Ashley had never thought herself a complex person. She'd always enjoyed learning and had applied herself accordingly in school. She probably could have gone on to higher education and any number of jobs thereafter. But her heart lied elsewhere. And so it was that she worked on the family farm, clearing out pig pens and covered in mud with a smile on her face. not usually what one might expect from a young woman like her. This was her life for quite the time. Indeed, when they System invite appeared, she had dismissed it out of hand. After all, she was where she wanted to be. Alas, it did not last.

  The first thing that stood out was the portals ethereal beauty; the shimmering oval hung in the air, glowing with an otherworldly light that took Ashley's breath away. Of course, she still knew what needed to be done and acted quickly; she called a local Systemer Guild to come and clear it as soon as possible. A time was set for the next day. No big deal, as usually Dungeons took some time to actually break and turn into a threat. Unfortunately, that's not how this particular situation played out. The next day, less than 12 hours after the gateway had formed, large hounds emerged from the portal, scorching the land where they went.

  The Grimm family retreated to the Farmhouse, barricading themselves inside and making another call to the local Guild. A holding team was dispatched, but they would take time to arrive. The family of four had little recourse but to hunker down for hours, listening to the sounds of chaos and destruction outside. The sounds didn't stay outside either. One of the beasts managed to barge its way into the house, baring it's teeth at Ashley's little brother. Her dad valiantly threw himself before the beast, armed with a pitchfork. The makeshift weapon was more effective than one might expect, considering it's mundane nature, but it still was not enough to stop the large man Ashley had looked up to all her life being brought to within an inch of his.

  Thankfully, before the invader could claim it's prey, the first member of the holding team showed up. A rouge who had run ahead to asses the situation. A few well placed arrows, and the beast fell. Not long after, the rest of the holding team arrived and they got to work reclaiming what they could. Of course, it was very much too late. the livestock had been slaughtered, the fields and silos burned to the ground. The family farm was scorched beyond all recognition.

  The Grimms were moved to London, Ashley's Dad ending up in intensive care due to his injuries. He was called heroic, brave and all the other words one might expect. It did not make the pain any lighter, of course. What's more, a few days after her father was hospitalized, Ashley's brother joined him. Mana Poisoning.

  Now, Mana Poisoning wasn't actually all that uncommon, about two thirds of the Non-Systemer population developed it to some extent and the symptoms varied quite a bit. Systemers, and those with invites like Ashley, never succumbed to it as they were seemingly immune. Mana poisoning was rarely a death sentence, despite how common it was. A large number of people got it and only experienced minor headaches or Arthritis-like symptoms. The NHS had received a ￡250M to help deal with the condition. Not quite enough, but still quite a nice boon. IT helped that most Systemers got their medical treatments from within their guilds, and so a large amount of pressure was taken off of the Health Service.

  The Grimm Family Farm had, unfortunately, been bathed in quite a significant amount of Mana from the portal, which was recognised as an "Abnormality" by the investigating Guild not long after the farm was secured. This dose of Mana was enough to give all the members of the Grimm Household Mana-Poisoning. Her Father was struggling to stay awake due to both the Mana and the injuries, her brother had a hard time focusing and couldn't feel or use his legs and her mother had severe arthritis in both hands and frequent migraines. They had, however, come away from an Abnormal portal with all of their lives, and that was a miracle in itself.

  Ashley sat with her mother, Catherine, in their hotel room, lightly joking and laughing, when a knock is heard on the door. A man and a woman, both dressed sharply, enter the room with a nod when the door is opened. The woman speaks first. "the Ladies Grimm. I'm glad that the two of you seem to at least be keeping in good spirits as best you can. I'm afraid we don't have the best of news. We're not sure the portal on your farm is... closable. background Mana rates have stabilized, but they aren't low by any stretch of the imagination. It's unlikely you will ever be able to return there"

  The Man spoke next; "An Abnormal like this usually only opens on nature reserves and in deep wilderness. Frankly, we didn't think it was possible for them to open in populated areas"

  "I don't understand, what do you mean? What's..." The woman raised a hand to cut Ashley off

  "I'm afraid we can't tell you much. honestly, even this is oversharing" She directed a small glare at her work partner before turning her attention back to Ashley and her mother "We understand that this is hard, and we don't want to say this, but I'm afraid that, from now on, The Kings Shield will have control over the land that was once your farm, as per the Systemer Act. Also as per the act, we have compensation for you. We understand it's not the same, but please understand that none of us really have much choice in this matter" The woman nods to her companion, who takes out a briefcase and hands it to the two Grimms. within is ￡485k, the approximate value of their land before the Portal appeared. Though the colour had drained from her face, Catherine accepted the briefcase regardless. Ashely shows the agents of the guild out while her mother sobs quietly on the bed. Ashley returns to her mothers side and pulls her into a deep hug. Just like that, the land that had been in their family for longer than some countries has existed was gone.

