《Earth Moving Out》


 Chapter 1 Quest Bug?

    Chapter 1


    As I open my eyes and awaken after a long sleep, I check the time on my phone while a voice mumbling in my mind confuse me. It was 12.00 a.m, still two hours away from my calculus class. I stayed up until 7.00 a.m last night playing league of legends, trying to get my skills up and stop feeding* with Leblanc**. The voice in my head still mumbling and god am I still unable to hear anything. I think of it as just my imagination and go to the toilet to wash. But as my mind gets clearer, I star distinguishing the words that I thought of as just daydreaming.


    "15 seconds until the teleport. Humans, check your status screen by thinking status, the function has been enabled. Ready yourself for the teleport. The monsters of the chosen area: Goblins- level 1 to 10."


    Heh, what''s this? Am I deluding myself into thinking that I''m going to teleport into a game world because Calculus is that much of a shitty class?.. No, impossible, the message is way too long to be just the effect of an illusion. Wait, before that. STATUS !


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Status</td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Name</td>


    <td>Alex Pearson.</td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Race</td>


    <td>Human</td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Level</td>


    <td>1</td>


    <td>0/200 exp</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Stats</td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Str</td>


    <td>9</td>


    <td>Agt</td>


    <td>11</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Int</td>


    <td>15(decreasing)</td>


    <td>Wis</td>


    <td>17</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Skills</td>


    <td>None</td>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Right after the blue screen appeared, I only got two seconds to check it before I felt my lungs against high pressure, and my vision, hearing and smelling cut off. But that state only lasted for a split of a second before the vision in front of me changed into one of a woodland, with my pajamas still on, and toothpaste all over my mouth.


    I looked around me and saw a man wearing a priest outfit. Most of his cape was white, while some golden lines decorated it, giving the priest a more prestigious look.


    He approached me with a smile covering his face, and said,


    "Hello young man, you''re one of the first travelers to this world. I''m here, your guide in the name of Isil, the almighty one,"


    I was already confused as I was, but this was out of expectation. I thought I would be randomly thrown into a nest of goblins to go through the selection all characters in novels first go through in these type of scenarios, but it seems that my worries were unfounded.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Hello, Priest. What''s going on?" I said, not really thinking about my words.


    "I am your guide in this forest. Our village is 10 miles from this position, and as stated by the almighty one. Masters of each profession are here in this camp waiting for the travelers. In this case, you." The priest says with a peaceful smile on his face.


    I am not really sure what actually happened so that all these people left their job waiting for some random fellow, just because some deity said it, and thus while being happy about it. However, I keep those thoughts in the back of my head and just ask the most helpful question I could think of at the moment.


    "What am I supposed to do?" I asked, appearing confused about my circumstances.


    The priest, with his all knowing smile, raises the tone of his voice and says


    "As per the orders of Isil, the holy one, I, and every person in this camp have quests for you. So that you traveler can become stronger, and powerful enough to face your upcoming fated trials. My quest for you is to kill 20 level 1 goblins. Here is a normal sword for you to kill those evil offsprings." The priest''s eyebrows frowned when he mentioned the goblins as clear disgust showed on his face.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Kill goblins I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Kill 20 level 1 goblins.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Item: Common Sword</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>2-4 attack power.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "The goblins can be found in a cave 100 meters to your right from here. The cave entrance is wide so you should have no problem finding it instantly."


    I check the direction he pointed at and see amidst the not so dense trees the entrance to the cave. I start heading towards its direction when I remember that I can take quests from the other persons in the camp.


    I head towards the camp which was filled with workshops and tents. I see another priest and heads towards him.


    "Hello, priest is there any service I can give you."


    "Hello, traveler, as per the orders of the holy one, my quest for you is to kill 20 level 1 goblins. Finish and get ample rewards. Here is a sword to help kill those evil demons." He says to me while handing another common sword.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Kill goblins I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Kill 20 goblins</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Item: Common Sword</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>2-4 attack power.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    As I saw the blue screens appearing before me, I stood flag battered at what to do. WTF? Is this a bug? How come I got the same quest twice?!


    * feeding is a term used in league of legends when a player dies too many times against the enemy team, and by such gives the enemy team the EXP and gold rewarded by the system for the kills.


    ** Leblanc is a champion in league of legends whose main focus is deception and high burst damage.

 Chapter 2: First Kill?

