Since many things happened today, it'll be difficult to mention everything. I'll do my best to avoid talking about pointless things, and summarize everything that happened today from start to finish.
First, there are eight new hobgoblins. Moreover, two of them were Mages and one was a Cleric.
The one who became a Cleric have a close relationship with Gobuji-kun, so it was probably due to the influence of Gobuji-kun. The number of Clerics increased as I expected and I found myself grinning wickedly.
There are also others who evolved too.
When Gobumi-chan who was a hobgoblin yesterday woke up, she had become an entirely different species called a [ Dhampir - Variant ]. The change in her appearance isn't even comparable to the time when she Ranked Up from a goblin to a hobgoblin.
Or perhaps I should say that it's pointless to even try to compare them.
She was at least 180 cm tall with a charming body, a narrow waist accentuated by her breasts that would overflow in your hands, a beautiful moon-like face more fleeting than an elf's, glittering silver hair that flowed down to her waist, fine skin, and finally, red eyes with golden pupils.
She also acquired the [ [God of Ice]'s Divine Protection ] which allows her to generate and manipulate large amounts of ice. According to Gobujii, the [Divine Protection] of a [ God ] is above that of a [ Demigod ]. It's extremely rare, even rarer than getting two [ Demigod ]-class [Divine Protections] which Gobukichi-kun possesses.
And although it's hard to imagine from her delicate appearance, but her strength and agility is remarkably different from before. I dare say that she would be evenly matched with Gobukichi-kun whose base stats were higher than me.
Moreover, because of her [Variant] status, the characteristic weakness to the sunlight that the undead race which include the [Vampire]-lineage have is neutralized.
As always, she'd be able to go out at any time, even during the day.
To summarize the change in her appearance, Gobumi-chan became extremely beautiful. Understanding that much is good, but her appearance bothered me... I felt like I have seen that face somewhere before... it felt like the mature face of an acquaintance of mine.
For some reason, whenever I try to remember who it is, my memories get jumbled up, so I'll drop it for now, since there are more important things that happened today.
Now, on to Gobue-chan.
Gobue-chan Ranked Up to a variety of the [ Lord ] species called a [ Half-Earth Lord ]. She was not a [Variant] though.
She was at least 240 centimeters tall, approaching my height with a stout and solid muscular physique. She had two large horns extending out 20 cm from her temporal regions and curving on her head. She've a short yellow hair and garnet-like eyes. Her skin appeared to be firm but still soft like that of a woman. Her breasts were comparable to the size of watermelons but had better shape to them. Lastly, she had yellowish gems around five centimeter in diameter embedded in her abdomen as well as under both her of her elbows. They are similar to the gem that Hobusei-san possess, these gems are called Demon Orbs, they are always embedded in the bodies of [Lords] and contain abilities corresponding to their characteristics and variety.
The racial abilities of Half-Earth Lords are specialized in manipulating earth. One of them was related to mining, this ability which is called [Complete Geological Comprehension] enables her of perceiving the brittle points in the bedrock, it'll raise her mining efficiency greatly.
To test her new abilities, I asked her to mine with her bare hands which acted like a drill drilling through the wall which easily gave way. She dug more effectively barehanded now than when she was equipped with a [Unique]-Ranked pickaxe as a hobgoblin. In summary, her mining efficiency rose dramatically after her Rank Up. Consequently, we can mine ores and [Spirit Stones] much faster than before now.
It seems she can use the [Lightning] magic system to some extent too, it's used to detect ores, etc. during mining. She'll be able to find many types of ores from now on.
What can I say, Gobue-chan's mining capabilities improved a lot. When you single-mindedly put your effort in something you like the results can get astounding.
Of course, Gobue-chan's combat powers can't be underestimated too. She can easily smash rocks with her bare hands, imagine what would happen if something alive was hit by one of those blows.
A body is more fragile than bedrock, it would turn into a meat paste. Scary, scary.
Now, moving on to Hobusato-san.
Because Hobusato-san has always been good with swords, she became a [Lord]. She Ranked Up into a [ Half-Blood Lord ]. Like Gobue-chan she is just a normal [Lord] and not a [Variant].
