"This mark is wonderful," Zane thought as he sensed the changes to his body. In a matter of seconds, his body improved to a level that would require weeks, maybe months of intense training and nutrient intake. "But I should be more wary of this thing." This crest encouraged him to kill these creatures and rewarded him for it. But what if one day, it did so with human lives? Zane would like to believe he has a good moral compass, but can he resist the lure of power? He would never be arrogant enough to think it would be an easy thing.
After sighing to himself like an old man, he looked into the distance. The imminent danger was addressed, but the core issue remains unresolved: his survival. The crest did not bring him back home after killing enough goblins, so his priority has shifted to surviving. "I need food, water, and shelter since it will probably turn cold once the sun goes down."
After mulling over his situation and concocting a plan, he began looking for signs of wildlife. All life requires water, meaning he is most likely to find a river or a source of water somewhere near their nest. Trees are the best way to get a high point advantage, and so, after choosing a direction, Zane walked toward the east while leaving marks on the nearby locations to map out his trail. After about 10 minutes of searching, Zane noticed another group of goblins, forcing him to hide.
"A hunting party?" He analyzed. Their leader held a bow and three rabbits, and the other four followed behind. "Where are they heading?" Zane followed them while keeping a good enough distance. After half an hour, the forest opened up, revealing a vast open land with a habitat of goblins. Zane did not dare approach since he could identify dozens of them.
'There are at least a couple of dozen of them,' he analyzed. His first instinct was to run away from this danger, followed by what title would he receive if he could eliminate all of them? 'What am I thinking?' Zane rebuked himself. It hasn't even been an hour since he knew the mark's effects and acts of slaughter became part of his thinking pattern.
"I need to get out of here," Zane thought. With so many enemies, his only fate if he were discovered would be death. It hasn't been determined if these creatures eat human flesh yet, meaning he may suffer a fate worse than death. However, just as Zane was about to make a slow retreat, he noticed a small group of female goblins bringing a few buckets. "Is that water?"
His breathing became rapid as it was hard to contain his excitement. If he could follow their direction, he might find a stream. "It's too far to see?" Zane complained. The distance between where the forest started and the entrance of this habitat was more than 40 feet.
An idea suddenly struck him, so he took out his cellphone, opened the camera, and zoomed in. "That's more like it." The female goblins came from the north-west, and one group brought the water to a reservoir, while another handed it to a team standing in front of a cooking pot. Zane continued observing this outpost and immediately noticed a clear class division. Two rock houses stood at the center, with four wooden guard towers located around this community. The south-west contained rows of small wooden houses, and only female goblins live in this area. Meanwhile, the south-east housed all the males, who had either straw mats or just lay on the floor.
"Are they a matriarchal society?" Zane analyzed. "But why is there only one house at the center?" The answer did not elude him for too long. A female goblin dressed in a luxurious blue magic robe — well, at least, by the standards of her counterparts — while holding a staff that was too tall for her height. The atmosphere instantly shifted as the man stopped making so much noise; the woman's back straightened, and everybody lined up to await her arrival.
Even from his phone's not-so-clear pixels, Zane could see the disdain from this "noble" goblin to her own kind. After glancing at everybody for a second, another female goblin approached and whispered something. The noble suddenly became irate, and she called one of the male goblins at the front. After chatting briefly, she raised her staff and muttered something. What happened next fundamentally altered Zane's view of the world. A small fireball slowly conjured from the staff before flying into the male goblin, instantly turning it into charred charcoal.
"Magic," Zane thought as his heart began pounding. What child has never dreamed of being a magician? Unfortunately, reality will one day slap sense into them and tell them to believe in the laws of physics; this is an inevitable process for most children. And after experiencing it, Zane chose the next best thing after magic: science. But no matter how much he loved science and engineering, it's not the same thing as magic — it's not the same thing as the power to create miracles.