    Chapter 2


    After receiving the same quest for the second time. I tried to regain my composure as to not to scare away the priest who would probably think I went insane. I checked for another priest, found two, went towards one of them and asked him if he needed anything. He gave me the same answer as the two first priests, a quest, and a short one-handed sword. I headed toward the final one and got my fourth "Kill goblins I" quest and sword. As I stood dumbstruck at what happened, I went to the first priest again and asked him if I could do anything for him.


    "You still didn''t finish the first quest. As per the orders of the holy one, we can''t give you another quest before you finish the first one."


    Okay, I''m starting to see what''s actually going on. Maybe.. Hmm, I need to ask the other quest givers to be sure of my hypothesis.


    I walked towards the blacksmith workshop and saw a man in his thirties throwing chalks in the pit to heat it up. I waited for him to finish his work before I moved closer towards him


    "Hello admirable blacksmith, your work amazed me and I can''t help but think of ways to become a close friend with you. Are you in need of anything?" I asked in the most cheesy way I could think of.


    "Hello, young traveler. Fate indeed might want us to be friends as I am in an urgent need of materials right now. As per the orders of the holy one, this is the quest I have for you. Kill goblins and get their rusted swords for me to use as a base material for my work."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Blacksmith Apprentice I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Get 10 rusted sword.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "Thank you, esteemed master," I responded sincerely.


    I then searched for another blacksmith master, found another one, asked him for a quest and my suspicion had been confirmed.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Blacksmith Apprentice I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Get 10 rusty swords.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It seems that masters of the same professions give the same quests...


    When my suspicions got confirmed, I went to the other professions'' masters to get their quest. The first one was the tailor master as he gave me a quest to get 10 goblin''s skins and a skill called "skinning".


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Tailor Apprentice I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Get 10 goblin''s skins.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Stolen story; please report.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Skill: Skinning</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Have a 100% chance of getting the skin of a creature of the same level.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I went to the other tailor master but I was surprised to see that the results weren''t the same.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Quest: Tailor Apprentice I</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Get 10 goblin''s skins.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    There was no skill. Hmm, as expected I can''t get the same skill twice...


    Then I went to the two alchemists who told me to get 10 goblins corpse. That was the last quest I could get and thus I headed towards the cave. Then I noticed a problem. I have no inventory, how am I supposed to carry all the items I was asked for?


    I headed towards the priest and shared with him my worries.


    "Dear priest, I asked the other masters for quests to do and each of them told me to get a certain number of items. But I have no inventory, how am I supposed to carry the items."


    The priest had a weird look flash on his face, but he quickly canceled it to leave a place for a friendly smile, then he said with a soothing voice.


    "Worry not my child, the holy gave us the ability to no longer care about materials, their weight and size. His gracefulness gave us the ability to store item in an inter-dimensional storage that you can call by thinking "inventory" in your head,"


    I was pretty damn heartbroken at the level of idiocy I reached for not thinking of something so simple, then quickly, I thought Inventory in my head when my vision was covered by a screen full of empty squares. I naturally knew that this was my inventory, and those squares were the space I was allocated.


    Having my queries solved, I dashed towards the cave, ready to kick some goblin''s ass. I passed through the moderately dense woodland and reached the entrance of the cave. As I did so, I heard screeching noises and my instinct instantly kicked in, making me hide behind the bushes.


    From within the small branches, I peeked at a small goblin playing with what looked like a hammer. I readied two of my swords, one on my hand, and the other hidden in my pants and waited until the goblin became closer before launching towards him.


    The goblin instantly reacted to my jump and smashed his poorly made hammer on my head. I tried blocking it with my hands, but the became injured in the process. Blood covered my arm, and an intense pain rushed to my brain. My eyes stung and droplets of tear welled up. I raised my head, saw that the little goblin was going to smash my head once more, then I rushed towards him and bodyslammed him. The pain still confusing me and no longer able to see my surrounding clearly, I judged this reaction to be the most appropriate. The little goblin bit me in my neck, making me close to losing consciousness from fear of dying. Blood covered my eyes and it did even more so when I started randomly thrusting my sword at the back of the goblin''s head like a dagger. pieces of flesh touched my lips making me disgusted and brain ooze covered my hands and face making me close to wet myself.


    I was trying my best to calm myself down when I suddenly saw a message before me.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 Chapter 3: System trolling?

    Chapter 3


    After killing the little goblin, a weird feeling welled up my chest. I was about to vomit when I stopped myself and gulped everything back. I scratched my face and hands against the grass to take away the ooze sticking to my flesh, but a scratchy feeling encompass my face, and it reddens. My nose was full of mucus, my pants were wet with some droplet of piss, and I was overall in an utter mess. My brain was in chaos, my ears were basically shut down, and I was tunnel visioning. I looked at the corpse of the goblin and a shiver run down my spine. I look back up and a scene coming from hell greets me.


