.
.
.
---
/Later that day…/
"... Alright. Time to see if this will work."
'I've given everyone their orders; now's to see if the thralls can capture a goblin from the nearest camp to the North.'
'Meanwhile, the others, including the chieftain, will go out to hunt more.'
"Speaking of that, I have enough to upgrade the fountain again."
'I have almost one hundred, thanks to the thralls hunting all day and the hibernation bonus.'
"Let's see, give me something good."
/Flash!/
The stone pillars around the fountain cracked as they fell into the turbid red water…
/Bubble…/
As the water boiled, a cage slowly rose from its depts, followed by a large pillar, raising it into the ceiling.
/Bzz… Flash!/
Inside the cage, a red sun lit up, casting the room in an eerie red light.
The chaotic fountain slowly calmed down, returning to harmony soon after.
"Ho? Such a drastic transformation. Alright, I like it."
'Let's see what changed?...'
"First, the price of upgrading the fountain again has increased from fifty to two hundred. Not a bad increase but if this keeps up, the next upgrade will either be five times that or ten, if not more."
"Hm… It doesn't seem like there are any extra features… Maybe I have to find them like I did before. That said, there are many more creatures and items for me to summon."
There were so many more things Darius believed this was the actual base state of the fountain, with the previous two being mere reparations.
"Orcs… Trolls… Lizardman… Sarman? What's that supposed to mean?"
There were some images and descriptions of the creatures he could summon, but they weren't helpful.
"It's like when I first saw a goblin, there wasn't much information on it until I met more and sacrificed some more…"
"Given the stats of some of these creatures, I don't see the need to keep the goblins around anymore."
'Goblins are cheap but weak, it would be more cost effective to spend fifty to summon one strong creature than ten goblins. The problem is that I don't have a camp for them so they would go to my unit cap.'
'Speaking of that, my cap increased from ten to twenty, great.'
"I'll have to experiment with these later."
"I don't have much essence left so I'll hold them in for now."
As he said that, he opened his own Status page:
[The Usurper (+)
> Name: Darius Leopold / ???
> Age: ???
> Race: Human (E) / Greater Fiend (T)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 5 (E); Fortitude 4 (E); Wit 12 (E); Insight 13 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Low; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Intermediate; Presence: Low
> Authorities:
Manipulate Essence (EX)
Character Profile (T)
Takeover (T)
]
"I wonder, how do I improve Stats? Is it through training alone? What about Skills? Usage? Understanding?..."
"What do those letters mean? I have so many questions…" He said out loud with a sigh as he tapped on his race icon…
[Raising Human (E) to Human (E+) -> 1000 Essence]
"What?! I can actually raise these?... Of course! Why didn't I try interacting with my own Status screen before?"
[Raising Greater Fiend (T) to Greater Fiend (T+) -> 25.000.000 Essence]
"... Twenty-five million?... Of course. Forget about it. This isn't something I should consider right now."
'Even when I can afford it, I'll have to consider if its worth it or not. I can't see the raise in not even a full grade be that great.'
[Might (E) (20)
Raising Might by one point -> 50 Essence
Raising Might (E) to Might (D) -> 1000 Essence
]
"Hm… This makes things simpler."
'It seems to be the same for all Stats regardless of their level. So to raise a Stat from one to twenty, it would take 950 Essence.'
'After that, I can spend one thousand to raise it to the next Stage… At least now I have an idea of what to do.'
'Certantly, making myself stronger is the way to go, but I must consider my forces first. It would be quite the investment to strengthen myself, and I surely don't have the time to wait that long for things to happen.'
'If I invest points in myself, then those points won't do anything, just like money sitting in your account. The way to go is to invest this money elsewhere, like troops, so they can make more faster until the time comes when I can afford this much without straining my balance too much.'
"Then… What about these?"
[Raising Manipulate Essence (EX) to ??? -> ???]
"As expected, that won't work."
'I imagined the reason why I can improve anything is because of this authority. It would be far too easy if I could just raise it by itself. There must be extra conditions attached to it. I'll have to figure them out eventually but given how expensive it was to raise my race I can imagine how much this will cost…'
[Raising Character Profile (T) to Character Profile (T+) -> 30.000.000]
"What?! Raising the authority costs more than my race? Is it that valuable?"
"... Well… I think I can understand why. There is a reason why my minions have Skills while I have Authorities. They hold immense power and with it, immense cost to be upgraded."
"There's only one thing left for me to see…"
[Raising Potential: Low to Potential: Intermediate -> 50.000]
"So I can raise my Secondary Stats as well. This is great although something for the future as well."
