After the blue light particles from the cocoon disappeared, I could clearly see Rin's new appearance.
Starting with her foot, it was no longer so wrinkled and rough. Even her ugly yellow fingernails, now, although they still retained their coloring, were no longer so pointed and crooked.
Her legs and arms, even though they still had a skeletal feel to them, seemed to have more muscle in sight. Overall, she had gained more body mass and even if it wasn't to the point of saying it's the weight of a 100% normal person, it was still a considerable gain for her previous state.
Her misaligned teeth, although still somewhat yellowish and pointy, were now completely aligned like those of someone who has undergone a dental procedure. Unlike the others, her two lower canines were more prominent, sticking out slightly from her mouth.
As for her almost non-existent strands of hair, this now seemed no longer to be a problem. Her dark green hair had grown a few centimeters, just enough to come down to the height of her ears. She even gained eyebrows.
Even if I could say that she is less ugly and has a less pointy nose, she still has the round face and huge mouth of a goblin.
Overall, although she really looked different as I expected, she doesn't look anything like what I imagined.
If I may say so, she just looked like someone who bought the aesthetic procedure combo, but forgot to put plastic surgery in the pack.
While I was still evaluating her, Rin jumped on me and grabbed my arm while rubbing her head against me.
"Looks like you've grown a few inches too," I said as I stroked her strangely silky hair that didn't fit with her.
As Rin rubbed herself against me, I noticed something else that also didn't fit her current state.
Normally, when she jumps on me, I feel her stiff ribs against my arm, but this time it was a little different, there was a softer and relatively pleasant sensation.
Grabbing her shoulders, I pulled her away from me and looked at the area of her chest.
"Wow, you've won small pancakes!"
The area where it was once completely flat, now has a few small bumps that, if I don't look closely, will go unnoticed.
Well, although I was surprised by Rin's frontal volume gain, they were not enough to get me excited, especially since they were coupled with a goblin.
As I continued to evaluate the shape of Rin's new companions, a flood of something akin to thoughts coming from her came to me.
Even without her speaking, I could clearly understand that she wanted food.
I hadn't noticed with Kurama, but now that I'm past level 10, my communication with them seems much easier.
It is something like a conversation during a dream, that even if no one verbalizes anything, everything is understandable.
Is this an effect of the passive skill, The One Who Understands Animals, or did evolution make her smarter?
Well, it doesn't really matter, it's more convenient for me this way.
***
After we filled our bellies, I used the remaining essence. Even with an equal split between the three of us, the remainder was enough to get us to level 14, almost 15.
Doing a general check, I could feel that my strength was far beyond what it was at level 9.
I believe that the way I am now, I could probably reach a town if I followed the river cautiously. But after such a rewarding harvest, my greed made me postpone the search for a city.
Even though currently I still can't beat the monster groups in head-to-head combat, I can beat them by using my schemes and oppressing them with my higher level.
Despite the dangers, I now have full confidence that we can run away in case we get into a situation like the one with the wolves.
With this in mind, I still had to get to know my own strength better.
"Rin, come here."
At my call, Rin, who was lazily lying on the ground after filling her belly, jumped up and came running toward me.
Since we still had some time before nightfall, I decided to test my strength in comparison with hers.
While I was waiting for her to stop in front of me, so I could explain what we would do, she jumped on me.
But due to my current strength, I easily held her waist while suspending her in the air.
"Pay attention."
Putting her down, I continued.
"We're going to have a contest of strength, you and me, understand?"
Receiving her confirmation, I held out my arms with open hands.
"Join your hands to mine."
Doing as I said, she interlaced her fingers with mine.
"You can come with everything!"
Using all the strength of my legs, I kicked the ground firmly and pushed my body forward.
Contrary to what I expected, not only was Rin not moved backwards, she was pushing me back with relative ease.
Trying to turn things around, I supported my feet better and put the soles of my boots into full use. Despite this, the only thing that changed was that my feet left a deeper mark on the ground as I was pushed backwards.
Being dragged along until I reached a thick tree root, I used it as a support for my feet and finally managed to stand up. As I felt my confidence grow, it was thrown to the ground again.
Even though I was giving it my all, my body slowly started to sag as it hunched over.
"That's not over yet!"
Letting out a war cry, I gritted my teeth and activated Body reinforcement: Physical strength.
