Waking up beneath the impossibly soft covers, Archie opened the tutorial page he saw:
The 72nd cycle has begun; thus, a tutorial is needed to increase the survivability of the newly integrated myriad races. The Hoarfrost Highlands is filled with various creatures from across the universe, each providing Tutorial Points upon their death to their killer. After the Solo Tutorial is completed, all Solo Tutorial Participants will be teleported into random Group Tutorials. Tutorial Points will be used to gain rewards after the full tutorial is completed.
Completion Criteria: Survive for 30 days.
Time remaining: 14:02:57
“14 days till the Solo Tutorial ends and I get sent to a Group Tutorial... I know it’s wishful thinking, but I hope I could be in the Group Tutorial with my family.” Archie said as he begrudgingly pushed himself out of the bed and headed out into the forest.
Archie reopened his dungeon notification and checked his current progress.
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 3: Kill all the goblins 20/30 and the goblin Shaman that live within the goblin village 0/1
Reward: ?
“There are only 10 goblins left in the village and the shaman,” Archie said while looking at the screen.
Remembering that most of the goblins that stayed were around levels 29-31, Archie grimaced, “Killing anything lower than my level doesn’t give enough XP for a level up.”
Archie grabbed a couple of chopped logs and sat atop one of the stumps that decorated the front of the cave doorway. Chewing on some bear meat, Archie started to craft more effigies as he had used up his only Effigy of Stealth and wanted to create more Common rarity effigies seeing the major improvement between Initiate and Common rarities.
----------------------------------------
Archie placed his pile of effigies and carving knife in his storage ring; 10 Effigies of Healing (Common), 6 Effigies of Wrath (Uncommon), 5 Effigies of Endurance (Common), 3 Effigies of Stealth (Common), and a singular Silver Carving Knife deposited in his spatial ring.
Placing his gauntlets back on, he looked at the notifications and read:
*Your Profession has reached Lv 17 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
***
*Your Profession has reached Lv 25 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 33 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 34 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Shaman Profession Skills Available. Choose one of the options*
[Hex of Weakness (Common)]: The shaman calls upon the spirits to drain an enemy’s strength, weakening their attack. The weakening of the attack is proportional to the mana you use when casting the hex.
[Shatter Spirit (Common)]: The shaman calls upon the spirits to attack their foe’s soul, fracturing it minorly. Nevertheless, due to the fragility of the soul, your foe’s magical connection is disrupted.
[Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)]: The shaman calls upon the spirits to drain an enemy’s physical prowess and weaken their willpower. The hex also decreases resistance to other hex effects and overall combat effectiveness. The strength of the hex is proportional to the mana you use.
“Hex of Weakness looks like a worse version of Hex of Enfeeblement. Shatter Spirit seems a bit...useless at the moment, seeing how I haven’t found a spell-slinging creature. So, I guess Hex of Enfeeblement it is.” Archie debated before selecting the skill.
Looking at his status page, Archie smiled in pride at his four triple-digit stats.
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human F-Grade Lv 34
Class: Warrior Lv 35
Profession: Shaman Lv 25
Health: 1281/1281
Mana: 201/530
Stamina: 548/580
Stats:
Vitality: 122(128)
Strength: 132(138)
Endurance: 58
Agility: 117
Intelligence: 117
Wisdom: 53
Willpower: 53(55)
Perception: 91
Free Points: 56
Skills:
Basic One-Handed Weapon Mastery (Common)
Basic Light-Shield Mastery (Common)
Identify (Initiate)
Savage Charge (Rare)
Adrenaline Rush (Rare)
Warrior's Resilience (Rare)
Deep Meditation (Rare)
Mana Manipulation (Common)
Spirit Link (Epic)
Effigy-Carving (Common)
Material Insight (Uncommon)
Retaliation (Uncommon)
Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)
Bloodline:
Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Willpower]
Titles Collected:
Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality]
Tutorial Points:
4,037
“I wonder what level I need to reach before reaching E-Grade,” Archie wondered while staring at his levels. A hundred? That's a pretty standard number for some games for a rank-up.
Looking at his Free Points, he decided to place twenty-two points into his Endurance and nine into Perception stats, bringing them up to eighty and one hundred points respectively. Archie adding twenty-two points into Endurance, which previously was about 37% of his previous Endurance all at once, caused him to tense and slightly squirm. Flexing his stomach slightly, he took notice that it became more defined, and upon touching his stomach it felt the same. Getting an idea, he nicked his stomach with his iron dagger, and to his surprise, not only did the nick barely draw any blood, but it started to knit right before his eyes.
Although it wasn’t instantaneous—or anything near that realm—it was far faster than anything humanly possible.
Smiling at the outcome of his experiment, Archie got up from the stump and headed toward the goblin village, intent on finishing the dungeon before nightfall.
----------------------------------------
Archie from atop a tree looked over the walls of the goblin village, from what he saw five goblins stood around the campfire screeching at one another. The remaining five goblins stood around the entrance of the village, seemingly awaiting the twenty goblins to arrive. The shaman goblin was nowhere in sight, Probably in its tent.
