I awoke several hours later, my shoulder shaken by Bob. I still didn’t feel well enough to walk about, but I couldn’t continue leeching off them. I was also eager to learn more about the world I got reincarnated into. If I didn’t count the brief foray into the great hall where the ceremony took place, my experience so far had been limited to the two samey looking rooms.

The memories of goblin culture I received during the ceremony proved to be more difficult to access than I anticipated. It was easy to recall relevant information when facing a specific situation, but browsing them at will wasn’t all that easy.

Without some kind of a stimulus to grasp at the connecting thread it felt like tangling with water. Everything was mixed together and, disturbingly, some of the shreds of information I did manage to get a hold off contained knowledge completely at odds with what I experienced so far.

I got on my feet and inspected my condition. My vitality continued restoring overnight, standing now at 147/160 (175). I was slowly getting closer to the 175th mark, which I assumed I would be able to reach only when my bones and other internal injuries finished mending.

The other goblins got ready at the same time as me and we all followed Bob outside. I might have been the nominal leader of our little group, but as I’ve spent all this time unconscious, that mantle temporarily passed to her.

The way led into a small anteroom. It was just as dim as our room, the lichen being the only source of light here as well, but I could see that the walls were made from uniform white bricks.

Another group of goblins was already waiting there. Amongst them were the two red ones who fought for the position of leader during the ceremony. I easily spotted the victor by contrasting them with each other. In their duel there wasn’t a huge difference in strength between the two, but now one of them was clearly maintaining a respectable distance from the other, keeping his head slightly lowered. This posture was further magnified in the remaining green skinned goblins.

Not long after we came, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps announcing the arrival of another group. This one was led by Khar, the red half-orc who beat me into a coma. Unlike the rest of us, he wasn’t clothed in tribal wear but a hodgepodge of various pieces of armor. The most eye catching weren’t his garments, though. It was the massive rusted sword he rested on his shoulder, likely due to lack of a sheath. The scrawny goblins beside him served as a backdrop that further emphasized his enormous size.

His gaze demanded absolute obedience and even I found myself lowering my head when his eyes fell on me.

“Bring me food.” he announced. “The group which brings the most will get to eat after me.”

That was all.

Having said his piece, he turned back the way he came in, leaving even his own entourage behind him.

“Let’s go.” Bob said. She led us through a labyrinth of corridors and after a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the great hall. This was the first time I could take my time to study it. It was no longer lit by the great pyre, making it even darker than ordinary rooms. Due to its enormous size, even the colonies of lichen growing on the walls weren’t enough to supply it with sufficient light.

This wasn’t a problem for goblins. Their eyes were made to thrive in low light environments and I could see dozens of them hustling and bustling all around the place. Groups were coming in and out of the many corridors, all leading to this core area of the tribe. Some of the passageways were blocked with doors, while others seemed to be just simple tunnels, likely dug by the goblins themselves.

I was able to catch traces of warm light coming from some of these places, followed by an enticing aroma of cooking food. Bob didn’t dally, however, and led us away from the crowd, into yet another set of corridors.

We navigated these maze like hallways for some time as the sounds of the tribe gradually grew fainter till they couldn’t be heard at all. Our group slowed down as well.

“This is it.” Bob suddenly said. I looked at her not understanding. We were in a tunnel not very different to the ones we walked through before. The only visible difference lied in greater density of vegetation. The walls were covered in sprawling ivy and peculiar types of mushrooms grew from rare spots where a missing brick revealed dark soil.

“This is what we’ve been doing these past few days.” She explained. “An elder from the tribe would take us into the dungeon, guiding us and showing which types of plants are edible. Starting from today we have to do this on our own.”

“Won’t we get lost?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I could manage to return to our own room on my own, let alone if I had to traverse deeper into these dark tunnels.

“We can find our way back by simply following the scent we leave behind. At least that’s what the elder said.”

I took a deep sniff trying to determine the validity of this method. We definitely left what could be euphemistically called a rich aroma. The most pungent stench hung around Alpha, the not so little devil revealing a surprising usefulness to his person. Still, I wasn’t sure how long it took until our smell would disperse, and I wasn’t about to venture forth with this as my only lifeline.

