Although Daniel had only just told himself to stop being so surprised, he couldn't help it. The place he had entered was just so breathtakingly...dull.
Daniel was in a small room, probably not more than 10 feet across each side. The floor, walls, and ceiling were paneled with mahogany wood, and a few feet in front of him was a counter, about waist-high. The area was well-lit, bathed in a red light but there was no source in the room to be seen. In fact, there was nothing else in the room except for a man, stood behind the counter.
He was unremarkable, wearing a grey tee shirt tucked into the waistband of his work jeans. His hair was a short, cropped black, his jawline cut, with high cheekbones and a snubby nose. The man’s arms were crossed, and he wore a professional smile.
As Daniel entered the room, he was greeted with a “Hello!” by the man, whose face was ambiguous enough to be between the ages of twenty and fifty. Daniel hadn't expected the voice, jovial as it was, and tensed a little, still on guard.
“What is this place?” Daniel asked the man, weapons still at the ready.
“A place of business, one in which you can put your weapons away. Call me the Shopkeep”, he replied.
“Alright, Shopkeep”, Daniel said as he dropped the crowbar in its carabiner and placed the knife back in its sheath, just enough so that he could still quickly pull it out if necessary. “I've got a few questions for you. First, what's happened to the world? Second, what are you doing here? And third, what are you selling?”
“I am unable to answer your first question. As for your second, you answered it partially in your third question. I'm here to sell goods.
Step right up, and I'll show them to you”, the Shopkeep said, his professional smile never leaving his face.
Daniel stood there in thought for a bit, while still maintaining his caution against the Shopkeep. He hadn’t said he couldn't or didn't know the answers, just that he was unable to speak them.
“Is the information about what had happened for sale?”
“Unfortunately, that type of information is not for sale.”
Which meant that there were other types of information for sale. Like, about the monsters that roamed.
“Last two questions. Where are your goods, and have you seen any others besides me?”
“I will show you my wares, if you would just step up. And you are the first person to enter this shop of mine.”
The situation almost screamed that it was a trap. Daniel was curious what the Shopkeep had to offer, but he could also just as well be luring him into a trap. He couldn't trust the Shopkeep, nor this room. He felt like an idiot for walking in so recklessly.
But he couldn't very well just walk away. The Shopkeep hadn't openly shown hostility yet, but if Daniel pissed him off, he wasn't sure what he would do. Although the Shopkeep seemed weak, he probably had some strong cards up his sleeve. For now, it was best to play along.
Daniel said to him, “I'm just curious, don't shops usually openly display their goods, to entice the buyers?”
“That might be the case for a normal shop, but that would be useless here. This shop uses the System to display and sell goods.
And I know you're feeling apprehensive, it's apparent down to every inch of your body language and with each word you speak. But there is no need to be here, I can guarantee no harm will come to you within this space”, the Shopkeep replied.
Although Daniel felt nothing of that guarantee, he was curious about the term the Shopkeep used. “The System?”
Although he might have started feeling weary of the questions, the Shopkeeper continued to answer them, his expression unchanging. “That by which controls your status, notifies you of your accomplishments, and shows you what you learn through Identification.”
Unless there was some easy way to tell of another person's skills, Daniel was sure now that the Shopkeep could easily kill him if he wanted to.
Giving in, Daniel lowered his weapons and stepped forward. If the Shopkeep wanted to kill him, there probably wasn't much he could do against him. “Show me what you've got.”
“Gladly”, the Shopkeep said, as the blue notification window popped up in Daniel's eyes.
Shop
- Weapons
- Armor
- Tools
- Health
- Miscellaneous
Daniel found he could peruse a section just by focusing on it. The first thing he went through was the weapons list, and there was a variety of them, ranging from simple knives to rocket launchers, but they all cost a currency he had never heard of before.
“What's a parth?”
“Parth is the currency by which all items are now exchanged for.”
Though the answer was a trite obvious, Daniel thought he'd give him more information. The man answers only the questions Daniel had asked of him, never elaborating further.
“And how do I get Parths? Can I exchange USD for it?”
The Shopkeep heartily laughed and said, “That currency holds no ground here. I will exchange Parths for useful items.”
“And what constitutes a useful item?”
“Weapons, armor, tools, food, medicine, and useful monster materials.”
Daniel's ears perked at this last bit. “Monster materials such as?”
The Shopkeep’s professional smile instantly turned into a wolfish grin as he replied. “You'll have to pay for that information.”
Daniel tensed for a second, the atmosphere threatening to turn, but soon the Shopkeep’s professional smile returned. He acted like Daniel had never even reached for his knife, choosing to completely ignore the action.
Lowering the crowbar back down into its makeshift holster, Daniel started checking the miscellaneous section, rhetorically asking, “The miscellaneous section, yeah?”
