"Ok," Drake said, sighing, "Truce?" his hair disheveled and a swollen black eye forming.
An equally messy ball of fur and hair, looked up, "We do not admit defeat where I come from! Surrender the cores or face the wrath of every construct!"
"Fine whatever! Here! I swear you're more of a badger than a god damn squirrel…" Drake conceded.
"Yay! And serves you right! You take teasing too far. Do you not wish for me to rank up to assist you more?" Natto said hugging the tub of cores like her life depended on it.
"Sure if I didn't have to bribe you every step of the way…" he mumbled.
"Equivalent exchange as they say young Edward," Natto said smiling.
Drake was taken aback by the reference, "How do you say that without cringing, but get upset when I make references?"
Natto looked at him confused, "What reference?"
Drake's mouth was held wide open in disbelief. She hadn't even noticed she had said it. "She is coming over to the dark side… Perfect…" he whispered.
Natto eyed him suspiciously but soon returned to her cores. If she was truly close to ranking up, the sooner the better for both of them. But Drake and Natto hadn't talked about what that would entail outside of her gaining new information, so Drake was somewhat curious to see the results.
Leaving that bridge for when they had to cross it he continued his work on the wall of the mines, spotting a brownish silvery line in the wall.
Striking with his full strength he slowly began chipping away at the discoloration in the wall. Small bits flying and falling to the ground here and there.
Drake had piled up quite a bit and inspected it hoping for the best.
[Mana Infused Raw Iron Ore [F Grade] [Uncommon]
A raw mana infused ore of iron.
A magically infused mineral that can be used in crafting Mana Infused Pig Iron.
Having his Magic Sight on for this length of time in combination with his other ocular skills was a pain. In fact it was more than just a pain it was a physical injury as his eyes were starting to slowly bleed from the overuse. But thankfully his new regeneration skills helped alleviate the damage they were taking.
Slowly but surely his body was getting used to the constant use of the skills. Sadly his battle oriented skills were progressing much more slowly than his Magic Sight which was a more general use skill. And Drake assumed that was because he had no real enemies or people to use them on. He had thought about turning it on Natto but decided against it as he had already scared the poor construct one too many times already.
But thankfully from this hour or so of use, he was able to look at the fallen bits and identify them instantly when they fell from the wall.
Checking his notifications after each identification Drake slowly started to become impatient. The damned quest was refusing to pop up.
Drake turned from the Iron and decided to look for more Gems. He wasn't necessarily hurting for them, as he had looted nearly a lifetime's worth of F Grade Gems from the Foreman's shack, but they had taken him more time to mine, and Drake assumed that meant he was gaining more experience because of the difficulty.
And after another hour Drake had finally gotten the notification he so longed for.
[New Profession Quest! Mine an assortment of Gems and Minerals.]
[Reward: Profession Experience. Mineral Identification Skill. Mana Infused Iron Pickaxe]
[Requirement: 10 Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Amethyst, Smokey Quartz, Topaz. 45 kg of Mana Infused Iron Ore, Mana Infused Silver Ore, Mana Infused Copper Ore]
Oh fuck off…. Do they want me to mine half the goddamn shaft? Drake cursed.
Drake quickly scanned the room looking for what he assumed was some of the materials and gems he needed. He knew some of the colors associated with the Gems, but Drake was clueless on any of the actual minerals.
Well…. We have…
Divine Frailty
Lasts: 9 Hours 32 Minutes 57 Seconds.
About 9 hours left. Let's not waste them! Drake shouted internally, throwing his pickaxe into the air.
"Yur doing wheerd stoof again!" Natto shouted through full cheeks of monster cores.
"Stop talking with your mouth full, what are you, a Sayian?!"
Muted steps ran through the forest under Theodore, as he ran under the guise of his illusion after speaking with his liege. Fervent on completing his mission.
Tracking the Goblins was no hard task as they were so blatant to leave tracks behind, and they were becoming so numerous that their tracks left ruts in the earth.
After picking up where he had last seen them, Theodore was able to stay within an acceptable distance of the ever growing group. THey had met up with several other groups and were heading to the west of the Outpost.
Theodore after receiving Natto's guidance had improved by leaps and bounds physically, now not needing to even rest. As was the amazing nature of the system's skills.
Thankfully while tracking the vile beasts they had not had any monster that could detect him, making the task of tracking much easier.
Through the forest he had witnessed unspeakable things done to not only the human captives but the other monsters. Ants, Kobolds and even some sparse Apes and a bipedal monster that looked strangely familiar to a yeti. How the Goblins had been able to capture these other monsters and people was still a mystery to Theodore.
He admitted that he was no match currently to the monsters, especially in the numbers they boasted. But Theodore was on the lower end of the level scaling at the moment but he was hoping in service of his liege that would change quickly.
An hour of traversing the forest grounds, Theodore and the Goblins finally took rest at an open camp.
Theodore's jaw dropped.
This is inconceivable! The Kobolds were one thing but what is this massive gathering of green beasts? Theodore thought, looking out into the clearing that was filled with campfires, tents, cages, and poorly sharpened wooden fences that spanned further than his eyes could see.
There are beyond thousands! I can not even estimat-
[Tutorial Wide Urgent Quest! Defeat the Goblin King's Invasion]
[The Goblin King has roused the goblin tribes, uniting a force few have seen before. The Goblin force of the King grows by the day. Defeat the summoned force before it becomes insurmountable, or suffer capture or death.]
