Although Jonathan was effectively incompetent in a confrontation, he was nonetheless excellent at taking notes and applying them. It had only taken a few days of tests and study to pinpoint the cause of the issues, and it had taken even fewer for him to put them into motion. The handful of minutes extended into an hour, then several hours, and before long I could remain inside without concern for either discomfort or pain. And to think, it hadn’t even taken the full two weeks.
Good job, Jonathan.
Since the servers weren’t live, everything had been done in a localized version, the boundless meadows I frequented cut off from the actual game itself. Both to get used to this new body and to test out the limitations of the simulation, I spent hours just running and rolling about in this little slice of heaven, and the growls of annoyance from before had turned steadily into chitters of cheer and excitement. The world was definitely a completely different place when your head only reached three feet from the ground, and although I was no larger than a child, I could scrape my fingers into the bark of great trees and climb as easily as one might breathe.
Even the loamy soil beneath me I had been so keen on resting upon could be tossed aside with little preamble. My fingers were slightly hooked near the tips, making for wicked natural weapons as well as all-purpose tools to shape and move along the world as my heart desired. I could even feel how little my muscles strained with the effort, could feel the roughened surface of my skin repel the nicks and dings that I might have felt with normal flesh. I felt powerful; I felt strong.
Though I wore no clothing, neither wind nor sun could harm me. Though I saw no enemy, I knew I could easily take on two of them, perhaps even more were they to be caught unawares. Aurora was not a game that utilized artificial values of Hit Points, but instead simulated injury and damage to the body as realistically as possible. I was nothing more than a mere goblin, but I could feel an overflow of confidence that wasn’t there for my previous avatar, and I began to wonder just why they had been considered nothing more than smallfries.
A quick check at my skill tree was all it took to remind me.
C0 Goblin C1 Goblin Strength Goblin Constitution Overflow Climbing, Digging, Foraging
Although I was plenty strong and had so much vigor, it seemed that was all I had going for me as a baseline goblin. The only skills I had equipped were racial traits, and the others I had access to—digging, climbing, and foraging—had only been gained through my continuous exploration. Compared to even fledgling Player Characters who had a small selection of initial skills to pick from, goblins seemed to have nothing to their name other than their bodies. Although I could definitely feel the raw potential waiting to be tapped, I had a feeling that this only allowed the AI to break even with a standard combat-type adventurer; if players ran across a standard, non-improved goblin, it likely wouldn’t take much to subdue it.
Another chittering laugh escaped from my tautly pulled lips all the same. The apple in my grip strained to keep its shape against even a modest amount of my strength, and juice had already started to ooze from between my fingers. So vibrant, so succulent, so… fragile. A light toss and the fruit found my waiting mouth, the sweetly flavored debris making a harsh sound as my teeth pierced what skin remained. Not even the core survived the onslaught, and I could only think of one word as that pulverized mush slid down my throat into the stomach waiting below:
Sublime.
[Everything running smoothly?]
Jonathan—my ever-present benefactor—asked while I casually butchered another fruit for the sake of unnecessary gluttony. Another soft chitter escaped from my throat at that, the sound twisting into a full-fledged, monstrous laugh before I grinned towards the omnipresent sentinel. “Good, very good!” Even dialogue had become fluid, albeit still in the goblin tongue. “It feels even better than before! Even better than the real world!”
My garbled words traveled far along the vacant meadow, not even an echo sounding out in complement. Although I’d taken Jonathan for granted in the beginning, he had been a tireless aide from the very start, easy to push around but even easier to come to like. According to him, he’d been assigned to help me specifically because of my harsh, grating nature, and it was rather surprising to find someone who managed not to provoke me. Perhaps it was directly tied to his docile mannerisms, perhaps it was the kinship born from love of the same game, but—even in the absence of those features—I would have still given up a kidney to the man who had made it possible for me to feel this again.
Silence reigned for several lingering moments—the standard procedure for when the two of us worked together—before yet another message presented itself.
[Don’t forget. Server starts in twenty minutes.]
Ah. Since I’d been wallowing in my bliss, I actually had forgotten about the server’s opening. The fact that I was already enjoying Aurora ahead of schedule had ensured it had flown my mind, and the differing time zones between the main branch and this one kept the specifics from registering regardless. Saliva began to dribble down to the grass in my anticipation, my beady little eyes squinting so tight in happiness that I could barely even see.
[Going to stay logged in? I can transfer you over to the main server immediately after it connects.]
