I hightailed it out of the river with the bear hot in pursuit. The good news: the big lug turned out to be as agile as a sack of rice, and after just ten minutes of running between the trees, I lost him. The bad news: I lost myself as well. In the heat of things, I forgot in which direction I ran, or if I even exited the river on the same side I entered it.
Even badder news: I was naked as the day I was born. “Goddamit, those boots were more than a month of my salary.”
I was tempted to try and go find the river, but the thought of facing the bear again convinced me not to. The damn thing had an abnormal size, almost as big as a small truck. I don't think I'll get a chance to regenerate if that thing manages to reach me.
That meant I had to finish my journey buck naked. Dammit.
With all sense of direction lost, I climbed up a tree to try and get my bearings. It was a bit difficult what with my Little Bobby down there scraping against the rough tree bark, but all manner of discomfort disappeared when I reached the top. That's because I immediately saw rising smoke far in the distance, which I knew came from the city. I had no idea why the city was smoking like that, but I guess I'll find out when I get there. Hopefully, they're not being bombed or some shit.
Over the course of the day, I traveled in the direction of the smoke, climbing up trees from time to time to correct my bearing. This time, I made doubly sure to be subtle and quiet in my travel. The last thing I wanted was to attract the attention of another predator. I wondered why this world had some fucked up wildlife, but then again, they did have an asshole god of carnage. That said a lot about this place.
I decided to stop for the day when the sun started setting. I managed to find shelter in a small overhang of stone, and after foraging some more wild and poisonous berries in the forest, I went to sleep.
•••••
The next two days of travel were much more peaceful than the first. With my senses on high alert, I managed to avoid confrontations with most of the wildlife in the forest. I attributed that success to my decision to smear mud all over my body to mask my smell. I looked like a crazed hobo in the forest, but at least I was safe.
However, I was not so lucky today. Several hours after I began traveling for the day, I came across some very weird shit.
Ahead of me was a small stream that I intended to drink water from. Normally, other animals would be present, sometimes even predators like wolves, so I made it a habit to assess the area first before taking my fill.
This time, there were no animals at all. Instead, there were these small, green, humanoid critters camping beside the stream. They had pointed ears, bulbous eyes, sharp teeth, and the ugliest faces I have ever seen. They also stank to high heaven.
These green little humanoids seemed to be sentient based on how they had tools and other rudimentary equipment. They even had clothing, though it just consisted of a piece of cloth covering their genitals. It was primitive, but then again, who was I to judge when I was walking around the woods buck naked and covered in mud?
Are these little things actually the native inhabitants of this world? Then that practically makes me the first person on Earth to have ever seen a sentient alien, right? Though for aliens of another planet, it was honestly disappointing. I expected advanced tech and inhumane experimentations, not this unga bunga type of people. Heck, one of them just farted in another's face and laughed like a menace.
I spent ten minutes studying their camp while trying to decide my next course of action. The most obvious one was to initiate contact and attempt communication. However, that was a very risky endeavor, because the aliens were equipped with weapons. Their weapons consisted of flimsy weapons, sure, but a rusty spear would kill me just as easily as a gun if stabbed in the right location.
But as reluctant as I was to initiate contact, I had no choice. The city I was heading towards could be filled with these green critters, so I might as well try to speak to them now. If there was one thing that reassured me, it was that I could probably crush them all if they decided to kill me. Each alien was only as tall as a toddler, and there were only seven of them.
“Well, here goes Diplomat Bob.”
I emerged from the bushes, my palms raised to show I meant no harm. The goblins spotted me quickly, and they suddenly began shouting in a guttural language as they armed themselves and approached me with hostility.
“Hey, I mean you no harm,” I said as I stopped in place. “Calm your tits for a second and drop your weapons.”
Unfortunately, the goblins didn't even try to understand my intention. Before the rest of them could even finish arming themselves, two of them were already charging at me with their spears pointed at me. With the height difference, their spears were pointed where Little Bobby was.
“Dammit, why is everything on this planet so goddamn bloodthirsty?!”
As soon as the two green aliens came into range, I stepped to the side and tried to steal their spears at the same time. I failed to catch one, but the other one I managed to pull from the other's grasp.
“Listen here, you little shits. I—”
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I didn't get to finish before the alien whose spear I stole brandished a small shiv and stabbed me in my thigh. With the small weapon size, it didn't pierce too deeply, but it was still painful.
“Argh! Dammit, fine! You wanna fight? Then I'll fucking give you one!”
I stabbed at the alien who stabbed me first, and unlike the shiv that barely pierced a few inches in my thigh, my stolen spear went through the middle of the alien's chest and out its back.
The alien looked at me with shock for a moment before slumping on my spear.
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
It turned out the little critters were called goblins, and—
The other goblin took advantage of my distracted state and stabbed me in the abdomen. Pain clouded my mind as the spear tip dug into my insides, but it was completely replaced with rage.
