Archie was walking up another rocky hill while munching on the leg of the elk he killed. But unlike the previous ones he'd walked up, barely any creatures were on this one. And the ones that were on this hill barely reached level 20.
“Still a bit charred, but it is what it is,” Archie said in between bites. "I wish I had some salt though."
At the top of the hill, Archie saw a white portal in the middle of the hill. It looked very out of place, there was no boulder surrounding it, no tunnel, not even a tree around it. Just a white portal out in the open.
Upon touching the portal, a system prompt appeared, and Archie read:
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective: ?
Reward: Painter Profession, ? & ?
Requirements: Tutorial Participant & Must not have a Profession
Would you like to enter?
Archie, curious about what would happen, said, “I would like to enter.”
Another system prompt appeared, and Archie read:
Relinquish Profession:
Do you wish to relinquish your Shaman Profession? If so, you shall experience a major loss in your records as well as the removal of several skills.
“No, I don’t,” Archie shouted after reading the second prompt, panicked at the potential of losing all his progress.
Sighing in disappointment, Archie started to walk down the hill. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint from beneath the snowy grass on his five-o’clock.
Brushing the snow from where he saw the glint, Archie saw a familiar oak lockbox. Identifying the lockbox, he read:
Sealed Oak Chest:
A sealed chest, created for the 72nd cycle’s tutorial, containing an item.
Snapping the lock open, Archie saw grey leather and white fur stuffed within the lockbox. Pulling out the item within, it was revealed to be pants.
The pants were grey leather pants and white fur similar to the fur on the snowviel foxes. The pants came with a belt attached to them, as well as brown leather straps going around each thigh. Perfect place for my hatchet, Archie thought as he saw the brown leather straps had holes large enough to a hilt. Touching the fur on the shins of the pants, he felt metal.
Identifying the pants he read:
Frostiron Fur Leggings (Uncommon):
Grey leather pants made from the hide of an arctic bear, reinforced with frostiron plating, and decorated with Snowviel fox fur. Crafted with the hide of an arctic bear, Snowviel fox fur, and frostiron ingots by an F-Grade Leathersmith. Effects: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair. Provides: +15 End & +10 Vit. Status: Perfect. Requirement: Lv 40+ & Humanoid Race.
Looking at his own pants, he read:
Plated Chain-mail Leggings (Common):
Plated Chain-mail Leggings provided to those who have chosen the Warrior starting class. Effect: Soul-bound. Status: Moderately beaten. Requirements: Humanoid Race.
Archie proceeded to strip off his plated chain-mail leggings and change into the Frostiron Fur Leggings, uncaring about his surroundings.
“Oh! These feel great; perfectly soft and they don’t feel restrictive to move in” Archie said, while moving down the mountain.
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*Your Profession has reached Lv 37 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 38 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Class has reached Lv 46 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
A couple of days later, nothing much really occurred other than Archie killing a few creatures, gaining around 456 Tutorial Points, and making a couple of effigies gaining a few levels in both his class and profession.
However, a thought had been rearing its head in between each crafting session, This is getting a bit boring. Making effigies is cool, but it's been getting a bit boring as of late. The initial joy he gained when crafting effigies had started to wane.
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Archie was running up the largest mountain in the Hoarfrost Highlands, when he remembered to check how many days were left in the Solo Tutorial.
Solo Tutorial
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: 09:12:24
“It’s been a couple of days, and I still haven’t found the tortoise,” Archie grumbled.
Looking around as he was running up the mountain, he saw a weird-looking tree. Stopping, he took in the tree, it wasn’t like the other Hoarfrost Highland trees, which had white bark, and blue leaves, with a diameter of two feet, and stood at a whopping fifteen feet in length.
This tree in particular had a rich mahogany color and bright green leaves, it stood at a height of seven feet in length, less than half of a normal Hoarfrost Highland tree, it was wide, like fifteen feet wide. All in all, it was completely out of place.
Archie tried to Identify the tree but was met with nothing, similar to when he tried to Identify a portal.
Archie walked around the tree, hands crossed, staring at the tree trying to see what to do. After a bit of staring and nothing happening, Archie decided to touch the tree, prompting a system prompt.
Gauntlet Challenge Dungeon
Objective: Survive
Reward: ?
Requirements: Must be F-Grade.
Would you like to enter?
“Gauntlet? Like fighting enemies in waves? Would they scale to my level?” Archie questioned.
