The appearance of the goblins quickly shattered any notions of compassion or humanitarianism that Nether Magus might have had. Their yellowish teeth, twisted faces, long hooked noses, and drooling yellow saliva were repulsive enough to make even a thousand years of love disappear. Their vaguely human-like features only made them more disturbing, as if they were mocking the form of humans but failing miserably.
Nether Magus thought, "Even their personality seems to match their appearance." He peeked out again, watching the three goblins gathered in the corner, playing with a rat. They were poking it with sticks just enough to keep it alive. The scene resembled children playing with bugs, but the difference here was that the rat was suffering, drenched in blood, while the goblins laughed gleefully.
"How can they laugh like that while tormenting a dying rat?" Nether Magus was shocked by their creepy smiles, the kind that would haunt someone in their nightmares. When the rat's reactions weakened, the goblins, having lost interest, stabbed it to death, then immediately began searching for something else to play with.
"Now I understand why heroes in stories kill monsters without hesitation." It was clear that these creatures didn't deserve any sympathy. They weren't acting out of instinct; they tortured living beings purely for fun.
As he thought about it, Nether Magus noticed some wooden clubs lying around, perhaps a hint for him to take a weapon before fighting. But he wasn't a warrior, so they were of no use to him.
"Magic Missile."
With the spell cast, a magical beam shot from his fingertip, hitting one of the goblins squarely in the temple. The creature let out a scream and collapsed instantly.
"Kiyaaah!?! Kiieee!"
The other two goblins saw their comrade fall and turned toward Nether Magus, their mouths stretching into wide, twisted grins. It was as if they had found a new toy to play with, replacing the rat.
Annoyed, Nether Magus cast another spell.
"Magic Missile!"
The second goblin took the hit directly to the chest and was thrown backward. The third one, without even glancing at its fallen comrades, charged straight at Nether Magus. Although it was fast, Nether Magus had already created a fair distance between them, making it no real threat. Before the goblin could even come close, another blast of magic sent it flying back.
"Distance combat really is the best," Nether Magus thought with satisfaction. From a safe position, he could unleash threatening attacks on his enemies without putting himself in danger. Some might say it was cowardly, but in the end, only the loser would complain about tactics.
"Wait, are they still alive?"
As he heard faint sounds of movement, Nether Magus turned his head to see that two of the goblins were still twitching. Upon closer inspection, he realized that, aside from the one hit in the head, the others were still alive. He quickly finished them off with another shot each, making sure they were completely dead.
In the process, Nether Magus got a better sense of the power of "Magic Missile." The impact was comparable to swinging a baseball bat with full force. If it hit the head, it would be lethal, but if it struck the stomach or chest, the target might survive if they were lucky. In the case of arms or legs, the result would likely be just a broken limb.
"It seems like this spell won't be very effective against monsters tougher than humans."
Nether Magus already knew the solution to his current predicament.
"Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial quest 'Prepare for your first battle.'" "As a reward, you have been granted 1 point." "You can allocate the point to your stats through the status window."
A monotone voice delivered the wonderful news to his ears. When Nether Magus opened the status window, he found a new option for "unallocated points." Without hesitation, he invested the point into his magic stat, increasing it to 11. Since the power of all spells scaled with the magic stat, this was an obvious choice.
"That should increase the power a bit, but it's not a fundamental solution," he thought.
No matter how much he increased his magic, there were inherent limits to the spells themselves. The real solution was to learn higher-level magic. And, conveniently, someone nearby could teach him that advanced magic.
["Who are you? This place is dangerous; the goblins have made their nest in these ruins. It's best if you leave immediately... What? You defeated them with magic? Remarkable. To think you managed to take them down with basic magic alone. You have potential. Would you like to learn magic from me?"]
After completing the first battle, NPC trainers would appear in the game. For warriors, a seasoned veteran would show up, and for mages, a wise sage would appear. Players could learn how to use skills or unlock higher-tier abilities from them.
As Nether Magus recalled, the trainer should be just ahead after finishing the fight.
"Oh, there he is."
Where the narrow passageway opened into a wider area, an old man sat waiting. He was dressed in robes and carried a staff—obviously a mage. As Nether Magus approached, the old mage exclaimed in surprise.
