[Slimy Slime] Chapter 41: A review of city planning and finally gaining more stats.

Circles. Glorious, perfect, amazing circles. They were beautiful, life giving creations. They could even bring a slimy tear to the eye. Honestly though, this had gone far better than I had ever dreamed or hoped. I’d felt like a hopped up adrenaline junkie with an axe hanging over my head ever since I was told I’d be stuck in one place, probably fighting an endless horde. The most terrifying thing was that the goblin chief had made his horde weak on purpose. He feared another’s rise. Krrrgg had seen and talked to him personally, being the literal only evolved goblin out of a 100,000. And her death was all but certain. No wonder she jumped overboard the second she could, her only other option was probably trying to flee into the Dark Woods, as I had started calling them.

But now? Now I really, really took a moment to feel the impact I was having. I was just a silly little guy, a yellow slime (since I had evolved), in over his head. Trying to meek out an existence. If someone told I’d somehow make a house and train for a year straight and that was it? I’d have fully believed them. Hell, I’d have been impressed I’d made a house at all!

But now I was looking at stone walls. It was a relatively small circle, a tight, wide fit, for all the goblins. The stone wasn’t even that sturdy. The space and houses needed meant that even with the full mana production of 500+ goblins for two days, it was barely enough to cover everything. But still… my kingdom was forming. An actual kingdom. With an actual population!

The design was beautifully glorious and had combined, in Sandra’s own words “Practically insane” ideas and her “completely normal ones.”

In the middle of Slimetopia would be my castle. Ie, what was currently a stone box on a hill. But! It was now properly covering the whole hill at least, and not just jutting out of an overhang and concealing a cave in it. Next would be the circles or rings if you were feeling fancy. Each ring would have a circular wall to protect it, along with gates. These would probably inevitably become different ‘area’s’ in the future but to prevent it from spiraling too much out of control (after all, a whole circle full of just one thing would make actually living in the city impossible…) it would also be cut up like pizza. Each ‘slice’ would be more metaphorical than physical, but they were still there. For example, a particularly large ‘slice’ was just for housing/villagers and it would go through all the rings. Another would be designed for industrial work, shopkeeping, etc. Main roads would circle around the ring and through the rings. It was a bit of a risk, but by the end, there would be four gates that if you followed the road, would lead directly to my eventual castle.

It was simple and there was a reason most cities aren’t designed like that. Well… most cities aren’t designed. People, especially humans, are a chaotic bunch with a million differing desires and ideas. And almost all ‘created’ cities I’d heard about back on earth were inevitably doomed to failure because: Why on earth would anyone actually move there?

I’d skip that problem by essentially kidnapping as many goblins as possible using Krrrgg’s natural higher tier species aura. I’d feel bad but… goblins were goblins. I remembered most of the eight descriptions I’d gotten when I’d been given my reincarnation choices. Goblins were… murderers, rapists, and born monster, monsters. They were incredibly stupid to boot. Krrrgg seemed a bit different but she was literally 1 in 100,000. Possibly more, since she seemed to somehow escape being eaten from evolving. Although Agility was her highest stat, I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if ‘Diplomacy’ was a skill she had. In other words, she was the most relaxed [Goblin Captain] imaginable. The rest… well… I was not going to lose any sleep over using them for war, that was for sure. Maybe after they evolved once… or twice… and gained some intelligence, I’d start remembering names, shaking spirit hands, and trying to win them all over. They’d have to stop looking at me with the desire to fuck, fight, and eat me first though whenever I walked by. Truly, the first batch of goblins Krrrgg had brought in had been the smart ones.

But basking at seeing my stone walls and all the stone houses, (fewer than I thought I’d need! Goblins seemed to greatly enjoy practically living on top of each other… bleh), it was time to finally get back to the grind! I needed stats, a lot of stats. Problem is, goblins now represented either an enemy or a potential ally. They were temporarily off the menu. Wolves were even worse. Without the Alpha and with so many goblins coming in and my own appearance, they’d all run away, more or less. Come on! Isn’t this the Wolf Forest?! Have some pride! Dang unpatriotic is what it is! I promise to only eat a hundred… no, maybe two hundred… of you!

Wait… am I losing my empathy? …nah, fuck em. Wolves tried to kill and eat me multiple times, and succeeded, and goblins are goblins. I still didn’t like the idea of killing humans. Wait, does that make me speciest? I best watch out for this…

So… what monster can I find that is neither a wolf or a goblin?

Honestly… I’d only run into one other. Birds! Specifically, what apparently were officially called [Sharp Vultures] according to Sandra. Dang, I liked my names better. I’d have to thank Demon if I ever saw him again. He’d put me in a forest where all my enemies so far had been… morally… easy to kill. Not fun, not acceptable, not something I really want to do. But even I couldn’t deny… wolves that attack on sight, goblins that attack on sight, and now vultures that attack on sight and don’t stop till they’re dead, I wasn’t quite feeling as grim and gruesome as I had been. If I had been put on a slime ranch where I needed to kill the farmers or gods forbid a sewer, stuck in a city… yeahhhh… I’ll take this blessing alright.

