Reborn as a Goblin Patch with the Blessing of [Naming]? What? (2024)

This time I didn't bother even trying to process my thoughts, instead I voluntarily entered dream-like trance as I was being reborn

So for me, it was like taking a long nap before being jolted awake.

"Gkaht!"

I was suddenly falling again in the middle of the woods.

The sun was bright and the forest noises were loud.

"Gwuuch!"

But I could clearly hear the sound of another yelp nearby.

After shaking off my disorientation and crawling to my feet, I spotted another Goblin close by.

I was surprised for a brief moment until I remembered that I had decided this. I blinked as the other Goblin stood up and stared at me warily.

Just to be sure, I checked my Status.

Name: (Unnamed) - Age: 30 Days - Race: Sacred Flora Goblin - Class: (None)]

[Level: 1 - EXP: 0/100]

[HP: 10/10 - SP: 20/20 - MP: 10/10]

[STR: 1 - END: 1 - AGI: 1 - DEX: 1 - MGI: 1]

[ATK: 1 - DEF: 1 - SPD: 1]

[Skills: Leaf Generation LV1 - Photosynthesis LV1 - Root Generation LV1 - Royalty LV1 - Seed Generation - Skill Absorption LV1 - Soil Absorption LV1 - Soul Absorption LV1 - Stem Generation LV1]

I was Unnamed again, and I kept my Skills.

Think. I had a plan before this, but I had spent 30 days sleeping, so my memories were a bit vague.

Oh yeah.

[Name Registered: Great Sage.]

[Gained Skill: Wisdom LV1.]

[Wisdom LV1: Allows the user to access the inner flow of information of this world.

At LV1: The user can access common knowledge shared among sentient beings.]

Yes!

…Or maybe no?

I mean I had a Skill that might be able to answer my questions, but it was currently limited to common knowledge.

Let's test it out.

Are you like the Skill [Great Sage]?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Unable to locate the 'Great Sage' Skill in the database!]

[According to your memories, the Skill 'Wisdom' does not match the Skill 'Great Sage', the only similarity is its ability to answer questions.]

Ah, that's right, in TenSura, that skill had a lot of other functions. But I'm just happy that I won't be in the dark anymore.

Wait, more importantly I have to name that other Goblin before it runs off somewhere and probably dies. Then I have to somehow convince it to follow me.

I spotted it poking around the pile of weapons I had created last time, and I slowly crawled up to it. I noticed a lack of dangling genitalia, so I made my choice.

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Naming.]

[Name Registered: Lilith Echidna.]

[Skill Gained: Dominance LV1]

I had chosen to name her after two monstrous mothers in mythology, so she should be pretty strong. I couldn't see the details of her new Skill, but I could wager a guess.

In the story of Lilith and Adam, she objected to laying underneath Adam, i.e, she refused to submit. She then attempted to place Adam beneath her, in the end she failed and had to run away.

After the fruit debacle, Adam eventually found Lilith again while mad at his wife, and they sired demons together. Or some such.

To be frank, I haven't read the Bible. I haven't actually read the source material for a lot of myths and religions, all my knowledge comes from what has been regurgitated by various media.

Some stories had clear inspirations and shared certain similarities, while others were entirely unique and probably less faithful.

And all I know about Echidna was that she birthed monsters as revenge, but I wasn't sure why, or against who.

As I thought about the name I had selected for the Goblin, Lilith, crawled closer to me.

When she entered arms length, I was able to see the details of her face. She had large purple eyes with a sharp disposition. And seeing her mouth, I was reminded of a Venus fly trap.

Maybe because she had smooth fruit-like skin, but I didn't think she was hideous even with her Goblin-like features.

After sharing eye-contact for a bit, she glared at me with an intensity that buckled my legs. As I fell, I barely caught myself, then I noticed an oppressive weight attempting to make me kneel.

Seconds passed, and the intensity grew, I struggled to even keep my eyes open. Then, the pressure vanished.

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Dominance.]

[Lilith Echidna failed to assert her Dominance!]

[Lilith Echidna is forced into Subservience!]

What? What just happened?

Immediately after I was able to move freely, I stumbled a bit to remain upright. My mind had just been under a ton of stress, and the sudden removal of it made me dizzy.

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[The Skill 'Dominance' allows the user to force others into Submittance, however it has a variety of conditions for a successful use. Once the Skill fails, the user is forced into Subservience instead.]

[The State 'Subservience' implants a desire to serve at the whims of the target, to the best of their capabilities.]

Really?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Affirmative.]

Oh, sweet!

Now I don't have to do any verbal convincing. Since I couldn't speak that great, and because we didn't have an established language, I thought I would be like convincing a wild animal to play chess.

I feared I would be reduced to acting out a game of charades.

