Everything ached.
Not in the dull, "slept on a rock" way. This was the full-body, deep-in-the-bone ache of forced evolution. Seere laid on his back in the filthy goblin den, eyes half-lidded, chest rising and falling with slow, steady breaths as the last remnants of pain pulsed faintly through his muscles.
His fingers flexed.
The muscles beneath his green skin coiled with a new strength that hadn't been there yesterday. His claws gleamed faintly under the low torchlight — sharper, denserhree.Seere blinked, his eyes adjusting as he caught sight of his legs — they stretched further. His arms, too. His whole frame was bigger.
He slowly sat up, shoulders broadening as he straightened his back, feeling solid, dense muscle shift beneath his skin.
A glance down confirmed it — his perspective had changed. Everything in the cave looked… smaller. Seere stood, towering over the sleeping goblin kids nearby.
His head nearly brushed the lower parts of the jagged cave ceiling — exactly like the adults. His arms were thicker, his torso lean but defined, his claws and fangs sharp and deadly.If He had to guess he was about Five foot three.
What seemed like the average for a fully grown male.
Seere stretched his arms experimentally, marveling at the smooth, powerful range of motion. His legs flexed as he paced in small circles, every step controlled and balanced.
"So I'm the peak of all goblins, huh?" he whispered under his breath, his voice lower, more mature — eerily close to how it sounded when he was still human.
Across the cave, the adults snored, sprawled on ragged furs and bare stone, drunk on the fermented sludge they drank all day. Their breaths came heavy, uneven. Weapons — crude daggers, chipped clubs, rusted spears — lay discarded nearby.
Seere tilted his head slightly, studying them. His eyes narrowed as the devious thought slithered into his brain.\
EXP.
The System mentioned killing gave exp and these idiots? They're Practically snoring EXP.
"No wasted effort," he muttered under his breath. "They're right here asleep and I need EXP. It's literally free real estate."
His claws flexed like it was second nature.
He crouched low, moving with quiet, predatory precision.
Step.
Bare feet slid across the cold stone floor — no sound.
Step.
His breathing slowed, heart calm and steady.
The first adult sprawled near a crude fire pit, mouth wide open, snoring like a dying animal. A jagged club rested by his side.
Seere crept closer, eyes cold and focused.
His hand lashed out lightning-fast, covering the goblin's mouth.
The other hand swept across the goblin's throat — claws slicing through flesh with surgical precision.
A wet, gurgling hiss escaped, but Seere held firm as the body twitched and then slumped.
Ding.
+12 EXP.
His grin widened.
"Oh… that's satisfying."
He turned toward the others.
Second adult. Scarred, warty, ugly. Dead in seconds.
Ding.
+11 EXP.
Third.
Ding.
+10 EXP.
Fourth.
Ding.
+9 EXP.
Fifth.
Ding.
+8 EXP.
Silent. Clean. Efficient. More EXP stacking with every slash.
By the time he finished, his claws were slick with blood.
EXP: 50
Seere wiped his hands on a nearby fur, exhaling calmly.
The cave was quieter now. The stink of blood hung heavy in the air.
The other goblin kids? Still asleep.
Blissfully unaware, they were surrounded by corpses.
His eyes drifted to them.
A dozen or so small, scrawny goblin brats lay curled up near the far wall, breathing shallowly in restless sleep. Their sharp little teeth peeked from under cracked lips. Some clung to scraps of fur. Others just drooled on the stone floor.
"XP is XP," Seere muttered, crouching low, eyes narrowing as he approached the next target.
He reached down toward the first one — a wiry little runt curled up like a puppy.
His hand hovered over the sleeping form for a moment.
Technically, these kids were his age, so it was fair if he killed them, not like he spawn killed them.
Seere's sharp gaze swept over the group, scanning each one, taking in the wiry limbs, the too-skinny frames, the sunken eyes — and the outliers.
Two of them stood out.
One — a broad-shouldered little runt, thicker than the rest, even in sleep.
The other — was lean, with wiry muscle wrapped in taut green skin, with sharper features and faint scars already visible on their arms. Probably from scrapping over food.
The rest? snoring XP.
Step.
He moved to the first runt — small, sickly ribs visible under thin skin.
Swipe.
His claws sliced across the fragile throat.
A faint gasp. A weak twitch. Silence.
Ding.
+3 EXP.
Another weakling. Gone.
Another. And another. Each one fell without resistance, their bodies piling beside the others.
Ding.
+3 EXP.
+2 EXP.
+2 EXP.
+1 EXP.
By the time he straightened, only the two remained — the broad-shouldered one and the scarred one.
They hadn't woken during the culling — but that was fine. He'd deal with introductions later.
Seere wiped his claws clean on a bloodstained scrap of fur, glancing down at his updated EXP count.
EXP: 80
The cave was basically dead quiet The adults? all Dead The two strong survivors? Asleep, blissfully unaware but there was some unfinished business remaining.
