Chapter 1: The Tutorial
At some point in history, the first being on earth was Improved. Whether it was even human, historians debated endlessly. One of the first Champions, or one of the many villains in that turbulent time, or some random animal that simply set of the events that would change the world.
Nowadays, the idea of time before the Age of Improvement is only an interesting curiosity, one considered pointless by many. In fact, due to most True Improved items relating to time being unable to look back to before a few years after the apocalypse know as the Dawn of the Age, many philosophers believe that true existence began with the Dawn, and the first improvement.
But that is not this story. This story begins over a millennium after the Dawn, in a classroom with Jax, our beloved protagonist. Well, the story doesn’t really start there by a certain definition, but— I’ll shut up now, and let you get on with the story.
Jax was, like most fifteen year-olds, intensely nervous and excited about his first Improvement. It was arguably the most important day of his life, and it would be ridiculous to expect him to be calm about it! Throughout the year, the mandatory Improvement prep class had been about all the ins and outs of how things would change when they finally Improved themselves, but now the day had finally come!
He glanced over at Seth, knowing that he couldn’t possibly be as calm as he looked, the talented, good looking, popular— Jax stopped himself. His nervousness was making him unfair, and Seth had done nothing to deserve that jealousy. He refocused on the True Improver standing at the front of the class, who would be allowing them to take the first step on the never-ending journey of Improvement.
The man was wearing a green hat, a darker green shirt, and an even darker green pair of pants, as well as shoes that looked black, but might have actually been an extremely dark shade of green. He had dirty blond hair, with a lightly amused and friendly expression on his face. “Alright.” He clapped his hands together. “I don’t think any of you are unprepared, at least unwillingly so, but maybe you’ll take it better from a True Improver. Improvement is about making things better by defeating the embodiment of what is holding them back. It is done by entering the trial realm of what you are trying to improve and completing tasks, generally fighting, to destroy the manifestation of what is holding it back. Although, I do hope none of you will Improve anything other than yourselves before you get your license.
“Your first Improvement trial will be a simple task and some combat that may be loosely based off something holding you back. Do not despair, even if it brings back awful memories. The trial is always possible.” The man somehow projected a feeling of security and confidence.
“I am going to guide and partially improve you, allowing you to enter your first trial of self. If you fail, you will be under a year cooldown before you can be partially Improved again. Attempting to circumvent this has a 40% chance of death, with a less than 10% chance of being perfectly fine. If you fail, just wait till the next year. I must stress this, there is no real benefit to trying again before your cooldown. Less than one in a million people fail to beat their challenge by the age of 25, but one in 400 die from trying again too early. I’m not trying to scare you, and you will probably all be smart enough anyway, but this must be said.” He paused, then smiled. “Literally. It legally must be said.”
Jax couldn’t imagine trying to circumvent the cooldown. He had heard far to many horror stories about what happened when some poor soul, feeling frustrated and cheated, decided that the consequences were worth it. Death seemed like a kind fate in comparison. The trial wasn’t even always the same, so there wasn’t that much to be gained from just making more attempts.
Although, those people would probably struggle more with actually having the ability to Improve things. Technically, it was possible, and even realistic, to Improve a basic object right after passing your first trial. But unlike improving yourself, failing trials in object realms could actually harm you in the True realm. Legally, you couldn’t improve more than a few easy objects before passing a rigorous test from a government institution. Of course, lots of people gave in to the temptation and tried a “forbidden” object. This generally didn’t hurt them, but every now and again someone would get a trial with a trick, or Improve a far stronger item than they should, and they could be seriously hurt, even killed… or worse, Jax thought grimly.
“Now, who wants me to do them all at once?” The green Improver asked. “Raise your hands, and I’ll start you immediately.” Jax only hesitated for a moment before raising his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Seth doing the same, along with close to half the class. “Is that everybody? Ok, good luck, and stay calm.” And suddenly, Jax was somewhere else.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
John Green casually flew around an open plain, the wind whisking golden nuts from various hiding places on the ground below and delivering the to him. Even a True Improver would find Improving another human to be a challenge, but to a Master Special Improver like him? Child’s play. As for the reason why he was doing a task that he was so completely overqualified for was simple. Money. The Starins paid quite a lot to have their son, Seth Starin, to be improved by such a powerful figure. Although, he was quite amused as the boy chose to be done in a batch instead of alone. Which was similarly regarded, and similarly retarded, as having your partial improvement be completed by a master. But regardless of his point of view on superstition, he was being paid, so he would complete his task with all of his strength.
