I was wrong! Life could in fact be made worse for me than my previous existence! Thanks Death!

Glaring at the pop up, I swiped at it trying to dismiss it. The pop up box simply slid out of the way before settling back into place, unbothered and unperturbed.

Despite what many people would probably consider a dream come true, I was never really someone who thought being in a video game world was a good idea.

As messy and unsatisfying a “normal” reality is, at least I don’t have to worry about system limitations preventing me from doing something simple like say, cooking or throwing a rock because I don’t have that skill or something.

Game Systems are a restriction by their very nature, and while in the context of a video game that’s not too bad, but when imposed on reality is where the restrictions can become obvious and egregious.

Turning my attention back to the pop up box, this time I tried dismissing it mentally. That as well did absolutely nothing.

Growling in annoyance I concentrated my will and tried to spike the screen with my mind. Honestly probably overkill but I was annoyed.

-15 Mana

Floated out of the corner of my eye pulling from a well I had no way of seeing.

The pop up box shattered.

New Skill Earned!

And was immediately replaced by a new pop up. This one even larger and even more vision obscuring.

New Skill Earned!

By focusing your mind, you have forged your will into a tangible weapon, and have subsequently unlocked Mana Manipulation!

Magic is now just out of your reach!

+5 Intelligence

+2 Wisdom

-1 Ignorance

+1 Insight

Great. Stats. One can only hope that they’re the words on a paper kind of stats. And not the physical and mentally restricting kind of stats.

But I didn’t have any sort of faith in my having that kind of luck.

Focusing again I tried spiking this screen like the last, only for the screen to fucking juke out of the way!

Narrowing my eyes in anger I lashed out over and over again at the pop up box with my mind. Each mental blast, accompanied by a flash of minus fifteen mana.

Not that I really noticed or cared, and was evaded every time for my hubris. I swear that damn box was even taunting me! Dancing back and forth with little jiggles of laughter as I failed for the fifth time in a row to shatter it from existence.

Hearing a crackling noise behind me, I was distracted from my attempts at arca-archacide. Which I guess was the right thing to do considering the second I stopped paying attention to the box it popped away like a particularly annoying soap bubble.

Facing that wall I crawled out of my coffin from, I was surprised not to find rows upon rows of graves kinda like I half expected. What I found instead were eggs. Stacks upon stacks of eggs, all interlocking together and held in place by a putrid looking ooze acting as the mortar.

And there about halfway up was one lone egg, its center punched out. My egg presumably.

Radiating out all around my egg the other eggs imprisoned on the wall all started shaking and cracking. All the way down to the floor and up to the ceiling the eggs all began to punch out as their occupants clawed and battered their way to their freedom.

The top most rows immediately fell to their deaths.

They were ugly little blighters, and I guess so was I, all long gangly twisted limbs and large misshapen heads or torsos…

Well at least the ones who fell to their deaths were, no clue about the living ones though I was sure that it was probably the same.

Our blood was weird though black and tar-like (though that could have just been a trick of this weird dark vision I was currently using) the blood didn’t flow out like any liquid I’d ever seen and instead sloshed around like a particularly viscous puddle of sewage.

Standing well back from the impact zone, I wondered if any of them were smart enough to stop and prevent themselves from tumbling to their own execution or if they were too blinded by their panic and need to escape like I had been.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Reaching down (and hoping I wasn’t about to lock myself out of any useful skill trees and paths) I picked up a small handful of pebbles and began tossing them at my higher up kin before they could fling themselves out of their eggs.

Through Your Repeated Actions You Have Gained The Skill:

Throwing

Congratulations

+1 Strength

+2 Agility

+1 Intelligence

It rarely worked but the two or three here and there I managed to stop from flinging themselves to their deaths did feel rather good on my consciousness. Not that I particularly cared actually, which felt odd, even for me.

Living a life like I previously had did not do wonders for one’s empathy.

It’s hard to have empathy for someone for very long when one of you is probably going to be dead one week to the next. Not after years and years of having one roommate after another either die or get moved out of your room because they’ve recovered, while you were just left perpetually stuck in limbo.

By now most of the eggs were empty, one or two here and there still shook back and forth as their occupant struggled to free themselves, others were strangely quiet. Their occupants either having given up or perished.

Looking up at the still occupied eggs, the ones in the higher eggs were hanging out of their openings looking concerned.

Rolling my eyes, I quickly scaled my way up to the level of the highest hatchling, climbed into one of the vacated eggs, and then peaked out to make sure the others were watching me. They were, turning around, I slipped out of the egg, and began the process of climbing back down.

Ping!

A happy little jingle came as another pop up box exploded into my face, almost causing me to lose my grip on the stone like eggs. The fall by now wouldn’t have been lethal, though it would have no doubt hurt.

Congratulations!

Your repeated actions have gained you:

+2 Agility

Endeavour to be More!

Shaking my head, I ignored the pop up, turning my attention back to finishing my climb down, only taking a moment to give a quick glance up to ensure that the trapped hatchlings were following my lead down.

They were, though it appeared that at least one or two had tried to rush things and had fallen to their deaths as a result.

I was just glad none had been directly above me or they might have taken me with them.

