The Copper Rose

by David Lingard

  I walked straight to the centre of the camp and emptied my inventory onto the floor.

  “Everyone pick up the tools you need to work!” I announced loudly, “and there’s more coming soon!” I felt the triumphant pang of victory as the hunters each picked out a small knife from the pile and started examining them. The hand axe and the pick were left untouched, as none of the goblins had any use for them. I picked up the hand axe myself before tapping it against my free hand.

  “Right, where are all these trees then?” I asked with a smile on my face.

  Chapter Seven, Dedication

  I

  wiped a bead of sweat from my face as I swung my little axe for what felt like the millionth time. It had taken me all morning to fell just one tree and I was currently working on my second. When I’d given Rok the ‘wood (unfinished)’ from my inventory to use for the new accommodation, he helpfully told me that although he could use the wood to start construction of the new building, If I summoned a worker then they would be able to ‘finish’ the wood – which meant that for each unfinished wood, Rok would be able to use four ‘finished wood’ for the same purpose. He also told me that if this worker were to be trained as a woodworker, the speed at which they finished wood would increase substantially.

  With no desire to start hacking away at the tree that I’d already spent so much time acquiring, I told Rok that we would be using unfinished wood until we could afford a worker, and I couldn’t make any promises on when that might have been.

  I started making a habit of analysing the Chief’s Hut to make sure I was always kept up to date with my clan’s information and to my surprise, once Rok had started building his new building, which was listed as ‘Goblin Longhouse’, it showed me that construction was currently at three percent.

  I spent another hour or so hitting the tree with my axe before I returned again to see what progress had been made. It was at four percent.”

  “Hey Rok?” I called out to the builder who was busy tieing what looked like two thin logs together. He looked up at me and stopped what he was doing without answering.

  “How long does it take to build a…um…” I searched for the building’s name that I’d already seen, “goblin longhouse?”

  “Four days this rate,” he replied. “faster with workers. And tools.”

  It sounded as though Rok was once again telling me to get a worker on the books and I conceded the point.

  “How long would it take with a worker….and what tools do you need?” I asked thoughtfully.

  “Need hammer. Using rock.” He said as he showed me the small flat rock he had in his hand. No wonder his skin was cut and calloused. “With worker, maybe two days. Hammer take few hours too.”

  “Right, in that case I’ll get you a worker,” I promised. “How much wood do you need to complete everything?” I asked.

  “Three more,” he said without thought. I closed my eyes in dismay. This was not what I wanted to be spending my days doing.

  When I analysed the breeding hut so that I could fulfil my promise to Rok, I noticed with pleasure that my settlement had seventeen spare food already which was most probably a by-product of the knives that my hunters were now carrying. Tools really did make a difference, if only minor to their wielders.

  I selected a worker from the list of available goblins and accepted the confirmation prompt. The familiar light that emanated from the breeding hut had started to incite a warm, triumphant feeling in me as with each new goblin I summoned, I knew my clan was growing in size, strength and stature.

  The worker exited the breeding hut a few moments later and stretched his long, slender body. His name was Matuk.

  It wasn’t a problem right now, but I knew that eventually trying to remember all of these goblin names would become difficult. I toyed with the idea of giving them either name badges or nicknames based on their appearance, but I was worried about causing them too much offence.

  I accompanied Matuk to Rok’s construction site and handed him over to my builder to be used as he saw fit.

  “I like keep promises,” Rok announced as he pointed Matuk towards a corner of the new Longhouse. I could already see why it was going to take so long, as the footprint showed that it would be at least five times bigger than my own attempt at accommodation. Rok had also cleared the ground and covered it in what looked like sand to create the base of the building.

  Knowing that construction would no doubt halt without my supply of wood, I dutifully returned to the tree that I’d been hacking away at and readied my axe again. I’d procrastinated far too much in my subconscious attempt to keep from felling trees.

  The tree fell in the late afternoon, which told me in no uncertain terms that I could fell a total of two trees in one day. Or more importantly, another full day of logging would provide Rok with enough wood to complete the longhouse accommodation. My heart sank a little as I thought about what he’d need for his next building, after all I didn’t want him just standing idle.

  You have gained the skill Lumberjack

  Through determination, perseverance and sheer willpower, you have gained the skill Lumberjack. With this skill, you will find it much easier to cut down trees to use on your construction projects.

  The notification surprised me as it faded into my vision and I quickly waved it away conspiratorially. Although a part of me was proud to have advanced in something id previously known nothing about, a bigger part of me felt as though if people knew I had the lumberjack skill, I’d have been expected to use it more often.

  I would soon discover that the effects of the lumberjack skill were not to be scoffed at. As I retook my axe and swung it at the large tree before me, it felt...better than it had done before. I couldn’t tell whether I was doing more damage to the trunk or not, but where previously reverberations had caused my hand and arm to ache constantly, It now felt almost pleasant when my axe made contact.

  I hit the tree again. There it was a second time, not only did it not pain me but now it was actually pleasurable. Not orgasmic pleasurable, more like when you scratch an itch and it feels so good kind of pleasurable.

