I could sense the spirits as they approached, their invisible gaze coming from all around me as their divine commands filled the goblin shamans minds, i could only hear the faintest whispers of it, and they rattled my soul.
“Sorry little fellas” I said to the cage in front of me, filled with small vermin that seemed to be used to feed the tamers newborn beasts. Picking it up, I continued sprinting towards the shrine, the ominous mana swirling it making it a dead giveaway of where i needed to go. Using my Chain, I carved various runes into the cage, chaining them one by one into a… volatile concoction of contradicting mana. Then i took a rat out, dropped the cage, and sprinted as hard as my mana enhanced legs could carry me.
The detonation was loud as the 1st layer of the abyss. Shards of stone exploded out of the cage as it melted into slag from the magma rune i imbued into it at the last second, the stone bits bringing with them chunks of magma as it rapidly cooled from the ice rune i had inlaid around it. I called this little move the obsidian sacrifice. And i never want it to have that second part ever again.
DING!
ACHIEVEMENT GAINED!
Sending the notification away, I did NOT have the time to be distracted right now, I needed to get reinforcements before charging the shrine. Continuing to run through the small camp, I dashed to the side to where a small cave should be, Rukks bunnies former warren. Yeesh that’s a mouthful-Focus, Theo!
Admonishing myself for the brief distraction i ran to the small hole i could see, the entrance being actively widened by Rukks largest rabbit, the brown bunny he called Raile, what a silly name.
Reaching into my [Vault Rune], the inventory tab on my interface appearing before me, i pulled out the small inscribed leather strips i had worked with Rukk to make the night prior.
The system had kindly granted me a few achievements for making these items, a new skill under the Rune pathway called [Talisman Creation].
It allowed me to put runes onto small tags of a flat surface, like small tablets or vellum pages, and attach them to, well, whatever i could reach. This would impart the runes effects onto the surface, but allowed me to pick up the talisman and move it away. The only downside was that when the talisman was removed, the rune would erase itself from both the object imbued, and the talisman used.
This made the skill much more “fair” for the world, a term the system had labeled as “balancing”. I couldn’t complain since now i didn’t need to etch each individual rune into every surface if i had them prepared before hand.
But i had to use the talismans sparingly for now, only dropping 3 of the 10 we had made with the small time we had. Each set to imbue the surface it landed on with spike traps of dimensional winds. It was slightly more complicated to make each one, adding the [Rune of Dimensions] had been a small addition but it came with a slew of mana complications due to it’d nature. Looking again at my Profession passives, jsut to make sure the runes wouldn’t explode as soon as they touched the ground, i was filled with relief as i saw the effects once more.
Passive Boosts:
- Planar Echo: All runes effecting other planes, realities, and dimensions have a small boost, this includes elemental, spatial, and other similiar runes.
- Dimensional Awareness: Allows the wielder to have a mildly enhanced sense of Dimensional anomalies related to runes or other such magical pathways.
As the Runes on the talismans were filled with both elemental and dimensional energy from the elemental plane of wind, and wherever dimensional mana came from. The stability was boosted alongside the effects. I saw the small talismans seem to meld into the ground, a slight indigo hue appearing above them to my mana sight. The traps were set!
Diving into the small warren, Raile followed, the brown bunny hissing indignantly as the earth shifted around it. I didn’t have much time to get back out there before the fang goblins sniffed me out. “Raile, get Rukk back here right now, i’ll feed you mana if you need but we gotta go!” Putting my hands on the bunnies cracked horn, I funneled my mana into it. The rabbit drank it all up, continuing to try and get more. Its eyes glowed golden as its skill activated, using my mana affinity, whatever it may be, to alter its innate ability.
The bunny started to shake as the dirt near it rose up, small tethers of gold and brown mana slowly spread out from Raile’s mana core. Each tendril linking to multiple pieces of dirt, chaining between them and pulling them closer to the rabbit. My mind jumped back in time, back to the conversation me and Rukk had before beginning our raid the night before.
