“What’s going on?” Rory mumbled.

[Due to the user’s incompetency, the system auto-used the skill: <Capture>.]

[Congratulations! You have captured a Goblin.]

+++

[Name: Unnamed Goblin]

[Gender: Female]

[Rank: Grunt]

[Type: Wild]

[Level: 3]

[Exp: 12/150]

—

[HP: 69]

[Mana: 0]

[Nature: Nimble]

[Job: None.]

—

[Strength: 11]

[Agility: 21]

[Stamina: 11]

[Intelligence: 8]

[Endurance: 9]

[Luck: 2]

[Magic: 0]

—

[Evolution: possible]

[Abilities: 3] <Click to view>

+++

Rory was stunned. The class he had been cursing out until now suddenly didn’t seem so useless.

Meanwhile, the goblin kept staring at Rory like a dog waiting for his command. The goblin’s partner sensed something and screeched, looking at the goblin, but she didn’t reply.

It infuriated the other goblin, who lunged at Rory, but his newly tamed goblin reacted and jumped between them. She screeched back, blocking the goblin’s attack with her dagger.

For a moment, Rory was too stunned to react. He had a goblin fighting for him. Not a human, but a goblin.

The fight between the two goblins was quick. Rory’s tamed goblin was faster and outsmarted the other. With a spin kick, she sent the other sprawling onto the ground.

Wasting no time, Rory’s goblin jumped on top of her fallen foe. The other goblin screeched, clawing and slashing desperately, but in vain. Rory’s goblin pinned the other’s arms with her legs, then she raised the dagger, repeatedly stabbing the goblin who dared attack her master.

[Green goblin slain!]

[You gained 20 EXP.]

[<Unnamed Goblin> gained 10 EXP.]

“Woah...” Rory mumbled, staring at the notifications.

Meanwhile, his goblin got off her fallen brethren and approached him. Blue blood dripped from her face and hands. She quickly wiped the blood off her face before lowering her head towards Rory, as if awaiting praise for her work.

Rory looked at her and smiled. This was enough, something he could work with.

The goblin nudged his hand, and Rory patted the goblin’s head, much to the others’ shock. He was petting the beast they were trying to kill? Had he lost his mind?

No one spoke a word, but Rory could practically hear their thoughts. He didn’t mind them. They were free to think whatever the hell they wanted to. After all, he knew the worth of his talents.

[Your subordinate desires a name.]

“A name... this is like one of those taming games.”

Rory looked at the goblin. She looked as disgusting as the rest. Hell, if it wasn’t for the <Inspect> skill, he would never know it was a female.

I could have looked up the skirt... but let’s not make things any weirder than they need to be.

The goblin eagerly waited to be granted a name. Rory sighed. He was never good at naming things. Back on earth, he was asked to name his nephew and almost got disowned by his family.

“How was I supposed to know it meant rotten egg in some other language? Oh well, there’s always a first time for everything,” Rory mumbled, scratching his cheek. “What about Gobrella? Everyone likes mozzarella, right? So everyone will like you too!”

As soon as those words left Rory’s mouth, the goblin raised her dagger.

“Relax! I’m your master, damn it!” Rory yelled, raising his hands before him.

The goblin scoffed before lowering the blade. Rory let out a sigh of relief before shaking his head. Being upset over a name was understandable, but being upset to the point of attacking someone was concerning.

“What about Gobrina? As in Sabrina? It’s a Western name, so you might like it?”

The goblin rested her chin on her hand, lost in deep thought. After a few seconds, she sighed and gave up. It didn’t seem like her owner could come up with a better name, so she’d settle for anything decent he picked.

[Gobrina will make do with her name.]

[The User should try harder next time.]

[Gobrina’s loyalty increased by 0.7%. Current Loyalty 61.7%]

“...it’s better than nothing—Oh, I forgot about the arcana?”

Ping Fan had died, so his arcana popped out. The same thing happened with the other goblin that Gobrina defeated.

“Even the goblin spawned one.” Rory smiled.

Not all mob monsters dropped arcana after dying. The fact that the goblin dropped one meant it had killed quite a few people and absorbed their arcana.

Rory looked around, and sure enough, only a few people were taking the arcana from fallen humans.

Witnessing their morality almost made Rory puke. They were still acting high and mighty, but he knew they wouldn’t do it for long. Soon, the lust for power would overwhelm their morals and that’s when the literal shit show would begin.

