Day One

There’s a saying that truth is stranger than fiction. I believe a poet from long ago first said it. But no matter where it came from, I realized today that real-life events can actually be stranger and more remarkable than the stories we make up.

Saying all that out of the blue probably makes no sense, so let me explain the situation: I appear to have been stabbed to death by my stalker—a girl who had been like a sister to me—and then reincarnated. And no, I’m not joking about the reincarnation part, so please don’t think I’m just some lunatic. I’ll explain it one step at a time.

Actually, I’m currently having that feeling where things are so chaotic that I’m strangely calm in the midst of it. If I don’t recount what happened as objectively as I can, I think I might go crazy. So, please hold off on any complaints until after you’ve heard my story.

Um, where should I start? Well, I guess I should introduce myself. My name used to be Kanata Tomokui, but as I’ve been recently reincarnated, let’s not call me anything specific for now.

If my memory and imagination aren’t playing tricks on me—which I wish they were—after work today, I was invited for drinks by my colleague, Mayumi Kiritsubo. Kiritsubo is the same age as me and is the highest-ranked telekinetic at my job. She’s often my partner in work, a comrade in arms. She’s also a woman with curves in all the right places, easily someone who could be considered a “beauty.” When she invited me out, I had no particular reason to refuse, so we went around to several pubs and drank.

Kiritsubo can’t hold her liquor, but since she had the next day off, she drank late and, as expected, got so drunk she couldn’t get home by herself. Her face turned as red as an apple, and she could no longer speak or walk straight. Leaving her at the pub would have exposed her to shady characters lurking around, so I had no choice but to take her to my nearby apartment.

I didn’t make this decision just for Kiritsubo’s sake. Even asleep, Kiritsubo can detect external threats to herself. If attacked, she unconsciously used the highest level of telekinesis to instantly slice and dice her attacker into dozens of pieces, which I knew because of my precognitive abilities. While I don’t particularly care about what happens to someone who would attack a drunk woman, I saw no need to let things end that way if I could prevent it. Handling the aftermath would be too much work, which was overwhelmingly the reason for my decision.

After settling the bill, I slipped my arms under Kiritsubo’s knees and shoulders to lift her up—like a princess—and left the restaurant. Kiritsubo was lighter than expected, and thanks to my regular physical training, I wasn’t feeling too worn out by the time we arrived at my place. I sent my biometric data from the nanomachines in my body to unlock the door and disable the security system. Once inside, I tossed the half-asleep Kiritsubo onto my bed. She made a strange sound as she landed.

As someone who loved alcohol but struggled to get drunk, I wasn’t satisfied with just a few rounds at a few pubs. When I opened the fridge, thinking about enjoying some solitary drinking while gazing at the full moon, I realized that all the different types of alcohol that usually filled an entire shelf—beer, chuhai, and so on—were gone. I had planned to restock today, and I would have, if Kiritsubo hadn’t invited me out. It had slipped my mind until that very moment.

I could have restrained my desires and abstained from drinking, but the full moon was so beautiful that night, and the idea of drinking under such a lovely sight was irresistible. Giving in to my impulses, I headed to a nearby 24-hour convenience store and bought five beers, some sake, and a few snacks before heading back home. Although summer was approaching, the nights were still chilly. I enjoyed a memorable view of the clear night sky with the beautiful full moon floating in it.

Then, as I thought about how delicious my moon-viewing sake would be, I noticed a single pretty girl standing under a streetlight, faintly veiled by a mild fog. She was someone I recognized; in fact, she was what society generally called a stalker.

This stalker’s name was Aoi Kirimine. She was currently a college student, five years younger than I, which made her twenty years old. To briefly recount how Aoi the stalker and I first met, when I was in my third year of high school, I saw a pretty girl—Aoi, who was about twelve or thirteen at the time—being harassed by two delinquent guys with dyed blonde hair and piercings, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. I decided to help her out.

Well, saying I decided to help her is not entirely wrong, but it’s not exactly accurate either. Back then, I was much more of a coward than I am now. Despite being younger than me, the two delinquents were clearly trouble, with their dyed hair, piercings, and rumpled, altered uniforms. Usually, I would never have fought to protect a girl I didn’t even know and whom I had never seen before. It was pathetic, but typically, I would have just passed right on by, sending a sympathetic glance to Aoi like everyone else, pretending not to see the potential danger she was in. I had never been in a fistfight before, and unlike Kiritsubo, I hadn’t yet awakened any ESP powers like telekinesis. So, I would have fled pretty quickly.

Normally.

By some twist of fate—likely an unfortunate one—on that day, I happened to be carrying a military-grade stun baton that I had received as a birthday present from my uncle, Shoujo Bado, who worked at a paramilitary subsidiary of the galactic megacorporation Avalon. He was a military enthusiast and a weapon fanboy.

I was curious about the stun baton’s power, but too scared to test it on myself, so I had initially left it sitting untouched in my room. However, one of my friends—also a military geek—emailed me that morning saying, “I want to see your stun baton, bring it over,” so I was on my way to show it to him. That’s why, when I saw a girl being harassed, I took out the stunner I had in my bag and used it on the two delinquents responsible.

They hadn’t noticed me, and I had the highly justifiable excuse of “rescuing a beautiful girl from delinquents,” so I remember doing it quite casually. I tased them from behind. But the sight of them violently convulsing on the ground, and foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs, shocked me. Panicking, I grabbed the hand of the girl I had just saved and ran away from the scene without thinking.

Looking back, I realize how immature I was.

Setting that aside, that spontaneous curiosity and spur-of-the-moment decision-making is how I ended up using those delinquents as test subjects for a stun baton and, incidentally, saving Aoi. But after some time had passed, along with various twists and turns, Aoi eventually became my stalker.

It wasn’t that bad during the few months between our first meeting and when I got my job right after graduating high school. However, once I started working, I found it quite troubling that she would follow me even to other planets where I had business. Instead of hiding and following me, she could have just talked to me normally. Truly, she shouldn’t have been keeping tabs on my private life in the first place.

Anyway, moving on. I might explain that in more detail later, but let’s get back to the main story for now.

On my way home after buying alcohol, I encountered Aoi. Well, “encountered” might not be the right word. Standing under the streetlight, with her head down, Aoi was emanating a dark aura that was in stark contrast to her usual energetic puppy-like demeanor. I tilted my head in confusion. I knew something was wrong the moment I saw her. But despite her stalking, Aoi was still like a sister to me, so I could never think too badly of her.

Worried, I called out to her, but she didn’t respond. Aoi stayed silent with her head down, making it impossible to see her expression. An overwhelming and inexplicable sense of unease washed over me, so I stepped closer to ask what was wrong. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, she suddenly jabbed me deep in the stomach with a sheath knife.

The twisting of the knife blade as it rotated inside me caused excruciating pain and gouged into my internal organs. Up to that point, it was still an injury that could have healed without a trace if I’d received regenerative treatment. If it had been an ordinary metal sheath knife, I would have been able to fight back and wouldn’t have been so easily killed.

What Aoi used wasn’t an ordinary sheath knife. It was a B-rank lightning-infused small blade called the Nene Karuri, manufactured by Sakuma Heavy Industries—the company my uncle worked for, ironically enough. To explain the Nene Karuri simply, it is a monomolecular cutter equipped with a high-performance stun gun and several other advanced capabilities.

Not only did the knife’s edge—fitted with thousands of tiny blades like a chainsaw—increase its sharpness through high-speed movement, but it is also an adaptive close-combat weapon that automatically adjusted to the optimal cutting angle using liquid nanomachines flowing through tubes covering the entire blade. Plus, it delivered a high-voltage current strong enough to burn the internal organs of the person stabbed, making it a tool that even professional soldiers used.

I didn’t have time to think about why Aoi had such a weapon. The fact was, she had it, and before I could react, I was pinned down, staring up at that beautiful full moon again. What happened next couldn’t have been more unbelievable. Aoi repeatedly drove the blade of the knife into my torso, over and over again. The relentless stabbing and gouging left me confused and disoriented, and vomiting a positively abnormal quantity of blood. With each thrust of the knife, fresh blood sprayed everywhere. I could feel the blade tearing through my flesh and bones with a grinding noise, shredding my organs to ribbons.

Oddly, amid the chaos, I found myself thinking that Aoi looked somewhat fantastical as she straddled me and became increasingly drenched in my blood. But by then, any sense of rationality I had was completely gone.

My dangerous profession had required me to undergo enhancement surgery to become Augmented—more than human—so how could I have been so easily killed by an ordinary person like Aoi? Sure, I knew firsthand the capabilities of the Nene Karuri, but was it really possible for a regular person to overpower an Augmented man like me, even with the element of surprise on their side? Was it because of the high-voltage current that I couldn’t move? Or…

Well, it’s no use trying to rationalize. The sight of Aoi drenched in my blood was too vivid to recall any of the details of that moment clearly.

The fact is, I was dead. Aoi stabbed me to death. I suffered fatal injuries that even regenerative treatment couldn’t heal. The last thing I saw was the tip of the knife approaching my eye, and since the brain is the only organ that can’t be regenerated, when that blade destroyed my brain, I was absolutely, finally dead. As my consciousness faded into darkness, I felt the sensation of my skull and brain being sliced apart. Without a doubt, that was the exact moment I died.

The story doesn’t end there. If it did, I wouldn’t have been talking about reincarnation.

When I regained consciousness, even though I was already enveloped in complete darkness, I realized I still existed as a separate, persistent individual. I remembered the sight that convinced me I had died before losing consciousness—the knife about to destroy my brain—but here I was, clearly not dead. For a brief instant, an unusual thought crossed my mind: Was I having some drunken nightmare?

No, that wasn’t it. Instinctively, I knew this was different. Indeed, I had been killed. I could still clearly remember the cold metal of the blade that tore through my chest and the excruciating pain of the high-voltage current that burned through my organs. It was definitely not an illusion. I definitely received fatal injuries from Aoi. But I was alive. The fact that I could still think like this was proof of that.

I wanted to know the reason. I was desperate to understand what happened and how it came to be. Driven by this desire, I forced my heavy eyelids open and saw…

A hideous face with green skin staring down at me.

That was the decisive moment that made me realize I had been reincarnated.

Ah… Sorry, I’m suddenly feeling very sleepy. I’ll continue tomorrow…

My consciousness faded away, not into the darkness of death, but was rocked gently in the cradle of sleep brought on by mental exhaustion.

Day Two

My eyes snapped open.

My suddenly awakened consciousness decided I needed to gather as much information as possible, so I looked around with my newly opened eyes. I did my best to understand the current situation, but my head wouldn’t move the way I wanted. As a result, I couldn’t really learn much, but I was at least able to grasp some essential things. Unfortunately, it seemed this reincarnation thing wasn’t a drunken dream. Well, I’d suspected as much. Any faint hope I’d had was now dashed.

I seemed to be inside a cave. Its rough, rocky surface showed no signs of human alteration, indicating it was probably formed naturally. The feel of the dirty, ragged cloth that covered me like a blanket was horrible. It was scratchy, lumpy, and frankly disgusting. The pungent smell was enough to make me want to hold my nose. The sensation of dirt against my back was also uncomfortable and irritating, and small stones painfully dug into my skin.

Honestly, all of that was trivial. What really mattered was that I was surrounded by numerous ugly little creatures with green skin, pointed ears, and beaklike noses, all snoring loudly and wearing only small rags. From what I could see, there were about thirty of them, with roughly twenty of them the size of human babies. Based on their appearance, I concluded that these small beings were goblins.

Now I was even more certain I had been reincarnated yesterday.

When I moved my hand and held it up, I saw a small, green-skinned arm like those of the goblins around me, with sharp, black claws extending from my five thin fingers. Clearly, I was no longer human. First of all, my arm looked like that, and second of all, I was surrounded by a group of goblins. If I were human, they would have attacked me, but that definitely wasn’t happening. On the contrary, I actually felt like I was being protected. This was irrefutable proof of what I had become.

It seemed I started as an ordinary human, evolved into an ESP user, was further upgraded to an Augmented man through surgery, and had now been downgraded to a less-than-human goblin.

I cried a little, genuinely.

The reason I couldn’t move as I wanted was probably because I was newly born. In other words, I was now a baby goblin. So today, like any other goblin infant, I spent the day sleeping. To clarify, this was definitely not an attempt to escape reality.

Day Three

I decided to accept that there was nothing I could do about being reincarnated, so I committed to living this second life to the fullest. Quick adaptability and tenacity had been crucial skills for my job in my first life, after all.

By the way, it seems that goblins grow much faster than I expected. It had been barely three days since I was born, but when I woke up today, my body had grown a lot. I was still the size of a baby before I went to sleep, but now I was about as big as a first grader.

My body was much weaker than before I reincarnated, but my rapid growth brought an incredible surge of strength; it wasn’t long before I could stand and even run. This brought me great joy, and I couldn’t help but feel elated. It might seem childish, but just a short time of being unable to move freely was highly frustrating.

I guess growing this quickly probably wasn’t too unusual in the wild, where life is a fierce competition for survival from the moment you’re born. Intelligent life forms who built civilizations could afford the luxury of growing slowly because there was less danger of being attacked. But species like goblins, who live by the ruthless rules of nature, must grow quickly if they want to survive long enough to leave offspring and perpetuate the species.

Setting that aside…

Now that I could move on my own, I spent today figuring out what my body could and couldn’t do. I kept pushing until I grew more accustomed to this body, then fell into a deep sleep. In fact, my next goal was to demand a more comfortable place to sleep.

Day Four

After learning how to move in my newly reincarnated goblin body, I went out for my first hunt.

Actually, it was kind of an “if you don’t work, you don’t eat” situation. Today, the goblins who had been feeding us newborns with plump caterpillar-like creatures—which are surprisingly tasty, by the way—told us, “From now on, you must get your own food. We’ve all been through this, so accept it.” Thus ended the food distribution, and that was that.

On the fourth day of my new life, I had to hunt for my own food. It taught me how tough life could be in the wild. I knew it would be hard to hunt alone—gob-lone, if you will—so I told all kinds of lies and used sweet talk to get a friend or gofer, Gobkichi, and we explored the forest together.

It seemed that in this world, goblins were basically stupid. But that definitely made my job of deceiving them easier.

Another thing I learned was that while goblins could reproduce with each other, their chances of having offspring were slightly lower. As a result, they mainly abducted human women from various locations and impregnated them. I discovered this when I explored the deepest part of the cave, which also served as our sleeping quarters. In a dimly lit room next to what could be called a treasure vault—although it’s really more of a storage room filled with rusty swords, scrap wood, and other junk—I found several nearly naked human women, dressed only in tattered cloth. They were also covered in a white, cloudy fluid that they made no effort to clean off, with eyes that appeared empty and lifeless, like dead fish.

That was how I realized that goblins impregnated human women to reproduce. Some of the women in the room were beautiful, while others were less so, but all were more attractive than the goblins. The more beautiful women, however, seemed to have suffered the most. I prepared myself mentally as I understood this cruel reality. I knew I had to find a way to survive in this brutal world.

Obviously, all of the human women had been abducted from somewhere. I wanted to do something for them, but frustratingly, I knew all too well that there was nothing a weakling like me could do. I clasped my hands and said a brief prayer to Buddha instead, though it was just a token gesture. I figured that one of the women was probably my mother, but thinking about that too much was depressing, so I consciously skirted around the thought. Anyway, that’s enough on this topic for everyone’s sake.

In the vast forest outside the cave, I successfully completed my first hunt thanks to teamwork with Gobkichi, who moved exactly as I instructed—two are better than one. However, I still needed to establish a hierarchy. For example, when Gobkichi tried to eat our prey without permission, I hit him with a stick just hard enough to avoid breaking any bones and then left him lying there. It was necessary for the future.

After that, I moved on to getting what I could from the prey itself. My glorious first catch was a wild rabbit with brown fur and a twenty-centimeter horn protruding from its forehead. I decided to call this prey a “Horned Rabbit.”

I snapped the horn off at its base. It might have been too small for me to use as a weapon when I was human, but for my diminutive goblin body, it was just the right size. The best way to use it would be to stab rather than cut, like an estoc.

The moment I laid claim to the horned rabbit’s horn, I thought I heard some announcement echoing around me from somewhere, but it was probably just my imagination.

By the way, my new name was Gobrou, the name given to me by the first goblin I saw when I opened my goblin eyes for the first time. Personally, I didn’t like the name, but I also didn’t want to keep the one I had before, so I had accepted it. In this new life, going with the flow was essential.

Setting my complaints aside, I now had a weapon. I tried to use it to skin the horned rabbit for its fur, but that turned out to be quite difficult. It would have taken considerable time, and the result would have been an ugly pelt anyway.

I noticed Gobkichi drooling and staring at me with those pitiful, beady eyes of his, and I started to feel a bit guilty. So, I abandoned my brief attempt at skinning and split the horned rabbit with Gobkichi, eating both the fur and the meat.

Obtaining a handy weapon and eating fresh meat made the day very productive. Also, the meat was delicious—much better than those mysterious bugs.

Day Five

I went hunting to survive again today. Gobkichi, who clearly understood the hierarchy by now, moved as I instructed much more quickly, and with the experience we’d gained the previous day, we secured prey at a good pace.

Today’s catch was another horned rabbit, but one significantly larger than yesterday’s. Gobkichi’s wooden stick might have been insufficient, but my horn weapon proved to be even more effective than I expected. While Gobkichi distracted the horned rabbit, I moved in from behind and stabbed it with the horn, crushing its spine and piercing its heart. Although the tip of the horn got a bit chipped from all the rough use, the horn from today’s catch more than made up for it, so I didn’t mind.

I couldn’t help but quip, “Do I look like I was horn yesterday?” out loud. When I saw the genuine confusion in Gobkichi’s gaze, I felt a bit embarrassed. To hide it, I made a show of snapping the horn off the new horned rabbit, just like the day before.

Once again, I thought I heard an announcement from somewhere, but since I still didn’t understand much about this world, I decided not to think about it more than necessary and focused instead on splitting the spoils with Gobkichi. As I chewed and crunched through the meat and bones, swallowing them hungrily, I felt the pulse of life surging through my entire body… and I became certain of what I had only suspected yesterday.

It seemed that even though I had reincarnated as a goblin, I’d retained my ESP ability, Absorption, from my previous life. In other words, I had essentially carried over my abilities into a new game, even if my new starting point was a severe downgrade.

ESP abilities, or Extra Sensory Perception abilities, appeared around the time humanity ventured into space several centuries ago. A small percentage of evolved humans, known as espers, are born at about one in a thousand and can use ESP abilities. However, while they are called “evolved humans,” this evolution is often limited to a single generation. Espers did not necessarily produce esper offspring. Although the likelihood is higher than with non-espers, it was still not guaranteed.

Today, in an era where humans regularly contact and coexist with aliens, espers are no longer persecuted as they were in the distant past. Their abilities were recognized as just another form of individuality, though that’s mainly because devices that help suppress these powers were affordable and readily available.

Back to the main point. My ESP ability, Absorption, was vastly different from more common abilities like Psychometry, Telekinesis, or Teleportation. Simply put, my ability allowed me to consume anything—no matter how hard or inedible, from iron to gold—just crunching it all up. Once consumed, even the most toxic substances became harmless to me, and I could reconstruct them into something benign. And there was always a chance that I could gain some ability or power from whatever I ate.

I didn’t understand the principles behind it myself. They were a complete mystery, but please accept it as one of those ESP abilities. It’s nonsensical to question the science behind superpowers. It was not as simple as eating just anything to gain abilities, either. There were conditions. For living creatures, freshness was crucial. I could only gain something from consuming a living creature within twelve hours of its death.

The more of the same thing I ate, the easier it became to gain an ability from it. Eating parts where the prey’s power was concentrated, like the brain or the heart, increased the probability even more. This also allowed me to strengthen abilities I’ve already acquired, as well as enhance physical aspects like strength, healing ability, and vitality. If I ate a creature stronger than myself, I could almost certainly gain its abilities.

Basically, Absorption may not be a powerful ability on its own, but the more I ate, the stronger I became. Before I reincarnated, I awakened this ability and strengthened it by killing and consuming Disaster-class creatures—ones as dangerous as natural disasters like tornadoes and earthquakes—and by capturing criminals who used their ESP abilities to commit crimes. I borrowed parts of their bodies to gain numerous abilities, such as Precognition, which had allowed me to know what would happen if I’d left Kiritsubo alone.

Unfortunately, all those abilities have been reset. I used to have several abilities that would have been very useful for survival, so I’m not too happy about losing them.

On the other hand, having Absorption was more than lucky enough. Having consumed human flesh in the past—when I first ate human meat and felt nothing —I did some research and found that Absorption also has the effect of numbing aversion. This allowed me to eat mysterious bugs and raw horned rabbits without hesitation, which is why I was still alive. And though losing all my abilities was frustrating, I could regain them.

Eating was crucial for survival, so I was ignoring common sense and ethics for now. The Escape Dash ability I gained from the horned rabbit seemed to enhance running speed, the likelihood of escape, and environmental adaptability during escape attempts. I wondered why the horned rabbit had charged straight at us instead of running away if it had this ability. While spending some time thinking about it, I managed to catch and eat two more horned rabbits.

Feeling full and content, I slept well. Gobkichi’s trust in me seemed to be rising rapidly; according to the laws of the wild, he probably recognized me as a superior being.

Day Six

It seemed that an ordinary goblin my age was weak enough to lose to a horned rabbit.

Gobmi, who mainly subsisted on nuts until today—though it had only been a few days, to be fair—taught me this. Even though Gobmi’s name included the character for “beauty” when translated into Japanese, she wasn’t pretty at all. She was just as ugly as the other goblins, though maybe slightly less so, for what little difference that made. To be honest, I could only make rough distinctions in my current state.

I was in a pretty similar situation myself. I realized this when washing off in a nearby river. According to Gobmi, I was way more handsome than other goblins, but considering what she was comparing me to… All I could think was, Even if I’m popular among goblins, so what? I just couldn’t feel good about being called a handsome goblin when those words conflicted with each other.

I looked off into the distance to calm my mind.

Oh, by the way, Gobkichi was considered average. So, that was good news for me.

Anyway, newborn goblins were usually weak. That’s why only the naturally stronger, luckier, or smarter ones managed to survive here. It was a form of natural selection that ensured only those capable of truly becoming part of the group survived. The conditions were extremely harsh. According to Gobmi, several goblins had already fallen prey to the horned rabbit’s horn.

When I heard this, I couldn’t help but say, “No way, seriously?”

I mean, the average-sized horned rabbit was really just a bit bigger than an ordinary wild rabbit. Even though goblins could attack from above using bipedal locomotion, they were still getting killed and eaten? Well, I guess anything is possible.

The other goblins did not even have the intelligence to arm themselves with sticks. They resorted to barehanded fighting, so it was no wonder they got killed. The horned rabbit had its own horn to use as a weapon, so attacking it unarmed was difficult. The smaller size of the horned rabbit might also be an advantage because it could easily stab upwards into a goblin’s abdomen.

I have noticed that some of the more intelligent goblins have been imitating me and Gobkichi by arming themselves with sticks. And today, as thanks for the information, Gobmi got to join us on our hunt.

Horned rabbit is seriously tasty.

Day Seven

It was raining today, so I spent the day inside the cave, leisurely working. The sound of stone striking stone echoed as I hit a mysterious obsidian-like stone I found by the river yesterday with a larger rock I picked up nearby, trying to polish the smaller stone. Following the example of those who came before me, I was sharpening a makeshift knife to use for skinning.

I figured it was about time to get myself some fur clothes. I wanted to graduate from the tattered rag that was still wrapped around my waist—my starting gear, basically—but the horn wasn’t suitable for cutting. If I wanted fur, I needed a knife.

As I worked, other goblins born around the same time as me gathered nearby, either drawn by the noisy grinding sound or out of curiosity. I didn’t know or care about the details. Some of them seemed to want to ask me something, but most just dispersed when I kept ignoring them, which was good because they were in the way. In contrast, older goblins watched me with strangely affectionate looks for reasons I didn’t understand.

By slightly past noon, I managed to create three makeshift knives, so I called it a day. To be honest, my hands were starting to hurt a bit. But as soon as I stopped making knives, I found myself with nothing to do. So, I called Gobkichi and Gobmi over to discuss hunting formations, reminding myself in the process that even though I was getting along well with my new comrades, they were still goblins.

We tossed around various ideas—mostly my suggestions, though Gobmi was smarter than Gobkichi and occasionally shared her own thoughts too. Gobkichi just nodded along, being quite the simpleton.

In the midst of our discussion, an exceptionally wrinkled goblin approached us. This was Gobjii, the eldest in our goblin community. He held a position like an advisor and was the one who named me Gobrou. We paused our strategy meeting to talk with him; Gobjii had learned a lot in his long life, so I didn’t want to miss this chance. Gathering information was crucial, after all.

Though the fact that he was an “elder” at just over twenty years old must mean this new body of mine didn’t have a long lifespan… Ha ha…

Pulling myself together, I listened as Gobjii told me about this world, the rules of leveling up, and the concept of Existence Evolution—which, yes, apparently existed in this world—as well as why our cave only had newborn goblins like us, along with relatively older goblins like Gobjii.

I’ll tell you the details about this world, leveling, and Existence Evolution later. For now, let me talk about the goblins living in this cave. It turned out that the younger goblins—those who might be our parents—were out working in the forest. And by working, I meant raiding, obviously.

What, you thought all goblins were weak enough to be killed by something like a horned rabbit? No, no, that was only true for newborn goblins. While goblins were indeed weak as a species, the goblins born in this forest trained from the day after they became mobile to survive on their own. Like me, they learned survival skills and cunning by using sticks or throwing stones—literally fighting for their lives to acquire these skills. The weak died, and only the strong survived. It was the harsh yet simple law of nature. I actually cried a little because it was so merciless.

Anyway, because so many newborn goblins in our group quickly formed partnerships and started using sticks to hunt horned rabbits right from the beginning, Gobjii believed more members of my generation would survive than in the past.

As I nodded to show I understood his words, I noticed that even at his age, goblins still had their drive to reproduce—perhaps because their end was near. How did I know? Unfortunately, I caught a change in Gobjii’s loincloth. I felt like vomiting, so I quickly ended the conversation and looked away. There was no way I could keep talking to him like that.

After our talk, Gobjii, looking quite pleased with himself, headed deeper into the cave to release his pent-up desires. A few moments later, I heard some distinctive bodily sounds and faint, weak screams.

I clasped my hands and whispered another small prayer to Buddha for the captured women. I know I’m repeating myself, but it really was impossible for me to rescue them in my current state. I hoped that someday I could give them some peace. Given their condition, remaining alive was likely the cruelest fate for them. I had at least that much compassion.

Day Eight

Today, I went hunting with Gobkichi and Gobmi. Despite our crude equipment from just a few days of hunting, we were reasonably well-armed… or as well-armed as one could be with such makeshift gear.

I selected the two largest horned rabbit horns and wielded one in each hand, practicing a dual-horn hunting style. For extra protection, I tied the remaining horns together with some Sturdy Vine from the forest, and basically created torso armor with lots of gaps between all the horns. Though the horns were probably too hard to protect well against piercing attacks, they should be effective against blunt force.

Gobkichi wielded a large wooden club as thick as his torso and wore wooden chest armor. The club was too thick for him to hold, so I carved a handle for him using horns. Gobkichi was the dumbest of the three of us, but also the strongest, so he excelled at straightforward, blunt-force attacks.

I equipped Gobmi with a staff-sling made from horned rabbit hide scraps and Sturdy Vine; I added a handle to extend the weapon’s range. She used it to launch stones at birds and other distant targets, allowing her to serve as our long-range support. I wasn’t able to make armor for her this time, but I planned to do so in the future if I had the time and materials.

All three of us were still wearing the tattered rags we started with. We desperately needed new clothes.

Having more people definitely made things easier. With Gobkichi acting as the close-range forward, me as the mid-range fighter, and Gobmi providing long-range support, our formation worked efficiently. Today, we caught new prey in addition to horned rabbits.

We captured three poisonous snakes I called “Night Vipers,” each about sixty centimeters long and six centimeters in diameter, characterized by their black scales and spots. We also caught one rainbow bat, a creature with striking seven-colored wings. It looked somewhat like a bat, but it was likely a different species altogether. We also captured two armored raccoon dogs, creatures resembling a cross between raccoon dogs and armadillos, with hard shells covering their backs for strong defense. And finally, we caught two more horned rabbits. I had no complaints about such a successful hunt.

Gobkichi and Gobmi, on the other hand, drooling with their big, round eyes fixed on me, were a bit much. I understood where they were coming from, but unlike other goblins who ate their prey on the spot, I wanted to use the parts for weapons, which meant extra steps for harvesting.

We didn’t usually eat much during the hunt because I preferred to strip our kills for parts all at once when we returned. But I knew my teammates were hungry, so while I ignored their ravenous gazes, I started working a bit early. I could sense the disappointment in the way their heads drooped before they realized what I was doing. Sighing, I broke off the horns of the horned rabbits to keep, and tossed the meat to Gobkichi and Gobmi. I wanted to use the rabbits’ warm fur, but after seeing my companions’ pitiful faces, I decided to let them eat.

Surprisingly, Gobkichi and Gobmi gave me puzzled looks, tilting their heads as they accepted the meat. “This’ll take a while, so go ahead and eat,” I clarified when I realized they were confused because I’d already told them not to eat our catches. After a moment of hesitation, they started devouring the meat until their mouths were stained red with blood.

Watching them stirred my own hunger, but I turned away, controlling my appetite, and began peeling the tough shell off the armored raccoon dog. The hard shell, which even the horned rabbit’s horn couldn’t pierce, would make excellent raw material for armor.

The makeshift knife I crafted from the obsidian-like stone yesterday proved useful. It wasn’t razor-sharp, but it was much easier to use for disassembly than the horns. I discovered that the armored raccoon dog’s shell was actually hardened skin, making it easier and cleaner to peel off along with all its fur. After some struggle, I finally managed to remove the fur and shell together—and once again, I heard the mysterious announcement.

Every time I heard it, I thought, What the heck is this? But it seemed harmless, so I let it go.

There was still some meat left, so I decided to take a break from my work to get some nourishment. I tore off the right leg, yanked out the heart and brain of the armored raccoon dog, and started munching away. Then I gave the remaining parts to Gobkichi and Gobmi. Even then, there was still plenty to go around.

As it turned out, the meat of the armored raccoon dog was delicious. It had a satisfying crunch and became more flavorful the longer you chewed. I decided to take a small bite of the shell as well, and—

Just a small bite of the shell was apparently enough to learn a new ability. Eating the heart, brain, and right leg first seemed to have been a good idea. As for my new ability, Shell Defense enhances defense by increasing defense power, likelihood of defending, and the probability of blocking lethal attacks when using biological shells or carapaces for protection. It was quite a useful ability.

Now that I knew how to strip an armored raccoon dog for parts, I was able to do it much faster the second time around. Thanks to the job I had when I was a human, I was already used to disassembling creatures, so once I got the hang of it, it was quick work.

This time, I ate about half of the meat before tossing the rest to Gobkichi and Gobmi again. Then I took another small bite of the shell to level up my Shell Defense ability. By the way, when I say “level up,” there isn’t a clear indication of levels. It’s just an easy way to describe the feeling of the ability getting slightly stronger.

I moved on to harvest the rainbow bat. First, I cut off its beautiful seven-colored wings at the base and pulled out its fangs, which seemed designed for sucking blood. Then, we all shared and ate the meat together. Unlike the crunchy armored raccoon dog meat, the meat of the rainbow bat was very soft, but it was delicious in its own way. Actually, since becoming a goblin, everything I’ve hunted tasted great. Maybe because of a goblin’s sense of taste? I didn’t know the details, but my curiosity was piqued.

Unfortunately, I didn’t gain any new abilities from the rainbow bat. Still, I did notice a slight increase in my physical abilities, judging by the fullness and strength I felt afterward. My Absorption ESP ability was very useful; it not only improved abilities like Shell Defense but also increased my base attributes such as strength, defense, and vitality.

My mind drifted to a random question debated by academics: Do ESP abilities come from the soul? I remembered a renowned scholar’s paper suggesting that these abilities appeared in those infected and compatible with a particular virus. Either way, I had no way to verify either hypothesis, so I decided to abandon such unproductive thoughts.

Finally, I tackled today’s main dish: the three night vipers. Using my makeshift obsidian-like knife, I first tried to cut off their heads, but the snakeskin was so tough it chipped my blade. Now I needed to re-sharpen it. Sighing, I decided to peel off the snakeskin itself in case it might be useful.

The headless, skinned bodies were perfect for a meal—one snake per goblin. From the first bite, it was incredibly delicious. All I could think about was how amazing this meat would taste marinated in sake and grilled. Just thinking about it made my mouth water; that’s how impressive an ingredient it was.

The slightly tougher meat of the horned rabbit and armored raccoon dog was also delicious, as was the tender meat of the rainbow bat. However, the night vipers’ meat easily surpassed them all. Its flavor was so captivating that it halted our harvesting, and all three of us greedily devoured the meat.

When I finished my meal, I had acquired five new abilities.

It seemed that the night viper was significantly stronger than I was—my chances of gaining an ability were higher when I consumed something more powerful. But earning five abilities in one meal was rare for me, so maybe being a weak goblin also affects the odds.

Regardless, I was delighted with today’s outcome. The leftover venomous fangs might be useful as tools, but Gobkichi and Gobmi would be in grave danger if they got too close. Without Venom Resistance, they could die from just a scratch. Anyway, Venom Injection lets me secrete a specific type of venom from sharp objects like my beloved horns. This ability was much safer and more practical than using the night vipers’ venomous fangs as weapons.

To prevent any accidents, I decided to eat the three severed heads myself. The night viper venom—completely neutralized by Venom Resistance, not to mention Absorption—added a delightful tingling sensation to the already delicious meat.

Gobkichi and Gobmi both watched me with envy. Sorry, but eating this would be fatal for you guys.

Day Nine

Today, it rained heavily—a total downpour. Not wanting to go outside, I focused on crafting new weapons and armor from the materials I had collected yesterday. I had already secured some Steel Needle Grass and Sturdy Vine that Gobjii had mentioned earlier, so I began sewing the armored raccoon dog shell and night viper skin together.

First, I crafted torso armor for myself. Although I could have used the armored raccoon dog shell on both the front and back, I decided to use it only to fortify my back, leaving my chest protected by the horned rabbit horns I had previously been using on my back. This arrangement reduced gaps between the horns.

It finally felt like my clothing had upgraded from that tattered rag. I mean, my previous torso armor was nothing but a makeshift contraption of vines and horns, so it didn’t even count as real equipment.

Next, I crafted a square shield from wood and the remaining armored raccoon dog carapace. It was still pretty shabby but sturdy enough. This would be a gift for Gobkichi; I didn’t use a shield with my dual-horn fighting style, so I made this one a bit too big for me. Gobkichi fought in the front rank and should be the one to have it. Recently, he had gotten strong enough to swing his club with one hand, and leaving his other hand free would be a waste.

When I handed him the shield, Gobkichi was overjoyed. Equipped with a club as thick as his torso, an armored raccoon dog shell shield, and wooden chest armor, Gobkichi was starting to look quite formidable.

Next, I crafted some torso armor for Gobmi. I used the remaining snakeskin, the wings of the rainbow bat, and a few spare horns. After sewing everything together, the armor looked somewhat exotic thanks to the vibrant, colorful wings of the rainbow bat. The wing membrane proved to be quite durable and elastic, and I positioned the horned rabbit horns to protect vital areas, offering at least some minimal defense. Then, when I realized Gobmi hadn’t received as many items as the rest of us, I also made her a necklace from the rainbow bat’s fangs. She was very pleased with the entire ensemble.

Next, I planned to make weapons for myself, armor for Gobkichi, and perhaps a bow for Gobmi.

Today’s meal was more of that caterpillar-like creature we ate as infants—though that was really only a few days ago. Apparently, they can be found right here in the cave. Even though I didn’t gain anything from them, they were still pretty tasty, so they shouldn’t be underestimated.

Day Ten

Today we went hunting again in the forest, which still showed signs of yesterday’s rain.

