Max was running down the sidewalk in the night; car horns and police sirens were constantly going off. Despite not putting any points into agility, he felt lighter and faster than normal. He heard a police siren close.
Damn, police.
He ran between the houses and peeked out of the corner and waited. The police car stopped at the house further down the road across the street. A man came out and pointed to the back and said something to the police officer. Then they both went into the backyard.
Alright, guess now's my chance.
Max bolted down the road to where the police car stopped.
Maybe a gate appeared in this guy's backyard?
Max got closer, and his guess was confirmed when he saw the white light emanating from the backyard. All he needed was to wait for the form to leave…
… finally, he's leaving.
The police officer came out the door first, along with the man who was now holding a woman. The police officer put cushion tape around the door, and they all drove off.
After they were out of sight, Max dashed across the road and into the backyard where the gate was. Once he saw it, he paused and scratched his neck.
Ok, I'm really doing this…
He took a breath and spoke out loud, "'Gate Info'"
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[GATE INFORMATION]
Gate Level: 1 – White Gate
Clear Condition: Eliminate all wild wolves (0 / 3)
Reward: 50 EXP
[Additional Info]
Hostiles will appear in 5 min after entering.
-----------------------------
Alright, so it's wolves this time, and I only need to get three of them.
"'Statis Window' 'Search' how much EXP is a wild wolf?"
A voice appeared in his head: "15 EXP." With passives, you will get 30 EXP."
He scratched his neck once more. "Alright, let's do this. Nothing bad will happen anyway…" He jumped in with white flags.
The surroundings were almost the same as the first gate. All identical trees and unnaturally flat ground; the only difference was the full blue moon in the sky that lit up the area.
He unsheathed his sword and gave it a few test swings. He then tightened up the buckler on his wrist.
Can't believe I'm actually doing this…
He plopped on the ground. "'Statis Window' 'Search' how much time until the wild wolves come?"
"3 minutes and 26 seconds"
The voice replied, and a window appeared. Now all he needed was to wait…
"42 seconds"
He stood up and breathed heavily, but strangely, his heart was still calm.
I've done this before, and there is no need to worry about dying. Plus, my mental state gets forcibly claimed if I do.
"20 seconds"
His neck started to itch.
"10 seconds"
"9 seconds"
"8 seconds"
"7 seconds"
"6 seconds"
"5 seconds"
"4 seconds"
"3 seconds"
"2 seconds"
"1 second"
Abrupt hollowing started as soon as the timer hit 0. Max started to hear growling, which was getting louder with each second. Then he saw the first wolf. Running full speed at him, he readied himself for the first attack and lifted his sword high.
The wolf lunged at him, as soon as it got close, Max then slammed the blade down with full force and split the wolf's skull open. The body of the wolf went limp and slammed to the ground.
Max looked up and saw the next one approaching fast and readied himself in the same way. He took three steps back, and as soon as it lunged at him, he slammed the blade down again, and it died instantly.
A voice rang in his head, "You leveled up!"
This is going a lot easier than I thought it would… Putting all the points into strength was the right call.
Max was glad things were going a lot better than the first time, but then he remembered how he died.
I don't hear any more growling… If it's like last time, then it must be stalking me.
Max stood as still as possible and listened to his surroundings. It was dead quiet. Moments later he heard very quiet footsteps behind him. Max snapped backwards and saw the wolf ready to lunge; when it did, Max sidestepped and slashed upwards, cutting its belly.
The wolf slid on the ground and got up as fast as it could, but it was too late. Max jumped on it and plunged the bald in its neck, killing it. After that, 2 windows appeared in front of him.
-----------------------------
[Gate Completed]
Gate Level: 1 – White Gate
Reword: 50 -> 100 EXP
Clear Condition Progress: Eliminated wild wolves (3 / 3)
[Additional Info]
As this is a level 1 Gate the challenger will be healed fully.
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
|Leave Gate| |Jump to Another Same Level Gate|
-----------------------------
A voice rang in his head again. "You Leveled Up!"
Max was surprised.
Oh! That's going to save me a lot of time. Also, I level up quite a lot, and even without this passive skill, you could clear these gates and quickly level up fast. At the rate I'm going, I would be able to bench press cars soon!
Max then realized something.
Once people find out about this, all hell will break loose, huh. If anyone can start to bench press cars by just completing a few gates… fuck.
He pushed those feelings aside for now. All he needed to do now was level up as fast as possible.