As if reading his intentions, the Shopkeep didn't respond, his expression unmoving.
After scrolling through the list, which included extremely useful items he wanted but could not afford, such as the Super Toilet and M113 armored personnel carrier, he found what he was probably looking for.
A book entitled “Terandine: On The Parts Of Monsters”, the title reminiscent of a work by a certain famous philosopher. It would cost him 20 Parths, which was fairly cheap, if he was to guesstimate using the values of the other items he had seen.
Wanting to double check, Daniel asked the Shopkeep, “Is this the book I'm looking for?”, certain the Shopkeep knew exactly what he had been looking at.
“That it is. As free info, for being the first person to enter my shop, I'll let you know that that book contains only rudimentary knowledge about bestial lesser creatures. Information on higher beings and other groups of creatures would be found in other books, or sometimes not at all.”
That was fairly useful knowledge, though he probably would have learned that anyways once he bought and read the book. Wishing the Shopkeep had instead given him something more useful, like a weapon, Daniel asked, “How much of a deduction would it be if I was to bring you a corpse whole?”
The Shopkeep answered, “That would depend on the corpse. For example, a whole Lesser Goblin corpse would only fetch you 2 Parths.”
Nodding, Daniel said, “Give me a minute.”
After about two minutes, Daniel re-entered the room, dragging two dead Goblins behind him. As soon as he hefted the bodies onto the counter, he remembered something, and asked, “Do you mind if I take the cloths?”
This time, the Shopkeep’s expression slightly broke, his eyes clearly amused, though his smile had stayed the same. “No, you may keep them if you wish.”
Pulling out a throwing knife, Daniel quickly cut off the loincloths and nodded to the Shopkeep. The bodies disappeared, followed by the Shopkeep holding out a hand, hints of gold glinting between his fingers.
Daniel held his hand out underneath, and as the misshapen coins dropped into them, a blue notification window popped up.
4 Parths received.
This was the most unceremonious notification window he had ever gotten, and assuming where those coins would go, he opened his Status.
StatusName:Daniel FinnleyAge:20Race:HumanLevel:1Titles:ExorcistStatus Effects:Bruised Right ArmHealth:29/30Strength:14Vitality:12Agility:14Dexterity:15Intelligence:13Perception:11SkillsIdentifyStat Points:0Parths:4
As he thought, there was a new row depicting his currency. Daniel was now sure that the Status window held a lot of other secrets, to be later unlocked.
He also noted that his health had gone up slightly, although the recovery rate was questionable.
He thanked the Shopkeep, who replied “Pleasure doing business with you”, arms once again crossed, and Daniel exited the room.
Daniel tapped his crowbar against the glass of the vending machine, the loin cloths wrapped around the end. Although it wouldn't muffle the sound of the glass shattering, it would at least lessen the volume of the initial smash.
As he slowly put more force into his taps, the glass started breaking with a crack, before it finally broke and a fair amount of glass shattered and hit the floor.
Crash!
Daniel winced at the sound, the noise echoing in the enclosed space. Putting down his crowbar, he leaned it against the vending machine, preparing it on the chance that monsters would come looking for a fight.
Daniel put down his backpack, opening up the two main pockets. He then swiftly started pulling out as many of the waters and sodas as he could, tossing them into his backpack.
If he was chased away from here because of the noise, Daniel wanted to at least be able to bring some of the essentials. The miscellaneous list had an item that would completely solve the thirst problem, but for now, it was well out of his reach.
After he filled his pack, he quickly exited the vending machine room with just a few seconds to spare. To his right, a group of three goblins were coming at him, probably to investigate the noise.
The one in front had peculiar, horn-like bumps on the top of its head, but Daniel didn't really have the time to be curious at the moment. He immediately booked it, running away from the goblins, in the direction of his room.
However, instead of leading them to his base of operations, he ran around the perimeter of the building he was currently at.
Daniel needed the Parths, but he knew he would probably get brutalized if he tried to fight the group head-on. He doesn't have the battle experience nor the idiotic confidence to fight them at the moment.
He could try to reduce their numbers with his rifle, but that horned goblin worried him. If the others were Lesser Goblins, then that one was probably a higher being. In which case, it was probably stronger than Lesser Goblins, and he already had enough trouble with those.
So, the safest choice was to lose them.
The series of dorm buildings immediately around him was collectively known as the Hilltop, for reasons unknown, as it was nowhere close to a hill. In clockwise order, starting from the building Daniel was currently at, the buildings were known as Golden, Fallen, Faerie, and Trinity.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Golden was a freshman dorm, while Fallen and Faerie were for second years. Trinity was for the honor students of either, and was also known as the Try-Hard building.
