Skill Gain: Iron Gullet I
You gain the ability to eat the majority of "normal (relative)" foodstuffs even if your size, teeth, or other factors would have made this difficult. You also don't suffer nausea or other side effects of bad tastes. You have a lower chance of being damaged or placed under status effects when eating tainted foods. You may swallow small non-edibles without issue, but you gain no nutritional value.

As Naji approached Colchain, the lizard narrowed his slit eyes. Scott jumped up in a panic, causing Colchain to lower himself to the ground with a hiss, but as Ash glared their way he relaxed somewhat. Since Scott had tossed out some strips of rat meat, the lizard quickly gobbled up his portion and settled back down. He still seemed wary, but it looked like he wasn't trying to get away any time soon--after all, this group of creatures had for some reason protected him, and now fed him. They made surviving easier. And to Colchain's simple reptilian brain, survival was good. Death bad.

After eating part of the Slime, Reoth noted that some parts of the membrane were thicker than usual--probably because this slime seemed to have been much bigger than normal ones. Maybe its multiple colors were an indication that it was more than one slime, all jammed together? In any case, this membrane was all he could eat of the creature, and there were barely any large enough pieces of it left to be anything less than a snack. But it was rubbery on the tongue and had an intensely sour taste, and the leftover bits of digestive fluid burned Reoth's tongue. Not too long after he swallowed it, on the way to Ash's camp he felt his stomach cramping a bit. That probably meant it was going to be as unpleasant coming out as it had been going in.

LEVEL UP!
Your battles and experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 2! You gain Skill Points to distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points: 7

Current Skills:
Stun Fang I (1.0)
Poison Spit I (1.3)
Crafting I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Muffle (0.9)
Faster (0.1)
Mental Resistance (0.1)
Charisma (0.3)
Counter (0.1)
Monster Analysis (0.3)
Suppress Presence (0.1)

As Ash practiced her limited understanding of magic, it seemed that the "buzz" she felt was growing significantly stronger the more she practiced...but still, as of yet there was no visible effect on her wound, nor any other signs of magic like the Pixies had produced with their flashy lights and such. But now that they were in a safe place, there was plenty of time to practice, and maybe even get creative...

---

22 Mana Crystals remain.
2 Flame Touched Crystals remain.

As Asura and Momma Slime headed for a hiding spot, the bigger blue blob responded with a curious wobble to the images and thoughts Asura sent her.

But I bigger than two-feet-not-me. Why not eat? You say eat bigger, time-was-now-not-now. What Am Boo Sha? This time, in addition to her own thoughts, it seemed her sound making had become syncronized to her usual communication. "Buhhablblbr dantuhfeenuhm, whanaeee." Her membrane made its usual flapping motions as she seemed to be trying to form words. "Whanaeeet?"

As Ed worked with the gristly jawbones of the lizards, he soon found that his lack of practice compared to Asteria made it exceedingly difficult to get the items to do what he wanted. His "hands" were too uncoordinated in this new body, and he didn't have the right posture or enough strength to use them correctly for this kind of work. Eventually, however, he finally managed something close enough to call success.

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression
You do not have a Crafting Skill. The Quality of your Item has degraded.
Your species is unsuited for this kind of work. The Quality of your Item has degraded.
You made an item!
Materials: Broken Fanged Lizard Jawbone (???)
You have processed this item.
You created: Broken Jawbone Club (???)
This item has very low durability. You cannot wield this item.

As Digbie made his preparations and set up his ammo pile, he found that he was looking towards the opening at the distant end of the cave--the exit to the outside world. He couldn't make out any really distinct figures at this point, but he could practically count the torches. The goblins were coming...but they weren't charging the way you might expect an undisciplined tribal horde. It seemed they were clearing their way rather methodically, in small groups...and at their backs, a campfire not quite as big as a bonfire had been made. Between the entrance and the territory they captured, they had protected their backs and could fight with the confidence that everything in front of them was an enemy...

They were out of his range for now, but how long would it be before he could strike at them? And they at him?

As Jason practiced, he could feel himself becoming more familiar with the manipulation of this psionic type of energy. However, he soon began to experience fatigue both mentally and physically. Even after practicing long enough to use up one (1) of his Mana Crystals due to MP drain, he hadn't yet gained the skill. Maybe he needed to try something else...or maybe even take a break? He had been going full tilt for most of today after all, and aside from the moment of his evolution he hadn't taken much time to rest or recover from all his activity. Either way, right now it seemed what he was doing just wasn't quite cutting it to earn a brand new skill--or at least, the increments of improvement were small enough that it would likely take him much longer than he thought to grind it out.

Oberon's practice seemed to be going slightly better than Jason's in terms of results--he could actually see his Mana taking shape after all, and could observe the effects the rough draft of Mana Dart had on his targets. Still, he hadn't yet gained the skill. What else did he need? Was it really enough to just shape the orb? It was a bit like cutting a shape out of paper at the moment, but just because it had a point didn't mean it would penetrate that well...Maybe it needed more "weight," so to speak? Or maybe it needed some method of actually driving the point in, like a hammer on a nail? Or maybe...what possibilities could he think of? How else could he push this skill?

You used Magic Analysis III! This is a Monster, but a highly magical one. Effectiveness reduced to 45%.
This is a Slime Mage. It's a Transformed Slime that has taken on magical properties. This one has also taken on an Earth Elemental Variance, Stone-Hardened, that increases its defenses and affinity with that element. This slime possesses several spells and magically oriented skills, with several others that are still developing. Most of its combat skills are Earth elemental, but it also possesses Psionic skills. The spells you've seen it use are Rock Spire and Soil Manipulation.

Rain, too, had not gained a new skill yet. She had, however, hit upon her desired effect--moving her head and amplifying her breath now seemed to cause the acidic fluid built up in her mouth to evaporate at a faster rate, producing puffs of purple smoke. But were they concentrated enough to be truly poisonous, or damaging in any way? And they didn't really go far enough yet to be considered a ranged attack...What else could she do? How creative could she get?

