Chapter 157 - Becoming a God (3)

[Purchasing ‘Locate Prey.’]

[5 Race Points will be consumed!]

[You currently have 865 Race Points.]

“Grrrr!”

I sank my teeth into the bull’s hide. It looked nothing like a cow, and its armored back even sported hedgehog-like spines, but I had a reason for calling it one.

“Moooo!”

It sounded exactly like a cow.

“Moo! Moooooo!”

The bull let out a feeble scream. It thrashed and fought to the very end, but it was no use. It couldn’t withstand my teeth and claws, and above all, the goblins’ bamboo spears.

THUD!

The bull fell.

The goblins who had joined me on the hunt stamped their feet with excitement.

“Kirruk! Ke!”

“Kerruk, kekego, gorruk!”

[The ‘hunt’ was successful!]

[You have learned everything about this prey. You can no longer earn Race Points by hunting this animal.]

[Your hunting experience has reached its maximum. You can no longer earn Race Points through hunting.]

‘Tsk. That wraps up hunting around here.’

“Zombie... let’s leave already... please... You’ve milked this place for everything it’s worth...”

‘All right, then let’s go gathering!’

“Damn it!”

How long did those idyllic days go on?

[You can no longer obtain Race Points through gathering.]

The goblins no longer left their skin bare. Using red or green mud, they went around sporting tattoos of dazzling designs, however clumsily drawn.

For some reason, their smell diminished, too. I didn’t know whether the mud had deodorizing properties or it was the power of the Primitive Fashionistas trait, but we could finally say goodbye to that stench, like soybean paste stew blended with sweltering summer heat and added to a sewer.

That wasn’t all.

[The Earth Spiritfolk have established themselves as ‘hunter-gatherers’!]

[The Earth Spiritfolk’s fear of large animals diminishes.]

[You have earned 50 Race Points.]

[You currently have 1,015 Race Points.]

“Gor.”

‘Okay.’

I wagged my tail in satisfaction.

‘Now I really have done almost everything I can for them.’

The goblins had learned to play with mud. They could now band together to hunt large animals, too.

This was the starting point. The soil from which the great [Goblin Civilization] would someday blossom was ready.

‘And there are no more Race Points for me to earn.’

Were my companions in much the same situation?

[Viper, who guides the Demonfolk, declares the stage cleared!]

[The Sword Star, who guides the Conforming Humans, declares the stage cleared!]

More of my companions were declaring the stage cleared. Viper, who ruled the dokkaebi, was the first. The Sword Star followed.

The others were probably wrapping up this stage one by one, too.

‘Ahh.’

I smacked my lips regretfully.

‘While I’m at it, I’d like to teach them things like [Writing] or [Aura], too. But...’

“Why? Just teach them.”

‘The problem is, I can’t, even though I want to.’

I sighed through my lion’s maw and looked at the Civilization Shop. It stocked just about any item you could want. The things I wanted to teach the goblins were clearly listed there, too.

‘Item search. Writing.’

The problem was that they were tantalizingly out of reach.

The hologram shifted smoothly to display the product.

+

[Writing]

Description: Your race invents writing. Keeping written records is far more effective than oral transmission! Unlike the voice, which evaporates the moment words are spoken, writing withstands the passage of time.

Price: 4,500 Race Points

※Conforming Humans begin with this technology.

+

‘Damn it. What kind of insane price is that...?’

It was outrageously expensive.

I currently had 1,015 points. Sure, I’d spent some here and there on hunting and other things, but even if I’d saved every last point, I wouldn’t have come close to affording [Writing]. And apparently, the Conforming Humans started with this incredibly expensive [Writing].

Was this racial balance for real?

“Your fault for picking goblins. Heh heh.”

The Conforming Humans weren’t the only ones with bonuses.

If anything, they had it mild. Very mild.

The fairy race ruled by the Count—in other words, the elves—started with [Mana Response] and [Aura Response]. Each technology boasted a price of 6,200 points.

It brought home, once again, just how poor the goblins’ starting conditions were.

‘Of course I believe these children will ascend to greatness and crush the Conforming Humans, the fairy race, and everyone else someday, but I do feel sorry for them.’

“Isn’t that brain of yours the real sorry sight, Zombie?”

‘Whatever else I leave them, I really want them to have writing. Hah. Isn’t there some way to scrape together 4,500 points...?’

The Tower’s voice sounded again.

[The Paladin, who guides the Gillfin Folk, declares the stage cleared!]

Even the Paladin had declared the stage cleared.

Now only three of us remained on the thirty-first floor: the Inquisitor, who ruled the Mountain Snailfolk; the Black Dragon leader, who governed the Bloodsucking Race; and finally, me.

‘Hmm.’

At that point, I stopped agonizing over it.

‘Forget it. Let’s give up on buying [Writing] the straightforward way.’

“Huh?”

‘Even if I got 4,500 points, I couldn’t bear to spend them. Pour all those precious points into a single item? Besides, since when have I done things the straightforward way? I’ve always relied on tricks.’

