Finding myself standing in an identical endless white space, except without the tall white structures, 13 said “This is the Skills Tutorial, but before we start, you will first need to choose a Class.” Hearing those words, my ears perked up and I gave all my attention to 13 as she explained further. “Much like your Stats, the Class you choose will be permanent, however there will be one other chance when you can change it if you wish to do so, when you reach the required Level of course.”

“Which is?” I said, wanting to know.

But 13 ignored my question, and said “There are also Quests in the world that can reward you with different variants of the Classes, Npcs who can teach you, and even Subclasses you can choose to learn. So think wisely of how you want to fight, and pick from the 5 options.” Then a screen appeared in front of me again.

[Fighter] [Healer] [Mage] [Ranger] [Rogue]

Reading the options, I was disappointed to see that there wasn’t an Archer Class, so I clicked the Ranger one as the next best thing, and read the description that appeared for it.

Ranger: A Class that specializes mostly on Mid to Long Range Combat using Bows, Crossbows, and other forms of Ranged Weaponry. The natural Class Progression of this Class is the 'Pathfinder Ranger'.

*Note* A Ranged Weapon is required to use the Starting Skill: Power Shot.

Confirm Choice:

[Yes] or [No]

“About what I expected to read about a Ranger Class, but what’s this natural Class Progression it's talking about? and does that mean there’s an unnatural Class Progression I can get?” I wondered, quickly reading over the other Classes, out of curiosity, but ultimately confirming my first choice.

You are now a Ranger Class. You have learned the Skill: [Power Shot]

Then the space around us began changing just like in the Stats Tutorial. Right in front of me, a long white solid rectangle table rose up from the ground, and along the top of the table were hundreds of different sized arrows and crossbow bolts that appeared from nowhere. In the distance ahead, 5 spread out archery targets rose from the ground, all at varying distances from us. To my left, 5 evenly lined up straw dummies arose. And to my right, 10 weapon racks rose up, each filled with all sorts of different weapons.

Instantly my eyes lit up and honed in at the sight of the bows, ignoring all other weapons, as I then unconsciously walked forward and reached for them.

“Please wait a moment, Eyes Thalion.” 13 said, stopping me. “Let me explain first.”

I pouted, eager to use a bow again, but I said “Fine, but can you stop calling me Eyes Thalion, Eyes is more than good enough.”

“Eyes it is then.” 13 smiled, and then explained “This is the Skills Tutorial, and as such you should know that Skills are Learned based on your innate natural talent for them, discovering and learning them on your own, and Rewards you get from some Quests. With that being said, let’s see the Skills you Learned from the Stats Tutorial.”

Calculating Skills Learned... You have learned 4 Skills.

Then a new Menu I haven’t seen yet opened up.

Skills

[Sort]

Class Active: [Power Shot Lv.1] Class Passive: None Active: [Sprint Lv.1] Passives: [Dodge Lv.1], [Fitness Lv.1], [Perception Lv.1] Racial Passives: [Elven Physiology Lv.Max] [Keen-Sighted Lv.Max]

Seeing the box around the Skills, I clicked them and it showed me the info about each Skill.

Power Shot: A powerful attack that has increased attack power. Cost 20 Stamina. Damage based on Strength and Skill Level. Sprint: Increases movement of your body. Multiply your Agility by 1.2 for the Active Duration of the Skill. Cost 25% of Stamina per second. Agility Multiplier increases by 0.2 per Skill Level, Stamina Cost decreased by Endurance. Dodge: Instinctually move in a way to slightly lessen damage or avoid being hit. Skill Level based on Agility and Sense. Fitness: Condition of your physical body. Skill Level based on Strength, Agility, and Physical Activity. Perception: Awareness while unaware. Skill Level based on Sense.

While I read through the Skills, 13 continued “There are 2 basic types of Skills, Actives and Passives. Actives being the ones you must think about using, and Passives being the ones you mostly do not. Most Skills are leveled through repeated use, Stat increases, or reaching higher Levels; with a few exceptions. And when a Skill reaches Max Level, some will be able to change and evolve into a newer and better version of the Skill.”

Elven Physiology: A descendant of a species created to be the most perfect and most beautiful of them all, your body naturally tries to extend and preserve that beauty for as long as possible, and cripples the growth of your health to do so. Gain greatly increased Lifespan, Sight, and Hearing, but your Health only increases by 15 per Level. Keen-Sighted: Already capable of seeing great distances, your vision only sharpens further. Increasing Sense has a double effectiveness for your sight.

“Ooo...I wonder what kind of awesome Archery Skills I can learn then.” Imagining some of the possibilites.

“Well that’s about all the basic information you need to know about the Skills." 13 stated, moving out of the way from the weapon racks. "Now as for moving on from this Tutorial, all you need to do is activate and use your Starting Class Skill.” Gesturing for me to pick a weapon.

“That’s it? That can’t be right.” I said, believing that's too easy.

