The graveyard where he once stood had disappeared as he found himself in a completely foreign area that looked like a rural farming area. Nathan was standing in the middle of a newly created camp where quite a few people were doing random chores or just lazing around looking bored. Before he could take in the situation at the camp any more himself an old man in his fifties with a noticeable beer gut had approached him.
"Hey, you must have just returned from the tutorial so welcome to our small camp, I'm Bryan the owner of this small farm.” The man reached out for a handshake that Nathan accepted, His hands were big and rough from doing hard labor over many years.
“Yeah, I’m Nathan glad to be back with all my limbs again.” Before losing his arm and several fingers he had never appreciated then actually being there and not having to use artificially self-made ones.
“Sounds like you had quite the rough time over there young man, come next to the fire and have some beef stew. It’s my grandfather’s recipe so I’m sure you would enjoy it.” Like the old man’s offer, Nathan joined him near the fireplace as Bryan poured him thick beef stew in a bowl.
“Young man you must be curious about what has changed since you were in the tutorial with all the scary stuff the guide put in our heads!’ Nathan nodded as he immensely enjoyed the beef stew it had felt like forever since he ate something with proper seasoning and spices.
“Hmm well, where should I start. Since all of this happened there has been no electricity. The phones have no signal as well so have no idea what’s going on out there.” While listening to the man he had already finished his bowl of stew and was going for seconds.
“Ah, I’m glad to see you’re enjoying the stew. We got plenty of meat for it since the farm animals went all crazy and we had to put them down. Sigh even that good boy I had for over ten years went all crazy.” The old man instantly looked sad as he recalled that sad memory of him needing to put down his loyal companion.
“Sorry about that, where was I? Ah yes, we got plenty of food due to it but other supplies like toilet paper and other essential things are running out. So some of the young lads around the camp have decided to go to the town to see how things are there. Yuuki over here will be acting as the leader for our trip to the town.” Bryan pointed to a young Asain man in his late teens that was eating some stew near them.
“Nathan was it? You look quite strong, do you wanna join us in our expedition to the town?” Yuuki had been listening to their conversation on the side this whole time. Finally getting the opportunity he was looking for.
“Sure, how far away is the town?” Nathan saw no reason not to join them. This was even a great opportunity to grow his level even further.
“It’s 5 kilometers away so about an hour’s walk I would say. What level are you? What can you do?”
“Level 6 and mostly magic.” As Nathan talked he summed some water mana while making some shapes in the air with it. Demonstrating that he wasn’t just bull shitting them.
They kept chatting for a while as they got to know each other better as well introducing the rest of the people that would be going on the trip. Nathan found out the highest level prior to him showing up in the camp was only 4 while most of them were only level one or two. Turns out now that the system was introduced to the world it had some hidden benefits as well. For example, it automatically translated any language to the one the person understood the best as Yuuki had been talking in his native tongue this whole time as well as hearing it.
After they had chatted for a couple of minutes the last member they were waiting for had returned and they were ready to go.
"So, Nathan I meant to ask you before this, but what’s up with that white mist that always hovers around you? Around the camp, there was none that could see Nicole at best only the white mist silhouettes that hovered around Nathan.
“It’s just one of my skills.” Nathan didn’t want to tell others about Nicole, knowing most would find it really strange. The fewer people knew about it the better it was for him.
An eager looking small lady had approached Nathan as well as she began to chat with him. She was the last member they had been waiting for
"Could you teach me some of your magic?
"I can teach you wind magic in return!" She was one of those people that we're fascinated by the newfound ability to use magic there were a surprisingly small number of people that could use magic in the camp. That was also the reason the rest of the group was waiting for her. She was off learning magic from another guy in the camp.
“Sure, I can try teaching you water magic.” It was a trade of equal value as Nathan began to tell her how water magic worked while demonstrating it. Subconcensily they had both moved to the back of the group as they created a distance between the group. It was a trade between the two of them there was no reason to let others benefit from it. It took her about an hour to finally be able to change her mana into water causing quite a bit of frustration in Nathan seeing her not able to do something he viewed as easy.
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"Thank you, uhm let me teach you wind magic now then." Her name was Elizabeth, she had long lush blonde hair and bright blue eyes. With a friendly demeanor that made her quite the charming little lady. Teaching magic turned into quite the interesting experience as they knew how to use it only by the information they got from the system and rephrasing it into words others could understand turned out to be more difficult than initially assumed but Nathans perfected adaptations was in full effect as he felt the wind mana Elizabeth used and her being a better teacher than him as he quickly picked it up.
| Wind magic | Level 1 |
| By using mana you can control and create wind around you. With high enough mastery you can change the properties of the wind as well. |
| Mana consumption based on the degree of manipulation and environment. |
| Unsuitable base mana: Cost of wind magic increased by 25% |
By then they could already see the small town in the distance and things were not looking good. Both of them rejoined with the group as they began to decide on how they would proceed. They could already see a lot of the buildings had been greatly damaged as if a war was fought in that small town just a couple of hours ago.
