Chapter 29
Gobblin’ Town?
New Evolution Class E?v?o?l?u?t?i?o?n? C???l???a???s???s??? E???v????o?????l????u????t????i????o?????n??? C??????l???????a???????s????s??????? … Unlocked!
Evolution Unlocked:
Highland Kelpie: F
This is the most basic Evolution of the Kelpie. Like all Kelpies it is focused on speed but the Highland Kelpie can only change their limbs into tentacles, rather than the wider range of metamorphosis other Kelpies have access to.
New Class Skill Unlocked!
New Class Skill unlocked:
Tentacle Limbs: F
Transform a limb into a tentacle. Costs 50 Mana.
You have reached Level 1 in H???i???g???h???l???a???n???d??? ???K???e???l???p???i???e???!???
+3 Agility
In the space between space, as his heart slowly stopped hammering out of his chest, Elijah selected the only Class available to him and almost out of reflex placed the required Xp into it to level it up.
He needed a moment. He felt more volatile, more on edge than he ever had before, as if the slightest trigger could cause him to fly off the handle. It reminded him of…
Elijah wasn’t given his moment. Before he could get his breath back, the next Trial materialised.
Navy clouds overcast the sky. Distant hills, bristling with pine stubble, were occluded by the trees that formed right in front of him. A foul smell drifted on the brisk morning air, a mix of smoke, sweat, excrement, and death.
Chittering, throaty warbles that might have been the victorious cries of prepubescent pig people crashed through the forest.
Looking toward the source of their acrid shouts, Elijah saw the red glow of fire, though the exact nature of goings-on was obstructed by a sea of brown, spindly trunks.
The Trial of Evolution 1: Goblin
You have reached Lv 25 as a Goblin! Welcome to The Trial of Evolution: subjugate a war party of lower-levelled Goblins to prove your right to undergo the first Evolution. A better performance in this trial will lead to a more powerful Evolution with stronger monster Skills and Traits.
Subjugate; that surely meant a fight! He couldn’t deny he was itching for just that: a way to vent his frustration. The only question the teen had was: Could I win?
Shortly after he had the thought, he realised it didn’t matter. In these Trials he was inexorable; even if he lost to the war party, he would come back over and over again until he was victorious.
There was something simultaneously chilling and exhilarating about the notion, but Elijah couldn’t allow himself to get carried away. Now that the Trial had started, he would take his time to learn as much as possible.
Time was of the essence, but his grandfather had taught him that the best way to waste time was to move quickly. If he ran headlong toward the commotion, he’d no doubt end up dead and having learnt very little.
Sandaled feet moved over dry pine needles with steps swift and sure. Elijah moved stealthily towards the light.
He pressed himself against a trunk and peered around. Ahead of him was a clearing, a field with short grass and pats that made it clear that it was the grazing ground of some cow-like creature, long since fled.
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On the far side of this open space was a group of wooden structures, or the remains of them.
The blackened husk of what used to be a farmhouse, stables, and barn smouldered and sent streams of smoke up into the oppressive sky.
That was just the start. The town that once was had a number of farms around its perimeter, all burnt or otherwise destroyed. Beyond them were the footings of a wooden palisade, a useless defence when faced with fire.
The burning of the defensive structure had created a curtain of black smoke which obscured the centre of the town; he couldn’t see in, but none inside could see out.
Consumed by battle and gobbled up by war, there didn’t appear to be anyone left. Bodies of cat-faced humanoids lay where they had fallen.
Some were decapitated near washing lines; some were drowned in troughs; others had their backs sliced open, and the blood splatters indicated they had been trying to run away.
The wounds looked ragged, as if the weapons of whatever had killed these people were crude and poorly sharpened.
Elijah, despite his earlier lust for battle, felt sick.
Best as he could tell, these were not combatants; they didn’t wear armour, and none of them had weapons. Even though they were clearly not human, the teen didn’t think these had been monsters but people.
He rushed through the nightmare, pressing towards the joyous grunts and thuds that came from beyond the wall of smoke. If he hadn’t been eager to slay these Goblins before, he definitely was now!
Mud squelched underfoot as the teen ran around the outside of the town. None of the Goblin war party were outside of the town centre, so he was free to move with indiscretion.
