Path to the Apocalypse

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your mind." The doctor muttered with a frown, going over the results of a few detailed scans of Andrew's head, using both Bonded and mortal technology. "And you're still having these visions?"

Andrew nodded. "Yeah, a goblin is teaching me how to speak their language right now."

"Strange…" The doctor stared at the reports pensively for a while longer, before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, but I can't see any medical reason why you would be hallucinating like this. You appear to be in perfect health."

Andrew let out a sigh of his own. He'd been afraid of that. Was that world really real? "Well, thank you for checking."

"I wish I could have been more helpful." The doctor commiserated, before turning to leave.

Andrew quickly got redressed, before leaving the office and heading to the waiting room where Cathryn and Li Jing were waiting. "So… I'm pretty sure there's just another me out there." Andrew began to explain. "Like, I don't know how, but… I've literally been reborn as a goblin."

Cathryn frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense!" She hissed. "You aren't dead! You're still here! How can you be reborn?!?"

Andrew began to shrug helplessly, when something occurred to him. Could it have something to do with his cores? Most people only had one, but he had five! He'd almost had six, but he'd- Andrew's eyes widened. The core from the machine! He'd- it'd connected to him, and then- then he'd let it disappear? Was it somehow still connected to him when it… got reincarnated? Was reincarnation real?!?

"That's insane!" Cathryn protested, following his train of thought.

"Do you have a better explanation?!?" Andrew retorted.

Cathryn hesitated, struggling to find some way to explain what was happening without just assuming Andrew was crazy. "Okay, no, but that still doesn't mean you're right!"

"But I might not be wrong either." Andrew countered. "I could test-"

"Andrew, please don't." Cathryn groaned. "Just- you don't know if there are any problems yet! I know you like things to be exciting, but just- just take things slow for a bit, okay?"

Andrew took a moment to complain internally that he could use bug cores or something with little risk, but at Cathryn's frown he sighed and nodded. "Okay, fine. I'll just focus on handling this goblin thing for a bit." He assured her.

Cathryn breathed a sigh of relief, while Li Jing looked between the two in confusion. "What did he want to do?"

Cathryn rolled her eyes. "He thinks he was reincarnated because he threw out a core, so now he wants to throw out even more cores."

Li Jing's eyes widened, before turning on Andrew with a stern gaze. "Don't."

"I already said I wouldn't!" Andrew protested.

Li Jing nodded. "Good."

*

Goblin Andrew woke up as the sun began to shine into the room, groggily stretching, before sitting up in surprise. He practically filled the crib now! It was like he'd jumped from two to five in a single day! He got to his feet, a much simpler task at this point, looking around as other goblin children did the same, looking around the room curiously, or more accurately, hungrily. Andrew was starving! Thankfully Tapilek was right there, ready for him with food and water. "There you go." Tapilek muttered softly as Andrew grabbed the meat and gobbled it down. Other caretakers were weaving through the cribs, bringing the other children their own piles of meat, beginning to move them from the crib room to the next room over.

That didn't concern Andrew, however. The moment he finished eating, Tapilek took him away again, back to the large building in the center of town and into the Shaman's office. "Shaman, I have taught the gifted one how to speak. He seems to have a firm grasp of the basics."

"Thank you. I shall handle him from here." The Shaman nodded. Tapilek put Andrew down, bowing to the Shaman, before turning and leaving. The Shaman turned to Andrew, smiling kindly. Or at least, as kindly as someone with a mouth full of sharp teeth could. "Now, little one, let us begin your education."

The Shaman began by teaching Andrew even more about the language, giving him the basics necessary for the subject he really wanted to focus on. "Now, let us discuss the system." The Shaman began eagerly. "Every being on Dintara has six basic stats. The first is Strength, the power of the body. This determines how much weight you can carry, how damaging your attacks are, how much damage you can take, and so on. The next is Agility. This stat determines how well you can control your body's power. The ability to move and act with precision. The next is Will. This is the power of the mind in the same way Strength is the power of the body. It determines how impactful your words and ideas are, and how easily influenced you are by the words and ideas of others. It also determines the power of your spells. Intellect is how well you control the power of your mind. Just as Agility focuses your Strength, Intellect focuses your Will, letting you apply it with precision."

