Alex awoke to a sense of warmth and lethargy. Uhg..where am I? He tried to move his head to see but immediately made a terrifying discovery. His whole body was wrapped in numerous green vines, with a red vine wrapped around his neck. He felt his heart racing and his throat constricting. I’m trapped. How am I still alive? Didn’t I drown? He tried to remember what happened after the creature - whatever it was - wrapped its tendrils around his body and pulled him to the depth of the river. The river was not too deep and he estimated it to be about 10-15 feet. Still, it was enough to drown him.

But something didn’t add up. Judging by the strength, thickness, and length of its tendrils, the creature must be the size of an elephant, at least. How could such a creature live in a shallow lake? Whatever the secret, he would investigate it later. Right now, his priority was to survive this precarious scenario.

Alex noticed that he was in a vertical position, held by the vines a few feet above the ground. There was not much light inside the…what is this place..an underground cave? He surveyed the surroundings as much as possible with his eyes alone since he couldn’t even move his head.

From his vantage point, he could see the large cavern filled with countless vines, and in between them were countless prey, held hostage unconscious just as he was. There must be at least 11 prey…how large is this creature? None of the creatures seemed conscious to him. They didn’t struggle a bit.

He remembered about the paralytic poison and immediately pulled up the status screen.

Status effect: Paralytic Poison - You have been poisoned by deep vine jellyfish. You cannot move your body for 30 minutes.

Status effect countered by purifying touch.

Alex immediately sensed the power in his right hand. A warm energy was pulsing faintly. Alex opened the skills section.

Skills:

Purifying Touch (Basic): Struggle leads to power. By constantly harnessing the power of fire waves in a mana-deprived state, the skill has evolved into a purifying touch. Use 10 mana to unleash holy fire that burns away impurity and incinerates your foes. Can be charged through your life force when low on mana.

[Warning - Using life force to channel skills will deplete your vital aura.]

So, this purifying touch was constantly active and nullified the poison of both the starfish and the deep vine jellyfish? Is that the reason I’m alive? But, I didn’t have any mana the last time I tried to channel the firewave skill.

Alex recalled his status menu and looked at his current mana:

Mana - 0.

Strange. Why is my mana zero if it is not being used? He recalled Life Force but no stat screen came up. Could it be that the skill is currently running on my life force after depleting mana first? But why is my mana not regenerating?

Suddenly Alex felt a chill climb up his spine. Is the deep vine jellyfish feasting on my mana?

Alex was not ready to let this parasitic creature feast on his life force. The deep vine jellyfish was consuming his mana continuously and the purifying touch skill countered it by consuming life force. Either way, he was going to die soon if he couldn't get out of this situation.

He stopped channeling the purifying touch skill to observe what would happen and immediately felt his body going numb, his mind slowing down, and his heart rate and breath slow down. Not good. It seems I will die a slow death without keeping the purifying touch skill active.

A spark of inspiration graced his mind. He held onto activating the purifying touch skill again and instead focused on channeling his life force into the skill to amp it up. With every passing moment, he felt his body becoming more limp, his mind coming to a grinding halt, his breathing almost going still but he focused on his consciousness and the feeling of channeling the skill through his hands.

No….nooo..t yeee…t.Jusst a little loong.er. He found himself jumping between reality and a dreamland where he could rest now….forever. With a scream, Alex regained his focus and released the fully channeled purifying touch. Feast on this you fucking noodle body!

A wave of bright crimson erupted from his hand followed by a thunderous crackle and sharp pain in his palm that climbed up elbows, shoulders, and connected to his heart. A torturous wailing filled the cavern and Alex found his body drop to the ground. Yes..it work..ed….ahh…my right hand is toast.

Alex saw crimson flames crawling up the vines, burning them like paper and spreading to the thicker vines like hellfire. The deep-vine jellyfish whipped its vines in different directions in an attempt to get rid of the flames but it only caused itself more harm. Sections of burnt vines and purple limbs tore from the main body. Alex saw the bodies of the trapped creatures lay in the ground unburnt.

