In a dark place, Ling Xu opened his eyes.
"Where am I? It looks so dark in here." he observed his surroundings as he realized he was inside a cave.
[Welcome to the Dark Cave.]
Ling Xu saw the message and then checked his surroundings.
He could barely see a dozen meters afar before the light faded.
He tried to remain calm, taking the situation the best way he could.
As he took a step, he saw the light as if it followed him, allowing him to always see a dozen meters around him.
He saw himself positioned in the middle of a crossroad where he had four different paths to choose from.
He felt scared of the dark and didn't know if something would approach him.
"I remember the message told there were beasts in here, let's enter a path just in case." Ling Xu thought that being subjected to openings from the four paths would be tantamount to death, so he entered the path he had in front.
He took just a few steps, enough to put his back on the wall and tried what the system told him before being put in here.
As he gave the command in his mind, information appeared in front of him.
[Map]: Dark Cave
[Mission]: Survive 3 hours
[Participants]: 10/10
[Progress]: 0 hours, 0 mins
"There are only ten people in the tutorial! The number of tutorial missions that must be happening right now should be hundreds of millions."
He observed the information that had the time he had to stay before the tutorial mission ended, the number of participants that were in here with him, and the time that had passed since he came.
He gave the other command he was told he could use and another panel instantly appeared.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: (0%)
[Cultivation]: Basic Blood Circulation (unavailable)
After seeing the panel of the tutorial mission he observed his status panel.
Watching his own information for the first time he felt excited.
Although Ling Xu was alert about any possible danger, his mood relaxed a bit after seeing information that made him expectant.
[You have received a random skill.]
"Uh?"
Before he had the time to answer his doubts about the information that his status panel brought, another message appeared.
He looked in surprise as he knew what it meant.
"I didn't expect that there would be skills too."
[Do you want to learn it?]
"Yes!"
Ling Xu didn't wait even a second before accepting the gift the system gave him.
[You have learned Enhanced Synapsis (high grade).]
He saw the message but before he could even think about the name he fell to the ground.
"Kuuugh!"
Breathing heavily, Ling Xu felt an immense pain in every nerve of his body as he wanted to scream.
"What the hell?!"
He said in his mind without being able to make a sound.
Without being able to muster any strength to move, Ling Xu thought that nothing could be worse as suddenly he screamed in his mind again.
As the pain in his nerves traversed through every part of his body, Ling Xu felt an indescribable pain that reached his brain.
It didn't end there as he felt his five senses being overwhelmed by an indescribable sensation, completely numbing his mind.
It took a dozen seconds for the pain to disappear, but Ling Xu felt those seconds as an eternity.
"Ughhh!" regaining his consciousness, he waited a bit as he started to recover his senses once again.
"I want to see my status!" he called in his mind curious about this skill he had gotten.
After all, this happened the moment he agreed to learn the skill, so it was logical that the pain he felt came from it.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: (0%)
[Cultivation]: Basic Blood Circulation (unavailable)
[Skills]: Enhanced Synapsis (high grade)
"The name of my skill seems to be related to the parts of my body I felt pain." Ling Xu could distinguish that the pain he felt originated from his nerves.
It was a very particular sensation.
He pondered what its function was and decided to try to activate it.
As he thought of activating it within his mind Ling Xu didn't feel anything.
"Is this not the way to use the skill?" Ling Xu suddenly realized that he wasn't wrong to activate it through his mind as he felt his nerves and senses stimulated.
He waited for a few seconds but nothing else changed apart from that.
"Is that all there is to it?" He felt disappointed as he realized that he could barely feel an improvement in his senses.
He felt strange as he only felt the nerves around his body stimulated but nothing else happened.
While pondering he moved his head as a change occurred.
Ling Xu started to see everything move slower.
His mind raced and his shock could be showed on his face.
"This is incredible, it feels as if time has become slower." Ling Xu thought about it more as he realized that it wasn't that time was slower but that his perception's speed had increased.
He felt his head moving at a normal speed, but he saw it rotating much slower.
It was a very strange feeling for him as not only his sight, but his other senses had become able to sense everything faster than before.
Ling Xu now knew why the pain in his nerves moved all the way to his brain and senses.
He couldn't forget the pain he felt from them.
"It's time to start exploring." he stood up as he decided to start exploring the path he had already stepped on.
…
"What is that?"
After walking for a minute, when the light allowed him to see, Ling Xu saw two small beasts a dozen meters apart from him.
