*Ding*

Welcome Elena! You have been chosen as one of TWO MILLION people on the planet Earth, to participate in the beta test for The Game Of The Gods. This game includes a non-disclosure agreement which has been automatically signed by you!

As a beta tester, you have the right to The Tutorial. Would you like to take it?

[Yes] [Remind Me In An Hour] [No]

I wake up feeling exhausted, as usual. But something feels different this morning, and I can’t quite put my finger on it....

Oh, that’s right, today is a Saturday, I was planning on sleeping in. Hmm? A tutorial? Remind me in an hour.

My eyes open wide as I realize what was sitting in front of my face.

I rub my eyes, double checking my vision. The screen still sits in front of my face. It looks like in my half-asleep state, I hadn’t actually pressed the [Remind Me In An Hour] button.

Has it finally happened? Have I actually gone insane? Or was the fact that I was questioning my sanity proving me sane? Shit.

I hate when extradimensional blue screens make me question my sense of reality.

I stare at the blue screen in front of me, considering my options. Fact number one; there is a giant blue screen in front of my face. Fact number two; It is asking me if I want to take a tutorial. Fact number three; I’m not doing anything today, what do I have to lose?

…

Did I just jinx myself? I hate the idea of jinxes.

Besides, I would like some answers and tutorials are well known for giving those. Here I go.

I lift up my hand slowly, pausing for only a moment before shrugging and pressing [Yes].

Thank you for deciding to take the tutorial! During the tutorial you have unlimited lives, but you get a prize if you make it through without dying more than twice! Also, feel free to report any bugs that you find using the command [Tutorial Report] and then tell us your problem.

As you start the tutorial please choose a weapon off of the wall.

Thanks for your support and please look forward to the big release date in one- or two-years’ time

(liable to change).

Wait. I get a prize if I don’t die more than twice…. Are they expecting me to die? Well shit, I don’t know about the other voices in my head, but I really don’t like dying. As my mind goes through its usual weirdness, a bright light surrounds me and I notice a drastic change in scenery.

I find myself inside a large white hallway. On the walls of the hallway lay racks of strange weapons. I look down the hallway in both directions, noticing that the racks of weapons continue past where I can see.

This is only slightly weird

First things first, I read through the blue window again, then swipe it to the side to get rid of it.

Not knowing what to do after that, I look at one of the walls and follow it looking for something that would suit me.

Eventually my gaze lands on something that makes me sigh with annoyance. A shot-gun. How in the world would somebody with the dagger sitting next to the gun, stand up to someone with a shotgun? As I think about this I remember something that the blue window had said.

“[Tutorial Report], Excuse me my godly overlords, but having guns seems stupidly unbalanced when compared to all the medieval weaponry lying around.” I pause, then shrug when nobody responded. It was worth a try.

I had hoped that when I reported the problem, whoever was in charge would get rid of them. While I have trained in other areas, I have never fired a gun in my life. If someone walked up to me with a gun, I might be the tiniest bit screwed. Oh well, dying might be an interesting experience anyway.

I am not averse to the idea of killing if it was needed, after all, my father is a doctor. I know what horrible things people can do to you if you aren’t careful.

I saved that thought for later as I continue to look at the weapons lying on the rack in front of me. So I'm supposed to choose a weapon right?

My gaze lingers on the shot-gun. I must admit, I can see myself as a gun toting cow-girl. I'd just have to learn how to shoot a gun.

That can't be too hard, right? A blue window pops up, interrupting my thoughts.

Thank you for your report! While we do agree that guns can be powerful, the weapons at your disposal have been balanced so that they are at the same level or in most cases, even more powerful than your average gun. So, don’t let your ideas of guns affect your choice in any way!

After reading the window, I shrug. There went my idea of being a gun-toting cow-girl. That's too bad, I was looking forward to all of the bar-fights I could have stopped while chewing some long piece of grass.

"You boys itching for a fight?" I pretend to put my hands above the guns at my waist in a casual cow-girl style. I giggle to myself as I drop the charade. My eyes catch on something to the side, and I walk over there curiously.

