Time left for Tier 1: 6 Days,21 hours.

  “Aww, fuck, for Christ’s sake, the hell are those things!?” I screamed as I sprinted full tilt down another hallway. I was being pursued by what I could only describe as rabid Porcupines. They were small compact dark blobs of flesh, moving at incredible speeds for the insignificant limbs that protruded from its sides. The things were covered in long, sharp quills. The worse part was that they could launch these quills at you. They fired from their tiny little backs like bullets. I had two sticking out the back of my left arm and one in my right ass cheek. Every time I took another step I felt them working their way out of my skin. I could hear the prickly little rodent’s quills hitting the walls and ceiling around me with a Ting ting ting noise.

  These were the latest in a series of smaller creatures chasing and attacking me on site. more ducks, squirrels, hamsters and other woodland critters have become paste against my pipe today. I felt like I been running for days, I looked at the counter in the top right corner of my HUD and saw it had only been a couple hours. This seems like it was going to be a long first Tier. most these animals I had been taking out one or two and then running before the rest could surround me. I had finally made it clear when these two little bastards came flying out of a duct and shot at me. landing the aft fore mentioned quills in my arm and ass.

  I scanned ahead of me thru the hallway looking for anything that could get me the hell out of this situation. Doors passed on the left and right but each was locked tight or involved too much effort to open quickly. All the doors were different. Some had hand scanners, some combination locks, passcodes, one even had a giant wheel you had to spin to open. The worse part was there was not rhyme or reason to them. Some times they had three of the same doors in a row, or none repeating for entire hallways. Ahead and to the left I saw an open doorway.

  “Finally”

  I sprinted at full speed to it and jumped inside. I couldn’t find a door or any way to close the opening. So I hid right inside the frame of the door and readied my trusted lead pipe. I could hear them scurrying closer and closer. I waited patiently, breathing rapidly and trying to focus. The Green bar in my vision was nearly empty but I could see it slowly filling as I breathed. Health was down about twenty percent. While my mana was fully topped off. I considered healing again but worried the spell could give my position away. Instead I just prepared.

  Bam! The moment one of these prickly little fucks poked their head around the opening I brought Down the pipe on their ears. I could feel as their skull caved in under the weight of the pipe as it came down on it. The porcupine’s body went limp under the weight of the impact, and I slowly stood up, quickly readying myself for the next one. I knew it would be coming around it’s dead friend any second. I wasn’t sure if it would crawl over or around the corpse, so my eyes continuously swept from one possible entrance to another. I heard the second one struggling to get over the corpse that was his former partner. He continued to struggle to get around or over them body and began just burrowing through the dead creature instead. it was pretty fucking gross.

  “Oh, man this is disgusting, come on you’re just going to dig through your own friend’s dead body to get to me? This is insane, seriously it’s so fucked up.” I screamed at the malevolent rodent.

  Its head finally emerged from the side of the other one’s body. I began beating it senselessly right on top of its nose. I could hear the bones in the small mammal’s face start to break under the constant assault of my lead pipe, teeth shattering, and nasal cavities collapsing. Honestly, it was the grossest thing I have ever experienced, and I have assisted in butchering livestock before. Eventually, the second porcupine stopped its pursuit of my flesh and fell dead inside his own friend’s body.

  “Congratulations Voyager, you just completed your first full combat interaction with a victory. You gained a few experience points and have the opportunity to loot the bodies for potential rewards and supplies.” The always chipper little sprite informed me.

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  “I can loot the bodies? How do I do that? I don’t have to literally, reach inside their bodies to do this, do I?” I asked with a hint of panic in my voice. I wasn’t scared or anything like that. I just really didn’t want to dig through the corpse of a crushed rodent to find five gold coins and a mana potion, or whatever the fuck they would give me.

