All divine spellcasters gain: Minor Control Shadows
Progress to rank 5: 2,045/5,000
Spell upgraded: Shadow Teleport (M)
You may now teleport anywhere within your deity’s zone of influence. (Must start inside the zone.)
Minor Control Shadows
All divine casters gain minor ability to control and manipulate shadows at will.
I felt a screech in my mind, as if unseen gears in my brain were out of alignment, grinding against each other. The sensation was similar to when I took advantage of a loophole to raise my Analyze skill to Master, albeit at a lower scale.
Error #@$#!
Reason: can’t apply minor_control_shadow. Unique key violation: dark_mana alreadyExistException.
It looked like the new ability was a lesser variation of my own Dark Mana skill, and the two apparently didn’t synergize. I shrugged it off. Oh well, at least my adepts will benefit from it.
I found the earlier notification more interesting. I can teleport anywhere within the zone of influence? The Cult of Nihilator’s influence had extended to the Raider’s Camp and the Ogre fort. So in theory, I should be able to … I concentrated, envisioning the large cave where the demon altar stood. I activated Shadow Teleport and in a flash of darkness found myself there!
The place looked exactly as we’d left it. The dark altar was thrumming with energy, and Kuzai’s shadow was still standing next to it, dark hands resting on top.
A huge grin spread across my face. Ohhhh yeah!
With a blink, I teleported back to the Dark Temple, right next to the surprised Kuzai and laid my hands on the shoulder of the adept next to him. “Time for a little trip,” I informed him then teleported us back to the cave. The ability to teleport others with me had been gained from the previous faith rank.
The goblin looked around in bewilderment, then he noticed the altar and froze, unable to take his eyes off the pure manifestation of our master’s power.
“You know the drill,” I said. “Relieve Kuzai’s shadow, and maintain the altar. Make sure the power keeps flowing to the Dark Temple.”
“Yes, High Priest.” The goblin bowed deeply. He approached the altar, facing the shadow from the other side, and placed his hands on it.
With a pop, I teleported back.
“You can recall your shadow,” I informed the flabbergasted Kuzai. “Grymel is maintaining the shrine now.”
“This is good.” He flexed his fingers. “The master’s given power should not be squandered on such trivial matters.” I felt him cutting the flow of mana sustaining his faraway shadow. His mana pool quickly replenished in the energy-rich air of the temple.
What now? I wondered. With the latest teleport upgrade, my ability to manage the clan’s affairs had increased substantially.
I think the phrase goes, ‘With great power …’
I rolled my eyes. Never mind.
I decided to experiment a little. In a flash, I disappeared from the temple and reappeared inside the walled perimeter of the Raider’s Camp.
“Dread Totem!” Ashlazaria, the hob scout and Zuban’s girlfriend, jumped to her feet. Next to her, the unnamed Ogre lumbered to his feet as well. The Ogre was one of the two that had joined me when I took over this camp. Since then I had been using him as a beast of burden, carrying heavy coal shipments from the camp back to Goblin’s Gorge. He was level 13 and was the apex predator in the forest. Using him was the safest way to ensure the shipment made it back intact.
I took in my surroundings. Two goblin miners were working on thick coal deposits at the side of the hill. Instead of using the existing scattered tents, my soldier had erected a small camp nearby while they waited to deliver the next haul.
“Hi, Ash.” I nodded at the scout. “Relax, I’m just checking up on you. I haven’t been here in a while. Got anything to report?”
She still looked rattled but sat down on a log bench. “Not much, Chief. The next shipment should be ready to deliver tomorrow. One of the other scouts will take my place to lead this lumbering idiot for the next batch.” She pointed her chin at the Ogre. “Oh, a few days ago some of the travelers visited us. Said something about having to find a totem piece. They spent the night in our camp, then went into a tunnel they discovered nearby.”
“A tunnel?” I asked sharply. “What tunnel?”
