The Dungeon Mafter Series - Days 4 to 6 (Patreon)

Day 4 - Note to self: Goblins, unexpectedly, aren't dicks

I found a weapon! Unfortunately, it was still attached to a goblin. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It happened while I was exploring the labyrinth as usual, thought I suppose that much wasn’t surprising at all. There wasn’t much else to do around here. I was just in the process of tactically retreating from a group of three Labyrinth Slimes when I heard some weird noises coming from an intersection of tunnels.

I stopped and slowly crept around the corner to take a look, and I found a single goblin fighting a single Labyrinth Slime. She was short, about one meter thirty at most, with spindly arms and legs and stringy black hair. She was armed with a gnarled wooden club that might've been just a fallen tree branch, and a small, round wooden shield that was partially broken.

I could tell she was female because she was only wearing a simple loincloth, leaving her small, sagging breasts exposed. Aside from her dark green skin, she could've passed for a human child if not for the facial features. She had a large, hooked nose that dominated her face, a strong under-bite that had her chin jutting forward and a pair of pointed, meaty ears.

She wasn’t a pretty sight, but I couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. I finally found a humanoid monster, so it was time to cast [Observe] on her!

Name: Abyss Goblin  Level: 4  Experience: 15

Classification: Humanoid Critter  Race: Goblin

Health: 18/30  Stamina: 41/75  Mana:  10/10

Body: Low(Low) Mind: Low(Low)  Insight: Low(Low)

Description:

A goblin subspecies only found in the Abyss. They are weak individually, but in large groups, they can threaten novice explorers. While they have a rudimentary tribal society, they have no spoken language, but are capable of communicating through gestures and grunts. When hunting, they follow the lead of the strongest goblin of the group. Once the leader is defeated, the group immediately loses cohesion and routs. Threat rating: E

I only gave a cursory reading to the [Status Panel] of the goblin, and instead I hurriedly opened my own. I poked at the Shapeshifting skill, and I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear as it opened a new menu.

Do you wish to use Shapeshifting Lv3?

* Yes * No *

Of course I do! I pushed [Yes], and to my surprise, my surroundings abruptly blurred as if they were repeatedly ran through a Photoshop filter, until only indistinct shapes remained. I blinked a few times and then I found myself staring at the naked form of the goblin I just observed. For a split-second I almost panicked, but then a closer look revealed that it wasn’t the actual goblin herself, only something like a wax statue of her.

Was this where I was supposed to choose what shape I would turn into? I looked over the goblin and I quickly averted my eyes when they fell upon a certain area. Yes, the goblin was anatomically correct.

I calmed my nerves and reassured myself that it was just a monster. Furthermore, it was just the copy of a monster, so there was nothing wrong with looking at her. As I did that, another prompt showed up in the corner of my vision, so I opened it up.

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Abyss Goblin).

* Yes * No *

Honestly, I wasn’t so sure anymore. To put it bluntly, after taking a closer look like this, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about turning into a goblin. I mean, she had a bit of a fugly cuteness to her, like a pug, or one of those weird rodents with the huge eyes and ears, but that didn’t mean I personally wanted to look like that. Maybe if only her nose was a little smaller…

“Oh!?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. Just as I was thinking about how she could look a little more presentable, the faux-goblin’s nose shrank a bit. That reminded me, wasn’t there an option like that? I opened my [Status Panel] and looked up Shapeshifting Lv3 again.

Shapeshifting Lv3: Allows the owner to mimic the shape of other beings. Shape shifting is restricted by the original body type of the owner (Currently: Humanoid).)

Lv2: Freely modifying the owner’s appearance becomes possible. Body-proportions can be altered, but the total volume of the body cannot deviate from the base form by more than 25%.

Lv3: Grants High-Speed Regeneration Lv1, or if already present, increases the skill level by 1 stage. The total volume of the body may deviate by up to 50%.

Right, that was the Lv2 bonus! With this I should be able to modify how I'd look. With that in mind, I began experimenting with the faux-goblin. Unfortunately, the customization didn’t have sliders or any other conveniences, but after a couple of minutes I figured out how to change the size and shape of certain body parts. As it turned out all I needed to do was to picture how I wanted her nose or ear look, and it would change accordingly.

It took a lot of trial and error, but after about an hour of tweaking I finally got an appearance I was fairly satisfied with. Not everything worked out perfectly thought. For one, I couldn’t change the gender of the goblin, and my attempts at creating a male body-type and related body parts all ended up in hilarious failures, to the point I had to start from scratch all over again. In the end I settled for the current look. If I had to be a girl, I decided I would at least be a pretty one.

The current faux-goblin body in front of me looked nothing like the original at this point. The height remained roughly the same, though it seemed a little taller because of the corrected posture. I fixed the arms and legs to have more human proportions, lightened the skin-color a bit, gave it glossy, shoulder-length black hair, and as for the face, I managed to outdo myself.

The only parts I didn’t really touch were the breasts, which I only lifted a little so that they didn’t sag anymore. And maybe a made them a little rounder. Oh, and just a touch more bit perky. I may or may not have also adjusted the size of the areolae, but that was the last of it, I swear. It was going to be my body, so I had to make sure every detail was just right, right?

I decided to leave the other girly bits alone, because I had no experience with those, and I was afraid I would break something if I tried to tweak them.

After I finished, I took a step back and couldn’t help but be impressed by my own work. Somehow I managed to sculpt the fugly goblin into the shape of a beautiful, green-skinned girl with a cute button-nose, moderately full lips, and mysterious golden eyes. The face’s outlines were soft and maybe a bit childish, which, coupled with the short stature of the body, gave my newly sculpted creation the impression of a barely pubescent kid.

To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of inhabiting this body, but I only planned to use this shape until I found something more fitting, so I figured it was fine enough. The gender-thing aside, I was very satisfied with my work, and after examining the body one last time I brought up the Shapeshifting Panel again.

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Custom Abyss Goblin).

* Yes * No *

I took one last deep breath before I extended a finger and picked [Yes], which got me another popup window.

Subspecies not recognized by system. Do you wish to create new subspecies?

* Yes * No *

I picked [Yes] again.

Please name the new subspecies: __________

I scratched my head for a moment as a new panel with an honest to goodness keypad appeared in front of me. Wasn’t this getting a bit too immersion-breaking? I let out a tired groan and thought hard for a moment. I wanted to get this over with and have a proper body already, so I didn’t want to overcomplicate things.

This was originally an Abyss Goblin. I made it pretty, so… Cute Goblin? That might be a bit too much on the nose. Then how about Fair Goblin? I made the skin lighter too, so the word applied doubly. I liked that, so I entered it into the field and poked [Okay].

Do you wish to finalize Shapeshifting? (Race: Goblin) (Subspecies: Fair Goblin).

* Yes * No *

I rolled my eyes at the onslaught of confirmation panels and I picked [Yes] for the last time. When I did so, the blur surrounding me rapidly came into focus, and I found myself in the same position I was before I picked the Shapeshifting skill. Furthermore, I could still hear the noises of combat coming from the other side of the corner, even though I was pretty sure I spent at least an hour customizing my new appearance. Maybe time didn’t pass while the world was blurred?

Speaking of appearance, I glanced down at my hands, and they were still the same as before. I was just about to feel disappointed, when all of a sudden, my entire body started tingling, and my flesh and bones began to squirm as the transformation process began. It didn’t hurt, but it was a weird, somewhat uncomfortable experience. Thankfully, the ordeal only lasted for a few short seconds before my insides calmed down, and I could let out the breath trapped in my throat.

I couldn’t help but smile. I finally had a proper body. It was a little shorter than the previous one, but at least now I didn’t look like some freak that fell into a vat of white paint. I ran my hands across my flat belly and my round buttocks, and I shuddered as I realized how desensitized my skin used to be in in the past. I also ran my fingers through my new hair, and it was much softer than I expected. Do all girls have hair as soft as this? Suddenly I felt like I understood those weirdos who always tried to touch the hair of their crushes. Well, only a little.

