Day 9:
Today's quest: water.
I woke up like usual, consuming the last bit of remaining water and what food I had scavenged the days before.
The food had no taste, not that it was bland, but my mind was already planning failsafes or worst cases scenarios in case water proved impossible to collect by any means necessary.
I rearranged my day, opting to train and meditate during the day, my throat was an arid desert after the workout, but my meditation helped me focus on something else: the voices.
As time flowed, more and more voices, some with increasingly higher tones, louder voices, some were capable of inflicting pain on my very being despite being barely whispers and screams?!
I spent my time mostly meditating on myself but for a brief moment I thought about all those voices.
It made no sense as some of them were paradox in themselves, they were beyond my comprehension.
No.
They are beyond my current comprehension and reasoning.
That genderless whispering scream was, what was it again?
I can't remember it!
I was thinking about it just moments ago and it magically left my mind.
I looked at my watch. It was already 5 in the afternoon, I stopped thinking about that eldritch voice.
Eldritch, it was for now, maybe it was a mere prank of a higher entity, but well I have bigger and closer pitfalls to avoid.
As soon as I left the room, my family charged at me like barbarians to an innocent village.
They wanted to leave the house to which I did not see a reason as to why oppose their plans.
They opened the house's door and stepped into the hallway like usual, expecting some human interactions oblivious to all this apocalypse scenario.
Silence was the answer to their hopes.
Silence and shut doors.
I expected this, my grandma expected this, my parents and sister on the other hand were…
Astonished
Simply and utterly devastated by the lack of social interaction.
I can't say I expected anything, eons of life had taught me not to expect anything or try to foresee those people's actions and reactions, or maybe they are just dead of thirst.
Well, what can I do about it?
I exploited this opportunity to observe from a good vantage point on the roof of the goblin camp.
They were still building their dwellings using a type of wood and straw I had never seen before, not that it was a domain where I was knowledgeable to begin with.
I caught a glimpse of human activity in one of the homes near the main street.
A few hundred meters away.
Humans, far from any monsters, still live normally and with electricity a luxury we had lost for more than a week.
They will be my targets in a few days, as soon as I am sure my family will have decent stats.
Their swimming pools were obviously empty, but maybe they had some water tanks who still had some water that we could purify.
Maybe I should just end their "pathetic" lives and take that water, they don't deserve such luxury.
Disgusting, repugnant.
They are worse than manure in my eyes, but I am better.
I am just a grandson trying to avoid his grandma anymore nightmares, if this whole scenario was not hellish enough, I would avoid resorting to such lowly ways with such "people".
If the portal venture proved uneventful, I would resort to such... weak and ignoble ways.
I wished the day would go by in a flash, but I can remember every angle at which the sun did rest in the sky.
Waking up, eating some of the rations I had scavenged, talked a bit with my family and my grandma.
The portal is still as grey as the first day.
Some goblins were moving out and, in the portal, bringing with them more supplies and more construction materials.
I turned my gaze away from my future nightly destination, looking around us, looking at the street below.
We lived on the outskirts of the city.
As I gazed on the street and further beyond my homes and to a train station in the distance, I noticed something.
A wolf. (maybe a clash between 2 creatures)
With my enhanced perception, I could gauge his size, and he was probably as big as a tiger.
So, a portal somewhere on the road leading to wolves.
I turned back to look at the goblins camp, mapping it in my mind, my increased mental states or maybe the physical ones all helped my mind for this nightly venture.
There were probably more than 2 dozen goblins.
Sneaking inside would prove to be a great hurdle, except if there was something baiting them or maybe I could set fire to the camp, if they were building using wood, I could probably burn it, if that wood respected the laws of physics of my world.
Well, no need to dwell on ifs and hypothetic scenarios.
Tonight, I will see for myself what I can and shall not do.
I checked on the spirit and her goblins, and they were still fine, they had grown a lot bigger and stronger, but they were running out of food due to the rotting corpses.
The sun, oh finally, the sun decided to set.
