I Woke Up In Another World As A Slave

The Goblin King hit the earth with a thunderous crash, his massive frame folding in on itself like a dropped marionette. A tremor rippled through the snow-packed ground of the Goblin Steppes. For a moment, silence reigned broken only by the ragged breath of the boy who still stood.

Page Stick Arslan, LVL 10, sword trembling in his hand, was slick with sweat despite the frigid air. Steam coiled from his skin, rising above his wild orange hair like a signal fire in the gray-white dusk. He straightened, panting, blinking blood from his eye. His body screamed with exhaustion, but his heart thudded with a fragile flicker of triumph when he saw the Goblin King's Life Points at 0. Finally.

At his side, Big Man, the LVL 10 mountain of a Westerner and former slave, let out a low grunt and dropped his massive, shackled arms. He smiled. Rare, silent, and honest. His scarred skin, where it wasn't covered by rags and a ragged fur mantle, told the story of a man who had survived a thousand battles, most of them worse than this one.

But the Goblin King wouldn't have fallen without their unlikely ally.

Hirohiro Nakamura, their blue-haired travel guide, stood a few paces ahead, brushing snow off his red coat. LVL 25. Ex-Praetorian of the Carnifex Guild. The gleam of his lance was already fading as the last embers of the battle cooled. Stick glanced toward the remains of the boss: [Goblin King] (Dead). Just a scorched husk, barely recognizable after Nakamura's fire attacks. A poor monument to what had just happened.

Nakamura, meanwhile, hadn't even broken a sweat. Nakamura is 15 LVLs above it. No wonder…

There wasn't time to dwell on his uselessness, though. Nakamura spoke up, voice casual, almost amused.

"What? No level up?"

Stick glanced at his interface. The EXP bar hadn't moved. Not a single notch. His jaw tightened. Still LVL 10.

"That can't be possible. Unless…" Nakamura scratched his chin.

"What?" Stick asked, breathing heavily. "What is it?"

"Of course." Nakamura sighed. "Check the loot."

Stick gave a skeptical look but complied. He opened the loot window of the Goblin King and found… nothing.

"Nothing?" He turned back to Nakamura, who nodded defeated.

"Just as I thought."

Once again, Nakamura's seniority in this world made Stick feel like a child learning the rules too late. "Would you like to explain?"

Nakamura crossed his arms, eyes drifting toward the slowly fading purple sky. "Well, some years ago, when I was leveling up, I heard about this. My—" he interrupted himself for a moment. "Training partner told me that it is difficult to cheat the system. It resents power gaps."

"What do you mean by that?" Big Man asked, eyeing Nakamura with mild suspicion.

So with a 15-LVL difference…

"Your experience and loot got restricted," Nakamura said flatly, as if reading Stick's mind.

Stick rubbed his temple. "So because you did all the work, Big Man and I get nothing?"

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"Correct," Nakamura said flatly. "Normally you'd be LVL 11 now."

Big Man exhaled, shoulders sagging. He couldn't see the stats, the EXP bars, the system messages. But he understood enough. "So what now? The two of us aren't strong enough alone."

Nakamura scanned the smoldering ruins of the goblin camp—the broken spike barricades, the charred banners, the collapsed tents. Snow fell heavier now. Around them, goblin corpses began to dissolve into translucent light, slowly winking out of existence.

Stick shivered. Even now, it unsettled him—the way the monsters vanished, not like dead things, but like code returning to some unknowable server. To Big Man, though, it was just the natural order. The dead monsters returning to the God of Death.

"Well," Nakamura finally spoke up. "You can't level further without killing the Goblin King. But the respawn timer is locked. It'll take some time."

"If we can't get stronger," Big Man said, raising his empty, shackled hands, "then we'll need better weapons."

The idea is not bad.

He looked down at his [Bronze Sword], the same one a Carnifex soldier had handed him back at LVL 1. Its edge was dull, the hilt wrapped in frayed cloth. Sure, they'd looted better weapons here and there, but nothing that worked with Parry or Counterstrike. Daggers and clubs didn't cut it. Literally.

They'd cleared almost every goblin camp on this side of the Steppes. And nothing useful had turned up. Not that he expected anything better on the western side of the border.

Stick frowned. "Where would we even find any?"

"Quest rewards…" Nakamura mumbled.

Stick knew better. That was a dead end for now.

Then Nakamura's tone shifted. "Or we try Pridtur."

"Pridtur?" Something sparked in Stick.

He flicked open his Quest Log. His breath caught.

A quest flickered near the top—one he hadn't noticed until recently because it had been buried under the other Secret Quests he had done so far. The very first quest he apparently received when he first arrived in the game in June, but hadn't noticed up to that point, was labeled in gold.

The Red-haired People (Personal Quest)

Quest Type: Personal / Secret Quest

Difficulty: Easy

Recommended LVL: any

Objective:

Uncover the origin of red-haired individuals in Cavon and their mysterious link to the legendary Great Hero Arslan.

Quest Description:

Sir Cadmun Frost said you remind him of Arslan—the Great Hero. Same hair color. Same look in your eyes.

Is it just talk from an old slave… or the start of something bigger?

Track down the truth behind the red-haired bloodline. Find out what made Arslan more than just a legend.

Mission Conditions:

-Talk to Lydia Frost.

-Locate Redfield in Pridtur.

-Read Cadmun's Journal.

-[Hidden]

-[Hidden]

-[Hidden]

-Discover what truly made the Great Hero Arslan special.

Failure Conditions:

Death.

Rewards:

???

It was the only active quest he had.

And it was golden.

A secret quest. Personal. Something the other Players don't have.

Stick looked up at the sky. The sun was already gone behind the peaks. Snow fell heavier, quiet and soft. The last flickers of the Goblin King's body faded into code and mist. Find out what made Arslan more than just a legend.

He sheathed his sword.

"Let's move."