Silence. Darkness. Cold.
I am Min-Joon, a hero from Zerphax World. Twenty-seven years old, and already broken. A hero. They called me that, but I can't help but wonder if it was all just a lie. I fought for a world that never cared. I gave everything to protect the people I loved, and they repaid me with cold steel in my back.
They feared me. They feared my power—the power to devour. The skill I carried, one that allowed me to consume the essence of my enemies, to claim their skills, their strengths, and their very essence. Each life I took, I became stronger. Each enemy I defeated, I absorbed their power, turning it into my own. And with that power came fear. Fear that I would become too strong, that I would one day turn my power against them.
But it wasn't supposed to be this way. I didn't want to be feared. I didn't want to devour the very world I was trying to protect. I just wanted to save them. To make sure no one else would suffer as I did. But in the end, all my power did was push me further into darkness.
They said I was a hero, but in their hearts, they saw me as a monster. And monsters are meant to be destroyed.
Now, as the darkness closes in around me, all I can hear is the silence of a world that has turned its back on me. The cold of betrayal wraps around my soul like a shroud. The blades in my back… they are more than just weapons. They are the weight of trust shattered. They are the price of power. My power.
I thought I could save them. I thought my skills, my strength, would be enough to make a difference. But all I've done is become the thing they feared. A devourer. A hero who lost everything.
And now, I'm dead.
The cold steel in my back was the final betrayal. I had given everything, and in the end, I was discarded. The silence… the endless silence that consumed me, it was the last thing I felt before everything went dark.
But then, against all odds…
I woke up.
When I open my eyes, the world is… strange. The air smells different—earthy, damp, and unfamiliar. I blink repeatedly, trying to focus, but the size of everything around me… It's massive. I feel so small.
I look down. My body isn't mine. My arms—no, my paws—are green and stubby, covered in rough, wrinkled skin. I can barely make sense of it. A goblin.
A baby goblin?
My heart races. What happened to me? Wasn't I just dead? Wasn't I supposed to be gone? But no, here I am. A goblin, in some unfamiliar world, with no idea how or why I'm here.
A strange hunger suddenly gnaws at me—something deep inside, something primal. My tiny stomach growls in protest. I look around, frantic, searching for something to eat. My eyes fall on a small, squirming worm in the dirt nearby.
I don't hesitate. I bite down on it, sinking my teeth into the soft body of the creature. It tastes… strange, but my hunger is relentless. As I swallow it whole, something… clicks.
For a moment, the world goes still. A rush of energy fills me—an unfamiliar sensation, yet somehow not new. I feel it deep inside, pulsing, like something inside me is awakening. The cold chill of fear creeps up my spine.
System Notification:
Skill Acquired: Burrow.
I freeze.
Burrow?
I blink rapidly, trying to process what just happened. A skill notification? But that's not the shocking part. No, it's the fact that I'm still getting skills. Skills from my past life.
The worm… I devoured it, just like I did in my past life. Devour. That's what I called it. The power to consume and claim the abilities of others.
But I wasn't supposed to have that power here, in this goblin body, in this new world. I'm not Min-Joon anymore. I'm just a goblin. I shouldn't have any of the skills I once had.
Yet here they are.
I try to calm myself, forcing my racing thoughts to slow. No, this is real. I can feel it. The power inside me is the same. It hasn't changed. I'm not sure how, but I still have Devour. I still have the skill that made me feared. And now, I have Burrow—something new, something strange, but it doesn't feel entirely foreign.
I look at the ground beneath me, and an instinct stirs within me. I press my small, green paws against the earth, and with a slight push, the dirt begins to give way, forming a hole. I blink in surprise.
I've done it. I've used the skill.
But more importantly…
I still have Devour. It's still with me.
Day 2.
I'm still trying to make sense of all this. New world, new body, and somehow, I still have my powers. It's... strange. And I still haven't figured out what exactly happened to me. All I know is that I'm not exactly in the world I used to fight for.
As I'm wandering around, trying to figure out my next move in this unfamiliar landscape, something catches my attention.
A woman.
Or, should I say, a goblin woman?
She's... bigger than me. Obviously, that's not saying much since I'm tiny, but wow, this goblin woman is... well, she's built. I'm talking about curves in places no goblin should have curves. She's practically glowing with that motherly aura that I didn't expect to feel in this messed-up, new world.
If I had to describe her, she'd probably be a 10/10. For a goblin? Damn, she's a total knockout.
It's probably safe to say I'm a little distracted by her figure. Her chest? Yeah, it's impressive. Big enough to make me wonder about goblin genetics. And let's just say, if I wasn't in this absurd goblin body, I might've been thinking some very inappropriate thoughts.
I catch myself daydreaming for a second. "If this were a different life... yeah, I'd probably try my luck with her."
But, I'm not here for that right now. I need to focus. But hey, she isn't bad on the eyes. Not at all.
For a goblin, she's got it all figured out.
Day 3
I'm still trying to adjust to my new goblin body and this bizarre world. Everything's so big. I feel like an ant trying to navigate through a jungle. I was hoping for something more... heroic, you know? A world where I could just rise up and crush the bad guys. But nope. Here I am, stumbling around like a confused baby goblin, unsure of what's going on.
That's when I see her again.
The goblin woman. I guess I'd call her... my "mom"? But I wasn't thinking that just yet. She was still a complete stranger to me.
She looks at me and smiles, picking me up with surprising tenderness for a goblin. My little goblin mind tries to process what's happening, but before I know it, she's... feeding me.
I freeze. My tiny goblin eyes widen. I don't even know what's going on—this is all new, and weird, and honestly, a little awkward.
She starts to breastfeed me.
I can't believe it.
I'm not sure what's going on, but my instincts take over. I'm hungry—so, without thinking too much about it, I just go along with it. It's like my body knows what to do even if my brain can't process it.
But then, as I'm feeding, I start to wonder, why is this goblin woman treating me like this? Is she really my mother? Could she be?
I mean... She's not bad looking for a goblin. Seriously, if I was in my human form, I'd probably be making some terrible, inappropriate jokes right now. But I'm a baby. And not in the mood for anything other than survival.
I blink, feeling a bit stupid. Could this actually be my mother? In my past life, I never got to have a family, and now, I've been reborn into a goblin body, completely clueless about everything. This is... strange. But at least she's not trying to eat me. I guess that's a win?
As I try to wrap my tiny brain around all of this, I realize that I still have no clue who I was before all this. Maybe this is how I start over. I try to relax into the moment, not sure what else to do, when I hear her soft voice humming some kind of lullaby.
As I slowly drift off in her arms, full and warm for the first time in this strange new life, my eyelids grow heavy. I can still hear her soft hum, almost like a lullaby, rumbling in her throat.
It's comforting.
Weird, right? A goblin woman holding me, feeding me, and singing me to sleep—and yet, it feels... peaceful. Like maybe, just maybe, this second life isn't completely cursed.
I close my eyes, letting the world fade around me...
Then—
[System Notification]
> "Conditions met. Initiating evolution."
"Infant Stage → Child Stage..."
"Evolution in progress..."
Wait, what?
What was that? My thoughts barely register the words before the world is swallowed by darkness again. But something inside me shifts—something deep, like my soul is being stretched and reshaped.
Even as I fall into sleep, I feel the change starting. My limbs tingle. My small goblin body warms up. My instincts stir.
I'm evolving?
What the hell is going on now?