After the End: Serenity

[This Tutorial has three stages]

[Rewards for completing the Tutorial depend on achievements and contribution]

[Stage One - Training]

[Assistants will be provided to explain the basics]

[Welcome to the Tutorial]

[Time Remaining in Stage One: 32:12.00]

The message disappeared, and Thomas found himself standing in a crowd. Most of the people close to him looked like people from the hospital - both staff and patients - but there were also a number of people who had to be from other buildings.

He tapped his injury. The pain told him it was still there.

The crowd started slowly moving. When they reached the front, they heard “Injured or ill to the left. Healthy people to the right. If you’re with someone, you may stay with them. Pick up one bag each, it’s some basics but you’ll want them.”

Rissa started to go left, but he directed her right. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“It’s a gunshot wound!”

Thomas sighed and pulled the bandaging off. She hadn’t seen how bad it had been, so she might not realize how much he’d healed. “It was really just a long scrape. They were just being careful.”

After looking at the nearly healed injury, she agreed to move into the “healthy” line.

While waiting, Thomas decided to check on his Status, but all he got was a single line.

[Please select your name for the tutorial]

He remembered that. The first time, he’d known about Rissa’s death for only a few hours, and the name he’d selected was Vengeance.

Huh. He’d never known who killed her. He had succeeded in his revenge, after all, when he killed Macho.

That didn’t matter now. He definitely wasn’t choosing Vengeance as his name this time. He also didn’t want to choose something that made it obvious he could either see the future - though he thought that wasn’t the future anymore - or that he’d been through it before. Whichever. Also, nothing to do with death. Protection, maybe? But he couldn’t come up with a name. Guard? Shield? Praetor? Nothing sounded right.

He supposed he could use Thomas, but there were two problems with it. First, it wasn’t memorable (and wouldn’t be allowed if someone else picked Thomas first anyway).

Second, it didn’t feel like his name anymore.

Fortunately, neither did any of the names he’d used in his past life.

They’d nearly reached the front of the line when he leaned over to Rissa, “Think about a name you want to be known as for the Tutorial. Something memorable is best. We’ll need to pick soon.”

“Groups of ten, please. You ten will be with me.” Their guide looked like a middle-aged man, in better shape than anyone in their group. “Before you ask, yes, I’m human. I’m also not from Earth. This is my job right now. I’m your guide for the first stage of the tutorial. I’ll answer more questions later.”

The guide led them to a small courtyard and had them sit down.

“So, first of all, you need to pick a name. Don’t worry, it can be changed later. Most of you will probably keep the first one you pick. Yes, they can be the same as someone else’s, as long as the name isn’t a recognized title for someone else and no one else picks the same name in this Tutorial. If it is a duplicate, you’ll have to choose another name.”

That sent Thomas’s thoughts off in a different direction. The first title he’d gained translated as “the peace of the grave.” It had been fairly literal, he’d killed a lot of Sterath. It was the name of their boogeyman.

Literally translated into English, though, it was a single word. Serenity.

Both meanings seemed appropriate.

“Now, everyone, think “Name” and then choose your name…”

Thomas just pulled up his Status again, to get the same prompt.

Serenity

[You have selected a Recognized Title to be used as your name. Continue?]

Huh. He hadn’t thought that would carry over. Still, it was by far the best name he’d thought of.

Yes

He felt a ripple run through reality, and everyone else turned as something grabbed their attention - but he was pretty sure that even the guide didn’t know what had just happened. Recognized Titles were rare, especially at low Tier.

Name: Serenity

Species: Human (Altered Template)

Path: N/A

Level: 0

Tier: 0

Path History: None

Condition: Healthy

Mana: 110

Stamina: 110

Might: 1

Agility: 1

Phys: 1

Understanding: 1

Will: 1

Mind: 1

Perception: 1

Luck: 1 - 100%

Resistances: Unknown

Affinities: Unknown

Concepts: Unknown

Aspects: Unknown

Titles

Previous Supreme Existence

Altered Template

Named

Named

Your Name is known and respected or feared. No other can bear this Name.

He wondered if fighting the Sterath would be easier this time. It had been pretty simple once they gave him the title … but then, he’d already killed a large proportion of their warriors by then.

He looked over at Rissa.

Identify

[Skill not available]

Argh.

“Have you picked a Name yet? I chose Serenity.”

“I can’t decide. The only thing that seems right is Visionary, but … I like my nickname. Can’t I just use Rissa?”

Serenity thought for a moment. “The point is to be memorable, so Rissa should be fine.”

The next two hours were spent by their guide explaining things and answering questions. It was all stuff Serenity knew - well, it was all stuff Serenity should have known. Much of it he’d forgotten, and he suspected that he’d never really known some of it.

Like how you got Identify. It was easy - most Tier 1 classes would give it if you didn’t already have it.

He’d also forgotten that Tier 0 was different from other Tiers. It was known as the “child’s Tier”, since - for Humans at least - you couldn’t take a Tier 1 class until you were considered an adult. The actual age could vary based on culture, and wasn’t the same for every individual. Children would automatically have their Tier 0 Path selected for them. They did have the advantage that simply growing up would give them the experience needed to complete the path, since that was the path’s focus.

Since this Tutorial was for adults - the guide explained that children and their caregivers would be in separate Tutorials - adults could choose their first Path, and they should skip the Tier 0, since it was generally useless to adults. You’d have to take a second Tier 1, but that was still better than taking the human Tier 0.

Serenity noticed that the guide didn’t mention when you should take the path - or how many different tier 1 paths you could take. That was basic information he hadn’t learned until long after he needed it the first time … so he asked the question.

“How many tier 1 paths can you take? Is there a reason to take more than two?”

That led into an entire discussion of how paths and tiers and experience worked. Serenity felt better about the guide after that, maybe he’d just forgotten it wasn’t obvious rather than deliberately left out key information.

Eventually, the conversation wound down and the guide led them to dinner. He told them that they’d need to register for their actual classes in the morning. They’d need at least one class, “but yes, Serenity, you can register for more if you want to. Remember that the combat classes will have a lot of combat, and either way you will have to do a Trial every four days unless you do them sooner. I recommend that everyone pick up at least some combat capability.”