《The Resolute Knight》 Integration. Im in a Game?? Arthur Black considered himself quite the normal person, average even. Good enough grades to get a good enough job with a good enough position to have a good enough life. He worked hard in school and then worked hard at his job, got promoted and celebrated with his father. There were a few problems however. He was terribly awkward and made few friends. Then again that only made him part of millions with social awkwardness, according to himself anyway. His father came from a lower middle-class background and his mother left a few months after he was born according to his dad. This left him with a vicious urge to prove himself at a young age. He regularly ignored making friends just to get a few extra marks or squeeze to an upper grade. However, even after all of that effort he finally realized one crucial thing. Hard work couldn¡¯t get you everywhere. Connections mattered; Talent mattered. Hardworking effort and discipline can be cultivated. Talent was innate. In the end people would rather have talented geniuses who could be hardworking instead of simply hardworking, Who could have guessed. Of course, Arthur had no way of knowing but his assumed uneventful life would quickly turn into an adventure really quickly. All it took was one simple message. [Integration Successful, Welcome 7th Universe] [Initiating Tutorial] [Tutorial Created; Transport Complete] [Grade assignment beginning] [ERROR!! Grade Assigned ¡®G¡¯] [Grade incompatible with Tutorial, New Tutorial created] [Beginning Pre-Tutorial] ¡®What in God¡¯s green earth¡¯, Arthur thought speechless. The blue screen in front him was baffling and looking around he wasn¡¯t the only one with such a screen. The world started fading to black and the last thing Arthur heard was the screaming of his coworkers as they, presumably, saw the same thing. ¡¯Well, that was one weird lunch¡¯, were his final thoughts before the darkness overtook him, still catching up to what was happening. [Welcome to the pre-Tutorial] [Your assigned grade was too low and the regular tutorial was extended by another month. Please try to reach ¡®E¡¯ rank by this time] [Failure to do so will result in Penalty: - Penalty being death] The world came back to color once more. Well white and blue at least did. Arthur saw a myriad of choices in front of him with the title of the system banner being ¡®Pick a class¡¯. The choices below him were as follows TUTORIAL CLASS-SWORDSMAN Wielder of the blade, the first tool made solely for war, a sword has no purpose but to kill. TUTORIAL CLASS-SPEARMAN Mixing dexterity and speed, you make use of your extended reach. TUTORIAL CLASS-ARCHER Hunt indiscriminately from afar. Your sight knows no bounds. TUTORIAL CLASS-MAGE Wield the mana around you to bend the world to your will. That was it. ¡¯Very elaborate¡¯, Arthur though sarcastically. ¡®Also magic! Mana!¡¯ he thought excitedly. ¡®This definitely wasn¡¯t something put into his food. That and no way would everyone else have the same publicly visible screens in front of them.¡¯ Arthur¡¯s brain worked fast on wondering what class to choose. With the limited descriptions he didn¡¯t have much to go off of. Still if he was in a tutorial, then safe to assume he was in a videogame like situation. That meant enemies both man and beast. Later on, it would be wiser to assume the more unscrupulous men and women would be more dangerous than the wild life.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. In the end he disregarded spearman and archer. He had no idea how to use any weapon but he knew that bows required years of training. Spears however was a personal choice. He simply found sword as the cooler weapon. ¡®Heck even maces and hammers are cooler¡¯. It was a difficult choice to make but he chose not to take Mage either. The description was basically nothing and it was too volatile .to trust. In the end his finger hovered over the SWORDSMAN option ready to pick humanity¡¯s oldest weapon. With a deep breath he pressed the option. [Excellent. Beginning Pre-Tutorial] The world went black once more. [Welcome to the Pre-Tutorial] Arthur spawned in a damp dark tunnel looking structure. His eyes quickly adjusted toward the light. He saw that he had a two-handed longsword in his hand. Clasping it tightly he read the screen in front of him. [Arthur Black] [Race-(human)-level 1 Class-swordsman(tutorial)-level 1 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 1 Strength-5 Intelligence-10 Agility-10 Widom-5 Vitality-50 Perception- 10 Will-5 Endurance-200/200 Mana-50 Skills: Race:- Identify{Unique},Language{Unique},Star-Touched Generation{Unique} Class:- N/A Profession: - N/A ] ¡°Well, that was interesting¡±, Arthur spoke out loud. He seemed to be more intelligent, perceptive and agile than average. ¡°Or perhaps I have below average strength and wisdom¡±. He had no way of checking whether his vitality was average or even his endurance or mana. Strange enough he still had mana even though he didn¡¯t pick the mage class. He was a bit sad and confused on how he had no class skills if he had a class. That and whatever Star-Touched Generation meant Arthur looked toward his right and saw another screen [You have Notification(s)] With barely a thought the screen expanded [The pre-tutorial teaches you how the new world will work along with your new abilities] [Please Steel yourself and continue] Arthur did as he was told. No sense on pissing off a system that, in his mind, could bring him to new heights. [This tutorial will teach you how to level up, progress and the general rules of the multiverse] Arthur¡¯s curiosity knew no bounds as he continued to forge onwards. After two minutes he heard a savage cry. A small green, ugly thing was in front of him. It was shirtless and wore what could barely be counted as a loincloth. It bore its fangs towards him and waved a crude looking stone sword at him. [In order to understand the world around you use Identify] Again with barely a thought and the knowledge flowed directly into his head. [Goblin- G-Grade level 1] ¡®Wait, the system said the world around me.¡¯ Arthur looked at his sword and willed his ability to work and work it did. [Tutorial steel sword +2 strength] Arthur heard two pings go off in his head. [You have Notification(s)] He opened them and smiled. [Achievement: Use Identify- You have gained experience] [Achievement: Use Identify on an object without being told to do so- You have gained bonus experience] [Human level 1¨¤2] Once again, a blue screen popped in front of him. [Please attack that goblin] ¡®Well won¡¯t say no to that¡¯, Arthur walked forward with a smile However, with a burst of speed the goblin rushed towards him, a war cry erupting from his lips. Caught off-guard Arthur barely raised his sword in time in order to stop the oncoming stone blade. He was slightly pushed back but regained his footing and pushed the goblin off. Unfazed the goblin went for another attack, ¡°Now that¡¯s just unfair at least give me one¡±, Arthur spoke with a grin. The goblin didn¡¯t seem to appreciate his humor though. The blade came at his left once again Arthur held it off. A ping went off in his head but he paid it no mind and went for an attack. He slashed wildly at the goblin. The goblin ducked but Arthur managed to change the momentum to a downward slash and sever the goblin¡¯s head It fell on the ground lifeless and he heard another ping go off. Checking his notifications he saw several notifications that answered questions and then raised a few more. [Class Skill- Block (level 1) obtained] [Class skill- slash (level 1) obtained] [You have killed G grade level 1 goblin ¨C You have gained experience] [Swordsman level 1 ¨¤ 2] He checked his status again [Arthur Black] [Race-(human)-level 2 Class-swordsman(tutorial)-level 2 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 2 Strength-5 Intelligence-10 Agility-10 Widom-5 Vitality-50 Perception- 10 Will-5 Endurance-150/200 Mana-50 Skills: Race:- Identify{Unique},Language{Unique},Star-Touched Generation{Unique} Class:- Block{level 1;Common}, Slash{level 1;Common} Profession: - N/A ] Questions Answered, Questions Gained [You have Notification(s)] ¡®Should check that out¡¯ [In pre-tutorial 1 Wis = 10 Please note that endurance recovery will be instant after the battle during the pre-tutorial All skills will lose their levels and only have grades after pre-tutorial] ¡®This is temporary? Strange but all right¡¯. Another ping went off in his head. [Please move onward] Arthur did and found another goblin. Short story made even shorter he killed another goblin. Then another and then one more for good measure. He gained 3 new skills for all three. They seemed pretty basic but he doubted that they wouldn¡¯t be useful. [Parry {Common level 1}, Counter {Common level 1}, Chop {Common level 1}] He tried to figure out what they did more and out of the blue another blue screen popped up. [Block- 30% chance of blocking an attack. This vastly increases against weaker opponents.] [Slash - A diagonal attack. Scales with Strength. The quickness of the attack scales with agility] [Parry- 15% chance of deflecting an attack. Successful parries can grant an opportunity to counterattack] [Counter- Only useable after a parry (Successful). Deals extra damage. Scales with Strength] [Chop- A Downward blow. Deals more damage compared to a downward slash.] Well, most of those were expected. The percentage of success was nice to know however. ¡®Ok, I need some core skills probably, right? Thrust seems like a nice skill to know.¡¯ A series of pings went off in his head. Arthur was starting to get annoyed by those. He should probably start ignoring those and periodically check his notifications. [Continue Forward] Another goblin charges at him after he took 8 steps. He readied his stance, a plan of action already forming in his mind, he parried the first strike a guaranteed success since the goblin was only level 1. He immediately countered, this time with a thrust through the goblin¡¯s chest. Dark red blood spewed out when he removed his sword. [You have slain a Goblin (G grade level 1)-Experience gained] [Swordsman{tutorial} (G grade level 2-->3)] [Human (G grade level 2-->3)] ¡®It took more experience this time.