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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2025-06-18 08:31:27 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 1 | Index | Chapter 3 >>
The green runt was startlingly rapid and Ronan was caught unawares as it dashed the few metres across the clearing towards him. Before he could form a fist its rusty spear was set to skewer him like a kebab.
Despite the impending threat of death—either instant or from the tetanus the weathered weapon was sure to inflict—all Ronan could focus on was the lesser goblin’s flat snout. It had no nose, only two empty holes set in its grotesque muzzle.
Ronan wasn’t unfit. He hit the gym three times a week and could shift a hefty amount of weight. That didn’t help him avoid the piercing thrust of the lesser goblin.
He’d broken from his trance and shifted to the left to dodge, but the tip of the spear carved a burning gash across the side of his chest. A sharp chime rang out in his mind.
You have been hit by [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!
-6 Health [Slashing]
You are [Bleeding]!
-2 Health / second
The words suddenly appearing in his vision startled Ronan. He almost missed the lesser goblin’s second strike. A rusty speartip pierced through the glowing words like lightning from the heavens.
Only because he was expecting another attack did he manage to throw his head out of the way. As he did, he spotted a blinking icon in the corner of his eye—a drop of blood with a “2” floating next to it.
That’s handy, he mused while throwing out his ham-sized fist to grab the spear. The lesser goblin was as agile as it was ugly, sneering at Ronan as it danced out of reach.
He was too slow to escape the following thrust, wincing as the spear buried itself in his meaty thigh. Adding insult to injury, the tiny green bastard twisted the spear as it yanked it out, spraying crimson blood across the grass.
You have been hit by [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!
-15 Health [Piercing]
You are [Bleeding]!
-3 Health / second
You have been hit by [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!
-4 Health [Slashing]
You are [Bleeding]!
-4 Health / second
You are [Poisoned]!
-1 Health / second
Ronan didn’t need the irritating messages to know he was hurt. The number beside the flashing blood droplet was now 9, while a new icon of three small purple droplets had appeared along with a 1. Firing off some rapid calculations, he worked out he had 33 health left, assuming his timing wasn’t off the mark.
As if rubbing salt in the wound, three bars with numbers beside them appeared below the blood droplet, pushing it upwards. One red, one green, and one blue. From the numbers—33/60,81/90, and 50/50—he immediately knew what they represented.
Could you not have offered that option from the beginning? he cursed internally as the goblin stumbled backwards. Despite his frustrations and the burning agony in his thigh, Ronan didn’t want to let this opportunity slip from his grasp.
Gritting his teeth he stepped forward, the weight on his injured leg making it flare up like a wildfire. The lesser goblin tried to right itself but was too slow. It let out a nausea-inducing squeal as Ronan’s fist smashed into its jaw.
He stumbled forwards, his lack of technique on full display as his overexertion threw him off balance. The satisfying crunch of the monster’s jaw breaking was worth it.
Ronan grinned as he waved his arms to stay upright, but his breath caught in his throat as he felt the runt’s spear pierce his gut. This time the pain was cold, tendrils of ice that sought to drag him under.
You have been hit by [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!
-17 Health [Piercing]
You are [Bleeding]!
-5 Health / second
Everything flashed black as he briefly lost consciousness. All he saw was the sliver of red, his health down to a single point.
His life flashed before his eyes, three decades of stunning mediocrity on display. What had it all been for?
That morning he’d been nervous about presenting a spreadsheet to a bunch of guys who cared more about the size of their portfolios than their own damn families. Everything humanity placed on a pedestal had been torn to shreds by the end of the world.
Yet despite this being the worst day of his life by a herculean measure, Ronan couldn’t help but flash the ugly green bastard a bloodstained grin. With a tenth of a second separating him from death, he wrapped his sausage sized fingers around the lesser goblin’s leathery neck and squeezed.
Ronan awoke with a start, groaning as his vision unblurred. He grimaced as he sat up, wiping a filthy mixture of mud and blood from his face.