Much like Digbie, Rain was also beginning to see the dancing lights of the goblin parties. They were still too far away to see clearly or to attack, but should she risk staying out here...?

As Asteria experimented with her needles, she indeed received a System message saying that she had created items. Once again, however, their quality degraded...and ultimately it seemed like all that happened was that the Sharp, Broken, and normal Bone Needles now had "Poisoned" at the front of them, clearly evidenced by their purple dyed tips. Maybe the quality degradation meant they had a low chance of poisoning the enemy, but every little bit helped and they weren't meant to resist breakage anyway.

Skill Gain: Crafting I
Your knowledge and understanding of mechanics, workmanship, and other such things enable you to craft better items. The process of creating regular sized items is still an unknown to you, and your current species doesn't support many smaller items, but if you ever succeed in such a creation its Sub-Stat Enhancements will be higher than normal. Currently you cannot use equipment, and attempting to craft it will be much more difficult.

As she strained her senses from the inside of her fox/rat hole, however, the System had one more thing to say.

Skill Rank Up: Beast Sense I > Beast Sense II
Passive sensory range increased. By actively focusing on one (1) sense, you can further increase that sense's sharpness.

Ardur, up higher near the ceiling above Jason and the others, had a much clearer view of the goblins holding torches. Though he couldn't quite count them the way Rain and Digbie could, he could still warn the others.

"Heads up guys! They're coming in through the entrance...but they're moving slow for some reason, like they're being really careful! I can't tell how many there are." he shouted down to the others.

---

As Mourningstar headed towards the Nesting Area, she found that the Mana Crystals here had not been quite so badly depleted as the rest of the cave. Likely because Dire Rats and Fanged Lizards didn't use any magic, and likely couldn't have climbed this high up to the ceiling to get at the crystals. Thus, this was a prime gathering spot for Wisps and Pixies. She could see quite a number of the former buzzing around, as with night falling their bright colors and lights were clearly visible.

However, she was encroaching on their territory. As she got closer, she soon noticed two more wild Wisps heading towards her intentionally. They seemed to be pulsing rhythmically, like they were angry or trying to warn her away...

---

Orchid's attack slammed the Slime into the dirt, where it squealed with a sound like a wet fart. At her urging the two younger ones struck it with their torches, and the flames spread somewhat over its membrane. The creature gave one last death throe, then lay still, deflating until it was little more than a puddle. Not too long afterwards the other goblins had made a quick perimeter check, like Rattleskull had told them.

"Dis place is clear! We can move up!" shouted one. The others waited for Orchid to give the okay, then they all took up positions and moved forward. To their left the team led by the Hammer Goblin seemed to be moving up even further--they were either going too fast, or hadn't encountered anything else yet. It was hard to tell if the Brawny Goblin and that other female--the Bitchy Goblin--had moved further on yet. Soon the Hammer Team began making the sounds of combat again, but they couldn't spend all their time focusing on the other teams.

As they began covering new ground, it seemed the way was mostly clear--until one of the Minions poked his spear into a crevice in the wall, and an angry pixie fluttered out. However, it didn't realize how badly outmatched it was--a single spear thrust from the second minion, the one who had the good spear, killed it and tossed its disemboweled body to the ground.

"Mini-boss! Do ya wanna hug the wall, or keep pushin' into the open?" called one of the others.

((Orchid's Team can move from B6 into either C5 or C6.))

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst @Kangutso

While he still hoped his attempt to meditate and pay attention to his surroundings worked Danny trusted the others to keep him safe if anything happened started tuning them out. As a result he didn't notice Ash using the healing stone something that he might otherwise be interested in, especially if a mana recovering one could be created, even without the ability to keep it with him.

Possibly unfortunately for his skill raising attempts rather than clear his head he kept thinking about his other skills, usable or not. He figured that if he could make his mana dart spin or rotate it might penetrate monsters much easier, and also wondered if he should still try his idea to compress Mana Orbs to either make them more powerful or cost less mana, or if meditate meant he should focus on different skills due to him potentially recovering mana.

Eventually he gave up on mastering the skill for the moment and started paying attention to the outside of the world again, just in to hear the albino lizard ask Ash, for some reason, about magic. "Hope you don't mind me butting in, but even if you can use magic you don't want to become so dependent on it that you have no combat skills that don't require mp."

Asura snorted when Jason spoke up about having explosives experience. "Maybe normal explosives. This is magic not science." He stated before he went about his own business. Mother Slime asked him a few questions, like why not eat and what an ambush is. So he contacted her again and explained it. An ambush is when you hide and then surprise your enemies. So you can get more hits in safely without taking more damage. He said to her.

When she started making sounds he chuckled. It wasn't hard to decipher, some of his old coworkers had had kids who talked worse than her. "We'll eat, we just have to be cautious. I don't know what you can do." He stated, letting her know he wasn't aware of what she was capable of and he didn't want her to get killed because of that ignorance. So ambush, attack goblins flank or rear. He didn't let it be known that he'd probably call attention to himself given that he probably had the highest defenses.Whenever he saw the others they didn't look really banged up. Except Digby's ass and Jason exploding.

@SilverPaw

"God Dammit..." Ed muttered under a frustrated breath as the young dire rat had crafted failure after failure. The closest to a weapon he had made was extremely poor in quality and looked like it would break in a couple or so hits. Ed had underestimated his lack of dexterity in this new body and severely missed his hands. It was then he had finally noticed Asteria. She was covered in mud and Ed was about to question her about it when he had heard her explain her actions. She had wanted to make an ambush group with him and the older female dire rat. It was a brilliant idea, he had remembered that guerrilla tactics were oft used against overwhelmingly powerful enemy forces. "That's a absolutely brilliant idea. I'll use the lizard's stomach to gather more water and make better mud." He was about to leave to gather some more water when he turned to talk to Asteria. "Oh. And feel free to make use of the bone shards and what crappy weapon I made. God knows I can't use them...system notification told me so." Notifying her that she was free to use whatever materials he had left from his wasted efforts, he leaves to gather some more water.

