The forest around Quinn was alive in ways he had never felt before. His new perception stretched into the trees, picking up every flutter of wings, every rustle of leaves, every faint crack of twigs under weight. Yet none of it put him at ease. The glow of the manor in the distance was a reminder of power he wasn't ready to face, while the faint shimmer of magical residue near the treeline whispered of hunters far sharper than him.
He crouched low, hand tightening around the rebar that had served as his crude weapon. He had thought escaping the ruins was the end of the tutorial. Instead, it felt like the game had only just stopped holding his hand.
The System chimed.
[ New Quest: Survive the Patrol ][ Objective: Avoid detection by the approaching force ][ Reward: Random Fragment ]
Quinn swallowed hard. "Figures. No grinding spot without mobs."
The footsteps grew clearer. This time heavier than the elves he had seen earlier. The faint scent of smoke drifted through the underbrush. He shifted slightly and froze as the sigils on the nearby tree roots flared, faint and green. Someone had marked the area with tracking wards.
Fairy magic.
He cursed under his breath and scanned for a path. His perception tugged him left, toward the thicker brush, but there was movement there too. Shapes, low to the ground, hunched and uneven. Their breaths were ragged, wet with saliva.
Not elves.
A guttural hiss cut through the night. Quinn's blood ran cold. Goblins.
The books had painted them as the lowest of the low, cannon fodder compared to elves or dwarves. But those were fairy tales told through Artemis's perspective, neat on the page. In the flesh, the sound was enough to set Quinn's teeth on edge. He had played games where goblins were XP fodder. He doubted these would roll over as easily.
He gripped the rebar tighter. "Alright, let's test my build."
The first goblin burst through the brush. Its skin was a mottled green, its eyes glowing faint orange as if something inside it was burning too hot. Its claws were longer than any art description he remembered, and its teeth gleamed wet. The thing charged on all fours, shrieking.
Quinn swung. The rebar connected with a crunch, snapping bone and sending the creature tumbling. But it didn't stay down. It twisted, growling, and lunged again with impossible speed.
[ Alert: Minor Wound Inflicted ][ -5 HP ]
The numbers stung more than the scratch across his arm. The System was reminding him this wasn't a cutscene.
He ducked, slammed his boot into the goblin's face, and drove the rebar through its chest. The thing thrashed, shrieked, then went still. A faint glow rose from the corpse.
[ Fragment Acquired: Shard of Agility. Function: Increases movement speed ]
Quinn gasped as his body felt lighter, muscles coiled tighter like springs. His grin flashed. "Now that's more like it."
Branches cracked. He looked up and froze.
Dozens of glowing orange eyes blinked back at him from the trees.
The System didn't wait.
[ Emergency Quest Triggered ][ Survive the Goblin Horde ][ Objective: Last 10 minutes or escape the zone ][ Reward: High-grade Fragment ]
Quinn's pulse roared in his ears. Ten minutes. A dozen at least, maybe more, all stalking him with the patience of predators. He glanced at the manor lights again. If he ran toward them, he'd run into the fairies. If he ran deeper into the forest, he risked losing himself completely.
Options. He needed options.
His perception pulsed. The glowing sigils on the roots flickered faintly, lines of magic forming a crude barrier. He remembered enough of the Artemis Fowl books to know that fairy wards weren't infallible. Some could be triggered, some redirected.
"Alright," he muttered, backing toward the roots. "Let's see if I can cheese this."
The goblins shrieked as one and surged forward. Quinn jabbed the rebar into the dirt, channeling his momentum as if stabbing the roots themselves. The sigils flared, pulsed, then cracked. A shockwave rippled outward.
The first line of goblins hit it and were hurled back, bodies slamming into trees. The survivors hesitated, growling. Quinn blinked in shock. He hadn't expected it to work.
The System chimed.
