Levelling up

Feeling elated by the success of his dungeon visit he decided to go and see April the next day under the guise of getting an update on her progress. He found her heating metal in a forge. She had forgone her blouse and was in a white vest that showed off her middle. She still had the leather apron on but Gob loved the sight of her narrow waist glistening with sweat from working the forge. As he watched her pump the bellows he realised that she wasn’t wearing a bra and the fabric of the vest was clinging to the outline of her plump breasts. Gob cursed that apron for hiding what he assumed to be a spectacular view.

His movement caught her eye and she happily waved to him. “Hi Gob, how are you doing?”

“I’m good April, thanks,” he said merrily.

“You look it. Did something good happen? Maybe you levelled up recently.”

“I hadn't thought about that. Maybe I did. Do you have any paper handy?”

April got him some paper from her work table and he put his hand on it and said the prayer that would mark it with his stats. Every living thing in the world had a level and all sentient beings could check their own by making a mark on a surface with prayer. Gob checked the paper. “I’ve gone up two levels. That’s never happened before, even when I fought it never went up.”

She slapped him on the back. “Hey congrats, no wonder you feel great. Don’t be shy about it, mine didn’t go up until I started crafting. You clearly found your destiny. Done anything different recently?”

“Yeah, maybe. I think I need to experiment more.”

Gob hadn’t realised yet but he had stumbled upon the driving **** behind goblins, domination or more specifically submission. Whereas most races level up by increasing their skills, through their lived experiences and by overcoming obstacles such as defeating a foe, goblins increased their level by getting other creatures to submit to them. The more powerful the creature that submitted the greater the increase. The type of submission also had an impact. The greater the depth of the submission, the greater the level increases. In the past, they had been in greater numbers and would have worked together to overpower opponents sexually. It was no wonder that a single runt goblin like Gob had never been in a situation where he was in control. By getting Tallie to take her clothes off and accept him masturbating in front of her he had committed his first act of subjugation and his level had increased.

“You here to check on the progress?” April asked.

Her question snapped Gob out of his wondering. “Oh yes, how are you doing?”

April sighed. “Honestly, not great. I’m working with limited materials and these manual forges can’t get up to the temperatures I need to work with the rarer metals. The one I have in the forge now is looking promising but it will only be a proof of concept. I don’t think it will work as well as you need it to.”

“When will you have this one done?” Gob asked.

“Before the end of the week. I’d guess four days but I don’t want to over-promise.”

“When I present it to the Maou I’ll be sure he knows that it is not the final product.”

“Thanks,” said April. “I got to be honest, it’s a bit intimidating doing a job for the big man. You hear stories about those who disappoint him.” She leaned in close to Gob. “What’s he like anyway?” she whispered.

“He’s surprisingly nice but he can be terrifying sometimes,” he answered conspiratorially.

“Okay, that makes me feel a little better,” She gave him a big grin and Gob just melted. She went back to the bellows. “I better get this done then. Don’t want to disappoint the boss.” She smiled at Gob. “Do you want to watch?”

“What?” he had been so busy staring at her that he had forgotten what he was doing.

“Do you want to watch the process? Some people find it interesting.”

“If you don’t mind.” He was jumping with joy internally that she wanted him to stay.

“Only if you don’t mind me talking your ear off. I’ve been told I get a bit carried away when I talk about my work.”

Gob spent a few hours with April. She had been right when she said she could talk about her work. Gob was just happy to listen to her upbeat voice and admire her body when she was looking at her tasks.

Later that night he returned to thinking about his levelling up. He still had the piece of paper that now told him he was level three. There was no doubt it had been because of Tallie. He could give it another day and then he just had to go and see her again.