It wasn't supposed to turn out this way.

I was the hero summoned to another world. I was an [Light-Blessed Hero], the leader of our rag-tag band of misfits who mustered our forces, ventured out across the kingdom, and brought down the evil [Soulshard Sorcerer] once and for all. 

The battle had been ferocious. My best friend and famed [Shearwood Archer] died that day, as did his younger sister, our [Pearlglow Healer]. They died together, incinerated by a desperate [Conflagration Comet] let loose by the [Sorcerer]. I think it was probably an attempt to buy himself more time as he frantically tried to complete whatever sick ritual he was working on.

I closed the gap between us with an [Empowered Leap] at that moment and smashed one of his fancy Soulshards right over the top of his stupid magical head. And when he continued to try casting, I continued to hit him. 

Again.

And again.

And again.

I... I can't say I'm proud to have beaten a man to death with what amounts to an extra shiny rock. But I knew it had to be done. Somebody needed to stop him. I always knew death was the only option. You can't forgive a guy just because he tells you he believes in the power of love and friendship. Especially not after sacrificing an entire city to fuel his dark magical desires.

Our [Serpentine Druid] and [Stalwart Shieldmaiden] had wasted no time in looting the place while I'd been reducing the [Sorcerer]'s skull to a red paste. When I finally calmed down, they urged me to do the same. We couldn't spend much time here. The man didn't work alone, and we had no way of knowing if any of his allies would show up. We were all injured, and out of everything we'd come in with. No more [Skills] or [Spells] or [Miracles]. Not even a single potion was left after fighting for so long. If we were going to make it back, we HAD to loot the building. Not that there was much left to take. 

Just whatever was on the bastard's corpse. A few rings, a magical necklace, and an enchanted pair of boots. I figured a guy like him would have sprung for a fancy robe, but apparently, he dumped all of his coins into his jewelry. That necklace was practically buzzing with magic when I grabbed it.

I took the bloody Soulshard with me as well. Even though I knew a Soulshard only maintains power while the person who created it was still alive, it would be quite some time before all the magic drained out of it. I could probably manage to do some good with it when I got back to the capital city. Not "Return all the dead innocents to life" good, but at the very least "Build an orphanage and rejuvenate the dead land so people can live there again" good.

In retrospect, I probably should have insisted we stay inside the [Sorcerer]'s lair until we'd had some time to heal. But my teammates wanted to get out of that forsaken place and to be honest, so did I.

After a few hours of re-traversing the rough terrain, we made camp a few miles south using the same spot we'd camped in less than 24 hours ago. It was disheartening to look around the fire that night and realize that two of our party were gone forever.

I agreed to take the first watch. After the day's events, there was no way I could sleep right away. My stomach was still churning from what I had done, and the moment before ... 

I shook my head violently. No. No, I knew better than to ruminate like that. Replaying the scene where my best friend and his sister were reduced to ashes before my eyes. It didn't help.

If there was anything that could take a person's mind off of a terrible experience, it was loot. It would never plug the friend-shaped hole in my heart, but at the very least it would give me something to do until I could pass off guard duty. I opened up the Menu, one of the few things that never quite felt natural since coming to this world, and took a look.

GRAHAM [LIGHT-BLESSED HERO] [LVL 58] [STATS] [ABILITIES] [INVENTORY] [ALLIES]

It felt like everything in the Menu was glowing. I must have gained some new abilities when I leveled up. Or at the very least, gained some new ability entries. I didn't even bother checking to see what they were. I wasn't sure I wanted to dedicate any points to them to make them active just yet. Sometimes [Skill] trees were a real crapshoot. Better to save the points until after I could get them [Appraised] and find out what they were capable of.

I opened up my [Inventory] tab and scrolled down to the newest entries.

[Silver Band of Lesser Purification] The natural purifying ability of Silver has been enhanced with Elvish runes.  Poison Resistance +12 [Ruby Ring of Lesser Flames] Several small Fire attuned gemstones expertly laid into power-enhancing Gold Fire Affinity +10 [Enhanced Greater Crystal Soulshard Ring] An ancient evil ritual has imbued this blank Crystal ring with a great deal of Mana. Mana Reserve 112/560      [BOOTS OF THE                       WHUNK

...

