Rayna sunk onto the log, frowning down at the spot where the Gecko’s body had been a second ago.
What was that all about? She didn’t remember Emma ever explaining how to collect Experience from monsters. Rayna had assumed it was automatic, but then again, maybe this was a normal mechanic in RPGs that Emma didn’t think was worth mentioning.
She glanced around the dark forest, not sure what she was supposed to do next.
“Umm… am I getting sent back to the tutorial or not?”
System Function Override: Notification Settings.
Please enable real time notifications to interact with your System Liaison.
“Oh! Right, sorry.” Rayna opened up her settings and turned notifications back on.
You have 52 new notifications.
Summarizing similar messages for easier reading…
You received the following notification 41 times: Paralysis resisted due to your special trait.
Rayna swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. The fight with the Forest Gecko had seemed too easy; it seemed Rayna had only lucked her way into victory. If she wasn’t immune to paralysis, that fight would have gone very differently.
It was a good thing she told Emma to stay behind.
Making a mental note not to challenge monsters without proper information, Rayna continued going through her notifications.
You have killed a Level 1 Forest Gecko!
+100 Exp
+100 Coins
You have leveled up! You are now a Level 2 Warrior.
+3 Str
+1 Dex
+3 End
+2 Vit
+1 Free Point
You have completed this trial attempt. When you are ready, the System will transport you back to the tutorial area. Please return within an hour. Failure to comply will result in a penalty title.
That should have been the end of the notifications, but there were still several left, and the further Rayna read, the stranger they got.
You are performing an action outside of the System’s understanding. Please explain.
You have absorbed a large amount of Essence through an unknown natural ability. The System is formulating a skill for you. Please stand by…
Skill formulation failed. System access denied. Please allow the System access and try again.
You have received Essence via an unknown natural skill.
+200 Essence
The System is attempting to form an Essence Share for the player Rayna. Please stand by…
Attempt failed. System access denied. Please allow the System access and try again.
Access to what?
Rayna had no idea what had freaked out the System, but she would bet good money that it was related to her touching the monster corpse. Was she not supposed to do that? But the System didn’t tell her not to…
Rayna returned to the main screen of her Menu and paused, noticing a line that wasn’t there before.
System Notifications (0)
Essence Notifications (1)
Why were there two lines for notifications now? Curious, Rayna clicked into the second one.
System Access Denied.
This is an automated message related to the recent attempt of the System to access your Essence pool. This function is prohibited as a safeguard for your progression. If you did not ask the System to do this, please contact the System Administrator. If you are searching for more information about Essence or wish to know how to continue your progression after the first plateau, please refer to the Information Archive or contact the System Librarian.
Rayna pursed her lips. The automated message didn’t really give her any information about what Essence was, besides the fact that the System wasn’t allowed to access it. But if that was the case, how was it a System mechanic in the first place?
It didn’t look like she was going to get any more information at the moment, so she pushed the matter to the back of her mind.
“Can I go back to the tutorial now?” Rayna asked, eager to change into clothes that weren’t ripped and bloodstained.
She would have worn her new armor, but to her dismay, it had turned out to be full plate armor and too heavy for her to actually wear. She would have to see about getting some sturdy leather armor when she got out of the tutorial.
There are too many monsters in your vicinity. For the safety of the other tutorial participants, please defeat nearby monsters or move at least ten yards away to avoid accidental teleportation.
Seriously? Rayna looked around at the empty forest. She could feel the low dangerous feeling that warned her of monsters nearby, but she didn’t see any.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
A map appeared, similar to the one she had used in the special trial. But instead of sparkly white treasures, it was practically dripping with ominous red dots. They surrounded Rayna’s little white dot, making her feel claustrophobic.
“Why did you send me out here if you couldn’t send me back?” Rayna demanded, noting that some of the dots were right on top of her. She glanced nervously at the canopy above.
The System Administrator wanted to apologize.
“Well, apology not accepted!” Rayna snapped. “This is ridiculous!”
The apology was not related to your current predicament. Rather, the System Administrator hoped to make up for an earlier blunder by giving you this opportunity, as well as assigning a temporary System Liaison to guide you through the tutorial.
