Tutorial Day 20

  Back in my room, I slowly lowered my hood again while replaying the conversation with Veronique. My heart thumped loudly in my chest, overriding my brain's insistence that the conversation had gone well after her threat. Conversation was definitely not the right word. I’d managed to talk her around to also including containers when I needed them, but that was all I’d gotten before she’d basically kicked me out of her rooms.

  What more could I really push for? It felt like she had me by my short and curlies. She clearly had a strong base of power here in the Tutorial, while I had…. a group of people who tried to kill me.

  She hadn’t given me the hundred thousand Point loan yet, and had told me that she’d have one of her minions deliver it later. So, while I was still in the ‘negatives’ for Points, I was really sitting at nearly ninety-seven thousand. Which meant, nearly every Tutorial Point I would soon have to my name came from Veronique.

  Should I really take her offer? Was it already too late? We had shaken hands…

  I took a deep steadying breath and moved on with the help of Mental Fortitude. My eyes scanned my Status screen. I could see the Tp total in my peripherals but there was a single line I’d been ignoring since arriving and what Veronique said made me truly consider changing it.

  Sure, I hadn’t been giving anyone my full name or anything, and doubted I’d done anything yet to warrant finding me in the real world—if I or anyone ever got out of this place, but who really knew what would happen in the days that came. Maybe I would accidentally find myself on this Leaderboard…

  There was one other thing that meeting Veronique had drilled into me. It was something that probably should have been obvious after meeting both Fong and Maelstrom. There were old monsters here. People who had been here a long time, and if they couldn’t get out—what made me so special?

  Mental Fortitude wouldn’t let me get depressed on that. There was a small part of me that was convinced that I was special—that knew I had a unique advantage in here. Not only did I get here with fifteen Skills, I had a Shop that no other had access to, and equipment that leveled up.

  Still, I did need to at least admit to myself that there was a chance I’d be here for a long time…

  My first thought for the Tutorial Name was Alonzo Mars, but that of course, led to the same issue using Brodie Flacarada would. If you wanted to find me, you could. Alonzo Mars would provide a small layer of protection, but if the ‘Shop’ and Morgan Hallsbrad broke through the ‘genius’ secret code of my online alter-ego, I didn’t doubt that someone else would too.

  So, what name could I use? Sure I could go with a Hunter name—something like Gamonji, Fleece, Beastmode, Skulk or the like, but to do so felt absurdly cocky.

  And yet, what were my hopes for the future? To become a Hunter. So, was it conceited to use a name like Maelstrom? The issue was that most Hunters earned the name they were given. They didn’t create their own.

  Not that a few people didn’t dub themselves something and have the world follow suit—but…

  Smegma would have a field day with my current line of thoughts. I just needed to choose a name that I would be able to respond to.

  End of story.

  Hoping Smegma never found out. I decided to go with Ryu because of a game I’d played as a child. Lava Breath. Cause of the association to Dragons.

  It was, in theory, a real name, so easy to respond to. I clicked the spot and then struggled for a bit, until I realized that I just had to verbalize my intentions and the System in the Tutorial would respond.

  Between one spoken, ‘Ryu’ and ‘confirm,’ I had a new name, and an additional consideration. How many layers should I have with something like this. Ryu was a good name for the Status screen but should I perhaps introduce myself as something else as well. Something like Ryan?

  That’s far too plain and common.

  There was another game that I loved as a kid. Bundle Effect. The main character was named Shepherd, and he was a badass. Another layer of secrecy surely wouldn’t hurt. From now on I’d introduce myself as Shepherd.

  Then I was right back to studying my Tp debt. Veronique would soon unknowingly remove my largest excuse for staying in my room grinding herbs. I would soon have enough Tp for next month’s Room and Board, and I could buy equipment. Even though I would still need to pay it back…

  Still it felt like a stay of execution, and a way for me to progress.

  But, thinking of leaving this building brought on a cold sweat. I could tell that I was okay with the idea of it. I could sneak between Borkers and collect Herbs. In no way was my mind rebelling against me—however my body, that was another story. It was trying to tell me something.

  Mental Fortitude ran through thought after thought, attempting to encourage me to get on with it. Finally, my reeling mind reached one particular idea that caused my shoulders to relax and return to what felt like a more normal state. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized they were hunched up around my ears.

  I repeated the thought out loud and felt my body stop sweating, “Buy a helmet or something to stop London’s group from recognizing me. Something that will stop me from sweating in this hood.”

  “Why am I worried about them?” I asked myself, truly unsure what was causing the reaction. Part of me believed that they hadn’t tried to kill me deliberately. Jacky had accidentally used her Skill on me and the rest of the group had needed to escape after my death. The other part was far less sure of those findings…

  Then, what was at the heart of my worries hit me—I wasn’t only scared of them.

