I made some important discoveries by delving into the databases. The silver stars were coming from the Republic and not the system itself. I had to do a lot of searches to figure that out. My quest was with Blanca, not the Republic, so if something happened to him and no one renewed the quest, it would be voided. That meant no penalties on my end. As his faction, the Republic would lose a large portion of its treasury.
Mos looked away, seemingly more interested in my doorframe than the strengthening concept I was cobbling together from powerful healing. A tap on her shoulder alerted her to a group of gobs carrying in some kobolds. They should work well enough for test subjects. I had plenty of room in my workshop.
While the goblins restricted the ingredients I could purchase, they did nothing about the kobolds currently being used as a cheap meat supply. Since my purchasing variety was cut for alchemic ingredients, I would do research with what I had. I would use what adventurers called the scientific method to determine what my pills did.
The gobs finished loading the kobolds into a little fenced area while I worked to finish my first batch of strengthening ingredients. A journey from an outsider’s perspective was a story. I planned to use the bodies of these kobolds in combination with my pills to create even better alchemic ingredients.
Mos at least waited for the gobs to leave before she exploded.
“I heard about your attempted theft of Republic funds. Do you have any idea how lucky you are not to be a training dummy for spells? We took you in and gave you a job; how could you betray us like that.” Mos said.
“Without me, there would be no drops at all,” I said.
“Theft is an executable offense. Most would rather you were a serial killer or rapist than a dirty coin thief.” Mos said.
I closed my eyes and sighed. Less than two months ago, I was a farm boy working on someone else’s land. The goblins weren’t much different. Mos might as well be a minder sent here to keep me on task. They sent a cute little goblin girl to see what kind of man I was. To her, the loot from the dungeon belonged solely to the Republic, and I had no right to it.
“Stop it,” Mos said while crying.
“Stop what,” I asked.
This whole experience was tiring. I was over her days ago. My crush wasn’t so deep that it would stop me from moving on. I found a passage about the metamorphosis into Superman. To become this being, we must first become the camel, the bearer of loads. My gear was a burden that I was becoming comfortable with the weight was well known. Saving my sister was a similar burden. It was expected that a brother sacrificed themselves to save their sister. I was even expected to work and enjoy my poverty because God wills it, according to the town criers and priests. If I showed modesty and humility before their God, I would be gifted riches in the life after this one.
It felt like those teachings that used to make me feel good about being a poor farmer with a few apple trees we sold for a copper penny a piece.
“Do you even know what you did wrong? You tried to steal from the Republic. I can’t think of anything more horrible. Money is everything to us.” Mos said.
I blinked at her words, then opened a search screen and looked up goblins. She breathed heavily as I ran through article after article dumping the information into my mind rapidly. As I learned more about their culture, something felt off until I found an article about monster perks and their cultural impacts.
“You have a perk that improves all stats based on your clan’s wealth,” I said.
Mos sighed. “I’m here because I volunteered to be your wife. We are shamed because of you, and our resources are limited. I had to hide in my father’s house to escape it. The other gobs thought I was brave before, and they spit on me now. We’re ruined, and it's all your fault.”
More goblin perks and how they were unlocked for those adventurers obsessed with goblin fights, a sport that was outlawed 2000 years ago. So fairly recent from an adventurer history standpoint. I still couldn’t believe how successful ancient Rubicon had been. 10,000 years of existence as a republic was incredible.
Returning from the tangent, goblins mostly revolved around stuff and gained different evolutions based on what they had. Enchanted weapons of specific rarity would evolve the goblins into hobgoblins. While goblins grew stronger with their society, the hobgoblin diverged and gained levels from their equipment. Goblin lords, for instance, gained power from the wealth of their subjects, lands, and personal holdings. Other evolutions required goblins to gain skills from dungeons. Skills like those taken by the hobgoblins I worked with.
Knowing that I was being taken advantage of and knowing exactly how two very different experiences were. On the bright side, my Heavenly Tribulation suddenly grew greatly in strength against the Republic.
I adjusted my cauldron; there wasn’t much else I could do. Of course, goblins had a not taking loot policy especially with a perk that boosts everyone’s stats based on national wealth. Individual wealthy goblins wouldn’t make quite as much sense, and it explained why they were unwilling to cut me a deal.
“Since you’re mine, I’ll make you strong. Don’t worry; the human town is closer to the yellow line than we are,” I said.
Mos gave me an unsteady look. I opened a screen and made it visible to her. “Let’s watch something together while I figure out how to maximize my gains.” I brought up an adventurous form of entertainment called a cartoon and started playing it.
My goblin girl’s eyes widened at the moving portrait and sound as a story began about a girl in a horseless carriage driving to a new town. It took up her attention long enough for me to finish a few potion batches and isolate a few pills.
At the moving pictures, she finally shut her mouth. She let me concentrate on preparing my ingredients for the first stage of my testing. The hypothesis was simple: I wasn’t trying to do something that increased my strength permanently or anything like that. For my first experiment, I wanted to make a potion that regenerated health over time.
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