Alex came out of the trance slowly. The transition between wherever he’d been and wakefulness so subtle, it took him a few seconds to realize he was back in control of his body. While much of the process was lost to his conscious mind, Alex could feel how it had changed him. The sudden uptick in power was similar to his six level increase after the deathmatch with the monkey, except this felt more potent. Prior to that fight he'd still been level one, all his numbers so low every new point had a larger impact. Now it was as if his entire existence had gone through that level of qualitative change simultaneously.
To say he’d gotten stronger or faster would be incorrect, the upgrade hadn’t actually awarded him any additional stat points. Rather, it had increased the efficacy of his existing attribute values, the grade advancement weaving the ideas behind those numbers into his very being. Alex made to rise to his feet hoping a bit of activity would help him further understand the change. However instead of the slow rise he’d aimed for, the exponentially increased amount of potential energy his muscles now held sent him shooting straight up toward the low ceiling. Not even giving his conscious mind enough time to react, his body began to move, transitioning the upwards momentum of his leap into a flip. The maneuver allowing him to land on the ceiling feet first.
Alex’s thoughts caught up then, in the moments before the energy from his leap depleted and gravity reinserted itself. They flipped through a myriad of emotions, before settling on amazement right before he registered the sensation of falling, his body easily reorienting so that he landed crouched on a knee. Carefully, as to not repeat the incident, Alex lowered himself back to the ground in a seated position. He would take another few minutes to acclimate to his body while still, before he risked further movement.
The decline from what Alex later realized to be an upgrade high took another minute and he found himself still smiling as the peak of the sensation faded. This was real progress, perhaps he wasn’t close to his targets, not with them near the peak of goddamn E grade, but he was catching up. The confirmation of their status worried him, especially now that he knew what the gap between grades felt like. That, plus another potentially seventy-five levels, would be no joke, but there was a chance.
He couldn’t do it alone, not with the time restraints given, but if this alliance with Dora panned out, he wouldn’t be. The main quests had never specified that he needed to kill the beast king, only that he had to defeat them. Alex still had no clue how he’d do it, but he had about fifty days to figure it out. If he did end up committing to Dora’s plan entirely, he would need to help her kill the king, but for the moment there was a way forward.
The beast queen and the princess could just be the start, Grave was likely to help if he asked, at least as long as Ralph allowed them to, and if that was the case, maybe they could rope the arena boss in as well. Based on what Dora had said that seemed like a real possibility, though Alex was less sure if they could get Janet involved, the older woman’s desires a bit more elusive.
Still, other things Theodora said had Alex much less optimistic, such as the suggested similarities between her father and himself. That whole thing about the world reacting to his presence made sense if it was just him, he was meant to be in his own “solo” tutorial. But what could cause her father to have something similar? The simple answer was this being another plot device of the tutorial’s storyline. That kept to his prior theory that he was in some system created and controlled place, but he’d begun doubting at least parts of that. If this place was real, at least partially, what would that change?
The normal melancholy of life doing its best to fight off the high inspired hope, Alex tried to settle somewhere in the middle. The more he learned, the more questions there were to ask, and this time he knew no one but the King who might have answers. Switching his focus back to his interface, Alex glanced at the timer; about an hour had passed. Trying to regain some of that earlier positivity, he read over his new set of notifications.
***
Congratulations, your race (Human, F) has advanced to (Human, E)
For being the first person from your new world to advance to E Grade, you have been awarded the achievement: A cut above the rest.
For evolving your race without the use of aspected advancement materials, you have been awarded the achievement: Untainted
Due to racial advancement, passive effect (Option 4 Tutorial Balancer) has been removed.
+1 point per attribute, +1 Free point, per level modifier has become, +3 Free points per level
Your class Assassin is eligible for upgrade
Your class Planestrider is eligible for upgrade
New quest available, check quests tab for more information.
New quest available, check quests tab for more information.
