Chapter 1: Tutorial

Steve’d had a rough go at it today. It was a Friday, and just before lunch came around, the office had been told they were behind and most of them needed to stay for overtime. Then he’d gone to lunch, heading to the cafeteria, which was offering fish sticks and cheese fries. Which he promptly choked on, fell over, hit his head on the floor, and fell unconscious.

It was a pretty shitty way to go out, all things considered. Death by fricking fry and fishsticks. Lights out, just like that. Except, next thing he knew, he woke up in a mountain. Everything around him was huge, much bigger than it had any right to be, and the floor was covered in snow. Despite that, he only felt slightly chilly.

Blinking the enormous surprise away, Steve looked down at himself, finding… fur. White, long, fluffy fur, with a silvery hue to it, and purple, vine-like patterns trailing over it. Despite all of that, he somehow didn’t feel panicked, yet. His body felt familiar, too, which was strange given that he’d most certainly been a human up until then, and decidedly was no longer human at all.

But before he had the time to consider what was going on, and feel some more existential dread about it, the air in front of him shifted, and Steve heard a mechanical ‘ding’ ring out in his ears. Then, a text box appeared in the air in front of his face. He didn’t even have to read it to know it either, feeling the knowledge already inside his head.

[ has been reincarnated as ]

[Partake in Tutorial? Y/N]

Once again, he blinked a few times in surprise, his eyes trailing over the words again. It felt like his thoughts were moving at a snail’s pace, paralysed by what was going on. How had he ended up here? Was reincarnation real? Then he read over his new species, apparently a mopaaw. Which sounded… silly, a little. He could feel his body after all. He had four legs with paws at the end of each, a long, fluffy tail, a snout out front, and eyes with excellent vision.

Steve knew he was a cat. In every sense of the word, it matched up with what he knew a cat to be. Perhaps it was just this world’s equivalent? He was unsure.

Shaking the thoughts away, he instead tried to focus on the message again. Yeah, maybe… maybe a tutorial wasn’t too bad an idea right now. He had no idea what was going on, after all. The moment he’d made up his mind and confirmed the intent, the box responded.

[The individual has accepted to begin the Tutorial. Tutorial will now commence.]

[While ongoing, the individual may not lose any health, may not be subject to outside forces, may not leave the specified area, and may not experience any change to their physical status. The individual’s thoughts will be accelerated to allow for smooth completion of the Tutorial. Entering state.]

Immediately, Steve felt his mind race. Only half the thoughts felt like his own, the other half mixed between the body he inhabited, and new information being brought into his mind. He knew he couldn’t eat vegetables or fruit anymore, and also immediately understood that he would feel no disgust at all at eating raw meat.

His senses felt slightly sharper, but also duller in some ways. He could tell his human mind was trying to parse the colour information it got, and using context clues, he could still tell most of them apart, just based on his experience with things. So, beneath the snow, the grass could have been green or red, but he knew it was green, and saw it as green.

Then, a moment later, something in his head lurched, messing his thought process up, and he saw the grass the same way he used to as a human again. He could very distinctly feel the merging of his human and cat mind, and it felt… a little like taking an uncomfortably fast roller coaster ride.

His head felt like it was snapped left, then right, then twisted all around, and a moment later the sensation was gone, and Steve blinked a few more times. He felt… normal. Different, definitely. Disorientated, for sure. Maybe a little bit like he was the chosen one, feeling a distinct sense of arrogance in his mind, originating from the part of him that was cat in nature.

Then, after his mind was seemingly adjusted, leaving his thoughts racing, another notification chimed in.

[The system operates on commands, both verbal and mental. The individual is encouraged to begin with verbal command in order to become more familiar with the system. Please say “Status” in order to access your current primary information sheet.]

“Meow?” Steve said, somewhat hesitantly, his voice coming out distinctly cat-like. Some part of his mind told him that it was insane, yet another chunk considered it completely normal. Before he could consider it, a bigger box, and much more information, appeared inside his head.

Status:

|Unnamed| [The individual's name.]

Lv.: 1 [The individual's level.]

Species: Common Mopaaw [The species the individual is currently part of.]

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Titles: None [Titles the individual has earned through various personally important feats, awarding permanent benefits.]

Hp: 3/3 [The individual's remaining and maximum life force.]

Mp: 1/1 [The individual's remaining and maximum magical power.]

Sp: 12/12 [The individual's remaining and maximum stamina.]

Strength: 4

Vitality: 2

Dexterity: 7

Agility: 8

Intelligence: 2

Wisdom: 4

Willpower: 2

Luck: 8

Ability points: 0

Oh. Oh wow, he really had a game-like interface there. It felt so surreal, he reached out to touch it, and his paw met resistance for a fraction of a second. Somewhere, for some reason, he knew he could tap it to add points or confirm prompts, but not otherwise interact.

