"Drip!" 

The high ceilings were strangely moist. Some water droplets dripped down occasionally, shaping some tiny puddles down below, with overgrown mosses at the edges. And some rare trees, made of ominous spikes at the bottom, green leaves branched up above. 

Sitting beside one of such tree. Oscar was currently busy, rummaging through the stolen bag. He refused to believe, those adventurers would have come unprepared in a dungeon. 

'Surely, if this world has some fu*king magic to blast monsters to bloody pieces, with a thanos-snap. They would definitely have some sort-of medicines for insta heals right?' His assumption were based on the condition; This world humans were wise enough to make an anti-dot to a poison, they made, or discovered first before taking the credit on making it, just like any average scientist In his world had done before. 

Oscar failed to notice in the heat of the moment before. And only now as he got a rest, did he noticed the pain. Slow, Prickling sensation that was subtle at first, quickly escalated to a sheer agony it was spreading through his chest. Slowly, unstoppably. Giving him a hard time on just breathing alone, let alone continuing his walk. 

Seemingly, some shards of his broken rib cage had punctured his lungs. Causing a seering pain to erupt, each time as he inhales. Evidently robbing his ability to walk, without gasping for air after every two steps. 

'I think, it would have been more tolerable if that fall, had broken a limb or two of mine, instead of my chest... Probably'

Even though, the intelligent goblin complains on exchanging his injury, for a lesser one. He was also thankful for at least staying alive enough to be able to complain. 

'And to be honest, it doesn't hurt that much. It's like, getting stabbed by many needles at once, blunts the overall pain, making it more bearable, than getting stabbed by a single needle, down to the bones. Or should I say, laying on a bed of needles is more tolerable, than letting a single needle shoving upto your ass'. 

The only saving grace for him, was the lack of any monsters nearby; Most likely, they all ran away. Terrified by the horrifying roars/shrieks of that rat king. And considering its level, it would be strange, if any monster weaker than the rat king itself will remain. 

"Hmm?"

Taking out a strange leather flask from the bag. Oscar opened the lid, and sniffed it. Wide eyed, he gasped in a pleasant surprise 'Finally some fu*king clean water!' 

Having to drink, nothing but the blood, and more blood. Till the time he was being being spawned. The goblin would obviously, appreciate some proper water to drink for once. And No, the water puddle in his line of sight, definitely doesn't counts. Since he refused to drink the water, that smells worst than a lizards poison. 

Putting aside the water, after having his fill. Little Oscar continues his hunt, inside the bloated bag. Checking each and every small pockets, doesn't matter if it's empty, or filled with some strange grasses  he had seen aplenty on the second strata. 

              

'Hmm, it looks like a hair comb?' 

Gripping a small wooden bar. Embedded by some tooths, made of soft materials with tiny gaps. Oscar swiped it over his green, shinningly-bald head, before throwing it away with dead eyes. 

'I hate all the combs...'

              

'Now, what's this?' 

In front of him, stands a crudely made iron pot, and some wooden utensils in the shape of forks, spoons and bowls. 

'Though, I would prefer to eat raw'

Saying so, the goblin also throws them away, without remorse. Since he didn't know how to cook, nor he had anything to cook anyway. As he barely got a short window on devouring his prey, after his hunt. Always being wary of the other strong monsters, attracted by the recent disturbance caused by their struggle. 

             

Sniffing. Oscar took a bite of the paper-wrapped-bread before running, Oscars analysis on it. 

'hmm...Too hard to chew, but still softer than a rock. Tastes like a dry paper. Or it might be my sense of taste had changed. Sigh... At the end, I would still prefer the monster meat, over this junk'. 

Muttering to himself. The aspiring thief, stuffed back another loaf of bread altogether, before throwing both of them aside, with a look of absolute disgust. 

Who said, go green? Oscar would rather go red, than green. And that's not because he hated his new skin color, definitely not. Oscar ain't a racist. 

             

Curious. As he chews on the last carrot, he speculates 'Will I get the Gene aliments out of vegetables, or is it limited to monster meats?' 

And just as he thought, after eating everything, and still not getting a screen reading any gains. Oscar concluded, that he was getting nothing out of it. 

