Optional: bring more meat than the minimum required. Current 13/20
Quest Type: normal, chain
Reward: improved reputation, 100 /200xp, Guba’s special dish
Great. Another link in the chain quest, and one that should be fairly easy to complete.
We climbed down from our respective trees and searched the bodies. I added three more chunks of meat and three Armadillo metal carapaces to my inventory, while Tika looted her own kill.
I now had six chunks of raw meat in my inventory and the package on the ground held 10 more. Getting four extra pieces of meat should be a piece of cake. I chuckled softly.
Tika and I stood up and carefully examined each other. She was actually quite cute, barely a meter tall, with long brown hair. The gaunt cheeks of her race that usually gave a hollow and emaciated look, were softer in her case, making her face seem angular and exotic.
“I give you thanks for saving me, strange one,” she curtsied slightly, “I think animals kill me.”
Her way of speaking was simple, childlike even, but not as stupid sounding as some of the other goblins I encountered. It was actually quite charming.
“No problem” I grinned at her. “Guba sent me to look for you, I’m glad I got here in time to help.” I looked at the meat satchel, “I see you had a good hunt, but I’d like to surprise Guba with more meat than she was expecting, I just need four more pieces.”
She nodded and reached for her pack. “Here, I give my meat. Gift for you.”
I nodded back in thanks. Three more to go.
“Shall we head back to the clan?” I suggested.
“But you not my clan,” she held her hands over her heart. “They kill you.”
“That’s ok,” I smiled reassuringly, “I already talked to the chieftain and I’m working on joining your clan.”
Her concerned face relaxed a bit. “Oh, that is good. Come, we go back now.”
She started walking back toward the cave. I followed.
When we reached the first clearing I found, she stopped and gathered the trap wires she’d dropped on the ground when she fled. ”Here animals jump me, I ran, wire fall on ground. Meat falls too, but after.” she frowned.
I nodded. “That’s understandable, those critters were tough, but we beat them.” And it was pretty fun too. I chuckled. She looked puzzled but laughed as well, more out of courtesy than real humor, I guessed.
After gathering all the wires, she made to head back toward the cave. I put up my hand to stop her. “Actually, I think I’ll remain here for a while longer, I’d like to try to hunt for some more meat, to make Guba extra happy. I will see you later at the cave, alright?”
She frowned at that, but nodded, then walked away.
I sat down on a small rock, sighing as I relaxed. I was not used to engaging in combat, and though it was not a particularly large-scale fight, it took the better part of an hour and was actually pretty exhausting. A lot of things happened that affected my character, my very first level up. I opened up the Character Sheet screen and examined my new stats.
Name: ##@!
Level: 2, (47%)
Race: Monster Race [Goblin]
Attributes: [0 points available]
- Physical 1
- Mental 2
- Social -1
Skills:
- Murphy’s Bitch 1 (40%) (Prime)
- Analyze 1 (90%)
- Mana Manipulation 1 (60%)
- Mana Arrow 1 (99%)
- Tracking 1 (20%)
Pools:
- Hit Points: 20 (10P, 10M)
- Mana: 35 (20M, 5P, 10MM-skill).
Traits:
- Goblinoid (+1 Physical, -1 Social)
- Experience modifier -20%
Well, that was encouraging.
The Analyze skill had increased and was close to leveling up. Mana Arrow was also up almost a whole level. I was surprised to see that the Murphy’s Bitch skill had made progress, when did that happen?
I checked the internal game clock, I had been playing for 2 hours game time, about 10 minutes of real time and I had made impressive progress.
The magnitude of the time difference was insane. I shivered, remembering Tal’s warning. Knowing that I was experiencing the supposed time acceleration right now made me apprehensive, even though I didn’t feel anything different or ‘wrong’. My mind, by any reasonable expectation, should have difficulty working at that speed. But weirdly enough, I felt just fine. Exactly the same as I always did when I was playing a ‘normal’ game.
Well, it’s only been 10 minutes, and I did give myself a full hour to explore the situation, I reminded myself.
Just then, three squirrels ran by me. Without a thought I sniped at them with three rapid castings of Mana Arrow, catching the last one just as it was about to jump out of my line of sight.
Mana Arrow Skill increased to level 2
Right on schedule, I grinned toothily.
Still, it wasn’t enough. Especially if I had to face that damn DurDur again.
I’ll have to avoid Scarface for a while, until I get strong enough to take him down.
I retrieved three pieces of raw meat from the fallen squirrels, bringing the grand total to the required 20.
This should make Guba happy I thought with satisfaction.
I made my way back north, through the forest on the path toward the goblin cave.
When I arrived, I saw Chob and the other sentry still there, guarding the cave entrance. I approached them, careful to make my presence known, showing them it was just little ol’ me.
I stood outside the cave entrance, brooding. There in front of me was the future of my game life.
Goblins.
I had never thought that would be my fate.
But it’s the hand I was dealt, so I will make do with what I got. I thought determinedly.
