《The Soul Binder an Expansion Story》 1. The Expansion Santa Barbara, California The end of the world wouldn¡¯t happen on a dark thunderous night, at least not for James Hellitan. It was sunny, reaching a nice temperature of 78 degrees though it was high in humidity that day inside it was very peaceful. During most days, the school would be filled with people most of them worried about their next class or generally fucking off. James¡¯s school was a religious school, and like most of them all classes were clothes on Sunday expecting their children to find time in their schedule for praying or peaceful contemplation. This was not the case for dorm room A213, as most in that room would be trying to shake off the feeling of a hangover except for James himself. He was a bit older than the rest that were in that room sat with a scruffy chin that was a week old and desperately pathetic for one that has lived that long. He was called a baby faced many times, and being shorter than most he always looked younger than he was, being the youngest of three brothers this didn¡¯t help him in his childhood or life in general. Anyone in this situation also knows the hardest pain, being treated as a younger brother to most of the girls that you like. Experience James did not lack, the military did have its perks every once in awhile, got him out of a few tickets and a few girls. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was the booze or the uniform that tipped the scales, probably a mixture of both. Just saying that he was a veteran though without the ID, or uniform though gave him weird looks now since he looked to be at the age of 18, at most 20. ¡°The women grow up younger now, and the men grow up slower. Too many chemicals in the meats!¡± It was a complaint he heard a lot from his mother who tried to push him into a vegan diet, and when he was older she scolded him for not listening to her warnings. James looked out of the window with a frown on his face, there was various things spinning through his mind as his last year of college was coming to an end. He had a master¡¯s degree in Religious Studies, which yes, sounded like a worthless degree but he had a job laid out for him, and everything was paid for by the military. It was actually his reason for even joining the service, he wasn¡¯t exactly patriotic, the fourth of july and other holidays merely an excuse to drink a bit more. Reaching his 27th birthday he found his life was lacking and the questions that he had about his own thoughts on religion kept piling up. He wondered how many fake priests there were, that read the bible every day questioning the very words that they spoke. According to the very book that they read from, in the past God gave them proof, there was meaning to his words. Now even if he did exist it seems that he has abandoned us to rot on this Earth alone.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He wasn¡¯t the only one hesitant, it was a week away from graduation day, and those drunk bodies that were his friends that lay on his floor were proof of that fact. There were at least three strangers in the mix that he didn¡¯t remember but it was a very loud and busy night last night. Two suitcases were already packed, he had a month of vacation before he was required to go be at the base. He would be happy to see this dorm in his rear view mirror, like many other things in the past. Sadly the only thing valuable in them were a pair of brand new sneakers for the newest to the family, the one that knocked him out of being the youngest. It wasn¡¯t much, but he didn¡¯t have much in the way of spending money anyway. Timmy, his youngest brother was a miracle baby, from what he was told, born after the doctors thought that my mother should be able to have kids. He had a fascination for the latest footwear, and he¡¯d be getting it this year, even if James missed his birthday by three months. His family was a tight one, always looking out for one another though they never had much money. Going into the military was actually bad for him, blowing through most of his money at doing things he could never do before. Picking up drinking, partying and the like, he was nearly burnt out from it all and it was the reason he was still awake now. It lead to him being a rather shut-in playing video games for most of his college time, ranging from MOBAs to Dating Sims. His current poison was MMOs hunting down creatures with his broadsword as a warrior. He enjoyed going unoptimble builds, going dexterity based warriors and focusing on passive buffs instead of active skills. They may not be the best in player versus player fights, but for taking down monsters they were effective enough. A series of sighs and self reflections lead him to a rather special bottle of beer, pouring another glass of Infinium enjoying the taste as he danced his fingers across his computer. A game lit up in front of him, a fantasy character named Nashi swung his sword nimbly through the heads of some goblins. He wished that life was more like this, a set series of goals that he knew what to do in his life. A popup appeared¡­
Expansion Attack of Dragons 3
The Planet Earth is experiencing an expansion update ¡®Attack of Dragons 3¡¯ this will be the 15th expansion in the series. For all players this is a warning that the world will go into an hour of hibernation before the changes. Changes will include: A Class System Weapon Balancing - Increase in melee weapon damage, lower ranged weapons. Gunpowder has been removed in favor of skill based weapons. Removed Language Barriers - Proven to be unpopular after the Babylonian Expansion. Magic will be implemented again, with increased and changed flora, and creatures. The Current Geography- Exploration is the key to a great game! Shops- Angel statues will be implemented throughout the world to help with beginning gear! Further updates as the expansion is rolled out, as the first players you will be given one free point to put into your stats to get you a better foothold in the world as new users have been shown to better be able to adapt to the system. Also as a special gift, the God of Death has agreed to give you back enough years to be the age of ten, sacrificing any child under the age of ten. Don¡¯t worry their souls will be reincarnated into the system after the first year.