Anyways, playing with my own hair while grinning was a little creepy, so I stopped doing it right away… after twirling it around my finger a couple more times. It was for experimenting with its toughness, so it didn’t count.

After that I rose on my tip-toes and even hopped in place a few times to make sure I was aware of my new center of gravity, and I was pleasantly surprised by just how comfortable I felt in my new form, boobs and all. Strangely enough, I didn’t even miss the dangly bits that much, thought that might just have been because I didn’t have them for a while by this point. Speaking of which, I tentatively reached between my legs. There was nothing perverted about it, it was just scientific curiosity, I swear.

“Ouch!”

I immediately regretted the decision and pulled back my hand. Right. Sensitive area. Note to self: Don’t poke it, ever.

…

Well, okay, maybe not "ever", but until I found shelter and a mirror, so that I could see what I was poking. For science, of course. Hey, no one can blame me for being a little bit curious, right?

Anyways, I quickly finished inspecting my new body, and at last I opened my [Status Panel].

Name: ????? Level: 1 Experience: 3

Classification: Humanoid Race: ?????

Health: 50/50 Stamina: 1062/1140 Mana: 100/100

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Mid(Low) Insight: High(High)

Traits:

High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Wisdom Lv3

Boundless Reserves Lv1

Immortal Lv2

Skills:

Observation Lv2

Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)

All righty. It seemed like my stats weren’t changed by the Shapeshifting, thought it did consume some Stamina. That was good to know. Originally, I was curious if I'd gain some Racial Traits, but since the goblin had none, I guess it was a moot point for the time being. Anyways, since the battle, if one could call it that, was still ongoing on the other side of the corner, I decided to check it out.

I found that the goblin was winning. She was injured, but by the looks of it, the Labyrinth Slime was going to run out of steam first. Speaking of which, I quickly checked its status, only to nearly exclaim in surprise!

This guy didn’t have Predation! Actually, when I thought about it for a moment, it was listed among the Common Skills instead of Racial Skills, so it made sense that there was some individual variance.

Still, this presented a golden chance for some free XP. I limbered up my body a little, waited for the slime to lunge at the goblin, and once it landed, I jumped out of my cover and dashed towards it. Before it could even turn around (or do whatever slimes do when they miss) I raised a feet with a surprisingly girly battle cry and stomped on the blue bastard.

Now, just to be clear, I've been hunting slimes in the past few days, so I knew what it felt like when I stomped on one. Because of that, I was immediately aware of the fact that something was wrong, but I didn’t have enough time to figure out what it was, as a moment later the slime outright exploded and covered the entire area in bluish goo. I staggered back and spat a few times to get the slime-innards out of my mouth. Note to self: keep your mouth closed when you stomp on stuff.

It was then that I remembered that the goblin was still around, so I hurriedly took a step back and got ready to defend myself from an attack… that never actually came.

The goblin, who was still standing at an arm’s reach from me, was only staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, which was further amplified by her unflattering features. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she let her weapon down and sniffed the air a few times. I wondered if she wanted to see if I smelled delicious, but instead of trying to take a bite out of me, she abruptly broke into a toothy smile with a mouth that seemed eerily too big on her face.

I hesitated for a couple of seconds, being fairly confused by her reaction, but in the end, I returned the gesture. Now, I think I already mentioned that she had grin that seemed too big for her face, right? At this point I thought her mouth was about to encircle her entire head as she began circling around me while making excited noises and gesturing either at me or at the remains of the slime.

I'm not going to lie; I was taken completely aback by the unexpected reaction. I originally wanted to fight the goblin and take her weapon and shield, but seeing her jump around me like an excited doggy made me reconsider the idea. It was the fault of those large, innocent eyes looking at me. Who the hell decided that goblins should have those huge, expressive eyes, anyway? How was one supposed to fight them while they stared at you like a dumb puppy left in a shoebox by the roadside, asking you to take them in?

Putting my canine analogies aside, I couldn’t help but wonder why she was acting like that? After a moment of thinking I recalled a small detail in her description and I quietly opened her [Status Panel] again to double check. It was as I remembered: Apparently, goblins automatically followed the strongest fellow goblin in the area. She must've recognized me as one of her kind (even though we looked nothing alike), and my defeat of the slime convinced her that I was the stronger one, so now she was trying to follow me. So… did that mean she really was a dumb puppy asking me to take her home?

Well, I was never particularly fond of pets, so I raised my hands to try and shoo her away. Instead she just cocked her head to the side with a questioning look, then she suddenly grinned again and ran down the tunnel from where I came. At first I was relieved that she would leave me alone, but then she stopped and began waving her shield to urge me to follow after her.

For a couple of seconds I only scowled at her, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all. In fact, she just began to wave her hands even harder.

“Oh fine,” I murmured under my breath with a decidedly more pleasant voice than before my transformation, as the combination of her enthusiasm and her pleading eyes worn away my resistance. I mean, following her could be actually a good idea. Maybe she knew the way out of the dungeon? At the very least, she was moving as if she had a destination in mind, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to follow her for a while. In the meantime, I realized that there was another popup flashing in the corner of my vision, so I opened it up while walking.

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the skill Sneak Attack Lv1!

Sneak Attack Lv1: Allows the owner to deal extra damage when attacking an opponent that is unaware of their presence.

“So that’s why the slime exploded!” I unintentionally exclaimed, as I was still getting used to my new voice, prompting my newfound companion to rush back to my side to see what was going on. I shooed her away once again, and she ran down the tunnel from whence she came. I wondered why she was so energetic, considering she lost more than half of her Health in the battle against the slime. Maybe she was trying to act tough in front of me? Or maybe goblins were just naturally hyperactive? Who knew?

We continued walking for several minutes, and I was still wondering about goblin psychology when she sniffed the air again, and let out an angry shriek. I was so startled that I nearly stumbled and fell flat on my face, and by the time I regained my balance, the goblin already dashed ahead and disappeared behind a bend in the tunnel. I could hear another shriek combined with a weird clattering noise, and against my better judgment, I followed after her. Once I rounded the corner, I found her fighting a giant rat the size of a hound.

Name: Labyrinth Rat Level: 2 Experience: 31

Classification: Critter Race: Rodent Of Unusual Size

Health: 48/50 Stamina: 70/75 Mana:  0/0

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: None Insight: None

Racial Traits:

Tough Lv1

Omnivore Lv1

Description:

A variant of the common giant rat native to the labyrinth section on the first floor of the Grand Vargebernos Abyss. It's a universal scavenger and serves as the food Insight of most of the weaker monsters in the Abyss. Its meat, while chewy, is nutritious and safe for human consumption.

I let out a pent-up sigh. So this wasn’t a dangerous monster after all. It was only level two and it lacked any active skills, so I decided it should be an easy prey. I was also curious how much damage [Sneak Attack] was doing, so I decided to act before it would notice me. This time, I made sure to keep my mouth shut as I ran up to the fighting pair, and swung my leg like I was trying to kick a soccer ball. It connected, though not as cleanly as I wanted… yet the moment it did, the rat let out a high-pitched screech and it honest-to-goodness rose into the air like it was hit by a truck.

After flying for a couple of meters it landed behind the goblin with a crunching sound, but to my amazement it actually survived with exactly 1 Health left. I looked at the goblin expectantly, but she just stared back at me with a dumb expression.

“Hit it!” I yelled at her in a panic, as the rat was about to get on its feet again. She only continued to blink at me, so I repeated myself while making swinging motions. At last, she caught up to what I was trying to tell her, and she promptly whacked the rat over the head, and it stopped moving at once.

I shook my head in exasperation as the goblin began running around the dead rat in circles while making weird noises. At last, she put down her weapons and produced something from a small pouch fastened to her loincloth. On closer inspection, it turned out to be some kind of teeth, flat and serrated like a shark’s, attached to a bone handle to form a primitive knife.

Without any hesitation, the goblin began skinning the rat. It was a bit gruesome, so I wanted to leave, but when I started walking, she sprung to her feet and started making panicked noises. In the end, I gave up, sat down a couple of meters away, and tried to ignore the squelching sounds coming from her direction.

