《Goblin Plane》 -3 Synopsis @@ What happens when a scientist from 23rd Century Earth reincarnates in the Goblin Plane? A great Goblin Emperor who builds a Goblin Empire and conquers his whole plane and many others, spreading the tales of terror of dark terrible puny creatures in the whole universe - is a very high possibility. 23rd Century Earth''s common viewpoint is of pursuit of knowledge in rationalism, and this is exactly Ragnar''s mindset as he sets out in a world full of Goblins. Just like his new found nature, dark, cold and calculating; he makes use of all his resources as he sets off to conquer The Goblin Plane and the universe!@@ -2 Plane System @@ A multiverse has an infinite numbers of planes. Planes can evolve if the creatures residing in it breakthrough its current Grade limit. The Ranking for Planes are as follows: 1. Small Sized Planes. Small Sized Planes contain Grade1 to Grade4 creatures. They are incapable of Planar travel, have just been formed in the universe and are subject to attack of other planes due to various reasons, if found. It''s plane consciousness has not yet been formed, the plane''s will acts for the benefit of the plane and it''s creatures. Goblin Plane starts off as a Small Sized Plane. 2. Medium Sized Planes. Medium Sized Planes contain atleast one Grade5 Creature. They have begun Planar travel, and have started on their journey to subjugate other planes in order to evolve into a Large Sized Plane. Medium Sized Planes have a newborn''s IQ level plane consciousness. Orc Plane, Kobold Plane, Rodent Plane, and Beastmen Plane will be medium sized planes in the book you will come across. 3. Large Sized Planes. Large Sized Planes contain atleast one Grade8 or above creature. They have existed since ancient times and have mastered planar travel. Any small or medium sized plane found by them will be easily conquered and subjugated and used as resources to help their plane evolve into a higher level existence. Dragon Plane, Nature Plane, Undead Plane, and Magus Plane will be the few large sized planes that you will come across in my book. Ranking System will follow Magus Planes ranking as reference to compare power levels, as Humans of the Magus World are the strongest creatures of the Universe.@@ -1 Ranking System @@ The Universe is divided into a 9 Grade Power System. The Goblin Plane in the start has Orcs as its mightiest predators. Kobolds, Ratmen, Beastmen, Trolls, and Dragonborns are also the denizens of the Goblin Plane. The strongest Goblin in this plane is a 2nd Grade Creature. Goblins in the start of the novel will be terribly weak, only 5% of the Goblin race will have the potential to advance to a Grade1 creature. Goblins undergo special rankups before becoming a Grade 1 Creature: Goblin (Starting state of all Goblins) HobGoblin(RankUp, Comparable to a low level Magic Acolyte.) HobGoblin is qualified to lead a tribe of about 100 goblins. Goblin Noble (RankUp, Comparable to a mid level Magic Acolyte.) Goblin Noble is qualified to lead a tribe of about 10,000 goblins. Goblin Duke(RankUp, Comparable to a high level Magic Acolyte.) Goblin Duke is qualified to lead a tribe of 100,000 goblins. Lord-class Goblin(Rankup, Comparable to an official Grade1 Magus.) Lord Goblins evolve from a Goblin Duke. They are terrifying Grade1 Creatures, who can lead a whole Goblin Horde. They are qualified to start their own Goblin Kingdom.@@ 1 Prologue @@ 2264, Earth. After many years of development, the fourth generation of the AI Chip was released. This AI Chip was said to work by being embedded into one''s bone marrow by perfectly merging with the host, fully utilizing the current abilities and assisting them in all facets of lives. In a world, where Virtual Reality is possible, in order for the chip to not control the user, the first generation of the chip didn''t possess a complete, working artificial intelligence, but only had simple data storage and analysis functions. However, in its fourth version, it now contains a fully working artificial intelligence capable of accomplishing work that required a huge amount of data processing, and, thus, was able to assist the user with complex tasks, which would normally strain the mind. Ragnar just got his ordered 4th Gen AI Chip. Inside his home, Ragnar unwrapped the package, and took out the new AI Chip. In this day and age, technology had become quite advanced. The so-called AI Chip was not one of those antique silicon chips, which needed to be implanted, but a milky white orb that one would swallow. It was pill sized. Following the instructions in the user manual, Ragnar swallowed the orb and lay flat on his bed, patiently waiting for the chip to be absorbed into his body. The white orb disintegrated in Ragnar''s stomach, slowly seeping into his cells, and then penetrating deeper into his physiology before merging with him and becoming a part of his body. Ragnar, happy with his newly installed 4th Gen AI Chip got busy connecting the chip to the Internet, as he was obsessed with data and computing. However, as he was getting ready to experience the pleasure of diving into the world of data, the AI Chip got connected to the link that led him to the vast amount of data in the Internet, but, due to some error, the immense ocean of data contained within, immediately swallowed Ragnar''s small, weak soul consciousness and transmigrated him to a newborn plane.@@ 2 Awakening In a dark, oppressive cave filled with a thick, wet fog. With a gloomy atmosphere, so much so that it would make anyone walking through this area feel a constant chill on their skin. "...Where?" Ragnar''s brows knitted into a tight frown. He couldn''t control himself and clenched his fists. He wanted to scream out in anger, because of his severe headache. After a long time, he finally managed to suppress the urge. This world was no longer the Earth that he was familiar with, and the body he was now inhabiting was not his original body either. He tried to move his body, but he couldn''t. But then he heard¡­ something. Some kind of noise from somewhere nearby. "Gi?" That noise gradually drew nearer until it stopped before him. Then he felt something hit him. Something soft and tender with a disgusting smell¡­ Meat. It was meat! Delirious from the hunger, Ragnar did not notice that he stood up. Greedily, he put the meat into his mouth and sunk his teeth into it. ''Delicious!'' ''Hahahaha! It''s delicious!'' He didn''t know what kind of meat this was, but it was delicious! More than anything he had ever tasted! "Gigi¨C¨C¨Cgigigi!" He laughed and before he knew it, he had eaten it all. But, he was not satisfied. There was a craving within him, unsatisfied, which grew fiercer within as he lusted for more. Then all of a sudden, something grabbed at him. It took him from the back of his neck, and lifted him up. As he looked up, he was shocked and found out that it was some creature''s giant hand holding him up. Not long after, he felt the wind caress him, and light filled his sight like fire, scorching his eyes in its brightness. He had to close his eyes, it was simply too bright. ''If I let them get used to it first, I should be able to open them though.'' When he finally opened his eyes, what greeted him was a great, thick forest, followed by the realization that his field of vision was shaking. As he wondered who it was that was treating him so roughly, he turned his head. But what he saw, shook him to the core. What had been dangling him around like a club was something that he could not have thought to be anything but a joke. A creature with a wide, green frame. A hideous visage, dangerous eyes. This wasn''t human. Words instantly came to his mind. ''Goblins!'' As Ragnar was thinking that to himself, that goblin turned and looked at him with a face that could only be described as repugnant. ''I''m going to die.'' The goblin spoke. "Food. Catch. No good, then die." After the goblin told him that, it turned its back on him and walked away. Ragnar looked up the night sky, and it was as if lightning had struck him. Up in the sky was the bright full moon. Yet it hung there brighter and bigger than he last remembered, and with another one just like it beside. He had read about this a lot ¨C in light novels. He had transmigrated into another world, as a goblin at that, it was like a start to a great light novel. In those sort of stories, people were transported from their world to another world, where they were granted special powers. Those people became heroes and they subjugated the demon king. Yes, those cliche stories. But, Ragnar had always been an ambitious scientist and what he felt right now was happiness, intense happiness. He was born for this, he wanted to conquer this world and leave his mark on it. ''Will I get superpowers as well?" Ragnar started having stupid thoughts after ambitious ones, however, in the next moment, a familiar beeping sound suddenly resounded in his brain. [*Beep* Biological energy has reached the required amount. AI Chip, serial number RN9215434 has started its initiation.] Ragnar let out a cry of surprise. ''Yes, AI CHIP!'' After the chip finished adjusting to its new state, a graceful yet emotionless female voice of his AI Cortana resounded in Ragnar''s brain. [*Beep* Host detected, establishing database. Please wait!] Eh? It could still identify his new body? That was unexpected. 3 Status After a long wait of a whole week, the AI Chip finally completed its first self-test. During this week, Ragnar finally came to terms with his transmigration. He accepted his reality as a small, weak newborn goblin. He did a lot while waiting for the initiation of his AI Chip. He took part in hunts with his fellow tribe Goblins, and learnt from Goblin Elders about the basics of common Goblin language. From The Wise One, the oldest goblin of his small tribe of 100 goblins, he found out that he was located in Nandini Forest. This world or "plane" as the Goblins call it, only had one super-continent, something like Pangaea during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras of the Earth. Its total area was about 600,000,000 sq km, just about 1/6th times bigger than the supercontinent Pangaea and Nandini Forest was located somewhere around the outerlayers of Northern Hemisphere. The Wise One told him that all of this common knowledge, was gathered by our sly Goblin Ancestors, as we goblins breed fast and have the biggest population in this world. Goblin breeding period is of 3months, and we mature from a newborn to an adult in a month. Hence, Goblins are everywhere in this world, but they are still the weakest race. Hunted day after day, trampled, and crushed, Goblins live with no other choice than to die fighting against terrible odds. Just because the strongest Goblin on this plane has only been a Grade 2 creature. Goblins have the following ranks according to the The Wise One, Goblin < HobGoblin < Goblin Nobel < Goblin Duke, and even a Goblin Duke is not comparable to a Grade1 creature. After Goblin Duke, there are Lord-class Goblins, they form the Goblin ruling structure and lead various Goblin Kingdoms in this plane. There is only one Grade2 Goblin, and The Wise One does not know much about him as he lives in the center of the supercontinent, but all Goblins worship him. In this world of survival of the fittest, might is right. Goblins, as one of the weakest race, worship power, and wait for an apex Grade 4 existence to emerge from its population to rule this plane. There are other races in this world; Orcs, Dragonborn, Rodents, Beastmen, Kobolds and Trolls. Orcs have a 3rd Grade creature Orc King leading them, and they are one of the strongest races in this plane. As their men, women and newborn are all good powerful warriors. They are a warrior race, and one of the deadliest predators in this world. Dragonborn are mighty, and have a 4th Grade Crimson Dragonborn at their helm. Their population is the smallest, but they are the most powerful race, as even a newborn Dragonborn starts off as a Grade1 creature. The only thing limiting them from being the Overlords of this plane is their population. Beastmen and Trolls have a Grade3 creature as well. Rodents and Kobolds are just like Goblins with their strongest creatures being Grade2. Dragonborn rule the South, Orc rule the West and Trolls and Beastmen fight for the East. The Center and Northern hemisphere of the continent are in constant war. Surprisingly, there are no humans on this plane, or atleast the Goblins of the outerlayers of the Northern Hemisphere have not come across them. The Nandini Forest is situated in the outerlayers of the North, this Forest contains of a few Orc Tribes, Trolls and Goblins. Ragnar looks up at the sky, and thinks about his current situation. "Cortana, status." [*Beep* As you wish, displaying host''s status.] Soon, all of Ragnar''s basic attributes were projected into his mind. [Name: Ragnar Race: Goblin(Newborn) Attributes: Strength : 3 Agility : 6 Physique : 2 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Warrior(Newborn) HP: 20/20 Experience: 2/10 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language Personal Abilities: -- ] In this world, every creature possessed some basic body attributes at birth. After years of research and classification, which had been done by generations upon generations of old Goblins of the various tribes, they had finally categorized these into four different attributes: Strength, Physique, Agility, and Soul. As one could guess, all creatures were differentiated based on these four basic attributes. Strength was primarily used to quantify a creature''s musculature and body strength. This attribute was very important for close combat focused Orcs, Dragonborn and Beastmen. The strength attribute would affect one''s base damage when using close combat weapons, and it also affected one''s melee accuracy. For an ordinary creature of this newborn plane, having 1-2 Strength was quite normal. An adult with more than 3 strength would be considered to be quite strong. Agility was used to quantify body synchronization, flexibility, reflexes, and balance. It was extremely vital for those warrior creatures who possessed small frames in comparison to Orcs, Dragonborn and Trolls. That meant Goblins, Kobolds, Rodents were more agility focused creatures. Physique represented a person''s health and endurance. Any increase in physique would improve a person''s Fortitude and Concentration. Therefore, it is very important for all creatures in this newborn plane. Fortitude, also known as the ability to resist poison or disease. Concentration. This is a very important skill for spellcasters like Goblin/Orc/Dragonborn shamans. Trolls had the best physique in this plane, even their newborns started off with a 5 in this attribute. The minimum physique for any creature is 1. If a Goblin''s physique dropped below 1, they would die. Soul determined a creatures''s learning and inferring ability. This attribute was especially important for Shamans because it decided the number of spells a Shaman could cast. It also made it easier for them to cast spells, as well as increased the power of their spells. Most animals/monsters had a Soul of 1 or 2, while creatures similar to goblins would have at least a 3. If an ordinary goblin wanted to become an shaman they would need to have a Spirit of 10, at minimum to be qualified as even a low grade shaman, with power comparable to a Magic Acolyte. After analyzing the effects of these attributes to Goblins, Ragnar decided the most important attribute for himself currently was Strength. As a part of the weak Goblin race, he wanted to first dominate the Nandini Forest by his strength. 4 Jarl Borg I 1192, The Nandini Forest A whole month has passed since Ragnar transmigrated to this newborn plane, which he decided to call as The Goblin Plane, for it still does not have any official name, maybe because the culture of the sapient races have not been developed to a sufficient level. During this month, Ragnar learned to perfectly use his Goblin body. He also learned to speak the Goblin Language, and to travel in the Nandini Forest. Ragnar finally finished his transition from a Newborn Goblin to an Adult Goblin. All his attributes were now at the peak level for an Adult Goblin. "Cortana, show me my status." [*Beep* As you wish, displaying host''s status.] [Name: Ragnar Race: Goblin(Adult) Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 8 Physique : 3 Soul : 4 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Warrior HP: 30/30 Experience: 9/10 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab ] Stealth Stab was a backstabbing skill that all Goblins used while hunting. His Strength had increased by 1, due to his hunting activities with other goblins. His agility has increased by 2, Ragnar believes Goblins have racial advantages as Goblins in this attribute, as all Goblins are very agile and stealthy. His Physique and Soul both increased by 1. These were the average attributes for an adult Goblin. If Ragnar did not evolve to a higher class of Goblins, his attributes will remain same. As the Goblin Civilization is not advanced enough to have cultivation manuals or helpful things of that sort. Otherwise, they would not have been one of the weakest races on this plane. The easy path that Ragnar imagined of increasing his attributes through constant meditation, reading spell books and notebooks, and hearing of the experiences from other veteran Goblins was now beyond his reach. Because, in this gloomy and cruel Goblin Plane, strength was the only true way, and his only path to power was through primitive advancement i.e. Evolution. Ragnar also had an idea on how to accomplish this so called ''evolution'' of Goblins. In the various hunts, he took part in with Goblins, he killed many creatures, mostly rabbits as prey and every time he killed one, his ''Experience'' attribute increased by 1. He was very sure that he would go through an evolution when he reaches 10/10 in this attribute. But, he had been avoiding his evolution during the past month, as he found out that one of the reasons Goblins are this weak is that whenever a new HobGoblin appears in a tribe, the current and new HobGoblin have a fight to their deaths in order to decide the new leader of the tribe. Ragnar believed that this practice killed many strong Goblin Warriors through internal fighting. He wanted to change this practice of inheritance of the position of Jarl Borg [means tribe leader in native goblin language] but as he was now, he was too weak to do it. Ragnar clenched his fists and decided to firmly keep moving forward on his path to indisputable power. For that reason, he couldn''t continue to avoid his evolution and becoming stronger. He believed that he had waited long enough. He was now a part of one of the Hunting Parties of the tribe, in their small tribe of 100 Goblins, there were about 70 Adult Goblins, and 30 female Goblins. 