Novel The Mafter series

I wrote this a while ago, and I decided to throw it up here. It's nothing special, I just had a bit of an inspiration regrading LitRPGs and wrote a bit during my free time. The working title is "The Story of How I became...", with each arc having a different ending to the title. In the case of this part, it's:

The Story of How I Became the Mafter of a Cute Goblin​

Enjoy at your own leisure. Or not. I am going to upload a bunch of chapters anyway, as it's better than just having them sit on my hard-drive without anyone reading them.

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Synopsis: Protagonist with selective amnesia transmigrates to a fantasy world with an RPG system, into the body of the min-maxed character he unwittingly created, and gets both literally and then figuratively entrapped in the world's biggest dungeon. Hi-jinks ensue.

TOC:
Arc 1: The Story of How I Became the Mafter of a Cute Goblin
Chapter 1 - Day 1
Chapter 2 - Day 2
Chapter 3 - Day 3
Chapter 4 - Day 4
Chapter 5 - Day 5
Chapter 6 - Day 6
Chapter 7 - Day 7
Chapter 8 - Day 10
Chapter 9 - Day 11
Chapter 10 - Day 12
Chapter 11 - Day 13
Chapter 12 - Day 14 Morning

Arc 2: The Story of How I Became A Mid-Boss in a Dungeon
Chapter 13 - Day 14 Interlude - Liselotte 01
Chapter 14 - Day 14 Midday
Chapter 15 - Day 15 Morning​

 

Day 1

“Hhhh…!”

I could feel my chest rise with a sudden jerk and my mouth opened wide into an involuntary gasp. Soon after that my mind was also shocked into motion as the same breath left my lungs. I instinctively tried to look around, but I couldn’t see a thing. An embarrassingly long moment later I finally realized why; my eyes were simply closed.

So, I opened them. It took way too much effort, or at least it felt harder than it was supposed to be. After blinking a couple of times, which I needed to do in order to get used to the movement of my eyelids, I found myself gazing at a dim, damp stone ceiling. Needless to say, it was an unfamiliar sight. My thoughts were chaotic for some reason, but I was still fairly sure I was not supposed to sleep in a… cave? Where was I? I tried to get up, but my head felt a little funny, so I only managed to sit with the support of my arms. At last the nausea settled down a bit and I took a proper look at my surroundings.

It was so dark I could only see a couple of meters ahead, but that was enough to ascertain my previous guess; I was indeed in a cave. Or rather, a tunnel, though I suppose as far as waking up in one was concerned, the difference was strictly academic. Anyways, I was sitting right in the middle of one. For a moment I pondered whether it was natural or man-made, but I couldn’t say for sure from a single glance.

Once my eyes adjusted a little more, I also realized that there weren’t any torches or lamps around. Instead the place was lit by blotches of luminescent lichen. Or maybe some kind of fungus? Either way, the reason behind the low visibility lied with these gently glowing things on the wall. Though to be fair, without them I wouldn’t have been able to see past my nose, so I figured I shouldn’t complain too much.

It was at this point that I noticed, with a shudder, that I felt quite cold. I glanced down and, to my further puzzlement, I found myself completely naked. No, I have to correct myself there; while my lack of attire was surprising, the thing that really puzzled me was the fact that my body looked really weird. First off, I was white; and not the kind of white you get from staying indoors all winter. My entire body looked like I was dunked into a giant can of fence-paint.

Furthermore, my body was lacking a number of essential parts, so to say. For a start, I didn’t have nipples. As for the area between my legs, it was completely smooth like a doll’s. Heck, after some poking around, I concluded that I didn’t even have the other holes. Not only that, my body was also thin to the point where I could count all my ribs through the unnaturally white skin stretched over them. I reached up to touch my face, and I found that I not only lacked hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, but anything resembling a nose or lips as well. My mouth was nothing more than a thin opening, but at least it was filled with perfectly normal teeth.

Now, considering that last I remembered I was a perfectly ordinary human with all the naughty bits attached, I had a nagging feeling that this was the point where I was supposed to freak the hell out and start screaming and running in circles. I might have done just that, no doubt embarrassing myself in the process, but then another niggling feeling made me stop for a moment and think through the situation one more time.

I was in a dimly lit tunnel. I was naked. I didn’t know how I got there. I was white and featureless. Why did that all sound familiar?

As usual when it comes to rhetorical questions, the moment I thought of it, the answer came to me with a burst of memories.

“The game?” I muttered in a screechy voice that made chills run down my back. I shook my head to get over it and thought back on my most recent memories. The last thing I could recall was me sitting in my room. It was a little after midnight, and I was tinkering with a character sheet for some kind of online roleplaying game. Actually, wasn’t there something more to it? My memories felt a little muddled, but I could still remember being pretty adamant on rerolling stats and min-maxing skills, as if it was a matter of life and death.

I took a deep breath and tried to reorganize my thoughts, and it came to me bit by bit. Right, I was indeed making a character, but it wasn’t a game; or at the very least the site didn’t treat it as just a game. It had a simple layout, but it kept insisting on transporting the player to another world.

Yes, I know. That sounds like some really cheap advertiser bullcrap, and I thought the same… no, wait. I don’t know if I thought the same back then. My memories were still fuzzy.

Anyways, I took the character creation pretty seriously, and after spending the entire night making the character I finally clicked [Okay] on the last prompt, and then… and then I was here.

I paused for a long moment. First I looked over the tunnel, then I glanced down at my strangely deformed body as cold sweat started rolling down my back.

“Don’t tell me… that tagline was serious…?” I muttered as I reached down and pinched my forearm. “Ow. This is real.”

Now, this was the second time in the span of ten minutes where I would have been 100% justified in freaking the hell out, but I once again took a couple of quick breaths and got my rising panic under control. Maybe there was a completely reasonable explanation, like a dr… no, I couldn’t even finish that though. I just pinched myself, so this was definitely not a dream. Then what else could it be? Was I really transported into an RPG? With swords and magic and dragons and dungeons and status screens?


Name: ?????
Level: 1
Experience: 0
Classification: Humanoid
Race: ?????

Health: 30/30
Stamina: 1100/1100
Mana: 100/100

Body: 3
Finesse: 3+5
Mind: 5+5
Insight: 51+5

Common Skills:
High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Uncommon Skills:
Observation Lv1
Sage Lv3

Rare Skills:
Shapeshifting Lv3
Boundless Reserves Lv1

Mythic Skills:
Immortal Lv2

“HOLYSHITWHATISTHIS!?” I shrieked as I momentarily lost my grip on my panic. I don’t think anyone can blame me, as I was totally caught off-guard by the semi-transparent blue window appearing right in front of my face.

I was already on my feet before I even knew it, with my back at the wall, and only then did I notice that the panel was following me, as if affixed inside my field of vision. It didn’t follow the movement of my eyes, but if I moved my head, it immediately moved along. It was like a floating glass panel with words on it.

After some hesitation I raised my hand up to it and tried touching it. At first my fingers passed right through it, but when I tried again and touched the frame around the text, the panel stuck to my fingers, allowing me to move it around within my field of vision.

I must have spent several minutes experimenting with this strange new thing before I felt calm enough to actually start thinking about what it actually represented.

First and foremost, it was a [status window]. I should know; I played enough RPGs to recognize one at a glance. It even got a small [X] on the upper right corner for closing it. More importantly though, the stats on display were more or less what I remembered from my frantic character-creation. After some hesitation I gave up and let out a long sigh.

“That settles it,” I muttered in a dejected voice. I was either having the most elaborate fever dream ever, or I really got transported into a game world. Furthermore, it was a game I knew nothing about. My only lifeline was this panel in front of me, and I didn’t even know how I got it to appear. In fact, that bothered me so much I started experimenting, and I quickly figured out that it reacted to a couple of keywords, such as [stats], [status window] or [status menu].

Now it was time for the main issue. I took a deep breath and started scrutinizing the actual text on the panel. After a while I nodded to myself. They were exactly as they were when I finished the character creation. The distribution of the attributes was extremely uneven, and they were so for a reason, but I couldn’t exactly remember why. There was actually a very concrete explanation for that: it was related to the very last skill on the [Status Panel]. While thinking so, I absent-mindedly poked at the panel with my finger, and a separate window popped into existence under it. This time I wasn’t even surprised. Well, not to shrieking levels, at the very least.

Immortal Lv2 (Passive) (Mythic): The owner of this skill is removed from the cycle of life and death. They no longer age and they are immune to all forms of natural or magical poisons and diseases. Health and Stamina regeneration is greatly increased, allowing the owner to perfectly recover from any non-fatal wounds.​

(Lv2 Bonus: The owner no longer requires sustenance. Even if the owner’s Health reaches 0, so long as they don’t suffer Lethal Damage, they will automatically recover and return to life.)

I read the description and exhaled sharply. Yes, this was the skill. Sounds overpowered as hell, right? You would think that no self-respecting game-designer would let a player get away with having something like this, let alone during character creation. Well, I did, but it required certain sacrifices.

Let’s start at the beginning: The character creator of the [game] was operating on a point-based system. The blank slate character was a fairly muscular male with chiseled abs and a lantern jaw. There was also a set of starting gear and a set of traits describing his aptitudes and backstory. As for the actual stats, all of them started out at 8, with one thousand extra points that could be used to increase them, buy money, equipment and even skills.

However, even with a thousand points, I couldn’t have bought everything currently on my [Status Panel]. This is where [maluses] came into the picture.

Simply put, a malus was something like a negative trait, a weakness I could take in exchange of extra points. I sacrificed the basic skills, the backstory, the starting gear and, without knowing how it would affect me in the present, I even took on a particular malus called [Loss of Oneself]. Long story short, it gave me a lot of points, but it affected my memories in a peculiar way.

Now, to be clear, I didn’t have amnesia. Not really. I could still remember a lot of things from before I woke up in this tunnel. I was a student. I wasn’t particularly popular, I believe. I could remember playing a lot of online games and spending all my time in front of my computer. My grades, at least those I could remember, weren’t that great either. In short, I was one of those guys with no outstanding talent and no passion. Then I was given a link to a peculiar site by an online acquaintance, and the rest is history.

According to the description of [Loss of Oneself], it was to lose one’s memories of their own thoughts. I probably didn’t really understand what that meant, but I cannot be sure since, well, I cannot remember what I was thinking at all!

At this moment, my memories of my previous life were like watching a movie from a first person perspective; I could see what was going on, but it just didn’t feel like I was actually there for the recording. I had no memory of what I was thinking, what went through the head of the old me when I made certain choices or why I was so obsessed with getting the Immortality skill.

Was I just min-maxing my character? Or maybe old me hoped that the tagline was true and this would happen? Did old me want to live forever? Well, as current me, I am certainly not against the idea, but wasn’t losing myself in exchange a form of suicide as well? … Was it? I couldn’t tell, as I didn’t know the way I was thinking back then, so I couldn’t contrast myself with old me. In retrospect, not picking that malus would have probably spared me a lot of existential mind-bending, but crying over spilled milk was pointless at this point.

I stopped my mouth from making annoyed grimaces and looked over myself again. Why did old me decide to go for an appearance like this? I couldn’t be perfectly sure how I looked, since I didn’t have a mirror and the [Status Panel] didn’t have an appearance tab, but even a cursory glance could tell that I was a sexless, hairless, pure white humanoid freak. Something like this didn’t give extra points! … Or maybe it did?

Trying to recall how each change affected my point pool was hard, and not being able to remember the logic that connected one change to the other made it almost impossible. In the end, I figured it might have been another malus old me forgot about during character creation.

I closed the panel and stretched my limbs before I looked around one more time. Now that my eyes were completely used to the dimness of the tunnels, I could finally make some proper observations. I touched the wall at my side. It was made of a smooth, dark material. It certainly wasn’t concrete, so it was probably some kind of natural rock. I wasn’t really good at geology, so that was as far as my observations on that front went. As for its structure, the tunnel was perfectly rectangular, and the floor was made of grey cobble-stones. It was also surprisingly clean. I couldn’t see far in either direction, but I could tell from the light of the ceiling lichen that the tunnel continued for some distance in both directions.

In the end I had to conclude that this place looked just like a dungeon in some of the more old-school first person RPGs I have played. Just what you would expect from a game world, I supposed. As I pondered on that, I realized something else: if this really was a dungeon, wouldn’t that mean there would be monsters? I involuntarily glanced around and tried to make myself really small. Well, it was not like I could hide in the smooth tunnel, but I tried all the same.

Monsters. They were a staple of any kind of role playing game. Giant rats, goblins, imps, wargs, undead… there were too many kinds to count, but I was fairly sure I wouldn’t last long against most of them in my current condition. Speaking of which, what was my current condition anyway? I opened the [Status Panel] once again and began reading the tool-tips.

Health: A measure of physical resilience. Governed by Body. Decreased by damage, illness and certain negative abnormal statuses. Increased by rest, healing effects and passive regeneration skills. Once exhausted, death occurs.

Well, that one was self-explanatory. Mine was at 30. Since my body score was the lowest of my attributes, I figured that was pretty low. What would happen if it reached 0? Did RPG logic apply there as well? Would I be totally fine with 1 Health and then immediately drop dead after stubbing my toe? And considering I was immortal, would I even really die? How did that work? Honestly, I didn’t want to test it. It was best to avoid getting hurt after all.

Stamina: A measure of one’s capability to act. Governed by Body and Finesse. Decreased by physical activity, sleep-deprivation and skill usage. Increased by rest, rejuvenating effects and passive regeneration skills. Once exhausted, negative status effects are applied. Maintaining a state of low stamina can cause status effects, health damage, fainting and death.

That was fairly straightforward too. I had 1100 Stamina, but I didn’t know whether that was a good or not. It was way greater than the other stats, but I didn’t understand the formula, so I decided to just keep an eye on it for the time being.

Mana: The measure of one’s capability to use magic. Governed by Mind. Decreased by casting spells and using enchantments. Increased by rest, spirit-recovery effects and passive regeneration skills. Once exhausted, any effect that would have used mana instead uses stamina at three times the cost.

So I learned three things by this: There are spells, there are enchantments and that I could use my Stamina instead of Mana. Still, spells… That made me a little curious. I didn’t know about old me, but the me right now really wanted to try out casting a spell, if only to find out what it felt like. Unfortunately I didn’t seem to have any, but I was still at Level 1, so I hoped might get to experience it in the future.
Next came the attributes.

Body: The representation of one’s physical abilities. A combination of one’s physical strength and resilience. Each point increases maximum health, stamina, the natural regeneration rate of these statistics and one’s passive resistances towards physical attacks.

Finesse: The representation of one’s manual dexterity, muscle memory and speed. Each point increases one’s maximum stamina, its regeneration rate and the rate at which physical skills are learned and improved.

Mind: The representation of one’s thinking abilities and capability to wield magic. A combination of one’s analytical skills, memory, learning capabilities and willpower. Affects the rate at which new magical skills are learned and improved.
(10 Bonus: The owner may pick an area of knowledge. In the future, learning things related to this area of knowledge becomes significantly easier. Chosen area: Language.)

Oh, look at that. A milestone bonus. I remembered that old me really wanted to have Mind at 10 for that. I think it was because one of the maluses I picked in exchange for points was not being able to speak the local languages. Apparently language comprehension was a basic trait every new character had. I hoped it was a good trade, but only time would tell.
Next came the big one, the attribute in which old me invested every stray point available.

Insight: The representation of one’s ability to reach deeper truths, to think abstractly, to understand the thoughts and motivations of others and to understand and affect the underlying structure of the World.
(10 Bonus: For every 10 points in Insight, the owner’s Finesse and Mind is increased by 1)
(20 Bonus: Grants the Sage LV 1 skill, or if already present, increases the Skill Level by 1 stage)
(30 Bonus: Grants the Observation Lv1 skill, or if already present, increases the skill level by 1 stage.)
(40 Bonus: Increases the Skill Level of Sage by 1 stage)
(50 Bonus: The owner gains 1 free Skill Point they can allocate amongst their already existing skills. 1 Skill Point allocated to Immortality.)

I tried to whistle, but it came out a little strange. It was probably because of the lack of lips. Anyways, I had to hand it to old me, he knew how to be a total munchkin. The 50 milestone bonus of Insight was especially significant, as it allowed Immortality to rise to Lv2. Still, the biggest headway I received from my Insight of 50 was actually the two levels in Sage. Speaking of which, it’s time for skills.

Shapeshifting Lv3 (Activated): Allows the owner to mimic the shape of other beings. Shape shifting is restricted by the original body type of the owner (Currently: Humanoid).)
(Lv2 Bonus: Freely modifying the owner’s appearance becomes possible. Body-proportions can be altered, but the total volume of the body cannot deviate from the base form by more than 25%.)
(Lv3 Bonus: Grants High-Speed Regeneration Lv1, or if already present, increases the skill level by 1 stage. The total volume of the body may deviate by 50%.)

Oh, this looked useful for correcting this sexless form of mine. No wonder it was one of the only three skills old me actually bought during character creation. Leave it to old me to find loopholes like this! Apparently this was an activated skill, so I decided to try it out, but when I poked it again I only got a red panel in my face instead.

No alternative form found. The skill requires at least one alternative form before it can be activated. New forms can be acquired by the skills Inspection, Lore, Observation, Consumption, Predation and the usage of transformative spells.

I frowned at the error message and dismissed it. Apparently I had to mimic someone first to acquire a base human shape. Thankfully I had the Observation skill already, so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard. Speaking of which…

Observation Lv1 (Activated): Allows the owner to gain basic information about people, items and environmental elements. The amount of details is dependent on the owner’s Insight score. Consumes mana on usage.

This was a basic skill for all RPG players if there ever was one. Being able to identify stuff and learn the stats of monsters and people was incredibly important. Old me would have probably bought it during the character creation if the 20 point Insight milestone didn’t give it out for free. Next came the passive skills.

Boundless Reserves Lv1 (Passive) (Rare): The owner gains 1000 Stamina per skill level, plus 10x increased Stamina regeneration speed per skill level. Increases the chances of gaining an additional point of Body or Finesse on level up.

Ah, now I remember this one! It was the second skill old me bought for points on purpose besides Immortality. So this skill is the reason behind my huge stamina pool. But one thousand points? If I subtracted those, it meant my base Stamina was just 100 points. I did some basic calculations in my head, and I came to the conclusion that the formula for Stamina was most likely Body x 20 + Finesse x 5. By the same logic, it would follow that Mind x 10 was the formula for Mana, while Health was probably Body x 10. If that was the case, this skill granted a boost the equivalent of 50 Body points or a whopping 200 Finesse points, and that’s just Lv1!
I was also starting to get an idea of what old me was thinking when I left Mind at 5. Since Mana can be substituted by Stamina, it meant that I could use the equivalent of 375 Mana for spells, and the extra regeneration speed meant I was unlikely to run out of Stamina to spend this way. Speaking of which, how fast did Mana and Stamina regenerate on the first place? I was tempted to repeatedly cast Observation to deplete my reserves and find out, but I decided to do that later. The next skill was the regeneration one, right?

High-Speed Regeneration Lv1 (Passive): Allows the owner to rapidly regenerate their health and perfectly recover from injuries. The recovery uses Stamina and stops when it drops below 20%. Cannot recover severed limbs. Regeneration can be temporarily disabled by attacks with Fire, Corrosion and Poison attributes.

So this was the skill granted by [Shapeshifting Lv3]? Immortal was already giving me a regen buff, and I didn’t want to get hurt on the first place, but in case I did anyways, this could serve as another safety net. Especially since I didn’t have to worry about running out of stamina.

Last but not least was my most important Skill after Immortality, Sage.

Sage Lv3 (Passive): The owner gains 1% more experience per Insight, multiplied by the level of the Sage skill (Currently: +171%). Increases the chances of gaining an additional point of Insight on level up.
(Lv2 Bonus: Grants the owner 1 point of Insight for every 2 points of Mind. Also increases the chances of gaining an additional point of Mind on level up.)
(Lv3 Bonus: Increases the chances of gaining Enlightenment based on the owner’s Insight. Also grants complete immunity to charms and other mind-altering effects.)

I couldn’t help but smile. While I might not be able to remember what the old me was thinking during the character creation process, I could clearly understand why I really wanted to get this skill as high as possible. Naturally this was the third skill old me bought during the character creation, and the experience bonus alone was probably worth it, but the other effects made this skill all the greater. I wasn’t exactly sure about the Lv3 effect though. Just what did [Enlightenment] do? Give extra experience? Raise stats?

I shook my head, dismissed the [Status Panel] and looked at my surroundings once again. For a moment an unexpected wave of uneasiness washed over me. Maybe it was because of [Loss of Oneself], but the situation never really sunk in until this moment. I was naked, unarmed and all alone, with no knowledge of this new world I found myself in, and because of the missing parts of my memories I didn’t even know why I thought the possibility of coming here instead of living a comfortable 21st century life was a good idea. The only thing I had was myself, a minmaxed character.

I closed my eyes for a moment and forcefully calmed myself down. Before anything else, I needed to get my priorities straight. First off, what exactly did I need to survive?

I was functionally immortal, so I didn’t need to eat or drink. That meant that I didn’t need to forage for food. I was also fairly sure that I didn’t need shelter. However, just because I didn’t need it, it didn’t mean I didn’t want it. The tunnel was dark, damp and cold, and I since I was completely naked, I was already chilled to the bone. Speaking of which, I needed clothes. Also, I had to find someone I could [Observe] so I could use Shapeshifting and change my current appearance.

After some more pondering I decided to make these my initial goals. With that I looked back and forth, and finally began to cautiously walk down the long passage.

 

Day 2

So, after long and careful consideration, I finally concluded that I was, without a shadow of a doubt, totally and irrevocably lost. Now, one might be tempted to say <Lost? In a labyrinth? Color me surprised.> while making those annoying air-quote-things with their fingers on the last word. I admit, I might have done the same, but being on the receiving end made me unable to find the situation amusing.

Anyways, I investigated the tunnels and concluded that it was a labyrinth, with identical walls and 90° turns. I tried to keep track of where I walked, but since there was no automap on the [Status Panel] and I had no pen and paper to make a map by hand, I inevitably lost track of my way and have gotten completely lost.

To be perfectly honest, I was getting a little nervous. I have been wandering for several hours, yet I couldn’t find anything other than more drab, brown rock walls and the glowing moss. What if I couldn’t find a way out of this labyrinth? What if this was one of those classic moments when an asshole game master looked at my character sheet and decided that if I wanted to be immortal, I could totally be, except I had to live the rest of my eternal life in a labyrinth with nothing else to break the monotony. It was a scary thought.

Thankfully, after several more hours, at least the second part of my fears was alleviated when I ran into the first real monster I have ever seen. It was a small puddle of cyan ooze that I might have accidentally stepped into if it didn’t suddenly contract into a half-dome when I came closer to it.

“A slime!” I exclaimed in a weirdly excited voice that reminded me of fingernails on a chalkboard.

The slime wobbled left and right for a moment, but it didn’t actually move towards me. Maybe it was only reacting to movement and not sound? But wait, why was asking questions when I could get the answers? I only had to use [Observe]. But then again… how did I do that?

The [Status Panel] could be opened just by thinking about it, so I tried that first. I started to feel a little silly after a few seconds, but I persisted and tried to call out [Observe] in my head, and it finally worked. There was a status screen in front of me that looked like mine, except the numbers and skills were obviously different.

Name: Labyrinth Slime
Level: 2
Experience: 27
Classification: Critter
Race: Slime

Health: 30/30
Stamina: 42/65
Mana: 0/0

Body: 3
Finesse: 1
Mind: 0
Insight: 0

Common Skills:
Predation Lv1

Racial Skills:
Viscous Body Lv1
Omnivore Lv1

Description:
A common monster native to the labyrinth section on the first floor of the Grand Vargebernos Abyss. It scavenges the remains of other monsters and adventurers that die inside the labyrinth and rarely leaves its walls. They are not sentient, and while individually weak, they can overwhelm goblins and weaker adventurers in large enough numbers. Threat rating: E

Oh… I got a ton of new information just from this. So it was a slime as I thought. Not only that, the description said that it lived in the labyrinth ‘section’ on the first floor of this dungeon. That not only meant there were other floors, but that this labyrinth wasn’t covering the entire first floor either! That meant there was an exit. I just had to find it.

Also, now that I had a comparison, my stats seemed to be surprisingly high. I was pretty sure this was a weak monster, but even still, it was at Level 2 and yet just my bonus stats were several times higher than its base stats. Finally, there was one more thing that I noticed when looking at its [Status Panel]: [Racial Skills].

