The first thing that I did with my new gun was to start hunting those giant demons called leopards. Using my new scope I found the one that I had spotted with my reconnaissance goggles. Its dappled coat made it incredibly hard to spot despite knowing where it was located. I even had to double check with my goggles to make sure I had the right location. Once I found its head though, I realized the giant leopard was looking away from me at the river, its tail twitching as whatever it saw kept its attention.

Not wanting to miss a seemingly perfect opportunity, I kneeled down and lined up a shot with my rifle. Shot chambered, I aimed down the scope at the leopard. The magnification of the scope helped as my reticle shifted but stayed mostly on the leopard. Holding my breath to steady the rifle, I fired a shot. The rifle kicked into my shoulder and I flinched at the noise, but it was not as loud as I expected. Instead of deafening it was more like the crack of a whip, loud and crisp.

The scope jumped when I took the shot but I was able to catch a glimpse of the large red 80 as the leopard fell. A yowling sound came from where I had shot the leopard, prompting me to turn on the thermal vision of my goggles. I hadn’t tried it beforehand and luckily I could still see the orange-red highlights, though the outlines of objects were blurred compared to before. It made it hard to see what I was looking at but the leopard was quite obvious due to its different color. Lining up another shot at the center of bright yellow that depicted the leopard, I chambered another shot and pulled the trigger. The gun bucked into my shoulder though I was able to steady it better this time. Another red number floated above the scope, a 44 this time. If my own 50 health was to judge, the leopard was almost dead.

Sure enough, the yowling had cut off when I shot the leopard and instead a weird sound like that of a saw cutting wood echoed out instead. Unsure of what it was, I used my thermal vision to try and find the leopard. Catching a glimpse of it, I focused the scope and could see the bright yellow light depicting the leopard moving away from me. I couldn’t let the leopard escape. With careful aim I fired the rifle one last time, the yellow blur of the cat falling still as a 42 floated above the scope. A blue screen appeared before me, causing me to groan as I started to read it. I was getting really tired of being interrupted at every milestone I achieved with these intrusive blue screens.

Congratulations! You have killed your first monster.

Reward: Access to loot system. In order to loot a monster, simply get near the monster and it will dissolve to form a loot orb. Members of the same party may loot the same orb.

I wasn’t sure what loot a giant leopard would have, but I wouldn’t be a gamer if I didn’t get the loot. Deactivating the thermal vision, I made my way towards the corpse of the leopard. The undergrowth grabbed onto my rifle as I went through the jungle, a fern snagging it. Pushing my through I kept going, the leopard just a few more feet in front of me. “Inventory” I said in a hushed whisper, not wanting to attract any attention. I hadn’t noticed any movement around me but that didn’t mean anything. I hadn’t noticed the leopard when they killed me the last few times and I would really hate to have to start everything all over again. Helpless and defenseless again, just like everyone else was out there.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I took in the leopard’s corpse. It had a wound on its belly and another on its back. I didn’t have enough experience to tell which one had killed the leopard but it was very obvious that it was dead. As I watched, the leopard dissolved into grey dust. Above the dust hovered a glowing blue sphere, the loot orb. I had been told during the tutorial by the goblin that there was a record of loot that was collected and that you could call up the record by saying some phrase. I hadn’t really bothered to learn it, I’d been too busy learning everything else. There was an easy fix though, as I opened my inventory to see what had changed. Sitting in my inventory was two leopard furs. Quite a disappointment to be honest after all the pain and suffering I had gone through at the claws of that monster, but the fight had been embarrassingly easy once I had gotten properly equipped.

With that bit of vengeance done, I started prepping. Taking out the pistol from my inventory, a holster taking form from the gray dust around my waist. Well that was convenient. Holstering the pistol, I wanted to put up my rifle too and noticed for the first time there was a strap attached to it. Using the strap to sling the rifle over my shoulder, I turned on the thermal vision of my goggles and pulled my pistol out. My hunting rifle was great when I knew where the enemy was and hopefully with the thermal vision I’d be able to get enough time to shoot at whatever came after me. The pistol would be a lot faster though if I was ambushed, so for now I’d use that unless I was able to find an enemy, in which case I would definitely switch over to the hunting rifle.

