I stared at the corpse for a while, feeling a deep sense of revulsion welling up inside me.
The scene was simply too graphic and bloody.
Well, I wasn’t so weak that the death of a mere goblin could traumatize me, but seeing a living creature get crushed beneath my portcullis was still something I wasn’t used to.
Luckily, I didn’t have a stomach. Otherwise, I probably would have needed to puke.
Anyway, it was a good thing I still had my Inventory Skill to clean up the mess automatically.
[Ding!]
[Obtained: 1 Goblin Corpse]
[Obtained: 1 Wooden Club]
The moment I stored the loot inside my Inventory, everything left behind by the goblin disappeared. Even the bloodstains vanished without a trace, as if no one had ever been crushed beneath my deadly portcullis in the first place.
Naturally, I immediately tried to sell the goblin corpse.
However, the System only offered me 18 Points this time.
"What?! Only this many Points?!"
I was a little confused.
That goblin was the same level as the first one I’d killed. Based on that, shouldn’t it have been worth the same amount?
24 Points?
Sure, this goblin had been a little smaller than the previous one, but there was no way that alone should have caused such a huge difference in price.
Wait!
Could it be... because I’d crushed the goblin so badly that its corpse was heavily damaged, which in turn reduced its selling price?
That certainly seemed possible.
Unfortunately, I had no way to test that theory right now, so I simply made a mental note to keep it in mind.
In any case, after selling the second goblin corpse, my balance increased to 62 Points.
Just 38 more Points!
Once I reached 100, I’d finally be able to afford one of the next System Shop upgrades.
And in particular, I had my eyes on this one:
[System Shop Level 2 Upgrade]
[Requirement: Castle Core Level 1]
[Upgrade Cost: 100 Points]
[Unlocks: New Basic Materials, Bulk Discount, Sovereign Shop]
With my [Point Generator] skill, I would need at most another month to accumulate enough Points for the upgrade.
Once I got that out of the way, my next priority would be upgrading my passive method of generating Points, my [Castle Core], to Level 2.
That would improve my Point generation from 1 Point per day to 10 Points per day.
The Castle Core Level 2 upgrade also required 100 Points. However, the reason I was putting it second was simple: it required System Shop Level 2 as a prerequisite.
Yup...
Progression was very slow.
But at least I was moving forward at a steady pace.
Hmm... if only I could kill some other monsters, my progression would be much faster!
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, however, another, far more dangerous thought followed.
Wait...
Monsters?
Does it... only have to be monsters?
What if.... I kill other animals and sell their carcasses for Points too?
The moment I thought that, a chill crept down my nonexistent spine.
Fuck! What am I thinking?!
I immediately snapped out of it.
Come on, me! Why the hell would you even consider something like that?
Killing those adorable animals?
Sure, there was literally a huge family of raccoons living inside my basement. If I wanted to, I could simply close all the doors, trap them inside, let them starve to death, and then loot their corpses.
Or I could do the same thing to the deer and rabbits that I’d done to the goblins.
Just lure them beneath the portcullis and...
Crush!
Each one would probably bring me a considerable number of Points.
But...
No! I can’t do that!
I forcibly pushed the horrible thought out of my mind.
Being cute was one thing, but those animals were also my friends.
They had been living here with me for quite some time now. Back when I was drowning in loneliness, they had come to my castle and filled the empty halls with life.
Thanks to them, I had been able to stay sane.
So... how could I possibly be so heartless as to murder them all just for a few measly Points?
Sure, progression was important. But so was my conscience!
And besides, what if killing those animals will drive the other animals away from my territory? I still want to tame them somehow in the future, so maintaining a friendly relationship with them can be important.
With that thought, I finally made up my mind.
That’s it!
Call me a hypocrite or pussy or whatever. I refuse to murder those animals!
This castle is an animal sanctuary, and it’s going to stay that way!
*****
Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait that long for my upgrades.
Because just a few days later, some more goblins appeared.
Rustle, rustle...
Under the clear morning sky and warm sunlight, three small green figures suddenly emerged from the bushes.
They spotted my castle almost immediately and charged straight toward me.
"YARRRRR!"
"YARRRRR!"
Their crude wooden clubs were raised high as they rushed toward my gates.
Meanwhile, I was equally excited.
"Haha! Come!"
"COME TO ME, MY BAGS OF POINTS!"
Three goblins!
That was roughly 60 Points, more than enough for me to afford my first upgrade!
I immediately used the same strategy as before. I raised the portcullis, opened my gates wide, and lured them inside with some delicious food.
And, once again, it worked like a charm.
Just like last time, they immediately fought each other viciously over the first piece of steak until only one remained standing.
But before I killed the last one, I decided to try one thing I’d forgotten to do last time.
And that was... Citizenship Granting!
Yeah...
For some reason, I forgot to try that last time with the first two goblins.
Since Goblins could make weapons, wear simple clothes, and communicate using their own language, they were clearly more intelligent than ordinary animals.
So, perhaps they would satisfy the requirements for Citizenship Granting?
"Alright, System. Grant this dude citizenship!"
[Ding!]
[Would you like to use Citizenship Granting on Level 7 Forest Goblin?]
[Cost: 6 Points]
"Hmmm?!"
I was confused at first.
Previously, attempting to grant citizenship to animals had only cost 1 Point. But this time, it cost six?!
"Well... I suppose that makes sense?"
The goblin’s level was much higher than that of the animals I’d tried it on before, so perhaps the cost scaled with the target’s level.
Luckily, I had enough Points. And even if Citizenship Granting failed, the System would refund 50% the amount of Points. That’s totally fine.
With that in mind, I gave my approval.
"System, just do it!"
And the System complied.
[Attempting to grant citizenship to Level 7 Forest Goblin...]
As the skill activated, the goblin suddenly froze in place. Its body then glitched slightly for a few seconds, similar to how the animals had reacted when I’d tried using the skill on them before.
Come on...
Come on!
I was incredibly nervous. Anxiety was practically shooting through the roof.
For some reason, this reminded me of those monster-catching games where you throw a ball at a creature and then pray to every god you know that the capture succeeds!
Surely... I wouldn’t need to beat this goblin half to death before I could grant it citizenship, right?
Five seconds later, the notification finally appeared.
[Citizenship Granting Failed!]
[Issuing 50% Refund]
[3 Points Refunded]
[Reason: The target lifeform is intelligent enough. However, its affinity is too low. It will not voluntarily submit to you! It does not recognize you as the Sovereign!]