I looked around. “Gather the ivy growing on the walls. We’ll drop its leaves along the way to mark our path.” My group members only looked at me. “Elder said its poisonous, if you want to, do it yourself.” Gharak grumbled.

I briefly considered following the goblin custom and simply beating him into submission but my injuries still weren’t completely healed. Whenever I forgot myself and took a breath that was too deep, my chest would flare up in pain. It wasn’t worth it.

“How poisonous did he say it was?” I asked. “We don’t know. He only told us not to touch it.” Bob answered.

I curiously rubbed one of the leaves. It didn’t look too different than the poison ivy I knew from my own world. If all it did was cause an irritation of the skin, I wouldn’t really care. Past days increased my threshold of tolerable pain. The thing was, plants in my world required sunlight to grow. I couldn’t fathom how these circumvented this basic need and managed to flourish in the dark corridors of the dungeon.

This also meant that they could be far more poisonous than the species I was familiar with. Still, I had an inkling that they shouldn’t be too different. I crushed the leaf in my hand, letting its juices come into contact with my skin.

As expected, I saw my skin becoming inflamed. The blue of my palm turned purple as burning sensation radiated from the affected area. It was more severe than I expected, but not unbearably so. Most importantly, my vitality didn’t drop. It seemed that the poison only stimulated the pain receptors and didn’t pose any real threat to your health.

I clenched my teeth and gathered an armful of the leaves from the walls. The skin on my chest and forearms quickly became irritated. Admittedly, I felt silly. Furthermore, I had no idea if my plan would prove any more useful than the method the elder taught them. If I had some hopes of impressing my companions with this display of otherworldly knowledge before, I was now fueled by sheer stubbornness.

“Let’s go.” I said leaving a few leaves behind as I walked onwards. Doubtful eyes of my party members kept burning holes through my back.

We walked in silence. Every now and again Rubi or Trax would spot an edible plant or mushroom and we’d stop, waiting for them to pick it up. I was honestly surprised at their sharp eyesight. Everytime they found something they claimed was good to eat, I’d ask them to pass it over and then diligently try to memorize its characteristics. Tiny shrooms with brightly spotted caps, big and fleshy conks, some were just mucus covered balls dangling from stems twisted in a corkscrew fashion. There really wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it.

Yet despite my high perception stat, they kept spotting them before me. It seemed that even the unevolved goblins had some areas they excelled at. I also suspected that it couldn’t have been the few odd days they spent with the elder that taught them all of this, but rather some part of the inheritance they received during the advancement.

It was also possible that they were grabbing stuff at random. Given that Khar was the one who would eat it first, I didn’t care too much one way or the other.

I suddenly heard some noises coming from behind a corner ahead of us and motioned the rest of the group to halt.

“Did elder tell you anything about other creatures living here?” I whispered.

“Some will kill you and some are good food.” Bob whispered back.

Great, so we either continue to starve or solve the hunger problem for another monster instead.

I carefully put one foot in front of another and slowly inched forward. We couldn’t just run away from every living being we came across here. And there were five of us. Our group should be able to deal with it unless it turned out to be an apex predator. In which case it must’ve sensed us long before I heard it, so we were doomed anyways.

My increased intelligence stat kept churning out these logical observations. They made no difference to my dawning realization that I was trying to creep up on an unknown, terrifying beast in a dark dungeon. The sounds of paws scratching the ground and energetic sniffing grew more distinct. God, I should’ve agreed to have my psychology altered by the system. These fucking goblins keep following me without a worry in their hearts. Wait. Are they even following me?!

I nearly snapped my neck suddenly jerking to look behind me. The group stared back at me. Okay. They’re still here.

I’ve reached the corner. The source of the noises was just behind it. I could now envision its long sharp claws that kept striking the brick wall. Why was it being so loud?! Only creatures that don’t care about being heard can be this audacious!

My breath held in, I took a peak behind the wall.