Actually, I learned something very good when the humans were still here. At the same time when we found out momma and Fiara’s magic attributes, we found mine as well. I gained the holy attribute when I went through my hunting ceremony, but I had an attribute even before that; one that I was born with, and that’s the earth attribute.

Of all the elements, earth is actually my favorite, and the one I feel most comfortable with. Sure, there are others I think would be convenient to have, but earth was the only one I ever felt a real bond with.

Ever since I found out I had the earth attribute, I learned some basic earth magic and started preparing these fields for the Goblins. They took me two weeks, but there’s three large fields with the soil all tilled and fertilized.

“Ah!” The surprised voice from Giji made me feel proud of my work.

“I prepared the soil with my earth magic, but cultivation is beyond me. Besides that, I simply don't have the time for it on top of my other duties. Now then, each of the three fields is for a certain kind of crop. One is for grains, another for vegetables, and the third is for Silfela grass and other textile plants. Let me know what seeds you need, and I will have the hunting groups gather them. If you need water, I’ll have Fiara use her water magic, but I plan to irrigate the fields and dig a well in the near future.”

“The stone fence around the fields should keep you somewhat safe, but I'll also post a few Orcs here as guards. For the mean time… is communal housing acceptable?”

“Communal housing?” Giji tilted his head. So Goblins can't understand it just from context clues like Orcs can. Their language didn't have the term communal housing, so I had inserted the English word.

“It means a single structure where many people stay, often without separating walls.”

“Ah, it’s like that in the cave, so there’s no problem.”

Good. Then, for thirty Goblins, the appropriate size would be about…

Using the magic and , I made a rectangular building 30x10 feet, and seven feet tall. By the way, the ceiling is just cast perpendicular to the ground. Using I form a doorway large enough for an Orc to enter, then I use multiple times to make beds for everybody. Lastly, I cast once in the middle of the floor. If it’s here, they can cover it up with a pelt at night.

That used up about all of my magic power. But I succeeded in stunning the Goblins with awe. Before I knew it, they were kneeling on the ground again. I just smiled and said, “If there are any crops that can be harvested before winter, please prioritize those.”

“Yes, Chief Vyra!” they shouted with small tears in their lizard-like eyes.

***

The Goblins are going to rest for today. They told the hunters about some seeds they wanted to cultivate, but the field was already perfectly prepared. Since there’s no work today, they’ll be given their tools tomorrow. Some pelts were distributed to make their living quarters more comfortable.

Which means I can move on to my next task.

There’s lots of construction work to be done in the village, but that has to wait for my magic power to replenish. I already did my afternoon training, which means now is the time that I try to learn more about the world from my seniors. There’s a dangerous matter that I've been ignoring for a while now. In order to address that, I went home.

“Welcome home, Baby. Is the Gobs behaving good?”

“Mm. They're all settled in. So, since I'm free for a while, there are a few things I need to ask you, momma.”

“Hm? Serious questions? Of course, I hide nothing from baby.”

“First, what kind of position do Orcs hold in this forest?”

“Hm~ If it’s West of the Black Mountain, we Orcs is ruling the whole forest. North is Harpy territory. East is Giants, and South is Fomor. Black Mountain is where Demonic Beasts is.”

“How are our relations with them?”

“We good if everybody stay in their territory.”

“Tell me about the other Orc Villages in the West forest.”

Basically, there are three different types of Orc Village. First is the Neutral type: villages which operate independently and simply continue the status quo. That's the type this village is. Next is the Expansion type. These villages group together with the goal of conquering the Fomor’s territory in the south. Lastly is the Demon Worshiper Type. These don't form real groups, but they consider each other allies due to a shared worship toward the Demonic Beasts on Black mountain. The Neutral tribes are the largest, occupying the far west of the forest. The Demon Worshippers are the smallest, located close to the Black Mountain’s base and stretching up to the Northwest. The Expansion tribes are in the middle, and dwell on the border to the Southeast.

Actually, it seems my older brother ran off to join one of the Expansion tribes.

