Syl

Chapter 31: Goblin Chief

Since Garz was carrying the unconscious Zizz on his back, we were traveling at a casual pace. I had offered to carry Zizz, but despite our defused hostile situation, Garz had his doubts, which was pretty dumb from my point of view as he was an even more vulnerable and easy target with them slow and together.

I started scrolling through the goblin profile to see how it compared to other monsters and the favored elves. The profile was a thought-provoking blend of what I had known from monsters and the elf profile. All goblins were born with [Dark Vision], [Robust Stomach], and then up to two random traits from a pool - this pool was where I had spied my old friend [Enhanced Strength]. Unlike elves, goblins didn't seem to have any unique traits tailored for them, and [Robust Stomach] was just a generic trait with no levels that let you eat almost anything, rotten or raw, without consequences.

"Garz," I spoke up, causing him to flinch, "How do you spend your traits."

"Traits are weak. Worthless. We get one or two to help our class, then try to ignore."

His response honestly shocked me. Traits were practically my entire repertoire, even with the few skills I had picked up.

"I know the enhanced attributes aren't that exciting, but what about something like [Mana Circulation]?"

"Useless. Not shaman class, so mana not important."

"How did you get your class?"

"Born." Garz was now giving me a questioning look.

"Yes..?" Garz now looked beyond disbelief.

"Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question, but I wasn't born with a class, and I still don't have one."

Garz's eyes went wide with shock, "How? So strong with no class. No skill points. Wasting experience on race and not class."

"I evolved." I blurted out, probably giving too much information, but I felt the need to defend my classless self, "Don't goblins evolve?"

Garz nodded, "Yes, but class more important. Focus on class. Get evolution eventually. Hobgoblin not much stronger than goblin," he paused to think a bit, "Maybe Chief can help you get class."

I nodded and gave my thanks for his explanation. Assuming their evolution worked similarly, I wondered if the goblins didn't know about the possibility of unlocking other evolution options. I decided to keep this to myself and focus on spending my trait point. Nothing caught my eye, so I purchased [Enhanced Willpower] and hoped it would stop the nightmares of having my body puppeted.

Bolsters mental fortitude to resist mental afflictions and willingly suppress emotions, scaling with trait level.>

Not having much to do, I ended up using my freshly acquired hands to play around with the various tools and weapons I had obtained. Garz seemed curious but held his tongue. Eventually, we reached another larger cave entrance that had a crudely crafted wooden palisade. Garz stopped and turned to face me.

"I go in and call Chief to talk. Tell him you have bears to give us," He started to explain, "I tell them you won't attack unless attacked. Also, drop off Zizz."

I nodded and watched him run off and enter through the palisade gate. Trying to pass the time, I practiced utilizing my mana as I had a copious amount due to [Elven Legacy]. It was probably stupid, but I was literally punching rocks and doing a pretty good job, thanks to combining [Enhanced Strength], [Mana Reinforcement], and [Slime Density].

I finally stopped my rock punches when I saw two goblins and Garz approaching. One of the goblins looked like a bodyguard, holding a spear and donned in a rough patchwork of metal bits and leather. The other goblin was wrinkled, slightly larger than both Garz and the bodyguard, and wearing a large fur cloak. The older goblin stepped forward, and the word 'worthy' tickled in the back of my mind.

"Garz speaks the truth. You do look exactly like Tarz." He spoke while scratching his chin, "I am Chieftain Krutz. I understand you wish for peace between us and even deliver us two bears."

"Nice to meet you, Krutz. I was given the name Syl, and yes, I'd prefer peace and perhaps some information."

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I manipulated my two tendrils to lower the cubs and present them, which caused the bodyguard to tense immediately, and he might have stabbed at them if Garz hadn't grabbed his arm.

"Don't," Garz told the bodyguard with an undertone of fear.

"Sorry..." I responded sheepishly, "Anyway, here are the cubs."

The Chief examined the cubs and then moved on to looking at my pseudopod. I heard him mutter "Slime?" to himself as if in question. He then gestured to the gate, and two other unarmed goblins approached and held out their hands to accept the cubs. They nervously took them, and I retracted my pseudopods.

"Thank you, Syl," Krutz said with a polite bow and then gestured to the entrance, "Shall we go inside and have a discussion?".

I nodded and then was escorted to the palisade gate. The lookouts closed the gate again once we were all safely inside. It was a short tunnel, and then the cave abruptly opened to a makeshift town of mud huts and wooden shacks. There were so many goblins, and as I followed the Chief, I kept seeing them point at us and heard curious murmurs of "Tarz" over and over.

