Chapter 8 - The Calm Before the Dungeon
Tutorial World #336: Day 1
A real-life Dungeon! Doc couldn’t believe what he was seeing. If he were right about how this could play out, the Dungeon would probably pay out bigger rewards and loot for completing. That being said, the difficulty of a dungeon was likely to ratchet up quickly, especially if there were multiple levels as the description inferred. It could be dangerous but also lucrative if he and Grizz did a good job. And now, it wasn’t just him and Grizz! Doc pulled out his card-carrying case to look at his new summon.
Opening the black and gold case, Doc slipped out the new card that had appeared inside. It, just like the chinchillycorn pelt cards had a green outline, representing the uncommon rarity of the monster. At the top of the card was a picture of the Alpha, horn glowing in preparation for an attack. The small creature’s mouth was open, eliciting a tiny roar. The entire picture had a foil sheen to it. Above the picture was the name of the special beast: Frost Giant Chinchillycorn - Variant. Below the picture was a list of the monster’s stats and abilities.
Name: UNDEFINED
Type: Ice Beast
Health Points: 67
Mana Points: 175
Power Score: 44
Daily Summon Time Remaining: 1:30:00
Attack: 15
ABILITIES
Ice Spike: Conjures a spike of ice the shape and size of the chinchillycorn’s horn and projects it forward in a straight line. The spike has a base Damage of 25. Cost: 10 MP. Cool Down: None Duration: Not applicable
Ice Pillar: Conjures a pillar of ice 2 meters in length. The pillar shoots out of the surface in the caster's chosen direction. Cost: 25 MP. Cool Down: 10 minutes. Duration: 2 minutes
Ice Horn Poison: The horn of the Frost Giant Chinchillycorn passively channels ice that it absorbs from the ambient mana and creates a poison that delivers 4 points of ice damage per 20 seconds and lasts for 3 minutes. This is a variant ability and has no cost.
Defense: 5
Magic Attack: 16
Magic Defense: 8
The stats for the Chinchillycorn were different than both his and Grizz’s. Doc was surprised to see that they were a bit more streamlined for the monster with only two physical and mental stats. It also provided a new stat called power score. Doing a quick bit of mental math, Doc was able to see that the score seemed to be a sum of all four of the other stats. He wasn’t sure if that was going to be consistent through any other monsters, but for now, it was an interesting concept to just rate a monster as a whole via one score. If Doc was able to tame more monsters, he was excited to see how their scores compared.
Another thing to consider here was the fact that the alpha was a variant called a Frost Giant Chinchillycorn, that provided an extra variant ability. The Frost Giant seemed to have about 40-50% extra health and mana points compared to the chinchillycorn that he identified before the fight. He wasn’t sure that this went into the stats at all, but the variant ability and extra HP and MP made the monster significantly stronger than its peers.
One last piece of information on the card that Doc found interesting was the daily summon time remaining. This was another huge difference between Grizz and other non-soul summon monsters. Grizz could stay out indefinitely, but it seemed that his other summons may have only a certain amount of time to be summoned every day. An hour and a half might seem like a lot of time, but Doc was sure that it could go quickly if he didn’t keep an eye on it. Using his summons in future battles would require him to be more strategic than he had expected.
As he held the card up to his eyes to get a better look at the image of the creature, a new prompt popped up.
Would you like to summon unnamed Frost Giant Chinchillycorn? Yes or No.
Knowing he didn’t need the summon at that exact moment, Doc mentally selected No.
“So, I assume this chinchillycorn will want a name like you,” Doc said, turning to Grizz. Doc thought about it, and something absolutely ridiculous popped into his head, “How does Brrr Coat sound?”
Honestly? Grizz looked back at Doc. That’s the funniest thing I have ever heard. Don’t let someone from PETA hear you call it that. There might be some insensitivity over the fur trade of magical creatures when we make it back to Earth.
“Yeah,” Doc continued pondering aloud. “Maybe that isn’t very PC. I got it! Brrrt!”
Grizz looked back up at Doc and shook his head, chuffing in laughter. Yeeessss! That is brrrfect.
“See, now you are getting in on all the pun…I mean fun.” Doc said with a twinkle in his eye.
