Tutorial
1893 Words
“Welcome to the game, heroes!” Orcana gestured towards us.
“Are you kidding me? We just wandered around in a circle,” I crossed my arms.
“Yes, the place is still the same, but there are some changes,” Orcana explained.
“What changes?” Girly asked.
“You will not play in an endless cycle anymore. Rather, you will work on a quest to fight for your freedom.”
“We are trapped?” Kun half-consciously asked.
“Are you still asleep, man?” Vampire nudged him.
“Huh? What did I miss?” Kun yawned.
“Nevermind, just keep your eyes open,” Vampire sighed.
“Anyway, if you wish to return to your normal lives, you must survive and finish the game,” Orcana repeated.
“Hold up, I thought that we beat this game already. We captured the enemy’s base, didn’t we?” I complained.
“That was just the tutorial, hero. You were given temporary skills which you can use to make yourself familiarized with your new environment. At least consider that as an added extra.”
“It was a soft tutorial, huh? So, we are back to zero again?” Girly asked.
“That is sadly correct, hero. I am sorry to disappoint you. In addition to that, you do not have skills that you can use at the moment.”
“We are so doomed,” I shook my head.
“Don’t worry, I will be your guide along the road. Besides, you can gain skills as you move along on your journey,” he explained.
“That is comforting. So, where do we start?” Vampire sighed.
“I will give you some pointers before you set off on your journey. First, I will tell you about your level and stats. As you can see above your head, you have a limited bar of health and mana, respectively. Below them are your accumulated experience points,” Orcana elaborated.
“What about our stats?” Girly asked.
“You have strength which stands for your physical damage, dexterity which stands for your ability to evade incoming attacks, vitality determines how much health and mana you have, mentality is for magic strength which can also apply to your skills, and resistance which tells you how much damage gets reduced when taking a hit.”
“Why are there only five of them, I thought there should be more?” I pointed out.
“Those are just the basic stats, but you can add more later on. Are there any more questions?”
“How do we access our inventory?” Vampire asked.
“Oh, I almost forgot about that. Here is a bag where you can put all of your items,” Orcana produced a traveler’s bag from his side pocket, “Now, for your first quest. Go to the nearest town called Adamah. Visit the elder there named Arum. Good luck.”
“He left already. How will we locate that forsaken town without a map?” I scowled at the wind.
“Calm down for a minute. It couldn’t be that far. It is usually like that in the beginning,” Kun explained.
“Do enlighten me, Kun, where do you think we should go?”
“Quit whining, you big baby. For now, let us follow this path and see where it leads us.”
We strolled on the path until the crossroads met us. Kun led the course and headed west. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
“What is the matter, Kun?” Girly asked.
“I cannot progress on this path further,” he replied.
“Let me have a look”, Vampire went on ahead but got repelled, “You are right.”
“REQUIRED: LEVEL 30 and ARTEMIS’ DEER,” words flashed on the path.
“Oh, well, let us try another route,” Kun suggested.
We went back to where we came from and walked the opposite direction. Soon, a dead end stumped our progress.
“What now? I do not have stamina in my stats list,” I huffed at the thick wall of trees.
Suddenly, snarls sounded around us. Mandibles appeared out of nowhere, poised to attack us. They had lion head and body with snake heads for tails. They were level one creature with the same amount of health as us. We braced our weapons and prepared for battle.
I slashed one of them, but their tails bit my arms. Girly covered my back and began defending that side. Vampire was across us slashing them with his claws. Kun was just lying there asleep. Surprisingly, no one ever bothers him as he lay against a tall tree.
“Yo Kun, lift your butt off of there and help us out of here,” Vampire shouted at him.
“I don’t want to. Can’t you see that I’m sleeping?” Kun complained.
“You miserable excuse of a raccoon, you should have been a sloth instead,” Vampire grabbed him and threw him out in the field.
“Come on man, can’t I have a decent time for myself?”
“We can rest when we get to town. You slack here, you die.”
“I will fight alright, happy now?” Kun threw his bombs at Vampire but he was quick to dodge the assault.
“Hey, watch where you throw that thing.”
“My apologies, my hands slipped. But hey, at least I got them, right?”
“Whoops, my bad,” Vampire threw him at the enemy, pinning them down, “At least I got them, right?”
“You messed with the wrong guy, pal.”
“The same goes for you.”
They both kept on getting at each other while they finished off the surrounding enemies. At this point, it looked like they were having a competition. Soon enough, the enemies dwindled in numbers. Later on, they were both panting after having defeated them.
On our end, we seemed to struggle a bit. They kept on attacking us in groups of two. We had better devise a plan to beat them. They slashed my health in half and I was losing the third quarter of it. Girly was down to her last quarter of health.
As soon as I started slashing their heads, they attack using their tails. When Girly shoots the tails, the main head would double in on her. We regrouped to figure out a strategy.
“Is there a way we can beat these guys?” Girly breathed heavily.
