged. "Well, maybe it''s karma for shitting on all those books. And again... Whhy??" Adil gave a sternfed up look to Swift. "I''ll get this, just let me try some more," he said. With that, Swift left Adil to figure it out on his own. After his arm had relaxed, Adil struck into the metal again. Focusing, he tried to sense the mana within it. The Pure silver manawas coating the object, seemingly with a signature effect close to that of the spawn crystal.The mana he had used seemed to change direction with the smallest thought, but he could not think fast enough to control it.It was as though his focus on the control was counterproductive; he could not manage it at the speed it needed to go. he broke away, a tingle in his hand as the mana rebounded through it again. He realised what he was missing then, a sort of trust. He needed to trust in his ability to manage the material, release control from the mana and rely on it to do what he needed it to do. Adil again hit into the piece without exerting any control over his mana. He saw the electricity scatter through the material and into the anvil sparks flying. He hit the material and went into a trance; he could see it in his mind the design mode. The metal shaking with each hit as his hammer went down. The mana was being temperedwith the material.Hit over and over again, he saw the mana compressed and compressed until it started bonding with the material. Almost reflexively, he tried to hold back, to see what he was doing and control what was going on. The electric mana he was using rebounded,shooting through his arm and into his heart. He shot back shaking from the pain.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Gasping for air Adil clutched at his chest. *One more time* he thought. Hecrawled back to the anvil and got up again. Adil couldn''t understand why he was failing. Seeing Swift work the metal so efficiently.He tried again, occasionally spasming between strikes and then he saw the metal compress. The mana fusing with it.He could tell that the mana had bonded with the material and no longer seemed to leak into the world around. He let out a sigh of relief Notification Congratulations, you have unlocked mana infusion. Due to your work with compressing mana into materials you are now able to infuse mana into a material. This is a delicate process that can create materials which defy common understanding but risk exploding if handled inadequately. Satisfied Adil moved onto the next stage, he visualised the metal and tried to change its form. The mana intrinsically connected to him and the forge allowed him to influence the still hot metals state.Shaping itthrough visualisation in his mind''s design mode. Adil needed to figure out a way that the divide could work with outside mana, and then a method for it to be converted into a shield. Using the design mode, hetried to find out how the mana interacted with the material, to see how he could use mana to alter the material, change it to create different effects. He thought back to Hugo, the one who brought him here from Earth. How he had managed to create sophisticated mechanisms dependent only on the channelling of mana, how he had even managed to slowtime to a standstill. Adil looked through the mana around the device, seeing how ti could be changed. He felt as though it was moving differently to the material, as though the material was... Wait, Adil realised just then, the mana was not affected by gravity, but somehow it was drawn to the material. It was a sort of viscosity, like a drop of water clings to the edge of a cup the mana was sticking to the material. Adil theorised that this stopped mana from coalescing in the centre of this planet. More so, though. The mana had always seemed to obey the laws of thermodynamics, moving to a state of equal spread, defusing across the landscape and increasing in complexity in closed environments. Hugo had said something abouthow the matter was made from light, and that is why gravity affected it. Adil remembered that a proton was just two top quarks and one bottom quark, how a neutron was just a proton and electron and how quarks and electrons held wave functions just like light. Hugo explained how gravity affects mass by making itslow downfacing the direction of "gravity" giving the illusionof being pulled as they meander closer, it''s like a river changes direction when part of the water loses speed, or when a laser is shot into a crystal. But if that was true, why did mana not interact with it in the same way. Does a beam of mana change direction if it hits a crystal? Wait, Adil thought, why did he remember this so clearly. Was this a part of his learnt skill? Is this the information he needed to build the mana circuits? Everything Hugo said was strangely starting to make sense. Without knowing why Adil knew he needed to make an on/off switch and a way to store externally created mana before finding out how it is transformed into a shield. He contemplated on how mana was not like electricity, but it could turn into electricity. So does it startas something else? Or turn into something else again? How come everyone can use these crystals when their mana is so different? Adil held an immense pain in his head started to throb, and he dropped the metal. Notification Mental ability +1 Information processing speed increased, forced grey to white brain matter conversion inhippocampus.Connections with cingular gyrus and Amygdala increased. Result of heightened short term memory as system one database working memory increased from 7 to 8. "Oww," Adil groaned, happy about the levelling but still suffering the pain from it. If this is what happens when I think too much, maybe I just shouldn''t he joked. His brain feeling rammed, but as the pain dissipated, strangely more clear as though there was an empty space for thoughts to build. He could holdmore in the back of his mind whilst he worked or build ona multitude of concepts as his main focus. Still,a bit sick Adil slapped himself back to realityand carried on with the project. Adil connected his mana again to the metal and brought it up into the air in front of him. The piece rose into the air, and he closed his eyes, again in design mode he began working on creatingthe mana shield. Ah,he neededa transistor or even a capacitor to store the mana? What were those though, what did those words mean? Ah, a transistor changes mana into something, but a capacitor helps store it. That would require something highly conductive to mana and able togo on and off. *Heh*, Adil thought, if he was playing Minecraft he would need a redstone torch, a mana powered button and some redstone wire. Then probably some sort of device that turns the mana current into a shield. But what would store mana? Adil wondered for a while. He thought for a moment and realised he was missing the gem, the crystal. All mana shields he had seen had or were crystals. That''s probably what could hold, convert and distribute the mana. Adil looked up to the spawn crystal and realised that must be the case, obviously. He slapped himself in the face. Adil walked towards the junk bag and rummaged through. He brought out a *shiny* that the goblins kept, a damaged purple crystal. Notification You have received an amethyst cluster. quality: unrefined Adil focused on the metal and folded it into a chain and necklace, leaving a space for a crystal to be placed.He grabbedhis newly madecreation from out of the air before shouting from the pain and dropping the scorching hot jewellery. After gathering some water he pouredit on the newly made mana shield, and then when it was cool enough, placed it into his pocket ready to move on. Notification You have created amana infused metal necklace without a gem hole. Adil moved his mana into the crystal and saw how when it went inside it bonded with the crystal as if trapped by some force. As mana was put towards the crystal, it could either draw out or add in the mana already present. Strangely as the mana was drawn out, it was slightly purple, as though the nature of the crystal had altered the composition of the mana. There was a definite limit to the power the crystal could hold. The question was, could it be increased and how could effects be added to the power of this crystal. Adil focused on bringing up a schematic of the mana shield token. He saw how the crystal had an intricate pattern inside it; it was like the signature from before but manufactured. He inspected the crystal and saw how it made the mana more "purple". It seemed to be with how tight and separated the bonds were inside the crystal. It was like the diffusion of light on a chameleons skin. After a while, the formation of the crystal had been roughly copied to the style of the token. When he put mana through the crystal the output was not like a type of mana but closer to the mana version of white noise. It was like when you saw the fuzz in the back of the tv screen. Somehow a disruption that interfered with the frequency of mana around it. His mana, only taking theform of electricity or wind would fall apart and no longer be able to sustain itself as the entropic mana generated from the crystal came into contact with it in the field Adil was now creating. Adil broke off a bit of the crystal carefully carving and shaping it through delicate and precise tools until it could fit into the slot he had made. After inserting it into the gem space, he received a notification and grew a wide smile over his face. Notification Lesser shielding token. This token using low-grade materials can create a mana shield with mana provided but will easily break upon use. Quality: well-made If Adil could unlock mana in his forces and allow them to use these, he rubbed his eyes not realising how tired he had become. Looking over the edge of the cave, he saw how the area had been further carved out. The drones had managed in all this short time to carve something resembling a building out of the cave wall, big enough to house the lot of them. He could see Goblins, soldiers and the dryad already moving towards the area. He was almost nodding off to sleepand decided to move the drones away from the sleeping quarters, their silvery goo and strange high-pitched sounds made whilst working would be a pain aroundthe weary peopleright now. He sat up next to the wall under the spawn crystal, the last glance around before he nodded off to sleep. 46. A blue dawn As soon as Adil closed his eyes and drifted into unconsciousness a notification popping up, and he could visibly see it in his mind. Notification First death passed. Level 2 achieved. Spawn crystal unlocked. Essence stabilised: unlocking memory function. *what?* Adil said in his mind, struggling as he tried to wake up. He felt a falling sensation, and his mind felt swamped numb, fizzling with a static pain. Then, asthe sensations started clearing, he was overcome with the feeling of well-rested sleep. *What the-* He seemed to be his old body again, watching the tv as a speech was being held. A few men in dark black suits wearing blue badges were talking to a crowd. Their badges were from a political party of some kind. *The creator''s united national troops, or just the blue dawn* Adil thought. A religious group of nationalists that banded together across the world. They had one of those egocentric senses of entitlement. Thinking they deserved all the work, benefits, schools, universities, women... Adil could remember their leader was recorded, saying something about only keeping immigrants in cages as sex slaves or something,De Kock was his name. The second in command, a Polish lady, said that God was with them so they should go to war, and then the world would just flood and make them the winners. Maybe that''s what they were going to say? Adil was unsure, but it was good entertainment, they had never won a position of power so regardless of how many members they had it was never a realistic threat, but somehow they were now doing an international public address the world was tuned into. The leader''s thick South African accent made him seem so friendly as he spoke. "People of the world, our organisation has spread far and wide. We have pushed beyond the boundaries that were normally thought possible." "The world, as you all know it will soon change, as we change with it. As the people of this world battle with God both in their hearts withtheir lives. Asour crusade cleanses the streets of corruption and removes the harm that has befallen ourcountries and our religion." Swift- no, it was Rob was in the room watching the screen with Adil -Thomas. "Heh, he''sworse thanthat guy in that comedy show.. uh, The misadventures of president DrumpfI think it''s called." "Just less of those crazy hand movements and mad lips. But seriously, Drumpf wasn''t a religious nut job, only his second-" "Shhhhhh, can you talk after?" Seras/Rosie asked, hushing them down. The man on the podium still kept his look of divine arrogance as he looked across the crowds "As we move forward, we hope to once again restore this world to a time that tradition, respect and the loyalty one has to their nation is upheld. We shall fight for what is our right, and sacred, helping the world see the blue dawn that will rise, the next day." Rob scrunched some popcorn. "Ah, blue dawn, I get it. they said that, because of their name." Seras gave him a mean stare daring him to talk again. There appeared to be people with hoods over their heads held in the background. Sort of grand wizard-like hoods, no wait, not the KKK, as in actual wizards. Intricate patterns of silver over a dark purple adorning the hood with silver trim. A man ran up to the podium he was standing on and whispered something inside his ear and then being shooed away. "Ah, So now." his demeanour changed as a smile grew on his face. "We will bring a mass cleansing street by street, quarter by quater, we will remove those arrogant enough to tell others in their own ethnic nation how to run their country, we will crush those that blaspheme against the one true religion, crushing the heretics.Removethose that wish to corrupt OUR CHILDREN... The scum that wish to take what is ours! what we have built! will now know what God''s wrath truly is." Thomas said, "Did he just go full Batman villain?" "Noone in batman is that bad," Rosie said visibly stuck to her chair staring in shock at what she had seen. Photography glittered the podium and press started clamouring for a question to be answered. shouting "Is cleansing the streets metaphorical." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings."Who are the hooded ones?" "How did youconvince Brazil too-." He silenced them with a hand, turning to walk back off stage. A few gathered around him to talk off-camera as he walked away, the hooded ones from before slowly following. Then the space in Adil''s mind, the images before him seemed to dim; the static pain seemed to come back, a high pitched screech in his ear as his mind was swamped with information once again. The pain started to clear, his mind refreshing once again. The image he saw now was that of a dilapidated building. Gunshots echoed in the distance as, amongst others, Rosie, RobandThomaswere huddled together, waiting but not sure what for. As Adil remembered, this was a time when every nation was at war, blue dawn and something else was winning. Everyone in this warehouse had moved out of shelters and into hiding, trying to move far away from the fighting, as the army of blue dawn appeared from seemingly nowhere. The military had no chance at action, unable to mobilise in time to fight enemies that appeared in every major location across the world. A girl in the corner of the room started crying, dust-covered her face and she held a small Mudkip doll. Ah, Adil remembered. The girl crying was his neighbour''s daughter, and this was a warehouse they found. Rob was talking to Rosie whilst Thomas held his head to the wall, listening for the sounds outside. There was a rumbling and a few explosions, everyone went to alert asa largebearded man came through, his name was Dave, and he worked in the local subway. "FUCKING SPACE WIZARDS!" He shouted before an explosion ruptured the space behind him, taking apart the wall. Everyonestared like a rabbit in headlights. A man with black eyes and black veins covering his skin stepped forward, a wizard''s robe adorning him and a metal staff in one hand holding a dark purple crystal.Dave, having moved out of the way of exploding rubble,jumped at the wizard from behind. After the nudge the wizard''s crystal pointed away from the crowds and let out a blast, tearing apart more of the warehouse. The wizard gave a sort of wheezing snarl beforegrabbing at the one tackling him, now holding the large man in the grip of his hand as bits of the warehouse began to collapse. Everyone else in the warehouse quickly got to their senses and ran off, Rosie grabbing the small child as they exited the warehouse, hearing the pained screams of the man now in the wizards grasp before blood seemed to splatter the path behind them. Again the fizz came back and a lesser amount of pain trickled in. The remainder of memories Adil once had were being released, coming back into his mind. It had been months in this state of war, a year even. It was as though all he had known was war and running. As though the dream was no longer the apocalyptic world he was in but the world that existed before. As the refreshing sleep like sensation came back, Adil sunk into the new cinematic memory before him. He was standing behind the bar, pouring himself a drink ¡ª the Winchester bar. Rob had taken a rifle from the side of the wall and was playing around with it. As Thomas stepped through the back of the bar, he put a foot over what appeared to be a dead body in a blue uniform, its eyes staring wide-eyed towards the sky. "Should we take his uniform anyway?" "It never worked before, it won''t work now," Rob replied fiddling with the rifle. Thomas poured two more drinks from select cocktail mixes. He handed one to Rob and offered one to Rosie, but she turned it down, instead just hanging back at the front of the tavern, clutching the remnants of a Mudkip doll. "To Dave!" Thomas said. Robert held up a drink and clashed it with Thomas''s without taking his eyes off the gun. A small creature appeared next to the group before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The silence seemed to change into a high pitched screech. Suddenly explosions shot off in the distance; there was the sound of a large battle suddenly arrived in the area. "Get away from the front!" Thomas shouted. Rob had dropped the gun he was holding and was already running over to Rosie, pulling her awaywhilst she still absentmindedly looked at her stuffed toy. An explosionblew away the roof and front of the tavern knocking back Rob and Rosie. They could see lights off in the sky from a few mages on a sort of floating platform shot out into the distance. They were shot with a green-blue flame and appeared to disintegrate without an explosion. Three men in blueuniform carrying an assortment of rifles looked at Thomas though the now destroyed bar. He dove and rolled for the rifle, picking it up and then getting shot in his shoulder. Bracing the pain, Thomas managed to fire the rifle, hitting one of the blew dawn members in the face. He took another shot to his lower stomach and collapsed to the ground. The men shooting him soon disintegrated in a blue-green flame. Thomas looked up and saw the moonlight through the gap in the roof; the drink he had poured seemed to have fallen over. Across the floor, a growing pool of blood came from Robert as Rosie seemed to have gotten up and was now resting his head on her lap as she cried. Adil''s mind whirled as everything appeared to connect, a new notification popping up. Notification Memory syncronisation complete He began to wake up, 47. Research Adil opened his eyes and saw how he was still in the war room ¡ª collapsed against the side of the wall. Swift had appeared in the doorway, having likely had the same dream. "D''you uh, get your-" "Yeah, I got my memories back..." "I... Haven''t seen Seras so... or she hadn''t been this happy. For a while." Swiftwalked over to slump against the wall beside Adil. "Makes you think doesn''t it. Is there even a world to go back too." "Should we tell her?... Rosi- Seras I mean." "We can leave it. No point bringing up old memories." He said solemnly. "And it''s better if we focus on what''s happening now." A voice talked form across the room. "You squires are surely a fascinating bunch," Adil and Swift jumped at the sound of Morgana, she was tirelessly inspecting thespawn crystal, she seemed to be looking into it and trying to figure out its workings. There was a panel-like interface in front of Morganna. She seemed to be staring at it, scrolling through streams of information. "How... long have you been there?" "Well, I had thought it best not to wake you, though it has been at least a few hours... I hope I am not a bother." "What are you doing?" Adil asked. She seemed to close her interface and looked towards Adil with a teacher-like appearance. "Researching, I think." "You think?" "Well, the spawn crystal seemed to respond to me inspecting it with a prompt, then I got some sort of information about developments, progress. It''s just; I think the crystal appears to have a set layout in which an external influencecan refine. However, it appears unable to function effectively at the moment." Adil got up from the floor and walked over to the crystal. Its glow seemed to meld withthe Dryad in her new form, ivoryhorns and all. Thecrystal still rotating around, as usual, orange spikes coalesced with lightening as they surrounded the silvery-blue hexagonal rock at its core. Notification Grant Elder: ''Morganna'' research and design privileges? yes/no he chose yes, and Morganna jumped a slight amount, seeing more information rush through her interface. "How very, interesting." She said,engrossed in the information as it was parsed through the spawn crystal''s framework. "I don''t quite understand what this means, but if I use that... and open..." Notification Research progress: schematic created Irrigation system developed. Research in the spawn crystal has developed a system for irrigating plantlife. This can create mana-infused water flow to crops the village wishes to develop. Plants grown with the help of this irrigation system will have enhanced growth speed and may develop unique properties. "Oh, damn. What did you do?" Morganna gave Adil a funny look before she let out a sly smile. "I do so hope your use of damnation is to emphasise pleasure. It appears that your spawn crystal is continuously gathering information from the outside world. Using a sort of trial and error mechanism. The only problem is that it does not know the correct way to use this information. with my advanced knowledge of this world''s magic, I could, well basically figure out how to use this information." Swift awkwardly whistled tone of bewilderment. "You seem to have a pretty good grasp of it," Adil stated, "D''you have a project in mind, something that could help us win the coming fight?" She was still engrossed in the interface, her facial expression seeming to change with every bit of information, confusion to wonder, even a few retracted eureka moments. "Ah yes, I think I found something that might... no... well maybe... oh! ah no but....Give me a moment." She walked around the spawn crystal basked in the changing glow of the rotating mass. Adil moved over to the forge and picked up one of the tools, he looked around at the space, the war-table, forge, and now seemingly a research lab appeared to all be in the same room.He moved towards the forge.