I wondered what the difference was between those and my own skills. Following the logic of these windows, I decided to try poking the word, and the moment I did so, a second panel popped up like when I was looking at my own stats and skills in detail.

Racial Skills: Skills that are shared by every member of a species. They cannot be raised, but may change upon the individual evolving into a higher tier species.

Huh, that’s neat. So monsters [evolve] individually into [higher tiers]? And they all get the basic set of skills right out of the gate. For a moment I wondered why I didn’t have any racial skills, but then my attention was grabbed by a small notification rhythmically pulsing behind the others I dismissed the rest and opened the new golden panel, revealing the following:

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Observation has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Observation Lv2.

Wait, so that’s what [Enlightenment] does? It outright raises my skill levels? But how? Did I meet some hidden requirement? I opened my [Status Panel] and looked at Observation.

Observation Lv2 (Activated): Allows the owner to gain basic information about people, items and environmental elements. The amount of details is dependent on the owner’s Insight score.
(Lv2 Bonus: The owner's Mind score is added to their Insight score when determining the amount of details they can perceive. The skill no longer costs MP to use .)

I still didn’t get it. Maybe it was random? The description of Sage said it increases the chance of Enlightenment based on my Insight, so maybe I just hit the jackpot? I couldn’t tell that for sure just from one occasion, so for the time being I dismissed the panels.

In the meantime the Labyrinth Slime was patiently waiting for me. Or rather, was it even aware of the fact that I was there? I tried waving my hands around, but it didn’t respond. Next I took a step forward, trying to see if it may be reacting to the sound of footsteps or ground-vibrations, but then it suddenly lunged at me!

I didn’t think a semi-transparent glob of goo could move so fast, and I was caught completely flat-footed. The slime landed on my left shin and it immediately enveloped my leg below the knee. For the first second it only gave me a slightly icky and cold sensation, but then there was a sudden, burning pain shooting through my leg.

I let out a surprised scream and kicked at the creature. It took me several tries, but I managed to get it off my feet. It fell onto the stone floor with a wet plop and I instinctively took a couple of steps back.

It hurt. It huuuuurt! I knew that I was supposed to be an immortal who was meant to sneer at something like this, but it still hurt so much! For a moment I thought my leg would fall off!

I looked at my left foot. It was colored a deep shade of red, like I burned it in a fire, and there were spots where the skin looked like it was melted off by acid. It looked bad, but after only a couple of seconds the pain subsided and it was replaced by a strange, prickling sensation. As this happened, my foot let off a puff a white steam and then my skin visibly cracked. I was alarmed at first, but then the cracked skin rapidly peeled off my limb like a molt and it fell onto the ground, revealing a perfectly fine white foot underneath, good as new.

I didn’t have time to wonder though, as the slime began wobbling again and jumped at me for a second time. I let out an undignified voice that I blame on the shock and scampered back in a hurry, avoiding it. Without further ado I turned around and dashed down the tunnel like the devil was on my heels.

I ran until I reached a corner and hid behind it. I cautiously glanced back from behind my cover, and I found the slime right where I left it. It wasn’t moving, but it was making weird, undulating movements.

“What is it doing?”

I squinted really hard to see better, and I finally realized: It was eating my molted off skin. Eww!

I shuddered once and then quickly brought up my [Status Panel]. My Health was at max, but my Stamina was down to 1087/1100. I tried to connect the dots and figure out what happened. I was attacked, so I probably lost Health. However, my High-Speed Regeneration skill kicked in, and it consumed 13 Stamina to immediately heal my wounded leg. I don’t know how severe the injury was, but 13 Stamina didn’t seem like a steep price in exchange of getting rid of both the wound and the pain in an instant. Speaking of which, my left foot was still tingling a little, though I guess it was more of a phantom pain after the shock.

I tried to get it out of my head, so I focused my eyes on the slime again, and its [Status Panel] popped up in front of me. Now that [Observe] was a free action, decided I might as well use and abuse it. In the meantime the slime was still busy digesting my left-behind skin, so I decided on focus on its skills for a moment. I needed to know my enemy.

Predation Lv1 (Active): Offensive skill used with biting attacks. During activation, the owner’s Finesse is temporarily boosted by their Body score. Predating on an opponent rapidly recharges Health, but consumes Stamina. Successfully predating and consuming an opponent gives +50% experience.

Viscous Body Lv1 (Passive) (Restricted): A skill restricted to [slime] body types. The owner’s entire body is treated as a mouth, so biting skills can be used with their entire surface. Also grants limited Presence Detection and increased physical resistances, but lowers magical resistances.

Omnivore Lv1 (Passive): The owner is capable of consuming any organic material and use it to restore their Health and Stamina.

I see. So this creature is entirely optimized to jump at people using a burst of speed, eat them to recover their Health and Stamina, and then continue looking for its next prey to repeat the process. Furthermore, while it was weak, it was my worst opponent. I was naked, so just touching it meant that it could start Predating me. I had no weapon, so the only way I could damage it was with my hand and feet, at which point it would start Predating me. In other words, I had absolutely no way to fight this monster. As such, I decided to do the only reasonable thing and run away while it was still busy with my castoff.

I only stopped after I was one hundred percent sure I wasn’t followed. I really, really hoped slimes weren’t the only enemies in this dungeon. For example, the slime’s description mentioned goblins. Those were another staple of dungeons in the games I played, and usually considered to be some of the weakest enemies. They should also have some crude weapons and clothes I could use, and maybe I could even mimic them.

Speaking of which, I checked Shapeshifting, and it was still unavailable even after Observing the slime. I figured that would be the case, the skill did mention humanoid forms after all. Goblins should fit that criteria, I only needed to find one. With that in mind, I proceeded to explore the labyrinth, this time paying extra attention to any suspicious puddles on the floor.

 

Day 3

This day started horribly. While my stamina was still sky high, mental exhaustion caught up with me after a while and I decided to try to sleep in one of the corners, since the identical walls and tunnels didn’t provide any alternative. I set my back against a corner, so I would have full vision of my surroundings. Unfortunately it made little difference while actually sleeping, and I was awakened by a nasty surprise.

“Owww!”

My eyes popped open and I immediately sprung to my feet, only to stumble for a moment and nearly fall over. I kicked at the obstruction and managed to disentangle my aching feet. I had a suspicion of what just happened, but I decided to run away first before I started thinking, so I bolted down the tunnel while ignoring the pain shooting through my leg and only stopped after I reached the next turn. I once again hid behind the corner and glanced over, only to have my suspicions immediately confirmed.


Name: Green Slime
Level: 1
Experience: 15
Classification: Critter
Race: Slime

Health: 5/10
Stamina: 22/30
Mana: 0/0

Body: 1
Finesse: 2
Mind: 0
Insight: 0

Common Skills:
Acid Spit Lv1

Racial Skills:
Viscous Body Lv1
Omnivore Lv1

Description:
A common slime found around the world. It is timid and rarely attacks living beings, but when cornered it can use its digestive fluids as a weapon. Threat rating: E-

Of course it was a slime! However, this one was colored an angry, vibrant green and was considerably smaller than the specimen I encountered the day before. I wondered if it was because of the level difference or because they were from different sub-species. Did the Green Slime evolve into the Labyrinth Slime?

After further observation, I realized that the creature was slowly moving towards me. At first I thought it might have designated me as a meal, but on closer look I realized it was following a trail of molted-off skin I left behind as I ran. Speaking of which, the little bastard tried to eat my left foot. What did these slimes have against my feet?!

I shook my head and frowned at the slime again. By then its Health had risen to 8/10, and that had me thinking. While the Labyrinth Slime was something I couldn’t even touch, this Green Slime didn’t actually have the Predation skill. Furthermore, it was clearly damaged when I jumped onto my feet and stepped on it, which meant that I could hurt it.

I hesitated for a moment, then decided to stop running. I might have lacked weapons or offensive abilities, but it was all the more reason to try and raise my level. Now, while I still had a hard time wrapping my head around how my attributes corresponded with my actual abilities, my extensive experience with RPGs told me that leveling up was very, very important for getting better skills. So far this slime was the only monster I could reasonably defeat so if I wanted to get XP, this was a good opportunity to get started. At last I steeled myself and slowly got out from behind the corner… and then the slime suddenly spat at me.

Nope, can’t do it! This is scary! I don’t want to get covered in acid! It will hurt!

For the second time this day I scrambled back and hid behind the corner, barely avoiding the thin green liquid flying my way. After a few seconds I carefully peeked around the corner again. The slime was still there, slowly going around in circles while searching from flakes of my discarded skin.

It was only then that I realized that its [Status Panel] was still open. I glanced over to see if there was a change in its Stamina, hoping that with careful kiting I would be able to have it deplete its reserves on spitting at me, but instead I found something better.

Acid Spit Lv1 (Active) (On Cooldown): The owner uses their own bodily fluids to create an acidic glob and spit it at a target. Using the skill consumes Stamina and in some cases may damage the owner as well.

There was a cooldown period between skill uses! Some of the skill descriptions mentioned them before, but this was the first time I have seen it happen. I quickly tried to guess how many seconds ago did the slime spit at me, then began silently counting in my head while observing the creature. After just six more seconds the [On Cooldown] part disappeared from the skill, so I guessed it could be used once every fifteen seconds or so. I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves, this time for real. Right. With my current knowledge I should be able to beat this guy.

After firing myself up by hopping in place a few times I carefully moved out of cover once again. I was watching the slime with eagle eyes, and the moment it got ready to split, I jumped right back. I waited for the splash, and the moment the attack landed ineffectively on the floor, I jumped out again. Unfortunately I managed to step right into the puddle of acidic liquid, but I didn’t pay it any attention.

Instead I rushed towards the slime and raised a leg high. With a strangely high-pitched roar I stomped on the green glob with all my might. The slime flattened from the impact, but a moment later it tried to regain its shape and engulf my foot. I didn’t give it the chance, instead I raised my foot and stomped again, and again, until it finally stopped moving and became an indistinct puddle on the floor.

My breathing was heavy by the time I finished even though my Stamina barely decreased, if at all. I quickly opened my [Status Panel] and checked my XP.

Name: ?????
Level: 1
Experience: 3
Classification: Humanoid
Race: ?????

Health: 30/30
Stamina: 1091/1100
Mana: 100/100

Body: 3
Finesse: 3+5
Mind: 5+5
Insight: 51+5

Common Skills:
High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Uncommon Skills:
Observation Lv2
Sage Lv3

Rare Skills:
Shapeshifting Lv3
Boundless Reserves Lv1

Mythic Skills:
Immortal Lv2

I got three EXP out of the encounter. I couldn’t help but wonder how many more slimes I would need to defeat for Level 2?

…

……

………

As it turned out, six.

I had spent the entire day (though I freely admit, the concept of day and night was becoming increasingly useless to me in the unchanging labyrinth) running around and hunting Green Slimes, Red Slimes and Blue Slimes, and I finally hit the level threshold. I didn’t know if it was because these were all slimes, or because they were all Level 1, but no matter the subspecies, they all gave 3 Experience points upon defeat. Funnily enough, if not for Observation Lv2 this might have taken way longer, but whenever I got into a new corridor with a slime in it, I could instantly see if I had a chance against it. It turned out I was probably unlucky with my first encounter, as Labyrinth Slimes were considerably rarer than their colored brethren.

Anyways, back to leveling up. The moment I finished stomping my latest victim apart, I got a new prompt I could open up. I did just that, and I received the following message:


Congratulations, you have reached Level 2!
Due to your efforts, your Body score has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Body score has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Insight score has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
You have received 1 free stat point. Where do you wish to allocate it?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

I didn’t hesitate for long and put the extra stat point into Insight as well. After I did that, the level-up message disappeared and got replaced with my updated [Status Panel].

Name: ?????
Level: 2
Experience: 21
Classification: Humanoid
Race: ?????

Health: 50/50
Stamina: 1140/1140
Mana: 100/100

Body: 5
Finesse: 3+5
Mind: 5+5
Insight: 53+5

Common Skills:
High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Uncommon Skills:
Observation Lv2
Sage Lv3

Rare Skills:
Shapeshifting Lv3
Boundless Reserves Lv1

Mythic Skills:
Immortal Lv2

I couldn’t decide whether I was impressed or dejected by this level up. I gained four stat points in total, which was the equivalent of the entire stat-pool of a Lv2 slime, but I honestly expected something more pronounced. I also didn’t receive any new skills or spells, which was a bit of a problem. How was I supposed to take down stronger monsters without offensive skills? I let out a sight and decided to look for a weapon after all.

 

Day 4

I found a weapon! Unfortunately it was still attached to a goblin. But I am getting ahead of myself.

It happened while I was exploring the labyrinth as usual, thought I suppose that much wasn’t surprising. There wasn’t much else to do. I was just in the process of tactically retreating from a group of three Labyrinth Slimes when I heard some weird noises coming from an intersection of tunnels.

I stopped and slowly crept around the corner to take a look, and I found a single goblin fighting a single Labyrinth Slime. She was short, about one meter thirty at most, with spindly arms and legs and stringy black hair. She was armed with a gnarled wooden club that might have been just a fallen tree-branch and a small, round wooden shield that was partially broken. I could tell she was female because she was only wearing a simple loincloth, leaving her small, slightly sagging breasts exposed. Aside of her dark green skin she could have passed for a human child if not for the facial features. She had a large, hooked nose that dominated her face, a strong under-bite that had her chin jutting forward and a pair of pointed, meaty ears.

She wasn’t a pretty sight, but I couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. I finally found a humanoid monster, so it was time to cast [Observe] on her!

Name: Abyss Goblin
Level: 4
Experience: 15
Classification: Humanoid Critter
Race: Goblin

Health: 18/30
Stamina: 41/75
Mana: 10/10

Body: 3
Finesse: 3
Mind: 1
Insight: 1

Description:
A goblin subspecies only found in the Abyss. They are weak individually, but in large groups they can threaten novice explorers. While they have a rudimentary tribal society, they have no spoken language, but are capable of communicating through gestures and grunts. When hunting, they follow the lead of the strongest goblin of the group. Once the leader is defeated, the group immediately loses cohesion and routs. Threat rating: E

I only gave a cursory reading to the [Status Panel] of the goblin and instead I hurriedly opened my own. I quickly poked at the Shapeshifting skill, and I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear as it opened a new menu.

Do you wish to use Shapeshifting Lv3?
* Yes * No *​

Of course I do! I pushed [Yes], and to my surprise my surroundings abruptly blurred as if they were repeatedly ran through a photoshop filter until only indistinct shapes remained. I blinked a few times and then I found myself staring at the naked form of the goblin I just observed. For a split-second I almost panicked, but then a closer look revealed that it wasn’t the actual goblin herself, only something like a wax statue of her.

Was this where I was supposed to choose what shape I would turn into? I looked over the goblin and I quickly averted my eyes when they fell upon a certain area. Yes, the goblin was anatomically correct.

I calmed my nerves and reassured myself that it was just a monster. Furthermore, it was just the copy of a monster, so there was nothing wrong with looking at her. As I did that, another prompt showed up in the corner of my vision, so I opened it up.

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Abyss Goblin).
* Yes * No *​

Honestly, I wasn’t so sure anymore. To put it bluntly, after taking a closer look like this, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about turning into a goblin. I mean, she had a bit of a fugly cuteness to her, like a pug or one of those weird rodents with a huge eyes and ears, but that didn’t mean I personally wanted to look like that. Maybe if only her nose was a little smaller…

“Oh!?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim. Just as I was thinking about how she could look a little more presentable, the faux-goblin’s nose shrank a bit. That reminded me, wasn’t there an option like that? I opened my [Status Panel] and looked up Shapeshifting Lv3 again.

Shapeshifting Lv3 (Activated): Allows the owner to mimic the shape of other beings. Shape shifting is restricted by the original shape of the owner (Currently: Humanoid).)
(Lv2 Bonus: Freely modifying the owner’s appearance becomes possible. Body-proportions can be altered, but the total volume of the body cannot deviate from the base form by more than 25%.)
(Lv3 Bonus: Grants High-Speed Regeneration Lv1, or if already present, increases the skill level by 1 stage. The total volume of the body may deviate by 50%.)

Right, that was the Lv2 bonus! With this I should be able to modify how I would look, I realized. With that in mind, I began experimenting with the faux-goblin. Unfortunately the customization didn’t have sliders or any other conveniences, but after a couple of minutes I figured out how to change the size and shape of certain body parts. As it turned out all I needed to do was to picture how I wanted her nose or ear look, and it would change accordingly.

It took a lot of trial and error, but after about an hour of tweaking I finally got an appearance I was fairly satisfied with. Unfortunately I couldn’t change the gender of the goblin for some reason, and my attempts at creating a male body-type and ‘accessories’ all ended up in hilarious failures to the point I had to start from scratch all over again, so in the end I settled for the current look. If I had to be a girl, I decided I would at least be a pretty one.

The current faux-goblin body in front of me looked nothing like the original at this point. The height remained roughly the same, though it seemed a little taller because of the corrected posture. I fixed the arms and legs to have more human proportions, lightened the skin-color a bit, gave it glossy, shoulder-length black hair, and as for the face, I managed to outdo myself.

The only parts I didn’t really touch were the breasts, which I only lifted a little so that they didn’t sag anymore, and maybe a made them a little rounder. Oh, and l little bit perky. I may or may not have also adjusted the size of the areolae, but that was the last of it, I swear. It was going to be my body, so I had to make sure every detail was just right, right? Right. I also decided to leave the other girly bits mostly alone, because I had no experience with those and I was afraid I would break something if I tried to tweak them too much.

After I finished I took a step back and couldn’t help but be impressed by my own work. Somehow I managed to sculpt the fugly goblin into the shape of a beautiful, green-skinned girl with a cute button-nose, moderately full lips with just a hint of pout and mysterious golden eyes. The face’s outlines were soft and maybe a bit childish, which coupled with the short stature of the body gave my newly sculpted creation the impression of a barely pubescent child. To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of inhabiting this body, but I only planned to use this shape until I found something more fitting, so I figured it was fine enough. The gender-thing aside, I was very satisfied with my work, and after examining the body one last time I brought up the Shapeshifting Panel again.

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Custom Abyss Goblin).
* Yes * No *​

I took one last deep breath before I extended a finger and picked [Yes], which got me another popup window.

Subspecies not recognized by system. Do you wish to create new subspecies?
* Yes * No *​

I picked [Yes] again.

Please name the new subspecies: __________​

I scratched my head for a moment as a new panel with an honest to goodness keypad appeared in front of me. Wasn’t this getting a bit too immersion-breaking? I let out a tired groan and thought hard for a moment. I wanted to get this over with and have a proper body already, so I didn’t want to over-complicate things.

This was originally an Abyss Goblin. I made it pretty, so… Pretty Goblin? That might be a bit too much on the nose. Then how about Fair Goblin? I made the skin lighter too, so the word applied doubly. I liked that, so I entered it into the field and poked ‘Okay’.

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Fair Goblin).
* Yes * No *​

I rolled my eyes at the onslaught of confirmation panels and I picked [Yes] for the last time. As I did so, the blur surrounding me rapidly came into focus and I found myself in the same position I was before I picked the Shapeshifting skill. Furthermore, I could still hear the noises of combat coming from the other side of the corner even though I was pretty sure I spent at least an hour customizing my new appearance. Maybe time didn’t pass while the world was blurred?

Speaking of appearance, I glanced down at my hands, and they were still the same as before. I was just about to feel disappointed when all of a sudden my entire body started tingling, and a moment later my flesh and bones began to squirm as the transformation process began. It didn’t actually hurt, but it was a weird, somewhat uncomfortable experience. Thankfully the ordeal only lasted for a few short seconds before my insides calmed down and I could let out the breath trapped in my throat.

I couldn’t help but smile. I finally had a proper body. It was a little shorter than the previous one, but at least now I didn’t look like some freak that fell into a vat of white paint. I ran my hands across my flat belly and my round buttocks, and I shuddered as I realized how desensitized my skin used to be in in the past. I also ran my fingers through my new hair, and it was much softer than I expected. Do all girls have hair as soft as this? Suddenly I felt like I understood those weirdos who always tried to touch the hair of their crushes. Well, only a little. Anyways, playing with my own hair while grinning was a little creepy, so I stopped doing it right away… after twirling it around my finger a couple more times. It was for experimenting with its toughness, so it didn’t count.

After that I rose on my tip-toes and even hopped in place a few times to make sure I was aware of my new center of gravity, and I was pleasantly surprised of just how comfortable I felt in my new form, boobs and all. Strangely enough, I didn’t even miss the dangly bits, thought that might just have been because I didn’t have them for a while anyway. Speaking of which, I tentatively reached between my legs. There was nothing perverted about it, it was just scientific curiosity, I swear.

“Ouch!”

I immediately regretted the decision and pulled back my hand. Right. Sensitive area. Note to self: Don’t poke it, ever.

…

Well, okay, maybe not ‘ever’, but until I found shelter and a mirror so that I can see what I was poking. For science, of course. Hey, no one can blame me for being a little bit curious, right?

Anyways, I quickly finished inspecting my new body, and at last I opened my [Status Panel].

Name: ?????
Level: 2
Experience: 27
Classification: Humanoid
Race: ?????

Health: 50/50
Stamina: 1062/1140
Mana: 100/100

Body: 5
Finesse: 3+5
Mind: 5+5
Insight: 53+5

Common Skills:
High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Uncommon Skills:
Observation Lv2
Sage Lv3

Rare Skills:
Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)
Boundless Reserves Lv1

Mythic Skills:
Immortal Lv2

All right. It seemed like my stats weren’t changed by the Shapeshifting, thought it did consume some Stamina. That was good to know. Originally I was curious if I would gain some Racial Skills, but since the goblin had none, I guess it was a moot point for the time being. Anyways, since the battle, if you could call it that, was still ongoing on the other side of the corner, I decided to check it out.

I found that the goblin was actually winning. She was injured, but by the looks of it the Labyrinth Slime was going to run out of steam first. Speaking of which, I quickly checked its status, only to nearly exclaim.

This guy didn’t have [Predation]! Actually, when I thought about it for a moment, it was listed among the [Common Skills] instead of [Racial Skills], so it made sense that there was some individual variance.

Still, this presented a golden chance for some free XP. I limbered up my body a little, waited for the slime to lunge at the goblin, and once it landed I jumped out of my cover and dashed towards it. Before it could even turn around (or do whatever slimes do when they miss) I raised a feet with a surprisingly girly battle cry and stomped on the blue bastard.

Now, just to be clear, I have been hunting slimes in the past few days, so I knew what it felt like when I stomped on one. Because of that, I was immediately aware of the fact that something was wrong, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to figure out what it was, as a moment later the slime outright exploded and covered the entire area in bluish goo. I staggered back and spat a few times to get the slime-innards out of my mouth. Note to self: keep your mouth closed when you stomp on stuff.

It was then that I remembered that the goblin was still around, so I hurriedly took a step back and got ready to defend myself from the attack… that never actually came.

The goblin, who was still standing at an arm’s reach from me, was only staring at me with a dumbfounded expression which was further amplified by her unflattering features. After a few seconds of awkward silence she let her weapon down and sniffed the air a few times. I wondered if she wanted to see if I smelled delicious, but instead of trying to take a bite out of me she abruptly broke into a toothy smile with a mouth that seemed eerily too big on her face.

I hesitated for a couple of seconds, being fairly confused by her reaction, but in the end I returned the gesture. Now I think I already mentioned that she had grin that seemed too big for her face, right? At this point I thought her mouth was about to encircle her entire head as she began circling around me while making excited noises and making gestures either at me or at the remains of the slime.

I wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction and I was taken a little aback by it to be honest. I originally wanted to fight the goblin and take her weapon and shield, but seeing her jump around me like an excited doggy made me abandon the idea. It was the fault of those large, innocent eyes looking at me. Who the hell decided that goblins should have those huge, expressive eyes, anyway? How was one supposed to fight them while they stared at you like a dumb puppy left in a shoebox by the roadside, asking you to take them in?

Putting my canine analogies aside, I couldn’t help but wonder why she was acting like that? After a moment of thinking I recalled a small detail in her description and I quietly opened her [Status Panel] again to double check. It was as I remembered: Apparently goblins automatically followed the strongest fellow goblin in the area. She must have recognized me as one of her kind (even though at this point I only barely resembled a goblin), and my defeat of the slime convinced her that I was the stronger one, so now she was trying to follow me. So… did that mean she really was a dumb puppy asking me to take her home?