On the card, Doc saw the name change from UNDEFINED to Brrrt as he saw it in his mind’s eye. Seeing it on the card made him chuckle again as he put the summon’s card back into the case for later when it was needed.
Doc took stock of everything that they had gone through. He wanted to start the dungeon now, but both he and Grizz had been hurt during the fight. He had also used the one health potion that he had had in his inventory. If they got into a bad fight again and he took a lot of damage, they could be in trouble. It was time to take a break.
“Hey,” Doc said to Grizz. “Why don’t you hop into the box to recover from the fight for a bit while I rest and make a little something to eat.” Doc was feeling quite hungry as he hadn’t eaten anything since getting to this new world several hours ago. Looking up in the sky, the sun was nearly straight above them, indicating that it was around noonish on this new world. He wasn’t sure of the exact timing of one day on the Tutorial World, but he was hoping that it was similar to what he was used to on Earth. Having to get used to a new day and night cycle could be very difficult.
Sounds like a plan, Grizz replied. I definitely got a couple of scratches when I got flung up in the air by the ice. I wonder what it will be like being back in the box again.
Doc pulled up the case and held it toward Grizz, hoping for something to happen. He realized that he hadn’t even thought about how he would put the summons back. Nothing happened. Sighing in a bit of frustration, Doc looked back inside the case and found that there were two cards, one for the chinchillycorn and another for Grizz. Doc pulled the card out for Grizz and noticed that it looked a little different than Brrrt’s. It had his entire status screen on one side with a lovely picture of Grizz roaring at some assailant. It had a black and gold outline that seemed to be associated with the soul summon. When Doc held Grizz’s card up to the ursarachnid, the option of returning him to the card and box popped up.
“Enjoy your rest, bud,” Doc said to his soul summon as he mentally chose to return the spider bear cub. Grizz winked his right eye, nodded, and in a black and gold swirl of magical smoke, was absorbed back into the card. Doc placed the card into the box and the box into his inventory.
Finding a rock to sit down on, Doc pulled up the skill store to take a look back at the cooking skill. Being hungry and now having some meat, he was thinking he might need to take a look at this stuff again. When the Skill Store opened up, a new notification popped up with some exciting news.
Successfully taming a monster and casting magic has made new Monster Taming Skills and Magic Skills available to you.
Doc sighed in relief. Having the magical skills tree open up could end up being a lifesaver. He was saying his prayers that there was some magical skill or spell that he could get that would be helpful. Having only been in the forest for a couple of hours, the food and water situation hadn’t affected him yet, but sustenance was one of, if not the most, important factors of being able to live. Without either of these options moving forward, it was only a matter of time before he became too weak to fight or even move. It was a real threat. Doc looked into the magical skills available to him at this time.
Magical Skill
Magical Cantrips
Cost: 20 XP
(Tutorial World Discount 80% - Would normally cost 100 XP)
Uncommon
We can’t have you and your 999,999 friends dying out too quickly. If you can manage to collect just 20 measly XP you can have access to cantrips! These weak magical spells are a spellcaster’s best friend. They are only as useful as your imagination…so in your case…uh oh! Magical Cantrips available:
* Decompose
* Light
* Minor Illusion
* Prestidigitation
* Sharpen
* Spectral Hand
* Weak Acid Stream
* Weak Firebolt
* Weak Gust
* Weak Spark
Choose 3 of the available options. You can purchase this skill again to gain 3 additional cantrip spells.
That was it for the Magical Skills available, but Doc was not complaining. Not only was this going to completely change his survivability here in the Tutorial World, but the system recognized that these might determine if the selected individuals would survive through the Tutorial. A huge discount for the skill also made it feasible for Doc to purchase right now. He just needed to decide which of the cantrips would be best to choose. He quickly went through the description of each spell that the system gave him.