Daniel’s ID card didn't allow him access to any of these buildings, so he could only run around the outside for now. He would have to either pilfer an ID card off a body and hope it worked for one of the buildings, or smash his way in through the glass windows or doors, which he would rather not do. It was dangerous, and he didn't want to accidentally stir a hornet’s nest.
Since the goblins were the size of children, Daniel easily outpaced them. After the first lap around the building, he had made it out of sight of the goblins and he sprinted towards his room, but instead of running up the stairs, he hid behind the large garbage container unit in front of his building.
He had chosen to hide instead of rushing for the door, because while he had left the goblins’ sight, they weren't actually too far behind him. Daniel wouldn't be able to run up the stairs and unlock his door quickly enough for them not to notice him. His door had the kind of lock that took two full turns to unlock, and the circumstances didn't allow him enough time to do that.
He slowed his breath, in order to both make it harder for creatures to hear him and to allow him to better hear his surroundings.
Peeking around the corner of the garbage container unit, he watched the now-angry trio of goblins as they turned the corner of Golden and entered his field of view. Daniel could hear their angry chittering, and he smirked, happy they had lost him.
The next moment, that expression was immediately wiped from his face as the horned goblin made loud, screeching noises that pierced through the air. “Fuck”, Daniel whispered under his breath.
The damned thing was probably calling reinforcements. Regretting that he didn't try taking care of the goblins to begin with, he had to make a choice.
He could try to distract the goblins and make a break for his door, but if they saw him on the way up the stairs, his base would be compromised and eventually broken into, regardless of the reinforcements he could try to make to the door. Even if they couldn't get in, it would be a siege, one which he would eventually lose.
He could also try to drag the garbage container unit in front of the stairs and break the wheel bearings, effectively making a barrier and blocking off the stairs from normal use. Although the lip of the container was a foot or so higher than the goblins’ heads, Daniel didn't know how strong their climbing abilities were.
The process would also make a hell of a lot of noise, and they would know where he lived, but if it worked, the goblins wouldn't be able to get to his door. He could then more-or-less safely pick off the goblins with his rifle from the top of the stairs. It was a gamble, one that Daniel didn't really have a lot of time to ponder.
Making his decision, he quickly grabbed several rocks from nearby and checked that the garbage container unit's wheels were unlocked. Daniel then threw the rocks at various windows on the first floor of Golden, each farther away than the last, startling the goblin trio in the process.
Each rock was thrown with a space of a few seconds between them, giving the goblins enough time to investigate the first rock before moving onto the next. Luckily, they were stupid enough to immediately investigate each subsequent noise. If they weren't, he would have stopped after the third rock and just tried to sneak to his room.
As soon as he threw the last rock, he immediately grabbed the garbage container and pulled it towards his room. Daniel kept up the momentum of the container as he moved around towards the back of it, pushing it towards his stairs as he went.
As soon as he felt and heard the container slam against the steps, he pulled out his crowbar and smashed the back two wheel bearings as hard as he could.
Smash!
He broke the first one easily enough, but was only able to dent the second one. He didn't have time for another swing, as he could hear the goblins screeching at him from behind.
Tossing the crowbar up the stairs, he pulled himself up onto the garbage container, which he found was empty on the inside, and jumped to the stairs.
As soon as he landed, he stumbled backward, unused to both landing jumps in boots and doing parkour with all the extra weight on him. He nearly fell down the stairs, but his quick reflexes saved him, and he managed to grab the staircase railing and hold himself up.
Swearing, he ran to the top of the stairs, grabbing his crowbar on the way before setting it down again at the top. As he reached the top of the stairs, he pulled out his key and fit in the door lock, only taking the time to turn it once. He’d didn't have enough time to turn it again, since the goblins were already at the garbage container.
Daniel kept an eye on the goblins as they screeched and aggressively waved their clubs at him from behind the garbage container. He pulled out his rifle and shot as the horned Goblin started climbing over the lid of the garbage container unit.
Bang!
His rifle shook in his hands with the shot, the smell of lead reaching his nostrils. The critical hit window appeared for a second before he immediately willed it away.
The goblin, dazed but not out, only halted momentarily, crying in anger before continuing his climb into the dumpster. Daniel grimaced, swearing as he set the butt of the rifle on his thigh, cocked it, and loaded a pellet into it before snapping it back to its original position.
This had taken up several more seconds than he would have liked, and the horned goblin was already almost out of the garbage container. One of the Lesser Goblins had started climbing into the bin, while the last one was still waving its club at him and screeching.
Daniel waited for the Goblin to stabilize its position at the bottom of the stairs before taking the next shot.
Bang!
He feared that the goblin wouldn't go down like this, and he willed away another critical hit window. He would need to learn how to get rid of these, or at least not have it in the center of his vision; it was extremely distracting.