Well, I was never particularly fond of pets, so I raised my hands to try and shoo her away. Instead she just cocked her head to the side with a questioning look, then she suddenly grinned again and ran down the tunnel from where I came. At first I was relieved that she would leave me alone, but then she stopped and began waving her shield to urge me to follow after her.

For a couple of seconds I only scowled at her, but it didn’t seem to bother her. In fact, she just began to wave her hands even harder.

“Oh fine,” I murmured under my breath with a decidedly more pleasant voice as the combination of her enthusiasm and her pleading eyes worn my resistance down. I mean, following her could be actually a good idea. Maybe she knew the way out of the dungeon. At the very least she was moving as if she had a destination in mind, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to follow her for a while. In the meantime I realized that there was another popup flashing in the corner of my vision, so I opened it up while walking.

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the skill Sneak Attack Lv1!

Sneak Attack Lv1 (Passive): Allows the owner to deal extra damage when attacking an opponent that is unaware of their presence.

“So that’s why the slime exploded!” I exclaimed unintentionally, as I was still getting used to my new voice, prompting my newfound companion to rush back to my side to see what was going on. I shooed her away once again, and she ran down the tunnel from whence she came. I wondered why she was so energetic, considering she lost more than half of her Health in the battle against the slime. Maybe she was trying to act tough in front of me? Or maybe goblins were just naturally hyperactive? Who knew?

We continued walking for several minutes and I was still wondering when the goblin sniffed the air again and let out an angry shriek. I was so startled that I nearly stumbled and fell flat on my face, and by the time I regained my balance the goblin already dashed ahead and disappeared behind a bend in the tunnel. I could hear another shriek combined with a weird clattering noise, and against my better judgment I immediately followed after her. Once I rounded the corner, I found her fighting a giant rat the size of a hound.

Name: Labyrinth Rat
Level: 2
Experience: 31
Classification: Critter
Race: Rodent Of Unusual Size

Health: 48/50
Stamina: 70/75
Mana: 0/0

Body: 2
Finesse: 1
Mind: 0
Insight: 0

Racial Skills:
Tough Lv1
Omnivore Lv1

Description:
A variant of the common giant rat native to the labyrinth section on the first floor of the Grand Vargebernos Abyss. It is a universal scavenger and serves as the food source of most of the weaker monsters in the Abyss. Its meat, while chewy, is nutritious and safe for human consumption.

I let out a pent-up sigh. So this wasn’t a dangerous monster after all. It was only level two and it lacked any active skills, so I decided it should be an easy prey. I was also curious how much damage Sneak Attack was doing, so I decided to act before it would notice me. This time I made sure to keep my mouth shut as I ran up to the fighting pair and swung my leg like I was trying to kick a soccer ball. In the end it connected, though not as cleanly as I wanted… yet the moment it did the rat let out a high-pitched screech and it honest-to-goodness rose into the air like it was hit by a truck.

After flying for a couple of meters it landed behind the goblin with a crunching sound, but to my amazement it actually survived with exactly 1 Health left. I looked at the goblin expectantly, but she just stared back at me with a dumb expression.

“Hit it!” I yelled at her in a panic as the rat was about to get on his feet again. She only continued to blink at me, so I repeated myself while making swinging motions. At last she finally caught up to what I was trying to tell her and she promptly whacked the rat over the head.

I shook my head in exasperation as the goblin began running around the dead rat in circles while making weird noises. At last she put down her weapons and produced something from a small pouch fastened to her loincloth. On closer inspection it turned out to be some kind of teeth, flat and serrated like a shark’s, attached to a bone handle to form a primitive knife.

Without any hesitation the goblin began skinning the rat. It was a bit gruesome, so I wanted to leave, but when I started walking she sprung to her feet and started making panicked noises. In the end I gave up and sat down a couple of meters away and tried to ignore the squelching sounds coming from her direction.

It was only then that I noticed that I had new notifications. I decided I might as well use the momentary lull and check them out.

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the skill Leadership Lv1!

Leadership Lv1 (Passive): Increases the owner’s ability to lead and coordinate with others. Grants a small increase in Body and Finesse for the owner’s allies.

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Sneak Attack has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Sneak Attack Lv2.

Sneak Attack Lv2 (Passive): Allows the owner to deal extra damage when attacking an opponent that is unaware of their presence.
(Lv2 Bonus: The owner can instantly kill enemies significantly weaker than themselves.)

Damn. Either Enlightenment was incredibly broken, or I was ridiculously lucky.

[Sneak Attack Lv2] was a little weird, as it didn’t give me any actual numbers. And just what did ‘significantly weaker’ mean? Was it level? Health? Stats? One thing is for sure: as the rat can testify, it could deal a ton of damage either way.

As for [Leadership Lv1], it was a surprise. Did I gain it because I was telling the goblin to attack the rat? But when I checked out her stats, she didn’t receive any stat-boosts, so she apparently wasn’t my ally. It was weird. In fact, the entire system was weird. It had some of the conveniences of an RPG system, but it was also really bad at explaining the rules. Not only that, skills seemed to be all over the place.

For example, apparently being able to skin and dissect an animal was not a skill, but tackling someone with a body-blow was. Where was the logic in that?

Speaking of that, while I was checking the [Status Panel]s and pondering on the skill system, the goblin finished skinning the rat and began slowly inching towards me. I closed the panels and looked up, and when our eyes met she gave me small deferential nod and presented a chunk of still bloody ribs to me. I couldn’t help myself from grimacing and I quickly shook my head.

The goblin in turn gave me a dejected look while she kept looking between me and the meat in her hands. I shook my head again, pointed at the ribs, and then her. She didn’t understand, so I repeated the motion, hoping against the odds that she would get it. After the third try her face suddenly lit up. She changed her grip on the meat so she could hold it with one hand and used the other to point at it, then she pointed at herself. I nodded, and she immediately gave me an ear-to-ear grin like instead of rejecting her gift I gave her one instead and she began eating the still raw meat without any further ado.

I promptly rolled my eyes and returned to my panels while trying to ignore to loudly chewing goblin at my side.

 

{AN: As you will see, the formatting of the status panels is changed here. It's actually backwards, as these are pasted from the original tables I first used, while the first four chapters used a newer format that apparently didn't play nice with NU's message boxes when pasting. I will keep them as is for now. If they break up at weird places or just generally look terrible on different resolutions, do tell and I will format them like in the previous chapters.}

Day 5

I patiently waited for the goblin to finish dismantling the rat. At first I found the process somewhat stomach-churning, but after I got used to the blood and guts, I was surprised by the efficiency with which she worked. It was obvious this wasn’t the first time she had done this.

Once she finished she even took out a bone needle and some thread and made me a rudimentary fur loincloth, which was a little squicky, but I supposed it was better than nothing. She was totally in the clouds when I accepted her gift, and once she came back down she used the rest of the leather to make a simple rucksack to carry the meat.

After some thinking I gestured for her to stand aside and I picked up the rucksack. She gave me a betrayed look, so I let out a sigh and tried to explain to her that I wanted her to scout ahead, and she couldn’t do that while carrying the meat. It took me a while, but at last she understood. I think. Anyways, she picked up her club and shield and moved ahead while periodically glancing over her shoulders, while I stayed a dozen meters behind her and carried the sack on my back.

Actually, it wasn’t too heavy. Since my goblin companion got rid of all of the bones and innards, the raw meat only weighed a couple of kilograms, and the skin bag made it easy to carry them to the point it didn’t even hinder me.

As such my plan was as follows: I had the goblin draw the attention of the enemies at the front while I stayed back and out of sight, and when their attention was completely held by her, I rushed in and delivered a killing strike using Sneak Attack. It worked amazingly well.

By the end of the day we hunted six slimes and two more rats. Not only that, but I even got some skills out of it!

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the skill Stealth Lv1! You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Stealth has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Stealth Lv2.

Stealth Lv1 (Passive): Makes the owner harder to spot by hostiles. Affects sight and hearing, but detection through smell and other means remain unaffected.
(Lv2 Bonus: Grants the owner the skill Camouflage Lv1.)

Camouflage Lv1 (Active): Allows the owner to enter into a camouflaged state. So long as the owner remains motionless, they will blend into their environment and observers won’t be able to perceive them. Staying in Camouflage consumes Stamina.

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Leadership has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Leadership Lv2.

Leadership Lv2 (Passive): Increases the owner’s ability to lead and coordinate with others. Grants a small increase in Body and Finesse for the owner’s allies.
(Lv2 Bonus: Grants the owner the skill Supreme Command Lv1. Also grants a small increase in Mind for the owner’s allies.)

Supreme Command Lv1 (Active): When cast it bolsters the morale of the owner’s allies, raising their physical resistances and restoring a small amount of stamina. Repeated use of the skill on the same allies results in diminishing benefits.

I was seriously becoming a ninja. Contrary to what the name implied, [Camouflage Lv1] didn’t just disguise me as a piece of rock or something, it made the monsters unable to even recognize my presence. Combined with our baiting tactics and [Sneak Attack Lv2], I was like the perfect assassin; kicking unsuspecting slimes into oblivion one after the other before they even knew what hit them!

As for the Leadership line of skills, they were sadly useless to me at the moment. I tried to use Supreme Command on the goblin, but it didn’t give her any benefits and she only looked at me funny when I tried pointing at her like a general. I really wondered what had to be done for her to be considered an [ally] of mine. Maybe I had to form a pact with her or have her become my servant or something?

Still, with my current setup, I felt pretty confident. If nothing drastic happened, I was pretty sure I would reach Level 3 within a day.

…

Then, of course, something drastic happened.

Namely, adventurers.

The goblin and I were just about to settle down for the night when I noticed some familiar sounds coming from one of the tunnels. They sounded suspiciously like spoken words, so I gestured for my companion to stay put and guard the rucksack while I carefully sneaked forwards to get a better grasp of the situation. After about five minutes I found a party of four adventurers walking down one of the tunnels.

I quickly checked their [Status Panels].

Name: Roland Hanster Level: 10 Experience: 711
Classification: Humanoid Race: Human
Health: 98/120 Stamina: 110/235 Mana: 50/50
Body: 8+1 Finesse: 5
Mind: 5 Insight: 3
Common Skills:
*Guardian Lv1
*Tough Lv1

Name: Rosarie Mellecs Level: 7 Experience: 348
Classification: Humanoid Race: Human
Health: 50/50 Stamina: 51/120 Mana: 52/80
Body: 4+1 Finesse: 3+1
Mind: 7+1 Insight: 5+1
Common Skills:
*Recovery Magic Lv1
Rare Skills:
*Blessed by the Gods Lv1

Name: Theodore Rafs Level: 11 Experience: 998
Classification: Humanoid Race: Human
Health: 24/24 Stamina: 24/75 Mana: 22/80
Body: 3 Finesse: 3
Mind: 8 Insight: 6
Common Skills:
*Fire Magic Lv1
*Wind Magic Lv1
*Light Magic Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Weak Constitution Lv2

Name: Antris Antris Level: 9 Experience: 602
Classification: Humanoid Race: Human
Health: 40/40 Stamina: 49/110 Mana: 50/50
Body: 4 Finesse: 6
Mind: 5 Insight: 3
Common Skills:
*Lore Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Detection Lv1

Guardian Lv1 (Passive): Increases Body by 1 point. Increases the effectiveness of armor. Weak enemies instinctively focus on the owner in favor of other possible threats.

Tough Lv1 (Passive): Increases the owner’s Health and Stamina by 30 points. Grants the owner a chance to survive lethal attacks with 1 Health point left so long as their stamina is over 50% at the time.

Blessed by the Gods Lv1 (Passive): The owner is blessed by a divine being. All attributes are raised by one point. Mana and Stamina cost of spells and abilities related to the patron god’s sphere of influence are halved. (Current patron: Inara, Goddess of Healing)

Weak Constitution Lv2 (Passive): Reduces the amount of Health each point of Body provides. Reduces the chances of gaining a Body point upon level up. Greatly increases the chances of gaining a Mind point on upon level up.

Lore Lv1 (Active): Allows the owner to Observe certain items or living beings. (Currently: Lore of Monsters) Using the skill on the corresponding objects acts as casting Observe Lv1. Otherwise there is no effect.

Detection Lv1 (Passive): Allows the owner to instinctively detect hidden objects in their environment, such as traps, concealed valuables or people in hiding.

Wow, so this is what actual adventurers looked like? They were… less impressive than I expected. I mean, don’t take me wrong, they looked the part, but their stats just weren’t completely up to par. Maybe they were beginners? Anyways, while I mused on that, they continued walking down the tunnel in a single file, with the warrior at the front.

He was wearing a thick brown cloth with what I presumed was a chainmail hauberk underneath and loose pants tucked into steel-toed boots. He didn’t have a helmet, but considering how disheveled his spiky, sandy-blond hair was, he was probably wearing one until just a short time ago. Maybe he lost it recently? Or it might be the local fashion?

Either way, his wide shoulders, lantern-jaw and the one-handed sword and shield combo in his hands gave him a ‘seasoned adventurer’ feel, even though he only looked to be in his early twenties. So… maybe they weren’t beginners? I shook my head and stopped thinking about it.

But back to the adventurers: Behind the warrior walked a tall-ish girl with long, straight auburn hair that reached down to the middle of her back. She was clad in a slightly stained set of light gray travel clothes and she had something that looked like an oversized white beret on her head. In her hands she was gripping a long staff topped with a large blue gemstone and she was sticking to the back of the warrior like she was his shadow.

The third in line was a thin man whose age I couldn’t tell, partly because he was wearing a hood, but mostly because he had a wand… actually, it was more like a scepter, I supposed. … Okay, I admit it; at first I thought it was a flashlight. Whatever it was, it was shining a cone of directed light that was especially blinding to my eyes after they got used to the darkness of the dungeon.

As for the actual adventurer, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was the party’s wizard, even though he wasn’t wearing the expected robes. Instead he wore some kind of loose, dark tunic that looked very similar to the cloth the warrior was wearing. I was fairly sure it had a name, but I couldn’t recall at the moment. Gambeson, maybe? Or surcoat? Something along those lines.

Last, but not least, came a young woman. She was wearing a tight-fitting jacket that emphasized her sizable bosom, dark linen trousers and leather shoes. She also had an assortment of knives strapped to her belt and had a bow at the ready as they advanced forwards. Also, what was up with that name? Were her parents really that uninspired?

Anyways, no matter how I looked at it, this was a fairly standard, balanced adventurer party you would find in most RPGs: a tough warrior as the vanguard, a mage for dealing elemental damage from afar, a rogue at the back to search for traps and loot and a healer in the middle to keep everyone alive and kicking. It was a little boorish, even.

The group came to an abrupt halt still a dozen or so meters away from me and their light source flickered as the mage in the middle let out a pained wheeze. The rest of them immediately encircled him.

“Theo? Are you okay?”

I nearly jumped out of my cover in surprise when I realized I could actually understand the words! Didn’t old me discard common language comprehension during character creation? Then how did I understand that just now? Was this the effect of the milestone bonus of Mind 10? No, wait. That was only supposed to allow me to learn things faster! These guys had a funny accent, but otherwise they spoke perfectly legible English! What the actual hell is up with this world?!

I was just about to voice my complaints out loud, but a sudden realization made me back down and cover my mouth with my hand. Since I was able to understand them, I let my guard down and nearly walked out of my cover there. Thankfully my better judgment stopped my legs in time and I managed to pull back.

The reason? Look no further than my appearance. I looked like a goblin. A very atypical and incredibly cute one, but a goblin all the same. Adventurers kill goblins for loot and XP. Q.E.D., talking to these guys out of the blue was a bad idea.

As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sudden whistle and I shuddered as something flew by my head and hit the wall in on the other side of the tunnel. I glanced back, just in time to see the metallic head of an arrow bounce off the stone wall and fall to the floor. I stifled a surprised cry and glued myself to the wall even harder. I call hax! I was definitely sneaking! They were not supposed to see me!

“What was that?” The warrior called out in alarm, and by the sound of it he drew his sword from his scabbard. I couldn’t be sure, as at this point I was still doing my best to remain motionless behind my cover.

“I am not sure. I saw some movement over there, so I shot a warning arrow.” The rogue woman answered, most likely.

“What if it was another human?”

“What’s why I shot a warning arrow!”

“Well, I didn’t hear anyone cursing your mother, so it was probably a monster. Let’s go.”

For a moment I could only gape at the sound of the four pairs of boots rushing down the tunnel. What the hell, people?! At this point you were supposed to start buffing your party and prepare for the encounter, not rush right at your enemies! What if I was the vanguard of a goblin army?! Or a minotaur?! Or a very tiny dragon?! This is not how you explore a dungeon!

…

Well, I might have complained in my head, but since I was neither of those things, I turned tail without any further prompting and dashed down the tunnel with all my might.

“Aha! You hear that? It must be a goblin!”

“After it!”

While suddenly becoming the hunted after being the hunter all day had its bittersweet irony, I couldn’t appreciate it while running through the tunnels for dear life. Thankfully I managed to gain some distance due to the fact that the adventurers had to wait for the wizard to catch his breath, but that didn’t mean I took it easy. Instead I continued running down the way I came and I soon found my goblin companion snacking from the open meat sack.

She was startled by my appearance, and my attempts at getting her to follow after me were met with resistance as she kept repeatedly glancing at the meat.

To my dread I soon realized that I wasted too much time on her and I could hear the adventurers’ running steps closing in on us, so in a fit of panic I threw my arms around the goblin, dragged her into a darker spot near an indentation in the wall and then I immediately cast Camouflage Lv1, hoping against hope that it would cover both of us.

At first she struggled, but when the adventurers arrived she immediately fell into a tense silence.

“What’s that?” The warrior pointed his sword at the open rucksack.

“Maybe it’s a trap?” The healer girl muttered while still hiding behind his back.

“Nah, there are no monster in this labyrinth smart enough for that.” While saying so, the rogue walked up to the sack and glanced inside. “Hey, check this out! Meat!”

“Meat?” The wizard, who turned out to be a middle aged man with sunken cheeks and a thin beard, repeated after her skeptically.

“Yeah. Rat-meat by the looks of it. It’s still fresh.”

“Really?” The healer cautious peaked over the shoulder of the warrior, then immediately shrunk back as her stomach made a loud rumbling noise. There was a moment of silence, then the rest of the group began snickering in unison.

“Did you develop a taste, milady?” The rogue teased the beet red healer after a chuckle.

“It’s… better than the dried rations.” She answered meekly, eliciting another round of stifled laughter from the group.

“You heard the lady,” The wizard spoke after a short cough. “We might as well accept the gift this nice goblin left us and set up camp here.”

(No, you don’t want to do that!)

My silent protests fell to deaf ears as the group began unpacking the rucksack. The warrior took out some skewers from his backpack while the wizard created a small, hovering ball of blue fire. It was at this point that my goblin companion realized that the adventurers were about to cook the meat she collected, so she once again began struggling in my arms.

“Did you hear that?” The rogue suddenly perked up and reached for her bow. I did my best to keep the goblin from making a noise, but by the time I calmed her down the rogue was already scanning the area.

“I think I saw something move over there,” She pointed her finger in our direction, and for a moment the blood froze in my veins. She squinted suspiciously at us, but after a few seconds she shook her head and put her bow down. “I am getting jumpy. I need some shuteye.”

“We all do,” The wizard agreed amicably, and with that I finally let the breath out of my chest.

It was only then that I realized that I had not one, but two new popups vying for my attention. I couldn’t move to check open them, but after staring at one for a while it opened by itself. Wait, I could do that all along? Then all those times I felt silly poking at the air before was for naught? Argh… this system really needs a user manual.

Anyways, here’s what the first popup said:

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Camouflage has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Camouflage Lv2.

Camouflage Lv2 (Active): Allows the owner to enter into a camouflaged state. So long as the owner remains motionless, they will blend into their environment and observers won’t be able to perceive them. Staying in Camouflage consumes Stamina.

(Lv2 Bonus: The owner can now hide additional people with Camouflage. Doing so drastically increases the rate the owner’s Stamina is consumed. Also, movement no longer breaks Camouflage, however it further increases the Stamina drain of the skill.)

However, it was the second popup that really got my attention.

A skill is attempting to breach Camouflage Lv2. Breaching power: 24. Defensive power: 589. Defensive penalty of -51 applied for multiple concealment and movement. Camouflage maintained.

So there were system messages like this too? It would be nice to know how these things were calculated. If I knew there was such a small chance of being detected, I would not have panicked so much. I let out a relieved breath and gestured for the goblin to stay put while the adventurer began making meat-skewers. She was looking at me like a puppy whose bone got stolen. It was so pitiful I couldn’t help but pat her on the head and I decided I would help her hunt another rat later. After a couple of minutes she finally calmed down, so I could focus my attention on the adventurers in front of us.

“So, milady?” The rogue spoke while waving her skewer in and out of the ball of blue flame, much to the others’ annoyance. “Do you feel a surge coming yet?”

“I… I don’t know,” The girl with the beret answered sheepishly. “Can you feel it when it’s coming?”

“No you can’t,” The warrior said between two bites. “You usually just beat a monster, and it happens. Whoosh.”

“Don’t worry,” Spoke the wizard while using a piece of bread to soak up the excess fat flowing out of the piece of meat on his skewer. “You should be close, and you will know when it happens. It will feel like a burst of energy, and suddenly all the effort you put into your training surges forth, making you stronger, tougher, sharper in one go.”

“I guess you wouldn’t know much about the [stronger, tougher] part, now would you?” The rogue inquired with an impish smile, only eliciting a scoff from the wizard.

“I told you woman, I have no need for muscles. I kill things with my mind!” As he said that, the fireball in front of them suddenly became and angry red and grew to several times its original size. The rogue let out a small yelp and fell flat on her butt. As the flame died down and became a docile blue ball again she glared at the wizard for a moment, but then they both burst out laughing, soon followed by the warrior and the healer as well.

You have received Enlightenment! Observing the skill Fire Magic Lv1 allowed you to grasp its principles! You now possess Fire Magic Lv1!

(Oh, neat. Now I have magic. How wonderful. Yay.)

If being sardonic could kill, at this point everything would have been dead around me in miles. I mean, I would have been really happy about this if not for the situation in which I acquired it. Anyways, it was not like I could try it out right now, so I continued observing.

“Theodore, don’t waste your mana,” The warrior chided the wizard, earning a skeptically raised brow in turn.

“Why? I was under the impression we are going to rest here.”

(What? No!)

“Eh, might as well,” The warrior conceded with a shrug.

(No-no-no!)

“Are you sure? The goblin we chased could still be around…” The healer objected weakly.

(Yes! Listen to the pretty health-dispenser! The goblin you chased really is around, and my legs are getting numb from sitting in this position! Just go away already!)

“It’s just a single goblin, it’s doesn’t matter even if it comes back.”

“Oh… Okay then.” She nodded and bit into her roasted meat. “Ouch, hot!”

(Nooooooooo!)

After I finished my silent wails I finally resigned myself to the inevitable and prepared myself to spend some time with my numbed legs. As I was trying to carefully readjust myself to get into an at least marginally more comfortable position, I became aware of the fact that I was no longer holding onto the goblin, instead she was holding onto me like I was a giant teddy bear while she slept. I didn’t even notice when she fell asleep, thought in retrospect I figured she must have been tired after spending the entire day hunting with me.

The way she was snuggling to me was actually a little cute. I absent-mindedly patted her head again, and when I did so I suddenly got another unexpected pop-up in my face.

The affection of [Abyss Goblin] has reached sufficient levels. Do you wish to contract [Abyss Goblin] as your Familiar?

Familiar? What is a that?

As if just to answer my stray thoughts, a second paragraph was added to the panel.

A Familiar is a creature that is under contract of a Master. Each 10 points of Insight allows for one additional contract to be made. Fifty percent of any future experience gained by the Familiar is automatically transferred to its Master, however they receive a permanent attribute boost and may benefit from the attribute-gain boosting skills of the Master upon level up.

Since your Insight is more than double of the Insight of the target creature, you may force a contract. Do you wish to proceed?

Well, if I read that right, I should already have five ‘contract slots’… and this goblin has been the first friendly person (for a measure of the word) I have met here… and it’s not like I would be sacrificing anything anyways…

(Oh, to hell with it.)