Seere's sharp eyes drifted to the far side of the den. The cages, A crude mess of bent wood, bone, and rope lashed together by goblin hands — barely good enough to hold livestock.
The livestock in question? A half-starved elf woman and several human women, all filthy, bruised, and barely clinging to life.
Seere approached, crouching in front of the cage, tilting his head, eyes scanning their trembling forms.
"Can you understand me?" he asked, voice low and smooth — perfectly human to his own ears.
But from their reactions? Just more guttural goblin snarls and hisses. Their eyes widened. The elf didn't flinch, but the humans pressed back into the bars, wide-eyed with terror.
Seere exhaled through his nose.
He pointed at them. Then at himself. Then, he mimed a sharp throat-slashing gesture across his own neck.
Predictably, they shrank back further the humans at least.
He gestured toward the bloody corpses behind him, then at them, and repeated the throat-slash. Their eyes darted, fear mixing with the faint spark of understanding.
Good.
Seere softened his expression — or tried to. Hard to look friendly with fangs and claws.
One more gesture. He pointed at them and shrugged, palms up.
Yes? No?
The elf hesitated, for a moment but gave a small, defeated nod.
One of the human women followed, eyes glassy. Another just curled up, shaking.
Seere's claws flexed.
"Mercy, it is," he muttered, though all they heard was low goblin snarling.
Swipe.
The elf's throat opened cleanly.
Ding.
+20 EXP.
Seere grinned.
He moved to the humans.
One by one, clean and efficient.
Ding.
+15 EXP.
+12 EXP.
+8 EXP.
By the time he finished, only silence remained — and a rapidly growing EXP pool.
Seere wiped his claws on his tunic, exhaling calmly.
The System hovered, waiting, silent, and ready.
EXP: 135He opened the Sketch menu.
Sketch Object: Bloodline Identification Glasses.
Simple black frames. Lightweight lenses. Passive enchantment overlays visible floating descriptions beside living beings, showing bloodline type, strength, and purity.
"Displays real-time text description of detected bloodlines when worn. Non-invasive, passive detection only."
EXP Cost: 10
A shimmer of light and the glasses materialized in his hand.
Seere slipped them on, the world shifting subtly.
Immediately, faint floating text appeared near the sleeping goblin brats across the den:
[Goblin] — Weak Bloodline
[Goblin] — Weak Bloodline
His eyes drifted to the cooling corpse of the elf woman.
[Elf] — Common Elf Bloodline
No fancy mutations. No lost royal lineage. Just a plain, regular elf. But even that was worth harvesting.
His eyes drifted to the first human woman.
[Human] — Common Human Bloodline
Second one. Same.
[Human] — Common Human Bloodline
EXP: 125.
Seere opened the Sketch menu again.
Sketch Object: Bloodline Extraction Syringe.
Steel syringe. Reinforced glass reservoir. Manually extracts and stores common bloodline essence from corpses.
EXP Cost: 8
The syringe materialized in his palm, cool and sharp.
He crouched beside the elf's corpse first, plunging the needle cleanly into her neck. A faint, shimmering glow seeped into the reservoir — a soft, silver-blue liquid swirling within.
Elf Bloodline Essence Acquired.
Next, the human woman. Another plunge, then a faint, red glow filling the second reservoir.
Human Bloodline Essence Acquired.
Three syringes. Three distinct bloodlines.
Seere straightened, eyes drifting across the den to the only other living beings left — the two goblin brats.
Both still curled up, snoring softly, their faint breaths rising in the quiet.
The broad-shouldered one — thicker, sturdier, his frame promising raw strength.
The wiry one — lean, scarred, quick-looking, muscles taut even in sleep.
Seere's eyes narrowed behind the bloodline glasses.
Test subjects.
Perfect.
"Better to see what happens to them first than gamble on myself," he muttered, voice coming out as a low goblin snarl in the empty cave.
No morality warnings. No restrictions. Just opportunity.
He approached them silently.
First, the wiry one.
Seere knelt beside it, inspecting the small, sharp frame. The lean build would suit elven traits — agility, senses, maybe magic later.
He jabbed the syringe cleanly into the brat's neck and pressed the plunger.
The silver-blue liquid flowed in.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the goblin's breathing hitched — his limbs twitched. Faint, pulsing blue veins spiderwebbed under its green skin.
A low groan escaped the brat's throat as his body spasmed once… twice… Seere tilted his head, watching.
Still alive, at least.
He moved to the bulky one.
The human bloodline would suit raw power, and this goblin already leaned that way. Another jab of the syringe. The red glow injected cleanly into the brat's body. Seere exhaled slowly, setting the empty syringes on the ground.
Now, it was a waiting game. "If they die, I learn something. If they mutate, I learn something," he muttered, eyes gleaming.
Either way… they were his experiments now.
He understood why Orrichimaru could get carried away experimenting with bloodlines. It was too damn interesting.