| Credits | |
| Translator | Re: Translation |
| Editors | Miraclegrass, Obarou |
Day 14
When I woke up, my body has changed so much that it couldn’t compare to how it was before I went to sleep and my skin color has changed to black. The changes to my body shocked me. I thought hard about what I heard yesterday before I went to bed. I see, so this is an【Rank Up】huh. The mysteries of this world make me shudder. Well, after experiencing it myself, I confirmed that something like this is really possible in this world, however, the natural laws of this world are so amazing that it’s beyond scary.
Now I have a height on par with the orc we killed yesterday, that means I went from the physical body of a human child to the size of a medium-sized human in one night. My physical strength, eyesight, hearing, and my body's other specs increased dramatically. Even the abilities that I gained before going to sleep yesterday had become more powerful.
This is scary. Even though my body has grown to a ridiculous level, I didn’t feel any sense of discomfort at all from my new form. Even though normally such a huge change should’ve caused me a great feeling of disorientation because of the difference in the sense of distance and body movement, nothing like that happened.
My body had grown so much, yet I didn’t feel any muscle pains at all. Instead, I feel a sense of overwhelming power - a temporary feeling of omnipotence - flowing in my body. Freaky, right? Seriously. If I was an ordinary guy, I would probably be so happy that I would do stupid things until the feeling passed. However, the reality is that I'm not the least bit close to being as powerful as I felt, and therein lies a trap. That’s why the rules of this world are scary.
Putting that aside, it was funny seeing Gobukichi-kun who had grown bigger as well standing with a confused look on his face in front of me. It seems like he also reached Level "100" after the battle with the orc yesterday, causing him to undergo an【Rank Up】. However, unlike mine, his skin didn’t turn black. In fact, I couldn’t see any difference in his skin color at all, he was still the same old green. Well, let’s put that aside as well. What interested me the most was his face.
He no longer looked like an ugly goblin like he had used to be. He had a naive look that held attractiveness in some aspects. His ears were still pointed, and his nose looked a little hooked. Nevertheless, he looked a lot more like a human than before. Having green skin might not be very human-like; nonetheless his looks were definitely approaching one.
Then, what about me? While wondering this, I checked the obsidian knife for my reflection. What I saw reflected there was a younger version of my face before I reincarnated with black skin. Yeah, as one would expect, I was completely stunned until it settled in.
For now, I went to the wall close by our sleeping place, grabbed a caterpillar-like mystery bug, and started munching on it from the head. After I calmed down, I grabbed Gobukichi-kun and went to look for Gobujii. That’s because if I don't make use of Gobujii at times like this, his existence wouldn’t have any point at all. Just in case, because it felt risky, I didn't mention the【Divine Protection of the Great God Governing «Origin and Demise»】that I received.
What I learned was:
- Upon turning into a Hobgoblin, a goblin's body build and appearance become closer to a human. The reason for this is unknown. It’s one of the mysteries of this world. Apparently because hobgoblins look a lot like humans, they can even live in human towns. However, there is a long history of hobgoblin slavery, and most of those coexisting with humans are former or still slaves. I also heard that those with good looks become sex slaves for sex maniacs.
- The difference between Gobukichi-kun's and my skin color is because I am a【Variant】.【Variant】s have special abilities and are generally stronger than regular individuals of their species and unless special conditions are cleared you can’t become a【Variant】, which is why they’re rarely seen, so apparently I’m kind of unusual.
- Furthermore, my skin color is black. Black is the symbolic color of the oldest【Great God】in this world, the one who governs ≪ Origin and Demise ≫. Even among【Variant】s, my【Divine Protection】is of the rarest and strongest class, with some practice, I can use the strongest magic system, the【Demise】magic system. Also, to the believers of this【Great God】and his pillar, I’m somewhat like a living idol, an object of worship. If that’s not the case, then parts of my body are thought to be materials used in rituals to communicate with the【Great God】, so I have to be careful when it’s late in towns and stuff. Religion is scary no matter what world you’re in.
- How should I put it, becoming a hobgoblin when not even a month had passed is supposedly very strange in the first place. The old man who’s still a goblin said so, so it’s probably true. By the way, of the goblins who left to work away from home - apparently exactly 40 Goblins - , only 3 had managed to【Rank Up】into hobgoblins.
- Also, because Gobukichi-kun and I had become hobgoblins before we left the cave, we were given permission to use the human women in the cave as we would like. We also received the right to take things from the <<Treasure Warehouse>>, and use them however we want.
- Oh, really? I see, so that's how it is.
…Yes, because he was kind of long-winded, I ignored most of what he said by repeating those words and pretending to listen. Particularly around point three, and the reason for that is obvious. Like I said before, no matter what world one is in, religion is scary. Even more so now that I’ve obtained the【Divine Protection of the Great God Governing « Origin and Demise »】with my【Rank Up】. If word about this gets out, it can get pretty dangerous. So I think that I should hide it as much as possible.
As you would expect, we didn’t even consider going hunting today. I had a mock battle with Gobukichi-kun in order for us to accustom ourselves to our new bodies, the sparring was especially intense. Gobukichi-kun's power was too much for him to know how to utilize it, making him look like a berserker.
In the end I who had learned many different forms of martial arts because of my job in my previous life didn't lose. From the spar, I can easily conclude that Gobukichi-kun became much stronger than before. As expected, it seems like his abilities are specialized in the vanguard role. He wasn’t very intelligent or quick, but his offensive and defensive powers had increased tremendously making him a powerful tanker and damage dealer, a hybrid build.
Once we concluded our mock battle, the afternoon was dedicated to replacing our now too small and old armor. Since I’ve grown, the horns that I’ve been using as main weapons till now became too small for me to handle effectively. However, I’ll have to bear with it for now. My venom by itself is an adequate weapon, so I can overcome this handicap for now.
That’s why, today I'll be using the stockpiled materials from the Armored Tanukis, Night Vipers and other monsters to create new armors. I used the shells from the Armored tanukis and the snakeskin from the Night vipers to create new armor for myself. I was satisfied with the results. The armor I created was light, flexible, and quite robust.
To put it simply, it was an armor based off of leather. I didn’t make a cloak, it looked like lightweight brown-leather clothes with long sleeves and full-length pants, they should be enough. The shells had been placed in strategic locations which further increased the armor's defensive capabilities. I thought about my freedom of movement while creating it, so when I tried it out, its performance was satisfactory, it barely obstructed me at all. I also finished Gobumi-chan's armor which I couldn’t complete the last time because of insufficient materials.
Though since it’s mainly made out of Seven Colored Bat's wings, it looks a bit gaudy. It somewhat gives the feeling of being an ethnic costume. By the way, today's meal was Horn Rabbits caught by my goblin servants. It wasn’t filling enough, but it was still better than nothing, and because it tasted good, I pardoned them.