Warning! *DYNAMIC TUTORIAL QUEST* Now Initializing!
Alan found himself standing under a cloudless blue sky in the midst of a massive desert. A notice randomly popped up in his vision, along with a new tab appearing on his Personal System Access Screen, this one labeled Quests.
Also new to his PSA Screen was an inaccessible tab labeled Current Human Survivors 1108/1113. Assuming he were to take this message seriously, this new tab was apparently telling him five people had already died, and the Tutorial had only just begun.
Opening his Quests tab, Alan was greeted with a 15 part quest, but for some reason he was only able see the first objective.
***DYNAMIC QUEST***
1/15- Survive your first day in the Tutorial.
Completion Reward: Varies depending on completion total and mettle demonstrated in the face of adversity.
With sweat freely pouring down his back, Alan closed his PSA screen and noticed that the dry heat felt like it was building in intensity, making standing still almost unbearable. Far in the distance on his left, an unknown number of miles away, Alan was able see a faint green line on the horizon. Believing this to be the end of the desert, or perhaps maybe an oasis, Alan began plotting his course.
Shifting piles of beige sand followed wherever the desert winds blew causing the increasingly frequent, scorching gusts of wind to lift up and toss hot particles of sand which painfully imbedded themselves into his exposed skin. Realizing that the wind was only getting stronger, and with visibility quickly becoming worse, Alan covered his face in the crook of his arm, lowered his head, and started to walk into the desert.
Due to the blinding display of sand, Alan soon became unsure if the direction he'd been traveling was still on the correct course, so he tried to look around for any kind of landmark. Unfortunately the visibilitly had only gotten worse. He lowered his head, and pushed forward against the ever-growing winds. After stumbling at random through the desert for maybe a mile, he noticed a large hill of sand located in his path. As the winds were obviously building up into a true sandstorm, he knew he needed to find somewhere to shelter himself.
Arriving at the base of the hill Alan found himself somewhat sheltered from the building sandstorm. Pulling his canteen from his new storage ring he became amazed at how simple, yet effective such a storage device could be. Relieved at not having to conserve water due to his canteen having a self-refill charm, Alan poured the cool water over his face, hoping to clear some of the sand from his eyes.
While trekking slowly up the hill, Alan felt a sudden vibration in the sand beneath his feet which made him pause in his tracks, which as it turned out, was a big mistake. A three-foot long scorpion tail rose up out of the surrounding sand, striking so fast that reaction wasn't an option. Tipped with an eight-inch, bright blue stinger, it plunged lightning fast into the side of his knee, instantly cutting his Health bar by a quarter. The stinger pulled itself out of Alan's ruined knee with a sickening slurp and the crunch of bones breaking.
Screaming in pain and grasping for his wounded knee, Alan tumbled head over heels back down the hill. Sprawled out in the sand, the pain only increased as his System-enhanced healing forced the bones in his knee to grind themselves back into the proper position. Rapidly regrowing tendons and ligaments sent electric jolts of pure agony shooting down his leg and up the length of his spine.
When the pain finally ended, he opened his eyes just in time to witness the scarily-large, yellow scorpion scuttle away in terror as the entire hill of sand rose up. It gathered up, taking the shape of a massive fist sitting atop an enormous arm of sand. Focused on the giant fist, Alan tried his best to ignore his throbbing leg and quickly used [Examine]. With no success.
[Examine] Failed.
Slowly opening, the massive sand hand clenched and unclenched itself multiple times, gathering the sandstorm within its palm, adding to it's mass. As it swiftly grew in size, it started slowly turning from side to side, as if looking for something specific. It turned to face Alan, and to his dismay, the giant hand suddenly stopped. Alan knew he was already too late to flee when the colossal hand opened itself up fully, and plunged toward him with all the sound and fury of an avalanche.
Like a fly subjected to the sudden wrath of a fly-swatter, Alan felt as if the world itself had fallen on his shoulders as he was crushed to the ground under the massive weight. The extreme pressure caused his skeleton to creak alarmingly, and then without further warning, one after another, his bones began to crack.
Unable to breathe, let alone fight back, Alan began to accept his fated demise when the massive hand gripped him tightly within its fist and lifted itself along with a struggling Alan back up above the surrounding desert. Prey in hand, the humongous arm plunged back into the depths of the desert.
Within the center of the desert, the sandstorm came to an abrupt stop.
Amidst the crushing weight of the sand, Alan's mind began to race as he felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the depths of the desert..
Is this how it ends?! .. He wondered. Am I going to be buried alive? I just got to this damned Tutorial and you're telling me it's already Game Over?? Hopefully Rexus is alright.. I'm sorry little bro.. I had no chance.. How was I supposed to fight a desert?... I'm so sorry. I can deal with goblins... But how am I supposed to handle this?
