Friend or Foe

I awoke to the sounds of something moving nearby. I slowly opened my eyes, head pounding and heart racing. Did i die again? No, surely not… i opened the menus for the system and was relieved to see it still there. Looking around i eventually lay my eyes upon someone, but with blurry vision all i could tell was it was a female.

She noticed i had woken up and cam near me with a wooden bowl and put it too my lips. I cautiously drank worried of trickery but the system's prompt removed all doubt she was trying to help me.

"New healing medicine detected. Made of heeth bloom, tetri moss, and benfiss essence, can reduce the negative effects after casting an unstable spell or spell too powerful for the caster. It induces sleep like conditions for a time but heals the user"

Well… i guess i should trust this person, given they were helping me after all… if they wanted me dead i would be already. I drank up before passing out again.

A few hours later i woke up, my head still slightly sore but it was bearable. I looked around for the girl only to find her snuggled up under some animals hide. I also noticed she put furs in a large makeshift bed for the both of us as well as giving me one to keep me warm.

I slowly crawled over to her to shake her shoulder but thought better of it and just sat there for a while till she woke up. I looked into the system and looked at the spells and skills tabs noticing a new feature.

Talent Points: 35

Skills:

Stab level 1

Slash level 1

Dash level 1

Spells:

Ice Bolt level 1 (mastered)

'System… what are talent points and when did i get so many?'

"You've been earning talent points every level, the first 5 levels each granted you 1, then levels 6-10 granted 2 each. Levels 11-14 have granted you 5 each. Some quests may also grant more in the future as well. It was not imperative to know you had them as you had no skills nor spells to spend them on, now you can use them to level your skills and spells up though. "

'And how many do i need to level up a skill?'

"You need an amount equal to the level of the skill after upgrading, ie to go to level 2, you need 2, and for level 8 you need 8."

'Ahh… well i guess i should spend some then…'

I glanced over the skills first, given my situation after casting a spell, I probably shouldnt try to make it stronger… not yet anyway…

After a moment of debate i spent my points.

Talent Points: 35>3

Skills:

Stab level 1>4

Slash level 1>4

Dash level 1>5

Spells:

Ice Bolt level 1 (mastered)

Now i could level up the spell later at least once, and had a bit better chance at close range combat. As i closed out the menus i stared at the rock roof for a bit… eventually i heard her stir as she woke up.

"Hey… thanks for helping me…" i said as i glanced over at her.

As she sat up the look on her face of confusion clarified that she didn't understand. And then there was the fact she was a goblin clarified why…

"Duuk Sprekth Goosh?"

She clearly asked a question and i had no clue what she said.

"Uhm…. You… your a goblin…"

This time she gave a slight nod, but only at the last word.

Pointing at herself before she spoke again "goosh… gah-blen…" as the last bit came out she pointed at me and made a talking morion with her hand.

"Ohhhhh…. Goosh is goblin… i think…"

She nodded. Before pointing at me again then making a talking motion with her hands and saying the word goosh yet again.

"No… i don't speak goblin…"

She shook her head before digging into a bag. She pulled out what looked like a vial with a small bone piece inside. She took it out and handed it to me, before pointing at her ears.

Guessing that she wanted me to put it in my ear i did so and as she spoke the ear with the bone in it heard her speak english, the other ear heard goblin.

"I am Kleek Nik Torkz. Who are you?"

"Uhm… i am Jack… Jack Tradesman…"

"Jack Jack Tradesman… weird human name…"

"No, just Jack Tradesman, i repeated my first name twice, sorry…"

"Oh… no third name? Humans always have 3"

"Do you speak to a lot of humans?"

"No… i just listen… its how i know to hear human tongue."

"Oh… why are you not scared of me…"

"Why be scared?"

"Because i uh…. Killed… a lot of goblins…"

"Goblins fight goblins all the time. It is way of life. Some fear humans and demis. I do not. Many humans and demis feed me when see i not mean like other goblins. They gives me that bone charm. That way other can hear me speak."

"Oh… well thank you for helping me out then… how can i repay you…?"

"Take me with you. Me like you. Me want stay with strong man who keep me safe."

"Oh… uhm… ok then… sure. You know my plan is to goto a city though right?"

"No. But is good. Humans no like monster but when hunter bring monster companion is ok."

"Can you guide me to a nearby city…?"

"Yes. Clean up first then go."

She stood up stretching before gathering up the blankets. I averted my gaze while she did as she had gotten comfortable under the blankets…

once she was dressed I started to get up only to realize my bone armour was no longer on… i looked around and saw it about 5 feet away and went to stand using the blankets to cover myself while i went over to it only to be stopped by her.

"Furs. Me put away."

"But… im… not clothed…"

"And? Is weird for humans be not clothed?"

"Well kind of yeah… at least around those we just met…"

"Is good. Me not look. Gives fur me turn away."

As she closed her eyes I reluctantly gave up the blanket before trying to don the armour as fast as i could. When i finished she too had finished packing all the furs and supplies into her pack. How it all fit in the small space made no sense but then again, i had no pack and could store what seemed like infinite amount's of resources…

As we started walking past the goblins and slimes remains i looted all the gear the had. Scrapping the armour down into metal as well as the weapons. The slime cores were nice and i even picked up 57 uncommon slime cores, the remaining 300 were common though.

Given the state of the goblins it wasn't obvious i took their armour or weapons as everything was just tiny ice shards on the ground. Each item was also only at 1 or 2 durability too, so while i didn't get a lot from each piece, i did have the numbers to rack in a fair bit overall. Averaging 20 scrap iron per goblin from all the uncommon iron gear net me a satisfactory 3,360 total scrap iron. I would have repaired the armour but the system told me i needed a workshop to repair it so I decided to scrap it. Besides it was all common anyway. I was going to make a full set of rare armour once i got to a village and had a forge, i was pretty sure i had what i needed to do that. Especially after asking the system about crafting things without a blueprint.