He stole away in the early hours of the morning, just as night started to give way to light.

He packed a few essentials – food and a skin of water tucked neatly into cloth which he tied to his waist.

All the goblins, him as well, all wore small loincloths and breast bands made from filthy rags that the village had scavenged. Although they could not be counted as clothes, in this climate at least the goblin’s skin and physique could stand against the elements on its own.

However for him, he was not content to run around with his goblin junk precariously flapping in the wind. He was in for a hard road ahead and he needed the right equipment for travelling. Chafing was the downfall of many a foolish adventurer.

He had skinned the rabbit furs and left them to dry in the sun. As his first rabbit was a while ago, the skin had become a nice pliable leather underneath the pure white fur.

Now he wrapped his newly made rabbit fur around his waist, securing it with a rabbit tooth belt he had made with leftover leather. Over this, he attached his supply pouch securely.

Now he could move quickly while still carrying his supplies.

He had also fixed his spear. It now boasted spider fangs embedded at the base of the rabbit horn. With some experimenting he had found that by using “Venom Sting” while holding this weapon, he could trigger the spider fangs to eject venom onto the horn, turning it poisonous.

Furthermore, with “Web Shot” he had wrapped the spear head in a sticky but strong webbing that he could shoot out of his fingertips. It was better than any other adhesive he could find and also had a non-sticky threading he could use to make carrying the spear much easier.

The sky was beginning to grow lighter, now a dull shade of pink, light enough to drown out the stars.

With this nice weather I’ll make good progress.

He slung his spear over his shoulder and cast one last look over the village at the gate. It was a good village and he fully intended to return eventually. Perhaps to maybe even make this into a proper town, something more than a couple of sticks thrown together.

Wait for me, everyone, I’ll be back one day.

And with that, he set off.

***

The undergrowth was thick and his speed was slowed by how much he needed to navigate his way around the thickets. It wasn’t only wild beasts he needed to watch out for. Vines with razor-like thorns coiled and twisted around giant pitcher plants that oozed paralyzing fumes. It was as treacherous terrain as one could imagine in the dark forest that he trudged through.

His arm was a hindrance, constantly pulling him off balance in its sling and obviously not able to be used to clear the terrain.

He did encounter another rabbit, nose burrowed in the grass. Although injured, he knew he could easily take it out as a simple thrust with a spear would be enough in this fight. Also it wouldn’t hurt to see if he could gain more abilities by killing this prey.

But there’s no rush. Let’s go about this carefully now, shall we? He thought to himself, spying the rabbit from a bush.

He circled around, making note of the terrain and making sure no other monsters lurked close by.

Then he stealthily drew in closer, making sure he was down-wind of the rabbit. Closer now, he stepped out and challenged the rabbit.

I’ll let it make the first move and hit it with a counterattack.

As predicted, the rabbit snarled at him and charged in a straight-line dash. He side stepped and thrust his spear perfectly in a well-timed blow to its heart. It squealed pitifully as it died.

No alerts came up notifying him of new abilities.

Perhaps rabbits only have the one skill? He wondered.

He had used the goblin girl’s move, which he had to admit was an improvement to his first strategy. It lowered his chances of getting impaled, should his first strike fail and gave a much higher chance to fatally wound it. However, it needed an individual with sharp senses and quick reactions.

She was quite adept, a natural at combat and had impressed him the most with her improvement. He had faith that she would be a strong fighter capable of defending the village alongside Brun.

Her personality however… He shook his head. Hopefully that improves as well. I guess kids will still be kids huh.

He skinned the rabbit, removed the organs and portioned the meat. Then wrapped up the food in the skin and tied it to a short branch. This way he could carrying his prize over his shoulder without impeding his movement too much.

He set off again, carefully navigating his way through the undergrowth. For a while he passed through the forest uneventfully, avoiding beasts that he happened upon. A Direwolf with her two cubs, a deer with jeweled horns and a troll crouched over prey it had hunted.

He couldn’t tell if he was strong enough to compare to these creatures and in his injured state, he wasn’t interested in finding out.

Time passed by with him weaving his way through the forest. He had made good progress.

He stopped. He thought he heard a scream in the distance, or was that his imagination? He wasn’t sure of himself because the scream sounded somewhat goblin-y. As far as he knew, he wasn’t near any villages the elder had told him about.