¡¯ Arthur thought theories forming in his mind. It might be due to the fact of how easily he killed the goblin, or because the goblin was lower level? Maybe both? [Continue] The system kept changing every time he got a new notification. Was it self-learning? Assuming it was a program or A.I. [Parry level 1-->2] [Counter level 1-->2] Already? Slash and Block haven¡¯t levelled up even though he goth them first. Was it because he used the other 2 more? Then again parry and counter are a chain of moves. A short one but still a chain, they might have a collective XP pool.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. [You have gained 20 stat points] 10 for each level. Good to know. He didn¡¯t distribute them as he didn¡¯t know if he might need them in a pitch. [Your Endurance has gone up by 300] 100 for each level? Seemed a bit excessive. He still didn¡¯t know how much endurance a good fight would take. He opened his status and clicked on his stats just to check if there was any hidden information. He played detective games before dammit! He knew he had to click everything aggressively. His stats opened and new messages flowed [For pre-tutorial 1 wisdom = 10 mana instead of usual 100 since skills cost more mana afterwards the regular ratio will be set] [Stat increasing skills or titles like {Star-Touched Generation} will not be effective during the pre-tutorial] Clicking on his levels made more message flow [Pre-tutorial will only last till G grade level 5] [Since Profession is locked for now Race level = Class level = Grade level instead of average of both] A screen popped up before he could click any of the other parts of his status. ¡°Aww no fun system¡± The system did not respond. He did get another message to continue however and continue he did. This time he was met with 2 goblins .They like all of their previous brethren charged forward in sync, down to the tone of their war cries. ¡°Come on guys, ganging up on others is unfair you know¡± The 2 showed no signs of stopping clearly marking them as evil. They split up after a few strides, approaching from opposite directions. Arthur chose to meet 1 of them head on instead of waiting for them. Rushing at the one on his right he quickly parried the first strike and thrusted, jabbing sword into the ugly creature¡¯s neck. Turning back to block the other goblin¡¯s chop attack. Pushing it off he slashed at its neck, to his surprise the goblin managed to duck and thrusted. The stone blade pierced through his clothes drawing blood. The pain made him gasp but Arthur pushed through and with a heavy chop severed the goblin¡¯s head almost into 2. Only then did he look at his notifications [New skill Thrust(G grade) unlocked{Common level 1}] [You have killed a Goblin(G grade level 1)] [Block level 1-->2] [Chop level 1-->2] [You have killed Goblin(G grade level 2)] [Bonus experience gained for killing a group of enemies] [Swordsman level 3-->4] [Swordsman level 4-->5] [Human (G grade level 3-->4)] [Human level 4-->5] ¡®Well shit 2 from 1 battle? So bonus from 2v1 and probably extra from the level 2 goblin¡¯ [Pre-tutorial is ending. Do you wish to upgrade class? Y/N ] He obviously clicked Y and got a bunch of options [Veteran swordsman {Common} ¨C You have gained more knowledge on the blade. Cutting through monster like butter. You specialize in all swords. +12 free stats per level] Yaa no. The description sucked, the rarity was common and if it was an upgrade Arthur felt that it should give more than 12 points per. A 20% increase felt a bit small. Perhaps it was the usual though for G grade. [Bladesinger {Uncommon}-Primarily focusing on agility the bladesinger moves with grace. Every swing sings a song of your sword dance. Lose your longsword for 2 one handed slashing short swords. +15 to free stats and +3 agility per level] This looked promising. It confirmed that he could higher rarity classes at this grade and objectively speaking it was much better. The only thing he was iffy about was the ¡®lose your longsword¡¯ part. He had grown used to the weapon and didn¡¯t want to ditch it just for a ¡®better¡¯ class. Add the fact that Arthur doubted that G grade classes could really affect his long-term future that much, he wasn¡¯t much inclined to take this class. He would if the next class sucked but looking at the name, he doubted that [Knight {Uncommon}- You focus on your longswords and great swords dealing more damage when wielding one and less when using any other weapon. Specializing in heavier attacks you plow through the enemy ranks with unparalleled resolve. +15 free stats and +3 strength per level] Yesss. Let¡¯s goo. He got, in his mind a perfect class. It focused on his longsword; his strength and Arthur was pretty sure that most of his attacks could be considered heavy attacks if he put enough force in it. IN other words, there was no reason to hesitate. Clicking on the Knight option he was greeted with a slew of messages. [Knight class selected. Class skill- Path of the sword gained All skills will now no longer have levels. They now scale with predetermined stats and understanding of core Principles Initiating Tutorial. ] The world lit up like a flashbang and Arthur was transported to what looked like a woodland forest. [Please reach G grade level 15 by 2 weeks Failure to do so will result in death You and four others are present in this Area After 2 weeks main Tutorial will start with all other still living humans] [Time left: 1:6:23:59] ¡°Ok Arthur you got his, just like any other video game. It is time to grind¡± [Arthur Black] [Race-(human(G grade)-level 5 Class-Knight(G grade)-level 5 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 5 Strength-5 Intelligence-10 Agility-10 Widom-5 Vitality-50 Perception- 10 Will-5 Endurance-700 Mana-500 Free points:50 Skills: Race:- Identify{Unique},Language{Unique},Star-Touched Generation{Unique} Class:- Block{Common}, Slash{Common}, Parry{Common}, Counter{Common}, Chop{Common},Path of the sword{Uncommon} Profession: - N/A ] Killing spree. A dangerous brush with death An equally hard part of hunting monsters and surviving in the wilderness that they don¡¯t tell you about is finding the actual monsters. Technically speaking Arthur already found 3 different ones. 2 turtles who were level 7(Of course G grade levels) and a baby monkey who was level 2. If the goblins taught him anything, they taught him that repeatedly killing the same monster or lower levelled monsters won¡¯t give you extra experience. Rather they gave less after every subsequent kill. The turtles however where higher levelled, in a group, and were not attack focused. 2 of those gave him extra Xp. and the last made it easier to kill them Arthur though thought differently ¡®If they¡¯re like regular turtles but better then, their defense stats are probably much higher than my attack, and I doubt that they would have gotten to that level without killing.¡¯ Arthur thus left them alone. He wasn¡¯t down on his luck for longtime. An hour or so after the turtles he saw another group of monsters, all around his level, this time he was too impatient to skip them. Three small humanoid beings were standing in front him. One of them looked elderly and had a great long and white beard. He wore a long red cloak that covered his entire lower body. The other two were similar to each other. They wore chainmail esque armor around they¡¯re torso and carried an iron or steel looking short sword. There was one massive identifying trait of theirs however. They were around three fourth of his size. [Halfling Elder Mage (level 5)] [Cursed Halfling Swordsman (level 5)] [Cursed Halfling Swordsman (level 5)] ¡®That¡¯s just false advertising, There''s nothing half about them at all!¡¯ Arthur thought with all the anger of a man who was duped one too many times. He was far more careful however, in showing that anger. As, far as he could tell all three were a good match for him on their own never mind together. So, he did the logical move, analysis. The two swordsmen were patrolling the area while the elderly mage was always between them. Arthur began forming a plan in his mind, a very simple plan of charging at the mage and killing him first. Dealing with the other two afterwards if all goes well. But first, some point allocation. 5 points each on strength and wisdom, bringing them both to ten and increasing mana to 1000. His knight levels should give him strength so he should focus on the other stats. He didn¡¯t know how much the stats affected him but being more intelligent was always a plus, thus 10 points there. 30 points left, 10 to perception and 5 to agility meant 15 down. ¡®Let¡¯s hope this investment pays off.¡¯ He checked his stats again [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 5 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 5 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 5 Strength-10 Intelligence-20 Agility-15 Widom-10 Vitality-50 Perception- 20 Will-5 Endurance-700 Mana-1000 Free points:15 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon} Profession: - N/A [Save Changes?] ] ¡®oh yeah I got these new skills as well¡¯ Clicking on Star-Touched Generation he was pretty shocked [Star-Touched Generation- Gives 10% boost to all stats {Locked till F grade} All Legends crafted and Achievements accomplished have increased value. Total Add to Legacy increased Increases momentum of level gain till ¡¯E¡¯ grade ] Holy shit that is amazing. 10% was no laughing matter since it was far better than any flat boosts. Still Arthur was far more intrigued by the other 2 bonuses. Momentum of level gain was simple to understand, easier to gain levels till he was E-grade. The capital lettered words piqued his interest far more though. Clearly the system placed more importance on those. One theory was already formed. Legends were as written, a legendary action or feat of heroism. Achievements were accomplishments. Legacy made no sense. Why would what legacy he left when he died matter? Why should it be increased? Why does the system treat like a big thing? Questions probably answered another day. He went through the class skills, nothing new there, and clicked on the save button. Instantly a slight tingling sensation went through his body. He could feel every singular part of his body that went through the changes. Certain muscles in his arms and legs for agility, his eyes and parts of his brain for perception, most of his brain for wisdom and intelligence. He assumed the muscles not affected now would be affected by strength changes. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Alright, preparations finished, time for action. He rushed the mage, his stride quickened by his improved agility, he lifted his sword, a long, slender blade. He swung at the mage but before his blade could reach the elderly halfling an arrow suddenly came from the trees. ¡®What the fuck¡¯ His blade now thoroughly deflected had to be brought to his side since by now the 2 swordsmen had caught on and caught up to him. The 2 came from either side, hitting him with a pincer. He flexed his legs and jumped backwards immediately, their swords clanged against each other¡¯s and bounced off harmlessly. Another arrow from the trees, this time from another direction, he moved his head out of the way and peered into the trees and saw the attacker. A female halfling with a bow and the outline of a quiver at her waist, a brown cloak covering her. [Halfling Archer (level 5)] The difficulty and danger levels of this mission just increased vastly. He didn¡¯t have any reliable ranged attack or a way of defending against them. Arthur gritted his teeth and lunged against the swordsman, after all, pressing forward through setbacks was something he was used to. A parry to the first attack, batting away the blade easily, he thrust his blade forward. The halfling ducked, much like the goblin before, forcing Arthur to hastily block using his skill. He decided to parry again this time using the counter skill to guarantee an attack but before he could a faint whistling sound came from his left. Jerking his head back he dodged another arrow, but he couldn¡¯t dodge the stab coming from his back. ¡®Shink!¡¯ went the blade as it digged into his flesh. Ignoring the pain the his chopped, with his skill, at the halfling in front of him who still hadn¡¯t move, the idiot. His sword cut through the flesh and lodged it self deep into the lungs of the halfling. While he was pulling his sword out to confront the other swordsman he felt a burst of heat from his right. Looking at the source he found a football sized fireball in the palm of the mage¡¯s hand. He readied the skill and shot it at Arthur, who in total panic lifted the Halfling in front of him and braced for impact. The force of the fireball-turned-bolt still knocked him back but it did no damage. He lowered the halfling just in time to see the second Halfling swordsman rushing him with his sword raised high and a cry erupting from his lips. Once again, he used the dead body to block an attack and retaliated with a counter, unskilled, stabbing the neck of his opponent. A ding went off in his head and he focused on the mage. He was chanting in some language which he could barely understand, something about Valsa¡¯s flames whoever that was. Dropping the body, he rushed at the mage, infusing every footstep with strength, willing his body to go faster. He didn¡¯t forget about archer either he kept an eye on his periphery at all times. A glint of steel appeared at the edge of his vision and he pumped the breaks, narrowly missing an arrow to the shoulder. He set off again finally reaching the mage, the halfling opened his eyes and cried out the final word of his chant, it was too late for Arthur. He used the chop skill but the flames redirected themselves, covering the mage. His blade was rebuffed and the recoil made him inadvertently dodge another arrow. He waited to see what came next and that5 was when the fight became weird. The mage didn¡¯t continue at all and when Arthur scanned the forest, he saw that the archer lady wasn¡¯t really focusing either, she simply took out the arrow from her quiver, not really nocking it. ¡®This is really like a game. She doesn¡¯t attack unless I¡¯m after the mage and the mage wont attack unless I give him an opening right now. We¡¯re stuck in a stalemate¡¯ Right thinking time, and in order to think he needed to breathe. Arthur took a deep breath and then another, all while keeping an eye for any whistling sounds or odd glints of steel. In those moments, something extraordinary happened. The world suddenly gained a new level of clarity. Arthur could feel a new substance in the very air itself, an infinite number of small layers of particles, like a desert. Then a large ping vibrated through his skull forcing him to open his eyes. [Warning excess mana detected in body; Arcane overload effect gained] [Mana: 1050/1000] A tingling sensation appeared on every cell of his body, from the tips of his hair to his soles. It moved through his fingers and passed through his right one in order to go through his sword. A stroke of genius struck the burgeoning knight. He used the mana infused sword to perform a Thrust with far more power. It breached through the flame wall like butter instantly killing the elderly mage. He whipped his head to look at the archer and saw that she was in the `middle of drawing the arrow. Arthur glared at her with all his might, trying like before to infuse his anger into his stare. He felt the sands of mana around him once again and tried his best to push them at her. There was no noticeable change but the halfling loosened her grip on the arrow. She gave him a look of interest and then retreated. ¡®Good Heavens, that sucked¡¯ [You have killed Cursed Halfling swordsman (Level 5)] [You have killed Cursed Halfling swordsman (Level 5)] [You have killed Halfling Elder Mage (level 5)] [You have gained skill: Battlefield awareness {Common}] [You have gained skill: Knightly presence {Rare}] ¡®Oh, that is so cool!!¡¯ And it was, a skill with presence in the damn title itself and it was only rare!! Which implied that there were upgrades! Who wouldn¡¯t get excited over these sort of things [Knight level 5 -- > 7(G grade)] [Human level 5 -- > 7(G grade)] +200 Endurance, +30 strength [Warning you¡¯re at critical health] [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 5 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 5 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 5 Strength-40 Intelligence-20 Agility-15 Widom-10 Vitality-50 Perception- 20 Will-5 Endurance-900 Mana-1000 (Health 100/1000) Free points:35 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] ¡®Holy shit 900! they did that much damage? Where even was this stat, they didn¡¯t show it in the pre tutorial, that¡¯s shitty game mechanic. Can I even upgrade Vitality, that¡¯s s a stupid question of course I can¡¯ Arthur immediately put 10 points into vitality. Turns out that was a bit less since each vitality point is 20 health, which put his health at 1200. He then put 15 more points into vitality overall he had 1500 health. A good enough amount for now. He put the remaining ten points into Will since that was hi slowest stat leaving him with zero free points remaining. ¡®Got to rectify that soon enough but perhaps after a small break¡¯ He laid down on the ground amidst the scorched earth, arrows, and bodies. Even though he knew it was not a good idea, Arthur closed his eyes and let peaceful sleep take him. [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 7 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 7 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 7 Strength-40 Intelligence-20 Agility-15 Widom-10 Vitality-75 Perception- 20 Will-15 Endurance-200 Mana-1000 (Health 100/1500) Free points:35 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] Some Experimentation Some Experimentation Arthur woke up to the dried blood and gore of his fallen enemies. A moment later he noticed the crow that was on his shoulder. Though it flew away when he turned his head. He woke up and checked his status once again [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 7 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 7 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 7 Strength-40 Intelligence-20 Agility-15 Widom-10 Vitality-75 Perception- 20 Will-15 Endurance-900 Mana-1000 (Health 1500/1500) Free points:35 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] He had to check what three of those skills were still, so he clicked on them. [Path of the Sword: - Your first oath on your path as a knight. Deal increased damage with Knightly swords. Knightly Swords are many times classified as longswords. Battlefield awareness: - Your mind never loses focus during the heat of the battlefield allowing you to perceive hidden enemies, unseen attacks or out of focus threats more easily. Knightly Presence: - Your will as a knight made manifest. Let your enemies feel the brunt of your attention. This effect decreases with increase in targets willpower. All allies within a small radius will have 5% of all stats increased.] Well damn, it sucked not having allies but at least the fear ability was good. He hade 35 free points however and only an inkling on how to use them. An increase in will was needed for Knightly Presence but did he want to uses even a handful of points for one skill. Strength could be gained in Knight levels and Vitality was already pretty high. However, he still needed health just to be safe. Looking at his stats 10 points in Wisdom and 5 in Agility and Will were required just so that they were at the same level as the rest. As for the rest of the 15 points, he decided to go 5 in Intelligence, Perception and Agility, Afterall those were the things he was good at initially. [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 7 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 7 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 7 Strength-40 Intelligence-25 Agility-25 Widom-20 Vitality-75 Perception- 25 Will-20 Endurance-900 Mana-2000 (Health 1500/1500) Free points:0 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] Ok. Stats figured out, now to go do the rest of the checklist, First task- Figuring out mana. ------------------------------><------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------- After finding a river to wash the bloodstains off of his clothes, Arthur sat down and meditated in order to recreate the events of the fight. The System said something about an Arcane Overload, and he experienced some sort of mental state with the sudden increase in clarity and the appearance of literal mana in the air surrounding him. However, even after a solid ten minutes of slow breathing and trying to calm his mind Arthur couldn¡¯t see mana again. He thought deeper and deeper on his new skill. Arthur decided on using a tried-and-true method of figuring something out. Analysis. There were several factors that could affected the Overload.
