Seeing that their shaman was killed, the goblin horde became furious and their eyes turned red. They rushed Robin with reckless abandon. She met them head on and another round of bloody massacre commenced. This time without the poison goop flung at Robin, she had an easier time killing the goblins. Also because of their berserk state, the goblin brute didn’t care about collateral damage and attacked the ever fleeing robin. Killing its own goblins in the process. The archers too were in a berserk state. This affected their accuracy and they too didn’t care about killing their own allies and multiple small goblins died from an arrow to the head. Robin didn’t let the big goblins take all the kills. She did her part in slashing and stabbing every goblin that came in range. Thanks to the combined efforts of Robin, the brute, and the archers, the small goblins were wiped out leaving only them.

The brute wanted to slam its club on the ground again. This time instead of retreating, Robin pushed forward. When the club hit the ground she jumped on top of the brutes head and stabbed him with both daggers. She had to immediately escape because of incoming arrows, but thanks to her maneuver, some of the arrows also hit the brutes head. It roared in pain and swung its club around in a wide arch, doing its best to kill Robin.

She evaded as much as she could, while also getting a few hits in. This back and forth took another 15 mins before the archers let out a scream and charged at Robin and the brute.

(Ha! They must have finally run out of arrows.) Robin thought as she dodged another wide swing from the brute. The Archers pulled out jagged daggers and attempted to stab Robin but this was her battlefield and none of the archers was able to last long with Robin dealing nearly 1000 damage per hit. After the last archer died via a stab through the chin up into the brain, the only goblin that was left was the brute. Robin quickly chugged more potions and dashed to the brute. It swung its club but it was easily dodged by robin and she jumped on his head. Robin let loose a flurry of quick slashes to the back of the brutes head before it tried to grab her.

The fight didn’t last long as the brute was always a beat slower than Robin. Without all the distractions, Robin's fighting style of evading and retaliating was put on full display. The brute roared in frustration but there was nothing he could do. After another wide club swing, Robin ducked under the brute’s legs and cut away at any dangling bits. The Brute collapsed to its knees in pain. Robin took this opportunity to jump back on its head and stab down with both daggers. Impaling them deep into its skull. Two more -1850 numbers flashed and the brute gave out a death howl and collapsed to the ground. Robin followed and layed on the ground, breathing hard. More notifications appeared but she dismissed them. Mia also called but again, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.

After a few minutes of rest, Robin got up and dragged her tired body to all the fallen goblins to pick up the loot.

“If I don't get something cool from this, then I’ll riot!!” Robin complained. She didn’t even look at the items when she picked them up. Just threw them in her inventory and move on to the next shining item on the ground. It took Robin 15 minutes to find all the items. She had to backtrack to pick up the items the small goblins dropped during their chase. Once Robin felt that picking up anymore items wasn’t worth the energy, she plopped down on a crushed tree trunk and opened her notification history. When she did, two words escaped her mouth.

“HOLY SHIT!!!”

[Level Up! Acquired 15 free points]

[Level Up! Acquired 15 free points]

[Level Up! Acquired 15 free points]

[Level Up! Acquired 15 free points]

[God Hand (Pick Pocket) Activated - …

[God Hand (Pick Pocket) …

[God Hand …

[God Hand …

[God Hand … x87

[Ding~ Quest - The Chosen Part 2:

Objective: Slay 100 Fanged Rodents, 100 Tri Horned Boars, 100 Feral Green Goblins - Complete!

Reward: 2000 exp, 10 silver coins]

[Ding~ Quest - The Chosen part 3: The monsters of the first trial are just a footnote in the grand scheme of things. Report back to the priest to receive the next objective to become the chosen.

Objective: Report back to the priest]

[World Notification: Congratulations to -Unnamed- for becoming the third player to reach level 10. Rewards: C-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Uncommon Treasure Chests, 10 gold coins, and 250 Reputation Points.]