Our haul included horned rabbits, night vipers, and an armored raccoon dog. It was a bit disappointing not to catch a rainbow bat, because I felt close to learning something from them, but that’s how it goes. We also encountered various other creatures, but many of them seemed too strong for us to handle at the moment, so we avoided them and ended up with similar prey to last time. We were gradually leveling up with each hunt, and someday we would be able to take them on.

Today’s hunt was over—time to talk a bit about levels. In short, a level is a straightforward manifestation of an individual’s strength. I don’t know the exact mechanics, but if I focus and furrow my brow really hard, numbers do faintly appear in my vision.

Levels are displayed up to a maximum of 100, and they don’t go any higher. I’m currently at Level 86, which is pretty high for a goblin. Even though it had only been ten days since we were born, killing and eating those higher-ranked night vipers without getting hurt really boosted our levels. Incidentally, Gobkichi reached Level 78, and Gobmi reached Level 55. We’re all steadily getting stronger.

That said, being goblins meant that even if we reached Level 100, many other species would still see us as weaklings, so I wasn’t too worried about levels right now. After all, there’s much more to this world than just levels.

According to Gobjii, once you reach the level cap of 100, normal growth stops. However, individuals with the potential to continue growing can undergo Existence Evolution. In simple terms, certain creatures can evolve into more advanced species, making them even stronger. Assuming I continue to grow at a steady rate, I should progress from a goblin to a hobgoblin, then from a hobgoblin to an ogre. That’s the usual route, at least. However, there are further stages of evolution and alternative routes. What exactly you become depends on your actions before the evolution.

For example:

• An ogre who enjoys drinking the blood of its prey, has a certain level of physical strength and intelligence, and (most importantly), is extremely proud, can evolve into a vampire.

• An ogre who prefers using heavy weapons like axes or greatswords, and has extraordinary strength and recovery abilities, can evolve into a minotaur.

• A hobgoblin that keeps eating rotting flesh and fluids from corpses and eventually gains the ability to consume souls can evolve into a ghoul.

• A hobgoblin skilled with specific weapons like swords, katanas, or spears, and possessing a certain level of intelligence and skill, can evolve into a Half-Blood Lord or another subtype of the Demon Lord species. These beings are relatively close to humans yet also entirely different. Therefore, individuals with potential can even become monsters of the demon lineage.

Although this evolutionary process is abnormal by any biological standards, it undeniably exists in this world. For someone like me trying to succeed in a world ruled by survival of the fittest, it’s incredibly beneficial. That said, Gobjii also mentioned that Existence Evolution is not something that can be easily achieved.

If I become an ogre, I wonder what kind of Existence Evolution I’ll experience…

Becoming a vampire seems unlikely because my pride isn’t high enough. Becoming a minotaur doesn’t fit either because I prefer lighter, piercing weapons over heavy ones like axes. And I definitely don’t want to become a ghoul—though Gobjii mentioned that ghouls, like vampires, have some undead attributes. That means they have the potential to evolve into something like a lich or a Dullahan, both of which use various forms of magic.

Aiming to be an undead monster might be easier than trying to become a vampire. Even if not having to sleep is an advantage, not having a body of flesh would be a huge drawback. The most likely outcome for me seemed to be evolving into a Demon Lord type, adept in handling various weapons. However, this was all still far off in the future.

Day Eleven

Today’s hunt yielded only one type of prey: the rainbow bat. However, we caught a whopping thirty of them. While exploring, we discovered another cave and decided to investigate. There, we found a dimly lit, spacious cavern, the ceiling of which was densely packed with the creatures.

I was truly grateful for the Aura Sensing and Evil Eye abilities I gained from eating the night viper. Aura Sensing allowed me to track the movement of the rainbow bats, and Evil Eye helped me limit their mobility. Without these abilities, Gobkichi or Gobmi would have almost certainly died, because my commands wouldn’t have been enough to keep them safe. Even against weaker enemies, their sheer numbers—more than ten times our own—forced us to be prepared for death. It reaffirmed my understanding that war can indeed be a matter of numbers.

Despite that, the three of us survived, and all with our limbs attached too. We had numerous minor injuries, but thanks to my new armor, Gobmi’s upgraded gear, and Gobkichi’s sturdy shield, we managed to survive. The whole ordeal truly highlighted the importance of upgrading our equipment.

Setting aside our struggles and the fact that many of the rainbow bats escaped, we managed to kill thirty of them in total. We harvested their wings and fangs, and the incredibly delicious meat practically melted in our mouths. We ate ten rainbow bats each, entirely filling our bellies.

I also gained three abilities, though after eating that many rainbow bats, that was no surprise. However, it seemed that I had exhausted the abilities I could obtain from rainbow bats. Eating any more would only serve to strengthen my body and existing abilities—and sate my hunger, of course. Rainbow bats are pretty weak, though, so I wouldn’t see much improvement that way. I don’t think I’ll need to eat more of them unless necessary for sustenance.

If I get a craving for their delicious meat, I might still indulge.

Discovering their nest at this stage was truly lucky. All my new abilities proved useful. For instance, echolocation helped detect and map terrain, as well as sense movement beyond my field of vision, which should be great for avoiding ambushes.

In this fiercely competitive world, these abilities should prove to be quite helpful.

Day Twelve

As usual, we went hunting for food. Today, we successfully caught horned rabbits, night vipers, and an armored raccoon dog again. When night fell, we returned to the cave as always.

Unlike humans, goblins all have Night Vision, so we can see in the dark and do not have to fear the night. Visibility slightly decreases when it’s dark, but we’re not limited to daytime for hunting. That said, many species stronger and more ferocious than goblins become active at night, making it still extremely dangerous.

Remember, goblins are relatively weak.

For example, there are creatures like the metallic-furred red bear; the triple-horned horse with three vertically aligned horns on its forehead and a body covered in brown scales; the demonic spider, about sixty centimeters tall, with a black exoskeleton tougher than steel and marked with yellow lines; and the green slime, which, despite being considered a weak monster somewhat in line with goblins, sometimes possessed the Physical Attack Immunity ability.

There was no way I could beat any of them right now. I was much more likely to end up dead. For one thing, my poison was probably so weak that all those powerful nocturnal creatures would quickly neutralize it. That’s why I always stayed in the cave at night instead of wandering around.

So, returning to the cave like always—apparently it was located in a relatively safe place—I went to sleep to prepare for the next day.

I was attacked in my sleep.

Thanks to Aura Sensing, which was active at all times, I barely managed to avoid the attack and escape injury, but the attackers still presented a bit of a challenge. They were a group of six goblins my own age, and they had recently started imitating my group by wielding wooden sticks. That made them somewhat smarter than typical goblins.

When they were surprised that their ambush had failed, I saw an opportunity and seized it. In the untamed wild, I couldn’t show mercy even toward my fellow goblins. Grabbing one of my beloved horns, which I always kept by my side while sleeping, I launched a counterattack.

To make a long story short, I obviously defeated them.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake in generating the venom that dripped from the horn’s point due to Venom Injection, which resulted in killing a goblin. It couldn’t be helped. They were the ones who attacked, so it was an unavoidable consequence.

For the others, I successfully expelled a muscle-relaxing poison that paralyzed them. I then used their own wooden sticks to beat them—without killing them—and left them lying where they were.

Their questioning is scheduled for tomorrow. I needed to understand the motive behind the attack; since the paralytic poison isn’t lethal, they should have fully recovered by then. As wild creatures, goblins seem to have pretty strong self-healing abilities. Yes, one goblin was beyond saving, but that was bound to happen.

Naturally, the commotion woke the other goblins in the cave, causing quite a stir. I expected to be reprimanded, but the elder goblins led by Gobiji said nothing. Maybe they saw it as part of the whole “survival of the fittest” thing. They only cast a mildly pitying glance at the dead goblin. For my part, I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be punished for killing a fellow goblin. However, it was a bit troublesome when Gobmi tried to kill the other goblins who had attacked us.

“No, no, a goblin’s skeletal structure doesn’t allow its arms to bend that way—they’ll break,” I said, trying to restrain Gobmi from behind and calm her down. “And the neck can’t turn that far or it’ll snap off!” No joke, this took the most effort of anything I did tonight.

Meanwhile, Gobkichi kept sleeping peacefully, which I appreciated. He was the tallest in our age group, standing ten centimeters taller than me, and dependable as a front-line fighter. But tonight, I didn’t want to deal with another rampaging goblin.

Finally, to calm her agitation, I generated a mildly sedating poison and applied it to Gobmi with my claws, which knocked her out. I then carried her to where she slept.

Afterward, I didn’t want to leave the blood-soaked body of our kin near my sleeping area because it would start to stink after a while, so I carried it outside. Using the Blood Flow Manipulation I’d gained from the rainbow bat, I doubled my strength so I could carry the body easily. Gobjii had advised placing the corpse far enough away that other monsters would eat it.

I carried it a short distance from the cave. Then, after ensuring no one was nearby, I decided to taste the right arm out of curiosity.

The verdict? It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. Actually, it was my first time eating something in this body that I didn’t enjoy. Satisfied with just one arm, I left the rest of the body as planned. By tomorrow, it would likely be gone without a trace.

Exhausted from the day and night’s events, I could finally get some sleep.

Day Thirteen

While exploring a mountain a bit deeper into the forest today, I came across a pig-faced humanoid carrying a pickaxe. It had brown skin, a prominent potbelly, and muscular arms that hinted at a well-built physique. Its clothing was slightly nicer than a goblin’s, with matching upper and lower garments.

This irked me a bit. Goblins only had ragged scraps of cloth as their starting gear. Also, the thing hanging between the creature’s legs was so large it peeked out from under its clothes. It made me want to cut it off.

It was probable that this creature was, like goblins, a well-known monster in this world: the lustful orc. Unlike goblins, which had builds similar to an elementary school child, this orc stood about one hundred seventy centimeters, or maybe taller. From my perspective, the orc seemed gigantic, likely forty or fifty centimeters taller than me.

After watching it for a while, I realized I could probably defeat it in a one-on-one fight. But the problem was still numbers. Orcs are usually bigger and stronger than goblins, so while I might be able to handle one, if more orcs showed up, I wouldn’t be able to protect Gobkichi and Gobmi. Even one more orc would significantly increase the danger level, and if we were heavily outnumbered, there was no way of telling how bad things could get. Even I might not make it out of a situation like that.

Fortunately, what I had discovered was just one stray orc. Just in case, I scanned its surroundings with Infravision—using it during the day required caution because looking at the sun would blind me—and activated Echolocation for a more thorough reconnaissance. After confirming that there really were no other orcs nearby, I decided we’d launch a surprise attack.

First, from her hiding spot in the bushes, Gobmi used her staff-sling to shoot a small poison-coated stone at the orc’s eye. She had recently gotten the hang of using projectiles, and that stone struck its target, smashing the orc’s eye and allowing the poison free passage into its system. Coating the stone with a lethal poison would have made it dangerous to handle, and besides, my ability level wasn’t high enough yet to produce such a poison. Even so, the orc was suddenly blinded and in intense pain—and therefore, no longer unwitting.

Next, Gobkichi charged in with perfect timing and struck the orc’s knee with his massive club, producing a dull sound as the knee bent at an unnatural angle. The orc twisted its ugly pig face further, screaming and rolling on the ground. That was how I learned that Gobkichi, whose combat style I had geared toward brute force and defense, was capable of crushing flesh and breaking the bones of creatures like the orc.

Gobkichi, you’ve really exceeded my expectations, I thought. You’re a simpleton (affectionate), but still.

While thinking this to myself, I stepped on the back of the writhing orc and pinned it down with my legs, which I strengthened myself using Blood Flow Manipulation. I then thrust my twin horns into the areas where a human’s kidneys would be. The orc inhaled, preparing to scream—

Before it could let out a sound, Gobkichi swung his club down on its head with a sickening crunching squelch. The club was brought down repeatedly and rapidly, each strike soaking the club in the orc’s blood and brain matter. It was a totally one-sided kill. For my part, I stabbed the orc multiple times with my horns that secreted a sedating poison, and soon it was dead.

That was how we successfully hunted an orc for the first time. Naturally, we ate it afterward. Gobmi took both arms and the left leg, Gobkichi took everything else below the waist, and I took the rest.

Taste-wise, it was a lot like pork—high-quality pork, at least. In any case, orc meat was delicious. Porc, anyone?

Such were the abilities I gained from eating the orc. Although Unbridled Libido would be extremely helpful at the right time and place, I put it aside for now.

On the other hand, I felt pretty lucky to learn Orcish Language Comprehension and Item Appraisal. Orcish Language would let me communicate effectively with orcs in the future. If such an ability existed, it might also mean I could learn similar abilities for other languages, including those used by humans. As for Item Appraisal, it helped me understand the properties of items I saw, though it was limited to non-living objects. Depending on my level, I could learn an item’s name, its uses, and whether or not it was poisonous.

When I tried it on a nearby fruit, the ability indeed displayed its name, some simple uses for it, and its toxicity level. I was quite surprised. Ignoring the question of why such a convenient and mysterious ability existed in the first place, I focused on the fact that I had acquired something so useful. How lucky to have eaten an orc when I did! I have no idea why an orc possessed an ability as convenient as Item Appraisal, though.

Oh, and of course, I looted the orc’s pickaxe. It might come in handy for something.

Afterward, we hunted even more than usual, capturing armored raccoon dogs, night vipers, horned rabbits, and other beasts. As the sun began to set, we returned to the cave.

I’d become so skilled at preparing our food that I could almost do it with my eyes closed. It didn’t take much time at all to get everything ready for eating and its many other uses. And this time, instead of splitting our haul between just the three of us, I also shared it with the other goblins in the cave who had been mostly incapacitated for the past few days due to hunger.

You see, the reason I was attacked yesterday was primarily due to a food shortage among the goblins my age. While the attackers were to blame for their own actions, of course, many of the other goblins of our generation—mostly females—had been wandering around in search of food for days without managing to catch anything worthwhile.

The goblins who attacked me had wanted to help those unfortunate souls. But they were barely able to secure enough food for themselves, leaving nothing extra to share. Instead, they plotted to beat me up, subdue me, and force me to gather food for them. They thought they could manage it with their superior numbers. Truly simple-minded.

I could have just ignored them with a derisive snort, but I didn’t want such things to keep happening over and over. I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to show some generosity, thinking it might be beneficial in the long run. To be honest, I wanted to say that I didn’t care about those who couldn’t even get their own food—but when I asked Gobjii about it, he mentioned that every generation had its own share of incompetent goblins, most of whom ended up dying. I felt like it was too pathetic to let my own kind die like that. So, this was my first and last act of pure mercy.

As a result, the hungry goblins thanked me, some even crying with gratitude. I told them I didn’t need to be thanked and that they should repay me by hunting their own game from now on. To start, I planned to teach the most pitiful ones some tips and tricks for hunting horned rabbits.

I advised them to team up, use the horns of the horned rabbits to stab and pin them down, then use their full weight on their heels to crush the prey's spines. It was simple, but it should work. I told them to try this method on real horned rabbits tomorrow and bring me the game they catch once they succeed, as a thank you for what they ate today. For most of them, the meat I gave was their first taste of it.

Although what I taught them could barely even be considered basic hunting skills, it should be enough. If they repaid my kindness with betrayal, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them as expendable pawns. Specifically, I’d use them as bait to lure out the stronger creatures my team couldn’t defeat without suffering losses. I wasn’t expecting much, but I would just have to wait and see.

As for the five attackers from last night, they were now my subordinates. Absolute obedience to my commands was a given, and I had also assigned them daily duties. The quota for this day’s tribute, for example, was five horned rabbits, which I distributed to the starving goblins.

The survival of the fittest philosophy was truly a blessing when you were on the winning side.

After distributing the food, I felt sleepy. I laid down on my makeshift bed of rainbow bat wings and closed my eyes.

Sleep overtook me immediately.

I saw this message in my mind, and being extremely tired, I selected 《YES》 and went back to sleep.

Day Fourteen

When I woke up, my body had grown significantly larger again, and my skin had turned black.

I got up, stunned by how much my appearance had changed. I tried to remember the message I had seen in my mind before going to sleep. Ah, so this is Existence Evolution, huh? I thought, shuddering at the mysteries of this world. Experiencing it firsthand, I only now realized how incredible—and terrifying—this principle truly was. Overnight, my height had gone from that of an elementary school kid to that of the orc I killed and ate yesterday. My senses had greatly improved, and all the abilities I had gained earlier were now significantly stronger.

This was scary.

Despite my body growing significantly larger, I felt no discomfort. Normally, such a sudden change would mess with one’s sense of distance and balance, but I had no such issues. I also felt no pain in my muscles or bones. But the most frightening part was the overwhelming sense of power surging through me. I was filled with a feeling of invincibility. My body now felt so powerful that it would have made a normal person act recklessly out of sheer exuberance. However, this was a trap: I wasn’t as strong as I felt.

That’s why I find the mysteries of this world so terrifying. The euphoria of Existence Evolution could easily lead to foolish behavior.

Setting that aside, it seemed Gobkichi had also reached Level 100 after the battle with the orc yesterday and had undergone Existence Evolution as well. His appearance, however, was what most intrigued me: unlike me, he hadn’t turned black. His skin remained green, with no noticeable change in color.

What really caught my attention was his face. No longer did he have an indistinguishable, generically ugly goblin face. Instead, he now had a somewhat human-like face, plain but with a touch of charm. His ears were still pointed, and his nose retained a hawk-like quality, but overall, he could almost pass as a human boy.

His appearance had become much more human, even though the green skin marked him as clearly non-human. Naturally, it made me wonder about my own appearance. I checked my reflection in the makeshift blade of my obsidian-like knife.

My skin was now black, and my face resembled a younger version of how I’d looked as a human…

I was stunned for a few seconds.

Grabbing a mysterious bug that had popped out of the dirt wall near my sleeping area, I munched on it, starting with its head. That calmed me down. Then, Gobkichi and I headed to Gobjii’s place. Moments like this are exactly when Gobjii’s wisdom is most helpful; otherwise, what’s the point of having him around?

I told him about everything, except that ominous message: “Gobrou has received Divine Protection of the Great God governing Terminus and Origin.”

Here’s a summary of what I learned: hobgoblins have bodies and appearances that are more similar to humans than goblins do. No one knows why. It’s one of the world’s mysteries. Some hobgoblin individuals or even clans live in human cities, though often as slaves—if they’re particularly attractive, sometimes as sex slaves for specific enthusiasts.

The difference in skin color between Gobkichi and me came from the fact that while he was a typical hobgoblin, I was considered a “variant.” Variant subspecies generally have superior abilities, but reaching this status requires fulfilling special conditions, making us quite rare.

On top of that, my black skin apparently signified the Great God of Terminus and Origin—the oldest god, whose color is associated with black. This rare and powerful trait suggested I could potentially wield powerful magic or sorcery within the Terminus magic category. However, Gobjii also warned me to be cautious when entering towns, especially at night. You see, among the religions dedicated to the Great God of Terminus and Origin and its many subordinate deities, some fanatics might try to worship me as an incarnation of divinity… or attempt to use me as a means of gaining favor. Such people are terrifying, no matter what world you’re in.

It’s also unusual to become a hobgoblin within a month of being born. Gobjii, who’s still a goblin, mentioned that even among the forty goblins in our cave who went out for work, only three ever evolved into hobgoblins. With our evolution, Gobkichi and I had risen within our community’s hierarchy. As Gobjii put it, we’re now allowed to use the human women in the cave and the tools in the storage area.

I almost brushed off the entire conversation with a casual, “Oh, really? You don’t say…”

Especially the part about religion. There was no need to emphasize that religion was scary everywhere; it was obvious that revealing my Divine Protection of the Great God of Terminus and Origin could really cause trouble. So, I decided to keep it a secret as much as I could.

After all that, I didn’t feel like going hunting, so I spent time testing my changed body by sparring with Gobkichi. He was also brimming with newfound strength thanks to his evolution into a hobgoblin and was quite a good fighter. I discovered that, despite my extensive martial arts experience from my previous job, Gobkichi’s raw strength slightly surpassed mine. His abilities were clearly built for front-line combat, boasting high attack and defense but lacking in intelligence and agility. If he continued to hone these strengths, he would become a formidable hybrid, serving as both a tank and a damage dealer.

We wrapped up our sparring session by noon. In the afternoon, I worked on making new equipment since our old gear was now too small. Even though my horn weapon had become more like a small knife because of my larger size, it would do for now. My poison skills made it a deadly weapon regardless.

Using the materials we collected from previous hunts—the armored raccoon dog’s armored hide and the night viper’s skin—I made a set of heavy armor. By layering these materials, I created an armor set that was both tough and lightweight. Think of it as leather armor: a brown, long-sleeved, long-pants outfit, reinforced with armored raccoon dog carapace in key areas for extra protection. I designed it to be mobile, so it felt quite flexible and didn’t restrict movement much.

I also finished Gobmi’s chest armor, which had been incomplete due to a lack of materials. This time, I mainly used rainbow bat wings, making it even more eye-catching and colorful than her other gear.

For meals, we ate horned rabbits presented by my five goblin subordinates. Frankly, the quantity was insufficient, but it was better than nothing. Horned rabbit meat is always tasty, so I let it slide.

Day Fifteen

Today was my first hunting trip since leveling up to hobgoblin. The capabilities of my new body were truly amazing.

The first prey we encountered was what I would call a kobold—a monster with a dog-like head, covered in brown fur, and equipped with a rusty breastplate and longsword. I suspected it had killed a human to acquire these items, but I wasn't certain. From my observations, kobolds seemed to be a level above goblins, comparable to orcs. However, with that equipment, this particular kobold was likely more formidable than the orc we previously faced. Orcs might have the advantage in brute strength, but kobolds appeared to be superior in speed and agility.

We came across two kobolds together. In the past, we would have retreated immediately or used my abilities to avoid them. However, I judged that we’d become strong enough to face them. Supported by Gobmi’s timely use of poison-doused stones, Gobkichi and I confronted the kobolds head-on and crushed them.

Although I had evolved into a variant, Gobkichi’s combat-focused abilities, along with his shell armor and upgraded club, allowed him to defeat the kobolds. His shell armor was slightly more durable than the kobolds’ rusty breastplates. It was remarkable how quickly we had shifted from being the hunted to the hunters.

While Gobmi tended to Gobkichi’s mild injuries using medicinal herbs from our stock, courtesy of Gobjii, I stripped the kobolds of their belongings. I recovered a pouch containing three Flame Spirit Stones—identified using Item Appraisal—which seemed to house low-level flame spirits. I also took the kobolds’ rusty armor and two longswords, securing them at my waist.

As for the bodies, I took both heads, hearts, and right arms. Gobkichi and Gobmi divided up the remaining parts. The taste was peculiar; not exactly delicious, but not unpleasant either—somewhere in between.

As expected, kobolds were stronger than hobgoblins. Gobkichi won primarily due to his superior equipment, while my abundance of abilities and experience made the difference for me.

Next, I ate one of the Flame Spirit Stones, and…

I acquired the ability to control fire. In the wild, having such an ability was a significant advantage. Most importantly, I could finally cook meat properly.

Afterward, we hunted some horned rabbits and returned to the cave. To my surprise, among the subordinates’ offerings today was an armored raccoon dog.

These guys are really improving, I thought.

I decided I might give the goblin who caught the armored raccoon dog a shield made from its shell later. For dinner, we grilled the meat and had a barbecue party.

Day Sixteen

“Please teach us the way of the hunt.” Today, all the goblins of the same generation gathered to prostrate themselves before me and ask that question.

Seeing a line of goblins bowing in the cave was quite a surreal sight. The goblins I had given food to and those who barely survived on their own had recently learned to kill horned rabbits, but they still couldn’t handle creatures as strong as night vipers. So, they asked me to teach them survival skills, especially how to kill and eat such creatures.

When I asked what we’d get out of it, they said they’d offer us their prey—an idea they’d apparently gotten from observing my goblin servants. It didn’t sound like a bad deal, so until the sun reached its peak, Gobkichi, Gobmi, and I conducted joint training with almost all the surviving goblins our age.

Not only did I benefit from the training, but so did Gobkichi and Gobmi. You can never be too prepared to fight for your life. And in a dog-eat-dog world, I needed to make it clear from the very first training session that I was the top dog. This applied to both males and females, without exception. To prevent any rebellion, I ingrained this understanding deeply into their bodies and instincts through relentless repetition. I pushed them to the brink—not to the point of breaking them physically or mentally, but so they wouldn’t have an ounce of excess energy left.

By the end of today’s session, all the goblins—including Gobkichi and Gobmi—were unable to stand. They lay on the ground, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. I told them I would make something useful out of the materials from any prey they offered as tribute. This seemed to motivate them, but I still warned them not to overdo it. After all, if they died, they’d never see that new equipment. Gobmi, trembling with exhaustion, proudly showed off her armor and necklace to the other female goblins of our generation. I decided to pretend I hadn’t seen anything.

In the afternoon, for the first time since my reincarnation, I went hunting alone. By now, the forest felt like my backyard. I moved freely, securing somewhat more prey than usual to compensate for those who were incapacitated due to fatigue. When I returned, I distributed the food to the tired goblins.

That night, I ventured deep into the cave, heading back to where the captive human women were held. The air was thick with the smell of lust and despair. I hoped that, with my new Hobgoblin form, which looked more like a human’s, I might be able to communicate with the women and gather some information about the outside world.

I quickly realized that conversation was impossible. The women were completely broken. Their eyes were devoid of life, and they drooled incessantly. There was even a faint odor of death about them.

Their condition had worsened since the last time I saw them. It was hardly surprising given their environment, but it was still unpleasant to see. In this short time, someone had impregnated the youngest and most beautiful among them. That was no surprise, but I still felt deep pity. Someone like her could have had many sincere suitors, but instead, she’d been repeatedly violated in this terrible place.

So, I asked them, “Do you want to die?”

It was a question I could only ask now that I had leveled up to a hobgoblin. Before, as just a goblin, I would have folded my hands in prayer and been done with it. But now, even if I were discovered, I knew I could ensure my own safety. I could kill these women to set them free without hesitation.

There was no verbal response from the women, but there was movement. Their lips moved weakly, and tears, as if suddenly remembered, began to flow. Understanding their wishes, I left them a small bottle filled with liquid from the pouch I had gotten while hunting kobolds. Then I returned to my sleeping quarters. I didn’t look back, not even once.

Day Seventeen

When I returned to the depths of the cave in the morning, I found that all the captive women had peacefully passed away in their sleep. Judging by their calm expressions, they had likely consumed some kind of poison that caused a painless death. Of course, where they obtained such poison remained a mystery. Indeed, the world is full of strange happenings.

As the first to discover their bodies, I managed to grab the small bottle nearby and tuck it into the pouch at my waist, effectively erasing any evidence of what had occurred. Then, I informed Gobjii of the deaths; he was still asleep. He jolted awake and hurried to the room, where he wept pitifully over the limp little goblin that had come from the belly of the beautiful woman. I didn’t care. I took responsibility for disposing of the bodies of the women and the goblin infant.

Not wanting their bodies to be torn apart by animals, I decided to cremate them instead. As payment for this courtesy, I took from each woman her heart, stomach, uterus, and one breast. Using my recently acquired Pyrokinesis wasn’t enough on its own, so I supplemented it with the highly flammable Yu Grass and dry twigs I had been collecting.

I ignited the pyre and watched as the flames roared skyward. Then I folded my hands in prayer and wished for their souls to find peace: May Buddha’s light guide you.

I watched until the flames subsided and the women’s bodies turned to ash. It seemed that some of them had been adventurers—quite a few, actually. The goblins that had gone out to capture them must have been pretty strong… or maybe the captives were just particularly weak.

Unlike my usual habits, I didn’t feel like testing the details of these abilities I had just gained. And after this morning’s training, I wasn’t in the mood to go hunting either. Instead, I sent Gobkichi and Gobmi out as a team and spent the day in the cave experimenting with making chitin shields and weapons from our collected materials.

Lately, it had felt like crafting became just a hobby for me… Unlocking the Craftsman job came at exactly the right moment! I managed to produce higher-quality items than before, so the job skill must have increased my proficiency.

As for food, we managed with the increased tribute from yesterday, along with what Gobkichi and Gobmi brought back.

I realized that when I woke up today, Gobmi had also evolved into a hobgoblin. She looked much cuter, which surprised me. The difference from when she was just a goblin was remarkable.

Her equipment had also become too small, so I loaned her my spare set. She looked both pleased and disappointed by that, so I planned to make her a new set of equipment soon. I would have done it today, but I ran out of time.

Day Eighteen

After finishing morning training and heading out as a trio as usual, we encountered kobolds again. This time, there were three of them. Two wore the same armor and carried longswords as before, but the third had a short bow and a quiver. I wondered if this was a sign that it was time for Gobmi to get another upgrade. We carefully scanned the surroundings to ensure no others were hiding nearby. Finding none, we decided to stage an ambush.

The kobold armed with the short bow—the one capable of long-range attacks, in other words—posed a greater threat than the others. Prioritizing its elimination, Gobmi launched a surprise attack using her staff-sling to hurl a poison-coated stone. The stone, soaked in a muscle relaxant, hit the kobold in the eye, impairing its judgment and vision.

Seizing the moment while the other kobolds panicked, Gobkichi and I quickly took down the two wielding slightly better longswords than the kobold from the other day. Although they were banged up, the iron longswords fit our current bodies perfectly, making it easy to impale and even decapitate our targets. Compared to our previous makeshift weapons, these longswords are much more effective.

Gobkichi violently shattered the opponent’s bones. It was pretty gruesome. Gobmi severed the throat of the kobold archer, using the obsidian-like knife I had given her. Blood spurted everywhere, and she finished it off by stabbing it in the heart. It seemed Gobmi’s skill set leaned heavily toward intelligence and speed—such deft handling of weapons required intelligence, after all.

After the battle, we harvested the corpses as usual. We took the armor and gave the short bow and quiver to Gobmi, while the longswords became my new weapons. Unfortunately, there was no suitable equipment for Gobkichi this time around.

While these kobolds didn’t have any Flame Spirit Stones, we were relieved to find three more pouches that could let us carry more items. I kept one for myself and distributed our supplies among the rest, filling them with herbs for my two companions to carry. This way, they could be useful in an emergency.

Finally, we devoured the kobolds, each eating our share. I didn’t learn any new abilities this time, but I felt close to gaining something new, and I did get a boost to my existing Precognition skill. During combat, Precognition was invaluable—it let me see the enemy’s attack trajectory as red lines in my field of vision.

We spent the rest of the day hunting as usual, then returned to the cave to sleep.

Day Nineteen

Today, after morning training, I didn’t head out hunting immediately. Instead, I went straight for the tool storage deep in the cave.

Because some of the captured women had possessed the abilities of adventurers, I thought there might be related items hidden nearby. Even with my skills, I could only make rough guesses about the quality of the items at a glance. But thanks to Item Appraisal, I knew I’d be able to view detailed information about them. In any case, I also wanted to gain experience with Item Appraisal, so even if I came up empty-handed, it would still be worthwhile. With this in mind, I started my search. To my delight, I discovered a wealth of valuable items.

Treasure after treasure emerged. From my quick initial look, I only saw broken items, but during digging, I discovered many usable things buried beneath them. This place really was a treasure trove.

I even found a few books, which would definitely come in handy:

The estocs I’d found didn’t perform much differently from the longswords I was carrying, but they were in better shape, so I decided to swap them out. I also changed my old obsidian-like knife for the new Bowie knife—a hunting knife with a long blade, mostly single-edged except for the double-edged tip. There were quite a few knives, but I already had a pocket made just for holding them, so carrying them wasn't an issue. I figured the Bowie knife would be handy for future dissection and harvesting tasks.

Next, I decided to eat the two longswords I had swapped out, as well as the one leftover estoc.

By eating the longswords, I gained the Blade Strike Enhancement skill, and by eating the estoc, I acquired the Piercing Power Enhancement skill. Absorption allowed me to learn abilities not only from living beings but also from some inanimate objects—though these must meet specific criteria, such as the inherent strength of the ability, the quality and history of the item, and my own attachment to it. I had avoided consuming inanimate objects until now because most didn’t meet these criteria, but I decided to try with these since I could afford to lose them. The excellent results put me in a good mood.

Eventually, Gobkichi and Gobmi arrived in the cave's depths to find me, apparently worried about my absence. Their timing was perfect; I had packed various potions and small items into field bags to hang at my waist, and most of the rest into one of the old backpacks. However, not everything fit, so I asked Gobkichi and Gobmi to help carry the remaining items.

Gobkichi replaced his shell-reinforced club with a rugged battle axe, and traded his wooden shield with shells attached for a small iron round shield reinforced with tougher carapace in the center. He then donned a breastplate over the shell-armor leather clothing he had on. He also put on the shell helmet I made two days ago, and now Gobkichi has the highest defense among the three of us. He looked every bit the fierce warrior. Incidentally, he still carried his old club on his back, just in case.

Next up, I handed Gobmi the two crossbows and fifty crossbow bolts. She also received two of the obsidian knives I had been using and one of the Bowie knives as a backup. Given the weight, that was probably her limit, but with the highest ranged attack power among us and her impressive agility in handling knives, Gobmi’s offensive capabilities couldn’t be underestimated. Visually, she looked like a formidable hunter or archer.

Finally, there was me. I had swapped my two longswords for two estocs, and I now carried a round shield reinforced with shells, similar to Gobkichi’s. I adjusted it so it could be secured to my right forearm, allowing my wrist to move freely. For my left hand, I wore one of the sturdy wrought iron gauntlets. It didn’t offer as much protection as the round shield, but its curved surface could deflect attacks somewhat, and it provided decent defense without sacrificing speed. With the added bonuses from the Light Sword Wielder job unlock, my overall abilities seemed to have significantly improved.

Though I was also curious about the staves I had found, I still needed to hunt for today’s meal, so I placed the rest of the discovered items in my sleeping area and headed out. Was I worried about theft? Not at all. I had already lectured the other goblins thoroughly about the consequences of stealing. It wouldn’t be an issue.

We managed to catch more than ever today, so I returned any offerings directly to the goblin servants who had hunted them. There was too much for us to eat on our own.

Day Twenty

The morning was spent training. Compared to when we first started, the condition of the other goblins had already begun to improve. Because goblins grew quickly, it seemed that intense training could significantly change them in a short time. Or maybe it was just a matter of survival—those who didn’t adapt quickly wouldn’t make it.

In the afternoon, we hunted for food. Our haul included ten night vipers, fourteen armored raccoon dogs, and five kobolds—a great catch all told, likely due to our improved equipment. Gobmi’s precise sniping from a distance was devastating now that she had the crossbow’s powerful shot and the rapid firing of poison-tipped bolts to rely on. With Gobkichi and me acting as her shields, our enemies couldn’t get close. Gobkichi’s high defense and the powerful slashes of his battle axe made us an even more formidable team.

My repertoire of abilities, tricky attacks, and commands for Gobkichi and Gobmi meant that kobolds were no longer a problem for us. At this point, we could manage to win even if we were outnumbered two to one. Personally, I wanted to hunt more orcs to strengthen my abilities, but I haven’t seen a single one since that last encounter.

I returned to the cave earlier than usual to start reading the books I’d found. Having the mage job unlocked was great, and so was the significant increase in my mana capacity after becoming a hobgoblin variant. Still, I basically had no idea what magic was or how to use it. In short, I couldn’t actually make use of any magical skills. That’s why I was poring over the Beginner’s Guide to Wizardry: Basic Magic Compendium: Volume 2.

Honestly, it was proving to be quite a hassle. Reading this book came with some difficulties, especially since it started in the middle and didn’t cover the basics. If only… if only I could see a demonstration at least once!

Of course, there’s no one around to hear my desperate plea.

Time continued to flow without stopping.

Day Twenty-One

It had been less than a week since I began our morning training, but a few goblins were already showing significant improvement. Perhaps it was due to the tough natural environment they lived in, or maybe goblins are just naturally precocious. To train them, I combined my own experiences with the best aspects of the military training programs I had accessed through my company’s server, and they kept getting stronger day by day.

Lately, my subordinate goblins had actually started bringing me night vipers as offerings, and even the lowest-level goblins my age were able to kill multiple horned rabbits on their own. In fact, there were no longer any goblins who couldn’t catch their own food. I felt a sense of pride as their instructor.

