Here in the night's darkness, deep into the ever-dangerous forest away from his home, was a Tier Two Royal Goblin. This Royal Goblin had just finished running for his dear life for well over two hours.

  And in that same two-hour span, that Royal Goblin covered an astounding distance of over forty plus miles.

  Though the Royal Goblin in question wasn’t aware of the number of miles he had traveled.

  The Royal Goblin was of course Rick, and he was lying flat on his back gasping for air as he tried to catch his breath.

  This is something he’d like to have avoided doing because such action could immediately lead to his death if something strong stumbled upon him.

  But he couldn’t help it. Once all the adrenaline wore off, he instantly collapsed at his current position.

  Running as far as he did, for as long as he did, at that speed was not an easy feat.

  But it had to be done. He had to ensure that the mysterious flying monster trying to kill him had backed off.

  So, through nothing but sheer will and mental strength, he ran as fast as he could for more than two entire hours before finally feeling some semblance of safety.

  And now he is experiencing the repercussions of such an action.

  He could barely maintain any form of steady breathing and could not move any part of his body without experiencing excruciating pain from the stress he put his body through.

  He was also sure he had injured the bones in his feet, though it was only an assumption based on the pain he was going through.

  If he were to get attacked in this situation by another creature with the same strength as the hawk, it’d be the immediate end of the Royal Goblin named Rick.

  And all of this is without considering the large gashes on his shoulders.

  All Rick could do was just lay there, and trust Velora to watch his surroundings while hoping he would recover fairly quickly as a Tier Two Royal Goblin, suffering no attacks from monsters.

  Though hoping alone can’t change reality.

  And the reality of the situation was that despite Velora trying to keep him awake, It didn't take long for Rick to fall unconscious from just pure exhaustion.

  Velora could do little to nothing to stop him from drifting away in sleep.

  Velora could also do nothing but watch during the event that followed Rick falling unconscious.

  She could only watch in suspense as a singular humanoid creature appeared in the distance and slowly made its way towards the slumbering Rick.

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  It examined him for a few tense moments, before nodding to himself and then began the laborious task of dragging Rick away.

  Even after seeing the status card of the creature and figuring out what was taking Rick away, she still didn’t feel comfortable with the creature.

  Yes, the thing slowly dragging the large body of Rick away was indeed a Goblin.

  Though it looked nothing like the Goblins of the Tribe that Velora was used to seeing. Even the race of the creature was weird as it was something different instead of just the usual Goblin or High Goblin or even a Royal Goblin like Rick.

  No, it was instead called something far different. Far unlike anything Rick has heard in two lives even.

  It was called a TinkGoblin.

  It still carried similar features of Rick and his Tribe of Goblins, such as being as green as the foliage around it and having the same distinctive potbelly one sported by Rick and currently sported by all the unevolved Goblins back in the Tribe.

  The difference present on the TinkGoblin didn’t end there though.

  It was shorter than even the normal unevolved Goblins who stood at a height of only three feet.

  Instead, the creature appeared to only be two and a half feet in height, which seemed far too small.

  Which goes to show just how labor inducing a task it was for it to be dragging Rick’s massive body away.

  Now, Its small hands were the home of some rather long fingers. Each finger seemed to reach way more than a few inches in length.

  It was truly an odd sight to see the small green TinkGoblin wrap it's long fingers around Rick and pull him along.

  Of course, with the feeble size of the TinkGoblin and the weight of Rick, it made the situation even more odd as it struggled to drag him.

  But even as odd as it might be, it was still a perilous situation for Rick. He was so deep into his slumber that even while being dragged along, he showed no signs of waking.

  Much to Velora’s dismay.

  It wasn’t until the morning of the next day that Rick finally woke up.

  POV Rick

  “My damn head…Where the hell am I?” Rick mumbled, cradling his head.

  [Rick, it’s about time you woke up. You’ve been unconscious since we escaped from that monster that tried to kill you late last night.

  [It seems you pushed your body too far, and this was the consequence of that. Anyway, a lot has happened since you lost consciousness. An interesting individual has dragged you away into this small cave.

  [The individual left a short while ago, but it will come back.

  [I don’t think you're in any condition to escape, but I doubt you have to. The individual tended to your wounds while you were out. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised once you see the actual individual I’m referring to, so I don’t recommend trying to leave right now.]

  ‘Wait… I fell unconscious, then I was Goblin-napped, then my Goblin-napper took care of my injuries, and now I’m awake again in this cave with my Goblin-napper gone, and you're telling me I should wait here instead of leaving because I might be surprised once I see this Goblin-napper?’

  [Yes, it seems you're conscious enough to understand me clearly. That’s good.]

  ‘Are you insane?! I’m leaving right now! Those simply aren’t good enough reasons to stay for it to come back!’

  [The monster is a Goblin.]

  ‘Well, why the hell didn’t you just say that before?!’

  [I tried to replicate your behavior. I believe you called it the dramatic effect.]

  ‘That’s different! This is about me being snatched away by an unknown criminal versus finding another Goblin!’

  [I see. I’ll remember that for next time. Also, the Goblin is back.]

  “You’ve finally woken up. Good. We have a lot to talk about.”

  As Rick turned his head towards the individual he assumed to be a “Goblin”, his face gradually turned from confusion to shock, to an even deeper look of confusion. The creature in front of him looked nothing like he expected it to.

  “You're a Goblin?”

  “Ah, you can speak clearly, but I'm not just a Goblin. I’m a TinkGoblin, so close enough.”