Tutorial Failed Successfully?

‘Judging by the growl, I’m guessing some sort of beast. Maybe I should take a few steps back to prepare for some sort of leaping attack.’ My feet were already shuffling back along the cold cavern rock, though my eyes never left the shadows. ‘There!’ Just for a moment, I caught a glimpse of light brown fur that covered a large, muscular form. Immediately, my mind went back to the monstrous options in the character creator. ‘A Minotaur?’ A split second later, I learned I was incorrect as a powerful paw the size of my chest nearly struck me.

I didn’t have time to think as a bear came rushing into the light of the torch. I took that as my chance for my first attack and swung downward. My blade made contact with its shoulder, but the cut was superficial at best. ‘Did I not put enough power behind it, or is the blade that bad?’ I swiftly moved around to the outside of the bear’s next swing, putting myself out of range of its arms. ‘It’s on all fours and nearly as tall as me, no wonder I mistook it for a Minotaur. Hang on, is that a wound?’ I hadn’t noticed it straight away, but now that I was getting a good look at its body, I could see gashes where it had been struck before. Part of its ribcage was even visible, but it moved as if unharmed. ‘Is this thing even alive?!’

I kept moving, keeping myself aligned with its side, not wanting to give it a clear or easy shot at me. ‘There are so many deep wounds on this thing already…that gives me an idea.’ With a quick motion, I stepped forward and jabbed out with my arm, aiming the tip of my blade for one of the open wounds, but I missed. Unfortunately, instead of scoring any sort of damaging hit, I was once again treated to the sight of my blade rather harmlessly hitting the bear’s thick hide. As an added treat, I got a taste of my first bit of damage as the bear’s paw caught my side. Full dive isn’t fatal in any way, and there wasn’t any sort of add-on that emulated actual pain, but it does a great job of fooling your brain that you’ve been hit.

For a brief moment, it felt like what I assumed it would feel like if a professional boxer got a clean shot at my side. I felt my knees buckle, and, try as I might, I couldn’t seem to get my feet under me to stand back up. I frantically searched for a status screen in front of me and then to my left arm, where I found what I was looking for *HP: 05 / 30*. “One hit and I’m almost dead?! Isn’t this the tutorial?!” I saw a blur of brown fur in my peripheral vision and instinctively rolled to the side. I could feel the wind of the strike blow by me as the bear’s arm went just overhead. “I’m not going to die to the first enemy!”. I got my feet under me and slowly stood upright. ‘Not without getting a single solid hit in at least.’

The bear was still reeling from the power of its own swing, and that was my opening. With the sword raised high overhead, in a somewhat dramatic fashion, I went to surge forward to put my all behind my stab. Unfortunately, my legs had other plans and I could hardly manage a single step, much less a valiant charge. My strike was shallow, the blade hitting rock rather than bear hide. My reward for this was another chip in the blade, rather than a single point of damage. ‘If this is the tutorial, I understand why the game is considered so difficult. I look forward to growing, coming back, and defeating this thing.’

A deep laugh broke the silence of my defeat, a clearly evil one. I turned to look for its source and discovered a robbed figure standing at the edge of the torchlight. ‘By the way he’s dressed, I’d say necroma-’ I didn’t get to finish my thought as everything went dark. The last two things I remember were the bear’s giant paw slamming against my head, and my head hitting the ground.

“Your journey does not end here, Kishi.” A disembodied voice, angelic in nature, but its gender was indiscernible. “Your once prosperous and peaceful land has become fraught with danger. I am afraid you will meet your end many a time. However, we are watching over you and your kind and will continue to guide your soul back to its body. All we wish is for all to be peaceful once more. Go forth with renewed vigor and find your way to the land above.”

I tried to respond verbally, and I could feel my mouth moving, but my words had no voice behind them. I silently floated in the darkness, formless, for what felt like a full minute before a warm light washed over me and my eyes opened inside the carven once again. I was standing, not outside of the town, but inside a building with a tall ceiling. It looked like it was built out of scrap metal that was barely held together, but for some reason, I felt safe inside of it anyway. Beneath me was a circle of symbols that I had never seen before. “Must be the revive point.”

“Good guess, young warrior! Welcome to Buzaram!”

Spinning around, I came face to face with an elderly looking human man who was hunched over on what appeared to be nothing more than a hunk of wood that was being used like a cane. Instinctively, my hand had gone for my sword, which I quickly realized was silly and loosened up.

“Ohhhh, you got some quick reflexes on you. What I wouldn’t give to be young again. I’d show you a thing or two.”

He wore a loose fitting shirt and long pants, both made out of some strange looking cloth, and both were very dirty. ‘This has got to be an NPC, right? Or maybe players just really get into role play here? I should be kind to him either way. Don’t want a bad reputation.’ I gave a bit of an awkward head bow. “Uh, thanks! For the welcome that is. I got caught up in a fight with a nasty looking bear, and before I knew it, I was here.”

“Ahhh, yes, yes, I figured that would be the case.” The old man’s green eyes looked me over while one of his shaky hands combed through a scruffy grey beard. “That was one of the four guardians of the tower. They’ll sometimes travel through to “greet” newcomers and send them to their first death.”

“You’re telling me I got an unlucky spawn? Er, uh, you mean I was assailed by an uncommon enemy of the area? I don’t know if I should feel honored or annoyed.”

“Haha! You can feel either way, but try not to be too annoyed. A lot of you adventurers die quickly in the beginning. You may have died a little quicker than the others, but it was the guardian! You stood absolutely no chance.”

‘Well, that’s good, and a bit rude.’ I laughed through it anyway “I see. Good to know! Well, uh, I best be on my way. I have some friends to meet.”

“Farewell, adventurer! See you again soon! Hahahahaaaaa”

‘Hella rude old man. Anyway. System! Send friend request and message to Rhade of Lans.’

*In-game Message to Rhade of Lans*

     “Hey, Iggy, er, Rhade of Lans. How much should I be roleplaying in this game? Do people take it seriously? Let me know. Anyway, I made it to Buzaram. Got killed by what the old man next to the revive point called one of the four guardians. I have been given absolutely no direction on what to do. Any advice?”

‘Alright. Got handed my first defeat, but that’s fine. It was basically a scripted defeat. No worries. I’ll just keep moving forward. Talk to some people and see if I can get some direction.’