She is two meters tall, with clearly defined muscles. She has modest breasts, in the center of her forehead was a 15 cm long ruby-like horn that extended out. She has carnelian colored pupils, slightly red skin and long blood-red hair that was bound by a string into a ponytail. She also had two bright red [Demon Orbs] about five cm in diameter embedded in the back of both of her hands.
Note: a carnelian is a brownish red gemstone
Although she didn't gain the ability to use magic, her physical capabilities had grown in leaps and bounds. Apparently, [Blood Lords] specialize in close quarters combat.
Moreover, the "Blood" in their name refers to their ability to manipulate their own blood and the blood of others. There are conditions to do so though.
Even if she cannot use magic, the ability to manipulate blood and her physical capabilities made her quite strong, especially in a battlefield where blood constantly flows. If we are talking about only direct combat ability she would likely be in the third or fourth place in our group.
Although she is considerably weaker than Gobukichi-kun and Gobumi-chan in terms of physical power, however, I think that the racial abilities [Predict], [Precognition] and [Intuition] which she gained after her Rank Up would cover most of the difference in physical power.
Anyways, everyone mysteriously developed a black tattoo similar to mine like Hobusei-san, but they differed slightly in the design and placement.
Gobumi-chan's was one on her back, Hobusato-san's and Gobue-chan's were on their arms respectively. The hobgoblins had them on various places like the leg, arm or the neck.
Well, for now there's no use thinking mulling over them because I don't have enough information about them and they didn't give me a bad feeling, I can also feel power flowing in them.
I will probably be able to find out what they're in the future after I go outside the forest.
To celebrate their Ranking Up I passed out two magic items to each hobgoblin.
Gobumi-chan received a dress sewn using a steel-like thread and blue and white fabrics made with dark magic, it's called [The Undead Princess's Dress of Mist], I also gave her the [Demonic Eye Sealing Eyeglasses] which have the power to suppress her new racial ability [Eyes of Bewitchment]. Lastly, I gave her a claymore-type magic sword made from eternal ice crystals, [Drop of Moonlight], it looked like a piece of art.
Gobue-chan got two new magic items big enough for her to be able to wield them efficiently with her size, the [Earth Goddess's War Pick] and the [Earth Goddess's Shovel], they possess abilities suitable for her. Because her old clothes couldn't fit any more, I also gave her three sets of a gray protective garment-type magic item, it looked a little like a jumpsuit. Lastly, she said that she wanted something to wipe her sweat with when she's mining, so I gave her a few enchanted towels made from my threads.
To Hobusato-san, I gave a set of armor-type magic items consisting of full plate armor made from red iron and a red cape which have a high physical and magical resistances. Lastly, I gave her a magic long-sword [Blood Princess], that has the ability to suck blood, though I doubt it will be useful after she becomes capable of controlling her [Demon Orbs].
I gave bracelet-type magic items with a spatial storage ability - just like the ones I gave Gobukichi-kun and Hobusei-san - to the three who Ranked Up beyond a hobgoblin.
After she wore the dress, Gobumi-chan totally looked like a noble's daughter. Gobue-chan didn't pull the zipper on the front all the way up, liberating her top - she's wrapping one of the towels I gave her around her chest - down to her navel. Hobusato-san who has the look of a knight with her whole body dyed in red gave off a dangerous atmosphere.
Although I'm the one who gave them their new equipment as presents, all of them lined together looked quite formidable.
Nevertheless, we are still using our old names like Goburou, Gobukichi-kun and such even though we had Ranked Up so much, we started feeling a little strange doing that, because we aren't goblins nor hobgoblins anymore.
I asked Gobujii about it and these are the new names that he came up with:
- Goburou → Ogarou
- Gobukichi-kun → Ogakichi-kun
- Gobumi-chan → Dhammi-chan
- Gobue-chan → Asue-chan
- Hobusei-san → Supesei-san
- Hobusato-san → Burasato-san
- Gobuji-kun → Hobuji-kun
- Gobufu-chan → Hobufu-chan
- etc.