A sudden feeling of weightlessness forced him to open his sand filled eyes, and the feeling of the wind on his face was enough to cause tears to swiftly form. He was falling towards a rapidly growing pile of sand, surrounded by six absolutely enormous columns. Alan did his best to curl up into a ball in a last-ditch effort to protect his head. His reaction came right in time to hit the side of the sand hill and bounce off the surface as if hitting solid rock.
After briefly blacking out, Alan woke just in time to strike the surface yet again, forcing him to grunt harshly as the impact forced all of the air from his lungs. This time he thankfully hadn't bounced, instead sliding face first down the side of the hill. Which had the unfortunate side effect of leaving him with his opened mouth filled with sand.
Finally coming to a stop, and somehow still alive, Alan saw that he had only 26 Hp remaining of his 255 total, a sixty second (Paralysis) Debuff due to an injured spine as well as a notification that sometime during the plunge, he for some reason had gained a new Skill. Pulling up the notification, the lackluster Skill left much to be desired, to the point of almost being pointless.
Remarkable! Due to your inability to maintain your footing you have acquired the (Common) Skill [Falling with Character]!
(C)[Falling with Character] Lvl 1- This passive Skill provides a miniscule chance to remain uninjured after falling from unknown heights.
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Chance to remain uninjured increases with Skill level.
"Wow! Thanks for that," Alan grumbled, unable to do anything else as the system slowly healed his battered body. His (Paralysis) Debuff countdown hit zero, and a heat radiating through his spine informed him that movement was available to him once again. Not bothering to sit up, Alan flopped over onto his back, and got his first good look at his surroundings.
The cavernous room had no discernable light source, but was still well lit. At least one hundred feet above his head, the roof seemed to be a massive stationary sand whirlpool, slowly rotating in place. Somehow supporting this eerie ceiling were 6 massive columns.
The columns stood arranged in a circle around the pile of sand Alan had fallen into, and were spaced nearly 200 feet apart. The pillars spanned the full hundred feet from floor to ceiling. Each one seemed to be carved from a single enormous slab of marble, leaving Alan in awe of the scale of this formidable construction effort.
A circular wall of sandstone outside the perimeter of the marble columns enclosed the entire area from floor to ceiling. Effectively sealing Alan off from the outside world.
Well... Shit! Alan was thankful to be alive, but it seemed he wasn't out of the woods yet. What is this place? It's obviously man-made... Or at least made by SOMETHING...
Finally healed enough to sit up, Alan placed his back against a cool pile of sand, and pulled some jerky from his inventory and used [Examine] on it.
Jerky- Rations provided at Tutorial Introduction. Relieves hunger.
Certainly not the most detailed description.
Underwhelming information aside , Alan was still amazed by the convenience of his storage ring. Returning his uneaten jerky, he removed his canteen from inventory and drank deeply of the cool, slightly sweet water. Once his thirst was quenched, Alan used [Examine] on the canteen.
Self-refilling Water Canteen- Provides an unlimited amount of water.
"I should've expected that," Alan muttered, storing his canteen and withdrawing a Health and Mana Potion, he felt like a tool for even trying, but still used [Examine] nonetheless.
(Basic) Health Potion- Restores 100 Hp over 30 seconds.
(Basic) Mana Potion- Restores 100 Mp over 30 seconds.
Storing his Potions, and pulling his canteen from inventory, he began to look around and quickly realized that there was nothing of interest to be seen from his current vantage point. Resolving to explore the room he'd found himself forced into, after cleaning himself up first, he pushed himself to his feet and removed his armor. Tilting the canteen over his head, Alan quickly rinsed the sand and grit from his hair and body, followed by his leathers.
Finished with his makeshift shower, Alan equipped his armor, and felt as the Stat bonus took immediate effect. Drawing his dagger just in case, he walked toward the first marble pillar. Placing his hand against the cool stone, he slowly circled around the column. Rounding the far side, he was met with an expansive sandstone wall containing a large archway, and stairs leading up. Both were carved directly into the sandstone.
Approaching the archway, and climbing the first few stairs, Alan was disappointed when he saw the roof had apparently long since collapsed, leaving the stairwell an impassible wall of sand. Staring at the sand-filled stairwell, a strange pulse echoed out in the back of his mind, followed by a tingling in the center of his chest.
Alan's tension steadily mounted as he felt the bizarre sensations building into an uncomfortable buzzing. Fearing the fall might've left him with lasting damage, he determined his safest bet would be to take it easy a bit longer. As he turned away from the stairwell, almost instantly the ringing in his chest started to recede.
