The innkeeper I had poached from Akzar greeted me. “Good morning, Chief.”
“Good morning, Daimmen,” I said. “Can I get something to eat before I head out?”
“Of course, please have a seat.” He quickly organized a few goblin servers, and soon, trays of food and drink were brought for me. I was surprised to discover a loaf of bread accompanying the standard daily stew.
“How do you like the food?” a familiar voice asked. I looked up to see a fat goblin beaming at me in delight. “With the daily tribute of flour from Novenguard, and the help of the baker you freed in Akzar, I have now learned to make doughs and pastries. I baked the bread myself this morning.”
“That’s great, Gandork,” I said, taking a bite out of the soft, warm bread. “Well done.”
He seemed to swell at the compliment. “It is my pleasure, Dire Totem. It’s been a little challenging to produce so much food for the Breeder’s Den, but my team and I kept up with demand. It’s easier now that we only have to work with the daily ingredient yield.”
I lightly touched the cook’s information tendrils. Gandork was level 14, and his cooking skill was maxed out at 23. Goblins, as a species, were at a small disadvantage when it came to Social-related skills, as we started with a -1 penalty. In the past, I’d used the temple’s zone blessing to increase everyone’s Physical and Mental attributes by 1. Maybe it was time to invest in the Social workers.
Vic snorted in my mind.
I dipped the warm bread into my stew, letting it soak in the juices, then chewed on it slowly as I accessed the Religion section of the Settlement Interface. I navigated to the Zone Blessings section.
Zone Blessings (Affects all followers in the zone of influence)
Available Faith Points: 785
Name
Description
FP Cost
Mettle I
Morale increases by +5. [PURCHASED]
10
Mettle II
Morale further increased by +5.
20
Physical I
Physical attribute increased by +1. [PURCHASED]
100
Physical II
Physical attribute further increased by +1.
200
Mental I
Mental attribute increased by +1. [PURCHASED]
100
Mental II
Mental attribute further increased by +1.
200
Social I
Social attribute increased by +1.
100
Tainted Water
All free-flowing water becomes tainted with Darkness. Drinking rewards Shadow-Touched creatures while poisonous to others.
300
Eternal Night I
The zone of influence will be covered with perpetual darkness. [PURCHASED]
1,000
Eternal Night II
Related bonuses are increased and purchasable upgrades become available. [PURCHASED]
2,000
Eternal Night III
Related bonuses are further enhanced and more advanced upgrades are available.
4,000
I’d spent the majority of my FP on individual blessings, strengthening my army before setting out to Novenguard, but thanks to conquering their temple, I’d also received a significant reward and could afford to invest some back into the clan.
With the morale bonus I now received from every conquered settlement, the Mettle blessing was insignificant. Tainted Water sounded equally unappetizing, and I had already spent a fortune in FP on Eternal Night and its various upgrades, though this was the first time I’d encountered the ability to upgrade it to the third tier. The option had probably become available when the cathedral was completed. I recalled that the description indicated unlocking third-tier blessings.
It didn’t really matter. I didn’t have enough FP, and even if I did, the situation was different now. My clan was on the offensive, and I didn’t feel the need to spend another fortune on defenses. Investing points in increasing the attributes of everyone in town seemed the most beneficial.
Continuing with my original train of thought, I spent 100 FP to purchase the Social upgrade.
Zone Blessing [Social I] Purchased
Followers’ Social attribute in the zone increased by +1.
That left me with a little over 600 FP. It was just enough to purchase the second tier of all three ability blessings.
Zone Blessing [Physical II] Purchased
Followers’ Physical attribute in the zone increased by +1.
Zone Blessing [Mental II] Purchased
Followers’ Mental attribute in the zone increased by +1.
Zone Blessing [Social II] Purchased
Followers’ Social attribute in the zone increased by +1.
The upgrade would increase the maximum skill cap of the Social workers by two and all my other workers by one.
Hey, Kaedric? I projected my thoughts through my magical earring.
I just bought a few blessings that increase everyone’s attributes. Can you tell me the effect it has on our workers?
Thanks. I was hoping for more, but one percent wasn’t too bad. I had hundreds of workers producing thousands of resources every day. An additional percent probably translated to more than what any other normal goblin clan could have achieved in a single day.
Kaedric, I’ve already authorized you to handle the clan’s affairs according to your best judgment. You’re doing a good job, just keep at it.
There was a short pause.
Having finished my meal, I stood up. I nodded at Daimmen then focused my mind on a faraway point and teleported.
I reappeared at Novenguard’s temple. The two hob guards who were assigned to watch over it straightened up as they saw me and banged on their steel brigandines.
“Take it easy,” I said. “Just here for a quick bout of enchanting. Anything special happen that I should know about?”
“No, Chief,” one of the guards replied. “The traveler officers have taken their squads to capture two enemy settlements. We were told to expect further orders tomorrow once they reach their destinations and crush our enemies.”
