3 – Tutorial Stage 2 – Status, Abilities, & Difficulties
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I had a few of these made and never edited, so I will be editing them and releasing them now as my wrist heals. Typing with only your left hand when you are right-handed is annoying lol xD

3 – Tutorial Stage 2 – Status, Abilities, & Difficulties

This Concludes Tutorial - Stage 1 - The System Basics

Proceed To The Next Tutorial?

"Ah, not yet, please, Guru. I need a second to explore the menus you just introduced to me." I say and smile up at the box.

Of course you do. Do as you like. Just let me know when you are ready to continue.

...

*Sigh*...Or if you have more questions...

"Did you really just type out the word 'Sigh...?'"

No answer came from Guru, and I chuckled softly to myself. 

'Okay. Time to explore the icons I was informed of. First and foremost...'

"Status."

A window popped up in front of me that with a light grey color as opposed to Guru's blue window. It contained my full lists of stats as well as much more information including my, admittedly lacking, personal information, equipment, spatial storage, buffs, debuffs, weight, weight limit, and even a tracker for days of food and water left...Which was obviously at zero for now. 

'Fuck...Being fat sucks. All those debuffs from being obese...I gotta get that worked out ASAP.'

It also had a separate tab to break down my staus bars as well as...

'Oh! Here are the abilities and difficulties!'

Introducing my first version of Desmond's Character Sheet! No doubt, it will evolve as we go, but I will only be updating it every once and a while and will make separate versions for different chapters. I don't want to get bogged down on the LitRPG elements and want it to be a visual assistant instead. Hope you like it!

Character Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17DoJ0tQMqEZNrdfOWMSTr4kKNIJ5ld7mYDElwIo8RrI/edit?usp=sharing

Explanation:

Tab 1 - Status Bars: A tab to show what the current status of Desmond is (Based on when it was last updated - In this case, this chapter)

Tab 2 - Character Sheet: A tab to show the basic information about Desmond, his equipment, and his current status

Tab 3 - Abilities & Difficulties: A tab to go over the abilities he has and what they do as well as the difficulty penalties associated with them.

"Wow! I have some really awesome abilities! But...This seems skewed in the player's favor, am I missing something, Guru?"

That is covered in the next tutorial section. Would you like to proceed to the next stage?

"No, thank you. I need to investigate the remaining icons and work out how to use the journal. I should copy over my notes and use that from now on."

No response greeted my denial. I didn't mind, I can only imagine how tiresome this must be for Guru. 

'Do I care? Not a fucking bit. This may have been a game for them, but my life was on the line. I will take it as slow as I damn well please to ensure my survival.'

Turning words into action, I start going through the icons. I really don't find anything else from what Guru explained due to me having nearly nothing in them currently. I do, however, find out one crucial detail: I can open them with a thought instead of saying something out loud. That gives me much more leeway in how to use them.

My backpack icon opens into my status menu. It quickly jumps to the inventory section, however, so I assume it is more of a shortcut than anything else. It shows only the 4 items I am currently wearing in its list, and, after reading the sarcastic comments in the description of each item, I can infer that Guru will play a part in describing items. 

The Journal icon is next and I spend the next hour or so going through its own personal tutorial, reading information about the world that I was provided, and solidifying the knowledge I have gained thus far. It is truly intuitive and allows me to do whatever I want with it, within the confines of its rules. This allows me to create several shortcuts to my HUD for quick access and note-taking. I can move these new icons anywhere I want, make them look like whatever I want, and add things to them with a thought instead of actually typing things out or talking aloud. I can even set reminders, timers, alarms, and events through the Journal and the Calendar function of the map!

For now, I will be adding any and all information I find to the different sections I have made (matching my physical notepad) and expanding upon them as needed. Luckily, I can control the layout of the journal entirely, so I can make the auto-updating information go where I want it to. I will need to test it thoroughly, but this is an excellent start and will help to keep me organized and focused. 

After patting myself on the back internally, I take a look at the map and minimap. There is not much I can learn, as I have only discovered this one room so far just like Guru said, but I play around with the calendar, waypoints, map versions, and any other features or tools just to learn the interface if nothing else.

