FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Through this door will begin your tutorial," She says, putting one hand on the outside of the door but not quite opening it. "If you resist doing the tutorial the chip will take over. Also keep in mind that on the other side of this door is a rather special area. You'll be able to do things in this kind of area that simply don't work outside of it. Get used to the feeling of this change as you'll have to make full use of your abilities in the days to come, just remember that they won't outside the arena. This may be the last time we ever meet, so good luck."

With that she opens up the door and I'm shocked already by the extremely different environment. Whereas the area before looked like the interior of a ship. A lot of surprisingly colorful corridors, but at the same time all very much large, square corridors. On the other side of the door looks almost like the interior of a forest. There's even grasses and everything else I'd expect to be on the outside. Perhaps I was just inside some building all this time? But the chip doesn't give me the time to really take it all in but immediately starts walking me into the room. As soon as I pass the threshold, I feel something immediately stirring within me. I stare at my hands, feeling a sort of tingling sensation simmering just beneath the surface.

I can hear a loud beep to my side and see a large sign seemingly out of nowhere. It's showing an animation of picking up a staff with a giant arrow at the bottom to what looks like a fairly ornate staff of some kind. When I stare at it for a moment, I feel the compulsion start slowly, as if warning it'll take over rather than simply doing so. I move over and pick up the staff and instantly feel that sensation growing much stronger than it was before, as if the very act of holding this staff is driving the inner sensation wild. The staff itself is actually rather light though in a somewhat awkward spot in regards to length. Definitely far too long to be used as a walking cane and far too short to really considered a full staff. It's actually about as long as my tail.

As soon as I've picked it up the screen turns to green for a moment before vanishing into the ground. I then get a beeping to my right as I see another screen apparently having shown up. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just keep using the first one. But this new sign is showing a picture of a cartoonized me aiming the staff forward and then lines coming from my arm and through the staff and then something coming out of it. I don't really understand what all it's talking about but then I feel the control chip start making its presence known in my arms. Wanting the sensation to go away I attempt to mimic the behaviors of the model but nothing is coming out. I attempt to do it again and still nothing happens. The chip goes into full force and I feel a sort of internal twitch and then what feels like a jolt of electricity moving through my arm into the staff and a second later a small fireball seems to fly out of the staff and flies out from me before crashing into the ground some twenty feet away. Thankfully it doesn't cause the grass to catch on fire. I'm quite shocked at what just happened. It looked like somehow I personally made that small bit of fire.

I ponder how such a thing could be at all possible but I do remember what she had just told me. Trying to move my legs from the spot triggers the chip to activate and root me on the spot. On top of that I can feel the chip starting to activate in my arms again. A tutorial, indeed. I'm certain based on how things are going thus far that it will probably keep me rooted on this spot and going through the motions over and over again until I have finally proven that I can do it on my own. I pay closer attention to what the chip is having me do. It's not so much just mimicking the view on the screen, it's actually pulling at some sort of internal muscle or something. I get a feel for what it's like to use it as it takes complete control over me and forces me to go through that act again. With a bit more knowledge of what I'm doing I try and copy the sensation and it's extremely awkward and the ball of fire flies extremely wide but I am able to accomplish this bizarre effect of somehow sending fire from my hands.

The screen to the side turns green and then some large targets show up. Guessing what it must obviously mean I make an attempt at repeating the effect and try to aim at the targets. I am not that good at aiming and my first shot goes wide but thankfully the chip doesn't seem all that interested in reprimanding me, just keeping me rooted to the spot until I complete this challenge. I guess it wouldn't make much sense in forcing me to be accurate when it's something I'm supposed to be learning on my own. But it's incredibly difficult to tell where it's going to come out of the staff. I do seem to have some control, but it's a matter of flexing a muscle I didn't even think I had until a few minutes ago. The interesting part of it as I'm trying to hit the targets is that it doesn't seem to be making me feel at all drained, as if it were nothing for me to do this act. I mean if it's holding me to this spot to attack these targets either the effort used is trivial or perhaps the location I'm at is somehow restoring whatever it is that I am losing from trying these fireballs. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out eventually.

Eventually I'm able to hit all the targets, though I still suck at aiming. As soon as I do so I hear a chime and a table shows up out of the ground with what looks like an armband of some sort. A sign shows up out the ground behind it showing the stylized me putting it on. Knowing how this place seems to be operating I move over to the table and pick the thing up. It doesn't look like all that much, but then again a stick let me shoot fireballs so who knows what this one does. Considering I'm holding the staff in my right arm I figure it's only fair I slip this thing onto my left since the sign doesn't really seem to indicate which one it goes on to. The moment I do I would have fallen right no my ass if the chip hadn't caught me and painfully kept me on my feet. With the band now on my arm there's a sort of holographic display extending off my arm a few inches. On top of that looking down I can see another sort of display on my chest and something appeared over my eyes as well. The one over my eyes seem to be mostly just there to highlight things for me at the moment. I look down at the one on my arm and see a bunch of buttons that must do some things which I'm sure I'll be taught all about soon enough. There is also a couple of bars, one green and one blue. I guess this must be like some sort of status screen for me?

