《Systemic Revolution》 1. July 8th, 2050 CarterHudsonwas not in a good mood as he wasclimbing the stairs to the local colleges library. Taking a break as he arrived to the top floor to catch his breath, he looked out over campust through the window in the stairwell. He was finally settling into a routine at his new job as the night safety guard on campus when his partner called in "sick" to shift. Only Carter knew all to well that his buddy Jasonwas anything but home in bed. Carter had met Jasonwhen he was a senior in this very college over a year ago, when he responded to a roomate ad that Carter had placed at the University Center(UC). With a little time to adapt to each others habits before the schoolyear began, they had hit it off. He had even vouched for Jasonto his supervisor, helping him land a position on campus to get him some pocket cash. "Stupid Jason... stupid college kids and their parties... stupid stairs..." Carter landed this job with campus securty to allow him pay for his new house that he shared with his wife of a year and a half. Catherine and him had been together since his senior year of high school. They had been through their ups and downs, but after making it through college Carter had finally managed to scrounge up enough cash to propose. Her parents had gifted them the house as a wedding gift, covering the down payment only leaving them with the mortgage. Catherine had majored in anthropology and had the quirky personatlity to go with such a degree. Looks wise Catherine did not fall behind any of those college sorority girls you see in the movies.With blue eyes,blonde hair, and hips that could hypnotize a man. Carter did not hold any doubts about who was settling and who was reaching in their relationship. Carter always joked that he had intentionally got with her before they left for college because once she saw all the guys in college, Carter wouldn''t stand a chance. Slightly out of breath he checked his watch andcouldn''t help but whine ''Eleven forty-eight...eleven fucking forty-eight... I have only been at work for a little less than two hours. Man, I have GOT to start exploiting that free gym membersip that came with this job.'' To say Carter was out of shape would not be entirely correct.However, Carter took pride in walking thefine line between "fit bod" and "dad bod". One of Carter''s favorite song lyrics was by Toby Keith, it went along the lines of being good once as he ever was. Luckily the most physically demanding part of this job was the stairs, hardly ever did the students get into anything that required his attention. When they did all it took was for Carter to get their attention and they usually ran off, ''Like they are worth the extra paper work.... lel.'' Carter chuckled at his own thoughts. In reality Carter didn''t mind helping out his friends at all, but that did not stop him from expressinghis discomfort in the moment. Carter''s job was about as simple as it got, he had to perform safety patrols through the library every hour to make sure that none of the students were getting into anything they shouldn''t be overnight. Doing this without a partner just meant that he had to cover all the floors himself instead of splitting them. The thing being that it was still summer break, meaning very few students were on campus. Those that were on campus did not put a emphasis on studying at this time year. Hence, Carterworking this shift alone while his coworker,who happened to be a "sick", was out partying with his friends. Looking out the window of the stairwell Carter noted that the visibility was rather poor due to some low lying fog. ''Hmm fog doesn''t usually roll in until the morning...'' Carter thought while opening the door to the top floor not giving the weather no more than an iota of thought. Cringing at the amount of noise the door makes when the building is silent. ''Is it really louder or is it just because how quiet the building is now, which makesthe door opening just seem louder...'' Carter was pondering this question when he started to notice the building begin to shake. It wasn''t anything major but definitely enough for him to take notice and respond. Being the consumate professional that he was instead of running to the nearest support pillar, doorway, or desk to get under cover; he made a beeline for the window to see if he could spot why the building was shaking. ''Well shit forgot about the fog.'' By the time Carter made it to the window the majority of the shaking had peetered out and it was down to a low rumble. ''Huh... guess I can put experienced an earthquake on my resume now. I wonder how Jasonis doing at his party and whether they felt it or not.'' Carter was just turning around to restart his rounds when he noticed something off about the fog. ''Is the fog glowing...?'' There was a massive flash that blinded Carter for what seemed like only a moment,when he opened his eyes the world had changed.
Welcome to the Conglomerate
Earth is currently being incorporated into the system known as The Conglomerate. Humans have been deemed unfit to continue sole ownership of the planet due to neglect of resources and their environment. The Conglomerate will implement protocols to influence planetary growth and species correction. Atmosphere on Earth has slowly been changed of the past year in order to help accomodate the changeover. Mana has been integrated into Earth''s biome in order to faciliate natural population growth without negative effects on the planets resources. Good luck Humanity, we are all rooting for your continued existence.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Carter barely had time to register his surprise when another screen popped up before him...
Carter WilliamHudson Level 1
Next LVL 0/100
Strength 8 Affiliation N/A
Agility 7
Endurance 5 Merit Balance 0 MB
Intelligence 5
Wisdom 8 Influence -
Yet again Carter was in a daze but something about seeing his name on the floating screen snapped him out of it. The screen stayed significantly longer this time giving him ample time to process its contents. If Carter was being honest with himself he knew exactly what he was seeing, he was simply not prepared to be seing it in front of him right now while he was at work and not in front of his gaming console. Taking a second to close his eyes and get his thoughts together Carter registered a slight *bing*. Reopening his eyes he groaned internally ''... oh christ not again...''
Tutorial
New citizens to The Conglomerate are encouraged to take part in our tutorial program free of charge to help ease the population of new planets into this new transition. Would you like to particapate? Yes/No 0:54
''Tutroial?... wait there is a TIMER!?!?!?!...'' Carter was frantically questioning his sanity at this point. Leaning on one of the tables in the room, Carter was able to feel the blood pumping in his body from anxiety and stress. Taking a deep breath attempting to calm himself and get his beating heart under control he considered his options. ''Option A, I have lost my mind and I am no longer sane. Option B, Catherineslipped some messed up shit into my dinner before Ileft for workwhich makes since if they were still freshman but they had both long since gotten out of their experimentation phase. Option C, this is really happening and the world is fuuuuuckkkkeDDDD...'' No matter what option was available Carter did not see a downside of choosing to take the turtorial, more information was never a bad thing, right? Refocusing on the image in front of him Carter noticed that there was only a few seconds left to choose. He went to press the yes button only to have his hand slide right through the image. "What... huh... no... noo....noooo... I can''t touch it?"
Are you sure you would like to decline the tutorial? Yes/No 0:56
"NO, I don''t want to decline, I want to accept dammit!" Carter almost screeched in a panicked voice. Apparently that is all The Conglomerate needed.
Tutorial accepted. Initializing...
That was the last thing Carter saw before the world blacked out. 2. Tutorial Coming around, Carter felt a throbbing pain in his neck. ''God, what a vivid dream, I am going to have to quit falling asleep at the desk thought it is killing my neck.'' Carter opened his eyes to a sight that will be ingrained in him till the day he dies.
Welcome to the Tutorial
Carter Hudson, while participating in the Tutorial time inside is sped up by ten times. For example: 10 min = 1 min real time 1 hour= 6 min real time
He seemed to have woken up in a grassland prairie that extended for as far as the eye could see. Twenty some odd feet away from him stood an oddly familiar figure. Carter was both curious and terrified at the same time, a stones throw away stood his grandfather. The thing that Carter was struggling with was that his grandfather had passed away during his second year of high school. Struggling to rationalize everything that had happened to him in the last couple of minutes, Carter stood up and walked towards the only other person for miles. "Pap?..." Carter started out hesitantly not really sure how to go about communicating with a dead person. Pap just smiled at the approaching figure. Once Carter had made it within a reasonable speaking distance the old man began. "Not quite son, you can address me as Alvin, instructor, or sir." Alvinstated with a hint of exhasperation. "I don''t quite understand what is going on here... I mean one moment I was walking around the library and the next I''m in this field... and you look just like my grandfather... how is that even a thing?" Carter just managed to get out those couple of lines out of all the random thoughts swirling through his head. "Your experience is not entirely unique, in fact that is the story for most people who are new to the system and who accept the tutorial. Again my name is Alvin, the reason my appearance resembles someone of your past is that we are currently inside your head." Alvin left off the explanation feeling pretty good about how he addressed his new students question. Carter just stared at Alvin standing across from him seemingly unconcerned. ''Makes sense, makes sense yeah totally... We are currently inside my head. All of this is totally rationale...'' Alvin could tell that Carter was approaching a mental spiral that would not help either one of them so he headed off his thoughts. "Time to get this tutorial started, whichwill both convince you that what is happening is real and that your world has changed drastically. We will begin with the basics, think to yourself ''Status''." Alvin commanded Carter hoping to get his thoughts and actions moving in the right direction. ''Ok Carter get it together, enough of this stumbling around. If you are going to do something do it right. It''s time to get your head in the game'' Carter was trying to psych himself back into his normal behavior, well as normal as he can get in this type of situation. Alvin nodded appreciatively noticing Carter''s change in demeanor. ''Maybe this one isn''t entirely hopeless after all.'' Despite his approval he still did not get his hopes up to high. ''Status'' Carter thought to himself. What popped up again reminded him of all the games that he had spent endless hours playing all through high school, college, and if he was being honest with himself, whenever Catherine would still let him get away with it at home.
