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Chapter 2: Tutorial

"It's... it's actually a real staff now," I said, rotating it in my hands. The dark energy lines pulsed faintly. "How did it know what to look like?"

"Magic focuses always adapt to match your class affinities and racial traits," Zevrik explained. "Since you're Skeld with obvious necromancer leanings, it went with the whole 'dark scholar' aesthetic. Could've been worse—I've seen some focuses turn into really weird shit based on people's subconscious preferences."

The rabbit, apparently unimpressed by my magical breakthrough, circled around for another attack. But now I had a proper weapon that looked like it belonged in the hands of a death mage instead of a desperate hobo.

"Okay, round two, you fluffy little nightmare," I muttered, getting to my feet properly this time. The staff felt good in my hands, like it belonged there. "Let's see what this Focus stat can actually do."

The rabbit charged again, but this time I was ready. I swung the improvised staff like a baseball bat, catching the rabbit mid-leap. There was a satisfying thwack as wood met fuzzy death machine, sending it tumbling across the clearing.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist in triumph. "Take that, you carnivorous cotton ball!"

The rabbit crouched low, its muscles coiling for what was clearly going to be its murder-leap of doom. I could see the calculation in its beady little eyes—this was going to be an all-or-nothing attack.

Panic flooded through me, along with something else. That same tingly sensation from before, but stronger now. Much stronger. It felt like someone had hooked my skeleton up to a car battery, except instead of pain, there was this rush of... power. The dark energy lines in my staff began to pulse faster, responding to whatever was building up inside my hollow ribcage.

Without really thinking about it, I pointed the staff at the rabbit and pushed with my mind.

Energy gathered at the tip of my transformed weapon—a swirling mass of black and purple that looked like concentrated malice. For a split second, it hung there, crackling with barely contained death magic. Then it launched forward as a jagged shard of necrotic energy, trailing wisps of dark mist as it screamed through the air.

The bolt hit the charging rabbit mid-leap with a sound like breaking glass mixed with a dying scream. The little fuzzy missile didn't just stop—it got launched backward like it had been hit by an invisible sledgehammer. There was a wet thump as it slammed into a tree trunk, followed by a sizzling sound as the necrotic energy ate through fur and flesh for a few seconds before dissipating.

The clearing went silent except for my heavy breathing and the faint crackling of residual death magic in the air.

"Holy shit," I whispered, staring at the smoking rabbit-shaped scorch mark on the tree. The staff in my hands was still warm, tiny purple sparks dancing along the dark energy lines carved into the wood.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Spell Discovered: [NECROTIC BOLT] - Rank: Novice
Basic death magic projectile
Damage: 30-50 Necrotic
Cost: 8 MP
Range: 30 feet

"Holy fucking shit," I whispered, staring at the smoking rabbit-shaped crater in the tree trunk. "I just killed something with magic. Actual, real, honest-to-god magic!"

"Barely," Zevrik pointed out, but even he sounded a little impressed. "That was about as weak as necrotic bolts get. But hey, for a level 1 scrub who learned the spell thirty seconds ago, not bad."

I looked down at my clawed hands, then at the staff still glowing faintly with residual energy. "This is real. This is actually real. I'm a skeleton wizard with death magic in a fantasy world, and I just killed my first monster."

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Combat Complete!
Experience Gained: 15 XP
Achievement Unlocked: [First Blood] - Survive your first combat encounter
Current XP: 15/100

"Fifteen XP," I said, grinning like a maniac—which, as a skeleton, probably looked pretty intimidating. "I'm actually gaining experience points. This is the best day of my life."

"Afterlife," Zevrik corrected.

"Even better!" I started to do a little victory dance, which was probably the least threatening thing a seven-foot skeleton with horns and claws had ever done. "I'm living the dream, baby! Magic spells, XP gains, monster fights—"

Something howled in the distance. Long, mournful, and definitely carnivorous.

I stopped dancing. "What was that?"

"Dire Wolf pack," Zevrik said casually. "They hunt at dusk. You've got maybe twenty minutes before they track the scent of dead Forest Rabbit to this exact spot."

I looked around the clearing—at the rabbit crater, at my glowing stick, at the deepening shadows between the trees. "And I'm guessing Dire Wolves are a little more dangerous than psychotic bunnies?"

"Oh yeah. Forest Rabbits are like level 1 trash mobs. Dire Wolves are more like level 5 to 8, depending on pack size. They'll tear a level 1 skeleton apart like tissue paper."

"Fuck." I looked at my character sheet. Level 1, 15 XP, two novice spells, and the physical durability of a house of cards. "Which way to the nearest town?"

"That way," Zevrik somehow managed to indicate a direction despite being a voice in my head. "About five miles through increasingly dangerous forest. Oh, and it's getting dark, so all the nastier creatures will be waking up soon."

Another howl echoed through the trees, closer this time.

"Right," I said, gripping my improvised staff tighter. "Five miles of murder-forest in the dark with a pack of wolves hunting me. As a level 1 skeleton with two weak spells and the constitution of wet toilet paper."

"Yep. Welcome to the real world, bone boy."

I looked down at my clawed hands, at the faint glow still emanating from my eye sockets, at the makeshift staff that had already saved my life once. Despite everything—the danger, the wolves, the fact that I was probably about to die horribly—I felt a grin spreading across my skull.

"You know what?" I said, starting to walk toward what I hoped was civilization. "I've spent the last ten years of my life hiding in my apartment, watching other people live adventures through a screen. If I'm gonna die again, at least this time it'll be as a badass skeleton wizard actually doing something."

"That's the spirit," Zevrik said, and for once he actually sounded encouraging. "Just try not to get eaten before you can get me some proper followers, yeah?"

The howling was getting closer. But for the first time since I'd choked on that ramen, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Even if that place was apparently a death trap.

"Bring it on," I muttered, raising my staff as I headed into the deepening shadows. "I've got magic now."

Behind me, something large crashed through the underbrush, and the real tutorial began.