“Blunder?”
The System Liaison set to manage the special trial struck a bargain with the Trial Organizer, Phira Alderon. While this deal was in no way unfair, the Administrator would likely have refused, as it greatly limited your short term growth in exchange for an artifact that was not appropriate to your level.
“And you’re calling this an opportunity?” Rayna asked incredulously. “Dropping me in the middle of a monster infested forest and telling me that you can’t send me back?”
Instead of forcing you to choose another monster, the System Administrator allowed you to teleport to your preferred monster instead. This opportunity was not given to other trial participants.
“Lucky me,” Rayna muttered.
You seem to be dissatisfied. Should I contact the System Administrator?
“No!” Rayna shook her head. “He’ll likely just screw it up more. So, I have to kill these monsters before I can go back?” She gestured to the map, circling an area that she hoped was large enough.
Or move to an area with at least ten yards of clear space in all directions.
“Yeah, not likely. I take it the one hour time limit is null and void, given the circumstances?”
Incorrect. Failing to return to the tutorial within the time limit will result in a penalty title. Please return to the tutorial within an hour of completing the trial.
Time remaining: 46m 23s
Rayna disabled notifications. She knew that the Liaison could override her block if it needed to, but this would cut down on the chatter and all it was doing was pissing her off.
She checked her map, focusing on the dot that overlapped hers in the hope of getting more information.
[Trena — Level 1]
If Rayna remembered right, a Trena was a large snake similar to a boa constrictor. As long as she didn’t get cornered, she should be fine, but she was a bit skeptical about the information, since the description of the Forest Geckos hadn’t mentioned paralysis at all.
Rayna looked up at the canopy, considering her options. Should she just walk and try to find a clearer area? She didn’t like the idea of fighting snakes in their natural habitat.
Maybe there’s a clearing.
Rayna zoomed out on the map, looking at a large swath of forest. There were so many red dots that Rayna couldn’t see any of the individual trees that were indicated on the map. She searched around for a bit before she found something.
It was a clearing that only had a single red dot. The clearing looked big enough to get her out of the forest, but the monster itself might pose a problem.
[Arachne — Level 12]
She didn’t remember seeing that monster in her bestiaries. She flipped through the quickly to make sure and found no information on the monster.
There was no way that Rayna could beat a Level 12 at her current strength, which meant she had two options: try to clear a section of the forest, killing potentially dozens of monsters to do so, or level up enough to fight the mini-boss in the middle of the clearing.
Rayna decided to kill two birds with one stone. She found an area with a lot of low level monsters and headed toward it. She could try to clear a section, but if she made it past Level 12, she would try killing the Arachne instead.
Rayna came to a small clearing—much smaller than the one that seemed to have been claimed by the Arachne—and ducked behind a tree to do some scouting. Despite the lack of trees, the canopy stretched over the clearing, keeping it as dark as the rest of the forest. Three glowing monsters hopped around the area.
[Pyria — Level 1]
[Pyria — Level 1]
[Pyria — Level 1]
The small red birds were about the size of a chicken, with orange highlights on their wingtips and crowns.
Rayna knew from the map that the Pyrias weren’t the only monsters in the area, but they were the only ones visible in the clearing, so she didn’t think anything would jump in to join the battle when she attacked.
She pulled out her bestiary and flipped to the entry on Pyrias.
Pyria
Average Lifespan: 50 years
Base Stats
Str: 50
Dex: 47
End: 20
Vit: 30
Int: 25
Wis: 25
Pyrias are flightless birds with red and orange plumage. Their most distinguishing feature is the bright orange crown feathers that they use to scare off weak predators. The feathers make excellent arrow fletching if collected after death. It is worth noting that while Pyrias are believed to have originated from the plains of Western Ember, they have adapted to live in many different habitats, and thus, may differ slightly from this entry.
Temperament: Variable. Pyrias living in forests and mountains tend to be more aggressive, while Pyrias living in open plains tend to be calmer. For this reason, they are often kept as pets and farm animals in certain regions.