I pressed ‘Yes’, and I only caught what I was doing once I have already done so. Crap. What if there was some sort of automatic ritual with glowing pentagrams and stuff? It would totally blow my cover!

I held my breath for a few seconds, but the only thing that happened was a soft sight escaping the goblin’s mouth. I tentatively opened her [Status Panel] and checked the results.

Name: Abyss Goblin Level: 4 Experience: 92
Classification: Humanoid Critter Race: Goblin
Health: 20/50 Stamina: 21/125 Mana: 10/30
Body: 4(+1) Finesse: 4(+1)
Mind: 2(+1) Insight: 6
Uncommon Skills:
*Familiar

Familiar (Passive): The owner swore undying loyalty to their Master. The owner’s attributes are permanently increased by 10% of the Master’s attributes (by a minimum of 1 point). Half of the Experience points gained by the owner are gifted to the master. Further benefits may be granted with time depending on the length and strength of the contract.

That was a nice boost. She was suddenly almost on par with one of the adventurers stat-wise, though she probably still wouldn’t stand a chance in a straight up fight. Oh, and apparently Leadership finally worked on her, at least based on her bonus stats.

Unfortunately, due to the sudden increase in her maximum Health and Stamina, her condition was suddenly in the red, and it showed as she began to tremble and whimper. I continued patting her head until she finally fell into deep sleep again and after a small grimace I returned my attention to the adventurers. The night was young (though technically there was no night underground, but that’s beside the point), and if I was forced to sit here with my numb legs, I decided I might as well try to learn as much from them as possible.

 

Day 6

I peeked around one more time to make sure the adventurers were totally gone before I finally let my guard (and Camouflage) down. I carefully peeled myself away from the goblin and finally stretched my poor legs. It felt incredible. I decided to let my new familiar sleep a little longer, since her Stamina was still pretty low, so I sat down beside her cross-legged and began digesting all the new things I learned from the campers.

As luck would have it, they were a chatty bunch, so I had a lot of material to work with. Not only that, the healer girl was actually a novice the rest of the group was hired to power-level, so I could get a lot of newbie-friendly info from their explanations.

First off, apparently normal people couldn’t see the System. They weren’t even aware of skills or stats or even levels. They called leveling up [experiencing a Surge], where they would break through some kind of bottleneck and suddenly get stronger.

Furthermore, normal people were earning skills through years and years of hard work and dedication, to the point where the wizard was being considered a genius for being able to use three different types of magic before he turned forty. What did that make me and my… wait, how many skills did I even have at this point?


Name: ????? Level: 2 Experience: 42
Health: 50/50 Stamina: 1139/1140 Mana: 100/100
Body: 5 Finesse: 3+5
Mind: 5+5 Insight: 53 +5
Common Skills:
*High-Speed Regeneration Lv1
*Stealth Lv2
*Leadership Lv2
*Fire Magic Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Observation Lv2
*Sage Lv3
*Camouflage Lv2
*Supreme Command Lv1
*Sneak Attack Lv2
*Familiar Master (Abyss Goblin)
Rare Skills:
*Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)
*Boundless Reserves Lv1
Mythic Skills:
*Immortal Lv2

Holy shit, that’s a lot of skills! Not only that, my stats were also way out of the ordinary. If those adventurers were just half as renowned as they claimed to be, it meant their stats were indicative of people who were fairly powerful. So why were their attributes so low? My first guess was that, since they weren’t aware of skills like I was, they didn’t know which ones to aim for or which ones gave extra stats and bonuses. Not to mention, since they couldn’t open the [Status Panel], they probably had no way to spend the free attribute point at level up, so… Wait, what if I was the only one that got the free attribute points? I was pretty broken as I was already, so it was not out of the question.

Anyways, the important part is that I was already way stronger than the average adventurer, had a faster growth rate due to Sage and got extra stats from leveling up.

(Dammit old me, you created a monster! And it’s me! And I love it!)

Well, future brokenness aside, there were a bunch of other stuff I have learned as well. For example, the healer girl, Rosarie, was the prospective head priestess of one of the big churches of the kingdom. I don’t know which kingdom, since they never specified the name, so for the time being I would only refer to it as [The Kingdom].

Anyways, The Kingdom was also on top of this here dungeon, the biggest in the world. According to the wizard, it had five layers, and each layer had a labyrinth in the middle from which the other layers could be accessed. As for what was outside of the labyrinth, he didn’t speak, but considering that the goblin apparently came from the outside, I hoped it wasn’t just more tunnels.

But back to the adventurers: As I said, this time they were hired to show the greenhorn the ropes and help her level up, and they accepted it because their usual healer, someone called Liselotte, was helping out another group for a while. According to their stories, they didn’t really do any other [adventurer] kind of jobs.

Speaking of which, there was no stereotypical [Adventurer’s Guild] to hand out quests either. They were more like freelance mercenaries doing odd-jobs, and they usually entered the dungeon just to gather monster parts. According to the warrior, the lower levels in particular had a bunch of rare monsters whose parts could be sold for apothecaries or royal healers for a good profit, so… didn’t that mean they were kind of like poachers hunting rare animals? They were kinda ruining my image of heroic adventurers, to be honest.

As I was pondering these things, the goblin finally rose from her slumber with a huge yawn. She stretched her arms, and when she realized I wasn’t around anymore, she hurriedly sat up. I could see the tension drain from her bony shoulders as she realized I was beside her and she grinned at me like a little kid. I returned the gesture and was about to tell her to get ready to move out when her eyes suddenly opened wide and she scampered to her feet in a wild hurry, running around the corridor for a few seconds before she finally found the discarded rucksack and she looked at me with eyes clouded by crocodile tears.

“They ate it all! No meaf!”

If I was drinking, I would have spat it all over the tunnel at this point.

“Wait, what? Did you just…?!”

“No meaaaaaf! It was my meaaaaf!” She continued to bawl as she shook the empty rucksack. I was about to stand up when she dropped the bag and dove into my chest, pushing the air out of me, and continued sobbing on my lap. “Mean humes! They took all the meaf I collected with new friend! And I am hungry!”

I finally managed to regain my wits and I tentatively patted her head.

“There, there. Don’t cry. I will help you hunt more rats.”

“Friend will?” She looked up, her face still stained by tears and snot, but then her last sob turned into a huge smile as she hugged me with all her might, once again pushing the breath out of me. “I love friend!”

“I am… happy to hear that…” I muttered while I carefully pushed her off me. “But first, let’s talk.”

She looked me funny for a bit, but then she obediently sat down in front of me. I took a deep breath and asked the obvious question.

“Since when can you talk?”

She continued looking at me funny.

“I talk to friend always.”

“No, I am pretty sure this is the first time you spoke.”

“It is?” She tilted her head to the side with a quizzical look in her eyes. “But I was telling friend all kinds and things. Just not with mouf.”

“If you are not using your mouth, it’s not talking!”

“Uuuu… Is friend angry wif me?”

“N-No I am not. Stop that. No more puppy-eyes.”

“What is that? Friend ran out of them? Will friend be happy if I gather her shome eyes? Where can I find shome?”

I rubbed my face in defeat and shook my head.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“So friend will not be happy?”

“You know what? Let’s talk about something else,” I prompted in order to change the subject. “What is your name?”

“Name?”

“What are you called?” She only blinked at me in confusion. “I mean, when another goblin wanted to call out to you in particular, what did they say?”

“Aaaah!” Her eyes suddenly lit up with understanding and then she made a series of grunts and gestures like she was pointing at someone, then she smiled at me like she was expecting praise.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that! What did they call you when they wanted to refer just you, no other goblin?”

“Aaaaaah!” Her eyes lit up again, but then her brows furrowed. “Like how chief Raffhunter is called chief Raffhunter?”

“Erm… Yes, like that. I think.”

“Only chiefs can have names like fhat.”

“So you don’t have a name?” She shook her head, and it made me fall silent for a moment. “Then how should I call you?”

She began to repeat the previous set of gestures when I asked her name the first time, so I quickly waved my hands to stop her.

“No, I mean, what should your name be?”

She once again looked at me like I just asked a really silly question.

“I am not the chief.”

“Yes, I know, but you are my familiar. You should have a name so I could call you when I need your help with something. I can’t just call you [goblin].”

“Familiar? What is familiar?”

“That’s…” I had to pause for a moment because I didn’t really know either. I decided to improvise. “A familiar is kind of like a friend that does things for her master without asking any questions.”

“Mafter?”

“Yes. I am the master, and you are the familiar.”

She nodded twice like I just told her something really deep.

“Mafter is Mafter.”

“Yes, that’s right. And since I am the master, and I might need to ask you to do things for me, it would help if you had a name I could call you by.”

“Mafter is going to give me a name?”

“Yes, that’s what I just said.”

“Really?”

All of a sudden she sat straight and looked at me with sparkly eyes. If she had a tail, I was pretty sure she would have been wagging it like crazy.

Anyways, I was supposed to give her a name now. At first I was thinking about going for something simple like Gobbi, or Goblina, or maybe Little Green, but all of those sounded lame when I said them out loud. So… green… green… What’s a green thing that works well as a name? Grass? Nah. Jade? No, that doesn’t fit her. What other green stones are out there? Emerald? That sounds too high class. What about smaragd?

“Hm, that might work…” I pondered aloud while she kept looking at me expectantly. “How does Smaragd sound to you?”

“Fmaragd?” She repeated after me. “What does it mean?”

“Ummm… It is a kind of gemstone, I think.”

“Gemftone?”

“You know? It’s this green stone you can see through. It’s like a crystal. Do you know what a crystal looks like?”

“Ah! Sparkly fhing!” She smiled ear to ear as she recognized what I was talking about, but then her expression became conflicted. “Can I have a pretty name like fhat?”

“If you like it.”

“I love it!” She exclaimed like she was afraid I would change my mind, and then she lunged forward and caught me in a bearhug while simultaneously burying her face in my modest chest. “I love it! I love it almoft as much as I love Mafter!”

“I am… glad to hear that?” I muttered awkwardly, my attention once again drawn away by a flashing popup notification. I opened it with my mind, and it said.

Your Familiar’s affection reached the next level.

(Really? Man, goblins are really easy to please or what?)

You have received Enlightenment! A rare opportunity! Do you wish to upgrade your Familiar Contract?

I didn’t even have to think it through. Enlightenment has yet to betray me, and it was hard to resist the lure of a ‘rare opportunity’. I picked ‘Yes’, and the next moment I was flooded by a series of messages.

Congratulations, you have reached Level 5!
Due to your efforts, your Body has risen by 3 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Finesse has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Mind has risen by 2 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Insight has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Body has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Mind has risen by an additional 2 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Insight has risen by an additional 2 point(s).
Due to your bond with your Familiar, your Insight has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your bond with your Familiar, your Mind has risen by 1 point(s).
You have received 3 free stat points. Where do you wish to allocate them?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! What just happened?! I went from Level 2 to Level 5 in one go! I figured the rest of the popup panels would tell me why, but I couldn’t open them until I spent my stat points, so I dumped them into Insight. That only made more pop-up panels appear.

Congratulations! Your Finesse reached 10! The cooldown of physical skills is reduced by 1% for half of your combined Body and Finesse score!

Congratulations! Your Insight reached 60! The Skill Level of Sage is increased by 1.

Sage Lv4 (Passive): The owner gains 1% more experience per Insight, multiplied by the level of the Sage skill (Currently: +272%). Increases the chances of gaining an additional point of Insight on level up.
(Lv2 Bonus: Grants the owner 1 point of Insight for every 2 points of Mind. Also increases the chances of gaining an additional point of Mind on level up.)
(Lv3 Bonus: Increases the chances of gaining Enlightenment based on the owner’s Insight. Also grants complete immunity to charms and other mind-altering effects.)
(Lv4 Bonus: Half of the owner’s Insight is added to their Mind score when determining the owner’s maximum spell magnitude.)

Name: Mafter Level: 5 Experience: 134
Health: 50/90 Stamina: 1139/1230 Mana: 100/150
Body: 9 Finesse: 4+6
Mind: 9+6 Insight: 60+7
Common Skills:
*High-Speed Regeneration Lv1
*Stealth Lv2
*Leadership Lv2
*Fire Magic Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Observation Lv2
*Sage Lv4
*Camouflage Lv2
*Supreme Command Lv1
*Sneak Attack Lv2
Rare Skills:
*Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)
*Boundless Reserves Lv1
Mythic Skills:
*True Familiar Master (Smaragd)
*Immortal Lv2

(Wow! That’s one boatload of stat points I just received! Awesome!)

The cooldown reduction was fairly useless to me at the moment, but for Sage Lv4… Would that mean that I would be able to cast spells as if I had 49 Mind? Considering that the wizard I saw could casually turn a small fireball into the size of a car in with just 8 Mind, just what can 49 Mind do?! Well, I had Fire Magic now, so I could test it, but maybe it was best left for later. With my luck, I might try to cast a fireball and accidentally nuke half the labyrinth, myself included. That didn’t sound fun.

Oh, and there was another new skill, and a Mythic one to boot!

True Familiar Master (Smaragd) (Passive): The owner has forged an ironclad connection with the unique named creature [Smaragd]. They now share the same aggregated Experience pool and may benefit from each other’s skills. However, because of the depth of the bond, if either the Master or the Familiar were to die, they would both perish together.
(Current skills granted: None)

(Wait what?! What?! Perish together? What?! God dammit Enlightenment, you have betrayed me! This is a big fucking deal! Why weren’t there any warning or fine-print before I accepted it!? Shit!)

(No, wait. Calm down. I have Immortal Lv2. That should keep me from dying, right? Right?)

…

(Shit, this is messed up. I totally messed up. Now even if I am immortal, if Smaragd dies, I might die as well, and the only way to make sure whether I would die for good or not was to test it… which I was obviously not going to do! Shit…)

I grit my teeth and shook my head to clear it, then opened the next set of notifications to take my mind off the fact that I might have just accidentally wasted all of Old Me’s efforts for getting Immortal Lv2. This particular notification grabbed my interest because it was a different color than the rest. [Status Panel]s were blue, Enlightenment panels were golden, error messages were red… and this one was green.


Congratulations. Your Familiar, Smaragd, has reached Level 5!
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Finesse has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Mind has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Insight has risen by 3 point(s).
Your familiar has received 1 free stat point. Where do you wish to allocate it?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

Since I always considered Insight the cheat stat, I picked it by reflex before I could even think it through. After I did so, Smaragd’s new [Status Panel] showed up, and I couldn’t help but whistle at the changes.

Name: Smaragd Level: 5 Experience: 134
Classification: Humanoid Familiar Race: Goblin
Health: 30/60 Stamina: 62/155 Mana: 18/50
Body: 5(+1) Finesse: 5+1(+1)
Mind: 3+1(+1) Insight: 9+1
Mythic Skills:
*True Familiar (Mafter)

That was quite a significant increase. If she would receive this kind of stat growth, she should be stronger than any of the adventurers we met by the time she reaches their level. I was about to check out her True Familiar skill when my attention was drawn by a pitiful whimper coming from my chest. I glanced down, and the moment I did so I let out a surprised cry and jumped back, letting Smaragd fall to the ground like a sack of rocks.

Yes, that might have sounded like a nasty thing to do, but you couldn’t blame me! I was startled, okay? To my credit, once I gathered my wits I quickly rushed to her side and raised her head up from the ground. She groggily turned around and looked at me with her pair a beautiful, if slightly unfocused eyes, then opened her tiny, moist lips and…

Argh! I am not going to beat around the bush! She looked just like me! Not the human old me or the white noseless not-so-old me, but my current form, the cute, well-proportioned Fair Goblin with the face of an angel. The only different thing about her was her hair, since hers was a little bit wavier than mine. It actually looked nice on her, and…

(No, that doesn’t matter! Just what kind of development was this anyway?!)

Smaragd probably mistook my complete and utter bewilderment for disapproval, as she gave me an apologetic smile and demurely closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mafter. Smaragd… suddenly doesn’t feel well.”

I was once again startled, this time by her voice. How did that lisping, croaking noise turn into such a clear, sweet voice in half a minute? The difference was uncanny.

“No, no. It’s okay, it’s okay.” I repeated while mechanically patting her head over and over, mostly to calm myself. She let out a satisfied ‘Mmmm…’, and while I wanted to snap at her for making weird and easily misunderstood noises, I held back the impulse and forced my brain to think. Why did she turn into me?

“The skill!” I exclaimed with the realization, startling the super-cute girl just as she lowered her head to rest on my lap.

“Mafter?” She glanced at me with those ‘doe-in-the-headlight’ eyes I have often heard about and I audibly gulped in reaction.

“N-Nothing. You just leveled up and gained a bunch of stats, so your current Health and Stamina went into the red. Just sleep a bit and you should get better.”

“Smaragd couldn’t understand everything that Mafter said, but Smaragd will try.” Saying so she slowly closed her eyes, only to reopen them a moment later. “Mafter will stay with Smaragd while Smaragd sleeps, right?”

“Of course, of course,” I patter her head, and she finally closed her eyes properly. I let out a sigh and threw my head back for a moment before I opened her [Status Panel] again.

True Familiar (Mafter) (Passive): The owner has forged an ironclad connection with their Master. They now share the same aggregated Experience pool and may benefit from each other’s skills. However, because of the depth of the bond, if either the Master or the Familiar were to die, they would both perish together.
(Current skills granted: Shapeshifting Lv2 (Fair Goblin), Leadership Lv2, Stealth Lv1)

(A-HA! So that’s why her shape changed! And what’s this? She also has Leadership and Sneak? But why aren’t they showing up on the Skills menu? Was it because they are granted under True Familiar?)

…

(Also, what the hell is this? ‘Mafter’?!)

I hastily opened up my own [Status Panel], and to my horror I quickly discovered that I had the same on my name column.

(God dammit! What kind of dumbass made this System?! At least ask me before you just randomly decide my name!)

I let out another sigh and calmed down a little. Actually, only people with [Observe] can see my name, right? And that requires an Insight of 30 to get, right? That means that there probably aren’t a lot of people who could check my name, right? So I should be able to call myself whatever I want, right?

“Right.”

“Hm?” I was late to realize that I spoke out loud and woke up my super-adorable Familiar.

(Wait, no! Bad whatever-brain-part-that-makes-you-horny! Bad! Stop being conscious of her! She looks just like me, so she is super-cute, and has really nice perky boobs, and oh my, I didn’t even realize I made my hips that wide, that’s actually pretty… no, wait! Bad brain! I told you to stop making me notice these things! She is a goblin!)

(Right! That’s what I wanted to say! She is a goblin, not a human! Also, she is probably underaged! Though… what is the age of consent for goblins anyway? Whatever, doesn’t matter! I just shouldn’t be attracted to her, period.)

Just as I made up my mind, Smaragd suddenly snuggled closer to me and began rubbing her head against my stomach, her silky smooth hair sending shivers down my spine before she let out a weird little giggle.

“Ufun! Mafter’s tummy is so soft!” Saying so she flashed a beaming smile that made me want to snap at her.

(I am trying to preserve your chastity over here, your idiot! Stop making it more difficult! … Although, at the moment I was a girl too, so technically… No! The point still stands! Stop being so cute and innocent and fluffy!)

“Is Smaragd heavy?”

“H-huh? No, why would you think that?”

“Mafter is making weird faces. Is it Smaragd’s fault?”

(YEEEES!!!!!)

…

That’s what I wanted to yell, but self-restraint won over, so I just gave her a strained smile and continued patting her smooth, silky hair that felt absolutely amazing to the touch and… and I was getting sidetracked again, wasn’t I? Damn. Anyways, I decided that maybe I should distance myself from her for the time being, so I cleared my throat and asked;

“You said you were hungry, right?”

As if to answer me, Smaragd’s stomach let out a soft rumble. She glanced down at the source of the sound like it was something weird, then nodded.

“All right then. I will go and hunt a rat or two.”

Saying so, I tried to stand up, but Smaragd grabbed hold of my knees.

“Wait, no! Don’t leave Smaragd behind! I will get better and help Mafter, I swear!”

“I know,” I told her gently while I peeled her off my legs. “I am not going far. I will only check the nearby tunnels and I will bring back some meat for you to eat and get better, okay?”

“You promise?”

“Of course. I cannot leave you behind.”

While that might have sounded nice and selfless, I would like to once again point out that I literally couldn’t leave her to her own devices, as her life could very well be tied to mine, so the possibility of her dying to a stray adventurer and dragging me along herself to oblivion was reason enough not to leave her alone for long.

In other words, the reason why I wanted her to get better was entirely utilitarian and had nothing to do with any kind of sentimental attachment to the first person who called me ‘friend’ in ages. It also had nothing to do with the fact that she was so gosh darn cute. It was entirely utilitarian. Yup.

Anyways, she stared at me for a few seconds before she gave me a beaming smile.

“I trust Mafter.”

I wanted to question just where that kind of innocent confidence came from, but I swallowed the retort and returned her smile instead. I helped her to get up and told her to sit in the same dark spot we hid while the adventurers were around. She had Stealth Lv1, so I hoped she would be all right.

Once I made her promise to sit still I pointedly chose the tunnel opposite to the one the adventurers left through. I was looking for food, so I ignored all the slimes while I thought hard about my current predicament. I made sure to re-read all the skill descriptions, paying extra attention to Immortality and True Familiar Master, but the wording of both was just ambiguous enough so that I couldn’t be certain whether I would really die if Smaragd did.

Now, I might have even descended into jittery panic if she was still the same weak goblin she was when we first met, but after becoming my Familiar she changed so much I was no longer worried about her falling prey to a slime. Instead I was worried about her becoming a different kind of prey, but that was beside the point.

Also, she went from grunting monster to a fairly well-spoken girl. I wondered why that was. I could see two possibilities: either our bond as Master and Familiar somehow channeled the language into her, or it was because her Mind score rose exponentially from all the bonuses the contract gave her. Or, alternatively, maybe it was a combination of the two. I had no way of knowing, but being able to communicate with her made things a lot easier. Except when she actually talked and her earnest innocence made things harder instead. No, that was not an innuendo! I didn’t even have things to get harder. Or maybe I did, but I already resolved myself not to poke around there!

Anyways, this time I only explored the labyrinth at a snail’s pace, since I really didn’t want to get lost and be unable to find my way back to Smaragd, so it took me nearly an hour to find a Labyrinth Rat. I was lucky, as it was facing away from me while munching on some roots protruding from a crack in the wall. At first I wanted to simply sneak attack it with the club I borrowed, but then I remembered the shiny new Fire Magic I recently learned and I couldn’t hold back the grin creeping onto my face.

I sneaked a little bit closer to the huge rat and opened the [Status Panel] with my mind, and then I picked out the Fire Magic skill. For a moment I wondered whether there was a shortcut to access magic, as the wizard obviously couldn’t use it through the [Status Panel], but I shelved the thought for later.

Once I selected the skill, there were two options. Not options on the panel though, more like… it was like the information was kind of funneled into my head. Anyways, one of my choices was Will-o-Wisp, which I figured was the blue fire sphere the wizard used, while the other was, for the lack of better words, freeform magic. I wondered what the second option was, and after some hesitation I decided to try it out.

When I did that there was suddenly a small ember floating above my right palm. I carefully lifted my hand, yet it remained affixed a at the same distance away from my skin. I tried imagining the ember bursting into a flame, and to my sincere surprise it worked on the first try.

It was a strange yet liberating feeling that turned into disappointment as the flame died out just as fast. It took me several tries before I realized there was something else to it than just imagination; I had to actively will the fire to burn and move, and when I did so, I could see my mana visibly tick down with each second. It was fascinating, but unfortunately the rat might have noticed the light, as it let out a series of short, high-pitched noises and started running away.

I raised my hand in a panic and I pointed my open palm towards the fleeing creature. I willed the fire to lash out at it, but all I got was a tiny little flame arrow that dissipated after just a couple of meters. In the meantime the rat was about to run out of my line of sight, so in a desperate last ditch effort I tried to pour as much mana into the fire as I could and then tried to imagine a classic fireball, the spell that was the duct-tape of every self-respecting wizard in any king of setting.

The ball of fire in my hand immediately swelled up. Then my delight turned into panic as the ball didn’t stop swelling and threatened to consume me as well. With frantic motions I directed the fireball towards the fleeing rat, and once I was certain it was on its way, I immediately turned tail and rand away like the devil was on my heels.

