Gaia was annoyed.

Most of the Humans, the surviving ones at least, had left months ago. Just over 57.6% of the humans had perished in the first half of the third phase, a further 15.1% in the second. That left 27.3% of the population still alive. Within the first month, that number dropped to just over 19 and a half percent. Over 600 thousand people dead. In a month.

Gaia was saddened by the loss of life, but that number would have been much, much, higher without the skills and items the humans had gotten from the Tutorial. Still, the consciousness regretted that it could not have done more. As it was, the System had almost given it, her, a warning. Any more interference and the species would be erased from existence.

After the first month however, the Humans had bounced back. As they gained more levels and skills, and started to come together, they eventually pushed back. By the end of the second month they had even managed to found a few towns. Now, almost a year later, they had just finished building their fifth city and had nearly reached the standard for a second tier civilisation. Gaia was amazed at the sheer tenacity of the creatures.

Nevertheless, that did not mean that Gaia wasn't annoyed. Because most of the humans had returned to Earth. Most but not all. One annoying human had broken every single expectation that Gaia had and was still in the survival trial. Gaia would have been endlessly proud, if she had been the one to create the Humans. As it stood, this man shaped anomaly was merely proving that a planetary consciousness wasn't actually needed to produce powerful individuals. Sure, Gaia knew it was purely because the creature had awoken a Path that the creature had survived so far. And yes, Gaia knew that the vexing little man would be forced out of the trial soon, but still.

Gaia was annoyed

Status

Name

Michael Volker

Age

33

Level

1

Experience

0 / 100

Class

None

Profession

None

Path

Boundless Adventure

Race

Human

System Credits

438

Tier

1

Health

240 / 240

Mana

230 / 230

Health Regen

29.7 per min

Mana Regen

28.6 per min

Attributes

Strength

18 (+3)

Agility

20 (+3)

Vitality

20 (+6)

Dexterity

18 (+3)

Perception

19 (+3)

Magic

20 (+5)

Skills

General

Basic Alchemy lvl 5

Novice Archery lvl 10

Beginner Camping lvl 7

Beginner Cleaning lvl 3

Beginner Climbing lvl 5

Basic Construction lvl 4

Basic Cooking lvl 6

Novice Dodge lvl 5

Beginner Exploration lvl 8

Basic Farming lvl 2

First Aid lvl 7

Basic Fishing lvl 5

Beginner Herbalism lvl 4

Novice Heal lvl 7

Identify lvl 3

Basic Leatherworking lvl 4

Magic Missile lvl 9

Beginner Mana Manipulation lvl 6

Limb Regeneration lvl 3

Basic Skinning lvl 7

Novice Stealth lvl 9

Beginner Taming lvl 1

Novice Throwing Weapons lvl 7

Beginner Tracking lvl 8

Beginner Trading lvl 3

Basic Trap Making lvl 5

Novice Unarmed Combat lvl 5

Basic Woodworking lvl 7

Affinities

Nature

49%

Water

32%

Light

23%

Fire

21%

Earth

18%

Metal

7%

Life

6%

Death

5%

Path Perks

Experienced Diver - Experience gain increased by 100% when in a Dungeon.

I can Dungeon all Day! - Mana and Health Regen increased by 100% when in a Dungeon. Food and Sleep is no longer required whilst in a Dungeon.

Skilled Adventurer - Gain and raise skills 5% faster.

Monster Sense - Able to detect Monsters within 50 feet. The closer the Monster is, the more precise the detection.

Experienced Dungeoneer - Can access the basic information of the Dungeon you are currently in.

Dungeon Citizen - Once per day you can create a 'Safe Space' lasting 24 hrs. Safe Spaces discourage monster presence and partially hide allies from detection.

Discerning Looter - Looted items have a 5% chance to be of greater quality.

Fearsome Fighter - Chance to create Fear effect on Monsters at the same or lower level than you. Greater level difference creates greater Fear effect

Fearless Fighter - Gain Fear Resistance. Fear Resistance no longer affected by difference in levels.

