Disclaimer!
I do not own DC or Gamer Manhwa, Manga or anything of the sort. I claim no money from this fanfiction and the only thing I own are my OC's/Original Characters.
Issue #2: Finishing the Tutorial
5th of March/2024
Gotham City
To say that Timothy didn't take the news of this morning's events well would be an understatement as the duo were once again having lunch on the cafeteria roof and Tim spat out his drink in shock after Neo finished his explanation.
"You wandered into a spirit harvesting ward and got items as a reward from killing the materialized spirits and destroying the spirit harvesting urn?" Tim asked in shock.
"Yeah, I'm hoping you could shed some light on how things got so crazy and who the 'Order' is."
"Okay…One thing at a time. If you still have the note about the 'Order' I think you should read it because I have no idea about who or what group is called 'The Order'." Tim said before Neo summoned his inventory and took out the note.
[Phase 1 of the Order's Purge.
If you've gotten this letter than you have become a member of the spirit harvesting squadron which means that you are a Spark in the order. Congrats, this is your chance to get promoted.
Your job is to set up spirit harvesting wards in various areas of Gotham City in order to gather up enough spectral energy to fill the harvesters to the brim. Once enough harvesters have been collected, the next step in the plan will be explained.
If any other supernatural elements or magic users interfere, kill them on sight. We don't need any unwanted attention while our plans are still progressing at a snail's pace.
We are brothers and sisters of the pure. We will rebuild the world into the perfect Aryan utopia by eradicating all blacks, jews, race mixers, magic users and other abominations of the earth.
With our battle cry we thrive: Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war. For with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms.
From: Undisclosed letter head.]
"I was right to not feel pity for the corpse in that makeshift dungeon." Neo said before he balled up the note in frustration after he finished reading it.
"Now I remember. The Order was a former white supremacist group that was quickly disbanded, and all the members incarcerated." Timothy explained in realization after hearing the Order's battle cry/motto.
"Seems like they've taken a step up from simple racism and cross burnings." Neo replied bluntly while Timothy was simply confused.
"Why would a fanatical hate filled group like the Order meddle with magic and also claim to be against its usage?"
"Tim, their racist, spiteful and hate loving hypocrites"
"Fair, but there is something larger at play. Especially if this is happening right under the noses of the people who rule the Gotham magical underground."
Neo looked at him in confusion before asking the obvious question.
"Who would those people be?"
"Oh, right. Basically, Gotham has various crime families, but not all of them are simple gangsters. Some know of magic or are not human. Basically, think of them as a mystical version of a mob. My mother and I keep our heads down and avoid them, but even they shouldn't be ignoring something like this." Timothy explained in detail before Neo took a breath and saw another dialogue screen appear.
[Speech Selection
Select your dialogue option!
1: Good Response
2: Evil Response
3: Poetic Response
4: Snarky Response
5: Blunt Response
Timer: 30 Seconds]
Speech choice 1 has been selected!
"Sounds like they wouldn't care either way. So, that means it might be something we need to take care ourselves." Neo said while placing both hands behind his head before Tim sharply objected.
"Are you mental? We're not just going to start wandering into magical wards and bust heads? Do you have any idea about the dangers of what could happen?"
"Tim, I'm aware of the danger, but you said yourself that the magical underworld is ruled by crime families and the only way they function is by hurting, extorting and making people's lives hell. Magical or not, I can't just ignore the danger when I know there is something I can do. Besides, these wards might be just what I need to help level up." Neo explained in a calm yet compassionate tone that felt strange to him.
This was how he felt to a certain extent, and he didn't mind the possible experience grind, but Neo had to question if he was truly willing to risk his life for other people by possibly getting on the bad side of an organization like the Order.
"Why are you like this?" Tim asked in a weak and frustrated voice before a silence formed between the teens for a moment as they stared each other down and waited for each other to cave in first.
…
Tim blinked first and Neo smiled.
"Damn it. I can't exactly rest comfortably with necromantic wards being placed around the city with no regard for civilian casualties. But if I agree to do this, we will do it my way. If things get too dangerous, we leave. Got it?"
"Of course. So, we can start looking after school. Of, course we'll have to tell Barbara that we can't hang out today." Neo replied while Tim looked down at his feet with a sigh.
"You're a terrible influence. I'm going into random dimension altering wards and lying to my friends." Tim stated while Neo smirked.
