Interesting, I thought. So in order to increase my religion rank, I have to gain more FP, simple enough.
Next, I clicked on ‘Purchase Faith Points’. A small menu opened, allowing me to convert 10 energy points to 1 FP. I passed on this option for now, selecting the Zone Blessing option next.
Zone Blessings (affect all religion followers in the zone of influence):
● Mettle I: the morale of all creatures increased by +5. Cost: 10 FP.
● Physical I: Increases the Physical attribute of all creature in the zone by +1. cost: 100 FP
● Mental I: Increases the MentaI attribute of all creature in the zone by +1. cost: 100 FP
● Social I: Increases the Social attribute of all creature in the zone by +1. cost: 100 FP
● Tainted water: all free-flowing water becomes tainted with Darkness. Drinking gives a buff to Shadow-Touched creatures while causing mild disease to others: cost: 300 FP
● Eternal Night: the zone of influence will be covered with perpetual darkness. Cost: 1000 FP
That was interesting. It didn’t specify the size of the zone, but I had a hunch that the Shrine was the zone center and probably covered my settlement, if not the entire valley.
The Blessings were quite interesting. It appeared they enhanced religion members nearby. It made sense, dark clerics and their minions were always strongest at their place of power, and this one was mine.
I had only 10 FP at the moment, so all I could afford was the ‘Mettle I’ blessing. The other blessings sounded awesome. ‘Physical I’ especially. If I understood correctly, it would increase the Physical attribute of all my goblins by 1, thus increasing their max HP and skill potential that relied on Physical - which was most of them. That meant I wouldn’t have to invest in increasing the individual levels of my workers, as this blessing would affect them all. The Latin numbering next to the blessing name indicated they could be purchased again at a higher rank, probably at an increased cost. This was potentially a game changer.
I gotta find a fast way of gaining more Faith Points, those blessings are simply must haves!
Tainted Water, sounded interesting as well, and Eternal Night had the potential to make my goblins’ Nocturnal buff always active, even during daytime.
Alright moving on. I clicked on the Individual’s Blessings next.
Personal blessings (Directly applied to a specific Shadow-Touched creature):
● Liquid Darkness I: body exudes tangible liquid darkness when wounded, mending flesh and closing wounds, at a rate of 1 point of damage per 6 seconds. Cost: 10 FP
● Shadow Armor I: darkness covers your body. Increases armor by +5. Cost 10 FP
● Coat Weapon I: any weapon wielded becomes coated with darkness, which sharpened it. +10% damage, +10% armor penetration. Cost: 10 FP
● Shadow Body I: Can form shadow claws with 100% armor penetration. Cost: 10 FP
These blessings applied to specific individuals, which explained their vastly reduced cost. If only I had enough FP, I could turn my goblins into little Dark killing machines. Liquid Darkness especially sounded a lot like the Mastiffs’ ability of near instant regeneration. I’d love standing at the head of an army with such powers.
Next, I clicked on Divine Spells.
Available spells: (Unlock via the Shrine. Spell level determined by Faith Rank. Shrine max: 3)
● 0: Control shadows: Disciples gain the ability to control shadow and darkness. A requirement for most darkness based abilities.
So it seemed that simply becoming Nihilator’s disciple had granted me access to a new range of spells. Pretty sweet! Had I known what a huge role religion played in the NPC monster existence, the shrine would have been my first construction priority.
There didn’t seem to be any other use for Faith Points, so I navigated back to Zone Blessings, and purchased the Mettle I Blessing. Investing in my clan morale and productivity was more important than using Individuals Blessing to increase my own strength, there would be plenty of time for that later.
Zone Blessing [Mettle I] purchased.
Followers’ morale in the zone increased by +5
I noted that the Faith Point field in the interface was changed to 0 / 10, meaning the amount of FP I received was always tracked. I checked my clan’s morale, and noted with satisfaction that it was currently at -15, imposing only -3% penalty on total efficiency. The Nocturnal bonus all my goblins now had, made that penalty seems insignificant, as the total efficiency was now at a mere -1%. I was going to raise it even higher.
I finally reached the end of the tunnel. I was walking through the large cavern that led outside when two goblins suddenly appeared running around the corner, a male and a female. Both carried baskets loaded with large mushrooms. The female was unknown to me, so I analyzed her.
Goblin worker, Female
Level: 2
HP: 11
P:1, M:0, S:1
Skills: Haul 1, Gatherer 2
She was the new Gatherer worker I summoned on my way down the tunnel. I was satisfied to see she was already at work, helping harvest mushrooms.
The workers paid me no heed and quickly trotted out of the cave. We followed them.
As I reached the cave’s exits, the low light of a new day could be seen coming from the east. It was already morning, time to go to sleep. As usual, there was a lot of work to be done tomorrow.
21 - Settling In
Tika was nestled against me when I woke up next morning. Under my sleeping furs, her embrace was warm and comforting. She apparently let herself in and curled up beside me while I slept.
She was still sleeping, her chest slowly rising and falling to the rhythm of her breathing.
I took the opportunity to stare at her openly.
