Chapter VII

Cash and Opie arrived back on the mushroom forest floor with little left in the tank. They could've stayed in the tunnel with the entrance to the surface but that wouldn't solve their hunger problems. Standing next to the two openings they found earlier they stared at the neon luminescent mushroom forest in front of them. 

"The fundamentals of survival include food, water, and shelter, right? We have the ant steaks if the worst comes to worst. We can probably wring out the moss for some water if we need to so let's focus on trying to find a shelter for now." Cash said.

Picking a direction at random, they creeped into the forest and began looking for a suitable location. About one-hundred yards into the search, Opie's ears stood on end and a low growl emanated from his throat. Thinking to use their telepathic ability, Cash crouched down and put a hand on Opie's head. 

"What is it boy?" Cash sent.

"I smell ant blood nearby and another new smell. It's really stinky. Like foul level stinky." Opie sent back while scrunching up his nose.

"Let's check it out but go slow, okay? Run back to the surface entrance if we can't handle it." Cash replied.

Opie gave a huff as a reply before they stealthily moved forward. Cash was moving around a particularly large mushroom trunk when he spotted the backs of two green hunchback figures hunched over something, making loud tearing noises. Hiding back behind the trunk, he leaned out again to get a clearer view. Trying out his new skill, he cast identify to get a better idea of what they could be facing.

Goblin Scout (LVL. 4) 

Goblin Scout (LVL. 3)

The names of the creatures were all that was revealed to Cash. As soon as he used the identify on the goblins, they stood up and looked around in alarm. Cash was still reading the information from his identify and realizing that the creatures in front of him were the same as the infamous goblins from his video games when one of them spotted him. The goblin that spotted him let out a monkey sounding screech before running directly at Cash's hiding spot. The other goblin was a little slow on the take and was about ten yards behind its companion before following suit. In the lead goblin's hand, it carried a primitive stone axe that it waved around wildly in his direction. Cash stepped out of cover completely and brandished his club from his belt ready to fight. About five yards before reaching Cash, Opie lunged out of his hiding spot and latched onto the achilles of the first goblin coming for him. The goblin let out a surprised squawk and face-planted into the ground in front of Cash.

Surprised that he lost track of Opie in the moments before his stealth was ruined, Cash took advantage of the situation and slammed his club down on the skull of the goblin in front of him. Cash could hear the sound of the goblin's skull cracking from the power of his hit. The goblin immediately went limp, its long ears flapped against the cavern floor and dark red blood began to pool underneath it's head. Opie was still tearing into the creature's ankle as Cash heard the other goblin angrily squawking in its guttural language. The last goblin was turning around to run away and to presumably get more of its kind. 

"Shit! Get him!" Cash yelled towards Opie.

Opie let go of his new chew toy and took off after the last goblin as Cash ran past. Opie caught up to the retreating goblin first and this time lunged towards its weapon arm, pulling the goblin to the ground. Cash arrived as the pair hit the ground and watched as the Goblin back-handed Opie off of him. Opie yelped and retreated a few steps, but Cash snarled and demanded satisfaction for harming his loyal companion.

Cash slammed his club onto the chest of the downed goblin where the club succinctly exploded upon contact. Cash was momentarily stunned that his WOODEN CLUB (TRASH) was destroyed but quickly jumped onto the breathless goblin and began raining down blows with his fists. 

His vision was growing red in his rage as he landed blow after blow into the downed goblins disproportionately sized head. The goblin responded in kind by using its sharp claws to tear into Cash, but he couldn't feel anything in his moment of bloodlust.

After the fifth blow the goblin was only weakly fighting back and somewhere around the tenth blow there was no fight left at all. Cash's fists didn't stop coming, they started making wet smacking noises before Cash regained his senses.

He looked around and saw Opie sitting on his haunches next to him looking out towards the forest as if on watch while Cash finished off his opponent. Cash looked back down to the grisly work he'd done with his hands and was shocked to see that almost nothing remained of the goblin's head at all. It had been flattened into the ground like a hydraulic press had squashed it. Cash noticed after a moment that he had blinking notifications in his vision again but decided to wait to open them.

Rising to his feet and sucking down air, Cash knew they needed to beat feet before something else came looking. He looked down at the goblin before him again and got a good look at it. The goblin was approximately four feet tall (or would be if it still had a head) with no clothing besides a dirty stained cloth covering its junk. The weapon it had been carrying was a stone pickaxe that was crudely tied together. Cash reached down to take the weapon, seeing as he currently didn't have one and cast identify.

CRUDE GOBLIN PICKAXE (BASIC)

Sliding it into his belt loop, Cash tried casting loot and was surprised again when it worked. The goblin's body began disappearing into motes of light and this time, Cash remembered something from the last fight when he used the skill. All the loot fell on his head. Taking a step back he waited for the lights to finish and waited for the loot to fall on the ground with a smirk on his face.

"Oof! Son of a bitch!" Cash yelled while rubbing the top of his head.

Several copper-colored coins had fallen directly on his head despite his efforts to avoid the outcome. Muttering a few additional curses under his breath, Cash reached down to pick-up the fallen coins and took a closer look at them using his identify skill.

COPPER COIN: Description: System currency of the lowest denomination.

Cash felt a sudden burning desire welling up from within himself while he looked at the coins. He'd always been drawn to money and saving up as much as he could. It was like an obsession. He even refused to deposit all his money in the bank. He loved seeing the money he had. He wanted to hoard it. His desire for money had never been this intense though. It was like something had awoken inside of him recently. Cash stared at the coins for a moment longer before stuffing them into the pockets of his jeans before walking back to his first kill with Opie in tow.

Cash took the goblin's weapon again which turned out to be a STONE GOBLIN AXE (BASIC) this time around. Trying a different technique, Cash casted his loot ability again and waited until the motes of light were just about to disappear before side-stepping. This time the coins had fallen where he was standing previously.

"Hah! Take that stupid system!" Cash stated while making a middle finger salute to the air.

Deciding that they had stuck around long enough, Cash and Opie backtracked towards their starting point. They hadn't found a suitable location for shelter yet, but Cash had an idea forming in his mind.

"I think I'm going to try to use this pickaxe we got to dig us a little house buddy. What do you think?" Cash looked down at Opie.

Opie barked in return and was wagging his tail playfully when a loud grumble echoed from his stomach. Opie's playful attitude disappeared into a sad whine that Cash couldn't bear to hear.

"Just a little longer buddy, we'll have somewhere safe to sleep and can look at doing something with these steaks." Cash replied.

The duo walked along the wall of the oval shaped cavern until they found a depression in the wall. Setting his shirt-sack down, Cash hefted his newly plundered pickaxe and got ready to swing.

"Keep an eye out while I do this okay bud? This might get loud." Cash said.

Theorizing that his new system strength might have a significant effect on his capabilities, Cash wanted to try making themselves a home in the wall, like a dwarf in their mountain castles from his favorite fantasy movies and games. He hefted the pickaxe over his head, firmly planting his legs and using his hips, swung down onto the cave wall with everything he had. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect but the disintegration of a three-foot square hole wasn't it. He looked down at the pickaxe in his hand and smiled to himself. 

"I think I may just like this new world." Cash said to himself.