10 Goblins together formed one Hunting Party, there were 7 Hunting Parties of the tribe, one led by the Jarl Borg himself. Female Goblins took care of the village, and the Adult Goblins went out to hunt. Female Goblins breed every 3 months, and give the tribe about 30 Newborns, about 20 of which survive and make it to become an Adult Goblin. Due to the high death rate of the Hunting Parties, the numbers of the tribe always stay balanced. Ragnar wanted to evolve in the next hunt, and subjugate his fellow Goblin tribesmen in his hunting party and then challenge the Jarl Borg. Ragnar found out during this long month, that there were numerous Goblin Tribes in The Nandini Forest. But the five main ones to look out for were the Varangians, Geats, Gutes, Jutes, and Danes. Varangians were a horde of 100,000 Goblins lead by a Goblin Duke called Mogsha, while the rest of the four tribes of 10,000 goblins each were led by Goblin Nobels. The Goblin tribe leaders were called Jarl Borg and the only way to be the next Jarl Borg of a tribe was to kill the previous one. Ragnar suddenly started to look forward to the next hunt. 5 Jarl Borg II Although the Goblins did not have cultivation manuals, the one thing they helped Ragnar the most with was information about the plane. The race of these sly creatures were the ones that had explored this plane the most, and passed all the information they collected generation by generation in an oral manner. He inputted all the information he got from The Wise One of his tribe during the last month in his AI Chip. Which helped the AI Chip analyse this plane, and this modern era technology finally started showing its worth. His AI Chip could now atleast use its data storage and analysis features. He was now even able to detect attribute data about all creatures he inputted information about in the AI Chip. His AI Chip also made a new standard of measurement of power and force of the creatures of this plane in what she referred to as ''points''. "Cortana, what power can an average Adult Goblin exert?" [*Beep* Host, an average Adult Goblin can make attacks of about 10 points. The AI Chip theorizes that a peak Grade1 creature can exert a power and force of about 100 points. The AI Chip requires more data to analyse power levels of Grade2 and above creatures.] It was almost mid-day and about time for the Hunt. He sprinted out of the village to gather with his fellow tribesmen and members of his hunting party. Infront of the entrance of the Goblin Village, there were about 30 Goblins, with Jarl Borg leading his party as well. The normal adult Goblins were all about 1.65m tall, with green skin, and wide frames. Their faces were hideous, and their eyes had a sinister and sly glint. While the Jarl Borg was 1.8m tall wide framed Red Goblin, with a small horn growing on his forehead. That red, bulky monster was so horrifying, that with it''s gaze alone, it could make all goblin tribesmen brace for death. While standing, Ragnar whispered. "Cortana, show me the detected data for Jarl Borg." [*Beep* As you wish, host.] In the next second, a report about the Jarl Borg of his Goblin tribe, done by the AI Chip, was projected into his mind. [ Target: Jarl Borg Race: HobGoblin Attributes:Strength: 5 |Agility: 10 |Physique: 5 |Soul: 5 | Alignment: Evil ] *** The three hunting parties sprinted stealthily in three different directions. Ragnar''s party went South of the Goblin Village, while Jarl Borg''s party went North of it. The south side of the Goblin Village had less high leveled monsters, and were just about right to train their new Goblin Adult party. As their party was moving stealthily, their party came across a group of fighter rabbits in their way. Ragnar was able to scout with his AI Chip Cortana''s ability ahead of the rest of his party. He had a good command over his party due to his successful leadership in their hunts in the past month. All Goblins were newborns until a while ago and as he was the most intelligent and sly of their bunch, hence they obeyed his commands without a word. So, he instantly commanded. "Attack. Daggers." The whole group of Goblins immediately leaped out and started throwing their daggers. The instant a moving shadow entered Ragnar''s field of vision, he sprinted for it. He leaped with great strength, and drove the fighter rabbit into a corner. "Guruaa!" Then, without the slightest semblance of hesitation, he strangled it to death. [*Beep* Host''s Biological Energy has reached the requirements for an evolution. Does the host want to go through with it? Yes/No, host please answer fast! Otherwise, the AI Chip will not be able to stop the gene evolution.] "Yes, but analyse this process and record it into your database." [As you wish.] As soon as the Cortana said that with her calm, graceful but emotionless voice. Ragnar''s evolution started, his muscles started distorting. "Ahhhhhk!" Ragnar could hear his own bloodthirsty shout as all his bones were starting to slam and crash against each other. He started growing taller, more bulkier. His skin color changed to red, and he started growing a small horn on his forehead while all his Goblin tribesman watched, paralyzed in shock. One of the Goblins, Rollo, who respected Ragnar the most and was absolutely awed by his evolution. Immediately knelt and shouted. "Jarl!" Rest of the 8 Goblins knelt down right after him and shouted as well. Ragnar finished his evolution and slowly opened his eyes, which brought forth the same pressure as their current Jarl Borg. The pressure of a higher rank of the same species. The feeling of submission to the higher ranked Goblin, and all the 9 Goblins flinched afraid and knelt even more. Ragnar enjoyed the feeling of control he had over his weak Goblin Tribesmen, and understood why he used to instinctively feel afraid in the presence of the Jarl Borg before, when he was a normal Adult Goblin. It was a Goblin trait, weak obeying the strong, higher evolved Goblin. "Cortana, status." [*Beep* As you wish.] Soon, all of Ragnar''s enhanced basic attributes after the evolution were projected into his mind. [Name: Ragnar Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 6 | Agility : 10 | Physique : 6 | Soul : 6 | Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Great Goblin Warrior HP: 60/60 Experience: 0/100 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab, Fire Strike] Ragnar showed a wide bloodthirsty grin, and shouted a war-cry with all his might! 6 Jarl Borg III Ragnar felt that the evolution had made him even more hideous, but he did not care. Humanity had shed many things through the course of evolution. But those things that humanity lost, his newly evolved body possessed. His body was now considerably more formidable than that of humans, and even some deadly monsters of the Nandini Forest. Eyes that could clearly see in the dark, nails that could tear apart all of his enemies, and fangs strong enough to crunch even the skulls of his enemies with. Furthermore, there is no longer anything to fear when it comes to unclean water. His evolved body''s resistance was exceptional, unclean water won''t even graze it. As a scientist, he would no longer fear of dying from unknown diseases or infections. If Ragnar so desired, he could live the rest of his days peacefully after killing the current Jarl Borg of the tribe, and leading this small tribe of Goblins. He wouldn''t even have the slightest bit of trouble. But, Ragnar couldn''t be satisfied with it. After getting a taste of evolution, flames of ambition were flickering in his soul. He wanted to evolve once again, he wanted to expand this tribe, and conquer The Nandini Forest. Ragnar looked at his Hunting Party, he observed all the nine Goblins kneeling with fear. Just fear was not enough. He wanted full control over his small tribe of Goblins, empower them, and make them the core of his strength as he expanded in The Nandini Forest in the future. Precisely because of his ambitions, just fear was not enough. If they followed him just because of fear, they could sway to the cause of stronger Goblins in the future. What Ragnar wanted was absolute loyalty from these nine Goblins! Though, Goblins were evil, sly and terrible by nature. To their own tribesman and kin, they were loyal to a fault. As they were not humans, who were full of evil schemes, machinations and greed, which could never be satisfied, he was more confident in brain washing them, and in getting their absolute loyalty. ''Cortana, did you record my evolution in your database? Can you analyse it, and tell me if I can help other Goblins evolve?'' [*Beep* Yes, host. The whole process of your evolution has been recorded in the database, and has been analysed by me. Your process of evolution was far easier and more stronger because you have an AI Chip that has merged with your soul and it helps you fully utilize your current capabilities and absorb all biological energy with no waste. This feature has been enhanced even more since you transmigrated to this plane. Other Goblins do not evolve this easily, it is only because of the features of the AI Chip of not wasting biological energy from the creatures you have killed, and perfectly absorbing it and enhancing your soul; that you have undergone such an easy but strong evolution.] ''Woah, such a cheat. Can you help me evolve other Goblins as well?'' [No, the features of AI Chip can only be used by the host. But, I can analyse other Goblins, and present their attributes, and number of kills needed to evolve in the form of Experience. This plane''s consciousness seems to support the absorption of other creature''s biological energy to help the process of evolution, it is one of the absolute laws of this plane.] ''Splendid! The plane, itself, seems to be helping me!'' After conversing with Cortana in his mind, Ragnar once again looked at all the Goblins, who were still kneeling on the ground with fear. "Brothers, stand up. There is no need to kneel." All Goblins looked up while kneeling, and gave him weird looks. But they were still too afraid to stand up, and did not dare to move even a bit. Ragnar looked at the Goblin who was the first to kneel, and someone whom he had hunted with since the start, and helped him stand up. "You. What is your name?" Ragnar looked at this Goblin in the eyes, and asked. While the Goblin Rollo somehow managed to stutter a response. "Gigi-- R-Rollo." "I see. Rollo, I command you to help all the others stand up." Rollo immediately ran to the other Goblins, and helped them stand up as he was commanded. All of the Goblins, uncertainly stood up and stared at him, having no clue of what he wanted. Ragnar took a deep breath, looked all of them in their eyes and said. "You saw me evolve with your own two eyes. Do you guys desire to evolve as well?" All nine Goblins looked at each other with confused looks, and Rollo answered for all of them in a soft voice. "Gi-yes." Ragnar grinned, and released his newfound aura with a bloodthirsty look. He shouted in fanaticism. "I want brave, courageous goblin warriors! Great Goblin Warriors who can fight for me even in the face of death with a fearless bloodthirsty smile. Can you guys do it? Shout yes as if your lives depend on the loudness of your voice, if you can!" All nine goblins were fired up, and with Rollo being the loudest, they shouted at the top of their voice. "YES, JARL BORG RAGNAR!" Ragnar smiled, looked back in the direction of their Goblin Village and said. "Very well. I shall give you brothers from the same village, my kin who I was born with, a chance!" "A chance to be brothers-in-arm with The Great Goblin Warrior Ragnar. Let''s move deeper into the forest. We shall hunt all creatures in this goddamned forest, and evolve." "May the plane show mercy on our enemies, because we sure as hell won''t. The day we come back, is the day we kill the current Jarl Borg and make the tribe ours!" "Gi-Gigigigi!" As the 10 Goblins sprinted deeper into the South of Nandini Forest, only the sound of their mad laugh was left behind. 7 Bloodthirsty As Ragnar sprinted deeper into the South of Nandini Forest with his newly recruited small Goblin force. He started to analyse the changes brought by his evolution to his status. ''Cortana, status.'' [*Beep* As you wish, host.] [Name: Ragnar Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 6 | Agility : 10 | Physique : 6 | Soul : 6 | Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Great Goblin Warrior HP: 60/60 Experience: 0/100 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab, Fire Strike] Ragnar looked at his new status. His strength, agility and soul attributes had all increased by 2, while his physique had increased by 3. While comparing himself to his tribe''s Jarl Borg, he had an edge in the other three attributes, while both of them had the same agility. ''Cortana, why are my strength, physique and soul better than Jarl Borg, when we are both HobGoblins, even though evidently he has been a HobGoblin longer than me?'' [As I said host, due to having an AI Chip, you have gone an easier but stronger path to evolution. Your current Jarl Borg went through evolution in the most natural and primitive manner. His absorption of Biological Energy was not nearly as perfect as yours. I believe that all Goblins, have 10 Agility the moment they advance to a HobGoblin, and 10 is also the limit of all your attributes at Goblin and HobGoblin stage. The current Jarl Borg has trained, hunted and been in constant state of fighting to bring his other attributes to 5.] ''Woah, I love you AI Chip, buying you was the best decision of my previous life.'' [*smirks* yes, well done host!] ''I hate your coded personality though, my smart AI Cortana. If I was still living on Earth, I would definitely give an improvement request for this, anyway can you please analyse my small force of Goblins and give me their average status?'' [Yes, host. A moment, please.] [ Target: Nameless tribe''s Goblin Hunting Party Race: Goblin(Adults) Average Status- Attributes: Strength: 3 | Agility: 5 | Physique: 2 | Soul: 3 | Alignment: Lawful Evil ] ''Woah, okay. Please analyse Rollo and give me his specific status with Experience.'' [*smirks* Your wish is my command, host.] [Name: Rollo Race: Goblin(Adult) Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 7 Physique : 3 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Warrior HP: 30/30 Experience: 16/100 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] ''Woah, a normal Goblin requires a 100 kills to evolve to a HobGoblin!? That explains why our tribe has only one HobGoblin, because of the high death rate, most goblin would die before ever reaching the number of required kills. Those that survive and evolve would die in the fight to death for the position of Jarl Borg against the current veteran HobGoblin Jarl Borg.'' ''Oh, I almost forgot but what is this Fire Strike in my personal abilities, Cortana?'' [Host, that is a natural magical ability that has been awarded to you by the plane for a perfect evolution. I believe this plane rewards all its creatures with a magical ability if they evolve perfectly.] ''Woah, tell me what it can do.'' [It is a magic attack skill awarded to you by the Plane consciousness because of your great affinity to Fire. Fire Strike creates a small ball of fire in your palm, allowing you to roast anyone who comes too close.] ''Perfect skill for farming the monsters of Nandini Forest for experience.'' After his conversation with Cortana, Ragnar grins while sprinting. It was common sense that Goblins have better night vision. Although it would be difficult to find prey using their undeveloped sense of smell. That would change with him around, his AI Chip''s scouting abilities were unmatched in this forest, and his new magical skill would help them hunt easily but efficiently. Ragnar started grinning even wider with a bloodthirsty look, and started sprinting even faster. "Move faster, brothers. Time to hunt!" *** Three days have passed since Ragnar started hunting seriously with his Goblin force. They came across a weird but wide variety of creatures while hunting in The Nandini Forest; Fighter Rabbits, Monster Ants, Packs of DireWolf, Bone Lizards, Bears, Large Centipedes, Kobolds and even Lesser Imps. Just as all the goblins of Ragnar''s group had almost reached the requirements for evolution. Ragnar and his group of Goblins ran out of luck and encountered an Orc Hunting Party of about 10 Orcs. Although Ragnar was able to know of these Orcs a bit faster with his AI Chip, his group of goblins were discovered by the Orc Group as well. After 3 days of constant hunting, Ragnar and his group of Goblins were giving a bloodthirsty vibe. Staring at the Orc Group who were looking at them like they were prey, the surging thoughts within Ragnar''s head piled up even further. Ragnar could feel a mysterious anger budding within him, a desire to fight simmered from inside him. He looked at his Goblin brothers who have fought valiantly beside him for the past couple days, and shouted. "I have decided. We are hunting Orcs! Let us kill them, and use their corpses as sacrifices to the plane, in order to help you brothers evolve!" Ragnar then started to sprint towards the group of Orcs while activating his Fire Strike. His small band of goblins shouted their own war cry as well, before sprinting right behind him. "Gigireuk! For Ragnar! For Goblins!" 