Upon seeing his hated enemies, he quickly used Dash(Uncommon), trying to catch one off guard. Just before going in, however, he cast Identify(Common) on all three.
[Drake - lvl 17].
[Drake - lvl 17].
[Drake - lvl 19].
Despite the small growth they had undergone during their time apart, their biggest advantage right now was numbers, so he had to try and level the playing field. After stumbling for just a moment and orienting himself, he found himself staring into the panic-stricken eyes of one of his foes. The drakes had been playing dead, just like the last time he encountered them. The difference this time, however, was that they were not expecting a challenger to teleport into their midst.
Wasting no time, Raj caught one straight in the chest with a Dao-infused Mana Slash(Common), holding his breath as the previously untested technique let loose. The results made his jaw drop.
He blinked once as the nearest creature exploded, guts spraying around him. Wails of despair erupted from the snout of the wannabe dragon before him. His shock multiplied when the blow kept going, not allowing the creatures to escape, grounding them in the reality he poured into the strike. After all was said and done, only the third beast was alive and untouched. The second had been nearly bisected, and Raj felt the flow of EXP from both of the last drake’s companions.
It was the death of the other two that allowed the third to survive. Their bodies had been able to shield it from the worst of the damage, soaking up the Dao, allowing it to leap backwards and escape.
A not unsubstantial Mana Bolt(Common) slammed into the shocked monster’s side, causing it to stumble. That was the only opening Raj needed, and, after sending three Mana Slash(Common) attacks towards its gut, he ran in and leaped high, landing simultaneously with the head of the now-deceased drake.
Raj stood up, his legs flexing to push him out of the crouch he had landed in, and cleaned his sword on his shirt before waving it away into his spatial storage. “You weren’t kidding,” He said to Trixie as she emerged from the woods hand still raised from the spell she had cast during the battle.
“No, I wasn’t,” she readily agreed. “I told you that you were underestimating the power of the Dao. Infusing it into your attacks was easy for you as well, which I also predicted. It makes sense that Dao-related activities come more naturally to you, seeing how early you unlocked it to begin with.” She cut off, looking at her gains from the battle. This was the first time she had actually participated in battle, previously citing “unnecessary danger”.
Raj decided to mirror her actions, pulling his status up. He had definitely felt a ton of EXP flood into him, and he was excited to see his gains.
Status
Name: Rajeev Narayanan
Race: Human(H)
Class: Swordsman[(Common-G) lvl 16]
Profession: None
Titles: Giant Slayer, Vitality I, Strength I, Enlightened One(G), Agility I, Endurance I, Intelligence I, Wisdom I, Dao Disciple
HP: 730/730
MP: 400/460
SP: 508/550
Stats
Strength:70(67)
Agility: 91(82)(+5)
Vitality: 73(70)
Endurance: 55(53)
Intelligence: 46(44)
Wisdom: 43(41)
Free Points: 10
Dao: Fragment of Reality
Class Skills: Mana Slash(Common), Dash(Uncommon)
Profession Skills: None
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General Skills: Identify(Common)
After some internal deliberation, he decided to split his Free Points evenly between INT and STR. He wanted his attack power to be able to keep up with his ridiculous speed, after all.
He accessed Trixie’s status immediately after, curious to see how much stronger she had gotten.
Status
Name: L’thsnixzsiarla Velair
Race: Fairy(H)
Class: Mage[(Common-H) lvl 11]
Profession: None
Titles: None
HP: 180/180
MP: 300/310
SP: 150/150
Stats
Strength: 11
Agility: 23
Vitality: 18
Endurance: 15
Intelligence: 31
Wisdom: 31
Free Points: 6
Class Skills: Mana Bolt(Common)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
He whistled appreciatively, surprised that she had gotten three levels. Considering that she had only fired off a single spell, that was a good haul.
They walked towards the now unguarded house, cautiously taking in their surroundings. Raj in particular was definitely not about to let a repeat of the cave backstabbing to occur.
As soon as the pair crossed a faint circle engraved into the dirt around the house, a prompt flashed on his screen.
Congratulations!
You have bested the guardians of The House! Ownership of The House shall now be placed under YOUR name for the duration of the Tutorial. No other can take this claim.
Every day that passes that The House remains in your possession, unintruded by others, awards an additional 1% of all Tutorial Contribution you collect to be added on to your total.
DEFEND the objective.
Trixie gasped to his right, having seen his prompt. I didn’t even know she could do that. Wait, that means I can do that too!
“This is wonderful!” She exclaimed, flying loop-de-loops next to his head.
“How?” Raj said, skepticism lacing his voice. “It’s just a few percent? What’s the big deal? Isn’t it better to just go hunt for monsters and kill the boss of the Tutorial?”
Upon seeing the blank stare she gave him, he knew that was the wrong answer. “Dimwit, Tutorial Contribution, or TC, gives you access to basically everything you could ever imagine, barring a few things like resurrection. It is a market for you to access goods that you may never be able to even see again, let alone afford. The prices are cheaper in the Tutorial Store as well. Additionally, most stronger competitors, which somehow includes you, gain a plethora of points during the Tutorial. Therefore, any percentage increases at all make a huge difference. And it’s stackable! Talk about luck!”
Her fervored enthusiasm was starting to rub off on Raj, as he realized the importance of what he had just been granted. He pulled up the Tutorial panel to see how long he could abuse this for.
Welcome to the Tutorial
Information: The Tutorial will proceed for 30 days. The only required criteria for completion is survival. Anything else is extra and will thus be rewarded for.
Countdown: 22 days, 4 hours and 36 minutes
Tutorial Contribution(TC) will be given to all participants for any actions that impact the tutorial or the beings inside it. This includes slaying monsters or other humans, as well as completing or contributing to the completion of objectives. The leaders in terms of TC will be given rewards at the end of the tutorial in accordance to the amount of TC they have. TC is not visible as points by the participants.
Objectives: A power lurks in the grassy plains to the East of the forest. Defeat the monstrosity and its 3 most powerful subordinates to complete the objective.
Hidden Objective: Defend The House. Rewards determined by length of defense.
“There’s a new line on the Tutorial Panel too. Apparently, this is a hidden objective.” Raj narrated. Seeing her nod, he kept talking. “We could probably sit here for a while, at least two weeks. We still need to defeat the boss and its subordinates, and eight days should be enough for that.” Saying that, he glanced around, truly taking in the house for the first time. It was a simple thing, just a one-story ranch. Looking inside, he saw… three empty rooms and one bed. Of course, he complained to nobody in particular. Because why be nice? Why help the people who are suffering because of you even a bit?
Trixie's next words tried to dull his excitement, however. “Don’t be so sure we can even last two weeks here. Knowing the tutorial, it’s not going to be as easy as—”
As if her words were prophecies themselves, roars echoed all around the house they had now entered. Peering through one of the four windows, he saw monsters of all kinds surrounding The House, though they only seemed to be within the circle he had crossed before. Even more daunting, however, was the fact that he couldn’t see anything past said circle.
A prompt demanded his attention, and he obliged.
Defend your claim!
Now that you possess The House, waves of monsters will continue to spawn every two hours. The difficulty will continually increase until the monsters destroy the bed placed in your house.
Fight!
He slowly turned to Trixie, who let out a nervous chuckle. “You just had to say it, didn’t you? Look what you’ve done now. You’ve gone and jinxed us, damn it!”
He turned towards the veritable sea of monsters before him, pinching the bridge of his nose as he pulled his blade back out. As he opened the front mahogany door, Trixie managed to utter a weak apology. “Whoopsie?”