Orc Lord

Today is the last day before I leave for the battle between chiefs. I think my current magic power is already more than sufficient. When I use to compare myself to the other Orcs in the village… My aura already extends two feet away from my body. I feel like it could simply eat Durghan’s aura at this point.

From what I've experienced as my magic power increased, it has the effect of strengthening the body, increasing the maximum effect of active skills, and increasing the effectiveness of passive skills.

I know Fiara told me that passive skills can't be made stronger after they were initially provided with magic power, but that just isn't what I'm observing. I can't tell if I'm somehow special, or if the people Fiara heard it from were wrong.

Anyway, since my magic power isn't a concern, I decided to spend today focusing on my skills. I'm just going to guess skill names until something works.

It sounds like a total waste of time at first, but I have the gaming sense of my old world. I think it’s worth a shot.

First is… Spirits, can I acquire ?

I had to try for the romance of it.

[[Request is invalid. User does not possess the correct affinity.]]

As expected. Let’s do it seriously from here.

Spirits, can I acquire ?

[[Request is invalid. Prerequisite skills have not been learned.]]

Spirits, can I acquire ?

[[Request is invalid. Conditions have not been met.]]

Spirits, can I acquire ?

[[Request is invalid. User’s race is inappropriate.]]

Ah? There are even race-restricted skills…

Even though I'm not succeeding at all, I'm still learning valuable information. From just these three, I can infer that skills by those names exist. can likely be acquired as an independent spell, whereas is likely derived from other skills.

Using a separate tablet for each restriction I encounter, I start listing the names of skills which seem to exist. I list skills which don't exist on an additional tablet. For example:

Spirits, can I acquire ?

[[Request is invalid. There is no skill named .]]

However, did exist. Wording is very important. So far, it seems like there aren't any skills ending in “ing.”

I spend a great deal of time in this pursuit. The tablets slowly pile up. I use on them when I’m satisfied with the content. At the point when I was just rattling off random words, a new message appeared.

“Request is invalid. cannot be unified because the prerequisite skills have been absorbed. Please re-list prerequisite skills.]]

Spirits, what is “re-list”?

[[Information is accessible. To re-list a skill means to take an absorbed skill and allow it to exist in its own skill slot. Other skills it was unified into to create will not be lost.]]

… Spirits… re-list all skills.

[[Request is valid. All previous skills have been re-listed within soul shell. Remaining soul capacity is at 99.8%]]

This is the first time my soul capacity has ever gone down. Are there any unforeseen consequences for storing skills in my soul shell? … Just to be safe, let’s keep it above ninety percent.

Now then, Spirits, unify .

[[Request is valid. , , , and have been manually unified into third level skill .]]

Oh, so those were the prerequisites. Now that I think of it, I should also write down any working combinations I find before I forget about them. The tablets are steadily piling up. I wish I had paper instead.

Spirits, can I acquire ?

[[Request is invalid. There is no skill named .]]

It was worth a shot. Besides, it might still exist under a different name.

***

After expending considerable time and effort, these are my current skills according to :

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .

It's 40 skills. It's quite a lot. And quite cluttered. It's giving me a headache. I didn't find any combat skills I could unify, but I really can't keep going with this. I'm going to go do my usual afternoon training and give my head a rest. Besides, it’s not good if I don't move at all in the days before a fight.

After my exercise, I tour around the village a little. The women have been adding small and medium decorations here and there. This village is starting to look like it has a culture beyond hunting. Here and there I see people writing on tablets. Whether they're just practicing or recording something to keep is unknown.

Over in the fields, the cuttings the Goblins planted seem to be doing well. Of course, I'm a terrible gardener, so I'm really not sure just by looking. They're not brown, I can say that much.

I hung out with the Gobs for a bit and learned my first racial slur in this world. Some Gobs were playfully arguing with each other and one called the other a Fob, then the other one called the first one a Fob right back. Apparently it means a failed Hobgoblin; it’s a slight against the Goblin race in general. As an Orc, I don't think I have the social right to use that word like the Gobs do.

By the way, Gob is a friendly word for Goblin. There isn't any negative connotation associated with it.

Since the mood turned that way, I started inquiring about words I shouldn't say. Apparently, Elves hate being called Alfkin or half-fairies. Calling Kobolds mutts, dogs, or tramps is no good. Calling Orcs pigs, or pig heads is bad, but I can say it without any problems because I'm an Orc myself. However, swine is taboo even among fellow Orcs. I must absolutely not call Dragons lizards, or Beast People by the name of the animal they resemble. For humans, it’s shockingly the same curses I remember from my old world.

That was all the Goblins knew. Instead of feeling disappointed that I couldn't learn about the slurs for Demons or Dwarfs, don't these guys already have a ridiculous vocabulary of slurs and curses? The variety is amazing in a disgusting way…

Ah, but I successfully wasted some time. Now I can go eat dinner and get ready for my journey tomorrow.