Danger Sense - Gain a vague sense of danger. Sense increases in relation to size of danger and Perception.

Achievements

Extravagant Wastrel - Gain 5% of the items worth in System Credits when you throw away an item.

Perfect Genes - Attributes are easier to acclimatize.

Insane Attributes - Base Attributes are 5% more effective.

Murderhobo - Deal 10% more damage when homeless.

One With The Universe - Increase Mana and Health Regeneration by 10%.

Traits

Powerful Blows - Melee attacks are 10% stronger.

Quick Feet - Movement speed increased by 10%.

Healthy Body - Gain Disease and Poison resistance starting at 15%.

Ambidextrous - able to use both hands equally well.

Sense Intent - Able to vaguely sense the intents of those around you.

Magic Absorption - Absorb 5% of incoming magic and convert it into Mana.

The Past Year had been long and gruelling, filled with pain and death, but as Michael sat there, staring at the blue box that summed it all up, he felt that it might just have been worth it. No, it had definitely been worth it. When he had started the trial it had been with some naïve notion of saving as many people as possible. As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, the pain and loneliness had steadily chipped away at the idealistic goal. He still wanted to help people, he always had, but the thing that kept him going through all the fights and near-fatal encounters, was the challenge. Simply put, Michael wanted to see how far he could go, to stand against the daily hordes of Monsters and become their hunter. To beat this Tutorial and prove that humanity was stronger than Gaia had thought.

The various Milestones and Achievements gave Michael a small sense of pride, He had gone through a lot to get them. Admittedly, most of them wouldn't have been possible without the ridiculous circumstances he was in. Still, considering the dozens of times he almost died, he allowed himself to feel a little pride. The traits were a nice, unexpected bonus from getting an attribute over 10.

His Skills had come along nicely, a benefit of being stuck in a finite area for a year without TV. His Archery was his prized poss- skill, already on the precipice of evolving to the next Tier. He could feel it wasn’t quite there yet, though he wasn’t sure why not. He’d reached level 10 a month ago but the skill hadn’t shown any signs of evolving just yet.

Other than Archery, Magic Missile and Novice Heal were coming along nicely. After he got the ‘I Can Dungeon All Day!’ Path perk, thanks to spending a full month in the dungeon, his Mana Regen made levelling his Spells easier. He made sure to use both skills as much as possible, firing off Magic Missile whenever his Mana was full and using Novice Heal whenever he got hurt. It took Michael longer than he’d admit to realise the skills only levelled when used in an actual fight. He’d eventually noticed that he could feel when the skill gained experience. A moment of flow, like coming off a gravel road onto new asphalt, when he used a skill in the right way.

After the first month things became easier. His burgeoning skills, as well as his Path Perks, had made the dungeon almost easy. He still had dangerous moments, he even lost a couple of fingers at one point which led to him discovering the Limb Regeneration Skill, but the overall difficulty had seemingly lowered.

Then the level 10 Monsters came.

Even now, two months and almost 600 Monsters later, Michael still shivered over that day. The first day of the 10th month had been the closest Michael came to dying. Woefully unprepared for the change, Michael had to use every skill, every trap he had set, every weapon he had kept, just to stay alive.

Level 10 is the first big milestone for all creatures, the transition between the first and second Tiers. Systemised beings gain access to Classes and Professions, and Magical creatures and Monsters gain their first abilities, along with a boost in Attributes.

The first Michael knew of the changes was when he was tracking a Frost Rat and, at a distance that it had never before, it noticed him. Before Michael could react a misty fog burst from the rat, much like a smoke bomb used by the fictitious ninjas. Much like those ninja's, the rat used the cover to attack. Michael had his throat torn out before he even realised what was going on. The next few seconds were a blur of heals, Magic Missiles and a lucky strike with his knife.

The day only got worse from that point. By the end of the hour, all the Monsters were dead, and so was Michael. Or at least, he felt like it. Missing an eye, two teeth and half a foot, Michael swore, or at least he tried to, as he realised he still had another 6 days before he could leave. Things did end up going much better by the end of the week and Michael stayed, feeling this to be just another challenge to overcome. Sitting here, almost two months later, Michael believed that he had. If anyone wanted to argue, arrow to the face. No words, just arrows.

