Lan stared down at the icy tundra, his gaze drifting across an endless expanse of white. There were no features, no obstacles, and no creatures. Only snow, so thick and soft that merely stepping on it posed a challenge.
The wind blowing across the tundra was cutting. It whipped across his face as though furious he dared to enter its domain. Whatever direction Lan walked, the wind always seemed to be blowing the opposite way. Even when he turned to face away from the tundra, the wind still blew into his face, stubbornly refusing any movements he tried to make.
Not that the wind could do very much to Lan. His stats were more than enough to ward off a breeze.
Name: Unknown
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Title(s): [Punching Up] [Class Of Your Own] [Disciple of David][Epiphany(Temp)][Embers (Temp)][Adam's Apple (Temp)][Gaia's Brood (Temp)][Wind Watcher (Temp)]
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Age: 18
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Race: Human - G
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Class: Trochilus
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Talent: Weapons are my Weapons – G, ********* - Unique
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Health: 1177/1177
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Mana: 640/640
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Level: 13
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Strength: 97
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Dexterity: 78
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Endurance: 69
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Vitality: 64
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Mind: 55
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Intelligence: 64
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Luck: 32
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Free Points:
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Skills: [Strengthen – F][Mana String – B][Karmic Threads - ??][Boon of Trochilus - ??]
'Surely, I'm close to the top of the tutorial regarding stats. For the average pathfinder, these stats would be the equivalent of, like… level 20? Maybe a bit higher. But I suppose I'm not just trying to be better than your average pathfinder. I'm trying to be better than the best there is. And for that, even these stats aren't enough,'
"With all these added Mind stat points, maybe I should have a crack at improving my control of mana strings. When I made the skill, I only had around 30 Mind, and now close to double that. Also, my mana has increased drastically since then, so improving the skill shouldn't be too hard." Lan checked the timer, seeing that he still had eight hours before the fourth step ended.
"Eight hours should be enough time for me to refine my use of Mana Strings. If I walk slowly, I should be able to finish acclimatising to my new Mana and Mind before I get to the final boss. Then, I'll have a chance to try them out in battle."
Lan began his journey from the edge, walking slowly as flurries of snow circled him like icy spirits. One and then two strings of snow wound together, and a third, then a fourth joined swiftly condensing rope. Quickly, there were ten, then twenty and thirty strings of snow braided together in a tight rope.
Usually, it was about this point that Lan got a headache. Without his complete concentration, controlling that many different objects at once, especially with such precision, was incredibly taxing. 'It seems like Mind helps with that in some way. Even now, with forty-five strands in the rope, I feel as though I can keep going,'
So, he did.
In groups of five, he created added additional strands, and the ethereal rope grew thicker and more substantial. Its presence gradually became more pronounced as its flickering form solidified the more strands that were added.
Lan didn't stop adding strands until he felt the familiar tug in the back of his head that told him he was going too far and stretching his Mind too thin. When he was done, there were 93 strands in all, and the rope itself was far sturdier than ever before.
'But at a certain point, it doesn't really matter how sturdy the rope is. I don't need it to suspend bridges or lift monstrous weights. The best use for the rope is as an additional limb. And now, I should be able to make two ropes of about equal strength, and with my added mana reserves, fuelling them isn't a pipe dream,'
Imagining the scene put a smile on his face. He could stride through a battlefield with blades in both hands and shields hovering around him, effortlessly deflecting arrows and spears alike.
"Until someone like George comes along and blows me the fuck up," Lan added, ruining the beautiful scene with an unstoppable explosion.
As he practised with the rope, thinking of all the different applications he could use it for, night sank deeper over the tundra. His goal was to speed up the casting process, 'I need to be able to summon it at a moments notice,' But the only way to improve his casting speed was repetition. As he crossed the snowy plain, he constantly cast and then recast the rope, getting more and more familiar with the process and the unique strain it placed on his mind.
When he finally arrived at the final cargo, it wasn't with apprehension that he strode across the frozen lake. He was confident, his footsteps falling measured and steady on the blue ice beneath him. Under the ice, the water was so crystal clear that Lan could easily watch the single, sleek, black Eel as it swam in lazy circles, orbiting the centre of the lake where a solitary wooden totem pole stood proudly against the white backdrop.