Laying the water skin near the pool of water, he walks a short distance back and makes three little divots near the pool and the bonfire (K13), once satisfied with his work he fills the water skin with some water and balances it on his back. Learning from prior events that dragging it would just wear out the skin faster. It was far more tedious to do than dragging it to and fro the divots, but surely it was a less taxing method for the skin. With the divots with sufficient amounts of water, Ed begins to tramp and stomp in circles. Turning the divots with water into a mud puddle. He nods in approval of his work and calls out to Asteria. "Asteria! I made a mud puddle for camouflage! Did you manage to convince your mother to join us in the ambush group?"

---

Bah, still nothing! She felt like she was getting better at it, but the skill still escaped her. She would have frowned, had her lizard face been capable of it. Instead she made a low hiss of frustration. Seemed progress on her own was going to be extremely slow going still. she scratched her nose with one of her claws. Tired, but she couldn't rest. Too dangerous, especially with the fighting between the goblins and others still underway.

"Oh, Reoth." Actually...perhaps trying to teach him could help the progress along? "I had Scott make a healing stone for me when we first met." She explained. "He can enchant things with magic for later use, it seems. Quite the useful skill. I can't quite use it yet, I'm trying to learn it myself but it isn't quite so easy when you don't have a pixie showing you." She mused, chuckling lightly. "I can perhaps show you a bit, but I think it'd be better for another lesson from Scott or Naji." She turned to Scott and Naji as Danny came hovering over.

"True, though perhaps the better you get at magic the easier that will become. With the way things seem so far, It seems logical to assume that there are skills that should help with that." But more on that later. "Scott!" She called over to the other pixie. "Do you think you or Naji could give me another lesson in magic?"

It was no good. When the ‘Mana Arrow’ struck the rock it just deformed on impact rather than penetrate as it was supposed to; it was like an arrow made out of clay, it had right shape but it just wasn’t strong enough to withstand the impact with the target. That was the catch. In order to pierce through an object the arrow would need to be harder than what it was impacting against, or else the arrow would bend and break before the target. It looked like just reshaping the mana wasn’t enough to give it new properties.

How had Mourningstar managed to create her crescent shaped blade then? There didn’t seem to be anything different in principle between what he was doing now and what she had done back then, so why did her spell work and his fail? Maybe Wisps just had a better affinity for this kind of magic compared to Pixies; they was supposed to be the healing class after all, based on his starting spells, while the Wisps were more like Black Mages.

So maybe it would take a little bit more effort for him to make this work. That was no reason to be discouraged, it didn’t mean it was impossible after all; he just needed to rethink things a little. The obvious answer would be to strengthen the integrity of the arrow somehow. Oberon had tried something similar earlier when he had attempted to make the Mana Orb stronger by surrounding it in a Shield spell; the theory was that by making the Mana Orb harder it would lose less force on impact and do more damage.

The end result of that experiment had been rather different than he had expecting, with the Shield Spell absorbing the energy of the Mana Orb somehow and creating a kind of barrier. Oberon still intended on exploring that result a bit more in the future, but now wasn’t the time for that.

Perhaps instead of simply reshaping the mana into an arrow-like shape wasn’t the right approach. Maybe he should also try condensing the mana at the same time, compressing the same amount of mana into a smaller, sharpened projectile that would have more structural integrity and be able to survive the impact with the target.

With no other ideas in mind Oberon decided to put that theory to the test, forming a ball of mana between his hands before reaching out with Mana Shape to begin moulding it. The question was whether he should compress it first and then shape it, or shape it and then compress it; it was probably better to compress it while it was shaped liked an orb first, as it would be easier to uniformly shrink it down when it was in such a regular configuration.

Oberon progressed carefully, not entirely sure what would happen when he began applying pressure to the mana to compress it; this was a volatile and dangerous force he was messing with her after all. It did not, as he had feared, explode however and eventually he managed to squeeze the Mana Orb down to about a third of the size. With this step done he began the process of forming the mana into an arrow, making sure to keep up the pressure that was keeping the mana compressed even as it fought to return to its normal density. Finally, he took the completed arrow and refined the shape a little more, sharpening the point and ensuring that the projectile was perfectly straight.

The resulting projectile was similar in appearance to his last attempt, just a third of the size and slightly darker coloured due to the same amount of mana being forced into a smaller package. Oberon had to admit, he did not feel safe holding it in between his hands any longer and, as much to get rid of it as see the result, he let the arrow fly at the same rock he had targeted before.

As he examined the results of his latest attempt Oberon heard a voice calling from somewhere high above him. Craning his neck to look above him he saw the Pixie from earlier, the one who had been speaking to Mourningstar before he decided to set himself on fire, peering towards the entrance of the cave and saying something about Goblin’s heading their way.

Standing up Oberon flew up until he was hovering next to Ardur, looking in the same direction and seeing the same torches that he could. He couldn’t see how many there were from this distance, but the way the torches were spread out in a line all across the cave gave him an idea and it wasn’t good for them.

“There still pretty far away, but I don’t think we have much time left.”



@Zeroth

---

"N-no way... there are tons of them..." Digbie choked his words out, struggling to as his fear kept him shaking in his knees. He couldn't confidently fire off any shots, but he could count them. There were loads of them heading forward. How could the group even take on the onslaught of these barbaric buttcracks? It was madness!

Digbie fell to his knees and panicked for a moment, trying to think of anything he could do to help out even more than he already could. He wasn't a good goblin, not by a longshot. He was arguably the smartest in language, but that only got him so far. Going against his own kind... knowing them... the thought made Digbie shudder. Was this how his second life was going to end? Dying to a bunch of wackjob goblins?

