Learning Is Fun...?

Khan went back to the fallen and tree and slept. When he woke up it was still day outside, destroying his internal body clock. Which should have left him with a feeling like jet lag. However, he awoke to feel as refreshed as if he'd just slept for a week. "That's strange, why do I feel so well-rested?" He asked the 'Guide' [That is due to some special attributes of Eden's environment. Everything here contains a kind of primordial energy called: Vis, which, when breathed in or consumed, helps strengthen your body and mind.] The 'Guide' replied clearly thrilled to be answering questions again.

"This 'Guide' is quite sly most of the time, but clearly loves to sound smart when answering questions. I guess that is its purpose though." Khan Mused.

[There are innumerable ways to absorb Vis such as consuming certain Elixers, minerals, plants and animals, various breathing techniques and martial arts, along with some more sinister ways. The benefits from absorbing Vis are equally innumerable but at its core Vis allows life forms to gain stronger bodies, longer lives and various supernatural abilities. The Guide tutorials will start incorporating Vis once you complete the Basic versions.] The 'Guide' helpfully added.

Feeling quite overwhelmed by this new information dump Khan eventually asked "Did the medicine paste I made recently contain Vis and if it did what effects will it have on me?"

[Yes, All plants and life in Eden have a certain amount of Vis. This increases the deeper you get into Eden but you don't need to worry about that now. By combining them into a paste in the way that you did, you unlocked this hidden Vis and by applying it to your head strengthened your skull and brain marginally. This led to you feeling better rested, as you now need less sleep than before. If you were to apply the rest of the paste to your body it would lead to similar effects, like strengthened bones, Muscles and Tendons.] After saying this the 'Guide' paused as if to think.

Immediately after hearing this Khan found this medicine he had hidden in the fallen tree and applied it all over his body.

[Be careful, however, as a method this crude will lead to various side effects such as...] the 'Guide' added when it was already too late.

Before the 'Guide' could finish it was cut off by Khan grunting, then writhing about on the ground in agony. "Last time it was just my head, but now my whole body feels like it's on fire." Khan thought miserably. He had tried to shout out in pain but every muscle in his body was clenched so tightly that he couldn't even open his mouth. His teeth making horrendous grinding sounds. he continued writhing about on the ground in grim silence looking as though he was trying to put out an invisible fire.

Half an hour later, when he could move again. Khan immediately felt as if he had shed 100 pounds. His whole body felt as light as a feather and his muscles were explosively powerful. His skin felt smoother and his muscles denser. The pain from before was instantly forgotten, replaced by the joy at his newfound strength. What wasn't forgotten, however, was the deliberate pause the 'Guide' Had left before warning him after it was already too late. "I will have my revenge." Khan silently promised.

His brown hair still in a mess from his previous bout of writing about on the floor and with a rather deranged look in his blue/green eyes Khan ran out of his fallen tree home and started jumping up and down. what followed was Khan shadow boxing; sprinting around the forest and attempting to lift the fallen tree while failing miserably. All while shouting embarrassing things like "Hell Yeah." and "I could fight superman." However, if you ignore the strangeness of his actions you would notice that he seemed to be running significantly faster than he could before and jumping almost as high as he was tall. His shadow punches also carried significant weight behind them.

After letting off his seemingly boundless energy and calming down a bit, he sat down on a patch of foot high grass and realized he was starving. As if it already knew this would happen the 'Guide' added that with his new and improved body came a new and improved metabolism meaning he would need more food than before.

"I will go find some edible plants first and then, once I have eaten I will watch the Basics of Hunting Guide. Although, I haven't seen any animals at all yet." Khan added, to which the 'Guide' responded curtly. [There are plenty of animals around you, you just don't have the necessary skills to notice their presence and track them.] Khan could only accept the logic behind this statement and with no smart reply ready at the moment, he could only head off in search of food.

As he made his way through the prehistoric Jungle he was once again spellbound by the vastness of it all. He noticed many brightly coloured and tempting fruits hanging down from the massive trees lower branches, but didn't have the guts or the ability to climb up and pluck them. resigning himself to foraging along the forest floor.

The forest floor itself was densely packed with vegetation, of which most were many times larger than what could be found on earth and Khan even identified a few Brightly coloured plants that he could tell were extremely poisonous. he harvested these very carefully using the techniques he had learnt from the Ent and placed them in a sack he had woven from various massive leaves that had fallen from the sky-scraper sized trees.

After a few hours of foraging, Khan returned to his trusty fallen tree house and after nibbling on some of the food he had gathered to check they were safe, he gorged himself on the various roots and colourful fruits that he had judged to be suitable to eat. After which, he felt a warmth spread out from his stomach and into the rest of his body. This warmth was nowhere near as violent as the one he received from the medicinal paste, but he could also tell it was also nowhere near as potent and would take much longer to show results. Finally feeling comfortable again khan lay down inside the tree, opened The 'Guide System' and entered the Guide Tutorial for Basic Hunting.

