Day 61-70/Day 61

Since so many things happened today, it would be difficult to mention everything.

Thus I think I’ll do my best to avoid the useless stuff, and write about it from start to finish.

First, the number of Hobgoblins increased by eight. Two of them became mages while one of them became a cleric.

The one who had become a cleric was already close friends with Gobuji-kun; he might have been drawn into becoming a cleric because of this. The number of clerics increased as expected, and I found myself grinning wickedly.

The next part concerned Gobumi-chan.

When Gobumi-chan woke up today, she had become an entirely different race called a [Dhampir - Variant ].

The change in her appearance cannot be compared to the time when she ranked up from Goblin to Hobgoblin.

Or perhaps I should say, it’s unnecessary to compare them.

These were her features: her height is no less than 180 cm, a clearly charming body with a narrow waist accentuated by her breasts whose size would overflow in your hands, a moon-like beautiful face more fleeting than an Elf's, her glittering silver hair that flowed down to her waist, fine skin, and finally, red eyes with golden pupils.

Also it says that she acquired the ability [God of Ice’s Divine Protection]; a wonderful ability that allows the user to generate and manipulate large amounts of ice with little risk towards the user. According to Gobujii, the blessing of a [God] is above that of a [Demi God], even when compared to the rare blessing that Gobukichi-kun possesses.

Moreover, it's hard to imagine from looking at her delicate appearance that her strength and agility was remarkably different from before. I dare say that she would be evenly matched with Gobukichi-kun whose base stats were higher than me.

Even with the [Blessing of God] in the daytime the undead body of a Vampire would carry a weakness to the sun. But because she is a [Dhampir-Subspecies], this weakness is not an issue.

As always, she was able to go out without any limitations even in the day time.

In other words, to get to the point, Gobumi-chan has become immensely beautiful.

If you understood that much, then, there won’t be a problem.

But her appearance bothered me... I felt like I have seen that face somewhere before... like the adult face of a certain childhood friend.

I’ll keep this story for the time being as it does not concern today. Let us focus more on the changes.

These changes are really hard for me to grasp in just one day.

Now, about Gobue-chan...

What Gobue-chan had turned into was a species of [Lord] called a [Half Earth-Lord]. Anyway, she was not *from a subspecies.

She was at least 240 centimeter tall, approaching my height with a stout and solid muscular physique. She also had two large horns that extend 20 centimeters out and curve back on her forehead while having short yellow hair and garnet-like eyes. Her skin appeared to be firm but also included all the softness that came from being a woman, and her breasts were comparable to the size of watermelons but had better shape to them. Lastly, a yellow looking stone, around five centimeter in diameter, embedded in her abdomen as well as under both her elbows. They appeared to be the same type of stone that Hobusei-san’s [Lord] species had. Those stones, called “Ogre Orbs”, were always imbued in a [Lord]’s body and contained the abilities and characteristics of their species

Abilities of her species included manipulation of the earth. One of those was particularly related to mining; the ability [Complete Geological Comprehension] was able to see the brittle points of the bedrock's areas. This aided the mining for more types of ore while, at the same time, strengthened her body.

As a trial, she attempted to dig through a wall with her bare hands acting similarly to a drill and the ground gave way. Barehanded, she dug more effectively than when she was equipped with a pickaxe as a hobgoblin.

There was no point in complaining about this; we could mine more ore and spirit stones faster than ever before.

Also, it seem that she can use lightning based magic, and it can occasionally be useful during mining to locate ores. She was able to obtain a variety of ores because of this.

What can I say, Gobue-chan has leveled her mining skill well. It is amazing to see the things that happen when you push forward with your all towards a passion.

In combat Gobue-chan is nothing to fool with either, she can easily break rocks with her bare hands. Imagine what would happen if a soft living thing was caught with one of those blows.

A body is frailer than bedrock, it would become like meat paste.

She sure is scary.

Now, moving on to Hobusato-san.

