The explosion made no sound, caused no force, and harmlessly went right through me. All of the rapidly circling energy was sent outwards into the darkness, and in an instant the darkness was filled with countless stars, planets, and galaxies. Awestruck by the beautiful vibrant colours around us, I slowly realized we were standing in space, and everything around us was the beautiful cosmos. 13 smiled brightly and suddenly I watched as a soccer ball sized black hole formed above my hands, drew all of the cosmos and space towards it, and as quickly as it appeared, everything around us was sucked inside of the black hole in an instant.

Everything returned back to the white empty space, and a simple black coloured quiver floated above my hands, as it then dropped onto them. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the quiver, I took a closer look and saw that it was impossible to make out anything from black quiver’s design, it was just black darkness, not even feeling the texture of the quiver. All except for a single miniscule dot traveling across the quiver leaving a quickly fading trail of an infinity sign. Trying to get an even closer look, the Stats for the item popped up.

‘Infinity'

Unique

A quiver with the capacity to store the cosmos within it.

Use: Stores inanimate objects in a separate infinite space. Objects reappear when Eyes Thalion reaches for them.

[Stored]: 0

Requirement: Eyes Thalion

“Wait 13, this is mine?” I asked, staring at my name as the Requirement.

“It is.” She smiled, “I created it thinking it would be the most useful thing for you considering that running out arrows because you can’t carry them might lead to your early downfall, and we wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

“No we wouldn’t.” I smiled, then saying “Not that I’m not grateful for this clearly amazing item, but why did you give this to me? Why not someone else” I asked curiously.

“Because you’re my favourite of course.” She bluntly said winking at me, “And besides, no one else in your group looks to have anywhere near your potential, so why don’t you go test it out, you can even call out its name if you don’t want to do it all by hand.” Gesturing to the arrows on the white table.

“Its name?” Reading the item’s Stats again, I said aloud “Infinity?” Then out of the top of the quiver, a small golf ball sized black hole appeared and began lightly sucking all the air around, even lightly pulling my shirt. The pull wasn’t as powerful as the first black hole I saw, not even sucking up the arrows when I brought it closer, but when the black hole made contact with an arrow, it was immediately sucked inside and disappeared. “Ooooo.” I said, slightly amused. Then making the black hole make contact with all the arrows and bolts on the table, and all of them disappeared inside and I saw that the stored amount changed.

[Stored]: 600

Looking at the weapon racks, I thought “I wonder…” As I then made contact with a sword on the weapon rack and it disappeared. “Wait, this is broken!” Deciding that I wanted to store the rest of the weapons on the racks, and even being able to store the whole weapon rack itself.

[Stored]: 810

After collecting all that, I called "Infinity." again and the black hole disappeared, and I realized the quiver still weighed less than a pound. Turning back to 13, I said “This is a really overpowered item, are you sure it’s okay to have this?” Strapping the quiver on my back.

“Oh don’t worry about that, the other Guides will also-” 13 stopped herself, and changed the subject. “Hey looks like you finished the Skills Tutorial Quest, I guess it’s time to go to the next one.” 13 waved her right hand around and golden magic came from it, then out of nowhere the same double doors from earlier appeared.

Without warning, the doors opened on their own and pulled me into them, and I found myself standing in a squared arena beginning to rise up. There were 2 opposite staircases on each side that were connected to make a bridge, and rose to be a storey high. Square floating platforms rose up to the height of the bridge, and branched out of the middle of the bridge, 6 on each side and a meter away from each other. And lastly, 4 solid pillars rose at each corner of the arena, leaving plenty of space to move around them.

Announcing her words, 13 said “This is the last Tutorial, the Combat Tutorial!” Snapping her fingers, an armour stand with a full set of leather armour appeared with a green hooded cloak. “This is the Ranger’s Training Armour, please try it on.” 13 gestured.

Pumped up after seeing real armour for the first time, I started to take off my shirt and sweatpants but realized 13 was just standing there happily watching me. Feeling a bit shy, I dragged the armour stand by the closest pillar and undressed behind it.

“You’ve also unlocked your Inventory Menu if you’d like to use it!” 13 let me know from the other side of the pillar. “I also suggest you use your unspent Available Points when you're done, you might need them for the Hidden Quest.” She said, trying to peek.

