Anise smiled at the earnest response and, as the tension in the room began to fade, Alex became very aware of the warm liquid around his extremities.
“Oh fuck.” Standing, he grabbed a towel from the table and began to dab, to little effect. “Actually, can we talk about this in the morning; if you’re accepting my deal that is.”
“I am. On my oath I agree to help you achieve your goal, as long as they do not harm me long term, the kingdom, or its ruler, to the best of my ability for the duration of my debt to you.” The wording was a bit odd, and Alex was pretty sure it meant she’d betray him in a second if she needed to, but the deal would have to work for now.
Forcing a nonchalance he didn’t feel Alex responded. “Great. Then can you show me somewhere I can get clean maybe get some sleep. I’ve been on the verge of a panic attack for the last hour and could really use a break.”
Alex had already been running on mental fumes when he walked into that alley back on Earth. Now, after everything that had happened, he didn’t think he could hold a conversation for much longer, let alone make any more decisions, especially ones that his life could depend on. They were both nursing massive headaches, and Anise agreed waiting till morning would be better. Pointing him to an obscured door in a corner of the room while she went to find him a change of clothes, Alex was surprised to find a full bathroom.
There was a tub, shower, toilet, sink, even heated tiles, and a bidet. Surprised, but grateful for the modern amenities, Alex opted to take a shower. He would have loved to soak all his problems away but knew he’d fall asleep and didn’t want Anise to bust the door down to get him. Clean but not at all refreshed Alex grabbed a towel. Walking out he spotted a set of clothes on an ottoman in front of the door. Anise had also left a toothbrush, with a jar full of something that was likely toothpaste. Heading back in he changed into the oversized shirt and pants before brushing his teeth. Alex had debated for a minute whether to use the stuff in the jar but defaulted to his standard conclusion if someone wanted to capture or kill him there were easier ways. The paste turned out to be a relatively normal minty mix, and Alex walked back into the office barefoot, ready to sleep for a week.
Anise was waiting outside the office door and after a quick stop to drop off his clothes to be washed, the pair walked to Alex’s lodging for the night. By the time they arrived in the room Alex was nearly falling asleep on his feet. The entire house was heated, and the plush carpet felt amazing on his bare feet; so well actually Alex almost laid down multiple times. That didn’t stop him from being surprised however when he realized it was Anise’s room he’d be sleeping in. He’d expected to be stuck in a guest room or thrown in with the children, but after a few seconds of thought supposed it made sense. As friendly as Anise and her family had been Alex was still an unknown, if he had any plans to hurt someone there was nowhere better for him to be then next to the strongest person in the house.
The room was rather plain. The walls were white and bare, with the room only furnished by a couch, dining table and large bed. Alex thought back to the office with its walls full of crudely drawn art and the desk that had more pictures than free space. Her room felt like a hotel, and he doubted Anise did much more than sleep here. Pulling out a blanket from a closet, Anise told Alex he could sleep on the couch or in a bedroll on the floor. Deciding on the couch he bid Anise a good sleep before laying his head on the surprisingly worn, but comfortable, couch cushions; he was out within seconds.
Alex awoke with a start from a nightmare full of screaming, blood, and charred bodies. He laid there for a minute staring at the dark, unfamiliar ceiling of Anise’s room and thought on the day. As his mind brushed up against thoughts of his family, friends, and future he wanted nothing more than to break down and cry but knew if he wanted to live it’d have to wait. Taking a deep breath Alex remembered his conversation with Anise and what the one they’d have in the morning would entail. Figuring he’d need all the information he could get Alex rose from bed and walked toward the bathroom Anise had pointed out to him earlier. After relieving his bladder Alex turned on the sink’s water and focused on the icon in the top left of his vision.
The yellow and black icon seemed to be both ever present and only there when he focused on it. The idea was contradictory but not the strangest thing he had experienced in the last day. Shrugging at the thought, Alex stopped himself from opening his notifications and instead tried for something else. One of the first messages had mentioned a manual, and while he might not have time to read it now Alex hoped he could intuit how to change some settings without it. Doing his best to keep his voice as low as possible Alex whispered.
“System customization.” He waited for a moment, but nothing happened. “Interface customization.”
This time something did, but after a quick look Alex realized it wasn’t what he wanted. A semi-transparent game like User Interface popped up with options for Alex to add, delete, or modify objects on it. The default held only three bars: a green one that depicted health, an orange for stamina, and a blue bar that showed mana. They were small and unobtrusive, but Alex saw that everything from color to size could be changed. A list on the side showed options for everything from an experience bar and quest list to a kill counter. Forcing himself to close the list Alex muttered, “System Settings.”
