Goblin summoner a deckbu.., p.1
Goblin Summoner: A Deckbuilding LitRPG, page 1
Goblin Summoner
A Deckbuilding LitRPG
Tracy Gregory
P.W Hillard Fiction
Copyright © 2021 P.W Hillard Fiction
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design by: GetCovers.com
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Goblin Summoner – The Rules
Prologue
The soul screamed in agony, the pain of its death lingering in its ephemeral form. It was something that Magdalena still wasn’t used to. Her two thousand year training period was barely halfway over, and the shrieks still set her on edge. This one was particularly bad, the wailing causing her form to resonate in a way she couldn’t describe.
“Anything?” Helena said. The goddess was peering over her protégés shoulder at the scroll in Magdalena’s hands. Behind her was an endless sea of stars, each one not a burning ball of nuclear fire but an entire reality. The energy exuded by existence caused them to shimmer brightly. Most were glowing a pleasing warm soft white, though some were a vicious red. “We’ve lost another one this morning.”
“This one looks fairly standard,” Magdalena said, reading from the scroll. “Died plugging in a faulty appliance. Lived a pretty good life, no major sins, but no big heroic moments either. Just an average normal person. It’s certainly a lot…louder, than most.”
“That can happen, depends on how painful the end is. Sometimes it’s not even the physical pain, more the shock of it.” Helena flicked her golden hair over her shoulder. Like Helena, she was wearing a long flowing robe covered in swirling colours that moved over the surface of the cloth. Helena was almost twice as tall as her trainee, a natural consequence of her earlier creation. There simply wasn’t enough divinity to go around these days.
“Maybe they might be a good fit? They certainly haven’t done anything horrible in their lives.”
Helena let out a long sigh. It was not the first time Magdalena had shown a worrying sympathy for the mortal souls. “How many times. It’s not about if they were a good person or a bad person. What we’re looking for are particular skills. It doesn’t matter who wielded them in their past life.”
“I know…but…”
“But nothing.” Helena crossed her arms and glared at her fellow goddess. “You know our purpose.”
“Seeking heroes for the great game,” Magdalena said, the words dull and lifeless. She had said them a thousand times before. It was her role in things, to search through all the souls of the cosmos looking for those who would be suitable heroes for worlds that needed them. There they would be pitted against the forces of the adversary, battling for control of that reality and the precious scraps of divinity it contained. Magdalena was nothing more than a recruiter for an army that spanned the universe, another soldier in a battle older than time itself.
She hated it. Finding a soul suitable for being a hero was like looking for a particular grain of sand along a long beach. It didn’t help that so very often the skills necessary came attached to souls who had lived horrible lives. Competent fighters, charismatic leaders and brilliant strategic thinkers were rarely nice people. The souls deemed unworthy were sent to the beyond, their fate outside the knowledge of the gods. For all Magdalena knew she was consigning good people to oblivion simply because they wouldn’t make effective soldiers.
“That’s correct. All that matters is winning. It’s our job to pick the souls that will best help us achieve that. You don’t want the adversary to win, do you?”
“No…” Magdalena didn’t want that, no goddess did. Without the divinity gathered from the worlds they couldn’t exist. She just wished they didn’t have to be so callous with their methods. Magdalena had seen into the mortals’ lives. She knew they worshipped the gods, and whilst their specific depictions were normally wildly off, without fail the mortals believed that living a good life would be rewarded. To Magdalena what they were doing felt like a betrayal. The mortals deserved better.
“I thought not. Now, I have other trainees to oversee. Send this soul to the beyond and then keep looking. We don’t have all century to waste.” Helena turned, her robe swishing behind her as she walked off. There was no building beneath her sandals, no structure holding her aloft, she simply strode across the void, reality rippling beneath each step.
“We don’t have all century to waste…” Magdalena said, her pitch shifting up and down as she mocked her superior. “Maybe if you weren’t constantly checking on me.” She made a gesture obscene in four dozen worlds towards the void then turned back to the still screaming soul.
It was an odd thing to look at. A single shimmering orb the size of a human head, the entire sum of a person’s lifeforce condensed down into a small area. It would be a humbling sight if it weren’t screaming constantly like a lost child. That was ruining the majesty somewhat. Magdalena took another glance at the scroll in her hands. This soul didn’t have the makings of a hero, at least not by Helena’s standards. No experience in combat, no leading of great armies, not even the most basic magical ability.
That was hardly surprising, the soul was from Earth, a world with no understanding of magic. Not even a basic grasp on the arcane systems that underlined reality. The exact manifestation of that magic varied from world to world, and Earth was unlucky enough to be at the bottom of that barrel.
