The soft orange glow of the sun lit the land as it rose over the west horizon. Birds tweeted from within the trees and small critters scurried about the dense underbrush.
In the crook of a tree, Morgan stirred awake. Groaning as he stretched, his mind quickly cleared up, and he began organising his small collection of items. A set of keys jingled as he stuck his hand through the band, a faint gold glimmer reflected off the side of a key as the pin caught the morning light.
He lifted his foot, wincing as he peeled the stuck-nut skins off his feet. There was a ripe bush not far from the tree that he'd raided the night before.
So, while eating his breakfast he set the still sticky skins to the side for later. Glancing at Iskandar he couldn't tell if they were awake or not, which was something he'd learned was difficult to tell when someone lacked eyelids.
"You awake?"
"…yes…"
"Do you reckon you can eat yet? If not, then I think I heard a stream not far from here. I can do the same thing as yesterday."
"…thank you…"
The two fell silent as Morgan finished the meagre breakfast he'd scavenged, making sure to leave the two remaining Thorn-plums alone. Finished, he started working on his makeshift shoes.
His foot had lost a lot of the swelling overnight and most of the smaller cuts had closed over, the larger cuts though, were still mostly unchanged which showed the limits of his healing. His wrist was much the same, the swelling had died down – for now – but it was still broken and covered in a deep blue bruise.
Grabbing the sticky peels, he pinched the larger cuts together and used them as band aids once more to hold the wounds shut. Once he'd finished with both feet he rewrapped them and started down the tree, Iskandar hanging from his back.
[Skill Acquired: Climbing L1]
As soon as he touched the ground a blue panel flashed into view, nothing felt different but he decided to check it out anyway.
[Climbing L1: The user has learned to climb! Stamina cost when climbing reduced by 1%]
A frown crossed his face as he puzzled over how it could possibly work. Was it altering his muscle memory to make him more efficient? Or was it using some form of esoteric means to alter how much energy it took to climb? So many questions, and yet no answers.
"Iskandar, do you know how skills work?"
"…so many… questions, are you… a child?... *sigh* Ask… the blessing… it'll give you… the best answer…"
Morgan followed their advice and focused on the thing he felt deep inside himself, mentally sending it a question even as his legs carried him deeper into the woods in search of the water he'd heard.
[(Skills are acquired once the user reaches the needed proficiency with the corresponding action. To level up the skill the user must first train the action before pushing it an extra step further.
Each level up will increase the user's baseline to the new average)]
'Interesting… It seems this system understands risk vs reward. If I don't work to refine my skills, then the system won't give me access to its benefits and knowledge.'
The panel seemed more than willing to deliver information directly into his brain, it seemed all he had to do was ask it the right questions. It was quite likely the people of this world were given this information at a young age, based on his friend's reactions.
Still, it was a fascinating system that incentivised people to pursue greater personal heights, while reinforcing their foundations when they succeeded.
He fell into thought as he wandered between trees. Only snapping out of his trance when a raspy voice whispered in his ear.
"…focus! There's… goblins ahead…"
Sure enough, the sight of movement caught his gaze as he ducked behind the closest tree. Peeking out, he was once more baffled. Through the trees he could see a large clearing that dipped down in the middle, it was covered in small stones and the soft tinkle of running water told him there was likely a stream running through it.
But what separated what he was seeing from any other clearing were the little green men that ran between scrappy pelt tents. Each of them couldn't have been more than a meter tall but there were at least thirty of them milling about their camp in torn rags that only covered the front.
He grimaced at the sight and turned to leave. He'd read his fair share of fantasy books, and in nearly all of them were goblins, tiny green eared men made of pure evil.
"GWABGWAB GROGAL!"
Instinctively he recognised the goblin's shout as some form of language, his mind whirring as it tried to decipher what was said. He failed though, a single two word sentence wasn't enough to decipher an entire language, but it did get him curious.
