Of all the worlds that exist, a god was there to guide it, the younger the world was, the more a god’s influence was allowed into it. As the god successfully stabilized the sooner that their influence waned on it. Then after a while as the world becomes more stabilized, they can leave it alone now. The worlds that the gods stabilized would increase their influence and power among other gods.

This was the problem with the world where Skulk was incarnated. The god himself admitted that this was the first world he had ever governed and it was threading on the brink of destruction. It was because of magic, as far as its usefulness stretched, the hard it was to contain especially when the intelligent species of the world began abusing it.

Although the god was struggling in managing the world he was given, he was awarded when he found an Aetheris Stone spawned in the world that he was managing. It was a stone of power that the gods really coveted.

That luck was also the same reason that he was getting targeted.

Still, gods had some rules between them. A god could not invade or meddle in a world that wasn’t theirs. This was where the dungeons go in. First of all, dungeons were different, dungeons would usually begin to sprout after a certain period of the development of the world and dungeons, are the ripples of other worlds.

This meant a god of another world could send a champion of their own to steal the Aetheris stone. Still, there were some requirements to be fulfilled. It was to create a dungeon overflow.

“If another senior god puts me under his wing then it would be much simpler… but that’s very rare,” the god spoke in a hopeless tone.

“I understand… that’s literally a big problem,” Skulk said as he began to think.

“Your body is almost on the ground, we are losing time… last question,” the god said urging the goblin to think immediately.

“Lammy… I don’t understand Lammy, why would she do the things that she did? I don’t intend to bring her under my control though,” Skulk asked just out of curiosity.

“Lammy is the real first follower I ever had, the powers I gave her were also well used in preserving the whole forest, don’t worry, I will tell her to reveal everything,” the god spoke.

Skulk then raised his fingers for just one more sentence “I have a suggestion, would it possible to…” Skulk continued speaking as the light enveloped his sight.

<--->

“Thud!” Skulk felt his head hit the ground, he opened his eyes and two wallowing eyes were staring at him directly like it was staring at its prey.

“Lammy, you are scary,” a nonchalant reaction from the goblin.

“Did you sssseeee him? The god of thisss world? Issssn’t he amazzzzzing?” Lammy enthusiastically said she was back on her usual slithery sentences.

“Yes… Uhm… did the god say anything to you?” the goblin stood up and smiled at Lammy, as soon as he was back on his feet, the Aetheris Stone slowly went back to the pool.

The snake began laughing, a sweet sound of slithering tongue. “He already told me even from before, I will tell you whatever you wanted to know, ask away!” the snake said.

“I want you to tell me everything, please… I want to understand you more!” Skulk bowed, although they were on the same side of the god, he could tell that Lammy understood more and knew everything about the forest since she had been the keeper of the forest for the longest time.

“Of courssssSsse, where ssshHHould I ssSSstart then?” the snake was eager to tell everything not because of the god’s words to her but because she was rather feeling lonely that she had been behind the maintaining of the forest for a very long time.

<--->

After two weeks since the fight against Daigo, the goblin village was bustling again, it was the day of celebration for Skulk’s becoming a Lord of the Forest.

On the wooden stage in the middle of the village. All of the lords were there and the chieftain of the goblin was the one who began announcing each of the lords.

The first to enter was the fox, Rory brought a lot of wine with his arrival that was brought by his kin.

“The Seven Tailed Fox! Rory!” the chieftain of the goblin pronounced it on a sound crystal, another invention from the goblin.

The fox directly went into the wooden stage with a smirk.

Then just to steal the show, a loud array of howls began in the back of the crowd of beavers, goblins, moles with a few born babies, and snakes. “Awooo!!”

Then the large wolf began walking with a ferocious grin. His tooth was a bit shiny as the goblin had cleaned his mouth two days prior.

“The Silver Mane Alpha! Razorback!” the chieftain tried to scream to not be drowned in the sea of claps and howls.

The wolf smirked at the fox which the fox just rolled his eyes off. The wolf stood beside him and sat making him look much more bigger. Even the newborn baby moles stood behind their parents as the wolf presented himself.

The next one who arrived was the large ogre, the last of its kind, Daigo’s presence stole the show, although he was not as big as the wolf, his muscles and visage screamed with awe and terror. He eyed the human that was among the crowd.

“The last Ogre! Daigo!” that was the only title and description the chieftain could come up with. The ogre didn’t care while the wolf glared while thinking ‘It would be fun to fight him.’

