Chapter 4: 0.4

He was suddenly back in the white space.  It was kind of disorienting how there was no warning or anything.  One moment he was in one place, then suddenly he was somewhere else.  The Mage School had been a good learning experience, though.  After a quick discussion with the receptionist he had dropped his Introduction to Magical Items class in favor of the two casting type skills.  It had probably been a good idea since even with six classes, studying during the provided lunch, and asking some of the residents he could find for help and clarifications while he wasn't doing the classes, he still couldn't manage the bonus objective.  The prompt in front of him at the moment told him as much.

Bonus Tutorial Scenario: Mage School completed!  Checkpoint reached.  Goal reached.  Bonus objective failed.  Please choose two of the following rewards: Magic Circle skill, Aria skill, Magic Sign skill, Mana Manipulation skill, Short Sign skill, Short Cast skill, Mana Line skill, Magic Mark skill, Beginner Mage's Wand, Beginner Mage's Staff, Beginner Mage's Cloak, Beginner Mage's Gloves, Beginner Mage's Orb, Simple Spellbook.

There was a lot of decent choices here as far as he could tell.  He considered the items first and decided that he wasn't going to actively aim to be a mage and therefore didn't need any of them.  As far as the skills went, though, if other tutorials ended up giving him a chance for skills as well then he might not have the slots to get everything he wanted.  Once he got a class then he might be able to move skills around but he would have to find something that qualifies as a racial skill to really make the most of everything.  That or start picking up items instead.  If his teachers were to be believed, then Mana Manipulation was one of the easiest skills in that list to obtain even if it was one of the most helpful as well.  Aria and Shor Cast could be ignored since he had no desire to use arias.  Mana Line was basically unusable without Mana Manipulation since it let you draw in the air or on surfaces using mana but it would be great if he wanted to do combat casting with circles.  Which really brought him to the question of what his preferred method of casting would be.  After a few more moments of deliberation he realized that he still had a timer going and just picked up Magic Circle and Mana Manipulation.  He didn't have a lot of slots right now and they were the two most versatile skills.

Please choose a scenario: Arena Gauntlet, Beast Hunt, Companion Care, Crafter's Apprentice, Dungeon Delver, Mage School, Target Range, Warrior Training, Wildlands Survival.  Rewards are given for the 12 hour checkpoint, completing the scenario, and achieving the bonus objective.

Well, that was interesting.  Apparently he could go back to school if he really wanted.  Since he already started on the training path, he figured he might as well keep that going and chose Warrior Training next.  After the countdown he found himself in what appeared to be a large grassy plain surrounded by stone walls.  As he started to look around, he saw the prompt for the tutorial as well as a group of people coming towards him.

Objectives: You have 12 hours to learn about various melee combat skills and weapons.  In the second 12 hours you will spar for three rounds each with a different weapon 12 times.  You must not pass out or be knocked out during the sparring.
Bonus Objective: Defeat an instructor in all three rounds of one weapon's turn.

Well, he already knew he wasn't going to be achieving the bonus objective here.  He wasn't much of a melee fighter from what he could still remember of his past life and his current stats told a similar story.  However, if he could get through the first 12 hours then maybe there was a way to leave early and collect only one reward.  Learning some of what was available couldn't hurt and maybe he would even find some form of melee combat he wanted to learn after all.  He looked back at the approaching people and tried to identify them all before they got to him.

[Orc][Teacher], [Elf][Teacher], [Half-Elf][Teacher], [Human][Worker], [Elf][Worker], [Dragonkin][Teacher]

The orc seemed to be the one leading the group and called out to him first.

"Yo.  We didn't expect someone quite this early."

"Ah, yeah.  I finished character creation pretty quickly and already did one bonus tutorial where was told a few things so I kind of have an idea of what's going on already.  Um, to tell the truth I'm not very good at melee combat or anything.  I was kind of hoping you'd be able to help point me in the right direction from that."

"Oh?  What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, this is my new life and all that, right?  Maybe there's something I can really get behind?  Either that or maybe there's some stuff I can learn that's more in the line of self-defense for the worst case scenarios or something."