  I’m the kind of person that gets agitated if I start too many tasks, so it’s understandable that when I came to my conclusion about the need for trees, I couldn’t help but devote every waking hour to hitting trees with my tiny axe over and over. At least that’s what I told myself as opposed to ‘this is actually giving me a bit of a thrill’.

  My tool, as only a hand axe, was very small - well it was to me at least, but to a goblin I thought that it’d be just about the right size. I knew that if I had my own crafter I’d most likely be able to have whatever I wanted made, but that would mean additional expenses that the clan couldn’t afford right now. I absently imagined being told that my newly summoned goblin would require a workshop, full set of tools and three apprentices to get started, but truthfully, I had no idea about any of that. Really I needed someone who could explain all of this to me and I was unsure of just how knowledgeable Ushuk was in these matters.

  Ignoring all else, I knew that I was lacking the social interaction aspect of clan life, along with the stringent management system of balancing the food books while I was set on my task, but I knew that it’d be worth it in the end when my clan would delight at the new digs.

  By mid-day on the second day of constant chopping, I handed the last of the wood to Rok, sat down on the floor, and instantly fell asleep.

  Before I opened my eyes to awaken, I had a moment of clarity.

  ‘Did I just spend two days not talking to anyone else so that I could chop down a few measly trees?’

  I recognised very quickly that I was actually just coming down from a high.

  ‘Jesus Christ, I’m an addict,’ I thought as I made a mental note to be very careful when handling axes in the future. A thought occurred to me along with my other thoughts of addiction, I wondered if the goblin hunters got the same thrill from hunting, or if Rok did from building that I
did from using my lumberjack skill. I made a mental note to ask them later.

  When I finally got around to opening my eyes, I was sat before a huge log cabin that I was sure was only half built just a few moments ago. It towered up at least three metres tall and the entire footprint had been used for the solid overlapping wooden walls. The roof was apexed and ran the length of the building and at each end were a pair of double doors, easily wide enough to allow five goblins through at a time, side by side.

  I noticed that Rok was sitting next to me, also admiring his work.

  “Jesus Rok, how did you finish so fast?” I asked, startled.

  The goblin scratched his chin for a moment before he said “you been sleep for hours. Needed last wood to finish,” he explained.

  “I’ve been asleep for hours!?” I exclaimed in surprise. It’d felt like I only closed my eyes a few seconds ago.

  “Sometimes work hard, make sleepy,” Rok said in a questioning tone. I was well aware of how fatigue worked, but this just seemed unnatural.

  “Could this have something to do with the lumberjack skill?” I asked.

  “You lumberjack now?” Rok asked quickly in surprise.

  ‘Shit’, there goes the game. I needed to be more careful about what I said.

  “Yes, I got the skill yesterday,” I explained slowly, annoyed that I’d let it slip.

  “You got skill on own?” He asked with wide eyes and even more surprise.

  “Yeah...” I replied slowly, “isn’t that normal?”

  “Goblin only learn one skill. Small goblin only learn from other goblin.” He said.

  That sounded to me like the description of goblin adolescents from the breeding hut. I recalled that they required a mentor to learn their chosen profession, but I hadn’t thought about the summoned adult goblins.

  “So once you’re an adult, you’re stuck with whatever profession you were made with?” I asked.

  “Not always. If skill reach master, can learn new skill. But no goblin do that I know,” he explained.

  I understood. In order to learn new skills, goblins needed to max out their current skill level beforehand.

  “What level does that happen at?” I asked.

  Rok held up eight fingers, “ten,” He said.

  That seemed like a tall order to me judging by how slow level progression seemed to be, not taking into account the exponential increase in requirements for each level that most games favoured, no wonder it was a rarity.

  I pulled myself up from the ground and analysed the new goblin longhouse. It didn’t look particularly goblin-y to me, but I guess that was kind of subjective too.

  Goblin Longhouse (100%)

  Current Occupants: 6/100 (300)

  Current Morale: 70/100 (Good)

  The goblin longhouse provides shelter for up to 100 goblins comfortably, or 300 goblins packed in tightly. Morale penalties may occur due to overcrowding.

  This was very useful information to have, as I now knew when I’d be getting close to something of a population cap - not that it would happen any time soon, I thought, as one hundred goblins seemed like a million billion miles away from where I was now.

  ‘Shit,’ I thought to myself as the image of a budding settlement reminded me that I’d made promises to Grish that needed to be filled. I’d already been back for two days and had completely forgotten to arrange for Ushuk to start hunting the crocodiles for their teeth.

  ‘Shit shit shit,’ I thought as I ran over to the goblin adolescent who was enjoying his afternoon meal.

  Before I could speak he stretched out a hand and a notification appeared in my field of vision.

  Ushuk would like to give you 3 Crocodile Teeth.

  Would you like to accept this offer? Yes/No

  I could have kissed him.

  “Oh, Ushuk you beautiful goblin!” I said loudly as I accepted his gift. “I was just coming over here to ask you if you could go get some more of these, and you already did it!”