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“Are you sure this will work?” The small goblin asked while i was working on his armor, the pelts laid around me as i stitched them together and thought over the array that would be best for his fighting style.
“Yes, Im positive we will be able to get into the camp.” We had set our plan to infiltrate the tribe, but every time we reviewed it a new problem would pop up. “We’ve accounted for the shamans and the remaining tamers. As long as the remaining High goblins are dispersed with the distractions we have laid out in the woods they won’t be back in time. All we need to do is get in, get the people out of the shrine, and then rally against Gustav when he returns.”
The goblin was pacing back and forth, his rabbits shuffling out of his way each time. The small green rabbit, the life attuned bunny known as Vars was trying to get onto the table after Rukk passed him for the 3rd time. It let out a small, rage filled hiss as it stomped the table, his small eyes boring into me with accusation.
“Rukk, calm down, it’s all going to go to plan.” I stepped away from the table as the rabbit started to inch towards the armor, fearing he would mess up my work if i didn’t help his master. “Your friends are clearly stressed, and I think they’re blaming me for your mental state as well. Take a step back, let’s sit down and review what we know. If we focus on what can go wrong then we won’t be able to focus on what we can make go better.”
The goblin was shaking by the time I got to him, and he jumped a bit when I put my hand on his shoulder. He took a deep, shuddering breath as his remaining rabbits came up to nuzzle the veteran goblins legs. “Okay, okay, let’s go over it one more time.” He walked over to the corner of the cave, where him and his bunnies had set up a small area for themselves. Decorated with pelts of beasts and and small tent made from bone and the pelt of a Crystalhowler. The large, Crystal spiked pelt made up the home of the goblin and his remaining rabbits, the 7 bunnies would go in and out throughout the day. The rabbits were just the cutest things ever when they weren’t threatening to dig through a wall or use their innate skills, Rukk said they fed the mana to them so they could use the skill, But i had caught the rabbits using weakened versions without outside assistance.
Stolen novel; please report.
Sitting down at the small table we had set up between our two living areas, he unfurled the crude map we had made using the rabbits and my expeditions as a knowledge base. The map covered most of the forest, any further and i was prevented from walking, as if there was some sort of invisible wall at the edges of the forest. The system had, at the time, told me it was the “Tutorial Field Ending” and that progressing further would be impossible until i successfully completed the Trial. This trial that was taking forever!
TRIAL 4: [WILDERNESS SURVIVAL]
SURVIVE WITHIN THE TUTORIAL FOREST, HUNT MONSTERS AND DEFEAT THE OCCUPYING GOBLIN CLAN, THE 3rd CHILD OF BOBLIN
COMPLETION: DEFEAT THE BOSS, KILL 100 CARD BEASTS, KILL 50 CREATURES UNDETECTED
“The Galefang Tribe stays right here,” still pointed to a wide clearing on the map, “The shrine lies in the center of the town, right next to the beast pens and living quarters of the Gale Shamans.” He pointed to the side wall next, “This is where we will begin the siege of the rabbits, our main distraction against the tamers. We can only spare 4 rabbits for the siege, but if we go to the warren i have in the tribe we can get the 3 newborns my babies had before our expedition to kill to.” He winced at that, “again, sorry for that.” I waved my hand, “No worries, what matters is the success of the raid.”
“Correct!” The goblins mood visibly lifted as the past was shuffled away, “What matters is saving my family, and freeing the tribe of course. I’m confident that if we begin the rebellion, some of my brothers and sisters in arms will join us. I’m not the only one who’s had doubts in recent days.”
I stared at the goblin, excitedly chattering away our plan as he regained some of his lost confidence. Something strange had been going on as we progressed together, he seemed more, I don’t know, intelligent? His speech had grown more akin to a human or even a fae than that of a beast. It was interesting seeing his growth but I didn’t know what could be causing it. Something unknown, something that couldn’t be accounted for, something possibly even dangerous.
