---

Ah, that was a useful system message. As soon as she had lifted her claw from the beast, it seemed to finally get the idea of what was going on here. Shame she had to use force, but oh well. Quick and efficient. She could build loyalty later, if a beast was capable of such a thing. For now though, time to feast on the spoils of war and see if she could get these pixies to show her more about magic. She hopefully could still learn something by herself. She'd just need to figure out that undercurrent she felt before more in depth.

"Oh don't worry, Scott." Ash replied with a dismissive huff, finally relaxing her body. Whew, she was exhausted. "Animals like him only respond to force...something I intend to try and rectify." She glanced over to the lizard. She couldn't just keep calling it a lizard, could she? Hmm, a name...pulling from what she knew of mythology and histories, perhaps that one could work? "Hm...for now you shall be named Colchain. Now, If you don't mind, I'm exhausted after that fight, and could use a pick me up...and I want to check on Naji...but first," She approached the lizard, slowly hopefully showing she meant no harm this time. She couldn't pull the collar off entirely with her claws, but she could at least cut the length of rope so it wouldn't drag anyways. Spitting up a little acid, she'd let it burn through the rope. Turning, she began walking back to the goblin corpses she had left when chasing this lizard.

"Come along, Colchain. I have little patience for slowness." She glanced back at the lizard, hissing loudly and glaring at him should he not immediately follow.

Mourningstar slowed down as Oberon called out to her, panting as she watched Orchid and Crispy get away. A vicious snarl was painted onto her face as she screamed in frustration, shooting one last Mana Orb I at them as they ran away. As she took several deep breaths, the thin red film that had covered her vision slowly faded away, and with it's departure her reason returned. "Oh god, what was that?" She muttered to herself quietly as she turned around, floating past Oberon wordlessly. She soon arrived back at the bonfire, staring at the dying embers with curiosity. But this was secondary, the more important matter was her grumbling stomach.

She floated towards Digbie with no words to be said, using her new Monster Analysis on all her party members as she tore off a portion of the burnt rat. 'Bon appetite... She stuffed it in her mouth and chewed as fast as she could, swallowing with a grimace on her face. It tasted disgusting, but food was food no matter how you look at it. Hopefully her monster body would be able to process this food, unlike the weak human stomach she had in her past life. "This was good. We all did really good, I do hope you'll be sticking around with us. It will be your best bet to take down the Goblins who got away." Mourningstar looked at Rain with a neutral gaze as she said this, afterwards turning back to the bonfire once she felt like she had her fill.

The Pixie from before was back, attempting to dig through the embers to find the same strange blue light that had caught Mourningstar's attention. After a quick Monster Analysis she floated closer to the bonfire, using Magic Analysis on the blue light to see if it was magical in nature. "Have you come back to join the winning team? We're gathering all the humans of the cave to try and keep safe." it would be very fortunate if they could get another healer after all, the bigger the party the better.

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Guy0fV4lor@Kazemitsu

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.

The sudden 'System' notification that popped in his head, startled him slightly from his concentrated state. Though he didn't feel any significantly any different from before, there was now a warm pulse like tingling flowing through his body. Ed wasn't an expert on magic, but he was quite sure this was something of a result of his experiment and the notification was solid proof of that. 'Wow...something really did happen. Maybe if I try a little harder imagining that-' It was then the sudden "Test!" that popped in his head that caused his eyes to go wide in shock and his jaw to drop. Jason had really been able to create something of a psychic link to him and he could clearly hear his voice. "Holy shit, Jason. It worked. It actually worked!" He almost yelled at his slime ally out of sheer excitement and shock. Never had psychic ability been present when he was alive as a human, this was an absolute groundbreaking scientific breakthrough and he was part of it. Scientists more deserving than he was would kill to experience this, but here he was. It caused a slight feeling of pride to swell within him.

Using his newfound [Telepathy I] Jason responded directly into Ed's mind with a psychic chuckle, 'I told you I was close! Now, how to build off of this? There are so many possibilities.... I'm going to try them all!'
Retracting his pseudopods from the sides of Ed's head, Jason slowly approached Asteria, extending his pseudopods invitingly before her.

Ed offered Jason a quick nod of affirmation after he had retracted his pseudopods from him.
With the little experiment of Jason finally yielding a good result, it was time he focused on the reaction he had when he imagined the invisible mana layer hardening and form a protective sheen on his body. Focusing significantly harder now, he begins by retaining the image of the mana layer surrounding him. Then once the image was clear in his mind, he begins to imagine another layer of mana appearing and settling atop the first layer and also hardening. It was getting more and more difficult to focus and retain the image. Maybe he was running low on mana?

Asteria was briefly distracted by Mother rat who was either curious or disconcerted about what Ed and Jason were doing. "It's alright, Mother," Asteria said to her softly, brushing against her. "They're just trying some things out," she said despite being certain that the Dire rat wouldn't understand. But perhaps she would be reassured.

Ed's sudden shout alerted her to Jason's success. "You got the telepathy? That's amazing!" She was definitely excited about this. Who wouldn't be about magic, something impossible in their previous world? And telepathy, if they could get it working long range, would be dead useful. With some strange mix of wariness and eagerness, she approached Jason. "C'mmon, do the thing. I'll try and see if I can feel the magic, so just chat for a while, alright?" she proposed, then closed her eyes and focused on her remaining senses. She could hear her own breath, the pitter-patter of her faster-than-human heartbeat and even what might have been the sound of her blood flowing trough her. She felt the ground beneath her, soft yet sturdy, warming where she had been standing from absorbing part of her body heat. Whenever Jason touched her - was that gelatinous extension a limb? - she intended to focus intensely on the point of connection and concentrate on feeling what he was doing in the hopes that that was a way to either make her sensitive to magical forces or a way to develop reciprocal telepathy.

Jason found Asteria's sudden change of heart quite funny. Touching his pseudopods to the sides of the dire rat's fuzzy head as he activated his [Telepathy I]. 'I told you have a little faith... Now, since you want to try making this method of communication a two way street, I'd like to try another experiment. I'm going to try reading your mind. Now, to test this, I'm going to need a little help from you, I want you to clear your mind, and focus on a singular thought, let me know when you're ready' he thought, awaiting her reply.

Asteria kept focusing on the magical connection Jason was creating, but only felt the strange but physical jelly-like substance that was touching her fur and skin. She slowed her breathing, doing her best to achieve a state similar to the one just before falling asleep. She relaxed the tension in her muscles and tried to forget or at least temporarily ignore her worries, specifically those relating to Jason. For all that she knew, a basic level of trust might help in this experiment, though having any kind of 'faith' in him as he consistently requested wasn't really something she could just decide and do. But for now, she tried to let those concerns lie silent and still. What she was attempting to do was most likely akin to meditation, not something she had ever practiced, so it took a while for her to get anywhere close to serene or clear-of-thought. Then, trying to find some kind of inner force, if such a thing existed inside of her body, she strongly directed a thought of Hey. towards the connection she imagined to be between them. She repeated that thought until it practically echoed inside of her mind, concentrating on wanting Jason to hear it and imagined sending it from inside of her brain towards Jason via his viscous tendril that he kept connected to her head.

After waiting awhile for a confirmation that never came, Jason eventually just assumed she forgot and activated his [Telepathy I], 'Now you may feel a slight tugging on your thought... Don't fight it, just let it float away.' the slime communicated as he cleared his own mind.