    A group of six goblins, 10 meters away from me, was coming, screeching along the way. Their deadly hammer in hand ready to smash some heads into a paste. As I saw their images becoming bigger, I pushed myself back up with both hands and tried running as fast as I could. My ragged breath hurting my chest, while the fear for my life was consuming my mind. But no matter how much faster I ran, they seemed to be faster. And, seeing a tree in front of me, I jump towards without thinking much and use it as a support to jump back into the feast. I kicked with my knee the goblin who was in the front as I was in midair and seeing that I lost balance and I''m going to fall, I bear hugged as many goblins as I could before randomly hitting down a goblin with the tip of my sword. Feeling a danger coming in, I abandoned the sword and tried to rush away with all my might, but a hammer still managed to its way to the side of my back. However, since I rushed in before the hammer could gather up momentum, no bone broke. However, the intense pain I felt couldn''t be described by words.


    After I got back up, I tried backing away from the group and check the damage I have done to them. One goblin was down, a sword still stuck in his stomach while blood and flesh oozed out from the wound, and the others were scattered with minor injuries. Seeing this opportunity, I took out another sword and rushed towards one goblin who was farther from his kin and threw a front kick right at his face. I comboed with a fast back-thrust to the stomach while keeping my body away from the other goblins. I then got back and rushed towards the incoming creatures.


    Noticing that one goblin, who was faster than his kin, was a little bit separated from them, I adjusted my trajectory towards him. Seeing him raising up his hammer ready to smash my head, I waited until he tried bashing me before dodging his attack. I then bodyslammed him and pierced his stomach with my sword. But by the time I finished the first goblin, the other were already next to me ready to turn me into a meat pump. I use the close-to-dead goblin as a meat shield and threw him towards the four remaining goblins. I the jumped towards them, sword in hand, and started randomly thrusting towards their body while b=my ragged, hot breath turns into a mad shout.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Ahhh! Damn you, shitheads, die fking already!!"


    After that mad cry, I laid back trying to catch my ragged breath, while my mind was racing with no clear thought.


    What the fuck is this shit? The shit is this?!!


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "Ahgh, what?!!" The window popup almost scaring me, I calmed myself down right after. Is this shit trolling me? Making me cry, shout and fight for my life and then giving me these shitty popups like this is some kind of game. Well fuck if it''s a game, I''m gonna get my ass refunded really hard Motherfker!!


    After venting my frustration, I notice something weird, I got only four notification, while there was clearly six goblins. I relook towards the messy corpses of the goblins to see some of them twitching. My anger spikes up and seeing their defenseless figures, I close towards them, and start back-thrusting their asses to my heart content. But in that messy situation, I slip and fall face first towards the bloodied corpses. My blue t-shirt became close to a reddish green from all the blood and gore, and my jeans became yellow from both my piss, the goblins'' piss, and their gore.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Goblin killed +10 EXP</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Overall, I was a mess, my mental state, my physical state -- everything. I can no longer think straight, and I only want to sleep. However, my instinct tells me that if I sleep next to the entrance, I''m not going to wake up from that slumber. Thus, I force my body to get away from the entrance and find a place somewhat far from the sight of goblins. My eyelids heavier than lead, I sleep instantly.

 Stronger?

    Chapter 4


    "Screeee!!"


    As I heard the goblins'' screech, I turn my eyes to face them. Ah, I wonder why I felt that this scene repeated hundreds of time. I felt weary. My head is confused and my mind is blocked, but both my brain and body tell me that I fought way more goblins than needed. I dodge rolled a hammer attack from a goblin and juked* another one who tried predicting my landing. My sword in hand, I jumped in an arched position to thrust my sword in the goblin''s belly. The familiar sensation of blood splashing into my mouth and face hit me once again, but I''m no longer fazed by it. Just, a tiny bit of disgust. I front kicked the half dead mess into its kin and jumped towards them. Predicting the coming hammers, I dodge to the down left, then slash up a goblin. Without wasting any time, I back-thrust another one to the chest before its hammer gathers up momentum, ending both lives.


