XLIII

  Hundreds, if not over a thousand of the Kobolds were present under the rock formation, which was more of a giant overhang, shielding a massive cavern from the sky. There were so many of them, and he has never seen so many people in one area, almost like a small town. He saw plenty of campfires littered around, supply crates everywhere, shabby looking structures made out of a leather like material, which were most likely for them to reside in during the night.

  The Kobolds were all in motion, with each of them doing some kind of task. There were general Laborers, who were transporting crates around, Builders who were putting together these small structures, Cooks, who were gathered around these campfires tending some kind of soups and meats, Soldiers who were patrolling the perimeter of the area, and Kobolds who seemed to be the Overseers, putting everything together.

  From what Kaz could see, the camp seemed to be running very well, with lots of movement, but it was calculated movement, with no Kobolds aimlessly strolling around. The Kobolds who Kaz thought were in charge wore elegant red robes, constantly pointing out small things to anybody who were around them. If a Kobold failed to hear anything from the Overseers, it would find itself blasted by what Kaz thought was a [ Mana Burst ], but in a reddish hue, matching their robes.

  Kaz had to look away the first time this happened, as the Kobold who got hit by the Skill Ability writhed unnaturally on the ground, in obvious pain, Kaz hearing the pained hissing hundreds of yards away. Nobody came by to help the poor Kobold, everyone seemed to avoid the Kobold at the scene, even avoiding eye contact with the Overseer and the poor Laborer. He then examined the Soldiers, noting that the Soldiers made up nearly half of the number of Kobolds, which caused some concern for the young Gnome.

  He decided to eye a Laborer who was carrying a massive wooden crate, who dropped it off along many other crates and began walking back in the direction it came from. The Laborer neither rushed nor slacked off, it walked in a perfectly balanced pace, regardless of who was in the way. After some time, Kaz lost vision of the Laborer, as it walked deeper into the cavern, the rock formations blocking him from seeing.

  Feeling his [ Archive ] nudge him forward, he wanted to curl up into a ball. There was no way he was going to infiltrate this camp, with the amount of Soldiers present, and the horrifying Overseers gave him chills. With a frustrated groan, he walked down the naturally sloped drop off, trying to tread slowly and quietly. He cursed his [ Archive ] for pushing him further, regretting his greed for more rewards. And it was no surprise that his [ Archive ] remained silent.

  Scanning the area ahead of him, he was glad that it was turning dark, as it would help him hide in the shadows, hopefully avoiding the eye of any Soldier watching the surrounding areas. Kaz could feel the adrenaline pumping within him, and he tried to stop his body from shaking like a leaf in the wind, unable to contain his nerves.

  Hearing footsteps coming from his left, he quickly threw himself behind a rock, peeking around to see a group of three Kobolds walking his way. He slowed his breathing, and a cold sweat broke out, running down his back. Thankfully, the Kobolds strolled on the other side of the rock, hissing lightly as they were no doubt talking to each other on what they assumed was a boring and unnecessary nightly patrol.

  Emboldened by his hiding skills, he walked in the direction they came from, figuring that he wouldn’t run into another group as they just walked by. It also worked in his favor as he wanted to approach through this side, as it would let him have a look where all the Laborers were walking to and from. Kaz shuffled through the rocky terrain, wincing every single time he slightly lost his footing or stepped on an area of rock dust that crunched under the weight of his foot.

  Sitting behind a rather large rock, he decided to take a break, covered in sweat and breathing quite heavily. The stress of sneaking around and potentially getting caught by someone was wearing him down more than he cared to admit. Taking a sip from his waterskin, he pondered about what he has seen so far.

  To him, it seemed like a group of people who were assembling and taking over a territory to reside in. But what confused him was that he had never seen these people before. He had only seen Gnomes, Humans, Elves and Dwarfs, and they were all somewhat similar in their features. These Kobolds were very different to any Race he has seen, and they also spoke in a language he didn’t understand.

  It was equally concerning when he considered of how many Soldiers there were. It made sense to send Soldiers when trying to establish a new camp to protect their people, but it seemed like the ratio was exaggerated. It didn’t help that the Laborers were treated horribly from what he had seen, and there was definitely a chain of command. Kaz couldn’t even differentiate the females from the males, so it made him wonder if they even had genders. He also failed to see any smaller Kobolds, essentially children, which was also puzzling as that meant that they were left behind by their potential family.

  Shaking his head, he wondered why he cared so much, it wasn’t his problem to solve, he was only to note what he saw and then report it back to the Guild. They would deal with all the theories and what actions needed to be taken. This was nothing a Gnome of his power could do in this situation. Prepping himself, he took a few deep breaths and stood up, continuing his journey closer to the cavernous mountainside.

