After changing his name, Eli figured he still had time before the start of the tutorial. With that, he took one more scan of his status page, and his eyes focused on the Physique section. The system told him that he had an unknown physique and that he should "Select for more information." Without further ado, Eli focused on learning more about this physique, and sure enough, more text appeared.
[Physique - Unknown: (Unique) Grade
Effects:
* Natural Resistance to Lightning Element
* Natural Affinity for Lightning Element
* Gain exp for absorbing Lightning Element
(You may name your physique as it is currently (Unique) Grade).
]
Eli looked through the information and sighed to himself. "I should have looked at this first and chosen my last name based on this physique." Eli quickly tried to have his name changed to something that had to do with lightning, but was met with another system message.
[Name changes may only be done during the process of Ascension.]
"Well, I guess that's kind of a relief. Even if someone names themselves something stupid, at least they have the chance to change it," said Eli. He also tried to bring up information about Ascensions, but the system didn't respond to his probing.
With that out of the way, Eli turned back to the section on his physique and tried to understand what advantage his physique could give him. Though that seemed pretty obvious. His strengths lay in the lightning element. Eli wanted to spend time imagining fantastical futures where he could control a storm cloud or strike down enemies with lightning. He would be a modern-day Zeus! But he focused on understanding his status and the task at hand.
Eli didn't think he could do anything to prepare for the system trial other than understanding his body and being mentally prepared, but he had no idea what to expect. How should he mentally prepare?
Eli looked around the small square room he was in. Nothing was there. Just white walls, a white floor, and a white ceiling. The room was also lit by an all-surrounding light source that made it impossible to have a shadow. Defeated, he resigned to doing stretches until the trial opened, and he had more information.
It might have been strange that he didn't seem very panicked about what was happening. For all he knew, hell could be on the other side, but Eli knew that if the trial was too hard, no one could complete it. He would just have to do his best and hope for good rewards because if the purpose of the tutorial was learning magic or something like that, he was doomed.
"17...18...19...20," counted Eli as he finished the first step and started to push his stretch further for the next ten seconds. "1...2...3...4...5," counted Eli until...
[10 seconds remaining. Please choose a name if you haven't already and prepare for the first trial.] This time, the system message was no longer only in his sight, but it had actually spoken into the room. Eli stood up and started jogging in place to prepare for whatever was coming, and then the countdown began.
[3...2...1... Good Luck], said the system.
The white walls melted into nothingness, and Eli was greeted by a gentle breeze and the view of a forest. Not an artificial one like back home, but one with overgrown shrubs and tall grass. Eli also heard birds chirping above him, but when he tried to find them, they were nowhere to be seen.
'Maybe it's some sort of ambience made by the system,' thought Eli.
He took a step closer to the tree line, which was about five meters away. At that moment, another "Ding" sound appeared from the system along with a new message.
[Tutorial - Trial 1 begins
Trial objective - Kill common fox 0/25]
Eli stared at the screen and then looked around him. The system hadn't given him anything. He looked all around and couldn't see a weapon or tool that could assist him. Eli turned back to the system notification.
"What? That's it?! I can't kill foxes without a sword! What the hell do you mean, kill 25 of them?! This isn't how you run a game morons!" He didn't know exactly what he was expecting, but this was dangerous! He could lose his life, and the system that brought him here only vaguely told him what to do. Eli's fear caused him to become irate, which surprised even him. It was obvious why he was scared, but he had been in dangerous places before, and he never got like this.
"Hu, hu, huh..." Eli breathed deeply in an attempt to calm down because he realized that his attitude was unbecoming. If he had any viewers, he didn't want to anger them and make his life more difficult than it already was.
"Sorry, I just... lost myself there for a second." Eli smiled as he hoped for a response from the system, but it never came.
Frustrated, Eli took in his surroundings. The forest looked darker and less inviting for some reason, but Eli took another step. 'First, I should see what the foxes I will be fighting are like. As long as they are normal foxes, I may have a chance.'
With that, Eli took a few more steps towards the trees and began to look around nervously. He didn't see or hear any movement that should come from a fox, so he kept going. Eli peered around the first tree that he came to and still didn't see anything.
With that, Eli knew that this tutorial wasn't like some simple game. He sucked in a deep breath and pushed himself onward.
As Eli slowly walked through the forest, his mind was busy entertaining thoughts of fear and self-doubt. He never struggled with these things before. When he was young, his Grandmother would often sit him next to her and she would tell him, "Eli, whenever you take a wrong turn down the highway, remember that the longer it takes you to turn around, the longer it will take you to get back to where you started."
At first, Eli just thought, 'Well, of course, grandma. Duh. That's how driving works.' His six-year-old mind didn't comprehend the idea of a proverb, but at least he got it before she passed away.
This was what kept Eli going as he searched for what could eventually be his killer. Whether it was a normal fox or a monster that the system thought was a fox, he would use his brain and do the next best thing. He wouldn't stand still and wait for a monster to pounce. That was the equivalent of just running into its mouth to be eaten. Not that that particular metaphor worked in this situation. After all, foxes, even full-grown, are pretty small.
He kept walking through the forest until he noticed a clearing and came to a stop. From his vantage point behind the trees, he could see a small fox curled up in the middle of the clearing. There was a large illusory circle surrounding the clearing the fox was in, and Eli breathed a sigh of relief.
'So the fight probably won't start until I step past that barrier.' Eli stealthily circled the forest clearing. When he reached the opposite side of the clearing from his original vantage point, he saw another clearing through the woods only 20 meters further. 'I guess I'm in for a rough day,' thought Eli.
With that, Eli continued to circle the clearing until he reached his original position. He sat down and started to plan. 'It's going to be hard to kill a fox with my bare hands. I could try to choke it and just keep it from breathing until the system shows that it's dead, but even if I can manage that, I'll probably get pretty hurt.' Eli started to theorize what he could use as a weapon in the forest. He started foraging until he found a cool stick. It looked like a sci-fi beam rifle, so he picked it up and pretended to shoot at the fox, which yawned and went back to its nap.
Eli lowered the stick and tossed it to the side, looking defeated. He continued searching around didn't find anything particularly sharp.
"Hmm, maybe I don't need anything sharp, just something that can take a bite. If I shove a branch in the fox's mouth at the right time, that could..." With a smile on his face, Eli jogged back towards the forgotten beam rifle stick. He picked it up and tried swinging it quickly. The size and weight felt okay, though it was on the heavy side.
Now that he had a weapon, he made his back toward the fox and stepped through the barrier.
A soon as Eli stepped through, the fox jumped up and started growling. Eli jumped at first, but he was expecting the fox to be like this. He took a few more steps forward before the fox bounded after him. The speed wasn't anything that Eli couldn't track and he had enough time to react before the fox reached him.
Eli took on step back and pivoted his body like he was preparing a roadhouse kick and brought his back to face the fox. With one powerful push from his legs, Eli jumped out of the clearing and into the assumed safety of the forest. And right he was because the fox stopped and looked around as if Eli had just vanished into thin air. It stomped its little paws and turned back to the middle of the clearing to continue its nap.
Eli let out a sigh of relief for the umpteenth time today. Looking back at the little fox, Eli thought, 'I could probably just kick it with my shoes. That should be the strongest blow I can deal to him right now anyway.'
Eli considered that idea and decided that his funny brain actually had a good thought. He turned back to the barrier between himself and the fox and determined that he would stay and fight this time until that fox was dead.
With a greater resolve than he had ever before in his life, he stepped past the barrier once again.
The fox's head popped up, and with a snarl, it shot after Eli. Ignoring the fear in the back of his mind, Eli also ran towards the fox at a full sprint and sent a swift kick towards its face.
The fox turned its head out of the way and attempted to bite at Eli's leg, but Eli's kick caught the fox's hindquarters dead on, and the fox went flying three feet. It recovered quickly and turned back to Eli. It rushed after him, and again Eli decided to kick it.
However, this time the fox was ready and fully maneuvered around the kick. In a fright, Eli's speed increased, and the fox, which had jumped at Eli's side, was met with a thick branch of wood crashing into its face. Eli had swung the branch at the fox and knocked it to the ground.
This time, before the fox had time to fully recover, Eli did the bravest thing he had probably ever done before and dove towards the fox as it lay twisting itself around to get up on the forest floor. He pushed his arms in front of himself and, by some miracle, his left hand found the fox's neck. The two struggled on the ground as they both fought for control and life.
Eli pushed himself up but didn't let go of the struggling creature. He now had many bite and scratch marks on his arms and even his face. His pain became his fury, and he willed for his strength to overwhelm the beast, and finally, the fox stopped moving as it suffocated to death.
Exhausted from the fight, Eli was still depending on his adrenaline to keep the pain away, but it would return soon enough. And then it came. The system notification read:
You have killed [Generated monster (common) Fox]; Experience earned.
Level up - (Classless)! [Status points distributed: +1 Free Stat Point.]
[Trial 1: Progress 1/25]
And with that, Eli quickly rechecked his status screen.