My morning was very dramatic and the clocks had yet to strike 8:30 am. The outdoors greeted me with a dew covered grass, clear blue sunny skies, and the heavy smell of fresh blood. The air was so thick with it you could choke.

My AR vision thankfully came with a map, I also had paper maps I took from the store but this one kept track of my current location very similar to a navigation system.

I knew my way around somewhat, but not to the point that I felt comfortable navigating blindly. I set off walking in the general direction of town. I expected it to be two hours on foot.

"This is going to suck!"

My detect life and danger sense skills were active but it was very quiet. I knew goblins to be nocturnal creatures and this supported my theory. Every so often I would find the body of citizens I became familiar with since I moved here, they'd been completely mauled and laid out on the roads. There wasn't much discrimination from what I could tell apart from the fact that they were all males. Age wise there was young and old alike. The lack of female bodies is also typical for goblins.

Goblins are an exclusively male race. So in order to reproduce they need females of another race. They were a vile and disgusting creature that had a breeding rate on par with rabbits if they can find enough females. Now they were let loose into a world with an exceedingly high human population that doesn't really have a way to combat them, yet. They will quickly become a major problem.

I walked along what was interstate with nothing but green grass and scattered trees to my left and right, this was a very rural area and not a lot normally went on here.

Along the walk, I found time to test my magic. My new job made me a full tier mage specialized in earth magic. So far, I was capable of six spells.

1. Earth Shot, created a baseball size mass of stone and was thrown at a target

2. Earth javelin, created a spear made of complete stone

3. Earth Wall, created a wall of stone, was mostly a defensive skill

4. Ground Eater, the ground opened up a hole under a target

5. Small Earth Golem, created a small earth golem about the size of an average man to be my ally, it only lasts for one minute

6. Earth Surge, causes spikes to rise from the earth and attack a target

I also learned I can create my own stone, but it costed a lot more MP compared to using the natural earth, natural earth also did not mean asphalt or concrete, I was unable to manipulate man-made structures.

Two hours later, I could tell that I was getting to a more populated area because the bodies became more frequent. My detect life skill could also detect the presence of others in the apartments I walked by. They seemed to have bunkered themselves in. That may work on goblins, but as the day goes by it will only get harder. What will they do when their food supply dwindles? I decided to reach out to them.

This was the closest town to the store I worked for.

"IS ANYONE OUT THERE?"

A few people came to the balcony to see what was going on.

A rather large man with a beard came out onto his balcony.

"Shut the hell up dude! You're going to attract those things." His voice was filled with fear.

I quickly shot back, "Those things are goblins, and they are nocturnal it's best you move during the day to prepare for the night, arm yourselves and fight back."

More people started coming onto their balconies as I was speaking, they had a rather hopeful look in their eyes until....

"hell no! where will we go? those things killed my brother!"

"My wife."

"My husband."

The fear started to spread like a virus and they all ended up isolating themselves back in their homes.

"We will wait on the army to come."

"Yea they will sort this out."

I'm not sure if they understood the gravity of the situation they were in. I said an internal prayer for these lost souls and continued along my way. I was a non-argumentative person by nature. Who am I to force these people out of their home?

But he had a point. Where am I going? I didn't really know. It would be nice to find a nice human settlement built to combat the incoming threat instead of people like this who want to wait on their own death.

" I guess I'll keep wandering until I find a place to belong. New world same problem. "

As an orphan, you never really belonged anywhere. You go where people tell you to go when they tell you to go.

So what? I'll continue on this path until my time comes. Someone will need me somewhere.

Chapter 2

I continued walking for hours after I left the apartments, I continually detected the presence of people, but the response was the same no matter where I went. People were afraid to leave, I also couldn't convince them because I didn't know where I was going.

But not everything was bad, I stumbled upon a shopping center which took me three whole hours to empty into my storage. It was perfect. One of the stores were a warehouse bulking shopping stores that required a membership to shop from, a pharmacy, a hardware store, and even a clothing store.

I was confident I had everything I needed to survive by myself for at least ten years.

It was around 5 pm now, the sun would be setting soon, and I needed to find some shelter.

I was walking through another apartment neighborhood, but my life detection skill was discovering a staggeringly lower amount of human life here.

And then I detected the presence of four goblins....and someone else.

"Please stop! Someone help me! Please! Help me! Help me!" Someone was screaming frantically. The voice was small and feminine; it was clearly a little girl.

Around the corner she was being held down by a group of goblins, the sound of her cloth being ripped off and the cackling of the goblins made it pretty obvious what was happening.

I considered using earth magic here, but there was no guarantee I wouldn't hit the little girl too. I was still very new at this stuff after all.

Goblin grunt level 5

Goblin grunt level 2

Goblin grunt level 3

Goblin grunt level 3

Vera level 3

"She actually managed to level up too, She's the 1st I've seen. Well time to move."

I grabbed my knife; my combat machetes weren't designed to stab and were more of slashing blades.

I launched from behind the building and dashed towards the group they pick up my presence and turned to face me. I don't know what their speed was, but they were moving very slow.

My first target was the strongest of the grunts, I aimed my knife at an upward angle going up straight from his Adam's apple to the base of his brain the force caused him to leave his feet and I was already aiming for the next target. In one spin motion, I pulled my machete from the sheath on my waist and with a horizontal slash, I loped off the head of another. The goblins were still reeling from my movements and I had no intention of allowing them to mentally catch up. One of the last two goblins charged at me, but they were weaponless I'm not sure what it's plan was. I took advantage of its reckless charge and with a downward slash my machete splits its head down to its nose and was lodged in its head. The final goblin was the lowest level and tried a rear assault.

