Deep in space, two beings stood opposite one another. Both cloaked in shadow, despite the absence of light. It could have been centuries before they spoke. Finally, one broke the silence. “This is a costly mistake on your part.” The voice was quiet, at odds with the colossal size of the figure. The voice almost sounded human.
“It has the potential to be,” the other figure responded, shaking their head. “It could also be the small amount of momentum needed to finally solve this problem. Do not be getting ahead of yourself just yet.” The simple movement of the being's head sent shockwaves throughout space, destroying any stars and planets near them. “My great disciple, this is what I was always trying to teach you. Even now, on the cusp of godhood, you have not learned. Remember the story I have told you of the–”
“Of course I remember!” The opposing figure shouted back, losing their composure. The shock waves generated by the loud voice sped out around them, threatening to destroy the corner of the universe they were in. The master sighed and clicked his fingers. A smaller wave was sent out, somehow catching up to and nullifying the bigger one.
“Even now, you have yet to truly find mastery over yourself. How can you achieve mastery over the System if you still lose your temper? The disciple did not respond. “Look,” the master began, his voice softer. “I will bear the majority of the retribution if this is found out about. We have been stalling, waiting for a moment that will never come. This is our only chance.”
The disciple still did not respond and just stared at the master. Suddenly, both of the figures' heads snapped around, staring at a point in space. “This is our cue,” said the master and both figures appeared to collapse in on themselves until, only a fraction of a second later, the space they were occupying was empty.
- - -
Aodh’s eyes snapped open, and he stared up at a dappled grey surface. His eyes darted around rapidly taking everything in. He could still feel the fire washing over him, consuming him, destroying everything that made him, him. He shuddered and frantically rubbed his body all over as if that would remove the horrible sensation he was feeling. He couldn't even put what he felt into words, it just felt like he was slowly losing his identity, his purpose. Even that didn't fully do it justice.
After what felt like a few hours, the feeling eased and Aodh relaxed. Until he remembered what happened. He shot to his feet, not paying any attention to the wound on his back that had miraculously healed, or the strange absence of the pain that had been his companion for the past few years. He was in a small cave. He had to admit, that wasn't the strangest. What was strange, however, was the giant standing at one end of the cave, in front of a wooden door.
Aodh quickly estimated it to be about four metres tall. Its head was lowered and its arms hung at its side. Its skin looked like it was made of silver, glinting despite the low level of light in the cave. There were no, uhh, identifying characteristics that could help Aodh figure out what gender it was.
“Hello?” As soon as the words left Aodh’s mouth the figure cracked, and straightened up, looking straight at Aodh. That frightened him even more. “Open status to proceed.” Aodh flinched as an imposing voice echoed around the room. “Was that you?” Aodh asked, directed at the mysterious figure. “Open status to proceed,” the voice repeated.
How do I do that?” asked Aodh. He remembered reading something similar a while ago, where the main character was in a similar situation to him. As far as he could remember, the main character just said everything out loud. Aodh shrugged. It was worth a try.
“Status.” Aodh moved a step backwards as a blue screen, similar to the announcements appeared in front of him.
Name
Aodh
Age
19
Race
Human - F
Class
Mage - F
Level
1
Strength
3
Vitality
4
Constitution
N/A
Dexterity
4
Stamina
2
Agility
N/A
Intelligence
18
Energy
15
Perception
N/A
Aodh just stared at the large amount of information in front of him. Most of it he had no clue about. At least it got his age right. And his name was spelt correctly, that was certainly unusual. Apparently, he was human, nice to be reassured. However, the stuff about levels, whatever a class was, and what he assumed to be attributes of some sort meant nothing to him. Again, he could faintly recall something like this in the book he read a while ago, but nothing concrete.
“So,” he said looking back over at the figure, “What's going on?” The figure just stared at him. Before Aodh could ask again, it spoke. “Did you not receive a series of announcements, outlining what was happening?” “Yes, I did, but-” “Did you read them?” “Again, yes, but-” “Are you stupid?” Aodh looked at the figure, unsure of what to say next. There were a few moments of silence before a loud clanking noise came from the figure. Aodh flinched and took a step backwards before realising it was laughter.