Decompose - A spell that allows for the rapid decomposition of dead organic material. Organic material will dissolve into the ambient mana. Cost: 5 MP Cast Time: 10 seconds Duration: Not applicable
Light - A spell that produces a small, adjustable light in the hand of the spellcaster. The light can provide illumination for an area around the spellcaster between 2 and 10 meters. Cost: 5 MP Cast Time: 1 second Duration: 60 minutes
Minor Illusion - A spell that allows the spellcaster to create an illusory image within a square meter of space. The image can be three-dimensional but cannot emit noises. Cost: 10 MP Cast Time: 1 minute Duration: 30 minutes
Prestidigitation - This cantrip is a bunch of instantaneous tricks rolled into one. Allows the spellcaster to do small magics on the objects on or around them. Can start or snuff a fire. Allows for quick cleaning of dirt and gunk on handheld objects. Can heat or chill handheld objects. Can create small nonmagical objects or illusions in the hand of the spellcaster that lasts for up to 5 minutes. Cost: 5 MP Cast Time: Instantaneous Duration: Varied
Sharpen - A spell that provides a keen edge on any blade, giving the blade an extra 2 base damage. Cost 5 MP Cast Time: 1 second Duration: 15 minutes
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Spectral Hand - A spell that creates a ghostly hand that can be manipulated by the spellcaster to do common tasks such as holding objects or opening containers. The hand cannot hold more than 10 kg of weight or be more than 10 meters away from the spellcaster. Cost: 10 MP Cast Time: 1 minute Duration: 60 minutes
Weak Acid Stream - The spellcaster can shoot a stream of caustic acid away from their casting hand. The acid can be propelled up to 10 meters from the spellcaster in a straight line or can be pooled up into a container. The acid does 5 points of base damage to an enemy and 15 points of extra damage to a weapon’s, armor’s, or item’s durability. Cost: 10 MP Cast Time: 1 second Duration: 1 day in a glass container
Weak Firebolt - The spellcaster can shoot a small ball of fire away from their casting hand. The fireball can be propelled up to 25 meters away from the caster. The small fireball does 15 points of base damage. Cost: 10 MP Cast Time: 1 second Duration: Not Applicable
Weak Gust - The spellcaster can blow air away or towards themselves with this spell. The gust of air can help to accelerate objects in the direction of the gust. Cost: 5 MP Cast Time: Instantaneous Duration: Up to 5 seconds
Weak Spark - The spellcaster can channel a spark of electricity into objects they are touching. The electrical energy can be used to help power electrical technology or attack enemies. If an enemy is touched with Weak Spark, they can take up to 10 points of base damage. The spark has a 30% chance of causing stun. Cost: 10 MP Cast Time: 1 second Duration: Not Applicable
Doc was blown away by the versatility of all the cantrips that were available. Not only would he be able to start a fire, but there were magical attacks as well. Being able to utilize his magic outside of looting and taming monsters was going to be a huge boost to his survivability. He could only choose three, but that would be enough to grab most of the things he wanted.
In his opinion, grabbing prestidigitation was a no-brainer. It allowed for so much versatility including cleaning and fire. It could be used as a small distraction as well with small hand-sized objects or illusions. Another option that would most likely be pretty beneficial to Doc would be the spectral hand. Having worked in a lab most of his adult life, he knew of several times when he needed an extra hand to help hold things. Not only would this be an extra hand, but it wasn’t attached to him, so he couldn’t get hurt from the activities it completed.
With two utility-focused spells, the third spell he wanted to choose needed to be something that would enhance his ability to win a fight. Choosing between the firebolt, acid stream, and spark spells was difficult as they all had their strengths to choose from.
Firebolt would provide the most damage to enemies, but fire is very destructive and could spread to unintentional targets. Wood burned and the Tutorial World was a large forest. That could end up causing more problems than it solved.
Acid is much more versatile, and while destructive, that destruction could be focused. It provided the least damage of the three, but could also do extra damage to the gear of enemies. Doc knew at some point that extra damage to the durability of objects could be a huge benefit, even outside of battle.
The electrical spark spell also had a significant pro in that it could stun a target that he was touching. Considering that he had already taken a skill in unarmed combat, mixing the spell in hand-to-hand combat could cause devastation to the opposition. Stunning an enemy in battle could be the difference between life and death. The problem here is that the enemy had to be within touching range. When the chinchillycorn had been within touching range, it had truly hurt
Knowing that he could purchase the skill again later if he needed to buy the other attack cantrips, he purchased the Magical Cantrips Skill for 20 XP and selected Prestidigitation, Spectral Hand, and Weak Acid Stream. Having a ranged attack and the utility of acid outside of combat was just too alluring to pass up. As a chemist, he had many ideas that he could utilize the acid with his alchemy.