"I don't know much about the race and the stats yet so I'll have to experiment a little…"
'With Character Profile, I should be able to strengthen my units directly as well, right?'
He quickly tested that out and it was true! This meant things had greatly changed for him.
However, as he went to test on the thralls, as expected, he could not raise their Stats…
"It may be too much of an investment to raise their Stats with Essence, but if I see a character I value, things change."
'I can also use this power to strengthen my position as an almighty overlord. But since these goblins have a fragile mentality, that won't be needed.'
"It's a shame I can't raise a thrall's Stats. However, it seems I can raise their race so maybe there's some light at the end of the tunnel."
"... Well, this is about it."
Darius' eyes turned to the map as he followed his scouts' movements through the jungle.
Soon enough, a red dot appeared on the map. Their target.
"There's something I learned from observing these goblins."
"Marked creatures move in synchrony and with purpose. Being marked seems to give them access to some of my abilities, allowing them to better coordinate and locate themselves in the world. However, the unmarked are still as ordinary as ever."
"The map function is also rather great. Showing where the enemies are and all that… However, that seems to depend on the Unit's senses and not the minimap itself."
'Why does the enemy ping on the map only appear when my units are nearby despite the map being already unlocked? There has to be a relationship. It would be strange not to.'
'This could mean that if a creature can evade my units' senses, they could sneak on me without me realizing it… Worse, they could destroy my altar.'
'This means it's time for me to expand my defenses… Once I take over this side of the forest.'
Darius looked in delight as the thralls captured the goblin scout and moved him back to the fortress, where he was marked just as planned.
The map was updated, and with it, the exact number of goblins on the camp and their force was displayed for him as information on the map.
"Around sixty goblins, a little more then what my camp can house but still not enough to be a settlement."
'Around half of them are males in their prime. If I can take them out of the picture… Only the chieftain would be left.'
'This will be easy.'
After giving him a bunny, they hunted early in the day for this, and the captured goblin was sent back to his camp, where he was welcomed for his catch. Soon enough, he came outside with two goblins in toe…
Obviously, the same was repeated. Soon enough, Darius had marked over ten goblins. Making him greedy…
"If I continue like this, it would be easy to capture all of the enemy's goblins. I just need to have each of the marked goblins try and bring one of the goblins outside one by one. Once all twenty of the remaining goblins are knocked out, I can bring them back and sacrifice all of the useless ones."
"Then it would just be a matter of gathering my forces and marching to take the chieftain's head… No. I should capture him as well and repeat what I did to this camp, yeah!"
'There's no need to hold back. Begin the plan!'
Darius gave his orders to the goblins, and soon enough, his troops stationed in the camp began moving, preparing to take over the Village as soon as the remaining goblins had been taken out…
Soon enough, as planned, the twenty goblins were taken out by the much stronger thralls, who then dragged them back to the fountain.
Meanwhile, the camp's warriors, led by the chieftain, prepared their charge.
If their chieftain won the fight, the remaining goblins would submit. It would be a matter of bringing them back to the main camp.
Since he didn't have enough space for them all, Darius planned on taking over the enemy camp and having the leader act as his puppet while he sorted through his bounties.
"Bring me their leader alive!" He ordered as his eyes flashed with light
The order was delivered to all goblins. They knew what to do.
"Kuuuk!"
The chieftain gave the order, and they marched into the camp, blood in their eyes!
/Dash!/
""Kik?!""
The same pattern repeated before Darius' eyes.
As his army advanced inside, the children and females were the first to react to the invading forces. And although they initially displayed confusion due to their own being mixed in with his forces, they soon reacted, running or crying out loud in the face of danger.
Of course, it was too late by then. The force they saw had no intention of facing their chieftain. They were only there for them and to prevent anyone from escaping.
Those meant to deal with the chieftain invaded through the side the closest to his house. By the time anyone noticed what was going on, they were already before him:
"KUUUUUUKRE!!"
A battle cry exploded from within the chieftain's tent as a slightly taller and muscular goblin walked out holding a large club made from the leg bone of a creature Darius' couldn't recognize.
[Name: N/A
> Age: 11
> Race: Goblin (E)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 7 (E); Fortitude 5 (E); Wit 5 (E); Insight 4 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Low; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Lowest; Presence: Low
>Skills:
Knowledge of Survival (E+)
Tribal Leader (E+)
Tribal Combat (E+)
Breeding (E-)
>Extra:
…
]
"That's new. He's likely the strongest Goblin around but it changes little… Take him down."