It was only then that I noticed that I had new notifications. I decided I might as well use the momentary lull and check them out.

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the skill Leadership Lv1!

Leadership Lv1: Increases the owner’s ability to lead and coordinate with others. Grants a small increase in Body and Mind for the owner’s allies.

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Sneak Attackhas risen by 1 stage. You now possess Sneak Attack Lv2.

Sneak Attack Lv2 (Passive): Allows the owner to deal extra damage when attacking an opponent that is unaware of their presence.

Lv2: The owner can instantly kill enemies significantly weaker than themselves.

Damn. Either Enlightenment was incredibly broken, or I was ridiculously lucky.

[Sneak Attack Lv2] was a little weird, as it didn’t give me any numbers. And just what did "significantly weaker" mean? Was it level? Health? Stats? One thing is for sure: as the rat can testify, it could deal a ton of damage either way.

As for Leadership Lv1, it was a surprise. Did I gain it because I was telling the goblin to attack the rat? But when I checked out her stats, she didn’t receive any stat-boosts, so she apparently wasn’t my ally. It was weird. In fact, the entire system was weird. It had some of the conveniences of an RPG system, but it was also really bad at explaining the rules. Not only that, skills seemed to be all over the place.

For example, apparently being able to skin and dissect an animal was not a skill, but tackling someone with a body-blow was. Where was the logic in that?

Speaking of that, while I was checking the [Status Panel] and pondering on the skill system, the goblin finished skinning the rat and began slowly inching towards me. I closed the panels and looked up, and when our eyes met, she gave me small deferential nod and presented a chunk of still bloody ribs to me. I couldn’t help myself from grimacing and I quickly shook my head.

The goblin, in turn, gave me a dejected look while she kept looking between me and the meat in her hands. I shook my head again, pointed at the ribs, and then her. She didn’t understand, so I repeated the motion, hoping against all odds that she would get it. After the third try, her face suddenly lit up. She changed her grip on the meat so she could hold it with one hand and used the other to point at it, then she pointed at herself. I nodded, and she immediately gave me an ear-to-ear grin, as if instead of rejecting her gift, I gave her one instead, and she began eating the still raw meat without any further ado.

I promptly rolled my eyes and returned to my panels while trying to ignore to loudly chewing goblin at my side.

Day 5 - Adventure-ho!

I patiently waited for the goblin to finish dismantling the rat. At first I found the process somewhat stomach-churning, but after I got used to the blood and guts, I was surprised by the efficiency with which she worked. It was obvious this wasn’t the first time she'd done this.

Once she finished, she even took out a bone needle and some thread, and she made me a rudimentary fur loincloth. It was a little squicky, but I supposed it was better than nothing. She was in the clouds when I accepted her gift, and once she came back down, she used the rest of the leather to make a simple rucksack to carry the meat.

After some thinking, I gestured for her to stand aside and I picked up the rucksack. She gave me a betrayed look, so I let out a sigh and tried to explain to her that I wanted her to scout ahead, and she couldn’t do that while carrying the meat. It took me a while, but at last she understood. I think. Anyways, she picked up her club and shield and moved ahead while periodically glancing over her shoulders, while I stayed a dozen meters behind her and carried the sack on my back.

Actually, it wasn’t too heavy. Since my goblin companion got rid of all of the bones and innards, the raw meat only weighed a couple of kilograms, and the skin bag made it easy to carry them to the point it didn’t even hinder me.

As such my plan was as follows: I had the goblin draw the attention of the enemies at the front while I stayed back and out of sight, and when their attention was completely held by her, I rushed in and delivered a killing strike using Sneak Attack. It worked amazingly well.

By the end of the day we hunted six slimes and two more rats. Not only that, but I even got some skills out of it!

You have received Enlightenment! You have discovered the Trait Stealth Lv1! You have received Enlightenment! The proficiency of Stealth has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Stealth Lv2.

Stealth Lv1: Makes the owner harder to spot by hostiles. Affects sight and hearing, but detection through smell and other means remain unaffected.

Lv2 : Grants the owner the skill Camouflage Lv1.

Camouflage Lv1: Allows the owner to enter into a camouflaged state. So long as the owner remains motionless, they will blend into their environment and observers won’t be able to perceive them. Staying in Camouflageconsumes Stamina.

I was seriously becoming a ninja. Contrary to what the name implied, Camouflage Lv1 didn’t just disguise me as a piece of rock or something, it made the monsters unable to even recognize my presence. Combined with our baiting tactics and Sneak Attack Lv2, I was like the perfect assassin; kicking unsuspecting slimes into oblivion one after the other before they even knew what hit them!

With our current setup, I felt pretty confident when it came to exploring this dungeon. If nothing drastic happened, I was pretty sure I would reach Level 3 within a day.

Then, of course, something drastic happened.

Namely, adventurers.

The goblin and I were just about to settle down for the night when I noticed some familiar sounds coming from one of the tunnels. They sounded suspiciously like spoken words, so I gestured for my companion to stay put and guard the rucksack while I carefully sneaked forwards to get a better grasp of the situation. After about five minutes I found a party of four adventurers walking down one of the tunnels.

I quickly checked their [Status Panels].

Name: Roland Hanster Level: 10 Experience: 711

Classification: Humanoid Race: Human

Health: 98/120  Stamina: 110/235 Mana: 50/50

Body: Mid(Low) Mind: Low(High) Insight: Low(Mid)

Traits

*Guardian Lv1

*Tough Lv1

---

Name: Rosarie Mellecs Level: 7 Experience: 348

Classification: Humanoid Race: Human

Health: 50/50 Stamina: 51/120 Mana: 52/80

Body: Low(High) Mind: Mid(Low) Insight: Low(High)

Traits:

Blessed by the Gods Lv1

Skills:

Recovery Magic Lv1

---

Name: Theodore Rafs Level: 11 Experience: 998

Classification: Humanoid Race: Human

Health: 24/24 Stamina: 24/75 Mana: 22/80

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Mid(Mid) Insight: Low(High)

Traits:

Weak Constitution Lv2

Common Skills:

*Fire Magic Lv1

*Wind Magic Lv1

*Light Magic Lv1

---

Name: Antris Antris Level: 9 Experience: 602

Classification: Humanoid Race: Human

Health: 40/40 Stamina: 49/110 Mana: 50/50

Body: Low(High) Mind: Low(High) Insight: Low(Low)

Skills:

*Lore Lv1

*Detection Lv1

---

Guardian Lv1: Increases the effectiveness of armor. Weak enemies instinctively focus on the owner in favor of other possible threats.

Tough Lv1:Increases the owner’s Health and Stamina by 30 points. Grants the owner a chance to survive lethal attacks with 1 Health point left, so long as their stamina is over 50% at the time.

Blessed by the Gods Lv1: The owner is blessed by a divine being. Mana and Stamina cost of spells and abilities related to the patron god’s sphere of influence are halved. (Current patron: Inara, Goddess of Healing)

Weak Constitution Lv2: Reduces maximum Health by 30%. Reduces the Body attribute by one minor stage. Increases the growth rate of the Mind and Insight attributes.

Lore Lv1: Allows the owner to Observe certain items or living beings. (Currently: Lore of Monsters) Using the skill on the corresponding objects acts as casting Observe Lv1. Otherwise, there is no effect.

Detection Lv1:Allows the owner to instinctively detect hidden objects in their environment, such as traps, concealed valuables, or people in hiding.

Wow, so this is what actual adventurers looked like? They were… less impressive than I expected. I mean, don’t take me wrong, they looked the part, but their stats just weren’t completely up to par. Maybe they were beginners? Anyways, while I mused on that, they continued walking down the tunnel in a single file, with the warrior at the front.

He was wearing a thick brown coat with what I presumed was a chainmail hauberk underneath, and loose pants tucked into steel-toed boots. He didn’t have a helmet, but considering how disheveled his spiky, sandy-blond hair was, he was probably wearing one until just a short time ago. Maybe he lost it recently? Or it might be the local fashion?

