Alan Taylor
Race: Human [W]
Class:
Fighter (0%) Quartz
Healer (0%) Quartz
Rogue (1%) Quartz
Health: 124 (12/hour)
Stamina: 104 (21/minute)
Mana: 86 (9/minute)
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 9
Perception: 7
Focus: 6
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 10
Constitution: 7
Spirit: 3
Skills:
Daggers: 3
Dodging: 1
First Aid: 12
Herbology: 5
Identify: 2
Running: 6
Sneak: 2
Unarmed Combat: 7
Titles: [Top Recruit]
Talents:
Fighter: Parry
Healer: Mend
Rogue: Quick Hands, Stealth
Spells: Minor Healing (common)
After recovering from another spike to the brain Alan was pleased with what he was seeing. This time both wisdom and mana went up and herbology had a nice growth as well. If he ever got out of this forest maybe he could start a flower shop? All that identifying also led to another skill level, and of course there was a new talent and a spell.
Learning the spell was kind of trippy. Reading the scroll was not easy as it wasn’t written in English. However, something from his class or the Network allowed him to read the strange symbols with just an extra bit of focus on his part. After getting through the whole thing the words lit up and shot into his head. This caused some minor discomfort, but nothing like absorbing a class stone. He hypothesized that it was due to the difference in the quantity of information being downloaded into his brain. Also, unlike his talents, he could actually call up the details on the spell.
Spell: Minor Healing (common). This spell heals 20 health over two seconds. Mana cost: 50
He was going to try it out on himself but then realized that the cuts and scrapes from earlier had already healed and the scabs had fallen off. The system must give the ability to recover faster than normal. Now that he thought about it, of course it did. Next to his health, stamina, and mana there were numbers that suggested a recovery rate. Assuming zero health meant death, he should be able to recover from near death in about ten hours. He wasn’t sure if this would allow people to grow limbs back or fix paralysis though. Thinking back to the stories he had read he could recall examples of both. Probably not something he wanted to test out, just in case.
Alan also didn’t think it was worth it to injure himself just to see how effective the new spell was. There would probably be plenty of chances tomorrow when the monsters came out. It was then he also realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since he had breakfast on the station. For some reason thirst and hunger hadn’t been an issue all day, but thinking about it made him feel famished. He briefly eyed the sheep, but even if the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t apply to animals, the idea did not sit well with him. He made his way to the back of the cavern which, this time, led directly to the surface.
It was truly night now, but there was a half moon overhead providing some light. It was either smaller or much farther away than Earth’s moon but it still was bright enough to walk around.
”Congratulations on surviving the first day,” Tamee’s voice burst from the sky. This was not coming in over party chat. “To celebrate I have prepared feasts in several locations throughout the valley. Look for the bonfires to mark their locations. There is plenty of food for all. Be aware that these feasts are not safe zones. At sunrise tomorrow the first beasts will awaken. As the days progress these beasts will get more numerous and of a higher level. Bon appetit!”
Looking over the tree line he noticed a glow not too far away between the eastern and western mountain ranges. He carefully made his way over, walking this time due to the low visibility and to give time for him to ponder her words. What was that about a safe zone? If there were no beasts today, then what did they need to be safe from? Then Alan realized he was being an idiot. Even though this was the end of the world as they knew it, and humans were competing against alien species for perhaps their very survival, there would still be those who would push themselves up by bringing others down. He decided to look at this as another advantage of being alone out here, he wouldn’t have to worry that his ‘allies’ would stab him in the back.
He followed the glow of the bonfire to a large clearing. Nearest to him was the aforementioned fire. It was at least three meters high and seven meters across at the base. It was letting off a lot of heat in addition to the light. At the other end of the clearing were several banquet tables full of food. What food looked like under the Network was something he had tried not to think too hard about on the trip here. He made his way over and was surprised to find a meal you would get at any American family reunion.
There were hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, collard greens, all the types of salads, including fruit, and also chili, fried chicken, and watermelon slices. There was even dessert in the form of chocolate cake, cupcakes, and cookies. There might have even been a pineapple upside down cake in there. He was a little confused how everything he was experiencing with the system seemed so normal. If this was all the creation of some universe spanning alien Network, why was everything Earth based? If only there was someone who might be able to help with that.
