He looked around, Alan had never seen a more serene setting in his life. After finding out that he would be alone in his zone only a few questions had managed to make it through the cluster that was his thoughts, and then he was teleported down. The process was not at all like he expected. One moment he was standing in the auditorium and the next he was standing in a small clearing surrounded by trees covered in bright green leaves. He was wearing a fairly comfortable pair of boots and a loose fitting tunic and pants. The ground was covered in grass, make that lawn, that would have made any suburban homeowner proud.
He could hear small birds singing in the trees and bugs chirping all around. Scanning the trees he couldn’t actually see any of the birds that were supposed to be making those noises, but maybe the leaves were hiding them. He could just see the sun peeking over the trees on one side of the clearing. Alan decided to call that direction east and then he realized that wasn’t the sun he was used to. His was somewhere being used as a battery to create all this. As he looked around with an increasingly dark cloud of thoughts forming in his head a system message popped up.
New Quest: Get a class
[Welcome to day 1 of the tutorial. Today is a safe day, there are no beasts in the woods. Those sounds you hear are just ambiance. Tomorrow is a different story. Find a dungeon and get yourself a class before then.]
Alan paused to think. This was the first moment that he felt almost normal since the FCB blew up. There was no monster attacking him, no strange robot, alien, or fancy AI talking to him. He still wasn’t sure if Tamee was an actual person or not. It was time to deal with everything that had been pushed aside while dealing with crisis after crisis.
The world he knew was gone. That much had become clear to him. Assuming this wasn’t some kind of hypoxia dream. Even if it was, it wouldn’t hurt to assume it wasn’t. It was a mind shattering concept that the world was no more and everyone he knew might be gone. The presentation had been a little vague on where all the people of Earth had gone. Next time he saw someone in charge he would have to ask about that. Putting the people aside, if he thought of this as a new deployment it was easier to come to grips with it. This was simply his new station and he had a new mission. The details of that mission were kinda vague, not a wholly unknown reality in his experience, but the end game was clear. Make sure that the good guys, Earth, were the winners even if it meant killing people. Now that he thought about it, would the other planets even have humans? Probably not. Ok, enough shenanigans.
He wasn’t going to half-ass this. His world was being invaded, sort of, and he could help make sure that humans came out on top. To start with he would treat this like a survival game. The first order of business was getting a feel for the land. He also needed to figure out the rules for this “Network.” Then he needed to grow as strong as possible so that he could represent when he met the other races. The start of that would be getting one of these classes. Time for a list.
Personal Quest: Getting started
[Turns out you can make your own quests, who knew?
* Find a starter dungeon
* Get a class
* Find food
* Find shelter
* Find equipment?
* Get more classes
* BONUS: Kick ass!]
Ok, game on. He took out his tutorial token. One of the questions that he had thought to ask was about the upgraded token he had gotten after ‘killing’ that space squid. It would act like a compass for the dungeons. When held in his hand his body would feel a warmth in the direction of the dungeon closest to him. He took one more moment to get a picture of where he was.
Almost due south, just under a klick away, there was a large cliff wall. To the east and west jagged mountains ran north and south. It did appear that he was trapped in this valley. Far to the north there seemed to be another cliff. The fact that he could see it from what should be about 25 klicks away reinforced that he was on a flat disk and not a round planet with a horizon. Another of Alan’s questions had been about the size of the valley. It was approximately five kilometers across and twenty-five kilometers long, although since this was the edge of a big circle and not a rectangle, those dimensions weren’t constant.
As he closed his hand around the token he felt the left side of his body heat up. Turning that way he started jogging through the woods. He wasn’t racing anyone else in his zone, but he still needed to complete at least one dungeon before tomorrow. If possible Alan would love to finish two. Today was a safe day, but tomorrow there could be monsters. If the monsters were anything like what he had already fought he needed all the advantages he could get.
Running through the forest he noticed that it wasn’t a real forest. It was what you would get if you asked an HOA president to design a forest. Alan had spent time in forests on multiple continents and this was nothing like any of them.
The trees were all too similar in size and shape. Each was about ten to twelve meters high and had a trunk that was about half a meter across. They were almost uniformly spaced out so that their branches barely connected and there was little to no undergrowth. Instead the short grass he had noticed earlier grew all around. It was like the forest was growing out of someone’s lawn. It reinforced the idea that this was not his planet and he didn’t know all the rules. Unless the Network changed the landscape between now and tomorrow it should make spotting any creatures easy at least.
He found himself moving toward the mountains to the west. After about ten minutes the forest suddenly thinned out and he found himself standing before a range of large peaks. The bases rose almost vertically, far into the sky. This was truly an impassable barrier. About thirty meters away he noticed a small cave. Even though the sun was shining almost directly into the cave it seemed to be full of shadows, just an opaque wall of black. Definitely not natural. There was some kind of carving above it but he couldn’t make out the details from here.
He quickly ran over. Alan still couldn’t see into the cave but he could now tell that the carving was a cloak with a dagger inside it. Was this a hint as to what was inside? He paused for only a moment before he stepped forward. Time to see what a dungeon was like. As his foot broke the plain of darkness he received another prompt.
