Blinking slowly through what felt like his head readying to explode, Alex tried to figure out what was happening. Everything hurt; movement was hard and the light hitting his undilated pupils even harsher, the shock of the latter reflexively forcing plunging him back into darkness. He took a shuddering breath, trying to keep the contents of his stomach where they belonged as his body actively rejected itself. Distantly the sensations reminded him of a hangover, if one amplified a million times worse than any he’d ever actually experienced.
As the worst of it began to fade, Alex attempted to remember what had happened, his synapses stringing the thoughts together slowly, as if firing through heavy water. There were no memories of a wild night out, though he reasoned his they weren’t the most reliable source, since he could barely hold on to one for more than a few seconds. While Alex would have never called himself the most responsible drinker, everyone in his friend group had had at least one terrible night, it’d never been so bad he woke up feeling like he’d downed a barrel of moonshine. A groan escaped his lips as a random spike of pain shot through him, but the noise was lost to the winds as another person drowned out his weak cry; their voice loud, harsh, and seeming to bounce around his skull like an echo chamber.
“Hey, get up! You shitty fuck. Get up!”
Even with the pain visible on his face, Alex’s assailant didn’t seem content with only verbal abuse, something heavy impacting his stomach as the statement finished, leaving his diaphragm spazzing. Frantic now, the surprise and fear overwriting the pain to a degree, Alex tried to react but found himself powerless. Sight was still a lost sense, and his hearing wasn’t much better. Alex tried to force himself to his feet, even blind figured he had better odds standing, but he could only move but so far as chains rattled in the background of his every action.
Forced to stay as he was, Alex laid squirming for nearly a minute, choking on his own lungs as his body failed to keep any air before finally recovering. His relief didn’t last long, however, the voice again ringing out again and Alex receiving another strike to his abdomen. His body stilled as his air was once again stolen, a freeze-frame before he lost the battle with his stomach, forcing him to throw-up in the direction of whatever had hit him.
“Ahh fuck, not on me fucking shoes you fucking twat.” The man continued, the words divulging into a string of muttering curses that Alex failed to process.
“I told already you, it wouldn’t work, there’s still too much dust in his system.” A new voice said, this one much more relaxed.
“Aye,” came the chuckling reply as something wiped against Alex’s shirt, “but it’s good to see the little bastard squirm.”
“Just go get a couple buckets of water.” The command his only response, and the clicks of heavy boots echoed off the wall as the other complied.
For the duration of their dialogue, Alex had writhed on the floor. His hearing had cleared some, but he was still much too out of it to understand what was being said. When his body stopped spasming for the second time, he just laid curled up on his side and refused to move. He hoped if he just stayed still, they’d think he died. It wasn’t the best of plans, but it was the best his addled brain could come up with in the moment.
The room grew quiet again as he laid there, but it wasn’t long before, the clamor of metal creaking and footsteps once again filled the space. Alex tried to hold steady as the temporary silence ended, but failed. His possum strategy coming to an abrupt end as the dull noise of buckets being dropped near his face caused him to start.
Opening his eyes in the direction the sloshing water indicated, Alex tried, and failed to get a proper look as a hand grabbed him roughly by his neck, and dunked his head in. Panicking whilst trying not to breathe in the liquid, he flailed about, moving his arms and legs as far as they would go in a futile attempt at resistance. When he was finally pulled out maybe thirty seconds later, he took in rough gasping breaths, the pain that wracked his body nothing compared to the sensation of sweet air filling his lungs.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” the smooth voice drawled, and Alex peripherally he recognized it.
Slowly his mind caught up to what happened, information that’d always been there, no longer obscured behind a curtain of grogginess. The memories redoubled his attempts to escape, this time more violently, but he only earned another half-minute underwater for the effort, his binds not budging an inch.
“No, no, no.” The man tsked. “We won’t be having any of that, Huntsman. I have a question for you and I want you to answer me honestly. Are you ready to hear it?”
Alex had still been resisting somewhat, useless as it was, but the reality of his situation was catching up to him. He’d woken up exhausted, keeping up a pointless struggle would only further lessen his chances of escape, so he just opted to glare at the man. The one who’d kicked him, Trevor, was off a side still holding his head up, ready to dunk him back in at a moment’s notice. Seeing they were waiting for an answer, Alex nodded slightly, barely able to move his head in the man’s grip.
