The goblins descend like rot seeping through bark. Their claws dig into the obsidian cliffs, leaving trails of phosphorescent sparks. In EAA, goblins were tutorial fodder—pixelated nuisances that died to basic fireballs. Here, their stench precedes them: rancid meat and fungal decay. Their eyes, glowing green slits, lock onto me.
[ Run ]
The interface's command flickers, urgent and blood-red. But my legs won't obey. Adrenaline has curdled into something thicker, a syrupy dread. The body I've stolen—lean, teenage, foreign—betrays me. Knees buckle. Lungs heave. His muscles remember starvation, not sprinting.
[ Stamina: 12% ]
"Fucking hell MOVE!"
I snarl, slapping my thigh. The sting jumpstarts something primal.
I lurch forward, boots sinking into spongy earth. The forest looms—a labyrinth of colossal mushrooms, their stems wider than redwoods. Bioluminescence pulses overhead, casting everything in fever-dream hues. Goblin shrieks ricochet off the canyon walls. Too close.
In EAA, evasion was simple: mash the dodge button and chug potions to recover any damage sustained. Here, survival demands improvisation. I skid behind a mushroom cap, its gills oozing amber sap. The goblins' footsteps skitter closer.
Think like a player, not inhabitant.
Wind affinity. 2-Star now. What did that unlock? In EAA, each star tier granted what? Bonuses? Passives? No, it allows you to cast spells of an equivalent level. In this world, 1-Star spells were called… Beginner-Class Spells yeah. And 2-Star spells? Intermediate I think.
Assuming each goblin are Apprentice-Class Monsters, they all must be rated around 3-Stars. Therefore only spells that classed 2 tier lower can harm them, anything less is futile. Lucky for me, 1-Star spells are the baseline that I reside on.
A notification blinks:
[ Try your best! ]
"My bes—what? Shut up!"
A goblin rounds the corner. Its face is a nightmare of fangs and weeping sores. It lunges, rusted dagger glinting.
Instinct overrides thought. An image of a crescent arc forms in my head. My mouth involuntary shouts
"Wind Slash!", a simple Beginner-Class (1-Star) Spell.
The stolen body pivots, fingers slashing downward—a motion he must've drilled a thousand times. The air tears.
The spell isn't mine. The incantation is a mumble of words that work. It's a guttural bark, half-remembered from some in-game spell index. But the wind obeys.
A bright green blade shreds the goblin mid-leap. Foul blood mists the air as its intestines spill. The creature collapses, twitching, as the interface chirps:
[ First Blood! ]
[ Wind Slash Proficiency: 1% ]
[ Remaining MP: 84/250]
The victory is short-lived. Three more goblins swarm from the shadows. I backpedal, Wind Slashing wildly. Each cast frays my nerves like over plucked guitar strings. Magic here should be a decreasing digit—not a raw, bodily tax. My vision blurs. Nosebleed resumes.
A goblin tackles me. We crash into a mushroom stalk. Its claws a centimeter from my ribs. I gag on its breath—rot and burnt sugar.
Intent. Incantation. Invocation.
I jam my thumb into its eye and gouge. An ear piercing screech howls.
"Burst!". An Intermediate-Class (2-Star) Spell, simple but effective.
The spell erupts point-blank. The goblin head pops, pulped by concussive wind. Brain matter travels and splashes on the other goblins pursuing. Burst's backlash slams me into a mushroom cap. Something cracks—ribs? The world spins.
[ Stamina: 4% ]
[ Remaining MP: 2/250 ]
But the remaining goblins freeze. Their heads snap upward, nostrils flaring. Then they bolt, scrabbling into the fungal undergrowth.
Silence.
"Did I… win?"
A low growl answers. They didn't flee because of the brain matter of their fallen. Not they retreated because of what I awoke.
Behind me, the mushroom I'd collided with begins to melt. Its fleshy cap sloughs off, revealing a bulbous sac underneath. The sac pulses, veined and translucent, filled with swimming shadows.
Recognition hits like an ice bath.
Myconids. A EAA mini-boss. In the game, disturbing its mushroom summoned a poison-spewing horror. Usually a 5-Star threat? But the difficulty factor, it is always in groups of 4. Here, the thing emerging is one of the worst possible outcomes. The sac splits, and a humanoid figure peels itself free—sinewy, fungal limbs, a face that's half-man, half-mushroom, mouthless and studded with spore ducts. Followed by his buddies.
"I-inhabitant ID… M-Myconid's stats…"
The interface flickers a warning of overwhelming strength recurring:
Name: Myconid
Class: Adept-Class Monster
Stats:
- Strength: Unreadable, your difference is too great
- Vitality: Unreadable, your difference is too great
- Agility: Unreadable, your difference is too great
- Intellect: 3-Star
- Stamina: 100%
Element Affinity:
Nature (Earth-Derivative Element): 3-Star
Poison (Water-Derivate Element): Unreadable, your difference is too great
Mana Remaining: 450/450 MP
"..."
…Are you serious...