Either way, his wide shoulders, lantern-jaw, and the one-handed sword and shield combo in his hands gave him a ‘seasoned adventurer’ feel, even though he only looked to be in his late twenties. So… maybe they weren’t beginners? I shook my head and stopped thinking about it.

But back to the adventurers: Behind the warrior walked a tall-ish girl with long, straight auburn hair that reached down to the middle of her back. She was clad in a slightly stained set of light gray travel clothes, and she had something that looked like an oversized white beret on her head. In her hands, she was gripping a long staff topped with a large blue gemstone, and she was sticking to the back of the warrior like she was his shadow.

The third in line was a thin man whose age I couldn’t tell, partly because he was wearing a hood, but mostly because he had a wand… actually, it was more like a scepter, I supposed. Okay, I admit it; at first I thought it was a flashlight. Whatever it was, it was shining a cone of directed light that was especially blinding to my eyes after they got used to the darkness of the dungeon.

As for the actual adventurer, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was the party’s wizard, even though he wasn’t wearing the expected robes. Instead, he wore some kind of loose, dark tunic that looked very similar to the clothes the warrior was wearing. I was fairly sure it had a name, but I couldn’t recall at the moment. Gambeson, maybe? Or surcoat? Something along those lines.

Last, but not least, came a young woman. She was wearing a tight-fitting jacket that emphasized her sizable bosom, dark linen trousers, and leather shoes. She also had an assortment of knives strapped to her belt and had a bow at the ready as they advanced forward. Also, what was up with that name? Were her parents really that uninspired?

Anyways, no matter how I looked at it, this was a fairly standard, balanced adventurer party you would find in most RPGs: a tough warrior as the vanguard, a mage for dealing elemental damage from afar, a rogue at the back to search for traps and loot, and a healer in the middle to keep everyone alive and kicking. It was a little boorish, even.

The group came to an abrupt halt still a dozen or so meters away from me and their light Insight flickered as the mage in the middle let out a pained wheeze. The rest of them immediately encircled him.

“Theo? Are you okay?”

I nearly jumped out of my cover in surprise when I realized I could understand the words! Didn’t old me discard common language comprehension during character creation? Then how did I understand that just now? Was this the effect of the milestone bonus of [Mind]? No, wait. That was only supposed to allow me to learn things faster! These guys had a funny accent, but otherwise they spoke perfectly legible English! What the actual hell is up with this world?!

I was just about to voice my complaints out loud, but a sudden realization made me back down and cover my mouth with my hand. Since I was able to understand them, I let my guard down and nearly walked out of my cover. Thankfully my better judgment stopped my legs in time and I managed to pull back.

The reason? Look no further than my appearance. I looked like a goblin. A very atypical and unusually cute one, but a goblin all the same. Adventurers kill goblins for loot and XP. Q.E.D., talking to these guys out of the blue was a bad idea.

As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sudden whistle and I shuddered as something flew by my head and hit the wall at the other end of the tunnel. I glanced back, just in time to see the metallic head of an arrow bounce off the stone wall and fall to the floor. I stifled a surprised cry and glued myself to the wall even harder. I call hax! I was definitely sneaking! They were not supposed to see me!

“What was that?” The warrior called out in alarm, and by the sound of it, he drew his sword from its scabbard. I couldn’t be sure, as at this point I was still doing my best to remain motionless behind my cover.

“I'm not sure. I saw some movement over there, so I shot a warning arrow.” The rogue woman answered, most likely.

“What if it was another human?”

“That’s why I shot a warning arrow!”

“Well, I didn’t hear anyone cursing your mother, so it was probably a monster. Let’s go.”

For a moment I could only gape at the sound of the four pairs of boots rushing down the tunnel. What the hell, people?! At this point you were supposed to start buffing your party and prepare for the encounter, not rush right at your enemies! What if I was the vanguard of a goblin army?! Or a minotaur?! Or a very tiny dragon?! This is not how you explore a dungeon!

…

Well, I might've complained in my head, but since I was neither of those things, I turned tail without any further prompting, and dashed down the tunnel with all my might.

“Aha! You hear that? It must be a goblin!”

“After it!”

While suddenly becoming the hunted after being the hunter all day had its bittersweet irony, I couldn’t appreciate it while running through the tunnels for dear life. Thankfully, I managed to gain some distance due to the fact that the adventurers had to wait for the wizard to catch his breath, but that didn’t mean I took it easy. I continued running down the way I came from, and I soon found my goblin companion snacking from the open meat sack.

She was startled by my appearance, and my attempts at getting her to follow after me were met with resistance as she kept repeatedly glancing at the meat.

To my dread I soon realized that I wasted too much time on her and I could hear the adventurers’ running steps closing in on us, so in a fit of panic I threw my arms around the goblin, dragged her into a darker spot near an indentation in the wall and then I immediately cast [Camouflage Lv1], hoping against hope that it would cover both of us.

At first she struggled, but when the adventurers arrived she immediately fell into a tense silence.

“What’s that?” the warrior pointed his sword at the open rucksack.

“Maybe it’s a trap?” the healer girl muttered while still hiding behind his back.

“Nah, there are no monster in this labyrinth smart enough for that.” While saying so, the rogue walked up to the sack and glanced inside. “Hey, check this out! Meat!”

“Meat?” the wizard, who turned out to be a middle aged man with sunken cheeks and a thin beard, repeated after her skeptically.

“Yeah. Rat-meat by the looks of it. It’s still fresh.”

“Really?” The healer cautious peaked over the shoulder of the warrior, then immediately shrunk back as her stomach made a loud rumbling noise. There was a moment of silence, then the rest of the group began snickering in unison.

“Did you develop a taste, milady?” the rogue teased the beet red healer between chuckles.

“It’s… better than the dried rations,” she answered meekly, eliciting another round of stifled laughter from the group.

“You heard the lady,” the wizard spoke after a short cough. “We might as well accept the gift this nice goblin left us and set up camp here.”

(No, you don’t want to do that!)

My silent protests fell to deaf ears as the group began unpacking the rucksacks. The warrior took out some skewers from his backpack, while the wizard created a small, hovering ball of blue fire. It was at this point that my goblin companion realized that the adventurers were about to cook the meat she collected, so she once again began struggling in my arms.

“Did you hear that?” The rogue perked up and reached for her bow. I did my best to keep the goblin from making a noise, but by the time I calmed her down, the busty woman was already scanning the area.

“I think I saw something move over there.” She pointed her finger in our direction, and for a moment the blood froze in my veins. She squinted suspiciously at us, but after a few seconds she shook her head and put her bow down. “I'm getting jumpy. I need some shuteye.”

“We all do,” the wizard agreed amicably, and with that I finally let the breath out of my chest.

It was only then that I realized that I had not one, but two new popups vying for my attention. I couldn’t move to check open them, but after staring at one for a while, it opened by itself. Wait, I could do that all along? Then all those times I felt silly poking at the air was for naught? Argh… this system really needs a user manual.

Anyways, here’s what the first popup said:

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Camouflage has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Camouflage Lv2.

Camouflage Lv2 (Active): Allows the owner to enter into a camouflaged state. So long as the owner remains motionless, they will blend into their environment and observers won’t be able to perceive them. Staying in Camouflageconsumes Stamina.

Lv2: The owner can now hide additional people with Camouflage. Doing so drastically increases the rate the owner’s Stamina is consumed. Also, movement no longer breaks Camouflage, however it further increases the Stamina drain of the skill.

However, it was the second popup that really got my attention.

A Skill is attempting to breach Camouflage Lv2. Breaching power: 24. Defensive power: 589. Defensive penalty of -51 applied for multiple concealment and movement. Camouflage maintained.

So there were system messages like this too? It would be nice to know how these things were calculated. If I knew there was such a small chance of being detected, I wouldn't have panicked so much. I let out a relieved breath and gestured for the goblin to stay put while the adventurer began making meat-skewers.

She was looking at me like a puppy whose bone got stolen. It was so pitiful I couldn’t help but pat her on the head, and I decided I would help her hunt another rat later. After a couple of minutes, she finally calmed down, so I could focus my attention on the adventurers in front of us.

