ONE WEEK LATER.
Blast.
An explosion erupted, as Frawn grinned and lifted the contraption he was holding in his hands up and rested it onto his right shoulder. “Now that is some fire power.” Jack complimented, moving closer to Frawns side from the back. The Red Goblin looked at the Tamer and nodded, smiling. “It’s my newest creation. I call it, ‘Meteors Breath’.” The goblin showed off the invention.
It looked a lot like the rocket launchers that Jack had come to be familiar with during his time as a military mercenary, however unlike those that he knew, this weapon was a lot less streamlined, having been made by Frawn using materials he could get his hands on from all the goblin clans. Over all, it looked quite steampunkish in aesthetics, however the one thing that stood out the most was the runes carved into the side; ‘????????’.
Frawn turned towards the spot he had shot the weapon at earlier. “The weapon uses magic as a source of power. The runes I’ve carved into it serve two functions – absorbing magical energy as well as converting into power that is then fired out from its barrel as a powerful fireball.”
The goblin showcased the process, aiming the weapon towards a faraway boulder. Then, pressing his free hand onto the runes, the runes lit up lightly as his magical energy began to pour into them. Then, after a bit, the inside of the barrel began to glow.
“Inside the barrel I have placed several lesser combustion runes as well as a greater ignition rune. All together, they use the magical energy I provide to create a fireball similar to one cast by advanced mages, just much faster, as no incantations are required.” He focused his attention on the boulder he was aiming at, before grinning and exhaling. “Fire.”
After whispering the single word, the weapon immediately blasted out a large ball of fire, which increased in size while flying towards the boulder, before erupting into a large-scale explosion the moment it made contact with said boulder.
Jack looked a bit impressed, while Frawn placed his weapon off to the side and crossed his arms proudly. “Pretty impressive, eh?”
“Indeed it is.” Jack replied, nodding lightly, before looking at the spot that the Red Goblin had blown to smithereens just now.
It’s been a week since we’ve conquered the Black Goblin clan. All of us have been busy with training and preparations to confront the White Goblin clan and their leader.
Sallow has been going out every day, disappearing for long hours, during which he supposedly trains. I’ve followed him once and I managed to get a look at how he does it — finding large slime colonies and forcing them all to come together to form Slime Kings which he then slaughters.
Frawn, Greth and Sable all have been busy doing their own things.
Frawn has been working away at his gadgets, creating things such as that rocket launcher-esk weapon he was just now firing in front of me.
Greth returned to the Green Goblin clan, training together with the other green goblins to improve her physical power as well as meditating to try and regain her once possessed strength, that she had lost after we transferred her soul from her old body to the new one she has now.
Finally, Sable has been mostly pulling strings in the shadows to try and gather as much intel on the White Goblin clan as she can, so that we could find the most effective and efficient way to face the White Goblin clan's ruler. Essentially, she’s looking for any weaknesses we could exploit.
And me?
I’ve been busy with my own things.
“Alright, I’ll leave you to do your experimentation.” Jack said, turning around and waving Frawn a goodbye. The Red Goblin raised his head up and nodded, also waving a goodbye to the tamer. “Do drop by again at any time!”
Then, Frawn turned his attention back to his weapon, scratching his chin a bit, before tinkering with the barrel. “What if I try increasing the firepower…”
Jack moved through the empty field of the Red Goblin clans territory, keeping his hands in his pockets. Araneida accompanied him, skittering about right next to him. The tamer kept his head low and gaze pointed down at the ground, seemingly a bit lost in his thoughts.
Crack.
A noise came from in front of them. Jack raised his gaze up – a group of lizard-like creatures were gathered around what looked to be the bones of some direwolves, eating and crunching on the bones like they were a delicacy. Jack smiled. “Alright, time to start our hunt for today.” He looked at the spider next to him.
Araneida let out a joyous squeal, excited before looking at the lizard creatures. Jack unsheathed his two shortswords. “Alright, do it.”
Araneida shrieked loudly towards the creatures.
Familiar Araneida has activated [Intimidation].
The lizard creatures weakly turned around to glare at the duo with their red eyes, before all three of them growled and then roared. However, before they could do anything, Jack launched at them – slicing one of them into small pieces. Then, quickly, before the other two could react, he quickly sliced their throats open, before jabbing the shortswords into the top of their heads, killing them in an instant. Then, he pulled the shortswords out of their skulls, spinning them before resting them onto his shoulders.
[ ALERT ]
You have levelled up.
97 > 98
[ ALERT ]
“One more closer to the magical number.” Jack commented in his mind, before looking at Araneida, who was watching from afar. “Come on, feel free to devour their bodies.” The spider excitedly squealed, rushing over before sinking her fangs into the first lizard creature, rapidly devouring its flesh, scales and organs — her entire body getting covered by a reddish black aura, only leaving her glimmering eyes in view, as the rest of her body became more like a silhouette.
