It was really astonishing how fast the cave had changed. IT had only been here for two days, and the place had grown to five times the original size, with three rooms on the entry level and two further down, carved into the earth. The interior and the decoration was still hardly existent, only a few fireplaces and sleeping places existed.

The little green creatures were really sneaky, IT had hardly noticed them invading the cave at first but apparently Meets and Opples had not been the only ones living in the forest outside. First six females had moved in, which were given food and shelter by Meets. The males that followed soon after had been beaten by Opples and Meets equally and were forced into submission.

Since the chieftain now had quite a few minions, IT stopped to send out golems for food. The little creatures had to gather for themselves, or else they would not survive as a tribe. IT had played with the idea of enslaving them all, but that seemed like such a cruel thing to do. Especially considering that IT was able to just create golems for that too. Pretty much ignoring the green pests and freeloading off of food, IT cultivated, summoned Golems and let them help with the digging.

Then Meets came towards IT with a serious look in his face. “Uhm. Can you help us with something?” Two goblins with beat up faces and serious wounds stood behind him. Apparently they did not mind them at all. Goblins were surprisingly sturdy. IT spoke to the goblins telepathically. “What do you need?” Their faces lighted up considerably. “Outside… very dangerous creature. Like human, but not like human.” Confused IT replied: “What do you mean like a human?”

“Like human, big, mean, strong. But not like human, skinny, bones. Can you help us?” Meets seemingly was very concerned. He looked almost like a proper chieftain, if you overlooked the fact that he was just a normal goblin, that was given a club. Hardly any goblins used weapons. Not a surprise considering that they just ran away when attacked. They would have to change that as a tribe. “Yes. I will look what exactly is going on.” - “Thanks! Gibble, Winks. Go show where that happened.”

Meets then went ahead to bring a few females food, most likely in exchange for… well. A typical politician. All talk, no action. And corrupt to the mark. IT was almost proud of the little bugger. While the two heavily beat up goblins showed the way, and argued how to catch rabbits the most easily, IT canceled all the summoned tier three golems inside of the cave. The bigger ones would not fit through the entrance and the smaller ones simply tagged along.

Leaving the cave, the surrounding area had changed slightly. Fruits had nearly vanished entirely, and the forest floor was almost spotless. Twigs, branches and every useful looking stone had been collected by the green little monsters without fail. In the distance the huge castle still towered over the forest, and IT really wondered if the small goblin clan would be alright in the future. Humans would not exactly love to share their gardens.

Shrugging over the problem, IT summoned sevend tier three golems and about thirty smaller tier ones. Sending out the small ones for scouting, the whole process hardly took a lot of time. A few spike covered creatures appeared, the goblins called them hedgehogs, but they quickly left after spotting the group. The goblins told IT that the creatures were rather harmless, but IT still did not want to risk that.

After a few minutes a few smaller goblins returned, the target right behind them. The goblins had not lied, it was like a human, but also not like a human. That was because the threat was apparently a skeleton. Holding a sword and a shield, also made from bones, the creatures chased down the small golems, stomping them into the dust or ending them with the swing of the sword.

Nervously IT ordered the bigger golems into battle formation. They formed a line and awaited the impact of the skeleton warrior. IT ordered the golems to immediately hit joints and pull on bones right after they made contact and hoped for the best. The skeleton however, did not falter. Speeding up it’s sprint, the creature leapt towards the seven golems, equal in size, and just destroyed their bodies with a shield dash.

Earth bursted in all direction, the bone sword cut through the rest, quickly diminishing the battle line. After three seconds of battle only three golems were still standing, trying their best to hold the creature back. The goblins were throwing curse words and stones, both equally ineffective. IT had to act. The golems were clearly no match for the skeleton.

IT recreated a sturdy frontal leg of earth and blasted fireball after fireball at the creature. Soon fire played around the bones, coloring them black and damaging the warrior a little. Sadly after a few fireballs the mana was gone. They showed effect but still the skeleton advanced. Golems slaughtered, no mana and the goblins had fled. Great. IT refused to give up, but running away was the only option left!

Tactical retreat, that was the solution. Gather mana, attack again. But the creature was just too fast. A few seconds of running away later, IT was captured by the warrior. The bone hand closed around IT’s body, making it impossible to move. Apparently the skeleton did not want to kill, but catch.

As IT was carried towards the castle, IT also remembered the fact that the friendly giant was a necromancer. Most likely the warrior is a summoned servant to him. IT was happy that the friendly giant was back, and looking for IT. Hopefully he would be impressed by what IT is able to do now!

Soon afterwards IT found itself back on the table IT had been hatched on. Much smaller than IT remembered the thing. The friendly giant towered above, clearly unhappy. Had IT done something wrong? Maybe IT should not have taken all the fruits in the forest? That had to be the thing upsetting the big friendly one.

With a frown on his face he started to communicate. “Can you understand me? Blink if you do.” As it was not necessary to blink anymore IT just answered. “Yes.” Baffled the friendly giant stepped back, clearly surprised. “You can use telepathy? How?” - “You showed me how, friendly giant.” - “Friendly what?” - “Giant.” - “Oh. I guess that's right, I never have introduced me to you. My name is Teiming. You can call me master.”

IT was happy to finally know the name of the friendly giant. Teiming. A little disappointed that he was not names as awesomely as IT used to name IT’s golems, but that was alright. “Yes, master.” The giant was smiling. “Do you have a name?” - “No.” Thinking about that fact was odd, IT had no name, maybe IT should have taken one? Like [Dark Overlord] or [Unrivaled under the Heaven]. No wait, these were titles not names. Teiming continued to talk. “I will give you a name. I call you… Twig. Because you look a lot like a twig.”

Twig? Me, Twig. Yes. That was a good name. Maybe later there would be a title too. [Unrivaled under the Heaven] would be cool. Putting that aside, Twig continued the conversation. “I like the name, Master.” Teiming smiled and quickly vanished from the desk. “I will give you something to drink, and use a spell on you. Can you tell me what you feel afterwards?”

A moment later he was back and Twig ate the piece of bread, soaked in blood. Odd choice for a meal, but maybe that was for the spell? Teiming continued to form a few gestures and spoke a few words, while using a mana crystal in his hand. The crystal turned to dust, and a powerful ball of energy formed around Twig. Nothing happened though. “How do you feel?” He answered truthfully: “Nothing happened? There was energy around me, but nothing happened to me I mean.” - “Oh. Interesting, looks like… the slavery incantation I used on the summoning ritual still applied to you. Maybe that was what changed the ritual… Hm…”

Teiming left the table again, scribbling on his desk and adjusting his notes. Twig had an odd master. He loved writing on paper so much. As he did not want to disturb him, Twig summoned a small golem out of the earth on the table. Building a statue of his master would surely impress him! While he watched the golem work, and adjusted it from time to time, Twig cultivated for more mana. The skeleton warrior standing in the back off the room did not move at all, but Twig wanted to be ready, just in case.

Soon after his master returned. “Oh, wow. You can summon Golems?” Twig confirmed: “Yes, up to human size. Only out of earth though. I can also use fireballs.” Teiming looked excited. “You produce your own mana? Fascinating. Tell me more.” - “I grow, eating. With growing comes more mana.” - “I see you have a artificial leg, did the potion not work?” - “The Potion was good food, but it did not heal me. Do you have more?”

Soon afterwards the master brought a few flasks of potion and discussed a few things with Twig. After telling him about the future evolutions Teiming was even more excited. Apparently it would make the master very happy if Twig could be a Dark Summoner.

Although he seemed to be more interested in the passive, rather than the abilities….