Chương 10: Level 2

Before I could even react to Fishy eating the goblin eye, I felt something stir from within. System Congratulations, you've reached level 2. Class unlocked… Glutton. Name: Rook Class: Glutton Grade: Special Level: 2 EXP: 25/200 HP: 110/110 MP: 0/0 The recipe Goblin-Eye Soup has given you these bonuses. Stats: STR: 5 (+1) DEX: 8 (+2) VIT: 5 (+1) INT: 7 (+0) WIS: 8 (+0) CHA: 5 (+0) LCK: 6 (+3) The recipe Goblin-Eye Soup has given you a new skill… Goblin Punch. Goblin Punch - Strike with all the fury of a… goblin.

Description: Uses LCK stat for damage. The higher the Luck, the higher the critical strike chance and critical strike potential. Some say that goblins are lucky, but I know that they just fight dirty. Goblin-Eye Soup Rarity: Common Type: Monster Meat Core Ingredient: Goblin Eyes Effects added: Effects: Grants +5 LCK for 1 hour. Debuff: Turns skin green for 1 hour. Goblin-Eye Soup… Level up Goblin-Eye Soup +1 Effects: Grants an additional +3 LCK, +2 DEX, +1 STR. Effect now lasts for 2 hours.

New Skills added: Basic Cooking (Lvl 1) Basic Butchery (Lvl 1) Monster Butchery (Lvl 1) Basic Herbalism (Lvl 1) Knife Handling (Lvl 1) New Recipe learned… Dire-Rabbit Heart Skewer I threw my hand in front of my face, causing the system to disappear. It was too much information at once. Lina had stood and was screaming at Fishy, who twirled and twirled around the room in his little water bauble. The watery orb spun fast enough to scatter tiny droplets across the counter, the jars, and Lina's already furious face.

"So good, so good," the fish repeated over and over.

"What's it saying?" Lina asked.

"It says… sorry."

"Liar!" She tried to reach and grab at Fishy, but he darted away into another room, his water bauble wobbling through the doorway." Ugh!" Lina complained.

"It looked good too. It looked… What the hell!"

"What?" I replied. Lina looked shocked, her eyes wide. She tripped over her own feet as she tried to step away. One hand shot out to catch the counter, rattling the little glass jars lined along the edge.

"Your… your… your skin… it's green!"

"My skin is… green?" She nodded emphatically. I rushed into the main room and found a mirror. I held it up. Sure enough, my skin was just that… goblin green. This was not going to help my standing with the townsfolk. They already thought I was a freak… Now I looked the part too. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Lina appeared behind me, holding a club.

"Did you turn into a monster?"

"No!" I replied.

"Wait! I leveled up. It mentioned this. It's a side effect from the soup. It should only last an hour or two. It also gives me temporary stats in addition to the permanent stats I got." Lina eyed me curiously.

"Fine," she said, lowering the club, "but if you do anything weird—" She mimicked bonking me on the head.

"Got it," I replied. I turned to Fishy, who was precariously low to the ground. His movements became erratic and jerky, and then, suddenly, he flipped and started to float to the top of the water globule.

"Uh," Lina said, pointing the club forward, "did your companion just die?" Suddenly, Fishy's body twisted violently, and the water globule became cloudy. The little orb churned as if someone had poured milk into a glass and stirred it with a knife. Shapes shifted inside. Fins stretched. A tail bent. Something small pressed against the inner surface and then vanished into the fog. When it cleared, instead of a silver fish, there was something else. Something new. Something… Very strange.

Fishy had turned from a fish into some sort of… frog? No, not a frog, something between a fish and a tadpole. Fishy had large, buggy yellow eyes, not unlike a goblin, and one goblin-like tooth that was too big for his mouth. And to complete it, two little useless goblin legs next to the tail. Both eyes flitted about the room, unable to focus on one thing. System Companion Evolution: Fish(?) -> Tadpol(?) Name: Fishy Species: Goblin Guppit Fishy, having taken in his surroundings, flew up in his water globule.

"Rook, Rook," he said excitedly.

"Change, change. Stronger, stronger."

"You certainly have changed," I said.

"But are you really stronger? You're still pretty small." System Companion skills update: Sticky Tongue - Able to shoot his tongue out 10 feet. Where is all of that extra tongue? Who knows? Goblin Gaze - Use those goblin eyes to creep and otherwise weird out people around you. May break spell concentration. Lina snapped her fingers.

"Hey Rook, what's happening?"