The elder goblins, including Gobjii, have been genuinely amazed by the results. They’d begun to look at me with a mix of awe and respect. It was a bit annoying, but it also made me feel pretty impressive. There was no harm in it, so I let them continue.

When we first started training, I decided to spar with all the goblins around midday each day, when the sun was at its peak. This allowed me to accurately assess each goblin’s abilities, identify any bad habits or weaknesses, and offer guidance to correct them. It also helped me spot any particularly promising individuals—and served as excellent training for myself. In such a harsh world, one can never be too fit. Therefore, thirty-eight consecutive matches provided great practice.

The sparring has reaffirmed that Gobkichi and Gobmi are truly exceptional among their peers. Through recent training, Gobkichi appears to have learned how to unleash his immense power more efficiently. He gains experience most effectively by killing creatures directly. The exact mechanics of experience gain, especially within a party, are unclear and seem to vary depending on a party member’s contribution. Regardless, Gobkichi’s level has increased, making him incredibly tough thanks to this world’s mysterious power. Even for me, fighting him without using additional abilities was quite challenging. However, other goblins of our generation, excluding myself and Gobmi, wouldn’t stand a chance against Gobkichi even if he fought them one after another without rest. Gobkichi would sustain significant damage, of course, but he would still emerge victorious.

Gobmi, although not as fast as I am, was still considerably quicker than the others. Being a hobgoblin meant she had greater strength than a typical goblin. Her claws had grown long and sharp, and I had taught her how to use them effectively, so now, in barehanded combat, it was like she was wielding small blades. With her speed, she was a formidable opponent—even for me when I didn’t use my abilities. In hand-to-hand combat, though, she was less of a threat than Gobkichi.

She was still somewhat cute, too, relatively speaking.

After our sparring sessions, the morning training wrapped up, and we got ready to go hunting. Usually, I would head out with my regular team, but today we had an extra member. Her name was Gobei. She was still just a goblin, but she was one of the most capable among our peers, second only to us. She had been at the front of the group when they all bowed to me and asked for my instruction.

The two backpacks and three pouches I found during recent treasure hunts were definitely useful. But with Gobkichi as the most heavily armed—carrying a giant club on his back as his secondary weapon—and Gobmi equipped with a short bow, quiver, and two crossbows, I ended up with an extra backpack and a spare pouch even after gearing up myself and Gobmi.

So, I needed a porter, and that task fell to Gobei. She could barely keep up with our hunts, but she was still strong enough to be useful—and having more strong allies is always a good thing. I made sure to patch up the holes in the backpacks and pouches before we put them to use.

Gobei’s gear included a hand-me-down shell-reinforced shield from Gobkichi as a welcome gift for joining our party, Gobmi’s old horned rabbit leather staff-sling, a set of leather armor reinforced with shells, an obsidian-like knife, and a Bowie knife from me. Compared to her old horned rabbit horn, this was a significant upgrade. As a porter, she didn’t need to be heavily armed, and since she’d be carrying our game, making her armor too heavy would be counterproductive. As long as she had enough gear to protect herself, that was enough.

With Gobei taking on most of the load, today’s hunt went more smoothly than usual. Without the extra weight to slow us down, we didn’t get as tired—though Gobei, who carried the burden we were spared from, ended up just as exhausted as we were from the hunt. She also participated in the hunt using her staff-sling, gaining experience and leveling up. Maybe she’d become a hobgoblin soon, too, like us.

Although we didn’t encounter any new types of prey today, we were all well-fed. Meat is always delicious.

After returning to the cave, I read some books and went to sleep.

Day Twenty-Two

Today, I had to crush a few goblins who were getting a bit too arrogant.

Of course, I didn’t kill them. But if I hadn’t corrected the overconfidence some of these goblins had developed lately, they’d end up dead soon. So, I hardened my heart and gave them a good pummeling. In an environment where letting your guard down could lead to death, it was really the only sensible thing to do. Though these goblings might become a bit rebellious against me now. Well, if anyone tried anything, I’d just beat them down again.

After that, the four of us went hunting as usual. Hoping to learn a new ability, we searched for kobolds. We found six of them, the largest group we’d encountered so far, but they seemed manageable. Despite their numbers, we had a significant advantage in terms of individual abilities and equipment, so we decided to attack. Gobmi aimed her crossbow at the kobold armed with a short bow, ready to pull the trigger, when a small figure emerged from behind a rock.

It wore a skull on its head, likely from a triple-horned horse, because it had three horns sticking out vertically from its forehead. In its hand was a twisted wooden staff, and it wore a tattered black robe. Mumbling something, it approached the group we had been targeting. It was likely a kobold mage.

I had heard from Gobjii that goblins, orcs, kobolds, and other lower-class monsters generally couldn’t use magic unless they were of an advanced or mutated type. However, there were exceptions, like kobold and goblin mages, which were rare but not as uncommon as advanced species. Essentially, the abilities of these mages could reach a level where they could influence the natural laws of the world to produce magical effects.

I haven’t yet grasped the sensation of using magic, and I can’t wield it at will. So, I realized that dealing with this kobold mage and its six kobold followers could be pretty tricky. But this was a great opportunity. If the kobold mage used its magic, I could observe its technique and maybe learn to use magic myself.

Even if I couldn’t, I was almost certain I’d gain some new abilities from this encounter.

With that plan in mind, we followed the kobold group. It was a somewhat dull mission, but it succeeded: for the first time, we saw magic being used. The victim of the kobold mage’s spell was a green slime. The slime, which likely had an ability like Physical Attack Immunity, had all the fluid in its body evaporated by the mage’s raging flames, leaving only the green core as it vanished.

It was quite the spectacle, and it was enough for me to grasp the basic concept of magic. With some practice back in the cave, I’d probably be able to use it without any issues.

Since the kobolds were no longer worth keeping alive, we set up an ambush and quickly wiped them out. The kobold mage died instantly when one of Gobmi’s poison arrows hit the back of its head. The others were silenced by Gobkichi, Gobei’s poison stone attack, and Gobmi’s rapid-fire shots. No matter how strong they were, taking them down before they could react was crucial.

We stripped the regular kobolds of their gear and packed it into Gobei’s backpack. Then we secured the staff from the kobold mage and gratefully took the eight Water Spirit Stones, which produce water when held tightly; six Thunder Spirit Stones, which discharge electricity when struck; and ten of the Flame Spirit Stones I had encountered before. We split them among three small pouches.

I claimed the hearts of the kobold mage and the six kobolds, while the others took two bodies each to eat. I also popped the green slime core into my mouth.

Apparently, the green slime didn’t have Physical Attack Immunity, but rather the downgraded Physical Attack Mitigation. Still, that was quite a formidable ability. Either way, now I knew exactly how to deal with a green slime next time: just burn it with my Pyrokinesis, no problem.

Finally, I consumed the kobold mage’s staff and all three types of Spirit Stones. I had really developed the habit of absorbing new abilities whenever I could.

These were some pretty good abilities. With practice, I was finally going to learn to use magic properly.

After that, we hunted some armored raccoon dogs and night vipers on our way back. Gobei killed and enjoyed most of them for experience, though I ate a couple too—

I had learned everything I could from the night vipers and armored raccoon dogs. Since I had eaten quite a few of them, it made sense.

Later that night, I practiced magic alone. I struggled at first, but after about an hour, I improved enough to cast spells with only a slight delay—likely thanks to Magic Fundamentals, which I’d learned from the kobold mage.

While practicing, a green slime attacked me under the cover of darkness, and it turned out to be a good practice dummy. The only spell I knew conjured a jet-black spear, which vaporized the green slime with one strike. The power was incredible.

I picked up its core before it could roll away and ate it.

I’d gained the ability to change the properties of my bodily fluids, like turning sweat into a corrosive acid. It seemed pretty useful, so I was happy with it. Strangely, though, my gear didn’t dissolve in the acid when I tested it.

Day Twenty-three

Today, it rained, so we didn’t go out. Instead, we held a little festival in the cave.

I wasn’t sure when it began, but the younger goblins had started to act as a pack, with me as the leader. So, to figure out the hierarchy among us, we held an all-out tournament.

The results were as expected. At the top was myself, followed by Gobkichi, then Gobmi, Gobei, and everyone else. After the battles, we held a study session to make sure everyone understood the chain of command. Those at the top had responsibilities, and those at the bottom were strictly told to follow orders from above. We also set up several rules to make issuing orders more efficient.

I considered implementing military ranks like colonels and majors. However, since our numbers were still small, I chose a simpler command structure: squadrons of five and ten, each led by someone who commanded four or nine subordinates, respectively. When our numbers increase, I’ll evaluate changing the ranking system.

Day Twenty-four

After our morning training, the four of us headed out hunting again today. The first creature we spotted was a giant spider, about seventy centimeters long, with a black exoskeleton and yellow stripes—a demonic-looking spider. It had built a web between the trees, so I used Pyrokinesis to burn it. The web went up in flames, and I had to act quickly to stop the fire from spreading to the trees and causing a deadly forest fire.

When I ate the well-roasted demonic spider, it tasted slightly like shrimp.

I could now shoot spider silk—no, goblin silk?—from my sharp fingertips. Watching the threads shoot out with a brrrrr sound was surreal, but it was clearly going to be super valuable, so I didn’t mind. However, the ability only allowed me to produce the threads; I couldn’t actually perform delicate tasks with them or anything. Regardless of whether I activated their adhesive properties or which direction I shot them, without a specialized organ like a spider’s, manipulating the threads was beyond me.

What I could do was simply shoot out threads to capture a target. If I tried anything more complex, I’d end up tangled and immobilize myself. Sewing this was not. So, for me to master thread manipulation, we decided to hunt more demonic spiders. After a while wandering through the forest, we found some and killed them using various abilities, including lightning.

We hunted three demonic spiders and enjoyed our meal.

Now I could perform intricate tasks. The thread seemed both flexible and strong, so I planned to use it for making clothing and other items. I also gathered the spiders’ tough exoskeletons to use for armor.

We kept exploring and finally saw some orcs for the first time in forever. They were near the place where we had seen them before, but it was quite a way from the cave where we lived, so we hadn’t been there much. We probably should have gone sooner anyway.

There were six orcs, and unlike the previous one we’d encountered, these were heavily armed with steel halberds, strange wizard’s staves, sharp hunting knives, and well-polished longswords. The orcs also wore breastplates and full plate armor. The largest orc, equipped with a halberd and the most advanced armor, appeared to be the leader—an orc overlord.

Since we judged we couldn’t attack them in our current state, we followed them to do some reconnaissance instead. After about an hour of climbing up a mountain behind them, we discovered an orc mining site. The sound of digging was loud enough to be heard from outside. Using echolocation, I learned that dozens of orcs with pickaxes were moving around inside the mine, in addition to the orc overlord and his group.

We were pretty satisfied to have discovered the mining site, and we quickly descended the mountain. After all, charging in with our current numbers would mean certain death. It was better to flee before being discovered.

Then, just as we thought that, we spotted three orcs coming down the path. We were already far enough from the mining site that reinforcements would take some time to arrive, even if the orcs shouted for help, and there were no other orcs nearby, so we decided to attack this time. Hiding in the thick greenery along the path, we waited for the orcs to get closer.

As soon as they were in range, Gobmi’s and Gobei’s crossbows took out two of them with precise headshots. The remaining orc was paralyzed by my lightning attack and was finished off when I slit his throat. We divided up the task of carrying the bodies: one each for Gobkichi and me, and the last one shared between Gobmi and Gobei. Once we reached a safe distance, we took our time eating the bodies—and of course, we collected the three pickaxes. As for the filthy, stinky clothes? They were immediately burned.

Stench felt like an unnecessary ability. What good was it to smell bad? Sure, orcs do stink, but… Anyway, as long as I didn’t activate it by accident, it wouldn’t be an issue, and the orc meat was tasty enough to make it worth it. If, by any chance, Stench turned out to be useful, that’d be a bonus.

Day Twenty-Five

By now, a few individuals have posed a slight challenge to me during our daily sparring at the end of training. And so far, there have been no fatalities during our hunting trips, though minor and major injuries are frequent. Considering all of that, I’m confident that my training methods are effective.

After training today, the four of us went hunting as usual, targeting familiar prey like night vipers, armored raccoon dogs, and demonic spiders. During our hunt, we encountered a new type of prey: a pack of wolves with fur that looked like it was made from metal fibers. Off the top of my head, I decided to call them “Dark Wolves” and observed them for a little while.

There were sixteen dark wolves in total—quite a significant number—and they appeared to be mid-meal. Luckily, we were downwind and hadn’t been noticed, so we could watch them at our leisure. Under different circumstances, we might have become their next meal, like the mangled kobold they were eating.

Being outnumbered four to one was intimidating enough, but the presence of the alpha dark wolf was especially problematic. The alpha was easily twice the size of the other wolves and clearly had superior abilities. Going head-on against the pack would probably cause heavy casualties for us. Despite our numerical disadvantage, a surprise attack might even the odds.

As the dark wolves focused on devouring the remains of their unfortunate kobold prey, Gobmi released an arrow from her crossbow, piercing the alpha dark wolf. At the same time, Gobei shot another wolf in the neck, killing it instantly. The alpha's strong vitality might have allowed it to survive a regular arrow to the body, but Gobmi’s arrowheads were coated with my potent venom.

After a few staggering steps, the Alpha collapsed, foaming at the mouth and convulsing violently—not quite dead yet, but clearly getting there. Soon, it would meet the same fate as the other wolf Gobei had killed. With the leader incapacitated, the pack was thrown into chaos. It would take time to restore the hierarchy, and the sudden disorder was readily evident.

Seizing this opportunity, Gobkichi and I charged in. It was my first encounter with wolf-type monsters since my rebirth, but dealing with them wouldn’t be particularly challenging as long as they didn’t have any unusual abilities like fire breath, teleportation, or flight. Just as one of the dark wolves bared its fangs and aimed a powerful bite, I thrust my poison-tipped estoc right into its open maw. The combined force of our movements easily tore through its flesh, penetrating the wolf’s skull and destroying its brain.

I spotted another wolf attempting to flee amid the confusion. A burst of lightning and a high-pressure water blade severed its limbs, and I silenced its screams with a final blow. Gobkichi’s battle axe couldn’t slice through the dark wolves’ tough fur, but his heavy strikes managed to crush their spines and ribs, smashing them with brute force. The dull sound of bones cracking echoed as his shield collided with our prey, shattering the vertebrae in their necks.

As Gobkichi and I engaged in close combat, Gobmi and Gobe’s accurate crossbow shots continued to thin the pack. Soon, the dark wolves, having lost their ability to coordinate attacks, were completely wiped out. Not a single one escaped.

Afterward, the three of us—excluding the clumsy Gobkichi—set about stripping the dark wolves for parts. It was a delicate task that required careful skinning to preserve the pelts for crafting gear, so Gobkichi, not suited for it, kept watch instead. Not that it was strictly necessary, thanks to my Aura Sensing ability. Still, gaining experience in vigilance was never a bad idea, especially in the fiercely competitive wilds we called home.

Gobmi and Gobei, both skilled with their hands, showed potential for quickly learning dissection techniques. We carefully harvested the pelts and divided the meat, with each of us taking care of four wolves’ worth.

As expected, the alpha dark wolf was highly skilled as a commander. The abilities I gained from eating his meat—Overlord’s Command and Pack Hunting—both gave bonuses for managing subordinates. Overlord’s Command helped me quickly find the best person for specific tasks, improving the group's overall effectiveness. Pack Hunting boosted my ability to lead efficiently with each hunt, making our team more effective over time.

Fur of Steel, on the other hand, enhanced the defensive capabilities of the hair on my skin, as well as any fur or pelt-based equipment I used. Having a purely defensive ability has always been advantageous. Honestly, when considering the future, all of these abilities will definitely prove useful.

Afterward, we hunted green slimes and demonic spiders, returned home, ate some more, and went to sleep.

Day Twenty-Six

When I woke up, Gobei had evolved into a Hobgoblin. I presented her with a gift: a piece of folksy jewelry made from fangs and other materials. We finished our training without any problems and reached the point where we would usually break up to go hunting.

Instead, today I had everyone inspect their equipment. The lowest-ranking goblins—who were the most numerous—were armed with simple spears made from horned rabbit horns attached to wooden sticks, shields crafted from armored raccoon dog shells, and ragged clothing. In contrast, those ranked as squadron leaders of five or ten wore light leather armor and wielded metal weapons. Since there weren’t many items to check, the inspection was completed within thirty minutes, and then we all left the cave together.

Today, as part of increasing our overall capabilities and specifically improving my abilities, I planned to launch a surprise attack on the orc mining site we recently found. I had no particular grudge against the orcs, but this was necessary for us to become stronger and survive longer. So, the attack was set, followed by eating our prey, of course, to ensure our survival.

One bloodbath later, we emerged victorious—with many injuries, both serious and minor, but no fatalities. In contrast, we’d completely wiped out all of the orcs at the mining site, including the orc overlord. Our success was largely due to having focused on defense rather than offense during training, not to mention my relentless attacks during sparring sessions.

Of course, the key to victory was my strategy of using my demonic spider silk threads to ensnare the main forces and the overlord so we could whittle them down. Was it cowardly? Maybe, but in the wild, such worries were insignificant. Once you’re dead, it’s over, and using any means necessary to stay alive is what makes you the winner—and, as they say, history is written by the victors. Personally, I always kept my guard up to ensure I stayed alive and wouldn't be erased from history.

In any case, after a fierce battle, there’s still the aftermath. I used a simple yet surprisingly effective treatment for the many goblins who were lightly injured: I crushed a medicinal herb called Healing Grass and soaked a cloth in the liquid to apply it to their wounds. For those with life-threatening injuries, I used a blessing-type healing skill called Sustainable Regeneration that I could handle thanks to my Druid job unlock.

When did I learn to use something as convenient as healing skills? While practicing magic, I experimented with various techniques until I could use them. The moment at which I could finally heal reaffirmed the importance of continually challenging myself. Even if an arm had been severed, forcibly reattaching it and using the healing skill—though it took quite some time—would repair it. There would be some discomfort afterward, but it was far better than missing an arm. After some rehabilitation, an arm healed in that way should move normally. Healing magic was genuinely remarkable. I didn’t understand how it worked, but I was too grateful that it existed to overthink it.

In fact, what I mostly felt was genuine gratitude for the woman who had once been a druid. Without her skills, many of our number would have been lost forever. I never cared before how many goblins died, but the ones I trained every day had become my subordinates, even something like my disciples. So, I wanted to help them if I could. I thought of the druid woman who had passed away and offered a prayer to Buddha.

While I treated the injured, I ordered the unscathed Gobkichi and Gobmi to gather the orc corpses and equipment. Then, once everyone was patched up, it was time for the next step in our plan.

The halberd previously wielded by the orc overlord seemed to have been reinforced with some sort of technique, making it quite a fine weapon. When I swung it around a bit, it had a weight that felt just right for me, not to mention a decently sharp blade. I quickly decided to make it my new main weapon. While estocs were fine, I was more accustomed to longer weapons, so they felt more natural in my hands.

As a team, we gathered a wide array of weapons, greatly enhancing our overall armament. The addition of short swords to the previously lowest-tier weapons—horned rabbit horn spears—was especially significant. I was also happy to discover we had obtained a large number of elemental Spirit Stones, including not just flame and lightning but also air and earth, which I hadn’t even tried eating yet. It seemed like there was still more to discover from the depths of the excavation site. The potential to explore all the different uses for the elemental stones brought a big, uncontrollable grin to my face.

After stripping the orcs of their belongings, we all feasted on their meat. There was enough for everyone, with the higher-ranking individuals receiving a larger share. The main forces, including the orc overlord and the orc mage, ended up in my stomach.

They might have been somewhat mediocre, but I believed my new abilities could potentially be useful. I mean, it was always helpful to be able to do more things, with a few exceptions…

After savoring the roasted orc meat, I alone enjoyed the Flame, Thunder, Water, Wind, and Earth Spirit Stones as snacks.

Today’s festival of roast orc was truly satisfying. The pig-faced orcs certainly weren’t pleasant to look at, but their meat had a unique taste and texture. The sound of it sizzling on a hot iron plate and releasing aromatic juices was simply the best. But the more I ate, the more I craved rice and liquor. Especially liquor. I desperately wanted a drink.

Thinking back—though it wasn’t too long ago—I hadn’t had a drink since reincarnating. In my old life, I used to go bar hopping, stash a case of Kirin Ichiban under my bed at home, and buy booze from a nearby convenience store. It was on my way back from one of those trips that Aoi stabbed me. I wondered what happened to the sake and beer I bought that day. I was curious—really curious. And the more I thought about it, the more I craved a drink.

As I suppressed my craving for alcohol, we made it back to the cave before nightfall. The exhaustion from this day would cause me to sleep more deeply than ever.

Day Twenty-Seven

After sleeping off yesterday’s fatigue, I woke up feeling refreshed. Then, as we were conducting our morning training in the clearing outside the cave, a group of unfamiliar goblins showed up.

They were carrying well-used—slightly battered, actually—short swords and battle axes at their waists. Most of them wore dirty chainmail shirts under leather armor or breastplates stained with what looked like blood. Among them were three hobgoblins like me, Gobkichi and Gobmi.

Was this the beginning of our second major battle in just two days? And, since we were in the middle of training and already had our weapons ready, should we strike first?

I started to get excited about the prospect, but it turned out this group was actually the returning workforce who had gone out to earn a living and were now coming home. I only realized this because Gobjii, who had been observing our training, stopped me from launching a preemptive strike. Not enemies, then, I thought, slightly disappointed.

I figured I should at least greet them. However, just as I was about to speak, I noticed something. Initially hidden by a large backpack that probably contained loot from their expedition, and carried by what looked like a low-ranking goblin, were five human women. They were restrained, gagged, and tied up to keep them from making noise or trying to escape. Four of them were dressed as civilians, while one wore cheap leather armor, suggesting she was probably some kind of adventurer.

The adventurer had a faint bruise on her cheek, indicating she had been hit, but her clothes remained mostly intact, meaning she hadn’t been raped—yet. It was only a matter of time, though.

Seeing Gobjii with his disgustingly swollen loincloth as he talked to the hobgoblin leader of the expedition, anyone could predict what was about to happen, even if they didn’t want to. I’d learned the unfortunate fact that goblins typically breed by raping females of other species—usually humans, though beastpeople or merpeople can also work.

As a hobgoblin now, I understood the biological need to propagate the species. It made sense that goblins, a weaker species, would need superior numbers to stand up to humans. In this case, they probably felt the need to rebuild their numbers after the losses from their recent expedition.

Whether that was right or wrong was another matter.

If these women had been my enemies trying to kill me, I’d feel differently. But they had nothing to do with me, which meant I could afford to play the altruist. So, I decided to help them.

Actually, that was only mostly true. My real reason for helping them was that I didn’t want the number of goblins in this community to increase. Our generation already had more survivors than those before us, and if we continued to grow in number like this, food and living space could become scarce. At worst, humans—or the elves rumored to live in the forest—might feel threatened and send extermination squads to deal with the goblin menace.

Instead of focusing on increasing our numbers, I wanted to improve our individual abilities. If these women were raped, impregnated, and bore more goblins, it would cause issues. Additionally, I needed access to human knowledge. As someone new to this world, I wanted to tap into the wisdom of those who lived here. That was why I decided to take action and help them.

As I approached the head hobgoblin while he was talking with Gobjii, I demanded that the women be released. Gobjii looked utterly despairing at this for some reason, but I ignored it. The head hobgoblin, however, gave me a “What the hell are you talking about?” look, but I repeated my demand.

Negotiation is vital in any situation. Even with someone you dislike, if a fight hasn’t started yet, it’s better to try talking first. Deciding whether to become enemies can come later, and it’s always better to have more options. But despite my persistent efforts to persuade him, the head hobgoblin wouldn’t listen. Instead, he seemed to get irritated by my nonstop chatter and began to exude a clear killing intent. Despite this, I kept trying to negotiate… until the goblins on his side also started showing signs of agitation.

I knew it was futile when the head hobgoblin drew his shortsword and pointed it at my throat.

He didn’t attack, probably because Gobkichi and the others behind me were similarly armed and prepared. Knowing negotiations were failing, I chose to act. Pulling out my estoc (I hadn’t yet adapted to my new halberd), I disarmed the head hobgoblin’s shortsword, causing it to spin through the air before it landed point-down in the ground.

The atmosphere changed suddenly. Both sides drew their weapons, ready to act on the slightest provocation. They were waiting for their leaders’ orders, knowing any hasty move could cause heavy casualties on both sides. Our team was thirty-nine, while theirs was twenty-eight. Though we had the numbers, they had more experience and better coordination. The outcome of a direct fight was uncertain, and we all understood it would result in heavy losses regardless.

The older goblins, including Gobjii, stood nearby. They observed without intervening, seemingly leaving the decision to the younger generation, effectively remaining neutral.

For a while, we stayed in a tense standoff. Then, tired of the deadlock, I moved forward and assumed a fighting stance. My hand tightened around my estoc as I aimed it at the head hobgoblin’s chest. I bent my knees, ready to charge and pierce my enemy, when a voice rang out, stopping me in my tracks and making me turn toward the sound.

The voice belonged to one of the three hobgoblins on the other side. From her appearance, clad as she was in a tattered robe and holding a twisted wooden staff, I could deduce that she was the only other magic-wielding hobgoblin besides me—a hobgoblin mage.

“Don’t drag us into your personal fight,” she declared. “The leader of our community should be whoever’s strongest.” She had momentarily defused the tension by introducing a new dynamic to the confrontation. Mages have higher intelligence than other goblins, which allowed her to make a calm judgment in this situation. I asked if she thought she was stronger than I was, given that I could use magic too. She coolly replied that being a leader wasn’t her thing anyway.

Thus, it was decided that we would hold a fight to determine the leader of our goblin community. The rules were straightforward: no weapons allowed, and the fight would end if someone were knocked out or gave up. And while killing wasn’t the goal, accidental death was allowed, making it a rather savage contest.

As the closest thing we had to a neutral party, Gobjii was chosen to be the referee. I was a bit surprised when, almost immediately, the other goblins started placing bets on the outcome of the fight. Apparently, not only did they have the concept of gambling, but they also had some familiarity with currency, as they were trading copper and silver coins.

Meanwhile, the goblins in my group sat in an orderly fashion, ready to watch the upcoming fight. It was quite surreal to see them all lined up and behaving so well. I did feel a bit guilty about the five women who had been brought over as prizes for the winner. They were understandably scared, but for their sake, I knew they had to endure this situation for now.

After some brief preparation, the fight began. On one side was the head hobgoblin, a battle-hardened warrior with the scars to prove it, and the leader of his comrades up to this point. On the other side was me, the one who had trained my peers and recently evolved into a hobgoblin variant subspecies.

The other goblins appeared to be betting heavily on the head hobgoblin, but I had no intention of letting that intimidate me. Without hesitation, I launched a quick attack.

※※※

The sun neared its zenith from the vantage point of a particular clearing in the dense forest, known for harboring numerous so-called “Threat-Level Monsters.” And in this grassy, somewhat open area, in the center of a circle of goblins, two hobgoblins faced each other.

One of them was named Hobken. Up until now, he had led the goblin community gathered there. He was a battle-hardened warrior who had played a significant role in the community’s survival through numerous victories. His body was covered with numerous scars, reminders of countless brushes with death. The well-trained muscles he possessed gave him extraordinary strength for a hobgoblin. Still, since the current fight prohibited the use of weapons, Hobken wouldn’t have the opportunity to showcase his brutal swordsmanship. Nevertheless, he could easily shatter thick wooden boards with only his battle-hardened fists. He was unquestionably one of the strongest fighters in the goblin community.

Hobken bared his filthy, yellow teeth, trying to threaten his opponent. His eyes burned with intense rage at the insolent rival daring to challenge him, and his bulging muscles showed his intention to beat him to a pulp.

In contrast, the hobgoblin facing him had black skin and watched Hobken with cold, indifferent eyes. He was completely unfazed by his opponent’s hostility. His name was Gobrou, and his aloof demeanor only fueled Hobken’s anger—but Gobrou didn’t seem to care. He appeared eager to end this farce quickly.

“Okay, so now we’re gonna have a fight to decide the leader,” said Gobjii, the oldest goblin, standing among the surrounding goblins as they watched the proceedings. His face was etched with deep wrinkles, his back was bent, and he leaned on a cane. His voice quivered and was hard to hear, and his shamelessly apparent libido marked him as an elderly goblin who seemed likely to pass away any day now. However, his long life had also granted him considerable knowledge, making him the ideal choice for the role of judge.

“Is that alright with you, Hobken?” Gobjii asked, looking to his community’s current leader.

“No problem,” Hobken replied. “Just hurry up.” He was eager to tear Gobrou apart and wanted to get on with it.

“And you, Gobrou?” Gobjii asked the challenger. It was a tradition to give the challenger one last chance to back out before getting pulverized—a custom passed down for generations.

“No problem,” Gobrou responded with a slight nod, causing Gobjii to let out a soft sigh that was echoed by many of the other elder goblins. Perhaps they could predict the outcome of this fight to some extent.

“Then…” Gobjii said before a lengthy pause.

Hobken immediately prepared himself, dropping into a half-crouch as he got ready to close the distance as soon as the fight began. Using a stone he had previously embedded shallowly in the ground as a makeshift starting block, he aimed to accelerate faster than if he had just started running. This was one of the many tricks he picked up through countless battles, meant to catch the arrogant Gobrou off guard and land a solid punch to his face before he could even gather his wits. Seeing Gobrou doing nothing, Hobken smirked, waiting for the signal to start.

“… Begin!” Gobjii’s arm swung down, and the fight commenced. Hobken dug his foot in against the stone he’d set up, propelling himself forward. But he couldn’t move an inch. It was as if he were nailed to the spot.

“Gwaaaargh!”

The reason was the ear-splitting, intimidating roar emitted by Gobrou at the start signal, which was powerful enough to make any opponent shrink back. Coupled with the snake-like, vertical-slit pupils of his eyes—the evil eye that paralyzed those who met its gaze, making them freeze like a mouse facing a snake—Hobken found himself utterly immobilized. He could only look on in shock as Gobrou made his next move.

In a flash, Gobrou closed the distance between them, his right hand releasing a torrent of white threads from his fingertips. The threads immediately wrapped around the unresponsive Hobken, holding him tightly. Now bound from head to toe in the sturdy, flexible threads, Hobken finally regained control of his body. But no matter how much he struggled or how fiercely he thrashed, he couldn’t break free from Gobrou’s threads. Escape was impossible.

Ignoring the bewildered Hobken—confused by the incredible reality of being bound by silk that had just shot from Gobrou’s fingertips—Gobrou reached his other hand toward a thick branch above them, which was blocking much of the sunlight. New threads shot out from his left hand this time, wrapping securely around the branch. After testing the hold with a few light tugs, Gobrou soared into the air.

“Wha-wha-whaaaat?!”

As a variant subspecies with a stronger body than normal, Gobrou had access to Blood Flow Manipulation, which gave him strength beyond what a typical hobgoblin could achieve. This ability allowed him to pull his threads to their limit and use the recoil to perform a high-speed jump into the air. For those who didn’t understand what he was doing, it was nothing short of astonishing—and for Hobken, who was dragged into the air alongside him, the shock must have been even greater. Throughout the entire journey from the branch back to the ground, Hobken’s screams never stopped.

“Are you ready to surrender?” Gobrou asked bluntly, looking down at Hobken’s face. Hobken was now hanging upside down, so it was natural that Gobrou had to look down to face him.

“Who would surrender to the likes of you?!” Hobken snarled. “Such cowardly tricks won’t defeat me!” His pride wouldn’t let him give in, even as his inverted position caused the blood to rush to his head, tinting his green skin a reddish hue.

“Hmm, I see,” Gobrou said. “In that case…” Realizing his opponent wasn’t going to yield, Gobrou sent another spray of thread to seal Hobken’s mouth, but ensuring he could still breathe through his nose.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!” Hobken struggled fiercely, but hanging upside down, he could do little more than wriggle around in the air.

“I guess you’ll make a good punching bag,” Gobrou muttered, crouching to watch Hobken writhe. Then he stepped forward with his left foot, pivoting on the right to power his punch. His joints—knees, hips, shoulders, and arms—all helped accelerate the blow intended to crush through to the other side of Hobken’s body.

“Ugghh…” A muffled groan escaped Hobken’s thread-bound mouth as Gobrou’s mighty fist sank into his abdomen. His body bent sharply, and he swung back, only to snap forward again like a pendulum to his original position. Each time he swung back, he was met with another punch or kick. The forest echoed with the sickening thuds of flesh being struck as Gobrou continued his assault until he was satisfied.

※※※

I worked up a good sweat.

Afterward, Gobjii mentioned that my threads counted as a weapon, but they were clearly part of my body. Essentially, they are like saliva. Spitting on someone isn't considered attacking with a weapon, so shooting spider silk at someone should be fine if you can. It’s not a weapon, so using it doesn’t break the rules.

Let’s go with that. Though I’ll admit it was a gray area.

Anyway, I could tell that the head hobgoblin I beat up didn’t actually have any broken bones or ruptured organs. He wouldn’t die if left untreated. But he would make a perfect test subject. I mixed several types of nuts, insects, a measure of Healing Grass, and holy water to make a homemade life potion. I forced it down his throat, cut the threads holding him up, and left him lying in a random spot.

I knew the life potion would be able to heal minor cuts, but I didn’t know its maximum effectiveness. This was the perfect opportunity to find out. The head hobgoblin’s internal injuries should be somewhat better by tomorrow, though he certainly wouldn’t wake up today.

After completing my experimental treatment, I felt a sense of accomplishment until I noticed everyone around me's reactions. They all looked taken aback. The goblins on my side seemed less alarmed than the others, but even their eyes showed a hint of fear.

Eh? They subtly avoided me when I approached them, which was hurtful. What was wrong?

“Your threads are incomprehensible,” Gobmi explained to me. “Not to mention that gruesome beating and your terrifying expression while you did it.”

That’s not normal?

Apparently, it wasn’t. I guessed it was more of a me thing. Even Gobkichi edged away when I tried to get reassurance from him.

You too?!

Alright, I got it. Nobody was on my side. Well, you know what? It was fine if others didn’t get me. I marched to the beat of my own drum, and all that.

After moping for a while, I asked if there were any other challengers. By clearly establishing my position now, I knew I could reduce any potential trouble in the future. In the end, though, no one challenged me, so today was the day I officially became the leader of this goblin community.

My first act as leader was to declare that the five human women were strictly off-limits and that I would explain the detailed rules regarding their well-being later. Then I told the goblins to disperse.

The women, whose gags and bindings I untied, were moved to the deepest part of the cave—the same place where helpless women had been thrown, impregnated, and left to die in despair. I relocated the women there to prevent their escape—not because it was a big deal, but because I doubted they could survive in this monster-infested forest unarmed. They’d likely be attacked, killed, and eaten by the forest’s monsters. I couldn’t accept them meeting such a tragic end right after being saved.

If I wanted to talk with them, keeping them in the cave was the best choice for now. Luckily, my Human Language Comprehension ability meant we met the minimum requirements for communication. So, once the move was finished, I lit some torches I had prepared beforehand, for light, in case I ever had the chance to speak with some humans in the cave. While goblins naturally have Night Vision, making darkness no problem, humans find it hard to see in the dark. When speaking calmly, a well-lit environment is preferable to a dark and scary one. That's why I used the torches.

With preparations complete, we began to talk. I promised the women I wouldn’t harm them and assured them they would receive food, shelter, and clothing while here. I also pledged that if any goblin attacked them, I’d deal with that goblin personally—and, though it might take time, I would ensure their eventual return to the city they’d been abducted from.

About five or six hours passed. Thanks to my diplomatic persuasion, or perhaps for some other unknown reason, the women gradually started talking. The first to break her silence was the adventurer among them—a short, lively-looking girl with cropped red hair, more cute like a small animal than she was beautiful.

To summarize what the red-haired girl told me, the other four women were members of a merchant group called Star God’s Pavilion. The red-haired girl herself was a member of an adventurers’ guild—confirming that such a profession indeed existed—called the Sword of the Weak, which had taken on an escort request from Star God’s Pavilion through the guild for a fee.

