"Day fourteen"
When I woke up, my body had changed so much that it couldn't compare to how it was before I went to sleep.
I've grown a lot bigger and my skin also went from green to black.
When I got up, the startling amount that my body had changed gave me a shock, I thought hard about what I saw yesterday before I got to bed. I see, this is Rank Up, huh. The mysteries of this world makes me shudder.
No, no , from my own experience I can understand however, the natural laws of this world are truly so amazing that it's beyond scary.
Well, in one night I went from the physical body of a 7-9 year old, and after killing and eating the orc yesterday my body became medium sized, my physical strength, eyesight and hearing had increased dramatically, the abilities I had gained before yesterday had also become more powerful, among other things, okay?
This is scary. Even though my body had grown a ridiculous amount, I didn't feel any sense of discomfort at all about my new body. Even though such a huge change should have made me go mad from the changes in my body, that didn't happen in the least.
Even though my body had grown so much, I don't feel any muscle pains from growing at all, instead I was experiencing that my body was overflowing with power incomparable to before, like a temporary feeling of omnipotence.
Scary, right? Seriously.
Now, if I was an ordinary guy I would probably be so happy that I would do stupid things until the feeling passed, however, the reality is that I'm not nearly as powerful as I felt and therein lies a trap.
That's why I feel that the rules of this world are scary.
Now, that aside.
I was very intrested in Goblin-kichi who just like me had grown big and stood looking puzzled.
It seems like gobu-Kichi also passed level 100 because of the battle with the orc yesterday and underwent the Rank Up. However, I couldn't see any difference in the color of his skin. He hadn't turned black like I did. He was still the same old green.
Well, let's put that aside as well.
What interested me the most was his face.
He no longer looked like an ugly goblin like he had used to. His naive look notwithstanding, in some respects he had some attractiveness, and he looked somewhat like a young human. His ears were still pointy, and his was nose looked somewhat like a hook nose. However, nonetheless he looked alot like a human.
Having green skin might not be very human-like, but nonetheless his looks were approaching that of a human.
Then, what about me? I looked at my reflection in the blade of the obsidian knife I made earlier.
What I saw was, with black skin, my face when I was young before I reincarnated.
...Yeah, as one would expect I was completely stunned for a few seconds until it settled in.
For now, I went to the wall close by our sleeping place and grabbed a caterpillar-like mystery bug, munching on it starting from the head.
Yes, that made me calm down. Then I grabbed goblin-kichi and went to look for the goblin elder.
That's because if I didn't make use of the goblin elder at times like this, his existence wouldn't have any point.
Just in case, because it felt risky, I won't mention the "End and Origin"-ruling "Divine protection of the Great God" that I also received.
What I learnt over there:
1. Upon turning into a hobgoblin, my body and appearance became closer to a human. Why this is so isn't known. It's one of the mysteries of the world. Usually because of this appearance, goblin individuals and clans can live in human towns. But because a past of using them as slaves, most of them are apparently used still used as slaves. Those with good looks become sex slaves for human maniacs.
2. The difference between my and goblin-kichis skin color is because I am of a subspecies. Subspecies are generally compared to the standard type stronger and got special abilities, but unless special conditions are cleared you can't become one, which is why they're rarely seen. Apperently I'm kinda unusual.
3. Furthermore, my skin color is black. Black is the symbolic color of the oldest god of the world, the one who controls the beginning and the end something-something, and among the subspecies are the absolutely rarest whilst being the strongest and with study, they can learn the strongest magic that can be used.
Also, to the religion of this god, I'm somewhat like a living god, an object of worship. If that's not the case, parts of my body are thought to be materials used in communicating with the god, so I have to be careful when it's late in towns and stuff. Religion is scary no matter what world you're in.
4. How should I put it, becoming a hobgoblin when not even a month has passed is supposedly in the first place very strange. The old man who's still a goblin said so, so it's probably true. By the way, of the goblins who left to work away from home, (apparently exactly 40 goblins), only 3 have turned into hobgoblins.
5. Also, because I and goblin-kichi became hobgoblins before we left the cave, we are allowed to freely use the human women in the cave as we'd like and we also recieved to right to take things from the warehouse and use if we want to.
6. Oh-. Is that so-?
... Yes, because he was kinda long-winded, I ignored most of what he said by pretending to listen.
Particularly point 3, and the reason for that is I dare to say obvious.
I don't have to mention that no matter the world one is in, religion is scary. Or should I say, knowing that I have obtained the "End and Origin"-ruling "Divine protection of the Great God" makes me think it will probably turn into more trouble than it's worth.
I thought that this is something I should hide if it is at all possible.
As one could expect, this day we didn't even consider going hunting. I practiced martial arts together with goblin-kichi in order for us to accustom ourselves to our new bodies.
Goblin-kichis power was too much for him to know what to do with, and he was quite warlike.
All the same, I who have an interest for lots of different martial arts never lost, however, I could conclude that goblin-kichis power was at least somewhat better than how he was before.