  “Nothing so nasty Voyager, Looting a corpse is much less invasive than that, just walk up to the body of the fallen. Tap it with a finger and a window should pop up asking if you want to loot the body. I think you can figure out the rest on your own.” She explained to me. That bright chipper voice is just really out of place sometimes. A little unnerving when you think about it.

  “Hey, TAI can I ask you some questions about yourself or am I not allowed to get personal with you?” I asked my unrequested personal cheerleader as I reached out to the Porcupines lying in front of me. I tapped the external body first, and a window popped up and asked if I wanted to loot the body. I gave it my mental acceptance and a window popped up that looked similar to my quick inventory board. It was about half the size. It contained two items. Five gold coins in a stack and what was called, low-grade animal hide. So some currency and what I assumed to be crafting material. Basic RPG-style loot so far, so I was wondering if I could find new accessories or clothes when looting enemies. I was thinking this as I touched the internal porcupine and accepted the looting request, inside the grid this time was an extra item along with the same coins and hide. It also contained something with a green background.

  “Woah, green item. That’s pretty lucky I bet” I said to no one in particular

  It looked like a coat of some sort. So I moved it into my inventory and TAI started clapping excitedly at me. She was acting like a Mom whose toddler finally walked and could now start potty training. It was degrading, I was glad no one could see this shit.

  “Congratulations again Voyager you just looted your first piece of magical armor. It looks like it’s a jacket. Mentally click on it in your inventory to get a breakdown of its traits and attributes.” She prompted me.

  I followed her direction opened my inventory and mentally focused on the jacket. A window popped up listing various stats about the item.

  Title: Low “Quillity” Jacket

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Item: Jacket

  Category: Clothing

  Stats: +1 damage resistance/ 10% Retributive damage.

  “Everybody needs a top layer to keep the environment out. Here is something to do that. It’s not much but it will hopefully take the sting out of life, and send it back to your enemies.”

  A voice that I could only describe as subtly malicious spoke the quote at the bottom of the page.

  “Uhhhh, retributive damage?” I asked out loud.

  “It means whenever something hurts you it will take a tenth of that damage back to itself . So If something hit you for ten points of damage it would only hit you for nine and they would take one point themselves. Which may end up being what saves your life one day. That jacket is your first magical item and also your first uncommon item as well.”

  “Uncommon item? Is that why it has a green background to it in my inventory? Do we have rarity-ranked items in this game also? Like common, uncommon, rare, and so on?” I asked in a mixture of confusion and excitement.

  This is something I could get behind. I played a lot of RPG games when I was younger and was very familiar with these kinds of systems. This would benefit me a lot here. Triggering my ADHD and helping me focus on improving my load out. keeping in mind the common down fall of these systems. Sometimes the high quality item isn’t the best item it just appears that way with the fancier color behind it. I’ll have to keep an eye on things as they come along so I don’t get mixed up.

  “Absolutely Voyager, The Trials of Tarturis features an entire Suite of different rarities. From Common up to Mythical level rarity. There is a total of eight rarities to find items in. The rarities of course are partially connected to the difficulty of the creature. It was rather lucky of you to find that jacket in such a weak enemy. Given the nature of the item however it does make logistical sense.” Her high-frequency voice answered.

  “What do you mean?” I responded back.

  “Low “Quillity” jacket. You missed the pun Voyager.”

  “Oh that”

  “It is very lucky though. Congratulations again” she cheered at me with more pip than before.

  I didn’t know how much longer I could listen to her cheer at me before I’d want to fully decapitate her but I didn’t foresee it being much longer.

  “Welcome to my life lady, it happens to me a lot, in either direction too. Something terrible happens followed by something really lucky, and vice-versa. I can’t explain it but it’s why I’m even in this situation. What I thought was super good luck quickly turned into the worst luck anyone could ever have. Now let’s get moving these bodies out of the doorway so I can continue this Tier-able experience, See I can make Puns also.” I said that last part to the Trials themselves.

  Opening my Inventory but leaving the room.