“Tamee, why has everything I found been from some part of Earth’s culture? Not just the food, unless I am mistaken this dagger is a Roman design and those leather bags I was dodging looked like punching bags from a gym.”
“You know you do not have to say my name every time you talk to me. I am the only one you could be talking to.”
“Sorry, it’s a force of habit and just seems polite. Also, you didn’t answer my question.”
“You noticed that, huh?” And apparently that conversation was over. With a sigh he returned to the banquet. She was the worst party member ever. That wasn’t really fair if there were things she wasn’t allowed to talk about, and she had given some good information before. Enough about her, back to the food!
There were paper plates and those annoying cardboard forks and knives. They must not want anyone getting anything useful for free. With a plate piled high with all the treats as well as a cheeseburger with BBQ sauce on it he looked for a place to sit. There weren’t any chairs so he popped a squat right there on the grass. It was very comfortable, the grass was soft and the ground was that perfect amount of dry where your pants don’t get wet but it's not all dusty either.
The food was delicious and he washed it down with some lemonade from a pitcher. There was no point in using one of the paper cups since he could just drink from the container. Who was going to object? This really hit the spot and was a nice break from what was happening. But once finished, it was time to think about the future. Tomorrow means beasts. With three classes he thought he would have a fairly easy time dealing with them. It wasn’t obvious how the classes would make someone a better fighter, but Alan could tell that his body had some muscle memories that he hadn’t developed. Practicing with his dagger felt very comfortable and he could feel his body moving and bending in ways it never had before.
Twelve years in the military, with almost ten in the Green Berets, meant he was legitimately a trained killer. But unfortunately a lot of that was how to do so with weapons he no longer had access to. He would need to think about how to use the new skills to make up for the lack of modern weaponry. Alan would feel confident against an unarmed human, but how do you fight a bear hand to hand? He remembered thinking how silly that was playing video games back in the day. Stealth didn’t seem like it was going to be very helpful since there was not much cover in the forest. The healing spell would probably be incredibly useful, but he could only cast it once, maybe twice, in a battle due to his small mana pool.
Alan’s best bet was to use his dexterity to get in close while avoiding whatever attacks the beast had. Then he would stab it with his dagger once or twice and retreat. This weapon with its wide blade should leave a large hole for the beast to bleed from. Assuming things worked at least similarly to pre-Network, this should cause them to bleed out quickly. The less time he had to spend in close quarters the better.
In addition to combat he wanted to complete two more dungeons tomorrow. The one’s he already picked up had given him stats and talents that should help him somehow. The sooner he finished all eight the sooner he could start incorporating them all into his fighting style. He spent some time that night reading through the wiki on the different quartz classes. Apparently there were exactly eight different quartz classes, one for each attribute. It mentioned that quartz classes could evolve into opal classes but not much detail about how this would work.
“Tamee…sorry about the name thing…how do I evolve my classes?”
“You are getting a bit ahead of yourself, but as you use your class it will build up to 100%. Once that happens you can use a compatible opal class stone to evolve it.”
“What do you mean by a compatible stone?”
“Remember how we talked about Paths? Class stones interact with your soul to influence your Path. Think of them as the color of your weave. If your soul and the stone are not compatible with each other you will not be able to absorb it.”
This was helpful, but he didn't think it fully answered the question. He debated reading about some of the talents the different quartz classes offered, but thought it might be more fun to ask his semi-willing companion about it.
“You know you could just read about this in the wiki,” followed another one of her sighs.
“I do, but I think your explanations are more interesting than what’s in the wiki.” This actually seemed to please her and she happily answered most of his questions. She wouldn’t talk about any classes he hadn’t unlocked yet, but explained about the possible talents for the three that were already taken. Some of those talents sounded great, he was bummed he didn’t have them.
