Life Reset
Page 53
Description: An iconic bone dagger. Consecrated by sacrificing the blood of an immortal, fueled by the power of darkness. Can be used to perform a sacrifice. Sacrifice: instantly kill a helpless creature (unconscious or completely bound), as an offering, increase your reputation with your god. Sacrificed creatures will be consumed by darkness.
Type: weapon [one handed]
Rank: rare
Durability: 105/111 [enhanced]
Damage: Physical 6, Darkness [governed by skill]
Effect: Ignores unenchanted armor, 50% enchanted armor. Immune to non-magical damage. Inflict dark damage based on wielder’s affinity. On death blow: darkness consumes target.
Something occurred to me then. There were more differences between playing as a monster and a standard player than was immediately obvious. For players, everything was cut and dry. Skills were simple, descriptions were thorough, and general game mechanics were straightforward.
The rules for monsters however, worked differently. As creatures of the game, they were inherently able to interact with the complex abilities and options available to them. To them, such interactions weren’t even considered problematic as they all spoke the same native game language.
My situation was different. I was considered by the game as part of that NPC group, but I lacked their inherent knowledge. I had to manually learn and master the mechanics on my own. It was definitely not an easy process, but once I did learn it, I was sure to gain a tremendous edge over standard players.
This dagger, for example, didn’t specify what consumed by darkness meant, or how the governing skill, whatever it was, interacted with it. I smiled eagerly. The challenge only made the discovery even more exciting. I couldn’t wait to find out.
I reached out and grabbed the dagger. As my fingers wrapped around the hilt I sensed something different about it. I could feel energy pulsing through it, as if it was a living thing with a heartbeat!
I jerked my hand away, letting the dagger drop to the ground. I could still feel the energy flowing in it. It was similar to the feeling of mana I could sense from other living beings. When I reached apprentice rank in Mana Manipulation, I had chosen the ability to interact with the mana of living creatures instead of inanimate objects, and yet I was feeling a faint undeniable affinity to the dagger, almost as if we were somehow connected.
It had to be the new Dark Mana skill that replaced my Mana Manipulation. Its description said that I could control darkness and shadows much like I did normal mana. Now that the dagger was suffused with darkness, I could easily connect to it.
Let’s experiment a little, I thought ecstatically. There was nothing quite like the feeling of having a new magical toy to play with.
I concentrated and imagined a flow of mana going out of my body and touching the dagger. The dagger twitched a little and began to rise in the air. This was easy. I exerted my influence, making the dagger swish up, down and to the sides. Then I made it fly straight through the air for 10 meters in front of me. It covered the distance in the blink of an eye. I jerked the imaginary mana line connecting it to me, and pulled the dagger back. It sailed at me through the air with alarming speed. Too fast! I flinched, instinctively closing my eyes and raising my hands to protect my head. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes in surprise and looked at my hand, it was holding the dagger.
This was fun!
I played with it a little longer, sending it forward, and pulling it back into my hand instantly.
I was curious to see how much damage it would inflict when wielded this way. I launched the dagger at a tree stump 30 meters away. The dagger flashed away and embedded itself in the wood up to its hilt. Darkness spread from the impact point, turning the wood around it black.
I opened my action log and looked for the damage calculation. There it was.
Sacrificial Bone Dagger of Darkness hit for 23 damage ([6 physical + 15 darkness] X 1.1)
Cool. With a flick of my mind, the dagger returned to my hand. It caused less damage than my Drilling Arrows, but it would definitely have its uses.
I had another theory to test. I let go of the dagger and kept it hanging in the air with my mind. Then while making the dagger slash and stab an imaginary foe, I activated my Drilling Arrow. Success!
It wasn’t a simple mental exercise, but I was able to keep a tight grip on the dagger with my mind, and simultaneously launch the arrows.
I looked around me triumphantly, looking for someone to take notice of my amazing success and maybe to boast a little, but I saw no one nearby in the sunlit meadow.
Wait a minute, I thought with alarm. It was midday already! I had enchanted and experimented through the morning! Everyone else was sleeping. Damn, Runecrafting is arduous activity.
I realized how tired I was feeling. I yawned deeply and made my way to my house.
Tika was already fast asleep in my sleeping furs.
For a moment I considered waking her and boasting about my newfound ability, but I thought better of it. I wasn’t vain enough to rob her of some much-needed sleep, just because I was excited.
Besides, I looked at the sleeping gobliness. She is so cute! With those huge innocent eyes… Dark, lithe body, small waist, and well-rounded hips. And sexy, I had to admit it to myself. You’re one depraved, person, Oren. When did I start having monster fetishes? Probably shortly after I became one. I answered myself.
Well, there’s nothing I could do about it. Weeks of fraternizing and working closely with creatures I once considered to be newbie fodder, made me view them as “real” people now. Was it so unthinkable I would find a female alluring as well?
I shrugged all those thoughts away, leaned my staff on the wall, lay beside Tika, and put my arm around her.
***
I woke up to the gentle caress of Tika’s finger tracing over my face. I opened my eyes and smiled at the beautiful goblin huntress next to me.
