Part 1: The Taste of Evolution
The cave was silent, save for the wet, tearing sounds of Ren's meal.
He had expected to vomit. His human mind was screaming, flashing images of health class diagrams about parasites and bacteria. But his goblin body was euphoric. As he tore a strip of tough, stringy muscle from the Dire Cave Rat and swallowed it whole, a warmth spread through his belly that felt better than any gourmet meal he had eaten in Tokyo.
This wasn't just digestion; it was absorption.
[System Notification]
[Consumed: Dire Cave Rat (Rank F-)]
[Biomass assimilated.]
[Evolution Progress: 1.5%]
Ren paused, a piece of liver hanging from his claw.
"Evolution progress?" he muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
He recalled the lore of Asura Terra. Monsters didn't just level up; they evolved. Goblins became Hobgoblins, Ogres, or Shamans depending on their lineage and diet. By eating a monster stronger than himself, he wasn't just filling his stomach; he was stealing its genetic potential.
"If I eat enough of these... I won't be a Runt anymore," Ren realized. The hopelessness that had gripped him earlier began to fade, replaced by a cold, calculating ambition.
He finished the meal, leaving only the hardest bones. He felt heavier, fuller, and significantly more energetic.
[HP: 7/7 (Max)]
[Status: Satiated]
[Passive Skill Learned: Digestion (Lv. 1)]
Effect: Allows consumption of spoiled or raw meat with reduced risk of poison.
"Convenient," Ren deadpanned. "I'm turning into a garbage disposal unit."
Part 2: Illumination
With his belly full, the immediate panic subsided, allowing him to think about his next problem: Vision.
Goblins had dark vision, but it was monochromatic and grainy. He could see shapes and movement, but he couldn't see details. In a dungeon filled with traps and poisonous insects, stepping on the wrong rock meant death.
"I need light. But fire attracts predators," Ren debated. "But I can't scavenge in the dark."
He opened his Inventory again.
He scrolled past the high-end electronics. A tactical flashlight?
[Item: Military Grade LED Torch]
[Summon Cost: 150 MP]
"Too expensive. Why does a flashlight cost 150? Is it the batteries?" Ren groaned. The system seemed to weigh complexity and technology heavily in the mana cost.
He needed something primitive. Something simple.
He opened the [Junk Drawer] folder again. He found a pack of cheap, disposable glow sticks he had bought for an idol concert three years ago and never used.
[Item: Chemical Glow Stick (Pink)]
[Summon Cost: 2 MP]
"Two mana. Perfect."
Ren held out his hand. "Manifest."
[MP: 10/12]
A small plastic tube appeared. Ren cracked it. A soft, neon pink light illuminated the narrow fissure. It wasn't bright enough to blind him, but it was enough to see the texture of the rocks and the distinct colors of the moss.
"Idol power to the rescue," Ren whispered, tucking the glow stick into the rag around his waist. It cast a bizarre, rave-like atmosphere over his terrifying goblin existence.
Part 3: The Scavenger
Ren moved deeper into the fissure. The main tunnel—where the Hobgoblin and the tribe lived—was to his left. He went right, heading deeper into the unexplored veins of the cave system.
He wasn't hunting. He was looting.
"If this is a dungeon," Ren reasoned, "adventurers must have died here. Or other monsters."
He walked for twenty minutes, his bare feet slapping softly against the damp stone. The air grew colder.
Then, the pink light caught a glint on the floor.
Ren froze, clutching his rainbow knife. He crept forward.
Lying against a rock was a skeleton. It wasn't human; the skull was too wide, the teeth too sharp. Another goblin. It had been picked clean long ago, likely by the rats. But clutched in its bony fingers was a small, dirty pouch.
"Jackpot," Ren grinned.
He pried the pouch loose. It was made of rough leather. He opened it, dumping the contents into his palm.
Three jagged black stones and one dull, chipped coin.
[Item: Low-Grade Magic Stone (Empty)]
[Item: Iron Coin (Currency of the Lower Realms)]
"Magic stones..." Ren's eyes lit up. In games, these were used for crafting or mana recovery. "Can I absorb them?"
He held a black stone and focused. Nothing happened. It was empty. Trash.
But then he looked at the skeleton again. There was something stuck in its ribcage. It looked like a shard of rusted metal.
Ren reached out to pull it loose.
Crack.
