《From God to goblin》 Prologue - 00 Fleeing at the top speed I can possibly muster, I hold the bleeding stump that is my arm. Looking over my shoulder I see the faces of traitors and all that I can feel is intense waves of madness boiling in my heart. I had spent all my life at the peak of the heavens free and unfettered by even the Jade emperor himself, who held me in high regard. There were very few who could match my might within the heavenly kingdom as I had collected many manuals and techniques for cultivation. I had memorized each and every one of them so I had often been asked for advice regarding cultivation. Yet here I am fleeing for my life from some of those very people who used to look up to me in awe and respect, listening to them demand for my manuals claiming they are the property of the heavens, and the heavens belong to the new Jade emperor! Absolute bullshit! I naturally refused as they are my own property that I had collected from ancient ruins and dangerous mystic realms, so here I am with all of the current court of the heavens chasing me down. Amidst the sound of the weakening of my life force with each beat of my heart, a shout comes from behind me, interrupting the steady rhythm. "Ziyou Tiankong! For not conforming to the new imperial court, and withholding that which belongs the heavens, your punishment is execution! If you surrender now, we can avoid shattering your soul and gift you with the opportunity to reincarnate again!" Looking back with contempt and a sneer on my face I stare straight into the new God of war''s eyes with clear disdain and scoff. "You traitors have no right over the heavens. Karma exists, and for deposing the emperor who was so kind to us all, It will come to bite you in the ass later." The God of war''s eyes widen and his mouth twists into a frown, veins throbbing on his forehead, he scoffs "Then your life is forfeit." Lifting his hands, thousands of beams of light converge upon my position, seeking to eradicate me. I lift my left hand to block with my spatial ring and grin widely. As if afraid, the beams of light completely change directions to avoid my body. It is no wonder since all the manuals they want are in my spatial ring, and if it is destroyed, they will all be lost. "You-" the war god stutters after realizing my intents "-Don''t you dare" Taking advantage of his hesitation, I push my energy to the limits, further increasing the strain on my meridians. I feel my foundation trembling as it starts to crack. I look around my surrounding in despair hoping to find my way out of this situation to strike back again. And then i see it. Gaping wide, like the jaws of a demon, a stitch in the fabric of space in time. Something extremely rare and equally as dangerous. A place that not even gods are willing to enter as it will rip apart their souls and shred their bodies, leaving nothing left. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Making a quick decision, I head straight for it. No one knows what will happen if I enter the spatial crack as no one of my cultivation base has ever entered one before - no one ever had the need, or was stupid enough to try. Jumping straight into the spatial tear, I look back to see the dumbfounded faces of all the immortals behind me as they realize what just did. I had not only escaped but they had lost all chances they had at getting their hands on my knowledge. The next thing I know, darkness engulfs me as I feel my soul tugged out of my body. It splits right at the points it connects to. my body starts to contort at odd angles and rips, yet even though my soul is no longer attached to it, I can still feel the pain. Calming my mind, I do the only thing I possibly can and use a Buddhist sutra to relax my mind and cultivate my soul while bearing the pain. After ages of this, the pain stops, and I feel myself drifting. No pain. No pleasure, yet I am definitely drifting in this darkness. After a while I feel my soul tugged at once again, however, this time, it is not violent, but feels like a gentle breeze, slowly pulling me to some focal point. When I reach the focal point, I feel my soul reconnect to something, and with joy, I open my eyes to see where I ended up, only to see a large green face with enlarged lower canine teeth, sparse hair, and beady red eyes. "....... what the hell...." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey guys! thanks for reading my first chapter! I didn''t do a whole lot of details on looks because I figured this was the prologue and how the character''s look wasn''t that important, and only served to set up a background for the main character. I''ve been playing around with this idea for a while and didn''t want to get too into character description until the actual storyline starts because I don''t intend to have a human main character, and his past life will only serve to give him knowledge. Comments and Constructive Criticism are welcome, as I would actually like to improve upon my writing so that this story does not end up boring and without readers. The whole point of this is to share a story that comes from my mind to you guys, so any tips on improving my writing as a whole will be much appreciated. I do not intend on letting readers make many decisions (I might let you choose names or something simple, but nothing essential to the plot), because then it wouldn''t be my story anymore :P Circumstance - 01 It has been about a week since I landed here. There are several things I realized upon entering this strange world. I realized that this realm is not connected to the heavenly lands in any way, shape or form, which is proven by a few different things. First is that the laws of this plane do not correspond with the laws in the heavenly kingdom where I''m from. In fact they have absolutely no connection at all. The creatures birthed in these lands grow completely differently than those in my original realm. The second reason I noticed this, is that upon attempting to cultivate, my body was racked with intense pain caused by the heavenly energy. The energy is extremely violent and primordial in nature. The energy almost resembles how the heavenly plane was before it was developed through constant use in cultivation. Here I stand looking at my reflection in a puddle of water on the outskirts of this "settlement" I was born in. I stare in awe at how absolutely hideous I am. In the water I see a creature with dark green skin. It''s height is roughly one meter tall, with a permanent slouch caused by it''s bone structure. It''s feet are gnarled and the toe nails are a shade of yellow that makes them look less than flattering. On short stubby legs sits a protruding stomach which is directly over the pelvis. It''s arms are long reaching to it''s knees, and on it''s hands are three stubby fingers and a thumb, all with swollen joints. The creatures face in sharp and angular while it''s chin juts out. It''s lips are pale and protruding from the lower jaw are two canines that extend over the upper lip. It''s eyes are beady yellow orbs that slightly glow in the dark. On top of the creatures head is a sparse amount of pitch black hair neatly tied back in pony tail. The most notable feature however, is the large nose in the center of it''s face, capable of fitting three fingers in each nostril. "So I''m called a goblin......" I sigh to myself. The "settlement" I was born in is actually a base of operations for the high level goblin folk. Every goblin here has grown what they call a magic pool enough to be able to "evolve", or what I have analyzed as a purification of their bloodline. Even my siblings are considered as hobgoblins. I am the only one in this camp with this demeaning form. This means that my bloodline is more impure compared to the rest of the settlement, and my innate talent is much worse tan my surroundings. Looking back upon the main part of the settlement, I see a bustle of humanoid figures, all much taller than me. They all look similar to humans - aside from their skin color and teeth - but the higher the position on has, the closer they look to a human. The only exceptions to this rule, are myself, and my father. I am different for the fact that I am a goblin, however my father is of the general class of goblins. He is currently the highest level of goblin since the goblin king died in the last war where we invaded the human lands. He has a bulky figure that resembles a body builder. His eyes are red and his nose is a normal size. I sometimes mistake him for one of the demons back on my plane, but his nature is not as bloodthirsty as them. He is not necessarily a good father figure, as he sired several children with different hobgoblin women in our camp, and he looks at us all as if we are just pawns to be used and sacrificed. The buildings themselves are all simple square shaped houses completely made of wood, with the exception of a large stone building that resembles a countryside mansion. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Turning my attention inwards I assess my main concern for the moment. What technique should I cultivate in? This world has brutal heavenly energy, meaning the technique has to be able to calm my heart to endure, or withstand the pain and forge my body into a living weapon. The other issue is my body. I have already decided that I need to get my hands on something with decent magical energy in order to use a body reshaping ritual to rebuild my meridians. The problem is that this body has an excess of yang, and if I were to use a cultivation technique to nullify that, I''d end up destroying my will or ability to do that kind of thing for the rest of my life. After thinking for a while, I decide to choose a demonic cultivation path that will purify my demonic bloodline. Since goblins are a race that is in between human and demonic, I can go either way, however I will never be truly human, and that''s the last thing I would ever want. Being disliked by all the races is the worst idea I can have. The only negative it will have is that it might heighten my impulses, yet even so, I figure it''s demonic or nothing. Putting these thoughts away, as I have no way to do these things without rebuilding my body, I think of the final dilemma that is on my mind. I know absolutely nothing about this world. I have no information, or any way to get information. Aside from instinctively knowing the language, there is no way to learn in this settlement. No books, no messages passed. Everything is by word of mouth. The only written book in the entire settlement is a book of demonic languages, which is possessed by the general. Everything I have learned, are all conclusions I came up with due to context. At this moment, I notice a figure appear behind me in the reflection of the puddle as it slowly gets closer. "The general calls for us" A less than attractive hobgoblin grunts to me. In his eyes is obvious disdain, and I can tell his dissatisfaction with me, even without his gaze, his body