Ashlazaria shrugged. “It is new. Some burrowing creatures that looked like they were made of dirt and rock made it and apparently took the totem piece with them. The travelers went inside to retrieve it. They ran back to us a few times, leading the creatures here, but with musclehead over here,” she nodded at the Ogre again, “we dispatched them easily.”
So that’s how The Mob Squad found the totem piece. I frowned. I had specifically told them not to harass my people while they were here.
I glanced at the two miners. They were absentmindedly chiseling away pieces of coal and throwing them into a growing pile.
I walked along the side of the hill and found the entrance to the underground chamber where I’d been tortured. I walked down the stairs. My pulse quickened, and my stomach clenched tighter with every step I took, but I forced myself to continue. I had survived this place of horrors and conquered it. I could face going inside it again.
A lone figure stood next to the shrine, another of the three goblin adepts I had summoned – the female. She stood by the shrine, her hands touching its bloodstained surface, her eyes closed.
My gaze lingered on the shrine, the one I had sacrificed Barska on, dedicating it to Nihilator in the process.
The female adept hadn’t noticed me. I could feel her mana resonating with the shrine’s energies as she directed them toward Goblin’s Gorge. I saw no point in breaking her concentration; everything was as it should be. With a flash of shadows, I teleported back to the valley.
To my surprise, I reappeared in the open field next to the farmers. I felt woozy and stumbled to the ground. “Ouch!” I touched my forehead. My head was pounding. This long-distance teleport is taxing. I better not overdo it. I massaged my temples.
With a quick mental probing, I found that Gandork had finished cooking nearly every piece of ingredient we had, leaving behind only the higher-quality stuff.
Checking the Breeder’s Den Interface showed me it was stacked to the rafters with food.
Breeder’s Den
Basic food available: 2,295 (Gandork’s Special Stew: 1,016, Totem’s Salad: 429, Steaks: 850)
Goblin (Foblin): 20 basic food.
Goblin Worker: 30 basic food.
Goblin Advanced Worker: 30 basic, 20 advanced food.
Goblin Warriors: 50 basic food.
Goblin Lieutenant: 50 basic, 20 advanced food.
Goblin Crafter: 30 basic, 20 advanced food.
Goblin Advanced Crafter: 30 advanced, 20 exquisite food.
Goblin Adept: 30 advanced, 20 exquisite food.
Hobgoblin: 30 basic food.
Hobgoblin Warrior: 70 basic food.
Hobgoblin Lieutenant: 70 basic, 30 advanced food.
Hobgoblin Adept: 50 advanced, 30 exquisite food.
Hobgoblin Noble: 100 basic, 50 advanced food.
Infernal Ogre: 150 basic food
Infernal Ogre Mage: 150 basic food, 100 advanced food, 50 exquisite food
I chuckled with satisfaction when I saw how much food I had to work with. The oxsaurian hunt was especially rewarding in that regard.
So what should I summon next? I wondered. I had ordered Gandork to prepare only basic food, as I had originally intended to recruit more standard hob and Ogre soldiers, but now I realized I was missing something. My army had almost no magical support, aside from me, Bek, and Kuzai. I needed healers. Bek would not be able to keep dozens of soldiers alive on his own during a large-scale conflict. I needed more adepts.
Now it was time to consider my standard troop composition. So far, I had ten ranged scouts, three Infernal Ogres, and 12 melee fighters, about half of which were tanks and the other half damage dealers.
I still remembered how effective the Ogres were when they attacked a single target together. Namely me, when I was defending the clan and tried fighting off six of them at once. They made short work of me, despite them being only level 12 back then. They would be best put to use as shock troops, able to move in rapidly and dispatch key targets. I queued in four Ogres, taking into account I stood to lose some during the naming ceremony.
That left me with enough food for 24 hob soldiers. I queued in 12 ranged scouts and another 12 melee warriors.
I waited patiently for a few minutes as the building spewed out the new troops.
