24th July of the year 2026.
It was a normal day.
In one of the classes, a young man was calmly listening to the teacher's explanation.
Or at least that's what he was supposed to do.
Noah Ashton was looking out from the window.
He saw a strange sight of the sky being filled with ones and zeroes before disappearing in the same instant it appeared.
"Strange…" Noah muttered before a transparent holographic panel made out of light condensed in front of him.
-Ding!
[The Apocalypse has descended.]
[Humanity will be given the authority to wield the system provided by the {Chaos Web}]
[Each human will have a guaranteed chance to at least awaken a singular special ability to survive.]
[Good luck.]
[Initiate the ability awakening process…]
-Ding!
[Special Ability: Regeneration]
[{Status} have been unlocked]
[{Inventory} have been unlocked]
[{Chat} have been unlocked]
[{Shop} have been unlocked]
[{Mission} have been unlocked]
Noah sat calmly as he witnessed the strange panel in front of him and after seeing his classmates and teachers reaction, they seemed to be seeing the same thing.
"W-What's this? Status? Like video games?"
"Swordsmanship? Is that good?"
"Fuck, I cannot contact my parents!"
"What's happening!?"
Some of Noah's classmates freaked out while some tried to regain their composure.
Before they could adapt to the sudden change, a horde of green-skinned humanoid creatures that stood at half the size of a normal adult suddenly appeared.
Their faces revealed a sadistic smile as they licked the blood off their daggers.
There were over 14 of them but when they were just about to barge in, a hand quickly grabbed one of the creature's by the neck and smashed them to the concrete wall before following up with a merciless swing to the creature's face.
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
"Despite breaking my hand, that attack was far beyond my usual strength." Noah mumbled to himself before he effortlessly pulled apart the Goblin's corpse and used the guts to strangle another stunned Goblin.
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
Noah stood up.
His right bloodied hand was holding the guts that was used to strangle the tied dead goblin, his left hand wiped away the blood that reached his face.
[The Goblins have been inflicted with the status effect, {Fear}, all of their stats have dropped by 10%]
"You're scared?" Noah asked before he quickly grabbed one of the goblins using his mouth like a beast.
He ripped apart the goblin with everything, his arms, his legs and his teeth.
Everyone that witnessed that scene would have described it as if they're seeing something that's definitely not human fighting, a completely ruthless and brutal beast.
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
Guts, limbs, organs, skeletons, lumps of flesh.
That was a horrific sight.
Many classmates of Noah vomited when they saw it.
"Status." Noah ignored the continuous sound of vomiting from the classroom.
-Ding!
[Status]
[Name] Noah Ashton
[Age] 17
[Species] Human
[Job] None
[Title] None
[Level] 2
[Experience] 70/200
[HP] 190/190
[MP] 50/50
[Physical] 14 → 19
[Mental] 23 → 28
[Spiritual] 0 → 5
[Ability] Regeneration
[Skill] None
[Trait] None
[Universal Coins] 170
After Noah closed his status, another panel appeared before him, it was a mission.
[Tutorial Mission]
[Name] Kill 5 Goblin
[Rank] F
[Objective] Kill a Goblin - 5/5
[Reward] 1 Lowest-Grade Random Weapon Box {Claim}
[Punishment] None
Noah clicked at the {Claim} button and then a white box materialised before him.
When the box came in contact with his hand a transparent panel appeared.
-Ding!
[Do you want to open the box?]
"Yes." Noah replied nonchalantly.
The white box began to shine brightly before another object materialised in front of Noah.
It was a spear.
-Ding!
[Item Description]
[Name] Basic Spear
[Type] Spear
[Grade] Normal
[Attribute] +9 Physical
[Skill] Thrust (F)
[Details] An ordinary silver spear that possessed above average thrusting power
Feeling the smooth surface of the spear's steel body as he tried to swing it.
On his face, a huge satisfied smile was present as he looked around at the corpses of the goblins he slaughtered.
"Oh? What is this?" Noah muttered before picking up a pulsing orb.
-Ding!