Thankfully, after he willed away the notification, he saw the goblin slump down against the garbage container, its left eye a splattered mess of blood and bits.
Unfortunately, the second goblin was already trying to climb out of the garbage container, and he didn't have time to load another pellet in.
Utilizing the staircase railing, Daniel moved down a large amount of steps at once, jumping off the steps while holding onto the rails to stabilize himself. At the end of his first bound, the Lesser Goblin was trying to reposition itself, having just climbed out of the garbage container and landed on its former companion.
Daniel pushed off the staircase hard, using the railings to make sure he didn't fall on his back, and at the end of his second bound his feet slammed into the shoulders of the goblin, pushing it back into the garbage container and causing it to fall on the horned goblin’s body.
It wailed as Daniel pulled out his tanto knife, stepped on its chest, and stabbed it through its left eye socket, plunging the blade down to its guard.
Before he knew it, the last Lesser Goblin was on him, jumping on his back and screeching in his ears before biting his shoulder.
“Oww!” he screamed, startled from the pain, and slipped off the corpse of the goblin he had just killed.
He fell backwards, landing on the goblin, who took the brunt of the force and let go of his shoulder, stunned.
Daniel immediately flipped over and put his weight against his elbow as he slammed down into the goblin’s neck. He was met with a sickening crunch and a critical hit window as he destroyed its throat.
He got up off the steps, panting and wincing in pain. He looked at his shoulder, and while the goblin hadn’t ripped off much flesh, it did bore some holes in him. He’d have to treat it later.
Pulling out the tanto knife from the corpse he had killed earlier, he made his way up to the top of the stairs. There, he loaded his pellet rifle and decided to wait.
In the immediate area around his apartment, there laid a grand total eighteen Lesser Goblins and three of those horned goblins. After the first fight, the rest were easy pickings, although the horned goblins took two pellets each to the head, which was both bothersome and worrying.
He quickly got used to speed loading his rifle during the extended battle, taking less than four seconds between each shot. He also made sure his pellet pen was fully loaded during the lulls.
Daniel had waited about ten minutes since the last group came, so he was sure there were no more reinforcements. It would be a bother to drag all those bodies to the Shopkeep, but he didn't have much of a choice. He wished he didn't have to break the wheels of the garbage container; it would be much easier if he could just cart the bodies over to the Shopkeep.
Since there was finally time, he also decided to check out his status.
StatusName:Daniel FinnleyAge:20Race:HumanLevel:1Titles:ExorcistStatus Effects:Bruised Right Arm, Punctured Left ShoulderHealth:27/30Strength:14Vitality:12Agility:14Dexterity:15Intelligence:13Perception:11SkillsIdentifyStat Points:0Parths:4
(Author's Note: Not sure why the table is doing this, will figure out later)
His health had dropped down to ninety percent. Daniel wasn't really sure whether that meant he took a lot of damage or not. As this was an important aspect to his survival, he would have to make plans later to inspect how exactly his Health coincided with the actual damage dealt to him.
He also wanted to level himself up, but either he was doing something wrong, or it just took a large amount of kills to do so. He would ask the Shopkeep about it; it would cost him Parths, but it’d likely be worth every single one.
But right now, before anything else, he needed to do some treatment on his shoulder. After pulling out his first aid kit from his backpack, he grabbed an antiseptic spray and took off his shirt. Clenching his teeth, he sprayed his bitten shoulder. The pain felt like a dozen needles were stabbing into him, and he couldn’t help but let loose a scream from his lips.
“Aaggghh!”
Working through the pain, he pulled out a healing creme and one of the larger bandage patches, which he messily applied to his shoulder. It would work for now. Hopefully, it wouldn’t get infected. He didn’t have any antibiotics, and even though he was sure he could buy it from the Shopkeep, he’d rather have it not get infected in the first place.
Sighing, he decided to work his Identification skill. Now that it was level 2, the range was slightly higher, but not enough to really be useful in the middle of battle. He would rather get a hold of an enemy's information before the battle, and he decided he couldn't really be bothered to remember to use the skill in the heat of it.
Lesser Horned Goblin
The corpse of a lesser horned goblin.
It is said that when this type of goblin further evolves, it will become a demon.
Well, the description didn't seem worrying at all.
After identifying all the bodies, his skill was at 58%, so unfortunately, it would take another twenty-one Lesser Goblin corpses to increase the skill’s level. Grinding was a bother.
Once that was done, he sighed, and trudged back up the staircase to drink, eat, and rest. The fight took a toll on him, and he needed a break. Book shopping could come later.
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Author's Note: Posted this in a rush, will fix the tables/sizing later. Thanks for reading! This is the longest chapter of the ones I've written so far, let me know if it was too much at once, still figuring out pacing and whatnot.