It is said that when a man is challenged, he has to face the challenge head on because challenges make life worth living. Jonathan would disagree; challenges, in his humble and in no way biased opinion sucked and were often painful for no real reason. He figured that the challenge he just received would be the same. Especially since he was sure that there would be no way to get out of it. The powers that be would make sure that even if he somehow got out of it, he would get punished for it later.

“I can’t help but think that I should have seen this coming.”

Hlaza just patted him on the shoulder before squeezing it slightly, the look on his face changing to look like something between a frown and slight constipation. Jonathan reckoned that it was the former though the latter was a distinct possibility. They hadn’t really had meals with what one would call the appropriate amount of fibre since Jonathan became Hlaza’s boss. Another thing to worry about, he supposed.

Hlaza let off a low growl, bringing him out of his thoughts. The goblins were looking at him in anticipation. It looked like he would have to answer now. Jonathan almost laughed. Like he really had a choice. Challenges given to him had to be acted upon or he was going to face consequences. The somewhat numb feeling from his left arm made sure to remind him of that.

Jonathan considered his options. On one path lay a fight in enemy territory against a creature whose strength he had no idea about and possible death. On the other path lay guaranteed mental manipulation and increased bodily paralysis...and possible death. It was a no brainer. Goblin territory it was.

‘But first’, he thought. ‘Let’s allocate the rest of the stats’

Name:

Race:

Gender:

Title(s):

Class:

Level:

Traits:

Jonathan Sipho Mthembu

Otherworld Human

Male

-

Formerly Enslaved Human

30

[Racial] Tenacity [Character] Monster in Mans’ Clothing

Attributes:

Strength:

Attack:

Defense:

Agility:

Magical Power:

Magical Mending:

Magical Defense:

Luck:

63

64 (+1)

40

76

0

0

5

50

Skill Points:

19

Skills and Magic:

Skills:

Magic:

[Quick Learner][Calm Mind][Attention to Detail][Pain Tolerance Lv.2][Will to Live][Paranoia][Temperance][Appraisal][Desperation][Starved][Mantra of Madness][Lead] [Luck of the Draw] [Cardiovascular Conditioning Lv.1] [Tomfoolery] [Rudimentary Crafting Lv.1]

-none-

Abnormal Status Condition(s)

Former Slave

Gods’ Displeasure

Crippling Madness

Your physical scars mark you forever. Your likeability towards the Octavian Empire and its allies decrease. All allies of the Empire will attack on sight.

Due to your status as an otherworldly human, you have earned the being in charge of Arda’s displeasure. You have no ability to use magic as a result and your luck decreases.

Continued use of [Mantra of Madness] will take control of your body from your mind, until you are left unable to control your body.

If he could, he would have increased his luck, it was too useful not to otherwise but the powers that be had made that impossible with the option having been greyed out on his status. His agility had become his highest stat by far. While strength and defence were arguably better stats, keeping his agility relatively high had made his life easier. In the end, he decided to put five points into defence bringing it up to 45 while inputting the rest of the points into agility bringing it up to 90. Jonathan felt a certain satisfaction having both of the stats become a multiple of 5. He felt the satisfaction increase when he realised that his agility was perfectly divisible by his defence.

Hlaza emitted a low growl, reminding Jonathan of the journey before them.

Jonathan sighed, nodded and Hlaza let out a low howl before slapping his chest with his right hand followed by a small huff. The goblins returned to guiding them to their camp without further ado.

Goblin Territory looked unsurprisingly like the rest of Viridi forest. Besides symbols carved into trees in regular intervals and the occasional huff to remind them that they were being watched, it was a very pleasant stroll indeed. Though the goblins that they saw along the path did serve as a reminder of the fact that they were stuck firmly in enemy territory now, keeping them both on edge. Internally, Jonathan felt himself say something he knew he would be repeating before the end of the day.

‘I’m going to regret coming here aren’t I.’

After about an hour of silence, Jonathan and Hlaza started to see small settlements in the form of small huts made out of twigs and grass. A short glance into the huts showed that these huts belonged to female goblins, distinguishable by the fact that they covered up their chests and had a full head hair while most goblins Jonathan and Hlaza had seen covered up only through the use of a loin cloth and were largely bald. Otherwise they looked about the same.

The settlements started to get more common as they walked and soon they found themselves near a large wooden wall built out of logs and tied together by ropes made up of what looked like plant matter. A fort. The goblins had either built themselves a fort or found one to inhabit.

Before Jonathan could wrap his head around it though, the goblins in front of them stopped and howled. Immediately the part of the wall in front of them separated before falling outward in their general direction. After jumping out of the way of the log gate, Jonathan and Hlaza stood up and noticed a quartet of goblins in crude leather armour walk out the gate look around slightly confused before grunting at each other before the one in the front grunted and shrugged. The others seemed to agree with this sentiment because they stopped grunting and shrugged too before turning attention to Jonathan and Hlaza.

