Artificer Adventure Guide

"My name is Hanus, a bear goblin."

"Once upon a time, my companions and I lived near the mushroom forest, enjoying abundant water and rich food."

"But all this has now vanished."

"The goblins of the Wrath Tribe have occupied our homes, and terrifying monsters have appeared in the forest, driving strange flying vehicles to destroy the earth."

"When did things start to get so bad?"

"Did the previous bear goblin chief want to go to the Wrath Tribe to ask for the barbarian's way of taking office, but he was killed by them?"

"Or did the last chieftain of the earth goblin lead a group of goblins into the forest? In the end, only the last chieftain ran back?"

As Carl used the [Telepathy] feat brought by psychic power, the effect equivalent to the 2nd-level prophecy spell [Detect Thoughts] was released on the bear goblin.

The thoughts of the dying bear goblin turned into information that Carl could understand and emerged in his mind.

Carl "listened" to the other party's thoughts while watching the other party's life revolving around him.

At this time, the bear goblin had entered the last stage of his life, and the revolving lantern of his life was beginning to emerge in front of his eyes.

The images imagined by the bear goblin's brain were shared with Carl in a strange way.

Carl saw some images that he remembered deeply, as well as some things about the goblin tribe outside the woods.

"It turns out that the goblins now are from other tribes. The local goblins either died at the hands of the furious tribe or have been transformed into hideous mutants due to the influence of the black air."

"This is really unlucky."

Seeing the local goblins so unlucky, Carl even felt a little guilty.

But soon, Carl saw a scene in the bear goblin's memory that made his blood pressure soar.

This bear goblin actually found the wooden house he built!

Unlike the group of myopic people in the furious tribe, this local bear goblin has normal vision.

Because he had made great contributions to leading the furious tribe before, he was incorporated into the personal guard of the chief of the furious tribe.

Not long ago, while patrolling, he accidentally discovered a wooden house located above a petrified mushroom.

"How did he end up like this?"

As this doubt emerged in his mind, Carl also saw the last scene of the bugbear's life.

In his field of vision, the Nautilus spacecraft suspended in the sky absorbed the energy of the giant mushrooms everywhere, and the petrified mushrooms were crushed by huge tentacles.

And Carl's wooden house was naturally among the destroyed ones.

The metal gloves of the power armor were squeezed and creaked, and Carl's anger rose in his heart instantly, but then dissipated helplessly.

In order for the Nautilus spacecraft to operate, the mind flayer needs to use psychic power to control it.

And the Nautilus spacecraft in the bugbear's memory is obviously far beyond the normal situation.

Such a mind flayer is not something he can provoke now.

But although he can't take revenge now, Carl has a heavy account of the mind flayer in his heart.

Soon, the bugbear's memory came to the end.

His team was being chased by the brain-eating monsters dropped by the Nautilus spacecraft. In order to escape, the bugbear barbarians of the furious tribe cut off his tendons and left him as bait.

This bugbear used the warrior's [recovery] feature to recover some physical strength, but still couldn't resist the attack of the brain-eating monster.

In order not to be occupied by the brain, he jumped into the pool before dying.

"..."

Releasing his hand that was pinching the other's head, Carl took a half step back and watched the bugbear's body gradually float up.

At this moment, Carl was extremely glad that he and Hope chose to hide in the giant's mine cart. If they really returned to the wooden house, who knows what would happen now.

"That Mind Flayer controlled the Nautilus spacecraft to absorb the energy of the giant mushrooms. Does this mean that he knows that those giant mushrooms can extract Eberron Dragon Crystal?"

"But Eberron Dragon Crystal should have no amplification effect on psychic energy? It is magical, unless..."

"Unless he has mastered the power of magic..."

The brain was working quickly, and the knowledge about the Mind Flayer began to emerge in Carl's mind one by one.

"Mind Flayer Arcanist? This is an existence rejected by the Mind Flayer group. This Mind Flayer actually chose to take this path?"

"So, what is the relationship between this Mind Flayer who appeared in the dungeon and the one who captured me?"

"Or is this guy who controls the Nautilus spacecraft the Mind Flayer who captured me?"

The word Mind Flayer appeared repeatedly in his mind, and Carl felt that he almost didn't know how to write the word Mind Flayer.

With a long sigh, Carl, who was very angry, turned his head and returned to the cave.

I can't take a walk anymore. The situation outside is too complicated now.

If you go out for a walk now, you might be targeted by some evil spirits.

"You're back so early? What's the situation outside?"

Seeing that Carl had returned not long after he went out, Hope, who was replenishing water, asked casually.

"The situation is very bad, Hope, we may have to avoid going up there for a long time to come."

After taking off the power armor, Carl told Hope everything he had learned from the bugbears.

Carl didn't notice how bad his expression was when he was telling these things.

Hearing that the situation above had deteriorated to this point, the atmosphere in the room became stagnant for a moment.

After a while, Hope lifted his hair that had grown to his shoulders and said in a casual manner:

"Ha, if it doesn't work, we'll live here forever."

Having said that, both of them knew that this was impossible.

The pickled meat and mushrooms will be eaten up one day, and then the two will have to go out.

Carl's emotional perception ability brought by telepathy expertise made it clear that Hope was also extremely depressed.

But looking at Hope who was trying hard to cheer himself up, Carl stepped forward and hugged him.

"Don't worry, I will definitely take you out of this dungeon!"

Holding Hope tightly, Carl's voice was firm and powerful.

But Hope didn't pay any attention to what Carl said at this time.

The not-so-broad arms and the breath that came to his face made Hope feel dry in his mouth.

He subconsciously hugged Carl in the opposite direction. Hope felt Carl's warm breath sprayed on his earlobe, and felt that his heart was beating faster than ever before.

The tip of the tiefling's special heart-shaped tail trembled slightly, and driven by some emotion in his heart, the powerful red tail suddenly wrapped around Carl's waist.

Carl's body stiffened when he noticed something strange around his waist.

But he did not push Hope away, but continued to hug his only companion.

In this chaotic and dangerous dungeon, only Hope's warm and soft embrace could bring Carl a little comfort.

When a person is in a tense or dangerous environment, his heartbeat will involuntarily speed up. If there happens to be a person of the opposite sex next to him at this time, he may mistakenly interpret this accelerated heartbeat caused by the environment as a physiological reaction caused by the other person making his heart beat, and thus develop feelings for the other person.

This is the so-called suspension bridge effect.

It is also the theoretical basis for some disaster movies where the male and female protagonists have just met for a short time and the situation is about to get serious, but they are still hiding in a corner and chewing on each other.

Carl doesn't know if the current situation between him and Hope is the result of the suspension bridge effect.

But what he was sure of was that their relationship was indeed gradually heating up.