Drake laughed, but it wasn't joyful, it wasn't happy, it wasn't excited. It was a broken laugh that sounded almost like a sob. If anyone had seen him at that moment, they would have seen him crying tears of red liquid.
Drake felt betrayed, it was almost an impossibility to get this unlucky. What were the chances? Like 1 in 8,000?
"It's fine… Look on the bright side…. All the classes can't be too bad right!?" He mumbled as he chewed on his bottom lip, fighting back the rest of his tears.
[Class List Generated. Please select one of the following classes.]
[Warrior] [Starter]
[Ranger] [Starter]
[Priest] [Starter]
Drake screamed.
Dropping to the floor like a puppet with his strings cut. It really was that bad. It wasn't funny anymore, he couldn't understand why his luck was so abysmal that he even randomly generated not even an advancement but the other 3 basic starter classes.
Would he really have to pick one of these, what would that mean for him, was he going to have to go the rest of his time until the next advancement to get a real class? Would that mean that he was stuck with just one skill until 40? Drake placed his head in both his hands as he thought of the cold reality that might be.
Drake felt like he was coming loose, something in him was falling apart. His resolve and hard work fighting on the edge of a blade for days was coming up empty.
Drake stood up and began walking forward, his mind a haze of questions and curses. He wasn't sure of what he would do anymore. He continued to just walk mechanically through the forest. Meeting some packs of Vampiric Apes here and there, for some reason they were more abundant. But Drake killed them just as mechanically as he walked. Casting his spells in a low monotone as he reaped havoc on the monsters that charged at him, not caring if he was hit every now and then. He killed them all, but this time not because he had a goal, but just because they decided to show up. He continued moving forward, ignoring the flashing notifications in his vision, along with the slowly draining health pool.
Eventually he broke out of the forest into an outcropping, a familiar sword stuck into a mound of dirt, breaking him out of his daze momentarily. Long enough for him to select the warrior class and mentally confirm it.
[You have selected class [Warrior] Starter. If you confirm this class you will lose all current experience and be reset to Level 1]
[Are you sure you would like to choose [Warrior] Starter?]
[Yes] [No]
Drake fell to the ground with his hands on his knees and wept. The system had broken him. He had worked tirelessly for days, each day harder than the last, alone. All just to see it be taken away, just like that.
He had flashes of the last job he had worked. He was happy, content. He had gotten out of college, and found a meaningful place of work at a Techfirm as their graphic artist. Making things they needed for advertisement. It wasn't bad, the pay was good, and the people were cordial with him.
Then around Halloween he had been asked to go to a party by a work colleague, it was a semi-large gathering with around 50 people. Some from the firm and some friends, friends of friends. The usual.
He had met someone there while drinking, they had hit it off as they had similar interests, anime. They both sat on the couch and talked each other's ears off about their favorite shows, and what they were looking forward to being released.
It got to a point that Drake had really come to like this girl, and he moved in to be more intimate, and they proceeded on the couch for a little. It had gotten late by that point and Drake offered to take her home. When they had gotten back to her place, she had told him he wouldn't be getting lucky tonight with a laugh and told him to just text her later to make sure he had gotten home safe.
He drove home in a good mood that he had met someone so cool at a party he wasn't even really considering going to, but he was glad he did.
The next morning he had gone to work the same as always and expected it to be another day. But it wasn't. He was called down to HR. They told him that he had sexually harassed someone, but wouldn't say who. And that he would be terminated immediately as they did not tolerate that here.
Drake tried to reason with them and ask who exactly was accusing him of such a thing, shocked that someone could even consider he would do such a thing, and that such a one sided decision would even be possible. He was losing his job, his livelihood, it wasn't something you could decide just like that no questions asked.
But they weren't listening, the decision had already been made. A man came into the room with his things and he was told he would be escorted off the premises. He could only comply as he was too shocked to do much else. His entire 2 years of working hard for that company had been put into the trash like it never happened with no concern for his effort or wellbeing. All because someone had decided to falsely accuse him.
What the system was doing, felt just that. Putting his effort into the trash. No remorse, no concern, nothing.
Drake felt cold, as if all the energy in his body suddenly left him. He languidly got to his feet and walked over to the grave. Falling in a heap once there.
"Hey… It's me again.. Looks like this is where the line ends for me haha… I said I wasn't going to see your stupid face again, but here I am…" Drake said, admonishingly through his sniffling. " I thought I moved past, copping out and giving up. But, I just don't know if I can do it all again. What if it just gets taken again, ripped out from under me, ya know?"
You can always just get back up, and do it again, you've done it before. A voice thought in the back of his head.
"What the fuck do you know?! Do it again?! That's easy to say, but how many times am I going to work so hard just not to see the fruits of my labor?! If all it takes is one person saying I did something, or some god forsaken overlord of a system giving me a shit hand, what's the point!" He screamed, venting his anger out in front of him with a flourish of his arm.
Drake sunk back down, his head dipping into his crossed arms on his knees, feeling empty. Sitting there for he didn't know how long. Eventually he heard the same voice from the start of the introduction in his head.