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "You''re not going to do that here, are you?" The dryad wearily asked. "I could hear the racket from the other side of the cave." She gave a stare more pleading that he had seen her before. "The forge can''t work too far from the Spawn crystal." He replied. "Are you sure?" Morganna asserted. "I think-" Morganna feverishly scoured throughthe informationdisplayed by the spawn crystal and soon a notification popped up for Adil and Swift. Notification Forge upgrade unlocked. Forge allocation can now be within two hundred meters of the spawn crystal. As long is it is within a base of operations accustomed to the spawn crystals mana. "Thanks," Adil said "It was my pleasure, lord squire," she replied with a sly smile. Adil ignored her and looked over the side to see what progress the drones had done. They still appeared to be digging into the walls but had built numerous buildings around the citadel. The drones had turned what was a small pit into an endless cavern though they were still unfinished. Adil looked around the War room; he really liked the idea of the table having sight of the citadel from where it was. They could stare over their home and all they had built as they planned ahead. That, though meant the spawn crystal and forge must be moved. He opened his mind to the design mode, connecting with the crystal and looked across thearea before him, a blueprint of his designs plastered over it. When he compared it to the buildings that had been created, It seemed as though the drones were not... Colouringinside the lines. Everythingseemed messy and slightly lo- sided. Their excavation though was precise and well-cut. The excavation had left piles of compressed material ready to be absorbed by the spawn crystal. Adil gathered the builders together and began constructing a room for the spawn crystal. It was going to be just above the ground, space for the spawn crystal to be observed for Morganna''s research, an observation deck which surrounded the spawn crystal with glass. The lower part leading into the crystal allowed for drones to move through, and when the drones were not present, could be streamlined to allow for more efficient resurrection. Transport appeared to be a necessity. A fast way to get back into frontline action and ease of travel between the facilities. Then Adil remembered a major function of the spawn crystal. Teleportation. He accessed the screen. Spawn crystal functions Passive boost Weather control Teleportation hub Mana forge Adil selected the Teleportation hub. Teleportation hub This is an ability which allows connection to other spawn crystals. To access a teleportation hub, the spawn crystal Administrator must interact with the host crystal whilst their crystal is active. Thus linking the crystals. Do you wish to create the teleportation hub yes/no Adil chose yes and saw a small light seemed to shine from the crystal, grabbingMorganna''s attention. A stream of mana seemed to fall into a small ball just outside the crystal. This ball rotated around the crystal until eventually it was reabsorbed by the crystal again. Notification teleportation location is undefined, the portal hub function is unlocked but will require other teleport locations to be attached for the portals to work. Morganna looked into her interface, back towards the crystal and back again. "You seem to have unlocked a teleport function." "Yeah, do you think you could find a way to allow faster travel around the cave?" Adil asked. "My experience with teleportation suggests it would be faster to walk than wait for the teleport to come into effect. I will try, but it may require more time than is readily available." Notification estimated time until research complete 4 hours 27 minutes +- 20%: short-range base teleportation 2% complete "Ahh!" Morganna exclaimed. "This incongruent device has reached into my head and caused me great pain." She looked at her interface again. "Is...Is it estimating how long until I figure out how to add a function that the crystal itself would have done if..." "This crystal... Is fucking with me." Morgana walked off in contemplation again. The completion tick changed to 6 % at that moment. *now that''s happening, I can focus on construction again.* Finalising the location of the research centre, he decided to place it just above the ground, far below the war room. The centre was just above pathways drones could take to drop off the excess materials acquired from excavating the rock. The idea of glass was though, short-sighted as the drones would not know how to build out of it without glass given as an example. He sent the drones away with the task, hoping glass would be found soon, as he would need to send a team into the surrounding dungeon, Adil assumed there would be a heap of sand available to harvest and turn into the glass he required. Besides, these locations he needed to build would only be practical when the teleportation was fixed. All that was left to build was the forge. The forge was a place of trial and error. But also, It was something that in the future Adil hoped could be taken over by residents of the cave. He looked to expand, allowing more tools, anvils, hearths and anything he could think off ¡ª a place where weapons and armour could be made to the highest quality in the greatest quantity. The forge was built into the wall in a space the size of a warehouse, enough ventilation tocreate constant moving fresh air that would likely be cold without the heat of the furnace. Finished with the design Adil saw the drones scurry about, he saw the mana pool was still quite high and decided to up the number of drones by 50%. The increased bustle of drones wouldn''t cause too much trouble to the people there, and the mana pool of the spawn crystal only lowered to 63 %. Now Adil needed to get some crystals and make the mana shield tokens. For that, he needed to go into Swift''s dungeon, preferably without the monsterskilling them. But luckily Ressurection wasn''t too far away, Adil pausedto think about how he rationalised death soeasily now. After setting out the call, they had managed to get one of the most experienced in the dungeons so far. Steve, his other ''experienced'' friend, had slept in too long and was still drunk from the night before. Seras, Horatio, Aku and Swift were enough firepower that if anything went wrong, he assumed it would be ok. They gathered a decent set of equipment, a few bags to fill with supplies and few drones to trail behind them as they moved towards the dungeons. They only had to take a few odd directions within the cave''s tunnels before the atmosphere seemed to change. 48. Into the dungeon Adil led the way, the luminous fauna and insects grew in number and size as they moved in. Having talked to the researcher about what he planned to do an expected notification came up before they moved further in. Notification Cartography upgrade unlocked Your cartography skill has linked with your spawn crystal enhancing your player map. Within the range of your War-table, your map will have real-time changes. Helooked at his mini-map, the landscape appeared to change in colour, a lighter green to signify the dungeon as opposed to the dark grey of the cave tunnels. The area they were heading into had an icon overit, it was a glowing whiteelk head. Adil zoomed in to see red dots moving around, the hostile enemies of the dungeon. "Elk ahead," Adil said, signalling with his hand for everyone to get into cover. The drones moved further back to keep a decent distance from the group, they would be easily destroyed if anything were to happen. Steve moved close to Adil and said in a hushed tone. "The stags shoot a laser out from between their horns, but they take varying amounts of time to charge it up," The large Orc let out a grunt. "They will not be faster than my sword," he said. Peering around the corner Adil could see amaleand a hornless femaleelk grazing on the dungeons fauna, A puff of mystic energy erupting from the plants as the beast pulled them out. Adil with a few hand movements pointed for Horatio to move in and wait to target the far elks. Once he was in position it was time for Aku to move up close and Seras to get ready to run. Regardless of the horns, they could give away their position to the more dangerous foe. Adil gave the go hand signal to Horatio. Horatio aimed his bow, focused on the elk at the back, and before the beast even realised three arrows had lodged into its neck, puncturing the place its heart should have been. Before the other beast reacted Aku was running out of the bushes, swiftly swinging his twohanded sword across the beast''s neck cutting the head off.Quickly and silently. "get in position, more could come at any moment." He saw how the next cavern along their path appeared to hold crystals scattered around it. It wasn''t very far in. Further, there didn''t appear to be any more red dots in the immediate area. Adil hoped there would still be a place in the cave where the old red barren landscape still had its impact, he planned to gather at least some sand. They moved into the next cavern and Adil saw that the red dots around appeared to be dormant. It seemed to him that there would be no trouble whilst they excavated them. "You can relax, we should be on our own, and there only seem to be low-tier mobsin the area." He controlled the drones and sent them to gather crystals around the cavern, the drones moved over and started coating the crystals in whatever their mandibles appeared to turn into. As Adil looked at the drone he saw the crystals move through its system and compress into a smaller form of itself. He could see progress displayed in the corner of his vision as the drones began to harvest. 12% complete it said. Notification Crystal harvesting is slower than mining due to the difficulty the drones have in processing high-quality material.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Well, Adil thought, now he knew for the future. Suddenly a large red dot appeared to be moving at speed to their location. It passed through a few of the smaller ones and then appeared tojump in through the side of the cavern. It was astag, like the othersbut twice the size, its fur darker of two separate shades, a lighter over the front of its neck, darker over the rest. Ornate sigils across its fur glowed a dark red and as it stood facing the group, began to resonate with powermatching the beast''s eyes. "Spread out!" Adil shouted. Horatio with his quick initiative shot an arrow into its neck, but it barely went an inch deep, not far enough to cause significant damage to the giant of a beast.A black and red mass started coalescing betweenitsantlersas the beast appeared to begin charginga blast. Then Seras and Aku came charging towards the beast.The creature''s beam of concentrated power burnt through the surrounding landscape and tore off one of Aku''s legs taking him out of an attack mid-flight. The creature still took a solid wack from Seras though, its head seeming to shake and the power between its horns dissipating, releasing its powerful beam of death. it turned to look at Seras and appeared to charge up its power before there was a slash of red. The beasts head had exploded from the delayed effect Seras held within her weapon. More of the creaturescame running in at that moment. These though were just the low-levelled blue sort. With quick reflexes Adil was already there, and Swift had charged up his attack. Adil had jumped into the air and now looked down on the creatures. He saw a few of them charging an arcane blast. Swift had cast searing chains on the mass burning them whilst they held in place.Adil concentrated manainto his sword and felt the wind and lightning bond. On a gust of air, he shot past them slicing. Each head had been cut but only fell from their bodies once Adil turned around. Notification Enemy Slain: ????? XP alpha arcane-stag?? ? 0 ????(killed by Seras with assist from Aku and Horatio) arcane-stag.?????? 86 x 4 ??(50% modifier Swift +Adil) 5% tax from spawn crystal ????????????????? dungeon.) Steve wearily walked up to Adil and said "Thought you said there wouldn''t be any monsters. not that its a problem." "I guess there were a few enemies," Adil said. trying to compress the leg, blood puouring over the floor he sat. "Sorry Aku." He repliedAku was grunting as he braced the pain of losing a leg, "Yeah, that sucked, sorry, if you don''t want to die the spawn crystal can fix you up," Adil added, unsure if the spawn crystal could really help. He really needed a healer. "I''m fine," Aku said in a grunt, a stern expression plastered on his face. Hetoresome cloth and tied up the wound before using his sword as a walking stick. Swift intersected the conversation. "I thought you were a scientist. didn''t you say you loved being proven wrong?" Adil gave out a chuckle, the memories of his past life flooding back. "I like being proven wrong like I like a good curry," he replied with a smile. "How so?" Swift asked curiously. "As long as I don''t shit myself." swift laughed as well. The remains of the giant elk seemed to shimmer as Seras moved towards it and pushed mana through the corpse. The energy of the corpse seemed to pour directly into her axe making it glow a faint violet and vibrate the air around it. Swift and Adil went to the others. Instead of the normal oddities, they usually received Adil and Swift both found a leather material. Notification Item: Arcane Elk-skin. Ahigh-grademana resistant material. quality: high Notification Dones have successfully harvested the crystal. Drones have obtained 13kg of citrine, 4 kg of rose quartz and 7 kg of Jasper. I guess it''s time to make our winning ticket, Adil thought.He saw how the area around had seemingly been cleared from elk and saw on his mini-map a space of reddishground. Sending the drone over there he successfully foundsand. When the drones came back they began the journey towards the base. "They seemed stronger than before," Steve said. "The mobs are meant to change as time goes on, and as the spawn crystal or area changes, the mobs should as well. The death of mobs this close to the areagathers a crystalized form of mana known as experience, this experience allows for the spawn crystal to grow stronger. It''s interesting because as the crystal feeds into the growth of the animals it invests in more experience gain in its future." Adil said to the ex-soldier. The newfound information flowing through him. "Oh," Steve replied. casually falling back, slightly overwhelmed by the information. Horatio came across. "I think we need to talk." He said. 49. Crystals Horatio took Adil to the side and started to take a more serious look "What''s up?" Adil asked. Horatio looked a bit weary unsure about what he was going to say. "This fight, are you sure about it?" He asked. "Well, we need to protect everyone here, we can''t let them just be walked over." "Listen, I know it''s right to protect these people, I know they deserve a place to stay. But I don''t live here; I have a home, family back in the town." "I see what you''re saying, but no one is keeping you here, you can leave if you want." "I''m not saying I''ll leave! Just. This cave, it''s turning people a bit. you know." "What?" "Like I''ve talked to those crusaders, some of them. They think you''re more than human, they see this place like something.. And I can''t say I disagree, it''s special, but I still know you''re human, that Seras is human." "Don''t beat around the bush just say what you''re going to say." "This fight. Do you really want to do it? Even if you did fight the other army. How many will have died." Adil grew frustrated; he pushed away Horatio. "You don''t know shit," he said. Adil could get them out if they lost, but why should he care about the army. They aren''t the ones in the right, he was. He will build a utopia. Notification New schematic: short-range portal stone. They got back to base, Swift and Adil saw Morganna rush over to Aku as they entered the spawn crystal. She pushed her hand down on the giant''s leg, "Under the crystal," She said. Holding her shoulder under Aku''s the Dryadhelped move him as hehobbled. Eventually, he sat down under the crystal and then she brought out the interface, browsing through she started fidgeting, her face a mask of frustration. "Hold him still and get out some fire," She said. She looked at Swift, "Can you burn away any infection or bad material? And does anyone have the rest of the leg?" Swift took out some of his cleansing flames and shot a portion into and around the giant''s leg. Aku cried out in pain but braced it as he always did, Swift''s flame control had improved since Adil was bitten anyway, almost no tissue was irreversibly damaged. Steve seemed to pull the remains of Aku''s leg out of a bag in the corner of the room. Morganna lay her hands over the separation between the leg and Aku before sending a shimmering brown aura around the gap.This seemed different from her black and white coalescing magics. The wound appeared to heal, Morganna''s mana reaching out from Aku''s leg with brown branch-like tendons connectingto the foot and bringingit closer. The break between the foot and leg seemed to reform into the green-blue skin, though a bit bumpy as the tree magic appeared to fill in the missingflesh. Soon the leg appeared almost normal. Aku stretched out and proved that he had still the same functionality he used to have. "Couldn''t we have just used the crystal?" Adil asked. the Dryad looked at him in frustration. "If that is a function you wish me to unlock then I will have to be allocated some time." Aku now got up and stretched his new foot, ready again to jump into battle. "I didn''t know you could heal," Swift said. "All dryads'' main mana form is in nature and life. The other force you saw me used was my second mana form. Still, I should say. As crude as it is, I believe you should just resurrect instead of hobbling all the way here." The group looked at each other and back to the dryad, shuffling a bit. Adil broke away from the others. "Listen. The drones will be done with the research centre soon. When they are done a portal spot will appear here, then I want you to go through the portal and relocate to that spot. So, before you leave, do you need anything else?" "Oh, that sounds great, I wouldn''t mind an apprentice of sorts." "Got anyone in mind?" She looked across the area and saw Steve shiver away. "Oh child, you would do nicely," she said to Steve. "Great, Steve. Go with the lady." "But-" "This is no longer a debate." Adil went into design mode and inspected the areas under construction. He directed drones to build runic pads in the corner of each room. Notification Teleport pad -3x3 (m) cost: 200 manna 2% user Resurrection cost onuse. build: yes/no (This message will only show once) A drone moved to builda portal pad in the corner of the room whilst Adilwatched. The runic formations chiselled into the side from the coagulating mandibles of the gooey drone, filling up the blueprint he saw in the design overlay. He set others around the cave, in the new smithy, the war room, the centre of the large cavern being excavated by the drones. Each padhad shifting symbols allocated to it, a person couldmanually shift the symbols to one which represented the spot they wished to travel to. upon confirming their selection the portal would charge up and teleport whoever was in the area to the selected portal. Exiting the design mode he saw the formation come to life, glowing lines on the floor almost inconspicuous. "Time to test," he said aloud, taking a step on the pad that had appeared in the war room. He portaled into a new room, it was all bare smooth stone, amonochromatic colour highlighted with a few glowing lights. Adil noticed how the room was not yet fitted with glass but still appearedscientific. Suddenly Adil was catapulted across the room, impaling himself on the ceiling. He peeled off in a bloody mess and landed on the floor, about to pass out from both pain and blood loss he saw Swift appear in the corner of his eye and move up to his body. "Aaaah, fuck, shit... Sorry man. You need like an *in use don''t use* thing for the portals... Uh, I''ll see you soon." Adil opened his eyes once again and saw that he was being rebuilt at the spawn crystal, a blanket over his half-naked body. Swift was in-front of Adil. Adil satup seeing that the crystal had only an arm left to finish. "Hey, Swift," Adil said. "Yes, my old buddy old pal?" Swift asked. "Fuck you man, just fuck you." Then Adil collapsed onto his back unable to see Swift''s apologetic smile whilst the spawn crystal finished the reconstruction of his body. He looked around and saw he was in a new location. The crystal was above him, having moved into its new location. Around him, he saw the drones bringing in more resources to the crystal and above he saw the drones fitting glass around the research centre.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Sorry again," Swift said "It''s ok." he got in reply. Morganna moved in between "The renovations are underway and the Crystal seems to be comfortable in this new location," she said and then motioned towards her assistant. "Steve, could you be a dear and get me some tea?" "Right away Ma-am," Steve said and rushed off to another location. "Apprentices." She announced proudly. Adil got up and saw his equipment and resources laid out in front of him, he started putting his clothes on and turned to the Dryad. "Can you sort out the portals, I need some indication they''re in use. I''ll be making equipment in the smithy." He got a nod in reply. "of course" she said. Looking across the room, he saw the crystals and even leather hide neatly laid in piles. The leather and crystals seemed like a valuable material, something they wouldn''t get often. BeforeSwift portaled awayhe shouted downtowards him, "Tell Griffon to get acombat-team, the resources out there are way too valuable," Swift gave a mock salute as his very being appeared to puff out into a blue-silver smoke. Then finally, before moving out Adil went into design mode, focused on the forge and moved it to the new location in the smithy. Then stepped on the portal-pad and selected the smithy as the location to go to. He was transported into the room and as he emerged space lit up with a cascading activation of glowing rocks. The smithy was in the centre a lot of space to expand. The area silent and empty, he could already imagine the echo as he smashed away on the ores and crystals. Adil tossed the sack he was holding to the side of the anvil.Before making the jewlery he tried to figure out howthe gems handled the mana. He held the mana shield token he had made before in his hand and looked into the purple of the amethyst. He passed mana through the device and saw it exude with power. Lighting up a deeper purple. It was reminiscent of the attacks on Earth, how the strange dark mages used staves topped with glowing purple crystals to shoot down people in the street. Adil put the crystal away and tried to purge himself of those thoughts. He brought out another one of the crystals from his bag ¡ª a chunk of opal, similar material to what was in the original priest''s token. Focusing, Adil could push his mana through the crystal. He tried to understand how the mana interacts with it, how the process works to change its properties. As he had seen before, when the mana goes through the crystal it changes. Though it was not drawn to anything before it touched it the mana would cling to whatever it touched, then once it was altered it would only stick to whatever had changed it. This was how the smithy worked; mana could be infused into the material and strengthen it. The more it was tempered into the material, the more it bonded with it until it was intrinsically a part of it. It was different with the crystals; they were able to store and bestow their properties on the mana easily. The mana would be stored int he crystal, pushed out or drawn in by the pressing of further mana into it. Adil checked the difference between amethyst and opal. The opal could seemingly take a much smaller amount of mana and reacted quickly to any transfer of mana. It seemed efficient. This was the opposite for the amethyst, though it could absorb large amounts it would leak into the outside world. Further, as more mana was pushed into the crystal, it seemed to become volatile. As it grew more unstable, the colours fluctuated, the crystal vibrating. Adil stopped putting in mana and left it alone. Two more crystals to test. He pulled out the red quartz, better known as Jasper. He tested with a small amount of mana; it appeared to flow readily. The crystal appeared to be highly stable and able to hold large amounts. As the mana pushed towards the crystal it changed to the red colour, the mana was being drawn in from him. He stopped pushing mana but felt more being forced out of him, as he closed the link his blood came to the surface of his hand, and in excruciating pain, he felt it shoot out into the crystal. Adil threw the crystal across the floor, separating its strange pull from him. "Fuck," he said aloud. notification Minor resistance to blood magic. You have analysed the processes of a crystal used for blood magic whilst pushing mana through it. Resisting its effects whilst inspecting its process has given you an understanding of its processes and minor resistance to its mechanisms. *To unlock increased resistance, further understanding, experience and experimentation is required.