The Goblin Market

I cleared out two classrooms before my heart started beating normally. One had a large lizard creature that hoarded a pile of copper coins and spat acid at me. The other was a group of 7ft tall one-eyed humanoids wearing loincloths. The loot wasn't anything to write home about- mostly coins and weapons I couldn't use. What mattered was that for the first time since coming here, I finally felt that I was no longer desperately trying to catch up- I was on par with the challenge.

Really it was just the one tactic that I had developed that made me feel safer. I would rush into a classroom, chanting the spell for the invisible barrier and run to the nearest corner. In the corner, I threw up the barrier in such a way that I was protected from all four sides. There was a hole above my head, and it didn't quite reach to my feet, but if I didn't give the monsters the time to find the weaknesses in the wall, I could pick them off at my leisure. It seemed almost unfair, like spear-fishing from inside a shark-cage, but I wasn't here to play fair.

I had taken a few bruises from the cyclopes' clubs, even at 10% impact, but I felt fine. The spray of acid that had burned off the soles of my shoes was more annoying, but I was just happy that I'd noticed in time to jump out of my crocs and run around barefoot thereafter. Being dressed in a ridiculous outfit and barefoot fit well with the state of my mind and the situation, so I wasn't too worried about it. I was sure I'd find new footwear soon.

I checked my progress.

Log Lesser Cyclops killed x6, exp to level 8 999/1000.

Damn it, ain't it always so. I needed an easy target, the boost from the level-up would surely give me new options which would, in turn make it easier to fight for that last level I needed. I left the classroom and-

Ah shit oh fuck ah damn. I couldn't see anything and I felt a thousand needles pierce my scalp and cheeks. I panicked and flailed around for a moment. What the fuck was happening? Brad's pained, bloody face flashed in my mind, and I reached up to my face. Sure enough, one of the nasty little creatures was attached to my face and head, it must have dropped from the ceiling above the door. The fuck was I supposed to do about it?

The knife. Did I still have the kitchen knife that I'd taken from the original guild room? I checked my pockets, no, it was… There. I pulled the knife out of my belt loop and as carefully as I could, pressed into the flesh of the creature attached to my head, half an inch away from my ear. It squealed and pushed harder, and I stabbed up in a jerky, reflexive motion, going all the way through it. I gripped the knife with both hands and pushed it away from my head, slowly peeling the creature partially off. When it was half-way off, I pulled it off with my hands and threw it at the wall. I was about to step on it, but it curled up into a ball, and I wasn't wearing any shoes.

Just like with Brad, the spikes had miraculously avoided my eyes, but blood was seeping into them, irritating and distracting. I just took my staff and pushed it through the creature on the floor.

Log Juvenile spike gremlin defeated, exp to level 8 1000/1000 Level up! Level 8 reached. You have gained level 8 as a Coward. You have gained 1 point in the agility attribute. Your agility is maxed out at your current level of Power-2. You have gained 1 attribute point to spend. You have reached an even level. Class ability gained- Coward 8.

Now that I thought about it I had gained a point of agility all the way back at level 2 when I first got the Coward class. I guess the difference between 0 agility and 1 wasn't immediately obvious, but I had been running, jumping and sliding around a lot more than I had back in my old life, and I had mostly done so successfully. I put the free point in Enlightenment, getting me to 3. I felt no different in the moment, but as I relaxed my mind to reach a meditative state, it worked almost immediately, even with the pain and adrenaline from the recent fight. The concentration broke pretty quickly, but this wasn't the time to clear my mind anyways.

I went back into the cyclops classroom, just to sit down and do this next part at a desk. I opened the Journal to the abilities page, and, as expected, saw three new options.

Abilities

Level 8 reached. Even level reached. Class abilities for Coward 8 available:

Retreating Forwards: So long as there is potential danger behind you, you may use the speed increase from your Run Screaming ability even if you are moving towards an enemy.

Shared Anxieties: Whenever you are targeted by a magical or non-magical effect that causes you to freeze or flee, any enemies within your line of sight also experience the fear that you are feeling. The fear is magical and identical in quality and intensity to yours, but creatures with greater willpower than yours are likely to resist the effects in whole or in part.

Frightened Rabbit Style: Whenever you lose control of yourself due to fear or panic, there is a 50% chance that instead of fleeing or freezing, you lash out with desperate, clawing attack. In this state you temporarily gain the Martial Arts, Improvised Weapon, Unarmed Fighting and Dirty Fighting skills at rank 4, or increase them by 2, whichever is highest. You lose all control of your body until either you, or all enemies are defeated.

Stolen novel; please report.

I had so far avoided abilities that made me lose control, but that was a lot of skillpoints. This was a good level for combat skills of the Coward, apparently, as I saw great utility in all of them. The Retreating Forwards ability would effectively double my movement speed, so long as I was advancing directly forwards, or running directly away, and, with my increased agility, that could be indispensable. The other two gave me options to offset my garbage fear resistance. One by potentially leaving my enemies in equally bad position, the other by giving me one last coin-flip when shit hits the fan.

