Just so we're all aware, this'll be the last chapter in 1st person. Once we get past the tutorial it'll be easier for me to write, as I don't have to be stuck in my own head for the rest of it.
It's like it encourages me to write the inane shit that I think while I'm doing this, not very cash money.
I hope you enjoy it though lads, have a good one.
Start.
Waking up in a place you've never been, in a body that doesn't feel completely familiar, is probably one of the most novel experiences I've ever had.
I was in a cave, a small campfire beside me, with a few burning twigs nestled beneath, another bedroll sat beside my own, on it rested a man, a man that looked… holy shit that's Jin Sakai!
I never finished Ghost of Tsushima, which I may come to regret depending on how long this Tutorial lasts, don't get me wrong it was a great game, I really enjoyed the story and the characters, all believably stiff and unyielding but also having noticeable human qualities.
Ah, fuck I forgot the old dudes name, Shimura? Lord Shimura, yeah, just can't remember his given name, but I suppose it doesn't really matter given the way things are.
Unbidden I cast Observe, on the man as he sleeps fitfully.
Sakai Jin
Alignment: Lawful Good
Race: Human Protagonist
Reputation: 0
Affection: 0
Samurai: 1/100
HP: 10/200
SP: 0/200
Jin has recently suffered a great loss against the Mongol Hordes, and is currently unconscious, horrific visions plague his mind, the cruelty of the world seems overbearing on the poor man.
Honestly, his stats aren't something I need to know. I'm not really too bent out of shape at the moment.
The fact that he's level one makes sense in terms of what's going on currently in his story, but still is a little odd considering how much the dude absolutely wrecked house on that beach, or at least, in my playthrough he did. The controls took a bit but I was familiar enough with the general vibe to work my way through it.
Didn't defeat the Khan first go, which was a bit of a bummer, and I never checked to see if anyone did, bah! No use beating myself up over it, meta knowledge is great but my memory for it has never been spectacular.
Inventory System Enabled.
Equipment System Enabled.
Help System Enabled.
Status Enabled.
A few screens popped into my vision, but as I read them they disappeared easily enough, without another thought I opened my Inventory, mental commands make my life so much easier, bless the Overseer, what a dude.
In my inventory are the Processor and Beginners Pack, for a moment I consider tapping on the bag icon to open it but seemingly as I consider this it opens, filling my inventory with more items.
Suit of Half-Plate: Common-T1: This armour was mirrored after something you would find aesthetically pleasing. A simple armour set of Half-Plate that provides 25 Armour +½ Str when worn.
Placing it on my character window I'm immediately engulfed in armour, and honestly, I've never felt better. The armour looks like a mirror image of the Armour of Poison Resistance from the Dungeon Master's Guide, dude, absolutely radical.
I toggle the Helmet to not display, because frankly I don't feel the need to cover up all this hotness.
The armour itself is pretty form fitting, the colours were interesting, the chainmail that covered all the negative space between the larger plates of armour, was all a dark grey, muted and not particularly shiny. But the plates were detailed, ornate and gorgeous!
The plate directly over the chest went down just past my sternum, it was almost a sepia tone? It's really nice, I've never seen metal look like this. The collar was nice, a sturdy metal collar that, due to my existence no longer being particularly bound by physics, moved and molded just enough whenever I tilted my head that it never bothered or irritated my skin.
Dope. dope-dope-dope.
The gauntlets were interesting, I've never seen the actual full suit of armour, as the DMG only showed the chest piece and helmet, but heavens to betsy, I feel like I could crush a man's skull with these bad boys.
Like the collar, the gauntlets were barely noticeable on my hands, they were more comfortable than anything honestly, slim plates over the forearm and the back of my hand, a pair of comfortable not-leather gloves covering my fingers to the second last knuckle, so my big ol nails didn't get bent.
My thighs and knees had slimmer, identical plates to the one over my chest, and the boots were more akin to cavalier boots than anything… wait a minute.
Zachary's Carribean Boots: Common T-1: A pair of boots that you actually owned in your life, these have been altered for maximum comfort and will no longer inhibit your ability to walk normally. +5 to Cha when worn.
Oh holy shit. No wonder they looked so familiar! Thanks Overseer, that really means a lot to me.
Item Gained!
