Chapter 23: Industrialization

Kyle had to kill off a few more brave goblin warriors before they finally relented, recognizing Kyle’s domineering strength. He knew he would not be able to win against all three hundred, so the method of skimming their forces slowly plus funnelling them through a single cramped entrance worked perfectly. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

The goblin warriors and the forage groups all dropped their weapons in surrender, hoping to appeal to the human’s morality if any. Some tried to get a sneak attack as Kyle approached to collect their weapons, but were always immediately killed by Kyle, further driving fear into their hearts.

He picked up the vambrace of the goblin, patting away some of the meat and flesh before putting it on.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Equipment Equipped

[Projectile Defence Vambrace (Basic)]

Blocks a certain number of projectiles when activated.

+3 DEX, +2 VIT

Active Skill: Point Defence – Fires energy bolts to block up to twenty projectiles

MP Cost Per Activation: 3 MP

Duration: One minute or when twenty projectiles have been blocked

Cooldown: Five minutes

Kyle rounded up the surrendering goblins at the mine entrance, tying some of them up with rope left in the storage huts. Soon, a goblin shaman appeared, escorted by warriors to him. The shaman was small, frail and sickly, but Kyle could see the same runes that were on the champion that was now carved everywhere on the shaman’s visible parts.

“Human! For what purpose do you slaughter us?” The goblin shaman spoke with surprising clarity and some mastery of the human language, though it was accompanied by a low guttural accent and obviously broken grammar.

“I’ll like to negotiate the purchase of the tribe.”

“Pur-chase? Money? The tribe is worth far more than your trinkets.” The goblin shaman scoffed.

“You’re in no position to take such a stance.”Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

“The tribe is three hundred goblins strong!”

“And also, must have the elderly, sick and young still hiding in the den. You do not have three hundred warriors. I estimate close to fifty of your best warriors have died at my hands over the last week.”

“Means human should pay reparations! For grievances! You have yet to defeat our champion yet!” The shaman stood strong.

“You mean this guy?” Kyle motioned to the body of the champion he had pummelled to death, causing the shaman to yelp slightly in surprise before calming itself down.

The shaman did not reply immediately, instead quickly conversing with the warriors around it. Kyle could somehow pick out a few words thanks to his title, allowing him to understand a bit of what was being spoken.

[Goblin Observer (Intermediate)]

“Good.” Kyle dropped Gulak to the floor, who gasped for air as it massaged its almost crushed neck. “Gather all remaining goblins in your largest common area. You will be the translator.”

Half an hour later, close to two hundred goblins were all gathered in a large cavernous area, their common dining area. Gulak stood on a makeshift stage from turned-over mining carts and crates, clearing his throat.

The goblins were all murmuring with each other, staring at Kyle with curiosity and wariness. Many of them have not left the den before but have heard stories of evil humans who killed goblins for fun.

Kyle’s mouth began to move, speaking to Gulak while he translated to the goblins. “Fellow members, today is a good day! A human hero has arrived and has quelled the monster who had been killing our warriors over the last week. While we have lost many of them in the fight, this human here has saved us in our time of need. With us being left vulnerable, this human will help defend our den from rival tribes and other creatures of the forest.”

The goblins were all stunned. A human helping goblins?

“The human has offered to provide us with food, technology and equipment as well. I have agreed to this deal in my capacity as a shaman.”

The crowd of goblins didn’t cheer, but they didn’t react adversely either. They weren’t too smart, unable to understand the implications of such a favour. Kyle pinned most of their intelligence on that of an eight to twelve-year-old kid, which was just right for the next part of his plan.

Gulak dismissed the crowd, gathering the smartest goblins in a group to meet Kyle. There were only three of them: Gulak, Gringer and Gobalt. All of these three knew about what Kyle had done in truth and were now completely subservient to him until they found a way to beat him or eradicate him.

Kyle observed the crowd of goblins dispersing. With him eliminating most of the warriors, only the elderly and the young were left behind. The elderly are of no issue, but for the longevity of this operation, subverting the young is necessary.

“This tribe now falls under me. I will have all goblins work to harvest Euria Seeds.” Kyle showed them an example of the seed.

“This... this is a sacred fruit that only the shamans can touch when performing the rituals. Having the uneducated goblins touch them is sacrilege.” Gulak couldn’t help speaking out, decades of tribal traditions ingrained into it.

Kyle simply had to rest his hand on the hilt of his hammer before Gulak zipped its own mouth, no longer speaking back. “How many able-bodied goblins do we have left?”

You killed our warriors, and you’re asking us this? “Fifty able-bodied goblins remain, though they are not trained to fight. It would have been much more before.” Gringer was in charge of the warriors, bowing respectfully with a tinge of hatred in his voice.

Kyle ignored the veiled jab, looking towards Gobalt, who was in charge of the logistics of the tribe. “Food supplies?”

“Dwindling. Only enough to last two weeks.” Because of your filthy actions, human.

“That’s good enough. From today, I will train all fifty warriors in a different fighting style. Gather all the weapons from the main entrance and bring them here.” Kyle ordered.

The fifty warriors soon lined up in front of him, trembling slightly as he walked through and inspected their bodies. While Gulak had claimed that the human hero was here to protect them, they couldn’t help feeling like they were being sold as a product. Some of them were well aware that this human was the monster that was killing them, instilling even more fear into them.

Gringer translated as Kyle spoke. “All of you will be trained as archers instead from now on. The training routine will be tree-climbing, marksmanship with bows, and knife-handling.”

The goblins all immediately went into a frenzy, with Gringer turning to glare at Kyle. “Tree-climbing is for shitty elves, not us! We are better!” Gringer spat with derision, as did many of the newly trained warriors.

Kyle suddenly stood up, speaking in the goblin language. “Who can defeat me? Come forward.”

The warriors all froze. They did not know the truth of Kyle killing their warriors, but they had heard the story from Gulak that Kyle killed a monster that one hundred of their warriors could not.

Gringer himself did not dare fight Kyle. If the champion could not defend him, who could?

“Then the training routine is settled.” Kyle began to order for the dilution of the high concentrated Stamina potions he had brought along in his backpack. “Do not drink until I tell you to. Anyone who does not follow the order will not receive another.”

The next day, the training began in earnest. The goblins were much more physically inclined than the humans, but their shorter stature limited the range of combat styles Kyle could teach them. Kyle instructed them on how to use the trees for cover, leaping from branch to branch and taking advantage of their low weight and small figure to avoid retaliation.

He had them run mock battles against each other through the forest, honing their marksmanship and combat skills. The warriors soon began to see how effective the fighting style was, which was much different from their usual blunt and head-on battles with other tribes.

A week passed under the intensive training of Kyle. They trained day and night, not requiring much rest due to the Stamina Recovery Potions provided. Kyle had brought highly concentrated potions, before diluting them with water and passing them out. This meant they managed to clock in close to eight to twelve hours of training each day.

They weren’t expert fighters by the end of the week but were competent enough that three of them could give any normal human a run for their money. Kyle was satisfied with the result but soon was confronted by Gobalt. “Human! We have only enough food left for a week!”

Kyle took out his map of the forest, a big red circle marked on the location that Orthon, the forest bandit, had told him previously. “Don’t worry, our food supply is right here.”