January 8th, 2022
***
Richter's impression of the Goblin King was high. His physique was lean and his eyes were mocking. The blade across his lap had nicks on its edge, and the handle had conformed to the shape of a hand.
He had used this blade a lot.
Richter stood up and left the safety of his tunnel. He shuffled slowly towards the nearest purple goblin, gauging how to approach the situation.
"I will fight you myself," the King bellowed.
The guards around him sneered and stepped back by the throne. Richter was a dead man in their eyes.
The Goblin King stood and descended the stairs. "Your planet has unbelievable luck" he laughed. Another step closer. "Unbelievably bad luck, that is." He drew his sword.
"If I'm active, then the other Kings are only a matter of time." Two steps left.
Richter tensed his body and ignored his words. He would aim for the moment he descended the last step.
"Though in the System, is it just luck?"
One step left.
"Show me the tenacity of your planet." The Goblin King descended the final step, and Richter burst toward him.
"I am Goblin King Dru"- he locked eyes with the approaching Richter-" also known as the Sapphire King."
His blue exterior shined radiantly and took on a polished look. Cracks and jagged edges formed all across his body. The smooth skin was now a solid gem coat, while a spiky mask covered his face. Dru didn't move an inch, as he eyed Richter's blade.
Richter felt bittersweet at such an opportunity. It had been so long since he was last underestimated like this.
Richter stopped short, brought his arm back behind his back-
"!"
-and swapped his sword for a pickaxe he stuffed in his jeans earlier.
The cute goblin-sized pickaxe was barely eighteen inches long. The short length allowed Richter to wield it easily. He arced the pickaxe at Dru's chest. He felt immense joy at the crumbling expression of the Goblin King.
Dru knew how special the pickaxes were. Otherwise, a weak goblin would never manage to carve out solid rock. It seems Richter had picked up on this.
The ax head made contact before Dru could block, and dug straight through the gem coat; puncturing his flesh and rupturing a lung. Dru swung his sword across in rage, which Richter deflected. He used this opportunity to create some distance and removed the tool from his body, clutching the wound.
The pickaxe had left a palm-sized wound on his chest. This was all Richter would need to skewer him through.
He rebounded toward Dru, who was barely standing. Dru eyed Richter indifferently. He knew it was over the moment his lung was punctured. Frustration was welling up in his chest.
"I'll be back one day" Dru rasped. He hobbled over to the steps and plopped down.
Richter walked over, sensing his fading aura.
"What is your purpose in coming to Earth?"
Dru stared at the young man like he was an idiot.
"Same as every other monster, to destroy it and evolve my species."
The six armed guards from the throne came forward suddenly, pointing their weapons at Richter.
Dru felt his limbs growing numb. He turned to his loyal crew.
"TARV FER" (I will see you again in the next life. Go ahead and end it. No reason to give him your experience.)
Simultaneously, all six goblins stabbed daggers into their hearts and formed a pile of corpses at the top of the steps.
Richter watched this with a tinge of deranged jealousy. If his disciples were half as dependable as Dru's, maybe they wouldn't have left him.
"Come closer and open your status human, I have some wisdom that may prove useful." Dru grinned.
Richter subconsciously did as he asked, still in a daze thinking about his disciples. Dru lifted his hand and shot out light blue energy into Richter's status page. A chill swept through Richter's body. He raised his blade ready to strike.
"What did you just do?"
Dru tilted his head back and laughed.
"I put a mana tracker in your status page so that I can find you again 'Richter' " Dru mocked.
"You son of a b-"
"Have you even looked at your status? Such great potential. I can't believe you were foolish enough to attack me without allocating your attribute points first." His gaze was distant for several seconds.
'Another human with potential... a tale I've heard too often.' Dru reminisced.
"If you meet the other Kings, mention my name. Maybe you'll receive some benefits, I'm not on great terms with them."
Richter eyed Dru suspiciously at this 'advice'. But by this point, Dru wasn't paying attention.
Dru's arms and legs were now completely numb. His body was about to give out. He was so close...
Richter's eyes widened, and he hurriedly raised his sword again.
[Thrust.]
His sword sunk deep into Dru's chest. Dru faintly registered that his plan had failed before succumbing to the attack.
A barrage of dings played in his ears as he pulled up his notifications.