13 chuckled, “It actually is the only thing you need to do to move on, but since you discovered the Hidden Quest in the previous Tutorial, you are automatically allowed to know this Tutorial’s Hidden Quest.” After she said that, a new Quest opened up.

Tutorial Quest

Skill Learning:

Activate and Use your Starting Class Skill.

Hidden Quest:

Learn a Weapon Proficiency.

Reward: ??? Hidden Reward: ???

Time Limit: 4 hours

Immediately the Time Limit stood out to me, and I had to ask “13, how many Tutorials are there?”

“Only 3 in total.” She answered, holding up 3 fingers. “This would be the second.” She added.

“And how long do they each take?” But she didn’t answer me again, so I thought “4 hours would only leave me less than an hour to complete the last Tutorial, which means this Quest could be a trap if I spend too much time trying to get the Hidden Quest. I better just try for the Hidden Quest for 2 hours, and then leave right after so I can still have time for the last Tutorial.” Then I asked “So how do I learn a Weapon Proficiency, 13?” Again she didn’t answer, and just gestures to the weapons. “Oh right, that makes sense.” She smiled as I walked to the weapon racks.

There were various types of weapons on each of the 10 racks, some having different sizes of the same weapon, while other weapons looked more exotic, recognizing weapons from other countries. The melee weapons ranged from blade weapons like greatswords to simple daggers, to blunt and piercing weapons like maces and spears. While the ranged weapons were crossbows, throwing weapons like throwing knives and bolas, and even wands and staves with small crystals on the heads, but all I was really drawn to were the bows. The bows were sadly only basic recurve bows, longbows, and composite bows, all of varying sizes, but no compound bows. As soon as I picked up one of the recurve bows, a screen popped up.

Training Recurve Bow

Common

Attack: 10

Requirement: Lv.1

“Ooo, the Stats for the weapon.” I said aloud, thinking “I wonder if the other bows are different.” Quickly checking the other bows, but finding that only the name was different and nothing else.

Holding the recurve bow again, I lightly tugged on the bowstring to check its draw weight, and guessed it was only about 20 pounds, which was way lower than I was used to. Walking over to the solid table with the abundant amount of arrows, I gathered up a few appropriate sized arrows to shoot, and saw that they also had Stats.

Training Arrow

Common

Attack: 5

“No Requirements for using an arrow? I guess that makes sense, but that means other things might also have no Requirements to use too.” I figured, positioning myself in front of the closest target that was only 20m away.

I naturally smiled and got into my archery stance, nocked the arrow on the left side of the bow, and raised the bow up. Closing my eyes, I listened as I drew the bowstring back, and heard the nostalgic pulling of the bowstring in my ears after not hearing the sound for 4 years. Opening my eyes, I anchored the drawn string to my mouth, and adjusted my aim to the center ring of the target. Holding my breath and steadying my aim, I released the bowstring and listened to the even more nostalgic sound of a bow firing, and watched my arrow fly at target, hitting just outside the bullseye, and my smile couldn't help but get bigger.

I looked at my right hand as it trembled in excitement, and in that moment a tear fell from my eye, and I thought “This is it, the feeling I fell in love with.” Clenching my fist, I wiped the other tear falling from my face, and shot two more arrows at the same target. The second barely touched the bullseye and the third hitting dead in the center. “That’s more like it, but I still want more!” Moving on to the 2nd and 3rd farther targets, I fired 3 arrows at each, progressively getting better and better every shot, and slowly getting back to my peak archery form.

The 4th target seemed to be the Olympic distance at 70m, so I took my time taking 3 carefully aimed arced shots, knowing that the bow didn't have the power to fire that far. Without any wind, I used the first shot as a measure and barely hit the line of the ten ring, and then easily hit my remaining 2 shots in the ten ring. "Good thing there’s no wind or that would’ve been a lot harder." Then going to the last target, the farthest at about 100m, I did the same thing but the bow wasn’t powerful enough, and all 3 shots barely hit the bottom of the target. On the third shot hitting, I got two messages.

You have learned the Weapon Proficiency: [Archery] Hidden Quest Completed Complete the Quest ‘Skill Learning’ to receive the Hidden Reward.

“Woah great job, Eyes! I can’t believe you already completed the Hidden Quest in under 15 minutes.” 13 said, sounding completely surprised and impressed. “And once you use your Class Skill we can go to the next Tutorial, all you have to do now is think or say the Skill like with your Menu.”

“Actually if it's alright with you, I really wanna shoot a bit more, I haven’t had enough.” I said, not even close to having enough fun yet.

“Are you sure? You could be the first to complete the Tutorial at this rate, you know? and you really don’t want to miss out on the Rewards for finishing Top 10.” 13 immediately covered her mouth, and said "Oops, forget what I just said."

“Top 10? Didn’t you say 1000 earlier?” I asked, but she looked away from me. “So you're saying there’s another tier of rewards that your not allowed to tell me about?” Moving in front of her to get an answer from her face. "Why?"

She reluctantly said, “I cannot say.”