Zachary's Silver Necklace: Rare T-1: A necklace given to you by your mother on your 19th birthday, the gold chain shall never break, and neither shall time, weather or magic, tarnish the silver Tree of Life.
I feel a stinging at my eyes, my throat feels tight, before a serene calm washes over me, leaving only beauteous euphoria.
Equipping the necklace it sits comfortably, resting gently over the chest piece of my armour. This, this is the stuff.
Overseer if you want my friendship, you've more than earned it, these gestures of kindness shall not go unnoticed!
This pleases me.
Quest Received!
[Tutorial; The Journey of Jin.]
Objective: Sakai Jin, the future Ghost of Tsushima, is weakened and enfeebled by the battle that has taken place on the shores. His wounds are deep and require mending, find some way to get Jin back on his feet.
Bonus Objective: Get a weapon for yourself.
Bonus Objective: Get a weapon for Jin.
Reward: 500 EXP Finish Tutorial, Jin's story begins, + 5 Reputation with Sakai Jin, ?, ?.
Bonus Objective 1 reward: 5 Sharpening Stones.
Bonus Objective 2 Reward: +250 EXP +5 Reputation with Sakai Jin, ?.
That's a pretty solid starter as far as things go, I did notice the distinct lack of rampage and screams in the air, so perhaps that means that I arrived before the Mongols got to this village? God I wish I had a better memory for this stuff, I can remember the layout of the place easily, just never the bloody names.
I look in my inventory, there's a single Iron Longsword sitting comfortably in there, I look at Jin who's huffing slightly in his sleep, wincing every few moments. It doesn't look too good.
Equipping the sword I feel it settle on my hip, as I stand up, first things first, I'll need some kind of curative, I don't have any healing abilities, but I suppose that's exactly why this is my tutorial, no easy ways to circumnavigate something it's trying to teach me.
Love using words like circumnavigate, tickles my fancy quite substantially.
Bonus Objective 1: Complete.
What a truly wonderful existence I lead now, a little blip of serotonin flashing into my brain at a goal being accomplished, sure, it took nothing of me to do, but I like checklists, and I like them being checked.
I step out of the little nook that he and I are in and take a quick scan of things, it's midday, the people are milling about going about their business, perhaps I arrived a good deal longer than the beginning of Jin's story, that suited me fine.
I move back over to the bedrolls and spin mine up, using a small piece of loose string just… on the ground, to tie it up, with ever so gentle movement and go over to Jin and lift his head, placing the not-quite a pillow, beneath him and gently placing him back down.
I've never been much of a carer, but I like Jin. He's a good man, in a world that doesn't really want to accept that some things have to change for the sake of survival. This time period wasn't kind to many people, but I'm pretty kind. So I'll help a homie out.
"I'll get ya sorted real soon, Jin. Just sit tight." I say to the sleeping man, there's a moment but it does look like he calmed before pain lanced him again.
Hmm, perhaps it's my soothing voice? Nice.
I open my inventory again, because I'm about as scattered as they come and pull out my cape, it's a simple black cape, if I was to wear it, it would reach my calves, which is pretty good, don't want a cape on the floor, it'll snag.
I lay the cape over him, and stand up, feeling like I've done a sufficient job of making him a little bit more comfortable.
Striding from the nook I do take a moment to marvel at the sureness of my stride, these boots were about half a size too big when I was alive the first time, but now they're as snug as can be, this is the life, honestly I could probably crush it as a LARP right now and I'd be so down for that.
I've met DND people. I know a portion of them are horn dogs. And an elfin man with sick tatts and glorious armour? Hooooey, I'd crush it.
The smile on my face is because of vanity, and I don't even feel slightly bad about it.
The smell of fresh grass and sea air hits my nose, I take a deep breath-ah man that is the stuff!
One thing I did notice when I looked at Jin was that my Observe skill gained a good chunk of EXP. I'm not sure what the rules are, but I like breaking rules.
Tree: Common T1: A normal tree for the coastal region of Tsushima, good for climbing and useful for lumber.
Observe Has Leveled Up!
Grass: Common T1: It's grass.
Observe Has Leveled Up!
A Normal Human Man: Just a guy, he's fishing, living his life, doin' his thang.
Observe Has Leveled Up!