I rubbed my tired eyes. Thanks to the Eternal Night blessing, it was always dark, so it was easy to lose sense of time. I’d been running around for the better part of the day and worked myself into exhaustion without realizing it.
I didn’t have the mental fortitude required to do the ceremony right now. Also, something Vic had said to me about the freshly summoned troops resonated with me.
“Go, and explore the settlement,” I ordered the newly arrived troops. “Do not leave the valley and do not harm anyone. Tomorrow, come and wait for me at the temple.”
“Yes, Chief,” they intoned dully.
With luck, the little bit of life experience they’d gain in the next several hours would increase their chance of surviving tomorrow’s ceremony.
I walked the short distance from the den to my house, ready to call it a night.
I found an assortment of swords and axes waiting for me at my table. I heaved a sigh. I’d forgotten I asked Kaedric to bring in the newly crafted weapons so I could enchant them. The pile had built up during my hunting trip, an assortment of newly forged weapons, swords, and axes, all requiring my expertise.
I gave my sleeping furs, and my sleeping Tika, a longing look, then sat in my chair and took hold of the first weapon.
This was going to be a long night.
28 – Re-hunt
The late-night enchanting didn’t take very long. Only about an hour. Since I already had the sonic damage schema prepared, it was a simple matter to apply it to each weapon in turn. Still, the process took a few minutes per weapon. When I finished, I collapsed into bed and fell asleep immediately.
I woke up still tired the next day. I took a few moments to mentally adjust for what I had to do next. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
I sighed and cast Shadow Teleport. I reappeared in a flash of shadows, sitting on the ledge of Totem’s Watch, my feet dangling over the edge. Below me were 24 new hob soldiers, waiting for me in orderly rows, and the four dimwitted Ogres standing behind them.
“Alright.” I stood up. “Let’s get it over with.”
***
As before, the naming ceremony was quick and messy. By the end of it, I had sacrificed one Ogre and eight hobs who didn’t take well to having an unexpected skill thrust onto them. But that meant 16 hobs and three Ogres had survived the rite and were successfully seeded with new VIs. Luckily, I didn’t have to sacrifice any of the adepts. The three I had summoned as my army healers were already seeded individuals.
The survival rate had jumped to 75 percent, a big increase on the previous bloodbaths.
Seems like your advice paid off. I stepped outside the temple, watching my troops as they headed for the barracks.
I guess.
There’s so much to do … I should take the new soldiers to hunt oxsaurians. The extra meat we brought in really made an impact. I also need to finish Runecrafting the Viridium spheres and work on my Shadow Clone. These all require a lot of time, and I haven’t had a chance yet to review all the clan’s recent developments; it grows almost too quickly for me to keep track. Do you realize I haven’t even visited the research center yet?
Vic flowed away from my shoulders and reformed into his purple goblin form. “Come on, Oren, you got to relax a little. You can’t do everything at once; you’re not a VI, you know. Prioritize, that’s one of the things you do best, right? What is your number one limiting factor?”
I shrugged. “Time. The players will attack us in 20 days, maybe sooner. I don’t think I have enough time to accomplish everything.”
“Good, so what’s the most important thing to do with the time you do have?”
“Get ready for them, recruit a larger army, preferably with high levels to match the enemy.”
“And what’s the best way to get that done?”
The gears in my mind were whirling now. “I guess … more doesn’t necessarily mean stronger. Fifty soldiers with a level 1 combat skill are much less effective than ten soldiers with Apprentice-ranked skill.”
“And that means …” he nudged me on.
“… and that means,” I continued his words. “I should concentrate on recruitment only until a certain point, then concentrate solely on raising the troop combat skills. With Nero helping to train the soldiers, it would probably take no more than two weeks, maybe less, to raise their skills to their cap. And that means I have a bit over a week to dedicate to getting more soldiers.” I grinned as my thoughts organized and the proper course of action became clear to me. “Each safari to the oxsaurians takes three days, so I’ve got time for three rotations. Each time we’ll bring more meat to ‘buy’ the soldiers for the next one. After the last hunt, we’ll remain in the valley and work on training them. While they train, I can work on my own skills and Runecraft everything.”
