Chương 2: Pre tutorial

Alex opened his eyes and found himself in a white space that seemed to stretch on forever. He looked everywhere and couldn't find an edge, a wall, a horizon, anything to fix his eyes on. The floor under his boots felt solid enough when he shifted his weight, but there was no texture to it, no seam, no grain, like standing on a surface that existed purely to hold him up and nothing else. The air carried no smell. No sound either, not even the small ringing hum that came with absolute silence back home.

Everything felt like a perfectly sterilized space filled with nothingness, and the nothingness pressed in on him in a way that should have made his skin crawl. It didn't. Out of nowhere a man appeared, standing close enough that Alex should have noticed him arrive, but there had been no flash, no footstep, no displaced air. One second the space in front of him had been empty, and the next, it wasn't. Alex was shocked at how unfazed he felt about that.

He searched himself for the spike of adrenaline that should have come with a stranger materializing a few feet away in an endless white nowhere, and found only a flat, even calm, like a hand pressing gently on his chest to keep him steady. He felt like something external was interfering with how he felt about his situation, and that alone should have terrified him. Alex wasn't a calm person.

He'd say it himself, he was someone who ran hot, who lost his temper or his nerve more times than he'd ever admit out loud, so the stillness in his own chest right now felt foreign, almost stolen. He felt lost and a dozen other things at once, fear, confusion, the itch to start swinging at something, but none of it took hold. It all just slid past him like rain off a window.

"Hello, I will be your guide before you start your tutorial. If you have any questions you may ask them now." Alex saw a man with a perfectly symmetrical face, the kind of symmetry that didn't quite exist on real people, where one side always betrayed some asymmetry from a childhood scar or a crooked nose from an old break. Not on this guy.

He had the right amount of eyebrows, the right amount of beard, neatly trimmed and somehow exactly even on both sides, and a youthful yet experienced look, like he could have been twenty-five or fifty depending on the angle. All this to say he was extremely handsome. Like fairy tale level handsome, the kind that belonged on a recruitment poster rather than a real face.

This irritated Alex, the same low simmer he got whenever some guy at the gym looked like he'd rolled out of a magazine without lifting a single rep, but again that emotion was suppressed almost as soon as it surfaced, smoothed flat before he could even properly feel annoyed.

"Where am I and why are my emotions so controlled."

"Yes, good question," he said with mild enthusiasm.

"First, you are in the pre-tutorial space where I guide you into the best possible start for you. And the reason for your calm, this isn't the first integration of a planet, and before, many denizens of new planets attacked guides like me, which unjustly increased the death toll of many denizens. So now this room has a constant passive calming effect to help things proceed smoothly." Alex listened and heard the unsaid part.

Many people had died after attacking these guides, and Alex knew that without the emotional tranquilizer in the air, he would have definitely attacked this dude, if he was even human. Thinking to himself, Alex was extremely concerned about his family. Ace, Grandpa, and the kids, what had happened to them. Alex needed to know. As Alex was thinking, the man spoke again.

"If you have no further questions, we can proceed to the class selection process."

"Wait…" Alex quickly said. He didn't know if this was going to be his last chance to ask questions, so he needed to use it well.

"I was with my family before I came here. Where are they?" The man responded again with a very disarming smile, which Alex did not like. It felt like someone was trying to force him to feel comfortable.

"They are also in their own tutorial space and will be transported to a tutorial." The man looked like he'd just found something out and continued his reply.

"Lucky for you, your family and yourself will be placed in the same tutorial. This isn't uncommon nor common. Many get different types of tutorials, and you will discover more when you get to yours." Alex was still uneasy, but a hint of comfort drifted into his mind. His worry diminished, and now he could focus on what in the heavens was actually going on.

"What is going on, and what is the integration thing I got a notification for, and why do we need to be in a tutorial?"

"Good question. The system, ever expanding as it is, is an omnipotent entity that is constantly searching for planets across the universe capable of sustaining life, and more importantly, mana. When these planets are found, the planet will be awakened. While this process is going on, all living beings will be sustained and sent to a tutorial to learn how mana works, because that is knowledge they will need." That sounds like a lot of something Alex doesn't fully understand, he thought.

"What is my tutorial going to be?"

