A few hours went by – Jack simply laid on the ground, sleeping, with Araneida snuggling right next to him. After the fight with the Grey Goblin King, Jack had been very, very worn out. So much so that after ensuring that Araneida was not close to death, he basically fell unconscious immediately.
Eventually, Jack groaned a bit, opening his eyes slightly. “What…?” I pulled himself up, looking around a slight wave of confusion flowing over his body.
After he took a look around, he remembered what had happened. He had passed out after finishing his clash against that Goblin King fella. Noticing Araneida sleeping soundly next to him, Jack decided to take a look at her condition – just to make sure she wasn’t hurt anymore.
[ STATUS ]
Familiar ‘Araneida’
Health; 200/200
[ STATUS ]
“Thank god…” Jack sighed to himself, smiling lightly. He remembered how he was just barely in time to give the Armoured Spider the healing potion after he finished off the Goblin King, and while at the time, it said that her condition had stabilised, he was still worried that some lingering side effects may have been present.
Perhaps, some lingering damage that hadn’t healed. However, it appeared that she was completely fine now — with not a single sign of damage across her arachnid body. Rising up to his feet, the man looked at the arachnid and clapped his hands.
“Araneida, come on. We have to move.” The spider looked like a child that was being woken up for school at first, however after shaking her small head, she looked up at Jack and immediately let out a squeal of relief and excitement, leaping up into Jack's arms. Jack just barely managed to catch her, as the spider just rubbed its head against his chest, while in the embrace of his arms.
He simply sighed, petting the arachnid lightly for a bit, before eventually placing her back down onto the ground. Then, Jack stretched out a bit.
“Alright, I suppose the first thing we should do is take a look around and see if there is any loot for us to take.” Jack commented in his mind, before looking towards the decimated camp of the Grey Goblins.
His fight with the Grey Goblin King seemed to have caused a lot more collateral damage than he had anticipated… This place looked like a magnitude eight earthquake had raged through it, followed by a tornado to really ensure that every last building here was gone.
Was there even any loot to find anymore? From the looks of it, everything here had been completely pulverised by the fight that had occurred here. Jack sighed – it was still better to take a look around - just in case, there was still something salvageable to be found in all of this rubble.
Gesturing to Araneida to follow, he and the arachnid moved towards the rubble, splitting off of one another to search more areas at once. Araneida skittered off towards the smaller houses and collapsed towers of the camp, while Jack locked his course on the decimated building, where the Goblin King had come out from. There was not a trace of the building's structure here anymore — all that remained was the rubble of what once was a functional building, and a throne, which surprisingly was still in good condition.
In fact, it looked like it wasn’t even touched.
“Must be made from some pretty tough material if even after all that, there wasn’t even a scratch on it.” Jack thought, sighing. Guess the ‘Goblin King’ liked his things to be on the fancy side. The man moved his attention away from the throne and crouched down, beginning to search through the rubble.
He dug through it like a raccoon rummaging through trash – picking up and throwing larger chunks of rubble to the side while throwing everything else to the side. All he could find for the most part was more rubble, with some occasional weapons, however the weapons he would find were so unimpressive and looked like they were about to shatter, that he would just toss them to the side.
He would even find some occasional armour pieces, such as chest plates and helmets, however not only were they also low quality - like the weapons - but they also all were way too small for him, very clearly designed for thin creatures like the Grey Goblins. There was no way his jacked, mountain like build was going to fit inside of the armour he would find.
After searching through the rubble with limited success, he exhaled, before hearing Araneida call out to him from behind, making all sorts of shrieks and squeals. When he turned around to look at her, he was surprised to see that she had found something — however, from afar, it was quite hard to tell what that something was. It sort of looked like some kind of cloth - perhaps a cloak? It was better to take a closer look.
Right as he was about to walk towards Araneida, he stepped onto something that made an unnatural, clang, sound. Jack stopped, frozen for a few seconds, before moving his gaze down at his feet, moving his right foot to the side.
He had stepped onto a handle. A metal handle.