New Quest: The Cave of Rogues
[Before you lie two paths. The first is the Path of the Fast and the second is the Path of the Quiet. Choose a path or exit now.]
In the Green Berets he had learned the importance of being fast and of being quiet. He certainly wasn’t going to leave, so which path should he take? At 5’8” Alan had always been quick on his feet, but he wasn’t winning the 100 meter dash. Mentally making his choice he continued inside.
Quest Update: The path of the Quiet
[Shhhhh…someone stole these hobgoblins’ dinner. They are searching high and low for the culprit, and at this point they are hungry enough to eat whoever they catch. Make your way across the cavern without being spotted.]
He found himself standing at the end of a tunnel he didn’t remember walking down. Thankfully he was still in the shadows as he noticed what was before him. There was a large round cavern with boulders of various sizes, from basketball to small van, strewn around it providing a fair amount of cover. It looked like a paintball arena that used rocks instead of inflatables. The light was dim but there was still more than enough to see by. Crouching down and leaning against the wall he noticed six creatures wandering around. They looked to be slightly shorter than he was with rolling layers of fat. Their limbs looked odd too, the arms were long for their body and their legs too short. The eyes were large and each held a rusty short sword in one hand.
They were not pleasant to look at, but this was a monster that TV and movies had prepared him for. He had to force himself to take a few deep breaths but was able to bring his mind back to the matter at hand. If this was the worst he had to deal with he could handle things. It looked to be about a hundred meters across the cavern to another shadowing recess. There didn’t appear to be anything else of note in the room. With the exit identified it was time to break down the situation. He didn’t have far to go but the relatively small space meant that he would be unable to avoid getting close to the searching monsters. Apparently this was a test of whether he could sneak his way past all of the hobgoblins and prove he was ‘quiet.’ His pressure suit had long ago disappeared and instead Tamee had provided him with new clothes.
He was wearing a loose tunic with a tighter pair of pants held up with a wide leather belt. Both the tunic and pants were a dark blue material that would blend in well with the surrounding walls. The belt had many loops on it for attaching pouches, but only one of them was in use. That pouch contained all of his other items. He had his token, a health potion, and a mana potion.
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The potions were in tall thin test tubes like you would take a shot from at a dance club. These were given to him before being teleported down. The health potion was the traditional red of video games, but the mana potion was a shimmery white color. That was unfortunately all of his equipment. Without any kind of weapon Alan did not like his chances of taking on one, let alone half a dozen, of these things. The excessive fat would work well at limiting the damage he could do with just his hands. He could probably find a rock to swing around but while rock beats scissors, it gets its butt kicked by sword.
He watched for several minutes to see if he could spot some kind of pattern to their movement. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their paths. They were not searching in a grid or any kind of spiral to create containment. There was also no coordination to their movements. It was as if each was conducting their own search with no regard to the rest of their group. This would make planning a safe route difficult, but hopefully in the moment it would offer openings to move through. Hesitation is defeat. As the nearest hobgoblin turned their back he made his move.
Staying low to the ground he scrambled past the first bit of cover and slid behind another large rock. It had been partially split in two with a narrow crack running vertically for most of its height. He peeked through as he took in the situation. He had made it about ten meters into the room and hadn’t been spotted. He had noticed one of the hobs looking his way while he was away from cover but either the creature’s large eyes were not a sign of its perception or it had trouble seeing in the low light. The first hob was moving away, but two more were moving in from the left. Quickly peeking out the left of the rock he couldn’t see any more of them on that side.
Taking an insane risk Alan crawled that way as they seemed to be focusing across the cavern. He took shelter behind some loose rocks right next to them. If they looked down he was done for, but if they kept moving as they had been there would be a clear path across most of the cavern. His luck held and one barked something to the other as they split up and continued their search.
Checking one more time to make sure it was clear, he sprinted down the left side. As much as possible he tried to stay low and blend in against the rocky wall. He was maybe eight meters from the exit when he was forced to literally dive behind cover. Have you ever tried to dive onto an uneven stone slab without making a sound? It sliced the palms of his hands on the sharp ridges and ripped open the knees of his pants. He winced but didn’t utter a sound. Three of the hobs were converging near the exit. Trying to keep from panicking he took some slow deep breaths. Calm is good.
Standing within meters of the exit they would notice him in a moment if he tried to get past them. Once again the hobgoblins hissed and barked at each other in their strange guttural language. They were pointing in Alan’s direction. One of them must have seen him moving, but not well enough to pinpoint his location. Thinking quickly, he pulled one of the small rock shards out of his palm and tossed it back the way he came. Blood started to well out of the wound, but there was a noticeable sound when the rock hit the wall and then clattered to the ground.
All three started to run toward the distraction. The largest pushed the others down and sprinted toward where the rock landed. These beings were apparently not good at the whole ‘team player’ thing. The other two spritely regained their feet, showing a nice bit of dexterity, and dashed after it as well. Alan crawled on all fours the rest of the way, leaving bloody hand and knee prints on the floor. Pain he could deal with, failure was not an option. With one last glance back he crossed through the exit. Alan found himself in a small stone room, maybe five meters across. There was a shadowy exit across from him and nothing but smooth floor between him and it.