'Goblins live for twenty years, so that makes him an elderly Goblin. He may have once been a Hero, but now… He's old.'
"Also… Eww… How can you be so good at breeding that it becomes a Skill? Come on, man…"
'To some degree, there's a chance these goblins fighting him are his descendants. I wouldn't be surprised given his age…'
Darius focused on the battle.
The chieftain led a small group of five goblins while the rest went around the Village to capture everyone else.
Two of those five goblins held nets to capture the leader. No matter how strong he was, he wasn't strong enough to rip through the fiber. And this was exactly what happened.
This old goblin was smart. Smarter than most.
He knew when to breed and when to stand guard. Or maybe he sniffed the danger in the air… That was why he was fully armed instead of naked like the previous chieftain.
The fight wasn't easy as he knew how to keep his distance, but once his weapon got tangled in a net… It was over.
Another net fell onto him, marking the end of this war.
Following this clash, the tribal leader under Darius command rallied the rest of the goblins, who upon seeing their chieftain defeated, surrendered.
Like that, he ordered for them to gather all food supplies and move with them to his camp. It was time to cull their numbers down.
"... It's over."
Seeing this, Darius closed the map, smiling.
"I know exactly what I'll be doing now."
"First, I'll sacrifice the weakest males and round their numbers with my summons. Il'l aim for twenty once again. This way, I'll have twenty male goblins in each Camp. aside from the chieftains, children, and thralls."
"Following that, I'll transfer the children and the females to this camp. The females are a reward for the victorious goblins. I'll let them settle on the aftermatch themselves."
'If the chieftain chooses to keep them himself or not, I don't care. If the females have no use, I'll sacrifice them also.'
'The only reason I can keep them is because they can make more goblins in a short time and feeding them isn't hard since I only need the hearts of the creatures we kill. Females can work in things the males cannot and they're useful to keep their morale and obedience high.'
"As for the children, if too many of them gather in one place, they'll likely begin competing with one another, often killing each other in the process, especially if they're from different tribal groups. This is normal, it's written in the goblin race description."
'Essentially, I'm not doing anything a goblin wouldn't do. In fact, keeping the other camp and the males alive is odd as the chieftain would likely kill them all.'
"But I need them alive… The strong ones at least."
"As for the chieftain… He is strong. He would do good as the leader, but I can't appoint him without some backlash… I'll have him recover and grow stronger."
'Once he grows to a certain point, he'll clash with the chieftain in ritual combat, and the leader will become the new chieftain. That's how things usually are when a young goblin grows to adulthood. They'll challenge their father and try to take his position.'
"Failure means exile or death."
"Anyhow, this way, I'll have two camps working for me. Sooner or later I'll gather enough points to upgrade the camp to a settlement, which should allow me to fuse both camps into one since managing two camps is harder."
"Although I have plans to capture the other camps as well, I may not have enough space for that."
"I don't have to rush it. I'd say I'm already plenty fast."
'I must give the Goblins time to grow. It's a fact a goblin can become a chieftain, what to say grow beyond it? There should be ways to make that possible and faster…'
"I'll think about that later."
…
Time passed, and soon, the armies arrived one after the other.
Like he ordered, the females and children were left inside the camp, going beyond its cap but thankfully, the other camp he captured before helped with that.
Darius marked the chieftain and added him to his troops before sacrificing half of the thirty-ish goblins of the enemy camp.
His reason was that they were weak. Nothing else.
With his points, he filled the numbers until they became twenty. And with a few extra orders, the chieftain of camp number 2 left with his twenty workers, ready to execute his orders.
"Okay. I'll have to deal with those children and females soon enough."
'I have twenty males and ten thralls. But the children's numbers are beyond twenty. Those alone go beyond the cap of the Village.'
'The females number over fifteen. There's not enough space for them all.'
"From the looks of it the females are being spread around in the camp with the strongest ones being reserved for the chieftain so I can't remove them. But the children… I can already see the tension."
Darius looked at the units through the map before closing his eyes and scoffing.
"Let nature do its thing. If they haven't sorted things by next night… I shall."
Darius closed his eyes, hibernating for yet again another day.
[Initiating Hibernation…]
…
/Around twenty two hours later…/
"... Alright. This should be the last of it."
[The essence Pool expands 243 -> 247]
"Finally, I have enough points for that."
'Upgrade the goblin camp to a settlement!'
The moment he spent the points to upgrade it, the map opened, revealing the outline of a large structure.
