《The Tutorial ~ The Mage Queen》 {Book 1} Prologue Hi everyone! Before you start reading, please be aware that the Prologue will have significantly less words than normal chapters as its mostly to explain certain aspects and to add a little to the story! In the Main Observation Room [Commentator(s) present: Finul] ¡°Welcome young and old, powerful and pitiful, conquerors and craftsmen to the 3637th Tutorial! Now I will say I''ve been waiting for this next one for a while, 6 years to be exact. How about you all?¡± The commentator says, as he proudly walks on stage. The crowd in front of him full of trillions of users from across the multitude of galaxies that the system inhabits all cheer, shouting out that they''ve been waiting for the new tutorial as well. The commentator, a Drakoni named Finul, smiles at the crowd as he sits down in the armchair set up in front of the screen. He lets the crowd settle down a tad before he continues ¡°Now I¡¯m sure most of you have watched the past tutorials but I''m sure you all know the protocol.¡± He pauses as the crowd lets out a groan making him chuckle ¡°I know, I know I don''t like repeating it either, but I have to or else I might not be able to commentate, and I know you''d all just be heartbroken to lose me¡± Finul says with a smirk as his audience laughs at his sarcasm ¡°Now let''s get this over with, shall we? I''ll explain some of the stuff you need to know for the tutorial before I introduce the system being initiated.¡± He pauses just a second and then he starts. ¡°Now the thing I personally like to start off with is to explain that there are lots of different kinds of tutorials, some like kids will be automatically put into a ¡®kid¡¯ tutorial as it wouldn''t exactly be fair if the system threw them into a deadly one. Meanwhile the rest of the new users will be randomly thrown into multiple types of tutorials even if they aren''t suited for them. Now there are 3 types that will be present for this tutorial, the first are maze tutorials where users have to navigate a maze full of monsters and other things, the second are tower tutorials where users have to climb towers to level up, and the third type of tutorial which is also known to be most popular with audiences is the battle royale tutorials where users have to learn to survive in different environments against monsters and other users.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. As he finishes announcing the types of tutorials going to be present in this initiation, he can hear cheers for the battle royale and tower tutorials as they are the most popular for people to watch and also the most entertaining in the pool of tutorials the system can select. It may also help that the last tutorial 6 years ago had neither one causing much disappointment in many of the viewers. Minutes later after the crowd has mostly stopped there rambunctious cheering the drakoni starts explaining once again ¡°Now the second and last thing I''m required to explain about the tutorial is the sponsorships, now I''ve been told that this tutorial will last 6 months, with each month consisting of 28 days. This means that every 42 days each user can have up to 5 sponsors, now for context for the newbie viewers is that the most interesting tutorials in the maze, tower and battle royale tutorials will be broadcast in the observation rooms much like this one created by the multitudes of factions and empires. Now I''ll go more into depth about some of the things that can be done after the first sponsorships after the 42-day mark. Ok folks are you ready for the introductions?!¡± Finul stands up at this as he beams at the crowd for a few seconds as projections start to flash on the screen of the system being initialized before he too turns to look at the projections. ¡°Now unlike other tutorials where multiple systems were being initialized only one is being brought into the system this time. Now don''t fret though because the system being initialized is called the solar system, which is home to over 8 billion sapient creatures and 5 billion partially sapient creatures. Now we¡¯ve been told by the seers that the sapient creatures are humans just like the many that also inhabit the system¡± Another mixture of groans, cheers and even laughter can be heard from crowd at this news, as some don''t really like humans, some are humans and some just find humans or the reactions of others in the crowd quite amusing ¡°Some background of these particular humans is that the humans on this planet are in their 2035th counted year and are in a middle ground for industrialization. Meaning while they do have non-animal transportation, a multitude of weaponry and portal communication they have not made very