TL Note : TOLD YOU THERE'S A REASON WE DIDN'T DO THE NAME CHANGES EARLIER - FB
All of those who Ranked Up received new names.
Although I wasn't expecting Gobujii to have a particularly good naming sense, this was terrible. Well, it's not like we can just decide on our names by ourselves, so I let it go.
This is the average strength hierarchy of our species:
Dhampir ≧ Half-Spell Lord = Half-Earth Lord = Half-Blood Lord ≧ Ogre ≧ Elf > Kobold Footman > Kobold = Hobgoblin = Human > Goblin.
This list is only considering the capabilities of an average individual, and it does not account for skills and equipment.
Ogres are superior to Half-Lords in terms of pure physical prowess, but their intelligence is low, so their tactics are simpler which leads to their defeat when fighting Half-Lords who have both brains and strength.
As for our ranking, we'll update it later.
Now, concerning the elves and the kobolds.
Firstly, I decided not to eat the kobolds who wanted to join us.
Well, even if I eat them, they wouldn't strengthen any of my abilities or my body, in addition, they're not tasty at all and their loyalty seems genuine. I have many other reasons to keep them, one of them is that I'm interested in seeing what a kobold can Ranks Up into. Well, the major reason is that I'll be needing more pawns that I can use pretty soon.
When the war between the humans and the elves breaks out, Father Elf-san will probably request my help, no, I'm sure he will do that. Probably a messenger will be sent here to negotiate with me soon. And I will accept the request.
A large-scale war will give me the chance to gain many new abilities and I'll be able to considerably strengthen my body, in addition, we can raise our Levels and I'll be able to collect information about the military power, tactics used, and combat styles in this world.
It will also serve to strengthen my ties with Father Elf-san, and that elven wine will become easier to get a hold of, of course such matter is of a high-priority.
That sake is seriously delicious!
In this war we'll have to use guerrilla warfare tactics - such as baiting the humans into a trap, constructing multiple military camps in many places to confuse the enemy and launching surprise attacks - due to our small numbers, the more pieces that I can use, the broader the range of tactics that I'll be able to employ in the war.
This is why I decided not to kill them and instead made them my subordinates. Of course there's no way I'd trust them just like that. Within their group there are only a few that I trust.
So, as insurance, I gave all the kobolds an improved version of the ear cuffs enchanted with the standard three buffs like the ear cuffs I distributed before, however, these new ear cuffs possess the ability [Enslave] too. Just like I said before, only having this ability is useless, however, I can grant this ability to an item, items with this ability function like slave collars, they're of course connected to my ability.
With this, the possibility of any Kobolds betraying me in the middle of a battle is solved. Even if they wanted to defy my orders, I'll be able to use them without any problems.
Similar ear cuffs were also given to the elves, who were used for sex and breeding until this point in time. However, these were enchanted with a fourth buff, [Conceal].
I added [Enslave] to have complete control over them, and added [Conceal] to avoid conflict with the elves in the village.
It like seems in the elves' culture pricking a hole in your ear or attachment of earrings is a taboo. Apparently their name will be struck from their clan and they will be exiled from the village. For that reason, in this world the long ears of Elven slaves are cut halfway. That's why they refused to put on the ear cuffs, they still had some hope of returning to the village.
I could've just put the cuffs on forcibly, but they could make up an excuse like "It was done against our will, we couldn't help it", so I stripped off their remaining pride.
After I asked their bodies for some time, they began asking me to put the ear cuffs on them instead. I will not say what happened though.
It would have been better if they just acted obediently from the beginning.
Earlier Ogakichi-kun was asking for advice about his relationship with Asue-chan. So, I put him in charge of the tallest Elven man tonight. I told him "Try doing it with an Elven man as practice before the real thing." and made sure he knew how to go easy on them to avoid breaking them.
I also let the goblins whose social standing was low and normally had no chance of getting a turn, have turns with the men as well. The men were pretty, So they were satisfying enough for the goblins.
All of this is later in the night though.
The elves who had been imprisoned until now to prevent escape were allowed out of their cells today.
I had them participate in the Kobolds' training. To use an elite elf only for sex and breeding would be wasteful. Besides it's difficult for elves to get pregnant anyways.
