I look at it. Give it a long, hard look, really. It’s small, green, and overgrown with warts. Large, bloodshot eyes, and wielding a primal-looking axe.
“Yeah,” I say. “Goblin, for sure.”
At that, the little monster perks up, then screeches and lunges at Inu. I watch with curiosity as it streaks through the air. Then I catch it and slam its head into the concrete so hard it cracks.
Green blood splatters all over me, sizzling. “Oh, it’s acidic,” I say. “Mildly,” I add, scratching my skin. Inu screams in horror, looking at the scrunched up body of the monster.
I lean down, grabbing its axe. It smells horrible, and it’s poorly made. It’s too small for my hands, and the grip is slick with that same green acidic blood, wrapped in sizzling leather. Some of it gets on my nails, messing with the polish, making the black fade into a sickly grey.
Inu, my best friend, vomits.
“You okay?” I ask.
She laughs, pitifully, while crying. “Fuck no.”
I give her a nod. “Take your time.” Meanwhile, I focus on the blue box in the air.
[You have killed a lv. 1 Goblin]
When I swipe my hand through it, the box shatters and dissolves into motes of stardust, then nothing at all. I look at the sky, seeing that it’s covered in eyes. Titanic ones, spanning wider than the sun, and a myriad of smaller ones I could barely make out, as well as everything in between.
My thoughts move at their usual pace, steadily crawling forward. There was a chance I was dead or hallucinating, but that seems doubtful. If I was dead, well, might as well keep on going, and I had no history of hallucinations, personal or familial.
“Do you think the world is ending?” I ask Inu, calmly.
She chokes out a cough, wiping her filthy lips. “Might be,” she said. Her braids are messy, and her dark skin looks a little sickly under the thin make-up. I can see her hazel eyes shaking slightly as she looks down at me. She’s tall, much taller than me, and despite everything, looks reliable.
“You feel any different?” I ask.
“What?” Inu looks at me, confused.
“Powers. Magic. That sorta thing,” I reply.
She blinks at me, then laughs. “Yeah, alright. Magic, sure, I-”
Before she finishes, I swipe the axe through the air, slamming it through the head of yet another goblin. Its skull breaks, spilling hissing blood on me, making my skin itch. “I really liked that hoodie,” I say.
[You have killed a lv. 1 Goblin]
Inu yelps. “That’s horrible.”
“I know,” I say, pulling at the black fabric, coming apart in my hands. “A tragedy.”
“Not that! The killing.”
“Oh.” I nod. “Right. Terrible.”
“Terrible,” she agrees. “And no, I don’t feel that different.”
“Profile,” I try. Nothing happens.
“What are you doing?” Inu asks.
I shrug. “The goblins have levels. So, we probably do too.”
She blinks, then her face twists into a crooked smile. “Fine. Character sheet.”
“Skills,” I try. “Skill Window.”
“Inspect.”
“Appraisal.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Analysis.”
Another goblin gets ruthlessly broken into pieces by my axe.
“Status.”
That one causes a mote of starlight to appear in the air in front of me.
Name: Snow Okiyama
Floor: 0
Class: None
Job: None
Lv. 0
Heart: 1
Power: 1
Vessel: 1
Skills:
- [Suppression lv. 1]
- [Selection lv. 1]
“You’re grinning,” Inu informs me.
I touch a finger to my face, and, indeed, my lips are curled upwards. “Funny how that works, huh,” I tell her.
She shakes her head, placing it in her palm. “Of course you are. Dumbass.”
Another goblin approaches us. It’s sneaking behind a tree, planted in the small green area next to the road. Without hesitation, I sprint at it.
The creature flinches, afraid, then brandishes a knife, carved from obsidian. It looks wickedly sharp - but I slam the hatchet into its skull before it even gets to use its weapon. Then, I pick up the knife.
For a moment, I consider throwing it to Inu, then think better of it, slowly approaching her and handing it over. It’s mostly clean of blood.
“You smell like shit,” she comments.