Because Hobusato-san has always been good with using the sword, she became a [Lord], specifically Hobusato-san turned into a [Half Bloody Lord]. Like Gobue-chan she is normal and not a subspecies. Note: the half of ‘half bloody lord’ means she’s a ‘half’-’bloody lord’, e.g. ‘half’-‘lord’

She is two meters tall, with clearly defined muscles; she has modest breasts, and in the center of her forehead a 15 centimeter ruby extended. She has carnelian coloured pupils, slightly red skin, and long red hair the color of blood, that was bound by string into a ponytail. A unique characteristic of hers was that she also had two bright red Ogre orbs about five centimeters in diameter embedded into her hands. Note: a carnelian is a brownish red gemstone

Although it was not likely that she would gain the ability to use magic, her physical capabilities had grown, compared with before her combat strength grew in leaps and bounds. It seems that the [Bloody Lord] species will excel in close quarters combat.

As it is with a race that includes the "Blood Sword" and blood in their name, they have the ability to manipulate the blood of themselves and others, although there are conditions to do so.

Even if she cannot use magic, these abilities made her strong. If we are talking about only direct combat ability she would probably be fourth or third place after me and Gobukichi-kun, and she will certainly be in the top five.

Although it seems that she falls behind Gobukichi-kun and Gobumi-chan in terms of physical power, in close quarters combat I expect that [Predict], [Precognition], and [Intuition] evens out the match.

At any rate, mysteriously everyone developed a black tattoo similar to mine like Hobusei-san, but differed slightly in the design and placement.

Hobusato-san had one on the back, Gobue-chan on the arm, and Gobumi-chan on the leg. The other Hobgoblins had them on the leg, arm or neck.

I am not worried about them, because I feel that a power boils up from these.

I expect that I will gain an understanding of these in the future.

As a celebration for Ranking up I passed out two magic items to each Hobgoblin.

Out of the magic items that had not been used yet, Gobumi-chan received a blue and white dress made with dark magic, and bound together with steel like thread, she also got glasses related to her new ability that is a trait of her race, the [Eyes of Bewitchment]. These glasses work to seal the effects of her eyes’ ability, it is best not to look into her eyes for too long. As a present she got an enchanted claymore called the [Drop of Moonlight], the sword looks like a piece of artwork made with ice crystals.

Gobue-chan got two new weapons, the [Earth Goddess War Pick] and an enormous [Earth Goddess Shovel] as a set that have the capability to accommodate her new, larger, size. Also, because of the change in her size due to changing species, she was given a new set of clothes consisting of surplus magical items, and I also gave her a new towel to wipe away the sweat from her hard work made of my thread.

To Hobusato-san I gave a set of magic items consisting of full plate armor made with red iron, and a red cape which is a good match for physical and magical attacks. On top of this I gave Hobusato-san an enchanted long sword [Blood Princess] that has the ability to suck blood, even though this hardly seems necessary with her abilities.

To the three people who became a race above and beyond that of a standard Hobgoblin, I supplied them with bracelets that have the storage ability, Gobukichi-kun and Hobusei-san already have these.

But, yeah.

Gobumi-chan has become like a noble's daughter, on her front side the zipper stops just short, liberating the rest of her top. Gobue-chan is dressed like a farm boss, she has the towel I made her wrapped around her body and tucked into her breasts, exposing the top of her chest and her navel. Hobusato-san has the composure of a knight with her whole body dyed in red.

Nevertheless.

Even though we had ranked up so much, we still call each other by our old names, like Goburou, Gobukichi-kun and such, and it was beginning to feel odd.

Well, we are not Goblins anymore.

I asked Gobujii, and it happened like this.

Goburou → Ogarou Gobukichi-kun → Ogakichi-kun Gobumi-chan → Dhammi-chan Gobue-chan → Asue-chan Hobusei-san → Supesei-san Hobusato-san → Burasato-san Gobuji-kun → Hobuji-kun Gobufu-chan → Hobufu-chan etc.

TL Note : TOLD YOU THERE’S A REASON WE DIDN’T DO THE NAME CHANGES EARLIER - FB

The individuals who had ranked up each received their new names.

Though I did not expect Gobujii to have good naming sense, this was terrible.

