The goddess Luluna disappeared from Yuusha’s sight as he was engulfed in bright, blue light. In a couple of seconds, the light dissipated, but by then the goddess was no longer in Yuusha’s sight and neither he was floating in black nothingness. Yuusha was standing on a hillside overlooking a lush green field – grass, shrubbery, trees, and rocks, as far as the eye could see. With a single dirt road winding around the hills like a river.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road,” Yuusha said while stretching his arms. “Time to find the nearest low-level-“

Yuusha froze mid-sentence. When he was about to take his first step, his foot hit against something soft. And looking down, he saw a body. A human body. In leather armor, with a cracked wooden shield lying near. And with no head. He turned his head slightly to the left and saw another body. And another. And another. Then Yuusha heard footsteps. A lot of them. Looking behind him, Yuusha saw several hundred small green creatures marching on the dirt road, around the hill he was on.

“Aliens!” Yuusha gasped and ducked for cover.

No-no, she said fantasy world, stupid, not sci-fi! Yuusha thought and looked closer. Goblins! A lot of them too. Armed to the teeth.

The goblin force walked slowly in loose formation. They had no semblance of cohesions and even their armor and weapons were rarely alike. One of the goblins had a bent spear that seemed completely impractical, another had a steel longsword he was dragging behind him, clearly too heavy for the goblins tiny arms. Several of the goblins carried banners on dirty cloth. On the banner was crudely painted in black some sort of symbol or a letter that vaguely resembled Japanese kanji “Shi”.

Then Yuusha saw several figures, each no less than twice the size of a single green goblin. At first, his brain must not have even registered them as part of the goblin army as they were so different – rust-colored with sharp, pointy teeth sticking out of their square jaws and muscles that would make Hulk Hogan jealous. All of them carried at least three bladed weapons, each at least as long as their arm.

Hobgoblins? One, two, three… four, five, Yuusha counted.

The other side of the hill, that Yuusha did not see at first, that the goblins were walking past, was littered with corpses. No less than fifty. None of them had any plate armor on chainmail as far as Yuusha could see. And since he also didn’t see a single weapon so far, it was safe to assume that anything usable was already looted by the goblins.

Yuusha couldn’t see any captives among the goblin force, so if there were any survivors, they ran away. The casualties on the goblin side seemed far less severe as Yuusha saw very few green little bodies among the human ones. They blended with the grass a little, so perhaps there were more than it seemed, but it didn’t matter – a few goblins made some weird screeching noises, and pointed in Yuusha’s direction.

Shit! They saw me! Yuusha deduced. Yuusha did hide as soon as he saw them, but for a good thirty seconds, he stood in plain view all dreamy-eyed, so it would only be a surprise if they didn’t spot him.

Yuusha’s heart raced faster and faster as a couple of green goblins ran up to two hobgoblins jumping up and down, screeching and pointing at the hilltop. Both Hobgoblins walked out of the column and took their first steps up the hill, in Yuusha’s direction.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Yuusha panicked. Wait! I’m the hero, right? Aren’t I supposed to take care of stuff like this? Clearly, this is some kind of an enemy force that is on its way to attack some small town or village or something.

Alright, reincarnation… fantasy world… goblins… let’s see. “Menu”! “Character”! “Status”! “Information”! … “Stats”?

A semi-translucent tab appeared in front of Yuusha’s eyes.

[Name: Yuusha Kigiraya]

[Class: None]

[Level: 1]

[Health points: 10]

[Mana points: 10]

[Strength: 1]

[Endurance: 1]

[Dexterity: 1]

[Willpower: 1]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Skills:

None.]

… Yuusha stared blankly at his stats.

WHAT THE FUCK!? Yuusha almost screamed out, but somehow managed to restrain himself. Probably because he realized that with these stats, the moment Hobgoblins find Yuusha, they will gut him like a rabbit. Can I even kill a rabbit!? The hell is this!?

Hobgoblins were a third of their way up the hill. Yuusha pressed himself as close to the ground as he could without kissing the dirt and slowly crawled backward, trying to stay out of sight.

Argh! Sweat was pouring from Yuusha’s forehead and got into his eyes. He tried to rub it out with the sleeve of his jacket. After he had crawled on the ground. Now he also had dirt in his eyes.

How the bloody… Fuck saving this world! How am I supposed to stay alive!? How am I supposed to do anything!? You incompetent bimbo! Wasn’t it your job to actually make sure these worlds were saved!? Wait… Was it? Yuusha tried to remember. She was a Goddess of Awakening and Transportation. If they go that specific, doesn’t that mean there should be an actual Goddess of Saving? All she did was- THE CRYSTAL!

Hobgoblins were half-way up the hill.

Yuusha took the orange crystal out of his jacket pocket. Alright! Alright. Think, think… What did she say? Let me see.

Yuusha put the crystal up to his face and imagined his potential. I have hidden potential. Potential that qualifies me to save this world. Luluna, Goddess of Awakening and Transportation said so herself! Oh, magical crystal, awaken the hidden power within me!

Nothing happened.

No… Yuusha’s heart beat faster yet again. His palms were sweaty. Yuusha looked at the crystal. Inside the orange crystal, he saw a white hourglass spinning on its axis.

No no no. Yuusha felt like his heart would jump up his throat. Crystal’s stats! He commanded.

[Name: Orange Crystal of Potential]

[Level: 3]

[Status: Not Ready

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