many significant breakthroughs when compared to other planets pre-initialization. Now the last thing I''ll tell you fine users before I¡¯ll let you all go to your respective observation rooms although I hope you stay here with me is the name of the planet as is tradition. The name of the plant is¡­¡± The drakoni paused for dramatic effect as billions upon billions of sapients held their breaths in anticipation for the singular word that would come out of his mouth seconds passed in pure silence before he relented ¡°The name of the planet is Earth¡± {Book 1} Initialization Inhale Exhale I chanted in my head as I squeezed my eyes shut. All I could hear outside of the dark coat closet in my home was yelling. So. Much. Yelling. I wish I could say that this doesn¡¯t happen very often but sadly it happens a lot, which basically means at least 4 times a week. It started a couple years ago after my mum died from a illness, after which my dad just became depressed and like most people drowned himself in alcohol. Months passed like that with my dad becoming more and more oblivious to the outside world, he stopped working, stopped talking to anyone even me, his daughter that was going through the same thing. I expected it to come sooner, the call I mean. I knew it was coming ever since my dad had quit his job, I wasn¡¯t dumb I knew my mom¡¯s life insurance and my parent''s savings from before would only get us so far. My dad in his oblivious state wasn¡¯t expecting it though. So, when the call came telling him he was well broke, well maybe you can imagine the reaction he had. I wish I could say it was a happy one. I remember that frightful day, he came up to my room, beer on his breath and demanded I go get a job. He told me that it was my turn to take care of him. Even with the vaguely threatening tone I did go get a job without complaint because it was my dad, and even though I wasn¡¯t stupid I still thought he would come back and be the man he once was before mum died. Oh how naive I was back then. My dad started to become more and more threatening towards me, demanding that I buy him this and that, cook him meals and be his maid too. And when he got calls from the banks, he had started taking loans from after my fast-food job couldn¡¯t pay for everything, he would get even angrier. With me and with the world, but because he couldn¡¯t take it out on the world, he took it out at me. That¡¯s when I started hiding, first it was in my room, then my closet, then the bathroom and at one point I even hid in the pantry. Sadly, those spots were all compromised after a couple months each with my dad''s foggy mind putting the pieces together on where I would hide. So that¡¯s why I¡¯m here now. Hiding in a coat closet praying that he doesn¡¯t decide to look in here, praying that he doesn¡¯t somehow hear me. Then finally the shouting stops, and my heart plummets. I know what that means, it means he¡¯s angry again, that means he¡¯s going to be looking for me. I focus on my breathing again after I notice it had started speeding up. Inhale, Exhale I repeat again and again in my head. You can do this Ky I say to myself trying to calm my erratic heart down even a little.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours as I sit in the cramped coat closet. I can smell the faint scent of beer from one or two of the coats, but I ignore it, I¡¯m used to it by now. I sit there staring blankly at the wall before I hear a click and the tv down the hall turns on signaling to me that the immediate danger has gone. All I need to do is creep up the stairs a couple feet across from this closet and get into my room without being heard or seen. Gathering up all the courage I can muster I slowly crack open the door and stick my head out a tiny bit making sure that my dad isn¡¯t looking. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw he wasn''t since the last time one of my spots was caught was when I was a little careless and didn¡¯t check to see if my dad was looking. After I do that, I tip toe up the old stairs making sure to not step on any of the squeaky spots before finally quietly walking to my room and gently closing the door before locking it. A let out a small sigh of relief that my dad hadn¡¯t caught me and that the tv is still blaring in the tiny living room downstairs. Now all I have to do is stay quiet until he leaves the house like he always does after a screaming match between him and his phone to go to a bar. With that in the back of my mind I grabbed my laptop, one of the only things I was slowly able to buy with my own money and opened the news. You see for the past couple of weeks there have been a couple of weird things going on, like how some geese didn¡¯t fly their migratory