Before checking the chests in front of him, Alan decided to deal with his hands. At least one of the slices was bleeding freely, a line of blood was running over his palm and down his arm staining his tunic. He tore the already bloody sleeve off and pressed it up against the wound. He wouldn’t be able to clean it until he found a source of water, but he could at least stop the bleeding. It seemed he was going to get to use his first aid skill right away.
As he held the makeshift bandage in place he looked over the three chests. They were approximately the size of a foot locker but made of clear glass. He could see the items inside and could even use identify when he focused on them. The first chest contained a large dagger.
Pugio (common): An iron dagger designed as a thrusting weapon. Approximately 28 centimeters long with a wide and double edged blade.
A weapon would be nice and since he already had dagger as a skill this seemed like a good choice. He inspected the other two chests to see what else there was to choose from.
Cloak (common): A thick woolen cloak that provides limited protection. The dark color also makes it harder to spot you in dim light.
Blackjack (common): a small weighted club used to subdue victims, possibly without killing them.
The cloak could be useful, but the temperature in the valley had seemed warm and it didn’t look thick enough to offer much physical protection. The blackjack was also a nonstarter since he wasn’t looking to subdue monsters. Alan opened the first chest and removed the Pugio. He took a few practice thrusts and found it to be well balanced and steady in his grip. He switched it from hand to hand with no trouble as well. His dagger skill and quick hands talent probably helped with that. He found a sheath underneath it in the chest and attached it to his belt. He moved it to the left side so he could easily draw it with his right hand.
With his wound at least partially tended to it was time to move on. He had also received a notification that he had gained +1 to Identify, so it was now officially a skill. Crossing the room he walked through the exit at the rear. He found himself striding out of the same cave entrance he had used to enter the dungeon. There was clearly some spatial fudging going on as he should have been deeper inside the mountain, not leaving it. However, since he wanted to head to the next dungeon this suited him just fine.
He had wanted to get some first hand experience on how everything worked, but now it was time to try and get some more information so that he could plan his next steps. The first search through the wiki was to see if he could get more information on how dungeons worked, but there was little of use. Following one path through the wiki he did make an interesting discovery. Apparently while in a party members could communicate with each other. They still had to speak out loud, but they could somehow activate the party chat so that their fellow members would hear what they said no matter where they were. Being all alone he hadn’t paid any attention to it before, but he learned that anyone without a group could request to be in a party with their Tutorial Assistant Manager. Apparently there had been some instances where loneliness had driven recruits insane. This wasn’t something Tamee had covered in the introduction, but Alan decided to try it out. He mentally requested to party up with Tamee and quickly got an acceptance notice.
“Tamee, can you hear me?”
“Good day Alan, how can I help you?” He could hear her voice as if she was standing beside him, but he didn't think anyone else would be able to hear it. Unless they were also in the party.
“This is so cool. How does this work? Is this telepathy?”
I could hear Tamee sigh, “No this is not telepathy. Think of this like one of your headsets that you play games with.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Wait, how do you know what a headset is?”
Another sigh, “While the system does not seem technologically advanced that is more a choice than a limitation. In getting ready to integrate new systems it thoroughly scans them. The information contained in those scans is made available to all of the managers.”
“Sorry I must sound like an idiot. I am still trying to process this whole thing.” He was not making a good impression.
“Apologies, I should make an allowance for this being your first day in a whole new universe.”
Something about this interaction bothered Alan. It took him a moment to figure out what it was. “Tamee, are you some kind of AI program or an actual being?”
“I am sorry Alan but that question is outside of my ability to answer.”
That nonanswer was suggestive of an actual answer, but he decided to move on to more pressing matters. “Can you tell me more about my class talents?” He knew these would be important to his advancement, but he wasn’t sure how they worked.
“All I can tell you is that your talents are not things you can do. Meaning they are not actions you activate, instead they are like things you are good at. For example, if you had the talent Smile, it would help improve any effort you made to smile, not actually cause you to smile.”
That made a kind of sense. “Can you tell me what time it is, or how long until it gets dark out?”
“I am not a clock, Alan. And I cannot tell you that information.” So apparently there was information she was not allowed to share. Over the next few minutes Alan asked many questions she couldn’t answer.
