Gemstone Goblins (LitRPG)

Tribe 3

From the corner of my room, I picked up a boulder and dragged it to the front of my bed. I tried to visualise a simple image, a small cube that can fit in one's palm. I reached out to the stone and cast the spell, "Stone-Shaper."

I quickly carved out a small portion of the stone and held the smaller rock in my hand. I squeezed my brain, glared intensely at the rock and it slowly moulded into shape, as if invisible hands were poking a piece of clay. Eventually, the pebble changed into a cube, although it was not perfectly smooth or even, it was still something. I pondered deeply about how to improve the result. Did it have to do with the clarity of my mental image, or did it have something to do with mana? Perhaps with enough experimentation, I could figure it out.

I soon passed the entire night obsessively making cubes, spheres, and pyramids out of any bit of stone I could find. I could feel mana moving from my body into the stone, and I tried experimenting with the flow of it. While my mana was recovering I pondered more ways to mess around with it. Eventually, I received some results.

[Interface]

You raised your Intelligence by 1, (13 →14)

You raised your Willpower by 1, (15 → 16)

You unlocked a new skill, Mana-Control (Beginner)

[Mana-Control (Beginner)]

You have gained some basic insights into the force called mana. As your control over mana improves, you will be able to use it more efficiently. This is a passive skill, it does not require any form of activation.

I hadn't slept for the entire night. I was far too intrigued by this seemingly simple, yet mysterious force. Perhaps expert wizards had higher control over their mana and could use their spells skills more creatively? Regardless, with this I could feel making these simple shapes was a tad bit easier, it took me the same amount of time and mana to do so, but I felt as if it required less mental burden.

By the time morning came, I had a large pile of stones of various shapes and sizes. Using some rags, I made a makeshift sling and a pouch to hold the stones. Unfortunately, I had only enough material to make a single sling. I picked the spherical stones and left the others in the corner of the room.

Once the shaman arrived, he led me to the outside of the cave. The initial brightness caused me to recoil a bit, however, I quickly adjusted. I was standing barefoot on an uncomfortable layer of soil, sticks and leaf litter. The area was heavily wooded, trees, bushes and plants of every variety spanned as far as the eye could see. Normally, one would feel serene in such an area, but those who did were usually fully clothed and had food with them. I only felt unease as I gazed into this endless verdant realm.

"Shaman, summon all the goblins here," I said.

He nodded and went back inside into the cave. Soon, one by one, the yellow, skinny goblins trickled out of the small stony cave entrance, each one of them either scratching their dirty unwashed hair or yawning.

"Everybody line up," I said.

They looked upon me a bit confused, and slowly shuffling into place. I let out an irritated grunt and opened up the interface.