“So, milady?” the rogue spoke while waving her skewer in and out of the ball of blue flame, much to the others’ annoyance. “Do you feel a surge coming yet?”

“I… I don’t know,” The girl with the beret answered sheepishly. “Can you feel it when it’s coming?”

“No you can’t,” The warrior said between two bites. “You usually just beat a monster, and it happens. Whoosh.”

“Don’t worry,” Spoke the wizard while using a piece of bread to soak up the excess fat flowing out of the piece of meat on his skewer. “You should be close, and you will know when it happens. It will feel like a burst of energy, and suddenly all the effort you put into your training surges forth, making you stronger, tougher, sharper in one go.”

“I guess you wouldn’t know much about the [stronger, tougher] part, now would you?” the rogue inquired with an impish smile, only eliciting a scoff from the wizard.

“I told you woman, I have no need for muscles. I kill things with my mind!” As he said that, the fireball in front of them suddenly became and angry red and grew to several times its original size. The rogue let out a small yelp and fell flat on her butt. As the flame died down and became a docile blue ball again she glared at the wizard for a moment, but then they both burst out laughing, soon followed by the warrior and the healer as well.

You have received Enlightenment! Observing the skill Fire Magic Lv1 allowed you to grasp its principles! You now possess Fire Magic Lv1!

(Oh, neat. Now I have magic. How wonderful. Yay.)

If being sardonic could kill, at this point everything would have been dead around me in miles. I mean, I would've been really happy about this, if not for the situation in which I acquired it. Anyways, it was not like I could try it out right now, so I continued observing.

“Theodore, don’t waste your mana,” the warrior chided the wizard, earning a skeptically raised brow in turn.

“Why?  I was under the impression we're going to rest here.”

(What? No!)

“Eh, might as well,” the warrior conceded with a shrug.

(No-no-no!)

“Are you sure? The goblin we chased could still be around…” the healer objected, if weakly.

(Yes! Listen to the pretty health-dispenser! The goblin you chased really is around, and my legs are getting numb from sitting in this position! Just go away already!)

“It’s just a single goblin, it’s doesn’t matter even if it comes back.”

“Oh… Okay then.” She nodded and bit into her roasted meat. “Ouch, hot!”

(Nooooooooo!)

After I finished my silent wails I finally resigned myself to the inevitable and prepared myself to spend some time with my numbed legs. As I was trying to carefully readjust myself to get into an at least marginally more comfortable position, I became aware of the fact that I was no longer holding onto the goblin, instead she was holding onto me like I was a giant teddy bear while she slept. I didn’t even notice when she fell asleep, thought in retrospect I figured she must've been tired after spending the entire day hunting with me.

The way she was snuggling to me was actually a little cute. I absent-mindedly patted her head again, and when I did so, I suddenly got another unexpected pop-up in my face.

The affection of [Abyss Goblin] has reached sufficient levels. Do you wish to contract [Abyss Goblin] as your Familiar?

Familiar? What's a that?

As if just to answer my stray thoughts, a second paragraph was added to the panel.

A Familiaris a creature that is under contract of a Master. Each minor stage of Insight past Mid(Low) allows for one additional Familiar. Fifty percent of any future experience gained by the Familiar is automatically transferred to its Master, and in exchange, they receive a permanent attribute boost and may benefit from certain Traits and Skills of the Master.

Since both your Mind and Insight attributes are at least one major stage higher than that of the target creature, you may force a contract. Do you wish to proceed?

Well, if I read that right, I should already have five ‘contract slots’… and this goblin has been the first friendly person (for a measure of the word) I've met here… and it’s not like I would be sacrificing anything anyways…

(Oh, to hell with it.)

I pressed [Yes], and I only caught what I was doing once I've already done so. Crap. What if there was some sort of automatic ritual with glowing pentagrams and stuff? It would totally blow my cover!

I held my breath for a few seconds, but the only thing that happened was a soft sight escaping the goblin’s mouth. I tentatively opened her [Status Panel] and checked the results.

Name: Abyss Goblin Level: 4 Experience: 92

Classification: Humanoid Critter Race: Goblin

Health: 20/50 Stamina: 21/125 Mana:  10/30

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Low(Mid) Insight: Low(High)

Uncommon Trait:

*Familiar

Familiar (Passive): The owner swore undying loyalty to their Master. The owner’s attributes are permanently increased based on the Master's attributes. Half of the Experience points gained by the owner are gifted to the master. Further benefits may be granted with time, depending on the length and strength of the contract.

That was a nice boost. She was suddenly almost on par with one of the adventurers stat-wise, though she probably still wouldn’t stand a chance in a straight up fight.

Unfortunately, due to the sudden increase in her maximum Health and Stamina, her condition was suddenly in the red, and it showed as she began to tremble and whimper. I continued patting her head until she finally fell into deep sleep again and after a small grimace, I returned my attention to the adventurers. The night was young (though technically there was no night underground, but that’s beside the point), and if I was forced to sit here with my numb legs, I decided I might as well try to learn as much from them as possible.

Day 6 - My goblin can't be this cute!

I peeked around one more time to make sure the adventurers were completely gone before I finally let my guard (and Camouflage) down. I carefully peeled myself away from the goblin and stretched my poor legs. It felt incredible. I decided to let my new familiar sleep a little longer, since her Stamina was still pretty low, so I sat down beside her cross-legged and began digesting all the new things I learned from the campers.

As luck would have it, they were a chatty bunch, so I had a lot of material to work with. Not only that, the healer girl was a novice the rest of the group was hired to power-level, so I could get a lot of newbie-friendly info from their explanations.

First off, apparently normal people couldn’t see the System. They weren’t even aware of skills or stats or even levels. They called leveling up [experiencing a Surge], where they would break through some kind of bottleneck and suddenly get stronger.

Furthermore, normal people were earning skills through years and years of hard work and dedication, to the point where the wizard was being considered a genius for being able to use three different types of magic before he turned forty. What did that make me and my… wait, how many skills did I even have at this point?

Name: ????? Level: 2 Experience: 42

Classification: Humanoid Race: Fair Goblin (Shapeshifted)

Health: 50/50 Stamina: 1139/1140 Mana: 100/100

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Mid(Low) Insight: High(High)

Traits:

High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Boundless Reserves Lv1

Wisdom Lv3

Leadership Lv1

Stealth Lv2

Sneak Attack Lv2

Immortal Lv2

Familiar Master (Abyss Goblin)

Skills:

Fire Magic Lv1

Observation Lv2

Camouflage Lv2

Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)

Holy shit, that’s a lot of skills! If one or two passive traits were enough to make someone a seasoned adventurer type, then what does this make me? If those adventurers were just half as renowned as they claimed to be, it meant their stats were indicative of people who were fairly powerful, so… why were their attributes so low? Or maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong perspective. After all, my Insight score was just a notch below the highest it could get during "character creation", so maybe I was the one with the ridiculously high stats? Was I OP?

Well, I had Fire Magic now, so I could test it, but maybe it was best left for later. With my luck, I might try to cast a fireball and accidentally nuke half the labyrinth, myself included. That didn’t sound fun.

In short, I still lacked full context, but the important part was that I was already way stronger than the average adventurer, had a faster growth rate due to Wisdom, and Enlightenment has proven to be fraudulent beyond belief.

(Dammit old me, you created a monster! And it’s me! And I love it!)

Well, for now let's hope nobody comes around to nerf me, and focus on the other stuff I've learned. For example, the healer girl, Rosarie, was the prospective head priestess of one of the big churches of the kingdom. I don’t know which kingdom, since they never specified the name, so for the time being I'll refer to it as [The Kingdom].

Anyways, The Kingdom was also on top of this here dungeon, the biggest in the world. According to the wizard, it had five layers, and each layer had a labyrinth in the middle from which the other layers could be accessed. As for what was outside of the labyrinth, he didn’t speak, but considering that the goblin came from the outside, I hoped it wasn’t just more tunnels.

