In the few minutes it took to reach his front door, distant howls could already be heard from just outside the town. The already fragile protective cover seemed to vibrate. It wouldn’t hold long.

After unlocking the door, Dylan dashed to the small safe that housed the mana crystals, quickly entering the correct combination.

As he pulled out the crystals, there was a loud bang mixed with a shattering sound. A window being smashed, infinitely magnified. The protective cover was gone.

Dylan quickly handed all five mana crystals to the girl. “If you use your shield to guard us both, how long can it last?”

“It’s just a shoddy old thing made to be used by the uninitiated. You saw how it worked in class.” The girl grumbled. “Even if it was at the end of its mana crystal at the time, that small impact was almost enough to overload it.”

“How long?”

She closed her eyes, visibly trying to suppress her shoulders shaking. “If it’s set to cover a wide enough area for both of us, against the strength of a real dungeon monster, one blow. One blow per crystal.” A deep breath. “And I’ll need a few seconds to change the crystal and reset the shield each time.”

Howls and fighting could be heard in the distance.

“It’ll have to be enough.” Dylan said. “There’s no time to find better shelter.” He pointed to a door to the left. “That's the basement. Help me barricade the front of it and then wait for me downstairs. I need to grab something.”

The girl nodded.

Dylan would have suggested setting up the barricade behind the front door, but the large windows to either side made that futile.

They piled up what furniture they could before the girl climbed over it, disappearing from sight.

Dylan rushed into his parents’ room, heading straight for a large closet at the back. Inside, he found a worn piece of leather armor, two daggers, and a mana-enhanced longsword. From a small trunk on the floor, he removed 3 small vials. One red, two white.

Without wasting any more time, Dylan rushed back to the basement door. He placed the gear on top of the barricade before climbing it himself. Pausing to take a quick breath, he tried to relax and open his senses, listening for the situation outside, but he had trouble hearing much over the sound of his own drumming pulse. All he knew was that the fighting was getting closer.

Hurriedly lowering himself to the ground, he grabbed the gear, shut the door, and rushed down the stairs.

The girl looked at what he was carrying and asked, “What’ve you got?”

“Leather armor, daggers, a mana sword, one healing potion, and two peppercloud potions.” He piled everything on the ground before continuing, “I figure we’ll most likely be seeing welves. They’re the fastest and most common monsters in the dungeon, so they’re the best bet to get past the city guard.”

The girl frowned. “You’re probably right. I just hope if one gets in here, it’s not advanced.” She reached for a dagger. “And it doesn’t come with a pack.”

There was a tacit division of the equipment. Dylan took the armor, the sword, and the healing potion. They split the daggers and peppercloud potions one a piece.

In their simple plan, the girl would use the shield to block attacks and Dylan would do his best to buy her the time she needed to change out its mana crystal.

The basement was a mostly open space used for sparring, so there wasn’t much that could be used to create a second barricade at the bottom of the stairs. The best they could do was move and flip over a sturdy table. The rest was waiting.

Occasionally stretching, both to distract themselves and to keep from getting stiff, the two tried to stay quiet and not attract attention. Despite their best preparations, they were still two uninitiated teenagers. Without going through the Tutorial, they didn’t have full access to the System, and without full access to the System, they didn’t have stats or classes. No classes meant they didn’t have the most effective means to fight back against a monster, and no stats, especially no resilience, meant they could be shredded as easily as paper.

The best they could hope for was to remain unnoticed until the situation outside stabilized.

Unfortunately, only ten minutes or so had passed before they could hear fighting coming from the streets just outside the house. Shadows shifted past the short horizontal windows that slit across the basement just below the ceiling. Not long after, they could hear a banging sound against the front door.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The simple wooden door, not designed to resist monster attacks, quickly collapsed. Vibrations rippled through the floor above them.

Whatever had gotten inside rummaged around a bit before it could be heard moving to the barricade. Clearly catching their scent, the monster became more active as it tried to reach them.

Dylan looked at the girl and she nodded, clenching her dagger in her left hand and the peppercloud potion in her right. She would act first. When the monster reached the bottom of the steps, she would immediately throw the potion, hopefully blinding it and disrupting its other senses.

If either of them saw an opening, they would do their best to strike at the monster’s vitals; if they didn’t, they would do their best to survive.

Dylan took deep breaths, trying to force himself to stay calm and focused.

In. Furniture screeched as it was dragged across the floor.

Out. Banging as something was thrown into a wall.

In. The scrambling of claws across wooden boards as the monster pulled back and then charged the barricade.

