Re: Monster - World's Reversal

"Now that's been settled, care to tell me your names?"

"""!"""

"Pfff… Hahaha! Hoh, hohh… Ok, I'm good. The look on your faces though. Priceless!"

The black one frowns slightly and steps forward.

"I am Goburou. Care to tell us yours?"

I just smirk at that one.

"Mm? An' jes what'll yus do if'n I don'?"

His face sets in a line and his frown deepens. Oh how I love to be in an advantageous position. I carry on though, because at the end of the day I DO need the help.

"Ah, don't put too many sticks up there, I was only messing. Name's Alaya."

… He's suddenly stopped frowning and is looking at me blankly. Why would he… Oh. Yes that was a very un-ladylike performance. He was probably under the assumption I was just a very feminine looking male. Not surprising given my lack of upper c.h.e.s.t flesh, but it shouldn't be THAT much of a revelation. Then again, isn't that exactly what I am? But I don't have a- Anyway, after regaining a bit of self-control Goburou continues to ask questions of me.

"What race are you?"

"Hesperide, second rank nymph."

"How do you speak goblin?"

"There's was a really old one back in the village who passed on what little knowledge he could to the younger generations"

"Why are you here"

"My village burnt down, everyone I've known since birth is dead and I've been wandering for the best part of a week looking for the first sign of something I can talk to without being jumped on."

"Couldn't you have tried those kobolds?"

Kobolds eh? That's useful.

"No, our two species don't exactly get along."

"So having you among us would cause problems?"

"Not anymore than you're already in just by way of being goblins."

"Fair enough. Last question, what do you want from us?"

"Simple really, a base of sorts from which I can come and go… Along with the rights to spar with whoever I choose. In exchange, I'll teach you goblins some basic swordsmanship and any with magical talent can try and learn from watching me sparring… That is, when it lasts long enough for me to use much magic. If you want me to do anything other than that, just ask. I'll probably agree, after all, my schedule as a homeless vagrant is rather open."

Closing his eyes, he ponders his options for a few seconds. When he opens them again, they're full of conviction.

"OK. However, you also have to pledge not to harm any member of the tribe and grant me the right to ask you to do anything, just once."

"First part, tack without first being attacked on the end, and the second as long as it isn't suicidal or morally reprehensible."

"Deal."

I walk up to him and put my hand out, unsure whether he'll recognize the gesture, but thankfully, no such problem occurs and we shake on it. As we do however, I smirk at him once more.

"Now, for my first sparring partner, I think I'll choose… You!"

He smiles. Not a happy smile, nor a confused one, nor yet a confident smile, but an anticipatory smile. He wants to go all out, and I'm going to make him.

"Me? Alright then, let's just back up a few paces and then start."

Once there's around a 20 foot gap between us, we nod to each other. I throw up stone walls on either side of him to restrict his movement, and launch vines down the center. Charging directly towards them for a moment, Goburou jumps against my wall, running two steps up it's side before pushing off and back onto the ground, avoiding the gained momentum of the floral cascade. Branching off from the main vines, I command a number of tendrils to surround Goburou, but he lets loose a raging flame and pushes them back. For my next trick I hollow out the ground beneath where he's about to step and start to form a large stone dome around it. Noticing the rising stone, he goes to thrust himself forward in a mad dash for the end… But his leg drops in the pit. By the time he pulls himself up, the dome is ready to close. So I reinforce it with another 2 layers, wait a minute, and then collapse it, revealing a black skinned goblin sitting on the floor cross-legged. Let it be noted that while this is all happening the female goblin is helping the bulky goblin.

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[Friendly Duel - No EXP]

[Log overfull, activating compact mode]

[Ability(s) gained:

Absorption [U] - Eat anything. Gain the capabilities of anything eaten

Night Vision [C] - See quite well in the dark

Sense Presence [D] - Sense all presences of equal or lesser INT than the user

Vampirephilia [C] - Gain HP equal to 1.2% of all damage dealt

Language (Orc, Human)]

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[Skill gained: Appraisal [E - 0%] - See name and level of target]

[Skill Up! Iron Skin [C 20% - 60%]!]

[Skill gained: Pyrokinesis [C - 0%] - Manipulation of fire]

[Skill gained: Mental Mapping [A] - Can create a perfect mental map of any place the user has been]

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[Trait Up! Daughter of Nyx [EX+ - EX++]! - All-magic affinity +400%, ???]

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[Job(s) gained:

Magician [D] - Improves control over magic and acquisition of magical knowledge!

Swordsman [D] - Improves control over all sword related skills and abilities!

Druid [C] - Control over druidic arts is greatly improved!

Craftsman [C]- Quality of hand-crafted items is greatly improved!]

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[Resistances gained: Poison [B]]

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[Job system unlocked - Classifying data]

[Resistance tab unlocked!]

