Chapter 5

A blue light shone in front of him. A message box?

‘You have died. You have a choice—let it end, or get an extra life. What is your choice?

[Life] [End]’

Leon tried lifting his arms, but nothing was there. He tried to speak and failed. Life, he thought. I choose life.

Another message popped up. ‘You’ve chosen life. Beginning Player Tutorial.’

An Asian girl with long, black hair stepped into his vision. She wore a white, flowing dress that covered her feet. She smiled.

“You are given a new body. Please take care of it. We’ll soon reach Gaitol, the world which will host your new existence.”

Pixel-like shapes danced in front of him, building the arms he’d tried to raise before. It had worked. It had actually worked!

Leon looked down. A sunlit leafy forest area with a clearing came closer with rapid speed, and in the distance stood the black tower, reaching so far up over the clouds that he couldn’t see the top. A golden text rolled out in front of him, and a male baritone voice spoke the words as he descended.

‘In the beginning of time, there was Upperworld. The inhabitants of Upperworld lived happily until darkness within one of the political factions tookover and created a section called Netherworld. These two sections fought over the universe, but their power was too strong for their dimension to hold them. Light and darkness fought to rule, and neither side backed down.

The universe broke into pieces, leaving this centerpiece, Gaitol, as the gate between the worlds.

Towers were created to purify, corrupt, or delay enemy forces of each kind, and it is your destiny to defeat the monsters and keep the balance of the worlds. In the war between good and evil, you, Warrior, have been chosen to test your abilities. Choose your path with care and face the challenges within the tower. Strive to become the greatest Warrior and prove your worth.

Should you prove worthy, you will be granted a wish and a reward beyond your imagination.

Be careful. Both Upperworld and Netherworld have their eyes on you.’

The text disappeared when Leon’s feet touched the dirt path, and the woman landed gracefully on one foot before him.

She wobbled as she landed the other foot and then she raised her index finger toward him. “You will be given a starter pack fit for your class. Put on the items and follow me.”

Shit. Did this mean he’d become a warrior? At least it was an offensive role, meaning he didn’t need to rely on others as much.

He held out his arms and turned his hands. They looked like they had in his normal life. Maybe that was the case for the rest of his body, too. But at least his shoulder didn’t ache anymore. Leon pinched his arm. The skin tainted pink, but a few seconds later, it was the same color as before. His disease must have gone. He smiled and stretched out, ready to start his journey for the medicine.

A plain woolen shirt, pants, and plain leather boots landed in front of him with a thud. Then a leather backpack and a short wooden sword followed. Leon stared at them. He shouldn’t be ungrateful, but a wooden sword? Really?

He held the items up one at a time, and a box showed for all five. The clothing items were normal and didn’t give anything special, but the wooden sword gave him +1 strength. It was heavier than he’d expected, but a wooden sword was a wooden sword. Was it supposed to start out like this? They must be tutorial items. Maybe this was where he’d show some skills, and see where he ended up in the rankings?

Belonging to each box describing the items were three buttons—Equip, Store, and Discard. He pressed equip on all of them. They disappeared from his hands and were suddenly covering his body. Then he lifted the backpack and looked inside. Instead of seeing an empty sack, a see-through blue box appeared in front of him, showing ten slots. His clothes and equipment weren’t included.

He put it on his back and continued after the lady into the forest. It would maybe be cumbersome to always carry a backpack, but it was necessary. He just wondered if there would be some kind of bank to store future items, or if he’d have to become really picky. He stopped. What if the drop rate sucked, meaning he wouldn’t need more space?

“Are you coming, young warrior?”

“Uh, yeah.” Leon jogged up to her.

They continued into the forest, following the path. The sun shone through the treetops, leaving spots of yellow light on the round bushes and dirt path ahead. The woman stopped at a round clearing surrounded by trees and bushes and turned to face him.

“Dear Warrior, my name is Ai.” She curtsied. “What may be your name?”

A blue box entered Leon’s vision. He tried pressing the buttons, but as before, it didn’t respond to touch. He thought of a name, but instead of it showing up on the screen, the buttons started pressing themselves, and then the system pressed ‘Confirm’ before he could change it.

