The Goblin Horde

by Ivan Kal

  Morgan, on the other hand, was still recovering from depleting his energy. The effect had seemed somehow worse than it had been before, even to the point that he couldn’t even see the HUD that had been ever present in the corners of his sight ever since he’d arrived to this world—and so he couldn’t check how much exp he’d received, couldn’t see if he could level up. For a while he had been worried that he had screwed something up, that he wouldn’t be able to access the system again. He hadn’t even had the chance to look at his notifications, but he knew that something had been wrong, that something he had done had triggered something, that the notifications had to have been warnings.

  But then a few minutes into his relaxing bath, his HUD snapped back into existence.

  Morgan immediately brought up his notifications and started reading. As he suspected, most of them were warnings of some kind. The first thing he saw was his exp notifications, for which he had been awarded a truly obscene amount. From the dead goblins alone, he had been awarded around seven thousand exp. The Goblin King had alone been worth about four thousand. Then he had gotten another four thousand from his successful execution of traps, and for defeating the assault on the city. He got even more for finishing a world quest—Defeat the Goblin Horde!—which awarded him an extra ten thousand experience points.

  Morgan wondered how many levels he would get from this. He knew from others about the quest exp, but they hadn’t gotten as many points. Maybe because I’m the Guild Master? Morgan wondered. He shook his head and turned his attention to the other notifications.

  Warning! Class-path deviation imminent!

  Warning! Class-path divergence, three new class choices available!

  Warning! Class-path no longer available, two choices remaining!

  Warning! Class-path no longer available, one choice remaining!

  Warning Class-path no longer available, no choices remaining!

  Warning! Influx of aether detected, threshold limit surpassed!

  Warning! Unpredicted class evolution detected!

  Error—User’s body unstable, aether poisoning imminent! Assuming direct control.

  Congratulations! You have made the First Step of the Path! Your class has evolved! Ascend to learn more!

  Morgan blinked at that, but he saw his status screen and saw that he could ascend. With a mental command he pressed the button and suddenly found himself inside his soul space. Sabila was there, as always, floating before him.

  “Sabila, I am guessing we have a lot of things to talk about, huh?” Morgan said slowly.

  “We do, Master,” Sabila answered.

  “So how about you explain what happened, and don’t think I forgot about how you took control of my body. I remember you saying that you couldn’t do that,” Morgan said as he narrowed his eyes on the animated character.

  “I hadn’t known that it was possible before, Master—as I’ve stated multiple times before, I have much information readily available to me, but there is some that not even I was aware of. And as it stands I still have no access, other than in very specific situations.”

  “Fine, we will leave that for later,” Morgan grumbled. “Now, you want to tell me what happened?”

  “The system that governs the growth of the ascended is a learning tool, and a way to quantify a user’s level of power,” she explained. “Ascended grow stronger in several ways, but the most obvious one is by ascending. Ascension occurs once an ascended has accumulated enough exp. Experience points are energy, or as the Great Lord calls it, aether. All living things have aether, and every time an ascended kills a monster, a small part of its aether is transferred to the ascended’s account. Once enough aether has been accumulated, an ascended can level up, which means that it can then spend that aether to upgrade its body. This is done through entities such as I, pieces of the ascended souls altered by the Great Lord’s touch. As you have once before said, we are something like implants that have access and control over the ascended’s entire body. But we are not really separate entities; we are an ascended’s subconscious. The reason we are kept apart is because the wealth of information and power given to us is too much for the waking mind to handle, not until it is stronger.”

  Morgan frowned. He had already had many such suspicions about the system. From the start it had seemed too open, more like a series of guidelines than a rigid system of advancement. But he didn’t interrupt. Instead, he allowed Sabila to continue with her explanations.

  “Once an ascended levels up, they get to choose how to upgrade their body by placing points into attributes. It is just a representation of the upgrades, streamlining the process. Putting a point in any of the seven main attributes means that that area would be genetically upgraded and enhanced.”

  “Wait—seven main attributes? Aren’t there eight?” Morgan asked.

  “Luck is not considered a main attribute, because it does not change the ascended’s body, but instead the world around them. A higher degree of luck would mean a greater chance of finding better loot in chests, as their contents are randomized just prior to them being open. It also increases the amount of exp one got from world quests.”

  Huh, I guess it’s good I hadn’t decided to spend more than a single point in it. Although more experience would meant faster growth, Morgan mused. “Sorry, Sabila, please continue.”

