With the minor misunderstanding cleared up, the group of seven chatted and played cards while waiting for the tutorial stage to end.
Dishing out seven cards to everyone, Malric spoke the rules — even though everyone knew them already — "You can't talk about the rules, and can't ask about the rules. You will be told what rule you broke when you break it."
As everyone picked up their cards, the game officially began.
| Tutorial Stage 5 |
| Pick your path (for real this time) |
| Time limit of 15:00 minutes |
With that message, the world around Malric faded into semi-transparency; its solidity replaced by a haze of black with intermittent dots and clumping of exotic colors.
Five cards appeared before Malric, but before he could read any of them, a Codex message popped up:
| Bloodline detected |
| All tutorial optional objectives completed |
| 1/10 possible hidden objectives completed |
| +10% Luck from last stage |
| … |
| Shuffling options |
The hazy blue text faded as quickly as it appeared. The cards glowed white before being replaced. Taking the leftmost card from the air before him, Malric flipped it over and inspected its design.
The card had an all-black background with seven golden stars across the bottom. The artwork resting upon the card's face was a man in a black cloak, with white sclera and white pupils. A flock of crows flew in a circle around him and the man's rapier.
Seeing such a majestic card, Malric took in a breath, tempted to select it without looking at the others.
Holding himself back, Malric flipped over the second card. With the flip of its face, the card pulsed with green, the light show leaking off the card as green mist. In the radial sweep of the green light, a man standing among a legion of undead stood alone. The card felt like withered bone against his hand — cold, with a textured smoothness. At the bottom of the card, six golden stars swirled with green energy.
Inspecting the card for a few seconds more, Malric moved to the next one. With high anticipation for the third card, Malric was met with the cold, stony feel of its material. Flipping the card, a blinding light — as if God decided to intervene — blasted his vision!
Reopening his eyes after a few seconds, Malric barely looked at the paladin figure before noticing the two stars. While the effects seemed good, the picture of the all-white knight with a red cross across his shield did not look all too special.
With another disappointment, Malric reached out for the last of the five cards. The card felt normal — like a standard playing card. Flipping it over with little anticipation, Malric was met with a card depicting a man with the ears and tail of a snow leopard and daggers in his hands. The man was surrounded by magical circles and effects.
Around the card, seven stars proudly formed a circle, rotating around it. Not long after turning it over, the card dimmed and stopped glowing, as if it was no longer a valid option.
Observing his options again, Malric thought, More stars seems better, so the holy knight and guy with a puzzle cube are definitely not the way to go. The necromancer seems really cool, and I know the class well from fiction… but he only has six stars. If the two that do have seven stars — the one is greyed out. Maybe it was a one-person thing and someone else took it? In that case I should take the other one quickly!
And with that thought, Malric took the first card of seven stars into his hand.
Pulling his hand away, the other four cards vanished, and the card in his grasp melded into his skin. The artwork that was on the card turned into a wrist tattoo, with its stars clearly displayed like a bracelet.
As the tattoo settled, the blackness faded back into the world.
Looking around, Malric saw the vast majority of students still picking their class. Within their group, both Filip and Illia had finished already and had started talking.
The one I picked was obviously related to my bloodline. The whole crow theme matches my last name too well.
Seeing him done, Filip quickly asked the most important of questions. "What's your class?"
"A dude with a sword and a bunch of crows. What about you?" Malric shared.
"I'm a runesmith engineer. You can see the exact name in your status window — just swipe your tattoo and it will pop up, though that info should be popping into your head now."
Just as he was saying, a bunch of basic information was popping into Malric's head. Not just how the Codex status screen worked but also that everyone could see it when he opened it — and spear techniques… something completely off-base compared to the rest of the information.
Swiping across the seven stars on his wrist, a quick and to-the-point menu popped up:
| All stats are relative to all other living beings with Codex influence |
Class: Nightborne Harbinger
Progression:
• Agility — E
• Strength — E
• Insight — A
• Resolve — B
• Density — C+
Skills:
• Shadow Manipulation — F
• Spear Technique (Instinctive) — E
Notes:
• Lineage Confirmed: Corvane Bloodline (Status: Latent)
• Codex Resonance: Well Above Average
Sweeping his stats, Malric turned to Illia, who had stayed silent the whole time. She was resting against the snow leopard, one hand petting its head, which was lying down like a giant pillow with a content purr coming from its throat.
While thinking it was kind of funny to see a leopard reduced to a giant house cat, Malric asked Illia, "More specifically, I got Nightborne Harbinger. What did you get, Illia?"
"Dude, I'm the one who asked," Filip said before Illia could speak, only to be rebuked by Malric. "Yeah, I was telling you and asking Illia."
"It doesn't have a name. My skills are vague, like stalking B and hygiene E. See." Illia said before swiping her wrist — which also had seven stars — and showing both Filip and Malric.
| All stats are relative to all other living beings with Codex influence |
Class: Not Yet Defined
Progression:
• Agility — B
• Strength — D
• Insight — C
• Resolve — SSS
• Density — C
Skills:
• Stalking — B
• Silent Step — C
• Hygiene — E
Notes:
• Animal Bond: Ancient Snow Leopard
• Codex Resonance: Above Average
"Mm, we should probably not show anyone our status. It could be used against you or get you into bad situations," Malric said observantly.
Right as the other two agreed, John's eyes cleared up and the area around him returned to normal.
"Haha! I got five stars! And my dude had this huge towering shield — it blotted out the sun!" With his class's primary details spilled in under ten seconds, John giddily explained more, all while Malric facepalmed.
More time passed, and Amina returned as a Cinderscourge — a fiery class that could summon a massive halberd. Not long after, Juniper emerged as a Threadbinder, quietly flexing the thin, shimmering threads looping between her fingers as she tested their responsiveness.
With the last of their group settled, the final message of the tutorial flickered into view for them all:
| Tutorial Complete |