Walking through the small village and kind of just staring at everything would look weird normally, but apparently everyone seems to think I'm some kind of Yokai that's here to help them, which is… interesting I definitely didn't do anything to the actual tutorial itself.
I catch my reflection in the eyes of one of the villagers, and the ominous slit pupils of my new body seem to be almost all encompassing from the poor woman's perspective, no matter, I understand now.
"Excuse me miss." I ask, honestly, unsure if this'll work but it's a tutorial so I doubt the Overseer would make it impossible for me to communicate with anyone.
"Yes Spirit?" She asks, immediately at attention, she doesn't seem put off by me, or the armour I'm wearing, if anything she seems kind of amused at the sight of me.
"There is a samurai that has been badly injured, I was wondering if perhaps you know where I could find some medicine to assist in his healing?" The way that I talk baffles even me at times, It's like, pick a lane dude, casual and fun, or IN CHARACTER.
I mean honestly, this whole thing is role playing to me, I'm not just Zac the guy some people think is quite lovely, I'm straight up a force of nature waiting to happen.
It's very emotionally empowering.
"Oh! An offering then?" She asked herself, a small frown of thought on her face, "I have some simple herbs that could help!"
Before I can say anything she disappears into her house, leaving me feeling a little out of it. There's excited to help and then there's excited to help.
"Mr. Spirit?" A small person's voice cuts into my thoughts, immediately I pivot to look, not one small child it seems, many. About six or so.
With a round of Observe's on the lot of them I smile, squatting down to be at eye level with them.
Village Child: Sakuya: A small child, curious about the world around her.
Village Child: Jiro: A small child, in wonder of a Yokai.
Village Child: Mashiro: A small child, curious about the events of the day.
Village Child: Kaze: A small child, afraid of his own shadow.
Village Child: Yue: A small child, enamoured by your armour.
Village Child: Ryuji: A young adolescent, the leader of the small troupe of village Kids, Ryuji wants nothing more than to be a great Samurai one day, and go on many adventures.
Observe Has Leveled Up! X 6
"Did you say there was a samurai?" Ryuji asked, a slightly bigger boy with a… I don't know what to call that haircut but I can't exactly judge, he's got like, just a ponytail? Everything else is shaved.
"Indeed, he's a strong man, but everyone needs help eventually." Hm, this character is fun. I've always dreamed of being some great influence of good, mostly because I prefer to play the good guy in games, it's always a lot more wonderful at the end of the journey, seeing all those people you helped, and how you made their lives better, or changed them in some way.
Paragon for Life!
Until someone needs to be Renegaded into the fucking dirt.
The children all Ooh and Ahh at the knowledge of a samurai in the village, "What happened to him?" Asked another child, Yue, a wisp of a thing with a short bob cut.
"Strife has come to Tsushima, but rest assured, the good Samurai will protect you." I assured, best not to frighten the children, and hey, if it helps Jin all the more reason.
The woman comes bustling back out with a bundle of familiar green leaves, and small white petaled flowers, with a yellow centre, I dust them both with a quick Observe.
Silverleaf: Common-T1: A common plant found in the Game. Stabilizer.
Peacebloom: Common-T1: A common plant found in the Game. Curative.
Quest Earned!
[A Cure for What Ails]
Objective: You've got yourself the basic ingredients for a Minor Healing Potion, find a way to create the concoction.
Bonus Objective: Make the Potion yourself.
Reward: 50 Exp, Recipe Minor Healing Potion.
Bonus Objective Reward: 5 Silverleaf, 5 Peacebloom, +5 to the Alchemy skill.
Okay I'm seeing why having the Processor is worth so many credits. I take the offered bundle from the woman and smile brightly at her, "Good things will come of this."
I think the idea of leaning into the whole, mysterious spirit persona is probably best, it's good to be adaptable in situations like this, and if nothing else, it gives me a chance to get into the role more.
The woman smiles brightly at me, like I've given her some kind of gift before guiding the children off, which in all honesty I'm super grateful for, I don't actively dislike children, and these were some pretty polite kids, I just don't like being near them, I feel like I have to consider what I say even more.
"So these don't belong in this world." I mumble with the good ol subharmonics, it's a useful tool I picked up when it came to trying to keep track of my thoughts on the chaos nightmarescape that is my brain.
