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The old man led them outside and into the woods. About half an hour later, and after following a small stream for a time, they came to a stop by a large and heavy disc-shaped stone. The old man set his muscular body and heaved against it. The stone gradually began to move, then suddenly lurched to the side as Rain joined in and pushed it more easily. The stone was shifted out of the way revealing a cave

“Uh, thanks,” said the leveler awkwardly.

“...No problem.” gravelled Rain.

“My bird herd is inside here, forty-odd of them. I’d stick around but I’d rather not know what you’re about to do, so…”

The old man backed away and then turned and jogged back into the forest.

Opal watched him go.

“This sucks.”

“You think we could have found this herd without paying him?”

“...”

Red lowered his voice in a way he hoped Rain wouldn't hear. “That was the gold! H-how could you!? The precious goollllld!”

Opal snorted. It’s gold not swords, plus that was nothing, there’s still heaps.

“I think it was worth it, at least this way I don't feel bad,” said Lyra with a sigh.

A bird squawk came from in the cave and Opal turned to see that Rain had already gone inside.

“Mmm. Maybe it was worth it for this bit,” she said hurrying toward the entrance.

Inside she found Rain already going to work, the animals in the cave weren't so much birds as huge flightless ostrich-like raptors, each with large hooked claws reminiscent of a Panthara and serrated beaks. Despite supposedly being domesticated animals they did not go down docile and came at Rain with a wild fury. Opal looked on in shock as Rain disappeared behind a cloud of feathers and a cacophony of echoing squawking. It wasn't long before the birds realised they were hopelessly outmatched however and tried to flee. Rain didn't let them, his paws reaching out and dragging their long necks into his teeth sometimes two at a time. 

Only two of the birds managed to get away and Opal was waiting for them, their necks made nice targets for her blades.

She finished to see Rain sitting in the middle absolutely covered in feathers, a feather balanced comically on the bridge of his nose. Opal couldn't help but laugh.

“What?” The motion of speaking lifted the balanced feather into the air for a moment before it drifted back down somehow in the same spot.

“N-nothing!”

“Hmmm. 

Rain lifted the bird in his paws and took a bite out of its side, feathers and all.

“Tastes like turkey chicken,” he mumbled from around his teeth.

He pulled away to see Opal staring at him, her lip twitching. He checked himself and realised he had a fan of feathers sticking from his mouth, the quills stuck between his teeth. He scowled and plucked and spat them out.

“Taking off points for featheryness…”

He continued with the bird and as he was finishing it Opal rolled another into his lap and he devoured that one too. He wasn't going to let the feeling of growth he craved go to waste nor minimise it by dividing it up so he dived straight onto the next one, letting the growth bank up deep inside of himself like a lake above a rickety dam just waiting to burst free.

He enthusiastically gorged himself, trying his best to ignore the feathers, rapidly eating his way through ten, twenty, thirty of the birds, Opal eagerly shoving another bird into his paws as soon as he was done with the current one, the Goblin getting progressively more excited as he neared the end.

At last he tore into the last bird and devoured it all. He spat free the feathers caught in his teeth and flopped backwards on the ground, which happened to be covered in loose feathers making a surprisingly comfortable natural bed. A growl slipped from his lips as the dam began to break, ‘lumber’ splitting and falling as more and more of it spilt forth until with a sudden rushing surge the growth exploded outward, rolling down his body in pulsing waves. He felt Opal climb atop him, her legs wrapped tight around his hips. She ground her crotch down on him, her hands clutching at his abdomen as she was lifted up into the air by rain as he arched his spine bucking his hips upward as his insides shifted and stressed and strained outward, growing larger and longer. He gasped as the feeling peaked and he collapsed back to the ground, the Goblin riding him going limp across his chest with a little breathy whimper.

“So fuckin gewdd!” sighed Opal. “I need to find you so much more food so you can surge and grow beneath me bigger than ever!”

“Maybe we’ll find something in town.”

After a moment of resting in comfortable silence Rain sat up, Opal falling into his lap.

She pouted up at him.

“I can’t sit here like this. I’m covered from head to toe in feathers and muck and there's a stream nearby. I can have a bath.”

Opal let out a pained groan and covered her face. 

He stood up, tipping the Goblin off of himself and stepped outside. Lyra’s face dropped in confusion when she saw him until she realised the feathers he was covered in must have come from the birds. Red made round eyes and firmly put his claws over his muzzle, even still a small giggle escaped his lips. Rain gave him a dangerous look and he immediately froze up.

The stream was quite small and not very wide but still fairly deep. That didn't stop Rain though, he sat down in the middle, his back facing downstream, and the water flowed around the large obstacle of his body. The blockage was enough that a broad pool started to form where the water ran into him, filling out and deepening. An absurd amount of feathers fell from his body and were washed downstream as he sat in the water.

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Opal emerged from the cave and narrowed her eyes, watching as Rain washed, eyeing the water around him nervously. Gulping in anticipation, she carefully stretched out a leg and dipped a toe. She immediately jumped backwards like a startled hare and rubbed her toe where the water had touched.

“Disgusting nasty water!”

“I know you secretly want to come in, try again,” gravelled Rain.

The Goblin set her lips in a line, unimpressed, but after a moment approached the water once more. This time she closed her eyes before dipping her toe in. She managed to hold herself in place for a moment, this... wasn’t completely awful... the sensation of liquid on her skin was kinda nice.