* Adil walked over to get the crystal and saw how the mana was still comfortably inside flowing around as though it were alive. *I guess that one''s out* Adil thought. The crystal seemed much too dangerous to use, though he was glad for his newfound resistance. He instead moved to the last one, the pink quartz. As he pushed mana into it he again found a decent amount of stable mana storage, though not as much as the jasper. As he poured more mana in he felt his heat rising, he began to sweat and soon heard the sound of his own heartbeat. He stopped pouring in the mana and it easily abided by his decision. He noticed he had started breathing heavily and glanced a look at his reflection as he held up a piece of shiny metal to the forge. His eyes were fully dilated. Still, though, it wasn''t stealing his blood or about to explode. To Adil, this was a success and possibly with its increased storage, a substitute for the opal. Finally, it was time to make. He brought out scraps of metal, hammering them into new materials. Getting used to the process, he again was rebounded with electricity through his arm. Smithing in this mana imbued forge took a deep focus he was unaccustomed too. Soon though the wind seemed to pick up and he struck the metal with sparks of electricity coalescing in the air. His eyes glowed bright White as the metal began to reshape and forge into his desired object. He carried this on, reshaping scraps of metal until he had ten gem-less tokens for use. He fitted eight with opal and two with the pink quartz and started the phase of testing. Waiting for a drone to arrive took a while, he saw it materialise out of the wall, as the strange silvery creature took its shape from the mass of silvery mana coagulating through the wall. Soon under Adil''s instructions, the creature had set up several dummies to be shot down. He theorised thatthe mana shield tokens would even protect inanimate dummies when they are charged. This did not work out. Though the shields would protect the dummies from a small amount of damage, the shield soon ran out of power. It seemed that the storage amount the crystal had equated more to the strength of the shield than how much it could reserve in an energy bank. He instead set up a makeshift trap. A string he pulled let loos an object from up high which would swing towards him. Giving the object enough weight for a decent amount of momentum, he thought it was ready to test. He wore one of the shields and stood ready in position for the trap to come. Pulling the lever he was prepared as the trap came down, it smacked into Adil just after he activated the shield, the impact hit into him but only pushed him back, the kinetic energy spread over his body and reduced as the mana was used up. It wasn''t good enough, somehow Adil needed to test the limits and also, as he pondered. Get his revenge. He went to get Swift. Speaking through the drone,Adil managed to find him, seemingly meditating in a room on his own. "Hey man, I''ve come to a bit of a snag and think I need your help with one of the mana shields," "Struggling with smithing again?" swift asked. "Not quite, I''ve made the shields, but there are some technical problems. It''ll be better if you come to see." "On my way." A few moments passed, and Swift appeared through one of the portals. Adil was waiting there the trap already having been set up. He handed Swift one of the opal tokens. "You have to try and push mana through it and direct it to shield you." "like this?" he said. "Yeah that''s it, I think you have it working." "didn''t seem too hard." "Yeah, you have to stand here so I can see it properly." Swift moved to the location Adil pointed, placing him on a makeshift "x" scrawled into the ground. A strig was held in Adils hand, and he pointed in a direction for Swift. "Could you look over there?" Adil said. Swift then saw where the string was connected, a makeshift trap hidden in the shadows of the room, only obvious from the purple glow of a crystal. A crystal Swift noticed to be an overchargedamethyst on the end of thetrap, which was suddenly falling towards him. The crystal shattered and a massive explosion ruptured the air, almost bursting Adil''s eardrums. Swift''s body flew to the side of the room, his token seeming to absorb most of the impact. He hit into the wall and knocked away some of the stone. As the dust settled, Swift was collapsed on the floor, gasping from the impact." "Why.." He saidas loud as he could as he was still trying to catch his breath. "Your valuable contribution has been noted," Adil said. "Round two?" Swift made a groaning noise. "Sure" he replied reluctantly, though he took a beating he was aware of how valuable the testing was. Swift was given the pink quartz token and repeated the experiment. The impulse knocked him back a few feet, but it was not enough to send him flying into the wall. Swift had still collapsed to the floor, his eyes dilated and his breathing heavy. He got up and shouted: "Whoooo." "That was a rush." Using the Pink quarts clearly tapped into some sort of adrenaline-inducing mechanism. *time to test its limits* Adil thought to himself. He asked Swift to stand in the same place and used half the remaining amethyst on the trap, nearly two and a half times as much as the original blast. The rocket blasted Swift into the wall and took away a further large chunk of stone. This time, the token had not run out of power, still able to mitigate more damage. Swift though was so shaken by the original blast and stimulated through the strange pink quartz effect he was little more than a jittery mess on the floor gasping for air. "Ah aa ar- a - ar- a- a- a- a-rree we - a--" swift stoppedas he tried to catch his breath and take a breather. "Yeah, we''re done pal, thanks for the help." Adil passed Swift one of the opal mana shields with a smile and tried to direct a drone to get him a cup of water. 50. Barbra Gordon Adil took a moment to rest and gather his thoughts; he had finally finished constructing the last of the mana-shields. Notification Mana shield proficiency I you have created enough mana shields thattheyare no longer unrefined quality. Magic artificer II Tinkering and experimentation with the mana shields has given you a greater understanding of creations around mana. You are not able to create more complicated designs. Increased stability of constructs. Suddenly, Adil felt a spike of pain in his head as more information seemed to rush in. He could visualise formula and complex mana formationswithin his mind. The overload of information forced his mind to go numb. He gagged as found out he was holding his breath the whole time. In the numbness, his thoughts felt stilted. As a refreshing clarity began to come back, it was as though his mind was booting up, restarting from the overload of knowledge. Adil only had the single thought of complex mana formations lingeringas he suddenly remembered where he was. Coming back to his senses, Adil started breathing heavily. Changes like this being something he had now gotten used to, he only rested for a moment. Adil looked around and saw he had finished off all the Opal and Pink quartz in store. The dark skyless room hid what time had passed. He looked back at the mass of unrefined shield tokens he had just made realising that he could now improve them to the refined stage. Adil decided another half an hour of adjustments wouldn''t go amiss. He worked with unrelenting focus bringing each shield outside of the "unrefined" state and into an unassuming "standard" quality. Finished now, Adil had a large sackof the mana-shields, enough to fit out all the members of what he liked to think of as his guild. He stepped onto the portal and chose the outward location to the war-room. As the pad activated, his vision seemed to blur. The difference in lighting between the two rooms blinding him. A man and goblin were peering through the war table. "Great leader," the goblin said,getting Adil''s attention. The goblin had ears pointing outward, a slim frame and a shiny bald head. He spoke in a low, gritty, uninterested voice. "We''ve been trying to gather resources but came across something strange." "What do you mean?" "Routine patrols have come across increasingly dangerous mobs; it appears that the dungeon is expanding and increasing in strength at an exponential rate." Adil raised an eyebrow, The goblin carried on, "The um" *coughs* "The last patrol went hunting a group of enhanced moles, colloquially reffered to as *razor claws* and came across a large dugout cavern. This cavern was housing a large lizard-bat. Multiple times the size of the aforementioned razor claws. None of the group survived." "How did such a thing get inside the cavern?" "The creature was much larger than any entrance to the cavern, it is assumed that the beast was always there." Adil''s jaw grew slack. He knew it must have been Swift; why would he do such a thing. What could have come over him to try and surround them by legions of death? "Other groupshave come across similar situations. The consensus is that they now hold territories, each large creature given its own area of influence." The two at the war table looked at each other before the goblin looked towards Adil. "We were wondering if you had anything to do with this." "I''ll get Swift." He said hurriedly and quickly walked out of the room. The two at the table then got back to inspecting the war-table. Walking around the camp Adil moved past large masses of busy people, hauling weapons and new items across. A few goblins gave the nod as Adil saw them carrying the carcasses of slain runic elk. A few in the distance appeared to be praising a worn-out man who held what seemed to be a dead silver meerkat up high. Finally, after a few asked directions Adil came across Swift meditating in a room on his own, his coat was on fire and illuminated against the darkness of the cave around him. He also appeared to be levitating. As Adil approached, Swift reached out a hand and pinched a piece ofdry mushroom, raising it to place in his mouth. He gagged a bit as he seemed not to like that specific taste and then saw Adil approaching him. "Oh hay man," he said. "Have, you been making more monsters in the dungeon?" Adil asked. "Yeah, have you noticed my work? I thought we needed some better food," he replied with a smile. "You''ve made the place some sort of deathtrap, why would you want this?!" "What do you mean?" "The boss monsters, man. Seriously what''s the point. Surely it would be better if we just got resources, food. Or if you made some sort of cow that shits gold."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "I didn''t make a boss monster," Swift replied in a sort of insulted shock. "I was trying to make resources, easy things.What about my mana berries? Did anyone say anything about that? My giant pigs... The damn golden bunnies?" "Let''s see; we can go back to the war table." He motioned for Swift to follow as he walked away. They moved quickly through the cave arriving back at the war table; the goblin looked up nonchalant. "Welcome back, leader." The goblin said. "Let me see the dungeon for a second." "As you wish great leader." Then whispering into a drone to his side, the goblin said: "Going dark for 10." The image in the war table of a unit patrol showed alarm suddenly raise on one of their faces. Adil moved to the drone and said through it. "Chill for a moment guys; we just need to check out something." Adil scrolled through the images before him andpointed briefly around specific sections of the cave. Using his mana vision to enhance a scan of what was shown to them, he managed to see in greater detail. Then finally, he found one of the pigs Swift spoke off. A large pigat the far-end hidden away in the system of caves. They saw the large pig walking ideally by, its feet almost struggling to hold its own weight. There was a glow around the pig even to the naked eye, the war table actually highlighting a large amount of mana within the creature. It was, however seemingly unable to access it. "See," SSwift said. The creature stumbled a bit further until it seemed to stop and freeze. A gentle mist resonated from the area and then orange eyes peered through the darkness. A snake appeared out of a subtle mist; it''s left eye scarred. Soon more snakes emerged, a strange fog around them as they moved. "I don''t remember making these things. " Swift said. The snakes stared into the pig after easily surrounding it, the pig almost whimpering as it was unable to move. Then one of the snakes dove, biting hard at the pig''s skin and makingitscreech in pain. The snake had pierced the flesh, draining the beast of all its essence and vitality.Other snakes soon began joining in, the first snake suddenly sticking its head into the pig''s flesh and soon disappeared, likely writhing around inside the great beast. As the snake seemed to move around the beast, the pig''s last gasps of breath were spent. The energy was pouring out of the creature into the surrounding land. The snakes seemed to change as they carried on eating, each of them growing in size andresonating with new-found power. "I was not expecting this," the goblin said. When the visible mana finallyleftthe creature''s carcass, the snake broke out of the pig and appeared before the group. The snake now seemed almost entirely different from its previous form, now multiple times the size and with scales that seemed to now slightly point out from it''s armoured its body.Only the scar around its left eye showed it was still the same creature. "Well shit," Swift said. "Looks like your pigs did make it," Adil replied. A voice shouted through the drone. "WE NEEDEYES ON DARELL!" Without a moments notice the goblin took back control from Adil and shot the image to a group searching around bushes. They were in the bat cave, the giant bat seemingly resting upside down whilst a lone soldier was trying to grab herbs from just under its head. The goblin spoke through the drone. "Darell, can you please move back from the bat," "Team b, Darell is currently under the bat-lizard. Attempting to grab some herbs." "who is this man, Darell," Adil asked. The goblin said without looking towards him. "He is one of the officers you promoted." "Oh," Adil said, almost ashamed to ask more questions. "So," he added. "Is he a good officer?" "He is an unconventional officer. Though not the best fighter or tactician, he is brave, knowledgable and has niche talents... I commend your choice." "Good," Adil said, heartily patting the goblin on the back.The goblin didn''t enjoy it but badly tried to put on a smile in reply. "And, sorry. I dont think I got your name yet." "Urakle, I''m an officer chosen by elder Morganna" he replied. Adil pointed to the other man silently sitting across the table "And what''syour name s-" "no don-" "HELLO LEADER I AM HAROLD," he said loudly. "Please, he is so loud." "dont be a dick," Adil said tot he goblin. He went over and took thehuman''s hand, giving it a shake. "Pleased to meet you, Harold. I hope you like the cave." Harold looked to Gordon and after a stink eye back to Adil. "YES, THE CAVE IS GREAT. IT HAS ALL THESE PICTURES AND MUSHROOMS TOO.." He then pointed to the images around the war table. "Glad to hear it." "Why did they leave him with me." the goblin said facepalming when he finished. Then Adil nodded to Swift and departed. As they left they heard back from the table an unusually high-pitched shout from the goblin. "Darell, what are you doing?!?!" They walked through the exit from the war room and headed down, walking towards the central cavern. They came across an officer who shouted for their attention. "Adil" Griffon announced. "Where have you been?" Griffon walked into the room again. "Working on something. Something useful. Can I ask you something." "If you have a question I can answer. I''m all ears." "Who''s Darell?" Adil asked. "He.. he''s the officer you chose." "What?" "The one that''s not all there maybe, has a bit of a drinking habit?" Adil thought for a moment and realised he had promoted a man unconscious, the one with Steve that helped kill the priest. The man did seem to radiate some sort of alcoholic smell. "Oh.. right?" Griffongave out a laugh.He had clearly gone through a lot of turmoil from this person. "You''re telling me you just chose him at random?" "He killed the priest," Adilstated plainly. "Uh, sure. Well, he ain''t that bad, a bit unpredictable is all." "You''re telling me." Said another coming into the room. The man had a "He just got his whole party killed for a couple of herbs, which he ate." "I mean, we wouldn''t have found the herb, and we were trapped so probably would have died anyway." "Fuck it; I''ll just go get him. He''s probably still in the room with the giant bat.. lizard, bat-lizard. Blizard, lizzat? There has to be a name for it." "ill come along," Griffon said "Hay, Griffon," Adil called before he left. "What''s up." "I have these tokens, try one on. I think they will greatly improve everyone''s battle ability." Adil threw a token towards him, and he caught it in a quick swipe of the air. "So, how would I go about using it?" "If you just feel it with your mana it should be self-explanatory." "My mana? How did you know?" Griffon connected with the token and just when he did Adil threw a bolt of lightning towards him. The electricity fizzled off his shield but also bounced to the wall behind him. He had flinched a bit but saw that the lightning never reached him. Around him he noticed how the sparks charred the stone, even creating slightly shattered holes in the ground. He stared at the token in his hand. "This is. Well, I couldn''t expect anything less." He replied, smiling towards Adil. "Get everyone together. I''ll give them out and unlock everyone''s mana." Griffon''s eyes grew wide as he heard the announcement; he even bowed slightly before coming to his senses. "I''ll sort it out for you. We will be at the front in half an hour." Adil gave him a nod before he walked away, then got everything ready for the next step. Adil wondered about the shields, and if they would cause the same type of sickness he saw with Morganna. Blue veins that spread along their arms and appeared to damage their very essence. He needed to test something before hegave them away. He started walking to Morganna. 51. forces Adil had arrived in the hall of research, the spinning crystal in the centre now illuminating the place. He stepped towards the crystal. Looking through the glass he saw how drones brought material from their still continuous excavating. To his sidehe noticedSteve delegating commands to a person that was growing redder by the minute. "And when you bring the tea, don''t forget to leave it in for two minutes. It tastes better that way." Steve said. "Will that be all. Sir." Replied the major. Steve looked towards Adil anddrew a broad smile. "Hi, leader sir." "I see you''ve got a new worker." "Lady Morganna said I could get my own apprentice if I wanted to do more, urr, than get tea." Adil furrowed his brows at how patronising an apprentice task seemed to be. "So you chose the major?" "Well, you did say he was under my command." "Right." Adil brushed off the new information and went over to Morganna. On Adil''s approach, Morganna drew to his attention."Ah, squires, and the pretty one too." Swift was idle in the background, trying to chew through a few more crispy mushrooms. "Hi," swift added with an awkward wave. Adil looked over to him and then back to Morganna, wondering how he hadn''t noticed Swift, illuminated by his flaming cape in the back of the room. "Right, I was wondering if you could check people''s mana. See if using it would still poison them and shorten their lifespan." Morganna looked towards Adil and appeared to have a stark expression. "When you use your mana do you feel it make you weak?" "I don''t know what you mean." "When you use it have you ever felt a rebounding effect as though your mana pulls you after you have done using it? It would be as though the mana is controlling you and not you controlling the mana." "I don''t believe so, why?" "It is strange you can be so strong yet know so little. As essence is the tempered mana within a person, a person or thing''s essence is a more crystalline form of mana, semi-permanent and able to be altered. When a person normally uses their mana it pulls at and infects their essence. The cave prevents this. It is something the spawn crystal changes within a person. I have reason to believe it could stop all damage it does to a person." "You couldn''t have told me before?" Adil asked almost patronisingly. "I didn''t expect you not to know, in fact, it has come to my attention the title of squire has little bearing on your competence. Now leave me be now, so I might understand more of what you clearly do not." "Ok, but in fifteen minutes come to the front of the large cavern, I''m going to address everyone." Adil sulked slightly walking away, he looked towards Swift getting a slight smirk in reply and wondered out the door. He had an army to equip and the faster everyone could use mana the better. Adil went to the front of the large cavern and waited, he saw the occasional person start gathering, they spoke and conversed. Eventually, larger amounts of people seemed to appear, as the final ones moved in they appeared to be in the rags you would get after a recent death. Over a hundred members of his guild were now present. Griffon coughed and shouted for attention at the sight of me waiting. Each person in the guild seemed to grow silent, a few of them awkwardly shuffling about, Morganna smiling down but others stoutly held their chin high. Adil felt it was his time to talk. "Hi, everybody. I have in this bag, something you will all need to perfect the use off. An item that will give us a massive advantage against anything and everything that we as a group will be up against. But first, to use it you will have to use magic." The room went like *aah omg Adil you''re so cool* he thought. *and professional, pretty professional*. "Now I know this is a big favour, but I hope if I help you with this, you will help the cave with whats to come." "You have to be joking," a voice shot up. A man in a soldiers uniform, he was quickly punched in the arm by another one. "Do you not care if we die?" Asked the other one. Adil ignored them, "Now who wants to go first?" He asked, the room turning deathly silent. "Surely someone would love to jump at the opportunity." One of the soldiers put up a hand before it was pushed down again by another. "Why are you so hesitant?" "Mages don''t live very long do they." A younger one of them said. "What do you mean?" "Well, if they''re human, people that use magic tend to die in a few months." Another said into his ear: "He obviously knows that." After a moment of pause, Adil said. "Come again?" "Well, you know. Their arms turning funny and growing veins and that, and sometimes they even turn. Like.. into monsters.." "Then how come the priest or frost mage was so old?" "Because he''s a high up in the church, the church has a special blessing from the high elf." "Well, now you have my blessing," Adil said, seeming to give shaky and hesitant glances from the ones around him. The room grew silent, a few shuffles and disconcerting coughs. Morganna giving a sly smile. "Who wants to go first?" Adil asked wide armed amongst the crowd One of the younger soldiers stepped forward. He saw into the bright eyes of the man, thesoldier was awkwardly wearing blate amour seemingly too big for him. Further, he was clearly intimidated by Adil''s presence. Adil put his hand to the boys head. As Adiltried to connect his mana with the boy''s essence he was once again brought into sight of the young man''s past. He was at the scraping something off his foot under a stone bridge in a well-built city. The bridge was a fair amount higher than where he was, the space above high enough he could rest against the wall.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "You''re not really going to try out for the church''s army are you?" Asked another boy. "Yeah, and I''m going to be the best soldier." "Do you think they would let some lowborn whores child be a soldier?" "Shut up Derek," he said and threw the rock he was using to scrape the shit off of his shoe at him. Derek laughed, Adil somehow knew they were both born from people in the same brothel. "What makes you want it so bad?" Derek asked in a serious tone now. The boy smiled towards him, a glint in his eye. "I like the way they look in their shiny armour." "If you like scrapping shit off things, you can just do that, see all the armour you want." "I don''t want to scrape shit, I want to be a soldier." He said. he took out a small piece of shiny metal from his pocket, he had taken it as a memento, some broken piece of armour he had shined. He looked into the gleam of the metal and had the subtle thought to himself, this is only the beginning. Adil broke out of the dream-like vision and saw a light emanate around the young lad. The soldier caused gasps from everyone around as he forced his mana into a pure light dazzling everyone around. Notification Elon has developed the ability to control light mana. He has the trait flash, able to momentarily blind select targets. As Adil went through the process of unlocking their magic he slowly grew to understand how the world was, the world of the people in his guild. Though not everyone stepped forward and furthermore, not everyone could get their magic unlocked. Many of them The soldiers here were a unit of misfits. Many sent on this mission because of their upbringing, because they were mercenaries, criminals, or in some way handicapped. Others because they were incompetent yet only held in the military because of politics and upbringing. The goblins, they were peaceful, their life tortured by the taint, thoughts incoherent in their strife, Each of them living difficult lives. He held hands over Urakle, a name that made Adil think off a cross between batman''s Barbra Gordons, "the oracle" and Steve Urkle, the one famous for saying "Did I do thaaat?" When he was drawn into Urakle''s memories he saw him looking over at one of the other goblins, he was partly cured of the curse along with manyof his brethren that had met Morganna. In the vision he was small, one of the goblin''s that roamed the maze. Urakle was looking down at a bunch of ants, he had arranged them to go along specific paths, digging out slight lines in the dirt. Adil could almost hear Urakles thoughts. *Yes, Yes. Efficient, your mindless running served no purpose.* *Now they bring food to their queen, do they not know who their real master is* *A Beatle has arrived, the ants will win, I have given them the advantage if they do not surely they deserve their fate.