Oh Jonathan. Sweet, sweet, Jonathan. Though I can understand exactly why you don’t have a girlfriend, I’m sure she would be more than satisfied if you did. A bout of chittering left me unable to actually vocalize my agreement with so grand an offer, and so I could only give a pronounced nod. Only my own vocalizations littered my senses now, and—with the fiery energy coursing through me—I began to scamper along the field towards the nearby forest. I flung myself bodily towards one of the trees and felt my clawed fingertips dig into the bark before I scratched my way upwards, traversing the wood like a fish did the sea, pushing myself higher and higher.
Although there was no true reason for me to seek out a higher vantage point—this small pocket world would disappear soon, after all—I wanted to all the same. I felt that need to see it all, and as the branches snapped and the green canopy parted for me above , I was able to peer out at the meadow from on high. Were there others nearby, the shading of my skin would have kept me largely camouflaged while my large, knife-pointed ears would have alerted me of any intruders in the underbrush below: the perfect setup for a predator to survey its potential prey. Yet more saliva dripped from my lips, and I was forced to lick up the involuntary spittle again and again as I mentally kept track of the remaining time.
Aurora…
The environment.
The monsters.
The combat.
I wanted it.
I needed it.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Faster, Jonathan! Faster!
Faster! Faster! Fast—
[You have been disconnected.]
The sight of lush green was suddenly replaced with the inky darkness. The small body I had grown to love—that physique, those eccentric automatic mannerisms—disappeared from my senses. I was nothing more than a consciousness floating in a void, detached from everything and allowed only to vaguely experience the passage of time.
A menu presented itself to me in my formless state, a regurgitated [We apologize, but there appears to be some technical difficulties] scrolling every so often with Aurora’s automated response. Under normal circumstances, it was at this menu where I would begrudgingly return to the real world, yet now I only waited with mounting impatience. By the time three of the messages had passed, I could feel my essence being tugged upon once again, the menu disappearing as my state was imposed upon. Like a fish snatched by the hook, I was dragged away from the ether to a place I could neither see nor feel, the sense of movement my only companion.
When next I opened my eyes, I was within the forest once more. This time, however, I was not alone, and everywhere I looked was a young goblin either milling about or scraping around in the dirt for edible plant life. Their skin was the same putrid green as my current own, their beady eyes gazing about with idle hunger and interest in the environment that they’d been settled in. Just as I’d considered, they all but ignored my presence the same as they ignored each other— save for a few notable exceptions—and I took the opportunity to wander off and away.
The goblins had a tendency to cluster together for the sake of increased survival, but I wasn’t interested in curling up inside a den and scrounging up mushrooms like the rest of them. Since the game had started fresh, none of the goblins had explicitly evolved yet, and so everything they did was rudimentary and unpolished; they were nothing more than a bunch of near-animals adhering to their instinctual hungers.
I, too, felt a powerful hunger deep inside, though this was distinctly separate from the goblin body I now inhabited. No, no, my true desire was something else entirely, something that needed to be sated now that I was no longer sequestered alone in a pocket world. A trail of saliva dribbled down to the forest floor as I walked, my eyes scanning the foliage with enough force to nearly draw tears. In all of the time that I’d spent in this form, I’d been able to feel its power and raw potential, but not once had I been able to test it.
And then I found what I was looking for: a forest boar.
The creature was certainly magnificent in its own manner, almost regal in its bearing as it, too, explored the woods for the sake of food. Its large body was nearly as tall as mine with considerable more bulk besides, and the sharply curved tusks erupting from the top of its mouth and snout gave off a wicked glint whenever it caught the light. Its own small eyes raised up from the earth to glance at me, sizing me up for several lingering moments before it casually shifted its posture and aligned for another direction; just as I saw the characteristics that made it so threatening, so too must it have seen mine.
Unlike it, however, I was not interested in pretending this meeting had not happened. There was certainly more than enough space in the forest for both goblins and boars to coexist without ever meeting each other or coming to blows, but finding this morsel had been the goal from the onset. I reached down, my fingers curling around a stone before I abruptly tossed it at the creature, intentionally causing it to land only a few centimeters to its side of its body. Its startled gaze returned to me, its hair bristling in agitated uncertainty while I myself could not help but reveal my sharpened teeth in a grin. When it turned back to continue on its way, I repeated the movement, and I even tossed a pebble directly at its face the next time it dared not to respond.
If I threw the stone with all of my might, it was likely I could have broken something, injured it to the point it would have no choice but to roll over and die at my leisure. But I wasn’t looking for prey, I was looking for a fight!