Carter WilliamHudson Level 1
Next LVL 0/100
Strength 8 Affiliation N/A
Agility 7
Endurance 5 Merit Balance 0 MB
Intelligence 5
Wisdom 8 Influence -
"Any questions about what you see in front of you?" Alvin asked. "I have a couple of questions, yeah. How am I seeing this in front of me? What are Affiliation, Merit Balance, and Influence? Assuming that Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, and Wisdom follow the general path of video games that I have played before. Also what the hell is going on in general?!?!" Carter spouted out feeling a slew of emotions. "Lets start with the first question and work our way through them shall we?" Alvin said as he conjured a stone pillar underneath him to sit on. "The reason you can see the screens in front of you but can''t touch them is because they are in your head. The message is actually mana that is translated into an image through your brain to put it simply. Suffice it to say that the exact machinations of what is happening is well beyond the current you. Looking at your stats, you seem to be slightly above average for your race. Five is the average stat that your average human seems start with, anything lower than that seems to implysome sort of genetic or physical deficiency. Your strength, agility, and wisdom all seem to indicate that you are not completely average. Addressing your stats statement while we are on the topic, for the most part, yes and no. Strength addresses how hard you hit and body mass, in essence it makes you thicker and stronger. Agility addresses your flexibility and coordination. Endurance affects the amount of time your body can endure strenous excersize and how much punishment it can handle. Intelligence speaks to the amount of mana you are able to channel at one time as well as your memory recall. Wisdom handles your ability to comprehend information and mana, as well as your reaction speed." Alvin paused to take a breath and give Carter the opportunity to ask the questions he could see in his eyes.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Seems easy enough so far, I would like a little more clarification on intelligence and wisdom if that is alright?" Carter spoke up not hesitating to ask the questions on his mind. This tutorial could save his life and he was not about to stare a gift horse in the mouth. He planned on milking this Alvin character for everything that he was willing to give up about what was happening. "In regards to intelligence, can you expand more on the whole ''channeling mana'' comment? I would also like to know more about the ''comprehend information and mana'' comment in regards to wisdom, if that is alright." "Perfectly alright, looking back into your memories I am able to see that your world did not previously have mana. Mana is a form of energy that is compatible with almost every aspect of nature. It is usually found on worlds that have been nurtured and cared for until they reach the peak of their performance. Mana was injected into your world to help facilitate the repair of the damage done to your environment by your species mishandling of resources. With the introduction of mana comes the ability to control it, usually in the form of spells and runes. Spells are the first step of mana control and allow the caster to directly control the mana around them. Runes are the implementation of mana into a physical object for a specific purpose. In regards to the clarification you were asking for a higher intelligence will allow you to cast stronger spells through controlling more mana. Before you ask what spells are available let me tell you that it will be addressed later in the tutorial in a way. Your question about wisdom can be clarified by saying that a higher wisdom will allow you to digest what is happening around you in regards to your physical environment and mana more quickly." Alvin finished explaining with a huff. It seemed to be eons since he was required to go into such detail on what he had now come to understand as the very basics of his existence. However, he had to admit that he was intrigued by what he saw when looking back through Carter''s memories. The young human standing in front of him had given him a few things to think about. "Skipping the whole ''looking back into my memories'' comment," Carter decided that with everything going on his memories being searched were the least of his worries. "Moving on to the affiliation, merit balance, and influence...?" Carter left the question hanging in the air, he was on a roll and that last explanation had him spinning. His only goal at this point was to keep moving the conversation forward. "Affiliation is truly very simple, in the right circumstances anyone is able to set up and organization that others will then be able to join. The people in the organizations usually have similar interests or goals. Merit Balance is similarly simple, it is the currency of The Conglomerate. Performing tasks, quests, or other actions that influence your planet towards healing will award appropriate amounts of merit. Influence indicates the amount change a individual has implemented on their planet. The Conglomerate pays special attention to those inhabitants with high influence, handing out rewards and special tasks at times." Alvin was getting dangerously close to oversharing but it had been a while since he had to do one of these tutorials so he found it hard to care. This human was starting to pique his curiosity. "Ok so I''m following your on everything so far I am pretty sure. Few more things I would like clarification on and one is a pretty big one. Why does this seem so much like a video game, and since it is so similar to a video game are there other similar aspects that I should be aware of?" Carter felt like he was on to something, everything so far was eerily similar to games he had played in the past and he couldn''t shake this feeling it was relevant. "Bingo champ, The Conglomerate has been aware of your planet for decades and when it noticed Earth''s health begin to continously degrade it decided to begin preparations for it''s future intervention. The video games that your planet has been playing for the past few decades were introduced by The Conglomerate to ease the transition when they took over. As far as similar aspects there is quite a bit of overlap in fact. Inventory, loot, dungeons, monsters, levels, experience, spells, and most importantly the shop. The shop is where you will spend your merit, the items purchased there can be used to improve both yourself and others. It is also used to connect yourself and planet to the rest of The Conglomerate." Alvin explained. "Wait... Inventory, like endless pocket of space that can store anything?" Carter was starting to get super excited. "No, nothing like that. Yes you have the ability to obtain items that contain a set inventory that will be able to hold gear, materials, and other miscellaneous thingsfor you but what the inventory can hold is limited to how advanced the enchanted item is." Alvin stated, truthfully. There were a few work arounds but Carter was no where near being able to put them into play. "A little less awesome than before but still pretty far up there on the ''plus'' column." Carter''s head was spinning from all the new information and possibilities. If he was being honest with himself his inner nerd was having a total geek out, as he paced back and forth in front of Alvin. Giving himself a moment to settle down, Carter''s throught process led him to a dangerous realization. Coming to a stop he tried to find a way to ask this question without being defensive, the last thing he wanted was to piss off the guy giving him all the information. "So what does all this mean for Earth?" He asked staring directly at Alvin. "From looking at your memories and what I have been able to experience so far, your species is in for a rude awakening. These next couple of years are going to be a trial by fire to see if humanityhas what it takes to stand among the other species in The Conglomerate. It is not all bad news though, onceyourplanet is able to stabilize its mana and produce a steady supply on its own, you will be able to have representation in The Conglomerate." Alvin stated with a little more interest. He liked what he was seeing in regards to Carter''s thought process and demeanor. "Representation? You mean like politcs and ambassadors?" Carter asked. He did not like what he was hearing at all. To begin with The Conglomerate sounded like a massive government in and of itself, and it seemed like Earth had just been annexed into its territories. He did not like the idea of some alien government staking a claim to his planet at all. If there was one type of person, or in this case alien, that Carter could not stand it was politicians. "Yes, for the most part those positions resemble what you humans call politicians. There are two ways that planets are absorbed into The Conglomerate. The first, and preferable, way is that the planet develops to the point that it awakens the ability to produce mana on its own. This is usually done by the sapient inhabitants forming a mutually beneficialrelationship with it. The Conglomerate then reaches out to the planet, which is then given the representative position immediately. The second way," Alvin paused giving Carter a meaningful stare, "involves forced intervention on The Conglomerate''s part when a native population''s develpement is leading to the destruction of its planet. The aforementioned planet''s core is then injected with mana to kick start its ability to produce mana. This leads to the planet wanting to purge itself of impurities in order to begin developement of it own mana source. This brings us to where we are now, when you return to your planet you will see these impurities in the form of monsters, dungeons, and even in your own kind." Alvin had to pause here due to feeling the distinct pressure of eyes on the back of his head. Despite knowing that he was being watched he continued on with the discussion, "The planet did not get the way it did on its own, it was corrupted by its inhabitants. As humanity has developed it has gotten used to the idea of taking without givingback andliving without responsibi..." Alvin felt his windpipe close up and was wracked with a fit of coughing. ''Yeah, yeah assholes I get it. No leading the new guy.'' Alvin thought to himself. Just as suddenely as it appeared the pressure on his throat vanished. Carter watched this happen from a few feet away. From his vantage point, Alvin was mid sentence when all of a sudden it looked like he got something stuck in his throat. Before he could move up to check and see if the old man was okay, Alvin had righted his position and looked to be doing okay. In the back of Carter''s mind he could hear alarms going off that something fishy was going on. 3. Tutorial Continued "Let''s move past the Q&A shall