I am able to access the map and add waypoints by thought, so I am coming to the conclusion that all aspects of the system can be accessed and worked through without verbal or semantic gestures- aside from taking things out of my inventory.

 The social menu is also quite lacking in substance, but I do see a screen that has both Guru and Goddess Merseria listed. For Guru, it shows that name and nothing else, but for Goddess Merseria I see my current affinity with her, social points, a brief summary of who she is, what she does, and where she rules as based on my acquired knowledge. There are no further options unlocked, so I close it out and move on.

When I try to access the building menu, the icon turns red and shakes a bit. I try again, but the same thing happens, even when I say it out loud. 

The Building, Crafting, and Farming menu will become accessible at another stage in the tutorial. Would you like to proceed to the next stage of the tutorial?

"Ah, that makes sense. Thanks, Guru, and not yet. I am almost done, I promise." I say with a smile to the blue screen. It vanishes and doesn't respond.

The same thing happens with the Research Menu and I don't try it more than once before clarifying with Guru. 

The Research Menu is disabled during the tutorial. You may access it after you leave.

"To prevent people from staying in here and researching everything at once, I assume?"

That is one of the reasons. You will find out more in the Building, Crafting, and Farming Tutorial.

'Oh, okay. I must have to build a research room or research equipment to unlock it.' 

"Alright...Well, I think that is everything. Let me do one last check through the icons to check for things I may have missed and then I will be ready to continue."

Your prepping has me on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

I bark a laugh at that. Guru may be impatient, but they seem to have a similar dry humor to mine.

'Wait! I have a dry sense of humor! That is one thing I can put in my journal section about myself and my past!'

After doing just that, I smile up at the air and announce, "I am ready for the next stage, Guru. Thanks for your patience!"

You sure you don't need to check it one or two more times?

"Well...If you think I should...?" I ask, rubbing my chin and acting in deep thought as I hide my smirk. 

Nope. Too late.

Tutorial - Stage 2 - Abilities & Difficulties

You have already seen all your abilities and the difficulties that are associated with them in your character menu, so I will make this section quick and concise. The harder the difficulty, the more abilities you have.

You are on the Nightmare Difficulty, so you own all 7 abilities.

Analyze Ability: Lets you see basic information about things. Unlocked for every player. 

Builder Ability: Unlocks the Building & Crafting Menu - A much faster and easier way to build things. Available for all players since Easy is the starting difficulty.

Negotiator Ability: Gives you much more information and options from social interactions in the Relationship Menu. It also will provide an overlay that suggests topics and keeps track of live social point counts for people and factions during conversations with NPCs. Available from the Normal Difficulty.

Master Chef Ability: Adds Cooking & Farming to the Original Building & Crafting Menu allowing you to more easily make and produce food. This ability also removes weight, aging, and item degradation from your spatial storage and all storage items while adding a temperature regulation feature to them. Available from the Hard Difficulty

Medicine Man Ability: Adds advanced medicine to the Research Menu and allows you to start on their Research Trees right away. Basic Medicine research is completed and you may now craft medicine and poisons in your Building & Crafting Menu, again, making the process much easier for you. It also allows the medicine you make to be 100% more effective, while not harming you in the least. (No need to worry about overdosing) This applies to all medical items as well as poisons created in the Building & Crafting Menu. Available from the Very Hard Difficulty.

War Expert Ability: You know how to use all weapons and armors as well as their modifications. You can now research any and all weapons in the Research Menu and their research trees are all unlocked from the start. Additionally, researching any weapon or armor is now half the cost. Lastly, this ability unlocks an additional 2 modification slots on all weapons and armors and allows for some modifications to be applied more than once, or stacked. It is highly recommended that you stack armor modifications to stay alive longer. Available from Iron Man Difficulty. 

Please Note: You will still need to practice with the weapons and armor to be proficient. Just knowing how to use them doesn't mean you know how to use them well. 