Out. A crashing impact that shook the door at the top of the stairs.

In. A snarl of pain and frustration.

Out. The shuffling of wreckage.

In. Silence.

Out. An explosion of wooden chunks as the door shattered, its remains skating down the stairs and crashing into the table at the bottom.

In. A howl of triumph.

Out. Growls and rushing feet as a mass of fur and fury swept down the stairs.

In. An agonized yelp as a white vial shattered on the monster’s head, spreading a grey cloud that seeped into its eyes, nose, and mouth.

Out. Dylan readied his sword, standing just in front of the girl. Ready to strike. Hoping her shield would hold.

The monster was a welf. A mutated wolf, grown larger and more ferocious by dungeon mana. Intermediate maturity. Halfway between its canine ancestors and the bipedal beasts the species’ advanced form would become. It had dark grey fur, thick hind legs, and oversized claws that dragged on the ground before it.

The girl had timed the use of her potion well. The monster had lost its footing on the last of the stairs and crashed into the table.

Dylan took the moment of the monster’s disorientation to lunge out and strike with his sword.

A mistake.

The welf’s other senses may have been burning and impaired, but its hearing was fine. It turned its head and swung one of its foreclaws at Dylan.

The girl’s shield blocked the blow, but true to her guess, immediately shattered. The impact sent Dylan tumbling backwards, and the unavoidable noise let the welf keep track of him the whole time.

The beast howled as it lurched to stand on four legs and charged. Dylan just barely managed to regain his senses and roll out of the way before being mauled. He darted his eyes to the girl as he gained his feet. Still changing crystals.

Eyes back on the welf. Its ears twitched and it slowly turned to face Dylan. Trying to think of a way to distract it, even for a moment, he grabbed a piece of the broken table off the floor and threw it behind the beast.

As wood hit wall, the welf turned its head around and Dylan moved back to stand with the girl. The second crystal was in place.

Sensing nothing behind it, the monster returned its attention to the two teens. A low growl rumbled from its chest, it crouched down and pounced.

This time Dylan didn’t move. Counting on the shield to keep him alive and the welf’s temporary blindness to keep it off guard, he planted his feet and held the sword before him. Willing the monster to impale itself.

He was rewarded with two massive claws. One broke the shield, the other left several deep gashes running from his right shoulder to his chest, shredding the leather armor. His planted feet did prevent him from tumbling across the room again, but even still, he was forced to jump backward to avoid the welf’s forward momentum.

Luckily, the sword found purchase. It cut a gash several inches long before impaling the monster’s chest with a quarter of its length. Where it stayed.

The shock of the beast’s impact combined with the now severely bleeding wound caused Dylan to lose his grip.

Overall, the welf came off better in the exchange, but it was distracted enough for the two teens to retreat across the room.

While the girl changed to the third mana crystal, Dylan drank the healing potion. It was less effective on him than it would be on someone who actually had stats, but it still did the trick. The bleeding quickly stopped, and pain caused by the gashes were replaced by an itchy numbness. He was far from being truly healed, but the potion was good enough to keep him in the fight.

As the welf worked the sword out from its chest, Dylan readied his own peppercloud potion. The beast once again turned to face the teens. Just as Dylan was about to throw the vial, a flash of glowing text filled his vision.

[The System has detected you have come of appropriate age and are now eligible for initiation. You will be included in the next Tutorial.]

Startled, the potion slipped from his grasp, veering off course.

[The Tutorial will begin in five seconds.]

The white vial landed weakly on the monster’s torso, failing to shatter.

[5]

The welf charged.

[4]

Dylan and the girl jumped in opposite directions, and this time it was her who took the brunt of the monster’s attack. Because it was impaired by the first peppercloud potion, its aim was slightly off, but the blow was still strong enough for the shield to shatter.

[3]

The girl rolled away, only coming to a stop when she crashed into the wall behind her. Dylan, with no way to get to her with the monster between them, jumped towards his fumbled potion.

[2]

There was no time to operate the shield. If they couldn’t distract the welf, it would mean death. Dylan grabbed the potion from the ground and flung it blindly behind him. When his eyes followed its trajectory, he saw the monster towering over the girl. Still on the ground, she held her dagger ready to do whatever damage it could.

[1]

The potion once again missed the head, hitting the welf’s torso. This time, however, there was enough force behind the throw for the vial to break. The grey cloud spread, clawing its way into the hole Dylan’s sword left in the beast’s chest. It aborted its attack on the girl, howling in pain.

[Welcome to the System.]

Dylan and the girl both vanished.