Crouched in the bushes, he shuffled backwards slowly till he was ten metres from the tree line. There he stopped next to a thick tree and peeked around it to look into the distant village. He wished he didn't.
Blood spurted from the neck of a dishevelled person as a rusty axe hacked into it, barely digging a third of the way through. Next to the person who slowly bled out were four other people all covered in cuts and all with their hands tied to their feet.
They were lined up down the centre of the camp in full view, with at least twenty goblins jumping about them screaming at the top of their lungs.
Morgan was torn, one part of him – the part with a conscience – wanted to help them, another – the cold logical part – told him to retreat, that they were strangers, and he was hopelessly outnumbered.
The logical part won. Averting his gaze, he began to slink away in shame. This was who he was, his weapon was knowledge, not power, and here he was ignorant. Even if he wanted to there was nothing he could do.
His blood ran cold as the bush right in front of him shook and a hideous green head popped out, jagged, yellow teeth bared. He moved instinctively, right fist loosed in the creature's direction before it could even utter a growl.
*Crack*
It was sent stumbling back into the bush as both his hand and its nose let out a crack that was more felt than it was heard.
He couldn't falter, if the goblin recovered before him and called out to its friends, he was doomed. No matter how fast he could run or how much bigger he was than them, he doubted he could escape them on their home turf.
With more courage than he knew he had, he lunged through the bush, left hand pulled back. The goblin was sat on its ass with a dazed look on its face, in its right hand it loosely held a rust covered sword. He needed that.
His left fist met the goblin's nose once more as it squealed in outrage, and leapt back with the blow. Gritting his teeth, Morgan carried his lunge forward into a charge as he rammed his shoulder into the green midget.
Physics was on his side as the comparatively light creature went flying, its spine cracking as it smashed into a tree, sword flying from its hand.
Morgan was on it in a blink, left hand gripping the sixty-centimetre-long sword. Left wasn't his dominant hand but he could swing it with moderate accuracy. The blade whizzed through the air and dug into the throat of the unfortunate creature as it stood back up.
Green blood bubbled from its throat as it stumbled towards him, claws bared. Closing his eyes, he swung again and again, each swing finding purchase in green flesh.
By the time he opened his eyes he was breathing heavily, green blood splattered up his arm and across his sword. The goblin lay on the ground, blood flowing freely from the many hack wounds across its body, each was in a different location and most were merely scratches.
Slowly the goblin gurgled out its last breath and fell silent.
[Achievement unlocked: First Kill – 3x XP from defeated creature.]
[Goblin Slain: 15XP Acquired.]
Morgan didn't know how to feel, his hands trembled slightly but he didn't feel sick or elated. He simply felt glad, glad he'd won and would live another day.
'Am I a psychopath?'
No. He was simply human. This was the way of the world, the law of the jungle.
Something inside him shifted slightly, but not for any mental reasons. Focusing his senses internally, he got the faint impression something travelled from the thing by his soul into himself. Whatever it was, his soul greedily devoured it, leaving him feeling slightly stuffed.
'Odd… what was that? I can't feel it any more, but I think it's still there?'
He frowned, unsure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"DODGE…!"
A raspy voice shouted in his ear as he, without realising it, got distracted. His eyes widened and pupils dilated as the world seemed to slow, his body already twisting as he leant backwards.
He watched in slow motion as another goblin, this one with far more muscle than the last, leaped from a tree, its sword glimmering in the sun as it aimed for his neck.
Tumbling onto his ass he narrowly dodged the strike as the goblin sailed over him and landed perfectly behind him with a screech.
More screeches echoed from the nearby camp as the goblin rushed forward again, its sword coming down in an overhead strike.
"GWABOO DOOTY!"
Morgan rolled to the side, a grunt coming from his back as he accidentally crushed his friend.
Wincing he leapt to his feet and lowered the sword he clutched in his left hand. Again, the goblin dashed forwards as screams echoed from the trees, its sword swung this time in a wide arc meant to bisect him.