8 Orc Hun The Orcs looked just like the meaning of their name; ugly, malevolent and warlike. Each Orc boasted a height of more than 2.25m, with dark lime yellow skin color. They were hulking mini giants with ferocious appearance and well defined bulky muscles which made them seem like they were born to fight. The group of Orcs wielded boorish clubs while running towards the small band of Goblins with complete confidence. Their eyes exuded great confidence, as they knew that they were the predators while the goblins were their prey. The Orc hunting group was definitely not wrong. As confidence breeds personality and that is what allowed their whole tribe to dominate The Nandini Forest with their savage and brutal ways. But, Ragnar and his small band of Goblins were not to be underestimated. ''Cortana, analyse these Orcs and show me their status, as fast as you can.'' [*Beep* As you wish, host.] In the very next second, a report about the Orcs was projected into his mind. [ Target: Nameless Orc Hunting Group Race: Orc Average Status- Attributes: Strength: 8 | Agility: 3 | Physique: 7 | Soul: 3 | Alignment: Dark Evil ] ''Goddamnit, these monsters. How OP are they!?'' Ragnar quickly put more power to his Fire Strike, while shouting. "Rollo, take the command! Attack an Orc with a group of atleast 3 Goblins each." As Ragnar was running steadfast towards the group of Orcs with clubs. He took a deep breath and prepared to withstand the Orc leader''s first strike. "GAAAAAAH!" The Orc leader roared and swung his club at Ragnar. ''Kadak.'' Ragnar''s shoulder got dislocated. The Orc''s raw strength was greater than what he had imagined even though it was just a difference of 2 points in the Strength attribute. If it became a battle of strength, there was no way for him to win. ''Strike.'' Ragnar used Fire Strike at the center of the Orc leader''s chest with great agility. ''Stab.'' Ragnar used Stealth Stab and stabbed at the Orc leader''s heart. He seized his victory wholly through his agility and exquisite skills. The Goblin Party behind him was awestruck, and their morale was raised to an all time high. Looking at the back of Ragnar with worshipping gazes, they shouted their warcries with great bloodthirst and immediately started attacking other Orcs. Nevertheless, after kicking the Orc leader''s corpse away, Ragnar immediately moved to the next Orc. His next opponent was another bulky Orc, who tried to smash Ragnar''s head with his club. But, with the help of his AI Chip, Ragnar was able to predict the Orc''s moves. The battle was once again concluded in an instant, and the Victor was obviously Ragnar. However, he groaned after killing the second Orc, he was hit by the Orc''s club and his leg was wounded. He definitely could have evaded it, but he was not used to fighting with the help of his AI chip. It was completely his fault. It was as if it was predetermined. For every Orc he killed, Ragnar was inflicted with a wound. But, Ragnar did not stop. As a result, his actions became rougher the more wounds he had received. Like the uncontrollable Norse warriors, he went berserk. In the end, only one last Orc Warrior was left standing. ''I am going to die.'' Ragnar did not have the strength to continue fighting. He was only still standing with the help of his willpower alone. ''Huff! Huff!'' He panted heavily as he looked into the eyes of the last remaining Warrior Orc with a bloodthirsty and cruel smile. The Orc Warrior also gave a cruel smile, after the sacrifice of so many of his brethren, he would finally be able to kill this monstrous HobGoblin and be hailed as an Orc Warrior of his tribe. He raised his club and prepared to end Ragnar''s life. But, Ragnar was not alone. At that moment, a rain of daggers flew towards the last Orc. The small band of Goblins had teamed up with each other, and had managed to kill three Orcs. They immediately came to Ragnar''s aid, worked together agilely and killed the last Orc Warrior. "GWAAAAAAAGH!" Ragnar roared with all his strength, as he finally quenched his thirst for blood! [*Beep* Host''s Biological Energy has reached the requirements for another evolution. Does the host want to go through with it? Yes/No, host please answer fast! Otherwise, the AI Chip will not be able to stop the 2nd gene evolution.] ''Yes, let it hit me, Cortana. Don''t forget to analyse and store the process in the database!'' [As you wish.] As soon as Cortana said that in her usual emotionless but pleasant, graceful voice. Ragnar felt his whole body shattering. His evolution once again started. "Ahhhhk!" He stealthily looked around to find all of his Goblin party shouting with pain and going through evolution as well. His body started to grow bigger and bigger without showing any signs of stopping until it reached a height of about 2.4m, his skin color changed to royal blue, his small horn grew longer and sharper. His muscles started distorting and became more well defined. When all the Goblin''s of Ragnar''s small force finally finished evolving. They opened their eyes to look at the transformation of their leader into an even more stronger and ferocious creature than an Orc. Ragnar was a blue skinned giant Goblin with the height of about 2.4m, the bloodthirsty aura emitted from him forced even these newly evolved HobGoblins to brace for death. His tempered muscles and physique made Ragnar seem like he was born for conquest! All the newly evolved HobGoblins once again knelt down to swear fealty towards their brave and strong leader, whose back they believed they could even follow to their death. When Ragnar finished his evolution, and slowly opened his eyes. He looked at nine newly evolved HobGoblins kneeling before him with worship evident in their eyes. Ragnar smiled with satisfaction for the first time since he was transmigrated to this plane. ''Cortana, analyse the nine of them, and show me their status.'' [Your wish is my command, host.] Ragnar was immediately projected with the information about all nine of them, in the next second. Rollo evolved into a type of HobGoblin which Cortana called Blaze Goblin. Blaze Goblin were said to have a foul temper according to the records from The Wise One. They were a variant evolution path for the Goblins. When Blaze Goblins got angry, their strength and agility was boosted by 50% for 10minutes. Rollo evolved into a dark red 1.8m tall HobGoblin with a wide frame and a small horn on his head. Of the other 8 Goblins, 3 evolved into Long Armed Goblins, their agility like other HobGoblins were 10, while their only advantage being their longer arms. 3 Goblins had a normal primitive evolution like the current Jarl Borg of the tribe, they were similar to Ragnar, more strength focused, just that their evolution was not as perfect. Surprisingly, two of the HobGoblins were female, which Ragnar did not realize while they were still normal Goblins. But after going through their evolution, they were a bit shorter at 1.70m, slightly reddish orange skin color, with a small horn, long hair and large breasts. He looked at all of them once again and said. "Raise your heads, my warriors." All the Goblins obeyed, and looked at Ragnar. "Do you wish to swear fealty to me?" All newly evolved HobGoblins replied with one voice. "YES, JARL BORG RAGNAR!" Ragnar smiled. "Today, we massacred a whole Orc Hunting Group, something rarely accomplished by our fellow Goblin brethren." "We Goblins are trampled and crushed, day after day with no choice as we are weak. I wish to change our situation." "Today, with you as my witness, I swear upon this plane and will stay true to this oath! I will lead my Goblin tribe from the front as vanguard in all wars and killings. I will make sure that we Goblins will conquer and rule this plane. I shall take Lodbrok as my last name and and swear to conquer every obstacle in our way till my last breath." "If you, as my knights swear to take an oath upon this plane that you will be faithful to my cause and follow me bravely and unflinchingly even in the face of death, then I accept you as my followers and welcome you into The Lodbrok Clan." All the HobGoblins felt a fire alight within them, they wanted to conquer everything with this Goblin, or die trying beside him. They loudly swore their oaths upon the plane. "We, as Lodbrok Knights, swear to take an oath upon this plane that we will be faithful to Ragnar Lodbrok''s cause and follow him bravely and unflinchingly even in the face of death! We will enforce this oath to the end of our lives." Ragnar smiled, and said. "Very well, I accept you as my Knights!" "Rollo, as you already have a name. I shall bestow you the family name Blaze. Rollo Blaze, any Goblin who evolves into a Blaze Goblin will be put under your charge and family." Rollo was delighted, and said. "As you wish, Jarl Borg." Ragnar looked at three HobGoblins and said. "You three, I feel your evolution process is similar to mine. Do you have names?" The three HobGoblins who went through the normal, primitive evolution said together. "Gigi- no, Jarl Borg." "Is that so. Then I shall name you, Dustin[meaning Fighter.]Donovan[meaning Dark Warrior.] and Cadman[meaning Warrior.] I shall also bestow you the family name, Ironside. Dustin, Donovan and Cadman Ironside, all Goblins who undergo normal evolutions in our tribe shall be under your family." Ragnar looked at the three long armed Goblins and said. "Do you three have names?" The tallest of the three stuttered to say. "Gi-n-no Jarl Borg." Of the two female HobGoblins, the shorter one who had a pair of very lively eyes also chirped in the conversation happily. "Jarl Ragnar, we do not have names as well." Ragnar smiled at her and the others. "Very well. For you three Long Armed HobGoblins, I name you Cadmar[meaning Brave Warrior.] Kelly[meaning Warrior.] and Barin[meaning Fighter.]. I also bestow you the family name Longarm, and all the future longarmed HobGoblins in our tribe will be under your family." "Yes, Jarl Borg." Ragnar looked at the two girls. "As for you two, I shall name the lively one Lagertha and the quiet one Aslaug. All the females in our tribe will be under you two." "Yes, Jarl Borg." "All three families(Blaze, Ironside and Longarm) will be under Lodbrok, and form a clan. This will be the core of our Goblin Tribe in the future." Ragnar looked in the direction of their tribe and said longingly. "Let us return, it is time to conquer our tribe!" 9 Lodbrok Knights Okay, so in the last chapter. 9 Goblins of his hunting party swore fealty to Ragnar. They would have a Class of Goblin Knights/Shield Maidens from now on. The Class attribute in the status, just shows a creature''s occupation for now. I will write about this Class attribute later in the book, when it actually plays a role in the story. All his Goblin Knights are HobGoblins after the evolution. I will be listing all of their new status in this chapter. So, here you go: [Name: Rollo Blaze Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 5 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab, Blaze Berserk] Rollo is one of the Goblins who was born together with Ragnar, he has been following Ragnar since his young Goblin hunting days. He is one of Ragnar''s most loyal Goblin Follower. He has evolved into a Blaze HobGoblin. Blaze Goblin is another one of the mutant perfect evolution, like the one Ragnar went through. The Goblin Plane awards all Blaze Goblins, with the skill, Blaze Berserk. Rollo can naturally use Blaze Berserk when he gets angry, and his strength and agility will get boosted by 50% for 10minutes. That means a 2.5 attribute increase in Strength and Agility attributes, which will make him a monster on par with a Goblin Nobel for 10minutes. [Name: Dustin Ironside Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] [Name: Donovan Ironside Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] [Name: Cadman Ironside Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] Dustin, Donovan and Cadman, are Goblins who have the same evolution path as Ragnar. Their attributes are all the standard attributes of a naturally evolved HobGoblin in other tribes. [Name: Cadmar Longarm Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 4 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] [Name: Kelly Longarm Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 4 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] [Name: Barin Longarm Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 4 Soul : 4 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Goblin Knight HP: 40/40 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] Cadmar, Kelly and Barin, these three have also gone through a mutant evolution. But their evolution was not perfect so they do not have a skill awarded by the plane. They are 1.8m tall bluish-red HobGoblins with very long arms. They can be better warriors and archers with their longer reach, but they also have a higher Soul Attribute than other Goblins, and are perfect candidates for Shamans among Goblins. [Name: Lagertha Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 5 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Shield Maiden HP: 50/50 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] [Name: Aslaug Race: HobGoblin Attributes: Strength : 4 Agility : 10 Physique : 5 Soul : 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Class: Shield Maiden HP: 50/50 Experience: 0/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(low) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab] Lagertha and Asluag are the only two female Goblin warriors of Ragnar''s small force. As Goblin women rarely evolve to a HobGoblin level creature, they have natural advantage in physique granted by the plane. The stand 1.70m tall, slightly reddish orange skin color, with a small horn, long hair and large breasts. 10 Wolf Queen 1192, The Nandini Forest In a dark cave, deep in the forest, filled with a gloomy atmosphere. A figure was sitting on her throne. Her tanned body was covered with hair and a brown tail wriggled on her backside. Long black hair falling onto her shoulders, she sported a great figure with large breasts, enough to ensnare Orcs, Goblins and Dragonborn alike. She surprisingly looked just like Elves of Earth except for her sharp claws and eyes. Her yellow eyes seemed to glow in the dark, staring at all her followers kneeling in front of her. She was the Wolf Queen of The Nandini Forest, Megha. [meaning the star, in native wolfkin language.] Someone patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down. She looked at her partner in life. Like her, he was an alpha-mutant, Vatsal. He was just as beautiful as she was, they were superior beings among Wolfkins. He was a 2m tall bulky giant, with well defined muscles and sharper claws. Alpha-mustants were born to rule those around them. They developed intelligence at a young age, and they became more ambitious as they grew up. As superior beings, they took over their surrounding tribes with their intelligence and strength. The Nandini Forest was 8,000,000 sq km long. Just like the Great Russian forest on Earth which was 45.40% of the country''s land area. Russia was not only the largest country on Earth, but also the country with the largest forest area. Nandini Forest accounted for 30% of the whole of North Continent. Wolves roamed in packs of hundreds and thousands in The Nandini Forest. After Megha and Vatsal took over a dozen Wolf tribes, they were no longer satisfied with their race''s situation in The Nandini Forest. They were hunted by all creatures, Orcs, Trolls and even Goblins. They had no powerful creatures to speak of. So they as Alpha mutants made hundreds, and thousands of Beta mutants. They sent them all to conquer atleast one pack, and managed to create a Wolfkin Kingdom in The Nandini Forest. They themselves were as strong as a Goblin Duke, or an Orc Berserker, who are the leading figures of their respective races in The Nandini Forest. That is how they easily managed to take control of the whole wolf race in the forest, and managed to rule the whole South of The Nandini Forest. Through countless wars, they even succeeded in banishing the Trolls to the Northern parts. However, not without a cost, her husband Vatsal was seriously injured and is still healing. The Orcs in the Western and Eastern parts, and the Goblins in the center of the Nandini Forest, were all looking for a chance to deal with their race. They were also currently in a war against both Goblins and Orcs, in order to continue ruling the South. She gave a look of assurance to her partner, Vatsal. She looked at the panic-stricken faces of all her beta-mutants. She transferred her thoughts to one of the most competent beta-mutants. ''What has happened for all of you to gather and come to us?'' Betas didn''t have the same high telepathic abilities as their Alphas, but they could still convey their intents to their alphas and fellow wolfkin through howls. Her beta howled and conveyed his words. "What!? An Orc Hunting Party disappeared near the outerlayers of the area under our rule?" Megha was shocked by the Beta''s message, though she did not give a damn about whether those Orcs lived or died. Wolfkin were in a delicate situation right now. They just succeeded in banishing the Trolls to the North and the strongest wolf of their tribe, Vatsal was injured. That is why they lessened their advancement for conquest, so that they could lick their wounds and come back stronger than before. Megha looked at her partner, and started talking. "Vatsal, I am worried that those sly Goblins will try to form an alliance with that Western Orc Berserker leader, using this as an excuse and try to attack us while we are down!" Vatsal''s eyes got cold, and he said with his voice filled with anger. "Megha. We are the Wolfkin. We rule the whole South of this Forest. I don''t care about those puny Goblins, and arrogant Orcs. Let them come, get our beta''s to be prepared for another war. If they dare come, I will kill them all!" "If that is what you desire, my love." The Wolf Queen hardened her resolve, and told their decision to all the beta''s through telepathy, asking them all to be ready for another war. All the wolves howled in battle lust, and took off to prepare their packs. Almost a hundred thousand wolves would be ready for a war with those Orcs and Goblins. Megha looked at Vatsal, who had closed his eyes and was meditating, then turned to look at the sky. Praying for this delicate balance between the Trolls, Orcs, Goblins and them to continue until either she or Vatsal evolve once more into the first Grade1 Creature of their race. 11 Return I 1192, Nameless Goblin Tribe Village Ragnar with his nine Goblin Knights reached his Tribe village as fast as he could. The moment he saw the crude village entrance of his small Goblin tribe''s village. He shouted at the top of his voice. "JARL! COME OUT. I, RAGNAR LODBROK, CHALLENGE YOU FOR THE POSITION OF OUR TRIBE''S LEADER ACCORDING TO OUR GOBLIN RACE''S SACRED LAWS." The whole tribe heard his voice. All of them remembered that a couple weeks ago, one of their hunting parties did not come back. But, none of them thought much about it, as due to the high death rate in The Nandini Forest, it was common for their Hunting Parties to be annihilated. As Jarl Borg came out leading 60 Goblin Adults of his tribe. He was shocked to find a blue skinned giant Goblin Nobel with the height of about 2.4m with 9 HobGoblins behind him, challenging him to a fight. Just the bloodthirsty aura emitted by the Goblin Nobel infront of his eyes, forced him to kneel. The giant Goblin Nobel''s tempered muscles and physique made him seem like he was born for conquest! Jarl Borg flinched. He gathered