What’s on First
Following the ancient traditions of their tribe, Jack and Bo determined who would go first. “Rock crushes scissors.” Jack smiled and placed his hand on the door accepting entrance into the challenge dungeon.
Jack’s stomach lurched and he stepped onto a smooth tiled courtyard at the base of a mountain. A short legged furry man with a pointy black nose and sharp teeth looked up and scoffed. “You here for the Rancorous Badger’s challenge?”
Jack nodded. The man stood and motioned for Jack to come to him. “Come here and let me have a look at you.” When Jack approached he felt some sort of energy move through his body. The energy paused when it passed through his chest and Jack felt energy rise up from within him and push the foreign energy out.
The man went wide eyed for a second then regained his composure. “Looks like you’re qualified, if just barely. If you want to save yourself some time, you can exit from the door over there.” He said as he pointed to a door a short distance away.
Jack shrugged and said, “Might as well give it a shot.”
The man looked disappointed and said, “Go ahead and go up the stairs.”
Jack looked up and couldn’t see a top to the mountain or an end to the stairs. He then looked closer at the stairs. Unevenly spaced and oversized. No chance to build rhythm. This is going to burn.
When Jack approached the stairs, the furry little man watched with an eager smile. When Jack stepped onto the first step, he felt a weight press down on him then disperse. He shrugged and started up the stairs at a steady pace. The smile fell from the badger man’s face.
As Jack continued up the stairs, he occasionally felt heavier weight settle on him and disperse as he worked his way up and around the mountain. About thirty minutes later, he saw the man standing next to a door beside the stairs.
“Why don’t you save us some time and just quit now? We have a limited number of instances and someone worth testing might be waiting to come in.”
Jack smiled, “Just getting warmed up.” He started a short strided jog up the stairs and began singing cadence to himself.
*****
Bo watched Jack disappear and placed his own hand on the door. He felt himself pulled through a portal and found himself standing in a tiled courtyard at the base of a mountain. A badgerkin looked up and rushed over to him and bowed.
“Guardian, how may I be of service?” the badgerkin asked.
“My principal is going through the challenge dungeon. We came from a planet with its essence locked. I was only able to maintain the basic functions of my core…”
Another badgerkin appeared between Bo and his guide and anxiously said, “You won’t believe…” The guide pointed over the new badgerkin’s shoulder and he stopped speaking when he saw Bo.
“Hello.” Bo said.
“I apologize, guardian. I didn’t see you.” the badgerking explained. “Are you with…that other one?”
Bo smiled and nodded. The badger man looked at his coworker before turning back to Bo and gathering his courage then asking, “If I may, sir….Who is he?”
“I probably wouldn’t tell you if I knew, but I don’t. As I was telling your friend, we came from an essence locked planet and I am barely functional. In my current state, I don’t even know what he is.”
The first badgerkin stepped forward and asked, “Is there any way we can be of assistance?”
Bo thought for a second before turning to the badgerkin from Jack’s trial. “Is the trial an endless loop bearing the weight of his past and future?” The badger nodded. “He wasn’t instantly smashed into paste?” The badger shook his head. “Then he will be fine. Just let him wear himself out and give him a finish line. Otherwise, he won’t stop until he is dead.” The badger nodded and disappeared.
The badgerkin from Bo’s instance asked, “Do you wish to complete the trial?”
“Not necessary.” Bo thought for a second. “Since this is The Rancorous Badger’s trial, I assume he’ll have a chance to learn enchanting?” The badger nodded. Bo said, “Then take me to the training area, so I can get my skills to an acceptable level.” A door appeared and Bo stepped through.
*****
“You get a line, I’ll get a pole. Honey, Honey. You get a line, I’ll get a pole. Baby, Baby.” Jack sang as he jogged past the badger and waved.
*****
Santo wasn’t happy. The losses were higher than expected and nobody had reported his two primary targets yet. The great god, the father of shapeshifters, would not be happy. Should he join the teams into larger groups for safety or increase the aggression and allow individuals to hunt on their own to accelerate gains?
Growling, he decided to continue as originally planned. Their orders were to gain power in these tutorials.
*****
Jack continued on. He had no choice. He felt no closer to the goal, but he could take one more step, so he did. It didn’t matter if he thought he would succeed. All that mattered was doing his best, so if he could take one more step, he would.
Hours earlier the furry had appeared and told him he had met the minimum requirements. Then he had seen him again and was told that he had surpassed the average challenger. Jack kept going. When the badger had told him he had exceeded the record, Jack kept going. He knew he could do more.
His pace had slowed to an uneven walk. He was reaching his end, but he could take one more step, so he did. On and on he went. The badger would appear occasionally and cuss him out for wasting the badgers time. That didn’t matter. Jack could take one more step, so he did.
*****
The badgerkin watched the human. He would have expected such a low level being to have dropped dead hours ago. The human was reaching the end, but the badgerkin. This test pitted the challengers against the weight of their own fears and failures, but this human shrugged off each increase in pressure.