It could be... but the greenskin rose to his knees.

What Mourningstar had said, about everyone being a general for the Demon King... maybe that wasn't just her tooting her horn. Maybe it was true. Maybe they were all selected to undertake this task for a reason. Maybe, just maybe, it was Digbie's destiny. Probably, actually.

The goblin turned towards the rest of the horde before ducking down into his ammo reservoir. Alright. He had a bold plan. Sure, it was really stupid for him to try, but he was willing to give it a shot. If it meant protecting those behind him, trying to unite under the same cause, it was worth an effort.

"Demon King," Digbie started, raising his hands in front of him. "I'm not sure this will even fall on your ears, but please, I beckon you. Give us all strength in our time of need here, where it matters most. We all come from the same world, chosen by you to lead the armies that you shall command." Digbie's prayer continued to extend in length as he rose up, looking immediately towards the horde with his hands raised. "I, Digbie Yondir, call upon you. Give us any hand you can in this battle. Even if its just one of us, give them the strength to remain alive. If you can hear me at all, in this dank cave in the rear-end of nowhere, please..."

Digbie pulled his arms in and clenched his fists, looking down at the ground as he finished. "I shall dig in your name, should you aid us here, and if you aid us in the future."

Then, with a sigh of hesitation, Digbie recalled the words that Oberon said just the previous day.

"Open character screen."

---

---

---

“Thanks, but I've already made several bone needles. I've carried most of them over to Asura though.” Nonetheless, she looked over at the remaining bone material Ed had left behind. Perhaps with her new crafting skill, she’d even manage to turn one of those shard into a bone needle. She attempted to do so, once again utilizing the leftover poison pool to aid the process and potentially add the poison coating to the new bone weapons – some seemed to be shaping into something more closely resembling a shiv than a needle, though Asteria suspected she might once again be unable to sharpen them into a proper edge like a knife would have.

“Mud? Oh, well, fine, we have some time,” she said, in a whisper this time, as she had heard a pixie’s warning about the steadily approaching goblin enemies. She crawled out of the foxhole, nudged Mother Rat in the hopes she’d follow, went over to Ed’s mud pool, and rolled in it. Oh, her poor shiny coat. Hopefully the mud wouldn’t be too troublesome once it dried…After she was so 'camouflaged' she tried getting Mother Rat to dip into the mud pool as well, nudging her side once again and gesturing to the dirty puddle.

“I don’t know how much she understands, but I can probably get to mimic us. Hopefully that fox-hole is big enough for us. By the way, this ambush wasn’t so much of get to them before they get to us and stay hidden while we do so, but more of the wait-and-hide variety until they’re close enough that we can lunge at them in a surprise attack. Though perhaps both options appear equally risky,” she shrugged, then went back to her fox-hole. With her new level of the beast skill, she chose her sight to focus on, and gazed towards the entrance, trying to discern the goblins and their movements.

@Searat

After a tense few moments, it seemed that Colchain had no interest in attacking them, but nor was he interested in 'befriending' them, for lack of a better word. Scott relaxed, relieved both that Naji was okay, and that they seemed to be making progress with the lizard. before hearing Ash shout.

"Scott! Do you think you or Naji could give me another lesson in magic?"

Scott tilted his head, before casting another cautionary glance at Naji and padded over to Ash.

"Does that mean it worked, then? You know how it works?" he asked.

The pixie couldn't read her expression, likely due to lizard anatomy. He'd have to work on that. He took a deep breath.

"Well, Ash... really, I'm not too sure how it works myself. All I know is that I can cast a healing spell and a shield spell, and apparently, using your claw kind of gave you some insight? I guess we can give it a shot, though? We just need to find some small stones, first... and I kind of want to eat." His eyes fell on the ashes of the burnt-out fire. "Do you think we can restart that?"

---

This was progress. Not the greatest progress she could hope for, but it was still progress. She really wasn't confident that this gas would be damaging or poisonous, but it was a start.

She supposed that getting her venom related abilities upgraded might give her more potency, but she still needed a way to give this more range. Could she perhaps combine it with something like fire for now oompf? But she didn't have a fireball skill yet, let alone any available fire herself...

Speaking of fire, the torches were drawing near. The others had started to notice as well, and this was about to become a warzone. Should she try and hammer out a skill real quick, or prepare completely for her ambush?

Argh, why did these bastards have to be so troublesome?

Hopefully the darkness and this makeshift camo would work for her...

One last test before she prepared her ambush, then.

Filling her maw with venom, she opened her mouth sightly to allow air to enter and react with the venom without losing it all through the gap. Taking a deep breath she exhaled as forcefully as she could, jerking her head upwards while releasing more venom. If this didn't provide an effect she'd really need to reconsider her approach....

With the slime easily dispatched Orchid let out a sigh and looked to the other goblins. They didn't seem any worse for wear. Orchid went to help up the first goblin who got attacked by the slime. He was unharmed but Orchid still needed to make sure he was in fighting condition. "Aight get back together. Torches, behind us." Orchid stepped back to her position, locking her shield with her fellow goblins. "I hear fightin' on nearby. Let's go see what dat's about, but I got a place in mind I want us to check first. Remember watch fer traps. Spears pokin the ground. Torches, I want ya to keep yer eyes on da walls an ceiling. Dey might drop on us anytime." Orchid had them move across the open way to reach the other side of the wall (C7) since she figured it would be easier for her to reach the campsite she and the other lizard were at if they just went straight there.

---

@Zeroth@ReusableSword@Gardevoiran@King Cosmos@Kazemitsu@SilverPaw@Searat

Jason could feel himself becoming more familiar with the manipulation of this psionic type of energy. However, he soon began to experience fatigue both mentally and physically. Even after practicing long enough to use up one (1) of his Mana Crystals due to MP drain, he hadn't yet gained the skill.