With a flick of her hand, Magdalena opened the portal to the beyond. The soul seemed to shrink, almost like it was afraid of what lay past the threshold. It was a normal reaction. Magdalena had heard from some of the other gods that some souls were so afraid of being dead that they clung to their worlds, terrorising the living as ghosts or phantoms.
“You’ve got good reason to be afraid,” Magdalena said. She raised her hand and prepared to whisk the soul to its ultimate fate, but something stopped her. It wasn’t right, the soul before her had lived barely twenty-seven years, it deserved to live. With a second swish of her hand, the portal closed, another replacing it. Rather than the endless black that had been there previously, there was now a temperate forest beyond, vivid green leaves rustling gently in a pleasant breeze.
Magdalena thought about it for a moment. Helena would never know, and she would feel better having given just one soul another chance at life. They could still send a suitable hero soul through once one was found. This shrieking orb would just get to live out the rest of their lives in another world. The reality they would find themselves in, a world called Acamida, was a place brimming with powerful magic, its occupants harnessing the arcane power in a unique way.
“We can’t have you going in with nothing…” With another swish, a mote of light formed above the soul. It drifted gently down to the top of the glowing orb and was quickly absorbed into its mass. “There, that’s a little better. Right well, off you go. Before anyone notices.”
A sweep of the arm sent the soul careening through the portal, the rift sealing quickly behind them. Magdalena snapped her fingers and another soul appeared before her. It immediately began to scream. Reaching into her robe Magdalena began to examine the life of the soul before her.
Chapter One
Gareth hit the ground with a thump, rolling across the damp earth before bumping up against a tree, the rough bark scratching his skin. He felt sick like he had been riding the world’s worst designed rollercoaster. He tried to retch, but nothing came out, his stomach empty. He had no idea where he was. The last thing Gareth remembered was buying a new console from a guy in a car park. The whole thing had been obviously sketchy but trying to get one of the consoles through normal channels had proved impossible, entire shipments bought out by bots in an instant. Gareth was certain he had gotten it home and plugged it in, but that memory was fuzzy, out of focus, almost dreamlike. It can’t have been real.
Sitting up, Gareth tried to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a forest, though he had no idea which one. There were a few wooded areas around where he lived, and it could have been any one of them. The trees that stretched up into the sky around him weren’t familiar, their bark a darker shade of brown than the ones he was used to. It had been a long time since Gareth had gone wandering in the woods, so he assumed he had simply misremembered.
He reached down, trying to pull his phone from his pocket. The guys he had met in the car park must have done something to him. Gareth’s hand felt nothing, no familiar smooth glass edge. His panic at missing his phone meant it took him a moment to realise he felt no pocket at all. Glancing down, Gareth realised that he was wearing nothing. He had been stripped naked, all of his belongings missing. Gareth began to shiver as he suddenly felt cold, a reaction that was only partly psychological. The wind was starting to pick up.
“Ok, Gareth. Not the smartest idea to buy a console from some guy on the internet in the middle of the night.” He was talking to keep himself calm. It was clear he had been robbed, and Gareth considered himself lucky he wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere. “They could have left me my trousers though.”
Crossing his arms over his chest in a vain attempt to keep warm, Gareth tried to get his bearings. He looked at the nearby tree, examining its bark for moss. He remembered seeing on television once that moss only grew on the east side of a tree. Or was it north? Gareth couldn’t remember and he realised it wouldn’t matter anyway. Knowing which was which didn’t matter when you had no idea where you were, to begin with.
Something glimmered in the undergrowth nearby, catching the light from the sun. It was high in the sky, and Gareth assumed it had to be close to midday. It was just past midnight when he had arrived in the car park, so that left him with around twelve hours missing. It didn’t explain why he had woken up flying through the air, the thud against the ground shuddering him awake. There was no one else around, so the only explanation he could think of was someone had placed him into the branches of a nearby tree. They probably thought it was funny.
He bent down and rummaged around for the object. He was hoping it was his phone, but Gareth’s hand settled on something much larger. Picking it up, he discovered it was a simple leather box with a flip-down lid.
“A deck box?” He instantly recognised it. Gareth was something of a connoisseur of card games. He had played them all, from the famous big names to niche anime-based Japanese exports. He loved everything about them. The strategy behind deckbuilding, pulling off an intricate combo, even the tactile feel of sleeved cards in his hands. The design of the deck box was a little roughshod for his tastes. Someone had stitched it together themselves from scraps, the different coloured leathers clashing with each other. A small metal symbol had been glued to the front, the source of the gleaming. It was a small blob with two long triangular points stretching outwards on each side.