He felt that familiar feeling of zooming out of his body and projecting himself elsewhere, but his consciousness couldn't hold on. When Khan woke up he was at the top of a mountain in front of a signpost that signified a crossroads. "Welcome Hunters-in-training! to a small trial by fire! For Basic training, you must successfully pass half of the tests in only one of the 10 most common hunting environments. after this you will be qualified to leave without making us hunters look too bad." After reading this Khan was confused about what the Sign meant. after all, he hadn't needed to complete any such trial in his previous tutorial.

[Actually you did complete the trial for Basic Plants and vegetation. The trial was to understand the 1st passage of the Druid, which was engraved on the wall. ] The 'Guide' added in its familiar know-it-all fashion. "Wow! I am so talented at medicine I passed the trial without even knowing what it was." Exclaimed Khan smugly. To which the 'Guide' responded with deafening silence

Having understood that ignoring him was the 'Guides' default when it wasn't answering a question or mocking him. He moved on. not without some reluctance and turned his attention to the crossroads. With 10 paths snaking away down the bare mountain top into an impenetrable fog it looked quite rudimentary and nowhere near as grand as the Greenhouse had been. He looked at the crossroads and saw the following environments: Jungle, Forest, Tundra, Plains, Desert, Arial, Subterranean, Nocturnal, Ocean and Mountainous.

After taking all of this in, and without much thought Khan headed down the Path labelled-Forest and set off into the impenetrable fog. His vision was Quickly obscured after setting foot in the fog and he couldn't even see his own hand when he waved it in front of his face, forget being able to see the path ahead. He walked slowly through the fog, he was careful not to trip or fall off a cliff, while following the cobbled path that had led down the mountain. He eventually came across a signpost that looked as though it had been there just as long as the mountain itself.

The Sign read:

Test 1: Awareness. To track and catch prey you must rely on more than just your vision. to train your awareness and instincts to travel this path and reach your destination. Farewell, and mind your step.

The first thing Khan instinctually tried to do was see what obstacles were up ahead but, that approach instantly failed. leaving him stumped almost immediately. It was hard to tell what direction he was going in the fog and he could only rely on the cobbled path he had been walking on to tell him the way up to this point. Unfortunately, that path had come to an end right at the signpost leaving Khan with only one option "Fuck it I'm gonna trust my gut." He exclaimed and then set off grimly into the fog.

"This shouldn't be too hard. It's only a bit of Fog." thought Khan, who immediately regretted thinking that as he knew he had just raised a flag and then silently prayed to every god he could think of for safety. Then set off while paying even closer attention to his surroundings.

After having spent a few hours walking aimlessly through the fog. Khan had fallen into a few streams; nearly taken the leap of faith off of a couple of cliffs; walked into many trees and rocks and the number of times he had tripped and fallen on his face was uncountable. In this oppressive environment and under the constant threat of the unknown and even death at the extreme He started to notice that his hearing had become more acute and he felt his sense of smell had become sharper. He was now able to tell if a river was nearby before walking into it and he could roughly judge if there were any large objects in front of him by the way the wind moved.

After these minor successes, his head seemed to have swollen to the size of a balloon. Which was the only way it could contain his inflated ego. "Sure. he still stubbed his toe on the odd rock and banged his knee off the occasional tree, But, he hadn't fallen into a river for 2 hours now." Is what he was thinking when he confidently strode into a chasm and fell screaming to an ugly death.

Some say that the scary part of falling isn't the long drop but in fact the sudden stop at the end. Khan however could confirm that, in fact, they were both terrifying from his own first-hand experience, as he woke up at the signpost in the impenetrable fog screaming. His heart was trying to escape the confines of his chest; he was sweating buckets and his hand were shaking like a leaf in the wind. Khan only stopped screaming after a couple of minutes when he realised where he was.

"Aren't I dead?" He asked in a raspy voice. [You can't die in a Guide tutorial as this is not your physical body.] replied the 'Guide' with obvious mirth. [You will still feel all of the pain though.] It added inconsequentially.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?" Khan roared although his voice was still hoarse from all the screaming. [I didn't expect a genius such as yourself who can pass trials without knowing what they even are to die so easily.] Teased the 'Guide' serving Khan's arrogant words from earlier on a platter for him. Stunned speechless Khan could only reluctantly eat them and then try and figure out his next course of action.

Realising that even though he couldn't actually die. Now, that he knew how painful it would be next time he 'died'. He was even more afraid of dying than he had been before. With that sussed out, he begrudgingly stood up. Knowing that complaining wouldn't get him anywhere and that the only way for him to leave was to escape the fog by himself, his motivation to pass the trial had increased drastically. With no hope other than success, he puffed out his chest, raised his head high, closed his eyes and strode out past the sign and into the fog for the second time. Not yet knowing just how many times he would repeat those exact same actions.