patterns and how flowers that normally only bloom in the spring are in full bloom right now in the fall. There¡¯s lots of conspiracies about these things some say it¡¯s China and their planning to attack us. Meanwhile others think it¡¯s global warming, although you can¡¯t forget the few that say it¡¯s aliens. Ya right. Honestly, I don¡¯t really live the news, sure I get that sometimes it helps struggling people¡¯s stories get out but other times I just feel like it¡¯s nothing but a joke. But you know I¡¯m bored out of my mind because I can¡¯t do much in this barren room of mine. Hey that kinda Rhymed! I chuckle quietly at that before I freeze, the tv¡¯s gone quite but¡­ the front door hasn¡¯t opened. Oh shit, this is bad. He¡¯s only done this once before and that traumatized me for months afterward. Frantically I stash my laptop back in my desk and I look around my desolate room trying to find a place to hide, but I have no luck which is to be expected. Even so as I hear the familiar sound of my father stomping slowly up the stairs I drop to the floor and try to get under my bed to no avail. I¡¯m terrified now, my heart is racing, and terror is coursing through every single vein in my body. He''s right outside now, and even though the door is locked I¡¯m not safe. I know he¡¯ll stay up here banging on that door until it crashes in, and I know I¡¯m trapped. At this point my hands are shaking and I can feel tears building up in the back of my eyes. There¡¯s no way out now. I really wish I had a window in my room now but in the small two-story house we¡¯re able to still barely afford there isn¡¯t one. I watch as my dad gets closer and closer to breaking down the door, and suddenly it starts to fall down. I say start because all of a sudden, the world just freezes. The door stops falling and my dad is frozen too. And when I try to move I can¡¯t either! What the hell is happening?! Am I hallucinating? Were the conspiracy theorists that said something about aliens right?? I don¡¯t know what to do. I just stand there, thoughts racing in my head until suddenly I hear a high pitched slightly musical beep echo throughout my head and then a box enters my vision that makes my eyes go wide.
Hello Citizen of Earth. You are getting this system automated message because your planet out of dozens of un-initialized plants has been randomly selected to be initialized into the system. Congratulations! You will now be randomly sorted into a tutorial¡­ Congratulations Citizen of Earth you have been selected to participate in the Battle Royale tutorial! (Please be aware user that there are multiple of the same tutorial). Please now get ready for transport to select your starting skills and materials, have fun and good luck!
I frown as I read the message, I just received that¡¯s still floating in front of my eyes before I hear another little beep and I get another message.
Transport initializing¡­. Portal opening¡­
My eyes go wide as I read the last word and the last thing I see is a swirly purple portal appear below my feet as I fall in. I smile as I slowly lose consciousness, I think I¡¯m going to like this system. It did just save me after all. {Book 1} Items and Skills! I slowly regain consciousness and open my eyes only to be met with endless darkness. And now that I¡¯m actually conscious it kinda feels like I¡¯m floating. Weird. I stand¡­ err float there for a while before another one of those familiar high-pitched beeps echoes throughout the endless void I''m trapped in. I wait for the blue box or message that will appear in my vision for what must have been a few minutes, but that could also just be my mind playing tricks on me. Finally it appears, but instead of the blue box like I got earlier it seems to be some kind of projection, with a humanoid-like figure looking straight at me through it.
¡°Welcome Citizens of Earth to the System!¡±
Well, it looked like it was looking at me, but it seems to me like it most likely is just looking into some kind of camera. I also noticed that the figures words seem to appear in a blue message in a box like I got earlier but I''ll figure that out later I decide as I continue listening to the projection.
¡°Now I know many of you are probably scared right now and are wondering what''s happening, am I right? Well hopefully you¡¯ll find some comfort in my following words and if not that sucks for you, because you might not survive the day. Anyway¡­¡±
I feel a tiny bit of disgust at the humanoid figure now because why would someone just blatantly say that to frightened people?? I just shake my head and continue listening because I can''t do much about it right but if I ever meet the thing in person there getting some special words thrown at them.