Instead, because Lilith had attempted to make me submit to her and it backfired, now she was my servant or maybe pet.

I don't really know what to label her. We were monsters, so I think the best label would be minion.

Stand up! Lie down! Roll over!

…

Lilith didn't react at all to my mental commands.

I then tried using my words, but aside from filling the forest with Goblin shouts, nothing happened. I don't think she can even comprehend what I was commanding her to do.

Hmm…

Well, that was a bust. Turns out it's like convincing a cow to make cheese. I don't know what that example was, but it sounds like a reasonably outlandish task, and if a cow was smart enough, it should be able to accomplish it.

As I was thinking about what to do next, my eyes had wandered away from Lilith, and I observed Yggdrasil, the Goblin Patch.

Last time, after hatching, I practically dismissed it as something as important as a bird's egg. Like a 'thanks for letting me be born, and goodbye forever', type deal.

But now, it was more like a respawn point, so I need to make sure it wasn't destroyed or else I might die. Might, because I still wasn't certain I knew what [Immortality] did. Or how my soul was almost absorbed.

Hey wait. Now I could probably get some answers.

Wisdom, how did I survive?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Yggdrasil possesses the Trait 'Sacred', it enables them to recollect souls born from it.]

[As its soul structure is molded around yours, when you come into contact with it, you regain control.]

Oh, did [Immortality] do anything?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Negative.]

[The Blessing 'Immortality' allows the user's consciousness (spiritual id and mental ego) to transfer to a soulless blood-kin after death, at the moment of your death, you did not have any blood-kin aside from Yggdrasil alive.]

[Yggdrasil's Trait would have taken your soul regardless.]

What are the limits to me being reborn or revived? I need to know this so I don't take advantage of it and end up facing dire consequences in the future.

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[A standard human's consciousness can withstand approximately ten reincarnations without issue, afterwards their soul and mind start to break down.]

[As long as you have a living bloodkin and your consciousness is intact, there is no known natural limit to being revived.]

'A standard' and 'approximately' huh? So it's not exactly ten, but that's about the average. Either way, I should be careful with my life, especially since I have been reborn three times already.

I just need to have blood-kin, oh wait, I also needed them to be soulless.

What's the deal with that?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[This world's soul supply is limited, only about 1 in 20 possess a soul.]

[Contrary to your belief, a soul does not equate a moral compass. It's merely a form of spiritual energy, in this world it allows for the use of magic and a higher capacity for intelligence and imagination.]

[In the simplest terms you can understand. The soulless are comparable to NPCs or Mob characters.]

Oh, that made sense. At first I couldn't picture what a world filled with soulless people would look like, but the last line cleared it up for me.

It was just a world filled with people going about their business in the background as if they were following a routine script.

So if a person had a soul, they were probably a main character.

Huh? Didn't I absorb two souls already?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Affirmative.]

['Unnamed', Hollow Horned Hare, and 'Paean', Divine Prince Caladrius, were the two souls you absorbed.]

Weren't souls supposed to be rare?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[Affirmative.]

[In most societies, it is common for the Soulless to either be killed at birth or raised in 'farms'.]

Excuse me, what?

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Wisdom.]

[In the simplest terms you can understand. Think of childbirth as rolling a gacha, a soulless baby is simply common trash to those wanting a rare baby with a soul.]

[However, there are those who consider them perfect laborers, i.e, slaves, as they diligently follow orders, and won't ever rebel unless guided to do so.]

[Additionally, it is commonly discussed as to whether to not soulless individuals possess real or artificial emotions, there has yet to be a single agreed upon collective conclusion.]

I'm starting to wonder about the gods of this world, and not just the beings behind the Blessing's I stole, who were probably divine to some extent. But about the being who create and manage this world.

Apparently, I died in an accident and then was mistakenly reincarnated as a plant.

The accident I died in, as I recall, was a meteor storm after a giant eyeball covered the sky.

A cover up? Was I murdered because I had witnessed that supernatural event?

I definitely wasn't the only person to die, more than a few city blocks had probably been destroyed.

And then I found myself here, in this world, where souls were limited. More people were probably reincarnated too, and they were probably reborn as humans considering I was a mistake.

It all sounds a bit fishy, like maybe it hadn't been an accident but a scam to collect souls for this world somehow. I couldn't be sure of it.

I faintly remember hearing a god shout about hating nepotism, but they also spoke in a professional tone, as if they were speaking on behalf of a company.

A divine corporation? Likely a corrupt one too, since an employee complained about an unfair hiring practice.

I should probably stop here, when I was a plant I didn't have a mouth and yet the god understood me, so the gods could most likely check in on my thoughts.

Thanks for the reincarnation! I really appreciate it! If you're going to punish me for blasphemy, limit it to a Curse please! No smiting!