After contemplating for a moment, Archie decided to enter. These past few days had been bland and, to be honest, a bit boring. "As much as I enjoy peace and quiet, I've... grown fond of fighting," Archie mused with a smile. It was surprising for him when he came to this realization, especially considering that just a few weeks ago, he had preferred spending his free time gaming, reading, or building miniature plastic robots. Now, fighting seemed to have taken over that role.
"Well, I'd still kill for a robot kit, hell a puzzle would do it," Archie chuckled, looking around for any potential ambushes from the Hoarfrost fauna. Once he found none, he answered.
“I would like to enter the dungeon,” Archie answered confidently, making him vanish from atop the hill.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
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Within a luscious forest, a being woke from its slumber from atop a lake and observed a panel-like screen that appeared in front of it. The screen displayed in front of the being buzzed to life, revealing a curious Archie, looking around an empty white space.
A tall form that looked like it was sculpted from stone, bark, and moss, seamlessly blending earthy tones of brown, grey, and green. Vines naturally grew across her form, winding around her limbs and torso, giving her a sense of life and growth. Her face looked smooth and serene, with glowing mineral veins running through her stone-like skin.
Her deep-set eyes shimmered like molten lava. Her hair cascades in the form of vines and leaves, with flowers that crowned her head in a natural display of beauty.
“Hmmm… It seems as though a new challenger has arrived... A human,” the being said, staring at Archie.
“Oh… He seems to have a Nature Affinity… Quite a powerful one as well. This should be interesting.” the being said eyes laying on Archie’s confused form.
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Archie looked around the bright white room, confused about what should be happening when suddenly, a prompt appeared in front of him.
Gauntlet Challenge Dungeon
Objective 1: Protect the jungle temple from the invaders 0/12
Reward: ?
“Jungle temple?” Archie questioned, looking around and still seeing the bright white room.
A second after questioning, the environment of the room seemingly disappeared instantly.
Archie found himself suddenly in a jungle. The air around him became thick and heavy, carrying the rich scent of damp soil and plants. Sunlight slips through gaps in the tall trees above, casting dappled patches of light on the ground, where shades of green – ferns, moss, and vines – cover every surface. Bird calls and distant rustling filled the thick jungle air, but Archie’s attention was elsewhere.
Before him was a massive stone temple, its ancient structure looming high above the surrounding foliage. Weathered steps lead up to crumbling terraces, nearly hidden beneath a tangle of vines and roots. Intricate carvings of strange creatures adorned the stone.
To Archie, it felt both majestic and foreboding, as if it guarded long-buried secrets.
Remembering his objective, Archie focused on trying to find where the twelve invaders were. Hearing a snap behind him, Archie turned around to see six people staring at him with their weapons drawn.
Three of them looked to be normal humans, two of them were men dressed in leather armor and wielded greatswords and the last human was a female dressed in white and stood in the back. Two warriors and a healer, Archie concluded.
Two of the six looked to be blue-colored two-legged lizards covered in leather armor, both wielded nothing but had sharp claws from what Archie could see.
The last of the six was what looked to be a bonafide Orc; packed with muscles, white lower jaw tusks, purple loin cloth, and wielded a giant axe.
Identifying them, Archie read:
[Human Lv 25]
[Orc Lv 30]
[Human Lv 28]
[Human Lv 32]
[Tharki Lv 27]
[Tharki Lv 31]
They look like a fantasy story adventurer party… Which means they’re sentient, Archie thought while looking at them, a confused expression on his face, unsure of what to do.
Previously when killing the goblins, he never really cared if he’d kill them, after all, every game he’d played or fantasy book he’d read all described them to be disgusting creatures that needed to be put down. Otherwise, they would raid and plunder border towns that lacked a proper militia.
But now that he was tasked to kill the invaders, some of which were human and the rest were not. All in all, they looked like some medieval fantasy adventurer’s party that he’d read about. Nevertheless, he felt hesitant. Maybe I can convince them to leave, and that will count as me getting rid of them?
They started to shout at Archie, but Archie could not understand what they said. The sounds they made and the way their faces contorted, put Archie on edge.
“Hello? I’m Archie, can you leave?” Archie said, trying to appear non-threatening.
Dodging to the side, Archie dodged what looked like a purple liquid projectile that made the ground where he previously stood start to bubble melt. Looking at the group he saw one of the Tharki with its mouth open, revealing its long purple tongue that dripped a dark purple liquid.
Archie sighed before steeling himself for what he was about to do. Kicking off the ground, he activated Savage Charge and Unstable Consecutive Strikes once he got close to the Tharki, smashing his fist into the side of the skull of the Tharki that tried to melt him. The Tharki was launched into the side of a tree, cracking it.