It was the first time I had seen her since last night’s ceremony, so I was unprepared for the sight. Being touched by darkness had done her good. She had a lithe, strong body with well-toned muscles. Her now deep ebony complexion softened the more obvious goblinoid features of her face, making her conform to a more human-like aesthetics. Her huge eyes gave her a doll-like appearance, but one with lovely slender curves. She wore tight leathers, cut open in places to allow her to move freely and without hindrance, which barely hid her more rounded parts, turning it all into a good-girl-gone-bad look. All that was missing was a spiked leather collar. Truly a goblinoid goddess of the hunt. She was breathtaking.
Holy shit, what’s wrong with me!? I snapped myself out of leering at her body. Was I really ogling a goblin!? It has been less than a month since I became one, and I was already starting to find them sexually appealing??
I shuddered and closed my eyes, trying to regain my composure. I breathed deeply and tried to control my thoughts. I couldn’t avoid this any longer. Having averted the previous crisis, it was finally time to face the next one; the Tika complication.
My eyes still closed, I considered my current predicament.
Tika was just an NPC and not even a human NPC. For some bizarre, deviant reason I found her attractive.
There! I admitted it to myself. Despite that, I was not mentally prepared to handle any sort of physical interaction with her. I feared what it might do to my perceptions. I might be a weird guy in some ways, but I personally drew the line at developing a goblin fetish.
For some reason, Tika’s presence was quite soothing. I slept better when she was nearby and since she seemed to like it as well, I saw no reason to ban her from my bed.
I was focused so deeply in my thoughts, that I didn’t notice her waking from sleep. My newfound resolutions and determination evaporated as she reached one slender arm out and touched my face with a gentle caress. “You no worry” she breathed softly, “Tika want only help.”
Her hand applied just a tiny amount of pressure, which I coul
d shrug off easily. Caught in the moment, I didn’t resist. She lowered my head toward hers, and our lips met. It was my first ever monster on monster kiss.
A few moments later I exited my house. I was feeling a bit disoriented, though a huge grin was plastered on my face. I had no idea how I found myself in the middle of a monster’s soap opera.
I need to keep busy and keep my head clear of THAT complication for now. Was the only resolution I managed to come up with. I smacked the side of my head with my palm, trying to make myself focus. Enough! I had a lot of work ahead of me.
Dusk was setting in, the rest of the clan was waking from their day sleep, few already making their way toward Guba’s ever burning cooking fire. I did the same.
When I arrived, I noticed the clan’s inventory pile was getting out of hand. It was a mound of weapons, pelts, and foodstuff, taller than Zuban. This was no way to organize an inventory. I shook my head. The warehouse just became another high priority project, I thought and sighed to myself. So many priorities.
“Vic,” I said to my cloaked companion, “can you give me an inventory summary of food and construction resources?”
He was right. Due to the harvest yield, the pile looked overgrown with mushroom. Clots of them were scattered everywhere. There was no order to it as my Gatherers simply dumped their filled baskets onto the pile.
I opened the Interface and looked at the Buildings and Construction menu.
Buildings and Construction
Max Constructor skill: 12
Builders count: 6 (skills 12, 12, 9, 9, 2, 2)
Daily BP: 72 ([7.4 + 11 + 11 + 9.5 + 14 + 6 + 6] * 1.11)
Under construction: Smithy (18/250 BP), Construction Yard (71/80 BP)
Having six workers was definitely paying off. If I were to put them all on a single project, their combined build ability would amount to a whopping 72 Build Points per day! Thanks largely to the Nocturnal efficiency buff and Zuban’s Constructor bonus.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t assign more Builders to work on the Smithy, which was our biggest project. Although the Construction Yard was only hours away from completion, all the Builders who were working on it were novices. The Smithy could only be constructed by Apprentice ranked Builders. Fortunately, two more workers were expected to reach their Apprentice rank in a few days, which will help pick up the pace. Additionally, once completed, the Construction Yard would add 10% to the total build points generated by the Builders, bringing it up to 79, which will quicken our construction rate even more.
Meanwhile, Vic finished his inspection of the pile and returned to report.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you boss.” he said lightly.
“What is it?”
“Five pieces of raw meat went bad, they got this unappetizing gray-green tinge. You could try eating them I suppose, but in my experience, puppets don’t like it too much if you make them ingest rotten meat. The retching is somewhat amusing though. Also, by the looks of it, a bunch more are going to be ruined by tomorrow”
“Damn!” I cursed to myself. I’d taken too long in getting a proper warehouse, which could have prevented that. Well, there’s nothing that can be done about the wasted meat, but I could salvage what was still edible.
“How much unspoiled food have we got in store now?”
“Well, I can't give you exact numbers. It was hard to reach everything in the pile, even though I literally crawled through it. There’s about 40 raw meat left, 8 raw fish, about a dozen gathered edibles, 4 gathered ingredients, and at my best guess over 150 units of mushrooms.”
I started to smile at that last part.
“Oh, also, you got exactly 16 units of advanced food.” He added offhandedly. “I know those are important to you, so I took extra time to take an exact count.”