By now Alan was getting drowsy. The wonderful repast was putting him into a food coma and he lay down right there in the clearing. Thinking of his list he had accomplished a lot. The banquet tonight didn’t really count as getting food since it was a one off event, he assumed, but other than that he only needed to find shelter and he would have completed his initial set of tasks. Although, now that he thought about it, some more gear wouldn’t be a bad idea. He said goodnight to Tamee and, closing his eyes, drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
He had always been an early riser so was not surprised when he awoke to darkness. The bonfire had burned out in the night and the moon was barely above the mountain tops providing only the slightest amount of light. Alan wondered if he would be able to see in the dark better if he could increase his perception stat. Standing up he took in the surroundings. While the remnants of the fire were still there, all of the tables and the food was gone. That was expected, but it would have been a great source of supplies.
Alan wasn’t sure if the new day started with sunrise or their version of midnight so the first thing he did was scan for any beasts. Everything seemed the same as yesterday and even with the limited light it was clear that at least the surrounding area was monster free. At some point they were supposed to show up so he would need to stay vigilant. In addition he wanted to knock out a couple more dungeons today and see about dealing with the food issue. He would also keep an eye out for a good shelter. Depending on the type of creatures running around it might be smart to sleep somewhere they couldn’t get to him.
There was enough light to see his immediate surroundings, but it was probably better to postpone his departure until daylight before making his way through the forest. Less chance of something ambushing him that way. While waiting for the dawn he did a little yoga. This briefly took him back to mornings spent doing yoga with his ex, Jessica. Despite the bitter memory he found the process calming and a good way to stretch out. Having a routine might also help with his mental health.
The sky was already much brighter and he could have started moving in the direction of the next dungeon but without knowing what the monsters would be like he wanted to be stationary with a good sightline when the sun rose. The sky above the mountains in the east was now very bright so he figured the sun had risen. Because of the tall peaks he wouldn’t be able to see it himself until well into the morning.
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New Quest: Show us what you got!
[All throughout the valley animals have started waking up. Find a beast and show us what you have learned by killing it.]
The plan was already to test himself against one of these creatures, so the quest was just a bonus. And where there was a quest there was usually a reward. While he was trying to psych himself up he couldn’t help but remember the octospatium. Looking back he was pretty sure that even with his new stats and talents that he still stood no chance against it. And it was just a level one monster too. If these animals were anything like that he wasn’t sure how he would kill one. He didn’t have another space station in his pocket to blow up.
Scanning the area there was no trace of any creatures. Without a special way of finding the beasts he decided to get on with his tasks so he took out his token and started for the next dungeon. By walking rather than jogging it would be easier to watch for any opponents. If he was lucky he could find a beast to fight on the way.
The token was actually pointing him east to the other side of the valley. Based on the location of the last three dungeons he figured there was probably still one more on the west side but still farther north. He decided to head in that direction so that he wouldn’t have to backtrack later. He could finish out the dungeons on the west side before hitting the others which were presumably on the east side. After a few minutes the warm sensation from the token shifted to the northwest and he continued on. It wasn’t long after that when he had his first encounter with a beast.
When he first saw it he felt that the term beast might be a little strong. It appeared to be a smallish goat. He was able to spot it before it noticed him and did his best to sneak up on it. There was little cover so he was left with darting from tree to tree like he was playing hide and seek with a grade schooler. This goat must have had a terrible perception stat because Alan was able to come within ten meters of it without it seeing him.
Now that he was closer he could make out details better. He had been stationed in the middle east for a little over a year so he was familiar with goats. This one was almost two feet tall and seemed a little thicker than normal, more muscular. Also, the horns on its head were not the round bone-like protrusions a normal goat would have. Those were designed for ramming into each other in displays of dominance. These looked to be made of the same keratin material, but they were shaped more like curved blades tapering to edges at the front. It was impossible to say how sharp they were, but he did not want to get hit with those things. Currently it was grazing on the low grass growing all around. He couldn’t believe there was much for it to eat with the grass already being so short, so this was probably some kind of Network fudging of its behavior. As he stared at it, identify kicked in and gave some information.
Beast: Goat (common) level 1.