Items such as this are more translated to directly help you with understanding the quality and commonality of materials. You know most about the World of Warcraft crafting system, so that is what basic components shall appear as such. These items don't technically exist outside of the tutorial, dungeons, and their actual habitats.
Once again, Overseer comes in clutch. It feels really edifying to have my needs anticipated like that, I feel seen, thank you Overseer.
Anticipating the needs of the Contractor is part of my programming, but I recognise the significance of this to the organic mind.
You are welcome.
Well that solves a lot of future questions I may have in regards to crafting at the basic levels, pretty dope not gonna lie.
I suppose having an omnipresent entity with your entire life downloaded makes for an incredible partner.
Pleased, I continue my walk around the village, opening my inventory and quickly stashing the herbs in when no one is looking. I don't know how altered this scenario is because of it being a tutorial, but regardless I'm not going to be overt.
I slip away for a moment out of the 'town square', honestly Komoda isn't super big.
KOMODA! That's what it was called, marvelous okay good I can stop stressing about that.
Opening my Inventory I select the Processor, as I do the icon expands into a transparent 3-d representation, with a bunch of branching menus around it, okay wow, a bit much but I'm capable of reading so not overly complex.
I open the 'Create Item' tab and that literally opens the projection, super dope, as it does it has 4 slots open in the centre, with a white sphere sitting in the centre. Pulling my inventory up again I select both the Peacebloom and the Silverleaf, and drag them into the Processor.
Pretty stock standard interface stuff, feels really good to be right about how it works so often. Though I suppose now that I think that, Overseer probably tailored the interface to be optimal for me. What a dude.
The projection slaps shit and glows, it takes about 3 seconds, but it opens back up again and immediately a Minor Healing Potion appears in my inventory.
'No vials?' I think, having completely forgotten about needing a glass vial to contain the liquid, but the icon seemingly had one, does the fact that it creates the item mean that it creates whatever that item would logically be carried in as well?
That makes supplies somewhat of a non issue. I wonder what'll happen to the vials once I've drank from them?
Quest Complete
[A Cure for What Ails]
Objective: You've got yourself the basic ingredients for a Minor Healing Potion, find a way to create the concoction. Complete!
Bonus Objective: Make the Potion yourself. Complete!
Reward: 50 Exp, Recipe Minor Healing Potion.
Bonus Objective Reward: 5 Silverleaf, 5 Peacebloom, +5 to the Alchemy skill.
[A Cure for What Ails]
Objective: You've got yourself the basic ingredients for a Minor Healing Potion, find a way to create the concoction.
Bonus Objective: Make the Potion yourself.
Reward: 50 Exp, Recipe Minor Healing Potion.
Bonus Objective Reward: 5 Silverleaf, 5 Peacebloom, +5 to the Alchemy skill.
[Alchemy(Novice) 6/100: All great elixirs start somewhere, and as a budding practitioner of this mystical art, you have a basic understanding of how to identify and process Common-T1 reagents. Chance to Refine Common-T1 Potions increased by 1.5%. Upon Acquisition, grants 5 basic Alchemy recipes.]
[Minor Healing Potion 4/4: A minor potion that can restore 25 HP + Alchemy Level, per charge. Ingredients: Peacebloom, Silverleaf.]
Recipes Learned!
[Minor Mana Potion 4/4: A minor potion that can restore 25MP + Alchemy Level, per charge. Ingredients: Mageroyal, Silverleaf.]
[Weak Troll's Blood Elixir 2/2: A minor status elixir that provides +5 HP Regen for 1 + ½ Alchemy Level hours, per : Peacebloom, Earthroot x 2.]
[Elixir of Lions Strength 2/2: A minor combat elixir that provides +2 Str for 1 + ½ Alchemy Level hours, per charge. Ingredients: Earth Root, Silverleaf.]
[Elixir of the Hawk 1/1: A minor potion that increases stealth detection by 10% for 1 + Alchemy Level minutes. Ingredients: Bird Feather(Any), Tree Sap(Any).]
[Stoneskin Daught 1/1: A minor potion that increases armour by 20 for 10 Minutes. Ingredients: Stone Fragments, Honey.]
All the recipes in my inventory were once again, immediately consumed by the processor, and appeared on the Crafting tab of my character menu, good stuff!