we?" Alvin said while standing abruptly from his stone seat. "I want to be able to provide you with the basic information that will help you survive once you return. We could sit here all day and talk about things that you can not even begin to fathom. Now begins the practical session of the tutorial. Let''s begin with the shop. While I am setting up for the practical portion, I want you to think "shop" and begin browsing at your leisure until I am ready." Alvin said walking several feet away from Carter. Carter felt like Alvin was changing the subject for some reason, but he did not hesitatedue to the fact that he was itching to get into the shop and see what it had to offer. Thinking to himself "shop", as Alvin had instructed, Carter was once again presented with a screen in front of him. What he saw was beyond anything he could have imagined.The shop screen had several tabs as well anda search bar. It also sported a list that left Carter''s jaw hanging wide open. There were planets, spaceships, people, and pretty much anything you could think of was available for purchase in the shop. Going through the entire list would take a ridiculously unreasonable amount of time. Carter was barely able to tear himself away from the desire to just continually keep scrolling down the list; however, theone thing that helpedhim do so was the astronomical price on the listed items. For example, he had the ability to purchase an already built fortress that could house the population of a mid-sized town. The price for such a convenient structure, you might ask? 10 million merits. Shaking his head as he returned his attention to the tabs, he was able to see that they were used to narrow down the list to items that he was interested in. While looking at his merit balance and thinking of all the previous items with egregious prices, Carter figured "what the hell" andsearched foritems costing zero merits. To his surprise, there was an abundance of items available, although the best of them couldn''t measure up to anything of the items worth higher merits.Carter was glad to see that there seemed to be some sort of barter system available through the shop to negotiate. The buyercould be connected with the seller through an anonymous chat where a discussion was held about what would be exchanged for the item. This seemed fair, Carter thought. Before Carter could get any further through the store, Alvin called him over to where he had been working. Carter was surprised to see an area of grass the size of a tennis court cleared out with a couple of dummies at the other end. Alvin was dusting his hands off when Carter approached him. "Alright young''un, I see you have figured out how to work the shop interface. In the shop you will be able to purchase spells, structures,equipment, and even hire mercenaries if the cause suits it. To go over the amount of spells and items available would take way to long, so just browse it at your leasure when you return. Time to see what you are made of, see those three dummies over there?" Alvin pointed across the clearing. "I want you to walk up to one of them and hit it like you mean it." Carter approached the dummy on the far right of the three. As far as dummies go, it was pretty straightforward. It had a skin of some type of leather, seemed to be filled with straw, and was held upright by a wooden pole in the ground. He walked up to it andassumed abalanced stance. Carter was by no means an experienced fighter but he could hold his own in a scrap. His main go-to in a fight was mostly grappling, which came from his experience wrestling on the varsity level for three years in high school. Hewas evenan assistant coach for his middle school during the wrestling season for the past couple of years. Boxing wasn''t his thing, but he felt he knew the basics for throwing a punch. Flexing his body in preparation for his swing, Carter eyed the dummy to figure out the best place to hit it. He quickly decided to just hit it in the chest since it was the easiest point to strike with the most amount of force. Carter would be able to focus more on his power and less on control than if he aimed for the head or anotherbody part. The whole process took less than two seconds, from Carter winding up to delivering the punch. Personally, he felt that it was one of his better strikes. Looking up at where his fist hit the leather,he was able to see a noticable imprint. Feeling confident, Carter turned to see Alvin with his hand over his mouth, barely holding in his laughter. Once Alvin was able to get himself under control he began to speak. "Sorry, it has been a while since I worked with a newly integrated population. Honestly, that wasn''t terrible for a beginner. It truly wasn''t! You can not be expected to be an expert right off the bat. That''s why you are here, and I truly applaud your willingness to attend the tutorial. Now do you have a grasp on what you just did in your head?" Alvin asked with all seriousness. Still miffed, Carter indicated that he remembered. "Good. One of the benefits of attending the tutorial is that you get a couple of freebies. The higher-ups feel that it wouldn''t do to have an entire population go extinct due to lack of knowledge and ability. Hence, here we are." Alvin waved his hand towards Carter, and less than a second later Carter felt a sensation similar to a breeze. Peculiarly, though, he noticed that the grass was not moving. Moments later, the feeling faded and a screen popped up in front of Carter.
Skill Learned
Unarmed Combat 1
You have entered the realm of fighting with your body. Through practice and experience you will be able to advance.
Alvin pointed to the second dummy, "Now go hit that one and see if there is a difference." Carter was in a daze. He was currently experiencing a sensation that he had never felt before. He analyzed the punch he had thrown on the first dummy and deduced where he had been inefficient. Turning back to face the dummies, he lined up to the second one. Getting into a much different stance than before, Carter felt this would give him more balance and powerfor the follow through on his punch. Taking a quicker swing,Carter instantly knew thatitwas solid because itwould''veallowed him to follow up with multiple punches of the same caliber. His punch on the first dummy had left him feeling off-balance and wide open to a potential counterattack. He determined that it was all about where he aimed his punches and how his body flowed with them. This was beyond freaky but also kind of awesome, Carter mused to himself in front of the dummies. He felt like he could contend with a decent boxer now. He was by no means a heavyweight champion, butfelt like he could give some of the amateurs a solid fight. Alvin noted Carter''s internal reflection with approval and allowed him the time to assess what was going on. Alvin knew that it was always prudent to be aware of your own capabilities, and allow yourself time to enter or leave situations you were or were not comfortable with. After a few minutes passed and a few more punches, Carter turned back to Alvin with one question on his mind. He looked Alvin in the eye and asked, "What is the third dummy for?" Alvin smiled and responded, "Come stand by me and find out." As Carter was approaching Alvin''s position, he waved his hand and felt the same, familiar sensation as before.
Skill Learned
Mana Manipulation 1
You have opened your senses to the powers around you, giving you the ability to harness said power. Through further study and implementation, you will be able to advance.
Carter stumbled to a stop. It was as if the entire world had changed. Carter sensed that there was something in the surrounding environment that he could grasp, as though he was standing in a fog.He could tell that it was around him but was barely able to register the feeling.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "This is one of your final tasks in this tutorial: to be able to control mana. The skill I have just taught you gives you the basics. From the look on your face, I can assume that you are now aware of the mana surrounding you. I want you to extend your hand in front of you, palm up, and focus on gathering mana above it." Alvin stated as he watched Carter closely. Carter felt like he vaguely understood Alvin''s request. When he stuck his hand out, he started to focus on gathering mana on top of it. The strangest feeling bubbled up. It was oddly similar to the breeze he had felt when Alvin gave him his abilities. The cooling sensation traveled through his body and down his arm, then slowly coalesced into a blue orb the size of a baseball in his palm. "Well done. Slightly quicker than average but that is your Wisdom stat kicking in. Higher Intelligence will depicta larger sphere. Now I want you to hit the last dummy with the orb. Simply will it to fly towards the dummy. That should be enough." Alvin said as he took a couple unreasurring steps back from Carter, as if expecting a detrimental outcome. Now slightly nervous, Carter turned towards the last dummy in line. He directedhis hand towards it with the orb floating in his palm. Going with his gut, Carter absorbed more of the surrounding mana and sent it out of his hand in the form of a stream that propelled the ball forward. The ball rocketed forward like someone had struck it with a bat. It clipped the shoulder of the dummy, causing the figure to collapse. Before Carter could run up to the dummy to inspect the damage, he was confronted with another prompt.
Ablility Learned
Mana Bolt 1
The basic ability to harness and condense mana in the form ofoffensive bolt.
Quickly dismissing the prompt due to its obviousness, Carter ran up to inspect the dummy. Its shoulder had a sizable dent. The impression left in the shoulder was more noticeable than Carter''s first punch, but not quite as deep as hissecond punch. If he was being honest with himself, he didn''t like the feeling of being at a distance and hitting someing. Carter prefered the feeling of contact when he was able to hit something. Looking at all the dummies together and going with his gut again, Carter moved to stand in front of the middle dummy. Alvin was about to interrupt Carter''s train of thought when he stopped himself abruptly. "What have we here?", he thought to himself. Carter assumed his fighting stance, but this time he focused on gathering mana from his surroundings throughmanipulation. Slowly but surely, he felt the mana fill his body. When he felt like he had absorbed as much as his body could take, he locked it in place, flexed, and shot it out of his fist. The result was more than he expected. The dummy''s pole actually rocked backwards, leaving it leaning at a sixty degree angle.
Ability Learned
Mana Reinforcement 1
The ability to collect mana inside your body for a temporary boost in stats. The boost in stats it directly linked to the amount of mana absorbed.
