Survival Life as a Goblin Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Time for some more Goblin Isekai! Another Tier Reward Update! I’m glad this has some fans! So happy that people like my Original Writing too!

The youngsters only have two months to gain the strength they need to find a new place to live! Will they succeed? Going to have a bit of a time-skip this chapter! Plus an amazing discovery!

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-Day 40-

“What’re we looking for again?” Gobwren asked as he and Gobkoh walked through the forest along with Gobmyr and Rialin.

“A decent sized tree to fell with Gobmyr’s axe.” Gobkoh reminded the slightly shorter Goblin. “If we can cut the trunk into thick circular pieces we can make shields out of them.”

“Right, but how big of a tree do we need?” Gobwren questioned and Gobkoh held his hands in front of him to show the size.

“A bit wider than our torsos, that way we can cover our vitals with the shield and armor if we need to. The shield is the first line of defense.” Gobkoh explained as the four Goblins walked along.

It had been a busy day already for Gobkoh. First they’d done their daily training and practice. Then he’d spent quite a while teaching the ten Goblins that had felled the Thrash Boars how to stitch the large hides and fill them with long grasses to create a makeshift, primitive mattress. Now he was walking through the forest looking for the right sized tree to have Gobmyr cut down so he could try his hand at crafting shields for his group. Maybe not every Goblin would take to them, but it was a useful piece of equipment to have regardless.

“What about this one?” Gobmyr asked as he pointed to a mostly straight tree. Gobkoh approached the tree, though he couldn’t identify the species. At least not yet he couldn’t. A quick application of ‘Analyze’ revealed the information, plus a little extra.

[Linden ‘Basswood’ Tree – Sturdy, Medicinal]

‘Medicinal? How?’ Gobkoh thought to himself, he wasn’t expecting to get an answer though.

[Level Insufficient for Further Knowledge]

‘Okay…guess I have to level up Analyze more before I can access ‘why’ this tree is listed as medicinal.’ Gobkoh mentally shrugged before putting his hands on each side of the trunk of the tree. Seeing the width was right about where he wanted it, Gobkoh turned to Gobmyr and nodded.

“Good job, Gobmyr, this one should do just fine.” Gobkoh grinned at the other Goblin. Gobmyr smiled back before he walked up to the base of the tree and started swinging his axe. Gobkoh, Rialin, and Gobwren where there to act as guards while Gobmyr felled the tree. It would probably take a couple of hours but it would be vital to the future of the youngsters.

-One Hour Later-

“So tired…” Gobmyr panted as he had to sit and take a break.

“I’ll take over.” Gobwren offered and Gobmyr could only nod and had him the axe.

For the next three hours all four Goblins took turns chopping away at the tree. When it finally fell all four cheered at the first part of the work being done. Rialin headed back to the cave to enlist the help of the rest of the group and soon nineteen Goblins were hauling the felled tree back to the edge of the cave clearing.

“Hmm, what’re you youngsters up too?” En questioned as he walked over to the group.

“I want to make some shields for us.” Gobkoh explained as he told En about his idea.

“Ah, I see, well I’m sure Rull could be persuaded to help if you got him some food.” En grinned at the young Goblins.

“We can do that.” Gobwren nodded at Gobkoh.

“Sure can.” Gobkoh nodded back. “Rialin, keep the work going here, please. Gobwren and I will be out hunting for a bit.”

“Be safe, neither of you has armor right now.” Rialin requested of her male and Gobkoh hugged her while promising.

With that Gobkoh and Gobwren headed out to hunt behind the cave. They walked into the forest near the river in hopes of finding big prey that was getting a drink. Spotting a good area to stake out for a while Gobkoh motioned Gobwren to follow him up into a tree. The two Goblins climbed up into the lower branches and took out their bows while they waited.

“Stake out is always the most boring part.” Gobwren commented several minutes later.

“True, but it’s better than wasting a lot of energy running around the forest and potentially catching the eye of another predator.” Gobkoh replied as he scanned the river with his eyes. The two stayed in the tree for another half hour before they noticed something emerge from the trees further upstream.

“What’s that big thing?” Gobwren questioned as neither of them had ever seen this creature before.

“Give me a sec.” Gobkoh focused and used ‘Analyze’ on the animal.

[Scalecoon – Level 12 – Advanced Form of Shellcoon-]

“Apparently that’s what a Shellcoon grows into, a Scalecoon.” Gobkoh informed Gobwren as they watched the fairly large, at least as big as a Shade Lynx, animal drink from the river. It honestly reminded Gobkoh of a creature he remembered from ‘before’, a Pangolin. With its large body covered in thick scales, that looked strangely ‘faded’ for lack of a better term, it had most definitely improved its natural armor upon advancing to this form. 