Another pebble, then another, and when I went to pick up the largest one yet in my quest to goad the beast into action, it finally complied. Its eyes narrowed, its hair fully on end, and before I’d even managed to release my hold on the rock, it was bearing down upon me like mother nature itself.
A sharp squeal announced its violent intent right before a thick smack announced contact. It was every bit as though I’d been hit by a truck, the beast’s snout nearly knocking me clear off my feet before it tilted its head and thrust at my stomach, intent on goring me from the very onset. Only my goblin constitution managed to save me on that initial encounter, and a sharp, fiery pain lanced through my body as I felt the tip penetrate my thick skin into the muscles of my stomach. It threatened to tear me open, to punish me for the misdeed of threatening it so wantonly, and my hands were forced to hold on to its snout and remaining tusks just to keep it from making good on its promise.
Adrenaline coursed through me along with the pain, red entering into my vision as syrup-thick blood drained from the wound over that diabolically sharp ivory. My breath lightened, every synapse screaming at me to fight, to struggle, to throw off this assailant. It urged me to panic, and I even began to lose vision from my body’s shock, but all that could be heard in my ears was the sharp chittering of my breathy, automated laughter; oh how I had missed this!
I willingly relinquished my stability and drew my legs upward, another inch of sharp pain announcing the tusk had pushed yet deeper within. Bile rose to my throat, but I forcibly swallowed it down and fought through the haze until I could feel my calves touch upon the boar’s hairs and my ankles found muscular flesh.
Of course, even if I put all of the weight of my small body upon the creature’s neck, it would only be a hindrance and nothing more right now. No, I used my legs to grip at its upper body, locking my ankles together to stabilize myself, to keep the boar from jerking free or causing any further damage with its tusks. My position further assured I wouldn’t be jarred off if I made use of my hands, and my palms roughly pulled free from the remaining tusks to push forward towards its face, their targets in clear view and thoroughly unprotected.
A low roar echoed along the trees as both of my sharpened thumbs pushed straight through my assailant’s eyes, the digits gouging out its sight with the same efficiency as they might the mushrooms they were designed to find. Another tusk pushed up against my skin threatening to join the first, but my lock kept me secured and my thick skin offered just enough deterrence to save me another hole. All the boar’s frantic movements did was ensure I was able to scrape out yet more of its flesh, twin streams of blood and viscera beginning to mat its snout and color my thighs to the sides.
I could feel my fingertips scratch against its skull from within right before the sensation of splintering wood presented itself to my backside. The boar had finally managed to push me up against an obstacle to force the full of its weight into my body, although now it was fighting not for its wrath, but for survival, all to the tune of my chittering laughter. It was giving its all now, its energy rising to the peak, its physique on proud display as its body recognized its plight. My body did likewise, and every inch seemed to be aflame with the harshness of the mistreatment. Yet still I released my sounds of glee, for while both of our bodies were giving their all, while both felt this to be their endings, there was not a question in my mind how this would conclude.
This was my win.
I loosened my grip on its body ever so slightly, giving it a moment of false reprieve before applying the full of my force. My legs tightened forcibly about its neck and shoulders before I twisted my upper body to the curvature of the tusk that had gored me, simultaneously pulling myself free and causing it to stagger with the sudden movement. My fingers finally withdrew from the now-empty sockets before pulling back to enclose around ivory and—with a sudden, audible snap—the creature’s head was turned in one direction while its body was pushed in the other.
My assailant collapsed to the ground in a heap, and I could do nothing but fall along with it. My chittering was marked by heavy breaths as I basked in that sensation of victory, a few coughs accompanying the celebration as bile once again rose to my mouth, this time without enough restraint to keep it down. My once plant-green body had been liberally inked in red, the grass stained with the remains of what might very well be Aurora’s very first casualty.
The adrenaline slowly began to fade, and with it the consequences of my actions asserted in full force. The wound on my stomach had already begun to clot, but my torn muscles had been pushed far beyond what they were ever meant to do. The sensation of approaching death’s door—even if illusory, even if just for a moment—had also taken its toll on me and left me shivering, yet I couldn’t even try to hide my grin all the same.
[Everything running well?]
It seemed as though Jonathan had been watching all along, too, and his question brought on another fit of laughter despite the pain it wrought. It was not merely “running well”, but it was magical. Flawless. The ideal recreation of life in a world far better. Every sensation felt just as true as any other, and I could only marvel in wonder at how far society had come to create something so grand as this. To Jonathan, I could only utter a breathless “Well enough”, but in my thoughts was another message entirely.
I was home once more.