“Good point,” I reply, moving to brush some of my hair aside. Then I pause and wipe my hand first. I don’t want the blood to mess with the white dye in it. “Let's find an area with flowing water. How long do you think infrastructure will last?”
She blows out a puff of air. “Dunno. Might be days. Might be months, if we’re lucky. Certainly a week, I’m sure.”
I nod. “Makes sense. Know any nearby rivers? Just in case.”
Tilting her head, she looks at me. “No. But I know where we can find a map. Ranger station is to the east of town.”
Without hesitation, I start walking, the axe slung over my shoulder. “Nearby grocery stores?”
“A few.”
“Gotcha. We’ll raid them on the way,” I say. I’d always wanted to steal from a store. This seems like as good a chance as any.
Inu smiles, ever so faintly, for the first time. “It’s only stealing if they need it more than you…”
“You get it.”
For a few minutes we walk in silence - well, moderate silence. Turns out, the ending of the world isn’t quiet. People are screaming, goblins cackling. There’s gunshots going off, roaring car engines, and we do our best to stay away from the roads. No sense in getting run over.
Inu looks at me, quietly following.
I look back at her. She seems to want to speak, but is unable to find the words. I sigh, internally, letting none of it show on my face. It’s okay. I like her lots, so I’ll happily bear with it. Smiling slightly, I ask her, “So. What are your skills?”
She blinks, then frowns. “Should we talk about those out loud?”
“Well, it would be helpful to know.”
“Right,” she hums. “Well. Mine are [Empathy] and [Resistance].”
I tilt my head a little. They suit her. “[Suppression] and [Selection].”
“Two each,” she notes. “A universal standard, maybe?”
I nod along. It makes sense. Two skills to start. “Probably with a chance to gain more in the future.”
Another screaming goblin, another swing of the axe…
[You have killed a lv. 1 Goblin]
[Level up! 0 > 1]
I stop in my tracks. There is a tugging at my mind, demanding to know my future path. Heart, Power, Vessel. “I levelled,” I tell Inu.
“Makes sense. You’ve been doing the killing. How many points?”
“Three,” I reply.
“Even spread?” she asks.
I shake my head. “We should test them. In which case, it will be easier to notice the differences if we specialize.” I take a long look at the stats again.
Heart, the first of the three. I stare at it, as hard as I can. There is a tingle on the back of my mind, an iron taste on my tongue. I feel a small tether, and then the feeling intensifies; that of my heart beating in my chest, of blood coursing through me, keeping me alive.
“Heart is the designated health stat,” I tell Inu.
Without hesitation, she accepts it. “Got it. What do the others do?”
I focus on power, and the tether to heart falls apart. Instead, there is a new connection. The smell of sweat, of movement, of exertion. The kind of thing that might hit you upon heading to a gym. “Power smells of strength. But it’s more ephemeral. It’s… your capacity for exertion,” I say.
“That makes no sense,” Inu chuckles. “Well, a little, I suppose. That one has the simplest name.”
“Right,” I agree. Then, finally, I tether to vessel. This one feels like an ice-cold bath, like sticking my head underwater and seeing an ocean in front of me. “It’s… capacity?” I tell her. “Feels mysterious. I love it.”
All three of my points go into it.
Lv. 1
Heart: 1
Power: 1
Vessel: 4
Electricity tingles in my fingertips. I feel deeper. The tether connecting me to the stat grows a little thicker. “I think vessel is something like… how much mana you can hold? How much you can use your skills.”
If that’s the case, then that tether I felt is probably [Selection]. It feels thin and ephemeral, a tiny touch upon the world, but it also holds more personal meaning to me than that. Selection is, in a way, what I do.
I breathe out, letting the feeling wash over me. The insistent poking at the back of my mind disappears. “Using your skills is possible with just one vessel. I used [Selection] to learn what the stats do.”
Inu smiles and nods. “I know. Been using [Empathy] to borrow some of your calm.”
That sneaky girl. “What do you want to do after we get the map?”
“Family,” she says. “My parents are probably worried.”
“We’ll head there next. Food and water first. Shelter shouldn’t be too much trouble. Afterwards…” I look at the eyes in the sky. “Levels.”