“No, I cannot tell you what the closest dungeon is…no I am unable to tell you how any of the other races are fairing…no I will not tell you how the other humans are doing…no I cannot suggest what you should do next…no I am unable to tell you about your friend Bernie…no I cannot tell you if Elvis is still alive.”
Ok, that last one may have just been for fun. One thing she could answer was that there were supposed to be 10,000 people in a zone. That would have made this area a lot more crowded. She had shared this information earlier, but he had lost track of that information after the realization that he would be all alone. Content with what he could learn for the moment he took out his tutorial token to test it out. He was expecting to have to move far away from the Rogue dungeon so that it would detect a new one instead.
That turned out to be unnecessary. Apparently the token was sophisticated enough that it recognized Alan had already completed this dungeon and instead was leading him farther north toward the next closest. He glanced at the sun and judged it to be just after noon. Not knowing exactly what time he had started he was forced to guess at the time. The best he could figure it seemed like only a couple of hours had passed. Breaking into a jog he went looking for his second class. This was jumping down his personal list a little bit, but the first dungeon had been relatively simple and it had also given him some equipment. Who knew what else he would get from the others.
Here by the mountains there were not even any trees to worry about so he made good time. While there were no trees the ground was still mostly covered in grass. There was a section before the mountains truly began where the grass faded to dry dirt. About half an hour later he had found his second dungeon. This one had a crossed sword and spear carved above it. Thinking back he connected the picture of the cloak and dagger with a rogue. This one suggested some kind of melee class. Once again the entrance was covered in shadows, so boldly he stepped inside.
New Quest: The Cave of Fighters
[Before you lie two paths. The first is the Path of the Strong and the second is the Path of the Nimble. Choose a path or exit now.]
This was an easier choice than before. Alan was fairly well built so most people would call him strong. But his fighting style had always been about speed and accuracy, not power. Also, with the dexterity based class he had already gained, nimble seemed like the obvious answer.
Quest Update: The path of the Nimble
[Inside you will find an obstacle course. Make your way through without dying to prove your mettle.]
It was only after making that choice that he thought to ask Tamee something. He needed to remember he now had someone he could talk to.
“I assume you can’t tell me what the different paths require, but can you tell me if it matters which path I choose in terms of the reward?”
“You are correct, I cannot tell you about the paths before you choose one. I can tell you that every choice you make has an influence on your Path.”
Alan could hear the capital “P” when she said that and so had to ask, “what do you mean by Path?”
“I think I am allowed to share this now, since you asked…Think of your class not just as a series of talents and abilities but a reflection of yourself. Every truly sentient being has a soul, and this soul is built of the moments of your life. Your actions and choices are the warp and weft of the quilt that is your soul. Your growth is intrinsically tied to your soul.”
“Wow Tamee, that was both informative and poetic. Thank you.” He was being serious, but he wasn’t sure she took it that way.
“If you have nothing more to ask, I have other things to tend to.” There was a hint of anger in her voice and it was clearly a dismissal. In his limited experience with women that would be a hassle to try and smooth over so instead he focused on his surroundings.
He found himself standing on a stone ledge almost three meters feet wide. Twenty meters across from that was another ledge, between them was a chasm whose bottom was lost in the darkness. There was a narrow stone beam, maybe thirteen centimeters wide, that connected the two sides. On the far side was the exit. This seemed simple enough, get across the beam without falling to your death. He didn’t trust it for a moment.
Carefully placing his first step Alan began to make his way across. He had found in the past that moving too slowly caused him to lose his balance more often than too quickly, so he tried to move at a steady pace. However, he was also wary of tricks so he made sure to keep himself centered, ready to react. It was a good thing too as a large sandbag suddenly came swinging towards him from the side. He ducked under it but found himself starting to fall. With a couple of quick steps forward he straightened up and managed to keep his balance.
Because of the distraction of regaining his balance he didn’t notice the second bag until it was too late to avoid. Coming from the other side a bag identical to the first was about to hit him. Since he couldn’t avoid it he braced himself on his back foot and angled his body with his arms in front of him. He took the blow from the bag and used its momentum to spin him around in a barely controlled wolf turn. He found himself facing the wrong way, but was still securely on the beam.