"Oh? So I can modify its layout? It's not like I have much to change, really… I'll go with this." He said out loud after playing with the map a little
"If I assume the settlement will grow over time as I upgrade it, then I can't grow it into the cavern. So instead, the cavern will be a place to store items while the city will grow around the cavern's entrance."
"The settlement doesn't look that different from the camp, but the walls change and become more robust. Meanwhile the houses become a little more clean and organized. Aside from specialized areas like a cookpot in the center of the camp being built."
"This is it… Confirm…"
As soon as he confirmed it on the map, his workers began moving, cutting down trees and moving items around as they assembled the settlement's layout.
"Interesting, they're extremely efficient. This is another boon of being marked it seems."
'All marked goblins are moving in unison and in perfect coordination. It's almost inhuman.'
'They're also cutting the trees with the perfect sizes to fit the construction layout, not wasting materials at all.'
"At this rate they'll be finished in a day or two, maybe in time for tomorrow's invasion."
"Today is the fourth day since I awakened in this world. If I do everything right, I should be able to conquer all camps before the first week passes by."
"Speaking of other camps… It's about time I do it…"
'I'll have the goblins in the other camp dismantle it and move the materials to this camp so the settlement can be built faster. I don't have to worry about the Unit cap since Goblins that aren't marked take priority over unmarked goblins, so if I add all marked goblins and the extra space I have, I still have enough slots to fit them all in.'
"Let's see if they can finish it by tomorrow morning…"
[Initiating Hibernation…]
…
"... Yawn… Alright. How are they doing?"
Darius opened the map, only to be surprised.
"Ha! They already finished it all. I have to say, they're efficient."
'Most of the goblins are sleeping right now. Only a few of them and the thralls are awakened now.'
'Speaking of them, I should likely make more thralls soon. They can work throughout the day and are very efficient. I mean, look at these logs. They've been working for days without stopping.'
"Most of the goblin camp in the North has been broken, with only a few large logs being left. I don't care about the materials, but they should be transported here in time."
"I'll let the goblins rest for now, starting tomorrow, I'll raid the Western camp and bring them to my side."
"By conquering the Northern Village, the map has expanded quite a lot but there's still much to learn. Once all camps have been conquered, I'll have some goblins move around to expand it."
'My territory is also expanding which is nice.'
"I guess the next milestone should be to upgrade the fountain again. Although I may have to choose to upgrade the settlement into a hamlet."
[Goblin Settlement (E)
Description: A gathering of huts protected by sturdy wooden walls where Goblins proliferate. Usually built when a community of Goblins has found a stable location to settle down.
Settlements are rarer to see due to a Goblin's nature. However, from time to time, Goblin communities, which have existed for decades, will develop the technology and awareness to settle down in a bountiful land and abandon the nomadic style.
Sometimes, Goblins birthed within Settlements will choose to construct another once exiled rather than a Camp due to its advantages over their original tribalistic lifestyle.
…
It can house up to a hundred goblin units.
Can be developed into a Goblin Hamlet (E+)
]
"The next step will be the Hamlet, but that takes five hundred points… Not a hard amount to gather, but it'll take a while nonetheless."
'I still have some from before, but since the Goblins didn't hunt yesterday the amount remains most the same if I ignore what I made through hibernation.'
"That said, I'll let them rest until tonight… We'll be taking another camp today."
Darius smiled lightly before closing his eyes and hibernating…
/Later that night…/
"Okay… Everything's done."
"March! Capture the Goblins! Take their resources and make their leaders submit!"
"I wasn't playing on doing this today, but… I'll conquer them all at once!"
His expression twisting into a sly smile, Darius sat down as he witnessed his army slowly tread through the forest, taking one Goblin at a time until all had been captured.
What went after was exactly as he had seen twice before. Their leader was captured and the rest was dragged inside the Settlement.
The night still long, the Goblins, still full of adrenaline struck the Eastern Camp with their new forces. And without losing even a single unit captured all camps in their immediate surroundings.
What followed after was organizing the forces, and without surprise, dozens were sacrificed…
…
[Creature has been successfully marked]
[Codex has been expanded]
[Map has been updated]
[Name: N/A
> Age: 9
> Race: Goblin (E)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 5 (E); Fortitude 3 (E); Wit 8 (E); Insight 5 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Low; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Lowest; Presence: Low
>Skills:
Knowledge of Survival (D-)
Tribal Leader (D-)
Tribal Combat (E-)
>Extra:
…
]
[Creature has been successfully marked]
[Codex has been expanded]
[Map has been updated]
[Name: N/A
> Age: 16
> Race: Goblin (E+)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 10 (E); Fortitude 7 (E); Wit 8 (E); Insight 7 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Intermediate; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Lowest; Presence: Low
>Skills:
Knowledge of Survival (D)
Tribal Leader (D+)
Tribal Combat (E+)
Breeding (E)
…
>Extra:
…
]
"The Western camp was ruled by a rather wise Goblin, however, no matter how wise he is, there was no way to anticipate our attack."
