Chapter Seven - Come out, Come Out

I ate the goblin, not exactly savouring the flavours but appeasing my empty stomach all the same. After the goblins fled, I had taken the time to eat and recuperate. More specifically, with a full belly I could concentrate and think about things.

First, I worked out how quickly I was regenerating health and mana.

I watched and counted the seconds until I felt certain I had the formula. At a rate of one mana point per second, and one health point per thirty, It would take about 40 minutes to fully recover my full health pool. Alternatively, it would be less than a minute before my mana reserve had filled.

Useful information, and necessary to keep me alive. In a fight, 25 seconds of running around would likely be too long. I needed a way to fight that wasn’t solely reliant on my blast of force spell. Forceful rebuke still felt risky for now, and the two and a half minutes it would take to refill my health could be better spent tracking.

Not that tracking was really the right word. These halls were crawling with goblins, if you knew where to look. If you knew how to sniff them out. They stank like they specifically covered themselves in filth for the smell. For now, I was using their aromas to choose which paths not to take. This was because I had realised the folly of my ways.

Wandering without focus, or intent, was likely to get me killed. I hadn’t found any more traps since the swinging rock that had nearly killed me specifically because I was retracing steps. I had been panicked before, hurrying without focusing, and I was angry with myself for it.

That didn’t mean I was without hope. The goblin’s stink had awoken my nose, and I found that I barely needed my eyes. It was this strong olfactory organ that had been leading me away from dead ends before, and now it was showing me my path. Literally.

By dodging places that started to smell of fish guts and bird droppings, the sign of the green weaklings, I had noticed a different smell. My own, adrenaline-laden trail, leading me right back to relative safety.

With fair confidence, I chose a starting point. Using my “blade”, taken from the fallen goblin warrior, I scratched a symbol into the wall. Honestly, it was a little much but it gave me time to think. A few minutes later, I stood. I would not be making the next markers so intricate, but this was special.

On the wall, I had scratched a large dragon’s hand. I used my own for reference, and was proud of the result. I had chosen a large cave, nowhere near the size of the cavern mother was in, but very spacious, with only one entrance. To me, it said, “This is my domain. Venture within if you dare.” The System agreed with me, it seemed, the largest surprise since I had arrived in Gaia.

Lair

You have established a lair.

New features are enabled in your Display.

The pages continued to ping into view.

Achievement Unlocked - It’s not much, but it’s mine

As a named creature, you have the capacity to establish a lair. In doing so, you set yourself apart and above others.

Effect: Unlocked Lair Page in your Display.

Quest unlocked - Road To Greatness

Quest: Road To Greatness

Either through conquest or by pride, you have staked a claim on territory already owned. Remove the pretenders and take your place as a leader.

Reward: Promotion to Boss Monster.

That was a lot at once, yet again. Those prompts might get me killed in a fight, I definitely needed to figure out how to keep them minimized.

Looking over the new information, I realised that this was potentially huge. In certain games, usually multiplayer ones, any random, standard monster is called a mob. The big, stronger versions that hold greater rewards and much more power were boss monsters. I couldn’t know for sure, but it would likely be a large upgrade.

I wanted it.

Having learned my lesson, I looked at my new page before doing anything else.

Lair Page - Unnamed Lair

Upgrade

Effect

Cost

(EP)

Sleeping Quarters

Creates an area for the Boss Monster to sleep

(Can be upgraded)

10

Water Source

Creates a source of clean drinking water for the lair.

30

Wooden Doors

Creates basic doors with a deadbolt.

5

Storage Area

Creates a lowered area below the lair, designed to store meat and other supplies.

50

Guard Quarters

(Requires workers)

Assign workers to guard specific areas.

50

Escape Tunnel

Creates an escape route to the surface of Gaia.

100

Happy to have the information, but the cost on those things are steep. Sure, the goblin warrior had given me 3 points, but that wasn’t even enough for wooden doors! Let alone this escape route, which I found interesting. Also, the fact that it would apparently “create” things seemed… insane.

There was a set order to things. Those choices could wait for later, then. I needed to gather some EP so that I could really start working on the whole take over the world thing. Baby steps, Izaark, I reminded myself, let’s start by taking over the caves.

I threw the goblin blade into my lair. It was a pitiful start to a trove, but something about my space felt empty without it. It wouldn’t be useful in a fight, unwieldy and badly weighted, but it was the first thing I had won in conquest. It had sentimental value. It would be joined by other trophies of further value, but for now it was everything I had.

Time to make the rest mine, too.

I found the scent of my mother's cavern, though it was far off from my own. That felt right. Sorry, mom, I know it’s quick but I’m moving out. I chuckled to myself. I would return when I actually had something worth reporting. Putting it off for long enough, I started out.

I had chosen the specific location of my lair for a few reasons. First, it was big enough for my plans, short-term as they were to start. Stalactites and stalagmites were all over this room, with short paths between them. At the “back” of the cave was a clearing amongst the rock, and an overhanging lip. With the blade and my claws, I scratched the outline of a bed there. It was perfect.

Second was the easy, safe access to the rest of the labyrinth of tunnels. The first time I had found the large bubble of a room, I had slipped through a tight crack. I doubted I would fit through it in another day, so nothing dangerous would be getting through that way. Which meant the only other entrance was a vaguely human-sized (and therefore much bigger than me) tunnel.

