CRUNCH, drag, shift, gurgling. All normal noises of the 2 smaller creatures are accompanied by a larger one as they patrol for food.
"I be hungry!" the rough and scratchy voice of the smaller creature causes groans from their companions.
"You be hungry all the time!" Stated a quicker, more feminine voice.
"Always hungry, I be." Half asked half stated in another calmer but gentler voice as the two small green-hued-skinned creatures turned and looked at the larger greyish-green-skinned ogre trailing behind them. "Ye gobs be looking tasty if not for your green juices." A disgusted face crosses the large rounded nose of the ogre.
"Keep looking, there gots to be more an just root foodstuff n there stone ruins." Says the scratchy-voiced goblin.
"Crash, I want meat too, but you knows if we taken more daylight than Breaker Bee has n his tummy then we mightn be his next meal." came the feminine-looking goblin.
The group looked half homeless and half starved with little to no muscles but enough to satisfy Breaker Bee if he got too hungry. With Crash, Breaker Bee, and their guide, the feminine goblin, the three were looking for food. In the pack on the ogre's back was full of purple fruit and orange roots. But nothing satisfied their stomachs better than meat, especially if they get the time to put it on a stick and hold it above a fire until the skin darkens, or the fur burns off. They didn't care where the meat came from, if they took too long, both Crash and the female goblin would turn into the meat meal of the ogre, and they both thought it while keeping an eye out for any aggressive movement by Breaker Bee.
Breaker Bee on the other hand was the most vegetarian you could get if you weren't an ogre and but a simple creature in the woods. He had often joked with the goblins about eating them but he knew he couldn't keep them in his belly, or even kill them as they were his best friends. He had been with Crash and the girl goblin for the past three days, and for all he could remember, that was the longest he had gone without accidentally killing someone by breaking their bones in one of his massive hugs when he gets excited. His recent accidental death by hug was enough to get him kicked out of the camp and put on permanent patrol. And today, Crash and his sister were the ones stuck with the ogre.
———
The pain returned. Eric felt the familiarity of the pain again as he strained to open his eyes. Fire, burning, and tearing pain moved through his body as each muscle twitched one last time before settling down. Seeing the light had faded, not knowing how long the days were, Eric stood slowly, bracing for more pain but instead feeling glad to know that after the last set of twitching, he was feeling ok.
Eric felt dread as he began to realize his mistakes. He walked into an unknown building, without pants, and only a dagger as a weapon. He then chose to … what choice did he make? He couldn’t remember as the dull vibrations of a headache were still present.
Opening his mouth he felt his lips on the verge of being chapped. He needed some water, and unless he was in a super immersive VR Full Dive game, he was in serious trouble based on the mistakes he’d made already.
Taking stock more carefully this time Eric surveyed the surrounding area without moving from the spot he had passed out. In the games he played he was always careful and explored, but today he not only chose not to to survive, but he got curious and didn’t think about his survival when he got to the surface.
He had to do better, and he would start now. At least that was what he was thinking as he began hearing voices in the distance, garbled and rough voices. Quickly guessing how far away the voices were, Eric was guessing he had two, or three individuals getting close to where he is now. Hiding was his best bet, as he didn’t want to get caught without pants. That would be worse than getting caught with his pants down.’
Pants, he still needed to find pants, but that could wait as he saw a large mushroom roll into view not even 40 feet away from him directly down the ruined road. Immediately following the mushroom was a large greyish-green creature with a large leather-like pack on its back. It reminded him of a troll or an ogre from some of the fantasy-based video games.
Taking a more curious look he watched the creature catch up to the mushroom, pick it up, and put it in the large pack on its back.
Lesser Ogre
Level 18
HP: Unknown
MP: Unknown
Stamina: Unknown
A Lesser Ogre! At least it should be lazy and stupid, but Eric couldn’t think about it much longer as the ogre was being chased by two other creatures, these Eric was able to recognize as soon as he saw them.
Weak Goblin
Warrior
Level 20
Weak Goblin
Scout
Level 20
Goblins, great, just his luck, they at least had pants, but not anything else, except for one, which looked like it had a hide wrapped around its upper torso, a female goblin?
“Oh look! I sees a hoomen!” The ogre bellowed loudly as it was looking straight at Eric and pointing, excitedly.
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Eric didn’t wait, his instincts were screaming to run, but he wanted to fight, but not against an ogre. Was this a game, could he respawn, or would his life be over with?
He didn’t have time to think about it when he realized he dropped the dagger at his feet with blood dripping on it.
In a flash, Eric recalled what happened while he was frozen in thought. The goblin scout grabbed a small object from a pouch at her waist and put it in the middle of a leather strip then started spinning it. The sling then was released sending the object to Eric and hitting him on his shoulder, causing him to drop the dagger and come back to reality.
“Get em!” Screamed the goblin warrior as he and the scout started rushing to him. The ogre looked between the two goblins and the human before sighing and starting his jog toward the human, grabbing up a large branch and freeing it from the tree in a single movement that caused a large cracking noise.
“Nope!” Eric picked up the dagger with his left hand and rushed between the buildings to his right, the marble terminal building and a ruined wooden house-like building. Running barefoot was not his choice but he didn’t have an option as he was again running for his life.
“Oh nooss he gots way from us!” Eric was able to hear the ogre say as another object flew past and hit the ground in front of him. He was being shot at again by the scout and he had to get away from them. Goblins were always the start enemy and if you weren’t prepared even for them you wouldn’t survive. And the worst part, Eric was only level 1 and those two goblins were both level 20, with the ogre being a level 18, and a Lesser one, didn’t help Eric’s situation.
