There are times when you believe everything is going your way and you keep progressing forward until you realize you had entered a portal that was supposed to take you back home but it didn't. Why this specific example, you ask? Because that's exactly what happened to me!
I exited the portal a few moments after I entered it and was surprised. I was standing in a small grass clearing in the middle of what seemed like a dense forest.
"God damnit! Why am I now inside a jungle?! This isn't my home!"
That Dragon God betrayed me! Damn you Dragon God Entranos!!!!!!
… Or so I thought in the heat of the moment but then remembered that she said she would send me outside the ruin and not home. So, the fool was me who didn't properly listen to her words.
"Well, fuck."
I checked my surroundings to see if any paths led outside or a highway, at least. A forest full of tall trees and other flora you see in evergreen forests was what greeted me. No signs of roads or clear paths.
Shit, will I have to walk alone and find my way out in a fricking forest?
I was a stay-home kind of guy who didn't really do many outdoor activities like hiking or mountain climbing so I wasn't fit for such places. I would probably get bitten by some poisonous snake or bug or eat some shady berry or mushroom and die a painful death if left to survive in such a forest for more than a few hours. The very thought gave me shivers.
I gotta get out of this place and reach some highway or something. From there I can ask for a ride and get back to a town and file a report or call my family.
My current attire was a Black T-shirt and Blue denim which I wore yesterday—assuming it was a new day today— at college and didn't change from them. In my pocket, I had some chewing gums which I probably bought on my way and a white handkerchief. I didn't have my phone which I kept on charging that night. I looked at my wristwatch which was a cheap one I'd bought in a sale. It seemed to work.
Damnit. If only I had my phone at least!
With just this much I was to survive in an unknown forest.
I sighed yet again.
At least I was standing in the middle of a clearing and could get a good view of the sky and the sun. The sun seemed to be in, what I assumed to be, the east direction. It was most probably morning time. Well, I guessed that from looking at my wristwatch.
Oh, I know! There's that useful thing.
I quickly summoned the Map in my field of view.
The map now showed my location inside the forest with my red arrow in the center of the clearing and an area of 500 meters around me. It also had an in-built compass on the upper right which constantly pointed its biggest of the 2 needles painted red to the north. With that, I could at least decipher my directions even if I didn't have the sun in view.
Since the sun wasn't very high in the sky, I guessed it was around 8 or 9 in the morning. In hindsight, it was silly to judge time-based on the sun's position in the sky, given I had a watch that showed the time as 8:30 AM. I just did it to get that wildlife survival feel out of it. But, I would soon find out that my watch had become somewhat obsolete from this day forth for reasons that can only be possible in a fantasy, or when you're in outer space with time dilation and stuff.
Strangely, in the ruin, the light was coming from directly above so I thought it would be noon but even after I spent all that time in there, which was probably around an hour, there was no difference in the light rays.
Well, there's no point in questioning everything. It's not like anyone is here to answer me.
Besides, I had seen plenty of strange things and some sun rays weren't going to phase me now.
Since currently, it was morning, I had to quickly head in one direction and keep filling out the Map and perhaps be lucky and find a settlement or highway. That alone would increase my chances of survival.
Now, which direction to choose?
In my south and west, I could see snow-covered mountains in the distance. I didn't feel like going north since that side of the forest looked a bit darker and gloomier as compared to the other sides. So, I chose east and started walking.
As I moved, the map-pointer of me also started moving. It was apparently real-time.
By the way, about the portal I came from, it was gone the moment I stepped out of it. I also found that stone I threw inside the portal lying on the ground. I stored it in my inventory as the "World's first warping test stone. Probably."
After traveling for about 1.5 hours I was starting to feel thirsty. I had neither food nor water. I had to find it inside the forest. This is where my Appraisal ability would shine. It could probably also scan things other than my Katana and the crystals.
I tried Appraising a bunch of plants, trees, and bushes and found results on each of them. There weren't any names I had heard so I kept looking for wild fruits which could be edible.
It was then when I encountered the "thing"; my first alien, yet familiar, creature that I never thought I would meet in real life.
A Goblin.
A short green creature with pointed ears, a bald head, and bulging eyes with the white part is replaced with dirty yellow and red irises that you commonly see in video games and fantasy stories as a weak monster. It hardly reached my waist in height and it didn't look very smart given it was walking around mindlessly looking for something.