I need to get stronger before that.

Rory grabbed both arcana but didn’t use any. Instead, he checked them with his <Inspect> skill to check the stat boosts they offered. After all, he wasn’t alone anymore.

[Item: Common Strength Arcana. Provides STR +2. Increases Domination for the User.]

[Item: Common Agility Arcana. Provides AGI +1. Increases Empathy for the User.]

“No control arcana, huh?” Rory shook his head before handing both Arcana to Gobrina. “Since common arcana only provides up to three stat points, it wouldn’t matter much either way.”

Gobrina didn’t hesitate and used them immediately. People who saw Rory angrily shook their heads. They couldn’t believe he handed the arcana from a dead man to a goblin.

[Gobrina’s agility increased! 21 --> 22]

[Gobrina’s strength increased! 11 --> 13]

Rory didn’t know what <Domination> or <Empathy> did for him. Hence, he decided it was better to raise Gobrina’s stats.

She can get me more arcana later.

For now, Rory focused on two things. First, raising his <Control> and <Persuasion> stats as those had proved most useful till now. The second was to look for another goblin to tame.

The more goblins he had at his disposal, the faster he would get out of there.

“Alright, then. Let’s get to it.”

***

Not having a weapon sucked big time. However, the weapon Rory had at his command wasn’t too bad. He had to watch his back, but whenever he was in danger, Gobrina rushed to his side, helping him first before continuing the attacks on the goblins.

Meanwhile, Rory walked behind her, gathering the arcana as they appeared. It was important to be in sync with her. The moment Gobrina killed someone, the countdown for the arcana to appear began.

That’s when the plunderers strike.

Plunderers were the most detested factions in the Otherworld. They were the lazy bastards who stole the fruit of others’ hard work. In other words, they stole arcana right under someone’s nose. At least that’s what they did during the trial.

The trial was the place where they started their infamous scheme. They stole arcana, and if anyone tried to stop them, they gang up and bully that person. But they were smart enough not to mess with anyone stronger than them.

The plunderers typically targeted lonely people... like Rory. In his past life, since he was surrounded by people, they didn’t dare interfere with him. But now that he was alone, it was a matter of time before they appeared.

Gobrina is the only one protecting me. They might not think much of a goblin.

But that would be their worst mistake. So far, Rory has gotten seven common arcana, five of which he gave to Gobrina. Two of them were strength, the other two were agility, and the last was stamina arcana.

The two arcana Rory took increased his persuasion by 2 points and control by 3. But increasing his stats wasn’t important, unlike Gobrina’s stats.

I should start saving some Arcana for the next goblin I tame. It’s better than wasting it all on me.

***

As Rory expected, two people had been eyeing him for a while. Li Wei and Liu Tan were the ones who would become the founding members of the plunderers in the future. But for now, they had found their first target.

They had seen Rory feeding most of the arcana to a monster. Hence, they were quick to deduce he was weaker than them. Since they had five members in their gang, as long as they kept the goblin busy, taking Rory down would be easy.

“You three, keep the goblin busy,” Li Wei instructed the rest. “We’ll steal the arcana from that man.”

The three people were uneasy. They had seen Gobrina tearing through her targets with ease and didn’t want to become one with the fallen goblins. But they didn’t have a choice.

Li Wei and Liu Tan were the strongest among them. If they didn’t obey the crazy duo, they’d kill them for their arcana.

“M-Maybe we should let him be?” one of them suggested. “Look at him walking around unafraid. He might have something that gave him that confidence.”

“I see...” Li Wei sighed, running his hand through his dyed-blonde hair. “You have a point.”

Just then, Liu Tan placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “But did you think about it?”

“W-What do you mean—?”

Before the man could say his words, Li Wei kicked his knee, forcing him to kneel as Liu Tan’s hand crushed his collarbone. The man couldn’t even scream as Li Wei snapped his jaw out of place before kicking him toward the goblins.

The goblins saw the injured man and immediately jumped him. The man died in seconds.

“He’s nonchalant because he has something great,” Li Wei smiled, staring at the rest. “So, we should take it off him. Don’t you agree?”

“O-On it!” the men said, hurrying away.

“Grab any arcana you find on the way and hand those over to us!” Liu Tan instructed them as they ran.

“Greedy bald dog,” Li Wei shook his head.

“You’re one to talk,” Liu Tan scoffed. “How do we deal with him?”

“Like the ones before. Corner them and strike.”