Chapter 77: Magic food!

But before everyone headed out to carry out their assigned tasks, there was something else I wanted to do first.

Namely, distribute another round of gifts!

Previously, I had upgraded the Item Shop to Level 3. And with that upgrade, three new food items had appeared in the shop!

At first, I thought they would just be regular food items with slightly better nutritional value or perhaps a more delicious taste.

But nope!

This time, we were talking about something completely different!

[Magic Apple]

Description: An apple that contains a blessing from the System.

Effect: Immediately grants the eater 2 free random Core Attribute points, distributed among non-magic-related stats!

...

[Magic Plum]

Description: A plum that contains a blessing from the System.

Effect: Immediately grants the eater 2 free random Core Attribute points, distributed among magic-related stats!

...

[Magic Pear]

Description: A pear that contains a blessing from the System.

Effect: Immediately grants the eater 50 base Max HP and Max Stamina!

****

The moment I saw them, my reaction was... Holy crap!

These weren’t ordinary fruits. They were practically little bundles of free stat points!

After explaining their effects to my citizens, I wasn’t surprised to see their eyes light up with excitement.

"Ooooh! Magic fruits?! Sounds delish!" Gopuro exclaimed.

"I can boost my stats too? Hell yeah!" Gopuflammy clenched her fists, already looking eager to get her hands on one.

Meanwhile, Gopushadow was already wiping his drools.

"Haha, I wonder what they’ll taste like. I can’t wait!" he exclaimed.

"BIG BOSS! I WANT TO EAT THEM ALL!" Gopugiga bellowed, the gluttony already showing in his eyes.

However...

"Nope!" I announced. "Unfortunately, you can only pick one!"

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to give my citizens more free fruit. Quite the opposite, actually!

The thought of boosting their stats was incredibly tempting. Stronger citizens meant a stronger castle, after all. If I could make my goblins more powerful simply by feeding them a few magic fruits, why wouldn’t I want to do that?

Unfortunately, there was a catch.

Or rather, a limit.

Each citizen could only benefit from the stat-boosting effect once per month. Eating a Magic Apple, Magic Plum, or Magic Pear after already consuming one of these fruits within the same month wouldn’t provide any additional benefits.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part was... these things were freaking expensive! A whopping 100 Points per fruit!

There was no way I could afford to hand them out like candy, especially when I still had so many buildings to construct and other expenses to worry about.

Thus, after explaining the restrictions, I gave my citizens some time to consider their choices.

Meanwhile, I began weighing the options myself.

First, there were the Magic Apple and Magic Plum.

Both are granting 2 random Core Attribute points, but the attributes they affected were different. The Magic Apple boosted physical stats such as Attack, Defense, and Speed, while the Magic Plum boosted magic-related stats such as Magic Attack, Magic Defense, and Magic Capacity.

And honestly, the choice seemed pretty obvious to me.

I didn’t have a single magic user among my citizens. Every goblin I had currently was practically the embodiment of raw physical strength. So, for now, the Magic Apple seemed like the better choice.

But when it came to the Magic Pear...

Hehe...

I already had two particular candidates in mind!

This pear was practically tailor-made for my two special cases: Gopugiga and Gopushadow!

First up was Gopugiga, my ultimate tank.

His entire build revolved around his [Brute Strength Lv.1] passive skill, along with his enormous HP pool and stamina reserves. For a goblin like him, additional HP and stamina were probably the most valuable stats he could receive.

Since the skill amplified his physical capabilities multiplicatively, an additional 50 HP would effectively become 100 HP, making the boost far more valuable on him than on anyone else.

In other words, this fruit would make an already ridiculously durable goblin even harder to take down.

On the other hand, he should probably stay away from the Magic Plum, considering the penalty he suffered: -50% to all magic-related stats.

Then there was Gopushadow.

Well, that guy was currently way too squishy for my liking.

Compared to the other Super Forest Goblins, his physique was noticeably less impressive. He was smaller, skinnier, and far less durable-looking overall. Sure, he was fast and sneaky, but even a speed-focused build needed some survivability, right?

After all, there was no point in being the fastest goblin around if one unlucky hit could send him straight to the afterlife!

Thus, giving him an extra 50 base HP and stamina seemed like the safest investment possible.

****

But to my surprise...

"Me want Magic Pear, please!" Gopuro raised his hand.

"Yeah! Me like Magic Pear too!" Gopuran chimed in.

"Big Boss, I wants Magic Pear!" Gopuflammy added enthusiastically.

Gopuberry turned out to be no different, also expressing her preference for the Magic Pear.

In the end, every single one of them chose the same fruit.

"Huh? Wait, what?" I asked, genuinely confused. "Come on, how come you guys all want the Magic Pear?"

For a moment, I wondered if goblins simply preferred pears over apples or something.

But apparently, that wasn’t the case.

"Hehe." Gopuran scratched her nose sheepishly. "We tasted apples before, but we’ve never eaten this fruit called a pear!"

"Yeah!" Gopugiga nodded enthusiastically. "Will it be sweet like apple? Me want to know!"

"Big Boss, me can’t wait!" Gopushadow bounced in place, his legs already restless and his eyes sparkling with excitement. A string of drool even began to form at the corner of his mouth. "Me want taste it now!"

"Haha, alright, alright!" I laughed.

Now that I thought about it, giving all of them extra HP and stamina probably wasn’t such a bad idea anyway!

With that decided, I materialized six Magic Pears in front of them.

The fruits were plump and golden-green, each one nearly the size of a bowling ball. Their smooth skins glowed with a faint magical light, while a sweet fragrance drifted through the air. The scent was unmistakably that of fresh pears, so sweet and mouthwatering that even I was tempted to take a bite.

The goblins immediately snatched up their respective fruits.

And then...

CHOMP!

These little gremlins devoured their entire pears in a single bite, like a bunch of starving vacuum cleaners!

"HHHMMMM! IT SO SWEET!"

"Ohhh! Bit sour too!"

"I like it!" Gopushadow exclaimed, already licking the juice off his fingers.

"BEST FRUIT ME EVER HAD!"

All six goblins looked absolutely delighted, happily chewing away as a soft glow enveloped their bodies, signaling the activation of the fruits’ magical effects.