    Jumping back, I try to assess the situation when I notice that several dozen goblins blocked e from all directions. Getting tensed up, I dash left and jump as far as I can. I see the hammers ready to intercept me, I change my long jumped into a 360 flying side kick, making the hammers only hit my muscles rather than my bones. A numb feeling spread through my leg, but strangely no pain. I suddenly feel a suffocating weight on my chest, while nothing was there, and strangely, I feel a surface touching my back, but no such thing exist. That moment of non-focus wasn''t left unclaimed as the dozen of goblins surrounded me, hitting me with their stone hammers, which are closer to stone axes. However, I didn''t feel any pain. The vision in front of me became filled with dirty childish faces, when suddenly these faces became foggy and faded away like a mirage.


    "Agh! ...", I opened my eyes got up by reflex. "What was that.." I mumbled.


    The bright light seeping through the branches, blinding my eyes for a second. I woke up to see the greenery of the forest in its full glory. However, that beautiful scene was quickly covered up by a popup screen.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Skill(rare): Sleep learning.</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>The ability to review situations and analyze while sleeping. No skill can be learned while sleep learning, and no exp is gotten from killing monsters.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "Hmm, what is this? That dream. Oh, so this is related to that weird dream.. weird.." I was still confused by what just happened, and my mind still foggy since I just woke up. My brain couldn''t process all the information available. However, as my mind adjusted, I got a deeper understanding of what''s going and finally wrapped my head around the skill and the dream.


    Seems like the skill makes analyzing and fighting possible even when I''m asleep. Which means I can create simulations or ponder about a problem while sleeping. I wonder which is more efficient? thinking while awake or thinking using sleep learning. hmm, I should test that later. For now. Let''s check the corpses of those goblins.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I got up from under the tree and headed towards the entrance of the cave. Much to my dismay, the corpses weren''t there. Seems like they were buried by their kin or something.


    Anyways, I had no reason to continue dallying in front of the cave and I still had to test something. Whether my fear of the goblins will trigger or not. I walked towards the cave, slowly as to not alert a large group of goblins, and I made my way through the rocky and muddy passage. The humid atmosphere made it harder to breathe, but I kept my guards up.


    "trr.." I heard the sound of some stones falling and I quickly try to hide in a concaved place of the cavern. A group of five goblins arrived. As expected, my heart didn''t panic when I saw them. Confirming my suspicion, I waited for them to approach as much as possible without them having the possibility to see me before I jumped towards them.


    "Scriieeee!!" Their screech echoing through the walls of the cave, my eardrums became irritated and started to hurt. But I tried my best to not let that make me lose focus as my eyes were solely concentrated on the stone hammers of goblins. As I reached hitting range, I did a 360 spin side kick and rushed to the side, avoiding most of the hits. Aie, it hurts, seems like sleep learning didn''t upgrade my ability to resist or tolerate pain. My focus only wavering for a split of a second, I looked back towards the group of goblins and hit with my knee the face of the closest one. I then stabbed him in the belly, used the momentum of the stab to push towards his group, then I started slashing every goblin who lost his balance. Blood gushed out and I bathed in it- unwillingly. I thrust my short sword in the chest of a wounded goblin ending his life and receiving 10 EXP as a reward. Then, seeing a fairly healthy one trying to claim the opportunity of my sword being stuck in his kin''s chest, I kicked him back to the place, and unsheathed my sword from the chest of the dead goblin. I then slashed horizontally towards the kicked goblin, and blood flowed out of his throat as a fountain. Ding after ding rang on my mind as my EXP bar was filling up. The group was finished in less than 4 minutes, and then I started checking their body.


    I remember the blacksmith quest asked me to get rusted swords. I wonder where they are?.. Wait, let me check, maybe?..


    I unclothed the dead goblins to confirm my suspicions and indeed, the rusted swords were hidden in their rags. Seems like bashing people with a stone hammer was more convenient for them than having to slash them with a sword that won''t even be better than a butter knife.


    "Anyways, that''s one thing done. Let''s get started with the skinning."


    The world here felt so real, the biggest evidence is my first fight. I and the goblin both fought for our survival, he was no first area mob ready to be slaughtered so that the player can get the EXP. It was a sentinel monster with a life of its own and a story of its own. It too desired survival more than anything else. That''s the proof that this world is real. But in this real world, how will the skinning skill work? Will I just say "Skin" and the skin will be taken out on its own.


    "Skin.." To my surprise, it actually did. A red light covered the body before it became skinless, the flesh and bone were for everyone to behold.


    I tried stopping myself fro vomiting and continued skinning the other goblins, then I put their rusty swords, skin, and body in y inventory. How did that work? Like this


    "Inventory" after I say this, a big screen appear before me, then I focus slightly harder on the object I want. A miniature holographic version appears in my vision and I drag and drop it in the square I want to drop it in. And tada! The item disappears from the world in a red light and goes to my inventory.