A young man materialized in a green and lush forest, dressed in a white shirt, neatly paired with a black tie and tailored black pants, his attire starkly contrasting his surroundings.
He looked around at his surroundings with curiosity and muttered in awe:
"So this is the tutorial."
This young man was Alex, and the tutorial was a far cry from the hellish landscape he had imagined.
He had expected dark menacing woods, with creepy noises and roars, or a grim cave with weathered bones and skulls, where vicious bats jump at you from nowhere.
But, Alex found himself surrounded by a sea of vibrant green foliage, where towering trees created a dense canopy, and dappled sunlight filtered through.
The serene ambiance reminded Alex of a date he once had with Katie, but he shook his head wanting to erase the memory
Ding!
[System is now available]
The holographic interface notified Alex.
Finding a nearby tree, Alex settled down to explore the system and grasp its mechanics first, before he took any action.
With a thought, Alex accessed the system, and the floating panel updated.
Name: Alex Knight
Rank: E
Title: Apocalypse Baby
Class: None
Level: 1
Hp: 100
Mp: 10
"Apocalypse Baby?" Alex frowned at the silly name.
According to Oracle, this title was supposed to be a privilege and he wondered what its effect was, which prompted the description of it to pop up.
[Apocalypse Baby: This is the title given to the first player to arrive in the tutorial]
[Effect: Any reward gained will be doubled]
Alex's eyes widened at this, twice the reward of everything was an incredible advantage. He then scrolled down further and saw his stats.
[Stats]
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 10
[Stats points: 10]
It looked exactly like a video game interface, and since Alex played a lot of them, he understood the mechanics.
Alex scrolled down even more and saw a section for skills but he only had one.
[Ability: [ Exploding Touch (E)]]
"This is my ability?" Alex muttered.
The oracle had told him every human would get a unique ability as soon as they entered the tutorial.
With a thought, Alex summoned the description.
[Exploding Touch (Rank E): On using the ability, the area you touch would explode in 30 seconds.]
[Cost: 5 mana]
"Oh," Alex was stunned.
He could turn anything he touched into a deadly explosion.
And though he didn't know how powerful the explosion would be, one thing was sure:
It'll do a lot of damage.
"But how much damage?"
To find out, he turned to a nearby tree, placed his hand on it, and activated the ability.
A bluish circular light marked the spot he touched, displaying a countdown from thirty.
Stepping back, Alex watched as the timer counted down and immediately it reached zero it exploded.
Boom!
The force of the blast sent Alex tumbling backward.
Alex groaned and coughed up smoke, berating himself for not moving farther away before the countdown ended.
He rose to his feet and then turned towards the tree, marveling at the damage he had caused.
The tree now bore a burnt hole, barely holding on to life.
And it seems like a single push should be enough to send it to the ground.
Alex checked his HP and saw it had been reduced by half.
"Eee...that's a lot. "
Alex winced, the force of the explosion had almost killed him, but he could see his HP was starting to regenerate along with the mana he had just used.
Alex thought the ability was remarkable and he could already think of ways to use it to his favor.
But the fact that he had to touch his target bothered him.
It simply meant close combat was necessary, but with no weapon or armor, he thought it wouldn't be a good idea.
"System put all points in agility," Alex commanded, and immediately the system complied, raising his agility points to 20.
He had decided the best place to put his free stat point was in his speed. His style of combat would be touch and flee to cover for his current lack of armor.
'You can't hurt what you can't catch'
Alex nodded with a grin, feeling he made the right decision, but then a sudden noise caught his attention.
Alex quickly rose to its knee and peeked to see what it was.
It was a cat-like creature with horns on its head like a unicorn, walking towards the charred tree to investigate.
[Felihorn: Rank-D]
The name floated over its head.
Alex figured the noise of the explosion must have attracted it, and once again scolded himself for not being cautious.
Alex thought the Felihorn would probably find him if he stayed there, so he decided to move.
Alex didn't intend to fight against a monster he knew nothing about.
He was about to take a step away when he saw something surprising happen.
A chicken-like creature, the size of an ostrich with a scorpion-like tail, charged at the Felihorn.
Its talons trapped the creature, and with a single strike of its eagle-like beak, the Felihorns life ended.
Alex was left in shock, unable to move. The gruesome scene was hard to take in due to its realism of it all.
He slowly turned towards the attacker and glanced at the name over its head.
[Cockraice: Rank-D]
The monstrous bird began feasting on the cat's body, and Alex's heart began to race as he watched.
'This place was dangerous.'
The cockatrice ranking also got Alex's attention, as it was a rank D monster, while he was Rank E, which he deduced meant the cockatrice was more powerful.
'Damn you oracle, you should have spawned me in an area with E-rank monsters.' Alex cursed, glaring at the sky with a balled fist.
The cockatrice suddenly stopped eating and turned his head towards Alex's direction, and immediately, Alex drew back his head, his back leaning on the tree, and his heart was pounding like a drum.
"It didn't see me. it didn't see me. it didn't see me." Alex repeated to himself, his heartbeat racing so hard it hurt.
He couldn't hear any sound, not even that of the creature munching, which made him more tense.
He slowly peeked out from the left side of the tree, only to see the monstrous bird was gone.
Alex then sighed in relief, holding his chest, but then he saw the cockatrice's beak slowly poke out from the right, and he froze.
The cockatrice had approached from his blind spot which had prevented him from spotting it had gotten so close.
Alex had thought the cockatrice was quite intimidating from a distance, but up close the creature was downright terrifying.
Its purple feathers quivered as it exhaled, its beak stained with blood and entrails, and its eyes glimmered with the cold, predatory gaze of a serpent.
Alex froze in fear, unable to move his body, only his arm, so he used it and pinched himself hard on his thighs, which loosened him a little.
As he did that, the cockatrice drew downward and it noticed Alex.
"Hi." Alex greeted the cockatrice awkwardly, but he was met with disrespect.
The cockatrice's sharp beak headed towards his head.
Alex reacted immediately moving fast enough, to evade. He rolled away from the piercing attack and sprang up to his two feet. The points he had put into his agility showed its worth.
The cockatrice's beak smashed into the tree with great force, causing branches to shake and its beak to get stuck.
The cockatrice's body writhed, and its tail flailed about as it struggled to pull itself free.
Alex, seeing this, thought it was a perfect opportunity to use his [Exploding Touch] before the cockatrice broke free, so he quickly drew closer and touched the bird's legs, and then its slender neck.
A bluish circular light appeared on the areas he had touched, and the countdown began.
Alex wasted no time and executed a...