I clenched my fists, I had only been in two fights in my life, one I lost, one I won, I felt this exact feeling before each of them.

My palms were sweaty and my knees felt weak, I kept looking around cautiously, I felt eerily jittery, but I just needed to power through. I reviewed my sheet again, it was clear I was in some sort of game or RPG, it felt very real though, my pain, my aches, all of that, my emotions felt real too, I didn’t doubt it for a second. I was just in a medieval world all of a sudden with some oddly high-tech wetware in my head.

“Greh..” Something groaned out in the distance, it was hardly audible but I was on edge, anything could set me off.

I shifted my gaze toward the source of the sound, and it was clear as glass as to what I was facing.

It was a goblin, all green and mean and just horridly psychopathic for no reason. Actually, I can think of a couple of reasons, what does every RPG character kill first? It's either bandits or goblins with a few rare exceptions, maybe that's the case with this world.

If it’s the starting enemy, I should be able to throw down with it no problem, but that knife, though small, looks threatening. If it struck a lucky blow to the neck or anywhere vital for that matter, I was a goner.

But it looks like I have to face it anyway, seeing as it just noticed me and was slowly creeping toward my position.

I looked around, this place was covered in shrubbery and vines and roots, I could trip and fall and that would be the end, I needed to beat this one, not like I had a choice in the long run.

I held my hands up, vaguely imitating whatever boxers did on TV, I wasn’t a fighter, I never did combat sports, my athletic skillset was limited to soccer, but that might help with kicking hard without tripping.

I slapped my chest, enticing it towards me, I was feeling more confident, I just needed to focus and commit to whatever move I was trying to do. Considering the little monster’s astonishing height of around 3 feet, my plan was to just punt its head.

I stood still, I needed to time this, it inched ever closer, 3..-

NOW!

It suddenly rushed and I flicked my foot up instinctively, its head cranked back and green blood spurted out of the goblin's mouth, I covered my face so that no blood would get on me, I was horrified by the sight, I think I killed it.

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When I was 13, some kids thought it was funny to flash pictures and videos of executions, gore, murder, etc to other kids, some laughed, and some just beat those people up immediately. I wasn’t a fan of those people, and my hate for them was reinforced by this, it feels painful smacking something’s lights out. I did it on reflex.

Still, I had to do it, they were gonna kill me.

I don’t think I have the time to think over the ethics, if my goal is to at least free these people working at the scrapyard, the ends justify the means, I will have to kill a few goblins, I will have to defeat whatever is higher up on the rung if it means growing stronger.

I cracked my knuckles and took the goblin’s dagger, I would need it for later.

I saw an orb in the corner of my eye, I looked over and a screen opened up.

[XP: 10/100]

There was another system message that said that killing the goblin gave me 10xp, I had to kill 9 more for my next level.

I wasn’t sure how when the foreman was gonna take me back, there had to be a level requirement or a stat requirement, but I needed to find a way to get enough at once to be able to beat him.

I would toil with that in the back of my mind while I focused on other things. Reviewing my character sheet again, I realized I had a loot box. I took a moment to think how I could summon it.

“Basic loot box.”

A small wooden box fell from the heavens and crashed on the floor, revealing something on the ground.

It was a light bulb.

I grabbed it and looked closely, on it was a small switch that was currently toggled to OFF. I flicked it to ON and the light bulb turned on. It was oddly cold, I had burned my hands on light bulbs many times as a kid just because- hmm. I actually don’t know, I was probably just a stupid kid doing stupid kid stuff as usual.

I switched it off, I didn’t need anyone taking notice of me. It looked very useful in certain situations, but I didn’t know what I would need it for now unless it was nighttime and I needed to find a spot to securely piss.

I shoved it deep into my pockets and started walking aimlessly. I could at least try to find some landmarks, figure out the general geography of the area, it was better than laying down, deep in thought, pondering the ethics of whatever the fuck I was doing.

I needed to make moves now.

5 minutes into my walk, I found a tree with some initials carved into it.

J.P.

I don’t know what that means, but at least I have a landmark to rely on. If I don’t know where I am, I can just go to the border of the dome, circle back and walk forward from there which would leave me back here.

It was then I noticed a half-naked bald man in my peripherals, the only thing covering his extremities was a small cloth that looked similar to what the goblin was wearing.

“Hey, how’s it going? I don’t usually dress like this, the goblins just happened to slash at the correct angle to rip it all off. Ya got that?”