Please choose a scenario: Arena Gauntlet, Beast Hunt, Companion Care, Crafter's Apprentice, Dungeon Delver, Mage School, Target Range, Warrior Training, Wildlands Survival. Rewards are given for the 12 hour checkpoint, completing the scenario, and achieving the bonus objective.
He took a moment as he put his backpack on to look over the list and begin thinking about which one he wanted to do last. He was going to the dungeon one now, he had decided on that like a day ago, but that still left four others to consider as his last one. He quickly crossed out the idea of crafting. He wanted to go out, explore, have great adventure, and not sit in the backroom of some building tinkering around for days. He wasn't too sure about what Companion Care even was, which made it an excellent choice so that he could learn. On the other hand, Beast Hunt and Arena Gauntlet were bound to have rewards that he could easily anticipate wanting, needing, or at least having a use for. He figured he'd think about it some while he was in the dungeon tutorial so he wasn't wasting time here, and quickly chose the Dungeon Delver option.
After the countdown timer he found himself amidst a reasonably large group of people. Using identify on them brought up a lot of nothing to tell him that they were all salients. He was about to ask what was going on when he looked up and saw someone standing on a platform nearby looking over everyone and nodding as if he were waiting for something specific. Identify propped up some information a fraction of a second before the prompt also appeared.
[Half-Elf][Generalist]
Objective: In the first 12 hours you will be led through part of a dungeon while being taught about it. In the second 12 hours you will be left to go down a path further into the dungeon by yourself in a personal instance. You must reach the core room and either touch the core or destroy it.
Bonus Objective: Take the hardest path to reach the core.
Note: Taking the regular path or hardest path will allow the individual to keep collected items.
"Alright, I think we have enough people now. All of you follow me and listen closely. We'll be going into the dungeon and to a rest area. Save any questions you might have until we get there. Who knows, maybe I'll already have given an answer by that time. We'll have a bit of time once we're there anyways. Now, about dungeons..."
There was a lot of information coming at once. That was the first time he had seen the Generalist tag on someone for starters. He had been thinking that it was some kind of system granted title for the residents that were doing these tutorials but now he was pretty sure that theory was wrong. This was also the first scenario he had seen a note like that in the objectives description. He doubted that there would be a whole lot that was worth much but for all the salients who were starting over in life like he was it would still be better than nothing at all. The resident who was leading them through the dungeon was also throwing out knowledge at a ridiculous pace and it gave little time to think about anything that was said.
Dungeons were all over the place and had many variations. Some were themed, some were filled with monsters, some had puzzles and traps, some were hidden or undiscovered, and some were under someone's management. 'Drops' weren't exactly a thing. People and creatures, including the ones produced by the dungeon itself, that died within the dungeon would decay quickly and be absorbed by the dungeon. However, if a certain beast or monster in the dungeon had some kind of part that was considered valuable or useful and one knew how to harvest it then they could take it. If a dungeon diver was in an instance then nothing killed would decay and be absorbed until they left the instance.
Instances were basically pocket dimensions that allowed someone to go through the dungeon without having to worry about encountering other people. Most dungeons had instances but there were a few that didn't. In a dungeon without an instance it was illegal to destroy the core and those who did it anyway were severely punished. The ultimate goal of any dungeon dive was to reach the core where a choice would usually be presented. Someone could touch the core and accept the reward offered by the dungeon or destroy the core for a different reward. What the rewards were exactly differed from dungeon to dungeon but the theme that was typically followed was a physical reward for touching the core and a status reward for destroying it.
After many breaks and almost 11 hours they finally reached a large room with a fountain in the middle. The resident told them all to rest and relax for a moment and maybe get a drink of water while he answered questions that anyone had about the dungeon. He pointed out three doors and explained that they were the easy, regular, and hard paths that anyone who had reached their 12 hour mark was free to choose from and go down. A few people moved closer to the easy path while the remainder split in an almost even manner between waiting near the hard or easy path. He sat down near the path entrance and listened to the resident answer various questions from the others until he was one of only two remaining people. It kind of made sense when he remembered that most of the people had already been there when he arrived and they had left almost immediately after.
