Chapter 4

Divine carefully pulled the pelt off the doe.

With his claws it was pretty easy.

When he reached the doe's head, he left it and cut the pelt at the neck off.

He laid the pelt next to him on a stone near the fire to dry.

Next he cut himself a big part of the neck.

Divine put the heart and liver on a stone that he put at the edge of the fire. The kidney he just left.

The neck meat got cut into long pieces that he put on sticks. And then held them over the fire.

Divine looked at his lackeys and indicated that they could take whatever from the rest of the doe.

Barky shot nervous glances at Divine when he was cutting off a whole leg.

When Barky was done he took off. Very fast.

A little goblin running away with a whole doe leg over its shoulder looked amusing.

Divine didn't care that Barky split. He had no illusions and knew that one couldn't count on goblins.

He continued to grill his meat and kept an eye on the others.

The three lackeys that stayed sat around the fire and copied him.

When the first parts were done, the heart and liver, a goblin couldn't suppress its hunger anymore.

It ran forward and tried to steal one of Divine's meat sticks.

Divine already counted on something like this happening and was ready. He punched that goblin hard.

Like a puppet that got its strings cut the goblin went down.

It was out cold.

It worked really well as a warning for the other goblins that struggled with the temptation.

Divine was eating when a really old looking goblin stepped up to the fire.

The old goblin 's skin was wrinkled. It had many scars that told of a hard life and a missing canine.

Divine knew the old goblin's name from Snarky's memory.

Old Tooth had found a way to live on in his old age even through he could't hunt or raid anymore.

Old Tooth gathered the few old goblins the tribe had and took care of orphaned and abandoned little goblings.

Since goblins grew up so quickly Old Tooth pretty soon got his claws in the next goblin generation. And even through not every goblin he raised rewarded his efforts, it was enough to survive.

Old Tooth hobbled closer with his walking stick.

Behind Old Tooth followed two other oldies and five rowdy little goblings, who all had only eyes for the food.

Old Tooth's cloudy eyes roamed over the hanging doe, the pot of blood and the fawn's corpse.

"Good hunt?" Old Tooth was looking at Divine while asking.

Old Tooth visually sniffed the sizzling meat in the air.

Divine just nodded and adjusted his meat sticks, so they wouldn't burn.

The rest of his meat would be done soon.

'After I finish eating I want to find himself a place to hole up and cultivate.'

"Snarky, good goblings share." Old Tooth used his signature saying in the same strict tone he always used to educate the goblings.

Since not every goblin Old Tooth took care of gave something back, the old goblin learned it could raise the success rate by conditioning the goblings with this saying.

Old Tooth's backup looked at Divine expectantly with their big eyes.

Divine didn't care about the leftovers, since it was too hard to store them in his current situation.

But he cared about establishing his new name. It was important for him and he didn't want to be called Snarky. No way in hell.

"Old Tooth, me Divine."

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The old goblin and the tranmigrator looked at each other seriously.

"Divine", repeated Old Tooth in acknowledgement.

Divine nodded satisfied and indicated the pot of blood and the rest of the doe.

Old Tooth gave him a toothy smile and sent the oldest gobling into the crowd.

Divine concentrated on eating and grilling again.

Soon another group of goblings came over and together under Old Tooth's watch they carried the pot of blood away.

They were all excited to make blood soup with meat and bones.

Before Old Tooth's group could carry the rest of the doe away another group of goblins showed up.

Three of the chief's direct followers showed up to collect a share.

The chief's followers identifying features were their equipment.

All three weren't wearing dirty rags.

They clothed themselves in something one could classify as dirty pelts.

Two of the goblins had spears with stone tips and the last one even had a rusty sword.

The elite of the tribe. Only the best hunters and fighters enjoyed the chief's favor.

Beside the pretty female goblins of course.

The leader of the three, the one with the sword looked around maliciously. "Me Sharptooth. Give share for great Chief Mouth!"

Old Tooth already wanted to hand over the rest of the doe, but Divine stopped it and handed the fawn over to Sharptooth.

For a moment Sharptooth looked like he wasn't satisfied and still wanted the rest of the doe. But in the end Sharptooth turned around and left with the other two.

Finally Divine's meat sticks were done completely.

The meat lacked salt and spices, but his new goblin taste buds had enjoyed the taste anyway.

Divine took the rest of the meat sticks and got up.

Grabbing the still drying pelt he left in the direction of one of the tunnels.

Only one goblin in the crowd tried to nab a meat stick from him on the way. That got dealt with easily with a fast kick.

When Divine got into the tunnel he saw a hungry looking female goblin sneaking after a goblin, that was carrying some nuts and berries away.

The female jumped the goblin and tried to knock it out with a wooden stick.

That goblin was very alert and reacted in time to block the stick with its arm.

Quickly the tables turned and the female got disarmed and beaten to the ground.

The goblin had a wicked gleam in its eyes when it noticed that its attacker was female.

But it kept looking around on the ground where its gathered food lay and then to the tunnel entrance.

The goblin saw Divine and hurriedly gathered its food back up.

The female goblin stirred and the goblin gave her a warning grunt and a kick.

Then the goblin turned around to leave. In a flash the female jumped up and hammered a stone on the back of the goblin's head.

After four hits the goblin finally stopped moving and the female goblin sank hurt and exhausted next to the dead body on the ground.

Suddenly Divine heard a sound from behind him and almost got a heart attack.

But it was only one of the lackeys that had followed him into the tunnel.

'I have to be more alert. Safety first. Constant vigilance!'

Divine went to the dead body and collected the experience for witnessing that.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

The female stirred again and Divine quickly left.

Divine went farther into the tunnel. He searched for the place Snarky had lived at.

On the way he kept his eyes open. He especially kept an eye on the lackey that was still following him.

After a turn in the tunnel he first saw the primary source of light in the tribe's place. Glowing mushrooms.

The glowing mushrooms had a really nice smell and a great influence on the air around them, almost like an aura.

That tempted many goblins every year to eat them. And then they died.

Divine saw many goblins on the way. Mainly sneaking around or fucking like rabbits.

He only saw most of the stuff because he especially took quick looks into the caves. Curious about the neighbors and looking for real estate in the area.

Maybe he would find something better than Snarky's little cave.

Divine noticed the fact that he almost never saw goblins eating here in this tunnel.

The tribe was suffering from starvation and overpopulation.

In one little cave not far from Snarky's he saw a pair of goblins eating some raw meat.

They were eating with gusto and had fresh blood running down their chins.

A little disgusted Divine looked away and noticed what they were eating. It was another goblin.

They were cannibals.

Divine cursed in his mind.

'I can't live in a cannibalistic tribe. But wandering outside, where the dragon and who knows what else is running around, is not a good option right now. Hopefully these cannibalistic goblins are the exception and not the rule.'

Divine moved fast, let the pelt in his hand fall to the ground, ran over while drawing his rusty knife and made two quick and precise stabs.

The goblin were so engrossed in gorging themselves that the pair noticed Divine much too late and went down with holes in their necks.

Divine felt like he adapted a little too fast.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

From the goblin they used as a meal was still enough left, that Divine could harvest a Blood Qi Essence.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Now Divine had blood on his hands again and reluctantly cleaned them on the 'washed' rags he wore.

He had already done that when he was eating, because he did not have a better alternative, so it wasn't really a problem. Only an annoyance.

'Hopefully the new pelt will dry soon and won't get too dirty until then.'

Suddenly Divine heard crying.

He investigated and found four goblings laying in a corner.