The goblins were nervously silent as I looked up at them. They shuffled from side to side, bereft and unsure what to do now that their leader was dead. Sighing, I ran at the wall, kicking off and running fifteen feet up it before teleporting to land at the rim of the arena.

  “That’s better,” I said. I looked around and found Juruk and my other minions with their weapons dropped and surrounded by goblins. “Congratulations for being officially useless. Why didn’t you mention anything about the giant trapdoor?”

  “Whole camp trapped,” Juruk said. “We goblins. Thought you knew.”

  I sighed. This was my own fault for assuming they would be competent. I looked at those surrounding them and raised my hand.

  “Dominion,” I intoned, and they instantly dropped their weapons, reaching to their necks as the brand of my ability appeared there.

  I turned to the other goblins and looked them over. “If any of you aren’t comfortable taking orders from me, then act now. You won’t get a second chance.”

  Not one of them stepped forward and I snorted in disdain.

  “Dominion,” I said, bringing another forty-nine goblins under my control.

  I used my ability again, noticing some goblins fleeing but not caring enough to chase them.

  I ordered the ones dominated to circle the ones I had not so I could clearly see who I was targeting with my ability.

  Only a small group remained for me to dominate but I thought it would be enough to push me past this current quest goal.

  There were only a dozen or so goblins left but it was enough as I finished taking control of the last of the tribe.

  I smiled darkly to myself, now having seventy-nine free rank points to spend to upgrade my abilities. I looked over my new vassals and wasn’t that impressed. The tallest of them was five feet; they were scrawny and wielded poorly-made equipment. I had my doubts about how well they’d do in a battle but for now, they could serve as scouts, guides, and porters.

  “Juruk, come forward,” I ordered.

  Juruk shuffled out of the crowd. “Bring me all the loot your tribe has. And don’t try and hide anything or let anyone else keep anything from me.”

  I didn’t trust him to obey me out of any loyalty or honor but my ability would force him to do as I commanded. I was brought a throne to sit on, using it to upgrade a few of my abilities as my tribute was brought forward. I knew what I wanted to upgrade. Whilst Mugro’s armor didn’t fit me, I had a pretty good idea which ability might be able to change that.

  “Raise Compress Earth by one rank,” I told the System.

  I felt the approach of a splitting headache and sat back on the throne, focusing on my breathing. When the rank-up was finished and the pain had passed, I sat up straight again.

  “Increase Compress Earth by one rank,” I told the System.

  “Put one rank into Compress Earth,” I told the System again.

  Once again, my headache came back with a vengeance, but I believed I was getting better at blocking out the pain. Breathing in and out, I opened my eyes as soon as it had passed.

  Here goes...! I hope I’m right.

  I had theorized that abilities might give an additional effect every five ranks but it could be more. I wouldn’t know until I tried. “Raise Compress Earth by one more rank.”

  Yes! I was right! I fought through the headache to think, really liking the first option since the ability to add metals would greatly increase the strength of my creations. Transmuting stones sounded interesting, but I wasn’t after making things out of any particular type of substance. The last option, I was pretty sure I could do on my own with a bit of practice.

  So, I went with the first option, completing my upgrade.

  I had achieved two things for which I had been aiming: discovering if there was an additional effect at Rank 10, and getting my Compress Earth to work with metals. This meant I could adjust the armor I’d got from Mugro as well as the shaft of my maul. The experiment had not been cheap, but it was worth it. Seventy-nine rank points seemed like a lot until you realized I had just spent thirty-four on raising an ability by only four ranks. The cost had gone up again, but I only had to wait a short while for my Mana to recharge.

  Taking a break from upgrading my abilities, I looked over the mass of junk the goblins had piled before me. Some of it was literally garbage.

  “Why is there a broken coat rack here?” I asked, looking over the trash heap.

  “Loot from an old village,” Juruk said proudly.

  “At least I have a use for the metal now,” I sighed.

  There were wooden crates, old pots, pans, and even an entire wardrobe with a full mirror on its door, albeit cracked in several places.

  I was startled when I caught sight of myself. My facial hair had grown into a straggly beard and my hair hung long and flat. It was my face, however, that was the most startling.

  My eyes were brown. They had always been dark but now, they were almost black.

  Three angry red lines ran down the side of my face. They were still healing and would leave vicious scars. It had only been a few days, but I already looked different.

  My muscle mass was now much leaner and my body more angular.

