Within a few seconds, I started to notice the sounds of ambient forest noises popping up all around me.
After almost ten seconds of shining non-stop, the light finally dimmed down. I went ahead and lowered my arms as I opened my eyes, seeing myself near one side of a small circular clearing in the middle of a rather dense looking forest.
However, I could only stand to admire my surroundings for a few moments, as I heard the sound of rustling fauna on the opposite side of the clearing. Looking over at the noise, I saw what looked to be a life-sized humanoid wooden puppet coming out from behind a plant with rather large leaves. It seemed to have markings on its face to resemble that of a human's, only way creepier. Its frame was rather skeletal, being covered only by a ragged red cape-like cloth.
Once it had cleared the perimeter, It took a few slow and shaky steps into the clearing before stopping.
"Welcome to the second half of [The Gamer's Tutorial]! In this tutorial, you will be shown the basics of combat!"
"Now, the first thing you should do before ever confronting an enemy is find out how strong the enemy is! Use [Observe] to see the stats of your enemy!"
"Very well… [Observe]." I replied, speaking the name of the spell while looking right at the wooden puppet thing.
Suddenly, a blue holographic screen popped up in front of me.
—OBSERVED-
Name: Dark Puppet
Race: Monster
LVL: 1
HP: 30/30
MP: 0/0
STR: 1
END: 1
AGI: 1
INT: 0
MAG: 0
LUK: 0
"Well, now what?" I asked the voice, seeing that this little "enemy" was nothing more than a "mob monster".
"Now, after having discovered the stats of your enemy, you can decide whether or not you wish to fight them! However, some fights are unavoidable! This is one of them!"
"You have been given a weapon for this fight! Go into your Inventory and equip it!"
Opening up my Inventory Screen, I clicked on the tab that said Weapons. One of the boxes that was previously empty and grayed out was now occupied with the picture of a wooden sword.
I tapped on the icon and received a description.
—Weapons-
+Wooden Sword – Rarity: Common
—Price (Selling): (300 Yen)
—Type: Sword
—Power: +2 STR
—Durability: 50/50
Underneath the description were three small boxes with text inside of them. From left to right, they read "Equip", "Drop" and "Cancel".
Pressing "Equip", the screen disappeared and a meter long wooden sword suddenly appeared in my hands. I gave it a few practice swings as I was guessing that I was about to fight this wooden puppet monster thing.
"Now that you have equipped your weapon, go and fight that monster!"
And, at that, the wooden puppet started to wobble and shake as it stalked forward with one slow footstep after another. I held up my sword in a ready stance as I also slowly approached the monster.
Once we were a few feet from each other, the puppet started shaking violently for a second before raising one of its arms and swinging horizontally at my head. I bent my knees and ducked, avoiding the slow and obvious attack that one would expect from a mob monster.
"Ngh!"
Giving a short grunt, I drew the sword back and stabbed forward at the puppet's chest, landing a hit that was a bit off center. It staggered back from my hit, which gave me the chance to draw my sword to my side and swing at its torso with a horizontal slash.
Once again, the puppet was staggered as it was hit by my attack. I could see that, as a mob monster, this thing was quite slow and weak. I didn't really want to waste time on a Tutorial Fight, so I just started throwing slash after slash at the wooden puppet.
I doubted that I possessed any in-borne talent for swordsmanship. As evidenced by the fact that, in my wild beat-down of the wooden puppet, I nearly tripped over my own feet twice.
The good news is that after attacking the wooden puppet for about half a minute, it suddenly stopped in its tracks before falling unceremoniously to the ground.
"Congratulations! You have just defeated your first enemy! Be warned, though, there are enemies far stronger than Puppets!"
"Yeah, kinda figured that on my own. So, what now?" I asked the voice, though by this point I'm pretty sure that the voice doesn't really care about what I say.
"Congratulations! You have completed the second half of [The Gamer's Tutorial]! With this, [The Gamer's Tutorial] is now complete! You have been granted two more Spells to commemorate your first time completing [The Gamer's Tutorial]!
—Spells Learned!-
+[ID: Create] – LVL: 1 – EXP: 0/100 – Active – Cost: 40 MP
—Allows the player to create an alternate dimension around them. These dimensions are separate from reality and thus anything that happens there will not affect the real world. The player can unlock, by leveling up this spell, variations which fill the created dimension with enemies to battle against.
—Available:
+[ID: Create – Empty]
+[ID: Create – Puppets LVL: 1]
[ID: Escape] – LVL: MAX – Active – Cost: 0 MP
—Allows the player to escape and destroy an alternate dimension created by [ID: Create]. If you exit the alternate dimension in a public place, people around you will unconsciously avoid you for 15 seconds unless they are actively searching for you.
"Now, the time has come for you to begin your adventure!
"However, first, [The Gamer's Rule-book]! Listen up, because this is super important!"
"Rule Number One: You must keep the existence of multiple universes a secret at all costs!"
"Rule Number Two: If you enter a world you are familiar with, during the canon timeline, you must not be overly conspicuous with your knowledge of canon events!"
"Rule Number Three: Duels between two [Gamers] are sacred to the system! No interference shall be permitted!"
"Rule Number Four: Try to have fun! That's why the system chose you in the first place!"
"Reincarnation Process: Starting..."
"Locating Universe..."
"Locating World..."
"Determining Time..."
"Determining Starting Location..."
"Buffering Textures..."
"Installing Updates..."
"Formulating Starting Quests..."
"Reincarnation Process: Queued..."
"Reincarnation Process: Loading..."
"Loading..."
"Reincarnation in 5..."
"...4..."
"...3..."
"...2..."
"...1..."
"Have a nice life!"