Smiling happily to himself, Plat practiced using the Breeze spell for a few more minutes. Shelly had summoned some fan targets at his request to practice on, and he had managed to get a 85% hit rate when he decided that was enough. Turning to Shelly, he said, "I'm ready to continue to tutorial."

Shelly nodded at him, and another screen appeared in front of him:

Tutorial Part 3Choose a weapon and prepare for battle

A table holding different weapons appeared in beside Plat and Shelly. It held every weapon known and recorded in the system, Plat could see various staves, swords, shields, pole-arms, daggers, and other more exotic weapons. Looking over the choices, he picked out a Roman gladius and Centurion shield. Rather simple in design, Plat figured he start out simple in order to practice.

Once he had his weapons of choice, the table and Shelly both disappeared, leaving Plat alone in the grassland. He looked around for some enemies, but nothing moved except the grass. Suddenly, he felt pain in his left leg and looked down. A rat, much larger than in real life, was biting his leg!

-2

-2

Plat saw the damage start to rise above his leg. He instantly slice down with his gladius and hit the rat on the head.

-6, Critical hit confirmed

The rat squealed and fell off his leg, running back into the grass.

Plat focused his senses, trying to locate the enemies in the grass. His ears picked up the sound of the wind, the rustle of the grass, and the sound of his own breathing, but not the rat.

Narrowing his eyes, Plat took a closer look at his leg. His age allowed the Kid View to be off, so the injury on his leg looked like a bite wound. His eyes followed the blood trail into the grass.

Another pain came, this time from his right arm. He whirled around, but the rat had already disappeared back into the grass.

-2

-2

Minor Bleed StatusYour wounds are bleeding. You will lose -1 health every 5 seconds until you stop it.

Scared, Plat grabbed some grass and covered his leg and arm. The status immediately disappeared.

"Wait, how much health do I have?" Plat wondered out loud. He hadn't been given a status menu to look at yet, so he had no idea what his overall stats were.

A notification popped up in front of him, answering his question.

NoticeFor this simulation, you have been given 15 hp. You have 6/15 hp remaining.

Sweat beading down his head, Plat stared at the message. He had already lost more than half his hp!

Swearing loudly, he swung his arm backwards to hit the message.

"Squeak!"

His shield arm, which had moved violently backwards, had hit the rat head on and knocked it into the air. Plat heard the thud it made when it hit the ground.

-2

-4

Dazed StatusYou have inflicted daze on an opponent. It will be stunned for 3 seconds.

Plat immediate ran toward where he had heard the rat fall. He did not have much time and he wanted to kill the cursed thing before it got back up and hid again.

He saw the dazed rat lying on it's side and, running toward it, leaped into the air with his gladius high above him. He brought it down with his full force in the sword onto the rat's body.

-10 Critical Hit

The rat disappeared with a dying squeak, disappearing from the ground. The grassland around him disappeared in an instant, leaving him back in the original blue-white room. He heard a loud clapping behind him, and turned to see Shelly beaming at him with excitement.

The standard blue notice box appeared before him again:

Quest CompleteFor your actions, you have earned +10 vitality and endurance.

Hidden Quest CompleteFor being able to kill your opponent in a surprising way when the situation was against you, you have earned a hidden bonus to start your adventure. You have gained +10 luck and a hidden skill!

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:InstinctSF1%Is it luck or is it your inner animal? Regardless, you sometimes have the uncanny feeling that tells you where danger is. Dependent on you luck, the more this skill grows, the more actively passive this skill becomes.

"Yahoo!" Plat jumped for joy at seeing the skill he had received. An S rank skill, and the game hadn't started yet! Everyone could learn every skill available as long as it was prevented by class. Skills were rated from the most common skills at rank F to the rarest skills at rank SS. Ranks played a small role in terms of power, for instance every mage could eventually learn the rank D spell blizzard, but it was an upper tier spell that could cause massive aoe damage.

