"Are you leaving us so soon?"
"Unfortunately, yes, I am afraid that my companions are worried about my absence. I promise, if I happen to be around again, I'll pay you a visit!"
Dravel was disappointed to learn of Tolir's departure when he had only been in the village for two days. Tolir had informed him of his decision in the early morning. He had hastily put together a pouch containing three days' worth of food and handed it to him as he prepared to leave. Embarrassed by the attention, Tolir tried to refuse it but the chief insisted:
"Even if the next village on the other side of the gate is a day's walk away, you never know what might happen!"
Tolir finally gave in and grabbed the pouch, remembering that during his future stay in the forest, he would have no food other than the berries... He thanked Dravel for his hospitality before asking him:
"By the way, where is this portal in relation to the village? To be honest, I went in circles before reaching your village, I don't remember..."
"It's very simple, just continue north, you can't miss it!"
Tolir thanked him again before walking north. As the chief had told him, the road to the portal was obvious and well-marked. He followed it for half an hour before judging the village far enough away to turn off toward the hill where the goblins and the aether core were located. He could see it from his position, which allowed him to find his way back easily.
As the pouch swung by his side, a pang of remorse began to rise in him. Hadn't he tricked the villagers and taken advantage of their kindness? He reassured himself by remembering his mission, moreover, if in the end the village was in a better position than before thanks to his lie, was it not a blessing in disguise? However, he knew better than anyone that no betrayal was justifiable, no matter what the circumstances.
Torn by his feelings, he preferred to concentrate on his plans afterwards, locking himself into a cold pragmatism. He would have to raise an army capable of defeating the golems that guarded the village. However, he did not know how powerful they were compared to the goblins. If their numbers were that small, he must have had enough strength to deal with the majority of the threats in this world... Their rather well-maintained equipment also reinforced this impression.
To dispel any doubt about their exact strength, Tolir imagined a first attack that would serve to evaluate the balance of power and thus give him an order of magnitude for his army. In the meantime, he would have to gather as much aether as possible by finding other sources. Perhaps the goblins at his disposal could contribute to this research?
As soon as he arrived at what he decided would be his base of operations in this world, he handed out his orders to accomplish his plan:
"You three will patrol the area together, avoiding coming within a kilometer of the village. If you find a goblin or a source of aether, inform me immediately. Is that clear?"
"We not understand after together, Master..." replied a goblin.
Tolir let out an expletive. He hoped that the limited intelligence of the creatures would only affect their way of speaking, but he had to believe that it was illusory. He mustered all his patience to explain his instructions in detail to his henchmen, making sure they understood them. When they were finally able to reproduce them in full, Tolir allowed them to leave, but not without having wasted an hour in explanation.
He stared at the last goblin he had kept with him as a bodyguard. He wondered if the low intelligence of the goblins would not harm him in the future... Exhausted in advance at the idea of this additional unknown to consider, he approached the aetheric core in order to remember its various characteristics:
>>>>> Aethereal Core I <<<<<
Aether: 9/50
Upgrade: 10 aether
Knowledge Points: 1/1
Aetheric Bond: 3/10
Summoning: [Goblin Recruit] (1 aether)
He raised an eyebrow in surprise. When had the aether increased? Moreover, he had no recollection of the upgrade line existing the previous time... From these discoveries, he made two assumptions, the first that naturally the aether flowed into the core and the second, that the upgrade was only unlocked under a certain condition even if he didn't know what that condition was at the moment. At least it was going in the right direction, he sighed. As soon as he got the tenth point of aether he would select the upgrade to see what would come of it.
Once he had completed this assessment of the core, he turned to one of his concerns. Indeed, during his stay in the village, the question of knowing if the other entities of this world also had a system, had crossed his mind without being able to answer it. He had tried to show the status of Alyn, of the golems or of random people, but without success... Worse, he had never caught anyone looking at his. So much so that he doubted that others would have it.
Wishing to be fixed on the question once and for all, he asked the goblin staying at his side:
"Can you show me your status?"
"Me can."
The goblin's status then appeared clearly before Tolir's eyes:
>>>>> Goblin Recruit's Status <<<<<
Health: 8/8
Mana: 1/1
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Stamina: 5
Will: 5
Spirit: 5
Experience: -
Abilities: [Club of Goblin Recruit]
Skills: -
Title: -
Surprised that the creature had never opened it, he asked him about it:
"Why don't you ever look at your status?"
