Drake felt awful. His first thought upon waking were something along the line of Ow, ow, ow-oh a blue screen-ow, ow.

Some body checks revealed a lot of damage to his ribcage area, from when the leopard had backhanded- back pawed? - him during their fight. His torso was turning a lovely shade of blue that made it painful to breathe. He could even muster enough willpower to focus on the screens.

Wait. The system. Don’t I have some healing skill? Finally managing to pull up his status, he confirmed that a skill called Rune of Regeneration was indeed in his skill list.

Now how do I use it? Ow.

Skill Use

Willful desire to use a skill activates system assistance to manipulate mana into proper forms.

That’s simple. Please use the rune of regeneration. Ow.

Drake focused his mind as best he could whilst holding his breath to limit the pain. He felt a cool sensation begin to gather towards his right hand, a light glow seeming to form from within his palm. After thirty seconds or so a warm feeling was transferred back to his body, mainly his chest, and as he watched the swelling decreased and the color changed to his normal peachy tone.

Holding the skill made Drake feel amazing, like an unbridled power was washing through him filling his body with strength and his mind with confidence. The feeling was like liquid youth, if that made any sense, his desires to run and jump and punch and kick all screaming out as if they could no longer hold back. The feeling continued to spread until it encapsulated every inch of his body.

Unable to suppress himself he got up and began running back and forth, kicking off trees and snapping branches.

Then he began to feel woozy and the world began to spin.

Unwilling to part with the sensation he held on, the world spinning faster and faster until it was all cut short as he again passed out.

…

Waking for the second time Drake still felt awful, this time not due to physical pain but rather a more mental and emotional pain.

A dull ache had formed right behind his eyes, and his body that had previously bee full of strength now felt hollow.

Mana Deprivation

Upon use of all mana stored within the body, extreme weakness and fatigue will overcome the user.

Unlock: Mana gauge

Looking blearily though the pain in his head, which was reminiscent of Night of Endless Sleep, Drake realized that the cool sensation must have been his mana moving in his body. That meant that whatever rune was in his body was in his right hand.

Observing his palm revealed no significant changes, though it seemed smoother than before.

Shaking his head, Drake observed the rest of his body, which was feeling much, much better than before. He had no cramps, no muscle soreness, no bruising, no pain. While not at the level of what he would call a miracle, it was certainly better tan any medicine he had heard of.

Looking again at his status he noticed a small addition next to his skill.

Rune of Regeneration (0.01%)

This was promptly followed by an explanation.

Skill Mastery

Utilization or insight into skills increases the mastery level, increasing their power. At 100% mastery the skill can evolve into a higher tier if an evolution exists.

That’s right, it did say something about how the skill could evolve further…I’ll have to work on that.

While pondering how he could further his mastery with the rune in his hand, Drake turned towards the body of leopard.

He was met with the sight of a small orb, the size of a fist that looked like it contained a storm cloud. The body of the leopard was gone, as if it had never existed. Even the blood along the far edge of the pond had disappeared.

Stooping to pick up the small artifact, Drake was met with yet another window.

Monster Drops

Upon killing a monster, the mana making up their body will be absorbed to increase the level of the user, monsters with high levels of mana may form crystals that will in turn become ‘items’ when they are killed. A large difference in level between the user and monster will increase the quality of the item.

Satisfied with the explanation, Drake observed the orb more closely. It was perfectly smooth to the touch, with swirls of darker and lighter grey and the occasional flash of energy. Just as he was able to see monster names and levels, he also saw a description for the item off to the side of his vision- focusing on it brought it to the middle of his line of sight.

Lightning Leopard Core (Uncommon)

Grants the user minor lightning manipulation.

Use? Y/N

Yes! Absolutely yes! Drake thought the moment he read the description.

The smooth surface of the orb shattered, turning into sparkling light that disappeared before it hit the floor. The small storm cloud within then spread out before slowly moving to Drakes chest and passing straight through his skin. A small sense of euphoria again came over him and he shuddered.