"Don't worry so much. The ward I cleared was only filled with a handful of weak zombies, although now that I think about it. I need a new weapon since the baseball bat I used broke. And I also need to use the skill book I got." Neo said before he once again summoned his grid style inventory screen before taking out the large dictionary sized yellow book with an eyeball image on the cover.
[Would you like to learn the 'Observe' skill? Y/N?]
With a tap of the button the book burst and flowed into Neo who was given an all-new skill to add to his slowly growing repertoire.
[Observe, Active Level: 1
Type: Illusion
Tier: Novice
This is a low tier scrying spell capable of gathering information on any target within line of sight.
Cost: 2 MP]
Neo was a bit shocked at how cheap the spell was before realizing that the spell itself is very weak. Even the description said that the spell was low tier, meaning it might just be a beginner level spell into more advanced variants, but he shrugged before lunch ended and the duo went on with the rest of their day.
1
"That was fast." Neo stated as he and Tim had entered another dimension altering ward a short walk away from the school that was no longer than ten minutes.
"Can't you sense the magical ward energies?" Tim asked while Neo shook his head left and right. "Then how did you stumble into a random ward this morning?"
"I just did. There wasn't any warning or triggers that alerted me to it. The only reason I knew about the wards you could set up was because I had already entered them." Neo explained bluntly.
"I'm feeling less and less confident about this." Tim said before he looked around the dark urban environment they were in. "I can feel the wandering spirits in this ward. They're in pain. Twisted into unwanted forms by the commands of whatever magic created this place."
"When will I be able to sense stuff like that?" Neo asked before they heard the shambling and groans of zombies coming near them. "Also, do you have a weapon you could spare?"
Tim rolled his eyes in annoyance before he kneeled and grabbed a rock off the ground.
"You said you used a baseball bat, right?"
"Yeah. I can still try and used the broken one, but it might not be effective with the skill Power Strike." Neo stated before he saw Tim stand up and focus his magical power into his hand that held the rock and before his eyes, Neo saw a stone baseball bat grow out of his friend's hand before he tossed it to Neo.
The bat was heavy to be sure and Neo struggled to hold it properly due to the weight despite his strength increasing from earlier.
"I'll step in when things look bad. But consider this another training exercise. Use the bat to kill the zombies that get close to us." Tim said before Neo nodded his head and gripped the stone weapon while casting Observe on it and the zombies.
[Item
Name: Stone Bat
Rarity: Rare
This is a baseball bat shaped piece of stone created using Alteration magic. It sports no enchantments or magical effects, but it does have impressive durability for a makeshift weapon.
Strength requirement: 20
Durability: 60/60]
[Enemy Statistics
Name: Zombie, Title: Shambling Undead
HP: 35/35
Stats unavailable at current scrying level.
Bio: A spirit of the afterlife that has been ripped from its plane of existence and forced into an undead form via necromancy.
Possible drops: Money, rotten flesh, teeth, bones, rags, soul crystals and '?']
"HA!" Neo shouted while using Power Strike as a speed enhancer for his strike which allowed him to shatter the head of the first zombie that came in range of him before he quickly opened his inventory and equipped his new piece of armor.
It was a chest piece that wasn't styled in some medieval style or anything, and instead reminded him of the metal chest pieces in fallout 4 since it was a smooth and sturdy plate of metal that covered his entire torso and back with some type of leather like interior. The object is a crimson red color fitting its name and had a strange description about it.
[Item
Name: Draconic Blood-Metal Chest Piece
Rank: Rare
This is a cuirass made from steel and infused with draconic blood during the forging process which grants it mystical properties on its own while granting a unique perk when combined with other pieces of draconic armor into a full set.
Armor: 40 Blunt damage resistance, 30 Fire damage resistance.
Enchantments: '?' [Other pieces of the Draconic Blood-Metal must be gathered to unlock the enchantment]
Durability: 60/60]
"Tim, do you mind if I buff myself a bit, to make this easier?" Neo asked while Tim shrugged.
"As long as you get the job done, I don't care how you do it."
With a smile Neo went onto his stat screen and pumped all his points into strength.