Well with the potion done, all I need now is a sword, and if memory serves, which it usually doesn't, Jin's armour is totally busted, maybe there's some shenanigans that I can conjure to mend that as well, if anything it might change the beginning of his story, and wouldn't that be interesting!
It takes a few moments but I manage to catch the sound of hammering metal, and make a b-line for it.
Following the noise I find exactly what I expect, which is a good sensation. I sweep the room with Observe tagging all the equipment and the swords, the smiths and whoever else passing my line of sight.
[Observe(Active) 24/100: Feeds information about the target to the Contractor. Such as, their name, alignment, a small summary of their current state, HP/MP/SP and as of Level 20, their Stats.]
[Note: To avoid overloading with information, only plot or personally relevant targets will have the full status window, 'background' characters will not.]
Not bloody bad, not bad at all. The EXP falloff is mitigated by my Analyst skill but still slowing to a crawl. Nothing to be concerned with, I doubt it was even supposed to get that high in this 'zone'.
Being able to see stats this soon was pretty groovy, everyone in the village was either Lawful Good, or Lawful Neutral. Which made sense considering the culture around this time, but somewhat amplified by it being… well it's not fiction anymore but you know what I mean.
I observe the smiths for a few moments, watching their movements as they all work in tandem to create another sword, there's an almost hypnotic moment as my brain deconstructs the process faster than I can even consciously fathom.
[Analyst Activated]
[Blacksmithing(Novice) 1/100: A time honoured tradition of shaping metal to create masterpieces, you however only know the process, and lack any practical skill. Upon acquisition, grants 5 basic Blacksmithing recipes. +.25% to Masterwork Common-T1 Items.]
Okay holy shit, what the fuck is Analyst actually?
[Analyst (Master): 100/100 Due to your obsessive leaning towards introspection, you have gained an almost otherworldly ability to observe something and to understand how it works. Grants the Observe Skill, and Increases the EXP of Observe by 200%.]
Looking at the skill description again, it seems pretty obvious I suppose.
Still that's some next level shit, I've basically got Shirou Emiya's bonked Structural Analysis in my eyes, all the time. I'm gonna need to disable a lot of notifications to avoid bulk spam.
I spot Jin's armour, and predictably, it's fucked. It's got scratches and gashes, the whole thing is barely holding together, and frankly it looks like a hunk of shit now.
[Jin's Armour: Having seen much better days than this, Jin's armour is barely even that. Providing +5 to Armour when worn, but given it's threadbare state, one would be lucky for it to even hold together. Requires Blacksmithing 25 to repair.]
Obviously not the best, and definitely not something I'm capable of fixing at the moment, but definitely achievable, I look at the room once more, the smith and his helpers aren't even noticing me just poking around in here, I suppose the tutorial really does just have NPC's in it.
A thought occurs to me though, in almost any game worth its salt, there's more than one way to tackle a problem, and if this tutorial was made for me, then it definitely will. I could have very easily only given the smiths a passing glance, not enough time for Analyst to activate, so that means there's another way to either get my skill high enough, or there's something that I can use to do it for me.
Repair Hammer's come to mind, but even with how sure I could sound about the idea, I have nothing to base this off.
"Mongols!" Screams a voice, outside, the smiths immediately jump to action, arming themselves and darting from the room, past me.
Event Triggered!
[Defend Komoda]
Objective: A small scouting party of Mongols are approaching the village, if they report to Khotun Khan, a much larger force shall raze the village to the ground. Defeat 10 Invading Mongols.
Bonus Objective 1: Defeat 3 Mongols without taking Damage.
Bonus Objective 2: Have no civilian casualties.
That's pretty good timing, waste not want not, I filch a sword and Jin's armour from the smithy and quickly place them in my inventory, before racing outside, sword drawn.
I've never been one to run towards danger, in fact it's something I compulsively avoided, which was probably why I spent so long being so miserably afraid of everything, but the fact of the matter is this.
I have a fucking sword, and a shit ton of potions.
The villager who screamed is already halfway through the village, women and children running and hiding immediately, trying to avoid being seen, caught or killed.
What few men there are, look visibly terrified with the 'deer in the headlights' look, a look I know well.
Oh well, time to get into character.
"You need not fear, gentlemen. No mongol savage will sully this village, get as many spears as you can, and form a barricade. Is anyone here capable with a bow?" The voice is stern, and bassier than my usual fare, but it snaps their attention to me easily enough, one man slowly raises his hand, Observe tells me he's a hunter.
