Vigor

When he opened his eyes, Sam saw several goblins around him making excited noises.

Sam stood up groggily and saw the goblins around him facing ahead and looking at the same old grumpy goblin and the silver-haired goblin mage standing on an elevated ground they were using as a stage to look over all the goblins. 

"Quiet you brats!" yelled the old goblin. When all the goblins turned silent he cleared his throat and started speaking –

"This handsome goblin standing beside me is the only magician of our den Allen Bright, he's here to help you all survive the hunt today."

The old goblin nodded at the silver-haired goblin, who moved towards the very edge of the stage and stared at all the goblins as if trying to find something in them. After a while, he spoke –

"Young ones, today you'll all be tested and only the toughest will survive, most of you will be eaten by the various monsters living in the forest." the silver-haired goblin paused.

The goblins started getting restless as they instinctively knew that for them it was one of the worst things that could happen, among these goblins Sam was standing at the very back and had already realized that the goblins in front of him were the very same goblins who were toddlers just yesterday. 

He along with all the other goblins born yesterday had matured into a full-fledged adult goblin.

As Sam was trying to wrap his head around a goblin's growth rate in this world. When the Silver-haired goblin continued –

"To stop this from happening and to increase your chances of survival in this world, I'll give you some knowledge, and listen to me very carefully as this will decide your life and death."

"I'll teach you all how to enhance your defenses and make your fists hard as a rock." The silver-haired goblin stretched out his hand and made it into a fist. Soon his fist turned darker and it started having a bit of lustre.

He walked towards a huge rock that was present next to the earthen stage. He pulled back his fist and delivered a punch to the rock, which sounded like a metal hammer colliding with a hard surface. Soon after, there appeared visible cracks on the surface of the rock but it didn't break.

The silver-haired goblin looked towards the goblins and showed his fist which returned to its normal color, there was no swelling, bleeding, or even a scratch visible on his fist.

Sam gasped looking at the sight of the handsome goblin breaking a rock with his bare fist.

After recovering from his shock Sam thought to himself –

'I want to learn how to do this, I wonder if this silver-haired goblin will teach me if I request hi" 

Cutting Sam's thoughts, Allen spoke once again – "This is one of the applications of the vigor mastery, vigor is an energy present inside all living beings in this world and can be used to strengthen their body or specific parts of their body."

Allen continued – "The good news for you all is that it comes almost instinctually to us goblins, but the bad news is that you can't keep it active for long."

Allen looked at the crowd and concluded – " Unfortunately, we don't have time on our side and we are in dire need of food. So this is the best we can do for you. And remember your vigor responds to your will. The stronger your will the stronger will be your vigor." Allen retreated to his previous position.

The old goblin took over and shouted – "Off you go brats and make sure to bring plenty of food for the den."

Suddenly all the experienced goblin warriors appeared from within the cave tunnels and started pushing the newborn goblins outward towards the entrance of the cave.

After the newborn goblins along with Sam were rushed out of the cave all the veteran goblins gathered near Allen and the old goblins who started giving them orders at a rapid pace.

The veteran goblins also left the cave leaving Allen and the old goblin alone.

"Kruger, what do you think of this new batch?" Allen asked the old goblin.

"This batch does have some promising seedlings, but most of them will die trying." the old goblin called Kruger said with a smirk.