Stark gestured for a goblin to come with him and handed it a ball of flesh. The goblin shoved it into its mouth and looked back at him tilting its head. Stark felt a pang in his heart. Seriously, why are these guys getting cuter every day?
He took out another crushed carcass that vaguely resembled a rabbit. His hand went into its skull and took out a translucent crystal. Stark slowly gestured to himself while staring at the goblins' large yellow eyes before putting it back.
The goblin mirrored his movements and took the crystal out and slowly put it into Stark's outstretched hand before taking the rabbit corpse. Stark pumped his fist, this should be his 10th crystal giver. After noticing that the goblins tend to just pass the crystals down the cave instead of actually eating it, he thought he might snag a few for himself.
"I'll call you Gobbie 4."
"Eah!" the goblin noised in excitement.
[You have gained, Ripple Rabbit Steps: Ripple Rabbits create a counterforce on steps]
Stark scanned his surroundings checking for any humans, then proceeded to wiggle his green limbs, it was his "I got a skill" dance. He grimaced as the sound of cracking bones traveled up his body. His feet grew wider and thicker, having a vague resemblance to the creature he had killed. He jumped, and when he felt gravity take hold he took a step, a purple ripple radiated from his foot.
Stark Nelson 12, Class: None
Species: Hu-oblin?
Strength: 37 Vitality: 41
Mind: 63 Sense: 17
Agility: 42
Mana: 1260
Skills:
Divine Digestion (Passive): Can consume anything without adverse effects
Spirit Bond (Passive): Strengthens spiritual connections
Unnatural Skills:
Ripple Rabbit Steps: Create a counterforce on steps Cost: 5+/step varies on weight
Tree Spider Fangs: Coat teeth in mana Cost: 10
Huh? Stark closed his status screen and opened it. He checked the wall, there were 365 scratch marks. It should have been a year by now. Why was he still 12? Stark pinched his forehead. If he has to wait till 16, to awaken and he does not age 1 year after 1 year. He groaned, his plan of slowly growing stronger over 4 years while looking for ways to turn back into a human was not going to be as easy as he thought.
He moved over to some piles of green mana crystals. Many cute little goblins had died over the past year and he had been collecting their wills. There were 10 piles each with 100 little green crystals a little larger than a thumb knuckle.
3 piles disappeared into his stomach. His mind did not vibrate with the ring of a notification. As he had thought, at some point he had stopped receiving traits and skills from goblins. Either there is a limit to how many crystals that can be consumed or he had already received every possible trait he could from the goblin. The last option was that he was so unlucky he just didn't get it after 300 of them but Stark simply refused that possibility. Thinking he is unlucky is unlucky. Besides, he wasn't a scientist. Why should he bother with the technicalities of his own experiment?
Stark let out a low grunt. The sound of feet rapidly moving across the floor was heard from the entrance of his cave. Gobbie 1 and Gobb 3 walked into the cave and obediently stood in front of him. He placed a green crystal in each of their hands. They tilted their heads in confusion, their big yellow eyes reflecting Stark's face that was overwhelmed by their cuteness. He made a gesture to put it to their mouth and the female of the 2 mirrored his movements.
Pop!
"Gobbie 1!"
Like a water balloon filled with purple blood, the skinny body laid in his arms. Its skin folded away from the impact like a blossoming spring flower.
He shook his head in disapproval, "If you are going to explode, you should do it outside."
Stark waddled on his knees to Gobb 3 who was standing weakly on trembling legs. He handed it another mana crystal. Gobb 3 turned its head away and his hands firmly at its sides. The smile of Stark's face remained on his face as he grabbed the creature's thin neck and dragged it out of the cave, proceeding to shove a crystal down its throat.
Pop!
He wiped the purple blood and guts off his face, a frown on his face. Was the chance of a backlash really just 1%? Maybe it is worse for goblins, or it was because they ate mana crystals of their own species. He should try using other monsters' crystals. Stark shook his head, that would be a waste, maybe once he maxed out on another species he can try that out.
"How unlucky I only have 8 of them left," Stark grumbled to himself, rubbing his chin. He found a good way to spend his 4+ years till.
A goblin looked stared at a big goblin with abnormally large feet handing it a shiny green rock. The goblin took a look down at the mana crystal and dropped it. Stark took out his sharp rock and scratched on an uneven piece of wood. Almost every goblin he gave the crystal to dropped it or ran away from it. Could it be that Gobb 3 and Gobbie 1 only ate it because they trusted him? He kicked himself. Maybe he shouldn't experiment on the obedient goblins anymore. Such well-behaved kids need to be treated better.
He laid down on a bed made up of the pelts of rabbits, none of them were hunted by himself of course, those are all blobs of flesh. Now that he thought about it most of them were hunted by Gobbie 3, she was always good at hunting rabbits. It really was a pity that she had to go and die. It seems that Gobb 3 was the one who made his bed. He sighed, it's true what they say, one only knows something's value when it is gone.
He stepped outside to walk off his regret but noticed a roar from the direction of the cave. Goblins went running back gathering in front of a muscular goblin around his size. The muscle-bound goblin turned its head and grunted as it walked forward. It pointed to the other goblins and then to him shaking its head. Then pointed to itself and gestured into the deeper cave. It was upset that he had been making the goblins work for him and a higher rank goblin should be directly serving the king.
As it was flailing its arms in dissatisfaction, the goblin collapsed a hole through its skull. He dropped the core into his mouth.
"Tch!" He did not get anything. It was at the upper end of E-rank, not too much weaker than himself. The goblins clamored about seeing one of their superiors die. Stark let out a low growl and they silenced instantly.
Seeing their fear an idea sprung into his head. There is a king, so what if he becomes it? He smiled as he proceeded to gather all the goblins and placed them into groups. Gobb 1 and 2 were taught how to make slightly better stone tools by him, well he just taught them how to make an edge sharper. He sent a tenth of the goblins into that group, another tenth to go hunting and the rest to begin training.
Until at least 50% of them reach the E-rank these goblins are about to have the worst time of their lives. Stark was smiling. He very uncreatively copied all of Kwan's training plans and doubled it. With the sliver of love he held for the goblins he put his hand together and thought of the fuzzy image of the goddess in his mind.
"Goddess that was wearing the jean shorts, give these goblins a good next life."