¡°Ok, so the things I''m required to explain to you is that after this initialization transmission you will receive 2 choices. You will be able to do both, but you must choose which one you want to do first or not. Please be aware that the order you choose does actually matter. The other thing I''m required to explain to you is the rules of your tutorials. Keep in mind this has been tailored to the tutorial that you¡¯ve been put in.¡±
¡°The rules for the Battle Royale Tutorials are as follows;
  1. You are allowed to kill at any and all times.
  2. If you kill someone they will NOT come back unless something specifically tells you they will beforehand or they have a revival token on them.
  3. You may group up with a max of 5 people
  4. You may make alliances, though they must be approved by the system
  5. You may betray, cheat, steal, break, destroy and kill anything at your own risk of death
  6. Only 1 group may be in a dungeon at any given time.
  7. The max amount of time you can be in a single dungeon is 1 week
  8. There is a cooldown on how many dungeons you can go in per amount of time you spent in the you visited last dungeon.
  9. You may only have 1 class
  10. You can hold onto more than one class
And that is all the rules, if you break a rule, you will be warned once by the system before it will eliminate you from the tutorial. Oh, and the last thing is that you¡¯ll be in there for 6 months made up of 28 days! Now that is all I''m required to tell you so good luck and remember this tutorial is the matter of life and death, glory and disgrace for you. But past that, have fun and good luck because you¡¯ll need it!
With that the projection faded away the humanoid''s words echoing in my head before just like the projection faded away. Ya I wasn''t going to be able to remember any of those rules, although most of them seem like pretty common sense when relating to a Battle Royale as they called it. Although since I am thinking about it, I wonder where all the little kids will go? Surely this system wouldn''t be so mean to put 3-year-olds in a tutorial where you can fight to the death¡­. Surely, right? I don''t know but what I do know is that a box just appeared in front of my face telling me to pick two options.
Choose Skills (0/4) OR Choose Items (0/2) You have 60 seconds to decide 59¡­ 58¡­ 57¡­
¡°Ok Ky think¡± I say to myself ¡°the projection said something about how it matters which one you pick first, so if you pick the items then you can pick skills that complement them or fill in the gaps. Meanwhile you can do the same thing if you pick the skills first.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. At this point I only had around 35 seconds left as I continued debating things with myself. This lasted about 20 more seconds before I made a decision and clicked skills. Why? Well because my gut felt that it was the better choice, and I learned early in life to always follow my gut. Once I clicked the choose skills option or well selected it with my mind or whatever another box greeted me. This box had ten skills to choose from.
Skills (0/4) Survivalist [Description] Tracker [Description] Basic Weapons [Description] Basic Crafting [Description] Identity [Description] Runner [Description] Climber [Description] Wayfinder [Description] Rudimentary Tamer [Description] Fire starter [Description]
I selected [Description] on each of them knowing full well some people will probably just pick the ones that sound the most interesting or helpful since they probably don''t want to read the description.
Skills (0/4) Survivalist [This skill allows you to know the basics of what food is safe and how to find water] Tracker [This skill helps you track down animals and other things] Basic Weapons [This skill gives you a basic understanding on how to use simple weaponry] Basic Crafting [This skill gives you a basic understanding on how to craft various simple things] Identify [This skill allows you to identify creatures any creature 5 levels above your level or less] Runner [This skill helps you subconsciously know the best routes to escape and makes you less likely to trip while you do it] Climber [This skill helps you subconsciously know where the safest route when climbing is and which hand holds you should use.] Wayfinder [This skill helps you find a path to get to places you¡¯ve seen from 100 ft away and to places you''ve been before] Rudimentary Tamer [This skill allows you to have tiny bit more success when trying to tame a creature] Fire starter [This skill gives you the knowledge on how to start campfires]
I laughed when I saw the Fire starter skill knowing that people would probably pick it because they thought it would give them magic. But nope, it''s really just the knowledge on how to start a campfire. I scan the list quickly again before choosing identify, back on Earth I played a couple of mmorpg games and I know that identify will be crucial to my survival especially if I can level it. The next skill I choose is Basic weaponry because other than stick fighting with other kids when I was younger, I''ve never actually handled a weapon before. I scan over basic crafting again, but I eventually decide to not choose it because I''m hoping to team up with someone else that has it. Then lastly after some more thinking I select survivalist and Runner. I selected Runner since I know that I''m not going to be as strong as others when it comes to fighting at least at first. Meanwhile the reason I selected survivalist is because in the long run knowing if berries and such is dangerous could be useful. After I picked all my skills I automatically got kicked out of the skills menu and back to the starting screen. This time there''s only one choice so I immediately select it, and the item menu comes up. The item menu only has 5 choices which makes sense since I only get to pick 2 things from it.