  “I know.” Ushuk replied smugly. “I remember Grish deal.” He was smiling as he spoke, and I could see the spark of quiet confidence in his eyes and I knew what that meant, so I analysed the goblin.

  Name: Ushuk [Crocodile’s Teeth Clan]

  Level: 4

  Race: Goblin Adolescent/Male

  Attributes:HP: 11/11MP: 5/5

  Strength:1

  Wisdom:3

  Social:0

  Skills: None

  Equipment:Small Knife

  Crocodile’s Tooth Necklace

  “You really like this wisdom thing, don’t you?” I asked with a smile. He shushed me before smiling back.

  “I like being smart,” he said. “Smart is better than strong.”

  ‘I wish I could go back and tell my younger self just that,’ I thought. ‘School might have been a bit easier to swallow then.’

  “Do you know what you want to be when you grow up yet?” I asked, leading the conversation away from conspiracies of wisdom and intellect.

  “Not yet. Haven’t decided,” Ushuk replied. “Like being smart though.” He reiterated. “Have you?”

  “Have I what?” I asked.

  “Though about what want to be when you grow up,” he said with a wink. He was certainly getting sharper. I didn’t answer but I knew it was a question that would eventually require an answer.

  “MATUK!” I called loudly and in no particular direction. I couldn’t be bothered to go and find the new worker so opted for volume over direction.

  His head popped out from my old wooden tent as he tried to see who it was that was calling his name, shortly followed by Snafu’s. I found it kind of strange that they would be in the tent together when there was a perfectly good longhouse for them to sleep in now, it took a second or two but then the penny dropped - they weren’t in there sleeping, they were in there together.

  I felt my face go bright red as Matuk strolled over to me like the cat who’d got the cream with a huge smile on his face.

  “You call?” he said. I wasn’t a fan of his newfound strut but I let him have it.

  “Yes…um…could you…um,” I stammered, completely caught off guard by this turn of events. I took a deep breath before I continued. “I need you to take these three teeth,” I gave him the crocodile’s teeth that Ushuk had given me, “to Grish in the Sawblades clan. Ushuk will tell you how to get there. He’ll give you some tools to bring back.” I explained.

  “Why I go?” Matuk asked as he furrowed his brow.

  I’d planned on sending Matuk for two reasons, one because I didn’t want to go myself every time, partly because of the party and partly because of the overwhelming feeling of imminent danger, and two, I wanted to show off the fact that I had other goblins in my clan than those who’d defected from the Sawblades.

  “I think it’d be nice for you to see their clan. Besides it’s either that or cutting down trees, your choice.” I purposely made ‘cutting down trees’ sound like the worse option as I scrunched my nose through the words, I really wanted to do some more of that myself, I god damn loved cutting down trees.

  “OK, I go now...or in minute?” he asked, casting a sideways glance to the tent where Snafu’s head still remained, watching our conversation.

  “Just make sure you go before it gets dark,” I said not wanting to stand in the way of any hot steamy goblin love. I watched Matuk scurry back towards Snafu when I followed up with, “and make sure you wash your hands, Snafu!” The last thing I wanted was her preparing my food after a sweaty session with Matuk.

  Matuk left just a few minutes later, I guessed that being a goblin didn’t automatically make you some kind of sex god. The rest of the clan was now sat around the roaring fire, collectively enjoying our dinner. Although it was getting a little old, eating the same beetle meat every single day, I could appreciate that what we had, meant that we could all survive and sometimes it was necessary to think about function over fashion.

  “Soooooo, Snafu?” I said to the goblin coo
k as nonchalantly as I could manage. She looked at me seemingly unphased by the emphasis I’d put on my words. “You and Matuk, eh?” I smiled as I spoke.

  “Yes. Why?” She snapped back.

  “Oh, no reason,” I followed up, “just wanted to see what his intentions were.” My words were dripping with sarcasm, but I felt as though it would have been lost on everyone else except me. Although I could see Ushuk chuckling slightly too, his shoulders practically vibrating in the corner of my vision.

  “You not my dad,” she snapped, her face contorted into a snarl.

  I help up my hands in surrender. “I was just kidding! I think it’s great!” I backpedalled on my sarcasm, which was definitely not the way to go with goblins ‘did goblins have dads?’. I saw Ushuk laughing even harder still in the periphery of my vision.

  “Matuk make me feel like woman,” Snafu said with a faraway grin.

  Ushuk couldn’t contain his laughter any more and burst into an uncontrollable roar of guffaws. One by one the rest of the goblins including Snafu, and then myself joined in with his laughter. It felt like it’d been so long since I’d had a really good laugh – and I felt as though this was also for the first time in a long while that I’d been able to be completely myself. I‘d become aware that I was among friends here in Freedom, and I’d do anything to protect them.

  Once all the laughter and friendly teasing of Snafu was over, I really wanted to have a good conversation with Rok to see what he wanted to do next. I knew I’d just sent his only worker away on an errand, but that wasn’t an issue as any construction wouldn’t be starting until someone cut down some trees for the goblin builder. I smiled inwardly as I remembered the feeling that the lumberjack skill had instilled in me, and a warmth filled my body.