Despite my rage at being betrayed, I couldn’t deny a feeling of excitement at the opportunity to explore this strange new aspect of the game.
I entered the cavern and stumbled right into DurDur. “You again?” He asked in a surprised tone, “I thought I killed you already.”
I frantically searched for a way to escape. I turned back toward the exit and started to run for it when a system message popped up:
You have died. No permanent death penalties as you’re below level 10
Crap.
5 - Payback's a bitch
The blackness slowly faded away, replaced with the now familiar Goblin cemetery.
This is getting ridiculous, I thought tiredly, sitting up.
I have to find a way to either defeat that mongrel, or increase my reputation with him.
The latter was unlikely, the old bastard had a grudge against me for some reason.
He simply had to go.
I just had to figure out a way to remove him.
I wracked my brain trying to think up a way.
There has to be a way to get through his magic shield.
I conjured a Mana Arrow, and sat in the cemetery, twirling it between my fingers, keeping my hands busy while I was thinking.
I was familiar with the personal shield spell DurDur used.
In fact, it belonged to the Mana discipline, so I would be able to cast it also once I learned the spell.
It was a virtually impenetrable protective barrier up to a certain threshold of damage. But it had one huge disadvantage; the enormous mana consumption rate. That was why learning it now was impractical for me, my current mana pool was still too small for it to make a difference.
Unfortunately, the spells specific for countering mana shields were from other magical disciplines. When I played as Oren I learned the counter-spell ‘Break Barrier’ from a spell book.
How can I get past his shield? I mulled it over and over again.
My eyes stayed on the Mana Arrow as I considered my options, flipping and spinning it repeatedly.
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
Could I...?
> I stilled the arrow, and accessed Mana Manipulation.
Furrowing my brow in concentration, I stared at the arrow intensely. The arrowhead begun to change. The slender sharp point became wider, transforming into a wide based, sharp tipped cone with a wide base.
I launched the new armor-piercing-shaped arrow, but it vibrated madly in flight cutting down on its speed and accuracy to a degree that was almost comical.
Not good.
I conjured another arrow, and reformed the tip into a cone again. I took a steadying breath and concentrated, this would require a delicate touch and precise effort.
Furrowing my brow, I commenced.
I caused a slight groove to appear at the very tip of the cone; I lengthened it, spiraling it around, gradually making it wider and channeling it deeper as it circled towards the base of the cone.
When I was finished, the arrowhead had a single, sharp edged helical groove winding around it. It looked like a self-tapping screw
I took another deep breath. Okay, next part.
I mentally reached for the arrow-shaft and the reshaped arrowhead. Grasping both firmly, I squeezed the sharply grooved cone within my will, applying equal pressure from every direction. I squeezed harder, but eased the force from one angle. The arrowhead began to spin. I squeezed even harder, increasing the asymmetrical force and the speed of the rotations.
The truly difficult part was, at the same time I also had to keep the shaft from spinning. I kept applying more and more force, the arrowhead spun faster and faster; and it began to emit a faint droning whine. Finally the groove seemed to fade away, and the arrowhead became a smooth cone again. Except it actually wasn’t, it was just moving too fast to see the groove; blurred into a deceptively smooth deadly drilling-point. It was done. I released my will.
I grinned in satisfaction, despite my mental exhaustion.
Time to test this new baby out.
With a flick of thought, I sent the arrow at the stone wall. Instead of discharging on contact with the hard stone surface, it persisted, drilling into the wall before unleashing its remaining mana with a sharp bam!
Grinning widely, I looked at the hole it had bored into the wall; it was finger length deep. A goblin finger.
Yes, I think that will do nicely.
Would you like to upgrade Mana Arrow, to Drilling Arrow? Yes /No
I didn’t quite rub my hands together and cackle, but it was close.
Yes, I would love to.
Mana Arrow Skill Upgraded!
New Spell: Drilling Arrow(M) [active, monster race]
You can create an arrow out of pure mana and launch it at your enemies.
The drill-like arrowhead has a superior barrier penetration potential.
Note: as a mana type spell, more mana can be channeled to further increase the effectiveness of the spell.
Current level 2 (3%): Arrows per cast: 1, damage: 6-11, barrier penetration: 12%, cost: 6,
Prime Badge: As the first player to unlock this skill you gain 50% increased rate and can teach it to others.
Mana Manipulation Skill level increased to 2
Awesome.
The new Mana Arrow spell variant I created had the same amount of damage, but added a penetration effect, and cost only one mana point more than the original.
The new variant spell even had the same skill level as the original, and I had gotten the Prime badge for it. That meant I’d be able to level it up much faster. Now I have a fighting chance against DurDur.
Murphy’s Bitch Skill increased to level 2
I chuckled softly.
I think I’m starting to understand how this skill levels up.
Exiting the cemetery chamber, I snuck back through the tunnel to the cavern. I stopped at the end and surveyed the main cavern.
DurDur was nowhere in sight. Guba was at her cooking station as before, stirring the cauldron with her ladle. I headed over to talk to her, keeping a wary eye all around me for DurDur, I really didn’t want to die again.
