Why a Goblin?

Getting back to my humble cave dwelling finally gave me some time to check out my status and It looked a little something like this.

{Name - Rick}

{Age - 20}

{Race - Royal Goblin}

{Essence - 3}

Hmm still no level indicator but something called Essence popped up instead? I don’t know If all my previous knowledge on light novels can help me here cause I have no idea what this means.. And the number three next to it..what does that even mean? Hmm the only thing that really changed before this popped up is the fact that I killed some rabbits, so maybe it's from that? But I managed to kill six rabbits so why only 3? Is..is it because while I killed six rabbits each kill is only worth half of these essence things? Well let's try and ask the system I guess.. Um system, what is essence?

…

As expected it didn’t answer my question, but something changed, a new option appeared next to Essence..’

{Name - Rick}

{Age - 20}

{Race - Royal Goblin}

{Essence - 3} - Absorb?

Absorb huh.. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this is a good thing? Surely right? I absorb this Essence thing and I get stronger? Yes that has to be it right..right? But apart from that, it’s still a bit weird that I have this game-like system but no type of level indicator. I really hope it's a feature I unlock later or something otherwise it would kill the immersion! Where is my very own great sage to report on my progress? Or a little robot system voice saying I got all these new skills and stuff! Sigh, maybe that's not a thing in this world after all? Either way, at least I now know that leveling up may indeed not be a thing, and instead I got essence and the current way to get more is to kill monsters it seems. Well atleast this is my current working theory until I learn more stuff. So based on that, I think I know my plan of action going forward, hunt rabbits and absorb em.. for now, let's go watch Jaba skin these horned rabbits.’

While Jaba was sitting around the fire, skinning the hunt, he saw the weird one walk and take a seat next to him to watch. He didn’t say anything he just watched on in silence. This surprised Jaba because he expected the weird Goblin to begin his usual pestering for who knows how long. This made Jaba think that he could finally do some work in peace, but before he could truly get a chance to enjoy his peace and focus again on the rabbits, the much-hated questions came again. Before he answered the first question though he called over a random male Goblin to take over the skinning duties. Too much work to focus on the weird questions and skin rabbits properly at the same time. He was a simple Goblin.

“So Jaba, why don’t the other Goblins go hunting? They just sit around all day and rotate guarding the exits?”

“Goblins...protect...home...from...stone...monsters.”

“Yeah you mentioned them before, where do they come from? And when do they come?”

“Come...from...inside...cavern...and...sometimes.”

“I see, but I was in the cavern? I didn’t see any stone monsters in there.”

“Not..sure…sometimes…come from…cavern..that's..all.”

“Well I guess I’ll have to investigate that on my own time..anyway do the other Goblins have names?”

“Only...Jaba...and you...names”

“We gotta change that as soon as possible, but I guess that's not really possible right now..not until we get all the Goblins here able to communicate like you huh. What do you think?”

“Strong...Goblins...good”

“Okay, that's all for now, thanks again Jaba!”

Without providing a response Jaba just casually went back to finish the skinning of the rabbits.

Alright, I’m a bit worried about those so-called stone monsters that Jaba keeps mentioning. Are they like the popular stone golems that authors love writing about? Maybe there’s something in this cave that spawns at a regular rate, Jaba didn’t seem to know anything about that, though. I can’t worry about it for now. Hopefully, it isn’t too bad when they eventually come. Right.. I think I’ll try absorbing that essence now..

I found one of the tattered tents that just happened to be empty at the moment, as the other Goblins are out there just sitting around the fire not saying much..I guess there aren’t too many forms of entertainment for them, I’ll change that soon enough! Anyway I sat down ready to begin this so-called absorption..I opened the status and the “Absorb?” question was still there. Now should I just say yes or- ‘Request confirmed’ popped up on the screen before I suddenly felt all tingly! It felt like a calm yet firm wind was somehow blowing on every inch of my little green body and on my insides at the same time! That doesn’t make sense?! I know!! But that's what it feels like!!

The sensation only lasted for a minute or two before I felt normal again. That was quite the experience and I only absorbed three measly essence! Well it wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, just really weird. Anyway let's see what that did for me.. Status!

{Name - Rick}

{Age - 20}

{Race - Royal Goblin}

{Essence - 0}

{Evo Points - 3/15}

There it is!!!!!! The first official sign that evolution is possible!!! Hahahah! Gang green will surely rise now!!

…Despite me saying that, I don’t actually feel any stronger, and I’m only assuming “evo” means evolution.. Well hopefully it does because that's what all my focus will be on!

So my number one priority now will be to gather up essence and evolve potentially? Hopefully that will put me on Jaba’s level so I could then halfway communicate with the other Goblins because right now I just basically see them as walking bricks. Don’t worry or fret though my fellow green ones, as soon as I reach an appropriate level, I'll get you all up and running too! Rick, the Royal Goblin, is gonna have you all named and speaking quicker than you can skin a couple of rabbits! Well maybe quicker than a couple hundred or a thousand rabbits, but that's besides the point! With that being said I’m going to spend everyday hunting with Jaba from now on, and when I can accurately remember my way back to the cave on my own I'll go by myself.

So just like that Rick hunted horned rabbits day after day with Jaba, having a decent hunting partner on these hunting trips was something that Jaba wasn’t used to, but he quickly grew accustomed to it. In fact he started liking it, even voluntarily teaching Rick everything he knew about the forest, which wasn’t much, but he did teach him how to make a spear, and how to properly skin a rabbit, though he was sure he would like it a lot more if he didn’t have to deal with the constant chatter on every hunting trip from Rick.

Everything went smoothly for the first couple days of hunting until something finally happened. On the fourth day, the two had the unfortunate opportunity to come face to face with death. A creature that Jaba himself had never ever seen before, made its appearance in front of the Goblin duo. Jaba immediately wanted to grab Rick and run away while they still could, but with the eyes of a predator staring missiles into them, they were both frozen to the spot, the look of fear on their faces, coupled with all the sweat running down their green bodies was enough to tell how dire the situation was that they found themselves in.

You know, a lot of people might call me a coward for being scared of a horned rabbit, or even laugh because I actually almost let one kill me in my first hunt. But with the beast that was standing in front of me currently. I don’t think anyone would be surprised if I had straight-up pissed myself right now. In fact, I think people would be surprised if I didn’t do that. It was that terrifying of a beast. What is this beast you wonder?

Well, it’s a wolf.

It wasn’t an ordinary wolf like the one most would think of when hearing the word wolf. It’s big.

Very fucking big. I mean why is it so FUCKING BIG!! It easily towered over me and Jaba, reaching a height of at least seven feet at the shoulders I think, with almost shining silver fur, yellow-colored eyes and fangs bigger than my whole arm, it’s no surprise that I’m scared absolutely shitless right now. Only there’s something wrong. It’s been a couple of seconds since the wolf appeared before us. By all means, Jaba and I should have been merrily on our way to Goblin heaven by now, but we weren’t? Is it waiting for us to move? Looking to my right, I see Jaba, who is definitely stronger than me, scared out of his mind as well, so It doesn’t seem I can depend on him for any ideas, although I was still scared and mentally already said my goodbyes to this world, I tried calming down a little and that's when I noticed something I’m surprised I missed before this moment. This massive silver wolf is extremely wounded, and it appears fatal.

We just might...survive?