  First, the four of them knew about my Reptilian Body Skill, which admittedly might not be that uncommon in this Tutorial. However, if I was forced to use the Skill again out there and people saw me shift from Human to something else—wouldn’t they react the same way?

  Not to mention what they’d said about me feeling like a Monster. I shivered at that thought. I should be worried about everything in this Tutorial in that case.

  “Husk!” I said, glad I hadn’t ventured out of the Town yet.

  Sure, I wanted to avoid Jacky, and by association the rest of London’s group. However, what I needed even more than that, was a suit of armor that covered my skin, and would allow me to use my Trump Card to escape from Humans and Mon–

  A knock on my door startled me. Pulling my hood up, I turned and opened it. In the doorway stood a Guard. One I didn’t recognize. He looked both ways down the hall, held out his hand and said, “Vero sent me.”

  When I tentatively reached out, he snatched my hand and an offer to send me a hundred thousand Tp popped up. Swallowing, I clicked accept. The man released my hand and spun, speed walking back to the nearest stairwell. I watched the door close behind him and then closed my own.

  Still sweating, I pulled up my Status screen.

  I returned to my considerations about going out to Gather in Borker Forest. I now had ninety seven thousand points to see what I could get. First things first, I thought as I pulled the hood down on my Alchemist Robe. More sets of clothing. Opening my closet, I looked at my black set of clothes that were thrown into a corner. The pile looked more like a nest for rats than it did clothing. The question was how did I buy more…

  The room had come stocked with them already, so it wasn’t like I knew of a way to buy them. Unless they were for sale in the Shop—but I’d changed the filters from cheapest to most expensive when I was in there. Nothing like this had popped up.

  The closet had enough hangers inside that it seemed to be mocking my lack of clothes. I touched one, planning to at least hang up what was left of my Miner’s armor that was also in a heap on the floor. It might be salvageable at some point.

  The list brought a smile to my face. Plus I had the Tp to buy from it. There was only one problem with purchasing more stuff in my room. Theoretically, I could lose access to it if I made a misstep. However, at this point, the only misstep I could see was visiting that sadist Claude again.

  Splurging, I bought a set of Gatherer, Pajamas, Everyday, and Adventurer clothes—smiling wider as my hangers filled with new options. The Gatherer set was actually not the black ones I’d destroyed. It turned out that the blacks were part of the Adventurer clothing set, and the Pajamas were white and softer than silk. The Everyday clothes were gray and blue with a material that was like jeans for the pants and cotton for the shirt. I purchased one other set, slightly unsure if I would want to wear them, but they were also the one that I thought would be the most appropriate for what I was planning to do.

  The Thief clothing was the same black as Adventuring. However, it was a body suit, that had a hood, facemask, gloves and soft-soled shoes. The fabric was so thin, I thought it should be see-through, however, to my relief it wasn’t. There was only a single part of the gear that stood out from the black. The zipper was not quite the same shade of black. It was on the front of the garment and had a felt-like strip on the backside—clearly meant to reduce irritation.

  Putting it on, I immediately knew this wasn’t a set of clothing I should just walk around in. In the mirror, it looked like I should be hopping from roof to roof and attempting to climb in people’s windows. I didn’t take it off though. It was tight enough that I could wear it beneath a set of Adventuring gear, and so that’s what I did.

  The look instantly changed from pajama’d cat burglar to assassin or press-avoiding Hunter. It still didn’t suit my next purpose, so I put back on my Alchemy Blues, pulled the hood and then made my way out of my room and to the Northern Shop.

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  Thankfully no one looked too deeply inside my hood. A few people did double takes, likely wondering if I was someone they knew with their hood pulled. But they didn’t stop me to check.

  Once inside the Shop, the milling crowd was too preoccupied with their own tasks to even do that much.

  Navigating through the menus, I ended up on Armor first.

  Clearly buying random armor wasn’t going to be helpful for me, considering that I was after a specific type of armor. That type was dark leathers, that would protect me from Borkers and other monsters but leave me mostly unencumbered by weight. My Trump Card wasn’t exactly meant to kill a Borker or other Monster—I intended to use Reptilian Body to flee, if it came to that.

  Scanning through the list I chose to go to the most expensive items first. Wanting to get an idea of exactly what sort of options I had. Immediately I knew I couldn’t buy the items, but that didn’t mean that a few weren’t extremely helpful, in giving me ideas.

  For my purposes, something that worked to conceal me from Monsters, was exactly what I needed. I changed the filters adding in the Darkness Enchantment, first because it was Passive. I discovered two other sets of leather armor that both were two-hundred and fifty thousand Tp. I scanned them, but didn’t find anything useful in the Dark Rhinoceros or Black Worm sets. Other than the final line which said that they were ranked low to average and average to above average in durability.