“Alright, now move on and keep watch from the outside; I need to concentrate. Oh, and send for Aidanriel.”
The two hobs hurried to follow my orders. I opened the Runecraft Design Mode and began applying the new portal schema on the ground around it.
I had finished laying the last few glyphs just as the temple’s door opened and the golem passed through, his viridium spheres polished to a pink shine.
“Hello, mate,” Aidanriel said cheerfully. “You rang?”
I nodded. “I need your help with something. Hold on.”
I channeled my mana into the enchantment. The runic lines glowed brighter and brighter until my mana pool bottomed out. Then I reached with my mind to the golem’s core and pulled out the remaining 2,000 MP required to complete the enchantment.
“Oi!” Aidanriel protested. “How ‘bout a little warning first, mate?”
I rolled my eyes. “You have 15,000 MP stored in your core; you barely felt it.”
“It still tingles. How would you feel if I reached up inside of you and pulled out something?”
“Thanks for that disturbing mental image.”
Vic dropped from my shoulders, forming into his purple goblin form. “You know, I could make a lewd balls joke right about now, but I have style.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly.
The enchantment finished powering up.
“I mean, if Aidanriel reached up using his shining metal–”
A glowing portal of swirling energy appeared, and I dove into it be
fore my unruly companion got to finish the sentence.
I stepped out of the portal, finding myself inside Goblin’s Gorge’s cathedral. There was no dizziness or discomfort that usually accompanied long-range teleports. Excellent.
We could now freely move our forces between the valley and Novenguard.
The only thing left was to connect the valley to our other settlements. Since I had two groups of settlers to ship out, it made sense to work on the farthest one.
Thanks to being near places of worship, I’d already regenerated a sizable portion of my MP. It was more than enough for another long-range teleport.
Concentrating, I felt the darkness rush over me and I teleported away.
I found myself in a huge cavern standing next to a basic altar of bone and stone. A single goblin adept jumped as he noticed me emerging from the shadows. “Dire Totem!”
I frowned when I saw scorch marks on his clothing and a charred spot on the altar. “What happened here?”
Before he had a chance to reply, glowing red eyes appeared out of the space around us, and several lines of fire shot in our direction.
I watched the rapidly approaching flames. “Shadow-crap.”
Interlude: The Mob Squad
The bugbear bashed his shield against a Slugnide and cleaved another in half with his enchanted axe.
“Ew.” Misa, the half-elven woman curled her lips in disgust. “I got bug juice all over me.”
“Man, those things are nasty,” Riley said. The half-dwarven priest kicked one of the dead creatures. It looked like a giant booger with spider legs. “Think that’s the last of them?”
“God, I hope so,” Misa said. “I can’t stand those things.” She looked at the other woman, who was completely covered in tight-fitting black clothes. “Well, Kitty, think that’s enough to fulfill our quest?”
“I believe so,” Raystia replied. She grimaced when she noticed a few green splotches on her pristine garb. “It was really hard finding anyone with enough authority to even talk to me, let alone give us a chance to prove ourselves.”
The bugbear bent down and plucked a chitinous limb off their latest kill. “That’s 50. They wanted 50, right?”
“Well …” Raystia hesitated. “Yeah.”
“Then we’ve fulfilled our end of the quest,” Misa declared. “Let’s get out of this stink.”
The Mob Squad wandered until they located an exit grate and climbed up to the street. Their brand-new magical gear was covered in filth and Slugnide gunk, drawing disgusted looks from the pedestrians, who gave them a wide berth.
“We should probably get cleaned before we head to city hall,” Riley suggested. “They look down on us half-monsters enough as it is.”
“Ahem …” Raystia began hesitantly.
“Yeah?” Fox narrowed his eyes at her.
“I didn’t exactly get that quest from city hall.”
“Kitty,” Misa said with an overly casual tone, “whom exactly did you get the quest from?”
“Well … his name is Deryl. He’s an assistant to the city’s sanitation administrator.”
“An assistant of what?” Fox barked. “We need permission to raise a goddamn temple; why the hell are we helping the sanitation department?”
Raystia lowered her eyes. “He was the only one willing to speak to me. They wouldn’t let me anywhere near the city hall itself, and Deryl promised he could let me in if I help him with the city’s infestation problem.” She looked back up at them.
The yellow-furred bugbear stared at her. “You mean to tell me we did all this, fouling our new magical gear along the way, only for the promise of getting into the building?”
“Of course not!” Raystia said. She lowered her eyes again briefly as all her friends gaped at her in disbelief. “He said he might be able to get me inside. But that was the only way!” she hurried to say when her friends scowled. “Trust me; I can get us what we need. Just … let me turn in the quest first.”
Fox crossed his arms. “Go on then, we’ll wait for you here.”
