I

Eva pulled up her Status and immediately saw that it was different.

Name: Eva Greene

Species: Human I (Modified)

Class: None

Level: 1

Experience: 0

Health: 285

Regen: 3/min

Stamina: 285

Regen: 30/min

Mana: 360

Regen: 30/min

Strength: 29

Cost: 30 Exp

Dexterity: 29

Cost: 30 Exp

Agility: 29.7

Cost: 28 Exp

Endurance: 30

Cost: 31 Exp

Wisdom: 29

Cost: 30 Exp

Acuity: 29

Cost: 30 Exp

Intelligence: 29

Cost: 29 Exp

Willpower: 30

Cost: 28 Exp

Vitality: 30

Cost: 31 Exp

Perception: 30

Cost: 31 Exp

Skills: Throwing▲: 3, Polearms▲: 6, Unarmed▲: 4, Swords★: 3, Shields★: 1, Charge✦: 2, Infuse Weapon★: 2, Medium Armor★: 1, Pierce✦: 3, Air Resistance★: 3, Fire Resistance★: 2, Earth Resistance★: 2, Water Resistance★: 3, Dodge✦: 8, Poison Resistance★: 4, Meditation▲: 2

Titles:

Equipment: Chainmail Hauberk▲, Steel Helmet▲, Shortsword▲, Shield▲, Magister's Emerald Ring✹, Boots of the Traveler✦

All participants of the Tutorial are given the following skills for free:

Basic Observe▲

Special Human Language✹

Both of these skills are standard for every sentient being in integrated space

Eva closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fresh, clean air that smelled of sap and leaves filled her lungs. She opened her eyes and looked around the forest she found herself in. The trees were similar to what she was used to but just different enough to give off an eerie feeling. There were no sounds of wildlife that she could hear, which tickled the back of her brain that something was definitely off about this place.

Just staring at something while wanting to know more about it brought up a very basic description of what it was—presumably from the Observe▲ Skill. It only told her what she already guessed.

Unknown Tree

It's a tree

There were many paths forward from where she was. The information Alexandra had given only mentioned looking for dungeons—whatever those were. There was obviously going to be some danger since the main objective was to survive; but thanks to the equipment and training she already had, she was in a good position to deal with whatever came unless it was absolutely out of her league. Considering it was a Tutorial, she didn't expect anything worse than what she'd already fought and died against thousands of times.

Seeing as the terrain around her offered little in the way of direction, she trotted off towards lower ground. She knew from watching TV growing up that water was the most important resource to look for. Water meant people and security. Even if she didn't need help killing monsters, she'd need someone to watch her back so she could sleep safely through the night. She couldn’t expect to have comfy rooms to sleep in anymore now that there were no more break rooms.

The trees and underbrush thinned out slightly as she walked down the hill she was on. Not having a supply of water was a pain, but she didn't feel nearly as thirsty as she thought she would have been after hiking around. Maybe it was the increase in Vitality or Endurance or something like that. Stats were odd: they made her think faster, retain information like a sponge, and even lift more weight than an Olympian. However, she had no inkling on the why of it; not that she would put much effort into finding out. Whenever games would involve numbers, she wouldn’t think too deeply about getting the most out of them since the story was what she cared about. Even if these numbers were real life now, getting into the weeds about how the System worked sent an itch of disgust down her throat.

The going was slow even with her increased Stats. The underbrush nipped at her legs and tangled around her ankles. She found herself having to navigate large bramble patches more often the closer she got to water. When she'd barely traveled a hundred yards from where she had appeared, she heard a bloodcurdling scream that sent chills down her spine and made fear blossom in her heart. It came from slightly farther down the hill on her right. From the pitch of the voice, she knew the screamer was female.

Eva shook free from the fear and rushed quickly towards the scream. The thick underbrush impeded her progress, but she managed to get within visual distance in under thirty seconds. Her arms stung from the lacerations the brambles caused as she ran through them instead of around them. Faster—yes—but also more painful too.

Greeting her was a sorry sight. There was a blood-covered teen trying—and failing—to fight off what looked like rats the size of house cats. Her heart demanded that she save the teen. Immediately after taking it all in, Eva pumped her legs hard and let out the best war cry she could manage. A couple of the rats turned in her direction, but most remained focused on the girl. With a couple more strides, she reached the first rat.