There was no way to pass through the still-burning palisade, so he needed to find a way into the town.
When the young man had circled half of the burning wall, he sprinted past an unburnt shed and saw a monster’s creature only a hundred paces away.
Elijah skidded to a halt, reversing course with a flailing motion.
The bald head of the green stocky midget snapped his way, bulbous nose swaying as it did. The thing rubbed sleep out of pure black, beady eyes; eyes that scanned the area from which it was sure it had heard a noise, but there was nothing there now, so it returned to leaning slovenly on its spear.
The teen was pressed against the wall of the still-intact shed. His haste to kill the monsters that were capable of such brutality had made him reckless.
He had no idea what a Goblin was, aside from the depictions he had seen in games. As it turned out, they were surprisingly accurate. The profile of the grotty, moss-coloured creature, dressed in a loincloth, was pretty much exactly what the sixteen-year-old had expected.
Still, he didn’t know how strong or how many there were.
After taking a good few seconds to calm himself, Elijah poked his head around the corner.
The Goblin appeared to be standing guard, though not with any enthusiasm. When it wasn’t sighing in boredom as it stared blankly ahead, it was glancing through the gate behind it, shooting longing looks towards the as-yet-unseen commotion.
The structure that housed the metal gate was made of stone, and as such, hadn't been taken by the flames; this was Elijah’s way in!
The Trial notification had said that the Goblin war party he was supposed to subjugate was lower-levelled, lower than level 25, he assumed, but that didn’t actually mean anything; they could be anywhere between level 0 and 24, changing the difficulty of the Trial drastically.
The teen used Identify on what he assumed was a Goblin, wanting to learn more.
Identify:
Level: 6
Monster: Goblin
Description: Goblins are perhaps the most numerous monster on Terra Torus. They spawn in dark caves and are happy to destroy and consume pretty much anything they can find. On their own, they are not a threat to an adult as they struggle to survive long enough to get to level 1 in the wilds. If they are under the command of a Goblin Chief, however, they can become very dangerous.
Assuming the worst-case scenario, an A-rank Class, if Goblins even had Classes, and all the points were in one stat, say Strength, that would give this guy a Strength of 42, more than double his own!
Of course, the truth was probably far, far lower, judging by the creature’s pudgy, yet somehow anaemic body.
There was about twenty feet between Elijah and the gate guard. With nothing to hide behind, sneaking up likely wouldn’t work. It struck him that the best tactic would be a blitzkrieg.
Centreing himself, Elijah burst out from behind the shed at a run. He spent half of his Stamina on the Light Footed Skill, allowing him to close half the distance with barely any sound.
When the noise of feet dashing across the muddy path finally reached the Goblin's floppy ears, it was barely able to turn to its left and face Elijah and equip a mask of surprise before he was attacked.
The teen threw a haymaker. Powered by his 24 Strength, and the momentum of his charge, it hit hard enough to make a cracking sound as it crashed into the chest-high forehead of the monster.
It fell limp, its spear clattering to the ground. Elijah checked his fist, but it was fine. The sound had come from the caved-in head of the immobile Goblin.
Elijah was stunned, unable to understand how his attack had done so much damage. All the monsters he had fought were far tougher, and he struggled to do any injury to them with his bare hands. A new notification sprung up before him.
You have defeated a Lv 6 Goblin:
Less Xp is awarded for defeating an opponent of a lower level. 43 Xp awarded. Xp automatically placed in escrow, US 2.7.1.
A sneeze to his right brought Elijah back to the moment, and he stopped staring at his hands in surprise. It was the only sound, beside the constant crackling of fire; the constant celebratory noises which had been coming from inside the town had stopped completely.
Turning his head, he saw, for the first time, what was on the other side of the gate.
Twenty Goblins, of various sizes and shades of green, with a range of weapons and armour, all kitted out better than the scrawny guard he had just KOed, were staring at him in stunned silence, save for a lanky monster who was pulling mucus from its freshly sneaked schnoz with glee, as if it were a string of never-ending taffy.
For a moment both parties didn’t move, not knowing what to make of the other. Then Elijah broke the tension by cursing:
“Well, shit!” So much for a stealthy approach.
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