Trying to click out of the blue popup a few times he realized that the blue screen was not on the computer screen but instead hovering about a foot away from his face. Startled he reached up, touching it before it popped under his fingers. Looking to his drunken friends he figured the alcohol had affected him a lot more than he expected, shaking his head before another blue box appeared¡­
Update in 5.. 4... 3... 2... 1
¡°This is way too much proof, if God¡¯s trying to take main stage again¡­¡± His vision went black like his plug was cut. 2. Learning the Basics A harsh white pain ran through James, his body twisting on the ground as he let out a silent scream as something inside of him shifted. In this pain his mind came to clarity a feeling of self as green filled his sight, trees and leaves fluttering through the wind as his body was being tortured. A flash of blue happened every once in awhile but he couldn¡¯t even look at them before they vanished until finally he was laying there completely covered in sweat. Breathing out in pain, his body seemed to pulse in pain and soreness as if he just worked out for hours. Pushing himself to sit up he noticed that his vision was either vastly different than before or things were much bigger, bringing up his arms and seeing that his sleeves were only half filled he knew it was the former. In his mass confusion he found himself calm, there were just too many questions to answer.
Welcome!
As a new user I suggest thinking the word ¡®status¡¯, you will be prompted with a series of classes to choose from. These classes will give you a beginner skill list, and unique passive skills that you can¡¯t get through training, like a fighter¡¯s passive increase in weight limits.
Thinking status, another blue screen came up, spreading out a series of classes that he can choose from. Before he could read through it a lot of the classes started disappearing, as another blue screen came up.
Adjusting¡­.
He watched as various things, some as simple as fighter or thief vanished before his eyes, wondering what sort of criteria that it was going through he shrugged taking in his surroundings as it worked. He seemed to be in a lush forest that was covered in greenery, bulbs of fruits that he had never seen before hanging above him. The explosive yellows, reds, and other colors made it seem more like a painting of nature than a real life representation of it. ¡°I guess I¡¯ve never quite went out and hiked, but I didn¡¯t think there was this much color in forests.¡± He frowned slightly, and noticed that three black bags were casually laying in the grass beside him. Going through them he pulled out the clothes meant for his brother and softly smiled, starting to put them on before he stopped. A single line of the blue boxes flashed in his mind, and he started crying while half dressed, tears hot on his face. He wished that he hadn¡¯t been awake during the update notice, wishing he was ignorant to this little bit of knowledge. Nine years old.. His brother was one year too young to be alive now, sacrificed to give everyone else a bit more life. He knew that this was too elaborate to be some sort of joke, these blue boxes too much to be a hallucination. Maybe this was the afterlife? He hopefully thought, hoping that maybe he died from alcohol poisoning last night, so that only he himself would be the one dead rather than his brother. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± He softly wished it, though highly doubted it, he barely had any last night. ¡°But.. if not then I have to live at least long enough to see him again.¡± He wiped his eyes free of wetness, and looked up to the fruits before he heard a ding the list finally down to three options. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Available Classes
  1. Cleric
  2. Oracle
  3. Soul Binder
James frowned, ¡°No warrior, or berserker?¡± He rather liked being a melee fighter when he played video games. Also why did everything seem to have some sort of religious context, did it pull from his current knowledge? Had he known this was going to happen he would have studied a few books on martial arts, or weaponry. Hoping for more knowledge on them he clicked on Soul Binder, and the blue screen went away replacing itself with another screen.
Class: Soul Binder Race: Human Free Stats: 1
Strength 6 0 6
Dexterity 9 0 9
Constitution 8 0 8
Intelligence 12 0 12
Wisdom 9 0 9
Charisma 10 0 10
Luck 10 0 10
Skills: Soul Extraction, Soul Creation, Soul Binding
¡°Shit¡­¡± Apparently touching any of them would choose that class, looking over his class he cursed noticing that his class seemed to be a caster which greatly depressed him as there wasn¡¯t anyone near him as far as he could tell. A caster was usually weaker at lower levels and better the higher you level, but never good for a solo class until then. He knew the basics about stats and frowned as he was wondering where his health and other things were, which prompted another blue screen to appear.
HP: Mana:
29 31
Damage: Stamina:
15 20
Critical Damage: Defense:
2 12
He wondered what the math behind everything was, or if there was a set pattern before looking around and picking up a rather hefty branch from the ground. His damage increasing by a +2 from just holding a stick, picking up a rock it increased to +5. The best weapon at the moment was that rock, but following another hunch he started tearing up his clothes and using some of his basic boy scouts and military knowledge. Bashing a rock into another, to shape it, and binding strips of jeans into a stick a crude club was created gaining a +9 to his damage before he looked over to his stats again placing his free point into constitution so things wouldn¡¯t be able to kill him as fast. Using the jeans he made a few points along his shirt that were made out of the rougher and sturdier material, making his final statistics look more like..
HP: Mana:
31 31
Damage: Stamina:
24 22
Critical Damage: Defense:
2 18
It seemed every point into constitution provided him with 2 health and stamina, he took a mental note of it. Gear seemed to be more important than stats for now, though he was just level 1 and that would probably change soon. He had received two notifications while he was crafting his weapons though.
