Chapter 3
The pull toward the area increased drastically as Trint walked over the crest of the hill. He could see a clearing and a fuzzy brown bush about the size of a car. No, that wasn’t right. He paused and just starred at it. The ‘bush’ was deflating a bit, then inflating. No sound, just movement. Still, he had played lots of video games, and this was most likely a sleeping boss bear. It wasn’t the first time Trint had heard of a System governed world. But reading LitRPG books hadn’t prepared him for living in one. He had so many questions.
Going with his gut instinct, Trint crept up on the large, fuzzy heap and shoved his sword hilt-deep into what he assumed was the sleeping boss bear.
The fuzzy creature growled its displeasure and stood up to its full height. This was a teddy bear bigger than most bears from Earth, standing about 9 feet tall. Trint held onto his sword and was momentarily lifted with the bear. His weight slid the sword out of the bear’s shoulder, and he fell hard on his backside right behind the feet of this monstrous teddy bear.
Stunned a little, Trint began to scramble away from the bear. The beast took a few seconds to turn, but a big lumbering step was all it took for it to be immediately in front of Trint, blocking his path. Rolling to his right side, he almost let go of the sword as he moved over it in his right hand. Fortunately, he managed not to cut himself. The bear was big but unable to turn quickly after it stomped down where Trint had been just moments before.
He got to his feet and swung at the bear’s left leg as he circled around counterclockwise behind it. His swing carried deep into the leg, stopping at a large leg bone. The bear roared, sounding more like a bear than a teddy bear. It turned and swung at him with its massive left paw.
He instinctually braced to block with his sword and ended up slicing through the back of its paw. The bear became enraged as the paw dangled from its arm. It tried to circle round; its now-damaged paw completely useless. He continued to stay behind the upright lumbering bear, hacking away with growing confidence, A smile formed on his face as the bear bled from the many cuts he inflicted.
This is fun! Better than a VR video game, Trint thought.
After another few minutes of slicing, the boss's health was whittled down. It began to lose balance and tipped over, falling sideways like a tree toward Trint. Fortunately, he was aware enough to keep circling and avoided getting crushed by the oversized teddy bear.
System Message: Congratulations! Level 1 Tutorial Instance Complete.
Please Access Instance Rewards by Touching Globe on the Dais.
Trint reread the text several times before he mentally closed the window. Then he looked behind where the bear had been sleeping. There was a light coming from a podium. However, instead of a sculpture or vase, there was a glowing globe hovering just above the short pillar. A dark green glow shined through the globe and cast its light on everything around the dais.
Entranced by the object, he walked up to the basketball-sized globe and reached out to touch it.
Instance Rewards: $1,000 Q11, [Belt Knife - Common], [Cloth Cap - Common]. For completing the Instance solo, you gain additional XP.
Trint without a command, received the rewards along with the message as he instinctively knew they transferred to his storage ring as he felt them settle within.
He looked up the hill beyond the podium and saw a large square gateway. Even more massive than the boss bear, it shimmered invitingly.
Must be the way out of here? Trint thought. Walking through, he found himself just outside the Instance entrance, facing away from a shimmering door. Utterly confused, he pondered about why Jack brought him here and what the deal was with this crazy world.
“That was so weird to fight teddy bears. Blood filled teddy bears, no less. It was like my childhood was... bleeding on me,” Trint laughed aloud looking at how he was covered in different stages of flaking and wet redness. “I suppose if someone wanted to ease me into killing stuff, they would start me off with something easy but psychologically jarring?” he considered. This was nothing like his old 9-5 office job.
“With all my books and gaming RPGs I would have expected goblins, rats or kobolds,” Trint laughed to himself.
Exploring a little further around, he found several other shimmering doors. He decided if he was going to have to fight more, he needed to get some armor or magic.
“Pneuma, are you there?” Trint asked of the empty field.
Yes. Sufficient work but you have a long way to go, Pneuma assessed. Before you rest and return to your starting home, go in that door. These are more Instances, and they will help you grow stronger. Also, please just mentally think when communicating with me; don’t speak out loud.
He followed Pneuma’s instructions, only briefly considering how this was the weirdest thing to ever happened to him.
“Is this a dream? Are you some unlocked part of my subconscious or… Am I possessed? Are you a demon?” His thoughts turned to fears.
No, no, and no. Wrong on all accounts. Time for some answers and gifts thought. While you were sleeping, I took the liberty of giving you some basic skills, Pneuma informed him. One moment, and I will make the skill knowledge available. A warning, though: this will hurt, so let's do this before you step inside.
Blinding light filled his vision, and a searing of what Trint thought was the center of his brain spread throughout his head then infiltrated his whole body. The pain was intense but the next moment it was gone, and he felt more than just relief; he knew things.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
How do I know all this stuff? Trint thought.
Just give them a try. Step through that door, Pneuma encouraged.
Instance number two was more difficult. The enemies turned out to be rats the size of little dogs. Twenty-pound rats full of nasty fur, fleas, and scraggly claws. In swampy stagnant water and tunnels, he continued to be covered in blood and muck. Trint was happy to dispatch them but reverted to default swings of his sword.
Finally catching a break between mini swarms of rats, he pulled up his mental list of skills:
Movement Skills (Passive): [Increased Movement Speed], [Dodge]
Defensive Skills (Passive): [Increased Health Regeneration]
Magic Projection Skills: [Mana Bolt]
Sword Skills: [Strike], [Block]
“Wow! So, I have been using passive skills? Interesting,” he mused.
