Finally, after three weeks of travel, we reached the goblin village. The last day had been spent in the ravine once again. This one did not come out from beneath the mountains. The river that cut into it might be connected since it emerged from the rocks far below but it was a full two metres deep of only water. The dwarves told me they were not able to swim so we were glad we had taken the surface route.

It was early evening as we reached the tunnel leading into the village. I was a little surprised there was no goblin bringing down dirt but maybe they had solved their day-night schedule by now. I had the dwarves follow me down at a few metres of distance. They used vis lanterns for light which were a little more sophisticated than bare crystals but mostly just more comfortable to hold.

When I reached the bottom, Luk was standing guard. I greeted him with a hoot as his eyes widened and a smile spread on his face.

“Welcome back, Fio”, he said.

Then the dwarves came into view and I saw his body tense. He tried not to show it but it was obvious he was reluctant to let them in. I connected to his mind with [Telepathy] to calm him down.

“Thanks, Luk. These are the dwarves I hired to teach you guys mining and forging.”

He blinked.

“You hired?”

I nodded.

“…let me get Roguk.”

“Of course.”

While the goblin was on his way, the dwarves muttered their impressions of the village.

“A natural cave. Pretty big one”, Hedreck said.

“Good structure as well. The ceiling makes most water drip down the sides.”

That was Fredreck.

“I have a feeling there’s some ore not too far”, Smia threw in.

“Good!”, everyone grinned.

“But… these buildings… Do they have a node forest?”, Lothar asked.

“If that’s what I think it is, then yes. The node is down that way.”

I pointed them to the forest cave.

“How big and which aspects?”

“Don’t know how big. It’s hidden somewhere below and there’s a rift in the rock that lets vis through. The crystal growing there let me reach medium enrichment. My guess is it’s above major. The aspects are tenebrae and aer.”

“Bigger than major? How big’s that gonna be?”

“No idea.”

At that point, Roguk came back over with Luk behind him. He was still a few metres away when I suddenly got a system notification.

~ding~ Congratulations! Through your efforts of leading a people to prosperity, you have gained the Skill [Guidance]. Continue to better this world!

The what now? [Guidance]? Was that a Skill to build civilization? I identified it.

[Guidance]: Through repeated efforts, you have led a people to a better life. Your opinion carries weight when teaching or acting with the intention to help. People under your guidance receive a small amount of bonus experience.

That was… powerful. It was also a little annoying that I only got it now. With the dwarves coming in to teach mining and smithing I would no longer give benefits to the goblins. That was how I understood the Skill at least. It should at least help with teaching [Telepathy] to others. Unless ‘people’ in the description was excluding individuals.

Roguk had closed in by now and was greeting everyone in Ordugh.

“Thank you for coming. You must have had a difficult journey. We just started with dinner. Come join us! I can introduce you to everyone.”

The dwarves looked at each other. Fredreck took the word.

“Sure thing. Food’s always good. We’ll need a bath after as well.”

“I can offer a bucket of fresh river water. That’s what we use, normally warmed up at the cook-place after dinner.”

“That’s fine by us. Didn’t expect much more to be honest.”

A wry smile spread on Roguk’s face.

“Yeah, we’re not all that advanced here.”

“No worries. That’s what we’re here for, right?”

Roguk’s smile turned honest and the two leaders started talking while we made our way over. They seemed to be getting along fine for just having met. The others shared some looks but the mood seemed overall positive.

While we were making our way through the huts, Alex walked up from where her node was sitting. When the dwarves spotted her, their eyes widened. I connected her to our [Telepathy] session and introduced the golem to everyone.

“So this is… Wow!”, Smia was enthralled, “Is that pure thaumium? That’s got to be so expensive! How can it even move? Oh, wow…”

Alex projected the feeling of a raised eyebrow into everyone’s mind.

“I’m right here, you know?”, she sent.

“Oh, umm. Sorry. I… didn’t mean it like that.”

“I kind of get it but… Be a little more polite, if possible.”

I clicked my tongue.

“They’re pretty exhausted. I think you shouldn’t keep their attention until tomorrow.”

The golem nodded.

“That’s fine by me. I could use your help, though, Fio.”

“Alright. You guys get along, okay?”

