With the help of his timer and some quick math, Alex reasoned it was around two in the afternoon when he arrived back at the house. The streets had been sparse with the post-lunch crowd, and he’d done his best to enjoy the nice weather as he walked, but the constant mental debates made that difficult. Ringing the bell Alex did his best to temper his nerves. Logically, he knew the thought loop was getting him nowhere, but his brain seemed to have a hard time accepting the fact. The sound of the door opening brought Alex back to reality and instead of some big confrontation, his entrance was entirely plain. The man who let him in only verifying his identity before disappearing back to whatever he’d been doing prior.
Storing his shoes in his inventory Alex made his way through the house. He knew he was too on edge, and even considered going back to the bathhouse for the night. But Janet would probably find him, and he didn’t want to make it seem like he was avoiding her. That would be exactly what he was doing, but she didn't need to know that. Walking through the halls Alex noted how quiet they were, absent the typical rowdiness of running and playing children. He hadn’t considered it before, having spent the entire day out yesterday, but guessed they were at school, or something similar.
Arriving in front of the Anise’s room uninterrupted, Alex grabbed the handle and barely stopped himself from opening it in his urgency to get inside. He wasn’t sure what she had been so embarrassed about the previous night, but with the all the drama from the morning, he felt knocking when entering her room was the least he could do. Receiving no answer he tried again, finally opening the door after another few seconds of silence.
The relief he felt upon noticing the room was empty reminded him of living at his parent’s house and that fact annoyed him. While he could be social, Alex valued his alone time. Here he had none, but with so many other more immediate issues, what was a little disquiet. If Janet, Ralph, or any other tutorial superpower wanted him dead, he was, how much did a little privacy matter then.
Stopping his mind from falling into the familiar argument Alex decided that if Janet didn’t come looking for him, he’d go find her tonight. Maybe he wouldn’t tell her everything, but those panthers would have killed him if not for the older woman. Spying or not, she was likely the closest thing to an ally he had in this place, and they needed to have a serious conversation so he could start focusing on what truly mattered. For now Alex sat on the couch that doubled as his bed and opened his notifications. Reading the list of advancements over he felt his mood brighten. The fighting had nearly killed him but now that he was safe the rewards almost felt worth it.
***
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Seven.
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Eight.
Your skill [Acting] has advanced to Level Three.
Your skill [Sixth Sense] has advanced to Level Twelve.
Your skill [Sixth Sense] has advanced to Level Thirteen.
Your skill [Thorn’s Touch] has advanced to Level Ten.
Your skill [Thorn’s Touch] has advanced to Level Eleven.
Your skill [Silent Strike] has advanced to Level Five.
…
Your skill [Silent Strike] has advanced to Level Seven.
Your skill [Dodge] has advanced to Level Ten.
Your skill [Dodge] has advanced to Level Eleven.
Your skill [Sword Mastery] has advanced to Level Two.
Your skill [Sword Mastery] has advanced to Level Three.
Your skill [Dagger Mastery] has advanced to Level Two.
Your skill [Dagger Mastery] has advanced to Level Three.
Your skill [Meditation] has advanced to Level Two.
You have defeated Juvenile Twintail (Level 33,40,32,36). Bonus experience awarded for killing an enemy above your level. (X4)
+32 Gold
Congratulations, you have advanced to Level Fourteen
Attribute Points Granted. Allocate Free (1) Point(s)
…
Congratulations, you have advanced to Level Seventeen
Attribute Points Granted. Allocate Free (1) Point(s)
For refusing to submit to the agony of injury, you have received: Pain Resistance
Accept (Y/N)
For achieving calm and clarity in the midst of chaotic combat, you have received: Battle Trance.
Accept (Y/N)
***
Reading over everything twice, and wondering how he’d managed to level meditation during all that fighting, Alex skipped his stats for the moment in favor of accepting his newest skills. Opening their descriptions reminded him he’d yet to go over the ones for Sword Mastery and Dagger Mastery, so he read over those first.
***
Skills
Name: Sword Mastery
Rating: Common
Grade: F
Level: 1
Mode: Passive
Description: The goal when undertaking any action is not simply to be sufficient, but to excel. That is to say, the purpose of wielding a sword is not simply to perform violence, but to master its every capability. Gain an intrinsic understanding of any that bear its namesake, able to pick up an Akrafena as easily as a Zulfiqar. Improve your abilities with every fight until it is as if the sword was an extension of your body itself. Parry, riposte, and strike, whether it be with one sword or two, your movements as fluid and graceful, your strikes deadly and precise. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity and Strength.