'I'm curious, what if I cook the monster meat with seasonings. Will the Gene aliment be reduce, or it will stay the same'

Ideally Musing. Oscar, at last took out a bunch of magical orbs from the now-half-empty bag, causing many screens to pop up. Showing some brief details, as his hands swiped over each of them. 

'Ghaaaa! This...this is Great!' 

His eyes sparkles more and more, before shooting some imaginary beams, as his hands goes through each magic device. And reading their one sentence overview. He felt like a child, who just founded a treasure trove at his backyard. 

In total, other than some useless stuff. The thief got some ten, or so, of these man-made-magic-orbs. That can shoot magic, if provided enough mana. 

Oscar would have most likely checked their practical uses of each of them at least once. If not for the stabbing pain in his chest, reminding him his urgent need of a magic-medicine. 

Sure, a level up would have likely solved his injury. But he's not in a position to even run, without coughing out blood. Let alone finding monsters as easy as those rats here. 

After reluctantly putting these magic shinnies aside, for a moment. Oscar dives again, with a hope to find anything remotely related to healing. Or even a pain killer, if nothing else. 

'Uhhhh... Finally a bottle that screams of a fantasy potion of sort huh?' he said, catching his breath for a moment. Staring at the bloody red liquid, swirling inside the glass bottle lazily as if it's alive 

'Wait! why in the seven hell would you censor the damn name?! Now, how do I know, what kind of potion is this' for all he knew, this might be a new poison, just with a red color as disguise. 

He was about to scream out of frustration, but then after reading the second screen, did he calmed down immediately. 

Without further ado, Oscar chugged down the liquid, before making a sour look the next instant. 

'Is this because of it's low quality. Or healing potions, generally tastes worst than a puddle of rotten water? '

Thankfully, After a minute. He was able to feel a warm sensation spreading through his ruptured lungs, and broken chest. Relaxing all his tense nerves in the process, and not longer than dozen or so minutes. Oscar was back to jumping on two legs. 

'Miracle!' He triumphed. 

             

Counting the already used healing potion. The thief had around five or so different potions at hand, which he could make use of. 

'Fuuu! Now, I don't regret risking myself back then... At least, not that much' he thought with a shrug. 

The goblins could have gotten more stuff. If those adventurers haven't already used some of them, on their own. Also, if they haven't stocked just enough, to last only a single round trip to the second strata with many rest points in between for a refill. 

Moreover, Oscar failed to notice, but he had dropped more than half of the bags original contents, in his fall.

As for that mysterious obsidian orb. Oscar had already buried it alive for future uses. At a location, he thought was safe, and not noticeable at all... Probably. 

'Right now, it's of no use for me without getting a damn magic core of my own first. Or at least, without raising that MP from my status' Meanwhile, The natural mana stones can do the same thing as that core. And they're more portable than pushing a giant not-so-suspicious-ball around. For instance, carrying the small batteries are obviously a better choice, than to carry a heavy generator around with you, in a lawless-battlefield of a dungeon. And not to mention, he isn't stupid enough to not notice; the rat king had chased him down, because of that obsidian orb in the first place. Or else, why in the dungeon would a boss monster will starts chasing a little grunt of a monster, just because it crossed their path? While outright ignoring the tasty humans, who it was this close on killing them? If it could attract even a boss monster, then surely, it could attract any and every monster with an ounce mana.

'I knew, I hit the jackpot when I first met it. But alas, I was not strong enough to keep it safe' and so, Oscar did what any sensible man/goblin would do. He buried it, of course 'If I can't get it, then nobody can' Determined-edly, he thought. And so, he had successfully avoided the future trouble, of having every monster in this strata running for his life. 

Carrying a light-weight-bag, after discarding all the non-useful stuff. While still possessing; the mana stones to power those man-made-magic-devices. All the potions, that he had kindly taken  from the good humans. Oscar traversed through the caverns of the third strata. Which isn't completely different from the second strata itself. Other than further, divided into more than one caverns at each and every turns. And such caverns being much larger in size, almost giving him a feeling of walking through an underground barren lands. With occasional green patches of forest, wherever these clusters of small-ponds are present to nourish them. 

As the traveling goblin walked past them. He noticed that, many of these greenery are occupied by the giant monsters, like that slug the size of a horse, Oscar was able to saw from a safe-distance. Or there are hidden predators waiting for other monsters to come across. Rarely these water sources are empty, like the one he had encountered at the beginning. 