I kept my distance and used Appraisal on him.
Name: Noname
Age: 10 months
Gender: Male
Race: Goblin
Level: 5
HP: 35/35
MP: 0/0
Stats:
STR: 24
DEX: 9
DEF: 12
AGI: 8
VIT: 12
INT: 10
Luck: 0
Abilities:
None
***
It was a Goblin as I predicted.
Its level was 5 which was higher than mine but I had better DEX, AGI, and INT stats. Its luck was zero and it had no abilities, let alone special abilities. Its HP was higher than mine at 35 but it had no MP.
If I tried, I could beat it with my Katana. The Katana had a pretty high attack power after all.
But should I risk it? And it's not like it has done anything bad to me. So killing it without any reason seems wrong. And it's not like I know it's an evil monster. Maybe the Goblins in real life are more like those stone-age cavemen and foragers that appear in early human history.
I decided to not kill it and turned to leave when I saw two more Goblins coming from the direction I was heading. They immediately noticed me, who didn't hide in time, and waved a thick wooden pole and a stone ax-like weapon in the air and ran towards me.
Nope, these guys aren't your passive primitive sentient species. They're clearly out for blood.
This is no longer unavoidable I guess. I Gotta fight back if I don't want to be hurt.
Now, to be fair, even if they were cavemen from the pre-historic era, they probably would have done something similar since I was a foreign being walking around in their area. But something about their bloodlust that seemed to be strangely conveyed from their eyes made their motives very clear to me. There was a strange villainous and evil feel to them.
I retrieved my Katana and unsheathed it and got ready to fight. My strategy was to first quickly use Appraisal on them to check for their stats and abilities, and then as they reach within my attack distance, use the only combat skill I've got to take care of them both. I didn't want to fight but the circumstances and the whole game mechanic had made my mind forget this was a real fight, with life and death on the line if I was careless.
Their levels were a measly 7 and 4 with stats comparable to that one Goblin.
Hah! I can do this. Bring it on, monsters!
The moment they came into the range I activated the skill with an offensive pose, and the next moment, I performed two slashes to clear both heads off their bodies. Their bodies fell into a bloody lump and they no longer moved. I once again used Appraisal to check on their bodies and as expected both their HP was 0.
The third, or technical the first, goblin I saw suffered the same fate as he came dashing towards me to attack.
[You've leveled up!]
[New Abilities have been acquired!]
[New Jobs have been unlocked!]
It came after as I was confirming their HP. The notification stated I had leveled up. Rather than checking my status I approached the three dead goblins and checked their bodies in detail. Blood was pouring from their freshly severed necks. Their blood was dark green in color. It wasn't pleasant to look at. To add to that unpleasantness, their odor was also quite foul.
These creatures were truly the gross small-fry beginner monsters from the video games.
A thought came to my mind and I tried storing the dead bodies of these monsters as a test. Apparently, I could. There was a cell that now had 3 quantities of Goblin dead bodies.
I wasn't sure how to feel about storing dead bodies inside my Inventory but I felt like these could be of use later. It was just my intuition from video games though. There, dead monster bodies were often considered as loot and used to earn money. Not that I had any such plans yet.
After I was done, I once again looked around to see if there aren't any more monsters around. Then I checked my own status.
***Character Profile***
Name: Rio
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Human(712-Human)
Level: 5
HP: 500/500
MP: 1000/1000
Job:
Primary: Swordsman
Secondary: Apprentice Spearman, Apprentice Ax user, Apprentice Monk, Apprentice Priest, Apprentice Fire Magician, Apprentice Water Magician, Apprentice Earth Magician, Apprentice Wind Magician, Apprentice Light Magician, Apprentice Dark Magician
Titles acquired:
Lost Person, Holder of Entranos's last will, Person from a different world, Holder of ???? Sword, Ruin Explorer, ????'? ???????, Goblin Slayer
Stats:
STR: 500
DEX: 500
DEF: 500
AGI:500
VIT: 500
INT:500
Luck: 80
Special Abilities:
Appraisal, Inventory, Map, Logs, Entranos's Blessing, Universal Language Acquisition
Abilities:
Sword Technique II, Fire Magic I, Water Magic I, Earth Magic I, Wind Magic I, Darkness Magic I, Light Magic I, Barrier Magic I
***