The Sword of the Weak was a support guild mainly focused on helping new adventurers develop their skills through mutual aid to grow stronger. The redhead, a member of the Warrior job class, had joined the guild as a rookie to build up her strength.

As for how they’d ended up in their current predicament… The group had been traveling along the highway toward the defensive city of Trient when they were ambushed by goblins who were lying in wait in the nearby forest. The initial poison arrow attack, which caught them off guard, had resulted in the deaths of the lead adventurers who had been guiding the novice escorts.

When the experienced leaders were eliminated in the first wave of the attack, the remaining adventurers, who had mostly come for experience, fell into disarray. In their panic, they couldn’t coordinate effectively against the well-equipped, highly organized goblins. The novice adventurers did manage to kill several goblins in their desperate attempt to survive, but they couldn’t withstand the organized assault led by the three hobgoblins in the group. The presence of a spell-casting hobgoblin mage proved especially deadly.

To fight a mage, you need either superior combat skills or magic items like scrolls or wands. These items are costly and have limited uses, but they can allow even children to cast spells. Of course, beginner adventurers can’t afford such high-end gear. Some of the intermediate adventurers who had died quickly might have had these items, but it was hard to tell in the chaos.

Unfortunately, this resulted in the adventurers’ downfall. In the end, despite putting up a strong fight, the party was overwhelmed, their weapons and supplies were taken, the men were killed, and the surviving women, including the red-haired adventurer, were captured and brought here.

It was a brutal story, and one that I, of all people, had no right to tell. The fact that everyone else had likely been wiped out made it even worse. I figured they were just unlucky. I didn’t have any personal connection to a bunch of random strangers, so I couldn’t truly feel empathetic. All I could do was silently pray for their souls.

The women shared their story until they could no longer hold back their tears and started to cry. Staying with the goblins who had killed their comrades was probably overwhelming, so I told them where to find spare torches and blankets and left them to their emotions. Sometimes, all you can do is let people cry it out.

Maybe it was time to explain about job classes. In the world I was reincarnated into, there was a concept called Existence Evolution for various non-human species, including demihumans, beastpeople, and other monsters. This is how I evolved into a hobgoblin variant. But as my wording might suggest, humans have something different. Instead of Existence Evolution, they have a wide variety of job classes.

Humans naturally have much lower basic abilities than monsters. They can compensate by gaining multiple job classes—each with its own requirements, with the more powerful ones being more demanding. By collecting these benefits or “boosts,” as they’re often called, they can become strong enough to take on tough enemies. Anyone can raise their job levels over time, and those with enough skill can even advance to higher-ranking jobs.

Incidentally, this is how the exemplars known as heroes or champions came into existence, thanks to major boosts from their job classes. It’s hard to believe, but there are indeed jobs with names like “Hero” and “Champion.”

To put it more simply, a monster’s Existence Evolution mainly depends on the individual’s innate qualities and enables them to dramatically boost their inherent power in a single swift leap. In contrast, a human’s growth through job advancement is slower but allows anyone to gradually gain significant strength over time, regardless of their natural traits.

In this world, you can either take a giant leap in one go or steadily climb step by step. It’s a bit like the difference between quantity and quality.

By the way, this information came from Gobjii, so it’s likely accurate.

Day Twenty-Eight

This morning, I checked on the women. Maybe they felt a bit better after crying and sleeping, or perhaps they were just quick to bounce back. The short redhead greeted me surprisingly energetically—the other four still looked scared, but that was understandable. So, accepting that things would improve with time, I used some of the cooking tools and ingredients from our loot store to make a stew of sorts.

It had been a while since I’d enjoyed a civilized meal, and it made me happy. I had to admit, the stew was truly delicious. Food is essential for survival, but the better it tastes, the more it soothes the spirit. After eating, the women relaxed and were open to talking, so I decided to learn more about them—and give them some tasks. If there was something they could do, I figured it would help take their minds off things, and they seemed agreeable.

One woman, who had a gentle demeanor, was in the Appraiser and Smith job classes, so I had her sharpen a variety of swords. She mentioned that if we got some proper smithing equipment, she could make us even more useful items, so I’m planning to prepare for that eventually.

Two sisters—recognizable by their similar appearances—were both in the Chef and Tailor job classes. I assigned them to cooking and garment-making in the future. Though I obviously couldn’t very well ask them to make clothes for their goblin enemies, so for now, they’d make their own. But they would have to tolerate cooking for everyone. And I, too, will have to prepare… to eat well-prepared, delicious food.

The cool, intelligent beauty of the group was an Alchemist, so I asked her to make potions. But then I whispered to her that if she ever planned to poison our food, she should let me know beforehand so I could assign her guards for her own safety. This scared her, though I wasn’t sure why.

Incidentally, the four women besides Redhead Shorty all shared the job class of Peddler. As for Redhead Shorty herself, she can do farm work and other tasks, but she was essentially useless in her current state. Therefore, I decided that she would participate in training to get stronger. It was always better for women to be able to protect themselves, especially given the situation she had recently found herself in.

After finishing breakfast early in the morning, the usual routine would be morning training, but we skipped that today. Instead, we spent the morning gathering all our belongings from the cave and preparing to move. The reason was that the cave had become pretty cramped, especially now that the returning goblins were back. Previously, not enough goblins had survived long enough to cause problems, but now things had changed. So, we were moving into the old orc mining site. It was spacious, sturdy, and reinforced to prevent collapses. Plus, it had the added bonus of possible Spirit Stone mining.

After gathering some of our belongings, I appointed Gobkichi as the leader of a ten-goblin vanguard squad and sent them ahead. If the orcs had reclaimed the mining site, they were to wipe them out by force. An hour later, with all our belongings packed, we left the cave where we had been born.

Trusted team members like Gobmi and Gobei guarded the five women. After walking for over an hour, we finally reached our destination. The orcs had indeed returned, but Gobkichi and his team had already handled them. I kept the hearts of the slain orcs for myself, and the rest was distributed to the vanguard members as a reward for their efforts. Then, we set about organizing and modifying the interior of the mining site to make it more livable. Since there wasn’t much to decorate with, we simply designated spots for an armory and food storage, set up a toilet, and arranged sleeping areas.

Once the basic tasks were finished, I assigned the remaining details to Gobjii and the others, then began constructing an area where the human women could live—luckily, topographical landscaping was straightforward thanks to my Ground Control ability. I quickly set up a forge for the blacksmith, a kitchen for the sisters, a workshop for the alchemist, and all their sleeping quarters. I made beds with spider silk, weaving it into simple structures over wooden frames. They should be comfortable enough for a good night's sleep.

Drinkable water and sources of light were no problem; we could mine Flame and Water Spirit Stones from the walls for a reliable supply of both. The blacksmith mentioned that with a bit of ingenuity, basic blacksmithing could also be accomplished using Spirit Stones. We spent the entire day moving and doing various chores. The sisters, true to their profession, prepared our meals; the food was exceptionally delicious.

Day Twenty-Nine

Today, I finally started training the older goblins. I began by demonstrating proper formation and practical training. The older goblins were surprised by what they saw, but it was essential for them to get accustomed to it—because from now on, they’d be taking part.

We began with the basics: quick formation exercises and running to build endurance. Like a strict drill sergeant, I hurled insults at those who lagged behind, making them do push-ups as a penalty. One reckless goblin tried to punch me, so I responded by breaking his arm. After letting him scream for a while, I treated his injuries and sent him back to training.

This routine went on for several hours, ending with sparring sessions against me. Just like before, none of them could move by the end. Gobkichi and the others watched from a distance, commenting things like, “I knew it,” and “I feel their pain,” and “Yeah, that’s rough.” But the older goblins had more stamina than Gobkichi and his group at that point, so they recovered faster. As a result, we got back to training sooner than expected.

We didn’t go hunting today. Instead, we trained the older goblins and studied the ranks and rules I had established.

Day Thirty

Today was marked by heavy rain, creating the perfect opportunity for another indoor tournament to determine the group's hierarchy. Establishing a clear ranking structure was beneficial for many reasons. Due to the significant ability differences between hobgoblins and regular goblins, we split into two groups, and everyone competed in unarmed combat to establish the ranking order.

In the end, it went pretty much as expected. I stayed at the top, followed by Gobkichi. The former head hobgoblin took third place, and then came Gobmi and the others. The three older hobgoblins had roughly the same level of combat skills. If magic had been allowed, Hobsei, the hobgoblin mage, might have taken second place, but magic was prohibited this time.

After the tournament ended, the groups were divided into three: Gobkichi’s group continued with combat training, Gobei’s group headed out with their pickaxes to train in mining, and Gobmi, acting as teacher, led her group in studying the established rules, ranks, and Elietan writing lessons I had put together based on the Elietan Continent Language Learning Guide.

Meanwhile, I had a conversation with Hobsei. I was curious about what kind of magic she could use. She told me she could handle three types: Flame, Water-Ice, and Abyss. I had only read the one book that started in the middle of a series, so I couldn’t fully understand what those types of magic involved, but I nodded along anyway, pretending I knew what she was talking about. We then went our separate ways to attend to our respective tasks. Hobsei went to study with Gobmi, while I headed to check on where the women were staying.

When I arrived, I saw that the blacksmith’s forge was working well with fire and water supplied by Flame and Water Spirit Stones. She was crafting tools from the Spirit Stones and iron ore obtained during mining training, and the blacksmith tools came from our loot supply. I asked if the blacksmith had any complaints, and I adjusted the forge to make it more user-friendly. The women seemed to be becoming a bit less afraid of me, which was reassuring. Everything was going smoothly.

Next, I visited the sisters. They had it relatively easy too, since the cooking tools they needed also came from our looted items. However, the large amount of food they needed to prepare made it difficult for just the two of them to manage, so I helped out. They still seemed a bit scared of me, but I kept trying to talk with them, and they gradually started to open up more. Sometimes they even smiled, which was a good sign; there’s nothing like a beautiful smile to lift the spirits. I also shared some recipes I knew with them—I had a new goal to recreate and enjoy some of the dishes I loved in my previous life.

Finally, I visited the alchemist, who had been busy making potions. Like the others, her area was well-equipped, and she was getting along fine. I used Item Appraisal on several of her finished potions to confirm that no poison had been made so far. Then, intrigued, I decided to watch her work. The cool, somewhat prickly beauty didn’t speak at all as she conscientiously followed the steps of her process, but it was still pleasant to watch her, so I had no complaints. After she finished, we had a brief conversation, and then I headed to my own workshop.

There, I focused on making armor from the dark wolf leather that I had already partially processed. Sewing the leather panels together with my spider silk threads, I found that the whole process went pretty quickly, thanks to both my abilities and my familiarity with the materials. Although I had to work late into the night to finish, I still managed to end the day by doing a few practice swings with my halberd to get a feel for it.

Exhausted from the day’s intense activities, I slept deeply.

Day Thirty-One

It was raining heavily again today, so we stayed inside the cave. After finishing our usual morning training, I put on the new armor I’d made from dark wolf hides and other collected materials. To get used to my new halberd—which I still hadn’t used in actual fighting—I did some serious combat training with Gobkichi, who was fully armored.

My current armor included slightly loose black fur pants, a long black coat, a sturdy wrought iron gauntlet on my left hand, and a round shield reinforced and modified with carapace from multiple armored monsters on my right. I had also discreetly sewn a light, durable demonic spider carapace into the chest area for extra protection, giving me the defensive strength of modified full plate mail despite its lightweight appearance. I had no head protection, but I wore sturdy boots brought back by the elder goblins to complete the outfit. Paired with my naturally black skin, this gear provided a significant hiding bonus at night.

Gobkichi’s gear was also upgraded with items gained during the orc subjugation. He switched his primary weapon from a battle axe to the Blazing Crescent Axe, now embedded with a large Fire Spirit Stone that allows him to use Blazing Blade. His shield was also upgraded from a carapace-reinforced round shield to a much heavier black iron tower shield, greatly improving his defense. This shield was further reinforced by special skills, making it a truly formidable defensive tool.

As for his armor, he now wore the heavy armor that once belonged to the orc overlord as a foundation, reinforced with my silk threads, some carapace from an armored monster, and fur to enhance both its defensive strength and mobility.

In other words, the fully-armed Gobkichi looks like a walking fortress.

He was incredibly strong. In fact, with his physical abilities specialized for frontline combat, the improvements in his equipment made his fighting prowess nothing short of terrifying. Gobkichi’s strength shows even during regular training, but facing him fully armored made it even more apparent. My strategy usually involved boosting myself with various abilities, confusing my opponent with different tactics, and then landing a decisive blow from behind. In a straightforward fight without abilities, someone with as much raw strength as Gobkichi was a bit challenging for me.

I knew I could still beat him with technique, so I was genuinely surprised when he nearly perfectly blocked the heavy, centrifugal strikes of my halberd with his tower shield. His counterattacks were incredibly powerful, and his mastery of the axe was astonishing. He seemed to understand from experience how to swing his axe sharper, faster, and harder, probably from his consistent use of similar weapons, starting with clubs and progressing to axes. Gobkichi had undoubtedly become the most skilled axe user in the entire goblin community.

The Blazing Crescent Axe was particularly troublesome for me. Although my Flame Resistance ability helped reduce the fiery damage from Blazing Blade, it couldn't eliminate it entirely. The flames still felt hot, and they significantly hampered my vision. Additionally, the metal shaft of my halberd would heat up if I stayed too close for too long, which was also problematic.

We spent a considerable amount of time sparring. When we finished, I made some clothes, gathered some Spirit Stones, and enjoyed the dinner prepared by the sisters before going to bed.

In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep, something happened. My Aura Sensing ability detected eight individuals stealthily approaching the area where the five human women were sleeping. I woke up, curious about what was going on, and looked in the direction of the presence I sensed.

I saw the backs of several goblins whispering and planning to attack the sleeping women. Instantly, I grabbed my halberd from next to my pillow and got up to follow them quietly. After confirming they really intended to attack the women in their sleep—gathering solid proof was important, since accidentally killing them could cause serious problems—I swung the halberd and cut through the neck of the last goblin.

The goblin’s head flew off and landed on the ground before it started rolling away, inert. I stepped on the rolling head, crushing it with a nasty squelch. The contents of the head spilled out and soiled my boots, but I didn’t mind. To avoid a messier cleanup from the blood, though, I’d cauterized the wound on the body as I’d decapitated it, so it wasn’t bleeding much.

The smell of burning flesh triggered my combat instincts. I was probably grinning ear to ear with the thrill of it. But the sudden, brutal killing froze the atmosphere. Everyone stared at me in shock, unable to process what had just happened.

Ignoring their stares, I captured all the goblins who had tried to attack with my threads. Among them, I recognized the former head hobgoblin and his subordinates. The former leader, who had been about to assault Redhead Shorty, lay in front of me with his groin bulging conspicuously. Clearly, he was the one in charge of this operation.

Before killing them, I decided to hear their side. According to them, they couldn’t control their lust. When I asked why they didn’t just relieve themselves with female goblins, they said that once they had experienced human women, they couldn’t be satisfied with goblins. The pleasure was on a completely different level, apparently.

That was none of my concern. I cut the conversation short by punching the former leader in the face. The women’s clothes were already partially torn, so I didn’t need to hear any more; I had all the information I needed.

I handed out the soft, spider silk cardigans I had prepared the day before to the women, who sat there trembling and hugging themselves. (Torn clothing might have become a distraction for the other goblins.) When I was finished, Redhead Shorty hugged me and cried, so I patted her on the back and spoke soothingly to calm her down. This made her cry even harder, but I patiently continued to speak to her gently until she began to relax.

When Gobkichi, Gobmi, and Gobei arrived, I told them to take the bound goblins to the large room near the entrance used for training. I also instructed them to wake everyone else up. I left the decapitated body where it was.

Despite calming down, Redhead Shorty still clung to my clothes, saying her fists wouldn’t unclench, as if they were acting on their own. She was still trembling slightly, so I didn’t force her to let go. Ideally, it would have been better for her mental health not to witness what was about to happen, but it couldn’t be helped. She had to come with me. The remaining four women were still trembling, but they followed a short distance behind anyway. Maybe they were afraid to leave my side, or perhaps they felt they needed to witness what was to come, or maybe there was some other reason.

Once everyone was awake and gathered in the large room near the entrance, I pointed at the captured goblins with my halberd’s blade. I explained what they had done and why what I said mattered, and made sure everyone understood why these goblins were about to be punished. Then, I proceeded with the torture.

I began by cutting off their fingertips with a Bowie knife. To stop the bleeding, I cauterized the wounds with fire as I proceeded. Then, I used healing skills to boost their vitality and stamina, making them harder to kill. Their screams were irritating, so I gagged them with my threads, which also prevented them from biting off their tongues—though even if they did, it wouldn’t have killed them immediately.

The onlookers were clearly horrified. Still, this was the most straightforward way to show the women that I would keep my promise. Those who disobeyed my orders and followed the former leader had no place here. Leaving them alive would only cause future problems, so I decided to stop it early. It would be foolish to hold back now, only to get betrayed later.

I dealt with six goblins using various methods, leaving only one. The last—the former head hobgoblin—begged for his life with his eyes. Still, I saw no value in the existence of this fool who hadn’t learned anything despite the affectionate treatment I had given him as a sandbag after our battle for the top spot in the community. He had been strong in the pack, so I gave him a position that matched his strength, but it turned out that an idiot is just an idiot.

If someone couldn’t even follow the basic rules I set up, rules that even an idiot could understand, then I had no use for them. This outcome was entirely his doing, his own fault. I don’t kill my own kind just because I don’t like them; there has to be a valid reason, like with him. After all, having two factions within an organization is almost always a bad idea.

Without hesitation, I kept torturing him—burning one arm, waterboarding, adding weights, whipping, and more—keeping him barely alive and on the verge of death.

Day Thirty-Two

The former leader died at sunrise, as sunlight started to filter through the cave's entrance. I might have gotten a bit carried away. Hobgoblins are more resilient than regular goblins, so he didn’t die easily. Plus, I kept healing him to extend the whole ordeal. As I regained awareness, I looked around. Everyone looked utterly terrified.

“Do you get it?” I asked with a smile. They all nodded vigorously.

Satisfied, I dismissed everyone and told them to sleep until noon. Everyone was worn out but had stayed awake through the entire torture session—except for those who fainted, of course. So, I ordered them to sleep and announced a break from training for the day.

After washing the blood off myself with a water ball I created using my abilities, I noticed Redhead Shorty—who had been closest to the action—trembling and staring vacantly. I splashed her face with another water ball to snap her out of it. Then, I took advantage of her moment of surprise to scoop her up and carry her to the women’s sleeping quarters, ignoring her increasing tremors. Once she was safely in bed, I repeated the process with the other four women, who were also still completely petrified with horror. After I made sure all the goblins returned to their quarters, I went to sleep too.

I woke up around two in the afternoon. For lunch, I devoured the heart and stomach of the first goblin I had killed, then buried the rest underground using my Ground Control ability. By then, the other goblins were starting to wake up. Since there was no training scheduled for today, I headed out to go hunting with my usual group of four.

I left the protection of the human women to my five goblin slaves—I mean, subordinates—and the older goblins. When I asked if they understood the consequences of trying anything, they nodded vigorously, so I thought it would be safe. Probably. There was also a designated evacuation area made of my spider silk, so the women should have been able to buy some time if anything did happen.

Redhead Shorty now had a short sword for self-defense. I also gave her a signal horn we got from the orc raid, to use in emergencies. The sound can travel a long way, and since we weren’t planning to go far, we could probably get back in time if she sounded the alarm.

I felt reassured, so we finally set out on our hunt. The first thing we encountered was a triple-horned horse. It had tough-looking scales and a body twice the size of a normal horse, so enormous that I had to look up to see it. As a species, it was far superior to hobgoblins. There were two triple-horned horses, likely a mating pair. One of them might even have been pregnant.

A new life might soon be born, I thought.

Unfortunately, such matters were irrelevant to us. These horses were about to become our sustenance.

We launched a surprise attack, as usual. The first strike was a standard move: Gobmi and Gobei aimed with their poisoned crossbows. Gobmi’s shot hit one directly in the eye, but Gobei’s shot slightly missed its mark, bouncing off the monster’s body, sending sparks as it deflected off the armored scales.

“Those scales are tough!” I exclaimed in frustration, nearly yelling. “A crossbow bolt strong enough to pierce standard plate armor was deflected that easily?!”

Despite being hit in the eye, the triple-horned horse didn’t die right away. Instead, it bucked and thrashed violently in pain, showing its remarkable vitality.

While we were momentarily stunned by its resilience, the other one noticed us and charged angrily, its three vertical horns pointing directly at us. We managed to stop its advance with a combination of my spider silk and electric shocks, but seeing some of the threads snap and tear under the horse’s immense strength was chilling. Just how much horsepower did this thing have? Its strength was far beyond a hobgoblin’s level.

We kept the thrashing horse at bay with Gobmi and Gobei’s continuous, though minimally damaging, shots, while Gobkichi and I focused on the unscathed one that I had entangled with my threads. Together, we hacked away at it with my halberd and his Blazing Crescent Axe. At first, the scales deflected even our blows, but after repeated strikes, we found a way to chip away at them more easily. Once we figured it out, our weapons quickly tore through the scales, cutting into the flesh beneath. Eventually, we successfully beheaded the beast.

The other one, weakened by poison and our knowledge of how to kill it, was taken down with relative ease. It was a strenuous task, but we emerged unscathed from the highly productive hunt. Then, instead of bringing back all the materials from our kills, we decided to feast on this rare catch ourselves.

Considering their size, the three of us—excluding Gobkichi, who kept watch—worked together to remove the remaining scales from the horses and divide the meat. Gobkichi was adept at guarding and always took his post, allowing us to make the best use of our strengths.

We divided the six horns, hearts, and quartered the meat among us, eating voraciously. I also chewed on some scales, hoping to gain something from them.

When I finished my meal, I had gained six new abilities, which spoke volumes about the strength of the triple-horned horse. These definitely weren’t creatures that only four hobgoblins could take down.

Most importantly, I gained a physical attack ability for the first time since my reincarnation. As the name suggests, Triple Thrust probably involves three consecutive thrusts. To test it, I activated the ability and stabbed a tree with my estoc, making three holes in the trunk.

The weird thing was that I had only thrust the estoc once. It wasn’t like I’d made three rapid, imperceptible strikes. But there were three holes—one above and one below the initial strike point. I tried again, and this time two holes appeared on either side of the main one. It seemed I could control the direction of the additional holes to some degree.

The mechanics are unclear. Could these extra strikes bypass physical defenses? Well, that’s a question for another time. We continued our usual hunting and exploring before returning home to sleep.

While I was sleeping, Redhead Shorty slipped into my bed. We ended up sleeping together, but nothing sexual happened—just the warmth of another person. It was reassuring.

Day Thirty-Three

I woke up feeling heavy and unable to move. I was spread-eagled, and my arms were numb. When I turned my head to see what was going on, I saw Gobmi sleeping on my right arm and Redhead Shorty on my left. So, it was an arm pillow situation. I was numb because they had their heads resting on my arms, cutting off my circulation. How had this even happened?

I wanted to move my arms to regain feeling, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake the two girls, both sleeping so peacefully. When had Gobmi snuck in? I could vaguely remember Redhead Shorty climbing in while I was half-asleep, but I had no recollection of Gobmi doing the same.

Did she have some advanced hiding ability that even my Aura Sensing couldn’t detect? No, that couldn’t be it. More likely, my Aura Sensing wasn’t as sensitive to entities without malicious intent, letting her slip in unnoticed.

As I tried to think of a way to solve my problem, Hobsei walked by. I pleaded with her with my eyes, but all she did was chuckle softly, pick up one of my favorite books (Beginner’s Guide to Wizardry: Basic Magic Compendium, Volume 2) from my toolbox, and walk away gracefully.

“Damn it,” I hissed. “You'd better return that.”

Next, Gobkichi passed by, carrying his Blazing Crescent Axe and tower shield, likely on his way to some voluntary morning training. I pleaded with my eyes again.

“Come on, man,” I whispered. “We’re friends, right? Help me out.”

He hesitated for a moment but eventually clasped his hands together and walked away with a bright, unhelpful smile.

Gobei came by next, yawning sleepily. She was equipped with her pickaxe, probably heading out to do some early morning Spirit Stone hunting. Lately, she and the other female goblins had formed a “Spirit Stone Mining Club” to collect the beautiful Spirit Stones abundant in our new home. I pleaded with my eyes a third time, hoping she’d help. She gave me a wry smile, seemed to consider it for a second, but then broke into a cold sweat and quickly walked away when she evidently saw something that made her nervous.

“Seriously… help me… I can’t feel my arms…”

Alas, my near-silent pleas went unanswered. Several others also passed by, glanced at our situation, and offered no assistance.

Finally, almost an hour after I woke up, Gobmi and Redhead Shorty stirred—probably because I had been fidgeting to try and get feeling back into my arms. Let me tell you, providing an arm pillow all night is no easy task, especially with both arms. I couldn’t feel them for a while afterward.

After we got up properly, we had breakfast courtesy of the chef sisters and started our morning training. Everyone seemed to approach it with renewed enthusiasm.

Huh? I tilted my head in confusion, only to find that with the former leader’s position now vacant, everyone was competing for the spot closest to the top. They realized that to become as strong as me, they needed to push beyond their limits—something I learned from Gobkichi, who had gathered everyone’s thoughts on the matter.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that because the number of goblins in our community had increased significantly, I recently took on the role of overall supervisor and coordinator of several official battle units. Gobkichi was appointed the instructor and captain of the heavily armed unit called “Anger,” which consisted of members with high offensive and defensive capabilities to crush enemies head-on. The last hobgoblin I haven’t mentioned until now, Hobsato, became the instructor and captain of the lightly armed unit, “Hatred,” which focused on hit-and-run tactics and gathered individuals specialized in attack power and speed.

Gobmi led the ranged attack unit, “Regret,” made up of individuals unfit for close combat who primarily used short bows and crossbows. Gobei, whom I judged lacked the combat skills to join any of the other three units, commanded the rear support unit, “Pleasure,” which had just enough combat ability for self-defense while also handling daily tasks like cooking and sewing. Hobsei, with no other mage to lead besides me, focused on personal training but was also named the captain of the (mainly hypothetical) magic unit, “Agony.” The total number of goblins was now fifty-nine: thirty-nine from my generation plus twenty-eight older goblins, minus the eight who were killed.

My training continued nonstop, with me facing two goblins at once, each armed with a wooden sword. I could still win easily against most goblins despite this handicap, although I fought Gobkichi, Gobmi, and Hobsei one-on-one. I could probably beat everyone if I used my abilities, but that wouldn’t be good for training their fundamental skills.

In the afternoon, it was time for hunting, but everyone already had other tasks that day. Gobkichi’s trainees asked him to continue training in the afternoon. Gobmi took on the role of teacher to goblins who hadn’t yet learned the ranks, the Elietan writing system, or the simple rules of conduct I had devised. And Gobei, always eager to mine more Spirit Stones, led the mining club deeper into the cave.

So, I set out to hunt alone. Once in the forest, my first encounter was with a demonic spider. Using the same method as before, I killed it and collected its carapace. The demonic spider's carapace is lightweight yet durable, with a Shell Defense ability that boosts its hardness, making it very useful. I was still using it in my own armor.

I packed the stripped carapace into my backpack and ate the remaining parts.

Because I gained a new ability, I could ignore the taste and feel satisfied enough to move on.

This time, I came across a triple-horned horse. Unlike yesterday, it was alone—the perfect opportunity to test the power of the Terminus-type magic I could cast. I started preparing to cast a spell.

Now, I’ll take a moment to explain some of what I’ve learned about magic. Magic is generally believed to involve three key elements:

1. Spell: chanting an incantation that interacts and interferes with natural law.

2. Internal Mana Control: regulating the necessary amount of magic power within one’s body for the desired spell.

3. Mana Manipulation: precisely controlling the magic in the air and manifesting the spell externally.

The third element, Mana Manipulation, is much harder than the first two, which is why people usually use external tools like staves. However, I had skills in both Internal Mana Control and Mana Manipulation, so I was able to manage without a staff.

I conjured a black throwing spear with my spell—a first-tier Terminus spell called Spear of Finality, Gehdeech—and hurled it with force. The black spear struck the triple-horned horse’s thick neck precisely, carving a clean, twenty-centimeter-wide hole that severed its head, causing its body to collapse lifelessly. The scene was striking.

I shuddered at the spell’s immense power. Like I mentioned before, some basic spells were somehow ingrained in my memory since evolving into a hobgoblin variant, but I hadn’t known that the spear created by this spell was so powerful. I had used it on green slimes before. I found it reasonably effective, but discovering that it could instantly kill a creature as formidable as a triple-horned horse with a direct hit was astonishing. Magic is truly incredible.

Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, “Beware the power of Terminus magic.” After all, magic is divided into ten tiers, from the lowest (first tier) to the highest (tenth tier). To think this level of power came from a first-tier spell…

While marveling at its unbelievable power, I also realized that such a potent spell could easily backfire, so I decided to save it as a last resort. Then, I got to work harvesting the triple-horned horse. I stripped it of all its scales, chopped off its three horns, and decided to bring back a leg as a souvenir for everyone. Then I devoured the rest of the body, making sure to drain its blood as I did.

Now I can produce my own scales. Although it’s a handy skill, the way it looks is a bit unsettling, so I’ll probably avoid using it too often—when I tried, black scales instantly covered my entire arm. Yeah, it was definitely something I wouldn’t want others to see without warning. It felt like I had suddenly turned into a lizard person. Maybe I’d get used to it later, but for now, the appearance was just… too intense.

Anyway, I composed myself and went hunting for more prey. This time, I found a green slime. I quickly roasted it before devouring its core.

Now I could whip my arm like a tentacle.

Slimes are basically blobs of goo, so it’s easy to see how they can change shape without worrying about bones. This new ability allowed me to move just like a slime. I can turn my whole body into a puddle. As an experiment, I tried absorbing a Horned Rabbit into my gelatinous form. Then, by using Bodily Fluid Manipulation to make my body acidic, I dissolved the rabbit and absorbed it as nutrients.

Even if a part of my body gets cut off, as long as I transform into slime before the attack, I can reabsorb the scattered parts without getting hurt. There might be limits, but it seems like an unfairly overpowered ability.

What a cheater, I thought to myself—about myself—before continuing my hunt. I definitely didn’t feel bad about gaining new abilities, but I also knew I should be careful about showing them off.

The day was ending, and I had successfully hunted some satisfying prey, so I was considering heading back when I spotted—or rather, encountered—a triple-horned horse being chased by a red bear, a giant beast covered in red fur so sharp and strong it resembled metal fibers.

It was easily over four meters tall. Even from a distance, anyone could see that this creature was dangerous, a born predator not to be trifled with. Even my halberd probably couldn’t easily cut through the metallic red fur, and even if I managed to slice it, the thick flesh beneath would likely absorb the impact. Anyone would flee without hesitation. That would be the only sensible choice.

I didn’t. Before I knew it, I was watching and waiting from a hiding spot, devising a plan to kill the red bear. I hadn’t faced anything this dangerous since my reincarnation, but prior to that, I had fought opponents even more terrifying. Each time, I had defeated and consumed them. Maybe that’s why I felt driven to fight this beast. My instincts whispered that I needed to eat it and gain its abilities.

So, with all the power I possessed, I set out to kill the red bear.

※※※

In the forest, glowing red from the setting sun, the usual sounds of tiny insects, birds heading back to their nests, and leaves rustling in the breeze were drowned out by the overpowering force emanating from two beasts locked in a life-and-death fight. No, calling it a fight might be misleading. What was happening was less of a battle and more of a hunt, with one side attacking playfully while the other, unable to fight back, fled desperately from an opponent that didn’t even reveal its full strength.

“Neighhh!”

A horse-like monster, its body covered in wounds and soaked in blood, let out a screaming whinny as it ran through the forest. This creature, known for the three vertically aligned horns on its forehead and its tough, scaly hide, was a triple-horned horse. Surprisingly, its speed exceeded sixty-five kilometers per hour in the forest. Running on an open plain, it could reach a top speed of eighty kilometers per hour; running through the dense forest slowed it down some.

The triple-horned horse had adapted to move swiftly within the bounds of the Great Kudeln Forest, where its primary food source, Cataract Grass, grew in abundance. However, it usually didn't reach its top speed there. Its massive body wasn’t designed to weave through the dense underbrush and roots protruding from the forest floor without risking collisions with the thick tree trunks, which could cause it to get hurt or even die.

This particular triple-horned horse was running at speeds exceeding sixty-five kilometers per hour, a testament to the severe wounds on its body and the presence of a mighty predator in pursuit.

Unluckily, just a few minutes earlier, this triple-horned horse, while grazing on Cataract Grass near the lake, had been attacked by a predator. The predator had approached stealthily from downwind, completely hiding its presence. The horse noticed the predator too late and was ambushed, its body deeply gouged by the predator’s sharp claws. It looked as if it would be eaten on the spot, but the horse managed to stab the predator’s left arm with its three horns, causing it to flinch just enough for the horse to make a desperate escape.

Now, its escape continued. Saliva dripped from its mouth, and with bloodshot eyes, it desperately assessed its route, sweat pouring from its body as its muscles propelled it forward. The fleeing horse knew for sure that stopping meant death, and giving up meant being eaten. It realized that fearing self-injury would only lead to being caught. Accepting the risk, it pushed itself to its maximum speed. The determined rejection of death triggered the release of copious amounts of chemicals, enhancing its usual speed and allowing it to weave through the trees with heightened perception.

Even in this state, however, it couldn’t avoid the obstructive trees altogether.

The triple-horned horse smashed through them with the momentum of its sprint and the toughness of its scaled body, scattering splinters all around. It trampled over the protruding roots with its hooves. Occasionally, branches gouged into its wounds, tearing its flesh. Blood splattered the trees as it charged forward, racing through the forest like the wind, driven by its instinct to survive.

Though it pushed beyond its limits, the triple-horned horse couldn’t shake its pursuer. The predator was bigger and chased with even greater speed, steadily closing the gap. Instead of dodging the trees, it powered through them with its overwhelming size and strength, like a drilling machine.

The blood flowing from the horse’s wounds was heavy, draining its strength with each moment. It was running as if its life was being worn away. Foam bubbled from its mouth, and its breathing became irregular, causing its speed to drop. It was inevitable; sustaining such exertion indefinitely was impossible.

This decline signaled the approaching end of the hunt. The predator, realizing the game was over, increased its speed and caught up with the triple-horned horse. With a swing of its massive arm, tipped with claws as sharp as a legendary sword, it struck.

“Neeeighhh!” A scream of agony echoed throughout the forest. The predator’s sharp claws, gleaming red in the sunset, sliced off the horse’s tail, easily cutting through its tough scales and deeply gouging its thick right hind leg. Torn flesh flew through the air as blood gushed from the wound. The severe injury caused the horse to stumble as it desperately tried to keep running, refusing to fall quite yet.

It was too late.

“Graaah!” The predator let out a roar that sounded like a mix of a bear’s growl and a lion’s roar, amplified by the surrounding forest. The triple-horned horse, now unable to escape, faced its inevitable end as the predator moved in for the kill.

The predator that had been chasing the Triple Horn Horse—a massive bear measuring four meters long and nearly two meters tall, covered in red fur that gleamed like metal—let out an explosive roar upon seeing its prey try to escape again. The roar carried the murderous intent of the red bear and was infused with overwhelming life energy and magical power. It was no longer just a roar; it transformed into a supersonic attack capable of instilling fear, causing paralysis, and inflicting various status ailments on any weaker creature within earshot.

The “Red Bear,” a nickname given by Gobrou because he didn’t know its real name, used this roar to paralyze the triple-horned horse, which had been desperately trying to escape even after its hind leg was nearly cut off. Once its body was out of its control, the outcome was inevitable. The paralyzed horse tripped over its own legs and fell to the ground at high speed, rolling violently, bouncing, gouging the ground and vegetation, and leaving a trail of destruction through the forest.

After tumbling for several meters, the bloodied triple-horned horse finally stopped moving. Despite its frantic attempts to get up, it remained paralyzed, its body completely unresponsive to its will. In the wild, being unable to move means certain death. The red bear approached the immobile horse with purposeful steps, closing the gap quickly despite its slow, lumbering gait. Once within striking range, the predator raised its massive right arm, as thick as a log, and brought it down with brutal force onto the horse's head.