[Item Description]
[Name] Goblin Core
[Type] Monster Core
[Grade] Normal
[Details] Core of a low-level monster, Goblin
"A core?" Noah muttered as he quickly stored them inside his inventory.
"Truly a convenient feature." Noah said as he walked towards the nearest staircase.
He passed by a classroom where he saw goblins raped the girls and brutally murdered the boys.
'More experience!' His face lit up with excitement as he lunged at the nearest goblin.
-Tsuk!
His spear silver blade was covered in red blood as it passed through the goblins abdomen, and then Noah swiftly kicked the goblin's head to the ground.
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
Contrary to the previous horde of goblins, the goblin that saw their comrades die quickly became enraged and alongside the remaining goblins all of them began to put pressure on Noah.
[The smells of their comrades blood caused the Goblins to be inflicted with the status effect, {Rage}, increase the Goblins stats by 10%]
Before any of the Goblins could launch an attack, Noah was already on the move as he forcibly pushed his entire spear into one of the goblins' bodies to the point it pierced through it from the mouth.
All the other goblins' expression was nothing but surprise and fear as they witnessed Noah eating the face of their dying comrades.
From their perspective, Noah, who was the same species as the prey they had taken care of, would obviously be roughly at the same level, but they couldn't be more wrong. The creature that was standing before them was a Monster, the eyes of the creature that they'd meet that was always filled with fear, now seems like the eyes of a predator eyeing its prey.
'The taste could use some salt.' Noah thought as he stared at the newly received notification.
[The Goblins have been inflicted with the status effect, {Fear}, all of their stats have dropped by 10%]
Noah slowly walked towards the goblins with an ominous presence.
There's a lot of ways to win a fight.
Through sheer superiority in strength.
Or through the path of wisdom and intelligence.
You could also win by doing all sorts of 'dirty' tricks.
But winning is not the same as establishing dominance.
You could be able to destroy mountains with your bare hands, strategize complex fool-proof strategies, or have as many hostages as you want.
But none of that can bring you complete domination over your enemies without the presence of fear.
…
[You killed a Goblin, +10 Experience +10 Universal Coins]
"Finally I have killed the last one." Noah muttered as he looked around.
On the floor was the corpses of raped girls and mangled body of the boys alongside the barely recognisable remains of the 8 goblins.
After collecting the goblin cores, Noah calmly went downstairs with his trusty spear and a newly acquired poisoned dagger.
[Item Description]
[Name] Poisoned Dagger
[Type] Dagger
[Grade] Normal
[Attribute] +2 Physical
[Skill] Poisoned Blade (F)
[Details] A dagger of a goblin laced with a low-level poison that can weaken the poisoned target by slowing them down and weaken them
It was a dagger of the first goblin he killed.
"Status." Noah muttered as he reached the first floor's corridor.
-Ding!
[Status]
[Name] Noah Ashton
[Age] 17
[Species] Human
[Job] None
[Title] Goblin Slayer (Tier 1)
[Level] 2
[Experience] 150/200
[HP] 280/280
[MP] 50/50
[Physical] 28
[Mental] 28
[Spiritual] 5
[Ability] Regeneration
[Skill] None
[Trait] None
[Universal Coins] 250
"So the item skills don't appear in the status? Neat." Noah mumbled to himself before a huge monster appeared, it was slightly bigger than a goblin but look-wise they're identical.
After crashing into a pillar, Noah quickly regained his footing as his body slowly recovered.
'40 damage, this bastard packed quite a punch.' Noah thought as he braced himself against the incoming assault, but just as the monster was near him, a quick thrust of a dagger pierced through the monster's neck.
"Just as someone said, a good goblin is a dead goblin." Noah muttered as he retrieved the poisoned dagger and stared at the goblin that was about to lunge at him stunned.
[You killed a Hobgoblin, +100 Experience +100 Universal Coins]
Noah grabbed the Hobgoblin body and then using his spear, ripped it apart.
Rummaging through the mangled body, Noah found the jawbreaker sized core and stored it inside his inventory.
After that he continued to tear through the mangled corpse's muscles and skin with his teeth like a savage while he walked towards the stunned goblins.