When we think today of the near apocalypse that followed the arrival of the System, it is common to focus on the Wasted War. While that was certainly the coda of the conflict, in another light it was simply the extension of years of hostility that preceded it. It is difficult in the present to reconstruct the detailed natures and timelines of the various regional conflicts that took place, but it is undisputed that they did occur.
The best records we have are of our own forefathers, the United States of America, ‘peacefully’ annexing their immediate neighbors under threat of arms. The USA then proceeded to march troops south, their advance reaching as far as the Straits of Panama. In other regions, we have fragmented but incomplete reports of wars in far-flung nations across the world. South Korea fell to North Korea, which was in turn crushed by Chinese forces.
Unfortunately, over the years troves of irreplaceable pre-System records have been destroyed or lost in various calamities, starting with the Undying War of ‘66 and continuing through the Water Riots of the early 100s and beyond.
- Rufus Veres, Level 37 Verbose Historian, A Brief History of the System
I sat on the floor for a few minutes, breathing hard. Wasted hells, three goblins at once, and one of them armed and had a barrier too? That could be the final fight for a Standard Tutorial! Angels, how many more monsters am I going to have to fight?
“Hey System, how many monsters are left in the Tutorial?” I asked hopefully.
[THERE ARE FOUR FEWER MONSTERS THAN WHEN YOU STARTED!]
“Jerk.”
[INPUT NOT RECOGNIZED! PLEASE REPHRASE YOUR QUESTION, GUNNER!]
The System ignored my muttered curses as I climbed slowly back to my feet and started looking around for my spent shotshells. I managed to find the un-fired one I’d thrown, and I was relieved to see that when I dusted it off and placed it back in my bandolier it didn’t consume any mana. Several minutes of searching turned up only three of the five shells I had fired, each one consuming two points of mana when I slipped it back into the loops of my bandolier.
All right, let me see if I can figure out how to get this to make me two more new shells… I think I can ‘push’ my mana into it like it’s a spellform. Thankfully, it proved to be as easy as I’d imagined, and a few seconds later I had a full load of five shells ready to go. I sighed, feeling a bit of mental strain, and checked my resources.
My barrier was already recharged, and my focus would recover quickly, but I was going to need a while to absorb more mana. It would take less than half an hour to get back to full mana, and I would be OK on stamina by then too. I debated walking back down to the first room to rest, but I wasn’t sure how far away it was. I just moved a bit downhill from the bodies and hoped that if anything came this way it would snack on those first.
I shuddered as I realized that I’d stepped in at least one of the goblins’ blood at some point and it was sticky on my bare feet. Disgusting little shits! I settled in to wait about thirty feet downhill from the goblins, keeping an eye on the corpses just in case any of them decided to turn undead on me. As I sat, I ran through the fight in my head several times.
That could have gone better… If the first goblin had a barrier, it could have gotten up and attacked me with the club while I was wrestling with the third one! I’m lucky I hit it as well as I did with it running at an angle. I’m going to need a lot of practice shooting at moving targets. And my hair came undone while I was on the ground, I need to do something about that.
I tied it back up into a bun again, not having any other ideas at the moment. I liked my long hair, but at that moment I wished I had a pair of scissors or even a knife to cut it with. Or my Wasted hair tie back, thanks System!
Finally, after waiting what felt like way longer than half an hour, my mana had fully recovered and my stamina was close to full. My health had actually gone down to 19, but at least the bleeding from my cuts had stopped. I wanted to wash them clean, but I didn’t have a good way to do it. Even if I used Conjure Water, without a bowl it would be difficult. I flexed my hand and wiggled my fingers, satisfied that I was only a little stiff and everything seemed to still be working.
Climbing to my feet, I stretched for a moment, then started slowly up towards the still-very-dead goblins. I did my best to avoid stepping in more of their blood as I made my way past them. I walked for several, maybe even ten minutes, stopping occasionally to listen carefully for the sounds of another ambush, before the slope flattened out and the cave started to get both wider and brighter.
I noticed small bits of sand here and there, gradually increasing as I moved forward, until the cave opened up into a large room with a floor completely covered in sand. The open space was at least fifty feet wide, the far end maybe a hundred feet away, and the walls were almost straight up, full of cracks and crevices. The ceiling was well above my head, and though it still had those spikes of rock hanging from it the floor of the chamber was suspiciously flat.
I moved forward carefully, sweeping my gun from side to side as I looked over every inch of the cave. I even remembered to check the ceiling, but I didn’t spot anything up there either.
Whatever it is, it must be hiding under the sand. Or waiting behind a door like that first goblin.
Unfortunately, ‘hiding under the sand’ didn’t narrow down the options much. I didn’t think goblins did that, which just meant it was a different kind of dangerous monster.
I stopped on the last stretch of rocky ground, not wanting to step right out on the sand. I located a good-sized loose stone and picked it up. I managed to toss the rock roughly into the middle of the sandy area. The second it landed I saw the sand shudder in a small area at the far side of the room. My eyes narrowed as I glared at the hidden creature.
Don’t want to come out? Let’s try again.
I heaved my next rock with all my 6 Strength, and this time it landed closer to where I’d seen the suspicious movement before. The moment it hit, the sand erupted with movement, and a low, dark shape with way too many legs, massive pincers, and a thick, segmented tail burst out of the ground. The creature dashed forward to where the rock had landed before sliding to a halt, seemingly confused.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Let’s see what you are! Identify.
Monster: Scorpion
Level: 1
Shit, that was a waste of two mana! I’m going to wait and practice this once I get out of here. Level 1 though? I bet the goblins were only Level 0.
