The Enlightened Blade

What the ever-loving fuck, Raj thought as he walked into what seemed to be the 100th clearing of the tutorial. Seems to be a theme. I am somewhat grateful for it though. After all, repetition increases my survival chances tenfold. And there are still outliers like the dungeon, and that boss. Raj looked around. He had found another large camp, but this one seemed slightly different. After looking around for about 10 seconds, Raj pivoted on his heel and marched his ass right back into the forest. Only after he had walked for about 2 minutes did he allow himself to stop and process what he had just seen.

Raj had been through a lot in this tutorial, and he knew there was a lot more coming. Still, all of his experiences and levels couldn’t prepare him for the sheer brutality of that camp. Human heads, he thought, feeling slightly numb. Those god-damned lunatics put human heads on spears, and then strung them up like decorations. It’s only been one week and everything has already gone to shit. Raj’s insides churned just thinking about it, causing him to heave a little to the side, before managing to get himself under control.

Once he was sure he wouldn’t spill the contents of his stomach onto the forest floor, he started to chuckle. He had always been a believer in humanity, and had always disagreed with the barbaric nature of apocalypse movies. Having experienced an apocalyptic event himself, however, had made him rethink his views. Humanity was just as bad as the movies portrayed it to be.

Raj sat down on the forest floor, wondering what the best course of action was now. He had originally wanted to search the camp for Arjun, but he now deemed it as pointless. He knew Arjun well enough, and he wasn’t the type of person to associate with those psychopaths. He fiddled with his new Agility ring, deep in thought.

On one hand, he could go scouring the forest for Arjun. There were definitely a few groups out there that were not associated with the camps. Raj would hopefully find Arjun in one of those small groups of survivors. Raj yearned to be with his best friend. He could practically feel himself being tugged in that direction. But still…

Deep down, he knew that going after Arjun was illogical. Considering the fact that it would take him at least a week or two to find the dumbass, he could easily lose his position of strength in the tutorial. It had only been a week so far, and he was already this strong. Another two weeks, however? He could easily get overtaken, especially as more people started to acclimatize to the nature of the tutorial. He had faith in Arjun to survive, so he needed to make sure that he was strong enough to keep him safe.

His mind set, Raj got up and faced the forest. With a sigh, and a slight pull at his heartstrings, he started walking, this time deeper into the forest.

*****

Raj leaned against a tree, gasping for air. He had no idea how long he had been fighting for, but it felt like forever. He checked the tutorial panel.

Welcome to the Tutorial

Information: The Tutorial will proceed for 30 days. The only required criteria for completion is survival. Anything else is extra and will thus be rewarded for.

Countdown: 23 days, 15 hours and 15 minutes

Tutorial Contribution(TC) will be given to all participants for any actions that impact the tutorial or the beings inside it. This includes slaying monsters or other humans, as well as completing or contributing to the completion of objectives. The leaders in terms of TC will be given rewards at the end of the tutorial in accordance to the amount of TC they have. TC is not visible as points by the participants.

Objectives: A power lurks in the grassy plains to the East of the forest. Defeat the monstrosity and its 3 most powerful subordinates to complete the objective.

He had been fighting for roughly 2 hours. His walk had started off slow, with only the occasional monster. But the deeper he got into the forest, and the closer he got to the big tutorial boss, the stronger and more numerous the monsters became. He also hadn’t come across any clearings yet, making him believe that he had been in a sort of “starting area” before, and now he was in it for real.

All this fighting hadn’t been for nothing, however. He had been putting his new sword to work, and the difference was noticeable. Anything below his level just felt like wet tissue for his sword, and even things equal to or above his level were getting mauled by his uncommon sword. He pulled up his kill log for the past couple hours.

You have slain [Wolf - lvl 7].

You have slain [Wolf - lvl 7].

You have slain [Wolf - lvl 8].

You have slain [Wolf - lvl 7].

You have slain [Wolf - lvl 8].

You have slain [Rock Goliath - lvl 9].

You have slain [Elemental - lvl 7].

You have slain [Fox - lvl 8].

You have slain [Fox - lvl 8].

Not only had the monsters been numerous and strong, they had also been different. He had seen some of the same, sure, but Elementals and Rock Goliaths were new. And that was just two hours into the new part of the forest. The Rock Goliath was easy to deal with, as it had rock worn like armor, so Raj just had to aim at the gaps. The Elemental had a core that had to be targeted, and Raj figured that out quickly due to his prior reading.

He had also received some levels from the non-stop action.

Congratulations!

You have leveled up x2!

Stats have been distributed.

After some careful deliberation, he distributed 5 of his Free Points into INT, and the other 5 into WIS. He wanted to put it into his physical stats and power them up, but putting those points into his magic stats now took care of his mana troubles for a decent while. With that done, he pulled up his new status.

Status

Name: Rajeev Narayanan

Race: Human(H)

Class: Swordsman[(Common-G) lvl 12]

Profession: None

Titles: Giant Slayer, Vitality I, Strength I, Enlightened One(G), Agility I, Endurance I

HP: 478/500

MP: 210/270

SP: 316/360

Stats

Strength: 47(45)

Agility: 53(46)(+5)

Vitality: 54(52)

Endurance: 36(35)

Intelligence: 27(26)

Wisdom: 24(23)

Free Points: 0

Class Skills: Mana Slash(Common), Dash(Uncommon)

Profession Skills: None

General Skills: Identify(Common)

He hadn’t needed to use his new ability yet, nor did he want to. He only wanted to use it after he got to a safe place to test it. Probably should have done that before I entered the deeper forest, Raj thought sheepishly. Oh well.

Raj took a quick bite of his very limited amount of food, before taking a swig out of his only canteen of water. He was going to need to replenish his supplies soon. For now though…

“Don’t stop. Can’t stop. Won’t stop!” He yelled, shooting up to his feet. “Or something like that,” he muttered. He jogged into the forest, ready for his next fight.