Focusing as hard as he could, Jason pushed mana through the 'invisible connection' gently ebbing his mana onward until it reached the point where the message would normally be delivered. Upon his mana reaching what he assumed was Asteria's mind, Jason pushed his mana into whatever thought it could reach before immediately pulling it back, the thought hopefully in tow.

Naji chewed the eyeball slowly and methodically, letting the odd texture and flavor roll over him slowly. It was as spongy as he expected an eye to be, soft with a small bit of resistance as your teeth slowly pushed their way through the flesh. And it was fit to bursting with fatty flavor, though sadly not fishy as he had hoped. ”Needs...hmm. Its beefy so maybe some greens? Peas would mellow this out really well...” He grumbles to himself, finally growing tired of the flavor and reluctantly swallowing his ‘desert’, the wisp next to him retched at his trip to flavor town. Some people have no appreciation for the more refined things in life.

He began to dig the second eyeball out, intending to give it to his lizardy savior. If she wasn’t going to eat it, it might make good bait for something else provided it kept for a little while. As he finally free’d the eye from its socket, his dinner guest stopped lurching to ask him his name. ”It’s Naji.” He chirps, eye held awkwardly in his arms while he beamed at the wisp. ”Pleasure to meet you Danny. Guessing you died as well?” He asks plainly, pulling against the optic nerve until it gave way with a small snap.

Naji takes a moment to examine the eye a little more, giving a half hearted attempt to try and remember how the biology of the whole thing works before giving up completely and slinging it over his shoulder, holding the optic nerve tightly to keep it from falling to the ground. He also notices that....well, in removing the eyes of something you kind of end up looking like an extra at a horror movie. Thin glaze of blood and gore aside, he did feel much improved over the last few days. Though...he should probably schedule a bath sometime soon. And a nap, if the status screen (now thankfully silent) was any indication.

The faint clacking of nails alerts his ears and Naji whips around to see Ash approaching her kills, the lizard from earlier and Scott in tow. Momentarily forgetting he looks like pixie version of an axe murderer, gives the trio a cheerful wave. ”Oh good. You got him to calm down!” He says, the eye of the goblin wobbling slightly against his movements.

Asura's whip didn't have the desired effect he wanted, but getting his Limited Shapeshift to rank two didn't hurt at all. While he practiced he kept an eye on the two older monsters of the lot. The mothers, one of which looked on edge and the other seemed to be...absorbing vibrations? Maybe? He watched her for a little bit longer and nearly laughed at the farting sound she made. It looked like she was trying to figure out how to talk!

He figured she was trying to mimic them, but she had no base to work with. He only figured it out because he had been an adult human and knew how his face worked when he was alive. The slime body was much more malleable but he could control it decently. Reaching over with a pseudopod he tried to send thoughts that would help her. Sharing his own experiences with her while he continued to practice whipping. He had a five foot range thanks to his Limited Shapeshifting and this was more of getting a feel for applying density. Most of his focus was on helping Mother Slime speak.

---

Reoth watched with... intrigue, if that was the right word to use, as the purple marked lizard pinned the wild one to the ground and forced it into submission to her will. It was impressive, really, how easily she was able to assert her dominance over the other lizard, and that led Reoth to believe that she has been around longer than he has. How long exactly, he would have to ask.

Oddly enough, her attention went straight from the lizard to the two corpses of the goblins, one of which he helped kill. It was odd because just about everything that ever glanced his direction would notice him if he was in the open, like now. As i was, she had started marching her way over after melting the leash from the collar. Reoth felt he should actually do something at this point.

Crawling slowly over to the wild lizard as it got up, Reoth approached it once it was on all fours and paused, trying to make it aware that he wished it no harm. Once he felt that he wouldn't draw its ire, the white lizard closed in in and pressed his snout against its neck right next to the collar. He then twist his head to he was perpendicular to the leather and worked it into his teeth. Once the strap was firmly in place Reoth clamped down on it in the hope of biting through it, essentially cutting it with his teeth.

Hopefully his teeth were sharp enough and this jaw strong enough.

---

Rain blinked as the system message appeared and several monsters seemed willing to follow her lead.

She'd... Never been a leader before. This was...odd.

Instead of dealing with whatever that meant, she moved to allocate her points.

"Uh, one point into Poison Glob, one point into Stun Fang, and the rest into Fireball because why the fuck not?" Rain muttered, not exactly trying to keep her voice down. So what if they thought she was crazy? She honestly was pretty sure she was at this point, with these messages in her head and things listening to her.

But she was getting stronger. That was... Nice, right?

And fire.... Crispy had painted an interesting picture, and it had given her ideas. Maybe she could learn to breath fire? And maybe an acid breath? There were... So many options. If only she had more heads, she could already imagine some combinations....

Oh, she was being talked at.

Stay? Mhmmm.

"Yes, I'll stay with you all. But we really should get moving... Take whatever you want for loot, we won this fight."

Ardur The Pixie

Oooo Shiny >>>> A New Friend? /// day 8 // Morning > Afternoon

The pixie found the work moving hot coals taxing and painful. Using what was left of the burnt sticks to brush away cinders and ash were he could. Honestly Ardur was unsure as to why his instincts were telling him to go after the shiny things. He also found some trouble stopping and pulling himself free of the task to check his surroundings.

Figuring he might as well practice his new healing spell as he continually healed the small burns on his purple hands. But as he was diligently working something made him jump for a moment as another voice chimed up from behind him.

“Have you come back to join the winning team? We're gathering all the humans of the cave to try to keep safe.” The blue floating orb spoke from behind him. It didn’t look aggressive. However, the wisp might be interested in the same thing he was digging for.

For a moment Ardur didn’t move or speak, just sort of stood there analyzing the creature before him. “I think I’d call it more of a group then a team. All you did earlier was throw yourselves into the Frey and hope for the best.” He paused for a moment thinking what he said might come off as rude. “But I’ll join your group if you don’t mind. I do want to find out what this thing is first though. Also, Crispy and the female goblin should be getting to the other goblins soon, so we should work quickly.”

The pale pixie had a few noticeable details about him, green shoulder-length hair was almost a sharp contrast to his pale white skin. His hands were colored purple up to his wrists, and he had three small black circles on his chest and back as if he was shot through and through. Other than the green leaf like wings and near golden eyes the wisp would be quick to notice that the pixie wasn’t wearing any clothes and didn’t seem bothered by it.

Then Ardur decided to do something he hadn’t done since he woke up here, he began to sing.

“Follow the path

To where no one's ever been

Don't turn around

Until you reach the end

Across the sea

And beyond the distant lands

The world awaits

So don't make any plans

There you go, There you go” Ardur continued to work while he sang. He did this to try to help him relax a little while also trying to get himself to work more efficiently. Something he remembered doing while he was working long shifts back home. The pixie was also unsure as to why he was just now noticing a few others around them as well. "Was I really that tunnel visioned?" He thought.

@floodtalon
@Zeroth

Unsure if his words had had any effect or not, Oberon watched as Mourningstar seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in before muttering to herself and wordlessly drifting back in the direction of the bonfire. Sighing, the pixie spent a moment just staring into empty space to recompose himself before he too began flying back towards the bonfire to re-join the others.