  1. He was in a fight.
  2. He had a weapon in his hand.
  3. The level of focus was a bit different in battle when compared to what he was doing now.
  4. The mage was actively using a magic skill most likely affecting the mana in the air
A few of those he ruled out. 2 couldn¡¯t be a condition since the sensation spread across his entire body and then to his blade. While Arthur couldn¡¯t differentiate between the different types of mana what was clear was that the mage was using a fire skill, while the Arcane-Overload-causing-mana, tasted well ... mostly tasteless. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. That left 1 and 3. If 1 affected the state then he couldn¡¯t access Mana unless he was in a fight. Arthur disliked this one on a gut feeling. Plus, if Professions existed then wouldn¡¯t someone have tried to augment his/her profession using magic or better yet, have completely magical professions like potion crafter or enchanter? This left 3 as the only viable option unless he was missing something. Arthur didn¡¯t believe that to be the case. He once again tried to recreate the feeling of battle but as one would expect, without a proper battlefield that proved extremely difficult for him, a man with no battlefield experience before the System. For hours he tried his luck scaring off smaller monsters and animals with presence, something which enhanced his knowledge about the skill quite a bit. Finally, after a good five hours of barely interrupted practice, he found something. His eyes tingled as the world of mana was brought to his eyes once more. He spent another hour or so simply trying to move this new substance, these small sand like particles hovering in the air. In that time Arthur searched deeply into himself, trying to something, anything that could help him and after a few minutes he succeeded. [Gained new skill: Mana Sense: - Your perception of this new world increases once more, allowing you to feel the new desert-like plane that has emerged with this new Era. Allows you to see mana if concentrating] ¡®Niceee finally a mana skill after a few days of having mana and nothing to use it for. Granted Mana Sense did nothing for combat, but perhaps it could be used to see through traps or illusions, since there is no way, someone hasn¡¯t found out how to create them.¡¯ Speaking of days, there was a Countdown given at the start, right? Arthur barely thought about it when a loud ping went off in his head and a blue screen appeared in front of him. [Time left: 1:4:4:09] 4 hours and nine minutes till the third day of the tutorial passes. Its slightly startling to think that merely 3 days ago his life was merely a bit boring. Another thing brought up by the timer was the level requirement to pass the tutorial, or rather to live through the tutorial. Arthur needed to be G grade level 15 atleast in order to continue. He was level 7. 8 levels in 11 days. Even if he levelled up by 1 per day, he would breach the requirement, this meant one very important thing. Experimentation!! Which would be why one would have found Arthur in the middle of five level 3 baby monkeys slaughtering them like cattle. Granted there was a better reason for this than simple sadistic carnage. This massacre was to find out how easy it was to gain levels. Turns out, not very easy. Thankfully the other experiment of trying to create a safer version of arcane overload was going more smoothly. He Arthur figures out a way to feel the innate mana present within him and move it around, which unfortunately for him took mana and a little bit of endurance. This led to him gaining the skill [Mana recovery: - Access the mana of the world around you with nary a breath. Allows the user to replenish mana reserves by breathing] Finishing up the five critters he stopped and once again tried moving the mana flowing within him. ¡®The mana cost has to be because I am not some Mage or because I do not have any skill regarding this.¡¯ A few hours of repeated exercise and using mana breathing to replenish exhausted reserves is what it took to be able to move it comfortably, he noticed that the mana cost went down every successful iteration. Opening his closed eyes to blood and gore, for the second time in four days. He looked at his mana and saw that it was little over halfway full, as he started heading to the river in order to drink water and relieve himself, not necessarily in that order, Arthur finally realised something that never occurred to him in the beginning of all this madness. Food. Arthur had only eaten berries and fruits that looked safe to eat after thorough identification. He hadn¡¯t had meat in days. Looking back those turtles would made good snacks, wouldn¡¯t they? Perhaps he should start looking for them again. Barely 20 or so metres away Arthur heard a loud wail come from the general direction of the baby slaughter. ¡°Now that I think about this, babies generally have fathers ¡­ and mothers, well fuck this I¡¯m out.¡± Trying out his new mana movement ability he tried infusing mana to his legs in an attempt of what happened before and booked it to his general ¡®home¡¯ area. A half hour later a bedraggled Arthur appears in front of the first river he had seen since he came into this world. Its waters were clear and the faster areas had white froth bubbling at the top of it. He took a small canteen-like object he had ¡­ borrowed from the halfling earlier, using it to scoop up the water. After a bit of rest, the young Knight went in the opposite direction of the baby monkeys, unaware of the pair of red eyes that followed him. While walking Arthur played around with his magic finally understanding how to empower his entire body with mana. A green aura lightly floated off his body in what Arthur assumed was a literal visible representation of his mana. It wafted off his body extremely fast and the entire process was very cost inefficient, so he had no plans on using it yet. Suddenly Arthur realised something. The forest was too quiet, the birds sounded far away, the calls of wild animals were nearly silenced. Something was wrong. He walked into somewhere he wasn¡¯t supposed to be. A territory that so wasn¡¯t his, the mere thought of it being his invoked laughter in his subconscious. A loud bark of anger erupted from his right. Turning around so hard he was sure pre system he would have broken his neck, he stood in front of a large completely bipedal, black furred monkey. A female one by it looks [Feral Simian {Enraged} (Level 9)] ¡°Ah, the consequences of my action, how lovely to see you¡± Clearly the shock of encountering a six-and-a-half-foot primate had made his humour quite a bit worse. He instantly unsheathed his sword before seeing a far larger threat up in the trees. [Bruiser Ape (Level ??)] ¡®Question marks! I beg your pardon System, what¡¯s the point of having an identify skill if I can¡¯t Identify creatures.¡¯ Ping! [Creature is beyond your League.] ¡®Oh, a System confirmed badass. Never mind please ignore me.¡¯ Another bark of anger. He focused on the mother once more. She crouched and, in an instant, leaped over to maul him. In two great bounds she reached him and in swipe that took barely a second she swung her great fist at him. Only, she forgot one thing. Arthur is only one level lower. ¡®Primates were stronger than us before the System, no reason for that to change now, plus she¡¯s higher level the chances that I have dodging that attack are higher.¡¯ Stepping out her range and stepping back in quickly he gripped his sword with both his hands tightly and Thrust. Stabbing her left flank the great ape grabbed his sword and ripped it out of his hands flinging it somewhere far away. ¡°Well shit¡±, Arthur audibly gulped. Once again, the enraged mother swung, this time it connected. Pushed back by the sheer force of the punch, Arthur heard a few dangerously louds cracks. Grunting and spitting everywhere he punched wildly at the monkey, a few of the shots landed for all the good it did him. Aiming for a more precise hit he punched wherever the animal¡¯s solar plexus would have been. He jumped away when the beast hunched over, gasping. Analysing the situation, he decided to try out the experimental technique. Directing man to his arms, he punched the simian¡¯s gut and then it suddenly clicked. He felt as if he finally found what he was missing. The mana flowed through his arms and out of his fists, expelled with enough force to break through its skin. Another fast punch to the gut. The great ape started coughing up blood. Inhaling a massive amount of mana, he ended the 1-2-3 combo with an absolute haymaker to the face. Using presence to make it immobile for a few seconds, the final punch broke bone and caused brain matter to splatter everywhere. Green mana wafted everywhere around him, Arthur calmly looked at the Bruiser ape. It stared back with absolute disinterest. Then all of a sudden it cracked a large toothy smile, it jumped away. Hopping away from Arthur, who exhaled a heavy breath he didn¡¯t know he was holding. ¡®God, that thing couldn¡¯t have killed me so fucking fast.¡¯ For the second time that day he once again ran away from a crime scene. This was getting old really fast. Atleast he got some level out of this. [Knight level 7 -- > 8(G grade)] [Human level 7 -- > 8(G grade)] +15 Strength +100 Endurance +10 stat points [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 8 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 8 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 8 Strength-55 Intelligence-25 Agility-25 Widom-20 Vitality-75 Perception- 25 Will-20 Endurance-623/1000 Mana-800/2000 (Health 1000/1500) Free points: 10 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] Surviving an Ambush(1) ¡°That monkey was one tough son of a bitch. Thank God she was enraged, whatever that meant, perhaps a barbarian class for monkeys?