***
It seemed his grade advancement had taken as much from him as it’d given. Alex lamented the loss of his fifth class slot the most, if he’d known the system was going to steal it back, he would have just accepted the warrior class before upgrading. Though, after a little thought, he realized the result would have been the same, just with one less class slot left.
While it sucked that he couldn’t continue gaining a point to every attribute every level, it did make the stats he already had earned much more valuable. A bit of quick math put him in excess of 200 free points above someone of the same level with the exact same classes, which helped some of his encounters make a bit more sense.
More achievements were always nice, especially since he seemed to be earning more unlock tokens for them, though he didn’t appreciate how the names had edged back into the territory of some of their more ominous counterparts. Somewhat used to the little control he had over his own life by this point, Alex moved on to the quests.
***
Pick one of Two options
Class Quest - Assassin: Too Many To Kill
You have been assigned targets to kill, 24 of them, but the dossier hasn’t arrived just yet. Prior to combat initiation, an entity may be listed as a target. Once a target is assigned, you are given thirty seconds to refuse. Requests may be refused without punishment as long as you do not attempt to directly or indirectly end that person’s life whilst the quest is still active. Of the twenty-four targets accepted, all must die. Half must be done so by your hand directly; another half must be done so in a way that leaves no evidence of your involvement. Six must not even know you killed them. Six may be picked by your own hand. Failure to complete this quest will result in your class remaining at its current state for the entirety of your grade. Happy hunting.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Rewards:
Assassin Class Upgrade
Accept (Y/N)
Class Quest - Assassin: A Tale of Too Many Trinkets
Liberation has long been the goal of many an assassin, though to relieve one of their life is not the only path to freedom. Why remove their existence once, when you can take their possessions time and time again. You are to steal from forty people. At least half must be people who you deem necessary to take from. Half must have wealth greater than your own. A quarter must lose a minimum of half their net worth. A quarter must be done without any collateral damage. All must lose a minimum of 25% of their wealth. None must be able to identify you. Failure to complete this quest will result in your class remaining at its current state for the entirety of your grade. Swift Stealing.
Rewards:
Assassin Class Upgrade
Accept (Y/N)
***
Alex honestly wasn't sure which to pick. If they were tutorial quests, he’d probably pick the second. It would likely be easier and have essentially no long term consequences. Even if the people were real, once he got out, Alex had no plans of ever visiting this place again. The first could be similarly easy in the tutorial, barring that possibility it gave him a target he needed to, but wasn’t ready to, kill. Still, nothing about the prompts suggested they were limited to the tutorial, and in the real world being caught trying to complete either was liable to be deadly. Knowing he wasn’t ready to have another thing to worry about, Alex postponed making a decision for the moment.
***
Class Quest - Planestrider: Planetary Traveler
For any traveler it is important to start small, an aspiring runner might start with a light jog, hiker a short trail, and an astronaut a small plane. You, who aspire to move through the very fabric of the universe, must have a first step equivalent in scope. Travel to and explore five planets at or above your grade level. Failure to complete this quest will result in your class remaining at its current state for the entirety of your grade. May the scope of your journey break past the limits of the known.
Rewards:
Planestrider Class Upgrade
Accept (Y/N)
***
This at least was a much easier choice, it was likely to prove difficult, especially since the quest didn’t specify a distance he needed to travel, but Alex supposed he’d just need to discover that himself. Accepting, he circled back to his prior quest’s rewards, reading over the information he hadn’t yet gotten the chance to.
***
Item
Item Name: Scroll of Copy Skill
Rarity: Rare
Description: Upon activation, the scroll will populate with a list of the chosen target's skills up to the rarity of the scroll. Once activated, the user is forced to pick one of the skills or forfeit the scroll's use. This item is only functional within your appointed tutorial and will be consumed upon utilization.
***
It was pretty much what he’d expected, though the lower rarity compared to the one the mandatory quest had offered was a bit annoying. The fact that the scroll would show the person's skills was nice, but he’d essentially be going in blind. Tucking it away in the hopes he’d find a good time to use it, Alex moved on to his rarest, and hopefully best, rewards.