“Oh, I'm so sorry, it's too easy to get you guys. You should have seen your face,” the figure said, then continued laughing. Aodh gazed thoughtfully at the figure before slapping himself across the face. The sound resounded through the small cave, causing the figure to stop laughing. Aodh groaned and spat out some blood. “Fuck, this isn't a dream.” “Okay, okay, I'll take some pity on you,” the figure exclaimed, clapping its hands together.
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“An entity called the System has expanded to your universe, taking over control of your planet to integrate it. Because of this, you now have access to a load of wonderful new things, including but not limited to, levels, classes, skills and much more.” Aodh was struggling to take it all in. “There's sentient life other than humans?” he asked. “Of course, there's thousands of other races in the universe.” “What about the other people on earth?” “They are in the tutorial dungeons. Did you really not read the announcements?” Aodh shook his head. “I was a bit busy.”
“So why am I here and not with everyone else,” asked Aodh, gesturing to the small cave they were in. “Unfortunately, you somehow managed to kill a mana enhanced creature by yourself, which shouldn't be possible, not even after the tutorial, so the system put you here as a safety measure.” Aodh kept it to himself about not killing the wolf, something told him he should be careful with what he says. If he was to believe the metal thing, and earth was taken over by the System, then he should try and find out as much as he can before revealing something like that. Surely the system should know I died with how powerful this thing is making it out to be. Maybe this weird metal thing doesn't know about it for a reason.
“Why would I be placed here for safety reasons?” The figure let out a sigh. “So many questions. Fine. The System put you here because, based on your killing of the wolf you would be able to complete a tutorial dungeon by yourself.” “When you say complete what do mean? Actually, just explain what dungeons are first please.” “Alright. Dungeons are spaces that are heavily populated by monsters. They are most commonly used as a way to gain experience. Some dungeons are used to gather a certain type of resource. The tutorial dungeons are special, a lot bigger than normal. Of course, there are some dungeons that are bigger than the tutorial ones but I can't tell you much about that.”
Aodh nodded as he took the information in. He suspected that every piece of knowledge would count. “What about completing dungeons?” “It differs by the dungeon. Sometimes it is a single boss, sometimes it is multiple. There are many dungeons where you need to collect a certain amount of some material to exit. Of course, tutorial dungeons have more than one level, so it is possible all of those could apply. “What do you mean by level?” “Most dungeons are just one level or floor. The harder the dungeon, the more floors it has. Typically, tutorial dungeons have four or five floors, but almost everybody elects to leave after passing the first floor.” This was a lot of information for Aodh to take in. He still felt like he was in a state of shock.
“Do you have a name?” Aodh asked. “Why yes I do. My name is Helper. It is my purpose to act as your guide, a privilege the other tutorial goers aren't getting.” Aodh nodded. “Nice to meet you, Helper.” His parents had drilled into him the importance of manners, especially because they were such public people. That made him think of something. Surely his parents were undergoing the tutorial right now. He was surprised to not really feel any strong emotion about that. Sure, his parents had basically forgotten about him as his illness progressed, but he did expect to feel something for them.
That made him think of something else, something more concerning. His illness. He couldn't feel any of the pain he would usually feel, but he attributed that to shock. He glanced at the helper. Maybe it would know something. “Excuse me Helper, but before this, I had a sort of illness-” Aodh was cut off when she waved her hand. “Due to the benevolence of the system any existing illnesses, genetic defects or injuries were removed. The system is a wonderful thing isn't it?” Aodh nodded, not willing to upset his only source of knowledge.
With a mental command, Aodh brought his Status back up. “Could you explain about the Status please?” he asked. “If you just focus on a single aspect of your Status, you will get an explanation.” Aodh took another look at his status. He disregarded his name and age, he already knew what they were and went to Race instead.
Race
Human - F
He stared at it, hoping something would happen. Nothing. He stared at it harder. Just before he went to look away and talk to the helper, two things happened.