¡± The following few days were quite worrying. Arthur only managed to get his human level up by 1 bringing it up to a nine, just by surviving, and his endurance up to a 1100 from that level which confirmed that Endurance was race related. No stat points although. Even then the progress was too slow for him. 1 week left and exactly seven levels to gain. If the past few days taught him something, levelling wasn¡¯t easy. Finding something worth killing was as hard as killing the damn thing. All he could hope for was the best, even the turtles he saw back then were a bit too easy for him. Those four days were spent trying to prefect his understanding of mana, which still hadn¡¯t given him a skill, and try and figure out Knightly presence. Both of those were going poorly to say the least. Mana cost efficiency was still to low and his experiments to try and push the mana out of his blade forcefully to let out some sort of badass aura slash (come on he just got magic, let him try and live a few childish fantasies). The sheer inability of his ¡®slash¡¯ led him to try and figure out his sword more. [Tutorial-issue (G grade) steel long sword {Inferior} Enchantments: None] The long part probably helped with his Path of the Sword ability. The lack of enchantments was disheartening, he could even see a few chips at the edges near the tip. ¡°This sword might not be able to conduct mana at all. God above it might break soon enough.¡± If it broke, he could always loot a sword from some Halfling swordsman. All in all, Arthur was screwed and if he didn¡¯t work on it, he might not survive the first two weeks of the tutorial at all. Speaking of surviving he wondered how the others might be doing. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Dad in a week. God I really fucking hope he¡¯s not dead yet. Or even my coworkers, John, Lucy, or IT Martin¡± Granted Arthur wasn¡¯t sure if they were truly his friends. Friends were hard to make or classify after his college years. Even then, he still cared about them to a certain extent. Plus, his Dad was way too old to deal with all of this. ¡°All I can do is trust them. Trust and pray I suppose.¡± Flexing his presence on some level 5 pig, he started thinking on the weird shit that has been happening during the tutorial. ¡®First the Halfling Archer runs away instead of shooting me, then the massive System-approved badass that was that bruiser monkey. Unusual behaviour for a game NPC from the former, and the unidentifiability of the latter.¡¯ Arthur gazed at his left hand looking at the green magic aura that was being expelled from it. ¡®Hmmmm. Expels from the hand, but I can¡¯t make it go into the sword. Perhaps idea¡¯s solid but the tool sucks?¡¯ Pondering on the new thought, Arthur made his way to the river. Stripping his shirt and unbuckling his sheath, he knelt at the bank to wash his face and upper-body. Once again, Arthur got a bad feeling in his bones. He heard a faint scratching sound across the gravel ¡®Scrip-scrap, Scrip-scrap¡¯ Getting up in a hurry, Arthur looked back, only to see a back of a large, furry, black back of some large animal duck to his left. In an instant, something heavy collided with his flank. The force from the impact pushed him a couple feet back and left him staggered. Rising up, he barely ducked on seeing the open jaws of the beast, who lunged at him in that moment. Swinging around he managed to finally identify this creature. What he saw did not comfort him, rather it brought terror to his bones. [Level 12(G grade) Wind-blessed Wolf] ¡®LEVEL 12¡¯ Yeah, the mere sight of that number told him many things. One, even if windlassed was a common rarity class, which he doubted, the wolf surpassed his stats. Two this beast could outlast him; endurance was something he was relying on when it came to defeating slightly higher levelled opponents and this wolf completely outclassed him. ¡®That monkey was enraged and couldn¡¯t thin properly, that and a two-level difference caused a 500 health decrease along with basically 400 endurance.¡¯ ¡®God help me I don¡¯t even have a bloody weapon.¡¯ Lunging backwards with a mana enhanced kick, he kept his eyes on the wolf. The wolf, proved that it didnt really matter if he kept his eyes on it. Its legs tensed and then I disappeared. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. A brief gust of wind and then the beast appeared once more in front of him. It swung its claws and it ripped through his skin like a hot knife through butter. Arthur cried out in pain, as he tumbled through the ground, getting cuts across his back, chest and arms in addition to the claw attack from the wolf. Getting back up, he dropped to the ground once again, successfully dodging another deadly swipe. Enhancing his fists he punched the wolf twice in the stomach. The wolf howled and turned into wind, reappearing quite far away, for Arthur at least. Taking the opportunity, he sprinted towards his swords, sliding down to grab it. Turning back and raising his guard, he braced for impact, an impact which never came. The blasted wolf had stayed back. Light blue and light green mana seeped from his fur, twirling all around him. The beast¡¯s eyes glowed a sickly green and he sprinted towards him before turning to a fine green mist. Arthur raised his sword but the attack came from behind, slicing it up. ¡°Fuck me, the bugger¡¯s fas-¡± Another scratch this time at his right leg. Brought down to one knee. Arthur barely had time to cry out before his sword arm was chomped on. Glaring at the smug wolf, he used presence, slowing down the creature for a second. Punching the wolfs snout, he showed a bloody grin at the sudden cries of pain. Another punch, this time mana-enhanced. He compressed the entirety of the gathered mana in his right fist, forgoing the sword, and finally succeeded on ¡®blasting¡¯ the mana into the wolf. Immediately he felt far more drained than any of the previous punches. This didn¡¯t stop him however. Taking a huge gulp of air, as was necessary for mana recovery, he rained down another 3 punches down at the beast, revelling at its cries. ¡®I can¡¯t lose. Not now. Not again. I can¡¯t be left behind again! I won¡¯t be!¡¯ Determination flowed through his very veins before [You are out of mana, Status Mana Deficiency afflicted: Cannot use any mana (Even freeform) until 20 mana is gained.] ¡°NO¡± Arthur screamed, his anger permeating through his very voice. He needed to gain more mana quickly. Raining down normal punches he increased his wisdom by 2. Though the total increased by 200, the required mana increased by 2 as well. ¡®Fuck, Fuck, Fuck I refuse. I won¡¯t allow myself to fail. I can¡¯t. I will be known in this World. I Swear it. I SWEAR IIIITTTTT.¡¯ In the middle of his mental rant Arthur got kicked straight in the stomach. Flying back he landed with a loud thud, skipping over the ground. The gravel of the riverbank cut scrapes across his back. After the final thud he felt a large object poke at his back. Getting back up and lifting it he found his sword once again. [Damaged Tutorial-issue (G grade) steel long sword {Inferior} Enchantments: None] ¡°Go damn it, damaged? You little shit , I¡¯m going to kill you so- hoh! - harrrd¡± Taking a deep breath with every other word, He glared balefully at the wolf. [Health 800/1500] [Endurance 400/1100] [Mana 11/2000] This was going to take a lot of work. Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, Arthur readied his blade into a thrusting position. The wolf still had not moved from its original position. The two beings met eyes, but neither sprang forward. On the contrary, the wolf had leaped back away from him. Arthur kept on taking breaths, trying to gulp as much air as he could, both for recovering END. as well as Mana. He quickly came to realise that this method was too slow. Mana trickled into him at a snail¡¯s pace. ¡®Well, if you¡¯re going to give time to spend then who am I to refuse?¡¯ Arthur¡¯s grey eyes, now no longer glowing green with mana, and the wolf¡¯s amber eyes broke apart, as both of them silently and mutually agreed to recuperate¡­ somehow. Arthur focused on every aspect of his breathing. From the way mana flowed into his body to how it was absorbed. Eventually enough time passed when suddenly Ping! [Mana Recovery(Common) -- > Mana Recovery(Uncommon)] [Your understanding of this primeval force has expanded, you now have the ability to passively recharge mana reserves via breathing through your nose] ¡°Fuck that lousy upgrade¡±, looking back at the wolf it seemed that most of its moves were healing already. Arthur had recovered more than half of his mana already, most critical wounds healed and scarred. It seemed that the second bout was about to begin. Both fighters tensed their muscles before springing towards each other. Arthur¡¯s sword met the wolf¡¯s claws. A screeching sound could be heard across the riverside. Arthur chose to conserve mana this time, only using it to escape certain strikes and close distance The wolf retained the liberal attitude about its seemingly never-ending mana reserves. It hopped, lunged, leaped and altogether dodged most of the attacks it couldn¡¯t outright block. The only cuts Arthur could make were shallow thrusts across the beast¡¯s side. Each rebuffed attempt made him angrier; each attack was slopier than the rest. Finally- SCHLINK!! ¡°AARGH¡±, Arthur cried out, closing his left eye due to an explosion of pain. The Wind-Blessed one merely grinned a smug, toothy grin. Something in Arthur cracked. Blood roared inside his arteries. A pounding sound appeared in his ears, playing the tune of the drums of battle. The world burst into colour, shades of green permeated throughout. Arthur felt his body become one with mana. Every small sand like molecule, these ¡®magicules¡¯, that were flooded throughout the metaphysical plane. He felt his skin interact with these particles. He felt how they rebuffed it. No, that won¡¯t do at all. He willed his skin to accept the free, formless mana present throughout the air and his body did as he commanded it to. His soul established an unfettered connection to the hidden world around him. His mana recharged 3 times as quickly. Hi body glowed green and he was sure his eyes did too. The Wind-Blessed Wolf continued to watch him, the amusement from maiming him still present, its eyes reflected intrigue. For a moment, Arthur could partially understand the beast. The empathy turned into anger, when he remembered why he could only see half of what he was used to. ¡°You wanted this right? You sick beast. Time for round three¡± Whether or not the wolf ¡®wanted¡¯ this or not was up to debate but the young Knight was sure of one thing. As he readied his