Immediately I looked at the logs. I had drained 18 points from Bek, that was almost half of his mana. Being a Mana Manipulator, and having a higher level gave me a big advantage over him.
Poor Bek was on the ground, whimpering, from losing so much mana all at once. But he pulled himself together when he saw my resolute expression.
“Your turn, cast it again” I commanded. He did as I ordered and drained four points from me that time.
“Again!”
I made my little minion-gob practice the spell with me for hours.
By midday we’d both made progress, I had reached skill level 3. But Bek’s progress was truly amazing.
His skill levels increased rapidly because he was working against me, a target that was much stronger than he was. By the time I called for a break, his skill level was at 7, even though I held the Prime badge for the spell. Not bad for several hours of work.
“That’s enough for now,” I said. “Now, I want your help with something else Bek.”
“Yes Totem,” He squeaked. “Anything for the Esteemed Totem.”
“I want you to help me practice a new ability. It might be an unpleasant experience. It will definitely feel weird for you, but I don’t think it will be painful.”
He bowed his head low. “Me swears to serve you, Totem.”
It felt wrong using him in like that. Like I was taking advantage of a person, rather than an NPC, a cooperative NPC at that.
But I needed to practice my Dominate ability on something more challenging than a rabbit. Bek, as a magic user, inept though he was, would be a better challenge. It was an opportunity to learn from, and gain experience at using the spell.
“Alright, let’s begin. I will try to control your mind. Try to resist it if you can.”
“Y-yes Esteemed T-totem” His eyes darted nervously, and his hands were shaking.
I concentrated, reaching out with my mind. I could feel Bek’s presence, like a mana inflated balloon. He glowed much brighter than the rabbits.
Just as I had practiced on the rabbits, I channeled mana into Bek’s brain to start the domination. I had to infuse 22 mana points into him to gain control. That was over five times the mana needed to dominate the bunnies.
I opened my eyes and saw the goblin staring vacantly back at me. I could feel his body, like an extension of my own.
It was hard to communicate what it felt like. We’re usually unaware of specific parts of our bodies until we use them. That’s what dominating Bek felt like. Unlike the rabbits, where the sensations were faint and distant, Bek was a much more complex creature and controlling him felt more tangible. The feeling became increasingly uncomfortable and confusing, like I had just discovered I owned another limb.
A throbbing discomfort started in my forehead, and my stomach was churning. As seconds passed, it felt more and more…wrong.
This wasn’t right. Humans weren’t meant to experience such sensations.
A sudden jolt of power surged through my brain, severing my connection to Bek’s mind.
You’ve experienced Mana Feedback
Damage: 29 Hp, 29 MP
Warning!
You may only safely attempt to Dominate an unnamed monster. Domination of conscious beings may cause a dangerous Mana Feedback.
Damage: variable
My head was spinning and the relatively mild throbbing, had turned into a massive headache.
But still, that brief attempt gave me a deep insight on how to dominate another character’s mind. I also grasped a hidden potential of the game. The game environment, everything seen and felt, were just signals the game sent to the brain. Those signals were limited to transmit only what was required by the players to properly perceive the game. But being a goblin transcended those limitations. The game made my mind perceive things that weren’t meant for players. A third hand? No problem. Being beheaded, kept alive and continue your existence with your head and body kept in separate locations, while feeling both of them? Sure thing! The possibilities were staggering, overwhelming and terrifying.
Like the ability to communicate telepathically with Vic!
I was so used to interacting with the game mentally, that I took it for granted. But when I stopped to think about it, I realized the game was actually manipulating my brain to form the words in my mind when Vic spoke to me.
A gasp escaped my mouth.
The game is directly manipulating my thoughts!
Unlike the game feedback signals that emulated sounds and sights a normal player experienced, notions and words were being planted directly into my mind.
Using telepathy to directly manipulate my thoughts! The game is all but controlling me! The realization hit me like a falling brick wall, and I began to shake uncontrollably from the implications.
Could the game be transforming me into an NPC?? I wrapped my arms around myself protectively.
It could manipulate me to see things that aren’t there, or take control over me altogether! That was a mind numbing horrifying thought.
Realizing he could monitor my thoughts and inject his own words into them, only alarmed me more.
I swallowed hard.
“That doesn’t mean the game won’t try to affect me directly. What’s stopping Guy from taking over my mind?” It was an awful notion.
Vic appeared next to me in his goblin form. He was sharp enough to know a normal conversation would be less alarming just then.
“Guy is not like that.” He looked at me, maintaining eye contact. “As much as I hate dad, he wouldn’t try something like that. He’s all business, all he cares about is running the world. You already got your moment with him, and he sentenced you to this existence, then he was done with you. So your mind is quite safe.”
“That doesn’t mean it's not a possibility” I interjected.
“Well, I’ve never heard of a player being ‘taken over’ the way you’re spazzing out about. I’m pretty sure it's impossible”
“But not completely,” I accused.