* *Hah, they won but their actions were miserable, I will redouble the plan and lead them to further heights* He drew a line across the dirt, reducing the light exposure and giving the ants a set path, after a while, it appeared that the nats were waiting for the path to be set before they moved on. *Ah, so you do know who your master is* *good,* he laughed to himself, and contemplated the future, knowing full well,it was only the beginning. As Adil was brought back into reality, he saw a stern expression from the goblin. He resonated with a newfound power that cascaded from him in waves of purple and black. "Please do not tell anyone else what you just saw," he chimed. Notification Urakle has developed the ability dark clone. He can create a clone of himself out of mana and command it according to his will. Another peculiar case was that of Harold, the man with an unusually loud voice. After placing his hand on the man and connecting with his mana Adil came to see a vision of Harold standing on the street staring at everyone else, a man caught a small ball thrown his way. "NICE CATCH GRIFFON DO YOU TRAIN OFTEN?" "Thanks, mate and no I dont," Griffon replied. "NO PROBLEM GRIFFON, YOU MUST BE NATURALLY TALENTED." "Thanks again, really, but you can ease up on those compliments." "OK," Then, Adil, had a strange thought come through, *this is only the beginning.* Exasperating Adil when he saw the pleased expression on Gerald. The slight glow permeating his skin and the expression of awe he had upon coming out of the vision. Gerold exclaimed "THANK YOU OH GREAT LEADER." Notification Harold has developed power over the mindaffinity. Using compliments Harold can give buffs to those around him. notification You are complimented, Take 5% bonus to stamina regeneration. *This may have been a mistake* Adil thought to himself. The varied abilities people have appeared to be profound. About to finish Adil had an old man in worn armour come towards him, when Adil looked at him through his mana sight he could see a strong energy within him, a seemingly untapped potential. Adil placed his hand on the man. "Are you ready?" He asked. "Oh, well, I was ready long ago." Adil was brought into the man''s mind. He felt a push, it was as though there was a barrier preventing Adil from reaching the man''s essence. Adil pushed harder, tinging his tendrils of mana with a dagger-like arrowhead of electricity. He shot through the barrier and went into the man''s essence. Notification You have disabled a barrier set up around a person''s essence. Their memories are now released. Adil was suddenly brought into the memory. He saw a man with a great smile, proudly wearing his armour standing in a great corridor of a divine building. The front of the door opened and A man in priestly robes walked in. The outside held bustling people shouting as if in a riot. Suddenly the man in armour knelt in respect for the priest. The priest appeared to be in a rush and paid little attention to him. Then the man saw the priest drop something, a small gem that rolled away from his robe. ¡°Sir!¡± The man shouted, but only got a disdainful look in reply as the priest hurriedly walked on. The man looked around and then quickly went to grab the item before following the direction the man had walked. He heard talking in a room and thought about entering, how he should not disturb the people inside but should give the item to them regardless. He doubted his very actions and instead decided just to wait. He overheard the talk inside. ¡°I am sorry to bother you sir, but the peons again pester for answers. They wonder why they must starve whilst you live comfortably.¡± The priest chimed. ¡°The humans follow their religion, they do not believe that the church is without reason. There is no need to answer the questions, the church is and always has been absolute. You only have to ask for faith.¡± ¡°You are gracious with your words as you are with the humans. *hah*¡°Surely you jest, the humans are just a resource to be controlled. A disposable asset that those of higher design might use to their fit. I merely say that if we help or do not it will not affect their loyalty.¡± ¡°As you say it must be sir.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Yet I must ask, why hunt those that use magic when it¡¯s use would do little more than shorten the lifespan of the humans.¡± ¡°The answers will come in time. It is fear. There is a revolution coming to the world of magic and we cannot let the power slip from our hands.¡± The soldier waiting outside was lost in thought from what he had heard. He dropped the gem he was holding, and it clattered on the ground. The priest quickly walked outside and met the soldier''s gaze as he was attempting to pick it up seeing a slight worried smile on the soldier¡¯s face. Adil was brought out of the memory. Suddenly a floor of mana rushed forward, Adil had a mental glance quickly into a memory of the soldier at a younger time playing around in the mud. The mana that was rushing out appeared to have a brown hue to it. Everyone around appeared to be taken back in shock at the sight of the man, gasping for air as the brown mana was released into the air. Mud appeared to be coagulating over his skin and dripping to the ground. Soon a blue vein appeared over patches of skin, and his eyes looked a shade of blue. Notification Guild member Christoph has developed an earth shaping affinity. He has developed the ability of mud flow. Mana stability unstable Enable spawn crystal mana use to prevent guildmembers forced mana overdrive? Yes/now Estimated requirement 0.7% mana. Adil quickly chose yes and saw the mana stop leaking, appearing to be now contained. The man passed onto his knees and the blue started retracting from his skin. Gasps came from the audience as they saw the mana poisoning retracted. The mud coating his skin was brushed off. ¡°Get him something to drink and help him wash the mud off,¡± Adil said to a few waiting nearby. The looks of the others in the area seemed to suggest they were off-put by the process. Adil had gone through half of them, and even that half appeared to be worried about what had occurred. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough for now, if you want to continue we can do this at a later date.¡± The masses departed leaving Adil to stand and contemplate on what happened. Morganna had a puzzling expression in her eyes, she walked over to Adil. "What did you just do?" She asked. "There was a block around his essence, suppressing a memory. I released it and his mana went out of control." "that shouldn''t be possible." She insisted. "I think I''ve heard that from you before." "It''s that when I look at you, and your friend''s they do not seem to be different. But your power stretch beyond what is normally capable. You have abilities which would shake the fabric of society." Adil just raised his eyebrows in insistence for her to continue. "You will need to keep what you have just done a secret, there are many who wish certain things not to be known. Certain things you may be one of the only keys to releasing." "When it comes in useful, I''ll let you know." "Child, you do not know what you have, or likely are," Morganna said and began to walk off. 52. Approach Adil brought himself into a room built for training. It was a large bare room filled with training dummies and blunted weapons. Adil felt it was time to ease his thoughts. The place was already filled with many other fighters, training their skills for the inevitable fights to come and Adil thought he could show them a thing or two. A match showcasing three on three shone out in the distance. It held some of the goblins against some Adil recognised as ex-mercenaries. Adil was worried at the sight of it, thinking they had yet to get over their differences and were instead trying to prove each others inferiority. One of the mercs managed to dodge two goblins coming into his blind spot and tripped one up. Launching a knife into the goblin''s chest as he fell to the ground. Adil grew concerned, they were fighting to the death? The cave was meant to protect these people not torture them. He started heading towards them, he was worried he had been missing out on the tensions building between the groups. A third goblin had managed to bat away the soldier, saving the other goblin on the ground before Adil could reach them, only to be ganked by the other two mercs. Showing an abnormal amount of skill the goblin only took a grazeon his knee. Then as a merc''s foot was grabbed by a goblin on the floor and his guard was dropped, the standing goblin took an opportunist slash across a merc''s neck. "Stop!" Adil shouted, taking a goblin by surprise as the original merc came jumping in. Still, the goblin managed to manoeuvre the assault into throwing the man on the ground and having a knife pointed at his chest. "Best of five?" The merc said from the floor. The goblin picked the merc from the floor, grasping his hand. The goblin then proceded to movethe edge of the merc''s blade lifting it to an angleto a point on his own shoulder. "Don''t aim for here, go for here." The goblin moved the blade in a position pointing more down into thegap underhis collar bone. "Great leader," the goblin called facing Adil. Adil looked at him and enhancing his vision to show their name tags. He saw the goblins name was "Marv". "What are you doing, stabbing each other. Do you not feel pain? Is this some kind of masochistic dick-measuring competition between races?" Adil asked. "We are practising for the coming fight." "Then what''s with the stabbing. The goblin versus a human you have going on?" "This is the most efficient balance of our strengths. I am the most trainedwhereas the other goblins arethe least trained," "Right, right... but why fight to the death?" "Great leader. Theability to come back from deathallows the greatest training a warrior could wish for." "Right... " Adil felt as though he had worried too much, it was as if all goblin human tensions had disappeared. "Please, don''t fight to the death. We have a limited amount of mana to resurrect members of the guild. There will be a fight coming and we will need as much as we can." The goblin took to one knee. "I''m sorry sir, I was not aware." "At ease soldier, It just means we can''t abuse it," Adil replied. He thought for a momentwondering about the goblin that was before him, he seemed older and more experienced than the others. "I have to ask though. Do you still harbour hatred towards humans? Is this fueled by it?" The goblingrew contemplative, he furrowed his brow in thought before looking up to Adil. "It was hard at first. I followed you out of loyalty to Morganna rather than choice. Now though, I do not feel the pain I used to. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.It is thanks to some of these men. Those we fight here and otherswe drinkwith. They released the tension. It is not them I feel that harbour the grudge. They treat us as they would themselves, make us feel the same. Others stillact with false smiles,they pretend that we are the same. Hiding their true feelings. But you can feel the differences, see it behind their eyes. I do not feel as though anyone here has a true reason to dislike each other. It is more the fear of othersfeeling that waywhich prevails. It is as the ancestral saying goes.Prophecies made from fear should be feared more than what they say. I judge not with assumptions based on race but on the actionsthey take." The goblin looked into Adil''s eyes for approval. "That is.. Admirable," Adil said before exchanging nods. Then one of the men fizzles out from the teleporter wearing a fresh set of cotton clothes. He waved at Marv before walking towards us. "Mind if I join?" Adil asked. "Bout time you showed us what you can do," one of the mercs said before getting a look from the goblin and a knock form one of the others. "It would be an honour," Marv said. They set up with the goblin taking Adil''s side whilst the others stood against him. Adil shook his head. "All of you try to get me." "Are you sure?" The goblin looked to Adil and getting a confirmation in his eyes backed off. Adil brought his grass-cutter sword forward and channelled some mana into it whilst he stared down the others. They charged but Adil manoeuvred around them, bending with the air as though he was being blown away from the wind of their attacks. Sidestepping a verticle attack he took out the pommel of his sword and launched an electric burst through it in the back of the man''s head. in a feat of teamwork, two goblins appeared in Adil''s blind spot diving forward. Adil dodged them both doing asideways spin in the air whilst he pushed down on one goblin''s back. The goblin went to the groundlifting him higher. One of the mercs pushed to the limit ofteamworkas Marv held his hands out for the man to step off them. The merc was launchedskywardto face off against Adil, Adil only just manoeuvred to see the jagged sword pass by. He saw Marv then closing in on him. Their coordinated effort meant he had no way out. Adil focused on his power and let out a mighty gust, knocking everyone in the area back. A few of them had displeased looks as though they thought that they had been cheated out of a win. Adil knew it wasn''t over and he had to wait a decent while before he could use something like that again. "Cheeky move," one of the roguelike humans said circling into Adil''s blind spot. "Is a fightever fair?" Adil asked looked down at all of them about to close in. he channelled lightning into his sword, seeing it fragment off the weapon. Then Adil saw Marv charge in whilst others circled. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a build-up of dark energy. He dodged around from Mar''s baiting move and into the line of a ranged attack. There Adil spun his blade to chop a blast of black fire which burst into a dark cloud, obscuring his vision. Adil focused and brought out his mana sense. He now saw through the smoke a couple of ninja goblins coming again from down low. Adil charged the lightening in his sword ready to take them out when an impact threw him spinning through the air. A kick straight to the side of his face with enough force to launch him. The mercs had again come from up high. Marv called out, "NO! Stop!" As the other human spun around to stick a blade inAdil, having been launched towards him. Adil saw the blade had penetrated his chest and looked on to the group that wore faces of worry. Adil coughed a small amount of blood then drew a smile towards them, holding a thumbs up. "Good job," he said before he passed on. Adil woke in the spawn area, he grew a smile as he thought about the abilities of his new men. The skill and coordination they had working together, he had bit off more than he could chew by challenging them all. The will and thoughtfulness they had to get passed any tribal sense of hatred towards each other still stuck a chord in him, he wasn''t much of a philosopher but after his exchange thought of Marvwith admiration. Then Adil saw Urakle run towards him. "The army is on approach," he said. With those few words, Adil''s mind sank into hard focus and concern. He walked with the small goblin silently through the cave, not looking directly at people he passed but seeing them run around getting ready for whatever is to come. "How long." "Twelve to eight hours. They have more of a direct route." Now at the war-table, he saw the army. Rather than the previous battalion he now saw an army of hundreds. Shinning plate-armour and banners. They marched through spaces made clear from the past assault, each man showed an efficiency not present in the previous group. Their armour of a higher quality. Further behind the approaching army, Adil noticed that the town''s major andlieutenant were present. The army was about to enter into the growing range of the Spawn crystal''s influence. The far-reaching areas in which mutated and enhanced creatures lay. They would have to carve their way through the new animals and creatures before they could reach the cave and every kill they made would only add to the Spawn crystals power as it absorbed the manna and essence that would come from anyhuman or creature deaths in the area. 53. Meat cute The army had drifted through a savannah landscape that appeared to be slowly transforming into a jungle. They had passed large winding umbrella trees, vast fields of grass and larger than normal rabbits. Slowlythe army took notice of how the maze was different from either reports or what they had remembered. They appeared on the outskirt of a jungle. What was once a barren Martian landscape was now bursting with life. The distant towering rock spikes now had vines growing up their sides. Some were long enough to reach the top ¡ª a single tree atop ashorterspikein the distance. Though what was in the jungle was barely visible past the trees and canopy of leaves, the army saw how even butterflies were more abundant and filled with more life than would be natural. To a perceptive person, they would have also noticed how the shining particles within the air created small spurts of growth on whatever they touched. "They say a cardinal was killed, is this true?"a soldier asked one of the majors. "You have heard wrong, and it would do you best to know the clergywould not allow such rumours to spread," replied a stern major with an eye patch. The battalions of men were gathered in the field. They were shining in bright armour that shone against the sun.A dark-robed figure approachedthe major. Speaking under their hood, she said: "The forest is not under anyone''s control. This is the result of a large quantity of mana released into the area. At the rate of change and concentration in the air. I would expect this happened within the last few months," aglowingblue eye could be seen in the depths ofher hood. "Impossible," The weary soldier replied. "Then why we are here?" "We will need to split up the formation to work our way through. Equip the scouts with flares." "Have it done." The army began moving through the jungle, hacking away any vines or plant life that got in their way. Amoment later, distant trees began to shake, approaching closer as a flare went off. Calls and shouts form the soldiers started to erupt with elements of panic. "Ambush right. Get in formation. Archers back, draw them out. We need a clear sight!" A gargled scream came forward and a snake appeared out of the bushes. Its head the size of that of a horse. The snake slithered towards the major a faint mist resonating around its body. One of the soldiers dove on it, driving a sword swiftly into its head, putting the snake down. Thena tree behind the soldier erupted into splinters, the boss snakediving out of cover and charging forward. This snake was coated in the scales of an armadillo lizard. It crushed the soldier and went towards the major, a few arrows bouncing off its scales before it turned to look at the archers and roared to release a thick mist which appeared to dissolve the plant life around it. "OUT THE FOREST NOW!" The major shouted. Cascading mist rushed forward beforehe started sprinting in the opposite direction ¡ª the soldiers around followed suite. The major ran, he saw the snake appear out of the mist and dive towards another unit on his right, shouts of pain blaring from each location. "What are you doing?" the dark mage said as the major appeared to be running past her. "RUN. The snake, It''s.." The mage lowered her hood and revealed pointing ears and a disapproving expression. The snake appeared then, diving out of the trees on the side, its yellow eyes staring down on them. The dark make had her hands grow blue before she cast balls of blue energy towards the creature. The magic missiles exploded and pushed the beast back without causing much damage. The creature still felt the pain though, and after being slightly knocked back carried on slithering around. Emanating more of the acidic mist.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. the mage grunted disapprovingly, "pure mana is such an inefficient force for damage." The major was still in shock when the mage pulled out a crystal glowing a faint orange. She channelled her power through the device, and it began to glow. The snake once more dove out of the mist towards the high elf lady with a vengeance. Then a beam of light shot out from the crystal. It shot towards the snake as the snake crashed down on the woman, slit in two. Guts and viscera had coated the woman, and she started taking damage fromdrifting inmist, but the snake had the front portion of its body separated cleanly into two halves. The mage dropped the crystal as it overheated in her hands; it hit the floor and crumbled to dust. "Uhhg, disgusting." The mage began resonating blue energy, spraying it across her clothes as she tried to remove whatever was now coating her. Shaking her robes to finally rid herself of the leftover bits, she moved out. Passing the major who looked awestruck. "Hey, uh." The mage stopped to face the man. "What is it?" She questioned. "You have a bit of." he pointed to a piece of snake flesh stuck to a strand of her hair. She looked towards the strand and furrowed her nose again. "For the lov-" She removed the piece. "This is why no one leaves the citadel." "Because of giant snakes?" She turned in a fury but didn''t say a word, instead, she proceeded to put up her hood and moved back to the group.As the army progressed further, they allowed the scouts to get further ahead, hoping they will not just be a sacrifice. The major met up with another major and a lieutenant local to the area. "you have lived next to such dangerous creatures." "This is not a natural occurrence. Whatever mastermind controls the goblins did this." "The woman must have caused this with her witchcraft and dark goblin lovers. This unnatural jungle was but a barren waste a few weeks ago." "You can''t be serious." "If you would so kindlyIgnore my humble colleague''s speculation, what he states is as I can confirm, the truth. If you have spent as much time within the ranks of the high church as I have, you would know to expect not just the unexpected. But the wildly unfathomable." The war room had a gathering of Seras, Adil, Swift and Horatio staring into the war table''s projection. The dryad Morganna hung back on the wall behind the group, the goblin Urakle stood in front of her. They had seen the rough outline of a fight in which an apparent mage had destroyed one of the field bosses. Adil was the first to speak. "Is there any chance that they will be pushed back by the forest before they can get to us?" "Did you see that mage? The snake was probably in the top 10 for field bosses, and they may not meet another." Swift replied. "Then if we are to attack, would it not be better to ambush them in the wilds?" "Griffon says he wants to set up a sort of ambush out there," Seras added. "It''s hopeless either way." Horatio started getting a discerning look from the others. "You know this is your last chance. If we run now-" Morganna launched a gravitational force at Horatio and collapsed him against the wall; he was held by his neck as rocky vines sprouted from the wall and closed around him, "Don''t think I don''t recognise you, boy. You may have grown, but I can still smell the goblin blood on you." "Morganna!" Adil shouted. She released the man, and he started choking on the ground. Seras went to his side. "Ease your bloodthirst, dryad. No one here is your enemy, yet." "That'' is not something I wish to hear from a demon such as yourself." She turned to the man that was previously chocking on the floor but now looked up at her with a weary alarm in his eyes. "I am sorry, I acted out of turn." Adil stepped up "All things aside, we cannot surrender now. We have discussed this; escape would mean moving through the mostly collapsed catacombs until we eventually escape from under the town and at this point that is a larger risk than falling back to the dark lands." "I think our best bet is to try and use Griffon and the twenty or so mercsto set up a dialogue. We may be able to convince them we are no threat," "What good would that do when they see the goblins," Seras added. "We might not have to show them the goblins." The dryad waved her hand dismissively. "Thisis pointless; they will attack regardless. Then they will kill you and steal your precious crystal." "It is worth a try." "If you attempt any negotiations, we lose an opportunity to strike with advantage. However, with the predictably intolerable nature of the church, we will be attacked and sent to respawn without a word said. If that happens, I do not wish to hear your desire to try again." The dryad added almost biting her tongue at the end. 54. A spy. Urakle was looking around the jungle but from the ground. He was wearing a sort of goblin loincloth and holding a primitive goblin spear. He felt embarrassed. Around Urakle there were a few makeshift cages, Griffon along with a few other mercs lay dormant in the cages, waiting and in one of them appeared to be playing a game of cards. In the distance, one of the human members of the cave had been strung up by his feet and was nauseatingly swinging from side to side whilst a goblin occasionally prodded him in the face with a stick. Urakle hated being outside, but his new powers were apparently better suited to scout out here, where they couldn''t see the crusaders in the dense foliage. A third sense entered his psyche as one of his dark shadow clones dissolved, sending back to him the message of ''incoming company''. A rustling came from out in the jungle, and a soldier appeared through the dense plant life. "Goblins!" The soldier shouted. Urakle got ready to run but braced and waited for the arrival of more soldiers. "You Human, We kill HuMaN!" Urakle said, feeling more embarrassed by the moment. "Help, They caught us and trapped us in these cages!" Shouted one of the caged soldiers. "And they keep poking me!" said the man swinging from side to side. The scout held out what appeared to be a flare but held it back looking around at the goblins. It looked like he didn''t want to startle them, likely thinking he could take them on his own before they ran or hurt their captives. Urakle slowly backed off, waving his spear at him. Another soldier appeared in the foliage. "These the goblins?" "Yeah, there are captives in those cages. The sick fucks even had that one hanging by his feet," a desperate captive grabbed the bars of his cage. "Help we''ve been in here for days!" The first crusader stepped closer, but the other held him back. "Wait." "What? These goblins don''t look so big." "No, you idiot, look at the soldiers." the soldier was puzzled, the other one just held his sword towards the cages. "You look pretty fell fed for starved captives," he said. "And where the fuck did you get tha-" One of the mercs hiding nearby had cracked him over the side of the head. Before the other one could yell out, he was whacked by a large goblin that somehow appeared to form an ethereal mesh of shadows. "Well, that worked well," Urakle said. "You still down for phase two?" A merc said, approaching with the unconscious body of the crusader. Urakle moved forward and swiped the man''s flask, downing a fair amount of the shiny mushroom liquor. "Just get it over with." The guards stuck a collar around him and bound both his hands with a rope they could use to lead him along. One of the men then slapped some mud over his face. "Really?" Urakle asked. "It adds to the aesthetic."Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The guard then reached down and grabbed two crystal flares. Briefly smashing them both together, onebegan to fizzle. He threw the sparking crystal into the air to see it explode into a red firework, glittering the area with yellowish sparks. Deeper into the jungle, a soldier ran up to the major with an eye patch. "Sir, a flare was set off. We found some goblins and took one as a prisoner." "What in the blazes did they take a prisoner for?" He asked. "I don''t know sir, but I think you should check it out." A man in ill-fitting scout''s armour, appearing to be a size too small was dragging a goblin behind him. "Report soldier." "I-I caught this g-goblin in the jungle, and he was spying on us." "And so why is he alive and not put down like the rest of the vermin." the soldier shuffled for a moment unsure of how to answer. "H-he was spying with magic, sir." "Explain soldier, and you had better not eaten some of the plant life around here." The soldier seemed to kick the goblin and got an angry look in reply. "Show him!" The soldier said firmly to the creature. The goblin grunted, clenching his teeth as a small black shimmer appeared to peel off him, slowly the darkness began to reform into another, smaller goblin. The goblin looked around with a curious expression, inspecting the world around it before hunching low and beginning to wander off. The Major quickly swatted the construct with his sword, rapidly dissolving it into a dissipating black gas. He held a firm and angry expression towards the goblin, who looked up with a slight smile before the soldier guarding him gave another tug on his rope. "Show the cardinal," he said abruptly. The memory of the last cardinal he met flashed through the soldier''s mind; they were not the most reasonable to talk to. "S-sir is there someone other than the cardinal; I wouldn''t want to disturb his grace.Maybe you have another high r-ranking person?" The major appeared to think for a moment, his eyes growing distant; he corrected himself soon after. "No, I think this is worth his time." They drew closer to an area where the trees and foliage had been entierly removed. A pathway was being slowly made through the vegetation to allow for a single carriage. The carriage was stopped for them to approach, each man they passed staring curiously and in amazement at the goblin that walked passed them, giving them a sly toothy smile as he passed. They drew through the curtains of the carriage, and the stark contrast of the outside light with the darkness meant they had to take a second to adjust their eyes. "Sir, the soldiers have found something unusual." The goblin scuffled inside, being dragged through the open flaps. The cardinal hidden in the darkness at the back still held his head low, a feeling of animosity resonating off him. "You dare bring such filth before me." The soldier to the side of the major said the first words. "I- I''m sorry sir,b-but this isn''t anormalgoblin, he has...uh,dark magics." Urakle could not help but get defensive in the presence of this being; he almost unconsciously started raising shadows around him, a few dark goblins began appearing. Jagged blades where their hands should be. A drifting sand seemed to spread into the air before a glass spear-like shard struck solidly into Urakles head. The spike protruding through to the other side. "I see," the cardinal said. The soldier to the side of the major was in shock, his heart racing and sweat falling down the side of his face. Seeing Urakle being taken out so easily made him feel sick. Uraklehad his last couple twitches before undoubtedly ending up at respawn. "Have you planted the first stone," the cardinal asked. "Yes, Sir. The Itherax will soon activate."The major replied. "Good, you may leave." "And Ma?l, have your soldiers learn the propper respect to stay outside." The man wearing the misshapen armour of the scout he had looted gave a sheepish smile as with the major he walked outside. He awkwardly left the rope with the damaged goblin, unsure what he should be doing, but just getting an uncertain and angry look from the cardinal as he did. The soldier whipped the sweat from his face as he walked down with the major. The major spoke to him without turning. "You would do best to forget what you saw." "..Why, sir?" "There is a lot about this excursion that you would do best not to pry into. If you follow accordingly, I will do my best to prevent any ill fate befalling you. What is your name, solider." before thinking the soldier blurted out. "Steve!" "Steve, I will do my best to remember that. Suddenly a flare shot off in the distance and men started running towards them. Steve drew his sword and looked around before the major put a hand on his shoulder. "This is the first Itherax, boy. You need not prepare your weapon." Steve withdrew his sword and sheathed it. Soon a massive explosion was heard off in the distance, and rushing flames seemed to raise to the sky. As the final men appeared to have separated that area of the jungle, a cloud of cascading dust coming through the trees, coating all the men as they braced through it. A fire seemed to take hold of the trees as they collapsed into charred into not just charred wood but dust. It was as though the very essence of the jungle had been burnt away. 55. A subtle deep voice Steve held back; a small silver insect-like creature moved from inside his armour up to the side of his ear. "What was that explosion, there''s a bit of a panic over here." asked the small silver drone with the voice of Adil. "Oh, yeah. I heard it was something called an itherax. They are planting them around the maze." There was a brief pause as the people on the other end started talking amongst themselves. "Any idea what it does?" "I''m not sure. But I think it makes a large explosion" Steve said with sincerity. There was an exasperated sigh at the other end. "Thanks, Steve. You''ve done well." In the war room, Adil stared into the mist and at the holographic display that hovered above the war-table. The image was focused solely on Steve as the miniaturised drone slithered into his armour. "So... Steve..." "He has done well." "Yes...yes, yes, yes... But why Steve?" "He did volunteer and already left with the others before we could do anything." "That makes sense, yep, Steve. But there was also Griffon, and this is pretty important." Morganna stepped up "Darling, Steve has been doing all sorts of wonderful experiments with me. Testing certain compounds, even letting me see what happens when we *cough*. Fiddle with the spawn crystals connection to his essence. I am sure he has a few tricks that will be useful in his new role." Adil sighed. "Just tell me these things sooner." Adil looked back at the war table and stretched it over to the vast waste now made from the ''Itherax''. A small sandstorm of ash seemed to be picking up, and somehow some life appeared tostill exist and even be growing in this strange new habitat. The land didn''t quite look like a waste as animals too large and durable sauntered the expanse. The essence from the animals and plantlife was emanating off them and falling into the land around. Adil looked in a guilty and ambivalent anticipation as he expected the energy to flow towards the spawn crystal. The fewsurviving creatures appeared to have grown and recovered from their wounds, becoming fearsome creatures with hardened defences. Adil failed to see much if any energy flow into the spawn crystal, raising it to a higher level. Then Adil noticed how some crusading soldiers appeared to have a trail of mana flowing off into crystals they held whilst wandering in from the perimeter of the waste. "What the hell!" Adil exclaimed, greedy for his essence. "Predictable is it not?" Morganna motioned. "They appear to be using the collected energies to power what are likely other charges of the Itherax." "Fuck, fuck fuck fuck!" Adil exclaimed and collapsed into his hands. He then spoke through the drone to Steve. "Get to Griffon and let''s see if we can do something about this." "Right'' O leader!" Steve said. The drone slithered down into his armour, and he noticed a strange robed person was staring at him. Steve was aware she wouldn''t have seen the insect from that angle and so stuck his arm out and waved at the robed stranger. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."Hi!" he said. The strange person in dark robes did not seem to react to Steve''s wave, so he walked away, feeling slightly insulted. The immense military force was making slow movement through the jungle as they hacked away at branches, trying to clear the vast growing mass ofmagically growing plant life. Within the ranks of the army, Griffon had disguised himself as another crusader a transponder drone just over his ear. "We need to you get one of the crystals called an ''itherax''" "What do they look like." "No clue, but if you can get it from one of the soldiers, we might be able to win this without a real fight." "Okay, I''ll see what I can do," The drone dissolved into liquid and fell back into his armour out of vision. Griffon moved up next to one of the other soldiers. Griffon had moved his units into supporting areas of each regiment.Griffon had paced around the area, looking for someone out of the ordinary. Someone that looked like they had something important to plant.He found someone with an unusual crystal he was hiding from view, appearing to take great care of it. "Just another crusade right mate?" Griffon asked, walking up to the guy. The soldier replied with a smirk. "Tell me about it." "You ever think about what we''re doing though?" "Like what?" "You know, what if we''re not on the right side of this war, these crusades." "What are you talking about?" "Nah mate, like really, what if goblins are the good guys?" "You are clearly off your rocker." "Alright alright, just messing with you." "Ok. So, If I came across goblins and I thought they were the good guys, I would probably think I was under some kind of fucking mental magic, and some ass wipes were taking me for a big one." "Alright mate, I think now you''re the one starting to sound crazy." "Yeah really, and those green rapist shits could be the good guys." "You know what?" Griffon said, grabbing the guys attention. Then knocked him over the head with the pommel of his sword. "That''s enough of your headache." Griffon, luckily out of view for the time being picked up the stone from the passed out corpse of the soldier and tried to drag his body quickly into a bush. He knew this wasn''t going to last long until he was found out now, he had to get out with what he had. A man appeared out of the bushes. "Whatdo you think you''re doing?" The man started drawing his sword and approaching when Steve appeared in the bush next to him.Suddenly Steve''s voice grew deep, and a soft Portuguese accent came out. "Palavras de sono sonolento sim dormir por favor" he chanted towards the crusader. The man''s eyes seemed to drop as Steve''s spoke, a weary look of anger fading on his face as he succumbed to the mental influence and fell asleep. Adil staring at the situation exclaimed in the war room. "He can hypnotise people?" "My apprentice progressed far, even unlocking his mana ability through his help." "What, is not telling the guild leader what you can do, meant to be some sort of tactical advantage where you come from?" The group looked off-put. "I always thought of Swift as the leader personally," Urakle said. He had just respawned and arrived back in the war room. "What, really?" "I mean he did sort out all the food and really got the group together. did this inspirational speech and everything, uniting goblins and Human for a common cause." "When did that happen?" "When you went off to do all that crafting." Adil connected a drone to Swift, who had moved further out into the jungle as well, he was steadily making his way thorugh an area further away from the crusade. "Apparently people think of you as the real guild leader." "I heard, they might even like me enough not to take a literal shit on my books." Adil hung up the line and carried on staring through the portal as though nothing was mentioned. Morganna couldn''t help but ask. "What did he mean?" "There is no point going over this now." Griffon and Steve had managed to hide the soldiers in another bush, a few goblins were hiding in a cave and managed to come out and take them through the catacombs back to the rest of their captives. Morganna spoke into the crystal to her apprentice. "Steve, could you allow the crystal to interact with your drone." The image on the war map was not detailed even when focused on little more than one person; it could not give any details about the crystal outside of a soft glow highlighting it could use mana. The small silver insect moved to the crystal and transformed into a silver goo which enveloped thecrystal. She looked into her connection to the spawn crystal in order to analyse the potential Itherax further. "This will take me a moment." She explained and walked off as if to get to the research area and speed up its progress. 56. Griffon Adil leaned in and rested on his hand as he stared into the image. He saw Griffon keep a respectable distance from Steve as they left the captive prisoners with the associates they met up with, who quickly disappeared before the main army caught up with their scouting positions. "If it works out like this, we can just take them all out like hitman47." Urakle didn''t even acknowledge his nonsensical reference. A small drone started making some awkward beeping sound that Adil was unsure if they could previously do or not. The strange vibrating silvery insect was shaking on the war table in front of him. He picked up the drone and heard the sound of a very grumpy older man. "The she-thin- uh, dryad wishes to say the analysis is complete." "Okay, can you put her on?" the drone seems to make some slithery fizzing sound as it was passed around. "Ah dear, we have some interesting news." "So, how large is the explosion radius?" "Well, It''s not really a bomb." "Come again?" "Its more like a virus. It spreads an infection thatattacks theessence. It changes what we have come to know as the script mana current script. The script is how a person uses mana, its what their essence, a crystalline structure of mana does to enable mana to be used in a person''s unique form. Changing this, it causes a person to self combust, as though their very essence is telling them to burn." "Christ." "what?" "Can you survive it?" "In theory." "In theory?" "Ah dear, you really need to catch up. The ''Itherax" as they call it, brings the fire with it. Even if it does infect you, it will only kill you if the power it brings with it overpowers your essence. In fact, the strength of specific crystal we analysed would be like that of a giant weed killer. For this forest, it may not even damage the trees, but may help increase their travel speed." "Thanks, that''s good to know." "Anytime. So, how is he doing? My apprentice?" "Steve? He, uh,seems to be getting along.," "Good." They contacted Steve with the drone he kept on him, it slithered close to his ear so they could speak. "The crystal do you still have it?" "Yep" "Throw it away," "Don''t you want it?" "It''s not worth the risk. Find somewhere safe to get rid of it." "Ok" Steve took the crystal out for a last look and put it backinto his pouch. "Mate, do you know what you are?" Griffon asked. "No, what am I?" "You are a mentalist." "What''s that?" "A man that can use the powers of the beyond to change a person''s thoughts." "Well, I dunno. I guess I am!" "So, what''s it like? To use that power." "...Well, sometimes I think really hard, and I feel a funny feeling and then when I use this power, and I try to be really... Confident? I just like feel their mind on mine and can make them do things, like put them to sleep." "Ok mate. Seems a bit intrusive." "Well, I like it." Griffon let out a sigh, "You haven''t... You know..." "What?" "Used it on me have you?" "NO! I can''t even do that without you knowing. As soon as I stop talking, I can''t get them to do anything anymore." "But they still stay asleep?" "Yeah, they still stay asleep," Steve added jovially. After that, the two of them talked very little. A few soldiers came into vision, and one of them took a double-take towards Griffon. Griffon was deep in thought he seemed to be a bit jittery as though overthinking something.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "Hey, is that you. Griffon?" "Uh, what now?" "Griffon. I knew it was you old buddy; I thought you went missing." "You, yeah, you''re a friendfrom-" "You look like you''ve seen a ghost." A lady in a dark robe popped out from the bush, she seemed flustered. "You there. Where are the other scouts, did you take it from them?" "You what now?" griffon asked. The lady in the robes looked angry through her hood. Steve turned to Griffon. "I''ve got this, I''ve seen her before." He walked over to the lady holding a big smile. "I know you have been looking at me,and I want to be your friend too." the woman pushed him to the side and stared down at Griffon. "The itherax scout, where is he." Back in the war room, everyone recognised the lady who had just recently appeared on the screens. A mysterious overpowered mage who had appeared to slice a field boss in two. Adil connected a drone to Swift, who had somehow tamed one of the field bosses and was riding it. The beast was giant,something close to that of a large red-mane lion with the face of a hawk. "Griffon and Steve need your help, create a distraction, head east, and just start the carnage." Swift immediately took off in the direction he was given. The giant bird rampaging like no one''s business. Trees fell as it burst through bushes and jumped over rocky cliffs. The bird sprung out of the bushes Swift upon its back. He was beaming broadly with a stick partly on fire in one hand. "MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHA. I HAVE BEEN EXPECTING YOU," Swift announced. Somehow in this strange event,no one appeared to know what to do. Griffon and Steve had not been warned and seemed both in a sort of daze. They had a moment of recognition when they saw Swift standing atop the beast. The lady in blue robes seemed unbearably confused. Swift began channelling fire within his hands, creating a small vortex over his shoulder as he lifted his hands to the side. The ordinary crusading soldier looked at griffon, looked around, panicked and then charged towards the beast screaming sword drawn. With that, Steve and Griffon drew theirs unsure if they should make their move or who for. The robed lady got out another crystal before the soldier had stuck his sword into the large red bird. The bird, being stabbed, kicked the soldier away. The body left its sword behind as it flew into a bush. Swift having charged his fire, launched it forward, just far enough away from Steve and Griffon to not hurt them. A shield emerged, glistening with hexagonal patterns of light which appeared to repel the flames like a solid structure. The dark-robed mage having created it by use of yet another crystal. Griffon had a panicked look in his eyes. He turned towards the giant bird with the cartoon villain laughing upon it and then looked to the mage shielding him from fire. Steve looked at him with a gormless expression. Something seemed tochange in Griffon then. "I don''t know what''s real," he said. Adil staring through the war table heard what he said and in amazement could only ask "What are you talking about." Griffon turned to Steve with his sword drawn and a dark, confused expression on his face. "Listen, mate, if you are my friend I''m sorry. But I don''t know if you''ve been in my head, I don''t know what''s real. And this. This is too much." He went to stab Steve, plunging straight with his sword whilst Steve could only open his mouth and stare in shock. "But you''re my friend!" Then the dark mage lady still channelling her mana through the shield shot a burst of blue energy at Griffon and shot him across the room, the massive influx of mana appearing to turn directly into kinetic energy. His arm breaking as he crashed against a tree and collapsed to the ground. "No, you don''t get it," Griffon said. "Get what traitor." The dark-robed woman shouted through gritted teeth. Swift, thinking this was somehow part of the plan, focused his fire on the robed lady who slowly approached Griffon''s mangled body whilst easily repelling the flames with her shield. Griffon coughed up some blood and stared the lady down as she approached, the fire just fellaround the shield of light obscuring their vision.Swift in his current state could do little but distract the dark mage. Swift kicked the sides of the giant flightless red-maned hawk, having it charge forward. It crashed into the wall and collapsed. The impact seemed to have finallybroken thorugh the shield, causing it to disappear as the chicken like beast fell backwards. Swift though had been knocked off and was now falling down towards the shield as it dissipated. He held out his hands and channelled a spear of fire as he fell aiming it at the dark-robed lady. The lady shot a beam of light, concentrated with a crystal towards what she could see of the giant creature through the dispersing flames, getting a choked Cockrell''s scream but was quickly and strangely pushed out the way by Steve. In a twist of fate leading the partially confused Swiftstabbing his spear of fire into the ground where she once stood, grazing Steve in the arm and cutting through his metal plate. The robed lady now looked stunned with her hood down, a shocked expression on a high elf face. She quickly turned to the shocked Swift who looked around and then a stream of blue light engulfed his very being, blue energy filled his face as his skin grew bloated and blue. The outlines of blue mana lines across his face until he exploded in a paste of redand green, then the mana evaporated and the paste soon turned to a red fleshy colour. Steve walked over to the lady on the ground and reached out his hand to pick her up. "Yu-you saved me," she said "My mother used to tell me not to let a lady be killed by giant chickens and fire," hereplied, strangely without sarcasm. "I am in your debt,"shesternly stated. They gathered their bearings and walked over to the trees collapsed in the distance, the mangled body of Griffon now collapsed against the trees. Griffon looked across Steve and the dark-robed lady in deep growing confusion almost coming to some sort of nihilistic decisionand becoming visibly morecertain of himself. "I... Am with the cave," he said before embracing his death as the beam of light entered his heart. Swift respawned with a new set of notifications. Notification your mana has been overloaded from an outside force. Mana handling skill increased you have died. He waited in the spawn room for Griffon to appear. Who came too with tears in his eyes and hugged the confused Swift that had many many questions. "That mate, was a mind fuck." "As long as you''re alright friend." They walked back into the war-room, Adil and Urakle were waiting at the war table. "What just happened?" Swift asked. "I thought you would tell me." griffon put his hands up in surrender. "Don''t worry mate, won''t happen again." Adil grew a bit confused by that response. "Riiiight.." Urakle took control and stared at Swift. "The one in the dark robes was a high elf and Steve is now doing the honey pot. " "Does Steve know she is a high elf?" Adil asked. None replied. The high elf escorted Steve and came across the eyepatched major, she signalled for him to come closer to which the major did and took to one knee. "Stand, we need to take care of this soldier. He was injured saving my life." "Oh, I don''t need the healing that, much," Steve said motioning to part of his arm that had been burnt off. It was where the flaming spear had cut through his armour.His newfound ability to respawnhad somehow dampened the concern for wounds in his mind and his apprenticeship for the dryad had somehow lessened how much he noticed pain. "By the beyond boy, we need to get that sorted out," the major stated in concern. He then forgot himself and turned to the high elf. "Has the traitor been dealt with." "The one the soldiers recognised from the earlier scouting mission has been killed. But we have no idea of the ''itherax'' location." Steve thought for a moment, they did tell him to get rid of it. He brought the ''itherax'' out of his pouch and showed it to those before him. "Do you mean this?" He asked. "The crystal!" The major exclaimed. The dark mage grabbed it out of Steves being and after wrestling it from some initial resistance held it in front of her. "Steve, you were told not to tell the soldiers, but she is of a higher rank," the major explained. The dark mage carried on, staring into the crystal in awe that it still existed in this place. "You," she chuckled. "They said I would not find greatness outside the citadel. But after meeting you, I am not so certain." 