The Shaman then turned serious. "The next stat is the most important: Energy. Energy is the foundation of power. It amplifies everything we do. The basic use of Energy is to amplify one's stats. One point of Energy will double one of your other stats for one second. Two points will double it for two and so on. Learning how to apply your Energy in the instant you need it, no more, no less, is one of the most important tricks you can learn. Skills will give you more uses for your Energy, but we can get to that later. The final stat is Sensitivity which determines how many units you can perceive. This allows you to adjust the amount of power or Energy you use to a greater degree. For you, your Strength, Will, and Energy can be split into four hundred and forty-four units! A simply ridiculous amount, particularly when your stats are so low." The Shaman shook their head in disbelief, still not understanding how a child could develop such a high stat. It was so disconcerting, they'd almost disregarded his also high, but less ridiculous, Will and Intellect! "It also determines how well you can perceive the world around you, increasing your ability to distinguish sights and sounds from further away, or to detect the differences between scents and tastes."

"Now, let us discuss skills. Your skills are how you interact with the world. General Skills are simply a basic evaluation of your ability. The higher your level in the skill, the better you are at it. The exact meaning behind the levels is unclear, but in general, over twenty is good, over forty is excellent, and over sixty is masterful." The Shaman explained. "For General Skills, this is simply informative. What you need to focus on are Class Skills. Your Skill Points can be used to gain a Class Skill, upgrade a General Skill into a Class Skill, evolve a Class Skill, or merge two skills into a new Class Skill. These Class Skills will guide you in their use, allowing you to become more and more proficient as you use it, beyond normal practice.

"This brings us to Classes. As goblins, we have what are called 'Monster Classes'. This means our Classes are defined by what we are. We do not get Classes like 'Archer' but instead we get Classes like 'Goblin Archer'. This affords us unique opportunities, as it allows us to advance not only our Class, but our Race as well, enhancing our physical form along with our stats. Additionally, we have the capability to evolve. It is rare, but goblins with great accomplishments may evolve into hobgoblins, or even orcs or ogres! This not only benefits us, but our progeny as well. It is the dream of every tribe for one of their members to grasp Racial evolution." The Shaman sighed wistfully, before letting out a cough and getting back on topic. "You will receive the opportunity to evolve your Class at levels ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred. Supposedly there are opportunities beyond that, but… we have no knowledge of those heights. In order to level up, you must defeat other creatures in battle or use your Class Skills effectively, and each time you level, you will be granted twelve preassigned stat points, six points to spend as you wish, and one skill point. How you spend and utilize these points determines the direction and quality of your Class advancement.”

Andrew nodded slowly, having gotten most of the Shaman's speech, though more than a few words were new and confusing. Still, context was a wonderful thing, and he thought he'd gotten at least the basics of everything the Shaman had explained. In particular, his Sensitivity finally made sense! He'd spent his entire childhood struggling to use as little of his strength as possible, and that had helped him learn how to distinguish between the smallest divisions. Still, he didn't see how helpful it'd be. He didn't have enough of any stat to care much about dividing them.

"Now, our focus is going to be on figuring out which skills you need to make the most of your next evolution." The Shaman continued, pulling out a book and beginning to flip through it. "Given your high Sensitivity, we should focus on skills that make good use of that stat. Additionally, we should take advantage of your high mental stats as well." The Shaman muttered, carefully looking through the book. "Observe is a good start… Imitation could be good as well… Concentrate, Introspect, and Rest of course. Punch for some combat capacity. Or possibly Dodge and Block." The Shaman began to list down skills on a separate piece of paper, circling some and crossing out others as they continued.

Andrew just sort of zoned out as the Shaman went on, focusing on what skills he would want. He appreciated the Shaman's interest, but he wasn't about to let anyone else decide how he should develop, at least not completely. He was still looking in a similar direction as the Shaman, wanting to focus on mental stats and skills over physical ones. If he was going to start a new life, he wanted to do something different with it. Plus, physical power had always been more of a nuisance to him than a boon in his other life. He probably needed to defend himself, so maybe he could look into these spells the Shaman had mentioned?

The Shaman finished his list, focusing on Andrew again. "Now, here's what I would suggest. The first Class Skill you'll want to take is Rest, then Introspect. Once you have the skills high enough, you can merge Rest and Introspect into a meditation skill. Then you should take Concentrate as a Class Skill, which you can then merge with your General Skill Observe to create a study skill. Then you can merge both of those to create an inner sight skill, which is the basis of true Energy control, which is the foundation of magic." Andrew blinked. If he was going to put it that way, then yeah, he was definitely doing that. "Alternatively, you could take Rest as a Class Skill, then work on acquiring Introspect as a General Skill. That way, you'll only need to spend five Skill Points to get an inner sight skill, but it may be of a slightly poorer quality due to the lack of assistance when developing your Introspect skill. In that same regard, you could spend an extra point to make Observe a Class Skill, maximizing the potential of your inner sight skill, but that would only leave you three Skill points to use on other skills, making it unlikely you'd be given any options beyond being a mage. Which, of course, is far from the worst Class one could end up with, but may not be the one that suits you the best, or which you would prefer to pursue.” The Shaman paused. “I would suggest at least attempting to acquire Introspect as a General Skill and see how much you can develop it on your own before you commit to any path. After all, the more skills you have, the better.”

