A Goblin’s Evolution

In an ill-lit cavern, only a small torch slightly flickering light throughout it, a bunch of little, green humanoid creatures huddled over a bundle of even smaller beings, they, too, green. The creatures were carefully investigating what seemed to be newborn infants of their species. After a few moments, the creatures left, holding a couple of babies. None of them were moving, in stark contrast to the screaming ones on the floor. After going with the seemingly dead infants, they didn’t come back for quite a while. The infants had been left on their own, but contrary to what one would expect, they were growing at a visible pace.

Only the next day, did they start standing up, already nearly as tall as the other green creatures had been. They started moving around, until one by one, it seemed like they had some realization, after which, they stood still and stared into space for a while.

One of these creatures had that sudden feeling. A feeling she had to do something. To will it. Suddenly, a blue screen appeared in front of the creature’s face.

Status Window

Name:

Min

Alignment:

Neutral

Level:

1

Class:

None

XP:

0/100

Profession:

None

Race:

Goblin

Gender:

Female

Age:

1 day

Titles:

None

-

Health:

30

Health Regen:

.75/min

Mana:

20

Mana Regen:

1/min

Stamina:

30

Stamina Regen:

1/min

-

Strength:

4

Agility:

5

Constitution:

3

Endurance:

2

Intelligence:

2

Wisdom:

1

Dexterity:

4

Luck:

4

-

Skills

Abilities and Spells

 

The Goblin stared at the screen for a few minutes, then muttered,

“Name, Min… Race, Goblin? Female?” She whispered in an archaic language that she hadn’t even been aware of before. Her words were mumbled, and her voice was a soft, high pitch.

“Me is Goblin Min, a female,” she continued, before looking around her, eyeing all the other newborn goblins.

“They are my brothers and sisters?” She wondered. A bit more time passed, as the Goblins all awakened their status screens. They continued to eye each other, but no one said anything. A few more hours passed before one of the older Goblins finally came back. As he entered the cave room, he inspected all the grown goblins with his eyes. It was easy to distinguish between the genders of the naked Goblins, even if one didn’t look at their genitals. The males were a bit rougher looking, had somewhat more muscles, longer noses, and more prominent chins, while the females looked a bit more childish, and some could even be called cute. They had sleeker faces, thin, small noses, and some had cute little, chubby cheeks.

“Follow, young ones,” the elder Goblin with patches of beard on his face, said in a scruffy voice. The younger Goblins all looked at each other, before following the elder one. Even though they all had meager intelligence, they could tell that the older man was also Goblin, so they trusted him, perhaps due to their low intelligence.

The elder Goblins led them out of the small cavern, into a series of tunnels, and after going through some of those tunnels, they quickly arrived in a much more massive cavern that had multiple other tunnel entrances in it. In this cavern were dozens more Goblins, forming an entire community, and some could even be seen coming and going through the tunnels.

“You are all part of our tribe, and you will all have to work!” The Goblin spoke.

“If you want food, work! If you want clothes, work! If you want safety, you guessed it, work! You won’t even get any clothes until you work for it! You get that?!” He continued. The younger goblins, including Min, looked a bit shocked. Even though the primitive goblins had low intelligence, they were still sentient and were already getting self-conscious at their nakedness, looking at all the other Goblins, who were all well clothed.

“Do you get it!? Answer!” The Goblin once more shouted, and this time everyone immediately answered in the affirmative, in the same, archaic language that they spoke since birth.

“Good! Now I’m going to assign jobs to you. If you fit certain requirements, you’ll be able to get certain jobs. If you fail to meet any of these requirements, then you’ll be assigned some menial jobs,” the elder Goblin explained.

“Now who has both Strength and Endurance at or above 3, huh?”

The elder asked several questions. Those who had Strength and Endurance at 3 or above would go work in the newly discovered iron mine, and others would be sent other places.

“Does anyone here have both Strength and Agility above 4?” The Elder finally asked after several questions. At this point, Min was already starting to get nervous that she wouldn’t meet any requirements, but hearing those words made her gleeful.

