Chapter 2 - The Diary of a Survivor

  He landed in a wooden hut.

  You have entered the first stage.

  [Diary of the Survivor] has been updated.

  William looked around, inspecting his surroundings. It was an old fashioned wooden hut, with a table under the window, stove, and sofa near the fireplace.

  The uneven wooden planks under his feet were nailed haphazardly, pressing into the soles of his black and white shoes. He still wore the clothes he had on back in the convenience store.

  In some novels, players would get dressed in their class’s outfit after class selection. Guess this wasn’t one of them.

  Heavy rain hammered outside. The sound was deafening. A relentless torrential downpour beat down on the roof of the hut, wind pushing and sloshing rain against the glass window to his right, trees swaying wildly.

  “Grak.”

  A weird grunt brought his attention back to in front of him, where there was now a creature. He instantly recognized to be a goblin. Its green skin, pointed ears, short stature, and bloodthirsty eyes looked straight out of a comic book. In its hand was a mace.

  It must have been hiding behind the big sofa, which was why he only noticed it now.

  “Grak!” it exclaimed, edging towards him with its mace lifted menacingly.

  Without a doubt, the goblin was placed here intentionally to force him to fight.

  William took a step back, scanning the room for anything he could use as a weapon. As if the system had heard him, a new message appeared.

  A weapon suitable for your class and background has been added to your inventory. Say or think [Inventory] to open the inventory menu.

  He had to hold in a laugh. The absurdity of this situation made it almost feel comical. This was just like he was in a video game. Reading about it was one thing, but actually going through these ridiculous motions in real life just felt so damn surreal to him.

  Still, that goblin and his mace were real. If he wanted to survive, he needed to focus. A whole slew of distracting messages were now popping up, but he dismissed them at the moment.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Inventory.”

  A blue menu with one hundred item slots opened in front of him. Only two slots were occupied, a javelin and a health potion.

  [Rusty Iron Javelin (common)] - A well-worn iron javelin that has seen better days. May be used as a basic throwing weapon, or as a makeshift spear.

  [Minor health potion] - A healing potion that may be ingested or rubbed onto a wound. Capable of healing minor scratches and ailments.

  Did the system think he had time to read all of that right now? He quickly tapped the javelin slot and closed his inventory as the weapon materialized in his right hand.

  The goblin appeared startled by the sudden appearance of the weapon, but it continued its advance. Although it looked like a ferocious little critter, its movements, intelligence, and overall threat level seemed low to him. Perhaps this was the game’s way of easing candidates into combat.

  He raised his javelin. Such a familiar feeling. The system knew him well if it gave him this as a weapon.

  “Gutuk!” the goblin chirped, swinging its mace into the air in a display of power.

  He threw the javelin. The iron projectile flew four feet before embedding itself with a thunk straight into the goblin’s chest. Bullseye.

  William stretched and cracked his neck, then walked over the goblin which now convulsed weakly on the ground.

  He had no hard feelings ending the life of something so ugly and violent. Pulling the javelin out of its chest, he stabbed it back down again.

  The spear tip squelching into his body felt kind of disgusting. He stifled the urge to gag.

  You have slain [Lvl 1 Goblin]. Experience has been awarded.

  A few more notifications popped up, the usual stuff about leveling and whatever. Typical stuff in the novels he read. He waved them aside for the time being, because there was one particular message that he really wanted to know more about.

  [Diary of the Survivor] has been updated.

  How was he supposed to read the diary? It wasn’t in his inventory.

  After a bit of experimentation, he realized he could just touch the notification to pull up the diary.

  Entry 1 - The Wooden Hut, page 1 (excerpt)

  Day 1, Hour Unknown

  I killed my first enemy today, a goblin. It didn’t put up much of a fight. Best not get too comfortable. I watched the Games since I was a kid. They’re never this easy.

  I found a loose board underneath the bed…

  —

  Entry 2 - The Wooden Hut, page 2 (excerpt)

  Day 1, Hour Unknown

  …someone is outside. They have the keys. I’m hiding under the bed, but it’s uncomfortable…

  Stage points have been distributed to contributors.

  Ding!

  [Warrior] class has leveled up to level 2.

  [Lvl 1 Goblin] has dropped a coin.

  This is too overwhelming

  I need him to read the diary

  System