Andrew frowned. “Couldn't I get Rest as a General Skill and buy Introspect instead?”

The Shaman sighed. “You could, but Rest is a devilishly tricky skill to increase without the system's assistance, due to the fact that it is inherently an unconscious process. How can you examine what you're doing wrong if you aren't conscious of what you're doing?”

“That makes sense…” Andrew agreed. “Should I take Rest now?"

The Shaman shook their head. "No, wait until you've matured a bit more. Rest will get you your next level fairly quickly, and increasing your stats while your body is still developing can stunt your growth. For now just focus on acquiring Introspect as a General Skill and developing your Observe skill. If you can develop both of them sufficiently, you won't need to waste any skill points on them. Now, be warned, acquiring a General Skill is a bit tricky. You need to show a decent level of proficiency in the skill first, about level ten, before the General Skill will be added to your status page. So, if it takes you a bit to acquire Introspect, don't worry. Just keep practicing, and eventually you'll get there."

The Shaman then found him a seat in the corner of his office so he could work on getting Introspect, before returning to his work. Andrew frowned as he turned his focus inward. The Shaman had told him that the key to Introspect was to focus on figuring out who he was and what he wanted and Andrew was finding it surprisingly difficult. It wasn't that he couldn't concentrate. He'd actually gotten the Concentrate skill about five minutes in. It was that he didn't know how he was supposed to say what part of him was truly him. He knew there was a core self in there, some quintessential essence that simply expressed itself through his cores, but… what was it? Was it his values? His desires? His fears? A combination of all of them? But then, what were his values? Family? He certainly thought they were important, but could he say he'd choose family over anything else? Andrew frowned. No, he couldn't. He considered it more. What about love? He'd choose Cathryn and Li Jing over pretty much anything. Still, something felt off about that. Love wasn't exactly a value, it was… the best word Andrew could find for it was sustenance. Before Cathryn and Li Jing, Andrew had been like the walking dead: there, but not truly alive. He hated to admit it, but living life without any significant connection with another person sucked.

Andrew paused. There was something in that… he really didn't want to depend on anyone else, yet he craved connection more than anything. Andrew's expression twisted. Even just admitting that to himself made him feel weak. He liked to think of himself as self-sufficient. Sure, people might be nice, but they weren't necessary. But that wasn't quite true, was it? People… people were what made life worth living. Andrew sighed. It made it that much worse that so many of them fucking sucked.

"You okay over there?" The Shaman asked, raising an eyebrow at him. What did a child who was literally born yesterday have so much angst over?

"Hm?" Andrew looked up, startled out of his thoughts. "I- yes, I am okay. Just… trying to figure myself out."

The Shaman nodded. "A difficult task, particularly for one so young. I will leave you to it."

Andrew nodded back, refocusing on himself. He was someone who needed people, but hated it… what did that say about him? Andrew cocked his head. Why did he hate it? Because he didn't like people? Andrew frowned. No… he knew enough about people to know that generally when people were shitty, it wasn't anything personal. They were just so caught up in their own crap they didn't consider anyone else, which… Well, that was crappy in its own right, but it was hard to hold something against someone when they didn't even realize they were doing it. It wasn't that he thought it was too difficult, either. Relationships were work, he got that. It was just… putting in all that work just to get hurt- Andrew grimaced. Not only was it a waste of time and effort, but being betrayed by someone you'd put your trust in like that was painful. Andrew hated to admit it, and would never admit it to anyone else, but he understood everything Benjamin had done. He saw the logic, accepted that with everything he'd seen, Benjamin probably did the best thing he could have… but they'd been friends! He knew his nature was frightening, but how could he just ignore five years of friendship?!?

Andrew resisted the urge to let out another groan, peeking at the Shaman, before refocusing. So, he didn't like pain. That wasn't so bad, right? Pretty much everyone didn't like pain! Even those who do only like certain kinds of pain. It wasn't weak to not enjoy pain. It was weak to let… pain… stop you. Andrew scowled. *Mother. Fucker.* He growled internally. He glared at nothing for a bit, before letting out a frustrated sigh. Fuck it, fine! He wouldn't fucking isolate himself from people anymore! He'd make friends! Fucking-

[General Skill - Introspect acquired.]

Andrew glared at the notification as the Shaman gave him another glance, before shaking his head. What a strange child.