The meat of the forest god was simply delicious even without any seasoning to it. After being forced to sustain himself on fruits and berries all this time he couldn’t help but overeat it. In this process, he had found something quite interesting as a system message appeared in front of him.
| Forest god’s gallbladder |
| The gallbladder of the forest god is potent enough to work as a natural elixir of its own giving benefits to the body on consumption. |
| Increases the natural strength of your immune system. |
| Increases the efficiency of your digestion. |
| Has a synergy effect when eaten together with forest god’s heart. |
| Forest god's heart |
| The heart of the forest god still contains the residual essence of its power after eating it you can inherit some of its innate power as well. |
| Increases your natural health regeneration by 10 points. |
| Has a synergy effect when eaten together with forest god’s Gallbladder. |
| Forest god’s power |
| If a forest god's heart and gallbladder are eaten at the same time their effects will be greatly boosted and create new ones in the process. |
| the immune system will be greatly strengthened. |
| The body will be able to digest a much greater variety of substances without harming the body as well as utilize them for the benefit of your body to a much greater degree. |
| Body’s natural regeneration will be strengthened, raising it by 25 points. |
| You will acquire a minor plant magic affinity. |
| Increases experience gain of plant magic by 25% |
Nathan was truly surprised by this discovery, he would have missed it completely if he hadn’t been so greedy with its meat and butchered the forest gods corpse so much. Now he couldn’t help but wonder what else he had missed so far if things like forest god’s power from eating it existed.
While most would feel disgusted about eating a raw gallbladder and a heart of an animal. Nathan felt excited for the increase in power they would give him as he gobbled them up. Their taste was truly rancid with his increased sense just making it even worse as he held back from puking it all out. His body felt numb now with a tingling sensation all over his body that lasted for a couple of minutes before the system notified him of gaining the forest god’s power.
Something unexpected had happened as well, he had unlocked the ability to look at his health and mana regeneration after gaining forest god’s power.
| Health regeneration: 31/m |
| Mana regeneration: 0,6/m |
Nathan couldn’t see his maximum health value so he was quite unsure how potent 31 health regeneration per minute was. But after gaining forest god’s power he now felt full of energy and hungry once again as he proceeded to cook more of its meat before following the stream once again.
After a couple of hours of walking upstream, Nathan finally reached a gigantic lake that was connected to the stream he was following. The other side of the lake was covered by a massive wall of mist that covered the sky and land obstructing his view of anything beyond the lake. Still, the view was truly beautiful as the sun glistened on the surface of the lake, only the surrounding peaceful environment was ruined by the sound of battle. There was a group of four humans battling a creature made purely of water. It used the water of the lake to bombard the party four with all kinds of water-related attacks leaving the shore of the lake a ruined mess. But the party of four was holding against the creature quite well. Somehow all of them knew how to use fire mana as two of them were throwing fire magic at the water elemental while another two had their weapons covered in fire mana as they engaged the creature.
Nathan had no way of knowing this but they had just come from the fire lands of the tutorial one of the five boss areas of the tutorial. The Fire lands, The great lake, The sealed King's tomb, The never-ending mountains, Forest gods cave, were the five boss areas of the tutorial they were in.
As Nathan watched their fight they were oddly even in terms of power with no clear winner in sight. But one person had struck his interest a lot more. Compared to others he just stuck out way more as he created a sense of hunger in Nathan that he had never felt before. It wasn’t lust he felt, but the natural reaction of a predator finding a juicy plump meal. The very first skill he had ever acquired had activated for the first time.
Unjust gain, a unique skill he got from the system that seemingly had done nothing all this time had started to bare its fierce fangs.
Nathan knew if he killed this man right here and now he will become much more powerful. In these seemingly two short days, he had been in the tutorial he had completely changed his way of approaching things. The hesitation he once felt from the idea of taking another's life had completely disappeared. He could no longer afford to have such a mentality if he wished to stay together with Nicole in the world that had become so much cruller.
Nathan couldn’t handle this newfound feeling of needing to kill that man as he entered back into the shade of the forest as he started to creep closer to the group of four while examining their abilities in more detail.
At the back of their small group stood a pretty average looking black guy. He was clearly a fire mage as he kept gathering his mana into his fire staff he held compressing a dense cluster of fire mana into a ball before making it strike the body of the water elemental. The compressed ball of fire mana travels at around 100 meters per second before exploding and covering a good chunk of the water elementals body in flames that lingered on its body for quite a while before naturally extinguishing due to its water-like body.
The only women of their group could also use fire magic, but it was lacking in power. She was mostly using a different type of magic on her teammates.
A chubby guy with a burning shield was mainly drawing the aggro of the water elemental as they engaged it in battle but from all of them, the most eye-catching one was still a blonde guy around 180 centimeters tall with great physique wielding two burning swords as he sliced the water elementals body leaving sizzling wounds on its body. He even seemed to be able to tank the water creature better than the chubby guy as the attacks that hit its body left fewer marks while healing at a faster speed.
