Chapter 2: Goblin Is Optimistic
Being reincarnated came as quite a shock to me. After waking up for the first time I realized that my skin was green which caught me even more off guard. Naturally being the cool, calm, collected individual I am, I quickly adapted to the situation and definitely didn't have a mental break down.
Still being a newborn I wasn't able to move very well so I had plenty of time to gather my thoughts. After carefully piecing things together I came to the conclusion that the con artist (god) reincarnated me into a goblin.
Speaking of the con artist, I seem to recall being given an overly long explanation about the way things work in this world. I went out of my way to learn about the currency and different cultural norms.
Although most of the things I learned from the scheming con artist have been rendered completely useless due to my current dilemma, I remember hearing that all living beings in this world have a status. Their status contains information about them and their abilities.
The useless con artist said "all living beings". The trash master con man may not be trustworthy, but there is still hope implied in those words. Monsters are living things after all, and goblins are monsters. So, goblins should also have a status just like everyone else, monsters and animals included.
The only thing that worries me is that the back stabbing con artist only ever talked about how humans, elves, and other intelligent humanoid species use their status. The key word being intelligent. Animals and monsters, especially goblins, aren't exactly known for their intellect. In fact, they are mostly known for their lack of said intellect and how that ultimately causes their down fall.
Now then, moment of truth, according to the vile scum lord con artist in order to view your status you only have to think about it and it should appear in front of you as a screen that only you can see.
Although he who shall not be trusted said it isn't visible to others I would prefer to check my status in a place where others can't see just to be safe. Unfortunately I am unable to do that so I can only give up or take the risk. Since goblins aren't the brightest bunch I guess I'll take the risk.
Struggling to move my head I look around and check my surroundings. Although it is a bit dark in this here cave my eyes have adapted to the darkness well. Next to me on the fur I'm lying on are four ugly green goblins. Of course this is only what I can see. Looking around while lying on your back isn't exactly the best way to scout out your surroundings.
The other baby goblins don't look like they are able to move around either and their heads don't look like they'll be budging any time soon. As such, there is a goblin on my right who has their eyes firmly set on me.
Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I've finally firmed my resolve … [status open]
Name: Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 0
HP: 50/50 DEF: 20 STR: 30 AGI: 18
MP: 20/20 MGD: 20 MGA: 10 Points Available: 0
Skills: Adaptability; Night Vision; Superhuman Strength
Special:
It actually worked! From what I know an average adult human who has never fought or leveled should be have around ten for each stat. Goblins are monsters so naturally they get a little head start to make up for their lack of intelligence.
Considering that I am less than a day old having both an age and level of zero is completely understandable. I don't think goblins name their offspring, after all I've never heard of a normal goblin having a name.
The skills that I have are not too bad. Superhuman Strength should be a skill that most monsters get which is a small multiplier to strength. Adaptability allows me to better adapt to my environment and should be a standard goblin skill. Unless I'm mistaken my Night Vision skill should have been obtained because of Adaptability.
Special would be the place for cheats who get special abilities or divine protection. Unfortunately for me that kind of thing is usually reserved for heroes and special individuals, hence why it's called special. Naturally as a goblin I'm not privy to that kind of special treatment.
Being a baby is way too inconvenient. It takes a ton of energy in order to barely move an inch, and I don't really have anything else I can do. My options to kill time are as follows: move my limbs slightly, stare at the ceiling, think about random things, or sleep. You may have noticed that other than sleep the rest of the things I have an option to do can all be done at once, how versatile.
Since I'm a bit tired and there is literally nothing else I could possibly do I suppose it's time for a nap.
I take a light stretch as I wake up from my nap. Finally the advantages of being a goblin have a chance to shine through. Although I don't know how long I was asleep, it was long enough for me to have grown quite a bit. Not to mention, I now have a bit better control over my body and can finally move more than a few inches.
I can hear some noise coming from a distance. With a bit of effort I manage to sit myself up and look around. Currently we are inside of some sort of cave. From the looks of things there is only one entrance. If I had to hazard a guess I would say this is a room they use for raising newborns.
After a few seconds of waiting the source of the noise finally reveals itself. As expected, a wrinkly old goblin walks in using a stick as a cane. As his eyes scan the room he is visibly surprised when he notices me sitting up. Perhaps it's unusual for a goblin to move around and sit up on their own so soon, but do you really need to be that surprised?
