After walking to the southeast of Astia village, beyond the safe limits of the relics placed by the saintess. Danger awaited at every corner, my life in eminent peril, yet I couldn't help myself but go further, tired of holding back for the sake of my safety.

Even the quest I took, a paper with the letter E on it. Despite being a level higher than usual, it was still quite far from what I aimed for.

'What am I doing?' Ever since I had obtained my class, a part of me became distant, unusually unfamiliar. I felt myself struggling to keep this new side in check, yet I enjoyed the sense of bravery and fearlessness it brought to my heart.

'Where could these kobolds be hiding?' The vastness of the woods turned into plains with wild yellow vegetation, reaching for the level of my knees. A clear sight of danger if monsters hid there. And the furry brown beasts I hoped to find, were known for hiding, and striking their enemies by surprise.

As I was about to enter this area a part of me halted, my feet stood there immovable. Birds flew out from the center of the vegetation, causing me to take a few steps back.

'Something scared them,' slowly, I crouched, guarding my back against a nearby tree, holding the pummel of my mother's sword. A familiar sensation returned from it, calming me down.

The earth shook unlike ever before and the sound acute of pigs spread through the air. From far away, I saw a group coming in my direction, 5 big creatures, fat, pink, with pig heads. They gave a sense of danger.

I removed the sword from my sheath, preparing myself for what may follow.

A deep breath, then another, my weapon shook, turbulence beneath me increased with their every step. Then suddenly, something came out of the floor below one of them: a huge worm, a long thick body two times bigger than one of them. What I considered to be the head, abruptly opened: a lot of sharp looking teeth ready to gnaw at the orc unwillingly groaning in the air.

I considered then that a single bite of that lengthy squirming monster wouldn't kill any of them, yet as the mouth approached the orc, the white triangular tiny bones, grasped on the pink skin, causing the pig-looking creature to groan in pain. Then, an aura surrounded the worm's body, allowing it to rotate, splitting the orc in two, leaving its warm organs to fall, bloody rain to drip on the golden below.

I gulped, shaking in fear, understanding that health points meant nothing against a monster like that. Furthermore, figuring those orcs were likely stronger than me, at least, they were bigger and bulkier. Whatever thought or hope I had of defeating them, disappeared, leaving me speechless and in shock.

Too flabbergasted to speak, I thought with the little energy within me, 'where did I end up in?' 

Just how strong would one need to be to slay one of those scary-looking creatures? My heart stood there in disarray as I remained too scared to move while the other orcs did their best to escape, only for them to be hunted, one after another.

The grunts, yells of despair, the heavy sound of their insides and leftover body parts falling on the ground made. I figured with all of them dead, the creature would come for me next, however, to my fortune, it had only chased those who had tried to escape.

The fact it travelled underground made me wonder that there was a chance it felt something from the surface. After all, the way it had no eyes but still pinpointed its attacks, was quite accurate. It moved only when it was hidden and ate only during the surface.

'If I were to attack it...' then, when it was eating, defenseless, could turn out of be its weak spot, or so I hoped. Had the orcs fought to avenge their companion perhaps things could have been different, but it seemed that even beasts knew the taste of fear.

The ground shook once more, I held myself from falling by leaning on the tree, believing that I shouldn't move to not give away my position.

A group of tusk boars ran at a steady pace trampling over everything on their path. As an observer, my eyes fixated on the holes the worm had made, feeling the stench of blood prickling my nose drills. Certainly, those big animals could smell it too, especially considering they could very well be hungry.

A cycle of eating and be eaten, an unruly jungle where someone fragile like me didn't fit, unless perhaps as a dessert.

'Not again,' I bit upon my lower lip, feeling the deja vu of my companion who had been devoured by one of those beasts. Perhaps, I had avenged him alongside Tania and other adventurers. I knew I had, but seeing more of these boars made me realize the threat wasn't completely gone, therefore, the hint of trauma remained. Potentially for as long as they would be part of this world. More victims would surely come to be. They made me grin the pummel of my weapon, but I knew better than to rush at them crazily in a frenzy. The will was there, the lack of reasoning wasn't.

And to my surprise, enough to give the word shock a new meaning, the worm attempted to bite the boar from underground. Unintelligent beasts running on four legs I thought of them once. One of them was thrown into the air, groaning in pain. Yet, unlikely what happened with the orcs, the tusk boar kin lowered their heads and impaled the worm's body.

A mix of colored fluids flower, from green to red to purple, potentially its own blood and of those it ate.

