16 Day 76 - 80

- Day 76

A scream echoed out from one of the mines. When we went to check, it turns out that Asue and her miners discovered an underground hot spring which, after lots of hard work from Rou, Asue, Kichi and, after some convincing from Emery, Me, we finally completed the bathhouse. Complete with a male, female, mix and top brass bath.

I joined Rou, Kichi, Asue, Mi and the human girls in the top brass bath. It was quite nice and the water seems to contain some potent healing abilities. Since I can't exactly take in the essence of a bath, I just spent my time in there relaxing, watching as Kichi and Asue lost themselves in the baths' perfect temperature and I, myself doing the same with Emery as she cuddled up next to me and the other human girls washed each other at the side.

- Day 77

It was decided that it wouldn't be necessary for me to participate today which was unfortunate but it did give me some more time in the bathhouse to myself. A swear this might become one of my favourite places if this goes on.

After a quick nap in the bath that I'm still not too sure when it started, I decided to add to my golems by restocking the rock golems that were killed a few days ago. After this, a red dear with four eyes and antlers that look to be made of a red quartz wandered too close to the caves so I killed it and ate it's Soul, gaining the {Wild Horn Dance} and {Red Crystal's Tone} skills.

A few moment after I dismantled its corpse and placed the antlers in Alchemist lady's workshop, a goblin that was left behind came to inform me that a female elf was asking for me. When I got to the entrance, I saw the short haired elf woman yet again. When I greeted her, she bowed politely before asking if we could talk privately. I complied and we went to my room, where I had set up a table and chairs crafted from wood using {Item Creation} in advance for situations such as these.

She sat down and I made some herbal tea for the both of us. She stated that the taste has gotten better so I told her that the materials had improved. She seemed like she was going to inquire about such materials so I quickly changed the subject towards the purpose of her visit. The fact that she came alone was rather suspect to begin with but asking to speak privately just added to my curiosity.

She cleared her throat and delicately places down her drink before reaching into her clothing and pulling out a small vial with a small amount of red liquid inside. When I asked what it was, she simply stated that it was a reward from the Elf Chief to me specifically. Apparently my intervention in multiple clashes between them and the humans outside my pay grade got me noticed. Another interesting topic is that when I had saved her the last time, they were on an important task that, thanks to my intervention, was able to go on without anymore problems. I suppose that's why they didn't need me to guard them.

When I asked her what the task was, she changed the subject back to the vial of mysterious liquid. Oh well, we all have our secrets. She told me that the liquid inside the vial is something that should not be taken lightly, saying that I should only use it in severe situations. After I bid her farewell, my curiosity got the better of me and I took the essence from the strange liquid. I gained {High Speed Regeneration} and {Blood Elixir}.

Hold up, did it just say {Blood Elixir}? Because I'm pretty sure it did. To check it's effects I took out my sword {Gomon-Sha} and slit my wrist. The effects of the sword were felt in full as my wound gained vein-like markings around it and wouldn't stop bleeding. The moment I activated {High Speed Regeneration} however, the wound disappeared in an instant. If {Blood Elixir is half as effective as this, I get the feeling I should keep it a secret.

After that I got the idea to peruse the prison full of slaves and found a suitable subject. A young woman with long brown hair and missing her left leg. I picked her up and carried her back to my room as the noblemen locked up cursed at me and the young woman seemed afraid. That's to be expected though since I didn't give an explanation before taking her. It probably also didn't help when I placed her on a table created with {Earth Control} and told her not to move.

I could see her about to cry as I walked towards the lower half of her body, unwrapping the bandages around her stump. This seemed to surprise, confuse and concern the young girl as she watched me with careful, scared eyes. When I cut my finger with a knife and dropped it on the wound, the leg regrew almost instantaneously, causing the young girl to yelp in surprise. I was shocked by its effectiveness as well but then realised that it didn't do anything about the various other wounds on her body. I decided to up the ante and have her drink the drop of blood this time. She seemed less averse to the idea and willingly swallowed it. The results went as expected and even scarring from years ago healed, leaving her body pristine.

She seemed to want to ask me something and when I said it was alright, she asked if I was under the effects of a divine protection from a god related to healing. I decided to go along with it for now which, knowing that gods are real, could very much bite me in the ass later. The young woman had stars in her eyes when she heard this and got to her feet immediately, stumbling a little on account of not being used to her new leg and requested that I use her as I see fit. I didn't really know how to reply to that and just told her to return to the prison for now.

After bringing her back to the prison and receiving various gazes from the other men, I decided to find a spare collar, eat its essence which tasted horrid, gain the {Enslave} skill, enchant a new collar with it connected to myself, place it on her after using {Purify} on her previous one and placing the new collar on her before sending her to talk with Sigul about possible uses in the future. The men in the prison looked at me menacingly after this but one release of {Reapers Spiritual Pressure} got them to shut up and accept the situation. I may be a monster but I'm not going to just send a woman into a pen full of starved men.

