Tutorial

Bug was just a kid when his parents were killed by monsters tamed by the Alters. He saw how the Alters laugh as his parents were getting mauled. Luckily, Bug survived. At that time, the Alters doesn't seem to care about his presence around them so they just left him there to mourn his dead parents.

After what happened that day, magnified Bug's anger on the human oppressors, but Bug knew he couldn't do anything about it, the Alters are simply too strong. Alters' superhuman abilities and their magical prowess made them look like an impassable mountain that just suddenly fell on humans.

After his experience on his first-ever hunt further solidified his helplessness and worthlessness. Not only did his companions died but he too died as well. Well, at least that's what he thinks. Waking up after his apparent death, made him question his sanity. Is he hallucinating? or is he actually dead but the afterlife took on the form where he died?

Many more questions swirled on his mind. Then, a loud beep followed by a soft voice of a woman rang on his ears making him jump from the floor he was sitting on.

[SYSTEM ONLINE]

[SCANNING]

'What!?'

Suddenly, in a corner of his vision, a bunch of unfamiliar text constantly appeared and disappeared in his vision. Then, a floating glowing board that seemed to follow his point of view wherever he looked at appeared out of nowhere. He tried blinking and rubbing his eyes to the point he can almost see stars, but the board was still there. This time, the text was readable for him.

[SCANNING COMPLETE]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PHYSIOLOGICAL]

[Acne - Fix: 5 NU]

[Gut parasites - Fix: 10 NU]

[Scabies - Fix: 5 NU]

[Weak bones - Fix: 15 NU]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PSYCHOLOGICAL]

[Insomnia - Fix: 10 NU]

"What is this?" Bug was bewildered at what he was seeing at this very moment. This time, he thought he really is dead and was being punished for being a coward. Then, the woman spoke again in a soft manner.

[THIS IS THE DATA A.I.N.A.P GATHERED AFTER SCANNING YOUR BODY]

Even though the woman's voice is soft like how his mother talked to him, he was still being startled every time because he can directly hear the voice inside his ears! he tried slapping and poking his ears to make sure nothing got inside while he was lying on the floor. After confirming, he asked the voice.

"Who... who are you? am I dead? are you a god?"

[MY NAME IS A.I.N.A.P SHORT FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BASED NANO MACHINE AUGMENTATION PROTOCOL. BUT, YOU CAN CALL ME ANYWAY YOU WANT.]

[ACCORDING TO YOUR VITAL SIGNS READING, YOU ARE IN FACT ALIVE]

[NEGATIVE]

[WHAT IS YOUR NAME, USER?]

Bug felt a bit relieved when the strange voice confirmed that he was alive. Still, the voice might make him seem crazy if someone heard him talking to himself alone. Luckily the only people currently around him are dead. He answered the question.

"uhh...Bug...My name is Bug"

[DATABASE UPDATING...]

[HELLO BUG, AS FIRST TIME USER DO YOU WANT TO INITIATE TUTORIAL MODE?]

"tutorial? uhh yes...yes"

[VERY WELL, FIRST IS YOUR STATUS. TO OPEN YOUR STATUS SIMPLY SAY 'STATUS']

Bug was getting lost at the words he didn't know about, but he nonetheless did as what the voice said.

"sta..status" another glowing board much like the other one earlier appeared, only it contained different texts.

[STATUS]

[USER: BUG]

[JOB: SUPER SOLDIER]

[ATTRIBUTES]

[VITALITY - 10 +

STRENGTH - 3 +

AGILITY -8 +

DEXTERITY - 5 +

STAMINA - 5 +]

[NANO UPGRADE POINTS AVAILABLE]

[10]

[SKILLS - PASSIVE]

[PREDICTION - MASTERED]

[EXTREME REGENERATION - MASTERED]

[SKILLS - ACTIVE]

[ANALYSIS - MASTERED]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PHYSIOLOGICAL]

[Acne - Fix: 5 NU]

[Gut parasites - Fix: 10 NU]

[Scabies - Fix: 5 NU]

[Weak bones - Fix: 15 NU]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PSYCHOLOGICAL]

[Insomnia - Fix: 10 NU]

Bug's brows furrowed after he finished reading the lengthy contents on the glowing board. He didn't even know the meaning of half of the words presented to him. Luckily the voice proceeded to explain each part of the status board.

[ATTRIBUTES IS YOUR NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS PRESENTED USING NUMBERS. YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR ATTRIBUTES BY SPENDING NANO UPGRADE POINTS.]