Before the goblin could pull its spear back, I gripped his head in both my hands and squeezed hard. The goblin screamed as it clawed at my arms, but there was a popping sound and the bastard went limp.
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
When I turned to the five remaining goblins, they had finished arming themselves. Three were spinning slingshots while two approached me with melee weapons. One had another spear while the other had a rusty cleaver.
This time, I took the initiative. I charged at their frontline with my stolen spear leveled at them. The spear-wielding goblin stabbed me in my side as I passed him by, but I just gritted my teeth and ignored him while I ran through his sword-wielding buddy. The small guy flew several meters from the impact, a spear skewering him.
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
“Get the fuck outta my face for a moment!” I growled. The notifications quickly disappeared from sight.
Right as I was making my way to the spear goblin, the three sling goblins unleashed their payload at the same time. Two stones hit me in the side of the head and cracked my fucking skull. The last managed actually managed to hit me in the eye.
I fell down from the impact. If one blinded eye wasn't enough, my head was spinning and aching like someone was drilling into my skull.
While I writhed on the ground, somebody pulled the two spears still stuck in my body and proceeded to stab me with them again and again. A third spear joined them, and then I felt two more stabbing me with shivs.
I tried to fight back, but my vision was spinning so much that I could barely tell right from left. All I could manage was to swing at them wildly, which sent the goblins scurrying back before returning to stab me again.
This happened several more times over the next few minutes as I waited for my head to heal. So much of my blood was already dripping down my mud-caked body, and I could already feel symptoms of blood loss.
However, my head eventually did heal, and when it did, I was furious as fuck.
A goblin moved to stab me, but I grabbed his spear and pulled him in. Before he could even utter a cry, I slammed a fist on top of his head with all my strength, crushing his skull. I took his spear as I faced the others.
Two other goblins tried to stab me with spears. I stabbed one in the face and gripped the other's neck in a tight grip. I squeezed hard, and the goblin's neck broke.
The two remaining goblins were chittering fearfully now and were winding up their slings. Not again, you little fuckers.
I easily reached the two goblins before they could fire their missiles, and gripping each of them by their necks, I bumped their heads together hard, crushing their skulls at the same time.
For a few moments, the forest was silent save for my quick breathing. When the rage finally stopped clouding my mind, I rushed to the stream to try and wash all the blood off me. Knowing the forest's denizens, it was probably only a matter of time before some huge bear smells food.
The stream ran red from all the blood I washed off my body, and after taking a quick drink, I ran away from the scene.
•••••
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
[You have slain a Goblin. Experience gained.]
[Minor Regeneration has leveled up to Lv.6]
[Through sheer effort, you have learned the Skill ‘Unarmed Mastery.’]
[Congratulations! You are now Level 5. You are eligible for a Skill choice.]
[Please choose a Skill below.]
1. Minor Physical Resistance - Slightly reduces all physical damage taken.
2. Minor Poison Resistance - Slightly reduces the effects of poison.
3. Minor Cold Resistance - Slightly reduces the effects of cold.
4. Woodcraft - Provides a boost to proficiency in activities related to basic wilderness survival.
I read my notifications as I munched on some berries. An hour had passed since I fought the goblins, and I had spent the entire time running away from the battle site. Just in time, too, because I heard the howling of wolves not long after I left the scene.
Right now, I was hunched behind a thick berry bush, waiting for my eye to heal while reading the notifications I put aside during the heat of battle. It turned out my body could regenerate lost organs because I could feel my eyeball reforming, but it seemed like creating new organs took longer than normal. My entire body was already fully healed except for my missing eye.
And here I thought I'd have to wear an eyepatch for the rest of my life.
Going back to the notifications, I gained a lot from that brief scuffle with the stinky goblins. The level-up was sweet, the Skill choice more so, but what really mattered was the revelation that I could learn Skills through sheer effort. This meant that when I made my Skill choice, it better be a Skill that was too difficult to gain through practice.
With that in mind, I chose my new Skill.
[You have gained Minor Physical Resistance Lv.1]
With how much I'd been taking damage recently, some may think that I'd just wasted my Skill choice on Minor Physical Resistance. But that's the thing. I literally fell off a damn mountain, among other things, and I still hadn't received the Skill naturally. That either meant that it could only be obtained through a Skill choice, or I had to go through even worse injuries just to learn it.
There was no way I'm gonna subject myself to more debilitating shit on purpose just to get the damn Skill.
With my Skill chosen, I brought up my status.
[Status]
Name: Bob Dinkle
Age: 35 years
Level: 5
Race: Human
Class: —
[Skills]
Minor Regeneration Lv. 6
Unarmed Mastery Lv. 1
Minor Physical Resistance Lv. 1
[Traits]
Divine Body - Your body has been constructed by a god. Your body recovers faster and is resistant to ailments.
[Accolades]
Champion of Carnage - The God of Battle and Carnage has chosen you as his Champion. Combat proficiency and battle intuition are significantly improved.
Once I finished sucking the berry juice from my fingers, I continued on my journey.