ShanDeRad
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Chapter 24
🕑 Added 2024-04-20 17:55:01 +0000 UTCWhen Shaun woke up his mind was foggy and he couldn’t remember where he was or what he was doing before he had passed out, what he did remember was the pain. He tested out his body slowly, he could move both hands and feet and when he pushed himself up into a sitting position he felt tight, like he hadn’t moved his muscles in days after completely overworking them.
Slowly his mind began to clear and he recounted what had occurred with the Alpha and the others, he couldn’t help himself, he began to chuckle which turned into a disbelieving laugh, I am actually alive!
He had more notification than he knew what to do with, knowing that there had to be some pretty interesting ones in there, considering everything that occurred, he decided to start from the beginning and work his way down.
*You have defeated a (Alpha Mole Rat – Lvl 15). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. Double TE for killing a Stage 1 Tutorial Boss gained, 300 TE awarded*
A stage 1 Tutorial Boss? Is that even a thing? Shaun thought back on the fight, the only reason he survived was luck and him willing to give up his life in the process of killing the Alpha. He doubted even a full group would be able to take that thing down, if the Alpha hadn’t decided to fight him one on one he would never have won.
*Title earned: Apex Predator*
*Apex Predator: Having successfully killed a tutorial boss in a solo fight, you have shown that you have what it takes to stand at the top of the food chain. When fighting solo you gain 10% to all of your stats, if fighting an opponent above your level when solo this will double to a 20% increase.*
That is…..incredible! Shaun preferred to fight alone and fight something stronger than him, well he did that enough that the 20% was almost guaranteed if he found the right monsters. He didn’t think that anything would top getting a Title like that, but he still had a lot more notifications to get through, but if he was being honest with himself he just wanted to go find something to fight. He skipped through a few of the notifications about killing all of the normal Mole Rats and looked at the amount of levels he gained.
*Class: Rouge has levelled up by +4 levels. [Basic] Rogue has reached Level 19. +4 Str, +12 Dex, +4 End, +12 Per gained*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +2 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 9. +8 Ap gained*
Shaun nearly stood up and cheered when he saw how many levels he gained from the Alpha and the other monsters, 4 full class levels and 2 Race levels put him one level away from completing every objective of the tutorial. He would be able to complete it, that he had no doubt about, but if he could increase the overall amount of levels he gained then he would also get a better reward for this stage of the tutorial.
He looked over all of notification from the skill level ups up until the end of the fighting and saw that each one of them was maxed out at Level 25 as well, Shaun was kind of annoyed at not being able to level up his skills anymore but figured that in only one more level he would get another one. Those looked to be all the notifications he had received up until the point he had left the cavern behind, confused though he still had quite a few left.
*Affinity Detected: Earth*
*Earth (Affinity): The multiverse is made up of many elements but Earth is one of the most abundant. Through your connection to the rocks and metal that make up earth you will be able to bend them to your Will to manipulate their shape and guide them as if they are an extension of yourself. +10 Wil, +10 Soul, +5% Wil, +10% Soul*
He had an affinity? For earth? He couldn’t quite figure this one out, he remembered using his detection skill as hard as he could, trying to figure out a way to close off the tunnel, he remembered the feeling of something snapping inside of him and then being able to really connect to the earth around him. But….an Affinity?
The stats were good, no they were great. His Willpower and Soul stat were two of his lowest stats by far with only intelligence still really low compared to all of his other stats, so getting extra points was going to be a great help. He got the Willpower increase, it said Will in the description of the affinity, but Soul? Maybe he had to use mana to work with the affinity, something he would need to play around with later.
*Your skill [Basic] Detection (Level 25 – MAX) has evolved into [Advanced] Earthen Echo (Level 1)*
*[Advanced] Earthen Echo: Through the use of the vibrations given off by every thing in the multiverse, both living beings and objects, down to the smallest atom, you are able to clearly make out everything around you. This skill also allows for an Echo to be sent out from your body allowing you to detect things further away with less detail being provided the further away it is. Scales with Perception*
He could evolve skills without needing to choose them when he levelled up his Class? That meant he could get more skills and then evolve them naturally, leading to not only more but stronger skills! This had a lot of promise and it seemed like the evolution directly tied into his Affinity. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Was someone’s Affinity so important that your entire Class will change to suit it?