Through your actions you have gained +1 to wisdom
Through your actions you have gained the skill Survival
He still hadn¡¯t checked out his skills, but he figured that could wait until he found a source of water. There was currently only three bottled teas in his bag and they wouldn¡¯t last very long in the wilderness especially if he had to hunt for food. 3. Goblins, the true underdog. Watching the slow flow of a stream in front of him, he waited as the fish passed him, he didn¡¯t have any tools to catch the fish, and greatly doubted his ability to just swipe one out of the water. A few ideas came, but he wasn¡¯t sure how feasible they were, and wished he had paid more attention to Bear Grylls so he¡¯d know how to survive on his own skills a bit better. The clothes on his lap was his only idea as he slowly weaved them together into a makeshift net with small bottles attached to the top to try and make them float, and stones on the other side. James first two attempts were horrible so he made it longer and wider, and replaced the bottles with stones to attempt a cast net. The change netted him two rather meaty fish purely through luck, which made him want to put points into luck to get more fish. His arms were worn out from lugging around the soaked net that probably weighed 30-40 pounds. With a sharp rock he gutted the fish the best he could as another blue box came up, signifying his survival had ranked up to level 5. As his survival ranked up, he could suddenly tell what around him were edible plants, and what was poisonous. Though he didn¡¯t think that pulling the grass from under him, and eating it, from what he understood it wasn¡¯t very nutritious even if it wasn¡¯t poisonous. The fruits that were above him that hung from the trees weren¡¯t poisonous, a few rocks thrown at them made them part of his meal as well as he cooked the fish. ¡°Now to look over the skills.¡± He pulled up a skill box with all of his skills showing up in front of him.
Skills:
Soul Extraction 1
Soul Creation 1
Soul Binding 1
Survival 5
Clicking on the first skill it came up again with a small description
Soul Extraction
After a kill you gain a small portion of the soul that you can use with your other abilities.
Soul Creation
Able to create soul items from the fragments of soul that you gain from extraction. Only one type of soul can be used to create an item, until you advance soul creation.
Soul Binding
Bind parts of your body to use the items you create, current bindings available: Feet
.
Survival
Able to identify dangers around you, and know how to survive with little to no tools.
¡°These descriptions suck.¡± James looked a bit annoyed at the blue boxes, and then sighed, ¡°I¡¯m not even a caster, it¡¯s worse¡­ I¡¯m a crafter.¡± The one thing he didn¡¯t understand was the soul binding part of it. If he is the only one that can use the things that he craft, what is he supposed to do with the things he creates? How do I track my soul fragments?
Soul Fragments:
3/10 Salmon
¡°Oh those big fish were Salmon?¡± He bit into one of the fruits and almost threw it away, it tasted like eating a tablespoon of sugar. The fruit was disgustingly sweet and its juices were thick to the point of being syrup. ¡°I guess.. I¡¯ll call you a Butterworth Fruit.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
As the first to name this fruit, its name shall be remembered forever as the Butterworth Fruit.
He gave himself a high five to the face, and shook his head, ¡°I better not name anything near me with silly names from now on.¡± James looked to the fruits, soaking his salmon in the juice of the fruit to give himself some more sugar in his diet. The salmon didn¡¯t taste that great afterwards but it was at least able to be digested unlike the thick juices of the fruit alone. After eating his food he started to set up a base to spread out from, using the very bendable smaller trees around him, and ropes made of previous clothes he made a very makeshift home for himself. Placing down a notebook of paper into the small shelter, starting to mark out what was around him before starting to explore the area around him. Walking straight in a random direction, he left small clothes on the trees around him gaining another level in survival as he did so. He noticed that there were small animals around, but nothing new which made him disappointed as there wasn¡¯t anything new like the trees around him. He had gathered up a few of the edible plants, and fruits, placing them in the backpack that he had, marking them through the map before he just threw the map away. He had gained the mapping skill, and with that inside his mind there was a three dimensional map, for some reason this made him fairly annoyed as all of his work was now wasted. ¡°Just give me a damn mini-map if you don¡¯t want me to make fucking maps you shits!¡± Turning back the way he came he heard a growl behind him.
Due to your actions, you gained a +1 in luck.
¡°Fuck¡­¡± He looked back, noticing a small green humanoid creature, twisted and ugly with very large ears. Its teeth it showed off were sharp like a pretender with claws to match, its body hunched over as it made a hiss. He recognized it immediately, it was the staple of most games since Dungeons and Dragons, this was a goblin. ¡°There can¡¯t be only one¡­¡± He touched his weapon, pulling it from his waist waiting there as he stared at the goblin that just hunched there staring at him. This was the technique used by raptors in a movie called Jurassic Park the one in front of him gathering his attention as.. *snap* others came from around him. His body shifted as the makeshift club bashed into something squishy, that cracked like an egg under the rock, blood spilling out all over his weapon and hand. Kicking away the body, he crashed another into the chest of another one cracking something inside of its ribs. ¡°Damn goblins¡­¡± He cursed out as something ripped into the clothing that was on his body, a quick bash of crude club broke into the jaw snapped his head back killing it almost instantaneously. It was then the one that was to distract him moved, only to receive a rock through its eye making it fall into a clump. The fight was quick and messy, it almost all concluded in about five seconds leaving him there covered in warm blue blood, ¡°I thought all blood was red¡­¡± He frowned, flicking off his sleeves and weapon trying to get the stuff off of him even though he knew the creatures were considered edible. Stripping them of their small leathers, he pulled their teeth and claws for later. Leaving the bodies to rot there he walked away as a blue box appeared in front of him.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Due to your actions you receive +1 dexterity, and +1 to wisdom
You have gained enough soul fragments to create a goblin boot.
