Firstly, regarding tinkerers, the Collector gleaned from the elder that there was minimal risk so long as it did not travel too far south.
Sufficiently far south, the temperatures became increasingly less extreme, allowing certain species of evergreen trees more resistant to the cold to sprout and flourish. These conditions induced the growth of a sprawling forest stretched as a thick band across the southern boundary of this land, and here, the majority of tinkerers made their residence.
Regarding the number of the tinkerers: there were ten tribes of native tinkerers in total in this area, this land titled as "Fjall".
These tribes possessed adherence to warrior culture and simpler ways than most tinkering civilizations, and this in turn along with their harsh environment caused their individual numbers to be low but every individual to be of a higher grade than the average human specimen.
From what the Collector could estimate based off the elder's experience with humans, the average human adapted to this biome was capable of contending with a champion. That meant on average, they were far weaker than the Collector.
However, the Collector knew well that tinkerers varied wildly in innate power.
It would do well to avoid them for the high end extremes of these tribes could prove highly troublesome, and it was likely to encounter them if it made overt movement against the humans.
Of the ten tribes, however, only three traveled further north than the forest.
It would seem that the remaining seven tribes had consolidated under one larger city called Middir, and this city lay at the very southern border of Fjall considerably far from the Collector.
However, the elder had noted that his information of Middir and the forests could be hazy for he had no true direct experience ever approaching those areas, for heavily populated human spaces meant adventurers, and adventurers meant death.
Thus, only three tribes – those that inhabited areas north of the forest and in reasonable proximity to the Collector, remained as threats.
The Boar clan.
The Kraken clan.
And the Faceless clan.
Of these, the Boar clan was the closest, possessing an encampment a day's worth of travel southwest of the Collector's current location.
The Kraken clan lay even further south, nestled between the forest and a ridge of mountains leading into a sizable water body titled Gioll.
The Faceless clan lay far west, almost a week's worth of travel from the Collector's current position. They were the most isolated of human clans, rarely ever making contact with the rest of their kind.
Of these three clans, the Boar clan posed the most immediate threat due to its proximity to the Collector, but regardless, there was the possibility of encountering members from any of the three clans through the Great Storm.
It would seem that there was a highly unique meteorological phenomenon that regularly occurred within this land wherein a 'storm' would sweep through the area in a regular and consistent pattern spanning a week every month.
The nature of the storm itself was no truly natural phenomenon. It was highly magical in nature and therefore, though its pattern of movement could be predicted, the manner of creature or environmental conditions within it could not.
At its base level, the 'Great Storm' consisted of an enormous sphere of ice, the 'core' of the storm, within which a miniature sea of frigid waters floated.
From this icy core, intense winds and rainfall buffeted outwards, meaning that any entity that attempted to stay on the core would face hurricane force winds and intense cold driving against them.
The storm originated from far north, beyond a series of mountain ranges that demarcated the boundary from a location known as the 'Rift' from the greater 'Fjall'.
The elder possessed absolutely no direct experience of the 'Rift', for none from Fjall, whether they be tinkerer or even monster, had ever traversed into those lands and stepped back alive.
There were countless stories of the Rift and the threats it could possess, but the elder's account of it grew questionable in accuracy for most of his knowledge involved what seemed to be orally passed down traditions heavily steeped in superstitions more so than lived or observed data.
Still, the Collector felt eager desire to battle against these monsters the elder spoke of that lived in the Rift.
Enormous, bestial humanoids named Jotun that could rival the size of mountains on their own.
Great serpents whose coils could shake the earth for kilometers around.
Living embodiments of snow and storm that could lay waste to entire populaces with thunder and avalanches.
Regardless, the Collector understood not to approach this area, this 'Rift', until it had ascended to higher metamorphosis levels, for it seemed that although there were no tinkerers in the area, the weather conditions and threat of monsters was extreme enough to warrant evasion.
Once the Collector had sufficiently grown strong enough, it would move to the Rift to consume worthy foes, and in doing so, it would coincide its movements with the cycle of the Great Storm.
The Great Storm obtained much of its magical energy, ice mass, and wind force from the Rift, and from there, it traveled in a circular orbit that led it down into the western edges of Fjall before crossing across and then circling back around to the Rift again.
As the storm traveled through the warmer, less magically charged land of Fjall, it lost much of its intensity, allowing tribesmen of the human clans to latch onto the storm and fish for food and scrounge for resources.
For now, the storm had just passed by the Collector's current coordinates located near the eastern edge of Fjall.
After warping in, the Collector had not directly encountered the storm, only the tail end of its orbit when it was at its weakest, but even then, it had been harsh enough to cause the Collector's expiry within an hour when it was at its prior metamorphosis level.
To latch onto the storm and explore it, or even further to accompany it to the Rift, would require significant enhancements to general bodily functions, magical energy levels, and a hardier form.
Knowing all this, the Collector decided upon a rudimentary course of action, though this was highly adaptable.
There were two main locations the Collector found of note worth.
The first was Eljudnir, a so called "black mountain of spirits" nestled on the far eastern reaches of Fjall. The elder seemed to know this location to some degree even though he had never truly been here in the flesh, nor had any goblin for what the elder claimed had been two millennia.
This mountain was said to be the center point at which countless 'spirits' – seemingly entities whose psionic profiles had obtained additional physical vessels after leaving their original bodies – would congregate.
And at the heart of the mountain, there nested a specimen known as a Facestealer.
This specimen, the Collector remembered in passing from the female daemon specimen. The Facestealer was the originator of all bone binding, passing down its knowledge to the goblins from untold centuries ago.
The specimen was said to be able to harvest the 'souls' of beings, to warp them to its will and to wear the identities that belonged to them.
If the Collector devoured this specimen, it theorized it would be able to manifest the capability to not only obtain advanced bone binding, but to also modify its Higher Calling to affect all species.
However, if the elder was correct, then this 'Facestealer' was an exceptionally aged, powerful specimen far beyond the Collector's current grasp.
Yet, not for long. The Collector was always evolving, always growing stronger.
In the week's worth of journey between the Collector's current location and Eljudnir, the Collector would no doubt encounter many prey specimen to devour and obtain strength with. There were countless depressions in the earth – dungeons of a smaller scale than the goblin lord's – that provided a warm and nourishing environment for powerful monsters.
These, the Collector would challenge and consume one by one.
At the center of Fjall, between the Collector's current location and Eljudnir, the coordinates of the shadow entity hivemind also lay.
This, the Collector would investigate also.
The second location that caught the Collector's interest was a lake called Vimur that lay close from its current location. Eight hundred kilometers northeast.
Here, the elder stated that a colossally sized hand emerged from the water.
This was the hand of from the corpse of a particularly powerful Jotun. If the Collector was able to obtain a genetic sample from the corpse, it could begin its westward journey with far more might.
Such a genetic sample from a powerful native specimen would also grant the Collector an additional layer of resistance to the cold, not to mention that it would prime the Collector later for when it would traverse into the Rift where the weather conditions grew to extremes that would render what it currently faced infinitesimal in comparison.
The Collector decided. It would head westward first. The sockets of its many skulls glowed yellow as it peered at the many subjugated goblin around it.
Beforehand, it would experiment further with Higher Calling.
With just a little more trial and error, it theorized there was potential to turn this entire social unit of weak specimen into evolved versions of themselves capable of being valuable units to the Collector's endeavors.
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