When Rou and the others returned, I could see him looking at his finger every so often which led me to believe something had happened. I didn't ask though and when he saw the young woman from earlier, I told her I had healed her and taken her as a personal slave. Since she wasn't a commander or anyone important, he dismissed it.

That night, the young woman and Sigul snuck into my room and we spent the night together. I also learned that night through Sigul that her name is Lisbeth.

Synthesis: {Quick Strike} + {Quick Bite} + {Quick Slash} = {Invisible Strike}

- Day 78

Today I learned that quite a few of the goblins can't swim, ergo, in a hot spring made to fit monsters the size of ogres, a few of them managed to drown. Because of this, we're holding swimming lessons for everyone. I ended up being one of the instructors which was a bit of a pain, though they seemed to pick it up pretty easily once they were told and shown how to do it. I suppose it wasn't all bad though as I got to see the girls having fun.

Later on, I spent some time with Lisbeth, inquiring about her jobs and level. According to her, she has {Job: Beast Knight} which one can gain from training with Beast type Demi-humans and just generally spending time with them. Her level she claims, is 41. It's good to know that my new subordinate should be able to handle herself. Knowing this, we went out hunting for the day, with Sigul coming too, to help Lisbeth gain some mastery with her sword. By the end of the day, I'd also learned that the reason she was only an ordinary soldier in terms of rank is apparently because she is of low birth and after refusing to become the consort to the noble leading the knights she was a part of, he made it his mission to make sure she never rose above her current station.

I asked what the nobleman looked like and her description sounded like the spitting image of the pompous noble that my golems easily killed a few days ago. Maybe it was his son? He didn't seem like the leader of a whole company of knights. When I asked if he had a son, she confirmed that he did and that he was around the same age as her, though he never returned after the pincer attack a few days ago. Yep, that was him.

- Day 79

The rest of the goblins reached level 100 today but found that it was impossible for them to rank up. This was disappointing for sure but Rou roused their spirits by telling them that even if they can't rank up, they can still become stronger. This got them fired up and they continued training.

I on the other hand, spent the day learning to fly with {Elytra Generation} with some help from Sigul who was used to the idea of flight thanks to the wings she gained from her rank up to {Sentinel}. By noon I had it down and we spent the rest of the day having a date in the sky. We actually managed to do a little more while up there but I'll admit, it was a little difficult.

When we returned, Fu dragged me away and asked me if I'd like to spend the night with her, as in a normal sort of date, not the kind of thing we do quite often. I asked if she wanted to help me with my {Lesser Summoning: Undead} and she agreed with a smile that was both sweet and creepy. Yup, she hasn't changed. I'm glad.

We ended up staying awake well into the night as I summoned zombies in an attempt to find a variant. In the end, I summoned 40 zombies, 8 {Zombie Knights} and 2 {Draugr}. The knights were essentially just zombies with armour and a sword which wasn't very exciting. The Draugr on the other hand, were much better put together, though they still exuded the stench of decay that Fu loves so much. It's strength is much higher than the average human, perhaps reaching the level of rusty and the ability to increase their mass at will is exciting. Their flesh is swollen and blackened however so I had thought that even Fu would hesitate in eating one. She however, did not.

I chose to partake in their souls myself and I gained the {Undead Strength}, {Greater Curse} and {Control Mass} skills. I tested out {Control Mass} immediately and ended up falling into the ground up to my knees. Fu got a good laugh out of it though so it was fun. This could be good for self-aerial bombing, say...after using {Elytra Generation} to fly above a group of enemies? Just the thought of it had me excited. This, mixed with the energy Fu had after eating her fill of rare undead, caused quite the ruckus in my room that night.

- Day 80

It was declared that today would be a day off for everyone to relax and recollect themselves after their efforts in the war. I however, wasn't needed in the "war effort" and am hence, a small bit fidgety today. I want to fight. When I saw what Rou was doing, getting four of his subordinates to spar with him at the same time, I decided to do the same.

I managed to gather Lisbeth, Sigul and Dou for the fight which seemed like it might be enough. Their team work could use some practice but with Lisbeth's Beast-like attacks that aimed for my blind spots, Sigul's powerful frontal assault and Dou's intricate yet smooth movements, they managed to give me a surprising workout. I still won but they managed to make me work for it and I think they also gained some valuable experience from it as they seemed refreshed afterwards rather than disappointed.

In the afternoon, Emery and I went over new ideas for weapons and armour. Following this, I visited Alchemist lady for the first time in a while after hearing about something called burst seeds. Apparently they explode given enough force, releasing an explosion that's toxic if the smoke is breathed in. She showed them to me and when I tried its essence I didn't receive anything new.

I thought for a while and the image of the Pustule Plant from the lake cave popped into my head. I asked her if she had seen or heard of anything like it and she told me that it was likely a {Burst Plant} that release natural burst seeds that spread their actual seeds when they explode. The rarest of these plants would release something called {Destructive Burst Seeds} which are harder with a much higher explosive power. I made a mental note to try to collect one of these plants the next time I visit Cora.