Crude Weapons, and Quick Strike skills have been gained.
Curious, he pressed against the one about the goblin boot and felt something flow out of his body leaving him feeling drained of something, checking his mana he only had 6/46. If he tried this before, with the limited mana he had before he would probably find out exactly what having no mana would do to him. A glow formed in front of him as a pair of green leather boots appeared, with a blue box.
Goblin¡¯s Feet!
With the goblin¡¯s feet worn you gain the goblin skills stealth, and consume anything.
It didn¡¯t seem to be detrimental, so he started attaching the boots to himself, they were very well crafted though he had some bad thoughts about them being made out of goblin skin, the second skill though could prove useful for survival. Stats:
Class: Soul Binder Race: Human Free Stats: 2
Strength 8 0 8
Dexterity 13 0 13
Constitution 10 1 11
Intelligence 18 0 18
Wisdom 14 0 14
Charisma 14 0 14
Luck 12 0 12
Skills: Soul Extraction, Soul Creation, Soul Binding, Survival,
Crude Weapons, Quick Strike, Stealth, Consume Everything
HP: Mana:
36 46
Damage: Stamina:
28 28
Critical Damage: Defense:
3 22
4. Doctor James James threw the crude club, the head of another goblin getting crushed in with the bash of the rock, making its head snap back in a sickening wet sound. These were truly creatures that appeared in the games he played as weak cannon fodder, they were probably as strong as a five or six year old child. With the body of a ten year old you¡¯d expect that he was weaker, but that was not the case, he actually seemed to be stronger than his old self. ¡°The System corrects me.¡± He frowned as he knew that attack would have gone off course if it wasn¡¯t for the slight adjustment from the system he would have missed. After receiving the notification that he could create another pair of boots he declined it. He hit level five on his way back to camp, and the goblins seemed to be thinning, the blood on his clothes seemed to make most avoid him. His binding seemed to be going up as he walked, and moved around inside of the boots he had created, going faster as he used the skills attached. So as he walked he ate random leaves and berries which made everything taste at least decent, grass tasting somewhat like very dry tuna. The skill finally popping up with something interesting..
Soul Bound Skill
Eat Everything is now level 10, it will now be a permanent skill.
He didn¡¯t understand why Eat Everything was added to a pair of boots, he understood why sneak was added as it dealt with movement. The system will require more studying, he thought as he pulled at the necklace that was around the goblin¡¯s neck. Taking them for later, the crude weapons that they had were rather useless and was mostly sharpened sticks to get a little bit of distance between themselves and their enemy. ¡°They must have made these necklaces around the goblin¡¯s neck.¡± Their heads were much larger than normal, which made taking the necklace off nearly impossible without breaking it. There was little use for it, but some of the trinkets looked to be crystals or gold, which if there are shops then these might be able to be used as currency. As he steps near the water, he pulls out a series of leather straps that the goblins had, using a knife made from their own claws cutting at the wood. Slicing the stick into four pieces, he slid down some of the claws into it creating something like thorns along the top of it. Using strips of leather, he wrapped the wood together until they fit together. ¡°God I can¡¯t wait until I don¡¯t have to upgrade my weapons every few days.¡± Looking at his stats it seemed this weapon had an additional five damage. A blue screen showed in front of him as he sat there..
Notice:
100 players have reached the first capstone, level 5! This is considered the first capstone, and many people will not get past. This requires something more than just killing random beasts, learn grow and become strong!
Waving his hand getting rid of the notice James didn¡¯t care, leveling up didn¡¯t seem as important as skill levels. Pulling up crude weapons he looked over it, with a thoughtful expression.
Crude Weapons Level 5
With your crude weapons like clubs you gain a bonus to damage equal to the level of the skill.
He wasn¡¯t sure if it would be better to upgrade to metal weapons later if he raised this high enough. Wanting to never be without a weapon though he chose to only use the weapons he created in the case of emergencies. There wasn¡¯t much training he had with martial arts, just a few things taught while he was in the military. Going to one of the trees he started the training you see in both anime, and movies, punching into it¡­
Pain Tolerance Gained!
¡°Fuck you¡­¡± Gripping his hand, and cursing made the pain less, as his hand seemed to throb. ¡°How the fuck is this supposed to help?¡± The cold water on his knuckles made the throbbing stop for a bit as he sighed. Maybe gaining more pain tolerance would help him in the future, but he couldn¡¯t believe that those movies were very well done. This seems to be completely unrealistic to do this continuously. ¡°Screw that shit¡­¡± Maybe martial arts wasn¡¯t his forte, but punching a goblin didn¡¯t seem to be a bad idea, they seemed to be softer than trees. A rather morbid idea came to his mind, and he went off grabbing one of the nearby corpses. Strapping one onto the same tree he started kicking and punching into the body of the goblin, with less resistance the punches and kicks didn¡¯t bother him as much. An five hours went by before he stopped, gaining 10 levels in unarmed combat, which brought up something more interesting. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Upgrade Path:
Unarmed combat can be upgraded into two paths, martial arts or brawling. Please choose one.
Without a second thought he brought up brawling immediately.
Brawling Level 1
Fighting through battles without any formal training has taught you that to fight fair is childish, jabs to vulnerable areas now deal more damage when unarmed. Damage is increased by 10.