['Goblin Level 2' killed. XP awarded]
['Goblin Level 3' killed. XP awarded]
[Goblin Level 3' killed. XP awarded]
[Level up! You have reached level 3. Attribute points awarded.]
[Gob...
All the notifications of the goblins he killed throughout the tunnel played out. Finally, Dru's death showed up.
['Goblin King Dru Level 9' killed. XP awarded]
Relief washed over him. Dru had almost passed away on his own.
He was about to investigate his status window when he noticed two small goblins tied up in the corner of the room. The same two that ran off earlier. In a way, he was grateful. Had they not run into the cave entrance, he may have ignored it. Still, goblins a goblin.
He swiftly killed them and sat on the steps of the throne room. It was time to investigate his status page.
"Status," he said aloud.
A large blue window opened in front of him.
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[Name: Richter Maier || Mana: 100%/100% || Level: 7 || Unused Attribute Points: 18]
[Class: Swordsman (intrinsic)]
[Attributes: Strength: 14 || Agility: 15 || Constitution: 13 || Magic: 11 || Intelligence 10]
[Abilities: Transcendent Bloodlust (innate), Transcendent Sense (innate) || Skills: None]
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There were small question marks next to each attribute, so Richter started clicking on all of them.
[Strength - Determines physical abilities and damage dealt with physical attacks.]
[Agility - Determines coordination, and offers minor speed scaling.]
[Constitution - Determines stamina and sturdiness.]
[Magic - Determines mana density, which strengthens the effect of mana. Scales in combination with mana quality.]
[Intelligence - Affects the ease of utilizing mana. Note: Low intelligence does not prevent the usage of more complex skills, but it will put a heavier burden on the user.]
With a better understanding of attributes, he took a glance at the two abilities. They didn't offer any additional information, but he was already intimately familiar with these skills. He had used them hundreds of times before. The 'transcendent' tag might have referred to how he acquired them? He wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Next, he clicked on 'Mana' and 'Skills'
[Mana - miraculous energy found throughout the universe. Capable of many things. Very versatile. The mana gauge shows the amount of mana you have left as a percent.]
[Skills - skills make use of mana to achieve an effect. Mana consumption is percent-based. The more mana used, the stronger the effect. Capable of many things. Very versatile.]
'Hmm' Richter scratched his head. The information was useful and also useless. Kind of like being told to expect the unexpected.
At the bottom of the page were two tabs labeled 'store' and 'challenge'
He flicked over to the store tab. It was shorter and wider than the attribute window but functioned the same. The first two items were potions for mana and healing respectively. Upon swiping left, the screen scrolled through several new items. Several various daggers and swords were on display.
Richter only now noticed the archaic pricing system. The use of metal coins was the only form of payment, from copper to silver, to gold, to platinum, and several other denominations he couldn't recognize. Richter had earned 34 copper so far, and the few weapons he had seen ranged from one to five silver. Mana and Healing potions were 10 copper each.
Curious, he decided to continue swiping left as much as he could, trying to find the end of the store. Several minutes later, there was no end in sight. The borders of the weapons he saw now alternated between orange, red, and green. He couldn't even tell what kind of coin they required to buy. He spent the next several minutes scrolling back to the beginning. Where he bought two healing potions and a mana potion.
Richter clicked on them, hoping for some useful insight.
[Healing Potion - recovers moderate wounds and injuries. Very versatile.]
[Mana potion - restores 100 percent of the body's natural mana limit.]
Richter sighed. 'As expected,' he thought.
He turned his attention over to the 'challenge' tab. It was a much simpler display, which said the challenge number, the tier, the challenge itself, and showed the progress of the challenge.
The current challenge was for forty-five percent or more of the global population to acquire a class. Then maintain this statistic for seven days.
After trying to absorb all of this new information, he walked toward the cave entrance, eager to enjoy the open air. He wasn't in any rush to use his attribute points, goblins were easy enough already.
Now a free man once again, he spread his sense back out to get a feel for changes in the area. It was around midday now. He had spent a few hours inside.
While feeling for potential threats, he stumbled upon a group of people a few blocks further down the street. They were surrounding another one of these cave entrances, each holding some form of weapon. While not excited at the prospect of going into another one of these cramped spaces, the people there were pretty alert. There was even a girl - not much younger than him - who reacted to his Sense. Perhaps they knew more about what was going on.
And so, he set out down the street.
***