The full moon was glowing in the sky, it’s soft light falling down on the makeshift home that James had made, the night was oddly illuminated, it seemed brighter without the city lights. The green trees around him looked larger more menacing, giants looming over him with hunger in their eyes. There was a reason that people feared the dark, and it kept him up that night until his body couldn’t handle the sound of rippling water next to him.

He awoke with a start, the ceiling of his little home caving in and a body crashing down, a snarling wolf like head looked at him with confusion. Not skipping a beat his fist was already smashing into its eye, cracking its head back with a snap. Gripping it with his legs, he twisted over mounting it before slamming his fists down hard into its muzzle until the hard feeling of it turned soft.

Dizziness filled James as he sat there, the small body under him made him worry. He knew that wolves were pack animals as well, and cursed himself, “Is everything I meet here going to have three or four friends?” He nearly puked as a smell assaulted his nose, he knew the body couldn’t have already decomposed and wondered what was going on.

*growl*

There was more out there, he didn’t know how many but he could hear light growls and movement coming from the trees. They were surrounding him, and seemed to slowly be closing in.. Now I knew what that stench was, the wolf thing had pissed itself as it died which called over the others. He frowned as he looked back at the corpse wishing he had taken it out faster without letting it piss itself, but he was still half asleep.

Squinting trying to see…

Skill gained Night Vision!

At level 1 it barely improved his vision letting him notice a few shadows that were weaving in and out of the shadows. Their bodies quick, and by the soft glint of their eyes he knew they had the advantage in the dark, this creatures seemed to be much faster than the goblins before.

James moved forward slowly, growling coming from the dark as they saw him move. Sharp teeth, and long muzzles made them seem much fiercer than the goblins he fought before, and with their increased speed they would really screw him up. These creatures fit descriptions of kobolds from fantasy worlds, it seemed like most of the monsters in this area were intelligent. The kobold that he killed had a large dagger made of stone and leather, the black stone was very sharp but seemed to be fragile.

He moved silently along the bushes, making his way closer to them when he noticed movement in the trees, he wondered if more were up there just waiting to pounce on him. It would make this difficult as he wasn’t assured victory since he didn’t even know their numbers. Gripping his weapons, a club in one hand and a dagger in the other he crouched close to the ground watching them circle him.

It was going to be painful if he couldn’t sleep at night, worrying too much about these kobolds will make his night life a bit stressful. James clenched his fist around the newer club he had, before his eyes widened, suddenly the trees were raining green goblins everywhere.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The two Kobolds were felled by about thirty goblins almost instantly, the goblins running around and cheering with bottles of some dirty liquid being passed around. The chaos kept spreading out as he noticed that there was around a hundred goblins in front of him, he couldn’t help but tighten grip at his weapons harder his knuckles turning white. A look of horror spread across his face, as when faced against a hundred of anything there was no guarantee of success.

One of the older looking goblins with a white beard came out of the crowd, his large muscular chest was covered in mud. The goblin’s head was covered in cuts and wounds, one of his eyes patched up with a pink leather which made him look odd. The last eye was bigger than any of the other goblins, and shifted around as if surveying everything around him.

The goblin yelled out to James, his voice like a bag of glass falling down stairs, “Pink goblin! I am Elder Crunch, I offer you to join us!”

James thought for a moment, “I’m not a goblin you fucker, why would I trust you guys?”

The elder laughed a bit, “Yes, I am one of the best at that!” He slammed his fist against his chest, and grinned quite proud that even this pink goblin could tell from just a look, “Goblins should stick together, you have good genes, we need good goblins for breeding!”

“I’m.. not..” James sighed, “Listen, I am a human. I can offer you another deal you protect me while I sleep, I help your tribe grow.” The Elder grinned for a moment in thought, before looking down.

“If you’d just stop killing the goblins around here I’d give you protection during the night, but if you aren’t a goblin then how can you eat Goberries?”

“Poison Resistance?”

The Elder’s eyes showed understanding as he nodded slowly, “It must have been hard for you, I’ve seen many goblins die trying to gain that skill.” His look of pity made James feel a bit sad as a small bag of something was thrown into his hands, “That will help you progress it, makes you slightly numb but doesn’t kill.”

James smiled a bit awkwardly, he knew it was because of the Eat Anything skill he had gotten from his dead companions but he couldn’t explain that he was wearing the souls of other goblins. He didn’t know how well they’d take the fact that he is wearing the souls of a bunch of goblins, maybe he could send their souls off once he no longer needed the boots but he still hadn’t trained stealth.

He wondered how much their society was like that of stories, moving back to pack up his camp.

Trying to pull up his status again he was instead interrupted by another menu:

You have qualified for a feat by befriending a monster race!

Banishing it with a wave of his hand a list appeared, and as he read through them he slowly started scrolling through the list before he felt like the list was practically endless. Counting he had already passed over a thousand options before clicking on a check mark that suggested recommendations.

Night of the Wolf

Hangman’s Journey

Like a Troll

Welcome to the Jungle

Night Stalker

Thug Fist

Brute

Mental Bullets

Mobile Telephone

Start of a Journey

The list was still full of things he wasn’t sure about, and afraid that he would pick something the moment he touched one of the options he hesitated. He needed something for his magical side as he had nothing to compliment his stats, relying solely on brute force to do what he needed, but he could also go for something that dealt with his current fighting style.

Since these were all recommendations he could only look at them and hope his choice was good, without hesitating he jammed his finger against one at random, the screen vanishing like he thought it would. No descriptions.. how was he supposed to make an educated choice based on just their names?

“Fuck this system..” He cursed, as the Elder came over to help him pack away his stuff.