Nicole’s body began to appear riddled with holes all over her. She had become completely transparent as if the slightest breeze would extinguish her existence. If Nathan had killed the skeleton only a couple of seconds later she would have died right here. The system that governed the tutorial didn’t seem to treat her the same way it would a player, making Nathan question if she died would she return back to the real world as he would? He wasn’t willing to test it out even if he had to sacrifice himself in the process. With one of his arms completely missing and the other's arms hand completely cripled he didn’t see himself lasting much longer in the tutorial as well. But before that could happen he began to accept the rewards of killing the giant skeleton.
| Level 5 Elite corrupted guardian has been slain x2 |
| + 100(-50%) Experience |
| Level 5 Boss sealed bone king has been slain |
|+ 250(-50%) Experience |
| Level up |
| Tutorial feat has been accomplished. |
| Conquest of the sealed king. (Solo) |
| You alone have done the impossible and won against a small army of spirits and dethroned their king. |
| Rewards: Osteokinesis, 1 skill point, 2 attribute points, Sealed kings cloak. |
| You have surpassed the max level of the tutorial enabling you to leave the tutorial. |
As soon as Nathan accepted the feat rewards the knowledge of osteokinesis filled his mind as well. He had gained an understanding of how to control and create bones with his mana. With this newly gained power, he saw a ray hope to still continue the tutorial. Using his mana he began to grow out the bones in his arm while using them to seal off the bleeding wounds. They clamped around his open wounds stopping the bleeding while investing 3 of his attribute points into vitality raising it all the way to 20 with the bonus from shared power ensuring his vitality will be able to sustain his messed up body.
Taking care of the immediate danger Nathan checked out his gains in more detail as he began to meditate to regain his mana.
| Sealed bone kings cloak |
| The cloak that had been with the sealed bone king since the very start of his journey. |
| Increases osteokinesis experience gain by 10% |
| Decreases osteokinesis cost by 10% |
| Increases magical power by 10% |
| Osteokinesis | Level 1 |
| By using mana you can control and create bones with high enough mastery you can change the properties of the bones. |
| Mana consumption based on the degree of manipulation and environment. |
| Using osteokinesis on already existing bones greatly reduces mana consumption. |
| Unsuitable base mana: Cost of Osteokinesis increased by 25% |
Taking off the bloody rags that his shirt had become, Nathan replaced it with the sealed king’s cloak that had shrunk to fit his body perfectly. Nathan especially enjoyed the look of the cloak with its deep dark color that seemed to just suck the light around it in with the runes in the color of bones that covered it. With its length, it could hide his shirtless body completely as it reached down all the way to his ankles.
Now with the bonus from the sealed king’s cloak and full mana, Nathan began to grow out a skeleton arm out of his stump of an arm. It was a slow process but slowly and surely he had manipulated his mana to create a bone arm and restore his fingers. In the process of restoring his arm, Nathan even acquired a new skill as well.
| Mana manipulation | Level 1 |
| Your control over mana has reached the threshold to be counted as a skill. You're able to support your spell casting with the natural mana of the environment. |
| Mana consumption up to -5% |
| Mana control +5% |
The effects from it were quite minor but in the end, it added up saving him quite a bit of time as his control over mana grew better together with the environment that boosted his mana regeneration. The restored arm wasn’t anywhere near perfect with lots of minor errors all over the bone arm but it was good enough for his first attempt with Osteokinesis. Still, unless he controlled it with mana it only limply handed on the stump that his arm had become making him now constantly use up his mana but it was better than just having a stump. The last attribute point was added to mana while his 2 skill points were added into shared energy.
Now that his situation has completely stabilized Nicole had signaled to him through their connection that she was lacking in vitality to restore her body to its peak state. Even after all this time she was as transparent as before only the holes that riddled his body had been closed restoring her beautiful appearance.
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"Take it" He could feel the vitality from his body leaving as it transferred to Nicole as her body slowly became less and less transparent with every second his vitality was drained. His base vitality of 10 had dropped to 9 afterward. Compared to most Spiritualist Nathan's situation was quite different as having a spirit that didn't linger in the world of the living due to malicious intent was a rare event and finding a spirit that would collaborate with you willingly is even harder. Mostly they would do everything they can to tax their host's vitality for a greater chance to possess their bodies and gain a living body for themselves. Even sometimes going as far as to take damage purposefully so their master would be forced to spend vitality to restore them.
Now that Nicole had returned to her peak form, Nathan had left the desolate temple in search of more benefits from the tutorial. As his stats kept increasing so did his apatite causing quite a big problem with having no way he could start a fire until he recalled something so obvious he had completely missed it leaving him feeling quite dumb.
Retaking the path he took to get to the temple Nathan soon enough found the corpse of the Alpha wolf picked clean of its meat by the beasts of the forest. Near its body was the broken staff that Kyle once used. Removing the red crystal from the damaged wood he acquired a fire crystal.
| Fires crystal |
| A naturally formed crystal filed with fire mana. |
Now that Nathan had acquired a way to create a fire by infusing his mana into the fire crystal. He quickly proceeded to hunt down a mighty deer with the help of Nicole and his soul slash netting himself some cooked meat. Without any proper tools or spices to enchant its flavor, it didn’t taste too good but it still made him extremely happy as just munching on wild berries and fruits couldn’t restore all the energy his body needed.
