Chapter 6. Tutorial Firefight.

Crouching down, Silas winced as his knees popped, causing a sharp pain to shoot through them. He wasn’t made for jungle warfare anymore, especially this kind of bizarre jungle. There weren’t any real trees nearby, everything was more like a giant plant than a proper tree, granting him concealment, but not necessarily cover.

Just a few yards to his right, Silas saw figures moving through the foliage. They were short and would have been hard to see if it wasn’t for those ridiculous conical caps they wore. It was more of those gnome freaks, and he tried to get a count as they walked past, completely oblivious to Silas and Buster’s presence.

There were five of the feral gnomes, and they weren’t paying much attention to anything around them, and instead were focused on the stone portal platform that he had just left. Silas stalked the gnomes, keeping out of sight as they left the concealment of the jungle and started to walk up the steps to the platform.

Atop the platform, he could see the faint blue glow of another portal opening. If these gnomes used that portal, they might be waiting for him when he got back. Even worse, that goblin Gritvart was all alone and defenseless inside the marketplace. Five of these gnomes would make quite a meal out of the goblin merchant.

“Watch my back and cover your ears, Buster, I’m going to take them out,” Silas said softly. His old habits were returning, and where most people would try to whisper, Silas knew a soft voice was quieter and harder to pick up than a whispered one. Lining up his sights on the rearmost of the climbing gnomes, Silas took up slack on the rifle trigger.

Slight recoil pushed against his shoulder as the rifle fired. The gnome at the rear of their group collapsed screaming as the shot hit him in the middle of his back. The rest of the gnomes looked all around in a frenzy. A single shot was hard to pinpoint in a jungle, but when Silas fired a second time, the gnomes seemed to zero in on him.

His second shot wasn’t as on target as the first, and the 5.56mm round slammed into a gnome’s shoulder. Blood splattered and the gnome began to squeal in pain. His comrades ignored him and instead, charged down the steps toward Silas’ position.

Silas ignored their bloodthirsty cries and fired a round at the gnome in the lead. Once again, his aim was a bit off, but luck was on his side. Instead of a center mass hit, the round caught the lead gnome in the throat, dropping it and causing the creature’s body to thump its way down the last of the stairs. The two uninjured gnomes were charging full speed now, and had almost made it to the jungle.

Hating to waste ammo, but not liking his odds in hand-to-hand combat with two of these freaks, Silas thumbed the firing selector to full auto and tried to keep the muzzle on target as he hosed down the attackers. There were only eleven rounds left in the magazine, and the weapon consumed them greedily as it spit hot death at the charging gnomes.

So far, the gnomes had been pretty much like rabid animals to Silas, but as their bodies were torn apart by the rifle fire, he thought that he might have noticed the first inklings of fear etched on their dying faces. As the bolt locked back on an empty chamber, Silas slung his rifle and drew the pistol from his waistband.

With a loaded weapon in hand, Silas listened for anything approaching. It was strange, his hearing should have given him nothing but ringing after firing off so many rounds without ear protection. Instead, the ringing died down almost immediately after firing. Buster seemed fine as well.

Silas approached the two gnomes he had just gunned down. Both had taken multiple hits and were dead as dead could be. With a painful grunt, Silas began to scale the steps once more, checking on the other three victims.

While he walked up to the next victim, the gnome scrambled to his feet, hissing as he leaped at Silas. Snapping off a pair of shots with his pistol, Silas cursed as both rounds went wide, and the small gnome crashed into him. Unable to keep his balance, Silas fell onto the stone steps below him, rolling down them and feeling the sharp pain of a rib breaking and his right knee popping out of joint as he fell.

When he reached the ground below, the breath was knocked out of him, causing Silas’ chest to heave as he tried to breathe. The gnome had rolled down next to Silas and wasted no time crawling forward with his mouth open and ready for a bite. Silas had dropped the pistol when had been tackled, and with no other weapons at hand, he tried to punch the attacker.

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His blow missed by a mile, but just before the gnome chomped down on Silas’ throat, a leaping and growling Cocker Spaniel knocked the gnome over. Buster savagely tore into the gnome; the diminutive, and already injured, attacker was no match for the furious hound. Grasping onto the gnome’s throat, Buster shook his head violently. Silas heard the gnome make a sickening gurgle sound before going limp.

