Chapter 6: The Grind

Gob stared in awe of this red light, the embers dancing in the almost complete darkness of the cavern. The light mesmerised Gob, as he watched it wane then reinvigorate itself over the dried roots he had piled up. He sat, and wondered of what his life had become. He reminisced about his birth and upbringing, trying to decide which was better; the life of a slave, or the life of an outcast.

He sat, and thought until the light eventually disappeared. Gob lay down and rested his head on the pile of rabbit hide he had collected, his stomach full of the meat, his thirst quenched by the blood. He rested, for the first time in his life, he slept without worry of a beating waking him. In his dreams he saw the silhouette of a mighty creature, of which every living being stood in fear of. This creature turned to face Gob, only for him to wake up in a cold sweat.

"Gob no want that. Gob want be respect no fear." he said aloud, trying to calm himself. He looked around in the now pitch black cavern, hoping for some sort of help or guidance. None came, so he took it upon himself to become better. He had no clue how long he had slept, but he felt well rested. He gathered his things, then contemplated his task. He could just complete the objective and be done, but he wanted more. What if he completed all the tasks, maybe he'd get a larger reward?

So, he got to training. He ran around the cavern until he couldn't move any more, his legs aching from being overused. Then, as he was resting from excercise he would sit and think. He would draw symbols in the sand from this new language he had learned from the voice. When he felt more rested, up he got and trained more. He took the large stone he had pulled out of the wall, picked it up, and threw it, over and over again. He had no idea what would work, but he kept trying everything.

The voice, remaining silent for the entirety of Gob training, started thinking. 'What if Gob was indeed worthy?' it thought, contemplating Gobs' existence. The voice could not access any of Gobs' unique systems without permission of Gob, this included his stats, and his skills. They could not tell why this lowly Goblin was given access to them. It thought no more of Gob, and went back to viewing.

Gob, fell back, sweat beading down his crooked nose, landing in his mouth. He couldn't move any more, his head hurting from thinking, his arms ripping themselves apart from throwing the stone, his legs refused to move.

"Gob train hard." he said, his voice barely making a sound. "Gob do good."

Gob cracked a smile before going back to sleep, where he rested for hours on end. He dare not look at his stats, nor his task for fear of slowing down. Gob was intent on overachieving, and was working harder than he thought possible. When his rest ended, he stood back up, his limbs almost giving out on him, and he repeated his training. He had collected enough meat prior to survive another four sets of training, before he needed to hunt again.

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Gob was meticulous with his training; first he would run until his lungs were burning, then he sat and drew symbols in the dirt, when he was rested he would stand up and throw the large stone, when his arms gave out he would practice speaking in a more full dialect, when he was again rested, he would punch one of the hard stone walls until his fists bled, then he would sleep.

This repeated four or five times, before he had to hunt again. Gob made sure to be rested in time for the next hunt, he left all his belongings in his new home, and took only one of the horns.

"Voice" he whispered "Where are more rabbit?" he said, now speaking more fluently.

"There are several life forms ahead, Gob," the voice replied, shocked by Gobs new speech pattern "There are many more than last time."

"Gob no care, Gob want meat."

Gob snuck forward, down a narrow, winding cavern leading into an open ravine. He peaked his head over, and saw hundreds of rabbits below, all nested around a large thatch looking clutch. Gob searched for a way down, spotting a small set of footholds far from the rabbits. He crept around the top of the ravine, reaching the footholds. He contemplated his options; he could repeat his tactic from before, slowly taking out rabbits one by one, or, he could go down and try and take them out by force. Gob liked the second option, but was hesitant to take it.

He lowered himself down the footholds, reaching the bottom of the ravine. He was about ten meters from the start of the rabbits, he had to decide now. Gob steeled himself, and tightly gripped the horn.

"Ahhhhh!!" Gob screamed as he charged the rabbit herd. Before they knew what was happening Gob had taken the horn to the frontline, taking out rabbits left and right. The herd hesitated for a moment, allowing Gob to dive in the centre of them. He started swinging crazily, not missing a hit with the horn. Before long he had turned red with blood, striking fear into his prey. Some of the rabbits started fleeing, seeing this predator taking out its allies they ran, Gob continued striking. Stabbing the horn into crowds guaranteed at least one kill, that was Gobs' thinking.

By now, most of the rabbits realised what was happening, and started getting into position. They circled Gob, pointing their horns inward, and slowly closed the circle. Gob jumped up, dived behind the front line, and started stabbing again. A lucky rabbit dived at Gob, causing him to parry with his horn, snapping it. Gob had no weapon, many enemies, and was surrounded. He calmed himself, and let instinct take over.

He stood up and studied the area. He was circled, horns pointed inwards again. One stab and he was most likely dead. He needed to get a weapon and start killing again. He couldn't discern any from of leader in the crowd, but they were protecting something; the hut. He turned to face it, and most of the backline rabbits turned with him, crowding the hut. Gob crouched down, readying his plan.

The frontline rabbits all leapt forward, hoping one of them would at least graze Gob. But his training paid off, he leap forward, using their horns as leverage, and jumped over the frontline. He kept hold of the horns, and ripped them out of the rabbits heads, immobilising them. He had two weapons now, and a goal. The rabbits, clearly frazzled by Gob, tried to encircle him again, but he was too quick this time, and started stabbing into whatever fur he could see. Gob began to see the herd thin out, he had finally started to see the end of the fight. He kept killing, hoping it would end soon.