The group fell back as the lizardmen charged through the corridor. The entrance to the corridor proved to be a bottleneck as the beasts fought to be the first to follow them.
Leo sent Mana Bolts while arrows flew intermittently. They were saving their mana and arrows, only attacking when Ethan fell back to make some space.
Ethan himself was a flurry of thrusts and swings as he carved up the lizardmen that got too close. Throughout all this, the group retreated through the twisting corridors.
“This is hopeless,” Leo lamented. “There’s no end to them.”
He cast his final Mana Bolt and saw his mana bar hit empty. He cursed and clutched his staff in both hands.
“I’m out,” he shouted. “Fall back when you need relief, Ethan.”
This continued for hours as they slowly retreated and killed the lizardmen. Leandra had also run out of arrows, and the three took turns at the front.
Leo and Leandra took some hits since they didn’t have Ethan’s skills or practice, but they survived.
The hours passed, and the wounds mounted. Sweat poured, and the trio was exhausted when the final lizardman dropped to the ground.
Leo and Leandra slumped to the ground, heaving for breath. Ethan was barely standing but remained on his feet, keeping watch.
“Alright,” Leo said between breaths. “That was fucking insane. Rest up quickly, and we’ll begin heading back. Ethan, we’ll still have to rely on you for a while. Leandra, begin picking up workable arrows once we get far enough back.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ethan panted. “Get on with it.”
Leo closed his eyes and calmed his breathing while checking his notifications.
[Your party has slain many Lizardmen. Experience awarded.]
[Mana Bolt has reached level 8.]
[Mana Barrier has reached level 6.]
[Mana Control has reached level 7.]
[Mana Beam has reached level 4.]
[Level up!]*3
[Further levels held back due to milestones reached.]
[Quest Completed! Embrace the Light. Rewards granted.]
[Class choice available. Additional Classes available from quest reward.]
Illuminator: Illuminate the darkness.
Adept Mage: Grow stronger in your pursuit of magic.
Cleanser: Wield the purity of Light against the unclean.
Brightshard: Wield hardened shards of Light against the forces of Darkness.
Barrier Mage: Shield yourself and your allies.
Mana Weaver: Weave the forces of Magic.
There was a glitch in his vision as everything warped. A bright light appeared before him.
“Well done, Leo Raynor,” the deep and resonant voice emanated from the light. “You have done well. I have chosen you as my Candidate, and you have shown great potential. Keep it up, Young Light.”
“What’s going on?” Leo wondered, frowning. “Who are you?”
“I am Light,” the voice said. “Lumen, the Allbright, the Everlight, He Who Banishes The Darkness, The God of Light. You are a Candidate.”
“A Candidate for what?” Leo asked.
“To be my Champion, of course,” Lumen said. “You have questions, I understand. But that will have to wait. Finish the Tutorial, and I will oblige. For now, I grant you a boon. Choose the Brightshard class. It will benefit you greatly.”
With that, the light faded, and Leo was returned to the chamber in the pyramid. He blinked and sighed.
“Well,” Leo grimaced. “I don’t think I have another choice, really. If I want to survive and help my team, then following the advice of an actual God would be best. Brightshard it is.”
[Brightshard class selected. Class enhanced by God of Light.]
[Class assigned: Brighshard Elite.]
[Skills changed: Mana Bolt -> Brightshard
Mana Beam -> Brightlight Beam
Mana Barrier -> Brightshard Shield]
[Skills gained: Brightshard Armour, Brightshard Blade.]
[Quest rewards gained: Luminous Attire, Storage Ring.]
[Level up!]*6
Leo thought about his stat allocation for a while as he pondered the information from his new class.
“So, it’s a hybrid class,” he realised. “Magic and melee. I’ll need some more points in my physical stats, then. Oh, does it give me more stats per level? Nice! Eight points instead of five. That’ll help.”
He allocated his stats but kept them reasonably balanced until he got some experience with the class and the skills.