It wasn’t much, but it showed not only a level but also what he assumed was a rarity. While counting to ten he took a few long steadying breaths and then sprinted out from behind the tree. He felt a little silly getting so worked up over a little goat, but that octospatium was fresh in his mind. This little furry beast evoked none of the visceral terror that the much larger tentacle beast did, but who knew what abilities it might be hiding. The goat immediately took notice and turned to face him. It lowered its head and he got an even better look at its vicious horn blades. In later fights he might be more passive and see what the goat could do, but for this one he was all about seeing what he was capable of. While also hopefully taking as little damage as possible.
He ran straight at it and it seemed to think he was going to headbutt it like another goat would. It started to run toward him in return with its head lowered. At the last moment Alan dove to the side and stabbed out with his knife. It sank deep into the beast’s side but the momentum tore it from his hand. No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. Not only was he now without a weapon, but the blade was still in the wound so it was preventing it from bleeding heavily. It still had to be painful though.
The goat let out a terrible screeching bleat and fell to the ground. For a brief moment he allowed himself to believe he had killed it anyway with a lucky shot to something vital, but it quickly scrambled back to its feet. He didn’t think it would fall for the same trick again so he resolved himself to getting closer and engaging it hand to hoof. He also needed to get closer if he was going to get that knife back. He felt a little silly being so cautious of this tiny thing, but the horns and the memory of his last fight gave him pause. The goat was also wary and slowly made its way towards him. When they were almost three meters apart it lunged at him with its head down again. Alan’s foot snapped out as he tried to roundhouse kick it in the side of the head. It was moving faster than he thought, or he was slower, and he ended up hitting it in the shoulder. It knocked it slightly off course which sent it horn first into his pivot leg. One of the horns tore into his left thigh as the goat lifted its head and sliced him open.
An image appeared in the corner of his vision showing a human silhouette with a flashing red leg and the rest of the image was light yellow. Alan felt blood gushing down his leg. Knowing that he would bleed out soon if he didn’t stop the blood flow, he grappled with the goat instead of retreating. He leaned his body across its spine and hooked his good leg around its front legs. This should prevent it from goring him with the horns again. With his other arm he groped around its side until his hand closed around the hilt of the dagger. Yanking it out he plunged it back in twice in quick succession.
The second one must have hit something critical as it instantly collapsed to the ground. He leaned in and sliced it across the throat to make sure it was dead before backing away. It was then he noticed a Network message trying to get his attention but ignored it for more pressing issues.
Checking his health he found that he had less than 25% remaining. The silhouette in his vision was now a dark yellow and the red was creeping out from his leg. Thinking about casting his minor healing spell he chanted the few words that came to mind. He felt an energy from inside of him condense together and then spread throughout his body. Most of it went toward the damaged leg and he watched as the massive bleeding slowed to a trickle. The rest spread throughout his body to little noticeable effect. He could still see muscle and a little white of his bone, but whatever was happening had at least stopped him from bleeding out. It would be a couple of minutes before he had enough mana to cast it again so he took out his healing potion. Only a little remained after using it on the sheep in the dungeon. He hoped there was enough to do some good. Popping the top he drained what there was and again felt an energy travel through his body to his leg. The wound didn’t disappear but the slice mostly closed up and scabbed over. Feeling a little better about his circumstances and with his health over 50%, he checked the message that he had ignored.
Quest Completed: Show us what you got!
[You managed to kill your first beast inside the system, although it was a close thing. Try to hold onto your weapon next time. Reward: One small Storage Pouch]
He thought that message seemed a little snarky. A pouch floated in front of him. It was slightly larger than either pouch he had received before but it didn’t look like it could hold much. Another pouch wasn’t bad, but it seemed a little paltry as a reward. Some armor would have been nice. He tried identify.
Storage Pouch (common): This pouch has been enchanted to hold more than it appears. Capable of holding approximately 20 cubic meters of material, items stored in the pouch will be stored in the same state they were put in. While inside the pouch the weight of items is reduced to zero. Living creatures cannot be stored in this pouch.