A pair of lace gloves lay on the rack in front of me, there was nothing overtly special about them, they just… felt right. It is kinda strange actually, something about them just seems to call to me.

Well, you only live once!

I pick the gloves up and put them on my hands, stretching my fingers comfortably once they are on. I smile as the world shifts around me.

I find myself in a grassy plain with rolling hills, I turn to look as a sun, not so un-similar to the one on earth, slowly sets over the horizon, the wind blows through the grass making it lean away from me, my hair only bending lightly with the wind.

“Hello.” Someone says from behind me.

I freeze in surprise for a second, before turning around to look at the person who had talked to me.

She is an older woman with grey hair, blue eyes, and a young-looking face. It is strange actually, how her eyes look so much older than her face.

Whoever she is, I like her already, something about the grandmotherly feel she gives off.

We both study each other for a second before I brake the silence by saying, “Hello... who are you?”

She smiles, apparently pleased with my response, “I am your instructor. My name is Sheyla,” she makes a small half bow towards me, “would you give me the pleasure of having your name?” She says in a formal tone of voice.

Not knowing what is expected of me, I give her a small curtsy. Watching so many fantasy movies has its perks, I give a beautiful curtsy if I do say so myself. “My name is Elena.”

Sheyla’s POV

I watch my new student as she arrives in my domain. She is wearing a thin night dress with sunflower patches sewn all across the back, I stand there observing her as she watches the sun slowly set.

Before we lose too much of our light, I call out to her.

“Hello.” Startled by me, she freezes, after a moment, she turns around to stare at me curiously. I pause for a second startled by her beauty.

Her body while not overly muscular shows signs that it has experienced plenty of exercise. I study her figure curiously, noting her strange ethereal beauty. My eyes look up to study her face, with a small nose, green eyes and long brown hair flowing slightly past her shoulders, I can’t help but gulp ever so slightly. It isn’t even her beauty that gives me pause, I have seen many beautiful beings. No, it is a strange light that surrounds her that catches me off-guard.

Lost in her own appraisal of me, she seems to not have noticed my momentary speechlessness.

“Hello... who are you?” She knocks me out of my reverie with those words and I smile, it seems that I will have an interesting student.

I bow to her formerly, introducing myself.

Elena’s POV

After rising from my curtsy, I watch as Sheyla waves her hand in the air, seemingly motioning at nothing. I look more closely at where she motioned. A table with a kettle of tea on it and two chairs on either side appears. The strange woman motions for me to sit down.

Our young heroine encounters a strange woman who can make things appear from thin air. The strange woman who calls herself “Sheyla” tells the young heroine that she is her ‘Instructor’. What will our intrepid heroine do next? Find out next time on-

I stop the voice in my head before it decides to cut to commercial.

Taking a deep breath, mentally apologizing to myself for zoning out, I guess this is how my mind copes with odd situations.

I wonder what a psychologist would make of that? They always make the funniest assumptions when dealing with me.

“Um, hello? Hello? Did I freak you out? I sometimes forget what it must be like, your first time, experiencing all these new things, I apologize.” Sheyla’s words knock me back to my senses.

“No, no, it’s alright, I was just a little shocked, that is all.” I smile at her hoping to smooth over my momentary thoughtlessness.

I sit down in the chair across from her. “So, you say that you are my instructor? What exactly are you instructing me on?”

Sheyla sits down her chair and considers my question. “Well, a lot of things actually.” She adjusts her position before continuing, “How do I put this…?” She pours herself a cup of the tea that was sitting on the counter, “Your planet is not the first to experience these changes and I very much doubt it will be the last.” She takes a sip of her tea, pausing her explanation. “Unfortunately, not every planet is as resilient as I hope your planet to be. Some don’t even make it through the beta stages without all the beta players dying. That is why I, and other teachers like me are here. Our job is to make sure that you live as long as possible and survive the tragedies that the gods are about to throw down upon you-“

“Our job? And when you say gods… Who- or should I say what are you? You made these things appear out of thin air… Are you one of the gods that you are talking about?” I tilt my head questioningly.