The lack of forward progress peeved Jason, perhaps it was time to move on to some thing else. Then, almost as if right on cue, Ardur's voice rang out over the bonfire crew; "Heads up guys! They're coming in through the entrance...but they're moving slow for some reason, like they're being really careful! I can't tell how many there are."

"Ardur! Excellent timing! Come down here, I have a job for you!" the slime called to the pixie. Once Ardur was close enough, Jason would reach out with a pseudopod and activate [Telepathy II], 'Ok Ardur, here's the plan. This lizard lung is a bomb.' he began, gesturing to the gristly tainted bomb he had created, 'The bomb is made of two components; a flame-touched mana crystal, and a potent poison-tainted mana crystal. I need you to take this bomb, and drop it on either Crispy, or Rattleskull. Out of the two, it would be more powerful against Crispy, since it would deplete his mana-- but I'll leave that decision to your discretion... Now, before you go to transport the bomb, there are two things you need to take into consideration. Firstly, that poison-tainted crystal is unstable, so you're going to need to cast a shield spell on it to keep it from breaking mid-flight. Second, when you go to deliver the payload, it is important that you channel a bit of mana into the flame-touched crystal. This will prime it, so don't put too much mana into it, and get rid of it quickly once it's armed! I leave the rest to you. Good luck.' Snatching three more mana crystals out of the stash, Jason swung his stony growth on the rock spire he had used to kill the lizard earlier, breaking off a two inch spike. Sucking up the spike, he called out to his comrades, "Ok Everyone! It's go time! Make sure you're ready, and in position! I'm going to see if I can thin their numbers a bit before they reach us..."

Forming the non-conical part of his body into the best sphere he could, Jason stealthily rolled over to a spot where he could see the goblins, but they couldn't see him (H7). Next to him, he cast [Rock Spire I], but only gave it enough mana to create a two inch spike. Jason continued summoning these two inch spikes (all organised in a row) until he ran out of mana. Taking a deep breath, he consumed a mana crystal, it was time to play sniper...

On the battlefield, a sniper was a terrifying weapon. They were avatars order and chaos combined. Such skilled warriors had both an ability to control the field of battle, as well as sow terror amongst their enemies. Nothing was possibly more demoralizing than seeing the head of the man beside you burst open, but to have it done by an enemy beyond both sight, and reach? It was enough to break a man.

In the darkness, the torchlight allowed Jason to just barely able to make out the vague shapes of goblins; they seemed to be fighting something, but that was of no concern. Using [Tremor Sense II] to more accurately target the nearest goblin, Jason then used [Focus I] on [Stone Shot II]. As the skill charged, the slime carefully aimed his shot, estimating the locations the goblin's vitals.

Finally, the sniper let the magically charged spike fly, directly at the jugular of the closest goblin (in column 7)...

---

Reoth did, pretty much, regret his decision to eat what he did of the slime. It hardly had any form, it was rubbery, there was little more than a snack's worth, and he couldn't avoid some leftover bits of digestive fluid so he went through the added unpleasant experience of his tongue being slightly burned by it. As if that wasn't enough, his stomach started cramping a bit in the way to the camp. Yep... He shouldn't have eaten it, should have gone for a rat instead.

After asking the question to Ash, who seemed deep in thought at the moment, she looked to him a spoke of what the stone was, and what one of the pixies could do. A useful thing, being able to enchant objects, even something as simple as a stone. She also added that while she could show him a bit of what she could understand, there was a better option at the moment. That being to ask Scott or Naji for another lesson.

It was then that the wisp approached, commenting on his question about learning magic, "The intent is to learn magic, not focus solely on it. Wouldn't mind having some spells or something if I can use it." Ash called to the pixie named Scott, and while he would've paid attention to the little thing as he approached, something else got his attention.

LEVEL UP!
Your battles and experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 2! You gain Skill Points to distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points: 7

Current Skills:
Stun Fang I (1.0)
Poison Spit I (1.3)
Crafting I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Muffle (0.9)
Faster (0.1)
Mental Resistance (0.1)
Charisma (0.3)
Counter (0.1)
Monster Analysis (0.3)
Suppress Presence (0.1)

A level up menu? This could only Remind him of a video game, an rpg to be more specific. "Huh..." Reoth cocked hs head to the side, "So there's level up screens? A bit odd, I think." He thought on the unspent points, he could use them on the poison spit, as that is what he assumes he has been using, but he guessed that it was going up anyways due to his using it. Monster Analysis... He can probably gain that by view others, whether living or dead. That left him with one other immediate option.

"Uhm... seven points into Charisma?" He could only think that as the way to assign points. Speaking them aloud. That done, his attention returned to the others, He had missed what Scott said.

So many mana crystals. Not as many as she had originally found at the campfire of course, those had been stockpiled for quite some time. But there were more mana crystals up here then she had ever seen in one spot near the cave floors. This was of course because you would need to be able to fly in order to get these crystals, but Mourningstar suspected there was more to it. She suspected that this was the territory of the Mother Wisp, meaning that pixies were to be held at bay.

Not much time was given to muse on this as two Wisps approached her flashing rapidly, their pulses of light seeming to be warding her away. Mourningstar of course did not listen, instead attempting to mimic their communication. She shook, pulsing erratically in an attempt to show she was panicked and needed help. She knew the basics of Wisp communication, but her true skills lied in her human skills, not her beast ones. She would have to decipher the language of more Monsters soon, she couldn't be a general if she couldn't communicate with her subordinates after all.

Regardless, the meaning behind her flashing was as clear as it could get, she needed help. Perhaps she should force Jason to teach her telepathy at some point, that could help get across messages easily without relying on learning foreign languages... Wait! That's not what she should be thinking about right now, unimportant! Well, just to push things just the tiniest bit further, Mourningstar would try to show them what she was "scared" of. She stopped in front of them, wildly gesturing towards the cave entrance in an attempt to show what she was running from, the sounds of angry goblins killing monsters faintly echoing all the way over here.