Despite standing in the middle of nowhere, totally naked, Gareth’s curiosity got the better of him. He opened the lid of the deck box and peeked inside.
Brilliant light began to pour out, a rainbow of colours that swirled around him. Gareth could feel himself floating into the air, the energy lifting him from the ground. It flowed into him; the light absorbed into his skin as it raced to meet his bare flesh. It was over as quickly as it began, Gareth floating in the air for a brief moment.
“Not again.”
Gareth hit the ground, grunting as he did. It was the second time in ten minutes he had slammed into the damp dirt. His knees, elbows, and less family-friendly parts of his body were stained with mud.
Words appeared in his vision, large bold letters sitting squarely in the centre of Gareth’s eye line.
Bonding complete. Deck affinity assigned- Goblins.
Starting cards generated.
Mana levels linked to deck. Cards adjusted based on statistics.
The words turned to mist, fading away after a moment.
“What is going on? Is this a dream? No, it can’t be.” Gareth rubbed his aching knees. No dream could hurt like that. He considered for a moment that it could be a television show or an internet video, but the light show he had seen was beyond what Gareth understood was possible. Lifting him into the air when he wasn’t wearing a wire harness was proof enough.
Whatever weirdness Gareth was experiencing, it would have to wait. Getting home was his first priority, along with a long bath and some fresh clothes. He brushed himself with his hands, a vain attempt to shake the dirt from his body. Gareth was surprised to find the presence of a belt.
A thin strip of leather with a simple clasp, the belt grabbed tight to his waist. Hanging from it was the deck box, the belt running through a loop on the back. The metal symbol shimmered at him, almost like it was pleased with Gareth noticing it.
“Ok. This is beyond weird now. Can I get some clothes please magic box?” Nothing happened, no swirling pillars of light or cavalcade of colour. “Worth a try.”
With no other ideas, Gareth simply picked a direction and began to walk. As a kid he had played in the woods near his town, building forts and running through the trees. Without shoes, it was considerably less fun, the debris on the forest floor jabbing into his feet as he walked. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience. Getting his hands on a brand new console was the least of Gareth’s desires now. He just wanted revenge, and trousers, not necessarily in that order.
There was a loud rustle in some bushes ahead and Gareth came to a stop. He still suspected he was being watched, and it was always possible that the people who had attacked him were still lurking about. He crouched down, his sole experience at attempting stealth learnt from videogames. He crept forward, one arm outstretched before him, his palm open. The noise was growing louder, the rustling joined by a kind of high pitched squeal.
The undergrowth exploded into a flurry of leaves as a creature leapt from within. It was a strange thing, its body made of twisted and gnarled vines; plant life fused into the shape of a boar. Two red eyes glowed from within the gnarled tangle, whilst long sharp looking thorns took the place of tusks. The creature lowered its head, vines creaking as it moved, and charged.
Gareth was frozen in place, unable to move in time as the beast thundered towards him. He closed his eyes, bracing for the coming blow.
A brilliant light pushed its way through his closed eyelids, a loud noise not unlike a plate shattering filling the air. Gareth felt no blow, so opened his eyes to take in what had happened.
Floating in the air before him, was two cards. Each had a golden glow around them. The design of each card was an intricate mass of swirls, hundreds of delicate sweeping gold curves that never touched one another. It was beautiful to look at. The creature was laying on the ground nearby, struggling to get to its wooden hooves.
Shield broken. Empowered card added to castable spells.
There was those words again, floating in Gareth’s vision. He tried to wave them away with his left hand and was surprised to find that several more cards were following his hand as it moved. They were different from the others, with no golden glow around them. They were covered in elaborate artwork and filled with text. Gareth moved his hand experimentally and found there was a delay to the cards following his motions, each card floating a little closer as his hand moved over it. They only followed if he moved past the row of cards.
The card at the end was slightly different, having the same golden light as those floating before his body. It seemed to glow brightly as Gareth moved his hand over it. The monster was still struggling to stand, so he examined it quickly.
Lightning Blast
Spell
Mana Cost: 1
Deals 2 damage to target monster.
“Unleashing the fury of the storm always has a certain timeless appeal to it.” – Archmage Kaladear
The artwork on it was a painting of a lightning bolt, blue electric set against the white of a snowy mountain peak. Gareth could feel the card moving closer to his fingers. It wanted him to touch it. Without any other options at hand, he did exactly that.
The card thrummed with power, a glow washing over it. Motes of blue light gathered before Gareth, building into a crackling ball of electricity in less than a second. The ball exploded into a bolt of deadly energy, crashing into the creature as it finally found its footing. The beast exploded, showering Gareth in bits of plant and some kind of thick green liquid.