The somewhat… erratic behaviour of their self-proclaimed leader was somewhat worrying. Even beyond the brash plans, the megalomania and inflated sense of power, the way she sometimes seemed to almost flip between one persona and another at the drop of a hat was probably the most concerning character trait she had exhibited. Some peculiarities could be expected and even forgiven, considering their predicament; the fact that they had died, been reborn and then thrown into bodies that were not their own or even human and placed into a situation would place a lot of strain on anyone. It was to be expected that some of them would have a negative reaction and begin to behave… strangely.

Oberon thought that he was handling things fairly well, considering. Aside from the fact that he was treating this whole event like a campaign from a table top RPG, perhaps justifiably given the similarities between this world and those games, he wasn’t behaving any differently than he did back home. Part of that might just be down to the fact that he hadn’t truly had time to process the realities of his new life.

Mourningstar on the other hand… it made him start to wonder exactly what she was like in her past life. And if she was ever really stable to begin with.

Drifting over towards Digbie and his flambéed rat, Oberon stared down at the charred corpse that was apparently their breakfast. He examined the thing closely, attempting to use some kind of analysis skill to determine if the thing was even edible. “Is this really safe to eat?” Glancing around at the others he saw that some of them were already eating the burnt flesh, suggesting that the meat was a least safe, if not exactly appetising. With a shrug he reached down and tore off a chunk of flesh for himself, grimacing at the feel of it before he began eating as fast as he could stomach while also trying to avoid eating any fur. The combination of alternating raw and burnt meat made him heave, but somehow he was able to keep it down.

Flying over to sit on the ground by himself Oberon settled himself so as to be able to observe the rest of the group. It seemed they had grown in numbers somewhat following the battle, the lizard he had healed earlier had stuck around and a pixie with bizarre colouration was over with Mourningstar around the remains of the bonfire. They seemed to be talking about something and he briefly considered joining in before dismissing that idea; let them socialise for a bit, while he had some free time Oberon had a few things to deal with.

At some point after the battle he had levelled up again. It was a surprise to have it happen again so quickly but given how many Goblin’s they had just fought it probably made sense; as always in these games the best way to earn experience was through fighting. Typical, the players who focused on good RPing never got the just rewards they deserved.

Whatever had caused it, having another level up so soon after the last one left him with a surplus of skill points to spend and a number of skills to spend them on. If Oberon guessed correctly then skills should level up every time they reached a whole number and each skill point would probably raise each skill by 0.1 points. Shield was close to levelling up again if that was the case, perhaps not surprising with how much he was using it, and both Minor Heal and Lesser Flight were progressing, if not as quickly as he would have liked.

In fact, the reason he and Mourningstar were unable to catch-up to the retreating Goblin’s had been due to a lack of speed. While he wasn’t particularly upset about that fact it was troubling to think that if he couldn’t catch-up to a Goblin, he probably couldn’t outrun one either, making flight a worthy skill to invest in.

“Put 1 skill point into Lesser Flight.” Oberon paused a moment, waiting to see what happened just in case a single skill point really was an entire skill level. When no message appeared he put another four skill points into the Lesser Flight skill.

With that dealt with, Oberon turned his attention to what he had been working on this morning before their search for food had turned into all-out war; magical experimentation. If Oberon had to put a word to his overall goal in this world, it was ‘versatility’; rather than just become powerful he wanted to be able to cast a wide range of magic, to be able to have an answer to any situation. Or even multiple answers. If you just wanted to hit things as hard as you could you would become a fighter or a barbarian; spell casters were supposed to be the classes that let you do more than just kill things.

Offense, defence, healing, support, crowd control, status effects, buffing and de-buffing; eventually Oberon wanted to be able to do all of that and more and hopefully do it well. At the moment however he only had three spells and while they still covered the areas of offence, defence and healing fairly well, he wanted more.

The quickest path to being able to make more spells would probably be in learning how to manipulate mana a bit more freely. When he had created Mana Orb all he had really done was try to form raw mana into a certain shape and then throw it. This morning he had seen Mourningstar try to shape the Mana Orb into something else and apparently it had worked out because she had been able to hit a Goblin with a cutting blade of mana. Being able to shape his mana into different configurations would at least let him diversify his spell list a little.

The unusable skill he had, Mana Shape, must be exactly what he was looking for. He had probably earned some points in that skill while trying to create Mana Orb and would hopefully earn enough to turn it into a true skill with what he was about to do. Much like this morning, Oberon brought his hands up in front of him and began to gather mana between his palms. He shaped the mana into a sphere the same way he did instinctively when firing Mana Orb but this time he tried to do it manually, focusing on what he was doing and stopping just before the spell was complete.

Oberon could feel the mana struggling against his control, wanting to leap from between his hands like an ordinary Mana Orb, but he kept it contained. He then began to try and shape the mana, forcing it out of its spherical shape, forcing it to flatten and to stretch, to take on a long and narrow shape like an arrow made of magic. All the while he was absorbed utterly by his task, completely unaware of what was going on around him.

@Zeroth

---

Hearing Ash's assurances that she was trying to tame the lizard, Scott slowed his pace. He wasn't sure about her methods, but... well, he knew next to nothing about lizards, and less-so about ones that could spit poison and talk. So she... wanted to befriend it?

...Colchain. The word rolled about as he mouthed the word. It was... pleasant? That was a good enough word. And it was familiar. He must have read it somewhere. Where he'd read it, he couldn't recall.

Unfortunately, his attempt at recollection was cut short by the snap of the leash, and Ash walking away, towards Naji.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" he called out, before running after her.

When they approached the dead goblins, he got his first close-up look of the green-skinned creature. He... wasn't actually as small as he thought. The goblin was only about four, five times larger than him. It was strange to think about, but there it was. Well. He was still only technically a week old. And he was much smaller than he was... before.

"Oh good. You got him to calm down!"

He turned to face Naji, drenched in gore like something out of a horror game. It was not pleasant to see, but at least he didn't have anything to chuck up. But mostly, Scott was again feeling that sinking guilt. For a few seconds, he opened and closed his mouth like a fish, before managing to stammer out a few words, before trailing off.

"I- Naji - I'm sorry I didn't..."

His eyes lowered to the ground, his face burning red with shame.

"I'm sorry I didn't do anything when you almost got hurt."

@floodtalon@Gardevoiran@King Cosmos@ReusableSword@Old Amsterdam@CriticalHit

Used Monster Analysis I!
---This is Digbie.---
You have analyzed him before with a different skill. Effectiveness at 100%. Skill Boost from Magic Analysis II.
This is a Goblin, named Digbie, who has joined your party. Goblins are a semi-intelligent monster with the limb dexterity and mental capacity to use tools. Digbie is using a pickaxe made from sticks. By comparison, most Goblins are usually as large, strong, and intelligent as a human child, but far more vicious. Digbie does not display this behavior in most cases. He likes to dig, and is generally cheerful and curious. Goblins are capable of using magic, but do not possess it naturally in most circumstances. Digbie possesses a semi-magically oriented skill, and is in the process of learning several others. Digbie has stronger magical stats than most other Goblins you have analyzed, with one exception being Crispy. Digbie is unusual. He is like you.

---This is a Fanged Lizard. You think Orochi said her name was Rain.---
You have analyzed this type of monster before with a different skill. Effectiveness at 100%. Skill Boost from Magic Analysis II.

Fanged Lizards are a reptilian monster with potent venom. When injected via a bite, it acts as a neurotoxin to paralyze the prey. When exposed to the air, it becomes a highly acidic liquid. The lizard can spit at a distance. Fanged Lizards are capable of magic but most do not naturally possess it. Rain has not yet unlocked at least one magically oriented skill. Her magical stats are normal for a Fanged Lizard, which is weaker compared to Wisps and Pixies but about the same as anything else you’ve seen. You don’t know her well enough yet to deduce any mannerisms, but you know that she does not behave as is typical of other Fanged Lizards. Rain is unusual. She is like you.

