《System Break》 1: An odd morning ¡°John Williams was an average man. Well, average until you looked too closely. If anyone were to look in detail, they would notice he was *too* average. John spent much of his time growing up trying to figure out how to appear average to his peers. The truth is, John was always calculating. Whether it¡¯s in work, love, or just a normal conversation, it¡¯s all a calculation. The coming of the apocalypse only reinforced this.¡±
John Williams woke up on the grass. This was a questionable outcome, considering he had went to bed in, well, *a bed*. John could never sleep unless in a bed or moments from losing all his energy, which made this even more confusing. The blue screen floating above him is not exactly helping the situation. Now that he realized it, John decided to read the screen, hoping it may explain his situation a bit.
Integrating System¡­ Error: Neural network incompatible Error: Neural network non-standard for Race: Human Correcting¡­ Error: Neural Network Incompatible Forcibly correct? Error: No Input, forcible correction not initiated. Implementing Best Fit¡­ Best Fit Implemented, System Privileges elevated to equalize lost functionality.
Welcome to the System!
You and 814,539,762,019 other sapients from your universe have been transported to The Tutorial! As your universe was previously uninitiated in any system, The System has determined you and all other beings in your universe will take part in a tutorial before being returned to a habitable planet in your universe. As of right now, you and 99,999 other beings are in the tutorial scenario [Forest Of The Damned]. Good Luck, Earthling!
Well, that explained why he was laying in grass, as well as the splitting headache. John sat up, and this action was apparently enough for the system to realize he was now conscious.
Hello, [Human?]! Welcome to The System! You are an anomaly among your species, it seems! When the integration occurred, we here in The System had to give you some special privileges in order to get your interface working. Don¡¯t worry, this will only help you. We thought it¡¯d be good to assign an agent to your case, however, and they will be watching. Good luck! Hint: Think or say the word Status!
John was no fool. John knew what was going on here, as he¡¯d read a number of books that seemed to prophesize this, so he steeled himself and thought ¡®Status.¡¯ Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Nothing happened. He was therefore confused, until right when he stopped anticipating it, his status screen popped into view, startling him back into laying on the grass.
John Williams Race: [Human?] Traits Skills
Class None Adaptability
Level 1 Human Tenacity
Free Points 0 sys err(1);
Agility 11
Constitution 8
Dexterity 7
Intelligence 16
Strength 13
Willpower 20
¡®Okay, well that was rude¡¯. John grumbles in his head. ¡®I need to get these to ridiculous levels'' John is a simple man, with simple desires. You give him, presumably, the ability to increase his capabilities with the simple application of numbers, he''s going to try and get them as high as possible, as fast as possible. It''s what anyone would do, right? ''Focus up, John. [Human?]? What¡¯s with the question mark?¡¯ John focused on the race section, but what he got was not incredibly helpful.
Race: [Human?] This is your race! Humans are adept at adapting to nearly any situation, but this is at the cost of in-built specialization. An ox will always lose a speed battle to a cheetah, just as a human of equal stats would lose a strength contest to an orc when all else is equal.
''Well that¡¯s good and all, but does not explain the question mark. It does confirm the existence of orcs though. I¡¯ll try and get more on those later.'' John sits back up and, this time, gets to his feet. Looking around, there¡¯s really not much of note. As far as he can tell, he¡¯s just in a regular forest. ¡®Of course, your average forest doesn¡¯t come with ominous tidings about tutorials, but I digress,¡¯ he thinks at nobody in particular. John decides that standing in this random area is not going to get him any answers, so he starts walking in a direction he has now decided is north. 2. Close Encounters Of The Clawed Kind John was many things before the system, but normal wasn''t one of them. Sure, you could see him on the street and not bat an eye, even speaking to him or working with him you may not see past the exterior, but getting to know him is where his illusion falls apart. He wasn''t a bad guy, he was just¡­ different somehow. Like there was both more to him and less than the average person, a paradox of a man.
John walked for a couple minutes before getting anywhere, and where he got is not exactly what he was hoping for. ¡®What the actual fuck is that thing??¡¯ John is, of course, thinking this about the horror scene in front of him. Focusing on the being, he lets out a small yell as another damnable blue screen pops up.