Name
Leo Raynor
Race
Human
Class
Brightshard Elite
Level
16
Stats
Strength
30
Dexterity
30
Constitution
30
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Intelligence
25
Wisdom
25
Charisma
13
Skills
Brightshard
8
Brightshard Shield
6
Mana Control
7
Brightlight Beam
4
Brightshard Armour
1
Brightshard Blade
1
Leo revelled in the rush for a few seconds before he opened his eyes and looked around. He saw Leandra sitting with her back against a wall, eyes closed, and Ethan stood some distance from them, gazing down the corridor.
“Anything happen?” Leo asked as he rose.
“Oh, you’re back!” Ethan smirked. “You’ve been gone for an hour, dude. What happened?”
“Huh?” Leo frowned. “An hour? Damn. Well, I got a class upgrade at level ten and a short conversation from the God of Light. I guess Leandra has something similar.”
“Nice,” Ethan said, shifting from foot to foot. “You think I’ll get that?”
“Probably,” Leo said. “Once you check your notifications and stuff. You haven’t?”
“No,” he shook his head. “One of us should remain alert, you know.”
“Yeah,” Leo smirked. “Anyway, my mana is actually filled up now, so I can stand guard. You go ahead and check.”
“Thanks, mate,” Ethan slapped Leo’s shoulder and sat down a few meters back into the corridor.
Leo cast Brightshard Armour and Blade and watched golden mana form into a longsword and full plate armour around his body. The equipment was almost see-through but felt strong.
“Probably works as long as I have mana,” Leo thought. “Does that mean I can recover mana now? Was it only a limitation in my class? That would be great. Hmm. Some of my skills have changed but remain similar to before, just improved or altered slightly. Mana Bolt now lets me control and send shards of hardened light while Beam became Brightlight Beam. The same function but a different colour and power. What about Shield?”
A shield of hardened light formed on his left hand, attached to his arm.
“Huh,” Leo thought. “So, no more freestanding barrier, but an actual shield. That’s gonna take some getting used to.”
Leandra rose a few minutes later as Leo moved around, getting a feel for the armour and such.
“What’re you doing?” she asked. “You got a new class as well?”
“Yeah,” Leo smiled as he spread his arms. “How’d it go with you?”
“Oh, you know,” she smiled crookedly. “Spoke with my Goddess and got rewarded. Same as you, I assume.”
“Yeah,” Leo nodded. “Any changes?”
“A few,” she sighed. “But, generally, an improvement. I don’t need arrows anymore as long as I have mana. A movement skill that lets me put some distance as well.”
“That’s good,” Leo smiled. “I’ve become more like a front-liner. If Ethan gets a class further aligned to ambushes and hiding, we should have a decent chance going forward.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Leandra sighed and shook her head. “Anyway, what now?”
“Now, we wait,” Leo said and looked at Ethan. “He watched over us while we got our upgrades. We should do the same for him. Then, we head back and check on the surface.”
“Alright,” Leandra said as she took a position behind Leo. They settled in to keep watch.
***
Ethan rose after another hour and rolled his shoulders. Leo turned back as he heard the scuffling of his feet.
“Oh, Ethan,” Leo smiled. “How’d it go?”
“Fucking great,” Ethan responded with a grin. “Watch this.”
Ethan’s skin was covered in blackness, and then he melted into the shadows of the corridor and reappeared in front of Leandra, who screamed in surprise.
“Fuck!” she exclaimed as she wound her fist back. “Don’t do that!”
“Gahaha,” Ethan laughed, clutching his stomach. “See? It’s awesome. My God is great!”
“Heh,” Leo smirked. “Glad you approve, I guess? Anyway, we should get back up to the top. Check things out.”
“Yeah,” Ethan agreed. “Let’s go.”
The trip back to the first chamber was uneventful but straining. They had to climb over lizardman corpses all the way back, but they made it eventually. The chamber and nearby corridor were packed with corpses, and they had to clear a path to reach the top but stopped once they neared the stairs.