Name: Dagger Mastery
Rating: Common
Grade: F
Level: 1
Mode: Passive
Description: The goal when undertaking any action is not simply to be sufficient, but to excel. That is to say, the purpose of wielding a dagger is not simply to perform violence, but to master its every capability. Gain an intrinsic understanding in the art of the small blade, your every movement a dance with death, every strike careful and calculated. From an Acinaces to a Yoroi Doshi, use any dagger as if it were an extension of your body. Whether it be to silently eliminate a single target or expertly weave in and out of a chaotic battle, the smallest knife could be your greatest ally. Hone your skills, master your technique, for a dagger's deadly nature lies not in its force, but rather its precision. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity and Intelligence.
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Name: Pain Resistance
Rating: Uncommon
Grade: F
Level: 1
Mode: Passive
Description: Resistance in its truest form is an unwavering commitment to overcome. The mechanism that causes pain is just an input letting a person know trauma has been dealt to their body. Once understood, such sensations can be suppressed or even controlled. No longer shall the sting of a blade break your focus, nor the blow of a hammer crumble your concentration. Decide how your pain can be best used for you, for the promise of its hurt need not disable your development. It is important to remember, however, even with its arrival obscured, death never halts in its relentless chase. Skill ability correlates to Endurance and Willpower.
Name: Battle Trance
Rating: Epic
Grade: F
Level: 1
Mode: Active
Resource Cost: 10 Mana per second, 10 Stamina per second
Description: Embrace the overwhelming chaos of combat, allowing yourself to become an island of calm in the midst of a roiling sea. Let the sounds of battle fall away below that of your beating heart. Time slowing around you as your awareness transcends its normal limits. Feel emotions fade into mere suggestions, leaving behind only unwavering determination. In the heat of battle, find your focus; become a lone mountain in the center of a storm of carnage, unyielding and unbreakable. Skill ability correlates to Intelligence, Dexterity, and Willpower.
***
The mastery skills were essentially what he’d expected, basic abilities that would improve his fighting with a weapon type over time. Pain Resistance seemed useful in the same way Fear Resistance was, though Alex wasn’t looking forward to raising either’s level. He did wonder if they could be combined into a higher rarity skill like Deception had been, but that prompt was mainly automatic, so when nothing happened, he figured it wasn’t possible at the moment. One thing Alex was sure about was fact that he needed to change his notification settings.
At the moment newly gained skills weren’t leveling until he accepted them, which meant he was basically missing out on free experience points for them. The realization made him cringe when he considered how many levels he’d missed out on for Pain Resistance, and how painful it’d be to recoup them. Having already seen the skill acceptance option in his out-of-combat page, it wasn’t hard to find the same section for the in-combat settings. Switching the command Alex went back to read his over his final skill, Battle Trance.
While the skill’s Epic rating initially caught his eye, he found the ability itself to be somewhat prohibitive. Based on the description, fighting while it was active would feel like being in the slow-motion scene of a movie all detached from reality and killing with a machine-like focus. Barring the potential moral implications it entailed, the skill was perfect for him. It had been made obvious he would need to kill plenty during this tutorial and anything that made fighting easier was a plus. The problem was the unlikelihood of him being to actually get much use out of the skill.
Its resource cost was double that of Thorn’s Touch if you combined the drain of both energy pool. Even with the large jump his attributes were likely to have gained, Alex doubted he’d be able to keep Sixth Sense and Thorn’s Touch active while using Battle Trance making it potentially less effective than if he just killed them without it. If he could use it in short bursts then maybe he could dodge a strike or two without much trouble, but he didn’t know if it was possible to fall into that trance like state one second and pull himself back out the next. It was clear he’d need to practice its use before activating in a real fight, but Alex was happy to have a new high rarity skill nonetheless.
Looking through his interface Alex had two choices of what to open next, his stat changes, or whatever Larry’s Lucky Wheel™ was. Seeing the numbers go up would always be nice, but the wheel had been on his mind since he’d first seen it. Who was Larry? What was on the wheel? Why was there a little trademark symbol on his multiverse spanning system’s reward text? Unable to resist, he opened his only reward from the mandatory quest besides his life.
***
Are you sure you want to redeem your one free spin on Larry’s Lucky Wheel™
Accept (Y/N)
Note: All prizes are final. May the Luck be with you.
