From the corner of my room, I picked up a boulder and dragged it to the front of my bed. I tried to visualise a simple image, a small cube that can fit in one’s palm. I reached out to the stone and cast the spell, “Stone-Shaper.”

I quickly carved out a small portion of the stone and held the smaller rock in my hand. I squeezed my brain, glared intensely at the rock and it slowly moulded into shape, as if invisible hands were poking a piece of clay. Eventually, the pebble changed into a cube, although it was not perfectly smooth or even, it was still something. I pondered deeply about how to improve the result. Did it have to do with the clarity of my mental image, or did it have something to do with mana? Perhaps with enough experimentation, I could figure it out.

I soon passed the entire night obsessively making cubes, spheres, and pyramids out of any bit of stone I could find. I could feel mana moving from my body into the stone, and I tried experimenting with the flow of it. While my mana was recovering I pondered more ways to mess around with it. Eventually, I received some results.

Interface You raised your Intelligence by 1, (13 → 14) You raised your Willpower by 1, (15 → 16) You unlocked a new skill, Mana-Control (Beginner) Abilities Mana-Control (Beginner) You have gained some basic insights into the force called mana. As your control over mana improves, you will be able to use it more efficiently. This is a passive skill, it does not require any form of activation.

I hadn't slept for the entire night. I was far too intrigued by this seemingly simple, yet mysterious force. Perhaps expert wizards had higher control over their mana and could use their spells skills more creatively? Regardless, with this I could feel making these simple shapes was a tad bit easier, it took me the same amount of time and mana to do so, but I felt as if it required less mental burden.

By the time morning came, I had a large pile of stones of various shapes and sizes. Using some rags, I made a makeshift sling and a pouch to hold the stones. Unfortunately, I had only enough material to make a single sling. I picked the spherical stones and left the others in the corner of the room.

Once the shaman arrived, he led me to the outside of the cave. The initial brightness caused me to recoil a bit, however, I quickly adjusted. I was standing barefoot on an uncomfortable layer of soil, sticks and leaf litter. The area was heavily wooded, trees, bushes and plants of every variety spanned as far as the eye could see. Normally, one would feel serene in such an area, but those who did were usually fully clothed and had food with them. I only felt unease as I gazed into this endless verdant realm.

“Shaman, summon all the goblins here,” I said.

He nodded and went back inside into the cave. Soon, one by one, the yellow, skinny goblins trickled out of the small stony cave entrance, each one of them either scratching their dirty unwashed hair or yawning.

“Everybody line up,” I said.

They looked upon me a bit confused, and slowly shuffling into place. I let out an irritated grunt and opened up the interface.

Abilities Command (Beginner) Give an order to your subordinates, which they will generally try to follow. This skill does not require to be said out loud and can be simply thought of to be activated. Cast time: Instant: Consumption: None, Recharge rate: None. Range: Any subordinate who can hear your voice.

The uncertainty of the skill annoyed me. Perhaps they wouldn't be able to disobey my orders if I improved the skill?

I mentally activated the skill. “Stand in a straight line, and look at me!”

The goblins’ long pointy ears quickly perked up, and with great vigour, the goblins lined up together. I smiled.

“If you are a hunter, step forward.”

6 goblins stepped forward. From their appearance, you couldn’t really tell that they were hunters. They had no weaponry, no particular clothes, and judging by their fresh, youthful faces, they did not have any proper hunting experiences.

“If you are a fighter or a warrior, step forward.”

3 more goblins also stepped forward, and the same thing could be said about them. I sighed in disappointment. These goblins looked nothing like battle-ready fighters. But I would have to make do.

“Alright. You 9 will go with me hunting. The rest will go with Voglo to gather food. Understood?”

All the goblins let out a shriek in approval, which caused me to quickly grit my teeth and plug in my ears. I was not even used to the sound of my own voice, let alone a choir of these shrieking creatures.

Interface

Would you like to form a hunting party?

Having a party will allow you to see the status of your teammates and distribute gathered experience.

Yes No

This sounded rather useful, so I mentally agreed to this, and instantly another screen popped up.

Gild Domov's Hunting Party Name Class Health Points Gild Domov None 60/60 Strook None 182/182 Rugum None 156/156 Kik None 175/175 Zotnik None 168/168 Durmoo None 140/140 Figgi None 142/142 Bom None 166/166 Gurd None 176/176 Kalim None 181/181 Current experience distribution: Individuals who contribute more to combat get more experience.

They all had more health than me, which probably meant they had higher levels compared to me too. Which was good, I hoped to survive this endeavour after all. And as Voglo said, no one had a class. I could have changed the experience distribution to get all of it myself. But it is pointless being strong and surrounded by weak subordinates, they wouldn't be able to protect me then. So I kept things as they were.

“Which one of you is the best hunter?” I asked.

After a bit of murmuring, one goblin stepped forward. “Champion Chieftain, I am Rugum. I am the best hunter here.”

I looked him up and down, he didn’t look impressive and he had lower health compared to the rest, therefore I concluded that he was the one with the highest levelled skill.

“Alright then, Rugum, you will guide this expedition! I have spells, so we should be able to handle ourselves a bit.”

Rugum and the others nodded. We quickly picked up some sticks to use as spears and clubs, and I sent the other goblins to gather food. While walking through the forest, I had surrounded myself by the hunting party for extra protection. We didn’t have any provisions with us, so we couldn’t wander extremely far.

The forest was the same everywhere you looked, which gave it an eerie feeling, to make sure we were going in the right direction, I left marks on the trees, so we could find our way back.

After a while, Rugum stopped us. “Hold on everyone, I am detecting something.” He knelt to the ground and started feeling around the soil.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“My skill [Tracking] is telling me there are signs of animals here. I found tracks, and it looks like Horned Hog footprints,” he said. The other hunters ran over to him and checked the tracks and they all nodded in agreement.

I didn’t ask them to clarify what a horned hog is, I needed to portray myself as knowledgeable. I assumed it was similar to a boar.

“Can we kill it?” I asked.