The planning went on through the night, with strategy and new ideas being formed like had happened every couple of hours since we had begun our preparation on the raid. The goblin population had now dropped to roughly 5 percent based on what we could see of the remaining scouting parties. We were in the home stretch, but we had to be careful with how we moved forward, lest we make a careless mistake. The hunter does not strike when the thornstag approaches the lake, but only after it had begun drinking.
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Back in the present, Raile had finished his transformation. The rabbit was majestic, the gold and brown mana had combined with the dirt nearby, coalescing around the small creature until it grew armor. Stones compounding into each other and gleaming with magic as the bunny grew, and grew, and grew again until it reached my hip in size. The small horn had been changed into a gleaming, golden colored curved blade as it stared at the wall nearby, ears twitching as it followed its masters mana trail.
Before I could even comment on the beasties appearence, a notification appeared before my eyes.
DING!
ONGOING EFFECT: MANA CHANNELED!
YOU ARE PRESENTLY CHANNELING MANA INTO A FOREIGN ENTIRY, FUELING ITS SKILLS AND POSSIBLY CHANGING ITS FUNDAMENTAL NATURE. BUT HEY, WHATS LIFE WITHOUT A LITTLE ADVENTURE AND POSSIBLE RAMPAGING MANA BEASTS THAT FEED ON MANA, MANA VAMPIRES TOTALLY WEREN’T WIPED TO EXTINCTION TO PREVENT THKS SORT OF THING FROM OCCURRING. EFFECT: YOUR MANA WILL BE CONSUMED AT A PACE OF 1% A SECOND WHILE THE CREATURE IS BEING FED!
By the hunt this was expensive! How the abyss did Rukk manage to channel into multiple of these things at a time?
Raile wasn’t phased by the transformation anymore than he would be dropping pellets on a perfectly good picnic blanket, walking towards the wall and lifting his foot. With a massive rumble from his throat, the rabbit began marching straight into the wall.
“Oh Rukk did you give me an idiot?” I sighed as i watched the rabbit walk at the wall. The bunny seemed to sense my disappointment as i saw mana begin to circle its horn turned sword. What the? Before i could go any further there was a loud “THWUMP!” as a brown shockwave launched from Raile into the wall. Instantly making a tunnel entrance roughly 10 feet deep and 5 feet wide. My mana bar dipped roughly 10 percent as we lumbered forward, my natural regeneration not fast enough to fully offset the rabbits cost.
There was a far off yell as the familiar mana signature of Rukk tumbled towards us from the tunnel Raile had made, 4 rabbits trailing behind him with their skills in the process of disabling. Drawing a [Wind Rune] onto the ground to cushion his impact, I quickly fed it mana and recalled my chain to its Rune as the small goblin barreled into the warren. Sensing curses and expletives at me and Raile as he fell into the [Wind Rune] and bounced a few times before gently landing on the ground below. The orb of air that had been created by the rune dissipating as it ran out of mana.
“What in the Spirits right molar are you doing?” Rukk asked, rubbing the back of his head where he had fell. Were those grey hairs i saw? “I’m trying to get our forces combined at the moment!” I whisper yelled at the goblin, the tenseness of battle scratching at my nerves despite my decades of experience, such was the cost of changing positions from defender to fighter i supposed. Jabbing a finger at the sma goblin, “You said there would be Fang goblins who joined us, so far all they’ve done is yell at me and run away or sent a beast at me, I’ve been chased by birds, rats, wolves, one of them even had an abyss damned Embear! Do you know how scary a bear with fire coming out of it is?”
“Oh you met Burnices nephew, real sweet kid. We’re not totally sure where he got the bear but if the spirits allow him the skills of taming who are we to stop him?” the goblin shrugged nonchalantly, probably because he hadn’t had a bear spit a fire bolt at him. “The goblins won’t react if it’s just you, they see the gauntlets and hear that you’ve been killing their relatives and they are bound to try and get their licks in, the ones who saw me joined in. Especially when i started passing out the weapons you put those runes on.”
