What the Next Move is

[Your skill 'Hypnosis' has levelled up]

[Your skill 'Hypnosis' has levelled up]

After brainwashing all the goblins, Aldritch gained greatly from the experience. Also, repeated usage of his skills caused them to level up, at least that was what happened with this one.

Just like the goblinas, he gave the generic names through number codes and called it a day. Now that he had gained full control of the goblin tribe, it was time for the next phase of his plan to begin. Before that, he drank from all the almost 500 goblins and hobgoblins. Aldritch's face remained like shit throughout the process, that was because it really tasted like he was drinking shit water for the most part.

'Damn! What a man has to do to survive!'

Now, he was thinking forward.

'First, Lina is the strongest there is here, I should wait for her to wake up first so that she can escort me... Can never be too careful.' It was just how it was, Aldritch was a cautious type, though, not to the point where it is psychopathic.

He had spent some hours, maybe two or three, brainwashing and naming the goblins, so he figured it would be enough time for Lina to rest and be up, ready to serve.

"Master..." Lina knelt on one knee. This behaviour was a bit old fashioned and stiff, but Aldritch couldn't say he didn't like it too.

"Good, you're up. Get two hobgoblins, I want to explore the territory around." Aldritch commanded.

After two hobs were brought, the group left. Though he had gone round the inner parts of the cave, Aldritch was yet to see the outer region or even leave the cave to begin with. He definitely wasn't a chick, so leaving the nest where he was reborn was only natural, and he was eager to find out what it was that awaited him outside. He intentionally didn't ask for any explanation or description of what outside the cave looked like, since he wished to surprise himself. Surprised, he was.

It was a nice day with little cloud covering and a yellow blazing sun that shone from the heavens, bringing intense heat all around, he had been inside the cold cave for long, the sun made Aldritch feel that his skin was almost about to fry and even burn to ashes. Maybe not so nice a day after all, Aldritch wasn't really a fan of such heat. Of course there would be such intense heat, after all, the lands before him allowed for that and his race didn't help at all. It really seemed like he wasn't yet strong enough. He did feel a bit weak under the scorching sun, and like his skin was really burning, even though nothing happened to him physically, that was all. Even then, his instincts told him that he really would die if he remained under It long enough. Naturally, Lina was also the same, maybe a little worse off...

"What in the name of earth is this???" Aldritch really couldn't believe his eyes.

First off, the outer area of the cave was just filled with normal goblins, some partaking in the humans they had captured earlier, humans that Aldritch was once a part of.

"How come you live in such barren lands? If I remember correctly, it shouldn't be like this." The monster territory is within a forest area after all.

"About that, we used to live elsewhere around the forests, but we got chased out of there at that time because there was scarcity of food and our territory had more food..."

'That's reasonable, a game of the survival of the fittest, and they lost.'

This was not what Aldritch was expecting at all! He expected a nice forest filled with natural smells and all, close to human settlement so he could finally leave the rotten blood behind, not a place where even dried up trees could be scarcely spotted, and the only food was goblin and rat blood.

'This won't do.'

"In this place, who are our neighbours and enemies?" He had to at least know this much.

"Apart from the cave rats, nothing else lives around our immediate surroundings." Lina answered respectfully.

Hearing her words, Aldritch could only fight the urge to face palm hard enough to send him falling backwards. It still made sense to him though, they ran away to a place where there was no competition. There were a lot of other questions to ask, and a lot that needed to be explained, but Aldritch left that for later, this was not the time.

"For now, let's head back inside. By the way, is it only the cave rats that serve as food source for us?" He was curious.

"Yes, master."

Again, Aldritch resisted the urge to fall directly backwards and hit his head on a comfortably sitting stone.

'No wander their blood taste so foul!!'

He really didn't want that fate, but with the way things were, he had also spent much energy earlier with all the goblinas...

"I need a slight change of plans, we will leave tomorrow at dawn." Aldritch decreed.

"Yes, master."

"Yes, Lord." The two following responded, shocking Lina. After all, they shouldn't be showing such loyalty. She quickly understood as she had noticed the same change in attitude with the goblinas.

'My master is truly powerful, to sway the hearts of many like this...' so naïve.

After returning inside the cave, Aldritch brought Lina back to the small chamber to explain better everything that had happened up until he was captured and brought there. He needed to know all these things, after all, history was very important.

It was a long explanation, but eventually, Lina was done. The story went from a little bit before she became the queen of this tribe, which was after she grew to a good age and the others saw she was different and more powerful than the rest. She naturally didn't relate with the goblinas and contended with the hobs and goblins.

Instead of a long story, a quick recap is better.

First off, the other races in this world who occupied the monster territory were not from this world, instead they got here through a portal that was connected to their world. Due to certain circumstances, they couldn't return and made the surrounding forests their home and have been living there for some years.

Lina's tribe had numbers than all the other tribes, but they lacked a backer. The other goblin tribes didn't have a backer in the real sense of it, they were only subordinates and slaves to the ogres that also lived in the same forest. There were other factions, but the ones who drove them out was the ogre tribe.

After driving them out, they travelled for days until they found this cave. They meant to only live there for a short time before continuing their search for better lands, but the cave turned out to supply them with food, good enough to force them to remain there.

They had lived there for over 7 months before Aldritch was captured. The main reason why they risked their lives to travel such great distance to kidnap humans was because their population had begun to die and they needed fresh and young goblins. There tribe was of a different species, in fact all goblin tribes were, at least, within the monster faction Lina knew of. Their tribe in-particular, couldn't procreate and needed humans for it. Not only humans could serve the purpose, but they just happened to be the only option available.

'We should allow the new goblins to be born, and then we move...' Aldritch could harbor such wicked thoughts... How was he going to eat and stay alive then?? But then he wasn't going for that at any time.

"Regardless, we move tomorrow." 'A race with such short comings is doomed to fall after all, and they aren't my goal either.'

"I will pass the order to the rest."

"Mm. You must be hungry. Don't fight your instincts and drink from the others. Remember not to drink them to their deaths, we still need them."

"Ok, master. Please, excuse your servant."

Aldritch sent her off with a hand gesture.

Once she was out, he brought out the system to do some trading.

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A/N: Who wants a free book?!

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