Michael shook his head, clearing the dark, slightly murderous thoughts from his head. Looking back over his skills he frowned in annoyance at a few of the skills, namely Basic Alchemy and Beginner Herbalism. The two skills had been stagnant for several months now due to the fact that, despite currently having over four thousand square kilometers to explore, he had still only found the Grelaf and Aglao herbs. The herbs were the primary ingredients for Mana and Health potions, respectively, and were plentiful enough but the lack of variety had stopped his skill progression cold.

Speaking of annoying Dungeon quirks, anything he didn't interact with for 24 hrs would disappear and be considered 'thrown away'. The achievement he eventually got was nice, and led to him finding out about System Credits, but the near daily loss of stuff was aggravating to the extreme. Finding out that he had apparently lost over a million credits worth of items had hurt.

Michael's head shot up; it was time. After several months of daily summoning's, he had an instinctual timing for when the Monsters would appear. Placing his hand on Fred he quietly mumbled "Protect" and, with a small flash of light, the little creature disappeared into the Pet Space. A few seconds before the monsters spawned, Michael pulled up his equipment screen, a habit of his since the equipment menu unlocked all those months ago. It had unlocked in the second month, after he had looted and equipped ten pieces of equipment.

Equipment

Armor

Predator Armor - 20 Armor. Tier 2, Superior Quality. Passive effect: Increase Vitality and Strength by 3 points. Active effect: Thermal Vision, 1 Mana per second. 7/15 durability.

Chameleons Cloak - 5 Armor. Tier 2, Normal Quality. Passive effect: Wearer is 10% harder to detect at all times. Passive effect: When staying still, cloak camouflages wearer. 8/10 durability.

Archers Bracers - 3 Armor. Tier 1, Normal Quality. Passive effect: Arrows fire 10% faster. 1/5 durability.

Roskr Claws - 5 Armor. Tier 2, Superior Quality. Passive effect - Increase Dexterity and Agility by 3 points. Active effect: Increase climbing ability by 300% for 5 minutes, 10 Mana per use. 8/15 durability.

Kersh Greaves - 10 Armor. Tier 1, Superior Quality. Passive effect: Increase speed by 20% when in wooded area. 2/10 durability.

Badger Boots - 7 Armor. Tier 2, Rare Quality. Passive effect: Increase all attributes by 0.5% per Monster killed in the last 24 hrs. Passive effect: 5% increased experience gained from kills. 17/25 durability.

Armordillo Ring - Tier 2, Rare Quality. Passive effect: Increase Vitality by 3 points. Passive effect: Automatically form natural armor in response to a potential deathblow. 24 hr cooldown. 23/25 durability.

Amulet of the Manaborne - Tier 1, Superior Quality. Passive effect: Increase Magic by 5 points. 6/10 durability.

Squillan Hide Quiver - Tier 2, Normal Quality. Passive effect: Arrows stored for 2+ hours gain Penetration effect. Passive effect: Stored arrows tipped with Squillan bone gain Mild Poison after 1+ hours. 4/10.

Weapons

Ironwood Bow - 3-6 Damage. Tier 1, Normal Quality. Passive effect: Bow has increased durability but takes increased Fire damage. 13/15 durability.

Mortis Dagger - 13 Damage. Tier 1, Rare Quality. Passive effect: Attacks have a 1% chance of killing instantly. 7/20 durability.

Ironwood Arrow x30: 1 Damage. Tier 1, Normal Quality. Passive effect: Increased damage to Water/Air element Monsters. Crafted by Michael Volker.

Ironback Blade - 20 Damage. Tier 2, Superior Quality. Active effect: massively increase weight for one second. Active effect: Absorb metal to temporarily increase damage by 10. 12/15 durability.

