The thin goblin poured the mixture into a large vial and the orange liquid turned viscid. After another seven minutes, the liquid settled, turning yellow and the goblin took a sip. Satisfied, he smiled and quaffed it, not a drop leaving his big mouth. "Garug! Karka!" He shouted and two large, muscly 2nd-tiered goblins with tattoos depicting chains on their foreheads arrived into the workshop.
"Stand guard!" He commanded. They left and stood right before the entrance, their bodies completely blocking it.
The 3rd-tier goblin kicked away a few crates, revealing a nasty bed. His tattoos and eyes were emitting a dull aura of colour of magic. He staggered and collapsed directly into the bed.
Stone enabled the technique again. Lucifer sighed, relieved that they won't die by overdrain.
"Luci, can we kill him?" Stone asked, voice full of hope. The experience points would bring him a lot of levels.
"Definitely not. How many times do I have to repeat it to you?"
"But…"
"No! It will take him at least twelve hours. Hopefully. We need to find some books. Fast."
"How does a book look?"
"A square thing that can be opened. Inside it's full of letters, pictures, and runes."
Stone conjured 13 ant souls and sent them all over the crates. After a while of squandering around, a dozen books towered before him. The glowing goblin was still unconscious and the guards were not able to hear them.
[Your spell Ants' Souls gained a level]
"Let's look," Lucifer mumbled as he went through the books' names; "Hmm… this one is about basic alchemy, this one is some child stories and this one is the bible of Marakan, Orbisia's god of thunders…
"Will you read it to me?" Stone interrupted him with a voice full of hope.
"What? The bible or the kid stories?"
"Kid stories!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No."
"Please!!"
"What are you? A child?"
"Yes?" Stone answered according to his understanding of the language.
"… Read it yourself," Lucifer groaned.
"Okay!"
The quiet rustle of turning pages and peaceful breathing of the transforming goblin were the only sounds in the room.
"Finally, a little bit of peace and silence," Lucifer was glad for it.
[Your intelligence had risen by 0.5]
A few of the books were unreadable for them as they lacked the needed requirements to even open them. Still, one was an apprentice wizard spellbook. From the materials it was made of, Lucifer judged it belonged to a drow apprentice warlock. It contained a few basic spells from the School of Evocation. The spells would require some kind of reagent, like fireball would require explosive powder or a talent like Heat Accumulator.
Refined mana, or in the case of Lucifer, superflux, was able to reduce the requirements, however, it was still a great problem for them. They lacked even the ability to have a bag. The best would be spatial storage… However, such things were incredibly rare.
"Found some spells. Stone, stop reading. Time to learn!"
"I don't want to! The story is getting good now!"
"Fine… you have half an hour. I will go over the rest of the books…" Lucifer hesitatingly agreed while enjoying the peace. They had time and Lucifer was glad that Stone showed some interest except for levelling up and murder.
☁☁☁☁☁☁
During Stone's assassination of sleeping goblins, almost four days after their meeting with their father, Therdreag, the blighted siblings, Eriv and Dori, were fighting for their lives.
"Eriv! Behind ya!" Dori warned his sister.
She rapidly rotated and countered the incoming short spear held by a muscly, olive-green hand with her bare palm. She madly grinned, making the 1st-tier goblin flinch and broke his head with a large club. His head cracked like an egg, splattering her with blood, brain tissue and skull splinters.
"I'm sorryyy!" She erratically sobbed as she smeared the crimson liquid mixed with her tears all over her face even more, ironically, in an attempt to clean.
"Gulbu! Gulbu!" The goblin language echoed from the nearby shaft as the goblin reinforcements rushed at them.
"Yar turn!" Dori shouted as he stretched his arm towards the goblins.
"Yeeessss, maaasteeer," the purple fire answered the call. A same-coloured flame poured from Dori's palm, creating a wall of fire and burning the frontline to ash. It painfully burned his arm in the process too.
"Buuurn! Buuuuuurn!" Dori madly laughed, consumed by the beauty of the purplish fiery hell and the goblins' painful screeches.
Meanwhile, Eriv took care of the remaining goblins, brutally smashing them with the oak-wood club she found before they embarked to the Abyss. Her incredible regeneration was taking care of any wound caused by these mundane weapons with ease. Yet, whenever she killed she cried and sobbed, losing concentration.
Suddenly, a short spear penetrated her shoulder. Her veins on the forehead bulged as she roared, paralysing the goblin with her [Battle Cry]. She grabbed the goblin by the neck and smashed him onto the ground. A slight crack echoes in her ears, signaling the broken spine. Then she rushed to the last panicking goblin, who attempted to hop through the purple fires. It was a critical failure, proved by a handful of ash joining his ashen brethren.
"Hehehe, t'is was fun! Com'! Com'! Gre'n trash-gobbl'rs! Com'!" Profanities poured out of the bersekering former miner.
"Tika! Tika!" Goblin language reverberated again. The goblins retreated.
"Com' back!" Eriv shouted behind them and was already a few steps in their direction.
"Eriv!" Dori was out of his pyromaniac episode quickly and caught his fretting sister.
"Graaaaah! Releas' mea!"
"Dornus ass!" He cursed and released a little bit of purple flame, sending it into her mouth.
"Gah!" She gasped and the lack of oxygen calmed her down.
"They're gon'," a druegar scout came to them from behind. "Ye two passed. Ye can join the guards. Also, the gems and gold ye gave was enough. Welcome!"
"Eriv! We've got home!" Dori joyfully exclaimed.
"Yea, heard it too," she replied, her mind still in a daze. Her wounds already healed, but the blight she suffered had harsh repercussions. One of them was that she could not drink alcohol. That was a painful realization in more ways than one.
"We'll go to the village now. I'll introduce ya two to the chief and shaman," the druegar said.
