Waking up in the cave shivering Faron looked at his body and saw that there was fresh skin all over him where he was wounded. Dried blood caking his hair was all that he had to prove that he was near mortally wounded. His bones cracking as he stood up, Faron felt better than he had felt in years. Only problem was that a dried black substance was sticking over his body and the smell was horrendous. Bile, Human excrement, and blood all seemed to be mixtures in this goop. His entire body was covered with it, his clothes were covered in it. There was no way he was going to be able to sneak into and place with this odor. He was going to have to return to the river to bathe, however, that was too dangerous he knew the goblins used it to gather fresh water.
After a little while of gathering his thoughts, Faron decided to head out to see if he could forage for some food, maybe find some water, or perhaps large leaves he could wear as clothing. He cut apart his pack after filling himself up with the rations. burying the few important things down inside the cave and leaving a small marking in case he needed to return. He left his clothes on top of the hole to hide them from the stench. He made a makeshift loincloth with his pack and created a belt with the straps that he used to tie his canteen and knife too. Lastly, he used drawstrings to tie his hair into a ponytail. He could have just cut it off, but for some reason, his hair was his pride. He always remembered his mom commenting on it, so he could never bring himself to cut it. With everything taken care of and looking like a lunatic or a bizarre caveman Faron set off foraging.
The foraging was grueling, with his only still good piece of clothing being the boots that were given to him by the system, his body was covered in thorns, nettles, and bug bites. After 3 hours he managed to find a small rabbit that looked normal, perhaps the first normal creature he had seen since he arrived here. With quick use of his magic, a small spike jutted up from the ground made of earth and pierced the heart of the rabbit. A quick death, but one Faron was still not very fond of. Killing things that were trying to kill him was one thing. Kill or be Killed. This was taking a life to sustain him, that was the only solace he could give himself in the act of killing the cute critter. he clumsily stripped the animal and removed its organs, looking around for a smooth stone that he could cook it on so as not to make too much smoke. After another hour or so Faron found a small outcropping of green stones with blue cracks running along them. they were flat and seemed thin, so he could try to cook on them. He infused some of his elemental magic into the stone infusing fire. However, to Farons surprise it did not start to heat up it seemed to drain the small spark of magic that was input into it. Trying to figure out what happened Faron wondered if the veins in the stone were some kind of mineral, so he started to crack at it with the pommel of his knife. With a small thud, the rock burst open releasing a small amount of flame, slightly less than what Faron had put in. The knife shot up and slipped from Farons grip almost stabbing him in the shoulder, luckily it just tumbled past him. Now that this mishap was over, Faron got an idea.
After gathering a few test samples, experimenting, and taking note of the explosion. Faron grabbed the largest rock he could find, looking at it and a bit of testing later. He decided to call them "Boom Rocks" He was able to infuse his magic into the rocks and then break them causing a ball of fire to come out. This was something he knew people could do with their abilities, However, with the low percentage synch that he has with his skills, this was not something he was yet capable of without tools. Faron had 52 hours left before he would be sent out. But he wanted to clear the tutorial stage 1 on his first night of sleep. The rewards at the end would be better and so would the final results. There were rumors that some people would be able to complete two to three stages with a single night of sleep or about 6-8 days. The rewards they got were incredible. Faron spent the next 8 hours, laboriously putting as much magic as he could into the stone he had. The stone was now warm to the touch he wasn't sure if he wanted to put much more magic into it, but the fireball this would create should be sizable, to say the least. With a newfound sense of power, Faron started sneaking to the south, the direction he saw the 4 goblins coming from yesterday.
Finally, after 20 minutes, Faron found a small ramshackle village. Two rudimentary wooden buildings, and a central area with a large sundial that was marked with a nefarious-looking sigil for the time of prayer. it looked like there were two hours left until it would be time for the Goblins to gather and pray to whatever evil creature this was attuned to. Finding a small clearing about a five-minute hike away Faron climbed up into a tree with quite some difficulty with his frail body, Sitting watching. He drank the last of his water, he was more or less nude aside from a backpack diaper. his body was starting to revolt at all of the abuse it had gone through and his body just hurt. He wasn't sure how people passed the tutorial stage dealt with the pain when they returned to their real bodies, it was not something Faron was looking forward to. after resting and meditating for a while Faron heard a large drum, it seemed to be the signal for the gathering. Watching the group enlarge he counted up to about 37 goblins making their way there. All were holding makeshift weapons, there were even a few that looked like they had some steel weapons though heavily rusted. Faron watched all of them drop to their knees as they began to pray.
"Oh great lord of the forest and darkness give us a bounty that we may eat and serve you better."
As the goblins were praying Faron was reading the translation as it was being shown to him. Until finally an older goblin walked out, looked equivalent to an 80-year-old human, with a hunched back and a walking stick. Little bits of green specks could be seen leaking out of the goblin's eyes, as they walked onto the stage at the front of the gathering. it tossed aside the shawl that it was wearing revealing dozens of strange tattoos, jewelry, crests, and trinkets. Some of them appeared to be simple while some appeared to be maybe magical or at least supernatural in some way. pounding his staff thunder sounded in the distance.
"Greetings children of the Forest, I am here to answer your prayers. God has shown me that with rain comes greener, and with more green comes more animals. with more animal comes more food!"
Faron read through this sermon, the Goblin seemed somewhat articulate but also not at the same time. Seeming as if it was coached a little bit on what to say. That didn't matter though as his only mission objective was to kill the heretical goblins. He seemed to have found them all. With quick and quiet movements on the ground, Faron quickly made his way to the edge of the goblin camp. He wanted to be close, but not too close as he was unsure how big the fireball he created in his "boom rock" would be. He managed to in this moment of prayer sneak behind the wooden building, almost going in before he realized how bad of an idea that would be. He took out his "Boom Rock" and slammed his pommel into it before tossing it from behind the building.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
A burst of light was seen, An intense heatwave reached Faron even behind the building. The building started to catch fire as the wails of the goblins, eventually, with a crash, the building fell, and, the goblins soon quiet down. a series of notifications started to roll down on his HUD.