“What are you talking about?”

‘I can just teach them writing myself!’

From that day on, I waged a bloody battle against the goblins’ brains.

“Krrruk, gor. Ah. Ker, ah.”

‘Kids, look carefully. A. This is A.’

I drew the letter A on the ground. In case they couldn’t make it out, I carved it nice and big with my claw. But the goblins sitting around me merely tilted their heads.

“Kerrrr?”

“Kekerrukker?”

I see.

They clearly didn’t understand a damn thing.

But I was a man who never gave up.

“Gor! Gah, ah, ker, ah!”

‘Look! A, A, this is A!’

I growled, pressing the goblins harder.

They flinched in surprise, their shoulders trembling.

“Gar...?”

“Goo, goo?”

The goblins got up and walked off somewhere.

[The Earth Spiritfolk fear you.]

[Your inexplicable behavior confuses the Earth Spiritfolk.]

A little later, the goblins brought over meat from the bull we had caught that morning. They gingerly offered me meat charred thoroughly for eating.

“Kekerrukker...!”

The goblins bowed their heads to the ground and wept.

[The Earth Spiritfolk beg you to let go of your anger.]

‘Seriously? You little...’

Do you think Mommy is scolding you because she wants some measly bull meat?

I’m making you study ahead for your own good, so why can’t you understand?

If you just play around going gorruk-gorruk all day, the elves and humans next door will catch you and turn you into steamed-and-roasted monster. Do you want to be steamed and roasted? Huh? Do you want the elves to treat you as monsters for farming XP someday?

“Grrrr! Gah, ah, kar!”

“Ke, kerrrruk...”

I kept trying to teach them writing without giving up.

But it was a complete failure.

The goblins couldn’t even learn A, B, and C. They seemed to have somehow memorized A, but they grew dejected, with expressions that said, “What even is this?” “I don’t know...” and “We don’t understand why we have to do this...”

‘Ugh.’

For the first time since I began leading the goblin race, I felt I had hit a wall.

‘Could goblins be too unintelligent to learn writing? That’s strange. I’m sure the Earth Spiritfolk were using writing by the time the Flame Emperor cleared the thirty-third floor with his elves... Is this era too early for their intelligence to...? That shouldn’t be it...’

I sank into deep thought.

‘Even if I teach them the whole alphabet this way, they’ll obviously forget it before long.’

The goblins had to find meaning in it themselves. Why they were learning it. What they stood to gain from it. Otherwise, even if I managed to teach them writing, it would all be forgotten before a single generation passed.

How could I give writing meaning?

“...”

Huh?

Wait. An idea came to me.

‘Maybe I’m trapped in a preconceived notion?’

Right. Teaching them writing didn’t have to mean teaching them A, B, and C!

I sprang to my feet and roared.

“Krrrruk!”

‘Gather around!’

The goblins eating meat flinched and gathered around. Their ears drooped like those of dejected puppies. Their expressions probably translated to something like, “Is he going to do something weird again?” “Ugh, I hate this...” and “I wish he’d just put mud on us like usual.”

In short, they were sulking a little.

“Krr-krr. Krrruk. Kekerrukker, gor, ke.”

‘Now, now. It’s okay. You know I love you, right?’

I coated my forepaw in mud and spread it over the goblins’ bodies, tickling them. Even the sulking goblins began to smile a little.

“Gorgorruk.”

“Kerrup, ker!”

The little rascals. As easily as they sulked, they cheered up again.

My dazzling mud-daubing skills melted their resentment away. Once the mood had softened somewhat, I showed the goblins [Writing].

‘Now! Look, kids. This is mud.’

Only, this writing was a little different from what I’d shown them before.

I scratched something out with my claw.

■.

First, I drew a square and filled it in black.

Then I piled a clump of mud beside the ■.

‘Mud. This is mud. Understand?’

“Kerrrruk...?”

The goblins looked puzzled. Their faces said they didn’t understand, but I didn’t mind. I decided to take my time, step by step.

One day passed, and then another.

Whenever I put mud on the goblins, I drew ■ on the ground. That wasn’t all. Whenever I had time, I tattooed symbols on their bodies.

‘This is day. The sky is bright.’

○.

‘Now it’s night. The sky is dark.’

●.

‘That’s the sun. It’s dazzling, isn’t it?’

☆.

‘This is the moon.’

★.

‘This is water. Water. A stream.’

~.

‘What if the water is a little deep?’

~~.