language expresses a complete disregard for me as a living entity. I am nothing but a bug in his eyes, however this does not matter since in the future he will have no right to do anything but grovel in my presence. This rude person actually happens to be one of my older half-siblings. His announcement of our father needing us causes confusion within me, yet I do as told, and follow him back to the main building in the center of the settlement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey all! Hope you enjoyed!!!! Comments, criticism and everything of that nature are welcome. If it''s bad, I might rewrite in the future :P I already have a plan for where this is leading, and sadly for today, I had to do some world building rather than going straight into plot. Also I have no idea what to name this character. I''m taking suggestions, so please place in the comments below! Oh and just a heads up, I am not going to put "Gobu" as a part of his name. He won''t be a normal goblin forever, sooooo yeah. Also, Chapters may get longer depending on how much time I have to write, so I haven''t decided on a regular schedule or word amount Anyways, Thanks for reading! Test - 02 Hey guys! before I get started on this chapter, I''d like to clear a few things up from the previous chapter: Language is instinctual. Since Goblins are creatures driven by instinct, and aren''t quite human and aren''t quite demon, they are similar to animals in that regard as they can differentiate sounds from birth. If necessary I can go back and add that to the previous chapter. Goblin society: This group of Goblins is more advanced than simple goblins because they are remnants of the Goblin King''s army. Normal groups of goblins are called feral goblins, and are the ones that regularly attack/pillage/rape/ everything a normal goblin does in western settings. I intend on going over this information as well as continuing world building in the next few chapters. As goblins are inferior creatures with limited knowledge base, there will not be a massive info dump in a single chapter over the whole world, but it will be gradual. There won''t even be an official map or major land marks until further down the story, but will be separated in ways such as Human territory, and demon territory. Alright and now for the Chapter! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In front of a large Humanoid with rippling Muscles that don''t seem humanly possible to achieve, are twelve hobgoblins of varying gender, and a single goblin. The goblin is me of course, while the rippling mass of muscles appears to be my so called father. Next to him is a demon with average appearance, looking almost no different from a human aside from the short horns that resemble a ram''s. Under our feet are thirteen circles with various symbols drawn on them, all looking very similar with a few differences in the center of each circle. All of us are standing on different circle as we were told upon entering this room. "We are the last remnants of the Goblin king''s army which was wiped out after our attempted invasion into the human territory five years ago." General grunts, all the while looking at each of us calculatingly. "All of you are my children, and have the highest chances of attaining my level of power at the very least. You were each bred specifically, and with only one failure, I am relatively pleased." he says after glancing in my direction. "In ten years, the end of a millennium will occur, where the human champion and the demon emperor will fight to achieve Godhood. Before that clash occurs, we the goblin tribes need to prepare strong warriors for the oncoming war." He pauses here and takes a deep breath. "You shall all be taken to different goblin tribes to learn how to control a force, as well as fight. Depending on how well your magical prowess grows, as well as your success in leading the tribe you shall be sent to, one of you shall be sent to the demon capital to learn greater magics to further enhance your chances at reaching the king rank. Unfortunately I am too old, or I would go myself. Normally goblins are incapable of learning any magic other than body enhancement, but if you are capable enough, becoming king of all under my jurisdiction is not just a silly idea." After saying all of this he speaks a few words in a foreign tongue to the demon next to him. "This is a demon whose life I saved during the goblin campaigns a few years back. He is responsible for teleporting you all to your respective tribes. Seek out the tribe leader for guidance, they all know my goals. Make their tribe recognize you when you are strong enough and take leadership of the tribe. Your time limit is 2 years." With a wave of a hand, all of the circles beneath or feet light up with the exception of mine. All of my half-siblings disappear and the circles beneath them peel off the floor and disappear as if they were never there. Looking at me, the general frowns and thinks for a moment. "You did not inherit my blood very strongly. Quite a disappointment." He shifts his eyes thoughtfully and returns them back to my face. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it."You will be sent to the human territory to prove your usefulness. Take command of a feral goblin tribe and make them a real fighting force. Don''t think of returning if you do not at least reach the level of a normal hobgoblin. You will also return with the goblins to have them join with the rest of our ranks. Good luck getting through the human territory, your only other option is death. Those that aren''t useful can only die. Oh, and upon teleportation, the magic outburst will attract the attention of human mages, so it would be wise to run." My eyes open wide as i realize the implications of his words and I shudder at the fact that I very well may die. Living in hiding in the human territory is not wise, as goblins are regularly hunted to reduce their population. The feral goblin tribes have a strength is everything rule, and the strongest is the leader. From what I understand they are uncivilized and very few of them ever reach the level of hobgoblin which limits their intelligence to at most that of children. Wlhen a flash of light fills my vision, I panic and attempt to take a step back but I am no longer standing in front of the general, but a clearing in the middle of a wooded area. The smell abruptly changes to that of nature, and the sound changes to that of birds flapping their wings to get away from my sudden appearance. Remembering the general''s words about mages, I lift feet standing only on my toes and lean forward to shift my body weight. Leaving only the smallest tracks possible while avoiding as many twigs and leaves as possible, I pick a direction and run. General''s P.O.V "Wilde, why did you make me waste mana on a useless runt?" Looking at the demon with consideration I think about that child. When he first opened his eyes, there was intelligence. His eyes looked as if they had been through many years, even though he was just born. His gaze was scrutinizing. Definitely not the the eyes of a child. Even though everyone in the camp treats him with disdain, he returns their gazes with indifference. "He is far smarter than the rest of the bunch. I made his task much harder because if I''m right, he may not be as useless than he appears." I reply to the demon, being careful of my words. If I say anything to directly refute the demon, he may kill me in anger. The only reason he is doing this is to repay the favor he owes me for saving his life. Narrowing his eyes the demon stares at me as if deciding on his next course of action. "Whatever you say. With this, I am no longer indebted to you." With flash, the demon disappears and everything is silent. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey guys! Some more world building in this chap, as well as giving the character a direction and goals! If there is anything that is not clear, just say in the comments and I will clean it up later. I am currently self editing and am really tired, so while it might make sense to me, the wording of a few things might not be right. Also for names, The main character won''t get an official name until he has some achievements. kinda like a title. Next chapter actual stuff will happen! I will try my hand at action scenes pretty soon, we''ll see where that goes as I have never done one myself before, but if it looks bad to me, I''ll just delay release till I''m satisfied with it. Ah, one more thing just to clarify if it doesn''t make sense from context clues: The main character has not cultivated at all because he has to reform his body, so he can''t use movement techniques. He can only do his best to run as fast as possible with taking as light steps as possible while running. Thanks for reading! Run Like Hell - 03 Hey guys! Sorry for the late release! In return, you''ll get more than 1 release today! depends on how well I can plan it out though :/ and now for the next chapter~ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sprinting as fast as I can, I use my soul to perceive the energy in the air and realize there is a residual lingering energy left behind from the teleportation. This is extremely bad for my situation, I can be easily tracked this way. I currently realize the dire need to find something to ''mask my scent'' so to speak. The area is wooded with thick with undergrowth but with sparse trees. In the distance I can see some sort of mountain, and where I am currently headed is towards that mountain, looking for a source of water. So long as I find the source, Perhaps I can rid myself of the residual energy by bathing in the energy of natural mountain water. Hearing noise to my left I look and see a large brutish monster. It has paler green skin than myself, and a pigs face. It has fat that bulges around the edges of its loosely fitting, torn gray pants. In it''s hands are a rusty great sword that looks crudely made. I see it take a deep breath and it smiles as saliva drips from it''s mouth. "SMELL MANA. LITTLE GOBLIN.... FOOD!" Listening to the abomination of pig and man''s broken goblin speech, I shudder realizing the energy I am currently emitting is attracting the attention of the larger creatures in this forest. Considering a high class demon used his magic, and I am only a goblin, that makes me look like a tasty meal for any creature within range of the energy. And not only do I look tasty, I am like a flashlight in a dark cave. Everything can sense me in the area. Hearing extremely heavy footsteps from behind me, I turn my head and see the greenish blob of meat sprinting after me with all it''s might. Considering it''s more than double my height, I freak out at the sheer speed that this monster is able to move at with it''s size. Throwing precaution into the wind, I no longer run with the carefulness that I had been, and ignore all the twigs and leaves in my path. My running is no longer silent, causing crunching sounds to appear with every step as I run. looking forward, I see a shallow ravine in my path about 100 meters ahead. Passing through the trees, I grab a low hanging branch of a long dead tree, using my running momentum to snap it off. Using my hands to quickly break off all the smaller branches. The branch, which is about two inches in diameter, and a meter and a half long sharpens to a point at the end. Seeing the ravine getting closer I turn my head to once again see the pig man, but this time it is practically breathing down my neck with how close it is. Closing my eyes I jump. Feeling my back scrape against the side of a rock I open my eyes to see a thirty meter drop before me with a steep incline. I see shallow water at the bottom, with a narrow shore. About twenty five meters down the incline is a straight five meter drop. Feeling the skin on my back ripping to shreds, I cry out. Hearing a cry from behind me, I realize the oaf has made it, however he isn''t sliding down as fast. Looking up, I see the folds of his skin catching on various rocks, slowing his descent. Bracing myself, I feel weightlessness as the ground disappears beneath me. Landing harshly, I climb back up and retreat closer to the wall. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. In less than 3 seconds, a ball of flesh falls butt first right in front of me. Raising my makeshift weapon. I pierce at it''s weakest point - it''s anus. "ARRRGH RAAA" a distressed roar comes from it. The wood sinks about a foot deep into it''s body. I pull my hand back, making a palm, and slap the rear end of the tree branch to force it further in, causing it to sink in about half a foot further. The monster rolls on the wet ground and glares at me with bloodshot eyes full of rage. It pulls itself along with it''s sword while blood pools up underneath him. I know I can''t overpower this beast anymore than I already have done, So without any sort of farewell, I jump into the shallow waters of the creek that splits the ravine. The water turns red from the blood that comes off my back, but it is a shallow wound and will heal in a short time. ????? P.O.V I sense a large burst of magic going off to the right of my territory and witness a goblin appear from nowhere. Seeing this creature, I feel a strong ambient mana force come from it''s body, yet it slowly starts to fade. It is just noticeable enough that most larger beasts would recognize that a teleportation spell was used on the goblin, rather than it coming directly off the goblin. I was almost attracted enough to eat it, but goblins taste nasty, so recognizing it had no special properties I decide to ignore it. Heh... only lower class beasts like orcs would make a stupid mistake and decide to eat it. Main Character P.O.V. Being swept away by the cool waters of the ravine, I feel a slight stinging on my back, however the waters are clean, so it slowly starts to feel comfortable. The adrenaline running through my body wears off and all I feel is fatigue. My new body is extremely weak, so running as fast as I did for as long as I did was purely possible only due to willpower that I had developed for a few thousand years. relaxing on my back and steadying my breath, I calm my body, cross my fingers, and hope nothing eats me as I close my eyes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey guys! So a friend of mine recommended for names that I look up words in old English or the different Scandinavian languages since goblins in folklore appeared during the middle ages in northwestern Europe. Any thoughts on that? This is my first time writing any sort of action scene, so if it wasn''t smoothly transitioned, or it was poorly pulled off, I''d enjoy some tips or something, maybe I can edit it by tomorrow? I threw in some puns in there by accident and didn''t realize it until I reread it. I thought it was funny, but(t) if you think that was terrible and it should be a serious story 100% of the time, go ahead and say so in the comments. Also, Please answer the poll. Waking up - 04 Alright guys! Second chapter of the day! Let''s get right into the chapter! ~After edit note. I realize they are more barbaric, so I simplified some of Bearg''s words. I intend to make him a little older than most of the tribe so even though his speech has mostly simple words, he is still can talk more fluently. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *cough cough* Spitting up water I blearily open my eyes. Struggling to get up I look around and see that I no longer in the ravine. After finally managing to sit up, I realize that I am on a rock land on the edge of a clear stream. I look down at myself and realize I am naked. The simple cloths that I was wearing until now were gone. I never wore a shirt because I was never given one, however my cloth pants were there to imply that I wasn''t a savage, and to preserve my sense of dignity. I wasn''t even spared a loincloth to cover my small member. I cast my soul about and realize the residual heavenly energy surrounding me is gone. Sniffing, I smell meat and look away from the river and myself for the first time. A group of 3 goblins sit eating around a fire, shoving their faces into half cooked meat from some unknown beast. There is no carcass but a lot of slabs of raw meat were scattered around the ground. As one of them realizes I am awake, presumably the leader, he heads over in my direction with an old and simple knife in his hand. I notice he is wearing my pants. "Did you kill orc upstream?" He speaks with a strange grin. Running through my head the meaning of ''orc'' I think back to the pig man I left for dead before jumping into the river. I nod my head, to which he smiles. "which tribe are you from?" He says, keeping his grip on his knife as he heads closer. "I am a loner. I have no tribe as they were wiped out a few months back by orcs." I lie smoothly "Currently I don''t know where I am. Also I wonder if I can have my pants back?" I smile harmlessly, making myself look as weak as possible. "Ah. Scima Tribe survivor then" He relaxes his grip "We are hunters from the Gasric tribe. And no you can''t have your pants back, I saved your life so they are mine." he giggles creepily. "how about joining us. We can bring back this meat and Hama will be happy. With all the monsters about recently, many warriors have died." Thinking for a moment, I hone in on one word "Hama?" With a gleam in his eye, the goblin says spiritedly "Hama is our leader! He is a fearless warrior, and the only hobgoblin in our tribe!" Then his eyes dim a little and he says "If only he would get more mana stones, we''d be able to have a few more hobgoblins like some of the other tribes." "Mana stones?" I question. Looking at me confusedly, he asks "How do you not know what mana stones are?" "In my tribe information was blocked to lower members. They didn''t want anyone to get stronger all of the sudden to take over the leader''s position." I continue to lie. "Well mana stones are found in magic beasts. If we eat one, we can become hobgoblins. Hama killed a burrow snake with a mana crystal and became a hobgoblin. That is how he got his name." Thinking upon this information, I can infer two things. First is that the tribe is in dire straits and might be starving. The fact that this goblin stole my pants and is the only one wearing any semblance of clothes proves that they are poor, or their ''fearless leader'' is hoarding everything they receive. The second thing is that this leader of theirs is probably cowardly. Considering he didn''t fight more magic beasts in order to strengthen his tribe, He is either afraid of fighting magic beasts, or afraid of someone getting stronger than him. I''m willing to bet it is a combination of both considering he is staying in a destitute tribe even though he is a hobgoblin. Thinking to here, I make my decision. I need to get my hands on mana stones for my ritual. It won''t be easy, but this tribe seems unregulated. I can sneak away fairly easily, and can search for weaker beasts to kill. furthermore, it will be easy to take position of leader of the tribe if the leader is cowardly. All I have to do from then is educate this group of savages as well as strengthen them. When I myself am strong enough, perhaps I can attempt to reduce the dilution of there bloodline, or change it entirely. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "Alright. I need a tribe. I will join you guys." I say with a toothy smile. With agreement from the other three goblins, we head off in the direction of the trees towards the village, dragging all of the chunks of meat that were scattered about on a sled made of wood. Arriving at a clearing, I look about and am completely speechless by what I see. Around thirty or so goblins are sitting around doing absolutely nothing. There is no wall to this village, and the houses are made of wood with thatched roofs. All of them except for one are rotting, and including the Center hut, there are a total of 5 huts. In front the only hut that looks livable, a single hobgoblin sits in full fur clothing while most of the rest of the goblins are almost naked. I see only one female goblin, and that one is inside the hobgoblins hut lying passed out on the floor. Most of the goblins look emaciated aside from the three that I arrived with, and two others that are sitting with the hobgoblin. "Hama! We found warrior from Scima! Together, us four managed to defeat an orc and bring back it''s meat!" The lead goblin of the hunters gestures to the sled behind him. Hama looks up with a thoughtful look on his face and directs a question at me. "What rank were you in your tribe?" "I was but a low rank warrior that had just recently been allowed to go hunting before our tribe fell. I have been barely living by myself by eating small animals and fruits" I reply. I spun a bunch of lies in order to deceive the hobgoblin. I must not make him think I am strong enough to threaten him, only strong enough to take down an orc with the help of three others. I claim that I was living off small animals and vegetation in order to show that I am useful in a few ways. I do not want him feeling that I am a threat to him before it is too late. "You took down an orc. How about we name you. Bearg sounds like a good name." The hobgoblin mutters. "I wouldn''t dare. If it wasn''t for these three beside me, I would have died without a corpse. I believe one of them should receive the name." I say. I do not want to be stuck with a name like Bearg. That sounds terrible. "Alright." He points to the lead goblin hunter, "Your name is now Bearg. Congratulations" A bright smile appears on Bearg''s face as he laughs. "It is all thanks to these comrades. Us three would die against an orc. I hope the Scima hunter will be apart of my hunting team, maybe we could take down some more orcs and feed the tribe." "It would also mean more meat for you Hama. More meat for the tribe is more meat for you." I quickly cut in. From