Trying to check something I move my arm and squeeze that internal muscle again and fire another of those little balls of fire and note how not only does the chip not seem to be at all concerned about me shooting things out at the time being but that nothing on the status screens seem to change, further alluding to the notion of it having no real charge. To break any illusion I had had so far about whether this was the real world out in some forest or something and not some artificial room either on a spaceship or way underground there is a small yellow trail forming from the ground heading off in some direction. I follow it, wondering where it'll end up taking me. It's not like I have any choice in the matter otherwise. As I walk I take a look at my surroundings, almost certain that everything I see is fake. And it looks quite impressive. It genuinely looks real, just with a glowing path that I'm following. Even the wind against my fur and the smells and sounds of the air seem completely authentic. And that is something that definitely will take quite a bit of getting used to. With the fur it's kind of like the feeling of wind blowing through your hair, but all over your body all at once. Not only that but also on an appendage that ordinarily shouldn't even exist. But what's more dramatic of a change is my senses of hearing and smell. It's almost like a little computer running around my brain with both of those senses. I can smell so many more things than before and if I focus I can even filter out as much as I want and only trace a few of them. And my hearing not only can I pick up a lot larger variation in the frequencies I can pick up but also with them constantly moving can pinpoint where I am. Most spectacularly, and even more proof that I'm not on a planet anymore, is that I can just barely make out an extremely high-pitched hum reverberating through everything, coming from one direction. Meaning I can not only hear the engines, but also tell where they are in relation to myself.

I'm guessing as a way to make sure I really know how to use my new body the path leads me to what looks to almost be a somewhat simplified obstacle course. Thankfully nothing like in the movies of trying to scale up a wall or go under barbed wire. But there is a ramp with a sort of track that would push me down that I have to get up as well as a few locations that I have to jump. And a few targets that I can see. But all in all fairly simple stuff. And would be a piece of cake if I wasn't in this strange new body. It takes a little while but I am able to eventually do all this stuff. Thankfully, so long as I'm at least making the attempt at progressing the chip doesn't seem to making any effort to force me. Which I'm definitely thankful for. Last thing I would have wanted was for it to try and force me to learn how to run and cause me to fall over and start back at the bottom. I will say that running is definitely very strange with my new leg configuration. Running itself actually feels somewhat easier for me than simply walking or standing as strange as that sounds. But I do also notice that this body is most definitely in good shape. Even running as fast as I can on the last of the inclined escalators I find I'm barely even having that much trouble with breathing and have no problem still aiming about as well as I had before.

I can see some sort of structure coming up ahead of me. It seems to be cylindrical in shape with a giant gun that's easily twice as large as I am at the top and a pretty wide-open entrance at the bottom. And the golden path seems to be leading me right to it. I don't entirely know what all I'm going to be doing there but I can reasonably assume that's where the next part of my tutorial will take place. Inside I find the place to be fairly empty, though it does have a map of the area, which looks to be fairly small, with this and one other tower being the only things visible.

"So you're the one they're giving the tutorial for," a voice says, shocking me slightly. I turn around trying to find the source but don't seem to see anyone. "Over here, love," the voice says and this time I notice a sort of golden looking coil with a little mouth having dropped and a monitor on it as well.

"Um, hello?" I ask, noting how the chip doesn't seem to be forcing me to do anything at the moment.

"Don't worry about the chip," the mouth says. "They've found that when doing a tutorial it works best to get them ready for the next part to let them talk to someone that's had to deal with it for a while. Give me a moment and I'll be right down." The coil starts to spin and I can hear some mechanisms moving around though the mouth seems to stay in the same location. "If we just force people to try and clear they become extremely emotionally fractured and become worthless as champions. And then they don't tend to last all that long when it gets to the normal matches."

What eventually comes down from the coil doesn't look human. In fact it doesn't look like any animal I can think of. The closest I could probably come up with would be a sort of combination of snake, human and elephant. And yet despite the strange appearance I can see that their eyes look to be completely glazed over. They don't let go of the wall, using touch to navigate a bit closer to me.

"Hello, I am called Reshiin. I shall be your tower for this tutorial."

"My tower?"

"Ah yes," he says, waving one arm in a general motion over the entire structure while the other maintains contact with the wall. "I run this place. In many ways when I've hooked myself in I pretty much am this place. I control the turrets, I help guide, I help you get your items, help you heal. I can do all sorts of things. Can't choose who I target though, I have very specific rules regarding that that I must follow. It's annoying but that's what it is. Now in the next stage of your tutorial you're going to be expected to clear minions while also showing you what all your abilities do and how to tap into them."

"Clear minions, as in," I say, half dreading the answer given that I can now throw fireballs at things.

"You kill them. But before you get squeamish I want to tell you one important thing about them. They aren't real. Well, they are physically there. They're nothing more than a biological shell walking under defined rules. They are not truly alive. They exist only during the span of time when they are spawned and when they are killed. And if you don't kill them, either our own minions will kill them, or I will if they get into my range. Being hesitant will not do you any favors. You can't save them and honestly it makes no difference. There's nothing upstairs for them anyway. If you really don't believe me, then try talking to them. See if you can get any sort of response."

"So what is the purpose of this game?" I ask.

They shrug. "Don't think there really is much. But it keeps them from waging war on the worlds. I've seen pictures of worlds scarred by interstellar wars. As for what your goal is, it's quite simple. Kill minions, clear the jungle camps, kill the other champions on the other team if you can. Two ways to win this game. Kill every one of their heroes nine times or destroy their towers and attack their central base. I'm sure your world had games of some sort. They have mechanics like that in here. Killing anything rewards experience and gives you a bit of money. Experience makes your abilities stronger. Money gives you access to survive better or do more damage. I'll let your team explain that more to you. Point is, I want you to go out there and not think of this as actually murdering things. This zone is special, not even a champion dying is more than a minor issue here. Anyway, I'm going to go up and trigger the waves for you. Feel free to just watch a few waves before going out there. You'll have about five waves before your chip activates."

And with that they raise themselves back up that coil and I grip the staff that I had been given, truly considering what all I have been thrust into. And despite him telling me not to worry about it there is still a few implications with what I've been told and it'll just take some time to fully wrap my head around. Eventually I find that I simply have to listen to his advice and watch what these confrontations will look like.