Atlas found himself standing in the middle of a large lush clearing. There were large oak trees surrounding the clearing in a perfect circle. It was the second time something like this had happened in about a week, or maybe even less, the incident with the orcs had thrown off Atlas's mental calendar.
“System, where am I?” Atlas asked the empty air, calling open his newest title.
“You are in the Grove, the starting point for new Players. It is here to help you acclimate to Limit and understand what is happening. The first day you will need to explore and prepare for the coming days. You will be in the grove for 11 days.” -System of Knowledge.
Atlas hummed quietly to himself, wondering how to best use this new information. “Do players know this?” He wondered aloud, wanting to know, but also just thinking about how much of an edge he had on other players.
“No, they do not, they are expected to be smart and figure it out for themselves, though the easy difficulty and below got told about what to expect.” -System of Knowledge
Atlas nodded to himself and stretched. “Well, time to get to it.” He set off into the trees trying to get a gauge on how big this ‘Grove’ was.
As he pushed aside leaves and branches, he found himself in front of a large cave.
You have found a dungeon! Impossible dungeon may not be entered until wave 5 has been cleared. Time will halt while inside of the dungeon.
“Oh? System, what is this?” Atlas asked, not knowing exactly what he wanted to hear.
“Exactly what it sounds like, though this is not an average dungeon, this is a rare version of a dungeon known as a trial dungeon, and will put you through a total of 7 trials, one for each stat and a final one that mixes all of the other trials together. Your skills and spells don’t work in a trial dungeon, so you have to rely on your stats and wit. Which honestly, should also be a stat.” -System of Knowledge
“Nice to know.” Atlas said, spinning around and walking in the other direction back to the grove. “Well, it's useless ‘till the 5th wave starts. Whatever that means.”
“I cannot tell you that information.” -System of Knowledge
“Eh, I thought as much, but I had to at least try.” Atlas gave the sky a weak grin before his face became set and he started to think.
“Waves… that sounds like something close to a video game…” Atlas trailed off, thinking more before giving voice to his thoughts. “With what I already know, I should expect a wave of monsters to attack me sometime… tomorrow? Yeah, sounds about right, so I need to either train up my skills, make a little base to make my life easier, or a little of both.”
“... I’m not going to tell you if you're right or not, you know that right?” -System of Knowledge.
“I know, this is just me thinking aloud. Speaking of, what are my stats now? I am having trouble sorting it all in my head.” Atlas muttered as he brought it up, feeling a wave of pride as he saw the astronomical values in front of him.
Atlas Channing
Tier: 2
Level: 0
Class: Reaper
Subclass: Absorber
Titles: Moonwalker, Skiller, Lucky, Boss Slayer, Strong Soul, Legend of the Tutorial
Skills: Death Mist (SS), Consume (SS), Reaper’s Senses (SS), Endless Strength (SS), Blitz (S), Hand to Hand Combat (B), Float (S), Fade Away (A), Toughen (B), Herbalism (D), Crafting (B), Ultimate Debuff (Z)
Spells: None
Talent: Z
Potential: Z
Stats:
Endurance: 269
Constitution: 269
Strength: 349
Dexterity: 349
Wisdom: 299
Intelligence: 299
Free points: 0
He took a moment to arrange his skills in a more aesthetically pleasing way, having his highest skills first with his lowest skill (Herbalism (D)) in dead last.
Skills: Ultimate Debuff (Z), Death Mist (SS), Consume (SS), Reaper’s Senses (SS), Endless Strength (SS), Blitz (S), Float (S), Hand to Hand Combat (B), Fade Away (A), Toughen (B),Crafting (B), Herbalism (D),
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
He soon found himself on the opposite side of the clearing. There was a shed and another cave.
“Uh, system? Is this another dungeon? I’m not getting a notification.” Atlas said, clearly confused.
“This is not another dungeon, it is, in fact, a mine. There are ore veins inside as well as a few gems sprinkled throughout the stone, so be sure to clear as much as you can! The shed is filled with tools of all kinds, and even has a Beacon!” -System of Knowledge
Atlas tilted his head in confusion. “A Beacon?”
“A Beacon can be used to construct a settlement by using the necessary resources.. This Beacon can only be used during the grove, unless you can keep the settlement alive AND get it up to rank 2, also known as town rank” -System of Gear
“I see…” Atlas mused, walking to the shed and opening the door. The shed was packed to the brim with all sorts of different tools and items. There were anywhere from pickaxes to what he would hesitantly call an axe-shovel.
In the middle lay a large crate about the size of Atlas. Grabbing a crowbar, Atlas pried it open with little trouble. His stats really were scary.
He found himself holding a cube that had a deep red button on each of its six sides. He pressed one of them and got a message.
Soulbind item: Beacon? Soulbound Beacon can be split off from if the user so chooses. y/n
Atlas selected yes and the Beacon started to erupt with light.
“Bring it to the middle of the clearing!” -System of Gear
Atlas didn’t question the system and bolted to the center of the Grove. “What now?” He asked quickly as the cube continued to glow brighter and brighter.