Jack looked away, moving out of Araneidas way as the white spider devoured the dead bodies of the lizard creatures. Jack opened his status window, throwing his gaze down at it.
[ STATUS ]
Jack Alfred Gragbone
Gender: Male
Title: Goblin Slayer
Level: 98 (1)
Rank: F
Class: Tamer
Stat Points: 2
Health: 630 / [32]
Magical Energy: 1,750 / [32]
Strength: 500 / [40]
Defence: 460 / [36]
Agility: 500 / [40]
Skills;
[Interpreter]; Common Skill
[Combat Experience]; Unique Skill
[Battle Hungry]; Unique Skill
[Spider Venom]; Unique Skill
[Leaders Transformation]; Unique Skill
[Taming]; Class Skill
[Animal Body]; Class Skill
[ STATUS ]
“I’ve managed to learn how to open this window without saying that command out loud every time, which has made opening it and checking my stats a lot more convenient and, in a way, faster.” Jack eyed his stats and stat points, before inputting the two points he had gained just now into the Health stat.
“I’ve managed to grow considerably stronger over the last week through my hunts that I’ve been doing together with Araneida, however, I don’t believe it is still quite enough to face off against the White Goblin King. I need to find more powerful enemies to maximize the efficiency of my grind, however…”
He lifted his gaze up, looking around the territory.
The Goblin territories that he, Sallow and Araneida had managed to conquer all only had monsters on the weaker side. Frawn, Greth, Sable and Sallow all had explained to Jack the reason for this — mainly the fact that the White Goblin King was keeping all the stronger monsters at bay and from reaching the clans.
In fact, they had all even said that the deeper points of the floor, as well as the exit to the higher floors, was located behind the White Goblin clans territory, with the Citadel where the White Goblin King resided, serving as the wall that separated this entire section of the floor from the rest of it.
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“Essentially, I can’t access stronger monsters until we conquer the White Goblin clan.” Jack exhaled heavily, closing his status window. They were stuck here – unless they defeated the White King, there was no way to get stronger faster and there was no way to exit the floor.
Araneida squealed from behind Jack, drawing his attention to her.
The spider had reduced the dead bodies of the lizard creatures to just a pile of scrap bones, looking up at him with a joyous expression. Jack smiled, sheathing one of his shortswords up before kneeling down and patting Araneida lightly on the head. “Your appetite ever since acquiring your class is incredible.” The spider brushed her head against his palm for a bit, before the Tamer stood back up and exhaled again, turning away.
“Let’s continue our hunt. I intend to reach level one hundred today.” The spider nodded and hopped around excitedly. Jack sheathed up his other shortsword, before beginning to move again, with Araneida sticking closely to his side.
For the next few hours, the two of them wandered farther and farther away from the goblin clan territories, hunting down any monsters they could find in their way. Whether they were direwolves, lesser basiliks, kobolds and even a couple of unintelligent goblins, who were not part of any of the goblin clans and were noticeably less intelligent, acting more like monsters with instincts than creatures with the ability to form comprehensive thoughts.
During this hunting, Jack managed to gather enough exp from the monsters to raise his level further, and before long…
[ ALERT ]
You have levelled up.
99 > 100
[ ALERT ]
The alert dinged, as a large Grey Basilisk fell to the ground, letting out a couple of final breaths, before all life faded from its eyes and body. Jack landed down onto the ground with grace, before spinning his shortswords — cleaning off all the basilisk blood on them — before sheathing them back up and exhaling. “Finally… That took a while.”
Araneida rushed up to the large dead creature, eyes practically shining as she dove head first onto it, sinking her fangs into its body and beginning to devour its flesh, while Jack looked down and opened his status window.
Which this time, brought an unexpected surprise with it.
[ STATUS ]
Jack Alfred Gragbone
Gender: Male
Title: Goblin Slayer
Level: 100 (1)
Rank: F [ Rank Evolution Available ]
Class: Tamer
Stat Points: 0
Health: 670 / [36]
Magical Energy: 1,850 / [34]
Strength: 500 / [40]
Defence: 460 / [36]
Agility: 500 / [40]
Skills;
[Interpreter]; Common Skill
[Combat Experience]; Unique Skill
[Battle Hungry]; Unique Skill
[Spider Venom]; Unique Skill
[Leaders Transformation]; Unique Skill
[Taming]; Class Skill
[Animal Body]; Class Skill
[ STATUS ]
“Rank Evolution? But I thought that it was something only monsters could undergo?” Jack scratched his chin, narrowing his eyes on the box that lingered next to his rank. Then, another window opened above his status.
[ NOTIFICATION ]
You have reached the requirements for ‘Rank Evolution’.
By reaching Level 100 of the F-Rank, you have met the conditions to undergo a rank evolution to the next rank.
If you choose to do so, your level will be reset back to 1, however you will keep your acquired strength (Stats, Skills and Resistances).