[Statistics
Name: Neo Rangel, Age: 17, Race: Homo-Magi/Human
Title: The Gamer/Professional Streamer, Alignment: Neutral, Level: 6 [230/1,600 EXP]
HP: 600/600, MP: 365/375
Strength: 16, Dexterity: 6
Vitality: 15, Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 9, Charisma: 5
Luck: 20, Status: None
Attribute Points: 10]
"Sweet."
[Statistics
Name: Neo Rangel, Age: 17, Race: Homo-Magi/Human
Title: The Gamer/Professional Streamer, Alignment: Neutral, Level: 6 [230/1,600 EXP]
HP: 850/850, MP: 365/375
Strength: 26, Dexterity: 6
Vitality: 15, Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 9, Charisma: 5
Luck: 20, Status: None
Attribute Points: 0]
[Due to reaching 25 in your STR stat you have gained the perk 'Herculean']
[Herculean, Passive Level: 1
You have mighty strength like the Greek god called Hercules which grants you 10% increased melee damage and 10% increase to all melee skill experience gains.]
Neo couldn't be happier with what he saw before he started swinging his bat at the zombies with his newly gained strength as he went on a melee grind of dishing out damage and taking some to level up his Oak Flesh skill for a while before Tim finally found the soul harvesting urn.
"Tell me that's not what I think it is." Neo said while looking at Tim who had been collecting all the dropped loot via his own form of dimensional storage while glancing at the urn.
"It's a skill book. So, here. See what you can learn from it." Tim advised before handing the book over to Neo who grabbed it and quickly saw an alert screen appear before him.
[Would you like to learn the 'Life Drain' skill? Y/N?]
The name was a bit edgy, but Neo shrugged before hitting the yes button.
[Life Drain, Active Level: 1
Type: Conjuration
Tier: Novice
Like many magical based undead beings, you can now steal the life essence of your enemies via this necromantic spell.
Drains 1 HP and MP to restore 1 HP and MP respectively!
Cost: 10 MP per second]
"This is a skill called Life Drain and I'll have to grind it a lot before it becomes useful in battle or anything." Neo said before he and Tim looked back at the urn.
"Smash away." Tim stated before Neo raised the stone bat high before slamming it down hard on the urn with a Power Strike. The shattering sound was almost satisfying to hear as both teens felt at ease with the dark magic device broken, but the relief faded away when Neo noticed the obvious lack of change.
"Tim, last time I broke an urn, the ward shut down around me, so is there another urn nearby?"
Before Tim could respond, both teens heard an unholy roar nearby, causing them to turn around and not only see a blood moon in the air that seemed to be actively bleed somehow, but as the drops of blood hit the ground and pooled there, a being had risen from the quick forming pool of blood and both teens saw that this was no ordinary undead.
Neo wasted no time scanning it.
[Enemy Statistics
Name: Bone Colossus, Title: Child of Tortured Souls
HP: 1,000/1,000
Stats unavailable at current scrying level.
Bio: A mass of combined souls harvested and reformed into a stronger form. It hungers for the flesh and souls of the living.]
The Bone Colossus stood at thirteen feet tall with a hulking form as its body was completely made up of bones and azure, blue matter. The bones layered on top of each other like armor and it was humanoid in shape with a large skull with hollow black eye sockets while its mouth radiated azure flames.
[Boss Alert!]
"The soul harvester must have already completed its job before we got here and created a new undead being. But how the hell were some random fanatics going to try and bind a creature like this?" Tim asked in shock before the monster let out a roar and charged at both teens with shocking speed, causing both teens to dodge to the left and right as the monster's large fist crashed into the pavement and created a deep hole in the ground.
"Figure it out later!" Neo shouted before he rushed the monster and with his Power Strike enhanced bat, he hit the back leg of the monster, causing it to focus on him before backhanding Neo a fair distance away as he tumbled onto the ground. "I should have activated my shields before I attacked." Neo stated, weakly as he struggled to get to his feet after taking such a hit.
The only reason he didn't die outright was because of the amount of HP he had and the enchanted chest piece he had equipped. When he stood up on his feet, he activated his Oak Flesh spell along with his Lesser Ward spell before raising his stone bat in a defensive stance as he took another hit from the monster, but this time when he was sent back, he was still standing as he was sent backwards while standing.
Both his shields shattered, but he took a lot less damage and tried to think of what he could possibly do to try and hurt this thing before its attention shifted to Tim, after Tim had blasted the back of the monster which what looked to be a fireball spell.
