Author's Note: This has been rewritten. Revised chapters will have V2 next to the chapter name. Click here to see V1

Chapter 10- Bonus Stage

***Day 13***

***Unknown Cave***

***29A***

The pelt was heavy. If I had any choice at all, I would have definitely left it where it was. When I dragged it along the forest floor, the pelt was like a fishnet in the ocean, catching all sorts of sticks and rocks. I had to make frequent stops to remove the garbage accumulated from the pelt to reduce the burden. Carrying such a cumbersome item certainly wore my patience thin.

"AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL!"

I kicked the pelt multiple times in frustration.

"I COULD HAVE BEEN AT A BARBECUE!"

On top of the pelt as a prize of the fight, I walked away with a bad-ass looking scar on my forehead. The scar is still a little bit sensitive, but it has been healing nicely, At least now I won't look like all the other male goblins, with their bald and shiny head. I have also gained an entirely unfair title, giant slayer. All physical damage that I deal gains bonus damage, equal to our size difference. If my target is double my size, I will deal double the damage. I have a hunch that this title was not intended for a goblin to wield.

"Dead DPSers deals no damage."

As I had always said back when I played World of Warcraft. Even with such a broken title, there are still problems that I would need to tackle. I need to increase my damage mitigation. I have to either get some armor to protect myself, or learn to dodge like a ninja. I would probably go with dodging since I don't see myself in plate mails. The other problem is that I need to increase my base damage somehow. If I only deal 5 damage to the bear, and even if he is 10 times bigger than I am, that is still only 50 damage. Based on the fight that I had, the bear had at least 800 hp. It would take at least 16 clean hits for me to kill the bear, but only 1 hit for the bear to kill me.

"Tadaima,"

I muttered under my breath nonchalantly. I can finally see my cave from afar, after 3 days. It took me one whole day to skin the bear, and another 2 days to drag the bear pelt back to the cave. I thought it would have taken me longer to get back to the cave. But since I had the bear meat, I did not had to waste time looking for nuts and berries to sustain myself. Bear steaks are a little bit stringy, but definitely delicious. I will definitely hunt them again. If I can just repeat my strategy, killing them would be a cinch.

"Did that goblin drop something?"

As I approached the cave, one of the goblin kneeled down. After that, like dominos, they all kneeled one after another. Are they kneeling at me? Even the queen is kneeling? A spark ignited in my heart at that point. When I was human, I was half-assed at everything. This included the thing I liked the most, video gaming. I could have tried to become a pro if I wanted to. I gave myself every excuse to procrastinate, give up half way or not try at all. I was satisfied with a dead end job without any challenges. I was nothing but a puppet with no life. After I died and became a goblin, I was armed with nothing but a spear, my wit, and my guts, struggling against insurmountable odds and hunted a bear down.

"Is this what success feels like?"

Tears welled up in my eyes, as I finally understood what it meant to be worthy. Thank you, my queen, for sending me out on this quest. I felt that I should be the one kneeling instead, for giving me this chance to feel so...

alive

I knew what I have to do. Even though we are just goblins, lowest tier of the trash mobs, I will make us prosper. Even though we are just NPCs, a bunch computer codes, I will have protected them. To do this, I will need to become a proper leader to these goblins. Wiping away the tears, I told myself I will need to start to act the part. Even if I have to fake it till I make it. Dragging the pelt behind me, I walked at a steady pace up the cliff side path towards the cave entrance. At the entrance of the cave, the queen greeted me humbly. She did not have a trace of the haughty attitude she had shown before. Still prostrating, she spoke out to me from the cave entrance.

"The exiled one, you who are blessed by the goblin god, we submit and obey. What is your command?"

I just realized there was something more important. I was called the exiled one. When I first watched Overlord, I did not get why Momonga changed his name to Ainz. I used to think that since he was in a new world, no one could have known what his name was, and he should have kept his old name for convenience. But now that I have experienced something similar I understood how he felt. It was not about how others saw you, but how you saw yourself. When I was human, my name was Driskoll. When I became a goblin, I was called the kid, runt, young one, and now the exiled one. I did not have a name still. I am no longer any of those. I have been reborn.

"I shall no longer be known as exiled one. My name shall be..."

"What is this "name" you speak of, exiled one?" The queen asked.

I did not realize that goblins have no concept of what names are. I quickly explain the idea and benefits of having a name.