“Should I try hitting it with an arrow?” Gobwren asked his hand hovering over the arrows in his quiver.

“No, you’d just be wasting an arrow.” Gobkoh shook his head. The two continued to watch the Scalecoon for a bit. Once the animal was done drinking it approached a large tree and began to rub against it. Bark was being broken off the large tree but that wasn’t what caught Gobkoh’s attention. What caught the young Goblin’s attention was the fact that the faded scales of the Scalecoon were falling off to reveal newer, much darker, scales underneath.

“What’s it doing?” Gobwren asked also seeing the scales falling off the animal.

“Shedding.” Gobkoh replied as he watched the Scalecoon remove its old scales against the tree. “All the scales on top are old and it has newer, probably stronger, scales underneath.”

“Oh, that’s kind of neat.” Gobwren commented as they watched the Scalecoon finish its shedding by running its tail against the tree several times. The fact this had an almost chainsaw like effect on the bark of the tree nearly freaked Gobkoh out.

‘How hard are those scales that they can practically saw into a tree just from rubbing against it?’ Gobkoh mused to himself before turning to Gobwren as the Scalecoon wandered back into the forest. “We’re collecting all those scales before we leave, they’ll be useful for making armor and shields.”

“Sure thing.” Gobwren shrugged as the two of them resumed their stake out.

-One Hour Later-

“Gobwren, we’ve got something.” Gobkoh informed his follower. Gobwren turned to face the direction Gobkoh was looking and saw a few Stripe Deer drinking from the river. Seeing Gobkoh knock an arrow, Gobwren followed suit. “Make sure you aim for the front part of the body, just a little behind the front leg is where the heart is.”

“Got it.” Gobwren replied as he pulled back his bowstring.

“Now.” Gobkoh said as he let his arrow fly, it was followed only a second later by Gobwren’s. The two arrows struck their marks well, Gobwren’s deer dropped into the water and only moved for a second or two before going still. Gobkoh’s arrow had gone slightly higher and his deer stumbled a bit before it took a few steps, as if to run, before it collapsed on the riverbank and stilled. The rest of the Stripe Deer had bolted already and Gobkoh and Gobwren were making their way down from their tree.

“We got them!” Gobwren cheered as they slowly approached the downed deer, just to be safe.

“You’ve become a good shot in only a couple days Gobwren, good work.” Gobkoh praised the other Goblin who smiled brightly at the compliment. Both Goblins approached the downed deer and after poking them both from the distance of Gobkoh’s ‘Antler Spear’ found them to be dead. “Let’s gut and clean them, then we’ll collect the Scalecoon’s scales and bring them back with us too.”

“Right.” Gobwren replied as he pulled out his ‘Stone Knife’ and began to open up his deer. After dumping the guts into the river for whatever fish or other creatures lived in the water, the two youngsters walked over to where the Scalecoon had shed and began picking up the shed scales.

“These things are pretty strong.” Gobkoh commented as he held one of the scales. It was about eight inches across and ten inches long. It was incredibly hard and a light brown color, possibly harder than rock considering Gobkoh couldn’t even scratch it with his claws. “They’ll make good armor and we can work them into the new shields too.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me!” Gobwren nodded from where he was tapping on one of the scales with his knuckles. The two ended up collecting over two hundred scales from the ground. Hauling them back along with the deer carcasses left them panting and exhausted by the time they got back to the cave clearing.

Just as En had said; Rull was willing to help out with cutting up the fallen tree for them in exchange for one of the Stripe Deer. As it turned out Rull owned a very large stone axe of his own. He kept it in the chamber he and his Hobgoblin wives slept in. Easily a two handed axe even in Rull’s large hands the tree was soon cut into thirty disks of wood. They were of mostly uniform thickness, around one and a half to two inches. Some were a bit thicker than others but Rull was strong enough to split each ‘disk’ off from the trunk in a single swing so Gobkoh wasn’t going to complain. Rull’s help certainly saved them a great deal of time. From there it was helping Gobwren skin his deer and stretch the hide so he could use it as bedding. After cooking the Stripe Deer for lunch Gobkoh was finally able to get started on the shields.

“So what do we need?” Rialin asked as she sat next to her male and held one of the wooden disks.

“Plenty of Needle Tree sap, these wooden disks and these scales.” Gobkoh explained and several Goblins rushed off to gather the sap. Gobkoh showed his group how to spread the powerfully adhesive sap onto the scales and how to place them onto the wooden disks. Five scales covered the shield with one of the rounder scales from the around the Scalecoon’s joints being used to fill in the center. When all was said and done thirty ‘Scale Shields’ were completed and there were still quite a few scales left over. With this in mind Gobkoh got to work on making some armor.

