Questline

Newcomer Tutorial (2/3)

Seize Destiny

You have successfully defended your land, laying claim to it as your own. Monsters will no longer attempt to trespass in this territory without significant motivation. Now that your land is secure, it is time to conquer. Seek out the monster strongholds within the desert and gather the artifacts needed for the upcoming war. Monster strongholds can be located using the <Tutorial Compass>.

You have one month to gather these artifacts. The next stage of this questline will not wait for the completion of the current stage.

Time until next stage: 0 days, 9 hours, 59 minutes, 50 seconds

Strongholds Conquered: 7

Teresa had been putting in work. After conquering two strongholds in a day, she had proceeded to conquer two more by the time the second stage was coming to an end. It had been difficult, the last stronghold had been full of skeletons at level 28, and it had taken two days of attacking to actually conquer.

On the bright side, the battles had given Teresa a lot of experience. She had leveled up her class almost twice, gaining an additional skill. Her second class level up had provided three new options

<Bulwark: lv 0>

Type: Weapon Mastery

Learn the way of the protector, block your foes' attempts to strike you down. Gain a minute understanding of shield-wielding, carrying a shield will require significantly less effort outside of combat.

<Terrible Presence: lv 0>

Type: Mental Magic

Create a very low quality matrix around your Soul, causing all expended Mana to be converted into very low quality Mental Mana that will cause all nearby enemies to feel uneasy. This skill requires activation, and can be used at varying levels of intensity. The more enemies affected, the greater the Mana cost. Other skills requiring Mana cannot be used at the same time as this skill.

<Warm Meals: lv 0>

Type: Cooking Magic

Emit a controlled form of fire-based Elemental Mana that can be spread throughout an inanimate object to heat it up.

This had been the first time Teresa had gotten a skill that was not combat-oriented at all. Between all of the available skills both past and present, Teresa wound up picking <Intuitive Aim>. It was a skill that would benefit her in the long run, especially considering her lack of training with a lot of weapons. Her class seemed to benefit from using a variety of tools, and this skill was sure to help her along in that process.

By now, Teresa was pretty confident she was ready for whatever came after the Tutorial.

Status:

Name: Teresa

Race: Human (Earth)

Level: 33 (F) (44%)

Class: Jack Of All Trades lv 3 (F+) (146%)

HP: (390/390)

Stamina: (390/390)

Mana: (854/854)

Strength: 30

Fortitude: 27

Endurance: 28

Vitality: 28

Agility: 36

Intelligence: 61

Wisdom: 57

Perception: 43

Unallocated Points: 0

<Skills> {

<Translate: lv 0 (1.3%)>

<Mana Control: lv 11 (14%)>

<Healing Touch: lv 9 (54%)>

<Facilitated Restoration: lv 11 (21%)

<Identify: lv 7 (22%)>

<Totem Of Life: lv 0 (11%)>

<Magic Wellspring: lv 9 (22%)>

<Embers: lv 12 (9.6%)>

<Dash: lv 6 (80%)>

<Intuitive Aim: lv 2 (34%)

}

<Titles> {

<System Newcomer>

<Tutorial: Power Hungry>

<Tutorial: First Stage Completionist>

<Tutorial: Level Pioneer>

<Slayer 1>

}

She was a higher level than any monster in the Tutorial she had seen so far. The level cap for them so far was 29, so most of her experience had come from fighting the strongholds. The skeletons individually were weaker than her, but the strongholds were meant to be attacked by a party of 5. There were so many damn skeletons, it got to the point where Teresa had to take breaks during her attacks multiple times.

There was no statistic for kill counts aside from <Slayer 1> telling her that she had at least 1,000 kills, but she was sure she had doubled it by now. Additionally, <Embers> was now her strongest skill. It was far easier to level up a combat-oriented skill than a healing skill, as she did not need to get hurt to gain experience.

Today she was going to focus on preparing for the next stage and getting familiar with some of her loot. Asides from a lot more C4, Teresa had found a pair of metal boots that felt soft on the inside, a guitar that could temporarily increase her Strength while she played it, a kitchen knife that seemed to always stay sharp, and a pair of dark green gloves that allowed her to scale walls like a Wyvern-Fish when infused with Mana.

Overall, Teresa looked ridiculous. She had her metal boots, leather and chainmail pants, blue healer robes, and dark green gloves that all completely clashed with each other. Every piece of equipment she got gave a benefit she didn't have before, and she wasn't going to just let it go to waste because it wasn't aesthetically pleasing.

She had gotten some very random loot from the stronghold. She had a guess that it had something to do with her class, though she couldn't be sure. It would make sense, and it was the only explanation she could think of for the System giving her a guitar. Teresa didn't even know how to play the guitar! She had only found out that her Strength increased because she did what anyone would do when given a guitar - she messed around plucking the strings at random.