“Oh, oh, Min does, Min, Min!” She said, jumping around excitedly.

“You do? Both of them are at four?” He asked, a bit startled. It was somewhat rare for a newborn to have both those attributes at 4 or above. At least, it didn’t happen every time.

“No! Min’s Agility is 5,” Min immediately corrected him, a bit annoyed that he would underestimate her so.

“Oh, it’s at 5? That’s pretty good! Then you’ll be joining the hunting team. One of the best jobs here. It gives the best chance for leveling, and the best food too. You’re a lucky girl,” the Goblin spoke, before paying no more heed to her, back to assigning more jobs.

“Alright, that’s the last of it. You all stay here. Your respective work leaders will come to get you soon enough, after which you will immediately start work,” The Goblin finally said, then left abruptly. Indeed, about an hour later, the Goblins started leaving one by one. It didn’t take long until one of the best clothed Goblins Min had seen, arrived. He was wearing full leather armor and had a quiver of arrows on his back, and a bow in hand. He looked around a bit, before speaking,

“Who here is Min?” He asked. After hearing him, Min was immediately excited.

“Ooh, Min is here, here!” She said, once again jumping on her feet. The new arrival looked at her, then grinned.

“You’re cheerful. Come with me,” the newcomer said, before turning around. Min immediately followed behind him, examining him. He was quite a bit taller than she was, even taller than the old Goblin from before, and he looked different too. His skin was a bit paler, and his face was smooth; he didn’t have any beard either. Whether he couldn’t grow any or shaved it off, Min didn’t know, nor care. She decided to ask him why he looked so different.

“Um, why do you look like that?” She asked, innocently.

“Aah, younglings, so naïve, so little knowledge. Oh well, let me explain some of the world to you on the way. As you know, we are all Goblins, but that’s only the starting point for our kind. Goblins have low intelligence and are short-lived. It only takes a day to grow to the human equivalent of a ten-year-old, and a year to the equivalent of a twenty-year-old, after that, it slows down, though. Many humans grow older than sixty, while a twenty-year-old Goblin is already considered very old and will die soon. However, if a Goblin levels enough, he can evolve, and become a Hobgoblin. I am a Hobgoblin. We are smarter, and can also live for nearly as long as a human. Understand?” The taller Hobgoblin explained.

“Uh, Min thinks so… but what is a human?” Min asked.

“Humans are the most widespread race in the world. We Goblins are also a very numerous and fertile race, but we’re much weaker in strength than humans, so we mostly live in tribes like this one. Although I have heard of a Goblin Kingdom in the North, I’ve never been there. Supposedly it’s very chaotic and dangerous. In comparison, there are only a few Goblin tribes in this entire forest, and we rarely meet or fight. Human adventurers pose a much greater threat. They’ll usually attack on sight… although, we do the same too. Humans are tasty…” the Hobgoblin said.

“Humans are tasty? Are we going to hunt humans then?” Min asked.

“Not quite. Humans are rare in these parts and rarely travel alone. If we come upon a group of humans, we’ll instead hide. If we find only one or two humans, then we’ll kill them, as long as they don’t look too strong. However, we usually hunt animals like the rabbit, a small furred creature with long ears, or if we’re lucky, a deer, which is a bigger furred creature, but also harmless. If we come upon any beasts, we’ll kill them too. Beast meat is the best, only inferior to human meat,” he explained.

“I see. Then, mister, what will Min do?” Min asked.

“You can call me Vraaz. Since you were born just yesterday, you’re the weakest of us hunters, so you will mostly carry the stuff we hunt. I’ll also teach you archery, skinning, and some basic outfitting. You’ll get to skin the first small animal we kill, and we’ll use that skin to make a skirt for you. Can’t have you going around naked forever, or you’re going to make us men horny soon. Although you’re still childish in appearance, in only a month or so, you’ll already have breasts. By then, you’ll be eligible for breeding,” Vraaz, the Hobgoblin said.

“Vraaz, what is eligble and breeeding,” Min asked, having some trouble even pronouncing the words.

