For a period that seemed infinite, Richard drifted between a state of deep sleep and short moments of consciousness. In those times, he would have screamed if he could, as his nerves were constantly flaring up, sending fits of pain so strong that he could only last a few minutes before fainting again.

You have survived from the poisoning without long term damage. You gain +5 to Constitution and +10 to Poison resistance.

You are still in RECOVERY mode: -60 STH, -30 AGI, -30 END.

Richard opened his eyes, his back resting against a pillar of the subway station. His joints made cracking sounds as he moved his arms to check if everything was alright and his muscles felt numb, but at least this time he could breathe without pain. There was a patch on his left arm, near the shoulder, that was devoid of scales, with two long parallel scars in the middle.

He had been lucky to survive against that monster, and it was another time that his instinct had saved him from certain death. Just thinking about filled him with dread. The Lamia was different from the other living beings he had seen. She was sentient, but she still tried to lure and murder him anyway. He could understand the Husks, as they were no different than feral animals, but trying to kill another smart being for experience points or for whatever other reason was a folly.

It was something he should never do as long as he could keep control on his body, but, alas, it seemed that everything living inside this world was going to attack him on sight, and this meant that he had always to fight.

There were plenty of things that were still unknown to him and that he had to understand if he wanted to keep being alive. The lessons he had learned this time were that if something was of a higher level than him, then it was better to leave it alone and to stay the hell away from dungeons.

Tutorial quest n.5

Consult the SKILLS section in the menu to learn what your class can do.

As he needed something to distract his mind from everthing that happened, Richard gave it a look.

Basic skills, (Novice):

Analyze: get automatically data about enemies or items you come across.

Harvest: break up obkects and internalize them inside the System up to a certain weight. They can be retrieved in a later moment.

Pyromancer, (Novice):

Spells you know:

Fire Ball, 1 unit of Mana: a small sphere of energy but with a high range.

Fire Touch, 3 units of Mana: a portable flame of high energy but with the lowest range possible.

Spells you have used involuntarily but have yet to learn:

Fire Breath, 10 units of mana, (Race specific);

Tutorial: you can learn new spells by experimenting with those you already know, (Your Intellect plays a part on this process); or you can be taught by someone with the same class.

Perks:

(Scholar): you know how to read and write.

The only perk he had wasn’t that special, but the pyromancer part was interesting because, well, magic was always cool. If he had been in the normal world, he would have been thrilled to be able to shoot fireballs from his hands, but now, not that much. It was a tool that he needed to learn how to use it to survive, as it seemed he was going to be inside this world for the long haul.

Richard rose from the ground by holding on to the pillar. His steps felt heavy as his tail remained stiff, so it didn’t help to stabilize his walk but was only a hindrance.

To shoot a fireball, he first needed to make a spark with his claws and ignite it, then pushing it out. With a whooshing sound, the ball of fire ran into a straight line until it dropped to the subway tracks and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the next try, he let it rest for a bit in his hand making it grow twice the size, but the range was shorter than the first one.

The second spell was Fire touch. He needed to make first a fireball and instead of making it larger, he had to spread on his whole hand. What could happen if he made a fist? The fire squeezed from his fingers, expanding into a small cloud.

You have discovered a new spell: Fire Cloud. You have used 4 units of mana.

He didn’t know how he had used Fire Breath the last time. If he tried to pull diaphragm up to let the fire rise from the chamber nothing happened. Maybe it was a reflex to the pain of being bitten, but now it was impossible to replicate.

It was better to stop for the moment because he needed some mana left in case of a fight.

Tutorial path final quest:

You have learned the basics of the System. Now you are ready to use it to become stronger. Advance to level 7.

Rewards: (Freshman) perk.

Richard had another quest in mind tough. He might have received a setback at the campus, but he still needed answers about the truth of this world. Professor Brown lived not far from here, and he knew it because he had to deliver him an essay there at midnight eight months ago. If the apocalypse had happened, then he would have surely recorded something of it inside his lab.

He left the subway station, but before reaching his goal, he ate some debris to reinforce the chamber and gathered a new stock of items after everything had been consumed during his fight against the poison.

Items: 35, Wood (Common); 15, Rat meat, (Common); 7, Rabbit meat, (Common); 1, Ancient technology, (Rare). Total: 58/100.

It was a very strange world he was living in where a forty-dollar watch was rare, but he could dematerialize real things and store them inside an operative system, something that was mind blowing. The System should be running inside his brain, but how could have it been coded? And who did it?

The block he was walking inside was a residential area full of small houses, with a church at the center. Walking on the main street, there was a sudden silence as the wind stopped. All the doors and windows had been left open, and the rusty skeletons of the cars were still parked in their garages. Richard took a deviation near one of the houses, walking on the long grass of the front lawn as something felt amiss in all of this.

Inside, the table was full of plates for four people, while the both the fridge and the oven left open, but the inside was full of dark stains of mold and mushrooms. Richard picked one of those. The thought of eating anything other than meat had never crossed his mind, so he stored one of those for later.

The glowing red outline of a rare item appeared inside the cupboard. When Richard opened it, the rotten wood of the door collapsed on him, and he threw it away. It was just a can of tomato soup, unopened. He sighed; these rare items seemed to be always disappointing.

You have found a rare item. It doesn’t seem to have any technological relevance, but it has an intrinsic historical value. You can sell it for a high profit to the right merchant.

He stored it anyways, even if he doubted that a can of soup could be a historical object. Its expiry date was in 2021, so it wasn’t even that old. As there was nothing else in the kitchen, he progressed into the living room, occupied by a TV table but without a television, a library but without any books, and two couches. Nothing worth of note.

In the back lawn, though, there was a barbecue. After raising the grate, he picked some of the coals inside. These could be rather useful as fuel for his flame, so he harvested them too. The next stop was the upper floor, but all the bedrooms, both the one of the parents and their sons had been emptied.

The church bells rang, and Richard poked his head out of the cracked window towards the belfry. If there was no wind, then what was making them move?