[World Notification: 3/5 reward slots have been filled. After all slots are filled, no other players will be rewarded for reaching level 10.]

[C-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Uncommon Treasure Chest, and 10 gold coins have been added to your inventory]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[Missed call from FlowingPhoenix]

[By killing 500 goblins, you have acquired the Title ‘Goblin Slayer’]

[Title slot has been added to your status screen. You can only have one title equipped. Unequipped titles will have 50% of their effect.]

[World Notification: Congratulations to -Unnamed- for becoming the second player to acquire a title. Rewards: B-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Rare Treasure Chests, 50 gold coins and 2000 Reputation Points.]

[World Notification: 2/3 reward slots for acquiring a title have been filled. After all slots are filled, no other players will be rewarded for acquiring a title.]

[B-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Rare Treasure Chest, and 50 gold coins have been added to your inventory]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[Missed call from FlowingPhoenix]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[World Notification: Congratulations to -Unnamed- for becoming the first player to kill a Field Boss solo. Rewards: A-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Epic Treasure Chests, 1 platinum coin, and 3000 Reputation Points]

[A-Tier Skill Scroll, 1 Epic Treasure Chest, and 1 platinum coin have been added to your inventory]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[Missed call from GoldenSun]

[Message from GoldenSun: Answer me!!!]

[Message from FlowingPhoenix: Call me at your convenience.]

[Message from AbsoluteZeroG: I figured you’re the person that the world messages are talking about. Call me when you can. The Crimson Fang Guild has a very lucrative offer for you.]

“Holy Shit!” Robin yelled again. There was too much information for her brain to process. Before her mind began to go crazy with excitement, she took a deep breath to calm herself. This only helped a little so she decided to handle one bit of news at a time. Starting with her levels.

Robin leveled up 4 times during the fight earning 60 free points. She already spent 30 after she became level 10 so she had 30 more to spend. After thinking about it a bit, she added 25 into Dexterity and 5 into Vitality. She decided that she would split up her future points into 8 Dex, 3 Spr, 2 str, 1 Vit, and 1 end. Splitting up her stats might make her weaker overall but surviving was more important. Relying on potions wasn’t the answer in a clutch situation.

Her current stats are…

Player ID: 1250320995 “Edit”

Race: Greater Shadow Elemental

Title: Goblin Slayer

Class: None

Level: 12 (9110/10200)

HP: 168

MP: 360

SP: 195

Vit: 15

End: 18

Str: 30

Dex: 120

Int: 10

Spr: 35

Physical Attack Power: 30(510)(510)

Magical Attack Power: 10

Physical Defense: 16 (80)

Magical Defense: 22

Free Points: 0

Reputation Points: 5250

Talent: God Hand (Pick Pocket)

Active Skills/Spells: None

Passive Skills/Spells: [Dark Vision], [Dual Wield Expert], [Stealth Mastery], [Evasion Mastery], [Assassination Mastery], [Poison Mastery]

Active effects: None

Looking at her status screen, Robin couldn’t help but frown.

“Tech, I still haven’t picked a name yet! Fine, I'll do it now. FlowingPheonix called me CrazyThief. That's what the internet is calling me but I don’t like that name. It gives away one of my powers and implies that I'm insane. I don’t like that. How about SilentNight? Nah. too Christmassy. How about something to do with my shadow elemental race? Like ShadowBorne or ShadowBog since I like to use poison.”

Robin thought furiously about her name. This was the reason why she put it off for so long. She wasn’t that good with coming up with names. Every username she came up with in the past was just her real name ‘Robin’ with the website after it. Like RobinReddit110 or RobinTwitter110.

“Sigh~ looks like I’ll have to do the usual. Ask Mia for help.” Robin said in a defeated tone. After a quick message, Mia replied even quicker like the name was a no brainer. Robin loved the name and after promising to call her asap, she immediately changed her name to it.