The soft-spoken man sighed, as if disappointed with an unruly child. “Now, if I can’t hear it, did you really reply. Answer the question properly.”
Acquiescing, if only to avoid another forced immersion, Alex complied, the word nasally as his nose failed to let the air out properly. “Yes.”
“Good, good,” he encouraged. “Now, where’s the gold?”
“What gold?” Alex near groaned.
“Ah, ah, ah. We’re not doing that. I told you to answer properly. Where. Is. The. Fucking. Gold.” The man’s tone had started as a singsong but quickly turned aggressive, each word emphasized as his voice dropped an octave.
Alex took a breath in as discreetly as he could.
“Wha-” his head was back under the water before he could finish the word. He came back up nearly a minute later, the coughing and sputtering something of a new routine.
“Now are you ready to answer.” The man said, a self-satisfied smile on his face.
Alex nodded again, and though he hadn’t answered verbally, wasn’t immediately shoved under the water again. As terrifying as nearly drowning was, it did wonders to wake him up, and he didn’t need his full mental faculties to understand what was happening. They were after the money. He’d need to figure out how much they already knew it he wanted to play this properly, but for the moment the secret of his inventory was the only reason he still lived.
A quick brush against his fingers told Alex the ring was gone. If they’d checked both the unbounded storage and searched his person without finding the coins, the obvious assumption was that he’d hidden it someplace. Now they wanted him to tell them where that place was.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Getting his first good look at the man’s face, Alex wanted to laugh, even with the potential for water in his lungs. He tried to hide it, but Alex could stop the intensity in the man’s stare, he really wanted to know where the money was. Still, Alex knew better than to talk, with the level of realism the tutorial had opted for thus far, the pair showing their faces suggested this was an extract and eliminate type of mission. He had a secret that, from their point of view, could die with him. The more likely outcome was that his inventory emptied when he died – if the world didn’t just straight up end – but they had no need for any of that information.
Trevor pushed his head underwater again, it seemed Alex had missed a response time as he thought, an obvious consequence of his newfound vow of silence on the topic. The longer he refused the answer, the more quickly their methods of convincing were likely to quickly escalate. It seemed he would be getting plenty of use out of one of his newest skills. Alex just hoped he’d manage to escape sooner rather than later.
“I- I hid it,” Alex stammered out as he came back up.
“Where,” the man, Greyson, if Alex was remembering correctly, demanded.
“In your mother’s p-” and it was back under the water for him. It wasn't the smartest course of action, but Alex blamed the lingering brain damage. Though, muffled through the liquid as it was, Trevor’s uproarious laughter at the comment gave him an odd sense of comfort. When he was pulled back up, there was no immediate question, instead a fist promptly connected with the crown of his jaw, his neck cracking back with the impact. The hit causing Alex to whimper slightly as he bit his tongue.
A variation of that continued for a little while, before he was held under for nearly two minutes, water burning his lungs as he failed to hold his breath. His higher stats made it easier to take a punch, though the other man’s body stats clearly shrunk that advantage. Luckily, Greyson was unaccustomed to being denied what he wanted, his lack of patience causing him to grow frustrated much faster than the average person, and saving Alex a little pain. When he came up hacking and convulsing on the stone floor, the normally calm man was already gone.
“Oh, ho, ho, he was not happy about that.” Trevor chuckled. “Went to get some additional tools, we’ll be back lad, don’t you worry.” With that, he spit in the buckets, then on Alex. “Til then, take a deep breath and have a drink of water.” With that he left, his laughter rising with every step.
Alex didn’t focus on it, instead he got himself to his hands and knees, trying his best to aid his body in its water removal process. As the last of the forceful hacking ended, Alex sat upright, taking stock of his situation. Everything hurt, he already knew everything hurt, it had quite literally been his first thought, but it felt worth addressing again. He was in a cave, or basement maybe, dirty stone walls and a metal door enclosed him. His captors had trussed him up in metal chains, legs and arms both, it seemed they didn’t restrict his movement entirely.