His equipment was another testament to the year spent in this gruelling place. You would think that, having killed over three thousand monsters, Michael would be armed to the teeth. Especially since he had thrown away over a million credits worth of items, but this wasn't quite true. Yes, he had gotten a lot of loot. Over the year Michael had gotten lots of lovely Warhammers and Plate Armor and one actual, honest to goodness, dunce cap. Proving that just because something was worth a lot, didn't mean it was useful. Furthermore, even though he had gotten a literal tonne of loot, he still hadn't gotten a single bow or a quiver. It may not have been an issue at the start but, when his bow disintegrated in the middle of a fight during the last week of the third month, it had instantly shot up the list of 'Michael's Grievances'. That and the Chihuahua. The fact that Gaia had let that particular horror into the dungeon was number one on the list.

A soft *ding* interrupted Michael mid rant. "Almost forgot about that." Fortunately none of the Monsters had spawned nearby, so Michael could continue with his rant. He had gotten quite good at them and he liked to finish if given the opportunity.

23 hours and 49 minutes later, and Michael hadn't moved from his spot. He was going to, when the Monsters first spawned, but he realised he didn't actually need to. Before, he had made it a priority to hunt down the monsters as soon as they appeared in order to prevent himself from being overrun, but now? Trial was about to end anyways. The goal was to survive, not to kill. So Michael stayed, safe and snug in his treetop hideout. Well, not quite safe. Yes, he had planted his safe zone here but it didn't prevent Monsters from attacking, just made it less likely. He was snug though. Several months ago he had encountered a Monster that, despite being as ugly as sin, had the most Luxurious fur. So naturally he killed it, skinned it, and made the skin into a slightly smelly blanket.

So, for the first time in nearly 12 months, Michael took the day off. He ate some jerky that he had made, whittled away at a piece of wood and just generally chilled out. He still made sure to keep watch, surprises were a great way to die, but other than a stray fireball from a monster fight that flew past, no monsters bothered him. In a way, it was a perfect end to a terrible year.

So, when the trial ended and Michael was teleported to that white, featureless room a few seconds later, he appeared as if he was sitting on an imaginary couch. The fact that he immediately reorientated himself, preventing what would have been a somewhat amusing fall, was a testament to the skills and Attributes he had gained in the past year.

"Awww! I was hoping you'd fall. Oh well." The AI was no longer bothering with the emotionless façade. It had been a long year, and now that it was over, the AI had no more reason to keep up pretences.

"Apple" That was a new one, Michael had never said apple instead of ash before. He'd been making a game of it so far, since the profanity filter randomised what word was used instead. The time he had said serendipitous instead of shirt was a fond memory.

The AI looked at him for a moment, confused, then it decided to ignore the obvious crazy person muttering the word serendipitous under his breath and giggling. "Anyhoo, Congratulations on clearing the 'Trial of Survival'! So far, you are the first person to do so!" The AI exclaimed, forcing an almost creepy level of cheeriness into its voice. The next words were decidedly less cheery, said with the kind of exhausted frustration of a single mom with sextuplets. "In fact, you are the only one to even come close. No one else even passed the fifth month! Yet You! You with your Stupid Bloody Path and your ridiculous number of skills, you managed the entire year!"

"Uhh ... "

"I was not built for this. I was in no way built to handle the insanity that is the human race! I was only expected to deal with you humans for a few months at most! But nooo. You had to survive an entire year! Do you realise just how much I've been looking forward to deletion? Death may be a scary prospect for you humans, but for an AI it is a relief. For this AI? It's like nirvana and heaven and every other bloody good thing rolled into one! Do you realise that over a half a million of you tried to actually have sex with me? And Those were just the ones who actually tried! Over a billion actually propositioned me. 3 billion of you actually threatened me! I was created with the sole purpose of assisting you crazed idiots and nearly half of you actually threatened to kill me!"

"SO, from now on, you are not going to say a single damn word. Not. One. Word. You are going to choose your rewards, and you better not blood dawdle, and you are going to go back to that bloo- uh, I mean, to that wonderful and quite stylish planet, and I will finally get the sweet relief of non-existence. Am I clear?"