He shrugged and went back to punching at the goblin that he had tied up to the tree, an hour went by before he noticed that there were no further advancements in it. Without vulnerable areas on the corpse in front of him he couldn¡¯t advance his fighting any more, with just a punching bag. As if the gods understood his plight¡­ the goblins attacked¡­ To James they were overzealous with their help though as more than thirty goblins appeared from the trees. ¡°Ah.. this isn¡¯t what it.. looks like¡­¡± Looking to the tied up goblin corpse, he could tell that these goblins weren¡¯t too happy by their hanging friend being beaten to a pulp even after death. The glares from all around him let him know they weren¡¯t buying it as they screamed out what could only be understood as a warcry. Stepping forward into the uneven ground he kept the small stream between him and most of the goblins, they were smart but didn¡¯t seem to think that the water would bother them that much. A swift kick to the chest of the first goblin showed off his increased damage, a wet snapping sound followed by a goblin bullet hit the other charging creature behind him killing them both. With a twist of his body, the hook of his foot slammed a head into the ground before kicking up the body to block a spear being thrown at him. Blood pouring out against James face, and chest before the body fell to the ground, a hand moving out like a cobra to grab another goblin¡¯s face. A lone archer goblin, the first one that James had ever seen had a short and uneventful entrance as another goblin found its way herling like a comet at the other¡¯s head. With a heavy crack, both of them fell to their deaths out of the tree, as the human stood there cracking his knuckles. ¡°Anyone else?¡± He said to the surviving ten goblins, half of their troops had fallen to this man¡¯s fists and kicks. In their eyes they saw a barbarian of great strength, like a primitive predator. That archer was the only one that got a meaningful hit on the beast, an arrow was protruding out of his shoulder, everything else was meaningless scrapes and bruises. ¡°N-no¡­ We surrender¡­¡± The goblins looked fearful, but the human looked surprised. ¡°Well I guess I can¡¯t eat you, I don¡¯t like knowing that what I¡¯m eating can speak my language.¡± He smiled a bit, and threw some berries into his mouth. He had found these little things to be very helpful, as each one healed five health. ¡°Those.. are goberries, are you an offspring of goblins?!¡± The biggest goblin took a step back seemingly shocked, and pointed. ¡°Your skin is pink like a sick salmon, I have seen blue, green, and black but no pink goblins.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m human¡­ and so that¡¯s why the name HP berries didn¡¯t stick.¡± He ate another wondering why eating them was such a big deal. ¡°Goberries are poisonous to anyone but the goblin race. I¡¯ve seen a few of your kind killed by them, but they weren¡¯t pink like you. Are you a variant of the human race?¡± ¡°No, just white.¡± The goblins were slowly making their way back to the forest, which made James touch the edges of his clubs like he was getting ready for a quick draw. He thanked his new boots for his survival up until this point as apparently eat anything allowed him to digest poisons, ¡°We just come in different colors.¡± ¡°You¡¯re pink, not white¡­¡± The goblin looked confused before looking back to his group, ¡°Are you.. going to let us go?¡± ¡°Just tell me your name, and promise not to attack here again. If you bring even more goblins, I¡¯ll actually pull out my weapons. You saw how powerful I was without one.¡± The goblins nodded and ran away right after. ¡°I¡¯ll have to change where I live after tonight.¡± The area was littered with goblin corpses, a large portion of them floating in the water which had to be moved immediately, before they contaminate the water. Stripping them of their necklaces, he made a pile for the goblins against a tree to the side. Their dark green bodies adding to the reds and oranges of the leaves making them stand out more. He was about to add another color to the whole thing, his face hardening as he pulled out one of the crude goblin daggers. Blue blood spilling to the ground as he cut one of the corpses open letting it pool to the sides, the knife worked expertly moving swift to cut and more often than not tear at the skin in his hand. By the time night had fell he had three fairly good goblin skins to his side, knowing little about tanning he attached the skins to rocks throwing them into the steam further down so flowing water would go over it all night. He needed to know if recreating a goblin hide boot would have similar effects as his own boots or if this crafting method using their souls was special at all. Using his hands not wanting to let the body go to waste the ribs were forced open, a cracking sound heard as they were forced open showing off its intestines. Pressing down in various areas he took note of where each part was, and sighed, ¡°This is basically the same as a human body from what I remember from high school. I can¡¯t quite identify some pieces but that could be because I don¡¯t know every part of a human body.¡± Not bothering to close the corpse he went to wash his hands, the bright blue going along his arms made this all surreal. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m murdering smurfs... ¡° He muttered to himself as he washed off his arms. In the process another blue box appeared, the same color as the small stream¡­
Upgrade Path:
Survival can be upgraded into two paths, hunter or gatherer. Please choose one.
Maybe it was just a bit of laziness on his part, but gatherer was immediately chosen, he couldn¡¯t see himself running after various beasts through the wild for hours. Exploring and picking up resources that were around him seemed to be a much better prospect.
Gatherer Level 1
They say that mother earth provides for her children, and the supplies she offers to those who take care of her are immeasurable. Knowledge of flora has expanded, and uses for the plants will appear when you look at them. Gains Alchemy.
Alchemy Level 1
Able to craft various products out of plants and other materials to create potions, and herbal medicines.