Doc’s stomach rumbled and he remembered why he had brought up Skill Store in the first place. He took ten more XP and purchased the Chef 1 Skill so that he could properly cook up the meat that he had looted. He was ready for his inner fat child to sing as the description of the skill had stated.
Having a spell that would allow him to create fire now, Doc went around and grabbed several sticks and logs to make a campfire. Despite being a dungeon, the Dark Grove trees littered the surrounding rocky ground with sticks and branches that he could use. Making a teepee structure out of the sticks that had been collected, Doc cast prestidigitation to start a fire. A small flame caught on the dry branches and started merrily flickering and growing. Doc sat there with a huge smile on his face. Sitting by a fire had always been one of his favorite parts of the camping experience. Feeling a bit nostalgic, Doc thought about how the smoke of the wood fire would sink into his clothes, lingering long after going back to the hustle and bustle of his everyday life back at home. This memory of his past life also brought on a pang of sadness as he was brought back to the reality of being alone and without all of his friends and family that he would normally go camping with. He started thinking about his wife once again, the true other half of his soul. They had decided that in the upcoming fall, they would take their little girl and boy up to the Appalachian Mountains to go camping as a whole family for the first time. He started tearing up, thinking about how he may never get to do the little things like that again. Wiping his eyes dry, Doc reaffirmed to himself that he would make it back to his family. They deserved the chance to continue doing the little things and growing together.
Sighing deeply as he allowed himself to dwell on other things, Doc looked around for something that he could use as a cutting board and plate. He found a large bark plate lying on the ground and quickly cleaned it of dirt and grime that had accumulated on it with his new cantrip. He grabbed one of the lumps of meat cards that he had looted from the chinchillycorns and mentally selected the conjure button. The card morphed into the lump of meat that had been pictured on the card and he placed it onto the large bark plate. Quickly shaving a medium-sized branch to a point with his knife, Doc skewered the chunks of fatty meat onto the stick.
Wanting to be able to do other things while the meat was cooking, Doc cast Spectral Hand. A small, ghostly white, and slightly translucent hand about the size of his own appeared at about chest height. It was a little unnerving to see a hand randomly floating in front of him, but he had played enough DnD in his day to quickly move past the weirdness of the situation. Thinking about what he wanted the hand to do got it moving along quickly to fulfill the task of cooking the meat. The hand grabbed the edge of the skewer of meat that was empty and moved toward the happily burning campfire. The fatty meat began dripping with juices into the fire, slowing cooking from a rare purple-red to a browned outside and pink inside. The newly acquired chef skill was helping to guide him to the best temperature to cook the meat.
Once the meat was cooked to the temperature he felt was perfect, Doc directed the hand to move the cooked meat to the bark plate so that it could rest for a few minutes. The aromas that had been coming from the cooking fire had stirred up Doc’s appetite and he was excited to taste the meat. Even without spices or vegetables to help add to the overall eating experience, Doc was still excited to taste his first meal in his new, magic-filled life. Not wanting to burn his fingers on the hot meat, Doc had the floating hand grab one of the pieces and put it in his mouth.
The meat had a deep, savory taste to it. Doc was surprised at the depth of flavor that the piece of meat still had considering how much of the juices had fallen into the fire. The meat was delicious, though, and he was soon putting more of the flavorful meal into his mouth, enjoying every bite. Knowing that he and Grizz had been responsible for the kill that provided his lunch made the meal that much more satisfying. After completing the last bite of the improvised kabob, a notification popped up in his vision.
For consuming a properly cooked cut of chinchillycorn filet, you are provided with 3 points of dexterity for the next 95 minutes.
Doc thought back to the description of the Chef 1 Skill and remembered it mentioning an increase to provided buffs. Being able to properly cook the ingredients must have helped pull out the inherent magical traits of the monster. The speedy chinchillycorn meat could be a great source of extra dexterity when needed. Doc could use this knowledge to prepare some traveling rations to eat when he found himself needing the extra boost to his stats.
Happily sated with the delicious chinchillycorn meat, Doc decided to take a quick look at his status screen to check out the progress thus far.
