Sam rushed down the hallway, dancing around the trapped tiles. When he reached the end he didn’t open the door. Instead he turned to toss his dagger backwards and crouched.

Three crossbows revealed themselves above the doorway, firing into the empty hall. Sam started counting down in his head from 15. When he reached 0, he stood up and walked down the hallway, grabbing his knife and the pulsing green arrows, careful to hold them through the fabric of his shirt rather than with his bare hands.

With his knife, Sam jimmied the crossbows until he could get two detached. He quickly loaded a bolt into the first and then opened the door to the goblin’s room.

The goblin grunted at Sam in challenge while spinning its knife over its fingers. Sam raised his crossbow and pulled the trigger, ending the creature’s life in a literal instant. The dull thud of the monster’s body hitting the floor gave Sam goosebumps.

He wondered, then, just how much time he had wasted trying to fairly fight the goblin in the past?

Finally, with a smile on his face, Sam looted the key and stepped into what he dubbed, ‘The Safe Room’.

Sam walked to the center of the room, opened the book to the 743’d page, and continued reading.

For hours upon hours, Sam read the book and practiced kneading magic power. Eventually, after enough time passed, his thirst and hunger started to grow unbearable. Rather than continue studying the magic book in a delirious state, Sam picked up the second crossbow and armed it. Without hesitation, he put the bolt to his head and fired.

Welcome to the Tutorial!

The door to continue past ‘The Safe Room’ had no key. It was locked by a complex series of markings. Sam tried numerous things to unlock the door, from yelling nonsense phrases like ‘Open Sesame’ to outright prying the locks with his dagger.

Nothing worked.

The only option left available was the thick tome labeled ‘Introduction to Magic’. Sam assumed the method to open the door was magical in nature, since all the physical methods failed.

During his first few days of studying the book, Sam struggled to even produce a spark of magic power. Every time, he read the nonsense-runes until his fingers bled from papercuts or he started dying of dehydration.

Sam’s skills with a knife improved every time he fought the goblin, but often he would come out injured anyways. Knife fights were just that kind of animal, in the end. 'No one ever truly wins a knife fight,' Sam mused.

By using the crossbows Sam could save precious time. Not only could he end the goblin fight without getting hurt, he could use the second crossbow to painlessly kill himself and restart whenever his hunger or thirst started to drive him to the edge.

Sam had tried eating the goblin’s corpse, but every time he did he would die within hours, suffering from obscene stomach pains. He could only assume the creature’s body was inedible or poisonous.

Thus, Sam did the only thing he could: he studied the book on magic.

-

The magic tome introduced the seven main magic disciplines to Sam: Ruin, Conjuration, Alchemy, Cabala, Manifestation, Illusion, and Restoration.

Ruin encompassed powerful offensive magicks, usually siphoned through an element to achieve a goal. Powerful Ruin casters could wield fire and ice like swords, or water and light like lances.

Conjuration involved tapping into the Aether and summoning forth spirits in physical form. Conjurers could bring demons and monsters to do their bidding, or summon constructs and war machines to aid an army in their time of need. Conjuration also included methods of instant movement for lifeless entities such as weapons or armor by using the Aether as a mode of transport.

Alchemy was the most recognizable for Sam. It involved combining magical plants and other ingredients to create potions and salves of varying effects.

Cabala was the magic of souls and ambience. It involved the manipulation of spirits as well as dispelling magic and sensing life. Cabalists often turned their skills to manipulating the dead; such magisters were dubbed necromancers and their arts were considered forbidden.

Manifestation involved altering the physical world. Magicks of this type could open locks, harden armors, lighten loads, or even allow the user to breathe underwater. Manifestation could turn lead into gold, but it always followed the law of equivalent exchange. In order for one thing to be altered, an equal amount of energy (raw mana) or material needed to be exchanged.

Illusion was the magic of the mind. It contained methods to distort or trick the five senses.

Finally, Restoration was the magic of healing, faith, and recovery. It involved extensive knowledge of anatomy and powerful faith. What that faith was placed in didn’t seem to matter. Some prayed to a God for their healing magics, others simply held faith in their own skills. Some countries dubbed Restoration as ‘Holy’ magic instead.

The seven magics weren’t exclusive. Often complex spells used combinations and coordinated efforts from multiple schools. Each school of magic had many subgroups as well. Ruin was often divided into specific elemental preferences depending on personal affinities.

-

Sam studied each magic carefully. He was oddly thankful for the pseudo immortality this ‘tutorial’ had granted him for he had long since lost track of the time he spent studying magic. He understood he needed to become adept in Manifestation magicks to open the locked door, but he also feared what would happen if he became unable to come back to the magic tome. Leaving behind such a resource and the unlimited time granted to master it would be folly.

Sam wondered if he would always return to the very first room, even after he passed what very much looked to be a checkpoint in ‘The Safe Room’. Thus, instead of going ahead blind, Sam decided to master all of the magic in his tome before continuing on… Even though it would take him many, many years to do so.

Once more, Sam turned back all the pages and reread the opening lines:

‘Magic is not an external power. It is a fire burning in your heart, and fire can be volatile. A simple spark can ignite intoxicating wildfires. Just as I was lent a spark from my master so very many years ago, so shall I lend a spark to you. Do not let it consume you...’