He quickly turned back around and scanned for more bags. None were visible at the moment so he resumed his steady walk. Every moment was filled with anxiety so when the next bag came it was almost a relief. This time he didn’t try to duck underneath, he simply took a step back and let it pass in front. When a second one came he stepped forward to allow it to pass behind him. Full of confidence Alan stepped quickly across the beam, watching for a bag to come at him from either side. He almost missed it when instead it came from directly in front of him. Not wanting to put himself in a vulnerable position again by ducking under he braced himself and once again deflected it away while using its momentum to spin around.
Reaching the far ledge he took stock of himself. No wounds and nothing spent but a little stamina, apparently physical exertion slowly drains that. With one last look back he stepped through the exit. Instead of finding himself in a final room there was a long tunnel. The ceiling was just over two meters high and the walls were about five meters apart. They were made of the same rocky material that all the other dungeon areas had been. The floor, however, was made of lava! Not a bubbling red-orange colored water like on a gameshow, but actually melt your face lava. There were some stones spaced out along the tunnel obviously designed for a person to walk across them. It appeared that there was more than the one test this time. For some reason the thought of burning up in lava was more terrifying than the previous threat of falling through mysterious darkness to your death.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
He started making his way across the stepping stones. He placed each boot carefully, wary of both his footing and a trick. Alan wouldn’t transfer his weight until he was sure the rock wasn’t going anywhere. He had played too many Mario games where the blocks fell away beneath you. The heat was surprisingly tolerable. It was no worse than sitting on a beach on a ninety degree day, which is to say he was sweating buckets but wasn’t going to catch on fire or anything. At first the stones were close together, maybe thirty centimeters apart and were easily traversed. As he made his way through the tunnel he found them getting farther and farther apart, his legs having to stretch longer. Soon he was having to take small hops to reach the next stone as they were about a meter apart. None of the rocks had been a trick so far and he could no longer play it safe. Caution was thrown to the wind as he had to hope the Network was playing him straight. He finally reached a small section, maybe two meters across of solid stone, where he could stop to catch his breath.
Looking ahead, Alan noticed that on the far side the stones would require an actual jump to reach. It looked like they were almost two meters apart and smaller than those in the last section. This was going to be tricky. The good news was that this section was only about 15 meters long. He was gathering the courage to make the first leap when he happened to glance at the ceiling. There were long narrow sections of the ceiling cut out across the width of the roof with a lip on the far side.
Noticing one overhead he jumped up and tested it. The edge was strong enough and there was enough room to hold on to the lip fairly easily. These sections seemed to continue all along the ceiling to the far platform which held the exit. Alan hadn’t been on monkey bars in a while but this seemed a much better option than jumping between small rocks.
He had a smile on his face as he swung from cutout to cutout, crossing the distance in less than a minute. This brought him back to his childhood and even basic training running the obstacle course. Watching the stones below get smaller and farther apart as he easily swung above was a great validation that he had made the right choice. He arched his back and leapt from the final cutout onto the end platform. His arms were aching but he had made it.
Deciding to pause for a few minutes and recover in case there was more to this dungeon he thought back on his experience to this point. So far he had been physically challenged, but not terribly. It was important to remember, this was a place for an above average person to prove themselves, and he, all modesty aside, was much better than above average. These dungeons were supposed to allow the recruits to earn classes which meant people had to be able to complete them. The Green Berets don’t just take anyone so Alan better be able to make it through. Feeling recovered, he cautiously walked through the exit. Once again he found himself in the final room like last time. It was empty just as before.
Quest Completed: The Path of the Nimble
[You have managed to make your way through the obstacles proving you have what it takes. You are the first in your zone to complete this dungeon so your reward has been upgraded to epic. Reward: One epic Fighter class stone.]
This time it came in a pouch. Maybe the boxes were for special rewards? That was the kind of random thought an overstimulated mind threw out to distract you. Maybe he wasn’t handling this as well as he thought he was. He opened the pouch and found another smooth white stone. It made sense that a quartz class stone would be, well, made of quartz. It had a figure holding a sword triumphantly over its head. He studied the stone briefly and got a message.
Item: Fighter Class Stone, rarity Epic. This stone can be used to gain the class Fighter, a strength based class that specializes in melee combat. Because of this stone’s rarity it can be used as long as you have no classes above quartz level. Can be used at any time.