Just as I managed to get behind a corner there was a deep, roaring sound followed by a rumble that shook both my bones and the ground under my feet. Then came the actual explosion that outright threw me off my feet and covered my vision in red as a torrent of flames rushed down the tunnel where I stood just a few seconds ago.

I dropped to the ground and covered my head with my hands. I didn’t get up until I was certain the fire was gone. There was the scent of burned hair in the air, my hair to be exact, but the singed part of my scalp was fixed in a matter of seconds by High-Speed Regeneration. I tentatively glanced around the corner only to reel back from the scorching air hitting my face.

There was no tunnel. Instead there was a huge, vaguely spherical chamber with still red-hot walls.

(Did I… actually do that? Holy shit! When I said I was afraid I would nuke the dungeon, it was supposed to be a funny hyperbole! What the actual hell is this?)

I sighed and hurriedly turned around. I figured the adventurers or some intelligent monsters might come by to see what the ruckus was about, and I wanted to be as far from the place by the time they got there as possible. I didn’t even bother looking for the remains of the rat.

Fortunately it only took another half hour to track down another rat, and this one was a fat one too, level 3 no less! This time I didn’t bother with magic, instead I just sneaked up to it and clobbered it over the head with my club. Maybe it was because I considered it a monster instead of an animal, but I never felt even the smallest tinge of guilt when I killed these things. Weird. Carrying it back to the place where I left Smaragd was a bit of a hassle, but I managed.

When I came back, I was welcomed by a weird sight. Smaragd was where I left her, still sitting in the dark spot, except she was… well… massaging her boobs. I have no other way to say it. When she notice me coming, she stopped and stood up to wave at me. Well, at least she was better. That was good, I supposed.

“Mafter, Mafter! Listen, there is something weird with Smaragd!” She exclaimed while I put down the dead rat.

I already had a good guess of the answer, but I had to ask; “What is it?”

“Smaragd’s body is weird. Smaragd’s arms and legs are really tick, and Smaragd’s nose is really small. And this part,” She cupped her breasts while speaking. “Smaragd’s boobies were supposed to be down here.” She explained enthusiastically while tugging on her palmful mammaries.

“Yes, I get it, you don’t need to…”

“And look! When this round part with the nubby part in the middle used to be bigger. And when I touch it, it’s all tingly.”

“Yes, I know. It’s supposed to do that.”

“Really?” She looked at me for a moment and then before I could react she poked me in the chest as well. “Does Mafter get tingly too!”

“Stop that!” I slapped her hand away.

“Sorry!” She apologized immediately. “I’m sorry Mafter. I didn’t want to make Mafter angry. I should have known only Smaragd’s boobies are weird.”

In a split-seconds she went from innocently curious to teary-eyed and she even comboed it into a naïve misunderstanding. How did she do that? How could anyone be so innocent? I let out a sigh and gingerly took the hand that I slapped into my own.

“No, there is nothing weird about them.”

“Really?”

“Yes. They are very pretty, in fact.”

“Really really?”

“Yes, but you are not supposed to just touch other people there whenever you want. You have to ask for permission first. And even then, you should only do it to people you like.”

“I like Mafter.”

“I know, but…” I let out a soft groan and shook my head. “I will explain it to you properly when you are a little older.”

“Okay.” She nodded with a smile, and then she automatically moved over to the dead rat and began inspecting it. At last she took out her small knife, but as she was about to cut into the carcass, she paused and looked up at me. “Mafter… is Smaragd ugly?”

“Huh? No, of course not.” I answered absent-mindedly while I sat down by her side. I felt like I was getting used to the sight of blood and guts, so I wanted to watch her closely this time and maybe learn how to disassemble prey for future reference. She still didn’t get started though, so I awkwardly added; “You are actually really pretty.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really really?”

“Yes.”

“Ufun… I am glad. I was afraid Mafter would think Smaragd was ugly.”

“Why would I think that?”

“Uuu… Because master looks so different from the other goblins Smaragd knows, so Smaragd thought master wouldn’t like how Smaragd looked.”

“Actually, you look like me right now.”

“… Smaragd looks like what?!?!”

 

Day 7

In the end we spent the entire last day resting while we waited for Smaragd’s Stamina to recharge. Unfortunately, even with the food, her Health was slow to recover. My mental stamina was having a hard time recovering as well, as she insisted on sleeping while clinging to me, so I couldn’t get a good night’s sleep either.

Anyways, I decided to have some breakfast before we set out, so I once again summoned the blue Will-o-Wish I used to roast the meat the day before. The moment I did so Smaragd hurriedly hid behind my back while holding onto my shoulders.

“Mafter!” She cried out with a teary voice, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes.

“Don’t cry. I told you it’s safe.”

She didn’t answer, instead she only gripped me even harder while she peeked over my shoulder, but then she immediately hid herself again with an “Uguu!” sound like she was afraid the fire was going to attack her at any moment.

It was still better than what happened the day before. Back then she was in a total panic after I summoned the fire globe and she was trying to protect me from it by jumping on me and nearly giving me a heart attack.

Apparently goblins were really afraid of fire, as it was something that human adventurers used against them. In retrospect that probably meant that the reason why she was struggling during the time when the adventurers were camping in front of us was because of the same reason. She appreciated the meat roasted on it though, but she still trembled whenever she looked at the flame. I wondered if some exposure therapy could help her.

With that in mind I picked up a piece of meat and, since we didn’t have proper skewers, I carefully impaled it on a broken rat rib. Thankfully I could affect the heat of the fire-ball fairly precisely, so I could roast the meat without burning myself in the process. This time however I didn’t stick it into the fire, instead I looked over my shoulder and gestured for Smaragd to come forth. After some hesitation I managed to get her to sit next to me and I handed her the meat. She looked at it funny for a moment and then tried to bite it, so I quickly stopped her.

“No! It’s still raw.”

“Raw?”

I pointed at the fire.

“Remember the meat I made yesterday?”

“Smaragd remembers! It was very tasty!”

“It was tasty because it was cooked in the flame.”

“Cooked?”

“Yes. You put food near the flame and wait until it roasts. It makes the meat easier to eat and tastier.” She nodded repeatedly. “Do you want to give it a try?” This time she shook her head just as vehemently.

“No! It is scary!”

“No it isn’t.” I pointed at the fire again and, after a sudden flash of genius, I gently took it into my hand. Since I had instinctive control over its temperature, I made it so that it was only slightly warm, but Smaragd still stiffened at the sight. “See? It isn’t scary.”

She looked at the fireball in my hands with an open mouth before she raised a hesitant hand and reached out towards it.

“It is warm… Why doesn’t it hurt Mafter?”

“Because it is my fire,” I told her slowly like I was explaining something to a child. Well, in some ways I guess I was. “The fire has no ill will. The flames only hurt people when they go out of control or when bad people use them.”

“So… this is not a bad flame?”

“No. But you have to be careful so it wouldn’t go out of control. If you can do that, flames can be a great help to you. They can cook your food and warm you during the night.”

“Um!” She nodded with a determined look. “Smaragd understands! Can Smaragd be friends with this Flame?”

“Well, befriend might not be the right word, but you can start by trying to roast this meat.”

After a loud gulp she nodded and gingerly raised the rib-skewered meat in her hand. I smiled at her encouragingly and then had the fireball float in the air in front of her. She twitched nervously at first, but then she carefully extended the hand with the meat towards the fire.

“H-Hello Little Flame. Please do not burn Smaragd. Smaragd only wants to be your friend.”

I could help but smile affectionately at her timid words. Once she saw that the fireball didn’t move, she cautiously placed the meat inside the flame.

“Please make the meat yummy.”

After I was sure that Smaragd wasn’t going to accidentally burn herself and ruin all my efforts, I finally stood up and walked around a bit. My muscles felt a little cramped, probably because I have been sitting around on the cold floor for too long. Speaking of which, I really needed some clothes. While the loincloth that Smaragd made me the first day was a start, my feet in particular were really cold. I thought about asking my familiar to take out her sewing kit and try to make me something, but when I glanced back…

“Yay! Thank you Little Flame! The meat became really yummy! Can Smaragd make another one please?”

I chuckled to myself and decided to leave it for later.

It took Smaragd about an hour to roast all of the rat meat I prepared for breakfast, and while I didn’t need food due to Immortal Lv2, I was curious enough to try one out. Contrary to her praises, it was actually quite tough and plain due to the lack of spices, but I suppose it was a big improvement compared to eating it raw. Once she finished, Smaragd repeatedly clasped her hands and thanked the fireball for helping her cook her meat. At first I wanted to explain to her that the fireball wasn’t actually a person, but she was so earnest I didn’t have the heart.

“All right, let’s get going.” I told her and dismissed the fireball with a flick of my hand.

“Goodbye Little Flame!”

“Say, Smaragd?”

“Yes Mafter?”

“Do you know the way out of this labyrinth?”

“What’s a labyrinth?”

“It’s this place, with the rock walls and the tunnels.”

“Aaaaaah!” She nodded repeatedly with revelation. “Mafter just have to follow the smell!”

“Smell? What smell?” She gave me a dubious look and pointed at one of the tunnels.

“The smell that is coming from over there? Mafter can’t smell it?”

I sniffed several times, but all I could smell was the damp odor of the walls mixed with the last traces of the roasted meat. I shook my head, and Smaragd started to excitedly jump in place.

“Yay!”

“What? What are you so happy about?”

“Smaragd finally found something that only Smaragd can do for Mafter!”

I wanted to point out that she had a lot of things like that, such as disassembling animals or sewing, but for the time being I decided not to argue with her.

“Congratulations. So, can you lead the way.”

“Yes!” She told me with a determined look and she scampered away to gather her club and shield. Honestly speaking, while they complemented her image as a goblin, they looked pitiful in her current hands. Once she equipped herself she ran up to the tunnel she pointed at before and she gestured for me to follow after her. She was just like a puppy asking her owner to take her to a walk.

At last I limbered up my shoulders and began walking, and thus the two of us finally began our journey to the outside.

 

Day 10

“Mafter, Mafter! Look! It’s the outside!”

I involuntarily let out a relieved sigh. Three days. It took us three days just to reach the exit of the labyrinth, even with Smaragd’s guidance. To be perfectly honest, I was getting a little worried about whether she could really tell which way was leading outside, but she was so confident that I didn’t dare question her. It was a good thing I didn’t, as otherwise there was no way to tell how long it would have taken for me to bumble my way out.

I could tell we were reaching the end of the tunnels half a day before we could see the light at the end due to the way the air got fresher the closer we came. Maybe that was the thing that Smaragd could smell from all the way back there? Either way, the important part was that we successfully made our way outside and I could finally breathe in my first lungful of fresh air. Well, fresher air at the very least, as we still weren’t actually [outside], just out of the labyrinth. Not that I cared, the important part was that we were finally about to leave those monotonous grey-brown walls behind.

Fortunately our journey left us with a few spoils as well. Neither of us leveled up even though we must have killed at least two dozen slimes and a couple of rats on our odyssey, but we actually scavenged a number of things.

I for one was wearing a short, frayed green cape draped over me like a toga. It was probably thrown away by an adventurer because it got a large tear in it, but it didn’t bother me, and once we hit up camp Smaragd fixed it up for me anyways. Speaking of her, she was no longer using her club, instead I gave her a short sword we found on the remains of a dead adventurer.

Whoever it was, their body and clothes were already mostly eaten by slimes, to the point where even the bones became brittle. Thankfully they couldn’t digest metal, so we got our hands on a number of things, including Smaragd’s short-sword, the dagger tugged into my makeshift belt, a couple of bronze coins and, most importantly, a small copper ring with a blue stone embedded in it that proved to be essential to us.

Name: Copper Ring of Fountain

Description: While equipped, allows the owner to cast the Water Magic [Fountain]. The amount of water that can be created per day is dependent on the Mind of the owner. (Currently: 15 liters / day)

This nice utility ring, which I presumed had to be part of every adventurer’s basic kit, helped us through a crisis I didn’t even think of: Due to Immortality I not only didn’t need to eat, I also didn’t need to drink. Unfortunately Smaragd was different, and while our food source was nigh-inexhaustible, water turned out to be really scarce in the labyrinth.

When I asked what she was drinking before we met, Smaragd told me she usually either licked the damp walls or drank her own urine. Well, we weren’t having either of those in this here household, so the free water dispenser came just in time to solve her dehydration crisis.

I expected that I would learn Water Magic once I used the ring a couple of times, but for some reason the otherwise hyperactive Enlightenment didn’t show itself. I got other stuff though.

Supreme Command Lv2 (Active): When cast it bolsters the morale of the owner’s allies, raising their physical resistances and restoring a small amount of stamina. Repeated use of the skill on the same allies results in diminishing benefits.
(Lv2 Bonus: The boosts the skill provides last longer. Supreme Command now also temporarily makes the owner’s allies immune to the negative status effects ‘Terror’, ‘Confusion’ and ‘Charm’, and dispels any already existing such status effects.)

Fire Magic Lv2 (Active): Allows the owner to cast spells aligned with the discipline of Fire. Spell Magnitude is dependent of the owner’s Mind score.
(Lv2 Bonus: Reduces the Mana cost of Fire element spells and increases their magnitude. Also grants the Fire Resistance Lv1 skill.)

Fire Resistance Lv1 (Passive): Grants the owner resistance to fire and heat. The resistance scales with the owner's Body and Mind score.

Healing Magic Lv2 (Active): Allows the owner to cast spells aligned with the discipline of Restoration. Spell Magnitude is dependent of the owner’s Insight score.
(Lv2 Bonus: The owner’s Healing spells also restore a portion of the target’s Stamina. Also increases the owner’s Stamina regeneration rate.)

The Healing Magic skill was a real fluke, as I gained it from observing Smaragd drinking a potion we also recovered from the remains of the aforementioned adventurer. So yeah, I got a skill from seeing her drink a potion, but not from actually casting a water spell. Where was the logic in that?

Not that I was complaining, as Healing Magic was immediately useful and once I got Smaragd up to full health with it, she became even more lively and cute, so it was worth every Mana point spent.

Speaking of her, to my sincerest surprise Smaragd also gained a skill.

Friend of the Flame: The owner is a friend of the Flame.

Yes, that’s the description. Not only that, it was also a Mythic Skill! Seriously! Still, I should have known something was up when on the second day the Will-o-Wisp began to automatically adjust its own heat while Smaragd was playing with it after she finished cooking her dinner.

It didn’t seem to be a bad skill, at least it didn’t cause anything worth worrying over yet, but I could have done with a bit more description, you know? Just for my peace of mind.

I didn’t have much time to fume about the system though, as we finally reached the exit of the labyrinth and I was too busy keeping my jaw from dropping to the floor. As it turned out the entrance of the labyrinth was fairly high up on the side of a mountain, allowing me to take in the hilly landscape around me. While I knew from my interrogation of Smaragd that she and her goblin tribe lived in a cavern outside the labyrinth, there was no way she could have prepared me for just how mind-numbingly huge it actually was.

Hell, when I looked up, at first I thought I was looking at the actual night sky! Of course it was just a stone ceiling covered with dots of glowing moss, but it was so high up I didn’t even want to guess! Not only that, just from the exit of the labyrinth I could see several large meadows, a river that was at the very least several hundred meters wide and an entire forest of thin, tall fungi that nevertheless had branches like normal trees.

The thing that I didn’t see was also something that shocked me: it was the other end of the cavern. I was standing at a fairly elevated position, but no matter how hard I strained my eyes, I couldn’t see a single wall. Now sure, part of it was probably because of the lack of lighting (though to be fair, pretty much everything was glowing, from the fungus-trees to the bugs flying around), but I honestly couldn’t even fathom just how huge this place had to be. Just the aforementioned river was at least a couple kilometers away from where I was standing, and there were presumably lands on its other side as well. It was crazy.

“Mafter, look, look!” My momentary stupor was interrupted by Smaragd dragging me into the open and enthusiastically pointing towards one of the mushroom-woods. “Over there is where Smaragd lives! Smaragd wants to introduce Mafter to the other goblins!”

“Others?” Oh right. She mentioned that she lived in a tribe led by that chief Mousecatcher or Rodentchaser or something. Honestly, I wasn’t particularly taken by the idea. I have spent a lot of time pondering over what my plans should be for the future. I mean, ever since that whole character creation madness ended I was always dealing with immediate problems.

I was in a labyrinth, so I looked for a way out. I was a white freak, so I looked for an alternative form. I was naked and cold, so I looked for something to wear. I was just scratching the itches without treating the underlying problem: I had no long-term goal. Old Me might have had a dream, like slaying a dragon or amassing a harem of cute girls, or to take over the world, but because of Loss of Oneself I couldn’t remember any of them. As such, I had to look for a new goal.

Well, I couldn’t decide on it just yet, but for the time being the next milestone in the distance was getting out of the dungeon as a whole. I was curious about the level of the human civilization in this world. By the looks of the weapons and clothes it seemed like your cookie-cutter medieval setting, but who knew? Also, I really wanted to get proper clothes and have a bath. Although, to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure about the bath part. Maybe it was because of Immortal or some other skill, but my body remained remarkably clean even after all the things that I went through in the labyrinth.

But I was getting sidetracked again. The important point was that I wanted to go outside and I didn’t want to waste any time with introducing myself to Smaragd’s old goblin tribe.

“Come on, Mafter! Come, this way!”

“…”

Or at least that was the plan, except that my eager familiar kept tugging at my hand like an excited kid in the amusement park. Oh well, I thought. We might as well show our faces. Not to mention I had about thirty kilos of meat on my back that was about to go bad. I decided I might as well share it with them, so I let Smaragd lead the way.

At first we descended from the mountainside using a fairly well-trodden footpath. It was obvious both the goblins and the adventurers have been using it quite frequently, as I could see numerous footprints, bare and booted in about equal measure. Smaragd was obviously very excited to see her fellow goblins again, as she was a bundle of energy, constantly running around me and talking non-stop.

“… over there is where Smaragd used to hunt small Squeakies, but then the Howlies started hunting there, so Smaragd had to hunt in the bendy cave.”

“Squeakies? Howlies?”

“Ah, Squeakies are like the Big Squeakies that Mafter and Smaragd hunted in the bendy cave, except smaller. Howlies are bigger than Big Squeakies, and they are always angry and try to bite goblins. They also taste bad, so Smaragd and the others went into the bendy cave to hunt.”

“By bendy cave I presume you mean the labyrinth.”

She nodded twice.

I was curious, so I asked Smaragd about the other inhabitants of the cavern, and she was happy to oblige.

“There are the Squeakies and the Howlies…” She began while adorably counting on her fingers with a serious expression. “Then there are the Leatherwings.”

“Leatherwings? You mean bats?”

“What is a bat?”

“It’s like a rat… I mean, it’s like a squeaky, but has wings and big ears.”

“Yes, yes! That’s a Leatherwing!” She nodded repeatedly with a grin. “They usually just go ‘whoosh’ over our heads, but other times they hunt the Chirpies and they bite us if we are there.”

“Chirpies? What are those?”

“They are this big. They are round, and glow, and make chirping sound when you not crush them and a crunchy sound when you crush them. They only make the crunchy sound once though. They are tasty.”

“So they are bugs.”

“Bugs?”

“It’s a creature that is hard on the outside and have thin, spindly legs than end in tiny claws.” When I described them, Smaragd visibly paled and shook her head. “What’s the matter.”

“Those are the Manylegs!” She spoke with a slightly trembling voice.

“Really? And what are those?”

“They are big, and nasty, and they have long legs and big butts and they spit sticky stuff and they kidnap goblins and stick their butt into the goblin’s butt and put little round Manylegs into them and then after the little Manylegs come out they eat the goblin! They are scary!”

“There, there…” I patted the trembling little thing on the head to calm her down. “They are not actually here, so it’s all right. Even if they show up, master will protect you.”

She looked at me with teary eyes and asked, “Really?”

“Of course I will. Even if I have to stop them with my own body,” I told her reassuringly. I wasn’t lying, mind you. Her dying could have been the same as my death, and while I had a bunch of safety nets and a ton of regeneration, she didn’t.

“No Mafter! If Mafter is in danger, Smaragd is the one who has to defend Mafter!”

“Please don’t do that.”

“But Mafter!”

“Just trust me, okay? If I am in danger, don’t try to be a hero. I am tougher than I look, I will be fine.”

“What is a hero?”

“Oh, that… It’s a kind of person who goes out of their way to help others, even if they have to risk their lives in the process.”

“Then Smaragd wants to be a hero!”

“I just told you not to do that!”

“But Smaragd really wants to!”

We looked each other in the eye, and I lost the staring contest in a second. You cannot blame me. You try staring down a cute, teary-eyed girl with puffed cheeks and one of those adorable little frowns between her brows!

Anyways, I lightly cleared my throat and decided to change the subject.

“Let’s discuss this later. You were telling me about the monsters in the area.”

“Oh, right,” She nodded, the pout disappearing from her face in an instant. “There are also the Blackies, and the Hissers, and the Green Glowy Things, and the Rollies and the…”

“Whoa, whoa… Slow down, one at a time,” I exclaimed with a smile, and she returned the gesture more brilliantly than I ever expected.

 

Day 11

“Mafter, wake up!” I woke from my shallow slumber by my familiar shaking me like I was an apple tree in the harvest season. I let out a big yawn and peeked out from under my rat-pelt blankets, startled by the wide open area around me.

“What is it?”

“Smaragd heard fighting over there, Mafter! There is a battle!”

I finally sat up and once my brain started to function I finally figured out where I was. I got so used to the labyrinth that not having a ceiling over my head and brown walls around me felt weird when I woke up. Anyways, I could remember that the previous night Smaragd and I decided to camp out because she was still low on Stamina. Since I had no concept of getting physically tired, I accidentally dictated a tempo she couldn’t comfortably keep up with, and she was too timid to ask me to slow down. Because of that she ran out of strength and we decided to set up camp and have a full night’s rest before we continued on.

But back to the current situation.

“Battle? Where?” I stood up and cocked my ears for a moment, and just as she said, there were a series of battle-cries and clanking noises on the wind. They didn’t seem to be nearby, but when I tried to listen closer and figure out where they came from, I finally understood why my familiar was so frantic. “Your tribe is that way, right?”

She nodded and gazed at me eagerly, awaiting my command. Honestly, I didn’t want to get tangled in this, as it sounded dangerous. On the other hand, I was afraid that if I just marched down the opposite direction Smaragd might just go by herself and then get poked with a pointy stick or something, and that would be even more dangerous.

As such I dropped my shoulders in resignation and picked up the meat-sack with one hand.

“Let’s go!”

“Mm!” She answered with a fierce nod and we began running towards trouble.

This time we didn’t follow the footpath, instead we directly cut through the mushroom forest on our right. It was only at this point that I realized that I forgot to put on my makeshift ratskin moccasins. Since the mushroom trees didn’t have leaves, there was no dead ones on the ground either. Instead it was covered with a thick layer of damp, spongy blue lichen that not only felt gross between my toes, but was quite slippery as well.

Still, we managed to reach the last hilltop before Smaragd’s old home in about half an hour. She was heaving by the time we arrived, and her stamina was getting in the red again, so I told her to stay behind and catch her breath.

By the time we actually arrived most of the combat noise had already died down. I glanced around the clearing in the forest and observed the makeshift huts made of dried weeds and animal pelts. There were about thirty of them, though about half of them had already collapsed by the time we got there. The reason behind their destruction was also clear by just one glace.

Smaragd let out a strained gasp and pointed at the creature in the middle of the small settlement. “It’s a Manylegs!”

I let out a conflicted groan at the sight. It was a spider the size of a family car, thought the long legs made it look even bigger. It was a mottled dark grey except for a large white spot on its black, and it was a curious mix-and-match of a tarantula’s hairy head and legs and a black widow’s bulbous abdomen. Speaking of widows…


Name: Medium White Widow Level: 9 Experience: 501
Classification: Monster Race: Arachnid
Health: 79/100 Stamina: 155/235 Mana: 20/20
Body: 9+1 Finesse: 7
Mind: 2 Insight: 0
Common Skills:
*Poison Fang Lv1
Racial Skills:
*Chitinous Skin Lv1
*Spider Silk Lv1
*Ovipositor Lv1

Description: A monstrous giant spider. White Widows are infamous for the white, skull-shaped spot on their backs, the paralyzing venom they secrete and their dreadful habit of capturing their prey alive and using their bodies as incubators for their eggs, only to devour them once they gave birth to the next generation. Small White Widows hunt in packs, however they do not coordinate well and thus only have a threat rating of D. The larger variants are extremely dangerous, especially towards female adventurers. It is recommended to avoid them unless with a well-prepared subjugation party. Threat level C-.