---This is Orochi.---
You have analyzed him before with a different skill. Effectiveness at 100%. Skill Boost from Magic Analysis II.

This is a Fanged Lizard, named Orochi, who has joined your party. Fanged Lizards are a reptilian monster with potent venom. When injected via a bite, it acts as a neurotoxin to paralyze the prey. When exposed to the air, it becomes a highly acidic liquid. The lizard can spit at a distance. Fanged Lizards are capable of magic but most do not naturally possess it. Orochi possesses one usable magically oriented skill, and is developing a few more. Orochi’s magical stats are normal for a Fanged Lizard, which is weaker compared to Wisps and Pixies but about the same as anything else you’ve seen. Orochi does not behave as typical Fanged Lizards, and seems rather serious and cautious. Orochi is unusual. He is like you.

---This is Oberon--
You have analyzed him before with a different skill. Effectiveness at 100%. Skill Boost from Magic Analysis II.

This is a Pixie, named Oberon, who has joined your party. Pixies are a tiny humanoid Fey-type Monster. While somewhat intelligent, they lack empathy towards one another even compared to beasts like Goblins. Capable of flight and healing magic, but not physically strong or skilled enough to fight or use weapons well. You have seen, however, that Oberon is not like this. Oberon behaves in a very sensible and caring manner towards others. Oberon has 3 magical skills and 1 semi-magically oriented skill, and is developing several more. Among these are skills similar to your own. His magic stats are strong even for the normally magically oriented Pixies. Oberon is unusual. He is like you.

---This is a Pixie. You haven’t caught his name yet.---
Pixies are a tiny humanoid Fey-type Monster. While somewhat intelligent, they lack empathy towards one another even compared to beasts like Goblins. Capable of flight and healing magic, but not physically strong or skilled enough to fight or use weapons well. This Pixie is different from the others, he seems somewhat detached, yet well meaning, but also opportunistic. He left your party momentarily. He seems much more physically fit than most pixies. His magic stats are slightly above average for his species. He has 2 magical skills, one of which is fairly strong for his level, and is developing several more. This Pixie is unusual. He is like you.

As Mourningstar ate, her new analysis skills were giving her a great deal of information to process all at once. It made her head hurt, but perhaps the silver lining would be that it distracted her from the taste of the burned rat.

As Digbie and Oberon tried to “analyze” the rat themselves, they came to an impasse--Digbie had no analysis skills and Oberon’s skill dealt only with magic. Like Mourningstar, when he analyzed monsters he still got some sort of result--but when he tried it this time, the System instead gave him an ERROR message--No Magic Found. Was it because the Rat was dead, or because it had no magic to speak of? But in the end, by their regular non-systemized observation abilities, they determined that even if it probably would not taste good the singed Dire Rat was likely okay to eat. The burns had not gone very deep, so only the outer layer of flesh was burned--they weren’t going to eat the fur and leathery hide anyway. The meat inside was actually fairly well cooked...for about a third of an inch down. Then the layers got tougher and rougher and gamier until the taste and musk were nearly overpowering. Still, their digestive systems didn’t seem to raise too much of a fuss--wild animals ate things raw, after all.

Skill Rank Up: Lesser Flight II! Flight speed slightly increased. MP Consumption slightly decreased. Maximum height slightly increased. Maximum distance slightly increased.

With 5 skill points left over, Oberon’s level up menu had disappeared for the moment. But as he continued his experimentation to form a piercing projectile of Mana, he became more adept at shaping it, controlling it, and generally feeling how the energy behaved in accordance with his will. He wasn’t getting any new skill notifications yet, but based on what he had learned thus far he could certainly call these experiments successful.

Skill Rank Up! Stun Fang II!
Chance to inflict Paralyzation increased. Stamina consumption slightly decreased.

Skill Gain: Poison Glob I!
Compare to Poison Spit: Projectile speed decreased. Projectile range slightly decreased. Acid Damage increased. Stamina consumption equal. Chance to inflict Poison equal.

Rain would now find herself even more deadly with her venom in both forms of its use. It seemed like Poison Glob had a few drawbacks, but perhaps with more skill ranks those could be mitigated, or at the least she now had a bit of variance in her venomous arsenal. Plus, these two skills might go well together--even if Poison Glob was slower, a Paralyzed target wouldn’t be able to dodge so easily.

Skill Rank Up! Minor Heal III!
MP Cost increased. HP Heal increased. Healing can now be used on deeper wounds, but is still less effective on bones. As an Active Spell Skill, you may use any rank of this spell you are capable of within the limits of your MP.

Your MP was boosted at level up. At current MP levels, you may use (4) Minor Heal Rank I from full MP; 2 Minor Heal Rank II with leftover MP from Full; 1 Minor Heal Rank III with leftover MP from full; (4) Shield Rank I from full MP. Your MP is currently not full; you do not have enough left to cast more than one Rank I spell.

Skill Gain! Physical Conditioning I!
You have used a unique and effective method of bodily strain combined with your healing magic. These exercises have culminated in this passive skill: All Physical Attributes are slightly increased. Note: If you obtain ALL of the passive skills Harder, Better, Faster, and Stronger, Skill Synergy will occur and Physical Conditioning will rise by one rank regardless of its Progression.

This was good news for Ardur, as he ended up not even having to spend a skill point from his level up to get a new skill in addition to increasing an old one. However, even though this was a “passive” skill, Ardur immediately noticed something actively change--

He buffed up.

It was not an enormous change. He certainly didn’t go from a wimp to a jerk. He didn’t suddenly have a six-pack, or a barrel chest. But his body mass actually did seem to increase a bit, as did the definition of his muscularity. If he stood next to another Pixie, like Oberon, it would be like looking at two relatively average people--one of whom simply stays skinny via a high metabolism, and one who actively works out at a beginner level.

But the real oddness about it was how suddenly it happened. It was like someone had stuck an air pump into him. Just “pop.” Just like that.

Aside from all of these things, it soon became clear to the various members of the group who bothered to look just what exactly had been buried under the bonfire’s ashes, likely having been coated over each time the fire’s coals had to be raked.

A huge pile of Mana Crystals had been placed in a hand-dug pit, and then covered with the ashes layer by layer over time. Whether this was part of some kind of cooking recipe or just a method of hiding them wasn’t clear yet, but this was most certainly Crispy’s stash!

58 Mana Crystals Discovered.
7 Flame-Touched Mana Crystals Discovered.
1 Source Crystal Discovered.

As Mourningstar used her Magic Analysis on it, she found…

Used Magic Analysis II
These are Materials, but they are of a Magical Nature. Effectiveness reduced to 80%.
---Mana Crystal---
This crystal is a physical manifestation of ambient and excess Mana built up in the environment. When enough Mana collects and suffuses impure physical material, it takes on this crystalline form. Usually found in places of high magical activity or concentration. Breaking or consuming these crystals can restore a small amount of Mana to a creature.

---Flame-Touched Mana Crystal---
Mana Crystals that have been exposed to a large amount of elemental Mana associated with Fire. Forcibly breaking this crystal produces a small-scale, fiery blast similar to many low-rank Fire Spells.