“Come.” The lead goblin in commanded in a gruff but otherwise perfectly understandable Octavian. It took some effort for Jonathan not to react.

This was all becoming surreal very quickly. Perhaps it was his personal bias speaking but he had expected a small settlement of monsters that he and Hlaza could escape from if the going got too tough, consequences be damned. Now he was in front of a fort where he would be unable to run, surrounded by an unknown number of enemies with equally unknown levels of power. Furthermore, he was at the moment of no return. Deciding to continue from this point would mean that he and Hlaza wouldn’t be able to get out if and when they needed to. Hlaza seemed to be fairly confident though which gave Jonathan some confidence in turn. Jonathan decided to continue on.

The inside of the fort was relatively barren with a five or so twig huts pitched near the entrance, each one unguarded though from the few glimpses that Jonathan could get of the tents, they weren’t necessarily unmanned. Going in further, Jonathan saw that it was less barren going forward with rows of tents replacing the huts he was now becoming accustomed to seeing pitched around a central area in the middle of which was a large tent Jonathan was sure was the type used for parties. And funerals.

The goblins continued to lead them in between the rows until they came upon a central area. The goblins then motioned for them to stop before they moved towards the tent and huffed, in unison-or was it over each other? Jonathan couldn’t tell. In response a growl escaped the large tent which made Jonathans’ blood freeze. From the sound alone, Jonathan estimated the goblin king to be at least twice his size though he knew from experience that size didn’t matter much, not in a world ruled by game mechanics. So he steeled himself and readied his spear, it was time to face an accidental boss.

The huffing increased in volume and frequency as the goblins around him made way. The sound from inside the tent having transformed from a loud roar of intimidation into a lower more guttural hum as it exited the tent. The goblin king was a large snarling red eyed green and grey gorilla like thing which was around a head or two taller than Hlaza though it towered over every goblin present. It wore a fur poncho, a leather skirt and no shoes. In its hand it held a short sword. On its head was a garish red Mohawk and it had red handprints on its shoulders. It was followed by a single rail thin goblin that wore full leather armour with an iron chest plate and helmet. The thin goblin also held a small hand axe and brandished a buckler. The goblin king roared.

Jonathan could feel liquid pool at the nape of his neck. No matter the misgivings he had at the moment, it was time to fight. He noticed Hlaza moving to block the rail thin goblin from interfering which Jonathan was more than grateful for. He returned his sight to the goblin king just as it moved.

The goblin king closed the distance between them quickly. Much too quick for a creature of its size but Jonathans agility allowed him to move out of the way just as the goblin king ferociously swung down its sword at his head. Jonathan thrust his spear at its calf as he danced around it. The spear gouged a small gash on the leg before it bounced off as the goblin twisted around and swung towards him. Jonathan ducked under the arc of the swing as the goblin overextended itself and aimed his spear at the kings’ stomach and shuffled backwards just as he felt the spear enter the king’s stomach unsure of why exactly he did it before he felt the sword arc through where he was a moment ago.

Jonathan spared a moment to look at the goblin kings face. The king barely looked perturbed. If Jonathan was asked to describe its look, he would describe it as tranquil. Jonathan could barely process this information before he had to duck underneath another swing. The goblin king barely gave him time to breath before it continued with its onslaught, Jonathan dodging around each swing and returning wounds, superficial as they may have been, to the goblin king. These wounds made Jonathan grateful for the reach the spear gave him because he was absolutely sure that it was saving his life. Silently he promised himself that he was going to work harder to maintain it after the battle was done.

Soon, the goblin king was riddled with cuts and scratches all over its body. Despite this, it barely slowed down. Jonathan doubted if it even felt them. He couldn’t tell if it was because it had high defence, a pain reduction skill, just didn’t care or had an unholy combination of the three but the bastard just kept attacking. No effort to defend, no effort to dodge. Just offence, and powerful offence at that. Jonathan was sure that if it was able to strike at a joint, he was going to lose a limb. And so it went for what seemed like forever before the goblin came to a sudden stop and frowned.

Jonathan capitalized on this sudden change in behaviour by aiming his spear at what he hoped was the goblins heart and thrusting it with all of his strength. The spear broke as soon as the tip reached the goblin kings chest, the force of the blow damaging Jonathans’ wrists.

As he processed this, the goblin king roared. Jonathan watched him start to expand. Its muscles exploded outwards as large volumes of steam rose up out of its mouth. Where before it was only a head or two taller than Jonathan, it now truly towered over him. It had red glowing eyes with no pupil and gave off a malicious aura, as if merely being in its presence would result in the death of whoever dared. Still, the goblin king bled, its injuries still as open as they were before. If anything, it bled more than it had only a few moments before, if only because there was more of it to bleed. Still, Jonathan only had a single word to say in response.

“Shit.”

Jonathan readied his short sword. It was time for round two.