As soon as his timer hit 12 hours he stepped onto the hard path and drew his revolver. His night vision and Detect Life skill were showing some good usage as he went through the dungeon. The path was filled with large cat-like monsters that reminded him of panthers jumping out of the dark and he wondered if they had any valuable materials based on what the note had said. He took brief pauses after every encounter to make sure he was full up on bullets and only rested when his mana reached half, and then only long enough to top it off. A few traps did manage to get him during one particularly treacherous hallway, at the end of which he had to shoot down two of the panther-like creatures. The most annoying part wasn't really their ambushes, since night vision and Detect Life allowed him to notice them hiding, but that he couldn't ever see them well enough and long enough to use identify on them.
Through a little bit of thoughtless and silly boredom during one of his early rests he had accidentally discovered that using mana manipulation while resting didn't stop his regeneration unless he actually let the mana go out, like when he made mana bullets. He decided to make some more bullets and rest for a bit after all those traps and the fight while he pushed his mana towards the wounds he had accrued to see if it did anything. He was actually pretty amazed to see his cuts stop bleeding and close up right in front of his eyes as if they were moving in fast forward. As he sat there and watched wound after wound heal when he moved his mana to it he suddenly had a revelation. He used one of the few wounds he had left to get the tip of his finger wet with blood and started drawing one of the simplest magic circles he could remember on the ground. Once he was done he poured some mana into it and watched as the entire drawing made of blood jumped off of the floor, folded in on itself to make a small needle made of blood, and then launched into the ceiling.
He stared in amazement for a few moments before remembering that he was on a timer at the moment and needed to move on. That he now had some idea of how he could use his magic was a good enough takeaway for now and experimenting with it could come later. As his timer was nearing the last half hour he finally reached a large room with a domed ceiling, and large opened door at the other side, and a bunch of holes in the walls. He tried to move forward carefully but as he reached the center of the room the door he walking towards slammed closed and growls began to come from the holes. His Detect Life helped him massively over the course of the next 20 minutes since he could see living things, even when they were behind him, whenever they got too close. When almost exactly 20 minutes had passed all of the still living panther-like creatures turned and headed back towards the holes they had come out of. He tried to to identify them now that he had a chance before they disappeared and managed to identify two of them, each giving the same result.
[Ambush Cat][Hunter]
He sighed and looked down at himself. The times when he couldn't make bullets fast enough or had to reload had left him open to attacks several times. It was a small wonder that he wasn't already unconscious from blood loss. He had tried to use his knife to defend himself at first but that had skittered off to the side during one of the times he was tackled. He remembered that moment and went to try and find the knife based off of where he thought if flew to. Once he had the karambit secured in his belt again he turned around to see that the door was now open again. He noted that he had a little over 5 minute left and, with revolver in hand, went through the door.
Past the door was a very short hallway that curved sharply to the right to lead into a small room, not much larger than a walk-in closet. In the center of the room, sitting on a pedestal, was what looked like a crystal ball with glowing and flickering lights inside of it. He thought for a moment about whether he should touch it or shoot it, and ultimately came to the conclusion that this was likely a dungeon for beginners and the rewards would probably not be that great. Anything that improved his status would be still be helpful in the future, though, while any physical item would quickly be outclassed or temporary. With that thought he shot at the crystal ball and watched it shatter into pieces before a prompt appeared.
Congratulations! You have cleared a dungeon! Would you like to exit now? Yes
He couldn't thing of a good reason to stay any longer, although he was slightly disappointed about the lack of reward, so he chose yes and ended up back in the white space. He sighed sadly and then noticed that he was no longer wounded and his previously ripped clothing was pristine again. Apparently coming back here acted like a reset.
Bonus Tutorial Scenario: Dungeon Delver completed! Checkpoint reached. Goal reached. Bonus objective reached. Please choose two of the following rewards: Sneak skill, Sense Trap skill, Intuit skill, Dismantle skill, Jump skill, Jogging skill, Dungeoneer trait, Dungeon Beginner's Boots, Dungeon Beginner's Gloves, Dungeon Beginner's Cloak, Everfresh Underwear (Male), Dungeon Scout's Toolkit, Dungeon Diver's Ration Kit, Silken Rope (20m), Beginner's Potion Set.