Taking a look into this inventory quickly, Eric still had the empty bottle from the sewer, so at best he had an improvised ranged object, but it wouldn’t do more than annoy them, right?
Grabbing the bottle and turning quickly, Eric smashed it against the ground and kept running. He hoped that they were also barefoot, or at least lightly covered their feet and the broken glass should slow their progress as they went through it or around it.
“Ouchie! My toes hurt!” The ogre was the only one to step on the glass and way too quickly for Eric’s safety, but it slowed them down as he glanced over his shoulder and saw all 3 of the creatures stopped at the broken glass and the ogre blocking the path for the other two.
“Bee, get out of us way, we can eats him, meat! I WANT MEAT!” said the goblin warrior, causing Eric’s stomach to twist. Vomiting was not the option he would have picked but stopping cold and vomiting was exactly what Eric did when he heard that they wanted to eat him.
His luck wasn’t working very well today, first, a crocodile, and now some goblins and an ogre were chasing him to eat him. Picking up the chase again, Eric heard the footsteps get closer as he looked up and around him. He wasn’t going to get very far unless he could hide, or could run faster, and from what he saw so far, they ran faster than him. Eric gathered his strength and sprinted toward the right down an alleyway-like area between the backs of the ruined buildings.
“He’s gettings away from us!” the female goblin scout shouted as Eric disappeared from their sight. Still running, Eric looked behind him again quickly not seeing them chasing after him. That didn’t stop him from running, and running.
———
“Oh he gots way..” Said Breaker Bee, half seriously to the goblins as he was watching them pick the last of the glass out of his large feet.
“All you fault!” the Crash said as he grabbed the last piece of glass and threw it to the ground.
“I hit him on the arm, I think” Crash’s sister said as she was looking at the ground trying to find a blood trail.
“Can we follow?” Crash asks as he glares at their ogre companion.
“No, I don’t see any blood, and I not good at tracking, only scouting”
“Phsss, you no good as a hunter my sister.” Crash said as he saw a few fruits hanging but head level near their ogre friend.
“Bee, grab those fruits, at least we got some mo food for tonight, we can get meat morrow!”
———
Running until his feet felt raw, Eric only made it another few hundred feet before he ran straight into a small stream of ice-cold water. The stinging pain of multiple small cuts on the bottom of his feet was screaming in agony as the cold water washed away the dirt.
Taking his hands and scooping the water up, Eric brought it to his face over and over again until he felt as if he filled his belly with only water.
Crossing the stream and sitting on a small moss-covered rock, Eric took a breath and looked up at the sky, seeing light nearly gone and the sun setting in the distance, Eric knew his chances of survival were only going down. Now that the sun was setting, he had to find a way to stay safe tonight and rest for more running tomorrow.
“At least I am alive,” Eric said to himself as he laid back and rested for a bit. The sounds of the wind were in his ears as the water of the stream continued to run across his feet. This moment was the second time he found a break after being chased for his life. Unlike last time, he didn’t kill what was chasing him and he was getting hungry. He needed to eat, but at least he found water. And after sunrise, Eric was thinking of his plan.
“At sunrise, I’ll follow the stream away from those goblins and that ogre.” It wasn’t much comfort but he knew he had a plan to at least try to survive. Even if it was basic, it wasn’t nothing.
Remembering the interface showing him information about the creatures Eric was looking at a tree in the distance and wondering what it was as a small squirrel-like creature was jumping between branches.
Looking right at him, the glowing green eyes reminded Eric of the crocodile and its glowing green eyes.
“Great!” Eric said as he had just enough time to grab the dagger in his left hand as the squirrel jumped towards him landing only a few feet away. “This is not my day,” Eric said to himself, causing the squirrel to turn its head to the side before opening its mouth and screeching at him.
As if on queue, the interface came alive, providing Eric with more information about this creature.
Weak Squirrel
Level 5
HP: 24
Squirrels are simple creatures eating whatever is unlucky enough to enter their sights. Fruit, nuts, or meat, all are equal to sustain the creature.
Eric stood up quickly and yelled at the squirrel, as it had to scare it right?
“AHHHH” was all he got as he coughed and the squirrel lunged at him.
Scratching at Eric’s feet, the squirrel’s claws dug in as it climbed up Eric and bit his left arm as he was trying to swat the creature away.
“Ofph, get off of me you tiny cursed thing!”
Taking the chance of the squirrel being distracted, Eric stabbed at the squirrel and stabbed and stabbed. Taking 6 stabs into the body before he realized the squirrel had died and witnessed the green glow fade into Eric’s dagger then fading completely.
Chaotic mana discovered. You have converted the mana into growth naturally. This growth can be used to progress towards power or recover from injuries.
The amount of chaotic mana absorbed was of Nature and will be more attuned to creatures of Nature, healing, and growth.
Eric felt a rush of cooling and energy flow through him as he felt refreshed and stronger.
You have leveled up!
You are now level 2.
Due to the type of mana absorbed, you were healed before converting mana to growth.
Well, no ding noise, but the message from the interface was still a welcome sight. He leveled up and got healed by the strange green glowing mana that he absorbed. At least now he knows that green would be Nature Mana and he would be able to at least heal some of the damage he got from any fights if he absorbed it.
Looking at his arm, he saw no wounds, not even a scare, but his blood was slowly drying and the squirrel was limp on the ground. At least tonight he would have dinner, and unlike the goblins and the ogre, he had meat!