---Source Crystal---
Mysterious forms of Mana Crystals. The ore veins of the crystals can be traced back to a root system. These Crystals are closer to the Source of the World…

You have No MP Remaining.

LEVEL UP!
You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 3! Your Max MP increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points: 5

Current Skills:
Mana Orb II (2.2)
Lesser Force I (1.7)
Levitation (--)
Magic Analysis II (2.5)
Mana Shape I (1.4)
Mana Slice I (1.05)
Monster Analysis I (1.5)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Muffle (0.1)
Smash (0.2)
Defender (0.2)
Focus (0.8)
Deception (0.2)
Charisma (0.2)
Blunt Resistance (0.2)
Mental Resistance (0.1)
Point Strike (0.1)
Fire Resistance (0.2)
Rabid Fit (0.1)
Dexterous (0.1)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

The Mana Crystals were their usual blue, the flame-touched crystals glowed with a warm orange,, and the Source Crystal was an almost hypnotic shade of green...

---

@Searat@Kazemitsu@Guy0fV4lor@SilverPaw

---

Ed took his discovery of a Mana flow within himself in stride, though as he practiced he found himself growing tired. It wasn’t quite the same kind of “tired” as, say, running a mile and being out of breath. If Ed had ever spent a full workday in front of a computer screen, or watched a long movie with its brightness settings not quite adjusted to the right level, or been unable to get enough rest on a weekend off before returning back to work, it was a similar kind of strain to that. A strain that makes a person say, “I haven’t done anything today, why am I still so tired?” At the least, though, he had made some kind of progress thus far.

As Jason and Asteria continued their telepathic experiments, Jason too would feel his mental strength ebbing. And after his last transmission to the Dire Rat, the slime suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his “head,” like a mild migraine or a stress-induced headache. He could feel his MP draining too, but he wasn’t out of it quite yet and it seemed like Telepathy didn’t use a great deal of it...perhaps it was because the skill had implied it was too low a level for more “complex” usage? He had been “thinking” in full sentences, and even a couple of paragraphs, after all. Maybe that was pushing it too much at this rank?

Asteria, much like Ed the first time, did not see any noticeable “skill” activations. No flashing lights, no surges of power. But she did become “aware” of an odd, warming flow through her body, a second circulatory system. And as she focused more upon it, it became more noticeable--though as soon as she stopped, much like when someone stops thinking about their own heartbeat or their own breathing, it would fade to a bare minimum of awareness in the back of her head.

Asura tried to help Momma Slime by relaying his memories and experiences to her as she struggled to speak. But even if he only used “images” or “sensations” rather than words and detailed descriptions, he only got through a few hazy moments of memory from his first attempts at giving himself a mouth to speak with before Momma Slime drew back, with a quick thought passing through to Asura before she broke their link.

Careful of hurt, you give too much. Then she settled down again and once more undulated her surface membrane. “BlrblrblbrbeeeeeEYE. Blllwwwwblwah.Wah.” At least she was making new sounds.

Mother Rat seemed somewhat reassured by Asteria, and none of these monsters thus far had gotten aggressive with one another. Seemingly willing to relax for now, she instead returned to perching up on a higher rock and scouting their surroundings. Once again, she soon squeaked at the group, then turned back to the direction she was looking at.

The distant glow from the bonfire seemed to have faded. Had it gone completely out? If the group thought about it, they might realize that not once since their new existences in this cave began had that fire gone out. Not for a whole week, and then some. Why would it do so now? Had something happened to that odd goblin that kept it going?

@Duthguy@Rune_Alchemist@CollectorOfMyst@ghastlyinc@Kangutso
As Ash melted away what was left of the lizard--Colchain’s--collar, and then signalled what she wanted him to do, the other Lizard slowly began to follow after her, though his eyes darted from side to side occasionally. And so it was that Colchain was the first to actually notice Reoth--the domesticated lizard did an odd pushup-gesture, before looking back at Ash. And in that time Reoth had put his jaws near Colchain’s neck. The other lizard hissed in alarm--then, with a soft snap of the rawhide, the collar fell away. Colchain merely looked at Reoth for a few moments, before doing another pushup in what might have been a gesture of thanks.

Now that Naji had filled his belly--after all, one small pixie couldn’t possibly hold the remains of two matured goblins--he wasn’t quite “healed” of the HP drain he had suffered, but he was certainly full and felt much better. With some rest he would probably make a full recovery. As Danny spoke to Naji, while Ash and Scott would probably notice Reoth sooner or later since he was messing with Colchain, it seemed that for now this particular adventure had come to an end. What would this motley crew do next?

---

@Lucius Cypher

Skill Gain: Smash I!
A Physical Skill that consumes Stamina instead of MP. One blunt type attack deals increased damage!

The female applied a Healing Herb directly to Crispy’s wound like a bandage, and when he felt it on his face Crispy put his own hand over it and began to squeeze it around the edges until the leaves began turning into a kind of paste. Some of the swelling around the wound seemed to go down and the plant fibers stopped the bleeding at least through pressure, if not through magic. Crispy’s nose and ears twitched occasionally, and with Orchid’s help he seemed to be able to glean most of what was in his surroundings.

As Orchid and Crispy approached the three lookouts, the flame-touched goblin called out to them without fear.

“Oi! You lots, where’s Rattleskull!? We gots trouble!”

“Crispy? What happen!?” One of the goblins moved to help Orchid get Crispy to a flat rock where he could sit, and a second peered out towards what remained of the bonfire. The other cupped his hands around his mouth and turned towards the outside of the cave before letting out a loud, braying cry.

From here, Orchid could actually see the outside world. Sunlight had caused stone and dirt to fade a lighter color than the usual soils inside the cave, and a small dusty path had been walked outside the entrance just enough to give some leeway between the archway and the grass. But there was grass, and it was greener than Orchid’s skin. It rustled in a soft breeze, which carried a fluttering leaf in a fairy-like dance. Leaves. Trees. There were trees--maybe it was just because she was smaller than she had been in her previous life, but to Orchid these trees appeared more majestic than any she had seen! They were sturdy hardwoods, possibly some type of oak, and while they were thinner nearer to the cave--a few stumps evidenced that some of them had even been chopped down recently--they grew much thicker further out. The cave seemed to be on a slope, which was gentle here but seemed to get steeper off to the east. Orchid might be able to tell by the position of the sun overhead that she was facing the south, and that it was just about high noon.

The cave was at the base of...cliffs? Possibly a mountain? And there was a forest out there. But...what else? Where was this?

By this time Crispy had explained what had happened to the other goblins. He even gestured to Orchid with praise.

“Dis youngling fought ‘em all off and helped me get away, after dumb pixie played stupid trick on me! If you gobs don’t get ‘em back double times as good, I’m gonna give her half your foods!” The other goblins seemed dismayed at this, but rather than take it out on Orchid they seemed to immediately begin bragging to Crispy of all the things they “was gonna do” to the attackers. The one closest to the outside, however, gave a cry and pointed all of a sudden.

“It’s da boss, dey comin’ back!”

Sure enough, Rattleskull came jogging out of the trees, several roughly hewn sections of branch under each arm. Behind him came the roughly thirteen or so goblins that remained of the entire cave’s tribe, not counting Orchid, Crispy, Rattleskull himself, and the three lookouts. All totaled, the goblins were 18 in number--except for that one that had betrayed them, the one that dug lots of holes.

