As Leo stepped through the portal, his vision darkened for a split second before quickly returning. He swiftly got his bearings and looked around.
He found himself in a large hallway, walls made of steel. It was enclosed with only one massive looking door at the end—almost like something one would see in a secret agent facility. The walls were blood stained and scratched up as if some kind of beast had torn through. His mind immediately went to Ashley and her whereabouts when he heard a voice.
“Leo?” she said quietly, a faint glimmer of disbelief in her voice.
He looked down to his right and sitting with her knees to her chest and arms wrapped around them was Ashley, red eyed and scared, looking up at him.
“Hey, I, Uh, came to help?” Leo replied, doing a terrible job of sounding heroic.
She looked at him in awe for a moment before speaking, “Is everyone else coming too? I tried to leave but the portal is gone.”
Leo glanced behind him and noted that what should have been the blue portal was just a solid wall.
“Just me I’m afraid. It wouldn’t let me add people to the party since I wasn’t the leader. Bit of an oversight of the System if you ask me, but I didn’t make the rules,” Leo said, voice harsh.
“You should have just left me to die alone, clearly this place just wants me dead.” She began tearing up again. “Now you’re going to die too.”
“I have no plans on dying,” Leo said firmly. “This place seems safe enough for now even with all the blood and gore everywhere.”
“It’s not safe,” she whispered, as if remembering to be quiet, suddenly clamping her hands over her mouth. “There’s something lurking behind the door. It was making noises right after I got the notification.”
Right as Leo was about to ask what notification, one appeared in his vision
Welcome to The Beast Pens
Quest Received:
A once renowned facility in raising beasts for battle or other means has become corrupted by an unknown mutation. The beasts run rampant, fueled by a lust for blood. Discover the source of the corruption within the facility and put a stop to it.
Source of Corruption discovered: 0/1
Reward: Varies upon completion
Time before exit becomes available: 23 hours, 56 minutes
Right as he finished reading, the large door at the end of the hallway rattled out as something impacted it. Then the ear wrenching sound of claw on metal screeched out as whatever it was drew its nails across it.
Leo winced and Ashley covered her mouth again as if trying to stop herself from crying out. He had to admit that it was really terror inducing, even if he himself was unafraid. He could understand why Ashley was scared.
The noise suddenly stopped. Leo figured that they couldn't get through that door, which probably made this hallway some kind of safe zone. They could both hold out here for 24 hours until they were allowed to leave.
“Looks like it can’t get through,” Leo whispered, “we should be pretty safe.”
She seemed to relax a little and breathe a bit more calmly. “Thank god. I thought we were doomed for sure.”
As if the System waited for them to relax before interrupting, the bang on the door sounded out once more, but with much more force. The metal hinges on the door started to rip off, bending the entirety of it.
That door was coming off, and whatever was behind it was coming through.
“Okay Ashley, let’s do this. Try and use your shield if it looks like it’s going to hit me—whatever it is,” Leo instructed.
Ashley got up and stood nervously behind Leo, the door still being wrenched from its hinges bit by bit as whatever was on the other side impacted it.
“What if it just kills you instantly?!” she asked, panicked.
“Then… I’m sorry I couldn't save you.”
Leo’s heart raced. He hoped whatever was coming wasn’t something completely bullshit that would end him without even being able to fight against it. He really did want to save her.
The door busted down with a resonating crash and what stood before them was something definitely not of Earth. Or at least, not anymore.
It was a large wolf-like creature, but it was… wrong. The beast stood almost the same height as Leo. Its muscle heavy frame was covered in welted flesh and scars, thick brown fur and two sets of jaws in its singular head.
That’s a lot of teeth…
It growled—angry and menacing. Sickly purple drool dripped from its double maw when its beady, corrupted eyes saw the pair. It prowled towards them, each step hitting the metal ground with a heavy thud.
Leo wasn’t afraid. Intimidated, maybe—but fear wouldn’t keep him alive here. He identified the creature.
Corrupted Dire Wolf - Level 10
“Oh boy,” he muttered to himself, suddenly less confident.
Level 10 was the highest he had seen so far. This thing would no doubt be powerful but not insurmountable. With a healer giving him shields behind him he could go pretty hard.
He didn’t wait for Ashley to panic, moving before it did. He took the initiative by charging down the hallway.
There was enough room to have two of these wolves side by side in here, so there was room to move around. The wolf responded in kind.
The two met in a clash, Leo throwing a Powerful Haymaker towards its head as it opened its large maw, ready to chomp down. Leo stopped his punch mid swing and dropped low, in an attempt to sweep the leg out from under it.