blade, Arthur knew there was no fourth chance to survive, no fourth round, as of this moment. It was to do or to die. [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 9 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 8 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 8 Strength-55 Intelligence-25 Agility-25 Widom-20 Vitality-75 Perception- 25 Will-20 Endurance-512/1000 Mana-1069/2000 (Health 800/1500) Free points: 10 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common}, Knightly presence {Rare} Profession: - N/A ] Surviving an Ambush(2) The steel of his blade clanged with the wolf¡¯s claws. Arthur lost himself in the rhythm of the battle. The back and forth between them. In one moment, he would gain the advantage and in the next, the beast would turn the tide of the battle with one well timed pounce. His left side was, understandably, more battered than his right side, on account of his missing eye. Speaking of his missing eye, Arthur could feel another energy flow within him towards it. This one was infused inside of him constantly, unlike mana which only gave him this sensation the first few times he used it or when he redirected it to one of his body parts. It gathered around his torn eyeball and soothed it. While it did that, Arthur focused on trying to be more cautious in his approach. He hung back more often, ignored openings which seemed too good. The wolf had doubled down on its assault. Mana radiated from its claws. The wolf¡¯s speed was twice if not thrice Arthur¡¯s own when moving in one direction, he could only save himself by pre-emptively dodging, a move which had its own flaws. He put all 10 of his stat points into Agility as he sprang forward. TING! TING! Went his blade as he swung it down on the beast¡¯s head, hoping to end this nightmare as soon as possible. But it was all for naught. Arthur could feel himself tiring. The flow of vital energy towards his eye was slowly splitting into small chunks, as his body tried to heal the cuts and scrapes his left side had received. The last vestiges of mana that he was sparingly using was dwindling, the pool of mana, inside what he had deemed his soul, was drying. Until a ray of light shined into his life, via a System given message of course. [You have shown mettle and tenacity. Your merits have been acknowledged] [Human (G grade) level 9 -- > level 10] +100 Endurance, [You have gained a boost in Vital Energy, Endurance and Mana for 30 seconds] [You have acquired an Achievement!] [Achievement: Reach Level 10 in either Race/Class] [You have beaten 73% of all other Humans on your planet]] [Your Achievement has given you a title: Burgeoning Tale 2% to all stats] ¡°Yes! That¡¯s right little bitch! The System itself favours me!¡± Arthur screamed out loud, a grin forming on his face. He could feel the new energies flowing throughout his body. He instinctively knew that in a few moments his eye would heal completely. His muscles were losing their soreness. With a reenergised body and spirit. He leapt towards the confused Wind-Blessed Wolf. He immediately raised his sword high, pulling all the mana flowing within him towards his limbs. His mind went into overdrive. He subconsciously studied the mana that he wielded. How it interacted with the world. ¡¯It seems inert, not moving or really doing anything.¡¯ How he interacted with it. ¡®I seem to pull it inside me. Then it changes?¡¯ Either way it didn¡¯t matter. As the wolf tried to run away fruitlessly, as he chased it untiringly, Arthur gained more understanding on how to absorb it even if hi understanding on what happened after was rather lacking. [Mana Recovery (Uncommon) -- > Mana Recovery (Rare)] [Your Understanding of this primeval force goes beyond most of this grade. You stand amongst the peak of your race in this feat.] [You can actively recover mana by breathing through your nose while in combat and whilst out of combat you can recover mana faster through your skin] Another lousy ass upgrade that couldn¡¯t help him in the moment. But Arthur didn¡¯t stop there. He continued to study man as he clashed blows with the wolf. The beast now firmly on the backpedal. [Man Recovery (Rare) -- > Mana Recovery (Epic{False})] [Mana is laid bare to your mind. Your Understanding of this primeval force surpasses all but the most talented or fortunate of your race. May your Understanding take you to new heights] [You can recover mana by breathing through your nose, mouth or by absorbing it through your skin during combat. Whilst out of combat or while sitting still, mana recovery is increased by 100%] [Feat unlocked: Creating/Gaining an Epic ranked skill while still in G-grade] [All stats increased by 15] Arthur laughed maniacally as mana flowed into his soul. He splurged on his new ¡®funds¡¯. The air was covered in a thick green mist. As Arthur finally thrust the sword into the Wolf¡¯s eye, relief flooded throughout his being. ¡°Finally. You were one tough bastard¡± [You have killed Wind-Blessed Wolf (Level 13)] Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. [Bonus Experience for killing a higher levelled opponent] ¡°What? How are you level 13? Did you level while fighting me! You absolute knob!¡± Arthur blatantly ignored the hypocrisy coming from his mouth, fuming at how the wolf gained a boost probably before the second round. Perhaps right before it tore through his eye? Now was not the time to think of that though. Instead Arthur was more interested on his Achievement and his feat, but first. [You have gained levels!] [Human level 10 -- > level 11] +100 Endurance [Human level 11 -- > level 12] +100 Endurance [Knight level 8 -- > level 9] +15 Strength + 10 stat points [Knight level 9 -- > level 10] +15 Strength + 10 stat points [Knight level 10 -- > level 11] +15 Strength + 10 stat points [Knight level 11 -- > level 12] +15 Strength + 10 stat points Good God. 40 stat points. And that wasn¡¯t even the beginning. [You have acquired an Achievement!] [Achievement: Reach Level 10 in either Race/Class] [You have beaten 73% of all other Humans on your planet]] [Your Achievement has given you a title: Burgeoning Tale 2% to all stats] [ERROR!!] [Achievement already unlocked] [Negating Achievement] [You have reached a Milestone.] [Achieve G-grade level 10] [You are now on par with freshly born babies of the other universes.] [You have reached level 10 in your class. Class Skills available] [Would you like to acquire class skills.] That made no sense. He was already gaining class skills. How did hitting a ¡®milestone¡¯ get him more skills? Well, who was he to complain? That was confusing but the milestone text was truly terrifying. Not even newborns, freshly born babies were on the level of level 10s? Arthur feared the power level of the higher tiers, knowing that there six more letters to go in terms of grade. Thinking yes in his mind a blue screen flashed in front of his face. [G-grade class skill selection] [Focus thrust (Uncommon)] You have proven yourself to be a master of this move. Your prowess exceeds a small portion of your race but within time it may exceed all of them. While standing still and in the proper stance you can charge your blade with mana. The charged attack deals more damage and is more likely to pierce3 through natural or artificial barriers and defences. Damage scales with time spent charging and mana spent on blade. ] Merely looking at this skill made Arthur feel stupid. Afterall, he couldn¡¯t see a use for this skill. Who would simply allow him to wait and charge up an attack to deal more damage towards them. For an archer or a rouge, he could see that attack working but for a fighter that¡¯s up in front of you? No Arthur saw no use for this skill now. [Sense Weakness (Uncommon)] [Your experience in battle speaks for itself. Your memory of every opponent¡¯s weak spots and blind spots remain fresh in your mind for later review] [Be able to sense critical spots to strike your opponents] The flavour text was a bit lacking in this one but he got the general gist. This looked far more useful than the focus thrust skill. If the final option was worse than this, he would probably pick this one. [Mana infusion (Rare)] [Your control over this force of nature has reached new limits. Enhance weapons with your man like you do for your body like its second nature] [Infuse man into any tool in your grasp. Warning, too much mana can break the sword] This clearly took the cake. Sense Weakness who? He could finally use mana with his sword, who wouldn¡¯t want to do that? With all the haste of a child on a sugar high Arthur clicked on the third and final option. Only to realise one very important detail. His sword was damaged. And of inferior rarity. Well hindsight is 20/20. Immediately trying out his new skill, Arthur filled with sword with mana. Slowly enough, the sword began to leak out emerald green mana, darker than the mana he sees around him but same as the colour his fists took when infused. Clearly, this different mana was ¡®his¡¯ mana, so-to speak. Testing out a few slashes, he found the sword to be lighter but nothing else. He would need live targets to test out the sharpness. ¡°First however before the fun times, stats because good lord are they not balanced.