The two swords met in a clash of iron as Morgan leapt to the side. A tremor ran up his arm and he almost lost his grip on the weapon, but it was enough to stop the attack and leave the goblin off balance.
His knee rose slightly before his leg shot out towards the goblin's face. It went tumbling backwards as Morgan drove his foot into it with all the force he could muster.
*Thunk*
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he ducked behind a tree, gaze set on the gnarled arrow stuck in a nearby tree. He was too late. Screeches echoed from all around him as the light reflected off the beady eyes of ten separate goblins.
'Fuck! What do I do! Think, think!'
He narrowly ducked behind another tree as an arrow flew in his direction. There were goblins on all sides, most of which had bows, the ones that didn't, slowly closed in on him with thick branches and old swords.
His eyes flitted about nervously as he strained his ears to the limit, listening to the identical shriek that each goblin made before loosing an arrow. It sounded similar to 'DIE!' now that he thought about it…
A desperate, stupid idea rammed itself into his head as he swallowed his spit and sucked in a deep breath.
"GRABOOG TRUNGA!"
The woods fell silent in an instant as his voice, rough and scratchy, boomed through the forest. Sounds of confusion were murmured from the bushes and leaves as the goblins scratched their heads.
"ROOPROOP?"
Another goblin yelled back at him as his mind worked in overdrive to decipher it. He'd made a gamble and shouted at them in whatever language they spoke, his understanding of it was rudimentary but increasing by the minute.
He was pretty sure he said something similar to 'Stop weaklings, friend.' and the other goblin responded, 'How speak?' or 'Friend?'. But he was unsure. Still, he had to act before they could think.
"GRIBBY FUGGLE RUMTRUM VREE!"
That - he hoped - meant 'Me big boss, need help.' Again, he was hopeful the goblins weren't smart enough to call him out on his lies, but if they did, he was prepared to run.
"FROKKY HURG? *(Why look like human?)*"
"JURLY VONT LORK! *(Human form strong, tricky)*"
The language was brutish but he didn't know what he expected, it was made by dumb goblins. A hush fell between the two as footsteps drew closer. Another goblin, this one 1.2 metres tall and wearing a leather shirt, stepped out from behind a tree and looked him up and down.
Morgan met the goblin's gaze and tried his best not to tremble as it seemed to consider something, its eyes roaming over his bare chest, tattered pants, and mud covered skin before it seemed to decide something.
"YOOPY! *(FRIEND!)*"
A smile crossed the goblin's face as it turned and walked off, gesturing for him to follow. He stood still for a few seconds as the goblins retreated, sweat running down his brow.
'Holy shit… that actually worked!'
His knees grew weak as the last of the goblins wandered back into their camp. Iskandar whispered in his ear, voice laced with confusion.
"…how…?"
He took a deep breath to calm his beating heart before replying, his voice hoarse and trembling.
"Honestly? I have no clue. I was digging around the bottom of the barrel for ideas, so I figured, they seem pretty dumb, why not try and trick them?"
"…but how… how did you… speak their… language? What… did you say…?"
"No idea, I just focused intently on their words and I noticed a pattern. I'm pretty sure I convinced them I'm a big boss goblin… not sure if I should be insulted I pass for a goblin or grateful I'm alive actually."
"…impressive. Now… let's get out… of here… before they… catch on…"
Wincing he turned away from his friend, and looked towards the camp where the people were still lined up for execution.
"No. Not yet at least, I might be able to save those people. I need to at least try."
Times had changed, while earlier he wanted to run away, that had all changed. This was a chance, a real chance, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he just ran away.
With confident steps he strode towards the camp, a panel appearing in his vision.
[Skill Acquired: Deception L1]
"Trust me, I've got a plan."
"*Sigh*…idiot. How can… I help…"
He chuckled to hide his nerves and plastered a false smile on his face.
"Hopefully, nothing."