Born to a completely average family, John Green rebelled at being normal from a young age. While only in the mere 95th percentile in terms of Improvement skill, he unlocked his Special Improvement faster than anyone in Azhut had in decades, and completed it at the ripe old age of twenty-three. Quite the accomplishment, if he did say so himself.
In terms of pure power and fame, he was relatively unknown, as it was unanimously decided that it would be a tragedy for him to die fighting Rotlings or Void Terrors before reaching his full potential. Yes, Void Terrors were real, and he had could testify that, having fought one himself. Even that single, relatively weak Terror had been the closest battle of his life. He still shuddered to think about it.
But that did not mean he was a coward. He always fought to reach higher, prove that his early rise wasn’t a fluke. once he got strong enough, he would not hesitate to fight on the frontlines of humanity’s constant existential battle. For he was Unique, a prodigy at the level of the first Champions.
His outfit was another way to express his uniqueness to the world. If he was going to be stuck with the most boring name the Ravenner could think up, then he would make it his calling card, so to speak. He smiled as green winds shredded a giant treant squirrel. He was John Green, and he was damn proud of it.
Jax appeared in a dimly lit bar. It was loud, raucous, and generally a place that someone as young as him shouldn’t be. Looking around, he noticed that he couldn’t make out any words or the faces of the patrons, creating a funny feeling when he focused on the vague people off doing… something, at a table off to the side. Quite normal for people in trial realms that didn’t interact with the Improver. He watched as their indistinct actions and noises merged into a very bar-like atmosphere. Of course, it could actually be just what media portrays bars to be like… Could trials take from media? Or maybe his mind? Something to think about, he guessed.
Surveying the room, Jax noticed that there was a subtle shimmer in the air, blocking off most of the room. The only two things that were open from where he stood were a portion of the bar, with a much more distinct man-probably a bartender-waiting at it, and a door off to the side.
Jax walked up to the bar. The man, a grizzled, bearded giant, looked up. “Well ello there laddie. Wann’ drink?” He held up a large flagon of beer. Looking at it, Jax instantly knew that drinking the flagon was the condition to improve himself. The beer had an iridescent sheen, and radiated a sort of energy. The energy of Potential.
“Yes.” Jax rallied his nerves, speaking clearly. “I would like a drink, please.” The bartender raised his eyebrow. “Prim and proper littl’ kid, aren’t w’? Ya got an’ coin?” “Ah” Jax muttered. He thought he knew where this was going. “Any way I could earn it another way?” The bartender chuckled. “Well, I’ve gotta wee infestation down in the basement. Clean that up, and you're on the house.”
“Alright.” Jax nodded. “Is there anything I should no about the ‘infestation’?” The bartender shrugged. “I know there’s goblins and rats, but no one’s been down there In a while. You're actually going to take the offer?” Jax idly noticed that the bartenders words had cleared up a bit. Generally the first trial wasn’t complicated enough to take note of something like that, but you never know. “Yup.” He said, turning away. He pointed to the only door he could access. “It’s that door right?” The bartender nodded. “Well, be sure to save my beer!” He headed over to the door.
Before opening it, he focused hard on the idea of a weapon. Everyone could make a weapon appear in Improving realms. Sometimes the realm could affect the weapon, and as people improved themselves, they changed what weapon they would summon. For him, he got a sword that matched perfectly with the description of the starter sword that was drilled into him.
Looking at it closely, he scrutinized it for anything that would give away a trick of the trial. But it was perfectly normal. Psyching himself up, Jax opened the door.
The darkness yawned before him. Somehow, it was completely different from learning about how to fight all the common mob types from the safety of a classroom. As he stepped down the nearly-invisible steps he strained his eyes-and more importantly, his ears- to detect something, anything, that might be there. He would eventually get a sort of night vision from the trial, but it left the first bit for you to be surprised by.
Suddenly, he heard a scuffling to his left. He immediately whirled and pointed his sword at the sound, all thoughts of sword forms and positioning fleeing his mind. ‘Most trials will start with a single weak enemy in an area with no hazards. Fewer than one in sixty deviate from this pattern.’ He didn’t think that pitch darkness could be considered “no hazards”, and to his mind, the scuffling certainly sounded like more than one creature.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he stayed stock-still, readying and collecting himself. When his eyes did adjust he saw that the rats were quite small, about the size of his hand. After calming himself, he moved towards the rats, his sword held at the ready. When he had crossed half the distance, he heard a horrible screech and something fell on him.