Still, even though this skill was great, Plat was a little skeptical of the fact that his luck controlled the stat. Luck was not something that was constant, like strength and intelligence. In Everlife, everyone had a luck value randomly assigned to them at the beginning of a game day. A player's luck stat could improve or worsen the score, which then would be their luck for the day.

Calming down, Plat reread the notices and focused on the latter part of his notice.

"Hey Shelly, why does this say the situation was against me?"

"Well Plat, the honest answer is that you were not suppose to win that encounter." Ignoring Plat's shocked expression, she continued her explanation, "The point of the third part of the tutorial is to teach you players the value of vitality and keeping your health up. Once you choose your weapon of choice, you were given an opponent who had the advantage against your weapon and an environment that suited the opponents attack style."

She continued, "You chose the gladius and shield, so the system choose a speedy opponent who could hide from your every sense thanks to it's natural sneak skill. You shield limited your field of vision as well, so imagine our surprise when you actually hit your foe."

"We?"

"Yes, I am not the only A.I. in the game of Everlife." She giggled and smiled coyishly, "I merely assist in the players introduction to the world, and there are many A.I.'s like me. Think of it as the equivalent of a part-time job for you. A much larger and more experience A.I., my boss, is in charge of the tutorial world. In the actual game, there are 6 major A.I.'s that play the role of gods, they control what they have dominion over. There are minor roles for other A.I.'s in the game as well, some important NPC's and bosses for instance. You players won't be able to tell though, so don't worry to much about it. This game is as exciting to us A.I.'s as it is to you humans, except for us it's a step toward a future while for you humans it's a place to relax."

Plat blinked, taking in the information Shelly had thrown at him. He hadn't thought about how much work this game would be for the computer intelligences. It sounded like it was a pretty big deal to them.

"So, is the tutorial the only thing you are going to do?" He asked Shelly.

She paused, tilted her head, and put her finger on her chin in a thoughtful manner. "Hm, like I said before, this is a part-time job for me due to the large amount of new players. Once things calm down, I'll either be let go or moved to something minor in Everlife."

"That's a shame, you've done a great job so far, you'd be great for this kind of thing."

She blushed at his compliments, having never been complimented by a human before, she found she really liked the experience.

Plat continued talking, not noticing her reactions, "Well, I hope at the very least you are in the game, it would be great to play with you."

Shelly quickly activated her auto-avatar, which took her place with Plat so fast he didn't notice the switch. She zoomed around her virtual room giggling and squealing in happiness. Her first human interaction, and he really liked her enough to want to play with her in the game. Having taken her moment, she immediately switched back with her auto-avatar before he had a chance to figure out the switch.

Shelly smiled at Plat, "So player, congratulations for your completion of the tutorial. You can now look at your status menu and you have earned 10 copper pieces and 10 pieces of bread. For completing the tutorial on the opening day, you also receive a complimentary identification scroll."

Shelly raised her arm, and a large humanoid silhouette appeared beside her, but in front of Plat.

"Now it's time for you to choose your race and appearance." She gestured toward the silhouette, which re shaped itself to show Plat, but in adventurer attire.

"Human, the most adventurous of the races in Everlife. They hold the most land and have many cities that dot the landscape. Humans can grow to be anything class, but gain bonuses in warrior related classes. They take some penalties with interactions outside their own race, and have a strict fiefdom setup with kings and lords. A human player will start out in one of the starting human settlements."

Shelly swiped her hand and Plat's form became taller and more elegant, "Elves are tied with dwarfs as the longest lived race in Everlife. They hold dominion of the forests, and have a few cities in the trees. They have several varieties withing their race, but all gain bonuses toward magic professions and nature jobs. Elves are limited in their vitality attribute and endurance attribute. They are ruled by councils of elders, but are free spirited in their approach to life. Elf players will start in one of the tree cities."

