Chapter 18

I felt an immense level of boredom from absentmindedly lounging about my core room while Sluggo and the others were off playing war in the forest. The goblins that were maturing in the sacs along the walls could do very little to entertain me. I did manage to pass some time by watching the Hellclaws while they were on their patrols but that got boring pretty quick. I decided to check on how William was faring, he was taken aback by the sight of my eye sprouting out of the wall of his office, but he quickly returned to work, ignoring me.

"It's really lonely in here," I said to myself after a heavy sigh. I’ve never really been alone in all my time alive here. I really was looking forward to meeting my new Kobold friends.

Congratulations! You are now the god of Kobolds. Divinity has increased!

This was great news. It was certain now, we won the war.. The sight of my system notifications made a feeling of relief wash over me, drowning me in euphoria. "Maybe Steve learned his lesson?" I asked aloud as I unmuted my old assistant. A loud voice immediately boomed into my all too-new ears.

"Warning! Excessive corruption detected, please reset your core immediately!" chirped Steve. I sighed heavily before I muted Steve once more. I'm not sure what I expected to change.

"I wish Steve could have tried harder to be a friend rather than misleading all of the dungeon cores out there!" I said, letting out a huff of frustration upon finishing.

And then I felt a strange sensation.

"This is from where I met my kobold friends." I said to myself, realizing something was touching one of my roots. I had allowed my eyes there to rest as it was fairly boring back there once the kobold’s left. I opened my eyes along the root back in the cave and a tiny kobold came into view. I quickly lashed out a tentacle and picked up the little lizard and patted its head and back with another of my appendages.

"Hello Shiny God." said the kobold as it tried to struggle out of my grasp. After a few seconds, it gave up and accepted its pats. "Shiny God awake now?" asked the kobold.

"Yes, sorry about that. It's good to see someone around here, I’ve been quite bored."

"Queen said to tell Shiny God that we won war." Said the lizard as he tried to adjust into a more comfortable position. Upon noticing his discomfort I placed him back onto the ground, but not before giving his head one last pat.

"That's good we can be friends now!" I shouted in excitement. The kobold became frightened and cowered in front of me. I'm not sure why he was so startled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you going to move to my town now?" I asked. The kobold quickly did his best to compose himself before speaking.

"Kobolds help Shiny God first. Then Kobolds come. Kobolds win and become true dragons." said the lizard in triumph.

"Help me with what?" I asked but the little kobold had already lost focus and had left the cave. I suppose he was just a messenger, it was nice seeing a kobold again and they were just as cute as I remembered. Sadly, I once again found myself all on my lonesome.

A lot of time passed. I briefly considered making some new friends as I was not a fan of being by myself for so long. Even early on Steve was always with me, even if he was a jerk. I hoped my friends would have returned sooner so we could have a celebration. I grew excited for a moment as I saw someone entering the town. Surely my friends had finally returned? A large armored man limped passed the gate. His once glorious platemail seemed to be in tatters. Blood was dripping from many areas of his body and one of his arms seemed to be bent in the wrong direction. Two of my hellclaw guards were escorting him but he seemed to shrug off their attempt to assist him. He looked to be clutching a bloodied journal tight against his chest with his working arm.

"That's Harold, Alvin's friend! I never did get to meet him. Why is he so hurt?" I said to no one in particular. Harold limped over towards the front of the church in the center of town while leaving a trail of blood behind him. He suddenly straightened his posture and shouted.

"Master Alvin needs help, I must deliver this book to Lady Yidhra!" Shouted the massive man.

What was I to do? Yidhra and everyone else were currently out of town. I only had my Hellclaws and Harold seemed to be ignoring them. It didn't take much thinking for me to make a decision.

"Harold's injured and I'm not going to lose a friend. He also said Alvin needs help so we can't waste any time!" I said to myself in order to instill some confidence. I quickly grew some of my fleshy roots up along the church and sprouted some mouths and eyes. I stretched a large tentacle away from the church and motioned towards Harold who was now staring at me in awe.

Harold stared blankly at me for a moment before he managed to stammer out one word.

"G-God?"

"Well yes I am the Shiny God. Harold, you are hurt. Follow me. We can help Alvin after we talk and make sure you're safe." One of my eyeballs rolled off the tentacle and dropped to the ground. My loose eye quickly sprouted a tangled mass of tentacles and began skittering along the ground towards the core room. Harold nodded and followed my eye while gripping the journal tightly.

The hellclaws did not act surprised as my eye approached and simply saluted. I made my eyeball salute back with one of its many tentacles. Harold was noticeably confused at the sight and quickly composed himself while deciding to also give a prompt Salute. He relaxed and followed my eyeball into the barracks. We navigated through the halls and nearby hellclaws stopped to salute us while we passed by. I had my eye lead Harold through the Mimic and down the tunnel made from my roots. Unlike William, Harold did not seem nervous or confused by anything else he witnessed, even when the wall opened up and swallowed him whole, he remained perfectly calm. He continued to remain composed as we journeyed into the core room.

