Max’s shelter looked more like a junk drawer than a home. Piles of scavenged weapons, cracked armor plates, random trinkets from fallen monsters, and a frankly disturbing number of empty potion vials were strewn around like he’d been running a flea market for woodland horrors.

  He sat cross-legged, poking through the mess. Most of the items were completely useless now—common gear from goblins, low-grade crystals, and broken bits of monster drops that he’d optimistically told himself he’d “find a use for later.” Spoiler: later had never come.

  Opening the store interface, Max started dragging item after item into the sell window. The credits ticked up steadily.

  “Traveling light,” he said to himself, “which is hilarious when spatial storage is a thing now.” He smirked at the irony. His ring could hold enough gear to outfit a small army, but the thought of lugging this digital garbage around still made his skin crawl. “Nope. I want to see it gone.”

  The final tally from his sell-off was decent, and the space in his inventory felt—if not lighter—at least cleaner.

  The decision to move camp hadn’t come lightly. This shelter had been his first foothold on the island, the place where he’d survived his first nights, patched wounds, and planned hunts. But after wiping out two goblin outposts—one of them barely more than a ramshackle camp—it was clear these weren’t isolated bands of idiots stumbling into his path.

  There was something organized here. And if goblins were grouping together in enough numbers to build multiple bases, it meant the ones he hadn’t found yet were probably planning something ugly.

  Sitting around waiting to be attacked didn’t suit him.

  The inner part of the island, unlocked after his fight with the Beast, had been nagging at the back of his mind since the barrier fell. He’d seen the mountain from a distance—its base surrounded by rocky slopes and sheer cliff faces. The kind of terrain that discouraged surprise visits.

  Decision made, he broke down his shelter in record time.

  He passed through the spot where the barrier had once shimmered in the sunlight, its absence leaving the land feeling strangely open, unguarded.

  That was when he heard it—high-pitched chittering, like the angry rant of a small rodent with too much caffeine.

  The underbrush exploded, and out bounded a squirrel the size of a medium dog. Thick, corded muscle rolled under its brown-and-gray fur, and its claws were the length of steak knives. Its eyes were red—not the “cute autumn chestnut” kind, but the “I will absolutely eat your face” kind.

  The system pinged:

  Rabid Husky Squirrel – Level 10

  Status: Aggressive – High Jump & Piercing Bite

  Max stared. “Okay… this one looks like it’s been living on protein shakes and rage.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The squirrel didn’t waste time. It leapt, clearing the space between them in a single bound, claws extended. Max sidestepped, swinging his staff like a bat and catching it mid-air. It hit the ground rolling, spun on a dime, and launched itself again.

  This time, Max fired a mana bolt point-blank. The blast sent it tumbling into a tree with a squeal, and it didn’t get back up.

  “Good talk,” he muttered, looting the corpse for a sharp-looking fang and moving on.

  Following the sound of rushing water, Max headed upstream. The river wound closer to the mountain, the trees thinning as the slope began to rise. The terrain here was rougher—less underbrush, more jutting rocks and moss-covered ledges. Perfect for keeping larger predators away.

  It didn’t take long to find what he was looking for: a shallow cave mouth about ten feet up from the riverbank, accessible via a natural rock shelf.

  The entrance was just wide enough for him to step through without ducking, and the air inside was cool and dry. The floor was mostly smooth stone, with a few scattered chunks of rock. The whole place extended maybe twenty meters back before ending in a wall of solid granite.

  No animal smells. No signs of nesting. Just clean, undisturbed space.

  Perfect.

  Max unloaded his storage ring, pulling out the mismatched gear that passed for his “home.” A patched canvas tent—liberated from a goblin raiding party—went up first near the back wall. Next came a pair of smaller tents he’d stripped from lesser camps, now repurposed for storage. He unrolled the threadbare carpet he’d swiped from the goblin general’s tent, spreading it across the stone floor like some absurd badge of victory. Finally, he dragged out the wooden-framed bed he’d claimed from another camp—a crude but sturdy thing with a mattress that smelled only faintly of goblin now that it had been aired out.

  He stood back, hands on his hips, surveying the scene. It was a ridiculous mix of scavenged odds and ends—half warrior’s spoils, half secondhand yard sale—but compared to the ragged lean-to that had been his first shelter, this was a palace. A goblin-chic palace, sure, but a palace all the same.

  “Home away from home,” he said, glancing around. “Except better—no rats, no goblins, no rabid squirrels… hopefully.”

  He dropped into a seat near the entrance, looking out over the river. The sun was sinking behind the trees, painting the water gold. Somewhere in the distance, a faint roar echoed from the deeper mountain range.

  Max smiled faintly. “Alright,” he murmured. “Let’s see what’s waiting for me out here.”

  After stacking a ring of stones and getting a modest fire going near the cave’s entrance, Max ventured out just far enough to gather a decent pile of firewood. By the time he returned, the orange glow from the flames danced against the stone walls, making the place feel almost… cozy.

  He fed another log to the fire and sank onto his newly acquired goblin bed, letting out a slow breath. “It’s been a really weird couple of days,” he said to the open air, his voice echoing faintly off the cave walls. “Now I need to focus on this goblin threat.”

  As if the system had been eavesdropping, the familiar chime rang in his ears.

  New Quest Discovered

  Destroy the goblin outposts on the Tutorial Island

  Outposts destroyed: 2/5

  Reward: 10 Genesis Crystals, Access to the Inner Tutorial Island

  Max’s eyebrow twitched. “Figures,” he muttered. Of course there’d be more. And the quest text was mercilessly clear—three more outposts somewhere out there. “2/5… that obviously means there’s two more on this island, but where the hell could they be hiding?”

  He stared into the fire for a long moment, weighing the thought of heading out right then. But his body had other ideas. Muscles ached from days of constant fighting, and the deep hum of his enchanted armor had finally settled into a steady, comforting rhythm.

  With a resigned sigh, Max decided the goblins could wait until morning. He kicked off his boots, stretched out on the wooden-framed bed, and felt the coarse mattress shift under his weight. It wasn’t exactly luxury—but after several nights on a thin bedroll over cold stone, it might as well have been a royal feather bed.

  He closed his eyes, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. Who’d have thought he’d ever be grateful for a goblin’s bed? The fire crackled softly nearby, the warmth wrapping around him as sleep pulled him under.

  Tomorrow, the hunt would begin.