I'm a bit worried about the Orcs in this forest. Harpies dominate the air, Demonic Beasts have powerful dark magic, Giants are amazingly strong, and Fomors are supposed to be monsters that degraded from true demons. If I compare those to Orcs, it starts to feel like we have a serious disadvantage. Because it was worrying, I asked about it.

“Because of the Orc Lord,” momma answered plainly.

I tilted my head. “Orc Lord?”

“Mm. Sometimes, among Orcs, an Orc Lord is born. He has the power to lead the Orcs and make them stronger. They becoming unstoppable army of devourers. One usually born when Orc race is in trouble.”

“So that’s why…” They're strong enough to wipe us out, but they're worried that if they try an Orc Lord will be born. Also, except for the Harpies, it seems the other ruling races have lower birth rates than Orcs, which would make it difficult to recoup their losses.

“Do you know anything about the area outside of the forest?”

“There is Human territory to the West. Holy Beast sanctuary to the East, and Elf territory. Demon territory is Southwest. Beast People territory is Southeast.”

“What’s to the North?”

“Dunno?”

“Well, that's fair. I learned a lot, thanks.”

Because Fiara likes to collect knowledge, I thought I would ask her about it.

“Hey, Fiara, do you know what’s to the North of the forest?”

“You mean the Harpies, Chief Vyra?”

“No, I mean past that.”

“Well… I think I heard that dragons live far to the Northeast, and there should be Dwarves in the mountains to the Northwest, but directly North…”

“So even you don't know…”

“Sorry. I think some kingdom was destroyed there a long time ago, but I don't know what lived there, or if there’s anything there now.”

“Thanks for your help.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

“Oh, and directly south… Is that the border between the Demon and Beast people territories, or…”

“It's the ocean.”

“Heh~ And is there also Ocean separating the Elf and Human territories?”

“No, the Dwarven mountains in the Northwest curve down. It stops just before Demon territory.”

“... Eh? D-does the continent wrap all the way around the planet? Isn't there another large body of water besides to the far south?”

“The Holy Beast sanctuary to the east is supposed to be settled in a large lake, but the only ocean is to the south.”

Wait, wait! When this happened millions of years ago on Earth, Pangea blocked the heat from the equator and the great ice age started! Exactly how much of the planet’s surface is this continent covering?

“How big is the Ocean compared to the continent?”

“Sorry, that much is…”

“Ah, you don't know. Then, is there anywhere to the south where it’s warm all year round?”

“Eh? No, I've definitely heard stories where there was winter in the Beast people and Demon territories.”

Then, we’re not covering the equator? Ah, then maybe we’ve avoided a disaster.

So even though there’s only one ocean, the surface of the planet is more than fifty percent water? It could be there’s another continent to the far South that nobody knows about. Well, I've heard enough about it for now.

Dinner is being cooked right now by the women. It smells great, so I need something to distract myself. Let’s see… I could examine my skills again. Yes, that will do.

According to Analysis, the skills currently at my disposal are these 18:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and

From on, every skill was embedded into my soul shell… whatever that is. Well, it still just says 99.9% capacity remaining, so I'm not worried.

Anyway, now that I'm looking at them all, I remember the thought I had had earlier.

Can't I combine skills?

and do basically the same thing. If it changed to something like “resist heat transfer” it would be a skill that can do both. After all, hot things push heat into you and cold things suck heat out of you. If you can just insulate the heat from either, isn't it perfect?

Or so I thought, but the laws of physics here might be slightly separate from the skills system.

When I was born, it was cold, right? But I didn't get . Because instead of paying attention to heat transfer, the skills system has set values for how hot or cold something is.

But I already have both skills, so it should still be fine to combine them, right? Hey, spirits, can you throw me a bone?

[[User understanding has reached a certain threshold. Would you like to merge and to create ? An additional 5% of magic power will be consumed.]]

Different from the time with tracking, it's user understanding, not user mastery. Is that why it's giving me the option whether or not to go through with it?

But 5% of my magic power… I’d noticed that passive skills don't drain my magic power whenever I use them. Is it because they consume a set amount to begin with?

Anyway, the answer is yes, of course.

Oh, it looks like dinner is ready. Good. Time to go eat.