“Which of youse sounded da alarm? What happen!?” Rattleskull demanded as he threw the wood down in a pile outside the cave. The others following him all repeated the gesture with their own wood, though they each carried considerably less.

Once again, Crispy--and possibly Orchid too--relayed their tale. Rattleskull rubbed his chin with one filthy hand as he listened.

“I been noticin’ dat things was kinda off lately…” he said, walking into the cave proper and looking towards the now-completely-dimmed bonfire. Without adjusting from the outside light, he couldn’t see well enough yet to pick out the group of monsters, but he had a vague idea of where they would be. “You guys been seein’ any monsters actin’...weird? Like...not monstery?” Some of the other goblins, though not all of them by any means, nodded their assent.

“What we gonna do, boss? If different ones is workin’ together, it ain’t right. Is it...some kinda magic?”

“Is it a demon!? A demon dat can make slaves?!” This fearful murmur set the gobs to chattering, but Rattleskull silenced them with rough kicks to their backsides.

“Ain’t no Demons dat strong gonna be way out heres! Just cause it ain’t right dun mean we can’t handles it!”

“Rattle, I thinks it might be time to takes action!” Crispy said. Using a sharp stick he had grabbed from one of the lookouts as a cane, he wobbily made his way over to the boss. “We spent all dis time makin’ da stash, and gatherin’ up stuff, but it ain’t gonna do us no good if other mobs is stealin’ it! Gotta make da cave safe for gobs!”

“Hm...Yeah.” Rattleskull seemed to be thinking very, very hard, but at least he seemed to be getting somewhere. “Me an’ you, Crispy, we da strongest ones here, but we been around a while. Might be a few other monsters in da cave like you--close to gettin’ bigger--or like me, already got bigger. Maybe dey been around long time like us, but dey cowards. Hidin’ out. And now dey decided to strike!” He punched a big furry fist into his palm.”

“And if we waits, they just get stronger!” Crispy nodded, seeing where his boss was going with this. “So now’s da time!”

“Oiright, all youse gobs!” Rattleskull turned around the gathered crowd, puffing out his chest. “Grab dat wood! It ain’t goin’ into da fire--or at least not all of it! Any of youse dat’s any good makin’ stuff, we needs smashers and cutters and stickers! And if ya can makes it, some woody shells like what I gots! Think about da kinda stuff ya see da Ventures with! Makes dat!”

Crispy turned to Orchid.

“You good at makin’ stuff, I knows cause o’ dat sword! You helps us!” He gestured to the wood pile, and to a few sharp and blunt rocks scattered around.

“And when we gots all da stuff we needs, maybe by tonight…” Rattleskull continued, “We’s gonna go from one end of da cave to da other! And if’n it ain’t a gob...it’s gonna be DEAD!” He smashed his Stone Axe against a piece of wood, making a loud clacking sound and splitting the limb into two pieces.

All the other goblins threw their hands up and cheered.

Orchid just stood there watching the other goblins quietly as Crispy spoke to them. Bunch of braggarts, all of them. But they'd have to do. Orchid didn't have many others she could rely on, and at least these goblins were obedient. Something about the other ones were.... Odd, but now wasn't the time to worry about them. They were the enemy now. Nothing more nothing less. Soon Rattleskull arrived and orchid filled him in about what happened at the bonfire, though mostly that consisted of confirming things Crispy said. When Rattleskull asked Orchid about monsters not being quite like monsters, Orchid just shrugged. "Aside from just recently? I mean, getting attacked by a bunch of rats or lizards, sure, makes sense. But lizards, rats, other goblins, slimes, and little fairies? And they aren't fighting each other? Now that's weird."

Soon the goblins were getting to work getting ready to fight back for the cave. Orchid was pretty eager too; she liked the idea of having a big group like this backing her up. Before she was outnumbered by the other monsters; this time she outnumbers them. All they needed was time to get their things together and get ready to fight. However, an idea sprang into Orchid's mind. She didn't know the lay out of this cave, but she knew a trick that might help them kill the other monsters inside more easily. First however, she needed to get more wood. And so Orchid went over to the wood pile, taking her sharp stone and carefully peeling the bark off some of the wood. She was looking for fibrous bark; something she could turn into rope. She also looked to the other goblins and started barking orders. "You lot! Get more wood! Big ones, small one, doesn't matter. And leaves too!"

Orchid kept making rope from tree bark and plant fiber, carefully twisting and tying them to make them tougher. Than she went over to Crispy and Rattleskull. "I got an idea that'll help us kill the other monsters. This is the only way out of the cave, yeah?" Orchid looked into the cave. She gestured near the entrance to make something high enough to cover up to half of the cave entrance. "We get more wood, stack it this high. Crispy make a bonfire right here. Mix leaves and grass, make it really smokey. Than I make big uh... Leaf." Orchid picked up a leaf and began to flap it. "Blow smoke inside of cave. Fill cave with smoke, make monster choke on smoke. Can't breath. Easy kill. They try to come and stop the fire, we ready to kill them." Orchid finishes making a good length of rope. Enough that she should be able to use them to hold stones into sticks easily. Maybe make a few spears or even a bow. Too bad Orchid didn't know how to use a bow. Didn't matter, she needed to make a fan first.

Rattleskull and Crispy might want to fight the monsters head on, but Orchid wasn't so foolish. They had the advantage of being outside of the cave; if they fortify their position right here, they could fill the cave with smoke and asphyxiate everyone inside the cave. Give it a few hours and they'll all either be dead or dying. Than the goblins can just go in and clean up what's left.



@Zeroth

---

"...well someone's been enjoying himself." Ash mused. "Feeling better? It likely would have tasted better cooked somewhat, but we didn't have the luxury. I'm glad to see you feeling better." Naji certainly did quickly fill his stomach, didn't he? She glanced over the goblin corpses, eyeing them curiously before turning to the Wisp that was with him. "A friend of yours?" She asked bluntly. It didn't seem hostile, but she didn't get to inquire further as something mildly unexpected happened.

As Reoth finally made his presence known, Ash swiftly turned to her new...ally, Colchain, as he hissed in alarm. Firstly making sure he hadn't just been attacked, Ash quickly took a few steps towards the lizard. Seeing the collar fall off of his neck though, made any fears unjustified. The lizard gave what appeared to be a thankful gesture of some sort, but did little else.

"...hello, I take it you are human as well?" She asked. He had freed the lizard, so that was a logical conclusion. More importantly though - Scott seemed to be feeling a little bad about not being able to help.

"Don't worry, Scott. We're all alive, and at least have a source of food for the day." She walked over to the goblin corpses. "I can't make fire, but we could carry some of their meat back with us. I have a small camp I made with a friend nearby. Relatively out of the way and Naji could rest there." Climbing on top of the goblin corpse, Ash took a few chunks of meat from its body with her jaws, chewing and swallowing before turning her head and hissing at Colchain to do the same. Might be awhile before they hunt again, after all.

---

Digbie noticed the system update and took it with a bit of a smile. He'd gotten an improvement, and even though he's not exactly the best character for this upgrade, he took it with a smile on his face. He pondered for what to allocate his new skill points for as he lifted up a bit of rat meat, chewing it reluctantly as he made his decision.

He desired to allocate 2 of his points to {Soil Manipulation}, desiring to make that a usable skill to him.

Next, he still had 3 points to work with. He wanted to keep hold of the skill points for a while longer and use them later, but then he had a particular idea. He was curious as to what {Point-Strike} was. Sounded interesting to him, so he decided to finish his allocations to that.