what I can tell, he is debating this. I''m not sure if the other two goblins are a hunting group by themselves, but I don''t want to risk being put under their watch. They seem more vigilant about me, and look closer to Hama. After weighing the pros and cons, Hama looks at me, and says "Alright. But you must bring back meat. Half your shares go directly to me." "Yes sir" I give an insincere smile. And that is how I became a member of the Gasric tribe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hey guys. A bit longer of a chapter. Like always please comment and give me constructive criticism. Oh and for names, They were all translated from old English. Scima: Roughly means gloom, twilight - so they are like the shadow tribe Gasric: roughly means savage Bearg: Boar/pig Hama: Snake Thanks for reading Ghost wood tree - 05 After living in this village for a week, I have come to know a lot more about it''s situation. One of the major Things I''ve learned is that this village runs on a caste system. Once you''re born into it, you can never get out. That explains why a majority of the tribe lays around doing nothing, rather than hunting. The leader of the tribe has the most authority, so obviously that would be Hama. Next is the warrior caste. The warrior caste consists of both hunters, and guards. The hunters are currently higher position than the guards because we are currently dealing with a food problem. Next is the laborers, which is the lowest current caste we have. Because they rarely leave the village, they lack fighting experience and can''t do anything for themselves aside from slowly starving to death. After that would be outcasts, prisoners, or outsiders such as myself, however I am a valued hunter so they didn''t put me in this caste. After interacting with the lower castes, I have found out that their intelligence is vastly inferior to the higher castes. Apparently the lower your caste, the less interactions with Hama, the less smart you are. This is because they are all learning from imitating, and they are imitating less than perfect imitations of Hama. That being said, The "laborers" are only capable of simple sentences, while the hunters can hold conversation, and finally Hama himself, is capable of complex words and thought along with fluent conversation. Everyday we have caught numerous small animals and brought back plenty of edible plants for the laborers. My ideal would be to beef them all up a bit so they can actually start some work. The first thing I''ve decided to do when I take over, is abolish this caste system. It is so bothersome to have useless people who can''t hunt for themselves. Some other information I''ve gathered is that about magic beasts. There are very few magic beasts that live in the area, but there is one that is considered particularly dangerous. Bearg explained that behind the village a little ways back is a ghost wood tree which is especially dangerous, which is why we don''t usually hunt in that direction. From what I understand, it is a pitch black tree with a core of fire. The tree of course is resistant to fire, so burning it down won''t work. The tree itself isn''t that dangerous if you don''t get too close to it because it can''t actually see. What makes it scary is the vast network of vines and roots it has spread on other trees and the surface of the ground. It does this to make up for sight. As soon as stimuli affects it, those vines and roots will latch on and drain their prey of life force. I am currently standing on the outskirts of the network of roots and vines wearing nothing but a belt with a crudely made stone knife. In my left hand is a torch, and in my right is a bucket of water. I am currently doing the most stupid thing anyone could ever think of. Using the strength of a goblin to put out the fire of a ghost wood tree with nothing but a bucket of water at night. Over the past week, I have worked on mostly cardio and flexibility in my free time, and although not optimal, I have a time constraint. I don''t want to be stuck in this forest forever, so getting this mana stone is imperative to my growth. Taking a deep breath I step into the minefield. Avoiding any sort of root and ducking between branches and vines, I carefully walk to the center of this large circular "net". The closer I get, the denser the vines, the thicker the roots. This is going to be a problem. As I get closer, I have to start walking on the front of my feet rather than my whole foot. Step by step, I place my feet carefully between each root, all the while avoiding vines. That atmosphere is eerie. There is no sound of insects, and the wind does not blow. The leaves up above are black and densely spread making it feel as if I am in a cave. The fact that it''s night does not make it any better. Further in, I have to turn my body sideways in order to fit between the vines. My speed has drastically slowed down compared to when I first started at the front of this pathway. Finally I reach something that can be considered progress. In front of me, is a wall of vines with extremely small openings in between. There is only one way to enter into the inner sanctuary of this tree. I can see from behind the vines is a dull reddish glow. I inch towards the small goblin sized opening in the vines and look down, seeing a huge thick root right below it about a foot wide. I grit my teeth and choose a weird angle to enter in at. Tensing the muscles in my leg while keeping my heels up, I leap. landing on the other side of the vines and avoiding the root, I land unsteadily on one foot. My body is tipping, so I do everything possible to keep balance. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. After regaining balance I look at my bucket of water in relief at the fact that none has spilled out of the bucket. I change my focus to the location of the flickering red light and see a pitch black tree with what appears to be a mouth-like hollow about a meter from it''s base. The fire inside is but a single candle sized flame that dances back and forth from within the tree. The tree is about ten meters away from my position, and each root that offshoots from the trunk is about a foot thick, and has many smaller roots coming off of them making it impossible to walk further. My hair raises at the sight of it, and only one solution to my dilemma comes to mind. I quickly calm my breath and hold my bucket in front of me. Lowering my body, I jump off the one leg that is still on the ground. Upon landing on a thick root, I dash, attempting to take as big strides as possible while randomizing my direction. As soon as my foot sets down, the tree trembles, and countless roots erupt from the ground. The only stationary roots are the main ones I am standing on. Dodging between roots, I continue to make some distance while avoiding being caught. At about five meters away, I notice the mouth of the tree starts to stretch close. My eyes widen in panic and I throw caution into the wind and head straight for the trunk. Finally reaching the trunk, I splash my entire bucket against the opening. The fire goes out and the whole tree stops moving. I sigh in relief until "SCREEEEE" A piercing cry comes from the tree. All branches, Vines, Leaves, and roots, including the main ones dance wildly, all aiming for me. I dodge and run. There is no way I can fight this as I am right now. As I retreat to five meters from the tree, a small root wraps my ankle, causing me to trip. I fall face first into another root, which causes my nose to bleed. Like an octopus many vines wrap around my entire body, and I feel small pricks from the vines themselves. At this point I feel my soul start to loosen from my body. This damn tree is trying to use my soul to restart it''s fire! Quivering in anger, I bite my tongue and smear it on the root in front of my face, creating a small symbol to be a conduit for my soul. Next I open my mouth wide and bite straight into the symbol. My teeth go through rough bark and meat with a woody interior that tasted like charcoal. As my teeth sunk in, My soul locked itself in place in my body and refused to budge an inch. "SCREEEEEE" realizing my actions, the tree struggled even harder, desperately trying to use it''s vines to pull me from the root, but to no avail. My teeth were firmly wedged into it''s own root, and as it sucked at my soul through it''s many vines, I pulled it back in through it''s roots. With pained thrashing, Blood starts to drip down my body as the prickles in my skin deepen and the vines tighten. But no matter how tight they became, they were incapable of removing from the vine. After about five minutes, the vines started to weaken. After another ten minutes, the tree ceased any movement. Using the symbol between my teeth, I test for it''s life force and realize it''s fully dead. Gather my strength, I wedge myself from out of the vines and pull my teeth out of the bark. I look at my body and see countless scratches running across it. My fatigue has piled up, and frankly I am surprised that I''m actually alive from that encounter. Walking up to the trunk of the tree I reach inside the mouth and knock around until the sound is no longer hollow. Taking my knife, I spend the next thirty minutes carving out the mana stone from the bottom of the tree, right from under where it''s flame was. Pulling it out, I stare in awe at the sky blue crystalline stone in my palm. It is about two inches in diameter and emits a soft light. Using my soul, I feel for the heavenly energy contained within the crystal and sense the amount inside with much delight. There is enough to connect all my meridians and open three of the twelve of them! This would make my talent below average, however the fact that it is strong enough to reconnect them at all is a blessing. As soon as I start the ritual, I can now cultivate! Burying the mana crystal under the tree''s roots, for tomorrow, I whistle a happy tune while walking back to camp. Tomorrow is going to be quite eventful. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey everyone! last chap for the day. Thanks for reading, I kinda got a bit excited this chapter myself!!!! ritual - 06 Waking up the next morning, I look down at my gross looking body to see scratch lines from my ankles all the way to my neck. Seeing so, I cover myself with furs to prevent my hunting mates from being suspicious. Today is the day I change myself, so nothing can go wrong. I also need at least three other goblins as fodder to catch the excess energy from the ritual to prevent alerting the whole forest. Arriving at the center of the camp, I see Bearg and his two companions already waiting for me. "Bearg, I''d like to lead the hunt today, I''m feeling really good" I say to him with a straight face. With nothing but a grunt as a reply, I smile knowing that today was going to be different than all the rest. I pity them in the fact that they should all die today, especially since they have been kind to me in comparison to the terrible leader of this tribe, however it is a necessary sacrifice if I am going to gain any power in this tribe full of illiterate fools. As goblins, we should all be able to instinctually be able to understand each other, however as this is a feral tribe, the fact that I can only speak to Hama, Bearg, and the other hunters will make this quite lonely. Bearg P.O.V Today, the outsider has been acting serious. Something is gonna happen, I can sense it. When we went out to hunt, He went straight towards an orc as if he knew where it was to begin with, and used suprise to kill it real quick. It was the fastest kill I ever saw in my life. Drop from trees. Straight thrust at throat. I cant find the word to say how it was. It didn''t waste time or strength. ''Course I was happy and all but then he said something strange. He didn''t want to eat some and drag the rest home like normal. "Let''s drag the corpse to a clearing outside the range of the ghost wood tree on the east side of the village. If you trust me, I can change us all into hobgoblins." He says Turn us in to hobgoblins?!? Of course I''d be happy, but what does this have to do with the food? "...okay" I grunt in reply, both suspicious and happy. Main Character P.O.V. Sheesh, Bearg is highly suspicious. And naive. If he was any smarter, he would have refused, because the way I offered him to become a hobgoblin was like luring a child away from it''s family with candy. I''m a little ashamed at the way I had done this, but i need to figure out a way to get strong fast. My father didn''t give me a deadline like my siblings, however I am not going to pass up on a chance to learn this world''s unique magics. I am a collector of techniques and spells, and it''s not in my nature to forfeit a chance like this. After dragging the orc corpse to the clearing, which took roughly two hours, between trekking through the forrest and avoiding other creatures and monsters that could eat us, I hung the orc from a tree and dug a pit under it. I slit the skin at several major arteries to allow the blood that is still left in the body to drain. Next, I turn to the three next to me and say "Wait here for me, the tree is dead, I''m retrieving it''s mana core. I''m going to use a method from my old tribe to split it between us so we can all become hobgoblins." I say as I shamelessly blame a dead tribe for all my knowledge on. Looking at me with some fear and shine in their eyes, they obediently wait for my return. Walking through the ghost wood tree''s death zone, I start to see some signs of life appear. Bugs appear occasionally. It appears that it is only a matter of time before bigger creatures realize that the tree is dead. I backtrack my way all the way to the center, and since I am not worried about it attacking me, I go at a much faster pace, arriving in just ten minutes. It takes a total of five to dig out the stone, and another ten to return to the clearing. Upon seeing the sky blue crystal in my hand, the other three goblins widen their eyes in surprise and stare in awe. "Mana Core!" Bearg shouts in exclaim. "I''ve never seen one before... it looks... tasty..." he says as drool drips from his mouth. With disgust, I pocket it and reply "Wait a little and we can all become powerful." I walk over to the pool if blood that has appeared in the ground under the orc corpse. The reason we have to do the ritual here is because even if the other forest inhabitants smell blood, they will likely assume that it is prey of the ghost wood tree, and they will not come to bother with it in fear for their own lives. Ripping some fur off of my terribly made tunic, I wrap it around my hand and dip it in, making it a poorly made paint brush. I walk to the open and start drawing on the ground. The array design starts with a circle with three circles on the edge, and two connecting circlesin the center. Outside the infinity, I place symbols for fire, water, wood, earth, and metal. Everything from here is connected with lines. The array is only three meters in diameter, making it a fairly small one, however it will serve it''s purpose. Next I sit in one of the loops of the inner circles and gesture towards the other three goblins.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Sit in one of the circles and we can begin." I say to them. The next action they do leaves me baffled. All three of them walk to the same circle across from me and stand in it. "Umm... we don''t all fit in one of the circles" Bearg looks at me with an embarassed expression. I stare blankly for a moment and realize they took my words literally and sigh. "Haaaa..... each of you in different circles please." I struggle to keep my voice sounding calm. Following my directions correctly this time, they all sit down with serious expressions. "If you leave the circle before it is done, you will die a very painful death. It might hurt a little so bare with it for a bit." I scared them to make sure they didn''t have any ideas about leaving Ignoring the hint of panic on their faces, I took the crystal out and placed it on the adjacent circle. Upon making contact, the crystal started to glow. As the glow got brighter, the crystal melted into liquid and spread over the circle. Upon making contact with the lines of blood, it intermixed colors turing a dark shade of purple that steadily glowed. The liquid crystal traveled along the formation until there was none left, however it continued to intermix with the blood until it covered the entire array, as the color of the purple started to lean towards the red side. Upon the completion of this step, energy from the formation poured into my body. Starting from my feet, my bones made cracking noises as they twisted out of shape and compressed into normal looking human feet with a dark green tint. The hair on my feet receded until it was nonexistent. The bone cracking pain followed up my legs until it reached my knees, and with a pop, my kneecaps popped inwards until they looked like a normal childs. continuing upwards until it reached my pelvic bone. At this point, I felt my meridians from my legs connect, however they did not open. At the pelvic bone, the two pelvic girdles snapped in place at a normal angle, as opposed to the previous tilted one. I felt my coccyx vertebre start to burn as it pulled back a little. The burning was accompanied by cracking as the twisted spine slowly started to stretch out and curl in the correct places. Without uttering a groan, I look upwards to see how the other three are doing, only to see a comfortable and relaxed look on their faces. This shocks me as I am going through intense pain, and they look like they are taking a pleasant nap while sitting up. At this point, a sharp pain assaults my shoulder blades as they pull back and stretch with a click. With my spine lengthened out, my arms now longer reach down to my knees, however they were forward on my body, making them look like they just dangled forwards from my clavicle. They pulled back and started to look like normal arms. With most of my body done, I feel most of my meridians have all been shifted correctly. Next is on to my head. I feel instead of grinding or searing pain, I feel extreme pressure, like my face is being compressed. My jaw clicks back as my chin shrinks, and my nose melts and reforms. My ears slowly start to melt, but they stop after a certain point, leaving my ears pointed. My forhead feels intense pressure, as the bone is being shrunk to no longer appear like it is overhanging. The last pain is something I have felt before from my previous life. The expansion of the eyes. At this moment, an intense pain shoots through my eyes like they are being gouged out with a spoon while stabbing right through my cornea with a knife. Slowly, my iris turns orange from the muddy yellow they used to be. When all this is complete what is left is a short green child with pointy ears and orange eyes. I inspect the inside of my body thinking that the formation is complete and see three of my meridians are cleared. The other twelve have been moved in place, and are capable of being cleared by me. What baffles me next, however is that the energy in the formation has not died down yet. I see it compressing in my brain. I panic and try to expel it as quick as possible, however it is adamant about just building up without releasing. Feeling the pressure rising, I have no idea what to do when all of the sudden the rising energy compresses into a magic core a quarter of a centimeter in diameter. It pulsates with a dim glow, and I feel energy course through my body. It feels like I am aclimating to this worlds primal energy with the addition of this mana core. It is a little different from the dantian but it seems to serve a similar purpose. What I''m confused about is how I have my dantian and this mana core, so I don''t know how having two energy sources is going to affect my growth. With a sigh of relief when I notice the formation die down, I look out at the other three. They all seem a little taller. As if they are growing into their arms. Spreading my soul perception out, I notice they all have accumulated magic cores in their heads, all of which are bigger than mine. All of their meridians seem connected, however only one is cleared. In each of them. Returning my soul perception back, I look at their bodily changes when I realize they all appear as hobgoblins. All three of them. Not as big as Hama, but you can tell that each one of them is several times stronger than before. "It worked outsider! It worked! We really became Hobgoblins!" Bearg shouts with clear joy on his face. The other two clearly showing equal amount of excitement. Of course, I am surpised at this outcome, but with the laws of this world being so different, I guess it is not safe to say all my predictions will be correct in comparison to the previous worlds. Thinking to here, I have an idea in mind, and these three will be good allies for my taking over the tribe. "Bearg, I don''t know if you realize, but our tribe is weak. Under the leadership of Hama, everyone is barely eating and there is only one hobgoblin. You know I am capable of strengthening us all, how about you support me as I challenge Hama for leadership. Under my rule, I believe we can all become hobgoblins. We won''t get bullied by any other tribes anymore, we can keep our women, and we''ll be able to return to the demon territory like our ancestors." Making all these points, I continue "Hama is a coward. Under him we will eventually die a dogs death." Although all three are taller than myself who looks like a five year old green human child. Their new sensitivity to mana gives them a slight recognition of my strength compared to them, and they can all tell they are weaker than myself in terms of magical means. "We all already knew Hama is a coward. I would have challenged him myself if you would have not. You have our support." Bearg gives me a serious stare. Of course they were willing to follow me. I gave them power, showed them my own ability, and made promises towards the future. The only thing that has me baffled is the sudden fluency of Bearg. "My brother and I will follow you. You will not need to worry about the other hunters, we can take them if they decide to attack you." One of Bearg''s companions says to me. With a smile on my face. I suddenly realize the usefulness of evolution. Intelligence. Now even more of a reason to increase the strength of the village. It''s tiresome to speak in broken goblin language to the laborers. With my goals complete, we drop the dead orc from it''s hanging place, and we return back to the village. All of us with smiles on our faces and satisfaction in our hearts. Confrontation - 07 ~In the middle of a shabby looking village, four hobgoblins, with the one in the lead being smaller than the three behind him, face off against a larger hobgoblin with two goblin lackeys behind himself. The hobgoblin the four are confronting is the leader of the Gasric tribe, Hama.