Demon Gremlin Level: 2 (Elite)
John is, apparently, not a lucky man, as it turns out even that small yell was enough to alert the abomination to his presence. The gremlin turns its head from its meal, a huge deer or moose by the looks of it, and engages with the man intruding upon its clearing. Recovering from the fright of the blue screen, John gets to his feet just as the gremlin gets within striking distance and lets out a scratch. John, evidently not thinking too hard, blocks with his fleshy, fleshy arm as opposed to trying to dodge. John lets out a scream of pain as the slash hits his wrist. Out of sheer instinct he attempts a punch in turn, missing the gremlin entirely. The gremlin shows a sneer, not the pained look John had been hoping for. ''Shit'' John thinks as the gremlin dashes in for another attack. Remembering the pain of one slashed section of flesh, John elects to try to dodge. A quick sidestep to the left and John is out of the way with inches to spare. Inches, which are made up by a distortion in the air between his flesh and the gremlin''s long nails, leaving a gash in his shirt and abdomen. Realizing how badly this could go if he isn''t careful, John starts to think of ways he could go about not dying. At first he thinks maybe he could run away, but after being closely followed for a solid 30 feet with the gremlin jumping from branch to tree trunk to branch again, he rethinks his strategy. ''This thing is clearly feral or something, I have to end this quick'' John thinks, giving up on the idea of running away, and turns back to the gremlin now running at him head on. John, thinking quickly, though mostly on instinct, let''s out a punch as fast as he can in the direction of the gremlin''s horrible little face. The gremlin, midair with a ton of momentum, has little in the way of dodging ability, and takes a rock solid hit directly between the eyes. A horrible cracking sound is produced by the gremlin''s skull, ending the fight decisively.
Congratulations! You have defeated a Demon Gremlin (Level 2)! Experience has been awarded. Additional experience awarded for defeating an elite! As the first to defeat a monstrous being in your tutorial, you have earned a title(s)!
[Avid Monster Hunter (Tutorial Title)] You have defeated a monster quickly and decisively, showing great ability for hunting. Or you just enjoy bloodshed +10% experience from monstrous beings. +25% damage against monstrous beings if you identify a weakness or use the environment to your advantage. Y''know, like a hunter. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. [One Punch Man] You have defeated another being of greater level in single combat with 1 hit, a feat of strength not commonly seen. +50% damage to the first strike in a battle, +100% if that first strike is a punch. +10% experience if you kill your foe in a single opening punch.
Your title [Avid Monster Hunter (Tutorial Title)] has been upgraded! [Strategist Frontrunner (Integration Title)] During your integration, you were among the first 1000 beings to defeat an enemy in any legendary difficulty tutorial during integration, showcasing prodigious ability for battle strategy. Or you just really enjoy bloodshed, and have no self-preservation. +25% experience from monstrous beings. +100% damage against monstrous beings if you identify a weakness or use the environment to your advantage. Y''know, like a strategist.
John didn''t know how he felt about the system''s use of English colloquialism and Earth culture, but felt it was something that should likely not be at the front of his mind considering the situation. The situation of course being the deep and long cut on his wrist. John isn''t exactly a paramedic, but he does know that one should strive to keep their blood inside their body. He also knows that a cut longways down the wrist, like his, is definitively bad news for his ongoing health. He tries to rip some cloth off his shirt to use as a makeshift bandage but, not being an action hero, only succeeds in causing himself pain from the cloth digging into his skin. He then proceeded to take his pants off, leaving himself in just boxers, and wrapped the leg around his arm to try and keep the blood inside himself. It worked about as well as a bandage may have, but he gave up on the idea when he thought of the gremlin trying to scratch at his bits, especially once considering how easily it had scratched through his shirt. He needed all the armor he could get, even if it was torn to shreds on the first hit. Plus, he had dignity. He wasn''t going to run through the forest half naked unless he was forced to, damn it! Thinking fast, John put his now-bloodsoaked pants back on and sat down by a tree and tried to direct mana at the wound. Not knowing what mana is or does, he figured that if it''s anything like he''s read in books, visualizing it fixing the wound might help. He attempted to get a grasp of the mystical energy inside himself, and after a couple of tries felt a tug on his mind when he pulled at his mana. Focusing on the image of his wound knitting back together, he directed his mana towards his cut wrist. Immediately the wound began to itch like there''s no tomorrow, and the only reason John didn''t scratch it is because he didn''t want to go digging around in a wound with dirty fingers. Infection without medicine could only end badly, and the pants had dirtied the wound enough. After a minute or so of trying to heal the cut, John fell back, mentally exhausted. He felt an itch, but it''s not the itch from his arm, which he notes is now bleeding slightly less prodigiously than before. It''s more of a metaphorical itch in the back of his mind. Going to scratch it, he is immediately happy he was sitting down, as he would have fallen over from the jump that the blue screen gave him once again.