“Let us try not hitting the heads and focus on distracting them,” I suggested.
“I will see what I can do,” she aimed at the nearest tree then blasted her missiles at it.
A set of trees came falling down, trampling most of them. Some of them dodged to the side, but not without injuring themselves. The surviving ones circled us again, prepared to avenge their fallen comrades.
I timed their aim, then sliced their bellies. Girly assisted by leading them to me. Finally, we defeated them and all of their bodies vanished into thin air. Moments later, the trees returned to their original state. Vampire and Kun joined us after their quarrel.
“Nice work, team. We have leveled up to three,” Vampire enthused.
“We cannot celebrate yet until we reach the town. Otherwise, it is not safe here,” I reprimanded him.
“Don’t be so uptight gramps, there is simply one path left for us to walk. Surely, it will lead us out of here,” Kun interjected.
“I’m not old enough to be called an old man,” I growled at him.
“Hey sleepyhead and grumpy troll, let’s get this over with. I need to heal my injuries as soon as possible,” Girly called out to us.
“Goodness Girly, you are bleeding,” Vampire gasped.
“Bleeding damage? How can low-level monsters inflict such status effects? Something is amiss here,” I pondered.
“Let’s talk about that later. For now, we must make it to town,” Kun prompted us.
We continued to the last path available for us. It led us out of there and into an open field full of sand. The sun was excruciatingly hot, and a sandstorm was brewing to the east. Beyond the mounds of sand were groups of houses.
“That must be Adamah,” Kun pointed out.
“We may never figure that out until we cross the sands,” Vampire challenged.
“Careful now, that tornado may deliver you someplace else,” Girly cautioned.
“If only I had my skills, I think I can split that in half with them,” I thought.
“We have little time, my health is reaching its critical point,” Girly reminded us.
“Let’s go. It can’t be that far,” Vampire urged us.
The tornado rapidly approached for our direction. Some animals had caught up in it and vanished as if a black hole devoured them. It continued with its rampage as it crept in closer to us. We waited for it to pass, but it seemed to target us.
“We have to move guys, that thing is coming for us,” Vampire shuddered.
We ran to the side and attempted to dodge the incoming storm. It was catching up to us. We hid behind one of the mounds of sand and waited. Then, a loud crash shook the sands and the mounds suddenly became flat. Thankfully, we were behind the one next to it.
“Let’s run to town before another one attacks us,” Kun rushed ahead of us.
We followed Kun’s lead until we reached town. The residents built the houses out of solid sand with a single opening. They used woven cloths as doors that tied down beneath the sands. The people wore thick garments suitable for resisting sandstorms.
We looked around town for someone named Arum. We entered the houses, but it was never a surprise that everyone did not mind us coming in. They had no names written above their heads. How are we supposed to identify who this Arum guy is?
“Hey, do you know where this Arum guy lives?” I tried to talk to the woman standing by the door.
“It’s a great day, isn’t it?” That was all the response I received from her.
“Hey lady, we don’t have time for games. Do you know where he is or not?” I raised my voice.
“Chill out dude, I guess she is programmed to say just that. Don’t waste your energy on her,” Vampire explained.
“Oh right, I forgot. How do we find this guy, then?” My nerves relaxed a little.
“Shouldn’t there be a symbol floating above their heads showing the one we are looking for?” Girly suggested.
“But first, let us look for a healer. Your health bar is merely a hair thin,” Vampire said.
“I saw one just across from here,” a female voice responded.
“Lead the way, Girly,” Kun prompted her.
“I did not say anything,” she reacted.
“Who else could it be, Girly?” Vampire shuddered.
“I swear, it was not me.”
“Are you blaming it on the lady here?” I pointed, and she just smiled at us.
“Stop this nonsense. We better get treatment first then look for this Arum person,” Vampire stormed out and dragged her away.
We approached the healer across the house. She was holding a wooden staff and wore slightly different clothing than the others. Just like everyone else in this town, she was looking forward and her vision was a thousand miles away as I waved my hand in her face.
“Come rest your wary bodies. Do you need some healing? (Cost for healing: 0 Garnets)” The woman in cedar clothing asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
She raised her staff. Then a green light enveloped our bodies. I remember it feeling refreshing and my wounds closed completely.
“I have restored your health and mana. Come back whenever you need some healing,” the healer said.
“Ah, I never felt so alive!” I exclaimed.
“Shut up, i***t. We must meet this Arum guy,” Girly touched my lips.
“Don’t touch me, I bite,” I smiled at her.
“Huh?” Her face turned red as she quickly retracted her finger.
“Come on, idiots. We don’t have time for that,” Kun urged us.
“Okay genius, tell us where to find this Arum person,” Vampire cut in.
“There is only one house left for us to look,” Kun looked ahead of us.
“You mean that gloomy house at the very edge of town?” Girly followed his sight.
“Where else but there, unless you are scaredy cats,” Kun smirked.
- Writer