Status Screen
Name: Doc
Race: Human
Age: 36
Health Points (HP): 160/160
Mana Points (MP): 78/100
Experience Points: 39
Characteristic Points to Assign: 0 ⊕
Picture of Doc
STR
14
VIT
16
RSL
14
DEX
9 (+3)
INT
10
CHAR
5
WIS
6
PER
6
LUCK
21
Abilities
Instinctive Adaption (Unique)
Experience Points to Upgrade Ability: 0/1000
Required uses of ability to Upgrade: 2/50
Your soul is in tune with its surroundings and adapts to what is required at the moment. To accomplish this, it allows 2 daily actions.
* Once per day, you may activate Instinctive Body. This will distribute all unassigned Characteristic Points and 20% of Assigned Characteristic Points to maximize the needs of the body at the moment of activation
* Once per day, you may activate Instinctive Knowledge. This will give you access to 1 unknown skill for up to 1 day. The skill provided will suit your current needs in some way. You cannot upgrade the skill while obtained with Instinctive Knowledge, but it can be purchased at a 20% discount from the Skill Store.
Skills
Monster Resource Pack 1
Alchemy 1
Unarmed Combat 1
Herbology 1
Identify 1
Magical Cantrips
Chef 1
Knife Wielding 1 (1 Day remaining)
Spells
Minor Loot Monster
Minor Tame Monster
Prestidigitation
Spectral Hand
Weak Acid Stream
A couple of things stood out to Doc after looking over the information. First, it was already starting to get a little unwieldy. Thinking to himself about some changes, Doc willed the status screen to be a bit more streamlined by taking out the picture of himself and the abilities section. He only had the one ability, and while incredibly important to who he was, Doc didn’t need to see it every time he looked.
He also noticed that even after having sat down to enjoy his meal, his MP had not fully recovered yet from all of the expenditures. Taming and looting the monsters earlier had significantly drained a large portion of his mana pool and his wisdom wasn’t very high. He was currently only recovering six MP every ten minutes outside of combat. Not wanting to be so low on his MP and MP Regen, Doc spent twenty more XP to add two characteristic points in both intelligence and wisdom. This would increase the size of his pool and how fast that pool could refill. This left Doc with only nineteen XP remaining in case of an emergency. Doc wasn’t sure if that was good enough, but he at least felt more prepared for dungeon diving.
It was time to see if Grizz had recovered from the fights earlier and make final preparations before entering the Dungeon. Doc had been able to rest up for about two hours after the fight with the chinchillycorn. After waiting another half hour, his mana pool would be fully restored and it would be game time. Doc grabbed Grizz’s card and resummoned Grizz.
“Welcome back, Bestie,” Doc said to his soul summon as Grizz reformed from black and gold smoke. “Did you have a good nap?”
Very! Grizz thought back at Doc. It is a very weird experience, though. It was almost as if I was in a lucid dream. I could tell time was passing, but I knew it wasn’t part of the real world. That box sure does make the recovery process a breeze. I was even able to recover the one web trap that we used and can make another if we need it.
That was music to Doc’s ears as he began thinking of all the ways he could utilize that knowledge. He wasn’t sure how safe it would be for Grizz not to be with him often, but if they needed extra traps, this could be an interesting workaround.
“Well,” Doc started. “It is time to go to the dungeon if you are ready. I was able to utilize our time apart wisely as well. I have some new spells that I can cast and I learned how to become a damn fine cook.”
Grizz took a look at Doc’s status page and was pumped to see the new skills and spells that his master possessed. He was beginning to feel like Doc might even be able to help in a fight, now that he had some range attack. Maybe in the next fight, he wouldn’t have to jump in front of Doc to save his life.
Nicely done! Grizz remarked. We are now one step closer to dominating this whole Tutorial. I am ready whenever you are to get into that grove!
Doc nodded his head in excitement, the wide grin from earlier returning to his face just thinking about the possibilities. He walked over to the Dark Grove Dungeon entrance, this time ready to enter.
You have found the Dark Grove Dungeon. The dungeon is a series of challenges set in the Dark Grove. Would you like to enter? Yes or No.
Doc selected yes and both he and Grizz disappeared from the top of the hill, entering into the unknown.