Once Harold had finished entering the chamber he paused for a moment while he glanced around from wall to wall. His eyes finally settled at the center of the room. Immediately after that he broke into a sprint which was very surprising to me considering he was still covered in blood and heavily injured. He quickly reached his destination and stood in front of me at the center of the core room. He seemed to wince in pain as he kneeled down in front of me. He awkwardly kept his head lowered without saying a word while still gripping the tattered journal tightly with his working hand.

I decided to break the awkward silence.

"Hi Harold. Good to finally meet you." I said while I extended one of my many tentacles to pat his head.

"Hello God." Said Harold calmly.

"Harold, you said Alvin was in trouble?"

"Yes God. Alvin said I need to give his journal to Yidhra, the pretty lady. "

"But why are you so hurt?" I asked while forming my tentacle into a question mark shape.

"Harold had to deliver the book. Didn't stop for anything. The church attacked Harold." He said.

"The church again? Yidhra isn't here right now unfortunately. Maybe I could look at the book?" I asked while holding out a tentacle in front of him.

"Master Alvin said to give the book to the pretty lady Yidhra." Said Harold as he looked at the journal in his hand."

"God is more important so it must be okay though?" He asked himself while nodding yes to his own question. Harold extended his hand out, the journal still firmly in his grasp. I plucked the book up my tentacle and brought it over to some of my many eyes. I had to be very delicate, as the journal was in rough shape, and my massive tentacles made it difficult to turn the pages. I glanced over the text while I tried to quickly skim through the pages. After a few minutes I placed the journal on the meeting table and sighed.

"Harold we have a problem."

"Yes God. Master Alvin needs help."

"Well yes but I meant a different problem. Apparently I can't read. I have no idea what the journal says."

Harold paused for a moment and attempted to rub his chin as if deep in thought. Sadly his plate helmet blocked his hand gesture, making for an awkward look.

"That's okay God. Harold can't read either." he said while trying to remain composed. I noticed fresh blood seemed to be continuing to drip front his armor. I extended a tentacle and patted him on the head again.

"Thanks Harold. How can I help Alvin?" I asked. Harold shrugged.

"The church took master Alvin. Harold was going to kill them but Alvin said to bring his book to Lady Yidhra.”

"That's a great idea!" I shouted which caused the walls of the core room to tremble. Harold looked at me in confusion.

"We should just kill the Church. They are bad people that hate goblins right?" I asked while wrapping a tentacle around Harold's shoulders..

Harold thought deeply for a few moments and spoke. "Yup. The church doesn't like goblins.” His thick voice was deeply contrasting to the simple conclusion.

"I knew it! What a bunch of Steves." I said while curling and shaking a tentacle in anger.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"The goblins?" Asked Harold.

"No, the church."

"Oh. They found Harold and tried to take the book. Harold squished some and got hurt. Then they chased Harold. Maybe nearby still?" He said.

"How many of them will we need to fight?" I asked. Harold shrugged again.

"Sorry God. Harold is not good with counting."

"Most of my forces were out already. I could probably send out William but that's about it. Maybe I could make some troops to fight them." I said.

"It's okay, Harold will go rescue master Alvin."

"Harold, you are too injured for that." I said. As usual Harold took some time to think hard on the subject.

"You God right?” Asked Harold. "Just make Harold an angel. Harold will go rescue Alvin.

"What's an angel?" I asked in confusion.

"Angels are like Harold but can fly and smites evil things with fire." He said.

Fire and wings? That sounds more like a dragon, Harold must be confused. The man did appear to be somewhat simple, though good-natured to be sure. I did as he asked.

I reached my tentacle into a nearby pile. It was pretty squishy and wet as this pile of corpses had been sitting here for a while. Yidhra wanted me to absorb them all but I usually waited to do it until I needed to refill my mana. It wouldn't be smart to waste resources after all. I rummaged around deep in the mound of corpses until I found what I was looking for.

"Found it!" I said as I pulled out a carcass of a dragon whelp. It was a baby but it should work fine as material. I quickly selected the whelp and Harold and fused them. Harold did not seem phased even as my mana washed over him.

Harold cried out in pain as my mana seeped into his skin. He clawed at his body as his bones and muscles shifted causing the already mountain of a man to grow even larger. His broken arm snapped back straight and his wound erupted in flame as they seared shut. His skin hardened into scales, which fused with his platemail. Large claws erupted from his fingertips as a tail burst from his body. Harold scratched at his back and tore at his skin as two gigantic wings stretched out from his body. His face elongated into a dragon like snout and fire spewed from his mouth as he howled in agony. Harold took a moment to compose himself as the pain faded from his body. The whole process only took a few seconds.

"Not quite an angel but this is great. Thank you God." Said Harold as he gave a deep bow. He seemed completely calm, considering how much his body changed. I guess he did request this though.

"I am at your service.. Hopefully we can help Alvin now." I said.

"I will go rescue master Alvin right away." Said Harold as he stretched out his wings.

"Wait!” I shouted. “At least let me send some back up with you!"

"But god you said no one was here." Said Harold with a confused expression.

"It's okay Harold, I have a brilliant idea!"