"Two points to {Soil Manipulation} and three points to {Point Strike}, please!"

Digbie turned to the rest of the group before he noticed the pile of craziness in the pile. That's a ton of crystals there, but one looked a bit more... intriguing to Digbie. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he swore that crystal was calling to him. Before anyone could suggest a different thing for him to do, Digbie attempted to use his new {Soil Manipulation} skill to pull the Source Crystal to himself, using the soil under it to lift it up and levitate it over to him.

"The green crystal is what I want, and that's it."

After that was over with and the crystal was in Digbie's free hand, the goblin made his suggestion to the party as for their next plans. "Isn't there an exit to this cave? Those two goblins might be hatching a plan to try and hurt us, so maybe we can get out before that happens? I think the exit was that way." Digbie pointed towards the destination that the goblins went in, but a little bit more to the side. He wasn't allowed to leave a lot, but he distinctly remembered one time he did leave. He was forced to sleep in the rain, and it sucked. That's what he got for being a silly goblin.

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Searat@Kazemitsu

As Jason continued to experiment with his [Telepathy I] skill, he was met with a throbbing pain in his 'head'. Drawing back from Asteria, he began to look around, only to notice that the bonfire's distant glow had all but disappeared. 'Eyes' growing wide with a mixture of shock and excitement, Jason had completely forgotten the pain in his 'head'; this new development was FAR more important than nearly anything else he had done so far. Had something happened to Crispy? Were other (former) humans responsible? If so, that would mean that a fight for control of the cave was about to ensue, and Jason was gonna be there to win it."Everyone follow me!" he hurriedly exclaimed as he turned to the rest of his group, "No time to explain, we need to get to the bonfire NOW!!!!

Not waiting for any sort of response from his party, Jason quickly curled himself into a ball as best he could and made a hurried beeline for the bonfire, there was no time to waste.

---

@King Cosmos@CriticalHit@Old Amsterdam@ReusableSword@floodtalon@Gardevoiran

As he drew close to the bonfire, Jason saw a collection of monsters; three of which he recognized. Around them lie evidence of a battle, as well as three dead goblins. However, a frown grew across Jason's face as he realized that Crispy was not among them. Approaching the group, a blue glow from the cinders of the bonfire caught his eye. Turning his attention toward the glow eminating from the ashes, Jason moved past a goblin and wisp that both seemed to be staring at the glow as well only to realize that it was MANA CRYSTALS. SO. MANY. MANA CRYSTALS.

Using [Tremor Sense I] to confirm the amount of crystals, Jason turned to the rest of the group. "Excellant work securing the cache everyone!!!" he exclaimed before dropping into a much more serious tone, "However, now that Crispy knows that we are an imminent threat, It's likely that the goblins are going to try purging the cave... We need to be ready for them. Rain! I need you to be recon, figure out how many goblins we're up against, how well armed they are, and what their intended plan of attack is. Edward and Asteria! The crystal cache is too close to the front of the cave! I need you two and momma rat to dig a spot for us to move the cache to that's a bit further from the entrance! Other lizard! Start digging a trench, wall to wall at that narrow point up ahead! Pixies and wisp! Keep the cache protected until we're ready to move it! Goblin, you're with me! We're going to be digging up to create a palasade up above the entrance of the cave so we can drop rocks on their staging area, and hopefully thin their numbers! Asura! I need you and Momma slime to transport the resulting aggregate to the trench, and begin creating a rock wall behind it! Let's go people! We don't have much time to make this happen so we've got to hustle if we want to survive the night!" he barked like the seasoned commander he was.

Snatching up five crystals, and a rock, Jason hustled to a wall dividing two passages and began to tunnel upward at a fifty degree angle as fast as he could. He would continue this until he was around fifteen feet higher than the cave entrance, and a foot from breaking through to the outside of the cave. Once there, he would begin digging right, parrallel to the wall until he had gone about twenty feet past the cave entire entrance (hopefully with the goblin's help).

Oberon’s concentration broke and the thin shard of mana between his hands dissipated, quickly fading from sight as he stopped forcibly holding the mana together. Leaning back from his seated position he allowed himself to fall back until he felt the ground under him, lying flat on the ground as he recovered from his efforts; although he had not done anything physical he felt drained in some unknown way, probably related to whatever part of him was being used to manipulate magic. More than he felt mentally drained from concentrating so hard on something that required so much attention.

Although he had not received any knew skills from his efforts, he definitely felt as if he had made progress. Even if no breakthroughs had occurred he thought he could understand a little more about mana now and it certainly seemed like it was getting easier towards the end. A little bit more training like this and he imagined he would at least gain a usable version of Mana Shape and possible a new variation of Mana Orb as well.

Hearing a growing commotion over by the remains of the bonfire Oberon sat up to see what was going on. Several people seemed to be gathered around some strange light; different from the soft orange glow the fire had given off earlier. Rising to his feet Oberon flew over to the group, vaguely noticing that the process seemed to be slightly easier now, until he could see the pile of variously coloured crystals hidden under the ash and cinders of the bonfire.

Oberon examined the crystals with his Magic Analysis and saw much the same information as Mourningstar had. The description of the Mana Crystals was interesting but by this point a given, what really grabbed his attention were the Flame-Touched crystals. “Elemental mana?”

Reaching out Oberon picked up one of the small orange crystals and held it up so he could see it better. It felt warm in his hand, whether that was because of its nature of just because it had been buried under a fire pit he didn’t know, but it was a comforting feeling either way. “So there’s more than one kind of mana, I guess.”

1 Flame-Touched Mana Crystal added to inventory.

That there would be multiple types of mana in this world had never occurred to Oberon before, mostly because there had been no reason to think too much about it, but he supposed it made sense; different varieties of mana would result in different kinds of spells, for example a simple projectile made with regular mana would take the form of Mana Orb, whereas the same spell made with fire elemental mana would likely produce a basic fireball spell.

If his hypothesis was correct then it would mean there was a limitation on what kind of spells he could learn when the only mana he could manipulate was non-elemental; Oberon was beginning to find he didn’t like being limited when it came to magic.

The description for the flame-touched crystal suggested it was infused with fire mana in some way; it had probably been created in an area high in fire mana in the same way regular crystals seemed to be formed in areas of high non-elemental mana. And since mana crystals gave off mana when broken which could be absorbed by creatures such as himself, then it stood to reason that when this crystal was broken it would also release mana, albeit explosively due to its nature.

Even so, if the sudden burst of fire mana was similar to low-ranked fire spells as the description suggested then Oberon should still be able to learn something from it if he used Magic Analysis on the blast. With no actual fire magic to observe it was probably his best bet of learning how to manipulate fire elemental mana.

Before he got ahead of himself it was perhaps best if he continued training himself to shape the mana he could already use before trying to learn anything new; if nothing else being able to use Mana Shape would make it easier to create new spells from scratch and might even help in understanding how elemental mana differs from the mana he was already used to using. Reaching back into the pile Oberon grabbed a handful of the blue crystals before flying off back to his previous spot alone. “Sorry, I have an idea.”

3 Mana Crystals added to inventory.

Settling down in the same position he was in before Oberon began the same process as before, diving back into his experimentation with renewed fervour. He started by forming a sphere of mana between his hands and then proceeding to stretch and sharpen it into an arrow; he repeated this multiple times, each time using what he gleaned from the previous attempt to improve the next.