“Ugh, you Goblins are so stupid… Eligible means you’ll be ready. Breeding is the act of conceiving a child in you, which is done through sex. Sex is a very pleasurable thing, so you can expect it to happen a lot to you since you’re the only female in our hunting group. Anyways, enough questions, we’re here,” Vraaz explained, as they exited the tunnels, into a well-lit cavern, that directly led outside. Min was awed by the blue sky outside, and the dense vegetation she could see.

“Everyone, this is Min. She was born with 4 in Strength and 5 in Agility, so she’ll be part of our group,” Vraaz said. A group of Goblins stared at the girl. There were five of them, no one else a Hobgoblin. One of the Goblins ran straight to her and examined her. He put one hand on her cheek, and the other on her butt, squeezing it tightly, causing Min to squeal.

“Hey, control yourself Gobu,” Vraaz said with a chuckle. “She was just born yesterday. You know the rules. You can’t fuck her until she’s at least a month old,” the Hobgoblin continued.

“I know, I know, I was just excited to have a female in our group finally. We spend most of our day outside, we rarely get to spend time with the females,” Gobu said in a deep, raspy voice. Gobu was the biggest of the regular Goblins, only a bit shorter than Vraaz himself, and regarding mass, he was probably even bigger. He wore furs and had a large club on his back. Min stared with enthusiasm at the massive club. It was at least as big as she was. Seeing this, Gobu laughed.

“Haha, you like my club? Wanna hold it?” He asked, as he grabbed the club with one hand and handed it over to the young Goblin girl. Min immediately grabbed at it, and as she did, she hunched over, as it dropped to the ground. She could barely even lift it.

“Heavy!” She exclaimed.

“Haha, that is the prized club I got of a human we killed some years ago! It is very heavy, and only I can use it because I’m the strongest!” Goblin Gobu said, apparently trying to impress the girl.

“What? Isn’t Vraaz the strongest?” Min asked. By her logic, it only made sense that Vraaz would be the strongest since he was a Hobgoblin.

“Indeed, in terms of fighting strength, I’m the strongest, but in terms of pure physical strength, Gobu is stronger. That’s because he specializes in Strength and Endurance, while I specialize in Agility and Dexterity. In reality, he isn’t that fit to be a hunter, but he serves as a tank, in case we meet any humans or beasts. Anyways, before we go, I want you to report your attributes in detail, alright?” Vraaz said.

“Atributs? What is atributs?” Min asked, confused by the term.

“Right, newborn. I wish newborn Goblins would know all the words, instead of just the simple ones,” Vraaz sighed.

“Attributes refer to your Strength, Agility, Intelligence and so on. Now, tell me yours,” Vraaz explained.

“Oh, okay,” Min said, before willing her Status Window to appear.

“Hmm, it say Min’s Strength is 4 and Agilty is 5, but you already know that. It also say Min’s Con-sti-tu-tion is 3 and En-du-rance is 2. In-tell-i-gence is 2? Gah, these wordsies are very hard!” Min complained.

“It’s Constitution, Endurance, and Intelligence after that is Wisdom, Dexterity, and luck. Get it?” Vraaz explained. He didn’t lose his patience since Min was very young, and Goblins were very stupid, in the first place. Only after becoming a Hobgoblin, or after putting points in Intelligence, could they speak easily.

“Constitution, Endu-rance, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dex-te-rity, and Luck! Okay, Min got it. Min’s Wisdom is 1, Dexterity is 4, and Luck is also 4! That’s very good, right?! Right?!” She exclaimed, hopeful and excited.

“Haha, you’re very cheerful. You’ll probably be fun to be around, as long as you don’t scare the animals away,” Vraaz said.

“And yes, that’s pretty good. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Endurance are all average. Maybe your Wisdom is a bit lower, but you have two important stats at 4, and one is even at 5. This is pretty rare; I think you’re the only one this year with three stats, not counting Luck, over 4. And Luck is also at 4, that’s always good, and rare. All in all, you’re pretty good,” Vraaz complimented her.

