Tia’s eyes snapped open as an unfamiliar sensation washed over her body. When she sat up from her bed, she immediately felt like something was different. Once she got up, the difference became even more apparent.

She had gotten taller. Additionally, aa full head of messy green hair fell on her face. Examining her limbs, she noticed that they had were longer too.

“Have I...”

Her suspicion was confirmed when the system gave her a message.

Congratulations

You have evolved from [Forest Goblin] to [Forest Hobgoblin]

All stats have increased by 20

Tia rushed out of her hut and was met with wide eyes by the other goblins out of their homes.

“Tia! You evolved!”

They began crowding around her, congratulating her for evolving. Throughout the history of her tribe, nobody had ever evolved.

“Fascinating. I didn’t expect to see a hobgoblin,” Ignia, the new resident of the settlement commented as the crowd parted for her.

“Thank you,” Tia quickly bowed.

“There’s no need for such pleasantries,” Ignia gestured for Tia stop bowing. “It’s evident that Mr. Blake values your presence more than mine here. As evident by your evolution.”

“Pardon?” Tia asked in confusion.

“The requirement for evolution is recognition from the system. To do that, you need to either accomplish a great challenge, create an evolution, achieve enlightenment, or recognition from someone who has done the previous three.”

“Wait... are you saying...”

Tia was interrupted by a not so familiar wyvern landing at the clearing nearby. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who went through an evolution.

“Is that Tia?” Syrus Blake asked as he stood on the back of his wyvern.

With her evolution, Tia now stood at exactly five feet and with a full head of messy green hair. Her physique was still slender and athletic, but her assets have been enhanced.

“Congratulations,” Syrus said before heading to his workshop.

Tia wondered if she should doubt Ignia’s words.

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Hunting captain

That was Sylvia’s official title within the settlement. A title officially recognized by the system as well as it gave her a stat boost whenever she was out hunting.

In truth, Sylvia didn’t feel like she deserved the title with Gluttony being the strongest in the settlement and Tia being the strongest player. There were also the two other combat goblins that didn’t talk. Sylvia couldn’t recall learning their names either.

The point was that there was no real meaning to her title other than the stat boost.

“Is everything alright, Captain?” Sevina asked.

Sylvia turned to the dark elf. “Yes. There was just something on my mind,” she replied as Elizabeth gave her a questioning look.

Sylvia didn’t particularly know Elizabeth’s relationship with her brother, and she didn’t really care enough to find out.

Her current hunting party consisted of herself, Sevina the dark elf her brother brough along, Elizabeth the support mage, and her friend Hanna. Their task was to clear out the danger zones, so they could move out without leaving any resources behind.

“This should be the last pack of wolves,” Sevina mentioned. “My tracking skill isn’t picking anything else.”

Sylvia nodded. “Then let’s end this quick and head back,” she instructed as her spear began to glow. “Ms. Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth nodded and stepped forward. She placed her hand on the ground as crimson mist began spreading towards the pack of wolves, crawling the ground like a living creature.

Once her mist reached the wolves, she stood up. “Line up!” Elizabeth yelled and the wolves began lining like a bunch of obedient dogs.

With her skill, hunting became easy as long as they weren’t ambushed.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Let’s finish them,” Sylvia twirled her spear and pierced the head of a wolf.

The others followed her example.

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Syrus laid back on his chair with a groan. Using his skill to enhance his wyvern took a toll on him despite specifying to only enhance the wyvern using half of his stamina as the limit. Apparently, the skill didn’t consider not touching his vitality.

Ignia called his current situation as having an internal injury. She advised holding back on any big projects until he fully recovers.

Good thing moving the settlement wasn’t a burden to him thanks to Elder Morac’s skill, mass relocation. It was a skill that allowed him to completely move a whole area to a different location. The only downside was that he could only use the skill once every year.

The goblins continuously prove how much of a valuable asset to him they were. “They’re certainly better than recruiting humans.”

“My lord,” Sloth spoke as he appeared in front of him. “I have procured another set of potential locations for your territory.”

Sloth, a unit he created with the same foundation as Gluttony. Capable of growth using mana stones, and equipped with his own symbiote armor.

His primary role wasn’t for combat, but intel gathering and management. Syrus had completely given him access to the outrider ravens, and by sacrificing any initial stats, he started with a warp gate skill that allowed him to open a portal anywhere he had been to.

“If there’s a settlement within fifty kilometers of the area, disqualify it,” Syrus stated.