Poison Fang Lv1 (Active): An offensive skill used with biting attacks. Upon successful attack it poisons the target. (Current poison type: Paralytic)

Chitinous Skin Lv1 (Passive): Grants the owner a significant damage reduction from physical attacks and increases Body by 1 point.

Spider Silk Lv1 (Active): Allows the owner to generate spider silk. The skill consumes a large amount of Stamina unless the owner belongs to the Arachnid race. Allows the owner to change the strength, consistency and stickiness of the silk upon creation.

Ovipositor Lv1 (Active): Allows reproduction. The owner may lay eggs inside the body cavities of warm blooded creatures, including humans and demi-humans. The maximum number of stored eggs and their generation speed is dependent of the total size and weight of the owner (currently: 4/12, +1 per month). Once the egg storage is full, the owner will automatically enter heat and must search for a host for the eggs.

(Holy shit, that is a level 9 monster! And what’s this? Oviposition?! Ew! Eeeeeew! No one told old me it is going to be this kind of world! I call fraud!)
…
I swiftly shook my head and took a calming breath. Right, one thing at a time. First let’s deal with the huge monster rampaging in the goblin village, then I will voice my disapproval of the world that has spider-monsters laying eggs into people’s nether regions.

On closer look, I could only see a couple of goblins running around the place. According to Smaragd’s description there was supposed to be nearly a hundred of them (a bit of detail I had a hard time getting out of her, because I first needed to teach her how to count and do simple arithmetic), but I could only see about twenty of them scattered around the buildings. Once I took a second look, I finally figured out why. There were small versions of the big spider chasing them, though [small] in this case meant they were only the size of a Doberman instead of a car. When one was caught they were bitten and then quickly rolled in web before the spiders started dragging them away. In fact I could see a number of similar drag-marks all leading to the same direction. I barely had any time to digest this information when my attention was grabbed by a light-green blur running down the hillside.

“Mafter! We have to help them! Come quick!”

“I told you not to rush ahead!” My complains fell on deaf ears, as my familiar continued to run towards the closest spider. I muttered, “That girl is going to be the death of me. Literally!” before I broke into a run as well. Smaragd was actually having a fairly even fight with the spider she engaged, and her presence seemed to bolster the mindlessly running goblins to pick up whatever makeshift weapon they could get their hands on and gather around her.

The description said something about goblins automatically following the strongest one in the area, but I didn’t think it was this literal. She also had Leadership Lv1 due to the familiar contract, so while the goblins were confused at first, after a few moments they naturally congregated into a fighting force around her.

They successfully ganged up on no less than three small spiders and managed to defeat them before they caught the big spider’s attention. The monster didn’t let out any noise or anything, but I could tell from the way its movements changed that it was annoyed by them. It turned its eight-eyed gaze at small group of goblins and began to move. It didn’t actually run, it just walked towards them like the struggles of the prey didn’t mean anything to it. It probably couldn’t think in those terms, being a big-ass spider and all, but it still seemed arrogant.

Well, that facsimile-arrogance only lasted a few seconds. You might have wondered where I have been all this time and why didn’t help Smaragd in her fight. To put it bluntly, after seeing the stats of the small spiders, it became obvious that this battle was entirely going to boil down to whether we can take down the big spider, so I was preparing for just that. Though, to be perfectly honest, I was just using the same battle-tactics we used all the time in the labyrinth. I used Camouflage, Smaragd got the enemy’s attention while I sneaked behind them, and then… bam! Knife to the abdomen!

I admit it was pretty scary to run up to the spider to shank it, to the point my legs were shaking beforehand, but once I was moving the rest was as routine as tying my nonexistent shoelaces. I dashed out from my hiding place behind one of the huts and silently closed the distance with Camouflage still on. It ate my stamina like crazy, but since a spider had a lot of eyes, I didn’t want it to notice me on the edge of its vision. Anyways, I closed in with weapon raised. While I realized how silly it looked to attack the vehicle-sized monster with a rusty knife, I had perfect confidence in Sneak Attack, and I wasn’t betrayed.

The knife cut through the chitinous outer skin of the spider like it was made of butter. The creature only shuddered from the strike, lacking any means of yelling out in pain, but my attack still delivered a solid 30 damage to its Health. It wasn’t enough to kill it though, so I continued stabbing the same spot, while trying to stay out of the way of its flailing legs and occasional jets of sticky spider silk, and while each additional strike only shaved off two or three of its Health points at best, so long as I stayed in Camouflage, I could slowly but surely whittle it down.

And then my Stamina ran out.

In retrospect that was a really, outrageously dumb oversight, but in my defense, I wasn’t really used to straight up combat yet, so I never bothered to keep track of the actual values. The moment it got under 10% my vision suddenly blurred and a moment later my Camouflage also disappeared. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, I was abruptly hit by a tremendous impact and was sent flying through one of the huts. Literally. In through one wall, out the other.

While technically that wasn’t as bad as it sounded, since the huts were only made of dried fungus-tree branches, weeds and pelts, it still wasn’t particularly pleasant. Furthermore, once I landed the spider also trampled through the remains of the hut and brandished a pair of jet black fangs at me.

“Shit!” I exclaimed as I tried to get on my feet and raise my dagger to defend myself, only to realize than my right arm was broken and my left ankle was bending in the wrong direction. As if to punctuate my recognition, the pain suddenly registered in my brain, prompting me to let out another “Shit!” That one leg-swipe took off more than two thirds of my Health, and since my stamina was low I wasn’t regenerating.

Then, just as I was about to panic, another voice entered the frame.

“Mafter!”

With the aforementioned battle-cry Smaragd lunged at the spider and hacked at its hind leg from behind. The monster buckled and let out a small jet of webbing in her direction, but to my surprise the web burst into flames before it reached her, startling everyone in the area, including her.

I made a mental note saying; (Aaaaaah! So that’s what Friend of the Flame does!) before I returned to the situation at hand and yelled; “Hit it in the back, where I wounded it!”

I used Supreme Command Lv2 to make sure it was followed, and to my surprise not only Smaragd, but all the remaining goblins rushed the spider at once, hammering at its wounded abdomen like a green tide. In the meantime my leg returned to its previous shape with a soft yet painful crunching sound, so I also switched my dagger to my unbroken hand and lunged forth as well join the fray. It took some effort and some further Supreme Commands, but at last Smaragd delivered the last blow, and so the White Widow finally stopped moving.

Just as it did, a series of popups appeared, and I suddenly felt weak in the knees and nearly collapsed. While I struggled to stay on my feet, my familiar dashed to my side with .

“Mafter, please don’t die! Look Mafter, we beat the big Manylegs, so please don’t die!”

I let out a soft chuckle as I wiped the crocodile-tears from her spider-ichor stained face.

“You are such a crybaby.”

“Smaragd doesn’t know what a baby is, but Smaragd doesn’t care as long as Mafter doesn’t die!”

“I’m all right, I’m all right. I am just a little tired, that’s all.”

Speaking of which, I was surprised to find out that her Stamina was actually higher that before we got to the village. Did Supreme Command really recover so much? I tried it out right then and there as I instructed Smaragd to mop up the remaining spiders. It recovered about 15% of her max Stamina. That was nice to know.

I let her follow my instructions and in the meantime I used my Healing Magic to first get my arm fixed. As a side-effect it also recovered some of my Stamina, so that helped me a bit to stay on my feet. Afterwards I proceeded to run around, healing paralyzed goblins, rescuing some more from under the collapsed huts and just generally being a living saint… until my Mana ran out, at least.

All things told, it took about three hours in total to kill the last of the spiders and rescue everyone from under the rubble. In the end there was a little less than fifty survivors. As the entire village gathered, there were three new surprises waiting for me.

Number one was the fact that there was not a single male goblin in sight. They looked different, had different shades of skin color and facial features, but since they were dressed in the same kind of loincloths that Smaragd was wearing when I first met her, I could immediately tell that they were all females. When I asked Smaragd about this, she told me she didn’t even understand the concept of [male] and [female].

“So what would you call that adventurer we saw a while back?” I asked, hoping to come to the same terms. “The one with the sword and shield?”

“Human?” She asked back like I was asking something dumb.

“But what kind of human. I presume you could tell the difference between him and the healer girl.”

“Healer girl?”

“The second adventurer, the one with the long staff.”

“Ah!” Suddenly her eyes lit up like she realized something profound and she cupped her own, still uncovered breasts. “That human had boobies like mine!”

“Yes, so you can tell the difference between the two.”

“Our boobies?”

“No, the male and the female adventurer!”

It took me some effort, but I finally managed to determine that the goblins as race had no concept of the sexes, as all of them were female. When I asked how baby goblins were made, she told me she still didn’t understand what a baby was, but that new goblins just emerged from the forest sometimes when no one was looking and they just took them into the tribe. Accordingly, she told me how her first memory was waking up in the forest, and then heard others nearby so she naturally joined them on a hunt. I wondered how that worked, but I had other things to worry about, such as point number two.

After some grunting and hand waving that Smaragd insisted was the equivalent of a cordial conversation between goblins, we finally learned the story behind the spider attack. The first wave of small spiders came out of the forest about an hour before we arrived at the scene. At first the goblins tried to hold them back under the leadership of the chief, but then the big spider showed up and she got defeated and kidnapped by the smaller spiders. Afterwards the fight turned into a rout and by the time we got there more than half of the village was kidnapped or killed in the battle. As for what they wanted to do with the kidnapped goblins, I had a good (albeit gruesome) guess.

And that lead us to surprise number three: since the chief was gone for the time being and Smaragd was the strongest goblin in the village, the others have unanimously elected her as their new chief. Why didn’t they pick me if it was only a question of strength? Well, according to Smaragd, it was because they were convinced I was a goddess.

This made it official: goblins were really easy to impress. Furthermore, they started giving me the same sparkly puppy eyes Smaragd did whenever I told her something new. Not only that, whenever it happened my familiar went around with her chest puffed out and was giggling like a kid showing off her cool older sibling.

It didn’t take me long to get fed up with their stares, so after I made sure they were no one else in need of healing I excused myself, told Smaragd to take care of things, and then holed up in an empty hut to get some sleep. However, before I could get around to that, I had to get rid of the annoying flashing panels in the corner of my vision. As such I found a comfortable-looking pile of pelts and lied down before I opened the first one.

Congratulations, you have reached Level 6!
Due to your efforts, your Finesse has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Mind has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Insight has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
Due to your bond with your Familiar, your Body has risen by 1 point(s).
You have received 1 free stat point(s). Where do you wish to allocate them?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

I was tired, so I absent-mindedly picked Insight to get it over with, giving me two more popups in turn.

Congratulations! Your Body reached 10! You are granted the common skill Toughness Lv1.
Congratulations! Your Insight reached 70! You are granted the rare skill Third Eye.

(The what now? Tough Lv1 was the same skill the fighter from before had. Plus thirty Health and Stamina and a chance to shrug off killing blows, I think. What was that other one about eyes? And why did the room suddenly get brighter?)

Third Eye (Passive) (Rare): A Mystic Eye that grants you the following skill effects:
*Veil Piercer: Able to see through illusions and concealment skills.
*Spirit Vision: Able to see incorporeal beings.
*Eyes of Discernment: Able to detect lies and falsehoods.
*True Vision: Able to see perfectly even in the absence of light or while blinded.
*Precognition: Able to see into the near future and detect immediate threat.

I hastily touched my forehead, but fortunately it wasn’t a real third eye. I let out a relieved sigh. In this weird world, one could never know.

Still, this third eye looked really neat on paper; basically five skills in one. I was going to experiment with it later.

Name: Mafter Level: 6 Experience: 194
Classification: Humanoid Race: ?????
Health: 90/130 Stamina: 210/1290 Mana: 23/170
Body: 10 Finesse: 5+7
Mind: 10+7 Insight: 62+8
Common Skills:
*High-Speed Regeneration Lv1
*Stealth Lv2
*Leadership Lv2
*Fire Magic Lv1
*Healing Magic Lv2
*Toughness Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Observation Lv2
*Sage Lv4
*Camouflage Lv2
*Supreme Command Lv1
*Sneak Attack Lv2
Rare Skills:
*Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)
*Boundless Reserves Lv1
*Third Eye
Mythic Skills:
*True Familiar Master (Smaragd)
*Immortal Lv2

I closed my panels and opened the next set.

Congratulations. Your Familiar, Smaragd, has reached Level 6!
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Mind has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Insight has risen by 1 point(s).
Your familiar has received 1 free stat point. Where do you wish to allocate it?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

Right, we shared the same Experience pool, so she would level up with me. I was about to wonder from which stat she would benefit the most when I have heard a commotion outside. Just as I was about to grudgingly get up and look, my familiar burst into the tent with an expression vacillating between excited and worried.

“Mafter! Mafter!”

“What is it?” Muttered awkwardly. Currently Smaragd was entirely naked and her chest and legs were covered in some kind of weird painted markings that brought extra attention to her breasts and her naughty zone. Furthermore, because of the True Sight effect of Third Eye, I could see every bit of her in high definition.

I forcefully tore away my gaze and focused on where she was pointing at. From the direction of the hut’s entrance came a lazily floating bundle of fire. It was just like a Will-o-Wisp I could make, except a deep crimson and floating in the air on its own, gently swaying left and right like it was dancing to some inaudible beat.

“Mafter, look! Little Flame is following me around!”

“Little Flame?” I looked at the fireball and used [Observe], but to my surprise I only got this:

Name: Little Flame Level: -1 Experience: -1
Classification: ????? Race: ?????
Description: The Flame.

(… I am not the only one who finds that incredibly ominous, right?)

“Can you see him, Mafter?”

“Yes, of course I can. Why?”

“Smaragd was painted by the other goblins to become the new chief, and then Little Flame showed up, and Smaragd asked everyone why they were not afraid of Little Flame, but nobody could see Little Flame, so Smaragd ran over to ask Mafter if Mafter can see Little Flame.”

“Whoa, slow down. So you say only you and me can see this… erm… Little Flame?” Smaragd nodded not once, not twice, but three times in a row. I rubbed my chin and considered why that could be. “If we take the timing into account…”

I opened Smaragd’s [Status Panel], and as I suspected, the answer was right there.

Name: Smaragd Level: 6 Experience: 194
Classification: Humanoid Familiar Race: Goblin
Health: 52/70 Stamina: 62/175 Mana: 60/60
Body: 6+1 Finesse: 5+2
Mind: 4+2 Insight: 10+1
Mythic Skills:
*True Familiar (Mafter)
**Shapeshifting Lv2 (Fair Goblin),
**Leadership Lv2,
**Stealth Lv1
**Third Eye (Partial)
*Friend of the Flame

(Yep, right there! She got a new skill from True Familiar, and of course it's the one that lets her see the ominous fireball following her instead of healing magic or whatever. I am not even surprised anymore.)

Putting my grumbling about the logic behind familiar skill-granting aside, at least that explained why only we could see it; it was probably a spirit. It didn’t explain why I couldn’t see its details though. I considered a number of possibilities, such as it not being covered by the System, or my Insight being too low, or my Observation skill being too low, et cetera.

“Mafteeeeeer!” Smaragd suddenly called out to me with a pleading voice, jolting me out of my train of thought, and when I glanced over I found her slightly bent over, the small ball of fire held to her chest by her crossed arms like it was a pet bunny. It was kind of cute. Also, on a side note, goddamit girl, stop bringing my attention to your perky bits! Or at least be a little embarrassed about being nude! I hate being the only person embarrassed in the room!

That aside, I decided to focus on her face and responded, “Yes?”

“Can I keep Little Flame?”

“… It is not a lost pet.”

“But I like Little Flame!”

“I know, but we don’t know where it is from. It might be dangerous.”

“But you said Little Flame is not a bad fire.”

“Yes, but…”

“You are a good fire, right Little Flame?” She raised her hands with the fire resting on top of her palms like she was giving me an offering, and the ball of fire actually rapidly bowed back and forth. “You see Mafter! He is a good fire!”

“Yes, but…” I was about to argue further, but then I realized that whatever this thing might have been, it could actually communicate. As such, I decided to ask it a few question. “Hey, Flame? Are you dangerous?” This time it shook left and right. “Are you Smaragd’s friend?” Nod. “Would you do her any harm?” Shake. “Would you do me any harm?” Shake. “Do you want to stay with us.” Nod nod nod. “I see…”

I paused for a moment while under the scrutiny of Smaragd and her Will-o-Wisp. I couldn’t take the pressure for long, so in the end I just shrugged in resignation and told them; “Fine. Little Flame can stay with us for the time being.”

“Yaaaaay!” Smaragd threw her hands into the air in celebration, accidentally throwing the fireball as well. It stayed in the air for a moment, then it slowly descended upon my shoulder and began rubbing itself against my cheek like it was a cat.

“All right, that’s about enough of that,” I spoke wearily as I gingerly picked up the fireball. It was actually pleasantly warm to the touch and surprisingly soft, but I was too grumpy at the moment to stop and pet it. I handed it back to my familiar and inquired, “By the way, are they done with the painting?”

“Oh, right!” She exclaimed while once again holding her pet fireball to her chest. “They must be waiting for me! I have to go!”

“Take care,” I waved after her as she left, then looked down to close the [Status Panel]s that were still open when something caught my eyes.

Name: Little Flame Level: -1 Experience: -1
Classification: Spirit? Race: Fire?
Description: The Flame that is the friend of the unique named goblin [Smaragd]. It is completely, one hundred percent harmless.

(Ah, right… Because insisting like that isn’t super ominous at all…!)

 

Day 12

The next morning started with a bombshell. After I peeled the sleeping Smaragd off me (while trying to ignore that she was still naked), she told me that she was going to the lair of the White Widows to try and rescue the goblins. When I asked her why on earth she would do something as dangerous as that, she said…

“Because the chief is supposed to help the other goblins, and Smaragd is the chief now, so Smaragd has to do it!”

“No.”

“Ugu!”

“Don’t give me the puppy eyes, the answer is still no!”

She shrunk back and sheepishly muttered about her not giving me any eyes on the first place, but then she straightened herself again.

“But Smaragd still has to do it! Otherwise the goblins are going to be eaten and then put little Manylegs inside of them!”

“It’s the wrong order, but…”

“Maaaaaafteeeeer!” She began pleading again, and the longer the conversation went on, the more obvious it became that she would not listen to me. In retrospect I figured I could have just ordered her to stay put, since she was my familiar after all, but doing so would have probably strained our relationship, and since she was my only sorta-friend in this world, I didn’t want to do that.

So, after about an hour of back and forth, I finally gave in. To my surprise the other goblins have already prepared the food and other necessities for the journey. I have been suspicious about it for a while, but the reason why they suddenly gotten smarter was likely Smaragd’s Leadership skill. That +1 Mind would have probably only made humans a little sharper, but for the goblins who had 1s and 2s to begin with, it was a huge boost.

In just a couple of hours we had a small group ready for travel. It consisted of me, Smaragd and ten of the highest leveled goblins I hand-picked using observation. They weren’t particularly strong, but with Smaragd’s lead they were a decent fighting force that could probably take down a couple of spiders without any causalities. Furthermore, they were equipped with a motley mixture of some of the best clubs, daggers, small shields and piecemeal armor the entire village scavenged over the years.

Smaragd and I also got gifted with the finest equipment the village ever found (which still wasn’t particularly great, nor in mint new condition). At least it was better than nothing. I picked a set of slightly frayed travel clothes they probably scavenged from a dead adventurer, a pair of slightly big but otherwise comfortable leather shoes and a magic staff that was in surprisingly good condition, though the gem at its tip was chipped. Still, it marginally reduced the Mana-cost of healing spells, so I wasn’t complaining.

As for Smaragd, she got a pair of mismatched leather boots and a slightly stained gambeson that we had to cut short so that it wouldn’t reach down to her ankles. At first she refused to wear it, saying that it covered up the war paintings around her boobs, but after I explained to her that showing them off was less important than actual protection against blows, she relented. She also ditched her cracked shield and short sword for a fairly high-quality, if a little rusty, long sword. In the hands of an adult human it was the size of a one-and-a-half-hander with a thin blade and a round pommel, but on her it might as well have been a zweihander. Still, she seemed to be able to swing it surprisingly well. I would have preferred if she used a shield for extra protection, but the goblins’ [treasury] didn’t have any, and I doubted the one she used this far (which was also about to fall apart) was going to be useful for much longer. I also planned to keep her out of the action anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Finally, after we completed our preparations, our ragtag group set out on a rescue mission I still had doubts about, leaving the rest of the goblins to rebuild the village in our absence. I actually hoped to turn the place into a temporary base of sorts where I could rest after I explored the area in preparation to leave the dungeon, but that was for later.

 

Day 13

It wasn’t exactly a forced march, but it was obvious the goblins weren’t used to traveling large distances, so we had to take several short breaks to rest and forage. It was also a good opportunity to teach the goblins about basic squad tactics and fire. They took fairly well to the former, though I have only shown them things I have learned from games and had no idea whether that experience would be applicable for actual combat.

As for the fire, it didn’t go nearly as well. At first they tried to run away when I summoned our portable Will-o-Wisp campfire. Then Smaragd managed to demonstrate to them that it was nothing to be afraid of by taking it in her hands. Then ‘Little Flame’ (name pending approval) hopped into the fireball, took it over and then began chasing the goblins around like a mischievous kid while Smaragd was running after it going “Uguu!” and trying to convince the goblins it only wanted to play.

It was a fairly amusing spectacle, but I couldn’t help but sigh. There was just no tension in those guys, but I was different. I had no idea how I was supposed to rescue those goblins. They might have been already eaten, or egged or worse yet, egged and eaten, xenomorph style. It was sending chills down my spine.

I also didn’t know what kind of opposition to expect. According to the goblins, as translated by Smaragd, only one big spider attacked them, the rest were small ones. However, that didn’t mean there were no other big ones where we were going. Worse yet, it was called Medium White Widow. That implied that there was a Large White Widow, or even a Humongous White Widow. Taking down a big one was not impossible, especially since now we had better equipment, but an even bigger one?

…

Well, there was always freeform Fire Magic, thought I was a little hesitant to use it after my previous attempt nearly collapsed the labyrinth on me. It was just too dangerous.

While I was thinking Smaragd managed to grasp the now corporeal flame and scolded it for scaring the others. In the meantime I used the Ring of Fountain to give some water to the exhausted goblins, and once they stopped repeatedly bowing and thanking me for my kindness (or at least I think that’s what they tried to convey) I dismissed the Will-o-Wisp, returning the invisible flame to its original, angry crimson color and we continued on our journey.

It took us more than five more hours of hiking, but we finally found our destination. I didn’t need the guidance of the goblins to tell me this was the home of the spiders, the sight alone was enough. While the fungal trees looked the same as elsewhere, an entire section of the forest was covered in white webbing like a haphazardly constructed cocoon. It was at least five hundred meters in diameter, and it had a single, roughly five meters high and wide hole on it where we could see several small spiders move in and out.

After some pondering I instructed Smaragd and her goblins to stay close to me as I explained the plan.

“Our goal is the rescue of the other goblins, not to kill all the spiders. We get in, free everyone we could, have you guys carry the wounded outside and then go home.” Ideally I wanted to do all that without the spiders ever realizing we were there. Once I was sure everyone understood I left the coordination to Smaragd and then we all began to slowly sneak towards the entrance.

To make sure we wouldn’t run into any nasty surprises I cautiously scouted ahead using Camouflage and backstabbed any spider I could find, then hid their bodies out of the way. Once we were in spitting distance of the hole, I instructed everyone to follow closely after me and cast Camouflage on the group. While concealing twelve people on the move consumed my Stamina so rapidly I had to take a break every couple of minutes, we still made some progress.

The insides of the web-cocoon were as winding as the labyrinth, but darker. Fortunately my True Sight allowed me to see properly, and Smaragd’s trusty nose told us exactly which way to go. Still, due to the breaks and the occasional shanking I had to do in order for us to progress, it took us nearly two hours to find the area that I could only call a [breeding chamber].

Unlike the rest of the cocoon-forest, where the walls were only loosely defined by the way the threads of spider-silk were strung between the trunks of the purple fungus-trees, this place was entirely isolated from the outside word by a dome of silk so thick I couldn’t see the lichen-stars above. Strangely enough, there were no spiders inside, only a single large rock in the middle of the flat grounds. Furthermore, the moment we stepped in I was hit by a strong, sulfuric odor mixed with the stench of sweat, blood and feces.

