After taking a short nap to get a decent energy boost in preparation for the upcoming goblin killing I was surprised by a sudden mid dream visit by Gluttony as I felt a pull in my head and then a quick suction as my subconscious was whisked away.
"Vexsus my boy how are you this morning, right? is it morning in your world I can never tell from where I am.
"Well that right there leads me to ask where the hell are you if you are not apart of my world, but as to answer your first question I wouldn't know see I was captured by slavers shortly after escaping from my so called master who was all along really just a delivery boy for a Necromancer. I escaped with a few other captives dug a tunnel killed and ate an orc who was getting a bit big for his britches and enjoyed every second of it by the way. Lost all of the other captives except for 5 who I somehow feel really good about and now we are currently sleeping and then going to kill goblins in a dungeon."
After saying all that I got a feeling that a wave of shock went over the Sin.
"Wow you sure had it rough I didn't think that something like that would happen but hey the world is a random place, I knew there were slavers in your world as I had connections with other potential Descendants before you but their lights were shortly blown out by the other Sins. But anyways back to the reason I called you here I see that you have not accomplished anymore of the tasks I had set out for you.... Any reason why? I know you were busy but during I need you to deal with those as soon as you can or else I'll have to start applying penalties to them."
"Like what as I told you I am busy and recently have not been able to really take a good look at and invest time in your damn tasks." With a huff I turn my 'mental'? head away from the Sin only to have it take my head and force me to look towards it.
"Listen here you little shit, I gave you power and I will take it away along with every thing else you have gained after the fact. You were deserving of it because you vowed to get stronger, right now you are taking it easy compared to back then when I found your pathetic runt of a body and granted it a new soul and your power. Either you get busy doing what I want you to do or you will lose it all."
I felt an immense pressure start to slam down on me and then I felt it start to encircle me until I was in a cocoon formed from the power that Gluttony was emitting. With what little speech I could muster I whispered out "I..m Sorry... please.... stop"
Seconds later the pressure vanished as my mind felt like inhaling deeply like a person who was held under water for to long and the lungs were getting desperate for air. Gluttony looked to have grown tremendously as it leaned down like a titan leaning down to look at an ant.
With a now androgynous but all powerful voice it spoke again. "Good now you felt what a small percentage of power I hold over you. I will be back in 1 week you had better have finished atleast one of the tasks I gave you. If not I will strip you of your power and force you to fight an endless horde of demons until your very soul gets torn apart."
Those words were the last spoken as the Sin dissipated into nothingness and I woke up to reality with a jump and with cold sweat pouring down my body. The others were startled awake from that and were instantly in battle position.
"Calm down guys just had a nice chat with my Sin. I forgot to complete some tasks it set out for me and has threatened to take away all my power in a week should I fail again.
They all had looks of fear from hearing that. Howy spoke up first "Dude, you mean to tell me you were given tasks by an all powerful entity such as a Sin but you just shrugged it off.... How big are your balls man that is not a good thing to do plus from what I heard through the grapevine the Sins hand out rewards to their holders after they accomplished one."
"Yea well my sin is a bit different, I gain all the power on my own and it seems to leech off of that." I get a massive headache and a searing pain from the communication seal before a booming voice roars in my head.
"I DO NOT LEECH YOU INSOLENT FOOL. DO NOT BESMIRCH ME TO YOUR COMPANIONS OR I WILL MAKE YOU KILL THEM."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtI was greatly weakened just then as the voice and presence left me as suddenly as it arrived. The others were quick to gather around me and make sure I was ok.
"I'm ok, I'm ok I just should not have said that even if I meant it playfully the sin on the otherhand did not take it like that and so it made me weak as punishment just now. But back to business I will look at the tasks after we finish with this outpost we spent way to long because of me and now its time for some action."
"OK but should you need to come to the backline with me and Sylvania and rest." Kitsoma said before turning and mentally preparing for a fight.
