**

I woke up the next day and i was unable to move. It felt as if I was pinned down. When I opened my eyes, in front of me are rubbles of rocks. I screamed out loud what I was thinking.

"What the hell!?"

Using my [Advance Earth Manipulation] ability i shaped the rubbles and rocks around me so that i could stand up. I looked around and beneath me was the bed i was sleeping in from last night. Surrounding the bed were books, pieces of wood from the shelves that the books were on and animal skin from the bed's bedding. As I looked around tears began to fall from my eyes. Everywhere i looked were rocks and rubbles instantly I think about the Blossom, Buttercup, Mojo and the rest of the goblins. I use my [Advance Earth Manipulation] ability again to lift the rocks and rubbles from my path to search for the others. I walked into their bed room and what i saw made me tremble and tears continued to fall from my eyes. The bodies of the everyone inside the room was crushed by the weight of the rocks and boulders that fell from above them. The blood that was splattered everywhere dyed the room in red. I scream out in disbelief.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Thought run through my head.

'How did this happen? Why did this happen? and who's responsible for this?'

Suddenly my memories play back to me like a video. An ability called [Organized Memory Bank] was labeled on the video.  The video played in my head and it showed me eating an old lady in the wood. After the scene with the old lady, the scene changed with me in a prison. In the prison I was with a young female who's arms were around my neck then i ate her. I fall on my knees in shock and disbelief. I don't remember doing any of this, but my memory clearly shows me that i have done them. With [Organized Memory Bank] I could recall my memories and replay it as if it was a saved video on a camera. How could I have done something so vile.  I stood up from where i was sitting and stared at everyone in the room. First it was One now the rest are gone. I stood there thinking I felt numb with mixed emotions. I was angry for who ever responsible for this but at the same time I am pained at what just happned. I decided to not wallow in grief and move on. Though its hard i need to keep living and imust find out what happened.

After saying my farewells, one by one I burned their body using [Thermokinesis] ability that i gained from eating the young female human in the prison. This must be what they call karma. Still the whole event made me feel furious. This incident couldn't have just happened because of what i did. This was an extermination. I need to find who ever did this and why. After properly burning the bodies of the hobgoblins and goblins, I grabbed a robe that was laying around and put it on. I left the cave or what use to be a cave using my [Advance Earth Manipulation] ability. I shaped a path for me to escape the place. Once i was outside i turned and looked at the area where the cave under the water wall use to be. The surroundings was utterly destroyed. Then suddenly the grunt looking man came out of nowhere.

"Master! You're alive."

The sight of him made me glad. Instantly i asked him in an angered tone.

"What happened here?!"

The grunt looking man looked down after I asked my question. I asked him again with an irritated tone

"Look at me and answer my question!"

After asking my question i grabbed his shirt and lifted him up. The grunt looking man looked at me with at me with a terrified look.

"They came from the north! Then they used their magic to cause the cave-in to happen. After that they went around every cave and did the same as this one. They were looking for hobgoblins."

When I heard his answer i realized they were looking for me. I caused this to happen and Its my fault that everyone died. My strength diminished and released the grunt looking man from my my grip.

"I need to know who ordered this. Guide me north to where these people came from."

"As you command master."

I followed the grunt looking man into a road that led north. There were carts and carriages pulled by horses that traveled the path. As i followed the grunt looking man i realized that i have never asked him for his name. I decided to ask him while walked.

"You! what's your name?"

The grunt looking man stopped walking and turned to me. He bowed his head then introduced himself.

"My name is Jin Ule."

I walked beside him and he we continued to walk as we had a conversation.

"Jin Ule. Huh, how did you become part of the guild that you were in?"

Jin rubbed his head and looked up at me.

"Well I use to be a slave. Then i escaped, I traveled the lands learning and honing my skills while I search for bredrins and the rest of my tribe"

'So humans in this world enslave each other also.'

I thought to my self while i stare at Jin, I suddenly feel pity towards him.

"How has your search gone so far?"

"I found some of my kinsmen as slaves to nobles, others have died trying to escape so they were hung and displayed outside the city wall of Shroom."

"Shroom? Where is that?"

"Its the city north of here it would take five days for us to reach by riding on horse but on foot, it would take longer."

'If i traveled alone i could reach the city faster than that. But I don't want to attract unwanted attention. Its best if I travel like normal humans.'

"Let's start our travel."

Jin guided me to the north after two weeks of traveling on we arrived at a city called Shroom. The city of Shroom, is one of the largest cities in the continent so says my guide. The first thing we see are the slaves hung in front of its the high walls. Jin walks up to one of the corpse that hung near the gates. The corpse that he stood in front of was a female that has been stripped naked. It had cuts and bruises on the flesh of the corpse that's still visible. The copse has a sword and spear embedded through it. The spear was pierced through her private part and went out through her mouth. While the sword went through he stomach and out of her back. Jin started saying words I didn't understand. The words he spoke seemed like prayers. As he say his prayers tears ran down his eyes. I became curious and asked him who this person was.

"Jin who is this person?"

"This was my mother."

Jin's answer shocked me. Humans of this world go as far as this to their own kind. I looked left then right and the walls were lined up with similar corpses. I asked Jin why hasn't he try to take it down or steal the corpse. He said that the corpse are watched day and night and who ever removes it will replace the corpse.

