The dream left you completely covered in sweat. Your head was pounding like a jackhammer, but it vanished after a few seconds, leaving you free to see what was in front of you.
It appeared to be a window, clear, except for some words on it.
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You have slept in your bed! HP and MP have been restored and harmful status effect have been neutralized!
Kyle looked the box over, read the words on it twice, then blinked. Then he looked it over again and read it twice more.
"What?" He finally said.
The window blinked once, twice, three times, before vanishing, leaving everything as normal as possible.
Then, another window appeared in front of him.
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Please say or think "next" to open the next notification
Still not sure what was going on, Kyle hesitantly reached out towards the window and tried to touch it where it read "next".
The window blinked out.
After a second, another one appeared in its place.
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Thank you. Now, welcome, The Gamer. State your name and Surname for the Records
Kyle blinked again.
There were a lot of things he could have said, but right at that moment, he didn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing. He had no idea what was going on, and he didn't want to create a situation where his name was somehow recorded wrong.
"Kyle Grant." He said.
At his words, the window didn't even disappear, the text simply changed.
After a few seconds, it changed again.
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Done. Welcome, Kyle Grant.
Please think or say next to open the next notification.
With his name successfully recorded, Kyle was ready to test the...system, for lack of a better word.
"Uh, Tutorial?" He said. "Instructions? Rule book? Access instruction manual?"
He was very curious to figure out just what this was supposed to
be before he proceeded further. Or at least see if he
could figure out what it was all supposed to be before he proceeded further. For all he knew there wasn't much option other than to follow the instructions until he made his way through whatever the windows wanted from him.
The window remained still, like it was made of stone.
"Ok, I guess that's not an option." Kyle said just over his breath.
Once again, he reached out to touch the window where the word 'next' was located.
The window blinks out, just to be replaced by two larger windows, side by side.
On the left, his body, down the the minutest detail. On the right, a series of numbers.
Name: Kyle Grant
Level: Lv. 1
Age: 30
Stats:
STR: 3
CON: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 7
WIS: 7
Unspent Points: 5
Then, another window appeared, remaining just the time for him to read it.
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Please allocate your free stat points
Well...that was...
something. Stat points? It was like his life was being set up for some kind of real-life RPG game. It was
weird, to say the least. Kind of terrifying on some level, but at the same time, potentially exciting.
He 'hmm...'ed to himself as he looked it over. It was a basic setup. Not quite as simple as it could have been - that would have had merely
3 options to choose from - but close to it. He looked over and considered each one in turn.
STR, that was obviously 'Strength', no doubt raw physical capacity. It was, not surprisingly, low. Sadly so.
CON was almost certainly 'Constitution'. AKA the 'stay alive' stat.
DEX had to be 'Dexterity', which usually represented 'non-strength' 'athletic ability'. Or otherwise the ability to do fancy things with ones body.
INT he presumed was 'Intelligence', or raw knowledge and smarts.
Finally, he assumed that WIS was 'Wisdom', which he usually thought of as the 'Common Sense' rating. Whereas Intelligence was basically how much a person knew, Wisdom was knowing how to properly use that knowledge.
He thought for several moments as he considered his stats and the five extra points he had to work with. Given the numbers, he guessed it probably worked on a 10-point scale. That in mind, he decided to put 1 point a piece into Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity, presumably putting him at about an average human level for each. He then decided to put the remaining 2 points into Wisdom.
When he was done, the stats read as
Stats:
STR: 4
CON: 5
DEX: 5
INT: 7
WIS: 9
Unspent Points: 0
"Ok, I guess I go to whatever's next, then?" He said.
in front of him, an additional window appeared under the one that held his Stats.
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Stats:
STR: 4
CON: 5
DEX: 5
INT: 7
WIS: 9
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To confirm your satisfaction with the change, please say or think "next"
Kyle thought for a moment, wondering if he
was satisfied with the change. He went back and forth and debated in his head if it wanted to take that route or go with something else, but in the end, he shrugged, sighed, and said "Next".
All the window in front of him disappeared, before a new one manifested. This one was longer than the others.
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This one is the Perk Tab. Please pay attention at this perk:
Gamer Existence: Allow you to live your life like it was a role-playing game
[i]"Hardcore or casual, Gamers are Gamers!"[/i]
Without this one, The Gamer loses their powers. Beyond that, you have three perk choice.
Please select the first one:
Instant Deconstruction
Reality's Awareness
Library of Games
Oracle's Inquiry
Blessing of the World
Feelin' Lucky
Wordsmith
Pureblood Scorn
Kyle got to the second line, and stopped cold.
"
Wow." He thought out loud.
If this was all real, it really was what it looked like.
"
Wow."
This was, well, he wasn't sure what it was. 'Big', he supposed, was as apt a term as any. A really big dang deal.
And beyond that, he was now being asked to choose a 'perk'. Which was, realistically given the context, basically a superpower.
"Can I have info on each?" He asked, hoping that whatever was in charge might be able to tell him what each perk meant before he picked one.
The window that appeared was... strange. It seemed like there was something wrong with it.
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Apolo---- App-P Apo-...
Apologies. The System is under... unde... undergoing.... some technical problems. Informations are-re-re-re not avail/able.
Then, it disappeared, returning back to the perk page.
Kyle sighed, then lowered and shook his head. That was unfortunate, to say the least. It made him feel like he was gambling with superpowers, and for all he knew, he was about to pick the worst one and miss out on the best option entirely.
"Uh...'Wordsmith', I guess?" He said, hoping for the best.
The window fizzled for a second, before it reappeared, the perk he had selected now marked.