"What for? Me be weak, me be clumsy, me be stupid. Me no need status to know that."
The argument seemed surprisingly reasonable to Tolir who felt a sudden empathy for the goblin. After all, he himself had not opened his status since his arrival in this world so as not to contemplate his weak characteristics again.
Intrigued by the presence of an ability in the profile, he asked the creature if he could display the description. It immediately did so:
[Club of Goblin Recruit]: Primitive hand-to-hand attack weapon.
So, as he assumed, it was describing his weaponry. Surprised that it was not on its own line, he noted this in the corner of his mind. At the same time, the trio of goblins he had sent to explore returned. The first to arrive exclaimed:
"Master, master, we find what you want!"
"Bad goblin protect it," the second one said.
"Us obeyed, us return to prevent Master!" Concluded the third.
Tolir scratched his forehead as he tried to interpret the goblin hubbub. A smile lit up his face as he realized what the group had discovered.
"Perfect, how many were there?"
"Them alone but him terrifying."
This description worried Tolir. He didn't know what it meant... When in doubt, to make sure he had the advantage if he turned out to be hostile, he decided to draw on his reserves of aether to summon three more goblin recruits. He then ordered the small party of seven creatures to follow him in the direction indicated by the scouts.
Ten minutes later, one of the goblin explorers indicated that they had arrived by showing him their objective in the distance. Indeed, he could see a goblin that was bigger and stronger than the ones he had summoned and, above all, had a totally different weaponry. He was wearing a leather armor while in one hand he was holding a spear of about two meters and in the other a small round wooden shield. Behind him was a milky sphere identical to the one that had provided him with aether.
He distributed his instructions to the group. He separated them into three groups, one of three and two. The larger group would attack him head-on, while the other two would each go around him on a different flank. Caught in a vice like this, even though he was much more powerful than his goblins, he doubted he would last more than a few seconds. As for Tolir, he would stand back to supervise the battle.
Once the tactics were established, everyone returned to their places and approached the goblin, who was half-watchful, keeping a distracted eye on the surroundings. As soon as the frontal assault group emerged from the cover of the trees, he took up a fighting position, his spear lowered and his shield raised. The goblin recruits charged him in disorder, but in accordance with Tolir's orders, stayed out of range of his spear, merely provoking him.
Meanwhile, the two flanking groups moved around their target. Their enemy was losing patience, frustrated by their refusal to engage in a real fight. He rushed forward and punctured the torso of a goblin, who let out a cry of pain. He drew his weapon while his opponent recovered from the shock, visibly injured but not fatally so. He repeated his attack as successfully as the first time.
Tolir, worried that the vanguard would be overcome before the encirclement was complete, encouraged his troops to accelerate their deployment. When they had finished, all of his creatures went on the attack. Within seconds, they overwhelmed him, neutralizing all his options. Multiple blows from the clubs fell on the goblin.
At the fifth or sixth, a light mark appeared above his head similar to the one that appeared on the goblin to which Tolir had bound. He shouted:
"STOP!"
This interrupted any action by his creatures. However, despite the mark, the goblin did not give up and thrust the tip of his spear into one of his wounded opponents who collapsed dead. Tolir hesitated. If he came closer, would he not suffer the same fate? Yet the mark swirled like his first goblin...
He passed his creatures, getting within range of their enemy's spear. When the latter saw him, he knelt down in front of him, imitating in every way the behavior of the first link... Except for the fierce fight... Tolir seized the opportunity and broke the mark, immediately, Zali's voice announced:
"The link with Goblin Fighter has been formed. You have acquired the aetheric knowledge Goblin Fighter."
He breathed a sigh of relief, the fighter stood up devoid of any hostile attitude. He headed for the orb before remembering the corpse of the goblin recruit. Feeling partly responsible for her death, he asked the other goblins to retrieve it and give it a burial.
He absorbed the orb without difficulty, gaining 13 points of aether to his delight. Pleased with the success of the operation, despite the loss of a creature, they returned to the base with a new companion. Surprisingly, the recruits didn't seem to hold it against the fighter for having killed their comrade...
When he returned to the base, a strange feeling came over him. He had the impression that someone had snooped in the camp in his absence. On closer inspection, he noticed the crushed grass all around the aether core. Panicking at the thought of being discovered, he exclaimed:
"Search the area and bring the intruder back to me, he must not escape!"