A dull thud echoed through the forest, resembling the sound of a hammer striking iron, as the ground beneath the horse’s head caved in. The incredible strength and weight behind the red bear’s strike easily shattered the sturdy skull of the triple-horned horse, embedding it into the earth. Brain matter splattered from the cracks in the fractured skull, and chunks of flesh clung to the red bear’s arm. One of the horse’s eyes, severed from its nerves, rolled across the ground, while copious amounts of fresh blood painted the surroundings a deep red.

Having finished its hunt, the red bear leaned its head close to the crushed skull of its prey, opening its massive jaws to devour its favorite delicacy: minced brain. It bared its enormous, sharp fangs, gleaming red in the light of the setting sun, then bit into the shattered skull with a single gulp, crunching through bone and flesh with a grinding noise as it swallowed, before moving its mouth to the abdomen of the headless body lying on the ground.

Though the triple-horned horse’s body was covered in tough scales, the red bear’s fangs easily crunched through, tearing into the tender flesh beneath. The taste of raw meat spread throughout its mouth, stimulating its appetite, and it devoured the carcass with increasing ferocity.

After a hunt, there’s always a meal. The strong eat, and the weak get eaten. This brutal scene of survival of the fittest continues, with the bear devouring half of the carcass in no time, only to be suddenly interrupted.

From a thicket downwind, a pitch-black spear shot toward the red bear.

It was nearly a perfect ambush. Until the last moment, there was no hint of the upcoming attack—no rustling leaves, no breathing sounds, no sign of killing intent. The only clue was the faint whistling of the spear slicing through the air. It was aimed at the red bear’s blind spot, moving with the speed of an arrow shot from a crossbow. An ordinary creature wouldn’t have been able to dodge a direct hit from the black spear.

With its exceptional abilities, the red bear instinctively sensed the slight disturbance. It twisted its massive body away with a speed unimaginable for its size. The ground exploded from the force of its sudden movement, making a visual spectacle of the immense energy involved. Still, it was a fraction of a second too slow. While the spear missed its torso, it struck and pierced through its thick right arm, not quite reaching the bone but easily slicing through the tough muscle and splattering blood everywhere.

It should have been an insignificant injury to the red bear, which possessed excellent regenerative abilities. Such a wound would usually heal almost immediately—that is, if an ordinary spear had struck it. But one second after the black spear embedded itself, it disappeared with a burst, leaving a void about twenty centimeters in diameter. With this, the red bear’s right forearm was severed. Blood gushed from the wound like a fountain.

The spear that pierced the red bear’s right arm was a first-tier magic called Spear of Finality, Gehdeech, from the Terminus type. Although it was considered the weakest of the ten magic tiers, the Spear of Finality was a rare Terminus magic that could ignore defenses and erase a space area around the impact point. That’s why even the red bear’s thick, strong right arm was taken out in a single blow.

“Grrroooooowwwwwwwaaaaaaaah!!!”

The red bear, ignorant of what it was facing, roared in agony at the unprecedented experience of losing its arm. It reared up on its hind legs, letting out a pain-filled scream. The soundwaves caused its surroundings to tremble, shaking leaves off the trees and sending birds fleeing in panic into the twilit sky. Insects that had been lurking around scattered in all directions.

The bear staggered backward, clutching at the stump where its right arm had been, and took a few unsteady steps. Soon enough, the pain of losing its right arm was overridden by a surge of rage. The adrenaline and endorphins produced by the bear’s fury dulled the pain, removing its natural limits that were meant to protect the body from injuring itself.

The blood flow stopped, senses sharpened, thoughts shifted, and the red bear’s killing intent amplified.

More formidable than ever now, the red bear scanned for the enemy with its bloodshot eyes and quickly found its target: the culprit who had thrown the pitch-black spear, now boldly rushing at the bear from the downwind thicket.

Whoosh!

The culprit—Gobrou, the hobgoblin variant clad in black leather armor, wielding a halberd made entirely of steel, with an estoc and knives strapped to his waist and back—had already closed the distance during the red bear’s moment of hesitation. Enhanced by abilities such as Charge Boost and Blood Flow Manipulation, Gobrou’s body exhibited power and speed far beyond that of a regular Hobgoblin.

Using this advantage, Gobrou closed the distance between them faster than the red bear could react. He aimed the axe head of his halberd directly at the red bear’s unprotected forehead. With his reinforced body, the halberd’s weight and centrifugal force combined to deliver a devastating blow. The bear, unable to dodge in time, took the full impact to its forehead. But the blow, which could have easily cleaved a monster like the triple-horned horse in two, fell short of killing the formidable red bear. A high-pitched grating sound like metal clashing with metal echoed through the air, and the halberd stopped only a few centimeters into the bear’s tough skin.

“Damn! It’s even harder than I imagined,” Gobrou muttered in surprise at the unexpected toughness of the red bear’s hide. He quickly stepped back to create some distance. An instant later, the massive arm that swept through the space where Gobrou had been standing created a gust of wind that the hobgoblin felt whip across his entire body. He continued to move without pause, his thoughts racing.

When the bear’s arm swung back from left to right, Gobrou flattened himself to the ground. When the arm came down from above, he leaped to the side. When the bear snapped at him head-on, Gobrou kicked it in the nose, using it as a springboard to jump backward and avoid the attack. This evasion of the red bear’s relentless attacks lasted only a few seconds. Yet, in that time, the wound on the bear’s forehead had completely healed thanks to its powerful regenerative abilities. Even though the ambush had taken its right arm, Gobrou knew his halberd strike alone wouldn’t be enough to take it down.

Damn, what a troublesome opponent. It’s tough, has high regenerative power, and reacts quickly. In that case…

As Gobrou continued to evade and the red bear continued its assault, their gazes met. The red bear’s eyes were a pure red, seething with rage. Gobrou, knowing that normally a mere hobgoblin like himself would stand no chance against such a beast, grinned provocatively, like a predator.

I’ll have to take a different approach.

The red bear instinctively sensed this and, just as it had done with the triple-horned horse, took a deep breath to prepare for unleashing its roar. But before it could, a sticky purple thread shot from Gobrou’s right hand, wrapping around the bear’s wide-open mouth and preventing any sound from coming out.

The purple thread was infused with venom, created by combining Spider Silk Generation with Venom Injection. The potent neurotoxin could incapacitate and kill even a triple-horned horse by immediately impairing its organs. But the red bear, with its far superior vitality, seemed largely unaffected. It was only irritated by the thread gagging it, and swiftly cut through it with its left paw. It snarled with fury, baring its fangs, which were stained dark from poison and blood.

Is it gonna try and roar again— No, it’s doing something else!

Gobrou glimpsed the telltale glow of flames from the red bear’s mouth. Drawing from his vast combat experience from his previous life, he instantly predicted what was about to happen and swiftly moved out of the red bear’s line of fire.

An instant later, a blast of searing flames erupted from the red bear’s maw, transforming the spot where Gobrou had been standing into a fiery inferno. This wasn’t a simple fireball but rather “Tongue of Flames,” a continuous stream of flames akin to something produced by a flamethrower, stretching several meters in length. As the red bear turned its head, the Tongue of Flames followed, sweeping horizontally and engulfing everything in its path with scorching heat.

The intense flames set nearby trees ablaze, producing thick black smoke and a roaring inferno that illuminated the nighttime forest. The ground was scorched black, and the insects that hadn’t already scattered did so in a frenzied attempt to escape. The rapidly increasing temperature and the deadly flames roaring around him made Gobrou sweat, both from heat and nerves.

Gobrou had acquired Flame Resistance from consuming a Fire Spirit Stone, but it could only reduce the damage from flames by about fifty percent. Given that the red bear’s flames likely exceeded two thousand degrees Celsius, Gobrou would still face thousand-degree heat. It would be enough not just to char his skin, but also to burst his eyeballs and turn his flesh to ash, leaving nothing but a lifeless corpse.

While Gobrou’s former self might have been able to withstand such temperatures, his current body couldn’t handle it. Even if he managed to survive the flames, the agony from the severe burns would be unbearable. Not to mention, the increasing carbon monoxide levels also posed a very lethal danger.

This is unexpected, but if it comes to it, I’ll have to risk taking some damage myself.

Gobrou knew that continuing to run would only tighten the noose around his neck, worsening his situation rather than improving it. So, he stopped fleeing. Instead, he changed direction and charged straight toward the red bear, aiming to turn the tide of battle.

As the Tongue of Flames approached from his flank instead of directly behind, Gobrou activated both Hydrokinesis and Aeromaster simultaneously to counteract it. The water membrane generated by Hydrokinesis covered his body, offering slight protection against the intense heat. At the same time, Aeromaster created a high-speed vortex of wind, forming an air barrier that slightly altered the flame’s trajectory.

The flames passed over Gobrou as he ran in a low, beast-like posture, scraping the ground. The water membrane evaporated from the heat, but Gobrou closed the distance quickly enough to avoid being scorched. He emerged unscathed from the deadly blaze, surprising the red bear, whose eyes reflected its astonishment.

Grinning defiantly, Gobrou held his halberd in his gauntleted left hand while drawing the estoc from his waist with his now-free right hand, his right arm equipped with a round shield. The estoc’s steel blade gleamed as it left the scabbard, its tip aimed at the red bear.

Gobrou set off a volley of abilities—Piercing Power Enhancement, Venom Injection, and Triple Thrust—each adding to his lethal arsenal. The estoc’s tip dripped with purple venom, its power now enhanced with the strength to penetrate even the tough hide and muscles of the red bear.

“Your hide may be tough, but let’s see how you handle this from the inside!” The estoc’s blade glowed a faint red, thrust forward with the added momentum of Gobrou’s sprint. His enhanced body propelled the weapon straight into the red bear’s open, flame-spewing mouth.

Under normal circumstances, the estoc might have melted from the intense heat of the flames. However, the purple venom secreted from the estoc’s tip prevented the blade from evaporating. Instead, the venom vaporized, becoming even more toxic and filling the red bear’s mouth with a poisonous mist. As the mist infiltrated its system, the red bear’s entire body was compromised, despite its formidable resilience. Gobrou’s precise and enhanced strike managed to bypass the beast’s external defenses, targeting its vulnerable insides.

The red bear hastily closed its mouth, its crimson eyes widening.

The fierce glare in those red eyes was intense enough to freeze any creature in its tracks. Indeed, it paralyzed Gobrou for a moment, as the glare functioned similarly to its roar, inflicting Fear or Paralysis on its target. However, despite the brief paralysis, Gobrou’s momentum carried the estoc’s enhanced blade into the red bear’s windpipe just a split second before its jaws could clamp shut.

The blade, strengthened by Piercing Power Enhancement, penetrated the red bear’s flesh. Triple Thrust, triggered by the initial strike, erased the flesh around the wound in a radial pattern, expanding the damage both vertically and horizontally, disregarding the beast’s formidable defenses—though the red bear had taken Gobrou’s left hand and forearm as payment.

Severely injured from the inside, the red bear could no longer spew flames and instead coughed up a torrent of blood, drenching Gobrou from head to toe. At the same time, the red bear’s left paw lashed out, landing a strike on Gobrou. Despite devastating internal damage, the red bear did not miss this opportunity to attack.

Gobrou reacted on instinct and tried to evade to his left, using the round, carapace-reinforced shield secured to his right arm to block the incoming blow. However, the shield was fortified with the shell of a mere armored raccoon dog and could not withstand the full force of the red bear’s enraged strike. The moment the bear’s paw connected, the shield shattered, and Gobrou’s right arm fractured under the impact.

Though Gobrou’s swift evasion prevented his right arm from being entirely torn off, the force of the blow sent him flying several meters, his body crashing violently into a tree.

Just before being slammed into the tree, however, Gobrou activated Physical Attack Mitigation and Metamorphosis, transforming his entire body into a gelatinous state so he could disperse and absorb the impact as much as possible to avoid fatal injuries. However, the dull pain reverberating through his body was undeniable, and the damage to his remaining right arm was severe.

Gobrou spat out a mouthful of blood, staggering to his feet despite the intense pain, and quickly assessed the situation. His round shield had shattered into pieces, and he could barely use his right arm. High-Speed Healing accelerated his recovery beyond normal limits, but his arm still felt like it was on fire. Though he tried to stay focused, that burning sensation slightly dulled his concentration.

The estoc, which Gobrou had left in the red bear’s mouth during the blow, was, of course, crushed to the point of being unusable. However, part of the broken blade seemed to remain stuck in the red bear, which was only evident from the creature’s attempts to spit something out in discomfort.

“An even trade, I suppose,” Gobrou muttered, glancing at the cauterized stump of his left arm. He removed the broken round shield and the now-empty estoc sheath from his waist to slightly lighten his gear. He then gripped his halberd, even though his broken right arm could only support the motion somewhat. “Now, to put out these flames…”

The internal attack seemed to have taken its toll on the red bear, which now stood still, focusing on regenerating areas affected by its internal injuries. It could have been a good opportunity for Gobrou to attack, but approaching the enraged red bear recklessly in his current state would be unwise. Putting out the surrounding fires took priority.

The burning trees continued to spew black smoke, emit blazing flames, and release toxic gases into the surroundings. The deteriorating environment posed a greater threat than the red bear itself. And while the red bear might survive in this fiery hell due to its affinity with fire, Gobrou couldn’t. His abilities allowed him to manipulate fire, but not to survive in a sea of flames. Ignoring the fires would surely lead to his demise, and fighting the red bear under such unfavorable conditions would be extremely challenging.

Therefore, without taking his eyes off the red bear, Gobrou began extinguishing the surrounding fires. He couldn’t afford to let the flames reignite, but he was confident from experience that the potent poison he had injected would prevent the red bear from using its Tongue of Flames for a while. This confidence guided his choice.

Using Visual Field Boost, Gobrou kept an eye on the red bear while assessing the surroundings. He then triggered Aeromaster to create wind blades that roughly chopped down the burning trees. Then, with Ground Control, he shifted the soil and rocks to cover the flames, cutting off their oxygen supply until the fires eventually died down, plunging the area into darkness.

The battlefield, now cloaked in darkness, was ruled by beasts. Gobrou, halberd in hand, faced the red bear, sensing that the real battle was just beginning. In the dark, he moved slowly, gauging the distance by the sound of the bear’s breathing. Both advanced simultaneously, as if by mutual agreement.

“Roaaaarrr!” The red bear let out a chilling roar, baring its fangs as it closed the distance between them. Despite its movements being somewhat clumsy due to the loss of its right arm, immense strength propelled it forward.

In contrast, Gobrou sprinted silently. Just before the red bear’s bite could reach him, he leaped high into the air, using the red bear’s back as a springboard to propel himself further.

The red bear’s fangs snapped shut with a clanging sound, sparks flying as it bit at the empty space below Gobrou. In midair, Gobrou adjusted his position, aiming the halberd’s tip at the red bear below him. Using the momentum of his fall, he drove the halberd down into the red bear’s back. A burst of Electromaster-generated lightning erupted from the impact and traveled into the estoc blade, still lodged inside the red bear.

“Take this!” Though the halberd’s tip only penetrated about ten centimeters, the high-voltage current from the Electromaster ability surged through the red bear’s body from within, inflicting intense pain. As the current concentrated at the halberd’s tip pierced into the red bear’s back, it indiscriminately scorched its internal organs. The broken blade of the estoc further facilitated the flow of electricity, intensifying the red bear’s suffering. The smell of burning flesh and the crackling sound of roasting meat filled the air.

“Rooooaaaaarrr!!!” The red bear let out a roar of agony under this unprecedented assault. It was a simple, primal noise with no special effects, but its sheer volume threatened to rupture Gobrou’s eardrums, forcing him to leap away and cover his pointed ears.

What a deafening noise.

Grimacing, Gobrou calmly analyzed the current situation and formulated a strategy to kill the red bear once and for all. Although his attacks had been effective thanks to the countless abilities he’d acquired since reincarnation, the red bear still showed no signs of dying. Its immense vitality was beyond what Gobrou could easily deplete, suggesting that a long and arduous battle still lay ahead.

Conversely, even a single stray hit from the red bear could kill him. He needed to wear the beast down methodically, but the red bear could end the fight in a single moment. Despite this overwhelming disadvantage, though, Gobrou laughed.

“Tough, strong, and with the odds in its favor,” he mused. “But that’s what makes it worth eating, doesn’t it?”

Gobrou stared at the red bear, his eyes gleaming as if regarding a five-star dinner. The intensity of his gaze caused the red bear to take an unconscious step back. Even though its right arm had been severed and it faced a fundamentally disadvantageous situation, the primal hunger in Gobrou’s eyes—his desire to consume its blood and flesh to fuel his own being—was truly what instilled a sense of impending catastrophe in the red bear. More precisely, the sight of Gobrou being purely driven by one of the three primal urges—hunger, which ranked alongside sleep and sex—baring his fangs and charging at the red bear, triggered an instinctual fear.

“I want to eat you,” Gobrou growled. “I want to devour you!” His cry, dripping with hunger and the clear intent to consume, demonstrated the true power of his Absorption ability—a manifestation of a predator’s mental fortitude, single-minded focus, and insatiable appetite.

For the first time since his reincarnation, Gobrou’s true nature had emerged. The hunt had only just begun. And it would not stop until he devoured his prey.

Day Thirty-Four

Driven by an overwhelming, insatiable hunger, I fought a fierce battle with the red bear. It wasn’t until the fight ended that I noticed the sun had risen. My entire body was lacerated all over by the red bear’s claws and fangs, leaving no place unscathed. My left hand, once protected by a gauntlet, had been severed cleanly at the elbow and was now completely missing.

My arm had been sliced off and eaten during the battle. I might have been able to reattach it if it hadn’t been consumed, but it really might never return. However, there’s no point in dwelling on what’s lost. I’d already stopped all my bleeding with either spider silk or cauterization, and I was using one of my healing skills—Sustainable Regeneration—to mend my numerous other wounds. Thus, the likelihood of my bleeding to death is low.

Despite losing a significant and nearly fatal amount of blood, I managed to replenish it using a particular method that left my body fully saturated with blood anyway—the Vampiric Drain ability I gained from the rainbow bat has proven to be a lifesaver. It allows me to bypass an opponent’s defenses to a certain extent while draining their blood, immediately converting it into my own. Basically, I can damage an enemy while regaining my own vitality. Thanks to this ability, I was able to replenish the critical amount of blood I’d lost from the red bear’s attacks, which had penetrated even my impressive defenses and overlapping abilities.

Since I could transform parts of my body into slime, I used my fingers like straws to pierce the red bear and drain its blood. In fact, that method made replenishment easy. If I had been missing even one of my current abilities, the outcome might have been entirely different. But I’d done well in terms of restoring the physical damage.

Next was the damage my equipment had taken, which was far more extensive. As I mentioned, the gauntlet on my left arm was eaten along with my arm, and the round shield on my right hand had shattered entirely. Both of my estocs were broken at the base and rendered unusable, and several of my Bowie knives were either cracked, had chipped blades, or were broken at the base, leaving almost none intact.

My primary weapon (the halberd) had severe nicks, and the iron shaft was bent from deflecting the red bear’s attacks multiple times. While it wasn’t destroyed, it clearly needed repair. My armor, which had been relatively new, was now also a far cry from its pristine pre-battle state; it had turned into tattered cutoff pants and a ragged shirt.

At a glance, I looked like a beaten dog—or rather, a beaten goblin. It was that bad. But I had survived. Despite everything, I had survived. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.

Incidentally, the Stench ability had actually helped me out a great deal. When the red bear bit into my torso, I’d activated Stench in a panic, causing the red bear to recoil in disgust and release me. You never know what might come in handy.

After indulging in a bit of reflection on my fierce battle with the red bear, I turned my gaze to what remained of my opponent. Amid the trees felled in the intense fight lay the enormous red bear, now lifeless. Its body was as scarred as mine, with a large slash across its chest where I had concentrated my attacks. Its empty eyes, devoid of light, reflected my battered form as I looked down at it. The Bowie knife deeply embedded in its brow evoked a sense of melancholy. This red bear had indeed been strong. I couldn’t emphasize that enough.

Despite having been able to see the bear’s attack trajectories as red lines thanks to Precognition, its attack speed had been so fast that I couldn’t always dodge in time. It had combined a variety of special skills—roars resembling explosions, sharp glances that hindered my movements… And despite being a bear, the creature breathed flames like a flamethrower. Truly, what kind of bear was it? It was incredibly strong.

My victory was primarily thanks to luck. But I did win, and the victor has the duty and responsibility to live on for the fallen. Forcing my battered body to move, I picked up the red bear’s right arm, which was lying nearby, and ate it to regain some strength.

After finishing the red bear’s right arm, I almost lost consciousness. Recognizing the massive loss of strength from the intense battle, my instincts determined that shutting down my awareness to conserve energy was the best way to survive. Thankfully, with High-Speed Healing and Sustainable Regeneration continuously working to heal my body, I was confident that I wouldn’t die even if I lost consciousness. I knew my body well enough to understand that.

The chances of being eaten by another monster while unconscious, on the other hand, were extremely high. So, to stay alive, I mustered my remaining strength to shoot out enough threads to build a wall around me and the red bear, using the fallen trees scattered around from the battle as a guide. It was a makeshift shelter. The trees would provide some camouflage, and I infused the threads with poison so that if anyone attacked, the poison would eventually take them down. If even that didn’t work, then clearly I was meant to perish here, and I could accept that.

Having completed this temporary protection, I finally ran out of strength and lost consciousness…

Just before passing out, I selected 《YES》 out of sheer determination.

Day Thirty-Five

Something prompted me to wake up. The light was still dim, but that didn’t bother me much. Driven by truly unprecedented hunger, I reached for the dead red bear lying nearby. I grasped the handle of the Bowie knife embedded deep in its forehead and pulled it out, then forcefully tore off its head. The sounds of fur, muscle, and tough vertebrae being ripped apart echoed around me.

My consciousness hadn’t fully returned, but I instinctively bit into the red bear’s head that I held.

I ground down its tough fur with my teeth, crushed its skull, and slurped up its brain, finishing the head in just a few seconds. My mind started to work a little again, and I decided I needed the red bear’s pelt. Using a Bowie knife, which suddenly seemed very small, I began to skin my prey carefully.

Had the red bear shrunk significantly compared to before I passed out? My head wasn’t clear enough to figure it out. I just continued skinning it, because that felt like the right thing to do. My left hand was still missing from the elbow down, but thanks to my abilities, that wasn’t a problem. I used Metamorphosis to create long, thin fingers that emerged from my elbow stump to grasp the pelt.

Despite struggling with the small knife and my makeshift fingers, I managed to obtain an intact pelt. Then, driven by another fit of intense hunger, I dug into the exposed flesh of the red bear and devoured it completely.

The more I chewed, the more delicious the meat tasted. It was the best I’d ever had. I drank the rich blood as if it were aged wine, savoring every drop. I devoured the organs, each bite filled with the red bear’s life force, and crunched through the mineral-rich bone marrow. By the time I had consumed the entirety of the beast, my mind was back to functioning fully.

I looked down at my body. My skin was still black, but now it was covered in the red bear’s blood and adorned with unfamiliar red tattoo-like lines that seemed to hold religious significance. My arms were each as thick as an adult human torso, and my abdominal muscles were prominently defined. Clearly, I had become something other than a hobgoblin.

Then there was my hair—it was much longer than before. As a hobgoblin, my hair had barely reached my shoulders, but now it extended all the way past my shoulder blades, and its color was grayer. Plus, I had two pointed horns jutting out from my forehead. They felt hard and sharp to the touch, perfect for goring, like a bull’s. As I continued to inspect my body, I recalled the message I had received before losing consciousness. Yes, it seemed I had become an ogre—and a rare variant at that.

Given how many creatures I had killed, an evolutionary transformation like this was expected, even if it resulted in a rare variant. It wasn’t a bad thing. I tried to convince myself of that. With this transformation, all my abilities and skills had been enhanced, like when I’d evolved from goblin to hobgoblin. I felt an overwhelming sense of power, but testing it would have to wait. For now, I needed to return to my base. Surely, my absence would have caused concern by now.

I picked up my halberd, which, despite its condition, could still be salvaged with some repairs. But as I was about to head out, I noticed something rather significant. Before, my tattered clothes had still afforded me some measure of modesty, but now, due to my increased size, they had basically exploded off of me. In other words, I was stark naked.

I glanced down at myself, momentarily fascinated by my own impressive endowment. After a brief moment of consideration, I decided to wrap the red bear’s pelt around my waist to conceal it. That solved the immediate problem. Maybe I had skinned the red bear because I’d subconsciously anticipated this situation.

With the slash of a wind blade, I sliced through the makeshift barrier I had created and stepped outside. The power of my wind blade had increased significantly; even at a reduced level, it sliced through the barrier in one strike. Judging by the position of the sun, it was around two in the afternoon. It seemed I had slept for quite a while, so I hurried back to the base. On the way, I picked up my backpack and field bag, along with the iron fragments of my estoc and Bowie knives, to recycle into new equipment. Although the leg meat of the triple-horned horse had been taken, my other materials, like the demonic spider carapace, remained intact. Accepting this level of loss wasn’t so bad.

Thanks to my larger body and my abilities, I quickly reached the base, only to be met with extreme caution by my goblin comrades. Encountering an unknown ogre would naturally elicit such a reaction, after all. My grimace likely didn’t help matters, either. Becoming an ogre, I was sure, had made my face even more intimidating.

Appearance-wise, it went something like this:

• Goblin → Ugly.

• Hobgoblin → Slightly more human-like.

• Ogre → Muscular berserker.

That seemed to be the progression. I had no way of taking concrete measurements, but I was sure my height was now well over two meters. Compared to the smaller goblins, who were observing me cautiously, my perspective had undoubtedly changed. I had to look down on them, and if they got too close, they disappeared into my blind spot.

After a while, Gobmi came out from the back and recognized me, which led to the other goblins lowering their guard. Gobmi stood there for a moment, dumbfounded at the sight of me, then immediately approached with an expression of barely contained anger and kicked me hard in the shin. It didn’t hurt at all, but I pretended it did.

While Gobmi was genuinely writhing in pain from the kick, I discreetly used a healing skill to ease her discomfort. Once she recovered, she made me sit in a supplicant position and started reprimanding me, telling me how worried she had been, asking what I had been doing, and demanding to know why I had turned into an Ogre. She also pointed out my missing left hand.

Well, that part was understandable.

Her slightly teary eyes made it impossible for me to argue. I apologized for making her worry, and just as I was doing so, Gobkichi and Redhead Shorty arrived, drawn by the commotion. They, too, were so shocked to see me that their mouths hung open in disbelief. Naturally, they had been worried when I didn’t return for a day, only to now find me here as an Ogre. So, I decided to gather my main team members—Gobei, Hobsato, Hobsei, Gobjii, and a few others who hadn’t come out yet—and explain the situation.

I told the other goblins I’d explain it to them later and sent them away. Then I began my explanation: I had gone hunting alone and, just when I was about to head back, I’d discovered a red bear. Driven partly by a desire to test my strength and partly by primal instincts—mainly hunger—I attacked. The fierce battle that started in the evening continued throughout the night, and it finally ended just as the sun was rising that morning. By the end of the fight, I was so severely injured that I couldn’t move, so I hastily used my spider silk threads to set up a barrier and took a nap to recover my strength. When I woke up, I found that I had evolved into an ogre, and a rare variant no less.

Most of my equipment was destroyed, but I had managed to secure the red bear’s pelt as a trophy, so it wasn’t a total loss. I was just glad to be alive. As I finished my story, I noticed Hobsato, Hobsei, and Gobjii staring at me with their jaws practically on the floor.

“What’s wrong, Gobjii?” I asked. “What? You don’t believe I killed a red bear? But I just told you I did, didn’t I?” I gestured to the pelt wrapped around my waist.

“Huh? What is it, Hobsei?”

She explained that a powerful monster known as the “Hind Bear” inhabits this forest. Typically, they have gray fur and stand about three meters tall. But among them, there’s a rare variant with red fur that possesses higher intelligence and the ability to breathe fire, though it can’t exactly use magic like a mage. This variant, with its superior strength, keen sense of smell, and immense physical prowess, is known as the Mountain Lord. It’s feared as the strongest creature in the area; even Ogres would have difficulty defeating and consuming such a beast.

I pondered the vast yet interconnected nature of this world, realizing how fortunate I had been to encounter such a formidable monster. Hobsei confirmed the authenticity of the pelt I showed, further validating my achievement. The numerous abilities I had acquired, including Mighty Muscles of the Mountain Lord, also indicated that I had indeed defeated such a monster.

“Don’t hit me in the head, Hobsato,” I complained. “It doesn’t hurt, but still…”

The others remarked on how my rapid transformation into an ogre was not just unusual but downright unprecedented. I brushed off their concerns, saying it was what it was, but they insisted I recognize the gravity of my abnormal existence. This led to a somewhat heated exchange.

After an hour of explanations and discussions, the meeting finally ended. I was eager to get into some new clothes, feeling extremely self-conscious about my current state of near-nudity, saved only by the red bear’s pelt. As I headed to my workshop, Gobmi and Redhead Shorty followed closely behind, like ducklings trailing after their mother. I resisted the urge to comment, deciding it wasn’t worth the trouble.

I also needed to check in with the remaining four human women to ensure that everything had been fine during my absence. As expected, they were terrified when they first saw me, even going so far as to start screaming. The other goblins, curious about the hubbub, began to gather, but I quickly made them disperse, telling them to go about their business.

The women’s reactions almost made me cry after all the work I’d done to earn their trust. Still, after showing some familiar tricks like spinning threads, conjuring flames, and recounting stories from before, they finally understood who I was. Although they were still a bit jumpy, the relieved smiles they gave me were heartwarming. They were all so cute that I felt like praising them just for recognizing me.

Gobmi and Redhead Shorty subtly pinching the skin on my thighs was a bit much, though. It actually kinda hurt! Skin doesn’t get tougher with training, you know! In any case, I decided to take it as a deserved punishment for making them worry and continued talking with the women.

I asked the blacksmith to fix my battered halberd. She scolded me a bit for using it so roughly, but she also mentioned that I should take a look later at some of the knives she’d made from Spirit Stones. Then she offered to make me a new weapon, and I eagerly nodded in agreement. The slight blush that accompanied her smile was so cute that I couldn’t help but pat her head gently, taking care not to hurt her.

Hot-and-cold girls are the best, and smiles from girls like that are the most wonderful thing in the world. But for some reason, as I was thinking that, the pinching on my thighs got harsher. I wondered why.

The chef sisters got excited when I mentioned I’d hunt a gray bear (hind bear) the next time I went out, to make bear stew. They suggested gathering certain ingredients for the stew, so I ordered the goblins under me to collect them. By the way, these goblins, whom I’ve been working hard on, were nearing Level 100 by now; some might even become Hobgoblins soon.

Since it was a big ask for just the two sisters to handle everything, I also appointed three female goblins from the support division to help them prepare ingredients. This decision was partly to avoid scaring the sisters with male goblins. That being said, the girls were incredibly tough, having adapted so quickly despite the circumstances—whether they had been the friends, relatives, or even lovers of those the older goblins had killed. Their mental strength and adaptability were awe-inspiring. It was a surprising but welcome development for me.

“You’ll both make excellent wives someday,” I joked, after promising I’d look forward to dinner. “Wanna marry me?” Then I left them there, blushing and smiling, looking absolutely adorable… after they’d each given me a good smack on the back of the head with a wooden sword.

It didn’t hurt at all, so it’s no big deal, but how could they?

The alchemist was busy making potions as usual, but this time, I noticed that she had also prepared some poison. It wasn’t the slow, torturous kind but rather a quick-acting one that paralyzes the body. When I whispered my observation to her, she explained that she’d brewed it for self-defense. She had realized that not all goblins were like the ones who attacked them—some, like me, could be trusted. But she still needed to feel safe, hence the poison.

When I asked if she still hated goblins enough to want to kill them, she admitted that there were indeed goblins she despised. Still, she added that she had trusted me since the night I had “taken care of” the former head hobgoblin—and she had even started to trust Gobmi and a few others lately. Then she commented that I looked too intimidating as an Ogre, saying that my robust physique and red tattoos added to the fear factor.

As we joked around, I lifted her effortlessly with my remaining hand and my makeshift fingers, trying to cheer her up. However, I immediately felt the weight of icy stares coming from the two women behind me. It felt like they might kill me, so I quickly lifted them too to appease them. Then, the blacksmith and the sisters came over, wanting the same treatment. Given how delicate they were, I had to be extra careful not to hurt them, so the whole thing ended up exhausting me mentally, if not physically.

Finally, I got to my workshop to start working on some new ogre-sized clothes. The red bear’s hide (which I planned to use for new armor) wasn’t processed yet, so I decided to put that on hold. Instead, I made a pair of shorts from the tanned armored raccoon dog leather that I had prepared earlier. Since becoming an ogre, the cold didn’t bother me anymore, and making long pants in my current size would require a lot of leather, so shorts were a more economical choice.

Although the red bear’s pelt would make effective hide armor as it was, I aimed to craft it into thick leather armor for better defense. That would be more durable and provide better protection, making it worth the effort to process the crude pelt thoroughly.

I finished the shorts quickly and put them on right away. My human dignity felt somewhat restored. Following that, I got to work on treating the red bear’s hide, boiling and hardening it. I decided to focus on making equipment tomorrow instead of hunting, mainly because my current weapons were no longer suitable for my new size.

Day Thirty-Six

Three out of my five goblin slaves evolved into hobgoblins. I congratulated them with gifts. The timing was almost uncanny; it happened just as I had predicted.

As a result of my evolution into an ogre, my own participation in morning training sessions was pretty much off the table. It was too dangerous. Even with significant restraint, one of my light punches nearly killed an ordinary goblin. Without immediate treatment, it would have been fatal.

Gobkichi was the only one who could handle sparring against me, but even he struggled. His equipment creaked with every punch, so I had to stop. My fist actually put a dent in his black iron tower shield. In the future, I’ll have the goblins engage in mock battles with each other and dole out punishments for the losers.

In the afternoon, I continued working on my armor. Gobkichi, with a serious expression on his face, announced that he was going hunting. It was dangerous to go alone, so I paired him with a newly evolved hobgoblin to act as a porter and support. Gobmi and Hobsato, who had become close due to their similar fighting styles, took four goblins to go hunting as well.

Hobsei sat next to me, reading while I worked on my armor. I asked her to return my book, but she ignored me because she still hadn’t finished reading it. Meanwhile, Gobei was engrossed in her Spirit Stone-collecting hobby. She had found a new, richer vein to mine and was eager to gather more at a quicker pace.

Redhead Shorty was training with the remaining goblins using wooden swords, determined not to fall behind the others; her dedication was evident on her face. Despite her difficult circumstances, she was gradually bonding with goblins of our age group, if not the older ones who had attacked them. She’s really resilient.

During my breaks from armor-making, I visited the blacksmith to laugh at the Spirit Stone knife’s rather amusing capabilities, taught the chef sisters some simple recipes I knew from my old life, and brainstormed new potion ideas with the alchemist. It was a rare, relaxing day.

Day Thirty-Seven

The remaining two goblin slaves evolved into hobgoblins today. I gave them gifts too, surprised by the consecutive evolutions.

Then, after a smooth morning training session (albeit without my direct participation) and a lunch prepared by the sisters, Gobei came running to me in a panic. In her arms was a small, brown humanoid creature with a bright red gemstone embedded in its forehead. It was covered in blood and severe cuts that reminded me of my own recent injuries. Barely breathing, it seemed on the verge of death. I decided to call it a “Carbuncle.”

Gobei begged me to save it, so I used a healing skill to treat its wounds. If she had taken just a few more minutes to arrive, it would have been too late. In addition, though the injuries were healing, the lost blood couldn’t be restored with healing alone. I forced it to drink an experimental Blood Regeneration Potion the alchemist had made, then let it rest.

Having just eaten, I had no desire to eat the Carbuncle. Besides, Gobei had asked me to save it, so I focused on that.