A pebble fell from the ceiling behind him.
Ren spun around, the glow stick swinging wildly, casting dancing pink shadows on the walls.
Part 4: Intra-Species Violence
Standing ten feet away was another Goblin.
This one wasn't a Runt. It was a Common Goblin. It was taller than Ren, with broader shoulders and a nasty scar running down its nose. It held a wooden club spiked with a sharp bone.
[Target: Goblin Scout]
[Rank: F]
[Level: 3]
The Scout stared at Ren, then at the dead rat remains Ren had left behind (the smell still lingered on him), and finally at the leather pouch in Ren's hand.
"Kek," the Scout laughed. It was a mocking, cruel sound.
It extended a hand, palm up. Give it to me.
Ren's grip on his knife tightened. In the Goblin hierarchy, the strong took from the weak. If Ren handed over the loot, the Scout might let him live. Or he might kill Ren anyway for fun.
Ren looked at the Scout's level. Level 3.
Ren was Level 2.
The stat difference shouldn't be massive. The Scout had a reach advantage with the club. Ren had a range disadvantage with a pocket knife.
But Ren had something the Scout didn't. He had a human brain that had watched thousands of hours of tactical analysis videos.
"Here," Ren said in the goblin tongue, holding out the pouch. He made his posture small, trembling, looking down at his feet. A perfect act of submission.
The Scout grinned, lowering its guard. It stepped forward, confident in its superiority over a miserable Runt.
The Scout reached for the pouch.
Now.
Part 5: Dirty Fighting
Ren didn't hand over the pouch. He dropped it.
The Scout's eyes instinctively followed the falling object for a split second.
In that fraction of a second, Ren didn't lunge for the throat—he lunged for the feet.
Ren dropped to the ground, sliding forward like a baseball player stealing a base. He slashed his rainbow knife across the Scout's ankle with all his strength.
Slash.
"GRAAA!" The Scout shrieked as its Achilles tendon was severed.
The larger goblin crumbled, falling backward onto the hard stone.
Ren didn't stop. He scrambled on top of the Scout, avoiding the flailing wooden club. The Scout was strong; it backhanded Ren across the face.
Smack!
Ren saw stars. His HP dropped by 2 points instantly. He tasted blood. But he held on, grabbing the Scout's ear to anchor himself.
"I am not dying here!" Ren screamed.
He drove the knife down. Not into the chest—the ribs might block a small blade. He aimed for the soft spot under the jaw.
Thud. Squelch.
The Scout convulsed, its hands clawing at Ren's face, scratching deep lines into his cheeks. Ren twisted the blade.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
The Scout went limp.
Ren rolled off the body, gasping for air, his face burning from the scratches. He lay on the cold floor next to the corpse, bathed in the soft, ridiculous pink light of the idol glow stick.
[You have defeated a Goblin Scout (Lvl 3).]
[Experience gained.]
[Level Up!]
[Ren: Level 2 $\rightarrow$ Level 3]
[Loot Detected: Crude Bone Club]
Ren stared at the ceiling. He was alive. He had killed one of his own kind. And he felt...
He felt exhilarated.
"Level 3," Ren whispered. "Attributes increasing."
He sat up and looked at the dead Scout.
"Sorry, buddy," Ren muttered, reaching for the pouch he had dropped. "But in this world, if you're not the player, you're the XP."
He looted the Scout's club. It was heavy, primitive, but it had a longer reach than his knife.
But as he stood up to equip it, he noticed something odd about the Scout's body. There was a tattoo on its chest. A crude brand burned into the green skin.
It was a symbol of a Red Eye.
Ren's blood ran cold. He remembered the lore of the region.
"The Red Eye Tribe," Ren whispered. "They aren't wild goblins. They serve a Hobgoblin Chief who serves an Orc Lord."
He hadn't just killed a random bully. He had killed a soldier of an organized army.
If they found the body, they would hunt him down.
End of Chapter 3
Summary of Assets:
Current Level: 3 (Stats increased).
Current HP: 6/9 (Damaged from fight, partially healed by level up).
Current MP: 10/12.
New Items: Crude Bone Club, Low-Grade Magic Stones (3), Iron Coin (1).
Active Summons: Rainbow Pocket Knife, Pink Glow Stick.
Current Situation: Standing over a murdered Scout from a rival/hostile faction inside the cave system.