1 Chapter 0001 『Panic』
The goblin huffed as it ran across the grassy woods.
Grrrr!
The three wolves following it all howled.
"Shit. Shit"
The goblin's tiny legs started to feel numb. Its green skin sweated intensely.
[You have run out of stamina.]
[Any further sprint will consume your life force.]
[Cautioned to stop and rest.]
"Stop? And get eaten by wolves! How idiotic!"
The goblin ran. And ran. Its bare feet stomped heavily on the ground, sometimes stepping on sharp stones.
[You have received +1 damage]
[Your legs continually experience blood loss. Damage Rate: 1 hp/min]
[Exhaustion Damage: 2 hp/min]
After a lot of dodging, running and climbing trees — the goblin managed to escape from the fangs of wild wolves.
Sigh!
The goblin sighed while hiding beneath a layer of yellow bushes.
"For the love of God, why can't those wolves just let me kill them? Why do they have to retaliate? Shitty beings!"
[Cautioned to stop blood loss. Your health has plummeted to 10%]
"Damn it."
Its tiny foot bled black blood continually. But once the goblin plucked out the little pebbles that had penetrated its foot, more blood rained down and caused its head to feel dizzy.
"Shit."
The goblin jerked its head around, searching for anything to cover up its legs. It picked up a couple of long and broad leaves.
"This should work. Hopefully."
But alas, the goblin's plan to cover its foot with leaves to prevent further blood loss backfired.
[You have covered your wounds with frat leaves.]
[You have been poisoned]
"Well shit."
[You have died]
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As always, the goblin again found himself standing in front of a giant tree.
[Respawn Complete]
"Urg! I'm tired of this! Why me? And why a bloody goblin!"
The goblin barraged the tree with its tiny fists.
"To turn a handsome and wealthy man like me into a hideous goblin? Why God, why?"
Indeed he was a goblin, but he wasn't always a goblin. It all began about two days ago.
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Zelrium rested on his bed, alone, while leafing through the pages of a novel titled [A Dragon's Voyage.]
It was a novel written by Weiss Redmore, his father. As far back as he could remember, his father was well—delusional and mad.
His father would often spend all day drinking and abuse him and his mother physically. In simple words, Weiss was a terrible father.
But one day, Weiss went too far. With his brute fists, he punched Zelrium's mother with no intent to stop. Even after she stopped breathing, he kept on punching.
Zelrium was ten at the time; seeing such a sight traumatized him. He acted on instinct, took one of the broken booze bottles, and plunged it into his father's back.
At the age of 10, Zelrium Redmore became an orphan and a prisoner.
He found the book [A Dragon's Voyage] when he visited his old house 40 years later. At this point, he was a successful man who had earned a amount that his father could only dream of.
His father was a drunkard, but sometimes he would write. Zelrium didn't know why he didn't just burn the book and instead decided to read it.
A terrible mistake, as after he reached the final page, he got sucked inside.
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Once he regained consciousness, he found himself with tiny green arms, that too in an unfamiliar world.
After that, he went through 4 phases:
1. Panic:
The goblin's heartbeat increased, his breathing became harsh. He marched across the jungle while screaming.
The goblin got eaten by the wolves and died.
2. More Panic:
The goblin found himself respawned in front of a tree. The feeling of being chewed on, the feeling of having your flesh ripped out by the vicious fangs of the wolves, the feeling of dying, all came back to him.
The goblin's heartbeat skyrocketed, his breathing became harsh. Again, he marched across the jungle while screaming.
The goblin got swallowed by a monster snake and died.
3. Even More Panic:
After getting killed, again and again, the goblin calmed down. He'd not yet accepted his situation but just calmed down.
He took a long breath.
"Now, is this a dream?"
The goblin shook its head.
"The pain felt genuine, in fact, too genuine. Damn it, since when were wolves that big? And a snake? What kind of snake can swallow a human whole?"
The goblin flinched.
"What kind of snake can swallow a human whole?"
The goblin looked at its green tiny arms and its legs. Drops of tears fell from its red eyes.
"A human"
"Am…I even a human?"
"It's not fair!"
The goblin fell on its knees and teared up for a while. To him, this was unfair. After leaving the prison, he'd worked hard. Extremely hard. With no one else to support him, he took on multiple part-time jobs to ensure his sustenance. Saving little by little, he started a fruit trade company and hustled hard till the age of 50. To him, now was the time to start enjoying his life. It was the time to use all that wealth he earned. But—being turned into a goblin right then?
It was not fair.
He could not handle the unfairness; thus, he marched across the jungle while screaming.
The goblin fell through a ravine and died.
4. Panic Intensifies:
After some gruesome cycles of getting killed, the goblin started to think and analyze.
"Those monsters...."
The goblin started to apprehend his situation while resting on the grassy land and gazing upon the clear blue sky.
"...…looked similar to the descriptions of my father's novel. And the protagonist of the novel also experienced something similar—getting dragged from his world and getting turned into a dragon."
The goblin chuckled, thinking how nonsensical the thought of getting dragged into another world and being turned into a monster was.
"But…"
The goblin raised its two fists and looked at it.
"Damn it! Even if I was transmigrated, why a goblin? Why not a angel or a dragon. Even a demon would have been better than a goblin."
The goblin sighed.
"Wait. Am I really inside that novel? or is this just another world?"
Right now, there seemed to be no way to check. In a jungle, there was no way to check the date or the name of the place.
After thinking for a while, the goblin realized that if this place was similar to the one in the novel, then the working mechanisms should also be similar.
"Profile."
The goblin murmured. Then, a screen emerged in front of its eyes.
│Zelrium Redmore│
│Titles: - │Race: Enervated Monster │ Species: Goblin │
│Physical Characteristics:│
│Health: 50 │Mana: 50 │Stamina: 50│
│Strength: 12 │Defense: 12 │Agility: 12│
│Innate Skills: [Respawn level 1][???][???][???] │
│Skills: - │
│Unique Skills: -│
"Huh. So, it's really like the novel."
According to the novel, everyone who lived on Volmaire Continent had access to a system that helped them get stronger.
"Urgh! So what? What am I even supposed to do?"
He didn't want to be strong. He wanted his money back. God knows what was going on in his real world.
"Since I'm a goblin in this world, would I be considered missing in my real world?"
The company would be stable even without him for a while. But what about his wealth? The wealth he earned through blood and sweat.
Before he could think of anything else, three wolves silhouettes emerged from the trees afar.
"Shit."
He started to run.
And now, we return to the present.
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So, the goblin was there in front of the tree, thinking…
"Just what should I do now?"