"Because of his weakeness, he was taken out easily, joining our forces."
"The Eastern camp, however, was almost at the size of a Settlement. Even so, it fell to the same tactics as the others."
"Their ruler was an extremely old Goblin that was also very powerful, however, his advanced age him weak."
'He ruled not through power but intelligence. Once a male Goblin grew old enough to threaten him, he would exile them, keeping only those loyal to him.'
'Because of that, despite being the biggest camp out of the four he met so far, having seventy goblins in total, forty of them were females while the rest were either children or tame adults.'
"Now they all belong to me."
'First, to keep their numbers, I spent some points to conquer both camps, which raised my unit cap by quite a bit.'
'Following that, I'll cut through the male goblins as before until each camp has twenty male goblins.'
"If I add all of the male Goblins under my rule, that'll be eighty. Not counting the twenty thralls I now have."
'Obviously, I raised the number of thralls from ten to twenty.'
"Finally, I have well over sixty females and forty children. That's two hundred Goblins… Without adding the four chieftains."
'I'll leave the females in the Settlement as a reward for the Goblins. The children, on the other hand, will settle it between themselves.'
Some of the children had already perished by fighting each other. Only the strongest would remain as he wished…
"I'll have the two camps collect resources until I raise five hundred points, after which I'll upgrade the Settlement to a Hamlet."
"Once this is done I can finally focus on strengthening my forces and myself."
'From the updates in the map, I haven't see anything threatening yet. The Goblins have never met a danger outside of the forest.'
'The only one who did see something odd was the oldest of them all, the chieftain of the Eastern Camp. And a few females.'
"From my interpretations, many years ago, the chieftain lived in a camp further into the South until he left his camp with the females and formed his camp. They reproduced crazily, and from his antics, the other three camps were born. This means that, to some degree, all of these goblins are related… Eww…"
"There's a chance the chieftain may have captured more goblins to increase the genetic pool in the area but that doesn't change the fact most of these Goblins would be related through him."
'No wonder these Goblins are so uggly, maybe it's due to this weird genetic mixture… I need to change to a better species soon, man…'
"Anyhow, enough babbling. Time to curl their numbers… My goal is twenty for each camp so… Some will have to go."
'Since I had the strongest ones become Thralls, this leaves me with quite a few weak Goblins.'
"Maybe me being here is for the best, summoning so many Goblins, I'm increasing the gene pool of the area… Even if they're all only men…"
Darius spent the next hour going through all Goblins before making his decision.
The weaker Goblins were sacrificed, and the stronger ones remained.
With the points he made, he summoned more Goblins until he filled his quota, leaving the rest for his goals.
Although this meant many of the Goblins weren't marked, it didn't matter since as long as their Chieftain was under his control, they wouldn't rebel unless they decided to challenge their leaders.
"Everything's done."
'I've already given the order to have some of the male Goblins scout the area to expand the map so that's what they'll be doing. I just need to wait.'
"That's it. Wait… That's all I need to do…"
After confirming his orders one last time, Darius closed his eyes, setting his hibernation for several days late to cut down time.
If any issue arose, he would awaken immediately so there was little to worry.
Confident of his progress, he closed his eyes.
[Initiating Hibernation…]
…
/Several days later…/
It had been a weak since Darius was transported into this new world…
"I am awakened… Let's see what they have for me. I gave them orders to throw all of the hearts of everything they hunted in the blood pool so I could absorb it once I awakened…"
And as he expected, the pool was full of them.
"It's a little revolting but I surprisingly dont' feel much… Well… Absorb!"
/Splash!/
[The essence Pool expands 238 -> 974]
"Great. Just as planned. I now have enough to upgrade it!"
Darius didn't even hesitate.
'Upgrade to a Hamlet!'
When he confirmed it through the Settlement's menu, a layout of the Hamlet appeared before him.
'It's quite large… Stone walls? Not quite, half stone, half wood… Quite the upgrade.'
"Actually, stone?... Now that I think about it, I've never given the Goblins and Thralls any tools to work with… They've been gathering resources by hand and primitive tools… I'm such a fool…"
"The Systems tools are quite reliable if I base it from the quality of the bows and nets I bought last time. And while it would be impossible to distribute tools to all worker Goblins, I should at least spread them to all Thralls since they're always working."