I ended up picking on principle. I wouldn't accept that I was going to lose control of myself in a panic, not again. I picked the first ability, Retreating Forwards, and went to look for someplace to test it out.

I went back to drawing my own map. I didn't want to go directly to the cafeteria, I still had plenty of grinding to do before I reached level 9, and plenty of time to grind it. I didn't want to get lost, so, map-drawing. I was just getting a feel for how huge the labyrinthine Tower "school" was. We had walked for several hours in each direction, and there was no obvious end in sight. So I had plenty of unexplored hallways to explore, as well as the time to do it.

I walked for a dozen minutes or so, before I heard a scream. I hustled towards it, fearing that someone was in danger, but soon other shouts, laughter and singing joined in. As I got closer, there was the clanging of metals, sounds of movement, discussion and merriment, as well as arguments and fights. I thought I could make out words and, as I reached what I thought must be the last corner before whatever this was, I could understand them.

"Junk! Terrible junk! Get your useless fucking junk here! Awful prices!" a grating, high-pitched voice sounded. "Crush-and-a-smash-and-a-burn-and-a-pi~lage," sang a choir of monstrous, off-pitch voices. "You're off the case, Zlokvor, hand in your slime projector and badge!" a small, squealing voice called angrily.

What the fuck?

Whatever else, it sounded like a community. Now, there was violence and most of what I overheard wasn't promising, but so far the monster nests had been little more than that- borderline video-game monster spawners. Indeed, aside from the apprentices, there had been very little sign of intelligence from any of the monsters, even the humanoid ones.

Well, what the Hell, if nothing else I could now run faster than almost anything I had seen in the Tower, I may as well check out what was going on there. I turned the corner and saw a bustle of activity like I hadn't seen in the hallways since the original Adventuring Guild had filled those hallways near the library.

There were monsters everywhere. Goblins and orcs I recognized from having fought them before. Green-skinned creatures, the larger orcs only about as different from one another as people, the smaller goblins as varied as the shapes as skilled middle-schooler could make out of playdoh. I saw several centaurs towering above both, a small group of five elf-looking fae and about a hundred different creatures I couldn't recognize.

This varied group was milling around the hallways in a leisurely pace. Some five feet from the corner, hanging from the ceiling, there was a banner stretched with ropes connecting it to the walls to the left and right, with the words "Goblin Market" written on it in red. On either side of the hallway there were stalls, bars and huts made out of the desks, wardrobes and cabinets scavenged from the classrooms. There was even the smell of cooking meat coming from one of the classrooms nearby, and despite myself I felt hunger rising at the smell.

Hey, there was every chance that the meat wasn't human. Not everything here could be cannibal. Anthropovore. Whatever.

When the first of the heads turned to me, I froze, but as quickly as they glanced at me, they glanced back away. Whatever these monsters were doing here, they weren't looking for a fight. At least they weren't immediately hostile and I was curious as Hell. Chum had told us that the presence of events suggested the existence of a plot, which suggested the existence of a purpose. If I had to guess, this market would have some answers to my many questions, or, at least, new and more interesting questions.

So, cautiously, I approached. Nobody shouted out in anger, nobody pointed at me, nobody opened fire. I walked up to the nearest booth and found that a goblin woman, gray-haired and scrawny, with warts on her cheeks and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses was turning around kabobs on a grill clearly made out of a shelf of a metal filing cabinet.

"What meat is that?" I asked. "Not human!" she shouted over the din. I considered enquiring further, but if I was being honest, that was all that I cared about. When in goblin market, do as the goblins do. "How much?" I said. "Five thousand gold pieces!" she shouted. "I'll give you five copper," I said. "Deal!" she shouted, and pushed two of the skewers towards me. It wasn't just meat, there were definite onions and probable bell peppers on it too. I took a hesitant bite, and started coughing right away. "Ha ha! Goblin pepper!" She said. She enunciated the 'ha ha' instead of actually laughing. "It's good. Puts hair on the chest," I said, and bravely took another bite. It didn't burn half as much, and the gasoline flavor was quickly growing pleasant. This time the woman laughed for real. "Not bad, not a bad human. A good one," She shouted.

I nodded her thanks, paid and turned to leave, when there was an explosion in one of the adjacent classrooms. I looked about, trying to see if this was a part of the bustle and chaos of the market working as usual, or something going wrong, when a dust-covered orc ran out of the room and shouted:

"Elementals! We are under attack," and fell over, face first, unmoving. Then the market broke out in screams, half the monsters drawing weapons or brandishing their claws and pushing towards the explosion, the other half trying to run away.

Well, shit, if this was a world quest, I was going to at least try to be a part of it. After all, I had dealt with elementals before. I cast the fire protection spell in a reflexive tick. I pulled my spellbook out of my bag, and raised my staff, flipping the page over to the shield spell, as both the icicle and barrier spells were firmly stuck in my memory. I found a huge, 7 foot something tall gray woman with a giant axe, and moved right behind her, avoiding the press of the crowd in her wake, and followed the monsters that were about to engage in battle into the dusty, screaming room where a fight was taking place.

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