Byung was just born but for some reason, he lost consciousness soon after he was brought into this world only to wake in a room filled with the cries of babies.
It was too dark for him to make out anything of importance but one by one, the cries got quieter.
And all Byung could think about was the worst case scenario which was they were killing the babies that showed signs of weakness.
This gave him even more motivation not to cry, Byung didn't understand what was going on or if this was even real but if he died, he would probably wake up in the hospital where his decrepit body was.
"We have taken all the crying babies. What remains are the strong ones," A voice echoed in the dark and Byung felt a sense of relief.
This world felt like a case of survival of the fittest and Byung was going to survive this fever dream.
"Phew! That was close!" Byung thought to himself as a pair of hands reached in to grab him from his crib.
"I'm off to a great start!" Byung was glad this was going according to plan but realized that everything wasn't as it seemed.
There was a goblin standing outside with a chart in hand.
"It looks like the farming sector is all sorted out. Take these to the mines," The goblin instructed the orc holding Byung.
"Got ya!" The orc holding Byung exclaimed before tossing him in a carriage with the other babies that showed signs of strength.
Byung realized at that moment he made a terrible miscalculation as all he did was make his life a lot harder.
Right from a young age, due to goblins evolving differently, it took Byung only a few months to start working in the mines.
He realized the harsh conditions they were forced to work in as they had little to no food to eat but the minerals they were mining could easily change the course of their lives if they used it to develop their kingdom.
It was clear that they had no idea how valuable it was because no one opposed their duty.
If anything, Byung realized they were content with this life because those who did an exceptional job were offered a woman to breed with but Byung noticed the mortality rate among goblins was low.
They had tried to use other races to make up for the lack of females of their own but even with this, not all babies survived the process but the woman always died regardless of this outcome.
The chance that a goblin could and would be born healthy was a meagre 20%.
So Goblins knew the work they were doing was essential to their survival otherwise extinction was tethering at the edge which could swoop in at any time.
Byung was curious about one thing, it didn't matter which race they bred with, the baby always came out as a goblin showing the strong genes the goblins had.
If they could only increase their mortality rate, they had the potential to build an army with the numbers they would be able to produce.
"Hey, you have been working hard! Here, have some water," A goblin praised Byung. Byung was only a few months old and was assigned to one of the easier sites to work on along with other goblins his age.
"Thank you sir but let me finish this round!" Byung was quick to show his appreciation mixed in with determination. He had no idea where he was but at this point, he was sure this was not a dream.
Byung was grateful to have a functioning body and wasn't about to take it for granted by being idle. He was appreciating the gift whatever god had granted him and this meant he was doing a lot more than goblins his age.
This caught the attention of the person supervising the mine in that specific area.
However, there was a section of the mine that remained unexplored because it was believed that those that went that deep often never came back the same.
No, that wasn't correct, they never came back period however this was a rumour that was told to control the goblins from mining places they weren't authorized to.
However, Byung wanted to prove himself even further, he wanted to see what this body was capable of as he had known distinctive changes to his body that differed slightly from his peers.
Byung entered deeper into the mine and before he knew it, he reached a dead end.
"Huh?" Byung thought to himself. If the stories were true then why is there a dead end here?
"I knew it, it was all bullshit," Byung muttered to himself with a sigh of relief.
He looked back and saw the light at the end of the tunnel was the size of a needle.
"Wow, I didn't know it was this far ahead," Byung thought to himself.
But he had already come this far, there was no going back at this point, not anymore.
Byung looked right ahead but the blocked path was suddenly opened.
"Wasn't there something blocking this path…?" Byung was confused about this but simply chuckled about this.
"I must be tired… I should have taken that drink," Byung blamed it on dehydration as he stepped into the just opened path.
The moment he stepped foot in, it felt like he had entered a different dimension altogether.
The entire place was littered with gold and there was no doubt that this discovery would force them to promote Byung to mine more adventurous mines.
He turned around to alert the others of his find but the path that was opened only a few minutes ago had closed.
"Is this a joke?" Byung questioned out loud, truly believing he was losing his mind.
He could understand the first time but the same instance happening twice? That was unlikely.
[Ding!]
A cyan screen appeared right in front of him, causing him to stumble onto the hardened floor.
[User found!]
[System binding in progress…!]
[System successfully bound!]
[Rebate system successfully activated!]