'Twenty Stone Axes, Pickaxes, Hammers, and so on…'
"Each of them costs one point, but so many would cost me quite a bit… I'll bite the bullet and spend one hundred points right off the bat."
"Finally, I'll have the other two Villages collapse and gather and use their materials as a base for the Hamlet's construction."
"With those done, I can focus on my next task… Upgrading the Fountain!"
Darius did not hesitate, spending another two hundred points to upgrade it.
/Shine…/
/Burst!/
The small red sun shinning inside the cage of stone grew in size as the red water thrashed around uncontrollably, but aside from that, not much happened.
"... Hm… I guess that's it. Time to see what changed."
[The Usurper (+)
> Name: Darius Leopold / ???
> Age: ???
> Race: Human (E) / Greater Fiend (T)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 5 (E); Fortitude 4 (E); Wit 12 (E); Insight 13 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Low; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Intermediate; Presence: Low
> Authorities:
Manipulate Essence (EX)
Character Profile (T)
Takeover (T)
…
>Effects:
Blood Fountain -> Might, Fortitude, Wit, and Insight +5
]
"Hm? No wonder I felt a little off. My Stats increased."
"Does this affect all other Units? Because it would be huge… With a Goblin's Stats, five points is quite a lot."
He looked at the skeleton summon beside the fountain and opened his character profile:
[Name: Nasragusa
> Age: 43
> Race: Undead Human (N)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 1 (E); Fortitude 1 (E); Wit 7 (E); Insight 3 (E); Arcana 12 (D)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Intermediate; Aura: Lowest; Flux: Low; Soul: Lowest; Presence: Lowest
>Skills:
Knowledge of Dark Rituals (N)
Knowledge of Dark Magic (N)
Knowledge of Arcane (E)
>Extra:
…
>Effects:
Blood Fountain -> Might, Fortitude, Wit, and Insight +5
]
"It does work! I see now, so raising the fountain's Level enhances all troops. This is a great find."
Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Darius had Nasragusa hand the tools to the thralls as he thought over what to do now.
[Essence -> 474]
"I still have over four hundred points… But I can't upgrade anything else."
"The next fountain upgrade is a thousand points, while I'll have to wait for the Hamlet to be built to see how much the next upgrade will cost but I assume it won't be anything affordable."
"I could aim for a new Unit but I think I should first clean the area a bit."
'Right now, my domain is nothing besides my room, the fountain, and the cavern with the goblins… If I summon an intelligent creature, wouldn't they feel sad for being summoned by me?'
"The all-powerful Fiend has to live with Goblins… That can't happen."
"Even though I don't have a choice, I think it's a good idea to decorate my base a little first. There are many rooms I can build as well. From old to new ones. Like this Enchanting Roo."
[Enchanting Room (E)
Description:
…
]
"It's essentially a place where a high Arcana Unit can be set to do research and enchant items. I should've made this earlier so my skeleton summoner can get himself busy with something to do."
'He may be a skeleton but I've noticed how his obedience has fallen slightly; maybe he's bored from being in a dark room with nothing else to do. I should do something.'
"As for the outside, the Goblins have explored quite far but have found no other creatures living around."
"There are mountains surrounding us from West to East."
"There are also mountains to the North and South. So I guess we're in some valley within the mountains. Right in the middle of it, which is odd… Definitely not a coincidence."
"The valley seems quite large too. From west to east its around ten kilometers while the mountains to the North and South are too far for them to even appear in the map."
'The map updates as the Goblin looks around but after a while the map stops, there's a clear limit to how much vision can aid in its creation.'
"Anyhow, these are excellent news, it means I won't have to worry about people getting in my way anytime soon."
"This means I can grow a little boulder and start building larger things…"
[Ordinary Mine (E)]
[Quarry (E)]
"A mine… Once the Hamlet is built, the goblins will be given the means to develop metal tools. And while I can buy raw ores for them to work with, its best they mine their own so they don't have to rely on me. The same goes for the quarry, they'll need stone to work with, so I'll give them a way to gather some."
"My objective should be to have the Goblins become as independent as possible so I don't have to worry about them and only about some individuals."
"And in the meantime… I'll decorate the base. I should also build that… A place for the goblins to fight… I'll think about it once they finish the Hamlet."
Once he gave everyone their orders, he began scrolling through the System, the echoes of their pickaxes hitting the stone echoing in the forest…
Once the sun rose to its highest point, Darius finished his preparations, closing his eyes and setting a timer.