The scream sounded again, this time cut abruptly short. His blood ran cold.

Oh no, he thought and groaned internally. Speak of the devil, it’s that damn brat goblin girl.

***

He burst into the clearing to find a lone slime bobbing up and down merrily. It was a large green slime, with a round jelly-like body and no real distinct features or markings. It made no weird noises, save for the ‘slosh slosh’ as it rolled through the grass. Just an ordinary slime, no more no less.

Except for the writhing goblin trapped inside it. It was without a doubt the goblin brat and she seemed to be trying to break out with all her might but to no avail.

He lunged forward but was stopped short with a sudden realization. He had no way of freeing her without injuring her. He could try and slice the slime to bits but that would probably end up with a sliced goblin as well. Building a fire and burning the slime to death would take way too long.

There was a chance he could simply push her out of the slime, but what if he got trapped inside then? It would only buy them a couple of minutes and it seemed an absurd outcome for them if they simply swapped places inside the slime.

The slime was still jiggling on the spot, the goblin girl still thrashing about. She had a look of terror on her face as bubbles escaped her mouth. He could see, but couldn’t hear her screams.

Dammit, if only I knew magic. This would be the easiest problem to solve, he thought furiously. A bit of flame magic, enough to kill this dumb slime would be enough.

As for his current skills… He cast his mind back to all the skills he had gained.

Then I suppose there is only one option I can try. Though it’s going to be incredibly dangerous for her. As he was thinking, he saw her face turning blue and her eyes rolling into her head. Well, I guess there’s no time for second guessing, here goes!

He plunged his good hand into the slime and shouted,

“Poison sting”

Purple poison gushed from his fingertips, spreading into the slime. He could feel the slime’s body trying to pull him in as soon as he came into contact, most likely the reason the brat had been sucked into the slime before.

Then he could feel it react violently. Instead of pulling him in, the slime was now trying to push him out. The surface of its liquid body shivered and spat out the unconscious goblin girl into his arms.

The slime was now a dull purple colour and rapidly shrinking. It shivered on the spot as it grew smaller and smaller. With a final slosh, it collapsed into a purple puddle on the ground.

*ding*

[You have acquired a new skill – Absorb]

[You have acquired a new skill – Shape Shift]

“Okay, okay, please be okay,” he muttered as he lay the limp body on the dirt. He had purposefully waited until she was unconscious before injecting the poison into the slime so that she wouldn’t swallow any of the poison. Of course, that depended entirely on if the poison could flow through goblin skin.

He started initiating a revival technique he had been taught by the royal physician. It was a chest compression technique, developed by that physician specifically for people who could not use healing magic.

“Should the patient appear lifeless,” the physician had instructed him, “and show no indication of breathing, this will be the best method for revival. Though, the chances of revival are relatively low. It comes down to how healthy and strong the patient is.”

As he pumped down on her chest, occasionally leaning down to pinch her nose and breathe air into her lungs, he hoped beyond hope that she would survive. No way was his best fighter going down like this.

After thirty seconds, she coughed and retched up slime water, spewing a green puddle next to her. She drew in a raspy, gasping breath and her eyes opened wide.

“Ahhhhhhhhh,” she yelled, seeing his face so close to hers. For some reason he was struck with a sense of déjà vu for this exact moment. An old grizzly goblin face loomed in his mind’s eye but vanished as soon as he tried to capture the imagine in his head. Regardless, it appeared she was okay now. He sighed in relief.

He went about to set up camp, collecting kindling and wood for a fire. He struck a flint that the elder had given him and coaxed a flame into life.

He sat down and gave a long hard stare at the goblin girl. She looked miserable, still sodden from her encounter with the slime and clutching at the fur he had draped over her. He couldn’t help but worry that a bit of poison had gotten into her system, but he didn’t have the luxury to fawn over her like his own child.

“Okay kid, why are you here. You know you shouldn’t be wandering the forest on your own,” he growled in his most menacing voice. He had to play to tough guy to make sure she’d learn her lesson.