***
Hitting yes after reading the odd note Alex watched in silent confusion as the world around him shifted. One second, he was sitting on the bedroom’s couch, and the next he was standing in a dark room. The change had been instant, he hadn’t even felt it happen, but as he looked around the dim room it was undeniable. He called out, not really sure what else to do.
“Hello?”
His surroundings shifted once more as the space erupted in a cacophony of sight and sound. The familiar mechanical clank of spotlights being activated filled the air, harmonizing with the music that began to play. The song had a strangely nostalgic quality to it, the jubilant tone reminding him of the game shows he'd grown up watching whilst still managing to sound entirely normal. At the same time the ground beneath him began to glow like a disco’s dance floor. All colors of the rainbow coming together both above and below to illuminate one central element, a large, but rather plain, vertical wheel.
As slowly panned the room to take everything in he heard the feedback common with a microphone, then a voice.
“Welcome to Larry’s Lucky Wheel™ participant, please approach the wheel and spin, all prizes are final. May the Luck be with you.”
The feminine voice loud and overly excited, making him wince at the noise. He waited another moment, listening for more but when none came asked a question.
“Where am I?”
After a few more seconds the announcement repeated itself, seeming to be on a timer rather than in answer to his question. As it ended the music slowly started to rise in volume, and Alex figured he didn’t have much of a choice. Maybe next time he wouldn’t just accept a random prize he had no information about. He wasn’t really sure what the alternative was, this whole tutorial had been one big version of a random prize with not information, but the empty game show set was giving him bad vibes.
The song continued to rise as he approached the wheel, the peculiarity of the situation only rising as he moved. When he’d entered the room the wheel had seemed large but flat, unadorned with no labels. Now it grew with every step until he finally stood in front of something the size of a mountain, while he stood at the base. Small lines sectioning off parts became visible, but with each barely a millimeter long they were unreadable and infinite. Alex looked at the massive thing wondering if he could even move it. As if in answer to his question another prompt popped up.
***
Spin the wheel and redeem your prize.
***
Shrugging and hoping the luck really was on his side, Alex put his hand onto one of the normal size handholds on the thing’s side, and pulled. He put every point of strength into the motion and while nothing should have happened, whatever form of alien WD-40 they’d put on the pivot seemed to be working because the wheel began to spin, fast. For a moment it seemed to only be speeding up and Alex hoped he hadn’t received the multiversal version of a gag gift, until abruptly everything stopped. There was no slow crawl to the final choice, instead it was instant, the lights stilled, the floor dimmed, and the wheel stopped. Alex looked at the massive thing, trying to see what he’d gotten, but couldn’t even tell which slot was chosen let alone the prize.
***
Congratulations you have been awarded Soul Sight (Rare) from Larry’s Lucky Wheel™. Thanks for playing.
***
Barely given a chance to read the prompt he was once more he was transported, the set like appearance of the wheel room gone as he sat back on the couch. Alex took a moment to think about what happened, but with how positively it had ended, the situation barely made top five on the list of weird stuff he’d been through lately. Opening the description for Soul Sight he hoped it would give him an edge in future fights.
***
Skill
Name: Soul Sight
Rating: Rare
Grade: F
Level: 1
Mode: Active
Resource Cost: 50 Mana per second
Description: Want to go somewhere you shouldn't be? Spot something you shouldn't see? Well look even further with Soul Sight. Of all the things that curtail a mortal’s understanding in the boundless existence space, nothing is more restrictive than the confines of one’s flesh. Transcend these limitations by leaving your body to become an incorporeal spirit, exploring realms beyond the physical through sight and sound alone. Undetectable by most, though not immune to damage, awaken your soul, unlocking secrets and embracing freedom. For it is only through the core of your very essence that you may witness the true nature of existence.
***
It seemed it wouldn’t. The skill by itself seemed useful, but he had to be essentially asleep to use it since he would be unable to move his body while he was in that soul form. The resource cost was again restrictive, but he figured if he was already in the area he planned to spy on, that wouldn’t really matter. Either way it was another tool in his kit and Alex would always welcome them; even if he would have preferred a Legendary class or some tutorial winning weapon. As he closed the description however it seemed the prompts weren’t done yet, a final one popping up now that he’d read through his new skill.
***
With acquisition of the skills Sixth Sense (Epic), Meditation (Common), and Soul Sight (Rare) you are eligible for the class Planestrider (Rare).
Accept (Y, N)
***