Lvl: 17 Great Eel
On the totem pole were many demonic faces carved in a brutal mixture of grotesque faces. Each carved face had horns and teeth that jutted from their inhuman mouths at odd angles.
Lan could make out a groove for his hand on the base of the totem pole. It was smooth, worn beyond the point of splinters being a danger. He couldn't see inside the hole no matter how hard he tried, so in the end, he had no choice but to place his hand in.
Whenever Lan looked down at the Eel, he was reminded of the turtle. It had never even got the chance to attack or defend itself before Lan ended its life with the help of a few thousand pirahnas. He wondered if he would also regret killing the Eel. But as he watched the creepy thing swim, he doubted it. 'There's no way it isn't violent,' He decided that his best course of action was to collect the title first, and then use his bonus resistance to deal with the Eel.
Lan sent mana flowing into the pole, waiting patiently as golden veins ran up and down its wooden surface. The eyes of the carved faces began to glow an intense blue, the same hue as the lake. It was almost crystalline in its purity. The glowing totem pulsed as it gathered up mana, focusing everything into a single, white cloud that hovered above Lan's head.
The cloud hung there, unbothered by the biting winds, in perfect stasis. Lan watched eagerly as the blue glow from the totem filled the cloud. Before his eyes, a lone raindrop formed, glowing a deep blue. It slowly descended towards him, landing on his head and passing straight through, disappearing within him.
Cargo retrieved; the train is waiting… All Cargo has been collected. Therefore the Bonus Cargo will shortly reveal itself.
Alert: Temporary title acquired – Neptune's Wish
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Effects: Increased affinity and resistance to Water and Ice.
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Note: Blessing removed on failure to pass the fourth step.
"Huh?" Lan frowned, "Did I hear that right? Bonus-"
A splintering crack ran through the ice as an enormous black head slammed against the underside of the frozen lake. Beneath the water, the Eel was writhing furiously, hammering its sinuous body against the barrier between it and Lan.
Lan grunted, "I mean… I kind of knew it would get violent like the others did. But at least this way, I won't feel morally corrupt about killing the damn thing,"
He had a plan to kill the Eel, which didn't involve any traps or schemes. All he needed was his rope and some ice. As he tried to string together the rope formed from mana and freezing water, Lan noticed that the process was going much smoother than before. 'It must be the title; maybe I can even get one hundred strands now,'
The Eel circled beneath him, hammering its tail against the thick ice so furiously it began to crack. Lan stared down through the frozen barrier, watching closely as the creature suddenly dived deep into the lake. He began to get his weapon ready, and this time, he had a new idea.
Directly beneath him, the Eel reached the bottom of the crystalline lake and turned. With the explosive force of a tightly wound spring, It burst back up towards him, blowing through the water like a torpedo and leaving a jet stream behind its streamlined body. It charged up towards Lan, mouth wide open revealing an endless black abyss.
Lan cracked his knuckles, concentrating as he finished making the two mana ropes. They shone a silvery blue from the mixture of snow and water, hovering by his side like ghostly jellyfish tentacles.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
As the Eel neared, Lan began to rotate the two ropes, spinning them clockwise like a drill. The faster he turned the ropes, the more strain was put on his Mind, but he couldn't afford to slow down. They were travelling so fast that the silvery strings became little more than a cone-shaped blur in front of him. A cone that would shred anything it came into contact with.
The swiftly approaching Eel neared the ice, and Lan looked down, staring into its open mouth. 'What a big target,' He readied himself, crouching down like a tiger waiting to pounce. His muscles and sinews twitched anxiously as the Eel slammed into the bottom of the ice and burst up towards him.
Right before the ice beneath his feet cracked and gave way to the Eel's assault, Lan jumped, flying almost twenty metres into the air. He hung there, suspended as the Eel exploded from the ice beneath and continued up towards him, its black body glistening in the moonlight.
As Lan began to fall back towards the Eel, he positioned his cone of spinning ropes beneath him, aiming straight for the Eel's open mouth.
