The feeling of a calm warmth enveloping my body washed over me as I stepped into the bright white gateway. My eyes were still closed but from smell alone I could tell I had really been transported elsewhere. The scent of my kin was absent in the surrounding air. My eyes peeled open, allowing me to examine my new surroundings with my sight. What I saw left me astonished, the room I was in was completely unlike the den I had spent my whole imp life.
I first noticed the room was well-lit, disgustingly so. Spending so long inside a dimly lit cave made everything else seemed too bright in comparison. White tiles with very dark grout in-between them covered the floor while the walls and ceiling were completely white. It was like I was inside a scientific testing room you’d see in a movie. There were no windows, no hatch and definitely no doors. The room itself was absolutely empty except for a table with an orb on top of it.
Silent whispers of curiosity called out to me from the orb but for once I decided to think first before acting. Without the imps and the caretakers around I didn’t have the pressure to act instinctively anymore. The innocuous and quiet room also served to help calm my nerves. Having the ability to assess the situation was great but ultimately there was only one thing to do inside this room. An almost omniscient feeling bubbled inside me, telling me what I was supposed to do and I decided to follow it.
I hovered over the table and looked at the small blue orb, it looked like the one the caretaker had used earlier. Hesitantly extending my hand, I reached out and palmed the orb. Not even a second later a beam of dark light shot straight out of the orb and collided into the wall in front of me. The black light poured onto the wall like a fluid, slowly coating the wall with a layer of darkness. I stared questioningly at the wall as small white lines began to appear on it. The lines began to form symbols I couldn’t understand but as soon as the image neared completion I understood. It wasn’t in english but I knew what the words and numbers meant upon first glance. It was a status window.
STATUS WINDOW Name: ——— Level: First Level Neophyte Experience: 0 / 50 Race: Goblinoid Class: Imp - Strength: 2 Spirit: 2 Constitution: 2 Wisdom: 2 Dexterity: 7 Luck: 10 Unallocated Stat Points: 0
So many questions appeared in my head immediately. Was this my status window? Why did it so closely resemble something I’d see in a video game back on Earth? Did this mean I could level up? I quickly figured the window was likely mine. I was an imp and there was a lot more dexterity than any other stat other than luck. If that meant I was abnormally fast but weak in every other metric then it would make sense it was my window.
I had no idea why I was shown my parameters in this way though. The status window wasn’t copied from any video game I had ever played but I couldn’t rule out it looked like that because of my memories. All six of the stats on the chart appeared in games I’ve played, just not in this configuration. After some deliberation I decided it had probably always been like that. A chart evaluating someones stats with numbers was a rather simple concept. Hopefully the RPG game mechanics I knew would still transfer over well to this world.
From previous game knowledge I knew as long as I raised my experience my level would increase. I didn’t know what ‘First Level Neophyte’ meant but I was sure it represented what level I was. I also wasn’t sure what would happen when I did raise my level but I had no way to know until I could find my way out of the room. As soon as my hand left the orb the symbols on the wall began to take new form.
EVOLUTION WINDOW You’ve unlocked the requirement to evolve into a goblin. You have reached the end of the maturation period for an imp. You’ve been alive for 237 days and have 20 days left to live before you die of old age. Would you like to evolve right now? This change is irreversible.
[Y / N]
The new markings communicated a much more straightforward message. As I parsed through it my lazy looking eyes stretched wide open. Apparently I had been alive for the better part of a whole year even though I had only lived through a hundred cycles at most. That had to have meant I slept for more than one day on multiple occasions. But what really took me by surprise was I had only 20 more days left to live. I felt like I was in top form and not at all like an old man past his prime. I was skeptical about the message’s accuracy but I had no reason to test out if I really had 20 days to live as an imp. If this evolution meant what I thought it did, there was no reason not to take it. I mentally decided to take my evolution and the orb immediately reacted to my decision.
Another beam of light shot out of the orb and hit me like a brick wall, knocking me unconscious. In my blackout I had a short dream recapping my life as an imp. Admittedly there wasn’t much to see, if I wasn’t eating food I was either competing for it, sleeping o grooming myself. Before I knew it my dream was over and when I awoke my body felt sore. I moved to message my arm and noticed my body had changed. My previously thin arms and legs were much more beefier. My eyes slowly panned over to the desk with the orb and I realized it was twice as small as before. I knew the desk hadn’t actually shrunk, I had evolved. If I was two feet tall before, I was now four feet. When I looked back up the blackened wall had a plethora of new information on it.
EVOLUTION WINDOW Congratulations, you have evolved into a goblin of the horde variant! All goblins have very low base stats of 10 points but have an unusually high amount of luck. Horde goblins are often warned about lone goblins.