[ Environmental Interaction Successful ][ Temporary Barrier Deployed ]
Quinn exhaled, gripping the rebar like a lifeline. "Not bad for a blind guess."
But the barrier wouldn't last. He could see the goblins already testing it, claws scraping against the faint wall of light. He needed to move before they overwhelmed it.
His eyes scanned the treeline. There — a gap where the roots were thinner, a faint trail leading uphill. His perception tingled, warning of danger, but also promise. If he could reach higher ground, he might control the fight.
The goblins roared, breaking through the ward in a shower of sparks. Quinn didn't wait. He sprinted uphill, the new shard of agility sending him bounding over roots and rocks like he'd been training for years. He didn't look back, but he heard them give chase, dozens of feet slamming the dirt.
At the crest of the hill, the forest opened into a clearing. Quinn skidded to a stop. The ruins of an old stone watchtower stood there, half-collapsed but still standing tall enough to offer height.
"Perfect."
He bolted for it, leapt onto the crumbling stones, and scrambled up just as the first goblins broke through the trees below. They screeched, claws digging into the base of the tower. Quinn planted his feet and swung, knocking one back. Another tried to climb but fell, its grip broken by loose stones.
The System chimed again.
[ Survival Timer: 08:34 ]
He grit his teeth. "Eight minutes? This is going to be a long night."
The horde circled below, snarling, their eyes burning brighter in the dark. They weren't dumb. They were waiting for him to tire, to slip, to run out of ground. The tower groaned under his weight, stones loosening. If he stayed, it might collapse. If he left, he'd be swarmed.
Quinn's eyes darted across the clearing. That was when he saw it. At the far edge of the clearing, etched faintly into the bark of a massive oak, was a glowing sigil. Stronger than the ones on the roots. A fairy glyph.
He stared, realization dawning. It wasn't just random wards. Someone had been here. Maybe still was.
The goblins screeched again, clawing higher up the tower. Quinn swung, panting, trying to keep them back. He couldn't hold this forever.
His mind raced. If that glyph was active, it might lead to something. A wardstone, a hidden tunnel, maybe even an entrance to the Lower Elements. And if so, there was a chance — a dangerous chance — that he wasn't the only one watching this fight.
The tower shuddered as three goblins slammed into its base at once. Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone. Quinn's survival timer ticked down past seven minutes.
He clenched his jaw. "Fine. If I'm bait in someone else's trap, I'll play along."
With a roar, he vaulted off the crumbling tower, landing in a roll that sent pain shooting through his legs. The horde shrieked and turned, chasing him again. He sprinted for the glowing sigil, every breath ragged, every second a gamble.
The System chimed as he neared it.
[ Hidden Objective Discovered: Glyph of Passage ][ Requirement: Infuse Fragment energy ]
Quinn yanked a shard from his inventory, the faint glow of the Shard of Silence pulsing in his hand. He slammed it against the glyph. The tree flared, light spreading through the bark, and a doorway opened in the roots with a groan of shifting wood.
Without hesitation, Quinn dove through.
The last thing he saw before the doorway closed was the goblin horde crashing into the clearing, their eyes blazing with fury. The tower collapsed under their weight, stone crumbling, dust rising into the night.
Inside the passage, Quinn collapsed against the wall, gasping. His survival timer hit zero.
[ Quest Complete: Survive the Goblin Horde ][ Reward: High-grade Fragment ]
A brilliant shard hovered in the air before him, gold and crimson.
[ Fragment Acquired: Ember Shard. Function: Low-tier Fire Manipulation ]
Quinn stared, chest still heaving, then laughed breathlessly. "Magic fire. Finally."
The passage stretched deeper underground, faint lights glowing along the walls. He pushed himself upright, clutching the ember shard. Somewhere ahead, the fairy world waited, vast and dangerous. And somewhere above, Artemis Fowl's schemes ticked onward.
But Quinn wasn't here to follow another's story.
This was his game.
And tonight, he had survived the first real raid.