...

...

It was stupid of me. Really. I should have known better than to just sit and stare into my inventory while I was supposed to be on guard duty. That's how a person winds up getting caught in an ambush. With my team sleeping and already injured, I'm sure it didn't take much for them to be finished off. As for me... I was knocked down to exactly 0 HP, courtesy of my own [Light-Blessed Pendant of Stability]. While slowly refilling my Hit Points over time was nice, that wasn't why I kept wearing it. The only reason I kept it was its ability to save me from death, halting all damage past 0 as long as I had at least 1 HP to burn.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when I finally woke up again. I found myself crammed into a wooden cage, unable to move, and with a single Hit Point to my name. Around me was a small village. It was really more of a large forest clearing peppered with a few ramshackle huts. Its inhabitants? Small, green-skinned, and with entirely too many teeth in their mouths to be considered normal for anything that wasn't a shark. This was a Goblin village.

Goblins? Seriously? I fought tooth and nail across the Kingdom, navigated through the Maze of Atrocities, fought off possessed Dwarves, legions of Undead, AND took down the [Soulshard Sorcerer]. All that, and I wound up getting taken out by a bunch of GOBLINS?

Not even strong Goblins, either. There couldn't have been more than 30 of them here in the village, and I didn't see a single Hobgoblin among them, nor any of their other evolutionary lines. I groaned in embarrassment. And also in pain. The Pendant may have kept me from waltzing through death's door, but it certainly didn't do anything for the [Arrow of Greater Paralysis] still embedded in my neck. As long as that was still in effect, I would be able to do little more than just look around.

Not that it was going to be there for much longer anyway. The village was busy, even at this hour, and it wasn't hard to see why.

In the center of the village, sat a HUGE cauldron. Back home, a container that size might be used to plant a full-sized tree. Here, with a roaring fire underneath it, I had a nasty suspicion I knew what was going into the pot. Something told me it wasn't going to be a tree.

They spent hours running around haphazardly. Long enough for me to gain another Hit Point while they built up the fire. I watched them with curiosity. Normally when monsters ate people, they just ATE them. Maybe they cooked them a little bit if there was enough to go around and nobody was in a huge rush. But this? This was unusual. I wondered if maybe there was a [Shaman] or a [Chieftain] or something running things off where I couldn't see them.

Two Goblins each carrying armfuls of kindling wood dashed straight into each other at full tilt. They crashed to the ground and lay there stunned for a moment before getting back up again and swearing at each other in their native tongue. Each goblin quickly gathered as many of the fallen sticks as they could hold before dashing off again. And promptly crashing right back into the other one and beginning the process over again.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ok. So there were definitely no [Leader]-type Classes in this group. 

So what were they doing?

Eventually, the blaze underneath the cauldron burned hot enough that the pot itself began to glow slightly. I frowned. If the goblins were planning on eating me, why would they even want the pot that hot? There wouldn't be anything left of me! A lead weight settled in my stomach. Maybe... maybe I wasn't supposed to be a meal. Maybe I was supposed to be a sacrifice? It would explain why they put me in a cage instead of just eating me. That would suck.

I glanced around at the sorry collection of Goblins running around like a coop full of chickens lacking heads. Could they even MAKE a sacrifice without having somebody in charge?

Another Hit Point came and went before finally about a dozen Goblins surrounded my cage and picked it up. Despite the many hands, I could tell this wasn't light work for them. They ascended a shaky wooden ramp leading up to a platform resting against the lip of the cauldron. Waiting for me at the top was a single Goblin wearing the paint of a [Shaman War Chieftain], shaking in his feathered anklets. He looked young, far too young to have earned the Class he was dressed up as.

Ah. So this WAS a sacrifice. The villagers probably lost their [Chieftain] and were hoping that by sacrificing me, their chosen one would gain enough XP to blast through enough levels to get the Class. And the worst part about it? They were probably right. 

They set down my cage, and one of the Goblins walked over to the shaking [Chieftain]-to-be, clapping a hand on his shoulder. He said something in their language that I assume was meant to be encouraging.