“I wasn’t wandering. Was following you,” she mumbled into the fur. Of course, she was an adept tracker on top of being a talented fighter. Together with her personality, it made for a most deadly and frustrating combination as she would be able to get up to the most annoying of hijinxes she could imagine to do.

“Well, it’s dangerous and you shouldn’t be travelling alone anyway,” he said, as resolutely as he could, “if you got injured or even killed, how would I tell the elder? How could I possibly explain to him this situation?”

She looked glum, her eyes cast down to her feet. He hoped he wasn’t overselling it, but some tough love was the only thing he could use to make sure she wouldn’t follow him again.

“Well,” he continued, “I’m not angry at you, I’m just disappointed. But if you’ve learned your lesson, then everything be okay and you can go back to the village. Got it?”

He stared pointedly at her and watched her nod her head once, still looking down at the ground. He felt triumphant, he had managed to properly discipline a child! He was by no means good with children and to be able to reach an understanding with this precocious wild child was quite an achievement for him.

Then she looked up and his buoyant heart started to sink. She wore a sly grin that she had been hiding the whole time. He saw the flames of rebellion still burning strongly in her eyes. She was not defeated by any means and seemed about ready to counterattack.

“Okay mister Utho, since everything is okay now, we can go together?” she said with a wide grin.

Not a direct attack, he thought warily, she’s looking for an opening.

“Um, well you need to go back to the village now. I’m leaving and I can’t go back to take you there,” he said cautiously. He felt the sinking feeling reach his stomach as he said his words and an inkling of what she’d say next blossomed into tiny butterflies that flitted in his belly.

Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say, he thought desperately.

“Well you just said I shouldn’t travel alone and it’s dangerous. So how can I go back now,” she said sweetly.

Yep, that’s exactly what I thought you were going to say.

The floor rushed out from under him as he realised he was caught in an inescapable trap.

It would be a full two days to return the child and make his way back to this spot. That wasn’t counting any monsters he’d encounter on the way. No doubt as well the villagers would make a huge fuss and he doubted the little ankle-biter would let him drop her off so easily.

He estimated a four full days to get back to the progress he’d make so far. All just to drop his kid off at the village.

His mind was racing. There must be some loophole, some way to argue against her and to change the situation into his favour.

He saw she was sitting up, all trace of her previous melancholy was gone like snow in the summer sun. A shit-eating grin stretched from ear to ear.

When did she set up her trap? When exactly was he caught with no way out? Since when was she SO GODDAMN SMART?

He hung his head, the very picture of gloom.

“Very well, you travel with me,” he sighed, utterly defeated. By a tiny goblin girl, no less.

She whooped with joy, springing up and dancing with pure elation, almost throwing the fur in the fire in sheer happiness.

“Okay. Okay. Settle. Down.” he growled menacingly and she instantly sat back down, completely at attention. Her eyes were wide as she sensed his open bloodlust.

“First we set some ground rules. You must listen to everything that I say. Everything. No if’s and or buts (He saw her stifle a giggle at the word). Also, you will set up camp every time we stop. Everytime. No complaints, no dawdling. You will be doing hard work because you asked for it.”

He paused. She was listening to each word intently and gave no negative reactions to his stipulations. She wasn’t a bad kid and given that she was young, she’d learn to be wiser in their travels in good time. Also as a fighter, she wouldn’t be much of a burden to him in combat. Maybe it wasn’t the worst deal in the world.

“You will also return back to the village once I decide that you are ready to travel on your own.” He continued. “Now. I guess there’s one last thing to do.”

She seemed slightly upset at the prospect that she’d eventually have to return, but her curiosity was still piqued. “What else do we need to do?”

“I need to give you a name,” he said, satisfied now at her dumbfounded expression. She squeaked slightly before being able to speak.

“Wha-what do you mean give me a name? Only heroes get names. Like Brun. Like Utho!” she complained, but her eyes shining like starlight gave away her real feelings.

“Well, it’s not like you’re a hero yet. I’m just giving you a name because it’s easier for me,” he said, “and I have an idea of what I want to call you.”

He savoured the look of terror on her face as she realised he held the fate of her name in his hands. In the very hands that she had cheekily checkmated only moments before.

But he wasn’t that mean.

“Okay, your name is ‘Ashur’,” he said finally.

“I like that very much,” smiled Ashur.