After doing another quick scan of the other goblins I somehow understand why the old guy's so surprised. In total there are eight other newborns in the cave. Most of them are sleeping while the ones who are awake seem to barely be able to move their limbs.
I finish checking my surroundings and move my eyes back to the old goblin. He seems to have noticed my gaze and stares back at me. Squinting slightly I continue to stare, refusing to even blink.
After a few seconds the old goblin blinks a few times and looks at the other newborns before returning his line of sight to me. Noticing his look I give a triumphant smirk.
The old goblins face twitches ever so slightly before he turns around and leaves the entrance of the room, leaving me to my own devices.
Since I don't have anything to do I try to stand up. Unfortunately I haven't quite reached the point where I can do that yet. Unable to leave the room for the time being, I'm once again left with nothing to do but ponder the mysteries of the world.
Now that I think about it there's magic in this world. Although goblins aren't exactly known for their magical prowess, it doesn't hurt to try. The main issue now is that I know absolutely nothing about magic. Since I have MP that should mean I have the capacity to do magic right? In that case I just have to take my time and sense the magic in my body, maybe.
After a couple of minutes I have made approximately zero progress. Well, it's no real surprise considering I'm basically winging it.
Although I could keep trying to progress with magic there is still one more thing that I should probably do first. Come up with a name. As a highly intelligent and sophisticated individual it is entirely improper for me to go without a name.
Since my parents, whom I have never met, are shirking the responsibility of providing me with a name it is only natural that as their son I take over this duty.
Honestly I'm thankful that I haven't been named yet. If I was named then it would mean that a goblin named me. Although I've never bothered researching a goblin's naming sense I can only assume that it is as lacking as their intelligence. In this way, perhaps I am quite lucky.
Now, on to my magnificent name. If I'm going to have a name naturally it has to be something cool and noble to fit my demeanor. Not only that it must also be something easy to say, after all I don't want some buffoons mispronouncing it and turning my glorious self into a joke.
After a bit of contemplating I have narrowed down my choices to a few choices: Leon, a simple yet heroic and bold name fitting my character; Maltavious, an elaborate and cool sounding name suitable for a cool person such as myself; Siegfried, an elaborate and heroic name perfect for an adventurous spirit like me; and finally Jellal, mostly because I like the name.
Leon and Siegfried are both great names but I feel they don't really suit a goblin so I guess I'll have to pass on them. That just leaves Maltavious and Jellal. Maltavious, while a cool name, has a demon lord sort of vibe to it. If some goody too shoes heard it they would probably try to hunt me down. In order to preserve my life I guess I will have to put this name on the shelf as well.
In the end I've decided to go by Jellal from this point on. Whether or not it will be recognized by others is out of my control, but no matter what I will always be Jellal in my own mind.
Fufufu, now to see if it takes … [status open]
Name: Jellal Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 0
HP: 250/250 DEF: 30 STR: 40 AGI: 27
MP: 100/100 MGD: 30 MGA: 15 Points Available: 0
Skills: Adaptability; Night Vision; Superhuman Strength
Special: Named Monster
Seriously? It's that easy to become a named monster? I thought named monsters were supposed to be super rare and powerful. Why is it that all I had to do to become a legendary named monster was to give myself a name?
I knew monsters had a tendency to be a bit lacking in the brain department, but I didn't think it was to such an extent.
Named Monster seems to be similar to Superhuman Strength in that it gives a multiplier to my stats. It also gave me a sizeable boost in HP and MP. With this I should be one step closer to learning magic.
Although it was faint, I did have a warm feeling after I gave myself a name. In my opinion it could be one of two things. It was either a side effect of me becoming stronger as my stats increased, or it was because of the boost in MP. Personally I hope it was the later. If it was, then I would have at least some inkling of a direction to move towards in my pursuit of magic.
Steadying my breathing I try to recall the feeling I felt previously. Since I was getting distracted and thinking about my surroundings my concentration was slightly lacking. I close my eyes in hopes to improve my miniscule chances of learning magic.
Still I sense nothing special, but I refuse to give up so easily. In order to get in the right frame of mind I sit cross legged and place my hands near my knees like a monk in meditation. I refocus myself and seek to see deeper into myself, beyond the surface.
Just when I thought I was feeling something my concentration is interrupted. Once again there is someone noisily moving towards the entrance to the room. My face twitches slightly as I slowly open my eyes and glare toward the cave entrance.