Then I actually looked around and I felt like my heart stopped for a moment. The walls weren’t just covered by web, there were things embedded in them, and True Sight let me see them in perfect, visceral detail. There were at least two hundred goblins strewn around, alongside other monsters I couldn’t recognize at glance and couldn’t bother to [Observe], because my attention was immediately drawn to the person glued to the wall in a sitting position not too far away from the entrance. She looked human at first glance, but…

Name: Liselotte Truan Level: 9 Experience: 481
Classification: Humanoid Race: Fae
Health: 3/20 Stamina: 1/50 Mana: 50/50
Body: 4 (-2) Finesse: 4 (-2)
Mind: 6 (-1) Insight: 5 (-1)
Active Skills:
*Healing Magic Lv1
Passive Skills:
*Fast Recovery Lv1

It was an elf! Well, technically the race field said ‘Fae’, but she looked just like an elf, with slender, pointy ears and long golden hair. However, she was in a sorry state at the moment. Originally she must have been quite a beautiful young woman, but at the moment her skin was raw and her cheeks were sunken to the point I could make out the bones of her skull underneath. Her clothes were torn, her face was bruised, her left knee looked like it was dislocated and, most dreadfully, her stomach was distended like she was about five months pregnant. When I stepped closer to her she let out a pained gasp as her parched parted, her unfocused eyes darting around in shock.

“Is… there someone…” She croaked with a pained voice as she tried to look around.

I didn’t hesitate for long. I raised my staff and began channeling a healing spell, but before I could cast it she let out another pained gasp as a torrent of sticky liquid gushed fort from her crotch, followed by three small, yellow eggs. I was so horrified by the sight that for a long moment I forgot to even breathe, but then her gasps suddenly turned into a pained scream as a fourth egg also burst forth from her. It was larger than the others, and it obviously caused her more pain. The second scream finally jolted me out of my stupor and I finally cast my spell. In my hurry I put a lot of Mana into it, and since I didn’t have actual spells to speak of, I had to rely on the freeform version of the magic. Even still, I was barely able to keep her health hovering around 2 while she finished pushing out the last egg, a pure white one that was about twice the size of the rest.

At last she let out a tired groan and lost consciousness, and I redoubled my efforts to save her life.

“Mafter, why are you helping the human?” Smaragd asked innocently, apparently completely oblivious to the shock and dread I was experiencing after seeing this poor woman give birth to bloody spider eggs.

“She… she might be useful later…” I answered off-handedly while redoubling my efforts. It took me a minute and nearly 20 Mana, but I managed to get her stabilized, and her breathing, along with her stats, returned to normal. After I made sure she was going to live I turned back to Smaragd and whispered; “Keep her safe, I will go and see if there were any other…”

I got that far when I was interrupted by a strange ripping sound. The four eggs on the ground began to distend and came apart. They weren’t hard, like a chicken’s egg, but more like a snake’s, and instead of cracking the little spiders just cut themselves out with their claws and fangs. The three small ones were just simply tiny versions of the other spiders, but the one from the white egg actually made me raise a brow.

Name: Albino White Widow Level: 3 Experience: 47
Classification: Monster Race: Arachnid
Health: 30/30 Stamina: 80/80 Mana: 20/20
Body: 2+1 Finesse: 4
Mind: 2 Insight: 2
Active Skills:
*Healing Magic Lv1
*Webbing Lv1
Racial Skills:
*Chitinous Skin Lv1
*Spider Silk Lv1
*Ovipositor Lv1
Description: A rare variant of White Widow. It’s body is pure white, making the skull shaped mark on its back invisible.

The useless description notwithstanding, this was a surprising [Status Panel]. This little thing, about the size of my two fists together, had higher stats than the goblins behind me. Furthermore, it had magic! Healing magic, to boot! Did it inherit it from its mother? Can these spiders actually do that?

For a moment I glared at the creature that was still in the process of peeling off half of the egg from its abdomen, and I wondered if I should squash it before it grew up and turned into a mid-boss or something. Then it finally finished getting rid of the eggshell and glanced up at me, and the moment our eyes met it let out a soft squeak. It surprised me a lot, as this was the first time I have ever heard one of these things make a noise, and it used my momentary hesitation to turn tail and run away.

Unfortunately its siblings didn’t have the good sense to do the same, as they attacked Smaragd and company while they were still in the middle of freeing the elf woman and the goblins near the entrance of the chamber. They naturally didn’t stand a chance against ten plus goblins, but then as I was about to go and help them anyway, my attention was diverted by a small tremble.

I turned back and found that the giant rock in the far end of the chamber moved. At first it was slowly rocking back and forth, but then something I first mistook for a tree trunk rose from under it, followed by seven more.

“You have got to be kidding me…”

Name: Ancient White Widow Level: 21 Experience: 13412
Classification: Gargantuan Monster Race: Arachnid
Health: 600/600 Stamina: 510/680 Mana: 10/10
Body: 28+2 Finesse: 16
Mind: 3 Insight: 3
Active Skills:
*Poison Fang Lv2
*Poison Spit Lv2
*Webbing Lv3
Racial Skills:
*Chitinous Exoskeleton Lv2
*Spider Silk Lv2
*Night Vision Lv1
*Stealth Lv1
*Ovipositor Lv2
Description: A White Widow as ancient as the Abyss, the matriarch of all other White Widows, the mistress of her domain. Many an unfortunate adventurer met their fate in her stomach, or worse. Threat: A

Level 21… Level fucking 21… It was a giant fucking spider the size of a truck. And it was level 21! With 600 fucking Health! And so many skills! Did I just stumble into the lair of a fucking boss here?!

“Retreat!” I shouted, even though my l legs refused to budge. I had to get Smaragd out of there. I was immortal, but if she was killed by this thing… No, wait.

Suddenly a chill ran down my spine as I looked around once again. I was immortal, yes, but I was also in a female body. This monster might not have been able to just outright kill me, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t capture me.

“I could end up like that elf woman…” I muttered in a daze as the humongous spider began to walk towards us.

I admit, I was scared a few times since I came to this world. I have seen some scary things in the labyrinth and outside, but I was never really afraid. I was immortal. What was the worst thing that could happen to me? Well, guess what? I just saw it, and it terrified me to the very bone, shutting my brain down with a mental scream of boundless horror.

“Mafter!” Smaragd cried out as she grabbed hold of my shoulder from behind, but it took her several seconds to gain my attention, during which time the giant spider spat a veritable torrent of sticky white liquid in our direction. The webbing solidified mid-air and covered everyone except for Smaragd and I, as we were suddenly enveloped in a protective aura of fire that burned away all the spider silk.

The sudden heat and smoke finally woke me up and I glanced up at the source of it all, the deep crimson fireball hovering in front of us protectively. The sight finally jolted me to the point where I let out an angry cry and raised my hand with a small ember defiantly blowing above my palm. The fire spirit or whatever must have realized my intention, as it excitedly flew around my hand and it abruptly jumped into the ember.

I looked at the spider still lazily advancing towards me and grit my teeth. I didn’t want to do this. I wanted to avoid collateral damage, but fuck this! This thing needed to die! I am not going to fall prey to anything down here, and especially not to some fucking oversized pest!

As my resolution hardened, the ember in my hand also burst forth with a brilliant crimson flame. I pointed it at the incoming spider, and it stopped for a moment, but then it quickly rushed forwards, its previous deliberate motions completely gone.

I yelled from the top of my lungs and poured every last drop of my Mana into the fire, but it didn’t seem enough, so I continued to pour my Stamina into it until I felt nauseous. Only when my vision started to narrow into a tunnel did I actually give form of the flame, and it burst forth like a torrent out of a broken dam. At that point it didn’t even feel like fire, it was more like I was firing a beam of pure destruction out of my hand. The blinding light, the roaring sound, the smell of burning and evaporating flesh and trees and ground filling my nose seemed to last for an eternity to me.

It was only about five seconds though before it ran out of juice and I staggered, only staying on my feet because Smaragd was still holding onto me. I shook my head and once my eyes readjusted for the darkness I let out an astounded gasp. There was no spider in front of me. In fact, there was no dome or forest in front of me either. In a forty degrees cone the cocoon, the mushroom trees, even the hills behind it all were shaved off and erased from existence.

I heaved hard from the exertion, and to be perfectly honest, I was a little surprised this actually worked. I was still expecting the spider to just pop out of the ground at any moment when I got a pop-up panel in my face instead. I let out a sigh.

“Well, at least this thing never changes,” I muttered as I opened the level up panel… except it wasn’t that.

You are being summoned by the Sovereign of the Abyss. Departure in 5… 4… 3…”

“Wait wha…?”

And then there was a blinding light, and I simultaneously lost consciousness.

 

Day 14 - Morning

I woke up with a horrible, pulsating headache. I groggily opened my eye, only to blink in surprise and then muffle a terrified scream.

“Ah, you are awake.” A loud, rumbling and altogether too deep voice stated wonderingly and I jumped to my feet and took several steps back. No one could blame me for overreaction though, as I was face to face with a goddamn dragon!

Name: Shorkuz of the West Level: 47 Experience: 11682524
Classification: Gargantuan Fiend Race: Dragon
Health: 840/840 Stamina: 2000/2040 Mana: 261/560
Body: 42 Finesse: 36
Mind: 28 Insight: 21
Active Skills:
*Dragon Breath Lv4
*Fire Magic Lv4
*Wind Magic Lv3
*Dark Magic Lv2
*Shape Control Lv3
Racial Skills:
*Dragon Scales Lv4
*Dragon Blood Lv2
*True Sight
*Immortal Lv1
Passive Skills:
+
Description: One of the Four Great Dragons.

Goddamit Observation, why is it that you talk pages about rats and can only say this much about a goddamn dragon! Also, what is this plus sign—hooooly shit it expands! It expands the skill list! Fuck me, that’s a lot of skills!

“Are you quite done gawping?” The loud voice asked in a surprisingly polite manner.

“Just a moment,” I answered while still skimming through the skills. It would have taken me hours just to read the descriptions of each, so I didn’t even try and instead just concluded that this guy in front of me was the real deal, a bona fide dragon that made the giant spider from before look like a joke.

Speaking of which, it was a huge creature with hard, black scales, a pair of large leathery wings folded on its back, a large torso, a long tapered tail and a fairly short, thick neck topped by a horned reptilian head. It looked at me with curious eyes.

“You are a strange one,” It stated with an expression strangely soft on what passed for a dragon’s face. “Other goblins would have started to prostrate themselves before me by now.”

“Really?” I looked at him and the wheels in my head began to turn. He thought I was a goblin. I also didn’t see Observation or any similar skills on him, so he probably couldn’t see my stats. As such I decided to play into the misunderstanding. “Well, I am not like other goblins.”

“I can see that. What is your name?”

“Mafter,” I answered by reflex. Damn you Smaragd and repeating the word Mafter two thousand times every day!

“Mafter, huh? That’s a strange name.”

“I didn’t pick it,” I answered indignantly. “And where I am from, Shorkuz would be just as weird.”

“Oh?” The dragon raised an eyebrow, which was weird to see on a draconic face, and mused, “I don’t remember introducing myself. I see you are well informed.” I remained silent, which he must have taken for agreement, as he continued, “This makes things easier. I presume you are aware that you are in my territory.”

As I thought about it, I could remember the message panel saying that I was summoned by the big boss, so I nodded.

“You are the dungeon master of this place.” The dragon raised his eyebrows once again, and it made a bead of cold sweat roll down my back. “Erm… I mean… the sovereign, right?”

“Correct. I don’t know where you came from, but you do not emit any Lux. Nor do you consume any either, so normally I would have left you alone, but then you had to destroy the Second Area Guardian. Why did you do that?”

“Self-defense,” I blurted out in a hurry.

“Really?”

“Yes. It attacked me, I defended myself.”

“Do elaborate, please.”

I took a deep breath and gave the dragon a quick overview of what happened, from the attack on the goblins till I cast the spell.

“And that was self-defense?”

“Yes,” I asserted. “It spit web at me, I considered that a threat, so I retaliated.”

“I see.” The dragon nodded, apparently feeling that what I said made sense. “I see. However, it still leaves us with two problems.”

“Which are?”

“First, you have killed one of my Area Guardians, just before she was getting ripe. Furthermore, you did so by causing structural damage to the floor.” The dragon paused for a moment, like a parent lecturing a kid letting their mistake sink in. “The lack of an Area Guardian is a serious problem. Summoning another high level monster to fill the role should take thousands of Credits, and as for the restoration of the landscape… It will take months at the very least.”

“That’s… unfortunate,” I spoke cautiously. I could smell a [but] coming.

“But, as luck would have it, there is a way to fix the damage.” The dragon looked at me and its mouth twisted in a facsimile of a smile. “While I cannot see your exact statistics, since you are not part of the Abyss’ infrastructure, based on the fact that you killed an Area Guardian in a single strike, I believe you are a fitting replacement.”

“Wait, was that the reason you brought me here?”

Shorkuz the dragon answered me with a toothy smile that was simultaneously mischievous and terrifying.

“Of course. Why else do you think I haven’t eaten you yet?”

I silently gupled and then muttered, “… Point taken.”

“Good. So, here’s my mandate: You are to become the new Area Guardian of the Second Segment of the First Floor of the Abyss. I give you… Hm… How long do you goblins live?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“Ahaha! Fine then. I give you ten years. In that ten years your job is to oversee the operation of the Second Segment and collect enough Lux and Credits to repair the damage you have caused. Do well, and I may be able to provide you with future opportunities.”

On the last word a new, dark purple panel popped up in front of me.

Do you wish to join the ranks of the Grand Vargebernos Abyss as [Area Guardian 1-B]?
* Yes * No *

“Do I even have a choice in the matter?”

“You can always chose to become a light snack.”

“All right, all right. Understood. Geez.”

Saying so I picked [Yes], and the panel immediately disappeared.

“Ahahaha! This is so refreshing! It’s been so long since I have been able to talk with someone who wasn’t shaking in their boots.”

“I am glad to hear that at least one of us has fun.”

“Good luck with your task, Area Guardian Mafter. I hope you won’t give me an excuse to eat you.”

Saying so the dragon waved one of its front paws and I was once again engulfed in a bright light, transporting me out of the weirdest job interview in the history of ever…

 

Day 14 Interlude ~ Liselotte 01

I woke up to the smell of smoke and burnt flesh. I had trouble opening my eyes. They felt like they were made of lead. Since I couldn’t see, I tried to listen. There was a commotion around me. Heavy things being dragged on the ground. Fire crackling. Moans of pain. Some of it was mine. Then I heard a voice.

“…ame, plea… …. go fi… … … Mafter!”

I couldn’t hear it properly, but I thought it was a girl’s voice. What was a girl doing in a dungeon? What was I doing in a dungeon? I couldn’t remember. It was hard to focus. I finally gave in, and in spite of the pain I fell asleep.

~~~

I had a dream. Or a memory. Maybe both. It was the day we set out for the dungeon. I was surrounded by people I knew. We weren’t friends, I was only acquaintances with their leader. Anthon was the name. I used to see him a lot while I was an apprentice in the Healer’s Pavilion. They asked me to join them for a while because their healer was injured during their last trip and they needed a replacement.

They were looking for spider silk to sell. I told them it was dangerous, but Anthon said they have done it before, and the benefits way outweighed the risk. They also offered to pay me upfront for my services.

My usual group was on a break after a large haul, and I didn’t want to let these people brave the dungeon without support. I gave in. I joined them. I remember how Anthon smiled when he shook my hand to seal the deal. It made me a little bashful. He was a handsome man, even though he was unkempt and a little rugged. I wasn’t smitten by him, but I think I liked him a little.

~~~

The scenery changes. Now we are in the dungeon. We just got out of the labyrinth. I always hated that place. I never liked confined places. Maybe it’s the fae blood in me, but I always liked a wide open sky over my head. The dungeon cavern was better, but still suffocating.

Anthon urged me forwards. We were heading to the White Widow territory. I told him it was a bad idea, but he said they had a foolproof strategy to draw the attention of the spiders while they harvested the web. I should have been suspicious, but I wasn’t. Biggest mistake of my life.

When we reached the edge of the Silkwoods they told me to stay behind. They said they were going to lure out the spiders from the area. I didn't like being left alone, but I did as they told me. A few minutes later they ran out of the woods with a large spider behind them. It was much bigger than the ones I saw when I was with my usual group, and they were leading it towards me. I panicked and tried to run away, but then Anton grabbed me and tossed me to the ground on the path of the spider.

At first I didn’t know what happened. I thought it might have been a mistake, that he would turn around and help me up. Instead I felt two burning stabs on my back and my body immediately stiffened. I can hazily remember the three of them patiently waiting, hidden behind some trees, while I was paralyzed and encased in web. It was harrowing. I didn’t want to remember the terror. Everything went black.

~~~

The scenery changes once again. It was dark. Cold. I was shaking. I couldn’t move. I was sitting with my back to the wall. I was sticky with sweat and other fluids. I couldn’t remember where I was. Then I saw the spider. It was much bigger than the one that abducted me. Its eyes… they were glowing in the dark. They looked at me. I lost control over my bladder. I tried to run away, but my body was stuck to the wall. It was spiderweb. I couldn’t break free.

The spider came closer, its claws clattered in the dark. I tried to break free. It towered over me, its fangs slowly rubbing against each other with a sickening sound. I tried to break free. There was a fleshy sound, and something extended from the abdomen of the spider. It was a large, segmented rod, as longer than my arm and about as thick. I tried to break free. The rod wriggled about like a giant maggot as the spider lowered its body. It touched my stomach and spread a thin, viscous mucus over it. I desperately tried to break free. It made its way under my clothes, and there was a sudden, searing pain, the worst pain I have ever felt. I no longer struggled. Everything went dark again.

~~~

I opened my eyes with a gasp. It was dark, but… I was warm. After a second my eyes adjusted and I looked around. I was in a hut. My body was covered in layers of fur blankets. It smelled bad, but it was nothing compared to the smell of burned flesh I could recall. Where was I? What happened to me?

I wanted to get up, but I froze. There was a goblin in the doorway, a brutish creature with a huge nose and ears. It noticed my movement and made a strange sound and ran away. Did I frighten it? How could I? No, it sounded excited. Why? What were they planning to do to me? I have heard stories of goblins eating the flesh of humans who died in the labyrinth. Maybe they carried me to their village because they thought I was dead. But then why did they cover me in blankets?

I tried to get up, but then I was paralyzed by the sight of the person entering the hut. It was a young girl, and she was beautiful. She was dressed in a stained gambeson and she had a soot-mark on her face, but somehow even those enhanced her beauty. It was like meeting a princess in a slum. I couldn’t help but wonder what someone like her was doing among the goblins. Was she a prisoner? A slave? Did goblins even have a concept of those things?

I wanted to ask, but before I could utter a word the girl broke into a smile and ran to my side. Her feet pattering around me as she made some free space and she finally kneeled down beside my bedding.

“You woke up! Smaragd was worried because you didn’t wake up. Are you all right?”

“I…” I had a hard time forming words. My lips were dry and my throat was burning every time I tried to swallow. “I am thirsty.”

The girl nodded and turned around. She pointed at one of the several goblins peeking around the doorframes and ordered, “You! Bring some water! In a clean cup!”

To my surprise the goblin in the doorway not only obeyed, the others around her also followed suit. The girl nodded to herself with a satisfied grin and she turned towards me again. So she wasn’t a slave. But then what was she? Why were the goblins following her commands? I wanted to ask many things, but those questions were for later.

“Where… am I?” I squeezed the question through my parched throat.

“You are in the village.”

“A village? Of… goblins?”

“Yes.”

“I see…”

Before I could ask my next question, the goblins came back. They all carried mugs and cups of various shapes and sizes filled with water. I was confused by the sight, but the girl took the cup from the hands of the first goblin without a word and offered it to me. Normally I would have been wary of a drink offered by a monster, but the girl’s eagerness overcame my caution and I took a sip. It turned into a big gulp before I knew it and I emptied the cup in one go, yet I still felt thirsty. When she saw that, the girl took the next mug and handed it to me.

In the end I drank all four cups. Three would have been enough, but then the girl told me that leaving the last cup made the last goblin sad, so I forced it down. I didn’t know why I did that. Maybe because I felt indebted to her and I didn’t want to disappoint her?

At last the goblins left with smiles on their grotesque faces and I managed to sit up on my cot of furs.

“Are you okay now?”

“I…” I hesitated for a moment before answering the girl’s earnest question. “I am… fine.” My stomach felt a little heavy, but I wasn’t lying. I was fine. Surprisingly so, considering the circumstances. I could only think of one reason. “Did you heal me?”

The girl looked at me funny for a moment before she shook my head.

“No, it was Mafter.”

“Mafter? Who is that?”

“Mafter is Mafter.” She repeated like she was stating the obvious. “Mafter is Smaragd’s best friend, and Smaragd loves her.”

“I… see. And where is she now?”

The girl, whom I presumed was called Smaragd, became sullen all of a sudden.

“Mafter disappeared.”

“Oh…” I tried to smile sympathetically, but the expression just didn’t come to me. “Was she taken by the spiders?”

She once again looked at me funny before she answered, “How could that happen? Mafter burned the Manylegs.”

Manylegs? Was she talking about the spiders? I not only didn’t understand, I didn’t even know what to ask first. Thankfully she continued speaking, unaware of my plight.

“Listen, listen. Do you want to know what happened? Mafter and Smaragd went to the home of the Manylegs to rescue the goblins they took, but then the big Manylegs woke up and attacked us. It spit that sticky white thing at us, and then suddenly Mafter got really angry and there was a big boooooooom and lots of fire and the big Manylegs was gone. After that all the little Manylegs got scared and ran away, but then…” Suddenly her voice choked up, startling me. “But then Mafter glowed, and Smaragd tried to hold onto Mafter, but Mafter suddenly disappeared and left Smaragd all alone.”

I could only hold my breath in surprise. What the girl described was definitely Teleportation, an extremely rare magic. I have heard that there were no more than three wizards on the entire continent who could use it. Just who was this ‘Mafter’?

In the meantime Smaragd sniffed and rubbed her nose on the hem of her gambeson, then she forced a smile.

“Smaragd was left alone, with everyone else covered in sticky white stuff, but Smaragd is the chief, so Smaragd had to stay calm and help the others, but then Smaragd remembered that Mafter told Smaragd to keep the human lady safe, so Smaragd decided to do that, so that when Mafter comes back she would be happy and tell Smaragd she was a good girl.”

Halfway through she began to rub her nose again, and even though I was in a much worse situation, I could still feel a pang of concern in my chest for my unlikely savior. I reached out and gently patted the back of her hand and said; “I am sure she is all right.”

“Mm.” She nodded with a weak smile. “Mafter is all right. Smaragd knows, because Mafter is very strong and smart and kind and pretty and strong, so Mafter can do anything… but Smaragd still feels lonely.”

“I see,” I patted her hand again, and for a few seconds we both stayed silent. I was about to ask her about where exactly I was and whether I could leave once I got better when she shook her head and stood up.

“Smaragd has to go and tend to the wounded. It’s Smaragd’s duty as the chief and it should not be skipped. Smaragd will come back and see you again. Is there anything you need?”

I hesitated for a moment, torn between two questions, but at last curiosity won me over.

“You have injured?”

“Yes. All the rescued goblins were hurt, and only Mafter could heal, so Smaragd is trying to do her best to help everyone until Mafter comes back.”

“That’s… really admirable.” I paused, looking for the right word. At last I uttered; “I can use healing magic.”

“You can?” Smaragd grabbed hold of my hands and looked me in the eye. “You really can?”

“Y-Yes… I am still weak, but I should be able to help a little.”

“Yaay! Come, this way!”

Before I knew it I was being dragged out of my bedding and out through the hut’s entrance. I felt weak and a little conflicted, but as long as I was helping this earnest, lively girl, I thought I might be able to forget about the horrors I experienced, if only for a short while…

 

Day 14 – Midday

“Whoa!”

I let out an undignified cry as I nearly stumbled and fell on my face. The transportation magic itself was fairly nauseating already, as it made the world around me disappear into rainbow-colored fractals like I had a gigantic acid trip, but the tricky part came when things normalized again, as I found myself in the air about ten centimeters above the ground. The small drop surprised me, but I managed to quickly regain my balance and I hastily looked around.