Yet the most intriguing part about their way of fighting was their seemingly endless mana compared to Nathans. By observing them long enough he had gotten his answer to that mystery. All of them seemed to possess red orbs from which they drew mana to refill theirs. Nathan still didn't know what they were, but with its help, they were slowly winning the battle as the water elemental was slowly being overwhelmed by all the magic thrown at it.
By now Nathan was already behind them as he waited for a good opportunity to attack them. Yet if nothing changed soon they would defeat the water creature, but it wasn't any sitting duck that you could just attack with no repercussions. It began to release a lot of mana as a giant wave formed in the lake that soon swept everyone away from it except the blonde guy that lodged his two swords into the ground stabilizing his footing. The two mages in the backline had been swept all the way into the forest where Nathan was hiding, giving him the opportunity he was looking for. Signaling Nicole to take out the women Nathan morphed his bone arm into a blade that he plunged into the fire mage's skull ending him on the spot. While Nicole's claws took the women’s life just as quickly as well.
Nathan and Nicole were currently level 6 while all of them were only level 4 the difference of 2 levels was nothing to look down upon. Not to mention Nathan counted as a solo player that gained all the benefits from feats to himself while the party of four had to split it between themselves. The death of their two teammates shocked them greatly as they turned around to see the ghastly image of Nathan.
The black cloak completely covered his figure as a skeletal arm pierced their comrade’s skull while blurry white mist resembling a girl with demon-like claws was returning to his side as it left the shredded corpse of the women behind. This attack had taken them complexity by surprise and it terrified them as they got completely distracted by it. As if the water elemental knew what was going on it launched a dense stream of water towards the fat guy sending him flying towards Nathan as he screamed in panic. Not wasting this chance two soul slashes were released in a row passing through his body as the life in its eyes had disappeared as his body vanished into thin air leaving behind his shield and weapon with two red orbs.
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"Hey, nice to meet you." Nathan waved at the blonde guy with his bone arm that was still covered in blood in a friendly manner.
"Wha..." This action had completely distracted him as the water elemental launched compress blades of water at him splitting open his skin as he screamed from the pain. Not giving the poor guy any chance Nathan started to assault him with his soul slash. unexpectedly he was able to react in time as his flaming swords intercepted the soul slash diminished the damage it did to him greatly. His swords maneuvered with great speed as he blocked both Nathans and water elementals attacks with his swords as he dodged their attacks. The wounds on its body were even healing with visible speed as the battle between the 3 parties continued. He was putting on a great fight as with every second he was in battle he was becoming more proficient.
Still, the power of a level 5 boss and Nathan wasn't something he could deal with now that he has been battling the boss for such a long time. Nathan began to use his plant magic on the local plants to entrap the guy as thick roots reached out entangling his feet messing up his flow while bone needles began to materialize all around him as they pierced his skin. The momentum he had been building up all this time had completely shattered together with the hope he held to survive in this situation. The water elemental seeing the opportunity Nathan had created for him began to use highly compressed but still nimble tentacles to whip the body of the blond guy leaving long lacerations on his body. This had forced him to put his full focus on the water elemental as he tried his best to defend himself while rooted to the ground with his two burning swords leaving his back wide open for Nathan as one soul slash after another began to bombard his back leaving him dazed and his mind cloudy. Unable to make the correct decision to focus on blocking Nathan instead of water elemental as his soul got chopped into pieces.
"Thanks for the help, but it's your turn now!" Nathan began to launch his highly effective soul slashes towards the water elemental who was on verge of death already from the battle before, ending its life soon enough as well.
"Why isn't his body disappearing?" The blonde guy's corpse was still here and hadn't disappeared like the rest of his team. But the battle was clearly over as the system began to give out its rewards
| Level 4 Human has been slain x4 |
|+ 20(-50%) Experience |
| Unjust gain has been initiated. By the right of unjust gain, the killing of a unique ability holder is final. |
| Tutorial feat has been accomplished. |
| Last one standing. |
| From the 16 people that entered the tutorial you alone stand in their place. |
| Rewards: Lone wolf, 1 skill point, 2 attribute points, Survivor. |
| Level 5 Boss Water elemental has been slain |
|+ 250(-50%) Experience |
| Tutorial feat has been accomplished. |
| It's just water (solo) |
| You have proven that even a creature made from pure water means nothing in front of your power. |
| Rewards: Water magic, 1 skill point, 2 attribute points, Lesser mana regeneration. |
The information on his newly acquired skills flowed in his mind as Nathan began to read their effects.