But back to the adventurers: As I said, this time they were hired to show the greenhorn the ropes and help her level up, and they accepted it because their usual healer, someone called Liselotte, was helping out another group for a while. According to their stories, they didn’t really do any other [adventurer] kind of jobs.

Speaking of which, there was no stereotypical [Adventurer’s Guild] to hand out quests either. They were more like freelance mercenaries doing odd-jobs, and they usually entered the dungeon just to gather monster parts. According to the warrior, the lower levels in particular had a bunch of rare monsters whose parts could be sold for apothecaries or royal healers for a good profit, so… didn’t that mean they were kind of like poachers hunting rare animals? They were kinda ruining my image of heroic adventurers, to be honest.

As I was pondering these things, the goblin finally rose from her slumber with a huge yawn. She stretched her arms, and when she realized I wasn’t around anymore, she hurriedly sat up. I could see the tension drain from her bony shoulders as she realized I was beside her and she grinned at me like a little kid. I returned the gesture and was about to tell her to get ready to move out when her eyes suddenly opened wide and she scampered to her feet in a wild hurry, running around the corridor for a few seconds before she finally found the discarded rucksack and she looked at me with eyes clouded by crocodile tears.

“They ate it all! No meaf!”

If I was drinking, I'd have spat it all over the tunnel at this point.

“Wait, hold on? Did you just—?”

“No meaaaaaf! It was my meaaaaf!” She continued to bawl as she shook the empty rucksack. I was about to stand up when she dropped the bag and dove into my chest, pushing the air out of me, and continued sobbing on my lap. “Mean humes! Fey took all the meaf I collected wif new fwiend! I am hungry!”

I finally managed to regain my wits and I tentatively patted her head.

“There, there. Don’t cry. I'll help you hunt more rats.”

“Fwiend will?” She looked up, her face still stained by tears and snot, but then her last sob turned into a huge smile as she hugged me with all her might, once again pushing the breath out of me. “I love fwiend!”

“I am… happy to hear that…” I muttered as I carefully pushed her off me. “But first, let’s talk.”

She looked me funny for a bit, but then she obediently sat down in front of me. I took a deep breath and asked the obvious question.

“Since when can you talk?”

She continued looking at me funny.

“I talk to fwiend alfays.”

“No, I'm pretty sure this is the first time you spoke.”

“It is?” She tilted her head to the side with a quizzical look in her eyes. “But I fas telling fwiend all kinds and fings. Just not wif mouf.”

“If you are not using your mouth, it’s not talking!”

“Uuuu… Is fwiend angry wif me?”

“N-No I'm not. Stop that. No more puppy-eyes.”

“What is fhat? Fwiend has no more eyes? Will fwiend be happy if I gafer her shome eyes? Where can I find shome?”

I rubbed my face in defeat and shook my head.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“So fwiend will not be happy?”

“You know what? Let’s talk about something else,” I prompted in order to change the subject. “What's your name?”

“Name?”

“What are you called?” She only blinked at me in confusion. “I mean, when another goblin wanted to call out to you in particular, what did they say?”

“Aaah!” Her eyes suddenly lit up with understanding and then she made a series of grunts and gestures like she was pointing at someone, then she smiled at me like she was expecting praise.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that! What did they call you when they wanted to refer just you, no other goblin?”

“Aaaaaah!” Her eyes lit up again, but then her brows furrowed. “Like how chief Raffhunter is called chief Raffhunter?”

“Erm… Yes, like that. I think.”

“Only chiefs can haf names like fhat.”

“So you don’t have a name?” She shook her head, and it made me fall silent for a moment. “Then how should I call you?”

She began to repeat the previous set of gestures when I asked her name the first time, so I quickly waved my hands to stop her.

“No, I mean, what should your name be?”

She once again looked at me like I just asked a really silly question.

“I am not the chief.”

“Yes, I know, but you are my familiar. You should have a name so I could call you when I need your help with something. I can’t just call you [goblin].”

“Familiar? Whaf's a familiar?”

“That’s…” I had to pause for a moment because I didn’t really know either. I decided to improvise. “A familiar is kind of like a friend that does things for their master.”

“Mafter?”

“Yes. I'm the master, and you're the familiar.”

She nodded twice like I just told her something really deep.

“Mafter is Mafter.”

“Yes, that’s right. And since I'm the master, and I might need to ask you to do things for me, it would help if you had a name I could call you by.”

“Mafter is going to gif me a name?”

“Yes, that’s what I just said.”

“Really?”

All of a sudden she sat straight and looked at me with sparkly eyes. If she had a tail, I was pretty sure she would've been wagging it like crazy.

Anyways, I was supposed to give her a name now. At first I was thinking about going for something simple like Gobbi, or Goblina, or maybe Little Green, but all of those sounded lame when I said them out loud. So… green… green… What’s a green thing that works well as a name? Grass? Nah. Jade? No, that doesn’t fit her. What other green stones are out there? Emerald? That sounds too high class. What about smaragd?

“Hm, that might work…” I pondered aloud while she kept looking at me expectantly. “How does Smaragd sound to you?”

“Fmaragd?” She repeated after me. “What does it mean?”

“Ummm… It is a kind of gemstone, I think.”

“Gemftone?”

“You know? It’s this green stone you can see through. It’s like a crystal. Do you know what a crystal looks like?”

“Ah! Sparkly fhing!” She smiled ear to ear as she recognized what I was talking about, but then her expression became conflicted. “Can I haf a pfetty name like fhat?”

“If you like it.”

“I love it!” she exclaimed like she was afraid I would change my mind, and then she lunged forward and caught me in a bearhug while simultaneously burying her face in my modest chest. “I lof it! I lof it almoft as much as I lof Mafter!”

“I'm… glad to hear that?” I muttered awkwardly, my attention once again drawn away by a flashing popup notification. I opened it with my mind, and it said.

Your Familiar’s affection reached the next level.

Really? Man, goblins are really easy to please or what?

You have received Enlightenment! A rare opportunity! Do you wish to upgrade your Familiar Contract?

I didn’t even have to think it through. Enlightenment has yet to betray me, and it was hard to resist the lure of a ‘rare opportunity’. I picked ‘Yes’, and the next moment I was flooded by a series of messages.

Congratulations, you have reached Level 5!

Your Attributes have risen!

Your Mind Attributeadvanced one minor stage!

You gained 40Health Points!

You gained 90 Stamina Points!

You gained 50 Mana Points!

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! What just happened?! I went from Level 2 to Level 5 in one go! I figured the rest of the popup panels would tell me why.

Congratulations! Your Mind attribute reached Mid(Mid)! You gained Enlightenment in regards to one of your applicable skills!

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Leadership has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Leadership Lv2.

Leadership Lv2 (Passive):Increases the owner’s ability to lead and coordinate with others. Grants a small increase in Body and Mind for the owner’s allies.

Lv2: Grants the owner the skill Supreme Command Lv1. Also grants a small increase in Insight for the owner’s allies.

Supreme Command Lv1 (Active): When cast, it bolsters the morale of the owner’s allies, raising their physical resistances and restoring a small amount of stamina. Repeated use of the skill on the same allies results in diminishing benefits.

Name: Mafter  Level: 5 Experience: 42

Classification: Humanoid Race: Fair Goblin (Shapeshifted)

Health: 51/90 Stamina: 1116/1230 Mana: 100/150

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Mid(Mid) Insight: High(High)

Traits:

High-Speed Regeneration Lv1

Boundless Reserves Lv1

Wisdom Lv3

Leadership Lv2

Stealth Lv2

Sneak Attack Lv2

Immortal Lv2

True Familiar Master (Smaragd)

Skills:

Fire Magic Lv1

Observation Lv2

Camouflage Lv2

Shapeshifting Lv3 (Fair Goblin)

Supreme Command Lv1

Okay, so that's an extra Trait level and a bonus Skill, on top of some extra stat points. In particular, my HP nearly doubling again explained why I was feeling lightheaded all of a sudden, though my [High Speed Regeneration] was already working on filling my HP pool up. The increase in [Leadership] wasn't bad, but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I mean, that free Enlightenment could've gone to [Wisdom], or [Immortality]. Heck, even [Shapeshifting] would've been more useful, as it might've allowed me to re-do my current body into something more closely resembling how I looked as a human.