I was definitely weakened from that outburst but I wasn't going to show it to these new people. Even though I felt a bond starting to form I wasn't stupid enough to start showing weakness. I play it off and start preparing aswell I start off by activating my tried and true Electric scales. But before we start I had a great idea as I call Digger over and tell him to dig out a small hole into the dungeon just enough to let smoke through.
"OH boss I get it your going to start the fight off with a smoke screen and if we're lucky you might even kill off some of the weaker ones seeing as how bad It was for me to breathe earlier."
"Yea yea just do it man I feel shitty enough that I didn't think things through."
He was thankfully small enough to not get noticed by the goblins as he dug through the wall, and after a deep inhale I slowly let it out as I used my rolling fog. I took it slow and eventually I could see that on the other side of the hole was nothing but smoke as I started hearing panicked voices coming from the other side in the form of different "KEKEKE!?!?!?" and hacks and coughs. After a little bit I started to hear what sounded like gagging and even vomiting so I took that as the signal to start the attack.
"OK everyone its go time I think they are sufficiently weakened so lets get this over with now be prepared because there will be a lot of smoke but the initial blast from breaking through should dissipate enough for you to see. I will activate heat vision as soon as the wall goes down and start attacking. Howy You take advantage of the weakened ones and deal killing blows to whatever goblin is nearby got it?"
With a round of nods from the others I stand behind Sondar and with a tap on his back he forms 2 earthen clubs and slams into the wall. Heat vision immediately is activated and shows me that there are atleast 20 goblins. some are on the ground and slowly losing heat but some of the others are still moving around gasping their necks and waving the other arm looking for anything in the smoke. Then I spot a group of 5 that are huddled in a corner with 1 standing in front with something in its hands waving it back and forth. I decide that after taking care of the other stragglers we can take care of whatever goblin can survive my smoke.
I used my lightning muscle skill to quickly move around and use my shadow strike skill to quickly put in end to each of the goblins moving around. Since they were weak already it only took me about 2 hits to finish them off. I killed about 5 this way with Howy killing the other remaing 5 like this. It seemed that the few that were on the ground that had already died were naturally weak to begin with and could not hold out.
The others didn't really have any room to move as they tried to avoid my smoke as much as possible. Sondar mostly just checked the goblins that had already died to make sure they were dead, and the other 3 just kept a watchful eye out. Seeing as they didn't have Heat vision and I was to busy to call out anything they had no other choice but stay vigilant.
After killing the remaining goblins I started to suck away the smoke and shoot out small spatial bullets. Which I started thinking and wondering why me using it like this wasn't increasing its usage within the system. But I just chalked it up to having to have a target in order to be registered as being 'used'. But after the smoke cleared I was able to see clearly that the green goblin who was protecting the others was in fact some sort of wizard or maybe even a shaman, because in its hand was a staff with a pale green gem imbedded at the top and it had a small green forcefield around it and the others.
'Ah so thats how it survived it must have sensed how dangerous my smoke was and took action immediately.' I thought looking over the others behind it that it was maybe the leader or maybe just an opportunist seeing as how the other goblins had slight feminine features. By no means were they pretty but compared to goblins that I've seen pictures of and had read about in the other world you could say that in comparison to those, these goblin women were knockouts.
I stopped the others before they moved to kill them as I wanted info and hopefully the one with the staff had enough mental acuity to speak.
"My name is Vexsus I am willing to spare your lives in exchange for info."
"We...name... Shorunt....you...Kill...Us?"
"No If you give me what I want I will not kill you."
"Shorunt....make...Deal....What...want to know."
"Ok good Shorunt, now listen we are in need of some help. Food, water, things like that do you have that nearby?"
"Yes...We have...food, water...but...not...much after....invasion.....by....enemy tribe."
"Hold on since I am getting a headache waiting for the next word I am going to give you a gift to hopefully speed up this process. I'm already agitated and this is pushing me over the edge."
