"Ah... how much longer will this class go?"
Matt leaned back in his chair, groaning at the sight of the clock. Sure, the clock never really went slower or faster on a whim - but in times of boredom, he could've sworn that the second hand dragged like Andrew did on Whiplash. For now, he'd have to wait and hope that his daydreaming would help speed up the pace.
Being a college freshman sucked to no bounds. Everybody who went to college experienced at least a handful of the miseries that came with being considered the "heel" of classes. Thankfully, Matt's college was a relatively small but modern one built 3 years ago, hoping to make a new name for itself despite the lack of tangible history. In fact, his freshman class only had 100 people in total, and even that was a lot compared to the nearly non-existent junior and senior class. Every single day was the same cycle, the same motion. The repetition was quite boring in all honesty.
Even though the days were all the same, something felt off about today. It was almost as if the air surrounding the campus was becoming denser, which didn’t make any sense given the clear skies and lack of humidity. It wasn’t a completely unpleasant feeling, but something else lingered in spots… sulfur? Soot? He couldn’t quite place his finger on it.
Either way, Matt couldn’t take the boredom anymore. He quickly threw on his light jacket, going on his daily walk towards the bathroom. Even his biology teacher knew Matt’s name given the number of times he had walked out of the classroom through the back exit and was completely unphased by his sudden departure.
‘What is hell that smell?’
The far-too-strong smell of soot – the burning, acrid stench – made Matt woozy. The dark, empty classroom in front of the men’s bathroom didn’t have any renovations going – after all, the buildings were almost entirely new, funded by some wealthy benefactor who wanted to become the next Rockefeller.
Could it have been a chemical applicant in the walls? It didn’t make sense, given that the other classrooms he’d been in were perfectly fine.
With curiosity getting the better of him, Matt slowly entered the classroom after covering his nose with his sweatshirt. The smell was undeniable now, with it blanketing the room in its foul stench.
‘Is that… is that a circle?
After flicking on the lights, Matt had immediately spotted a box-shape in the middle of presenter’s stage within the amphitheater-style classroom. It looked as if someone had intentionally scattered some strange black dust with glowing blue particles on the ground in the orb shape – and every few minutes, the glow would intensify then dull back down. It was as if it was radioactive dust, although he was almost certain that no radioactive material would ever act like this.
Matt was left confused. On one hand, it could be some science experiment that a student had left. On the other hand, the stench unmistakably came from the dust. Not to mention the air had an almost soup-like consistency, but somehow unaffecting his breathing.
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
The dust began glowing with a harsh light once again but far brighter than it had before. With the light came the harshest buzzing sound that he had ever heard, loud enough to fill the entire room and spill into the hallway.
FIRST PERSON - POV
‘Damn it, why the hell is it buzzing?!’
I immediately turned back to the classroom door, shutting it as fast as it would allow me. I hoped that nobody had heard the ruckus that was made – I had enough trouble on my hands with teachers, and I certainly didn’t need some janitor walk into the room reporting me for vandalizing classroom.
After waiting for some time to make sure that nobody had heard the commotion, I turned back to dust that hadn’t stopped glowing. I knew that it was foolish – reckless even – to even consider approaching something glowing and screeching, but my curiosity simply wouldn’t let me pass up this opportunity to examine this logic-defying material.
The smell and sounds only got stronger the closer I approached the sphere, the air becoming thicker and thicker. It was almost as if I could tear chunks from the air and eat it, but my breathing still wasn’t affected in the slightest. None of it would matter though, considering just how bad the smell was coming from the dust. It was as if you threw in a combination of rotting flesh, eggs, and a hint of… cayenne pepper? The spicy, revolting smell was so much that I couldn’t approach any further, not to mention how teary my eyes were becoming at this point.
Bang!
The sphere suddenly exploded in sound and light, as if an explosion had gone off in the room with me thrown back into the wall. Feeling for any injuries and trying to catch my breath, I quickly ran my hands over my body. Nothing was broken. I had the wind knocked completely out of me, but thankfully, I was relatively unscathed.
Had that dust contained some sort of explosive material? Perhaps gunpowder? No, it’s certainly not possible – that much powder couldn’t have caused such explosive force. Even more confusing was the fact that despite the tables and chairs being thrown back as I had, the floor was completely undamaged.
