chapter 4: food

"System."

[Yes host.]

"Now that i used all my energy, how do i earn more energy?"

[There are three main methods to earn energy: pleasure, lust and desire]

"What do you mean?"

[Using the system, the system is able to pick up the flunctations of these emotions in the host and those around the host to form energy.]

"So what do i actually have to do to get energy?"

[The host does not have to do anything, the energy acquisition process is passive. Although triggering these emotions is a good method to increase energy.]

"Wait, did you say something about lust?"

[Yes.]

[There are three main methods to earn energy: pleasure, lust and desire]

At that moment, he though of certain novels he used to read when he was too young to.

"Lust? As in sexual lust?"

[Any form of lust host.]

"So if I were to have... sex with someone, my energy would increase?"

[Yes. The pleasure accumulated from both sides would increase the energy. Plus the host and the partner would be close to each other. Making it easier and more efficient to harvest energy.]

Alex's ears turned red. His cheeks flushed and a lewed smile crept on his lips. But don't be mistaken, this did not look any good being done by a goblin.

"So all I have to do is find a woman to..."

But that seems to be a problem. All this time he had only been seen three women frequently in the cave. The first was the one he saw firsts when he was born, the second was the one who took his loot and sword away. She was also the one who was responsible for taking the loot from all the other goblins.

The third...

"Melondra!" A voice boomed from the cave.

Alex turned his head to look at the female goblin who looked as tall as a human. Her muscles were taunt and compact. In her hand was large axe that was almost as big as Alex. She wore silver armour on her shoulders, cheat and legs. Her stomach which had a slick abs were left uncovered.

She did not wear her mask unlike the others. She instead tied up on her waist and let her face be seen free.

And without a doubt, Alex knew she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Is every girl in this world that beautiful? If even a goblin looks this good..."

But without warning, she swung her axe.

A nearby goblin had it's head flying!

"You dare look at me like that! Filthy goblin."

Alex immediately turned his sweating head away. "What women, those are monsters!"

...

The day tuned dark and the many newbie goblins had returned. But even Alex could see that man had died. Among the 100 newbies, 50 were either killed or seriously injured. He could see now even more than before how lucky he was.

The older goblins crowded up in another part of a cave. As a newbie, he could only follow them. After he looked around, he was able to see what was truly going on.

There was a whole bunch of animal corpses stacked together. He could see rabbits, boars and even some wolf corpses.

"So thats where they take all the loot."

The hobgoblins all came to the front and took a few corpses and left. The female goblin stood and watched them from the sides. It seemed that she was responsible for the order going in the cave.

"So is this is like a cafeteria?"

All the hobgoblins took their share and left. They took about had of the whole stack of food. Alex soon noticed a problem. "This isn't enough for all the goblins to eat."

There are almost 300 goblins in the cave and the food on the ground was only enough for less than 70 goblins to eat, and that's if they ate just enough to sleep the night. So what about the other goblins?

Before he could even react, the old goblins rushed in to get all the food. In his stupor, he was hit with an elbow. He almost fell, but luckily held himself up.

By the time he looked around, all the food was gone. Many of the older goblins had gotten their share of food while the newer ones were without any. This also included him.

And it just so happened that he was hungry. He then saw the other goblins eating all the rabbits and felt like puking. Unlike what he thought, the goblins all ate the meat raw. They barely removed the fur and just shoved all the red stuff in their mouths. It was very terrifying to say.

"They look like cannibals."

Although he was disgusted, he was still hungry. He looked at the other goblins. The more confident ones had strode forth and battled the ones with meat. While the more cowardly just excepted their fate. The female goblin had already left, seemingly uninterested in the goblin battles.

Even though he wanted food, he was not interested in fighting for any. He just like the others, accepted defeat. His only regret was not eating that wolf when he had the chance.

"System, if i had energy, would i be able to make food?"

[Anything can be created.]

[And, the host does have energy.]

"I do? What do you mean? I thought I had used all my energy when i make the Heart of courage."

[The energy increased when the host experienced pleasure.]

"Pleasure? I dont remember doing any..."

[When the host defeated the wolf, the host experienced extreme pleasure from victory. That very feeling was enough for the system to recharge.]

"So it's not just sex that makes energy?"

[No, pleasure can be of any kind. So long as it is recognised by the system, the system can be able to draw it in and recharge.]

"The how much energy do I have now?"

[5%.]

"That's all?"

[Yes.]

"Then can I be able to make any food with that?"

[That depends on the host.]

"Fine, I'll draw something." He then looked around to make sure no one was looking at him. On the ground, he drew an apple. "Should be something right?"

[Insufficient energy. Would you like to optimize the object?]

"What? It's not eneough? Then how much does a simple apple need?"

[Approximately 90%]

"That much, why?"

[The object contains DNA, which contains a lot of information. The system detected that the host does not require most of the parts of the object. As such, optimization is possible.]

"Okay, optimize the object."

He reached out his hands and the purple haze seeped through his pores and spread through the drawing. He pulled out his hands And he saw a round object come to view.