It wasn't as effective as they'd hoped, I guess. The young Goblin just squeaked and stumbled forward towards me. If anything, the shaking seemed to have increased. He knelt down and peered through the bars of my cage. A tentative hand reached out and gently patted my head.

"Lumm ne shu fee" He muttered, unable to meet my eyes. It felt almost like... shame? I didn't even know monsters felt anything other than fear or anger. He stood up again and faced the crowd. I couldn't see them from where I was positioned, but I could still hear them moving. They grew quiet as their new leader began speaking.

It was times like this I wished I'd sprung for an Artifact with a [Universal Translation] Enchantment on it. Or maybe not... I got the feeling he was stuttering and misspeaking even without understanding what he was saying.

The speech wasn't very long, and at the end of it, I was unceremoniously dumped into the pot, cage, and all. It felt like I was in slow motion as the cage tumbled into the glowing cauldron. I wondered how long it would take me to die. Probably not long. I only had 4 HP. If I landed on my head, it might even be instant.

It was all so... stupid.

I was supposed to be the [Hero].

I was supposed to save the Kingdom.

[Heroes] don't wind up getting killed by Goblins.

They definitely don't get killed by Goblins after risking their lives to save the Kingdom and narrowly defeating the evil [Sorcerer].

And yet... Here I was, looking down the business end of a cooking pot.

As the top of the wooden cage crashed into the bottom of the cauldron, I was instantly met with all-encompassing blackness. I felt my Pendant activate and then fizzle out. A muffled explosion happened somewhere in the distance, followed by screaming. My Menu opened and closed rapidly in front of me, like a computer application on the fritz. I found I couldn't read it anymore. A vague sense of calm washed over me.

Oh. So this is dying. I thought it would hurt more. But this is almost... peaceful.

And it was, too. Though I couldn't really see anything, I was still aware of things around me. I imagined it was what floating in the far reaches of space must feel like. No light to see by. No gravity to tell you where you were in relation to other things. But still knowing that there were things around you.

Was I really dead? Or was this world playing tricks on me again?

I reached out. Or tried to, anyway. Huh... I must still be Paralyzed. 

There were things around me. I could sense them. Things in death? Or maybe my Menu had changed. I struggled to find it again. It was almost like it didn't exist anymore.

But I could still sense it. My Menu was still there. It just wasn't behaving the way I expected it to. It was almost like I was trying to mentally PUSH a door that would open with a PULL. Or perhaps I was searching for a doorknob on a door that would only open if you slid it sideways on a track.

I tried to access the Menu again, gently, this time. I focused my mind with a wiggle here. A little push there. Maybe... if I just... scoot this... A bright flash of light shot through the blackness, and I was suddenly met with the sensation of falling.

But that couldn't possibly be what was happening because there was nowhere to fall. The Goblins had dumped me into a pot. I'd already landed. So what in the world...?

My all-encompassing world of darkness began to shake. Cracks shuddered into my new reality, flooding it with blinding white light. The cracks grew and spread, running into one another until they formed a perfect circle in the space far above my head. Light streamed down from this circle, illuminating me in a broad spotlight.

Outside of the spotlight? I'd thought there was a never-ending expanse of nothing, but apparently, the Afterlife here is filled with Dragons. Or maybe I just went to Hell.

Thick clouds of smoke billowed out from every direction. It dissipated when it touched the light I was surrounded by, but it was still everywhere as far as I could tell. This wasn't ordinary smoke, either. No, this smoke was actively malevolent. It wanted me gone. Could smoke want things? In this world, I supposed anything could happen. Either way, I had alarm bells going off in my head telling me if this smoke ever touched me, I would probably disappear forever. 

Right now, the only saving grace I had was the circle of light that shone above my head like a sort of reverse parasol. Once again, I reached out. This time I found I had no hands. I was still human-shaped, but only in the way that a gingerbread man was human-shaped. 

My Paralysis is gone. And so is my body. Guess this really is the Afterlife. You'd think there would be other people here. Or Angels or Demons or Gods or something. It still feels like my Menu is here too. Am I supposed to disable it or something before I move on?