“Welcome to the Tutorial, Leon.” Ai pointed toward the clearing, and three straw dummies on wooden poles sprang up from the ground. “Your first task is to hit each doll ten times.”

Why would the name box show up if he didn’t have a choice in what to call himself? Leon nodded and stepped forward. The sword felt clumsy in his hands. He held it out the way he’d seen in movies and strode forward. He hit the doll, but as soon as the wooden edge touched it, the sword turned in his hands. He’d suspected it would be hard for a person who’s never held a sword before, but he still felt ridiculous. He tried again, with a firmer grip. It went better.

He finished the ten hits on each of the dolls and stepped back.

Ai clapped her hands. “Well done! Now, then. Do the same, fifteen times on each.”

Leon followed her order. The last five hits made him feel like his arms were going to fall off. He finished and stood panting before Ai.

She smiled. “This tutorial is here to teach you about the system and get accustomed to fighting with your class’ style. This part is called ’Exhaustion’ and will take sleep to recover from. Try to say or think ’Status.’ There you’ll see the text box which is the most important in Gaitol.”

Leon wet his lips and panted out, “Status.”

A blue box appeared in front of him.

‘Name: Leon Level: 1 (0%)

Class: Warrior Guild: None

Title: N/A

HP: 100 Fatigue: 75% (Penalty: Exhausted)

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MP: ??

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Strength: ?? (+1) Agility: ??

Vitality: ?? Intelligence: ??

Sense: ??

—————————————

Available Status Points: ??

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Skills

Passive: Warrior’s Build [locked during Tutorial]

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Ai pointed toward him. “To gain more information, just ask the system. It will give you the basic information. Try asking about your fatigue.”

Leon stared at the symbols filling most of the box. “Why so many question marks?”

“Good question,” Ai chirped, “but not the one you should ask. I’ll explain it to you, anyway; your final points are calculated while you’re in the tutorial and will become set after you’ve finished the relevant tasks.”

“Alright. Uh… system? Can I get info on fatigue?”

“A bit wordy, but it works,” Ai said, while another text box appeared.

‘Fatigue

As you use your energy, you will eventually become fatigued. When your fatigue reaches 70%, you will get a penalty called “Exhausted,” which gives -30% penalty to strength and agility until your fatigue has recovered to at least 50%. Threshold to trigger “Exhausted” is affected by the level of your vitality.’

“To close a window, just think or say the word.”

The windows disappeared.

Ai nodded toward Leon. “There are two more windows you should be aware of. Quests, and Inventory. Quests are tasks given to you by the system or by people. Be wary of what you accept. Inventory will show you the contents of your backpack and allows you to put items in and out. Be aware that in order to have an inventory, you need to carry an item that has an attribute called ‘holding’, for storage capacity.”

Leon nodded. So he had to carry it. Perhaps there would be a better solution later.

“For the next part of the tutorial, please open up the inventory, take out the potion, and drink it.”

“Inventory.” The was a yellow flask in there, and he tried to grab it. This time, it worked. The flask grew in his hand, to the size of a soda can. He uncorked it and emptied the liquid. It had a pleasant taste that reminded him of watermelon. When the last drop left, the bottle disappeared in a shower of pixels.

“Well done. Potions are there to help you with various things—from recovering from exhaustion, to healing, to buff yourself in different ways. Sometimes, you will notice there’s a consume limit. If you try to drink more than you should, the system will gray out the slot in your inventory and you can’t take it out except for in the marketplace, where you can sell them. Now, you have 0% fatigue. Let’s move on to the next step.”

The three dummies disappeared, and a light gray wolf that reached the height of Leon’s waist showed up inside a semi-translucent green box. It gritted its teeth and snarled.

“Defeat the wolf.”

A blue box opened.

‘Quest: Defeat the Wolf

Ai has asked you to kill the wolf.

Rank: F

Reward: Pass this part of the tutorial

Penalty if ignored or failed: Lower base status. Re-try.