Spoiler alert, she was no Mozart by any means. It sounded terrible and possibly out of tune, but it's not like Teresa had the things she needed to tune a guitar. The System could have at least provided a tuner with the instrument, even if her ridiculous Perception increased her ability to tell the pitch of a sound she didn't actually have a reference point. She knew a grand total of zero music theory, so it was going to have to be something she learned later.

Additionally, Teresa had finally figured out how to use the magic boomerang. <Intuitive Aim> actually helped a bit with throwing the weapon, though it was a weird sensation. Teresa didn't play a lot of first person shooters, but she had at least heard of the concept of aim assist. It was like that, but entirely mental.

When she was getting ready to launch a ranged attack at a target, the skill could be activated. It didn't really take any Mana or Stamina, it was just something she could toggle on and off. When she was aiming at a target, there was a certain way to hold a weapon that just felt right. It didn't improve her terrible form when using a weapon, but rather worked around her terrible form to instinctively know where a projectile would go.

It was like using the wrong equation to get the right answer to a problem. Additionally, it was not infallible at all. She had started using the bow for a little bit towards the end of a stronghold raid after running out of Mana. There had only been a few skeletons left, and it wasn't worth waiting around until her Mana recharged to kill them.

When shooting the bow, it helped her know where to point the thing so that the arrow would go in the right direction, even accounting for any natural wind. Unfortunately, Teresa was not very consistent with how she released the bowstring. Sometimes one finger would release a little quicker than the other, or she would move her fingers at a different speed than normal. It was incredibly minor, but over a decent range a tiny mistake could make a big difference.

She wasn't even entirely positive if that was why her shots were inconsistent, she needed a teacher really. Teresa might be able to improve on her own given enough time, and really she had improved a lot. The first time she fired a bow, she managed to cut her hand. Not just any part of her hand, the back of her hand. It took talent to fuck it up that atrociously, but she had come a long ways since then. She had learned she was not supposed to rest the arrowhead on the back of her hand on the wrong side of the bow, and in hindsight that should have been obvious but she had been panicking.

Now that she could actually throw the boomerang somewhat decently, she figured she might as well take the time to learn the magical part of it. The weapon refused to absorb her Mana, but she was certain there was something inside of it that interacted with Mana. Teresa tried a bajillion different ways to get it to work, but nothing ever happened.

Did Mana need to be inserted at a specific spot? Nope, it didn't matter where she tried to push in the Mana, nothing got absorbed. Maybe there was a certain speed it accepted Mana? Also nope, she tried a slow stream of Mana and gradually increased the current to no avail. Was this thing friggin password encrypted? Maybe it had an owner. A poison staff couldn't be used while its shaman was still alive, maybe it was like that.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

But then why would the System give it to her? That couldn't be it, she had to be missing something. Did she have to heal the boomerang? No, that would be stupid, unbelievably stu-

No fucking way. Teresa had activated <Healing Touch>, and the boomerang had actually begun absorbing her Restoration Mana. WHY? Why would a boomerang need Restoration Mana? Did the boomerang have a splinter it needed healed or something?

Well, it sure as shit absorbed it, but it quickly reached its limit. The boomerang felt full, like it had absorbed all it could. Teresa felt a weird mental link with the boomerang, almost like a trigger she could pull in her head. Well, she wasn't going to try pulling what felt like a trigger with the weapon still in her hand. What if it made Restoration Mana explode?

Honestly, explosions were the default assumption for anything magical. Not because it was rational, but because it was the safest assumption to have. It was pretty unlikely the boomerang would explode, but Teresa was not about to die from an unexpectedly explosive boomerang.

She threw the boomerang, not aiming for anything in particular. The mental link between Teresa and the boomerang was still present even after it left her hand. She pulled the mental trigger once the boomerang was at its maximum distance away from her, and it briefly pulsed green. Nothing else happened, and the boomerang returned to her as the weapon was notoriously known to do.

It was out of Restoration Mana. The weapon must have discharged it all when she remotely activated it, which was… not that great in terms of utility. It was basically bootleg <Facilitated Restoration> in that case, but worse. She could aim her spell a lot easier than a boomerang, and she didn't think she should be hitting someone with a weapon if she wanted to heal them.

What if she tried using <Facilitated Restoration> on the boomerang instead? Well, might as well try it. She activated the spell, and instead of Restoration Mana forming a burning green ball of fire it all got absorbed by the boomerang. She threw it, and once more activated it mentally.