The jaw clamped shut above his head, a loud snap of all the teeth clattering together echoing through the hallway. Leo’s foot shone dimly with the power of Mana Strikes as he focused on pouring stamina into Fuel the Fire.
The foot connected with the slim leg of the wolf in a sickening crack as the bone came apart. It looked like he had hit a weak point as it jumped back in alarm, landing, it didn’t put weight onto its foot and now held a look of caution.
Leo thought it would have been reckless and attack with non stop aggression after reading the System prompt about corruption and bloodlust, but this thing had enough intelligence to be wary after a lost engagement.
With an effective point of attack, Leo’s goal was to take another leg out, hoping to fully cripple the beast.
He didn’t let the beast rest and kept up the assault. He swung his fist towards its head again, hoping to bait it into another bite.
It took the bait and Leo crouched to dodge, going for the other leg. It lifted its front leg up in reaction and clawed across his arm, he was about to wince as he prepared himself for pain before a golden light covered his arm.
The shield shattered as the blow hit him, but he had taken minimal damage and only a small knockback. He grabbed onto its leg with his other arm, negating the knockback, and slid underneath, getting to its flank.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
He then unleashed a flurry of mana infused jabs into its side, but the damage was negligible through its thick hide, even with Fuel the Fire running. This thing was tough.
It spun its head around to bite him in a manic state. Thankfully, it couldn't turn its full body around easily with only three working legs. Its maw snapped for his legs but came up short, giving Leo an easy opening.
He charged a fully infused Powerful Haymaker and smacked down hard on the beast's double maw from above.
The blow connected with incredible force, blood and gore splashing over him. Also taking a sizable chunk from his stamina. Its many teeth proved to hurt it in this case as several tangy yellow teeth were now coming through the top of its long jaw. One of the teeth embedded itself into Leo’s fist, he grunted from the pain.
Quickly stepping back, he looked upon the state of his foe. Its teeth pierced through its own skin, its legs broken, but still, its eyes carried life, and more—bloodlust. It growled angrily in its throat, a deep reverberating sound that made Leo’s chest rattle as it locked eyes with him.
Turning its body around towards him. It slowly wrenched its jaw open, the teeth sliding through the holes in its face. The sight was gruesomely hardcore. The corner of Leo’s mouth tugged upwards in a slight smile, excitement and adrenaline rushing through him.
The Pugilist didn’t give it a chance to open its jaw fully as he ran full speed, jumped, and put a foot onto the wall, pushing off towards the creature. He swung his leg into a mighty kick at its still opening face.
It tried to tilt backwards in response but in doing so, instinctually tried to put weight on its bad leg and froze from the pain. The beast was sent reeling as the foot connected.
Not letting up now, he continued his barrage of attacks; kicks, punches, elbows, knees—anything he could land was sent towards his wounded foe. He was inhibited due to his fist being bloodied, with a tooth hole through it, but that didn’t stop him.
The wolf got a few more hits in but nothing more than slight scratches due to Ashley’s impeccable timing and skill with her shield skill.
He had definitely underestimated her ability.
The wolf was on its last legs, figuratively and literally. It could barely stand after the repeated assault. Leo’s stamina wasn’t doing too hot either, Fuel the Fire combined with Mana Strikes taking a real toll. Not to mention this thing’s high Vitality and Toughness, forcing him to land even more hits.
Luckily his health was still sitting pretty high thanks to the healer behind him. The wolf had not even spared her a glance—a mistake on its part.
It was time to finish this. He slowly walked towards the struggling beast as it tried to remain standing. It attempted to bite out but feebly collapsed in the attempt, its eyes closing in defeat.
Leo stomped on the beast's head until it stopped moving. A plonk sounded out as Leo collapsed down too, completely exhausted. Ashley jogged over to him to make sure he was okay.
He was better than okay, thanks to some incoming notifications.
You have slain: Corrupted Dire Wolf - Level 10
Experience increased for defeating a higher-level enemy
+30 Store Credits
Your Pugilist Class has reached Level 7
Stat points distributed
+1 Free Point
Your Pugilist Class has reached Level 8
Stat points distributed
+1 Free Point
Two level ups from one fight felt amazing as the power trickled through his veins. Truly a reward for his efforts. He took a look at his updated stat page, managing to bring up just the stats.
Name: Leonidas Hawkins
Level: 8
Race: Human (F)
Class: Pugilist
Health Points (HP): 208/290
Mana Points (MP): 94/200
Stamina Points(SP): 43/230
Stats
Strength: 25
Agility: 34
Endurance: 23
Vitality: 29
Toughness: 15
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 14
Will: 18
Free points: 2
His Agility was now his highest stat by a decent margin. He felt his strength was lagging a bit behind during that fight and added both free points into it. Again, completely ignoring Toughness.