“There is a weird creature in that building!”
A guy looking through binoculars exclaimed in shock as he pointed to a building with a destroyed wall, drawing everyone’s attention to it.
Nathan with his enchanted sight had an easier time seeing the creature compared to the rest. It was about four meters tall with a hunched back. Its whole body was covered in reptilian scales. Even with those scales covering its body you could see it’s unnaturally muscular physique together with that massive tail covered in spikes it would definitely pose a great problem for most in their group.
“Fuck I can’t believe such monsters now exist in our world!”
"Yeah, what the hell are the government and the army even doing, letting such creatures be in town!”
"Yeah, what the hell are the government and the army even doing!" Like a chain reaction from those that had yet to accept the world had truly changed started to well up. They had been split up from their families and seeing such a threatening creature here in their world worried them deeply. What if their mothers or wives were attacked by something like that? Even if they had grown a bit stronger facing something like that seemed impossible. Most of them still believed things would return on how they were in due time.
"Calm down everyone!" Yuuki tried his best to calm down the group as their leader but it wasn't too effective.
"Yuuki, do you plan to fight such a beast? Can you even do anything to it?"
"We can just enter the town from a different angle. We still have to find some supplies for our group!"
"So are we supposed to risk our lives in that town while they just sit there doing nothing!"
"No, but..." Before things kept escalating, even more, Nathan passed them by as he started to walk towards the town.
"Let's not waste our time here if you're too scared to enter the town, leave." With that being said Nathan kept walking ignoring the group behind him. He was fully confident in his own abilities, something that most lacked in the group.
"Nathan wait up!" Elizabeth called out to him as she ran towards him leaving the group behind as well. In the end, their group of 9 people had split up as 4 of them returned to the farm. Surprisingly the group that entered the town had two females while the group that left had none.
Yuuki had approached Nathan's side as he quietly spoke to him.
"Thanks, I didn't know what to do there."
"Don't worry let's go."
One of the rare people that were originally from the area spoke up as they had almost entered the small town.
"There's a small shop quite close to us." He pointed to the desolate street where they could see a building with its windows destroyed as the sign that once let others know it was a shop had blocked its entrance.
"Alright let's go." It was much better than just wandering the town with no goal in mind.
Halfway towards the shop, Nathan had suddenly noticed a pair of claws reaching out from the side of the alleyway. The hand of those claws was covered in the same dark scales letting him know it was the same type of creature they had spotted before.
Reacting fast Nathan rushed towards it as the mana in his body gathered into his hand as he began to convert into a dense cluster of wind mana. The compressed wind mana in his hands blasted the creature off its feet as it's two claws left deep marks on the sides of the buildings. The blast of wind had done no damage to the creature but had created an opportunity for Nathan's follow up attack. The skin in his hand split apart as a bone spike emerged from it condensing into a dense and sharp spike that quickly plunged into the belly of the creature as Nathan dodged the kick it threw at him. Not stopping there from the plunged bone spike, more spikes sprouted as they pierced the insides of the creature that looked like a mix between a human and an alligator that had been fed steroids since its embryo phase.
It let out a roar of pain as it clutched the two walls that entrapped it using them as support to lunge at Nathan with its alligator-like jaw. Yet before it could succeed and rip Nathan apart Nicole emerged from the wall next to it as her claws materialized enclosing around its neck leaving deep gashes as it split open its scales. Giving Nathan the time he needed to dodge its attack as he cut off his connection with the bone spike. From the lunge, it’s body fell on the street in view of the rest of the group.
“I got this!” A bone sword materialized in Nathans’s hands as it pierced the eye socket of the beast. Using all the strength in his body Nathan plunged the bone sword even deeper in its head reaching its brain and ending its life. The beast stood no chance from the moment it got struck by the surprise attack of Nathans.
| Level 9 Laceromo has been slain. |
|+ 270(-50%) Experience |
"Let's go before more show up!" Nathan's strength had truly surprised them, he had told them he was just a mage but his physical powers seemed even way better than Yuukis creating a lot of questions they had towards him. Still, they were grateful for having such a strong member of their group even if it was a pity he wasn't in the party and they didn't get any experience.
They were smart enough to realize this wasn’t the right time to question Nathan about his abilities as they quickly entered the shop through the broken window. A nasty stench had suddenly hit them from inside the shop. Without electricity, some of the products had gone bad not to mention it was quite hot outside. Even worse those that had come before them had ruined a lot of the food as it was thrown on the ground and stepped on or even half-eaten and just thrown on the ground afterward.
Just as they had started to scavenge the shop of supplies they could take with them Nathan had picked up an odd buzzing sound that was becoming louder with every second. Not wasting any time Nathan rushed out from the shop only to see the distant sky and land had turned dark as an absolutely massive swarm of insects was approaching the town fast. The newfound power he had found so much confidence before meant nothing in front of such a force. For the first time after coming out of the tutorial, Nathan began to feel truly hopeless in front of the changing world he had just begun to explore.