With that done, I was ready…. Or at least that's what I thought. Little did I know the hell I was getting myself into.

Despite hiking through seemingly miles of woods, there was no indication that I was getting closer. Worse yet, the thermal vision was messing with my eyesight and giving me headaches. An unfortunate feature of my thermal vision was that it lacked depth perception and as a result I had smacked into more than a few trees. As it was, I ended up having to take short breaks to scan the surrounding area with the goggles rather than keep them on all the time.

Even worse, I had been ambushed twice by leopards. The first time I had just stumbled into a tree branch that had blended in with the heat signature of another tree when I caught a glimpse of a tail. That was the only thing that saved me as I promptly threw myself forward in time to see the leopard leap right over me. My pistol aimed towards the leopard, it did a disappointing twenty damage average at a time and the massive recoil meant that I could barely keep it aimed at the target in front of me. I could scarcely imagine how someone with lower accuracy would be able to hit a barn door with a gun like that.

The leopard had yowled in pain before attempting to scamper off. It got away successfully that time, a few bullets chasing it away. The next time though, the creature actually killed me. It landed on my back from the top of a tree. It was a lesson in looking up that I didn’t forget, due to the fact that the leopard seemed to take sadistic pleasure in making sure my death was as painful as possible. Luckily, it seemed that once you made it past the safe house you would respawn wherever you died. Because of that, I got to surprise the leopard that had killed me and shoot it full of lead, killing it with a few pistol shots since it hadn’t recovered completely from our earlier fight.

Regardless I trucked on into the wilderness, occasionally using my thermal vision to scan the surrounding woods for threats. I was able to spot a bear once with it, which I promptly took a lengthy route around to avoid being detected. The thing was huge, its head bumping up against the tree branches when it stood on its hind legs. No way did I want to tangle with that thing. I doubted my rifle would be enough to kill it quickly enough before it got to me. If it was within swinging distance, one oversized paw would send me to respawn in the blink of an eye.

While I was making my way across a small stream, something happened. The faint blue arrow I had been following pulsed once in my vision before fading away. A new arrow pointing at a slightly different angle appeared. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but the quest I had gotten said to seek out my other comrades and assist them. Thinking about this logically, there were several situations that the new arrow could indicate.

The first was that the person I had been locked onto was simply the closest person and now there was someone that was closer. Another was that the original person had finished their quest and unlocked their class and this was someone that hadn’t finished yet. Of course, another option was that the person had died and the direction change was a result of them respawning back at their initial zone. I really didn’t want to consider that one but it was also the most probable.

Regardless, there wasn’t anything I could do with my thoughts. As a matter of fact, they were getting downright deadly with the distraction. The pain from a bear claw smashing into my face threw me out of my imagination. As I clutched at my mauled face, I attempted to bring my rifle around. My pistol wouldn’t be able to do enough damage to the monster in front of me and I didn’t even know where it was, the impact having thrown it from my hands. Before I could manage to get the rifle from around my back, the bear slammed down one of its paws into my chest. I could hear something break and pain surged from my stomach before fading.

You have died.

Respawn commencing in 5 minutes.

Well that was just great. Hopefully the bear would be gone by the time I respawned, though I wasn’t holding out hope since the last time the leopard hadn’t left yet when I respawned. Unsure of what to do with my newfound freedom, I just continued to stare up at the ceiling blankly until the time ran out, relaxing and trying to forget that I had just been brutally mauled by a bear. Honestly I don’t know how I was able to keep everything together. My anger towards the tutorial instructors Buffy Bill and Goblin Guff were really the only things that kept me anchored.

I was still staring at the ceiling when the blue screen appeared again.

Respawn initializing...

I sighed as the world faded to black, time to face that bear again. As the forest came into focus I looked around, feeling naked without my gun and knowing that there was a hostile animal out there. I couldn’t see the bear but I did see my pistol laying next to a tree root. Grabbing it, I opened my inventory and pulled out my rifle. It seemed that anything I dropped prior to dying was open for anyone to grab but anything I died with would go into my inventory. At least, I hoped so. I knew that most games would make you drop things when you died making attacking other players a very lucrative venture. I really didn’t want to live my life being hunted down because I had decent gear. Human greed was a funny thing after all.