  “As I said, the system is both a learning tool and a guide. Each class is a template for future growth, but as the system is not truly restrictive in nature, a class template is not rigid, and as such once an ascended merge their two beginner classes and attain an evolved one, their new class is capable of advancement based on how an ascended used it. Your class—Arcane Archer—is supposed to be a ranged class, but you have been investing most of your time into other skills and abilities. You have been mastering you nature alignment at a very quick pace, as well as experimenting with crafting and engraving. Because of this, your class evolution started branching. If you had continued as you had, once you reached level twenty, you would’ve had several choices to choose from in order to evolve your class. You would’ve gained access to skills and abilities more suited to that class as well as special abilities.”

  “I saw the notifications that said some choices were no longer available,” Morgan commented.

  “Yes.” Sabila nodded. “The system that guides you responds to your will and skill, and as you have focused all of your being to using your Phytokinesis, it changed the evolution of your class.”

  “But I hadn’t reached level twenty. Shouldn’t that only matter then? The last message said that my class had evolved.”

  “That is so. You had drained the goblins of their life force and unintentionally funneled all of that energy, or aether, inside of yourself. Usually aether that is not your personal supply and under your direct control is being stored and kept by the World under the Guidance of the Guiding Force—once an ascended accumulates enough to ascend, the Guiding Force makes that aether available in order for ascension to take place. You had taken it inside of your core while you were not sufficiently advanced to handle such an amount. I had no choice but to act, and fortunately I gained complete control as the situation developed in unpredictable ways. I could not expel that extra aether, so as your class had already been ready for evolution, there was no need for me to wait until you reached level twenty and accumulated enough aether to facilitate such an evolution. Instead, I spent the aether you took and triggered the change early. This of course meant that you will not have a chance to choose the class you want, but are now stuck on this new path. Of course a path can evolve as it progresses, so it is not a cause for concern.”

  “So what is my new class?”

  “You may ascend and find out,” Sabila said with a nearly unnoticeable smile.

  Morgan narrowed his eyes at the soul-implant-type-of-thingy. She seemed a bit different—and is that sass that I detect there? “You are a lot more talkative about subjects you did not want to talk about before.”

>   “The evolution of your class signals you taking the First Step on the Path, and as such I am able to share more information with you.”

  “I have seen that in the notifications. What does that mean?” Morgan asked.

  “The Path of the Spirit Arts is what the system and this entire world has been created in order to replicate—only without the years of training and knowledge required to achieve it the traditional way. It is a way of strengthening one’s body and spirit in order to achieve great power. The upgrades that I facilitate for your body and spirit mimic what a spirit artist would do on their own through years of intense training, meditation, and willpower.”

  Morgan remembered Oxylus saying something about this all being an experiment. Morgan couldn’t really grasp something like that; creating an entire world just to try and replicate something?

  “So, what does the First Step mean?”

  “It means that you have achieved the most basic requirement of the spirit arts. You are now equal to the practitioners on the First Step.”

  “And how many steps are there?” Morgan asked.

  “The Path is endless,” Sabila said with a smile.

  “Right, of course it is,” Morgan said with a shake of his head.

  Morgan turned away and focused on his screens, then clicked the button for ascension and felt a rush flow through him. The conduits inside of his body pulsed, and the energy in his core swirled more intensely. He blinked his eyes, shaking off the strange feeling and looked at the status screen in front of him.

  Morgan Newton LVL 18 Heart of Verdure — EXP 3829/10000

  “Heart of Verdure?” Morgan turned and asked Sabila.

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “Your class is a newly formed one, unique, evolved by your will and desire. It does not follow on the paths already available; instead, it is your own. As such it is focused on manipulation of plant life and energy.”

  “Well, that’s neat,” Morgan said slowly, but he didn’t know how to feel about that. Sure, he liked being able to manipulate plants, but he hadn’t really thought about focusing only on that. “You said that classes can evolve further?”

  “Yes. As before, your actions will broaden your class and give you access to more knowledge. However, the next threshold for class evolution is at level thirty.”

  Morgan nodded. It was a ways off, but it was good to know that he wasn’t stuck with this one. A class didn’t really matter all that much anyway, though, as he could learn and do anything that he wanted. It would only provide him with extra bonuses and guidance in that direction.

  He turned his eyes to his other screens, and his eyes immediately widened as he saw his skill and ability screens.

  There had been quite a few changes. One of his skills had reached level V, and four level X. He even had one new skill, called Life Sense, and he had many more available to learn. The levels alone were worth it, and he had seven points to spend. His abilities screen had undergone a few changes as well. He got a few upgrades, and one of the abilities seemed to have even evolved. Two abilities were missing: his Nature Sense and Nature Sight. He figured that they had evolved and become a skill, which would explain why he now saw life-energy auras constantly.

