It wasn’t that I was being used; it was that I felt underpaid for my skills that no one else had.
Was it whiney of me to want compensation for my time? I didn’t think so. I had no real say on the ruling body of the republic because only male goblins who had served in the military could vote on their leadership. My position was contractor, and my council seat was strictly on the contractor council. We were under the goblin craftsman council and had no power to do much more than govern ourselves. The goblin craftsman council decides the purse strings of all crafters and how they could purchase what from the supplies.
I decided enough was enough and reached for a coin on the ground. An ax fell in front of my fingers, cutting a line between my hand and the coin.
“Withdraw your hand, human. Your special treatment ends the moment you steal from the republic.” The Hob said.
“How much am I being paid to generate the drops for this dungeon?” I asked.
The Hob sneered at me. “You volunteered to serve the republic. We aren’t protecting you to watch a human get rich on goblin sweat and blood.” I could only think that if I wasn’t wearing my gear, I could smash this Hob into paste with my fists.
“Let's keep going,” I said after withdrawing my fingers.
I struck the kobolds viscously, seeing the ax coming down so close to my fingers each time. My tribulation lighting struck harder, frying the leather-clad kobolds and shocking them to death. The hobs watched me at every drop as amulets fell, which would decrease my mana cost, boost my mana regeneration, and increase my mana capacity. Skill shards fell on the second floor with copper golems, lightning steps, and chained lightning.
A kobold magician waited in a room on the second floor we entered. It was a massive library filled with books and scrolls. Two chests waited in the corners, and other kobold magicians rose from their seats to join the first. Bolts of blue shot out from their staves as cloaks rustled, and the battle commenced. My hob guards held up their shields as hob crossbowmen crossed into the room, taking shots. I could only think of the loss of xp if one of them managed to kill them instead of me.
The only resource I could reliably take from this place was xp. Unfortunately, we were pinned in the room. An archer poked his head out, and a mana bolt pierced him in the neck. Blood and bone blasted the wall behind the Hob, killing him instantly.
I watched the hobs struggle to keep their shields up and knew for a fact I didn’t want to die here with them. There had to be something I could do. I had tons of mana but no defensive skills or spells to mitigate the risk of stepping into a line of fire.
My eyes widened as a stray mana bolt hit the shield arm of one of the hobs. I rolled to the side as another bolt knocked the shield away, and more mana bolts pierced the Hob's body. The Hob’s back exploded leather armor did nothing.
“How did you get through to the catacombs before?” I asked.
“Blanca led the charge. Now shut up and figure something out, mage.” The Hob snarled.
Kobold Magician lvl20
I raised my hand and felt my Heavenly Tribulation skill. The first time I used it, the skill gathered in a patch of clouds and rained down. The skill didn’t need a point-to-point line of sight to work; all I needed was my contempt for their lives. With that thought, I raised my hand and focused on spreading the storm clouds.
A bolt slammed into my shoulder and barely seared my gear. The hit to my HP was negligible.
Black clouds filled the room, rumbling as a harsh wind took out all the remaining reading lamps. Even shielded by glass cylinders, the winds from my skill snuffed them out. I poured more mana into the skill as the clouds formed and lightning gathered. A roar echoed through the room, cackling madly until I realized it was me.
A bolt of lightning blasted through a kobold’s shield, scorching the reptile. Then another blasted out, circling around the shield of another kobold only to strike it in the back. Five at once arced down, blasting the bodies as my mana drained faster and faster to fuel the skill. It wasn’t a spell and didn’t have the refined power of one. It was an expensive skill with almost no oversight except rage.
I held back my desire to kill the Hob. That was the only thing keeping my lightning from scorching him. Once stray, though would be enough to tear the Hob apart. Heavenly tribulation didn’t act like lightning and certainly didn’t follow any rules of the element. It sought balance, but it didn’t care about the natural world. The tribulation, in its current state, sought out the ruination of my enemies. It chased after what I despised and pierced through it. Already, I could feel how much I was holding the skill back.
Heavenly Tribulation almost had a mind of its own; it wanted to balance out karma far more than it wanted to kill the kobolds I didn’t like. It took a force of will to keep it from simply striking the Hob protecting me down. Karma wasn’t something I’d ever heard about before gaining the skill. But there were actions taken and debts to be settled. That was the essence of what Heavenly tribulation was. It was a force of settling debts permanently. I felt it more killing kobolds than ever.
When the last of the xp flowed into me, I cut the flow of my mana and saw only 100MP remaining. It wasn’t that the skill was expensive; it was that I was using it wrongly. That came at a price much like a karmic debt. Fortunately, I paid it to the skill upfront.
I stood up and stared at the nearly untouched library. Another facet of the skill was a small, delicate knife that cut only what it wanted to cut. Some part of me wanted to call upon it again to kill the goblin, but just as they owed me a debt, I owed them one as well. My quest with the goblins couldn’t be broken so easily. Unwritten rules were keeping me from outright leaving or attacking them. Quests taken were made to benefit both parties and discourage betrayal.
The moment I agreed to the quest and received payment, I was bound to complete my end. Even thinking about leaving was anathema to me. At the same time, Bonca was bound to assist in facilitating my quest.
My MP filled slowly; it could be hours before I was topped off. Even in this dungeon where mana was plentiful, it took time to refill my pool. If we were on the third floor, that would be different.
I looked up in the system. “Why is my mana regen slow?” Outside of low wisdom, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. Mana circulation methods.
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