'If the game really is everything I think it is, I might change,' Dmitry thought, confirming and registering his name. A few seconds after the windows disappeared, Dmitry tapped the hilt of his sword.
"So, let's see how the leveling system works," Dmitry said emotionlessly, looking at the large number of green spots gathered far away from him.
"Being this far, I can see how much my real-life skills make a difference here." After speaking, Dmitry sheathed his sword, which had appeared at his waist after choosing his initial weapon. With one hand on the hilt, he began running towards the goblins.
Half an hour later...
"One, two, three... thirty-two, there are thirty-two goblins."
Dmitry rubbed his chin, drawing his sword while hiding behind a tree two hundred meters from the goblin village.
"Time to start the show," Dmitry said, running over one of the straw houses and bursting through the weak straw wall from behind.
Dmitry saw a green-skinned goblin with long red eyes, covered in various scratches, and a drawing of a crown on its neck. It disappeared and reappeared in front of Dmitry, wielding a sword with a blade twice as wide and long as its body.
"How lucky, I found the most troublesome one," Dmitry said, quickly moving his sword to defend himself from the goblin's attack, which created a small crack in his sword.
"No problem," Dmitry said, looking at the crack in the goblin's sword.
Pushing forward, throwing his weight onto the goblin, he put his right leg back and jumped forward, letting the goblin attack first. Dmitry grabbed its blade and stabbed his own sword into the goblin's stomach, releasing the goblin's sword and initiating a flurry of blows until his sword broke. The goblin managed to land a small cut on Dmitry's shoulder.
"Incredible, you really are a great leader," Dmitry said with a smile, dodging the goblin's continued attacks, which started to slow down.
Dmitry evaded three sword strikes, spun to the left, jumped forward, grabbed the goblin's head, and slammed it against the ground, killing it. "For a first mob boss, you were very good."
Dmitry picked up the goblin's sword, which had multiple scratches. The hilt was made of red wood, the blade was twice the length of his arm, and four times as wide. "I'll need more swords, they don't seem to last long."
[You defeated the first goblin, the oldest among them who started this race - experience received 400]
[Level 0 - experience needed = 400/1,000]
"Since this is a game, I need to leave at least a few alive," Dmitry said, stepping out of the first goblin hut with the sword resting on his shoulder. Several smaller goblins with red eyes and skin covered in black bubbles started appearing.
"Looks like I irritated them. I should leave at least two of them alive to avoid extinction," Dmitry said, watching all the goblins furiously charge at him.
Minutes later.
Dmitry, amidst several dead goblin bodies, with some scratches and bite marks on his body, looked at a game system window in front of him.
[Common Goblin = 10 experience - killed 32 = total experience 320]
[Experience needed for level 1 = 280]
"So they are really insignificant when separated," Dmitry said, tearing a piece of clothing from a goblin to clean his sword's blade. As he looked to the side, he saw two small goblins, the size of dogs, both crying and paralyzed with fear.
"Hello, little ones," Dmitry said, stabbing the goblin leader's sword into the side of the sturdy-bodied goblin, patting the head of the goblin with a thin face and a weaker body.
"Don't cry. You have to learn that in this world, the worst can always happen," Dmitry said.
The sturdy-bodied goblin grabbed the sword from the ground and struck at Dmitry.
Seeing the situation, Dmitry realized that if he dodged the attack, the other goblin would be hit instead.
"I can't believe I did this," Dmitry thought as he dodged, jumping back and extending his left arm to take the sword's blow, resulting in a deep cut.
Dmitry looked at the goblin lying on the ground, looking sideways after almost killing one of its own species.
"I feel a bit bad for what I did now," Dmitry thought, looking around at the various destroyed huts and the two surviving goblins from his attack—one young goblin in disbelief and another young goblin crying.
With the sword stuck in his arm, he crouched again in front of the goblin that had attacked him, noting its sturdy body, black hair, and human-like build except for its green skin and brown eyes. The goblin was wearing a brown cloth loincloth.
"Take this sword and rebuild this place. In the future, we might fight again, and you could even defeat me," Dmitry said. The goblin didn't respond, remaining paralyzed and looking at the ground, gripping the sword's hilt and pulling it back without looking at Dmitry's face.
"That's right, I'll see you again in a few years," Dmitry said, passing his hand over the cut, noticing the blood didn't want to come out.
Dmitry approached the crying goblin with brown eyes and a body like a human female, except for her green skin and black hair. She was wearing a brown cloth dress tied at the shoulder.
"These goblins... I can't do this to a child," Dmitry thought, giving up on saying anything to the other goblin. It was impossible for anything to come out of his mouth because, unfortunately, he felt guilty.
"This game is very interesting; it did something that few have done." Dmitry spoke, now back in the real world with the machine open, sitting and looking at the helmet in his hand, seeing his reflection in it.
"It made me feel guilty for the first time; they seemed like real monsters." Dmitry stood up, placing the helmet on the side of the table and closing the machine. He opened a drawer in front of the machine, grabbing a box with several game cards, and went to his kitchen, throwing them all in the trash.
"The difference between this one and the others is that this isn't just a bunch of poorly written lines of code. This game is alive, you could say," Dmitry said, running his hand through his hair. He looked at the door and saw his sister entering with a pink bag, wearing a white shirt with black stripes across it and red jeans.
"What's with that look, brother? Don't tell me..." Evina said, touching her chin with a mischievous smile.
"You really liked Altair, didn't you?" Evina said, her eyes shining as she looked at Dmitry from every angle.
"You liked it, didn't you?"
"I knew you would."
"Your sister is never wrong."
Dmitry, hearing his sister speaking from all sides of the room, sighed and turned to her, saying, "Yes, yes, you could say I liked it, but you're getting annoying, you know? So could you stop, you little chatterbox?"