"Hmmm..."

Waking up, Oscar was startled by his dark cave-like surroundings. He got confused, only to realize a moment later, what happened before he went to sleep. 

'My first sleep as a goblin huh'

As he stretched his limbs, Oscar almost died of a heart attack seeing a ghastly severed hand, dripping with blood and gore, grasping at his left leg stiffly like a ghost. 

"Ghaaa!" 

Horrified. Oscar frantically kicks his legs around, smashing the ghost's hand against the stone walls. All the while, skittering away from it. He stopped just before the large crack in the floor, preventing himself from falling straight down below. 

'The hell was that?!' 

Focusing his beady yellow eyes, in this dark cave illuminated by some dim glowing particles floating around it, he saw the hand was green, mangled beyond belief, and more importantly dead without moving. 

'Green... Goblin, that must be from that idiot' 

He thought with relief, retracting back [Sharp-Nails], that came out on its own. 

Earlier. He failed to notice a foreign hand was still attached to his leg since his mind was all focused on the Snake's movements and to jump into the safety first. 

"Growwwl!"

'Ah! gotta do something for this hunger' with a frown, Oscar takes a peek down below from the crack. 

Although the Goblins' eyes can see in any low or dim light and sometimes have near night vision, they aren't known for their long-distance eyes. Even a goblin archer was just above average in comparison to a human archer, let alone an elf archer. 

Oscar failed to see anything more clearly beyond making out some silhouettes of some uselessly large still rocks, nor was he able to confirm if the Rocky-Snake had left or was it still waiting, making it hard to decide if he should climb down or not. 

Placing his sensitive ears against the ground, he heard some howling and growling of some distant monsters. But they all seem too far away from him to pose a danger, while most of the noise is muffled by the downstream air current from above, making it hard to discern the sounds from the noises. 

'Hmm... Aside from having that snake down below or not, climbing down from here will be difficult if not impossible. I'm not a professional rock climber, nor do I have spiderly eight legs to hold myself properly. One slip of my hand was all it needed to end my short life from here, and, honestly it would a be more pathetic death than dying fighting a giant snake…

Urgh! Leaving the plan of falling from here or dying from the giant snake. I got this unknown narrow passage in front... I mean above me that seems more climbable considering my short hands and stubby legs. No, it seems it's more suitable for a being of my size. 

But where does it lead to? Above. But, what's above? More monsters like that Rocky snake?' 

Oscar shuddered just by that thought. And before he could decide on which course of action he should follow, his stomach contracted like it was eating him from inside as some sense of weakness covered his mind. 

'Surely, I first need a full stomach... But' 

His nose picks the nearby appetizing scent in the air before he scrunches his nose in disgust, seeing that same ghastly severed hand laying limp beside him. 

*Growwwl!*

His mind was repulsing from eating that hand, while his stomach was craving it... Quite the inner conflict. 

'Urgh! Why the hell am I hesitating? It's not a human's hand right, and the goblins are known for being cannibals… probably. So, I'm just following their customs. Oscar, just be a good goblin! Be a cannibal!' 

With his self-encouragement, he takes the leap of hunger. Closing his eyes, Oscar took his first bite. 

*Chew!*

'Yuck! This shit tastes like shit!' 

Clearly, he didn't like the taste in the least. Though, he just wanted to fill his stomach as much as possible. So he just swallows it, while ignoring the blood dripping from his shark-like teeth and jaws crunching the bones, before devouring them completely. Still, he felt a little hungry since there wasn't much meat on that skinny hand in the first place. 

'So I'm indeed in a dungeon, and a great one at that? Great' he thought with a little bit of sarcasm. 

'Not that I know how the world looks like outside this dungeon though' 

As he licked the finger bones clean of any residual meat, another notification popped up. 

"Burp!"

'Huh... These skills and title sounds... Horrible, but hey! At least I got some skills right. Better to have something than nothing'

'So I can get the favourability of some dumb goblins more easily... It didn't say It will work on another being other than my kins, right? All in all, a useless one, but still, no one knows when trash turns gold. And what's with this Gene aliment?' He thought, shaving his front teeth with the pinky finger, while lazing around after having his meal. 

'The what?' Surprised, His eyes open wide.

'Never heard of mutating my own body but, I suppose this was to be expected as a monster. Even though how weak a goblin is, a monster is still a monster and from one of the "great" Dungeons at that' 

Scoffing, the Goblin thought further. 

'And from the description, I can assume that I can't exceed much whatever I was born with. But, will I be able to grow another limb or a third-I mean fourth leg?' 

Checking all the options, he concluded. 

'I guess not' 

He seems strangely disappointed before moving onto decide which mutation he should choose first. Since, he only had 6 slots to avail. 

'Although my eyes can't see much at long distance, it wasn't much of a hindrance for me at the moment. 

While ears... Hell no! It's already this big if it gets any bigger… I might become a second jumbo baby elephant/goblin.

Hence, It's a big no. 

Same with the nose, it's already hindering my view. What if it becomes too big and covers my eyes? More importantly, this makes me more damn ugly!

Leaving the teeth aside for a moment, sharper claws seem more plausible. As the saying goes, better to sharpen your knife while you still can. 

So it's decided then… Wait, I think I forgot something' 

He missed the 'SP' in the skill list way earlier. 

'damn...almost forgot about you little one'

'I really wanted both- The sneak and the dash. Nothing's better than sneaking past your opponent and defeating them in one go, without having to fight it head-on and dying a glorified death just like that idiot hobgoblin before. And obviously, what's better than to be able to run away if the sneak attack fails… 

Really, both. 

Both are good but... Urgh! 

Damn! this selection! 

Let's just choose...'

'Absolutely' as he confirmed, he felt a tingling sensation in his limbs; like someone massaging his muscles. It was an oddly relaxing experience. 

'Sigh… As much as sneak and dash are good and all, they won't be of much help in my situation- sitting in a hanging garden with nowhere to turn. Hence, Better to climb down properly and safely first before even thinking of hunting for prey' he nods, satisfied with his choice. 

'Oh!' Just then, another mutation popped up in the list, making him decide right away on which modification he was going to choose first. 

'Why there isn't any 'don't ask again' option' he confirmed while complaining internally. 

Sitting. His both legs went numb all of a sudden, making him think that he had become disabled for a second before feeling his legs back again. Whilst a sudden sense of strangeness flooded his brain; his foot became a little bit heavy to lift, and his toes became more sharper looking with bones protruding out of them, much like his claws. 

"Khe khe khe!"

'Now let's escape from this damned place'

Feeling refreshed, Oscar lifted his foot before stabbing straight inside the rough surface of the wall. Grabbing ahead, he lifted himself up and above, his light-weight body helped yet again. 

'Let's see, what's up there' with a smile he keeps climbing the curvy narrow tunnel, following the airflow with his senses.