Items Menu (0/2) Flint and Steel Canteen Water Filter Glow Moss Compass
There''s no description of the items like there were with the skills but I guess that''s to be expected because if you don''t know what something is you probably shouldn''t use it. Although after looking at the list I notice that there''s no weapons of any kind which tells me that there will probably be some lying around the tutorial. I take a minute or two to think it over before selecting the Water Filter and the Flint and Steel. I picked the Water Filter because I don''t actually know how to make or get safe to drink water and since there''s a water filter, I''m going to guess that the water isn''t really safe to drink. It''s kinda the same reason why I selected a Flint and Steel since I have no idea how to make a fire without them. After I selected the two items the screen blinks out leaving me to the endless darkness again before another beep echoes throughout my head and the void and another box appears in front of me.
Skills Selected (4/4), Items Selected (2/2) Analyzing choices¡­. [Battle Royale Tutorial: Block 1] selected¡­ Transport initializing¡­ Portal opening¡­
¡°OH, SHIT NOT AGAIN!!!¡± I scream as I read the last line of the box and another swirly purple portal manifests beneath my feet and even though I was floating a second earlier I fall through it. I mean come on just choose if you want to use gravity or not I thought before losing consciousness once again. {Book 1} Chased I slowly regained consciousness¡­again¡­ I mean how many times can a girl get forced to go in a portal and be knocked unconscious in a day???? I just sigh, a little annoyed with whoever is in charge of the wacky portals before looking around where I had woken up. I noticeably was in a forest, and it was pretty quiet. I could hear birds chirping, squirrels scurrying in the trees and a beast growling behind me¡­ wait a beast growling behind me?! I burst up from the ground, fear coursing through me for the first time since I was initialized in this system. I run into the forest and quickly start scanning it as I sprint through, I need a stick, a weapon, anything. I can feel my heart speeding up in fear and as I''m running, I can hear the creatures'' steps thudding behind me getting closer and closer with every step I take. Thud. Thud. Thud. The creature''s steps sound out from behind and still I see nothing, no weapon, no stick, not even another creature. Just trees trees and MORE FLIPPEN TREES! I wish I had time to even just identify the thing following me, but I''m scared that if I turn around, I''ll trip and fall or even hit my head on something. The creature''s steps sound close, too close now, it must be only two feet away from me at least. Then I see something and a tiny bit of hope blooms inside of me. There fifteen feet away is a branch barely hanging onto the tree it''s connected to. All I can focus on is just running as I¡¯m counting down the distance from the tree in my head. 12 feet. 10 feet. 8 feet left but the things getting closer it must be only a foot away from me now, I don''t know why it isn''t pouncing on me, but I don''t care I''m only 3 feet away now. 2 feet. 1¡­ Finally, I reach it, I yank the branch down and turn around to face the monster. I try my best to look as big and intimidating as possible just like you would do if you were attacked by a big cat or something back on Earth. Really, I only employed this strategy because it was the first thing that came to mind but thankfully it seems like it''s working. At minimum the beast is stunned by my actions and maximum it''s terrified of the big bad giant stick wielding monster¡­. Ya that''s a little too optimistic but give a girl some wins. Quickly I realize it looks similar to how rats did back on earth. Well, if you multiplied their size by 10 and added pointy fangs to their mouth. I shake my head reminding myself to get back on track and I quickly use my new skill identify and somehow actually it worked.