Ardur The Pixie

Here comes the thunder >>>> Never give a Pixie Explosive Ordinance /// day 8 // Evening

Ardur watched intently as the flames from the torches grew closer. These goblins numbered in the many. But perhaps when their numbers began to dwindle and their leadership was destroyed, maybe then they would kneel or give up and run. All things considered, Ardur would focus on Rattle skull. He was the major threat here. Perhaps even crispy would submit to them without their leader.

He paused for a moment longer after he called out the approaching enemy. The others down below seemed to be digging in and preparing their ambush. The small pixie soon found himself being summoned by one of the self-proclaimed leaders of the reborn. Flying down to the slime it reached out toward him. Hesitating slightly due to his instincts, Ardur allowed the slime to touch him.

The strange chilled sensation of having another's thoughts reverberate through his head was very strange and caught him slightly off guard. After receiving the message Ardur nodded, "I'm focusing Rattle skull. If he dies the others will break. That and if crispy is flame touched he would probably be immune if not resistant to the flames. And both of them have been in this cave long enough that they more than likely have some sort of resistance to the poison."

Feeling that he relayed his message appropriately, Ardur took flight this time with the fragile cargo. Casting shield on the volatile poison crystal before he leaves. Another reason why he was going to focus the brute, was that the "clothes" he wore would most likely burn and this would get rid of any unforeseen ability he might have. Taking the rat lung bomb back up to a stone shelf closer to the entrance (E11) Ardur would wait until Rattle skull came within range of the others before arming and dropping the improvised explosive device.

@Guy0fV4lor
@Zeroth

Skill Gain: Meditate I
By concentrating and calming oneself, increase the regeneration of Magic Power and Stamina. This skill cannot be used in battle. Any distractions in the environment will drastically decrease the effectiveness of this skill. This skill cannot be used in conjunction with other skills.

Skill Gain: Charisma I
Like other charismatic skills, your personality is almost a magical charm unto itself. You’ll have greater luck convincing others to go along with your suggestions, but only within their own natural reasoning. This skill may not work on those with stronger Wills.

---

19 Mana Crystals remain.
2 Flame Touched Crystals remain.

You created an item!
[Broken Fanged Lizard Jawbone (???) + Fanged Lizard Venom (???)]x2
Your Crafting Skill has kept the quality of the item from degrading.
Your Dextrous Skill has provided a slight boost to this item's quality.
You made: Poisoned Bone Needle (???) (x4)

Skill Gain: Mana Dart I
A focused magic projectile that deals non-elemental Magic damage and Piercing Damage. Higher cost than Mana Orb but increased range, speed, and damage. However, its smaller size makes it less accurate.

You are experiencing a fast rate of Skill Progression.

Yo! You have reached the Demon King's Prayer Hotline. Please hold, your prayers are NOT important to me.

I kindly request that you STOP IMMEDIATELY. Do not EVER pray to me again. Prayers are for deities and I don't want that kinda fuckin' responsibility. This is an automated response system, do not reply to it or I'll send somebody to fuck you up.

--Beep--

Update: As of [8 days] ago, if you're one of my Damned Heroes, this is for you. If you can prove your strength to me and survive, find my Palace. Protip--it ain't in that shitty cave. Try the Dungeons.

As Rain continued to practice what she hoped would be a poisonous breath skill, she found that pooling venom in her mouth and then drawing in the air to breathe it with made it much harder to avoid swallowing and choking on her own acid, but it did cause the poisonous liquid to evaporate more quickly and produce those fumes from earlier. Inside the enclosed space of her mouth, those fumes became concentrated, and when she blew out she created a small cloud around her. From the rocks below her feet, where the poison seemed to condensate most heavily, she could hear sizzling, but only for a few seconds. The fumes quickly began to dissolve in the air. Maybe this might work on an enemy in her immediate personal space, but it still wasn't what she wanted. Was it the strength of her breath or lung capacity that needed to increase? The amount of the poison? Its potency? What could she do to push this skill further...?

As Asteria and Ed worked on their bone needles, mud camo, and dirty foxholes, Mother Rat joined them with a quizzical squeak. She decided that her offspring must be trying to hide her scent for some reason, and thus flopped down into the mud puddle herself. After a messy rolling session, Mother Rat stood up and shook the heavier clumps from her fur much like a dog, splattering the other two. Asteria's crafting efforts seemed to go more smoothly this time, but she still couldn't be sure of the quality of her items. When she focused her sight, however, she would soon be able to make out about as much about the goblins as Digbie and Ardur did originally--she knew they were out there in numbers, but she couldn't make out many specifics aside from the torches, which not all of the Goblins seemed to be carrying. As she, Mother Rat, and presumably Ed took up positions in their foxhole, the mud on their coats did a good job of matching the ground, rendering them nearly invisible even to each other in this darkness if not for their recognizable scents.

Oberon's new spell activated with a blip of the system, just as his new projectile drilled a deep hole into the stone. If that had been a flesh and blood creature like himself, it likely would have gone all the way through. It seemed to have even more penetrating power than those stones the green slime was fond of launching around. But as his efforts finally paid off, it seemed like most of the group around him was starting to take up positions--whether for ambush, or a preemptive assault.

Digbie received a very odd yet entirely definite answer to his prayer. The Demon King's voice had that same sort of personality as when he had first heard it in the afterlife...and yet, there was also an air of seriousness, maybe even urgency, to his request that he not be treated as a deity. And that part about "fucking them up" didn't sound like an empty threat either.

And then he requested his character screen, and a sound like the world's most fucked dial-up split his skull as pain became his everything.

Note: System Lag. Update Required.

Digbie the Shovel Boy [+]

TRIGGER WARNING

Seriously, there's hecka dark material ahead, my dudes. Venture at your own risk.

The REAL Digbie The Shovel Boi [+]

"I'm good at diggin', and not much else."

