Looking at what he can only describe as an interface or HUD, heads up display, if you will, Andrei was quite intrigued to see what this tutorial had in store. The first thing that came up was a depiction of his body. To the side of it was what you would call his profile, statistical information, which included Strength, Agility, Stamina, Spirit. Andrei wasn't sure but he thought he saw for a second next to the spirit line 1,000,000,000 then quickly went back to 10. Unfortunately his stats were nothing like that with the following:
[Strength 15]
[Agility 5]
[Stamina 5]
[Spirit 10]
Below his body was a red bar and had written on it 10/10 HP, Andrei simply thought what does HP stand for and the female voice responded with Health Points in an almost robotic response. Below that bar was another bar which was currently mostly full. It read EXP and once again Andrei thought EXP? "Experience points" stated the disembodied female voice.
Having experienced the "Profile" it closed in view into what appeared as a tab button on the top left of his view. He then noticed that there were multiple tabs next to that and he couldn't click on any of them with his mind. "Currently unavailable, conditions not met, meet needed criteria to unlock" Once again the female disembodied voice chimed in.
Now looking closely at everything after closing the Profile tab he saw now even more new things to explore just in his mind. The first that actually responded was the "Inventory" tab. Not having any idea what could be put in it, he was able to access the tab and it just brought up a grid view with nothing in the grid.
What caught his view the most was the top right "Mini map" and when he thought about going to his apartment, the mini map displayed the direction to go with a bright yellow arrow that turned into a dot on the map once Andrei was in range. "Guess I can never claim to get lost again…" thought Andrei. On top of it just thinking about it made the mini map disappear or reappear. A slow smile was forming on Andrei's face despite having just lost his best friend.
He then clicked back on the "Quest: Tutorial" with his mind and it brought back up his profile but had changed to another tab. Skills is all it was called, and in the skills tab was the skill "Adrenaline Rush"
[New Skill learned: "Adrenaline Rush" LVL1]
[Gives the user enhanced speed, vision, control for 2 seconds. 20 Second cooldown, cooldown can be reduced by multiple factors, including early cancelation]
There was no other skill in this view but at least Andrei was able to read the details of the skill and figured there might be more in there at some point if what he is seeing is anything like the experiences he had from Sam's injection. The one thing that intrigued Andrei the most was the LVL1 next his skill, to him he thought that maybe the skill will develop to be longer enhanced and/or shorter cooldown as it levels. But what makes it level is the question concerning Andrei at this point.
Still standing outside of his apartment building going over the tutorial, it led him to the last part which told him to find a computer terminal. Andrei had no idea why it was requesting him to go find a computer terminal but he knew the local market area would have one. It was only a few blocks walk and since he had that as his main quest/thought his mini map had the golden arrow showing him the closest terminal.
When walking up to the terminal in his view Andrei could see the word "Interact" which he thought was weird since he was sure he was back in his normal state and not in some crazy experience like before. But now just thinking the words "Interact" his hand instinctually hovered over the computer terminal.
["Quest Complete: Rewards granted"]
[Level 2 now achieved, 1 stat point allotted +1 HP +5 Spirit.]
["New Skill "Identify"]
[Identify LVL1: Activate skill on any object/person/device to get more information.]
["Quest Complete: Defeat the 3 unknown attackers]
[Rewards granted: +100 EXP]
[Level 3 now achieved, 1 stat point allotted +1 HP +5 Spirit.]
Andrei couldn't believe it, he actually had a quest to beat those guys, got experience from them, and had no idea it was going on that whole time. Then to top it off he can just put stats where he wants them after he levels. He quickly put both in his Agility because he saw that it was so low compared to his Strength. With his agility increased he did a simple jog to accelerate to full speed and he could already tell he was much faster than even in his fight just moments ago.