Ratling [Level 2]
I let out a slight sigh of relief as I read the identify result, since now at least I knew that one I really needed to level up and two that this Ratling isn''t too far out of my fighting league. By now the Ratling had snapped out of its stunned state and had started growling at me once again. Honestly even I was surprised it hasn''t attacked me yet even though I was hoping that it wouldn''t but I''m going to guess that Ratlings are really afraid of big things or aren''t that strong in general. We stare at each for seconds past the only sounds around us are the rustling of leaves, the birds chirping and the beasts growling. Eventually, which means a few seconds after I used Identify I decide I''m going to attack the thing before it attacked me. I swung the thick branch at it without a second thought and somehow hit it square in the chest causing it to slide just a little from the force of the blow. Obviously, this just made it mad, with little to no damage being done by me other than it finally deciding it was ready to attack. It rushed forward and I quickly backpedaled away trying to avoid its razor-sharp claws and teeth while also still swinging my trusty branch at it hoping that I would hit something that would hinder it just a little. Unfortunately, I only got a couple of feet away from it before my back collided with a hard surface. I tried to glimpse behind me but all I saw was bark, which basically meant my back was to a tree. Amazing right? I shake my head at my pessimistic thoughts and focus my attention back to the problem at hand. Ultimately, I conclude that it probably isn''t going to go away unless I kill it. After I have this realization, I can feel my heartbeat faster as adrenaline fills my veins and my thoughts race as I try to figure out a way to kill it with just a branch. Then I got an idea, it was pretty primitive, but I decided that I was going to smash its head in with the branch. The best, most creative plan ever I know! Thankfully it worked¡­ in like two seconds¡­ I got a little ding sound which I''m assuming means I got some exp or leveled up but instead of checking it I just stared at the beast that I had killed. Some might have been traumatized from this occurrence, the occurrence that would probably happen again to them if the fact that I was jumped two seconds into starting is anything to go by. But me? Well, I was just dumbfounded by the fact that I was scared of the weak thing in the first place and super embarrassed that it took me like 10 minutes to kill it. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I mean it took like two swings to its head to kill and I ran from it?! I just want to bury myself in a hole and hide for the rest of my life after that embarrassment. I probably would have but no one is actually here to have witnessed it other than like the birds that are chirping in the trees so I don''t. After I sort out those feelings, I come to the conclusion that I need to look at my notifications or whatever to see if I leveled up but I don''t actually know how to do that. I just sigh, my shoulders dropping after realizing what I was going to have to do. I was going to have to say every single word for some kind of character sheet that I can think of. Of course it''s not an actual character sheet, instead it''s like some kind of profile for me I think, at least that''s how I always thought about it when I was playing mmorpg games. So, then the awkwardness began as I started saying out loud different random words. ¡°Character Sheet¡± ¡°Profile¡± ¡°Inventory¡± ¡°[Status]¡± Thankfully the word [Status] works and a transparent blue-ish screen presents itself in front of me.
~Status~ Name: Kylira Mcrath Age: 17 Race: Human Level: 2 Class: N/A Exp: [7/105] Hp: [16/20] Mana: [20/20] ~Stats~ Vit: 5 Agl: 5 Str: 5 Wis: 5 Int: 5 Free Stat Points: 3 ~Others~ Skills [Expand] Inventory [Expand]
Well, that''s helpful I think to myself as I scan the box in front of me. Although I wonder if the Items I picked earlier are in my inventory or where I was portaled¡­ I hope it''s in my inventory because I really don''t want to have to deal with trying to go back to wherever I was.