Player ID: 1250320995 “ShadowRaven”

Race: Greater Shadow Elemental

“ShadowRaven will take the higher plane by storm! Hahaha, I like that." Pleased with her name change, Robin moved on to the next agenda, her loot! Not only did she get some items from dead goblins she also got stuff from God Hand activations!

Most of the things she stole from the goblins were common. Just a random assortment of goblin body parts. Though there were 8 Uncommon drops, 3 rare drops, all of which were goblin flutes, and an Epic drop.

[Goblin Hide Cloak (Uncommon)

Slot: Cape

Physical Defense +15

Gives off a scent that attracts monsters.]

[Goblin Hide Boots (Uncommon)

Slot: Feet

Equip Requirements: 20 Dex

Physical Defense +25

Run faster in a forest biome.]

"Not bad, not bad. The cloak has a bit of a downside but I'll hold on to it for now. Who knows, having a way to attract monsters might come in handy later." Robin said as she moved on to the more exciting loot. Other than the flutes and the Epic drop, the loot from the goblin brute, archers, and shaman was also amazing. Thanks to her being the first to kill the boss, all of its loot had a 100% drop rate. This mechanic also pushed the players into a “Must be the first” mentality.

[Giant Spiked Club (Rare)

Type: Club - 2 handed (Blunt/Pierce)

Equip Requirements: 55 Str, 20 end

Physical Attack Power: +105

Gain active skill: Ground Pound

PAP scale: Str(C) ]

[Awe Wood Forest Bow (Rare)

Equip Requirements: 45 Dex, 20 Str

Physical Attack Power: +55

Gain active skill: Double Shot

PAP scale: Dex(D) ]

[Quick Gloves (Rare)

Slot: Hands

Equip Requirements: 35 Dex

Dexterity +10

Physical Defense +15

Gain passive skill [Archer Novice]

[Old Swamp Staff (Rare)

Type: Wand - 2 Handed (Blunt)

Equip Requirements: 40 Int, 35 Spr

Magical Attack Power: 60

Gain active spell: [Acid Ball]

MAP scale: Int(C) ]

[Goblin Chief Necklace (Epic)

Slot: Necklace

Equip Requirements: 30 Str

Strength +20

Vitality +20

Endurance +10

Note: Proof of superiority over weak goblins. May cause unintended events if worn.]

[Goblin Shamans finger (Epic)

Slot: Ring

Equip Requirements: 30 Int

Intelligence +20

Spirit +20

Gain active spell: [Swamp Barrier]

Note: Proof of sworn oath to the goblin gods. May cause unintended events if worn.]

[Goblin Medallion (Epic)

Type: Charm ‘Keep in inventory to gain effect’

All stats +5

Note: Proof goblin royalty. May cause unintended events if worn.]

Robin's eyes were in the shape of stars. The loot was too amazing. Robin looked back through her notification history and found that the Goblin Medallion was the Epic she stole from the goblin brute. All the other items were dropped from the goblin's corpses. She didn’t know what to do with all the body parts, she knew that some of them are used to make potions but she wasn’t very familiar with them. So for now she ignored them and salivated over the armor and weapons she got.

The club was powerful but she wasn’t a strength player so she skipped it. The bow and gloves were amazing and she would definitely use them in the future. She thought back to how the goblin archers harassed her and smiled when she pictured herself doing the same to other people/monsters.

The Staff and shaman ring were both great but she couldn’t use them. She put them away for Mia, thinking that she might have already reached the requirements to wield the staff and ring. Robin did equip the Goblin Chief Necklace. +50 points in stats was a little more than three level ups. She was a bit worried about the ominous note in the description but, free stats won out. Lastly, she looked at the Goblin Medallion. On the surface, this medallion was a damn good item. +5 to all stats would normally cause a bidding at the auction house but the ‘May cause unintended events if worn’ might cause way more trouble than the chief’s necklace and the shaman’s ring.