Every time power rose from deep within him to overcome the increased challenge. The badgerkin sensed a deep and heavy inheritance being drawn from, but the badgerkin didn’t recognize it. He couldn’t even classify it.
Finally he sensed the human was reaching the end and he ended the loop and allowed the finish line to appear. However, when the challenger crossed the line he didn’t stop. He slowly lifted his foot and took one more step. And then another.
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“The test is over.” The badgerkin said. The stubborn human looked the badger in the eyes and took one more step before falling over.
*****
Bo was memorizing a book on basic runes. He had been alternating between learning the runes and practicing them on the materials provided. He knew he had probably mastered the runes centuries before, but he didn’t feel like the time was wasted. Having access to essence again, he knew he would gain his strength, knowledge, and records back. Time spent working on the basics would only solidify his base.
Learning enchanting at such a low level might even net him a title or two that he didn’t have. Who knows. Maybe he had never learned enchanting before. Unlikely, but a possibility.
*****
The Rancorous Badger looked up from the project he was working on. He had received an alert from one of the dungeons Ezekiel was running in his experiment. Someone had done exceedingly well on the trial. “I’ll have to remember to check that out later.” He said to himself as he went back to work.
*****
“Sir, your protectee has completed the trial.”
“DId he do well?” Bo asked.
“Exceedingly, but he is currently unconscious. We estimate he will sleep for several hours. His gains more than tripled the record.”
“Understandable. Even with the full access to the library, I expect it will take some time to complete the enchanting requirement. Let me know when he is nearly done.” Bo said as he pulled up his status to see he had completed 3 of the 5 common level enchantments required.
*****
Jack woke up and looked around. It looked like he was in some kind of combination of a lab and an old school machinist shop. The walls were covered in all kinds of tools that he had no idea what to do with. There was a workbench in the center of the room.
He looked around briefly then walked over to a glowing crystal on a pedestal in the corner. He placed his hand on it and a menu opened. There was a list of lectures and demonstrations he could view. There was a library section as well as a list of supplies he could request.
Looking for a beginning point, he chose a lecture called introduction to enchanting and saw that a crystal had been added to his inventory. Pulling it out, he activated it and his vision was filled with a view of a male elf standing on a large stage in a leather apron with a variety of tools hanging from it.
Still stiff from his climb, Jack looked around for somewhere to sit comfortably. Exiting the main room, he found a room with a small cot and desk. There was also a wardrobe. Inside it was a variety of clothing, leather aprons, protective eyewear, and gloves.
Not interested in going through the clothing, Jack sat down on the cot, leaning back against the wall and began viewing the lecture. He played around with the controls and found he could speed it up, slow it down, rewind, or jump ahead. The instructor began talking about the uses for enchanting. As the lecture went on, Jack couldn’t help but think of his rifle. This enchanting is going to come in useful.
*****
The badgerkin and Bo watched a projection of Jack working. He was surprisingly methodical. He’d practice a rune using the paper and pencils provided. Once he was satisfied with his understanding of the rune, he’d move on to the other components of the enchantment and practice them until he was satisfied.
Once he was satisfied with his understanding and image of what he wanted to create, he would practice inscribing it into the different materials he wanted to use. He would then prepare a variety of resources to incorporate into the enchantment.
“He’s building a very broad base of knowledge and skills.” the badgerkin said.
Bo nodded in agreement. “He’s not afraid of putting in the work. Hopefully his stubbornness to make things work, doesn’t become a problem.” As if on cue, the axehead Jack was currently working on exploded. Jack pulled the shards of metal out of his shoulders and face as he walked over to the healing enchantment placed behind the workstation. He pulled out a crystal to study as his wounds healed.
*****
Santos checked the tutorial menu. The pack was nearly finished. Just a few stragglers to round up and it would be complete. He still hadn’t found the two with inheritances, but they would show up sooner or later.
Now was the time for the advanced teams to begin moving in and focusing on the higher level beasts. Walking into the hut that the support unit had built for him, he called for his daughters. “Sofia, Lucia. It’s time to move.” He didn’t get an answer. He went to the sectioned off area that they had made their beds. Nobody. Nothing. Except a hole dug beneath the wall.
Returning to the guard at the front of the hut, he ordered a tracking team be sent out to find them.
*****
Jack had finished the enchantments he wanted to add to his weapon. It now had a faster fire rate, faster projectile speed, gave several bonuses, and allowed him to choose between a variety of affinities. No longer was it a weapon that was decent at everything. It now outperformed the best options of every kind of weapon he had originally been given to choose between.
Jack had his storage packed full of various enchanted items he had made and moved on to complete the final common enchantments and get out of this dungeon. A few minutes later they were complete.
The badgerkin that was running the dungeon appeared and walked over to inspect the items. “Thought you had decided to just stay in here for the remainder of the tutorial.” He muttered.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you broken-hearted. But, alas, I’ve come to understand we just aren’t meant to be.” Jack said with a sad frown. The badger man grabbed the enchanted items and stored them somewhere.
“You’ll have your evaluation in a few minutes.” He said before disappearing. Jack shrugged and began looking around for more things to stick into his storage. He tried lifting the tables and couldn’t budge them.
