As I screamed and charged, the shock and confusion on its face turned to terror, and the beast fled around the corner. Unfortunately, this told me nothing. If the world was now a game, it meant that either aggro wasn’t some absolute compulsion in monsters or the goblin had low morale, and I had put it into a feared state. If the world was now pure fantasy, then the creature was just terrified, and if the world was still real and I was just a nutcase, I had just scarred a young child for life.

It was time to wait and see, but I wasn’t going to merely hope the cops would know where to find me. I got out a few printer paper sheets and a permanent marker and wrote, “I AM MARK, THE CRAZY NAKED MAN,” on them in giant letters and taped them to my door. If anything broke down my door, I would surrender and hope to whatever god or gods there might be that goblins couldn’t read. I had to set all my thoughts aside. This was my final test. If I was psycho, I had given the world every chance they needed to lock my ass away.

Since I was already buck naked, I hopped in the shower. Hot showers always felt delightful after an in-game marathon. Bathroom breaks and food were necessities, but no serious gamer would risk a shower in the middle of a massive siege battle. We had been our patron kingdom’s last line of defense on the western frontier. Any breaks longer than three minutes were not an option, although we scheduled short naps for my weaker comrades. Very few could endure a full three days without sleep and not have their performance suffer. It was a grueling siege, but we held out till the reinforcements arrived.

I dried my hair, combed it, shaved my five-day shadow, and grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Being cut off from the world for a full five days took a toll on my appearance, although I only rarely cared. I could stay awake as long as I needed to, but my body always demanded its due with interest, and after a three-day marathon, that meant a full day and a half of sleep. I was at least presentable now. If the cops were coming, I had already traumatized a child. There was no need to be marched through the building naked too.

Now that I was cleaned up and dressed, I cooked the first hot meal I had made myself in a month: mac and cheese. I kept some dry milk around for special occasions. The fresh stuff would spoil long before I would get the chance to use it. Whether cops battered down my door or it was finally time to accept the end of the world, this might be the last chance I had for a good meal for a long time. As decadent as mac and cheese is, I couldn’t help but tear up at the thought that I would never enjoy one of those delicious everything bagels, slathered in cream cheese and stacked high with bacon, egg, and sausage again. It was likely due to extreme hunger, but at that moment, a simple sandwich bagel was my deepest heartfelt desire.

I finished my food, washed the pot, tried to call up a game menu again, and waited. And waited. And waited. I sat on my couch for three full hours, measured by the clock on my phone, which was just about the only thing it was good for now. If anyone were going to come, they would have done it by now. It was time.

I walked to the door and picked up the katana I had dropped when I came in. Carrying a sword while a S.W.A.T. team breached your apartment was an excellent way to get shot. I unsheathed it and walked into the hallway. I wasn’t met with shouting, tasers, or gunfire. There wasn’t a soul in sight. I smiled. This whole time I had been going back and forth on which would be worse, insanity or apocalypse, but now that I knew our world had ended, I was relieved. If life was now a game, I just had to do what I did best.

I kept checking over my shoulder as I slowly walked down the hallway as silently as I could manage. I heard something rummaging beyond that corner at the end of the hallway, and I breathed as softly as I could as I crept up to the edge. I peeked around the corner, and I saw the entrance to the western stairwell and elevators as well as more apartment doors. The apartments closest to the stairs had been broken into, although not in the traditional sense. Rather than breaking the door in ways that would allow it to be opened, something had hewn a hole through it just large enough for a child, or in this case a goblin, to squeeze through. The rummaging noise, as well as the sounds of delicate objects breaking, was coming from the room closest to me. I had no hope of squeezing through that small hole, especially not undetected, so I crept up to the hole, leaned against the wall beside it, and waited.

I heard the guttural grumbling of a creature inside, and while it was hard to make out over the noise it was making as it ransacked the apartment, I was absolutely certain no human tongue had ever made those noises. It sounded like only one creature was moving around and grumbling, but there was no way to be sure. I waited for some time, beads of sweat running down my brow and my back as my heart pounded in my chest before I heard something approaching the door from the other side. From the scraping sounds behind it, it was dragging something quite heavy.

My eyes were open wide, staring unblinkingly at the hole the beast had carved in the door. My arms were over my head, sweaty palms gripping my sword, and then something came through the door. I saw green, and I cleaved down with all my strength.

My aim was true, and my sword struck the beast in the middle of it’s back as it crawled through the hole, but instead of biting flesh, the honed blade struck steel. The beast had a heavy steel wrench hanging over its shoulder, tied there by what looked to be shoelaces. My beautiful katana, awarded to me for my victory in a 36-hour free for all tournament with tens of thousands of players, shattered as if it was made of glass.

I froze for an instant in shock, and then I screamed in agony as pain tore through my thigh like a knife. I looked down, and it was an actual knife in my thigh. The creature was dazed but had lunged at me while I was distracted. It hurt so much more than I could have ever imagined. Without thinking, my right hand stabbed the creature with the six inches of broken blade still attached to the hilt in my hands. The cheap decorative steel bit into the soft flesh of the goblin’s neck.

Its eyes went wide, and it immediately released its grip on the knife to clutch at my hand. It pushed away from me, and the blade slid out. The beast stumbled as blood spurted from the wound in its throat, and it coughed a torrent of blood. It looked at me, it’s black eyes full of confusion, and then it collapsed and breathed no more.

Skill Unlocked: Sneak Attack (Agility Skill) Launch an attack while undetected by your enemy. Increase damage dealt while hidden by %1 per level. Current Level: (1) Skill Unlocked: Critical Strike (Dexterity Skill) Everything has a weakness. Increase damage dealt to critical areas by %1 per level. Current Level: (1)