“Haha, Min knew she was the best!” Min exclaimed, once more jumping up and down while shoving her fist into the air.

“Enough, joking around, Min. Put this backpack on, and follow us,” Vraaz said.

Thus, they left the cave of the Goblin tribe, entering the lush forest. There were three Goblins in front of Min, and three behind. Since she was the weakest of them, they couldn’t let her be unprotected, in case a beast or something attacked them. She made a lot more noise than them when walking, so they also slowly taught her how she should walk, while Vraaz was carefully following some tracks they had found. Vraaz was both the best hunter, as well as the best tracker in the entire tribe. He had some Class thingy, called a Ranger or something, and had many skills.

After about thirty minutes, Vraaz abruptly stopped them and pointed to the front. By a small meadow, a brown rabbit was drinking. One of the Goblins nocked an arrow, but Vraaz quickly stopped him, before taking a small net out of a pouch. The net had some black balls at the ends, which puzzled Min. Vraaz was holding them with ease, so they didn’t seem very heavy. However, when he threw the net at the rabbit, it made a heavy sound as it touched the earth again, puzzling Min. Vraaz noticed this.

“I might not be stronger than Gobu, but I’m still a lot stronger than you. The balls are heavier than they look,” he explained. Then he walked over to the struggling rabbit and held it so it couldn’t escape.

“Min, come here. This kill is yours. I’ll show you how to do it,” Vraaz said, and then Min came over and sat next to him.

“Grab the head of the rabbit, and hold it tight, alright?” Vraaz said, and Min nodded and did as asked.

“Now grab that branch over there, and place it over its neck. Good, now place your foot on one end, and grab the legs of the rabbit. When ready, quickly step on the other end of the stick and pull up, until the rabbit gives,” Vraaz explained. Min did as he said, and placed her foot on the other end then pulled the legs. She quickly heard a sound, and the neck stretched out a bit, and the rabbit started shaking. Frightened, she immediately let go and stepped back.

“It’s shaking! Is it alive?! Did Min do it wrong?” She asked, scared that the poor rabbit was in pain. She didn’t mind killing it, because she was starving, but she also felt somewhat sorry for it and didn’t want it to be in pain.

“No, don’t worry, animals often start shaking after they die. I don’t know why, though,” Vraaz said. And is he did, suddenly a blue box appeared in front of Min.

You have received 5 XP for killing: Rabbit

“That’s the XP box that comes after every battle. Don’t worry, it won’t come in the middle of a battle, so it won’t distract you. Seeing it usually means you’re safe, however, it isn’t an absolute. It’s important you know this. As far as I know, after you finish a battle, it will show, however, if an enemy is lurking around somewhere, who is directly related to the battle you just fought, it won’t show. However, if an unrelated enemy is still around, waiting for his chance, it will still show. Get it?” Vraaz explained.

“I think so,” Min said.

“Good. Now let’s move on. If you can kill another 19 rabbits, you might level up,” Vraaz said.

“Thanks, Vraaz,” Min said with a heartfelt smile.

“Huh?” Vraaz asked, feeling his heart skip a beat. This little girl really had an adorable smile.

“For helping Min!” Min said in her always cheerful voice.

“Oh, no problem. We always help the ones in our group. The other hunter groups do the same, too. But you seriously have a great smile. I wonder what kind of woman you will grow to be, in the next month or two,” Vraaz said.

“Hehe,” Min laughed shyly, her green cheeks turning into a red, brownish tint.

“Wait, there are other hunting groups?” Min suddenly asked.

“Of course. Our community has several hundred Goblins. No way only the six of us could feed them all. Now grab that rabbit and put it into your backpack so that we can continue. All the small animals that we can easily catch, you will kill; however, that’s only the small ones. I can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to catch the bigger ones, so we better kill them immediately,” Vraaz explained.

A few moments later, Min’s backpack had been filled with its first rabbit, and their journey continued. They only returned to the cave, when the sun was starting to set. By then, they had already killed several rabbits, as well as one of those deer things. Min had been awed at the beauty of the animal and had been sad that they had to kill it. She had almost wanted to stop them, but there was nothing she could do. However, in the end, she had gotten a total of 25 XP, from killing five rabbits. If she continued like this, she would be able to get her first level up, in only three days.

