I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly, the crushing pressure lessened considerably. It was still there. I could feel it on my shoulders, pressing me to my knees. But, I could, at least, straighten my back.

And so I did.

In the large hall, only Lavei stood straight, like an unsheathed sword pointing to the skies. Everyone else was on their hands and knees, unable to even raise their heads. The lightning pillar, that which broke my worldview, was gone. What was left in the room was silence and a thick, pungent odor.

“Oh? How curious—” Lavei’s curious voice sounded closer than it should, and it came from my left side. With surprise coloring my face, I whipped my head to the left.

Thigh guards coated in gold filled my eyes. I dared look up and saw a red glow coming from the gaps of the helmet.

A soft gasp left my mouth.

“For you to stand up to the level gap pressure, let me see what is so special about you,” I heard Lavei mumbling to himself as he put his right palm on my head. The soft leather of his gloves felt hot. I had to squeeze my legs to offset the weight of his hands.

“Inspect.” He whispered. I couldn’t even move my head; his grip was too powerful. It didn’t hurt my head, though.

The silence between us was broken by Lavei after a moment when he expressed his astonishment.

“Wonderful,” He exclaimed. He leaned over and pulled me up by my shoulders. “To think you’d awaken a skill so soon and the tenacious at that. Looks like we’re up to a great start—”

Quite easily, I was hoisted up to my feet by his strong hands. My legs were shaky, but I managed. His words were hard to understand, but it was clear that he was praising me. He was being extra generous with them too.

Is this ‘tenacious’ such a good thing?

“What’s your name, young hero?” He asked. I noticed his tone was different somehow. His eyes were hidden behind the bars of the helmet, but I knew they shined with expectations.

“I, I’m Paul Gardner.”

XXX

I woke up with burning pain in my right leg. A convoluted screech left my mouth as a result of the weirdly developed voicebox.

I sat up, squinted my eyes after blinking them twice, and looked at my stubby limbs. A thin-red line was going from left to right on the upper part of the right thigh. The source of my pain was this line—a wound made by my own claws.

Shapeshift was, kind of, semi-permanent. Unless I deactivate the skill manually, it won’t revert back. Moreover, it drains more than half of my limited stamina to activate.

Although my stamina had recovered thanks to Beastial Diet and the meal, I forgot to undo the changes before sleep overcame me.

I might've scratched my legs while in sleep. Those sharp finger knives grazed my skin, resulting in a painful wake-up call. Though, I don’t remember having such habits. I usually don’t move a lot in sleep, if any at all.

My HP had dropped to 25. Five points just for a single scratch? That’s too much!

I looked at my shapeshifted fingers with astonishment. To think they’d deal so much damage! No wonder that goblin, which could rival a level 2 human, died that fast.

These claws are deadly!

Gotta be careful with them from now on. I don’t want to be the first otherworlder to die from their own abilities. That’s so humiliating, man!

Sitting crosslegged, I squinted at the HP panel eagerly. One minute turned ten. And finally, after a long wait, 35 became 36 just a few minutes shy from twenty.

Eighteen minutes for one HP! It’d take me a mere nine hours to stand on my two feet again from a barely alive situation.

This rate of recovery was broken! Are dungeon monsters always this powerful?

Shirr!!

Suddenly, a loud scratchy noise broke the silence. It was coming from the entrance to this dark corridor. It sounds like someone dragging something heavy through the rough floor.

Are these goblins into something?

I wondered with curiosity. After a short deliberation, I decided to check it out. I was getting bored from sitting around and doing nothing.

From my ‘home’, walk in a straight line and you’ll find the exit. Sticking close to the walls, I began a journey out of this place for the first time in five days.

While following after the grating noise, my path led to a wide junction leading in three different directions. I blinked twice and rubbed my eyes with the back of my left hand. They were stinging because of a light-source hanging from the ceiling.

Infrared Vision turned off on its own after I blinked a few times. Blue light shined upon the walls and illuminated the cobblestone path. The source of this blue light was a star-shaped crystal that hung from the ceiling by a rusty chain.

I had been through here before. Days ago, I woke up right below this crystal lamp before getting chased by the goblins. Technically, this place was my birthplace as a monster.

Crank! Crank!

The cranky noise became louder. Standing in the middle of this junction point, I could tell it was coming from one of the dark tunnels. Fear and anticipation began building up. I hid within the shadows and poked only my head out.

Krikk! Grr!!

A sound I was all too familiar with came out of the other tunnel. And soon, the noisy screeches filled the hall. Seconds after that, a horde of short, green, and bald-headed creatures rushed out of the tunnel. They shamelessly revealed their bodies in all their naked glory. Their choice of weaponry was a pole-dart, which hung from their necks, and rusty tools such as swords and knives. Some even held makeshift wooden shields.

It was a horde made of more than fifty juvenile goblins.

I’ve watched goblins hunt before. It was on the same day of summoning. Lavei, the knight captain of the Aseavell Empire, the ones responsible for bringing me to this world, took us to give a crash course on what to expect.

They liked to gang up on a target with little care for casualties. Since so many were heading out, it was clear they were on a hunt. After they passed, I silently followed behind them, curiosity coloring my expression.

Afraid that I’d get lost, I left a few scratch marks, a pattern, on the walls of the tunnel that was my home. Things’ll get ugly if I mistakenly enter the goblin nest.

Roar!!

A chill ran down my spine, making me freeze in my tracks. Uncontrollable fear gripped my heart, activating the fight or flight mechanisms of my body.

When I was a kid, I used to go fishing with my father. One day, I fell into the water from the boat and nearly got eaten by an alligator living there. That was a trauma I had never forgotten.

At that time, I was experiencing fear similar to what the alligator gave, but worse.

You heard the “Orc Chief’s Bellow”.

All stats -100%

Warning!! Since all your attributes fell below one, you are affected by the status effect “Freeze”—for the next twenty seconds, you can’t move your body.