“Well done, boy. You taught that freak what it means to mess with us,” Silas grunted through the pain of his broken bones. Whining, Buster began to lick Silas’ face just as a System message appeared.

You have defeated a band of Tier 0, Rank 0 rabid gnome commoners. Experience has been awarded.

Congratulations! You have reached Tier 0, Rank 1. The first stage of your tutorial has been completed. Rewards have been earned.

Accelerated healing is now active. While inside the Pit of Bhalkur, your body will heal itself at an accelerated pace as long as you are not in combat. This healing can only repair damage incurred inside the Pit and cannot affect any ailments or injuries that existed before you entered.

It took all of Silas’ concentration to not scream out in pain, so he wasn’t going to even try to review his status right now. For all the trouble it had caused him, it seemed that the System wasn’t lying about its claims. After a few minutes of agony, the pain abated a bit. It was still excruciating, but things had improved enough for Silas to catch his breath and look around him.

The pain flared once more as his knee made disturbing popping sounds. This time, the sound was from it snapping back into place as the healing process continued. It was disturbing feeling his broken rib float around inside him, but it positioned itself back where it was supposed to be but was still broken from the feel of it. While he tried to recover, Buster sat nearby, watching the jungle and the bodies around them for any threats.

Finally able to sit up, Silas propped his back against the stone steps, carefully avoiding putting any pressure on his broken rib. His knee still throbbed with a dull ache, and he knew there was no way he could stand on it yet. The rib was also shifting around when he breathed deep, so accelerated or not, it was going to take more time for it to mend.

There was also something tore up inside him, from where the rib bone had moved around during his fall. It not only hurt, but made him feel weak and a bit sleepy, which told Silas he probably had some internal bleeding going on. Minutes passed and the pain slowly eased up but didn’t leave. His mind did perk up as the weariness from internal blood loss diminished.

“Hey Buster, can you fetch my pistol?” Silas asked. He had no hope of Buster obeying, the dog was horrible at fetch, and just like to run off with any ball that Silas threw at him. The hot, metal pistol was not something he would even want to touch, let alone understand that Silas needed it. To his shock, Buster walked over to the weapon, carefully bit down on the grips, and trotted back to Silas, dropping the pistol in his lap as he wagged his tail.

“Who’s the best boy? You are, that’s who,” Silas said, giving Buster a good scratch behind the ears. “Well Buster, I sure as hell don’t want to be here in this creepy alien jungle, but at least I got you with me. If only Lisa could us see us now, kicking alien gnome ass. Well, she’d probably chastise me for cursing first, then tell us to get back home and clean up before we went into the house,” Silas said.

The pain of his wife’s loss still hit hard, and he often looked around the house, expecting her to be there. Buster too had spent many days sniffing through the house as if looking for Lisa. He supposed it wouldn’t be too long before they were reunited, given that his life expectancy in this jungle probably wasn’t a very extensive one.

To keep his mind off his predicament, Silas checked on his status. He needed a distraction as he continued to heal up. Wallowing in the loss of his wife wouldn’t do him or Buster any good.

Silas Ward

Inductee, finish the tutorial to unlock your class options.

Tier 0, Rank 1.

Experience/experience needed for next rank: 2/10.

Health: 48%. You have been recently injured and are still recovering.

Skills and Abilities:

1. Linguistic adaptation interface.

2. Open, pending class assignment.

3. Open, pending class assignment.

Status effects:

1. Elderly. Once unlocked, all stats are reduced by 4. This penalty will increase by 1 for every 5 years you age from this point forward.

2. Disabled. Your lifetime of prior injuries and ailments limits your current health pool to a maximum of 57%.

“Way to rub it in, System,” Silas grumbled as he read the status effects and the penalties it quantified due to his age and battered body.

You have completed the first stage of your tutorial. A portal back to the marketplace will now open for you. The second, and final, phase of your tutorial will begin when you leave the marketplace and return to the Pit of Bhalkur.

The portal to your home world has been unlocked.

“You see that Buster, I think we’re going to be able to go home soon,” Silas said, pulling himself to his feet before stumbling up the stairs to the portal. If there was a chance to get home, and the System notice about the portal to his home world unlocking seemed to say so, he wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

It was probably the right call, as he could hear shrill cries of anger coming from deeper in the jungle as well as the roar of something huge. Not wanting to meet any more of their jungle neighbors, Silas stepped into the portal, Buster right by his side the whole time.