He panted like a dog on a summer’s day, reliving his final moments of consciousness. Holy fuck! That really happened. I killed a damn goblin, he realised as he started cackling like a crazed witch.
The tang of iron sat heavily at the back of his throat like a vicious hangover, but he realised nothing hurt. Brushing the dirt from his legs and ripping off his torn and ruined shirt, he saw that all the spear wounds had healed.
Other than the mud caked on like gritty frosting and the dried blood—not all of it his own—his skin was unblemished. His eyes locked onto the lines of golden text looming over him like an unwanted house guest.
You have killed [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!
+2 Copper Credits
+2 [Pugilist] Mastery
+Lesser Goblin Ears (Common)
You have leveled up to Lv.1!
You have been restored!
+1 Vitality
+1 Endurance
+1 Free Stat Point
Killing the goblin had solved two mysteries of his status. The first being what ‘Fortune’ meant. Given that he already had the luck stat, Ronan’s guess had been right on the money when he’d suspected it was a tally of his… well, money.
Unfortunately it didn’t bring any of his rather tidy assets from Earth into the equation. Given the devastating impact that the terraforming had had in just a few seconds, Ronan hadn’t expected his penthouse or any of his cars to survive anyway.
The second was what the empty mastery section would entail. Judging from the fact he’d earned 2 points in mastery for pugilism by beating the knobbly little goblin bastard to death with his bare hands it seemed rather obvious now. Hindsight was twenty-twenty.
Apparently he was still alive by the virtue and grace of their mysterious new overlords, his kill rewarding him with a level up, which in turn had restored his health and stamina. Both of those had also increased by 10 with the +1 to the relevant stats, making it clear where the three resource pools derived their value from.
There was one final message aside from the plethora of rewards, the contents of which answered his most pressing concern—the location of the goblin ears he’d been awarded and had been missing from his immediate surroundings.
Congratulations, you have cleared Stage 1 of the tutorial!
[Inventory] access has been granted at minimum functionality. Improve inventory metrics by spending system credits or through other approved means. Open inventory through mental, verbal, or spiritual command.
+10 Copper Credits
+Myriad Skills Tome (Common)
Stage 2 will begin in 1 minute!
59…
Spiritual? Maybe I should’ve listened to Georgia when she tried to explain astrology to me… Ronan scratched his temple as he read the message. With every passing moment his life was becoming more like a video game.
With a thought, he managed to open his inventory. It was a simple affair. The inhuman voice of the system hadn’t lied about minimum functionality.
Inventory [Ronan Steele]
Lesser Goblin Ears (Common)
Myriad Skills Tome (Common)
Aside from the two hilariously different items he’d acquired so far, there were eight more empty spaces in the inventory. A rather snug offering, but considering he’d had nothing in the way of extra-dimensional storage prior to today, Ronan wasn’t going to bite the hand that was feeding him.
He could also get a brief description of either item by focusing harder on a particular one. He did both in turn, unsurprised by the description of the goblin ears but intrigued by the myriad skills tome.
Lesser Goblin Ears (Common)
The ears of a lesser goblin
Myriad Skills Tome (Common)
Access the library of myriad skills and claim a fraction of its knowledge
Similar to how he’d opened the inventory, thinking about either of the items summoned them into his hands. The goblin ears were clean cut without a speck of blood, which he was immensely grateful for.
The myriad skills tome was an ancient looking leatherbound book with constantly shifting golden runes on the cover. Attempting to open it made another message flash in his eyes.
Would you like to use [Myriad Skills Tome (Common)]? This action is permanent and cannot be undone. [Myriad Skills Tome (Common)] will be consumed upon use.
[YES][NO]
Ronan had struggled against a lesser goblin. It had only been level 2. Whatever the next stage of the tutorial had in store for him, he suspected that his fists wouldn’t be enough to keep him alive.
There wasn’t a shred of doubt in his mind as he accepted the prompt.
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