As they entered the cave, the others immediately started skinning the deer, which Gobu had carried back, while Vraaz began to teaching Min how to skin a rabbit. It was quite atmospheric, as several hunter groups gathered in the entrance to the cave, huddled over the animal’s they’d killed. Min didn’t see any other naked, slightly smaller Goblins around though. It’d probably been a while since a new addition was added to the hunters.

“First, I’ll teach you how to skin a rabbit without a knife, and then I’ll teach you how to skin with a knife. Most animals will require a knife to skin it, but a rabbit is easily skinned with your bare hands since it’s so small,” Vraaz explained, then told Min to grab a rabbit out of the bag.

“First, just grab one of the back legs, and twist it until the skin breaks,” Vraaz said. Min did as told, and twisted the leg until it finally tore.

“Now pull the skin of the leg,” he continued.

“Good, now do the same on the other legs, and then pull all the way down to the head.”

Min did as told, and soon, the skin was hanging from its head.

“Great. Now, this next part does require a knife. I need you to cut its feet and head off,” Vaaz said. Min grimaced a bit at this, but still did it. Soon, she held a naked rabbit, missing both its feet and head in one hand, and a rabbit skin in the other.

“That was good. That skin will become your skirt, and the other will become your top,” Vraaz said. Then he continued to teach her how to skin the rabbit using a knife, and when he was finally done, Min received another notification.

[Congratulations! You have gained a new skill – Skinning!

You have been awarded 10 XP for learning this skill!]

“Oh! Another blue box appeared! It says Min learned the skinning skill!” Min exclaimed.

“That was expected. Now it will be even easier for you to skin,” Vraaz explained. And indeed, it was as he said. The next three rabbit skins were indeed a bit easier to handle.

“Alright, we’re done with the skinning now. Next, I’ll teach you some tailoring, so you don’t freeze to death. Not that you would freeze to death in this heat…” Vraaz said. And about an hour later, Min was the proud owner of her rabbit skirt and top. The clothing items were both rather simple, and the skins had received very little treatment, so it felt a bit fatty on the inside, albeit warm, but she didn’t care. The skirt covered her butt and groin and went a small distance down her thighs, and the top only covered her chest area and was a bit loose. This was so she would still fit it in a month when her chest would have grown a bit.

And she also gained a new skill from this.

Congratulations! You have gained a new skill – Tailoring!

You have been awarded 15 XP for learning this skill!

She was pleased to find that she got even more XP for learning this skill. At this rate, she’d quickly level up!

“There you go! For the first time in your life, which amounts to the grand total of one day, you’re not naked! Now, let’s go eat before I start teaching you how to use a bow,” Vraaz said, as he pulled her into the dark tunnels once more. The only light in the tunnels were the few torches that were scattered around, and the light which came from the larger caverns. A few moments later, they arrived back in that first cavern, where all the other Goblins were. Now, they were all sitting around tables, eating. Vraaz pointed her over to a table.

“Go over there, to the other younglings. Talk to your peers. Who knows, maybe you have a brother or sister there. Goblins usually give birth to one to three babies. Rarely four or five, but it does happen,” Vraaz said.

“Oh? How does Min know if she have sister or brother?” Min asked.

“It’s simple. Just like you can will the Status Window to appear, you can will a Relations Window too. It will show your family, friends and enemies, and your relationship to various factions. It’s quite handy if I do say so myself. Anyways, I’ll come pick you up later, to show you to our groups quarters, so don’t stray too far,” Vraaz said, before leaving with the rest of the group. Min, in turn, went to the table where she could see several recognizable faces.