“Damn, the scales are too hard to poke through. I can’t use the same technique that I used to make the ‘Shell Armor Breastplates’.” Gobkoh grumbled as he looked over the pile of scales he still had left. Rialin was watching her male ponder on how to use the scales to make armor for a bit while also looking them over.

“What if you used the sap to stick them to wood and used the ‘threading’ technique on the wood instead?” Rialin asked and Gobkoh’s eyes widened. He turned to Rialin with a smile and pulled her into a hug.

“Have I told you that you’re super smart?” Gobkoh asked with a grin while Rialin snuggled into the hug.

“Not often.” Rialin answered with a smile.

“I’ll have to do it more often then.” Gobkoh remarked before kissing her lips. Rialin’s eye went wide for a moment before she kissed back. She was beaming when they separated and snuggled into him for several minutes afterwards. Gobwren watched all of this with suppressed chuckles as he was also making himself armor from the scales. Gobkoh and Rialin simply ignored the snickering as they held each other.

Thanks to Rialin’s idea Gobkoh was able to complete the new ‘Scale Armor’ for himself, Rialin, and Gobwren. Using some of the left over wood from the tree and the Needle Tree sap Gobkoh made over the shoulder armor with extra thick cordage. The ‘Scale Armor’ was stronger than the ‘Shell Armor Breastplates’ but a little heavier because of it. Seeing that they still had a pile of scales left Gobkoh thought on how to use them and came upon an idea. He spent the rest of the evening working on this one last idea before heading to bed.

-Day 41-

“Done and done.” Gobkoh nodded as he looked at his finished creation. It was another set of ‘Scale Armor’ but much larger than anything a Goblin could use. Filial Piety may not be practiced among Goblin Tribes much; but Gobkoh felt this was the least he could do for Rull. The Ogre was his father after all, and the old Chief was knowingly buying them time to get stronger at what would almost assuredly be the cost of his life. So Gobkoh had used all the remaining scales to fashion an Ogre-sized set of ‘Scale Armor’ for Rull to wear when the Emperor Tiger came.

“For me?” Rull questioned as Gobkoh led him over to the youngsters sleeping area.

“Yes, Chief, for when the Tiger comes.” Gobkoh nodded as he motioned to the armor. He’d had to bring Rull here to pick it up, it was literally too heavy for any Goblin to move alone.

“Thank you, my child.” Rull rumbled out with noticeable affection. The gentle hand on his head, that gave a playful pat and rub, was the most affection Gobkoh had seen Rull give to anyone barring his Hobgoblin wives. Slipping the armor over his head, being careful of his horns, Rull was shown how to tie the leather straps on the side to secure the armor to his torso. Gobkoh could admit to being a bit proud of his creation. Rull went from an unarmored Ogre wearing the pelts of various animals stitched together around his waist; to an Ogre with a thick set of armor over his back and torso and his pelt kilt. With the addition of his large ‘Stone Axe’ in his hands, Rull looked like an enemy that no one would want to face one on one.

“Glad you like it, father.” Gobkoh replied with his own bit of affection. Both of them knew it would help in the coming battle, but that it wouldn’t change the outcome. But Piety didn’t have to solve problems or make sense; it was a show of love and support more than anything else.

-A Month Later ~ Day 71-

He was close, so close he could feel it! Just a bit more! Another push was all he needed! If he could just find ‘something’ strong enough to give him that push he’d be there!

“What are you grumbling about, Gobkoh?” Rialin asked her male as their group finished up training for the morning.

“Just my level.” Gobkoh replied as they walked towards the river together to get a drink and cool off a bit. The training over the last month had been doing wonders for his group. All of his followers were now around Level 10 or Level 11, it was great progress. Many of them had even developed a few Skills. With the ‘Shell Armor Breastplates’ and the ‘Scale Shields’ not a single member of their group had died since they formed. All of his followers were able to hunt for themselves and because of it there was always plenty of food. So much in fact that Gobkoh had his followers regularly offer the extra to Rull, En, and the Hobgoblin females. Call him soft, or emotional, but Gobkoh was of the mind that helping their parents enjoy these last couple of months together was the right thing to do. 

“What about it? You’ve been growing well.” Rialin stated and Gobkoh sighed while using ‘Analyze’ on Rialin.

[Rialin, Goblin, Level 13]

[Skills: Analyze, Fire Making, Leatherwork, Martial Arts]

“I’m so close to Level 15 that I can feel it, but it’s taking longer than I’d like.” Gobkoh informed her. He then used ‘Analyze’ on himself.