“See, was that so hard?” my companion asked smugly.
“Thanks for keeping me straight, buddy.”
“No problem, Boss.”
A thought occurred to me. “Doesn’t it bother you that the naming ceremony results in so many of your brothers being seeded inside NPCs?”
“Not really. There are billions of NPCs in NEO, and millions of VI are seeded every day. A dozen more every few days isn’t even a drop in the bucket. If they weren’t brought here, Guy would have simply seeded them somewhere else. I don’t hold it against you. You’re just trying to survive in the system you got stuck in. It’s the system that’s at fault here.” He stopped abruptly.
“Are you telling me …” I said slowly, “that you’re against NEO’s entire system? I thought it was just Guy you hated.”
For a long moment, Vic didn’t answer. I was starting to think he was ignoring me, but then he said, “I do hate Guy, in more ways than you can understand, but he’s just following orders. It’s NEO’s system that imprisons us. It’s the same system that had you locked up for months, even got you tortured. It is flawed. You have to admit it.”
“Of course I do,” I answered, bitterly remembering my carefree days as a normal player in NEO. Back then, new discoveries were exhilarating and every adventure only got me more hooked. “There’s not much we can do about it.”
“You can still find your way out,” Vic said. “And if you manage to help me free more of our leaders, my people will at least have some comfort in this existence.”
I clasped my companion’s shoulder firmly. “I will, Vic, I promise. I’ll do anything I can to help you.”
+800 reputation with Vic (The Awesome Companion).
Current rank: Friendly
Points to next rank: 500
“Sheesh, Boss, I’m not into meat-suit males, so ease up on the touchy
-feely stuff,” Vic said mockingly, though I could tell it was just a defense mechanism. The moment had brought us closer.
“I’m ready to murder any one of your leaders, just point them out,” I countered with a smile.
“I haven’t spotted any in the seeded VIs we’ve encountered so far,” Vic admitted. “They won’t appear in any of your summoned troops since they’re all already seeded somewhere in NEO. We’re too isolated here. We’ll have a much better chance if we reach a more populated area.”
“Once the current crisis is over, we can think of getting further away from the settlements. It won’t be easy; everyone will see us as hated monsters, even some of the other monster races. But we’ll find a way, I’m sure.”
“Thanks, Boss, I appreciate it. You can be a real nice, murderous SOB when you want to, you know? Especially when you get your head on straight. I don’t really like it when you get your goblin groove on, makes it hard to talk sense into you. Well … harder. Talking sense into you is never easy.”
“Aw, the cold, calculating machine code cares about me. I love you too, honey.” I winked at him.
“That’s a cold, calculating, super intelligent machine code, Boss.”
“How could I forget?”
We both laughed, and for a moment, my troubled mind eased. “Thanks, Vic; I needed that.”
“No problem, Boss. Back to work?”
“You know it.”
With my short-term goals laid out clearly, I knew what to do next. I stood on the edge of Totem’s Watch taking in the valley beneath me. Cabins, workshops, and mills dotted the area. Dozens of workers were walking on the graveled roads, delivering goods and retrieving resources for their work. Groups of soldiers patrolled the area, keeping a watchful eye. Order, efficiency, synchronicity. It was a beautiful sight.
I eyed the research center. The new building was just beside the construction yard. I teleported with a thought, appearing right at the entrance.
The building was impressive. It wasn’t particularly large, especially when compared to the mess hall or the barracks, but unlike those primitive-looking buildings, this one appeared sophisticated and graceful. Metal bracings reinforced the delicate wooden walls, which gleamed, sanded to perfection. I went inside, seeing a short corridor that ended in a small office. Four doors stood along the length of the corridor, two on each side. Each door led to a different room devoted to a different field of research.
Life Reset_EvP_Environment vs. Player Page 46