"What the f**k is this?"

The round object was green, round and... That's it. It was green and round.

"What kind of Apple is this?"

[The object has been optimized to only serve the necessary functions.]

"Then why is it... is this edible?"

[Yes. The system had made sure the edible function has been retained.]

Alex took a bite out of the "apple" and chewed.

"Huh, tastes like an apple."

But he was surprised when he finished the apple. there was no hard par or any inedible parts. The whole thing was edible.

"Where are the seeds?"

[The seeds held unnecessary information. Only the nutritive part was retained.]

"It wasn't bad though. I'm already full. My goblin stomach only needed that much just to be full?"

He the. Looked around. All he older goblins who had no food went to another part of the cave and slept. Of course he also did the same. Before he slept, thoughts of tomorrow came. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. Although the world was dangerous, it seemed so novel to him. Deep down he felt a desire. The desire to see the world.

"That's for another time, i should be more concerened about how i will survive tomorrow."

He soon fell asleep on the hold hard floor.

...

[MELONDRA]

My name is Melondra.

I am the subject of his majesty the goblin queen. I am one of the royal guard of his majesty. My duty is to watch over the goblins. I am to take their loot and sort it accordingly. My job is also to memorize all the goblins with notable achievement, and to reward them if necessary.

I hate my job.

Why?

It is because I have to look of over those filthy creatures. Their intelligence is as good as a rock's and their manners are no different from a pack of wild animals.

Even though I had my job, I still do it.

Why?

It was the order from my queen. It was the duty she saw most fitting for me. So although I hate this job, I have to do it if it means pleasing my queen.

Although I hate my job, I really think suits me best. Simply because I was born different from my sisters. Unlike my sisters, I don't have much combat strength. If I were to compare my strength, then would probably be equal to a simple hobgoblin.

hmm... maybe less.

My sister have the powerful bodies and strong skills. They are the pillars and protectors of the kingdom.

But i am not all that useless. Because I have a simple ability different from from my sisters. I have perfect memory.

This ability let's me remember anything and everything perfectly. My queen was able to see the potential of my ability and set me to manage the horde.

Because of this ability of mine, I was able to remember the faces of every goblin that has ever been born in this horde. Not only that, I even developed a point system in my mind. I give points according to the level of contribution each goblin provides to the horde. With it I could be able to know the amount of points a goblin or hobgoblin has.

Today was a special day. New goblins are going to be born. Every few months, the queen would spawn a few goblin to supplement the decreasing populations. The goblins die more times than necessary, so we have to keep making more. We can't count on normal reproduction to keep up.

As always, I did not go to see the new goblins, but from orders from the queen, one of my sisters did. With her presence, the goblins were riled up.

I did not care to memorize the new goblins. Because I know that most of them will probabbly be dead at the end of the day. I could only wait for evening to memorize them and include them in our family.

I heard footsteps from behind me.

"Melondra."

It was Ezura, the strongest of all my sisters. She was responsible for defence, but for a defender, she goes out a lot more than necessary.

"What is it Ezura?"

"I am going out to do some hunting."

"For the last time Ezura, why don't you just let the goblins do that."

"That's too boring. Look I'll be quick. Just make sure nobody knows I'm gone."

"You are deliberately disobeying the queen's orders."

"She knows about what i do, but do you see her complaining?"

I creased my brows and looked at my sister. In the end I gave up. "Fine, just come back early already."

"Thanks."

She quickly disappeared from the cave. I then returned to my normal day of doing nothing but counting the points accumulated by the goblins.

I thought that the new goblins will return at least at dusk before the day ends, but someone unexpectedly returned early.

A goblin?

Where is the hobgoblin responsible for watching over him?

That's weird, why does he have a wolf on his back? And a sword too. I don't seem to see any other goblin behind him.

I approached the returning goblin. I immediately memorized his face.

sigh~

No matter how many times I see them, they are still ugly.

"Where are your team members and your leader?"

"Dead," he replied. From his voice though, I could feel a slight tremble. Is he scared of me?

"Killed by what?"

"A wolf."

I sighed. The had been a lot of wolves recently. So he must be telling the truth.

"Is that the wolf that killed them?" I asked pointing at the wolf on the goblins's shoulder.

"No, not really."

It seem he picked it up from somewhere in the woods. The same is true for the sword. It was probabbly left behind by some human adventures. This goblin must be very luck to find all these.

I sighed again, if there are humans in the forest, then this generation of goblins is will have a high casualty rate. I should talk to the queen about this, but i should deal with this goblin for now.

I went over and took the sword from his hand and the goblin corpse. It would be a shame if this sword was wasted the hands of goblin after all, but I did of course give him some points for bringing so many valuables with him.

Timid goblin +1000 points.

I then left to head my other matters, but as I left I suddenly had weird feeling. "Didn't that goblin seem smarter than usual?"

It's probabbly my imagination.

With that, I left to continue to manage more matters of the kingdom.

...