[Attention. Sufficient Participants within the tutorial have reached level 10. The Tutorial will begin in earnest. Monsters will be brought up to the minimum of [F Rank] over the next 24 hours. Ladders will be generated based on Participant Level, and Tutorial Points.]
[Participants will be rewarded at the end of the Tutorial period in 120 days based on their positions within the ladders.]
[Participants will be rewarded for removing other Participants from the Ladder and an additional reward for the Top 10 of the Ladder, receiving the defeated Tutorial Points and a randomly dropped item from their inventory.]
[May you gain insight, power and renown. And most importantly, survive.]
The voice finished and Drake couldn't help himself from taking a peek at the new notification for the Ladder. Still sitting down in front of the mound of dirt and sword. He listlessly browsed the top spots. He saw that the board showed the top 100 with the top 10 in bold. With his own rank at the very bottom of the screen, making it easy to find. He knew this was throwing salt on the wound but he wanted to at least know where he stood, even if he had given up.
[Top Level Leaderboard]
[Rank 1: Bear Level 18]
[Rank 2: Shigure Kenzo Level 15]
[Rank 3: Your Savior Level 15]
[Rank 4: Joker Level 15]
[Rank 5: Chris Spears Level 15]
[Rank 6: Super Megan Level 14]
[Rank 7: Kristen Halwell Level 14]
[Rank 8: Kohoo Level 14]
[Rank 9: VitaminD Level 14]
[Rank 10: Jason Level 14]
…..
[Rank 20: Shot Level 12]
Drake felt a pang of anger rise in him as he looked at the ladder. He wasn't surprised to see Bear in first as the man was just a moving tank. But this was surprising that he had caught up and made rank 20 with him being alone, and some of these people would obviously be in groups. This just further enraged him that his progress would be reset, dropping him down to last place.
He also noticed at the bottom of the window there was a Participant counter showing how many people had actually been in the Tutorial.
[Participant Count: 4,542 of 5,000]
Drake felt disgust as he watched the counter visibly decrease tens, then hundreds of numbers at a time. There were no monsters doing this. It was people killing people. The system had turned this fight for survival into a literal bloodbath battle royal. He couldn't stomach the feeling on top of everything else he was dealing with long enough to check the Tutorial Point Ladder, and promptly closed the window.
Drake returned to hopelessly sulking, the window asking to confirm his decision still hovering in front of him. Eventually he was forced to cover his eyes as the glare from the rays of the twilight sun hit him. The reflection off the blade had caught him in the face.
He stood up to get out of the way of the bright glare, looking down at the mound and the blade, placing his hand on the hilt of it.
Slowly images of his fight here went through his head, how upset he was at the injustice done to this unknown person. How he had fought so hard to establish his goal in his heart. This time when he saw the images flash in his mind he wasn't upset, or angry, or sad like he had been before.
His struggles, the good and the bad, here and in the past, were a part of who he was, and experiences that shaped him. There wasn't anything he could do about what was done to him, he could only control how he reacted to it. He mentially and physically hit himself. He had lost his way.
You can always try again, you're still breathing. The voice in the back of his head said.
Drake wasn't alright. Nothing would make what happened to him acceptable. But he was going to carry on in spite of it. He might not be able to change the past but he would be damned if he took it laying down for his future. He gripped the hilt of the sword tightly and pulled it from the ground. This new world wanted to keep him down, and he admitted it was beating his ass, but if nothing else he was a sturdy son of a bitch. The road to the end wasn't a straight line, it had its ups and downs, and there was only up from here, he thought.
He suddenly heard another voice in the back of his head. One from a friend that had been a father figure to him even more than his own had.
Bad shit happened to you, it sucks and it isn't fair. Now get over it and move on, let it be a lesson learned and nothing else. Stay focused and stay on that grind. The voice said.
Drake smiled as his determination renewed, affirming that he had been here before but he was ready to get up and move on. A moment later he mentally hit confirm and started again.
"Fine Grumps, I'll get off my ass and keep it moving. Fucking asshole…." Drake scoffed.
[You are now Level 1]
[You have selected Warrior. You already possess a Basic Class. The classes will be merged….. You have merged the Classes to Mage x Warrior Level 1[Starter] [Unique]]
[New Skill Learned. Basic Heavy Blow [Level NA]]
[Basic Heavy Blow] [Level NA]
[Basic Heavy Blow can be casted by chanting 'Power through force. Heavy Blow.']
[Cost: Small Amount of Stamina]
[Cast Time: Instant]
[Damage: 1 to 1 ratio based on Strength]
[New Title Earned. Dual Class]
[Dual Class]
[You have gone back to the start. But it is not all lost, the trail is long and hard but rewarding. +20 to all Stats. Increased requirement for experience gain. Twice as much Experience is required per Level.]
[New Class Quest Available. Reach Mage Level 10 for advancement]
[Reward: Base Class Upgrade, Main Class-tree Skill Stone, Class Specific Skill Stone.]
[New Class Quest Available. Reach Warrior Level 10 for advancement]
[Reward: Base Class Upgrade, Main Class-tree Skill Stone, Class Specific Skill Stone.]
"Oh this is just like that game. What the Fu-" Drake was about to scream but never got the chance to finish as he was tackled by a Vampiric Ape mid sentence.