57. Progress Adil was impatiently tapping his fingers as yet more people piled into the war-room. A connection appeared to be established with the drone that hung in front of him. "Are you ready?" He asked. "Everything isready," he heard. A goblin on the other side was waiting in what seemed like a dark cave, only vaguely illuminated by the silver reflection of drones and the odd ambient glow of magical symbols. He turned to see an unconscious enemy scout being dragged off by one of the remaining, larger silvery drones. "Are you sure?" Adil pressed. "Yes," the goblin insisted. He looked towards a makeshift cage, out of the darkness a beast slammed against its side. "And we all really hope this guerilla warfare you were talking about is as good as you said.They proved... Difficult to capture." Adil facepalmed, he had not the time to explain. He closed the call over the silvery drone. "Time to go," Adil announced, motioning to everyone else in the room as they got their things and moved out. Only Urakle staying behind. Before he left he motioned back to Urakle. "Get Steve out of there. He has done enough." Urakle looked towards the guild leader and nodded affirmatively.Each guild member present silentlyfollowed and walked with him out of the room. Down in the jungle, Steve had been brought to the healers. An amateur magein gold-trimmed monk robes was standing by. The high elf woman was watching silently over them. As the mage healed a bit of the wound, it began to turn slightly red. The dark-robed mage could clearly see the mage has enhanced the infection as well as Steve''s healing, it was amateur work, but she did not expect much better from the humans. "I''m sorry, I dont have much experience." "Enough of this." the dark-robed mage said, bringing out a small crystal and channelling a portion of her power through it. She healed Steve''s wound in a fraction of asecond before the tiny gem crumbled into glistening light. Able to move his hand, he winds his arm around. "You really didn''t have to," Steve said, looking down at the dark-robed mage''s feet. She blushed slightly. "You risked more for me than that small gem was worth." As they turned to leave they saw how the eyepatched major was standing behind them, ready to give what seemed like bad news. "The scouts have not been reporting back, cardinal Jacobs wishes for some advice on how to proceed." "with caution, clearly." She replied. The major looked as though he wanted more, but was unsure what to say. "If the scouts cant watch out for each other, then what good are they. Have them stay closer to the army so at least then we will know how they died."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. For Adil, the plan was now ready. He stood next to sixty-four battle-ready units. Anyone that could hold a sword whilst the others, mostly almost newborn goblin children hung back in the cave. The crusaders drewdeeper into the forest, scouts close by, and the army separated into small battalions of men. Within one of these battalions, a soldier reached down to the ground. The soldier stopped next to a bush to inspect a faint glow he saw through the foliage. Moving some of the leaves, vines, and mossy twigsto see what is below, hecaught his eye on a runic symbol etched into a stone plate. The others took notice and began peering over, removing the occasional tuft of dirt only to find another runic symbol.Quickly they began to notice how their battalion wasin a small field of these strange symbols. The robed woman had burst forward and shouted at the soldiers ¡°Get away from there!¡± The crusaders had little time to do anything before the sound of a short creeping fizz broke the silence.In just a small moment a concussive force erupted from the ground the army stood, and the bodies of the crusading soldiers launched towards the sky. There is a silent pause as the bodies and corpses rained down from the sky, many of them not surviving the fall whilst others cried out in pain. A bloody and smokey mist slowly revealed what appeared to be a mishmash group of goblins and human soldiers standing where the concussive blast came from. A small army wearing makeshift armour and weapons that somehow glowed as if given magical properties. Swift shouted from within the crowd"Hold!" Leading each unit to take a defensive posture, ready and silent. The high elf grabbed the itherax and started channelling some sort of spell, she focused it until it was glowing and then suddenly shot a cone of light in the direction of the enemy combatants. The attack appeared to cover the area she aimed but bounced off an ethereal barrier as though the soldiers each held their own mana shield. Instead, the diffused magic hit the surrounding area, infecting the trees with self-combustion. The smouldering forest surrounded the hoard of goblins as they stared forward waiting. Swift appeared again, in the midst of the small army,suddenly his cape sparked into life as if made of fire as he let out thecall: ¡°CHAAAAARGE!¡± He shouted, and the cheering of soldiers erupted into the night sky. Every goblin andman was charging with the ferocity of a warrior without fear of death. Protected from magic and wielding weapons made though a makeshift arcana forge. Frightening the approaching hoard with their new magical abilities. Some of the crusaders had already panicked, but all stood their ground, they were a well-trained army used to expeditions into the dark lands. The first line held out for a while, their shields against the onslaught of the attack but the goblins soon broke through. The cave''s army was still outmatched, but for every goblin that was taken down, they would disable another, focusing on wounding rather than a kill to take them out of commission along with those that took care of them. The fight was fast-paced and aggressive, each goblin taken down by an arrow was remorselessly tossed to the side by his allies before another dove in. Whatwas the knowledge they would resurrect came across as fearlessness without empathy. Adil drifted over the battlefield, raised above the ground as if carried by the wind. He passed a man entering into the fight wearing robes similar tot he cardinal of frost and a streak of fear ran down his spine. Sand started cascading across the field as the heat of the jungle started to bear down as the man approached. "Start phase two," he quickly said into a drone that soon disappeared. The unit''s now teleported in haphazardly from different locations. Urakle would be coordinating launch points for goblins to press it not the teleporters, surprising an enemy with a concussive force and a stab through the chest. In the distance, a large concussive force seemed to happen before unit visibly flew to the sky. A chilling roar soon followed and the sound of beating as if from a giant gorilla. Adil stood to face the priest. He subtly created a sword of the purest glass in the form of a jagged shard stretched out from his hand.A goblin opportunistically tried to strike from above. Without any visible exertion of the monk''s will, the goblin was pierced through the neck with a long shard of glass and went limp. Then the goblin and his weapon seemed to evaporate into tendrils of golden light. *At least Morganna''s soul-bound research worked.* Adil sighed. 58. Anti-Anti-climax Goblinsappeared from thin air and jumped at soldiers as if they knew exactly where the soldiers would be. Ambushes from every conceivable point all at once as if there was a choreographed system of teleportation. The elven mage was frozen in shock by what she bore witness too. It was like stepping into a dream, what was only seconds ago a quiet section of a rich jungle was now a deafeningly loud battlefield of fire. Steve was beside herappearing to talk to himself again. "But I like her," he said. Which made the high elf concerned, but notmuch more than she was before. A loud squeaking came from what seemed to be s silvery insectoid over Steve''s right shoulder. "What was that!" She cried in confusion. Steve turned to face the high elf with a smile. "Nothing important," he replied.A slight sadness in his eyes. The high elf was more concerned but had more important things to do. "Get backand defend the supplies, its too dangerous, here," she said. The elfturned backtowards the battle, a determined stride in the walk. Steve grabbed her wrist. "You can''t," She froze and blushed for a second before ripping her wrist from his hand. "Know your place," she replied, staring him down before carrying towards the clashing armies. Suddenly, a firm and mature feminine voice mad her freeze in her tracks. "Ah, my dear apprentice. You have done so well." Out of the smoke, the woman stepped forward. She had large ornate hornsatop her head, glowing golden eyes and a dark crimson smirk across her face. "Dryad, but how," the high elf stuttered. The dryad saw her expression, and more so her ears. Her very elven ears. The dryad grunted. "Thought you killed us all didn''t you?.. Did you think there was no one left? Noone who could stand up to your menace, your arrogance, hiding away in that citadel!" "I-I didn-" Cascading roots dove towards the high-elf, churning up the rocks and dirtas it speared towards her. The roots entangled the elf without much effort, she seemed to struggle and pant, still in shock. A resonating force of blue emitted around her but it seemed to do little use. The dryad stepped towards her as Steve stood by and the high elf struggled some more against the tangling roots. Steve stepped in the way. "You can''t." He gasped. "Out of the way, she knows she deserves this." She went to push Steve out the way and he struggled against the force until root wrapped around his leg and took him off to the side. "Any last words, heathen?" She almost spat out the last words as she stared the high elf down, a dagger-like root pointing down at her face whilst she struggled against the force around her. A hand grabbed a hold of her wrist then and she turned to see Steve. Steve had somehowcutoff part of his foot just to get out of the roots and now stared into the dryad''s eyes as he held her hand. "Solte ela," came a deep Portuguese voice. The dryad caught in the hypnotism could not stop locking eyes with Steve and soon released the high elf who collapsed to the floor panting. The dryad furiously ripped away her hand, "You would betray the cave, betray me?" The elf had caught her breath now, she brought down the sleeve of her roberevealing the metal of an intricately designed armour. A crystallodged into the forearm as she touched it the gem started glowing a vibrant blue. The dryad raised a shield of roots from the ground as a concentrated burst of blue energy shot towards her. A shot from the high elf''s wrist before she got up from the ground.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She showed then how her armour appeared under her robe, a silver-blue metal illuminated by gems that began glowing in increasing intensity. The dryad stared her down through gritted teeth as she moved in between her and Steve. "It''s Ok. I''ve got it from here." She said to him. "You will have nothing here." The dryad spluttered. Just outside the bulk of the ambush, Adil was furiously fighting the cardinal. The cardinal flicked his arms around as he launched glass shards in rapid succession. Adil deflected a few but had already taken a few hits, the shards losing consistency as the mana constructs broke down, glistening in the lightas they disappeared. Adil was being pushed back and seeing he couldn''t approach headed for the trees. Shards ripped into the wood of the trees occasionally penetrating through. After witnessing the damage that the jagged transparentspikeswere doing to the trees Adilcould see how useful his mana shield had been. The shield was clearly disrupting theability of the glassy constructs to hold together, causing them to do minor damage or shatter on his sword. Adil couldn''t approach with the sort of volleythe cardinal was launchingand so carried on weaving behind the trees waiting for an opportunity.Occasionally a treewas easily destroyed and moved around it appeared as if his cover was slowly disappearing. The monk focused a huge volley and demolished another tree, revealing whatever lay behind it. Adil was, however, nowhere to be seen. Adil had instead launched himself into the air and started channelling lightning into his sword whilst flipping around. He nimbly dodged a glass spear. The superhuman acrobatics he had harnessed in this world once again being irreplaceable. The second strike, however, struck deep into his arm, making it go limp. But, his other arm was the one carrying the lightening. He came crashing towards the holy figure on the floor, carried by the wind. The cardinal swung a glass fragment towards Adil''s charged sword. Adil had broken the glass before and planned to again. This time though, even with the lightning charged up he heard a clang and bounced back. Taken by surprise and put off balance the cardinals condescending look broke and appeared to allow for a subtle smile as the ground beneath Adil turned into a jet of a thousand needles impaling him where he stood. At the same timeIn a warehouse at the back of the cave system, someone clad in heavy metal armour furiously tapped their feet. The runic symbol in front of them not having illuminated itself yet. A giant of blue-green skin tapped her on the shoulder. "Patients, our time will come. Save your fury for the battlefield." She smiled back to the giant, nodded and turned just in time to see their portals runic symbols begin to glow. A voice interrupted them, the booming sound of a soldier. "HELLO EVERYONE. YOU ARE ALL VERY GOODFIGHTERS AND WILL DO GOOD IN BATTLE. I HOPE YOU ALL DOWELL. YOU SHOULD BEAT THEM SO WE CAN WIN." Notification you have been complimented strength increased by 7.5% Then Seras stepped forward and appeared in the midst of a heavy battle. The soldiers were running around in every direction desperately trying to organise themselves. Seras overheard a frantic soldier shout about how he swears he killed the same goblin three times whilst another shakes it out of him. He shouts "It''s him again!" As one of the caves finest jumps out at him from a bush. The twisted workings of the urakle at play here. Seras grinned, gripped her axe and got ready to party. Setting her eyes forwards eh saw a charge of goblins trying to get through a shield wall, she channelled energy into her axe and swung into the ground. A rippling wave of energy travelled towards the wall before erupting under them and scattering the unit into the air. Then she saw the dryad. The dryad was backing away, uselessly raising walls of roots after walls of roots which seemed to be batted away by a superpowered warrior in blue armour. The armoured warrior glowed a deep blue on the shiniest armour she had ever seen. Each Swatt of her arm created an arcane scythe which cut up the walls of roots as she walked forward. Seras went int to move. The high elf now menacingly moving forward with a determined stride left herself wide open. Seras swung into the air and released a sonic vibration which nocked the elf off balance and a few feet away. Not as much as Seras was expecting. "About time," the dryad murmered. Seras nodded and walked back in. The... What now appeared to be an elf, wiped a small streak of blood from her down her face.Seras dove again, but an arcane syth was there to meet her, only to be blocked by a wall of roots. which then disappeared to allow her another swing knocking the elf back. She feverishly launched attack after attack but could not get passed the roots, trying to activate her boots she launched partly in the air only to be taken to the ground through her lack of experience in using the armour. Seras was ready and swung again, cracking solidly into her with the axe. The high elf flew far. "Fuck," she cursed, having cracked into a stone wall. Then the secondary explosion hit and she let out a blood-curdling scream of pain. "Last words?" The dryad asked having moved along one of her roots to meet her. The high elf coughed instead of answering. The dryad turned to Seras. Seras, the Earthborn captain fo the guards was now running inwith her axe freshly drawn for another swing. She noticed Steve out the corner of her yee, far out the way. Steve appeared to be lying down and holding a hand out towards them as though he was pleading. Whatever this elf had done, put a purpose behind her stride. Just as she reached swinging range an unexpected barrage of glassy shards struck her and the dryad across their entire body. A fight to their right appeared to have started creating mass casualties. Some careless idiot had made their opponent launch a barrage of diamond-sharp shards towards them without any warning. The Seras and Morganna were stuck in place, glass in their chests, arms legs and even necks. Blood pouring out of every wound. The elf confused and panting against the rock wall was only shocked and confused. It appeared to be the first time the elf had had either blood or sweat on their face, and itwould likely be a lasting experience. 59. Aku The elfgasped for air as she struggled against the rock wall. She was suffering from a few broken ribs and a slight amount of internal haemorrhaging. Adrenalin rushing through her veins was keeping the pain away but forcing her to shake as she tried to get up. She pushed herself groaning as she did, knowing full well she could not rest in a battlefield. The dryad, after being speared by glass, had evaporated into golden tendrils of light, the other warrior seemed to still be bleeding out on the ground. The elf jumped as a cough came from the body of whatever mad beast that person was, then the body followed suit, evaporating into golden light.The elf looked over to see Steve holding himself up with a stick. He tried to avoid the scattered glass as he limped away from her. She tried to walk towards him and stumbled in that direction. "-Stop," she called. A deafening roar erupted, and more of the trees fell.A giant gorilla came crashing through. The two of them could hardly move, just look up towards the beast, a feeling of inevitability. Suddenly a spear shot into the beast''s shoulder, a glass spike the length of a small bus. The gorilla collapsed into one of the maze''s walls, chipping bits off of it. The gorilla swatted in the direction he was hit from the spear. Another shot came into his leg, spreading him wide and pinning him to the wall. Then as he gave a final roar, the last shotwent through the ridge of his mouth, coming out the top of his head. Out of the trees, a cardinal inhisbasic priest robes walked towards Steve and the elf. "The beast is dead, but it proved... Costly." "Is i-" she went into a fight of coughing. "You are injured, I will get one of the healing acolytes to heal you." "No, no. It''s... fine." She said, aware of how poorly their healers had been when she saw them in action. She seemed to touch one of the crystals on her armour from within her robe and concentrated, focusing a stream of mana through its intricate workings. She activated anotherone of the armour''s functions. It appeared toput her to ease, as though cleansing water had flowed through it, soothingher pain. A slight blue glow came from the armour as cuts and bruises across her face appeared to heal. The cardinal walked up to the lady and took a knee. "My lady, the ambush is over, resistance is fading. If this is all, rest assured thatvictory is secured." "Good... Have you seen the soldier that was just... Over there?" "I have not, is he in need of discipline? If so, please do not trouble yourself with the acts of a petty soldier. I would be happy to deliver any punishment personally." "No, truly it is fine." She looked again into the distance, trying to find Steve but unable to see anyone that resembled him. The echo of battle still held the occasional slash of metal and Wilhelm scream but appeared to be drawing to a close. "Before I depart, I must say. It is an honour to fight beside a higher being such as yourself." The elf looked to the floor. "Honour, duty, fear or just powerlessness. There is no means to differentiate your behaviour, and I cannot see any reason to try and see one." The cardinal gave out an incredulous expression for a moment before he remembered himself, and looked to the floor.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "As you wish I will serve," he said. Steve was hidden in the bushes looking out towards the battle, the carcass of the gorilla resting against the maze wall and the battered soldiers picking each other up from the ground. He was hidden in a bush trying to hide, besides him, in a shadow of darkness, there was another being. The shadowy figure could be seen if you focused on the area, and there you may have seen a hint of blue-green skin. "Are you here to kill me," Steveaskedthe shadow. "No. I only wish to understand." "A philosopher now are you?" "I am a goblin and a guild member. It is best you remember that." "so what. Steve fucked up again. Is that what you''re going to say?" "No." The two of them waited in silence for a while. A silvery drone appeared across his being and seeming to want to contact Steve. "they want to talk to you, through the drone." "Adil says he is more confused than normal," The drone slithered to Steve and perched onto his ear; he was now in full contact with the people of the cave. Adil''s voice cam through a soft and understanding tone in his voice, but he was exasperated. "Hey, Steve. Are you... Alright?" "Yeah, I''m ok. Is Morganna angry with me?" "She has said a few things about you being a gullible fool. But she seems to be coming around. She said something about ''the pureness of a mentalist cannot be bound'', I think her regard for you stops her from wanting to well... hunt you down and kill you." "That''s nice. Can you tell her I''m sorry?" "Steve." "yes." "This is a war you know?" "Yeah, I know... So what do I do now?" "Get back to base. We will move to the next stage of the plan." "Ok." The line closed and he was left injured and in a bush, with the orcish beast standing over him. "What are you going to do?" "I will carry on taking the captives back. We have been able to drag a few through the teleporters without their notice. Do you need help getting back?" "Yes please," Steve said, solemnly looking to the ground. "I will be back later." The goblin announced, having seen a soldier approach to their location. With that, the giant of a goblin took a step back and appeared to disappear into the shadows, a flicker of darkness disappeared until what was left was only a space of shrubs and other plant life. Steve got up from where he was sitting and walkedthrough more of the bushes. There he saw men appearing to recover from their wounds, audible groans as they ached from the pain. Steve heard the sound of a slightly panicked shriek coming from an oversized push that was under parts of a collapsed tree. Steve pulled back some of the wood covering it after seeing the shine of metal sticking out. After uncovering the bush, a sharp dagger shot out and he had to take a step back. A panicked jittery person was hiding within the bush. The man got up and looked around as if trying to get himself in order. Steve realised it was a lieutenant he had seen before, a man that had been notably angry. "You! Don''t ever speak of this. I am a lieutenant and honourable." "I dont mind that you were hiding in a bush, sir," Steve replied, making the lieutenant uncomfortable. In a gruff, the lieutenant grabbed for the collar of the soldier''s armour. "NOT. SO. LOUD." Suddenly a voice caught both of their attention as someone called from between the trees. "Ah, Lieutenant. I have been looking for you." An old man in fancy armour that appeared to have sweat out a river was standing with a couple of men to the groups right. The man was also someone Steve had recognised. He was wearing the armour of a major, an old man and one of the two major''s he had met, but it was not the one with an eye patch. "And if it isn''t the boy majorMa?l was so fond of. What have you been up too." "Hi, major. I was just helping the lieutenant out of this bush." Steve said before he could stop himself. The lieutenant gave him a fierce glare and looked like he was a step away from violence. The soldiers beside the major snickered. "Ah,my boy. It''s good to see you are alive and kicking," the major walked forward and put his hand on the side of Steve''s shoulder. He looked down and saw the state of Steve''s foot and how Steve was holding himself up with a tree branch. "Get that checked out before the bone sets wrong." Steve gave a weary smile in response. The group separated as Steve was pointed in the direction of the healing acolytes. The acolytes for the church were the healers. They would wear minimalistic clothes, between the robes of the cardinal and the armour of the soldiers and focused on using crystals, not yet able or allowed to conjure their variety of mana. The healers appeared to be taking care of a large proportion of soldierswith critical to minor injuries. Steve sighed when he saw them through the bushes. A dark shadowy figure was standing beside him. "Ready?" The shadow asked. "Yeah," Steve replied. Before the full length of a zweihander plunged through his chest. He gasped and grumbled as he faced the pain. His vision soon fading to black. 