"You will find out when you get there. Are you ready for class selection?" Then Alex asked him a dozen other questions that grew more and more fruitless. It seemed like there wasn't much else to learn, because the guide kept steering him back toward the classes.

"We can go to the classes option now."

"Exciting," the guide said.

"First, open your status window by focusing on the idea of a status window." Alex was a little confused but did what he was told. He pictured the words in his head, status window, and felt something click into place behind his eyes, like a focus shifting on a camera. A glowing box appeared in front of him, hovering at chest height, its edges sharp and faintly blue, the kind of light that didn't seem to come from any single source.

Name: Alex Morningstar Age: 21 Level: 0 Race: Human (H) Class: None Stats: Strength: 13 Dexterity: 9 Constitution: 12 Perception: 6 Intelligence: 8 Wisdom: 9 (5 is the average stat of humans) This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Skills: Identify (Common) Body Cultivation: None Mana Cultivation: None Bloodline: None He also asked about his Identify skill, and apparently it was a skill that all system users had by default.

System users struggled to see each other's stats the bigger the strength difference between them, unless one had a special identity-related skill. Identify - Focus on an item, creature, or person to reveal basic hidden information about it (name, rarity, or a brief description). Higher-tier versions may reveal deeper stats, weaknesses, or status effects. Alex was impressed. He knew some Olympic athletes would beat him in a stat or two, but he definitely wasn't weak.

A normal, average man could bench 135 lbs, while he could bench 640, his last personal record. So his strength being 13 wasn't a surprise, and the same went for his constitution. He was well fed. His dexterity being 9 also wasn't surprising; he didn't want to be the stereotypical buff guy who couldn't touch his own back, so he took flexibility seriously, along with running. He could run for a decent amount of time, and his calligraphy had definitely helped his dexterity too.

Perception wasn't something he could train, so he never had, and then came intellect and wisdom. He wasn't the smartest kid in any of his classes, but he was up there, and the average person didn't compete with an average college student. He was an A/B student at one of the top universities in America, so he felt pretty smart. His stats in that department were a bit disappointing, but he couldn't complain too much.

When it came to the cultivation and bloodline stuff, Alex had questions, but he chose to save them for the last part of this pre-tutorial process.

"Focus on class and something should pop up." Alex listened to the instructions, focused, and a list of class options popped up in front of him.

Warrior (Common) +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Perception, +1 Constitution, +1 free point Mage (Common) +2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +1 Perception, +1 Dexterity, +1 free point Ranger (Common) +2 Perception, +1 Dexterity, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 free point Healer (Common) +2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence, +1 Perception, +1 Dexterity, +1 free point As he was looking at the options, a deep voice sounded from the guide.

"Strength determines the amount of explosive force you unleash from your entire body. If you were strong in your upper body and weak in your lower body, the average is what's shown. Dexterity is how well you can move and coordinate your body into precise and agile movements. Perception is how you perceive the world. Intelligence is how much mana you have, which also helps with information storage in your brain. Wisdom is how fast you regenerate mana."

This was roughly what Alex had expected, but he was happy to see his answers laid out so clearly. Looking at his build, he knew Warrior was going to be the best fit, and if he was near his family when he got back, being able to defend them with his body would be very helpful. However, this was a magical world that seemed like a video game, and never being able to cast a fireball felt like the epitome of misfortune. Alex checked the other options and knew that Ranger and Healer definitely weren't his path.

He could get behind casting spells, but definitely not firing arrows. In college he'd played a lot of sports and was decent at throwing javelins, but he never won any medals in competitive javelin throwing because he wasn't quite good enough, so Ranger was out. He chose Warrior, and the moment he did, he received a level-up notification. Gaining +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Perception, +1 Constitution, +1 free point. He put his free point into Intelligence and received a new notification.

Skill selection: you can pick 2 skills for your first level-up. Before you pick your skills, you should pick a weapon first. This will help you pick a skill better suited to your skill set. At that moment, the all-white room shifted. The featureless walls peeled back into row after row of mounted weapons, the air suddenly carrying the faint smell of oiled metal and old leather, something Alex hadn't even noticed was missing until it arrived.

