I opened my eyes, my body lying flat on the ground. My body felt stiff from laying on a solid surface for who knew how long as I pulled myself up. But as I stood up, I felt a throbbing sensation coming from my head. The world felt like it was spinning around me.
“Damn… headache…where am I?” Still feeling a bit disoriented it took me a bit of time to get my bearings before I started to check my surroundings, the location I was at was unfamiliar to me. It was dark and rocky; from what I can tell I was in some sort of cavern.
It was unusual, the last thing that I could remember was lying in my bed, and I knew our town was nowhere near any caverns. Heck there shouldn’t even be any rocky terrain for miles. I was worried over what had exactly happened to me, I mean it doesn’t look like I was kidnapped or anything.
If anything, this scenario felt vaguely familiar, it was almost like one of tho-
“Wait! It can’t be!” A sudden realization had hit him. I’ve read many stories about this scenario; you could even say I’m an expert in this kind of stuff. Upon this revelation I quickly tried something, beginning to speak, hoping it would work.
“Status” It was the usual way to do this but also for some strange reason I felt like this was supposed to be what I was supposed to say. Once the word was spoken a blue screen suddenly appeared in front of me. It took me a bit of surprised, I mean it was hard to believe it had worked.
I started to jump for joy, finally my day has come! I’ve been sent to another world!! I’ve dreamed of this happening for so long and now it’s happened. The long-awaited dream I thought I could never achieve…
World domination!!!
I started to chuckle…. then I started to laugh…. My laugh became harder and louder. I couldn’t help myself after all. The idea of world conquest wasn’t exactly something most people would consider. many would even be appalled over the idea. But not me, to me I was quite fascinated with the idea.
Conquering lands, having others submit, and making everything I see before me mine! There was no greater feeling than that. But even I knew it would be impossible in my old world, with all those laws and lack of power, but here, who knows what kind of possibilities there were.
After a bit of time, I started to calm down. It’s important that I assess my situation and figure out what I can do. And the first thing to do was to understand my own skills, so I finally took a look at my status screen.
Unnamed Race Red Kobold Attributes [Health] F [Spirit] E [Strength] F [Dexterity] E Abilities [Game Screen] (Rank G) (Progression: 00.00%) [Dimensional Box] (Rank F) (Progression: 00.00%) [Kobold Adaptability] (Rank E) (Progression: 00.00%) Skills N/A
I was a bit stunned at what I was seeing, my mouth gaping at the information presented before me. I mean it can’t be true…Right??
It was then that I realized that my hands were different than before, I mean how could I possibly not have noticed this already? For one thing I had only four fingers in each hand and the most notable change about me was I had scales! Deep dark red scales all over my body with golden pupils on my eyes! I had claws and my teeth felt sharper than I remember. But the change I was mad about the most of all was that I was SHORT!!!!!!
Yes…it regrettably seems I had transformed into a weak little Kobold!!! Even my stats seemed to reflect on it. From what I can tell they go based off a letter system to determine the power level. So, to have mine to be merely E and F only, I don’t know how low it can go but I imagine this wasn’t too far off …ugghh so pitiful…
I was frustrated, without even starting my dreams of conquest had already hit a huge snag. But before being able to contemplate on it more there was a voice calling out.
“Hey what are you doing here? Hurry up and help us out here!”
It came from another kobold; one whose scales were colored brown. He was holding a pickaxe, and his body was covered in rock dust. He was clearly mining recently. But before I could respond he shoved the pickaxe in my hand.
“Don’t think I remember seeing you before, but don’t care. About time someone else took over, I need a break” He immediately pushed me towards the next tunnel where I could hear a bunch of KLANG noises.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
When I entered what I saw was various other kobolds, many where busy mining. Some seemed to be tinkering with some tools as well as inspecting the minerals we were gathering.
It seemed I was transported in a kobold community within a cavern. I was a bit surprised at first, I could see so well despite there being very little lighting. Though I simply chalked it up to my species’ traits.