That tunnel leads to a crossroad in the caves. If I went left, I could find the death pit. I would call that one “Death tunnel”, very creatively. Straight and right, I had yet to explore and name, but they both stank of goblins. While it wasn’t particularly possible in a cave, I would try not to leave any enemies between me and the relative safety of my maze-like lair, so right it was for now.

The path was winding, but with no off-shoots for a while. I stopped as the shaft began to continually widen. The goblin’s stink was becoming almost overwhelming, and guiding myself by smell was going to be less helpful. I crept as carefully as I could, listening intently. A rising wave of sound, distinct from the low crunch of distant rock. As I made my way closer to the end, the random noises started to separate from each other.

The tweeting babble of the squeaky goblin language. A constant stream of clanging metal against rock. An echoing taunt against me. Loud proof that this labyrinthine underground world had an infestation, and it needed to be rooted out.

Continuing on, caution on the mind, I breached the mouth. It was not a gasp of surprise that left my clenched teeth at the sight, but a snarl. This was going to take some time.

Sprawling like a filthy sludge, a goblin settlement was throbbing with life. Scurrying between buildings, the huge, quarried room was littered with them. The walls of the cavern were being scratched away by goblins with pickaxes. From this distance they looked like insects, harvesting the corpse of something much more regal than they.

I couldn’t explain the visceral hatred I had begun to feel for the creatures, but it was intrinsic. They were just free experience points, but something about seeing their impact on the world around me made me angry. Couldn’t leave well enough alone, the goblins were strip-mining, and clearly wasting good materials at the same time.

Still, anger aside, this was a big task. The winding, branchless tunnel opened to a small hole, a steep slope of around twenty foot dropping out right at the mouth. From my vantage point, I counted at least twenty buildings. With a quick scan, and a lot of guessing… there were likely well over one hundred goblins down there.

I did not hesitate out of fear, I should stress. I simply would not allow these creatures to best me, and I was aware of a limitation.

Death can be dealt out at a rate of once per twenty five seconds. Neither the beetle and the goblin warrior had stood any chance against my magic projectile, and based on the destruction both had undergone, I was confident that at least in power I was going to be fine. It was the pace that would be the problem. It wouldn’t take much for the goblins to overwhelm me in their habitat.

However, that was a lot of experience points to harvest, and I was not going to retreat again. Making sure there were no interested eyes looking up, I dropped down the cliff-face silently. With my new physique, claws and instincts, I even felt that, while steep, I could fairly easily climb back up too.

Sprinting with all my might and care, I crossed the short distance to the first building within reach. Building was definitely a compliment, the structure being little more than loose stones piled together. I caught my breath, listening for any signals that I had been spotted. Once I decided that I hadn’t, I crept onwards, entering the hovel.

I didn’t allow myself to freeze as I saw the back of the tall goblin, entering the room with wide eyes and mana gathering in my palm. There didn’t seem to be any others in the room, which made me glad. I raised my hand, ready to deliver the final blow.

Ting.

Entering Enemy Lair

You have entered the lair of Grubznoz, Goblin Warchief.

The prompt startled me, causing my aim to skew and careen off to the side, taking a chunk out of the wall. The goblin turned, and with horror I realised that they were holding a child. Small, pale green and honestly adorable, the little creature burbled as the other, it’s mother, trembled.

Regret and disdain for myself filled my throat and I tasted the bile. What was I doing? Was it the draconic instincts or was I treating this as a game still? I raised my hands to pacify the situation, and began to apologise when I noticed.

The goblin mother was too busy looking at me to see, but behind her my blast of force had punched a section of wall away. The building was going to collapse.

“Get out!” I shouted. The goblin just shrank even further back in fear, the baby starting to cry. No time to do anything else, I ran behind her and roared. She scuttled out of the room, jabbering in the strange goblin language. It sounded like she said something about being confused. Her and I both, I would have said, if the walls of the house didn’t fall on top of me at that moment.

Without a second to think, I used my second spell. Forceful rebuke, which I hadn’t planned on testing out until later. I felt myself weaken, as though suddenly drained of blood. With my health as payment, the spell erupted. Like an explosion, everything was flung away in chaos. The building, which wasn’t even a proper building, was demolished, leaving only a crater.

So much for the element of surprise, I thought, shaking my head. I looked around quickly and saw the horrified, but alive, goblin and her baby. Defending myself from attack was one thing, but wanton killing seemed to be off the menu due to my pesky conscience acting up.

I winced, as a prompt popped up again. The rocks must have started landing.

Enemy Defeated

You have slain a Goblin Warrior (level 2).

Receive: +2 EP

Suddenly not knowing what to do with myself, I conceded some form of defeat. Before any more goblins arrived to see me, I slinked away back to my cave. I pulled up the lair page and bought wooden doors, locking it as I entered the safety of my space. I was so deflated over what had just occurred that I didn’t even pay attention to how it formed, just letting it be there when I arrived.

When I thought of the green humanoids that lived in the same maze of tunnels as me, two emotions warred within. The first was draconic. Predatory and proud, a large, growling part of my brain berated me for being so weak. The second emotion was human, and I was still Isaac, deep down.

I had nearly killed a mother, and possibly her child at the same time. I thought about how I’d feel if someone killed Byzametiya, and shook my head. Doesn’t bear thinking about, but it’s not a nice feeling.

Now I had no clue what to do, and was growing more and more frustrated about it. If I couldn’t farm goblins, a basic mob, how was I ever going to get the evolution points to keep growing?

Curling up in a stupid ball, I lay my stupid head onto the stupid stone floor and went to stupid sleep.