So, it seems the fire has a will of its own. It is burning my enemies selectively. I hope a few of them are at least alive.

No matter. Alex edged towards a hole in the cavern which revealed itself now that he could look around. He needed to escape and stay alive. Seven thick purple vines thrashed the ceiling and it rumbled. Bits and pieces of stone chunks fell off from the ceiling followed by a spray of water.

Shit. Is this an underwater cavern? Alex shuffled to the cave entrance avoiding pieces of falling rock chunks and side-stepping dying vines but he surveyed the body of the deep vine jellyfish a little longer. The creature couldn’t move from the center of the massive cavern. It looked like the deep vine jellyfish could only move its long tendril-like limbs out through the numerous cave openings that poked the cavern.

That must mean the shallow river is somewhere up above. Oh..I almost forgot to actually inspect the crazy monster.

[Deep Vine JellyFish (level 7) - A mutated sea creature of the deep, known for feasting on the mana of sapient animals. Oftentimes, low-level variants can be found nesting in large underwater caverns where they can prey on weak creatures. Immune to water-based attacks and weak to fire-based attacks.]

Alex lunged into the cave entrance just as the whole ceiling collapsed and a torrent of water flooded the cavern. Oh shit...Here comes the tsunami!

He ran through the narrow cave as fast as possible to outrun the water spreading through the caves. Who knew how far down he was from the surface? The fact that there was breathable air inside the cavern was a blessing. He didn’t know how these things worked but he thanked the gods for being able to breathe down here.

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As he progressed further into the cave he could see the side cave walls becoming more dense with glowing crystals. These showered the region with a dim green light and the glow was becoming more intense as he moved towards another large opening. Please..let that be an exit!

The torrential flood slammed hard onto Alex’s back and he almost buckled under the pressure and tripped to the ground. He gritted his teeth and tensed his body to survive the building pressure. The water rose above his hips and it was getting difficult to walk, let alone run. Unfortunately, he couldn’t outrun the pouring stream as it lifted him up.

He raised his hands to prevent bumping his head on the cave ceiling. Aah…darn it. I have to swim. Alex took a deep breath and dove into the water using its momentum to reach the cave exit.

It was surprisingly easy to reach his destination with the momentum carrying his body. All he had to do was keep his body stable and prevent it from bumping against the side of the cave where the green light crystals jutted out. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if the crystals poked his ribcage and limbs.

Just as he exited the cave exit he was flung into the air and felt a momentary weightlessness followed by a falling sensation. The small exit hole of the cave expanded in his vision and turned out to be a massive cavern. Much larger than where he was previously. It looked like the opening to this cavern was about 15 feet off the ground and ended in a large pool.

Alex braced himself for the impact and took on a diving posture keeping his hands straight ahead of his face to part the water. Cold water engulfed his body and he struggled momentarily as his breath escaped his lungs from the impact. He scrambled to get over the surface but it was proving difficult with all the water pouring on top of him.

He swam to the side to avoid the pouring stream of water and finally pulled himself up above the pool surface and took huge gulps of breath. I must reach..the ground. He scanned the cavern and what he saw took his breath away.

Large, colorful crystals lined the walls of the cavern but there in the center of the ceiling was a monumental combination of rainbow-colored crystalline structure. It hummed with some kind of energy. Is that mana? Wait…are those flying snakes with wings? I need to get away from here.

Alex tried to swim towards the side of the pool. It seemed the water body was just as deep as it was large. The continuous pouring of water from a few of the holes by the right side of the cavern was not raising the water level of the pool by any considerable amount. Hmm. I suppose the pool is connected to the main river body.

He saw several large furry, fish-like creatures swimming nearby, a few black stone turtles, a giant winged-snake there in the distance which just dove from the sky. Crazy monsters. He didn’t wait around to inspect any of the creatures. His focus was on being as stealthy as possible to not attract the attention of these creatures. There were just too many of them and he didn’t believe for a second he could get out of this cavern alive if all of the monsters, or even just a single creature decided to make him their meal.