He made a lot of sense, as frustrating as it was. I took a deep breath as I cut off my mana from Raile, the bunny shrinking back to its normal size as the armor crumbled off of him. “Can you vouch for me or something? I’d like to be able to work without having attacks thrown my way from beasts and their tamers yknow? I need a few moments down here anyway to look through my new achievements and any skill or gear gains i received from them so if we got you back to the surface maybe you could tell them now?” I hoped the goblin would say yes, and the tension left my shoulders as he nodded in agreement.
“I’ll get back up there and talk to the Fang goblins joining us, you’ll want to be quick though as they are getting pretty close to sending their beasts at the shrine, they also have family in there.” He looked at me with those small goblin eyes. “Be quick, be safe, and most importantly, theo? Make sure my little one is safe.” He made a pointed look at Raile as he crawled his way back up the tunnel, his 4 rabbits holding into his armor with their teeth as to not fall off.
I sat back down on the ground, mulling over my achievements from the beginning of the raid to now. There were some gems in here, I let out a low whistle as i saw some of the rewards.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Siege? What Siege?
Description: Sucessfully infiltrate a camp, castle, town, or other settlement with the intent to attack it. The kicker? You snuck in and are laying the trap before the main attack! You sly timeline skipper you!
Reward: Title! [Shadow before the Blow] Grants the wielder a +5% damage to the first attack in combat, as well as a +5% in stealth before the first attack.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Beast Channeler.
Description: Successfully channeling mana into a beast to enhance or fuel its skill, infusing your affinity into that specific interaction. To be honest with ya, I have no idea how you did that last part since we haven’t shown you your affinity yet.
Reward: Passive Skill! [Channelers Instinct] Grants access to the channeled beasts interface as if you’d cast an [Inspection] class card.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Sacrifice for power!
Description: Woah buddy, that’s kinda creepy! You successfully used a creatures life force to enhance a magical effect! Those 3 rats didn’t add so much as an inkling to that rune trap, but you still did use their life force, even if by accident.
*Analyzing*
The analyzing message concerned me, the last time i’d seen anything like that was right when i awakened my new interface all those months ago in this reality. Right before my soul got sucker punched and forced me to accept the tutorial.
DING!
Wincing as the loud mental notification surprised me, I opened the achievement again, hoping it wouldn’t give me anything as ominous as the description. It gave me the heeby jeebies!
Reward: [Rune of Siphon]
Description: The Rune of Siphon allows the draining of a vital resource from any creature it is applied to. *Disclaimer, Rune is compatible with skill [Talisman]* The resource siphoned will be channeled into the rune as a power source or transferred to a nearby compatible container or other Rune of Siphon.
The knowledge of the Rune filled my mind, how to carve it, link it, even how to alter it thanks to my profession skills. I intuitively knew that the bronze ranked effects weren’t strong, but since i could carve it up to Iron and use my mana and skill enhancement skills to boost it halfway to silver rank! The problem is it would drain me dry, i wouldn’t have the reserves to use my mana enhancement on myself for anything significant and I certainly wouldn’t be able to make any new runes after. My passive mana regeneration being far too slow and my active regeneration far too complicated.
All these insights were dropping my morale, I needed to cheer up, the repetitive dinging from my [Rune Imbuement] skill leveling was just what i needed to see before I returned to the surface. Apparently other creatures using weapons i’ve imbued runes into granted the skill experience. Maybe even a-DING!
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: VIVA La Revolution!
Description: Sucessfully arm a revolution, Sure you didn’t actually make most of the weapons, and yes you did outsource the labor and distribution to a different goblin. But you did turn all those sticks and small spears into rune imbued weapons of resistance!
Reward: The satisfaction of helping the lower class in a caste system established long before they had any input into it. As well as the title : [Revolutionary Scribe]
TITLE GRANTED: [Revolutionary Scribe]
Effect: The wielder will have a +10% bonus to relations with any revolution/rebellious faction.
My oh my, what a perfectly timed reward. A smile creeped onto my face as Raile became noticeably more relaxed around me after I equipped the title. The revolution and split of the Galefang tribe had begun.