~ "Hama, you are a coward. I believe the tribe would be much better in my hands." I say to him directly. "Your opinion has no weight. You are an outsider." He replies, his eyes glowering at me. "I may be an outsider, but I have done much more for this tribe than you, the tribe ''leader'' has done." I respond with a sneer on my face. "Well the tribe follows me. And since you are an outsider, I have every right to throw you out!" He barks. "Since you will not give position of the tribe leader over peacefully, then I challenge you for your position." I say. "HA! You make me laugh! With what strength can you beat me? You, a newly born Hobgoblin? You may have had a rise in power, but you can''t even use your strength properly! I will simply crush you!." He mocks. "Hama, under your lead, we have had no new hobgoblins. Other goblin tribes have stolen our women. Everyone is starving under your lead. All four of us agree that there needs to be change." Bearg says with some lament on his face. Upon Bearg''s comment, Hama''s face twists with a scowl as he glares hard at him. His knuckles are gripped so tight that they turn from green to white. Hama is not an idiot. He fully realizes that while his side only has himself and the other two goblin hunters, which is only a one person difference between both sides, All of the members of Bearg''s hunting party is at the very least a hobgoblin. This is both a difference of quantity and quality. Even if he himself can kill one or two of them, he willinevitably lose. He realizes that he has no choice other than to fight. "Bearg, I named you! I gave you freedom and let you eat a share of the meat that was hunted! why do you side with this outsider?!" He speaks through his teeth. "We are only delaying the destruction of our tribe. Just because I have meat does not mean I will be happy. I want to grow strong. I want to be able to hunt everything in this forest without fear. Under you, I can only run and hide, occasionally catching a large animal. The outsider is smart, and used one mana stone to turn all of us into a hobgoblin. Imagine if all of us were hobgoblins. There is a chance that our young will also be hobgoblins. Under you, this is impossible." Bearg says with some lament. With frustration in his eyes, Hama glares at me. Veins bulging at his temple, grinding his teeth, it is obvious that he is placing all his anger on me. Even though he is a coward, He is fully confident that he can defeat a fledgling hobgoblin. He has some hesitation in his mind however, as this new enemy he has placed within his own tribe has unique methods. With no other choice, he spits out, "Fine. I accept your challenge outsider. I will destroy you and crush this little rebellion of yours. I don''t believe that you can defeat me, who has been evolved for over two years!" "Bearg, you will preside over this challenge." I say to him.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. With this Bearg turns towards the rest of the starving, emaciated goblins and shouts. "A CHALLENGER APPEARS FOR RIGHTS TO LEAD THE TRIBETHROUGH BATTLE!" Although the other goblins cannot speak very well, they can understand some words, such as "challenger", "lead", and "battle". Within their eyes, a bit of curiousity is formed. They had all noticed that one of the two hunting parties had all turned into hobgoblins, however this had nothing to do with them, so they originally did not bother to find anything out, however this commotion sparked their interests. With a spark of interest ignited, they all slowly gathered around, forming a ring, about 10 meters in diameter around the hobgoblins. All the hunters aside from Hama and myself stood off to the side. Pivoting my body so that my my left foot is front, I lift my fists. Hama directly pulls out a bone kris and shield. "FIGHT" Bearg yells. As soon as the yell went out, Hama went straight for me, swinging his blade down, immediatly using mana to bolster his aura. The early pressure is enough to make me dodge, however my movements are careful and precise. While his rush tactics are smart on his part, his cowardliness shows his lack of actual combat practice. Each swing he makes is fast, yet not quite precise. He swings with the intent and force behind it to kill, but he leaves himself open. With a grunt, I focus my mana only at my fist and smash down directly on his sheild. His arm buckles under the force causing him to stumble backwards, but I leave no time for him to recover as I smash down with my other hand. He blocks it with the kris, which bends and an odd angle, permanently damaged. I stop swinging to look at my fists while he rolls away to recover. The energy in this world is a lot more chaotic, it requires very precise control, which is extremely difficult in this body. While I can direct it to one part of my body, I do not have the minute control to spread the force evenly. It is simply like forcing a bunch of mana out of my fist in a blast, causing my mana to exhaust quickly. The only reason I am even with him at this moment is I am only using mana on one part of my body at a time, while he uses it on his whole body. He has better control, but he is wasting just about the same amount of mana as I am. The only issue is, he has a larger mana pool. *Ke* He spits "You are wasting mana. I''ll finish this!" Dropping his weapon and sheild, he weilds his claws and rushes straight towards me. Looking at his rage filled face, I spread the mana over my whole arm and make a blade with my hand. Lastly, I send mana through to my legs, not to cover the outside, but to the muscles in my leg. With this I dash straight towards him. In a collision that causes a low muffled boom, his claws are covered with the blood and skin from my arm and shoulder, while my blade arm pierces his chest, gripping his spinal column. Staring into the fading light in his eyes, I say "You lose". With a final grip, I shatter his spine and watch as his body slides off of my mana covered arm. Due to the mana, the blood evaporates at a high rate forming a mist, making me look extremely ghastly. Utter silence fills the small tribe. Bearg swallows with difficulty, realizing I still have enough energy to fight. He realizes just how much stronger than him I am. "HAMA IS DEAD! A NEW LEADER IS BORN!" He shouts to the surrounding crowd. The hunters besides Hama''s lackey''s all cheer, the tribe has mixed looks of excitement and indifference. I turn to everyone and say "Starting from today, everyone works. If you work, we hunters will feed you. In time I will make you all powerful enough to hunt for yourselves. I don''t intend on letting this tribe die. I will make it strong." The meaning is simple. Work or die. Eat or starve. Eventually you will be strong. We will all be strong. It is a simple promise, but it gets the blood pumping in all of the goblins. They might not have all understood everything, but they got the key meaning. With this exclamation, even Hama''s two followers look a little excited. I walk over to his corpse and shove my hand through his skull and grab. Finally, I rip out a dim, sky blue stone, the size of a thumb nail. "Hunters, come with me, we have work to do." 08 - Restoration and first steps to cultivation After Hama''s corpse was dealt with, I had the entire village of roughly thirty split the orc we dragged back to camp before Ireturned to the hut that I had been staying in previously with an order that i should not be disturbed. Inside the hut, I sit down cross legged to relax for the first time since this morning when we did the ritual. I use my perception to sense the changes within my body and look at the interaction between my dantian and my mana core. The within my observations, I can see that the mana core is passively drawing in mana at an extremely slow rate. This slowly increases the mana pool, just like had been explained. The mana pool seems to exist within the core itself, and by extracting mana from the air, they can expand the size and quality of their mana pool. As my blood passes around my mana core, I notice that a very small change occurs in the blood that passes by it. Every so often, one microscopic portion will increase in density as it is pushed past the core.... interesting... This means that the faster I pull in energy, the faster I am to "evolving". The next thing I look towards is my currently opened meridians. Since the mana is passively flowing through my body, it also seems to be slowly strengthening my dantian. This doesn''t seem to occur in normal goblins, as the connection between the mana core and dantian seems to be non-existent at the moment. This is probably caused by the fact that I had opened three meridians instead of just one like Bearg and the others. I next examine my closed meridians and can see that as the energy that is passively flowing through my body past my mana core is slowly putting pressure on these meridians. I figure I can focus all the energy and push past through the meridian when I have enough energy built up. From my conclusion, I can determine that my dantian will be focused around my cultivation and understanding of natural laws, while my mana core is based around my body and purity of blood line. People with purer bloodlines will naturally have higher control over mana as their is more molded to be in tune with it, however this double mana and dantian combo will essentially give me two mana pools. This does nothing for me now however, as I should open up my meridians before I cultivate my dantian to achieve the best effect. Pulling out Hama''s core, I muse to myself for a second. This person achieved purification of the bloodline through devouring a crystal. I have decided to see just how potent eating one really is. This shouldn''t count as cannibalism right? It is just solidified mana....I think to myself. With a shrug, i pop the core into my mouth like eating candy. I feel the solid mass pass down my throat like a rock before it reaches my stomach. Upon reaching it, it starts to evaporate like gas. The gas quickly fill my body and heads straight towards my own core. That''s when an idea struck me. I used my soul and forced all the energy into a condesed ball of gas. I then directed it to one of my blocked meridians. The pure mana slowly melted away as it passed through my meridians and cleared the blockages. As the impurities were melted away with the gas, they were excreted through the pores along with my sweat. The whole process caused my body to stink, however with it, I was able to clear an entire fourth meridian. The rest of the energy was not enough to help with the others, so I just released it to fill up my mana pool. As it reached my mana core, I watched as it grew a layer half a milimeter thicker. The energy used was really negligable. I smiled as I realized that I''m going to have to start hunting monsters with cores not only for myself, but also for the tribe that I am currently taking care of. I figure if I use blood formations, I can forcefully open their meridians, but I''ll have to reach at the very least qi gathering stage.... no wait, I guess in this world, we''ll call it mana gathering stage. I can control a formation with my soul to some extent, however I have to have actual control over the energy to use it on other people without them dying.