Draft: 44 No Skill, No Reward

She didn’t turn around in her sprint the whole time she held it, slowly feeling as the ground got back to its normal, largely flat, shape under her feet. Doubling over about a minute later, she turned around and looked back. The cottage was a surprisingly long ways out, her sprint had evidently been a lot faster than she thought. It was probably all of her new points in agility that she hadn’t noticed affecting her until now. It was like what Christian had said that first day in the clearing, you don’t feel it until you force it.

Surprisingly, though, the cottage still looked normal. Suspiciously so since she’d broken the glass off a window and had felt the ground shake and move. She didn’t consider for a second getting closer to investigate, however. Her mana blast hadn’t even truly affected whatever thatwas. And she didn’t think that it was a dungeon.

Looking back at it, now with a clear head as James rinsed her mouth out with water from the river, the whole interaction had been weird. The cottage felt like a honey trap to lure her in, and the dungeon notification a way to ensure that she stayed. She had even gotten drunk, something she had never felt inclined to experience before. James had simply been too accepting of the entire experience.

New notification? That’s fine, only been in one dungeon before! No mana around? It’s not like rats and mice were attracted to a house with food! It was all too suspicious. Maybe it was another type of monster? A chill overcame her with the thought. If it was another type of monster, it was far more powerful than anything else she had encountered. And crafty too.

For the first time she had found an opponent she couldn’t hurt in any way. She couldn’t even touch it, not really. She didn’t even know what type of entity could generate that type of power. And James didn’t believe for a second that she had enough knowledge to theorize even properly about what it could be. This drove the point home even more than the goblins or the Lumina Nutria, this post-System world was magical. For better or worse.

Well, only if you didn’t count the blue alien from her first Tutorial. But they had at least been a thinking entity. Given, a bit sadistic if it stuck her in this Tutorial knowing what type of Tutorial this one compared to the other one, but similar enough that she could parse out its thought processes. Indeed, that had been what kept her alive. The shared experience of paperwork.

This time, the only thing that kept her alive was luck. She was too weak to exist if that monster wanted her dead. She was too weak to be out here by herself without any extra protection. How arrogant was she to think she could survive with only mana blast to protect her? She was staking her life on this! And the only constant quest in this Tutorial was staying alive!

Granted, that was always a goal, but how dumb could she be? She had to get stronger. She had to find a way. Because she was so outclassed by that monster that she hadn’t even gained a Skill or a level. The System knew it was luck. The rewards were likely then distributed accordingly.

Starting to walk again along the river back to her home base, James glanced back at the cottage to reassure herself that it hadn’t magically moved closer to her. She wouldn’t put it past whatever it the way it had outclassed her in every way possible. Satisfied that it was where she had left it, she continued on her way back. For some reason, all her scouting trips ended prematurely.

Ironically enough, the whole experience reminded her of her family. Beautiful façade, even some beautiful memories, but full of things she didn’t like to revisit. The way the ground seemed to give out under her, how she managed to escape relatively in-tact. She wondered what her family was doing now. If they were in a Tutorial. If they were, what type of Tutorial they were in. What they would say if they could see her now.

Her mom would have found some way to blame her for what she had just gone through. Why did you even go in? Why did you even leave the clearing in the first place, it’s clear you can’t take care of yourself. Her dad would have stayed silent but stood by his wife. After all, it was James. What else could he expect from her? One step forward, two steps back.

The only person from her family she really missed was her brother, Jason. He’d have cared. He would have whispered in her ear that mom would have obviously done the same thing. And maybe grabbed the couches too. He was sweet like that. Or as sweet as a high schooler could really be, but at least he’d somewhat outgrown out of his “cool” phase from middle school.

The worst part, though, was that she should have known. It had looked too good to be true. And it was. So, her mom would have been right. Something she herself never particularly enjoyed. And she should have noticed sooner! Her attributes were presumably draining the entire time. Her Mana Sense hadn’t even recovered yet.

Was any of it real? Did she have everything she took in her earrings? Checking as the idea occurred to her, she wasn’t sure if she was happy or worried to see that she did have all the spices with her. Yawning a bit, she leaned up against a tree by the river and sat down.

The fight had certainly taken a lot out of her. Closing her eyes, she was soon asleep.