his courage and shouted at the Adult Goblins behind him. "Can you believe a hunting party lost a few weeks ago, has now comeback with a Goblin Nobel leading nine HobGoblins? I refuse his challenge, he is definitely an impostor. Let us battle, and later the Goblin Alliance of the big tribes will definitely help us out!" Lagertha behind Ragnar chuckled loudly. "Now our former Jarl doesn''t even recognize us." Even Rollo couldn''t help laughing out aloud despite his serious personality, with the rest of the Goblin Knights following him, jeering at their former Jarl Borg. Ragnar looked at his opponent incredulously. "You want to do battle?" Jarl Borg had made his choice, he has been in power for a long time and had a decisive personality. His eyes were blazing with determination, though they were not backed up by his small Goblin army. "Why not?" Richard looked behind him once more, and said. "And with that number of Goblin Adults and just one HobGoblin yourself?" "How many should I have?" Ragnar was surprised at his former Jarl''s choice and sighed. "With that quality, you wouldn''t be able to beat us, even with ten times the number. You''ll just get crushed." "So what?" Jarl Borg suddenly laughed, his voice warping into an angry growl. Richard looked closely at his former Jarl before nodding in approval, waving for his knights to fan out. It was evident that he didn''t plan to use any tactics for this fight; once Jarl Borg made a move, his Goblin Knights would just crush his Goblin army head-on. The huge volume of HobGoblins gathered could suffocate a normal Adult Goblin to death, but Jarl Borg just turned back to his tribe Goblins and cried out. "GOBLINS! SHOW THIS IMPOSTOR THAT WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH!" The war cry was met with few responses. Many of the Goblins instead started quivering with fear, knowing that they were being asked to march to their deaths. They knew they wouldn''t be able to win even if they gave up their lives; even the bravest of warriors would hesitate in such a situation. Their opponent had 9 HobGoblins, and even a fabled Goblin Nobel, not even an intermediate Goblin tribe would have this many strong Goblin warriors. This was a suicide mission that few were willing to take on. Jarl Borg was surprised by his tribe''s cowardice, but he immediately roared again and pointed his crude dagger at the sky before bellowing for them to charge. He rushed out at the very front, not caring about how many followed behind. Only a small portion of the loyal Goblins who had been following him for a long time, followed their Jarl in his charge, but half of them grew too intimidated to move by the Goblin Nobel''s aura before they even made it halfway. In the end, less than eight Goblins were charging at the Goblin Knights. This pathetic number was even fewer than the number of Goblin Kinghts with Ragnar! There was only one end to this fight, but Jarl Borg and his warriors still madly rushed forward with flames in their eyes. Ragnar was taken aback for a moment, moved by the courage of these Goblins. Despite his distaste for the Jarl Borg, he could see that this HobGoblin was a warrior through and through. He raised his hand high in the air, causing all his Goblin Knights to grip their daggers tightly. Once Ragnar''s hand came down, they would charge forward and dismember the opposing force of their former Goblin tribe without the slightest hesitation to prove their loyalty to this amazing Goblin Nobel. However, the hand never came down. Ragnar instead withdrew it, shouting out a command. "Catch them alive." Although they were all shocked by the order. Especially, Rollo and Lagertha, they as Ragnar''s most loyal Goblin Knights followed through. Capturing someone alive was much more difficult than killing them, but with the stark disparity in their levels, it wouldn''t be too hard for these newly evolved HobGoblins. Jarl Borg was an exception with his veteran HobGoblin prowess, but the Goblin Knights didn''t have to take care of him. The former Jarl''s red-hot eyes were fixated on Ragnar. From the moment he had even shouted to his Goblins to do battle, he had been prepared to die in battle. It was only when he was ten meters away from Ragnar that he heard the Goblin knights crash into his Goblins. As he continued his charge, however, he suddenly felt like the sky went dark for a moment. An enormous shadow had enveloped his body. He barely managed to turn in time to see a huge body falling towards him. It felt like a mountain was crashing down, giving him only a moment to stab with his dagger before it crushed him with terrifying force. His dagger only made a small insignificant cut on the Goblin Nobel. When Ragnar stood up cursing about he still couldn''t control his body after his evolution. Jarl''s entire body had been pushed into the ground. If not for Ragnar controlling his power, he would have been crushed to death. Ragnar had behaved nowhere close to a warrior in this fight, relying purely on the mass of his newly evolved Goblin Nobel''s giant body to leave Jarl Borg on the brink of death. There was no technique here, no finesse, but it was effective. It took Jarl Borg a lot of effort to stand up, vision slowly returning, but there was a constant ringing in his ears. It took him great effort to realize that it was Ragnar in front of him. The world seemed to be spinning constantly, his muscles so weak that it felt like he had just been dipped in boiling oil. However, he still managed to force himself forward. Looking at Ragnar''s calm and collected gaze. Jarl felt disappointment rising in his heart, for the first time in his life. He felt his entire body go limp and closed his eyes. "Do it, Nobel. Kill me quickly." 12 Return II Ragnar looked at his former Jarl Borg who had a defeated and hopeless face. He just smiled and said. "No." Jarl Borg growled, swaying back and forth. "I said KILL ME!" Ragnar asked. "Hmm? What for?" "We''re mortal enemies! There is no way for a defeated Jarl Borg to ¡ª" "Yes, you have defied me and killing you a couple times over wouldn''t be punishment enough for that. However, today you''ve shown me that there are Goblins who can be true warriors, unafraid of even death. Not everyone has the courage to charge into my Goblin Knight platoon with only eight Adult Goblins. Instead of killing you, I''d much rather have you as my Goblin Knight. Show your valor against my enemies. Fight for me, conquer lands, tribes and everything in my path and gain glory! What do you say, my former Jarl?" Jarl Borg froze for a moment and then gritted out. "Are you sure you won''t regret forgiving me?" Ragnar signaled for the Goblin Knights to gather behind him and grinned. "If I regret, it really would be a new experience." Jarl Borg paused once more, taking some time to realize that Ragnar was forgiving him. "What¡­" Ragnar looked at his former Jarl Borg in the eyes and said. "There''s no need to be surprised. Take me as your Jarl Borg and swear fealty to me as my Goblin Knight, and you''re forgiven. Rollo, make your oath again for our former Jarl to see!" Rollo immediately jumped out, and happily knelt before Ragnar. "Gladly, my lord. I, Rollo Blaze as a Lodbrok Knight, swear to take an oath upon this plane that I will be forever faithful to Ragnar Lodbrok''s cause and follow him bravely and unflinchingly even in the face of death! I will enforce this oath to the end of my life." Ragnar nodded to Rollo in approval, and turned towards his former Jarl. "Your turn." Jarl Borg solemnly nodded and knelt down before Ragnar. "I, Bjorn, take Ragnar Lodbrok as my Jarl Borg, and as his Lodbrok Knight, swear to take an oath upon this plane that I will be forever faithful to Ragnar Lodbrok''s cause and follow him bravely and unflinchingly even in the face of death! I will enforce this oath to the end of my life." The moment the rest of the tribe Goblins saw their Jarl surrender, they sighed in relief. They thanked all their Goblin gods that they would not die today, and all of them knelt down behind their former Jarl, as they solemnly shouted. "JARL RAGNAR!" Ragnar laughed out aloud savagely, and released his Goblin Nobel aura to awe his newly recruited followers and said. "Very well, Bjorn. I accept you as my Goblin Knight, and bestow upon you the family name Ironside." Bjorn could not believe the change, but he still acknowledged his new status as a follower. "Thank you, my lord." Ragnar looked towards the other 60 Goblins and said as he started walking inside the village. "Lets go inside the village. Bjorn, call all the members of our tribe to the common area including the Goblin women." Bjorn looked awestruck at Ragnar''s backview, when Lagertha sheepishly smiled and whispered. "Welcome to the Jarl Ragnar''s fanclub, Bjorn." Aslaug looked at this little exchange, she shook her head before quickly following behind Ragnar. *** 1192, Lodbrok Goblin Village Ragnar looked at all the Goblins one by one, there were about 100 Goblins in his tribe, including his ten Goblin Knights. When he was done looking at all of them, he cleared his throat and shouted. "My name is Ragnar Lodbrok, I am a Goblin Nobel. From today onwards, I shall be the Jarl Borg of this tribe. We shall not be namless anymore. We shall be called the Lodbrok Clan henceforth. Goblin Knights, step forward." The ten HobGoblins who had sworn fealty to Ragnar as Goblin Knights, stepped forward and Ragnar continued. "Our tribe has a Goblin Nobel in me, and ten HobGoblins in my Knights. We have power enough to even challenge a large Goblin tribe in The Nandini Forest. We just need to increase the counts of our Tribe''s normal warriors, and in the coming years I will make sure of that as your new Jarl Borg." "I dream that one day all of you Goblins will be free of your worries for food and shelter. So that you are able to step behind me on the battlefield and charge towards our enemies without constantly worrying about anything. Even if we die a glorious death, it would be for the name of our LODBROK CLAN! The children of our Lodbrok Clan should be able to grow up in dignity, to be able to reach for their dreams! We may still be an unknown small Goblin tribe, but one day we Lodbroks shall definitely be known throughout this forest and continent!" Upon hearing the what Ragnar announced, the Goblins almost couldn''t believe their own ears. Some got confused as they had always been so worried about survival that they had never thought about anything else. However, as they looked at each other and verified that they had heard correctly, they burst into a cacophony of cheers that immediately drowned out the newly named Lodbrok village! 13 Five Years 1197, Lodbrok Village Five whole years have passed since Ragnar became the tribe leader. Lodbrok Clan is now the most powerful intermediate Goblin tribe in the center of The Nandini Forest with a Goblin Noble like Ragnar at the helm. During these five years, Ragnar went to all the surrounding tribes for a spar, and taught all the nearby HobGoblin Jarl Borgs a lesson. He spent all his time in the different tribes to gather information about the plane''s history, geography, and Goblin folk tales to gain a more thorough understanding of The Goblin Plane. Ragnar especially inquired about the most glaring difference between Goblin Plane and his Earth. Which was the presence of the two moons in the sky. The first larger moon was called Rati and it was personified as the Goddess of Love. The smaller, black-colored moon which hung in the night sky like a dark, crescent fang was called Kali and served as the Goddess of Vengeance. According to the legends, when Kali reveals itself as a full moon, it would signify the beginning of the Goblin Empire in this plane. All The Wise Ones of the different tribes seemed to firmly believe in this legend. Both the Love Goddess and the Vengeance Goddess were wives of Kamadeva, the God of desire also the son of the Supreme Being, Vishnu. That was also the reason why in this plane, marriage between a man and two women was permitted. For Goblins, one could only be allowed to do so if one was powerful enough in their tribes, usually, only the leaders of the tribe kept two wives. The status of the second wife was not one whit inferior to that of the first wife and both wives were entitled to the same amount of love and care from the husband. That was why most Goblins, even Jarl Borgs, only took one wife to avoid too much hassle. Ragnar also abducted an acceptable number of female Goblins from all the nearby tribes, to increase his own tribe''s population while avoiding conquering the other tribes and assimilating them because he felt that he did not have a stable enough foundation in his tribe. Under Ragnar''s leadership, Lodbrok Clan prospered, and it''s population increased from just about a hundred Goblins to about more than twelve hundred Goblins. After all the abduction and kidnapping like a bandit, which Rollo enjoyed the most. Ragnar had about 50 Goblin females, who gave birth to 50 Goblins every three months. Under Ragnar and the Goblin Knight''s supervision, all these Newborn Goblins matured into Goblin Adults in a month. In the last five years, the Goblin females gave birth about 20 times (i.e. 20*50= 1000 Newborn Goblins), and Ragnar and the Goblin Knights, supervised all these Goblins till they became adults. All of these Goblin''s who grew up under Ragnar, idolized him like a God. His words were like laws to all these Goblins, and they were immensely loyal to him. Ragnar had laid strong foundations for his future Goblin army during these five years. But he had also met various difficulties regarding the formation of this Goblin army. First of all problems was one of character. Goblins, preferred striking to waiting and had no clue about tactics. Second, Goblin Knights could coordinate perfectly, but normal Goblins were clumsy and could not coordinate. Third, he had too few HobGoblins to lead a thousand big Goblin Army. According to Cortana''s research, Goblins get smarter as they evolve. A single evolution can make a huge difference. It was like the dispersing of a great, thick fog within the mind of the goblins, freeing them from their instincts. The more HobGoblins Ragnar had, the easier it would be to control his Goblin Army and strengthen it. During these five years, Ragnar had made all the Goblin Knights except Aslaug choose a hundred Goblins, and had them train and hunt in different directions near the other small and intermediate Goblin tribes in order to intimidate them. These hundred Goblin troops led by a Goblin Knight was named as a Battalion by Ragnar. Rollo and Lagertha, were especially excited about their own troops, and had started a whole contest by dragging the other Goblin Knights about which Goblin Battalion was the best, which led to frequent competitions and battles between battalions. The strongest hundred Goblins were selected as the Guard Battalion for Ragnar and were trained by Aslaug. Aslaug had become Ragnar''s assistant, maid and bodyguard over these years. She was quiet, serious and hardworking. She followed all of Ragnar''s orders to the letter. Ragnar also worked over the Lodbrok Village in these five years. Since the day he became the Jarl Borg of the tribe. He changed the whole layout. In the center of the Village, he made a Lord''s Manor for himself. He ordered all of the veteran Goblins of Bjorn''s army, who surrendered without a fight against him, to change occupations. He made them construction workers, and had them construct fences around the village, a Basic Market, a Dining Hall, Wooden Residential Homes, Bathrooms, Blacksmith Shop, Grocery Shop, Logging Field and Barracks. After they had finished constructing all these buildings, he made them cultivate farmlands. Ragnar explained the use of every building to Aslaug, and asked her to handle all the administrative matters, by choosing competent female Goblins, and making a council to handle all these matters. The quite but hardworking Aslaug did not disappoint Ragnar, as she completely formed a village level administrative system, and efficiently managed it. *** Ragnar was patrolling the village for a routine check-in, when he looked behind him to find Aslaug following him quietly as usual. He smiled and asked. "Aslaug, care to explain me in detail the condition of our fences?" Aslaug was surprised at the sudden question, and frowned for a second before answering diligently. "My lord, we have not started further construction on it and it is still the same. Useful only as basic fortification around the whole village. It has a weak defense, and it can only stop wild animals from entering our village." "What about the Basic Market and Grocery Shop?" "My lord, the Grocery Shop distributes various types of daily necessities to our Lodbrok Clan Goblins, as ordered by you in exchange for their work on the construction of the village, in farmlands or in the battalions. While we are efficiently using the Basic Market to barter our other daily necessities from the other tribes that come to visit." "Excellent. What about our Blacksmith Shop? How is the production?" "My lord, that old Goblin you abducted from his tribe complains that he wants to go back everyday. But he still builds a variety of farm tools, such as axes, chisels, and other iron tools and sends them to Lord''s Manor at the designated time everyday." "Hahaha, that''s just Old Green''s personality. It is a pity that he is just a Junior Goblin Blacksmith and cannot make weapons for us. What about our Logging Fields and the expansion of our Barracks?" "My lord, Goblins chosen by you are working diligently everyday to cut and collect wood resources in our Logging Fields. While the Barracks has finished it''s expansion, and can now hold our thousand Goblin troops for training." "Have the veterans started cultivating farmlands?" "My lord, the veteran Goblins had reclaimed all the land which is fertile outside our village. They are growing crops. We plan to plant grain twice a year, the first quarter of planting is during early April, the second quarter of sowing is in early July." "Splendid. How many residential homes have we made in our village for our current population?" "My lord, according to a full population calculation of twelve hundred Goblin residents, the village has built 60 residential homes." Ragnar turned back to pinch Aslaug''s cheeks and he said smiling with bloodthirst. "Good job, my ice queen. Tell them to hurry up with the construction work, I don''t plan to wait much longer before attacking the other tribes!" 