A large paw wrapped around her foot and she wailed in distress as she was pulled into the water with a splash. She bobbed with only her eyes above the water and glared at Rain.

He grinned at her. “Progress.”

On the shore Lyra crouched with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees peeking at Rain as he splashed around in the water. She wasn't going to admit it out loud but the interaction with the old man had upset her. The leveler had attacked them first and had casually professed to enjoying murdering Goblins in front of Opal. Lyra had killed Goblins for levels herself of course but… she hadn’t enjoyed it and she wouldn't rub killing them in Opal’s face, not unless she made her mad anyway. She wasn’t quite sure how she had come to this new attitude, nobody cared about the Goblin slaves in her home city, not that they were around long enough to grow attached to them. Why bother feeding them properly when getting a fresh one was so cheap?… Was that wrong somehow? 

She eyed Opal. The Goblin had moved to sit in Rain’s lap and was preening as he washed her hair. Goblins at home didn't act like that, they were all demure and quiet and didn't speak up, they acted like they were plants or part of the furniture trying their best to not interact with levelers. That was what a good high quality and well trained slave did. That was.... Lyra bit her lip… that wasn’t trying to do a good job, that was fear of dying. Seeing how alive and sapient and leveler like Opal was put her memories of the city in a horribly uncomfortable light.

She was busily worrying the problem when water splashed on her. She looked up to see Opal looking smugly at her. The Goblin was quite naked, her breasts above the waterline. Lyra blinked and a droplet of water fell from the tip of her nose.

“Gonna daydream forever sheepy?”

“N-no… what are you doing in the water anyway? I thought Goblins hated being clean?”

Opal scowled at her. “I’m different, y-yeah? It’s about mindset, water is nasty and disgusting, therefore water is a type of filth, I am now filthy with water.” The Goblin seemed like she didn't believe her own words even as she spoke them.

“...I’m not sure that’s how that works, but okay.”

A sour expression crossed Opal’s face, this was not a subject she wanted to think about.

Behind her Rain stood up and the small pool he had formed suddenly rushed downstream between his knees, causing Opal to get caught in the current and wash up against him. He caught her and picked up the naked Goblin and carried her to shore. They found a large flat stone and both of them lay down atop it, the hot summer sun quickly drying them, evaporating the stream water away.

Soon they were dry and ready and set off back into the forest. A few hours later the forest started to thin and the group slowed. The trees parted and they came out on a rise overlooking a shallow forested valley. In the center of the valley was a walled town, the walls heavy and thick with crenellations. Two large defensive gatehouses set at the front and back, a cobbled road winding from each. Outside and separate from the town was a large mansion with its own private walls all built from heavy stone. Rain knew that mansion. It had always been there, for all of his life trapped behind the walls of Lynthia. It was the town Ranker’s home.

An incredibly vivid memory from his past life flashed before Rain’s mind. His knees curled up against his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, trying to keep in as much body heat as possible as the overcast sky drizzled rain. He sat at the corner of a street, a tin cup in front of him. That cup combined with his ragged appearance would cause anyone to assume he was a beggar, which was essentially the case, although most beggars had an easier time of it than he did. An old woman paused in passing and looked down at the tin, pity in her eyes. She reached for her coin purse, but then she paused. She glanced down the street and up, the mansion outside of town just visible over the town’s wall from where she stood. Rain could see the usual calculation in the old woman’s eyes. Was it worth the risk of annoying the Ranker and therefore her life for some small charity? The answer turned out to be a no as she reluctantly removed her hand from the purse, but Rain was used to that. The old woman left and Rain continued to shiver in the cold. His stomach hurt, he hadn't eaten in three days.

Ran shook his head slightly, the memory wisping away.

He looked down to see Opal staring at the town.

“That’s where levelers are from? But there are so many people in there!” 

“I thought, but I never imagined, by tail and scale we never stood a chance of stopping the levelers from coming to the dungeon...” murmured Red.

“This is just a town, cities are far larger. It’s a dungeon town that was built because there is a dungeon nearby, lots of levelers make use of it,” said Lyra.

Rain eyed the walls. “I want in. How do I get past those walls without the entire town coming together to attack me?”

“I, I don't know, they will likely have precautions for my invisibility. Uhm, I can go look, I am a leveler unlike you, they won't give me a second glance unless I'm trying to be suspicious. I don’t think they will know about my bounty yet, the dungeon was sealed this whole time so nobody outside of it will have heard. That will change once it is unsealed but for a little while I can go about without being hunted by bounty hunters and people looking to get really rich.”

“... Fine. Lyra, go into the town and see if you can find out about what's happening, what the people in the town know, who went to the dungeon with the Inquisitor, and the whereabouts of the levelers: Brax, Myra, Lira, Eliza, and Adlen.”

“Uhm, I can do that, I think, that shouldn't be a problem. Will you wait here?”

“No.” Rain turned and narrowed his eyes at the mansion. “I’m going to the mansion.”

Lyra couldn't help but shiver at his words. “To do what?”

Rain remained worryingly silent.

After a moment of hesitation, Lyra set off down into the valley. He watched her go then turned and led Red and Opal toward the mansion as the sun was dipping below the horizon in a blaze of deep orange.

 

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