Development

Flinch found Valery about where he had left her, tied up on the soft moss. He fed her and gave her water, then he lit up a torch so she could see. At first she shied away from the light, but after a few seconds she just looked at Flinch and gasped. “When did you grow so large?”, she was dumbfounded, “I swear you were barely three feet tall yesterday. Now you’re more than four! An when did you get so muscular? Are you actually the skinny little goblin we chased?”. She caught herself in the middle of her outburst and sheepishly looked at the ground, “…sorry.”. “No worries.”, Flinch generously replied, “You are not wrong, I have changed significantly in just a day. I followed your instructions and began martial arts training. I want to show you what I can do.”.

She chuckled, “With all due respect, there will be no visible change in just one day. It is impossible to”, Valery fell silent when Flinch sat down in front of her and started to meditate, freeing his mind. He could feel the Qi in his body, flowing out and converging in his core. It felt like it was cleaning him from the inside, freeing up clogged vessels he never knew he had. After ten minutes of stunned silence, he stood up and looked at the cleric, “What do you think?”. Valery’s mouth was agape in shock, “How? That is months of progress… I could even see your Qi, that is so difficult to achieve even after half a year.”. Flinch was overjoyed at this revelation, as long as he kept improving like this, he might be adept at martial arts in about a week.

He walked over to a large stalagmite and got into his stance, Valery only stared at him. In one quick motion he flung his fist forward against the stone column. A large crack travelled all the way up it snapping it in half, both halved falling down to the sides. Now they were both shocked. Flinch had expected to maybe leave a mark on it or at least not hurt himself, but he had annihilated the whole thing. “How about that, huh? A goblin who is a martial arts genius!”, he yelled triumphantly. Valery was not amused though, “Monster.”, she was quietly repeating to herself. “What was that?”, Flinch asked. “You’re a monster! An insult to the Goddess! You defile me and get rewarded like that? It is not fair!”, she was clearly furious, not caring for how helpless she was. “Now now, calm down. Envy doesn’t suit you Cleric.”, he kneeled beside her and patted her cheek, “You should be proud to have such a strong master, shouldn’t you?”.

She deliberated for a moment, “Talent like that could only come from the Goddess. There must be a reason she blessed you despite what you did. Still, others will come for us and kill you of you don’t improve by a lot.”. Flinch didn’t feel it was necessary to inform her that he stole that Goddess-given power by **** the two holy beauties, ’Let her think I am blessed somehow. If it keeps her compliant, by all means.’.