  Morgan took a look at his screens, and looked at the lists of newly available skills and abilities. He wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to choose something now, but looking at his skills list he immediately saw one that caught his interest, and so he decided to take it. It cost five points, and he had seven available. He pressed and learned Alchemy I.

  Next, he looked over newly available abilities, but decided against taking anything new right now. He wanted to speak with his friends a bit more before taking any in particular.

  Then he looked at his screens a final time:

  SKILLS

  Language-Basic

  Elemental Alignment-Nature X(+two ranks Guild buff)

  Hand to Hand Combat II

  Weapons II

  Archery VIII

  Hunting II

  Skinning III

  Herbalism X

  Monster Lore III

  Inspect IV

  Enchanting V

  Energy Manipulation X

  Engraving III

  Unyielding Will I

  Phytokinesis V

  Life Sense I

  Alchemy I

  2 skill points available

  ABILITIES

  Power Infusion VII

  Power Siphon V

  Ward III

  Arcane Shift IV

  Arcane Mark I

  Piercing Shot I

  Scatter Shot II

  Energy Arrow V

  Exploding Arrow III

  Rain of Arrows III

  Touch of Decay I

  Energy Blade III

  Vampiric Root Spear III

  6 ability points available

  Finally, he closed the two screens and focused on his attribute screen. There he saw that he had six points available to spend from his levels and also one point from his Boon of the Blood Drinker pendant, which he had actually forgotten to check—it looked like he didn’t need to check it, however, as it would just appear here. Also, he noticed that two of his attributes had already been enhanced by several points each.

  “Sabila? Why are my Intellect and Will higher than before?” The two stats had been 20 and 23, respectively, and were now 25 and 25.

  “I had leftover aether from the class evolution and used it to upgrade the two stats that governed your energy-based capabilities.”

  Morgan nodded and turned back to the screen to spend his seven points. He decided to put five points into constitution, as he really wanted to get himself at least over the threshold, and he was a fan of not dying. The last two he split between strength and agility.

  STRENGTH

  15

  AGILITY

  26

  CONSTITUTION

  20

  INTELLECT

  25

  WILL

  25

  WISDOM

  13

  CHARISMA

  10

  LUCK

  10

  After that was finished, he looked back to his status screen and noticed a flashing light. He frowned and pressed it, only to be greeted by another screen.

  Congratulations, nature alignment mastered! Another alignment available.

  Well, isn’t this interesting? Morgan mused. He had suspected that something like this would be the case when he had read through the rules of the system. He had all of the remaining five available, but he didn’t pick one yet. Instead, he closed the window. Like with his abilities, this required a bit more thought. Finally, he closed down all of his screens and looked at Sabila.

  “Well, thank you for all the information. Hopefully we see each other soon,” Morgan said.

  “Of course, Master.”

  “Send me out.”

  A few moments later, he was back in his bath.

  “You ascended?” Ves asked.

  Morgan turned to look at her sitting to his right. “Yes, and I have a lot of things to tell you.”

  EPILOGUE

  Oxylus stepped into the fabric of reality itself and found a thread he was looking for. A moment later, he appeared inside a dark tunnel with a smoke-like substance clinging to its walls. In front of him stood a being, a Go’blavar he had met a long time ago and then completely forgot about. He had just been forwarded a report from his right hand that told him about him fighting with Morgan and nearly killing him and his friends, however, so he decided to pay him one last visit.

  “You!” the Go’blavar screamed, and attempted to jump forward at him with his claws extended.

  Oxylus simply caught him in the air and kept him immobilized there. There was no real power in this place, but the power of will still reigned supreme—and there were few who had greater will than Oxylus.

  “Now, is that how you greet someone like me?” Oxylus asked.

  The Go’blavar snarl
ed, spitting obscenities that Oxylus ignored. Instead, he tried to remember what the being’s name was; it had been a really long time, and there were far more important things for him to remember.

  A few moments later, it came to him.

  “Ah, right. Your name is Korvarok, Great Leader of the Seventh Wandering Fleet, right?”

  The Go’blavar snarled. “Korvorok!”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “You monsters, you did this to me,” Korvorok hissed. “You turned my kind into savages! You doomed us to an existence of being hunted by other races on your world!” Korvorok yelled at him.

  “A fitting punishment, don’t you think? You had done the same—how many races did you wipe out? How many worlds did you burn before I found you?”

  “You destroyed our fleet! You took all of my people, these goblins,” Korvorok spat. “They are innocents, only descendants of my fleet!”

  “And so what? They still chose to continue committing atrocities even after I gave them a new world. They turned themselves into savages all by themselves.”

  “You lie!”