Survive in the parallel world, please!

222 Find the goblin, please! part At dawn break we were still chatting. Lea held a lot of valuable information for us even though she didn’t know.

At first she was reluctant to talk, but once she started there was no stopping her.

She told us many things about different beasts and about the sacred empire. It did seem like a nice place to visit during peaceful times, but right now they were waging war against the feral beast kin that lived in the wastelands to the east. The people from the sacred empire were under constant attack and even the routes weren’t safe to travel.

Of course they wouldn’t stand idle and let it happen, they actively hunted for any non human race and enslaved them. Instead of taming creatures with patience, love and a lot of food, they simply crafted slave collars that would either torture or kill the bearers if they refused to follow commands.

They even had several facilities to train slaves for different purposes and, what horrified me the most, they had breeding grounds.

So yeah, that’s not a place I’d like to visit after all.

Since the platform and the elevator were ready and the only thing left to finish building was the house, we climbed over there and started making the most out of daylight.

Bob remained on ground level gathering different types of resources and helping goblins in tasks that required heavy lifting, Luke helped me in the crafting process while Mia brushed the amarok’s fur. He was a messy eater and we couldn’t keep riding him all covered in blood and entrails.

The goblins helped us lift all the materials they had gathered so far and, despite having taught them how to butcher creatures and get the most out of them, they weren’t nearly as skilled as a proper butcher. Still, we got a few nice thigh bones, fangs and claws. Leather was mostly useless because it needed to be tanned first, but I did cut some strings to use as rope.

.....

Thanks to Luke’s help we finished a few weapons in about an hour, none of them were too great and would hardly qualify as spares, but as time passed we got better in working together.

Unfortunately, because of the lack of materials, we were capable of crafting just three spears, a bone short sword and Risa’s new weapon.

Lorenzo once taught me about an ancient weapon used by assassins called qatar, I’ve never seen it but the concept was easy enough to replicate. It’s just a concealed weapon strapped onto someone’s forearm, sharp enough to slice someone’s throat and dripping with poison.

Of course we skipped the poison, especially because we didn’t know if Risa would actually be able to wield it properly and we wanted to avoid her poisoning herself by mistake. However, she was really happy with the result and thanked us profusely, especially me. She, again, hinted that I could do whatever I wanted with her, only this time she added that she promised not to slap me in the face even if I grabbed her but.

It was both funny and sad in equal measure, but I laughed it off anyway since we really needed a boost in our morale.

Lea and Mia would be helpless in combat which is why we decided to leave them behind and provide support in the camp.

Just like that, we were almost ready, all we needed now was to craft a weapon for me. I was more than happy to lend Bob my staff since he would probably be a lot better with blunt weapons than I am.

I took a couple of branches from the mana tree, they were what came off from the branch when I made the staff. They were flexible and pointy, but mostly straight. After observing them for a couple minutes an Idea crossed my mind, what if I was able to pour mana into them just like I did with the staff, but then instead of thinking on casting flames through my hands I focused on doing so through the wand?

As always, I fist expelled some mana from my body and the small branch soaked it all up, but since it was a lot smaller than the staff it was filled within the minute.

Then I pointed it towards a tree and attempted to release mana from the wand, but it was impossible. It didn’t feel like a part of my body so I couldn’t actually control the mana within it. Thinking I had wasted so much mana in a pointless endeavor got me down, but it was a possibility worth exploring.

Just as i was about to surrender, I thought it would be funny to wave it in the air and imitate what Bob used to do all the time.

“Fire bolt!”

Although I said fire bolt, I actually thought of the regular flames I always conjure. I fell on my butt as flames came out of the stick with incredible power. I couldn’t even tell how far the fire spread, because as soon as I was startled by its power, I lost focus and the flames stopped.

“Hey Bob! come up here!”

I shout from the platform. He’s carrying some logs that were needed to build the house on the tree top so he jumped into the elevator. Since the load was so heavy and Bob himself weighted a good deal, the goblins operating the lift had trouble lifting him up.

If it wasn’t for the pulleys it would have been an impossible task. I looked at the poor creatures spinning the gear with all their might with pity, it took them a good ten minutes to get him up top and in the end they were left completely spent.

“I have something for you, Bob, but I don’t want to get your hopes up only to be disappointed afterwards, so please give it a try first.”

I handed Bob the stick and he looked at it confounded for a few seconds.

“What’s this? is this a wand? did you make a wand!? is it a magical wand!? is it!?”

Bob was brimming with joy and he hopped like a kid with a new toy. His hands were so large the stick looked weird in his hand, but he pinched it carefully with his index and thumb and then flicked it.

“Fire bolt!”

A small projectile, made entirely out of fire, was shot from the wand. It was so fast I was almost unable to follow it with my eyes and it pierced through the leafy treetops with ease until it seemingly dissolved.

Is that what real magic is supposed to look like?

I couldn’t believe my own eyes.