***
Item
Name: Wayfarer’s Totem
Grade: E
Rarity: Epic
Cost: 777 Mana per each activation.
Cooldown: 7 hours
Description: Every explorer knows the worst part of any journey is the trek home; but not if you set up a Wayfarer’s Beacon before you left. Whether you need to connect two locations over a vast distance, or just have a way to sneak back in the house after a night out on the town, this is the tool for you. Every totem comes with a pair of markers, one to be placed at the spot you want to return to, and another at the spot you plan to leave from. Once both markers have been infused with mana, they will become immovable and a token will appear near the marker the was last activated. This token has the ability to be split into no more than four parts, though the mana cost for transportation will double for every part of the token that is missing. Both markers will be destroyed upon destruction of the token. For the weariest of travelers, home is but a thought away.
***
“Holy shit, I can fast travel,” Alex accidentally shouted, his now E Grade lungs causing the noise to reverberate off the walls. He increased Sixth Sense for a moment, the action acting like a sonar ping, but he relaxed as nothing out of the ordinary showed up. Pulling a set of the marker from his inventory, Alex examined them. They were more obelisks than totems, their design mostly straight with a pyramid at the peak, though with the symbols that littered the item, he could see the comparison. Deciding to place them back into his inventory before his excitement caused him to bind one here, Alex moved on to the last item, the description of which literally made his jaw drop.
***
Item
Name: Ocelot’s Mat of Regeneration
Grade: E
Rarity: Epic
Description: The youth of the great Zelia Clan have always been taught that meditation was the key to enlightenment. That it shall free them from their need for mortal possessions and allow them to find the ultimate satisfaction within themselves. This is the mat of their once great leader Ocelot. Sitting on this mat and remaining entirely still grants immunity to poisons, bleeding, and burning. All energy pools will be completely refilled if the user remains still for 36 hours straight. +100% regeneration speed while sitting on this mat. Hope it gives you the extension of life meditation denied him.
***
This… This was amazing. It had limitations, sure, but with Meditationnearing E Grade he could remain still for that long. His body should require less nutrients after his recent advancement as well. For the first time, Alex had an item he actually wanted to use one of his upgrade sigils on. He’d considered using it on the totem, but unless the upgrade allowed him to start picking them up, which he couldn’t be sure of, he would be content with a fixed fast-travel system. Raising the mat to legendary was likely to come with some incredible benefits. Taking a second to make sure he wasn’t letting his excitement get the better of him, Alex tried to upgrade the mat, the failure causing him to reread the item’s description.
***
Item
Name: Item Upgrade Sigil
Rarity: Transcendent
Grade: F
Description: Use a single token to upgrade a single F grade item to transcendent. Three tokens will be required to evolve an E grade item. One Grade upgrade per item, further use will only alter skills properties, not rarity. No item higher than E grade may be upgraded. Sigil will be consumed upon use.
***
That wasn’t too bad, the tokens hadn’t been exactly common, but the entire point of these next few weeks were to train, a new goal of a few more of these tokens on top of that shouldn’t be too hard. Just another thing for him to work towards. Moving on to the last thing on his to-do list, Alex pulled out his Achievement Unlock Token. He’d opted for a riskier call with the last of these so he decided to pick what should be a safe option this time.
***
Use Achievement Unlock Token on Jill of All Stats?
Warning: Achievement Unlock Token will be consumed upon use and, Jill of All Stats, will no longer appear in achievements list.
(Y/N)
***
***
Achievement, Jill of All Stats, has become Generalist
Title
Name: Generalist
Description: Grant +5% to all baseline attributes.
***
Nodding to himself as he’d expected something like this, though maybe in the form of more free points, Alex rose to his feet as even more new power filled him. Navigating the tunnels with learned ease, he made his way out of the compound. He’d ended up with too little time to get any real sleep, so an early start seemed wise. Climbing the corkscrew staircase and venturing out into the unassuming woods, Alex truly began his solo adventure.