Opening the Menu, I saw that Inventory wasn't greyed out anymore, so I opened it.

Inventory

Space: 0/5 Currency: None

Empty Empty Empty Empty Empty

“Wow 5 spaces!” I sarcastically exclaimed; then asking “Do items stack, 13?”

“Nope.” She answered. “However you will gain 5 spaces every time you Level Up if that makes it better.

“That’s brutal, but I guess inventory space is always a problem, even here.” I thought to myself.

“Luckily that isn’t something you really need to worry about, thanks to me.” Sounding proud of herself.

“I guess so, thank you.” Grabbing my clothes and putting them into the screen, as they then appeared in boxes in my Inventory. Closing the Menu, I touched the stand to remove the armour, but another screen popped up.

Ranger’s Training Armour Set

Common

+5% Total Physical Damage Reduction

Requirements: Lv.1, Ranger Class

Equip All:

[Yes] or [No]

“How convenient.” I thought, clicking Yes and causing all the armour to instantly equip on me. Taking 13’s advice, I contemplated which Stats to spend my 60 Available Points on, and decided to focus on one’s that could potentially help most in battle. Balancing Agility and Strength with 20 each, and Vitality and Magic with 10 each. Ignoring Intelligence, Endurance, and Sense, not knowing how they could really help right now.

Stats

Name: Eyes Thalion

Race: Wood Elf

Level: 1

Class: Ranger

Titles: 0

Health: 300 (10% regen/hr)

Mana: 200 (1% regen/min)

Stamina: 200 (1% regen/min)

Vitality: 20 Magic: 20

Strength: 30 Agility: 30

Intelligence: 10 Endurance: 10

Sense: 10

Available Points: 0

Status: None

Bonus: 5% Physical Damage Reduction

“Okay, what now 13?” Stepping out from behind the pillar and showing her the armour.

“Now we start, here’s the Quest.” Gesturing to me. “Just complete the first wave.”

Tutorial Quest

Wave Combat:

Complete the first wave.

Hidden Quest:

Complete all 10 waves in succession without dying once.

Reward: ??? Hidden Reward: ??? Time Limit: 6 hours

“Woah, woah, woah, dying? I could die in the Tutorial!?” I exclaimed.

“You can, but you'll just be respawned to the first wave, though I wouldn’t recommend feeling the pain of dying.” She smiled, starting to fly up with wings.

“Will I get another amazing item for this?” I shouted to 13 high above me.

“Sadly no, but if you complete this quickly I’m sure you’ll make it to the top.” Snapping her fingers again and causing the words Wave 1 to float in the sky.

Then on the opposite side of the arena, a single skeleton with cracks all over its dirtied and old bones, spawned holding a rusted shortsword. Above its head in green lettering was, Skeleton Soldier. Also my Health, Mana and Stamina appeared in my peripheral.

Health: 300/300 Magic: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200

And also a new message.

Regeneration is halved in certain areas.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” 13 shouted. “There is no Experience gain during the Tutorial!”

“Damn, no xp so no level up, and less regen, this could be harder than I thought, especially if I can’t even die once for the Hidden Quest.” Reaching for an arrow inside Infinity and it appearing in my hand.

Drawing my bow, I watched the old skeleton walk slowly towards me, and aimed right at its skull. Shooting the arrow, it flew and smashed right through its brittle skull, and the rest of its bones crumbled to the ground and disappeared. Then the words above the arena automatically changed to Wave 2, and I thought “That was it? Maybe I was worrying for nothing.” Seeing 2 more Skeletons Soldiers spawn, this time with their names in light green, and their bones looking slightly fresher, only having a few cracks. Surprisingly the skeletons jogged towards me, but still spawning on the other side from me, I had plenty of time to aim and shoot an arrow at each of their heads.

Instead of the 3 skeletons I expected for Wave 3, four Skeleton Soldiers spawned instead. “Oh no, I spoke too soon.” I thought, killing each skeleton one at a time with a headshot. “If they're multiplying instead of adding skeletons each wave, this could really get out of hand.” Changing the wave to Wave 4, I saw 8 Skeleton Soldiers spawn, and half of them were dual wielding short swords. “Uh oh.” Killing half of them, I needed to run and resort to kiting the rest to not take any unnecessary damage. Wave 5 was no different, still easily being faster and kitting the 16 of them.