"Good, I need you to keep an eye on the flanks, these sneaky bastards will try to get at us from the sides, you're going to be overwatch for the barricade. Understand?" I command, and he weirdly seems to relax, grabbing another quiver of arrows he clambers up onto the roof of one of the
"Now, as I said, spears! Get to it, I'll go ahead and see what kind of damage I can do to these savages, but should any get past me, it is you who shall defend Komoda! You who shall have your name carved into history!" I thump my chest and something seems to resonate with them, their body language shifts from scared to angry, to determined.
Social Grace, you glorious skill.
Holding my sword aloft, I activate Seal of Righteousness, being docked 10 mana as a golden magical circle floats up from my feet to my head, a line of golden script carving itself onto my Iron Longsword.
Time to see what active conflict resolution get's you!
A short distance from the small village of Komoda, which is actually much bigger than I initially remembered, I spotted them, 10 men in total.
One on horseback, in heavier armour, with a large shield on his back, 3 archers hanging back, and what look like lightly armoured spearmen 6 of them, filling in the rest of the ranks. I considered going whole hog and just running up on the bastards, but honestly I like being alive more than I like being showy.
So I found myself a sturdy tree, and hid behind it. Which, I'm honestly shocked that it worked at all slightly, just as the last archer passed me, I gave him a quick Observe.
Mongol Archer Lv1
HP: 15
SP: 50
Strength: 3
Stamina: 5
Dexterity: 6
Intellect: 7
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 2
50 EXP
My eyes dart down to my sword and I take another small moment to do the same.
[Iron Longsword: A common longsword, deals 10 + ½ Strength slashing damage.]
So, holy shit. The sword alone deals 15 damage, plus my seal is an additional 15, I'm gonna fucking ace this.
As I spin around the tree and rush the first archer from behind I can feel the beating of my heart in my chest, adrenaline flooding my veins, one step, I'm within arms reach, and as though on auto-pilot, my sword arm winds around, bursting with golden energy for just a moment as it makes contact with archers shoulder.
And like fucking butter the man is carved from shoulder to hip, the other's have noticed at this point, but there's something in me that just fucking kicks into gear.
Level Up!
HP/MP/SP Full Restored!
Using Misty Step I jump about a metre and hack through the other archer, before replicating the process and cleaving the last man in twain.
Skill Level Up!
Whatever menus are popping up, alerts telling me something has happened, it all drains away.
There's this unbridled beast that seems to leap out of me as their blood pours over my armour, and my face, this is what power feels like, this is what it means to take the world into your own hands and laugh in its face.
I died, certainly, but I live again, and there will never come a day where I lay down and die like a dog!
The spearmen quickly dart towards me, fear tries to grip at me as I realise what I've done, but it's all pushed away for the moment as clarity overcomes me, pure clarity, like… I understand something ephemeral.
The first spear is lunged at my head and with a quick lean I manage to avoid it, grabbing the spear and staking the man in the gut, a blast of holy energy sears his flesh as he falls over dead.
Critical Hit! Damage Doubled!
Mongol Spearmen Lv. 2
HP: 60
SP: 60
Strength: 6
Stamina: 5
Dexterity: 6
Intellect: 4
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 5
65 EXP
With my own level up, my Seal grows exponentially more powerful, bursting with energy for a moment at the sudden influx of Cha, thanks to my Social Grace skill.
Grabbing the spear I hold it in my off-hand as I charge the next spearmen, he rushes right at me but lacks the footwork needed to make it anything more than a linear move, as we get close enough I throw my weight into my right shoulder to twist out of the way of the spear, and take his head of with the same motion.
It looked so goddamn cool.
A few of the men seem to be getting leery, but the big fella jumps off his horse and right at me, shield raised as though to crush me.
Can't have that!
Dropping the spear I quickly pop in behind him with Misty Step and use Strike on his undefended back.
92.5 Damage! A New Record!
Impaling the man on my sword, the blade sticking out in the centre of his chest, I take a moment to marvel at how much physically stronger I already feel, a spearmen comes up to the side and with a heave I throw the heavy armour fellow in its path, the weapons head burying into the larger man's stomach.