A few minutes later, the thirty-centimeter Carbuncle woke up, and I explained the situation. She thanked me and introduced herself as Returner. She explained that she had been injured by human adventurers who attacked her for the valuable red gemstone on her forehead, which was worth ten billion gold. The humans’ greed had left Returner close to death. She then pleaded with me to deal with the humans who had attacked her.

All told, Returner’s origin story went like this: Returner was a synthetic Carbuncle created by a legendary mage called Velvet something-or-other, whose name echoed across the continent. Gobei and her team had accidentally discovered a well-hidden structure—Velvet’s Vault—within an officially recognized labyrinthine dungeon while mining for Spirit Stones. Returner was the caretaker of the treasure vault in question.

Next, Returner explained that although her surface wounds appeared to be healed thanks to my efforts, her core had been deeply damaged by the humans’ attacks. That core was vital for her survival; as a synthetic Carbuncle, Returner had no limit to her natural lifespan, but would die if her core was destroyed. In the end, my healing had only extended whatever time she had left.

Velvet’s Vault, located in the depths of the tunnels and caves we called home, contained numerous legendary magical items, jewels, and secret potions collected by Velvet throughout his life. Returner couldn’t bear the thought of those treasures being plundered by greedy, barbaric adventurers, and though it would rather have dealt with the adventurers personally, its remaining time and strength were insufficient. Returner’s Skeleton Soldiers and higher-ranking Greater Skeletons were ineffective against this particular configuration of adventurers.

Thus, Returner sought our help to expel the intruders and seal the entrance to the dungeon. As a reward, it offered us the contents of the treasure vault. Velvet, who had disliked humans, preferred to pass on his legacy to non-humans like ogres and hobgoblins anyway. So, after considering the situation, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to help. I instructed Gobkichi, Gobmi, Gobei, Hobsei, and Hobsato to prepare for battle. I also asked the blacksmith to bring me the Spirit Stone knife, figuring it would be more effective than bare hands—and that its flashy appearance might serve as a deterrent to our opponents.

As I issued these orders, the blacksmith, Redhead Shorty, the chef sisters, and the alchemist watched me with worried expressions. It was understandable; the request to confront and potentially kill humans was unsettling, even if they were strangers. However, Returner had only asked for us to drive the adventurers out of the dungeon, not to kill them without provocation. I intended to lead with negotiation, only resorting to force for self-defense—though that would likely result in killing them. I emphasized to Redhead Shorty and the other human women that conversation would be absolutely crucial to this mission, then flashed a smile to reassure them. They seemed somewhat convinced.

Once preparations were complete, Gobei led us to the hole that connected to the labyrinthine dungeon Returner oversaw. We entered and, unfortunately, ended up killing all six of the adventurers who had attacked Returner.

I really had tried to persuade them first. I went alone, leaving Gobkichi and the others hidden to avoid intimidating the adventurers with our numbers. This was my way of showing my sincerity. However, the moment the adventurers saw me, they started spewing a bunch of nonsense, sealing their fate:

“So, a Greater Skeleton isn’t all they had waiting for us, huh? There’s an ogre variant here, too?” the humans complained arrogantly. “Damn, the monsters here are weak, but there are so many of them. Let’s get it over with and kill this one quickly before we search for the one that got away.”

Their murderous intent was clear when they attacked.

For the record, I’m a rare variant of ogre, not just any variant. But the adventurers didn’t even try to listen to me. This was clearly a crime. Invading someone’s home (dungeon), killing the inhabitants (monsters, though this time I happened to be one of them), and stealing hidden treasures—it was undoubtedly aggravated burglary! These shameless criminals were beyond saving. That was my inner monologue as I sized them up.

When I used Item Appraisal on the robbers, I found their gear was all high-quality and enhanced with magical properties. They seemed to be a formidable party, with two front-liners, three long-range or support members, and one scout or skirmisher. Their coordination wasn’t bad either. However, I felt no sense of desperation like I had with the red bear. As a rare variant of ogre, my base stats were already high, and with my stacked abilities, defending against their attacks was simple. It only took their initial strike for me to make that assessment.

The adventurers’ attacks were sloppy overall. Their aim was rather facile; they didn’t handle their weapons efficiently, and their offensive and defensive maneuvers lacked any complex feints to confuse their opponents. Yes, their slashes were fast, and their superior weapons were in good condition, which would have made them deadly enough to slaughter an ordinary ogre. But from my perspective, their combat skills hadn’t quite caught up with their physical stats. Their attacks relied too much on brute force and lacked finesse.

There was also a subtle sense of discord among the team. The way their bodies moved and the trajectories of their weapons were slightly off. Though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it meant, I set that thought aside for the time being. Their strength was bolstered by level enhancements and job class bonuses, making them formidable in that department. However, this seemed to have stunted their development in mastering the basics of combat, which would have taught them how to kill enemies instinctively and refine their skills.

They had likely just grown used to overpowering their foes with brute strength, relying less on skill and more on sheer power. This lack of effort proved to be their downfall. Had they put in the work, they might have matched me. They certainly had the potential. But because they’d neglected their training, they didn’t stand a chance.

Their inferiority gave me the luxury of parrying and deflecting all their attacks while continuing my attempts to persuade them—and let me tell you, trying to persuade your would-be killers while fending off their attacks is quite the unusual experience. Despite their continuous assault, I kept urging them to leave the dungeon peacefully. Then, one young mage among them, who was stationed at the back, eventually cast a Lightning spell that struck me square in the face.

The impact made me stagger, but I didn’t fall. The damage was considerable but not severe. Without my Omni-Elemental Resistance and Lightning Resistance activated together, my head would have been vaporized. The spell’s power was undeniably lethal. That was the last straw. I had reached my breaking point. I signaled for Gobkichi and the others to commence the attack.

While making silent apologies to Returner, I used Ground Control to manipulate the terrain in the ethereal, milky-white corridors of the labyrinth, cutting off the adventurers’ escape routes. To draw their attention, I charged straight in.

I had initially considered the abilities of the Spirit Stone knife merely entertaining, but it turned out to be genuinely impressive. The blade itself was blunt, barely able to cut paper. However, since the knife was made from Water Spirit Stone, swinging it caused water to spray from the blade. When I swung it with intent, the high-speed water jets turned into sharp water blades under pressure, slicing through the adventurers’ metal armor and their bodies with ease.

Impressed by its capabilities, I handed the knife to Gobmi so she could share in the excitement. She managed to spray water everywhere but couldn’t slice through her opponents; it seemed the knife needed to be swung at a certain speed to be effective. Still, its power was undeniable.

After experimenting with the knife until all the adventurers were killed, we harvested their bodies. I ate the upper halves, while Gobkichi and the others devoured the lower halves with gusto.

They must have been relatively high-level adventurers among humans. Like I mentioned, their equipment was high quality, and among the items I discovered were some handy magical tools. Naturally, I consumed them immediately.

The items I consumed included the Ring of the Hermit, which conceals its wearer’s status, and six relatively rare Large Storage Backpacks, totaling seven magical tools. I stored all the adventurers’ equipment with the newly acquired Item Box ability. The way it works is that when I focus on retrieving items, they appear instantly. It was reminiscent of teleportation technology from my previous life. Each of the six backpacks incorporated into Item Box had 1200 item slots, with each slot holding up to 99 copies of an item. Needless to say, it was a highly advantageous skill.

Guided by Returner, we headed to the vault’s entrance. It was located at the far end of a cave in a well-hidden spot. Using Ground Control, I collapsed the ceiling to seal all other entrances except the one Gobmi had pickaxed her way through. We sealed that tunnel too, burying everything underground. Returner then led us to the treasure vault, where we beheld an astonishing sight.

The vault was filled with various gold and silver treasures, and powerful magical items that made the adventurers’ gear look like chump change. At the far end, on a throne, sat a mummified body with a shining silver left arm. Returner referred to the mummy as its master, implying that this was Velvet.

Afterward, we had a casual conversation with Returner, from whom we learned some intriguing details. The diverse Spirit Stones we’d been mining at our current base had spawned due to the dungeon’s influence. Usually, Spirit Stones appear in locations corresponding to their attributes, such as Aero Spirit Stones appearing in windy places or Flame Spirit Stones popping up near volcanoes. Finding varied Spirit Stones in one place is unusual, but this dungeon had been constructed by Velvet, who excelled in handling spirits. As a result, diverse Spirit Stones still lingered here to interface with Returner, which allowed us to mine such a wide range of types.

As our conversation concluded, Returner’s time came to an end. It vanished with a smile, leaving behind only the gem from its forehead. I picked it up right away and popped it in my mouth.

Everyone offered a moment of silence for Returner before we collected all the treasures from the vault. Truly, Item Box proved to be an extraordinary ability. Even after filling it with all the treasures that had crowded the vault, there was still plenty of space left. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward the party of adventurers for it.

Finally, only the mummy with the strange left arm remained in the now-empty chamber. Feeling it was disrespectful to leave them there, I decided to take the jeweled throne and cremate the mummy on the spot. Being desiccated, the mummy burned quickly, and the soaring red flames and glittering ash were quite a sight to behold.

After I said a prayer for Velvet’s soul, I looked up and noticed that the red flames had vanished, leaving behind only the gleaming silver arm. Curious, I used Item Appraisal on it.

Name: Silver Arm Airgetlám

Category: Divine Relic (Artifact)

Grade: Legendary

Abilities:

• Arm Blast (Weapon Destroyer)

• Spell Blast (Magic Destroyer)

• Adaptation

• Attribute Echo

Notes: This divine prosthetic was discovered by Velvet in the depths of a certain divine dungeon. When attached to someone who has lost an arm, it functions as well as the original arm. It can absorb other metals and change shape according to the wearer’s will, gaining new abilities as it evolves. Destruction is virtually impossible, except under certain conditions.

It seemed that Velvet had left me a parting gift. With my own left arm missing, I figured I might as well try attaching Velvet’s. As I approached the silver arm, it activated, and dozens of metallic tendrils extended to wrap around my left arm stump all the way up to my shoulder. The sensation was like the tendrils were devouring my flesh, the pain so intense that I nearly lost consciousness. But I gritted my teeth and held on. Soon enough, my left arm had transformed into the Silver Arm Airgetlám, perfectly fitting my frame.

The arm, which had initially been human-sized, had somehow adapted to my much larger ogre form thanks to its Adaptation ability. I flexed my new fingers and moved the arm, finding it eerily seamless and completely natural to do so, as if it had always been a part of me. There was tactile feedback when I touched things, but no pain when I struck a wall. It seemed the arm had no pain receptors; how it provided tactile sensations at all was a mystery. Still, I decided not to dwell on it—after all, I didn’t understand how most abilities worked anyway.

Upon further inspection, I discovered that the arm had an astonishing range of motion and was packed with intricate mechanisms. I could rotate my wrist and fingers like drills, and my elbow and shoulder could move at angles impossible for an ogre’s natural skeleton. I also confirmed that I could still use my various hand-based abilities, like emitting poison and spider silk from my clawed fingertips. In fact, these abilities should be even more manageable with this improved limb.

After all the excitement, we returned to the base and threw a feast. Our haul was substantial, and among the adventurers’ possessions were several bottles of liquor—an absolutely key find. This was the perfect occasion to celebrate, especially as a way to honor the spirits of Returner and Velvet. To be fair, Velvet had been dead for ages, but it was really more about our state of mind than Velvet, per se.

I carefully explained everything to Redhead Shorty, the blacksmith, and the others, making sure they understood why we’d had to fight the adventurers and how our attempts at a peaceful resolution had failed due to human greed.

The feast was lively, and the alcohol tasted fantastic.

Day Thirty-Eight

After the morning training session, I spent the day in the blacksmith’s workshop, identifying, categorizing, and organizing the items we obtained yesterday. As expected from a legendary mage, Velvet’s legacy consisted of truly extraordinary items. While my own Item Appraisal ability wasn’t advanced enough to gather much information, the blacksmith, being a seasoned traveler and expert in various armaments, could easily discern and explain details that eluded me—though despite her expertise, even she couldn’t fully decipher some of the items’ properties. Nonetheless, her help was invaluable, and we spent the entire day sorting through the treasures.

Day Thirty-Nine

Following morning training, I decided to distribute some of the recently acquired magic items among the ten hobgoblins in our community. I figured that hoarding them would be wasteful, and over-equipping everyone might lead to complacency, so each hobgoblin received two items among the armor, weapons, and enchanted rings. Their previously used gear was redistributed to the lower ranks, raising the baseline equipment of the group to horn spears, chitin shields, leather armor, and short swords.

Due to the rigorous daily training sessions, our individual levels were exceptionally high for a typical group of goblins. According to Gobjii, with this new standard of equipment combined with our numbers, even mid-tier adventurers would stand little chance against us in a direct confrontation. Indeed, our current force was unparalleled in the history of this goblin community.

In the afternoon, I gathered all ten hobgoblins—as well as Redhead Shorty, at her insistence—to hunt the gray hind bear. My new primary weapon was a scarlet spear called the Hunger-Thirsting Impaler of a Thousand Thorns, Kazikli Bey, which I had obtained from Velvet’s treasure trove. For armor, I wore an overcoat of hard leather armor made from red bear hide, Onigumo chitin, and other materials, along with a roomy pair of red leather shorts.

On my right hand, I wore a silver-black bracelet that could transform into a sturdy gauntlet with enhanced strength and other abilities at the user’s will—the Wrath of the Solitary King, Eglusa-Pur. The spear, bracelet, and silver arm were all Legendary-grade Divine Relics.

It’s getting a bit late, but let me briefly explain what Divine Relics are. When items obtained from extremely dangerous and unique locations known as Divine Era Dungeons are appraised, the term “Divine Relic” always appears. It indicates a significant performance difference even for items with the same name. For example, a regular life potion might restore twenty percent of your health, but a Divine Relic life potion could restore sixty percent. Essentially, it’s a marker for high-quality items, according to the blacksmith.

Next, let’s talk about the grades for items in general. From lowest to highest, it goes Inferior, Normal, Rare, Unique, Ancient, Legendary, and Phantasmal. For example, the chipped longsword obtained from a kobold or the giant club reinforced with chitin I made for Gobkichi would be classified as Inferior—the magic wand wielded by the kobold mage barely qualified as Normal.

The weapons obtained from the adventurers in Velvet’s treasure trove were mostly Unique, with a few Ancient items mixed in. This finding indicated that even high-level adventurer parties typically possessed items up to the Ancient grade, while acquiring Legendary- or Phantasmal-grade items was exceedingly difficult. To give some context, Unique-grade items could sometimes be national treasures of small countries. Most magic items of Ancient grade or higher were also Divine Relics, suggesting that obtaining them often involved venturing into Divine Era Dungeons. So, if you want these items, that’s what you have to do.

It seemed that city walls had formed around Divine Era Dungeons, creating what are known as labyrinth cities. It might be interesting to visit one someday.

The fact that my silver arm, crimson spear, and silver-black bracelet were all Legendary attests to how incredible Velvet must have been during his lifetime. Securing even a single Legendary-grade magic item can supposedly mobilize an entire nation, so I couldn’t help but respect Velvet immensely. I could hardly imagine what acquiring a Phantasmal-grade item, one from the highest tier, would entail due to the utter lack of information about and the unimaginable value of such a thing.

Returning to the subject at hand, the hind bear hunt went smoothly. The hind bear was indeed powerful, but it was no match for us now that we were equipped with high-quality magic items and capable of effective coordination. The abilities of my silver arm, crimson spear, and silver-black bracelet were so overpowered that I could have killed the hind bear even in a straight-up brawl without relying on any abilities.

I mostly played a supporting role this time. The primary reason for our success was that Gobkichi and Gobmi, now armed with high-quality magic items, demonstrated strength beyond that of typical hobgoblins. Their levels significantly increased during the hunt too, which was a satisfying bonus.

The bear stew was delicious.

As a side note, I’ve recently been low-key tortured by my growing desire to drink more liquor. I really want a drink…

Day Forty

It rained today, providing the perfect opportunity to conduct another round-robin tournament to determine rankings. It’s essential to keep doing this to fill the void left by the former head hobgoblin. As long as our numbers remain manageable, frequent events like this will help boost overall morale. Improving the command structure is always worthwhile, especially at this stage.

Of course, the outcome of any match between a goblin and a hobgoblin is predictable, and pitting anyone against an ogre like me is just unfair. Therefore, goblins competed among themselves for ranks, and hobgoblins did the same within their own group. Today’s tournament saw some individuals rise in rank while others fell, leading to a mix of jubilation and disappointment among the participants.

Now that I thought of it, because everyone’s level has been rising, it might be a good idea to take Redhead Shorty and a few others into town. I’d think about that later. Forming a mercenary group when we venture away from home could be interesting too. In the area where we’re currently operating, there aren’t any monsters left that I can’t kill, so leveling up has become a challenge. As soon as I took down the Mountain Lord, this outcome was inevitable. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to venture outside the forest.

With these thoughts running through my mind, I settled in for a good night’s sleep.

Day Forty-One

Just after sunrise, I went exploring a new area: a blank space on my mental map that I decided to call the “Untouched Zone.” Morning training had progressed to the point where Gobkichi and the others could handle it without me, significantly reducing my already limited involvement. This meant I had free time in the mornings, especially without the sparring sessions that used to follow training.

Previously, I always stayed in the cave in case of emergencies like injuries, keeping myself busy making clothes, armor, and sleeping bags. But now, everyone had sleeping bags and backup sets of armor, so there were no urgent tasks left that I could complete inside. Hence, I decided it would be more productive to seek out new abilities, and that’s how I got to where I am right now.

My first prey of the day was a two-meter-long gold spider with a shiny exoskeleton, which I decided to name a “Golden Spider.” It moved quickly, it had tough and abundant silk, and its golden shell was far harder than the demonic spider’s carapace. The combination of these three attributes made it challenging to kill, but I countered its threads with my own and pierced its shell with my silver arm, killing it.

I carefully stripped it of its valuable golden shell, which I figured would fetch a high price outside the forest, then I roasted it with Pyrokinesis and devoured the rest. It tasted better than the demonic spider, so I got carried away and ended up eating a total of eight golden spiders.

As a result, I learned abilities that increased the strength of my threads and my defense—and discovered that the spider was actually called a “Diamond Spider.” Honestly, I preferred my name for them…

Anyway, with the first new ability, I could now produce gorgeous golden threads—just like the name suggests, they look almost like spun gold. They’re quite flashy. I thought of making gifts for Gobmi and Redhead Shorty with the threads, but a golden outfit would be too gaudy. I decided something like the folksy accessories I’d given Gobmi before would be more appropriate.

The next prey I found after the golden spider was a “Red-Antlered Deer,” a beautiful creature with twin pinkish-red crystalline horns, four red eyes, and four pointed ears. Contrary to its dignified appearance, the red-antlered deer was quite aggressive. It charged right at me, using its sharp, beautiful horns to drill through the trees that stood between us. Fortunately, my silver arm allowed me to withstand its attack easily. I held its head down and injected poison through the sharp claws of my silver arm until the creature foamed at the mouth and died four seconds later.

I carefully removed its beautiful, valuable horns and pristine fur, which seemed useful, and stored them with Item Box. Then I enjoyed the monster’s delicious meat. Unfortunately, I didn’t secure any new abilities from this kill, but I felt that eating a few more would likely allow me to learn something. And my body grew stronger anyway, so it was a worthwhile effort.

As I continued to wander around the forest, I eventually encountered her, bathed in sunlight.

In this world, there exists a species known as dryads. Dryads are a type of nymph, a nature spirit known for being somewhat tricky. They inhabit and take refuge in trees with considerable history, such as those that are hundreds or even thousands of years old. When the tree they inhabit dies, they die as well—a disquieting trait. To protect their host tree, dryads often curse and kill anyone who harms the tree through cutting or burning, earning the hatred of woodcutters who rely on felling trees for their livelihood.

Much more unnerving, however, is their habit of using their exceptional beauty—dryads are all female, after all—to seduce intelligent beings like humans and beastpeople who pass nearby. If they fancy the seduced target, they may indulge in their desires, but then trap the target in an eternal dream, ultimately using them as nourishment for their host tree.

Dryads are invariably beautiful women, and many men are unable to resist them even though they know it means certain death. In fact, it seems more men die from being charmed to death than from being cursed. In the past, quite a few goblins fell for the dryads’ beauty. They became mere sustenance, dying without even getting to actually enjoy any time with the dryad—something Gobjii summed up by stating that he never wanted to meet one until his deathbed. His desire to experience pleasure before dying likely meant that if a dryad did meet him in his final moments, he’d end up as sustenance just like the others. That was what I thought when he mentioned it, anyway.

One of those dryads stood before me.

“Wow, what impressive muscles you have,” she said. “May I touch them, just a little?” She was already running her delicate fingers over my chest muscles as she spoke.

Dryads wore garments of branches and leaves for the scantest modesty, but they were essentially naked. This one’s hair flowed like golden threads in the wind, emitting a sweet scent that aroused my desires. Her extraordinary beauty—clear blue eyes, plump pink lips, delicate porcelain skin, and soft, full breasts that pressed into my arm, changing shape slightly to fit against me—made it crystal clear why so many men had fallen victim to the dryads. It must have taken an extraordinary amount of willpower for an ordinary man to resist the temptation. Just being near her caused a pleasant heat to spread through my brain and body.

I became aware of my own breathing, growing hotter and quicker. The mere presence of this dryad—every gaze, every breath, every drop of sweat—seemed to hold the magic of her charm.

“Every time I touch you, I can feel your strength,” she breathed. “Ah, it’s truly incredible… I might not be able to hold back.”

Panting a little with lust, the dryad ran her tongue over my chest muscles. The sensation was decadent, the touch of her tongue on my skin pleasantly slippery. The places she licked naturally grew warmer, and I could faintly hear the obscene sound of her saliva as her hand moved suggestively down my body. As parts of my body began to respond, I couldn’t help but think that while I had experience in my previous life, I didn’t in this current body, so my excitement couldn’t be helped.

“Honestly, it’s bigger than I imagined,” the dryad commented.

To distract myself from the sensation of my increasingly erect member, I recalled how I’d ended up in this situation.

I’d met this aggressively seductive dryad while wandering the forest in search of prey, after discovering a majestic tree basking in the sunlight. It was significantly larger than the surrounding trees. I used Aura Sensing to check for any creatures around, but found none. Resigned to the lack of nearby prey, I was just about to start examining the surrounding vegetation for anything useful when a voice from behind startled me.

“It’s rare to see an ogre variant in this forest,” said the voice.

Technically, I was a rare variant, but that was beside the point.

Even though I’d activated Aura Sensing, whoever this person was had managed to sneak up on me. I quickly turned around and saw the dryad slowly emerging from the tree. I had heard about the characteristics of dryads from Gobjii, so I immediately recognized her for what she was, but since I didn’t sense any intent to kill or even harm from her, I decided not to kill her on sight. The dryad fully emerged from the tree.

“Oh, please don’t be afraid,” she said in honeyed tones. “I won’t do anything. I want to talk for a bit. Please?” She clasped her hands together in supplication, which was quite endearing.

Even while conversing, I remained on guard in case she suddenly decided she wanted me dead. Sitting on a half-buried rock near the great tree, I chatted with her for a while. She never told me her name, so I began referring to her as “Miss Dryad” out of respect. Talking to her, I learned a great deal about the flora around us. For instance, a bit further away, there was a tree called Bala-Radha, the Numbing Poison Thorn Tree. The Numbing Poison Thorn Tree is a tall tree that lives up to its name—its trunk is covered with countless centimeter-long thorns that secrete a paralyzing sap to immobilize any creature it comes into contact with. Once the creature is immobilized, the tree showers it with prickly fruit, similar to chestnuts but deadly. This ultimately kills the creature and converts it to nutrients, much like a dryad.

Miss Dryad warned me to be cautious in areas where many spiky fruits had fallen. While the thorns on the fruit carry a lethal poison, it’s not instantly fatal unless ingested in large quantities. There are also plants that attack approaching animals, such as the Binding Steel Vine and Mauve Selman.

When I first heard about plants like that, they sounded annoying and dangerous, but it seems this world has many useful plants as well. For instance, Burst Fruit, which scatters hard seeds when struck, can be repurposed as a weapon. Hazy Fragrance Grass, Mera Kag, emits a sleep-inducing fragrance that can be useful for ambushes and suppression tactics. The sap of Battera has detoxifying effects, and the scent of the Confushroom can cause creatures to become confused and lose their bearings.

Knowing the characteristics of all these plants and where they grew was incredibly valuable. I kept thinking how fortunate I was to have met Miss Dryad today.

But how it came to this situation? I didn’t know.

Well, maybe because I was a rare ogre variant, as she had said, and she had grown to like me as we talked.

In other words, if I went along with this, various pleasant things could happen, but… I’d become trapped in an endless dream and turned into nourishment for the great host tree. I wanted to avoid that. I wasn’t ready to die yet; I wanted to see more of this world. Plus, I had a duty to live on for those I had killed and eaten.

I also didn’t want to kill Miss Dryad. She could provide more helpful information in the future, and absorbing me as nutrients was probably an instinct of her species, something she couldn’t help doing. So, to move matters along, I decided to use an ability I had never used before: Unbridled Libido. Dryads put their partners to sleep after mating to turn them into nourishment, so all I had to do was make sure she was the one who passed out first. I wasn’t entirely sure how effective it would be, but Unbridled Libido, augmenting the natural stamina of a rare ogre variant, definitely sounded like it had potential; it seemed like my only option.

As soon as I activated the ability, I redirected my attention from my now even harder and larger member to the dryad pressing her chest against me and snuggling up. I looked down at her.

“Miss Dryad?”

“Yes?” Her beautiful turquoise eyes, accentuating her beauty, met mine. Her face was still as breathtaking as ever, but it was her sweet and alluring breath that sent shivers through my brain. I reacted instinctively.

“Let’s begin.”

“Ah… You’re so direct,” she said, then gasped as I suddenly covered her body with mine. “But it’s okay…” Though initially startled, the Dryad’s face quickly softened into a delighted expression, her turquoise eyes were moist, and her cheeks flushed as she welcomed me.

Careful not to crush her delicate frame, I indulged in her beautiful body for about five hours, savoring every moment.

I left the Dryad, who saw me off with a sultry expression and a sweet whisper in my ear of “Come again.” Then, I continued exploring the forest. Eventually, I stumbled upon a sizable river. For no particular reason, I followed it upstream until I discovered a waterfall about twenty meters high. Deciding to wash off the sweat and… scents… from my earlier encounter with the Dryad, I stripped off my clothes and dove into the clear lake beneath the waterfall.

While I was swimming around, I suddenly found myself surrounded by green, scaly lizardmen. It seemed my current Aura Sensing level was somewhat lacking when it came to detecting underwater threats. Realizing this now was fortunate, to say the least. I shudder to think what might have happened if I’d only discovered this weakness when facing a truly formidable enemy.

For now, I needed to focus on the immediate situation. Judging by their appearance, these lizardmen were likely the “Forest Lizards” that Gobjii had mentioned. They surrounded me, armed with well-maintained falchions—swords with a curved blade and a straight hilt—and round shields known as bucklers, which were somewhat damaged but still seemed serviceable. Otherwise, their attire consisted of little more than thick cloth garments covering their lower bodies, leaving them mostly exposed without the leather or metal armor typical of orcs or kobolds. Essentially, the forest lizards wore almost no armor.

The dense green scales that covered their entire bodies were clearly just as effective as armor, if not more so. Plus, their long, thick tails threatened surprise attacks right into an opponent’s blind spots. I decided I should treat them as third arms, just to be safe. Moreover, since the tails were underwater, they were more challenging to see and therefore even more dangerous.

There were eight forest lizards in total, so they were quite numerous, which alone showed their proficiency in hunting as a pack. They coordinated seamlessly through simple hand signals and eye contact. I couldn’t understand their strange, garbled cries, but it was evident from their body language and the way they flashed their long tongues and falchions that they fully intended to attack.

The point of today’s hunt was to test out and get used to my silver arm, so I had been exploring unarmed and alone, without any backup. As I was waist-deep in the water, the forest lizards had the upper hand in terms of terrain. I may be an ogre—incidentally, Gobjii mentioned that he’s never even heard of a “rare variant” before, so that might be worth investigating someday—but they probably thought they could kill me. They thought wrong.

I activated multiple abilities simultaneously and moved instantly. Although my lower body was still submerged, Hydrokinesis made it easy to propel myself by manipulating the water's flow. My powerful, ability-augmented legs moved swiftly even against the water's heavy resistance. The jet of water I created behind me, combined with Charge Boost, granted me overwhelming speed. With a burst of explosive spray, I instantly closed the gap between me and the nearest enemy, delivering a punch with more force than usual.

The forest lizard’s reaction was quicker than expected; it managed to put up its buckler just in time to block the initial blow from my silver arm. However, the buckler shattered instantly, failing to absorb any of the impact whatsoever, and the lizard’s life ended there. My punch tore through its arm, continuing to drive into its torso without losing momentum. The green scales shattered, flesh tore asunder, and even the creature’s hard bones were pulverized as my blow smashed through everything in its path.

Then, with my ordinary right fist, I struck another forest lizard attacking from the side. I only managed to crush scales, pulp flesh, and break bones with that side, but it was still a formidable blow, if far less powerful. I confirmed the silver arm's performance as I continued punching and occasionally kicking. It took less than thirty seconds to kill all the forest lizards. I used spider silk and Lightning to catch those who tried to dive and escape, so not one got away.

Afterward, I retrieved the weapons from the slain forest lizards and stored them in my Item Box. Not wanting to spend a lot of time stripping the creatures for parts, I ate them whole.

The meat and bones of the forest lizards had a unique taste and texture that made them quite delicious. I searched nearby to find some more to eat, but when nothing turned up, I moved on to the next target.

Following the routes automatically created by my Mental Mapping ability, I headed toward more unexplored areas. After walking for a while, I found myself outside the forest, standing at the edge of a vast plain. For the first time since being reincarnated, I was gazing at something other than forest, river, and mountains. The wind blowing across the plain felt refreshing and novel.

Lost in thought for a moment, I only noticed the bull when it was already charging toward me. It had a disturbingly humanoid face, and I decided to call it a “Bicorn Bull” because of its two sharp black horns. Facing it head-on, I stepped forward into its path and performed a counter with my silver arm. My punch embedded the silver arm up to the elbow, turning the bicorn bull into a splattered mess.

Yes, today was more than sufficient to confirm the usefulness of my new arm. No amount of gratitude to the one who had gifted me this arm would ever be enough. I said another small prayer for Velvet.

There was only one bicorn bull, so eating it whole didn’t grant me any new abilities, but it did slightly enhance my physique, and I enjoyed the solo barbecue regardless. The bicorn bull was delicious from head to tail, and I decided that when I returned to the same spot with the rest of my team, we would have a massive bicorn bull barbecue party.

With daylight swiftly running out, I hunted night vipers on my way back home as souvenirs. When I arrived, I ate dinner and then went to sleep.

Day Forty-Two

It turned out that two of the five hobgoblins who were my slaves and subordinates had an aptitude for magic. I immediately transferred them from my direct supervision to Hobsei’s magic unit, Agony. There, they began their studies in magic. As that caught my own interest, I accompanied them and discovered that Hobsei’s quarters contained dozens of books on magic and related topics.

When I asked why she had so many, she explained that they’d all been looted over the years, accumulated bit by bit. Among them, I noticed my own book, Beginner’s Guide to Wizardry: Basic Magic Compendium (Volume 2). But since I already knew its contents by heart, I pretended not to see it.

As I listened to Hobsei’s explanations about magic, I learned that she hadn’t always been able to handle three types of magic—Flame, Water-Ice, and Abyss—like she could now. Just as I had done, individuals with aptitude for magic find the basic spells of the magic type most suited to them automatically resonating in their minds; in Hobsei’s case, it was Flame magic. As mages level up, new spells are added to their mental arsenal, but that only applies to the type they’re most compatible with. Other types of magic require learning from external sources.

Unlike mages who just go along with whatever they can automatically learn thanks to compatibility, Hobsei has broadened her magical repertoire by studying various books she’s collected. It was her incredible dedication and effort that made her such a formidable mage.

She seemed particularly thrilled to have her very first apprentices and was determined to give them a thorough grounding in magic. Actually, her enthusiasm for teaching these goblins was so intense that it was almost alarming. To avoid getting in the way, I immersed myself in reading some of her books. The palpable intensity emanating from Hobsei made me wary of interrupting.

Hmm, interesting… Fascinating… Those were my thoughts as I read through the materials.

Besides more information about the Terminus-type magic I had been using—like my devastating magic javelin throw, Spear of Finality, Gehdeech—I picked up insights into handling other types, including Flame, Water-Ice, and Lightning. It turned out that the other innate attribute I possessed, Origin, was a highly convenient trait that enabled me to handle any magic type immediately.

Usually, handling magic without proper aptitude could result in halved power or complete failure to activate, but for me, all the magic I tried was successful. In addition to Origin, this could be attributed to abilities like Pyrokinesis and Electromaster. Unlike spells that require chanting and mana manipulation, these abilities can be used instantly without any buildup. In combat, however, I wouldn’t usually use any magic outside of Terminus.

Still, expanding my repertoire wasn’t a bad thing, and understanding the magic my enemies might use was beneficial. After about three hours of reading, for example, I finally discovered how to use the Enchanter job class. I had quickly adapted to the Priest job, which was similar to Druid and which I had acquired from the adventurers who raided Velvet’s Vault. But Enchanter was different from job classes like Mage, and I hadn’t been able to use it effectively, so I’d half forgotten about it until now.

The key difference is that while the Mage job class unleashes internal power externally in a way that interfaces with the world’s natural laws, the Enchanter interacts with materials. Though Mages can enhance materials too, their effectiveness at support magic pales in comparison—about a fivefold difference. The downside is that Enchanters have very low combat abilities.

The main thing is that Enchanters use spells that are different from regular magic, and now that I could use them, I decided to gain some experience by heading to the blacksmith’s. When the blacksmith saw me, she seemed a bit annoyed. Tilting my head in confusion, I asked to practice with some of the items she’d completed.

I applied enchantments both to the Spirit Stone knives and to the wrought iron knives. As a result, the Flame Spirit Stone knife started emitting even more powerful flames. In contrast, the Water Spirit Stone knife produced a larger amount of water, and the wrought iron knife’s strength and sharpness improved dramatically. Now that I could use the Enchanter profession, I was amazed at its utility. The ability to enhance materials allows for the relatively easy creation of powerful weapons.

Of course, I also botched a number of prototypes, shattering them in the process. It seems that the success rate will be pretty low until I become more proficient. I decided to keep trying, even at the risk of failure, to increase my skill level in the future. The blacksmith has kindly agreed to help me until I reach a certain level of proficiency.

Time passed.

After hunting and eating some more, I went to sleep.

Day Forty-Three

Recently, Gobmi’s been in a bad mood. To be precise, it started two days ago when I returned from my solo hunting trip. Puzzled, I asked Gobkichi about it, but he just said he didn’t know. When I consulted with Gobei, she suggested I reflect on my actions. Hobsei's responses were similarly vague and accompanied by comments like “Ah, youth,” and “Figure it out yourself.”

After mulling it over for a while and getting nowhere, I approached Redhead Shorty, only to be met with a pout and the silent treatment. Next, I went to the blacksmith.

“I’m a bit upset too,” she told me. That was a surprise. When I asked why, she looked exasperated, got a bit angry, and walked off. But why? Confused, I visited the sisters, who immediately offered me some experimental dishes that turned out to have a slight trace of poison. But why?!

The food was still pretty tasty, though, so I didn’t really mind.

Finally, feeling increasingly desperate, I went to the alchemist, who, with some of her own exasperation, explained the cause of all the cold shoulders I was getting: jealousy. Apparently, the incident with the Dryad had left several hickeys on my neck, which had made Gobmi angry. Although they had quickly disappeared due to my healing ability, the Dryad must have used some trick to make sure they lasted at least a day. It was perfectly harmless, so I hadn’t paid much attention.

Upon realizing the cause of the issue, I nodded in understanding, only to suddenly be embraced by the alchemist. She gave me a wet, passionate kiss, intertwining her tongue with mine. I let her kiss me, somewhat bewildered, until she eventually released me and explained that this was her way of expressing her feelings and thanking me for saving her life.