The ogre didn’t climb up onto the wooden stage since he was really heavy, he just stood near it.

The village’s site was under the sun so it was strange that shadows began looming around it. A loud sound of “Coo!! Coo!!” resounded in the whole forest. As the crowd looked up, a rare sight of the nocturnal owl circling from above, 5 of them, 2 big ones and 3 smaller ones.

Skulk began doing some crowd control to create some space in the village. 3 of the owls landed in the village while the large one landed on the wooden stage.

“The Great Owl of the night! Fenn!” the chieftain still announced the arrival of the owl. The owl reacted by cooing a bit and tittering his head out of approval.

The crowd of monsters was surprised, even the beavers lost their usual cheery self as they saw the owl, Skulk who was among the crowd was surprised, the owl was much scarier than the dragon that was just standing beside him in his human form.

Horus who was watching the goblin’s reaction began speaking “The beavers tried to take a bit on their tree once… they regretted it, the only time Fenn stopped hunting them was when he killed the old beaver who was the leader before…” a small story from the Dragonoid before moving as the next one to go into the stage.

“The god of Flame! The Dragon! Horus!” the chieftain announced, Horus reacted by flashing his body with fire but without the intention of burning anyone around but it was warm.

As he climbed up the wolf, Razorback stared at him “Let’s have a spar sometimes!” the wolf said.

“Of course, visit me in my dwelling if you want to!” Horus said.

A creeping sound began to resound throughout the whole village, they knew who it was, the most respected creature in the whole forest, she was really long but she moved with elegance. She brought a few of her kin that were slithering around the village, they didn’t need to enter since they could extend themselves upwards.

Lammy instantly found Skulk and began moving closer to him.

“Is it my cue?” Skulk asked and he jumped as soon as Lammy’s head was close enough.

“It is time,” Lammy said and the snake winked at the goblin chieftain who instantly tensed up.

“The guardian of secrets, Lammy the snake and the new lord!-” but before the chieftain continued, Skulk made a sign with a finger on top of his lips, the chief instantly knew what it meant.

The chieftain waited until they reached the stage, Lammy slithered just beside the stage while Skulk vaulted from the snake’s head into the stage.

“Ahem! And the new lord of the forest, Skulk the goblin!” the chieftain followed through with his announcement.

This was the cue to make the whole crowd applaud and cheer for the new lord. For some reason, the trees began to move and petals from the forest on the other side of the river bank began to blow, this was pink-like petals that made the scene more beautiful.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In just a glance at the direction of the wind, he immediately saw the dryad. It was waving at him.

As the crowd cheered, Skulk raised his hands to take their attention. It was time to tell them the reason for his arrival in their world.

“Guys! All of the things that I’m going to tell you are true so you have to listen carefully!” Skulk said before beginning his exposition “Where do I even begin…”

Skulk began telling the story of the first day he was born. He didn’t have to say every detail but he made sure to tell them what the god had told him. This totally surprised the whole group and made them more serious about listening.

“How long do you think we got?” Daigo asked.

“A few more yearssSss… At itssss bessst,” it was Lammy who answered.

“But I have a plan! God allowed an upgrade in the system in the world!” Skulk was still bright against the aghast faces of the monsters that were listening to them. “Monsters can now evolve!!” he declared.

The monsters that were listening were surprised, they literally didn’t have any idea what the goblin was talking about but Lammy did understand it since the two had already talked about it.

“As an example, I would do an evolution now but let me explain some things first!” there were some rules in the evolution of a monster. The rules and explanations were passed through Lammy by the god himself.

The first rule was a monster must be already on a certain level requirement. It varies depending on the species. Then the final requirement was to touch on a stone. Skulk used his bag to put out a stone. It was not the Aetheris Stone, rather it was a carved stone that was blessed by the god himself.

“For me! I only need 30 levels and I’m already level 78,” Skulk touched the stone and he began shinning (Like a Pokemon!) it blinded the whole crowd and after a while the same goblin was still standing there but he was a bit smaller and his features were more defined, there was even a horn that sprouted on his head, it was small.

“Behold! My new species!” then he tapped his chest checking on the new information on it.

