Red Monster

Red watched the bodies disappear into light particles. The hobgoblins literally shoved the goblins away, and the goblins were scavenging anything they could find without getting taken away.

Not just the kobold bodies, but they were fighting over their allies’ dead bodies as well. The goblins were looking for the goblin bodies, and the hobgoblins were looking for the dead hobgoblins.

It was just another battle, more chaotic than the actual battle. He didn’t like what he watched-so unorganized, even hostile, even though they were supposed to be an ally. He turned toward the towering figure.

The Chief had a gushing wound across his chest, a puncture wound on the shoulder, and a cut on the right cheek. However, he remained strong, standing straight with the sword on his side.

Red hoped that the Chief would do something to keep things in order, yet the Chief didn’t move or give an order. He remained standing, staring into the distance.

He truly didn’t know what was in the Chief’s mind. There was this weird feeling that slowly rose up in his heart. The feeling that the Chief was not suited to lead. He still respected the Chief for his strength, but there was a doubt in his heart.

If the Chief was a good leader, he should not have allowed his underlings to die unnecessarily.

Red shook his head, wondering himself why he felt bad for losing the goblins that wanted him dead. The weird conflicting feeling kept getting stronger and stronger. On one side, he wanted to fight for the village, and on another side, he felt like they didn’t deserve his effort at all.

He put the thoughts on the back of his head, focusing on the current situation. As he watched the goblins and hobgoblins absorb the cores, he remembered the cores he absorbed earlier.

He heard notifications, but he swatted them away because he was getting chased by the kobolds. And based on the number of cores he absorbed, he should have reached level 10. He absorbed more than forty cores in this battle. That should be enough to bring him to level 10 with his new absorption rates.

Red checked his status sheet immediately.

Name: ???

Level: 10

Health: 1025 Stamina: 1041 (+20) Mana: 1508

[Tier 1 Might]

Strength: 121.4 (1.4, +20) Endurance: 102.2 (+3.8) Vitality: 102.6 (+7.4) Dexterity: 247.8 (2.8, +145)

[Tier 1 Magic]

Intelligence: 150 (+5.4, +5) Wisdom: 150.8 (+9, +5) Arcane Perception: 150.6 (+9.6, +5) Mind: 150.6 (+8, +5)

Skills:

Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense (Passive) - Level 15, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 20, Appraisal - Level 18, Bleeding (Passive) - Level 2, Fireball - Level 5, Bow Mastery (Passive) - Level 6

Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 6, Mana Refining - Level 4, Mana Sharpening - Level 3, Mana Repair - Level 3

Tier 4: Mana Forging - Level 1, Mana Tempering - Level 3, Mana Authority (Passive) - Level 4

Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1

Positive Attribute:

Mystic Chef Blessing: Strength +20, Dexterity +145, Stamina +20

Minor Health Regeneration I

Minor Stamina Regeneration I

The first thing he checked was the level and found right away that he was level 10. Then the next question came up: what about evolution? Didn’t he suppose to evolve into a hobgoblin? Did he already evolve into a hobgoblin?

Red realized that he didn’t even know the process of evolution, so he could not figure out how it worked. Would it take time, or would it happen naturally? He didn’t know anything about it. However, he was expecting a change, and that didn’t happen.

In conclusion, evolution didn’t happen, but why? The goblin evolved into a hobgoblin once they reached level 10; why didn’t he evolve? Was it true that he was born as a hobgoblin? That made sense because of his growing size, but also didn’t make sense.

The hobgoblins and goblins would not treat him the way they treated him if he was born as a hobgoblin. His mind buzzed in confusion. A lot of confusion, and there was no answer to it.

He doubted even the Matron knew about his case. If they knew about his case, there would be no argument about keeping him alive or not. The fact that the Shaman wanted to kill him because he was an anomaly that never happened before. The Shaman was afraid of the unknown while the Matron saw him as an asset for the village.

’What? Just what am I?’

The thought that he was not a goblin resurfaced in his mind once more. But how was he born among goblins if he was not a goblin? That just didn’t make sense at all. Everything around me didn’t make sense.

His mind was overwhelmed with confusion. The realization that he might not be a goblin hit him differently. That was when Levelheaded was triggered. A force in his head that tried to calm him down. His body wobbled; his head was dizzy.

Red just didn’t know how to handle the fact that he was not a goblin. He detested them for hating him, but it was hard to accept that he was also not a goblin. He just didn’t know how to act with this fact. At this point, he was confident that he was not a goblin.

’But what am I? Is that why my magic attributes are higher?’

Levelheaded was triggered once more, forcing him to calm down. The way his mind calmed him down was the fact that they were in the middle of battle.

Red believed this was not the only kobold village. Just like how goblins had many villages, the kobolds also had many villages. The Chief was not going to stop with just this. That was how he calmed down.

He told himself to resolve his identity issue later. It was not the time to think about something that he could not find the answer to.

’But how am I going to find that answer?’

The moment that question popped out in his head, Levelheaded was triggered once more.

[Levelheaded (Passive) has reached level 21!]

A notification appeared after he triggered Levelheaded consecutively. It was a panic attack, and again, he didn’t expect that it would hit hard even though he already thought about the possibility beforehand.

’Calm down! Get yourself busy! Look for a distraction!’

Red was about to move, going to meet the Chief. He wanted to ask whether he needed to look for another kobold village or not, but he halted his steps because the Chief snapped toward a direction.

The Chief snapped toward the second entrance of the village.

Red could not help but follow the Chief’s gaze. He could not see anything even though he was on the roof, not until ten seconds later, when he saw an army approaching the village.