I walk up to Shorunt and place the tip of my claw on its forehead. I focus my magic on the tip of the claw and imagine passing down knowledge and more intelligence before pressing it into Shorunts head. I heard a small squelch as the claw dug in and a trickle of blood appeared. Shorunt gave out a small squeak of pain before falling to its knees after I pulled the claw out. Frighteningly the claw started to erode and disintegrate but shortly after I was snapped out of it by some great news.
[User has completed its first monster contract.]
[User has gained the ability to tame monsters]
[User has 9 out of 10 contracts left]
[The named monster[Shorunt] will now be under Users control]
[Shorunt will now gain a small portion of Users power]
I felt a wave of weakness overtake me as a small green aura split off from me and envelope Shorunt.
It opened its eyes before looking around and once its eyes locked onto me it shouted in joy before bowing and even going so far as to kowtow.
"Master, oh master, thank you so much for giving Shorunt so much knowledge. I will be your faithful servant and even sacrifice my life should it be required."
The others around me were shocked. "Holy shit Vexsus what did you just do? Did you just tame this goblin?" Sondar spoke up with complete shock in his voice.
"This should not be possible between creatures like us. I have heard Demihumans being capable of doing this but actual monsters or even intelligent ones should not have the ability to tame other monsters?!?!" Kitsoma said with a look of pure excitement almost as if this is a new and intriguing thing that she can't wait to figure out.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Boss this is awesome this guy looks like a wizard or maybe even a druid. either way from the green glow he should have a nature affinity which is super rare for goblins to have. But that leads the question what is he doing way out here instead of wherever the goblins main base it?"
"Digger that is a very good question. Shorunt I assure you that this is completely new to me so lets just take it easy and start from the top. I know we have made a contract but I still need info so lets go with Diggers question. Why are you here and not at the Goblins main base."
With a look of shame Shorunt looks down and a tear escapes his eyes. "Shorunt is ashamed to admit but I am not a very good wizard. My ability is only based around shields and maybe I can help grow plants but I did not want the life of a mushroom farmer. I wanted to become a warrior and fight the vicious red goblins.
"Ok I get that well lucky for us then right guys. But now lets turn our attention to these ladies over here." As I look at the 4 goblinettes that were both cowering in fear but also quite curious about the sudden change in the goblin that protected them from the smoke that killed all the others.
"Master they are the... 'Entertainment' for the goblins that were posted here. I will admit that I was going to save them in the hopes of gaining their trust to well do what goblins are best known for."
"Ah I see well not like I wouldn't do the same thing if I was in your shoes Shorunt but I don't think you had a chance in the first place hahahaha. I'm just kidding, yes I am your master technically but I am perfectly fine if you address me as Vexsus or ugh I guess boss." Digger whooped at that last part making me sigh.
"Very well, I appreciate it Mas... I mean Boss. I admit I was afraid of what your intentions were but after the quick exchange between us my mind was flooded with info about you and your life I am surprised you are a reincar..." I slammed my hand down on his mouth to stop him from speaking anymore.
"HAHAHAHA oh man it looks like he went a little crazy maybe to much info in to short of span of time. Maybe we should let him rest while we deal with the others. Kitsoma can you do me a favor and knock him out."
"Sure, but we aren't dumb Vexsus we heard what he said. You are gonna explain it to us right?"
"Ugh fine I will but not now ok I don't know how you'll react and I don't want to ruin this right now. I still need help and I feel like we have a good thing here."
The others look at eachother then look at me. Sondar steps up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Look man I get it and I feel a bond forming between us. I will wait till after we get settled before bringing this back up but when we do I expect you to explain it all."
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[Electric Scales of Vitality] 5 -> 6
[Rolling fog] 6 -> 7
[Heat vision] 0 -> 1
[Shadow strike] 3 -> 13
[Taming] lvl 0 1/10 - User can tame and control monsters equal to Users power level.. Chance to fail increases depending on Power gap of stronger beings and User.