As she walked over there, she tried willing the Relations Window to appear, and indeed,

Relations Window

-

Family

Name:

Relation:

Disposition:

Garo

Father

Neutral

Mel

Mother

Friendly

Gibb

Brother

Neutral

Mila

Sister

Neutral

-

Friends

Name:

Disposition:

Name:

Disposition:

Vraaz

Friendly

Gobu

Friendly

Crots

Acquaintance

Gnez

Acquaintance

Bob

Acquaintance

-

-

-

Factions

Name:

Rank:

Disposition:

Iron Cave Tribe

Hunter Trainee

Welcome

 

Min was quite surprised to find that she had two parents, as well as two siblings. She was also surprised that her mother had a friendly disposition to her, even though they never met. Maybe it was motherly instinct or something. However, she was quite pleased to find that all her hunting mates appeared in the Friends tab, and none of them disliked her. Both Vraaz and Gobu even liked her, apparently. Gobu was also quite easy to make friends with, while the mysterious Bob was quite stoic, and hard to speak to. But at least he didn’t dislike her! Min had been afraid of that.

As she arrived at the table, everyone looked at her. They could all recognize her, as the one who had become a hunter! They all felt veneration for her great strength. But the only thing she cared about right now, was to find out if her brother Gibb, and her sister, Mila, were here, or if they were older than her.

“Is anyone here called Gibb and Mila?” She immediately asked. As soon as she did, two people immediately stood up, excited, yet puzzled. How did she know their name? Could it be that they would become hunters too?

“Me, me!” They both answered.

“Then you two are my sister and brother!” Min said, excited, as she immediately ran to the closest of them, and hugged him, her brother.

“Whu?” He exclaimed, confused. Min looked at him confused, then,

“Can it be you don’t know? Try, like, thinking about a Relations Window, and get it to appear. There you can see family! Everyone, try it!” Min said, excited to be the first one of them to know about this. She already felt like the wise, elder sister of these people, with her superior knowledge, and longer words, like eligible and breeding.

“Ah, it works. It really says that Min and Mila are my sisters! And we have parents too! Garo and Mel!” Gibb said excitedly.

“It’s true!” Mila said, as she too joined to hug them. Then several others started getting together, finding out that they were siblings. Only a few remained alone, while some started yelling out names that no one answered too. Clearly, they had older siblings that weren’t present here.

The many new-born goblins started sitting together with their siblings and started eating together

“Wow, Min, you really are amazing! You already have clothes!” Mila said, very impressed with her triplet sister.

“Haha, Min is also very smart now! Did you know that we Goblins live for like TWENTY years! That’s like, uh, many days! Very many! Also, also, in one thing called a month, which is, like, not as many days, our chests will grow into something called boobs! But only for us girls. For men like Gibb, that thing between their legs will grow bigger instead!” Min explained enthusiastically while pointing to Gibb’s little member. In the eyes of her peers, this necessary information made her seem like a fountain of knowledge.

“Oh, and did you know that this thing we’re eating is called a rabbit?” They continued chatting cheerfully, Min sharing her newfound knowledge, impressing all her new friends. After a while, other, older goblins started coming over to the tables, one after the other. It turned out that they were parents of the Goblins that wanted to meet their children.

Goblins had a weird custom of dumping the babies into a secluded cavern until they grew up, so they didn’t have to deal with them. This way the weak ones sorted themselves out, too. After a while, the three siblings finally heard the words they had been waiting for.

“Is Gibb, Min and Mila here?” A female Goblin asked. As soon as the words left her mouth, the three jumped up.

“Here, here, here!” They yelled as hard as they could. The woman immediately noticed them, and quickly hurried over to them, very excited. She immediately pulled them into a tight hug, almost choking the three, while kissing them all over their heads.

“Hahaha, my children! To think I’d get three right off the bat, I’m so happy!” She said as she sat next to them.

“Now tell mommy, what jobs did you get?” She asked.

“I have good Strength and Endurance, both at 4, so I got to work in the mines! It’s a very good job, although it can’t compare to big sister,” Gibb said, very happy for both himself and his sister. He wasn’t jealous in the slightest. Gibb figured that his sister being strong was very good for his new-found family. And he wasn’t exactly weak himself. He had just as much Strength as her, and even higher Endurance.