Through the constant use of his mana manipulation to control his bone arm and the four fingers he was missing it had leveled up.
| Mana manipulation | Level 2 |
| You're able to support your spell casting with the natural mana of the environment. |
| Mana consumption up to -10% |
| Mana control +10% |
As it didn't seem worth it to run around and hunt down the random beasts in the tutorial Nathan began to walk upstream near the river he had found. It was Nathan's second day in the tutorials stage 1 and the world outside this safe environment had already changed drastically. Three factions had gained access to Nathan's world. The faction that could be viewed as a neutral faction that gave the world its system letting it defend against the invading forces. The guide was also part of this faction and had given Nathan an explanation of what had happened. The mana that had invaded his planet had already started to drastically change the natural environment of the planet. While the tutorial was a great place to find your way of combat that would suit yourself and by overcoming challenges and gaining rewards that would give you power beyond others the neutral faction didn't offer these benefits to those that weren't in the tutorial. While in stage 1 of the tutorial the max level of creatures was restricted to 5 while in the outside world it was free for all with no major restrictions making Nathan wonder if it was truly worth staying in the tutorial for this long. He had yet to realize that more than a billion humans had already died with that number becoming higher every second.
Still, the benefits of getting a feat done in the tutorial were just too good for him to leave just yet and soon enough he had found a target. Near the river was a cave with bones all around it. Inside the cave was the biggest creature Nathan had ever seen a bear with a physique greater than that of an elephant. Compared to a normal bear it's appearance had changed greatly as well. Its claws were much greater in size while its fur was a mix of green and brown with vines and moss growing from its body.
It was currently sleeping inside the cave on a pile of bones. There was even a recently half-eaten deer still in the cave. Its massive body required a lot of food giving it a habit of storing extra prey in its cave while over time more and more remains of its prey had amassed in its cave. The bear was known as the forest god. One of the strongest opponents in the whole tutorial.
Its nap had been completely ruined as the bones all around it rose into the air as they morphed into sharp spikes that pierced its body from every angle making it look like a giant porcupine. The attack had barely pierced its tick hide but had greatly annoyed it. The natural mana in its body began to mix with its blood as its wounds healed with visible speed as bone spikes fell from its body. Its two gigantic front paws slammed the ground sending out a wave of mana rooting Nathan in place as the roots of plants entrapped Nathan in their embrace as they began to sprout thorns, lodging themselves in Nathan's body.
Before things got completely out of hand Nicole had freed him from the root’s clutches as Nathan jumped and rolled out of the way of the bear's charge. Its body had hit a tree instead uprooting it from the ground itself. The forest king clutched the fallen tree in its paw before throwing it at Nathan with the help of its mana. Only for Nathan to intercept it as a blade resembling the head of an axe manifested in front of him splitting the tree in half from the force of the bear's throw. The ground trembled as the forest king began to charge at Nathan once again as it tanked the soul slashes that were thrown at him.
Nicole had already left Nathan's side by now as she manifested her claws and engaged the bear leaving claw wounds all over its body that were visibly healing. The forest god's claws glowed with green light as he swatted her only to be intercepted by a bone spike giving enough time for her to circle it as her claws left marks on its body. The vines on its body began to grow and thicken as he began to use them as whips to strike at her body. She intercepted the vines with her claws as the ground beneath the forest god got littered with pieces of shredded vines.
"Come back!" Nathan's mana was running low. He needed her to return to begin energy transfer so he can start using his soul slash once again. Physical attacks barely did anything to the forest god with its high defense and insane regeneration. The forest god began to send out waves of mana towards Nathan as he kept chasing him. In terms of speed, it was faster than Nathan but its gigantic body hindered its pursuit as the trees kept getting in its way. Before he knew it Nicole had run out of mana she could transfer him as her body grew transparent.
"Consume my vitality to restore your mana!" He didn't believe the forest god would be able to take much more of his soul slashes as its healing abilities didn't encompass its soul. His bet had paid off as after taking another 5 attacks its body crashed to the ground to never move again. It had cost him 1 of his base vitality to take it down but it had been well worth it as he began to read the rewards.
| Level 5 Boss Forest god has been slain |
|+ 250(-50%) Experience |
| Tutorial feat has been accomplished. |
| Mightier than the forest god. (Solo) |
| You have vanquished the forest god without a team, a feat deserving an equally great reward. |
| Rewards: Plant magic, 1 skill point, 2 attribute points, Lesser health regeneration. |
The information about his two newly acquired skills began to flow in his mind as he gained the understanding to use them.
| Plant magic | Level 1 |
| By using mana you can control the plants around you with high enough mastery you can even create plants. |
| Mana consumption based on the degree of manipulation and environment. |
| Using plant magic on already existing plants greatly reduces mana consumption. |
| Unsuitable base mana: Cost of plant magic increased by 25% |
| Lesser health regeneration | Level 1 |
| Passive: Increases bodies natural healing properties by 20% |
A few of his skills had leveled up as well.
| Spirit mana | Level 2 |
| Your body's mana has attuned itself with spirit properties. |
| Passive: Mana regeneration increased in a rich spirit mana environment. |
| Using magic not related to spirit mana takes more mana. |
| +4 Mana and magic power |
| Soul slash | Level 3 |
| Send out a slash of spirit mana damaging the soul |
| Damage: 150% |
| Range 15 meters |
| Cost: 1.5 Mana |
Nathan added a point in his mana and magic power raising their base value to 12 and 10. As he began to use his bone arm to butcher the corpse of the forest god preparing to cook its meat.