Sitting on the bottom step, he called up his Status tab, hoping to glean any new information while forced to wait for his heart to calm down.
Name: Alan Robbins
Race: Human(G) LVL 0 EXP 0/250
Class:
Cultivation core: (dormant)
Titles:
***STATISTICS***
Hp: 255/255
Mp: 150/150
Stamina: 309/309
Hp Regeneration: 37.5 per minute
Mp Regeneration: 22.5 per minute
Stamina Regeneration: 52.5 per minute
Strength: 5 (7)
Constitution: 5 (15)
Vitality: 5 (6)
Endurance: 5
Perception: 5
Agility: 5
Dexterity: 5 (6)
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Resistance: 5
Willpower: 5
Luck: 10
Unallocated Status Points: 0
*** SKILLS***
(B)[Examine] Lvl 1
(C)[Multiversal Language Comprehension] Lvl 1
(C)[Falling with Character] Lvl 1
*** SPELLS ***
Alan started off by casting [Examine] directly on his stats, which provided him with nothing but another [Examine] Failed notice. Cursing Skarg and its worthless info download, Alan was left with only the basic information the giant eye provided. He somehow knew that putting additional Stat points into Strength would increase his Strength attribute, and points to Luck would likewise increase his Luck attribute. But what exactly was Strength? How would one quantify Luck? Or Intelligence? What exactly did Willpower and Resistance signify?
Of all the things for Uncle Alex to forget about... Alan hung his head. Why didn't he tell me more about Stats?! What is the best way to use them? Just gonna have to figure it out... Hopefully they will have some more information in the Tutorial town...
Unable to answer even the most basic of his questions, Alan instead removed a handful of trail mix from his Storage Ring, and enjoyed a snack. As he was finishing up his handful of peanuts and raisins, Alan pondered his next move.
There don't seem to be any beasts, Alan noticed. At least not in this room. But I still have no idea where I'm supposed to go. He stared around, absently hoping for an Administrator to come to his aid. Guess I could try digging out the stairwell for a while? It's not like I'm going to run out of water anytime soon...
Unsheathing his dagger and turning around Alan drove the blade into the wall of sand blocking his ascent. Meeting no resistance, he sheathed his blade, and began to use his hands to dig a hole. As sand rapidly piled up at his feet, he bent over and started to fling handfuls of sand haphazardly between his legs and back into the cavernous chamber behind him.
A tunnel rapidly formed which only made the pulsing in his skull increase its tempo, keeping an even pace with the uncomfortable buzzing in his chest. Feeling as if he was on the cusp of Something Alan increased his pace, quickly doubling the size of his excavation.
His fingertips tore roughly through the sand, and Alan was caught off guard by a foul odor wafting from the slowly expanding hole, followed soon after by a change in the texture of the sand. Unwilling to stop, he continued madly clawing through the newfound, stinking clay-like layer of debris. The pressure that had built up within his skull suddenly released, leaving behind a ravenous excitement. His heart rang out in glee. Alan was unsure exactly what he was going to find, but he somehow knew it was about to happen.
His blue eyes gleamed over a toothy grin. Alan just assumed this was just another quirk of the system, like some kind of 6th sense for the unknown or something.
Tearing out a large chunk of rancid sand revealed a confusing sight. Slowing his pace, Alan quickly understood that he'd been staring at the bottom third of a leather boot. Looking at his own boots Alan found himself uncomfortable with how similar his boots were to those on the floor.
A boot? But what is it doing all the way down here?
Unless...
Fully excavating the boot revealed an attached ankle, followed soon after by an entire skeletal leg. Curled around the leg, Alan eventually noticed a bony arm and excessively long hand that had its sharp-clawed fingers fully splayed open. The feeling of bile rushing up his throat forced Alan to pause his digging.
Turning his head to the side, he noisily vomited up his trail mix, the process leaving him dry heaving on his knees. A long drink followed by a few splashes from his canteen successfully cleaned his hands and face, but were unable to wash away his confusion and disgust.
Why was I so excited? Alan wondered. Why am I STILL excited? I was so sure something amazing was waiting for me and this is what I find? Did something go wrong with whatever Skarg downloaded into my head? Did it download something else? Something insidious? Would I even be able to tell the difference?
Resolving himself to at least re-bury this unfortunate individual, Alan froze up upon closer inspection of the clawed skeletal fingers. Staring back at Alan, causing his chest to buzz excitedly, was a simple silver ring, set with a small red stone.
It was a perfect match to the Spatial Storage Ring currently resting on his finger. As he gently removed the skeletons ring, Alan said a quick thank you. Without pause, he pushed a tiny amount of his Mana into the ring and was shocked speechless upon viewing his new Storage Ring's inventory.