  The Systemer Act; A small act that both legalised the formation of Systemer guilds as well as provided provisions. The important part here was that it allowed larger guilds to take ownership of land if a good case for Public Good can be made, with a requirement to pay compensation to those affected by the claim where necessary. This claim needed to be approved by at the very least the Member of Parliament responsible for the area. It was possible to go higher on the chain if the land or reasoning were of particular importance.

  The room was quiet for many a moment after that. It was Ashley that broke the silence. "Mom... I'm sorry. I have a System invite. If I had just registered with the System then..."

  Catherine shook her head "Then you would have been off working in one of the big Guilds most likely. And if not, then you wouldn't have had the training or gear to deal with what happened anyway. don't blame yourself, Ash; you're a good girl and you've always made me proud of you"

  "I'm going to do it."

  "Ash... you..."

  "No. You're not going to talk me out of this. If there's a cure for this Mana Poisoning, it's going to come from the Dungeon and the System. I'm going to find it."

  "... I swear, you're just as bull headed as your father. I could list all the things that prove how stupid you sound right now, and you'd still dive in head first, wouldn't you? Whatever girl ends up with you will have her hands full"

  "... How did you know?"

  "I could see how you looked at those girls in that fashion magazine and it wasn't entirely jealousy. Now; you go do your System Registration, I'm going to go down to the hospital" Catherine stands slowly and makes her way to the door "Don't look back. When a Grimm makes a decision, she follows through, understand?"

  The young woman on the bed nods, taking a deep breath and starting to poke at the faint mental connection as her mother leaves the room. "Alright then... how do I... Ah!"

  Blue screens fill her vision. Ashley sits back and waits, calming herself after the small spook the sudden appearance had caused her. After a few seconds, she is prompted with a selection of the 4 starter classes; Martialist, Mage, Naturalist and Rouge. Not seeing much point in going against the recommendation of the System, Ashley selected the class it offered as her best choice; Mage. The System gave her a staff that was apparently made from something called Wickerwood and gave her a choice of the following three skills;

  The three skills offered to her covered three distinct-ish roles; A healer, a damage dealer and a support. Ashley ran her hand over the gnarled Wickerwood staff and smiled softly. Had she registered earlier, she probably would have gone for Elemental Magic. Who didn't want to fling fireballs about? But she had a specific goal in mind now; She was going to heal people. And that started here, at the beginning. So, without much deliberation at all, she selected [Foundational Restorative Magic]. The screens vanished for a moment as the setup finalized itself.

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  A screen of numbers, detailing her in crisp detail. It made Ashley a little uneasy, her eyes kept flashing back to the Lifespan section. That felt wrong to look at. Felt wrong, somehow, to know that. Thankfully, the System had provided a distraction. The 'Provided Instructions' the System mentioned came in the form of a digital book. Ethereal book? A book in the System itself at any rate. IT was labelled 'Basic Mana Manipulation and Cantrips' by someone called the Grand Magus. Ashley turned the first page, expecting to be met with a verbose wall of text on two pages. Instead the first thing she saw was a magical circle. It was beautiful... and it also hurt to look at. Thankfully, there was some text as well.

  Mana; the foundation of Spellcraft. It is everywhere, and yet, most people in most places are not inherently mages. Why? Well, to give a reductively simple answer to a complex question, it's a matter of control. Mana dislikes doing as it's told and people have to figure out how to wrangle it. Personally, I find the most effective method to be Mathematics and Geometry. What you see on the opposing page will likely look intimidating, and it should. But eventually, you will come to understand how this works. Or not, I make no claim for you mental ability.

  The following pages were a mix of jargon and maths, complex lines of information scribbled down in bare-bones graphs. Ashley felt a small thrill at this, being able to learn something new. The maths was perhaps a bit ahead of her, but that's nothing a bit of serious study couldn't fix. Thusly, Ashley though herself into her study and the time flew her by. By the time the Door to the Tutorial appeared, she had grasped enough of the information to clear the quest over an hour previous, but there was still more to dive into, and so she had done so. Before stepping through the portal, Ashley did pack herself some snacks and a bottle of water.

  The other side of the portal was a large white chamber, resplendent in it's near perfect Monotone. In the room with her was three other young women. Two of them, clearly twins, giggled excitedly to eachother, clearly not feeling the same level of nervousness that Ashley herself did. Ashley began to make her way over to the twins, but was stopped by something unexpected; the third woman called her by name. She spun around and got a good look at her. And her heart and mind both recognised the girl before her. "Chloe?" The woman, Chloe, nodded with a smile, causing Ashley's heart to flutter. Ashley, it seems, never truly got over her crush

  "It's good to see you again Ash. But, uh... what you doing here? Something happen to farming life?"

  Ashley's face took on a grimace "There was an Abnormal Portal, A Systemer Guild took the Farm from us..."

  "Oh, uh... I'm sorry." Chloe rubbed the back of her neck gently "I still got a big mouth huh?"

  "A big, cute mouth..."

  The two stared at each other in silence for a second. Ashley quietly cursed her lack of filter.

