Cordelia felt her memories merging with the original's as the emotions associated with them also dawned on her, entwining in a complex culmination.
Blinking her eyes in confusion, she tried to move her body to her will.
At first, it was a bit hard but after a few tries, it became as natural as breathing to her.
Clenching and unclenching her fists, waving her arms, she realized she could finally move like she wanted to.
"That's all? Was it that easy?"
Cordelia muttered incredulously, finally able to fine-tune and control her movements unlike her previous dreary state.
Slowly but surely, realization dawned on her as she reached the conclusion, 'I can truly control this... no, my body as my own.'
Closing her eyes in glee but also confusion, she seeked the memories of the original which were just as vivid as her own, hard to figure out if they were two different people or one.
'I see. You have truly lived a hard life.'
After observing all those memories from a fixed, paralyzed point of view, she felt pity for the original Cordelia.
Slowly she opened her bright cerulean blue eyes, which flickered with intense life in them, as compared to her previous dim eyes that seemed dead.
A major change in her aura, air, vibe only because of her eyes becoming more vibrant as life now teemed them.
Taking slow, deep breaths to relax her excited state and focus on her current state, she noted with a grunt.
"Ugh. I am still bleeding, but I need to get an individual mission..."
With no choice but to rest for some time, she decided it was better to jog her memories lest she forget something important or mess up something.
After what felt like an eternity due to the pain, but were only thirty minutes of leaning against the tree, allowing enough time for her wound to scab and stop bleeding, she slowly stood up with the tree's support.
'I was lucky that I didn't meet some other human or a dart goblin.'
After thanking her lucky stars that not only she survived but also unlocked her memories and regained her motor functions, she started moving slowly in a random direction, just away from her initial one.
This time, she stayed alert of her surroundings and moved with minimal support near trees.
Her efforts bore fruit as just after five minutes, she found a hideous goblin hiding in the bushes.
'It must be waiting to ambush someone.'
Cordelia decided to ambush the goblin and kill it, but the dreaded question was how?
'I only have this crude iron dagger I was stabbed with.' As she held the dagger whose blade had her dried blood, she shuddered in the after effects of the fear.
'...I need to do this. I must do this. To live. To survive. To thrive.' She tried her best to firm her resolve, but it was all for naught.
Her body shivered in fright as her hand holding the dagger trembled, the wound on her back started sending waves of pain and remnant fear, clouding her judgement.
The scene of the hideous goblin reaching for her to tear apart her dress played in her mind before it turned to a gory mess.
All of this caused her to almost retch again, and if not for the fact the goblin was looking around warily, Cordelia would have retched.
Despite her terrible condition, she started chanting one sentence in her mind like a mantra: 'I have to do this to survive.'
Wiping away the cold sweat on her forehead with her forearm, she narrowed her eyes on the goblin around 50 feet(~15 meters) from her position.
Cordelia bit her lip and clenched the dagger tightly in her right hand in an amateur manner and then she moved.
'This is the only weapon I have.'
Rustle
Whoosh
Using all her strength and resolve to move her trembling body, she rushed towards the goblin causing the bushes to rustle and air to part, causing a sound at her aggressive run.
Ki-eik
KEEIK!
Cordelia noticed that the goblin's hideous face turned to her as it screeched in excitement, resulting in her body stiffening up momentarily due to fear.
'Come on. Cordelia, you can do this!'
Encouraging herself, she reached the excited goblin in under 5 seconds.
She was no prodigy, however. She missed her target as the goblin swerved to her left and was about to attack her with its dirty crude hands.
'NO!'
She screamed internally, unable to open her mouth, frozen by palpitating fear.
In haste, she twisted her left foot on the ground and fell on her butt, the goblin hand whistling right in front of her face.
Whoosh
'It missed!!'
She exclaimed with joy, but her eyes sharpened dangerously as she stabbed the dagger at the goblin's chest in angered retaliation.
Kieeeek
The goblin faltered while screeching in pain as it tried to retaliate but she also hadn't stopped.
She pulled out the dagger with all the strength she could muster from her weak body, powered by adrenaline, and thrusted in once again into the goblin's chest, not giving it a moment of respite to strike back.
"I WILL KILL YOU!" She hollered in rage.
Without any signs of stopping, Cordelia kept stabbing the goblin until its green blood pooled underneath her and marred her face with a greenish color.
"Ah..." She let out her bated breath as late realization sank in.
"No, no, no, no..."
"I-I only did this to survive."
She gulped nervously as her legs felt wobbly and she fell on her butt when she had barely stood back up as her knees buckled up under the pressure she built up.
'This isn't... what I wanted.'
Cordelia couldn't help but blame herself for everything but a tantalizing sound brought her out of her guilty reverie.
Ding!
[Congratulations!!]
[You have successfully subjugated a Goblin]
[Reward: 5 Points]
Ding!
[3 Unread Messages!]
'Ah... Yes, how could I forget...'
She chided herself mentally but changed her gaze to the mess she had just made.
Phew
Taking deep breaths and closing her eyes, she calmed down before opening them once again. Her cerulean blue eyes danced with a celestial blue hue in them, reflecting the orange sunlight and the blue sky.
"This is the world I am in now. I just needed to vent my frustrations and I have already done it. I need to accept this reality as fast as possible or it would be the end of me."
Cordelia had been smart since she was a kid, so she immediately realized what had happened, its reasons and everything in an objective manner.
Sigh
"Only I am crazy enough to diagnose my personality issues..."
She mumbled in a low voice before she wiped off the blood on her face using the grass nearby.
'Ah! I need to take this.'
She picked up the crude dagger which was slightly chipped at its tip before leaving the place as she didn't want to attract any attention from anyone, be they humans or goblins.
'I should check the messages after getting to a safer place.'
The blue window did speak directly into one's mind till you proved yourself worthy.
After that, it forms some sort of connection to the person and they can access it by just thinking about it.
It was quite complicated and she didn't need to worry about it at the moment.
'Show me the Unread Messages.'
Cordelia tried connecting to the blue window as she was perched atop a tree she climbed when searching for a safe vantage point.
Ding!
[New!]
[You have proved your worth! If you wish to prove yourself further for better rewards, then complete missions!]
[Individual Mission Available!]
[Choose a name you wish to be known by!]
"Hmm. There was that, too. Individual missions only appear after the first 'subjugation'. And a name? I can't use my real name, what should I choose?"
Cordelia tried to come with a name but in the end, shook her head.
"Anyway, I have nearly a full day to choose. I should check the mission first."
'Individual Mission.'
Ding!
[Individual Mission: Subjugate 50 Monsters(20 must be goblins)]
[Mission Progress: 0/50 Monsters(0/20 Goblins)]
[Mission Reward: 300 Points]
[Failure Penalty: Final score will be 30% of your collected score]
[Tip: Mission Progress won't change from monsters subjugated with help but points will be rewarded for them!]
"No way!! WTF is wrong with this damned thing!?"
Cordelia cursed as soon as she saw her individual mission, not because she found it too difficult but because of the irksome and loathsome requirement of goblins.
"Where will I find so many goblins?" She questioned the blue window but got no response from it, not that it ever responded to anyone as a talking buddy.
'Calm down, Cordela, calm down, you must calm down,' she tried to calm herself before she did something irreversible.
Phew
Huuuu
"It should be doable because of the one giving it."