He only had two notifications left and he truly was very unsure as to what either of these would be about.
*Title earned: Planetary Forerunner*
*Planetary Forerunner: As one of the first 10 people across every Tutorial to have unlocked your Affinity you have shown that you are one of the future power houses of your world. You gain 10% to all of your stats.*
So out of the billions of people from Earth I am one of the first 10 people to unlock my Affinity. Yeah that is an achievement. And 10% to every stat is going to really help in the long run. Sure now it may only be a few points but if I keep growing it could get to be a hundred, hell even a thousand!
His last notification he could have done without.
*You have defeated (Sophie Gray– Lvl 6). Experience gained. 1256 TE awarded*
She must have tried to follow him instead of running back the way they had come and got caught in the cave in. That would be the only reason he would have gotten this notification. What he did caused her death. No, she made her choice and she died because of it, it's not my fault.
He decided to not dwell on it, there was nothing he could do, instead he opened up his status sheet and gave it an admiring look.
Status:
Name: Shaun Clermont
Race Human (F)
Level: 9
Class: [Basic] Rogue - Level 19
Profession: N/A
Health Points:212/300
Stamina:340/340
Mana:160/160
Stats: (Available Points: 8)
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 72
Endurance: 34
Vitality: 30
Intelligence: 9
Perception: 72
Willpower: 23
Soul: 16
Affinity: Earth
Titles: New Initiate, Apex Predator, Planetary Forerunner
Skills:
Class: [Basic] Short Blade (Level 25 - MAX), [Basic] Stealth (Level 25 - MAX), [Advanced] Earthen Echo (Level 3) , [Basic] Dual Wielding (Level 25 - MAX)
Profession: N/A
He still wasn’t back to full health but without any more health potions there was nothing he could do. Next he checked the objectives of Stage 1.
**Stage 1 objectives: 76,065 participants
10 days remaining
Collect a total of 10,000 Tutorial essence (TE): 16,614 Collected - Complete
Reach level 10: Level 9 - Incomplete
Survive**
He was close, so very close to being finished. By the time the 10 days were over he wanted to have over 20,000 TE and try and make it to Level 12. With nothing further to look at he made sure he had all of his weapon on him and stood up, stretching out all of his muscles. It was time to test his new skill and his Affinity, and what better way to do that than by hunting.
He had been unconscious for over a day and he was surprised that no monsters had gotten to him while he had been on the floor, that gave him a pretty good indication that there wasn’t going to be much around, they had all probably moved into the cavern when he had attacked the Alpha. This wasn’t a bad thing as it gave him time to explore his new skill while we walked.
It wasn’t much different to the detection skill outside of being able to very clearly make out everything around him, including what was in the walls for about 25 metres. It took a while to be able to filter out the natural vibrations of the rock and instead only acknowledge the smaller changes of the things around him. Once he had gotten used to this part of the skill he decided to try and use the second part, the echo. Shaun stopped walking for a moment and focused on the skill, he hadn’t done this before so it took some focus, closing his eyes he imagined sending out the burst from his body like he did with the old detection skill, but instead of just focusing on what was around him he imagined it flowing through the tunnels.
He started to feel a pressure build within his chest, just when it started to get too uncomfortable it was like a balloon had burst inside of him and he felt the skill move out from around him, once it hit the size of the usual 25 metres, it then repeated the same process but this time the skill itself let out another burst of power. It continued on like this three times on top of the original 25 metres which meant that he had gotten information about the surrounding 100 metres, although the last burst only gave him a vague understanding of if there were any unique vibrations in that area.
To his surprise he did find something, although he wasn’t sure what, as it didn’t seem to be moving at all and was rather small. Figuring that he had nothing to lose he made his way through the tunnel knowing exactly which ones to take every time they split. When he reached what he felt it was in a small alcove off to the side of a tunnel, inside of the alcove was a chest, like the one he had found with the heating stone, but this one was far from plain, it was plated in gold and decorated with patterns and jewels.
