"You really wanna help us?!" The oversized goblin asked. His eyes wide with disbelief at the sapling's statement. His eyes traced along Kenchi nimble figure.
"Hey, muscle isn't my only strength!" Kenchi proclaimed, slightly ticked off by the goblin's comment.
"Sorry kid, we don't need a twig, we need muscles, and you don't have much of that, but if you want to get stronger." The goblin pointed towards a cave on the other side of the clearing, with a challenging smirk. "You could slay the beast that's made the Duecite Ore mine it's den..."
"Do you know what it is?" Kenchi with a bit of hesitation in his voice.
"None of the miner that encountered it were able to tell us what it is, most of them are in the infirmary."
"(Ally System, can we help them?)"
[You can't heal injuries at the moment but there's many other ways you can assist recovery.]
"(That settles it...) I think I can help them recover faster."
"Really? You would do that for us?" The goblin's eyes shimmered hope.
"I can't guarantee that it will work, but it's better than nothing." Kenchi's clenched his fist as unwavering determination spread throughout his body with every heartbeat...
As they approached the infirmary, the smell of desperation and men at the edge of life and death was pungent, and even more so as the curtains were patted.
"Gonma, is that you?" A sickly and peace deprived goblin inquired from his bed.
The oversized Goblin went to the side of the sickly goblin's bed.
"It pains me to see you like this... But, I've brought someone who might be able to make you better." Gonma smile wasn't that of a warrior but a worried sibling.
Upon reaching the goblin's bed, a memory of someone Kenchi once knew populated his mind for a brief moment, leaving him with a stoic expression.
"I'm putting his faith in your hands, do your best to save him." Gonma remarked as he stepped back.
Kenchi stretched his hand over the bedridden goblin. His chest expanded as he prepared himself for what he was about to do.
"Race skill: Blood Manipulation." Kenchi's eyes ignited a crimson red. Heat built in Kenchi's hand, creating a burning sensation on par with the heat of a flame.
His heart quickened its rhythm as his palm tore open and a single thin stream of thick red fluid poured from the wound, flowing onto the goblin's chest. The blood formed a gelatinous mass. As it cooled, it slowly made it's way across the goblin's body and covered his gashes and cuts like a bandage. The excess blood retreated back into Kenchi's hand as his wound closed.
"You should... It will take a while heal fully, but this should help you recover faster." Kenchi said whilst a bead of sweat ran down his face.
Upon turning to looking at Gonma for approval he almost choked on his breath... Gonma and the other goblins stood in the middle of the room, their mouths ajar, making a oddly shaped oval.
"Hey kid... That was blood magic, right?" Gonma inquired nervously.
"It is I guess, but it's probably not that rare compared to other types of magic." Kenchi said as he tried to keep his ego in check...
A potent silence filled the room as the goblins approached Kenchi and bowed synchronized agreement their heads planted firmly onto the ground.
"Please become our chief!" Gonma begged with every fiber of being.
"I would, but I don't you have traditions for electing leaders?"
"Electing? What's that?" Gonma was trapped in the profoundly confusing meaning of the words Kenchi used so freely. "We pick chiefs by holding trials, but you don't have to do that." He remarked dismissively.
"I refuse."
"What?"
"You said you guys pick chiefs based on who survives those trials... Well, I'll prove myself worthy of being your chief by getting rid of the beast in the mines, but first I have a job to do." Kenchi turned his back on them and finished tendering to the other bedridden goblins.
"I get it now." A pensiveness expression became painted on Gonma's face. The goblins left Kenchi to complete his efforts...
As the sun gradually hid itself behind the towering trees, Kenchi stepped out of the infirmary and his way to Gonma who sat patiently on a charred log.
"You're really gonna do this?"
"I am, but I'll need the rustiest sword you have."
"But a rusty sword can't cut anything."
"I don't plan on cutting it into pieces..."
Whilst Kenchi prepared for the fight ahead two mist cloaked phantoms watched intently from above. Above the clouds a furry behemoth drifted. It's white fur fluttering in the as it seamlessly sowed toward the distant snowy mountain peaks... Deep within the earth slumbers, and the silver wolves sat atop a rock, howling into mixed day and night sky of celestial bodies, but the wolves' howls fade one after the other as enormous beast glided with furry loads clenched between claws which dug a deeper grip into their loads with ease...
Kenchi stood at the entrance of the pitch-dark Duecite mine, a torch firmly locked in his hand. He looked back to Gonma, only for him to look away.
("They have no faith in me do they?") Kenchi asked as if he didn't already know the answer.
[Affirmative, I cannot detect any faith in you either.]
("You know, some things you just keep to yourself.") Even with the torch to light his path, Kenchi was still consumed by the unforgiving, cold darkness of the mines. The barren cavern stretched endlessly before him, with countless poorly filled holes marking the walls like scars. The faint sound of running water reached his ears, followed by something else. Something faint, yet unsettling, that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.