Sloth nodded. “I will have the ravens scout the surrounding area of each location.”

Sloth bowed before leaving through a warp gate.

“For some with a name based on laziness, he’s pretty diligent,” Ignia commented as she entered his workshop.

“Do dragons not knock?” Syrus asked.

“My apologies,” Ignia replied. “I wish to discuss our deal.”

“Ah...” Syrus had yet to acquire information from Ignia because of how busy he was with planning the relocation.

Considering he couldn’t work on anything at the moment, now should be a good chance.

“First off. You should be aware of how valuable this dimension is,” Ignia began. “It has displayed the best mana conductivity so far across all dimensions. Once the system integration is completed, many powerful clans would come rushing to migrate here.”

“Is that good?”

Ignia shook her head. “There goal is to conquer and take over this dimension.”

“Ah... manslaughter it is.”

“With the quality of this world, I’m certain you natives would be able to put up a fight. But your opponents would be chosen heroes that have lived for centuries.”

“We got our own weapons,” Syrus smiled, recalling the regressor he encountered last time. “I’m certain there’s more of them out there.”

“Another thing you should consider is establishing connection with the system’s network,” Ignia stated. “That would give you access to knowledge you desire.”

“Can’t I just ask you?”

“You may, but my knowledge is limited. For example, I lack knowledge of summoners.”

Syrus raised an eyebrow. “Are summoners rare or something?”

Syrus had not encountered a single summoner ever since the world changed. Almost every other player that he encountered were either warriors or mages.

“You may say that,” Ignia answered. “The system only provides classes that relate to the individual and only a few gains the opportunity to choose “summoner” as their class and even fewer actually choose it.”

Syrus sighed. “How do I connect to this network?”

Ignia pulled out a device that had a glass sphere in the middle of it. “This is the equivalent of a computer in my dimension,” Ignia turned on the device and a holographic projection of a screen appeared.

“... are you telling me to google it?”

“What?” Ignia tilted her head in confusion.

“Never mind,” Syrus interacted with the device.

It reminded Syrus of the holographic touch screens commonly depicted in superhero and sci-fi movies. Once he figured out how to search for information, the device demanded a confirmation of Ignia’s identity to gain further access.

“The device is bonded to me,” Ignia revealed. “Only I can use it access the network. Even then, the knowledge I can acquire is limited as some require specific conditions.”

His eyes twitched.

“You may use the system shop to acquire your own.”

“I see,” Syrus said in irritation. “What else can you tell me?”

“Let’s discuss the rifts,” Ignia used her device to display the different types of rifts. “First is the dimensional rifts that we used to cross into this dimension,” the rift resembled a tear in the sky. “It's only temporary open and is a one-way trip. Next is dungeon rifts,” the familiar purple warp gate was displayed. “They contain monsters. You should already be familiar with this. Then there’s the variation rifts,” the images of different forms of portals were shown. “They represent the system’s desire for challenge. Lastly, there’s the native rifts,” a mirror like rift that had the image of a clear location inside it was shown. “They’re gates that connect different places in the same dimension.”

“Does Tia not know this?”

Ignia shook her head. “Not likely since she’s most likely from a remote clan or tribe. Information is restricted for them, so what she’ll know would be even more limited.”

“Sure,” Syrus was skeptical, but didn’t bother saying anything. “Tell me about what’s going to happen soon. I don’t care about the minor details for now.”

“Alright. With your world undergoing the second integration, it would soon be open to players under level fifty. With the big clans finding out how mana conductive this dimension is, they’ll start sending elites. Their own chosen.”

Syrus nodded. “I’ll deal with them. Anything else?”

Ignia raised an eyebrow at his confidence, but continued. “Hunters. Other dimensional players hunt down chosen players.”

“Still manageable.”

“The most important would be the dimensional merchants.”

That got Syrus’s attention.

“You can sell anything to the system but you can’t buy everything from it too. That’s where the dimensional merchants step in. If you get the opportunity to establish a connection with them, do not hesitate.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

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Evolution wasn’t something someone could just hand out, and yet the human named Syrus Blake not only caused a forest goblin to evolve but a wyvern as well. Even if it was his own unit, an evolution this early was unheard of.

There was also the powerful unit that slayed one of her kind. If left unchecked, they would soon witness the birth of the first hero ranked unit.

If she reported this to her family. Would they ask her to nip the problem in the bud, or establish a deeper connection.

Ignia won’t know until she reveals this knowledge to her family.