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I retract the columns. Not gonna think about how I got so much from just this one... person? Nor the fact that it managed to level up a trait named after the goddess of Origin and Demise. Nor the fact that he had a skill eerily similar to mine… Nope, nope and nope. What I'm going to focus on is the fact that I can see levels now.

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[Name: Goburou]

[Age: 19 days]

[Race: Hobgoblin]

[Level: 21]

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[Name: Gobukichi]

[Age: 19 days]

[Race: Hobgoblin]

[Level: 21]

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[Name: Gobumi]

[Age: 19 days]

[Race: Hobgoblin]

[Level: 21]

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"Now that's settled, we should probably get going, no?"

"Yeh!"

Surprisingly enough, that yell was from Gobukichi, who, probably due to his lower intelligence threshold, isn't just standing still staring at me like one Gobumi and instead is grinning like an idiot with an obvious twinkle in his eye.

----- Day 19 -----

Oddly enough, my new host did NOT immediately get everyone to try killing me. With his absorption, it would definitely be in his best interests to backstab me and take my abilities, but I guess he didn't inherit the natural goblin… Mindset. I'm grateful actually, because I'm not personally too keen on backstabbing and treachery myself. I will quite happily employ tactics like faking loyalty to destroy an enemy, and I will manipulate my allies, but even then I'll try not to make them suffer a loss, and if they're actually decent friends I won't even do that, and try instead to be completely open. Two weeks is not enough to develop any friends of that caliber, for anyone currently holding a skeptical smirk.

The den is a mess, quite honestly. Also, upon finding that my webbing is soft and flexible, I got to work training my control over it so that I could create proper bedding, or at the very least a good hammock. The goblins are being trained at a ferocious pace, and while Goburou's methods might be harsh, they're definitely effective. Actually, my presence probably made him work them even harder, because I can't even keep track of the number of times I had to use my healing hands.

A series of quick spars didn't give me much, but what it did give me was rather impressive.

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[Ability gained: Weapons Mastery (Spears [E], Bows [E])]

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[Trait gained: Follower [C] - Increases ability to follow orders. +10 influence with nobles]

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[Skill Up! Ambush [D 0% - B 32%]! - First Strike +700% damage if the target is caught unaware]

[Skill Up! Cleave [E 0% - C 86%]! A powerful vertical thrust, +300% damage]

[Skill Up! Minor Terraforming [D 84% - C 13%]! - Manipulate the earth to a good degree within 20 meters of the user]

[Skill Up! Nature's Command [D 97% - C 32%]! Manipulate all non-magical plant life within 32 meters to a good degree]

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Cleave is completely useless to be honest. The weapons mastery might be useful if I can rank it up while training the goblins, because that way I'll be able to continue training them all the way to A rank and not become obsolete. Follower is basically half a counter to my crippling influence problem with nobility and a massive bonus, but really the most important thing here is Ambush. This basically guarantees a one hit kill on anything that doesn't notice me. My other skills ranked up due to constant minor usage in sparring.

----- Day 21 -----

Rou, as I've now decided to call him since the first part is apparently just tacked on everyone, decided to take a new pet on the hunt with him today. This one I am going to refer to as Gobue, because 'E' isn't enough of a name in my book… At that point you might as well just name all of them as letters of the alphabet before looping back to AA and AB. I call her a 'pet', because it's a much nicer thing to call someone than 'pack horse', which is essentially her job. The big three can't be bothered to pick up their own luggage. While they're out hunting, I go exploring.

On a whim, I decide to test a spiderman approach to travelling, and at first, it seemed like a lost cause, because I couldn't figure out how to make it sticky enough to stay on the tree branches. However, as with everything else I can get away with, I avoided having to think about it further by using something else. I just wrapped some vines around the end of the string so it didn't come loose.

Thinking about it a bit more closely, my nature's command is faster, more flexible and has a longer range than my earth, exactly the same in comparison to nature's command. I actually have no idea what the maximum shot distance is for my webbing, but I can propel it faster with more mana, so theoretically it should be whatever my mana pool and body can take.

Beat up some golden spider things, a massive centipede and a raging red bear. So boring…

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[Skill Rank Up! Webbing - Golden Thread [C - 0%]! - Your thread becomes stronger, fire resistant and more efficient]

[Skill Rank Up! Iron Skin - Adamantium Carapace [E - 0%]! - Your skin becomes tougher than most metals]

[Sword skill gained: Consecutive Raging Strikes [A - 0%] - Damage +10% for each consecutive blade strike]

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[Ability Up! Dominating Presence [C - B-] - Your presence scares anything weaker than you slightly, with greater effect on those far weaker. Can be repressed.]

[Ability gained: Muscle Strength [A] - Perfectly toned muscles allows exert maximum force while retaining flexibility. Increases efficiency of bodily processes drastically.]

[Ability gained: Paralysing Breath [A] - User is now capable of causing paralysis via breath. Can be repressed.]

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[Resistances gained: Paralysis [A], Heat [A], All-element [E]]

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[Level Up! 22-23!]

[Level Up! 23-24!]

...