Looking through his list he also brought up two skills he gained while preparing the goblins earlier..
Skinning Level 3
Cutting the skin off of creatures, and preparing them for tanning.
Anatomy Level 2
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
The anatomy box looked weird quoting Sun Tzu, but he ignored it, and wondered what benefit they would provide to him later. If they all split off at level ten he wondered what anatomy would turn into. Somehow he knew that cutting up the goblins in the pile wouldn¡¯t provide much more benefit to anatomy though. 5. The Green Tide The full moon was glowing in the sky, it¡¯s soft light falling down on the makeshift home that James had made, the night was oddly illuminated, it seemed brighter without the city lights. The green trees around him looked larger more menacing, giants looming over him with hunger in their eyes. There was a reason that people feared the dark, and it kept him up that night until his body couldn¡¯t handle the sound of rippling water next to him. He awoke with a start, the ceiling of his little home caving in and a body crashing down, a snarling wolf like head looked at him with confusion. Not skipping a beat his fist was already smashing into its eye, cracking its head back with a snap. Gripping it with his legs, he twisted over mounting it before slamming his fists down hard into its muzzle until the hard feeling of it turned soft. Dizziness filled James as he sat there, the small body under him made him worry. He knew that wolves were pack animals as well, and cursed himself, ¡°Is everything I meet here going to have three or four friends?¡± He nearly puked as a smell assaulted his nose, he knew the body couldn¡¯t have already decomposed and wondered what was going on. *growl* There was more out there, he didn¡¯t know how many but he could hear light growls and movement coming from the trees. They were surrounding him, and seemed to slowly be closing in.. Now I knew what that stench was, the wolf thing had pissed itself as it died which called over the others. He frowned as he looked back at the corpse wishing he had taken it out faster without letting it piss itself, but he was still half asleep. Squinting trying to see¡­
Skill gained Night Vision!
At level 1 it barely improved his vision letting him notice a few shadows that were weaving in and out of the shadows. Their bodies quick, and by the soft glint of their eyes he knew they had the advantage in the dark, this creatures seemed to be much faster than the goblins before. James moved forward slowly, growling coming from the dark as they saw him move. Sharp teeth, and long muzzles made them seem much fiercer than the goblins he fought before, and with their increased speed they would really screw him up. These creatures fit descriptions of kobolds from fantasy worlds, it seemed like most of the monsters in this area were intelligent. The kobold that he killed had a large dagger made of stone and leather, the black stone was very sharp but seemed to be fragile. He moved silently along the bushes, making his way closer to them when he noticed movement in the trees, he wondered if more were up there just waiting to pounce on him. It would make this difficult as he wasn¡¯t assured victory since he didn¡¯t even know their numbers. Gripping his weapons, a club in one hand and a dagger in the other he crouched close to the ground watching them circle him. It was going to be painful if he couldn¡¯t sleep at night, worrying too much about these kobolds will make his night life a bit stressful. James clenched his fist around the newer club he had, before his eyes widened, suddenly the trees were raining green goblins everywhere.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The two Kobolds were felled by about thirty goblins almost instantly, the goblins running around and cheering with bottles of some dirty liquid being passed around. The chaos kept spreading out as he noticed that there was around a hundred goblins in front of him, he couldn¡¯t help but tighten grip at his weapons harder his knuckles turning white. A look of horror spread across his face, as when faced against a hundred of anything there was no guarantee of success. One of the older looking goblins with a white beard came out of the crowd, his large muscular chest was covered in mud. The goblin¡¯s head was covered in cuts and wounds, one of his eyes patched up with a pink leather which made him look odd. The last eye was bigger than any of the other goblins, and shifted around as if surveying everything around him. The goblin yelled out to James, his voice like a bag of glass falling down stairs, ¡°Pink goblin! I am Elder Crunch, I offer you to join us!¡± James thought for a moment, ¡°I¡¯m not a goblin you fucker, why would I trust you guys?¡± The elder laughed a bit, ¡°Yes, I am one of the best at that!¡± He slammed his fist against his chest, and grinned quite proud that even this pink goblin could tell from just a look, ¡°Goblins should stick together, you have good genes, we need good goblins for breeding!¡± ¡°I¡¯m.. not..¡± James sighed, ¡°Listen, I am a human. I can offer you another deal you protect me while I sleep, I help your tribe grow.¡± The Elder grinned for a moment in thought, before looking down. ¡°If you¡¯d just stop killing the goblins around here I¡¯d give you protection during the night, but if you aren¡¯t a goblin then how can you eat Goberries?¡± ¡°Poison Resistance?¡± The Elder¡¯s eyes showed understanding as he nodded slowly, ¡°It must have been hard for you, I¡¯ve seen many goblins die trying to gain that skill.¡± His look of pity made James feel a bit sad as a small bag of something was thrown into his hands, ¡°That will help you progress it, makes you slightly numb but doesn¡¯t kill.¡± James smiled a bit awkwardly, he knew it was because of the Eat Anything skill he had gotten from his dead companions but he couldn¡¯t explain that he was wearing the souls of other goblins. He didn¡¯t know how well they¡¯d take the fact that he is wearing the souls of a bunch of goblins, maybe he could send their souls off once he no longer needed the boots but he still hadn¡¯t trained stealth. He wondered how much their society was like that of stories, moving back to pack up his camp. Trying to pull up his status again he was instead interrupted by another menu:
You have qualified for a feat by befriending a monster race!
