Tutorial Aperture - Valtir ???

A lone AI sat down within a blank white void in the lotus position-seemingly cultivating for some odd reason. They understood their purpose of helping the young Cruxborne into the wider world of Valtir since it had been decreed by their Creators, but they had been warned of not revealing too much about exactly how sentient they really were. No one coming into Valtir would be aware that once they entered, it would take something far more powerful than the Creators themselves to depart. Even the remaining divine pantheon of Valtir were aware of this irrevocable fact, but that didn’t stop false pathways being erected by Deception.

When the AI learned about worlds outside of Valtir and the subsequent dimensions surrounding the planet of “Earth” as the Creators called it, they noticeably freaked out due to the shock. After receiving the knowledge from the Creators themselves, the AI had been tasked to construct suitable companions for the Cruxborne and their Progenitor-a man named “Markus Reeves.” These companions-as it had vaguely understood from the Creator's intentions-are meant to help act as guides outside of the aperture that encompassed a parallel dimension alongside the actual gameworld.

"Good thing the Creators are benevolent enough to give this lowly person such a grand task," the AI thought to itself as it started to feel a spatial disruption within its blank white void.

That signaled the arrival of the Cruxborne Progenitor and-it hoped-a changing of the ages.

Back in the Real World and a few minutes before logging in...

Markus had arrived at the world headquarters of Reality Interactive without any hassle despite his quick agreement to accept a lifetime membership with all of the Early Bird goodies that came with somehow becoming a beta tester. Prior to leaving for the airport, he decided to revisit the actual contract he signed and found nothing wrong about the standard Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDAs for short) and the terms and conditions relevant to beta testers though Markus offhandedly wondered if there was some kind of "better" starting packages for supposed "Alpha" testers. As far as he understood about this new game set to release in a year, the gameworld of Valtir has a main storyline involving the generic trope of "hero beats bad guy and saves the world" that became standard for many manga and novels on the market, but it supposedly didn't start until the hero grows in power through levelling skills and-probably as just a nod to Wuxian novels-training Cultivation to the highest possible.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a wikipedia for all of the in-game lore yet since the developers didn't want anything leaking out into the wider world which confirmed his theory once he thought more about why they included an NDA as part of the beta sign-ups. At least he understood there wouldn't be any kind of murder mystery types like that one game where people were on a spaceship and one of the crew members turned out to be an impostor, but he couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that he was tempting Fate there.

Deciding to quickly just get over the whole introductory spiel and jump straight into the game, he asked his company-granted attendant to simply just help him log in. Once he got cleared to go straight in, they opened up his capsule and began hooking him up with strange fiber optic cables and an IV solution that helped knock him unconscious as he started the logging in process.

Thus beginning the Tutorial and initializing the journey of the Cruxborne Progenitor.

-Tutorial - Markus Starting Stats-

{System Profile: Markus Reeves (Pre-Integration)}

Level: 1

Tier: Bronze

Health: 100/100

Energy (Mana): 0/0

Race: [Human]

[VIT: 50]

[STR: 10]

[AGI: 10]

[PER: 15]

[INT: 15]

[WIS: 10]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [???]

---

[Title: Sole Survivor]: (Passive) Awarded to the only surviving party in a fatal situation where all others are dead. +40 VIT

[Title: ???]: (Passive) Unknown effects.

{System Profile: Markus Reeves (Cruxborne Legends Tutorial)}

Level: 1

Tier: Bronze

Health: 100/100

Energy (Mana): 300/300

Race: [???] - To be determined in Racial Selection

[VIT: 50]

[STR: 10]

[AGI: 10]

[PER: 15]

[INT: 15]

[WIS: 10]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [Cruxborne Progenitor], [???]

---

[Title: Sole Survivor]: (Passive) Awarded to the only surviving party in a fatal situation where all others are dead. +40 VIT

[Title: Cruxborne Progenitor]: (Passive/Active) A Unique Title granted to the first ever Player of the video game Cruxborne Legends. Passive Ability: [Advanced Learner]; Active Ability: [System Defiant]

- [Advanced Learner]: Enables the Player to receive an additional +200% Experience boost. This also grants the Player perfect recall or Eidetic (Photographic) memory.

- [System Defiant]: Whether or not it is decreed by the System, this ability allows the Player to defy conventional System restrictions once per realtime day. Cooldown: 24 hours. Duration: 30 seconds.

[Title: ???]: (Passive) Unknown effects.

"Welcome, Markus Reeves!" the AI welcomed Markus as he manifested in the blank white void. The AI looked completely featureless to the Progenitor, but that didn't stop it from performing its duties. "I am the Tutorial AI and I will be helping you customize your avatar before sending you into Valtir."

Markus gave the AI a nod in understanding as he knew the tutorial is vastly important to anyone's adventure. Soon after that, a prompt appeared in his vision.

Tutorial: Race Selection

Within the world of Valtir, there exist a myriad of Races both real and told in folklore. Most of the races that live in the modern age have existed for over five centuries in relative peace despite minor skrimishes along their shared borders. In this selection, you will be able to choose any of the available races to appear as though keep in mind of their strengths and weaknesses!

[System Notice]: You currently are able to choose ANY race within the System Database! Keep in mind that this selection is final and cannot be changed outside of artefacts or game events!

[999+ races available. Tap here to view the list.]