The blue arrow was still pointing off somewhere in the distance, so I started off once again. This time I was a lot more focused on my surroundings. I had already experienced first hand what the price of not paying attention was. As quickly as I could safely manage, I hiked through the forest. After a half hour, the arrow started becoming denser and translucent. I took that to mean I was getting close. Scanning the area with my thermal vision, I couldn’t find anything so I continued onwards. Ten minutes later, I saw them.

I could barely see them, the foliage too dense to make anything out besides the shapes. Running quickly, I came to a clearing where I was able to see them clearly. The black man from the lobby was running down a slight slope while a Japanese woman with blades coming from her two gauntleted hands was facing off with two leopards. As I watched she slashed at one of them, throwing it backwards, before leaping to avoid a lunge by one of the leopards. With one smooth slash she hit the leopard she leaped over with her sword, sending it into the ground. Taking out my rifle, I lined up a shot on the leopard that the Japanese woman had smacked first. It appeared to have hit its head pretty hard, as the leopard was having trouble getting back up.

The reticle shimmied a bit but I lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger, the sound echoing out in the forest. The leopard was thrown backwards as an 80 floated above the scope. As I focused on the leopard, it became obvious from the hole in its head that it wasn’t going to get back up. The Japanese woman was now dancing around the other leopard, though she kept glancing around as though she was looking for something. Maybe she had heard another creature?

Regardless, I tried to line up a shot on the leopard though it was difficult as it kept twisting and turning to attack the Japanese woman. I pulled the trigger but I didn’t see any damage indicators even as the sound of the shot echoed out. It was the first time I missed, but I wasn’t going to let it get to me. Aiming at the leopard again, I fired. This time it hit, causing the leopard to stumble. The japanese woman didn’t miss her opportunity and lunged forward, burying the blades in the chest of the leopard before yanking them out, blood pouring out of the leopard as it fell to the ground, its body already turning into dust as the loot orb formed above its body.

Lowering my rifle I made my way towards the two. Hopefully they were okay. It seemed like the Japanese woman had already received her class while the black man was being assisted by her, since I hadn’t seen him use any weapons. The blue arrow also seemed to agree as it pointed towards the direction the black man was running rather than the Japanese woman. As I ran, I slung my rifle over my shoulder and took my pistol out of the holster, unsure if I would have the time to use the rifle. As I got close I caught a glimpse of the black man right before something slammed into my side, a lance of pain shooting from my ribs.

As I lay on the ground moaning in pain, the Japanese stood over me, her face pale. “Idiot! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see what I was attacking, I just heard something coming and so far everything has been out to kill us” she said, fear visible on her face.

As the pain faded I was able to stand up. “Gah! Huff huff. Don’t worry about it. Ugh. It’s just pain, I’m used to it by now” I said grimly. As I stood I observed her. She was short, about 5’5 with a slight build. She had light hazelnut colored skin with black, straight hair cut off at her shoulders. She was wearing a simple black T-shirt and jeans, with leather vambraces covering her forearms. A metallic sheath covered the top of the vambraces and two blades extended from them, about the same length as her forearm. I realized I hadn’t really looked at my own clothes and glanced down, seeing a green T-shirt and jeans. I didn’t have any equipment on me besides my guns, holster, and goggles.

She held out her hand and I shook it. “It is nice to finally meet a friendly face. I was helping Nick,” she gestured towards the black man who was standing cautiously a few feet away, “to unlock his class. He was stuck with two leopards that wouldn’t leave him alone so he was stuck in his spawn point and couldn’t get to the safe zone without assistance.” She pointed at my rifle, “can I assume that you were the one responsible for the shooting earlier?”

I gave her an affirmative nod. “Yeah, sorry if I spooked you a bit with it. I wasn’t able to warn you, I just came across the fight and had to help however I could.”

She shook her head, “no I’m thankful you stepped in. I could have taken one leopard but with two I would have been injured for sure. I was mostly just trying to keep their attention so Nick could make it. Anyways, we should probably make sure Nick gets there safely and head out.”

Nick, having overhead us, nodded quickly. “No offense and thanks for all the help, but I feel like I could really use some guns myself.” He looked at the Japanese woman nervously, “or blades, not saying blades aren’t cool or anything. I just… ya know? I’ve been killed more than a few times by those leopards and I really don’t feel like getting up close and personal anymore ya feel me?”