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. My terrible excuse for a father gave me a test. I intend to pass with flying colors, not show up with a large group of mediocre cannon fodder. I will turn us into a variant never before seen, I will make us so powerful, that the other demon races will be shocked. With excitement on my face, I stand up to go wash the filth off my body in the nearby river. ~An entire week after leadership has changed within the tribe~ Okay so rebuilding is harder than I thought. Every day, I have been focusing on strengthening the overall tribe. They are overall stronger than they were before, no longer starving, and since they are all small, going from emaciated to having normal body fat only took five days, especially since we specifically hunted larger creatures to feed them. They have all started training basic strengthing forms, but they are hard to communicate with. Bearg seems to be better at doing so, so I had him take over when it comes to translation. With the increase in food, I have forced all the goblins to rebuild the huts from scratch. They now live in better homes, and the filth they rolled around in no longer exists. It took a little bit of beating it out of them before they realized they have to poop and pee in a different spot than right outside their houses. I plan on moving soon so I haven''t done anything drastic to the overall layout of the village. I actually plan on moving the entire tribe to the inside of the ghost wood tree. The creature was fireproof, and has tough bark that is difficult to cut through. Plus it will provide natural shelter from enemies. It is perfect for my intentions, however the goblins are not intelligent enough to use the layout of the tree to their andvantage, and I fear they would be hindered by it instead if for some reason we were attacked. I have taught bearg and the other two a method in which to recognize and clear their meridians, and while Bearg was more successful than the other two, none of them have fully cleared a meridian. At this moment, a goblin rushes up to me. "Leader! Wedhund tribe is here!" the goblin rushes out in quick breaths While crinkling my nose I stand up to consider what this means. I decide to deal with it directly and walk out to greet our visitors. There are three hobgoblins and four goblins all standing together in the center of the tribe. I walk up to them directly while giving them a look with a raised eyebrow. "Where''s Hama!" A stout looking hobgoblin says to me. "Dead." I reply Looking at me with a little annoyance in his face he says in response "Well then get me the tributes. And bring any women you have, they are ours." I look with surprise at him and snort a little. "What tributes? What women? Do you see any? I sure as hell don''t. Hama caused the death of our last woman. And any food we get is eaten as soon as it arrives in the camp. What we have is out here. And what gives you any right to demand tribute from our tribe? With a look of anger he looks around the camp to see that it''s true, we don''t have anything he could get his hands on. With a sneer on his squashed face, he says to me "We are from the Wedhund tribe. We have over fifty warriors and twelve hobgoblins. If you don''t have tributes next time we come, I''ll wipe out this trashy place" Looking at this arrogant prick, I weigh my options. Currently we only have four hobgoblins. And while that is quite a few, if we were to face such a big tribe, we''d definately lose, and although I believe I can survive, I doubt the rest of the gasric tribe can. And if I let everyone die, that would be the same as starting over, and it''d be hard to find a tribe that is as easy to take over as this one. It appears that I''ll have to speed up everyone''s training immediatly. I have no time for luxury, and I don''t intend on paying another tribe any "tribute". With a fake smile plastered on my face, I sarcastically say "Well we''ll be sure to properly welcome you next time." Scoffing he glares at me, signals the rest of his companions to leave, and they walk out through the front. I''ve decided that within this next week, we''ll move and I''ll increase the average strength of each goblin. 09 - Preparations At the side of a river is a large creature covered in chitin. It''s pinkish red shell covers most of the gaps on it''s body. Compared to other large crustaceans, it is definately more ferocious. With it''s size equal to that of a medium sized dog, and it''s claws large enough to crush a human''s head, it is clearly not a weak creature. It sports a longer body with multiple ridges that lead out to a fanned out tail. It''s legs are large and protrude out like a spiders. It has two black beady eyes that protrude outside of it''s body. at the front are many smaller arm like protrusions that are perfect for ripping. These creatures naturally come live in groups, however they are non-agressive unless they are hunting for food. This usually causes them to wait for food to come near before they attack. They tend to eat larger fish, smaller crustaceans, and even goblins. This specific creature is farther off from the rest of it''s pod. It is currently resting partially submerged in the river. Without warning, from back on the bank, a slab of unidentifiable meat lands on the rocks about ten meters in front of it, startling the beast. Shrinking away at first, it looks out cautiously. The blood from the meat drips slowly down the rocks, in a slow cascade until it drips into the river water, creating a slowly expanding cloud of red in the water. Sensing the disturbance with it''s numerous antennae, it watches with curiousity. Seeing nothing else happen for roughly ten minutes, the creatures lifts itself up and crawls out of the river, water dripping from it''s thick shell. It reaches the slab of meat and stares at it for a bit. It then crawls to the shrubbery and attacks, snapping through the bushes and revealing a four small green child like creatures. These creatures, are naturally me and the other hunters from our group. As soon as the bush is broken, I empower my body with mana and leap over it''s claws, gripping onto it''s eye with one hand, gripping my poorly made dagger in the other. My dagger is also coated with mana. As soon as I land on the upper part of it''s back, a blast of mana occurs from it''s mouth as it blows a thick stream of water that cuts a large gash in the surrounding ground, barely missing one of the other hunters. The lobster like creature flails around underneath me as it swings it''s tail around, however it isn''t meant for fighting on ground. While it lifts it''s claws in the air in an attempt to grab me, I use my dagger to slash at the gap between the first and second plate on it''s back right on top of it''s head. The dagger sinks in, but it doesn''t reach far in. Another jet stream of water comes out of it''s mouth as it aims at bearg, before he jumps out of the way.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. When it realizes that it''s joints don''t allow it to attack me, It turns to rush towards the river again, but one of the hunters jabs it''s dagger into one of it''s leg joints on the middle right leg, causing it to stumble on it''s side before it sweeps it''s tail knocking the hunter away. Taking this oppurtunity after it is finished turning, Bearg and the other hunter rush to stab joints on the other two legs on the right side. With a creaking noise, it falls, knocking me off of it''s back, But with me comes the entire upper plate leaving a soft light pink meat exposed on it''s head. Bearg takes the oppurtunity to stab it while it is on it''s side right through it''s brain, causing it''s flailing left legs to stiffen in the air. The creature loses all light in it''s orb like eyes while it''s soul drifts away. "These creatures are much smarter than you think they''d be." I say, picking myself up and dusting off my clothes. I walk over to the creature and dig out it''s core. A small, miniscule sky blue crystal, even smaller than the ghost wood tree that i had killed. I open a small bag slung over my shoulder and place it in with it. Inside you can see roughly twelve other similar sized cores. "The river fiends are magic creatures, they are naturally smarter than the average beast." Bearg replies with a more impressive vocabulary than I am used to. With a raised eyebrow I glance at him as he and the other hunters start dismantling it''s carcass, ripping the plates of chitin off of it''s body, setting them to the side. "Their brains are small though. It''s just that they are smarter than other lower ranked water magic beasts." I say "and stop calling them river fiends, just call them lobsters. They are not that scary." Looking at me in confusion he responds "But not even other clans fight them recklessly. Their water magic can cause a lot of damage to even a hobgoblin, and their claws are not for show. I have never seen any other clans hunt these creatures in such large amounts. It takes three of their cores to promote a goblin so it''s not very worth it considering the losses." Looking at him I smirk "Yeah but how many other clans are fully equiped with chitin based armor and are highly trained in the art of fighting?" With a sigh, bearg continues removing the plates, as he responds "No I have not. And the fact that you have been having them fight amongst themselves and have even used the working class as a part of this is strange. It''s only been two days since the wedhund tribe has arrived, yet you started training them a week in advance to fight rather than hunt. Did you predict that we would need to fight other goblins?" "It''s only common sense. Learning to fight improves your overall reflexes, and so long as we strengthen ourselves in technique, than just a few goblins can even take down a hobgoblin. In two days, I plan on forcing the rest of the tribe to fight against some of these lobsters. If they can fight these things without fear, then why should they fear a hobgoblin." I respond With shock Bearg freezes and rips his head away from his current project and looks me straight in the eyes. "But they goblins don''t have the strength or mana to back them up in order to actually fight them!" "Silly you. They don''t need to be hobgoblins to kill these. Why do you think we are collecting these low ranked cores if they don''t rank you up?" I laugh With a thoughful look on his face, Bearg slowly speaks. "Would... it be... to just get them to feel.... mana?" "Mmm. So long as they can use it, we can train them. Anyways, hurry up with it. We can bring this back to our hiding spot temporarily and get the other goblins to help transport the materials anyways. With exactly thirty one goblins back at the village, we still need nineteen cores. With the sun directly above us, we''ve only used roughly four hours of out time, but nineteen is still a lot." "Yes sir..." Bearg mumbles as he goes back to removing the chitin shell from the lobster. 