A massive burst of green energy exploded out from the boomerang, a green edge of Restoration Mana shooting out in a ring around it. Okay, that was more useful. It absorbed a good bit of the Restoration Mana, so it was basically just a good way to turn her <Facilitated Restoration> into an AOE spell. Alright, she would take it. Still not that useful for now, but it might come in handy someday. In what situation Teresa would choose to throw a boomerang to heal people instead of just casting <Facilitated Restoration> a couple of times, Teresa had no idea. That was no reason to just get rid of it.

Besides, she hadn't tried everything. Teresa was cautious about using <Embers> on the boomerang, as it was made of wood. Would it be able to handle the Elemental Mana? She was worried she would break it somehow, which wouldn't be that big of a deal but it would mean she was down a boomerang. It wasn't very useful, but it was fun to mess around with and would be a great souvenir from the Tutorial.

Eh, fuck it. Teresa had already neglected messing around with her new gear in favor of taking out as many strongholds as she could. She might as well try everything before the next stage. Teresa probably wouldn't be able to make much use of the guitar, but it would be a shame to not at least try to use her gear to the fullest potential.

She cast <Embers> in the hand holding the boomerang, silently hoping she didn't melt it. Thankfully, it actually absorbed the Elemental Mana just fine and did not turn into molten boomerang. Teresa released a sigh of relief as the boomerang quickly filled up with Elemental Mana, showing no signs of damage at all.

Alright, now time to see what happens when she uses it.

Teresa threw the boomerang, watching as it arced through the air. Once more she activated the weapon's ability, and it began to do its thing. Elemental Mana burst out from the boomerang, causing a massive wave of sparks to shoot out in all directions around the weapon.

See! The boomerang did explode! She friggin called it! Always assume magical stuff will explode until explicitly proven otherwise. Teresa eyed her clothes after she caught the boomerang. Huh. Nothing she was wearing could explode… right? She sure hoped not.

Thankfully, the weapon was a normal temperature upon returning to her hands. Her tolerance for holding hot things had increased significantly, but if the boomerang retained some of the properties of what it expended that might cause problems for other spells.

Speaking of other spells, skills weren't the only way Teresa could use magic. She went back to her stash to grab what she was looking for, then jogged a safe distance from Liberty Island once more.

Okay, she lied a little bit. She kind of needed a skill to use the poison staff, since she wasn't sure if anyone could use it without <Mana Control>. Still, if the weapons worked together that could open up a whole new can of worms.

She tore a part of her sleeve off and used it as a mask. This was another thing she hadn't quite figured out yet. Teresa could now easily withstand the poisonous gas the staff used to expel. She still would suffocate due to a lack of oxygen over time, but the poison itself wouldn't really do anything to her.

Except that wasn't the case. The poison had absolutely gotten stronger along with Teresa, and she wasn't sure why. She could still tank it just fine, but it still hurt to feel in her lungs. Was it because of her <Mana Control> leveling up? Maybe her Intelligence? Or was it her Wisdom? She never truly understood the difference between the two stats, and everything she knew about them was guesswork.

Intelligence seemed to increase the rate she could output Mana, and Wisdom seemed to increase her Mana capacity. She wasn't sure if there was more to it, as Intelligence also seemed to make thinking easier and quicker, but it wasn't very clear exactly how that worked. It didn't necessarily make her any smarter, her decision making process was still the same. She just thought quicker and clearer was all.

Now ready, Teresa began pushing her Mana through the poison staff, holding one end against the boomerang. The staff was still incredibly slow and inefficient, even if Teresa had somehow made the poison stronger. A moment passed before the staff began making poison, and that moment felt far longer than it actually was.

Finally, poison began to emit from one end of the staff, just to immediately be gobbled up by the boomerang. Hell yeah! Poison continued to be absorbed by the ranged weapon, until it eventually filled up. A little poison cloud began to form as the boomerang reached its capacity, but Teresa almost instantly stopped channeling Mana through the staff once that happened. Thanks magically enhanced reaction time! Were stats considered magic, or were they their own thing?

It was time to test out Teresa's weapon of mentally controlled war crime deployment. Teresa wouldn't use the poisonous gas on another person if she could help it, but she had to accept things might be chaotic once the Tutorial was over. She really, really did not want to have to kill another human being, but she wasn't naive. Who knew what condition the world would be in, and she might be forced into a corner where killing someone was her only option.

The idea stressed her out a bit, but if she had to, then yes, she would kill someone. Only if she actually, 100% without a doubt, had to. That was a reasonable thing that reasonable people would think, right? She had seen enough movies where killing the antagonist would just solve the entire plot, sometimes it was needed.

Teresa threw the boomerang and repeated her experiment, finding that yes, the boomerang did successfully deploy the poisonous gas. It exploded outwards upon activation, finally giving Teresa a way to use the staff at a range. It took some setup, but at least it was possible now.

