NOVEL SIMPLE 3. First Wave
The green creatures had sharp teeth, long pointy ears and nails, and a loincloth covering their intimates. They looked enraged and threatening.
"Shit! Goblins!" someone yelled right before hundreds of people screamed in panic.
Shen hadn't received physical training from his clan, but he had watched countless martial artists battling and studied all the clan's secret manuals. He knew what to do, and it started with arming himself. Maybe the Alliance knew what weapon he would like the most, because the long spear was right next to him, and the Feng Clan was a clan of spear masters.
He grabbed the shaft of the spear, and it adapted to him. In mere instants, it fit perfect in his hand, had enough weight to cause damage but was light enough not to tire him too much when he used it, and was the right size for his clan's techniques.
No time to feel amazed though; the green creatures hadn't been waiting for him.
The goblins had been running his way with fury clear on their faces. For the first time in his life, Shen took a horse stance and held a spear with both hands without getting dizzy.
The most basic move of a spear was the thrust, and he used it at once. The first goblin impaled itself against his weapon at chest height. He pulled the spear, but it was stuck in the body, a rookie's mistake. The other monster was almost at him.
So he sidestepped, and the creature, incapable of halting its momentum, fell from the border of the island into the great emptiness below.
He noticed two lines of text on the corner of his vision and focused on them.
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 0 → 1 AP
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 1 → 2 AP
He guessed the creatures were the feral weakened goblins, and for defeating each one, he had gained 1 AP, whatever that was. The meaning of the "G" letter was beyond his wildest guesses, too.
Before he could think about it, the corpse impaled on his spear vanished into motes of light. The sudden weight change almost made him trip. Then two new goblins materialized on the opposite edge of his island.
Once again, Shen held his spear and waited for them to come.
This time, he didn't just push his spear and let it get stuck like an idiot. His movement was complete: thrust quickly, and pull as quickly as soon as he reached the optimal range. Such a range would change depending on many factors in a battle, but in this case, it was right after he pierced a goblin's throat. Since the creatures were feral and wouldn't dodge, he could aim for vital spots despite his lack of skill.
The tip of his weapon had barely broken through skin when he started pulling back, but the creature's momentum kept it coming and receiving a deeper injury. It died halfway between where it had been hit and Shen’s position, and fell to the ground with a bloody neck. Shen, this time with a free spear, thrust it against the remaining goblin.
That goblin was too close. He didn't have the time to aim, so he went for the chest. He also didn't have the time to thrust properly, so he willingly pierced the monster all the way through in an upward thrust. It took the creature from the ground and it died skewered, on the middle of the spear shaft.
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 2 → 3 AP
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 3 → 4 AP
Though the corpse would likely be magically removed soon, he took that opportunity to train what he should do in combat if he ever found himself in such a situation. There were two movements to deal with that, one of which required much more strength than he had. That's the one he wanted to try first.
He focused qi on his arms for a few seconds, then rotated his entire body while spinning the spear in a large arc with all the speed he could muster with his qi-filled arms. The corpse was pushed to the tip of the spear, but didn't clear away. Another spin would be enough to make it leave, but instead, he did the second movement to unstuck something from his spear.
It was a simple move, really. He put the weapon's tip close to the ground and pushed the corpse away with a foot. It successfully dislodged from the spear.
Shen had never killed before, but he had seen plenty of people dying in combat in terrible ways. Death was part of a cultivator's life. Killing an enemy and moving its corpse meant nothing at all to him.
His biggest issue now was that the shaft of his spear was wet with blood. That would make it slippery and could prove fatal to him. Fortunately, when the corpses turned into motes of light that faded away, the blood and guts did too, and it left his spear dry.
Two new goblins appeared.
Shen used qi in his arms, but not to clear the spear this time. He thrust against the first goblin much quicker than before, and that was a mistake. He wasn't used to his qi-enhanced speed and mistimed it. His saving grace was that he had enough time to try a new movement: slashing.
The spearhead's edge cut through the feral goblin's neck with ease and would even have cut the other one's too if he had thought of that beforehand and slashed properly. Instead, he pulled the spear after it was done with the first monster and thrust against the second enemy's chest. He didn't skewer it this time, but did a short thrust.
Its corpse fell on his feet.
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 4 → 5 AP
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 5 → 6 AP
Two new goblins came, and he tested his qi-enhanced movement again. This time, he timed it properly and cut their throats with a single slash. They fell agonizing to the ground, holding their necks, dying slowly.
He looked impassively at them.
It didn't even cross his mind to give them mercy. They wanted to kill him, so they deserved death. The manner of death didn't matter, and there was no reason to pity his enemies for dying gruesomely or painfully. A soft heart had its place in society, but it wasn't in battle.
After agonizing for a while, they died.
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 6 → 7 AP
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 7 → 8 AP
When the next two goblins appeared, he tried to kill them with a single slash without using qi. He hit the first, but the weapon lacked enough speed or strength to cut through the second's throat. Well, it cut, but not deeply. He ended killing it with a quick thrust.