~Status~ Name: Kylira Mcrath Age: 17 Race: Human Level: 2 Class: N/A Exp: [7/105] Hp: [16/20] Mana: [20/20] ~Stats~ Vit: 5 Agl: 5 Str: 5 Wis: 5 Int: 5 Free Stat Points: 3 ~Others~ Skills [Expand] Inventory [Unexpand] Water Filter [x1] Flint and Steel [x1]
I quickly sigh in relief because thankfully one thing has gone my way today and I see that I don''t have to go find wherever I started because the items are in my Inventory. Then I look at my stat points, I have 3 available to put wherever and it really isn''t much of a choice as I really don''t want to die and right now I have absolutely no magic whatsoever so I''m assuming I don''t need Wisdom and Intelligence. That being said I decide to put 1 of each available point in each of the other three otherwise known as Strength, Agility, and Vitality bringing them up to 6 each. After I do that, I feel the urge to slap myself in the face¡­ again. Why? Well because I didn''t even try to identify the stats and see what they do because for all I know they do something different than what I''m used to! I identify the stats just a tad bit awkwardly but before I could even read a single word I hear a high-pitched scream come from further out into the woods and I pause. The voice not only disturbs the birds that were hiding in the trees peacefully around me but it also sounds terrified¡­ and young. I only hesitated a second before knowing I had to go rescue whoever that was screaming because I have no idea if little kids are in this tutorial thing and if it is a kid I can''t let them die without trying to help, my conscience just can''t take it. So, I run, I end up running a minute or two before spotting the person in question. The person is a young girl who must have been only 12 or 13 years old, and she was surrounded by two angry looking Ratlings who I proceed to identify.
Ratling [Level 3]
Ok, that one''s manageable I think to myself before identifying the second one.
Ratling [Level 6]
That one not so much¡­ This is going to be so fun¡­ yay¡­ Why was I ever happy to be brought into the System again? {Book 1} The Rescue I crouched behind the bush as I quickly tried to contemplate what I could do. No matter what I had already decided I was going to help the little girl because I knew I would never be able to leave her if I wanted to maintain my clear conscience. So, a few seconds after I identified the Ratlings I came up with what I would call a solid plan. Basically, my plan was to peek my head out and try to get the other girl''s attention so she wouldn''t freak out when she saw me sneaking up on the weaker Ratling. Hopefully I''ll be able to take the level 3 one out fairly fast with my stick and then move on to the level six one. Honestly, I was a little nervous about the level 6 Ratling but hopefully the younger girl would help, and we¡¯d be able to take it together, though if not I''m about 50% sure I can take it alone. Finally, I peeked my head over the bush I was crouched behind trying to catch the terrified girl''s eyes. I don''t know how she survived this long against the Ratlings with her only way of defending against them being kicking them away. Although it does give me the assumption that they are plain stupid. After a couple of tense seconds with me and the girl staring at each other I signal for her to be quiet and point towards the ratlings and lift my stick. The girl seems to have got the idea of what I was about to do and she nods as if giving me her permission to do it. I take a deep breath and then start moving towards the creatures, I feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins once again as I creep closer and closer. Somehow, I am able to avoid the Ratlings'' senses, though it probably helped that the girl was still fighting them¡­ and that their idiots. Anyway, I''m able to get right behind the weaker ratling before it finally notices me but by the time it noticed me my stick was already on its way down towards its head. The Ratling lasted about a second after my initial hit before I got a familiar ding sound signifying its death. ¡°That was easier than I expected¡± I said to myself before turning to look at the stronger Ratling who was snarling at me now its attention diverted from its earlier prey. ¡°Now for the hard part¡± I sighed before picking my stick up and pointing it towards the Stronger Ratling. This one I guess was already angry at me so instead of having a stare off with me like the first one