Apparently, fooling an entire village had given me a massive chunk of experience. We entered the largest hut together and sat on the floor around a makeshift table. The unnamed bodyguard stood directly behind the Chief while Garz went deeper into the hut.

"So, Syl, what do you wish to know?" Krutz asked.

"I wanted to know if there was a way to get a class and any information on how you discover traits and skills."

"So you do truly not have a class. I was curious because your profile says you are Apex Hunter Tarz, a level 16 goblin."

"You can see my profile?"

"Yes. I have the [Identification] skill. A rarity amongst goblins."

I frowned in thought. It was good to know that there was an identification skill and my false profile was working, but I wasn't too happy about being called Tarz.

"Oh. It changed. It says you have no name. Fascinating." Krutz suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

'My name is Syl. My name is Syl. My name is Syl. My name is Syl.' I chanted mentally.

"And again. Apex Hunter Syl, a level 16 goblin," Krutz sounded genuinely curious, "I know there's a way to block identification, but I've never seen a profile like this before."

Garz returned with three bowls, placing one in front of each of us, and sat down with his own. It appeared to have a warm liquid inside, and the Chief gave thanks before taking a deep sip. I tried to copy him and embarrassed myself by struggling to swallow and spilling some from the overflow.

'Who needs a mouth and throat anyway... Absorbing things is so much more efficient.' I thought grumpily.

"Us goblins are born with our class. But there is a way for Chiefs to guide our people and help them advance their classes." Chief Krutz spoke up, scratching his chin again, "Perhaps this could give you one?"

"I'm willing to try almost anything. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot by not earning skill points." I responded positively.

"Yes, skill points are preferred to trait points. One of my main duties as Chief is changing the experience distribution of my people to focus on their classes." He paused to take another sip. I waited with bated breath, eager to hear the rest, "And my other duty is to guide them with skill and trait choices, which might satisfy your other question."

He held an open hand, and magical words materialized above his open palm: [Enhanced Strength].

Increases physical strength per trait level.>

"By showing someone else a trait or skill makes them eligible to purchase it." He continued, "As the oldest goblin in our tribe, I must collect the knowledge and ensure it gets passed down to the next generation."

"Can anyone do this? Can I do this?" I asked curiously.

"Yes and yes," He responded with a nod and smile, "Simply open your status menu, focus on the trait or skill, and think of displaying it."

I opened my status menu and looked for something inconspicuous to show. I copied his hand gesture, although it probably wasn't required, and stared at [Dark Vision]. Display. The magical script formed above my palm, projecting the trait [Dark Vision].

"This is how we spread knowledge amongst our tribe. Sometimes, by chance, a new one is obtained, then we share it so that others may either purchase it directly or try unlocking it themselves."

I was curious and opened the goblin profile and looked at [Robust Stomach]. I didn't own this trait and was curious if profiles worked the same way. I focused on it and thought of displaying it and the magical text formed in the middle of the table.

"Ah yes, you don't need to use your hand. It just helps you choose the display location." Krutz added, seeming unaware I was displaying from a profile.

We continued to chat, and I was informed that his Chieftain class gave him minor system control. This allowed him to change the experience distribution of a willing person. Normally, this would be an even split between race and class, but they usually adjusted it to 90% class, which was the maximum, and explained why the goblins I defeated had such strange levels.

He also explained that similar to evolutions, classes could be advanced, and he could advance classes when they reached the maximum level. He proposed that this process could possibly give me a class finally. But, there was a catch; he required a higher Chieftain level to get more advanced functions.

This led to me learning more about how to earn experience. Ordinarily, only the person who claimed the kill received experience, which explained why Sylthaeryn had me kill her. However, there was a system anyone could use called parties that allowed the experience to be shared equally amongst all participants.

My immediate concern was dividing up the experience too much would severely hamper personal growth. Krutz explained that bonus experience is granted based on party size, and then that pool of experience was distributed. He wasn't sure about the exact bonus, but an example was two goblins getting roughly 60% of the experience rather than the expected 50%.

Krutz suggested cooperating with the goblins to defeat invading humans and also to consider forming a large party to take down the bear matriarch. Both options appealed to me, and we came to an agreement. I was even offered a home to stay in, which I suspected had belonged to Tarz.

Our meeting finally ended with Garz offering to give me a tour.

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