At first, I wondered if it was something like Stockholm syndrome or the suspension bridge effect. Considering the alchemist’s situation—being abducted and surrounded by goblins and hobgoblins—it might be understandable. Alternatively, given her intelligence, she might have decided to align herself with the strongest individual around (me) to ensure her safety, rather than risk being assaulted by other goblins.

Regardless of whether her actions were calculated or genuine, though, I was pleased. We looked at each other for a moment, her moist eyes and lips drawing me in. When I touched her well-proportioned body, she reciprocated, and things quickly escalated. I held her close, careful not to hurt her, and we began to indulge in each other. That was when Gobmi barged in.

Caught like a husband cheating on his wife, I panicked, but then she came over and embraced me as well. To my surprise, she demanded the same treatment I was giving the alchemist. Since she had become quite attractive since evolving into a hobgoblin, I had no objections. Soon, more intruders barged in and joined us—Redhead Shorty, the blacksmith, and the chef sisters—leading to a rather eventful night.

My abilities came in handy in extremely unexpected ways. Metamorphosis and Bodily Fluid Manipulation proved to be incredibly useful. I never imagined I’d end up using my body in such a tentacle-like manner after reincarnation, or that I’d engage in such activities with so many participants. I discovered that my bodily fluids could act as a natural aphrodisiac too, and for privacy, I used my spider silk to create a makeshift enclosed space that kept other goblins from peeking. Air Manipulation ensured that any sounds we made didn’t escape.

Reflecting on the experience, all I could say is that it was an incredibly pleasurable and exhausting night. My immense stamina meant that I never seemed to tire, no matter how many times I released. Without using Metamorphosis, my size would undoubtedly have caused harm to everyone involved. Even with it, the experience was extremely intense for all of us.

I never planned for any of it to happen, but what’s done is done. I’ll take responsibility for any consequences.

Day Forty-Four

My Aura Sensing picked up something. Recently, as the ability leveled up, it has started displaying the names of species I’ve encountered before, and if I know someone’s individual name, that’ll show up too. It even differentiates between friend and foe, indicating their relative strength with the text color. Very useful.

According to Aura Sensing, Gobkichi and two of his subordinates were approaching. As I started to get up, I noticed the women from last night were all sleeping peacefully, nestled against me. Not wanting to wake them after such an intense night, I used Metamorphosis to turn my body into slime so I could slip away without disturbing them.

Once outside the spider silk room I’d created, I spoke quietly with Gobkichi. He explained that three attractive elves had appeared at the entrance of the cave, where they were arrogantly waiting for someone to attend them. Whether to attack and kill them or to invite them inside required my decision, so Gobkichi had come to get me, leaving the elves outside.

Gobkichi’s judgment was sound, a sign of good education. Previously, he and the others would have attacked on sight. Nodding in agreement, I quickly cleaned myself with water from a large bottle I had filled from the lake where the forest lizards had attacked, then dressed myself. Presentable at last, I headed for the cave entrance, where I found a male elf and his two female bodyguards, armed and ready.

All three were, like Gobkichi had said, incredibly attractive. The man’s neat formal wear and the light metal armor worn by the two women were all of considerable quality. Although I couldn’t definitively comment on the aesthetics due to our differing species, it was easy to guess that they were of high status. The rapiers at the waists of the two women behind the man, identified through Item Appraisal as Rare-class magical items, were named the Serene Tree Sword Schtelt Laurel and the Hidden Leaf Tree Sword Noruth Laurel. Their unique skills were the complete muffling of all sounds during movement for the former, and invisibility and blade transformation for the latter. In the hands of skilled users, these weapons would be quite formidable.

The other magical items they carried, such as the Ring of Concealment and the Silver Storage Bracelet, were also Rare class. Clearly, only someone of superior standing could amass such equipment. You might think that the previous adventurers had better gear, but most of that had come from dungeon loot. That was why High-level adventurers naturally had superior gear. When those who didn’t venture into dungeons to gather equivalent items still possessed them, it evidenced the significant financial resources that implied both wealth and status.

The elves’ rather high-handed attitude also indicated their status, though this might be a trait of the species, so it’s not an entirely reliable way to judge their character. Either way, despite arriving without an appointment, they acted arrogantly.

“You’re late!” the man shouted. “It would have been proper etiquette to greet me immediately upon arrival!”

I’ll rip off your arms and eat you, you bastard, I seethed internally. Externally, I restrained myself and asked why they had come. It seemed they wanted to make us their subordinates—or rather, judging by their tone, their slaves. Apparently, there was credible information suggesting that “inferior humans” were eyeing the elves’ treasures and might soon launch an attack. To prepare, the elves wanted as many strong soldiers (read: pawns) as possible.

From their perspective, they needed to gather forces quickly and in large numbers. Thus, they had come to recruit me—the black ogre rumored to have slain the now-deceased master of the mountain, the red bear, who was once feared by even the elven hunters. My fame had apparently spread throughout the forest, mainly because I stood out in armor made from the red bear’s hide.

In exchange for my subordinates and me agreeing to serve them, the elves offered a substantial amount of food supplies—enough to last several months—and either a Unique-class magical item or two beautiful elf women.

According to Gobjii, this reward was beyond excessive for what one would expect to offer an Ogre. A Unique-class magical item could fetch at least ten million gold at auction, with the price varying significantly based on its abilities, but potentially even exceeding thirty million gold. While it wouldn’t be an artifact from the Divine Era, it would still be incredibly valuable. As for the elf women, looking at the two present, it was true that they were gorgeous—several degrees more attractive than Redhead Shorty and the others, to be sure, though personal preferences vary.

I was surprised by the offered reward, but I couldn’t help but wonder why the elves were so desperate. Despite their outward display of confidence, they must have been at a severe disadvantage in terms of military strength. It was a classic scenario: a desperate plea for powerful allies when facing imminent defeat. If the story continued with the elves’ royal family becoming slaves after losing the war, it would be so clichéd it wouldn’t even be funny anymore.

There is strength in numbers; even the most powerful individuals can eventually be overwhelmed by it. That’s why I’ve focused on cultivating my companions’ strengths as well as my own.

A few days ago, I might have accepted the elves’ offer. But now, having already inherited superior and more powerful magical items from Velvet, my interest wasn’t even piqued. The two elf women were tempting, but I decided against accepting them as a bribe. Beauty is important, sure, but for long-term relationship success, character matters more.

In the end, I firmly rejected the elves’ solicitation. Putting aside the formalities, really, it all came down to the simple fact that their problems had nothing to do with me. The issue of the so-called “inferior humans” was irrelevant, and the conflict arising from differing interests and ideologies was none of my business. While war could be a prime opportunity to amass a large swath of abilities, which would be advantageous for me, I already had plenty of excellent items at my disposal. Thus, I saw no need to accept their offer.

Anyone would hate to be spoken to so haughtily, especially about a job that involved risking one’s life. I wanted to demand that they show us some sincerity, or at least some humility. But I knew it was futile.

As it happened, only a few seconds after I rejected the offer, the male elf’s face froze in a dumbfounded expression. It seemed he hadn’t anticipated being turned down. Perhaps he thought an Ogre would be too dim-witted to catch on to the veiled insults he had thrown at us. It was typical prejudice against my kind, who are often considered to be nothing but big meatheads.

I continued to glare down at him until his delay, which would have been fatal on the battlefield, finally ended. Understanding the meaning behind my words and gaze, the elf’s face turned crimson with anger. But just as he was about to lash out, I silenced him with a glare. The combined activation of Evil Eye, Intimidating Gaze, and Aura of Domination was more than enough to do the job.

I hadn’t expected that he would be rendered incapable of breathing.

Satisfied, I deactivated Aura of Domination, allowing him to breathe again. His face transitioned from red with anger to pale with fear, and the sight made me chuckle, which only served to frighten him more. An ogre’s face can be terrifying, I thought to myself.

Satisfied with having scared him sufficiently, I swiftly grabbed the male elf by the neck with my silver arm and pulled him close. The two female elf guards tried to move to intervene, but I stopped them with another glance. Holding the male elf by the ear, I ordered him to tell his hidden guards to lower their bows—just as an arrow flew toward my face. I caught it between my teeth, biting down with a loud crunch.

While chewing on the arrow, I conveyed with my gaze that if there were any further reaction, the male elf’s neck would be the next thing caught in my jaws. Well, really, I only smiled. But that seemed to get the point across.

The male elf muttered something under his breath, which I ignored. I tightened my grip, signaling for him to hurry up. Panicked, he shouted the order to his guards. I smiled at him again and, using Visual Field Boost and Precognition, confirmed that the hidden guards had complied before whispering in his ear again.

“And now I refuse because I’m not in the mood,” I said. “However, if humans do try to disrupt our home, I don’t mind lending a hand. As fellow inhabitants of the forest, I’ll help you take the necessary measures. I have at least that much decency.”

With Aura of Dominance activated again, I continued. “But if you even think about retaliating and harming my subordinates because of this,” I said, making sure the threat in my tone was clear, “I will come for you. And I will eat you and slaughter every one of your allies.”

To drive my point home, I pulled out my crimson spear, Kazikli Bey, from the Item Box and stabbed it into the ground. I activated one of its unique skills: Tepes, the Bloodstained Crimson Spear Legion. Crimson spears appeared in front of each and every elf, even the hidden ones. The eyes of the ones standing in front of me widened in fear.

After a tense standoff as the blood drained from the elves’ faces, they finally turned and fled. I watched them go, then looked down at the spear in my hand. The mechanism behind it was a mystery, but this weapon could make other spears appear infinitely from anything within a hundred-meter radius, as long as there was an indirect connection—me stabbing the ground, for example. This was the second time I’d used it, and the sight of countless crimson spears sprouting from the ground and trees around me was still surreal.

The spear’s cutting edge, length, and ability to pin down any targets with its sharp tip made it the perfect match for my tactics as an ogre. I’ve got no complaints. But there are many magical items of equal or greater power in this world, which I find perplexing. Based on my discussions with Redhead Shorty, it seems like we live in a stereotypical fantasy world with some idiosyncratic advancements and modifications here and there. But the presence of these overpowered technologies and absurdities shows how twisted things really are. Artifacts are often referred to as “relics of the gods,” and they genuinely do seem too advanced for this civilization.

Setting that aside for now, back to the elf situation. I believe I had done enough to deter any possibility of retaliation. There’s always the chance they might try something, but it’s hard to eliminate that risk entirely. If anything does happen, I’ll deal with it then.

Oh, and I should add something else too. Apparently, the elf I threatened was a candidate for the next clan leader, so he’s pretty important. The elven village, or whatever they call it, is located deeper into the unexplored area around our home base. It might be interesting to check it out sometime.

Incidentally, I’ve gained a better understanding of the effectiveness of the various Language Comprehension abilities, like Orcish Language Comprehension and Human Language Comprehension. It’s handy for communicating with species like forest lizards, which have a significantly different way of speaking from us goblin-types. But for humanoid species like orcs, goblins, and humans, who have somewhat similar languages, it’s possible to manage a conversation without it, albeit imperfectly.

This became evident when I talked to the elves. I haven’t eaten an elf yet, so I didn’t have their Language Comprehension ability, but we managed to understand each other anyway. Having the ability definitely makes communication smoother, as it allows comprehension of unique phrases or dialects. For instance, in goblin language, depending on where the speaker is from, either “erai” or “kowai” can mean “tired.” So, the ability helps to avoid confusion caused by regional differences.

After chasing the elves away, I went about my usual routine of hunting and had another night that was just as intense as the last.

Day Forty-Five

Early this morning, I was wandering through some unexplored forested areas on my mental map when I discovered what appeared to be a higher-level variant of the green slime: the “Metal Slime”. It was a metallic gray, twice the size of a green slime, and moving surprisingly fast with its wriggling tentacles. Its digestive fluids were also much stronger than those of a green slime.

What I found especially peculiar, though, was how inconsistent its attributes were. I tried using Flame magic on it, but it wasn’t very effective. However, when I used Pyrokinesis, it died quite easily. Metal slimes must specifically have a resistance to Flame magic. I picked up the gunmetal-gray core it left behind, stored it in my Item Box, and continued my search for more metal slimes.

First, I needed to investigate the characteristics of the metal slime, so over the course of an hour, I managed to hunt about twenty of them. What I discovered was that metal slimes have a high resistance to all types of magic except for the Terminus spells I can use. They seem to have a general resistance to elemental magic, neutralizing it below a certain level. Plus, in addition to the magical resistance, they also have significant physical defense. Their passive Physical Attack Mitigation meant that any direct attack below a certain level either had its damage significantly reduced or nullified entirely. With their speed, excellent digestive abilities, and unusually strong resistance to magic, they could be formidable opponents.

Strangely, the flames from Pyrokinesis and the lightning from Electromaster kill them effortlessly. Is it because these abilities aren’t technically classified as magic? I’m not sure, but I can kill metal slimes effectively either way, so it doesn’t really matter.

I took out the twenty gray cores from my Item Box and ate them all at once. Each core was about five centimeters in diameter and looked and felt like hard candy—though they were entirely tasteless.

It seemed the metal slimes actually had Physical Attack Resistance, a more advanced version of Physical Attack Mitigation. No wonder they were so strong. When I learned Self-Replication, I immediately understood that slimes likely multiply by dividing once they reach a certain volume. To test this theory, I bit my finger and let my blood flow. The blood wriggled and formed a miniature red version of… me!

It was called Self-Replication, after all, so there was a certain connection between the miniature me and the original me, allowing me to share not only my thoughts but also my vision with it. When I did so and shared what I was seeing back and forth with my smaller self, I found myself in the bizarre situation where, from my perspective, I could see the smaller version of me, and from its perspective, it could see the original me.

It seems impossible to share tactile sensations, but it’s still an extremely useful ability. In fact, it looks like another overpowered one that might give me an unfair advantage. Sure, it’s not an ability that’s going to be instantly effective, but its utility will grow as I invest more time into learning about it. I can easily see how it could greatly simplify tasks like gathering intelligence or securing reinforcements. Plus, I can easily replenish any blood used to create these replicas through my Vampiric Drain ability.

After I ate the metal slimes, I continued my hunt with a light heart, preying on creatures like golden spiders, demonic spiders, and triple-horned horses.

Day Forty-Six

Today, I decided not to go hunting. Instead, I spent my time making gifts for Gobei and the others. Rather than crafting armor, I thought it would be nice to create some cute outfits for them to wear on excursions, so I started by taking their measurements—I had already seen every part of their bodies, but I only had a rough idea of their precise sizes.

I designed their clothes to avoid being too flashy and drawing any unnecessary attention when we visited towns, while also ensuring they weren’t too plain. I used only the most beautiful fabrics from our past plundering. I wove them together with my spider silk threads—and I secretly infused my blood into the inner linings, creating ultra-miniature self-replicas that could alert me in case of emergencies. If my team members were ever captured, my replicas could buy some time and help me locate them quickly.

I presented the team with these outfits, which actually turned out to offer far more protection than ordinary armor. To add a bit of flair, I also crafted accessories like bracelets using materials such as the rosy quartz-like antlers of the red-antlered deer and the carapace of the golden spider. The recipients were delighted, and their joy made all my efforts worthwhile.

I advised Gobei, Redhead Shorty, and the others not to wear the new outfits during hunts or training, as they might get torn. I got the feeling that they were sturdy enough, but it was better to be cautious.

That night, everyone was a bit more passionate.

Day Forty-Seven

I woke up this morning as usual, and from the moment I did, my intuition was hyperactive. It whispered that I should stay hidden in the cave today or I’d regret it. So, I activated the Assassin job class, which enhanced my intrinsic cloaking abilities, and added Presence Concealment for good measure. I decided to relax deep within the cave where the blacksmith, chef sisters, and alchemist were.

While my main body relaxed, I still wanted to put some time into my new hobby of filling in the gaps in my mental map. So, I sent out one of the miniature clones I had created from my blood the day before. This particular clone stood about as tall as my waist and had about half of my overall attributes and abilities. It could act based on specific rules, with a bit of free will on top of that.

The clone had the Fluid Regeneration ability I’d gotten from the metal slime, which allowed it to restore its body to a certain extent as long as it absorbed the necessary amount of moisture, even if it lost limbs or was impaled. Its current combat ability was significantly lower than mine, but it was still reasonably strong and unlikely to be killed. Plus, it could run away quickly if necessary.

I used Metamorphosis to transform it into a form resembling a giant wolf and watched it dash away. Then, as planned, I retreated deeper into the cave.

Time passed as I helped the blacksmith with something she was working on to make things easier for a goblin from the rear support unit, Pleasure. I also experimented with more new recipes with the sisters and analyzed some ancient potions that had somehow not deteriorated over time with the alchemist.

Then it happened.

The goblins were training in what we called the Great Hall, the largest space in our dwelling, which was directly connected to the entrance to the cave. Gobkichi, Gobei, Redhead Shorty, and the others were diligently practicing with their wooden swords when my Aura Sensing detected hostile targets approaching the entrance.

I identified the species as… “Elf.” Among them was the male elf I had previously driven away. Even I couldn’t have guessed they would come back so soon.

I quickly summoned the goblins to the Great Hall to prepare for the encounter. Fortunately, since they’d been training, they were already equipped, so everyone was soon ready.

After double-checking our equipment, we hid in the trenches we had prepared near the Great Hall, waiting in strategic positions to ambush the intruders. I had Gobei and the others continue mining Spirit Stones to mask our presence with the sound of excavation.

Before long, a group of armed elves entered the cave. Moving swiftly and silently, with weapons drawn and radiating cold murderous intent, twenty-five elves advanced. While hobgoblins like Gobkichi might stand a chance against them, I knew it would be difficult for the goblins to win against such formidable foes even if they outnumbered them three to one.

It was clear that the elves were here for a fight, but I decided it was worth capturing them to hear them out anyway. Leaping from the shadows, I simultaneously activated Intimidating Roar and Cry of the Scaled Horse to stun them with a loud, intimidating sound. I followed up with Intimidating Gaze and Evil Eye to paralyze them momentarily and then bound them with spider silk.

After capturing the elves, I lined them up and began questioning the one who claimed to be the next clan leader, slapping his cheek lightly with my crimson spear. According to him, I had wounded his pride too deeply, and he couldn’t let my rejection stand. After two days, his fear had somewhat faded, and he had calmed down enough to think. He couldn’t tolerate the idea of being looked down on by an Ogre, so he’d decided he had to kill me. Driven by his emotions, he brought his elite warriors to launch an attack, only to be easily defeated.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the elves who had to work under such a leader. The two female elves who had been his guards before now stood dejectedly before me. When I talked to them, I learned that the male elf had refused to listen to their advice. Having suffered under incompetent leadership myself, I felt a twinge of sympathy and decided to show some mercy.

First, I told them to consider the aspiring clan leader as already dead. Next, I proposed an exhibition battle against any of the hobgoblins or goblins. Victory would be achieved by rendering the opponent unconscious or forcing them to declare a surrender. However, killing one’s opponent would result in immediate execution—regardless of whose side they were on. Finally, I explained that if the elves won the exhibition battle, they wouldn’t be killed. But if they lost, they would be killed and eaten. In simple terms, that was the deal.

Then I untied all the elves except for the aspiring clan leader.

One particularly loyal elf immediately charged at me with a pre-emptive attack. Still, I swiftly countered by hooking his jaw with my silver arm, shattering the bone and inducing a concussion. As the elf staggered, I grabbed his temple and his broken jaw, then twisted sharply to snap his cervical spine, killing him instantly. With Redhead Shorty and the others sheltering in the back as instructed, I felt free to indulge in the fresh corpse.

The remaining elves trembled, frozen with fear. To motivate them, I taunted them, asking if they really wanted to die pathetically here when a conflict with humans was imminent. Didn’t they want to live? Even I wasn’t convinced by my performance, but it seemed to have some effect, in that they reluctantly readied themselves for the battle.

In summary, of the twenty-three elves who participated, only seventeen survived. Those who faced Gobkichi, Gobmi, Hobsei, and the other elite hobgoblins were not so lucky. Usually, an elf would have a high chance of winning against a hobgoblin, but our rigorous training had elevated Gobkichi and the others beyond the typical hobgoblin’s capabilities.

The elves who lost begged for their lives, but I reminded them that they had come here to kill us in the first place. As such, leniency was not an option. This was war, and they had initiated the conflict, so we killed them. There was no room for sympathy.

The six who lost, all of them men—I had adjusted the matchups to avoid killing women unnecessarily—were summarily consumed:

After devouring the losers, I turned to the remaining elves who were watching in a daze with hollow eyes. I ordered them to place all their magic items in one spot and then bound them again with threads. Cries of despair echoed around the hall as they realized they weren’t being released. But I had never promised their release—only that I wouldn’t kill them. If they’d misunderstood that, it was their own mistake.

Unlike with Redhead Shorty and the others, whom I’d helped out of a mix of altruism and calculated strategy, I had no intention of aiding enemies who’d attacked us. In this case, “mercy” meant survival, not freedom.

The group consisted of ten men and seven women who would be put to use to increase our numbers. To avoid any future resentment, I decided to inject them with a libido-enhancing agent made from my bodily fluids; until they sought out companionship on their own, no one was to touch them. I also made sure they were locked in individual cells to prevent them from relieving themselves with each other—though the men couldn’t bear children, they could still serve the female goblins’ needs. Elves were almost universally attractive, after all.

In truth, their timing was fortuitous. The older male goblins had been growing frustrated with the female goblins, no longer finding satisfaction with them. The intense training regimen had provided a distraction, but as they grew accustomed to it, they were reaching their limit. The elves’ attack, while unexpected, proved to be a beneficial turn of events.

If anyone is about to call me cruel, they should remember who exactly initiated this conflict. The elves tried to kill us and lost. Are we expected to release our captives unscathed after being attacked? That’s unreasonable. It’s like being blamed for hitting someone in self-defense after being unjustly struck. In this world, there are no protections for prisoners, so my actions were justified. Any objections could be chalked up to mere personal grievance.

I’m creating relatively humane rules. But elves are just too valuable to be wasted.

So, we injected the remaining elves with the aphrodisiac and watched as they writhed in desire. The elf leader tried to say something, but I ignored him. After leading the seventeen elves to the cells, I was left alone with the leader, on whom I decided to perform some experiments. I used him to practice new torture techniques while giving a lecture on humanoid weak points. Then, naturally, I ate him.

Due to the number of elves I consumed and the unique capabilities they each had, I gained a lot of good abilities. In fact, they were significant enough for me to offer a small prayer to Buddha for their souls.

Day Forty-Eight

I went hunting and feasted on kobolds, demonic spiders, hind bears, and golden spiders. It was a peaceful and uneventful day for a change.

Day Forty-Nine

When I woke up, Gobkichi had evolved into a Greater Ogre.

Given that he had recently been able to kill hind bears single-handedly, this wasn’t too surprising. But it was interesting that he evolved into a variant. His skin turned a dark metallic red, signifying Divine Protection in the flame attribute, similar to what had protected the red bear. According to Gobkichi, he’d gained the Blessing of the Demigod of Flame. To test him, I asked him to breathe fire. Sure enough, he could produce a flame similar to that of a flamethrower, just like the red bear could.

Gobkichi likely evolved into this particular variant because he frequently used weapons with the fire attribute, like the Blazing Crescent Axe, which was embedded with a Fire Spirit Stone, as well as another of Velvet’s treasures: a massive double-edged battle axe named the Demonic Flame Decapitating Axe.

His skin, now the color of reddened copper, also had a metallic sheen. According to Gobjii, who somehow appeared beside us as I took in Gobkichi’s new evolution, he might possess both the Blessing of the Demigod of Flame and the Blessing of the Demigod of Warfare. This proved to be true, as when I lightly tapped his arm, I felt a solid, metallic resistance.

“Is having two blessings impressive?” I asked Gobjii.

“It’s rare, but not as extraordinary as you, lad,” he replied.

Oh, well, thanks for that.

Later, during our morning training, Gobkichi, wearing a friendly-yet-fierce grin that seemed almost endearing for an Ogre, suggested we spar. So, we did.

My impression? Gobkichi has grown incredibly strong.

Standing about two hundred and eighty centimeters tall, he was now roughly thirty centimeters taller than me. His coppery skin and muscular build mean that his strength and endurance surpassed mine in terms of raw physical attributes, without considering abilities. Even though my own physical capabilities had improved thanks to Absorption—plus the fact of my being a rare variant—I found myself outmatched by Gobkichi when it came down to purely combat-focused abilities. While my stats are distributed evenly across strength, stamina, endurance, and intelligence, Gobkichi has focused all his training on combat-related attributes, making him a mighty warrior. The difference in muscle mass alone is a huge indicator.

My martial arts skills and combat techniques still gave me the upper hand, though, and I won our sparring match. Still, it was a close call. Gobkichi had become a respected rival.

After the match, we shook hands firmly and exchanged a look that spoke volumes. To think that Gobkichi, whom I had initially taken in as a disposable gofer, had grown to this extent was beyond my expectations. He had now not only taken the position of my right-hand man, but had also become an indispensable, dear friend.

To celebrate Gobkichi’s rank-up, I decided to upgrade his equipment. His primary weapon remained the same: the Demonic Flame Decapitating Axe. The axe weighed several dozen kilos and had been too heavy for him to wield with one hand as a hobgoblin, but now, he could handle it with one hand, allowing him to use a shield again.

So, I gave him a shield called the Black Oni’s Butcher Board, a massive, thick tower shield made of black cast iron. Like the axe, it was one of Velvet’s magical items and was classified as an Ancient-grade relic. Its abilities included Weight Reduction, Impenetrable, and Impact Reflection, making it a highly reliable piece of equipment. With Gobkichi wielding that, even I would struggle to break through his defenses.

I customized his armor to fit his new form, using my threads and materials from the hind bear he hunted, along with parts from some Unique-grade metal armor from Velvet’s Vault. The result was an awe-inspiring sight, to say the least.

Gobkichi effortlessly wielded the massive, double-edged battle axe in one hand like it was nothing more than a mere branch, handling it with the skill of a seasoned warrior. The large, sturdy black tower shield covered three-quarters of his massive body, capable of blocking any attack. Supplementing these were a few other magic items and an overcoat made from the durable hide of the hind bear, mixed with magic armor. If I were human, I would definitely not want to encounter such a daunting presence.

Fully equipped, Gobkichi’s intimidating aura far surpassed mine when I first became an Ogre. Actually, even accounting for the equipment, his presence was overwhelming, a heavily armed juggernaut of a Greater Ogre. Seeing him up close, even I had to look up to meet his eyes.

For the rest of the day, I spent my time handling internal chores. The elves were still in their cells, resisting their desires. It seems their pride is stronger than their biological urges, or perhaps their species naturally has weaker desires, or maybe both.

And then there’s Gobjii, constantly coming by with lust written all over his face… Really, I wish he wouldn’t.

Day Fifty

Last night, I had a bizarre dream. I vaguely recalled an old man who seemed familiar saying things like “please… forgive…” and “I beg you… please…” and something that sounded like “this is… a gift…”

As time passed after I woke up, the details faded away just like with any other dream, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been incredibly important, like a flag that something significant was about to happen—or had already happened.

I tilted my head, trying to recall the specifics, but it was no use. It felt like a thin mist was clouding over my memory. And it wasn’t just that I couldn’t remember—it felt like I was being prevented from remembering, leaving me with a prickling sense of unease.

I decided to let it go for the time being. I shifted my focus and spent the morning sparring with Gobkichi, then we went hunting in the afternoon with Gobmi. I paired up alone with her for a couple of hours, too, and we even shared a little playful moment outside.

Later, I spent some time observing the goblins in the support unit, Pleasure, where they were learning smithing and cooking. The day ended with everyone having a good time, and I went to bed, hoping to sleep soundly.

Wait a second… Right before I fall asleep, I think I saw something pop up… A question lingered in my mind, but sleep overtook me before I could examine it further.

Day Fifty-One

When I woke up this morning, I found that our number of hobgoblins had increased by four, bringing the grand total to twelve. Among the newbies, one had the potential to be a mage, and another had the aptitude to become a cleric.

I have been the one healing any major injuries until now, so having another cleric was honestly a huge relief. In cases where we might have a large number of injured at once, I might not be able to treat everyone in time. Thus, I established a new medical unit called Prayer, with Hobji, the hobgoblin cleric, as its captain. At the moment, Hobji was the only member of the new medical unit, but I had high hopes that others might follow his lead and also become clerics.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t the number of hobgoblins a bit low?” but my count was accurate with Gobmi, Gobei, Hobsato, and the five slaves/subordinates, which made eight. Adding the four new hobgoblins brought the total to twelve—simple math.

Hobsei, whom I didn’t mention by name just now, had also evolved upon waking up today. According to her, it was something that hadn’t happened in years. The species Hobsei evolved into was known as a Half-Spell Lord, which is part of the Demon Lord lineage. Unlike the usual route from hobgoblin to Ogre, this is a rare path where mage-type monsters can specialize in magic.

It suited Hobsei, who has always excelled in magic. Becoming a species that played to her strengths was a great benefit. While her physical abilities were going to be significantly lower compared to those of other Demon Lords, magic is primarily a long-range technique meant to overpower enemies from a distance anyway, so this specialization won’t be a problem for her.

Hobsei now appeared almost human, except for two small horns on her forehead. She’s the only Half-Spell Lord I’ve seen, so there might be individual differences from creature to creature, but her apparent age seemed to be in her early to late twenties. She was more of an intellectual beauty, like the alchemist, both of whom would look great in a suit.

Her features now included pale, almost lifeless skin, intelligent green eyes with a slight upward tilt at the corners, and a round sapphire-like gem about three centimeters in diameter embedded between her horns. She has long gray hair that reaches her waist and distinctive black tattoos on her forearms, similar to mine but still subtly different. Her height seemed to be around one hundred and eighty centimeters.

According to her, the tattoos on her arms aren’t actually supposed to be there, and she doesn’t know why they appeared. However, she says she feels a surge of power coming from them, so she doesn’t mind it. When I asked if she had any Divine Protection like Gobkichi, she said she didn’t possess anything of the sort.

Whew, the whole thing was a big mystery. I hoped it would eventually be explained.

Gobjii chimed in that if a race name has “Half” before it, it means that its overall specs are inferior to the full species—in this case, the Spell Lord. I already suspected as much just by the name. Think of it as the relationship between a hobgoblin and an Ogre. It signified the step before becoming a full-fledged species. Apparently, if Hobsei Existence Evolved again, she’d officially become a Spell Lord.

After all that explaining, I wanted to check how much Hobsei’s abilities had improved since becoming a Half-Spell Lord, so we went outside where she could demonstrate her magic. It was impressive—no, it was astonishing.

Among the spells Hobsei could use, there was one classified as second-tier Flame magic called Shal Dai Dilou, the Infernal Storm.

Since I have mentioned first-tier spells a few times, this is probably a good opportunity to explain the tier system in more detail. Magic is generally ranked from the lowest first tier to the highest tenth tier based on activation difficulty, destructive power, spell release level restrictions, and so on. The gods supposedly set these ten ranks. As you might have noticed from abilities like “Blessing of the Demigod of Something-or-Other,” there exist beings in this world that stand a level above us. There are even places in the world where you can meet these gods, called Sanctuaries.

Let’s put the gods aside for now and return to the magic. The second-tier Flame spell, Shal Dai Dilou, the Infernal Storm that Hobsei used, was second from the bottom in a ten-tier ranking system. But it would be a mistake to assume that meant it was simple and weak. Even first-tier spells can easily kill multiple people at once; a single fireball from the first-tier Flame magic Shal Ro, the Flaming Disaster, can reduce several humans to ash.

By the way, the third-tier Lightning magic that hit me in the face before was powerful enough to obliterate monsters as strong as Ogres under normal circumstances. I didn’t get vaporized because my abilities drastically reduced the spell’s power, but it still hurt a lot.

Moreover, if you can handle fifth-tier magic, it’s said you can burn down an entire town on your own. To reach that level would indeed make someone a one-man monster army. Redhead Shorty said she’d heard of a few individuals who could do the same or even more, though only through stories.

I wonder what kind of abilities I could gain by eating such people? The high wizard adventurer I killed and ate could only use up to third-tier magic, so just imagining it got me all excited. Whether I’d ever have such an opportunity is uncertain, but there’s no harm in dreaming.

Returning to Shal Dai Dilou, the Infernal Storm, the spell Hobsei once used was a destruction spell with a wide area of effect that fired ten-centimeter fireballs in a volley of five shots. Before, Hobsei had needed considerable concentration and a long incantation time to activate it. Once used, she couldn’t cast magic properly for several days due to the severe adverse side effects.

Now that she had ranked up, the spell had transformed into something incomparable to its past version. The incantation time required to activate Shal Dai Dilou had been reduced to about a fifth of what it used to be. The fireballs she launched had increased in size to thirty-five centimeters in diameter, and the number to twenty shots. Moreover, she felt hardly any fatigue from casting it and was left with plenty of mana, saying she could cast it twenty more times without the backlash she used to experience. She also said she could now handle even more powerful spells too. It truly spoke to the specialization of her species in magic.

By the way, she shot all the fireballs into the sky when she was showing us what she could do. Hitting the ground would have made cleanup a huge pain, so this was the only option. Even so, the fact that she was still considered a mere “half” made me wonder just how powerful the spells of a full-fledged Spell Lord could be. The lack of information in this world is unsettling; it makes it impossible to know the limits.

To celebrate their ranking up, I gave each of the four hobgoblins two magic items, as I had done before. For Hobsei, I gifted one of Velvet’s legacies: a Divine Relic Artifact, a robe of Ancient Relic rank called Vestments of Blessed Remains. This robe, made from silver, gold threads, and red sacred burial cloth, had several exceptional effects, including Internal Mana Amplification and Physical and Magical Defense.

Additionally, I gifted Hobsei the Aranotte Staff, a magic staff adorned with a red magical gemstone. It had previously been owned by the high wizard adventurer I killed and ate in Velvet’s dungeon. Along with that, I gave her a bracelet-type magic item with storage capabilities for staves and small tools, similar to the one I had given Gobkichi.

The weapons Hobsei had used before—the magic staff and gray robe—were handed down to the two mage apprentices in her unit.

Now, let me share some recent observations. It seemed that the growth rate—or perhaps the ability to absorb experience—of my goblin peers has been astonishingly high. This is evident from the unprecedented number of hobgoblins who have evolved before we’ve even ventured outside the forest.

Gobjii mentioned before that it typically takes years for a goblin to evolve into a Hobgoblin. However, our current settlement has experienced an unusually high number of evolutions. I’m reasonably sure that I’m the cause of this phenomenon. After some contemplation, I’d hypothesize that their living conditions significantly influence the growth rate of goblins during the first month or so after birth. Given that goblins physically mature quickly as a species, their developmental peak is likely much sooner than for other creatures. The idea is to maximize growth during this crucial period.

If a goblin kills and consumes numerous creatures of equal or greater strength and undergoes relentless training from birth—all of which is atypical for ordinary goblins—its growth rate can drastically increase. For instance, if the growth rate of a regular goblin is one, then a goblin that undergoes rigorous training and constantly consumes its enemies might have a growth rate of ten. Although my hypothesis lacks concrete evidence, it seemed highly plausible. There was really no other reasonable explanation for the phenomenon we’ve been observing.

My Overlord’s Command ability also likely plays a significant role. It’s an ability that enhances my subordinates' capabilities, as I mentioned before. By carefully selecting and assigning individuals to various units based on their personality traits and abilities, I can ensure that they’re best suited to their roles. This probably maximizes the effectiveness of Overlord’s Command, making it easier for my subordinates to become stronger.

In any case, having stronger comrades is undoubtedly a positive development, even if the exact mechanics remain unclear. I’ll leave this topic here for now. The point is, now that some of the goblins in the community have ranked up to ogres, we’ll need to investigate what the future holds for them, particularly regarding their lifespan. If Ogres have shorter lifespans than goblins, for example, that’d be a bitter pill to swallow indeed.

Anyway, regarding the seventeen captive Elves: Out of the ten men, three succumbed to carnal desires, and one out of the seven women did as well. I already had Gobmi and the others, but I still took it upon myself to be the elf woman’s first partner, out of curiosity about elven physiology.

I did my best to be considerate and ensure she felt as little pain as possible. Nonetheless, it seemed I caused her to faint repeatedly. It was… quite the experience, to say the least. I won’t elaborate on exactly what made it so intense, nor will I claim it was simply because she was a beautiful, willing partner.