"'Status Window'"
-----------------------------
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Max Carter
Level: 4 32/170 EXP
Condition: Healthy
Points available: 10
Strength: 10 /\
Agility: 6 /\
Endurance: 5 /\
Intelligence: 7 /\
Passives: [The First to Challenge—163 hours—Unique]
Skills: none
-----------------------------
hmm, I could put it all into strength again, and I bet I could lift 100lbs with one arm like its nothing, but… I should put some into agility, and endurance is useless since I will heal anyway, and these gates aren't that hard to begin with, same with intelligence…
There I doubled my speed and added the rest to strength.
He hit the button, and white flames engulfed him. When the fame dissipated, the scene around him didn't change.
He spoke out loud, "'Gate Info'"
-----------------------------
[GATE INFORMATION]
Gate Level: 1 – White Gate
Clear Condition: Eliminate all wild wolves (0 / 3)
Reward: 50 EXP
[Additional Info]
Hostiles will appear in 5 min after entering.
-----------------------------
Alright, it's the same as before.
Max completed it without issue, except for one thing…
-----------------------------
[Max Level Reached for this Level of Gate]
Info: Challenger needs to enter stronger gates to get stronger; higher-level gates will appear when more people have become stronger.
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
[New Achievement Has Been Made! New Passive Acquired!]
[Challenger First to Reach Level 5]
Info: This passive halves the cooldown time of active skills and doubles the effectiveness of buffs for one week.
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
[New Level of Information Granted!]
Info: Challenger can ask more questions related to the gates.
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
[SKILL SELECTION]
|Lesser Heal| |Dash|
|Small Speed Boost| |Small Attack Boost|
|Lesser Crush| |Lesser Slash|
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
|Leave Gate| |Jump to Another Same Level Gate|
-----------------------------
That's nice, but I wonder how soon higher-level gates will appear. This double EXP passive won't last forever. Well, whatever. Let's look at these skills first.
"'Status Widow' 'Search' How do skills work?"
"There are two types of skills: active skills like slash and crush, and then there are buff skills. Some skills will drain you mentally, like Lesser Heal and Speed Boost, or drain you physically, like Slash and Crush. Activating a skill will come instinctually when acquired. You can also pick to evolve a skill during your next skill selection."
"'Search' what do all the skills I can pick do?"
The skill selection window grew bigger.
-----------------------------
[SKILL SELECTION]
|Lesser Heal|
Info: This skill heals small wounds instantly and restores a bit of stamina to either you or another challenger. This skill consumes mental stamina. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
|Dash|
Info: This skill moves the challenger 1-10 steps in any direction they want instantly. The farther the dash, the more physical stamina it will consume. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
|Small Speed Boost|
Info: This skill boosts the agility of you or another challenger by 10%. This skill consumes mental stamina and will last until mental stamina is completely drained or cancelled. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
|Small Attack Boost|
Info: This skill boosts the strength of you or another challenger by 10%. This skill consumes mental stamina. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
|Lesser Crush|
Info: This skill will make crushing objects easier. This skill consumes physical stamina. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
|Lesser Slash|
Info: This skill will make slashing objects easier. This skill consumes physical stamina. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
-----------------------------
Ok, healing isn't good for what I want to do. Dash is good for getting me out of a jiff, but since I can't leave gates when I'm in them, it would only be good for dodging, and I can accomplish that with speed. Boosts are good later down the line but not right now. So, let's go with slash since I'm using a sword.
He tapped the dash button and immediately knew how to use that skill. It was a bizarre feeling that he didn't really know how to describe. It's like how you already know how to move a muscle, and the proprioception felling is where the skill will hit.
Alright, I think I get how this works.
"'Search' when do level 2 gates spawn?"
"Both level 2 and 3 gates will spawn when 100 million people complete the tutorial. After that, higher-level gates will appear based on the collective level of people in the area."
"'Search' How many people have completed the tutorial?"
"You don't have access to this information."
Damn, it looks like it will be a while before new gates will pop up. Well, let's put 3 points into endurance and the rest into agility.
He wiped the bloodied sword on the ground and sheathed it. He was ready to leave, and now that he thought about it.
Wait, will it drop me off where I was before or where this gate is located? I hope I'm not too far from home.
As he clicked the button, he heard two guys talking as the white flames engulfed. When he opened his eyes, he saw the bones of a T-rex.
Is this… Milwaukee's public museum? Ahhhh, getting home unnoticed will be a pain. Oh shit…
Max noticed two police officers. "Hey! Wh… whoa." The police officers looked at him shocked. It made sense why they were surprised; a tall man with a shield and sword covered in blood just appeared where those flames used to be.
Max raised his hand up. "Ahhh, I can explain." He thought for a moment, and then he got an idea