I let out a snort at his panic. “Yeah, we get you. So anyways,” I said as I glanced at the Japanese woman. “This is Nick and I’m Tony Delgado. What is your name?”

She started before bowing deeply, the blades of her vambrace retracting quietly. “My sincerest apologies, my name is Akari Tanako, of the house of Tanako. I am the first-born daughter of Kota Tanako. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Nick glanced around before saying anything. “Uh, yeah my name is Nick Stalton. Son of um, well, more like raised by Chris Thompson. Anyways, think we can move this along?”

I gestured forward, “lead on. I’m not exactly sure where we’re going. I have some thermal vision goggles I can use to spot any leopards before they get to us. It doesn’t help with depth perception though so I tend to run into things. If you all can help me with that, I can spot the leopards and help us avoid them, if that sounds good?”

They both nodded, while Akari stepped forward. “I will help guide you. Come Nick, lead us to your safe zone.”

With that, we were off. I had my thermal vision on, lost in a stream of oranges, yellows, and reds. I was constantly looking around, trying to spot movement. Akari had a hand on my arm as we walked, gently pulling me in certain directions as I kept an eye out for them. I was able to keep us away from three animals that were roaming around. We never got close enough to identify them thankfully, so I had no idea what they were. Probably more leopards or bears if I had to guess.

It took us about twenty minutes but we made it to the safe zone, a small shack in the middle of a clearing. I disabled the thermal vision to see it more clearly but it was exactly like my own hut. I couldn’t see the circle with the words SAFE ZONE like I had at my hut, but maybe it was individualized and only Nick could see that it was a safe zone. Before I could ask him about it, Nick darted forward into the hut.

I let out a chuckle, causing Akari to glance at me questioningly. “What is it?”

I waved my hand dismissively. “It’s nothing, I just had the same reaction when I found my safe zone. Granted I had a giant leopard trying to gnaw off my head again but still, I just found it humorous was all.”

She smiled and nodded. “I understand. I tried fighting the leopards with sticks and my fists, but my techniques were not meant for such large beasts. I ended up having to run away instead though that was once again met with defeat many times. The only way I made it to my safe zone was a bit of luck, as one of the leopards chasing me ran into a bear that attacked it. How about you?”

“Well….” I trailed off as I recalled those desperate moments as I ran for my life. “It was a close thing. I found that the leopards lost interest if I didn’t leave my spawn point after half an hour or so. Then I just tried to run fast enough to make it. I got lucky that my safe zone was pretty close. Had to try a lot of times to make it though. The leopard actually managed to attack me right as I reached my safe zone but got burnt when it entered that blue circle.”

Akari glanced over at the door as it opened. Nick stood there with an assault rifle cradled in his arms, a pistol holstered on his waist with three grenades attached to a new bulletproof vest that covered his chest. “Guess who just become a skirmisher!” Nick said proudly, brandishing his gun.

“Congratulations Nick sir, you have finally become a warrior.” Akari said with a smile. She extended her hand out and Nick, a wide grin on his face, reached out and shook it.

I gave him a friendly slap on the back. “Now that you’re armed, ready to kill some leopards?”

He slapped me right back before patting his rifle. “Heck yeah. I owe those monsters for what they did. Took my arm off a few times and made me watch them eat it. They’re gonna die for what they did to me.” He started to go into the woods when a new blue screen appeared before us. “You gotta be kidding me!” Nick exclaimed as he read it. I heard a groan from Akira behind me. I joined her as I started reading the message.

Congratulations! All members of your group have passed the initial testing phase.

Rewards: Access to the main Quest

Main Quest: Survival! You have four hours to meet up with the rest of your group at the designated location. After that, waves of monsters will attack you. If your group can defend the designated location from the four waves of monsters, your group will be considered successful and worthy of going to Nanite World. If you fail, you will fall to the secondary list of revivals on Nanite World which are not guaranteed to be revived. Fight! Fight and revive!

Well this was crap. It was always one thing after another with this place. Still, I glanced around at my two new companions. Akari had already proven herself to be quite the asset already, while Nick was eager to shoot something. If the other three were anything like these two, I was already starting to like our odds. Get ready, tutorial, because we were going to win!