Yi Qiang found himself waking up in a forest. Nothing was overtly out of the ordinary, from what he could see, but Yi Qiang figured that could soon change. This was the tutorial, after all.

Suddenly, from between two tall oaks, an old man emerged. Seeing this, Yi Qiang's heart jumped in his chest. Not because of the man himself, but because the experienced sniper hadn't sensed him coming at all. If this was fully realistic, then there was no doubt that the elderly man had skills.

"Hey, kid. So, you wanna learn about how this world works? That's easy. Just ask me any questions you have along the way. Anyways, follow me," the old man said, his voice deep but sincere, care evident in his voice, even though they didn't even count as acquaintances. But Yi Qiang simply attributed that to the developers trying to make players more comfortable and assented.

"Yes, sir."

"Haha, call me Ivan."

Yi Qiang nodded.

"Yes, Ivan."

Ivan walked past Yi Qiang, nodding at him when he moved past and stood at a spread of old trees. When Yi Qiang thought about it, there didn't seem to be any obvious path to take, so what road exactly would Ivan take him through?

His reasonable question was answered not-so-reasonably as Ivan grinned, standing before the wall of wood and leaf, and waved his right hand lazily, seemingly for no reason. That was until the ground shifted and the trees parted before him, revealing a worn path surrounded by trees of the same, slicing straightforwardly deeper into the forest.

Yi Qiang, for the life of him, could not stop gaping. Even the experienced sniper could do nothing but stand dumbstruck at the primal awe of seeing such a mystical sight. Finally, Yi Qiang began to comprehend what level this game, his life, would be on, and he loved it.

The sniper's cold exterior was shattered to pieces as, seemingly freed of any final inhibitions, Yi Qiang followed Ivan, sporting a brilliant, expectant smile on his face.

"That's a hell of a reaction, Mr. Not-So-Serious-After-All...." Yi Qiang distinctly heard Ivan mutter but continued beaming unfettered.

"Alright, anyways, you're here to learn just what the rules of this new world are. And to show you effectively, let's start from the beginning.

First off, most of the functions in this game are geared towards improvement. Whether in combat ability, crafting skill, or anything else you decide to pursue, the point, if you will, is usually to improve. And to that end, there are various universal tools.

The first is levels. These are general markers of your prowess since your level usually reflects what you've done in Ascend. To improve your level, or level up, there are various things you can do, all of which grant you experience - of which you need a certain amount for each level. The rule of thumb is that if a task requires effort, it will likely give you experience. This includes crafting an item, winning a fight, or even winning a particularly strenuous argument. There are also more lucrative sources of experience, called quests. The focus of quests are just as wide-ranged as the actions that can grant you experience, but they're all uniquely difficult and uniquely oriented tasks that, upon completed, will grant you a sum of experience greater than the sum of experience of the actions of the quest itself. It's also highly likely you will get items, attribute or skill points - which we will get into later -, or even skills themselves.

Upon leveling up, you gain two things: attribute points and skill points. Usually, you gain 5 attribute points per level, which you can allocate to a stat to increase it by a ratio of one stat point increase to one attribute point spent. You also get skill points, which are significantly less common - you only get one every level. Skill points are used to purchase a new tier of a skill, which you'll understand in a bit. Leveling up also gives you access to higher-level equipment, which usually have better bonuses and values.

That's enough about levels. Any questions?"

Yi Qiang thought for a moment, mulling over what he learned.

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay. Previously, I mentioned skills. What skills do are pretty self-explanatory.

There are two types of skills, of which all skills are divided into. Active, and passive. Active skills cost some sort of resource and cause some sort of action or temporary effect. Passive skills, on the other hand, are always active and require no resource to maintain.

Through use, skills can level up, which enhance their effects. Active skills level up through use, and the more you use an active skill, the faster it levels up, with higher difficulty enemies also granting better skill experience. By higher difficulty, by the way, I mean higher level relative to your own - if you're a level 150 fighting a level 100, you'll get less experience than a level 10 fighting a level 15. Passive skills level up naturally over time, but you can hasten the process by making use of their effects more. For example, if a passive skill grants you a 2% Strength bonus, you can level it up faster by making more use of that extra strength.

Skill levels have different grades, too. When you get a skill, it usually starts at level 1 and levels up from there. At that point, it is at Novice. Once it levels up to 10 in Novice, it will upgrade to Apprentice, giving it a significant boost but also further raising the required skill experience to level up. After that comes Journeyman, then Expert, then Master. The peak, at least what is known so far, is Master level 10.

Now, there is one skill that you have to know regardless of your level, class, or playstyle. It's called Analyze, and its use is simple. It costs nothing, and when you use it, you get the basic information on an enemy or item. For creatures, that includes health, level, and name, unless their level is very far above your own - usually, a 50-level difference will render them unidentifiable. For items, there is only a 25-level difference, and Analyze grants you information on damage, level, and other effects. You can gain more detailed information, though, by equipping it or bringing it to an identifier in a settlement and paying a fee."

Ivan paused to bring out a simple dagger from his pants pocket, holding it out to Yi Qiang. "You don't have Analyze yet, but all you need to do to get it is focus on it a bit. Go on!"

Yi Qiang nodded and took the dagger in his hand, staring at it intently until a blue box popped in front of the weapon.

Simple Dagger(Common)

Level 1

2-3 damage

You have learned Analyze(Level NA)

Learn an item or creature's properties by focusing on them. Grants ability to view basic stats on targets within level range.

Yi Qiang smiled slightly. "I learned it."

"Good," Ivan responded, taking back the dagger. "I guess that leads well into basic item explanation.

Most of the basic item information is self-explanatory: the level signifies the required level to equip it, the damage signifies how much damage a weapon does, the defense signifies how much damage an armor can mitigate, and so on. The words in the parentheses, though, are a little less simple.

Every item has a rarity or quality, which signify their use within their level. The higher quality an item is, the better. The qualities, from worst to best, are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Divine. Legend has it there are better qualities, but I haven't heard of any conclusive evidence on that end.

Some items are also soulbound, meaning you won't lose them when you die. Normally, when you die, you lose one item from your inventory and a bit of experience. If an item is soulbound, however, there is no chance to drop upon death.

That's pretty much it for items, and there's already very little to talk about left! Any questions now, kid?"

"No, not yet." Yi Qiang responded, motioning for the elderly man to continue.

Ivan went through some more miscellaneous things Yi Qiang committed to memory, a long list of them, actually, but quickly he was almost done.

"There's one last thing I gotta tell you about, then, kid. Monsters. This is basically how combat-oriented players level up, and they're pretty simple. The information that you need to know is just the grades - from weakest to strongest, monsters are classified as Normal, Elite, Rare, Boss, Epic, Legendary, and Divine.

Well, with that, I think we're done! Any last questions?" Ivan saw Yi Qiang shake his head, and continued. "Then see you!"

Tutorial Completed.

Time acceleration complete. Game start.