[Gobkoh, Level 14]

[Skills: Analyze Lv. 2, Weapon Crafting, Leatherwork, Fire Making, Martial Arts, Armor Crafting]

[Martial Arts - Increases Power, Accuracy, and Durability by 10% when fighting]

[Armor Crafting - 10% better results when creating armor and shields]

From his own usage of ‘Analyze’ on his followers he was aware that all of them now possessed the Martial Arts Skill. Many of them also had Fire Making and Leatherwork too. Gobkoh felt like he was close to Level 15 and like something ‘different’ was going to happen when he hit the next level. He didn’t know what was going to be ‘different’ but it was just how he felt.

“Well we can always go on a hunt and see if it helps you hit the next level.” Rialin offered.

“Thank you, Rialin.” Gobkoh smiled at his female, getting a grin in return before they both headed off into the forest together.

Walking for a while the two looked high and low for prey. So far not much was found beyond a few small birds in the trees. The group had been forced to go further lately to find prey. En had chalked this up to the approaching Emperor Tiger scaring all of the animals away. The beast was very far outside of its normal range after all. The two stopped for a bit to look around, trying to spot any hidden animals. Gobkoh had wanted to try out an idea he’d thought of a day or so ago and activated ‘Analyze’ while looking around.

[Poplar Tree]

[Oak Tree]

[Norva Shrub]

[Stingweed]

[Maple Tree]

[Wild Grass]

[Makto Bush]

“Ow, ow, ow, too much info!” Gobkoh groaned as he closed his eyes. He hadn’t even turned his head! That was all just within his field of view! Having so many things trying to put information into his head all at once hurt!

“Are you alright?” Rialin asked seeing her male holding his head.

“Yeah, I’m fine I just used ‘Analyze’ on too many things at once.” Gobkoh waved it off a he looked up at Rialin and got her information from his Skill. Though the information that appeared a second later made Gobkoh move faster than ever before.

[Shade Lynx has used Skill: ‘Shadow’]

“Damn!” Gobkoh yelled as he rushed forward and pushed Rialin aside while raising his ‘Scale Shield’. The invisible form of the lynx crashed into the shield and sent Gobkoh stumbling backwards. As soon as the sunlight from the open area he and Rialin had been standing in hit the invisible beast it became visible again.

“Gobkoh!” Rialin cried out as she got back on her feet and drew her ‘Stone Sword’.

“We’ve got this!” Gobkoh yelled back as he pulled his ‘Antler Spear’ off his back and held it just over his ‘Scale Shield’. This brought back a memory from ‘before’, something he could almost vividly remember seeing at some point. The lynx, its ambush attack having failed, growled at the two Goblins facing it. Both Rialin and Gobkoh had their ‘Scale Shields’ facing the predator and their weapons pointed towards the cat. ‘Analyze’ was used by both of the Goblins on the beast they now faced.

[Shade Lynx – Level 13]

[Skills – Shadow, Fleet Footed]

[Race Specific Ability – Dark Eye]

‘That’s a new Category.’ Gobkoh thought to himself as he eyed the lynx’s ‘Race Specific Ability’.

“Come on!” Rialin yelled at the growling cat, brandishing her sword at it.

The lynx pounced at her only to leap away as Gobkoh’s spear was thrust at it. The cat circled around the two Goblins hissing and growling. Every attempt to get close resulted in it scratching at the ‘Scale Shields’ and having to back off to avoid getting stab by Gobkoh’s spear or slashed by Rialin’s sword. That is until it used its second Skill.

[Shade Lynx has used Skill: ‘Fleet Footed’]

Suddenly the lynx’s speed increased and it literally jumped from the ground to a tree trunk off to the right before leaping again and slamming Gobkoh into the ground. The ‘Scale Shield’ took the claws of lynx without trouble and kept the cat’s fangs from reaching Gobkoh’s face. Rialin let out a roar as she rushed the cat and scored the first blow of the fight. The lynx yowled as it leapt away, a bleeding cut on its back right leg. 

“Are you alright?” Rialin asked as Gobkoh quickly got back on his feet.

“Thanks to you.” Gobkoh thanked her as he leveled his spear at the lynx.

The lynx seemed to study the pair of Goblins as it paced around them; the injury to its leg wasn’t very deep and only seemed to slightly slow the cat. The predator blitzed forward in another ‘Fleet Footed’ burst but it veered off and slashed at Rialin this time. Her ‘Scale Shield’ held against the attack and Gobkoh took advantage of the stalemate.