“Me? A god? I can say confidently that I wouldn't ruin billions of lives for the sake of a little game. I abhor the gods with a passion. If the universe didn’t require them, I would try and kill them all myself.” She smiles a gut-wrenching smile, before her eyes focus in on me. “No, I am not one of those assholes. In fact I was once like you, a normal human, no offense.”

I wonder what that tea tastes like, is it even real?

Cadet Elena! Pay attention, the woman in front of you is talking about important world breaking stuff!

Aye-Aye Captain!

“None taken, I pride myself on my normalcy.”

Sheyla nods her head in understanding, “You see, I learned to game the system, quite literally. In fact I know so much about this system, that I, along with a few others, have been chosen to teach the ones recently introduced to the system, how it works. The mentoring program is surprisingly... new. So there are still some kinks we need to figure out.”

I was about to ask another question when she interrupts me.

“I am afraid that we have less time than I thought to prepare for the next part of the tutorial. So I might have to rush what I am about to tell you. First off, I want you to think the word [Status].”

General Info: Elena S. Trudeau Age:16 Lvl: 1 Class: N/A Mana: 80 Health: 200

Sponsor: N/A

Titles: Beta Tester, Crazy In A Good Way (Is that even possible?), Watched By The Gods

Special conditions: Most Definitely Not-Normal

Physical Condition: Healthy

Physicality: Athletic 84%

Brilliance: Graduate 95%

Equipment: Gloves(unique)

“Have you done that? Good. Most of what you see there is self-explanatory, however I want to go over the important things with you, since different worlds seemt to have some surprisingly different explanations for things." She pauses, before listing things in a rapid manner. "First off, your mana, most people start out with a base of thirty to fifty mana, but as a Beta Player you should get a bonus amount. Then there is health, again as a beta player, you should get an increase to your base health by roughly 50. There are quite a few ways to raise those two values, but the main way is to either level up, or gain a class.” She glances at the sun, “Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to explain classes, they won’t be important until later anyway. I will skip over the whole sponsor thing for now and move on to titles. You can look at what a title does by saying ‘describe title’ and then whatever title you want to understand. Explore those on your own as soon as you can.” She takes a deep breath and bites her lip, thinking. “Your Health, Mana, Physicality and Brilliance will all increase when you level up.”

She leans in towards me and continues “Can you tell me what you chose from the equipment room?”

Captain! The brain has too many questions to ask! What do we do?!

We will have to ignore them for now Cadet. I am afraid we will have to press the Big Red Button.

Captain? You can’t mean… That button? The horrifying, terror inducing, world breaking Big Red Button??!!

Yes. I order you to press the Stop Asking Questions Button.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

“I chose these gloves.” I take off the silk gloves and hand them over to her.

She studies them carefully. To my surprise, the gloves start to glow, changing as they do. I leaned in closer to get a better look at them

They kept their silky blackness, but silver letters similar to what I had seen of hieroglyphics sat there glowing, the letters were written in a spiral down the long sleeves that went up to my elbows when i'd had the gloves on.

“Nice choice of equipment, even I can’t see all that it can do….” She turns the gloves over following the silver letters. She looks up from the gloves, smiling at me. “Unfortunately, as I keep saying, we don’t have the time to get into detail. For now, I want you to say [Identify Equipment: Gloves].”

I do as she says.

Item: Gloves Of The Ancients

Owner: Elena S Trudeau

Abilities: Volatile Looks, Indestructible, ???

Sheyla hands over the gloves, which I then promptly put on, “In the next test, you will be faceing creatures that you will be seeing more of in the future. Thankfully, you are still in the tutorial. If something happens to you out there and you die, you will be revived at the beginning of the test. Good luck Elena. I want you to take this with you for now.” She hands me a small book that I just hold in front of me, not sure what to do with it.

She looks at me expectantly. Not sure what she is expecting, I motion towards my lack of pockets.

Shayla stares at me blankly, before realization dawns on her face “I completely forgot to tell you, didn’t I? That is a silly oversight, say ‘Place In Inventory’ and everything in your hands will be placed in your inventory. Later you can figure out how to use your inventory without words” Shayla looks at something I can’t see, “And it looks like those will be my last words to you for a while, I hope you survive what is coming.” After she says that, my vision starts to get hazy, and I pass out.