Curious, he bent down and grabbed a hold of the handle, before giving it a light push. While it didn’t budge, he felt a slight deformation for a split second, signifying something, that brought a wide smile across Jack's face.
A secret ‘basement’ under a trapdoor.
Perhaps inside there was some loot. He let go of the handle, quickly clearing some of the rubble around the trapdoor, throwing it all away to the side and making Araneida curious, as she looked at him with a slightly perplexed expression, tilting her head to the side.
Cleaning off the last of the dirt and dust on it, Jack was certain about it now – this was a trapdoor. And one that was pretty well hidden. Minus the handle, which was a dead giveaway, the trapdoor blended in perfectly with the rest of the floor – the colour, the texture, the material — it was all exactly the same as the rest of the floor and if it didn’t have such a big, fat metal handle on it, Jack would probably not have noticed it at all.
Kneeling down, he grabbed the handle tightly with his right hand, before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. Then, he gave the trapdoor a strong pull – Crack, snap.
The trapdoor was forced open, the lock breaking off of it and falling inside the small space located inside the trapdoor. “That’s odd… It was locked from the inside?” Jack looked a bit confused, however didn’t question it for very long as he shook his head and leaned down into the small space that was behind the trapdoor.
It wasn’t very deep and was quite small. Inside it, was just a single other thing, besides the broken lock of the trapdoor — a chest. A rather large one at that. Smiling, Jack immediately grabbed the chest with his left hand, before effortlessly pulling it out of the space and standing up - taking a hold of it, with both of his hands.
Examining the chest for a bit, he couldn’t wipe a small grin off of his face. Hopefully this container had some goodies for him to take.
Throwing the chest onto his right shoulder, he moved over the rubble and walked over to Araneida, who looked quite excited, as she picked up the item she had found and lifted it up to Jack – as if offering it to him. Jack kneeled down, placing the chest he was carrying to the side, before taking the item.
It was indeed a product of cloth — however, not a cloak like he had initially assumed. Instead, it was actually clothing. A white shirt with a pair of some honestly tattered looking trousers and a small jacket, which reminded Jack of the ones farmers would wear in all those fantasy stories he would read as a child.
The clothing looked surprisingly intact and its size… It was much bigger than he had anticipated — way too big for any Grey Goblin to wear. In fact, it looked a bit like the clothing was perfectly fit for him…
Looking at the clothes he was wearing right now, Jack couldn’t help but feel as though he could do with a chance of clothing. His shirt had ripped during his fight with the Goblin King, and his trousers were looking pretty scuffed up themselves. Maybe changing into these clothes that Araneida had found for him, would be a good idea to do.
Exhaling, he smiled at Araneida, patting her head lightly. “Well done.”
The Spider let out a happy squeal, while Jack set the clothes to the side. He would change into them afterwards – first, it was time to see what was inside the chest he had found. Turning his attention to the chest, he pulled it closer. Araneida moved closer to his side, looking at the chest curiously.
First, Jack examined the chest and its lock. The chest seemed quite old and worn, but the lock on it was practically shining — like it was brand new. Plus, when he ran his fingers across the chest itself, he could feel its age. It felt rough, crooked and aged – very normal for wood that had been processed ages ago. On the other hand, the lock felt different.
As soon as he placed his fingers on the lock and the chests other metal bits, he could feel their smooth and even surface. It was like he was touching an incredibly polished smooth rock.
But he could also notice another thing about the metal parts – there was this ever so slight feeling of movement in them - as if something was inside the metal parts and constantly flowing. Seeing as this was a fantasy world he was in and it was already shown to him that magic existed, it wasn’t too wild of an assumption for him to make, that these metal parts most likely were placed on the chest with magic or perhaps even enchanted.
Especially the lock — it had a strong, very noticeable flow inside it. It felt like he was touching a running stream when he placed his hands on it. If the lock was indeed in any way magical, either enchanted or placed on the chest with magic, how was he supposed to open it?
While he hated to agree with that so-called ‘Saintess’ with every fiber of his being, he couldn’t help but admit that his skills here were useless. And since he had no idea how to use magic, it wasn’t like he could unlock the chest by using some magic spell, like he assumed you usually would do.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
So instead, after thinking for a bit – Jack decided to use the one stat he knew he could rely on.