They collided mid-air, and Lan disappeared directly into the Eel's mouth. The spinning ropes shredded every inch of the monster from the inside out. He drilled through the creature like a screw through wood, and it wasn't long before he burst out the other end of the Eel, having tunnelled the entire way through its long body.
He landed back on the ice, and blood rained down on him, splattering into red puddles on the blue ice. It was over in a flash, but he supposed that by now, his stats were probably equal to a level 17. It would almost be strange if he truly struggled to kill it.
Alert: Killed Lvl:17 Great Eel – Experience Gained (Bonus due to level difference)
Lan took a deep breath, sighing as the tension left his body. "I did it… I can't believe that drill thing actually worked." He checked his timer, "And there's still a few hours left before the tutorial ends. That's plenty of time to head to the train,"
Just as he was relaxing, a low rumble shook the whole tutorial.
"Huh?" He turned to the source of the noise, noticing an apocalyptic avalanche was occurring on the peak of the mountain that scraped the sky. An endless wave of snow poured from its unreachable heights, washing down the side of the mountain in an unstoppable, white wave.
All Cargo has been collected, and All Guardians have been dispatched. Bonus Cargo unlocked. Guardian unleashed – The Kitsune of Five.
"What? There's more?" Lan groaned, squinting at the peak of the mountain. 'Maybe I'll just not bother. I don't think I have the time to go kill another guardian, and I imagine collecting five cargos is more than enough.'
Having decided, Lan tried his best to ignore the crumbling mountain peak and made his way towards the train.
The journey back wasn't long, but it left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Besides the fact that he was somewhat of a completionist and didn't like the feeling of leaving uncollected cargo behind, Lan felt somewhat uneasy. It was almost as though something was watching his every move.
Even when the old-fashioned, green steam train came into view, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. Something predatory.
The feeling reminded him of how security guards watched him when he entered a shop, and subconsciously, he sped up, first speed walking and then breaking into an all-out run as he made a break for the train. 'It's probably nothing,' He kept telling himself, stealing the occasional glance at the mountaintop. Obscured by clouds of mist and snow from the avalanche, he couldn't see anything up there but could feel the gaze. Something up there was watching him. He just knew it.
"Shit!" Lan started sprinting the final few kilomeres to the train, feeling the gaze on him intensify all the while. It sent chills crawling down his spine.
As he began cross the final stretch, the mountaintop exploded in a wave of rainbow light. He whipped around, watching as a golden figure streaked down from the distant height. It was floating on a single cloud and leaving five trails of blazing light in the air behind it.
'What the fuck is that?' Lan glanced back at the train and then up at the rapidly approaching figure. 'I can probably make it in time,' He thought hopefully.
But just as he was about to move, a tornado whipped up behind the golden figure, blowing it forward at insane speeds. Five streams of colourful light trailed behind it like the tails of a comet. They were Fiery red, Cloudy white, Earthy Brown, Vibrant green and Deep blue. Each trail, irrespective of colour, seemed to pulse with energy and life.
Lan watched the figure blur towards him, rooted to the spot. When it was barely half a mile away and closing fast, he managed to rouse himself, 'Shit, I'll never make it to the train before that thing gets here. I don't have much time before this trial ends, so if I'm going to fight the damn thing, I'd better make it quick,'
He scrambled to create a 100-strand thick rope from nearby snow, twining the individual strings together in record time. He gripped his scythe tightly in one hand and held the rope in the other.
While he would have liked more time to prepare, the final guardian wasn't going to give him that time. It slammed into the ground between him and the train, leaving a dusty crater like that of a meteor impact. Clouds of dirt and snow filled the space between Lan and the creature, obscuring it.
As the dust slowly settled, a golden fox came into view, staring intently at Lan with strange eyes. One was pitch black with a white pupil, and the other was completely white, save for a regular black pupil. Instead of one tail, it had five, each made from its own element.
'Those must have been what was leaving those trails in the sky,' Lan figured, frowning at the five magical tails. From what he could tell, they corresponded to the five titles he had received in this tutorial. Fire, Wind, Earth, Nature and Water. 'It lines up too perfectly to be a coincidence.'
