1st January 2025 8:30 PM.
Ayaan arrived at the Nalvaahan village.
A village famous for being a tourist attraction. A seaside village with a natural harbor and is known for its seafood delicacies. The tourists come here to experience the first-hand sea-fishing. Some even go on voyages from here.
Most of all, it is known for its New Year special events.
People from all over the country come here to spend their New Year holidays.
So, when Ayaan arrived, the whole place was bustling with people. Barely any hotels are available. He only managed to get one at a remote corner.
After that, he started checking out the village. It is not too big. Within three to four hours, he checked every possible street in the village. He memorized all the entry points, exits, and elevated positions. He knew all he needed to know about this place.
As for why he is doing this…
If the tutorial quest is really created to help him experience how the quests will proceed, then all the details he observed in the tutorial quest will be useful to him.
For starters, the tutorial quest took place in the exact hospital that he was in. The layout of the hospital didn't change even though it was in ruins.
That means there is a good chance this quest will have a layout similar to this village. Even if it changed a bit and is ground to ruins, he is sure at least some information will be helpful.
Only after making sure, that he got everything covered, did he go back to the hotel he was staying in.
2nd January 2025, 01:00 AM.
He finally got to his bed.
He then checked his phone. Raj has been sending hourly updates about Maya. He checked them and went to bed.
4:00 AM.
Ayaan woke up and went out for a run and finished his two-hour workout. He came back, showered, and went on another trip around the village.
In the afternoon, he came back and took a nap for a couple of hours, before he woke up and got on top of the hotel roof. He stood there watching the village. He watched the sunset, then the moon rose, and the village streets turned busier with every second.
He also looked at the time.
Soon it was just a minute away from midnight. The Quest screen appeared.
==============================
QUEST
==============================
Quest Name: **The First Guardian**
Objective:
Defeat the Water Serpent King.
Clear Conditions:
Collect at least **12 Water Serpent Pearls**. Kill the **Water Serpent King**.
Reward:
- All Stats +2
- Skill Unlocked: **Aqua Respite**
Penalty for Failure:
- All Stats -50%
==============================
QUEST-SPECIFIC SKILL
==============================
Skill Name: **Aqua Respite**
Effect:
Allows the player to breathe underwater for **6 minutes**.
Once the skill is activated, players must rely on their natural **breath-holding capacity** after the duration ends.
Cooldown Period: **15 minutes**
Skill Availability:
**Temporary** during the quest.
**Permanent** upon successful quest completion.
==============================
Ayaan carefully observed the quest screen. He read it multiple times. His focus was on the Quest-specific skill. The rest are easy to understand, he couldn't understand why there was a need for the quest-specific skill.
He opened the interface and checked the coordinates again. He looked them up on his phone. The coordinates are clearly of the village and are not in the sea.
He frowned.
There are several implications for this. And he had a premonition.
He hurriedly opened the system interface.
==============================
SYSTEM INTERFACE
==============================
Name: Ayaan Rakshit
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
==============================
STATS
==============================
Strength (STR): 15
Agility (AGI): 18
Endurance (END): 22
Intelligence (INT): 37
Perception (SEN): 52
Available Stat Points: 10
==============================
HEALTH & MANA
==============================
HP (Health Points): 120/120
MP (Mana Points): 0/100
==============================
EXP PROGRESS
==============================
EXP: 2.7 / 10000
[□□□□□□□□□□□□] 0.027%
==============================
PHYSICAL STATUS
==============================
Fatigue: 0
==============================
SKILLS
==============================
Active Skills: Aqua respite (Quest specific)
Passive Skills: None
==============================
UPCOMING QUEST
==============================
Quest 1: The First Guardian (10 seconds to go)
==============================
INVENTORY
==============================
Slots: 6/10
- Standard Mutant Soldier Sword*1
- Handgun (Loaded)*1
- Handgun (Loaded)*1
- Magazine*1
- Magazine*1
- Bhavara Navy standard Combat knife*1
==============================
He started assigning the free Stat points that he had. He added five to the Strength stat and the other five to the agility stat.
If there is one thing he is comfortable about, that is his endurance and capability to survive in the water. He can swim for hours at the end and his endurance is already high, as shown by the stats.