Alan studied the figure on the stone and accepted the message. Once again he found himself on the floor with a massive headache. If anything this time it felt worse. Learning should not hurt this bad. His vision was a little blurry, but after that cleared up he opened his status screen.
Alan Taylor
Race: Human [W]
Class:
Fighter (0%) Quartz
Rogue (1%) Quartz
Health: 124 (12/hour)
Stamina: 104 (21/minute)
Mana: 84 (8/minute)
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 9
Perception: 7
Focus: 6
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 9
Constitution: 7
Spirit: 3
Skills:
Daggers: 3
Dodge: 2
First Aid: 12
Herbology: 2
Identify: 1
Running: 6
Sneak: 2
Unarmed Combat: 7
Titles: [Top Recruit]
Talents:
Fighter: Parry
Rogue: Quick Hands, Stealth
Spells: NA
Strength had gone up as well as health. He also noticed that his rogue class had advanced slightly. This must be from using dexterity on the obstacle course. He had also picked up another skill, dodging. There was apparently nothing else in the room so he quickly made his way to the exit and found himself outside the dungeon. No gear this time, he hadn’t gotten a new quest to get another class so there was no reward. That sucked.
The sun was no longer visible and the valley was in deep shadows. However, it didn't seem like it had truly set, it had simply passed below the tops of the mountains to the west. There were gaps in the range where shafts of sunlight broke through. He had a decision to make. He could try for one more dungeon tonight or make camp and wait for day two. He couldn’t be sure but it felt like there was still another couple of hours until the sun truly set, but it would be relatively dim until then.
Never up, never in his parents always used to say. He took out his token and was not surprised that it was sending him north again. He was moving slower this time, both because of a feeling of fatigue and because of the poor lighting. His stamina had taken a hit from that last test, but it was slowly recovering as he ran. Despite his initial fatigue the trip took less than an hour. This time there was a snake carved above the entrance. That one didn’t give him any clues, but it sure gave him the heebie-jeebies.
New Quest: The Cave of Healers
[Before you lie two paths. The first is the Path of the Mender and the second is the Path of the Protector. Choose a path or exit now.]
There was no choice here, he immediately chose the path of the mender. As a doctor this should be the easiest dungeon yet. He found himself in a small cavern about the same size as the Rogue dungeon. This one was not full of rocks, though, instead there were patches of plants scattered throughout. Overhead a hole in the roof let in some sunlight and there was a dampness to the air. It was like a botanical garden.
Quest Update: The path of the Mender
[A baby sheep is being watched over by its mother. Something is wrong with it. Find out what is wrong and fix it if you can.]
Scanning the small area, maybe 20 meters across, he sighted the ewe and its lamb. The baby was lying on its side and seemed to be taking shallow breaths. The mother was prodding it with her nose, encouraging it to rise. Alan started to make his way over but the mother turned towards him and started bleating.
“Easy girl…Easy.” Crouching lower and he spread his hands out palms up to show her he wasn’t a threat. She seemed to relax somewhat but became agitated again as he took another step closer. Alan continued to try and soothe her with his voice, telling her he was trying to help her baby. She was growing increasingly agitated, her body was visibly shaking. The mom was protecting her baby and this strange creature that smelled of blood was steadily advancing on her. When he got about five feet away he could tell that she was not going to let him get any closer without attacking him. He did his best to study the lamb from there.
It was easy to see that it was not doing well. In addition to the labored breathing it was also emitting a faint bleating. The fact that you could only hear it from close up was not a good sign. There was also some kind of green saliva around its mouth. Alan was a human doctor, not a vet, but he had grown up on a farm in a small town in New York. The thick saliva leaking from its mouth suggested that it had eaten something that was poisonous to it.
He started studying the plants around it. His identify skill was actually working on most of them. As he stared at each plant he would get messages telling him about them. There were several types of tall grasses, some clover, and mandrake. That last was a concern because it can cause sheep to vomit or be fatal in large enough doses.
