charapter 0: am I a goblin?

Title: Chapter 0: Am I a Goblin?

Magical Roman Empire, the most popular MMO at the moment, managed to achieve success thanks to its peculiarities. It's a game with a map that perfectly reproduces the geography of the real world but with a classic fantasy setting that includes swords, magic, and monsters.

Basically, it's an alternate land with a fantasy setting, but historically accurate, at least partially.

The name comes from the fact that, at the beginning of the game's development, the only faction present was that of the Roman Empire; gradually, however, many other factions were added, such as the Kingdom of England or ancient Greece. It was even possible to create your own kingdom.

The faction model allowed players to follow a series of quests to rise to the top of their faction, strengthen it, and if necessary, wage war against others.

There were even gods from all mythologies present as boss characters or NPCs!

I, Damian Verde, am the highest-level player in this game.

I neglected my social and school life because of Magical Roman Empire.

Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

Why have friends when you can rule the largest empire in the world?

Yes, I admit, it's a bit sad... but let's not dwell on it.

I'm 15 years old, but since that game came out, I've skipped classes almost every day, and the few days I do show up at school, I don't have a good time.

.....

I woke up grumpy and annoyed; today I have to go to school, I've been absent for too long, and it could cause me problems.

I got up and immediately went to the living room, and my gaze fell on a family photo.

A woman in her thirties and a man of the same age were portrayed in the photo, with a boy with black hair and an annoyed look of about 7 years old between them.

It was me with my parents.

Good times, huh?

I finished getting dressed promptly, trying not to get lost in childhood memories, and went to catch the bus to school.

.....

"Oh look, Damian showed up at school again."

"Why does he still bother coming? With all those absences, he'll fail the year anyway."

"Have you seen how he's dressed? HAHAHA"

I showed up at school after a while, and these are the types of comments I receive, and they're just the ones I can hear.

But after all, I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me anymore.

I hoped the day would end as quickly as possible; that's just not my place, I prefer to be alone and play.

.....

It was just another day, I had played almost all day while my parents argued.

"Our son can't continue like this, dear, we have to do something."

"You're right, honey, tomorrow we'll have to have a serious talk with him."

I was on my bed, and I could vaguely hear what they were talking about, and I was the subject of their discussion.

A strange expression formed on my face, and I thought:

I can ignore the discussion for now, tomorrow's me will take care of it, right?

By a certain hour, I went to sleep to prepare for the next shitty day.

In the morning, I woke up, but there was a problem: I wasn't at home!

The environment was strangely humid, and the familiar warmth of my blankets was nowhere to be felt.

I could hear the constant sound of dripping water tinkling and dissolving on the ground.

There was a spectral silence..

I felt my body... strange...

I was surprised as much as scared, there's no way it ended here in my sleep; someone must have brought me here somehow!

"They must have kidnapped me," I thought, but upon further consideration, I dismissed this idea: my family is certainly not poor, but neither wealthy; kidnapping me would absolutely make no sense.

Looking around, I saw rocky walls and stalactites. The walls were gray, and a large number of paths branched out into the stone. I was in a cave.

I don't understand... there's no source of light in here, why can I see everything so clearly?

As I pondered all these questions, I heard a sound and saw something incredible.

DING!

[Interdimensional travel completed]

[Displaying host's status]

Name: Damian

Surname: Verde

Race: Goblin

Level: 1/12

Strength: 5

Stamina: 4

Agility: 6

Magic: 12

Dexterity: 5

Abilities: [Night Vision LV 1] [Innate Magical Talent LV MAX] [Assessment LV 1]

"I'm... A GOBLIN?"

Without even being able to understand what I was seeing, suddenly I heard a sound similar to the one before, but what I saw was different.

[Quest initiated]

[To return to the original world, complete at least 3 evolutions]

[Rewards: return to the original world, host's statistics and abilities unchanged when returning to the original world, ability: World travel]

"What the hell?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"