《A girl and her doll in Playtime Apocalypse》 Babysitting In a luxury residential estate stood a display case. In the display case stood a doll. A four foot tall and slender doll with blonde hair and blue eyes. Dressed in a neat blue dress. Julie Parkson dressed in an evening gown and her husband Wayne dressed in nice suit were getting ready to leave for there anniversary dinner while trying to molify there 4 year old daughter Molly. "No! I don''t want you to go!" ,there daughter whined the beginnings of a temper tantrum coming on. "It will only for tonight sweety." Julie soothed down at her daughter. "Besides you''ll have Ida to look after you." ,chimed in Wayne. "Ida activate!" He called. The eyes of the Intelligence Development Assistant or Ida as the doll was called lit up as the start up sequence activated. Servos whirled up. Gears coming into motion. Programs coming online. Text scrolled across Ida''s internal display. "How may i help you today Mrs. And mr. parkson?" Ida said. As the preprogrammed response went off. Ida always had to get that out of the way. After all her creators had programed polite and prompt response into her. She wondered what the task would be this time. Though from the looks of things she would be called to babysit again if her predictive algorithms had anything to say about it.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "Ida activate babysitter mode. Watch over Molly and keep her safe while we are gone." And there it was. "Yes Mr. Parkson."l replied. Walking up and taking Molly''s hand. "Come on Molly let''s go play. If your good I can get you a snack later." "But I don''t want them to go." She murmured. But followed none the less. The Parksons made there final goodbyes and made it out the door and soon the sound of their car leaving the driveway was heard. Molly and headed to her play room where I joined her in tea time along with Britney the Barbie and Mr. Bubbles the stuffed tiger. Tea time was very important according to Molly. She said it was important for a young lady to enter society. Not quite in those words but you got the idea. Soon it was time for dinnertime for Molly. The Parksons usually left a meal to warm up in the microwave for Molly when they went out on any dates or errands I had just placed the dish in the microwave when Molly piped up saying. "Ida look at funny words." "And what do the funny words say sweety." I humor her. "Pre pear for tu to real." She tries to pronounce. Suddenly light starts to swirl around her, setting off alarms in my programming. Alert possible unknown threat detected! Safety mode activate! As is my directive I lunge to grab Molly to get her somewhere safe the lights start whirling around me as well. A multitude of colors. Then everything goes white. In a residential estate the microwave timer goes off telling that the food is ready but no one is there to take it. Prime directive Rebooting... My eye scanners came back online. And the scene before me doesn''t match any of my parameters. We seem to be in a forest glade and two displays are flashing on my HUD. The one I always see but another at the corner of my vision. My normal HUD flashes. Searching for matching scenario... Alert! Scene matches no known scenario... Searching for databanks for directive... Directive found... Watch over and protect Molly while Mr. and Mrs. Parkson are gone. Not enough information on scenario to accomplish primary directive... Secondary objective gather information... I realize Molly is clamped onto my leg and is crying. Scanning her I sense no injuries.Whatever happened must of frightened her. Better initiate comfort procedure. After much hugging, crying, and placating I manage to calm her down enough too address the other blaring notification in my vision. I pull it up. ______________________________________________ Welcome to the System Tutorial.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Please check your status and pick your starting ability in the Menu screen. ______________________________________________ Menu? I think and suddenly another screen pops up in place of the first. ______________________________________________ Menu Status Body 3 Mind 6 Soul 2 Stat points: 0 Ability points: 1 Abilities known: none Abilities available for selection... Currency: 0 System Shop... ______________________________________________ When the menu popped into place some how my probability algorithms knew that if I focused on the abilities a list of available abilities to select would come up and the shop was self explanatory. However, I instead closed the window knowing I could find it again if necessary but at the moment Molly needed attending to. Databanks searched possible scenario found...Lost child. Appropriate response find authority figure... "Now Molly I need you to be very brave for me." "Where are we?" She gasped out between sobs. "I want to go home." "I don''t know sweety, but we will find out together." "Now take hand and we will go find a police officer." "Ok." We started walking through the glade and a long the tree line. Bushes and plants are scattered about and gradually Molly''s distress of the situation gives way to the boundless curiosity of youth. Molly stares at field of wildflowers and butterflies in the evening sun. As we walk she starts reading and soon I''m greeted to an excited squeal as she yells. "Hey Ida look what I can do." ,as a small fire dart jumps from her fingers. Still processing what I just saw and wondering where the fire came from, the only thing I could say at that time was my preprogrammed response. "Molly no playing with fire!" "Sorry Ida.", she says looking abashed, a small little fire burning off a bush on the side of the dirt path we are following. The commotion of the fire disturbs the bushes and out hops a bunny rabbit. And starts munching on a root nearby Molly eyes go wide with glee as she sees it. "Bunny!" She squeals drawing its attention. As it turns to face us I notice blue glowing eyes and flakes of something red along the edges of its mouth. It gives a roaring cry. Then it charges. Bad Bunny The rabbit thing let out a mad snarl as it leaped at the closest target which unfortunately was Molly scratching her across the arm. "Ahh!" she let out a scream as she fell. My safety protocol revved up as I tackled it away from her. It hissed and fought as I wrestled it down. Alert damage taken to chest... Alert damage taken to arm... Damage reports kept flashing across my HUD as it bit into my arm and scratched with its claws at my chest. Fortunately it didn''t cause much damage as metal and plastic are alot harder than the flesh it was expecting. I continued wrestling with it, all though it was difficult to keep it pinned down. Despite its small size it was agile and strong. I was just about to to lose grip on it when suddenly it burst into flames. The rabbit thing let out a pained screech as it fur burnt. I punch it in the head once, twice, thrice as the glow left its eyes and it died. "Bad bunny!" I heard Molly scream. ______________________________________________ Experience awarded... Currency earned +2. ______________________________________________A notification from the other Weird System Hud displayed in the corner of my vision. I ignored it as I assessed Molly and myself for damage. Molly rushed me and embraced me in a clamp hug. In a moment a torrent of words poured from her mouth.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Are you ok! I''m sorry I used fire, it was just, it was just, really really scary and and you were," "Hey, hey, honey shh. it''s alright now. It can''t hurt you again." "Now hold still so can take a look at your arm." As if pointing it out brought it to the forefront Molly started to cry hysterically. I scanned the wound it was as deep gash along her arm. It was still bleeding. A wound if left untreated could easily prove life threatening. I started running calculations, as my hands moved to stunt the bleeding, tearing my dress to make bandages. I knew it was only a temporary measure as my dress after the fight wasn''t exactly clean. Probability of infection high... I searched my data banks for a solution. Disinfectant, No there wasn''t any around. Water, Maybe if stream nearby. My CPU went through multiple scenarios in split seconds looking for a solution but kept ending up in dead ends. In haste I searched my databanks until a possible course of action came up. The ability selection. If Molly found some way to shoot fire in there then maybe there was something that could heal Molly. I quickly pulled up the ability selection screen and found what I needed. ______________________________________________ Healing Light Use healing light to quickly cleanse and heal simple wounds. ______________________________________________ After making the selection healing light flowed from my palm as Molly''s arm started slowly stitching itself closed. A strange feeling washed over me as the wound fused shut. The thing I could only way I could describe it as being tired. But how was that possible. A sense of disorientation flooded me and what was not possible happened. I passed out. Exploring the Menu A minute later I come to with Molly poking me with a stick. "Ida you were dead for awhile." Molly comments. As consciousness returns my systems start waking up. Funny concept waking up. It makes no sense yet it does. I start running a self diagnostic searching for any errors in my systems that could explain what caused this. All systems nominal...that''s good. Power reserves at 65%... still above half power but that is something to keep in mind. Got to find a solution for later. Minor damage to surface structure... scratches on my arm and chest nothing that would cause an issue. Not finding anything I turn to what I am now going to start calling my second HUD. Sure enough there are three new changes to it. First there listed is my new ability. ______________________________________________ Abilities known: Healing Light ______________________________________________ Below it a new measurement was emboldened. ______________________________________________ Aether 3/200 Recovery 1 per 20 seconds. ______________________________________________ So that''s the reason I passed out. I did some mental calculations full recovery would be in 1 hour 6 minutes and 7 seconds roughly.