The sed check-point that Arvena so treasured, wasn’t as easy to get to. It had these perplexing issues behind it, and the main issue was that they had to reach a portal of some sort, in order to get to this said sed check-point (or location).

  It wasn’t easy to get to the portal, as they had to pay for their transport, in literal gold s. This erplexing for them, it was the main issue, because the team had to get actual jobs in order to afford the means of their transportation! In other words, they couldn’t fight like cavemen any longer in order tress, as it wouldn’t work as often in a civilized society. It was true that they usually got what they wahrough such fighting and sughtering, but they couldn’t behave like that this time around, no. They had to pay twenty-five gold s each!

  Now in any universe, that amount of gold retty sizable, it was expehe average goblin family had to work four months straight in order to accumute around twenty-five gold s, so it was uandable how no one was willing to help them financially, it would be an expensive good deed! A total sum of seventy-five gold s would strain their foster town’s finances greatly, so these people couldn’t help much.

  Due to this overall predit, the three of them had to do a bunch of odd jobs just to pay for their rides. Sihey were in the beginning of fall in this universe, the most promi seasonal job was for oo be a wood-cutter, as every house needed wood to keep warm!

  There were several lumber mills in a one-hundred mile radius, mills who employed ahat they could due to the seasonal demands of wood, so the team got lucky, they found plenty of pces to work at. They cut wood all day, with these heavy, irohat was their main job, and they withheld this job for six whole weeks!

  Now a job like this would barely pay five gold s a month, that is, if one worked every day of the week without discrimination, in order to get paid that much. It was a lot of hard work, and although five gold s would be a respectable sary typically, it still was less than optimal for the team, because they needed a lot mold. At that payment-rate, they would o work more than five months in order to make the amount of mohat they were looking for! It was a very long time.

  It redit even, a hassle, but they found a way around it, they were given a free, magical ability to use! It was a bit of a cheat-code, because they could chop wood a lot faster with this ability, but they used it gdly regardless of what oblins thought about this.

  The average goblin wouldn’t waste their mana on wood-cutting, as it would be too expensive for them, so almost no one else around here used magic to cut wood. Tim and his friends however, they did so gdly for weeks, because they were stripped out of options. They didn’t want to do hard physical bor for five months, so they exhausted their mana pool everyday, cutting wood, it was fun.

  This raw, daily spending of mana had sequehey couldn’t upgrade the quality of their mana, for example, because their pools were never full. They couldn’t upgrade their mana even once, and although they uood that the measures they’ve taken were necessary, this ck ress still put a dent on their willpower. They were tired, and annoyed.

  Anyway, Arvena was the one who told them about this ‘wood-cutting’ ability; It was attainable if one read a very local book, to be exact.

  This ability allowed them to move really fast, without experieng too much pain or exhaustion in the process. This ability was called fsh grip, and it only worked if one’s feet were grounded, so they couldn’t run super fast as one would imagine, no. They ended up chopping wood a lot faster than everyone else, and they did so with a seventy-five pert redu of potential exhaustion, or movemeed pain! This was the ability’s main charm.

  Thanks to fsh grip, they made all their gold in six weeks, as mentioned, and they only felt the pain of a group that had worked for ten-days straight, ten hours a day, rather than six weeks or more! It wasn’t too bad, the math of it all was a bit f too, and they were to recover soon from the tless aches that they felt.

  Oim re-ted all of the gold that he had earned, he put them all ba a tiny, thiher bag afterwards. Then, he couldn’t help but think about the livelihood of the goblins here. He admired it, because saries and or tradiraits that also represented humans, vividly, and trading was especially embedded in the society here! He had felt very human these past six weeks, which was a fantastic feeling for the likes of him.

  While he pohose feelings, he then couldn’t help doing some more math. For example, he always got a good ugh when he looked at the faces of lumber-mill owners after he and his friends chopped a collective, eighteen-hundred bolt logs a day, the owners were always stuhey were surprised that anyone would waste mana on wood-cutting to be exact, it was unheard of, and this was what forced Tim to do all that math.

  He thought, “If no one here uses mana on their jobs, then how e everyone isn’t a fug god by now? Mana accumutes naturally, and over a decade, anyone could be very very powerful through patience alone, without risking their biscuit like we do… So, why isn’t everyone fug divinely powerful?”

  This was a great question. Sihey rested at Arvena’s family home at night, she was close enough to him, so he asked her that very same eborate question. Thankfully, she had an instant, and clear answer.

  “There is a limit to how pure one’s mana bee, everyone has that limit.” She cited, “It’s hard to expin the whole magical sce behind it, but basically, this is why half of the goblin popution never leaves the god’s punishment realm; They ’t.”

  “That’s sad,” He sighed, “If I got stu this realm then I’d kill myself, or I’d offer my ass to one of those cockatrice dragoher way I wouldn't enjoy living, cause life already is pretty unenjoyable.”

  …

  The group of three secured the finances for their journey, and they felt that it was a great bonus that they chopped a lot of wood for the unity along the way, enough wood to keep many vilges warm for the wihey felt good about that, regardless of the sorehat their bodies suffered, because they khat they were paying bae of the endless hospitality that the goblins had shown them so far.

  At the very least, they mao reduce the average price of wood by fifteen-pert, in a one-hundred mile radius so yes, goblins will appreciate their tributions a lot!

  Anyway, sihey could afford their transport now, there was no point in wasting any more time. The very day, they asked Arvena te their transport!

  Tim expected a camel, a flying horse, or anything of that equivalence because it seemed like a big, and expensive deal to get to this respected portal. For twenty-five gold s a head, he really expected to travel in style, in a luxurious manner! However, Tim was gravely mistaken.

  Arvena took them to a shaman of sorts. Shamans were very ongst goblins, and their typical magical abilities were reted to the darker sides of magic, such as neand or summoning! The team went to see a summoner.

  When Tim saw an old, wrinkly shaman with his hairy balls hanging about, he felt that all of his work had gone in vain. They expected very little from this dry-knuckled geezer!

  “Is he fruity too? I’m not giving my ass to anyone, Arvena, I was kidding st night!” Tim pressured, though most of what he said was a joke.

  “I wouldn’t taint my potency with your dusty butt-crack,” The shaman answered instead of Arvena, and then he pointed his staff towards the group, and added. “If you seek passage to the nano-universe of Nul, then I shall help you, otherwise I will not tolerate your senseless harassment!”

  MisterE05