“What the hell happened to you? And why do you look like that ?” said Rick after walking over towards Jaba and the rest.
“I think I evolved into a higher Tier Goblin. I don’t have a way to know what I am exactly, but at the very least, I’m sure that I’m still a Goblin.”
“Wait wait wait, why the hell do you sound so damn crisp Jaba?!”
“I’m not too sure about that either, must’ve come with the evolution.”
“Wow, evolution...wait, you know about evolution now? and Jaba, why are all these Goblins gathered here?”
“I think they were just giving us room inside the tents to rest after coming back, and yes I do indeed know about evolutions now and a bunch of other things as well...but since we're both up now, let's sit and properly talk about what happened yesterday.”
“Yeah, there is quite a bit to talk about. We almost lost two important pieces to the Goblin dream after all.”
And talk they did, about everything each of them went through while the other was unconscious.
Jaba spoke about every little detail he could remember, from pushing Rick as hard as he could, to falling unconscious while thinking he was surely dead. The only hole in his story was how exactly the wolf died, and what in that entire situation had caused him to evolve into the Goblin he is now.
Rick, remembering the fact that he noticed the wolf appeared to be fatally wounded before he was knocked out, could only speculate that the wolf died on its own after attacking Jaba once, thus giving Jaba the final kill and the corresponding Essence needed to evolve…
Jaba just nodded at this because he didn’t even know what this so-called Essence was, so Rick continued on, and filled him in with what happened after he woke up.
About how he himself woke, all he found was Jaba being barely alive and what seemed to be a now dead wolf, which was then followed by the excruciating trip back to the Tribe.
Their conversation continued…
“So, what is this Essence that you keep talking about Rick?”
“I guess you wouldn’t know what that is huh, just think of it as something you get from killing other beasts to help you get stronger or evolve like what you just went through. Oh, now that I’m thinking about it…do you have a status?”
“Ah okay, I’ll remember that and what is a status?”
“Hm, guess you don’t have one, don’t worry about it. Another thing though, when those stone beasts you mentioned came last time, was the Tribe able to defeat them easily?”
“No, the Tribe was much bigger before the last attack. There were two other Goblins on my previous…evolution, but they and many other Goblins died while fighting them.”
“Jaba…isn’t that kind of bad? Why are we still living in this cave if we have to worry about stone beasts randomly showing up and killing us all?!”
“Not really sure…we were living here for as long as I could remember. Though maybe it’s because of the natural shelter the cave provides…and I don't think a bunch of tattered tents would hold up well in the forest and we also didn’t we know how to construct anything else.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“sigh…I figured it was something like that…And you seem to really know a lot more stuff than I would expect you to.
“Your using words you’ve probably never heard before…did a bunch of extra knowledge really just come in like that all from evolving…and if so, then we need to get the rest of the Tribe on the same plan, because based on what you said our current Tribe size won’t be able to survive another one of those attacks whenever it comes.”
“Yes, or at least that's the only explanation that makes sense to me. I don’t know how else to explain it. It really is like a whole new collection of information and things I didn’t understand just yesterday is suddenly in my mind…its…weird.
“And your right but how are we going to get everyone stronger?”
“That makes sense I guess…not like we have a way of getting any more information about, so might as well just accept it and move on.
“Anyway, it’s simple really, we get every Goblin here to evolve to your previous level, but don’t worry these aren’t just empty words, I actually have a plan.”
“.....”
“....Okay, what is this plan?”
“That pause was for dramatic effect! That's where the random action music would come in before I begin to unfold... Ah, forget it.
“Anyway, since you're now a lot stronger than you were before it should be easy for you to take two Goblins at a time and teach them how to hunt Horned Rabbits just like how you did with me.
“You're the only one that can do this because until I evolve at least to your previous level, the other Goblins won’t be able to understand me.
“Now since we don’t know just how long we have before another attack comes; every single evolved Goblin is going to be vital.”
“I always knew you were a weird Goblin, being able to talk and think like that, even though you're supposed to be like all the other Goblins...either way, we’ll do exactly that then starting after this, what about you? What will you be doing while I train the others?”
“I’m just a genius among Goblins, don't worry about it…”
Of course, Rick was a bit nervous that Jaba would ask questions about his knowledge but was thankful Jaba simply glossed over it.
Rick continued…
“Just so you know, I’ll gladly share my knowledge with my fellow green ones, but until I can properly do that, I’m going to be working on evolving myself.
“I plan to hunt day and night until I reach the level you're currently at. I don’t know if I can do that by just hunting Horned Rabbits though, so I think I’m going to take a risk and explore a bit farther outside the cave for a while.
“Hopefully I can something a bit stronger than a Horned Rabbit so I can evolve faster. Actually…I might even stay outside for a few days so I can hunt further and further without having to come back each time.
“Plus, I need to go find out what happened to that wolf corpse.”
Jaba paused to think for a moment before responding.
“There’s a strong chance you might die Rick. It’s a reason I only ever hunted the rabbits around the cave you know, and what if the stone beasts come while you're gone?”
“I know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take, can’t have the great Goblin Rick be all weak forever, now can I? This is going to be a Goblin hero story after all. And if those stone beasts do come, I’d be useless against them as I am right now, so It makes no difference. Better I take the risk to get stronger than remain here just to possibly die as cannon fodder.”
“I don’t understand what you're saying sometimes, what do you mean by Goblin hero story? And what is cannon fodder?”
“Ah don’t worry about it, but after we're done talking here, I’m going to leave and put my plan in action. Is it okay if I take a few pieces of the stored rabbit meat we have? Actually, it’s probably a little too late for this question but now that I think about it, where do we store the meat anyway?”
“Since your mind is firm, I’ll leave you to it…and sure, you can take a few, but they are in that hole over there by the wall, it’s really cold next to the walls far from the fire, and we found out that the meat lasts longer if we keep it cold.”
“Oo that’s actually really cool...no pun intended...but maybe we can also try drying the meat out as well.
“It should also last a long while too, but we’ll be able to take it out on trips. Cut the meat into really thin strips and keep them in the sun until they are dried out. I think we're also supposed to use salt or something but we don't have that so this will have to do. I'll leave tomorrow instead, so I can show you the process, but it takes a while to dry out completely so let’s only do it with excess meat.”
“I don’t really understand, but let's do that now then.”
After showing Jaba the basic process on how he thought to dry meat, Rick decided to hunt a couple of Horned Rabbits with Jaba for the morning and then spent the rest of the day going over the plan again with Jaba, he then retired to one of the tents for his last night in the cave before his first Goblin adventure.