A huge smile was seen on Andrei's face, anyone walking by would just think some nerd is getting his jolly's off from this computer terminal in the middle of the market, however Andrei was starting to think about what all that he just been put through meant to what he was now experiencing as well as the haunting word of his best friend. "I'm sorry my friend but you're our only hope"
"Get a room or go home and do what you want to yourself there, no public displays of indecency allowed around here" some old man tutted as he was walking by. This brought Andrei out of his trance and made him realize something, he had no idea what to do with his new found ability. Does he go to the Military Academy there on Hathin, does he seek out John, Sam's father, who might know what Sam injected him with, does he just go back to acting like nothing has happened.
While killing three men would be considered a crime, when they shoot at you first unprovoked on camera, you don't have to worry about the repercussions. Despite the fact he wasn't going to jail, losing his only friend felt close enough. How would he explain to John and Mary what Sam did and said. By now the GFP, Galactic Federation Police, most likely have informed them of Sam's passing, Andrei was just wanting to avoid that awkward talk. He didn't really understand what happened anyways.
He decided it was best to go and talk to Sam's folks and explain to them what had happened. When arriving at Sam's apartment it was expected to see the GFP vehicles, what was shocking is that the apartment was blocked off. Andrei couldn't even get to the apartment as they had put up an electric field barrier, the standard of the GFP that would shock anyone intruders as well as sound an alarm if one was to touch the barrier.
Andrei stood there for what felt like an hour before movement happened inside and two different bodies were carried out on the auto stretchers. Still no living human in sight, Andrei wanted to shout at the apartment for Sam's parents but then realized that there were two bodies just carted out the front door, was that Sam's parents? Andrei was never able to find the answer.
With no one leaving the apartment or noticing the one person standing outside the abode, Andrei just put his head down and slowly walked back to his home, tears running down his face. Arriving home he saw his three sisters, who were identical triplets yet somehow he was born at the same time as them, said his hello to each of them keeping his head down so they couldn't see his tears.
Julia was the stubborn redhead of the three, Natalie had dirty brown hair with a slight red tint, and lastly Lauren the blonde of the bunch. All three faces, bodies, everything except the hair was identical on these three but their personalities could not be more different.
All three recently had their powers come to fruition which Lauren had a telepathy power that she could communicate with anyone anywhere as long as she had touched them one time. Natalie's power was also through a touch but she had the power to change substances at the atomic level. Then finally Julia of course manifested the power of fire.
All three of them barely knew what to do with their new found powers however they all agreed it was quite weird that Andrei has yet to manifest. All three of them on the same day discovered their powers, so one would think that the fourth to be born would be the same since they were quadruplets.
"Hey big bro, what's got ya down?" Lauren noticed the slumped shoulders more than anything of her abnormally large brother. Andrei, not knowing what to say didn't say anything and kept sauntering to his room. Closing the door behind himself, the door opened shortly after as Lauren never heard his answer.
"Why do you even care?" Andrei exacerbated as he slumped onto his bed barely keeping himself together as his mind is finally realizing that he will never see Sam again. "Sam's gone…"
"What do you mean Sam's gone? He decided on a University?" Lauren inquired.
"I could have saved Sam but I stepped out of the way" Andrei bellowed.
"Saved Sam? Is he ok? What happened? You're frightening me right now Drei!" Lauren stated to her brother.
"No he's dead, and I could have stopped it from happening but all I did was move out of the way!" Andrei spewed out as he fell into his sister's shoulder, tears running down and dropping onto her shirt making dark spots. She had never seen Andrei cry, shocked and in disbelief she just hugged her brother.
Natalie and Julia were seen standing in the doorway, both of their faces concerned as they had never seen Andrei cry either and the sister's just stood there in silence trying to figure out what to say or do. They all decided it was best to just let Andrei grieve and the three of them left him alone.
A week went by and a funeral was never held for Sam. Andrei and his sisters kept their eyes on the news for his funeral but never saw one. Andrei decided he was going to say his own farewell by visiting the spot in the park that he last saw his friend.
Standing at the spot that the previous time he was here held his best friend in, Andrei didn't even know why he came here, he had only been distraught over the fact his best friend was killed and no one would do anything about it. He hadn't even noticed the fact that he had a new quest given to him.