I encountered it actually attacked me right off the bat! I frowned a little before I took off meeting it in the middle as I swung my stick at it. This one was relatively stronger than the previous two which was to be expected but it also meant that it was a lot harder to defeat with only a couple of hits. So, as we collided and my stick hit it on the back it didn''t just collapse like I would assume the other two would have done. Instead, it fought back, I was able to mostly dodge the blow because I was significantly taller than the smaller thing, but my shoes weren''t so lucky. I gasped as I felt pain tear across my foot and I looked down at the Ratling. My temper flared and I could feel myself getting less and less rational by the second as the terrifying realization came over me. This beast, this horrible creature trying to kill me wrecked MY SHOES. There would be no mercy, no sympathy towards this demon. It must DIE. With renewed strength I swung and slashed with my branch hitting it repeatedly in the chest,legs, back, anything solid. I don''t know how long I was there mercilessly hitting the horrible Ratling, at one point I think it even tried to flee but was unable to.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Eventually I felt a pair of hands pull me back from smashing the poor ratlings body, I dropped my weapon and fell to the ground as tears rolled down my face. I looked up at the person that had broken my trance and saw that it was the little girl from earlier. I smiled sadly up at her as I said ¡°I''m sorry you had to see that¡­ I just¡­ these are¡­ were some special shoes to me but now they''re ruined and¡­¡± New tears started forming in my eyes as I told myself to take a deep breath to try to calm myself down. ¡°It''s ok I get it¡± the girl said as she sat down beside me before continuing, ¡°Thanks for saving me out there though I¡­ I don''t think I would''ve made it without you. Because truthfully, I was terrified.¡± ¡°Ya these things are really scary at first but you get used to them after a few minutes. Oh, by the way my name''s Kylira but please just call me Ky¡± I said with a shrug a lot calmer now as I introduced myself ¡°My name''s Raven, nice to meet you Ky¡± the girl responded. We sat there in silence for a little while until finally Raven broke it by asking a question that I may have been a little too socially awkward to ask. ¡°Hey¡± she said, ¡°Do you think we can maybe you know team up?¡± I looked at her with a smile of relief since I wasn''t the one having to ask ¡°Sure!¡± I responded relieved that I would have a friend in the coming days. ¡°Great! I think the first thing we should do is find some place safe to stay for the next 60 days¡± Raven suggested with a smile ¡°I agree, I don''t think a clearing would be a good idea and with that being said we should probably move out of this clearing soon but maybe finding a cave or something would work?¡± I said contemplating our choices out loud ¡°Because if we were able to find a cave with lots of different pathways it would be a natural safeguard against our home from enemies.¡± ¡°True¡± Ravan said as she nodded and stood up. ¡°I think that''s a good plan though we probably won''t find anywhere like that for a day or two at least so we should probably head out.¡± I nodded in agreement at that before grabbing my trusty stick and standing up as well. ¡°Let''s do this¡± I said as I looked at the smaller girl ¡°And with any hope we¡¯ll encounter another monster so you can Level up.. Actually, on that note what level are you? I might''ve forgotten to identify you when we first met¡± ¡°I''m level 1 still but my status is saying I only need 6 more exp to level up so that''s a bonus.¡± ¡°Ya¡± I replied ¡°Though on that note I need to check my status too while we¡¯re walking can you keep watch¡± without waiting for a replay I opened my Status screen.
~Status~ Name: Kylira Mcrath Age: 17 Race: Human Level: 4 Class: N/A Exp: [39/130] Hp: [19/25] Mana:[20/20] ~Stats~ Vit: 6 Agl: 6 Str: 6 Wis: 5 Int: 5 Free Stat Points: 6 ~Others~ Skills [Expand] Inventory[Expand]
I grinned as I saw my status screen. Even with my mixed feelings about this world it did at least give me that familiar adrenaline rush when I leveled up like when I played mmorpgs back on Earth. So, as we walked I planned out something I haven''t done in a very long time, I planned my character except this time it would be me, and I wanted to be a mage.