One of the guards guarding the gates yelled at us. Telling us to move away from the corpse. After a while the guard came up to us bringing comrades with him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Hey! Big guy you don't want to listen?"

The guard tried to intimidate me with his words. After brushing off what he said he turned to violence. The guard shouting at me used his spear and struck me with the end. I didn't feel anything but afterwards he laughed and continued to shout things at me.

"Are you deaf?!"

Jin turned to me and insisted that we listen and move. I turned to the guard who was shouting none sense and used [Brainwash] ability. I also used it to the guards who came along with him. I ordered them to remove the corpse that hung in front of us and wrap it up nicely. They did as I commanded and afterwards i told them to go back to their post. I gave the corpse to Jin and told him to take as much time he needs to bury his dear departed mother then once he's done to return to me. Jin thanked me and left with the corpse of his mother.

I entered the city by myself and in the city gate, there is an unending flow of traffic, and once I was inside, I immediately see all sorts of shops. People everywhere were leaving and entering the shops. It was a very cluttered place filled with people bargaining and trading. The place where I arrived had stables and inns at the entrance of the city gates.

As I walked around I realized that my height made me stick out like a sore thumb. Not just the fact that I was taller than anyone but my horns were protruding from the hood of my cloak. I decided to go into one of the shops. The shop i entered is an alchemy shop. I read from one the books in the cave that there are ways of transforming one's physical features through alchemy. Once I entered the shop i was greeted by an old man behind the counter. The shop seemed empty and only the old man was around.

"Ahh Greetings! Welcome to Potions and Concoctions! How may I help you?"

I scan the bottles filled with different colors of liquid in the shelves and in the glass cases. With my [Detect Analysis] ability I was able to see what the contents are and their uses.

The are bottles to enhance one's vigor in bed, the are bottles that changes the color of the eyes and bottles to enhance the heights and sizes of a person's body part. I didn't see the potion that I was looking for so i decided to ask the old man.

"Old man, do you have any potions to transform one self to a different race?"

The old man eyes squinted. He ran to the door of his shop and locked the door. He began to speak in a low voice.

"I do have such concoction but its illegal to sell. If you're interested in buying the potion its very costly."

"How does the potion work?"

"You simply put hair of the person you want to transform into and you'll become that person. But beware if you are found out to be a doppelganger of the person you turn into, you will be hanged just like the slaves outside of the city wall."

"Is the transformation permanent?"

"It is permanent until you die that is, once you die your body will revert back to its original form."

"How much for the the potion?"

"100 Dubloons!"

The old man declared the price of the potion. It was very costly as he had mentioned, Dubloons are gold coins which are the highest currency of the continent. It would take 100 hundred silver coins to make a dubloon and 100 copper coins to make a silver coin. It was costly indeed but I didn't have any money at all, nor any clothes on me. All i had was the robe that hid my appearance. I decided to use [Hypnosis] ability on the old man then I tried to bargain.

"Give me the potion now and I'll pay the cost later"

"Sure."

The old man agreed instantly due to me using [Hypnosis] ability. The old man went out to the back of his store then minutes later he came out with a small purple vial. The vial was handed to me and I used [Detect Analysis] on it.

Doppelganger Potion

Place a strand of hair from the person whom you want to transform into.

Shake the vile then drink after. Transformation will persist until you die.

The old man then began to warn me.

"Becareful this potion is very rare there are only 5 of them in the continent."

"Thank you old man. I wont forget to pay you back."

I left the Alchemy shop and went to back street alley. I need to find someone who i can turn into. I need to find someone won't notice a common person.

I walked  around the alley and I find a drunk slouched down, holding a bottle behind the alchemy building. I called him drunk because he reeks of alcohol. The drunk was wearing a perfectly good looking clothes and didn't look half bad, in fact he was very handsome. I went up to the drunk and pinched a strand of his hair from his head and put in the vial. The drunk reacted.

"Ouch! You dare lay a hand on me?!"

The drunk stood up and punch me with all his might in my chin. His bones made a cracking sound after hitting me. The drunk screamed out in pain.

"AAAgghh! My fist! You shall rue the day you've met me, for I am the son of the ma. .!"

Before he could finished his rambling threat I chopped him on the neck using my hand to knock him out. The drunk instantly fell on the ground. I checked if he was still breathing but it seems that I had hit him too hard. I drank the contents of the vile and it tasted bitter, my body began to glow then I began to change. I went to a barrel which had water inside of it, to have a look of my reflection. I looked exactly like the drunk but a bit taller. I'm sure no one will notice because after all he's just some drunk fool. I took the drunk's clothes off of him and wore it. It fitted me but it was a little tight in bottom region. I used my [Thermokinesis] ability to burn the drunk's body to get rid of the evidence. Out of curiosity i ate a part of his flesh to see if i could learn anything still.

Ability [Charming Aura] learned.

Ability [Etiquette] learned.

Ability [Luck] learned.

I was able to learn something eating the drunk's flesh. That means I still have the ability to absorb skills. After burning the body of the drunk i used my [Advance Earth Manipulation] to bury area where the body was burnt. I was now human once again, but only on the outside.

**

Next Chapter: The Duel