[Woah. What the hell.]
'Yeah, what the hell indeed.' The thought felt distant, detached from the boiling rage still simmering inside him. He wasn't thinking, not really. Just… reacting. Burning.
The goblin closest to him seemed to snap out of its terror, screeching again – a sound thick with rage and maybe fear now. It lunged, jagged knife held low.
Fast. Too fast for his old self. But now…
Everything slowed down. He saw the lunge coming, saw the crude arc of the knife. Saw the patches of dirt on its green skin. Saw the malice in its eyes. It was like watching a recording on pause-and-play.
Without conscious thought, his free hand darted down, fingers closing around a fist-sized rock half-buried in the mud. Smooth, heavy. His enhanced muscles bunched. The strange energy surged, flowing down his arm, not with agonizing pain this time, but with controlled power.
He didn't wind up. Didn't aim carefully. He just threw. A blur of motion.
CRACK.
The sound was sickeningly final. The rock connected squarely with the charging goblin's forehead. Its head snapped back with impossible force, skull collapsing inwards. It dropped like a puppet with cut strings, dead before it hit the ground.
No twitching this time. Just… still.
[Okay…] Sys's text flickered again. [That… was not INT 3 throwing. Or STR 6. Seriously, kid, what did you DO? Internal combustion followed by… sudden genius-level projectile physics?]
'Genius? Nah.' He barely registered the words. His attention snapped to the third goblin.
It wasn't attacking. It dropped its knife, turned, and bolted, scrambling away through the trees with desperate, panicked speed. Smartest one of the bunch, apparently.
'Not getting away.' The thought was cold, absolute. They hurt the girl. He was sure they hurt many before. They didn't get to run.
His eyes scanned the ground. No more good rocks in immediate reach. But there was a thick, sturdy branch lying nearby, maybe three feet long, broken off some larger tree. Jagged at one end.
He snatched it up. It felt surprisingly light in his grip, almost an extension of his arm. The fleeing goblin was already disappearing into the undergrowth.
Again, instinct took over. The energy surged. He planted his feet, pivoted his body, and hurled the branch end-over-end, like a spear. Not like he'd ever thrown a spear before, but his body just… knew how.
Thwump-GACK!
The sound was muffled by distance, but unmistakable. A choked-off cry. Then silence.
He stared in the direction the goblin had fled. Slowly, the golden glow behind his eyes seemed to dim slightly, the overwhelming surge of power receding, leaving behind a strange, vibrating exhaustion and a chilling clarity.
He looked down at the head still clutched in his hand. Greasy hair, vacant eyes, grotesque features. He dropped it with a shudder of revulsion. It landed softly on the moss.
Three dead goblins. Him. He did that.
With his bare hands, a rock, and a stick. The alley kid who ran from everything just… ripped a head off and killed two more like swatting flies.
His stomach churned. The coppery smell of goblin blood, mixed with the older, fouler scent from the girl's body nearby, filled his nostrils.
Suddenly, blue notification windows popped up, overlaying the carnage.
[QUEST COMPLETE]
Goblin Extermination
Objective: Kill all Goblins in the vicinity (3/3).
Reward: 5 Gold Coins, +10 Unspent Stat Points.
[Rewards Deposited]
Another window immediately followed, larger, edged in shimmering gold light.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Extreme Duress Condition Met.
Divine Mana Threshold Crossed.
Latent Potential Unlocked.
User Status Updated: AWAKENED
[View Updated Status?] [Y/N]
'Awakened?' He stared at the word. What did that even mean? He felt… different. Stronger, yeah, but also… hollowed out. Like something had been violently ripped open inside him.
He selected [Y]. The familiar status panel appeared, but the numbers… they weren't the same pathetic figures from before.
STATUS:
Name: Sunny
Level: 1
Class: Unassigned [AWAKENED]
HP: 18/50 [Minor Internal Damage]
MP: 35/35
Stats:
STR: 15 (+9)
VIT: 14 (+7)
AGI: 13 (+7)
INT: 5 (+2)
WIS: 6 (+2)
CHA: 5
LCK: 8
Unspent Stat Points: 10
Unspent Skill Points: 0
CURRENCY:
Divine Coins: 1 [Unique – Cannot be spent]
Gold: 15
Silver: 0
Copper: 0
SKILLS:
[Mana Circulation - Rank F (Basic)] - Acquired through reckless self-endangerment. Allows rudimentary internal mana channeling. Efficiency: Poor. Risk: Moderate.