Gesturing to Araneida to back up, Jack got as much of a hold on the lock as he could, gripping it as much as he could. Then, after taking in a rather deep breath, he ripped the lock off of the chest with ease, the lock immediately turning black, before crumbling into dust afterwards.
“I had a feeling that would work. My physical strength seems like one of the best, if not, the best thing I have at my disposal right now.” Jack looked at his left hand, exhaling. Guess he had to thank the isekai gods for at least providing him with one metric that was useful.
…Or actually, he didn’t need to thank anyone but himself.
After all, his strength, while definitely having been amplified in this world, was already top of the class before he was summoned.
He was an ex-military mercenary after all.
Shaking his head, Jack pushed open the chest, with Araneida quickly skittering back to his side to see what was inside the chest. Once it was open, Jack smiled lightly.
“Jackpot.”
Inside the chest were some pretty decent looking loot. For starters, four roundish bottles of red liquid inside them. Bringing one of them higher to his view, a menu window appeared in front of the bottle.
[ ITEM ]
Greater Healing Potion
Restores 120 Health after drinking.
[ ITEM ]
“Right off the bat, this is some good stuff. I am down to my last healing potion I had found when I entered this place, so being able to ‘restock’ on some more of them, let alone ones that had a stronger effect, was a good omen.” Jack commented in his mind, before placing the potions to the side and turning his attention to the other items inside the chest.
There was a single rune, with a strange symbol I didn't recognise. Picking it up, it looked and felt similar to the two runes he had found in the same back as the three small vials of healing and the dagger, that had broken during the fight against the Goblin King. However, this one was also different enough to not be the same.
It felt a lot more jagged and rugged – while having a slightly rougher texture.
Gripping the rune a bit tighter, he narrowed his eyes on it. A second later, the information window about it appeared.
[ ITEM ]
Rune Stone (???)
Allows one to acquire the skill ‘Animal Body’ upon breaking.
Compatible with;
Tamer
[ ITEM ]
Jack raised an eyebrow. This one was actually compatible with his class, and unlike last time, instead of unlocking a spell it unlocked a skill? Interesting. Jack stared at the rune for a bit, before exhaling. Just holding onto it wasn’t worth it – if it was compatible with his class, he should just break it and acquire the skill it was mentioning.
However, before he went through with it, Jack placed the rune stone to the side and decided to first take a look at the last two items inside the chest. There was a cloak inside it, one that looked a lot more impressive than the one he was wearing right now.
[ EQUIPMENT ]
Grey Kings Cloak
Rank: C
A cloak that has been enchanted with spells that provide a +5% boost to the wearers Magical Energy. While wearing it, the wearer will not be perceived as an enemy by the goblin kind.
[ EQUIPMENT ]
The cloak, while it looked a lot better than the current one he had, wasn’t all that much better. In fact, despite its rank being better, Jack thought its effects or rather, its ‘benefits’ were not as good as his current cloak.
Being able to waltz into a goblin infested territory without being seen as an enemy or a threat sounded nice, but when compared to the Traveler's Cloak he had on him right now, it wasn’t that useful. Plus, Jack wasn’t in need of a boost to his magical energy, so the boost to his agility he got from the Traveler’s Cloak was a lot more appealing to him.
“Guess I’ll leave it behind. I don’t want to carry things I won’t use.” Jack commented in his head, placing the cloak back inside the chest, before taking out the last item inside it. It was a sheathed weapon – a shortsword.
Its handle was decorated with what looked like a carved image of the Grey Goblin King he had just fought, with the hand guard that rested pressed up against the sheath of the blade itself, being shaped a lot like you had taken that thing's hand and placed it onto the handle. Unsheathing the shortsword, he examined it a bit closer.
The blade was rugged and sharp looking, with this teeth-like pattern going across one side of the blade's edge. After examining its appearance for a bit, I focused on it, forcing an information window to appear.
