Archie continued to look around the forest in a panic, trying to find the Frostiron Tortoise.
“It was like five meters tall, where the hell could it have gone?” Archie questioned himself.
All that was left as a hint that the tortoise was here was the dried blood that stained the exterior of the rock, the large claw marks that were etched into the rock, and small pieces of whitish navy-blue keratin that shed from the tortoise’s shell.
“It probably left because I disturbed its rest and went to go somewhere else after I disappeared into the dungeon,” Archie concluded while scanning the sea of trees around him. “I should try to find higher-level creatures to level up and kill, to prepare for my fight with the tortoise. I am not letting it go scot-free with it almost killing me, just because I woke it up.”
“But, before I leave, I should get those pieces of its shell, because it would be useful to put inside a voodoo doll,” Archie said after dumping a few pieces of the whitish navy-blue keratin in his spatial ring.
“Huh, I just realized that I’m not feeling that cold, even though I’m missing my chestpiece.” Archie realized.
Archie then started to walk toward the largest mountain in sight, intent on finding a better challenge, as the area around him was too low leveled for him.
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At the base of the mountain, Archie saw a couple of creatures eating the corpse of a snow deer. The creatures resembled mountain goats, their dense, snow-white coats offering protection from the harsh mountain winds, horizontal pupils, stood at a height of five feet and twin curled horns on the sides of their heads. But the only difference from what he could tell between normal mountain goats and the creatures in front of him were their icy blue hoofs, which seemed to generate ice whenever they moved.
Identifying the creatures, he read:
[Icehoof Goat Lv 34]
[Icehoof Goat Lv 36]
[Icehoof Goat Lv 35]
“Fitting,” Archie commented while shrugging before placing his shield in his spatial ring.
Grabbing his hatchet and unsheathing his sword, Archie kicked off the ground and activated Savage Charge, slicing through the necks of two goats and fluidly slicing the neck of the final goat.
*[Icehoof Goat Lv 34] has been slain – XP has been given. 136 Tutorial Points given*
*[Icehoof Goat Lv 36] has been slain – XP has been given. 144 Tutorial Points given*
*[Icehoof Goat Lv 35] has been slain – XP has been given. 140 Tutorial Points given*
Flicking the blood from both his hatchet and sword onto the now blood-stained snow.
After sheathing his sword and placing his hatchet in his pouch, Arche began his hike up the mountain.
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Archie realized how easy hiking became after the tutorial began, back when everything was normal, hiking up trails with a bike was miserable.
Reminiscing about the times he went hiking before the system integrated with their universe, Archie had a somber smile across his face.
Both he and Daniel spent many days and nights camping in the summer on mountain bike trails; early morning grumpiness of getting up the trail, afternoons filled with screams of joy when riding down, and s'more-filled nights.
More memories started to play in his mind, but unfortunately, his somber mood worsened as he remembered the worst of his life.
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“Are you sure about this trail Daniel?” A younger-looking Archie asked while pushing up his bike through an uneven trail on a heavily forested hill. Alongside Archie was a thin, but tall Hispanic youth with dark curly brown hair, who stood at a height of six foot two.
“Yup, should be no problem, Doug said it was safe, ‘It was fine when I went down it last week’ is what he said,” Daniel replied while also pushing his bike up the hill.
“I know that, but the path feels off; Oof…roots everywhere on it, path too un-walked and there is zero trash along the path,” Archie said, stumbling a bit as his foot got caught on a tree root. Where there were humans, trash always followed.
“I mean a bit, but it should be fine, we’re almost at the top anyway. We’ve already spent three hours up this trail already, it would be a waste to just turn back now.” Daniel reasoned to Archie, lifting his bike over a large tree root.
“I don’t know, I guess. I’m just feeling nervous, maybe it’s pre-college stress or something.” Archie tried to reason with himself. He’d just handed in his college applications a few days ago and hadn’t done much other than stew in his anxiety and play video games. A cycle of anxiety really, especially considering his love-hate relationship with a certain game he was addicted to.
“I get you Archie, but look, with our scores, we can easily enter any college that isn’t Ivy. Besides look ahead, we reached the end of the hiking part of the trail, and the beginning of the biking trail.” Daniel replied while sitting on his bike.
