Standing in the mouth of the cave, Hob realized he was alone. His grip tightened on his sword.
"Hello?" He yelled, hoping they were simply around some corner. No such luck. Before his panic could descend any further, the chime of a message brought him back to reality. He spun around, looking for the message, but it wasn't in sight. Where is it? He thought for a moment, and decided to open his menu. Sure enough, the message sat over the front page.
IDAS Welcomes You to The Tutorial Dungeon! In order to identify capable candidates for hero roles, you have been separated into individual dungeons! You have been automatically registered as: Robert "Hob" Thornton. Please proceed through the cave to complete your registration!
"Bullshit." Hob said. He couldn't wait to get out and talk to his new friends about the message. "And they had to government name me? Really?" He shook his head as he began to walk forward. He fiddled with his sword as he walked. He'd never held a real sword before, but it felt natural in his hands. As he rounded the first bend, he began to hear clicking sounds from ahead. He readied the sword in his hands. The clicking got louder. "Here we go." He muttered. At a point when it seemed the clicking surrounded him completely, Hob began to feel fear. Where the hell are they? He whipped around frantically, looking for the source.
A slower clicking now began, and this time there was no doubt where it come from. Hob looked straight up at a pair of black eyes staring back at him, a pincer in front of it's mouth clicking slowly. "Shit!" before he could move, the monster had dropped on top of him, knocking him to the ground. his sword clanged loudly on the stone near him, pulling out of his hand. The monster had him pinned down, it's clammy shell feeling cold against his skin. Hob tried to pull back as the pincers around it's mouth came towards him, cutting into his cheek. With a grunt, Hob pushed back, rolling the creature off of himself. He slid away towards his sword, getting his first look at the beast. It was an ugly creature, resembling a beetle. It had the same exoskeleton and pincers, but stood upright like a hunchback. It's claws shined in the light of a nearby torch.
Hob charged the beetle. He swung wildly from above, hoping to split it in two. The beetle was fast. It's arms swung up, glancing the blade off of its claws. A spark flew. Hob persisted, swinging back with the momentum from the block. This time the blade bit the insect, catching one of its arms while the other succeeded at bringing its claw up in time.
It was the beetle's turn to attack. it leaped towards Hob, throwing both its arms towards him. Unskilled, Hob could only move to block one blow. He yelled as the other ripped through the flesh of his arm. Out of pure rage, Hob brought the hilt of the sword down on the beetles skull. A distinct crank rang through the hall. The beetle dropped to the floor, twitching. It was alive, but likely not for long.
As Hob stood over the beetle, preparing to drive the sword down through its body, a second creature tackled him from the side. "Oh, come on!" The beetle had it's pincers around Hob's waist. I'm screwed if he tries to close those. Shit, what do I do? Hob grabbed the pincers with his hands, trying to wrestle them open. He was clearly outmatched, but he at least was preventing the second beetle from killing him. He looked up, seeing the first beetle slowly begin to stand. If I don't deal with this now, I'm dead. An idea came to him.
"Hey bugbreath, come here!" He didn't believe that the bug could hear him, but it didn't matter. The taunt was enough to bring the bug rushing like the other one had. At the last second before the pincers reached him, Hob threw his weight downwards, putting the second beetle in the path of the first. The two pairs of pincers interlocked. The one who had Hob in his grip was broken. a pincer flew off to the side, blood oozing from the wound. Hob was free. He turned to the first beetle, eager to finish the job. His sword sliced satisfyingly through the cracks in the shell, splitting the insect clean in half.
His whole body turned to face the second beetle, who now sat on the ground, letting out choked whimpers, or the bug equivalent of it. To the bug, Hob looked like a mountain in that moment. The killing blow came swiftly.
After each kill, Hob had heard the ding of a new message. Opening his menu, he found three.
Lvl 1 Insectoid (Beetle) slain! +5 xp! (5/10)
Lvl 1 Insectoid (Beetle) slain! +5 xp! (10/10)
Max xp reached! Level 1 -> Level 2! Congratulations! We recommend you allocate your new skill point as soon as possible.
Looking at his skills section, he found that he now had the option to add a single point to any one area. I was almost too slow there. I need agility. Before he finalized this choice, he saw a few new skills had appeared.
Swordsmanship - Level 1
Monster Identification - Level 1
After considering, Hob added the point to swordsmanship, bringing it to level 2. This might save me too. He began to continue forward. He looked down at the blood on his body. Some was his. Some belonged to the monsters. I can't wait to take a bath. He began to hear clicking again. This time, it sounded like an individual. It also sounded larger. As he rounded the next bend, he saw another beetle. This one was far larger. Four arms protruded from it's back. Saliva dripped from it's jaw. It turned it's head at the sight of him.
lvl 2 - Elite insectoid (beetle)
Hob gripped his sword tightly and took a deep breath. "No big deal."