Farons next two days went by uninterrupted thanks to the "Azure Flame King" giving him respite from the Protocol. Training at Headquarters and watching videos and speeches from other people that had awoken elemental powers allowed Faron to better understand certain things. Science and Magic are the same. It seemed that there was a theory from the high rankers that the separation of the three initial choices of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror were all held within the same universe. Then there must be beings out there that had both tech and powers that they used to fight horrifying monsters. Farons resolve was growing. He saw the news of rogue Protocol criminals running amok. Causing havoc and chaos. The world government hasn't stepped in to do anything to stop these people. For all everyone knew they were trying their best to figure out how to harness the power and create stronger warriors. Thinking about everything and how he was going to return to the protocol later tonight. Faron sat down and entered the special state of consciousness that allowed him to enter his mental space and converse with the "Azure Flame King"
After about an hour Faron found himself getting sucked into the alternate space and looking at the billowing flame.
"Ok, I wish to learn from you. I want revenge for my parents. I want to protect those I love. I want to be wealthy. I want to do what I want. I don't mind working for it."
"GOOD." the voice boomed before Faron started to accustom himself to the volume again.
"This King is glad to see that you seriously considered the proposition that was given to you. I had millions of people drop to their knees begging me to be their teacher. You however through this twist of fate shall be my one and only disciple. You will never take another Master officially. You can learn from anyone, But I will not be a side dish. I will help you with all things in due time. However, right now you are on the right track. You are working on your foundation. Your idea of ascending the ranks of the tutorial is good too. It is the most basic thing we teach our young. Do not go past the Tutorial until you are sure you will end with an A Grade. And try to be quick about it. Your skills while impressive on this planet. I would place you as mediocre at best. Many children can enter A rank on their first trial. Some are even able to achieve Rank A from F- in a single hour in real-time. The resources you have are not equal."
Faron listened intently and was not shocked when he learned in the grand scheme of things he was not a genius. he would probably be terrible if not for the initial meditation that was granted to him thanks to "The Azure King". He tightened his fists and got down onto a single knee.
"I Faron Alveron with the Heavens and Hells as my witness. Speak fully aware of my words. To take "The Azure King" as my Teacher. Never to find a new master and fully commit me to the teachings of him."
A strange apparition appeared in the mental space. Almost as if the sky had opened up. A golden light showed down and bathed Faron's body. Simarlrlly a red light shot up from the floor. in the middle, they bathed in some kind of resplendent White light. Faron felt that the words he had just spoken had legitimate weight. This was something that people from the Protocol figured out fairly soon after entering. Much to some detriment. Heaven-bound oaths could not be broken. If they were, Then the one that swore the oath would die on the spot. their body and soul turning into dust to fly into the wind. After making his oath Faron was assured he was on the right track and went about his day. Eat, Run, Spar, Bathe, Eat, Nap, Eat, Meditate. This was the pattern that he found himself in after talking to Jessie. The naps were not suggested, However, Faron was still new and was told the tired feeling would go away with time.
Faron wrote a small note just in case he died and put it in his pajama pockets and went to sleep. The world around him swirled as he found himself in a plane drastically different than the rainforest-like area last time. There were only a couple of trees within eyesight. A small brook was split by a 20ft chasm that looked like someone put an island in the middle of a river to dam it up. Faron was in the safety bubble and Started to train using "Dragon Who Crawled Through the Mud, Soars into the Heavens". At the same time as he was in meditation, he was splitting his focus. Though feeble at this point. To play with his elemental magic. Doing simple exercises like forming, changing, moving, and combining. and like this, a long period passed.
3 REAL DAYS LATER = 21 DAYS IN THE PROTOCOL
Faron finally go to a point where he felt like he finally had a solid foundation. With the training in real life, The meridian opening. The tips from the "Azure Flame King" and combat training with Jessie, Trent, and Ash. Faron felt ready to see if his rating had increased. It had been 24 total days of meditation, and practicing with his elemental magic. There was a cap on what one could achieve in the tutorial but Faron wanted to be in the upper echelons of Training. He was hoping to make it to B- rank after this level was cleared.
"Status"
Strength
2.5
Fortitude
3.5 (+1)
Mana
8
Speed
3.5
Intelligence
4
Soul Sworn Items
Hardened Grell Armor (Fortitude +1).
Skills
(Novice, Anima Magic 26.5%), (Warrior- Elemental Magic .5%),
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(Dormant, Bloodline 3.01%), (Rookie, Spear proficiency 38%).
"Growth through adversity" Body Cleansing (1/10)
Total
21.5: Grade E+ Rookie
Looking over his new status Faron was pleased to see that he had raised some of his skills in real life, and his mana had skyrocketed inside. He was able to have a small flame spear floating around his head, able to shoot it out at a moment's notice. Faron stepped outside of the protective dome and soon the voice resounded in his head
"WELCOME TO TUTORIAL LEVEL TWO FIGHTER FARON ALVERON. YOUR LAST TEST WAS AGAINST A GROUP OF FAST AGILE WARRIORS. THIS TIME YOUR TEST WILL BE AGAINST THOSE THAT ARE STRONG AND RELENTLESS. YOU CALL THEM ORCS. GO TO THEIR NEARBY ENCAMPMENT AND KILL THEM ALL. INCLUDING THE CHIEFTAN THAT RESIDES THERE."
Faron stepped out a bit excited. The few books he remembered his parents reading to him were a popular trilogy that had a lot of evil nasty orcs. Faron was excited to test his metal. grabbing his spear and fastening the armor on. He made his way to the large smokestacks in the sky. Faron sauntered up without a care in the world. until the village was visible. simple homes and a large training field off to the side. It seemed like the warriors lived a very spartan lifestyle. Faron snuck to the back. These creatures were not nearly as on guard as the Goblins. So far easily made his way to a vantage point. There were 15+ orcs currently fighting in the field.