He was surprised at the familiar yet unfamiliar beasts that were just in front.
A pair of rabbits.
They weren't rabbits like the ones from Earth but they looked very similar.
These ones looked bigger as they were more than one foot tall.
They had distorted faces that made them even scarier after you saw their ferocious frontal teeth.
Ling Xu was nervous as he understood that he had to kill them.
He thought of the possibility of going back but realized that it probably wouldn't change the fact that he would have to face other beasts just like them sooner or later.
He took a few steps as the beast noticed him and the one in front charged at him.
Pressing its legs hard against the floor it jumped forward faster than Ling Xu's running speed.
Ling Xu felt surprised at the beast's speed.
The beast was almost in front of him as he activated his skill.
The rabbit slowed down and Ling Xu managed to see its movement decrease to almost half its previous speed.
He noticed as the beast opened its mouth ready to take a bite at him.
Ling Xu moved right away as he avoided its attack.
He moved his leg, which was where it aimed at.
As the beast missed, Ling Xu took his chance and hit it against the floor.
"Kiiiik!!!"
Screaming in pain, the rabbit's partner that was a few meters apart reacted and started to come at him too.
Ling Xu beat the rabbit on the floor one more time leaving it unable to move for a short while from the shock.
As the other beast arrived it threw itself at Ling Xu's neck.
Ling Xu noticed its movement as his skill remained activated and moved again.
Avoiding a fatal wound, he stumped at the beast on the floor that had started to stand up.
Ling Xu heard a crack the next moment.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
He didn't pay attention to the system's message.
He then avoided a bite on his stomach and when it landed on the floor, he was already next to it.
Kicking in its face, it rolled on the ground.
He moved again and stumped on it as he heard its head crack.
Not hearing a message, he hit again.
The rabbit couldn't do anything about it.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
Ling Xu calmed his breathing as he deactivated his skill.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: (20%)
[Cultivation]: Basic Blood Circulation (unavailable)
[Skills]: Enhanced Synapsis (high grade)
"I still don't know what realm means but its progress has increased to twenty percent. It must have increased after I killed both ferocious rabbits."
Although Ling Xu felt excitement after he saw his status panel, he found out that he didn't understand what the realm and cultivation category meant.
He stood up and was about to move forward as he thought of something.
…
Back at the crossroad again, he entered the path to the right.
Ling Xu had decided to go back as he felt that going deeper would mean finding stronger beasts, something for which he didn't feel prepared at all.
"It would be best if I continue fighting beasts with a similar level as the ferocious rabbits, I'm not confident I can face a stronger beasts."
He made the right decision, as not even a minute after encountering the same two beasts, he checked the messages again.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
He then saw his progress change from 20% to 40% on his status panel.
He went back to the beginning and repeated the same process.
…
Choosing the fork on the left, Ling Xu walked for a minute.
This time he encountered three ferocious rabbits.
Ling Xu tried the same fighting strategy, killing one while avoiding the others.
Unfortunately, it didn't work that well.
After taking down the first beast he managed to avoid the second one.
But then the third came.
"Aghhh!" Ling Xu felt a lot of pain as he had the ferocious rabbit's big teeth inserted in his muscle.
He tried to throw the beast but it didn't budge from his leg.
So he pressed it against the wall with all his strength.
He saw some results as the ferocious rabbit felt extreme pain.
Ling Xu didn't leave it any room to breathe as he continued pressing.
But when he saw the second rabbit come at him slowly, he had to dodge, letting room for it to escape from being pressed against the wall.
Able to breathe again, it freed itself from his leg and fell.
"Not a chance!" Ling Xu kicked it hard against the floor, trying to stomp on it.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
Having one last ferocious rabbit to kill, it took just ten seconds before the message appeared again.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
…
While resting on the floor he saw the mission panel.
Having not seen it after he began exploring and hunting the ferocious rabbits.
[Map]: Dark Cave
[Mission]: Survive 3 hours
[Participants]: 8/10
[Progress]: 0 hours, 13 mins
"Uh?" he looked at the number of participants that had decreased.
He didn't know if the number decreasing meant whether they have excited the tutorial mission or they have died.
Either way he tried not to think too hard about it, Ling Xu couldn't afford to distract himself.
Right now his top priority was to survive and become stronger.
"It's time to take the last path."
…
Once he entered the last path, Ling Xu had to walk for two minutes before he encountered only one ferocious rabbit.
After killing it, he decided to continue this time as he had already entered the other paths before regressing to the crossroad.