People just have to understand, since it is not like a person can decide his or her own name either, so I just let the matter go.

In addition, since this will likely be asked, I will go ahead and say it here.

If you take the average strength of the races and place them in order, it looks like this.

Dhampir ≧ Half Spell Lord = Half Earth Lord = Half Bloody Lord ≧ Ogre ≧ Elf > Kobold Foot Soldier > Kobold = Hobgoblin = Human > Goblin.

This is a list of only the races, it does not include skills and armaments.

Although an Ogre can beat a Half-Lord race in terms of physical strength, but since, unfortunately, their intelligence is usually lower, their tactics are simpler, and for this reason they are weaker.

There is not much of an opportunity for exceptional individuals.

Now, to go on about the Elves and Kobolds.

I decided to refrain from eating the kobolds since they decided to join us yesterday.

Well, even if I did decide to eat them now the flesh won't be able to strengthen any of my abilities, and it appears that having them around won't hurt, since their loyalty seems genuine. I am anxious to see what a Kobold will turn into after it ranks up. But, it is reasonable to assume that it could turn into a variety of things, and anyway having minions that can move freely as scouts in the future will be a great asset.

As for the war between the humans and the elves, I know that Father Elf-san will make a request of me again. But for now there is still time, and a messenger will be here soon without a doubt.

Then, if he does make a request, I am going to accept it.

A large-scale war will lead to me gaining new abilities, and it will be good for making myself stronger by itself, and I can also gain some knowledge about the military powers, tactics, and methods of battle in this world.

It will also serve to strengthen ties with Father Elf-san, and that Elven wine will become easier to get a hold of.

That sake is seriously delicious!

For that reason, having a large number of minions to be used for putting the humans in a trap, or constructing military camps, or launching surprise attacks would expand the range of strategies I can use if it comes to participating in the war.

That was the reason why I decided to not kill them but make them my followers, but of course, there's no way I'd trust them just like that. Even within the group there are only a few that I can totally trust, so there's no way I could have confidence in Kobolds who appeared out of nowhere.

So as insurance, I gave all the Kobolds new and improved cuffs that were enchanted with three abilities like the communication-device cuffs I distributed before, but further enhanced with a new ability [Enslave], and had them wear it.

With this, the immediate problem of wondering if the Kobolds who lost would defy me is solved. Even if they lost their loyalty, they could be used without any problems.

Then, the cuffs are also supplied to the elves, who were used for sex and breeding. However, these are superior objects, enhanced with [Conceal].

The purpose is to have them submit body and soul with [Enslave], while avoiding any unnecessary trouble with the other elves with [Conceal].

Somehow, it seems that the Elves had a culture or custom where cutting a hole in their ears for the attachment of ornaments is a serious taboo—By doing that, it seems their name will be struck from the clan forever, and they will be exiled as punishment; for that reason it seems that Elven slaves that circulate in the markets of this world had their characteristic long ears cut halfway—having these ear-integrated cuffs installed was mostly to try to deny them their last bit of resistance.

Other than that, it was fine to just install the cuffs, but in that case they could make up an excuse like "It was done against my will, I couldn't help it" to hide their real intentions, so I did this to strip off their remaining pride.

Well then.

As for the males, I put Ogakichi-kun, who consulted me beforehand about his relationship with Asue-chan, in charge of them, saying "Try doing it with them as practice before the real thing"—of course, I gave him detailed instructions to go easy on them so as to not break them—, and as a reward, left them to the goblins whose social standing were too low and had no chance. Despite being males, the Elves sure were pretty boys. They were satisfying enough. That goes without saying.

I have to ask myself, If the higher ranked Hobgoblins just take charge of the women for hours on end.

In the end I think it is better for them to live obediently.

Therefore, the elves who had all been imprisoned until now to prevent any chance of escape were taken out of the cave.

I then had allowed for them to participate in training with the Kobolds and the others. It could be said that to use an elite elf only for sex and breeding would be wasteful. It also seems that it is more difficult for Elves to get pregnant, so the numbers that will be bearing will strike a balance that is more ethically sound than what happened with the human women before.