Royalty carries a lot of weight in the higher plane. That's why it was a big deal for three guilds to own their own city. You would either have to have the muscle to take over a city or become an aristocrat and be given a city. Both options take a lot of time, money, resources, and people. And now Robin has an item that only royalty should have. She has no idea what consequences would happen if the right or wrong person catches her with it.

“Should I keep it? I don’t really need the stats and I’m trying to stay away from trouble. Carrying a royal medallion around, even if it’s for goblins, might invite the wrong type of people. On the other hand, if a royal type person is looking for this, then they might reward me with better items, or a quest that would give me better items… Urrgh! Fuck it. If something happens, it happens.”

Robin kept the medallion in her inventory and moved on to the last items she got, The World announcement rewards. The system gave her A, B, and C tier skill scrolls, an Epic, Rare, and Uncommon treasure chests, 1 platinum 60 gold coins and 5250 reputation points. The Money could be ignored. Robin just received 20 platinum so an extra one didn’t even cause a stir of excitement.

The reputation points however are worth more than all the money in the world. Later, reputation points will play a pivotal role in Robin's growth. In the past/future, Robin was only able to collect 600 or so reputation points before the world ended. Now she has more than 8 times that amount. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Robin put aside the reputation points for now and moved on to the next item.

The Skill scrolls were unique in that they gave the user a random skill from their race, background or class ‘if they had one’. The user could designate which category they wanted the skill to be grabbed from. The last time Robin used one, it was a D-Tier skill scroll that cost her 20 gold coins. This was a time where the price of gold coins was at its highest and buying this emptied out all of Robin’s savings. But thanks to buying the skill she was able to survive the initial opening of the apocalypse. Now she has 3 skill scrolls, all much more powerful than the one she used.

“It’s kind of funny looking at these scrolls now. It’s only been about 7-8 hours since the start of the game and I’m already doing much better than the past/future me who played the game for 2 months straight.”

Robin’s mood fluctuated as she thought about the past and how hard she and Mia had to struggle to survive. Because of the sudden increase in players after the whistleblower incident, most of the monster farming spots were taken over and you would be lucky to get a few kills in after an hour of trying. Now, ‘baring the very beginning’ she can run around and kill as many monsters as she wants and no one can get in her way. She had more money than she knew what to do with and items the past Robin could only dream of looking at, not even owning them.

“Why am I thinking of this?” Robin said, snapping back to the present. “That was then and this is now. The only thing I have to do is move forward and get stronger. Reach a place where Mia, Mason and myself could live happily ever after.” Robin then patted her cheeks to get herself focused on the prize and back on the loot.

After the skill scrolls were the treasure chests. Each chest contains item(s) with the same tier as the chest. The downside of the chests is that you don’t know what you’ll get. Finally winning an Epic chest only to find that it contained a heavy shield when you’re a mage would suck. At least with the skill scroll, the category is already picked out so randomness is kept to a minimum. The player COULD sell the item they got from the chest and try to get one they actually need. The problem is that the price they sold it for might not be enough to buy the item they want. Robin however didn’t put much thought into it and placed all the chest on the ground. She was excited to open the chests, like a new pack of Magic or Yugioh cards.

The chests were colored and decorated with the color of the rarity of the items. The Uncommon chest was blue and a hint or sliver. The Rare chest was gold and gave off a yellow light. There were also a few red gems embedded in the lid. The Epic chest was a deep purple and looked as if it was carved out of some precious metal. Unlike the uncommon and rare chest, there was no wood used in the making of the epic chest.

“~Fwew~ That looks amazing.” Robin said as she greedily looked at the epic chest. She wasn’t impatient though and opened up the less attractive uncommon chest. When opened the chest glowed with a blue light and three items inside floated out and remained suspended in the air. Robin grabbed them and stashed them into her inventory.