Archie then smashed his other fist onto the top of the other Tharki’s head, caving it in, and making it drop to the ground.
The Orc and two human warriors charged at Archie, all three coming at different angles; the Orc swiped its axe from Archie’s right side, one human warrior came from in front of Archie and the last came from Archie’s left side.
Archie jumped, slightly caught off guard as he had jumped ten meters high, dodging all three of their attacks.
He sent out a Hex of Enfeeblement at the highest leveled human and used Savage Charge instantly killing him with a punch to his face. The other human warrior’s face blanched, taken aback by its comrade’s sudden death, and shouted something Archie did not understand.
Taking into account the scared-looking human warrior, Archie channeled his stamina into his right arm and punched into the torso of the human warrior. Archie’s fist easily penetrated through the thin leather armor of the warrior and into the human’s chest cavity.
The female human screaming illegibly, as a result of her teammates suddenly dying.
Archie quickly tore his hand out of the human warrior’s chest and blocked the axe of the orc. Archie was sent slightly skidding back from the force of the orc’s swing.
Archie activated Savage Charge and punched the orc on its abdomen, but was unable to pierce through, but it left some bits of ice where he punched.
Suddenly the wound Archie left on the orc started to glow green, Archie looked back to see the female human raise her wand at the orc, Healer indeed, Archie confirmed.
Sensing possible danger, Archie shifted his focus and used Savage Charge at the healer, easily crossing the distance and punching through her ribcage and out her back, from her right side.
Archie turned his focus back on the orc before channeling stamina into both of his fists and started to pummel the orc, activating Unstable Consecutive Strikes. The orc barely provided any resistance against the onslaught of Archie’s fists and turning to mush.
Not even winded, Archie stared at the corpses, mainly at the three humans. He started to breathe heavily, the reality of what he just did sinking in.
“I just killed people… And I didn’t even hesitate.” Archie's voice barely came out as a whisper.
Adrenaline started to flow through his being, catching his attention. Archie slowly came out of his panic and started to take clearer breaths.
“They…came at me with intent on killing me, I just defended myself…I’m fine…everything is good” Archie reasoned with himself, now calmed down.
Looking at the notifications, Archie read:
*[Tharki Lv 27//Mage Lv 24//Cook Lv 25] has been slain – XP has been given. 81 Tutorial Points given*
*[Tharki Lv 31//Mage Lv 28//Painter Lv 26] has been slain – XP has been given. 124 Tutorial Points given*
*[Human Lv 32//Warrior Lv 30//Farmer Lv 20] has been slain – XP has been given. 128 Tutorial Points given*
*[Human Lv 28//Warrior Lv 26//Farmer Lv 22] has been slain – XP has been given. 84 Tutorial Points given*
*[Human Lv 25//Healer Lv 23//Tailor Lv 26] has been slain – XP has been given. 75 Tutorial Points given*
*[Orc Lv 30//Warrior Lv 30//Smith Lv 23] has been slain – XP has been given. 120 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Race has reached Lv 45 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
Looking at his status page and system prompt, he read:
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human F-Grade Lv 45
Class: Warrior Lv 46
Profession: Shaman Lv 38
Health: 1903/1995
Mana: 640/640
Stamina: 1150/1150
Stats:
Vitality: 190(199)
Strength: 190(199)
Endurance: 116
Agility: 152
Intelligence: 154
Wisdom: 64
Willpower: 64(67)
Perception: 137
Free Points: 10
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 (Uncommon)
Spirit Link (Epic)
Effigy-Carving (Common)
Material Insight (Uncommon)
Retaliation (Uncommon)
Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)
Unstable Consecutive Strikes (Rare)
Taunt (Uncommon)
Shatter Spirit (Common)
Basic Martial Combat Mastery (Initiate)
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:
9,198
Gauntlet Challenge Dungeon
Objective 1: Protect the jungle temple from the invaders 6/12
Reward: ?
Not seeing any other party approaching the entrance of the temple, Archie walked past the dead adventurer group and walked toward the temple.
He flicked the blood that was covering his gauntlet onto the wet grass below him, steeling his resolve.
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“Hmm…Looks like this was his first time spilling sentient blood... He’s also displayed more strength than what should be normal for an F-Grade at his level, especially that skill.” The being said looking on as Archie entered the temple. A smile grew on its face as it leaned closer to the screen, "Very interesting."