Blinking in confusion, Lewis found himself standing in a clearing surrounded by dense woodlands. But he wasn't alone. All around him, men and women in military uniforms stood, looking just as bewildered as himself. He counted nine soldiers, all equipped with full body armor and assault rifles. But not all of them wore the same uniforms; some were the classic camo, but others were more grey, and one was even blue.
Looking around, dumbfounded, Lewis didn't even notice the gun being leveled at him and others, the soldiers clearly not knowing one another, and all wary. However, before anything could happen, another blue box appeared before all their eyes.
Welcome to your integration tutorial
Your world is one of many to be undergoing integration into the greater multiverse. As such, group tutorials have been created to introduce you to the ways of the greater multiverse and help you adapt to your new lives.
Based on your choices and evaluation, you have been placed within the elite survival tutorial where danger is significantly increased, but so is the opportunity for growth and rewards.
For the purposes of the tutorial, a special currency has been implemented called Tutorial points (TP). This currency can be gained through slaying foes or accomplishing certain acts. This currency can then be used inside the system shop, where almost anything can be purchased. Whether it's spell books, skill crystals, food and water, entire bases, or information on anything you can think of, all is available within the system shop for the right price.
Good luck and welcome to the greater multiverse.
So this is basically a real-world video game with in-game currency for slaying monsters and stuff?
The message seemed to shift the soldiers' attention from each other and made them relax slightly. At least it was now clear that all of them were in the same boat here, so the was no point going off on each other for no reason.
However, that wasn't the only notification that appeared; a second one followed immediately afterward.
Quest gained: Survive 90 days
For the next three months, you will need to level up and survive, explore your surroundings, and clear out monster nests to establish your bases. Discovering and clearing dungeons can be of great use to you, but this is only the first of five floors, so resources are scarce on the lower floors. Reaching certain level thresholds can allow you to advance to the next floor, where stronger beasts and denizens reside, along with greater resources. Forming a base can allow you to passively receive TP based on the number of members and their levels, with the base leader receiving bonus rewards, including but not limited to the teleportation of the base and its eligible members through the floors.
However, Earth and its denizens aren't the only sapient species sharing your tutorial, so you may encounter a number of other races undergoing the same tutorial. How you interact with each other is entirely up to you.
Reward for quest completion varies based on performance.
Lewis read over the message multiple times, trying to absorb all this insane information. He felt like he should be feeling a migraine coming on, but his mind had been completely refreshed inside the white room, with all the exhaustion he had accumulated having been washed away. Still, it was surreal to feel a doorway settle in his mind, just out of reach, something he somehow instinctively knew was the system shop, but he couldn't enter it until he amassed some TP points.
"Holy shit, this is real?" Said one of the soldiers in a surprisingly young-sounding voice.
That seemed to break everyone out of their introspection, and nine pairs of eyes turned to face the young soldier who was smiling stupidly.
Ignoring the looks, the young soldier didn't even skip a beat as he turned to an empty part of the clearing and stretched his arm out. Lewis was confused about what he was doing until he shouted "Fireball" and a glowing orb of flames manifested into existence. It was only the size of an apple, but that didn't distract from the amazement felt at the situation.
The ball of flames shot forward into the distance, hitting a tree before dissipating, leaving a black mark behind. A high-pitched laugh immediately followed as the young soldier pumped the air with excitement and cackled, his excitement infectious as Lewis felt his heart lifting at the sight, the thrill of seeing real magic in action for the first time--besides the portal, but that doesn't count--was making him excited to see what he would now be able to do. After all, he had also picked the mage class, so would he also be able to throw fireballs?
Looking through his passed system messages with a thought, he tried to bring up some sort of character sheet to see what kinds of spells he got from picking the mage class.
He completely tuned out the voices around him as the soldiers began talking to each other, Lewis going over all the mental commands he could think of to have the system display his class. But it was only when he thought the word 'Status' that the desired screen appeared, listing everything he was looking for and more.
Name: Lewis Caddwell
Race: Human (G) Age: 23
Class: Mage lvl 0
Exp: 0%
Titles: Forerunner
Health: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Mana: 100%
Stats:
Strength (STR): 7
Speed (DEX): 8
Endurance (END): 8
Constitution (CON): 7
Perception (PER): 5
Intelligence (INT): 9
Willpower (WIL): 12
Spirit (SPI): 29
Free points: 0
Skills:
[Universal tongue], [Identify - lvl 1], [Mana detection - lvl 1], [Anti-magic mantle - lvl 1]
Spells:
[Spiritual alignment - lvl 1]
Lewis felt his heartbeat speed up as the new window appeared, his stats and skills becoming visible. He skimmed over the various stats and thought they looked pretty high, though admittedly, he had no one to compare them against, nor did he know what attributes like Spirit and intelligence were even referencing.
Still, he ignored that for now as he looked through his new abilities. It seemed there was a difference between skills and spells, but none of them screamed fireball either. But another thing that caught his eye was the title he had been given. Focusing on it, a new window appeared.
Title: Forerunner
A title granted to all those from the first generation of a newly integrated world. Grants the skills [Universal tongue] and [Identify].