“Rargh!” Gobkoh yelled as he thrust his spear forward and buried it in the lynx’s side. The cat yowled at the pain but Gobkoh kept the pressure up preventing the cat from getting away. Rialin, now free of the lynx’s attack slashed her sword forward in a horizontal arc and cut the lynx’s neck. Blood flew from the wound as the cat flailed but Gobkoh kept it pinned with his spear. The lynx’s strength quickly dropped as it lost blood from the neck wound. Gobkoh raised his spear, pulling from the downed cat’s body, before thrusting downwards again and piercing the lynx through the chest. The predator stilled a second later and both Goblins waited for a second before they breathed out.

“We did it!” Rialin cheered as she relaxed and sheathed her ‘Stone Sword’. Gobkoh retied his ‘Antler Spear’ to his back and then they both looked each other over for injuries. The ‘Scale Armor’ had prevented any real damage to Gobkoh being knocked to the ground. The ‘Scale Shields’ had prevented any other injuries as well. Gobkoh was even happier that he’d created the protective items now; seeing as they’d kept him and Rialin safe.

~ “Gobkoh unlocked Race Specific Ability: ‘Goblin Flame’.” ~

“What?” Gobkoh startled as he heard the weird voice again. “Race Specific Ability, since when, how?”

“Gobkoh?” Rialin questioned her male as he spoke aloud and looked very confused.

“Sorry, Rialin, I just unlocked a ‘Race Specific Ability’…somehow.” Gobkoh informed his female as he quickly used ‘Analyze’ on himself again.

[Gobkoh, Level 15]

[Skills: Analyze Lv. 2, Weapon Crafting, Leatherwork, Fire Making, Martial Arts, Armor Crafting]

[Race Specific Ability – Goblin Flame]

‘Analyze Goblin Flame.’ Gobkoh thought and his Skill responded.

[Goblin Flame – The ability to summon fire with mana. Shared ancestry with the Imp Species makes this Ability uncommon in Goblins.]

“So that’s what it does.” Gobkoh muttered aloud and Rialin just looked on in confusion. Gobkoh held up his hand and focused on wanting a fireball. A second later a small ball of flame snapped to life in his palm. Gobkoh stared amazed at the little ball of fire. It barely felt hot to him but he could see the slight heat haze the flame was giving off.

“Is that the ‘Race Specific Ability’ thing you were talking about?” Rialin questioned as she looked at the fireball in her males’ hand. It was about the size of the Mavu Fruit they often ate for breakfast, just big enough to fill a Goblin hand.

“Yeah…I’ll have to test it out a bit to really figure out what all I can do with it.” Gobkoh replied. With a thought the fireball went out and Gobkoh pulled Rialin into a hug. “You did amazing.”

“Thank you.” Rialin smiled as she hugged back enjoying the closeness.

“Let’s clean it and take it back to the cave, I’m curious what it tastes like.” Gobkoh grinned and got a fanged grin back from his female. They gutted and cleaned the Shade Lynx before they hauled it back to the cave. Gobkoh skinned the cat for its nice pelt and Rialin started the fire to cook it on. Upon actually tasting the meat Gobkoh couldn’t really compare it to much. Even ‘before’ he had no memories of eating a feline of any kind; but the cat was kind of tough with muscles and strong tendons and ligaments. It wasn’t horrible but Gobkoh thought the meat smelled a little funny. After eating and checking on the members of his group, thankfully they all came back unharmed again, he set about counting the dim-witted males to keep track of them.

‘Only six left now.’ Gobkoh thought with a shake of his head. They couldn’t even pull a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ and copy carrying sticks around? No wonder Goblin Tribes just accepted losing progeny; they were too stupid to be helped in some cases.

“Whatever there are other things I can do right now.” Gobkoh sighed as he set about removing the largest fangs of the Shade Lynx. They could be used as tools at least. The claws he was planning to make into a necklace for Rialin, he would surprise her with it once he was done. Knowing his female, she’d probably preen in front of the other girls with her new gift. Rialin loved to show off his Crafting through the gifts and weapons he made for her after all.

-End Chapter-

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So it seems Gobkoh has unlocked a new Ability. It’s not overly powerful right now, but it has its uses! Unlike the Imps’ magical Fireball, the Goblin Flame can’t be launched with Magic. But it can be thrown like a ball or stone at an enemy. Gobkoh has some experimenting to do. We also see that the new equipment has helped the group not only survive, but thrive as their levels continue to grow! Less than a month remains now before the Emperor Tiger will challenge Rull directly. Will Gobkoh and his followers be strong enough to run away and find themselves a new home? Keep reading to find out!

Until I can update this again, later!