Skulk Lv78

Species: Goblin* (This is an update added by the gods when he agreed with Skulk)

Title: Degaya, Weirdo, Hunter, Disciple of the War Maiden, Razorback’s Friend, First of the Evolved, The first Goblinoid

Status: Well Conditioned, Lucky, Blessed by the Gods

Job: Spell Blade

Skills: Sword Mastery Lv10(+3), Sword Wave Mastery Lv10, Elemental Sword Lv4

Magic: Fire Magic Mastery Lv10(+3), Wind Magic Mastery Lv10(+2), Sword Summon Lv3

Then he tapped his chest again putting down the status screen.

“I’m now evolved! As a Goblinoid!” Skulk pronounced loudly and the crowd began to cheer.

<--->

The party was going on and already some of the monsters began to evolve during the party. Johanna was watching from afar, she was silent. She was shaken to her core by the fact that some information from her faith was beginning to make sense even in her old age.

A goblin approached her with another drink in his hands. “Johanna! Why are you there? Even the beavers are looking for you,” he said with a happy tone in his words.

Skulk had already changed, he was a red-brown goblin before, but now he was colored pale crimson red, and the magic that Johanna could feel from him was already on another level. After getting closer she could define the small horns on the goblin’s head.

“Skulk… you look scarier than before,” Johanna said while looking at the goblin, she took the wooden mug that the goblin was handing over.

“I like your new dress, made of the wool I gave you right?” Skulk was still friendly as ever to the old woman.

“Thanks... I really appreciate that praise, does it look good?" then she turned around to let the goblin take a look at her dress.

"It's good!" Skulk said after the old woman finished her turn.

Johanna's "I have to tell you something,” Johanna said before taking a swig on the mug, it was not an alcoholic beverage rather, it was a fruit juice. “Hmm, this tastes good, you should also call that snake too. She is the oldest of the lords right?”

“You sound so serious, I would do!-” Skulk approved and placed his mug on one of the branches “-She also had evolved, she is now a half snake, half human monster, she’s a Lamia now!” and he instantly disappeared, it was a new magic that he learned.

…

Skulk was sitting on a branch while a large Lamia was there too, her body was wrapped on a tree trunk.

“I will begin now, I don’t know if this has something to do with what the god had told you everything that you said but let me tell you about the faith that the humans follow,” Johanna said at the two terrifying monsters in front of her eyed her. She was terrified of the Lammy even the first time she saw her and now she was more stronger.

“This would be very interesting!” Lammy said, she was now speaking properly and was already and her chest was covered with a scale. It was the first time that the two of them met though Skulk had spoken about her a few times.

Zoryan Faith was centered around a prophecy that the first priest received thousands of years ago. It was the eminent catastrophe that was going to destroy the continent and the savior that was going to be the one to fix it all.

It was said that the prophecy was talking about a specific job of the savior and it was the Spell Blade job. This job unfortunately appeared during the time of Johanna’s period of service to the kingdom. Because the humans are bestowed with jobs during their 10th birthday there was no way that they could hide it from the kingdom.

The prophecy told that the spell blade must travel into the heart of the Reed Forest to retrieve a special stone.

Johanna was included in the party that explored the Reed Forest which was declared as one of the most dangerous places in the whole realm known to man.

The expedition was a tragedy and was immediately stopped when they encountered the Chimera. The savior that owned the Spell Blade job died in the process and only 5 survivors went home and Johanna was the only one who still had a complete body part.

They even tried to hunt it down a few more times with the best of what the kingdom could offer but it was at the peak of its power at that time, knights and adventurers perished but still failed.

The last try was the worst outcome, it was her second time trying and again, only 3 of the 10-man party she led went home.

Johanna’s story ended there.

“And now, I’m the Spell Blade,” Skulk muttered.

There was no change in the demeanor of the snake as she processed every word that Johanna said.

“I came back here because-” there was a slight pause and a hint of sadness in the old woman’s eyes “I wanted revenge… that expedition was considered one of the greatest failures of the kingdom, I didn’t want to die before I tried once again, luckily the Chimera was already weakened…”

Skulk remembers that time he met the Chimera, the monster was just waiting in its den with a sword on its back. The wound that had been pestering it for years weakened it, few times using the dragon scale he tried to offer the removal of the sword but until the bitter end the Chimera didn’t communicate with him.

“The Chimera was a monster that was sent by the god, he was supposed to guard the Aetheris Stone… but it got lonely and tried to find a kin… it grew mad,” it was Lammy that was speaking revealing far too many things.