Mana Manipulaiton +1 Carter had to take a second to bend over and catch his breath. "Looks like channeling mana has some kind of effect on your body somehow...", he thought to himself. Straightening up, he turned to see Alvin approaching with a big shit-eating grin plastered on his face. "Well done m''boy, well done. Where did you get the idea for that move?" Alvin prompted as he slapped Carter heartily on the back. It wasn''t anything new for Alvin, in fact the ability was a pretty cheap to purchasein the store. However, the ability to produce it several minutes after learning how to manipulate mana was bordering on gifted. Flinching a little bit from the smack, Carter responded, "It was just an hunch I had, honestly. After I shot the mana bolt, I realized that it didn''t feel right to me and I didn''t like the fact that it was so easy to miss with. I figured I would try the same concept but with a punch. When I was absorbing the mana, I couldn''t get control of it so I just ended up sending it to my whole body instead of just my fist. Worked out pretty well I guess." Carter was rubbing the back of his head and looking at the dummy whileexplaining his thought process. He had never beenbig on details. He tended to gowith what felt right and let everything else sort itself out. This entire exercise had left Carter with so much information to ponder. Most importantly, he felt, it solidified the fact that this whole scenario was real. Immediately, Carter''s gamer instincts kicked in and he began planning what he was going to do and how he was going to build his stats. His thought process brought up a couple more questions that he wanted to ask Alvin before he was ready to leave the tutorial and get to his wife. Carter had to admit that being on a different time scale had allowed him to thoroughly take advantage of the tutorial without worrying too much about what was happening with his family. Quickly steeling himself for what lay ahead, Carter gathered his thoughts for one last conversationbefore he was ready to return to the real world. "By the look in your eyes, it seems that you are ready to head back. Are you sure you are ready to leave? Isn''t there anything else you would like to know?" Alvin asked. Carterwas ready to accept the change that the Conglomerate had planned and looked determined to survive it. "Yeah I have some people I need to make sure are ok out there.There area couple of things that Iwould like to clarify, then I will be ready to leave. In regards to monsters, is there any way to see health or damage?" Carter asked. This thought had come to him when he hit the dummies. The entire demonstration was so similar to games he had played, that he half-expected to see numbers appear over the dummies heads to represent their own stats. "No, nothing like that. There are life forms that have modified their bodies to be able to be tougher or with upgrades to increase information gained from observation. The general rules for staying alive still apply: don''t loose too much blood, your head, or your heart. Lethal wounds are lethal wounds, but there are spells and other abilities that can help with recovery." Alvin stated. There were always those rare exceptions to the rules but Carter was far from experiencing those at this stage. "Alright, so pretty much the same. Thanks for the information. How would one go about increasing their stats?" Carter asked, ticking one of his last questions off the list. "There are several ways. The easiest way for you would be to level up bykilling monsters. There is also training and items that can increses your stats to a certain extent." Alvin said in a monotone voice. Alvin thought that the answers he was providing were so boring. If only the Conglomerate allowed him to tell the new recruits everything... "What are the difference between skills and abilities? How does one get more of them?" Carter asked. "For a general rule, skills are passive boosts that will increase in level through study and experiences. Abilities canbe activated and will level-up through use and adaptation." Alvin stated giving Carter another meaningful stare. "Further, skills are learned through repetitive actions while abilities are usually taught. Both can also be bought from the store with enough merits. Occasionally, you will stumble upon a new ability or skill through the combination of skills, abilites, or both. It just takes a bit of experimentation. Fair warning though, it can be extremely volatile in some cases." Alvin had already decided to keep an eye on Carter after they parted ways. He had impressed him with his ability to adapt to the situation at hand. "Well, alright then. Nothing to it but to do it I guess... any last minute advice you can give a fella?" Carter asked looking Alvin in the eyes. He could feel his adrenaline starting to rise again. "Be smart and agressive, always continue to grow, look for ways to gain merit, and survive." Alvin could feel the pressure of beings watching him. He looked at Carter and could see his determination. Alvinthought, ''Fuck it. What are they going to do, demote me to tutorial duty again?'' Looking Carter directly in the eyes, Alvin said one word before the tutorial was forcefully closed with a flash.
On a starship floating just outside the Milkyway Galaxy, there was a flash as a figure appearedstanding on the deck of his starship. Moments later, another flash occurred and another figurewalked up to first''sside. "What were you thinking? You know the reprecussions for influencing new inhabitants in the tutorial." the second figure asked the otherbeside him, as they overlooked the newly introduced solar system from the starship''s deck. "I was bored and figured I might spice things up a little. You of all people know that I care little for rules, Kreuzung." the figure responded with little to no emotion. "We will see if your influence bears any fruit. If it does, you should be ready to accept the consequences. What the hell was with that name as well, Prometheus? Alvin? You couldn''t come up with anything more?" Kreuzung patronized Orttonath, and with a flash he was gone. "Let the games begin." Orttonathchuckled to himselfas he thought back on last couple of hours he had just spent with Carter. 4. The Return What the hell was up with that abrupt transition. One second he is talking to Alvin and the next he is back to standing on the top floor of the library. Luckily, Carter was leaning on a table when he was initially transported, so when he was brought back he had something to help him balance. Wait, was I transported? Alvin said that all of that was in my head, so did my body actually go there or was it more like a dream? What was it that Alvin said right before I was sent back oh so unceremoniously? Carter''s head was abuzz with whats, hows, and whys. Pulling out a chair from the table he was leaning on, Carter plopped his ass in it and tried to get his head on straight. ''Dungeons..?'' Carter could not help but puzzle over Alvin''s final comment. It felt like Alvin was about to tell him something really important but then BANG he is back here. Pushing it to the back of his mind, Carter had more important things to do. The world was currently going through an apocalyptic event and his wife was a few miles away alone in the house. Getting himself together he glanced down at his watch. His digital watch that Catherine had gotten him for his birthday was completely shot, pulling out his phone he found it to be completely dead. ''Fuck give a guy a break man, whats going on with everything...'' The best thing he could come up with was when The Conglomerate activated it''s system it fried his devices. Glancing out the windows he could not tell much difference outside so he figured that not too much time had passed outside and he still had time to get to his house before shit hit the fan. Getting to his feet he made his way back to the stairwell. Putting his hand out to trun the handle to the door... bang... he walked straigt into the door. It wouldn''t budge and inch no matter how hard he pushed or pulled.
Notice!!!
Dungeon floor must be cleared before you can move to the next floor.
Number of Mobs Remaining: 1
The amount of thoughts going through Carter''s head was crippling. ''What does it mean dungeon... no... this is the library...'' Carter was suddenly very aware of how alone he was and how much noise he had just made trying to get through the door. Feeling his adrenaline kicking in, Carter''s whole body felt like it had been dropped into a tub of ice water as he crouched down and rushed to the nearest table. ''Think man, think, what do you know about dungeons...'' It seemed to Carter that he sat behind the table for hours thinking up all of the information that he knew about the dungeons he had played in. Unfortunately for him, he had play so many games with such a variety of themes and designs that he could not be sure that what he was thinking of was applicable to this situation. ''Ok lets go over what we know, library has seven floors including the main floor. The dungeon has mobs of some kind in it, seeing as this floor has at least one on it. The one mob is more than likely the boss or stronger than the rest of the mobs due to being on the top floor and alone.'' Everything Carter had been able to put together led him to one possible answer. ''I''m so fucked!'' He thought to himself as he got to his feet. During all the information crunching that he just did there was only a single thought that he had was beneficial. Despite being unarmed security, one of the veteran guards he had trained with had given him a piece of advice that he had hung onto to this very day. ''While yes we are technically unarmed security, never leave yourself open to be taken advantage of. People know that we are supposed to be unarmed so they don''t take us as seriously, which is all the more dangerous for us and them.'' The old man had pulled an item out of his pocket and handed it to Carter. ''People take their safety for granted these days, take this and keep it on you at all times. You never know when it will save your life.'' Looking at the pocket knife that the veteran had handed him, Carter felt that his comment resonated with him on a deep meaningful level. Carter felt a sense of security with the small two-inch blade in his hands. Keeping his back to the outer wall the entire time, he tried to step with as little noise as possible. A notification popped up almost right when he reached the elevators of the building.
Skill Learned
Stealth 1
Reduces the amount of noise made by the user by 0.5%
Nerves on edge from the constant creeping and potential life threathening creature around him, Carter couldn''t help but jump at the pop up. It was a miracle that he was able to keep himself from shouting, what came out was more of a hiss-like intake of breath. By the time Carter made it all the way to the other side of the floor and the other stairwell, he had been able to calm his nerves and get ahold of the adrenaline racing through his body. Half the floor down and all the info he had been able to gather was what may have been a few instances of heavy breathing. Whatever was on this floor was not making itself obvious. After Carter had finished circling the floor and made it back to his original stairwell with nothing to show for it but a few wasted minutes. He made the decision that he was going to have to go find the boss on his own. If he was being honest with himself, he had hoped to stumble onto whatever the creature was on the outside because he felt a sense of safety with the wall behind him. Walking into dark stacks of books was not something that gave him a sense of confidence, he had tried the light switch a few minutes ago after returning to his original stairwell. He prepared for the mob to charge out at him once the lights came on, but it seems the power to the building was cut when it was transformed into a dungeon. Walking as silently as possible through the floor, Carter caught sight of a faint glow up ahead. It wasn''t just the glow that gave away the location either, he had been hearing distinct breathing noises now that he was closer to the source of the whatever was making the sound. Slowing to a crawl, he tried to get a better look through the book stacks. Noticing a break in the books a couple steps away, Carter delicately moved into the best possible postion. What he saw was beyond disturbing. A creature about the size of your average sixteen year old, but probably double in width, was loungingin what appeared to be a pile of books. It was hard to tell with just the subtle glow to illuminate it, but it seemed to have greenish grey skin with pockmarks all over its face. It had its nose in a book that Carter was not able to read the title of, this is what Carter attributed his ability to sneak up on the creature to. That and the amount of wheezing and grunting it made by simply breathing. The two stacks to either side of it had been pushed over, and now leaned on respectively adjacent stacks forming a "v" like entrance to the isle. Carter being several rows up from the creature could not see down the isle to what was creating the glow. Giving an idea a try, Carter used mana manipulation and channeled it into his eyes.
