- It was ominously blood red. That much was normal, considering it was blood.

- It had an unbearably heavy stench foreshadowing the taste.

- It contained golden magical light wisps swimming in it.

- It was viscous enough to almost look like jelly.

The whole thing seemed more like an incredibly vile poison than a beverage one would serve guests.

The Goblin Chief observed the human in front of him. He did not show any sign of repulsion. He had to be bluffing, right? Even goblins feared this thing!

The goblin raised a toast, grinning inwardly. There was no way the human would be able to keep a straight face for what followed. This would prove him unworthy of the “king” symbol!

As Jack raised his cup, the goblin nodded.

— Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! —

As the foul liquid invaded his throat, Jack couldn’t help but give a nostalgic smile. This sure brought back memories, especially that one time with the huge dragon.

One could draw power from a dragon’s blood. To be safe, the two of them had drunk all of it. They didn’t gain much power, but they spent days in the bathroom, pissing it!

Once the liquid reached his stomach, the visions started. He saw himself as a Rock-Pecker, flying unrestrained over the Canyon.

He could feel the creature’s curiosity toward the recently appeared humans, along with the hunger. Humans tasted even better than rocks; it longed to devour them!

The feeling of the wind in his wings was ever so soft and reassuring. That’s when it saw one of its old brethren, now serving the goblins, feeling disdain toward it.

It was time to— the vision ended abruptly. This was the limit of this specific essence-blood. But even this low-level drink would have destabilized anyone on their first time.

The Goblin Chief raised a brow. From start to finish, the human’s face hadn’t changed! “Did it not work?!” He found himself blurting.

”Flying sure is a nostalgic feeling, thanks.” He seemed to be reminiscing. “Wind on your scales, wings flapping powerfully, breathing fire, roaring to challenge the Heavens….”

”?!?” What the hell was he describing?!

”If you ever have the opportunity, you should try dragon-essence. Now, that’s some of the really good stuff.” Jack casually remarked.

”D-dragon?!!!” The goblin blanked, his face turning red in excitement. What kind of crazy concept was this?!

Seeing the goblin stunned, Jack didn’t miss the opportunity to take the lead. “Now, let’s talk cooperation, shall we?” he adorned a beautiful business smile, the one merchants used to bleed others dry…

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The silence was heavy. It was hard to say which side would suffer the most from failed negotiations. The human was alone, but a king represented countless.

A total eradication war was a real and frightening possibility!

There was one exception to the heavy brooding. The blind goblin girl giggled as she gleefully petted Moon Moon. It was so fluffy!

She still didn’t know that the “chief” she had successfully welcomed was in fact human. She was still riding the high of having made a new powerful friend.

Goblins respected two things: power and wisdom. It was customary that the visiting chief would reward her efforts by answering a few questions. This was an incredible learning opportunity!

That’s when a commotion happened. It was the sound of hundreds of goblins gasping in shock. The chief and Jack came out, and he still had the “king” symbol! He really was one?!

The old goblin addressed the crowd:

”Goblins, we now have a new ally. Welcome the king of Humans, the Demon King Jack’O, he who hunts dragons!” In the silence, his voice thundered and echoed.

They had expected an alliance after seeing both come out alive, but what kind of amazing introduction was this?!

For a certain blind girl, it was too many revelations at once. Her cute yelps resounded:

”Hunts Dragons?! Demon King?!! Wait….HUMAN?!!!” Her small body trembled all over.

The meeting had gone very well for a simple reason. Jack knew everything about the goblins yet was so confident it became intimidating!

Unlike the fairies, the goblins were a short-lived race. Their ancestors had known about humans, but that knowledge had long been lost.

They feared picking a fight with an unknown enemy. The Braves’ immortality was especially fearsome. How could they fight that?!

In time they would learn to convert players into goblins, but convincing them wouldn’t be that easy either.

”Let us feast!!!” As the chief announced, Moon Moon’s tail wagged in expectation.

The little wolf was a smart one. Thanks to Jack’s tutoring, it knew countless languages! Well, only words like “meat” and “eating”, but it still counted, right?!

The goblins went all out to honor their guests: Rock-Pecker and stray hyena meat! A hyena would be banished from its pack from time to time, finishing in a goblin plate.

Moon Moon was ready to help with the roasting. As the little wolf summoned flaming chickens from the sky, many goblins fell to the ground, prostrating themselves.

— Unintelligible Prayers! —

”Master, what are they doing?!” Derek asked, puzzled.

”Oh, nothing much. They’re just in awe. Something about how such great magic control is the mark of an Epic creature.” Jack shrugged.

”EPIC?! Like that dragon that we fought earlier?! Is that true?!” Derek remarked.

”Of course not….” Jack scoffed, Derek sighing in relief. There was no way the silly, friendly wolf was that awesome, but then Jack added:

”…Moon Moon has a mythical bloodline.” His companion had been special from the very start, plus had evolved two times. (Fiery Chicken Wish)

”M-mythical?!” Derek stared at the small wolf in disbelief: this was even better!

”Woo!” (Reproachful!)

The little wolf was waving a reproachful paw at the prostrated goblins. What were they kneeling for?! The fire was burning, and it was time to roast the meat! Amateurs!

They started cooking, stealing glances at the unassuming small wolf that hid such magical prowess. It was now nodding its small head in approval.

To put things into perspective, it had better mana mastery than pretty much all of them! How powerful would it become when it reached maturity?!

The feast was as joyous as delicious, revealing the details of the meeting.

- The goblins would hand Jack emblems that would serve as safe-passage tokens.

- They would give him his own messenger bird. It would work in all open-world areas, even if the message function was blocked.

- They would share supplies with him. This included some rations, but most importantly, hyena bait and scent remover to help them progress.

- In exchange, he would personally teach them about humans and their language. Eventually, he’d send extra teachers too.

While it wasn’t anything too exaggerated to start, it would make one hell of a difference for their small party.

Jack grinned as he messaged his contact in Sprigfield. It was time for his NPC minions to spread the rumors of a way to avoid fighting the goblins.

This would come just in time, considering how much had been sacrificed to clear a single goblin clan. Many would be interested, and he’d use this to further his influence.

As soon as they were done eating, Jack was already ready to leave. He’d find the lich for sure…