What is your choice? [Accept] [Reject]’

“Accept.”

The quest window disappeared.

“Now, there are a few things you want to know about battles and quests. To see your quests, open the quest window. Once the required tasks have been completed, another window will show up where you can choose to accept or save your rewards. It’s pretty simple and works just as it sounds.” Ai walked to the wolf and spread her arm over it. “You will be able to see the name and level of each creature, but don’t let it deceive you. Some creatures have hidden attacks or are stronger than others wearing the same color. You see, color is important. It will tell you if it is a creature you should try to fight against, or flee from. It starts from white and follows a warm color scale.

“White means you probably won’t even get a scratch, while dark red means there’s an enormous chance you’ll die. After this tutorial, if you die, it will be a real, non-revivable death. This extra life you’ve been given is the only one you get, so be careful what you do with it.” Ai patted the wolf’s head. “Anyway, for the sake of the tutorial, this wolf showcases the exact color you should look for to match your level.”

Leon looked at the creature. It was a level 1 Grey Wolf, with its name and level written in bright yellow. He readied his sword.

“You will discover which creatures you fight well against, and the ones you’d better leave be. Now, are you ready for your fight?”

“Yes.” He’d have to beat it in one go. Even if he didn’t have any experience with swords, and that it was made of wood, it was still a weapon. Maybe it would be enough to club it to death.

The box melted away, and the wolf charged forward. Leon’s heart skipped a beat, and instead of counterattacking, he tried blocking. The wolf launched at him and bit down on the sword. The sudden pressure made him lose the grip of the hilt, but before the wolf could fling the sword aside, he managed to catch it. He kicked at the wolf’s legs, and it gave away a yelp and released the wood.

Leon swallowed as the wolf started circling around him. He’d kicked an animal. No, a beast. A monster, created in a game. It wasn’t alive. Not really. The wolf launched at him again, and he tried stepping aside. The beast pummeled into his leg and he fell onto his back. In just a second, the wolf sprang at his throat.

Leon barely managed to get the sword up in time. He struggled to keep it in place while the wolf ripped at it with strong jaws. He kicked out and hit something soft. The wolf froze a split second but didn’t let go. Leon kicked again, harder. It gave way. The wolf let go with a sharp yelp and backed off with a limping back leg. Leon rose and ran forward. He struck the beast over the neck, then on its head. The wolf fell to the side. He stomped down on its front leg and drove the sword into the creature’s chest. Then, the carcass exploded in pixels, leaving a small bottle and a coin behind.

“Good job!” Ai said. “If you look closely, you’ll find a small stack from the corpse. Since this is the tutorial and I hate the sight of intestines, it will be easy to find. Once you meet stronger beasts, you have some work ahead of you. You’ll have to open up their stomachs, and—”

Leon grimaced.

She burst out in a clear, loud laugh. ”I’m kidding. Though, you should know that if you defeat a monster in the tower or if monsters attack in a group, the corpses won’t turn into loot until you’ve dealt with the entire group or beaten the level. Coins will be added to your account balance, but everything else will take up spots in your inventory. Luckily for you, items with the same stats are stackable. Come on, pick up the items.”

Leon grabbed them. The coin disintegrated in his hand and a message popped up that it had arrived in his account. The potion looked like an ordinary red health potion. “Info on potion?” He tried.

‘Standard health potion. Heals 50 HP. Stacks up to 9 times.’

“Very good,” Ai said. “Normally when you pick something up, it will show you the name and the status effects, but I wanted to see if you’d grasped the concept behind asking about things you’re unsure about. The options on what you can do depend on the nature of the item. For wearable items, it’s going to be equip, store, or discard, and for consumables, you can choose to use, store, or discard it. Discarded items cannot be picked up again. For now, choose to store it. Since your health is full, it will be grayed out in your inventory.”

If this wolf was the standard for his level, he’d have a hard time gaining strength, especially since every fight could mean his actual death. Game over.

