Chapter 336: A priceless doll

"[Goblin] Don't worry, my dear Galina. I have to rest and do something for the next couple of days, but after that, I will teach you how to converse in the human's language, okay?" Aiden responded while rubbing the top of the ex-goblin girl's head, causing her entire face to turn red as a tomato, and hurriedly try to avert her gaze.

"[Goblin] Y-y-yes, Y-y-young M-master!" She stuttered a meek response, her gaze plastered on the wooden floorboards as it was the most interesting sight in the world.

Afraid that the intense beating of her heart would cause discomfort to her Young Master, Galina stepped away and turned to look around the room nervously.

"[Goblin] I-I will look for a p-place! I do not wish to be a b-bother, please excuse me!"

She wanted to escape and run to the furthest corner of the room and hide there, but before she could take a step, he felt Aiden's hand pulling her back and putting a premature stop to her. 

"[Goblin] D-don't leave." He spoke calmly. As Galina turned around, she almost fainted, seeing her warm, kind smile and gentle expression on his face. "You can use the bed there. I will not need it, I will be meditating throughout the night."

This sentence of his almost proved to be too much for the young girl's maiden heart. She already had a hard time keeping her raging emotions in check. Truth was that while her tribe was unlike those barbaric, evil ones of the other goblin tribes that many nightmarish tales were being told about, it was still true that their race was prone to be influenced by their needs and desires.

Their emotions were a great driving factor in their decisions. Luckily, she was no longer a simple goblin of the woods, but by the grace of his great lord, the Young Master, she was already at the next evolutionary step. Yes, she was no longer just a goblin, she was a Goblin Dragonling, her desires and emotions couldn't cloud her decisions! She was stronger than them!

Still, whenever she looked into her master's mesmerizing, golden eyes… She felt her heart skipping a beat, she felt the trembling of her body, she felt the thirst, the hunger… the desire to be embraced by him, to be loved…

She knew that ever since being accepted by him, there was no place for any other person in her heart. Even if it was never meant to blossom into something more, just his gentle, smiling image would be enough for her forever. She could enjoy this sight for all eternity…

"[Goblin] Galina? You okay?" Her trance was broken by the Young Master, abruptly pulling her back from the land of dreams to the real world. As she came back to her senses, she noticed that in place of that stupidly handsome smile, Aiden was now looking at her with concern and worry in his eyes.

After all, she was just standing there in a daze.

"[Goblin] Y-yes, sorry for that Y-young Master!" She hurriedly stuttered an embarrassed response, before looking behind him and realizing that she was yet to respond to his previous offer.

"[Goblin] Uhm… I-I c-can't possibly take the Y-young Master's spot! I-I will be fine on the floor! Y-young Master shouldn't worry about me!" She tried to argue, although there was no power behind her tone, she couldn't even match his gaze, it was way too hard.

"[Goblin] Galina… I will not be using the bed." Aiden began explaining once again, the earlier smile returning to his face. He couldn't help but smile at this girl's little antics. She was just too cute, like a little priceless doll. 

"[Goblin] B-but... Young Master… I c-can't p-possibly-" Galina's powerless attempt at trying to come with an argument, why she shouldn't just accept such a reward was put to a sudden halt when Aiden placed his right index finger over her pouting lips.

"[Goblin] As I said, the bed will not be used unless you rest there. If you care about me, you will not say another word about you sleeping on the floor again or you will make me very sad." He said with a serious expression. 

He pulled back his finger and pointed towards the empty bed once more.

"[Goblin] Now go, don't argue, and just take the bed. If you would like to clean yourself, you can use that door over there. There should be a wooden basin there with some water, you can use it to clean up." He instructed, pointing towards the wooden door at the side. A small mostly empty room was behind it, with a few necessities to wash up, clean oneself using the water in the prepared wooden basin, or to relieve oneself using the empty bucket at the corner.

Aiden had to admit, that the only not so happy trait of having his memory returned was that he now realized how precious some of the features of modern civilization were. A clean and modern bathroom and the toilet were some of the things he now started to miss and was truly embarrassed when he remembered the times, he… he used that room…

Anyway, after listening to his words, Galina nodded shyly, and hurriedly scampered towards the bathroom door, rushed in, and closed it behind herself.

Aiden only smiled at this scene and shook his head before stepping forward and sitting down on the floor at the center of the room.

'Finally, I have some time… However, before we start, I need to make sure…' He debated, before calling out mentally. 'Enya, you there?'

The response, just like usual, was almost instantaneous. As soon as he called out, he felt the presence of his guide appear almost immediately as if she was just waiting to be called on.

'[Yes, Aiden. How can I help you?]' She greeted with her mature, gentle tone.

'Can you summarize how much time does the system needs and can you also check if I would be able to continue to move around and act whilst the update was happening?'

For almost a minute there was no response to Aiden's query. He was about to get worried and ask if there was any problem when finally, Enya spoke up.

'[The system needs a total of 50 hours to complete all the pending updates in the system. During this time, the system will shut down and will not be able to provide any assistance.]' 

She explained, giving a little momentary pause in her speech before continuing.

'[However, the cool down for your currently forced form will continue to progress, as that is not controlled by the system itself, the system is merely providing you an easier interface to track it.]'

'Wait… What?' Aiden was shocked to hear her explanation. The limitation of this 24 hours, was not something that the system invented? What did that mean? His current form was a creation of the system's fusion feature and he was forced to retain this appearance!

'What do you mean by that? Who or what is enforcing me to keep the form? Who created this form if not the system?!' He asked out, almost exclaiming it. He found it difficult to believe such a revelation.

'[Aiden…]' Enya called out with worry in her voice. Once more, she hated the fact that she had no tangible form and couldn't reach out to the boy. It was so incredibly hard to just be able to see but not embrace him… This fate, she was forced into was turning more and more into a curse as the days went by.

'[There is much I really want to explain but I just can't… You have to believe me…]' She muttered, before taking a moment to calm down and collect herself and resuming her explanation.

'[While the system did assist you in creating this form, it was merely providing you a convenient interface. The limitation that you have to keep your new form active for a period of time is also something that is related to your Primal heritage.]' 

She dropped the bomb, returning to silence and giving time for Aiden to process what he had just heard.

When he heard her words, Aiden turned wide-eyed. He was stunned, unresponsive for quite a while.

Even as Galina returned after taking care of herself, and freshened, she didn't dare to bother him thinking he was already in deep concentration, she silently sneaked towards the bed and with a bit of hesitation, she climbed into it.

Laying down into such comfort was a new experience for Galina. She felt like a queen, a royalty, she couldn't help but silently giggle rolling around, enjoying herself like a little girl.

Living the life of a goblin, she never stayed too long at the same place. Her tribe often traveled, either by being driven out by humans, or other races. Goblins weren't a welcome sight, by any of the conscious races of the world after all.

She usually slept on the ground, or on some hastily gathered leaves. A bed such as this was almost a foreign concept to one such as her…