Ali lay in the dirt, the scent of damp earth and rotting leaves thick in his nose. The ruin and its marker post sat in the clearing like a forgotten piece on a game board. He felt no pull to explore it. It radiated abandonment, not opportunity.
"System," he murmured, his voice barely a breath. "Analyze the clearing again. Full focus. Any immediate threats? Any reason to go over there instead of just skirting around it and continuing downstream?"
The interface responded, text scrolling with silent efficiency.
[Comprehensive Threat Scan Initiated.]
Visual Sweep: No movement in clearing or tree line opposite. No reflective surfaces suggesting hidden observers.
Thermal Analysis: Limited to ambient detection. No concentrated heat sources beyond sunlight on stones.
Auditory Analysis: Dominant sound is river confluence. No sub-frequencies suggesting breathing, heartbeat, or machinery.
Olfactory Note: User's sense of smell is limited. System detects decay (vegetation), wet stone, distant ozone (from water). No scent of recent smoke, rot-flesh, or large animal musk.
Structural Assessment: Ruin is unstable. Roof collapse risk: high. No viable shelter.
Marker Post: Non-magical (based on lack of energy signature in user's perceptive range). Cloth is weathered linen. Knot is simple, frayed. Purpose likely territorial claim, trail marker, or memorial. Data insufficient.
Conclusion: No active threats detected. The clearing is a point of geographical significance, not a tactical asset. The ruin offers no resources except potential concealment for ambush against you.
Recommendation: Skirt the clearing. Use the thicker forest cover to the south, continue downstream along the river. Exposure in the open serves no purpose.
Ali let out a slow breath. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear."
He began to shuffle backward, keeping low. As he moved, a flicker in his peripheral vision—the System's display—caught his attention. It was the skill description for [Hiking]. It still read Level 1.
A spike of irrational irritation cut through his fear. "Hey, System. The skill. It's Level 1. Not 2. The hell? I've been walking for hours."
[Query Acknowledged: Skill - Hiking.]
Current Status: Hiking (Level 1, Tier 0 / Rank F- | Lesser)
Progress to Next Level: 87%
Clarification: Level progression is based on accumulated 'effective experience'—corrected form, sustained duration, adaptation. My functions prevent regression and accelerate improvement within the bounds of your current capability. Your current activity has provided experience, but the volume is low and the quality is poor. Optimization speed is dependent on experience input. There is insufficient data to optimize faster. Reaching Level 2 is imminent. Instant mastery is impossible.
Ali blinked. It was a progress bar, and he was filling it slowly with his own flawed effort. The System was a tutor, but he still had to do the homework. Badly.
"Fine. Whatever. Let's just keep moving."
He pushed himself up into a crouch and began to move south, parallel to the river but deep enough in the tree line to stay hidden from the clearing. The ground was rougher here, sloping slightly away from the water. His [Hiking (Level 1, Tier 0 / Rank F- | Lesser)] skill hummed in the background, a constant, subtle pressure on his posture and foot placement.
He had taken maybe thirty paces when a new sound registered—not from the river, but from ahead and to the right. A rhythmic, damp thudding noise, followed by a low, chittering grunt.
He froze instantly, dropping behind a fallen log.
"What is that?" he thought, the question screaming in his skull.
[Auditory Input Analysis.]
Pattern: Repetitive, physical impact on organic material (wood/flesh). Approx. 40 meters ahead, slightly river-side.
Associated Sound: High-frequency vocalization. Non-language. Strain/exertion.
Hypothesis: Tool use (chopping) or carcass processing. Entity is smaller than previously modeled. Mass estimate revised downward.
Immediate Suggestion: Cease all movement. Assess options: 1) Wait for entity to depart. 2) Attempt wide flanking maneuver (high risk of noise). 3) Retreat to ruin clearing (exposure risk).
Ali's mouth went dry. Every instinct told him to run, to hide, to get away. But a different instinct, honed by years of gaming and horror media, stirred. The need to know. In a game, you checked the source of the sound. You scouted. Information was power. Here, information might be the difference between walking into a trap later and avoiding it entirely.
"Can you tell anything else?" he asked, but his mind was already calculating.
[Insufficient Data.] The vocalization pattern is crude. Tool use suggests sentience, but of a basic order.