As expected, it seems his abilities are specialized in being the vanguard.
His intelligence and quickness aren't very high, but his offensive and defensive power had increased a lot, making him a powerful tank and damage dealer, a hybrid character.
When we concluded our martial arts practice, the afternoon was dedicated to replacing our now too small old armors.
Because I have grown bigger, the horn and small knife I have been using are now too small for me to use effectively, however for today I will have to bear with them. This is because my venom is by itself an adequate weapon.
This is why today the plan is to use the stockpiled materials from the armored tanukis and night vipers etc. to quickly make new armor.
Using the armored shell from the armored tanukis and the snakeskin form the night vipers, armor was made that is both light and easy to move in, whilst being quite robust.
To say it simply, it's personal armor based on leather. We didn't make cloaks, but that it looks like a lightbrown, leatherclothes with longsleeved arms and with full-length pants is probably a good thing.
The metal shells were placed in strategic locations, further increasing its defensive powers. Just in case we thought about ease of movement while creating it, and while trying it, it performed far better than expected. It almost didn't obstruct movement at all.
Also, we finished gobbi-chans armor that we couldn't complete earlier because of insufficient materials.
Because it's mainly made of 7-colored bats it looks kinda gaudy though. It somewhat gives the feeling of being a national costume from somewhere.
By the way, the food was prepared by the other goblins (manservants) from horned rabbits.
It wasn't enough, however it was better than nothing, and because it tasted good I pardon them!
"Day fifteen"
Our first hunt since our Rank Up to hobgoblins.
Thus since we are displaying might of our new bodies for the first time, I'm somewhat nervous.
This day, the first prey we encounter is something with the head of a dog and with fur all over the body. I don't know if it got them from killing humans but it was wearing a rusty armor with a somewhat rusty longsword.
I decided to name this monster the "kobold". From observation, it seems the kobold are higher rank then goblins and about the same rank as orcs.
If we include the equipment, then compared to the orc we ate it's probably an even higher rank.
In physical strength the orc is more powerful, but in speed and agility the kobold seems to be better than the orc.
Two kobolds suddenly appeared.
If it was before today, we would have immediately retreated, or even more likely using my abilities avoided the fight altogether.
Nevertheless, with Gobbi-chans accurate stones covered with poison as support, I and goblin-kichi faced the kobolds from the front .
Not counting me who has evolved into a subspecies, goblin-kichis combat ability that had made great progress was of course increased by the shield made of shells and and his cudgel with shells wound around it, while the kobold only had its rusty equipment, the shell made armor reinforced goblin-kichi who directly faced the kobold.
Seriously, Rank Up is scary isn't it?
Someone who was weak yesterday is turned into a great warrior in only one day.
Goblin-kichi got some minor wounds and had Gobbi-chan look over them with use of our stockpile of medicinal herbs. The goblin elder had taught us about medicinal herbs earlier. While they did that I took the opportunity to strip the kobold of its possessions.
On his waist hung three stones. Using my "detect analysis" skill, apparently they are "fire spirit stones". Apparently thoughtless low-level fire spirits dwells within the stones. I pocketed these and then started stripping him of his armor. I hung the slightly rusty longsword together with two books on my own waist.
From the bodies, I took both heads, both hearts and both right arms. Goblin-kichi and Gobbi-chan each decided to split the rest evenly.
The food had a mysterious texture.
It was however delicious and I got a sort of subtle feeling from it.
Ability kobold language learned.
Ability giving up learned. (not sure at all about this one) edit: He mistranslated this one, 見切り is See Slash
And these are the outcomes of the battle.
As I thought, kobolds are stronger than the average hobgoblin. The reason goblin-kichi could win was because of the huge difference in gear quality. The reason I could win is because of my wealth of abilities and combat experience.
Also, after eating the three firespiritstones,
Ability pyrokinesis learned.
I gained the ability to manipulate flames. In the realm of nature, if there exists or doesn't exist someone who can manipulate fire, if there doesn't then it's extremely hard to gain this ability.
With this I can finally make yakiniku, I thought...
After that we hunted some horned rabbits, then returned.
Today the tribute my goblin subordinates gave me was horned rabbits mixed with armored tanukis which surprised me. "These guys, they're finally growing up" I lamented to myself.
I think I'll give shell shields to the goblins who are sent to fetch armored tanukis in the future.
For the evening meal I grilled the meat the others brought, and we had a yakiniku party.
"Day sixteen"
All the other goblins of our generation begged to me something like :"Please teach us the art of killing" while prostrating themselves.
The goblins inside the cave where in a row alongside each other prostrating themselves. It was quite a surreal scene to watch.
You see, the goblins that brought me food and those others who had managed to survive could kill horned rabbits without any problems, however, as expected night vipers were still out of their league.
Therefore, they wanted to learn from me how to survive when fighting night vipers, since we killed and ate them.
And what do we gain from teaching you that? When we asked them that, they said that they'd give us tribute for it.
2014-06-04, 22:31