Oh, wait. I spoke too soon. There was another change, namely that my [Familiar] skill got upgraded. Let's take a look, shall we?

True Familiar Master (Smaragd) (Passive): The owner has forged an ironclad connection with the unique named creature [Smaragd]. They now share the same aggregated Experience pool and may benefit from each other’s skills. However, because of the depth of the bond, if either the Master or the Familiar were to die, they would both perish together.

(Current skills granted: None)

Wait what?! What?! Perish together? What?! God dammit Enlightenment, you've betrayed me! This is a big fucking deal! Why weren’t there any warning or fine-print before I accepted it!? Shit!

No, wait. Calm down. I have Immortal Lv2. That should keep me from dying, right? Right?

…

Shit, this is messed up. I totally messed up. Now even if I am immortal, if Smaragd dies, I might die as well, and the only way to make sure whether I would die for good or not was to test it… which I was obviously not going to do! Shit…

I grit my teeth and shook my head to clear it, then opened the next set of notifications to take my mind off the fact that I might have just accidentally wasted all of Old Me’s efforts for getting Immortal Lv2. This particular notification grabbed my interest because it was a different color than the rest. [Status] panels were blue, [Enlightenment] panels were golden, error messages were red, and this one was… green.

Congratulations. Your Familiar, Smaragd, has reached Level 5!

Name: Smaragd Level: 5 Experience: 134

Classification: Humanoid Familiar  Race: Goblin

Health: 30/60  Stamina: 62/155 Mana:  18/50

Body: Low(Mid) Mind: Low(Mid) Insight: Mid(Low)

Traits:

True Familiar (Mafter)

That was quite a significant stat increase. If she'd continue to grow at this rate, she'd be stronger than any of the adventurers we met by the time she reaches their level. I was about to check out her True Familiar skill when my attention was drawn by a pitiful whimper coming from my chest. I glanced down, and the moment I did so I let out a surprised cry and jumped back, letting Smaragd fall to the ground like a sack of rocks.

I know, that might have sounded like a nasty thing to do, but you couldn’t blame me! I was startled, okay? To my credit, once I gathered my wits I quickly rushed to her side and raised her head up from the ground. She groggily turned around and looked at me with her pair a beautiful, if slightly unfocused eyes, then opened her tiny, moist lips and…

Argh! I am not going to beat around the bush! She looked just like me! Not the human old me, or the white noseless not-so-old me, but my current form, the cute, well-proportioned Fair Goblin with the face of an angel. The only different thing about her was her hair, since hers was a little bit wavier than mine. It actually looked nice on her, and…

No, that doesn’t matter! Just what kind of development was this anyway?!

Smaragd probably mistook my complete and utter bewilderment for disapproval, as she gave me an apologetic smile and demurely closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mafter. Smaragd… suddenly doesn’t feel well.”

I was once again startled, this time by her voice. How did that lisping, croaking noise turn into such a clear, sweet voice in half a minute? The difference was uncanny.

“No, no. It’s okay, it’s okay.” I repeated while mechanically patting her head over and over, mostly to calm myself. She let out a satisfied ‘Mmmm…’, and while I wanted to snap at her for making weird and easily misunderstood noises, I held back the impulse and forced my brain to think. Why did she turn into me?

“The skill!” I exclaimed with the realization, startling the super-cute girl just as she lowered her head to rest on my lap.

“Mafter?” She glanced at me with those ‘doe-in-the-headlight’ eyes I've often heard about.

“N-Nothing. You just leveled up and gained a bunch of stats, so your current Health and Stamina went into the red. Just sleep a bit and you should get better.”

“Smaragd couldn’t understand everything that Mafter said, but Smaragd will try.” Saying so she closed her eyes, only to reopen them a moment later. “Mafter will stay with Smaragd while Smaragd sleeps, right?”

“Of course, of course,” I patter her head again, and she finally closed her eyes properly. I let out a sigh and threw my head back for a moment before I opened her [Status Panel] again.

True Familiar (Mafter) (Passive): The owner has forged an ironclad connection with their Master. They now share the same aggregated Experience pool, and they may acquire suitable skills from their Master based on their Insight attribute.

However, because of the depth of the bond, if either the Master or the Familiar were to die, they would both perish together.

Current skills granted: Shapeshifting Lv2 (Fair Goblin), Leadership Lv2, Stealth Lv1

Ah-ha! So that’s why her shape changed! And what’s this? She also has Leadership and Sneak? But why aren’t they showing up on the Skills menu? Was it because they are granted under True Familiar?

…

Also, what the hell is this? ‘Mafter’?!

I hastily opened up my own [Status Panel], and to my horror, I quickly discovered that I had the same on my name column.

God dammit! What kind of dumbass made this System?! At least ask me before you just randomly decide my name!

I let out another sigh and calmed down a little. Actually, only people with [Observe] can see my name, right? And that requires a pretty high level of Insight to get, right? That means that there probably aren’t a lot of people who could check my name, right? So I should be able to call myself whatever I want, right?

“Right.”

“Hm?” I was late to realize that I spoke out loud and woke up my super-adorable Familiar.

Smaragd snuggled closer to me while half-asleep and began rubbing her head against my stomach while making cutesy noises. Seriously, why was she so cute? Was I also that cute? And why did her hair become so nice? I mean, sure, my hair was also pretty soft, but hers was somehow better. It was like I was petting a Persian cat or something.

In fact, I might've absentmindedly petted her too much, as she let out a weird little giggle.

“Ufun! Mafter’s tummy is so soft!” Saying so she glanced up at me flashed a beaming smile that made me frown. If I was still a guy, and saw this impossibly cute girl give me such a defenseless smile, just what would I've done in this situation? I remember that Old Me used to be pretty shy around girls, let alone one whose face was sculpted to my exact standard of beauty… but one the other hand, she was also half-naked, entirely trusting of me, and she was also my Familiar, so I could probably order her around to do anything I wanted without repercussions, so…

Damn. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't a guy at the moment. The temptation would be too much to bear. I mean, it's not like we could couldn't do this and that as girls, but considering I was still completely new to this body, I was unsure how it could work out, and— No, bad lizard-brain! I don't need ideas! I'm not doing anything to her. I mean, she's ridiculously cute, but she's a goblin! And a child! Or at least I think she is. I don't even know how old she is and… wait, that doesn't matter! We're not discussing goblin age of consent here! She acts like a child and looks up to me, so no touching, period.

Once I came to this resolution, I let out a pent-up sigh, and only just noticed that she was giving me a curious look.

“Is Smaragd heavy?”

“H-huh? No, why would you think that?”

“Mafter is making weird faces. Is it Smaragd’s fault?”

…

YES!

…

That’s what I wanted to yell, but self-restraint won over, so I just gave her a strained smile and continued patting her smooth, silky hair that felt absolutely amazing to the touch and… and I was getting sidetracked again, wasn’t I? Damn. Anyways, I decided that maybe I should distance myself from her for the time being, so I cleared my throat and asked, “You said you were hungry, right?”

As if to answer me, Smaragd’s stomach let out a soft rumble. She glanced down at the source of the sound like it was something weird, then nodded.

“All right then. I'll go and hunt a rat or two.”

Saying so, I tried to stand up, but Smaragd grabbed hold of my knees.

“Wait, no! Don’t leave Smaragd behind! I will get better and help Mafter, I swear!”

“I know,” I told her gently while I peeled her off my legs. “I'm not going far. I'll only check the nearby tunnels and I'll bring back some meat for you to eat and get better, okay?”

“You promise?”

“Of course. I cannot leave you behind.”

While that might've sounded nice and selfless, I would like to once again point out that I literally couldn’t leave her to her own devices, as her life could very well be tied to mine. The possibility of her dying to a stray adventurer and dragging me along herself to oblivion was reason enough not to leave her alone for long.