“Oh, your sister has an even better job?” Mel asked, openly curious. However, she was immediately interrupted by Mila.

“Big sister can wait, me first! Since I’m not as good as big brother and big sister, you must care for me even more!” She said, a bit disgruntled.

“Haha, is that so? I will naturally love all my children equally, little girl. Now tell me, where did they put you?” She said.

“I’m not as strong as they are, and I only have 4 in Dexterity. However, I do have 3 in Intelligence and 3 in Wisdom, so I’m very smart! So, they sent me to the gardens, so I might be able to become an Alchemist in the future!” She announced. All three siblings were happy since all of them had gotten good jobs. Naturally, they had all talked about their jobs already. Mila’s position could be considered an excellent one since it wasn’t tough work. However, it was deserved, since it was very rare for a Goblin to start with more than 2 in Intelligence.

“Haha, I’m so proud! All my dear children got good tasks. Now you have to tell mommy who your father is!” Mel said, very serious.

“What? Don't you know who our father is? Can’t you see it in the Relations Window?” Mila asked. Since she was the smartest of them, she found this weird.

“No, I can only see my children and parents. I can’t see who the father of my children is. And since your mother is a very beautiful Goblin, she had laid with many Goblins, so I don’t know who the father is. But this is very normal. I doubt you two girls will know who the father of your own children will be,” she explained.

“Oh, Min understands! Well, it say father is someone called Garo,” Min said. Mel was surprised but then smiled.

“So, it’s Garo, huh? You children are fortunate. He’s a very strong Hobgoblin, and I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear he’s finally a father, and to such good children at that!” Mel said.

“You see, you’re the first children of Garo, as well as mine. Garo has always had a hard time breeding. He was even scared that he couldn’t have any. Hah, now he’s going to like me even more! Those other girls won’t be a match for me now!” Mel said as she started laughing maniacally. In Goblin society, the weaker female Goblins all wanted to mate with a powerful Goblin or Hobgoblin. Only then would they have an easy life. Since Mel had borne three good children for Garo, she now had a great chance to become his mate. But even if she didn’t, the three children would most likely still live good lives, since Garo didn’t have any other children and might never get any more. Mel explained all of this to her children.

“Hey, mother, you haven’t told us about you! Where do you work, and how old are you, tell us, tell us!” Min asked. She was incomparably excited to meet and talk to her mother.

“Hehe, no need to be so formal, just call me mom or mommy. I’ve always wanted to be called that. It’s a shame that we Goblins grow up so quickly… Anyways, let’s see, I recently became an apprentice mage, after reaching level 5, and I’m two years old this year. Although I’m nowhere near the best of my generation, I'm not bad either. Hehe, and now I’m going to become the mate of your dad, I hope. Things can only get better,” she said with a smirk.

“Wow, you’re gonna be a mage?!” All three of them asked. Since they were only a day old, all three of them knew very little, but magic was part of their innate knowledge that monsters like Goblins possessed. If they were utterly clueless, they would be like infants in the body of an adult after the first month, and utterly useless, so the world granted them with some rudimentary knowledge, like their own Goblin language.

“Hehe, I’m only an apprentice, but it’s possible. I’m just like you, little Mila. I was born with higher Intelligence and Wisdom, but everything else was a bit lower. So, I naturally put all my points there, after leveling up. Now I have 11 points in Intelligence and 6 in Wisdom,” Mel explained. Typically, one wouldn’t easily share their attributes, but she didn’t mind telling her children at all.

“Uwaa, mother, uh, I mean mom you’re so great!” Min admired her.

“Hehe, keep praising me, your great mother!” She replied shamelessly. An hour or so passed, before Vraaz returned. Mel recognized him and greeted him.

“Hello, Vraz! Can it be that you’re the teacher of my daughter, Min?” She asked.

“Oh, Mel. So, she was your daughter, huh?” Vraaz said, suddenly seeming somewhat worried.

“Indeed, she is. All three of these darlings are mine. And can you guess who’s the father?” She said, as she smirked and winked at him. A noticeable drop of sweat appeared on his forehead.