Jumping down from the tree, Archie ran around the perimeter of the goblin village while still being thirty meters within the forest. After a minute of running, Archie saw a side of the wall that was out of view from the goblins manning the entrance. Running towards that side of the wall, Archie took out his Effigy of Stealth and placed it in his potion pouch next to his hatchet while activating it, feeling the familiar cooling sensation fill his being.
Crouching and shuffling against the wall, Archie made his way towards the entrance of the village.
Peeking over from where he crouched, he saw two goblins heading his way. Slightly backing up, Archie waited until they walked to where the other three goblins wouldn’t be able to see them.
Just as they made the bend, Archie activated Savage Charge, decapitating both goblins with a single slice. Both the heads and bodies of the goblins fell onto the floor, their weapons falling with them.
Grabbing both bodies and their weapons, he pulled them to where he stood, hiding them completely from the other three goblins. Crouching once more Archie peeked over the bend once more, he saw the three goblins cackling to each other, two of them had their backs to him.
While crouching, Archie ran at full speed, while hugging the wall, towards the goblins that were seventy meters from where he initially peeked at them.
When he was about sixty meters away from the goblins, he activated Savage Charge, feeling his calves burn at the distance of the charge, Archie pushed through the pain.
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Archie’s sword sliced the neck of the goblin closest to the wall and continued through the neck of the goblin beside him, producing two dings. The last guard goblin looked at him in shock, but before it could screech, Archie threw his shield at its chest, knocking the goblin on its back.
Activating Savage Charge, Archie was atop the goblin and stabbed his sword in its neck, producing the fifth ding as he sheathed his sword.
*[Goblin Lv 29//Spearman Lv 29//Farmer Lv 12] has been slain – XP has been given. 87 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Goblin Lv 29//Spearman Lv 31//Breeder Lv 10] has been slain – XP has been given. 87 Tutorial Points given*
*[Goblin Lv 30//Slingwoman Lv 35//Tracker Lv 10] has been slain – XP has been given. 120 Tutorial Points given*
“Not even a level…Well, it was easy,” Archie shrugged.
Peering into the village, Archie spotted five goblins gathered around the campfire in the center, still engrossed in conversation. The campfire was about a hundred meters away from the entrance—too far for Archie to charge without being noticed. To make matters worse, the pathway leading from the entrance to the center of the village was completely exposed, with all the tents positioned along the sides near the walls, offering no cover.
Archie decided to scale the side of the wall where he could jump in and use the tiki tents as cover.
Archie made a quick run towards the three o’clock of the village’s wall. Looking up he estimated that it was seven meters tall, How the hell did they lift a seven-meter-tall log? Archie wondered. Archie threw his shield over the wall, thankfully the grass muffled its landing.
After taking a few steps backward, Archie ran towards the wall, kicking off of it for a boost, Archie’s hands grabbed the pencil-like tips of the log walls. Unfortunately for Archie, the tips were roughly cut, causing splinters to enter his hands and blood to seep and his weight caused them to dig deeper into his hands.
Ignoring the pain, Archie pulled himself up atop the wall. Looking down, the five goblins still had not noticed him and the shaman goblin had not yet appeared.
Archie jumped from where he stood on the log wall and softly onto the grass below, beside his shield. Without wasting time Archie ducked beside multiple poorly made tiki tents, getting closer to the campfire.
The closest tiki tent to the campfire was about thirty meters away from the closest goblin. Just as Archie was about to charge at the nearest goblin, the Effigy of Stealth crumbled. Thankfully it produced no sound, but Archie could feel that the pouch on his back got noticeably lighter.
Archie decided to use one of the Effigies of Wrath, upon activating it Archie’s muscles surged in strength and anger started to rise within him and took charge. “Fuck it,” Archie whispered, anger lacing his tone, while placing his shield down and holding his hatchet in his left hand, he then activated Adrenaline Rush, steam rising from him.
Archie activated Savage Charge at the nearest goblin, sword slicing through its neck. Archie threw his hatchet at the furthest goblin on the other side of the campfire. The hatchet easily cut through the wood of the large campfire and sunk deep into the goblin’s skull. The three remaining goblins started to squeal loudly but couldn’t fight back as they had no weapons, Archie ignoring their squeals, pivoted and cut down another goblin just within his reach.
Archie then faced the remaining two goblins and saw them start to run away. Activating Savage Charge, Archie reached the furthest goblin and sliced one in half, easily cutting through its spine. Using the momentum of the slice and pivoting, Archie downward stabbed into the back of the last goblin.
Just as Archie pulled out his sword from the goblin’s spine, he heard a loud shout. Quickly turning around, Archie faced the goblin shaman who was currently standing in front of its tent.
Identifying the goblin shaman, he read:
[Goblin Lv 46]
But before Archie could charge at the goblin shaman, a purple bolt of magic hit him on the chest. Staggering backward, his limbs felt like lead and a large chunk of his stamina disappeared from his reserves.
As Archie was recovering from the goblin shaman’s attack, the shaman started to prepare its next attack. Veins appeared across Archie’s body as he pushed through the shaman’s hex, the adrenaline flowing through him started to move from its previous lull.