Sentience. The word pinged in his mind, but it felt different now. Smaller. The thud came again, less impactful than he'd first imagined.
Curiosity, a stupid, dangerous curiosity, wrestled with his fear. What if it was something he could handle? What if it was a clue?
"New plan," he whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs. "We get closer. Slowly. I need to see."
[Warning: This contradicts primary risk-avoidance protocols. Visual identification carries high exposure risk.]
Acknowledged. Plotting cautious approach vector. Stick to densest cover. Move only during noise events.
The System didn't argue. It adjusted.
Ali began to creep forward, angling toward the sound, using each thud as cover for his own clumsy movements. His [Hiking] skill flickered, now optimizing for slow, deliberate stalking. The progress bar ticked to 88%.
He moved from tree to tree, his breaths shallow. The smell changed—a coppery, pungent undertone. Blood. And a musty, unwashed scent.
The thudding was clearer now. Each impact was followed by a wet rip.
Twenty meters. He could see a sliver of the riverbank through the trees. A small, hunched shape was working over something on the ground.
Fifteen meters. He crouched behind a thick holly bush, its leaves pricking his hands. He peered through a gap.
His brain processed the image, fitting it instantly into a thousand fantasy tropes.
It was a goblin.
Standing about four feet tall, its skin was a sickly, mossy green, stretched tight over knobby joints. It had large, bat-like ears that twitched constantly, and its face was a squashed mask of beady black eyes and a mouth full of needle-like yellow teeth. It wore ragged pelts crudely stitched together.
In its clawed hands, it wielded a sharpened piece of flint lashed to a stick—a crude axe. It was hacking apart the carcass of a large rodent-like creature, its motions frantic and greedy. It chittered to itself as it worked, stuffing dripping handfuls of meat into a grimy sack.
Ali stared, a weird cocktail of relief and terror flooding him. It was just a goblin. A basic, low-level mob. In any game, he could take it. Here, now, unarmed and shivering? It had a weapon. It was strong enough to kill that animal. Its teeth looked sharp.
Suddenly, the goblin stopped. The thudding ceased.
It lifted its head, its wide nostrils flaring audibly. It was smelling the air.
Ali stopped breathing.
The goblin's head snapped toward Ali's hiding spot. Its black eyes seemed to stare directly at the bush.
For one heart-stopping second, they were locked in place—the boy in his black hoodie, the goblin with its bloodied axe.
Then the goblin let out a startled, high-pitched shriek. It scrambled backward, snatched its meat sack, and with a final panicked glance, bolted into the undergrowth downriver, moving with shocking speed.
The clearing by the water was left with only the butchered rodent and the thick, greasy smell of goblin.
Ali remained crouched, trembling violently. The silence was deafening.
[Event Logged: First Contact - Sentient Non-Human Entity.]
Designation: Goblinoid (Standard Variant).
Behavior: Tool-using scavenger/hunter. Exhibited low-grade sentience, high self-preservation instinct. Flight response triggered upon potential detection.
Threat Assessment: Moderate to High. Physically weaker than large predators but armed, opportunistic, and likely not solitary. Encounter with a group would be fatal.
[Skill Progress: Hiking (Level 1, Tier 0 / Rank F- | Lesser) -> Level 2, Tier 0 / Rank F- | Lesser)]
Your body has adapted to sustained, cautious, and now observational movement over difficult terrain. Stamina efficiency improved. Cognitive load for controlled navigation reduced. Optimization rate increased.
He had gotten his information. It wasn't a monster from the deep. It was a goblin. A classic, filthy, cowardly goblin that ran from a rustle in a bush.
The relief was short-lived. Where there was one goblin, there were more. And it had run downriver—the direction he needed to go.
His curiosity had been rewarded. He knew what made the sound. And now he knew the path ahead was literally goblin-infested. The System's cold analysis made it clear: one was a problem. Two or more was a death sentence.
Ali slowly stood, his legs weak. He looked at the leftover gore, then downstream. The path to civilization was also the path of the goblins.
He had learned the first rule: even the "weak" monsters here were real, armed, and dangerous. The System's notification glowed in his vision, a testament to his slightly improved ability to creep through a monster's backyard.
Now he had to decide: follow the path behind the goblin, or find another way.