Misa raised an eyebrow at the bugbear as Raystia hurried away. “You’re being a little too harsh on her, don’t you think? If either one of us even tried approaching the upper district we’d have been arrested on sight. She’s the only one who can charm her way through the NPCs’ natural aversion to half-monsters.”
“Yeah, I know,” Fox huffed. “It’s just … we’d been lying low, almost completely broke for a year, then we finally got a break. We got all this loot and money, only to realize no one here will take us seriously.
“That’s just the way it is,” Riley said. “We’re finally back to adventuring and gaining experience and levels. We’re finally doing something to improve our lives.”
Fox shook his head. “All this hard work just to raise a building? Why? What does the chief even need it for?”
“You can ask the next time we meet him,” Misa said airily. “But until then, there’s no need to take it out on the poor girl.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Fox grumbled. “I’ll apologize when she returns.”
“Apologize for what?” As if by magic, the grinning catgirl suddenly appeared next to the startled bugbear.
“Don’t do that, damn it! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Fox snapped. “I hate it when you turn on your ninja routine.”
“Well, Kitty?” Misa asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I almost made it inside this time,” Raystia said cheerfully. “There’s just one teeny-tiny thing we have to do first.”
Her friends narrowed their eyes at her.
Raystia smiled at them disarmingly. “How do you feel about working the graveyard shift?”
4 - Baptized by Fire
I cast Mana Shield, covering myself and the goblin adept next to me, just in time to block the four racing streams of fire. I felt a dip in my mana pool, but the flames didn’t penetrate the blue barrier.
Flame Jet hit Mana Shield for 140 damage. 70 mana drain. You take 0 damage.
The notification repeated itself four times. Four lines of fire remained burning on the ground, charring the stone. The origin of the attack became clear a moment later as four giant scorpions closed in on us.
Infernal Scorpion
Level: 70
HP: 661
MP: 534
Attributes: P:52, M:25, S:4
Skills: Flame Jet 35, Poisonous Strike 62, Severing Claws 62
Traits: Fireborn
Resistances: Armor 80, Fire 100%, Cold -50%
Description: A giant scorpion mutated by infernal energies. The stinger is poisonous and can be used to hurl fire at enemies.
I groaned. Akzar’s tainted magic was still causing trouble. It seemed that even though I’d cleared the Ogre Fort of all demonic influence, the infernal essence Akzar’s shamans had concocted remained, seeping into the ground and raising even more chaos.
I would have to deal with the meddling hob city eventually. The sooner the better.
Seeing their flames did not affect me, the giant scorpions charged in. As soon as the four monstrosities entered the dense darkness that surrounded the altar, they seemed to stagger. Their formidable claws sagged and their gait slowed. Still, they came on.
The adept next to me started casting immediately, sending a single drilling arrow at the lead scorpion. A wave of power ran from the altar and through the goblin, strengthening the magical attack. The drilling arrow burrowed a finger-wide hole through the creature’s tough chitin, shaving off a few dozen HP. Not to be outdone, I cast the same spell. My higher skill level allowed me to conjure five spinning projectiles at once. Channeled through my epic Demon Staff and further empowered by the proximity of the altar, the five drilling arrows blasted plate-size holes through the injured scorpion.
Drilling Arrow hit Infernal Scorpion for 262 damage (+50% from Altar).
The higher-level monster ignored the devastating attack, but I wasn’t finished yet. Thanks to the bonus of my completed armor set, I quickly l
et out another spell – Shadow Web. Sticky ropes made of tangible darkness jumped up from the ground, ensnaring two of the monsters. The other two pushed on, reached melee range, and attacked my shield with their claws and stingers.
Infernal Scorpion hit Mana Shield for 408 damage. 204 mana drain.
You take 118 damage [-66 armor].
Infernal Scorpion hit Mana Shield for 396 damage. 198 mana drain.
You take 106 damage [-66 armor].
I clenched my teeth as the two stingers proved powerful enough to punch through the barrier and my brand-new mithril vest, leaving deep wounds behind. An instant later, the stingers jerked backward with a spray of red and green, and I suddenly felt like my veins were on fire.
You are poisoned.
-20 damage per second for 60 seconds
That hurt.
The poison seared through my body. I had no antidote, but a quick calculation showed me I was going to make it. My health pool was a bit over 1,600, and even with the injuries I’d sustained, the poison wouldn’t be enough to finish me. Despite being 15 levels lower than the monsters, I was still tougher than them. Being a tier 3 boss had its perks.
The two entangled scorpions had yet to burst out of their restraints, and it seemed unlikely they’d manage it anytime soon. That was their mistake for attacking us in our place of power.
Despite the searing pain. I exposed my teeth in a feral grin. My turn.
I cast another Shadow Web, trapping the two scorpions who had attacked me, then followed through by grasping the adept’s shoulder and teleporting us 30 meters away to safety. A glancing hit by one of those stingers would instantly kill the weaker goblin.
Life Reset: Conquest (New Era Online Book 5) Page 5