"I owe Ma and the elders an apology," Zane thought. To be fair, if they could have shown him concrete proof such as this, he would never have shown so much disdain for their spiritual practice. He would have embraced it, but even if they could have, they would have never passed on their knowledge to him with such a utilitarian mindset.
After killing the goblin, the noble pointed out to another one, who slowly approached while trembling. She removed a powder from a bag at her waist and held it in her left palm. The right hand raised her staff to chant in an obscure language. The powder suddenly turned into a red light that entered the male goblin's body, who immediately experienced a physical transformation: the goblin's body grew to more than five feet tall, and his skin turned red.
The creature roared to display his newfound strength, but the noble smacked him with her staff, which awakened him from his lust for power. She ordered him, and he swiftly headed to the forest. "Is he searching for me?" Zane thought. This was only a feeling, an intuition, but he had a feeling it was true; the death of the five goblin hunters was most likely the source of this noble's ire. After all, no one likes to lose their employee.
"Hmm? Why does she look tired?" Zane suddenly thought. The fact that the noble asked for a chair proved he may be onto something. "Does magic require a price? So, even magic must abide by the Law of Conservation of Energy. How fascinating." His mind was immediately stimulated as he pondered how magic could operate: what are its ceilings, lows, limits, operations, and rules? He noticed an incantation was required, but that was the limit of information he could glean from this brief interaction.
After sitting down, the noble closed her eyes. However, less than fifteen minutes later, she opened them and observed around; it was as if she was looking for something. After looking around, she paused over at the bush Zane was hiding in, with a puzzling look. "Hmm? Can she sense that I'm spying on her?" Zane thought as he stopped pointing his phone at her. Now was the perfect time to make his exit.
However, as he was about to retreat slowly, he noticed a tall, red-skinned goblin returning to the camp carrying a brown bear over his shoulder. On average, a brown bear weighs 375lbs, but this man carried it with one arm over its shoulder. The warrior handed the prey as an offering to the noble before bowing, probably an apology for failing his mission.
Zane did not care about that, as his legs trembled at the thought of such a scary creature chasing him. However, a more critical issue soon replaced his fears. Bears often lived in dens or caves, which are great places to spend the night — especially since their scent can ward off other animals.
Without much hesitation, he walked around until he reached the direction the warrior goblin came from. Carrying such a large creature left deep imprints on the ground, which made it easier for Zane to trace their footsteps even with his mediocre tracking skills. A quick zoom with his phone proved to be an immense aid in the endeavor, and soon he found a place that he deduced was where their battles took place. After searching the surrounding areas, he finally found a cave.
"Who would have thought that after all those years, the camping skills I learned to impress Cindy would become useful," Zane sighed to himself as he glanced at the flame. The heat eased his tension, but the calming atmosphere reminded him of another problem: the pain in his feet. Wrapping them with dirty rags was not an adequate substitute for footwear.
"That magical goblin was wearing shoes. I wonder if she has something in my size," Zane contemplated. However, he shook his head to remove these thoughts. Now that he had shelter, the next priority was water and food. Leaving the cave and returning to the camp, he followed the direction the female goblins brought the water. After half an hour of searching, he found a large enough stream of water. His elation was short-lived as he realized he had no containers to carry it.
"I may have to sneak into that camp and steal a bucket or pot," Zane contemplated. Otherwise, he'll have to drink the water without boiling it, which could lead to even more complications. "Let's wait for the sun to go down." Hopefully, the terrifying red-skinned warrior will revert to normal and make his life easier.
Zane's stomach had started to grumble, so he began to hunt for food by creating a few traps. During his time at MIT, he took a few classes at Harvard, one of which was about the history of engineering; honestly, it was one of the most interesting classes he had ever taken. The professor did not have them memorize or analyze a bunch of facts. Instead, he used a project approach for the class. For homework, the students had to recreate these ancient technologies, starting with hunting traps — which the professor claimed were the first signs of human engineering — and progressing through Bronze-Age forging methods, all the way to revolutionary creations during the Industrial Age. Zane had a lot of fun in that class, and today, he finally put the knowledge to use.