'Melee isn't going to work against a monster like this, so what can I do? Life Drain is my only range spell, but it won't do jack against this guy, and with Tim distracting it, I can't afford to waist this time and not deliver a critical strike to this monster or else were screwed.' Neo thought to himself while trying to come up with some form of plan while Timothy kept his distance from the monster while striking it with a fireball spell repeatedly, that caused decent damage, but with the monster getting closer to his friend, it seemed like Timothy couldn't do enough damage to cause the thing to go down.
'Think, Neo! Think! How would you handle this in an RPG?' Neo asked himself mentally while tightly gripping his bat. 'In an RPG I could either brute force my way through with a nickel or dime tactic, but that won't work against a monster this fast and dangerous. Neither would acting as a tank with how weak my skills are…I need an ultimate attack or something that deals massive damage in order to stagger the bastard.'
Just like that a reckless and foolish plan formed in Neo's head as he tossed the bat aside and focused. Timothy hadn't gone over how to create spells yet and this little dungeon crawl was a spur of the moment thing, but with his Mana Manipulation skill. He focused on summoning his mana in front of him like a ball and thankfully his mana responded, and a magical ball formed in front of his outstretched hands.
"Bigger." Neo ordered while pumping more mana into the makeshift attack which caused it to grow larger and larger until it was comparable to a minivan, as Neo had long since raised the ball of magical energy above his head. "This won't be enough, I can't just brute force it, so I need it to do extra damage." Neo stated to himself before he smirked. "Spin." Neo ordered and with focus and more MP being sent away, he caused the orb to spin at inhuman speeds that caused wind to pick up around him. "Tim, get out of the way! I'm gonna bomb him!" Neo shouted as loud as he could.
Tim was confused obviously, but after seeing what Neo had planned, he instantly used a lot of his magical power to exceed human speeds and get a safe distance away, while the undead monster turned back towards Neo to try and attack him.
The monster apparently attacked living beings within a certain range of its senses, which Neo made a mental note of before he focused and pushed! The attack soared towards the goliath of undead bones and on contact, exploded with an ear-splitting boom. Ten feet of pavement was transformed into a crater on the ground and there was nothing left of the monster except smoking bones while Neo collapsed to his knees in exhaustion before his energy was suddenly resupplied to him.
[You have leveled up! Level: 6-7-8! You have gained 20 AP!]
[You have defeated enough undead monsters to gain the 'Zombie Slayer' title!]
[Oak Flesh has leveled up! Level: 5-6-7!]
[Lesser Ward has leveled up! Level: 1-2-3!]
[Blunt Weapon Mastery has leveled up1 Level: 6-7-8!]
[Based on your actions, you have unlocked the skill 'Pain Resistance']
[Pain Resistance, Passive Level: 1
You have learned how to take a hit and as a reward, you now take 2% less damage from blunt damage-based attacks.]
[Due to your clever thinking, you have created a new spell and as a reward, the skill Mana Manipulation has gained 5 levels. The skill you created has been given a default name.]
[Rotating Mana Bomb, Active Level: 1
You can focus your mana into a large bomb of rotating energy to deal massive AOE damage to an enemy.
Casting time: 12 Seconds!
AOE Range: 10 Feet!
Damage base: INTxWIS!
Deals: 300% Piercing Damage, 200% Arcane Damage
Cost: 330 MP]
"Holy shit." Neo commented after seeing the various screens before noticing several items in the center of the crater he had made.
"Are you nuts! Brute forcing mana like that is extremely dangerous!" Timothy shouted after making his way towards Neo.
"Sorry, but I didn't know what else I could do to put that thing down without getting close to it. The bastard took out more than half my HP in two hits. Besides, thanks to him I leveled up, and now I got some loot too." Neo said before he and Timothy made their way to the center of the crater where Neo picked up the items.
[You have looted the following items.
2x Draconic Blood-Metal Pauldrons!
6x Lesser HP Potions!
3x Lesser MP Potions!
1x Zombie Summoning skill book!
3,000 US Dollars!
1x Bone Hammer!]
"Again, holy shit." Neo commented at the amount of loot he got before they both noticed the area around them start to fall apart as the ward vanished.
"Come with me." Timothy quickly stated before both teens quickly made their way to Timothy's place where they sat in his room with the gathered loot placed onto the bed with Titania watching over them from the doorway.