  Turning away from my reflection, I looked back to Juruk. “Most of this is junk. We’ll be leaving it behind when we depart. Take anything made of metal or of actual value; not just things you’ve found or stolen. Make sure you bring the wardrobe door with the mirror,” I instructed him. “Have everything packed by tonight. Don’t leave behind anything you might need. We will be departing tomorrow morning.”

  I headed back to camp, thinking over my next upgrades. Both my Perception and Mind Attributes were at seventeen. I didn’t have enough points to increase my Mind to twenty, but did have enough to get my Perception to twenty-two. Arriving back at camp, I bathed in the river, allowing the blood, sweat, and dirt to run off. I rubbed mint leaves into the scarf I got from Mugro and headed back into camp. Stripping out of my soaking wet clothes, I set my pelt and new scarf to dry as I lay back to spend the rest of my rank points.

  “Increase Foresight by one rank,” I told the System.

  I felt the needles return, stabbing into my eyes with burning fire, hearing a roaring cacophony in my ears. My back arched with the pain as I let out a strained breath and dragged in a lungful of air. When the pain subsided, I breathed out again.

  “Increase Foresight by one rank,” I said.

  The pain redoubled, a terrible scream tearing from my throat before I bit it back, refusing to allow myself to show any weakness. I felt my vision darken as I held back another yelp of agony. The pain faded, and I let myself rest for a moment before continuing.

  “Raise Foresight by one rank,” I said.

  The pain returned again, greater than ever before, but it was about to get worse.

  Fluid flowed down from my eyes and ears.

  I felt my eyes roll and grow white-hot as my eardrums shattered and began reforming. I writhed and flailed on my sleeping bag, the pain now so intense I could not even scream.

  Finally, the pain ended, and I gasped for breath. I had raised Perception past twenty, but still wanted to get Foresight to Rank 10 for the additional effect.

  “Raise Foresight by one rank,” I said.

  The pain returned again but it was nothing compared to the agony of mutating. I focused on my breathing and was able to push past it.

  “Raise Foresight by one more rank,” I told the System once the pain had disappeared.

  Muscles tightened and I sucked in a breath as the pain washed over me.

  When I had recovered sufficiently, I sighed.

  There were five available rank points left, but even if I was up to upgrading another ability, they would all cost more than that. I focused back on my fight against Mugro, reviewing how I’d fought him. I felt the bruises along my body and grimaced. Then, I drank a health potion. The bruises didn’t fade immediately but I did feel the pain lessen somewhat.

  I had not been able to block Mugro effectively. His Might had been so high that without a roughly equivalent amount, I had just been sent flying. I realized with hindsight that I could probably have blocked his hits if I’d used my Telekinesis instead of my own body. I could lift an object weighing 450 pounds and could likely withstand the same amount of force with my ability. If I manipulated my shield telekinetically, that would leave my other hand free.

  I looked at my weapon. My Nemean club had served me well so far and I still had the bones and the rest of the claws from the lion. I took the other leg bones, some quartz and onyx and a few bits of metal from the goblin’s scrap heap. I held the claws in place, fastening with the binding of tight compressed uncommon stone and metal, creating three other clubs.

  I could wield one in my left hand and use the others telekinetically.

  I looked over Murgo’s helmet and the single full piece of armor and vambrace. The armor would extend from the wrist all the way up my arm to the pauldron, the vambrace covering my left forearm. He also had a wide, leather belt that covered most of my stomach with dangling leather tassets. Plates of metal were riveted along the leather belt, providing added protection to more vital areas.

  The belt would be the easiest to adjust and I quickly made it fit around my own waist.

  The other armor wasn’t so straightforward. Murgo had been almost two feet taller than me, and his arms and head had been thicker than mine.

  By then, my Compress Earth also affected common metal. Placing the ill-fitting armor on my arm, I compressed the steel, shrinking it until it fit near perfectly. I did the same for the vambrace. I hadn’t added any more material to the mix so they didn’t weigh any more than before, but each square inch would weigh more than steel of the same size and thickness.

  I put the Greek-looking helmet on and went over to the mirror of the wardrobe which the goblins had brought over. I adjusted it until it was only a little loose so I could pad it with leather later. It had already grown late, and I decided to get some sleep before anything else could interrupt me. I grabbed some food and ate quickly.

  Then, I returned to my tent and took off my newly acquired armor.

  I set it to the side with my cloak and weapons, then fell asleep quickly, my battle and upgrades having taken most of my energy.