Ability Learned
Inspect 1
Use mana to read the information on your targets. Improves with use and knowledge
Hobgoblin Shaman LVL 4 Creeping back from the whole in the books, Carter struggled to keep his breathing under control. It was one thing to see screens in front of your face, then yeah sure he went off and had a fun time learning about new things with that guy Alvin, but this... this was real. This was the first time in Carter''s life that he had to face the reality that he was no longer safe just because of where he was born. It was one thing to go over it in your mind, making plans for what if this or that happened, training and learning the best things to do in certain situation. It was an entirely different thing to go through it, no one ever tells you about how your body reacts and the almost palpable tension in the air. Sure people mention how they had nerves and felt sick, but do you actually consider what that would physically feel like? Carter was on the verge of a nervous break down but there was one thought that got his head back on track. ''If that shit is in here, then what is out there. Was Catherine able to go through the tutorial? Does she even know what is happening right now?'' Thoughts and images of his wife and what may or may not be happening to her right now raced through his head. Clenching his fist, Carter made the decision to push through his own issues so that he could get to Catherine as fast as possible. ''Game on bitches.'' It was almost eerie how fast Carter was able to go from a bundle of nerves to an almost serene level of calm. Thinking back to the first time he had done this Carter couldn''t help but smirk. He had never been one to question his decisions, once a decision was made there was no use thinking about the other option. In fact, this unquestioning decision making is what led him to being able to learn his second ability during the tutorial. He didn''t like the feel of mana bolt so he decided to change it into something he was more comfortable with. With a new resolve, Carter quickly switched from searching for the creature into stalking the creature. Looking at his position and what he had at his disposal, Carter quickly came up with a game plan to take it out as quickly and safely as possible. The plan came down to really two simple strategies, hit it from afar and blitz it. Backing up several stacks he quickly triedout his mana manipulation to ensure that he would be able to form his mana bolt. Carter made an interesting discovery, the mana in the room seemed to be thicker around the glow. Either way Carter intended on taking out the creature so he would find out the glowing situation after. Seeing that he could form his mana bolt with little issues he slowly made his way back to his previous position. The spot he had viewed the creature at was one column over and five rows up from it. Once he creeped up to the edge of his row itput him just below fifteen feet away. He was not exactly comfortable with his accuracy from this distance but he did not want to risk getting closer and losing the element of surprise. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Carter begin to absorb the mana into his body through mana reinforcement. He was not entirely sure how much stats it gave but he was going to take all he could get. Once he had filled out mana enforcement to the brim he then siphoned off a bit of mana to form a ball in his hand. He had discovered during the few minutes of testing his plan that he was not quite ready to apply both mana reinforcement and mana bolt at the same time respectively. Once he locked down his mana reinforcement, he could no longer siphon the mana from the environment for his bolt and vice versa. The bolt formed over his hand was substantially larger than the one he had previously formed during the tutorial. Closer to the size of a softball, it had increased in size by almost half. Taking aim quickly, Carter fired as soon as he felt he was on target, and before the bolt had even landed he was up and running. Knife in hand, Carter made it over half way before he stumbled over himself due to not being used to moving with his reinforced stats. Turning the last couple of feet into more of a controled fall than a blitz. To his credit the mana bolt was in line to hit the goblin center mass, unfortunately it clipped the book as it was coming in, leading it to take out the creatures right hand. The noise it made was partway between a beast and a childs. The creature roled out of the pile of books away from Carter''s impromptu lunge. ''Fuckin'' hell...'' Carter thought. The creatures roll had taken all the impact out of his jump. He might as well have been playing piggy back with the thing. The duo went down in a tumbling pile of limbs and grunts. Carter quickly assesed the situation after they had come to a stop. He found out that even with his mana reinforced body that he was slightly weaker than the creature. Luckily for him he had managed to get its back, and the hand that had been hit with the mana bolt seemed to have mostly broken fingers. One of the major issues being that he was underneath the creature while being on it''s back. ''Would it kill this thing to take a fucking bath?'' Carter thought as they struggled for dominance. He quickly wrapped his legs around the creatures wastes and threaded them through its crotch. He had shown this to his wrestlers at the middle school so many times that it was almost second nature. This allowed him to anchor his position on it''s back with some more security. With his left arm he hooked it through the creature''s good arm. The hobgoblin''s girth was making Carter''s attempts at control much more difficult and uncomfortable. The whole time Carter was on it''s back it had been wriggling attempting to free itself of the urchin on its back. As far as Carter could tell it could not form words. All he had been able to hear was a gutttural throaty grunting, like it had some phlegm stuck in its throat. Carter had just been getting into his groove grappling when he felt like his left leg had been set on a stove top. The monsterhad stopped trying to get away from Carter''s hold and had used its left hand that he had pinned to its side to gouge Carter''s leg just above the knee. Due to the dimness of the glow that Carter was working with he had failed to notice that the creature seemed to have more claws for digits that fingers. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Carter quickly shifted his arm from over his opponent''s arm to under its arm pit, putting his hand on the back of its head. The creature''s girth seemed to not be apart of initial anatomy because it''s arms when put in this position couldn''t really do much in the way of damage. Unhooking his right leg from the monster''s crotch, Carter used it to pivot and roll the creature over to the left so it was now on it''s stomach. During the roll Carter had freed his other leg and now was positioned with both knees on either side of the monster''s hips, preventing it from getting its legs beneath itself. Carter took a second to catch his breath before he finally brought his right hand into play. Flicking his wrist, Carter unsheathed to pocket knife he had prepared before the tackle. He had been holding in his right hand the whole time, but with the struggling of the creature he had been nervous about cutting himself by accident. ''Time to even the score asshole...'' Carter thought to himself as he plunged the two inch blade into the monster''s right side. Unfortunately, Carter had not accounted for the desperate burst of strength from the hobgoblinbeneath him. As soon as the blade entered its side, it redoubled its efforts to get out of Carter''s hold through thrashing and bucking. Luckily, depite being slightly weaker than it, Carter had the leverage to keep it pinned. What really surprised Carter was how tough the thing''s skin was. It had take everything he had to get the knife in, and even then it only went in about three quarters of the blade. Pulling the blade out with a grunt, Carter swung back down with all the strength he could manage from his current position. This time the blade entered much more easily, Carter attributed the first strikes toughness to hitting a bone of some sort. He repeated the process several more times, the hobgoblinat this point had started putting up less and less of a struggle. Carter attributed it to his fourth stab puncturing something important. The hobgoblinup to that point had been screeching and thrashing, but when Carter''s knife was driven in this time, its screeches turned more wheezy and it had noticably less energy in its thrashing. Looking at the sad monsternow, it had ceased moving and was struggling to get a breath. Carter finally decided it was safe to end it''s suffering. He removed his left hand from the monstershead allowing its pinned arm free, and moving his hand to the back of its shouder blade keeping pressure on it. Raising the knife one last time, Carter looking at the monster''s face. Deciding that he wasn''t sure whether his knife could puncture the skull or not, he aimed for the soft jugular. With a slash the monster''s suffering ended a few seconds later. It had lost a significant amount of blood from it''s side, but no where near the amount that pumped out of its throat.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Rolling off the now dead hobgoblin, Carter shuffled his body over to lean on one of the knocked over stacks. He had just made it to the stack when he felt a cool sensation begin to invade his body. Level Up +1 Level Up +1 Stealth +2 Mana Manipulation +1 Mana Reinforcement +1 Unarmed Combat +1 Skill Learned: Small Blades
Carter WilliamHudson Level 3
Points Available: 10 Next LVL 52/400
Strength 8 Affiliation N/A
Agility 7
Endurance 5 Merit Balance 400MB
Intelligence 5
Wisdom 8 Influence -
Skills: Abilities:
Unarmed Combat 2 Mana Bolt 1
Mana Manipulation 3 Mana Reinforcement 2
Stealth 3 Inspect 1
Small Blades 1
5. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished To say Carter was not a little pleased after looking at his information would be a lie. What self respecting gamer was not elated when they improved themselves. After memorizing the information, Carter took a second to take a internalaccounting of his body. Besides the gash on his left thigh, he couldn''t feel anything to out of the ordinary. Taking a closer look at his leg, he could see that the cut while almost eight inches long was not to deep. While the cut may not be life threatening it throbbed like a son of a bitch, Carter thought. Unfortunately for him, Carter was wearing a collared grey t-shirt and khaki shorts, not much else to work with for a bandage in the immediate aread. Using his knife, Carter cut a sizable strip of cloth off his left short''s leg and used that to cover the cut. With a grunt he tied, it off and stood up to test it out. While it would work in a pinch, Carter had no doubts about needing something a little more perminent in the near future. He also was a little self concious because people coult now see his avocado boxer briefs beneath his shorts.