  Without being able to purchase them I had to make some assumptions. I presumed that there might be a trade off in terms of weight or flexibility as you increased in protection that leather armor offered.

  My next filter change searching for Concealment made me sigh. Passive Enchantments were clearly more expensive than active. There were three pages of Concealment Enchanted sets, and they started from a thousand Tp for F-Rank and climbed from there.

  The cheapest low E-Rank set, was five-thousand for a chest and leggings but had no other enchantment. I looked around the Shop, wanting to ask a question of someone but not thinking it wise. What was my question?

  Simple, why did I need a full set of this gear? Would multiple pieces with the same Enchant be redundant? Or would they somehow make it stronger. If London’s group hadn’t tried to kill me they’d be a great source of this tidbit of information. As it stood now—I’d just have to test it out.

  My next question: Should I buy the more expensive set?

  That second enchantment would change the cost I was spending from about twenty-thousand points for an entire set to almost sixty-five thousand. Still, Deflection sounded damn helpful with a few caveats. Would a Borker charge be considered blunt or sharp? Surely those tusks were sharp enough to punch a hole through me…

  The deciding factor in the end came down to one thing. The Deflection Enchant probably would have reacted to Jacky’s Ice Spear thing. Saving my ‘life’ in place of Recovery. Plus, even if I spent the sixty-three thousand five hundred points, I would be left with thirty-thousand for a weapon and next month’s rent.

  In a cold sweat, I hit no on the purchases. Thankful for Mental Fortitude screaming at me to check weapon prices before I made a final decision.

  “Wow!” Was all I managed to whisper on a particularly loud sigh. It would seem that E-grade weapons were extremely expensive, if you wanted something with two Enchantments. Even a single Vital Point Enchantment on a spear, which I strangely felt myself leaning towards, was thirty-thousand points.

  A part of me knew why I wanted the Spear but was pointedly avoiding thinking about it. Claude had been a torturer, sure—but I could still remember the fluidity in which he deflected my strikes, and slapped my limbs away with the butt of his spear. A part of me wanted that. I shivered as I realized I was daydreaming about returning to the Dojo, where the teacher had forced me to defecate in my clothing and armor.

  Pointedly, I forced my mind away from those considerations by studying the most expensive spear I could currently afford.

  If I purchased everything I had been looking at today. I’d be left with three thousand four hundred and seventy-seven Tp. Admittedly, I didn’t love the idea of being that low on Tp, again. However, with a Concealment, Deflection, and Piercing Enchant, I was pretty sure I had a perfect set up for Herb Gathering and thus Tutorial Point collection plan.

  Quite simply, I would move on the edges of the scavenging Borkers and collect what Herbs I could. If I got to close accidentally, I could run away. There was always the possibility that I didn’t have a good escape route, in which I wouldn’t pass through other Borker’s territory.

  That was where I hoped this Spear would come in handy. If it worked as described, I could create a single strike at D or possibly C-Rank. I assumed the Borkers wouldn’t be able to handle that. Thick skin or not.

  A moment of hesitation more, and then I hit purchase on the Spear first. Than waited. Surely, the Tutorial Shop would work like Demonic Vault. No clouds of Mana formed, and no Spear suddenly appeared in my hands, or anywhere I could see. I looked back to the screen, expecting a confirmation message or something along those lines.

  Instead, I found a note.

  Wondering what would happen, I chose ‘Dispense my Items,’ and found a small black right in my hand. Instantly I could tell it was a Ring of Holding, but also not. It was simultaneously like my Necklace and not. I could feel the Spear inside the ring, and that I could pull it out. However, even touching upon that feeling was like rubbing my socked feet into a carpet, and feeling my hair start to stand on end.

  There was a static electricity, or something akin to that, which made me hesitant to check the space again. Hesitantly I commanded the Spear out, and was suddenly holding a seven foot spear, that likely weighed about five to ten pounds. Even as my hand closed over the dark mahogany wood of the haft, I felt the ring crack and crumble—becoming black sand.

  “A one time use Holding item?” I whispered to myself. Realizing what was going on. A few people turned to look at me and then the weapon I held. My peripherals cataloged a few of those looks, realizing why the Shop would give you a ring that would hide what exactly you bought.

  Most of the people who turned my way dismissed the Spear I held, but one or two of the onlookers narrowed their eyes, and ran tongues over teeth. Part of me wanted to believe that they were simply checking out the weapon with professional interest—but my experience so far in the Tutorial told me that wasn’t the case.

  They were likely jealously coveting the weapon. Swallowing, I purchased the armor set, but didn’t extract it from the ring—before rushing from the Shop. I kept my eyes peeled and did indeed find two or three people following me out. Thankfully, when I made my way toward the Alchemy Academy, they stopped a building over and just watched as I entered.

