Chapter 2: Making A New Friend.

  The baby and Centipede were traveling through Pigmy Woods together. The infant was having too much fun exploring its new abilities with its parasite while Centipede kept a lookout for any dangers. She had a terrible feeling that it would continue to be her job to watch over the confusing monster. Surely it won't be like this forever, right?

"Centi! Centi! Look!" The young monster yelled.

  Centi could barely contain her groan. It has barely been a few hours since she's tried to eat the little girl and she's already wishing that the kid killed her. She turned her head to see the baby placing her hands into her ripped open stomach and pulling out her rib cage. The innocent expression of joy as her wounds rapidly healed while she started shaping her previous rib cage into a miniature version of herself.

"Mhmm. Nice." Was all she could say.

  The mini Centi crawled up the young girl's arm and she giggled before deciding to play with it.

"Small friend! See! Just like Centi!"

"No, it does not."

"It does! Look! Bug just like Centi!"

"Not all bugs are the same."

"They aren't?"

"No. Every monster is different. No two monsters are the exact same."

"Are we monsters?"

"Yes."

"Want berry?" She reached into her pouch and pulled out a dark red berry.

"What?" Centi was caught off guard by the random change of subject. She didn't think Pinky would understand so soon and secretly doubted she knew anything at all. Not even where her parents where.

"Berry!"

"I only eat meat."

"Meat?"

"You're meat." She chuckled.

"I'm meat!?" Meat asked shocked as if she never even knew.

"Yes, you're meat." Centi responded with a barely restrained sigh.

"Meat!!!!" Meat ran over to her and hugged her as if she just told her something worth being happy about.

  Centi couldn't help but release a sound of displeasure, even if she secretly enjoyed the embrace. She would never admit to it. It was confusing to say the least on her opinion of the baby monster. It was like Meat had a strange mana around her that made Centi not want to rip open her guts and devour them but instead tolerate her and want to protect her. It wasn't like Centi has never ate any prey that was young before. She has eaten young, old, and mature. Some of them managed to fight her off, some were eaten by her, but none were spared by her until Meat. Could it be because she saved her life?

"Centi, look!" Meat exclaimed.

  In the distance, she could see smoke rising into the air. That's usually a sign of humans or a monster village. In her experience, it was always humans though. She should lead the kid away from that area. There's no telling what might happen if any humans saw her. If she was lucky, they'd kill her on sight. Humans can't be trusted, no matter what.

"Come Centi!" Meat yelled as she ran on ahead towards the smoke.

"Kid! Come back here!" Centi yelled shocked.

  She raced towards the little pink monster and despite crawling with all her speed, she somehow couldn't catch up to the infant! How is that possible? Is it because of that weird thing she can do with her bones? Damn it! She'll just have to use her own magic to catch up. Her warm cheeks did little to hide her embarrassment. She's never had to train before but after being unable to exceed Meat in speed, maybe it was time to start.

"This is fun Centi! We should play this game more often!" Meat giggled as she kept a constant speed ahead of Centi.

"This isn't a game! Get back here before you get hurt! I'm serious!" Centi shouted.

  The sound of her giggling meant her words of caution fell on deaf ears. It wouldn't be long till they reached the source of the smoke and if worst came to worst, she might have to abandon the kid or take the humans out herself, somehow. What humans do to captured monsters has never been a pleasant experience from what she's heard. The tamest of things to come was enslavement till death. She couldn't let that stupid girl experience something like that. It was obvious she hasn't even been born that long. She probably didn't even know there were people in this world that couldn't be trusted.

"Look Centi!" Meat shared.

  Centi's three pairs of eyes almost refused to look up but she couldn't ignore reality. Up ahead was a cave with smoke rising from out of it. Thankfully, it wasn't a human campfire but they still weren't out of danger yet. She smelled a delicious aroma inside; something must be close to dead or on fire. The two of them stopped outside of the cave with Centi ready to reprimand Meat with all she had.

"Meat! When I tell you to do something you have to do it! You could've been seriously hurt or in danger if something bad was up ahead!" Centi yelled.

"Playing is wrong?" She asked with tears pooling near her eyes.

"No, that's not what I meant. What I meant was... there's a time and a place for playing around. When we see smoke, we do not go running towards it! Okay?"

"Okay..." Meat hung her head down before looking in the cave and back at Centi.