This was what he wanted, pages and pages of information populated the screens that appeared in his vision and Alex thanked every deity that anyone ever believed in that none of it was forced into his mind. He didn’t know much of anything about how the system worked, but that seemed like a quick way to a seizure. The information was densely packed but split into sections with headers and drop-down lists. Alex found a button that closed all the list leaving only titles and, with a mental push, consolidated everything into one large page. He started with a list titled, “System Interaction” and found everything he was looking for.
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The system allowed for anything from full mental control to the need to physically move to interact with it. Alex almost got lost in the content before he found a search function. Using it he found the settings that controlled prompts and system notifications. There were two modes, one for in combat and another for out. Alex’s mind shied away from the thought of combat as the screaming tried to move to the forefront. Focusing on the first option he began to search for what he needed. If he was correct in his assumption, he could do the rest after he left the bathroom; staying in there too long might make Anise suspicious.
The settings he changed were on or off options controlled by switches.
***
- Auditory Dissemination -
- Direct Dissemination -
- Visual Dissemination -
- Vocal Interaction -
- Physical Interaction -
- Mental Interaction -
***
Turning off auditory and direct dissemination left only the visual prompts, though that seemed to have no effect on the settings menu. The same was true for his mental interaction with the system and after a few tests Alex splashed some water on his face and left the bathroom. Anise looked no different that when he went in, faced away from him and assumedly sleeping, but Alex doubted she was completely unaware of her surroundings. Going straight to the couch Alex went under his blanket, faced the cushions, and began his perusal in earnest. He continued with the system menu for a few minutes, first saving his current settings as the new default before exploring what else the system offered. It turned out to be a lot.
There were options for him to enable everything from attack damage and armor class, to damage resistance percent values, but with how little Alex already understood he figured less was more. After a moment of hesitation Alex went to the combat section and turned off all dissemination methods, he’d have to change it again soon, but didn’t need any distractions if he had to fight something, or someone. Surely, he’d get to the rest at some point. Settings decided for the moment Alex closed the section and opened his notifications with a few mental commands.
***
New quest check quests tab for more information.
New quest check quests tab for more information.
For entering battle within five minutes of arriving in your tutorial you have been awarded the achievement:
Bloodthirsty
For defeating an entity more than thirty levels above yourself you have received the following:
300 gold coins 200 silver coins
For defeating an entity one grade higher than yourself without killing them you have been awarded the achievement:
Warden
For convincing a former adversary of a higher grade to aid you, you have been awarded:
Charisma
***
Reading over everything once Alex decided to leave the quests for last. When he saw the money for the first time, he had to stop himself from cheering. Life as a working college student was still fresh in Alex’s mind and to get money from doing essentially nothing was exhilarating. While he still had too little information to make any direct conversions, it was nearly a tenth of what he could have received from Anise and that was a year’s worth of her salary.
The achievements confused Alex, unlike most everything else the system showed, achievements had no description or rating. Alex guessed they were an aspect of the tutorial, though he had no idea what purpose they served. Remembering something he’d seen, Alex went into his setting and made it, so achievements would show on his status screen.
***
General
Name: Alexander Omar Hunter
Race: Human, F
Age: 21
Level: 1
Grade: F
Classes: (Primary), (Secondary), (Tertiary), (Quaternary), (Quinary)
Achievements: Adaptable, Deathwish, Bloodthirsty, Warden,
Health: 73/73
Mana: 68/68
Stamina: 82/82
Attributes
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 7
Endurance: 4
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 2
Luck: 0
Charisma: 0
***
Seeing the achievements still didn’t allow for any further interaction, he began to move down the list of stats. Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity were all body attributes with Willpower, Intelligence, and Wisdom being listed as mental attributes. The systems descriptions were dense but from Alex understood Strength changed how a person’s mass and density effected the world around them. Endurance dealt with longevity, while Dexterity focused on speed and the link between a person’s body and mind. Intelligence effected learning speed, while Wisdom influenced retention and use of knowledge. Willpower, his weakest stat, involved resolve and a person's ability to use their mind to affect the world around them.
Luck and Charisma were both labeled as something called Ancillary stats. Luck was described as how intertwined a person was with the path, which made absolutely zero sense to Alex. Charisma, his final stat, focused on how favorably others viewed him. With one more internal grumble about the low Willpower, Alex closed his status. After a moment of consideration, he opened the settings list and changed it so it would only show his first and last name before looking at his quest.
***
Quests
Tutorial Quest - Main:
Defeat the Beast King within the allotted time.
Tutorial Quest - Unique Challenge:
Kill the instance’s most powerful being.
***
The second he finished reading the version of the interface Alex had seen earlier came into focus, though one change had been made. In the bottom right of his vision there was a timer, and it had already begun counting down.
***
Tutorial Quest - Main
Allotted Time Remaining
62:23:59
***