-Earth Javelin-

The attack formed in the space between the goblin and me and launched at it, completely obliterating its entire chest cavity.

There was a number of Dings! Going off in my head, but I didn't have time to focus on that right now.

The little girl, Vera, was still laying on the floor in the fetal position shaking. I took a knee next to her.

"Hey, are you ok? It's over now they won't bother you anymore you are safe now."

"..............."

No response she looked at me briefly before breaking down and the tear-free fall began. She cried and sobbed so heavily I was wondering if there was enough water in her little body for this to continue.

She was even younger looking than I anticipated, she looked to be about eight years old and was very skinny her hair was a gray color littered with dirt. Her skin was in no better shape she had scratches from the goblins and was muddy as well. She was wearing a potato sack dress. Something wasn't right, her condition looked like it went back far before the fusion of the worlds.

I repositioned myself and was getting ready to stand, that's when she launched herself into my arms buried her face in my chest and hugged me while she cried with the little strength she had.

"Please.... Don't.... leave.....me....too....."

Her words were heavy and shaking between her cries, I had to listen carefully to make them out.

I held her in my hands and looked down at her.

"It's ok, I won't leave you alone."

A shift in her head her hair rested on her face revealed her ears.

"you're not human?"

My words frightened her, even more, her body shook in fear as if she made some mortal mistake. Her long-pointed ear peaked out between the strands of her gray hair.

"It's ok, it doesn't make a difference to me."

I picked her up and walked up to the apartment building we were in front of. There was no human presence detected in here, so I decided to be a temporary squatter. I ascended to the top floor and tried a few units and stumbled onto one that was open. It was in crappy shape whoever was here left in a hurry.

"How about you get cleaned up and ill prepare you something to eat and new cloth to wear?"

Hearing the word "eat" seemed to get her attention.

She meekly nodded.

I brought her into the bathroom, the shower was something she never has seen before. Fortunately, we still had running water for now, but no hot water.

I really didn't feel comfortable bathing a little girl I just met so I explained the best I could so she could do it herself.

"This is like taking a bath in the rain, ill have cloth for you laid out here on the counter. This is shampoo squirt this into your hands and wash your hair. This is soap squirt it on this washcloth and use it to scrub your body. Do you understand?"

A nod yes.

"Ok, ill be out here getting something ready to eat, ill close this door so you have pri...."

She ran to the door and stopped me from closing it and shook her head, no.

"Ok, I won't close it."

I left her in the bathroom and used the Earth wall to create two slabs of stone on both sides of the front door for extra security.

The stove in this apartment was a gas top that used syngas, a non-fossil fuel. Since there was no electricity there would be no spark to start the flames, but I had a way around that. I activated the gas and used my elementary fire magic to light the stove.

This was basically the most low tier magic could do. It wasn't fit for combat. It also used an exuberant amount of mana by comparison. Generating this candle size flame cost me as much mana as my earth Javelin.

I boiled multiple pots of water and stored them. They would stay hot once they were stored. I pulled out of the freeze-dried meals and added the appropriate water.

I took some fruits out and a bottle of water I took from the warehouse store and served dinner at the dinner table.

Right on time, Vera emerged clean and fully dressed.

Her hair went from dark gray to shimmering like melted platinum. Her eyes were a beautiful hazel and fit perfectly. The cloth I prepared were some children's cloth I picked up from the store I worked at. They weren't as high quality as the adult's cloth, but they were still built to be very durable. She was wearing olive green long fitted pants with a matching dry fits shirt and a black jacket, I also had the matching boots but they weren't needed right now. The undergarments I took from the clothing store at the shopping center I raided.

I had her put on her full uniform because I was sure of the security of this place or what monsters would emerge after the gong tonight. If we needed to make a quick getaway I wanted us to be ready.

"Come eat."

She slowly approached the food I set aside for her and sat down.

She showed no restraint once she started eating, she was done before I picked up my fork.

"would you like more?"

She vigorously nodded her head yes.

I took four more servings out and gave them to her.

I ate while she was practically inhaling the food. I didn't want to interrupt her from her actions it looked like its been a while since she's had a decent meal so I let her do as she pleased.

I finished a little before her, so I just sat and waited.

Once she finished, she looked up at me as if waiting for something.

"do you want more?"

She shook her head no

"Well my name is Jordan, we will be spending the night here tonight, Make yourself comfortable. Let me know if you need anything."

"Vera."

Her first words that were accompanied by a rainstorm of tears were said under her breath, but I guess progress is progress. I responded with a smile.

"nice to meet you, Vera. Are you tired would you like to lay down and get some rest?"

"You...?" her response was still very timid, but I somehow understood what she was asking.

"I will be here, I still have to do a few more things before I go to bed but, I won't be leaving you behind."

Her eyes glistened as her lips somewhat curved upwards. It was like she wanted to hear those words more than anything else. I showed her to one of the rooms in the apartment and laid her in the bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Remembering her request, I left the door open and quietly exited the room.

I prepared for bed myself with a cold shower, looked through the house for any items that might prove useful and then laid down on the bed in the master bedroom.

"Time to address those dings."