Congratulations! You have gained your first Skill
Gained Skill {Inspect - Level 1}
Your Race is what species you are. There are thousands of different species populating all the different universes. The grading of a race is done by letters. The worst grade a race can be is F. The best grade a race can be is S.
Aodh stared at the screens cluttering his vision. There should be some way to move these around. As if reading his thoughts, the screens shrunk down, only filling a fraction of his vision compared to before. Aodh looked at the skill screen first.
Inspect - Level 1
As the name implies, it allows you to inspect creatures and objects. The amount of information given scales with the level of the skill. Inspect more and different things to level up.
That could be very helpful. If there are hostile creatures in this dungeon, which I assume there are, this will be valuable. “Is the inspect skill good,” Aodh asked, directed at the Helper. “Oh my, you have it already. That's surprising. Anyway, inspect is very helpful. It allows you to see other people and creatures levels up to a certain amount above you. And, when you get it to a high level, it gives you lots of information about materials and how they can be utilised. Aodh nodded. The next thing he had to look at was the information about race.
Thousands of species? Aodh was surprised at that, but, given the events of the last half an hour or so, maybe he shouldn't have been. Interesting that there are so many different grades. I wonder what benefits you get from advancing a grade? “Helper, what are the benefits of advancing your race?” “That is entirely dependent on what your race is. “So, for humans?” Aodh prompted. “I cannot reveal that information. There is certain information that you have to figure out on your own. Keep in mind you are already getting something the other tutorial goers are not.”
Aodh nodded, then continued to read the description. Interesting that it’s not mentioned how to upgrade your race. “What do you need to do to upgrade your race?” Aodh asked. “I cannot disclose that information.” Aodh nodded. He had already kind of expected that, and doubly so after the helper didn't tell him what the effects of upgrading his race would be.
Next was his class
Class
Mage - F
A class is something granted by the system to all sentient beings. Classes increase the growth of skills related to that class. Like races, there are thousands of different classes. They are also split up using the letter grades, with F as the worst, and S as the best.
Interesting that classes affect skill growth. Probably something to keep in mind. Same grades as races. What impact does the grade have I wonder? Aodh sighed. He was only left with more questions. “What happens when a class moves up a grade?” Aodh asked. “Lots of things, but at the most basic level, you gain more attribute points and free attribute points per level. However keep in mind some unique classes do not give any free attribute points.”
“Can you tell me how to increase the grade of my class?” “No. Although I can tell you that the growth of your race, and the growth of your class are related.” This made Aodh curious. “How are they related?” “I cannot answer that.” Aodh let out another sigh. This was frustrating. “Why are you called a helper if you're not going to help me?” There was no response. Then Aodh got an idea. Can I inspect my own class?
The mage class is one of the foundation classes offered to newly integrated sentient organisms. The mage manipulates mana and usually has skills linked to elements of some sort. In general, mages are mid to long range fighters. However, there are many instances of mages fighting in melee range. The F grade of this class offers +2 Intelligence per level, +1 energy per level, and +1 free attribute point per level.
It says here that the class is offered. I didn't have any choice. Strange. Wonder what mana is? I can fight at basically any distance. That's probably good. And then some stuff about attributes. I'll get to that eventually. Aodh was a bit cautious about asking the helper why he had no choice regarding his class. The helper already thought that he killed the wolf, and if getting a class was related to whatever you killed then it could make the helper suspicious. However, the helper didn't seem to think too highly of his ability to navigate the system, so perhaps it would be a natural question to ask. After a moment of thought, Aodh decided to risk it.
“I didn't get any choice about my class, yet in the class description it says that it is one of the foundation classes offered to newly integrated people. Why is that?” The helper just nodded. “This is a very common occurrence. Because of the surprise when the System integrated your universe, many people have classes chosen for them by the System. They just get too confused with all of the screens, or they deny that anything is happening at all, causing them to miss out on class selection.” Aodh let out a small sigh of relief after he heard that. It seemed a lot of people had the same problem as him.
Now, onto those attributes.