---

Name:
Digbie the Shovel Boy

Themes:
(Common)
(Rarely)

Gender:
Male

Species:
Goblin

Appearance:
It's your standard goblin, though he has a far weaker chin than most goblins. Honestly, he just looks like a really short human with green skin, a long and pointy nose, and pointed ears. He has hair, but it's only growing right above the middle of his head like a mohawk, and it refuses to spread anywhere else on his head. It's actually kinda long.
(I'll be doing art of this boy in time).

Goals:
Help whoever needs help (namely the Demon King), and find a legendary shovel to help people with.

Past Life:
Digbie didn't really have a life. It was more or less just a collection of him existing and being somebody that he couldn't tell people about. His dad said something about how his mom was still around and he loved her, but Digbie never saw her. He suspected that she was in the back room of his old house, where it smelled, was obnoxiously cold from an under-draft, and always buzzed like flies, but he wasn't ever allowed in there.

Early on in his life, Digbie liked to play around in the backyard with his trusty shovel, digging around everywhere and getting into gardening (though he was never any good at the latter.) When he wasn't at school, he was probably digging a hole in his backyard. It helped him cope with the skulls of people in his room when his dad was apparently 'done' with them. Digbie couldn't understand, and he didn't understand why he came home sometimes to find his holes covered up. At first it scared him, but he grew out of it.

He was around 14 or so, making somewhat respectable grades at his school and a pretty smart fellow at face value, when his dad got mad at him. He made a low grade in his history class. His dad yelled at him and cast him to the bathroom while he thought about how to punish his bastard of a son. Digbie was scared, but Digbie was also smart and didn't break the bathroom to worsen the punishment. His dad settled on turning his hobby into a punishment, and after feeding him a good meal, sent Digbie to the backyard to dig a hole and find a bone in the backyard, but he had to find a bone in a spot of the yard where he had never dug before.

Digbie began to dig a hole on Sunday.

The authorities found his body in the hole two Saturdays later.

He actually got pretty far.

Abilities:
- Use Light Equipment

- Tremor Sense I
"Your past life as one in tune with your Dwarven side makes you very good at diggy diggy. One part of that, though, is knowing how to avoid cave-ins. You can feel vibrations through the earth within a 30 foot radius or so around you, whether they be footsteps, tunneling creatures, etc."

Transformations:
Nothing yet!

Inventory:
The Windy Shovel - A shovel made out of pure air.

You are suffering from an intense migraine.

Mother Slime rolled slightly back and forth, as if she were nodding now that she seemed to understand what Asura had in mind. Though it was much harder for her to try and look inconspicuous, she followed Asura in trying to stay out of sight. Though with the hubbub coming from several of the others, that might soon become difficult...

Ardur watched the chaos from up above, now with a somewhat better view of the goblins. They seemed to be progressing forward quickly, but Rattleskull also seemed to be hanging back, perhaps to conserve his strength or order his minions around...

As Jason made his preparations, he could just barely make out shouting up ahead. And then there were some lights, like magic--unless he missed his guess, a flock of what were probably wild pixies seemed to have swooped down on one group of goblins. But a few flashes later--three of which didn't look like the pixie's magic--there was more goblin screaming, and it sounded triumphant.

If he had any sort of sensing ability that would let him actually see his targets, rather than just Tremor Sense, this might have worked better. Tremor Sense was even becoming somewhat overwhelming and confusing, thanks to all the stomping around these greenskins were doing. But at the least it gave him an idea of his distance, and he could see just well enough to make out their shadowy forms. With his focus and careful aim, he lined up a shot...

---

As Mourningstar began to blink, the two Wisps stopped and looked to each other in confusion. Then one floated towards the direction Mourningstar had indicated, and soon let off a bright flash like a red exclamation point, complete with sound effect, of alarm. The other wild Wisp soon joined it, and now it seemed they had become distracted from dealing with Mourningstar as an intruder. Other wisps began to approach, however, but their lights seemed more calm and, if anything, curious.

Then, a larger light appeared. It was extremely bright, so much so that looking directly into its mass made you see spots for a few seconds after closing your eyes. The color was a bright, neon pink, and darkened around the edges more towards a sort of lavender. This larger Wisp headed towards all the hubbub to see what was going on...

---

As Orchid led her group towards the east, taking them in a different direction than they had originally intended, they came across the Hammer Team just finishing off a small group of pixies. The lead goblin here, the one whom Rattleskull had given the Stone Hammer, turned towards Orchid's approaching party with a snarl.

"You s'posed to go DAT way!" he pointed. "Don't leave no gaps for mobs t'get troo!"

More focused on the task at hand than berating the female, he turned back to his group and yelled at them to keep going. As the three of them moved forward, however, Orchid's group could see a group of fluttering things coming down from the ceiling--it looked like the Hammer Squad had come upon a whole nest of Pixies. There wasn't much time to help them, however, as Orchid's own team was soon discovered by a Dire Rat that poked its head out of its den, only to hiss fearlessly at them and leap to attack one of the torch bearers!

While Orchid was dealing with that, the Hammer Team dove into the fray with gusto. Further to the east the shouts of the Brawny Team could be heard, but it seemed they were cries of victory rather than pain or fear. The Hammer Team seemed to have either learned skills of their own, or perhaps even leveled up over the course of this battle--as Orchid and her group were dealing with the Dire Rat (and probably making short work of it granted their equipment and numerical advantage) they heard all three of the hammers shout "SMASH!" at different points.

But while all of this was happening, Crispy and Rattleskull were moving too. Rattleskull seemed to be bringing up the rear behind the Hammer Team, since they had cleared the most area at this point. Crispy's team stopped just to the west of Orchid's group.

"What you doin', youngling?! You said you was gonna scout dis way! We gots to capture territory all da way to da walls, or somethin' might slip through and get behind us!" Like the Hammer goblin, he gestured back towards the other side from where Orchid had directed her team.