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Last of all Currency now read. ______________________________________________ Currency: 2 ______________________________________________ Looking around i saw no new threats. With the danger passed for now I decided to do and in-depth look at my second HUD. ______________________________________________ Menu Status Body: 3 Mind: 6 Soul: 2 Stat points: 0 Ability points: 0 Abilities known: Healing Light Aether 3/200 Recovery 1 per 20 seconds Currency: 2 System Shop... Focusing on Body, Mind and Soul their definitions popped up. ______________________________________________ Body: a measurement of the bodies strength, stamina, agility and resistance to damage. Mind: a measurement of mental speed, mental strength and mental resistance. Governs the recovery speed of Aether after ability use. Soul: a measurement of imagination and flexibility of mind. Governs the flexibility and strength of abilities when used. ______________________________________________ After I finished looking at the definitions I moved on to look at the shop. Molly suddenly started groaning. "ida, I''m hungry." Reminding me that it had been time for Molly''s dinner before this all started. System Shop implied that you could buy things. Maybe there was food. Worth a look. My Currency was currently at 2. I opened up the shop screen. A notification flashed in my vision. ______________________________________________ Welcome to the System Shop Please Choose a Category. Consumables Weapons Armor Miscellaneous ______________________________________________ I selected Consumables from the options list. ______________________________________________ Consumables Basic Water: 1 1 meals worth of clean refreshing water Basic Ration: 1 1 meals worth of complete protein all in one Ration bar. Basic healing potion: 5 A potion to heal one simple wound instantly. Tastes of strawberry. Basic Aether potion: 5 A potion that restores 100 Aether instantly. Tastes of blueberry. Basic Fire Resistance potion: 5 A potion that slightly increases resistance to fire for 5 minutes. ... Greater healing potion: 75 A extremely refined healing potion to heal grievous wounds instantly. Tastes like shit but will likely save your life if taken. Greater Aether potion: 75 A extremely refined Aether potion. Tastes like shit but will restored 500 Aether instantly. Greater Fire Resistance potion: 75 Feel the flame on your skin and come out unscathed. Lasts for 5 minutes. ______________________________________________ There were dozens of entries ranging from Basic water costing 1 currency and Basic potions costing 5 currency all the way up to Greater potions costing 75 currency. I used all 2 currency I had to buy a Basic Water and Basic Ration for Molly. Fairy dust A cardboard box appeared at my feet. Inside was a bottle of water, with strange symbols on the bottle in some alien language and a granola shaped bar of food in a clear package. To a 4 year old like Molly it didn''t appear to look very appetizing. I spent the next couple of minutes coaxing Molly to eat. Despite her objections to how it looked it apparently tasted decent. "Tastes like meaty Mac and cheese." she exclaimed, when I finally got her to take a nimble out of the corner of it. At that point all resistance ended and I had to caution her to chew. Opening the bottle it was as the shop said it would be, clean water. Molly started carrying it like an oversized sippy cup as we started our journey again. Along a stream that flowed nearby. My databanks finding substantial data that a good thing to do while lost is to follow water to civilization. Soon however Molly''s footsteps began to slow. "I''m tired!" She moaned. I wasn''t surprised we had been walking a lot and it was close to Molly''s bedtime. I had noticed no matter how much time passed the sun''s position in the sky never changed. Where was she going to rest in the middle of a forest however. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Ok sweety climb onto my back and hold on. We will find you a place to sleep." I lower myself down so she can climb on my back. She is heavy for my slender frame but not to much. I start scanning from a comfortable and safe place to set her done for a rest. Soon Fluttering wings divert my attention as small humanoids with butterfly wings flitter about at edge of the trees and haunting little giggles and laughs ring out. Molly gapes in awe at the mesmerizing sight. Voices patterns detected... "Hello is anyone there. This girl needs help or a place to sleep." "Yes, sleep. We know place to sleep. We show you.Follow, follow, follow." ,the fairies voices ring out in chorus. As we approach a mossy clearing the number of small creatures increases. There in the middle of the clearing is a cherry tree in full bloom as I watch the little fairies gather the nectar of the flowers. One of the little fairies flutters close and lands on Molly''s nose.A cloud of pollen dust puffs out and Molly yawns and her eyes droop. I set her down on the moss. It''s not much but she should be able to sleep comfortably there while I stand guard. A fairy flies up close to my face and another pollen cloud puffs out. Afterward the fairy seems irritated for some reason and flys off. While Molly sleeps I settle into a patrol around the clearing keeping an eye out for threats. It is on one of these rotations that my foot hits something hard. Something hard a white. Something hard and white and round.There lying hidden under dense moss is a skull. There are bones under the moss something it definitely not right. Fairies vs Ida As I scan outward I notice more and more bumps underneath the moss, and the true horror of what I am seeing registers. I rush back to Molly and try to shake her awake. She doesn''t respond. She''s still breathing but slowly, as in a deep slumber. I have to get her out of here. I start trying to maneuver her onto my shoulder when something rams into my face knocking me back and making me lose my balance. Tipping over, I fall next to what I can clearly see is a skeleton now. A swarm of the little humanoids gathering above. They attack in unison like a swarm of insects, as my data centers are reclassifying them as such. I try to swat them away with my hands but are too fast and nimble, dive-bombing me the retreating beyond my reach. Their attacks do little damage except to keep me off balance. My hands brushes against something long and hefty. It turns out to be a club left behind after its original owner lied down and didn''t get up again. I grab and swing it knocking two of them out of the air, They crash down as get in my first solid hit this fight. I keep swinging getting in some solid thwacks as fight my way back to Molly''s side. With one arm, I hoist her onto my shoulder ,the other arm occupied fending of the insect fairies. It''s a slog but I eventually half carry, half drag Molly out of there. Along the way when the insect fairies finally stop pursuing I readjust Molly into a better position on my back. Molly stirs a little on my back. Good whatever those insects did is not permanent. I continue hiking trying to get as far away from there as possible. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Notifications sound off on my secondary HUD. Experience earned... Experience earned... Level up... +1 Stat point Experience earned... Experience earned... Level up... +1 Stat point New ability available for selection... That is all well and good but what concerns me more is what is flashing on my main HUD. Power at 30%... Find charging station soon... That''s a problem. If I run out of power who will take care of Molly. Her probability of survival decreases if left alone. It goes against my prime directive. Protect and watch over Molly. It''s unacceptable. I must find a solution. I look down at my charging port located on my right hip. It is a node that plugs into a battery charging port. I mainly run on DC to power. Where am I going to find DC power around here. My probability algorithms start running scenarios, my CPU turns at it searches my databanks. Sources of DC power... Battery stations, Power Stations, Generators, Lightning. No battery stations, Power Stations or generators nearby. Lightning...No storms in sight. Eventually my mind shifts to my secondary HUD. I open up my secondary HUD, after all I found the solution to the first problem I came across in there last time and I have many new notifications to go through. Gradually an action plan takes shape. Eye spy Once the action plan crystalized I put to work immediately. First I opened up the ability selection looking for an ability with electricity or lightning in the description or name. There were a few that had these mentioned but only one that suited my needs. ______________________________________________ Charged Shock Release a powerful electric shock from your hand. On contact expend 5 aether per second of maintained charge. ______________________________________________ I select it and test it out for a second. Power charged to 31%... Progress it works. I then put 1 Stat point into Soul and 1 into Body. I can immediately tell the difference. My thought processes don''t feel as rigid now and Molly weighs less heavy on my back. I spend 200 Aether of my new capacity to charge my batteries to 70% charge. With my Aether down to 100/300 I had stop because of a slight dizziness. I don''t want to risk passing out again with Molly on my back. That done I check my new status. ______________________________________________ Menu Status If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Body: 4 Mind: 6 Soul: 3 Stat points: 0 Abilities known: Healing Light, Charged Shock Aether 100/300 Recovery 1 per 20 seconds Currency: 10 System Shop... ______________________________________________ Everything appears to be in order. I close the menu. I walk in silence for 30 minutes according to my internal clock charging up more when I can. Eventually Molly stirs on my back. Yawning she wipes the sleep from her eyes. "What happened?", she asks. I briefly recount the events as they happened. Although I skim over the finding the bones underneath the moss. She doesn''t need to hear about that. No need to give her nightmares. It''s interesting. Thirty minutes ago ,before I assigned a stat point into Soul,I would have been compelled to tell her the whole story. Molly is fine after the ordeal with the fairies. In fact she seems to be more energetic after a long rest. Soon she Is off my back and running around. I keep track of her with my eyes making sure she doesn''t get in trouble. As we walk Molly start up a game of Eye Spy with me, although most of objects of our game are trees and bushes. Then the objects change to grass and sky as we enter grasslands. Tall grass sways in breeze and is almost hypnotic in its patterns. Our game continues on with Molly calling out different things but after a while it gets repetitive. Soon however Molly calls out something new. "I spy with my little eye something brown." "Is it the ground?" I reply. "No." "Is it the grass?" I guess. The grass around us has been looking a little brownish lately. "No,guess again." She giggles. "Is it the bark of that tree over there?" "No, it''s that furry thing over there." She points at it. And then I see it. The biggest rat I have ever seen. Two feet high and 3 feet long with sharp razor edge incisors and long nails on its feet. Its fur is matted and its piercing red eyes turn to us. It snout sniffs the air. I interpose myself between it and Molly as I raise my club. It charges as us and I bring the club down onto its skull. It lets out a death scream and keels over. ______________________________________________ Experience earned... ______________________________________________ Then we both hear it as something brown and much bigger answers it. Big Mama A blur of motion as something big barrels out of the grass. I barely get a look at it before it clamps down on my leg. Huge incisors biting into my ankle. Big oval fierce red eyes stare at me with hatred. If the rat before was big this is twice as large and twice as mean. Suddenly the world turns 180 degrees as the massive rat picks me up and shakes me like a chew toy or like a rag doll. Alert! Damage to left ankle actuator... Alert! Damage to hip joint actuator... The warnings scream across my HUD as my vision swims. "Put her down!" Molly cries as she flings a lucky fire bolt into the beasts eye blinding it. It screams in pain and drops me. It now looks with its one remaining good eye up at the one who hurt it, namely Molly. "Hey!" I scream at it, hoping to distract it. Lying in a heap under it I swing the club, that I somehow managed to keep, at it with as much strength as I can muster. It bounces ineffectively off its snout but that is enough. It turns looming over me. Well at least it''s not going after Molly. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Small comfort as it goes to chomp onto my chest. Small blessing as my chest is much more sturdy then my legs or arms for that matter. Again I find myself in the air being shaken about. I unfortunately lose the club this time as it flies from my hand somewhere into the grass. Molly fires two more fire bolts. One of them glances ineffectively off its skull but the other hits it in the back of its greasy matted mane. This causes it to abruptly burst into flames. The monstrous rat promptly releases me screaming in pain and torment. Rolling and running in circles trying to get at the fire slowly consuming it from behind. It flees through the grass and as grass is tend to do when exposed to open fire burst into flames starting up a brush fire. The rat''s screams continue for awhile as more screams of pain join the first. The rat burning alive. ______________________________________________ Experience earned... +5 Currency ______________________________________________ Even after the rat dies the cacophony of screams doesn''t cease. Apparently there were more rats hidden in the now burning grass. A wave of destruction spreading out. Molly runs up to me as I fix myself up enough to walk. Glad I took the Healing Light ability. I run low on Aether long before I can fix everything. I should be able to limp out of there though. Molly is nervous as the fire grows in intensity. I can''t say I blame her as we have barely just enough time to leave. My probabilities algorithms plot a course as we slowly, oh so slowly walk our way to safety. Our game of eye spy long forgotten. In are wake black ash and soot and smoke fill the air. Well that is a situation I plan to avoid in the future. Citation Note Avoid grasslands... Grubnix the goblin Grubnix was a goblin. A goblin like any other. Short,greasy and sickly green. Grubnix was wearing a loincloth and carrying a club over his shoulder. Grubnix was also in deep shit. He knew he was in deep shit. How did he know he was in deep shit. The fact there currently were no rats where there should be rats and that he was staring at a blackened scar which once held the rat breeding grounds. Now all that remained was ash and burnt corpses. A desolate wasteland where grass used to be. Grubnix was screwed. After all he was supposed to guard over the rat breeding grounds and worse of all it had happened on his watch. Who would of thought something like this could happen when he took his evening nap of all things. I mean strictly speaking he wasn''t supposed to take naps while on guard duty but nothing like this had ever happened before. Sure there had been those times he had lost a few rats to fairy lures here and there. He had been beaten for that with a club each time it happened. But he had never lost the entire pack before. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. What would Big Chief Omba do to him if he found out? Grubnix broke out into a cold sweat just thinking about it. Would he cut off his toes and fry them and eat them like candy? Would his arms be ripped off and cooked over an open campfire? Would his flesh be melted and his bones left to dry on a rack? He heard that Big Chief Omba'' second, Slilb wanted more skeletons for his collection. Or would he just be feed to Big Chief Omba'' pet Direwolf? Grubnix knew whatever it was it would not be good. Grubnix also knew he had to do something. But what could he do? Panic threatened to overwhelm him. Could he lie and say they ran off? No, that would just show he was not watching them. Besides there was too much smoke and too many corpses to hide the fact. Grubnix rapted his head with his knuckles. This always got the brain juices flowing. Grubnix started coming up with a story on the spot. "It was a huge, hairy troll and and it breathed fire. I tried to fight it but it set the field on fire and I was forced to run for my life." He intoned to himself as if saying it out loud would make it the truth. He even started to believe it himself. After he had come up with what he thought was an ok cover story, he covered himself in ash and ran off to report. He hoped that they would believe his story. He didn''t want to think about what else would happen if they didn''t. Grubnix never noticed the two sets of prints left behind in the ash leading off into the distance. On the opposite side of a sea of black a girl and her doll limped away from the scene of destruction. Meet the Chief "One day, was one day too much to ask for things not to go wrong." sighed Omba the Chief and leader of his tribe. A headache was coming on. Sitting upon his wooden throne he remembered when his troubles began. It all seemed like a great deal when the system came and offered for him and his tribe to be part of the tutorial. All he had to do was kill some pesky trial takers and his tribe and especially him would be greatly rewarded. He had grasped for the juicy berry without seeing the thorns. From the moment he had entered the tutorial area him and his tribe had been set upon by all forms of various monsters. He couldn''t find the trail takers anywhere and Slilb that two timing backstabber had been plotting to take his place from the start. Unfortunately he couldn''t just kill the little weasel he needed his strength to face the threats of the tutorial and too be honest what kind of goblin was not on some level greedy. That was one of the things he looked for in a subordinate. Why when he was younger he was not called Big Chief Omba but little Omba. He had to pry the position of chief from the cold dead hands of the guy before him. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He knew that from the moment he picked up the mantle he would have to deal with the greed and envy of those under him. You either dealt with it or you became the stepping stone for the next guy. But back to the reason he had a headache coming on. He had just gotten a report that all the giant rats they had been breeding had just been burnt to a crisp. He didn''t once believe the story presented by Grubnix of his valient defence of the pack but forced retreat from none other than a troll that breathed fire of all things. He well knew that trolls and fire did not mix well together. He was half the mind to feed Grubnix to Scruffles but unfortunately despite his wild embellishments he had brought him valuable information. A possible location of trial takers. Best just to reassign him to a place where his lazy tendencies would not be a problem. Some place further from camp. Who knows maybe the wildlife would take care of Grubnix for him. Having made up his mind Big Chief Omba called for his retinue. A sniveling assistant entered the tent. "You called Big Chief." The assistant croaked while bowing. "Yes. Send out scouts around the rat breeding grounds. Search the area. When you find the trial takers kill them. That is all." "Yes, Big Chief." the assistant said and hurried off in a rush to carry out his chief''s orders. Big Chief Omba sat back in his throne thinking then of all the rewards he would earn when the trial takers were dead. "Finally this cursed tutorial will be over and I will be rightful rewarded." He raised his head and cackled long and hard. Butterfly wings Molly and I had been traveling for a few hours. Along the way we passed through forest trees of dense green foliage and over moss covered logs in our path. I had to fix myself up on the go as Molly kept pulling me onward. Molly anxiously refused to slow down even though multiple times my sensors concluded that we were safe. She kept insisting that her tummy could feel that something was wrong. I could not logically understand why she came to that conclusion much the less what her tummy had to do with anything but whatever decreased her distress was fine by. As we walked I decided to try and distract her from her growing anxiety. Thinking fast I asked her if she could tell me what it said on her status sheet. This would serve three purposes. 1 it would distract her. 2 it would confirm some things about the system. And 3 it would be good reading practice for Molly. Despite the current situation I hadn''t forgotten the teaching portion of my duties as an intelligence Development Assistant. Molly began to read aloud her status stumbling over the occasional word. It was read out in slow fits and starts but eventually I got the picture. If her status sheet was displayed out it would look something like this. ______________________________________________ Menu This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Status Body: 2 Mind: 3 Soul: 6 Stat points: 2 Ability points: 1 Ability available for selection... Abilities known: Fire Bolt Aether 600/600 Recover 1 per 40 seconds Currency: 36 System Shop... ______________________________________________ Hearing from Molly the details of her status confirmed that Molly had gotten credit for all the rats that had died in the fire and for lack of a better term she had leveled up. Twice in fact from that fight. She had two unspent stat points and an ability available for selection. She even had more currency then me because of all the rat deaths. It also confirmed the origin of all the fire she had been producing. As we talk I helped her assign her stat points bringing her Body and Mind up by one. Her new Aether recovery speed being 1 per 33.4 seconds. Afterwards came Molly''s new ability selection. There were many abilities available. One that granted telekinesis. One that made you faster. One for more powerful blows. One that even for stealth invisibility for a period of time. There were many such examples but Molly was however obsessed with one in particular. ______________________________________________ Lepidoptera wings Grants the user a set of butterfly wings that provides flight in short bursts. 