Importantly, I avoided group activities in that arena and took a one-on-one approach instead. And although one might think that proud elves would participate reluctantly in such things, they moaned with apparent delight, likely the result of all their pent-up arousal. Seeing them happy made me feel that there was no need for continued external interference. They might even consider this fate and resign themselves to it.

I’ve instructed everyone to treat the elves with care. In fact, their living conditions are better than those of the lower-ranking goblins, to make sure they don’t suffer the same fate as the previous women who had ended up battered and dead. I’ve particularly emphasized this to Gobjii, given his history, and he’s been proactive in ensuring their well-being.

Lastly, let’s talk about the Kin of ■■■ ability I woke up with. I have no clue how to use it or what effects it has. The obscured letters make it impossible even to guess. It leaves me wanting to ask someone for guidance. The word “kin” makes me assume it has something to do with a close connection I have to something or someone…

Usually, I understand how to use the abilities I learn, but this one seems too entrenched in rules about this world that I’m not yet familiar with, leaving me clueless. For now, I’ll put off trying to decipher it.

Day Fifty-Two

Gobkichi and I went hunting again this morning. By evening, we had secured a substantial haul, including armored raccoon dogs and triple-horned horses. If I got the chef sisters to cook this up, we’d have a delicious meal tonight.

Before that could happen, we encountered some goblins on our way back. They weren’t unfamiliar faces; they were six of the older goblins who used to be among the higher ranks. However, they’ve since been outpaced by the younger goblins who showed potential through training, ultimately surpassing the older ones.

Basically, these older goblins couldn’t keep up with the training and dropped out. But that’s not relevant now.

Seeing them, I was about to ask, “What are you doing here?” but I noticed they seemed anxious. I observed them silently. Perhaps realizing they couldn’t hide it anymore, or maybe they couldn’t bear the tension, the most skilled among them spoke up.

He said they couldn’t follow me anymore. It was hard enough that they could no longer forcibly take women as they used to, but the daily training was unbearably harsh. They’d been enduring it, hoping for some opportunity to excel, but capturing the elven women had made it impossible for them to hold on. They couldn’t stand the fact that they would never get to touch the exquisite bodies of the elven women, while others could because they were stronger. They said it was like being tantalized with a gourmet meal they could never taste. So, they had decided to leave.

They were essentially defecting from the group. After I said as much, they fell silent, trembling. Perhaps they thought they would be killed. But to me, this was nothing out of the ordinary. These goblins were no longer necessary to keep around if they couldn’t comply anyway. I might intervene if it were Gobkichi or someone of his caliber trying to leave, but not for guys like these. My rules are strict, but anyone is free to leave if they don’t like them.

If someone broke my rules and then tried to escape, I would chase them down and kill them. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case here, and since I’ve been more focused on improving individual abilities than increasing numbers, this really wasn’t a big deal.

This approach is better than adding more useless burdens to our community; it’s more beneficial to consider adding capable allies for the future. Therefore, I had no intention of forcibly keeping those who had already given up. I was even willing to lend a hand to those who lacked natural talent but still tried to put in the effort, but these six goblins had already chosen to give up and leave. I wouldn’t stop them, nor would I kill them here.

Still, I needed to take some measures to ensure that no information leaked. Observing the older goblins, who were trembling and looking up at me with tense expressions, I noted that their current equipment was all standard gear that I had distributed—the lowest rank, or one step above. They hadn’t stolen the weapons in the armory, which included some rare items, likely because they thought they would be killed if they did. They were right.

Returning to the matter at hand, while their equipment was decent for goblins, it was clear that with their lackluster skill, they would find it difficult to survive without the advantage of numbers. So, I decided that it would be kind to send them off with a parting gift.

From my item box, I took out six knives. These knives were among the items Velvet left behind. The blades were made of blue silver—identified as mithril, a magical metal. These knives were far too luxurious for mere goblins to possess. Although they lacked any special abilities, their sharpness was certainly unmatched by the steel short swords the goblins currently carried. To illustrate my point, a mithril blade could easily cut through a steel short sword without chipping.

Mithril knives, crafted using techniques exclusive to elves, are rare even among adventurers. To demonstrate the sharpness of the mithril blade, I shallowly cut my own fingertip and let a few drops of blood fall before sheathing the knife again and handing the whole set over to the goblins.

The older goblins stood there, dumbfounded. With a wry smile, Gobkichi and I turned and headed home, never looking back at those who had chosen to leave. Perhaps we would encounter them again if fate allowed, but there was a high probability that adventurers would kill them for those mithril knives. It’s a common story that treasures beyond one’s means invite ruin. I could only hope they would do their best in the future.

The key point this time was the blood I had shed.

Day Fifty-Three

Today, while exploring uncharted areas alone, I found an orc for the first time in a while. I hadn’t seen one since we secured our base. The familiar pig face brought back memories, and the taste of orc meat surfaced in my mind.

So naturally, I decided to hunt and eat the orc. As I got closer, I noticed something I hadn’t seen from a distance—the orc was dragging the body of a young human male, about twenty years old, with a caved-in skull. The youth wore tattered leather armor, was covered in blood and wounds, and had an empty scabbard at his waist.

Piecing together the information, it seemed an adventurer had entered the forest, only to be killed by the orc, which was now taking the body back. It was a classic case of survival of the fittest. I prayed for the soul of the youth who had become food due to his weakness, then launched a merciless attack on the orc that still hadn’t noticed me.

Approaching from behind, I killed the orc with a single blow and stored its body in my item box. Not wanting to leave the young man’s body abandoned, I ate his heart and head before burning the rest.

Apparently, the youth was a Monster Tamer. However, given that a mere orc killed him, his talent must have been sorely lacking. Even if one has a job, factors like talent and level are crucial.

Upon my return, I found that two more males and two more females among the captured elves had succumbed to their desires. Although I hadn’t intended to participate this time, an unspoken rule seemed to have formed that the top-ranked member of the community should go first, so I went along with it. Having already experienced an elf once, it wasn’t as intense as the first time.

Day Fifty-Four

After finishing the morning training, I assigned everyone roles, such as gathering food and setting up the venue, because I wanted to hold a feast. The inspiration came from last night when the alchemist had a breakthrough.

Last night, the alchemist managed to create a simple alcoholic beverage from fruit and nuts. It wasn’t the best in terms of taste, but it was definitely drinkable and could be called liquor. This was the first time I’d had any since sending off Velvet and Returner. A feast was absolutely called for.

So, this evening, we laid out a variety of dishes and served alcohol. There wasn’t enough to drink to our heart’s content, but it was sufficient.

Yes, it was quite a good day.

Day Fifty-Five

During last night’s feast, I was asked about the goblins who had left. I explained the situation and told everyone that if anyone else wanted to leave, they could do so at any time, but that they should report it to me first so I could give them a parting gift.

No one stepped forward.

Excellent.

Today, I quickly finished adjusting the ranks that had changed due to the departing goblins and went out hunting. Upon returning, I spent time on a project I had been considering for some time.

Day Fifty-Six

In the morning, I completed the communication devices I had been working on throughout the night. For those who might not understand what I’m talking about, here’s a summary of the production process:

First, I used one of Velvet’s relics, a chunk of mithril, and absorbed it with my silver arm’s Adaptation ability. Next, I diluted the absorbed mithril and extruded it from my fingertips to create blue-silver ear cuffs. Once that was done, I made a small cut on my fingertip and let a few drops of blood flow, generating a small, red miniature version of me. I used this clone as a gemstone for decoration and embedded it into the silvery-blue ear cuffs. Finally, I enchanted the ear cuffs, completing the communication devices.

In essence, it was a communication method that utilized the thought-sharing feature of the Self-Replication ability. According to what I had heard from Redhead Shorty and the others, communication devices were not yet widely available in this world. Therefore, I expected this rapid information-sharing method to yield astonishing results. However, enchanting the devices had taken more effort than I had anticipated. Although the material was robust and didn’t break, it was troublesome just how low the success rate was for adding three effects to each item.

After much effort, I distributed the completed ear cuff communicators to everyone. These communicators were designed to fuse with the flesh upon attachment, making them impossible to remove without cutting the flesh, unless I did it myself. I explained that while wearing them, they would continuously activate three abilities: Sustainable Regeneration, Basic Strength Boost, and Basic Speed Enhancement.

I made individual comfort adjustments based on everyone’s feedback. Once finished, I was exhausted and went to sleep. I woke up in the evening, went hunting for a bit, and returned to bed. Unable to sleep after sleeping too much during the day, I invited Gobmi and the others over, and it turned into a fun, passionate night.

Day Fifty-Seven

I wanted a pet. Since I had the Monster Tamer job unlocked, I thought I should put it to use. So, I set out with four goblins to capture one. Our first target was a pack of dark wolves. Being wolves, I figured they could become great companions like dogs if properly tamed. Plus, given their monstrous nature, they would have considerable power and could be used as mounts for long-distance travel.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly as planned; we couldn’t find any dark wolves. Although we captured five triple-horned horses and three hind bears, failing to achieve our primary goal was somewhat frustrating.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised by Gobei’s performance. With her trusty pickaxe—one of Velvet’s relics, a rare item with the simple enhancement of Durability—she managed to overwhelm a triple-horned horse single-handedly. It seemed the mining skills she’d honed as a hobby could come in handy like this too. The speed and power of her downward strike were incredible. The giant body of the triple-horned horse, hit directly on the head, had its horn snapped off at the base, causing the beast to spin halfway around and crash to the ground on its back. It was undoubtedly an unexpected spectacle.

Although often overshadowed by Gobkichi and Gobmi, Gobei truly held her own as one of the top four goblins of our generation. This battle made it clear that, in this world, while levels were important, the skill to channel power through techniques that utilize the legs, hips, and the entire body was just as crucial.

The triple-horned horse that Gobei had pummeled into submission was tamed by me using the Monster Tamer job. Known as creating a familiar, it seemed the process rewired part of the brain. A familiar could recognize up to two masters with whom it could communicate via telepathy, albeit in a limited manner. This was extremely convenient. The horse grew fond of Gobei next, so it became her personal familiar.

Gobmi and Hobsato, both still hobgoblins, also tamed triple-horned horses. Gobkichi, Hobsei, and I each took a hind bear as our familiars. The remaining triple-horned horse was assigned to the vice-captain of Gobkichi’s Rage unit, who had shown the most aptitude.

In the evening, three male and two female elves fell under our sway again, repeating the previous behaviors. Overall, it was a rather productive day.

Day Fifty-Eight

For the second day in a row, I went out in search of the dark wolf, this time alone. Gobkichi and the others were busy training with their newly acquired familiars.

Due to my past life experiences, I had managed to quickly master riding, though the ability to communicate with the familiars also helped significantly. To make riding easier, I had crafted reins, saddles, and stirrups from spider silk and leather. Once Gobkichi and the others got used to them, they would find riding more comfortable. Still, the sight of an armed Ogre riding a gray bear was quite an impressive rig. I wondered what would happen if we armored the hind bears as well. It seemed like an exciting prospect.

Today, my Aura Sensing picked up the scent of dark wolves within its range. As a result, I successfully captured eight dark wolves and one alpha dark wolf. The speed, stamina, and maneuverability of the dark wolves were impressive, though not quite on par with the hind bear. I hadn’t anticipated that the hind bear, with its massive size, would be able to weave through the trees with such agility.

Initially, the dark wolves were defiant, baring their fangs and resisting capture. However, when I glared at them while activating my various dominance abilities, they quickly turned submissive, wagging their tails like friendly dogs. It was somewhat endearing.

Afterward, I manipulated their brains to turn them into my familiars, as I had done before, and then returned to the base. I assigned the eight dark wolves to Hobsato’s lightly armed Hatred unit. Although the goblins struggled to ride them initially, just like Gobkichi and the others, they would need to persevere for the sake of the future.

As for me, I spent time bonding with Jiro, my hind bear. Meanwhile, Saburo, the alpha dark wolf, became my loyal companion. Both animals turned out to be quite adorable, which was a source of comfort. The sight of Redhead Shorty and the alchemist looking so content while petting them was a far cry from their former ferocity.

Moving forward, I planned to increase the number of familiars so they could serve as bodyguards for the blacksmiths. As for the remaining elves, two more men and two women finally succumbed. The last to resist were the two former guards. I handled them as gently as the others… Okay, perhaps I was a bit rougher with them.

Day Fifty-Nine

Today, Redhead Shorty and I rode on Jiro while Saburo walked beside us as we explored the uncharted parts of the forest. Recently, Redhead Shorty had improved her combat skills, but since she hadn’t killed any creatures herself, she hadn’t gained much experience.

In other words, her level hadn’t increased. While her strength had improved slightly through daily training, it was minimal compared to the benefits of genuinely leveling up. Currently, Redhead Shorty was at Level 18. She had gained some levels during the hind bear hunt, but frankly, she was still too weak.

With her current level of enhancement, her physical capabilities were even inferior to those of an ordinary goblin. This was why, while the surrounding goblins hunted daily and improved their levels and stats through the mysterious powers of the world, Redhead Shorty had reached the point where she couldn’t win against any of them, regardless of her skill with techniques and tricks.

To address this issue, today’s hunting expedition was meant to help her level up. I didn’t provide Redhead Shorty with any extraordinary equipment. Giving her powerful weapons while she was still inexperienced could have made her overestimate her abilities. Therefore, she was equipped only with standard gear.

Her primary weapon was a steel kukri knife. As her secondary weapons, she had three ring daggers. For defense, she carried a round shield reinforced with carapace. These were all standard-issue weapons for goblin infantry, classified as Normal grade. Her armor consisted of casual clothes made from hind bear fur and my thread, topped with a breastplate and a gray cloak. She also wore steel gauntlets on her forearms, steel cuisses on her thighs, steel poleyns on her knees, steel greaves on her shins, and steel sabatons on her feet. Despite what it looked like, I had enchanted each piece to reduce its weight, so it wasn’t all that heavy. As a result, Redhead Shorty’s movements were nimble.

Her first target was an armored raccoon dog. Although she struggled a bit with its shell defenses, she eventually managed to take it down, possibly due to the combat bonuses from her Warrior job or the results of her training, or perhaps both. She succeeded in dismembering the armored raccoon dog, and I fed its meat to Saburo.

Her next prey was a group of three night vipers. She was slightly intimidated by their fierce gaze but maintained her composure. She expertly observed their movements, defended herself with her round shield, and eventually beheaded them. Jiro enjoyed the viper meat.

After that, she faced three kobolds. I quickly captured two of them with my threads, creating a one-on-one situation for Redhead Shorty. The remaining kobold, seeing no escape, targeted Redhead Shorty and engaged her head-on. Although the kobold had the advantage in physical strength as a monster, Redhead Shorty’s combat skills, honed through daily training with the goblins, bridged the gap. She dodged and blocked the kobold’s attacks and, without sustaining serious injuries, ultimately decapitated it.

After a short break to recover her strength, I confirmed that Redhead Shorty had regained enough stamina for the next step. I released one of the captured kobolds—not to set it free, but to fight her. This time, she sustained some minor injuries but managed to cut her enemy down again.

With one last kobold remaining, I decided to interrogate it to find out the location of the kobold settlement. It divulged the information under threat of death. I might visit the settlement someday. Meanwhile, Redhead Shorty, having somewhat recovered her strength naturally, asked for the next fight. I released the last kobold.

This final kobold put up a better fight than the previous two, but it ultimately fell to Redhead Shorty’s sharpest strike of the day, which severed its head. After fully healing her injuries and exhaustion, I fed Jiro and Saburo an entire kobold each.

As I was about to munch on the last kobold myself, Redhead Shorty expressed a desire to try kobold meat too. We decided to cook it as yakiniku and ate it together. I couldn’t help but be impressed by her adaptability. The fact that she no longer hesitated to eat monster meat was remarkable.

While I might not be one to talk about eating habits—being able to eat almost anything, from raw meat to metal—I realized that having someone like Redhead Shorty, with her level of grit, was beneficial.

As I was contemplating our next target, Redhead Shorty tugged at my sleeve. When I looked down, I noticed her usually sapphire-blue eyes had turned a dull red. Moreover, her pupils, which were now square and black, resembled those of a monster—but felt different, emitting a strange aloof chill rather than malice. It seemed she had acquired a new job unlock, possibly due to consuming the kobold or training with the goblins. I put my thoughts aside and listened to what she had to say.

Redhead Shorty’s new job was called Monster-Eater Warrior / Noir Soldier. It was said that if a Warrior with a high affinity for monsters consumed the meat of a monster they had killed themselves, they could gain this rare job under certain conditions. This was likely due to my influence. I felt no regret about it.

With this new job, Redhead Shorty’s combat abilities soared. The Noir Soldier job required regular consumption of monster parts, such as meat or blood, to avoid rapid physical decline and eventual death. Still, the boost in combat capabilities was remarkable and well worth it.

Laughing as she deftly dodged the twin-horned attack of a red-antlered deer, then kicking its side to lift its massive body and cleanly severing its thick, muscular neck with her kukri, Redhead Shorty looked oddly endearing. We collected the antlers and shared the meat.

We continued hunting various creatures. At dusk, we took a slight detour before heading back. It was confirmed that Redhead Shorty’s new job had significantly boosted her abilities, especially when she consumed something from my body. This suggested that the stronger the monster she consumed, the greater her power would grow—likely, but not definitively.

For now, I’ll keep what she consumed of mine a secret.

During today’s hunt, Redhead Shorty’s level soared to 34, showing a remarkable leap in her abilities.

Day Sixty

My Aura Sensing picked up something. Despite it being two in the morning, someone seemed way too energetic for this hour.

Lately, my Aura Sensing had expanded significantly, which meant that keeping it constantly active was quite troublesome, especially since it could wake me up even while sleeping, like this time. To avoid this, I set it only to alert me when detecting hostile entities. Despite it being the middle of the night, the sheer number of entities I detected was unusual.

For a moment, I wondered if humans were attacking, but quickly dismissed the idea. The dark forest at night was the domain of monsters, an environment far too disadvantageous for humans to launch an assault. So, what could it be? The answer was immediately clear: kobolds. The names of the detected entities appeared on my mental map.

I momentarily thought the kobolds had come for revenge, but it seemed unlikely. Thirty-eight blue dots were chasing fifty-three red dots representing kobolds. Additionally, there was a single slightly larger gray dot farther away. The same color indicated the same species, so three different species were present.

While the identities of the blue and gray dots were unclear, one thing was sure: the number of kobolds was steadily reducing upon encountering the blue dots. It seemed the kobolds were under attack. Usually, this wouldn’t concern me, but the kobolds were heading straight for our cave and showed no sign of stopping.

I roused everyone and prepared for a potential confrontation. While the kobolds could be easily dealt with at any time, the current threat was the entities represented by the blue and gray dots. Soon, the number of kobolds had decreased to thirty-six. They rushed into the cave with desperate expressions. Unlike the kobolds I had previously eaten, there were females, children, and elders among them. The armed male kobolds were at the rear, desperately holding off the blue dots—skeleton soldiers equipped with swords, shields, and armor.

For a moment, I was speechless.

I hadn’t seen a single one in the dungeon thanks to Returner, so this was my first time seeing them in person, but these skeleton soldiers had to be the same kind of magical creatures guarding Velvet’s Vault.

Why are they here? Oh, one of the kobolds just got cut down. Seems like I don’t have much time to think.

I gave orders through my communication ear cuff, and crossbow bolts were fired as a preemptive strike into the group of skeletons. It slowed them down a bit but didn’t do much damage. Skeletons are already hard to hit because they lack any flesh, and even when the bolts did hit, they couldn’t break the bones. Instead, the projectiles bounced harmlessly off the unusually tough skeletons. They must have had some ability protecting them.

Realizing that crossbows were ineffective, I had the long-range Regret attack unit cease fire. I instructed them, along with the Pleasure support unit, to guide the fleeing kobolds to the cells and have Gobjii provide them with basic medical treatment. They’d be in the way otherwise. Plus, it served as a watch measure.

Long-range attacks wouldn’t work, so I sent in the Rage and Hatred units, along with the dark wolves. Swords struggled to break the skeletons’ bones initially, making the battle unexpectedly challenging. But then Hobsato, using quick thinking, crushed the bones with the sword hilt. That changed everything. We’d discovered that while skeletons had resistance to slashing attacks, they were vulnerable to blunt force.

I quickly relayed this information. With that knowledge, the tide of battle quickly shifted, and we began to defeat the skeletons at a much faster pace.

We could have managed even without knowing their weakness, though. Gobkichi’s appearance, roaring and charging with his massive battle-axe and tower shield, was like a moving fortress. A thunderous sound and clouds of dust followed him as he plowed through the skeletons, crushing them in his path—a strangely satisfying sight.

Gobei, still equipped with a pickaxe, delivered what could only be called a fatal blow. Her overhead swing smashed the skull with a single strike, and the force continued down to shatter the sacrum. Gobmi’s relentless headshots caused cracks to spread, finally shattering the skeleton soldiers. Hobsei’s magic then incinerated them, reducing them to ashes. Using wide-area destruction spells risked hitting our allies, but with her evolution enhancing all her magic, even her basic spells were more powerful than ever.

Naturally, I was also more than capable of handling these skeletons. Unlike the kobolds, we had plenty of countermeasures. There was no way we could lose against this level of skeleton soldiers.

With the additional support of our familiars—the hind bears and triple-horned horses charging into battle at our command—we had more than enough strength to be getting on with. I thought I might not even need to step in. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case. The number of skeletons didn’t seem to be decreasing. Inside the cave, skeletons crumbled into heaps of bones, forming white piles. Yet, more and more kept pouring in from the entrance as if there was an endless supply.

I recalled what Returner had told me: “Greater skeletons, higher-tier versions of skeleton soldiers, can create more skeleton soldiers. By absorbing the natural mana that settles in the darkness, they can produce an almost infinite number of skeletons.”

She had finished with a boast: “Master Velvet was a genius who could do what ordinary people couldn’t.” Now that I understood the situation, I considered going out to destroy the source immediately. However, I realized that defeating skeletons was a way to earn experience, so I held back. This situation was perfect for my comrades to level up.

Thus, our sudden midnight experience-gathering festival began. The grey dot outside—likely the greater skeleton generating the others—hadn’t moved, which meant the threat level was low for now. Initially, I worried someone might get killed by the skeletons. But as time passed, everyone adapted to the combat, and injuries became rare. To prevent exhaustion-related accidents, we took turns in the battle, ensuring everyone had a chance to rest.

The long-range attack unit and the rear support unit found that smashing the skeletons with blunt weapons made them relatively easy to destroy. I had them work in pairs, ensuring each skeleton was taken down methodically. While watching the battle, I casually munched on the heaps of bones. Redhead Shorty, who had joined me after taking a break from fighting, munched on her own supply of bones beside me.

The sound of roars and swords clashing had awakened the blacksmith, the chef sisters, and the alchemist. I asked them if these white bones could be used as materials for something. They told me that these high-quality bones were quite rare and valuable, so we decided to move a significant amount to a secure location for storage. If sold in the right place, they could fetch a good price. I had high hopes that this could become a future source of funds. Having someone with the job of Peddler was certainly reliable when it came to business matters.

Given the sheer number of skeletons, I was able to secure many abilities. Although there were some negative ones mixed in, they wouldn’t pose a problem as long as I didn’t activate them.

Approximately four hours had passed since the experience-gathering began.

It was getting close to dawn, and everyone had gained a substantial amount of experience and significantly leveled up, so it was about time to wrap up this impromptu event. Besides, I wanted to sleep. I could endure a few nights of staying up, but this wasn’t the time to push myself that hard.

With that in mind, I decided to bring the experience-gathering festival to an end and got to my feet.

※※※

The black Ogre, who had been seated on a sturdy wooden throne like a king, stood up.

“Alright,” he muttered softly as he rose to his feet.

That simple action drew the attention of every living being on the battlefield, all of whom turned to focus on the black Ogre. Even those who were in the midst of blocking skeleton soldiers’ swords or crushing their skulls with the hilts of short swords were partly paying attention to him. Such was the influence of their overlord’s movements.

Numerous gazes converged, directing their trust toward him, and the expressions on his subordinates’ faces showed anticipation of what he would do next, ready to respond to any command. The black Ogre, aware of it all and understanding it well, slowly stepped onto the battlefield.

“I’m ending this. Everyone, fall back.”

His command was quiet. It was not loud enough to be heard on a battlefield filled with the clashing of swords, tens of meters away. Yet, every living being on the battlefield responded immediately. They deflected or sidestepped the skeletons’ swords and retreated to where their comrades were resting on the higher ground. They turned their backs on the skeletons they had been fighting moments before and withdrew from the battlefield with weary expressions.

Many skeletons, rattling and clattering with their characteristic noise, pursued them, intent on slashing their unprotected backs. But all those skeletons were engulfed in white flames that suddenly erupted in their path, reducing them to black smoke and vanishing them from this world in seconds, leaving only a handful of ashes behind.

When the skeletons at the front were incinerated, the sight of their ashes halted the rest. However, it was not fear nor dread that stopped them. Skeletons, being artificial constructs, lacked both fear of death and the self-preservation imperative. Even if faced with dozens of dreaded Dragons, said to be the Wise Serpents of this world, skeletons would charge forward without hesitation, either driven by their primal instincts or the will of their master.

So, why had these skeletons, which should never have stopped, come to a halt? The reason was simple: the black Ogre who had moved forward, separating the skeletons from the ashes of their fellows, was now approaching them.

The skeletons, their hollow eye sockets filled with void, focused on the black Ogre and began to clatter their jawbones rapidly.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

Yellow sparks accompanied the high-pitched grating sounds emanating from the rapid collision of their white teeth. This peculiar behavior seemed to be a form of communication among the skeletons. As they moved to encircle the black Ogre, their actions were surprisingly coordinated. The front line was formed by soldier-type and knight-type skeletons equipped with shields and swords, creating a wall. Behind them stood skeletons armed with long weapons, such as lances and halberds. Although there were no mage or archer-type skeletons present this time, the formation was still disciplined, focusing entirely on their sole enemy. This coordinated effort was a direct result of the skeletons adhering to their programmed command: “Eliminate the nearest and most dangerous enemy.”

Moments ago, the black Ogre had been seated on a throne, merely observing the battlefield. Now he stood among the skeletons, suddenly the closest and most threatening presence. Thus, the skeletons concentrated all their efforts on annihilating him.

“Ten seconds should be enough. One…” he murmured, his voice barely audible.

As if it had been a trigger, the skeletons that surrounded the black Ogre began to move. The soldier and knight skeletons with sturdy shields clattered their bones and began to fill the gaps with their frames.

In typical one-versus-many combat, even if it’s one against a thousand, only a limited number of attackers can strike simultaneously. If they’re too close, large-scale magical attacks can harm allies more than enemies, making such tactics impractical unless absolutely necessary. This holds true for melee weapons like swords and axes as well. A small mistake could result in accidentally killing an ally from behind.

In this case, the attackers were skeletons. They felt no pain, had plenty of gaps between their bones and armor, and were undeterred by being crushed or pierced by their comrades. They would continue to move, relentlessly aiming to kill until they were annihilated.

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

With their jawbones moving and teeth clashing, producing sounds and sparks, the skeletons closed in on the black Ogre, each wielding a variety of weapons—short swords, scramasaxes, kopises, badelaire, falchions—all brought down at a speed unimaginable based on their skeletal appearances alone. The skeletons wielding longer weapons at the back thrust them forward, aiming through the gaps between the frontline skeletons. The coordinated attacks, numbering in the dozens, seemed poised to pierce the black Ogre at the center of the swarm. The living beings watching from the sidelines held their breath.

In the next moment, an overwhelming storm of destruction shattered all expectations. A black whirlwind, glistening with red and silver, annihilated the surrounding skeletons with a single sweep—not only killing them instantly but also clearing all enemies within a five-meter radius.

Skeletons caught in the black whirlwind were reduced to scattered bones, their weapons disintegrated, and their movements ceased. An instantaneously-formed clearing emerged. Standing majestically at the center, holding a crimson spear in his silver arm, was the black Ogre.

The greater skeleton waiting outside could see, but its vision hadn’t fully adjusted to the darkness, making it difficult to track fast-moving objects. It clicked its jawbones together upon seeing such a formidable living being appear right in front of it.

“Five…”

Just before a blade could cleave through his skull, the black Ogre’s silver arm moved in a small arc to backhand strike the side of the sword. The clash of steel and silver produced a high-pitched metallic scream, sending shards of steel flying like shrapnel. Even a thick greatsword couldn’t withstand the force of an arm forged by the gods, especially when struck at the weaker side. The greater skeleton, momentarily stunned at the destruction of its beloved sword, quickly attempted to retaliate. This skeleton, once a renowned magic knight with a faint remnant of willpower, only realized its legs had been severed at the shins when it fell forward.

The black Ogre had shattered the greatsword and severed the greater skeleton’s legs with the crimson spear simultaneously.

“Ga-ta—” The greater skeleton clattered its teeth, a sound that echoed its confusion and realization of its fate as it saw the black Ogre begin its final attack.

“Six…”

The silver hand, sharp and swift like a comet, extended straight toward the skeleton’s chest. Silver claws, razor-sharp and aligned perfectly, pierced through the skeleton’s breastbone in an instant.

“Ta-ta-ta.”

The greater skeleton, retaining a sliver of its former consciousness, welcomed the piercing silver strike with a sense of relief and joy. It had been bound by resentment, a product of witnessing its master be slain by a sworn enemy before being tortured and transformed into an undead abomination. Now, it finally embraced its restful end.

Despite being shattered by occasional intruders, the greater skeleton had continued its relentless killing, driven solely by the ingrained orders of its master. Over time, its consciousness had faded, nearly disappearing entirely. Had more years passed, its awareness would have completely vanished. But now, in the remnants of its dimming consciousness, it understood that its torturous existence was finally ending.

“Ta-ta-ta,” it clattered its teeth, welcoming the final blow with joy.

“Seven…”

A slight sound echoed as the black Ogre’s silver arm pierced through the back of the skeleton’s robust armor, cleanly and effortlessly. The arm protruded from the skeleton’s back for barely a split second before withdrawing, yanking out the spine. The divine power in the silver arm obliterated the greater skeleton’s existence, causing its bones to lose cohesion and scatter around.

“Three seconds faster than expected. It was weaker than I thought. Or maybe the silver arm and the crimson spear are just too strong. Hmm?” Having eliminated all the skeletons, the black Ogre began to analyze his actions. He looked down at the greater skeleton’s skull, which had rolled to his feet and was moving slightly.

The skull’s subtle movements were a sign of gratitude, but the black Ogre misinterpreted it.

“How annoying.”

With that, he picked up the skull and crushed it between his massive teeth, silencing it forever.

※※※

After destroying all the skeletons, I picked up the greater skeleton’s leftover skull, which was clattering resentfully, and silenced it with a crunch. I then proceeded to consume the rest of the skeleton, savoring each bite. As expected of a higher-ranked monster, the experience gained from destroying it and the taste when eaten were out of this world compared to regular skeletons. The bones were astonishingly delicious.

This is something special, I thought. Premium bones, maybe? The texture is fantastic. Yes, delicious.

I’d first thought that those kobolds had brought nothing but trouble. But now, they seemed to me like bringers of good fortune.

I headed to the prison where Gobjii, our only cleric, was desperately trying to heal the severely injured kobolds. I quickly healed the rest of the kobolds and then put them all to sleep with a toxin to prevent any trouble while we all slept. We were exhausted from the night’s events and needed a good rest.

By this evening, I had awakened the kobolds with a different concoction and begun questioning the leader of their group—a kobold foot soldier equipped with a short spear—and a few of his aides. From their account, I pieced together the following story:

This group of kobolds lived in a natural cave—unlike ours, which we had expanded. They survived by hunting in the forest and mountains. But everything changed when they killed an orc and obtained an iron pickaxe. While the male kobolds went hunting for food, the female kobolds began using the pickaxe to expand their dwelling. This made their cave more comfortable, so they continued digging.

This led them to connect their cave to Velvet’s labyrinthine dungeon unexpectedly. Initially, the kobolds didn’t know what the new space was and planned to investigate it in the morning; they made some rudimentary attempts to block it off for the night, but it was nothing that could keep an army of skeletons from emerging after dark.

The skeletons were not enemies the kobolds could handle, so they fled in a hurry, leaving behind their belongings. However, the tireless skeletons soon caught up with them, and the kobolds’ futile resistance led to many casualties. Regardless of whether they were women, children, the elderly, or warriors, those who were caught were all killed.

After fleeing for a while, the kobold leader had shouted, “Where should we go?” and someone said, “Wait, if we head to that cave where the famous Ogre is, we might have a chance!” Someone else argued, “But won’t we get killed?” “Well, we’re going to die anyway if we stay here.” “We have to take the risk!”

That brings us to the present.

What in the world? But I guess all’s well that ends well.

After listening to their story and gathering my thoughts while fiddling with my horns, the foot soldier and other warrior-class kobolds who fought the skeletons lined up and bowed deeply.

It seems that when kobolds undergo Existence Evolution, they become kobold footmen, reflecting their samurai-like nature. Despite having killed and eaten many of them, this was something I learned for the first time tonight.

In fact, I tried to tell them that we had eaten many of their kind, but the kobolds responded extremely politely, saying that it’s only natural for the weak to be consumed by the strong. In fact, being killed and eaten by their “lord” was an honor for their kin.

Yes, they called me their lord. These kobolds, led by the foot soldier kobold, referred to me as their lord.

Their reasoning was simple: they believed that having been saved, they owed their lives to me and had no other path but to repay that debt with their lives. They were straightforward and clear-cut in their thinking, believing that once they had determined someone to be their master, they would never betray them and would gladly follow any command, even to the point of self-sacrifice.

These were their own words, and while I had my doubts about their absolute loyalty, the sincerity in their eyes made it hard to dismiss them entirely. Eyes that serious are rare.

I decided to prepare some insurance.

I retrieved a particular magic item from my item box and ate it. There were ten of them in total, and I consumed every last piece without leaving a single crumb.

The magic items I ate were called Subjugation Collars, taken from the adventurers I’d killed in Velvet’s dungeon. As the name suggests, their effect was to enforce subjugation.

Now, you might be wondering why I didn’t consume these useful items sooner.

The reason is quite simple: I actually did try eating one before, but it tasted absolutely terrible. The texture was awful; the surface was sticky, and the inside was strangely hard, making me feel nauseous with every bite. The taste was a terrible combination of bitter, sour, and spicy—just indescribably bad. It had been a long time since I had encountered something so disgusting, so even though I knew it would be useful, I had avoided eating any more until now.

Now, when necessity called, I had no choice but to endure it and eat the remaining ones.

Thus, I acquired the Subjugation ability. This ability prevents rebellion, but just possessing it doesn’t activate its effects. To solve this, I began crafting additional ear cuff communication devices.

Hmm? What about the kobolds? Well, for now, I told them to stay in the prison and sleep until we decide their fate tomorrow. They had been obedient, so I didn’t want to treat them too harshly. But I still needed to think carefully about whether to keep the kobolds as part of our fighting force or devour them.

Then there was the matter of the elves and humans. From the information gathered by my clones, it was clear that a war between the two was imminent. While hunting in the forest, I had been detecting more and more elven scouts and human spies. Just the other day, a goblin returned injured after being attacked by a human during a reconnaissance mission. I wanted to tell the two sides not to involve us since we weren’t part of their conflict, but that was unlikely to work.

So, what should we do next? What actions would benefit us the most? I needed to think about this. But, even if problems arose, I’d just crush them. With these thoughts, I finished my tasks and lay down in bed.

War, huh? Personally, I do want to participate in war to gain more abilities, but I need to weigh that against the potential damage we might suffer as a group. For now, I think I’ll try to make real contact with the elves.

What will the future hold for us?

With all that, plus pondering tomorrow’s meal, I fell asleep.

Author: Kanekiru Kogitsune

A resident of Shikoku, Kanekiru Kogitsune began posting fiction online in late 2009 and quickly gained a devoted following. Re:Monster marks his official debut in print.

Illustrator by Yamada

This novel is an edited and expanded version of a story originally serialized on the Japanese web fiction platform Let’s Become a Novelist

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