“Now, for the last part.” Ai pointed to the clearing. “It isn’t strictly necessary, but it is required you know.” Five people in different clothing showed up in a line. One had heavy metal armor, one, a metal sword, one a bow, and two held staffs, though their robes were of different designs and colors. All their faces were concealed by helmets or shrouds.

“Hold on,” Leon said. “What about the quest?”

Ai stopped with her mouth open. “Oh, silly me. I forgot to trigger it. After the quest is completed, this message will show.”

A box popped up.

‘You have completed the quest: Kill the Wolf, issued by Ai.

Here are your rewards: [non-collectible]

Do you wish to accept or save the reward? [Accept] [Save (not applicable to this reward)]’

“Accept.”

Ai clapped her hands. “Now, then. Let’s talk about parties. Some quests and parts of the tower will require you to work with others. The ideal party holds one of each class. A tank, a warrior, a ranger, a mage, and a cleric. The tank will be your defense line, while the warrior deals with melee attacks, the mage magic attacks, a ranger ranged attacks, and the cleric keeps the party strong from a distance. Of course, each party can be of different sizes and more than one can have the same class, but a party has to consist of at least three members.”

“And what can a party do? Except fight together?”

Ai tapped her cheek. “There are different boons, depending on what classes are in the party. Some combinations are better than others, such as those that give more valuable loot. But there’s also something you can’t do any other way—you can only trade items with party members. Simply invite them, and if they accept, you will be in a party. If your whole group doesn’t accept within thirty seconds, you’ll need to invite them again. Then you remain a party until you leave, or your group consists of less than three members.”

Ai clapped her hands, and the five people disappeared. “I will now give you your beginning status points and the reward for completing the tutorial. After you receive the items, venture into the woods. It’s a straight path to Pura, the city closest to this starting point.”

A Quest notification showed up, then blinked out of existence.

“Good luck, young warrior. May you do well.”

Ai’s figure turned into silver butterflies and scattered.

Then two boxes popped up.

‘You have completed the tutorial. Please check your status, equipment, and quest page.’

‘You have received the title: NooB (Boon 1: Immune to damage from hostile players. Boon 2: Gain 5 SP (status points) on leveling up instead of 2. Note: Title will disappear once the player reaches level 10.)’

Leon stared at the now empty clearing, trying to remember everything she’d said. If he’d forgotten anything, he’d notice it soon enough. With that thought, he opened up the status page.

Name: Leon Level: 1 (50%)

Class: Warrior Guild: None

Title: N/A

HP: 100 Fatigue: 14%

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MP: 10

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Strength: 12 (+1) Agility: 11

Vitality: 8 Intelligence: 9

Sense: 10

—————————————

Available SP: 0

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Skills

Passive: Warrior’s Build (allows the player to take 10% less damage for two seconds if he/she deals a critical hit) (chance of critical hit: 5%)

—————————————

He supposed it could be worse, even though the numbers weren’t great. What if he’d failed to kill the wolf the first time? And since the game would only give him 2 Status Points per level after level 10… the only conclusion was that he’d entered a hard game. But he had to beat it. He’d already given his life for this small chance. He wasn’t going to throw it away. There had to be other ways to become stronger.

Leon equipped his new title, closed the window, and opened up the equipment page. Ai hadn’t mentioned it, but it was lucky the system did. Otherwise, he might have a hard time keeping up with the information. He looked at the page, stunned. All that was in it was what Ai had given him at the beginning of the tutorial, but with an added note saying ’gifted by Ai.’

He just hoped there weren’t a lot of monsters he’d have to meet before he came to the capital. But at least he was halfway to level 2, so maybe it would become a little easier once he leveled up.

Last, he checked his Quests. There was one small rectangular box inside the bigger one. He selected it.

‘Special Quest (timed): Reach Pura before nightfall

Ai wants you to head toward Pura and enter the city before nightfall.

Rank: F

Reward: Experience, 50 coins

Penalty if ignored or failed: Gifted title (NooB) will be deleted’

There was only one box under it; [Accept]

He accepted it and closed the window. A timer showed up before him, counting down from eight hours. It faded out and Leon straightened his back. It was now the hard part began.