Thoughts of how he’d ended up there fluttered though his mind, but Alex put them off for the moment. It was unlikely to have directly been Janet’s fault. She’d decapitated one of his pursuers without hesitation, and knew enough about his storage skill to tell others. The fact that she’d sent a clone after damn near forcing his permission to tag along was supremely annoying, but with any luck, the older woman would be able to find him soon. That made Alex check the timer, the amount of time that’d passed not giving him hope.
***
Tutorial Quest - Main
Allotted Time Remaining
60:9:30
***
Six hours had passed. He didn’t know how well crime statics translated from earth to here, but if the super ninja hadn’t found him yet, Alex guessed the odds of rescue weren’t great. Worse yet, she might not even be looking, either way he knew not to count of a rescue, escaping would be his own responsibility, and it seemed the system agreed.
***
Tutorial Quest - Main - Subquest 1.3: Mission Escapable
In life there is rarely any such thing as a free ride. The commonly understood notion of ‘anything too good to be true likely isn’t’ attributing to this belief. Still, the issue with common sense, is that it isn’t actually all that common. Your lack of this key survival instinct has presented you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes. Escape from your current predicament.
Rewards: Variable
Accept (Y/N)
***
“Wow,” Alex muttered aloud, nearly at a loss. Deciding not to get upset at words on a semi-transparent screen, he moved on; content with the fact, he was being rewarded for his system stated lack of common sense. Opening his notifications in their condensed form, Alex caught up on the newest upgrades.
***
Your skill [Acting] has advanced to Level Four.
Your skill [Sixth Sense] has advanced to Level Nineteen.
Your skill [Thorn’s Touch] has advanced to Level Twelve.
Your skill [Dodge] has advanced to Level Thirteen.
Your skill [Battle Trance] has advanced to Level Two.
Your skill [Dagger Mastery] has advanced to Level Four.
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Nine.
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Ten.
Your skill [Pain Resistance] has advanced to Level Three.
…
Your skill [Pain Resistance] has advanced to Level Five.
You have defeated Human (Level 34). Bonus experience awarded for killing an enemy above your level.
+2 Gold
For accumulating a net worth of over 10,000 gold in the tutorial, you have been awarded the achievement: Purchasing Power
For killing a member of your own biological species, achievement Murder I had been upgraded to: Murder II
New quest available, check quests tab for more information.
***
The gains weren’t particularly large, but Alex felt the amount of baggage a particular few came with was a bit much to immediately process. Instead, he attempted to activate Battle Trance, some objectivity was just what he needed. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be getting it.
Up until that point, Alex had never really focused on how skill activation worked. While Sixth Sense gave him the ability to perceive certain aspects of energies, he’d never been able to feel the mana move in his body, but now that it couldn't, the absence felt obvious. If normal skill activation was like turning on a light, now it felt like he’d flicked the switch during a power outage. The process started, just nothing happened after that.
He gave it a few more attempts, not only with mana skills, but stamina ones as well, before deciding it was a waste of time, at least for the moment. The most likely culprit for his culled abilities were the chains. He reasoned it could also be some drug they’d force-fed him, or another person’s skill, but getting out of the restraints would be a requirement for him to escape either way, so he figured it best to start there.
Next, Alex tried some stamina based skills, which also failed, before moving on to passive ones, the latter having no resource requirement to activate. Comprehend obviously worked, unless the skill functioned different from how he understood it. Pain Resistance was another that, based on his recent gains, should be working. Though, he had no way of knowing if the levels were from the beating or attempted drowning. Alex read over his skill list again, hoping he could find something useful to his escape. Before slapping a palm to his face, binds rattling as he did so.
In its normal mode, his inventory didn’t require mana. Access to his storage might not be direct freedom, but it would make it a hell of a lot easier. Holding his breath in anticipation, Alex pushed, nothing happened. Well, not nothing exactly, he could feel the skill as it tried to open, a flicker of sorts; but whatever blocked his other skills had a tangent hold on this one as well. Still, that potential gave Alex hope. He’d lost his dagger, but his sword was still stored. If he could surprise one of the men with the weapon, then take the key from them… It just might work.
Tamping down on his excitement about the budding plan, Alex focused wholeheartedly on opening his inventory, he’d prefer to avoid any torture if possible.