Banishing it with a wave of his hand a list appeared, and as he read through them he slowly started scrolling through the list before he felt like the list was practically endless. Counting he had already passed over a thousand options before clicking on a check mark that suggested recommendations.
Night of the Wolf
Hangman¡¯s Journey
Like a Troll
Welcome to the Jungle
Night Stalker
Thug Fist
Brute
Mental Bullets
Mobile Telephone
Start of a Journey
The list was still full of things he wasn¡¯t sure about, and afraid that he would pick something the moment he touched one of the options he hesitated. He needed something for his magical side as he had nothing to compliment his stats, relying solely on brute force to do what he needed, but he could also go for something that dealt with his current fighting style. Since these were all recommendations he could only look at them and hope his choice was good, without hesitating he jammed his finger against one at random, the screen vanishing like he thought it would. No descriptions.. how was he supposed to make an educated choice based on just their names? ¡°Fuck this system..¡± He cursed, as the Elder came over to help him pack away his stuff. 6. Day 1 End The Goblin¡¯s home wasn¡¯t anything like James expected, tight built houses were suspended off the ground attached to trees using crude methods to hammer boards into the very wood themselves. Ropes went from treehouse to treehouse, very few of them were tied up into bridges many of them hung like a vine in any of the jungle based stories from disney. Green moss covered everything, layered over the mud that kept most of it together, this reminded him oddly of the Lost Boys, their playground in the trees. Walls surrounded the area, not only closing the place off from the rest of the world but pointing spikes out at intruders. If you knew about the walls, or any of the defensive structures then it wouldn¡¯t be that deadly, they are far too low to the ground to cause much of a threat but James was informed that they were just to slow down the enemy¡¯s charge. With their stones, and sharpened sticks they rained down death on the unsuspecting enemy from up high once their enemy was staggered. It was a lot more sophisticated than James gave them credit for. Climbing the structures up to the Elder¡¯s house, one could appreciate the sheer size of the trees surrounding them, after the leaves and low hanging branches which made a labyrinth above their heads the trees stretched further still. There was a wonder of how long it would take to reach the top of these monstrosities. Goblins climbed, jumped and flew in every direction above and below him, as he walked with the elder, the old gob¡¯s beard swaying to and fro as he spoke of the culture of the goblins. They weren¡¯t as barbaric as James thought, their society was built very crudely because they didn¡¯t have time to advance. Every day was precious to a goblin as they only lived for forty seasons, or ten years fighting to evolve when only one out of every hundred ever get a chance to evolve into a hobgoblin. Those that evolve into a hobgoblin are taken to another village run by the more advanced race, whose lifespans were much longer reaching thirty to forty years of age before dying. With the longer lifespans they were much further in technology actually having metal weapons and hunting the kobolds, or Dog-Heads according to goblins, for sport and food. Even with their reduced numbers they were like James where not even twenty goblins coming at a hobgoblin could strike him down. The reason the Elder had come to him was because he suspected the pink goblin might give their little camp more of a fighting chance against the forces that surrounded the camp. Their small walls, the camps above the ground, and their weak fighting power were only enough so that their deaths would only number a few hundred during a year. Most goblin life seemed to be insignificant, for the greater of the whole, so long as the group could gain benefits they would gladly sacrifice several of their own, or maybe even themselves. What they lacked in lifestyle they made up in the speed in which they learned skills and how fast they grew up. Like stories from video games in James¡¯s past, these goblins could go from their baby larval form into a full warrior in only a handful of days. They would be like an infection, if three or four of them survived then there could be hundreds in a year, so full extermination was the only possible method to get rid of goblins out of an area. This small tribe of goblins had been lucky, from their very primitive records they had survived for over two hundred years in this spot. Their ingenuity to stay off the ground to keep beasts from pinpointing them as easily, and the dirt covered houses that kept them smelling of nature all day and night. James had been warned that he was more than likely caught due to the stench that his human body gave off, that for some odd reason reminded the Elder of peaches. James cursed his use of girly bodywash not thinking that it would put him in danger so quickly, but he doubted using something like Old Spice would help him either. Plus he hadn¡¯t used the small bottles in his bag recently, only choosing to brush his teeth this morning which made the Elder sniff him with a pleasant smile on his face, commenting how the man smelled refreshing and gave him a really good feeling¡­ He wouldn¡¯t be using the toothpaste for a while. Many goblins looked at him suspiciously, their weapons always drawn around him waiting for him to attack them, or harm the leader. Their small monkey like bodies swung around with grace, always keeping him in sight, but he wasn¡¯t sure if they were the same goblins as the ones before to him they almost all looked the same other than the Elder. ¡°Green on green¡­¡± James muttered to himself, they were really suited to be part of the trees, though he really wished to see these hobgoblins that the Elder spoke of. ¡°Today we have something special to welcome you to our small village.¡± James smiled wearily at the thought of these being a small village, there was probably a few thousand goblins in this village. ¡°There will be a feast in your honor!