The forest was too thick to simply swing her sword around without thinking. Instead of attacking with that, she made her best impression of Ronaldo and punted the rat into oblivion. It tried to get out of her way when it saw what she was doing, but she was much too quick for it to avoid her foot.

Giant Rat killed, 3 Experience awarded

Her next step took her near another giant rat that had turned its attention her way. With a swift strike of her sword, she killed it.

Giant Rat killed, 2 Experience awarded

With those two out of the picture, Eva made her way to the group of four surrounding and savaging the girl. A few swipes of her sword—and a kick—ended the threat for good. She had taken no damage other than the scrapes she took getting there.

The teen was a mess. Her long dress was ripped all over, with blood dripping from her wounds. Her headscarf had been torn completely free from her head and was laying several feet away against a tree. Her hair, now free, obscured her face as she lay on the ground.

“Are you ok?” Eva asked, immediately regretting the choice of words since the teen was obviously not ok.

The teen merely groaned in response. Then she pushed off of the ground and slowly sat up.

“T-thanks,” the teen responded after several seconds.

“Let me see if I can stop the bleeding.”

Eva cut her own pants just above the knee with her shortsword. Then she tore long strips from it and did her best to patch up the wounded teen. Ten minutes passed before the teen looked more like a wounded soldier than a freshly butchered animal.

Basic Skill Learned: First Aid▲

“Ahem,” came a cough about ten yards behind where the two were.

Eva turned her head to see a man dressed in slightly torn business casual. The only thing he had in his hands besides an apple-sized rock was his tie. There was something about the man that she just didn’t like. She couldn’t place what it was, exactly, but he just felt like someone she should be cautious around.

“Who are you?” she asked the man.

“Rob,” he answered. “What the hell happened? What's this Tutorial bullshit and why is that girl all messed up?”

“No idea what the Tutorial thing is, other than what those stupid boxes told me. She was being attacked by rats, so I came to help her out, I guess. I’m Eva, by the way.”

“Looks like you were prepared, at least. Sword, armor, I mean, my god.”

“I was... LARPing with friends when I disappeared,” she lied.

“LARPing? What's that?”

“Pretending to fight like in fantasy games or olden times, usually.”

Eva blushed at having to describe something like that. She hadn't actually done that in over ten years.

“Interesting! So you know anything about the girl?”

“Sadiya.”

“What?” Rob asked.

“My name is Sadiya,” the teen said again.

“What happened?” Eva asked.

“I—I was praying,” she started. “Suddenly, I was here. I saw something saying I'm in a Tutorial, that I should survive? I didn't know what to do, so I tried to continue my prayer when these things came and started biting me. Thank you for saving me.”

The other two were now looking Eva's way. She blushed a little from the attention.

“My story is pretty similar. I was out with friends, and then appeared up the hill. I figured that I would try to find water. Let's go before more rats show up?” Eva suggested.

With the pair's assent, Eva started making a trail for them to follow downwards in search of water. Sadiya’s injuries and Rob’s fancy clothes made them even slower than just Eva would have been on her own. There was certainly a Stat difference as well, but that sort of thing would need to wait until they were in a safer place. Maybe it would be rude to ask? Eva shook the line of thought from her head and kept walking.

II

In only a couple minutes, she spotted several more rats. She Charged✦ towards them, punting the first one that crossed her boot’s path. The other rats were distracted enough with what they were doing that she was able to quickly dispatch them.

“Oh my god,” Rob gasped when he saw the scene.

Eva heard a noise and glanced back just in time to see Sadiya emptying her stomach onto the ground. She pushed her own nauseous feeling away and looked towards the gruesome scene in front of her. On the ground—between the rat corpses—lay the naked mangled body of an old man. His hand still clutched a bar of soap.

Though she felt a sobering sadness at finding the man in such a state, she was glad to scavenge the soap from his grip. Just having it pacified her fear that she wouldn’t be able to clean herself without the magical showers from the Training. Rob gave her a look when she tucked it into her belt for safekeeping.

Sadiya was still looking away from the corpse when Eva approached and put her arm around the young woman.

“Are you going to be ok?” she asked.