Quest Completed: The Path of the Quiet
[You have managed to make your way past the hobgoblins without being seen. You are the first in your zone to complete this dungeon so your reward has been upgraded to epic. In addition you are the first in your zone to complete any class dungeon so your reward has been further upgraded to ancient. Reward: One ancient Rogue class stone.]
Once again a wooden box appeared hovering in the air. He carefully reached out and grabbed it. Opening it up, inside was a small smooth quartz stone lying on a dark blue felt bottom. It was shaped like the perfect skipping stone, slightly oblong and about half an inch thick. He took the class stone out and carefully put the box into his pouch. He had left the other box back in the auditorium, but realized it might be useful to have some cases to put things in.
He knew what this must be, but he stared at it trying to read its secrets. Suddenly he was confronted with a message. He must have some kind of Identify skill.
Item: Rogue Class Stone, rarity Ancient. This stone can be used to gain the class Rogue, a dexterity based class that specializes in stealth, sneak attacks, and scouting. Because of this stone’s rarity it can be used as long as you have no classes above quartz level. Also, the ancient variety will award you with two class talents instead of one. Can be used at any time.
That last part was unexpected. Another feature Tamee had mentioned back in the briefing was a kind of wiki. It contained information on many facets of the Network, but it would only reveal a very basic description of most topics. Also, some topics were not available at all until recruits reached certain milestones.
While jogging through the forest he had learned how to create a kind of split screen so that he could read the wiki while running. It was not easy to do, but knowing nothing was going to attack him and with a lack of tripping hazards in the unnatural forest meant he could just manage it. One of the things Alan had learned from it was that the W next to his race was a level indicator, and it was the lowest level possible at that. It stood for White and could be upgraded through the colors of the rainbow from red to purple. Yes, white is not in the rainbow, but it was apparently the starting color anyway. Since classes were so important he had decided to read up on them on his way to get one. Because he was first through the dungeon Alan was expecting to get an epic stone, usable no matter how many classes he already had.
This was the opportunity he had realized earlier. Alan had originally been hoping to be first through a dungeon while racing his peers so that he could get a third or possibly even fourth class. He would have saved his epic stone and then used any common stone and then any other higher level stones first. This would have given him two or possibly three classes. Then he could use the epic stone to achieve a fourth. However, because there was no competition, he could earn eight epic stones and use them all.
This would be a huge advantage, but he had just learned about another. Each quartz class stone awarded you a class and one of six talents. To improve your class you would have to use the talents and the attributes that were assigned for each class. It was possible to find talent stones as loot or in stores that would allow you to learn the others, but they were not very common. Also, it was hinted in the wiki that the initial talent would have a significant effect on your future Path.
By being given a second talent from the start of his class he could probably expect to advance it much faster. Holding the stone in his hand Alan concentrated on the image upon it. It was a hooded humanoid figure crouching with a dagger in its hand.
Do you want to absorb the Ancient Rarity Rogue Class Stone?
This is what he was here for so Alan thought yes and suddenly found myself sitting on the ground with a terrible headache. It felt like someone had driven an iron spike into his head and then melted it so it spread out into brain. After a moment the pain faded and just thinking about it he could feel new knowledge in there. He pulled up his stat sheet to see what had changed.
Alan Taylor
Race: Human [W]
Class:
Rogue (0%) Quartz
Health: 122 (12/hour)
Stamina: 104 (21/minute)
Mana: 84 (12/hour)
Stats:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 9
Perception: 7
Focus: 6
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 9
Constitution: 7
Spirit: 3
Skills:
Daggers: 3
First Aid: 11
Herbology: 2
Running: 6
Sneak: 2
Unarmed Combat: 7
Titles: [Top Recruit]
Talents:
Rogue: Quick Hands, Stealth
Spells: NA
Quest Completed: Get a Class
[You have earned yourself a class. Choose one of the chests in front of you to receive a class item. You may only open one chest.]
As he closed the latest message he noticed three glass chests sitting on the previously unoccupied floor.But that would have to wait. Things were coming at him quickly again, however, this time he felt a little more in control.
Alan now had a class. Somehow he was supposed to be able to improve or upgrade it. As the class became upgraded his class talents would improve as well. As for the talents he had learned, stealth was pretty self explanatory, but he could also tell that he had a better understanding of how to walk and move to better avoid attention. Quick Hands was less clear but as he experimented he noticed that his hands felt more coordinated and he could seem to move them around faster than before. At times they almost seemed to blur. That could definitely be useful.
He also noticed from his stat sheet that his dexterity had gone up when he obtained the class. With it his stamina went up so there must be some correlation between the two. A quick check of the wiki indicated that each quartz level class was tied to one stat. He could increase it by increasing the percent gain in the class. It was less clear on how, or if, you could increase the other stats. Alan was feeling pretty pleased with his improvements and that was before remembering the second reward, loot!