Making his appearance once again is the old goblin. This time he is carrying some brown sort of cloth that's being used as a makeshift pouch.
After entering the room the old goblin puts down the cloth and picks up a few pieces of raw meat that was contained within. He takes the meat, which seems to have some sort of herb smeared on it, and brings it to the baby goblins.
For some reason I am the last to receive my food. As expected this geezer is a petty old fool who holds a grudge after losing to a newborn in a staring contest. Since he is being petty I glare at him as he starts to leave. Sensing my glare the old goblin turns his head to look back at me.
Right before he turned his head back I'm pretty sure I saw his face twitch, but that's to be expected from a petty geezer. The old goblin then proceeded to leave just as quick and noisily as he came.
Around me the other baby goblins are lying on their backs happily eating the raw meat they were given. I turn my gaze to the meat in my hand. I slowly bring the meat up to my face and give it a sniff. While it doesn't smell great at least it doesn't smell too bad, though that may have something to do with the herbs smeared all over it.
Strengthening my resolve I bring the lukewarm meat to my mouth and take a small bite. The meat is pretty tough, but luckily I have sharp teeth to tear through it. I do my best to force it down even though the mix of blood and flesh in my mouth tastes awful.
After finishing that sorry excuse for a meal I once again resume my meditative pose. Once more I close my eyes and focus inward trying my best to perceive that which can't be seen.
Slowly I start to feel something deep within. I take deep breaths to calm myself and try to go deeper, more precise. I immerse myself in the feeling and slowly back out from within, bringing my focus first to myself as a whole, and then outward beyond just me and to the world at large.
Success! I don't know if what I sensed was magic or something else, but I'm happy with the results regardless. Now that I can sense something after great focus the next step is to do it with my eyes open.
I once again begin focusing on the feeling I had before. This time I have to deal with the distractions in my surroundings as I keep my eyes open and alert, after all what good is magic if you can't see what you're doing and you leave yourself completely at the mercy of others when you use it.
The distractions in the surroundings cause problems at first, but I'm sure I can gradually adapt and manage to successfully sense my surroundings regardless. I may not be very good yet, but I have plenty of time on my hands. If things go as planned, it should just be a matter of time before I'm able to sense magic and my surroundings like it's second nature.
Failure! Time and time again I fall into the same trap. Just when I think I've got the hand of it something catches my attention and all the effort and concentration that I've put into sensing my surroundings goes to waste.
I don't want to admit it, but I may have slightly overestimated how difficult it is to sense my surrounds. It seems it isn't easy to pay attention to so many things at once. I thought it would be the same as it is with the rest of the body's senses where it would be able to just happen normally and I won't even have to think about it.
That thinking was naïve on my part. Now that I really sit down and think about it, it does make sense. The senses are like breathing, they happen naturally without having to think about it. If you had to think about breathing constantly you would have a hard time concentrating on anything. After all, if you stopped breathing because you were focusing on something else that would be pretty bad.
Regardless of my failed attempts I will definitely keep persevering until I can sense magic and my surroundings without thinking about it. Where does my confidence come from? This is a world of magic.
The existence of magic is something that is considered the norm, common knowledge if you will. As such, it is only natural that sensing magic should be considered normal as well.
If sensing and using magic is normal why are there swordsman and knights instead of everyone just using magic all the time? To that I say; don't think about things to deeply, my reasoning is completely airtight, perfect, flawless.
Spending too much time on the same thing can be detrimental to one's progress. They say if you focus too hard on one thing it's easy to miss what's right under your nose. With that reasoning I shall take a break from my practice and take a nap.
No matter how much of a magical genius I am I can't avoid the fact that I'm still a baby. In order to grow properly I need to take care of my body, and the best way to do that is to make sure I don't overwork myself.
It may have been less than a day so far but it looks like growing up and living as a goblin isn't going to be as difficult as I had originally imagined. Originally I was worried that I would end up being killed by adventurers before I even had a chance to settle in to this new world.
Adaptability truly is a skill befitting me. I was able to adapt to being in a new world and becoming an entirely different species. Soon I'll adapt to the magic in the world and be able to sense magic as easy as breathing.
I've let my thoughts wonder enough. My biological clock says it's getting late so I should turn in for the night. Given my growth rate I should be able to stand and move properly when I wake up tomorrow. Fufufu, when you're a child being a goblin is quite convenient isn't it?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone