BXBX NOVEL Chapter 52: The Tutorial End
Richard was never under such stress as before because he couldn't tell what would happen next.
How could the statue even activate itself? Surely, no consciousness dwelled in here, right?
Another explanation would be that Jake and Richard had cleared hidden prerequisites for something that no other player had acquired on the tutorial island before.
Jake and Richard stood side by side, staring at the statue. Their thoughts were very different because only one understood the magnitude of this unforeseen development.
For Jake, the statue's reaction was a novel-like experience.
The light draping her face made her seem like she was an angel, and Jake could have sworn he had noticed beautiful eyes shortly scanning him from head to toe.
The earthquake of the statue, which would pull the nerves of countless people on Earth, wasn't dangerous, but rather, mysterious and breathtaking—like the world was about to significantly change.
[You have been forgiven, Richard.]
A mellifluous voice much sweeter than Jake's favorite songstress whispered to Richard's heart.
Jake, however, could hear her voice. He couldn't see the entire picture behind Richard's pain and tears, but the fact that he had been forgiven meant he could start a new life.
"Congratulations," Jake patted Richard's shoulder—the older brother, however, stood petrified and rigid, unable to believe what he had just heard.
Was he really forgiven? He turned to the side to look at Jake's face. His friend's smile confirmed that he wasn't daydreaming or imagining things.
The statue's light then stretched toward Jake, wrapping him in a pillar of warmth.
Standing in that light, Jake thought all his thoughts had been laid bare to the statue. He wasn't particularly wrong about this, as the statue read his seventh-month-long journey and experiences.
From picking up the bow to crafting his arrows and equipment, Jake's battle and hard work were seen by Bellamende, whose warmth seemed to have become personal upon seeing Jake's interactions with his summons.
When that occurred, Jake was literally basking in her smile.
Though he may not have noticed that, he felt the tattoos of his summons being caressed by a gentle hand, which didn't particularly feel wrong…
If Jake could have asked for more, he would have.
[You have been given a main class.]
[The Creator Of Archer(Legendary)—Archer's Self-Tailored Class. Anything Archer touches is for the sake of his goal of becoming The Supreme Archer. His unfaltering drive, unconditional passion, and boundless talent for archery project his ambition onto anything he deems necessary for his path, establishing bonds of archery.]
[Do you accept the class?]
Jake couldn't tell how that class exactly worked.
Although a few ideas sprouted in his mind, he didn't know if anything he thought of was correct or even possible. That said, it was a class tailored based on his experiences—his class.
'It seems this class will help me get anything I need to become a better archer. For instance, with the eagle's eye crystal in my inventory, I should be able to learn stone cutting to optimize or even bring out everything I need from the crystal for a sight. Is that how it works?'
[Correct.]
'Ah!' Jake jumped. Bellamende's voice answered his thoughts! It was more scary than cool, so he couldn't have helped but leap backward and look ahead with a horrified expression.
His reaction drew a giggle from the statue.
Jake awkwardly looked away.
[You have accepted the class.]
[Your stats have been updated.]
[Archer Lv. 10 HP: 1300/1300 MP: 750/750]
[VIT: 148 STR: 563 INT: 70 DEX: 764 END: 321]
[Archery(Intermediate—X)]
Those were Jake's raw stats without assistance from the equipment, accessories, and weapons.
In comparison, most players left the tutorial island with their main stats of around one hundred points. They'd increase their stats with quests, fighting monsters, or delving deeper into their classes.
The impatience, level cap, and lack of other players around them often make most players quickly steamroll through the bosses to get the highest level possible and leave with as many boons as possible.
It's worth noting that the best of the best, serious, and more diligent players leave the island with better equipment and their man stats around three hundred points.
Naturally, there are a few exceptions, but no one has ever scratched one thousand stats points.
Jake is one of the newbie players whose stats are abnormally high.
'I feel so much stronger!' Jake exclaimed, clenching his hands. His muscles went taut, and he could feel veins rolling down his arms! 'This class also facilitates me so much… I really want to make a sight, so I should look for the crafting subclass! I also need a beast-tamer class to see more of my summons' stats and build a much better bond with them.
My legendary class will weave all subclasses with archery intent, so I can even develop my summons to help me with it… that's awesome.'
While Jake enjoyed his rewards, Richard stood behind him and warmly smiled at him.
His body had been basking in a different kind of light, eating him away. It had to be reminded, but Richard was on every tutorial island. His soul had been shattered into many pieces to work with every newbie player.
Because he was forgiven, he was freed from the shackles.
"There are no words to express my gratitude, Jake," Richard said, taking Jake's attention.
After turning around, Jake noticed Richard was half-transparent and about to be gone. The man was smiling from ear to ear and looked so excited and happy that Jake's heart didn't hurt as much as he thought upon saying farewell.
"How come it hurts me so much to see you half-gone?" Jake asked.
Richard chuckled, "Maybe because you're so selfish, you don't want to part with someone who accepted that part of you?"
Jake smiled and closed his eyes, "Maybe… well, you are kinda selfish, too, right? You must be right."
Richard grinned, "If I passed you a different bow and quiver now, you would forget about that sadness and focus on your own thing, you selfish man."
Grinning, Jake opened his eyes with a new resolution. "Thank you for everything, Richard. You did your work, but you didn't have to deal with my stubbornness and help me cope with it. I'm still taking baby steps toward archery, but that path is not soiled with any of my flaws because of you being my good friend. You also helped me understand my father back in my world."
"I have great respect for your father, so I'm glad to hear that. Ah, I really must go," Richard noticed that his legs were gone!
Jake nodded, "I'll see you on the mainland at some point!"
"Yeah, you will… I can't wait to see you at a higher level! You're going to be a hell of a weird archer, I wager! Haha!" Richard laughed, then suddenly opened his inventory and took out two items. One of them was familiar to Jake as it was a legendary trace of the legendary existence.
The last item was a book with a black frame and golden cover.
[You have completed the Legendary Summons Quest.]
Richard passed him the book and the legendary trace.
[You have received a skill book—Pet Zone Skill(Passive)]
[You have received the legendary trace.]
When those two items fell into Jake's inventory, Richard squeezed Jake in a brotherly hug before disappearing from the world. Jake patted Richard's back for the last time.
"Farewell, Jake."
"Until the next time, Richard."
A silence descended into the cave.
Darkness bloomed from within the corners as the statue's light went away.
[You have finished the tutorial.]
[You will be teleported to the mainland in five minutes.]
[Would you like to select your location?]
"Random location is fine," Jake whispered, knowing that his sister and friends would be irked by that choice. He chuckled as he imagined their reactions. That said, he didn't want them to influence his start on the mainland. He wanted to make his own decisions before at least having a party with them.
It wasn't like he could level up with them anyway, so the party he thought of was the regular fun in the restaurant.
Meanwhile, he left the cave and got onto the cliff.
[You have bounded the legendary trace to yourself.]
"Oh! We got a lady!" Jake exclaimed upon learning about his fourth summon.
He summoned her onto his palm and smiled.
A baby snake was curled up in his palm, sleeping. She looked so fragile without any scale and with her little eyes shut that Jake tenderly made a cradle from both his hands. He spent a minute providing warmth to her before breaking the cradle and stretching his hand to his inventory.
The baby snake's tongue slipped out for a second as though she disliked that!
Unaware, Jake took out the book and learned the skill.
[You have learned Pet Zone Skill(Passive)]
Now, he could summon his pets whenever he could without worrying about the time limit. Of course, if someone suddenly attacked him, the time limit would get triggered!
No one, however, could threaten them atop The Unconquerable Mountain.
Odin, Wukong, and Ender appeared on the scene.
Wukong climbed onto Jake's left arm and stared ahead. Ender perched on Jake's right shoulder and did the same. Odin stood at the group's helm like the big brother and the guard.
"We have a lady friend, guys," Jake said, gathering everyone's attention.
Ender wanted to eat the baby snake, which forced Jake to reprimand him.
Wukong carefully scrutinized the fourth summon, smiling.
Odin gently woofed and nodded—he would protect the lass!
"We will be gone from this island soon," Jake said, gazing down at the island shrouded in darkness. "Ah, Richard's gone, too… I should have given you some time to say farewell, too, but time was against me… sorry for that. We'll meet him, though. I doubt he will recognize any of us!"
Jake chuckled as his pets reacted to his words in their unique way.
Ender tried to screech with pride.
Odin woofed so loudly that the baby snake woke up and hissed at him.
Wukong raised his left hand up and down a few times, celebrating without any noise, a part of his personality that Jake and others had come to respect and accept.
"Seems like we woke up the lady… I'm Jake. This is Odin, Wukong, and Ender. We're family. You're… Medusa."
Medusa opened her eyes, revealing golden hues that shone brighter than the moon hanging above them.
Jake chuckled.
He took a last glance at the tutorial island… "I have conquered all that could be here!"
His voice echoed across the island.
A moment later, Jake disappeared to the mainland.
The tutorial island that should have been gone by now… went through a development no one was ready for, but that was a story for another time.
*Author's Note: So happy to have reached that point! It was quite a nice journey for me, and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did! I told my friend I'd ask for a castle upon finishing the volume 1 so here I am haha! If I really bothered with volumes, the next volume title would be something like... [The Big Boss Of The Training Grounds.]