Now that I no longer have fear of rebellion because of the cuffs, the sex and breeding program in the future will be more efficient. It might be good if the enemies that are captured are human.

The elves, being out of prison for the first time in ages, showed an expression of freedom in most cases. It seems that the change of scenery was a great success.

However it is time to train now, the point is to be able to organize into ranks quickly, and to be able to run for a long amount of time. It is the type of basic training that Gobukichi-kun and the others were made to do up until this point as well. Anyway this would be good for the Kobolds, but the elves being made of elite warriors could have skipped over the basic training, but since this was a new beginning they performed the foundation work too.

The ones who naturally knew how to do this had no problems, and the ones who had a thing or two to learn had some minor difficulties.

The training continued until they couldn't stand anymore.

After a break, there were apparently no Kobold out of them who could be chosen based on combat, strength, or character, therefore a Goblin supervisor was appointed to teach this new group the way to use logistics and how to be effective rear support in battle.

Those that remained now, were the Kobold children and the elves, they were given additional combat lessons through sparring sessions.

In sparring, the opponent was not Gobukichi-kun. The opponents were not Goblins or

Hobgoblins, and they are not between the elves and the Kobolds either.

This training serves the purpose of also being an experiment.

The opponent for the Elves, Kobolds, and the others will be a skeleton produced by my [Lesser Summon Undead] skill.

As I can generate them almost indefinitely, there is no risk involved, and I even gain experience if they are defeated. I gain experience for the ability every time I use it, and among the bones that remain after defeat there are a variety of materials that can be used for blacksmithing or alchemy, so this process kills three birds with one stone.

The practice is held in a cave, it is a little gloomy in this large room, but it needs to be because the strength of an undead wanes in daylight.

The undead appear from the ground forming from a black shadow. Like some sort of hallucination the bleached bones of a skeleton rise up from it.

But this time something unexpected occurred.

Unlike the common (Skeleton) that was normally formed, a black skeleton had been created instead, it stood at a height of two meters, and was equipped with a jet black mantle and (Full Plate Armor) that covered its entire body in brutally sharp looking metal.

It was armed with a curved saber, and had a crimson (Kite Shield) for defense.

This was not the same white skeleton as before, but instead was a (Black Skeleton Knight). I could clearly see that this was a higher rank compared to the past skeletons.

It would be comparable or even superior to a Greater Skeleton. The skeleton system uses "Soul Equipment" to arm the body according to the ability of the individual. This means that weapons and armor are expressed by the level of either [Greater Equipment Materialization] or [Equipment Materialization].

These high quality weapons and armor cannot be wielded by another person after the skeleton is destroyed because the armaments disappear into a fog at the moment of defeat. Since the quality of the equipment has improved to the point where it envelops the entire skeleton, this skeleton without a doubt is the strongest I have seen up until this point.

I examined it quickly.

According to the examination the [Lesser Summon Undead] somehow created it, even though my abilities should be too low to do this. Normally the performance of an ability is generally strengthened when I eat, but this time it is different, and to me it reaffirms that it is best to practice with the abilities too.

These reasons are why this black skeleton is to be fittingly called the Black Skeleton Knight.

The Black Skeleton Knight faced off against Elves equipped with Mithril short swords and round shields, but the skeleton ended its fight the victor.

I could tell at once by making it fight, this skeleton has the skill of a true knight, complete with the robust defense of the kite shield, and the furious waves and slashes let out by its saber, I can only say that it has brilliant movements.

The Black Skeleton Knight was resistant to slashing abilities, and fatigue, because of this it is well suited for drawn out conflict.

Even against the elves there was no major difference in skill, but in the end it lost to a difference in physical strength.

Yeah, this guy isn't usable.

Simply put, experience gain was a big factor, also trying to manage a number of Black Skeleton Knights, I let them be defeated by going easy. The normal experience gain was steadily decreasing in value once these were defeated. I'm not sure of the reason, but It must be something that was done though.

Later in the evening, the experiment with [Lesser Summon Undead] continued.