“What’s a tutorial?” asked Aumo.

 

“The definition of tutorial is: a programmed instruction provided to a user at a computer terminal, often concerning the use of a particular software package and built into that package,” replied Ria.

 

“I don’t know what that means,” replied Aumo, “What’s a computer terminal? Software?”

 

“A computer terminal is… Alright I’ll rephrase it. A tutorial is a quick startup guide on how something works,” revised Ria.

 

“Got it,” Aumo understood this time.

 

“Why are we being shown one?” asked LisiA this time.

 

As she said that, the text flickered and changed.

 

        ATTACKING

 

SWING YOUR ARM TO HIT THE MONSTERS! YOU MUST LAND THE HIT TO DEAL DAMAGE!

 

Suddenly, some disfigured things started slowly approaching them.

 

“Are we supposed to… hit those things with our hands?” said Aumo as the monsters slowly got closer.

 

Then suddenly, some text quickly showed up under the existing text in front of them.

 

HERE’S A BREADSTICK.

 

Two giant breadsticks appeared out of the air and dropped onto the ground in front of them. Aumo and LisiA each picked one up, confused about what was going on, but decided to follow the text… For now.

 

When the monsters got close enough, both of them swung the stick in their hands and sent a couple monsters flying.

 

“I felt like I just hit a few sacks of cotton,” commented LisiA, “This is bread, right?”

 

As they were sent flying, Aumo could see a bar on top of their heads, and when they got hit, the bar quickly emptied. LisiA, however, didn’t see such a thing. 

 

The text quickly flickered again.

 

    GOOD JOB!

 

THE BAR ON TOP OF THE MONSTERS’ HEADS IS WHAT YOU CALL A HP BAR! WHEN IT EMPTIES, THE MONSTERS DIE! ragdolls are fun. Now eat that bread. It’s good.

 

As the text appeared, the monsters that were sent flying hit the ground and their limbs started flopping around as they slid.

 

“I don’t see that HP Bar thing,” said LisiA, “And I’m not eating this bread, even though it won’t do anything to me.”

 

“I agree,” replied Aumo as she looked at the giant breadstick in her hand.

 

          EAT

 

          EAT FOOD TO HEAL. 

 

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” said Aumo, “Then again, food turns into mana, and mana repairs our bodies, so it works?” 

 

“It says here in my database that the action of eating something triggers healing,” replied Ria all of a sudden, “These dungeons are games, but with actual physical bodies. Also, here it says that at the end of the tutorial, there’s something for the people who can’t see statuses.”

 

“Is that status thing important?” asked LisiA.

 

“No, it’s just that the creators of these gates and dungeons had an obsession with games and stories with these, or so it says here in my database,” replied Ria. 

 

Aumo wanted to look at Ria and wonder what was in that database, but Ria was in her body, and that was impossible. It didn’t stop Aumo from wondering though.

 

The text in front of them started flickering again.

 

You won’t eat? Fine. Proceed.

 

A door appeared in front of them again and they stored away their giant breadsticks. 

 

Are all of these dungeons going to have such doors? That was what Aumo and LisiA both wondered as they opened the door and went through.

 

Behind the door was a rather small room, and in front of them was a table with some things on it.

 

As the two approached the table, they realized that there was also some text carved onto the table.

 

“We ran out of ideas for the tutorial. Magic will work in these too, but we have no idea how that works in your world, so we didn’t include it”, was the text that was carved onto the table.

 

In Aumo’s and LisiA’s opinions, this dungeon wasn’t even necessary. 

 

“Now that I think about it, out of all the possible dungeons, the first one we found is the one that attempts to teach us the basics. Is it a coincidence?” asked LisiA.

 

“No, apparently these gates were arranged by distance. They pinpointed my location and placed the gates like that, and they are placed between cities,” replied Ria, “Yuhsar was too new, so it wasn’t put into consideration, and the port city was too far, so this gate was placed near the city closest to me.”

 

While Ria was answering LisiA, Aumo picked up what looked like a sheet of metal.

 

“That’s what they prepared for the people who can’t see statuses,” said Ria as she saw the sheet of metal that Aumo was holding, “Let’s install it.”

 

Of course, it was originally meant to be an item that would show your status when you hold it, but that is a bit inconvenient as it is easy to lose it. Installing it into LisiA not only made it easier to access, as she would only have to think about it, and it is nearly impossible to lose.

 

Aumo approached LisiA with the plate as per Ria’s instructions, and the installation took just a couple seconds.

 

Status:

 

-----------------------------

Name: Aumo

Core Level:8

XP: 5/300

Status: Normal

HP: 2200/2200

MP: 1200/1200 

MP Stored: 170

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Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Sight, Mana Sense, Mana Analysis, Mana Item Storage, Levitation, Mana Vibration, Small Fireball, Ice Throw, Air Slash, Body Reinforcement, Body Strengthening

 

Upgrades: Map, Gate Detector

 

Stored: Heater, Giant Breadstick

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