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 8 → 9 AP
Feral Weakened Goblin (G) | 9 → 10 AP
He was waiting for the next enemies to come, but none did. The corpses turned into light, and instead of more enemies, the tutorial sent him a new message.
Tutorial - 1st Stage
Congratulations on surviving the first wave!
If you got injured, you'll notice it's not as bad as it would've been on Earth. We changed your physiology when you entered the tutorial. Your life is now ruled by the same Laws of Life as all beings of the Multiverse Alliance. That also means you do not need to sleep anymore.
Bleeding and infection won't happen normally, and you will not die if you have 1 health point or more, no matter how bad your injury might be. In the first stage, your enemies will still be subjected to the aforementioned conditions.
Take care! Critical hits, like beheading, can cause your health points to reach 0 instantly. Likewise, cutting a finger off will bring less damage than cutting an arm off.
Any damage your received will heal passively over time based on your stats.
To check your stats, say "Status."
To keep a health bar always on sight, say "Toggle health bar." You can turn it off by saying the same words.
Health points? Different physiology? Sheb was astonished when the translation magic gave him a general understanding of what that meant.
He wasn't too worried about dying. For the first time in his life, he could wield a spear and face his enemies in the field of battle. Even if he died, he would die with a smile on his face.
"Status," he said and checked his stats.
Status
Name: Feng Shen
Rank: G
AP: 10
—
Health: 100 / 100 (1.1/hour)
Stamina: 98 / 100 (0.51/min)
—
Strength: G
Agility: G
Resistance: G
Unlike with the messages, his status didn’t come with an innate understanding of what he was reading, so he did his best to understand it.
His name was, well, his name. He didn't know what his rank was, though he guessed it might be something similar to a cultivation realm. That's probably what the G in the goblins names had meant too.
Now that he thought about it, the AP should probably be some kind of currency. His clan had an internal merit system, and you could exchange the heads of enemies for merit. He wondered what he could buy with AP.
It was weird to think his health, stamina, and power could be measured like that. He guessed his stamina determined how long he could do physical activities for. Strength, agility, and resistance probably had to do with his battle capabilities, and he guessed G was the lowest rank, or close enough, since both he and the goblins were of that rank, and he couldn’t imagine weaker things unless you were talking about small animals.
He waited for another message to appear to explain to him what each field meant, but was left disappointed. He got a message, but it was about something else.
Tutorial - 1st Stage
The Guardian System comes with built-in functions to aid in the war against the Void Spawn.
To get information about the world, focus on anything, object or living being, and say "Inspect."
To get information about the next wave, say "Next wave."
This is the last message until you reach the middle boss.
Shen focused on the fields in his status and said, "Inspect," but nothing happened. He tried it on his spear next, and it worked. A small transparent black box appeared above it.
Simple Tutorial Spear (G)
Enchantment: Anti-Wear (G)
A simple spear provided in the 1st Stage of the Guardian Tutorial.
The G rank appeared twice again. So it not only determined living people's power, but even weapons' and enchantments’ tiers. That reinforced to him that G was close to being the worst, as the Alliance would certainly not give godlike weaponry to trainees on the first stage of the tutorial.
Unlike his status, the translation magic did work with the inspection ability. He just knew the Anti-Wear enchantment would prevent his blade from growing dull and his shaft from going soft from overuse. That was just perfect, since he had no tools for weapon maintenance.
The spear could still break though, something to stay aware of.
He focused on the redhead on the next island next. "Inspect." Instead of a black box, a red health bar and some white text appeared on top of his head.
Mark Williams (G) — 91 / 100
It was obvious his name, rank, and health points. He had been injured in the fight, though Shen couldn't see it from here.
Looking around, he saw many people still fighting. Even the redhead, who was wielding a short sword, received two new goblins after a few moments. It seemed Shen had finished early.
Many people were noticeably injured too. He even avoided looking at a screaming girl that was being eaten alive by the goblins. Revival or not, death could still be painful. He wouldn't be surprised if she chose to leave the tutorial.
In general, mostly everyone was faring well. The monsters were weak and stupid. Simply stepping out of the way of their charge and maybe pushing them with a staff would let anyone survive without a scratch.
He inspected more people and learned there was a max range to the ability, about a hundred yards. That he could learn so much about them from a single glance was troubling. If his enemies could also use the Inspect ability, they could discern his name and how close to dying he was. On the bright side, he could learn about his enemies, too.
"Next wave," he said, checking the last thing the last blue box had talked about.
Next wave in 1 hour (waiting for everyone to finish this wave to commence countdown). 15 enemies in groups of 3.
So the next wave would have more enemies. Shen wondered if it would be more goblins. Anyway, he had one hour to get used to his spear. The translation function of whatever was happening to him let him know how long an hour or minute was.
Before training though, he tried something he had almost forgotten about.
"Toggle health bar," he said.
A red bar with numbers appeared on the top corner of his vision. That would help him make some decisions in battle. Speaking of which, he had an idea.
"Toggle stamina bar."
A white stamina bar appeared below the health one. That would be great for him to know his limits. The two bars were really, really useful in battle.
He grabbed his spear.
Time to train.