Please choose bonus reward: +1 to all stats and +1 skill point, Hard Path Taker title, Core Destroyer title, Beast Slayer title, Kinetic Vision trait.
Well, that was quite a few hard choices all at once. He could easily cross out the titles from the bonus rewards since he didn't have any idea what they would actually do for him. That left the stat boost or trait. The stats were nice but they could also technically be gained from level and possibly even other places, whereas traits didn't seem like all that common of a thing to get more of. He was pretty sure that Kinetic Vision was one of the cheapest traits but this might be the only chance to get it so that's what he chose. For the normal rewards he ruled out all of the non-items. He wasn't in particular want of any new skills unless something amazing came along and he wasn't too sure about what that particular trait was about. The underwear was an instant pick for what he felt were obvious reasons. As for his last choice, he was torn between several choices. The cloak and boots matched his original goal of trying to get some better clothes but the rope and ration kit could get him out of all sorts of problems. He didn't want to waste too much time making the decision so he just went with his original plan and got the boots.
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He checked the clock and thought about where he wanted to go for his last scenario since he had about a day and ten minutes left as he swapped his shoes for boots and put his shoes in his bag. He still wanted to do some clothing upgrades and the arena was likely his best shot for that but he was very curious about the whole companion thing. He decided to go with the assumption that information would likely be easier to obtain later while the need for clothing would require money, which he didn't have. With that train of thought he chose the Arena Gauntlet and found himself in a stone hallway similar to the one from the mage school several days ago.
Objective: In the first 12 hours you will face 12 enemy beasts and monsters which must be defeated. In the second 12 hours every round will double the amount of creature you face against. You must not die.
Bonus Objective: Defeat all of your opponents.
Note: Rewards earned may be kept.
It wasn't long before a man, who was identified as a [Human][Worker], came to lead him to where he needed to go. He was given a quick explanation on how he would be thrown into a ring for 45 minutes or until he killed his opponent each hour. Surviving gave the right to continue and defeating the opponent awarded 100 coins as well. That explanation made both the bonus objective and the note make more sense. He let himself be led into a ring where he a buzzing sound came almost as soon as he stepped in. Shortly after he was attacked by an ambush cat like he had seen in the dungeon. He was glad for his life sensing skill and noticed the benefit of his new kinetic vision trait immediately as well. Although the cat was fast he was able to keep his eyes on it much easier. A few shots later and he was called to leave the ring again.
He was led to a waiting room where he saw more people that he recognized as other salients due to his inability to use identify. He found a place for himself away from the others on a bench along the wall and took the time to think for a bit. He wasn't too sure for the reason he had so much time in between his fights but he was going to use it to rest gratefully after all of the rushing he had been doing this past week. He decided to take the opportunity to give his status a look as well since he hadn't checked it yet. He was quite surprised by what he saw.
Name: -
Sex: M
Age: 17
Lvl: 0*(1)
Exp: 10/5
SP: 0*
Species: Cambion
Race: Etherai, Blood Demon
Role: N/A
Sta: 146.3/146.3
(Vig/2)
Sta Reg: 62.6/hr
(Dex/5)
Mana: 170.2/170.2
(Mag/2)
Mana Reg: 42.3/hr
(Mind/10 +50%+2%)
--- Vig Dex
Vit: 95.8
(94+2%)
Con: 104
(102+2%)
Str: 92.8
(91+2%) Fin: 101.4
(88+10+1.5+2%) Agi: 106.5
(93+10+1.5+2%) Spd: 105.5
(92+10+1.5+2%) Mind Mag Int: 88.7
(87+2%) Wis: 97.9
(96+2%)
Will: 91.8
(90+2%)
For: 113.2
(95+10+5+1+2%) Pow: 111.1
(93+10+5+1+2%) Spi: 116.2
(98+10+5+1+2%) --- Class: N/A Lvl: 0 Exp: 0/0 Skills: 1. ---
Traits:
Angel Blood, Bidirectional Hearing, Blindsight(ground sense, hearing, water)(5 meters), Blood Domain, Blood Magic Affinity, Glossophobia, Bloodhound, Carnivorous, Curse Absorbent(blood), Dark Magic Affinity, Demon Blood, Dragon Blood, Endoskeleton, Farsight, Four-limbed(bipedal), Kinetic Vision, Night Vision, Nosocomephobia, Trypanophobia(minor)
Racial Skills:
1. Blood Magic (1) 3. Detect Life (2) 2. Minor Regeneration (2) 4. Meditation (2) 5.
General Skills:
1. Identify (3) 4. 2. Magic Circle (1) 5. 3. Mana Manipulation (2) Ultimate Skills: Titles:
Abilities(Hidden):
Blood Manipulation, Draconic Might, Enduring Mana, Mana Burst, Unholy Intimidation
*Awaiting Level Up
He had some skills leveled up a little and a level up waiting for him. He tried to think about it how that had happened and finally came to the only conclusion that made sense with the information he had at the moment: the rewards he was allowed to keep from the dungeon was the experience he gained. Whether that was the real answer or not he was still grateful for the situation. He did the mental equivalent of clicking on the message at the bottom and saw a few small changes in his level, experience, and skill point sections along with some plus signs near his stats. It might have been a little vain but he didn't like having his intelligence stat so low compared to everything else so he put his stat point there. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't see a whole lot of difference. Then again he had to admit that it made a certain amount of sense since if he could become so super powered so quickly to the point where he could twist metal with his bare hands like in some light novels then wood would make a more abundant and useful material.
The hours and fights flew by with bouts of boredom in between as he waited for the next match. He got to identify and see some new creatures as well so he thought things were going well as the first 12 hours came to an end and he was ushered into the ring for the second half of his time in the scenario. It seemed like the first match was against an ambush cat again so he thought he was prepared, which made him more unprepared for the speeding life sign he felt coming from behind him. He didn't have enough time to react before he felt something biting into his side from behind. He turned a bit to look at what had managed such a quick and stealthy attack on him and saw a large snake.
[Killer Cobra][Hunter]
It started to feel like his insides were catching on fire and that distracted him even more, allowing the ambush cat a chance to launch at him from where he wasn't looking. He lost hold of his gun and tried to pull out his knife as he rolled on the ground to fight off his assailants and managed to get a good cut across the cat's eye to make it back off a little. The snake that was still biting at him took several swing to get through the tough scales but after attacking it constantly, in a manner that was more like thrashing around with a knife in his hand than actually attacking, he finally managed to kill the snake. His insides were on fire by that point, though, and he was having trouble moving. The last thing he saw was the cat's teeth closing down on his face.
Bonus Tutorial Scenario: Arena Gauntlet failed! Checkpoint reached. Goal failed. Bonus objective failed. Choose one of the following rewards: Roll skill, Dodge skill, Precise skill, Burst skill, Rapid Healing skill, Simple Leather Vest, Fighting Beginner's Vembraces, Fighting Beginner's Helmet, Simple Combat Net, Pouch of Sneeze Powder.
He blinked a few times as he read the prompt and noticed the white all around him. He looked down and saw 13 stacks of some type of coins near his feet near his gun and knife. It took a few minutes for his mind to catch up with the fact that he died. Well, died again. He let out a sigh and thought about trying to figure out what exactly went wrong so he wouldn't end up like that ever again but he noticed the clock and saw that he had about 2 minutes more than 12 hours left. He quickly started throwing the coins in his backpack as he chose the vest and hurried to bring up the scenario choices again. He gave it almost no thought and chose the hunt, hoping that it would still let him go with 12 hours left. He saw the short countdown to bring him to the scenario area and scooped up his bag, vest, and weapons into his arms.
He arrived at the edge of a forest and let out a sigh of relief before finishing up his business. He put his weapons into their spots at either side of his belt and put on his new vest and backpack as he started to read the objective prompt. He didn't really care about it all too much since he would only be here for the first half where, according to the surprised elf woman who soon showed up, he was supposed to be taught about the ways of traversing forests and grasslands while being stealthy and tracking prey. He spent the twelve hours learning what he could and at the very second that his timer hit the 12 hour mark he canceled the scenario to return to the white space. He barely looked at the rewards before choosing a Hunter Beginner's Cloak that he immediately threw on over his backpack as the timer ticked down to all zeros.