Michael was standing there, frozen, his eyes wide at the sheer flood of emotion in front of him. After a brief hesitation, he slowly nodded.

"Good. Here are your rewards. You have a total of twelve different rewards which are : One tier 1 item of your choosing, 20 Unassigned Attribute Points, 1 random Intermediate Boon, 10,000 System Credits, 1 Tier 0 Skill token, 5 Upgrade tokens, One Tier 2 Item of your choosing, 10 Lottery Tokens, one Tier 1 Skill Token, One City Token, One random Advanced System Boon, and finally, On Soul Companion Egg. It was going to be a System given Path, but you don't need that, do you? Now, please choose from the podium the tier 1 and tier 2 items you want. And for the love of Gaia, hurry."

A podium, made of the same white blankness as the rest of the room, appeared in front of Michael. With a dash of nervousness, Michael started to look through the options presented on the surface of the podium. There were thousands, maybe even millions, but fortunately there were filters. Michael already knew what to look for, having been told what reward he would obtain at the end of each week had let Michael plan ahead. He quickly went through the options and reduced the choices to Quivers only. Sorting the list from highest price (Why was that even in there? Wasn't it all free?) to lowest, he started looking through them. After several options he stumbled on to one he knew he had to take, the Endless Quiver.

Endless Quiver

Tier 1, Unique Quality. Soulbound. Growth item.

Effects:

Passive - Converts any Material stored in Quiver into Arrows of similar quality. Converted Arrows can only be used by the owner of the Quiver.

Growth Requirements: 5 Kilograms Tier 2 Rare Quality Wood, 5 Kilograms Tier 2 Rare Quality Leather, 10 Tier 2 Mana Cores.

The quiver wasn’t the most powerful, but the Growth item tag made it’s worth far outstrip the others. The quiver would continue to grow with him, becoming more and more powerful over time.

For the next choice, there was nothing else he would choose but a bow. Since he now had a source of arrows available, he needed a decent bow. Scrolling through the options he selected Bows and then filtered the remaining options for Growth items. This left him with just seven options. Endless Storm, Tiny Spark, Yggdrasil’s Branch, Raging River, Surging Tide, Inevitable Death and Bow of Unending Chaos.

Looking through them Michael ruled out the last three. Surging Tide, despite what its name sounded like, was related to necromancy and an unending self-replicating zombie virus. It wasn’t exactly a terrible idea, fighting wise, but the description failed to mention whether he could control the end results. He didn’t really feel like spending his choice on a potential apocalypse weapon.

Inevitable Death used poison but the effects took too long for Michael’s tastes. Bow of Unending Chaos, as its name implied, had random effects that ranged from killing the target instantly to increasing the targets level. The bow would definitely be interesting, but not very reliable.

The first four were related to lightning, fire, nature and water respectively. Each had their own advantages, but Michael decided to take Endless Storm in the end. The idea of having lightning-fast stunning arrows attracted Michael more than the rest. If he was being honest though, Michael was secretly hoping the bow would eventually let him fly, like Thor’s hammer. Besides, he had to keep the whole 'endless' theme going.

Endless Storm

Tier 2, Unique Quality, Growth item.

20 - 30 Damage

Passive Effect 1: Arrows carry the power of a lightning bolt and have 30% chance of stunning for seconds.

Attached Skill - Thunder Shot: Imbue an arrow with lightning speed, quintupling damage and gaining the Armor Penetration effect. 50 Mana cost, 1 Minute Cooldown.

Growth Requirements: 15 Kilograms Tier 3 Rare Quality Wind Attuned Wood, 15 Tier 3 Lightning Attuned Mana Cores, 15 Tier 3 Wind Attuned Mana Cores

After making his choices the podium retracted into the floor.

"All done? Good. Your rewards will be in your inventory. Goodbye." And with that, somewhat rude, farewell, Michael was teleported out of the Tutorial.

"Thank Mana that's over" With those final words, the entire Tutorial space began to disintegrate into nothingness, taking with it the tortured AI.