The system was really weird.
"Gwaaahh!"
"Die, you pest!"
Congratulations, you've obtained an item!
Goblin Loincloth
Rarity: None
A filthy goblin underwear. Super stinky. Its special odor repels any female creature from you.
"Wow, screw you too."
One of those weird things that came as monster drops. Luke rolled his eyes, as this served as more proof that the Golden Pinky effect was working.
The huge problem was that this abomination, the loincloth, dropped almost every time. It might have the highest drop rate, which only made him hate every moment even more.
Unfortunately, it also served as a crafting material for the so-called Goblin Diaper.
Since Luke refused to touch the stuff for fear of catching a deadly disease, he used a stick to gather all of them into one spot and activate the crafting function.
An item has been created
Goblin Diaper
Rarity: Abominable
A mix of bodily fluids and filthy cloth, the stench is so strong it turned into a poison bomb.
His eyes widened at the item description, unsure whether he should be disgusted or impressed. Either way, he used the wooden stick to wrap the diaper around its tip.
Then it was just a matter of waiting for a dumb goblin to wander by, completely distracted and off guard. With a swing, he flung the diaper straight at the monster's head.
"GWAAAHHHH!"
It screamed in agony every second. Its life flashed before its eyes like a movie as its face melted under the diaper's foulness.
The poor thing died with no offspring, no wife waiting at home, and not a single achievement to be proud of, all because it spawned a few minutes earlier at the worst possible time.
Wow, the Administrator is impressed by your cruelty toward goblins.
"Not my fault, they're the only ones showing up around here."
Due to your extreme psychopathy toward these creatures, you have received a title
Goblin Hater
All damage dealt to goblins is increased by 25%. Goblins will be somewhat reluctant to approach you. Any attempts at communication will automatically fail.
"Thanks, I guess? Could you just explain how titles work so I know if it's what I think?"
Titles are obtained after completing special actions. They offer a variety of effects, but only two titles can have their effects active at the same time.
Actions include things like crafting materials, destroying private property, mass murdering innocent monsters, and other extreme acts.
"Just like I thought. Do they give stats too? Or is there some kind of rarity system?"
Titles can temporarily boost attributes through an active ability offered by the title. As for rarity, that only applies to this mechanic's context, it's more about different subjective difficulty levels.
"Right… extreme actions. Since I've only killed goblins, that's probably how I unlocked this one. So there must be others for different things, like building."
He looked down at the Builder's Hammer in his hand. After focusing on the tool, he activated build mode, then selected the wooden planks with his finger.
The wall turned green, and with one click, it appeared in front of him, while the materials vanished.
At first glance, it looked kind of sturdy, but Luke managed to kick a hole into it. A few more hits, and the whole thing fell apart.
1x Wooden Plank
"Hmm, in other words, this is kind of useless. I could build a base, but that'd just be a waste of materials considering how fragile it is."
His mind started working on how to use construction more efficiently.
Maybe he could build a long staircase to the top of a building, but what would stop some dumb goblin from poking the structure with a dagger and sending it all crashing down?
It needed to be both safe and practical. If it were made of stone, maybe it would hold up better.
But the issue was: how to gather that kind of material?
Stone seemed like something simple to get. Anywhere you looked around the city, there was literally a lot of concrete and rock.
Breaking the street or even the sidewalk would cause a few stone chips to fall, but how the hell was he supposed to do that when he couldn't even craft a wooden pickaxe from the crafting tab?
He wasn't inside a game where you could just punch everything barehanded either.
For now, he was still a normal human being, and as far as his body allowed, breaking rocks with brute force was still impossible.
"Think, Luke. How do you get stone without breaking your bones in the process?"
The answer was much simpler than the convoluted solutions most protagonists came up with for simple problems: pick up rocks off the ground.
"Damn, I'm a genius."
Inside Area 0, there was a square where Luke often went running. Besides the trees and track, there were a few stones placed for decoration and others just lying around.
He picked up the pace and soon arrived, grabbing a stone about the size of his palm.
1x Pebble
Now, with the builder's hammer in hand…
Pebble Wall
0/3 Pebbles
"So the size doesn't matter, as long as I have the item. That's broken. It means I can gather a bunch of tiny pebbles that won't take up much space and still build better stuff."
There were other available options beyond the most basic constructions Luke had analyzed, the problem was the requirements.
Decent Wooden Wall
0/5 Wooden Planks
Again, the issue came down to gathering those materials. He had no idea how many wooden benches were left in the city, and even less certainty whether the trees would regrow after he cut them down.
A sigh escaped his lips as he stared at the buildings taking up most of the surroundings.
"If I could blow something up, that'd do the trick…"
It would be better to invest in that mechanic once he had more items available. For now, the pebbles or wooden planks had to be used for something else.