14 Zweih?nder During the past five years, Ragnar hunted and trained to improve his battle skills in his free time. As when he was on Earth, he was just a scientist and did not attempt many physical activities. He hunted daily, and looked for all the Goblin Knights individually for duels to sharpen himself. During one of his trips to the other Goblin villages nearby, he picked up on an interesting weapon called Zweih?nder. It was a large two-handed sword, at least 1.4m (4ft 7inch) long and with a mass of over 2 kg (4.4 lb) and looked incredibly intimidating. Ragnar was hooked, as these Zweih?nder''s had a ricasso for gripping the sword further along it''s length, while one hand still gripped the handle. Ragnar believed given their length, and the use of a ricasso, some polearm-like techniques could be used with Zweih?nder as well. With the help of his AI Chip, he trained with this particular weapon for two years, before he got the hang of this weapon and mixed polearm techniques in it''s use. Ragnar abducted a few Master and Senior Blacksmiths, and had them work in his Lord''s Manor to design Zweih?nder, to be more of a combination weapon i.e. part-polearm and part-sword. In a sword vs. sword situation, Ragnar could employ polearm-like techniques with his new Zweih?nder to decimate all his opponents. He then made his Blacksmiths create 10 more of these new Zweih?nders, and decided to train his Goblin Knights in it''s use, so that they have an edge over all other Goblins in the battlefield. *** 1994, Lodbrok Lord''s Manor The ten Goblin Knights who were taking part in Ragnar''s training session were here before him for another day''s training with this new weapon their Jarl called Zweih?nder. These Goblins who were dreaming of becoming the greatest Goblin Knights were all venomous Goblins. If they weren''t, they would not have been able to lead their own battalion of 100 Goblins with ease in this plane, where there was only one rule, might is right. Lodbrok Clan''s clown with a bright but serious and honest personality, Rollo finally broke the silence. "This is the first time that I have sore muscles throughout my body." "Me too, I''m about to die. I question whether you can even slash your enemies with such a heavy and long sword. If it wasn''t our Jarl''s command, I would definitely throw this weapon away." As Lagertha responded to Rollo, the silent veteran Goblin Bjorn spoke. "If you have complaints, leave. Don''t kill other Goblin''s morale with you." "What?!" As Lagertha got angry, Bjorn glared at her and said. "Did you not see how our Jarl swings his Zweih?nder around? If he can do it, so can I. But with you both yapping on next to me, I''m more annoyed by you than Aslaug''s beating." "Are you trying to start a fight with me?" "I''m just telling you to shut your constant yapping." Lagertha jumped up from lying down at Bjorn''s words to fight him. Rollo held her back as he replied. "Sit. If you have the energy to fight, sit and relax your muscles. This is only the end of the morning warmup. All of us are tired so our minds are at the edge. Why are you being like this?" "That punk is taunting me." Bjorn also sat up at Lagertha''s words. "Did I say something wrong? If you question our Jarl''s process, then you can leave by yourself. I''ve already decided to believe and follow his footsteps to conquer all the Goblin tribes of this forest. Since I have made my determination, hearing you say what you said makes me angry." Aslaug, the Goblin most trusted by Jarl Ragnar, tried to stop them. Aslaug was very thoughtful and responsible; because of this, she was accepted as the leader of all of the ten Goblin Knights. "Everybody sit. What will you do if our lord sees this? His ambitions are huge, have you both forgotten your oaths to him when you swore fealty? No matter where he goes and whatever he does, we just have to follow his footsteps!" Hearing Aslaug''s words, both Lagertha and Bjorn stared at each other before falling back down to the ground. Lagertha spoke after a while. "I was in the wrong, Bjorn." Bjorn immediately replied apologetically. "I''m sorry I showed a negative response to the words you were just throwing around, Lagertha." As Bjorn also apologized, smiles appeared on the faces of all the Goblin Knights. However that was only temporary. Once morning break time ended, Ragnar showed up at the training ground of his manor. The smiles on the faces of the Goblin Knights all disappeared. Ragnar''s training was harsh. If Aslaug beat them up in the morning to warm-up, then Ragnar used insults to teach them. "Your movement is so slow after just that much of training?" "If I knew it would be like this, it would have been a smarter idea to teach the young Newborn Goblins who have not even matured yet." "Just give up and leave right now. You guys are not qualified to be my Knights!" If they showed even a hint of being tired, Ragnar threw out his insults. There were no Goblins whose pride would let them just sit still while being insulted like that. They clenched their teeth and channeled all their energy to finish Ragnar''s training everyday. Ragnar did not have an easy time either. He felt it every time their venous gazes were directed to him. However, if he did not push them at least this much, they would not be able to survive in his coming Goblin tribe conquest in a short amount of time. He also believed that there was no limit Goblins could not overcome, so he continued to throw insults to rally his Goblin Knights. His Goblin Knight''s did not disappoint Ragnar''s expectations. They all focused on the training and learned the basic use of Zweih?nder. 1995, Lodbrok Lord''s Manor Just like that exactly a year passed by. Lagertha suddenly laughed. "Gigigigi." Bjorn turned to look at Lagertha. After fighting the last time, the two of them had gotten closer. As Bjorn looked at her with an expression of why are you laughing, Lagertha answered. "Isn''t it funny?" "What?" "If you think about it, I wonder if all of us were brainwashed. Just over a year ago, we had so much trouble just lifting these swords." As Lagertha opened her mouth while swinging her Zweih?nder barely like Ragnar did. Bjorn answered, giving her a look of shame. "You can barely copy Jarl Ragnar and you are laughing?" "It''s not funny?" "Not at all." "What a boring friend." As Lagertha muttered that while turning her head. Rollo, who was next to her took Bjorn''s side. "If you laugh at the obvious, then you must always live in laughter." Lagertha immediately countered. "Are you saying freely moving this much weight is obvious? I thought I would lose my bones. I''m almost sorry whenever I see the Goblin Ladies of Aslaug''s Council. We bothered them so much." Rollo whispered to Lagertha. "Who hasn''t done that? Did you know Aslaug scolded our Jarl Borg? Jarl Ragnar was asked to reduce the training, saying we are using up all of the tribe''s medical herbs." All of the Goblin Knight''s ears turned to this new story. All of them had been bothering those Lady Goblins for treatment with screaming muscles and bones. Lagertha asked as the representative of all the other Goblins. "So then what happened?" "Jarl Ragnar said that it''s natural for Goblin warriors to get injured while training. No matter what happens, make sure that there are enough medicinal herbs. He said that while saying that we will be using couple times the amount we have been using until now." A short duration of shock. Rollo cautiously asked, as the other Goblin Knights started to feel like they were walking on eggshells. "That...is probably for us right?" All of them were already using a significant amount of herbs from The Nandini Forest for their muscle aches and to strengthen their bones. But to use more than two times the current amount, they could not determine what kind of training their Jarl was planning to make them do. Suddenly, Aslaug commented from the side. "I''m sure he''ll start to teach us how to use the Zweih?nder with his secret art. Since all of us have gotten used to the weapon by now." As Lagertha heard Aslaug, she looked at her Zweih?nder before speaking. "How to use it huh? Then sooner or later, we will start sparring with them too right?" Rollo responded. "I suppose so." As Rollo responded, Lagertha started to mumble. "I''m sure it''ll hurt¡­" "It''ll probably hurt a lot¡­" The pitiful Goblin Knights started to once again feel like they were walking on eggshells. Their arduous path had just begun. 15 Devotion 1197, Lodbrok Clan''s Lord Manor As the twin moonlight lit the night sky, Ragnar looked up. He had been loitering around his Lord''s Manor all alone. ''Cortana, show me my status.'' [*Beep* Long time no see, host. Displaying host''s status.] [Name: Ragnar Race: Goblin Noble Attributes: Strength : 12 | Agility : 15 | Physique : 10 | Soul : 9 | Alignment: Lawful Evil Class: Jarl Borg HP: 100/100 Experience: 920/1000 Status: Healthy Skills: Common Language, Close Combat(high) Personal Abilities: Stealth Stab, Fire Strike, Crimson Flame] Ragnar looked at the monstrous numbers in his status. During the past five years, he had continued to explore deep in The Nandini Forest and had hunted all kind of creatures to sharpen himself in battle, and that is why his Experience had kept climbing up. By the time, he finishes conquering the nearby tribes, he would evolve and be almost as strong as the most powerful Goblin in the forest, Duke Mogsha. Suddenly, a voice interrupted his pondering. "Can''t sleep?" The moonlight fell on her visage, revealing her unparalleled beauty. Bathed in moonlight, it was as if she was the Love Goddess, Rati, herself. It was dark, but Ragnar''s Goblin eyes could see as if it were day, and he saw her expression. It was as unfeeling and expressionless as always. But somehow, it carried with it a tinge of gentleness. He looked towards the night sky again as he answered. "Yes, Aslaug. Come over." Aslaug walked over. Stealing a glance at the expression on Ragnar''s face as she said. "The mighty Jarl Ragnar can''t fall asleep. A strange sight." Ragnar quietly replied. "I suppose so." Aslaug looked as if she was deep in thought, then said. "Mind if I take a seat?" Ragnar curtly replied. "Do what you want." She sat beside Ragnar who was sitting cross-legged while looking up at the night sky and said. "Can we talk for a bit?" Like that they began to talk. Her voice was smooth, velvety in its flow like those of lounge singer''s on Earth. Each of her words resounded with Ragnar until she said. "Why do you want to conquer all the tribes Ragnar? Your ambition can only be achieved through the blood shed by our tribesman. Why can we not continue developing our tribe as part of one of the largest Goblin tribes in The Nandini Forest?" Ragnar wondered if she had a script at the back of her eyelids. He had never heard her stutter over her words. Each word of her''s was clear and fluent. He looked at her emotionless face, but he could see the worry hidden as well as fear for the uncertain future, as he said. "Aslaug. I crave power, and improving the quality of life of all Goblins in this plane is my final goal. The path of conquest is just one point in my life journey, and not the ultimate goal and end. My destination is that unknown but really tempting grand path of power. Without being a great ruler of the whole Goblin race, I would not be able to embark on this grand path. We, Goblins, need to kill to evolve. What other great cause is there that allows me to kill millions on this plane with no consequences but conquering it for our race? Always remember Aslaug, Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god. I will let no one stand between me and my path to power." Aslaug looked shocked. Her big black eyes blinked twice, she muttered under her breath. "Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god." As if she had formed her determination. Suddenly, she stood up and knelt before Ragnar. "I understand, my lord. I will devote my whole being to see your ascension as a Goblin God. I shall excuse myself to a night''s rest." Ragnar smiled wryly as he looked at Aslaug''s disappearing back. He once again looked up toward the moons. *** Inside Council Hall, Head Lady Aslaug solemnly listened to the reports of her Goblin Lady subordinates. Having a village, but not enough Goblins within its bounds, was like eating meat without salt¨C bland and flavorless! Those barefoot farmers and herder Goblins were of practically no help to the Lodbrok Clan. They even wasted much of the village''s time and effort to help them develop a living. However, out of consideration for the long term, this was one step across the iron threshold that had to be taken! They needed to recruit a suitable number of Goblin warriors, establishing an orderly rule and selecting warriors for their army with exceptional talents. It was the only way to produce a Goblin army that could be trusted. There was no need to doubt Goblins that came from their own village, for all they owned and all they were, would be bound to the Lodbrok Clan''s prosperity. That was the only way to train Goblin warriors that were truly loyal to her Jarl Ragnar. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. When they go to war with other Goblin tribes in future and assimilate them into their tribe. Those Goblins would join them for their safety and, naturally, would leave them for their own safety as well. If her clan were to ever run into a crisis that demanded overcoming a sacrifice, the only ones that could step forth would be those Goblin warriors recruited from their own village. She also had to send envoys of her clan to the Varangians, Geats, Gutes, Jutes, and Danes. As their clan was an upcoming large Goblin tribe, and forming good relationship with these hegemon Goblin tribes would only benefit their Lodbrok clan in the long term. As the Head of the Council set up by Jarl Ragnar, all these things, as menial and insignificant as they were, had to be dealt with by Aslaug. There was no helping it. Almost the entirety of the Lodbrok Clan was composed of Goblin warriors with more muscles than brains. In all seriousness, there weren''t very many Goblins in this plane who could so diligently dedicate themselves to Clan tasks as Aslaug could. It was because all the Goblin Knights understood the importance and irreplaceable nature of Aslaug''s position that all of them hailed her as their leader with no complaints. Ragnar also knew very well the significance of Aslaug''s existence. That was why he always made time for any issues that Aslaug brought up. Aslaug knew her worth as well, but she was still very devoted to Ragnar and would do anything to help her Jarl Ragnar achieve his ambitions. 16 Gobol Recently, Ragnar had spent all his time thinking about how to teach his one thousand Goblin soldiers about the meaning of teamwork and tactics in war. He wanted to lead his thousand big horde of Goblins to hunt in forest, and evolve them all into HobGoblins. For this purpose, they must learn to cooperate with each other and safeguard each other''s lives in The Nandini Forest. Ragnar already had some basic idea on how to achieve his goal of teaching Goblins the meaning of teamwork and tactics. He looked at the sky above and muttered to himself with a sharp glint in his eyes. "I have bid these past five years in silence just because of the interference of the large clans(Varangians, Geats, Gutes, Jutes and Danes; for all the readers who need a recap), but it has helped me understand all the nearby small Goblin tribes better, with my army of 1000 HobGoblins, I will conquer them with lightening speed and assimilate them in our Lodbrok Clan. Then, it will be my time to meet these local Goblin Hegemons! -Gigigigi" *** 1197, Lodbrok Village''s Barracks Ragnar looked down at the thousand Adult Goblins gathered in-front of himself, looking at him with gazes full of idolization and thought to himself. ''It doesn''t matter whether it''s hunting or fighting. When it comes to teaching, the best way it to take a step yourself.'' He spoke loudly so all the Goblin Knights and Goblins in the Barracks could hear him. "Today, I want to introduce a game to all of you. A game that is like a glorious hunt, those who win in it, are the true Goblin warriors." Ragnar took out a ball! Right, Ragnar wasted a lot of time and effort on this ball. He described his request to Aslaug, who got the Goblin ladies in the village who knew embroidery, to sew wolf skin into a ball shape, this job wasn''t difficult. The Goblin ladies completed this task very quickly with high quality. As for the stuffing for this ball. In this world, since there was no rubber, Ragnar could not make a real inflatable ball. So, he could only find some some sort of soft materials to fill it up. The best choice would be something hairy, for example, from a fighter rabbit''s tail! During the production of the ball, the ladies thought that Ragnar had gone crazy, making something this useless. But he didn''t care. This might be a chance for Ragnar to finally breakthrough with his problem of cooperation in his Goblin army. "I call this game; Gobol. A game for only us, nimble and fast Goblins!" "There will be ten members on each side and one of them is the safekeeper. Only the safekeeper can use hands, whilst the other team members can not use any part of the hands to touch the ball. Otherwise, it is a foul! The aim of this game is to kick the ball into the goal of the opposite side using teamwork! Also, you have to stop the opposite side from kicking the ball into your goal, those who can play this game well and win are the true Goblin Warriors." Ragnar explained the basic rules of football roughly. Since the rules were not complicated, the Goblin soldiers could easily understand. They had a shine in their eyes because they finally got the chance to show their skills in front of their Jarl Borg, whom they idolized. They were using their legs to kick the ball! On the training field, two trees were used as the goal on both sides. Ragnar also got involved in the game. He picked Aslaug, Rollo, Lagertha, Justin along with several other Goblin soldiers to form a team. Meanwhile, the other knights and soldiers formed another team with Bjorn as the captain and the game began. In the beginning, there were a lot of funny things that happened. The Goblins hadn''t played football before, so they always violated the rules. Some Goblins even broke the ball because they wanted to pass the ball further. Luckily, Ragnar had predicted that would happen and he had brought some Goblin ladies that knew sewing, and they sewed the ball immediately. There was Rollo rushing forward, and when the opponent Bjorn tried to stop him, they naturally did something that violated the rules, and Ragnar had broadened his horizon! Usually, one player led the ball and ran for half of the field, the opponent blocked him and then proceeded to kick him. But these two, they instead kicked the each other instead of kicking the ball! Then the two Goblin Knights gave up the ball and started fighting! Not to mention, that they were good at fighting, with excellent physical fitness. Hence, Ragnar beat both of them up and he became the judge of the game then. After giving out a ton of red cards, they finally had a qualified match. Ragnar also showed them how to lead and kick the ball to them, and tried a random passing. Finally, the Goblin soldiers knew the basic football or Gobol rules after that afternoon. Even the rules of "offside", "foul inside the penalty area", "direct free kick" and "indirect free kick", they understood well. In the evening, a smart, nimble and sly Goblin even learned diving in the penalty area! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Although this guy was performing very poorly, he got great respect from Ragnar along with a Penalty. It was because in his previous life, his favorite football star was Ronaldo, who was the King of Diving. This Penalty also won the "black whistle" from the Goblin audience. After the afternoon, all the Goblin soldiers in the barrack loved this glorious game! As one of the Top Sports of the World in Ragnar''s previous life, it deserved the love! The sky was almost dark, but the Goblins didn''t want to leave the field. The winning team was cheering like they had won a war, and the losing team were disappointed and asked for another match tomorrow. Looking at the Goblins cooperating with each other, Ragnar was very satisfied with the result! 17 Orsinium 1197, Outside Orsinium ¨C the City of Orcs, It was a magnificent city and the capital of Orcs of East&West in The Nandini Forest. Gandhi was a HobGoblin Jarl Borg of a small goblin tribe in the center of The Nandini Forest, before an Orc hunting party massacred his small tribe and captured him as a slave to sell in Orsinium. He was bought by an Orc Chieftain of Eastern Nandini Forest, and worked as a mining slave in one of the silver mines the Orc Chieftain owned near the City of Orcs. Gandhi stood at the very end of the line of Goblin slaves, with several paces separating him from the next Goblin, watching the orc slaver pacing from one end of the line to the other. As the orc slaver passed by each of the goblin slaves, they would subconsciously try to stand straighter as if there wasn''t even a single curve in their spine. Not standing straight enough, fidgeting and even blinking while the orc was passing by could be grounds for a whipping. Back when they were all captured from their respective tribes whether it was a Goblin Warrior, HobGoblin or Goblin Nobel, this sort of hazing was a part of the submissive training in their respective slave camps. The batches of goblin slaves would often be shuffled internally to break up any possible relationships and right afterwards, the orc in charge of the newly formed batch would pace in front of them in a re-enactment of some primitive dominance ritual. The slaves would be conditioned to stand straight, motionless and unblinking as a sign of submission. It was supposed to make takeover much simpler for their subsequent Orc owners. Gandhi observed it all, finding it ironic that the Goblins standing the straightest, had the least steel in their spines. He felt angry, but powerless at his current situation. He knew why there were no Dragonborn, Troll or Beastkin slaves but the slave camp were full of Goblins, Rodents and Kobold slaves instead. It was because their respective races were weak, and had no Grade 3 or 4 existence to protect or shield them. Finally satisfied by the performance of the goblin slaves, the orc slaver walked up to Gandhi, the only Goblin whose eyes held flickers of emotions in the sea of unblinking, emotionless goblin slave''s group. Towering over the goblin''s diminutive form with his 2.25 meter tall frame, he stopped in front of him yet Gandhi kept his eyes on the ground. A large hand gripped his hair and jerked his head back, forcing him to look up into the eyes of the orc slaver while he said. "What? You hate us? Wanna run away?" Gandhi replied while concealing his desire to slit the orc slaver''s throat behind a scared expression. "No, Orc Master." The orc slaver clicked his tongue, obviously regretful that he hadn''t been able to trip the goblin slave up on how he was to be addressed. He pouted, causing his grotesque face to distort further. His eyes flashed with a cruel light, as he said. "Smart goblins ain''t any fun, but since you''re so smart, I''ll do you a big favor." Dragging Gandhi to the front of the line of goblin slaves, he barked out. "Listen up, you worthless Goblins! Today, he gets to carry whatever you mine to the cart." Carrying the baskets laden with ore to the cart was the most strenuous part of the job and Gandhi had to do it in the place of all the other goblin slaves. Gandhi replied, maintaining his nervous fa?ade. "Thank you, Orc Master." The orc slaver seemed to lose all interest at his servile attitude and with a contemptuous snort, he released his grip on Gandhi''s hair with a push, sending him sprawling on the ground. Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode away. It didn''t take long for the goblin slaves to get their pickaxes and make their way down the tunnel and start their day with mining as Gandhi following behind them. Ignoring all goblin slaves, Gandhi silently walked up to one of the baskets that had been filled and bent down to lift it up. With clenching of jaws, bulging veins and rapid breathing, he put each step before the other towards the cart, dumped the contents of the basket into it, returned to the Goblin miners, exchanged a full basket for the empty one, then walked back towards the cart. Again, and again¡­ and again. He was a HobGoblin, and he was more powerful than a normal Goblin Warrior. This wasn''t the time for desperation. It was the time to go all-out. He will not succumb to his pitiful circumstances. He will stay alive, become stronger and help the Goblins stand tall and proud in this world. His heart only had a small hope of the emergence of a 3rd Grade Goblin from their race, but it was still there. This was just the beginning of his journey. It was the time for a brave heart, a firm mind and perseverance. The other goblin slaves had been deriving sadistic pleasure from watching him struggle. Some had even used this feeling as a motivation to work faster. The more ore they mined, the more baskets Gandhi would have to carry. That was the kind of thought driving them to work. They even taunted him when he came to pick up their basket. Slowly but surely, they grew silent as they watched this lone HobGoblin, work tirelessly without complaint even when there was no hope for their pitiful existences. Shame welled up in their hearts and they turned away from the warm image of the Hobgoblin in their cold and dark world, unable to keep watching any longer. Yet their ears couldn''t help but pick up the sound of his steady footsteps no matter how loudly and vigorously they used their pickaxes to mine. Each step seemed to tread upon their heart, guiding its rhythm. Caught up in that mood, the goblin slaves watched silently as one basket after another was emptied into the cart. They had an inexplicable feeling that they would gain something if Gandhi succeeded. The final basket. Gandhi''s steps seemed heavier, more ponderous, very unstable. ''Do it.'' ''Just a few more steps.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''Come on.'' The goblins silently encouraged him in their hearts. Then, Gandhi began to walk the final three steps. One. Two. Three Steps. The moment he dumped the contents of the basket. All the goblin slaves broke out in cheers. Yet, there was no change in the expression of Gandhi''s face. For they were all still slaves of the Orcs. ''The future of the Goblins must be free.'' 2 A frustrating HobGoblin Ragnar was crowned the Huyen langlon champion of India. Thang ta was a martial path of an ancient Manipuri Martial Art known as Huyen langlon. He was a fighting genius of the Thang ta path. He knew by natural instinct where to punch, how to punch, to punch or to flip, to slam down or to grab someone heavier than him by their waist and flip them over. He knew all this without any training. He started fighting at a very young age, his small height and less powerful strength never affecting his ability to fight and to win! He was a natural fighting talent. He caught the eye of a Huyen langlon Grandmaster and accepted the old man as his master. At age 14, he fought and won the State Huyen lanlon Championship of Manipur. At 17, he fought and won against the National Huyen langlon Championship of India and claimed his hegemony. At age 22, he was crowned the World Champion of Huyen langlon at Olympics 2040. "A 22 year old Huyen langlon martial artist of India fought and killed a Russian giant that was much bigger than him for the title." Ragnar did not kill the Russian with brute strength but with his skilled Thang ta fighting technique where he flipped a 2.1 metre giant cleanly over his shoulder on the battle ring. The Russian martial artist died of a brain injury; concussion. Ragnar held the record for the most consecutive Huyen langlon World Championships, winning ten from 2040 to 2060. He died fighting at the 2062 Olympics of Huyen langlon World Championship. He was an Indian legend. *** He had transmigrated in the body of a goblin after his death! Ragnar Kalwar, was a young goblin of noble descent, who had been exiled from his fief by his father to Anneliese City. 177cm tall. His body was quite muscular for an average HobGoblin. The original was in his final year of Goblin Institute of Technology but he wasn''t good at virtual science and had just barely passed his previous six semesters. He was an exiled goblin of noble descent who did not evolve into a Goblin Noble or Duke by his Viscount family and was shunned by all the other goblin students of noble descent from his whole batch. The original was just like him. He was neither good at studies nor did he have a lot of friends. Therefore, Ragnar quickly got used to his ordinary life as a goblin in this new world. Ragnar would usually sit alone and blankly stare out of the twenty seventh floor classroom''s window at GIT(Goblin Institute of Tech). Then, he would suddenly break out of his day dreams of fighting strong opponents and shake his head. He looked dumb to the class president, Nandini, who was always observing him from the shadows. He had learned a lesson the hard way that the Goblin evolution gap could not be overcome. High level goblins would always suppress the low level goblins. A HobGoblin could not even fight under the natural suppression aura of a Goblin Noble or Duke. So, if some higher ranked goblin picked a fight with him at GIT, he would put on a dumb smile and say, "Sorry." Due to which he quickly became the target of the conceited and arrogant goblin nobles. "Yo RagBoiii!" Said the smart aleck, Sorle. Ecbert nicknamed him ''smart aleck'' because he was a person who was very irritating as he behaved as if he knew everything. 188cm tall. Goblin Noble. Sorle would always greet Ragnar with a kick in the guts whenever he met him. He claimed that as the only HobGoblin of noble descent in the campus, Ragnar was a shame to them all and hurt the goblin noble''s dignity. ~ Kick. "Gi-gargh." When Ragnar finally raised his head after getting kicked in the guts, Sorle put his arm around his shoulder like a very close friend. "Ragboii, Ain''t today another beautiful day?" He said tenderly while tightening his grip around his shoulders. "Yes, very beautiful. Gigi." Ragnar would go through this torture everyday and like everyday he would put on a dumb smile and endure his rage and powerlessness. "Anyway, I saw Prez once again looking at you from the shadows. Just what is going on between you two, huh? Love? Keke." Nandini. 195cm tall. Goblin Duke. She had an hourglass figure and a goddess like face. She was popular because she was Goblin Union''s current president''s daughter. She was the topper of GIT as well as the class president. She always scolded Ragnar and told him to stand up against the bullying and harassment he went through and snitch to the official authorities. Of course, she eventually stopped scolding him as well due to the original''s headstrong personality of solving his matters himself. "No. No. Nothing like that." "Yeah, bitch. That better be so! Don''t you dare aim for the Prez. She is mine!" Sorle kicked him in the guts once again. Since he didn''t have any friends, all his classmates at GIT would act like they didn''t see a thing. For the first half of the day, Ragnar was dragged all around the campus by Sorle for fun. At the lunch break, the boss of all goblins of noble descent, Ecbert England, called Ragnar over. "Project?" Ecbert England. 202cm tall. Goblin Lord. He asked for this week''s neuroscience project from Ragnar. "Here you go. Gigigh" Ragnar awkwardly laughed as he threw the G-Chip to him. "Did you copy from the Gitranet this time?" As a new transmigrator, Ragnar had no idea that the GIT had AI proctors for project correction and copied his answers from the Gitranet. Ecbert snatched his project and submitted it. He got punished by the strict old goblin professor of neuroscience. That day, Ragnar was called over by Ecbert and was almost beaten to death. "Nope. I answered all the questions myself." "Great work. Keep it up!" Ecbert said before he turned and walked back to his group. "Rollo! Nigga, come over here! Run faster, you f*cking assh*le." The fellow in Ecbert''s group who was calling out ''Rollo!'' was Ivar Boneless. 185cm tall. Goblin Noble. He was very agile and played Gobol. He was also good at swearing and lost his temper too easily. The HobGoblin who was running as if his survival depended on it was Rollo. 170cm tall. HobGoblin. Dark skinned. "Nigga, go buy me Gizza from square one." When Ivar told Rollo to run his errand, Sorle called out and added in. "Goburger for me!" After the lunch break, Ecbert''s group did not bully Ragnar or Rollo as the Chancellor of GIT made his rounds around the campus in the second half. So, Ragnar would once again blankly stare out of the twenty seventh floor classroom''s window at GIT. He was daydreaming about fighting Sorle, Ecbert and Ivar. He recalled Sorle kicking at him. Surprisingly, all his rage was gone as soon as he started analyzing how to fight Sorle and he was calm. ''Why do these goblins have no power behind any of their attacks?'' It was an easy query. There wasn''t sufficient power behind Sorle''s kick as it had no technique. No finesse. It was because his steps were not measured and balanced. There was no rhythm in his footwork before the kick! To be honest, even though he was kicked in the guts, there was no pain. But, he would act like it hurt so the farce would get over sooner. ''Ecbert can really fight though, you really cannot evolve to Grade 1 without talent!'' Ragnar''s mind drew up the most efficient method to flip over Ecbert. His blood started to boil. He wanted to fight. ''Damn, control.'' Ragnar shook his head to clear his mind of his growing bloodlust. He, once again, started to blankly stare out of the window. He looked at the red sky and took the view of the goblin megacity. However, eventually he would find himself thinking of fighting these goblins once again. ''Can a HobGoblin kill a Goblin Lord?'' ''Can my techniques bridge the gap between evolution levels?'' He would then break out of his daydreams all startled and shake his head. He once again looked at the red sky out of the window. Ragnar appeared to be stupidly looking out of the window, however, there was an intense conflict raging inside his heart which could decide the fate of Ecbert and his group of goblins. ''Punch, Kick, Flip, K.O'' He sat supporting his chin on his hand on the desk as he thought. ''All these goblins are so f*cking weak. I think I read about Grade 3 creatures in the Goblin Union history book! Damn.'' Looking out of the window, Ragnar once again shook his head. The class president, Nandini, looked at him from the shadows condescendingly. ''Why does he shake his head so much these days?'' Then, she looked back at the professor teaching through the virtual projection of Gobculear bombs. ''Such a frustrating HobGoblin.'' 