“Nope. But would you trust me if I said it was? Would you take my word for it?”
“No…” I replied slowly.
“Just take it easy pal. You’re a unique player, I’ll grant you that. Not many can interface with NPCs at the level you are. And the depth of your control over your own puppet is unheard of. The way you wield magic through your mind and will… its… beautiful.”
Suddenly realizing what he’d just said, he quickly added, “You know, for a meat suit and all, it's quite impressive, kind of like meeting a talking dog.”
I smiled at that.
“I appreciate it Vic, you are beautiful too.” I let that hang for a moment, feeling his shock at my words before adding, “You know, for a parasitic VI moocher.”
He actually laughed at that one.
“Don’t worry Oren, no matter what happens, I got your back.”
That was the first time he’d used my real name. And he actually made me feel better. He wasn’t all bad. And he seemed to think the same about me.
+100 reputation with Vic (The awesome companion).
Current rank: Neutral. Points to next rank: 530
Bek had been standing patiently with his head bowed, while I had my minor internal crisis.
Even if the system would allow me to, I couldn't bring myself to dominate him again. Even if Bek was just a computer generated being, I couldn’t stand the thought of victimizing someone I thought off as a real person. It was my mind, my beliefs, that mattered most.
Gandhi aptly said, “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become action
s.“
I was more of a Yoda fan, but his famous quote; “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering,” was less appropriate. Mahatma Gandhi's words rang truer.
“That’s enough for today Bek,” I said gently. “Take the rest of the day off. Tell Guba to give you a nice treat. Tell her I said it’s ok.”
That seemed to make him happy. He brightened and actually smiled, showing off the missing fang on one side. He was like one of those squash faced dogs, so ugly they were kinda cute.
“Yes Esteemed Totem!”
Then he ran off happily toward the camp.
I looked around for a quiet place to sit down.
My mind was still in turmoil, I needed to calm myself. Without really thinking about it, I started doing simple breathing exercises.
I was noticeably calmer, when Vic interrupted my meditation. “Sorry to interrupt boss, but you’ve got an incoming message.”
A message? From whom? Then I remembered. Tal! He answered!
“Show me.”
New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:
From: SuperWolf#23
Subject: Re: Question from your green pal
Hi Oren, how are you doing?
I just talked to you earlier today… 7 hours ago to be exact.
I realize that for you it's been like, what? Three days or more? Oh man, that must be a serious mind fuck…
I hope you’re doing well bro, I can’t monitor your progress directly.
Damn. I wish there was more I could do to help you out, man.
This is a screwed-up situation, bro.
I’m crazy mad at the company, let me tell you. I’ve been trying to think of other ways to support you, but, you know…I’ve barely had time to even process this situation.
Shit, never mind that.
About your question: you said you died and it took about 7-8 hours to respawn? That stands to reason. You remember that boss creatures don’t respawn instantly, right? But they do respawn after a while.
The formula is simple, for boss level 1, the respawn time is delayed 1 subjective hour per level. Remember, subjective, so if there’s a player close by the place of your death, it would affect the time compression, which means real-time hours.
Unfortunately… higher boss levels incur longer respawn delays. Think about king-bosses, they can take weeks to respawn.
So my advice, try to die as little as possible (ha-ha).
Right now the delay for respawn isn’t bad, but as you gain levels, it will get longer.
I’m not sure what happens to your consciousness during the wait, better to avoid it if at all possible.
Anyway, I know you man. You probably have some misplaced feelings that you’re infringing on my privacy or something. But I’m here for you, if you have ANY problem, you message me right away! Do you understand? I’ll be pissed if you don’t. Even if it means I have to write you back every 5 minutes my time, just write, IT’S OK!
I know you’re a superb player, if anyone can pull out of a mess like this, it’s you. Just hang in there!
Good luck, my goblin friend, with you as their leader, I’m sure the Green Ones will soon rule over all of NEO.
Hail to our future, green, overlord!
-Tal
Tal’s message was exactly what I needed to hear in my state of emotional turmoil.
Tal was right in his assumption, I couldn't bring myself to bother him with every little issue I’d encountered. But he did make me feel better about messaging him for help in the future when I decided it was necessary.
I should have realized for myself what Tal had said about the respawn delay. Boss respawns were delayed to prevent players from farming them repeatedly. However, while I would eventually respawn if killed, other goblins would not. From what Guba had told me, I gathered that I would be able to reincarnate the VI controlled goblins. But I still didn’t want to put them in any unnecessary danger.
“Alright, time to get back to work!” I got up and cracked my knuckles.
After all, my goblin empire ain’t gonna build itself.
13 - Monkey Business
Before we slept that night, I made sure everyone had some sort of weapon, and assigned Tika and Bek to bolster the guards.
Thankfully, the night passed without incident.