Neo also called her Mary like she had suggested when they first met. Granted she didn't know that he knew her name was false, but Neo didn't want to cause trouble for the woman who has shown him a lot of hospitality.
"So, aside from a lot of undead flesh, teeth and rags. You boys managed to gain soul crystals, potions, magical tomes and enchanted items from a ward created by a group of white supremacists with access to magic?" Mary asked while both teens looked at each other before Neo spoke.
"That sums things up basically. And that's not mentioning my bizarre reality altering ability." Neo stated before he stashed the blood-metal armor pauldrons into his inventory before taking a closer look at the sledgehammer sized weapon of bone.
It is a stark white color with black crystal-like protrusions decorating it with a large knotted top and with a glance, Neo cast his scrying spell.
[Item
Name: Bone Hammer
Rank: Super Rare
This is a magical bone taken from an undead of lesser power and as a result, the bone is sturdy enough and heavy enough to be used as a proper weapon.
Strength Requirement: 25!
Damage base: STR
Durability: 40/40]
"The hammer has less durability than the stone hammer we left in the ward. But I guess it makes sense since bones aren't normally too tough compared to other things like proper metals." Neo said while Mary chuckled.
"You have a lot to learn Neo." Mary stated while Neo lightly blushed before moving onto the skill book and for a moment he debated whether to learn the skill or not to.
"What's wrong?" Timothy asked before Neo put the book down.
"I don't want to learn necromancy. Having this Life Drain skill is cool, but I don't want to start messing around with corpses…It feels wrong."
"Fair enough." Timothy said before he grabbed the book and with a flex of his magical power, the skill book was lit on fire and turned into ashes on the bed.
"What do you boys plan on doing with the potions and human remains. I don't think you could explain them away to the police without raising several questions." Mary commented with a smirk before both teens' eyes widened in shock.
"Damn it! What the hell am I supposed to do with this stuff? I can't just leave a bunch of body parts and soggy rags in my inventory to gather dust." Neo said with annoyance at the fact that he didn't bother thinking of that little detail until now.
"Relax. I'm just kidding. Dump all the remains in the basement and I'll take care of things. For a fee of course." Mary said while smiling at the stack of money that Neo had earned from the boss kill, plus the money gathered from the zombie kills.
"Fair enough, I guess. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to survive without Tim's help, so paying him is the least I could do." Neo replied and with that, Neo placed one thousand and five hundred dollars into his inventory along with three lesser health potions and two of the lesser MP potions. He even got to keep the hammer as his own.
"Now onto the main issue. We can't just let the Order do whatever they want, but we don't really know what their plan is. All we've done so far is take out two of their wards without them noticing, and that luck can't last forever." Neo said while crossing his arms.
"It is certainly troubling, and paying magical mercenaries won't exactly come cheap." Mary stated with a shrug.
[Congratulations, you have completed the tutorial after defeating your first boss and interacting with your companions. As a reward, you have unlocked the 'Gamer Shop' and the 'Dungeon Locator' passive skill. And you've unlocked your first Main Quest.]
[Main Quest Alert!
Name: Purify the Order
You have stopped two of the Order's wards that are spread across Gotham. You have a responsibility to put a stop to whatever they are planning by taking down their wards and dungeons.
Objective 1: Defeat the bosses of the 'Soul Harvesting Wards' 2-6!
Objective 2: Clear the Order dungeons 1-5! Located across Gotham!
These objectives can be completed in any order, but it is recommended to target the lower-level ones first.
Rewards: To be determined!
Failure: Death!
This quest has been automatically accepted!
Best of luck gamer.]
"Good news and bad news…I've figured out a way to unload all the junk in my inventory. And the bad news is that my powers are telling me that I am putting my life on the line." Neo said to Timothy and Mary with a wide-eyed expression of disbelief and worry on his face.
END!
Narrator: Neo has finished his tutorial and now is being placed in a rather difficult position thanks to his gamer powers which seems to know a bit more than the actual player. How will things turn out for our young hero and how will he overcome these challenges? Stay tuned for the next Issue of Heroic Adventures GOTY Edition to find out.
A/N: Ugh. This narrator is asking me for too much money. Somebody help me…In all seriousness I want to thank everyone who reached out to me about this story and say thanks for the positivity, but right now I'm not looking to hire or team up with any art creators or digital artists.