3 Evolution I It had been three months since Ragnar transmigrated to this strange world which the goblins called the "Goblin Plane". He had easily taken the place of the original Ragnar Kalwar as he had no lingering emotions towards his life at Earth. He had achieved everything he had wished for there, standing lonely at the peak of Earth''s martial artists. His only wish in this new life was to fight stronger and better opponents! It was Monday today and Ragnar had taken the metro at 7am as usual to reach GIT by 8:30 am. He had built a strange hobby in the past three months. He liked to read webnovels on his gobile phone while travelling to the institute in metro. In a noisy and packed metro with all the white collar goblins commuting to their office in the morning, he raised his head reflexively when he felt a pair of condescending eyes staring straight at him. They belonged to the class president, Nandini. "Hey Prez. Can you please stop staring?" "Oh, you are here as well. What a coincidence. Do you usually take the metro to the institute too, Ragnar?" "As if I would believe you." Ragnar said in a whisper. "Do you think I care whether you believe me or not? What I have said is the absolute truth." Nandini glared at a poor goblin engineer beside Ragnar until he vacated his seat and she sat next to him. A subtle but pleasant scent came from her which made Ragnar nervous. He was never good at dealing with girls, neither in his past life nor this one. Nandini''s lips curled upwards looking down at the despairing Ragnar. As Ragnar observed the the class president from the corner of his eyes, he could understand the feelings Sorle held towards her. However, it was none of his business. He did not want to pursue a girl more muscular and taller than him. The pursuit and the subsequent relationship with her would hurt his small ego of a martial artist. After the awkward interaction, they both looked at their respective phones. Ragnar opened up the novel app he was reading before, while Nandini watched recorded videos of the previous day lectures at the Institute. Studying on the metro while going to the institute in the morning, she was truly a hardworking student, worthy of being GIT''s topper. "You''re working hard as usual, Prez." "Ain''t that obvious? Meanwhile, what are you looking at?" Nandini''s gaze was fixed on the virtual projection of his gobile phone. "A webnovel? Since when did you start reading?" "Gi-ugh, I recently got hooked to the idea of binge reading webnovels while travelling everyday." "Is that so? I also read webnovels." Ragnar was surprised. ''This machine like scholar goblin woman also has a hobby?'' "Not your average goblin women, Goblin tycoon''s daring wife, Rebirth of the Goblin Queen." Ragnar was once again shocked. ''President reads romance webnovels!? Stop. Just stop prez, you are destroying your image in my eyes.'' "Which webnovels do you like to read?" "I am more of a war theme high fantasy reader. I have read Goblin Lord of Mysteries and The Legendary Goblin Mechanic recently." Just as they were starting to enjoy their conversation, the metro lights turned off just as they were travelling through an underground station and the inside of the train became dark. ~ Kiieeeck! The metro shook loudly and let out a metallic sound as it stopped. Suddenly, the space inside the metro was warped and distorted to increase the area inside it. All the passengers were pushed to the either side of the metro. There were screams and smashing sounds all mixed together for a while until it became quiet. In the middle of the whole metro coach, there was a square stage. It was similar to a Huyen langlon stage where martial artists fought each other on Earth. However, there was a translucent wall wrapped around the stage which gave off a WWE caged ring vibe. As soon as all the passengers noticed the stage, there was a mass panic among the goblins. Goblin women and other students who were standing in the middle of the metro and were pushed to either side of the train, groaned. There were also many weak normal goblins like engineers, mech designers, technicians and doctors who were easily injured during the distortion of space. Even in such a weird and crazy situation, all the goblins looked at their gobile phones for updates from the Goblin Union on the current situation. "There is no virtual projection!?" A goblin engineer shouted. Behind him, the technicians and mech designers sympathized with him. "In the whole history of Goblin Union, there has been no situation where our phones were cut off from the quantum network!" "How could this be? What is happening?" For a moment, there were only shrieks and screams of panicking goblins waving around their gobile phones. When suddenly, a Goblin Noble student tried to open the sliding door with all his strength. "Dammit, it won''t even budge!!" Yes, it was the smart aleck Sorle, who tried his best, but the sliding door didn''t even budge. "Make way for me." Sorle immediately made way for his boss Ecbert who was a Grade 1 Goblin Lord. He was someone who was at the peak of the goblin evolution tree. If someone could smash the sliding door apart in this coach, it would be him, Ecbert England. Ecbert ran from one side of the metro to the other and punched the sliding door with all his strength. This punch contained full force of a 202cm tall Goblin Lord. A true Grade 1 creature of the Goblin Plane. ~ Punch! The sliding door of the metro still didn''t budge a bit. Ecbert and all the other passengers were shocked. Meanwhile, Ragnar was surprised by an entirely different reason. Ecbert''s punch had a slight semblance of a nascent technique behind it. Even though, it did not follow the laws of physics of Earth, it held a completely different magical power. Looking at Ecbert''s slumped arm and his pained expression, it looked like this power used the biological energy of a Goblin Lord. Although Ragnar quickly shook his head to clear his mind of thoughts of battle and stood like nothing happened, Nandini who was observing him from the shadows smiled at his foolish appearance. "Calm down everyone! Take deep breaths, it will help." Mikazuki August. 210 cm tall. Goblin Lord. He stepped forward to handle the situation. He was a sturdy goblin with red crew cut hair and had an intimidating aura of natural suppression towards all lower ranked goblins. "Are you all calm now? All of you are requested to stop your actions and pay attention to me for a moment." All the goblins sobbing or trying to make their gobile phones work stopped. Once everyone''s eyes were gathered on him, the giant goblin opened his mouth again, "As some of you might know, Law IPC 3A of Goblin Union, in the event of a disaster, higher ranked officers will take charge. That is why I will now control the situation." "What, who are you?" Ivar asked immediately. All of the other goblins belatedly recovered from his imposing aura and strongly resisted the world ''control.'' Then, the giant goblin pulled a mech pilot military card out of his wallet. "I am currently a Goblin Union military mech pilot captain serving in the ANL7 battalion." Immediately, the weaker goblin''s faces showed signs of relief. "Soldier! He is a soldier." However, it was too early to be relieved. A small window emerged in front of every goblin passenger''s eyes. [Evolution begins!] [Evolution Scene #1 ¨C Qualifications] [ Difficulty: Pseudo-Grade1 Rules: 1. You will gain Ether by killing a Goblin on the stage or subsequent scenes in the future. 2. The natural suppression aura of higher ranked goblins are now disabled. 3. Only when you kill a goblin on the stage will you advance to the next scene. 4. Maximum kills on the stage before automatic promotion to the next scene: 10 Goblins. 5. Evolve to survive the war! Clear Conditions: Kill one fellow goblin Time Limit: One Hour Compensation: 5 free to distribute Ether points Failure: Death ] 4 Evolution II "All of you are requested to remain in your positions! I will kill anyone who tries to move towards the square." As soon as the military goblin, Mikazuki August, finished reading the prompt, he attempted to keep the situation under control through a death threat. But, Ragnar could feel the gazes of all the surrounding goblins change. The present Goblin Union was powerful and prosperous. It had steered the goblins towards the path of science which had limited the physical power of an individual goblin to Grade1 in this magical plane. However, Ragnar could see that just with this one prompt, GM(Game Master) behind this real life survival game had pushed the goblins back to the path of evolution. Nature was cruel, and so was this plane. The insects would eat the mosquitoes, only to become food for the birds. ''Survival of the fittest!'' Ragnar could already imagine the huge amount of blood which would be shed at this magical square today. Just as Ragnar was contemplating the current situation, Ecbert, Sorle and Ivar moved in a tacit coordination. Ecbert confronted the soldier Mikazuki, Sorle jumped into the square through the translucent wall and Ivar threw a dark skinned weak HobGoblin inside the square. Just as the two goblins stood up face to face inside the square, a small window once again emerged in front of every goblin''s eyes. [Evolution Round begins! Any goblin who tries to enter the square to intervene in the sacred duel will perish.] "Rollo, you have such a bad luck!" Sorle could not help but say as he playfully smiled at Rollo. Their group decided to throw a random weak goblin inside the square with him to understand the rules of the game, and they ended up throwing a fellow classmate from GIT. "I don''t plan to die without a fight!" Unexpectedly, Rollo said with a calm face. Sorle immediately started running towards Rollo as Rollo finished his sentence. Using his superior strength as a Goblin Noble, he took him down onto the floor and fiercely started punching his face. Just as the dark skinned HobGoblin, Rollo was about to lose his life in the hands of Goblin Noble Sorle. "Hold his neck and flip over behind his back." "Put all your strength in the middle and ring finger and hit him at the center of his head from behind him." Ragnar''s voice rang out in the metro. At this moment of dire peril, Rollo instinctively followed the voice''s orders. Summoning all his remaining strength, he grabbed Sorle''s neck and flipped over behind his back. He proceeded to hit with his two fingers at the center of Sorle''s head. ~ Drop. Sorle fainted and dropped to the ground. ''I cannot believe it. I turned the tables on Sorle.'' Rollo was startled and elated. He immediately flipped around the Goblin Noble, Sorle who had fainted on his stomach. "Gi-aaargh. Motherf*cker!" Rollo let out a horrible shriek of anger as he started raining down punches at Sorle''s face. ~ Punch. He would land a hit all over Sorle''s face with all his strength. ~ Punch, Punch. Rollo crazily punched Sorle until his head was covered in green blood when suddenly, Sorle awoke. "Gi-gargh, let .. me .. go .. please" Sorle''s faint pleading voice became fainter and fainter as it painfully pierced through all the goblin''s ears. However, Rollo continued to constantly hit him again and again as he endlessly despised him. "F*cking Loser Noble! Bullying Weak! Fearing Strong! Motherf*cker! YOU OVERESTIMATED YOURSELF!" "He is dead." Nandini muttered standing beside Ragnar. Sorle''s corpse turned into a red light and circled around Rollo before being absorbed through his mouth. As Rollo stood up, he blankly stared into space and muttered. "Strength, Agility, Psyche..." He suddenly tried to run. ~Run. All the goblins were shocked as Rollo was unbelievably fast. He was on the level of Goblin Mechbot''s speed. "What is this sensation? I feel like I am faster than wind! Is this the so called Ether energy?" All the goblins spectating the square were surprised. It was because they had personally witnessed a HobGoblin kill a Goblin Noble and become stronger well past his racial limits. ''They were not limited by societal and evolution chains of the plane anymore.'' All the goblin had the same thought. Suddenly, Ragnar moved towards a Goblin Noble and threw him inside the square. Every goblin once again saw the same small window. [Evolution Round begins! Any goblin who tries to enter the square to intervene in the sacred duel will perish.] "Rollo, didn''t he bully you as well? Kill him. Since it is already at this point, I will throw all the shitty goblin nobles in and you kill them. Advance to the next stage and I will meet up with you there." Ragnar said to him from outside the square. With tacit coordination, Ragnar and Rollo killed nine more goblin nobles while Nandini watched Ragnar''s display, absolutely shocked. Just as Rollo killed the tenth goblin on the square and absorbed his Ether into him, a small window emerged in front of his eyes. [Strong will live whereas weak will die, Congratulations! Race Evolution: Goblin Noble.] Rollo felt his whole body shattering as Ether moved around inside his body. He began to grow bigger and bigger without showing any signs of stopping until he was about 189cm tall. He was now a tall, muscular Goblin Noble. Even his muscles had become more defined. ''An evolution achieved through killing and an evolution achieved through science such as the current Goblin Union''s nobles is fundamentally different. Rollo''s evolution method is definitely superior!'' Ragnar pondered. A space portal appeared in front of Rollo as he finished his evolution. "Thanks, Ragnar." Rollo expressed his gratitude to Ragnar Kalwar. However, Ragnar laughed at his thanks. "Wait for me at the next scene!" Rollo shook his head in amusement as he walked into the portal. 5 Evolution III "Throw her in! Quick, boss." It was Ivar Boneless who had used the chance of Rollo''s successful promotion to enter the magical square. Goblin Noble. 185cm tall. He was a very agile gobol player who had full confidence in his ability to kill a weak goblin. ''Even that weak nigga Rollo could become a Goblin Noble! The more I kill, the more powerful I will become on this stage. This is my chance to kill as many weak goblins as possible.'' Ivar Boneless thought. ''He killed ten to become a Goblin Noble! Can I also kill ten to become a Goblin Duke on this sacred square? If that is so, I might even be able to shed my status as Ecbert''s henchman and become a Goblin Lord! I will massacre all these weak f*ckers.'' Ivar Boneless set his resolve. ''I will become a Goblin Lord.'' The bloodlust in his goblin blood had fully awakened. He would kill to evolve further and break past his limits. Ecbert England moved to throw a weak female goblin inside the square in tacit coordination with his henchman. He wanted to observe a little bit more before making his move. As expected of goblin nobility, his style was shrewd and cunning. Aslaug Lodbrok. 162cm tall. Goblin. She came from a poor goblin family and had taken educational loans from the Gringotts International Bank to pay her tuition fees at GIT. She looked at Ecbert moving towards her in surprise. Her face became completely pale. But, this time, both, Ragnar and Nandini were already on their guard against this shameless group of goblin nobility. ~ Grab. Ragnar grabbed Aslaug''s waist and started running away from Ecbert England. Meanwhile, Nandini jumped into the square before Ecbert could catch up to Ragnar. A small window once again emerged in front of every goblin''s eyes. [Evolution Round begins! Any goblin who tries to enter the square to intervene in the sacred duel will perish.] Nandini. 195cm tall. Goblin Duke. As she stood face to face with Ivar on the magical square, she casually checked her body fitness in style by swinging her arms and shadow boxing with amazingly fast footwork. "What? You like bullying the weak but are scared of the strong? I will fight for her, Ivar." She said condescendingly. "Gi-huh? Bitch, did you not just see a weak ass HobGoblin nigga kill a f*cking Goblin Noble? In this fight, a Goblin Noble will kill a Goblin Duke. Now, that is what I call an evolution." Ivar said, as he couldn''t stand the feeling of being looked down upon by a mere goblin woman. "It is good that you came up by yourself. I would have made Ecbert throw you in next anyway. Since you guys killed my best friend Sorle, I will fuck you in front of a live audience in his memory." Ivar said with a rascal like grin as he slowly scanned Nandini''s hourglass like figure with bountiful assets and slim waist. Nandini just smiled at him. With an innocent and adorable smile, she said with a mature and sexy pose which could charm all goblin men in the metro, even Ragnar. "Bring it on then." Whether it was strength, agility or endurance, as a higher level goblin, Nandini was stronger than Ivar in every aspect. Despite of that, she kept both her fists up in a defensive stance. Ivar kept on probing her by pulling jabs and uppercuts while Nandini kept on dodging all his attacks like a professional boxer. Ivar got frustrated and decided to provoke her into making a mistake. So, he faked a hook punch and grabbed the outer portion of her long skirt. Just the outer portion was enough with his Goblin Noble strength as he attempted to rip her skirt. "Come Prez! Let us show all the spectators here the color of your panties." However, those were his final words in this life. ~ Kick. Nandini kicked him straight in his balls. Before he could rip her long skirt, she took out the GobKnife hidden in her sleeves. ~ Stab. Nandini stabbed that knife through his right eye until it reached his brain! "Gi-Argh?" Ivar Boneless had a blank look on his face as he let out his last breath. Green blood oozed out of both his eyes until his whole body turned into red light and circled around Nandini before being absorbed through her mouth. "Phew!" Nandini let out a sigh of relief. As she was getting used to the magical feeling of Ether moving inside her body, she suddenly shivered in disgust as she realized that she had in a way eaten Ivar''s body to grow stronger. She expressionlessly looked around at all the goblin passengers before meeting Ragnar''s eyes. "I wish to advance to the next scene." Nandini said to no one in particular. A space portal appeared in front of Nandini as soon as she finished her sentence. "Cl-Class President! Thank you for saving my life." Aslaug shouted to Nandini from outside the square to express her thanks and broke down in tears. However, Nandini coldly laughed as she once again made eye contact with Ragnar. "After I advance to the next scene." She pointed to Ragnar as she said. "He too, will kill ten goblins and advance to the next scene to meet up with me and Rollo. Adapt to the situation. Kill these weak goblins to evolve while you can. Only the strong survive in the Goblin Plane." She walked into the portal in style, raised her hand and waved it to say farewell. Just as Nandini promoted to the next scene, Ragnar lightly jumped in the battle square which reminded him of Huyen langlon stage. "Come up!" Ragnar looked at Ecbert England as he issued a battle challenge to a sacred duel. "Gigahahaha!" Sounds of unbridled laughter was heard in the metro. Ecbert England laughed. He felt absolutely amazed at this situation. He had planned to observe the situation for a little while longer because of his cautious nature of an orthodox goblin noble. ''But an ant dared to challenge an elephant to a sacred duel? Let me put this f*cker back into his rightful place in the trash can.'' "Since you want to die quicker. I will fulfill your wish, Ragnar." Ecbert said as he jumped into the square stage as well. 6 Evolution IV [Evolution Round begins! Any goblin who tries to enter the square to intervene in the sacred duel will perish.] On the magical square, Ragnar''s body was slightly quivering. Ecbert England immediately laughed when he saw Ragnar''s state. "I thought it was quite daring of you to challenge me outright. But, it seems that it was all an act. Mere bravado." He said with a smirk. "Gi-gahaha. We shall see." Ragnar laughed awkwardly as he still couldn''t control his body from quivering in extreme excitement and bloodlust. ''I can finally fight!'' He thought. Yes, it was neither terror nor apprehension. It was happiness. He wanted to fight with all his soul. Finally, his wish was granted. Ecbert England. Goblin Lord. A high and mighty Grade1 creature. He was the most powerful goblin student in the whole GIT campus. His 202cm tall height made even the 177cm tall, strong and muscular HobGoblin, Ragnar, look puny. ~ Charge. Ecbert England activated all his biological energy as he charged at Ragnar. His body shot like a bullet at him with all the energy of a real Grade1 creature. All the goblins, except for Mikazuki August, spectating the sacred duel in the metro looked shocked as they couldn''t even catch