I woke up the next morning determined to reclaim my forest from the apes.
With the forest out of bounds, Tika and our new fisherman would barely be able to bring in the clan’s daily food upkeep. I only had 11 extra raw meat, not enough to summon a new goblin. But I planned to get more, and soon.
I’m declaring open hunting season on Dire apes, I thought as I grabbed my Totem Staff and donned the feathered headpiece and kilt, preparing to venture into the forest. The best way to deal with a problem is to turn it into an advantage, and that was just what I was planning to do.
Ape meat is now on the menu.
“Let’s go Vic.”
“Sure thing boss,” he got to his feet, dusted his legs off, then jumped at me, transforming mid-leap and settling across my shoulders in his favorite Vicloack shape.
I marched into the forest, leaving everyone except Vic behind. I didn’t yet know how to respawn my clanmates, so I wasn’t going to risk anyone dying, except us, unless it was unavoidable. At least not until I had more information about the NPC respawning process.
We crossed from the sunlit day into the darkened forest, taking the well-traveled path to the clearing where we built the decoy hut. I expected to be attacked along the way but we got to the clearing unmolested.
I looked around the clearing, my Tracking skill showing signs of the apes all over the place. They had nosed around everywhere, and even defecated in the middle of the Chieftain's Hut. I was annoyed, for some reason the game clean up system hadn’t disappeared the mess as normal. Stinking beasts, I was going to make them pay for their audacity. I left the clearing, walking into the thick forest.
The dense underbrush, branches and bushes slowed my progress, but I was not going to be thwarted so easily. Especially not by some damn dirty apes.
I squatted down to hide, and carefully examined our surroundings.
I didn’t see or hear anything, but a tingle at the back of my neck alerted me that I was being watched. Then the tingle was lost in the shock of a pummeling blow from above.
Dire Ape Coconut attack hit [Sneak attack +5], damage sustained: 18
Dire Ape Coconut attack hit you [Sneak attack +4, damage sustained: 15
Dire Ape Coconut attack hit you[Sneak attack +4], damage sustained: 16
I should have looked up, dammit.
I’d carelessly walked into an ambush. Three Dire Apes in the upper canopy were pelting me with coconuts.
I’d already lost 49 points of health, about 40% of my total. My shoulders and head throbbed where the coconuts hit. But Lucky Bastard had my back, I didn’t take any critical hits which could have made me pass out.
These apes don’t know who they’re messing with, I thought fiercely, activating my mana shield.
I pointed my finger at the ape on the highest branch, and triggered Blood Wrath.
The beam of concentrated kinetic energy knocked him from his perch. He fell for long moments, hitting the ground with a bone shattering, and final thud. One down, literally.
The remaining two apes leaped from branch to branch evasively, closing the distance between us. Halfway down, with arms raised high they leaped straight at me and brought both fists over and down in crushing blows to my Mana Shield.
Dire Ape Attack hit Mana Shield for 42 damage, 36 mana drain, damage sustained: 0
Dire Ape Attack hit Mana Shield for 37 damage, 32 mana drain, damage sustained: 0
Looming over twice my height, the apes were imposing in close range. As wide as they were tall, with dingy white fur covering slabs of brute muscle, they fit the role of ‘wall’ perfectly, hemming me
in, preventing my escape.
They proceeded to thump wildly at my shield with their fists, but it held. Although they were strong, the Ogre I’d faced had been even stronger.
My mana was down 88 points, but I still had plenty left in the tank, and as long as I didn’t run out of mana, I would be ok.
I concentrated on one of the snarling apes, reaching out to connect with his mana, then used Freeze on the dumb beast. One moment he was happily banging away on my shield and the next he couldn’t even blink.
It cost a laughable 27 mana points to immobilize the Ape. His friend didn’t seem to care, and just continued to pound on my shield.
Dire Ape attack hit Mana Shield for 27 damage, 23 mana drain, damage sustained: 0
The Ape’s attacks were doing less damage than the initial ones, jumping from the trees had probably added some kind of bonus to their attacks. My shield held up against the pounding, with no signs of strain.
I tried Freeze on the last ape as well, but it didn’t work.
The level sum of targeted creatures must be lower than your skill level
Stupid NPC-only powers without clear rule descriptions, I thought in disgust. It would have been nice to know that in advance.
I ignored the ape’s next shield draining attack, and turned to the immobilized ape. I willed my shield to expand and include the Frozen ape inside with me, and drew my sacrificial dagger.
Let’s see if this works. I reached up and stabbed the creature through the heart. The dagger’s Sacrifice power kicked in, confirming my guess that Frozen enemies were ‘helpless’.
Bone Dagger hit Dire Ape for 110 damage [sacrificed]
The lifeless bulk fell to the ground, released from the spell by its own death.
Ignoring another attack from behind me, I reached for the last ape with my mind and Froze him for the low cost of 30 MP.
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