A week after Ghyurl’s tribe joined us, our population already reached a thousand. However, surprisingly, the total number of goblins and orcs that came through the gate I open never exceeded a hundred. For now, I hypothesized that the gate had some sort of limit: when that limit was reached, or, in other words, when a hundred monsters used the gate to enter this world, the gate closed itself. This was most definitely a good development as I was starting to get frustrated by our exponentially increasing population, and the low number of resources, which was not able to keep up with it.

Thanks to the equipment of Ghyurl’s tribe, we were able to swiften the logging and construction. Moreover, orcs were stronger than goblins, at least the goblins who have not yet evolved – they were comparable to blue goblins though: Blue goblins were faster than orcs and worked quicker, but the orcs had better endurance and muscle power. Green goblins would just get tired very fast, so they had to work in shifts. Because none of the orcs has evolved like the goblins have yet, I do not know if they can evolve or how their evolution would affect them if they can. Either way, they are helpful as they are now.

One issue with Ghyrul’s tribe’s equipment was that they were old, and most of them were rusty. Since the orcs have not mined and smithed the metal themselves but salvaged the tools and resources after battles they won long time ago, there was no way to fundamentally make more tools unless we luckily ponder into an iron deposit and find an unused blacksmith anytime soon. After securing enough room for accommodation, I am planning to look deeper into this issue. It will be an important factor in our survival anyway.

In the meantime, because building houses takes longer than what can accommodate the incoming goblins and orcs every day, I made exploration teams and sent them out to find caves within the forest. While I initially planned to have a single base, it was proving more and more difficult to sustain it with what we have in hand. At least as a precaution, we should have another place to accommodate some of the tribe members.

Ghyurl’s tribe had some knowledge of this world, but it was surely not enough for us if we really wanted to survive. Their knowledge was mainly limited by old tales and what has now become history as they have been isolated in this forest for hundreds of years. For now, I did not have any plans to go beyond the mountains – even the forest itself was dangerous. However, sooner or later we would need to find out, considering how fast our tribe was growing.

My thought process was interrupted by Ghyurl’s voice:

“Chief, I am not sure if this would interest you, but there is another orc tribe at the other end of the forest. It is a day’s walk from here, but the road might be dangerous in small groups. We do not really keep contact with them as there have been conflicts before, but they have separated from us long time ago, so they have roughly the same history. If they learn that you are the Caller, I am sure they would like to offer support.”

This is interesting – I think to myself.

“Give the directions to Gobi. We will form a team and pay them a visit.”

If this orc tribe has more tools and equipment or resources or basically anything that would make life easier for us, this would be an unpassable opportunity. From the sound of it, they were not hostile towards Ghyurl’s tribe, so I am confident that they will not be hostile towards me. Also, if hey have separated from this tribe long ago, then they really should know of the caller’s prophecy – I guess that is why Ghyurl sounded confident in saying that they will provide us with support if they learn that I am the caller.

Though logging and constructions have become the priority, I also formed different teams to better position ourselves in this forest. When goblins evolved, they started to demonstrate some unique talents, for instance. Gobi’s night vision and speed improved much more than the rest, while Gorlin, a female goblin who came as part of the first batch of goblins I called, started demonstrating high talent in navigation. So, while Gobi was responsible for hunters groups and training, I had Gorlin gather a cartography team to map the forest. They started by joining the hunters to map the hunting areas, but then they started going on expeditions independently, though with some guards.

Gobo, on the other hand, started practicing his magic as a shaman. Now also a blue goblin, he healed the minor injuries of hunters who came back wounded. He was not skilled enough, but he was surely talented. I asked him to teach magic to some goblins and orcs, but he said none of them really had strong magic power, and thus would not be able to learn it to the extent that is beneficial. To quote him:

“The most they can do is to light a candle.”

Well, the most he could do was to swiften the process of healing for minor wounds himself. No need to be this harsh on others, right?

Once Gobu and his team of craftspeople made enough spears ready, I opened the gate to call the new batch of hundred goblins and orcs before leaving for the orc tribe at the end of the forest. Because it was a day’s walk and would be difficult to feed a huge group, I only ordered 5 blue goblins, 10 green goblins, and 10 orcs including Ghyurl to come with me. Our next stop would be the other orc tribe, which we would hopefully reach without any problems.