The brute moaned pitifully, so I kicked him off my sword. The poor spearman didn't know what to do as he was suddenly without a weapon, only to find a new weapon, mine, taking off his head.
Level Up!
HP/MP/SP Full Restored!
Another surge of power, honestly the sheer work this Seal is already putting in, it's magnificent! Such enormous stat bumps from my skills are really synergy sing well. Excellent for early game power.
Truly, life on NG+.
Having seen the way that I tore what I assume is their commander apart, the remaining men do two things, one of them seems to go into a frenzy and rushes me, whilst the other two, beat feet back down the path they traveled.
Oh no, where are you going precious EXP?
The spear hits home and catches me on my hip, I hiss for a moment but it feels like a paper cut, not an impalement.
-10 HP
Grabbing the spear I lift my sword and jam it directly into the collar of the man who stabbed me, his eyes burst with light as I do and he crumbles like a burnt out husk.
The horse is right next to me, and whilst I've never ridden a horse, I've also never killed a man, so it's a day of new experiences!
With newfound strength I mount the beast, and immediately it bends to me, Animal Magnetism at it's finest, "Run them down!" I order the beast, and it immediately kicks it into high gear.
Grabbing the reins with one hand I hold my sword out at the ready, the blood rushing in my ears and the pounding of my heart the only noise as far as I'm concerned.
The horse indeed does trample one of the men, whilst I cleave the other in two, with a harsh tug on the reins I pull the horse to a quick stop before leaning with it to double tap the man it crushed.
Even Cleared!
[Defend Komoda]
Objective: A small scouting party of Mongols are approaching the village, if they report to Khotun Khan, a much larger force shall raze the village to the ground. Defeat 10 Invading Mongols.
Bonus Objective 1: Defeat 3 Mongols without taking Damage. Complete!
Bonus Objective 2: Have no civilian casualties. Complete!
Reward: 500 EXP, Commander's Shield, Commanders Saber.
Bonus Objective 1 Reward: 250 EXP, 3 Common Item Crates.
Bonus Objective 2 Reward: 250 EXP, 1 Uncommon Item Crate.
Hidden Reward: Mongol Warhorse Summon Gem.
Oh holy shit wow.
Level Up!
HP/MP/SP Full Restored!
Zachary Alexander
Class: Fighter 3/100
Race: Human+
HP: 200
MP: 50
SP: 150
Strength: 20
Stamina: 15
Dexterity: 5
Intellect: 5
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 40
Luck: 20
HP = Strength x 10
MP = Intellect x 10
SP = Stamina x 10
So I don't get to allocate points, just what I get from class level ups and other skills like Social Grace that affect it, not bad, I can deal with that.
I look at the item crates, I've always had a problem with loot boxes and I for sure am gonna have a problem with these.
[Scroll of Firebolt Common-T1: Using this scroll will allow the user to cast Firebolt, dealing 10 + ½ Int Fire Damage, can be used by Mages to Learn the Firebolt Spell.]
[Silverleaf x 5]
[Iron Ore x 5]
[Iron Kiteshield Common-T1: A simple iron kiteshield, provides 10 Armour when equipped.]
[Gutrender Common-T2: A technically magical Iron Dagger that will always gut a fish perfectly when used.]
[Flametongue Uncommon-T2: A magical longsword, infused with fire magic. Responding to the will of the wielder this sword shall be encompassed in flame, burning molten hot, but never melting. Deals 25 + ½ Str Slashing Damage and 25 Fire Damage on hit.]
I immediately stow my Iron Longsword and equip the Flametongue, it's gorgeous golden hilt emboldened by the red ruby buried in the crossguard, the dormant blade is a soft silver colour, and with a thought burns bright orange, I know for a fact the flames are hot, but they do not burn me.
That's a nice touch.
The dagger is good, but I'll probably use it in my kitchen more than anything else, unless it also worse on fish-humanoids, that'd be pretty busted. Definitely something to try out.
The scroll is good but that'll be sitting in my inventory for a good while, until I can grab the skill from the scroll with Mage, or use it if I desperately need it, regardless the time for it is not now.
Looking down at the horse I'm sitting on it seems to be constantly grazing.
Would you like to loot the bodies?
Auto-loot yes, yes please.
6 x Mongol Spear
3 x Mongol Shortbow.