60. Analysis Adil looked across the battlefield from the war table. A team of human and goblin were gathered around him. Urakle, the skinny green goblin was sitting at the table, alteringwhatthe group could see in the tables generated image dictating to Adil what he had seen as the battle went on. "As you probably know,they''re leaving the injured. It''s not like they can do anything, just sitting there so I can''t blame them." Urakle got an awkward look from the Adil and a few others in the group. "I think the armydoesn''t want to waste time or any men, so they are just sitting there. Injured in the jungle.We have captured some of them, taking them off with the other captives. And check this out." Urakle pointed to the cardinal on the map. They zoomed into his location and inspected the area with a mana vision allowing them to see through the trees. Especially vivid with how close they were getting to the cave. "There is no reason they would have the troops spread out like that and that formation is a joke. But... If you look at it from this position, it would be difficult to see any damages or loss of units. I think the cardinal is hiding the damage from the high elf. like some sort of an ass-kissing bitch." Adil had to wonder what goblin words were used to convey this speech. "Cool. Do you think we can capture the rest of the injured?" Adilasked flatly. "We are already on it. Aku and team Bare en route." "What of the captives, how are they" "Secure within the catacombs." "Ok, sweet. Can you run back over to the cardinal." Urakle went back to him, in the detail the war table provided there was almost a face. He still held the standard robes of a cardinal,what seems to be the basic setup of a priest. "Any idea how he created glass spikes from the floor? I thought you could only emit mana constructs from yourself." Adil asked. He had learnt about mana mostly from trial and error, but even in his designs, he couldn''t fathom how the cardinal could create something from nothing away from himself. "The fuck are you asking me for?" Urakle said, looking slightly confused at the question. He then started twitching his goblin fingers and added unceremoniously. "Sir." One of the larger goblins leant forward; he had a gruff voice and two tusks pointing up and out of the sides of his mouth. "Ihave seen him, he creates the glass from sand." Adil looked visibly focused, and so the large goblin moved the map towards the cardinal, switching the vision to focus on intensities of mana in the area. The men were highlighted through the trees, and the vegetation shone out with a faint hue. From they could see an almost hazy mist surrounded the Cardinal. The cardinal appeared to be emitting this haze which stayed for a long time until parts of it faded away. The concentration was especially intense around where he stood. "The sand, it can change into glass. I have seen it. He changes glass from sand he creates and spreads it through the area," the goblin added. "That would explain the large concentration by his feet. I was speared by hundreds of spikes that erupted from under him." Adil''s eyes grew wide. "He must have enormous mana reserves to pull that off." "Likely, he is a cardinal," Urakle added almost sarcastically. "Well, good work keep it up. I''ll check on Steve" Adil announced before departing to another room. He found a few goblins standing guard but looking mentally strained, and as he turned further around the corner, he saw Steve, held up against the wall, surrounded by dark roots. Steve was gasping for air. "Enough!" Adil announced, creating an aura of intensity around him. Steve was unceremoniously dropped to the floor. "We are trying very hard to keep the fighting out there and not in here. Do not attack your own team. You are starting to appear like the bad guys, like an angry tyrant hell-bent on destroying anyone that stood against you," Adil hissed. Morganna looked insulted.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "If I appear angry. It''s because I am. This fool has nearly thrown away everything. And for what? Pity for a high elf." steve whimpered. "I''m sorry," he whined, getting a flare from Morganna in reply. Morganna visibly softened. "It is not your fault; you are cursed. The powers of a mentalist are a double-edged sword. You cannot hide your intentions or change yourself. For if you were so easily able to change your essence it would not so easily integrate with the environment you wish to change." Adil perked up at that "you what now?" he asked. "It is as I said. Mentalists place a part of themself into the world so that they may manipulate it as they do themselves. You may assume one that could influence another''s mind would make a good spy, but this is far from the truth, for they would find it very difficult to lie. whether pureness of one''s mind is a prerequisite or a cause of the magic is hard to tell, which is obviously what we have now found out." "So what you''re saying is they cannot lie?" "More likely, it is incredibly easy to tell if one lies due to the discomfort it would cause them." "Sweet. Steve, do you want to or will you betray the cave?" "..No..." "Do you want to save the high elf girl." "..Yes..." "Mar, can you lock him away so he can''t interfere. We will deal with this afterwards." One of the guards moved towards Steve and took him by the hand; they walked further out into a section of the catacombs more secluded. Leaving only Morganna and Adil in the room. "I need to see if you can rush some research for the spawn crystal," Adil said. "Sure," Morganna added. ..... Further, into the Cave, the sounds of people slamming into each other and the occasional explosion echoed. Swift and Seras were practising in the training room as they awaited more directions. They left Urakle and the other tacticians to decide what was best, knowing their strengths lay in their combat proficiency. Seras had dropped her axe and was instead trying a hand to hand combat technique, she channelled a wave of energy around her fists whilst carrying out some short jabs in mid-air. Swift, on the other hand, was sitting in the corner, somehow he had gathered some of the wild creatures and was attempting to train them to carry out a few tricks, he was also failing, but he was trying. One of the dummies in the area began to regenerate, and Seras stood up next to it again. She took a boxing stance and went at the dummy. She shot one fist into its shoulder which with a low concussive beat exploded the construct''s upper right side. She followed again with her right into the dummies stomach, shattering it into dust. Another two dummies appeared around her; she tapped one with the back of her palm seeing it explode and roundhouse kicked the other, causing it to shatter, but not explode like the others. The sound wave energy she had placed into her fists was not over her feet. "Watch out!" Swift called. Seras looked behind her and nearly stumbled, one of the critters that swift was taming had moved closer to where she was back-pedalling, and she didn''t want to step on it. "Fucking hell dude, I nearly trod on the poor thing." "Yeah, sorry about that." Swift threw the creature a piece of crispy mushroom and saw it perk up. A goblin appeared and came over closer to Seras. He took to one knee on his approach. "We would be honoured if you would join us for training," the goblin asked. "You want me to help you train?" Seras replied, feeling as though they would be unlikely to be accepting of her even if they were in the same group, after how many goblins she had killed. The goblin looked up at her with wide eyes. " Of course, the great demon must be a fierce warrior. It would be our honour to train with someone with such raw power." "Ah, I''d be happy to help you train." Swift gave the goblin a concerned look after hearing the word demon used to describe Seras. The goblin only seemed confused by this. They stood across from each other, three reasonably trained goblins against Seras bare-fisted. She altered the flow of her mana to cushion her fists, thinking that she didn''t want to blow them open like the dummies. The first came at her with a disciplined strike, she blocked easily but seemed to leave her self open to the another. The other goblin came in seeing that opening. "Whoa," Seras said, moving the goblin that hit her into the way with ease and stopping the battle with her visible placidness. "Don''t attack like that, you might attack your allies." They nodded in acknowledgement and then got ready before the exercise started again. They kept attacking periodically, not using any different tactics but refined and coordinated. They did not attack in situations where Seras could force them to hit each other. Neither did they allow themselves to be grabbed. The fight was uneventful. Seras broke off one of the attacks and moved in for a surprise strike with a burst of speed. Before she hit into one of the goblins, the goblin stared at her with a look of pure fear, and she stopped in her tracks. Another goblin saw the opening and went to hit Seras around the face catchingher on the side of her cheek. "I did it. I hit the demon." Then to goblin froze, almost in the realisation of what he had done. She turned to him. "You did well. But I think I''m going to go practice on my own," she announced. Walking off, back to the respawning dummies. All 13 of them had come back, to appear where they once stood. Before she reached the dummies, the goblin she had frightened walked up to her. "I am sorry if I offended. I.. I know that there were-are feelings of resentment between the goblins and you, but I wish only to make this a better place. It just took me by surprise how much you were holding back... If you could fight us without doing so...it would be... Nice" Seras saw the goblin look up at her but not meet her eyes. She tried to smile and put her hand on the being''s shoulder. "Let''s give it another shot." A few moments later, Swift saw several goblins fly across the training grounds. The cushioned blows from Seras dulled the impact but appeared to spring the goblins in a set direction. Swift began to meditate, the animals gathering around him, and they all carried on with their plans until duty called. 61. ScoutMaster Adil looked across the battlefield, Urakle was sitting down, managing the image once more. The room was holding the Caves elder, Morganna, six of the cave''s captains including Urakle, Swift and Seras. The approach of the crusading army was finely tracking the concentrations of mana to figure out where their base was. Not even a slight deviation from the path as they cleared the maze. "We can set up pitfalls across there and there," Adil said, pointing to locations the army would pass, places he could see the ground was also a roof for another tunnel or cavern. "If we use pitfalls again we can only expect to take out a few, and there are many," Urakle added. One of the larger goblins stepped forward. In a deep voice, he said: "Consistent surprise attacks until we make a breakthrough is slow and ineffective. I still think taking out the leader is our best chance." "What about using the prisoners," Morganna added casually. "No. they have served their purpose. It is unlikely the cardinal will even consider their lives after the way they treated the injured," Adil added. Adil looked at the HUD display for his crystal faction, focusing through his consciousness on the details of the base crystal. He had asked Morganna for some help organising the display of the crystal faction members. A slight description of them next to their names. Members: 279 Captains: 10 Elders:1 You have unlocks to allocate Adil had figured out that the spawn crystal grows with the addition of more members. The mana and essence connected through the members had built to allow for upgrades to specific units. Understanding this, he had captured roughly a hundred and seventy prisoners and forced a connection to the spawn crystal. He was unsure how to disconnect them but concluded that was a problem for future Adil. inspecting the upgrade system, Adil tried to figure out what was best to do next. -- unlocks: Points: 17 One point per ten members of crystal faction. Cost warning: Only one upgrade is allowed per unit. one point????five points??????? ten points captain ?????Enlightened* ???????Elder Scoutmaster*??????????????? Warlord upgrades with a * can only be used on specialist units currently held. Elder This upgrade has a focus on integration with the crystal rather than a boost to abilities. Amplification of the individual is dependant on the level of the crystal rather than a base level increase. This upgrade is focused on the management of the crystal''s functions rather than an improvement of the individual''s ability. The life of the person who accepts this talent is intrinsically tied to the crystal. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
WarLord This upgrade enhances the physical abilities and strengths of the user as an extension to the Captain upgrade. Significant physical changes and enhancements to one''s battle potential will develop if the individual accepts this talent. Captain A captain is a selected guild member that has their traits enhanced through the essence of both gathered spawn crystal faction members and spawn crystal mana synergy. The member will notice a significant increase in their physical attribute and slight changes to their appearance is they choose to accept this upgrade. Scoutmaster The member of the cave has its awareness more intuned to the crystal''s field of awareness. They will be capable of sensing dangers which enter the area close to the spawn crystal or large concentrations of mana. This will heighten the senses of the individuals and give a slight increase to their physical and mental attributes. Compatible members: (Captain) Urakle, Mar, (prisoner) Shale, (Captain) Griffon, Burt, Odi, (Captain) Hans. Enlightened If the enlightened accepts the upgrade choice, their being is reinforced. Unlike the captain, this upgrade is solely on the mental state. This allows for an increased thought process speed, increased split focus enhanced reaction time and greater attention to detail. The upgraded unit may also notice greater control over their mana attribute. Compatible members: (Captain) Urakle, (prisoner) Aundre, (Captain) Aku, Chris -- Adil needed to make sure he didn''t upgrade any of the prisoners. They were bad enough holding on to the guild crest. Quickly Adil chose all the upgrades. Adil upgraded the rank of Aku to Warlord, giving him the most significant direct boost in power and also restoring his captain position. After that, he picked scoutmaster for Mar and Hans, enlightened for Urakle and captain for two remaining points he had left. Adil looked to Urakle after his selection. He saw the goblin appear to focus on something as if daydreaming, likely to accept the upgrade. The goblin''s eyes turn black and black contrast lines stretch from them, creating tribal patterns around his head. A slight fog of darkness rose from him. "What?" Urakle asked, noticing his stare. "The rank up looks good on you." "Why are you talking so slow," he said in an almost rush before he looked at himself like he was inspecting some new clothes. He waved his hand in front of his face and said: "freaky." Hans, a human captain chosen by Griffon, was also in the room seemed to accept the change given to him. his captain status being thrown away for the scoutmaster addition. His eyes were glowing slightly with a silver hue as slight steam rose from his body. He looked to Adil with a sense of understanding. He nodded, knowing he should be focusing on the events to come. "What just happened?" Seras asked, having noticed the change from Hans and Urakle. "Thanks to the prisoners, I upgraded a few of our ranks. We should see a noticeable increase in power," Adil replied. "Right," Seras replied, crossing her arms as if she just had to accept it and move forward. "Let''s go," Adil added resulting in the group moving out. Before making the final move, Adil sent the drones out to construct the pitfalls and traps they discussed before he went with the others for the final ambush. Glancing at the war table, he saw the grim expression of the cardinal. Solemnly he looked again into the spawn crystal hud. There he saw the man reserves at 8%. He had no idea what would happen if someone died, and they had no mana left. ......... Further, Into the cave, resting in a room with ample space Steve was sitting, his head placed against the wall. He heard a slight amount of scuffling in the distance. "Captain- what are you-" Steve waited a while longer. He couldn''t stop thinking about what was happening about the battle outside, the elven girl. Part of him stuck on wondering If there was some better way. He reached forward into the window of the door and saw that the body of the guard was now on the floor. "Hey.. are you dead?" The guard didn''t answer. *Damnit Steve, why didn''t you look earlier* Steve thought, he started bashing himself into the wall, trying to make some noise and trying o break out of there. He looked around and saw nothing but... He saw a dirty shiv on the floor. "Awh, this isn''t a good idea," he said as he moved forward. A few moments later Steve respawned int he spawning area. Around him appeared to be a cacophony of soldiers waking up in a strange new room, they appeared to be wearing cotton clothes. "Hey soldier, are you one of us? You''re clothes. Why are you able to keep your armour on?" "Oh. These are soul bound, so they stay with me when I die," Steve replied. The soldier took the half-hearted response and chuffed. "Fancy," the soldier said. Suddenly a soldier in full leather armour appeared around the corner, a stern look in his eyes. It was a captain of the cave. Horatio. He caught eyes with Steve as soldiers either side seemed to grab and hold his arms. Horatio then asked one simple question. "Are you going to fight?" Steve was utterly confused; he recognised Horatio as one of the captains and Horatio clearly recognised him. He didn''t feel like he should fight anyone, and he did want to get out of there. He gave a single nod in reply, leading Horatio to tie his arms and pull him along with the others. They proceeded to move towards the outside, avoiding a couple more knocked out guards on the way. 62. Collapse Adil and his group had begun to move out of the war room. In unison, they walked through the corridors of the cave knowing that teleportation would waste some of the base''s valuable power. The power that their resurrection depended on. Arriving in the warehouse-like cavern, they saw how it was illuminated by only the glow of runic symbols on the floor. The dim lighting letting them only see the crowd waiting by a feint light drifting over the back of their heads and shoulders. Following pre held directions, each member present stepped onto a symbol of their own. Hans the scoutmaster appeared to twitch, as though he had a deep eerie sensation. With his new upgrade he could not only sense the approaching army but felt unease at something within the cave. As if something was out of place. As if the crystals mana was being drained as something happened to the prisoners. "I need to check something," he announced grabbing the groups attention. Adil nodded, understanding that he might have sensed a danger due to the new scoutmaster upgrade he had been given. "Get back soon, the army is nearly inside," Adil said in reply, throwing what seemed like a small piece of silver on Hans''s shoulder. The piece soon morphing into a fresh communication drone. ........ Horatio took Steve through the cave as the pack of cotton clothed prisoners moved through the cave. Horatio looked uneasy. "We were going to lose so why would they drag it out like this? Kill so many. Even if they win how many would die, have died." Horatio said. Steve didn''t reply, he had seen first-hand the deaths of the crusading soldiers but also how the cave members had tried to take prisoners, not cause fatal damage and even help injured enemies. He couldn¡¯t decide who was right in this but felt they were doing their best in self-defence. Horatio carried on. "Did they not think this would happen? Just trusting everyone and branding them all with this crest.¡± Steve shuffled a bit. "Probably not," he replied. "You''re probably right..." "STOP!" A voice shouted from across the hallway. The group turned to face a man purposefully striding towards them. A man still in the Major rank crusader uniform he had upon joining the cave. The man had a dirty beard, a dirty moustache, a flask of mushroom beer and a heavy Warhammer. "What do ya think you''re doin'' ya wussy shits." Horatio recognized the man as a troublemaker, one that if anyone would be likely to join it him it would be that man. The man worked under the dryad''s assistant Steve out of punishment, or more because of his discontent and actions against the cave. Horatio held his hand up to the uneasy troops on guard, still in just a uniform of cotton clothes from the recent resurrection. "We''re breaking the prisoners out and going to see if we can end this fighting." The major gave a dark look to Steve. "I uh... I just want to..." Steve seemed to stumble on his words for a moment. Horatio added again. "Join us. I know you are not happy with the way things are. You don''t have to listen to those kids and the dryad anymore." "You liver licking sack of shit," the man dropped his flask walking up to the kid. "Listen here, kid. I''ve been working these crusades for the good part of twenty years. I fought monsters you can only dream of. But in the end, all I had to show for it was a broken spirit. Because what I learnt is the worst fucking monsters ain''t the ones we been fighting." Horatio''s face was flushed red. "You. All you fuckers. You know what I mean. Think you join to kill monsters doncha. But between those pointless trips to push into the darkness, you''re on bandit duty. or collecting taxes. Murderin'' children so your boss can have an extra bit of mutton." The crusaders had a slight murmur of agreement until one shouted up ¡°Words of a traitor,¡± followed by a chuckle, they still took positions to fight the drunk ex-major back. "And what have you been doing then. You''re drunk. Around the castle doing nothing but lying about." Horatio said, getting heated now. "Aya, I''ve been doing plenty, and the drink helps me focus. Keeps the tinglies away when I mess with the crystals." Steve moved forward to the Major. "I think there''s a better way to-" The major pushed him back in a rush and Horatio went in planting his short sword through the major''s chest. "NAO!" Steve shouted out. His voice echoed through the hall and Horatio had no choice but to let go of the weapon even as it was planted into the major''s chest. Everyone in the area seemed to collapse slightly to the ground stumbling from the effect of the word as it carried through the cave. The major gave a wry smile up to Steve as he collapsed into tendrils of light. The escaping prisoners now looking on with amazement. Horatio looked at Steve in confusion before he turned to the others following him. "They will break through the front soon. We can leave in the confusion." *Damnit Steve. What are you doing.* Is all Steve could think as he walked along beside them. ..... About the same time, Hans rushed forward into the prisoner bay and on the way passed a collapsed guard. "I found a passed-out guard. I think somethings going on with the prisoners." Hans said through the communication drone. "Shit. This is your job now, sort it out then get back. We need you he-....re," Adil commanded. The line appearing to cut out as he finished talking. Hans finally arrived in the main prison. He looked inside and saw it was empty. Except for one thing. In the centre of the cavern was an enormous figure, dark fog rolling off it as it stood there. With a thud what appeared to be a soldier was dropped from the being to his side. "Where are they," the shadowy figure asked. Red eyes shining like lights out of the darkness into Hans. "That''s what I bloody well want to know," Hans replied. The beast came out of the shadow, his face illuminated in the light. Two tusks to either side of his mouth were jutting out and his skin was the goblin green hit by a shade of dark blue. This was Aku the newly upgraded goblin war leader.