| Perfected adaptation. |
| Your body and mind can naturally adapt to any situation much faster than normally possible. |
| +1000% to natural bodies adaptation |
| Lone wolf |
| You have proven to work your best alone |
| Passive: +10% to your stats when not in a party |
| Survivor |
| Surviving is a major element of life and you have proven you have what it takes to be called a survivor. |
| Passive: Your ability to survive in different environments is greatly boosted. |
| Water magic | Level 1 |
| By using mana you can control and create water with high enough mastery you can change the properties of the water. |
| Mana consumption based on the degree of manipulation and environment. |
| Unsuitable base mana: Cost of water magic increased by 25% |
| Lesser mana regeneration | Level 1 |
| Passive: Increases bodies natural mana gathering ability by 20% |
The change perfected adaptation brought him was the biggest change he had experienced so far in the tutorial well-deserving its title of a unique ability. It had an effect on pretty much everything as the skills he learned now felt more natural to use the same with his body and it’s stat increase. Even recalling the battles he had so far he could now notice so many more mistakes than before and what he could have done to make those battles so much easier. Yet all of that was just the icing on the cake that was a perfect adaptation. The benefits of this fight were truly the greatest he had gotten so far. Opening his status screen it had changed so much compared to when he opened it the first time.
| Name: Nathan Bandon |
| Level: 6 |
| Class: Spiritualist |
| Status: Haunted |
| Strength: 16(5) |
| Vitality: 19(8) |
| Agility: 16(5) |
| Sense: 14(10) |
| Magic power: 22(10) |
| Mana: 13(12) |
| Attribute points: 4 |
As Nathan sat near the lake enjoying its beauty he began to invest his available points raising his base sense stat to 14 as well as investing his 2 skill points into shared energy.
| Shared energy | 5/5 |
| The spirit can transfer their energy towards you |
| 100% efficiency |
This had unlocked more options from his spiritualist skill tree.
| Shared body | 0/1 |
| The spirit is able to enter your body giving you 75% of the spirits stats as well as gaining access to its skills. |
| The spirit must be willing to share your body. |
| Both individuals involved will have control of the body. |
| Soul protection | 0/2 |
| As a spiritualist, your soul is the most important aspect of yourself. |
| Passive: Creates a barrier that protects your soul from attacks equal to 50% of your magic power. |
With that being done Nathan began to gather the equipment that has been dropped around him.
| Fire mana core |
| Created by an aspiring mage to store excess mana |
| A core that contains fire mana. |
| Mana: 10/10 |
Nathan put 5 of these cores in an animal hide sack that one of them had left behind. There was still so little he knew from all that had changed with the introduction of a system and mana to the world and he was finally ready to embrace it.
Doing all he needed he held Nicole's arm as he pressed the option to leave the tutorial.
| You have completed stage 1 of the tutorial |
| Teleporting to tutorials shop |
Everything disappeared around him as he once again stood in front of the guide with a new system message.
| Calculating current balance |
| 1 point for each experience point acquired in the tutorial. The total experience acquired is 4896. |
| 500 points for each feat accomplished total is 2500. |
| Current balance: 7396 |
"Welcome back mister Nathan did you enjoy your stay in the tutorial?" The same woman he knew as the guide welcomed him once again with her calming effect.
"Mhmm, Yeah it was truly a pleasant experience." He still held Nicole's cold hand into his now restored arm. She was here with him and that was all he ever wanted.
"I would expect nothing less from one of our most promising candidates of the tutorial." Her demeanor was truly calming and pleasant to be around.
"I'm pleased to announce that mister Nathan has reached the highest amount of points so far. So shall we begin?" The information on how the shop worked had already entered Nathans's mind as they were talking similar to how a skill would be learned.
Every single option costs exactly 1000 points the required experience to reach level 4 for a normal participant of the tutorial while Nathan had to acquire twice that amount to reach it. Just based on the amount of experience he had gotten it would be enough to reach level 10 something that was impossible in the tutorial.
In this calm atmosphere making difficult decisions came much easier as Nathan went over his options on what would be the best for him.
| Shop | Cost:1000 |
| Random item |
| Random skill |
| 1 skill point |
| 2 attribute points |
The two random options could give him massive gains but it was all up to luck. Something Nathan didn't want to take his chances on. The ability to gain 7 skill points or 14 attribute points seemed way more enticing for him. Now he just had to decide which one would benefit him more. The attribute points would be nice but his skill tree made his connection with Nicole even deeper swaying his option to choose 7 skill points instead. Those points were quickly invested in his skill tree as more options unlocked.
| Shared body | 1/1 |
| The spirit is able to enter your body giving you 75% of the spirits stats as well as gaining access to its skills. |
| The spirit must be willing to share your body. |
| Both individuals involved will have control of the body. |
| Soul protection | 2/2 |
| As a spiritualist, your soul is the most important aspect of yourself. |
| Passive: Creates a barrier that protects your soul from attacks equal to 100% of your magic power. |
| Spirit magic | 4/5 |
| As you travel further down the path of a spiritualist so does your ability to utilize spirit magic. |
| Passive: Increases XP gain of spirit related skills by 20%. |
| Increases the power of spirit related skills by 20%. |
Nathan was just one point shy of unlocking the next skill trees boon. Now that he had made his choice the guide gave him an option.
"Mister Nathan since you have been staying in the tutorial for quite some time the area you were in can't be seen as safe anymore. You can choose to be teleported to a random place that is deemed safe for living."
"I let you choose that for me." Nathan smiled at her as his body began to disappear from the white room.