Alex pulled himself on to the left side of the cavern on a shore which was surrounded by large rock outcroppings. It was a secluded area and he decided to rest there for a bit. His stomach growled and he keenly became aware of how hungry he felt. I wish I could eat a delicious serving of chicken broth. He was shivering a bit but he held off on activating purifying breath.

Mana - 20.

At least my mana is recovering now. I have to check how long it takes to recover my mana completely from zero.

Time remaining for Tutorial Trail - 7 hours

Looks like I was trapped in the deep vine jellyfish monster’s den for a long time. His stomach growled again. No wonder I’m hungry…and sleepy. Alex glanced at the large crystalline structure towards the ceiling once again. He observed a plethora of flying snakes swimming in the air around the structure, swallowing motes of colorful light that escaped from the structure and reaching down to dive into the pool, splashing water everywhere.

There were large, blue flying birds with spiky red tails that did the same. None of the creatures fought each other which seemed odd to Alex. By a rough estimate, he guessed there were at least over 200 creatures swirling around the structure.

The light from the large crystal didn’t diminish one bit. I guess when you have enough food for everybody, there is no need to fight? Wait..can I eat it too? Before that..let me give it a scan.

Congratulations! You have discovered a hidden region of the tutorial trial. {Cave of wonders discovered}.

Reward granted: New Title - Explorer. Effect - +5 to all stats.

Neat! Alex raised his fist to celebrate the little victory if it can be called that.

[Cave of wonders: A magical cavern home to a large biome of aquatic animals and amphibians. Powered by condensed mana crystals, it houses an extremely powerful treasure.]

Ding!

New Objective unlocked - Discover the secrets of the crystal core in the Cave of Wonders. Reward - ???

Alex felt a rush of energy enter his body. Every part of his body felt energized, the fatigue and pain leaving his body, giving way to a sense of ecstasy.

Ding!

You have leveled up.

Did I just level up like in a game? This is awesome. That must mean that Deep Vine Jelly Fish finally died.

Alex checked his stat screen and sure enough, he saw he had leveled up. He squeezed his grip and jumped around a little to check his new-found strength. Sure enough, he felt stronger, more agile, and more clear headed. I wonder how much stronger the new title makes me. At least it is an advantage I can use to increase my odds of surviving in this godforsaken place.

Alex glanced around the cavern trying to get a feel for all the inhabitants of the place. If he wanted to survive he had to get more information. So, he began to scan the monsters from a distance now that he was relatively safe. His stomach growled again. Shit…I wish the level up eased my hunger a little bit. He rubbed his belly.

He noticed a furry fish nearby and started salivating. I wonder if I can cook the fish. He scanned the fish.

Furry Fish (Level 8): Nasty fish that tastes like cardboard. It is better to starve instead of eating them.

That is not good..wait..is the system mocking me? Can it read my mind?

Alex was at a loss for words. The system seemed omniscient and could read his thoughts. Of course, it can. What type of technology could grant you superpowers but not read your thoughts? I wonder if it will raise the difficulty level of the trail if I badmouth it!

No matter. Alex decided to peek around the little outcroppings to look for another exit. He didn’t know how deep the pool was. There were bound to be monsters in the pool. So, swimming to the surface while holding his breath didn’t seem like a good option. He considered simply waiting here in this area but for some reason, his danger senses signaled him that this was not a safe area. After all, the monsters in the cavern were all avoiding this particular area.

The back of the outcroppings was covered in stark darkness where there were no crystals. That in itself was odd. Another option was to complete the new objective but he had no idea how to complete that. There was no way to glean more information about the gigantic structure unless he could jump 500 meters above the ground or fly.

Suddenly he felt a tickling sensation behind his neck and whipped around to see a shadow forming a humanoid shape. Alex gulped and charged a purifying touch.

“Well, what do we have here…a human?” said the mass of shadows which congealed to take on the form of a humanoid figure. It was still shrouded in wispy tendrils of smoke, its eyes red, and it seemed to float ever so slightly above the ground.

“Uhm..hello.” Alex barely managed to restrain himself from running or flinging a fireball.