Two-meter katanas hung beside needle-like blades barely thicker than a knitting needle, a great spear taller than Alex himself leaned against a rack, and a dozen other shapes he couldn't name sat gleaming under light that still came from nowhere in particular. You can pick 1 two-handed weapon or 2 one-handed weapons.

Alex ran his eyes down the rows and knew that a two-handed weapon, even if he could wield it, probably wasn't the right call, given that the gear they were offering him was clearly meant for very deadly battles. So he decided to be patient, or maybe he was just patient because of the calming aura of this place. He didn't think too much about it. Ideally he wanted a spear.

As the master weapon for both skilled and unskilled fighters, spears had been used by countless medieval forces to devastating effect, but for his current build, he knew it would be too bulky to use well. He would never admit that limitation to anyone else, but he knew the truth. Swords were a no-go too, since he had no skill using them, and axes seemed easy at a glance but were actually a lot harder to use well, with their small hit box, short range, and the fact that you could only slash with them.

Looking around, Alex considered a club but felt like it didn't have great damage potential, so he passed on it. Then he found his best pick: a battle hammer. It had a pointed tip on one end and a hammer face on the other, the body of the haft a deep black with a silver head, and when his fingers closed around the grip, the metal was cool against his palm despite the room having no temperature he could otherwise detect. Alex lifted it, testing the weight in a short arc through the air.

It wasn't too heavy, and it wasn't especially long either, but it cut through the air with almost no resistance, like swinging something half its size. Its swing speed was incredible. Looking around, he found a square shield made of wood and metal, not very big. It wasn't too heavy, but the average person who didn't lift might struggle to hold it up for long. Thanks to Alex's excellent muscles, he wasn't struggling at all. Next was armor. The armor options were a lot worse than the weapons.

There didn't seem to be any full-body metal armor, only leather, and that was it. No iron or steel. Alex was a little saddened by that, since steel armor would have drastically improved his survival odds, but he supposed the system didn't want everyone surviving. The armor was a dark brown leather, worn-looking in a way that felt deliberate rather than damaged, with dots of dull metal connecting its parts at the joints and seams. Pulling it on took longer than he expected.

The chest piece settled over his shoulders with a weight that surprised him given how thin it looked, and the straps along his ribs needed adjusting twice before they stopped digging in. The guide watched the whole process with a faint, unreadable smile, saying nothing as Alex wrestled one arm and then the other through the sleeves.

By the time he got the helm seated over his head, it sat there perfectly, like it had been measured for him specifically, and the leg coverings ran down his entire leg without a single gap or pinch point. He was a little surprised that everything fit him perfectly, broad shoulders and all, but he chalked it up to system shenanigans. Power Strike (Common) - Use mana to increase the power of your attack. Piercing Strike (Common) - Use mana to increase the penetrative power of your weapon.

Taunt (common) - Force nearby enemies to focus on you. Reinforce Body (Common) - Use mana to reinforce your body for a short moment, reducing damage taken. Reinforce Skin (Common) - Strengthen your skin to the point that it's very hard to penetrate. He felt like he needed one offensive option and one defensive option, so picking Power Strike and Reinforce Body was a no-brainer. He wanted to pick Taunt too, so his family would be safe, but that felt a little too close to suicidal.

Looking at the guide, he asked, "How many skills can I have total?"

"Currently, at H rank, you can only have 10 skills maximum. As you tier up, you'll gain more skill slots."

"Oh. How many tiers exist?"

"H and G is all I can tell you for now. If you keep progressing, you'll see more tiers." Alex was fascinated, but he filed it away at the back of his mind.

"How do I get more skills?"

"Each rank gives you 5 skills, or gives you a chance to upgrade a skill. You can also gain skills by creating them or learning them from someone or something." That's good to know, Alex thought, and proceeded to activate one of his skills, Power Strike. The moment he did, the hammer's silver head flared with a faint, pulsing light, and warmth spread up through his arm into his shoulder, settling into his muscles like the first good stretch before a heavy lift.

He didn't hit anything, but he felt its potential humming through the haft. It would definitely do damage. Alex was already a brute, but an enhanced strike like this would be a serious upgrade. Alex asked a few more questions but got no useful answers in return. He learned that weapons also had rarity, the same as classes and skills.

"Are you done?" Alex was a little worried, but again, that feeling got shoved down.

"Yes." In that moment, everything went white again.