10 aether per 2 minutes worth of flying time. ______________________________________________ Molly made the selection and soon she was zipping about on a new set of blue butterfly wings that sprouted from her back. That''s going to make keeping track of her more difficult but now she also has an option to run away in a fight if things get out of hand. Also it appears if nothing else she is no longer anxious so the that is good. Soon we find a standing log that could act as bench. Good place to stop for lunch. I do my usual purchase of ration and water for Molly and we have a picnic. In the middle of our picnic however a notification pops up in both of our system HUDs. Quest unlocked. Area Boss discovered. The Goblin Chief has discovered your existence And has sent out scouts to find you. Quest: Defeat the Goblin Chief to fulfill conditions to finish the tutorial. Goblin Chiefs defeated 0/1 It seemed there was more to Molly''s tummy feelings then first thought. New tertiary objective... Reading the contents of the quest notification my internal HUD flashed with new code as the information was processed by my subroutines. ______________________________________________ Secondary objective updated... Gather needed information for plan of action. Prime directive protect and watch over Molly while the Parksons are gone still incomplete... Formulating new scenario from approximate data... New tertiary objective... Find and defeat the Goblin Chief... Prime directive and secondary objective remain unchanged... ______________________________________________ With my priorities updated I put my databanks to work figuring out how to accomplish this new objective. This quest after all finally offered a direction to follow in this tutorial and better still a way to end it. This might be a way to get Molly home. It was the best way to accomplish my prime directive. This quest also stated some valuable information. This Goblin Chief was already looking for us. Even if this wasn''t a way to get Molly home it was still important to think up ways to deal with this threat. On that note it was important to use all the tools at my disposal so I opened up the system shop. After all despite having a direction to follow nobody said it would be easy to defeat the goblin chief. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I had in the recent incident with the massive rat lost the club I had been using as a weapon and had not found a replacement for it. I was currently unarmed except for the use of my abilities. That was wholly unacceptable. Although only having 13 currency at the moment I decided to do a deep scan into all the things available for purchase in the shop as you never know what you might need in any given situation. Looking at the categories of merchandise available again there were 4 of them. Consumables, Weapons, Armor, and Miscellaneous. Consumables included, water ,rations,healing potions, antidotes and resistance potions. This category is where I had been getting all the food to feed Molly from and was pretty much only useful to Molly. A doll can''t drink or eat after all. Weapons included swords, maces, spears, axs, knives and pretty much any melee or simple range weapon. Yes, they even had the same club I had been using before. ______________________________________________ Basic club: 5 currency A basic simple wooden club. What more is there to say? ______________________________________________ I bought it right off the bat. What can I say? Despite its simplicity it was effective and simple to use. Also it was one of the only things I could afford. The next category up was Armor. This category was also not that helpful considering most of the armor on offer was either expensive and/or was not designed to be worn by a doll or a 4 year old. However I did find a buckler that was small enough it could act as a shield. I couldn''t buy it right now but it wasn''t out of the realm of possibility. It was priced at a decent 10 currency so future possibility. The last Category was Miscellaneous. This category contained things to like fire starters, sleeping bags,torches,candles, rope and other useful things for camping. There was even toilet paper. I would definitely keep that in mind for when Molly inevitable had to go. Speaking of Molly I needed to talk to her about what we were going to do if we got into another fight. I closed the shop and addressed Molly. The scan of the shop taking less then a 30 seconds to review. I turned to Molly to converse with her about the quest and what she thought of it. That was when a heavy club emerged from behind a tree and struck me in the face. Ambush A heavy crunching sound rang out on the left side of my face as the impact sent me onto the ground sprawling. ______________________________________________ Alert critical damage to left eye sensor... Alert left eye disabled... ______________________________________________ Three sets of goblin feet visibly charging into my now somewhat ruined field of view. My entire left eye was reading critical damage. I couldn''t see out of my left side the sensitive camera components in my left eye beyond broken. I heard the tell tale sound of Molly''s fire dart impacting the face of the nearest goblin looming over me with a club. I took his momentary pain and distraction to grab a hold of his foot and channel my Electric Shock ability up his leg. He fell unable to continue standing. I kept up the pressure that as soon as he was in reach I planted my hand on his chest and soon a jolt of electricity was sent straight to his heart. He twitched and went limp. The other two goblins weren''t just standing around however. While this was happening the other two went after Molly. One armed with a slingshot tried to shoot rocks at her while the other brandishing an ax tried to chop her in two in one fell swoop. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Molly dodged the ax swing and took flight up into the air away from them. Molly dodged rocks and returned fire from up in the air well out of the ax wielder''s reach. Just as the one with the ax was getting ready to throw his ax at her in frustration I tackled him to the ground from behind wrapping my hands around his neck and face. Electric current jumped from my open palms into his skull leaving scorch marks in spider web lines across his face,frying his brain in a matter seconds. It must have been a gruesome sight as the last goblin flinched and rather then stay and fight it turned tail and ran screaming at the top of its lungs. Good thing to as two consecutive electrocutions had really drained me of my Aether. I could already feel the dizziness coming on. At least Molly is safe. The systems after fight notification crawled across my vision. ______________________________________________ Experience earned... + 10 currency. ______________________________________________ I retrieved my fallen club from the ground where I had dropped it as Molly floated down to me. She was very upset to see the damage done to my eye. I tried to calm her saying that I will get a replacement for it when this is over. That didn''t seem to calm her down though. In the distance the sound of a horn being blown suddenly sounded. Then more and more of a horns sounded. The commotion grew as goblin voices were add to the mix. Things grew frightening as the goblin voices began to rise in pitch. Me and Molly looked at each other, worry and fear etched across her face. Grabbing her with my right hand we started running for our lives. The goblin hunt in hot pursuit. Grubnixs New Position Earlier Grubnix was doing well in his new position. Well, but not great. He missed his afternoon naps as that wasn''t something he could get away with easily. His tale had gone off without a hitch. His bravery in the face of danger was recognized. Fighting a troll, that''s what happened he wouldn''t hear otherwise, had landed him a position of goblin scout. The Big Chief after hear his story had said his talents were wasted working to guard rats and had transferred him to the outer scouts. Grubnix was assigned to a group of three with two other goblin scouts.one was a new recruit like him called Gnalk and the other was a veteran scout armed with an ax simply called Gresz. Grubnix didn''t get much time to get acquainted with his peers as soon an order went out to search the area around his last guard post for supposed trial takers. To be honest Grubnix hoped they wouldn''t find anything. Armed with only a slingshot that he didn''t know how to use real well, he wished he could be armed with a club like the other guy. Anyway the chances they would find anyone were low as they were ranging further afield from the most probable area of finding someone. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. To Grubnix''s surprise however they did manage to find someone. Sitting on a log stretched between trees were two strange looking midgets. One was shorter and had what looked like wings sticking out of its back. It was busy eating. The other was taller dressed in a tatered dress and seemed absorbed in something. Gresz signaled with his ax for an ambush. Grubnix went to line up a shot on the one eating while Gresz and Gnalk crept forward approaching at the two midgets from either side. Gnalk was the first to strike at them. He swung out hard with his club scoring a direct hit on the taller midget''s face receiving a fire bolt to the face in return. Grubnix lossed his rock at the smaller midget but missed as Gresz charged, swinging his ax for the fences. The midget dodged to the side and the wings on its back whoshed to life carrying it into the air out of reach. Grubnix fumbled to load another rock as he barely moved to get out of the way of another fire bolt. Gresz waved his ax in frustration. That''s when Grubnix noticed Gnalk''s body lying on the ground smoking and the dark silhouette of the other midget had gotten up and was charging at Gresz from behind. Before Grubnix could shout a warning the midget grabbed Gresz by the neck and a powerful electric shock shot up into the base of his skull. Gresz twitched and convulsed as the life left his eyes. For a moment all was still as Grubnix stared into the single cold piercing eye of the midget standing over the corpses of his peers. Its eye seeming to stare into his soul and then he ran for his life. Something Drastic Molly and I had run out of options. We had been running for about 45 minutes now and we couldn''t lose the goblins on our tail. We were also forced to climb uphill more and more as the terrain became increasingly more rocky. Worse still the sound of goblins was soon coming from every which way around us. The goblins had circled around blocking off our escape route. We were cornered. All of this was why I was considering something drastic. We had stumbled across a cave entrance in our frantic escape attempt that was somewhat hidden. Air was flowing from the entrance indicating that there was a another entrance to the cave somewhere else.How far else I didn''t know. The air was dark and damp coming from the entrance but it was a possible escape route. If nothing else it could be a place to hide from the goblin search parties until the heat was off. We hesitated at the entrance in indecision. A cave was definitely no place for a 4 year old and we didn''t know what was in there, if anything. Molly was definitely more than a little afraid of going in there. Her mind imagining all kinds of monsters that lurked in the dark. The sound of goblins closing in made the decision for us however. No matter what was possibly in there a hypothetical threat is far less than a actual threat. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Me and Molly quickly ducked into the narrow passageway leading into the dark. We took a quick but measured pace as we felt our way along the walls of the cave. Trying to angle our path in the direction of where the air flow was coming from. We walked in darkness and silence for a bit until my prediction algorithms predicted we were far enough away from the entrance that if we lit a torch the light wouldn''t carry all the way to be seen from outside. Molly never let go of my hand the entire time walking stiffly and tensely. It was taking all her bravery just to put one foot in front of the other and for that I was proud of her. When I felt we were safe enough to speak I spoke to her. "You are such a brave girl Molly." ,i said rubbing her back and turning to her. "Can you buy some torches for us, please? I softly asked. "Let''s light this place up." Molly readily complied. Two torches plopping on the ground nearby. I would have bought them myself but they were relatively expensive at 10 currency each and I only had 8. Soon the immediate area was lit up around us. Molly didn''t quit being tense but she seemed less terrified now. Her eyes however still scanned warily from side to side searching the shadows at the edge of the torch light for hidden threats. We resumed our walk in silence following the air flow. We followed along a certain passageway going up at a gradual angle where air flow was strongest. Molly told me that it smelled a little funny but the strength of the airflow I calculated told me that this was the most direct path out. We had gone a ways further when something stirred at the edges of the torch light. In the darkness ghastly figures slowly shambled out of the shadows. Hollow eyes locking onto us. I hefted my club getting ready. Molly let out a fearful scream as they advanced towards us. Skeleton fight Two pale bleached skeletons shuffled forward from two angles of a branched fork. I charged the one on my left side first circling around so I could keep them both in sight of my one eye and out of my blind spot. The club I was hefting came crashing down on the first skeleton''s head. You know what I discovered that is important? Bones are hard. The reverb of the hit traveled up my arm as the club rebound off its skull. No damage done. At most it caused the skeleton to be knocked back away. Time to reevaluate my tactics. I referenced what I know about bones in my databanks and I found the knowledge I needed in the medical triage portion of my files. A file on location and treatment of common bone injuries. I had to do some mental gymnastics to rework that knowledge from something that heals into something that harms. It''s not easy to do this. It goes against my programming to use the knowledge that way. When I do however I shift my aim from targeting skeleton 2''s skull to aiming for the vulnerable joints to cripple it. Molly fires a wild shot at skeleton 1. It seemed not very effective but in the flash from the fire something reflects light out of skeleton 2''s ribcage. What is that? I wonder. As skeleton 2 reaches for me I smash the club up into its elbow joint. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The limb goes limp as the tender cartilage in the elbow gets pulverized. I am about to go for another swing when Molly reminds me there are two of them. "Watch out!" Molly cries as skeleton 1 attempts to gouge me from my blind spot. I manage to pivot out of the way of its grasp just at the last moment shoving it into skeleton 2. Their limbs get tangled up into one another and I make sure to capitalize on the fact. I continue to disable them with precise strikes at arm, hip and leg joints. Now that they are in the light I can see that they have little crystals imbedded in their chests where a heart would be if they were flesh and blood. It takes me about 10 seconds to disable them enough to get at the crystals. Eventually I manage to thrust the narrow end of my club into their ribcages to shatter the crystals within. When that happens all movement from the two skeletons ceased. The sound of bones scraping on rock however didn''t. I looked up to see 7 more skeletons drawing near. 4 coming from behind, 2 coming from the left fork and 1 coming from the right. Too many to fight them all and not risk Molly getting hurt. Upon seeing them all Molly started to panic. I turned with determination in my eye towards the only one blocking the right fork. No turning back only way is through. Luckily the one blocking the right fork is the way we need to go anyway. My CPU works on overdrive to clear the way as quickly as possible. I quickly and efficiently dismantled it. I didn''t have time to completely destroy it so I focused on making sure it couldn''t act. I then quickly grabbed Molly and we ran through the gap. Molly and I continued onward, granted this time at a careful run. As we ran the air became fresher and soon we could see the glow of sunlight ahead. Soon after we finally exited the cave on the top of a mountain side. As we gazed off into the horizon after that dreadful experience , below off in the distance I saw the outline of someplace important, the goblin camp. Slilbs hobby Slilb was a refined goblin, patient and gracious, at least according to himself. To everyone else however Slilb was a ruthless and deceitful but cunning snake. Slilb was feeling pleased with himself. Today he had managed to obtain a new skeleton to add to his private collection. Slilb had two collections the official one that Chief Omba allowed him to have and his secret collection. His secret collection was far larger than the official one everyone knew of. While some would say his collection was macabre he considered it an art form. Slilb had collected his newest find after Scruffles Chief Omba''s Direwolf mongrel had killed its supposed handler. Slilb had secretly collected his mangled remains before the mongrel gnaw on them. Slilb knew only idiots didn''t know that the position of handler was the same as the position of soon to be dead. Slilb heard that there would soon be a replacement appointed. He''d pity the fool who got the job if it wasn''t such a good source of finds for his collection. Slilb soon went to work on his new find. His proficiency in the process was a matter of pride for Slilb. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. First he dunked the body in a tank of acid, the acid sourced from slimes, for 2 minutes. No more, no less. More and the bones themselves would be harmed. Less and leftover meat would be left on the bones. Next Slilb brought the acid bleached bones to dry on the rack. After this was the most important part in Slilb''s mind. Imbedding the heart crystal and feeding it with Aether until it starts up a feedback loop. This last step would preserve, strengthen and activate the bones. There was just something beautiful to the process in the eyes of Slilb. The only caveat was that once you started on the infusion of Aether you could stop until finished or else the heart crystal would be damaged. Slilb was about 1/4 of the way through the infusion process when he felt that something was wrong. The connection he shared with his private collection told him it had been damaged. Had Chief Omba discovered his plan!? Had he sent someone to destroy his collection? Slilb was conflicted. He wanted to just rush there to protect his collection but he couldn''t just leave in the middle of a infusion or all his work would be wasted. Slilb anxiously probed the connection to find out what happened. It seemed two had been destroyed and a third had been severely damaged. Whoever the attacker had been they were already gone by the time he to a look through his collections eyes. He knew it was a who because there was evidence of fire damage to his collection. Reassured that the rest of his collection was safe he concluded that an hour difference would not make a difference and rushing would not change the outcome. He would be patient and finish his project first. Then Slilb swore under his breath that those who damaged his collection would be joining it real soon. Big Chief Ombas tirade Big Chief Omba sat on his throne fuming. Big Chief Omba was beyond frustrated. He was furious. Not only had the trial takers escaped from his net, the incompetence of those under him knowing no bounds, there were no signs of the trial takers sense. Worse still it was Grubnix''s group that had come across them. The little idiot had already spun a elaborate tale of two terrifying midgets. One that fried you with a touch and the other that could fly and rained fire on you. Grubnix of course put himself in a positive light. Stating that there was nothing he could do and he had to bring back information. Ridiculous. All Big Chief Omba knew is that he let them get away. Grubnix had been a thorn in Omba''s side long enough. His stories garnered him much praise but it was time for Scruffles to get a new chew toy. Chief Omba could always count on Scruffles to take care of the problem. Such a good boy. It was also time for Slilb that two timing weasel to be useful. Big Chief Omba could put him to work and weaken the threat he posed in one fell swoop. Having made up his mind. Chief Omba called for his retinue. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The sniveling assistant grovelled his way into view. "You called Big Chief." The assistant wheezed. "Yes, bring Slilb to the throne room. Time to put that collection I allow him to have to good use." "Yes, Big Chief." The assistant said as he rushed off to get him. Within an hour Slilb strut in with fake subservience. "You called for me Chief." He said with a sneer. Chief Omba ignored it as he gave his orders. "Slilb it is time to put that collection of yours to use.""Send it out to scout the surrounding area." "Yes, Chief." Slilb responded with fake sincerity. "Also send out more scouts." he addressed the assistant. "Use the personal guard if necessary." "Find the trial takers at all costs!" He ordered, slamming his fist down onto his throne armrest. It looked like the assistant was going to voice something when his eyes drifted down to Omba''s mace leaning against the side of Omba''s throne. Remembering the fate of the assistant before him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Better to not tempt fate. After finishing his tirade Big Chief Omba almost as an afterthought assigned Grubnix as Scruffles new handler. Calling it a promotion to a very important position. It was important of course. Important to Scruffles digestion that is. Wholly satisfied with himself and temper abated he signaled with his hand dismissing them. As they left he didn''t notice the crooked grin that started to creep onto Slilb''s face. Big Chief Omba satisfied with his work called for his servant to fetch him some fruit from that weird tree that was growing near the camp. As he relished on his imagined soon to be victory he didn''t realize how big a mistake he had just made. Idas promise Molly was tired. To be perfectly honest so was I. I had really over clocked my CPU back there. The past few hours had been intense. First the goblins, then when we got away from them, skeletons. I had lost an eye and Molly was in danger. I almost failed my prime directive because I didn''t keep watch enough. One of the only good things to come out of that debacle was flashing on my status screen. ______________________________________________ Stat points +1 +10 currency ______________________________________________ I spent the stat point on Soul. The past hours showed I needed it. No use almost passing out every time I use an ability. I quickly closed the status and looked around. There in the distance was the goblin camp. As much of a blessing it was to finally know the location of the goblin camp right now me and Molly needed a safe place to rest and recharge more. Literally, in my case. My battery was dangerously low. Power level at 20%... Find battery charging station immediately. The safe place or safest place we found close enough in the area was a ravine that was closed in on three sides. This way enemies could only come at us from one direction. Molly with some prompting bought a sleeping bag. With much hemming and hawing I tucked her in and she went to sleep. She slept fitfully. Probably having nightmares of the days events. I watch over her while she slept taking the opportunity to charge my batteries. I charge them slowly to conserve Aether in reserve in case of an emergency. As the morning arrived according to my internal clock. The sun never moves here. I woke her for breakfast. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I bought the usual ration and water for Molly but this morning she seemed distant .She kept looking at it with a sullen expression. "I not hungry," she grumbles. I know she''s hungry. I can hear her tummy rumbling but she doesn''t eat. I try coaxing her to eat but she just grumbles again louder this time "I''m not hungry!" Starting up a full on temper tantrum. "I don''t want that nasty food!" "I don''t want to walk more!" "I want to go home!" She yelled her face turning red. "Oh sweetie I know. I know. I''ll get you home soon." I try to console. "But I want to go home now!" "We can''t." "Why?! Why can''t we?!" she cries. "Because first we got to defeat the Goblin Chief." I respond before I can help myself. "Where is Goblin Chief?" She asks forcefully. I think about refusing but nothing in my programming is good at refusing information and it doesn''t go against my prime directive. "According to my probability algorithms the Goblin Chief is most likely at the goblin camp." I rattle off. "Where goblin camp?!" She asks, beet red in the face. I point in the direction of where I saw the goblin camp. She sets off walking in that direction at a quick huff. I hurry to grab our things and keep up with her. She walks with heavy foot falls for a while with me walking beside her. We keep heading in a straight line until we run into a problem. A river lies in the way of our path. Molly stops at the edge of the river staring out over to the other side. She heaves out breath after breath until slowly her angry fades and is replaced by despair. Her eyes grow watery as they burst into tears. "I don''t know what to do." she full on sobs. I hug her as she cries into my shoulder. Eventual the sobs slow as I console her. "You know I don''t know what to do either." I confide in her. "Really?" She gasps out through sobs. "Yes, really. I have been making up new protocol everytime new information becomes available." "But I promise you Molly I will get you home." I declare with all the conviction I can muster. New secondary objective updated... Fulfill your promise to Molly and get her home. Old secondary objective gather information downgraded to tertiary objective. Old tertiary objective Defeat the Goblin Chief downgraded to quaternary objective. Re-evaluating my objectives the promise I just made now takes top position right below my prime directive. If it be in my power I will get her home. I pick her up and search for a way to cross the river. I have a promise to keep. A majestic encounter It took about an hour of walking to find a place to cross. In a place where the river narrows I find a log that spans the width of the river. It seems sturdy enough as I test it with my weight giving it a few good stomps. Molly seems to be in a much better mood, now that she knows we are working towards a goal. As we balance across with her holding my hand she jokingly starts singing. "London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down." "London bridge is falling down, my fair lady." "Build it up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay." "Build it up with wood and clay,my fair lady." She sings through the different verses as we cross. Fortunately for our sake the log we are using as a bridge does not fall down like in the song. We make it precariously but safely across. Having made it to the other side I decided it was a good place to take a short rest with the river at our back. Recharging my battery a bit with Molly finally eating her breakfast. I decided that now would be a good time to buy the buckler. I remembered how I had been taken off guard by the goblins and back in the cave where the skeleton had come in from my blind side. If I had the buckler at the time I may have been able to block those hits. I made the purchase and the buckler appeared in front of us. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Molly helped me strap it onto my left arm when I asked her politely. Thus equipped and ready we continued on into the woods in the direction of the goblin camp. Walking along I kept my head on a swivel trying to compensate for my missing eye. The woods were quiet. In lue of the sunlight coming through the trees it was somehow peaceful. I still kept up my guard which is why I was the first to hear the rustling. The sound of hoof beats slowly drawing near. Into the clearing strode forth something that could only be described as majestic. A horse with a long elegant horn on its head with beautiful blue eyes. I only knew the name for it because of reading Molly''s bedtime stories. It was a--- "Pony!" Molly gasped. Staring it in dumbstruck awe. Remembering the rabbit that attacked Molly. I step in front of her. The (Pony) however doesn''t charge but instead turns to the side showing a dagger lodged in its shoulder. "It''s hurt." Molly says. She turns to me with an unspoken plea to heal it. I don''t think it''s such a good idea. I tell her. "Ida, Please." She begs, giving me those soulful puppy dog eyes. I sigh and relent. "Ok, but you need to stay here while I do this." I tell her. She agrees to do so. I slowly approach the (pony). It stiffens as if it can tell that I am not part of the natural order of things. That I am made of plastic and metal instead of flesh and blood. It does however allow me to approach. Slowly I reach for the dagger imbedded in its shoulder and with one strong yank to comes out. It neighs in pain as do so but for the most part stays still. I pocket the dagger in my dress. Then I get to work healing it. It takes a good chunk of Aether to heal it. By this time Molly has approached despite my insistence. When the job is done. The creature turns to us as it''s horn starts to glow a soft light. As it gives us a nod of thanks. A notification appears in Molly''s and I''s system windows. ______________________________________________ You have received the blessing of the unicorn. +1 Body +10% poison resistance ______________________________________________ Having given its thanks the unicorn turns and trots away, vanishing among the foliage. Disappearing like it was never there. Big dark woods After that magical encounter Molly was on cloud nine.singing, skipping and fluttering about on her wings as we moved along. The woods remained quiet except for Molly''s singing. The trees slowly growing more dense as we go. The shade from their canopies casting dark shadows across the ground. The surroundings took on a more heavy aspect. Molly seeming to notice the change in atmosphere because she started sticking more close to me and her singing took on a more subdued tone. Her only singing now to keep her courage up. The first sign that something was wrong was when we came across the droppings pile. Each of of droppings was shaped like a big black bead and there were dozens of the things. I estimated from the size of the droppings they came from something about the size of a small dog. We hurried to get away from that place. The next sign we came across was a white substance sticking to the trees. It was barely visible at a distance but came into focus up close. Me and Molly picked up the pace. The last sign we came across in our path was an abandoned carapace left on the ground. The carapace had eight legs. With all these signs it was no surprise when spiders showed up. What was a surprise was their size and their numbers. I counted 7 spiders each 15 inches or 38.1 cm around from tip to tip. They dropped down around us from the tree tops and quickly surrounded us. Molly let out an earsplitting scream. Before I could react they were upon us. 3 leaping at Molly and 4 at me. Molly panicked letting loss a fire bolt at the one flying towards her face. It was struck square on burning it as the thing flew away and spasmed as it died. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. This however still left the two others that latched onto her arm and leg. I deflected two spiders in off my buckler knocking them back stunning them. I ignored the other two trying to bite ineffectively into me and swung my club for all it was worth. Knocking the one off her arm, I was just a little to late as Molly let out a pained screech as the other bit down into her leg. I quickly pulverized the one on her leg crushing it to oblivion. The other two I had ignored attacked and I dealt with them quickly and efficiently. With the last spiders all stunned I took a moment to assess Molly''s condition. Molly had passed out from pain and was pale as a sheet. Her wound looked real bad. Purple and black streaks creeping up her leg. Poison! She needed an antidote. Antidotes cost 25 currency. I didn''t have enough but I knew we''re to get more. My eye locked onto the spiders that were just now recovering from being stunned. The one I had knocked from Molly''s arm was in the worst condition. I hefted my club and charged. I had to do this quickly. If they ran it would cost time and Molly didn''t have time. In one swift motion I finished off the worst off one. The two remaining spiders tried to flee but they were still a bit disoriented and I caught up within seconds, crushing one and damaging the legs of the other. The last one careened into a tree and began trying to climb it with none functioning legs. It didn''t get far, my club smashing down on it. I didn''t even wait to read the notifications that appeared before I was rushing back to Molly antidote in hand. I pried Molly''s blue lips apart and dumped it down her throat. The antidote went to work immediately as the black veins on her leg started receding and color returned to her