He would wake up as soon as the Hamlet was constructed.
…
/Three days later…/
"... It has been built!"
On the map, a large village expanded before his eyes.
Tall walls reinforced with stone, roads paved with gravel, and sturdy tents made of stone, wood, and pelt…
In the center of the Hamlet, a larger tent stood, reserved solely for the Chieftain and his females.
Outside of the walls, the forest was cut down to open patches of land for farms and livestock grazing. Things were looking good.
"These guys are good. I can't lie about it."
'Now that I've centralized my power, I can begin exploring the surroundings and building outposts around the area.'
"Even though Goblins move around the land effectively, going through a straight road is faster than carving through the forest."
"If I don't make roads and outposts, the Goblins will never be able to explore outside a certain range."
"... The mountain has been carved, and the mines are in operation. I can see the goblins working with clay and making pots and furnaces, soon enough, they'll grow enough to make iron tools, even if extremely crude."
'There's a process that needs to be followed here since everything is so crude, but they'll figure it out.'
[Goblin Hamlet (E+)
Description: A formal gathering of Goblins that is beginning to resemble that of an organized civilization.
Extremely rare because most gatherings of Goblins over a certain size are squashed out, usually by themselves, Hamlet is the first step towards a community.
A Hamlet allows Goblins to settle down and focus on more specialized tasks they usually couldn't tap into due to their busy and ingredient lifestyles such as leatherwork and metalwork.
…
It can house up to two hundred goblin units.
Can be developed into a Goblin Village (D)
]
"So the next step is a Goblin Village? At this rate, we'll eventually have a city… That doesn't look half bad."
"Hm… From its description, there are some rather interesting things about it…"
[Goblin Hamlet (E+)
…
All Goblins residing within the Halmet have their base Stats raised by two except for Arcana.
…
All Goblins birthed inside Hamlet have their Potential Stat raised by a grade up to "Low".
All Goblins born inside Hamlet have their base Stats raised by one except for Arcana.
Gestation period -25%
Fertility rate +15%
Growth speed +25%
…
]
"These are some interesting values… This means that the next generation will be better then this one. But even with the bonuses for gestation and growth speed, it would take at least two years for the Goblins to repopulate."
"I could hibernate for that long, but… It's too risky and, above all, wasteful."
'I don't think I'll grow older while hibernating since it says some conditions will be halted but I won't throw away two years of life like that…'
'In two years, I would've definitely been able to develop this Hamlet by quite a bit so I don't see the issue in going such a hard path.'
"There is also everything I can do with the system. Upgrading things, new Units…"
/Shine…/
"Hm?..."
Just as he was thinking of what to do, a red dot shone on his map.
"That is… An enemy?"
His furthest Scout to the North had found a strange creature… And paid with his life.
"Fucker!"
'Your sacrifice won't be in vain… Now, what killed it?'
Albeit only for a moment, the logs told him exactly what he needed to know:
[...
Goblin has been killed by Nortrar at…
…
]
"Nortrar? What kind of creature is it?... I don't seem to have the option to summon such a Unit, so it must be new."
'It looked like some sort of large primate… Looks like we have a new target on our hands.'
"Time to prepare. Those primates look strong and intelligent, I can't let them wander around the Village like that."
'I'll conquer some of them like I did before… Yeah, I can see something forming in my mind.'
'I have fifty empty slots with the recent upgrade of the fountain since all Goblins are now living within the Hamlet. If I can capture a few of them and have them return, I can slowly sabotage their operations from within as I scout them.'
"Even better, I can have them bring me tribute. A single heart would be enough. It's not very noticeable, so if I can have them sneak out with the hearts of every creature they hunt… Assuming they're carnivorous…"
"We'll depart this very night. I don't know if the encounter with the Goblin will lead to them moving, so I must move first and capture them."
"How much essence do I have left?..."
[Essence -> 714]
"Alright, I have quite a bit to use. Excellent."
"First, as I said before, I'll build a place for the Goblins to train and fight each other in… An Arena."
'Some of the Goblins have grown restlessness… It makes sense, after all, there's now four chieftains of varying strength occupying the same place. It's only a matter of time until they clash again. This time one against the other.'
"I don't want them to die, but they must solve their enmity. Only the strongest one will persevere; honestly, I think I'm with the oldest one here. But honestly, it doesn't matter."
'Also, speaking of this, its time for me to remove some of the females as well. Although they're not meant for combat, their Stats are definitely going to be lower than the females I summon through the System. Besides, this will increase the gene pool as well.'
