Red Monster

Red felt a little bit guilty that the next generation could not go through an awakening, just a little bit. He would still kill the Shaman even if he knew about this beforehand. There was no way he would leave a dangerous figure like the Shaman alive.

He could see how the Shaman would use Darla against him if the Shaman was still alive. He didn’t regret killing the Shaman the moment he got the chance.

"They can still awaken the window status, but with a cost: one core. They will awaken their window status if they absorb the core. But I don’t want to spend any cores on any of them. It would be a waste to use the core if they are just useless workers!"

The Chief answered Red’s question.

Red understood the Chief’s unwillingness. Each new batch would comprise thirty to fifty children. A quarter to half would be culled by the jungle. That was when the children suffered casualties. The hunt would also filter the children who were fit to be warriors or workers.

It was around five to fifteen goblins from each generation that would be recruited to the hunter group. So yeah, half of the cores would be wasted if they used them to awaken the new generations.

"Ah, right... It’s mana..." The Matron suddenly spoke in a loud voice, "It’s about injecting mana into their body or whatever it is. Can you do it?"

That piqued Red’s interest, curious whether the awakening was really that simple. "I can try, but I don’t know if it will work..."

His Mana Sense allowed him to sense mana, and Mana Authority helped him to control the mana. It was doable for him to inject his mana into the goblin.

"But I am not going to take responsibility if something goes wrong when I inject my mana into them."

Red was being careful, afraid that the Matron would blame him if he killed the goblin by injecting his mana into it.

"You can try on one or two of them. If it works, then we can hold the awakening ceremony as usual. But if it doesn’t work, you will be responsible for gathering the core for their awakening!"

Regardless of whether it would work or not, the Chief delegated the job of awakening the new generation to him. The Chief didn’t tell him to do it by himself, meaning he could order the hobgoblins or the goblins to hunt for him instead.

"You don’t need to worry about it. It will still take at least one month before the next batch matures. Just focus on the war first!"

That was the conclusion of the discussion as the Chief dismissed Red.

Red nodded and left the village hall with a clear picture of what awaited ahead. He was relieved that the Chief didn’t want to move together with the reinforcement. That would sting his pride as the Chief to be under someone else. That worked well for Red; good news.

He returned to the main kitchen where most of the surviving hobgoblins and goblin warriors gathered. Looking at their number, it was truly pathetic. They had fewer than twenty hobgoblins and goblins, excluding himself and the Chief. But again, it was not hopeless considering the tactic they would use.

’That means I need to find the kobold village before the reinforcements find them. Or else we can’t use the tactic.’

Based on the discussion, the war itself was sort of a competition among the goblins. It was like they were competing over who would have a bigger contribution in this war. There seemed to be some sort of reward. Maybe the Goblin King would reward the village that destroyed the most kobold villages or something. Or else the competition didn’t make sense.

That was not for him to think deeply about. He just needed his job and to return alive. Another thing to confirm was whether he could store Darla’s dish in his Storage Pouch or not. That was the most important thing because the blessing would be crucial for him.

Red didn’t go for his usual seat, entering the kitchen right away. Darla motioned toward him to follow her, and that was when he found himself in a room with a table with two chairs next to the kitchen storage.

She served him the same potato dish that he ate in the morning. That was when she told him that the thick liquid she poured on top of the potato was not soup. It was called Gravy, and she made two types. One was spicy and savory, and the second one was just savory.

Instead of eating the food right away, he took one potato and put it into his Storage Pouch. It worked, as the dish was listed in his pouch. He put the second one in, trying to find out whether it could be stacked or not.

To his delight, he could stack it up to five. That was good news as it meant he could stock up on a lot of them, not needing to worry about running out of blessings.

Darla watched it with surprise. She knew the Storage Pouch and wished to purchase one before, as it was essential for the line of her work. Not that she was jealous of him because she had her own now.

"Prepare blessing food, five each. I go to war tomorrow or tomorrow tomorrow."

She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to understand what he tried to say. This was the most confusing thing he said in a while. It took her a while to decipher his words.

First, he wanted her to prepare the infused dish, five each. Second, the war was not over. He might leave tomorrow or...

"Tomorrow tomorrow?" That was the most confusing part.

Red nodded. "Tomorrow tomorrow."

"Ah... The day after tomorrow?"

It was Red who looked confused this time as she explained to him that: ’Tomorrow tomorrow is the day after tomorrow.’ A new lesson for Red in a while.

Darla tensed up again as she was reminded that the war was not over yet. That encouraged her to work harder, making something better, a better-infused dish that would increase his survivability in the war.

Red stayed in the kitchen for half an hour, eating to his fullest before returning to his home, continuing with his work. The sun was still up when he finished the last batch of arrows, and he had nothing to do.

He decided to leave, hunting for more Rabbon and Crimson Scales Biter. That was the easiest beast to hunt for him. It took him less than an hour to get ten Rabbon and eight Crimson Scales Biter.

That night Red didn’t do anything with Darla. He wanted to be in his prime condition in case the reinforcement arrived today. At this point, he was expecting there would be a conflict between him and the new batch of reinforcements. It was a certainty that he was prepared for it. It was silly when he thought about it because they were on the same side.

He waited until lunch, doing nothing, dawdling around in the kitchen. He thought of trying to craft an arrow, but he decided not to. The reason was clear: he wanted to have full mana in case the reinforcement arrived. He became too conscious of the reinforcement.

When they didn’t arrive in the afternoon, he decided to leave for another hunt. He remembered that Darla didn’t serve him Marget and Dire Lupus. He was curious what kind of blessing the dish made from their meat provided.

It was really hard to find the Dire Lupus. The kobolds truly cleaned them out, and it took over an hour just to find five Dire Lupus. He expected that the Dire Lupus might give a similar blessing to the Dire Wolf but weaker. That was how he saw Dire Lupus, a weaker version of Dire Wolf.

He also had a guess at what kind of blessing an infused dish made with Marget meat would give. He was eighty percent confident the blessing would grant extra Dexterity.

Red was not complaining about having more Dexterity. Especially when he would become bait. Even the Marget became hard to find, as he only managed to find three in over forty minutes. That was a bad hunt compared to yesterday’s hunt.

He decided to return, so Darla could have time to make him the dish for tomorrow. At the same time, he had also finished testing his Storage Pouch. He was grateful that it seemed time stopped inside the Storage Pouch.

He put a dish inside his Storage Pouch: the gruel and the baked potato. The dish didn’t go bad, and in fact, it remained hot and at the same temperature when he put it inside. That meant he could enjoy a hot meal during his deployment.

Red made his way back to the village and found a large number of goblins outside the village. The reinforcements had arrived, meaning it was about time to depart. They might leave right away or maybe tomorrow. This time, the scale of the battle would be bigger as well.