He also had experience in underwater combat on occasion and he knew his shortcomings. His strength and agility are enough to fight against humans. But he guessed whatever this water serpent was, it would be a lot stronger than the humans he faced.
So, he went with what he felt were the obvious choices.
STATS
==============================
Strength (STR): 20
Agility (AGI): 23
Endurance (END): 22
Intelligence (INT): 37
Perception (SEN): 52
Available Stat Points: 0
==============================
Ayaan felt his whole body go through a strange sensation. His muscles tightened as a warm feeling invaded them. His own body felt lighter for a moment.
And while he was still reveling in that feeling, the grey flash enveloped his vision. When his vision came back, the first thing he saw was the blood moon hanging in the sky.
The second thing…
*SPLASH*
A large wave, too big to be a regular wave, too small to be considered a tsunami… It hit the building he was standing on and water crashed into him, making him crash against the railing of the room.
Ayaan felt the cold sea water wash over him. He held his breath covered his face with both of his arms across it and got into a fetal position with his head facing towards the railing.
He felt the full force of the water on his back.
He could feel the weight of the water flowing above him. The current is heavy, but it is still bearable. If it isn't he would have died just from the pressure. All he felt was a slight pain all over his body and the head.
When he felt the current slowdown, he stood up. The water is still flowing, but now the current is not strong.
The whole village has drowned. Even as he stood on the rooftop, he is hip-deep in the water. He looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The village layout, at least whatever he could see is very similar to the one he remembered.
This is still the village of Nalvahan.
As he checked, his eyes landed on the water in front of him.
*SWOOSH*
His combat knife appeared in his hand and he stabbed into the water.
*CRACK*
He felt something crack. His knife penetrated something solid and a huge force came at him. Whatever it is it started moving crazily. It dragged him along with the knife as if it was trying to pull him off balance. Its force is strong enough that Ayaan almost slipped and fell into the water.
The head of the creature came out and Ayaan got a clear look of it.
A large snake. He didn't know how long it is. But its head is as big as a football. Approximately 10 to 11 inches tall.
It is covered in black scales and has blue eyes. His ferocious maw is blood red.
The snake is way too strong even for its size. Ayaan felt like he was handling a raging bull. And he could feel it… the knife didn't go too deep. This is further confirmed by the pop-up that came on top of the snake's head.
Lv 1 Water Serpent [█████████████████████████░] 99%
The health bar barely went down by 1%.
The knife did barely any damage to it. The Black Serpent opened its maw and tried to charge at Ayaan. He shifted his weight and let the serpent hit the railing. Its fangs bit onto the concrete railing. They went through with little resistance.
The serpent struggled to get its fangs out of the concrete. Ayaan took the chance removed the knife from its head and stabbed it in the eye.
*HISSSSSS*
[███████████████░░░░░░░░░░] 63%
The serpent hissed in pain and its health dropped. Its body writhed in pain as it struggled. But while floating in the water, it didn't have enough strength to remove the concrete. Ayaan of course is not stupid enough to let the chance go.
He stabbed the other eye. But he realized the knife to the eye, while dealing enough damage, is not fatal. The sockets are stopping it from reaching deeper and killing. There are still more than thirty health left.
He held the serpent tightly, while he checked its body.
The black scales are tougher than he thought. He felt like he was touching some metal plates. It would be hard to deal any damage through there, at least with the knife.
However, the skin underneath the snake is not as tough.
He removed the knife from the eye socket and cut open its neck and gut in a fluid motion.
[Exp +10]
The snake died and it disappeared just like the mutant humans in the tutorial did. However, instead of red sparks, blue sparks came. They didn't just disappear into thin air, instead, they moved into Ayaan's body.
[MP +1]
Another notification appeared.
Apart from that, there is something else as well. In the place where the snake just died, a small glowing blue light appeared. Amidst that light, a folded piece of scaly skin is floating around.
Something in Ayaan's mind told him to touch it.
[Obtained Black Serpent leather+1]
The serpent leather has been added to the inventory.
Ayaan wanted to check it… at that moment.
*SPLASH*
A snake with its maw wide open came at him from the other side of the railing.