Hearing what could only be a giggle, I was surprised when one of the formerly trapped hatchlings shot past me, only to jink one of the opening handholds, as they fly past and somehow end up shooting themself high up into the air, only to do it again and again.

It was cute and reminded me of an actual monkey. I decided from then on that’s what I’d refer to him as. It was a cute enough name, and supposedly pretty common for a nickname… apparently.

Ignoring Monkey and his antics (which incidentally resulted in at least one hatchling plummeting to its death in a moronic attempt to copy the agile hatchling, I had serious doubts the fool would have lasted much longer anyway, he had that look about him) I instead focused on making my way down.

Let the fools and unwise sign their own fates, for me? I’d rather survive.

Finally earth bound again, I was just in time for a loud ruckus to break out as an other joined the conglomeration.

They weren’t one of the hatchlings, that much was obvious. They had this obvious “More Developedness” about them. Unlike the other hatchlings (or myself when I stopped to think about it) this intruder had a much more balanced body and lacked the stick bug and pug hybrid look or the moldy potato fused with gollum look most of us had.

Who or whatever they were, they brought food with them which was the reason for the other

hatchlings going insane.

And it wasn’t until the smell of fresh red meat and blood hit my nose that I realized I was starving.

Hunger consumed my mind, and next thing I knew I was amongst the fray, scrambling and fighting just to get a scrap of food into my starving stomach.

And when I did? Oh was it glorious, the taste of flesh on my lips, fresh and raw was sweeter than sugar and more filling than a feast.

Warning!

It was a mistake.

Warning!

You have consumed tainted flesh!

Darkness and Corruption fills your veins

-25 Humanity

+5 Corruption

Darkness Alignment Gained

Creatures of the Light are more aware of your presence

Spitting out the tainted flesh, I already knew it way too late. I could literally feel the darkness flowing into my veins, disgusting and pervasive, the darkness through my flesh like a tidal wave of maggots.

It was addicting.

Due to the shock, and warning from the system I was the only one of a few of the hatchlings who were looking up in time to see that our feast for the trap it was.

In an instance, the larger other yanked a cord at his feet, causing the floor to sweep up and collapse onto us.

It was a clever trap, all of us too inexperienced, and too mindless in our ravenous hunger to worry or question why the stone of the floor had rapidly transformed to the itchy roughness of roughspun ropes.

Crying out in surprise and anger, myself and the other hatchlings were abruptly crushed into a loose ball as the net-sack abruptly slammed around us.

Whistling happily the other dragged us along the ground of the cave, uncaring or at least indifferent to our cries of anger and dissatisfaction at our treatment, as we were slowly dragged across the floor of the cavern, with me stuck at the bottom of that oh so lovely little pile.

I was at least in a prime position to grab a nice sized rock and use the slow grind of our journey to slowly whittle a somewhat useful edge onto my chosen stone.

The same said slow grinding of my own flesh, thankfully didn’t actually seem to be doing much, either my new body’s regeneration was a lot better than what I was expecting, the net was doing more to shield me from the rough stone beneath me, or both.

After what felt like hours there was finally a change in the environment as my eyes beheld for the first time what could only be the burning scalding visage of sunlight.

And oh how it burned, searing my retinas and skin as I was dragged from the darkness I had been reborn too.

When my vision finally cleared, it was to reveal my greatest fear, both of my situation and new species.

In the sunlight, outside of the cave of my birth was a village.

A Goblin Village.

And judging by my skin color which I could now finally see.

I WAS A FUCKING GOBLIN

Fuck I was so screwed.

As I saw it there was only one of two ways this could go.

Either I was now a cannon fodder trash mob, placed in the world for some easy farmable EXP.

OR

I was a blight on the world and scurge of all sentient races, doomed to be hunted down and exterminated by a crazy quasi hobo, who just so happened to be the fantasy equivalent of the fucking Doom Guy.

Because judging by that oh so lovely Darkness Alignment, Corruption increase, and overall loss of humanity I was tricked into getting, I wasn’t a member of the happy, helpful, and ugly ass goblins of folklore.

Being slowly dragged into that village felt like a death sentence, and hell it probably was.

The village wasn’t… terrible… looking. And did actually seem to be built with some amount of competency. It still looked like a ramshackle collection of buildings held together more by hopes and dreams than any sort of structural understanding.

Most of the residences either wore filthy looking loincloths, or on the rare occasion rotten leathers, and all of them to a one were male. Something told me I was soon to regret being reborn as a female far more than the awkwardness of being male would have caused me.

My new species was actually kind of cute? The babies/children (of which I was one) were ugly a sin and by god did the sunlight not help that fact. Either gross little grey skinned potato Gollum hybrids, or the classic goblin green fusion of a stick bug and wall eyed pug.

Not exactly great looking but then again most monster species didn’t have great looking kids.

The adults on the other hand looked kind of like a halfway fusion of Styx from the horrible stealth stabber, and the Goblins from Pathfinder!

Large express eyes, big floppy yet oddly dexterous ears, and nicely balanced bodies.

From what I could see anyway.

After what felt like an eternity of being jostled about and dragged across the floor in a gross feeling pile of bodies, the other (whom I now knew to be a slightly older goblin) finally dragged us onto a wooden stage, and produced a small knife from under his loincloth (gross), and cut us loose.

I of course was still stuck at the bottom of the pile.