In Loki's Honor

No more goblins came. I would need to clear between six and eight goblin villages to get one lizard-folk village worth of Exp. The exponential requirements for leveling were gruesome.

I pawed the spots where I could find poisonous gel to mask the fact I was cleaning it up with pseudopods. There was a lot of poison to be cleaned, to be honest. The gel I made had concentrated deathberry extract. The elves approached and I roared at them to keep out of the mud village.

"Whoa! What's wrong, kitten?" One of the rangers joked. In their defense, they did stop.

I took a bit of deathberry jam in my claw and showed it to him.

"Keep out of the mud pit!" Velora shouted. "That's deathberry!"

The jokester ranger jumped back. I huffed and licked the gel. I turned around and flicked my tail at him as I went to meet my liaison.

"Lily, what are you going to do? There's poison everywhere!" I licked the air. Velora chuckled and pointed at the giant mud-and-goblin-poo pie. "Bon Apetit!" I let her hear my tenor roar. Velora squealed and shouted at the other rangers. "Give the cat lady some space boys. And stop ogling at her naked body.

Way to go, Velora. Make me self-conscious of my nakedness. Especially with the huge patch of burnt fur. The skin underneath was un-swelling. Soon new fur would grow. Wait, did were-jaguars had genitals? My confusion was growing by the minute. Every time I walked on all fours... NOPE. Too young for that.

Just a quick update. I checked later when I returned to my room in the city. It's there but very well hidden by the fur. There's nothing to see. Nothing. To. See. It's a Barbie doll for all effects.

With the elves away, I cleaned most of the poison in the most disgusting and disguised way possible. I swam in the bloody bloody mud.

I got nourishment and hydration from doing so, which was good because I was sure my stomach wouldn't hold anything I ate. I felt disgusted by the dirt I was swimming in and I lived as an earthworm.

I was bathing in a stream when the elves brought mages and druids to detoxify and cleanse the clearing. Velora brought me a piece of fluffy cloth that did the job of a towel and hid my modesty from the world as I left the stream. Elves were prudes. I had an important announcement.

"I decided what I'm going to do, Velora. I'm going underground for a few months, to grind some levels."

She sighed and stared at me. "Did you hear what I told you about expeditions to the underground?"

I nodded. "Yes. There's a lot of goblins down there. Excellent for grinding levels. And it won't be an expedition. I'm doing an incursion. Alone."

"You are a child. Even with the power of the moon-bound..."

"Then it is fortunate I don't have only the power of the moon-bound. Seriously, Velora. I'm the old soul. I don't know how many lives I had, but I remember five of them, including this one. I have all the powers and abilities I gained in them. I need these levels. Look, just find me some magic item to let me know when winter ends. I'll return then. I'm doing this for the People!"

That shattered her resistance like a rock through a glass window. "I'll consult with the archmagister. If she has no objection, you'll depart tomorrow morning."

"It's a deal," I answered, irritated at the lack of agency.

I didn't bother to dress up. I shifted inside the towel, stowed everything in my backpack, and returned to the city after leaving my poison equipment at the grotto.

"We can't deny her wish," Archmagister Sariandi told the council. "She's our ally, not our tool." Or slave, she left unsaid. She knew how far she could antagonize the council.

"She must fight the army," one of the elders that refused to go meet Lily said.

"What if she gets lost or dies in the underground? Everything we invested in her will be lost."

It was infuriating. These thousand-years-old fossils sat on their hands and watched the world spin. They didn't live anymore. Th ey weren't out there, fighting, bleeding, loving. No. They detached themselves and only cared for the wellbeing of the People. Even with Yznera's blessings, they refused to see Lily as one of them.

"It is our counsel that she remains in the forest, killing whichever monsters threaten our sacred homeland," The chief of the council said.

Sariandi hated what she was about to do. She stood up and knocked her staff on the wooden floor of the council meeting room. That captured the attention of every elf in the balconies.

"Then it is settled. We heard our esteemed elders and received their wisdom. It is my decision to put Lily, the Old Soul, through the rite of Caradhrim. She is to be banished from Fulgen forest and given the task of slaying a mighty enemy of the people."