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Please select the second:
Instant Deconstruction
Reality's Awareness
Library of Games
Oracle's Inquiry
Blessing of the World
Feelin' Lucky
-Wordsmith-
Pureblood Scorn
Further bad news. He'd had hope that he might get an option to confirm, but that was apparently out.
He looked through the other options and thought carefully.
Of the remaining options, he dismissed the idea of 'Library of Games' and 'Pureblood Scorn'. The first sounded like a lousy option, and the second gave him an uneasy feeling in his gut. That left 'Instant Deconstruction', 'Reality's Awareness', 'Oracle's Inquiry', 'Blessing of the World', and 'Feelin' Lucky'.
The last he also decided to dismiss, he wasn't interested in upping his luck dependance. That left four options remaining, and he assumed had to choose two of them. That meant two he potentially would go without. It was not an easy choice at all.
"
What to do, what to do..." He thought.
Instant Deconstruction...forcing himself to narrow it down, he decided he'd pass on that one for now. He didn't want to take the destructive route. That left three.
"Reality's Awareness." He finally said.
Again, the window fizzled before changing.
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Please select the third:
Instant Deconstruction
-Reality's Awareness-
Library of Games
Oracle's Inquiry
Blessing of the World
Feelin' Lucky
-Wordsmith-
Pureblood Scorn
One last choice.
"
One last choice."
Oracles Inquiry, or Blessing of the World.
He thought about it for several minutes, going back and forth on each before he finally made his choice.
"Blessing of the World." He said.
The window fizzled out, vanishing into grey streaks, before another one appeared.
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Blessing of the World selected.
Please select between Eastern or Western for the Blessing.
Yet more choices he didn't understand.
"Eastern or Western?" He asked.
Nothing.
"
Crud." Kyle thought. This was exactly why he'd hoped for a tutorial or instruction manual he could read. He hated that he was being forced to go through this pretty much blind.
"Western." He said.
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Western Blessing chosen. Please select the Element
Fire - Air - Water - Earth - Ether
Elements? The blessing was 'Elements'? He wasn't sure how to react.
He considered if he should ask about changing his mind. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if doing so was an option, or if he'd be stuck with Eastern if it was. And he wasn't really sure what the Eastern elements were off the top of his head, either.
He mumbled and grumbled to himself for a bit as he considered the options in front of him. Initially, he leaned towards Earth, but the more he thought about it, the more he started looking toward the fifth choice. He considered the others as well, but as he thought the decision over, he kept coming back to Earth and Ether.
"
Earth? Ether. Earth. Ether? Earth? Ether?"
He closed his eyes, concentrated, and then opened them again.
"Ether." He said. "I'll pick Ether."
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Ether chosen. Please wait...
The window vanished and for ten, long seconds nothing appeared. Then...
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Please confirm after checking that everything is in order, thank you.
Stats:
STR: 4
CON: 5
DEX: 5
INT: 7
WIS: 9
CHA: 1
Unspent Points: 0
Original Perks:
Gamer Existence: Allow you to live your life like it was a role-playing game
[i]"Hardcore or casual, Gamers are Gamers!"[/i]
Perks:
Wordsmith: Empower the words of the user with the ability of charming others, to find what topics are best avoid and which one are safe and to push the user to their ideal corporeal form.
[i]"There is something in her… she's so persuading that she could convince the Snake to take the responsibility for the Original Sin."[/i]
Reality's Awareness: Grant a limited form of heightened sensory awareness in a limited radius around the the user, with added awareness of enemies, allies and non-combatants.
[i]"The first game of Hide and Seek with stakes this high… and I'm cheating like there's no tomorrow!"[/i]
Blessing of the World: Unlock a chosen elemental affinity towards one of the five basic elements, chosen between eastern and western.
"[i]Light would be an option, but we're worried about some asshole using it to steal the spotlight.[/i]"
Ether Affinity: 10
Skills: In Process
Inventory: In Process
"Huh." Kyle thought as he looked the window over. He read and re-read everything in the window three times over to ensure he didn't miss anything.
By all appearances, there was nothing he saw that he could complain about. Fortunately, none of the Perks he'd chosen looked like wasted picks. He didn't know if they were the best options, but at least none of them looked bad. If anything, they were all decent or better.
The most interesting thing was the addition of a new, sixth stat - CHA, which he assumed meant 'Charisma'. It was probably related to his 'Wordsmith' perk. The starting number was lousy, but he had a feeling he'd have an opportunity to work on that later. It was surprisingly nice, really, and it would give him options.
Options, he liked.
"Confirm selections." He said, deciding he'd stick with his choices rather than risk going through the process again or waste time trying to trial-and-error his way through the selection process.
Everything disappeared.
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Thank you. For concluding the Tutorial, you gain 25 Exp Point. Please, relax and, if possible, find something to bite. Changes will be implemented in 3... 2... 1... Change initiated.
Pain.
"Something to bite?" Kyle asked. "What do you mean changes implemented? What are we...
OW!"
It was unpleasant, to say the least. A lot of gibberish escaped his mouth as he tried to push past - or at least survive - the unexpected sense of pain that hit him.
It started slow, a faint itch. Then, it escalated.
Quickly.
It passed from an itch to a deep-seated pain, to burning hot slashes, to white metal being poured into his very bones.
It was maddening, unbearable, and yet he was awake to experiment it. His muscle all contracted, lungs burning without air, teeth grinding together.
Until, exactly when the pain almost reached the point when he would have gone mad to escape it, black overtook his vision and he lost consciousness.
No more pain.