Lucky Looter Ability: All loot is more plentiful, fresh as if it was placed there yesterday, and personal storage slots have doubled. All loot tables have been adjusted to find rarer items more easily. Lastly, you may find all kinds of loot from any loot container. Available from Nightmare Difficulty.

 

Any questions before we continue to the difficult information?

"No, I am good with this. Nothing new from what I read the first 10 times." I say with a laugh, "These are all overpowered in different ways, but that last one...Fresh loot in an apocalypse? That just seems broken..."

Huh. For once, I agree with you. The bonus has been increased time and again because no one was willing to take the difficulty. As the ability says, "The player is clearly insane for picking this difficulty, so the rewards should be equally insane." This is the first time that freshness has been included in the ability. Feel honored. 

"I honestly do," I confirm, and mean it. This is one of the biggest game-changers I have heard. Better than all the other abilities combined. It will give me an edge that I will desperately need. 

Good. Now, let me explain why you are going to die very, very shortly.

The Nightmare Difficulty Breakdown:

First, let's talk about the good.

You will have 3 times the loot in each loot container than normal. This combined with your Lucky Looter Ability will allow you to find most of what you need very quickly.

Now, let me explain why that matters so little.

Like the Iron Man Difficulty, you only have one life. If you make even a tiny mistake, you will die and your story will be over. Your questions and thoroughness have been a bit annoying to me, but you will need that same level of caution and preparation when you leave the tutorial. 

Enemies have 4 times as much health and do 3 times as much damage. 

Let's do some basic math, shall we?

You have 57 HP.

Zombie A has 15 health and does 5 damage per swing normally. (This is purely an example, mind you) 

For Nightmare Difficulty, Zombie A now has 60 Health and does 15 damage per swing. If you get hit 4 times by Zombie A, you will die. If you get critically hit (Does double damge - we will be covered in the Combat Tutorial) you will die after 3 hits!

If Zombie B is a boss that has 50 HP and does 20 damage per swing normally, how much HP does the boss have and how much damage can the boss do on Nightmare Difficulty? 

"I get your point, Guru. No reason to patronize me."

That's right! 200 HP and 60 damage per swing! You are dead in one hit!

Not only that, but they have 60 extra armor! Meaning that the damage you do against them is much less than normal. (Again, this will be explained in the Combat Tutorial).

Then we have the enemy and boss abundance, times 5 and 3 respectfully. If Zombie A and B were in the same room normally, what can we expect to find on Nightmare mode?

I sigh and let Guru have their moment. If they think this is going to discourage me from a decision I made and literally gave everything for, then they don't understand me at all. Maybe I am an idiot, but I made this bed. I am sure as hell going to sleep in it. 

"5 of Zombie A and 3 of Boss Zombie B." I answer. 

Correct! Do you see now why your difficulty is unbeatable? In the open world, there will be thousands of zombies in any given city you enter. Any house you search that had 5 zombies beforehand will now have 25 zombies packed inside. Bosses don't spawn next to each other, but if a base your raid has one boss, it will now have 3. 

Seriously, Desmond, change your difficulty. Please? I may find you annoying, but I don't want you to die pointlessly...That would only miff the Goddess and waste my time.

A thought strikes me, and I can't help the grin growing on my face.

"You are graded on this in some way, aren't you? Like, the better I do or the longer I go, the more you will gain at the end, right?"

Relations With Goddess Merseria +250

...I cannot answer that question.

"I am sticking with Nightmare. It is what I decided beforehand and even gave up my personal memories for. I will not be deterred." I answer resolutely.

Fine. I will just write you off as a loss then. 

This Concludes Tutorial - Stage 2 - Abilities & Difficulties

The next tutorial section covers the Building, Crafting, & Farming Menu. Are you ready to proceed or do you need another 10 minutes?

"Nah, I am good to keep going. Thanks, Guru."

Wow, really? I can continue? Just like that?

"Yes. You may continue." I say with a nod and a smirk.

What did I say about getting smart with me!

...Whatever. 

Tutorial - Stage 3 - The Building & Crafting Menu

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you enjoy it!

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