For the moment though I figured it would be best to play along, with how I am now there was no way I could conquer anything let alone the entire world. So, I began the boring task of mining, though I had difficulty with my weak strength. It took me several tries just to get a good swing on the rocks. Now he just needs to get a few more….
*
Many hours passed…
uurrgghh…finally…
I dropped to the ground, managing to get a break after all that mining. It was exhausting and back breaking, I wasn’t sure if it was going to end... Gives me more appreciation for all those miners on my old world…
Well at least it wasn’t a total waste of time. During that dull task of gathering a bunch of rocks all day, I did manage to learn a few things. For one it doesn’t seem like anyone else could see the screen appear. I tested it out by opening my status window up and no one seemed to react to it. So, I took the opportunity to figure out some stuff out. Most of the details were straightforward and easy to figure out. What I was curious about was my skills, though the only thing I had was a few listed as abilities with one I obtained in the middle of mining.
I wanted to get more details out of it so I assumed I’d need to interact with the screen, though it would look suspicious if I started to motion my claws around. So, I figured maybe trying to work through it by thought and it seemed to have worked as a new screen appeared and showed the details of my abilities.
[Game Screen] (Rank G)
Able to conjure game interface screens only seen by user to help navigate through the world (Progression: 10%)
[Dimensional Box] (Rank F)
Able to store items in a pocket dimension only available by user (Storage Size: 0/5) (Progression: 00%)
[Kobold Adaptability] (Rank E)
At the cost of reduced Growth speed, able to freely control how Skills and Abilities will progress (Progression: 20%)
[Mining Mastery] (Rank E)
Higher rate of mining materials and better chance of gathering rarer materials (Progression: 00.20%)
At least I can confirm why I’m seeing a screen in the first place, there’s a chance I’m the only one with this kind of ability. My knowledge of these kinds of stories tells me that this might be useful down the road. It was also useful to find I have my own personal storage, so I decided to test it out with some of the rocks I gathered.
I tried thinking about using the [Dimensional Box] ability which caused a translucent box to appear before me with no one noticing once again. I then tossed the rocks into the box, and they disappeared like I suspected. I tried testing to see if I could move the box mentally and sure enough it did. Not only was it able to move but I could also change its size and even rotate it. I even managed to pull up the storage screen and checked to confirm that the rocks were inside.
The [Mining Mastery] ability was self-explanatory which just left [Kobold Adaptability] …
I felt a little dread when I read about the slow growth speed… It effectively meant that it was going to take a lllooonnngg time for me to see any real progress for strength. This being tied to kobolds meant this was a species problem, no wonder we looked all weak...
Still…the fact it lets me control the way my skills and abilities can progress may prove to be useful, depending on what that really means. I would have to experiment on this later though as it seemed like it’d be a while before I would be able to see any results.
And last but not least it seemed like I don’t have a name registered. Hmm makes sense, a new body and a new life meant this is truly a fresh start for me. If that’s the case, then I should give myself a new name as well. One that will scream to the world that it will belong to me!
Yes, an intimidating name that will strike fear in my enemies and show the resolve of my world conquest!! That’s right from now on, in this new world I shall be named…
Vladimir!!
At that moment, a new screen appeared in response to my new name.
New name registered
Unnamed has been updated to Vladimir
Seeing the information on the screen before me, I couldn’t help but let out a laughter of excitement. My body moving on its own, unable to contain its own joy. Placing on foot on top of a rock, my arms stretched out up in the air as my body shakes in anticipation and laughter. The whole cavern could hear the echoes of my anticipation.
“Veehahahahaha!!!!”
It seemed like I had caught the attention of my newly fellow kobolds as they stared at me on display. Hmm I should start by making them my subordinates in the future. If the world is going to be mine, then that should mean everyone here as well.
No sooner than when I had these thoughts my body had gave out, stiffening and dropping to the ground. The full exhaustion kicked in soon after. But before my body fell asleep, I could have sworn I heard the other kobolds whispered to themselves.
“What a weirdo…”
“I feel ashamed of myself just being near him…”