GOBLINS KILLED - 37.
SECRET OBJECTIVE COMPLETED, DESTROY THE SHRINE TO THE FOREST GOD.
Faron expected there to be more, Such as mission complete or something along those lines when he throughout his weapon. He tried to peer through the smoke and saw that there were many pieces of broken jewelry where the shrine had been. A Dome of stone standing there started to crumble away. A burnt goblin could be seen standing there, breathing heavily.
"WHO IS THERE, IF YOU WISH TO KILL THIS SHAMAN COME OUT AND DO IT YOURSELF" With a yell the Goblin clutched onto its walking stick, looking as if it would fall over at any moment.
Faron started to creep up on its left flank, spear at the ready. With quick steps, the spear thrust out toward the goblin aiming right for its throat. when a small stone shot up and hit the spear changing its direction.
A sinister laugh was heard, and the Shaman showed off its pointy teeth and lunged forward. Lightning started to course over the Shaman's teeth. Its teeth sunk into his arm, as the Shaman pulled its head back. tearing with it a large chunk of flesh. Faron let out a scream as his bones could be seen, His arm twitching. The spear clattered to the ground and Faron looked up with a bit of fear. The Shaman seemed in some kind of frenzy as it lunged again, it was despite its elderly age, twice as fast as Faron, rushing forward again and attempting to take a bite out of Faron's hip. The teeth gouged out his flesh as Faron pulled back avoiding another large bite. Using his magic Faron shot some small spikes up from the ground to stop him as he did with the other goblins, But as the Shaman approached the stones started to fall around him like sand through an hourglass. Tumbling over the bodies of the charred goblins faron started to backpedal and assess the situation. It seemed this Shaman was much better than he at Elemental magic. So he would have to try his Anima magic. He didn't understand how it worked it was a bit esoteric, Souls were not something that Faron even believed in. But with a shocking amount of mana, 2 of the goblins reached out, grabbing the feet of the Shaman. Faron rushed forward and Jumped as high as he could, He needed to gather momentum as his main hand was useless with the lightning coursing through it, along with the excruciating pain. With a sickening thud that triple the weight brings, Faron's knee slammed into the top of the goblin's clavicle, and with a sickening crack, the goblin fell onto its face. Faron stood over it and quickly grabbed the knife out of his backpack strap belt and stabbed the goblin in the back of the neck repeatedly. After almost dying to the goblin near the river he wasn't going to change it with something much more dangerous.
A String of text appeared in Faron's eyes after the third stab.
GOBLIN SHAMAN KILLED.
TUTORIAL STAGE 1 COMPLETE. CALCULATING SCORE.
TIME 138 HOURS OUT OF 168 USED. OBJECTIVE COMPLETED HIDDEN OBJECTIVE COMPLETED DEMERITS ALMOST DIED 2x, MULTIPLE MAJOR WOUNDS. LACK OF BASIC SURVIVAL SKILLS, WEAPON SKILLS INEFFICIENT, AND LOTS OF DOWNTIMES. BONUSES USED WHAT WAS AVAILABLE, INGENUITY, EXCELLED AT ELEMENTAL MAGIC, 37 KILLS IN UNDER A MINUTE FINAL GRADE -
B-
With that more text started to appear in Farons HUD
RECEIVED +2 STAT POINTS FOR ALLOCATION.
TRIGGERED EFFECT "GROWTH THROUGH ADVERSITY. +2 STAT POINTS
RECEIVED HARDENED GRELL ARMOR.
RECEIVED A BOOST IN SKILLS.
RECEIVED 1 PULL IN THE BRONZE LOTTERY: REWARD: $376 FOR USE IN THE OUTER WORLD.
With a yelp of glee Faron fist pumped and looked over his new stats. He allocated his 2 stats and checked over his Status.
Strength
1
Fortitude
1 (+1)
Mana
4
Speed
2
Intelligence
2
Soul Sworn Items
Blue Sheen Heart, Hardrened Grell Armor (Fortitude +1).
Skills
(Novice, Anima Magic 22.5%), (Rookie- Elemental Magic 2.5%),
(Dormant, Bloodline 2.01%), (Novice, Spear proficiency 88%).
"Growth through adversity" Body Cleansing (1/10)
Luck
3
Total
10 - Grade F+ (Obtain 1 point to ascend from Novice to Rookie)
"USER WILL BE TELEPORTED BACK TO BODY IN 5..4...3...2...1"
Faron woke up in his room in the orphanage, All of his wounds were gone as was the smell that came from that black substance. He was thanking the universe and gods or whoever was listening that he didn't return a scar-filled, burnt mess. Remembering that he won a small sum of money, a pittance to most but life-altering to Faron he checked his bank account, and when he went to sleep it was at $113.32. After checking he was sitting at $489.32.
"Looks like I will have to buy my people dinner, I can spare a hundred on that." With a smile, Faron went and took a long warm shower. During his morning routine as the first one awake, Faron shaved his face, he did not enjoy facial hair on himself. With a small nick, Blue blood started to drip down the side of his face. Faron remembered that his heart in the system was wrapped in some kind of Blue metallic material, but that couldn't be with him...He wasn't past the tutorial, it was impossible to bring anything out from the tutorial. Faron tried his magic and nothing seemed to work, his body felt as frail as it did yesterday, however. When he started to chant the incantation for "Dragon Who Crawled Through the Mud, Soars into the Heavens" He felt it working.
"I can get stronger in the real world while still doing the tutorial?"