Owen only felt a little dumb when his run towards the tree line was cut short by another system message.
*Please select a beginning weapon, you will not have this option again.*
Owen smiled and waited to see which list of classic weapons appeared in front of him, but instead another message window popped up with a list on it. Every weapon Owen had ever heard of and even ones he hadn't heard of were contained in the list.
Feeling a little overwhelmed, he started frantically scrolling through his options. He had some idea of what he should be looking for since the system hadn't given him any food. He thought back to that one survivor show where the guy kept drinking his piss, not a big fan of that idea, but that guy would sometimes try to bring something.
Owen was looking for something that would help with his survival, but he was pretty sure his first fight was going to go down as well.
Eventually he decided on picking a spear, there were a list of those as well, but he selected one listed as a Norseman spear. He had desperately wanted to convince himself a knife was going to be better, but despite wanting to be the cool badass that slices and dices his way through foes with daggers, Owen was no such fighter.
In fact, the only fights he had ever been in had been ones where they were trying to figure out who's turn it was on the slide. A spear appeared in his hands and it looked like every other spear he had imagined, but it was sharp and that was what he was looking for.
After the spear appeared the menu closed and it reverted back to the message telling him how to make it to round three.
*Gain a minimum of 4 levels, Gain at least 1 combat skill, and reach the rest zone at the peak of the mountain in the center of the island. 71:51:41secs.*
Owen moved cautiously towards the tree line this time, his spear felt clunky in his hands. He tried swinging it like he had seen in movies, to clear brush and vines, but all he accomplished was getting the haft of the spear caught in several vines. Deciding not to do that again, he did his best to move around the different obstacles to varying levels of success.
He tried to keep up the adventurous spirit he had had earlier, but he had thought he'd have enemies coming at him right and left, but after spending more than an hour moving through the biome, he hadn't seen anything. Several more hours passed with him feeling more and more miserable.
He had thought about moving out of the jungle biome and switching to one of the others he saw, but he knew it was a dumb idea. He couldn't survive any better in either option, the jungle was still the best for him currently even if it didn't feel like it.
Then there was a clearing up ahead.
The jungle had opened up to a small area that felt entirely different from the jungle surrounding it. It was a little larger than his apartment in size and there was a breeze flowing through it. Though the breeze itself didn't seem to have a source. as he stepped into the boundary of the clearing, the systems voice echoed through his head as an announcement.
*You have found a hidden glade in the jungle biome, congratulations. In order to keep the treasure found here, you have to fight it inhabitants first. Good luck 0 of 10 monsters cleared.*
Owen had to suddenly dodge as he saw something approaching out of the corner of his eye. A monkey had thrown something at him but he hadn't seen what it was. The monkey was different from other monkeys Owen could remember seeing.
It had a crown of horns on its head and when it was preparing to attack, a small spike was forming in its hand, before it launched it at unbelievable speeds towards Owen. He was able to barely dodge again, but had to immediately flattened to the ground as a spike was thrown from another direction.
This time his high perception wasn't enough and he tripped causing the spike to tear across his arm. Not giving them another chance to attack, Owen charged off into the jungle again, feeling the spikes whistling past him, until he left the clearing.
"What the hell!" he screamed inside. That wasn't fair at all. Only two of the weird monkey things had ended up attacking, but he had noticed several other standing by ready to throw spikes as well.
They had stopped throwing things at him though, as soon as he had left the clearing. Owen decided to go see if he could get rid of one of the monkeys early, but as his adrenaline died down, had he to hold back a scream. The spot of his arm that the spike had hit him, looked like he had gotten the worst road rash he had ever seen.
He noticed it slowly begin healing, but that wasn't making it feel any better, it was making it feel worse. He tried to calm his mind and imagined the stat tests, he had received more pain during the first test that ever before. Compared to that this was nothing.
He sat like that, just focused on his breathing. The pain eventually deadened and Owen felt exhausted. He wasn't liking this as much anymore, he was pretty sure he could've died, if they hadn't stopped chasing him after leaving the clearing.
Instead of immediately trying to see if he could get his revenge without entering the circle, he moved back towards a tree and sat his back against it and focused on his breathing.
There had been an interesting feeling when he had been focused on nothing but his breathing, it felt like he was only a few steps away from something but he wasn't sure what it had been. Closing his eyes to focus again, he imagined himself inside of an empty void trying to push all of his breath together before releasing it.
He wasn't sure how long he had made himself focus on it, but when he woke from his stupor it was several hours later and it looked like he only had a few more hours of sunlight, before it would dip down behind the trees. He was surprised to see that he had notifications waiting for him and he opened up his system screen.
*Congratulations, you have survived your first monster encounter, we look forward to seeing great things from you.*
He felt slightly angry at seeing a message like that, but looked to the next set of notifications.