[ WEAPON ]
Grey Kings Slasher
Rank: C
A Shortsword, whose blade has been forged using strong blackstone. Its handle and hand guard are parts that have been acquired from a past Grey Goblin King's corpse, before being used to forge this weapon.
Due to its intimidating presence, monsters weaker than the user are inflicted with the status of ‘FRIGHTENED’ – which lowers their physical stats by 20%.
[ WEAPON ]
Jack grinned slightly.
Now this was what he was talking about. An actually decent weapon – just what he needed, especially after his Black Iron dagger had been destroyed by the Grey Goblin King. Exhaling, he spun the shortsword, before sheathing it back up and picking up all the items he was going to take with him.
Then he turned to Araneida. “I’ll go change. Wait here.” The spider nodded in response, while Jack turned away and disappeared behind a large pile of rubble. While Araneida was just a spider and there was absolutely no one else here, he still felt like he shouldn’t start getting undressed in front of the spider.
It seemed a lot more intelligent than any ordinary monster, actively responding and seemingly understanding what I was saying to it.
So, Jack preferred to not take a risk.
After a bit, he returned to Araneida, having changed into the clothes she had brought to him. The sheathed shortsword was on his right hip, while the traveler's cloak rested on his shoulders, swooning down towards the ground. The only thing he kept on from his original worlds clothing, were his heavy duty boots – everything else, he had changed.
Surprisingly, the clothes fit him perfectly – as if tailored specifically for him, which did seem a bit strange to Jack at first, however he didn’t question it much. After all, why should he complain? It was better that the clothes fit him, rather than being too small for him.
Araneida looked at Jack with a glimmering gaze, amazed and almost excited seeing her master's new appearance. Jack looked down at the spider, exhaling lightly. “Do I look good?” Araneida nodded happily, jumping all over the place, as if complimenting him with her squeals and screeches.
Jack smiled. Good to know that his companion at least thought he looked good. Afterwards, the man took out the rune stone, looking at it with a curious, even slightly hesitant stare. All he had to do was break it and he would acquire the skill mentioned in it, however, for some reason he felt ever so slightly… afraid to break it. It was such a strange feeling. He hasn’t ever really felt fear in his life — having lived most of it, dancing hand in hand with danger and death on a daily basis for over eighteen years.
Yet, while holding the rune stone, there was a small part of him that was hesitant to break it. After a quick inhale and exhale, Jack pushed past the small fear he felt, before tightening his grip on the rune stone. The item was a lot more resistant than he had anticipated, however after a small bit, it cracked, before shattering into pieces.
Then, he felt as though a sudden flow of energy surged through his body, with an orange glow appearing around it for a second.
Extraction successful. Acquired the Class Skill [Animal Body].
“A class skill eh? So it's the same as ‘Taming’.” Jack thought. It did make sense, now that he thought about it — the rune stone said it was a skill that was only compatible with the class ‘Tamer’. It was easy to decipher what it was going to be using that information - or at least, he thought it was easy.
Acquiring the skill also had reminded him about his status. He had levelled up from all those goblins he killed, as well as the King right? Perhaps he should quickly distribute his stat points.
“System start.”
[ STATUS ]
Jack Alfred Gragbone
Gender: Male
Level: 24 (1)
Rank: F
Class: Tamer
Stat Points: 18
Health: 350 / [5]
Magical Energy: 350 / [4]
Strength: 160 / [6]
Defence: 150 / [5]
Agility: 160 / [6]
Skills;
[Interpreter]; Common Skill
[Combat Experience]; Unique Skill
[Battle Hungry]; Unique Skill
[Spider Venom]; Unique Skill
[Taming]; Class Skill
[Animal Body]; Class Skill
[ STATUS ]
“Eighteen stat points? Yeah, I should distribute them now…” He commented, before exhaling and looking at his stats. After thinking about it for a second, he decided to place four stat points in strength and health, three in agility and defence, and the final four in magical energy.
That felt like the most optimal distribution.
After that, he closed the window and looked at Araneida. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” The spider nodded and the duo prepared to leave, beginning to walk towards the entrance of the camp, however Jack then stopped as groaning was heard coming from behind them.