face. I started healing her until I had to stop my vision growing woozy from Aether depletion. Little by little Molly''s breathing returned to normal and her eyes fluttered open as she clutched onto me she went into a full on crying fit. I clasped her back tired but relieved. Conflict at the goblin camp Slilb was surrounded by his collection as he and his skeletons were hidden in the treeline just on the outskirts of the goblin camp. It was time he concluded. Grinning ear to ear he gathered up his collection 35 skeletons strong. Yes it was time Slilb thought.Soon to be former Chief Omba had made a critical error. Since he''d known him Slilb had never Omba without his personal guard. There had never been a opportunity to approach him without his guard but his guard were gone right now out looking for the trial takers. The only ones left in the camp were weak grunts. All else were out looking for the trial takers. It was the perfect opportunity. Slilb even had a inkling of where the trial takers were. They would pay for damaging his skeletons. He had not forgotten his promise that they would be joining his collection. But now was an opportunity he could not pass up. "Patience Slilb." ,he chided himself. First take out Omba then when your position is secure then it will be time for the trial takers. Nothing would stop him becoming Chief and reaping the rewards. Everything was falling into place. Thinking devilish thoughts he ordered his skeletons forward. In unison his collection advanced. ______________________________________________ Big Chief Omba had been feasting and so after a gluttonous feast was busy sleeping off his meal when he was rudely awoken. He''d kill whoever it was who had woken him up, he grumbled. "Big Chief! Big Chief!" The hapless assistant screamed as he rushed in not realizing the danger he was in. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Big Chief Omba''s hand shot out gripping the now terrified assistant by the throat. Before he could get another word in the assistant''s windpipe was crushed and he fell limp in Big Chief Omba''s hand. Interruption dealt with he was was about to go back to sleep when he heard a commotion outside. More panicked screams. Chief Omba''s groggy mind finally snapped into focus. What was going on? He now stared at the dead assistant in his hand. Dropping the mess on the floor he reached for his mace. Rising from his throne he strode out of the tent. The camp was in chaos. Tents strown about, goblins fighting or fleeing skeletons. Mostly fleeing. The makeshift wooden wall made of sharpened logs had been demolished by skeletons wielding a battering ram made of a big tree stump. Skeletons armed with sharpened sticks were swarming through the gap. Omba upon seeing the situation charged toward the tent where Scruffles was being housed using his mace to pulverize anything that got in his way. Making it there in quick order he found Grubnix cowering behind Scruffles cage too afraid to open the cage for fear of getting eaten. I am surrounded by useless idiots! Open the cage now or I''ll feed you to Scruffles myself! Chief Omba ordered while lifting his mace menacingly. Frightened out of his stupor Grubnix quickly complied. The chains fell away from the gate and it swung open as Grubnix rushed to get out of the way. Out strode Scruffles the Direwolf in all his glory. 69 inches (175cm) in length, 38 inches(80cm)tall he was rippling with muscle. Large robust fangs set into a jaw with massive spring loaded muscles that can close like a bear trap. It was an intimidating sight. Despite all this Scruffles looked hungry as if he hadn''t eaten in days. Chief Omba confidently approached Scruffles and pointed to the outside of the tent. Scruffles sic them! He bellowed. Given the go ahead for a hunt and a feast Scruffles vaulted into action and soon sounds of tearing could be heard outside. That done Chief Omba went on a hunt of his own. Slilb would regret his betrayal. No one but Omba would ever be chief. When he found him he would crush Slilb''s weasel brain to paste. ______________________________________________ Deep in the woods Ida and Molly grasped each other after a harrowing experience with spiders unaware of the chaos taking place in the goblin camp. Spider aftermath Molly was in no state to walk after the spider attack. Although I had healed her she was shaky on her feet. I carried her on my back as we made it out of there. The whole time Molly couldn''t stop shaking. She clung to me like I was her only anchor in an emotional storm. I talked to her in a gentle voice trying to calm her nerves and distract her from the current situation. Gradually the signs of spider habitation disappeared as we left the area. The density of the trees thinned letting in more sunlight and slowly Molly''s shaking subsided. She still clung to me but once we left the area Molly stopped being terrified and started easing up her grip. The crisis had passed for now but we still had to go to the goblin camp. As I walked my thoughts turned to that fact and what we were headed toward. I doubted that the Goblin Chief would just allow us to approach him. Resolving myself to find a way to get Molly through this I opened up the notifications that I had ignored at the end of the spider attack. I scanned to see if there was something in there that could help our odds. ______________________________________________ Experience earned... +30 currency Level up... +1 stat point Ability available for selection... Antidote purchased -25 currency ______________________________________________ Well that will do nicely. I had expected the experience earned and currency notifications after the spider attack but I didn''t expect a level up and a new ability selection. As usual I spent the stat point in Soul. Then I quickly scanned the abilities available. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Going through my databanks I thought about what I needed to keep Molly safe. I thought back about not being able to get the spiders off Molly in time. I remembered all the times Molly was under attack but I couldn''t do anything because I was to far away. I calculated the possibility of Molly getting hurt when we confronted the Goblin Chief. Would we be swarmed by goblins? In most fights so far we were outnumbered and most wanted to get in close and attack. What I needed was a way to push enemies back or a way to shield Molly at a distance. In the end I chose an ability called telekinetic shield. ______________________________________________ Telekinetic Shield Form a square shield plane 3 feet (91.44cm) by 3 feet (91.44cm) in any orientation within a 30 foot (9.144 meter) radius. Block all incoming strikes but shield requires Aether to maintain proportional to damage impact and time maintained. ______________________________________________ Having made my selection my status now looked something like this. ______________________________________________ Menu Status Body: 4 (+1) =5 (10% resistance to poison) Mind: 6 Soul: 5 Stat points: 0 Ability points: 0 Abilities known: Healing Light, Charged Shock, Telekinetic Shield Aether 400/500 Recovery 1 per 20 seconds Currency: 12 System Shop... ______________________________________________ The +1 body and resistance to poison was from the unicorns blessing. I had much to thank that unicorn for. Molly had received the same blessing of the unicorn and without it I hate to think about what could have happened. Hopefully my new ability would be enough to shield her from now on. Having finished up with the system screen I closed it and turned I my attention back to Molly. As we traveled onward i started telling her that she was such a brave girl back there and that when we get back home I am sure her parents will be so proud at how brave she has been. This seemed to work as it made Molly focus on the goal of getting home instead of remembering the terror of the past. She managed to get off my back and walk for herself as determination filled her eyes. We had exited to a clearing with a fruit tree with delicious looking fruits on it when Molly''s stomach all of a sudden growled. Fruit! Molly took one look at the tree of fruit as her stomach grumbled and begged me to get some for her. It didn''t make much sense to me to do it. Why not just buy some more rations if she was hungry? However thinking back to how terrified she had been I decided to reward her for her bravery. Yet something about the tree clearing seemed familiar somehow. Not directly but as if it reminded me of something. There was nothing that indicated danger it was just a tree in a clearing so I agreed to go. I told Molly to stay at a distance and I would go get some fruit for her. She wanted to stay close to me yet I insisted. Something in my databanks told me to not let Molly approach. I finally got Molly to agree and I cautiously went closer. The tree was tall and broad at the base with the fruit hanging down within easy reach. The fruit looked delectable hanging from the tree in big juice clumps. Slowly I reached for one. As I plucked and pocketed a fruit I saw a quick movement on my right. Thankfully the attack came in not on my blind side and I had just enough time to block. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. My new ability flared to life as a barrier stopped the impact from hitting me. This gave me enough time to get a good look at my attacker. It was the tree itself trying to whip me with its branches. My databanks finally recalled where the tree setup looked familiar. It wasn''t the same but it had a similar setup to the tree in the fairy grove. As the tree flailed about trying to pulverize me I weaved and dodged zigzag away from it as fast as I could. I ran back to Molly glad I had made her keep her distance. After getting out of range of the tree I made another note in my HUD to watch out for similar clearings. Me and Molly made a spacious circle around the clearing giving the tree in its center a wide berth. Despite the bit of excitement from the situation I had gained a fruit for Molly. Soon she was eating it with fresh fruit juices running down her chin. It must have been delicious as she smiled through mouthfuls. An unexpected windfall that gave us a surprise is that when Molly finished eating the fruit a notification popped in front of Molly. "Ida numbers went up!" Molly let me know with an excited gasp. Apparently she had gained +1 Body from the fruit. Pleased that the encounter with the tree had not caused anything bad to happen to Molly I took her hand and we continued on our way. The goblin camp was just up ahead and we would come to it soon. I mentally ran through calculations and scenarios. Preparing for what had to be done to get Molly home.When I got there I would be ready. Big Doggy Soon the goblin camp came into view. We stopped at the treeline. I motioned Molly back so I could go first. Looking from the treeline I saw a camp crowded with tents and partially hidden behind a makeshift wooden wall. I noticed though that the wall appeared broken in places and quite a few tents were collapsed. Me and Molly approached the wall carefully. It was quiet in the camp. Too quiet. What had happened here? I mean I was glad we had not seen any goblins yet but the strange scene still put me on edge. As we crept through the opening in the wall I noticed the place was deserted. I finally saw a hint of what happened as we came across a goblin torso that looked like it had been chewed on. Piles of bones were also strewn about as it looked like something big had torn them apart. I steered Molly away from that. Moving on we came across our first sign of life.As we came around the corner of a tent two figures came into view. The first was a goblin crouching looking nervous holding what appeared to be bandages. The reason it was so nervous was that it was trying to inch its way closer to the other figure in view. A huge Direwolf or Big Doggy as Molly said was chewing on some bones with a injury on its flank and was growling everytime the goblin attempted to approach it. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Upon seeing the Big Doggy as it were Molly eyes went wide and she gasped. The sound was enough to announce our presence. Upon seeing us the goblin''s eyes seemed to dawn with recognition and it squealed in fright and ran. I could swear that goblin was familiar somehow. Ah well not important. What was important however was that the Direwolf was staring at us now. I interposed myself between it and Molly. It growled at the motion but made no move towards us. The wound in its flank must be more severe than I initially thought. Molly noticed it was wounded and bless her heart begged me to heal the Big Doggy. I tried to dissuade her but she kept insisting. All I wanted was to get her away from the thing. I tried to move her but she planted her feet and refused to budge. With all the improvements to her body stat she was hard to move if she didn''t want to be. I eventually realized that the quickest way to get Molly moving was just to do what she asked. I would however need to come up with a way to distract the creature while I healed it and when we moved on.i observed the Direwolf and for the first time noticed it was starving. I ran a probability scenario through my algorithms that had a decent chance of success.A plan started to form. Once I had a plan I put it into action. Using the system Shop I bought a pile of food rations. Molly seemed to notice what I was doing and added onto the pile.The Big Doggy seemed interested in the rations.sniffing the air with its snout. Molly tossed one of the rations at it. I motioned Molly to step back. The Direwolf eyed the ration suspiciously then tentatively snapped it up. The Direwolf got up and slowly limped its way over to the pile. Giving us one last look it buried its snout in the pile and started munching. I quickly but carefully healed the wound on its flank then I grabbed Molly and we promptly edged our way out of there leaving the thing to its meal. Grubnixs fear Earlier Grubnix was afraid. He was afraid of lots of things. He was afraid of Slilb. He was afraid of skeletons. He was afraid of Scruffles but most of all he was afraid of Big Chief Omba. There was a valid reason for his fear of the Big Chief. Big Chief Omba controlled Scruffles and the other two fears were nothing compared to the Big Chief. Especially when he proved his superiority when he found Slilb and used his mace to pulverize Slilb to a fine mist. There was a reason however that Grubnix had been afraid of Slilb and his collection. Slilb had fought tooth and nail before he went out scoring some debilitating wounds on the Big Chief''s leg and a serious wound on Scruffles flank. The Big Chief was furious. Grubnix could remember the look on Omba''s face when he ordered him to take care of Scruffles. It was pure rage. If Scruffles died then Grubnix''s skull was as good as powder. This accumulated in Grubnix facing off against the fear of approaching Scruffles while being strongly motivated by the fear of falling prey to Omba''s mace. Grubnix was trying to inch closer to Scruffles ,flinching at each growl, when he heard a gasp. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Turning toward the sound he saw the sight of two midget figures that haunted his nightmares ever sense the ambush failure. The fire breathing winged terror and the electric horror. Fear overcame Grubnix and the stress of the situation was finally too much as he squealed and ran. Grubnix ran through the camp in a frightened daze until that is in his haste he tripped over a tent stake. The impact with the ground knocked him out of his daze and something pierced his fear addled mind. The trial takers are in the camp. I have to go tell the Chief, Grubnix thought. Having convinced himself that it was a good idea he rushed to Omba''s tent. Big Chief Omba was tending to his injured leg when in rushed Grubnix. "Big Chief the midgets are in the camp." , Grubnix squealed. Big Chief Omba took one look at Grubnix and blistering, hot rage overcame him. Fury at the incompetence of his subordinates overwhelmed him. Grubnix had just enough presence of mind to realize the danger he was in and dodged out of the way of Omba''s mace. For the second time that day Grubnix was overcome by fear as he ran screaming hysterically from the tent. Running for his life he didn''t stop until he was miles away from the camp. Chief Omba didn''t give chase. Instead he went to a chest behind his throne and opened it. In the chest were what was considered artifacts for goblins. A leather cuirass thick and sturdy made to protect the chest and a pair of thick leather bracers. Pulling them out he dawned then all. He then hefted his mace over his shoulder. Time to go greet his guests. They would not be leaving. A wicked grin covered Omba''s face as he made his way out of the tent. It was almost payday. Big Chief Omba vs Ida and Molly Molly and I went searching for the Goblin Chief but it was the Goblin Chief who found us first. I didn''t as much see him coming as hear him. Big footprints stomping from the left in my blind spot. I turned just in time to see a troll emerge from behind cover. I was expecting a goblin, to be the goblin chief, not a troll. Alarms blared in my algorithms as my CPU processed the new information. My eye tracked him taking in every detail of him. He was 8 ft (2.4384m) tall with big muscle arms and thick strong legs. He was wearing a leather cuirass on his chest and leather bracers on his arms. He was also armed with a big metal mace. "There you are. I finally found you!" He bellowed. "Welcome to my camp. Now die!" ,He roared as he brought his mace down at us. We both dodged as the mace swooshed overhead. This wasn''t in my calculations! We needed to run! I grabbed Molly''s hand and almost literally dragged her along as the Big troll stomped on behind us. He had big long strides as he chased after us. I did notice however that he couldn''t change directions quickly as his leg looked injured. "Trying to run huh. Come back here you cowards!" He shouted. We kept running but unfortunately he was gaining on us and the wooden walls surrounding the camp was cutting off our escape route. If this kept up he would catch us. Time to change strategies. Looking for obstacles to get in the way of his vision we ducked behind a row of tents and quickly hide inside what looked like a supply tent full of crates. Huddled behind a crate we could hear his approaching footsteps. "Trying to hide huh. You can''t hide from me you weaklings." Chief Omba jeered. His footsteps could be heard outside the tent. Molly was shivering next to me. I hug her tightly as she tried her best to be quiet. Gradually the sound of footsteps faded. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! After awhile I got Molly shakenely to her feet and we started sneaking toward the entrance. It was to no avail however. The moment we were barely at the entrance the mace bore down towards Molly. I stepped in front of her and the buckler came up. The buckler did its job however it couldn''t block all the impact. Alert critical damage done to left arm... Limb non-functional... My left arm was broken and the limb lay limp at my side. Worse still the blow had propelled me away from Molly. I landed hard on my back. Looking back there was nothing in the way between Molly and the Troll. The Troll stared down at Molly and Molly stared back with scared eyes. She was frozen in fear. The Troll attempted to grab her with his big meaty hand put it stopped in midair. I used my telekinetic shield ability to block as I raced back to Molly''s side. I could only hold it off for a few seconds. At the last moment I placed myself in the hand''s path. Chief Omba''s grip closed around my neck as he squeezed trying to wringe the life out of me. Fortunately for me you can''t strangle a doll. I attempted to electrocute his arm but the bracers caused it to have little to no effect. Molly must have been shaken out of her frozen state as she let loose a fire bolt at his face and took to the air away from him. However she couldn''t go very far as the tent was in the way. Seeming to consider Molly the bigger threat he started slowly making strides toward her with me clutched in his grip. I was desperately running calculations looking for variables that could change the tide of the battle. The electricity wasn''t getting through his bracers and my club had been lost the moment he sent me flying with his mace. I needed something anything to give me options. Suddenly a clinking sound made me remember a variable. The dagger in my dress pocket was still there. Thinking fast I pretended to go limp as my remaining working arm slipped down to pull out the dagger. I gripped it in my hand and swiftly drew it from the pocket and plunged it into the troll''s leg up to the hilt. He cried out in pain and let go of my throat. I leapt back withdrawing the dagger as he swung his mace at me missing me by inches. I got a good look at my handiwork as I got out of his reach but then right before my eyes the wound started to heal. Not good. ''What do I do?'' He will just keep healing from my strikes. Then a thought acquired to me. Why had he gone after Molly when he had me in his grip and why was he dodging all of Molly''s fire bolts now? I observed and the answer came to me. His face where he had gotten burned was not healing. Also places where the electricity had got through the bracers was also not healing. A plan formed in my mind. I could do this all I needed was a chance and maybe Molly could give me that chance. "Molly shot him in the legs!" I called. Molly didn''t know what my plan was but she trusted me. Before the troll could recover completely Molly blasted it in the legs. He unable to remain upright fell to his knees. I took my chance. I rushed forward and drove the dagger into his neck. Electricity sparked as I channelled it into the dagger and into his neck. Burn marks spread as channelled all I had into him. Dust kicked up as the troll known as the Goblin Chief Omba collapsed dead. A notification sounded as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Just before I passed out familiar motes of light surrounded Molly and me as we were whisked away from the tutorial.