“When I fought it, I felt that it was actually trying to die” Johanna began to reminisce about the fight against the Chimera.

<--->

Years ago… when Johanna’s last attempt to solo the Chimera.

The Chimera looked at her eye to eye. The lion's head cracked a smile-like visage showing a tooth. It breathed air and roared at her.

It was the beginning of their bloody battle.

The chimera had been waiting for her for a long time now. It began circling around the old woman like she was her rival. Since the first trade, the forest had been silent.

The old woman knew that the chimera had also fallen from its power, it's not only that disgusting poisonous smell that was attacking her nose but there was also a tinge of putrid smell coming from the Chimera, it must be the sword that their captain left on its back.

The two like their natural intuition began a charge and they traded in melee, Johanna struggled as she parried claws and teeth, the tail attacks and tackles. She was well trained, she had fought against large beasts during the wars she had been in.

She just had to hold on as long as she could and maybe, just maybe she could exploit some kind of weakness.

Dodging and dodging, parrying none breathe attacks, keeping her distance, she could tell that the Chimera was beginning to lose its strength. Added that she would try to counterattack on the blind spot, the Chimera was slowly losing so much blood.

The forest was silent while their battle echoed in the forest. It had been already an hour since the battle started.

“Breath again,” she said as she saw the Chimera pull its neck into the air. The old woman was experienced enough to read the magic that was swirling in the air. She waited first before the Chimera began its breath attack. “There!” she muttered as the Chimera bent its head, it was going to do a sweeping breath attack.

Johanna began running on the other side of the starting point of the breath attack. In a mere flash, the forest lightened up as the Chimera scorched the earth.

The leaves and the trunks of the forest were somewhat resistant to fire but some of it still burnt, it would not spread but Johanna felt the heat of the fire it was spitting, she successfully evaded the fire and he launched another attack on its back.

The Chimera roared in pain as Johanna regained her distance against her.

“That was deep…” she said, she could tell that she landed a good one on the Chimera, “You felt that huh?” she taunted.

The Chimera answered with a roar and their melee began again. “But it's not only you who could use magic!” she screamed.

She began to cast but to her surprise, the Chimera that should have been weakened sprang into the air. As its vitality renewed it pounced into the old woman.

Johanna tried to dodge with a roll but she still got some claw on her back. She screamed in pain as she stood up again after a roll. “That hurts!!” she was back on her feet and the Chimera was already on another attack.

She dodged again immediately taking another potion from her bag, she immediately downed it in one gulp as she stayed low, the Chimera had some trouble finding her since it was already dark.

The charred ground made the forest a better place for that final battle. It was still midday, she thanked Zorya that the den of the Chimera was not that far from the edge of the forest where she came through or she hadn’t encountered any other large beast.

She could feel the effect of the potion she just had down, it would stop the wound for a while but it would probably open again when they began fighting but it didn’t matter.

“I’m here!” Johanna screamed and the Chimera instantly found her.

There was a stare-down for a while and they began charging at each other, this time Johanna’s shield turn to break down, and her pinky finger was gone too in the process.

“Aargh!!” she didn’t scream because of pain rather it was because she wouldn’t be able to weave properly if she lost another one. “You are going down!” she roared.

She inflicted deep wounds on the Chimera’s front hinds, and when the monster turned she confirmed it herself. If it was a human who had that wound they would probably be dead.

“Searing Flame!” rather than casting a spell she sent some arrows of flame, it was a quick cast of magic, the Chimera. “Smoke!” another quick cast spell that engulfed the whole area with a smoke screen.

The chimera which was disoriented quickly flapped its wings making the smoke leave the battleground clearing it up. Blood splattered as it did, it was losing so much blood.

It immediately saw the old woman who was in the air to pounce a piercing attack, it immediately reacted by spinning around creating a powerful vortex, but that was a decoy, the old woman’s body splashed as the water decoy got squashed.

“The smoke also blocks magic reception!” the old woman screamed even though the Chimera didn’t understand a word, she was already ready to launch a final attack.

The old woman was a user of Water and Fire magic and the downside of it was that it was really hard to use together unless it was a combo magic like the smoke she used just now.

“Eat this!!” she said, it was her last recourse and it was a magic that she invented herself. Combination magic would drain one's magic twice the normal ones.

“Grr…” was the last sound the Chimera did before going down.

“I’m drained… wait, that all it takes?” she muttered before falling down to her knees.