“Yeah, you’re right, I’m just stressed.” Archie conceded while getting on his bike as well.
Along the bike trail, Archie’s mood improved, the feeling of wind hitting his face and the smell of the forest filling his nose. Daniel was in a similar state, a soft smile on his face as they biked up the trail.
But like all good moods, they end too quickly to appreciate, a growl resounded through the forest.
Goosebumps appeared across both Archie and Daniel’s bodies, they both turned to each other and instinctually decided to neck it back to the car.
“Was that a fucking mountain lion we heard?” Archie shouted, looking around in panic.
“I don’t know! What the fuck!” Daniel shouted, “Doug said it was safe!”
“Fuck Doug!” Archie yelled, “What the fuck are the rangers doing! Aren’t they supposed to get rid of them?”
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Archie and Daniel started to pedal faster through the biking trail, in an attempt to go further from where the growl came from.
After what felt like hours of frantically biking, but realistically 20 minutes, both Archie and Daniel stopped beside a ledge, panting hard.
“You… think we… lost it?” Archie gasped between labored breaths, sweat soaking through his shirt and dripping down his face.
“I… Think so…” Daniel replied also in a similar state.
Suddenly a giant yellow brown blur tackled Daniel off his bike. Archie yelled in shock and Daniel screamed in pain.
The yellow-brown blur that jumped from atop the trees and charged into Daniel, revealed to be a mountain lion.
The mountain lion loomed over Daniel, its claws raking into his chest, his blood soaking his dark green shirt. Archie stood frozen, his heart hammering within his chest as he watched his friend being torn apart ten meters away from where he stood. His mind refused to accept what was happening, convinced it was all a nightmare, that both he and Daniel were safe.
The mountain lion slowly got off Daniel and made its way toward his neck, baring its teeth, revealing sharp, glistening canines.
Then, a resounding snap echoed within Archie's mind, as if a taut string had suddenly broken. Like lightning, the sound jolted through him, covering his entire body in goosebumps. Snapping him out of his stupor and bringing him back to reality.
Adrenaline started to pump through Archie’s body at an all-time high, this was a do-or-die situation. Archie moving out of sheer adrenaline ran full charge at the mountain lion and shoulder-tackled it. But what Archie forgot to take into consideration was that he was on a ledge, on a large hill.
Using all his weight he managed to tackle the two-hundred-pound mountain lion off his friend and off the ledge, but momentum also launched him off the hill and caused him to tumble down.
All Archie could remember was his head, limbs, and torso being constantly scraped and bruised by rocks and branches. What he did remember while tumbling down was Daniel yelling his name before blacking out.
“-ie…Ar-…. ARCHIE!” Daniel shouted startling Archie awake, head spinning.
“Huh? Ow… What’s going on? Daniel?” Archie asked groggily covered in dirt, scrapes, and bruises, the area around him barely visible.
“Thank God! Listen, stay awake! I just called 911! We are going to live! it's fine!” Daniel’s voice became more focused now that Archie’s brain stopped spinning, but his vision was still hazy.
“What’s going on? What happened?” Archie asked, struggling to push himself up, desperate to find his friend, but pain shot through his body, making him stumble and fall back onto the floor.
“You saved me… Holy shit, man… You fell off the ledge... after pushing the mountain lion,” Daniel explained, his voice labored. "I came down...to find... you."
“What? Where is it now?” Archie asked, the memory of what had happened atop the ledge crashing into him like a truck. His body still refused to move, and his vision was blurry.
“Daniel?... Daniel! You there?” Archie shouted, his throat burning with the effort.
“Yeah… Archie… You know… I always… considered you… my brother… right?” Daniel whispered, the words barely audible, but still clear to Archie.
Panicked, Archie called out, “Daniel? Daniel!”
No reply came.
Archie started to panic at his friend not responding, vision still hazy, Archie tried to push himself off the ground but failed due to the pain arcing across his body.
Tears welled up in Archie’s eyes fearing the worst.
Roaring in both anger and pain, Archie moved his arms to push himself up, ignoring the pain that arced across his body. Forcing his legs to push himself from his plank position and into an upright position, Archie felt fire spread across his legs.