The dwarves nodded as I walked off with my friend. I heard Hedreck ask Smia why she had not freaked out about my thaumium form. She said something about a Skill being different. Maybe she would have freaked out more if I told her I had to absorb thaumium to get a body made from it.

While following Alex, I shifted back to my real body. I was no longer in need of my metal form and as safe as it was, it also lacked the comfort of feeling real. That might have something to do with the outside Status effect.

The golem stopped next to her node, a few crystals sitting in a small pile right next to it.

“Here’s the thing. I’ve been absorbing crystals left and right, as many as I could. I reached minor vis enrichment about two days after you left the last time and figured out how to remove the bond to the stabilizer. That was… a bit of a mistake, at first. I didn’t have enough energy to keep moving for a whole day.”

“So, you want me to bind you again?”

“Actually, no. Roguk and some of the hunters figured out they could bring me some vis crystals to absorb and I could keep going without issues. My enrichment was also enough to run for a few hours.”

“Was?”

“Yes. I’ve since reached medium. I can go for over half a day without a crystal. The problem is, I can’t absorb any more.”

“Ah. Yeah. That’s because the node and the crystals from it are too weak. You need a major node. Or, I suppose you could get closer to the one in the forest cave. That would slow down the trees’ growth, though.”

“Hmm… That’s a bit annoying. I don’t suppose there are any convenient major nodes nearby in the mountains?”

“Not that I know of…”

“I don’t really want to try to make the trip with only medium enrichment, though…”

“You know, it’s very uncommon to even get that far for natives of this world. You’re even faster than me, I think.”

“That so? Still, doesn’t help my predicament…”

“I mean, you could just be like a normal person and sleep?”

“No. Who knows what’s out there that could eat golems…”

“Not much, I would think. You’re solid thaumium. And you are combat capable.”

“That’s exactly the problem. If I want to fight, I can never spend too much energy on travelling. I’d be extremely slow!”

I looked towards the village square from where dwarven laughter mixed with goblin chatter.

“If you wait until I escort the dwarves back you could just come along. One of them can carry you. Probably.”

“That’s the last resort…”

“Also, once you reach major enrichment you should evolve. Hmm. Maybe I can find a few major nodes in the area and gather some crystals that could let you grow your enrichment.”

Alex looked at me. The perfectly still faceplate was unable to hide her hope.

“And if that doesn’t work, we can dig down to the forest node. I’m pretty sure we can grow wood in the farming cave soon.”

“We definitely can with the next one. The goblins finished the last field today. I believe Horg was still in there planting the last line of potatoes when you arrived.”

“Horg?”

“The big brother.”

“Alright. I think we have a plan for you. Should I connect you to your node in the meantime?”

“I… yes. That would be nice.”

It took me a moment and I had to bind Alex to myself for a moment to let me manipulate her source of vis. Once I was done, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Now I don’t need to waste crystals just to keep moving. Thanks.”

“Of course. You’re welcome.”

With that cleared up, Alex decided to go back to reading the Thaumonomicon. I was almost confident she knew more about thaumaturgy than I did at this point. Maybe I could still trump her in some specialized fields. At least I still had my artificing knowledge from Riggard.

I joined the dinner celebrations that had turned into a spontaneous feast with everyone telling stories. Most of the goblins still only spoke broken Ordugh at this point but the ones that knew it in more detail helped translate. The group that came in from the ork army were a great help with that. They all spoke fluent Ordugh since they had to have been able to understand orders.

I enjoyed the round of overblown stories which the dwarves had especially many of. Harra and Lothar were apparently avid readers and had spent a lot of their free time in libraries reading tales of old.

It got a little embarrassing when the goblins told the story of how I stopped the monkey threat. I was blown up into a sort of hero I definitely had not been at that point. The tale of blocking the tunnel and taking out the orks in the valley below was much less cringe-inducing for me. At least there I had been as impactful as they told. Almost. Somehow, the scout telling the story had me kill not only the thaumaturge in my drop-attack but both his guards as well. I had to interrupt there and correct them that Alex was the one to kill the guards and without her most of the former scouts would have likely died.

Despite the embellishments, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. After such an arduous journey just having some time to calm down was absolutely wonderful. Tomorrow, I would see if I could help Alex while the dwarves planned to inspect the farm and look for traces of ores. Harra apparently had a mining Class with Skills specialized in locating valuables encased in tons of rock and dirt. I truly hoped they would find something not too far away.