Looking back, he noticed the Grey Goblin King that he had defeated, still knocked inside the wall, with his sword at his side. After sharpening his gaze on it, he was surprised to find that the thing hadn’t actually died.
“The guy is tough, I’ll give him that.” Jack thought. Araneida looked worryingly at Jack, who exhaled and moved towards the weak Goblin King. Approaching him, the Grey Goblin King lifted his head up and looked at Jack, breathing rather heavily. “It’s… you…”
Jack remained silent for a bit.
“You’re quite the resilient one huh?”
“Hahah… You don’t become the ‘King’ of the tribe for no reason…”
“You don’t say…” Jack narrowed his eyes. Though the King was quite weak in his state and had tried to murder Jack, his strength was quite great and could prove to be a valuable resource…
Perhaps if Jack tried to ‘tame’ him, he could get the Grey Goblin King's strength on his side. That would be a massive help, as it meant that he could battle against even larger hordes of enemies — Plus, while he liked Araneida a lot, it would be nice to have someone he could communicate with in a language they both understood.
After scratching his chin, Jack chuckled. The Grey Goblin looked at him confused, before Jack extended his right hand towards the King.
The King looked at it confused, before lifting his gaze back up at Jack. “What..?”
“I am a Tamer. Become one of my familiars and I’ll ensure you survive.”
The Grey Goblin King looked a little lost for words for a second, before chuckling – his laughter sounding a bit painful and as if he was even struggling to do it. “Gahahhahah… You’re asking a ‘King’ to become a servant?”
“Look around you,” Jack narrowed his eyes, “You’re not a ‘King’ of anything anymore. This place is destroyed.”
The Grey Goblin King remained silent, not even bothering to look at Jack for a bit. It seemed like the creature was a bit lost in thought, wondering whether it should accept the man's proposal or not.
“I am a proud and great ruler – My kin selected me for my strength to lead them…” The King thought looking down at his right hand, before exhaling and clenching it into a fist. “...However, he is right. They’re all dead – I don’t have anyone to rule, not here. And a King without subjects to rule over…”
The Goblin King's thoughts went silent for a bit. Jack, as if he had read the creature's mind, smiled lightly. “...Is no ‘king’ at all.” He finished the creature's thought.
The Grey Goblin King remained silent for a bit longer, before eventually exhaling and looking up at Jack. “While I do not want to be a servant, I am in no way strong enough to fight this… monster. I also do not want to perish here. So maybe…” He lowered his head. After a bit, the goblin king let out a heavy exhale, before looking at Jack with an agreeing gaze.
“...Very well. I shall become your ‘familiar’, Tamer.”
Jack smirked. “Good decision.”
[ ALERT ]
Skill ‘Taming’ can be used.
[ ALERT ]
Jack took in a light breath, extending his right hand towards the Goblin King. “Tame.”
Instantly, his eyes lit up with an orange colour, while a small orange magic circle formed in his palm, followed by an exactly the same magic circle, only bigger, appearing below the Grey Goblin King.
The King closed his eyes — accepting what was happening. Just like with Araneida, orange chains shot from the magic circle in Jack's palm, before twisting around the Grey Goblin King in a cylindrical wall, which got closer and closer to the creature's body, before adjusting to its shape and merging into its body.
Then, the creature seemingly was healed of its injuries, as it rose to legs again – a massive force of wind sent from it. Then, the magic circles disappeared. Jack's eyes stopped glowing.
[ ALERT ]
Taming successful.
[ ALERT ]
The Grey Goblin King opened his eyes, the eyes glowing orange for a second, before he looked down at Jack and then kneeled before him. “My lord, I am at your service.”
Jack grinned. “Good to hear that. As for your name… Let’s go with Sallow.”
[ FAMILIAR ]
Sallow
Grey Goblin King
Level: 1 (3)
Rank: C
Grade: Ruler
[ FAMILIAR ]
…
[ ALERT ]
Tamed creature ‘Sallow’ has successfully recognised you as its master.
Unique Skill [Leaders Transformation] has been gifted.
Physical & Wind Magic Resistance has been acquired.
[ ALERT ]