“Can it be that…” He said before he was interrupted.

“It’s Garo!” Mel revealed, immediately causing a sigh of relief in Vraaz.

“Oh, that’s good. You made me think she was mine for a moment there. But to think that Garo would finally get a child. I bet he’ll be ecstatic when he finds out. Of all Hobgoblins, he was always the one that wanted children the most, but had the most difficulty getting any,” Vraaz said. Min only looked on in confusion.

“Your father and I are good friends,” Vraaz revealed with a smile.

“And as for your mother, we’ve been together quite a few times, so you could very well have been mine,” he continued.

“Oh. Would that have been bad?” Min asked.

“No, not really. I just don’t want any children. Anyways, let’s get going. I’ll show you where you’ll be living from now on, and then I’ll start training you. We can’t have you be completely defenseless out there, now can we,” the taller, but still, short Hobgoblin said, before leading her away. Min could only wave her family goodbye, a bit disheartened.

However, as she met all the familiar faces that she had literally spent most of her conscious life with, she smiled again.

“Hey, guys!” She said as they entered, and they all smiled at her. They did quite like her cheerful attitude. And most of them were quite excited for her to grow a bit older and ampler. In Goblin society, sex was quite normal, and not considered romantic. Every female lost their virginity after one month and usually had sex with several guys. Min would, without doubt, have sex with all five of these Goblins. Although, she didn’t know that. She didn’t even know what sex was! Not yet at least…

After entering the room, Vraaz immediately grabbed a bow and a few arrows from a rack. This cave room was quite big. In one end of it, there were a bunch of animal skins, which was where they slept, and in the other, there were several archery targets. There were also a few dummies that they could train with daggers or swords on.

“First, I’ll train you in archery, until you gain the skill. Then, I’ll train you in using daggers, until you gain that skill. Then we’ll rest for the day since you must be tired. However, from tomorrow onwards, you’ll spend several hours a day training, until you reach a sufficient level, understood?” Vraaz said. Min gulped at his words. Several hours still seemed like a very long time, since the entire time she had lived so far could be counted in hours.

“U-understood,” she said. Thus, began her training. Vraaz showed her how to hold the short bow, how to hold the arrows, how to aim. The first arrow shot missed the target, but the next one barely managed to hit it. However, the third one hit the mark dead center, greatly shocking everyone! Then, the next one missed, and the fifth one missed, and the sixth one barely hit again. Luck was a weird thing.

After a few dozen arrows, a blue box finally appeared in her vision.

[Congratulations! You have gained a new skill – Archery!

You have been awarded 20 XP for learning this skill!]

“Ooh, ooh! It came back, the blue box thingy! It say Min learn archery! And I even got 20 XP! Do Min get more XP for every skill she learn?” She asked.

“No, the XP is dependent on the skill. For a simple skill like Skinning, you get only 10 XP, but for manufacturing skills, like your Tailoring skill, you get an award of 15 XP. As for fighting skills, it’s 20 XP, for example. After that, you won’t get any more XP until reaching level 10 in the skill. Anyways, time to learn to use daggers! After you get the skill, you should have 90 XP in total, if I’m not wrong. By then you’ll have to kill two rabbits, and you’re level 2,” he said, before giving her a dagger.

Like that, another half hour passed, as she slashed and stabbed at a dummy before her favorite blue screen appeared once more.

[Congratulations! You have gained a new skill – Short Blades!

You have been awarded 20 XP for learning this skill!]

“Yay, Min did it! Min learned the Short Blades skill!” Min exclaimed.

“You did? Fantastic! Finally, I get to rest. You too, you need to be energetic tomorrow, so go to bed,” Vraaz ordered.

“What? Already? But Min wanna play with knives more! Or go see my sis and bro,” Min complained.

“No buts! You’re still young, you need more sleep than us grownups, so go sleep. If you don’t, I’ll spank you,” he warned. Seeing his serious look, she gave in and huddled into the animal skins in the corner. Contrary to what she believed would happen, she fell asleep almost instantly.