To free stats!

****

Grack sat upon his throne. He had [Goblin Craftsman] build it for him, before he ate them. He’d eaten a lot of goblins over the years. Why waste the stats after all? Not to mention it kept them all in line a bit better. Fear was a powerful motivator for goblins.

For Grack was the [Goblin Chief], soon to be [Goblin King]. A Tier 4 monster. Just thinking about it had him salivating, drool dripping from his mouth and pouring down his large rotund belly. Grack was big, even for a [Goblin Chief]. Goblins evolve in different ways but, like many species, even the same Tier could be vastly different. All the way back at [Hob-Goblin] differences could become incredibly different, with hob-goblins with high strength being muscular and ones with higher agility becoming lean.

Grack had always specialized in Constitution. His endurance couldn’t quite keep up and he had kept eating and eating so… he’d become fat. Big and very, very fat.

He sat on his throne, a goblin shivering in front of him. Taking care of so many was annoying. Without his [Goblin Leader] and [Goblin Domination] skills, he’d never be able to deal with it. And those skills had been strained for a while now, letting some goblins escape.

Krrrgg had fled. Taking all the smart goblins with her. The ones he had planned to kill and eat before they became a threat. Tracking them, he’d quickly sent a small group after her. Fifty goblins should have been more than enough to deal with her and even get whatever ‘power’ the goblins had been talking about.

Except it had been nearly a week and not a single one had come back. Worse, over three dozen groups of goblins had disappeared. It was to the point he could almost feel it, as half a percent of his total control had seemingly vanished. Either they had all died or…

And so… the goblin in front oh him. The one he had tasked to spy. To find where Krrrgg was, to figure out what was going on, and to report back to him. Truthfully… Grack was disturbed. Whatever this new thing was, whatever this new threat… it had appeared right next to his goblin city! It had only taken the spy a few days to come back. And in that direction… the only thing there was that damn old wolf. A strong Tier 1, but that was it. Had it evolved somehow? Become a Tier 2? But that wouldn’t be any kind of threat, not enough to kill Krrrgg, to stir up the goblins with reports of feeling some sort of ‘power’, and kill fifty goblins. Two of those things, sure, but not all of them!

“Report. What is going on? Grack practically hissed out. Below him, barely coming up to Grack’s knee, the goblin stood.

Long ago, Krrrgg had talked her way into survival, saying how he would needed component people. Truthfully, he’d just kept her around for her body. It had gotten hard to fit into goblins as he grew in size and her body was tough enough to survive. But her words had been affective. Evolved goblins… too dangerous! But teaching one goblin, teaching it to be smart, to carry out tasks? He could and had done that. There had been many failures, but he’d finally succeeded in producing what many thought impossible. A smart goblin!

“C-Chief. This… we think… there’s a [Dungeon Core].”

Grack’s eyes shot open wide with greed. A [Dungeon Core]! That could elevate his whole existence. Make him stronger, make his city an actual City! He could create an actual dungeon. Something so legendary, that had been engraved into his existence, into all monsters existences, had appeared right next to him?!

“And…” The goblin gulped, worry and fear clear across his face. He quickly spoke all of the next words out in a rush, afraid of being killed by Grack’s anger. “It seems… to already have a master. Krrrgg… seems to be serving it. She’s already gathered a small army of goblins under her command and seems to have evolved to Tier 2, as a [Goblin Commander].”

Grack’s eyes full of greed froze, then died, and were replaced by an absolute, palpable sense of fear. Grack was a coward. That was how he survived, that was how he grew, that was how he had managed to get this far. Every single one of those statements was enough to give him a heart attack. A [Goblin Craftsman] would have been worrying. A [Goblin Commander]? That was cause for dread. A [Dungeon Core] with a master already? With Krrrgg, now a Tier 2, serving them? With an army?!

Grack thought he really might die of a heart attack. The cold sweat of fear drenched his veins and bones. The power of a coward seized him and what would have been ludicrous for any one else… showed just why Grack had survived for so long.

“Send 10, no, 20,000 goblins there immediately!” Grack shouted, causing the walls to shake with his voice.

The goblin he’d raised gaped, staring at Grack, before quickly running away. Standing there, doing nothing, was good way to die.

Grack put a hand on his heart, worry and fear and terror still coating him. That was too much! What had once been greed was now only absolute panic. In these moments, the domineering nature of Grack was replaced by the one he’d been born with. A coward, worrying about death. He was a Tier 4, on the verge of Tier 5, had skills that specifically controlled goblins, and still. He worried about goblins rising up and killing him. All of this? All of these new events?

Grack only had one thought about it.

“I should’ve sent 50,000…” Grack mumbled in despair.