I strapped some of the daggers and took a lighter with me and stepped for the 2nd time today out of the house, before I left my grandmother wished me luck, and told me:
"Be careful, at any signs of danger, just run, nothing is your worth your life, not this old woman's not your parents, but if you can, try saving and helping your sister, be careful out there."
We worried about nothing.
Those goblins are completely different, more advanced, civilized and helpful.
I've met with a Goblin shaman as he called himself, it was all unexpected but at least a small amount of luck in these hard times.
A story is often better told, or transcript from the start.
I reached the bottom floor slowly, breathing in, crouched, then began crawling towards the camp, that was silent, silence permeated the camp.
As I neared the nearest foundations of a new goblin's house, I did not hear the sounds of goblins, just the wind ruffling through the future houses and cold paved floor.
I continued crawling and looked inside every house that was finished or soon to be.
Nothing.
Sneak leveled up.
The smell lingered but there were no goblins, just traces of their presence here.
I went towards the portal and opened the Shop, a simple system screen opened filled with many categories, skill books, spell books, food, clothes and armor, weapons and so on.
I immediately selected water.
Drinkable Water: 1L
Cost: 10 coins
Buy
I clicked on buy and was rewarded with a cube of water floating right in front of me.
And it fell to the ground…
And during that brief moment where the realization that I needed a recipient to hold the water dawned on me, a goblin left the portal.
He was around 1m40 and wore robes while holding a staff made of some wood.
I did not hesitate and kicked him; well I tried.
My kick met something midair, a faint shimmering in the air, a shield of sorts.
He said something that was completely cryptic and unknown to me.
And before I could turn around and run for my dear life or even input some stat points in speed, I felt something traverse my being.
And then I heard it.
A voice in tune with the world, a voice so natural it seemed unreal, so soothing and invigorant.
"Hello there"
And that's how I found myself entertaining a conversation with a goblin shaman.
He introduced himself as Dart Pic, an envoy of the High Council of the Goblins' republic.
A few warrior goblins, all equipped in leather or what seemed to me like a leather armor and swords, spears and shields left the portal a few seconds after he had done so.
We talked.
I introduced myself briefly.
Then we did an exchange of questions answering, we switched forth.
He asked me about my world, our science and technology.
I asked him about his world, magic, and the system.
The goblin couldn't say much about the intricacies of the system or magic related to the system, he said it was something related to an understanding of between the system and species of different worlds to not divulge information to initiates.
Maybe he didn't want to, maybe he was lying but well, I was not in position to demand anything.
Our conversation was short lived, there wasn't much we could say to each other.
He explained to me the difference between Superior Goblins and feral ones.
I asked him about meditation, and he simply said that the voices were not to be trusted.
And that magic would soon light my path.
He provided me with some water and even offered me some food which I declined.
He warned me that our current collaboration would only last till a certain point
One thing stuck with me, the First Cataclysm, every time he mentioned I could feel the terror flicker in his eyes and the warriors behind him, it was the said point.
They quickly left and said we should meet tomorrow night.
The interaction was peculiar to say the least, he seemed under pressure.
Well, it was for the better, I brought 12 liters of water in 4 small barrels, my family was happy.
It was only when they finished clenching their thirst that they thought about sharing it with the neighbors.
I visited the goblins and their guardian spirit, I told them about those civilized goblins, we agreed on keeping this whole situation secret, I also brought her a 5th barrel of water that was given to me.
I raised my stats, I learned today the hard way, but not the harshest, I was still alive.
And so, as I write at the end of my day, maybe my last words, maybe that water was poisoned or simply the world will cease to exist, I find myself looking forward towards a tomorrow, I have so many questions that require answers, so many things to accomplish and a life to live.
I had barely begun to live my former life, I can't stop at having "lived", can I?
Only by sleeping will I know.
Health 100/100
Mana Points 0/0
Strength 20,3
Intelligence 75
Endurance 20,6
Control 70
Speed 20,3
Perception 66
Dexterity 20,3
Mentality 83
Luck 5
Recovery 5
Stat Points 11
Coins 40