Its fur was completely golden and covered in swirling black tattoos, which Lan noticed seemed to resemble the carvings he had seen before getting the previous Cargo.
Lvl: 20 Kitsune of Five
The Fox eyed Lan like he was prey already destined to be devoured. Its tails floated behind it like ghostly apparitions, waving back and forth as though they had a mind of their own.
But Lan wasn't one to sit around and wait for his attack and get the advantage, so he didn't marvel at the beast's lustrous fur and jagged claws. He burst into a violent sprint, thundering towards it.
Or at least, he tried to.
The Kitsune stuck its brown tail into the ground, and it was like a magnitude nine earthquake had gone off. The earth tilted drastically under his feet as fissures opened up on the earth's surface, dropping into oblivion.
From within the cracks, Lan could feel an overwhelming heat and see a faint tinge of red as magma slowly bubbled to the surface.
Lan frantically jumped from rock to rock as he continued towards the Fox, but even that was obstructed. The Fox's green tail glowed bright, and the grass sprouted at insane speeds, lashing up towards his ankles and trying to drag him down into the fiery abyss.
And when he managed to dodge the clawing grass, a massive gust of wind would batter him like a tiny sailboat in a storm.
Meanwhile, the Fox sent gouts of flame at Lan, burning away the thick layer of snow and creating billowing clouds of steam. It gathered the steam beneath itself and floated up into the sky on a cloud, looking down on Lan with derision.
'Jesus Christ, this thing has every base covered! I can't even get near it!' he was forced to use his rope like a grappling hook by attaching his sickle to the end. But even as he got closer to the Fox, it floated above him, seemingly unreachable.
Lan grunted and jumped, throwing off the reaching claws of grass and tumbling boulders. He soared up towards the Fox, flying up towards its cloud. As he barrelled towards it, he lashed out with the sickle. But it dinged harmlessly off the Fox's golden fur. When the blade returned to him, it was dull and bent at the edges.
And then he was falling again, tumbling down towards the waiting ground. Although, to his relief, it seemed to have stopped shifting. 'Maybe it's because the fox isn't as close to the ground anymore, making the element harder to control,' He suspected this was the reason because his earlier attack forced the Kitsune to fly higher above the ground to avoid him.
'If proximity is important for it controlling an element, I need to keep it up there,' He gazed up at the flying Fox while an idea stewed in his head. 'I'm not sure if I can pull it off... but it's worth a try,'
Lan jumped again, throwing every ounce of strength into his legs as he practically took off. He rushed up to meet the Fox that continuously blew cutting gusts at him, trying to knock him off course.
When that didn't work, it sent down a billow of flames that it generated from its glowing red tail, although after the fire left its body, the Fox looked drained, as though creating the element was far more strenuous than simply controlling it.
Lan punched through the flames and kept rising, ignoring the smouldering remains of his robe and skin almost lobster red from the burns.
The Fox's eyes widened when Lan burst through its wall of flame, and it soared higher, yipping at him before sending another wave of fire.
The fire consumed Lan, and he disappeared within, emerging from the other side a changed man. Somehow, after his robes had been burned beyond the point of repair, they had magically been replaced by a brand new pair. 'If I had known that would happen, I would have replaced that piece of shit robe ages ago...' Lan thought, slightly annoyed he hadn't been informed of this.
'Then again, I suppose people are prone to dying so often that their robes never truly get that damaged,'
With his new robe and sickle at the ready, he crashed into the Fox, hammering a kick into its sternum. The Kitsune squealed, clawing at his arms and chest. The claws drew blood, splattering onto the cloud in red splotches.
Lan winced as he started to fall back down towards the ground, but he wouldn't let it end like this. As his feet touched the cloud, he imagined mana travelling down through his legs and dispersing into the fine water droplets that formed the cloud.
He imagined the water droplets condensing beneath his feet, giving him something to stand on.
And to an extent, it worked. His fall paused for a brief moment, and he was just barely able to send a brutal punch into the Fox's face, making it reel back.
But he quickly lost his balance and tumbled down to the waiting ground below. He landed hard, his legs and back shaking from the impact.
