Ah, shit.

  Mason sighed and looked around, trying to block the sun out with his hand so he could see. Well, the system certainly wasn't lying when it said I would be alone out here. He was in the middle of a desert. Other than some cacti, dry plants he doesn't know the names of, and some big rocks scattered around, there was nothing around, just sand as far as the eye can see. Mason slowly sat down on the ground and crossed his arms over his knees. Ok, what do I need to do. I have the water and food from my class as well as the stuff in my emergency backpack so I should be good for a while. That means I should probably put shelter first on my list of things to find. Deserts get really cold at night right? Hopefully getting sunburned shouldn't be too much of a problem, with my armor and clothes I'm mostly covered. Alright, let's do this, go team. Right as Mason was about to stand up, he got a notification.

  [Hello all sentients of Earth and welcome to the tutorial. The tutorials objective is for every human on earth to figure out their soul power. The tutorial will only end once every human has figured out their soul power or 3 months have passed. (Note: If you do not figure out your soul power within 3 months your safety cannot be guaranteed.)]

  Mason slowly stood up after reading the notification. Well that's encouraging, I better get moving I guess. Nothin' to it but to do it as they say. Mason looked around and after a few seconds picked a random direction and started walking. And walking. And walking. Hours passed walking through the insanely hot and sandy desert. All of Mason's clothes were coated in sand and he'd stopped trying to get the sand out of his boots hours ago.

  Holy shit I feel like I've been walking forever. I must have been walking for at least a few hours now and the scenery hasn't changed at all. It's just sand, cactus, rock, bigger rock, sand. Mason decided to look for someplace to sleep for the night. After everything that had happened he needed to rest. He climbed on top of a hill to get a better vantage point and spotted a rock that could make a decent stopping point for the night.

  When he was about halfway to the rock he saw originally he stopped and turned to look at one rock he was about to pass. He originally hadn't even thought about using this one because it was mostly surrounded by cacti and the outcropping wasn't that large. But now that he was closer he could see that there was a hidden cave entrance behind some of the cacti. This is a great place to stop, it's covered on all sides and hopefully the cacti will keep bigger animals out.

  After scoping out the outside, He couldn't find any place that was less dense with cacti then any other. Guess it's time to use this thing. Mason thought, looking down at the longsword strapped to his side. Pulling it out of its sheathe he felt the weight in his hand, it was very light. He gave it a few practice swings to test it out. As soon as he started to move it around, lines appeared in his vision. This must be my Novice Swordsmanship skill. Well I don't have time for this right now unfortunately, it's starting to get dark. Mason looked up at the sky, the sun starting to set on the horizon. He went back to the side he was originally on with the cave entrance and lined up with the first cactus before using his longsword to cut off spines that would touch him when he walked through.

  After almost an hour of mindlessly slicing pieces off of cacti Mason was starting to get bored. Man, this is taking forever. I should have just walked through and gotten a few scrapes. After another 20 minutes, he managed to clear a path from the outside to the cave mouth. Finally, at least it was worth it. Looking around the cave, he saw it was around 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep. Plenty big enough for him, and it didn't look like anything else was living in here either. Alright, time to get my backpack so I can finally eat and drink some water, I'm so thirsty. He went and grabbed his backpack from outside and was bringing it back into the cave when he felt a prick on his hand. He saw he had gotton scraped by one of the cacti spines. "Ah, stupid fucking cacti. After all that time I went to trimming these things" He said and broke off the offending spine. Making his way into the end of the cave he set his backpack down on the ground and sat leaning against the wall next to it.

  [You have been poisoned! -15HP]

  "What!" Mason tried to stand up upon receiving the notification but immediately felt extremely woozy and fell down face first onto the ground. He turned over his hand where he got pierced by the cactus and there was a large rash that was spreading down his arm. Shit, I'm gonna kill those fucking cacti. [-15HP] Ok, calm down and think. Is there anything in my status that could help me?

