Chapter 35: Goblin Lord’s Residence

The orcs decided to celebrate after their win over the goblins. They shouted, howled, feasted, and rutted wherever they could. It was very disgusting, and the smell from their activities was horrible. Male or female, they didn’t care. They just stick it wherever they could. Unable to take it, I escaped into the goblin lord’s private chambers and locked myself in. I wouldn’t come out for a while. At least until they stopped their disgusting activities.

Monsters were not like humans. After a war, no matter who won, humans would never cheer like that. If the losses were too high, forget about the celebration, they wouldn’t even smile for a long time. However, monsters were not like that. Since they won, they would celebrate and do whatever they could. As for the casualties, they never think much of it. Yes, they would feel a little jittery and angry, but that’s only momentary.

From a different angle, it might be cruel. After all, who wouldn’t want to be respected and remembered, especially after martyred in a war? But it was not the case for monsters. The notion of ‘survival of fittest’ held true though and through. Eighty orcs died in this battle against goblin lord, but I didn’t see a shred of regret on Logier or the other orcs’ face. Even worse, they didn’t give their fallen comrades, a proper burial. Their bodies were thrown away carelessly and left to rot somewhere far from their dwelling. I wasn’t ready for such a psychological blow. Thankfully they didn’t practice cannibalism, or else I would have really broken down mentally.

I summarised the entirety of monsterdom in just one word, brutal.

For a person like me who came from a peaceful time, it was just too hard of a blow to endure. However, unknown to me at that time, this event strengthened my psychology to an unimaginable degree. As my mentality became flexible, I found it easier to survive in the cruel monster world.

The design of this private dwelling of goblin lord gave me a familiar feeling. The interior wasn’t messy as I had thought initially. A big metal pot was hanging from the ceiling, and a fire pit was dug right below it. It was the apparatus the goblin lord probably used to create his dubious potions. I was fascinated by it to some extent.

Aside from this pot, there was a crudely made wooden bed decorated in greenish substance. When I touched it, those greenish substances felt like jelly to me. After a brief observation, I realized that those were actually cushions for the bed. ‘This goblin lord was living quite a luxurious life,’ I exclaimed in my heart.

Next to the bed was a table, equally crude with rough edges. It was particularly huge, covering two-third of the room. Atop this table, I saw many green sheets arranged systematically. There were labels that I couldn’t understand. Out of curiosity, I pulled out one of those green sheets and scanned through the contents.

I could read it!

Somehow I could read the words and sentences written on the sheets. As far as I could remember, I had never learned this strange language. Then suddenly, my eyes widened as a memory surfaced from the deepest recess of my mind. I recalled the magicians who summoned us doing something immediately after we appeared. Then we could understand what he was saying clearly. It might be due to that magician that I could read the language.

After a brief study, I quietly put down the sheet of paper and pulled out another one. I wasn’t able to understand anything written on them. The words were complete jargon. Sentences were so mystical that I felt like reading the personal diary of a kid who watched too many cartoons. But one thing I understood. These sheets recorded the goblin lord’s research data about all his creations. To a certain extent, they were very precious. I decided to hold on to them for the time being. Who knows, I might need them in the future.

As I was rummaging through his stuff, a thick stack of papers bound together fell from the heap. Getting curious, I picked it up from the ground and inspected carefully.

Gulliver Albestone

The name was quite catchy. Especially the first name. It made me remember a very popular story I read when I was a kid. The goblin lord’s name made me very interested in the content of the diary. I flipped the first page and started reading.

Time passed very quickly, but I was so absorbed in the diary that I forgot everything else. It felt like I was reading an unputdownable book. The thing that made me laugh until my stomach hurt was the circumstance behind the goblin lord’s incarnation. Although I was unlucky, this goblin lord was way more so than me.

But that’s not the only thing I got from his diary. I was also able to know many things about the human community. Moreover, I was able to gain some superficial knowledge about this world. What blew my mind was not the existence of mythical races like Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, and many more. I expected it to some extent. But the possibility of humans becoming any of these races through the help of this so-called Invocation Mark.

The first time I heard its name was when the goblin lord asked me why I was so strong. At that time, I became quite interested in this thing and thought of asking Cathie when I see her again. But now I don’t need to wait for her. This man had written about this Invocation Mark in detail, explaining how it worked. Probably, he wanted to recreate it.

The more I read about it, the more surprised I became. This Invocation Mark had the same function as my system. Although there were some underlying differences, the way they worked was the same. Both required their users to kill monsters and level up. Strength, defense, agility, magic everything was upgradable with the help of this mark. However, unlike my system, it seems the bearer of this Invocation Mark could even level up their skill levels.

In this aspect, my system lost to it by a landslide. I couldn’t use the EPs to upgrade my skills. But there was a silver lining. According to this goblin lord, to evolve into other races, even with this mark, it wouldn’t be that easy. Many criteria should be filled for that to happen. This goblin lord once tried to evolve into a higher race called Elf since it could boost his profession. However, he instantly gave up on the idea the moment he discovered what was needed for him to achieve that.

In comparison, my system only needs me to gather enough EPs to evolve.

Another thing about my system, which made it superior to this mark was its convenience of utility. After killing enough monsters and gathering enough Blessing Points, a special ritual was needed before they could increase their attributes. However, my system needed no such thing. With a little effort, I could raise attributes without visiting anywhere.

There might be many more uses and differences, for now, I only know of these few.

Click!! Click!!

While I was absorbed in the goblin lord’s diary, a clicking sound, not unlike that of a woodpecker’s pecking rang throughout the room. After a brief search, I found the source of this sound. It was a strange apparatus in the shape of a semi-spherical egg-like thing.

I knew about this device after reading goblin lord’s diary. It was a clock with various functions like alarm, stopwatch, and calendar. There was also a detailed note on how to use it. Squinting my eyes, I discovered that it’s actually midnight. No wonder I felt tired and sluggish.

…

The next day, I left the goblin lord’s residence to go on an inspection. In fact, I wanted to examine this so-called hidden area that housed the Hobgoblin. However, after a brief thought, I gave up on it for now. I didn’t know the dangers lurked there. If I go solo, I would only invite calamity upon myself. For now, I forget about it. After Logier and the orcs settled down, I would think about delving in.

The dense forest that hid the goblin habitat was in a mess. More than half of the trees were uprooted on a large scale due to the rampaging orcs and goblins. The ground was also sported big and small cracks as a result of their clash. I didn’t notice it then, but now I could see the impact when two powerful forces fought.

Just then, a shadow appeared out of nowhere and loomed over me.

“Little friend, that human female is here!” It was Logier who came with a piece of good news. I was elated and couldn’t thank my lucky stars enough. I was looking forward to her arrival.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go and meet them.” I was very enthusiastic about it. Logier, the orcs, even Urt, none had questioned me about my identity. My status as an ex-human got exposed by the goblin lord. But no one asked me about it after that day.

I wondered if they were considerate of my feelings. In the first place, can monsters like them do that?

“Okay. Follow me.”

I walked behind Logier under the awe-filled look of orcs. My status among them had leaped a few steps after the war. Everyone saw how I handled the infamous goblin lord who defeated their chief. It filled them with awe and respect towards me.

After passing through the corridor, we exited the tunnel, arriving at the large hallway that marked the starting point of the first floor. We saw Cathie and that other girl, Leah, if I remember correctly. They were standing vigilantly and looking towards the tunnel.

I raised my right hand and waved at them, which was a very common gesture between fellow humans. However, the reactions they both had were heaven and earth apart. While Cathie smiled at us and waved back, the other girl, Leah, stared dumbly at me. It was as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes and started questioning the reality of the world she knew.