Ashley had joined him at this point and had begun healing what little damage he’d taken, the cuts and scratches started visibly mending as Leo looked on in awe. He still hadn’t gotten used to how cool it was, he hoped he never did.
“You’re insane, you know that, right? Who runs up to a giant wolf and proceeds to start punching it?” she asked rhetorically.
Continuing, she chuckled. “Guess you live up to your name, Leonidas.” She smirked.
Leo’s face froze as he slowly turned to look at her, she must have seen his full name when he joined the party.
“Relax, I won't tell anyone. Not that you should be ashamed by the way, it’s a great name! Very heroic.”
Leo sighed. “It was my Dad’s favourite movie, no idea how he convinced my Mom to accept it. Maybe made a deal that she could name the next one,” Leo said, reminiscing.
“What’s their name? Of your sibling, I mean,” Ashley asked gently.
“Her name’s Natalie. Way more normal right? She’s currently across the country studying medicine. I really hope wherever she is that she’s safe. I’m definitely going to find her once I get out of this Tutorial.” Conviction was clear in his voice.
“That’s sweet,” Ashley said, smiling. “She’s lucky to have a brother like you. My family is a mess. I barely see my parents, had a bit of a fallout due to me not wanting to be part of my Daddy’s company. I thought that after I met Derek that my life would get better, and it did! Until he gave me up to those men. The bastard.” She spat the last word like a sour taste in her mouth.
“Speaking of bastards, that rat bastard Jasper pushed me into this fucking place on purpose! Didn’t he? I hope he dies out there too.”
“I almost did the deed myself after I saw him do it,” Leo said, fists clenched. “He claimed it was an accident but I don’t believe it. He was always glaring or scowling at me whenever you and I spoke. I don't know why he pushed you, but once we get out of here I’ll be getting some answers. One way or another.”
Ashley nodded. “Thank you again for coming in to help me, I’ve known you for like two days and you’ve already saved my life twice. You may not be as hot as the guy from 300 but you’re my hero,” she beamed, completely unembarrassed.
Leo couldn’t make eye contact with her after that and just smiled down at himself, a bit of red in his cheeks hidden by the blood of the wolf. He wouldn't admit it, but being called a hero felt really nice.
Deciding to think about anything else, he looked towards the corpse of the dire wolf. Leo wondered what happened to it for it to become so corrupted. Wolves don’t just grow a second set of jaws on their own.
Or maybe they do now? It’s not like the ants got that big on their own.
He moved closer to get a better look.
The wolf began to vibrate as if it was coming back to life. Leo got ready to fight, preparing to put this beast down once again as he pushed Ashley behind him.
But instead of coming back to life, the beast dissolved over the course of a few seconds, as if whatever was keeping it together was no longer viable.
The flesh melted, and in less than a minute all that was left was a stinking puddle of what used to be wolf.
In the puddle however, there was a dim transparent crystal. Leo reached down and gently extracted it from the mess, getting a noise of disgust from Ashley. It looked a lot like the Essence Crystal used to unlock his first Essence skill, he identified it.
Essence Crystal (F)
Used to unlock an Essence skill based on bound stat.
Multiple Crafting or Alchemical uses
It was an Essence Crystal! Now the choice was whether to get his healer another skill or unlock one of the 7 he was still missing.
“Is that an Essence thingy?” Ashley asked, peering from over his shoulder.
“Sure is. Which one of us should use it?”
“Pff,” she scoffed. “You, of course. Maybe find a new way to hit things other than punch.”
“I don’t just punch things you know.”
She just lifted one eyebrow to him as if prompting him to continue his argument.
He didn’t.
Instead, he used the crystal.
You have unlocked the Ice Essence Skill: Ice Spike (Common)
Ice Spike (Common)
Condense a small spike of ice to impale your foes. The spike will cause a slight creeping frost effect if the attack is effective.
Scales with Intelligence
Cooldown: 3 Seconds
Did the system just give him… magic?
Leo could barely hold his elation as he read the skill text over and over, making sure that he wasn’t seeing things. He didn’t know how to activate it but desperately needed to try.
Ashley was waiting, excited in anticipation, empathising with Leo’s clear joy and trying to hold back her curiosity as Leo just sat there.
“Well? Did it work?” she asked impatiently.
In stunned amazement and a prankster looking smile upon his face he replied, “I'm a wizard, Ashley.”