*Congratulations, you have gained 2 stat point(s) in your Mana stat.*
Suddenly, that feeling he had had while breathing made sense to him. He must've been pulling in what the system called essence or mana into his system. He tried to see if he could replicate the feeling but was too excited to focus. He decided that the weird horned monkeys could wait, he wanted to check if he could raise any of his other stats through working on them.
He figured the easiest to focus on first would be his lowest stat, agility, and started running as fast as he could through the jungle trying to dodge his obstacles. After about an hour, he was grinning from ear to ear. Just like he thought, he had a system notification now hovering in his peripherals.
*Congratulations, you have gained 1 stat point(s) in your agility stat.*
"I need to focus on getting some of my base stats up before I try to fight with those monkeys again. I'm too weak and slow to get whatever treasure is supposedly in that glade." Owen decided to spend the last few hours of sunlight trying to train up his agility. By the time the sun had gone down entirely and left Owen running in the dark, he was smiling ear to ear.
*Congratulations, you have gained 2 stat point(s) in your agility stat.*
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
He had successfully raised his agility by a total of 3 points. He was feeling rather proud, but looking at the timer he couldn't help but feel nervous.
*Gain a minimum of 4 levels, Gain at least 1 combat skill, and reach the rest zone at the peak of the mountain in the center of the island. 59:37:58secs.*
More than 12 hours had passed and while he had gained several stat points, he hadn't made any progress on the actual goal they were supposed to achieve.
He fell asleep that nice easily however, letting himself focus on breathing mana, until sleep caught up to him. When he woke the next morning he was surprised to feel refreshed rather than sore from sleeping on the ground. He felt hungry, but at the same time he felt like he didn't want to eat anything.
He thought about leaving, to find something to eat anyways, but the idea of possibly losing the location of where the glade was, was unacceptable. Owen was very careful this time, he moved up to the border of the glade as quietly as possible and skirted around it until he found the first horned monkey that had been throwing spikes at him.
He was surprised to see it was holding a spike and was ready to throw it, but was standing as still as a statue staring at the borders of the glade. Owen silently moved around the tree until he found a path up the tree and did his best to keep from alarming the monkey. He found a branch at the perfect height behind it and got ready to stab with his spear but paused.
The branch the monkey itself was standing on barely draped into the glade boundaries. "Was that why it attacked? This glade is its home?" He didn't let himself dwell on it for too long, careful to not move onto the same branch and risk entering the glade again. He got into what he thought was a proper position and thrust with all of his power towards the back of the monkey.
His spear broke straight through the horned monkey's back, sending blood splattering back at Owen who flinched. At the same time, the monkey let out a howling scream. The crown of horns on its head beginning to vibrate dangerously.
Owen tried to dodge back, forgetting he was standing precariously on a thin tree branch, and started to fall right as the crown of horns exploded sending chunks of it flying everywhere. Owen landed hard on his back, he was lucky that the explosive crown had missed, but he hurt everywhere still and hadn't managed to breath in any air.
He rolled around gasping for air, it felt like forever had passed, but it was closer to a few seconds. When he had finally been able to sit up and place his back against a tree. He opened his notifications.
*Level 5 Horned Monkey has been slain, 20 experience gained.*
Owen felt a wave of energy rush through him before leaving just as quickly.
*You have leveled up, you have 1 unallocated stat point(s).*
Owen pumped his fist and closed out the message but, there was another message that immediately popped up.
*You have gained the skill tactical retreat. You have gained the skill Basic Spear Thrust.*
He couldn't keep his excitement in anymore and he cheered loudly. He now had his combat skill and only needed 3 more levels. "Today was going to be a great day," he thought grinning widely.
He heard a plop land on the ground next to him and he panicked, scrambling to his feet he got his spear between him and whatever was attacking.
On the ground nearby was what was left of the horned monkey, it guts had spilled out of where Owen had stabbed. He fought to keep back a gag. It had felt so easy to stab it in the moment and all he had been thinking about was getting payback, but seeing the mutilated corpse at his feet. He couldn't help but feel nauseous.
Bile rose up into his mouth and he took a couple steps away before vomiting. He felt sick to his stomach and not just because he had vomited.
He had to take several minutes to breath and calm down. The monkey would've killed him, it is only right that he get rid of it first. Despite telling himself this over and over, it wasn't something that wanted to stick easily. At the very least he didn't feel very hungry anymore. He decided to give himself some time trying to level up his mana stat while trying to think through his first kill.
After about an hour without any stat increase he got up and moved to where he had remembered the other monkey that had thrown spikes at him was. He saw several other monkeys and his path around the glade. Noting their location in his head, he snuck up behind the other monkey in the same manner he had the first one.
He gave himself more time this time. He focused on his breathing and did his best to justify it in his head, but mostly, he was just going to do his best to avoid looking at the end result of his battles.