While he had studied plants in med school, mostly the medicinal kind, he was surprised at how much he seemed to know about them now. Some of them he recognized from his life on Earth before identify went off but others were a mystery. Maybe it was the herbology skill. It was a reflection of the knowledge he had gained in his old life, but it now resulted in specialized knowledge he hadn’t actually known previously. Checking the mandrake patch there was no sign of it being eaten.
Alan then had to pause as he realized he had just thought of everything before today as ‘my old life.’ The last twenty hours were so different compared to the previous thirty years that he thought he should be freaking out more. No amount of reading stories ahead of time should have prepared him so well, and adaptability only goes so far. He was a little concerned that it wasn’t natural and maybe something the Network was doing to his brain.
“Tamee, why am I handling this so well”
“You do not seem to have made much progress on your quest so I am not sure what you mean.”
“I mean why am I calmly talking to you instead of yelling and screaming and thinking I have gone insane.”
There was a long pause before she answered in a quiet voice. “Some people have reacted the way you describe. I cannot tell you why you are not.” This answer was singularly unhelpful. Could she not say because he was just handling this well and she didn’t know why, or could she not tell him because it was protected information? Frustrated and a little paranoid, he decided to return to his task. As a doctor he felt a pull to heal the sick, no matter what they looked like. He did have to admit that even in its sorry condition that baby sheep was pretty adorable.
He focused his thoughts on the mother and lamb. There was a small pool of water nearby and he decided to clean his hands before he tried to get closer to better examine the lamb. They were bloody and dirty and this was his first real chance to clean them. It was also the closest thing to sterile he could get. As he was washing his hands he noticed some disturbed roots in the water. Using identify confirmed what he had already guessed, they were water hemlock roots. He had learned about these in med school. It was poisonous to both farm animals and humans. The baby must have eaten some while taking a drink. He needed to get whatever it had eaten out of its stomach.
He made my way back to the mandrake plants and took a small handful. Then he placed them on a flat rock and used a small round rock to partially grind it up. Scraping up the small amount of paste that he had made, he held it in his hand. Now the tricky part. The ewe was not going to like this. He made his way over to the lamb. The mother was trying to butt him away with her head but it didn’t take much to resist her. She tried to rear back and strike with her hooves but a small shove caused her to collapse. Alan quickly knelt next to the lamb and scraped the paste into its mouth. It reflexively swallowed and he backed away. The ewe regained her feet but did not chase after him. Shortly the lamb started gagging and then threw up a small pile of partially digested greenery.
That was step one, the small amount of mandrake had caused vomiting and hopefully wasn’t enough to cause another problem. Now no new toxins should be entering the sheep’s system from digesting plant matter still in its stomach. Next they had to deal with what was already in its blood stream. He made his way back to the lamb, taking out his health potion as he did so. He had to once again fend off the mother’s attempts to push him away and poured a small amount into the lamb’s mouth. Backing away he noticed that the ewe had some of the same green saliva coming from her mouth.
No wonder he was so easily able to fend her off. She must have eaten some of the water hemlock as well. He repeated the treatment process with the mother and soon both of them were looking much better. Alan also made sure to remove any other water hemlock he found in the pool before the sheep made their way over and began drinking. They already looked much steadier.
Quest Completed: The Path of the Mender
[You have not only prevented the lamb from dying you have also restored it to full health. You are the first in your zone to complete this dungeon so your reward has been upgraded to epic. Reward: One epic Healer class stone.]
Secret Bonus Quest Completed: The Path of the Mender
[You discovered the ewe was sick as well and cured her. Reward: One spell scroll Minor Healing.]
A larger pouch appeared in front of him. Inside Alan found a scroll tied with a green ribbon and another smooth white class stone. A humanoid in a robe stood with its hand raised.
Item: Healer Class Stone, rarity Epic. This stone can be used to gain the class Healer, a wisdom based class that specializes in healing and curing as well as shielding others. Because of this stone’s rarity it can be used as long as you have no classes above quartz level. Can be used at any time.
Item: Spell Scroll Minor Healing (common). By reading this scroll you can teach yourself the spell Minor Healing. The scroll will be consumed after learning the spell. Can only be learned outside of combat.
The stone was expected, but the idea of getting a spell had him geeking out. Who doesn’t secretly wish they could use magic. And a healing spell seemed like it would be incredibly useful. Without tools and medicine a doctor had only a limited ability to heal.