As Cal continued to complain about the unfairness of the skeleton reassembling itself, mostly mumbling by now, the undead in question clacked its teeth together in a way that just felt like it was laughing at him.
If this were an anime one would see a tick mark appear on Cal's forehead. "Oh that is it you worthless bonehead!" He smashed the pommel of the sword into its left shoulder, smashing the limb off as the skeleton staggered back. However, once again the limb reattached itself, even if it did look more beaten up than before. Cal didn't let up. In his mind he was thinking of how momentum worked, and still applied in battle. If he kept attacking without giving it a chance to recover or counterattack, he could just keep going as long as he had stamina. Problem was, he was already tired from a full day of work. "I have to win this. Now."
As the skeleton tried to recover from its arm being smashed moments ago, Cal kicked it in the knee again, forcing the skeleton to kneel, and slashing down like an executioner, severing its head. The severed skull and its helmet clattered to the ground, and a quick flash of inspiration struck. Quickly Cal stabbed down, the tip of his sword piercing the skull's eye socket and coming out the back. He held it in place for several seconds, and a loud ding sounded in his mind.
*DING!*
*Congratulations, you have reached level 1 in the new System! Tutorial will now commence.*
".....Tutorial?" After he was almost killed by a walking pile of bones, not before?! But any further complaints were halted as a sudden ringing filled his ears, driving him to his knees. He vaguely noticed that everyone else in the area who hadn't run as far fell to their knees as well. Were they receiving a tutorial too?
In front of Cal appeared a semitransparent, glowing blue woman wearing what looked like a mix of a kimono and... A hoodie? "Greetings, player. You did quite well in your first encounter. Now allow me to explain precisely what is going on. Firstly, my creator apologizes for the early spawns. They were meant to appear after the tutorial, but this magic has been immensely complicated and unheard of. Secondly, welcome to the System. Though many of you are unaware, long ago your world was filled with magic. But a few centuries ago, a group of powerful magic users created some grand spell that actually forced the magic out of your world. Why, we do not know, sadly. But over time the truth has faded into myth. And so my creator is attempting to bring magic back to your world."
"However... The magic of our world seems drastically different from what was once here. As such, through examination of your culture, we found a great way to pull it off. We created a system based off the video games you love so much! As you have just seen, monsters will begin to spawn in the world. However, we plan to have them limited to special areas that will form, based off the Dungeons we read about. Again, the ones that just appeared were accidents. However, anyone who slays a monster or completes a quest, which will begin generating soon, will become a "player." Like the young man who just defeated the Skeleton Scrapper." She gestured at Cal. "Please focus on bringing up your status."
Cal blinked. This was a lot of crazy in a short amount of time. On the plus side he had read a good amount of LitRPG, which he was willing to bet his left arm was the "research" she mentioned. Focusing, he realized a small icon had appeared in the corner of his vision, which he selected. Soon a status sheet popped up.
*Calvin Jones, LVL 1.
Quests completed: 1
Rewards pending: 2
***** [Not available yet.]
***** [Unlocks at LVL 3.]
Mana: 10
Buffs/Debuffs: None.*
"What the heck? Hey, there's barely anything here!" He glared at the tutorial lady. Where was his HP, XP to the next level?
"This is not actually a game young man." She glared right back. "You don't have a fixed HP value, and as you get stronger more functionality and sections will be added to your status page. Also, keep in mind that right now you're basically a beta tester. In fact, how about you check your completed quests?"
Not even questioning how she knew he had a completed quest, seemed rather obvious, he selected the tab.
*Congratulations! You are one of the intial wave of players who defeated the accidental monster spawns. As such you are given an additional reward, along with being able to select a class for reaching level 1. You also have acquired an achievement: Beta Tester!*
"See what I mean?" Of course she knew when he finished reading it. "Now, achievements are nice for showing off, but unless you do something really incredible to earn one, they're really just bragging rights. Still fun to get them though I bet. Now, check your rewards tab." A quick thought and there it was.
*You have two pending rewards available! Please choose which one to accept first:*
"Now before you do anything, let me explain what your rewards are. Trust me. You want an informed decision on this." Cal nodded slowly. He was a bit irritated but he wasn't that stupid, or that big of a jerk. "Good. Now, to start, one of your rewards is for becoming a player, you get to choose a class. There's plenty of options which vary from person to person. And while magic has been gone from your world, each and every living thing has an affinity for one of the thirteen magic types that existed in your world, which can add new perks to your class, even change it entirely." Cal blinked. Now that just sounded epic.
"But you want to select that reward second. first, get the bonus reward for being a beta tester. Since you guys fought off the accidental spawns, you deserve it. Basically you guys can select a compatible monster skill."
"I'm sorry, what?" Cal blinked, then smacked the side of his head. He had to be hearing things.
"You get to pick a skill that normally only monsters would have. This is a reward that won't come up very much, so you guys are lucky. Take your ti-" Cal had already clicked the tab for his bonus reward. "Or just do that."
*Thank you, player, for helping fix my error. Accept one of these special skills as my thanks and my apology. Compatible skills:
Decay Touch- Lich skill
Flamewalker- Fire Elemental skill
Graceful Stride- Wind Djinn skill
Absorbtion- Slime skill
Fade- Phantom skill
Rallying Howl- Dire Wolf skill
Corruption- Greater Demon skill
Death Javelin- Undead skill*
Cal blinked at the options. These were nuts. But he had an idea of what might be a good choice. He'd seen in a couple stories that slime skills let people get extra XP. Also, there was a certain anime about an OP slime that made him curious... He selected Absorbtion and hit yes immediately, then blinked when he realized an explanation of the skill had appeared when he focused on the option. And he hadn't read it...
*Slimes are an extremely versatile species of monster, and evolve in many ways. The Absorbtion skill is a significant part of that. This skill allows its user to consume the remains of fallen enemies for a chance to learn a trait or skill tied to the remains, in exchange for a permanent 2% reduction to all combat XP.*
"So, what did you pic-" The tutorial woman's question was cut off by Cal's cry of pure, utter rage.