Chapter 4-Tutorial

Eric wakes to a searing pain in his head. As quickly as it came it disappears with a new screen appearing in his vision.

Congratulations on surviving!

The majority of intelligent sentient creatures in this world have died in the last few hours, you are one of the lucky ones that survived.

With receiving this message, you are now able to reap all the benefits of the existence of mana in your world.

To get you started on your adventure some of the changes will be explained to you in the form of a small informative tutorial.

To start the tutorial, say “Status”.

Looking around Eric realizes is still safe where he is and might not get a better chance at learning about the changes. With excitement imagining everything that he could do now Eric starts the tutorial.

“Status”

Status Screen

Name Eric King Level 1 Age 19 Strength 7(0) Gender Male Constitution 8(0) Species Human Dexterity 11(0) Class Warlock Agility 11(0) Profession - Intelligence 14(0) HP 78/78 Wisdom 13(0) Mana 122/122 Charisma 8(0)

‘Wow’ Even though Eric expected this to some degree, still, seeing is believing and now he knows he can do something which he couldn’t before.

By simply saying “Status” with the intent to view your status screen you can pull up this screen. Alternatively, you can also think ‘Status’ with the intent and then this screen also appears, this can be tricky at the start but will soon become second nature to you.

The Status Screen is unique to every sentient being in existence. In the first column, it tells you your name, age, gender, race, class, professions, HP and Mana.

Name is your name given to you at your birth. There do exist methods to change your official name.

Age is how old you are. This number automatically changes once a year. There exists no method of either increasing or decreasing this number manually. All aging and anti-aging methods can only change the physical age, but not your age as listed in your status screen.

Gender is your biological gender. Only permanent sex change methods will alter this entry.

Species lists what species you belong to. Only a permanent species change will alter this.

Class is your official combat class. At birth, every being receives a class. This class is a combat class. There exist countless classes which can roughly be distributed into 3 options: Close Range, Long-range Physical, and Spellcaster. If someone is below the age of 18 they will be unable to progress in their class and use any abilities, skills, or spells. It is very difficult to either change or increase the number of classes one has.

[Warlock: A spellcaster that has a connection to the Abyss and calls upon its powers for their spells.]

Profession can also be considered to be a non-combat class and can be chosen by the individual. Professions are different crafting, production, or bureaucratic jobs one can acquire. There is no limit to the number of professions you can acquire.

HP stands for ‘Hit Points’ and signifies how much damage you can take before dying. You die when the number reaches zero. Healing spells, healing crystals, and resting can restore lost HP.

Mana is the magical energy with which you fuel abilities, skills, and spells. Certain spells, mana potions, and resting can restore lost Mana.

To continue, say “continue”.

‘Everything seems to be self-explanatory so far, it is good that I already have a class because if I had to figure out how to get a class before I can defend myself I don't think I would survive another day. From what I can see I am a Warlock, a spellcaster with a connection to the Abyss, now if that doesn’t sound ominous.’

“Continue”

In the second column, you have Level, Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, collectively known as your statistics, or stats.

Level is an estimate of how strong you are. This level is increased by either defeating opponents or fulfilling other special requirements. When your level increases you can gain new abilities, skills, or spells depending on your class.

Strength is your physical strength; how much you can lift and how hard you hit.

Constitution is your hardiness, this is displayed through your how many hits you can take and your stamina.

Dexterity is your nimbleness, and how well you can do precision work with your appendages and your flexibility.

Agility is your speed, usually expressed through your running speed and your reflexes.

Intelligence is how well you can remember things and understand things and is most important in mana capacity.

Wisdom allows you to see connections between subjects better and determines the mana recovery rate.

Charisma is how good you look and how likable you are to others initially.

An increase in level means an increase in stats dependent on your class.

[For humans the base value is 10 for all stats. Upon level up all stats gain +1 and the class bonuses.]

To continue, say “continue”.

‘All of that makes sense and lines up with video games. I haven’t done any serious exercise in years so having below average strength and constitution makes sense. Having slightly above average dexterity and agility is a welcome surprise, I got that probably because I have good reflexes, trained through video games, making also my fingers quite nimble. Also, my being very skinny means I don’t need a lot of muscle to have a decent running speed.’

‘My higher Intelligence and Wisdom doesn’t surprise me in any particular way, I have always had good grades. So far my brain was always my strong point, never my physical body.’

Eric regrets that he didn’t train his body more. Especially considering how sore all his muscles are from yesterday’s ordeal, traveling for hours through the woods, and then fighting those two zombies.

Looking out the window, Eric sees the early light of day and decides that after working through the tutorial he will have to see what he can gather for supplies Then heading out searching for other people, hoping that he isn’t the only one left in the area.

“Continue”

Everyone with access to mana has different abilities, skills, and spells they can use. You can gain abilities, skills, and spells by leveling up through your class, or they can be given to you through special means.

To view a list of abilities you can use say or think “Ability List”.

To view a list of skills you can use say or think “Skill List”.

To view a list of spells you can use say or think “Spell List”.

To continue, say “continue”.

Eric thought he understood, him being a spellcaster probably gives him at least one spell to use at the start. Though he wonders at the difference between abilities and skills but figures it will either become apparent in the future or this “tutorial” will tell him later.

“Continue”

New Quest

Silent Status

Description: Call upon your status without speaking, remember think clearly what you want.

Completion: 0/1

Reward: Starting Kit

In some situations, you can receive quests from people or otherwise. When accepting quests from others you also get a notification clearly stating what you must do, how close you are to completion, and the reward.

Rewards from people must be received from the quest giver after reporting the completion of the quest.

Complete the quest “Silent Status” to finish the tutorial.