The new quest just had a simple task: Learn how to fight! If by fate or coincidence after he finished reading the simple quest an old bald headed man who looked to be blind was strolling by. "Rage is what builds the foundation to power, without it you have none, with it you are chaos" chimed in the old man. Andrei thought the guy was crazy until he realized no one was around the two of them to be able to even hear his statement.
"Rage won't bring him back" Andrei grumbled back, his mood still as sour as the moment he lost his friend.
"Yes, that is true, but then he wouldn't have given you the gifts he gave you if he felt otherwise" the old man almost sang it back in response.
"What are you blabbering about, you old fool?" Andrei bellowed out
"One sees what he wants to see, one does what he wants to do, but does one do what he needs to do?" the old man continued his riddles.
"So you're saying that I need to do what I need to do in order for my rage to grow?" questioned Andrei.
"Possibly, if you know the fire is lit, then the meal was cooked long ago" stated the old man as he continued on his stroll seemingly leaving Andrei to his own devices. Watching the old man Andrei noticed that he just entered a Dojo. The sign said Jojo's Dojo, Andrei didn't even know why he just followed the old man but the Dojo technically would help him fight.
Stepping through the double door entrance to the Dojo, the entire room was completely empty except for a mat across the floor. The walls looked to be a solid structure but designed to look like trees surrounding the room, similar to a bamboo type design. Andrei noticed there was a symbol across the floor that looked like a sun drawn in black wrapping around what looked like a moon on the other half.
Andrei had stepped into the Dojo expecting to see the old man but was greeted by a young woman. "Hello and welcome to Jojo's Dojo! How can I help you?" chimed the young woman. "Where did the old man go?" asked Andrei.
"I'm afraid I have been here all day and have not seen anyone enter until you" replied the young woman.
Perplexed by what just happened, looking around there was nowhere for the old man to go, so where did he go? Andrei contemplated what to do next, he really didn't know why he came in here nonetheless what just happened to this old man who spoke in riddles to him as if he wanted Drei to figure something out.
"Identify"
[Susan Qui 11 cycles old]
[???????]
[???????]
Not realizing what he just did other than subconsciously thinking who is this person in front of me, the Identify skill was used and then Andrei knew he needed to start working on whatever it is Sam gave him.
"Do you teach close quarter combat skills?" inquired Andrei to Susan.
"I can teach you combat skills, close or distant, does not matter" Susan confidently responded with.
"When do classes start?"
"You would be my only student so when can you start?" Susan said somewhat unsure if she just disclosed bad information but it already slipped out from her excitement to finally get a student.
"Er, I haven't figured out what I want to do with my life, no power has manifested so I figured I should start to learn something beside Galactic Federation propaganda."
A small chuckle parted Susan's lips as she understood his dilemma as well as the fact that most people in his shoes would never seek her out. "Was the old man the only reason you came here?" Susan is now trying to figure out Andrei's actual intentions.
"No I actually do need to learn combat skills so please, I am Andrei. Please teach me?"
"Nice to meet you Andrei, I am Susan Qui and I will be your instructor starting now!" her confidence came right back to her.
The two of them stood apart from each other about 10 yards separating the two of them. Susan first pointed out that his stance is all wrong. Andrei just standing there was completely confused already with the first instructions.
"When you face an opponent you must always be prepared!" That is when Andrei noticed that Susan was standing with her feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, hands mid chest level from bent elbows, the entire time swaying slightly as if she was slightly drunk or caught in a wind storm. Andrei took a similar stance and instantly "GOOOOOOODDDDD" was shouted from the young woman. The elongated pronunciation of the word good really energized Andrei.
"Next, I want to see you punch with all you have at this!" Instantly a punching bag appeared directly in front of Andrei just out of his reach. The object appearing out of nowhere startled Andrei for a second and then realizing she had never shown her power he had no idea what it might be. She was old enough to have it manifest so the punching bag appearing must have been a power of hers. It would make sense to create a dojo given that power, Andrei thought.