The elves assembled gasped. Despite being a gross disrespect, they whispered among themselves. The rite of Caradhrim was one of the ancient rites an elf could be submitted to. It mimicked the acts of Caradhrim the Brave, that single-handedly went to slay Grimaulgulagaar, the forest wyrm. The Fulgen elves lived in the clearing that was once the very lair of that ancient dragon now. Those that completed such rite could be counted on one's hand. Nothing under level eighty could even be considered for that task.

"She is to be cast to the underground, with one of our Khertharién pendants. There she will remain until she manages to slay any goblin evolution level eighty or higher," the Archmagister proclaimed.

The pendant had three effects. One, it wouldn't let her go below 1 HP. Two, it would perform an emergency teleport, bringing the wearer back should the first effect happened. It had the detrimental effect of destroying the priceless amulet in the process. And three, a specific condition could be set for the teleportation effect. Once it happened, the wearer would teleport without breaking the amulet.

"There you go," Velora said as she adjusted the amethyst pendant around my neck.

We were back at the former goblin village three days after I wiped it out. For some reason, the elves decided not only to grant my request but to make a quest out of it. This amulet would allow me to return to the surface if I either killed enough goblins or got too close to dying. It was an expensive item and it was on loan, so the old wrinkled elves that let me use it would banish me from the forest if I messed up.

A daunting proposal. But honestly, it was their choice. Not every day you'll find someone like me willing to put up with this shit if you let me brag a bit.

Anyway, I got what I wanted and even though I suspected the elves were using me, the power they bestowed on me would help me in this life and all the others. It was a worthy trade. The amethyst sucked my skin and latched to it. It wasn't uncomfortable but it was a feeling I'd have to get used to. The gem would be upon my solar plexus whichever form I took.

"I'm going. We'll see each other in three months, Velora. Give Tareal a hug for me."

"Are you sure you won't take some rations with you?" She asked with another two-sided backpack like mine hanging from her hand.

I nodded. "It will only slow me down. I have everything I need in here."

A quilted sleeping bag. It took a few hours to convince the needleworker to sew two bedrolls together leaving one side with an opening for the head. Two dresses, spare shoes, wool socks, and three loincloths.

"Not even a canteen?"

"I'll drink the blood of my kills," I joked and grinned. "All I really need is my poison packs." I had two bags of poison gel and a dozen leather balls filled with pollen dust.

Velora sighed and hugged me. I descended into the darkness. After I was deep enough it was hard to see, I undressed and shifted.

Now I would run wild. Without holding back, without mercy. I would refrain from killing dwarves, but all other denizens of the depths were fair game. The nearest dwarven realm was three hundred kilometers away so if I ran into dwarves it would be too much luck. Good or bad, it remained to be seen.

On all fours I ran. On the ceiling, walls, and floors. Down chasms and up impassible cliffs. I was so fast I barely noticed the stale air of the underground. There was no conveniently bioluminescent mushroom or lichen in the depths. Only darkness. I relied on {Tremorsense} to find my way. I relied on my ears and nose.

The first enemy I found pinged on {Detect Monster}. I was six hundred meters under the surface when I sensed the monstrous spiders lurking in the tunnel ahead. The recent passage of the goblin tribe cleared the tunnels behind me. It would take several weeks before monsters migrated to occupy the empty space.

I extended some pseudopods ahead of me and moved slowly. I sensed the webs without the spiders noticing me. Or if they noticed the pseudopods touching the silk strands, they would think it was just some debris or a bug too small to deserve any attention. I did lose some mass as the tip of the pseudopod had to be ripped away but it was negligible. It wasn't worth even 1 HP of damage.

I moved above the spider and aimed. It was odd combining {Detect Monster} with my other senses but I didn't use pseudopods. I was pretty sure spider hair was as sensitive as a... as they come. I readied myself and jumped down. my right claw hit the round abdomen, the left claw the head. I bit in the middle, attempting to split the spider in half. I didn't score a critical but I latched on the spider.