He hoped that it wouldn’t disappear when he took whatever was in it but he doubted he would be so lucky, besides it was just a pretty box, what was inside of it was the real prize. Before he opened the chest he sent out another echo with his skill to make sure there was nothing around him, and if he was being honest, he hoped that if the thing was some kind of trap he would be able to pick up on it. He found a few monsters down the tunnel but they weren’t making their way to him and apart from that there was nothing in the surrounding area, just him and his new chest.
Without delay Shaun dropped down and opened it, inside was a vial on a velvet cushion, it was about the same size as the other potions he had seen, looking at what was inside of the vial though, he couldn’t figure out if it was a liquid, a gas or some other weird concoction. Whatever was inside swirled around changing colours as it moved, it was like a rainbow in a bottle.
*Elemental Elixir (Legendary) – The Elemental Elixir is a resource that when consumed will place one into a trance where it will become easier to connect to the world around you. Used by those who are lucky enough to obtain one to help them find their Affinity. If surrounded by a specific element that one wishes to connect too, it greatly boosts the chance of forming an Affinity with that element.*
Picking up the Elixir from the chest, it predictably disappeared into nothing, but he honestly didn’t care, what he did care about was the Legendary grade elixir he currently had in his hand. But the description did confuse him a little, it said that it would help him find his Affinity but he already had one, did that mean that it was useless to him? He pulled up his status sheet and checked it over and he could see Earth listed as his Affinity, instead he tried to identify what Affinity was, he had tried this before but nothing ever came up, but he was hoping now that he had one he could get some more information on it.
*Affinity: Most creatures in the Multiverse have but only one connection to an element that make up the world around them. Finding that element is not certain and connecting to it can take some decades if not centuries. To form an Affinity to an element is to take it into yourself and become one with that aspect of the Multiverse.*
It worked but the information he got back was less than ideal. Most everyone, not just from Earth, but in the entire Multiverse, only ever had one Affinity and he assumed those that had more made up the most powerful beings out there, the rulers of planets, the elite of every generation. That didn’t fill him with much hope for having a second Affinity, let alone any more than that. So was the Elixir useless? No. Was the chances of it ever working on him high? Definitely not. But he wasn’t going to just leave it here, he figured if the right opportunity came his way he could either use it and hope it worked or sell it to someone else once he got out of here and become rich, not a bad way to start his journey as a citizen of the Multiverse.
Putting the Elixir in his inventory he realised that he never looked to see what he had gotten from the Alpha so decided to check, what he saw was disappointing. He had hoped for something special but instead he only found Claws, Teeth and its Skin. The teeth were different but when he identified them they weren’t anything to really celebrate having, they were just its teeth which was kind of gross.
Rather than dwell on it he figured that the title was the real loot from that fight anyway, standing back up he sent his echo back through the tunnels and found the monsters from earlier, now time to hunt.
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Back in Ruin, Gabe and Eric were sitting together in the house they shared, having just been told the news of Shaun having killed Sophie in some attempt to gain power before running away into the tunnels before he could be captured by her team.
“I don’t believe it, like I actually don’t believe that Shaun would kill someone like that, and for what? To get stronger? He was already stronger than the others he wouldn’t have gained much, if anything, from it.” Gabe said to Eric.
“I agree, I really do, but why would they say these things and make an announcement telling everyone that he was a cold blooded killer. What do they gain from it?” Eric replied.
“I don’t know, but you saw him after he had to kill those people back before we got to Ruin, he didn’t just let it go, it stuck with him. If he did kill Sophie, and it’s a big if, I would say that he didn’t have a choice and that it was either him or her.” Gabe just shook his head and laid down on the ground.
“You think we will ever get the truth?”
“Not unless we ever see Shaun again, and it's not like he is ever going to come back here. I don’t know what to do.” Gabe let out a defeated sigh.
“We get stronger, if they tried to do something to Shaun they could do the same to us. We have to be careful.” Eric decided for them.