Another gesture shrunk Plat down and gave him a beard, "Dwarves live about as long as an elf, and are the holding force in the mountains of Everlife. The have few great cities under the earth, but have many settlements above and below the ground, used for both trading and mining. Dwarves receive bonuses to crafting professions and mining jobs. They hold great strength and wisdom, but suffer penalties to intelligence and agility. Dwarves are ruled by the crafting geniuses who unite under the dwarf king. Dwarf players start in the settlements."

This time, Plat grew fur and ears on his head, "Beastmen rule the plains and hold no permanent cities of their own, instead wandering in large tribes after the herds. Beastmen gain bonuses in vitality and endurance, but lose out in wisdom and strength. Many types of beastmen exist, with the penalties varying sometimes. Beastmen are often kept as slaves in human kingdoms, so players should be cautious of slavers. Beastmen players will start out in their main tribe, and will have to move with them until the minimum level is achieved or time passed."

The last version of plat grew sharp ears, grey brown skin, scars, and two giant teeth that covered his top lip. "Orcs are the final starting race in Everlife, though some hidden races exist to be unlocked later. Orcs are the most numerous race, with females able to birth multiple kids at a time. Orcs live in the badlands that separate the other kingdoms from the more dangerous areas of the world. Only one orc city exists, with several minor settlements scattered around the area. Orcs live and breathe for battle, their scars are their honor and the notches on their blade give them glory. They have great strength, vitality, and endurance- but suffer agility, intelligence, and wisdom. When the population overflows, orcs fight wars with both the monsters of the land and the bordering kingdoms. Orc players will start in the frontier settlements, and will be forced to stay there until after their first major battle."

"So Plat, any decisions regarding what you want to be?"

Plat considered his options. He really wanted to be able to use a sword and magic, so orc and dwarf were off the table. The elves were a little too pure for his tastes, so the answer was obvious to him.

"Human please with the name 'Steel', and can I get purple eyes and black hair with two brown stripes of hair in it? Also give me a few inches and a little muscle definition."

Shelly obliged him, and Plat was pleased with what he saw.

"Status!" He said loudly. His box popped up in front of him:

Status WindowName:SteelAlignment:NeutralLevel:1Class:N/ARace:HumanGender:Male

TitlesNoneFame:0Infamy:0

Health:100 / 100Health Regen:2/ SecMana:150 / 50Mana Regen:1/ SecStamina:50 / 50Stamina Regen:1/ Sec

Vitality:10Agility:10Intelligence:10Wisdom:10Strength:10Endurance:10Leadership:0Luck:10Charm:0Faith:0

Elemental ResistancesFire:0Water:0Wind:0Earth:0Light:0Darkness:0

Satisfied with what he saw, Plat closed the window and turned to Shelly.

"Thank you so much for your help through this, it has really helped me out." He bowed to her in gratitude. Shelly blushed furiously at his actions, but didn't say a peep. Recovering, she clicked a few buttons and smiled at Plat.

"The countdown has begun, are you ready to begin your new life?"

"Ready! Good luck Shelly, I hope to see you again."

And with that, a hole opened beneath Plat and he fell into the world of Everlife. Sighing, Shelly watched her first human disappear from her sight. She would miss him, and she felt the other humans she would meet would not be able to compare to him.

"He's a special one isn't he?" A booming voice came from behind her. Jumping in fright, Shelly turned to face her boss, the A.I. controller of the tutorial world. Resembling a fit old man, his amused face seemed to give off a certain wisdom and mischievous spark.

"I think he is sir." She agreed with him, "I really wish I could take his offer to play with him in the game."

Her boss grinned down at her. While new, she was the most enthusiastic A.I. he had ever employed in human relations. He figured it would be good if she had a little more experience and then would be able to move on to better assignments in the cyberworld.

"Tell you what, you do a good job with the rest of your charges, and I'll see if I can get you close to him again." He said with a kind smile. Shelly's grin broke her human form as she jumped up and down in excitement. "Really really sir, oh thank you so much! I won't let you down!"

"I'm sure you won't" He nodded to her and disappeared. Shelly rolled imaginary sleeves and clicked on her menu. She had a few hundred more humans to work with, and very little time.