My grin broadened. Advanced food, meant 16 Herbed Seasoned fish. With Guba’s success 50% success rate we needed eight more fish to finally give us the 20 units required to summon an advanced worker. And according to Vic, we had, exactly, eight fish in the pile. My clan would finally get a proper Cook!
“Guba!” I excitedly called to my temporary cook.
“Hmph?” She was grumpy as ever.
“Rejoice!” I exclaimed dramatically, “Today we will have your replacement!”
She stared at me for a moment, uncomprehending. Then a smile broke out on her wrinkled, ancient, face as she understood what I was saying.
“About damn time!” She grunted happily. “What’cha ya need of me?”
“Just finish cooking the raw fish we have.”
“I’ll get right on it!” She turned and started cooking. I observed with interest as she took out a beaten old pan and put it over the fire, then tossed a fish in and sprinkled some of the herbal mixture over it. She kept flipping the fish in the pan to cook it on both sides and to prevent it from burning. I watched her eagerly. The first dish was a success. She started on the second fish. After a few minutes, it was clear this one was a failure, the fish was burnt and thrown away.
I kept watching attentively. After ten minutes a few more fish were burned, but eventually a batch of five, newly cooked, herbal seasoned fish were ready for consumption. Only one thing remained. I had Guba deliver the twenty prepared fish and 30 of the mushrooms to the Breeder’s Den, while I opened the interface.
I browsed through the options and selected the Advanced Worker for the very first time.
A new menu of available professions opened; Constructor, Miller, Forager. Hmm, looks like Tika was considered an Advanced Worker, I thought. Forager was her main skill.
Constructor, Trader...There! I finally found the coveted Cooking profession and eagerly selected it.
The Breeder’s Den went through the usual grinding and squeaking noises, the sound effects taking longer than usual.
I moved closer to the door and waited. A few minutes later the sounds stopped, the door flap was flung open, and an extremely lean goblin walked out. He was the thinnest goblin I’d ever seen. His body was almost skeletal, and his head looked like a skull with the skin stretched tightly over it. He was hideous.
The goblin saw me, and to my surprise, approached with confidence. He stopped and struck a pose with his hands on his waist. As he opened his mouth to speak, I noticed his mouth was full of sharp needle-like teeth.
“Well, where’s all the food?” He demanded with a condescending tone. His demeanor took me completely by surprise. I squinted my eyes and Analyzed him.
Well I’ll be damned! I thought with a start. He is already seeded with a VI!
“Well, don’t just stare!” He carried on in a rude tone “I ain’t got all day you know!”
I hazarded a guess that Advanced Workers would always come already seeded with VI. Their specialized skills probably required a more intelligent operator than the simple workers. That was excellent news to me. But I couldn’t allow that attitude to go on, I needed to make sure he understood how things were done around here.
“You may refer to me as Dark Totem,” I replied coolly, letting him know my position.
“Pfft!” He said dismissively, “You’ll be Hungry Totem if I don’t get to work! Now where is my kitchen!?”
Vic declared with pleasure.
God, not two of them, I groaned to myself.
“Follow me,” I said tiredly and led him to Guba and the cooking hearth.
“This is no kitchen!” Gandork looked around with contempt. “It’s barely even a proper cooking fire! Where are the skil
lets? The cauldrons? The meat knifes? The steak knifes?“
“This is all we’ve got for now,” I told him bluntly.
“I can’t be expected to work in these conditions!” he looked at me scornfully. “I need a proper kitchen!”
“I’m working on it,” I replied tersely, “until then, you can use what we have here to cook Basic Food.” I nodded to Guba and tilted my head toward Gandork. Slowly she removed her apron, her eyes full of wonder as she silently handed it over to the new Cook.
“Fine!” he took the apron from her hands. “I guess I will have to make do with this for now.”
“Good.” I crossed my arms. “Do you know how to prepare steaks out of raw meat?”
“Of course!” he rolled his eyes.
“And Advanced food?” I pressed.
“Well...” He looked embarrassed.
I’d managed to take him down a notch.
“I know the principles, but until I experiment on my own, or find some recipes, then, no.”
“Guba knows how to prepare Herbal Seasoned Fish,” I nodded toward the previous head cook. “Learn it from her, but first I want you to cook all our raw meat into steaks before they spoil.” I pointed at the large pile. “We should have around 40 pieces. Then deliver them to the Breeder’s Den. Once you take care of that, work on the daily food, then you may experiment with some of our food supply. But be careful! I’ll be very annoyed if you burn half our food!”
That finally seemed to subdue him. He slightly bowed his head, “Yes Dark Totem.”
Guba looked at me in wonderment. “I’m…free…” She whispered. She threw the ladle she was holding behind her shoulder, and exclaimed “Finally free!”
“Congratulations,” I said dryly. “So, now what are you going to do?”
“First, I’ll be having the day off!” she declared, giving me a withering stare as if daring me to challenge her decision. “Then, I think I’ll practice some chemistry. I have no tools, but I still might be able to refine some raw materials, maybe create some simple compounds.” She turned and headed toward the cave. “I’ll let you know what I find,”.
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