On Wave 6 the skeletons had white coloured names, with equally white bones, but instead of 32 skeletons I expected, only 16 Skeleton Soldiers spawned, and 2 Skeleton Archers. “The archers look like they have bad shortbows, so I think I can ignore them for now and finish the soldiers first.” Then I saw the skeletons move almost like they were alive, running towards me behind each other in a straight line, and I said to them “Wow, thank you for lining up for me, this makes things a lot easier.” I used Power Shot, and just like when I tested the Skills earlier, my body moved on it’s own. Tilting my bow about 45 degrees, my stance widened putting my weight on my back leg, then drawing the bow far as I could, I released the shot. The arrow flew with such force that it pierced through 10 of the 16 soldiers, easily allowing me to take care of the remaining 6 soldiers without much effort. A notification appeared, but I needed to ignore it as two arrows came flying towards me. One shot was from ground level, missing and hitting the ground by my feet, and the other grazed my right cheek, shot from the bridge.

Health: 291/300

Running behind a pillar for cover, I thought “9 hp for a graze! And the cut is actually hurting a lot!” Wiping the blood from my cheek. “Change of plans, I should take out the archers first while running away from the soldiers, still don’t wanna be taking unnecessary damage.” Readying my shot, I stepped out from behind the pillar and fired an arrow at the archer on the bridge, taking it out, but at the same time the archer on the ground also fired an arrow back at me. Leaning my body back at the last second, I dodged the arrow flying at my head, and I immediately drew and an fired an arrow back, piercing right through its skull.

As soon as Wave 7 came, I ran up the stairs onto the bridge and took out 2 of the 4 archers that spawned, and used the solid bridge rail as cover from the other 2 archers shooting back at me. The 16 soldiers were already reaching the top of the stairs, so I jumped across the floating platforms directly above the last remaining archers, and shot straight down at each of them, breaking their heads and spines with my arrows. The soldiers were easy to finish after that. Wave 8 was basically the same except with 16 archers, only needing to kill more on spawn and dodge a few more arrows.

On Wave 9 the skeletons that spawned changed, and where they spawned also changed. 2 archers were standing on the floating platforms on each side of the bridge, 4 soldiers on each side of me on the bridge, and an archer hiding behind each pillar. And lastly where they originally spawned, 2 Skeleton Guards with only wooden shields guarded a skeleton in robes with light red name, Skeleton Mage.

Killing the 2 lone archers on the platforms away from their spawn first, I jumped on their platforms, avoiding the incoming swipes of the swords from the soldiers. Facing the 8 soldiers, I used a 3 arrow Spread Shot. Moving on my own again, I held my bow horizontal, drew 3 arrows from my quiver, nocked all of them as I pulled the bowstring, and fired arrows at the group of soldiers, killing 3 of them. Dodging the arrows from the archers on the other floating platforms and the pillars ahead of me, I cast Turning Arrow, and shot an arrow with a faint magical green aura. It curved around the pillar and took out the archer behind it. Jumping from the platform, I took out the archer behind the other platform with a regular headshot, threw my bow up into the air, and rolled to break my fall. Catching my bow before it hit the ground, I turned around and finished the remaining 5 soldiers running down the stairs.

To my surprise, the 2 guards and the mage haven’t moved from spawn yet, but the 4 archers from the other platforms and pillars were now on the bridge shooting at me, as I took cover behind a pillar again. Peeking out, I shot and killed two archers, but grimaced in pain as 1 of the 4 arrows landed in my right shoulder, while the remaining 2 archers ducked down behind the bridge railing. “Owww, fuck!” Enduring the pain, I broke off the arrow shaft, and cast Turning Arrow again. I peeked out again and shot the arrow up the stairs, as I watched it turn onto the bridge and heard the cracking of bones. Climbing the stairs, I saw that I missed and the archers were still alive, just broken in half with their lower bodies separated. I quickly went over and stomped on their skulls to finish them off. “Hah, pay back.” I said, turning to the last skeletons.