Glancing up, Lan noticed that the Kitsune's cloud was wobbling slightly. The Fox looked tired, perhaps from the fire it kept creating or perhaps from flying for so long. Whatever the reason, its cloud was slowly sinking back down towards Lan.
Taking advantage of its lull in energy, Lan dug deep and jumped once again. The Kitsune almost looked scared as he soared up to meet it, growling at him. It began to spin its white tail, forming a tornado between Lan and it.
Lan stared blankly at the howling winds he was rushing towards, scrambling to think of a way to avoid them.
But the Kitsune wasn't done yet. It began to pour flame into the tornado, changing its colour from a greyish black to hellish red. Lan felt like he was flying towards a blender that was on fire. The oxygen from the wind kept stoking the flames, making them burn brighter and more vigorously.
'Shit... This doesn't look good,' He crashed helplessly into the blazing inferno, getting sucked into the maelstrom and spinning in dizzying, scorching circles.
Time and again, he whirled helplessly around, his robe getting shredded and then reforming just as fast, only to get shredded again. Thanks to his fire resistance title, he wasn't getting cooked alive, but it still hurt like hell. He felt as though his entire body was getting rope burned, over and over and over again.
As Lan was tossed helplessly in the scorching winds, he wondered if this was how salad felt. He had seen chefs do similar things to helpless vegetables in the kitchen before.
He noticed that as he spun, he was slowly rising up the tornado, getting nearer to the floating cloud in the eye of the storm.
When he was close enough to reach it, he swung out with his rope, wrapping it around the fox's ankle. In a blur, he climbed up to the Fox and hammered it with tired fists. He was already drained mentally from all the fights that day and didn't have much left to give.
It seemed as though the fox was equally drained. Its clawed swipes didn't have the same aggressive bite they used to, and its legs shook slightly. As Lan desperately hammered it with blow after blow, it lost control of the flaming tornado, and the roaring winds collapsed in on themselves.
The Kitsune desperately bit at Lan's arms, scoring bloody marks on his flesh. Lan ignored the bleeding and kept hitting. Eventually, it would give out and collapse from exhaustion. It had to.
When the Kitsune pushed him off or managed to dislodge him, all he could do was desperately cling to the rope and flail almost a hundred metres above the ground.
Lan noticed that the ground was coming up to greet them as the Kitsune, in its exhaustion, slowly lost altitude.
It sent out another gout of flames, but this time it was weak and ineffective, barely giving Lan pause.
Lan grabbed the Kitsune's ankle, throwing himself up and onto its back. He hooked his legs under its belly and his arm around its throat, squeezing with everything he had.
The Fox squealed, shaking wildly in a desperate effort to dislodge him. But Lan held fast, stuck to its back like a barnacle to a ship's hull.
A small section of the cloud dislodged, floating up and around Lan's head. When it had completely covered him, the cloud condensed into a water bubble.
Neither of them could breathe, but Lan had a head start. He ignored his screaming lungs and aching arms. He ignored the ground rushing up to meet them. All that mattered was that his arm stayed firmly around the Kitsune's neck. Nothing in this world would get him to let go.
Eventually, the Fox's struggles grew weaker and desperate. It gnawed on his arm and sent tiny waves of flame onto his back. The attacks had no effect, but it was all the fox could muster in its exhausted state.
In a final, desperate attempt, it released the cloud beneath them, and they tumbled down towards the waiting ground, both refusing to release their hold on the other.
They landed with a heavy boom, forming a smouldering crater. Even then, Lan didn't let go. He didn't stop until the bubble popped, and as his black spots swarmed his vision, he revealed a bloody smile.
Alert: Killed Lvl: 20 Kitsune of Five – Experience Gained (Bonus due to Level difference)
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Level up! [13->14]
Final Cargo retrieved! All Cargo has been collected. Trial completed.
Alert: Temporary title acquired – Eutierria
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Effects: Increased affinity and resistance to the elements. (Replaces all individual elemental titles.)
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Note: Blessing removed on failure to pass the fourth step.
Crawling onto the train was the last thing Lan could do before passing out from exhaustion. His body was battered and bruised. But he had won.