[NANO UPGRADE POINTS CAN BE OBTAINED BY DECOMPOSING DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE MATERIALS. THE MATERIALS THE YOU WILL DECOMPOSED WILL BE SAVED IN MY DATABASE AND CAN BE USED AS BUILDING MATERIALS FOR DIFFERENT ITEMS. REMEMBER, ONCE A MATERIAL IS SAVED IN THE DATABASE ONLY A FIX 1 NANO UPGRADE POINTS CAN BE OBTAINED. NUP MAY VARY ON EACH UNIQUE MATERIALS DECOMPOSED. TO DECOMPOSE A MATERIAL SIMPLY HOLD THE MATERIAL ON YOUR LEFT HAND AND SAY 'DECOMPOSE'.]

[SKILLS ARE DIVIDED INTO TWO CATEGORIES, ACTIVE AND PASSIVE. TO USE ACTIVE SKILLS SIMPLY SAY THE NAME OF THE SKILL WHILE THE PASSIVE SKILL HAS AN INDIRECT EFFECT ON YOU. TO SEE THE SKILL INFORMATION SIMPLY TAP THE SKILL NAME ON THE STATUS BOARD.]

[AS A TOOL USED TO CREATING SUPER SOLDIERS, IT IS MY DUTY TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE IN YOUR PRIME CONDITION. THE AILMENTS DETECTED CAN POSSIBLY AFFECT YOUR WELL BEING. A SUPER SOLDIER IS A HUMAN WITHOUT ANY FLAWS! TO FIX YOUR AILMENTS YOU ALSO NEED TO SPEND NUP.]

A couple of minutes later, the voice finished explaining the contents of the status board. Bug then tried to use decompose. He picked up broken glass and said the magic word.

"Decompose"

Bug's eyes widened at what happened next. The same metallic liquid that he saw earlier seeped out of his skin. Then, the liquid metal engulfed the broken glass like ants to sweets. A few seconds later, the liquid returned to his body, and the broken glass was nowhere to be found.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - GLASS - UNIQUE]

[+15 NUP]

[UPDATING DATABASE...]

Just to be sure Bug tried to decompose a glass once again and sure enough, he only got 1 NUP from it.

Next, he tried accessing the information about his skills. He first tapped at his prediction skill.

[PREDICTION - SKILL INFORMATION]

[PREDICTS THE TARGET'S NEXT MOVE BY USING THE DATA GATHERED USING THE SKILL ANALYSIS.]

Bug got a bit excited at his prediction skill. If he understands correctly, he will always be one step ahead against his enemies. Bug imagined what he can do with this skill, his lips started to curl up. He then pressed the analysis skill as it is connected to prediction skill.

[ANALYSIS - SKILL INFORMATION]

[ANALYZE THE TARGET'S MOVEMENT PATTERNS, PHYSIOLOGY, AND BEHAVIOR. THE GATHERED DATA WILL BE SAVED TO THE DATABASE. THE PREDICTION SKILL WILL IMPROVE ITS PREDICTION ON A SPECIFIC TARGET IF THE USER CAN ANALYSE DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL FROM THE SAME SPECIES OF THAT TARGET. REMEMBER, USER CAN ONLY GATHER DATA BY OBSERVING THE TARGET FOR 1 MINUTE]

Bug frowned at the last part of the skill description. Just the thought of fighting the enemy for 1 straight minute without the prediction skill made him shudder. Finally, he pressed the extreme regeneration skill.

[EXTREME REGENERATION - SKILL INFORMATION]

[ANY WOUNDS SUSTAINED EVEN LETHAL WOUNDS CAN IMMEDIATELY BE HEALED BY REVOLUTIONARY NANO MACHINE TECHNOLOGY. REMEMBER ANY LETHAL WOUNDS CAN BE HEALED EXCEPT LETHAL HEAD INJURY SUCH AS DECAPITATION OR BLOWN HEAD.]

Bug's smile grew wider as he read his skill. He now felt invincible, he even thinks he can match an Alter on a one on one fight but after some thought, he shook his head. Alters are simply too strong for him at the moment but with the help of NAP, he thought he can match them someday.

"Is there any more of this...tutorial, NAP?"

[AFFIRMATIVE. SECOND IS THE INVENTORY]

[TO OPEN THE INVENTORY SIMPLY SAY 'INVENTORY'. TO STORE ITEMS ON INVENTORY SIMPLY HOLD THE ITEM AND SAY 'STORE'. THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO GET ITEMS FROM INVENTORY. FIRST, OPEN THE INVENTORY BOARD AND TAP THE DESIRED ITEM. SECOND, WITHOUT OPENING THE INVENTORY SIMPLY THINK OF THE DESIRED ITEM YOU WISH TO PULL OUT. REMEMBER, THERE ARE ONLY 20 SLOTS AVAILABLE ON YOUR INVENTORY. INVENTORY CANNOT BE EXPANDED.]