"Oi!" Rattleskull's voice boomed to the left of Orchid's team. "Youngling, send one o' yer shieldboys to dat team! Dey just lost one!"

Sure enough, against what seemed to be six pixies--three of whom were already dead despite all of them seeming to focus on keeping themselves shielded--one of the Hammer Goblin's minions had fallen. THe other two, however, once again cried out the activation of their skills and took to bludgeoning the rest of the fairies. In moments the battle would probably be over in the goblin's favor--

Although just then, the second minion got beaned over the head by...a rock? It had been moving almost like a bullet! It didn't kill the goblin, but it certainly did some damage and knocked him to the ground, blood trickling over one eye.

"Keep movin' forward! Stay low, dere's someone throwin' stuff at us!" shouted the Hammer Goblin as he crouched and helped his companion up.

---

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst @Kangutso

Skill Gain: Meditate I
By concentrating and calming oneself, increase the regeneration of Magic Power and Stamina. This skill cannot be used in battle. Any distractions in the environment will drastically decrease the effectiveness of this skill. This skill cannot be used in conjunction with other skills.

While Danny was happy that the skill indeed recovered MP, the fact that it was useless in battle was disappointing. Still he decided he could at least tell the others about it. "I just learned meditate, while it can't be used in battle or while using other skills, if you concentrate and calm yourself it increases the speed at which you regain MP and Stamina. So I think it's worth learning."

He thought things over and decided that it couldn't hurt to offer to teach what limited magic skills he had, after all having unusual skills was one of the biggest advantages the former humans had over regular monsters."If you want I can also try and teach both Mana Orb and Lesser Force, just don't expect a lot of examples."

Asura watched Mother Slime roll a little back and forth. Guess it was her way of nodding in understanding? It would be interesting to hear what she had to say when she could finally speak. The others were scrambling around now, getting into position or trying to get camouflaged. Camo was impossible for him unless there was some red around and there wasn't. He could still train himself quietly, trying to see what Slime Shell did but he only had guesses on how to get to it still. So he continued to try and compress himself into a rubber-like texture instead of very liquidy jello. He gave himself a few experimental bounces just to see if he had achieved his goal, but he doubted it. He had been at 0.4, but then again he didn't know how fast skills really progressed via training.

While he trained quietly he listened to the goblins shouts of more triumph than pain. They have an equipment advantage. A shame that gives them such an increase than just training. He thought with annoyance. He eyed the bone needles one of the dire rats had dropped off, he had been training or spacing when she had. He sucked them into his body, he could use them to cause extra damage with each strike. But he doubted they could survive more then one or two blows, what with them being bone.

While he trained he changed his shape a little. Refining his 'base form' to be more humanoid. His arms were more refined, cylindrical instead of being like penguin flippers. His head more of a sphere than just a mount with a face. The same went for his 'torso', less blob-like and more cylindrical. If he could combine his Slime Whip with Slime Shell he could probably have a bigger impact on the fight. But he didn't even have the Slime Shell yet. In the upcoming fight he'd have to work with what he had. His speed, defensive abilities, and knowledge of the humanoid fighting capabilities from his past life.

@SilverPaw
"It's rather cramped and dark in here, but I do believe that the camouflage is doing it's job well." He gives a sidelong glance to Asteria and her mother and could barely discern them from the surrounding soil in the darkness provided by the foxhole. Even from his position inside of the foxhole, his sharp hearing could still catch the sounds of the outside. He could hear the sounds of what he assumed to be screaming from goblins. He didn't care if the screams were of defeat or triumph, it unnerved him that they were getting so close that his heightened hearing could already pick up such sounds from them. He could feel the uneasiness turn into a palpable sense of fear and panic setting in. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and felt like someone punched him in the gut. He knew that in this state, he could barely stand straight; what more pull off an ambush and fight. Ed nodded silently in the darkness of the hole, wracking his brain for a means to calm himself. 'Rest? No no no, can't be caught unaware when we spring the ambush. Breathing exercises? Yeah...that ought to work. I should do that...help calm the nerves and all that.' He thinks to himself as he begins to meditate as best as he could.

Ed relaxes his body and gets comfortable as he could in the cramped hole before controlling his breathing. Taking deep breaths through his nose and releasing his breath through his mouth; emptying his mind and only focusing on the sounds of his breaths and his breathing. Ed did practice breathing exercises, but never really got it into seriously practicing it in his old life. Though now would be a good opportunity as any other to start. Ed had to admit, the act of itself was quite relaxing effect on him considering that they were on the verge of fighting an all out war against green psychopathic midgets hellbent on wiping anything not goblin led by a big hairy asshole, a burned one, and a fellow reincarnate. Though right now, the only thing he was bothered with was the pace of his breathing and calming himself down.

---

"I think I have an idea. I have a decent 'feeling' for magic. I just can't seem to actually learn to properly use it yet." Ash replied slowly as she glanced over to the now dwindled fire. "I'm sorry, Scott." Ash shook her head as the pixie motioned to the dwindling fire. "I didn't make that fire myself. I made friends with a goblin the other night and she made it." If her lizard mouth had been capable of it, she'd be frowning. If anything, she hoped that particular goblin was alright. "I am not so certain its a good idea, either. The fire and smoke could give away our position if the goblins make it this far. If we had something easily burnable like wood, perhaps we could get it restarted." Pausing for a moment, Ash glanced back in the direction they had came. Perhaps this might be a good opportunity for another lesson? Magic seemed to be a versatile thing, though she wasn't sure of all of its applications yet.

"Hmm...I suppose you could try using magic if you want to practice. Try pouring more energy into your magic and focusing it on the ash pile." A simple suggestion. Back on earth, more energy generated heat after all. She wasn't quite sure of the physics or science of magic yet, but this world seemed to follow similar methods so far. "Lesser force may in fact be helpful for more menial tasks since I currently lack hands, so if you're offering."