I was happy to see Tika sitting on a nearby log bench, eating from a small earthen plate.
Guba noticed my approach.
“I seen what tha’ damn bully, DurDur did to ya,” her eyes flashed with anger and there was pity in her voice. She looked me up and down “funny, you ain’t be looking like the leader type ter me, so how ain’t you stayed dead?”
Was she talking about boss respawning? I wondered. Well, this was a good opportunity to learn some more about my new goblin state.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean. I know Travelers always resurrect, even the weakest of them. What does being a leader have to do with goblin resurrection?”
Travelers meant players. Player’s existence, to the NPCs in NEO, was explained as beings traveling from another world.
Guba looked me, her expression unreadable.
“You be a strange one, youngling! Every goblin knows the leaders, them as being the chieftain and the Totem, are blessed by the mighty Corgoram. So they be hard ta killing! If dead, they be returning to the land o’tha living, get ‘nother shot to get back at theys attackers. Leaders then be calling back some other goblin stiffs, to help build back the clan quick-like.”
I thought for a moment.
“What do you mean by ‘goblin stiffs’?”
She shrugged “Meself, Tika here, Chob, even Bek and several others.”
I thought I started to understand. “And what about them?” I pointed at a couple of generic ‘goblin’ who were busily brawling and rolling around on the ground.
“Them?” she snorted in contempt, “they don’t matter. Them two can barely put two words together. Corgoram won’t be bringing them back from the dead, their kind breed fast enough on their own. So how ye still be walkin?”
That makes sense. The game had to have some mechanism for reviving mobs after raids. If players were to attack this clan and annihilate it, there has to be some way for the clan to come back and restore itself. Players would wipe out the entire goblin race if they didn’t respawn somehow.
Unlike other MMOs, NEO operated on an organic lifecycle. The bosses would respawn, but the entire clan wouldn’t. Instead, the bosses had the option of recalling all the named goblin back.
I figured the unnamed goblin workers and warriors were ‘born’ naturally. It was common knowledge that monster lairs that were left alone to ‘mature’ long enough, were much stronger than ones that were repeatedly raided. Now I understood why. Breeding. Such lairs had time to increase their numbers and grow in strength.
Very interesting.
Guba was still staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to explain myself.
I shrugged “I guess Corgoram favors me. I don’t have a better answer for you.” I smiled at her, rubbing my hands together.
“But now let’s talk business, I brought back Tika and the meat.” I pulled out the full satchel, containing the 20 pieces of meat.”
“Hmph!” She snorted “Took you long enough! I asked fer it five days ago!”.
Her stern demeanor softened when she saw the amount of meat I brought back.
“Hmph! You did good. Fer a youngling! This should help feed the clan for a good while.”
Quest completed: Bring back the meat
You found and rescued Tika, and returned more meat than was expected.
Thanks to you, the clan’s food supply shortage has been corrected. For now.
Reward: +250 reputation with Dripper clan, +200xp, Guba’s special dish
“And here you go young one,” Guba reached into her pocket and drew out a small green vial. “As I promised, my ‘special dish’.
I Analyzed the small item.
Guba’s ‘special dish’.
Description: Small green vial filled with viscous liquid.
Type: potion.
Effect: ???
Hmm, looks like I need a higher Analyze skill level to identify potion effects. I looked at Guba.
“What does it do?”
I shrugged, uncorked the vial and downed the potion.
Hmmm, minty. I licked my lips.
You gained permanent +2 to health
That was a nice reward! Permanency potions were rare and hard to make. And though this one's bonus was small, it would still sell for about 100 gold.
I should try to get more quests out of her.
I stroke my chin. I’ll need to raise my reputation with her first.
I was now playing for three in-game hours. It was getting darker outside the cave.
I knew what I had to do next.
“Hey Tika, do you know where the chieftain is?”
she looked up from her plate giving me a shy smile and nodded. “Chieftain in small cave, there” she pointed toward the left tunnel, the one I hadn’t explored yet.
“And do you know where the Totem is?” Not because I’m afraid of him or something.
She nodded “Totem with chief a lot.”
I had to talk to the chief, but that annoying Totem was in my way again. I sighed.
Figures, things are never simple.
I went to the tunnel Tika pointed to me. I hoped that if the chief spotted me first, he’d keep DurDur from killing me outright.
Peeking inside the tunnel, I saw it curved out of sight, going deeper into the hill.
I braced myself and went down the tunnel. Quietly.
Around the bend, the flickering torchlight revealed the tunnel diverged in two directions. The light was coming from the right side, the tunnel on the left was dark.
Who is more likely to use torches, the chief or the Totem? I shrugged and took the right tunnel.
I soon found myself standing at the entrance to a chamber. The chieftain was sitting on a small ornamental chair, two tough looking goblin warriors stood to either side and behind him. Behind the ‘throne’ was a closed chest.
Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel (New Era Online Book 1) Page 8