Thrusting his spear in the same manner he had done the first time, he felt like he was able to put more power than usual into it. Curious, he let himself put the full power of the thrust into his attack. It felt like something special was leaving his body as his spear made contact.
His spear hit the monkey and before its crown could explode like the last time, the monkey had been blown to pieces. Owen closed his eyes quickly, but the image was burned into his brain. He might've thrown up, but there was nothing left in his stomach to thrown up.
*Level 5 Horned Monkey has been slain, 10 experience has been gained. You have gained the skill Sneak Attack.*
Owen forced a smile, it was hard to be as excited this time, but he was able to ignore the monster he had killed. That's what he had decided to call them, despite looking like monkeys, they were monsters, the system had called them that earlier and it wasn't quite like anything on earth. He got down from the tree and opened his status.
He had forgotten to check his status and apply the free stat point he had, but he also didn't know what his skills did. Finding a tree to sit against, he opened his status page.
Owen - Human: Level 2
Vitality = 4
Mana = 4
Strength = 6
Perception = 9
Agility = 6
Resilience = 4
Dexterity = 9
Luck = 5
You have 1 unallocated stat point(s)
Skills:
Self Creator - You have created for yourself a new body that will let you take part in the system. Self Creator will allow the user to redesign their body, however will this process will not change the users mana signature. This skill has a 24 hour cooldown period.
Tactical Retreat - You have shown your ability to dodge dangers heading your way and escaping hostile enemies. Enemies aggressive range in decreased by 1%. When escaping combat, gained 5% movement speed.
Basic Spear Thrust - You have shown an amateur understanding of how to use spears when thrusting. When thrusting your spear for an attack, gain the ability to charge mana into your thrust. Charging mana into your attack deals an additional 1% to 20% damage based on how much mana in charged into the attack.
Sneak Attack - You have demonstrated the ability to kill your enemies from the shadows. Deal twice the amount of damage when your enemy has failed to noticed your presence. If Sneak Attack is used on an enemy, then when that enemy dies, only gain 50% of the experience you would've earned.
Experience 10 out of 30
Owen was stunned. He felt strong and his new skills directly boosted his attacks exactly how he needed them too. He felt a little disappointed that he was getting less experience, but he still had eight monsters to kill. That should mean he was pretty much guaranteed to gain 2 more levels if he used sneak attack on all of them.
If he could cancel out the effects of sneak attack though, then shouldn't he be able to gain enough levels for him to complete the second goal for this tutorial round all in one go? Owen snuck up on one of the other monster locations and started to charge his spear thrust with mana. "WRAGH," He shouted, still holding his holding his charged spear.
The loud sound cause the monster to jump up and start to turn towards Owen. He never let it finish, thrusting his spear forward, he struck it in the side of the head. His spear met little resistance as it popped the monsters head like a balloon. Owen had to hold back a gag, since despite telling himself it was a monster, it still looked remarkably like a monkey.
*Level 5 Horned Monkey has been slain. 20 experience gained. You have leveled up, You have 2 unallocated stat point(s).*
Owen grinned but felt unbelievably exhausted. For the first time he noticed he had gained a separate system menu.
*You have 400 out of 400 health points. You have 14 out of 400 mana points.*
He felt his eyes bug out staring at the screen. "Only 14 mana points out of 400, and holy shit, I have 400 mana points!" He gave himself a second to calm down before he sat down and tried to rest. He felt exhausted anyways so he let himself just relax. He watched this menu screen though while he focused on his breathing and watch his MP bar steadily fill up.
When he wasn't focused on his breathing and just breathed normally he gained approximately 1 MP per minute, but when he sat down and focused and breathing, that number jumped up to 10 MP per minute. Owen sighed, he was going to have to just sit and breath for over 30 minutes, but it couldn't be helped. He just closed his eyes and focused. A little over 30 minutes later, Owen smiled when he saw his MP was almost completely filled up again.
Curious to know his limits, he quickly found the next monster and charged up a spear thrust. When it struck the monster killing it, his MP bar plummeted by just barely under half. Slightly disappointed by how much MP the attack used, he continued the cycle of refilling his mana and killing another one of the monkey monster one by one.
When he couldn't find anymore and had counted out the ten that the message had stated were there. He sat down to refill his mana and look through his status notifications.
*Level 5 Horned Monkey has been slain x7. 140 Experience gained. You have reached the limit of experience you can gain from this monster type while inside of the tutorial, experience limited to 100 gained.*
Despite the anger Owen felt from losing out on the 40 experience he would've gained had he not reached the experience cap, he was happy. He had gone from level 3 to level 5 in such a short amount of time. and already had 10 EXP towards his next level. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his unallocated stats points, but as he hadn't need them yet, he decided to save them for now.
That way if he fought something he couldn't handle he could put them towards something that could save his life. Moving towards the glade he rubbed his hands together with his spear tucked under his arm. It was time for treasure.