In other words, the reason why I wanted her to get better was entirely utilitarian and had nothing to do with any kind of sentimental attachment to the first person who called me ‘friend’ in ages. It also had nothing to do with the fact that she was so gosh darn cute. It was entirely utilitarian. Yup.

Anyways, she stared at me for a few seconds before she gave me a beaming smile.

“I trust Mafter.”

I wanted to question just where that kind of innocent confidence came from, but I swallowed the retort and returned her smile instead. I helped her to get up and told her to sit in the same dark spot we hid while the adventurers were around. She had [Stealth Lv1], so I hoped she would be all right.

Once I made her promise to sit still I pointedly chose the tunnel opposite to the one the adventurers left through. I was looking for food, so I ignored all the slimes while I thought hard about my current predicament. I made sure to re-read all the skill descriptions, paying extra attention to [Immortality] and [True Familiar Master], but the wording of both was just ambiguous enough so that I couldn’t be certain whether I would really die if Smaragd did.

Now, I might've even descended into jittery panic if she was still the same weak goblin she was when we first met, but after becoming my Familiar, she changed so much I was no longer worried about her falling prey to a slime. Instead, I was worried about her becoming a different kind of prey, but that was beside the point.

Also, she went from grunting monster to a fairly well-spoken girl. I wondered why that was. I could see two possibilities: either our bond as Master and Familiar somehow channeled the language into her, or it was because her Mind score rose from all the bonuses the contract gave her. Or, alternatively, maybe it was a combination of the two. I had no way of knowing, but being able to communicate with her made things a lot easier. Except when she actually talked and her earnest innocence made things harder instead.

No, that was not an innuendo! I didn’t even have things to get harder. Or maybe I did, but I already resolved myself not to poke around there!

Anyways, this time I explored the labyrinth at a snail’s pace, since I really didn’t want to get lost and be unable to find my way back to Smaragd, so it took me nearly an hour to find a Labyrinth Rat. I was lucky, as it was facing away from me while munching on some roots protruding from a crack in the wall. At first I wanted to simply sneak attack it with the club I borrowed, but then I remembered the shiny new Fire Magic I recently learned and I couldn’t hold back the grin creeping onto my face.

I sneaked a little bit closer to the huge rat and opened the [Status Panel] with my mind, and then I picked out the Fire Magic skill. For a moment I wondered whether there was a shortcut to access magic, as the wizard obviously couldn’t use it through the [Status Panel], but I shelved the thought for later.

Once I selected the skill, there were two options. Not options on the panel though, more like… it was like the information was kind of funneled into my head. Anyways, one of my choices was [Will-o-Wisp], which I figured was the blue fire sphere the wizard used, while the other was, for the lack of better words, freeform magic. I wondered what the second option was, and after some hesitation I decided to try it out.

When I did that there was suddenly a small ember floating above my right palm. I carefully lifted my hand, yet it remained affixed a at the same distance away from my skin. I tried imagining the ember bursting into a flame, and to my sincere surprise it worked on the first try.

It was a strange yet liberating feeling that turned into disappointment as the flame died out just as fast. It took me several tries before I realized there was something else to it than just imagination; I had to actively will the fire to burn and move, and when I did so, I could see my mana visibly tick down with each second. It was fascinating, but unfortunately the rat noticed the light, as it let out a series of short, high-pitched noises and started running away.

I raised my hand in a panic and I pointed my open palm towards the fleeing creature. I willed the fire to lash out at it, but all I got was a tiny little flame arrow that dissipated after just a couple of meters. In the meantime the rat was about to run out of my line of sight, so in a desperate last ditch effort I tried to pour as much mana into the fire as I could and imagined a classic fireball, the spell that was the duct-tape of every self-respecting wizard in any king of setting.

The ball of fire in my hand immediately swelled up. Then my delight turned into panic as the ball didn’t stop swelling and threatened to consume me as well. With frantic motions I directed the fireball towards the fleeing rat, and once I was certain it was on its way, I immediately turned tail and rand away like the devil was on my heels.

Just as I managed to get behind a corner there was a deep, roaring sound followed by a rumble that shook both my bones and the ground under my feet. Then came the actual explosion that outright threw me off my feet and covered my vision in red as a torrent of flames rushed down the tunnel where I stood just a few seconds ago.

I dropped to the ground and covered my head with my hands. I didn’t get up until I was certain the fire was gone. There was the scent of burned hair in the air, but the singed part of my scalp was fixed in a matter of seconds by [High-Speed Regeneration]. I tentatively glanced around the corner only to reel back from the scorching air hitting my face.

There was no tunnel. Instead, there was a huge, vaguely spherical chamber with still red-hot walls.

Did I… actually do that? Holy shit! When I said I was afraid I would nuke the dungeon, it was supposed to be a funny hyperbole! What the actual hell is this?

I sighed and hurriedly turned around. I figured the adventurers, or some intelligent monsters, might come by to see what the ruckus was about, and I wanted to be as far from the place by the time they got there as possible. I didn’t even bother looking for the remains of the rat.

Fortunately, it only took another half hour to track down another rat, and this one was a fat one too, level 3 no less! This time I didn’t bother with magic, instead I just sneaked up to it and clobbered it over the head with my club. Maybe it was because I considered it a monster instead of an animal, but I never felt even the smallest tinge of guilt when I killed these things. Weird. Carrying it back to the place where I left Smaragd was a bit of a hassle, but I managed.

When I came back, I was welcomed by a weird sight. Smaragd was where I left her, still sitting in the dark spot, except she was… well… massaging her boobs. I have no other way to say it. When she noticed my arrival, she stopped and stood up to wave at me. Well, at least she was better. That was good, I supposed.

“Mafter, Mafter! Listen, there is something weird with Smaragd!” she exclaimed while I put down the dead rat.

I already had a good guess of the answer, but I had to ask; “What is it?”

“Smaragd’s body is weird. Smaragd’s arms and legs are really tick, and Smaragd’s nose is really small. And this part,” She cupped her breasts while speaking. “Smaragd’s thingies were supposed to be down here,” dhe explained enthusiastically while tugging on her palmful mammaries.

“Yes, I get it, you don’t need to—”

“And look! When this round part with the nubby part in the middle used to be bigger. And when Smaragd touches it, it’s all tingly.”

“Yes, I know. It’s supposed to do that.”

“Really?” She looked at me for a moment and then before I could react she poked me in the chest as well. “Does Mafter get tingly too!”

“Stop that!” I slapped her hand away.

“Ah, sorry!” She apologized immediately. “Smaragd didn’t want to make Mafter angry… Smaragd should have known Smaragd is the only strange one.”

In a split-seconds she went from innocently curious to teary-eyed, and she even comboed it into a naïve misunderstanding. How did she do that? How could anyone be so innocent? I let out a sigh and gingerly took the hand that I slapped into my own.

“No, there is nothing weird about them.”

“Really? Smaragd's thingies aren't strange?”

“That's right, but you are not supposed to just touch other people there whenever you want. You have to ask for permission first. And even then, you should only do it to people you like.”

“Smaragd likes Mafter.”

“I know, but…” I let out a soft groan and shook my head. “I'll explain it to you properly when you're a little older.”

“Okay.” She nodded with a smile, and then she automatically moved over to the dead rat and began inspecting it. At last she took out her small knife, but as she was about to cut into the carcass, she paused and looked up at me. “Mafter… is Smaragd ugly?”

“Huh? No, of course not.” I answered absent-mindedly while I sat down by her side. I felt like I was getting used to the sight of blood and guts, so I wanted to watch her closely this time and maybe learn how to disassemble prey for future reference. She still didn’t get started though, so I awkwardly added; “You're actually really pretty.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really really?”

“Yes.”

“Ufun… Smaragd is glad. Smaragd was afraid Mafter would think Smaragd was ugly.”

“Why would I think that?”

“Uuu… Because master looks so different from the other goblins Smaragd knows, so Smaragd thought master wouldn’t like how Smaragd looked.”

“Actually, you look just like me right now.”

“… Smaragd does?!”