Solomon fell without grace or control. He saw the sky, he saw the ground. He felt the ground more than he saw it, to be honest, slamming into it over and over again as he tumbled down the steep slope. He also crashed into and through the occasional bush and small tree, not to mention a few small boulders that had been tenaciously clinging to the side of the ravine.

All those obstacles on the side of the hill slowed him down a little bit, at least. Even so, when he finally slammed to a halt flat on his back at the bottom of the ravine, he blacked out.

When Solomon woke up, the first thing he noticed was that the timer in the corner of his vision read 23:43:27. The last number ticked down as he watched. It seemed the old timer had run out while he was unconscious, only to be replaced by a new countdown.

The second thing he noticed was that he didn't hurt. Well, that wasn't quite true. He didn't hurt as much as he thought he should. His right hand was a bit cramped from maintaining a death grip on his pistol. His left hand hurt like hell.

When he set the pistol down and tried to sit up, he figured out the problem: an enormous boulder sat on top of his left hand, pinning it to the ground.

Solomon cursed, then braced himself and pulled. Nope. His hand was stuck tight. He was able to lever himself into a sort of half sitting position and use his right hand to dig around a bit, confirming the bad news. Underneath a thin layer of dead leaves, the ground was solid rock. He wasn't going to be digging his way free.

Suddenly, a pleasant sensation of wellness came over him, soothing away the pain in his hand. A moment later, the sensation faded, and with a soft crunch his hand was once again in agony.

"Son of a," Solomon said, before stopping as a thought occurred to him. "Is this a system thing?"

All of your questions about the System will be answered during the course of the tutorial!

"Can't you just tell me now?" he asked, but didn't receive a response.

If the system had healed him, that would explain why he was feeling so healthy even though his clothes were still torn up and soaked with blood from the beating he had taken as he fell. Even so, the system obviously wasn't a complete get out of jail free card, considering his situation. Well, not yet, anyway. Maybe if he got through the tutorial the system would hand him an escape route.

Solomon was pulled out of his thoughts by a soft skittering sound. Turning his head, he saw a small ball of orange fur approaching from his right with a series of little hops. Whatever animal it was, it was a little larger than his clenched fist and absurdly fluffy. Unnaturally so, really. He couldn't make out any distinguishing features other than the fur.

His eyes narrowed. He was familiar with most every animal that roamed these mountains, and none of them looked like this. Bracing himself on his left arm, he ignored the burn in his abs as he picked up his pistol.

"Hey there, little fella," he said, pitching his voice to as soothing a tone as he could manage, "how's your day going? Mine's been pretty rough, to be honest."

As he spoke, he brought his pistol to bear. It was a pain in the neck to try to aim from such an awkward posture with one hand, but from a range of about two feet, he could hardly miss. He exhaled softly as he squeezed the trigger.

Click.

Oh, right. That.

Before he could do anything else, the little furball split in half. No, looking closer, it had just opened its mouth, revealing a row of jagged shark's teeth. It gave an unearthly wail and covered the distance between them with a single leap. The little bastard landed on the end of his gun and started frantically gnawing away at it. The grinding noise as it tried to chew through the metal was enough to make the hairs on the back of Solomon's neck stand up.

Acting on instinct, he bellowed a scream of his own and did a half roll, swinging gun and beast up over his head before smashing it into the boulder. There was a crunch, but the little monster kept chewing. He bashed it again, and again, and again, until finally its broken body fell from the end of his pistol to flop down on the ground.

"Son of a-" he began, only to bite his tongue as another blue screen appeared before his eyes.

Congratulations on completing your first combat encounter! True success arrives on a tide of blood, but everybody has to start somewhere!

You have demonstrated Improvised Weapons Mastery, Lvl 1. Would you like to add this skill?

Solomon's lungs were working like a bellows. The "combat encounter" had been brief, but it was more than enough to flood his body with adrenaline. If he could have his way, he'd never see one of those little bastards again. From what the system was telling him, though, this was just the beginning.

He tried to think carefully about what was probably an important decision. In the end, though, he couldn't think of any reason to say no.

"Yes?" he said, still feeling a little strange to be talking to a floating box.

The blue box vanished, only to be replaced by another.

Congratulations! You've earned your first Grid Point. Would you like to apply this point to the (Tutorial) grid?

It wasn't like there was anything else he could do with it. "Yes."

Congratulations! You have unlocked the System interface! You have earned your first Ability Point!

Unlocked the system interface? What had he been dealing with so far?

A skittering sound from the brush off to his right bumped Solomon's questions to the back of his mind. Turning his head, he saw a pair of golden fluffballs hop out of the long grass and head in his direction.