[Ring of Promise (Uncommon)

Slot: Ring

Equip Requirements: 20 Int

Intelligence +10]

[Book of the Rose (Uncommon)

Type - Grimoire - 1 Handed (Blunt)

Equip Requirements: 25 Int 20 Spr

Magical Attack Power: 35

Gain active spell: [Red Vine]

MAP scale: Int(D) ]

[Dragon Scorched Iron (Uncommon)

Type: Material

Note: Iron that was burnt by a weak dragon.]

“Pretty good stuff… For Mia! Although the material is interesting. That reminds me, I need to start thinking about a class soon. But not right now, there are two more chests to open.”

After the items were taken, the chest slowly disappeared. Robin didn't care and looked toward her next target.

The rare chest, much like the uncommon chest, burst out with light when Robin opened it. The light was pretty strong and Robin had to cover her eyes a bit until the light died down. Unfortunately, only one item floated out.

[Lesser Ghost Cloak (Rare)

Equip Requirements: 25 Dex,

Physical Defense +10

Gain active skill [Hidden Body]

[Hidden Body: Your body phases out and only a transparent haze can be seen. Cannot attack while Hidden. Uses 3 SP per second. If monsters are within 10-yard radius of you, SP cost is doubled]]

“Oh! That's actually pretty good.” Robin said as she equipped the cloak. The hood was long enough to cover most of her face but transparent enough for her to see through. The cloak itself was pitch black up top but stars glittered at the bottom of it. It looked like a clear night sky. When Robin equipped the cloak, something amazing happened.

[Your skill [Stealth Mastery] Activates! [Hidden Body] evolves into [Shadow Walk]]

[Shadow Walk: You can merge with any shadow and travel through the shadow world to nearby shadows. 30-yard radius. The next attack you perform after exiting a shadow will deal double damage.

Cannot open inventory while in the shadow world.

Uses 30 SP to enter the shadow world, 10 SP per second to stay in the shadow world]

“Hot diggity damn that’s cool! I almost forgot about my other masteries.” Robin then activated Shadow Walk and the world lost its color. The shadows around her opened up to reveal a starry like place. Much like the cloak she was wearing. Thanks to the nearly setting sun, there were plenty of shadows around. Robin reached out to a shadow that was being casted by a tree and her hand went through it. Before she got carried away with exploring the shadow world, Robin deactivated Shadow Walk.

“I can explore that later." Robin said, walking towards the purple Epic chest. "I still have one more chest to open and I'm burning with excitement!"

When Robin put her hand on the chest lid, she could feel the energy contained in it. Like a power line, there was a low hum of electricity. Robin swallowed and slowly opened the chest. When the lid was just a few inches opened, the lid flung itself open and a giant purple and gold light beam shot out, up towards the sky. It illuminated the entire area and Robin was forced to close her eyes and turn away because of the immense light.

The lid also summoned the wind, as a gale swept through the surrounding area. Robin did her best to hug a nearby fallen log, afraid that she might be swept up in the wind. After 10 seconds the storm-like winds died down and so did the bright light.

Robin looked back towards the epic chest and saw 2 items floating above it. Her eyes went wide and a toothy smile bloomed on her face.

"Fucking jackpot!" Robin yelled but then her eyes narrowed and her smile turned cold. She ran to the Epic chest and quickly put the items in her inventory. She then used Shadow Walk to up into a shadow and slipped away. A few moments later a group of 10 players busted through the foliage.

"TrapHouse, did you see someone?"

"Yeah, it was just a shadow but there was definitely someone here."

"Look! The chest is still there! The loot might still be there!"

"No stupid! Can't you see that the chest is disappearing. They already took the loot!”

“Everyone spread out! They couldn’t have gotten far!”

“Arrghhh”

Just then an extremely bright red colored -6410 flashed above one of the players head. His body burst into a pile of blood colored glitter.  What remained was a figure in a starry cloak, holding two jagged daggers.

“Looking for me?” Robin said. Her face hidden under the pitch black hood. Then she disappeared into the shadows once more.