“Technology failed us in our hour of need- in the end it may have been our overreliance on it that led to our downfall”

-Trevor Polsey, Interview for “Nexus”

Levi woke to the smell of smoke.

“Mmmm... breakfast is burning Mum...” He muttered, absently. “Your cooking is always a disaster-”

He remembered where he was and his eyes snapped open, sitting up like he was shocked again by Professor Landry.

The smoke reached his nostrils again and he coughed, crinkling his nose and turning away as the smoke stung his eyes. When he turned back, he surveyed the view before him.

Levi first noticed that the light pollution shield was gone- its flickering yellow hexagons nowhere to be seen as he looked over the scene in front of him.

What once looked over the open grass over the university garden now looked over stout oak trees looking like the ancient torches that we humans used to use as a light source before the invention of sustainable plasma-based lights.

As he watched, a small group of green figures marched across the grass, they had large, pointed ears, leathery green skin, and were around the size of a young child.

Were those- Goblins?

The “goblins” were holding wickedly sharp onyx black weapons, obsidian if he had to guess. While archaic and made of physical material rather than energy, they would definitely cut. While archaic and made of physical material rather than energy, they would definitely cut through flesh.

This was proven when the monsters spotted a student hiding in a nearby bush. They turned their heads in eerie unison, all of them grinning with yellow, jagged teeth- then they pounced, and screams filled the smoky air.

The student had tried to run initially, but 2 goblins out of the 5 had jumped far enough to sink their weapons into the student’s legs. The victim of the goblins let out a wail of agony which persisted until it cut off with a gasp as another goblin sunk its obsidian blade into their back.

Levi had turned away and felt like he needed to puke all over again and really thought he would before another series of blue letters appeared in his vision

Starting skill gained: [Identify]

Know your enemy- know everything.

Allows the user to gain information upon cast about a subject. The amount of information given on a subject is based on this skill’s level. Information on the user is not limited by level.

Auto identify criteria can be set by the user.

Immediately his vision was accosted by hundreds of blue words appearing wherever he looked. Dozens of screens hovering over everything even remotely considered a subject by whatever these blue words were.

[Oak Tree]

State: [damaged: Fire]

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

[Concrete wall]

State: [pristine]

[Smoke]

[Skill level or perception too low to identify]

[Air]

[Skill level or perception too low to identify]

Through the overwhelming blue, Levi remembered the last line of the blue text

Auto Identify criteria can be set by the user

On a whim he said, aloud:

“Set identify criteria to... I don't know- things I haven’t seen before”

Immediately all but a few of the words disappeared, the only ones that were left floating above the heads of the goblins in the courtyard.

Goblin [1]

Goblin [1]

Goblin [2]

Well- that confirmed they were goblins then. He thought, if I'm going by RPG logic, then the number must be their level.

The 3 goblins were all still gathered around the student’s body, the level 2 goblin pulling its weapon from the corpse, and it giggled when it finally pulled it out, a river of blood and a snapping sound of what had to be a part of the spine- it giggled. They sounded like every horror movie villain ever, their laugh high and maniacal.

A shudder ran down Levi’s own spine, every part of him revolting as he tried to claw his view away from the goblins as they began to take turns chopping at the corpse’s limbs.

Levi felt fear, disgust, and surprisingly- a kindling of rage, these creatures had no right to kill innocent people. He wanted to stop them, to run them through with their own weapon- but the rational part of his brain, the one that sent spikes of fear into his heart, stopped him.

They have weapons, and you are just an 18-year-old university student, what can you do?

He gritted his teeth, balling his fists and staring daggers at the goblins.

Nothing, you can do nothing- so why try? Save yourself you idiot.

Said a little voice in his head.

They’re going to kill you too if you don't run away

A pang of guilt gripped his heart at the thoughts- that he was actually considering just leaving the goblins to kill who knows how many more people.

A gray blur in his peripheral caught his eye and his eyes flicked to another student, hiding behind the trunk of a tree in the fetal position. From this distance he couldn’t make out details other than a mop of black hair, the student seemed to be hyperventilating.

His heart sinking, Levi watched as the goblins seemed to notice the student as well

No- No-no...

Levi thought, watching the triplet of goblins lumber towards the tree the student was behind, weapons ready.

He never thought of himself as the heroic type, but he couldn't just stand around and watch this student die. Steeling his resolve, he decided to act.

There was another tree within jumping distance of the roof he was on. Without hesitation but with a whole lot of adrenaline he jumped, grabbing hold of a branch, hanging for a second before dropping to a lower branch. He repeated this process until he was on the ground, which only took 10 seconds but still was too slow for his liking.

Landing only a bit awkwardly he spotted the goblins, giggling their horror movie esque laugh, teeth bared, slowly surrounding the tree. By now the student had been aware enough to climb up said tree

He dashed towards them,

Levi did the only thing that came to mind, picking up a rock, and throwing it directly at the nearest goblin. The garden wasn’t big, it was roughly half the size of baseball field, square, and surrounded by dorm buildings on all sides, so he was only a few meters away from the goblins, thus his stone would make it to the goblins given the force he threw it with- the issue however was his aim.

The stone landed a few feet shy of the level 2 goblin, which was currently trying to get a good grip to climb the tree. All 3 of them snapped their heads in his direction, bloodshot eyes boring into him.

Levi realized that he was screwed, before all of them pounced at him, weapons raised and murder in their eyes.

Oh crap.