Hesitantly, she leaned towards me, kissing me tenderly. I closed my eyes, forgetting my troubles for a little while and simply enjoyed the moment.
The kiss heralded all sorts of inappropriate possibilities. When I realized where my thoughts were leading me, I sat up quickly. No, I was not ready for that to happen. I am a human! I like human girls! I sharply reminded myself as I stood up.
Poor Tika seemed confused and a bit hurt by my sudden rejection.
I smiled at her, trying to alleviate her concern. “Good morning Tika. How did you sleep?”
“Good, Totem.” She lowered her eyes shyly. “We not always need sleep,” she added in a somewhat hesitant, yet suggestive tone, shyly looking away.
I was taken back by her directness, it was very unlike Tika to be so forward.
“Ahem, m-maybe some other time,” I stammered, not sure how to respond.
She lowered her eyes again, “Yes Dark Totem.”
I hastily left the house at that point.
It was late in the afternoon and most of my clan members were sitting around the cooking fire, while Gandork handed out portions of food.
I took mine and sat among my goblins to eat. This stew was definitely better than Guba’s. For one thing, it had mushrooms in it which added flavor and chewiness, and the meat was more tender. On a hunch, I opened the Morale Interface and noted with satisfaction that the food’s morale bonus had increased from 2% to 3%. It wasn’t much, but every little bit helped.
I looked around me. The meager clan I had started with had grown significantly. There were some 30 goblins around me, not counting in the babies. Though now that I looked for them I saw that they were no longer babies. They were small goblin-children that clung fiercely to their mothers.
As I scrutinized the people around, I noted that a few other females were suspiciously thick around the waist. When I took a better look around I realized that all the goblin females, excluding the ones with children, were pregnant! Five in total. Well, they sure live up to their reputation, I thought and chuckled to myself.
I busied myself by che
cking last night’s production. The extra workers I recruited were doing a fine job at balancing our upkeep, even with our increased numbers that consumed 31 units of food. That put us at a net daily gain of 24 units of food; raw meat, rabbits, and gathered food. Not to forget the 127 remaining units of mushroom, the last the cave provided, as it was now depleted. That gave me plenty of recruitment options. All I was missing was for Gandork to get the hang of cooking Advanced food.
The daily energy gain was another pleasant surprise +84 overnight! Looks like my strategy of investing Energy Points in leveling up all the new goblins was paying off.
Next, I checked the Interface for our construction progress;
Under construction: Smithy (72/250 BP) [rush], Mess Hall (93/250 BP) [rush]
Despite starting the Smithy first, having four builders working on the Mess Hall made it progress much faster. Not to mention Bargush was one of the four, and easily did the work of two normal Builders.
That’s weird, I thought to myself as I inspected the information again, I hadn’t noticed this ‘rush’ option before. I tried clicking on it, and to my surprise, a new prompt appeared:
Rush Smithy Construction (178 energy required, 136 available). Yes/no?
Amazing! I thought excitedly. Energy Points were even more useful than I initially thought! I could use them to instantly construct buildings. Possibilities ran through my head. Let’s say I wanted to expand into a new settlement, in hostile territory. If I had enough energy at my disposal, I’d be able to raise a fortified town overnight, gaining a firm foothold in the area instantly.
Energy was an incredibly valuable a commodity. It could level up my clan members, raise their skills and mine, resurrect the dead, instantly construct buildings, recruit additional bosses and-- following another hunch I opened the new Research Interface. Yep, it could also instantly complete ongoing research.
I shook my head. Energy was the most valuable and dynamic game resource I’d ever encountered. The problem was, it was hard to come by. Just an hour ago my 80+ daily energy gain seemed like a lot. Now it was a drop in the ocean compared to all the things I wanted to use it for.
I have to find some method of gaining more energy faster. I thought to myself.
I finished eating and stood up.
In the past few days I’d been totally caught up with events that were forced upon me, working my ass off to save myself and the clan from annihilation. Planning, building and progressing my skills. I was starting to feel restless.
I needed some action to stir up my blood.
I stood up and stretched, looking toward the path leading out of the valley.
As my friend Tal used to say when he was playing his hulking barbarian; It’s time to go kill some shit.
23 - Getting Some Action
I walked the forest path leading out of the valley.
Other than Vic, who was once again draped around my shoulder, I hadn’t brought anyone else with me. As I was purposely courting danger, I didn't want to risk anyone else on the off chance I’d encounter an overpowering enemy, like that gigantic bear that had me for lunch.
Besides, it had been a while since I’d been in combat, I wanted to test my increased skill levels and new abilities on my own.
Passing through the small clearing along the way, I saw the sorry state of the Chief's Hut we’d built as a decoy. It seemed like so long ago. Half of the roof was torn away, and it seemed like it could collapse at any moment. Hurried construction and no maintenance will do that to a building, I shrugged philosophically.
The developers had implemented a degradation system into the game mechanics that caused everything to slowly break down; food would rot, metal would rust, and buildings would collapse. So players who built their own homes had to maintain them. You couldn't build a palace and spend your days endlessly enjoying the comforts it offered. The gardens had to be tended, the doors fixed, and the walls repainted. This increased demand for all types of workmen and contributed to a thriving economy. Skills like plumbing and gardening became a necessity. Some players actually invested all of their time exclusively developing such skills. It allowed them to hire-out to rich players who preferred to pursue adventures and glory and didn’t want to bother with maintenance.