Sadiya nodded after a momentary pause.

“Ok, let’s keep moving,” Rob decided. “The sun won’t be up forever.”

They kept walking downwards in the hope of reaching some kind of stream. They’d come across a wash, but it was dry. They followed it, hoping that they would run into a stream sooner rather than later. All the while, she kept her eye out for anything that looked like it could be a dungeon.

III

Below a steep rock fall, Eva could see a man in a suit crying. There were several furry lumps next to him, and he was cradling a body in his arms. She carefully clambered down and got a better idea of what had happened when she was closer.

Next to the man sat a dented aluminum bottle with smears of viscera still on it. The body the man held was of a woman in a blood-soaked blouse and skirt. Her hand sparkled in the dappled shade.

Eva approached the man cautiously. He laid the corpse gently on the ground and wiped his face with his jacket before looking at her.

“They came out of nowhere. I—I couldn’t save her,” he cried.

She knelt next to the man and wrapped her arms around him. She held him until his tears slowed.

“Was she your wife?” she asked after letting go.

“No,” he shook his head. “I was nearby when the rats came and we tried to fight together, but she had no weapon and I just wasn’t fast enough. I—I think she should be buried away from the monsters.”

“I’m sorry, again. At least you tried to help. We came across a man who only had soap to fight with who didn’t make it.”

“Can you help me bury her?” he asked.

She nodded and picked up a flat rock to use as a shovel. With her strength, it was closer to digging in sand than scraping away the hard packed soil of the forest floor. Rob helped the man pull rocks out of the hole they were digging. Sadiya watched the men work, occasionally searching her surroundings for threats.

In the span of twenty minutes, they’d dug a two foot deep hole just long and wide enough for the body. It wouldn’t be deep enough to be undisturbed forever, but at least she would have a better resting place than the many others who wouldn’t live to see another dawn.

When the body was covered with soil and a mound of rocks, the man stood up a rock at the head of the grave to serve as its marker. He clasped his hands together and bowed once before picking up his damaged water bottle. He looked around and then nodded. Eva could tell that seeing someone die in front of him had clearly shaken him to his core.

IV

Eva led the way followed by the man and Sadiya. Rob took up the rear. They trudged onward for around half an hour before they came to a stream. Rob suggested they head up it rather than down so there would be less of a chance of getting sick from the water where it was fast flowing and near its source. Eva had no objection to that, and they walked next to the stream bead back up the mountain.

They passed a few people on the way up that were heading in the opposite direction. Every one of them declined to join their group, preferring to remain on their own or with their own small group. She didn’t really understand it—there was strength in numbers—but that was their problem, not hers.

Soon, they came to a waterfall with a pool of water at the bottom. The water trickled down the rocks that made up the waterfall. There was a flat area to one side of the pool that looked perfect for shelters and a fire.

Rob had experience with bushcraft and directed the others on what they needed to find and bring to build some rough shelters for the night while he worked on putting together a fire. Eva looked through the forest for fallen branches that matched the descriptions Rob had given. She found those and some thin vines that she ripped out of the ground.

When she returned to the camp with her haul, Rob had lit the initial pile of tinder and was coaxing the minute flame to catch on slightly larger twigs. Sadiya busied herself collecting deadfall for the fire while the man—whose name Eva still didn’t know—was not back yet. Rob pointed her to a spot where she dropped off the branches and vines.

The shelter she built with Rob’s help was a sloped roof held up by four vertical poles. With the front opened towards the fire, it was enough to fit one sleeping person. By the time she finished, the man had returned and worked on his own lean-to.

Though there had been berries and other plants that looked edible, they weren’t taking any chances. They did have access to fresh water, so dying of thirst wasn’t an immediate concern. Thankfully, the man’s water bottle was still able to hold water so that even if the water wasn’t completely safe, they could boil it. Once cleaned, the bottle was filled with water from the waterfall and suspended over the fire to kill any pathogens. They drank several bottles of boiled water between them before the sky darkened.

Rob suggested they take turns awake to tend the fire and ward off any dangerous animals that might come in the night. He would take the first watch with Sadiya while Eva and the man would take the second half of the night. Eva crawled into her lean-to and covered herself with leaves for extra warmth.