"Ah.  I think I see what you're saying.  Hmm.  If I got this right then I don't think I'll have too much for you myself.  I guess you could learn some non-weapon stuff or shields, since that fits what you're saying.  Other than that maybe try some knives or throwing stuff, I guess?"

"Throwing?  I figured that would be more in line with ranged stuff or something."

"Hm?  Well, you're not entirely wrong.  Let's start with that, then.  You're first 12 hours is supposed to be all about learning anyways."

He spent the next 12 hours learning about various skills and weapons.  It turned out that thrown weapons and the relevant skills could be considered a mix between range and melee.  It was an interesting learning session full of descriptions and some several demonstrations of what was possible and how.  All in all he actually had quite a bit of fun but as he noticed the timer tick towards the 12 hour mark he realized that melee combat was still not really going to be his thing in this life.  He silently asked the system if he could quit early and received a prompt asking if he wished to end the tutorial.  He waited until the instructors were done with their lessons and before they got ready to start the sparring part he thanked them for their time and told the prompt yes.  He chose to take a karambit as his reward, although some of the armor did feel tempting, and got ready to choose his next tutorial.  He didn't even waste any time and immediately chose the Target Range as soon as the prompt appeared.

He appeared in a similar location as the last tutorial, except this time he was at the side of the field and next to the wall.  Out in the field were a bunch of targets of various sizes and at various distances.  Some of the targets were even moving and floating around, likely with the use of some kind of magic or another.  There a bunch of benches and tables set up nearby holding a wide range of weapons, most recognizable.  He saw guns, bows, slingshots, and more.  The most interesting thing to him, other than some of the strange weapons he couldn't recognize, was that there were some other people being taught already.

Objective: You have 12 hours to learn about various ranged combat skills and weapons.  In the second 12 hours you will do target practice.  Hit at least 3 shots on 10 targets with 3 weapons each.
Bonus Objective: Land a bullseye on every target in the field.

Those sounded like doable objectives.  The bonus might be a little difficult with how many targets there were but having the Farsight trait would likely be a huge help here.  Once the prompt was gone he began identifying as many people as he could.  The residents were quickly identified in a similar way to the other residents he had identified until now but the first salient he tried to identify gave a strange result.  He tried it a few more times with all the others he thought were salients and each gave the same result.

[N/A][N/A]

One of the instructors finally came up to him and noticed his confused expression.

"Hello.  You finished a little early, huh?  No worries.  I'm sure you're a little confused but I can help explain a little of what's going on.  You'll have to wait to get a full explanation since you're on a timer, though."

"Huh?  Oh, right.  Thanks, but I already got an explanation from someone in a different tutorial.  What I'm confused about right now is why Identify doesn't work on any of the other salients.  I don't suppose you know about that, do you?"

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"Wow.  So we're not even you're first tutorial, huh?  Oh well.  As for the identify thing: yes, I know why you're having trouble.  Salients aren't able to be identified by any kind of skill or anything until they've reached the next layer.  As for layers and all that, it's probably not my place to talk about it so you'll have to wait for later and just live with the knowledge that salients can't be identified for now."

"Uh, okay.  So...ranged weapons?"

"That's what we got here, yes."

"I don't recognize some of them.  Are they from another world?"

"Probably.  To be honest, I'm more about knowing how to use them than knowing where they originally came from."

"Fair enough.  Is it okay if I start with some of those or would it be better if I join that group since they've already started?"

"Hmm.  Their already a few hours in and we still have a few free instructors so I guess it's fine if we do our own thing.  If some more show up soon enough then we might add them to our new group, though.  That said, which one do you want to start with?"

"The three I can see right now that I have no idea of are that one, that one, and that one."

"Right.  Let's start with the furthest one then.  That is called a light spiker.  One of the crystal types of weapons.  It absorbs light using a crystal chamber and then releases the stored energy in bursts.  It's a but of an old weapon but some people swear on it.  Personally I think the slightly newer crossbow is a better option out of the old style weapons but to each their own."