I obviously wasn’t in the dragon’s chamber anymore. Speaking of which, while I didn’t really mention it while I was there due to the fact that I was too preoccupied with the giant owner of the place, it was gaudy as all hell. It was a giant hall with red carpets and marble columns and even an honest to goodness pile of gold and treasure chests in the middle. Needless to say, that’s where the dragon was sitting the entire time too. How stereotypical.

In comparison the place where I was at the moment… was also gaudy, but slightly less so. It was another hall lit by large iron braziers and in the middle of it there was a giant throne chiseled out of a single piece of dark red marble. So were the walls, on second look. In fact, the entire place was so red it hurt my eyes.

I was still looking around when the metal door on my left opened and a huge man walked in.

“So it is true!” He bellowed with a strange voice that seemed to echo, as if two voices spoke at the same time. Furthermore, when I looked at him, I saw two overlapping people. One was a tall, imposing, bare-chested muscular man with a goatee, his red skin covered with a net of interlinking tribal tattoos. He had a ridiculous lantern jaw, long, straight black hair and a pair of slightly curved bull’s horns on his head. He didn’t have hooved feet, opting for a pair of black leather pants and boots instead, but otherwise he was the spitting image of a devil.

Underneath that imposing figure however was a heavy set man with similar skin and facial features but with smaller horns, a thinner beard and tired-looking eyes with bags under them. The two moved in synchrony as they strode into the hall and promptly sat down on the red throne with a huff.

“I can’t believe the Grand Master really sent me a goblin as a replacement. Is this supposed be some kind of joke?” He looked at me intently for a moment before he raised a finger and bellowed, “Hey you! Can you even understand my words?”

I gave him a wry look and answered, “A moment, I am in the middle of something here.”

I was bothered by this double-vision, so I Observed him and I was still looking at his stats.


Name: Raznok Level: 19 Experience: 9601
Classification: Humanoid Monster Race: Demon
Health: 99/99 Stamina: 282/306 Mana: 75/88
Body: 9 Finesse: 21
Mind: 8 Insight: 8
Common Skills
*Focus Lv1
*Fire Magic Lv1
Rare Skills
*Illusion Magic Lv2
*Dominance Lv1
Racial Skills:
*Demonic Bloodline Lv1
Description: A named Demon rumored to live on the first floor of the Grand Vargebernos Dungeon. There are only rumors about him, as no one who faced him ever lived to tell the tale, but it is said that he is both imposing and cruel to the outmost degree. Threat level: A

Focus Lv1 (Active): The owner can temporarily pay extreme attention to a specific task, increasing perception, learning speed and manual dexterity. The skill consumes Stamina while active.

Illusion Magic Lv2 (Active): Allows the owner to manipulate the perception of others. The objects or disguises created this way are immaterial and may be dispelled if the target’s Insight score is high enough.
(Lv2 Bonus: The owner’s illusions can fool all five senses and are harder to dispel.)

Demonic Bloodline Lv1 (Passive): Each point of Body grants one more Health, each point of Finesse grants one more Stamina and each point of Mind grants one more Mana.

Dominance lv1 (Passive): Creatures and people in the vicinity of the owner automatically become subservient to them. The magnitude of the effect depends on the relative power between the owner and the target. A target’s resistance may be lowered by degrading them through various means and forcing them to submit.

I let out a relieved sigh. While the guy indeed looked imposing, when I compared him to Shorkuz the dragon, or even the giant-ass spider I incinerated not too long ago, he was actually fairly weak. That Dominance skill was a little worrisome though.

“I have waited long enough! Come over here!”

Just as I was thinking about that, the big horny guy bellowed a new popup panel into existence in front of me.

You have been targeted by the effects of Dominance Lv1. You are immune to mind-altering effects. Dominance Lv1 resisted.

I absent-mindedly closed the panel, only to realize there was another one under it.

You have been targeted by the effects of Dominance Lv3. You are immune to mind-altering effects. Dominance Lv3 resisted.

You have been targeted by the effects of Majesty Lv2. You are immune to mind-altering effects. Majesty Lv2 resisted.

You have been targeted by the effects of Aura of Dread Lv3. You are immune to mind-altering effects. Aura of Dread Lv3 resisted.

Whoa. Where did those come from? I figured I probably resisted all these during my meeting with the dragon, but I couldn’t be sure, as I didn’t pay any attention to the flashing notifications at the time. Speaking of which, after I got all the <you resisted X> stuff out of my face, I also found a level-up panel. I guess it was obvious in retrospect. I mean, I did kill a Lv20+ giant spider after all, and I was gaining something like 3.5x XP due to Sage.

Anyways, while it might have been rude, I ignored the horny guy and instead I quickly opened the panel to take a look.

Congratulations, you have reached Level 9!
Due to your efforts, your Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Finesse has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Mind has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your efforts, your Insight has risen by 2 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Mind has risen by an additional 1 point(s).
Due to skill effects, your Insight has risen by an additional 2 point(s).
Due to your bond with your Familiar, your Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to your bond with your Familiar, your Insight has risen by 1 point(s).
You have received 3 free stat points. Where do you wish to allocate them?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

Congratulations. Your Familiar, Smaragd, has reached Level 9!
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Finesse has risen by 2 point(s).
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Mind has risen by 1 point(s)
Due to their efforts, Smaragd’s Insight has risen by 1 point(s)
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Body has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Mind has risen by 1 point(s).
Due to their bond with their Master, Smaragd’s Insight has risen by 2 point(s).
Your familiar has received 3 free stat points. Where do you wish to allocate them?
* Body * Finesse * Mind * Insight *

I dumped everything into Insight as usual, and beheld my new stats.

Name: Mafter Level: 9 Experience: 630
Classification: Humanoid Race: ?????
Health: 150/150 Stamina: 1334/1335 Mana: 190/190
Body: 12 Finesse: 6+7
Mind: 12+7 Insight: 70+8
Common Skills:
*High-Speed Regeneration Lv1
*Stealth Lv2
*Leadership Lv2
*Fire Magic Lv1
*Healing Magic Lv2
*Toughness Lv1
Uncommon Skills:
*Observation Lv2
*Sage Lv4
*Camouflage Lv2
*Supreme Command Lv1
*Sneak Attack Lv2
Rare Skills:
*Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)
*Boundless Reserves Lv1
*Third Eye
Mythic Skills:
*True Familiar Master (Smaragd)
*Immortal Lv2

I didn’t gain any new skills this time (and good riddance, it was a pain in the ass to keep track of all of them), but the stats alone had my eyes rolling. According to my Body score, I was actually physically stronger that the giant muscle-bound demon guy in front of me. Though, to be fair, I suspected said muscular macho form was a glamour of some sorts, but even the guy underneath was pretty imposing, while I was still in the shape of a small, barely pubescent girl. Speaking of which, it was about time I switched out from said form, but I decided to do that later.

Anyways, since I still haven’t replied to him, Raznok (or whatever his name was) stood up from his throne and straightened himself menacingly. At the same time he did that the braziers around the room flared to life and the flames in them began to rise as high as the ceiling.

“Do not test my patience! Genuflect in apology, or your life is forfeit!”

You have been targeted by the effects of Dominance Lv1. You are immune to mind-altering effects. Dominance Lv1 resisted.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Honestly, even if the effects of the skills slipped off me like water from the back of a duck, I had to admit that the whole <giant scowling demon guy framed by roaring flames> thing was pretty impressive.

“If it’s all the same to you, I would rather not.”

For the first time the two visages of the demon went out of sync, as the muscular one kept glaring at me while the guy underneath blinked repeatedly and then brought up a semi-transparent panel without the illusion even twitching. I was about to call out to him and ask what he was doing when I got another popup.

Floor Master [Raznok] is attempting to directly access your Status Menu. Do you grant permission?
* Yes * No *

I obviously picked <No>, and when I did so he reeled back like he was punched in the face, though the illusion was still glaring at me motionlessly. Raznok then wiped his forehead and poked at the black panel in front of him again.

Floor Master [Raznok] is attempting an override with Administrative Privilege Delta. You possess Administrative Privilege Epsilon. Do you comply?
* Yes * No *

I had no idea what was going on, but if I didn’t allow it the first time, I obviously wasn’t going to roll over now! I immediately picked <No> and I was treated to yet another panel, this time a black one like the one Razzie had.

Attempting resistance. Defensive strength is reduced by 50% due to 1 level(s) of Administrative Privilege difference. Effective defensive strength: 2312. Incoming offensive strength: 1018. Resistance successful.

You have received Enlightenment! Your claim on Administrative Privilege is more than double the strength of your opponent. Attempting to usurp Administrative Privilege Delta.
…
…...
…......
Success! You now possess Administrative Privilege Delta.

… Okay, what just happened? What the hell is going on?! Usurp what? Privilege what? Who the hell told you to usurp anything?! Argh! This System is driving me nuts! Where is a manual when you need one?!

Well, to be fair, while I was pretty shocked by this development, it was nothing compared to the blow the demon guy received, as he stumbled backwards and fell onto his throne with a bewildered expression.

“Wha-What the fuck are you!?” He yelled at me from between clenched teeth, but then he swiftly clamped a hand over his mouth and tried to stand back up to overlap with his still motionlessly glaring illusionary version. It was a little amusing to see he thought the cat wasn’t out of the bag yet. At last I sighed and dismissed the message panel in front of me and tried to smile at him.

“Okay, I finished with my things. Hello.”

He twitched and almost fell back into his throne for a second time, but then he took a deep breath and answered; “Welcome to… Erm… I mean, I am the Floor Master!”

“Yeah, I figured. I was sent here by the Dungeon Master to fill in for the spider boss I displaced. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

“Yes, same here. Now, if you could come a little closer…”

“Just a moment,” I raised an open palm, prompting him to shudder and bite his tongue in surprise. “Before we continue, could you remove that glamour? It’s distracting.”

“You… can see through my magic?”

“Of course. Now please remove it.”

He hesitated for a moment, and then he finally nodded. A second later the illusionary form of the prim, muscular demon disappeared, only leaving his real, profusely sweating appearance behind.

“That’s better,” I told him with a thin smile, which Razzie returned, although with a bit of strain.

“It is for the lesser minions, you see. I have to keep up a certain appearance, you see.”

“Yes, yes. Of course I understand.”

“Good. Very good. So… could you, maybe, come closer? I wish to discuss things with you.”

While the man’s mannerism was a little off, I had to admit that we were standing quite some distance apart and I didn’t want to yell just to have him hear me. As such I nodded and began to walk towards the throne.

However, I could barely take three steps before Raznok let out a surprisingly high-pitched scream and waved his hand towards me. Following his motion a torrent of flames erupted from the brazier on the right of the altar and rushed towards me like a giant fiery eel swimming through the air. At first I almost dodged out of the way and covered, but then the orange flames suddenly turned a brilliant and familiar crimson and instead of crashing into me they swerved to the right and then began to circle around me.

As it did so, the originally formless ribbon of flame began to shrink and take up the shape of a thin, roughly two meters long serpent with three pairs of feathery wings. Once the transformation was complete it aimed right at me again, coiled around my left hand, slithered up my arm and then began to rub its head against my face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on.

“Hello Little Flame. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Little Flame made a strange purring noise, its surprisingly human-looking eyes squinting in joy. I petted the ominous little bugger and faced the other person in the room, who was still frozen in the motion he used to send the fire blast against me. For a second I hesitated, seeing how his mouth was still agape and that there were giant beads of sweat running down his face, but at last I took a step forwards. When my heel reached the ground he suddenly let out another high-pitched scream. I stiffened and got ready for an attack, but instead he fell to his knees and prostrated himself in front of me.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking! I should have known better! Please don’t kill me!”

I raised a hand to object, but seeing that he was practically hitting his head against the floor in his efforts to apologize, I raised it to my face instead and glanced at the surprisingly lukewarm fire-snake on my shoulder.

“Well, we are off to a rocky start, aren’t we…?”

 

Day 15 – Morning

Even though the host struck me more as a musclehead, the library of the Raznok estate was surprisingly large. In fact it was about the size of the public library old me used to frequent in elementary school except, well… red. Red covers, red bookcases, redwood chairs with red velvet cushions… Razzie had a thing for the color, it seemed. On the same note, unlike the rest of the mansion, this one room was lit by fist-sized glowing orange orbs in sockets on the walls instead of the usual smokeless braziers, probably because of the flammable nature of the place.

Speaking of rooms, I actually managed to bully my way into using the bath (which also had a crimson bathtub, go figure), and they even lent me the slightly long but otherwise comfortable (and most importantly, freshly washed) night gown I was wearing at the moment. It was red, because of course it was, so it didn’t really suit my complexion, but it felt nice to be clean all the same.

Anyways, at the moment we were sitting at the oaken table in the middle of the chamber. I had a couple of books in front of me and had Razzie sitting by my side at arm’s reach. He already had his glamour turned back on, probably to hide the humongous bags under his eyes. He already had them even before I convinced him I wasn’t going to kill him, but spending the entire night forced to read excerpts from books for me made them all the darker. Speaking of which, first I really wanted him to teach me how the local writing system worked, but it turned out to be this really complex, right-to-left vertical hieroglyph stuff, so I decided to do it later and focus on getting some dungeon-specific information from him first.

“So you say that the entire dungeon exists just to get this <Lux> thing out of people?” I asked my unwilling host while I looked over my hastily scribbled notes.

“Y-Yes…” The large demon sitting at my side replied with a nervous voice completely unbefitting his appearance, with or without the glamour.

According to Razzie over there, the System (which they called the <Divine Administration>, but that was a mouthful, so I decided to keep calling it <The System> anyway), was created by the great god Tih A’maer. He was a hero who came from a different world and, upon seeing how chaotic the place was, he set out to gain divinity and reform the entire world. Considering the present situation, he obviously succeeded. Also, note to self: people can become gods around here if they try hard enough. Look into it later.

But back to this Tih A’maer fellow: he also designated humans, fae and a couple of other sentients as <Races of Light>. They got extra support from the system, while the rest became the <Races of Shadow>. In other words, the traditionally heroic races were designated as the protagonists while the rest became the antagonists. Since some found this somewhat unfair, the <antagonist races> then created the dungeons as a way to harness the system for themselves. And thus we reached the current point in the conversation, so let’s return to it.

“So, if I get this straight…” I spoke after placing my notes on the table, “Dungeons all have several layers. Each layer is governed by a Floor Master, and the Floor Masters are under the command of the Grand Master. The Grand Master guards the Core at the bottom of the dungeon, which is used to gather the Lux from the people entering and then… then what?”

Razzie shifted on his seat uncomfortably before he finally spoke up, his gruff voice strangely tense.

“W-Well, the Core does… something with the Lux. I don’t know what exactly. I have never seen it myself, you see, but it turns Lux into Credits and we can use them to do things.”

“Such as?”

“Errr… Well, you can… for example, change the layout of the labyrinth, you see? The caverns as well, to a degree. Or you can modify what kinds of monsters are born in an area. Things like that.”

“Oh, so you do spawn monsters…” I mused while writing, “I guess that’s where the new goblins came to the village.”

“I… I think so. Critters are managed by the Area Guardians, so…” Suddenly the real Razzie under the glamour visibly paled and shook his head. “I-I mean, when I say <critter>, it is just terminology, you see? I am not judging goblins or anything, you see? It’s the <Divine Administration> where they are designated as such, you see?”

“Yes, yes, I see,” I answered half-heartedly. At first his overreactions were a little amusing, but by this point I was getting tired of them. “So you spawn critters, then what?”

“Y-You see, there is this kind of… environment we have to keep up. Like the above ground. There are bugs that get eaten by rodents that get eaten by foxes that get eaten by wolves, then the wolves die and the corpses get eaten by bugs. That kind of thing.”

“Food chain.”

“A chain? Where?”

I let out a sight and continued while rubbing my temple.

“No, that’s what you just described is called where I come from. It’s required for an ecosystem to stay stable, I think.”

“Then it surely is! A chain of food! How profound!”

I shrugged my shoulders an ignored the man’s clumsy attempts at bootlicking. More importantly though, lately I have found that I have been able to remember a lot of things from school I was sure I had already forgotten, like how ecosystems work and the like. Maybe it was because of my steadily rising Mind score? Just how was I mentally affected by those stats anyway? At least I didn’t feel particularly insightful, so they couldn’t be that prominent. I decided these were things to think about later, and instead I tapped my pen on the table to punctuate my next question.

“So, in this ecosystem the goblins are near the bottom of the food chain, right?” Razzie probably still didn’t grasp what those terms meant, but he awkwardly nodded all the same, so I continued; “So they exist to be eaten?”

“N-N-No! I didn’t mean it like that! They are a very important part of the dungeon, very important. It’s just that your… erm… ‘predecessor’ required female humanoids for her race’s… errrrm… reproductive needs.”

I paused for a moment to let that sink in.

“… So what you are saying is that goblins were on the First Floor because the spiders needed something to lay their eggs into?”

“No! I mean, yes, but… I had nothing to do with it, you see? It was the Old Widow. Oh, right, Old Widow was what I called her, you see. She had no name, and she couldn’t talk, but I had to call her something, you see. She was not particularly smart, but she still managed to figure out that if she added more goblins to the area, her spawn didn’t have to hunt for adventurers all the time.”

“So she made the goblins entirely female for that?”

“N-No, actually it wasn’t her. You see, all the creatures spawned by the dungeon are female. This way they cannot breed, and so we don’t have to worry about them overpopulating. It makes things easier to manage. It’s… um… it’s good for the ee-ko system. It… err… balances… things.”

I raised a hand like I was taught in school, and the giant man on my side nearly fell out of his chair with a surprised cry. I shook my head and let my hand down.

“Stop doing that, I only wanted to ask something. You said all the dungeon creatures are female so that they won’t breed, right?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Then what about the spiders?”

“Oh, them?” Razzie sat straight again and began absent-mindedly stroking his goatee. “They were left behind by the Grand Master, you see. The old one, not Master Shorkuz. White Widow silk is actually one of the materials the dungeon uses to lure upworlders down, so she tried to spawn lots of spiders to make lots of silk. Unfortunately it turned out they had a habit of eating each other, you see. At first it was good for weeding out the weaklings, but after a while the old spiders were eating the newly spawned young spiders before they could even build a nest, so there simply wasn’t enough silk to entice the upworlders, and thus spawning spiders began to cost more than how much Lux they earned. So, the previous Dungeon Master decided to modify them to be able to breed, and then she made goblins and other critters in the area they could use to reproduce so that there would be a… a balance, you see. Like the chain of eeko in the system, but completely different, you see.”

“I see…” I noted his answer and thought about it for a moment. “But wait, does that mean that you can modify monsters?”

“Yes. It’s done through the Dungeon Management book.”

“Really?” I tried to call out a number of different things, like <Management Panel> and such in my head, and I actually got a new panel open up in front of me. It was black, and it actually had a series of tabs on the top. It had a number of neat things, like a map, a bunch of statistics about the creatures on the dungeon floor, a pile of graphs about Lux income and Credit expenditure and so on. I decided to mess around with it later, and for the time I returned to the conversation. “Neat. Now, for my next question…”

“Please excuse us.”

My words were interrupted by the ringing of a tiny bell as the door opened and two beautiful young women walked in pushing a food cart. They were the maids of Razzie, thought they weren’t wearing French maid aprons, instead opting for fairly conservative dresses. There were four of them in total, but only two of them came in this time. The tall one with the waist-long brown pony-tail holding the door open was Sera, a Level 9 human rogue (or at least so I guessed based on her stat-distribution), while the busty girl with short black hair pushing the cart was Alvilia, a level 7 imp.

Now, while the word ‘imp’ might have conjured images of stubby, big-headed little devils with tiny little pitchforks, she looked like a perfectly pretty, if red-skinned human girl with a pair of petite horns on her forehead and a thin tail ending in a spade attached to her rear. I asked her before when she helped me pick my night-gown and, according to her, imps were the low-level form of succubi and incubi in this world.

Anyways, the two stiffly entered the room and stopped besides us.

“We thought you might be thirsty, so we prepared some tea.” Sera spoke in a businesslike manner.

“Oh, you didn’t need to,” I told them with an amicable smile. “The refreshments you brought in at midnight were more than enough for me.”

“But we had to! We don’t want to be bad hosts!” The imp girl exclaimed with a, dare I say, impish smile and offered me a cup.

I let out a sigh and graciously accepted it, then I put it down onto the table.

“Thank you.”

“Aren’t you going to drink it?” Alvilia asked.

“I am not thirsty right now. I will drink it later.”

“But you should! We need to know if—”

“If you like the blend,” Sera smoothly interrupted her eager coworker.

“Don’t worry, I will tell you later.”

I sent a glance at Razzie, and after a short twitch of recognition he cleared his throat and spoke up with a booming voice; “Do not pester our esteemed guest, you two! Move along!”

“Yes master!” “Understood!”

The two non-french maids bowed in unison and after some hesitation they left the premises. Once the door closed I let out a sigh, at which point Razzie’s dignified façade cracked at once and he began sputtering.

“P-Please do not take offense! They are just eager to serve!”

“They sure are,” I muttered flatly before I pushed the teacup aside and picked up my notes again. “So, back to the floor management: You said Credits are earned from converting Lux.”

“Yes.”

“And you get Lux from adventurers.”

“Yes. We call them upworlders though...”

“And you use the Credits you earn this way to spawn creatures and materials to lure in the adventurers, who then give you Lux, which you use to get Credits. Do you see a problem with that?”

“… No?”

I sighed and put down my pen.

“This is a cycle that has no end goal. What do you actually get out of this system?”

He hesitated for a while, and then said; “We are kind of upholding the natural circulation of Lux in this world, you see? So, maybe if we didn’t do this, things would get out of balance, you see?”

“… You just pulled that out of your ass, didn’t you?”

Razzie shrunk back and feebly nodded.

“Yes ma’am. Sorry ma’am.” I sighed yet again, and he hurriedly added; “But… But you can buy things with Credits too, you see! You get a personal portion from the area you manage, and if you bring in a lot of Lux, you can buy all kinds of things. For example, I bought this mansion and all the things in it with Credits!”

“So you can get some personal gain out of it, huh?” I paused for a moment to think, and then inquired; “So the amount of credits you can spend is proportional to the amount of Lux you collect. How exactly do you increase that?”

“W-Well… You see… Upworlders give you a little Lux over time just by being in the area you manage. When fighting they give you a bit more, and you can get a lot at once if they die. The stronger they are, the more Lux they give you both when alive and when they die. Creatures give you some Lux when they die too, but not as much as it costs to create them. The best way to increase the amount of Lux you get is to lure upworlders to your area with some kind of valuable raw material, like spider silk, and then keep them bogged down in fights or kill them outright to get lots of Lux fast.”

“Any other alternatives?”

“Erm… The lower layers sometimes use small mazes or traps to have the upworlders kept there until they starve. Unfortunately those cost a lot of Dungeon Credits, so doing that is only really cost-effective with strong upworlders, and they rarely bother with the first floor.”

“I see…” I nodded again and began absent-mindedly arranging my notes while thinking.

Razzie kept watching over me for a while, but at last he cleared his throat and gingerly pushed the teacup towards me.

“Your tea… it’s getting cold, you see…”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you going to drink it? My women went out of their way to make it, you see. I don’t want them to think you shun them by not drinking it. It would make them sad, you see.”

I glanced at the tea, then up at Razzie’s big, earnest mug, and at last I shrugged my shoulder and picked up the cup.

“Fine, fine.” I raised the it to my mouth, but before I took a sip I glanced up one more time and added, “To be honest though, I am pretty sure your maids already dislike me.”

“W-What would make you say that?!” Razzie raised his voice in surprise.

“Call it intuition,” I told him before I gulped down a mouthful.

You have been poisoned with [Laxative Lv1]. You are immune to poisons. Poison resisted.

“Huh. So it was laxative this time…” I muttered under my nose irritably.

“E-Excuse me…? I couldn’t hear what you said.”

I looked up at the nervous demon at my side and gave him a reassuring smile.

“I just said your maids make really tasty tea, that’s all.”

Saying so I raised the cup to my mouth and took another sip, deciding to ignore the both the warning message popping up after every gulp and the increasingly nervous giant demon at my side.

 

Hey guys, a bit of a heads-up: since my main story, The Simulacrum, has become pretty popular while I wasn't looking, this little time-waster story of mine is going to be pretty much on indefinite hiatus from now on. I still have about half a dozen chapters written, but I am really not in the mood to edit the tables...