“Saying nothing is also an answer, you know?" I said, deciding to only shoot for 10 more minutes before leaving. "Thanks for letting me know.” I smiled.

After 5 minutes of shooting consistently landing bullseyes on the 70m targets, I got a notification.

Archery proficiency increased by 1 Level.

When I looked over at 13 to ask a question about the message, she had a bummed out expression on her face, and I whispered to myself “I guess she's still down about her slip up, let's see if I can change that.” Switching my bow hands, I said “Hey 13, watch me do some archery tricks, this is my left hand shooting.” As I shot 3 arrows at the 30m target, hitting 7s and 8s rings on the target, but her face had the same expression. Switching hands again, I nocked 2 arrows and aimed at a single dummy. “Okay how about this one, this is a double shot.” Hitting a dummy in both the chest and the head. This time 13's face looked interested, and to my surprise I got a new message.

You have learned the Skill: [Twin Arrow].

But before I could click the box to read the Skill, 13 with a twinkle in her eye, said “I wasn’t expecting to see your potential until the next Tutorial, but if you can, show me more of those tricks.” She anticipated.

Seeing her enthusiasm for me to show off, I turned my bow horizontally, nocked 3 arrows at the same time, and aimed each arrow at the 3 different dummies. “This is a triple shot.” Firing all 3 arrows and landing all of them on the chests of the dummies.

You have learned the Skill: [Spread Shot].

13 happily applauded, “More, I need to see more.” She demanded.

I chuckled, and thought “I think I’m being used as entertainment, but it looks like I’m learning Skills so I guess I don’t mind.” Seeing what else I could learn, I spent 10 more minutes trying other trick shots, but I only learned 2 other Skills, plus increased my Archery Proficiency a few levels.

Lining the dummies in front of me in a straight line, I nocked an arrow at a higher nocking point, tilted my bow to the right, and aimed slightly to right. Changing those small things, I released the drawn arrow, and watched as it flew around the first couple of dummies and curved back to hit the second to last dummy.

You have learned the Skill: [Turning Arrow]. Archery proficiency increased by 2 Levels.

I learned the other Skill by using a thumb draw and shooting on the right side of the bow. Holding 3 arrows in my draw hand, I shot them consecutively one after another.

You have learned the Skill: [Rapid Shot]. Archery proficiency increased by 1 Levels.

With 13 fully entertained by my display of archery, without saying anything she disappeared, so I took the time to read new learned Skills.

Archery: The skill of using a bow and arrow. Increases accuracy, precision, and attack speed with bows by 1% per Skill Level. Skill Level based on personal skill with Bows and Arrows. Twin Arrow: An arrow that doubles itself, once, in flight. Cost 40 Mana. Number of times an arrow doubles increases every 3 Skill Levels. Damage based on Magic and Skill Level. Spread Shot: Shoot multiple arrows (Minimum 2, Maximum 3) in a cone in front. Cost 25 Stamina (Increases by 5 Stamina per arrow shot). Damage based on Strength and Skill Level, Maximum increased by 1 every 3 Skill Levels. Turning Arrow: An arrow that curves around objects. Cost 35 Mana. Damage based on Magic and Skill Level. Rapid Shot: Consecutively shoot arrows in quick succession (Minimum 2, Maximum 3). Cost 25 Stamina (Increases 5 Stamina per arrow shot). Damage based on Strength and Skill Level, Maximum increases by 1 per Skill Level.

After reading the Skills, I tested all of them once, switching between verbal and my thought activations, and they performed as their descriptions said. I even accidentally finished the Tutorial Quest.

Tutorial Quest Completed Skill Learning and the bonus Hidden Quest completed. Reward: 10 Available Points Hidden Rewards: 10 Available Points, and an Uncommon Weapon of Choice.

“Uncommon weapon? Where?” I asked myself, looking around the racks, and then the Menu, but saw that Inventory was still greyed out. “I guess 13 is so suppose to giv-”

Then reappearing out of nowhere, 13 said “Sorry that took so long Eyes, the Administrator wasn’t ready to give Guides permission yet, which actually is a good thing because that means no one has finished yet.”

“Wait what? Permission? What are you talking about, 13?” I questioned, confused.

“Uhhhh, don’t worry about it, just hold out your hands for me.” As she forcibly lifted my hand up, with my palms facing up. Holding her hands perpendicular above my palms, a sudden strong and intense black aura emitted outwards from 13, and the whole white space transformed into black darkness. We were standing in complete darkness, with no light in sight, but I could still strangely see 13 standing in front of me.

A moment of nothing happening passed, then another, and yet another. I was about to say something, when out of nothing a warm tiny speck of energy began forming from 13’s hands and hovered above mine. The light slowly increased in size, and I realized it wasn’t light at all, but instead a small ball of fast circling energy. The heat it was emitting became hotter and hotter as the energy expanded to the size of a golf ball, a baseball, and then finally stopped at the size of a soccer ball. With the heat only getting more intense, and the energy swirling faster and faster around a fixed point above my hands, I was about to speak when energy suddenly exploded in my hands.