Ecbert''s shadow with their eyes. ''This is a charge as fast and as strong as a Mechbot armor tackle.'' Mikazuki thought. As soon as Ecbert''s arms grabbed Ragnar''s waist and just as he was absolutely assured of killing this puny HobGoblin, a voice sounded out. ~ Splash. ''Waitasec. What the f*ck. What.. What just happened?'' Mikazuki strained his eyes as he looked at the battle square along with the rest of the gawking goblin passengers. ''How? How? How? How could this be?'' Not so different from the goblin spectators, even Ecbert England himself, did not understand what went wrong until a disturbing sound came from inside his skull. ''I, A Grade1 Creature equivalent to the Legendary Lord Maugus will die here? To this trash?'' With his head smashed open, Ecbert England, along with that last thought, turned to red light as it circled around Ragnar. Ragnar was a Huyen langlon Grandmaster. His fighting instincts were something that had been ingrained in his soul itself. As he jumped on the battle square, he had completely let go of any apprehension he had towards the thought of battle and the moment Ecbert lowered his stance to attempt to grab his waist with a charge, Ragnar firmly planted both his legs on the square''s floor to erupt with more power. Goblins naturally walk heel-to-toe, just like humans. But lots of races on the ancient Goblin Plane¡ªeven apex predators, like Dragonborn, Werewolves and Kobolds¡ªdon''t. Wondering why? When it comes to brawling, having heels hit the ground gave those primordial creatures a leg up. Of course, this is no surprise to any trained Huyen langlon martial artist. Throwing a punch with your feet planted, helps you punch harder. Therefore, Ragnar firmly planted both his legs on the ground. Then, as Ecbert came charging at him, both his fists exploded with power the moment they came in contact with Ecbert''s head. ~ Crack. He used the power that erupted from him with both his legs planted on the ground to smash the inside of Ecbert''s head to a pulp. Even a Grade1 goblin''s charge reinforced with all his biological energy crumbled like a house of cards against this technique. That is how, a Goblin Lord lost his life on the battle square. As Ragnar absorbed the red light through his mouth, he let out a long sigh filled with disappointment. "The most powerful goblin creature amounts only to this much? What a weak race." The fight ended before he could even start enjoying it. All this accumulated bloodlust had nowhere to vent. He was so astonished by Ecbert''s quick death that waves of disappointment swept over him. Just then, a small window emerged in front of his eyes. [Mission Accomplished! You have succeeded in killing a fellow goblin. As compensation, you get 5 Ether points to distribute.] [Ether unlocked! You have killed a Goblin Lord. You have absorbed all your opponent''s life ether. All stats +2] [ Recruit: Ragnar Kalwar Race: Goblin ~ Ether Status ~ Strength: 12(+2) Agility: 16(+2) Psyche: 50(+2) Energy:11(+2) Ether points: 5 Evolution Score: 0 (Starts at Grade1) Evolution Stage: HobGoblin ] As a HobGoblin, he had at least 10 in all stats. However, his Psyche was extremely high. This was probably because of the cliche reason of transmigration and his soul, originally not belonging to the Goblin Plane or something similar of the sort. Ragnar did not care about such trivial problems. ''The Ether points are distributed differently for all goblins depending on their physical and mental characteristics?'' He thought. Just as Ragnar was pondering about the details of this survival game on the battle square, he could feel the red light that had entered his body through his mouth. It started to merge with the blood in his veins. It wasn''t a familiar feeling but it wasn''t unpleasant either. Ether merged with his blood as it circulated inside his body and continued to merge further in his bones, muscles and tendons. Thus, allowing him to feel an explosive increase in his strength and speed. He even felt himself getting a little smarter. His bloodlust grew with his increase in strength. Ragnar wanted to truly test this new powerful HobGoblin body. ''But even though I am ruthless and indifferent, will I be able to kill innocent goblins to increase my strength with a clear conscience?'' The discipline and principles he had followed in his previous life immediately kept his growing bloodlust in control. Even though, Ragnar had killed many martial artists in the battle square in his previous life, all those were death matches between martial artists betting their lives on the skills and techniques they had honed all their lives. It was the highest honor for a martial artist to die fighting in the battle square. But, Ragnar couldn''t bring himself to force innocent goblins to a death match to increase his strength on this magical square. However, just as he made the decision to advance to the next scene, his eyes looked at the remaining nine goblin nobility. He saw an amazing scene. All the commoner GIT students, who had been bullied by these goblin nobles, had surrounded and cornered the goblin nobles. Daniel Hayden. 184cm tall. Goblin Noble. He went down on his knees and pleaded to Aslaug Lodbrok who was leading the commoners. "Ple-Please! Don''t kill me, Aslaug. I never personally bullied you, did I?" Daniel''s pitiful act shattered the courage of all the remaining goblin nobles. One after the other, they started to go down on their knees and begged the commoners to let them go. "We are really sorry." "Ye-Yes! Yes! It''s all our fault." "We wanted to save you guys but we weren''t powerful enough to go against the whole faction." "Believe us! It was all peer pressure. If we did not bully you, they would have bullied us." That''s right. Goblin nobles just didn''t have the b*lls in critical moments. Even though they wanted to appear more manly and intimidating but that was only their wish. Goblin nobles were the type who, in the face of real danger, would stay back and read the situation. Their cautious and cunning nature was their downfall. That is why their position in the Union was only symbolic and they did not hold any real power except the power to use rituals to forcefully evolve their talented young ones to Goblin Lords. Goblin Union was run by the goblins who had the b*lls in critical moments to do whatever was required of them. A very apt quote came into Ragnar''s mind from his previous life as he looked at this situation. ''No Guts. No Glory. No Legend. No Story.'' 7 Evolution V Ragnar''s heart continued to thump in bloodlust as he killed the goblin nobles thrown in the battle square by Aslaug Lodbrok. He had started to enjoy the feeling of battle and blood. He wanted to fight more and more. He wanted to explore the limits to which he could fight with his HobGoblin body. Just then, he looked at the last remaining goblin noble kneeling down in front of him in the battle square, Daniel Hayden. ''He has no pride at all. This guy. Shameful. At least the others tried to fight for their lives!'' Ragnar thought as he saw Daniel Hayden stoop this low just to survive. He hated such kinds of gutless goblins. "This is your last chance for a fair fight. Come at me with all ya got." He said, starting to get pissed off by this cowardly goblin noble. "No. Please. Just let me go. I will atone for my sins for all my remaining life, Ragnar. Just let me go, this once." Daniel pleaded. Of course, it was a lie spoken just to survive. However, even after knowing that all along, Ragnar could not bring himself to kill a defenseless goblin. As a Huyen langlon Grandmaster, his soul enjoyed fighting and killing the most. But, his conscience would not allow him to kill someone begging him for his life. After all, even though these goblin nobles were evil, their actions did not deserve death. ''I wanted to kill only the evil goblins to improve my strength and keep my conscience clear.'' Ragnar sighed as he thought while justifying his actions to himself. But just as Ragnar was stumped and was pondering whether to spare Daniel''s life and advance to the next scene or not, Daniel took out a gun he had hidden behind his sock and tried to shoot at Ragnar''s head. ''I knew these commoner f*ckers would not let me go.'' Daniel thought. He had given up on his pride, kneeled down and begged all for this moment of negligence. He never expected the cold and ruthless Ragnar Kalwar to spare his life from the beginning. The rules of the game had not banned the use of guns or other high tech weapons. So why would he risk his life to fight with cold weapons? ''One shot. One kill. Die, f*cker.'' Daniel shot at Ragnar. However, after Ragnar''s body was upgraded with Ether, he was practically a superhuman and the bullet continued to miss until Daniel emptied the whole magazine of bullets. ~ Strangle. Ragnar grabbed Daniel''s neck as he lifted him up in the air. It was a bizarre scene to all the spectators. The smaller 177cm HobGoblin lifting the taller and bigger 184cm Goblin Noble into the air, strangling him. But, as Ragnar strangled the subdued Daniel Hayden to death in the air, it spoiled his mood. He wanted to fight to his heart''s content with strong opponents so that he could compare his techniques with them. But, here he was being forced to kill weak goblins. ''Which assh*le made this stupid survival game? There is no sense of challenge or fairness at all.'' He thought. Finally, Daniel Hayden''s corpse turned into red light and was absorbed by Ragnar through his mouth. [You have killed a Goblin Noble. You have absorbed all your opponent''s life ether. All stats +1] [Strong will live whereas weak will die, Congratulations! Race Evolution: Goblin Noble.] Ragnar''s evolution started. His muscles started distorting with Ether as it further merged with his bones and they started to slam and clash against each other. He started growing bigger, taller and bulkier with no signs of stopping until he reached 195cm. He was now a giant muscular Goblin Noble with refined muscles exploding with strength. But, the windows did not stop emerging in front of his eyes. [Attention: You have caught the eye of a higher being; Flame Immortal. He wishes to sponsor your growth!] [Gifted Skill Received: Blazing Eyes] ''Higher being? Wait a second, there were a group of GMs behind this game? Looks like this is gonna be one hell of a game.'' After looking at the new prompts, Ragnar realized the possibility of them not being the only ones playing this game. ''What if the whole plane has been involved in a giant survival game? What is happening with the goblin race?'' Ragnar felt uncomfortable thinking about the death of innocent goblins because of this survival game. He felt even more uncomfortable when he realized that he had been dancing in the palms of some higher being''s hand, all this while. He got goosebumps and the hair on his body stood up as he walked into the portal which appeared in front of him to advance to the next scene to meet up with Rollo and Nandini. *** Time was ticking. After Ragnar advanced to the next scene, there were only 20 minutes left until the end of the Scene #1 with penalty of death. The battle square quickly became a scene of desperate struggle to survive. Blood was flowing all around, with no regards for innocent goblin children, women or men. With deadly fights already breaking out between Goblin Nobles, Dukes and Lords, the bloody battle upon the magical square continued with goblins wielding guns and electrical batons, stabbing each other with kitchen knives. In the end, only a couple minutes were left, there were only three goblins remaining inside the metro: soldier Mikazuki August, student Aslaug Lodbrok and white collar software developer Stevie Jibs. "Since you are a goblin man, let us fight it out fair and square." Goblin Lord Mikazuki said as he threw Stevie inside the battle square and jumped up on it as well. "Gi-gi! I have no choice, do I?" Stevie shook his head in resignation as he replied. The battle ended easily with Mikazuki August''s victory. Both of them fought like proud goblins in a slugfest. Stevie was smashed to a pulp as he turned into red light and was absorbed through Mikazuki''s mouth. Aslaug Lodbrok gave a long sigh filled with self hate as she looked at soldier Mikazuki walking into the portal. ''In the end, I couldn''t bring myself to kill an innocent just to survive. That is just screwed up!'' She jumped up on the battle square and stood there all alone in the middle of the dark metro, setting up a lonely silhouette. Just then, a small screen emerged in front of her eyes. [Attention: You have caught the eye of a higher being; Broodmother. She wishes to sponsor your survival!] [Congratulations ~ Special scenario unlocked.] 8 Flashback I Space portal was an extraordinary opening in space or time that could connect goblins to distant realms beyond their native plane. The Goblin Union was a very fast growing surface civilization. As reported by the union times news channel, the oldest and the most celebrated goblin scientist, Issac Einstein, was already very close to mastering the art of space portals. According to the prevalent theories and concepts of Issac Newton floating around on the Gitranet, the goblin public had a clear consensus that mathematically, and in accordance with relativity, space and time were in some sense interchangeable. All goblin scientists agreed on the point that space and time formed co-equal parts of a larger law regarding ''planes''. It was only through the power of Planar Will, that the goblins had the most complete understanding of motion and properties of natural objects and other phenomena which could be rigorously understood by goblin scholars and scientists. Space and time are to the ''plane'' what arms and legs were to goblins. In some sense, they were interchangeable, but you could never understand the thousands of years of goblin history without including both arms and legs as part of the basic goblin condition. It was impossible for the goblins or any higher beings to understand the will of the plane. That is why, there would always be Plane Wonders, a phenomena which could not be explained or understood. When Ragnar stepped into the space portal to advance to the next scene, a transfer of matter and energy from one scene to another without traversing the physical space of the plane was initiated which was only possible if it was tacitly allowed by the Planar Will. Inexplicably, as Ragnar was teleported to the next scene through the space portal, he felt the recently merged Ether in his body starting to stir in panic. His whole body started to heat up by the constant circulation of Ether inside his bloody veins. Ragnar was forcefully sent into a series of flashbacks by the Planar Will. *** 4 months ago, Two large travelling bags were slung on Ragnar Kalwar''s shoulders, with a grip sack in his right hand and a luggage filled with monster skins in his left hand. A black double door with a purplish blue Iris flower painted on top of it was kicked open by him. Ragnar looked like a big, clumsy and fat panda as he stumbled and struggled to squeeze himself through the doorway which was wide enough to let two bulky and muscular Goblin Dukes go through it at the same time. It was five in the morning. This was the time when the Iris Hotel was at its quietest. There were only two goblins in the game room right beside the reception. Near the pool table stood Seth, a retired soldier, 197cm tall, Goblin Duke, and Peter, a 175cm tall HobGoblin, police officer. Both of them totally immersed in their round of billiards, glared at Ragnar who had just barged in with so much noise. Ragnar nodded at Seth and Peter as he laid his travelling bags, grip sack and luggage on the floor in front of the counter and stacked them up into a pile. He shed his black leather jacket and subsequently removed two swords of fine quality that were slung on his waist and laid them on the table. "Manjesh bhaiya! I am back!" He shouted at the top of his lungs to inform his big cousin brother of his return. "Holy mother of gold! It is Ragna..." said Peter as he finally recognized the newly evolved HobGoblin, Ragnar Kalwar. "Dafuq Ragnar!? It''s been half a f*cking year? We thought you died out in the wild trying vainly to evolve into a HobGoblin through the ancient method. Though, did you bring back some black panther skins that I wanted?" said Seth right after Peter''s exclamation. Your guess is right on the mark! Bingo. The original Ragnar Kalwar died during his evolution to a HobGoblin through the ancient method. The original was a banished goblin nobility who had not been evolved by his family on purpose and if he were to have any chance to make a comeback to inherit his fief, he had to evolve into a Goblin Lord to challenge the current heir to a sacred duel. As Ragnar from Earth took this goblin body after his death, he was absolutely shocked. But during this long journey back, he had completely accepted his current situation and he had already merged with all of the original''s memories. Ragnar had resolved himself to live this life according to the original''s wishes and snatch back his fief from the current heir. "I got a dozen of them wrapped up inside. Go check it out yourself." Ragnar said as he pointed towards the luggage filled with monster skins on the floor. A thin and short, middle aged goblin emerged from the door behind the counter. Seeing Ragnar, his face lighted up with a hint of smile. This middle aged goblin was the owner of the Iris Hotel, Manjesh Kalwar. Don''t underestimate him because of his short height; nobody could have even conjectured that this kind looking, quiet goblin behind the counter was actually a Goblin Lord level powerhouse. He was a Goblin Shaman. Most of the patrons of the Iris Hotel never had a clue because of his height, 173cm. "Bhaiya, get me the oldest goblin vodka bottle from our collection. Oh, and ask the chefs over there to cook me a big meal. For the past six months, I''ve been having meager rations... I miss the food here so much!" said Ragnar without a shred of hesitation as he stole the original''s identity without any sense of guilt. His motto in life was ''Go with the flow and remain happy-go-lucky!''. "Roger that." Manjesh threw at Ragnar an expensive looking bottle of vodka. "Go drink some of this first. I''ll go wake the chefs up." "Oh, and, could you check the goods out for me? I brought a bunch of things back from this trip. I wonder if it''s enough for my daily expenses of the next couple months." Ragnar said as he caught the bottle and pointed at Seth and Peter fumbling through the beast skins. Manjesh nodded and disappeared behind the door.