Leveling Speed: Variable. It depends heavily on the temperament of the bird and the surrounding wildlife. The highest level Pyria that has been recorded was a Level 58, but the vast majority of them are less than Level 10.
Healing speed: Fast. Pyria’s adaptability is due, in part, to their ability to recover quickly from injuries. While they don’t have any known healing spells in the First Ascension, they can heal from near-fatal wounds in a matter of days. This is another reason that they are a popular choice as farm animals.
Most Valuable Stats: Strength and Dexterity. A Pyria’s main mode of attack is slashing with their claws or beak.
Weakest Stats: Intelligence and Wisdom. While these two stats are relatively high in the beginning, most Pyrias do not gain points in these stats as they level up, rendering their spells less and less effective as they grow.
Watch out for the sharp bits, seems simple enough, Rayna thought.
She pulled her awl pike out of her Inventory and set her sights on the closest bird. She needed to kill them quickly, before they had a chance to fight back. She didn’t dare trust her Dexterity to carry her through after the last battle had proven that strategy unreliable. She should have easily outpaced the Forest Gecko, but instead she had barely managed to keep up.
In short, the numbers weren’t accurate. Which defeated the purpose of having them in the first place.
Rayna bounced in place, psyching herself up. She rushed in, stabbing the first bird in the chest before it could even register that she was there. It flailed and squawked, trying to dislodge itself from the weapon, but it only managed to impale itself deeper on the long blade.
Rayna pulled the first bird off her weapon, earning a slash on her forearm from the monster’s claws, and threw it aside, aiming to chop the head off of the second bird.
She trusted her amulet to take care of her injuries, but she kept an eye on her HP just in case.
The bird dodged Rayna’s attack, running at her with an angry scream.
Rayna retreated, running around the clearing to put some distance between herself and the monster. Strangely enough, this battle seemed to be the opposite of the previous one, the Pyrias were even slower than their stats would suggest.
Rayna took advantage of this, running behind the second Pyria and stabbing it before the monster could turn around.
The third Pyria sunk its beak into Rayna’s leg as the second one died. She grit her teeth against the pain and rammed the butt of her pike into the bird’s head. There was a sickening crunch, and the bird folded in on itself.
The whole bloody affair lasted less than a minute.
The wound on Rayna’s leg closed and her HP jumped back up to full. She piled the birds together in the clearing and sat down, breathing hard.
Rayna tilted her head at the birds, feeling the same pull as she had from the Forest Gecko corpse. This time, she took a moment to examine the feeling, instead of giving in to it right away. It was similar to the magical energy that she felt buzzing in the traps back in the maze, or in the moss that glowed on the nearby trees, but it was wilder, like it had to be tamed into something usable.
Rayna reached out and absorbed the energy from each of them, noticing that the feeling was identical to each other, but not as strong as it had been with the Gecko.
As the birds melted into the ground, the light in the clearing changed from the ominous red to a pale blue. She turned around, trying to find the source of the light, but it seemed to move with her.
She grabbed her hair, holding it in front of her face. It glowed? She wasn’t sure if this was a race thing, or if it had to do with where she was, but she hadn’t noticed it due to all the other lighting in the forest.
Rayna smiled to herself. She had always wanted to try one of those glow-in-the-dark wigs. It looked like she got her wish.
She shook her head at the irony as she checked her notifications.
You have killed a Level 1 Pyria.
+75 Exp
+75 Coins
You have leveled up! You are now a Level 3 Warrior.
+3 Str
+1 Dex
+3 End
+2 Vit
+1 Free Point
You have killed a Level 1 Pyria.
+75 Exp
+75 Coins
You have killed a Level 1 Pyria.
+75 Exp
+75 Coins
You have leveled up! You are now a Level 4 Warrior.
+3 Str
+1 Dex
+3 End
+2 Vit
+1 Free Point
You have received Essence via an unknown natural skill.
+150 Essence
You have received Essence via an unknown natural skill.
+150 Essence
You have received Essence via an unknown natural skill.
+150 Essence
That fight got me two levels? The Arachne might not be as much of a long-shot as I thought. Rayna grinned. At this rate, I might even manage it before the deadline.