Nevermind, the pouch was potentially better than armor. This could come in handy, his own bag of holding! Last night he was provided with a feast but he couldn’t count on that happening again. If he had this pouch then he might have been able to store a ton of food inside. That would have lasted him for weeks. No use crying over spilled milk, he would have to come up with something else. In his travels he had spent some time in some remote villages that didn’t have a grocery store where they could get their meat. He wasn’t an expert but he had helped butcher a few animals and he felt up to the task now. He knelt down and cut open the goat. Inside were the same organs you would expect from one back on Earth. The next several minutes were spent cutting it up and placing goat steaks into the new pouch. He did accidentally cut himself getting the first steak out, but after that it went smoothly. While normally those steaks would need to be treated somehow to keep them from spoiling, if he understood correctly the pouch would preserve the meat while inside. He cast minor healing on himself once again then checked his status screen.
Alan Taylor
Race: Human [W]
Class:
Fighter (2%) Quartz
Healer (3%) Quartz
Rogue (5%) Quartz
Health: 122/124 (12/hour)
Stamina: 99/104 (21/minute)
Mana: 39/86 (9/minute)
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 9
Perception: 7
Focus: 6
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 10
Constitution: 7
Spirit: 3
Skills:
Daggers: 5
Dodging: 2
First Aid: 12
Harvesting: 1
Herbology: 5
Identify: 2
Running: 6
Sneak: 2
Unarmed Combat: 7
Titles: [Top Recruit]
Talents:
Fighter: Parry
Healer: Mend
Rogue: Quick Hands, Stealth
Spells: Minor Healing (common)
There was growth in all of the classes. It was interesting that the rogue class went up more than the fighter class, but it made some sense since it came down to close-in knife work. That seemed more like a sneaky rogue than a brash fighter. He was about to resume his travel but on a whim decided to store the goats horns as well. Maybe he could sell them later or possibly they could be used as a weapon. He grasped the token again to orient himself and took off.
New Quest: Thin the Herd!
[now that you have shown you can handle yourself, help out your fellow recruits. Kill 5 beasts.]
The quests were definitely growing on him. From his first two non-dungeon quests he had gotten his knife and a magic bag for storing things. He was trying to get as strong as he could and the extra rewards were very helpful and would hopefully continue to be so. The plan was already to kill a bunch of these beasts to level up his skills and classes so this felt like a bonus. The meat would be useful too, assuming he could cook it, and also it would give him a chance to develop his fighting style. He had gained knowledge of how to fight a certain way from his classes, but he had to learn how to incorporate that knowledge so that his movements were instinctual and how he should strategize his fights.
“Hey Tamee, were you watching just now?”
“I am responsible for monitoring every recruit in this zone. Normally that would be an enormous task, but since it is just you…yes I was watching.” She replied. There was definitely an annoyed tone in her voice.
He talked over the fight with her and she had the same concerns that he did. It was important to hold on to your weapon during battle, it had almost caused his death. Blood loss is still a thing and the goat had opened the femoral artery. He had underestimated both the speed of the goat and how effective its horns would be. It’s one thing to see those blade horns and think, dangerous, and another to feel them slicing through your skin and deep into your muscle tissue.
There was no doubt about it, Alan had been overconfident in his skills and he was obviously rusty. He had spent the last six months in astronaut training with little time spent on self-defense. That portion of the training was for after they had learned all the space stuff. That healing spell had literally been the difference between life and death. That made him think of something.
“You mentioned before that the people who were killed in their tests didn’t really die. If I die here, does it work the same way? Will I come back to life?”
“So, don’t freak out…” this is always a good way to start a sentence, “but in a way you already died.”
“What?!? Is this some kind of Hell then?”
“No, you didn’t die that way,” this was getting clearer all the time, “what I mean is that the system destroys your body in the process of absorbing your star system. Before that though it made a thorough scan of you so that it could recreate it. After administering the tests to the willing recruits everyone’s body was destroyed. Those who would be participating in the first group of the tutorial then had their bodies rebuilt and reattached to their souls.”
There was a lot to parse through in that little explanation. “Does that mean everyone who isn’t part of the tutorial is dead?” With 256 zones of 10,000 humans each, that was only about two and half million people.
“It depends on what you mean by dead. I have been parsing through some of your old television programs. Do you recall something called a transporter that could move people from one location to another while storing their body in a buffer? Think of it as a delayed teleport. Their scans are all being stored until it is their time to be beamed into the system.”