"Hah, amazing! You defeated those creatures with basic magic?"
"…Pardon?"
"You have potential, young one. How about it? Would you like to learn magic from me…"
"Hold on a moment," Nether Magus interrupted, waving his hand to stop the conversation. The mage tilted his head, confused.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Do you even know what creatures I defeated?"
"What do you mean? They were goblins…"
The old mage fell silent, realizing his mistake. Nether Magus hadn't mentioned anything about goblins. The mage shifted his eyes nervously, clearly embarrassed.
"Er, ahem! There are only goblins around here, so I simply deduced it!" the mage stammered.
"Oh, I see," Nether Magus replied.
"Indeed! Anyway, to defeat them with basic magic…"
"I never mentioned I could use magic, did I?" Nether Magus interrupted again.
"…"
"…"
A heavy silence fell over the small space as Nether Magus crossed his arms, waiting for the mage's next words. The mage, sweating nervously, looked around before finally speaking again after a long pause.
"Shall we start over?"
"No."
"…"
"You've already messed it up, so why bother repeating? Let's just move on since I know everything now."
"…Damn it."
Despite his appearance as a wise sage, the mage had quite a foul mouth.
"Anyway! I still think you have potential," the old mage said, trying to recover.
"Are you really going to stick to that script?" Nether Magus asked.
"Ahem, I don't hear anything," the mage replied stubbornly.
This old man was more persistent than Nether Magus had anticipated. Despite the entire scenario falling apart, he was still pushing forward with it.
"Regardless, you should learn magic from me," the old man continued.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to ask me if I want to learn magic?"
"Ah, so you don't want to learn?"
"No, I do need to learn."
After all, that was the whole reason Nether Magus had come this far. Hearing his confirmation, the old mage sighed with relief and sat back down.
"Why didn't you say so earlier? It would've saved us both a lot of trouble."
"I didn't do anything wrong. If anything, you're the one who messed up…" Nether Magus began.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Every time the conversation turned against him, the old mage would resort to a fit of exaggerated coughing. Nether Magus had actually thought about refusing the offer just for fun, but he didn't want to risk the mage seriously not teaching him.
"So, shall we begin? The sooner you learn, the better."
"Before we start, can I ask a few questions?"
"Go ahead."
"Am I stuck here until I finish learning all the magic?"
In Nether Magus's memory, learning skills in the game took an especially long time. Even the goblin extermination quest had taken much longer than it would have in the game. So, it was reasonable to assume learning magic would take even longer. He was concerned about basic needs like food and bathroom breaks.
"Not at all. You've always been able to leave whenever you wished."
"Always able to leave?"
"Do you remember how you got here?"
"Through the dimensional gate, but… Oh."
That's right. All Nether Magus had to do was open the dimensional gate again to leave. The answer was embarrassingly simple, and he had misinterpreted the gate's closure as meaning he had to stay.
"So, if you need to leave, just open the gate again. It's that easy."
"Why are you asking? Planning to leave now?" the mage inquired.
"Not right now, but I can't stay here indefinitely either."
"Fair enough. If you're tired, you can always go back and rest. I'll be here for the next three days."
So, the dimensional gate would connect him to the last place he had opened it from. With that reassurance, Nether Magus felt more at ease.
"Is that the end of your questions?"
"Not quite. I have one more."
"What is it? Ask away."
"What exactly is this 'end' everyone keeps talking about?"
If the old man had been just a scripted NPC from the game, Nether Magus wouldn't have bothered asking. But this mage was clearly a thinking, reasoning person. There was no reason not to inquire about the so-called "end."
The mage, however, tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by the question.
"The end? Surely you already know about it."
"Huh?"
"You knew who I was, didn't you? It's the same thing."
So, the "end" was something tied to the game's internal lore?
Nether Magus dug deeper into his memory of World Breaker's backstory.
"Wait, World Breaker is set in a world that's already been destroyed... Wait a minute, a destroyed world?"
Suddenly, a hypothesis formed in his mind. If the game was set in a ruined world, then there must have been a time when the world wasn't ruined. Yet, there was no mention of an intact world in the game. Everything started after the destruction.
As if to confirm his theory, the mage spoke up.
"In three days, your world will crumble."