"That's for later though…"
"I'll also request to construct a second wall a hundred meters from the other just in case…"
"With two walls built… I think the next step is to have a new force to defend and attack just in case something happens."
'And I already have an idea of who it will be…'
[Lizardman (E+)]
"A lizardman, a species of creature highly adapted for this type of environment, although they would do better next to a swamp where it's moist… Still, they'll do fine here since there's a river nearby."
'Their Stats are fine and above all, they're intelligent and strong. They seem to have a much better potential than Goblins at the very least.'
"Each Lizardman costs thirty points, which is six times higher than Goblins, so they should be good… No harm in trying."
"The only thing I don't understand is why they're see asa E+? I mean, their Stats are higher but overall, Humans are far smarter on average… But I may be an odd case since I was a university student."
'I could be either overestimating Humanity or underestimating these guys, maybe both…'
"I guess I just can't accept how Humans have the same grade as Goblins… Sigh…"
"I'll begin with ten… Summon!"
/Bubble…/
[Name: N/A
> Age: 9
> Race: Lizardman (E+)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 8 (E); Fortitude 10 (E); Wit 7 (E); Insight 4 (E); Arcana 1 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Low; Aura: Low; Flux: Lowest; Soul: Lowest; Presence: Low
>Skills:
Knowledge of Survival (D-)
Tribal Combat (D-)
Spear Combat (E)
Hunting (E+)
Echocomunication (E)
…
>Extra:
…
>Effects:
Blood Fountain -> Might, Fortitude, Wit, and Insight +5
]
[A new structure has been added to the Codex]
A scally humanoid creature with green scales rose from the blood pool, slowly opening its yellow, slit eyes in the dark.
It was different from what he imagined, having feathers all over its body, together with a pair of flappy skin where its ears would've been and underneath its throat.
It was muscular and larger then a Human, being over two meters high on average but rather thin for their size.
"So this is a true monster huh… Yeah, a Human has no chance against this… But this one is odd."
Darius turned to a lizardman with a strange look. He was bigger and stronger then the others:
[Name: Tik-Tatutchi
> Age: 18
> Race: Lizardman (D+)
> Main Stats: (+)
Might 12 (D); Fortitude 15 (D); Wit 2 (D); Insight 5 (D); Arcana 4 (E)
> Secondary Stats: (+)
Potential: Intermediate; Aura: Low; Flux: Low; Soul: Low; Presence: Intermediate
>Skills:
Knowledge of Survival (C-)
Martial Combat (D+)
Spear Combat (C+)
Hunting (C+)
Echocomunication (C-)
Camouflage (D-)
Master of the Pack (E+)
…
>Extra:
…
>Effects:
Blood Fountain -> Might, Fortitude, Wit, and Insight +5
]
This lizardman was armed to the teeth. Wearing strange scaly armor together with a bow and quiver on its back, two spears of diverging sizes, and several knives around its body…
"Oh?! Another named summon! I feel as if I've summoned fifty creatures but nothing. Finally!"
"The others are about as strong as the first one, but it doesn't matter, I now have a leader for the pack."
"All of these Lizardmans are quite strong. Stronger then the chieftains aside from the oldest of them all."
"It's a little odd how the notification of the Codex doesn't show when I summon them despite it being there… Doesn't matter. I'll take a read later."
"For now… I'll check what this new structure was."
[Lizardman Settlement (E)
Description: A simple gathering of huts built on trees…
…
It can house up to fifty Lizardman units.
Can be developed into a Lizardman Floating Village (D+)
Can be developed into a Lizardman Stone Village (D+)
]
"Oh?! So I immediately unlock it now? Maybe it's because I already unlocked the Goblin's counterpart… Its cost is also somewhat manageable…"
"Six hundred points isn't too much to ask. I can gather that much. And if I can develop the Settlement, they'll likely receive boosts and grow even stronger."
[Essence -> 414]
"I almost have enough for them so I'll hold it in, for now, I'll have them hunt as I focus on reading their Codex entries."
'Either way, tonight I'll be hunting those primates.'
Darius' expression tensed as his eyes sharpened…
"Hum… Aside from the unique one, each Lizardman has a spear in hand but only that. I should give them something to hunt with, I imagine. A net would be good for once…"
Like before, Darius did not hold back and spent a hundred points to arm them well with the basics before ordering them to hunt.
Like that, time passed, and once he finished reading their Codex entries, he closed his eyes and hibernated until nighttime when their attack would commence…
...
.
.
.
Notes