Well that was an interesting tidbit of information.  Apparently someone on some world had created a type of laser gun before even crossbows existed.  He spent the next 12 hours learning about all of the weapons he didn't know before as well as some of the ones he knew about but had never used.  A few people showed up and joined his little group as they went around and learned about the weapons the elf teacher showed them.  As his timer ticked over into his second half of the tutorial he was sent over to another instructor in charge of the shooting range.

There had been a few interesting weapons to be sure and he briefly considered giving some of them a try on the range.  That though was dashed as he looked out at the amount of targets there were in the field.  If he wanted to even try to achieve both the main objective and the bonus then he would be better off using something he was familiar with.  Memories of using guns had not been sold, so he at least had some basis for using them.  A crossbow was also something he had at least a little bit of experience with so he decided to pick that along with a rifle and handgun as his 3 weapons to use for the main objective.  

As hours ticked by he realized that trying to get a bullseye on every target was even harder than he he suspected it would be.  He was already on his sixth weapon after changing weapons several times to try and hit some of the more difficult targets.  He had less than an hour left and there were still plenty of targets that he hadn't gotten a bullseye on.  Farsight was getting a full workout and the occasional glance at the ticking timer was helping to pump adrenaline through his veins.  Just as the timer was reaching the 30 second mark he finally managed to land a bullseye on the last target.  He set down the light spiker that he had finally decided to use since nothing else had been working on the last few targets and let out an explosive sigh of relief.  

By the time the adrenaline was no longer in his veins and his breath was steady, he realized that he was already back in the white space.  A quick glance at the countdown told him he hadn't been there long and he still had a little bit over two and a half days to get some more tutorials done.  He figured that since there were more than seven bonus tutorials and each was supposed to take 24 hours as far as he could tell that it would make no sense for there to be something else he had to do before the timer ran out.  So long as he spent only a few minutes in between each tutorial to collect the rewards and move on to the next then he should be able to do another two and half tutorials.  Thinking about rewards...

Bonus Tutorial Scenario: Target Range completed!  Checkpoint reached.  Goal reached.  Bonus objective reached.  Please choose two of the following rewards: Eagle Vision skill, Quickdraw skill, Aiming skill, Rapid Reload skill, Snapshot skill, Trick Shot skill, Simple Hunting Rifle, Simple Combat Rifle, Simple Handgun, Simple Crossbow, Simple Recurve Bow, Simple Longbow, Simple Light Spiker, Simple Atlatl, Simple Sling, Enhanced Slingshot, Enhanced Hand Cannon, Enhanced Spring Cannon, Handgun Holster, Rifle Sling, Simple Laser Sight, Basic Scope, Beginner Archer's Bracer.
Please choose bonus reward: Enhance Basic Rewards, Mana Bullet Pouch, Mana Ammo Belt, Mana Arrow Quiver, Mana Crystal Sheath.

That was a pretty large list.  The reward enhancement was enticing but picking up a ranged weapon would leave the worry of ammo and if what he assumed the mana items were was right then that would be a huge boon that may last for a very long time.  He didn't want to take too long to decide so he chose the Enhanced Hand Cannon, Handgun Holster, and Mana Ammo Belt.  He wasn't entirely sure why it was enhanced when most of the other rewards weren't, maybe because revolver's were considered worse than automatic pistols, and he could only hope that the holster would work for it.  He almost picked up the bullet pouch but then remembered that slings and slingshot ammunition was also called a bullet so he figured that the ammo belt would be the right choice for a gun.  Luckily, he was right and it all worked out with the revolver even coming with 18 bullets.  It was also nice to be able to tuck his knife into the belt instead of his pants.  He still felt slightly annoyed that it didn't come with a sheath.

As he put on and arranged his new equipment he took the opportunity to think about the next tutorial he should go to.  He wasn't sure if he could even do one if there weren't at least 24 hours left so he wanted to do one that he figured he would only spend half the time in for a simple reward.  He'd like to have some kind of bag or something to start holding stuff so survival or a dungeon seemed like the best options for that.  Dungeons probably had some awesome stuff, though, and he would prefer to try for extra rewards there.  That meant it was time for some survival.  Within a few seconds he was standing in the middle of a forest.