Unlike when they were imps, Horde Goblins have to forage for their own food. Too weak to do so on their own, they form groups to take down the bigger pray that usually live in the forest. These goblins have a very low rate of survival, most die before they even reach their next evolution stage. Since they die so often goblins usually have no claim to any material possessions and anything they find belongs to their horde. That isn’t to say they go uncompensated, they gain prestige within their horde equal in value to what they bring back. Few goblins actually raise in status before they die.
Lone Goblins won’t have an issue surviving with these low stats. Having survived the imp maturation period by their lonesome, these goblins are dangerously resourceful and much stronger than their horde counterparts. Since only a minuscule amount of imps survive their first month alone, the amount that survive through the whole maturation period is almost non-existent.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Next Evolution: Hob-Goblin Strength: +10 Spirit: +10 Constitution: +10 Wisdom: +10 Dexterity: +10 Luck: +30 Unallocated Stat Points: +10 You have learned the Goblinese, the goblin language! You can now speak to other goblinoids.
I slowly took in the new information I was given. My new evolution had made me stronger in all areas and I learned a new language. However, this now meant I had to use these tools to forage for my own food instead of being catered to. This was a scary thought, goblins apparently needed to hunt in groups to take down “bigger pray”. I didn’t even know what the outside world looked like but if goblins and imps were real I didn’t want to get to know the bigger prey. I placed my palm back on the orb to get a read of my status window hoping my new, higher stats would give me some sense of security.
STATUS WINDOW Name: ——— Level: First Level Neophyte Experience: 0 / 50 Race: Goblinoid Class: Horde Goblin Strength: 12 Spirit: 12 Constitution: 12 Wisdom: 12 Dexterity: 17 Luck: 40 Unallocated Stat Points: 10
Even though most of my stats were six times larger than what they were before I didn’t feel particularly safe. They all still felt low, except for my luck stat but that didn’t seem like a stat I could rely on to save me. I also had ten unallocated stat points and I had no idea what to do with them. I vaguely had an idea of what spirit and wisdom were but I wasn’t going increase them. The luck stat seemed high enough already and it wasn’t a reliable stat in the first place so that wasn’t an option. Strength and constitution seemed like safe bets but I could only put five in each if I wanted to raise them evenly. Conversely I could put all ten into one or use an uneven configuration but that didn’t seem like an efficient use of my ten points. The only distribution that made sense to me was to dump all the points into my dexterity.
From every game I’ve ever played that allowed me to allocate stats, specializing was always more beneficial than being a jack of all trades. I already had natural dexterity but now I’d be much faster than the average goblin around my level. If someone, or something was somehow faster than me then it wouldn’t have mattered if I had dumped my points elsewhere. I wasn’t sure how much faster each point would make me but fighting someone with 40 or more dexterity versus my original 17 didn’t seem agreeable to me. With 27 at least I’d have a better chance to escape if it came down to it. In any other situation where I had the speed advantage I would be in control. All in all, it seemed like a solid choice.
After confirming my decision internally a white light enveloped me for the better part of thirty seconds before slowly fading away. I couldn’t tell what difference it had made to my body but I knew my points had been spent. Allocation of stat points were likely irreversible as well but I had no intention of saving them until I had a better idea of what to spend it on. I only had been able to see my status window inside this little room and I had no clue when I’d come back. It was better to have ten points spent poorly than to die with them saved. I checked the wall again to see my new stats.
STAT BONUS UNLOCKED Congratulations, you have spent 10 points in dexterity! You’ve gained Dexterity Boost I.
+5 Dexterity STATUS WINDOW Name: ——— Level: First Level Neophyte Experience: 0 / 50 Race: Goblinoid Class: Horde Goblin Strength: 12 Spirit: 12 Constitution: 12 Wisdom: 12 Dexterity: 32 Luck: 40 Unallocated Stat Points: 0
My eyes lit up upon reading the stat bonus and any doubts I had about my stat expenditure was replaced with a feeling of validation. Spending all ten unallocated stat points in one spot got me an extra five which meant I could probably get that boost for my other stats as well. However I still wasn’t sure how much each point was worth so I would have to wait to see if it was worth it.
Finally finished I raised my hand off of the orb one final time. The white lines on the blackened wall converged into one point and formed a bright white door almost identical to the one I walked into to get here. The only difference was it was a bit bigger, which was a good thing since I was now four feet tall, not two. Having no further business in the room I didn’t hesitate to quickly jump into the portal. Even though I was both anxious and insecure about my new goblin life, there was a larger, more pronounced feeling of excitement bubbling within me.