Wooden Spear
0/1 Wooden Plank
Tools would help far more in his current situation. Even though the spear was technically weaker and more fragile than his katana, it had the advantage of reach.
Throwing a spear in a straight line was much more aerodynamic than swinging a curved blade like the one he'd been using, and it'd also be useful when hunting goblins from a distance.
Luke took one of the wooden planks he had been carrying and activated the crafting function.
The object gave off a faint glow and immediately gained a sharp point.
Wooden Spear
Rarity: Common
It's a sharpened stick. What did you expect?
As usual, the system was mocking him just by reading the item description.
Mastery: 0.1%
"Huh? That's new. System, explain this to me."
The Administrator would prefer you figure it out on your own.
"You're funny today. I'll take a guess, let's say I need this number to hit 100% and something magical will happen."
To test it, he grabbed another wooden plank and crafted a new spear.
Mastery: 0.2%
"Okay, so I need to make 1,000 wooden spears to see what this thing does. This is going to take forever…"
His expression turned grim just imagining the time it'd take, and whether it was even possible to reach that point.
Next, he opened the forge tab and fused the two spears into a single +1 spear.
Since he couldn't carry too many at once, his best thought was to at least have some of slightly higher quality and make better use of them.
For a test drive, he spotted a group of tutorial goblins in the distance, three of them, each carrying a club.
Luke took aim with the spear, steadied his body, and threw it with all his strength. Did he hit? No, he missed by a wide margin.
The goblins even laughed at him before being brutally slain by a katana.
He retrieved the weapon from the ground, rolling his eyes at the failure. Who would've guessed even the simplest things required technique?
His eyes turned back to the park. Trees, stones, a little pond with digital fish swimming… maybe that spot would make a good place to centralize his resources.
He approached the place again, and a flag raised into view. No one was going to stop him, so he decided to rip the fluttering cloth and tore it apart.
4 Fabrics
4 Threads
A smile spread across his face. He had nailed it. After gathering things around the plaza, he had enough to craft some very useful items.
Stone Shovel
Rarity: Common
It's a stone shovel.
Stone Axe
Rarity: Common
It's a stone axe.
Stone Knife
Rarity: Common
It's a stone knife.
Crappy Fishing Rod
Rarity: Common
It's a fishing rod made by the worst craftsman.
For all these items, a notification popped up:
Mastery: 0.1%
Luke furrowed his brows, annoyed at being bombarded with screens so suddenly. Finally, he vandalized one last flag, which let him craft the final item that caught his eye.
Small Bag
Rarity: Unknown
A bag imbued with the system's power. Items can be automatically stored inside without adding weight to your backpack. Space is limited due to its size.
'A sort of inventory…'
Unlike the previous items, no mastery screen showed up. Luke shrugged and placed all his tools inside to test it, confirming the system's description.
Another interesting feature was how to retrieve stored items. First, he had to reach in, then visualize the object and pull it out, like those clown ribbons hidden in sleeves.
With the shovel, he began digging the ground. The reason was simple: since building a base with the construction hammer was too expensive, he'd have to go full YouTube tutorial and make an earthen house.
"But this little effort is exhausting…"
His breathing began to pick up with each dig, a consequence of his worn-down physique. Luckily, it was nighttime, so he didn't have to work under the hot sun.
Still, the training paid off, because he didn't collapse after digging just two holes.
Small dirt mounds served as natural barriers for his weird little base, with a staircase leading a few centimeters below ground level.
Luke even considered placing his items on the ground and organizing them inside that space, but considering how annoying goblins could be, he opted to bury them.
It was less likely those idiots would steal his stuff if it was well hidden. Speaking of goblins, another one showed up as soon as he popped his head out of the base.
Luke figured it was a good chance to practice.
He grabbed his +1 wooden spear and aimed, this time controlling his breathing and focusing all his attention, mentally visualizing the calculations needed to hit the target.
He adjusted his stance and threw his body forward, hurling the weapon with much more skill than before. He hit the target on the shoulder, but since it was a tutorial goblin, the damage was massive.
It was like popping a balloon, the creature burst into blood, then dissolved into digital data. The projectile, having lost its momentum, landed on the sidewalk across the street.
"Now that's more like it… but I don't have full control yet. I'll need some time to practice until I get it right."
Error! Error! Error!
"Don't scare me like that, system! What now?!"
Since the player killed many goblins, the spawn rate was altered. Applying corrections...
Corrections applied. However, the spawn rate generated a goblin with the combined stats of those that would've appeared normally.
A boss appeared!
"A boss? Hell yeah! I've been dying to fight something tougher. Where is it?"
The system pointed ahead. Right at the corner, there was one of the monsters, but this one was very... different.
He wasn't short like the others. In fact, he was nearly two meters tall and ripped to the extreme. He wasn't even wearing a loincloth, proudly displaying the sheer mass of muscles from head to toe.
"Oh, I'm fucked…"