Skill Learned
First Aid 1
Increases the efficiency at treating wounds and other ailments. Increase knowledge and experience to improve.
Relieved that Carter did not have to worry about losing the use of his leg and excited at the prospects of his new skill. He began to take stock of his surroundings. A couple of feet to his left was the monster''s corpse that was emitting on god awful stench. The body must have purged its digestive track when it finally bit the bullet Carter figured. Slightly past the monster was his pile of books, Carter did not notice during the struggle, but they had rolled into the aisle the creature had been blocking off when he tackled it. Looking to his right Carter was given an unimpededview of what was providing the subtle glow that illuminated the immediate area. An orb the size of a volley ball was floating about four feet off the ground. Looking on it with his eyes Carter could not seeing anything special about it. ''Other than its fucking floating in the air and looks to be radio active...'' He thought to himself. Its glow was mostly white but with a subtle hint of blue at the edges. Taking a second to tap into his mana manipulation and view his surroundings, Carter confirmed that the orb was the reason the mana density increased in the area. Carter decided that he was going to inspect the creature and its stash of books before he went over to the orb. He liked to think that the prospect of loot and powerful items had driven his decision to place them above his curiousity about the orb, but if he was being honest with himself he was a little worried about his ''Johnson'' losing the ability to preform from radiation leaking off of the orb. A couple of hobbling steps later Carter was back at the creature''s body, it did not take long to go over its body due to the lack of clothing on it. The only noticable piece of clothing on the thing was a cross between a loincloth and a skirt made of leather. Carter checked for pockets but drew the line at looking underneath. Carter came away from the body with a couple of rings and a necklace, which was basically just a cord of leather attached to some sort of onyx like stone. A quick look through the pile of books and Carter was left with a stick a little longer than two feet. ''To short to be a staff so... a scepter maybe.'' Carter thought to himself. Tapping into his ''Inspect'' ability, Carter gave the items another once over. -Ring of Intelligence ? +2 Intelligence -Scepter of Mana Channeling (U) +5 Mana Manipulation -Necklace of Shadow Mastery? +3 Dark Magic One of the rings turned out to be a dud, but Carter was still siked about the results of his findings. He immediately equipped all the items. Despite not knowing any Dark Magic, Carter was still able to equip the necklace, which rewarded him with a notification.
Skill Learned
Dark Magic 1(4)
The ability to channel mana with a dark affinity. Improve through practice and study.
With the loot all handled, Carter decided to deal with the orb. Approaching it slowly, Carter was waiting for some kind of heat to hit his skin from the orbs glow. The opposite happened in fact, the closer Carter got to the orb the cooler he felt. It got to the point that he could almost feel the mana shifting in the environment. Taking one last step next to the orb, Carter reached out and touched it.
Notice!
Unaffiliated Dungeon Core located:
-Take Control (Limit:1) -Harvest(Used to boost other Dungeon Cores) -Destroy (Experience Modifier)
Looking at his options, Carter was a little surprised but quickly began deliberating. ''I can ignore the ''Harvest'' option since I don''t have another core. So it is between control or experience, easy decision.'' Carter thought. While the experience would be nice, he had clocked enough hours in video games through his life to know this was an opportunity he could not pass up. Carter quickly mentally selected ''Take Control'' and his world exploded in notifications.
Notice!
As the first inhabitant of your planet to obtain a stronghold you are awarded aMajor Boon. Use your wits and power to help your planet thrive. Calculating reward... Processing... Reward awarded.
Notice!
Due to outside influence you will be transported to council for review. Prepare for transportation in 3...2...1...
There was a bright flash, and Carter''s world once again turn to blackness.
Orttonathwould like to say that he was surprised by the council''s actions, but he wasn''t. This new planet had an abundance of resources that were not available to the rest of the system, dueto humanity''s destruction unearthing it all. While its true that abusing and taking resources from planets leads to their destruction, it also leads to rare materials and items that are not able to be found on planets that are nurtured and cared for. The Conglomerate had long come up with a way to obtain these resources without plundering their own well nurtured planets. They would locate planets that were on the path of destruction and use their influence to obtain the rare resources and materials found on the planet. What had surprised Orttonathwas that the boy he had met in the tutorial had already captured a dungeon. It had not even been an hour since the tutorial and Carter had already gained a stronghold on this new planet. ''This is bound to get interesting.'' Orttonath thought to himself.
Carter opened his eyes to discover he was back in the endless feilds of grass. ''Ok, so back in my mind again like the tutorial, I will have to find out if time acts the same again, otherwise I need to figure out a way to get out of here so I can get back to Catherine.'' Carter quickly got his thoughts together. Before he could begin to think of walking around, there was yet another flash, but this time instead of blacking out, Carter looked up to see that he had been half surrounded by a raised platform. The platform was in the shap of a half moon and on it sat ten individuals. Nine of those individuals were shrouded in shadow, but the tenth was quite recognizable. Carter looked over to see Alvin, in the form of his grandfather, give him a smile and a wave. Despite Alvin''s apparently light mood, Carter got a serious sense of tension from the other shadowy individuals. Before he could open his mouth to ask what was going on, one of the shadowy figures stood up and spoke to everyone.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. "The council convenes due to suspected interference in the development of a newly integrated planet by the indvidual codename...'' the shadowy figure paused here to look over at Alvin, "Alvin? Really?" To Carter the speaker sounded more exhasperated than interested in what was going on. ''Wait a second, codename? Does that mean his name isn''t Alvin?'' Carter thought to himself sending a glance in the direction of the only person he knew here. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" the shadowy figure asked Alvin. "Nope, I mean yeah I over shared a bit with the new guy, but nothing I was able to get out should have led him to being able to take control of a dungeon in a little over forty five minutes." Alvin stated like he did not have anything to worry about. It seemed to Carter that Alvin was being a little to lax in this type of situation. The figure then turned to Carter and spoke, "Carter William Hudson, level 3, participated in the tutorial with ''Alvin''," the shadowy figure seemed to struggle getting Alvin''s codename out, "shortly after leaving the tutorial you were able to capture a dungeon. Can you explain to the council how this came about?" The figure then proceeded to sit back down and gestured for Carter to begin speaking. "Ughh... well first, Hey I guess, not sure what is happening but is this going to take long? I really need to get back and find my wife?" Carter said a little nervously. He wasn''t exactly sure what was happening but to be honest he really didn''t care. His only goal right now was to get back to his wife and make sure she was ok. "The time dilation is in effect due to being in your mindscape so do not worry to much about current events. Please explain the events leading up to you taking control of a dungeon shortly after your tutorial with the aforementioned council member. " The same shadow explained to Carter. ''Council?'' Carter picked up on. "Well there isn''t really much to explain, when the tutorial was abruptly ended I found myself back in the library where I was when all this started. While I was in the tutorial the library must have been converted to a dungeon or something. All I knew was that I was trapped on the top floor with some monster. I killed it and touched the orb and voila, here were all are." Carter finished with a little bit of sarcasm. He was a little peeved that they would forcefully transport him here without his consent because they didn''t understand something. Finally another shadow spoke up, this one distinctly more feminine, "He speeks the truth, the mortal has broken no rules, knowingly or unknowingly. Our fellow council member on the other hand, I can not say the same." "Thank you for your time, Carter Hudson, as an apology for interefering with your developement you shall be awarded a Minor Boon. Keep up the good work so far, we shall take this meeting elsewhere." The original shadow said. ''Not again...'' Carter thought, as yet another flash left him in darkness.
Carter came back to himself standing right in front of the orb. ''This is some messed up shit, they can just call me up whenever they want and then just dismiss me. Fuck that shit.'' Carter thought to himself. He was beyond pissed at the whole situation but the notification floating in front of him helped ease his anger slightly.
Notice!
Due to unnecessary interference on the part of the Council of Order, you have been awarded aMinor Boon.
''Seems like they can''t just ''beam me up Scotty'' without some kind of reparations. That helps a little, but they are still on my shit list.'' Carter thought as he read the message. ''Major and minor boons huh? I wonder what I can swing with these.'' Carter had just taken control of the dungeon when he was transported to the council meeting. He still had some notifications to get through.
Notice!
You have taken control of a dungeon core and formed a Stronghold. Strongholds can be upgraded and developed with the right care. Interact with the Stronghold Core to make modifications to the Stronghold.
Notice!
For your actions you have recieved aMajor Boon. This is a gift from the planet''s conciousness for helping to get rid of its corruption.Major Boonscustomized to the recipients desires within the planets power. Personal Dugeon Spirithas been awarded.
Notice!
The Council of Order has seen fit to bestow upon you aMinor Boon.Minor Boons can be used in the shop for a limited free purchase.
After looking at the notifications Carter came up with a game plan. To be honest he had no idea what to do with his Major Boon. The Minor Boon gave him quite a few ideas. Thinking back to all the items available at the top of the list of the shop Carter''s inner loot monster started to drool. Putting the two boons aside, Carter also had the stronghold now that he was excited about. If he could get this place set up securely, he would be able to protect Catherine all the better. Thinking along those lines, Carter moved to the ''Stronghold Core'' to see what he was working with. As soon as Carter touched the orb he was presented with an interface.
Stronghold Core*
- Structures????????????????????- Economy??????????????- Core Strength -Administration??????????????- Alliances???????????????- Military - Security????????????????????????- Territory?????????????????-Summon Dungeon Spirit (1/1) - Population????????????????????- Dungeon
Carter attempted to peruse the interface, but was quickly overwhelmed with the amount of information available. Unfortunately, he did not have time to go through all these things to make sure that he had his stronghold on the right path towards development. It had already been a little over an hour since this whole ordeal started and Carter had yet to even leave the building. Fortunately, he had an idea about what he could do to solve this issue. He quickly moved over to the summoning tab for his dungeon spirit.
Summonconfirmed... processing...ownershipacknowledged... blood contract required. Taking samples from both parties to complete contract.
Carter felt a prick all of a sudden, then a moment later he felt a conneciton formed. It was a feeling like he had never had before, it was almost like a bubble had formed in his mind that created a connection to what Carter assumed was the dungeon spirit.
Contract sealed. Transferring purchase now.
There was a mini flash, and all of a sudden there was a fairy slightly smaller than the stronghold core floating in front of him. "Hi, my name is Carter, Carter Hudson, may I ask what yours is?" Carter started off with an introduction hoping to get off on the right foot. "Hello Master, my name is Svelt of the Sylphs, you may just call me Svelt." The little fairy responded with a childlike voice. It was obvious to Carter that she was female from her appearance. She wore a deep green dress that highlighted her fair skin. Her hair was titanium with a hint of blue at the edges, the four wings on her back match the color of her hair. "No need for that master stuff, just Carter will do. Go ahead and familiarize yourself with the dungeon. Is there anything you need from me to get this place up and running?" Carter asked. He wanted to get this place going, but he was getting anxious to start heading towards his wife. "Yes, Sire. The ability to acces the dungeons interface will be all I need as of now." Svelt said ignoring Carter''s comment about how she should address him. It would be highly disrespectful for a spirit in her position to address her core''s owner so casually. "Done, can you tell me if there is anymore monsters left in the building?" Carter asked, while flipping through the administration tab until he found core access permissions. There had only been on Hobgoblin shaman on this floor, but if the lore on goblins held up. Then the lower floors could be teeming with the little shits. "There are currently no monsters left in the building, Sire. When you took control of the core, it evicted all previous residents other than the new owner. It then set itself on locked down which is the default security mode. It would take a significant amount of power to be able to break into the building at this point, which most monsters would not posess at this point of the mana integration. If there was an attempt, we would be able to notice." Svelt responded. "Good to know, I have to head out for a bit to locate my wife. I need you to prep the stronghold for my return. I give you permission to develope the stronghold as you see fit till my return. Focus on security at this point to allow us to have a safe place to return to." Carter said. H While the stronghold was an opportunity, Carter was never really the type of person to sit around in his base and let others fight for him. He preferred being out on the front lines with friends. The acquisition of the spirit allowed him to leave for significant periods of time and still let his stronghold develope. "Alright, Sire. I will make sure that this stronghold will be in order upon your return." Svelt said with a mid-air curtsy. "I''m off then, its time I found my wife and explored a bit of this new world." Carter said as he walked towards to the stairwell. This time he was able to open the doors without issue. It only took him a little over a minute to get to the lobby, looking out the doors he could see the fog had completely cleared out since he had captured the dungeon. He had managed to catch glimpses of the city through the windows, but looking out the doors now he could see that several parts of the city were currently on fire. Despite the many possiblities he might run into out in the world, he only had one thought on his mind at this point. ''Please let Catherine be ok...'' Carter thought, pushing his way through the doors into the new world. 6. The New World Carter opened up the shop before he left the doors. He had one more boon to take advantage of before he made the mad scramble to get home. He already had an idea for what he wanted to get. His only goal was getting home to his wife, so he had already decided that he was not going to be stopping to fight every little thing on the way home. Typing into the tabs in the shop ''armor'', Carter realized that he had severely underestimated the term ''armor''. There were what seemed like endless amounts of pieces listed. Adjusting the search criteria to ''armor sets'' helped reduce the list by almost two thirds. Carter was not about to waste his one time free purchase opportunity on a single piece of gear. The sets were organized by price and he was extremely disappointed in what he saw. The cheapest of which was a couple thousand points, while the most expensive reached into the several millions worth of merit. Unfortunately, while there was no level restriction on the gear, there was stat requirements. Currently Carter was only able to wear some of the cheapest sets of gear. He quickly decided that this course of action was going to end up wasting the opportunity he had been given with the minor boon. Changing gears, Carter reset the store window and typed in abilities. Carter had no idea what most of the abilities did, but he quickly decided to rule out the cheaper ones. ''It may be naive of me but I have to assume the more expensive the more whorthwhile the ability.'' Carter reasoned out to reassure himself that he was doing the right thing. He quickly realized that while he could purchase the majority of the abilities on the list, there were restrictions to learning them. Carter adjusted the tab to remove all the abilities that he was unable to learn. The list remaining was daunting to say the least, but there was a single ability near the top of the list that seemed to reach out and speak to him.Shadow Stalker was just within his price range that the boon seemed to cover, which seemed to fluctuatearound five million merits. The abilities requirements were simply mana manipulation, dark magic, stealth, and mana reinforcement. It seemed to combine the three skills and one ability into a unique ability that allowed the user to blend into the shadows. With Carter''s goal to be able to get home as fast as possible and it being night outside, this ability seemed to be the most appropriate at the time. Going with his gut, Carter purchased the ability with his boon. Purchase Confirmed... Calculating...Minor Boon consumed...
Ability Learned
Shadow Stalker 1
Utilize the shadows to accomplish your goals. Increases through implementation and knowledge.
As Carter stepped out of the library, it was as if sound returned to the world. He did not realize how well the dungeon was blocking out the noise and sounds of the outside world. Before Carter left the lobby he had assigned his stat points and checked his ''Status''.
Carter WilliamHudson Level 3
Points Available: 0 Next LVL 52/400
Strength 10 Affiliation N/A
Agility 10
Endurance 10 Merit Balance 400MB
Intelligence 5
Wisdom 8 Influence 1%
Skills: Abilities:
Unarmed Combat 2 Mana Bolt 1
Mana Manipulation 8 Mana Reinforcement 2
Stealth 3 Inspect 1
Small Blades 1 Shadow Stalker 1
First Aid 1
Dark Magic 4
Carter assumed the merit came from killing the hobgoblin. Looking at the amount it averaged one hundred merit per level. It was safe to assume that this equation did not hold up for every monster, seeing as the hobgoblin was a boss monster in a dungeon.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. He decided to spread his stats evenly, focusing on the physical ones for now. He had a little bit of a run to get to his house and he wanted to be able to make it in good time. His house was a little over four miles away from the school. It wouldn''t take him long to get home. With everything going on, Carter just hoped the roads were clear enough to drive on. It took him less than a minute to get to his car. Turning the key, Carter was halfway out of his parking spot before he felt his engine begin to rumble. A moment later, there was a loud scraping sound then a *womph* and the engine cut out. ''Oh for fuck''s sake...'' Carter thought. ''Hell of a time to have car trouble.'' It took Carter all of two minutes of staring at his engine to realize that he had no idea what was wrong with it. Never one to dwell on things he could not help, he took off across campus. When Carter was regularly visiting the gym, he averaged a little over eleven minutes a mile. When he told people he ''went to the gym'', Carter meant once or twice a month when he felt guilty about how much food he had eaten the day before, and by ''eleven minutes a mile'' Carter meant a single mile, and even then he was quite winded afterwards. Carter was hoping the boosts to his physical stats would help him get back to his house in a timely manner without to much trouble. Carter was quite surprised with the results of his quick jaunt across campus. For one, he noticed quite a few cars were along the sides of the roads and throughout the parking lots. It did not seem to be just him having car issues. Carter also saw quite a few shadows moving around campus, unfortunately, the light poles were also out so it was hard to make out who or what they were. The only light he had to go by at the moment was what the moon provided. He couldn''t be bothered to check them out though, he had only one thing on his mind and that was getting home. Once he left the opposite side of campus, Carter made the decision to keep to the roads. It allowed him to keep his speed up without having to worry about stopping to go over fences and other obstacles. Hitting the roads, his speed was actually able to increase up to and pass what used to be his top comfortable running speed. ''I see those increased stats are paying off.'' Carter thought as he tried to keep his breathing under control. Catherine had always been great at running, she had told him time and time again that it was all about a good breathing rhythm. Even with her advice, by the end of his gym mile Carter was always sucking wind, he could never get it right no matter how much he ran. Now, however, he was cruising up on a mile with breath to spare. Around half way through his second mile out from the library, Carter was still working his way through the off campus housing apartment complexes of the University. He saw a group of shadows move out of a parking lot and begin to head in his direction. Carter decided that it was time to try out his new ability. He activated shadow stalker and instantly felt the difference over mana reinforcement. If mana reinforcement felt like a cool breeze filling his body, shadow stalker felt more along the lines of a taking in a breath then holding it. Carter noticed that mana he took in was tinted more grey-ish black then the normal blue color. Before he had too much time to ponder this new ability he felt it beginning to slip.,Cartertook off before whatever or whoever was pursuing himgot anywhere near his location. He was around to corner of the next intersection before the shadows could figure out where he went. Not for the first time had Carter wished that he could tell what time it was. He was less than a mile out from his house. Carter had to scale back his running speed a little over a mile back, he was starting to feel the distance and he wanted to be able to function when he got to his house. The whole time he had been running he had been hearing shouting, grunting, and what sounded like the occasional gunshot. Despite the sounds he was hearing, Carter took notice of how dark it was. None of the houses or street lights were lit up, the only occasional glimpse of light in the darkness came from several fires that had popped up around the neighborhoods he was running through. Rounding the final corner that led to his sub-division, Carter began to feel the ground starting to shake. Except this time it was short and repetitive. Turning onto the street he lived on, Carter saw a massive shadow looming over the houses several streets passed his. ''The hell is that...?'' Carter thought. Luckily the monstrosity was still quite a ways away from his house. It seemed to be lingering in the back of the sub-division and Carter''s house was located near the entrance. Now that he was in an area that he recognized, Carter was able to focus on his surroundings a little more. He could hear lots of activity in the houses around him, it wasn''t long before his house came into sight. Despite the situation, there was something comforting about seeing his home intact. Carter had kept an eye on the massive shadow, it had moved closer for sure. Only about three hundred yards seperated the thing and his house, even with the distance Carter could tell that it dwarfed the houses around it. Carter figured that it''s height was close to four stories tall. Out of no where there was a flash over near the shadow''s figure. Not even a second after Carter heard the crack of a gunshot ringing through the night. The shadow barely even registered the gunshot, it did stop moving however. It turned to face the direction of the gunshot and let out a roar that almost brought Carter to a stop to cover his ears. Before anything else could happen Carter made it to his house. Not even stopping to unlock the door, Carter used the momentum from his running and raised his foot, kicking in his door. "CATHERINE!!! Catherinewhere are you?!?!?" Carter got out as soon as he was in the house. "Carter?!?! Carter is that you? We are up stairs!!" Carter heard her respond. Carter made a beeline for the stairs. Despite his urgency, he couldn''t help but take note at how messed up the house was. The furniture was all over the place, and there was some kind of fluid on the floor. Coming to the top of the stairs, Carter saw the family pet Thomas standing in the bedroom door. Thomas had what looked like blood all over his mussel, but it had more of a black tinge than red. "Hey there bud, how ya doing?" Carter said coming up short and speaking softly. Thomas had been the family pet for going on four years now, Carter had gotten him as a puppy for Catherine as a surprise dativersary present. Carter had always wanted a german shepherd and this gave him an excuse to get it. Seeing him in that stance with blood all over his mussel was definitely intimidating. Shortly after Carter spoke to Thomas, he heard a commotion in the bedroom behind him. "Thomas move you big lug! You know thats dad!" Catherine admonished the ninety pound blood covered animal and shoved it out of the way. Before Carter could even get out his comments on Thomas, Catherine threw herself into Carter with a hug. Carter felt himself physically relax in that moment. It was like all the tension from what had been going on and not stopping the entire time had finally left him. He had finally gotten back to his family and they were ok.His moment of rest did not last long due to the sounds of the huge monster outside plowing his way through the neighborhood. "Catherine listen up this is important. I need you to go downstairs and get the weapons from the safe. The rifle and shotgun will do and all the ammo that you can carry." Carter listed off. He had planned on grabbing as much as they could carry and heading back to the stronghold after the sun came up but the moving mountain outside threw a wrench in that plan. "Alright, let''s go Thomas." Catherine responded. Carter watched to two head down the stairs. Something about the way Thomas was acting was weird to him. Thomas had always been very protective of both Carter and Catherine but looking at them walk away it was like that had been completely focused on Catherine. Dismissing it as a simple curiosity, Carter had quite a few more pressing matters to busy himself with. Moving to the bedroom he made a beeline for the walk in closet. Carter was neither ex-military or a gun nut, but he did own several guns. Most of these came from his younger days hunting with his family and friends. Growing up in a small town in the deep south, hunting is a large part of your life. Getting to the closet he saw that it was a complete mess, ''Catherine must have been huddling in here, while Thomas kept a look out.'' Carter thought to himself. It didn''t take long from him to find what he was looking for. His Remington Model 870 12 gauge pump shot gun sat next to the entrance with a box of ammo strewn around it. Catherine had obviously remembered what he had told her about using the closet as a safe room. She had always laughed it off when Carter would remind her every month or so about keeping the shotgun in the closet and how to operate it. However, with Carter out working at night he felt better knowing she had the option even with her scoffing at him. Carter tried inspecting his shotgun to see if it gave any bonuses like the other items he had obtained gave but was disappointed. He didn''t even receive a prompt from it. He grabbed his work out bag and threw in some extra clothes and the box of ammo for the shotgun in it. Grabbing the gun he left the room only to come up short. He saw a body of some kind of creature laying half in and out of the guest bedroom. He had not seen it due to the entrance of the main bedroom being at the top of the stairs. It was covered in fur and looked almost like a dog sized rat. After a quick once over of the monster, Carter joined Catherine downstairs in the living room. She had the two guns out on the couch loading them in their carrying cases. Carter helped her load all the ammunition and gave her a quick run down on what had been happening with him. Catherine had no idea about a tutorial, all she knew was that she had been woken up by the sound of crashing in the first floor. Thomas had taken off from the bed and she heard him barking and growling at something. Assuming someone had broken into the house she had run into the closet to get the gun like Carter had told her to do. She had gotten half way down the stairs when she saw Thomas wrestling with what she later found out was something called a ¡®Kobold Scout''. The creature had gotten free from Thomas when it saw her and chased her back up the stairs. She had been able to shoot it when it got to the top of the stairs which seemed to hurt it. It tried to run away into the guest bedroom when Thomas had caught up to it and attacked it till it stopped moving. Catherine had only been able to coax Thomas away from the body by giving him some of his favorite snacks from the pantry in the kitchen. After feeding Thomas she had been prompted to accept him as her companion. She didn¡¯t think twice about it and suddenly she felt a connection between the two of them. Thomas had followed her orders to the letter from that moment on. She had inspected the creature¡¯s body and was granted the inspect skill that¡¯s let her know it was a ¡®Kobold Scout¡¯. Shortly afterward the tremors hadn¡¯t started and she hadn¡¯t hunkered down in the bedroom with Thomas. Hearing everything Catherine had described Carter was glad that Thomas had been here. He doubted everyone had been lucky enough to have a pet save them from an unexpected monster spawning somewhere in their house. ¡®That would explain the distinct lack of people on the street and occasional gunshots and shouting. These things hadn¡¯t spawned in people¡¯s homes and within today¡¯s society most people weren¡¯t prepared to fight for their lives at a moments notice.¡¯ The couple was interrupted from their conversation by another groundshaking roar from outside. It had only taken them a few minutes to get packed from the time that Carter had busted in the front door, when they left the house the monstrous shadow was cloase enough to identify now. Mountain Ettin Lvl ?? Region Boss*