[Reward: Experience based on contribution. TP based on contribution. Titles based on Contribution. Selection of 1 Rare Piece of Equipment.]
[Requirement: Kill the Goblin King and his 10 Generals]
[Bonus Requirement: Kill 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 Goblins of any kind]
[Bonus Reward: 10 Uncommon Quality Mana Pills, 10 Uncommon Quality Strength Pills]
The loud bell sounded in Theodore's head causing him to wince momentarily, as he listened intently to the mechanical female voice.
B-by god, may the powers that be help us. Theodore stammered inside his head.
He continued to watch over the horrific scene that was unfolding before him. Seeing men and women herded into large cages, some into individual metal like coffins to be put on display for the goblins pleasure.
Theodore gritted his teeth again, wishing that he had the strength to save at least someone. His eyes panning over the immense camp.
He began to move back and forth on the edges of the camp, trying to gauge just how many were currently present. More and more Goblins joining the fray by the hour.
Eventually he came to a small fenced area where the Goblins were forcing the captives to fight. He was in disbelief that anyone would submit to something such as this.
He looked on in anger as he watched two new humans enter the makeshift arena, one of them refusing to fight the other, throwing down his rusted weapon. Only to fall to the ground limply as a gunshot rang out from the Goblin crowd that watched in glee at the display.
Vile heathens… Theodore cursed, the bitter taste of bile rising up in his mouth for the second time today.
He began to turn away searching the rest of the camp, only to stop.
"Harley?!" he shouted nearly subconsciously, as he laid eyes on the blonde woman being shoved into a metal cage, shackles on her neck, arms and legs.
But Theodore didn't get a chance to get closer and see just how she was doing, his outburst alerting many of the nearby Goblins. Thy could not see him but hearing the voice had put them into a frenzy.
Theodore cursed and bolted for the forest, chanting a new spell as he did.
"The world is not as you see it, but as I make it. Grand Dark Veil," Theodore whispered as softly as he could. A dark miasma soon formed from the deep purple magic circle casted from his open hand.
Two shadowy figures that soon took the form of Drake and Theodore manifested to his sides, running in stride with the invisible Theodore.
With speed, move these bottom feeding green monstrosities from me! I must not fail to return to my lord! He shouted in his head, the two illusions nodding in turn and sprinting in different directions.
Theodore would be arriving back early but he knew where the headquarters of the Goblins were. He ran through the forest towards the Outpost, fear in his heart for the woman he saw in the camp, the reason he had pleased with his liege in the first place, the reason he had groveled in spite of himself to leverage his liege's power. He had not the strength to protect her himself, so he had to ask his lord to do it instead.
"Are you sure they were here?" said a gangly man, with a red scarf tied around his face, giving him a very 'Thug A' look.
Kohoo turned a murderous glint in his eye, "Are you saying that I was wrong..?"
The man shirked away sheepishly, stepping more slowly to rejoin the small group trailing behind Kohoo.
"Fucking imbeciles…" he mumbled, "All they have to do is just listen, but everyone has to have an opinion…"
Finally coming back to the outpost, the group of 10 looked on from the forest, scanning the outside.
"You and you, go search the outside of the outpost, see if there are any ways inside. I really don't feel like climbing the side but if we have to we will," Kohoo ordered pointing to two of the men.
They both looked at each other nervously.
"Did I fucking stutter? Move or I will make your sorry asses move!" He said, raising his voice, his hand moving menacingly to the knife at his side.
Both men shook their heads, and casted their cloaking skills.
"Morons.." Kohoo grumbled, taking out an obstinate chair from his inventory sitting down and waiting.
A few minutes later the men reappeared, one speaking up, "There are no entrances besides the gate."
Kohoo clicked his tongue, sitting up and stowing his chair, "Guess it's plan B then. I trust everyone is strong enough to climb the shitty wall?"
All 10 of the men surrounding him nodded in unison.
"Good. Then let's get to it."
The group moved swiftly over the space between the forest and the Outpost, noting the huge fallen Kobold and other small kobolds peppering the field as they did.
Many of them started to have second thoughts as they eyed the brutally marred and torn beasts on the ground. Some blown to pieces, heads crushed, or holes in various places. Were they making a huge mistake?
Most of the people gave each other pensive exchanges of looks as they finally came to the side of the wall that they could get to in between the ditch and spiked pieces of wood.
Each person taking out a pair of daggers as they slowly climbed up the wall, Kohoo in the lead far above the rest.
As the group made it halfway up the Outpost's wall Kohoo dropped to the other side, looking around for any sign of the two level 10s but only found a singular tent.
Using his speed he quickly moved to the tent, peering inside, using his inspection skill to search the room. Finding nothing he looked to the others who finally caught up with him, each uncloaking themselves as Kohoo had.
"There's no one inside the tent and I can't see anyone else around. Where the hell are they?!" he screamed.
The same man from before muttered absentmindedly, "Maybe they went outside to level up…?"
Those would be his last words as Kohoo moved behind him and unceremoniously slit his throat, his body dropping like a sac to the ground pooling in his own blood as he gripped at his throat.
Kohoo dropped next to the man on his haunches looking him in the eyes, mouthing mockingly at the dying man, "Maybe they went outside to level up, blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up…"
"Ok!" Kohoo said, his voice even despite killing someone in cold blood moments ago, "So spread out, and cloak up. Looks like we're waiting till the fuckers come back," he stated taking out his chair once more and sitting down, like a king on his throne.