Chapter 3

Divine went to the small river first. To wash his hands and to test the water.

The water was very cold. Divine registered the temperature but it didn't feel uncomfortable for him.

The water looked clear like glass. Divine cupped himself a mouth full and tasted it.

The taste was actually nice.

When he turned back, the four goblins had finally dared to come out of hiding.

They came to the river to drink too.

One goblin stopped a little upstream from Divine.

The goblin lifted its rags to pee into the river.

Divine ran faster than ever before and gave that goblin a hard kick.

"Stupid frog. Don't dare!" Divine used a common Gobble insult and disciplined the goblin with a few more kicks.

Divine controlled his strenght carefully and didn't hurt the goblin much.

It should be thankful.

Divine made sure he was upstream from the other goblins and went into the water.

The river water felt very cool on his skin but not freezing at all.

Divine went farther in to clean himself up. He kept the rags on and kept one hand on his gourd.

After a thorough washing Divine felt much better.

He thought about it for a while and then left the few drops of spirit water in the gourd and filled it up with river water.

When Divine stepped out of the water completely wet, the goblins looked at him like he was crazy.

They were already freezing and shivering. The goblins' impression of Divine's danger level went up a notch.

They knew until Divine froze to death, they had to be careful around him. Never poke a dying orc was a goblin saying.

Divine wasn't an orc but the principle was still valid.

"Go back?" Barky showed his courage by questioning Divine in a small tone.

Divine wanted to skin the doe first before going back.

'Stop. Do I even want to go back to the goblin tribe?'

'I certainly don't have to.'

With the power of the knowledge Divine already had and the power he would gain from cultivation, this whole magical world was his oyster.

He had the confidence to rise up in every place and every civilization on the planet.

In the end Divine decided to stay in the goblin tribe for now.

He wasn't very keen on being the only goblin around.

Racism existed already between humans with different skin colors.

He could vividly picture the racism against a whole different race that not only wasn't human but had green skin too.

Especially since the goblins were such noble, pretty and friendly people.

Divine just wanted to tell Barky that they would only return after he skinned the doe, but he changed his mind when he heard a pack of wolves howling at the moon.

"Carry prey! Go back!" This time, the goblins followed Divine's order gladly and quickly.

They hurried back to the tribe.

Divine hadn't noticed until now how late it had gotten. With his good dark vision it was harder to tell when the night came.

Luckily they hadn't ventured far.

Suddenly a loud whooshing sound startled the group and every being around.

There was an indescribable pressure in the air.

The whooshing came closer.

Divine saw a bird above the mountain range.

'Oh, it is not a bird at all.'

It only looked like that because of the distance.

Divine tried to make out what it was and then it hit him.

A dragon.

Divine froze on the spot.

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The dragon got bigger and bigger. Closer and closer.

The giant red dragon scared the whole forest when it appeared.

It was a majestic terror gliding above them.

The appearance of the dragon was a wake up call for Divine. Surviving in this world would be much harder than Divine initially thought.

Luckily the dragon was just passing by and disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

After the group of goblins had collected themselves, they hurried back even faster.

The closer they came to the tibe's caves the more other tribe members appeared hurrying back from their own outings.

Some goblins came back in groups and some alone.

Since goblins were natural born cowards, no goblin went outside alone if they could help it.

That meant for every single goblin here there had to be at least one goblin that never came back.

The goblins carried little game, nuts or winter berries back to the tribe.

Some were transporting wood.

All were rushing like there was a dragon on their tail.

Divine's group joined the masses and used a different cave entrance than before that led directly to the main cavern of the Lost Tooth Tribe.

When other goblins saw Divine leading a group that hunted a doe they looked at him with respect.

When they noticed how wet he was that looked turned puzzled.

The main cavern of the Lost Tooth tribe was packed with goblins.

Many cooking fires were lit and sorrounded by many more goblins.

With one look through the crowd Divine noticed four different fights and two thefts going on.

And that was just a casual look.

The goblins with higher standing like the chief's followers and the tinkerers could eat from the three big pots placed on the higher end of the cavern.

The most notorious member of the Lost Tooth Tribe ruled over these pots and the food distribution.

Even the chief had to be careful around the tribe's shaman Witchtooth.

Divine searched for a good place for his group to set up shop.

A strong looking goblin nearby led his group to take over a fire pit from others.

After a little scuffle they took over successfully.

There was a fire pit in one corner that Divine liked.

He went there, followed by the four goblins.

Three weak looking goblins roasting a rat noticed Divine's group.

Divine just stared at them and they grew apprehensive.

Letting the tension built up for a moment, while the three goblins hesitated.

Fight or flight?

Divine threatened them with his rusty knife.

One of the goblins took the half grilled rat on a stick and just fled suddenly.

The goblin vanished in the crowd.

Its two companions froze for a second before they went after the goblin that took their food.

Divine indicated to his group they should put down their preys.

"Get me rope!" Divine ordered one of the goblins and it ran off immediately.

"You..." Divine pointed at Barky and another goblin. "... get firewood!"

"Go, fetch pot!" Divine even had a task for the last goblin.

Divine stood in front of the small fire, waiting for his goblin lackeys, drying himself and enjoying the warmth.

His gaze wandered through the crowd.

There were many goblins with varying degrees of injuries.

One goblin not far from Divine laid against the wall and looked like it already died.

A red wisp shone weakly from its body and Divine realized that this goblin was really dead.

No one seemed to care.

Divine shook his head at chaotic state of the tribe.

The rope fetching goblin came back first. It went through the crowd, found a female goblin that was tying ropes and just nabbed two.

When his lackey arrived with the rope, Divine went quickly to collect the donation of that poor dead goblin.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Then Divine helped his Lackey tie the doe's hind legs together.

Divine's strength that surpassed normal goblins was useful when they hung the doe on a rock outcrop.

An appropriate place to hang the prey had been a deciding factor in the choice of the right fire pit.

Barky brought fire wood and the other goblin came back with dried goblin feces.

Not only were dried goblin feces a good fuel it was the commodity the goblin tribe had most of.

One could find it everywhere in the Lost Tooth Tribe's caverns.

Goblins were definitely disgusting. Divine could even see a goblin relieving itself right in this heavily populated cavern.

It took a while until the last goblin lackey returned, not with a pot but with a black eye and some new bruises.

Divine contemplated if he should go seek revenge, but decided against it.

He just sent the other three to get a pot.

Divine let the hurt and ashamed goblin rest by the fire with the order to keep the fire going.

It took a little while but in the end the three goblins came back with a strange looking pot.

It looked like it had been part of an armor. A breastplate bent roughly in the shape of a pot.

It would suffice.

Divine placed the pot under the hanging doe.

The doe had already lost a lot of its blood but Divine still wanted to drain the rest.

He tried to open its throat with the rusty knife.

Since the knife was trashy and blunt Divine didn't have much success.

He looked at the knife in his hand and tucked it away next to his gourd.

A goblin's claws were much sharper, especially Divine's that already were strengthened by Qi.

After the throat was sliced wide open Divine let the rest of the doe's blood flow out into the armor pot.

Next he slit its belly open to take out the innards.

Divine didn't know where to toss the innards and looked around.

Many goblins stood around their fire pit and watched with hungry eyes.

Divine just threw the useless innards to the crowd and kept the

good stuff, the doe's kidney, liver and heart.

The goblins fought over Divine's garbage like wild animals.

It was amusing and sad at the same time.