His eyes lit up and he ran over to the crystal that he had used throughout his time in the dungeon. “All right Walmart, you’re coming with me.” He tried pulling the crystal out but it wouldn’t budge. He then tried lifting the entire pedestal, but it also wouldn’t move.
While trying to think of what else he could try, his vision was blocked by his interface offering him the subclass Novice Rancorous Enchanter. He chose to accept it and suddenly he felt himself being pulled through space.
*****
Bo was studying a manual on fine tuning affinities when enchanting that the badgerkin had allowed him to borrow from his own private library when the badgerkin arrived. “Guardian, he’s waiting on his assessment.”
“How did he do?” Bo asked.
“Actually quite well. His knowledge has grown dramatically and his precision is quite impressive. He earned the boss’s specialty subclass. Novice level, of course. He’ll have to see the boss to get it approved.”
Bo nodded and accepted his Intermediate Rancorous Enchanter subclass. He felt himself being teleported and arrived in the divine realm of the Rancorous Badger who was currently working on something at his workstation.
Bo waited for a few seconds and Jack appeared. “How did you do that?” Bo asked suspiciously.
“Do what?” Jack asked.
“Finish within seconds of me.” he asked with raised eyebrows. Jack shrugged and turned to look at the hairy back of a stocky human with hair that was grey on top and black on the sides. The human must have felt his eyes upon him because he turned to quickly glance at them and then did a double take.
A copy of the human appeared in front of them and looked closely at both of them. Jack felt the presence of the powerful being and realized that this person was beyond his comprehension of powerful. The human moved closer to him and to Jack it felt like the pressure coming off of the being increased and then decreased.
“Huh. Nothing?” the human asked. Jack looked at Bo who seemed to be sweating a little. Suddenly the human transformed into a five meter high badger standing on his hind legs and roared. When he finished he looked at the two newcomers and said, “Still nothing. Interesting. Where did you two come from?”
“Sir, we found a challenge dungeon in a tutorial and were sent here when we were offered an enchanting subclass.” Bo answered. Jack nodded.
“Must have done pretty good to be sent here.” The once again human, seemed to pull something up and watch it after looking suspiciously at Bo. “Determined bastard. That’s good. Organized and methodical. Systematic approach. Total shit at essence manipulation. You’ll do.”
Jack received a notification that he had earned a couple skills. The badger then quickly watched something else before saying, “You’ll do too.” Bo nodded.
“You boys are from a newly integrated planet?” the human asked.
Bo shook his head and answered, “No sir. We were killed on our planet and sent to a world that was integrating.”
The badger nodded and said, “Must be one of Ezekiel’s weird experiments. We insisted he add our trials if he wanted our approval. Is he still pulling that, “We froze your brain and will revive you shortly, but here’s a video game you can play in the meantime bullshit?”
Bo nodded. Jack raised an eyebrow. The human continued, “So you’re probably from the fucked up planet of his that he has to remake every few hundred years because you maniacs figure out you’re living in a simulation?” Bo nodded again causing Jack to look at his friend suspiciously.
The badger laughed. “Well this should be interesting at least. I’d recommend continuing the tutorial. Best way to level early on. May run into some problems if you die, but I should be able to pull you out if that happens. So…” He paused and looked at them questioningly.
Bo and Jack looked at each other and shrugged. Jack asked, “What are the odds you can pull us out if we die?”
“ Around 50/50” the badger said.
“Okay.” Jack said. Bo nodded.
The human laughed, “Decisive. I like that. I’ll have someone pick you up when you come to the academy. In the meantime, pay attention to your essence when you’re using skills. You’ll need essence control if you are going to make anything of yourselves.” Jack and Bo were teleported back to the dungeon together. Jack checked the notifications he had received.
He had a few new skills related to enchanting and a couple of the basic skills he had picked up in the dungeon had been upgraded. When Jack read the last notification, he was surprised to see that he had been offered a divine blessing from someone called the Rancorous Badger.
“Accept the blessing.” Bo said. Jack did and felt a warmth pass through his body like when he had leveled up, but much stronger. Jack opened up the details of his blessing and saw that he received a 10% increase to all stats and increased essence earned from enchanting as well as increased odds of successful completion of enchantments.
*****
The two S grade badgerkins kneeled, “How may we serve the Rancorous One?”
The human looked at the two and said, “Tell me what you know about the two visitors I just had.” The two explained the guardian who was recovering from over thirty years without essence and the human with the heavy inheritance.
“So…somebody hid their records on that miserable planet and the guardian was pulled along too. Do you think Ezekiel was involved?”
“No sir. We felt nothing of his presence on them beyond what we would normally feel on someone that had been Esekieled from that essenceless planet.” One answered.
“Interesting. Thank you for your assistance.” The human teleported the two s grades away. “That inheritance has been barely touched. Must be from someone powerful and ruthless.” A shiver passed down the god’s back before he returned to the project he was working on. A copy appeared in a sitting area and watched a projection of the two weirdos.