"He's… different, I guess. The soup changed him. The system called it evolution." I looked at Fishy, the name no longer having much meaning.

"Evolution… Hey Fishy, I think I have a new name for you."

"New name, new name," he said, doing little flips.

"I think I'll call you Darwin." Lina, Darwin, and I enjoyed the rest of the night. Eventually, my green skin faded back to its normal level of pale, and Lina said I could use the guest room out back. It was little more than a shed… but it had a cot, so I supposed that was good enough. The small room smelled faintly of old straw, dust, and stored crates. A thin blanket lay folded at the foot of the cot, and rain had left dark stains in one corner of the ceiling.

Still, after the last two days, it might as well have been a luxury suite. I hadn't slept in two days. I was tired beyond reason. I hadn't even the time to consider all that happened before I nodded off, falling asleep. In the morning, there was a knock at the door.

"Hmm… five more minutes," I complained.

"Get up!" Lina said.

"There is someone here to see you."

"Here to see… me?" I asked nobody in particular. I stood, stretched, and dressed. My borrowed clothes still felt wrong against my skin, rough at the seams and loose in places they shouldn't have been. I stepped outside. It was a cloudy day, and I could feel a light drizzle. The distant rumble of thunder and the pressure it brought gave me a headache. The yard behind the shop had turned damp overnight, the dirt dark and sticky beneath my boots. Water dripped steadily from the roof's edge.

Darwin was right behind me, floating in his bubble as per usual. I stepped inside the shop and saw Lina, Aldric, his two companions, plus a third… and yet another who stood off to the side. I didn't recognize him… but in a way, I did. The man looked like Ebbin, only younger. Older than me still though, around fifty years old, I'd guess. He had the same lines around the mouth and the same heavy brow. Rainwater clung to the shoulders of his coat, and mud darkened the hem of his trousers.

"So…" the man said.

"You're Rook. My father wrote all about you."

"Are you Cedran, Tavian, Edrin, or Balen?" I asked. The man smiled.

"Tavian… it's good that you know about us. This'll make this easier. I've come to procure the farm and ensure proper ownership falls to his real family—""The farm is yours… what's left of it, anyway. I make no stake or claim. Ebbin was clear on that two years ago when he took me in." Tavian smiled.

"Well, then I'm glad. I thought this was going to be a fight. I suppose asking this nice adventuring group for backup was more than what was required."

"Adventuring group?" I asked.

"For me? I'm not much of a fighter."

"Aye," Tavian said, "but you're a special class. At least that's what the folks around here seem to think. Anyway, I'll let you collect yourself. I've heard you've had quite a last two days. I'm staying at the Hearth and Hen while I fill the proper paperwork and such. If you would, can you stop by sometime? I'll buy you a drink. I want to hear it from you about my father's last moments. Is that alright?" I nodded.

"It's the least I can do for Ebbin. He was your father, that much I know… but he was like one to me as well." Tavian frowned.

"I doubt it… but you are free to feel that way."

"Oh," I said, drawing Tavian's attention back before he left.

"Most of the animals escaped… but Madam Moolisa is here. What are you planning to do with her?"

"Sell her," Tavian said firmly.

"To either a milking farm or a slaughterhouse. Doesn't matter which to me." That sent a shiver up my spine.

"I'll buy her!" Lina said suddenly.

"I'll give you a fair price."

"Five silver and she is yours," Tavian said. For a cow as old as Madam Moolisa, it was overpriced. Lina, however, sensed Tavian wouldn't budge, and so she said, "Fine!" She stepped forward and slammed five silver coins into Tavian's hand. The sharp clatter cut through the shop like a slap.

"Now get out! The lot of you are scaring customers away and, unlike some, I charge fair prices and I need the traffic." Tavian smirked, tipped his hat, and walked out the front door.

"Sir Aldric," I said. Aldric gave me a salute.

"I told the man you weren't a troublemaker, but he insisted." He leaned in, placing some coins in my hand. The copper was warm from his palm.

"Here… it's what he paid us for 'protection.' They'd burn a hole in my pocket, best they are with you." When I looked, I saw he had left ten copper coins. The system flashed as they were added to my total. The party of adventurers left. The bell above the shop door jingled behind them, and the gray daylight slipped in for a moment before the door swung shut again.

"So, what will you do now?" Lina asked, genuinely curious.

"You're welcome to stay until you can get off your feet. I'll charge you a fair price. Call it the friends rate." I shrugged… I hadn't quite figured that part out yet.