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  [Status:

  Name: Mason Decker

  Race: Human

  Grade: Unranked

  Class: Warrior

  Level: 0

  Dao: N/A

  Soul Power: Unknown

  Magical Affinities: Unknown

  Spells: N/A

  Health: 150/180 (Regen 10/5 mins)

  Stamina: 200/200 (Regen 10/30 secs)

  Mana: 140/140 (Regen 10/30 mins)

  Debuffs: Poisoned (-15HP/20secs)

  Passive Skills (1/5):

  Novice Swordsmanship (Basic)

  Active Skills (2/5):

  Power Strike (Common)

  Novice Grit (Basic)

  Titles: N/A

  Achievements: N/A

  Stats:

  Strength: 9

  Dexterity: 8

  Endurance: 10

  Vitality: 8

  Perception: 7

  Wisdom: 5

  Intelligence: 4

  Willpower: 7

  ]

  [-15HP]

  Shit, this isn't good. Maybe Grit can help me? How do I use active skills? "Grit!" Mason shouted. Nothing happened. "Grit!, Grit!, Fucking Grit piece of shit!" [-15HP] Mason took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down to slow the spread of the poison. Does that even work anymore? He thought. Mason felt like his skin was bubbling, his stomach was churning. He slowly crawled over to the entrance of the cave and started emptying his stomach. He tried to get some on the cacti out of spite but only ended up slipping and landing in his own vomit. He was in too much pain to care at this point.

  Wait, I have a health potion in my backpack. Mason looked over at his pack, sitting on the floor at the opposite end of the cave from him, now seeming so far away. He started crawling his way over to his backpack, the uneven stone ground scraping his hands and face, but compared to the pain the poison was causing him he could barely feel it. [-15HP] He had to take breaks every few feet to writhe in pain, or catch his breath, or to dry heave.

  Just keep crawling. [-15HP] This was Mason's mantra as he continued the excruciating journey to his backpack. He felt like he was crawling for hours even though he knew it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Then, a wave of pain like nothing mason had ever experienced came. He writhed around on the floor, trying to find some respite, from the pain, there was none. He clasped his hands into fists so tightly that he drew blood, but he couldn't notice, the all consuming pain was too much. Then, finally, the sweet release of unconsciousness. When Mason awoke, he felt like a dried husk. He had no energy, but at least the pain was gone. In fact he couldn't feel much of anything at this point. Before he could think about it too much however, a notification appeared in front of him.

  [Missed damage notifications: [-15HP], [-10HP], [-10HP], [-10HP], [-10HP], [-10HP], [-10HP], [-10HP]]

  Mason snapped to attention, checking his Health total: [Health: 5/180] Shit. Crawl, crawl, crawl! Mason crawled as fast as he could towards his backpack. dragging himself along the ground by his hand that didn't get poked. The other one was completely numb. He wasn't going to make it. Even assuming his last damage notification came right before he woke up he wouldn't make it to his backpack in time. Grit! I never got Grit to work. Maybe that can save me. Maybe it works like pulling up your status? Mason closed his eyes and thought about the skill in his mind and thought Grit! He could feel his muscles tightening. the ground didn't scrape against him as hard when he crawled. yes! Take that poison, try getting through my Gri-. [-10HP]

  Mason stared at the message in front of him, his stomach dropping, but the end never came. He pulled up his health again: [Health: 5/180]. Staring at his health total in confusion, Mason realized something. Wait, my health regen! It must have just regenerated before that last tick! Mason started crawling towards his backpack with renewed vigor, casting Grit as he went to make the trip more bearable. Finally, he reached his backpack and pulled out one of his health potions before pulling out the cork and chugging it as fast as he could. [Health potion consumed. +70HP]. Mason leaned up against the wall, letting out a long breath before pulling out another health potion and downing it as well. [Health potion consumed. +70HP]. Before he could grab the last health potion from his backpack, unconsciousness claimed him.