After a few minutes of practicing his [Mana Bolt], sword skills [Strike] and [Block], and trying but failing to activate his movement passive [Dodge], he proceeded deeper through the cave system toward the pull of what he now knew was the Instance exit.
Trint found that the use of Mana was effortless. Like walking, once he figured out the first step, his body realized the rest. Or, if his mind realized he could do it, he didn’t have to struggle to continue actively concentrating on it. The cost was minimal, but after ten [Mana Bolt] shots in a row, Trint ran out of Mana. It felt like his hands went numb, and he had a brain freeze from eating ice cream too fast, that turned into a distracting headache. The more physical skills ended up tiring his body temporarily. But honestly, he was expecting worse. Is that my stamina running low? No response from his mental passenger.
He continued through the cave system and used his sword skills when he had the energy but even when that special energy was gone, he still had a more basic strength.
Before the System, Trint was a decent baseball player. Swinging his sword an hour ago against the teddy bears was fun. But while fighting with his active sword skills, Trint felt like he was in a martial arts movie. He was like an ancient samurai or a fledgling warrior from one of his favorite books.
Yes, you look quite dashing, Pneuma teased. But you also look quite absent minded when you run your resources too low. I can’t decide if you are just a child pretending to be an adult or... ahem. Either way, please use the System displays and be mindful of your resources. Running out at the wrong time will prove fatal. Here, look at this...
Trint’s vision changed to display little bars at the top left of his peripheral view. Then his view was blocked by a larger window showing the System’s measure of what Trint currently represented:
Trinten Atlas Henderson
Class: None
Profession: None
Stats
Level: 0
XP: 25%
Unassigned Stat Points: 0.0 (Body) 0.0 (Mind)
Body Stats
Strength
Agility
Vitality
1.0
1.0
1.0
Mind Stats
Memory
Wisdom
Adaptability
1.0
1.0
1.0
Status
Health - HP
48/50
Regen
5 / min
Stamina - SP
30/50
Regen
15 / min
Mana - MP
5/50
Regen
5 / min
Trint ran a hand down his face. Even when his eyes were briefly closed, he still saw the window of information. That explained a lot; he couldn’t believe he’d been so careless to neglect the looking he really had his own set of stats. This was basic RPG knowledge!
It was unreal to feel the Stamina drain and turn his movements into smooth executing strikes as his blade tracked exactly where he intended. He felt like he could kill a rat with a single clean slice now. And as opposed to his baseball stance from before, his feet moved smoothly across the ground and set him up for each consecutive slice.
But after using the skills for the sword and trying to use them continuously, his resources ran out. It’s not that he couldn’t fight once they ran out. He could still swing his sword; it just wasn’t as powerful or controlled. It also wasn’t as fun, and he was much more efficient with his skills up and running.
Trint tried to limit the number of resources that went toward each skill. After a while, he realized that his Agility and Memory could throttle up or down the use of his Stamina or Mana for the corresponding skills.
Based on his experimenting, he could add additional Stamina to his passive movement skills. Doing this at a low level drained his Stamina more quickly, but in battle it seemed necessary. This boosted his speed to a little faster than expected and occasionally activated the sword to increase effectiveness. As his Stamina drained, the rest of the rats got his unskilled slices. It took more than one swing when not empowered. The giant rats’ thick fur provided some resistance to his blade.
Based on the growing pull, he was approaching the boss fight. Trint rested and restored his resource pools. Walking into a cavern, he saw a refrigerator-sized rat. He knew he needed to alternate his skills or risk depleting his reserves of Stamina and Mana at a critical time. He immediately launched a [Mana Bolt]. It proved helpful in keeping the rat at a distance as it stumbled. Momentarily blind, it scratched its face trying to clear the invisible damage. He decided to keep as far away as possible and continued shooting the boss rat while running around it.
The rat boss tried to catch him with lunges and scurried toward him. Trint was able to keep his distance in the large room with periodic shots. Each [Mana Bolt] magically burnt the fur and flesh indiscriminately. It also managed to distract or stun it for a few seconds after each direct hit. He started using those few seconds it was caught in pain to give occasional cuts. They created deep slices into its muscle, and a couple of hits to its ribs sank even deeper. Eventually, he saw his Mana run low enough that he stopped shooting it and decided he needed to finish the fight before his Stamina ran dry too. He didn’t want to be forced to resort to unskilled fighting.
He stopped and waited for the rat to close in for a lunge. Using [Dodge], he drove his sword deep into the rat’s neck as he jumped to its side, hoping to hit an artery and end the fight. The rat’s weakened cry of pain revealed its sorry condition, but Trint wanted to be careful. This could have any number of game elements. Maybe an enraged final stage, he thought. As Trint pulled his sword free, blood sprayed over his face and chest. He backpedaled away after the attack, wiping the blood from his face as he increased his distance.
He ran blindly, for a moment trying to get his vision clear. Expecting an attack, he opened his eyes to the sight of a limp rat lying on the floor. It was still breathing, but Trint thought it was nearly dead. He took a risk and jumped onto the rat’s back, stabbing the sword into the neck. There was some resistance before the spine severed, and the rat died. He jumped down from the dead rat.
System Message: Congratulations! Level 1 Tutorial Instance Complete. Please Access Instance Rewards by Touching Globe on the Dais.
Quickly the body began to dissolve into mist. Only Trint remained. If anyone else had been present, they would hardly see him as he blended in well with the blood and muck-covered room.
Trudging through the mess he grabbed the rewards and exited the Instance.