PERKS:
[Goldflow Interface]
[Instinctive Appraisal]
TITLES:
[The Forgotten Kind]
[One Who Was Hugged]
[Goblin Slayer] – +1 damage vs Goblin-type enemies.
INVENTORY:
- Divine Coin (1) [Cannot Drop/Sell]
His stats… they practically doubled. More than doubled in some cases. Strength 15? Agility 13? Even his INT and WIS got a tiny nudge. And HP was way higher, though currently damaged. MP too. A Skill? Mana Circulation… acquired through reckless self-endangerment.
'Sounds about right.' A new Title too. Goblin Slayer.
'Awakened.' It wasn't just a power-up. It felt like… like he'd broken something. Or fixed something? He looked down at his hands, stained with mud and green blood. This new strength… it came from that place of pure, desperate rage. From finally refusing to just run, to just be… forgotten.
He glanced towards the still form of the girl the goblins had been desecrating. The sight sent a fresh wave of nausea through him. The power hadn't saved her.
Five gold coins. Ten stat points. Higher numbers on a screen. It didn't feel like much of a victory. Just… grim. He was stronger now. Awakened. But standing in the middle of a massacre he'd caused, covered in gore, feeling the ghost of that killing rage still echoing inside… he wasn't sure if that was a good thing at all.
He just felt… empty. And tired. So incredibly tired.
The adrenaline drained away like dirty water down a gutter, leaving behind a bone-deep weariness. He looked again at the carnage – the headless goblin, the one with the caved-in skull, the distant third impaled by a branch. His branch. His rock. His hands.
'Got to get away from… this.' The smell alone was making him sick.
He pushed himself through the undergrowth, putting distance between himself and the clearing. He wasn't thinking about civilization anymore, or food, or even the ten shiny new stat points waiting to be assigned.
All he wanted was quiet. A place to collapse where things weren't trying to eat him and he wasn't… ripping heads off.
He found a spot a few hundred yards away, nestled between the thick roots of another massive tree, screened by ferns. It felt relatively hidden. Relatively safe. Safer than the clearing, anyway.
He sank down onto the cool moss, his back against the rough bark. Every muscle screamed. The internal ache from his reckless mana stunt was a dull throb now, a constant reminder of his stupidity. Or maybe… desperation? He pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. The tunic was stiffening with drying goblin blood. Gross.
He closed his eyes, the images from the clearing flashing behind his eyelids. He shuddered, pressing his forehead against his knees. 'Awakened.' Felt more like… broken.
Just as the exhaustion threatened to pull him under completely, text flickered into view again, soft blue this time.
[Okay. Not gonna lie, Sunny-boy. That was… unexpected.]
He blinked tiredly at the floating words. Sys again. 'Great. Come to tell me how much I screwed up trying to use the juice?'
[For a Level 1 newbie with rock-bottom INT who ignored direct warnings about internal mana combustion… you somehow managed to not only survive but also brutally exterminate three hostiles significantly above your weight class. And trigger an Awakening.]
The text scrolled slowly, lacking its usual sharp impatience.
[You're still alive, mostly intact. Against considerable odds, I might add.]
A brief pause.
[So… yeah. Good job, I guess. Don't get used to me saying that. And maybe try not almost exploding yourself next time? Just a suggestion.]
He stared at the words. A compliment? From Sys? Buried under layers of backhanded warnings, sure, but still…
He didn't have the energy to reply, even internally. He just watched the text fade. Good job. Maybe the sassy AI wasn't entirely awful. Just mostly awful.
He let his head rest fully against the tree root. The forest sounds, the chirping birds, the rustling leaves, slowly filtered back in, washing over the echoes of shrieks and crunches.
The world felt vast, dangerous, and utterly indifferent. But right now, nestled in the roots, with the immediate threat gone and his body screaming for rest, indifference felt almost peaceful.