Well, that explains why I got those two skills. They seem pretty self-explanatory, but can I really talk to anyone? Is this universal tongue actually a translation skill that works in every language in the universe? After all, the system did warn us that alien races are sharing our tutorial. Does that mean we will be able to communicate with them? What about languages that don't involve verbal dialogue? How would the system translate that?
Shaking his head, he refocused on his skills, expanding them one at a time to see what they could do.
Skill: Mana detection
You possess intuitive knowledge of the effects and composition of any mana, along with the ability to sense and perceive it around you.
Okay, a pretty standard mana sense ability. I guess this is definitely needed for any aspiring mage, even if it's hardly a flashy ability.
Skill: Anti-magic mantle
Weaken or nullify any incoming magic attack
Wow, now this is some OP skill right here. It's not hard to see how this could be lifesaving; nullifying an attack spell or even significantly weakening it can be the difference between life and death. Although I wish the descriptions were a little more detailed, and I wonder why I got this skill in the first place, it seems more like a tank skill rather than something a mage would have. Still, I'm not complaining; this sounds cool as hell and would only be a boon. Especially against another mage like that soldier.
Spell: Spiritual alignment
Temporarily sharpen and enhance all aspects of yourself by aligning with your spirit.
Lewis was confused at this. Not only because of the vague descriptions that didn't seem to make sense to him, but also because of the fact that none of these--outside of mana detection--seemed like mage abilities. He had been expecting things more along the line of fireballs and telekinesis, not anti-magic and some vague spirit boost thing.
The excitement that had been steadily growing inside him seemed to burst like a balloon. But before he could wallow in the injustice of the system for giving him the worst mage abilities imaginable, a voice sounded near him, the person clearly addressing him.
"Hey, who are you, an off-duty soldier?" Asked a middle-aged man wearing an American military uniform with an assault rifle strapped to one side and a sword at his hip.
Lewis was so taken aback that he didn't even know what to say.
"Ah, er, no, I'm not a soldier, I work in a shop."
The imposing man raised an eyebrow at that, looking around at the others who had lowered their weapons and were talking among themselves, but many looked Lewis's way as he replied.
"Huh, you're a civilian? That's odd. Why did the system send you here then? I doubt that a kitchen knife was enough to have it consider you an elite." He answered, his tone ponderous and clearly not intending to mock Lewis, even if his words reminded him he was still holding the knife while surrounded by soldiers with assault rifles.
But the man had a point. Lewis didn't think he belonged here; he barely managed to kill that large rat while these guys could probably have mowed down the entire pack that had surrounded the portal. But it wasn't like that was his fault; anyone would have a better chance of surviving if they had a semi-automatic on hand.
Still, that thought reminded him of the message he had seen before being teleported here, something about an anomaly being detected and his tutorial group having changed.
"Yeah, I'm not sure, the system didn't explain anything to me," Lewis replied, his brow furrowed as he tried to think back, but all his memories around that time seemed to be hazy at best.
"Well, don't worry, you're safe with us. Names Patch by the way." The middle-aged soldier said, extending a hand which Lewis gladly shook without restraining his strength.
He had experienced the hand shack of plenty of muscle freaks, so he wasn't surprised when the soldier tried to squeeze his hand. Lewis was happy returning the favor, his lips twitching as he noticed the flicker of surprise on the man's face before he hid it.
"Alright then, soldier. It seems things are changing, and I won't pretend to understand the half of it, but what I do know is that this cosmic system wasn't us to fight and survive, and as fellow soldiers, I'm betting you plan on doing exactly that." Patch declared, turning to face the group and speaking in a loud and authoritative voice. It was pretty clear that he was used to shouting orders and taking control, but nobody could refuse his words.
"I see we have soldiers from various countries around the world, so I don't plan on taking charge and ordering people around, but I think it's in all of our interests to cooperate with each other while in this unknown situation." That got a few nods from the soldiers, but the lone female soldier in a grey military uniform with a South Korean flag on it spoke up next.
"What about my family? Our comms were down and we lost touch with command before entering the portal, so I have no idea what happened back home." She asked in a worried tone.
Lewis winced at that, catching the woman's eye as she looked at him expectantly.
"Well, I was in a city when this all happened, and it was pretty hectic. I don't know what happened elsewhere, but the birds and rats over there became huge and started attacking people. I think all of the animals on earth were mutated somehow, even the squirrels tried to attack me." He replied, watching her face pale further at his words.
"Yeah, I was stationed in Florida, and my team encountered an alligator the size of a bus roaming down Main Street. That shit was crazy; we barely managed to put it down using rocket launchers before another showed up. Our radios weren't working either, so we evacuated as many people as possible into the portal, like the message said, and ran in ourselves. I hope my team is safe." Said another man.
But a strange thing stood out to Lewis at their words, and not just the giant alligator that had apparently required rocket launchers to kill, but rather the fact that none of their electronics seemed to work. He had noticed this himself with his phone and TV, but had assumed it was the system's doing. After all, it had given him medieval-type classes to choose from, like warrior, so does that mean guns are accepted by the system? If that's the case, then what's the point of casting a fireball when you can unload an entire mag into someone's face without issue?