Etera, a world much like Earth, is in the era of electricity and technological advancement. There exist 4 continents on Etera. One ice continent is located in the south while the other three continents are closer to the equator.
Today was like any other day. People transit from place to place and continue with their daily lives. Unbeknownst to them, however, their world is changing right under their nose. Etera is undergoing a massive change. It has finally aged enough to produce mana after a few billion years. Slowly but surely, mana starts to creep its way onto the surface of Etera.
Due to the presence of mana, albeit small, one higher being begins to notice the existence of Etera. Unfortunately, this higher being is well known to enjoy chaos, and thus he opened portals to Etera. From these portals appear creatures that were thought to exist only in fantasy.
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Rin opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling for a minute or two, giving himself a bit of time for his lingering drowsiness to fade away. He decided to sleep in as a reward for working hard this past week.
Rin works at a small family restaurant. Besides the owner who works as the chef and his wife who works the cash register, he is the only employee there so the pay is decent but the hours are eternal. It was relaxing at first but the restaurant gained popularity over time and thus became busier.
Rin resides in the countryside, Virllam. It has vast land and thrives on agriculture. A town is built at the center where most of the residents congregate while the rest of the rural area is inhabited by farmers. Rin lives on the outskirts of this town where not many people live, which is perfect for his preferred quiet life.
Rin grabs his phone to check the time: it’s 12 in the afternoon. He gets up and walks into the bathroom. Rin’s house is pretty small. His bathroom is located across the bedroom and he only has a small kitchen and living room but the space is more than enough for him.
Rin stares at the mirror as he brushes his teeth. The mirror reflects a 22-year-old man with brown eyes and black hair. The length of his hair reaches his shoulders and hides his ears. He is about 1.75 meters tall (or 5' 9"). He wears a black jogger and a red shirt decorated with a random cartoon character.
He ties the back strands of his hair into a ponytail, revealing his left ear, before making his way into the kitchen.
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Rin takes out a frozen pack of beef and a combination of vegetables from his fridge. He plans to cook some stir fry and begins his preparation. 5 minutes into his preparation as he was chopping vegetables, however, he heard a loud shatter from the direction of his living room.
He turns his head and is stunned at the confusing sight before him. What stands right outside his window is a green child-sized humanoid. This green humanoid has elongated chin, nose, and ears and is holding a wooden club. He is wearing nothing but a cloth that covers his private part and a pair of sandals that seem to be made of leather. It looks just like a certain fantasy creature: the goblin.
The 1-meter tall goblin invites himself into the house through the window that he had just broken. The goblin stares at Rin and licks his lips. He can already taste the human flesh, like livestock ready to be feasted.
‘What on Etera is that??’
While Rin is still processing what had just occurred, the goblin charges at him with the wooden club in his right hand and swings it at Rin. Rin snapped out of his daze and panicked. He raised his left hand to block the wooden club.
To his surprise, the club has more impact than he thought even though the goblin was only around half his height. His left arm has become injured. It wasn’t anything serious but the pain and numbness prevents him from using it efficiently.
The goblin becomes happier when his attack connected. He swings his club once more at the human. This time Rin steps back and the club only manages to hit empty air. This irritated the goblin.
The goblin scowls. ‘How dare he dodge my attack! This greenhorn should just stay still and let me hit him!’ The goblin himself does not have much fighting experience but it was enough for him to see that Rin has never fought before.
The goblin screams and prepares another attack on Rin. The goblin’s hand motions behind him. He plans to go with a wider attack for more momentum.
Rin is still surprised by the earlier initiative and fear is gripping his body. It’s his first time in a life or death situation and he is frozen stiff. It also doesn’t help that the goblin’s scream reveals his resolve to kill him, amplifying the fear holding onto him.
When Rin saw the goblin motion for a big swing and aiming for his head, he knew he had to dodge it or else the goblin would knock him out. Rin internally screams at his body with every fiber of his being to move out of the club’s range.
He avoided the attack but it still managed to graze his face. He would have fallen if it wasn’t for the wall that thankfully held his back.
The goblin left a wide opening after that attack, so Rin saw an opportunity. He had almost forgotten about the knife he was holding to cut vegetables because of the rude guest. Gripping the knife tightly in his right hand, he strikes the goblin and pierces his throat.
Rin releases the knife and backs away against the wall. He has never killed anything before so the feeling of pushing a knife into living flesh felt all too surreal.
The goblin is struggling on the floor trying his best to pull out the knife as blood gushes out from his throat but the pain is too much for him to gather enough strength.
As the adrenaline declines, Rin becomes light-headed at the sight of blood that paints the floor. He mostly deals with grocery meat so this is his first time seeing so much blood in one place. After a few moments, the goblin finally dies and Rin is given another surprise when white floating words suddenly appear in front of him.
[Tier 1 goblin has been slain]
[Scanning body… pulling out status page]