…

…

[Level Up! 32-35!]

[STR: 42 - 48!]

[END: 100 - 103!]

[WIS: 133 - 142!]

[INT: 134 - 143!]

[SPD: 100 - 103!]

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[Trait gained: Living Arrow [C] - Movement and casting speed +20%]

[Trait gained: Wall of Flesh [C]- All resistances +10%]

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Ok, so maybe I lied.

When I saw the effects of muscle strength and Living arrow I decided to throw a few rocks around and see what they meant. Apparently it's less straining to make spontaneous movements, and the earth reacts, presumably 20% faster to my call, meaning I can make the rocks travel faster using less mana.

I've probably mentioned how much I hate multi-levelling before. I don't need to say it again. Strength is a useless stat to me, and multi-levelling forces me to pour resources into it. There is at least some consolation to be had in the abilities that bear gave me. If nothing else, heat resistance A and all-element resistance of any kind are absolute godsends. Theoretically I could confront a level 100 now as long as they only use fire attacks… But a single element user at level 100… Probably not that likely.

Also, something tells me I probably wasn't supposed to be able to kill these things if I can level up so many times in one day off them…

----- Day 26 -----

I haven't left the goblins den recently, and for two reasons. One, Rou asked me to keep guard against possible orc attacks, and two, I'm busy levelling up my craftsmanship and training my control of other skills. My recent encounters made me realise that, dependant on the utilization of different skills and abilities, level difference can be overcome, so I've been honing my skills in mock battles. Also, sparring with Rou will give me all his new skills anyway, so I don't really need to go anywhere… I just hope he doesn't find out that I'm taking advantage of his hospitality. Actually, the only way he would do that is by eating me, which implies I'm dead… At which point I won't really care… Because I'll be dead. And why am I getting weird stares from some of the goblins.

The reason today is different, is that yesterday all the goblins were told to equip themselves for a raid on the orc mine. My donation to this cause? All of my successful armours and products in general made from breaking down various materials and sewing them together with my golden thread. Now each of the lower-ranked goblins wears a c.h.e.s.tpiece, shoulder guards and greaves, all of tanuki-plate… Don't ask. Also, using thin vines I pierced a number of rabbit horns, again, don't ask, in order to thread my golden webbing through and tie a number of straight wooden poles to them to make decent spears. Can you believe they were just going to tie horns on any random long stick and call it a spear?!

Today, we will march to war.

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[Name: Alaya]

[Level: 35]

[Species: Hesperide]

[Focus: Learning]

[Titles: Reincarnator [EX++], Kingslayer I [C - 0%]]

[Craftsman [C+]:

Skills: Golden Thread [C - 48%], Appraisal [E - 50%]

Abilities: Eagle Eye [D], Mental Mapping [A]]

[Druid [C]:

Skills: Healing Hands [D - 32%], Nature's Command [C - 79%]]

Abilities: Adaptable [D-], Aura of Growth [B--]]

[Magician [D+]:

Skills: Air Slash [D - 13%], Mana Pulse [E - 27%], Minor Terraforming [C - 56%], Pyrokinesis [C - 43%]

Abilities: Regeneration [C-]]

[Swordsman [D+]:

Skills:Cleave [C - 86%], Swift Strike [E - 81%, Consecutive Raging Strikes [A - 0%]]

Abilities: Weapons Mastery (Swords [D], Spears [D+], Bows [E+])]

[Offensive:

Skills: Ambush [B - 32%], Bloodl.u.s.t [C - 0%], Evasion [E - 61%], Venomous Bite [E - 0%]

Abilities: Lesser Leg Strength [E-], Vampirephilia [C]

[Defensive:

Skills: Adamantium Carapace [E - 11%]

[Misc:

Abilities: Absorption [U], Dominating Presence [B-], Echolocation [A], Language (Goblin, Human, Orc, Kobold), Muscle Strength [A], Streamlined [A], Waterproof [B], Night Vision [C], Sense Presence [D], Paralysing Breath [A]]

[Resistances: All-Element [E], Heat [A], Paralysis [A], Poison [B]]

[Traits:

Natural: Durable [D], Follower [C], Genius [D], Living Arrow [C], Merciless [D], Scholarly [C], Swift [D], Wall of Flesh [C], Wise [D]]

Unnatural: Accelerated Growth [R], All return to the Cycle [U], Daughter of Nyx [EX++], Natural Titan [U]]

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[Stats:]

[STR: 48]

[END: 103]

[WIS: 142]

[INT: 143]

[SPD: 103]

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[Racial multiplier: 2]

[Free stat points: 0]

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So here's the deal, I've post this right now instead of tomorrow, and in exchange there won't be another one until Monday. Unless I get inspired like I did for this one.

Also, while discussing with... myself (I'm lonely, k?) what the chapter title would be, I put KichiRou in google translate and it came up with Yoshiro, meaning 'good son', which is incredibly fitting for who they are.

Again, please tell me if I've made any stupid mistakes.