Finally standing up, his eyes regained focus, looking down at his stomach he saw a tree branch lodged just below his rib cage. Just as Archie was about to hyperventilate, an image of his friend flashed in his mind, causing him to focus.
Pain arced across his body with each step he took, helicopter blades whirring filled the air, but Archie ignored them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his friend beside a tree laying on red-stained grass, Daniel was covered in dirt, and scrapes and bruises covered all visible skin. The wounds inflicted by the mountain lion were leaking a lot of blood.
Stumbling towards Daniel, ignoring the pain that wreaked havoc across his body, until he reached Daniel.
Standing above Daniel, Archie fell to his knees, ignoring the pain spiking all over his body, and tried shaking Daniel awake.
But Daniel did not wake up, Archie’s tears became sobs, as Daniel’s eyes refused to open.
“DANIEL!” Archie shouted into the dark sky.
A light from above shone down on both Archie and Daniel, but Archie barely noticed. His mind and body shut down, overwhelmed by the excruciating pain—both mental and physical—one that he could no longer bear.
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Archie currently stood atop various corpses of goats, similar to the ones he killed before hiking up the mountain, very confused about what had happened.
Seemingly coming out of a trance, Archie looked around and found himself atop the hill, hatchet, and sword covered in blood and a large number of snowy goat corpses surrounding him.
“The hell? How did I end up here, with like fifteen dead goat corpses around me?” Archie asked himself, greatly confused as to what he was doing.
Looking at his notifications, he saw:
*[Icehoof Goat Lv 36] has been slain – XP has been given. 144 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Icehoof Goat Lv 41] has been slain – XP has been given. 205 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 40 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Class has reached Lv 41 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 37 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 38 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
“Hmm… I guess I was too distracted by memories and my body just moved on autopilot.” Archie reasoned with himself.
*Warrior class skills available. Choose one of the options*
[Taunt (Uncommon)]: The warrior’s presence on the battlefield alone garners the attention of others, but when issuing a taunt, it is a deliberate challenge that no foe can ignore. With a deep guttural roar that shakes the battlefield, the warrior draws the attention of their foes, daring them to attack. Grabs the attention of all enemies within a Perception-USM circle.
[Shield Wall (Uncommon)]: The warrior raises their trusty shield, their trusted companion’s dimensions lengthen, allowing more area of protection. The warrior now able to hold their ground against the overwhelming odds.
[Deadly Ambush (Uncommon)]: The warrior uses the element of surprise to deliver increased damage to their enemies. When the warrior is unseen by an enemy, all attacks are minorly enhanced.
Flicking his weapons clean, Archie looked at his Warrior class skills, “Shield Wall is useless to me because I’m dual-wielding both my hatchet and sword more often. Taunt I can see being useful with the stunning effect and Deadly Ambush is a good fight starter. Hmm… Deadly Ambush can’t be used in all scenarios, but when in a fight I can just use Taunt to stun. So, I guess Taunt wins.” Archie reasoned to himself while choosing Taunt. “Besides, what warrior would I be without Taunt? It's a staple skill.”
Opening his status screen, Archie saw:
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human F-Grade Lv 38
Class: Warrior Lv 41
Profession: Shaman Lv 27
Health: 1449/1449
Mana: 570/570
Stamina: 900/940
Stats:
Vitality: 138(144)
Strength: 148(155)
Endurance: 94
Agility: 129
Intelligence: 125
Wisdom: 57
Willpower: 57(59)
Perception: 108
Free Points: 37
Skills:
Basic One-Handed Weapon Mastery (Uncommon)
Basic Light-Shield Mastery (Common)
Identify (Initiate)
Savage Charge (Rare)
Adrenaline Rush (Epic)
Warrior's Resilience (Rare)
Nature's Meditation (Epic)
Mana Manipulation (Common)
Spirit Link (Epic)
Effigy-Carving (Common)
Material Insight (Uncommon)
Retaliation (Uncommon)
Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)
Unstable Power Strike (Uncommon)
Taunt (Uncommon)
Bloodline:
Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Willpower]
Affinity:
Greater Nature Affinity (Epic)
Titles Collected:
Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality]
Tutorial Points:
7,574