Objective: Survive in this wilderness for 24 hours.  In the second 12 hours, predators will appear.
Bonus Objective: Secure shelter, food, and water to last another 3 days.

He spent the first first bit of time learning how to use his ammo belt and practicing with his new weapon.  He only used one real bullet to see what the difference was between them and the mana bullets.  The real bullets were definitely stronger as the shot went through a tree and into another tree behind it while the mana bullet only went about halfway through the same tree.  The mana bullets also looked a bit strange being mostly blue and see-through as if they were made of sapphires and water with a slight tinge of red showing on occasion.  The ammo belt could hold twenty bullets and was easy enough to understand.  All he had to do was put his finger on an empty spot and will a new bullet into existence to make a mana bullet.  It cost 7 mana and took about 1 second to make each one, after which they stayed they seemed to stay in existence until fired.  He also tried to experiment a little by putting the used casing from the real bullet he fired into one of the spots and willing a new mana bullet into it, which seemed to work from what he could see and only cost 5 mana but it wouldn't actually fire when he tried to shoot it.

He decided to hold onto that one half-mana bullet in the hopes that some day someone could figure out why it didn't work and kept it in the furthest spot on his belt so he wouldn't accidentally load it.  He loaded up his revolver and two empty spots with mana bullets, holstered the weapon, and moved on to testing out his skills.  Since he was sitting a bit low on mana he decided to start by trying the whole rest and meditate thing that the system always had notes about and the teachers at the mage school had mentioned a few times.  He had yet to actually try meditating yet so it was a little awkward for him even while he was trying to follow what little he knew about it.  Eventually he gave up since it didn't feel like he was getting anywhere, and he decided to sit with his back against a nearby tree to think about what else he should do until the 12 hour mark was up. 

He eventually settled on trying to sense the life around him since he wasn't sure if he was already doing it with his senses already being slightly different in his mostly new body.  He closed his eyes and tried to see around him, as contradicting as it seemed, and somehow managed to notice that he could, in a strange way, see the living things around him.  He was sure that there was a small bug hiding only a few centimeters away from him and he opened his eyes while reaching out to move some of the leaves and grass around to see that he had been right.  Now that he had an idea of how the skill worked, he could notice that there was a slight 'glow', for lack of a better work, around and inside a lot of things nearby.  Satisfied that he understood the minimum of the skill now, he decided to look at his status to figure out what he should work on next and was met with a pleasant surprise of seeing his mana going up.

He figured that this would also be a decent time to experiment with his mana manipulation skill and started trying to move his mana around with the same kind of vague feeling he had when he was making mana bullets.  Eventually he had to make another mana bullet to try and get the feeling again.  Based on how it felt to make the bullet he tried to manipulate his mana and he thought he had something but he wasn't really sure how to test it to make sure.  He looked in his hand at the bullet he had pulled out to make an empty space and came up with an idea.  He pulled out another mana bullet and reached for the empty spot but instead of touching it he kept his finger about 2 centimeters and tried to use mana manipulation to send the mana the rest of the way.  He could feel something but nothing was happening and he almost considered it a failure until his finger got closer.  It probably wasn't extremely useful to be able to make mana bullets an extra centimeter away, especially considering how it took 8.5 mana this time, but he was sure that some of it was because the skill was only at level 1.

After that he fired two shots at the furthest thing he could see to work on his aim and have places in the cylinder to put the two mana bullets he was holding, then he spent several hours trying to figure out how to use his blood magic and the magic circles with little success.  Once he had somewhat given up on it he spent the remainder of his time trying out what few survival things he remembered and as soon as the timer reached the 12 hour mark he quit the scenario.  Out of the rewards offered, the only two that he had under consideration were the Small Beginner's Dimensional Bag and the Traveler's Backpack.  The dimensional bag sounded awesome, for sure, but he settled on the backpack out of practicality.  The rewards tended to be mostly equal to one another and although the small bag would like be...well...small, he had no idea how he would have been able to tie it to his belt or anything and what he needed was space to put stuff and a good backpack wasn't likely to be a hindrance while moving around.

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