"Follow behind me. If I tell you to run, run. Okay?"

"Okay..."

  Centi took the lead as she entered inside the cave. Meat followed behind her with a sad look that strung on Centi's insides. She'll make it up to the little girl later but for now she just needs to make sure she doesn't get herself killed. Her antennas were sensing a creature up ahead. It felt similar to a goblin so, they shouldn't be in any danger. A single goblin is no threat to her nor did she doubt it could harm the creature living within Meat.

  They eventually reached the goblin and saw that it was half dead lying near a campfire. Meat ran over without a second thought and immediately hugged the mouthwatering creature. She placed her head against the chest of the nearly dead goblin and smiled. Meat then hugged it again while her body lit up with mana. The blue essence glowed around Meat's body and spread over the delectable monster meat.

  All six of Centi's eyes widened as they watched the grievous burn wounds of the goblin being healed within a blink of an eye, with the exception of a scar on its chest. The beating within its chest returned and its eyes reawakened to the world of the living. It shot up in a start and saw Meat still hugging it.

"Ah!!!" It screamed and shook Meat off of it while crawling backwards in fright.

  The fear aroused Centi's predatory instinct but she knew she couldn't feed while the kid was around or she'd heal the prey while she was feeding and refuse to let it die.

"Friend!" Meat exclaimed innocently.

  The goblin grabbed a bone knife laying near the campfire and pointed it at Meat and Centi, seemingly unable to decide on which one he should focus his weapon on.

"Who are you!? What do you want!? I ain't going to be eaten without a fight!"

"Friend!" Meat repeated.

"We just saved your life little potion-maker." Centi revealed after seeing the many empty vials littered around the fire.

"You- You did? Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"Ask the child, not me. If it was up to me, you'd already be in my stomach."

  He looked towards Meat with a strange look. Meat was still stupidly smiling at the goblin. Centi guessed she was still waiting for a response.

"What do you want?"

"Friend!!!" Meat repeated for the third time with a rare show of anger.

"You want to be friends with a goblin like me?" He asked dumbfounded.

"Yes. Be friend!"

"Why do you wanna be friends with an outcast like me? I don't have anything useful to give. Why do you think a lone goblin is hanging in some cave by himself? I'm worthless..."

"I was wondering why a goblin was by himself. They are usually always in little groups together." Centi murmured. Thinking back on her experience with hunting goblins.

"Want to be friends because friends are good!"

"Tch." The goblin blushed. "I'm not that good... I know a little about potions here and there but I wouldn't claim I'm good." He rubbed the back of his bald head in embarrassment.

"Friend?"

"Fine, I'll be your friend. Don't expect me be happy about it though." He turned his head and crossed his arms.

  Meat tackled the annoying goblin in a surprise hug and knocked them both to the ground.

"Friend!" She cheered.

  The goblin groaned as he made contact with the ground. Meat's innocent giggling stopped him from being too upset about the embrace.

"You got some strength in that tiny body of yours. The names Gob, what's yours?"

"Meat!"

"Meat? That isn't a name. What kind of parents would call their kid Meat?"

  Centi didn't like where the conversation was headed. She especially didn't like it when Meat pointed towards her when the goblin asked who named her. She immensely disliked it when he looked at her like that. Centi thought it was funny in the moment. How would she know there was a way of looking at it in such a non-funny way? She's not boring like that.

"I'm not gonna be calling one of my friends Meat. Let me pack up my stuff though before I head out with ya. Can't be a potioneer without my kit." He started gathering the few things inside the cave.

"What's wrong with name?" Meat asked her innocently.

  Now she felt guilty! Stupid goblin ruined the whole thing! Now she's gonna have to think of a proper name for Meat. Like hell is she going to allow herself to be embarrassed like that again. Especially in front of a monster like a goblin.

"Uhm... it wasn't friendly enough, yes! With a name like Meat, it will be harder to make friends so, we'll have to think of a friendlier name for you."

"I want name to help get friends with everyone!"

"Yes, I'll think of a name for you to make friends with."

"Alright, I got my stuff. Let's go!"

  Gob came towards them with a large bag, a book strapped to his waist, and his knife attached to the other side of his waist. The scar present on his chest stood out but it seems like he didn't mind it. Perhaps scars were a positive thing to have in goblin society. Why else would he have such a happy look on his face when he rubbed it? The three of them started walking out of the cave.