‘What if the water is incredibly deep?’

~~~.

“Kerrr...”

“Kerruk? Ker, ke?”

Even the goblins who had initially been bewildered slowly began to understand my [Pictures]. They couldn’t understand or accept why A represented “ah,” but they more or less grasped that ■ meant “mud.”

‘Right.’

My approach had been wrong from the start.

‘The goblins’ world is still small.’

There were few things in this world the goblins recognized.

The world was boundlessly vast, but what the goblins saw, felt, smelled, and heard within it amounted to only a handful of things.

“Kerruk.”

Sky.

“Kerrruk.”

Earth.

“Ker.”

Meat.

“Ke.”

Water.

The goblins saw something blue stretching above their heads. They felt something hard, though sometimes soft, beneath their feet. They smelled the pleasant aroma of centipede meat cooking. They heard the rippling of something refreshing to drink and pleasant to jump into.

“Gor!”

When they felt good, they said so.

“Kerrrruk...”

When they disliked something, they said so.

In other words, the goblins’ world contained roughly six things. Six was all there was. Six words were enough to express their six-part world.

Six kinds of “pictures,” rather than dozens of “letters.”

That was the writing the goblins needed now.

SHHHHH!

One day, it rained.

The goblins ran around playing, washing themselves in the rain.

I showed those children some symbols.

‘Water.’

~.

‘Dark sky.’

●.

‘Water falling from a dark sky.’

●~.

‘Rain.’

I raised my head to point out the rain pouring down on the world.

Following my gesture, the goblins looked at the rain, too.

‘Rain.’

“...”

How much time passed?

The goblins slowly opened their mouths.

“Kerrukke?”

“Kerrukke. Kerrukke.”

The goblins pointed at the rain. Then, copying the ●~ I had carved into the ground, they drew identical symbols in the dirt.

“Kerrukke!”

‘Rain.’

The goblins looked at me as if asking whether they had it right.

I gave a single satisfied nod.

“Gor.”

‘Good.’

At that moment.

[The Earth Spiritfolk awaken to writing!]

[The Earth Spiritfolk gain a new trait, ‘Legacy of Records’!]

Words appeared before my eyes.

+

[Legacy of Records]

Rank: E (A)

Effect: The Earth Spiritfolk have realized the limitless potential of pictures! The pictures they draw are not merely pleasing to look at; they can also represent something in this world. The Earth Spiritfolk have learned that patterns can carry meaning.

‘○.’

To the Earth Spiritfolk, this means the sky.

‘■.’

To the Earth Spiritfolk, this means mud and earth.

‘○■.’

Thus, this means sky and earth, and with it, the Earth Spiritfolk express heaven and earth—in other words, the ‘world.’

‘○■.’

That is the Earth Spiritfolk’s world.

From now on, the Earth Spiritfolk will develop their pictographic writing. They will preserve what they love in pictures, and their writing will hold their lives.

May good fortune be with them.

※However, this trait may change as history unfolds.

+

“...”

What was this feeling?

I had only taught them a few pictures, yet I was strangely moved.

“Kerrukke, kerrukke!”

“Kerruk-kerrruk!”

Now the goblins left me alone and excitedly drew pictures. Watching them, I felt an odd mixture of regret and joy, and somehow, loneliness. Satisfaction? Pride in them? It was an emotion I couldn’t put into words.

[The Black Dragon leader, who guides the Bloodsucking Race, declares the stage cleared!]

After a fortnight, even the Black Dragon leader declared the stage cleared.

Now only the Inquisitor and I remained on the thirty-first floor.

‘Looks like the Inquisitor is taking his time teaching them something, too.’

In the meantime, I taught the goblins numbers.

At first, I tried teaching them Arabic numerals, but they couldn’t understand them at all, so I compromised and taught them Roman numerals. Ⅰ. Ⅱ. Ⅲ. Perhaps because they were made of simple lines, the goblins understood those.

I would have liked to teach them the four basic arithmetic operations, too, but...

‘These children don’t understand the concept of subtraction...’

Goblins were goblins.

They couldn’t even understand that numbers larger than six existed.

Well, I shouldn’t expect too much of them already.

‘I’ve taught them everything I can at this point, right?’

“Seems that way, man.”

I nodded.

‘It’s time for me to leave, too.’

That night, I slipped away from the tribe while the goblins were fast asleep.

They would be terribly sad when they realized I was gone.

But I couldn’t leave the thirty-first floor with this white lion’s body abandoned in the middle of the tribe. It might attack and injure the goblins.

“Krr. Gorrr.”

‘Take care, kids.’

I licked a young goblin’s forehead.

“Gorrr...”

The little goblin slept soundly, unaware of anything.

‘Adorable little things.’

I put as much distance as possible between myself and [Guru], the goblin settlement. Time passed. In the dark night, in a world where nothing but insects could be heard, the goblins’ mournful cries reached me from far away.

“Kekerruk... ker...”

Had they already noticed I was gone?

The goblins were crying out my name, Kekerrukker.

Without looking back, I disappeared into the darkness even faster.

‘Live well! Grow strong! Let’s meet again when you’re even more magnificent!’

Then I whispered in my heart.

‘I declare the stage cleared!’

The Tower’s voice responded.

[Stage cleared!]

[The thirty-first-floor stage has been cleared.]

[Rewards will be tallied after you enter the thirty-second floor.]

[Consecutive floor progression in progress—you will be forcibly transported to the thirty-second floor!]

WHOOOOSH!

White light enveloped my vision.