Ethan grunted and slowly lifted his arm. After a couple of minutes of observing the injury, he decided to leave it as is. It wasn’t bleeding, and he didn’t really want to walk around shirtless. The temperature here wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t too warm, either. Though as he took in the state of his once white t-shirt, he hoped he’d eventually find something to clean himself up with.

  Maybe there’s a cloth cleaning spell?

  Ethan blinked.

  Magic is a thing.

  It still felt surreal. He glanced down at the still bloodied claws and swallowed. “This is happening.”

  It all felt too real to be anything else. His brain couldn’t fake how vivid the musty smell coming off the two creatures were. Or the feeling of wet, cold red blood drying along his digits.

  Ethan glanced at the stab wound in his arm once more.

  Well, if it starts bleeding, I’ll tear a strip off my shirt. But for now it seems fine…

  Stepping closer to the dead spear-wielder, he poked the weapon with a foot. Nothing happened. Then Ethan leaned over, reaching for the spear with his clawed hand. As he touched it, it dissolved into golden smoke and a notification popped up.

  Wand #1: 1 fragment collected.

  Looking down at the two lizardlings, he found nothing else he could test his collecting ability on. He doubted a loincloth would dissolve into fragments, and honestly, he didn’t know if he wanted it to.

  Ethan stepped toward the exit and slowly, carefully, looked down the hall. He didn’t intend to leave yet. He had a couple of things to check. But he needed to make sure no more of these lizardlings were on the way.

  Corridors of stone stretched out on both sides. Light came down from a few spots where the roof had caved in, and as he listened, he neither saw nor heard anything.

  Actually, it was eerie how quiet everything was. No birds. No running water. No wind. Just… silence.

  Ethan shook his head and retreated into the room, then loaded his menus. Specifically, the side quest.

  Side quest: Reach level 5

  Reward: 1 stat point. Trait: Universal tongue.

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. Does that mean he could understand what those lizardlings had been saying? Actually, were they monsters? They seemed like it, but the text box had said they were sapient and monstrous, not technically monsters. Back when he’d been reading the options for his wand, there had been a line about how Enhancer-wands were the default option for monsters, but these two creatures had weapons.

  If those things aren’t considered monsters… then what’s a real monster like?

  The questions kept piling up. For now, he had a point to assign.

  Okay… I see an unassigned line right under Mana, so it’s safe to assume the point will go in one of those four. The Might stat seems related to strength. Toughness is straightforward as well, and so is Mana. Which leaves Spirit… Maybe that’s for the wand’s spells? Or some sort of resistance?”

  One thing was clear: whatever he decided to boost, it wouldn’t be a waste. Every one of these stats seemed important.

  Ethan hummed as he eyed the stat points. There was also something that had started niggling at the back of his mind, and it was time to deal with it.

  Considering the early-bird rewards and this new side quest, the tutorial might be incentivizing people to push themselves forward. It didn’t really seem like a competition, but maybe it was. Or maybe it was just gamified objectives to reward their effort, but whichever the goal of this tutorial was, Ethan fully intended on taking advantage of every leg up he could get. If this was all a competition masquerading as a tutorial, he needed to find an edge. Some way to push himself ahead of everybody else.

  He might be leaping to conclusions, of course. But he couldn’t ignore how this tutorial had started.

  The first thing the system did once the portals showed up was to dangle a prize. Even though everyone was going to be pulled into the tutorial within minutes anyway.

  Deep-down, Ethan felt like it was a competition, which was mostly exciting to him, but it was still a bit worrisome.

  How far were some people willing to go for a competition? Were there other prizes aside from the extra wand?

  Ethan shook his head. Those were some worries for another time. For now…. should he prioritize one stat over others? Focus on collecting spells? Clear every side-quest? How about the wand fragments?

  A quick check showed him the options available to him.

  Wand #1:

  [Form: Claws]

  [Sequential: None]

  Class: Enhancer

  Tier: 0

  Unique Trait: None

  Cast Setting: Sequential

  Capacity: 1/2

  Cast refresh: 5

  Mana regeneration: 0.01s (1%)

  Stat Bonus: +2 Might +2 Spirit

  Fragments: 2

  Available wand upgrades:

  [Tier: Increase by 1 - 25 fragments]

  [Stat Bonus: Increase by 1 - 5 fragments]

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  [Cast refresh: Decrease by 0.25 seconds - 1 fragments]

  [Mana regeneration: Increase by 0.04 - 1 fragments]

  Ethan sat down on the stone floor as he eyed the wand’s upgrades.

  First things first, he had a target. Increasing the wand’s tier would allow him to use his modifier-spell. But that wasn’t the only interesting option. He was curious about the other upgrades as well. Especially the one concerning mana.

  So mana regeneration is handled by the wand, and the upgrade would speed it up?

  Noting the percentage right next to the value, Ethan assumed he was currently regenerating 1% of his reserves every second, which was probably very low considering his mana stat was at 1.

  Taking a second, he focused on his clawed hands and closed his eyes, trying to sense anything moving through his claws.

  The seconds ticked by, and when he closed in on a minute, he thought he felt it. A tingle that ran from his hand up his arm.

  “Or maybe I’m imagining it,” he mumbled, frowning.

  In any case, Ethan needed to collect more fragments. The more upgrades he had, the better his wand would become, and that would be another way for him to gain an edge over the competition.

  I can’t mess this up.

  Ethan glanced at the two dead creatures and thought of Luther and everyone who’d been pulled into this.