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. In a harsh dull tone that appeared to underlie a subtle angerAku said ¡°I will find them,¡± ....... Outside, the crusading army had just moved the bulk of its force into the cave, a sizeable amount held in the main cavern. A hundred strong were now penetrating the cave. A thundering force erupted along the cave walls as parts of the floor collapsed to rubble and dust. Suddenly the army had been split, battalions separated as the surroundings collapsed making them inaccessible to each other. The floor beneath portions of the army collapsing and another round of teleported in warriors surrounded a section of the army now cut off from the rest. Adil had just teleported in mid-conversation. "he..-er," He finished and then immediately got in gear. He heard Urakle in his ear, a deep voice that seemed almost machine-like. "The elf and cardinal are split, engage the cardinal with a small group at the front. Aim for the upper tunnels and make sure you fight within that cavern, at all costs." Adil heard the shouts of battle as the forces engaged. He was with a separate group in nearby tunnels to attack specific targets. He peered over from the place he was held up and saw the Cardinal turn to see the collapse of the tunnels behind him. The cries of men as they fell and then caught by the sound of action. He moved down glancing around. Adil saw his recent additions in place, the small hint of drone activity vanishing to have it appear as if the cave was just like normal, but to the trained eye slight crystals of different colours could be seen embedded into the wall. Activated by ambient manna the crystals could disrupt the consistency of and effect of any magic in those areas. The atmospheric mana disruption had caused the illusionary walls to lose effect. Instead, Adil and others stood facing the cardinal in a small hole. He jumped and landed squarely on the ground. Others seemed to have done the same, and soon a circle of the cave''s upper echelon forces surrounded the cardinal and what seemed like a small battalion of his personal guards. "So. Is this it then?" the cardinal announced. "Jacobs was it?" Adil asked. The cardinal didn''t appear to think it worth responding. "Are you stronger than the other one? He got further in than you." The cardinal''s face turned to that of disgust. "A worm like you does not deserve the life you were given," the cardinal announced before protruding a sword of glass from his arm. Adil drew his weapon and channelled a small amount of lightning into it. Causing it to shine a faint light blue. Around the cardinal, Adil saw his teammates ready to charge whilst each side held position waiting for the moment to strike. The cardinal trying to take advantage of anyone out of position and falling into the range of his sand. On Adil''s side was the newly appointed Captain Leeroy, team B- a group of goblins primed for fast and stealth-like attacks headed by the Scoutmaster Mar. While on the other side of the cardinal was Captain Griffon with his subordinate, a young soldier with light-based mana abilities. Leeroy drew his bow. "Hold on Leeroy. On my call," Adil said. Leeroy nodded and Adil got ready to run forward. Adil tried to resonate with the wind around him as he channelled his mana. He crouched slightly and focused a ball of air under his feet. In a sudden move, Adil burst the compressed air and charged towards the cardinal. His eyes not leaving the cardinal whilst he flew into the chaos. Arrows started flying as soon as he moved and then the other members joined into the fight. Adil found it difficult to guide himself as the ambient mana was distorted. Still, his course was almost direct and he soon reached the cardinal. As he once again came into contact the cardinal gave a shallow grunt as Adil''s sword clashed against his glassy spike. Adil grinned. The cardinal was almost disappointed. The same move, the same way the same counter. Then As glass spikes launched from the ground in an almost sloppy mess compared to what it was before, Adil channelled one of his refined moved. A move ingrained into his internal crystalline mana structure, his essence. Mighty Gust. Adil created an explosion of air and threw the clustered group of soldiers around. The cardinal''s guards flew and their formation fell apart. Still, the priestly figure only drifted back, somehow able to brace the brunt of the blast as if it was little more than a breeze The cardinal stared at the incoming forces and then his soldiers scattered on the ground. "Get up you miserable-" Griffon crashed into the first lot before they could react, punting one of them in the head and seeing the body flail. Another tried to stab up at him but he caught the blade between his arm and chest and brought his knee up to the soldier''s chin. Across the other side, Mar held one of the soldiers next to his hand as a ball of black smoke appeared to be engulfing the soldier''s face. The soldier was let down to the ground, his face white as the shaved backside of an albino polar bear ghost. Or just a normal ghost, they are generally similar in colour. "Pathetic. You are representing the church. Hold your ground!" The cardinal exclaimed. He appeared to visibly resonate with mana as a storm of sand surrounded him. The perimeters of the sand storm turned into glass and he casually skewered one of his soldiers before trying to attack the goblins. The young apprentice to Griffon stepped in the way and placed his hands up. Almost as if enhanced through the glass a burst of light blinded the cardinal. As he recovered the cardinal was not given enough time to react before the goblins appeared in his blind spot. The cardinal feverishly tried to fire a spear of glass in their direction but missed as if they were illusions. Mar appeared again and channelled dark balls in his hands and threw them towards the cardinal. They missed or were split by a swing of the cardinal¡¯s glass blade, but inevitably coated the area, turning it into a thick fog. The cardinal now within the fog had a momentary panic as he was blinded and could do nothing as he looked around. He spun creating a swathing tornado of sand that pushed away the fog like a gust in a sandstorm to reveal that his men were now all gone. Instead, he was alone, surrounded by all but his guards and... Adil came dropping in from the sky alongside something else, a being obscured by cascading lightening. Adil fell launching a bolt of lightning that could only be defended against. The strike was not very strong but only proved as a distraction when Adil dodged the cardinals blow. However, the other one wielding a fierce battle-axe was following through. The cardinal tried to defend with some form of shield but little to no sand would form up from the ground. He could only make do with what was emitted from his very being and still the consistency was not strong. The glass shield immediately shattered, a vibration in the axe seemingly attuned against his glass hit the shield and exploded it. Following through the axe carved a jagged line down the monk¡¯s front. He stumbled back, his guard taken out and his body torn asunder. He gawped at the surroundings and fell stunned to the ground. It was silent as Adil moved towards the cardinal, the others just standing and watching. Seras hovering over the cardinal as he sat doing nothing. "Give up and we will show mercy. You''re finished," Adil said. he moved closer to the man, seeing how he could not escape and maybe with his surrender they could push the army back. The small silver creature buzzed from the side of his armour. "It''s not looking good," was all the robotic Urakle voice said. Then Adil fully comprehended how silent it was, no longer able to hear the shouts and cries of the fighting, just a slight distance away. A glow emerged from the dusty rubble where a portion of the crusading army had fallen. Levitating out of the hole was the high elf. Seeming to have gained full control of her armour, she was using it as if a trained expert. Her eyes and hands glowing as she pushed higher into the air. "Shit," was all Adil managed. The high-elf shot a laser out from her hand and sawed through Mar and the other goblins. Aiming her other hand across the other side, cut Leeroy in half and chopped a leg off Griffon as he pushed his disciple to the side. The high-elf then seemed to throw away a couple crystals in a tick of annoyance as if they had just been expended. Seras charged straight in but the high elf with her glowing eyes almost looked displeased. Seras swung her axe and launched a scythe of vibrating mana energy through the air, but with the speed of the high-elf, she easily moved around it and grew close to Seras. She grabbed her by the scruff of her chest plate and lifted her into the air. There in the air, she began to flood Seras with manna. In a last-ditch effort, Seras let go of her axe and channelled mana around her fist. The high elf looked at the fist with a smirk before it landed. The concussive force knocking them both away from each other with a deep thud. Seras landed on the floor and skidded back on her feet as the other woman only flew slightly away. Seras coughed a bit of blood as blue veins around her face began to recede. "That was nasty." "Have you never had your insides explode before? It was quite the experience you put me through." The cardinal held one hand in the air looking towards the high-elf as if she was some sort of goddess and he was begging for salvation. She came down next to him and started channelling the armour''s healing power into him. a blue glow resonating over his wound before ti stitched itself together. "Fuck," Adil announced. He was widely aware this was the last push, anyone to fall here may never see light again. 63. Chaos Within the catacombs of the cave, Steve was being harshly dragged by a panicked Horatio. Having recently killed one of the cave members Horatio knew the cave would be aware of his attempted prisoner breakout. "Why don''t you kill him," One of the soldiers asked, motioning towards Steve. "No. No one else will die," Horatio replied, giving him a glance that looked sweaty and unsure. Steve''s bindings were pulled so hard he almost slipped. "You''re pulling too hard, just let me walk," Horatio stopped and turned to him. A sudden crash could be heard throughout the tunnel as if sections of the cave had just collapsed. "We need to hurry," Horatio announced and pulled Steve along with more gusto. They rushed thorugh more of the tunnels, Horatio getting increasingly more worried. "Something''s coming," he announced, pulling out his bow, a drop of sweat rolling down his face. To the others, it was just silence. A fog appeared around the corner as they stared and suddenly there was the sound of metal dragging on stone. Red eyes appeared in the distance and Horatio shot an arrow. He heard a ding as if it was swiped out the air. "RUN!" He shouted, The group bolted through the tunnels quickly coming to a fork in the path. They had stopped waiting for directions, Horatio stared down one of the tunnels, waiting uncomfortably within the eerie silence. There was a sudden crash as one of the walls burst open. A giant of a goblin swung his sword through the stone and dust towards Horatio, missing him by a panicked and quick dodge. The warlord goblin slashed at the prisoners killing one and kicking another to the side. Horatio shot arrows toward the beast in haste; getting two off before a stab of the beast''s zweihander shot towards him. Horatio blocked with a quickly pulled-up sword, but his sword''s flat side backed into him and he shot across the tunnel. The goblin barely seemed to notice the arrows protruding from the gaps in his armour when the prisoners tried to latch on. Grasping his arms and legs as Horatio tried to catch his breath, severely winded and his sword now broken. Aku moved without impediment, he pulled one of the prisoners off and plunged his sword through their chest. The entire five feet of the blade sticking through his chest before it was swung and the prisoner flew off into the wall in pieces. Horatio once again pulled back his bow and for him, time itself seemed to slow for a bit as he focused. He looked for weaknesses but found none. He instead pulled his bow back further and in a slight prayer aimed for a specific bit of the rock ceiling. Firing, he hit, chipped a bit off and rebounded to the floor. The great goblin beast looked across to Steve with a show of disappointment before that section of the tunnel began to collapse, and he disappeared. Horatio dragged one of the prisoners out from the rocks, knowing they would be ok but he others could not be saved. The now smaller group carried on down the clear path in the fork, but soon they heard the patter of footsteps behind them. "Stop you bloody fucks," shouted a man with short red hair, in what seemed like an Irish accent. Horatio shot an arrow to slow him, but the man moved slightly for the arrow to miss and stopped. "You''re shooting me now, Ray?" asked Hans, the scoutmaster chasing them. "We need to stop this!" Horatio shouted back. Then he saw the demeaning figure of Aku, the giant ghostly red-eyed goblin slowly appear behind Hans. There was another crash as the unstable rocks began to fall around them. .......... In the upper cavern, the fight still raged on ¡ª the high elf against remnants of the cave''s top fighters. The elf had clearly in a short time mastered her new armour. Immediately arriving, killing three members and significantly injuring another had put the cave members on the defensive. Now they hid behind boulders and obstacles about the cavern taking opportunistic pop shots. Their ranged damage dealers, Leeroy and Griffon currently out of commission. Adil was hiding behind one of these boulders; he poked his head out to see the high elf hovering above. A burst of energy shot towards his face, but he ducked back just in time to see a large chip come off the boulder in a blaze of mana. The high elf charged another shot and Adil backed away just before the boulder exploded into dust and pebbles. Now in the open, he had little chance run. Seras, seeing an opening tried to give some cover fire, launching another slice of vibrating mana towards the elf, but it was easily dodged. The elf after the slight movement shot at Seras, the blast launching Seras back into the cave wall. After that, she focused again on Adil. Adil, with his impaired air manipulation was barely able to avoid two of the crescent attacks before one was clearly going to hit. He turned and cut it with an electrically charged attack, but the fog that came from it burnt his skin like acid as the electricity from his sword bounced across it. He felt sick, and a small icon of a blue person throwing up was in the corner of his awareness. His hands showed blue veins appear for a brief moment as he looked across them. The cardinal too threw small amounts of glass at a time, occasionally trying to launch a larger amount but finding it appeared like a gloop. He was barely noticeable, and before anything could happen, Adil had made it back into cover. "What are you doing?" the high elf asked. "I uh, I can''t..." The cardinal looked at the elf with pleading eyes. He seemed utterly distressed and amazed at how useless he had become. "Just don''t get hurt again," she replied dismissively. The random boulder''s scattered across the cavern seemed like the cave member''s only hope, each member of the cave using them to avoid the attacks of the high elf. The high-elf hovered just out of range and focused on them with scythes and balls of glowing blue mana, fully aware of her advantage. Adil looked up to the elf in exasperation, amazed at the control she now had of her armour. An alien and strangely robotic voice came through the communication drone from Urakle. "cha---... crys.....diot," he said before it appeared to cut out. "What?" Adil asked through it. "w....tuh?" He got in return, now knowing it was hopeless. Adil looked around at the slight glints of crystals still held around the cavern, realising how they must be getting stronger as the ambient mana in the area increased. He only needed to prolong the fight and then maybe... Maybe it could still work.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. "Keep moving. We still have a shot, just don''t give up!" he shouted. Adil sped from the boulder before it was blown up into another storm of pebbles. He tried to exert as much control over the air as he could muster, just barely avoiding the projectiles attacking him. He arrived at one of the remaining boulders and saw the kid from earlier there. Griffon''s apprentice, also hiding. "How do we fight that, we have no ranged weapons," the, probably about 14-year old kid pleaded. "We don''t need to fight, just drag it out. Cover me whilst I make a move." Adil tried to focus and use his mana vision. He saw everything in the area was slightly illuminated as the battle built mana in the area. The high elf was a torrent of mana, a concentration larger than anything he had ever seen. Further, he managed to see that the soldiers from the collapsed section were climbing up. Each crystal embedded in the cave''s rocks were shining, some more than others. Adil checked out one with a larger concentration than the others and came up with a slight plan. Griffon had somehow, with only one leg, made it to the site of Leeroy''s demise and now held a pile of arrows beside his bow, leftover arrows that could not be soul bound to refill his otherwise destroyed ammunition. Unbeknownst to Adil, Griffon was using his affinity now. A trail of blood leading to the location made it hard to believe he would have reasonably made it there without being noticed. Now Adil saw why. As Griffon channelled some form of energy, his hand glowed with light and morphed a shining globe around an arrow until it disappeared. Only with mana vision could Adil now see the coating of light energy around a now invisible arrow. Griffon fired at the elf; she squinted before in alarm she moved a slight amount and felt the arrow slice past the side of her forehead. Adil looked on in amazement as the angry elf decided on her new target. The elf woman flew towards Griffon and Adil looked on patiently. He saw the elf lady pass by one of the more vibrant crystals just as she was closing in on Griffon. Adil charged air behind a rock and launched it at her, making an audible clink as it hit her leg armour. She lost control and spiralled downward, catching her balance just before reaching the floor. She looked around but could no longer find Griffon, instead, frustrated; she changed targets to Adil. A message appeared in Adil''s awareness: Simulating..... skill acquired. learnt skill: Catapult Your master over manipulating air currents combined with your precision and aim have granted you the ability to launch projectiles with incredible accuracy. She quickly appeared just over the boulder, but instead of findng Adil, she found a child of about 15 looking up at her. She was confused for just a second before she was blinded by a blast of light. Then Adil had jumped onto her back. The elf went into a panic, shooting mana in every direction and trying to regain her balance. "Get off!" she exclaimed. "Make me," Adil replied. The elf let out a burst mana, knocking Adil off but appeared to take a decent backlash and so released more mana in an attempt to heal. The soldiers had just about finished climbing up to the top, Adil felt as if it wasn''t going well when he looked to see he would soon be surrounded. Then almost on cue, cries began erupting from that direction. The ground began to shake again as rocky tendrils shot out from the ground, tree-like roots pulled soldiers back into the hole, many before they had even managed to climb the top. Appearing in the midst of the hole was the dryad. The dryad''s eyes were glowing a faint silver as if she was channelling the rage of the whole cave. She appeared, lifted into the sky on top of her roots, around her appeared to be a gathering of small creatures, headed by a fire-cloaked Swift. The elf had her sights set and dove for the dryad. Launching attack after attack, but this time they did not break through the roots. They did not even seem to impede them. She could only back further away into the sky as the dryad closed in. the animals shot across the field, appearing to change form as if empowered by the elements. They dove towards the remaining soldiers rescuing Adil from near-certain death. "You are finished, lay down your weapon and beg for forgiveness," the dryad announced moving towards the elf as the elf frantically attacked the roots, trying desperately to push them back. The high elf feverishly glanced around, worried for invisible arrows, surprise lightning attacks, and whatever other secret plans of attack the cave had stored. She was beginning to now notice the severe lack of power she had, and how it was slowly getting worse. The elf appeared to grab a crystal near the core of her armour, it glowed a deep and dark blue before a huge glow emanated from her suit, coming from a glow in her chest like the early stages of a magic ironman suit. Her eyes left a trail of blue as she raised further into the air and shot out beams of blue light from her hands. Now, blast after blast she shot back the tendrils, obliterating them, she cleared the area of the strange animals and started firing at the remaining guild members. Adil could only look on in shock. Swift collapsed to the floor and only managed a fleeting glance his way before he was engulfed in the blue chaos. The boulders were no protection, as another blew up, Griffon''s body appeared out of his invisibility in a dismembered pile, seeming not even to disappear as the spawn crystal''s mana was fully depleted. Adil gripped his sword and stared down the high-elf, ready to charge. He dove forward and was about to be engulfed by the blue light when the kid, Griffon''s disciple, pushed him out the way. Not knowing what to do, if anyone would be coming back after this, he could only look back to the child as the light blasted away all of him but the one hand left outstretched. The flashing 0% of the spawn crystal''s mana was hammering away in the back of his awareness. The location began to collapse, rocks falling. The cavern in pieces. The elf collapsed to the floor, blue veins along her cheeks started to recede as the metal of the armour began falling apart piece by piece. Under her armour were burnt clothes revealing the elven skin underneath. One of the soldier''s that had made it to the top carried the dark gold-trimmed robe the elf seemed to have taken off and quickly delivered it to the girl. .......... Somehow Steve was left alone, further away from the prisoners that had abandoned him in their escape and ignored by Aku and Hans as they chased them down. He could only really think about how he probably wasn''t worth it to them. Even he didn''t know what side he was now on. The sudden collapse of the area took apart the cavern''s walls and gave glimpses of sunlight up above, shining through the dust. He climbed higher and as the dust began to settle he saw the crusading army in the midst of it all. The resistance in pieces, Adil seeming to be crawling towards the high-elf who was coated in her robe while she was on her knees, guards around her. Before Adil could get close enough, the army''s crusaders seemed to surround him with swords, holding him in place. Steve carried on, walking forwards into the chaos. He saw behind him how the cave had collapsed. Horatio and the prisoners appeared to be climbing out. Many prisoners now present on one side against the crusading army on, the dismembered bodies of the cave''s higher-ups in the centre. Steve walked through the surreal state, no one seeming to notice until swords and arrows began pointing from the soldiers in his direction. "Stop!" The high elf shouted to Steve. The armies stood, facing down the approaching captives. Desperately Adil held on staring down his captors. The core''s functions were shut down as it tried to gather more mana, no one able to resurrect. Steve had walked far enough that he stood in the midst of the battlefield. The cardinal was flustered as the high elf moved towards Steve. "Move out the way, we are finally going to finish this," "You know you dont have to." "Of course I have too, now move or I will have to kill you too." "I won''t move." The high elf grew angry, conflicted. The cardinal looked towards her with an imposing yet ashamed look that conflicted his respect with a demand to continue. The high elf drew her hand. Steve then started to speak, before the elf could do anything, the feeling of his mental manipulation spread into her. She felt betrayed, somehow, her misplaced feelings held against her because of her lack of focus to the rules. "N?o h¨¢ vergonha na felicidade."
64. A well Orcestrated finale If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it."When is po- my friend Ponitery, coming back?" She added, wide eyes almost pleadingly insisting on the question. "The crystals a- blocki- -- vision." "Steve and the high-elf are making out."
Notification well done-Hugo