There were many things which a goblin didn't know about the world. But there was one thing that a goblin always knew. Undoubtedly, at that.
It was that if something could pass through their mouths, then that something could be eaten.
On that bright day the goblin, Grog, ate a dungeon core. He got memories of someone who had come from a difficult to pronounce land from a challenging to pronounce planet.
Grog blinked.
There were words before his eyes. Flashing warning signs in yellow scared him.
For he was just a goblin and could not read. Or even think.
This was the opportunity for Dobri, the dungeon core, to finally see the world of Palatine for himself.
Oh, and he was an evil former European teacher.
Grog will wish he had died of indigestion by the end of his travels…
****
First, there was the goblin.
Or was it the dungeon core?
Dobri wasn't very sure if the dungeon cores came first, or if the goblins came first. After all, if there were no goblins, then the mana in the world would not be polluted.
But if there were no dungeon cores, there wouldn't be any goblins.
Dobri sighed when he realized that his internal monologue has given his host a headache.
That was something he had to fix. After all, if his host got headaches every time Dobri started to think about something, how was he supposed to lead him to greatness?
"Ok, see here," Dobri showed a picture of a slime to the goblin. Now that the poor, green-skinned creature could evolve, Dobri saw an opportunity.
"Go eat it!"
Grog knew from experience that such things were not to be done. He knew that slimes could dissolve him. His brain sent the "Do Not Compute" Error Message of Doom to Dobri.
The dungeon core sighed. It was easier back in the cave. At least he didn't need to do anything but tell the goblins to defend him.
And to eat their greens. Because those poor creatures refused to eat anything but meat.
And that led to them having anger issues and depression.
Dobri had to admit that the goblins were strange creatures.
"Take a branch from the ground…" As soon as Dobri said that he saw his mistake.
They were in the cave. The branches were outside.
"Go to the light place," the dungeon core was pretty sure that this creature has never, ever, been out in the sun. After all, he had created him last Sunday and it was Wednesday.
There had been no raids since then.
"And take a branch."
Dobri got another: "Do Not Compute" error from the poor confused creature.
"Ok," Dobri was ready to try one last time. Just because he believed that the afterlife would be worse than a life in the head of a goblin.
Who may or may not poop him out at one point.
"Just go to the light place," it was one last attempt. One last attempt before Dobri gave up. "And I will point you to the branch."
Grog began to walk towards the light place. For him, that was the place where danger came.
But as soon as he stepped out of the coolness of the cave, his eyes went wide.
He was not in hell. He was not in someplace devoid of the beauty the cave had. What with its moss and its skulls decorating the walls.
No, there was something soft under his feet. There was something vast and blue above his head.
And the green things! The green things were so pretty that Grog began to dance.
Dobri sighed.
Ok, so the goblin was in love with the outside world. That was good, at least.
The dungeon core used some of his mana to light up a fallen branch. A moss-covered, sturdy thing.
"Ok, now take the branch…," Dobri began, only for the goblin to stop dancing.
"No!" The goblin knew about 100 words in total. Most of them were curse words.
His teachers were dying adventurers, after all.
Grog took a stone, something more familiar to him, and then threw it at the slime.
It splattered. Grog took the core and ate it. He was feeling hungry.
As soon as he did that, he felt a slight coolness in his body. The cave felt freezing to him.
"Ah, you ate a water slime!" Dobri told the goblin, as he already made plans about what he could do. "That means that you can use the water element!"
The goblin showed Dobri a picture of him watering the plants. Dobri began to think.
It wasn't like the goblin was someone special. But if there was a love for the plants in him, then there was still going to be a way to make him into a hero.
And heroes, Dobri knew, rarely got killed by the humans.
Dobri looked through the System. Showed the instructions of how to take water from the clouds and water the plants to Grog.
The next two hours, the goblin giggled like a little child as he watered the plants. He was no longer someone who cared only about meat.
No, now he wanted to protect all plant matter in the world!
One day, when the historians would argue about the beginning of the foundation of the Cult of the Tree, they would ponder on whatever Grog was always a goblin, or if he was a human, before being turned into a goblin by his dungeon core.
But for now, time noted only a goblin who watered forget-me-nots and cherry trees in bloom.
Only a kind soul, who wanted to leave his barbaric ways behind. Someone who would try to stand against the deforestation of the Palatine world.
Like all heroes, he will die.
But before that, he will show the lumberjacks and paper manufacturers, that if they do not hear the voice of the whispering leaves, then he does.