You have chosen to participate in the bonus round of the tutorial for planet [Earth, 1].
Please select your gear and then enter through the door before the timer hits zero. Any items you leave behind will be returned to you when the event is complete.
When the words faded from the screen, Nick looked up and saw that another door had appeared along the far wall. For some inexplicable reason, it was in a different style than the one Taltos had exited through, polished metal instead of painted wood. Shaking his head at the strangeness of it all, he opened his pack and took out all the resources and other random objects that he had shoved inside his dimensional storage during the final moments of his tutorial on the Searing Isle.
Most of what he was carrying wouldn’t help him in a fight, although he stowed away a few odds and ends that might come in handy in various scenarios. It lightened his load considerably. Nick thought about leaving his pack behind, but decided that it didn’t weigh too much now. Besides, it was the best piece of armor he had, as the bag had proven to be even more resilient than his modified leather jacket. Plus, if there was a chance to pick up anything interesting on the other side of the doorway, he was loath to let the opportunity go to waste.
Nick only had half an hour to get ready. When the clock hit zero, he would be shunted off to another alien world. Forced to fight to the death with the future of his people hanging in the balance. He set all other considerations aside, so that he could prepare himself as best he could in the little time he had left.
His latest snack wasn’t nearly enough food to fill his belly, so to bolster his recovery, he walked over to the kitchen on the far side of the living room. He drank his fill from the faucet, idly wondering how things like electricity and running water were working in a pair of rooms that, as far as Nick could tell, existed in their own, separate dimension. Although the answer was obviously magic.
He stared out the window, where only billowing mist met his gaze, glowing with its own inner light. Is this really some dude’s house? Or did the System replicate this setting just for me? It’s crazy weird either way. Hydration complete, Nick refilled his canteen, washed his hands, and then walked over to the refrigerator, hoping to restock his provisions. When he opened the door, the only thing he found inside was a pair of turkey sandwiches; diagonally sliced white bread sitting on paper plates.
Nick shrugged, grabbed them both, then sat back down in the recliner. Contemplating just how surreal his existence had become, he picked up a sandwich and started to eat. The turkey was dry, and the sandwiches were plain, but he devoured them within seconds, rendered ravenous as his body realized just how much his latest ordeal had taken out of him. He was nurtured by the taste of his old life even more than the calories in his stomach, shedding a tear when the last bite went sliding down his throat, making the short voyage to his belly below. With twenty minutes left on the clock, Nick continued his preparations, readying himself for what was sure to be another desperate battle.
His next objective was to check in with his body and evaluate his condition. Thanks to his high toughness, Nick now had the endurance of an Olympic athlete. He was still worn out from the tutorial, but even this brief rest had helped to restore his depleted stamina. He judged that it would be topped off before his time ran out, or at least close enough that he no longer felt tired. His mana was recovering rapidly, and he still had some left in the tank. With that out of the way, he moved on to inventorying his injuries.
His leg still hurt, but the swelling had gone down considerably, and Nick was able to bear his own weight without limping. His mood was rapidly recovering thanks to his rest in the chair and his recent snacks. The good news was that Nick could still walk. His leg had healed to a remarkable degree from the bite he had taken from the bonecruncher the day before. He realized that his body was regenerating faster over time, as his attributes and level grew. However, the scrapes, bruises, and burns that Nick had picked up during the mega searstorm were still fresh. The pain was distracting, but at least there was nothing that would cause him lasting impairment.
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The bad news was that his wits were dulled from multiple nights of poor sleep, even though his Survivor trait had blunted the worst of it. Equally worrisome, his mobility was impaired by his wounded knee. Nick judged that he was about seventy percent functional at the moment, and that was being generous. With a groan, he rose to his feet and walked back over to the sink, dunking his head beneath the faucet to wash away the worst of the mud. Then he began inspecting his gear. Thanks to his toolbelt and magic backpack, his devices and supplies were still in good order.
Unfortunately, he was out of consumables, like the flashbang orbs he had picked up during the tutorial. On a brighter note, his wand was sitting at full charges, although he still had no idea how the force-blasting device recharged. Hopefully, he would figure it out before long. All in all, he was in decent shape for a fight, although nowhere near the top of his game.
Hopefully, whoever Nick wound up fighting beside would have some useful powers as well. Something to add versatility to his limited mid-range attacks. After placing his wand and sheaths back onto his belt, he was ready to go. He spent the final minutes before the countdown hit zero preparing himself mentally. He stopped to look at a family portrait on the wall, gazing up at a happy couple with two blond toddlers running around their legs. “I’ll win this thing, for all of us,” he promised, just as a doorway cracked open in front of him.
He sighed, opened the door, and stepped through the portal beyond. The instant that he crossed the threshold, a roaring wave of white energy engulfed him, carrying him away in a surging tide of magic.
Nick’s body dissolved into boundless motes of light as his consciousness spread across the ether, resplendent channels of cosmic might draped across the multiverse like a great web of molten silver. His sense of self shrank to a dim pinprick of awareness, a state that straddled the boundary of dream and waking life. Meanwhile, the rest of his mind expanded like a balloon, elevating his perspective like a celestial eagle soaring over all of creation. Somehow, this strange state of being allowed Nick to look out as he traveled along that great cosmic highway, letting him observe his journey between the stars in a detached, dreamlike manner.
Straddling the cusp of awareness and oblivion, he watched in awe as galaxies streaked past. He was soon moving so fast that the stars merged into an endless river of light, utterly mesmerizing contrasted against the abyssal blackness of space. Although his recollections of this journey would only come to him in fragments and fuzz, this was, without a doubt, the most beautiful experience of Nick’s life. A perennial source of wonder that would provide him with solace during the dark days ahead. He had the sense that tears were streaking down his face, despite the fact that he was only a disembodied presence at present.
At times, his path passed close to inhabited worlds, momentarily slowing as he was shunted off one great glowing lane and onto an adjoining branch. He could sense billions of lives concentrated across the sprawling folds of earth, before he soared past in the blink of an eye. Eventually, he sensed that his momentum was winding down, although time and space were vague concepts at best in this inexplicable realm between the stars.
A short time later, Nick came to an abrupt stop, hovering over a vast world of sand. A fierce and thirsty planet where most of the water was trapped within vast underground channels and most of the population dwelled within great, subterranean caverns. As his sense of self and space grudgingly began to resolidify, he cast his gaze across the planet’s surface.
Freed from the limits of his eyes, crude fleshy lenses that distorted the true shape of things, his vision was impossibly crisp and clear. Even from this great height, he could see winding caravans crossing the endless desert below, led by great purple beasts pulling wagons the size of buildings. Far above their heads, immense leather-winged lizards rode the searing desert breeze, the undisputed rulers of their domain. Nick would have been content to stay in this place forever, juxtaposed between the celestial beauty above and the terrestrial majesty below. However, as with all things in life, the good and bad alike, the moment was not fated to last.
Before long, his awareness was pulled down toward the surface. Drawn to where one of the few cities that existed on the planet’s surface was clustered around a sprawling series of oases. Splashes of green and blue painting life across the vast plains of sepia and beige. He plummeted toward the center of the city like a meteor, to where a vast arena jutted above the surrounding buildings like a dragon surveying its horde. Nick wondered what would happen when he slammed into the ground, but he didn’t have to wonder for long.
With a visceral pop that was by far the strangest sensation of his life, Nick snapped back into his body and opened his eyes.