Now that I don't have to worry about them escaping, to use them more efficiently I decided to have them contribute in the battlefield more in the future.
As for breeding, we can just capture some human women from our enemies - like the human army - .
The elves, being out of prison for the first time in a while, were very happy about their freedom. It seems like one of my goals which is improving their moods was a success.
Now its time to train the newcomers. First I instructed them on how to quickly stand in line and put them under basic endurance training. It is the basic training that Gobukichi-kun and all the goblins started with.
This is necessary for the kobolds, but the elves being elites could have skipped the basic training, however, taking it is better, because it will give them more experience and polish their bodies further.
In battle, There is a vast difference between those who received basic training and those who didn't.
The basic training continued until they collapsed on the ground from fatigue.
After they took a break, I picked out the kobolds who I judged as unsuited for combat considering both of their strength and temperaments and transferred them to the logistical corps « Pleasure ». I appointed a goblin from the logistical corps « Pleasure » to serve as both their supervisor and instructor.
Then I made the combat-oriented kobolds and the elves start combat training, it was sparring sessions. The children kobolds also participated, they will become pretty strong if I start training them from this age.
Their opponent was neither me nor Gobukichi-kun, or even any of the goblins and hobgoblins, it's also not between themselves.
This training was also going to be an experiment.
I pitted the elves and the kobolds against the Skeletons created with my ability [Lesser Summoning: Undead].
I can generate them indefinitely as long as I have enough magic power, so there is no risk involved, moreover, the ability's level increases when I generate skeletons and the elves and the kobolds can gain Experience Values by defeating them. Their bones can also be used as materials in alchemy and blacksmithing. It's like killing three, no, four birds with one stone.
Because it's daytime, I used my ability to summon the skeletons who are weak against sunlight and performed the training in the depths of the mine where the sunlight can't reach, we use [Fire Spirit Stones] to illuminate the interior of the mine, so it's still bright.
When I used my ability, a black shadow appeared on the ground, after seeing the black shadow, I foresaw the figure of a white skeleton emerging out from the shadow. I can still remember their white skeletal bodies from yesterday clearly, however, something unexpected occurred.
I though that a skeleton soldier would be summoned, but a [ Black Skeleton ] armed with a curved saber and a kite shield appeared instead. Its body was 2 meters tall, for armor it equipped a jet black mantle and a similarly jet black full plate armor covered with spikes. It's bones weren't white, but black, it was a black bony knight.
It was clearly a higher ranked skeleton compared to the skeleton soldiers. It may be as strong or even stronger than a greater skeleton.
Skeletons can materialize [Soul Equipment] corresponding to their strength by using their racial ability [Equipment Materialization] and its higher tier version [Greater Equipment Materialization]. The weapons and armor cannot be wielded by anyone else after the skeleton is destroyed because they turn into fog and disappear when the skeleton is defeated. The stronger the skeleton is the higher the quality of their equipment, this black skeleton's equipment were the of the highest quality [Soul Equipment] that I have seen. This skeleton is without doubt the strongest I have seen.
I experimented with [Lesser Summoning: Undead] for some time.
According to my observations, my [Lesser Summoning: Undead] ability allows me to create undeads considerably weaker than me.
When I learn an ability from eating, I instinctively understand how to use it, however, the details may differ, so experimenting with abilities like this is necessary to find out more about them.
I named this black skeleton [Black Skeleton Knight].
The black skeleton knight faced off against the elves equipped with Mithril short swords and round shields, but most of the time the black skeleton knight won.
I could tell watching it fight that it possessed the skills of a skilled knight. The combination of its timely defense with the kite shield and its swift and powerful slashes with the saber can't be called anything less than superb.
The black skeleton knight was resistant to slashing attacks and fatigue too, so it was well suited for drawn out battles. That's why even though the elves didn't have that much of a skill difference compared to it they lost, they lost after the battle started dragging on.
These guys are really useful.
However, if the they trained with only black skeleton knights everyday, then they'll not be able to get any Experience Values, I have to do something to overcome this drawback. I tried ordering the black skeleton knights to go easy on them, but the gained Experienced Values was less in amount compared to defeating it normally, I don't understand the reason behind that though.