Call it [Hero]'s intuition, but I was getting close to something here. I just knew it. 

One final time, I reached for my Menu. And this time... I found it.

Well... I found what was left of it at any rate.

GRAHAM [??? ??? ??? ???]  [LVL ???]  [EXP ERROR]  [MANA ERROR] [#2%???*%]  [$$6#!@A#]  [STORAGE] [&!@(#E*8]

Weird. My [Inventory] tab had been changed to [Storage]. Everything else was a garbled mess. Some things, like my EXP and MANA, weren't even in a tab anymore.

I opened the only one available to me at the time All this time I was told you couldn't take it with you when you died. Turns out your stuff is the ONLY thing you get to take with you when you kick the bucket. 

Even my [Invent- er... [Storage] was a mess. There were garbled entries and far more items than I'd ever been able to carry. Some of these things I'd never even heard of before...

[Scimitar of the Northern Wolf Emperor's Might]?

[Airborne Staff of Four Element Mastery]?

[Hammer of Infinite Realities]?

[Silken Lace Knickerbockers of the Sitch Witch]?

There must have been hundreds of thousands of entries. It was as if I'd somehow managed to hack into the very System that created this world and started rummaging through all the code within. And the list. Did. Not. Stop.

Faster and faster it scrolled, the names of different items flashing by my consciousness so fast I couldn't make them out. My [Storage] tab flashed dangerously before suddenly splaying out in front of me. When my head stopped spinning, a new set of options was in front of me

[STORAGE]

[MATERIALS][???][???][USABLE][SPECIAL][ALL]

These... These were not Menu options I'd ever heard of a person having. Not any person I'd ever come across. Common folk didn't have a Menu to peruse through, even if they could and often did have Classes of their own. And Special people like me, who had been taken from their homes to serve as [Heroes] in this world, typically could only fight or use consumable items from their Menu. Sometimes, people were able to assign their own Stats or Abilities, but not often. I could assign points to my abilities, but I was the only one in my party who could do that. Most people didn't even have that going for them. They had to rely on luck of the draw to see where their Ability points went. In a way, I could understand how much harder they had it. All of my [Strength], [Agility], and so on came automatically to me with each new Level. 

I gingerly selected [Materials], and flinched. This time, the Menu looked more normal. Everything looked like what a person could consider "materials" to be - mostly mundane items such as [Wood][Stone][Water] or [Fur]. It was still bloated, though, and everything seemed greyed out.

Just like when I'm overburdened and can't carry anything more...

I flicked back to the [Storage] tab and selected [Usable]. That one was almost empty. 

Almost.

Two item entries floated there in the abyss.

[GRAHAM BAKER]

[LESSER CAULDRON OF AMALGAMATION]

I selected my name, and instantly the entry for the [Lesser Cauldron] lit up. Apparently, if I wanted to use one, I also had to use the other. I unselected my name and selected the [Cauldron] just to check.

[LESSER CAULDRON OF AMALGAMATION]

[GRAHAM BAKER]

Sure enough, my name lit up as well. I couldn't use just one. 

If I still had a heart, I knew it would have been pounding. What even were those options? Was it asking me if I wanted to use them? How could you even use your own body if you were dead? Didn't that miss the point of being dead?

I backed out of the [Usable] tab and checked the [Special] one.

The same two entries sat glowing in the dark, waiting for me to make a decision.

The [All] tab wasn't much better. The same list of mundane items from [Materials], topped off with two bright and shiny [Usable] entries.

There was nothing else for me here. Every other Menu option was locked or scrambled. Even just attempting to select them wound up giving me a headache. My name was greyed out, and my EXP and MANA bars had errors in them...  

I was at a dead end. 

Either I sat here in the light and smoke-filled nothingness, or I subjected myself to a mystery. When it came down to it, there was only one real option for me. Even if that one thing filled me with a special kind of dread I'd not experienced since coming to this world to begin with.

[GRAHAM BAKER]

[LESSER CAULDRON OF AMALGAMATION]

WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE 

[GRAHAM BAKER]

AND

[LESSER CAULDRON OF AMALGAMATION]

[YES] [NO]