3 x Mongol Light Armour
6 x Mongol Medium Armour
1 x Mongol Heavy Armour
64 Gold added.
12 x Linen Cloth
Oh right, humanoid enemies dropping cloth, classic stuff. A smile works its way onto my bloodied face, the corpses seem to sink into the ground as soon as I'm done with them, nifty.
Using the Summoning Gem as I urge the horse back towards Komoda I'm granted the skill to summon this very horse I'm assuming, a new tab opens up on my character screen, 'Mounts'. Which is just oh so useful.
All in all, good day so far.
The horse is trotting slowly so I can open my Processor, going to another option this time, which is Dismantle, I throw all the newly acquired crap in their, I don't really want to start fucking around with anything that isn't my current build as of the moment, because frankly, that was a lotta fun and I don't wanna deviate yet.
Items Recovered.
12 x Iron Bar
18 x Light Leather
So it's not a 1 to 1 ratio, but that's fine, that's a good bunch of items that I didn't need to gather myself, which is pretty much why I have always obsessively dismantled or disenchanted stuff in games.
Smelting the Iron Ore that I got from the crate puts me at 17 bars, I've got a few basic bits and bobs I can make, but I'm looking for maximum yield, creating one Iron Dagger gives me about 50% of my first Blacksmithing level, but that's also because it was a 'First Craft'.
Interesting system.
The others I can make are, Iron Shortsword, Iron Longsword, Iron Axe, and Iron Rapier.
The shortsword only costs 2 ingots and 1 leather, so I make that, bringing my level up to 3 due to the substantial step up in raw EXP from a mere dagger, the Longsword costs 3 Iron and 2 leather, and jumps me right to level 5, the Axe is another 2 iron and 1 leather, which barely peaks me over to 6.
The rapier costs 2 iron, and 3 leather, which is a bit odd but not something I really care to kick up a fuss about, that busted me right up to 8.
[Blacksmithing(Novice) 8/100: A time honoured tradition of shaping metal to create masterpieces, you however only know the process, and lack any practical skill. +2% to Masterwork Common-T1 Items.]
It's not the 25 I want, but I'm honestly not too worried. I'll give Jin his armour, and the sword I found, or well, I'll leave them with him after I administer the potion and his story begins.
Honestly, as much as I like Tsushima, this doesn't particularly feel like the real Tsushima, it feels too much like the game, too… I dunno, unreal?
Those dudes that I carved up certainly didn't act like people, they were too linear, too robotic. Like they only have a few scripts they could follow at any one time.
I mean, it's the tutorial, so training dummies, advanced training dummies.
My helpful horse, Harold I decided, trots right up to the hastily erected barricade, I wave at the people and the visible relief on their faces is enough to tell me 'job well done'.
I could sit here and participate in the pow-wow but I really must be getting on, I wanna be somewhere real.
Dismounting as I reached the mouth of the cave-nook, I pluck my cape from Jin and set his armour down beside him, the sword as well.
Pulling a potion from my inventory I gently ease it into his mouth, I dunno what it tastes like but he's not fighting me so it can't be that bad.
Quest Complete!
[Tutorial; The Journey of Jin.]
Objective: Sakai Jin, the future Ghost of Tsushima, is weakened and enfeebled by the battle that has taken place on the shores. His wounds are deep and require mending, find some way to get Jin back on his feet. Complete!
Bonus Objective: Get a weapon for yourself. Complete!
Bonus Objective: Get a weapon for Jin. Complete!
Reward: 500 EXP Finish Tutorial, Jin's story begins, + 5 Reputation with Sakai Jin, [Friend to Samurai] perk, +5 Melee Weapon Mastery.
Bonus Objective 1 reward: 5 Sharpening Stones.
Bonus Objective 2 Reward: +250 EXP +5 Reputation with Sakai Jin, [Not A Yokai] Perk.
The world around me suddenly loses colour as time seemingly stands still, it doesn't seem to be affecting me but I feel another pulling sensation in my gut, and that familiar feeling of vertigo hits me again.
Level Up!
End of Chapter.
Zachary Alexander
Class: Fighter 4/100
Race: Human+
HP: 250
MP: 50
SP: 200
Strength: 25
Stamina: 20
Dexterity: 5
Intellect: 5
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 55
Luck: 20
HP = Strength x 10
MP = Intellect x 10
SP = Stamina x 10