The fire broke out in the goblin's nest. The smell of burning wood and flesh filled the air.
Ash watched from his hiding place, feeling very guilty. But thinking about his mother, whom he lived with would be all alone by now, he hardened his heart and waited until the fire went out.
After an hour, the fire burned fiercely, but then it started to rain.
He waited in the tree until the rain stopped, however, the guilty feeling still haunting him.
He only dared to go down after the rain stopped and immediately walked to where the gemstones were.
The colorful gemstones were piled up on the ground around the nest's center.
He picked up all the gemstones at once, and a notification sound rang.
Ting.
[You have found various gemstones.]
[Will you store it in Inventory?]
[Y/N]
Feeling relieved, Ash pressed Y.
[Inventory:
⇒ Blue Gems: 8
⇒ Red Gems: 6
⇒ Green Gems: 4
⇒ White Gems: 2
Total Gemstones obtained: 20]
'Thirty more gems…' he sighed.
He was lucky to get nineteen at once, but he would have to search for the remaining thirty-one by one.
Suddenly he heard goblin's voices behind him, when he put all the gemstones into his bag.
Krik! Kriieekkkk!
He immediately turned his head and saw four goblins angrily running towards him.
'Damn, I forgot there was still some left,' he cursed himself for forgetting.
Those goblins were the ones on patrol before he burned down their nest.
Then he stood facing the charging goblins and drew his sword.
He swung his sword towards the neck of the first goblin and, without stopping, immediately stabbed the second goblin, swung his sword vertically at the third goblin, and finally turned his body while swinging his sword towards the fourth goblin.
After all the goblins he managed to deal with, he posed like a samurai who had just finished off his opponents.
The four goblins then fell to the ground and died.
'Shit! This is awesome! I really can move like that,' he thought happily.
With a grin, he sheathed his sword and began to search through each charred ruin with glee, looking for items he could gather.
And he was right, there were some gemstones and some other items like a compass that would be useful for him.
His findings brought the total number of gemstones he had collected to 22.
Then with a slight whistle, he left the charred goblin lair.
***
Ash walked through the forest once again, this time holding his compass open, trying to find the location where he saw smoke a few days ago.
'The other day, the smoke was around where the sun was just rising, so it's probably in the east.'
But suddenly, he remembered something and climbed up the tree.
It had become a habit for him to climb to the top of a tree if he wanted to rest or sleep, with tying himself to the tree with ropes. To him, trees were safer than the ground.
After arriving at a branch that he felt comfortable with, he tried to call the most important part of the game from the system.
"Game Map," he muttered softly.
Ting.
There was a notification sound, and in front of him stretched out a screen containing a vast map.
On it, there was a green dot indicating his location.
'How could I forget something as important as this?' he thought while tracing the map with his finger.
So, he found a place labeled 'Goblin's Nest,' and his dot was not far from it.
Then he saw the label, 'Show Others' on top of the map, and pressed it. Dozens of red dots appeared on the screen.
'What does the red dot mean,' he asked himself and tried clicking on one of the red dots.
Ting.
[Player Number: #99284.]
[Profession: Finder.]
'Player? Does that mean they're humans?' he thought anxiously.
He looked for the red dot closest to him and clicked on it.
Ting.
[Player Number: #43858.]
[Profession: Hunter.]
'Ah, his profession is the same as mine. I'll just try going towards him.'
With the thought that he would be able to meet a human again in this world, he walked enthusiastically towards that red dot location, which was about a hundred meters away.
But when he arrived, he did not see any humans at all.
The location where the red dot was located turned out to be a small waterfall in a river, with large rocks.
He looked around, then he tried to stand where the red dot was until his green dot merged into one with the red dot, but he still couldn't find that person.
The place where he was standing was a large rock right on the riverbank.
Confused, he called out, "Hello, is anyone there?"
Silence, no answer.
He tried again, "Hey, hello, is there anyone around?"
Silence.
But not long after, he heard a quiet answer from a male voice, "Yeah. I'm here."
The voice came from under the rock that he was standing. Bewildered, he looked under the rock and found a hole underneath it.
Inside the hole, there was a middle-aged man with his leg badly injured.
The man looked at Ash warily.
"If you want to kill me, go ahead, I can't move anymore," he said.
Ash was surprised to hear the man's words.
"Why would I kill you?" he asked.
The man looked at him again with a mocking gaze, "All the players in this game kill each other to get items."
Ash gasped.
"I didn't intend to kill anyone," he answered honestly. "In fact, I will try to save you."
"Okay," said the man. "Then go save yourself. I can't walk anymore."
But Ash climbed down the rock instead and approached the man.
"I'm not that kind of person. Let me see your wound," he said firmly.
"Hahaha. That's what everyone says when they first come to this game. I will save you, or I will not kill you," the man laughed.
Ash looked at him feeling slightly annoyed. "We'll see," he said.
He tore the man's pants with the knife he was carrying. The man was seriously injured. There was a long wound along his calf.
Then he took some first aid kit equipment from his backpack and poured antiseptic liquid on the wound.
The man groaned in pain.
Ignoring his groans, he began to bandage the wound carefully.
However, the man suddenly said, "What if I were the one who tried to kill you?"