¡± He put 30 points immediately into Will in order to bring it up to 50, putting it on par with Agility, ahead of Wisdom, Intelligence and Perception but far behind Vitality and Strength. Arthur wondered how the future classes would affect the passive gain of stats, since 15 was already proving to be busted. The rest of the ten points could be spread equally into Wisdom and Perception. Being perceptive could help with hunting, or avoid being hunted. The Wisdom was necessary since it boosted his mana reserves and he couldn¡¯t afford another Mana Fatigue incident. After fixing up his stats, Arthur saw something out of place. His stats had extra boosters? Right, he did see some sort of Achievement and something called a Feat while fighting the wolf. Checking both Arthur had some theories. Achievements were probably something the System wanted him to do. That or it was expected that he could do it. The Feat on the other hand, was likely something to celebrate about more. The Achievement gave more of a reward since percentage boosters were, rightfully, more appreciated than pure stat upgrades. Keeping his Mana Sense active after a battle was not something he always did, but neither was staying awake or not running away after a battle. Looking around, Arthur simply enjoyed the beauty surrounding him. The light green mana in the air, the emerald green mana deep inside him (in his soul?) the light blue mana of the river, the brown mana below his fee--Wait! Blue mana in the river? Brown below his feet? Arthur could see it clearly. The green sands he saw around him was quite unique. The air shifted constantly. The mana molecules flowed over and under each other. They never clashed against each other. The other mana molecules were different. The river was light blue, first of all, the particles moved in one direction. They moved in perfect flow, compared to the erratic behaviour of the green particles. They stayed in relative order. They brown mana within the earth was the complete opposite. It never moved, in fact it looked more like they tried to stick together and push his feet back from stepping on them. Arthur jumped up and down, feeling like an absolute child, he saw the brown mana, vibrating as little as possible up and down and stay in their place. It took him to long to realise that the colours were about their respective elements. Blue for water, green for air, and brown for earth. As soon as he realised this an epiphany struck. If these elements, so could fire. Plus, he just got an ability to infuse his sword with mana Arthur grinned another maniacal grin. This was going to be fun [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 12 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 12 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 12 Strength-130(+3) Intelligence-40(+1) Agility-50(+1) Widom-40(+1) Vitality-90(+1) Perception- 45(+1) Will-50(+1) Endurance-430/1300 Mana-1108/4100 (Health 723/1820) Free points: 40 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common} Knightly presence {Rare}, Mana infusion {Rare}, Mana Recovery { Epic}, Mana Sense {Common} Profession: - N/A Titles: Burgeoning Tale ] The strongest. A table turned Elsewhere while Arthur was farming animals and low level halflings, things were looking either grim or hopeful for the other tutorials. -------------------><-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------------- Tutorial- Aa1012 A field of green was drenched in blood. Rivers of it flowed and collected at the lowest point. Corpses of halflings and goblins littered the area. A group of humans looked over the mess they had created, grim-faced. ¡°Jesus, here I thought they would never stop.¡± A blonde swordsman exclaimed with a mean-spirited bark of laughter. A grin on his face showed dirty white teeth. He sat on a large stone and cleaned his blade without a care in the world. ¡°Be a little respectful, Thomas, they are dead remember.¡±, a lady in a red cloak stated irritated. She had copper-like hair and wielded a crooked wooden staff ¡°Please, they almost fucking killed the three of us Amanda, I would have pissed on their rotting bodies if I had something in my bladder.¡± ¡°As vulgar as always, Thomas.¡±, came the remark of a short, dark-haired man standing a little bit away from the both of them. He stood there, fingering the string of the bow he held in his hands. ¡°Even then, he is right Amanda. The monsters almost killed us with this mob wave tactic of theirs. Only reason they failed is because of your fire wall and fireball.¡± ¡°Still doesn¡¯t give us the right to mock the dead but for the sake of not fighting again I¡¯ll stop.¡± The woman sighed deeply. She snapped her fingers and a flash of dark red mana shot out of her fingertips. In the blink of an eye, the mana ignited and turned into fire, engulfing and then burning the corpses of their halfling opponents. No sense in giving the other monsters perfectly good corpses to feast upon. ¡°Anyone else levelled up from that? Got up to 14 myself.¡±, Thomas inquired ¡°I did, Thomas, level 13.¡±, Amanda replied shortly. They both looked at their pale friend as they silently asked him to spill. ¡°Please, you know that group battles give less Experience. The fact that both of you got one level is already good enough.¡± ¡°Please Lance, you know why we want to know.¡±, a still grinning Thomas replied. ¡°We still have 4 days in the tutorial till the time limit expires. Plenty of time to hit level 15.¡±, came Lance¡¯s dull answer. ¡°Damn right, plenty of time for all of us.¡± -------------------><-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------------- Tutorial Bc2304 A beam of light smacked the enormous gorilla right in their chest, pushing it back several metres. An average sized woman approached it, no fear shown on her face. She was wearing a breastplate over her casual clothing. A Morningstar flail in her right hand, her left hand was raised to the second gorilla, its fingers glowing softly. ¡°I do not fear either of you. The Lord may not have shown himself during the tutorial, in fact this might be definite proof that he does not exist, but I still have the values I was taught, even without his love, I will not falter.¡± The light from her fingertips, condensed into a ball and shot towards the second primate. It dodged in the nick of time as the ray of light smashed the stone behind it to pieces. The first gorilla lunged at her, its fists primed, ready to flatten her. Quick as lighting she swung her flail, imbuing the tips of it with light mana as it smacked the beast¡¯s thigh, burning the area of impact. The woman jumped backward, just in time for the second gorilla had dashed towards her, but mistimed the dash as it barrelled straight into the first gorilla. The woman started another spell. This time it was a critical strike. ¡°Smite¡± The light gathered above their bodies and fell upon them with a vengeance. The gorillas screamed as their flesh was burnt away and their bones were charred into blackened pieces. [You have slain BruteFist Gorilla level 15] [You have slain BruteFist Gorilla level 15] [Bonus Experience gained for killing a higher levelled opponent] [Bonus Experience gained for killing a higher levelled opponent] [Bonus Experience gained for killing a group of enemies] [You have gained levels] [Knight level 14 -- > level 15] [Human level 14 --> level 15] [You have accomplished one Achievements!] ¡°Finally, with four days downtime as well¡± Then a blue screen popped up in front of her, carrying a statement that made her smile a big toothy grin. -------------------><-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------------- Tutorial Ac1289 A halfling group lay demolished in their signature clearings within the forest. Their main elder laid dead on the ground, a dagger in his throat. Their archer wasn¡¯t giving any signals. It was just the one cursed swordsman and their highest levelled ally. [Halfling Shielder (level 15)] ¡°This is bad short friend; we have no backup here and we face an unidentified foe. Keep your eyes peeled. Do not disappoint the king.¡± The Shielder raised his tower shield, his eyes focused on the thickets that surrounded them. The swordsman behind grumbled about not being short before a rustle alerted them to another one¡¯s presence. ¡°Ohhh? You speak? Since when?¡± The six foot six Shielder looked at the man, opened his mouth o say something when suddenly- A massive force weighed on his shoulders. His knees buckled, his shield was forcibly lowered and he strained to look at the man without falling to his feet. TWANG! SHLLK! The man¡¯s arm blurred, and 2 daggers were thrown at them. His shield still blocked one, after monumental effort from the Halfling, but the swordsman was hit in the shoulder. Another one was thrown, this time, it struck true. The swordsman collapsed, a pool of blood tainting the ground beneath his dead body. The Shielder barely had time to blink before the rogue human was on top of him. Raising his arm, shield met dagger as the man used his shield to push himself backwards, sprinting towards the left as soon as he landed. Once again the immense pressure almost force him to his knees, but he stayed strong as fended off attack after attack. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°You brute, how dare you attack one of the king¡¯s men!¡±, the Shielder exclaimed angrily. The man laughed in his face. ¡°I already killed a dozen of you and not once have I seen anyone complain. Then again, I haven¡¯t seen anyone of them talk either.¡± A manic smile appeared on the man¡¯s face as he dashed towards the Shielder. Violet mana gathered around his left hand, engulfing his palm, his fingers up to his wrist. The Shielder raised his shield one final time. This was to be his undoing. The rogue approached him straightforwardly. Once he reached him, he gently but quickly placed his left hand on the shield itself. ¡°Corrupting touch¡± The violet mana turned pitch black as it seeped into the shield. Cracks began to show as the shield broke apart. The Halfling tried to run or even unbuckle his shield, or pull out the spare sword he rarely used, but the pressure came back with a fury. The rogue looked him dead in the eye, all traces of amusement gone from it. ¡°Kneel¡± And so he knelt, compelled by an invisible force. His knees hit the ground, while the darkness from the magic attack started to now corrupt away his body. ¡°How? My innate resistance as a living being should protect me from such attacks from lower levelled beings¡± [Human rouge level 14] ¡°Please, my Intelligence his high enough to attempt this type of attack and my Wisdom high enough to have the mana for it. What made you think that simply being higher levelled than me is enough to be simply be better. ¡° The rogue made a small cu across his cheek and then chuckled to himself. ¡°They simply built me better.¡± He then turned around and ran away. Before the Halfling could even say anything, his cheek started to throb painfully. His vision became distorted, his blood felt like it was on fire. Slowly and painfully, the Halfling collapsed on the ground, the skin on his head turning sickly yellow, his eyes closed as he slept eternally. Never to wake up once again. -------------------><-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------------- Tutorial Aa0001 A lone man stood amongst a pile of corpses. He held a playing card between the fingers of his right hand. He looked sombre, but the manic gleam in his eyes betrayed him. ¡°That was a thrill, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°For your grade, I suppose it was adequate.