“Hold on,” Ethan whispered as he raised a hand. “There are others up there. I hear movement and hissing.”
“Alright,” Leo frowned. “It’s time we tried out our new classes, then. We need to get back up there because there’s no way I’m living off of lizard meat.”
“Heh,” Ethan smirked. “Good point.”
“Right,” Leo said. “I’ll take point. Ethan, could you help me clear the last few bodies and then fall back a bit?”
Ethan nodded, and they got to work. It didn’t take long before the first lizardman tumbled down the stairs. It met Leo’s shield and blade thrust and died quickly. The second one got an arrow in the throat. It was a translucent, purple arrow with white shimmering spots within it.
Together, they fought their way to the top of the stairs and found around a dozen lizardmen hanging around.
The trio quickly dealt with them.
Ethan dashed among them, slashing and stabbing while Leandra fired arrows with impeccable accuracy. Leo took a few shots with Brightshard but hung back to defend Leandra.
Soon enough, only corpses were left before them, and Leo looked around.
The ground at the pyramid’s base was torn and trampled, and he could see several spots on the forest line where the lizardmen had torn parts of the tree bark and underbrush out during their charge.
“Where did they all come from?” he asked. “I mean, have they all been hiding in the jungle, ignoring us so far?”
“I have no idea,” Leandra nodded. “But it sounds weird if that’s the case.”
“I just hope they weren’t chased here by something worse,” Leo grumbled. “It’s been hectic enough as it is.”
“Yeah,” Ethan snickered. “I don’t think we’re that lucky. It’s probably some pissed-off dragon that’s going to swoop down on us any minute.”
All three scanned the skies but saw nothing.
“Heh,” Leo smirked. “Lucky us, I guess?”
“Although,” Ethan grinned. “One has to wonder how much experience a dragon would give.”
“Baha!” Leo guffawed. “Yeah, if we lived to receive it!”
They bantered among each other for a few minutes before they settled down.
“Anyway,” Leo grimaced. “There’s got to be something else going on. If the way these lizardmen acted was their normal behaviour, and they were nearby, there wouldn’t be anything living here. The fact that we’ve encountered other monsters means they likely came from elsewhere, or something drove them into a frenzy.”
“Yeah,” Ethan frowned. “That’s not good. What do we do?”
“Well,” Leo winced. “I don’t know. We could try to fortify the area somehow, or we could explore and try to figure out what’s going on. Or, we could ignore it and hope for the best while investigating the tunnels below us. The corridors go far, but it’s weird how they’re all empty.”
“Yes, it’s weird, but we can’t ignore the issues up here,” Leandra said. “If there’s something out there riling up the other creatures, then it’s going to come for us.”
“What makes you say that?” Ethan asked. “It could just ignore us. I mean, there’s only the three of us.”
“This is a Tutorial,” Leandra sighed. “It’s a scenario created by the System, meant to test and push us past our limits.”
“Oh, right,” Leo grimaced. “You’ve got a point.”
“To sum up,” Ethan rubbed his eyes. “We’ve got something that puts an army of lizardmen into a frenzy and sends them charging at us in a mindless rush for blood, and we have to deal with it?”
“Yeah,” Leo said as he walked to the edge and looked around. “Or, survive it, at least. I’d like to get a lay of the land, but it’s risky.”
“It’s fine,” Ethan waved him off. “I managed it before, and now I’m even better at sneaking.”
“You came running with an army on your heels,” Leo pointed out.
“They were already running here,” Ethan explained. “I only began running after they passed me.”
“Oh,” Leo rubbed his chin. “So, they were all running from one location to here?”
“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “I’m going to go check the area they came from. Don’t worry, I’ll retreat if it’s too risky. We’ve all seen how little we could have done if we were alone.”
“Good,” Leo nodded. “Alright, then, Leandra and I will stay here and try to clear the corridors. If we need to repeat this process, we will need to clear it.”