To find a way to overcome this setback, I continued experimenting with [Lesser Summoning: Undead] until late in the night. Thanks to that, I found various ways of using it.
Day 61 Sidestory: Male Elf's POV
Including us elves, races other than humans can undergo [ Evolution (Rank Up) ] after accumulating a large amount of Experience Values and reaching Level "100".
The amount of Experience Values required to Level Up differs largely between species, but the fact that these cases are few and far between is a trait shared between all of them, as despite reaching Level "100" most are unable to Rank Up.
For example, when it comes to goblins who are weak but have a high growth rate, there are usually only two or three, and at most 4 out of a hundred that can Rank Up to hobgoblins.
I had little knowledge on goblins and didn't know anything more than this about them because I thought of them as just some weak ugly creatures until recently, but even with my limited knowledge, I can affirm with confidence that what I mentioned before about their Ranking Up probability is true.
And the stronger the species, the less the number of those who can fulfill the requirements to Rank Up. Due to such harsh requirements, those who can Rank Up into Dragonewts, Lords, and Midians appear only as one in ten thousand.
However, what happened in the group led by the black ogre that captured and enslaved us can only be described as impossible, they Ranked Up in bulk last night.
The [ Dhampir - Variant ] possessing beauty that overshadows even elves'. The [ Half-Earth Lord ] possessing a heroic, warm spirit. The [ Half-Blood Lord ] hiding the bloody madness leaking out from her body. And many goblins who Ranked Up into hobgoblins.
This kind of thing should have been impossible. It utterly defies common sense, something impossible to happen. If it had been this easy for non-humans to Rank Up, the detestable humans would have been chased to the corners of the continent by now, and they wouldn't be living leisurely like they are now.
This is probably what I would have thought if this happened a few days ago, but at this point it's not much of a surprise anymore.
That's because the common sense I cultivated while living in the forest for a long time has already been shattered into pieces.
After we were caught, I started feeling a very strong libido that I had never felt before. Adorning earrings or opening holes in our ears is a severe taboo for elves, but after many approaches were used against us we were cornered with no other choice but to don the ear cuffs.
Forced into training harsh enough to make all our efforts up until now seem like child's play, we were not even allowed to pass out.
Being faced with massive stress, as well the shock from encountering the unknown has brought upon us changes that elves who usually spend their long lives leisurely don't face.
I had to abandon my common sense, otherwise it would have costed me my sanity, after I abandoned my common sense, my mentality changed completely and I became capable of maintaining my composure in the midst of the abnormal events happening in this group.
Well then, for today's training, we fought black skeleton knights that the black ogre - renamed from Goburou to Ogarou - summoned.
At first, I underestimated it, that's because even though it was a skeleton knight and seemed stronger than a normal skeleton, it was still a skeleton. Another reason was because my equipment consisted of a Mithril short sword that is effective against undeads which skeletons are grouped under, and a light but sturdy round shield, in addition to the confidence I have in my training until this point.
I thought that if even only one attack lands, I would be able to easily win after it weakens due to the effects Mithril inflicts on undead. But contrary to my expectations, I ultimately lost.
I certainly am not inferior in terms of skills, but I lost against the black skeleton knight in terms of stamina.
I should've ended the fight before it turned into an endurance battle, but the black skeleton knight's capabilities exceeded my expectations, and although I did not receive any damage, I couldn't land an attack either.
After I lost, although I felt frustrated, I felt somewhat refreshed too. It was the first time that I felt refreshed like this.
Somewhere in my heart, I thought that such a life is unexpectedly not that bad.
Because I've already put the ear cuffs on, I can never meet my family and friends again, even if I do, I will not get accepted in the village anyways, but I don't feel something like despair anymore. Rather, I held a different sort of emotion. Perhaps the change in me, despite my disinterest for the outside world up until now, has something to do with this.
What I'm sure of is that this group is definitely abnormal.
Wondering what would happen to us from now on, feeling both eagerness and anxiety, I decided to continue living my life here.