My jaw dropped as I glanced back at the site of the explosion. The circle had… levitated off the ground? It now had a 3-dimensional shape, modelling a sphere of pure blue light with streaks of black extending out from it.
'I... I have to get the hell out of here!'
It was by some miracle that I had survived the explosion, and I certaintly wasn't willing to stick around waiting for that blue orb to make its next move! After struggling to stand up, I threw myself against the crash bar on the door to get myself back out into the hallway.
Boink!
Instead of touching the piece of metal as I had expected, I was thrown against some invisible force that slung me back to where I had previously been.
‘What the heck?’
I opted to reach out slowly, instead of throwing myself at the door as I had before. Some sort of field was present. It definitely wasn’t a hard wall, acting like foam when I pressed against it but always pushing me back out after a few pauses. I pushed, poked, prodded, and more, but it always resisted my work. It almost felt alive, as it hummed at a high frequency.
I couldn’t wrap my head around what just happened. An explosion, a blinding light, and now a forcefield… just what was going on? What could I do? I checked the cell and internet service on my phone. No dice. Perhaps I could scream and shout to get attention? Doubtful, I was almost sure that the field was soundproof. Whatever – or maybe, whoever – had constructed this clearly didn’t want anything to get in or out.
Consciously slowing my breathing, I tried to calm down and assess my situation. I was in a room with a forcefield covering the door, with no food and water, with some large blue glowing orb with black tendrils reaching out from it. On the flip side, at least the smell was gone.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
‘Speaking of the orb…’
I turned to face it once more. It was hovering in the air on its own regard, with the black tendrils moving around it like coiled snakes. I had no words to fully describe it, as it seemed to be defying both physics and logic, hovering on its own with no wings, thrust, or any method of motility to speak of. But... what was that, coming out of it?
‘Is that... is that a finger?!’
There was no doubt about it, something on the INSIDE of that orb was very clearly trying to get out. I could do nothing but look on in horror as a finger – then another few – then the hand itself – an arm – the second arm – and finally, the entire torso and legs came out. I couldn’t see the figure’s head due to the body being popped out away from me, but I could clearly see its composition. It was a short, humanoid being, dark green from head to toe, clad in what appeared to be some leather armor.
‘There’s no way that’s a goblin.’ I gaped in disbelief, unable to comprehend what I had just witnessed.
It couldn’t be a goblin; those storylines are all based in fiction! In what universe could tiny little green monsters exist, pillaging and looting goods from the innocent? Ah, right. We have those in this universe too, granted they’re not tiny green men. It had to be a magician… in a goblin cosplay? Right, that must be it! I had to admit, the entire show was quite convincing.
“… Great show! Now could you please let me out of here?“
The cosplayer turned around, showing me its face. It was disgustingly hideous, with its wrinkled face and white eyes peering at me in rage. In its hand was a rough cudgel, studded with small rocks.
“Hey… is everything okay? I’m sorry, but I need to get out – whoa!”
“Yaaargh!” It screamed, swinging its cudgel towards me with fervor.
I dived out of the way, groaning in pain as my ribs hit the steps up to the various seating levels. Ignoring the pain, I tried to put as much distance between myself and the creature, throwing chairs, tables, whatever I could find my hands on. I was only buying a little bit of time, however – my actions seemed to only outrage it further.
“Grrahhhh!!!” It screeched, growing even more enraged.
[You have been feared!]
[Debuffs Applied: -10% Damage Reduction | -10% Agility]
I froze in terror, processing the unnatural scream. I barely acknowledged the floating panel on the top right of my visi-
‘Wait… is that a panel in the top right of my vision?’
That realization knocked me out of my stupor, making me scramble back from the screaming monster that had almost made its way past the barricade of tables and chairs. As much as I wanted to acknowledge the freaking panel that hovered around in my vision, I was more concerned about the potential of a cudgel smashing my face and brains in.
While running to the end of the room in an attempt to buy a bit more time, I desperately looked for anything that I could use to defend myself. I briefly considered trying to wield a chair as a weapon but quickly discarded the idea – I’d never be able to swing it in time.
There! A meter stick!
I rushed towards the meter stick to the other wide of the room, holding it out like a spear in front of me. I knew that it would break before I could do any meaningful damage, but I had one tool in my favor.
Gravity and momentum. Where the head goes, the body follows.
Switching my grip, I stabbed with the meter stick as accurately as possible to the center of the monster’s forehead. My aim struck true and shattered the meter stick in my hands, but caused the goblin to stumble back towards the steps.