This was kinda freaking him out, so he chose to focus on his mission. Suppressing emotions is super healthy, right? Frankly his mental attitude since this began was mostly about delaying all the bad thoughts. That was probably going to cause some problems later, but that sounded like future Alan’s problem. Time to get back to his plan. He began to walk again rather than run to his destination. The oddly similar trees passed by in blur. He was supposed to be staying observant but almost dying and then finding out he had already died once and was some kind of organic bionic man was distracting no matter how much he tried to ignore it. It was honestly surprising that he noticed another goat before it got a chance to attack him. The little beast was already looking his way and did not look friendly. It had only been a few minutes so with the last fight fresh in his mind he came up with a new plan.
This time he would try to let the goat initiate rather than charging in. There was about 20 meters separating them and the goat lowered its head as if preparing to charge. Alan moved to put a tree between them and the goat lifted its head back up. When he came out from behind the tree he changed his tactics and instead of moving directly at it, started moving diagonally towards the goat, or let’s say near the goat. If he continued on that path he would pass in front of the goat but not close enough for melee range, but it also meant the goat wouldn’t have a good line to charge. He didn’t want to have to deal with the speed it could generate that way.
It seemed to be working as it kept its head up watching. He changed direction again and moved on a diagonal path toward the other side of the goat. Using this serpentine motion he closed the gap to just over three meters. The goat seemed at a loss for how to respond. With the pugio firmly in hand he paused to see what the goat would do. Now that it had a straight line to him, and he wasn’t moving, it lowered its head again so he quickly took two steps to the side. It kept its head down and turned to face him once more. Alan went to step to the side again but it had run out of patience.
With a leap it lunged forwards trying to slice him up on its horns. He tried dodging to the side like the last time he fought. It was much more successful this go around. Since the goat was moving at a much lower speed he was better able to judge his thrust as it rushed past. He also made sure to keep the blade horizontal so that it would be less likely to get pulled from his grasp. Unfortunately he had forgotten about the ribs. On an animal the ribs tend to be vertical so the wide blade barely penetrated before it scraped against the bones. It suffered only a minor wound but at least he still had his dagger.
The goat had quickly turned after it ran past and hopped right back up to him. With a rather agile twist it sliced at his legs. Reaching out with the pugio he managed to intercept its horns and used its momentum to push its head out of line. Then he thrust forward into its neck and twisted as he pulled it out. Blood gushed from the wound. Quickly backpedaling he got out of range and the goat bled out in a matter of seconds.
Quest Update: Thin the Herd!
[beasts killed 1/5]
Squatting down to harvest he reflected on the fight. He had managed to win without even taking a hit this time. It had been over so fast he hadn’t had much time to think. Now that he could, and wasn’t in shock from massive blood loss, he needed to analyze the two fights.
Allowing the goat to charge and trying to stab it as it went past was probably not going to be an effective attack. Unless he was very fast, stabbing it between the ribs as it ran by would likely pull the dagger from his grasp. The talent Quick Hands might help, but he didn't think it was at a level that would let him pull it off. He would be better served by getting within knife range and then using his speed to avoid its horns while stabbing it with the dagger. While its horns could do a lot of damage, they were not a particularly agile weapon since they were attached to its head. The mistake in the first fight had been not respecting its horns appropriately and just being rusty in general.
Storing the bloody harvest he continued to the next dungeon. He was feeling more confident so he increased the pace to a light jog. Along the way he would occasionally pause and practice drawing the knife quickly and getting in a fighting stance. He also practiced thrusting and even slicing with the knife. He was going to be better prepared from now on.
It was good he had been practicing because he got to try it out when he was ambushed by another goat. The new plan worked well and he was able to dispatch it with little challenge. The dagger was feeling much more natural in his hand and he was easily able to block or avoid the horns as needed. He still had to be careful not to get a finger sliced off since he didn’t know if he would be getting it back. However, if this was all he would face, the quest should be easy. Finally the cave loomed before him, a carving of a bow crossed with a quiver was above it. Some kind of ranged class then, archer maybe?