With the veins in my arms gaining more volume, I felt my blood boil as my body stopped yielding before Rin's strength.
With a confident smile on my face, I teased her.
"Is that all you have?"
In the same instant, I discovered that this was a very bad choice.
Strangely animated, Rin looked like an F1 car when her fighting spirit went from 0 to 100 in seconds.
"Guiiiiiiii!"
Along with her shout, she increased her grip on my hands and her oppressive force fell on me.
With my joints giving way, even faster than before, I was left with only one option.
"I give up!"
Hearing my words, Rin immediately interrupted her strength and let go of my hands, causing me to fall to my knees.
"Gui~~ Guii~"
While I stayed on the floor accepting the bitter taste of defeat, Rin was puffing out her chest in glory as she asked for food as a reward for beating me.
Trying to be a good loser, I just ignored her actions.
Even though I received an increase in my strength after level 10, it seems that passing that bottleneck was even more beneficial for her. But it could be that this difference is because of the base statuses of her race.
***
The morning of the next day, I took three rabbits out of inventory, one for each of us, I skewered them with wooden sticks, smeared them in boar lard, and put them in the fire to roast.
"Guiiii! Guiii!
While I was working on it, Rin was all the time tugging on my arm. Since she was a big eater, just one was far from enough, so she was asking me to prepare more servings.
"No, you're grounded, so it'll just be one!"
It may even seem like she is grounded that I am a bad loser, but that is not the case. The reason is completely different.
When we went to sleep last night, Rin came to lie beside me. Since she didn't stink anymore, I didn't see a problem with that. I just looked at it as a normal pet wanting to sleep next to its owner, after all, Kurama did that sometimes and she occasionally copied him.
But then, in the early morning, while I was having a very, very pleasant dream, I woke up with Rin rubbing her buttocks against my crotch, which apparently was the cause of the dream.
Just to be clear, although I had a reaction, it was not due to her being softer, it was simply due to a physiological reaction due to the dream.
When I questioned what she was doing at that moment, she herself seemed not to know and was just following her instincts.
Well, instincts or not, it's good to put some brakes on her and that's why I grounded her.
***
When the rabbits were ready, I served them on the clay dishes.
Sitting next to me, Rin and Kurama looked like they wanted to attack immediately, but due to past experiences, they knew it was good to wait until it cooled down.
As for me, I was using my sword to cut the rabbit into smaller portions.
While I was at it, I noticed that I had forgotten something important, a name for my sword.
While not really necessary, I think naming it would be nice, after all, every good sword listed in history had a name.
"It's time for you to earn a name," I said as I ran my hand over the blade of the sword.
Even saying that, I'm not particularly good at naming, if I had to say, I'm terrible. The best option was to choose a name from some existing sword, but still, it's not easy at all, there are several possibilities.
Since it is not something urgent, I left the choice for later and ate my meal.
***
"What are you trying to do?"
Showing that the punishment was not effective, while I was doing my morning stretching, Rin was rubbing herself against me in a rather promiscuous manner. Even if I always push her away, she comes back.
In response to my question, she passed her arms around my torso and expressed an enormous desire to be close to me while looking at me intensely.
"This is getting weird..." I muttered. "Something must be going on with you."
Luckily, I have some convenient skills. The glossary was even more convenient than I expected. It was something like a Google, only for animals and monsters.
Taking the opportunity, I tried to search, 'Why is Rin acting strange?', but nothing came as an answer.
It seems that I can't find answers to such specific questions.
Having experience with google, I reformulated the search using key words, goblin acting promiscuously.
As a result, a few possibilities have emerged, but it seems that the most likely one is that she is in mating season.
"No and no," I said to Rin, "I know goblins will do to any race, but I'm not the same!"
"I may be a virgin, but I'm not desperate enough to do it with a goblin."
Strengthening my arms, I tried to push her away, but she kept her grip firmly on me.
Although I didn't want to be hard on her, I needed to keep a steady hand.
"If you continue like this, at the next meal there will be no portion for you."
With an expression of being wronged, she finally pulled away from me on her own. However, as she walked away, I could feel her gaze falling to the bottom of my waist.
Unconsciously, I swallowed hard.
Thank God she is my tamed monster, otherwise I would probably be raped in my sleep.
I think I should avoid showering without clothes together with her from now on. Still, I think I need to keep my eyes open for any eventuality.