  He shook his head and the words he’d heard years ago ran in his ears. “You can’t help anyone if you don’t help yourself first, you brat,” Luther had said. He was an aggravating man. But he was very often right.

  Ethan smiled at the memory, then turned his attention back to the task at hand.

  Alright. I’ll focus on side quests and collecting fragments for now. For the stat points… Well. The lowest is Mana. Might and Spirit are getting boosted by the wand, and that leaves Toughness.

  Could it help him with his current injury? Maybe. Would it allow him to take bigger risks and speed up his progress? Probably.

  It’ll really depend on how effective every Toughness point is. I’ll have to test it.

  The other option was the Mana stat. Glancing down at his claws, he wondered; would they disappear if he didn’t dismiss them? If not, if they could sustain themselves as is, he might not need the extra mana right away.

  Yeah. I can’t afford to be incapacitated, he thought after a few seconds. If Toughness allows me to shrug off injuries or not even take them, then it’s the most important stat right now.

  As soon as Ethan confirmed his choice, warmth filled his muscles, sinking into his flesh and bones. After a couple of seconds, Ethan could swear the stab wound was less painful. Even when he moved his right claws and slowly raised his arm the injury barely protested.

  Nice. One or two more points and I bet it’ll feel even better.

  Ethan stepped to the exit and stealthily glanced down the halls. He inhaled, then exhaled, then nodded to himself.

  Alright. Time to go exploring.

  He slowly crept out, looking left, then right, then back to the left.

  That was where the lizardlings had come from. If a new patrol was coming around, he might be able to ambush them around the corner and if there was a camp of them nearby, then he should know about it.

  Quietly, close to the wall, Ethan made his way down the corridor, weathered stones and gravel crunching under his feet. Hand on the cold wall, he slowly looked around the corner, only to find stairs leading down. A lit torch was on thewall,l facing the steps.

  Looks like another corridor.

  With extra care, he went down the stairs, hands against the right wall. Then, slowly, with every sense on alert after he made sure nothing was coming from the left, he peeked down the right corridor and instantly snapped his head back.

  He hadn’t been fast enough.

  Four lizardlings had been walking toward him and as soon as his head popped around the corner, one of them warbled something and all four had summoned their weapons.

  Ethan exploded into movement, climbing up the stairs two steps a time while screeches sounded behind him, echoing down the corridor. The sound of clawed steps became louder, slapping against the flagstone.

  I can do four. Probably. Maybe.

  Ethan turned around the corner and slammed his back against it, panting. The footsteps slowed, but he could still hear the lizardlings speak in their scratchy tongue.

  Any second now.

  The sound of crunching stones was right around the bend, then the tip of a spear poked out of the corner, inches away from him. The signal.

  Ethan surged forward, and his left claws shot straight toward the first lizardling’s throat, tearing into it. Blood splattered, and gurgling filled the hall while he jumped back, dodging the stab of a second spear.

  You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 3]

  You have reached Level 3. 1 stat point awarded.

  Ethan immediately put that into Toughness as he continued leading the remaining lizardlings closer to the room.

  [Lizardling - Level 2]

  [Lizardling - Level 4]

  [Lizardling - Level 4]

  The magic sunk into his flesh once more, and the pain of his injured arm lost more of its bite. Ethan discovered that he could flex and exert force with it now, though it still caused some pain, as he pushed away a spear aimed at his chest. With an open palm, he punched up into the lizardling’s chest and stabbed his claws in, groaning a bit at the pain in his biceps, but it wasn’t enough to stop his movement. He tore his hand out, then jumped back, creating some more distance.

  You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 4]

  At this point, the two lizardlings shared a look. Ethan knew what would be coming next, so he rushed forward, suddenly alarmed.

  I can’t have runners.

  The higher level lizardling raised a dagger and made a screech, stabbing forward and forcing Ethan to defend himself while the second turned heel and bolted. Ethan cursed as he jumped back from another stab. But it didn’t come after him and when he took a step forward, the creature took a step back away from him. It was content to just wait.

  It’s stalling. Shit.

  Ethan feinted forward, earning him another panicked—and expected—slash, then he lunged toward the creature, eyes on the dagger as the creature was recovering its stance. It jumped back, swiping again at his face, but Ethan’s legs and reach were longer and as the dagger missed, Ethan caught the creature’s arm and stabbed with another open palm. It stared up at him, eyes wide, then it fell to its knees. A few seconds later, a notification pinged in his ears.

  You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 4]

  You have reached Level 4. 1 stat point awarded.

  Ethan hurriedly bent over the three dead lizardlings and collected his fragments.

  Wand #1: 4 fragments collected.

  With that done, Ethan rushed up the corridor. As he passed his spawn room, he glanced back, expecting torches and running armed lizardlings, but nothing was coming just yet.

  One more point in Toughness. Then I can start investing points elsewhere.

  Ethan did that without stopping and at this point, the pain in his arm was more of a soreness than anything else. He needed his limbs, especially if he was about to be fighting even more stabby lizards.

  Ethan slowed as he approached the corner, heart hammering.

  He couldn’t tell if it was from the exertion or from the excitement, but one thing was clear, once he dealt with the lizardlings’ reinforcement, he would be sitting on a small pile of fragments. He was gonna have a lot of spending money. And he was only a level away from his first completed side quest.

  A grin stretched across his lips. This is a lot more fun than working in a store or going to community college, he thought as he turned the corner.

  Something moved.

  Ethan’s clawed hands shot forward, thinking it was another lizardling, but stopped once he realized it wasn’t. The man in front of him, on the other hand, only smiled before a flash of light shot out of a pointed wand.