Moving very slowly, I brought my gun up to aim at the scorp’s face with its cluster of bulging eyes. It didn’t seem to be able to see me, so I guessed its sight wasn’t very good.
I think I could hit it from here while it’s not moving. I’m not sure my shots can get through that thing’s armor, but I think the closer I am the better my chances are. And the more likely I am to get brutally murdered… Don’t think about that part, Az! I still think the eyes are my best option.
The scorp looked confused, turning slightly to either side as if trying to figure out what had disturbed it. I took one step forward, trying to see how close I could get before it noticed me. Several steps later, my front foot sank slightly into the sand and the monster abruptly stilled. I froze as well, watching as it just stood there, motionless. It was pointed slightly off to my right. The thing’s back came up to my thighs, with its stinger hovering at the height of my chest.
With my next step, the scorp spun slightly to face me, but it didn’t move forward. One more step and it accelerated suddenly into a charge, legs scrambling in the sand as it launched itself towards me. I kept my sights locked onto its face, trying to ignore the terrifying jaws. It took only a second or two to cover half of the distance between us, and I couldn’t wait any longer.
BOOM! click-click BOOM!
I fired twice, as fast I could, sending both shots directly into the scorp’s face. It shrieked and stumbled as my shots landed, but it had far too many legs to just fall down and its momentum carried it forward in a rush. I sprinted to my left just in time to avoid the huge pincers and the monster skidded on the shallow, slippery sand, unable to stop before it reached the rocky floor of the entrance. I racked another shell into the chamber as it finally slid to a halt at least twenty feet past me and spun around.
I backed away from it into the middle of the sandy area, risking a quick glance over my shoulder just to be sure there wasn’t a second one sneaking up on me. The scorp was behaving strangely now, turning this way and that like it had after it had first emerged from the sand. Green blood flowed from its punctured eyes, but it didn’t look like enough to kill it anytime soon. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any real damage to its armor. It shrieked again, a piercing, awful sound, but didn’t move.
I really need a way to get through armor! Why isn’t it doing anything? I’m walking on the sand… but it’s not on the sand now! It felt the sand moving when I stepped on it, but now it's on the rock, so it can’t feel me moving!
I carefully pulled a shell from my bandolier and slid it into the loading port as quietly as possible. There was a soft ‘click’ as the shell slotted into place and the hulking monster immediately froze. I immediately stopped moving, breathing as quietly as possible. I pushed the last shell into my shotgun just as the scorp started moving slowly in my direction. It skittered a bit from side to side, not moving in a straight line, but it was going to be on the sand in moments and then I’d have to do something in a hurry.
There’s no way I can outrun this thing in a straight line, but it had a lot of trouble stopping…
Before my thought finished the creature reached the sand. Now or never! I put another shot into its head, aiming slightly lower this time, and it screamed again, launching itself forward. I turned and dashed towards the side, and again it overshot me, stinger lashing the air behind my back as I fled.
I sprinted faster than ever before, heading straight for the nearest wall, hearing the scorp’s legs throwing up sand as it cornered behind me. I almost managed to stop in time, instead hammering into the wall with my left shoulder, my barrier flaring and taking the impact. Immediately I turned and – oh shit! – dove out of the way, one of the pincers glancing off my barrier and shattering it just before the monster crashed into the wall behind me with a screech.
The enraged scorp slammed its stinger into the wall as I scrambled to my feet. The tail lashed out again, and this time the stinger found one of the many cracks in the wall and stuck fast. The scorp let out another screeching roar, flinging itself around as it tried to free itself from the wall. Its huge pincers snapped viciously on empty air. I aimed at the joints where the legs met the body and fired from ten feet away, unloading my entire magazine as fast as I could, staggering from the recoil.
The shots tore into the softer parts of the monster, spraying bright green blood from the impacts, and it thrashed even harder, the stinger finally coming loose from the wall. I smelled the stench of the creature’s blood and the sharp fiery scent left by my gunshots. It turned towards me, and I ran.
The scorp followed, dragging several of the legs on its right side and leaving a trail of blood behind it as it struggled to keep up with me. I ran in a big circle around the sand, the wounded monster scuttling along behind me. It took three full laps before the scorp stumbled to a halt and sank to the ground, finally running out of blood. I stood there, chest heaving, trying to catch my breath for several minutes. I eventually remembered to reload my shotgun from my bandolier. Warily circling the monster, I noticed there was still blood leaking slowly from its wounds, but it didn’t twitch as I slowly got closer.
“Hey System, how many monsters are left in the Tutorial?” I asked again.
[THERE ARE FOUR FEWER MONSTERS THAN WHEN YOU STARTED!]
Wastes, it’s not dead yet then. I crept closer, staring with disgusted fascination at the horrifying, dripping jaws below the shattered eyes. Nope, I’m not getting any closer to that! I moved around to its side, then took careful aim at the wounded area between the legs. I advanced slowly, until I was five feet away, then pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
“System, how many monsters are there now?” I tried.
[THERE ARE FOUR FEWER MONSTERS THAN WHEN YOU STARTED!]
click-click BOOM!
There was a gaping hole in its side now, a couple of the legs nearly severed from the body.
click-click
“How about now?”
[THERE ARE NOW FIVE FEWER MONSTERS THAN WHEN YOU STARTED!]
As PAST’s booming voice echoed in my skull, I felt the monster’s Essence flowing into me. Oops! I could have just waited for that instead of asking PAST. The System won’t give out Essence until you’ve killed any nearby enemies...
[WELL DONE, GUNNER! YOU HAVE ACCUMULATED ENOUGH ESSENCE FOR YOUR FIRST ITEM!]
I grinned. Finally, some meaningful progress!