Andrei stepped in range of the bag and proceeded to throw his hardest punch from both hands. The bag bounced backwards from the hits and Susan's eyes went wide as she had never seen anyone move her punching bag before. She wasn't sure if this guy was pulling her leg needing to learn combat skills given what he just did to her bag.
"Now show me your kicks!"
Stepping back slightly Andrei kicked straight upward at the bag with his toes out.
"No, no, no, no all wrong, nothing right" Susan cried out realizing this guy really needs her help. She then decided to take it slow and start with the kick as that was awful to watch and must have hurt Andrei's foot at minimum.
Susan then for the first time looked Andrei in the eye and yelled "HEP" simultaneously her right leg lashed out to the side and made contact with the bag with a speed that Andrei never saw her leg move, only heard the bang and saw the impact made on the bag by her foot. The kick was incredible and Andrei had never seen anything so incredible and drool started to drop from his mouth.
"Can you do that one more time please?"
"Haha, did you see it?"
"I want to!" Andrei exclaimed.
Susan again yelled "HEP" but right before she did Andrei activated "Adrenaline Rush" and was now able to watch everything her leg would do. Not realizing it he was thinking about identifying the kick so it activated his Identify showing "Susan Qui 11 cycles old" but then something strange happened. His view of Susan changed and her body was outlined with a red aura coming off her body. Watching closely he noticed that Susan's leg was using the momentum of her hip followed by snapping her knee to full extension as the leg met the target.
[Skill unlocked: Snap Dragon Kick LVL 1]
[Use on opponents to kick them in a snap. Combing Snap Dragon Kick with elements will increase potency]
[-1 Stamina per use]
"Huh?" Andrei just made the noise not understanding what he just read. Combining elements with the kick, what elements can I learn?
[Skill unlocked: Skill Sap LVL 1]
[Use on opponents to learn their skills, powers, or abilities. Only works once per opponent, if the opponent does not have anything to learn EXP will be granted.]
"File that one you always use!" thought Andrei. The look of confusion turned to a huge smile that was super obvious and Susan was none the wiser as she looked at her student curious as to the sudden smile.
"Saw it that time? Why don't you give it a shot?" Susan anxiously waited to see what her student was so excited about.
BANG! Bang! The punching bag flew 30 feet into the wall. Left standing in the middle with a completely wide open mouth was Susan. How did he learn that move that fast? I spent cycles trying to perfect it and he just did it on his first attempt? Susan contemplated the next set of instructions to her new student that felt like he would be the master in no time.
"Well you figured that one out, lets move onto the next kick." With that she let out another "HEP" and this time her body spun at an alarming speed into the air with one leg straight out. It looked beautiful as her body floated in the air towards the punching bag. The same could not be said for how the punching bag looked after the kick went through it. The force caused the bag to flip multiple times before coming to a rest across the room.
"That was awesome!" Andrei exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. If only his parents knew how much he loved this they would have gotten him into martial arts sooner. Andrei attempted to do it himself and this time failed miserably. Not only did he barely jump but he only made a 180 degree turn and his leg extended slightly but then instincts brought the leg back down as he did not have the balance to land on the one leg.
"Well now it looks like I get to teach you!" Susan confidently stepped toward her student and gave out step by step instructions on how to master the kick. Just to be on the safe side Andrei asked her to demonstrate again and he even ran Skill Sap while she was doing it but a slight "dum dum" sound was made in his head which only told him "Error, not working" was his best guess.
Several hours later, Susan looked quite pleased with herself. Took longer than the first skill she taught him but eventually he learned the steps.
[Skill unlocked: Helicopter Kick]
[Use on opponents to kick them from distance. Combining Helicopter Kick with elements will increase potency]
[-5 Stamina per use]
There is that stipulation again, wondering what elements it's referring to, Andrei had a lot on his mind when he finally walked back to his apartment. Right as he got to his apartment building he thought he felt he was being watched and when he turned around he could have sworn the old man was down the block.
In the distance the old man was staring at the young red head entering his apartment complex. "You must harness your rage, what can be done to bring that back" contemplating his next steps.