Bug did as he was told. He picked up the ax Worm previously owned "Sorry, Worm. I'm gonna need this" Bug proceeded to say the magic word "store".

Like the glass, the ax seemed to be dissolved by the liquid metal that seeped out of his skin. Bug scratched his head "what? it's destroyed! how am I supposed to get it out of the inventory?"

Bug feeling skeptical opened his inventory and tapped the image of an ax on the first slot. This time, incredible amounts of liquid metal seeped out of his skin. The sheer amount surprised Bug. How can his tiny body possess so much of this liquid metal? just looking at it made Bug felt dizzy. A few seconds later the liquid became the original ax he stored in his inventory.

"By the graces!"

Bug then tried out the second way. He first put the ax back in his inventory then, he started concentrating on the ax. After a few minutes of concentrating, Bug finally managed to get it out of the inventory. He frowned when he realized that the second option is harder to do compared to the first one.

[THIRD. ITEM SHOP]

[TO OPEN THE ITEM SHOP SIMPLY SAY 'SHOP' FROM THERE YOU WILL SEE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF ITEMS YOU CAN BUY WITH YOUR NUP OR THE MATERIALS YOU DECOMPOSED.]

Bug said the magic word then another glowing board appeared. There were three categories, Weapons, Armors, and Gadgets. Bug knew what weapons and armors are, he only got intrigued at the word 'Gadgets'. He tapped the Gadgets categories and an array of unfamiliar images and words popped out. He quickly dismissed it and proceeded to the next tutorial.

[LAST. SKILLS]

[TO OPEN THE SKILL BOARD SIMPLY SAY 'SKILL']

Bug did as he told and said the magic word "skill" a glowing board appeared. It looked like the same as the Item shop. This time, there are only two categories, Weapons, and Physical augmentation. Bug tapped the Weapons category and was surprised by the sheer amount of text that appeared before his eyes.

The board expanded almost occupying his entire vision. Then, a structure similar to a tree without leaves but only its branches remaining appeared in rows. Each tree has a name on it like, Bladed weapons, Guns, Ballistic Weapons, and so on.

Bug didn't bother to check the Physical Augmentation category. He already felt tired just by reading difficult to understand words and the sheer amount of information really made his brain felt like it was burning.

"Ugh, I want to sleep now..."

[REMEMBER, DO NOT EVER LET YOUR NUP BE REDUCED TO ZERO.]

The warning made Bug shiver. What could possibly go wrong if he exhausts his NUP? because of that, he promised to never spend all of his NUP.

[CONGRATS, BUG. YOU FINISHED THE TUTORIAL! FOR THAT HERE IS YOUR REWARD!]

Bug's previously sleepy eyes lit up as he heard that he was getting a reward "now we're talking!" he rubbed his hands in anticipation. Then, liquid metals started forming something on his left hand. A few seconds later, the liquid finished its forming and revealed a tiny metallic object. The object's circular center seems to shine despite its black color. On the sides, four legs like structures no longer than his middle finger protruded.

Bug frowned "what kind of weapon is this?" he tried throwing the object but nothing happened. He swung the object around but still nothing. "Hey NAP, what is this...thing"

[THAT IS A FORCE FIELD GENERATOR. TO USE IT SIMPLY PLACE THE FORCE FIELD GENERATOR ON YOUR CHEST. THAT GADGET WILL PROTECT YOU FROM ANY HARM. REMEMBER, THE FORCE FIELD GENERATOR CAN ONLY SUSTAIN 10 HITS BEFORE RUNNING OUT OF ITS POWER.]

Questions started forming on Bug's mind. How can this little thing protect me? What in the earth gods is Force field? Only ten hits? Nevertheless, Bug placed the object on his chest. As soon as the object made contact with his chest, the legs grabbed his chest like an octopus. Bug's heart started pounding, he panicked for a moment but immediately calmed his mind. Surely, the system won't harm him, right?

The object started vibrating for a moment until he heard a small thrum and...nothing happened.

"What a useless gadget! it could have been better if you gave me a weapon!" Bug tried to remove the gadget but it won't budge. Soon he gave up even though he felt uncomfortable.

After some time, Bug decided to tour the places he hadn't yet gone to. He's still worried about the cascas outside and the metal people inside.