This gave Teresa another class level up, as she had been incredibly close as it was. She had finished off her class level with a boomerang twice now, which she honestly found kind of funny since she had never used it in combat. She opened her skill selection screen to gain one last skill before stage 3 of the Tutorial.

<Lucid Dreams>

Type: Mental Magic

Convert Mana to a mind-altering state that allows you to manipulate the dreams of a sleeping target. Failing to maintain a constant flow of Mana will cause the target to become aware of your manipulations if they are not already, and they may even awaken while the skill is active.

That was a new one, and completely random. What did Teresa do that warranted dream manipulation? Sure, she slept at night and had dreams of her own, but who didn't? That was kind of a normal, common occurrence. Did that make this a common skill?

Maybe it was her class again. It could give her a skill of anything she had enough knowledge of or experience in, and Teresa could say with absolute certainty she had a lot of experience sleeping. As a matter of fact, Teresa had slept almost every day her entire life. Truly, this was an accomplishment worthy of a skill.

Unfortunately, this was another time where she only got two new skills to choose from. It had happened before with her healer class, but it was still a bit disappointing.

<Pain Tolerant>

Type: Mental Magic

Convert Mana to a mind-altering state that allows you to temporarily feel no physical sensations. Requires a consistent flow of Mana, and can only be activated for 1 minute at a time. Cooldown: 1 day.

Honestly, that wasn't a bad choice. Teresa had been through a lot of pain in her time in the Tutorial, and she had to say it. Pain fucking sucked. Her pain tolerance had shot through the roof, but it was still something she wanted to avoid when possible.

The question was whether it was that useful or not. It would be a great relief to be able to stop feeling pain for a minute while she healed herself up after getting injured, but it stopped all physical sensations. What counted as a physical sensation? Was hearing a physical sensation? What about smell? Was vision a physical sensation?

Probably not, but it would suck if Teresa was wrong. The skill would ultimately be more of a hindrance than anything if it made her temporarily go blind and deaf. This could absolutely be another <Magic Wellspring> situation where she was unsure of how exactly the skill worked based off just the definition. She had avoided picking <Magic Wellspring> for a while as she hadn't been sure if it would work with <Facilitated Restoration>. Was this going to be a similar situation where she avoided a possibly useful skill out of false concern?

Yeah, that was likely. She wasn't going to pick it. Teresa was sure that there was someone in the world who could confidently tell her "No you idiot, vision isn't a physical sensation, are you insane?" but Teresa wasn't sure. That doubt was enough to make her decide against it, at least for now.

She decided to go with a skill she had been putting off for too long now. Teresa selected it, and smiled as <Purify> finally got added to her list of skills. It was about time, really.

By now, Teresa had just under 8 hours before the next stage of the Tutorial. There wasn't nearly enough time to attack another stronghold, and really she couldn't think of any additional preparations she needed. She had her weapons, her equipment, her C4, her skills, her stats that would probably give her party a stroke, she was ready.

Teresa did something she had only really done once so far in the Tutorial. She took a break. Fuck it. She deserved 8 hours of peaceful time to herself, soon she would probably be facing some new horror the System cooked up just for her.

The next 8 hours were incredibly unproductive. She kicked back, relaxed, even took a nap. It was great. Teresa spent some time messing around with her new guitar, trying to figure out if she could play a song by ear. She absolutely couldn't, but it was still fun to try.

Finally, the time came when the countdown reached zero.

Questline

Newcomer Tutorial (2/3)

Seize Destiny

You have successfully defended your land, laying claim to it as your own. Monsters will no longer attempt to trespass in this territory without significant motivation. Now that your land is secure, it is time to conquer. Seek out the monster strongholds within the desert and gather the artifacts needed for the upcoming war. Monster strongholds can be located using the <Tutorial Compass>.

You have one month to gather these artifacts. The next stage of this questline will not wait for the completion of the current stage.

Time until next stage: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds

Strongholds Conquered: 7

Quest Complete

Criteria Met

Reward Available

There was a criteria for something? The Tutorial hadn't told her that, thanks for the heads up System. Geez, it always did that. Whatever, if Teresa got upset every time the System was vague about something she would always be upset.

She selected notification to view her rewards, and found yet another skill selection. She could pick between <Appraise> and <Inventory> once again, and it was the exact same as last time. The skill she selected would match her highest leveled skill, which was now 12. Well, it was time to go through yet another skill selection-

The ground began to rumble before Teresa could get to it. Her ears began ringing. The Tutorial had never been a loud place, as a matter of fact it was silent most of the time. Now, however, it felt like the world was ending. Cracks ran along the pavement, the sound of thunder constantly rang out as though hundreds of bolts of lightning were striking down at once.

As the sound finally began to quiet down, Lady Liberty took her first step off the pedestal.

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