I tried not to think about my [Soul Absorption] Skill and its ramifications in a world with limited souls.

As I was shaking potentially dangerous thoughts from my head, I noticed something that looked like a small pumpkin nearby.

When I got closer, it became clear to me that Yggdrasil had started producing another Goblin.

Haa, dummy, that's 90 EXP in total for this batch now! How long is that going to take to recuperate? Ahh, why did you do this?

The Goblin melon/egg(?) was about half the size I currently was, and I just hatched, so it would probably be out in a few days time.

Sorry, if you're a boy, but I already had a name planned for the next one.

[Status Ability Interference: Displaying the results of Naming.]

[Name Registered: Eve Eden.]

[Skill Gained: Fruit Generation LV1]

Even if you're a boy, you wouldn't understand that Eve was the name of the first woman in Eden, the wife of Adam, and that she was tricked into eating a forbidden fruit. In fact you won't even be able to read your own name, it's a bit sad.

Though I do wonder if I'll feel like making clothes out of leaves and covering myself after eating the fruit you'll make.

Now that I exhausted all my distractions, I turned back to Lilith.

She looked a bit dazed, the sharp look from her eyes was gone and her gaze was now soft. She looked a bit like an airhead, or maybe a dog.

Dog?

Well, she was wary of me at first glance, so that implies a decent level of thought. She recognized a potential danger, wanted to preserve her life, and then decided I wasn't a threat after all.

I couldn't be sure of how she arrived at those thoughts, but at least I knew she could think logically.

For the next few minutes, I tried deciphering what consonants and vowels I could speak.

I could do most of the English alphabet quite naturally: A, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, Q, R, S, T, and U.

If I maneuvered my tongue inside my mouth and throat carefully, I could also manage: F, O, V, W, and Y. And if I struggled with my clamp jaw, and used a lot of force, I could barely create: C, S, X, and Z.

And no matter what I did, I couldn't use: B, M, or P. At least not as syllables, I could store up some air and cough in a way that sounds like a B or P. Or I could coil my tongue in my throat and hum an M.

Still, my mouth couldn't quite manage to say the words I knew in a completely legible way.

Hello turned into Hegkklowu.

Since I couldn't use English, and because it wouldn't matter what language I used as Lilith didn't know any, I decided to create my own.

I didn't have the time, resources, nor the desire to create an entire encyclopedia and dictionary for my made-up language. I just needed enough words to use as commands to train a dog-like being.

Follow = Kowu. Leave = Lowe. Stay = Tai. Move = Iat.

Up = Ut. Down = Do. Front = Fot. Back = Tof. Left = Laf. Right = Fal.

Fetch = Fet. Drop = Tef. Rock = Row. Wood = Wor.

For about an hour, I used these new words and my body language to demonstrate my commands.

I also had to guide Lilith while speaking. I would turn her head in the direction I said, and then push and pull on her body where I wanted her to go.

I did my best when creating my language to avoid naturally occurring Goblin exclamations. Things like: 'Gwa', 'ch', 'kt', 'hu', and more, were common unconscious sounds of surprise.

In English they'd be things like: 'Haa', 'guh', 'ah', 'oh', and other simple sounds.

It's not a problem in an established language, but since I had to create my own, I had to be sure not to cause any confusion.

I didn't have any Goblin treats, so I had to make due with mental reinforcement. I wasn't sure how expressive my face without any cheeks was, but I hoped I appeared adequately positive or negative depending on my intentions.

After about an hour straight (or so, I didn't have a timer after all) of training, Lilith was showing promise.

"Iat tof (Move back)."

Lilith took a step backwards.

"(Move left, move left, move right.)"

Lilith took two steps left and then one right.

That's great, but I'm probably going to need to make some words for looking and turning.

…

…

The sunlight had disappeared, and I think I did a pretty good job constructing a basic language. It helped that Lilith learned quickly.

"(Speak, Your Name.)"

I didn't yet need to make words for redundant words like 'say' or 'tell', at this point they'd be needless confusion.

"Lil…litch."

"(No.)"

I frowned and sneered.

"Lili...th."

She said her name in English since I didn't change how her name was pronounced in my Goblin Language.

"(Yes.)"

I smiled, mostly with my eyes since I didn't have lips or cheeks, then I gave her a command followed by a question.

"(Look up. What is there?)"

"(Dark sky… night. Brightest star… sun, gone. Pale star, moon, there… now.)"

She struggled a bit, but her answer was good enough for me.

I didn't yet create separate words for the different types of celestial bodies, I thought that would be pointless for now, so her answer was pretty good for what I've taught her.

Now that I was satisfied with her education, it was time to develop our base of operations.

We're about to have a third Goblin crawling about, and we already have tools and a language.