Some players even earned their living IRL working as full-time waiters and butlers for extremely wealthy players. Sure, you could hire an NPC butler to do the same job just as well and at a tenth of the price, but hiring a player was more prestigious. In my previous life, I had a few such player employees. As a guild leader, I was expected to exhibit the guild’s riches and power through such symbols.
I shook my head. All those thoughts were irrelevant in my case. I was a goblin now. There was no sense in fixating on the past when survival was on the line. I was fondly reminded of a familiar quote; ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line’.
True, my current situation wasn’t as dire as it was before. I was doing well at the moment and had good standing with Nihilator, but his initial threat to devour me made me perceive my entire gaming experience differently. It was no longer simply a game. I didn’t have the benefit of logging out, escaping to reality if things got too tough. I had to be careful and vigilant, and above all, increase my own power so I would never find myself at such a disadvantage again.
I passed through the opening, entering the denser forest outside the valley.
I tried accessing the Settlement Interface, but instead of the normal options, I could only see some basic information; current energy and Faith Points, settlement level, and my own boss tier level.
“Thanks Vic. Let’s find some trouble.”
I took the narrow trail leading deeper into the forest. The trees loomed densely over us, blocking the sunlight making for a grim shadowy setting that fit my mission purpose. Even though it was not fully night yet, the Nocturnal indicator appeared. I practiced my Dark Mana skill as I walked, gathering the shadows around me, pilling it into a shroud of darkness that concealed me. The “shroud” should make me nearly undetectable to most mobs below or around my level. Or so I hoped.
I walked quickly, remaining on the forest trail. I had no interest in hunting monsters or animals. I wanted to test my skills against more intelligent foes. The hobgoblins were probably still scouring the forest, looking for us. There was a fair chance they would stick mainly to the forest trails. So I kept walking, keeping the darkness wrapped tightly around my body, and used my almost forgotten Track skill to look for any sign of hobgoblins.
An hour later, I was tired of playing it safe and started jogging.
I activated my Mana Infusion skill, making my light trot closer to a goblin’s sprinting speed, and the kilometers flew past in a blur. It was well past midnight when I saw the flickering light of a campfire through the trees ahead.
I slowed to a walk, then used my innate goblin sneak ability to quietly edge closer to investigate.
I had finally found the hobgoblins. There were three of them sitting around the fire, behind them was a large pile of gear covered with a leather tarp. Two of the hobgoblins were warriors clad in basic full body leather armor, giving them decent protection against physical attacks. They each had a battle axe and a wooden shield. The last hobgoblin was not a warrior. He wore simple loose leather clothes and held no weapons. Something about him seemed familiar.
The three were busily eating something from a pot cooking on the fire.
I was somewhat disappointed. I’d spent hours scouring the forest and all I found were three hobgoblins? This was hardly going to be a true test of my abilities.
Glumly, I prepared my attack, making sure my dagger and potions were easily accessible - when suddenly, the pile behind the hobgoblins moved!
I watched in puzzlement as the pile of "gear" heaved and rose up and up, the leather tar
p falling away and revealing… Crap! It’s an Ogre!
What I had thought was a pile of travel gear was actually an ogre wrapped in his sleeping furs!
The Ogre wore a simple loincloth and held a giant club easily twice as big as a goblin. The Ogre’s lack of armor was misleading. I knew from painful experience how innately resistant Ogres are to both physical and magical damage.
Now this was some challenge! The last time we faced one of these hulking brutes was during our exodus - searching for a new place to settle. That ogre had been level 12 and hit like a wrecking ball. It took the combined efforts of six goblins to take it down. Even then, the Ogre almost managed to kill me.
The presence of this Ogre was a bit more than I expected. But things were different now, there was no way I was going to turn away from this challenge.
Taking a moment to move into better concealment, I used Analyze on all of them.
Hobgoblin warrior
Level: 5(69%)
P:6, M:0, S:-1
HP: 65, MP: 30
Skills: Axe & Shield: 8
Traits: Goblinoid (+1P, -1S), Frenzy (gain 50% combat bonuses when reduced below 13 HP)
Resistances: Armor: 18, physical: 26%
Background: Simple hobgoblin grunt. Strong but stupid.
Hobgoblin warrior
Level: 5(72%)
P:6, M:0, S:-1
HP: 64, MP: 30
Skills: Axe & Shield: 8
Traits: Goblinoid (+1P, -1S), Frenzy (gain 50% combat bonuses when reduced below 12 HP)
Resistances: Armor: 18, physical: 26%
Background: Simple hobgoblin grunt. Strong but stupid.
Glibworm, Hobgoblin adept
Level: 8 (6%)
P:2, M:7, S:-1
HP: 52, MP: 80
Skills: Heal Followers: 5, Mass Frenzy: 12, Deflection Field: 9
Traits: Goblinoid (+1P, -1S), Coward (hide behind allies, reduce aggro)