Congratulations! You have gained the skill: [Mana Manipulation]! Mana Manipulation LV.1 A beginner in the arcane arts and you''re already experimenting! Masters across the multiverse would weep with joy for such a curious apprentice. (Rarity upgraded from common to uncommon due to prior theoretical knowledge)
Mana Manipulation level up! Mana Manipulation level up! Mana Manipulation has become LV.3 through use.
''I have got to get used to that, I can''t be startled by every box I see or it''s going to end badly. More likely I''ll end badly in that case,'' John thought, dismissing the screen. The wound, now bleeding slightly less than before, is enough to give him pause. John feels that it''s possible to direct more mana at the wound, but also feels it would put him on his ass more than he already is. The lightheadedness of mana exhaustion combined with the lightheadedness of blood loss quickly puts John to sleep. His last thought before sleep overtook him is ''I hope I don''t wake up to one of those things gnawing on my insides like that deer or moose or whatever.'' 3. Upgrades, people, upgrades! When the system came, a lot of humans just died. Simply ceased to be, nobody could explain what had happened to them and nobody reported seeing them in their tutorial. Doctors, children, some of my friends from the Marines, you name it and someone from that demographic simply did not make it into the tutorial. Same with all the races we ended up with on Earth. Some of us believe that many of the people in the universe died before even making it to a tutorial, due to reasons we can''t yet put our finger on. The Breaker is the only human anyone knows of who got an error when the tutorial started and still lived.
Waking up in a forest isn''t something one commonly does, which makes John doing it twice in a day some sort of achievement in John''s mind. Luckily not being gnawed on, John awoke to a sunset. Or at least he assumed it was a sunset, and considering he didn''t feel particularly well rested, he was probably correct on that count. He also noted that the direction he was walking was not north as long as the sun was still setting in the west. Brushing himself off, he first noted that the previously bleeding arm had seemingly healed much faster than was possible. It was still clearly damaged, but sounds like that don''t just scab over in an afternoon as his did. ''Did the healing from the mana have some kind of residual effect or do wounds just¡­ do that now?'' he thought to himself. He pulled up his status screen to see if it has any clues
John Williams Race: [Human?] Traits Skills
Class None Adaptability
Level 1 Human Tenacity
Free Points 0 sys err(1);
Agility 11
Constitution 8
Dexterity 7
Intelligence 16
Strength 13
Willpower 20
''Well that isn''t very useful in this particular situation. Could I get some more in-depth information?''
Checking Privileges... Grade insufficient. Privileges previously heightened. Privileges sufficient for further information.
John Williams Race: [Human?] {G} Traits Titles
Class None Adaptability [Strategist Frontrunner]
Level 1 XP:50 /100 Human Tenacity [One Punch Man]
Mana 283/400 Mana Regen: 50 / Hour sys err(1);
Health 178/200 Health Regen: 200 / Day
Free Points 0 Bonuses: Totals: Status Effects:
Agility 11 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 11 Lesser Physical Enhancement (1H23M)
Constitution 8 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 8
Dexterity 7 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 7
Intelligence 16 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 16
Strength 13 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 13
Willpower 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 20 Skills...
''Well that''s definitely better. Thanks, incompatible neural network. You''re very welcome, incompatible neural network.'' John thought to himself. Cutting the self-aggrandizement short, he studied his stat sheet for something to explain why he would have healed so quickly, and soon found his answer.
Lesser Physical Enhancement (1H23M) Overuse of mana to heal yourself has caused your body to become slightly enhanced for a period of time. This will result in slight physical exhaustion at the end of the duration of enhancement.
That explained why he had healed so quickly as well as the missing pain in his abdomen that he just noticed. The slash on his side had healed almost fully in the time he had been asleep. ''I had better use this buff while I have the chance. At the very least use it to make some sort of progress in surviving'' John quickly settled on trying to find some people in this forest before the buff was up. He walked while yelling out for people in the vicinity, and he got a response relatively quickly. Walking towards the person who responded to his shouts, the sound seemed to only get farther away even though he swore he heard the person getting closer. Pushing on, he nearly bumped into the horrible being - the monster - he had apparently been walking towards.
Wakwak Level 12 (Elite)
A demonic bat looking man had rounded a tree directly in front of John, letting out a horrible screech, mirroring John''s own horrified scream. John immediately attempted to get away to little success, as the wakwak appeared just as bloodthirsty as the gremlin before it. Deciding he was getting nowhere, and seeing no other way out of it, John came up with a plan. It wasn''t the most complicated plan, but there was beauty in simplicity. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Running between trees to throw off the wakwak''s rhythm, John increased the distance between him and his enemy slowly. Once he decided he had enough of a lead, he entered the first clearing he saw and made his stand. Planting his feet and looking for a weak point on the wakwak as it approached, John sent a portion of mana into his fist and readied to punch the demon in the eye, a presumed weak point, using its momentum against it. Yes, it was the same strategy he used on the gremlin, there''s not a lot of strategies an unarmed man can do, but at least this time he had titles to enhance this particular strategy. The punch landed with a small shockwave, destroying the eye, the brain behind it, and a couple of bones in his hand. Not that it mattered, as the now brainless wakwak wasn''t going to be doing much fighting.
Congratulations! You have defeated a Wakwak (Level 12)! Experience has been awarded. Additional experience has been awarded for defeating an Elite! A very large portion of extra experience has been awarded for defeating an enemy more than 10 times your level! You have gained a title(s)!
Superior Giantslayer You have vanquished foes far beyond your level alone, showing incredible battle and tactical prowess. +1.1% damage to enemies above your level, multiplicative. (100 levels max)
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Congratulations! You are now level 6! You have 48 free stat points!
Congratulations! You have gained the skill: Charged Attack Charged Attack LV.1 By directing mana into your hands, feet, or other muscles, you can charge a physical attack with mana, increasing damage proportionally to the mana expended. +1% damage for every 5 mana invested.
''Man, I''m getting good at this. I didn''t even flinch at the blue screens this time! Kinda shitty conversion from charged Attack, but it''ll probably get better.'' John thought as he surveyed the scene. The now-dead wakwak was a hideous creature, some man bat hybrid from the bowels of hell, and yet here it was in the flesh. ''Wait, hell? Where did I see something like that recently¡­ the first notifications!'' With a thought, he brought up the notification from when he first woke up and focused in on the section about the tutorial.
You and 814,539,762,019 other sapients from your universe have been transported to The Tutorial! As your universe was previously uninitiated in any system, The System has determined you and all other beings in your universe will take part in a tutorial before being returned to a habitable planet in your universe. As of right now, you and 99,999 other beings are in the tutorial scenario [Forest Of The Damned]. Good Luck, Earthling!
[Forest Of The Damned], Legendary Difficulty Tutorial.
The Forest Of The Damned is a place where the lions run the circus. Behind any tree could be any number or variety of creatures native to hellish dimensions, from your run of the mill demon to your more esoteric Being Beyond Comprehension. As a legendary difficulty tutorial, the dangers are great, especially for a tutorial. But where there is risk, there is reward! [Forest Of The Damned] is widely believed to be among the most difficult tutorials, but also the most rewarding. Good luck, [Human?]!
''Well shit. Why did I have to be flung into a literal hell difficulty tutorial? I didn''t sign up for main character shit, system!'' John thought, directing his anger at the blue box ahead of him. Letting the anger pass, John brought up his status again, and, sure enough, there were 48 free points there, waiting for his assignment.
John Williams Race: [Human?] {G} Traits Titles
Class None Adaptability [Strategist Frontrunner]
Level 7 XP: 175 / 390 Human Tenacity [One Punch Man]
Mana 283/400 Mana Regen: 50 / Hour sys err(1); [Superior Giantslayer]
Health 158/200 Health Regen: 200 / Day ... 0 more.
Free Points 48 > 0 Bonuses: Totals: Status Effects:
Agility 11 > 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 11 > 20 Lesser Physical Enhancement (53M)
Constitution 8 > 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 8 > 20
Dexterity 7 > 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 7 > 20
Intelligence 16 > 23 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 16 > 23
Strength 13 > 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 13 > 20
Willpower 20 (+0) (+0%) (+0%) 20 Skills...
''Okay that spread seems good to me. Even foundation to build on, can''t really go wrong with that.''
Confirm?
Yes''
Are you sure?
''Yes, damn it!''
Implementing changes...
The moment John finished thinking his second confirmation, his mind and body felt flooded with power. So much power, than he fell to his knees in a combination of agony and pleasure. His muscles, bones, the very fibers of his being felt like it was getting an upgrade, like going from flesh to steel. The process simultaneously felt horrible and wonderful. Then, all at once, it stopped. On his knees, John inspected his gains. His flesh, which had felt like steel during the process, once again felt like flesh. An attempt to bite his cuticles, however, revealed a different story. It felt like trying to bite through a particularly hardy piece of well done meat, not wanting to be split. He expected this to be the case for all of his skin, though he couldn''t be sure without testing it, which he wasn''t exactly thrilled to attempt as that required taking hits. Assuming 10 is base human, he definitely feels like he could be twice that, especially in thinking speed. John felt like he could do almost anything in the confines of his mind. Returning to his previous mission of trying to find people, he continued his walk through the forest, yelling for anyone nearby. 4. Meet and greet He was impulsive. It was like he just did whatever came to mind, when it came to mind, yet it almost always worked out for him. I swear, if there''s a hidden luck stat, his is either one of the highest I''ve ever seen or he can calculate everything out in the moments leading up to one of his outrageous decisions. I don''t know if it was just coincidence, but I think I only saw him greatly injured once or twice, and even then it was from a fight that should have killed him in moments.
John''s walk turned out to be mostly uneventful, as the Forest Of The Damned goes. He encountered a couple of Demon Gremlins in his shouting, but they were dispatched easily enough since the highest one he saw was level 4. He didn''t even get anything particularly good out of it, just bloodied hands and a single level. The level, and the stat points he split between strength and willpower, are pretty good now he was thinking about it, but that''s besides the point. The point being, until a half an hour into his walk, not much happened, and he was starting to get quite hoarse. Half an hour into his walk he got his second non-violent response. The first quickly turned violent, and he wasn¡¯t sure whether to count it, but he counted it anyway. Focusing back to the matter at hand, John started quickly walking towards the response to his shouting. He noted that, this time, the sounds of movement and the sounds of the being¡¯s voice both approached unlike last time. He still wasn¡¯t expecting another person when they met, so he charged a pre-emptive punch, just in case. Rounding a tree, fist first, he ended up punching the ground to avoid punching the very attractive woman who immediately fell back at either the look of him or the small explosion of dirt from his ground pound. The woman, on second look, was both very attractive and very not human. She was much too tall, her ears too long, and her words much too¡­ non-earthly? Whether that was the best way to put it or not, that¡¯s how John put it in his head. ¡°Dead gods above, what the hell is wrong with this damned forest?!¡± The woman, despite speaking English, spoke in a way John had never heard before. Her accent was vaguely English, yet there was an incongruity to it, her lips weren¡¯t speaking the words correctly. Also, he didn¡¯t quite know any person from Earth who would use the phrase ¡°dead gods above¡±. There were no religions with dead gods that were still referenced, as far as he knew. Shaking off his thoughts, he realized he had been getting yelled at for the length of his thought process. ¡°-o the hell just comes running out from behind a tree like that? You¡¯re clearly looking for people yet the first other gaol you see you try to put on the ground? Answer me!¡± John looked at this woman with a blank look. ¡°You¡¯re slow. That¡¯s the only way to explain it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not slow, I was just making sure you¡¯re not one of the abominations around the place.¡± ¡°Oh, now he talks! What in the name of the gods are you doing swinging at people you¡¯ve just met? Is that what you consider a conversation starter?¡± The woman said, clearly agitated and on guard. ¡°Why are your ears rounded as well? I''ve never seen any gaol with rounded ears, and I''ve been around.¡± John took the rant as a chance to inspect the woman closer. Well, he assumed they were a woman, as they sure acted like you¡¯d imagine an angry woman would. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Arden Level 1
Ignoring her question about his ears, he decides to get right to the meat and potatoes of the matter. ¡®I could go for meat and potatoes. Not gremlin meat though¡¯ ¡°Is your name Arden?¡± ¡°No, I am Arden, who would name someone Arden? By the looks of it you¡¯re a duine, despite being a bit small, round-eared, and clearly deranged. Seriously, who throws a punch the first time they meet someone?!¡± ¡°Someone who has seen danger around every tree in this forest! Related, how are you still level 1? I haven¡¯t been able to go 15 minutes without encountering a gremlin or demonic bat-looking thing in this forest and you seem to have been able to just avoid it all afternoon?¡± ¡°Answer my question first!¡± The woman stated, defiantly. John sighed. ¡°Fine. I¡¯m not Arden or duine or whatever, I¡¯m a human. I''m assuming you''re a kind of elf or something, since you look very similar to the elves of our myths. I don¡¯t even know what a Duine is. And, on a normal day, I wouldn''t take a swing at someone I just met, but today is not a normal day. We¡¯re stuck in some kind of demonic forest filled with abominations, and if you noticed, I diverted my swing the moment I noticed that you weren¡¯t one of the aforementioned abominations.¡± ¡°What is a human?¡± ¡°Nope, your turn to give answers now.¡± ¡°Fine, what was the question?¡± He sighed again. The woman was not making this interrogation easy. ¡°Who are you, what is an ¡®Arden¡¯, where are you from, and how have you not encountered any of the abominations littering this forest?¡± The woman gave him a look, somewhere between scorn and the look you¡¯d give a child who just asked for a million dollars as a birthday present. ¡°My name is Maeve, Arden nobility from the port town Ballymore in the great country Codros. What do you mean ¡®what is an arden¡¯, that''s just what I am! That''s like asking a cow ¡®what is a cow¡¯. As for how I''ve avoided the abominations, that¡¯s easy, I just stayed up in the trees and hid. I only came down because I heard your screaming from the ground. Come to think of it, why are you staying on the ground? Sure, being up in the trees might make you feel like a maide, but it''s a small tradeoff for your life, no?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t climb these trees, the branches are much too high off the ground. Plus, how do you know there isn¡¯t something worse up there?¡± Maeve went pale. ¡°Well, um. I suppose from experience? Not many birds are gonna do much more than try to push you away from their nest, no matter what kind of bird. Though this forest does have quite a number of weird organisms, so it''s not that far of a stretch for birds to be weird too. Dead gods, have I been walking through a field of archers painted red?¡± ¡°From context, I¡¯d say it''s pretty likely that¡¯s accurate. Anyway, as for what a human is, a human is what I am. To steal your metaphor, a cow is a cow, I am a human, and from what I gather, you''re an Arden in that same vein. My name is John, by the way. Now that we¡¯ve got the introductions out of the way, I¡¯d like to discuss helping each other out here. I¡¯m sure you got the notification and know this is some kind of tutorial, so let¡¯s get our bearings and maybe work on surviving whatever it''s trying to teach us, sound good to you?¡± John was hoping that he could, at the least, she would agree to travel with him. 2 is better than one when it comes to scaring off solitary animals without a fight, after all. Maeve, who, in fact, had gotten the notification of this being a tutorial, decided to see what the man had to say. ¡°I''ll agree to talk with you here in this area. That doesn''t mean I''m going to come with you, however! I¡¯d rather go at it alone than go with you should you turn out to be some deranged freak bent on bloodshed.¡± ¡°Trust me, if you¡¯d seen what I¡¯ve seen in this forest, you would absolutely rather be traveling *with* the one bent on bloodshed than be alone against everything else.¡±