Then, his eyes drifted to his Hp. Oh. Oh no. That… wasn’t a very high amount of points there. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart down, then focused again. Seeing himself just three measly points away from death was… a wake-up call. He felt some part of him panicking, worrying about it, but it was all covered in a thick blanket of… calm. Did being unable to alter his physical state also mean adrenaline was suppressed?

Did cats even have adrenaline? Something told him they had an equivalent at least. He focused again.

[To view your Skills, say "Skills"]

“Meow,” he intoned, a little more sure of himself this time. Another window appeared, this one much smaller than his status screen.

Skills:

Active:

Passive:

Unique:

Okay. Most of those made sense. He was a cat, or cat-equivalent at least, so he had cat-based Skills. Then there was . Maybe because he came from a capitalistic society? Was his entire existence as a human worth just one Skill?

[Some individuals have a unique Skill. These can be acquired through extensive training or be innate from birth. The individual was granted one due to their disproportionate life experience compared to their body.]

That explained it, somewhat. Did the system truly view him as a regular “mopaaw”? That was… good and bad, he supposed.

[To use a Skill, simply intend to use it. Passive Skills can also be disabled and enabled by speaking their names or toggling them in the menu. Skills can be levelled up by utilising their effects. This is accurate for both passive and active Skills. Upon reaching a certain level, Skills may evolve into superior forms. Some Skills may have additional conditions. The evolution requirement may be different for different Skills. Some Skills do not have a level cap. Skills may consume resources, such as Mp or Sp. Many Skills consume both.]

It aligned with what he expected. He wasn’t huge into video games, but he’d played a few after work sometimes, and this seemed to match up well enough.

[New Skills can be acquired through different means, including: the Skill Shop, Skill Evolution, Skill-teaching objects, Skill Fusion, Skill Acquisition. In order to see these principles in action, the individual is encouraged to try and gain more information about these methods by staring at them.]

For a moment, Steve hesitated, then followed the directions. He focused on the first one, the Skill Shop.

[Acquired the Skill through a specific action.]

[Skill Shop: The Skill Shop is a menu inherent to all individuals with system access. It uses the currency of Skill points, which may be used to purchase Skills.]

And what were Skill points?

[Skill points: This currency is acquired mainly via levelling up, but may also be granted as a quest reward. It can be utilised to acquire new Skills from the Skill shop, or to evolve existing ones when the opportunity presents itself.]

Right, then. Everyone in the world got these points for levelling, and the Skill shop was different from his . That was good to know. Nodding once, Steve mentally moved on to the next bit of information.

[By completing various feats in line with the individual’s interest, you will be granted additional “Skills”, “Points”, “Titles”, and “Items”. You have acquired the necessary tools to inform yourself further on system functions, and are encouraged to safely explore the world. The individual is recommended to try and stay alive]

[The individual has now reached the end of the Tutorial.]

[The individual has gained the Title .]

Something about the first message up there felt a little loaded, like a light jab at him, but he simply noted it for now. He could earn more rewards by completing things that aligned with his interests. He… didn’t quite feel qualified to tackle that one, his death having happened just 5 minutes ago or so, and instead, used the last remaining bits of calm from the tutorial to focus on the title. “Meow?” he said, focusing on

[: This is a Title granted to those who complete the Tutorial. Upon acquisition, it grants 5 Ability Points. Additionally, a short grace period will be activated, during which the individual will be awarded slightly increased growth to Skill acquisition and a large, hidden bonus to luck. This is intended to help the young individual survive.]

5 whole points? Without a moment of hesitation, Steve pumped four of them into vitality, investing one in intelligence, to see what it did.

Vitality: 2 -> 6

Hp: 3/3 -> 10/10

Intelligence: 2 -> 3

Mp: 1/1 -> 2/2

[Due to the individual’s low ability scores, resource calculation is proceeding variably. Upon reaching 10 points in resource determining abilities, the amount of resource per point will stay constant.]

Right. That explained why each of his Vitality increases was worth more than the point in Intelligence. So, once he had Vitality or Intelligence past 10, the increase would be the same each time. That was good to know. Taking a deep breath, Steve felt the cold air in his lungs. He could see a forest down the mountain.

It was probably a better idea to head there, then, if he wanted to find food. He found his mouth watering at the thought of mice, which was strange, but also somehow didn’t feel disconcerting. He shook the thought aside, and made a first few tentative steps, when the system chimed in again.

[Random Quest:

"Escape from the Bullet Eagle!" added.

Reward: 50 Exp]

What?