Still standing in place, I fired an arrow directly at the mage, but the guards blocked it with their shields. Then finally moving, they got out of the way as the mage formed a ball of fire in its bone hands, and sent it flying straight towards me. Only getting a two and a half steps away, the ball of fire hit the railing of the bridge and exploded, breaking a huge part of the bridge. The explosion knocked me down to the ground and wrung in my ears, and I saw that even not being directly hit, I lost 93 Health. Picking myself up, I took a peek over an intact railing, and thought “They don’t seem to be moving from their spawn, and the mage doesn’t look like it can cast that spell instantly, I’ll have bait the spell out and then go for the kill as it forms the spell.”

Running down the stairs and to the closest pillar to them, I shot a few arrows as cover fired just in case, all getting blocked by the guards. Taking cover behind the pillar, I waited a moment and heard the guards begin to move out of the way for the mage, and thought “Now!” Activating Sprint, I ran out seeing the spell almost formed. Using a 3 arrow Rapid Shot, I quickly shot all the arrows, killing the 2 guards only deciding to guard the mage, with the last arrow getting stuck in the mage's head. Unfazed, the mage sent the ball of fire directly at me. Anticipating that it wouldn’t die with a single arrow, I slid under the ball of fire, as it exploded on the pillar behind me, and I found myself standing face to face with the Skeleton Mage.

Before the mage could do anything, I grabbed and pulled out the arrow still stuck in its head, and with all my strength drove it straight back in its skull. I could tell it was about to die, but in its dying moments it sent a bolt of fire at my face. “Arghhh!” I screamed, feeling my skin burn and blister from the spell. But bearing the pain, I saw my Stats.

Health: 167/300 Mana: 131/200 Stamina: 56/200

Without even getting a chance to breathe, the words changed again to Final Wave, but lucky for me only a single enemy spawned on the opposite side of the arena. A huge fully armoured 9ft skeleton was dragging a giant greatsword behind it, and its name was in red, Armoured Skeleton. It then walked towards me, and I thought “It seems slow but if that greatsword hits me, I’ll probably die.” I shot a few arrows at its helmet but the arrows deflected off. Seeing how I still had 131 Mana to spare, I cast Twin Arrow on my shot, and watched the 1 arrow magically become 2 with a green coloured magic. They flew basically next to each other as they pierced the metal of the helmet. “It worked, but I only have enough mana for 2 more.” Looking at the skeleton getting closer. “I guess it’s all or nothing then.”

Standing my ground as the Armoured Skeleton reached under the bridge, I fired 2 more Twin Arrows, piercing the same area further, and following up with a Power Shot, pushing the cluster of arrows further towards its skull. “One more.” I said softly, with the skeleton in range, and beginning to swing its greatsword down at me. Using Power Shot one more time, I felt the weight of the greatsword cut halfway down my left shoulder and into my chest, but at the last moment the greatsword disappeared as all the arrows stuck in its helmet was pushed inwards and broke through its skull. Collapsing backwards on my back, and still on the adrenaline from the fight and not feeling all the pain yet, I yelled out “Yeahhhh! I did it” Looking at my depleted Stats.

Health: 7/300 Mana: 6/200 Stamina: 6/200

And the Quest completed.

Tutorial Quest Completed Wave Combat and the bonus Hidden Quest completed. Reward: 10 Available Points Hidden Reward: 10 Available points

Plus a new message.

You have gained the Title: [Completionist]

“Amazing job, Eyes!” 13 shouted, descending and applauding. “Allow me to fully heal all of your injuries and restore your armour.” Blowing another kiss to me, she sent a green mist-like magic instead, and in an instant my body recovered, along with my armour being repaired back to its undamaged state. 13 then announced, “Eyes Thalion, for fully completing the Tutorials and all the Hidden Quests, you will be awarded another 20 Available Points.”

You have gained 20 Available Points.

Sitting up in surprise, I said “I’m not complaining, but don’t you think all these extra points at Lv.1 are a little too many?” Recognizing the total of Available Points I've gotten so far is 100, and that it would be basically equivlent to 10 Levels Up.

“Honestly, I’m not sure if it is too many.” 13 sounded genuine, pausing for a second to think. “While you might feel strong right now, isn’t there always something stronger? Anyway, I'll go ahead and confirm your results.” Then she abruptly disappeared again.

Laying back down I held my bow into the air and thought about her terrifying yet exhilarating words, “Something stronger…”