“Place it where you would like the town center to be constructed.” -System of Gear
Atlas ran to the exact center of the clearing and placed it down before fleeing to safety. He watched in amazement as a building started to be constructed.
It was a squat building with a circular shape and two large double doors leading into the building itself. It was at least two stories high and it took up the majority of the clearing. If he wanted to add any more buildings, he was going to have to chop down a lot of trees.
Town Center: Rank: Village. Owner: Atlas Channing. Resources: None. Residents: One. See list?
It was… lacking, to say the least, but at least it was something.
He opened the door and stepped inside, glancing around at the mostly empty inside of the town center. The only thing that caught his eye was the big red sphere hovering in the middle of the room, and the stairs leading up to the next level.
Atlas approached the orb and held out his hand, brushing it against it softly, almost caressing it. He felt… linked to it, somehow, as though it was a part of him, and he, it.
Town Core: Rank: Village. Upgrade? Core/Town/Buildings. Create? Defense/Production/Residences/Other
Atlas startled at the screen that suddenly appeared in front of him, not really expecting it. He took a moment to read over all of the information in front of him before selecting Production, thinking that it was as good a place as any to start.
Production-
Farm- Lumber 50, Fertile soil (minimum 100 square feet), Animals (Any two domesticated animals)
Mineshaft- Lumber 30, Stone 20, 50 square feet inside of a mine.
Lumber Mill- Lumber 50, Stone 10, Soil (minimum 100 square feet), Water source
Water Mill- Lumber 50, Stone 10, Soil (minimum 100 square feet), Water source
Blacksmith- Lumber 20, Stone 100, Iron 20, Soil (minimum 120 square feet)
Upgrade for more!
Atlas rubbed the stubble on his chin consideringly. He had no idea how much 10 lumber was, and there was no real way to find out without experimentation.
Atlas rolled up his sleeves. “Time to get to work.” He said, turning to leave, before realizing he had never gone upstairs.
He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He found what looked like a storage area, with a small room off to the side, after some investigating, he found it held a bed and a desk with a journal and ink pot and quill.
He had no idea why they were there, but decided to check them out later. Pulling back out of the room he found that the storage room was completely empty, but it had a nice perk.
Magic Storage: Rank: Village. When you harvest a resource, it is atomically sent here unless there is not enough room. All resources will be cleanly organized and easy to find. Resources: 0
With a grin on his face, Atlas fled the building running over to the shed. He grabbed the largest ax he could find and set to work.
***
*Crack!*
Atlas felled the tree in one fell strike, sending it crashing into the ground with a “Timber!” and a loud thud. The tree dissolved into motes of light and Atlas continued on with his resource gathering. He had more than doubled the size of the clearing, and it hadn’t even been a half hour yet.
He worked with ruthless efficiency, tearing into trees at a ferocious pace and moving on before they even had the time to hit the ground. All but this last one, that is.
Atlas stretched before heading back to the shed and swapping out his ax for a pickax and heading into the mine.
***
Many hours later, Atlas found himself back in the storage, looking over all his spoils. The storage system split the resources for him, into cubes that were a perfect 1 foot on each side. He checked the storage coffers.
Resources: Lumber: 601, Stone: 253, Iron: 127, Tin: 142, Copper: 136, Gems: 14
All in all, it was a good haul well worth all the effort Atlas had put in. He started looking over all of his building options and set the ones he wanted aside.
Mineshaft- Lumber 30, Stone 20, 50 square feet inside of a mine.
Watchtower - Lumber 20, Soil (10 square feet).
Palisade - Lumber 4 x feet of wall.
Blacksmith- Lumber 20, Stone 100, Iron 20, Soil (minimum 120 square feet)
Armory - Lumber 20, Stone 50, Iron 70, Soil (minimum 100 square feet), Blacksmith
Atlas set to work, setting up a wooden wall all around the clearing and putting a watchtower in each corner. That cost him a total of 600 lumber, which meant he had to go back and chop down more trees so that he could afford the rest of the buildings.
When he had enough he went over to the mine and created a mine shaft. Stone started to vanish from the mine, and appeared in the storage. It was only at a rate of one stone per minute, but it was automatic, which is what Atlas needed.
When that was done, he went over and created the Blacksmith and Armory, leaving him with…
Resources: Lumber: 31, Stone: 83, Iron: 57, Tin: 142, Copper: 136, Gems: 14
It wasn’t a lot, but it was quite a bit for all the building he had done.
He realized that in all of the ‘adventures’ he had been on today, not once had he seen water. “System? Is there water here?” Atlas asked, just now remembering that the system was (Essentially) at his beck and call.
“First off, no, I am not at your beck and call. Second, after the first wave you will be able to place a river somewhere in your territory.
Atlas nodded, that was convenient, it would let him place it in the most optimal position for his new town.
He checked in on the Blacksmith and Armory to find weapons slowly being made all by themselves and then teleporting into the Armory. Atlas paused briefly to check in on both buildings before going to the town center and collapsing into his bed.