Archie made it five meters closer to the shaman but was hit once more by it. A small sickly black bolt hit Archie across his chest, when the spell splashed onto him, Archie’s right peck gained a few black specks.
The black specks grew in size and as they grew, he felt pain, he felt as though his body was rotting. Warrior’s Resilience quickly took effect, regenerating his health pool, but the current rate at 1.5% was not enough to push back against the rot.
The adrenaline that was coursing through his being, skyrocketed. Archie’s brain felt as though it was running a thousand miles a second. Archie channeled more mana and stamina through his Adrenaline Rush, as he did, he could feel more power enter his limbs, increasing the boost to 27%, the steam tinging red.
Still not being enough, Archie channeled even more mana and stamina through his limbs, at 29%, blood started to become visible across his chest and face. Archie kept moving forward, currently twenty meters away from the goblin shaman, Archie stared at the shaman who started to cackle at him.
Roaring in both anger and pain, Archie started to channel even more mana and stamina through the Adrenaline Rush pushing it past 30%. This caused blood to start to escape from his skin and slide across his body, the steam exuding from his body to turn dark red as blood was being boiled. Finally able to move into a slow walk, he shot out Hex of Enfeeblement; the hex was shot out of his palm, its color was a teal green color and looked like a watery icicle.
The hex splashed onto the chest of the laughing goblin shaman, causing it to immediately gain a gaunt look and take out a huge chunk of its stamina reserves.
Taking advantage of the opening, Archie activated Savage Charge and Retaliation appeared in front of the shaman, his sword started to glow a light green as overflowed energy from his body into his sword.
Stabbing into the goblin shaman, Archie’s sword’s blade exploded within the shaman’s chest, causing a large hole to appear. Archie let go of his sword’s hilt and started to choke the shaman with his hands. Archie’s gauntlets’ Lesser Ice Reinforcement activated; ice started to spread across the goblin shaman’s neck. Channeling all his anger into his hands, a loud crack filled the air.
A ding resounded in Archie’s head, causing him to fall on his back, breathing heavily, turning off Adrenaline Rush, causing the dark red-hued steam to cease.
Looking at his chest, ignoring the blood splotches, the black specks covered his entire right peck. Staring at his right peck, he noticed the rot had stopped growing, and the flesh starting to flake.
Looks like it stopped after the goblin shaman died, Archie thought, utterly exhausted.
Looking at his status he saw:
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human F-Grade Lv 36
Class: Warrior Lv 39
Profession: Shaman Lv 27
Health: 589/1386
Mana: 194/550
Stamina: 134/800
Stats:
Vitality: 132(138)
Strength: 142(149)
Endurance: 82
Agility: 125
Intelligence: 123
Wisdom: 55
Willpower: 55(57)
Perception: 106
Free Points: 33
Skills:
Basic One-Handed Weapon Mastery (Common)
Basic Light-Shield Mastery (Common)
Identify (Initiate)
Savage Charge (Rare)
Adrenaline Rush (Epic)
Warrior's Resilience (Rare)
Deep Meditation (Rare)
Mana Manipulation (Common)
Spirit Link (Epic)
Effigy-Carving (Common)
Material Insight (Uncommon)
Retaliation (Uncommon)
Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)
Unstable Power Strike (Uncommon)
Bloodline:
Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Willpower]
Titles Collected:
Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality]
Tutorial Points:
5,194
Looking at the notifications, he saw:
*[Goblin Lv 28// Thief Lv 3//Builder Lv 30] has been slain – XP has been given. 84 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Goblin Lv 28//Thief Lv 3//Carpenter Lv 30] has been slain – XP has been given. 84 Tutorial Points given*
*[Goblin Lv 29// Thief Lv 3//Fisher Lv 28] has been slain – XP has been given. 87 Tutorial Points given*
*[Goblin Lv 30//Porter Lv 3//Fisher Lv 29] has been slain – XP has been given. 120 Tutorial Points given*
*[Goblin Lv 46//Spearman Lv 5// Shaman Lv 40] has been slain – XP has been given. 230 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 36 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
***
*Your Class has reached Lv 39 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
* Your Profession has reached Lv 26 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 27 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 35 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 36 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
Skill Upgrade: [Adrenaline Rush (Rare → Epic)]
Adrenaline Rush (Epic):
For a period of time, you experience a huge surge of adrenaline, enhancing all physical attributes by 40%. However, the intense exertion puts a strain on the body, leading to temporary exhaustion once the effect wears off. Activating beyond 30% will cause heavy physical damage and mental exhaustion. Heavily touched by the records of Adrenaline Junkie.
Skilled Gained: [Unstable Power Strike (Uncommon)]
[Unstable Power Strike (Uncommon)]:
With a surge of raw strength, a warrior channels a large amount of stamina into a single, destructive strike. Unstable Power Strike is the embodiment of a devastating strike, designed to overwhelm foes in a head-on confrontation. If the weapon cannot handle the large amount of stamina coursing through it, it will shatter. Adds a low bonus to Strength when using Power Strike.