            

'Hey! Isn't that unfair for us goblins?!' 

Seeing the height of the caverns. Oscar was more than certain; he would die, if falls even accidentally from the ceilings up above. 

'Now, how am I supposed to hide and hunt here?' he thought of a way to somehow hide. Which seems too easy, but what's harder is to hide and hunt at the same time. 

He was too accustomed to the low ceilings of the second stratas caverns, giving him a good perch to walk, unimpeded of the strange monsters walking below. And a good place to ambush his prey, given, he was the only one waiting to ambush someone else. 

'Anyways, let's find a safe place to rest for a while, before searching for food' he thought, hiding behind the cover, waiting for the elephant-bear to pass away. It was of colossal height and two mighty tooths, with brown fur covering its strong hands, with the rippling muscles that could easily torn tens of Oscars to shreds, without a thought. He listened to its heavy thumps getting further and further away, through his heightened perception, combined with his hearing and smelling power while his eyes closed. Slowly he shifted his focus on finding a good place to rest, which seems easy said than done. 

It took him more than hours, and a lot of leg cramps. Before Finally finding that one cave, he thought was perfect for his liking. A discreet place to hide, and situated at a place, non-reachable by most of the monsters. 

             

"Ghe!"

Climbing along the slanted walls, with the bag behind. Oscar lifted his head, and saw a natural cave forming with a slightly uplifted  platform at front, jutting out of the walls surface 

'This would do' he thought, before smilingly continued to climb unimpeded. Thinking of the upcoming sleep, he would take in his second-home, without the presence of rat workers keep making obnoxious noises of drilling and digging like some annoying construction workers. 

He couldn't raise his climbing skill in those narrow caverns before, but here he has more than enough walls to climb... till he gets tired of it. 

Eventually, As he comes nearer and nearer to the cave up above. Oscar felt a foreboding feeling, he was just starting to get familiar with. 

His sensitive ears picked some acute disturbances happening overhead, causing him to slow down his speed to a crawl. As he tried to check ahead with his eyes, only to found nothing but a blur as he tried to focus. 

'Urgh! Next time my eyes will be the first to get the upgrade' promising to himself, he continued to scale the wall above, albeit a little cautious now. 

"Tak! Tak!"

His hands freezed as he felt some tiny dirt passing through his side, seemingly falling from above. 

But again he found nothing, stopping just below the platform he was near now enough for his eyes not to be a hinder. 

'The dirt won't fall by itself... Right' 

Oscar contemplated, whether to run down, or run down fastly enough for whatever or whoever was up there to not notice his presence, before thinking that it might be too late to change the decision up here now. As that being must have noticed him long ago. 

'Sigh... Hopefully, there won't be any giant snakes, or a giant rat monster waiting for me up there' 

He knew that, here was the place. He ran away from in the beginning; taking the first trauma of snakes with him above. Only to come back down, with yet another trauma of rat king monster chasing after him. 

'I just wanted to bully some weak monsters, and to live my life like a diligent goblin I am, while trying to learn on how to shoot some magic bullets, alone. So why does these powerful monsters keep coming after me?!' 

As he thinks of this, Oscar felt like crying! 

'Ghaa! Enough is enough! Now I will show y'all who's the boss!'

"Haap!"

With a hardened resolve. Oscar finally pulls himself up above, and quickly landed onto the small platform in swift motion, full of confidence. 

"Ghe?!"

Standing just before the cave. He found a giant monster with eight hairy legs, and six deadly eyes shinning through the obsidian like darkness; all focused on his very being. It menacingly stretches its front mandibles, far and wide. Seemingly welcoming the goblin to his abode, while also thanking him on delivering the free food to its doorsteps. 

"Clank! Clank!"

'Ahem... Can we talk this through?' He tried to use his friendly smile, showing his all dangerously sharp teeths, in hopes of negotiations. Which wasn't a good choice-of-action as a monster. 

"Clank! Clank! Clank!"

Producing an ominous clicks, using its vicious looking mandibles. It abruptly splashed a deadly poison to his face as its reply. 

"Ghaaaa!"

Outraged, he cursed 'You giant piece of eight legged shit! Here I'm trying to finally act like a civilised goblin for once!... You just have to spat on me!? Me?!'

"Arghaaa!"

'Your body will pay for this humiliation'