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  Over two hours later, he reached an area where he was able to see deep into the cavern and also found a spot where he would be unseen by anybody. He lay on his stomach between a few rocks, using a small space between them to look through. Kaz again tracked one of the Laborers, who he was able to distinguish quite easily now, as they were larger than the Soldiers, and also had barely any clothing, their clothing looking more like the Stonerock Goblins he had come across.

  The Kobold walked behind one of the natural stone walls, and then disappeared, the area becoming slightly hazy and distorted when the Kobold passed through it. Kaz wiped his eyes and looked back up, frowning when he saw the same thing occur when another Kobold walked through it. Was this an illusion?

  He groaned to himself, knowing that he now had to go through the illusion himself to see where it led to. Steeling himself for the next part of his investigation, he got up from his hiding spot, and stalked towards the area, grateful for the fact that the area was not heavily guarded, as this area was shielded from above by the overhanging rock formation. He hid behind one major stack of crates. They smelled weird to him and almost made him want to sneeze. And upon closer inspection, each crate had the same insignia stamped into it, the head of the Kobold surrounded by a pair of those odd wings.

  As his luck would have it, at that exact moment, a patrol walked through the area, and these Kobolds a lot more serious in their duty, not uttering a single hiss to each other, simply scanning the area. Kaz held his breath and closed his eyes, straining his ears to follow the footsteps of these Soldiers. Once he didn’t hear the footsteps anymore, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

  Hastily scanning the area, he made a run for the illusion. He rushed through it, and to his surprised, the space became warmer and he had to shield his eyes from the bright light. Steps appeared behind him, and he scattered to the nearest rock, diving behind it, hoping he wasn’t noticed. Barely peeking from the rock, he saw another Laborer walk by him, lifeless in its demeanor. He tracked it and that was when he was stunned.

  At the end of the space there was another camp. But there wasn’t one. His mind raced as he tried to process what he was seeing. Where there should be a wall for the end of the cavern, there was a glowing outline, glowing purple, and he saw another camp. But the environment was completely different, filled with what seemed to be reddish dust, almost like looser dirt. And there were no trees to be seen, but only hills of this reddish dust.

  He saw the Laborer get handed another crate from a similar looking Laborer, and it then turned around, and approached the cavern again. Kaz watched in amazement as it seemed to just step into the cavern, as if it was just walking into another room.

  His [ Archive ] dinged, and that was enough to bring him out of his dazed amazement at the spectacle before him. Kaz immediately opened his [ Archive ], and to his delight, his Quest got updated, and it read now:

  Bonus Quest complete. Report your findings to the Adventurer’s Guild in Sarus.

  Generating list of rewards…

  Kaz was dying to know what rewards waited for him, but he had this uneasy feeling being in this area. Taking another deep breath, he made his move, looking out of the wall of illusion, and exiting the space with hesitation. He saw no patrols or Laborers nearby yet, so he made a run for it, following the same path he got in with.

  Loud hissing came from behind him, and to his horror, he looked behind him to see another Laborer looking straight at him. Being discovered, he just ran for his life, and as he made distance, he looked behind to thankfully nobody running after him. He made a swift escape, running until taking cover behind his original hiding spot between a few rocks.

  Steadying his breathing, he calmed down, slowing his breathing and trying to stop himself from shaking, the adrenaline pumping through him. After a very brief rest to catch his breath, he checked through the cracks of the rocks, and seeing that it was clear of enemies, he made another run for it, at this point abandoning the idea of stealth. Within half an hour of constantly running and hiding, he made it back into the forest.

  Exhausted from his whole day of traveling, fighting, and then running away for his life, he decided to find a nice spot to take a rest for the night. He climbed a rather comfortable looking tree, with branches wide enough for him to lay on soundly, and opened his [ Archive ]. To his disappointment, his [ Archive ] still contained the same message:

  Bonus Quest complete. Report your findings to the Adventurer’s Guild in Sarus.

  Generating list of rewards…

  Sighing in disappointment, he closed his [ Archive ] and then proceeded to close his eyes. Sleep found him within minutes of closing his eyes, and he awoke the next day, extremely sore, but refreshed. With his mind now clear, he recollected his findings from the previous day.

  The investigation called for finding out what was the monster that was seen roaming these areas. It was not a monster, but a Race of people called Kobolds with some kind of insignia representing their group. Upon receiving a Bonus Quest, he then investigated further, following a group back to their camp, to which he saw hundreds of them, in the beginning stages of setting up their camp. Kaz then noticed them walking behind a wall of illusion deep in the cavern, and past that illusion, there was another camp. The wall was outlined with a purplish glow, and the other camp was in some environment that was hot and filled with reddish dirt or dust, he couldn’t tell. Laborers were walking through the wall, appearing in the other environment and walking back without any trouble.

  He shrugged his shoulders, with more questions than answers, but as he concluded earlier, not his problem, but the Guild’s. Then, he opened his [ Archive ], a wide grin spreading across his face as there was more text in the [ Quests ] page now.