"Ok here it goes, Move the magic as Teacher told me. Lower my heart rate as Ms. Jessie explained. Put my all into it. A small red bead started to form on Farons open palm. The fire started to wisp off into smaller tendrils. Over 10 firey lances appeared from his hand. about enough to kill half of the warriors here. The monster cores would be nice. Faron learned that to gain .5 stat points that he would need to double the amount in each tutorial stage. 5-10-20-40-80-160-320. He was currently sitting at needing to use 10 for .5 of a stat point. He had 30 from the goblins at the moment. So he could gain 1.5 of the stats but he didn't want to rush it.
After about 15 seconds Faron's fire lances were complete as they flew out with a strong force. Impaling the Orcs that were fighting.
Killed Orc Warrior...
Killed Orc Warrior...
Killed Orc Warrior...
....
10 lances and 9 confirmed kills.
The monster cores fell to the ground visible only to him. He was tired and jumped out of the back of the building and ran off. This was a good way to kill a large portion of them quickly. Faron went into another building that had mounds of dirty clothes and jumped in. The smell was horrendous. Body odor. blood, feces, and intestine. But he still found a safe place for now. The entire orc village was on high alert. War drums were sounding outside. Faron waited, but no one came near. They were all yelling to hunt for the person who did it. At one point someone came into the scrap clothing room and checked but quickly left. Faron entered into a quick meditation and started to feel his magical reserves start to come back. Using a small bit of his magic he conjured some water to wash away the smell and stain that was all over him and cautiously stepped outside.
An orc happened to turn the corner as he stepped out and was about to yell, Faron quickly resorted to a trick that was effective on the goblins and went to throw Embers into his eyes. But in his panicked state, there was a bit too much power. As he burned off the top half of the orc's head. The body fell backward and shouting was heard all around. Faron waited right around the corner hidden by a rain-catching barrel. When 4 orcs ran by. pillars of earth erupted impaling the orcs, Faron ran to them finishing them off with his spear. Spinning on his heel he threw his spear while pushing it with wind magic. Like a bullet, it pierced through an Orc that was wielding a large metal hammer. Faron uses his wind magic again to pull the spear back to him. Beads of sweat started to fall. From his estimate, there shouldn't be many left. Faron quickly took the beast's cores and one of the nice spears that the dead Orc had lying next to his body.
*doot, doot* With the twangs of heavy longbows Faron looked and saw three arrows flying in his direction. He dropped to the ground and lifted the ground above his head giving him cover, but one of the arrows still sank into the back of his leg. He quickly leaned back pulling the earth over him like a blanket and pulled the arrow out. using water magic to freeze the wound. a tip he saw from someone that specialized in ice magic. it hurt and was uncomfortable but it was better than getting exhausted from bleed. rolling to the left, 3 tiny jets of water shot out of farms fingers, punching holes halfway through the skulls of the orcs holding the bows.
Faron stood in the middle of the training area and quickly grabbed his canteen and drank down the contents. He entered into a loose meditation and tried to get back as much of his magical power as he could.
Finally an Orc twice as large as the rest walked out from the largest building here and roared. Running towards Faron. Who unleashed a torrent of flames onto the orc. The orc stood there, His arm covering his eyes. His hair burning away, The orc looked mostly unfazed. They ran at each other, Spear dancing around a great axe that was leaving devastating gashes in the dirt below. When faron used one of the footwork techniques that Jessie had taught him he spun around the orc and used all of his remaining magic to thrust his spear into the orc's stomach. The wind was pushing the weapon with incredible force.
However, To Faron's dismay. The Orc grabbed the head of the spear, letting it sing into his palm and forearm but negating the lethality of it. Pulling the spear out he threw it to Faron. A bloodlust in his eyes.
"NO. MAGIC IS WEAK. TEST YOUR MIGHT." The orc Roard swung down, This single slash broke the spear and the shaft of the axe hit Faron on the head, He was sent stumbling back. Blood filled his eyes. Farons started to get worried. No longer as confident as he was. It seemed like the "bosses" of the tutorial levels were hard no matter what. probably why there was a limit to how much one could grow in the tutorial. He decided to spend his monster cores on 30x pulls from the bronze lottery.
a string of text floated up. He gained almost $11,000 a pittance to the stats he could have gotten. As well as a lot of empty boxes. But one caught his eye. It was the same item that allowed him to sleep to recover from serious injuries. Not useful in this situation.
The Orc charged and Faron was flung back like a kite on a broken string. As soon as he crashed into a wall he looked up to see the Chieftan was still charging him. Unrelenting. Faron jumped into the window nearby as the door was quickly cut down. Faron set the area on fire with the last remnants of his magic and snuck out of the back door.
The orc walked out, straining his eyes from all of the smoke When suddenly he felt a piercing from the top of his head. He was dead before he hit the ground. Faron jumped off of the roof with a nasty thud. He had jumped and managed to pull up to the thatched roof which was very simple.
"TUTORIAL STAGE 2 COMPLETE... CALCULATING SCORES...
TIME 509 HOURS USED FOR THE RECOMMENDED 168 OBJECTIVE COMPLETED HIDDEN OBJECTIVE FAILED DEMERITS ONE MAJOR WOUND. MULTIPLE MINOR WOUNDS WOUNDS. EXTREME DOWNTIMES BONUSES QUICK DISMANTLING OF THE ORC CAMP, EXCELLED AT ELEMENTAL MAGIC, 10 KILLS IN UNDER A MINUTE. TRICKED A SEASONED WARRIOR FINAL GRADE -
B-
"RECALCULATING TUTORIAL DIFFICULTY... DIFFICULTY RAISED TO B+"