The monster wasn't happy. It hissed horribly, making me flinch. The spider ran over her web trying to dislodge me while I ravaged the joints between the cephalothorax and legs. I bit off three on one side and the spider slumped, crashing on the web and entangling my backpack. I didn't let go. Instead, I bit the last leg on the right side off and moved to the other set. It soon perished.

You killed level 36 giant spider. You gained 97,200 Exp (12,960 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 3 size x 1.25 perk x 2 Rank).

Sweet Exp. My pseudopods worked double-time and in a few minutes, I ate enough web to release my pack. I couldn't see the spider and now that it was dead, I could only smell its noxious ichor. I left the carcass there and moved down the tunnel, eating the webs in my way. I touched something hard and after some prodding discovered it was Goblin bones partially wrapped in old silk told the story of those that passed through here before.

I met other spiders along the way and even got swarmed by a lot of young ones. But the giant spiders were no threat to me. Their bites did little damage, their chelicerae mere needles injecting venom I was immune to. Ravaging their faces while they bit me was a faster and painful method of killing them.

The spiders were territorial. The bigger ones were in the best tunnels, usually without other spiders ahead of them. Those deep in spider territory were smaller and weaker. But they were more numerous and had softer carapaces, so it evened out. I went from ping to ping in my monster radar. With only eleven meters of range, I knew where my next [Monster Hunter] Skill points would go. there was a Skill called {Improved Detect Monster} that added a nice bonus to this range.

After clearing the spider tunnels, I felt parched. Sure, there was spider ichor, but I wanted water. So I found the tunnel with the most moisture and went that way. A few minutes dashing down the tunnel and I heard sounds of a waterfall. I kept going and soon I heard the grunts and sharp groans of the goblin language. I slowed down and walked on the roof of the tunnel until I saw light ahead. The source was obscured by a bend in the tunnel but I could see debris scattered on the ground. I moved carefully but even so my paw tugged a rope hidden in a groove carved on the roof.

Bells started to ring and spikes flew in the tunnel below. I triggered a trap the wrong way. The goblins' chatter stopped and was replaced by grunted orders. The bells soon stopped ringing. I backtracked and found a nook in the irregular tunnel roof where I'd stay hidden unless someone illuminated directly below me and looked in the right spot.

A group of six goblins, wearing mismatched sets of armor with leather, carapace, and metal plates marched down the tunnel, avoiding some spots where there should be traps. Their torches cast shadows all over the tunnel. They looked around and the taller one, a lesser hob, slapped another goblin and grunted an order. The goblin went to retrieve the spikes while the other goblins walked down the tunnel searching for intruders ahead of them.

I noticed their bravery was inversely proportional to how far down the tunnel they went. They walked below me and I looked back. The lesser hob was kicking the poor goblin that was tasked with shoving the spikes in their holes and resetting the trap.

The lesser hob had no torch. he was relying on the illumination from the guard post and the goblin scouts. I crawled on the roof and tried to ambush him. He must've had some sort of danger sense because for no apparent reason, he looked up and our eyes met. And anyone knows how cat eyes work in the dark.

He shouted something and I leaped the last dozen meters separating us. With all my jumping Skills and Perks, I was over him in no time. I executed the good old pounce, two claws, one bite, grab, rake extraordinary ability for two more claws. The bread and butter of feline dungeon fighting. I got four hits and four stacks of bleed. Guess what missed? Right arm, the latecomer!

I heard the rearming goblin peeing himself. A pang of guilt washed over me and I hesitated to strike. The bugger poked me with one of the trap spikes. I bit his head off. Literally.

You killed level 29 goblin trapper. You gained 2,682 Exp (8,410 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 0.5 size x 1.25 perk x 0.5 Rank).

You killed level 35 lesser hob foreman. You gained 30,625 Exp (12,250 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 1.25 perk x 2 Rank).

The other goblins ran back. I crouched behind the bodies, using my Skills to stay hidden. They approached the body and one of them kicked the foreman. I growled without even thinking of it and jumped on them. Another two thousand per kill in the bank.