¡± He looked at the being next to him. Beautiful was an incomplete way of describing her. So was gorgeous, or stunning or any other term in any human language. Dark red locks descended till a little below her nape. White skin without blemishes. Deep blue eyes like the bottomless sea. Yet those eyes exuded a maturity not seen in any person he had ever met. Her very presence commanded reverence and adoration. Her smiling face showed great white teeth, normally hidden by red lips. Even with all these features, as the man remained mostly entranced, not a single creature around the two of them bothered. Flies attracted to the corpses flew past her, the monsters he had slain had not given her a single look never mind a double take or more. ¡°Only I can look at you?¡±, the man asked puzzled. The lady kept smiling, he didn¡¯t know how this woman entered his tutorial. Ever since he started using his card magic, he saw more and more of her. Eventually, she simply stood beside him as he started killing more of the goblins. He remembered her first words to him. ¡°You walk a difficult path. Not because it is hard to learn but because I decide if you can continue your path.¡± Yeah, that scared him, especially since she said that while smiling that gorgeous smile of hers. ¡°Nope, only you can¡± Her words jarred him out of his memories. His eyebrows furrowed as he prepared to ask another question. ¡°How? Why?¡± ¡°How? Isn¡¯t that a good question, the answer is simple. I didn¡¯t allow the others to see me. Why? Is harder to explain, after all how would you understand my intentions? Since you are so weak?¡± The man took a deep breath. ¡°Which grade will I understand?¡± ¡°No mortal one.¡± ¡°I would have to become God?¡± ¡°A god. Small ¡®g¡¯, one of many. And not just any god. A pinnacle being¡± ¡°How would I do that?¡± ¡°Ascension is easy. The difficult part is reaching a stage where you can ascend or staying sane after it.¡± ¡°What are you?¡± The lady¡¯s eyes seem to shine. ¡°As of right now? I¡¯m your lucky charm on the way to Godhood¡± She raised her arm in front of her. In a twisting motion, similar to ¡®vanishing¡¯ a card in front of children, she curled her finger. ¡°You were a gambler, weren¡¯t you? A bad one at that.¡± ¡°Had a few bad days ¡­ or weeks¡± ¡°Then I have the perfect gift for you¡± She showed both hands to him, smiling. He picked the one he saw twisting in the air. ¡°Still fooled by misdirection?¡± She opened both hands, the hand that twisted through the air, the left one, had a twenty-sided dice on the palm. Her right hand had, somehow, a stack of cards. The man paled. Should he have picked the other one? ¡°The choice you made is not game over.¡±, the lady replied, seeing his confusion. He smiled reaching out to tak- ¡°At least for now¡± Damn it his anxiety is back. Once again taking a deep breath, he took the dice. Looking at the woman dead in the eyes he spoke cheekily, a bad habit he had since he was young. ¡°Always did like the thrill.¡± The lady clad in red like her hair and lips laughed. A full belly laugh, with a snort at the end. And God- gods he guessed now- above was it beautiful. -------------------><-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------><-------------- Thul was excited, nay exhilarated. He finally finished his job. True, since the start of Integration he had almost died five times, but he didn¡¯t so all¡¯s well that ends well. Add the fact that he secured the ring, Thul was riding his horse home in style. Of course, not everything is roses and peaches. ¡°Move it yip!¡±, came the barking order of his superior. Alrik, hobgoblin knight of the House Yer¡¯Thra, along with his two squires, Belrik and Aulyeerg. Thul was Level 11, two levels higher than Belrik and an entire three levels higher than the newly levelled up Aulyeerg. Even then he was last in the chain of command, he was a lesser goblin, while the others were all hobgoblins. He had fun in this mission and Aulyeerg was less horrible than the other two ¡­ comparatively speaking, but nothing lasts forever. The party made its way across the plains, far away from the forests the Halflings made home. As they approached a riverbend, flowing lazily, they saw a creature nobody in their party had encountered before. [Human Knight(G-grade) level 13] The figure was washing their face in the river, their sword beside them. The party slowed itself to a halt. Alrik observed the human as stealthily as possible. ¡°Aulyeerg, sneak upon that beast and kill him, it should level you up to level 9 quickly enough.¡± ¡°But uncle , the human¡¯s level 13 that¡¯s higher than you.¡± ¡°Remember what the great elder had said, that human he had fought felt three levels lower than what the System had shown. Clearly, their race is inferior to ours. Our potential and already impressive strength mean we have a harder time levelling up. You can defeat him, he should be level 9 in strength anyways.¡±, came Alrik¡¯s reply in a sage-like voice. The sheer arrogance in his speech was completely unnoticed by the knight or the two squires. Thul, however, remembered that the elder had more wounds than what a being three levels lower should have been able to inflict. Aulyeerg, his confidence now bolstered, started to approach the human, his horse trotting along for the first few minutes before they started charging towards the unsuspecting warrior, the horse and squire becoming one. [Silent-Step Courser(G-grade) level 7] The animals that were taken care of by the goblins also went through the tutorial, levelling up alongside their owners. As the goblin child started to enter striking distance, he lowered his wooden lance. 3 clicks. 2 clicks. 1 click. It seemed that the human would die without giving a fight when suddenly, they sprang from the ground, leaving traces of green man everywhere. With sword in hand, the knight got into some stance as their eyes scanned the battlefield. ¡°Strike quickly Aulyeerg! The beast is still two levels higher.¡± Thul saw the human mouth something underneath their breath as they instantly charged towards the squire. ¡°Move Aulyeerg, dumbass don¡¯t just stand there!¡± Yet Aulyeerg wouldn¡¯t move at all. The young goblin stayed frozen as the enemy quickly got into striking distance. Their sword was covered in dark forest green mana, whether that was because it was the natural colour of the mana or because it was that dense Thul didn¡¯t know. ¡°Thul, cover the fool of a boy, Belrik we charge at once! I trust you remember how to use freeform mana?¡± ¡°¡± Yes Sir!¡±¡± Thul immediately began trying to use his spells, chanting in order to summon the spirits necessary to hold down this human until the cavalry arrived, literally this time, when the human¡¯s eyes and his met. Glowing dark forest green eyes, met dark bark coloured brown when Thul felt a pressure on his neck, and he understood why Aulyeerg didn¡¯t move. It felt like a sword was above his neck. Ready to sever his head and neck apart at the barest of inconveniences. He saw Belrik¡¯s horse stagger, while the squire himself froze into position. Only Yalrik and his steed had kept on charging. Thul saw the human¡¯s sword pierce through Aulyeerg¡¯s neck. The swordsman twisted mid-air and slashed downward, cutting the horses neck clean from its body. Yalrik cried out in rage, his lance lowered, with the tip crackling with lightning. The human merely dashed to the side, sidestepping the horse and therefore the lance completely. The presence of the sword had not lowered before the human spoke out loud. ¡°I may be a beast good sir, but this beast of an inferior race will be your end here.¡± The human smiled, medium long black hair swept behind his skull, his voice proving him to be male, a grin on his face as he dashed towards Belrik and cut down his horse¡¯s legs. The horse squealed as it fell. A moment later Belrik screamed from the pain of his legs being crushed by the poor beast. Even with all of this, the human dint look again at Thul, yet the lesser goblin shaman dared not to cast any spells. He may be the only one in his party to have some sense on when to attack since after all. What sane goblin would fight against this beast, this beast who¡¯s mere presence could cause everybody to stagger and stumble, who effortlessly killed one of their team, and casually crippled another. [Arthur Black] [Race-(human (G grade)-level 13 Class-Knight (G grade)-level 13 Profession- N/A Grade: - ¡®G¡¯ level 13 Strength-145(+3) Intelligence-45(+1) Agility-80(+2) Widom-45(+1) Vitality-95(+2) Perception- 50(+1) Will-50(+1) Endurance-1300/1300 Mana-4500/4600 (Health 1940/1940) Free points: 0 Skills: Race: - Identify {Unique}, Language {Unique}, Star-Touched Generation {Unique} Class: - Block {Common}, Slash {Common}, Parry {Common}, Counter {Common}, Chop {Common}, Path of the sword {Uncommon}, Battlefield Awareness {Common} Knightly presence {Rare}, Mana infusion {Rare}, Mana Recovery { Epic}, Mana Sense {Common} Profession: - N/A Titles: Burgeoning Tale ] Author note AN:- I will be back had tests for 11th was bored and could not write Chapter in the next week might start a new story as well who knows Sneak peek? for word count Less sneak peek and more of a description The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Glypborne Follow Solomon Sopher as he navigates through his second year of school but with a slight twist due to his poor performance last year it turns out his father has disowned him Born to a rune mage family but has the desire to be an evoker. He struggles to fit with any of the students. He fails most of his evoker classes just like how his parents told him he would and he barely passed his regular magic classes, bringing shame to his father, the duke Daniel. Now penniless and friendless he must survive his school with guile and hardwork. All the while he actually cultivates a new unseen sect of magic. Glyph style. Expect: No litrpg stuff. High fantasy. Late middle ages type weaponry but magic enhanced technology. detailed power system . A bit of hard magic but there is soft ones as well. No romance thought of yet. A bit of politics and yeah can''t think of a better way of describing it. I just want to write this when inspiration for The Resolute Knight doesn''t strike. So no set update routine.