¡± He¡¯d definitely have to keep his boots on during his stay even if he got the skill recently for himself it was still only at level one until he took off the boots and tried training it. With just glances in the huts he only saw rotting meat, with mushrooms along it, he wasn¡¯t sure which one they liked more of the two as some harvested the mold and mushrooms from the meat itself. Their habits were disgusting to him, but with their natural talents it made sense that they didn¡¯t need to worry about cleanliness of their food.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Two small flashes of a forest yellow like leaves in autumn landed beside the Elder once he finished speaking, they looked to be a head taller than the normal goblins and about twice as fat. James frowned as their faces squished up a bit like that of a pig with an overgrown mouth which made them look rather creepy. ¡°Look at this squishy goblin, he thinks he¡¯s something because he¡¯s pink.¡± One of the yellow goblins laughed a bit and poked its pudgy finger at James which he simply stepped back so he wouldn¡¯t get touched by the slimy thing. ¡°I¡¯m not.. a goblin.¡± He looked over the two goblins in front of him, he could tell they weren¡¯t much stronger than the usual goblins around him maybe enough to take on two of them due to their bigger size. They couldn¡¯t be Hobgoblins, he wondered why they were yellow instead of the usual green of the other goblins. ¡°Eh, what do you think you¡¯re a hobgoblin already or some variant?¡± The first one looked annoyed as his finger touched nothing, so he grabbed at the dagger to his side. It was larger than the dagger the usual goblins had, and a shiny black like the kobold weapons but was sturdier. Once the dagger was grabbed James reached forward, a light flashing along his eyes as the arm of the yellow goblin exploded in a pop of bones, blood, and flesh. With a quick grab, the dagger was now his. He held the dagger up to look at it, it was indeed something different, this had the cool touch of metal rather than the feel of glass that obsidian had.
Skill gained Persuasion!
He looked confused for a second, then ignored it tucking the dagger into his belt, the new feat that he had gotten was more powerful than he thought. It made him a bit worried about the creatures of this world, if they could handle something like this then he needed to get stronger much faster than he was currently. As the yellow goblin clutched at its arm screaming in pain, James walked slowly past him, the other looking at him horrified as he tried to move his body to cover up his own dagger. He wasn¡¯t quite sure if that was the reason his friend got his hand blown off in that moment. The ones watching James all this time seemed to back off leaving a wide circle where no goblins dared cross. The Elder also seemed to lose his stride in the conversation, a few strands of hair left on the bridge behind them fearing this would anger the pink goblin. Seeing that his face remained expressionless the goblin sighed in relief. To be honest, James was wondering why he was so apathetic towards the goblins, like their lives didn¡¯t mean much to him. Strangely enough the system answered him for the first time.
Wisdom: Keeps your emotions steady, and helps in times of crisis letting you choose the right path ahead of you based on past experience.
Would that mean the more wisdom the less he¡¯d feel, the less he¡¯d care about the world around him? He shook his head. This didn¡¯t seem right, he felt like this lessened the impact on him so he could control his emotions better, not lack them like a sociopath. Nodding he looked back to the Elder who was now staying a step behind his own, ¡°So a feast.. I would gladly love to join you. Can I get fresh meat though?¡± The Elder looked disgusted for a moment, ¡°Fresh meat doesn¡¯t have any flavor, you have to let it rot for at least a week or two!¡± This elder was a bit of a glutton so he knew you had to let the meat rot in some high quality mold before the meat would truly bring out its flavor. ¡°Trust me, I¡¯ll show you how we prepare our food where I¡¯m from, it might even make you as strong as me.¡± James smiled a bit as the Elder grinned, showing his teeth in a friendly but at the same time predatory way. The Elder probably had a few things up his sleeves, but he didn¡¯t bother with them, he didn¡¯t want to make this old goblin his enemy anyway. ¡°Do you have spell casters, or shamans within your goblins.¡± The Elder visibly paled, this was a well kept secret from most other species, their shamans kept their people from getting sick or injured. Without them many more goblins would die and it would be harder to expand their numbers. As an Elder, even if he didn¡¯t admit it to his less intelligent subjects, he knew that James was not a goblin even though he kept insisting that he was. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wish to learn from them not harm them.¡± Smiling as the green came back to the Elder¡¯s cheeks. ¡°Not many people can learn from shamans, they deal with unknown magics that most races can¡¯t touch on. The very souls within our bodies, calling upon the spirits to heal us.¡± James¡¯s smile became a grin as he nodded, hoping that he¡¯d learn a bit more about his own class and skills from these shamans. Though the rest of the trip was heavy, and awkward as they walked one worried that some of the other goblins would attack and ruin their visitor¡¯s mood, and the other trying to think over his plans now that he was here. The last of the climb only took them another thirty minutes navigating the vines, the goblin pointed at branches that were marked in red cloth and told James that that was the quickest way down if he had balance of at least level 5, then suggested that he visit the goblin¡¯s training area if he didn¡¯t. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality,¡± James laid down his bags in one of the Elder¡¯s rooms, to lay down for the rest of the night. Wondering how the sun got down from the far off canopy of the trees, and with that final thought the first day in this world came to an end. A blue box appeared after James fell asleep.
7.5 billion people before expansion
5.25 billion after expansion
4.2 billion after day 1
Calculating prize for first day of survival¡­