Finally, the moment passed, and Drake again opened his status page.

[Drake Verity]

{Class: NONE}

| Level: N/A---0%|

| STR: 4---CON: 5|

| AGI: 7---DEX: 6|

| INT: 5---WIS: 5|

{Abilities}

|Extreme Mana Affinity

| Blessing for Humanity

{Skills}

| Rune of Regeneration---(0.01%)

| Minor Lightning Manipulation

He was happy with his new acquisition, but felt a bit confused at the lack of a level. Wasn’t killing monsters supposed to raise his level? Why didn’t the percentage change?

Classes

Classes increase and specify the power of a user and may be strengthened by levelling up. These can be chosen at any time from the list of classes but cannot be changed until the maximum level for the class is achieved. While classless excess mana will be saved until a class is chosen.

List of available classes:

Adventurer Monster slayer Lightning mage

The list was not very long but it left Drake with a large decision. Should he pick one now or would it benefit him to wait and see if he could unlock something more powerful?

On one hand he was certainly in need of immediate power, there were definitely going to be things roaming around that were as deadly as the leopard but with larger numbers. On the other hand, it would improve his odds of success if he could get a class that gave him more.

Unsure, he decided he would interrogate the ‘system’ to see if he could get a clearer picture of things.

…

A few hours later and Drake felt almost overwhelmed with the newfound knowledge. He had learned a massive number of things about classes, monsters, and the system.

For starters, he learned that the tutorial would end upon his selection of a class. This had prompted to get him to ask for every detail he possibly could on every issue he could think of. He even asked if …

He had learned that this wave of monsters was those escaping from the rift where the seal had broken, an area that had become more mana dense than much of the world meaning more powerful monsters would appear there first.

Plants and animals would soon begin to strengthen as well, allowing for improved medicine and food products but also making them another potential danger to humanity. Due to their lack of sentience they would grow instinctually which would stunt their growth in the long run as well as make them more predictable.

Finally, Drake had decided on an answer to his class dilemma. Based on the short descriptions the system gave him for his options, he had decided on the adventurer class. It was available to all who were choosing a class and provided survival skills – the system had recommended it as the first class he take as it had a max level of only 20. Drake wasn’t disposed to fighting much more, so being able to survive off the land would hopefully allow him to make it to proper civilization.

Delving back into the system, he navigated to the class page and selected the Adventurer class.

Warning!

Selection of a class will end the tutorial, proceed?

Y/N

Clenching and spreading his fist continuously, Drake gave it one more thought before reaffirming his decision and selecting the Y.

Immediately he felt the cool sensation in his chest spread out, the same as it had when he used the rune in his hand. This time however, it spread through his whole body, simultaneously revitalizing, and draining him. It felt like it was traveling through his veins at first, but after a few seconds he felt the chill pervade his muscles. It filled him with power, but different from the hot feeling of reckless power from the rune, a more controlled, long lasting power that was quickly becoming his to wield.

A look to his stat screen explained the feeling as every one of his stats had risen by two. Considering his low stats, it was a considerable increase. Then he notification popped up that Drake had been waiting for, his skills one for selecting the class and a surprise second for reaching level 5.

Inventory

Allows the user to store any number of items equaling 5x the weight of their highest stat in an independent space.

Itemization

Allows the user to decide whether a monster should dissolve into experience or remain usable for food and resources. Must be set prior to combat.

The first he had expected after what the system had told him, but the second was an unexpected surprise. It made sense as a large population would find it difficult to maintain farmland or breeding with monsters roaming about. This also offered an interesting possibility as he was certain that the claws on the leopard were the sharpest thing he had ever seen.

The rumbling of his stomach cleared his mind and reminded him that he was still sitting out in the woods having eaten nothing for a full day.

Resolving to head to town to asses the situation and find potential survivors as well as gather whatever food he could, Drake took one last look at where his first battle had taken place before walking into the forest.