Markus tapped on the prompt and a VERY long list of races appeared in front of him. Most of them were some kind of weird race that hardly resembled humans while others had a humanoid form though heavily modified. He immediately crossed out the non-humanoid species which reduced the list from hundreds of millions to roughly ten million in all. Another setting he saw on the list was for races that were considered undead or some variant of it and once again reduced that list to around ten thousand.

He went through various settings to further reduce that list.

Magic-orientated? Seven thousand.

Maximum Cultivation and Level Capacity? Five thousand.

Able to survive any environment? Three thousand.

Humanoid in body build? Same result.

Long-lived races? One thousand.

Out of the thousand or so races left on the list, Markus pondered on what could make the perfect anti-hero starter build. He wouldn't go for a "John Constantine" build considering he didn't want to become a demonologist or exorcist. In any game with a competitive gamemode or roleplay aspect (that he found enjoyable at least), Markus liked the antihero setup and had a connection with people who seem evil yet have good intentions. With that, he decided to put on one more filter.

Monstrous in appearance and ability? Three.

Three races he could choose from.

Race Selection

- Race: [Primordial Entity]

A monster borne of Primordial Chaos and told in the faint bone-chilling whispers of ancient legend, this humanoid is volatile magic in a human form. Unable to be distinguished by other humans and granted an innate understanding of [Chaos], this race is perfect for dark wizards, antiheroes, or strange villains with no clear goal in sight. Type: Eternal.

- Race: [Xil'Sha]

Created by the Elder God Saratas as creatures borne of the Void itself, these monstrous creatures are able to eat living and artifical souls for sustenance on top of eating food normally. Harnessing the [Void] element comes to these creatures naturally along with the rest of the Destructive schools of Magic. This race is perfect for antiheroes, Abyssal Mages, or villainous Players. Type: Elder (Eternal)

- Race: [Vil'thrum]

Raised from the mires of the Maelstrom of Oblivion itself by the Primordial, Xaradel, these elvish creatures are near-indistinguishable from the Dark Elves controlled by Lolth but the confusion is often used to trick and deceive enemies until it is far too late. Able to wield [Chaos] and [Void] to prodigious levels, this race is perfect for antiheroes, villains, and [ERROR]. Type: Eternal (Primordial)

"Apologies," the AI said to Markus as it seemed to read the error in the race prompt. "It seems that is a bug in the System. A minor one, by the looks of it."

"That's fine," Markus replied with a shrug. He did eye the [Primordial Entity] race for a moment, but when he looked at the [Vil'thrum] race, it seemed almost too perfect not to choose.

"Hey, could you pull up the stats for this race, please?" Markus asked the AI while pointing at the [Vil'thrum] race.

Almost immediately, the stats were pulled up and Markus was absolutely shocked.

Vil'thrum Race Stats

[VIT: 700]

[STR: 60]

[AGI: 80]

[PER: 90]

[INT: 300]

[WIS: 300]

- Unable to Cultivate normally. Dark Cultivation enabled.

- Arcane Affinities: [Chaos], [Void], [Death], [Blood]

- Elder Bloodline: [Oblivion's End]

- Origin Perk: [Cataclysmic Rebirth]

- Max Level: 10,000 (2 Trillion EXP cap)

- Racial Ability: [Dimensional Jump]

"Fuck all of the other choices!" Markus cursed in surprise after reading the base stats of the Vil'thrum. He made his selection and became a Vil'thrum.

Outside of the Tutorial Aperture. Citadel of Chaos - Maelstrom of Oblivion

"This ought to be interesting. He chose to become one of the Vil'thrum which means there will be some interesting developments in the future." a distinctly grim masculine voice muttered to himself as he read the Eternal System's prompt concerning the gameworld of Valtir. Neither Markus or the developers of Cruxborne were aware that this entity was watching the proceedings at the behest of Saratas who was currently dealing with the [Cosmic Convergence] in Australia. "This Fatetouched will have to be closely monitored though I'm not sure what Saratas has in store for those fools at Reality Interactive. Either way, this will prove entertaining. What will you do Markus Reeves once you learn things are not as they seem in Valtir? Once you realize your world of Earth is no longer as you remember it?"

End of Chapter - Stat Recap

{System Profile: Markus Reeves (Cruxborne Legends)}

Level: 1

XP to Level: 0% [0/1,000]

Tier: F-Grade (Dark Cultivation)

Health: 7,400/7,400

Energy (Mana): 6,000/6,000

Race: [Vil'thrum]

[VIT: 740]

[STR: 60]

[AGI: 80]

[PER: 90]

[INT: 300]

[WIS: 300]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [Cruxborne Progenitor], [???]

---

[Title: Sole Survivor]: (Passive) Awarded to the only surviving party in a fatal situation where all others are dead. +40 VIT

[Title: Cruxborne Progenitor]: (Passive/Active) A Unique Title granted to the first ever Player of the video game Cruxborne Legends. Passive Ability: [Advanced Learner]; Active Ability: [System Defiant]

- [Advanced Learner]: Enables the Player to receive an additional +200% Experience boost. This also grants the Player perfect recall or Eidetic (Photographic) memory.

- [System Defiant]: Whether or not it is decreed by the System, this ability allows the Player to defy conventional System restrictions once per realtime day. Cooldown: 24 hours. Duration: 30 seconds.

[Title: ???]: (Passive) Unknown effects.