Zane suddenly felt a deep pain in his arm and woke up. Thinking that someone was attacking him, the knife in his key-chain — which he slept with underneath his pillow — was already in his hand as he observed around vigilantly. The light from his cellphone showed there was no one around, but the pain in his left hand persisted, so Zane carefully turned the phone light on it to check the source.
"What the hell?"
A strange mark or tattoo appeared on his left hand. It resembled a circle with a snake coiling into an infinity symbol, followed by two eyes within the infinity's curling spaces. "What's going on?" Zane thought. "Did someone break into my apartment to give me a tattoo? That seems unlikely."
These thoughts hadn't settled in before something even stranger occurred. The mark started to release a blue light, and before Zane could react, the light spread throughout the room, forcing him to close his eyes. When the light sensitivity effect dissipated, he found himself in an unknown location. The sky was bright as the sun loomed overhead, and all he could see was green, suggesting he was at the center of a forest.
He held his knife tightly, trying to prevent himself from freaking out. "No service?" he thought. This was not good news, as he could not contact anyone for help. "No need to panic. As long as I stay alive, someone will eventually find me." Zane placed his phone in battery-saving mode before contemplating his next course of action.
However, a strange noise not too far away rattled him, but he kept quiet as he looked in the direction of the source. In any situation, information was vital, but gathering it could be dangerous. So, after contemplating for a moment, Zane slowly approached. A tinge of pain in his foot reminded him that he had no shoes on. He was still wearing a thin white t-shirt with blue sweatpants.
'Another variable that could impede my survival,' he analyzed. After sighing to himself, Zane gritted his teeth through the pain to continue the plan. The leaves or bushes were tall enough to hide him as he slowly approached the source of the sound. Soon, he saw a group of five green creatures, no taller than 4 feet, wearing only a loincloth and holding weapons—primarily thick sticks—with one of them holding a damaged knife.
'Wait, aren't those the creatures from countless fantasy media called goblins?' Zane wasn't much of a fan of fantasy, but he's seen these goblins somewhere. The absurdity of a fantasy creature becoming real made him frown. "Weird glowing mark, possible act of teleportation, and fantasy creatures — either I'm under severe hallucination, or Ma was right when she said magic was real in the world."
If Zane followed Occam's Razor, the existence of magic was the most logical explanation, but he wasn't prepared to completely overthrow his worldview. He needed more information before deciding, but even that was not a priority for his next course of action.
'I need to leave this place as soon as possible,' Zane thought. Despite the small stature of these creatures, he was outnumbered and without proper footing. Unfortunately for him, while he was trying to quietly sneak away, he stepped on a branch, snapping it in half.
"Damn it," Zane cursed under his breath before running away. The fear of death overcame the searing pain in his feet, but sadly, he has not escaped the limits of biology. A strange voice followed Zane, and he knew the creature was close on his tail. "This cannot go on," Zane thought as the pain became unbearable. Although the cuts on his feet were minor, they could become infected and cause more problems.
"Since I'm going to be caught, I might as well go on the offensive," Zane contemplated. The goblin was small, meaning if he caught it off guard, there was still a chance of winning. He still held his pocket knife, which was a decent weapon. The only issue was their number. "I need a way to attack them by surprise, and if possible, kill the one with the knife first."
After observing his surroundings, an idea flashed in Zane's mind, and he rushed over to the nearest tree to climb it. Years of exercising since his days in prison made him quite fit, so he slowly reached a height that the short creatures would not immediately detect, and one in which he could jump down for a sudden attack. Then, he waited.
The green creature arrived a few seconds later and looked around, puzzled. Its long ears moved as if trying to listen to the surrounding sounds to determine its prey's location. "Is it alone?" Zane pondered. It would be tremendous news if the goblins separated themselves. He observed the direction this one came from, and there was no movement or sound.
Zane was decisive. Now that all the conditions were advantageous to him, he acted swiftly. As soon as the goblin approached his tree, he jumped down to tackle the creature and pinned it to the ground. Then, he stabbed it repeatedly in the neck until no sounds or movement could be heard.
Zane was calm as he glanced at the blood on his hands and clothes. A vision of a bald man in orange clothes, drenched in blood, flashed in his mind, and he became dazed. A searing pain in his left hand awakened him from the flashback. He saw a white light fly from the goblin's lifeless body to enter the mark.
Zane frowned. 'Is this thing encouraging me to kill more?' he analyzed. Such a thought was rather unpleasant, and his first instinct was to ignore it. However, he had another not-so-reassuring thought: what if the only way to return home is to meet the kill requirement of this crest? Zane refused to think that he would not be able to return home, so he chose to think more positively, and if this is the only way to get back home to his family, these goblins must die.
"What a horrible stench," Zane complained as he removed the beast's loincloth. No way that creature has ever washed this thing in his life. But he still gritted his teeth and wrapped it around his right foot — even at the cost of possible infection. The next step was cleaning and preparation. The massive blood stain on the ground was an obvious sign of a confrontation, so Zane cleaned up as best as he could with the dirt. He then dragged the goblin's body to the nearest bush next to the ambush tree, leaving a noticeable trail, climbed back up, and waited.
As expected, another one showed up a few minutes later, and the second one suffered the same fate when it followed the trail and landed directly under the tree. According to his calculation, as long as these creatures have decent enough intelligence, they should have noticed something wrong and shown up in groups. So, for his ambush, he prepared to smack two of them with the sticks he took from the goblins to knock them out before fighting the last one standing alone. Unfortunately, he was wrong. These creatures showed up one by one until the one with the knife showed up.
"It's baffling how idiotic these creatures acted, but I'm not complaining,' Zane thought. As the last one showed up, he jumped from the tree to execute his assassination, but to his surprise, this one caught him and jumped out of the way, forcing a direct confrontation.
"This one seemed a little more alert," Zane observed. He moved his body slightly forward to slash the creature, and it responded by evading backward. "And it seems to have some experience." The goblin eyed him for a few seconds before making a strange roaring sound and rushing over. Zane did not cower; he waved his knife at the creature, forcing it to back off.
"Was he trying to intimidate me? That shows it's intelligent enough to create basic tactics," Zane analyzed. The two circled each other, trying to gauge their opponent's weak spot. As long as someone showed a weakness, one person would instantly strike.
"Wait, what am I doing?" Zane cursed at himself. How did he ignore such an obvious advantage? Without hesitation, he changed his knife for the stick. The goblin saw his action and laughed at him. Then, the creature rushed directly at him. Unfortunately, what this cretin of a creature did not understand was the concept of range. Zane was taller than it, with longer limbs and a long stick. So, as soon as he was in range, a stick hit him in the head with enormous force, instantly disorienting him. Then, more than ten attacks hit, until blood dripped from the goblin's nose and he collapsed on the ground.
"I'm glad that's over," Zane muttered. "Hmm?" His mark or crest vibrated, so he checked it out. A screen suddenly appeared in front of him:
[Title: Goblin Killer]
[As an ordinary human with no extraordinary abilities or proper training, you've hunted five goblins with only your wits and determination. Most would have cowered in fear at their presence or at the first sight of blood. Your bravery is appreciated.
[Effect: A marginal increase in stamina.]
An unknown power rushed into Zane's body, and he felt the previous fatigue from fighting these creatures vanish. Additionally, the pain in his feet completely disappeared. As a runner, he had high stamina, but even now, he felt his body was different somehow; he just couldn't exactly pinpoint it.
"So, this is the effect of this crest?" Zane contemplated.