"Alright kid. What do you think of the name Eggy?" Gob asked.

  She looked towards Centi.

"She's not being called Eggy."

"What about Eggolas?"

"No."

"Eggereta."

"No! No eggs! We'll just call her Joy. That's all she ever seems to express."

"Joy!" Joy bounced up and down, nearly dropping the white rock in her pouch.

"It seems like she likes it." Gob smiled.

"Why were you even in that cave?" Centi asked.

  His smile quickly faded as she asked that question. Something bad must have happened for him to be out here alone. She had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that he's a potion-maker. Monsters that can craft things like humans are exceedingly rare within the woods. If they have enough time to develop, they can easily grow powerful enough to match human villages in power all by themselves. So, the fact that a monster with that potential was just sitting half dead inside some cave is strange.

"I was exiled from my home."

"Exiled?" Joy asked confused. She didn't know what that word meant.

"My brothers and sisters thought that I was worthless and a liability to the village. In a way, they were kind of right. Even when I was kicked out, I nearly killed myself trying to create a simple fire bomb potion. If it wasn't for you Joy, I'd be dead and forgotten to the world."

"Gob is friend! Gob is good!" Joy said while hugging him. It seems that she picked up the fact that he was sad thinking about what happened to him.

"Is your village full of idiots?" Centi asked.

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"How many potion-makers did your village have?"

"I was the only one with any talent to become one but I wasn't good enough for them even with that talent."

"Yeah. Your village is full of idiots. A goblin that can evolve into a fitting evolutionary path with potions is priceless to any village. They just signed themselves into a one-way ticket to the grave with no one possibly being able to heal them from any injuries they sustain."

"Are they really priceless?" Gob asked in disbelief as if he had the potential to become anything great.

"If they evolve with the focus being on their potion-making skills, then yes. I've heard stories of great Goblin potion-makers that could heal from fatal injuries, throw unextinguishable flames from a bottle, drink a potion and give them the speed of a Prantum, and even take on lightning with a single sip from a potion."

  Centi saw the eyes of Gob and Joy turn into stars. She's overheard plenty of monsters in her career as a carnivore to avoid monsters that can create things like human. She may be a young monster but compared to these two, she's their elder. She has knowledge which they can't even comprehend yet! She was also sure that Joy had no idea what she was even talking about and just was excited because she heard new words and saw Gob being excited.

"Could I really do something like moving as fast as a prantum? Those monsters are basically a legend!" Gob asked.

"If you keep practicing your skills, I don't see why not." Centi said with complete confidence. Her knowledge can't be wrong.

  Gob balled his fist with a look of determination present on his face. She might have just gave this little goblin some much needed confidence. Hopefully, he will be able to accomplish his dreams if he's going to be following them around. That look on his face also just reminded her that she needed to start training! She almost forgot that Joy out sped her earlier before they met Gob.

  The three aimlessly walked through the woodlands with Gob snatching up any herbs, fruit, and small animals along the way. Which made their journey incredibly slower than it already was with Joy constantly going over to investigate any new thing she saw. Now she just went over with Gob and asked him what was he grabbing this time and what did it do and why did he need it. Centi knew she wouldn't be able to handle as many questions as Gob was and would've already exploded from Joy's incessant curiosity. Centi would rarely claim anyone as her best in something but from what she can see, Gob definitely has her beat in patience.

  Centi was passing the time by training her magic. She had reinforcement magic, just like her mother. Reinforcement magic allowed her to strengthen her body through the use of mana. As talented as she was, she could fully encase herself in reinforcement magic while others would normally only be able to reinforce a single part or a few parts of their body. Her only drawback to this was that she couldn't hold it for long. She has to use it in bursts or ambushes lest she wants to drain her mana and become completely defenseless.

  By constantly using her reinforcement magic, she could train her body to be able to withstand its usage for longer periods of time. Perhaps one day, she'll be able to keep it on forever without ever being strained to use it. But as of now, her body was still too weak to handle reinforcement magic in its entirety even with her talent.

"You see that Centi? Up ahead?" Gob asked, breaking her concentration.

"Huh? What is it?" She was slightly strained from her training.

"Friends?" Joy asked.

"I guess we'll have to see." Gob said, taking out his bone knife.