Choosing to not undergo a ‘Rank Evolution’ will prevent you from growing any stronger past level 100 of the F-Rank.
[ NOTIFICATION ]
“Well that’s a pain… I can’t continue levelling up without going through this rank evolution that it is talking about.” Jack sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck. The system that he had been given when he arrived to this world for the first time, certainly was still full of surprises, even if he thought that he had figured out pretty much everything that there was to know about it.
The tamer stood in silence, staring at the info window — lost in his thoughts, thinking.
“There’s no reason for me to not do it or postpone it. I need to grow stronger and as it appears, this rank evolution is the only way I can continue growing stronger. If I choose to not do it, I’ll never get my revenge on that shitty woman.” Jack commented, exhaling before looking a bit lower in the info window.
Then, he lifted his right hand up, moving his finger closer to a single box, which lingered gently. Then, after a brief moment of hesitation, he clicked it.
[ NOTIFICATION ]
Approval received.
Undergoing ‘Rank Evolution’ from rank ‘F’ to rank ‘G’...
[ NOTIFICATION ]
Jack suddenly stumbled.
It felt like something had shot through his heart, sending a tingling, shivering feeling through his entire body. He collapsed to his left knee, hearing and feeling his heart beat heavily. Every breath he drew felt heavy and loud — louder than everything else around him.
Araneida, noticing Jack's sudden behaviour ceased her snacking and rushed to her master's side, letting out concerned squeals as if asking if he was alright, while trying to help him stand up.
“I feel like I’m suffocating… Is that the side effect of Rank Evolution?” Jack commented, cold sweat drops falling from his face and onto the stone ground below him. He tried to steady his breathing, to lower the rate at which his heart beat. It felt like his entire body was on fire — as if he was lit ablaze from the outside and inside.
It was a horrible feeling.
One that was even worse than any torture methods he had to endure during all the times he was captured and held captive in his time as a military mercenary.
[ ALERT ]
Rebuilding the individual's body…
[ ALERT ]
After this window popped up, Jack coughed up blood, falling to both of his knees. Araneida panicked, helping him stay up and making sure he didn't fully collapse to the ground. Jack's vision blurred slightly. “Is it because of my age? Is my body far too old for it to handle this?” He commented in his mind, as his eyes began to fall shut.
For a bit, the pain worsened inside him — it felt like his heart was beating out of his chest, literally. However, after a few torturous seconds, which felt like several eterneties…
[ ALERT ]
Rank Evolution successful.
‘Jack Alfred Gragbone’ has moved up to G-Rank.
[ ALERT ]
Suddenly, the pain around his body disappeared, rapidly being replaced by a new feeling — empowerment. It felt like his strength was increasing rapidly. The blood he coughed up faded away, as his eyes ignited orange. The tamer rose back up to his feet, with Araneida watching him with wide, confused eyes.
The man took in a deep breath, exhaling heavily before looking down at his hands. “I feel… stronger. The burning feeling is gone…”
[ NOTIFICATION ]
Congratulations on your first ‘Rank Evolution’.
As a gift, you have been granted the Great Skill [War General].
[ NOTIFICATION ]
Jack remained silent. “A New Skill…”
The man remained stoic for a bit, before exhaling and smiling. Then, he looked at the concerned Araneida, with shining orange eyes. The spider tilted her head, looking at her master with curiosity and even some stress. Jack patted her head gently. “...I think we’re ready to go after the White King.”
The spider stared at him for a few moments, taken back by his statement, before seemingly ‘smiling’ and nodding happily.
Meanwhile,
On the border of the Black Goblin clan.
A large group of white goblin army forces gathered, with the White King in front, his figure casting an imposing shadow over the men behind him. The Black Goblin clans camp was barely visible in the distance, their walls high. April puffed out a small black smoke cloud. “Well your Lordship – we’re here. What do we do now?”
She asked, stepping next to him and looking at the White King, who silently observed the distant Black Goblin clan camp for a few moments, before letting out a heavy exhale and then grinning, cracking his fists. “Simple,” He stated, before beginning to move further forward, stepping into the Black Goblin clan's territory and gesturing his forces to follow him. “We break our neutrality and eliminate the threats that will come for our clan, before they come for us.”
Unknown to the White King or his followers, from afar they were being watched by a small crow made from black stone, with runes engraved all across its body. Through its gem eyes, Frawn was watching from his laboratory, on a large magic projection, shedding a cold sweat, as he fell back into his seat.
“The White King… is leading an army towards the Black Goblin clan? This…” He looked down at the ground, visibly shaken and even panicking a bit. “This is not good…”
Then, Frawn hopped up and out of his seat, grabbing his newly created weapon before rushing out of his laboratory and towards the Gate that led to the Black Goblin clan. “I must warn them… I must warn his Majesty and the Ruler.” He commented, running through the halls of the Red Goblin clans castle.