  The ladies blinked at the message, but couldn't do much and thus decided to just wait. Chloe took the opportunity to restart the conversation. "So, Ashley; What class did you pick?"

  Ashley was grateful for the new topic "I picked Mage, you?"

  Before Chloe could answer, one of the twins ran up to Ashley "huh? You're a mage too? Didn't expect there to be two of us!" The girl took out her own Wickerwood Staff and swung it about a little "I took the Elemental magic, what did you get?"

  Ashley and Chloe felt a minor annoyance that their conversation was interrupted like that. Before anything else could be said, the other twin ran up and started apologising "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! My Sister has just been a bit overly excited at all this. It's out 18th Birthday today, the first day the System would allow us to register. she's been bouncing off the walls." She let out a soft sigh "I'm Lily, Rouge. This magical Sister of mine is Lilac. It really is a pleasure to meet you both"

  Ashley couldn't hold a grudge. Heck, she saw something of her younger brother in Lilac "My name is Ashley, I also picked mage but chose Restorative Magic instead"

  Chloe pointed a thumb at herself "Chloe, Martialist. Seems like a decently balanced team the System has given us"

  Lily nodded "Seems so. From what I've been told, that usually means we're in for a bit of a challenging Tutorial"

  "Are you saying it scales?" Chloe seemed almost excited at the idea

  "the System tries to give a proper introduction to Dungeons, but will scale down drastically if the party doesn't have, say, a healer"

  "how do you know all this?" Ashley had certainly not heard all that much about the Tutorial, other than that it wasn't a guarantee that you'd survive it

  Lilac chimed in "Me and my Sister are registered to join a Guild after we clear the Tutorial, The Kings Shield, so we got some preparatory information."

  The conversation was cut short by the notification and the girls in the room turned their head to the wall, which was slowly opening in the middle to reveal and area beyond; a burning forest. A rush of heat filled the Antechamber as the 'door' slid open

  "Three... days?" Ashley was caught off guard. She'd never heard for people gone for that long during the tutorial. what would her Mom think? Would she worry?

  A hand came down on Ashley's shoulder "Don't worry so much" Lily spoke "the Tutorial uses Time Dilation. Specifically, time in here goes slightly faster to the outside world. we're not sure why, but the System takes full advantage of it. At absolute most, the home will have single day worth of time passing, but it'll probably be less"

  "hah, no exact time?"

  "IT varies I'm afraid. now lets get a move on. we still gotta start"

  With that, Lily and Lilac make their way into the inferno before them. Chloe isn't far behind. Ashley steeled her resolve and followed behind. Once she finally stepped into the forest proper, a timer appeared, counting down. The smoke wasn't as bad as one might have expected and the fire itself was more of a controlled burn than a raging forest fire. That all being said, the flames and smoke that was there still stung the eyes and made distance vision harder than it might have otherwise been. "Lets try and find a clearing," Chloe stepped up to lead the group, the sight making Ashley's heart flutter slightly "IF we can set up a base camp in an area with more visibility, we can get a better lay of the land" After a round of nods, Chloe drew her blade and began leading the quartet through the thicket.

  And, despite the flames, it was a thicket. The undergrowth was healthy and dense, to the point that the girls had to watch not to get caught in low-lying shrubbery. In addition to that, many insects buzzed around happily through the smoke, and Ashley was rather certain she had been bitten a few times. This place behaved like a real ecosystem, at least as far at the light party of girls could tell. If the System had created this on it's own or had taken it from somewhere in the vast universe, they couldn't tell, but they would believe either option.

  Such thoughts were soon interrupted however. The group slowed to a stop as the sounds of growling were heard all about them; they were not alone. From the forest, five silver-ish lupines stepped out to face them. Ashley stared at the nearest one.

  EqL likely related to level in some way. Ashley felt a small ball of worry form in her stomach. She and her companions were level 0. the wolves were EqL 1. She swallowed hard. Her grip on her staff tightened. 'People can die in the Tutorial,' Ashley reminded herself, 'So I need to be careful'. Ashley felt the flames of the forest on her face as she waited.

  The first wolf rushed forward in a blur of Silver. Chloe's blade met it head on, the two trading blows. A bolt from Lily's bow hit from the side, glowing slightly as it fatally pierced the wolf. The girls all let out the breath they were holding. They weren't as out of their depth as they had thought. The group 'locked in', ready to clear their first trial as a team.

  ECL, or Energy Consumption Limit, is one of the Systems' more Complex Statistics. It denotes how much total 'Energy' (Energy including but not limited to: MP, HP, SAN, ANI, Tokens) can be consumed by an Activated Skill (Or group of Activated Skills) per second.

  Passive Skills 'Reserve' portions of the ECL, lowering the amount available for Active Skills without consuming any Energy Directly. A passive Skill with a ECL of 3 would cause the ECL Stat of a Character to go from, for example, 8 / 0 to 8 / 3. Below is an example of a Passive Skill