In two hours, they arrived near the village, meeting a returning shaman.
"Ah! Shaman-Garza! Bringin' proven newbies!"
"Don't bother mea!" The shaman annoyedly disregarded them and hurriedly left into his refit and now-constantly guarded temple.
"Tche!" The scout spat on the ground as his fake smile faded and gestured to the siblings to follow him.
When they went through the square with a freshly bloodied altar, they saw someone in the hanging silver cage, gleefully napping—someone who Eriv did not expect at all.
"DAFUR?!" She shouted in surprise and several pairs of eyes glanced at their group.
"Ya know this druegar?" The scout turned to her.
"Yea… kind of… He's no druegar! He's a blighted dwarf who just looks like one," she answered truthfully.
The scout frowned, relaxedly walked to the hanging cage and rattled it.
"What?! What?!" Dafur nervously jerked as he was suddenly woken up.
"Are ya a dwarf?" The scout squinted at him.
"Dafur! Why dinna ya tell them ya're dwarf?" Eriv cheerily asked before Dafur could react.
"Eriv?! What in the Dornus ass're ya doin' here?" Dafur eyes bulged at her.
"I asked first!"
"So, are ya dwarf?" The scout impatiently repeated the question.
"What… what're ya talkin' about?" Dafur nervously replied, visibly perspiring.
"What're ya talkin' about? Ya remember, right? Or did ya hit too hard in the head?"" Eriv curiously asked, not noticing Dori gesturing her to shut up.
"So, are ya dwarf or what?" The scout rattled the cage again. Then he pulled out a bolt from his pouch and poked Dafur in the ass a few times.
"Auch! Are ya insan'? Auch! Stop it!"
The siblings' faces contorted as they quelled their laughter with difficulty.
"Help mea!" Dafur pleaded, his voice rang clear for all to hear.
"Are ya fuckin' dwarf or no?! Answer!" The scout was his patience running out.
"Yea! I'm a dwarf! Blighted! Thanks, Eriv! Now they'll sell mea to Arn-Dul!"
"Does sham'n know?"
"Yea! He knows!"
"Good! Ha!" The scout victoriously grinned. "Come ya two! I'll introduce ya to the chief!"
They left Dafur in his cage for the chief's house that was guarded by Jarka. She examined them and asked, "Newbi's?"
"Yea."
"Dwarfs?"
"Runaways. Family issues apparently. Already paid, and I tested them."
"Good?"
"Good. Took care of thos' sniveling goblins' scout bands. Even though underleveled a bit. Accepted them as guards. Problem?"
"Not with mea. Go to the chief," she impassively nodded at him and hisses to the two dwarfs as they walked around her, "don't make a mess or I'll cut ya in half and roast ya."
The chief welcomed them with a piercing glare and a few questions. They relaxedly answered them with half-truths and blatant lies; that they ran because of family constant battling over resources and how their father had killed their youngest sibling.
Chief-Tadra nodded a few times with understanding and even a little bit of respect. But he was not stupid and knew that those two was hiding something. However, right now, he needed new blood and talented warriors were hard to find. "Fin', no problem with me either. What shaman says?"
"He's in a bad mood… So nothin'. But I have a great piece of news," the scout told him about Dafur.
"So… He messed up again! Hehe… Sacrifice went terribly and many of durs died. His support's at the lowest," the chief contentedly banged into the wooden table.
"What'll happen to Dafur?" Eriv warily inquired. She finally figured it out; her loose tongue put him in danger.
"If ya two and Scout-Durza vouch and he pledges to help the village… I have no problem to leave him here," Chief-Tadra slightly smiled. "They're assigned to yar group. Show them around. Paid enough for a house?"
"Yea, for a smaller one."
"There's plenty of room now… Let them choose. After they settle, come back with that… blighted dwarf."
Scout-Durza nodded. "Come ya two. Plenty of work. Tomorrow, we'll go huntin'. Need ya two level up… Goblins're restless lately."
☁☁☁☁☁☁
Encyclopaedia Stonia
Colour of magic
It's a colour that I cannot describe. No, truly, I can't. We have not invented the words to truly describe it… but if watered down imagine a rainbow. Mana is translucent, refined mana is blue. If you add different elements to it, you get different colours. But in certain situations, the colour of magic shows itself.
One of those situations is when the Monster chooses to abandon evolution through devouring and choose a higher Path (in this situation, a class).
Some say it's actually the colour of true divinity when the Universum interferes with the Monster. Another says it's another spectrum mortals cannot perceive. It's one of the favourite themes in theology lectures and drunken rambling (very often held simultaneously).
Ants – addendum
It must be clarified; the animals, even the smallest ones, are stronger than their siblings on the Earth. Why? Mana!
Goblins
Half-feral inferior orcish breed that is barely considered sapient. Weak and disgusting creatures with cannibalistic tendencies. They are conceived and born fast, 'blessed' with rapid growth. Some of them cast away their 'heritage' of Monsters and became full-fledged sapiens with classes. These ones are truly dangerous, as they are leaders and shamans with relatively strong expertises.
They mostly inhabit the first layer of the Abyss and above, including the surface. They are often used as training dummies by adventurers' guild, mercenaries, and soldiers as their numbers, fast replenishment, and ability to handle weapons makes them ideal practice for newbies.
Be wary of the goblin army! Hazardous even for fifth rank wizard-type-classes! If you find one, run away and contact the nearest government, wizard guild, or military!
Grog
Favorite alcohol of goblins. It's made from… you know what? I would rather not say…
Many other races consider this beverage as poison. A few brave individuals, read idiots, tried to drink this after they got provoked into taking a bet. No need to say that they collapsed to the ground and the priest had to save them. The survivors gained a level of poison resistance. Too bad that when they learned from what it is made of, they committed suicide.