“Yaaaagh!”
I watched with glee as the goblin began rolling down the steps, banging its head on every other step. I knew I couldn’t rest, however – the steps were too shallow to cause any meaningful damage and was only meant to incapacitate it. Given the lack of any weapons or tools, however, I could only think of one plan that would leave me with the rest of my limbs.
I started rushing down the steps following the goblin, trying to build up as much momentum as I possibly could. Once I reached the last few steps, I jumped as high as I could, using the momentum to propel me forward
Crack!
The goblin’s head made a disgusting combination of both a wet and cracking sound, crushing under the weight of my body – I shuddered, closing my eyes to block out the sight of the collision. Rolling to a stop, I once again assessed the situation. Blood rained everywhere from the now pulverized head, but thankfully was mostly dripping from my shoes and left my sweatshirt and sweatpants mercifully stain-free.
Just what the hell happened? Why the hell did the goblin attack me? Most importantly, how the heck do I get out of here?
Ding!
[You have slain: Goblin (Lv. 2)]
[Gained: 120/120 XP]
[Title Earned: The First]
Description:
You have slain the first enemy in your world!
Title Earnings: +1 Strength | +1 Agility
[Title Earned: The Strategist]
Description:
You have methodically thought out a plan with devastating effects.
Title Earnings: +10% Intelligence (base scale)
It was the popup again – the very same one that telling my paralysis state! But it wasn’t at the upper right-hand corner of my vision this time, instead opting to remain at the center of my vision.
[You have leveled up!]
[Current Level: Lv. 2]
[Gained: 2 Attribute Points | 2 Skill Points]
[Would you like to spend points now? Y | N ]
After trying to touch the panels in my vision, I realized that physical interactions weren’t possible. If it was displaying it into my eyes, perhaps it was also linked to my brain?
‘Yes!’ I thought in my head.
The panel flickered once more, displaying an entirely new popup.
[Class Selection: Locked]
[Primary Attributes Selection]
[Strength: 3/10] [Add +1]
[Agility: 6/10] [Add +1]
[Constitution: 5/20] [Add +1]
[Wisdom: 3/20] [Add +1]
[Intelligence: 8/20] [Add +1]
[Charisma: 3/20] [Add +1]
[Secondary Attributes Selection: Locked]
Interesting; it looked as if the starting base stats were all calibrated to my real-life attributes. I inwardly sighed, wishing I had spent some more time in the gym instead of reading textbooks all day. If my title gave me +1 Strength and +1 Agility… just how much of a weakling am I?
‘The class selection and secondary attributes are locked… but what do those mean?’
At least my intelligence was somewhat… high? I had no way to refer my current attributes to what the norm was, but I prided myself on my somewhat capable intelligence compared to others my age.
I groaned, rubbing my eyes. I was desperately trying to think of ways this might be a prank, joke, or some sort of f’d up dream. Pinching myself sure didn’t help. Blinking rapidly didn’t get rid of the popup, and hallucinogenics didn’t form a stable image like this, much less one that I could interact with. Regardless, I wanted it out of my sight for the time being.
‘Close.’
‘Close menu.’
That seemed to do the trick. Standing up, I went over to look at the gruesome scene that I had made with the goblin’s brains. It sure didn’t look human in the slightest – its body composition was too short and pudgy to be a human, and its hands were massive compared to the rest of its body, almost comedically so. Putting aside my screaming conscience, I picked up the cudgel – the very same one it had tried to kill me with a few moments ago - with my sweatshirt cuff.
It was roughly made in its club fashion, but someone had taken the time to sand it down and lace it black leather at the handle. I tentatively set it back down, refusing to get my fingerprints on the weapon – the police would more than likely dust it, and I didn’t want any false accusations that I had been the one to actually handle it.
‘Right, the police!’
Rushing back to the door, I felt a wash of relief to know that the barrier was no longer there. All I needed to do was get some help, some officers to explain the situation to. I was more than sure that I’d be arrested for the time being, but as long as I could get out of here…!
I almost shouted with happiness as the door swung open, ready to finally get out of this godforsaken situation. The moment I rushed out of the door, however, I ran into a large, imposing figure.
“He-hello? I need some help, there’s something in that room tha-“
It was at that moment that I realized I was face-first with an impossibly tall orc.