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@floodtalon@ReusableSword@Guy0fV4lor

There was a distinct aura of happiness around Mourningstar as two new people joined the Party, another Lizard and a Pixie. this was really good, all they needed now was a good tank and they would have an amazing party composition for anything that was thrown their way. The pixie, introduced as Ardur, dug through the hot embers, Mourningstar was almost tempted to stop him before he noticed the small shield covering his arms, smart thinking, so she let him do his thing. It was strange though, one second he looked like any other pixie, the next he looked just the slightest bit muscular. She blinked a few times to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her, but nope, that was definitely a slightly buff pixie. "Huh." Was this another skill that Ardur had just learned, or had she just not noticed this whole time? She shook her head and put her focus back on the light, buff pixie analysis can wait until later. What mattered right now was the- "Holy shit! Guys we just hit the motherlode here!" Crystals, dozens and dozens of crystals were buried under the fire. Blue crystals, red crystals, even a mysterious green crystal, all for the taking. The first thing Mourningstar did was refill her MP with one of the blue ones, leaving everyone with 57 crystals, then Oberon took 3, lowering the count to 54.

But what caught her attention most was the mysterious Source Crystal. Now she didn't know much about this world, but when something described as being closer to the Source, capital S and all, you knew that shit was important. Which is why she freaked the fuck out when she saw it begin to levitate towards Digbie seemingly of it's own free will. "The green crystal is what I want, and that's it." Oh god why did you have to be like this you dumb dumb Goblin child.

"Digbie no no no no! That thing could be dangerous don't just start fucking touching it! There was an actual hint of panic in her voice as she poured 3 points into Lesser Force and grabbed the Source Crystal out of the air, hopefully Digbie got the message quickly and let go, she needed to study this thing in depth before she just handed it off to someone. As all of this distracted her, she never even noticed the new party of monsters gathering at the bonfire, more former humans was her guess given how the slime was talking. And was barking orders at everyone too, causing Mourningstar to narrow her eyes as she stared down the slime.

"Woah woah woah, hold the fucking phone there slime! You don't get to just wobble in here and start yelling at people to do stuff, especially when you don't even know our names! Get back here!" Mourningstar rushed over to the Slime as it wobbled away, getting into it's path and continuing to stare into the Slime's eyes as she thought over his plan, nodding a little bit as she hummed in thought. Damn, that was actually a pretty good plan. The problem lied in the fact that they didn't know who the fuck these people were, other than that they were smart and also a multi racial party. She quickly used Monster Analysis on the new party, nothing how most of them were like her in being former humans, but two were not. The big slime and the big rat were pure monsters, tough ones too it looks like. Strange, but she wasn't going to complain too much, numbers were numbers in the end.

"Now you have a good plan, I'll give you that. You're also human, which is a plus in my book. But you don't get to just walk in and start telling people what to do like you're the boss and then walk away assuming we're just gonna do it. Far as I'm concerned, we're all equal in being generals of the Demon Lord. We're gonna follow your plan for now, but after this is all over we need to have a serious talk about leadership." With that being said, Mourningstar turned away from Jason and floated back to the pile of crystals, noting how it was 5 shorter than before due to the Slime. 49 mana crystals left, they were burning through them much faster than Mourningstar liked. "And by the way." Mourningstar grabbed a flame touched crystal and showed it to Jason, making sure he noted how it was different from the others. "I would suggest you find a use for these in your plan, because these ones explode. And everyone knows that the key to victory is careful usage of explosives to thin the numbers of an enemy before and during battle." It was one of the best strategies in her RTS games she used to play in the past world, explosives were key in controlling where the enemy moved and more importantly, where they didn't move. "Oh yeah, just one more thing." She looked Jason dead in the eyes as she said this, giving off a smug smile as she said her next words.

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst

Unfortunately for Danny it seemed Naji wasn't completely done with the Goblin's eyeballs, but a convenient distraction presented himself before he threw up again. The Lizard that had attacked the Goblins, as well as the captive one, the other Pixie and an unknown white Lizard showed up. Wanting to experiment a little with Monster Analysis I he checked them all out.

"I- Naji - I'm sorry I didn't...I'm sorry I didn't do anything when you almost got hurt." Knowing how the Pixie felt he made a decision, though he knew he might regret it later. " Name is Danny. If you are interested I know a decent spot to get Mana Crystals, cause if those Pixies are anything like Wisps they are useless without MP. They do seem to have the advantage to be able to carry stuff though." He didn't like the idea of sharing "his stash" with anyone but if he wanted to join their group concessions had to be made. "Also I need to fill up myself anyway, I only have enough MP to keep floating I think."

If he had been paying attention to the bonfire he would have noticed it was out, but he was too busy trying to convince assumed group of former humans to allow him to join.

@Lucius Cypher
Of the handful of goblins that heard Orchid barking orders, only a few of them listened. And even then, they looked at each other in confusion for a moment. Finally, about three of them went off to gather the wood and leaves Orchid wanted, but more than that just ignored her and went back to what they were doing. One in particular, another female, crossed her arms and yelled back.

“Shut up! You talks too much--why you think I gots to listen!?”

When Orchid explained her plan to Crispy and Rattleskull, Crispy shook his head. His advice was probably worth listening to, considering he had the most experience with fires out of all of them.

“Could use dat to smoke rats and lizards out of tunnels, but won’t work for whole cave.” He pointed through the entranceway up to the stone ceiling. There were a few other shafts of sunlight besides the entrance. “There’s still places where smoke can get through da ground. I had bonfire going for a long time, but we neva got smoked out. Is cause da ceilin’ is high, and cause da smoke eventually finds way out.”

“Dat coward way anyhow!” Rattleskull snorted, stomping one foot. “We gonna kill ‘em! Get to work!” He glared at Orchid for a moment, before heading over to the wood pile. He grabbed a thick branch about six feet long, then levered it over another piece of wood and under one more. With it rooted in place, he took a few steps back, then made a running start. He jumped, and came down with all his body weight on the wedged branch, breaking off about two feet of its length. This he sat down with, and using the stone headed end of his axe he began to scrape one end of it. He seemed to be leaving the tip of this end untouched, but slightly tapering the rest of it for a couple of hand lengths. Slowly it began to resemble a shape more like a baseball bat.

“You dere! Gimme rock, small sharp one!” he barked at another Goblin. Unlike with Orchid, the trembling green creature hastened to obey and handed him a Sharp Rock. Rattleskull’s tongue poked out of one side of his mouth as he concentrated on tapping one side of the bat and then the other, making a slightly larger mark each time…

You’ve made an item!
Bark Fiber (Low Quality) + Bark Fiber (Low Quality)
Your Crafting III Skill increases the quality of your item. Low Quality > Average
Your method of crafting is more effective compared to your raw materials. The quality of your item is increased. Average > Good
You made: Fiber Cordage (Good)!

Though Crispy couldn’t help with his own crafting, he gathered a few of the smaller sticks and some loose grass and leaves just by feeling along the ground with his hands. Once he had them piled up, in mere seconds he had a smaller fire started. The same female goblin that had refused to follow Orchid began blackening the tip of a Sharp Stick in the fire, then shaving off the blackened bits against a Hard Rock. All around, the other Goblins were doing similar things--either gathering or crafting. While none of them except maybe Rattleskull went at it with anything similar to the methods Orchid did, they seemed to be quite capable of either learning by example, or simply following what Rattleskull and Crispy ordered them to do.