It struggled, trying to escape underground, but the sharp tusks kept it on the surface, allowing the beasts to impale it over and over again till it died.

With its fall, a feast followed, even so to the harmed boar who landed badly from being thrown into the air. Bite marks persisted on its stomach, but fortunately for it, not to the point of endangering its life.

'There is no opening,' with my skills and aptitude I couldn't find a way to exploit the scenario that unfolded before my emeralds. I stored back my weapon on its sheath, hugging the tree with an arm.

'The amount of experience I could have collected if I was stronger.'

Yet, such didn't come to pass.

Abruptly, I felt an impact on the side of my head, right side of my face being forced to hit against the hard tree. I could no longer perceive the system message that came with it, but the acute pain foretold likely health loss. My consciousness subsided, leaving me vulnerable, and hopeless.

The numbness upon the awakening of my slumber dictated my consciousness had returned, despite the sloppy way my senses were still finding a way to return to norm. Not that I could complain, despite being vivid in my mind, the impact had been on point, right into my skull, jolting the bones, almost cracking them. Whoever attacked me couldn't certainly be an ally.

As my weary eyes opened, fanning away the darkness, giving way to a conflicting sight: green creatures happily danced around a fireplace.

They seemed excited about wherever their ugly feet took them: to the left, to the right, no elegance or mastery, just plain wildness.

'Where am I?'

The position they occupied over time didn't quite change, it was plain visible and obvious that their dancing skills translated to rising and lowering their knees, this while waving their arms wobble to the sides as if they were made of pasta: a cooked one. They looked small and young, still they were a specie with a fast physical growth, everything else was quite slow though. They were dumb and didn't go out of their way to change that. Their leader was always chosen by accumulated power, the strongest one would rise. Even if a small but intellectual goblin got hold of the crown, it would likely be killed by a stronger one.

I struggled, 'my hands are tied.' I did my best to remain calm, to escape without getting their attention. Only bad things would follow if they saw me awake. I was well aware of the consequences of being an adventurer, of what other races did to male adventurers: they tortured then finished them off. Worse were the female humans: these violent green creatures would go as far as to turn them into breeders. Rape them for their personal amusement till they were no longer as human. Something broken, a toy, a mindless doll.

But here was a leaderless group of young goblins that I could at least kill half of them. 'If I had my weapon...' I looked to the sides finding my mother's set made of metal, resting by a tree, far from my reach. Then I pinpointed all of them, three dancing by the fire, one disassembling a small boar with a tiny but sharp pebble. They didn't know what a sword was, or they would have used it to prepare their meal. Aside of two or three stones which they likely collected or sharpened, there were no weapons on their bodies, or anywhere else I could see.

'Not that they need,' their hands didn't have nails but claws, at times they would become bigger and sharper, potentially a skill effect, or something related to their class. Be it as it may, I could see they had tied me up with something green with a feeble appearance but somehow sturdy: vines intertwined with one another, gaining resilience through many of them working together to keep me still.

Still, I struggled to the point of making my wrists behind my back bleed. My legs were tied even tighter, impossible to get away.

'It hurts,' I didn't voice my thoughts or pain. I could tell they didn't cover my mouth so I could scream, to let them know I was awake. Despite shivering, I held my guts inside. Despite the horrors that could pass, I held myself from screaming in despair. It grew by the second turning me hopeless.

'I'm going to die,' a swift death would be the least of my problems. In preference a knight's ending, a sword thrusting my chest, through my heart, delivering an honorable ending. Or even, I wouldn't mind a death by the guillotine, rapid and likely not too painful. If it didn't get stuck against one of my bones, certainly it would be painlessly swift.

"Ah..." this time I find myself allowing a sound of relief from the many ways I died in my mind. Strangely, that which normally caused me fear, didn't make me suffer at all.

'Anything but losing myself to these things...' I whimpered finding myself in physical pain, my head hurt. Still this sensation kept my senses becoming sharper and sharper. This torturous feeling really made my brain wake up, to jolt in unison with the fast beat of my heart.

The goblins stopped dancing, turned their bodies, and stood there facing me, lecherous eyes, snarling at me as a trio.

"Filthy creatures," my voice came out shaking, fear possessing me in a similar manner as the day I once met my end, it triggered a cataclysm of my positive emotions, leaving space only for negative ones.

Notice: Your class has resonated with your emotions; a fright and an abhorrent seed have been planted within your soul. Your state of self is being negatively impacted. Further growth might germinate something related to your fame and disgrace.