  And those were only the ones I could see…

  Once in the safety of my room I extracted my gear from my one time use Ring, and marveled at the simple complexity of the leather armor. It kind of looked like a set of Biking leathers. The joints were stitched with a black fabric that definitely was closer to lycra than leather—but had small triangles of the leather there as well.

  Putting on the pants, showed that those areas lined up with the backs and outsides of my knees, allowing me to move freely.

  The chest piece was essentially a turtleneck t-shirt, with the same type of lycra stitching over the shoulders, down the sides and up the high neck. Again, these areas allowed for movement.

  The color of the equipment surprised me a bit. I had been expecting black, but it was more of a mottled brown and green. Essentially, military camouflage in its pattern. It only took me recognizing the pattern and thinking for a moment to realize why. There was no night time here. Twelve suns. So, while the Night Bat armor might be black and shade the wearer in black—that might also make them stand out if they weren’t under a canopy or in an existing shadow already.

  This camouflage, while a bit ostentatious, was going to help in almost all terrains I’d seen in the Tutorial so far.

  The gloves and bracers went on next covering most of my arms but leaving my biceps bare. The gloves were almost entirely made from the stretchy lycra—with some reinforced leather strips placed strategically to help deflect strikes.

  The bracers were almost a solid leather tube with an elbow pad, and tightening strap above it. Then there was the helmet. A simple skull cap, that had a nape that ran down the back like a wedding veil, and no front.

  However, by far my favorite piece of the gear was the boots. I’d been walking around in the Tutorial so far with my Mining Boots, and they were not only stiff, but nearly falling apart. These in comparison were like wearing a pair of King Anubis or Gamonji runners. They were perfect, with a rubber sole and high ankle likely meant to protect me from a blow there, but mimicked a high-top excellently.

  Once, everything was on, and the straps tightened, where they existed. I took a look in the mirror. No one would ever be able to tell who I was—that was for certain. Yet, I looked a great deal like one of those toy army men—thanks to wearing the same camouflage pattern over my entire body.

  Still, it was time to try them out. According to my Sunstone hanging in my room it was just after noon, and the exact time I had been planning on going out about a day ago.

  * * *

  “Looks like someone’s got themselves a Sponsor,” Bear crowed. For just a moment I thought he recognized me from when Fong brought me into Tutorial Town. I froze like a deer with it’s hand in the cookie jar–wait that wasn’t right? Either way, him and his lackeys vibrated with excitement at my fresh armor and weapon. “Who’s your sponsor, and what Tribe are you from?”

  I was definitely disappointed to find the group there, but figured I’d just gotten lucky last time because I came back so late. Another part of me was frustrated I didn’t know more about the Tutorial. I was sure if I did, I could lie to the mammoth of a man that was Bear, and his less than intelligent thugs, saving myself from his highwayman taxes. Still, wouldn’t I be safe cause he was from Maelstrom?

  “I’m from Maelstrom,” I answered, my voice coming out clearer than I expected, but more nervous than I hoped.

  “Prove it,” one of the numerous idiots behind Bear shouted. The tall skinny man even pulled a knife from his pocket, and then licked it menacingly. Did he think this was some type of movie audition?

  His acting is bad, regardless… I fought to keep my face straight, which wasn’t hard, given the circumstances.

  “How would I prove that?” I said instead.

  The man stopped licking his knife and gave me a look like I was the simple one. He pulled aside a very worn leather jacket and pointed to a patch on his gear.

  I blinked at it, and then tried to recall if my thief set had one. Disappointedly I recalled that it did. It was just below the waistline. I flipped down my leather pants trying not to be embarrassed. It took a bit of extra effort because they were new and stiff.

  “Okay,” Bear shouted, holding up his hands. “You still didn’t answer the first question. Who’s your sponsor?”

  If I said I didn’t have a sponsor, which was mostly true—I’d likely be robbed regardless, because I was going out solo. There was only one name I could use in this situation that might make it better. Admittedly it might make it much worse…

  Glancing back over my shoulder, showed me the town, and safety. I was mostly certain that if I ran using Reptilian Body and my Qi that I could get there before one of these idiots got me.

  And I might have to if my next words weren’t received well. Sighing, I turned back to Bear, and only took a moment to get into a ready stance, before I answered, “Veronique.”

  Ninety percent of the people behind Bear stopped fingering their weapons instantly. A few even flinched at the name. Bear swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving up and down dramatically. As if he hadn’t just visibly reacted he ordered, “On your way then!”

  Carefully, I moved around the edge of the group, not wanting to chance it being a trick and getting caught in their center. The people on the edge stepped back from me, making me blink. Was Veronique truly that terrifying?

  Her earlier threat suddenly became much more terrifying…

  Her earlier threat suddenly became much more terrible…