As the white room slowly faded away a new environment rapidly replaced it. Sadly unlike the first time he had been transported to another dimension by the system, the location he found himself in now was far less picturesque. But it was not the views that were the most troubling aspect of the setting for the tutorial it was the smell.
Luke found himself on a huge pile of rubbish in the middle of what he could only guess was a giant landfill. He had never been to a landfill only seen them on TV and he had always imagined they would be foul, but the air filling his nose was much worse than he had envisioned and was enough to make him tear up.
Hoping for some respite, Luke looked to see if there was some escape from the smell but the landfill appeared to stretch endlessly in every direction.
"Welcome to your new home," Ava said.
"What?"
"Just kidding, but it does seem like the sort of place that would suit you, no?" Ava giggled.
"You are ever the comedian, Ava."
"Anyway, this is the location for your Tutorial Scenario. Every scenario will be different, but this one is simple. It is a game of King of the Hill. The longer you occupy the top of this mound of garbage, the more points you will earn. You will receive double the points if you are alone on top of the hill. Your aim is to gather as many points as you can within a 10-minute time frame. If you score enough points you will achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold grades and receive Weapon Skill Points. If you fail, you will get nothing and receive a penalty instead. Ready?"
"No, I have more questions."
"Well, tough. We are starting, I can answer them later."
Suddenly a giant Clock appeared in the sky, as well as a large floating points board. Which currently read 10:00 and 0 respectively. Originating from straight up above a white spotlight fell onto the 2 by 2 metre peak of the hill.
A horn blew to announce the start of the scenario and at the bottom of the mound, familiar silhouettes started to spring from beneath the layers of waste. As soon as they emerged the four Rancour Rats made a beeline for the top of the mound. One from each cardinal direction.
Luke braced himself, the metal rod in his hand. He felt he had been thrown in at the deep end. He had never used anything similar to a quarterstaff before and while he couldn't be killed, that didn't stop him from getting hurt.
The moment the first Rancour Rat was about to enter the spotlight Luke swung the staff down on top of it. The blow was enough to stop the creature in its tracks. Luke then kicked the overgrown rodent straight back down the hill. Unfortunately, as he did, the spotlight surrounding him turned red. Pivoting around he found that one of the other Rancour Rats had entered the ring from behind him.
He gave this guest the same treatment he had given the first rat and the spotlight once again turned white. He repeated this process for four minutes. While a little tiring this method was successful and reminded him of an old arcade game. As such, Luke decided to call it the "whack-a-rat" technique.
However, at the four-minute mark, the number of rats doubled. Now from each direction, the Rancour Rats arrived at the top in pairs. This made his method far less effective. Before long, he found himself faced with four rats at the same time, as he had yet to finish off a pair when another set reached the top. As soon as this happened, two of the rats leapt straight into his back and pushed him to the ground. The rats then worked together to pull him out of the ring. It was an extremely painful experience as the only way they were able to grab him was by biting into him and dragging him with their mouths.
When he was dumped out of the ring he rolled all the way down to the bottom. Fortunately, after they had done so, the Rancour Rats didn't pursue him any further. Unfortunately, they just waited smugly at the top of the mound watching him. Luke quickly climbed back up, and as he did. he came up with a new method. This time it was not inspired by a game but a movie.
As soon as Luke reached the top he swung the staff low at the creature's feet. Thanks to his improved stats he was able to connect without the creatures having any time to jump over the strike. In one motion he was able to take out the legs from under them. While the creatures were unbalanced it just took a repeat of the manoeuvre to sweep all four of the Rancour rats back down the hill. Regrettably, in the time that Luke had been off the hill, the other four rats had also reached the top. But the rats were no match for his improved "Sweep the Leg method."
With his new technique, Luke managed to stay on top of the hill until there were only 2 minutes left, though the spotlight was red for a significant part of it. However, with only 120 seconds to go four more Rancour Rats joined the assault. When they did, even Luke's "sweep the leg" approach was not enough to stop them. After more painful bites he found himself once again rolling down the hill landing face-first in the garbage that for his sanity's sake he did not inspect too closely. He was sad to see that after his first shower in ages, he was already back to being filthy.
After he walked back to the top, try as he might, he couldn't get into the spotlight, so he spent the majority of the remaining time not gaining any points.
When the whistle blew Luke was exhausted, thankfully as it did he was returned to the white room so he could collapse onto the floor, without fear of what he was lying in. While his exhaustion didn't leave him, the wounds the rats had given him disappeared in just a few seconds, as well as any other signs of where he had just been.
*Weapon Tutorial Complete*
*Rancour Rat Scenario: Bronze*
"The Scenario and Tutorial are now complete. With a total of 740 points, you have earned a bronze ranking in the scenario."
"After all that I only got Bronze?" Luke said breathing in heavy breaths.
"Yes, you were quite a long way off from receiving silver, which required 880 points."
"Well, at least I didn't fail."
"Indeed you can consider yourself the rubbish regent."
"That was bad, even for you."
"I will give you that. That was trash," Ava laughed and Luke just sighed at the terrible joke.
"Anyway, thanks to your performance your quarterstaff skill has now improved."
Weapon Skill Level Increase
Quarterstaff Level: F->E
"As you knew nothing at all about the quarterstaff you started at F rank. To reach E rank you needed 200 Skill Points. For achieving Bronze in the Rancour Rat scenario you have earned 250 Points."
Immediately the Staff felt much more comfortable in Luke's hands. He felt that he could execute his "whack-a-rat" and "sweep the leg" techniques easily.
"You may repeat the scenario but you will only receive further rewards if you earn Silver or Gold grades. You also have other scenarios currently available. More scenarios will be unlocked whenever you defeat a new enemy or by completing certain activities in the Azure World.
From a panel in the white room, Luke could see which scenarios were open to challenge. Currently, there were three others: a Dark Wolf scenario, a Predator Pigeon scenario and most intriguingly a Guardian of the Eastern Skies scenario.
The scenarios themselves had difficulty ranks. The first two were both E difficulty and the Rancour Rat scenario was just F rank. The Guardian of the Eastern Skies scenario, on the other hand, was tougher at a C rank.
While Luke considered trying another scenario he had only just managed to achieve bronze, so felt that he wasn't ready for an E rank scenario. Especially given the fact that he didn't like the sound of receiving a penalty or losing the hard-won Weapon Skill Points he had already earned.
"If you are done, I can return you to the Azure World?" Ava said.
"Yes I'm done for now."
"In the future, you can enter this space from specific places listed on your map."
Instantly Luke found that he was back inside Dave's Weapon shop, in front of the counter. It was hard to tell how much time had slowed. But as Luke walked out the door there was no word from the shop owner so not much time must have passed.
Luke was happy to move on from the store, but he was also very happy with how the visit had gone. It didn't look like much but the metal rod had brought him yet another addition to his Completion System. He wondered just how much more the system had in store for him.
With a bit more time before he headed back to the stall, there was one last thing Luke wanted to buy before he was ready to fight in the arena.