10 - Feast Back in the tribe I stand in the center of the decently rebuilt village. Behind me is a pile of shellfish meat and a separate pile of Chitin plates. There is not enough Chitin to fully armor the group of goblins, however there is certainly enough to armor half of them. And with the majority of the goblins originally being laborers, they are fully capable of basic crafts such as making armor. In front of me, every single member of the tribe is gathered, while the three hobgoblins stand at my side, waiting my orders. "In a short matter of time, the wedhund tribe will return for tributes. We do not have the luxury to give away free food. And I don''t intend on allowing them to either. That being said, they are stronger than us, So the only way we succeed is to strengthen ourselves." I say out to the crowd. Over the past week they have been taught enough to at least have basic understanding of my words. Rather than looks of confusion and blank stares, they look at me with more of a fervent worship. This is natural of course. They have all had some basic strengthening training and go to sleep every night with full bellies. Pulling the thirty-one mana cores out of my shoulder sling, I hand them over to Bearg. All thirty-one are small enough to fit in two hands, making it easy for him to carry. "Tonight, we feast on meat filled with mana, and the magic cores of the beasts we have hunted!" I say in an enigmatic voice, letting my own excitement slip into my voice. With excited looks, the goblins surrounding us give a cheer. I turn to Bearg and say "Hand a core out to each of them." With a grunt as a reply he walked out towards the crowd and methodically hands one core out to each individual goblins, their eyes lit up with greed and desire. Each one eating their core as soon as it lands in their hands, almost seeming afraid it will be taken from them if they didn''t.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Using my soul power to observe the change in their bodies, I watch as the mana accumulates in their heads and deposits itself as a small core in their heads. The size much smaller than my own core, and even the core of the lobsters themselves. With satisfaction, I point to the mass of shellfish meat behind me and say. "Dig in you greedy goblins" The meat from the freshwater crustaceans is laced with mana, and although it is quite inferior to a mana core, it will be laced with energy which will allow me to train them for the rest of the night. I could spend the next three days hunting for cores to evolve these goblins, however their control over mana would be unstable, and having too many hobgoblims would be detrimental to my rule over the tribe. Goblins are innately greedy. It would be inneveitable to have a few of them attempt to become tribe leader, and while I have full confidence in defeating them, it would not be good to have too many other goblins after my position. Bearg and the other two hunters are already my comrades so them revolting is much less likely, and my battle prowess has only been repeatedly shown off in front of them, So I have full confidence that they won''t do anything. As for mana control, if they start learning it as a goblin, it will be easier to train them as they evolve. Getting then used to controlling small amounts of mana at a time rather than them just brute forcing it when they suddenly receive a massive power up. It will also be easier to remove the impurities in their meridians, considering the stronger you are, the more the impurities would embed themselves. Imagine sticking a knife in a small tree. If you let the tree grow, it will grow over the knife, forcing you to damage the tree if you wish to remove it. This is the same concept. While it won''t cause problems at our level as exaggerated, it will certainly be easier to get rid of impurities now. After all of the meat has been devoured, and the Goblins bellies show bulges, i shout: "Alright! Now we are going to learn about mana. Stop slacking off, we have a long night ahead of us!" The rest of that night was filled with the concentrated looks of thirty-one goblins and three hobgoblins as they learn to grasp basic mana control. 11 - Training In the middle of the small village, Thirty five members of the tribe sit there covering themselves in mana. Each individual has varying degrees of success, but they are all patchy and at the very least "completely" surrounding their bodies, creating a formless film over their person. I walk between each meticulously made row and examine each individual. I come to a stop at a very small goblin with softer features than rest of them. Although physically he is weaker than the rest, the film covering is the most complete. "Guide as little mana through through your bodyas possible and focus on control. Slowly increase the amount when you feel you can control it." Upon saying this, the mana on each individuals body decreases, but the patchy and flailing aura appears more controlled, and on the individual in front of me, It comes to a perfect circulation. The mana slowly moves across his body and cycles in a controlled function. "Hold this for a while." I say After waiting roughly a minute I say "Stop." At this everyone stops the circulation of mana in their bodies. "Attempt it again, but try to grasp that same feeling of control. This child here is circulating his mana from the front of his body, over his head and back. Learn from his example." I say At this comment, everyone attempts to adjust the way control their mana. "If this method doesn''t work for you, play with it. Find perfection. You are all different, your necessities are different." I continue. After hearing this, the goblins who had struggled more with this method attempted a different method of mana circulation. They all focused on finding that perfect method to control their mana aura. After three hours of training, they had all more or less figured out how to control their aura. At this time I force them all to spar against eachother. Each required to use blunt sticks as weapons, each one required to more or less avoid grappling. I taught them basic fighting movements, things to watch for, and mostly I beat them to show effectiveness.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it With a kick to the knees, the goblin in front of me stumbles, whereupon I catch him by the arm and fling him into a prone position. Looking at the watching goblins I say "Everyone has a weak point. The knees, the head, the groin. So long as you find an opening, you have an opportunity to down an opponent." With this, I let them let them spar amongst themselves with Bearg watching over them as I turn my attention to the goblin from earlier. He starts by grappling his opponent, but because of lack of leverage and size, he naturally loses. With interest I walk up and say "As a smaller fighter, you will never win in absolute strength. You can use your mana to absolve the force behind a punch but when he grabs you, you are done for. Even though your mana control is better than his, it won''t give you a great advantage at this point in time because you are still too weak. Take advantage of your size and control. Light quick attacks. Back off. Don''t let him get a hold of you." Taking my words into consideration, the goblins separate and prepare another round. This time, the larger goblin rushes to grab, however using propulsion from his mana, the smaller one ducks under his arms and uses the blunt stick in his hands to hit his side before rolling forwards. The larger goblin stutters before the smaller one turns around and smacking him on the head, instantly knocking him out. With a smile I say "Good job. Take advantage of your mana control and you will never lose. There is a popular opinion that speed triumphs strength, take advantage of your speed and hit harder with your whole body backing you up. No need to grapple with strength like the rest of them." Ending the conversation, I return to my hut. The goblins themselves, are instinctual fighters. They are very good at being tricky during a fight, and training them to fight and teaching them weakpoints is like adding wings to a tiger. They pick up physical fighting very fast, however they are picking up mana control fairly slow. Usually it would take an hour or so to completely control your aura at a low level, however even the best of them took three, and not everyone has figured it out yet. They are nowhere near Bearg''s strength, let alone mine, however with a lack of strength, they can make up for in teamwork. Which I intend to drill into them while fighting the shellfish creatures tomorrow. Sitting in a lotus position, I slowly absorb wild mana into my body and push it towards my fifth meridian.After about an hour, I end my practice with a sigh. This way of pulling mana into my body is too slow. I''d be better off eating monster cores. Granted, the mana in the air is not very thick. I stand up restlessly and take a walk around the village, watching the tired looking goblins that are still working hard until I come to a stop in front of the piles of chitin. There are many plates that can be used for chest pieces, but they are quite large, only suitable for the hobgoblins. There are many smaller pieces from the legs and tail however, and we can at least cover the vitals. Covering the vitals with chitin will decrease the chances of death when fighting against the wedhund members. It won''t be as usefull against larger creatures, but it will definately protect from slash and stabs. With my plans made up, I return to my hut and decide to call it a night, waiting for sunrise to begin group training.