Archie sprinted northwards, toward a camp made up of other people from Earth. He’d been running at full speed for about thirty minutes, his direction confirmed only by the campfire smoke and scattered flames marking his destination.
When he was about five hundred meters from the camp walls, a booming voice called out, “Stop! State your business here!”
The sudden shout made Archie almost trip. He squinted at the walls, scanning for the source of the voice. “Hello! I’m new here—I just finished the Solo Tutorial and got teleported over,” he shouted at the camp in front of him.
For a moment, there was only silence. Archie’s eyes darted along the top of the walls, where he finally spotted movement. There was a narrow walkway atop the wall, hidden by the tips of the log walls, where heads bobbed back and forth in a frantic rush. One figure, however, stood still, intently watching him.
“Approach!” boomed the voice.
Archie slowly made his way towards the camp. Looking along the wall, he saw many archers and mages staring at him with wary expressions. Why is everyone so tense? Did something happen?
Reaching the entrance, Archie saw five people decked in armor and their hands holding their respective weapons.
[Human Lv 36]
[Human Lv 34]
[Human Lv 32]
[Human Lv 37]
[Human Lv 34]
Two of them looked to be warriors, the other two looked to be mages, and the last one looked to be a vanguard. From what Archie could see, one of the warriors and one of the mages were women, while the rest were men.
The warriors still wore the gear they got from the tutorial. However, some parts of the armor looked different, while others looked more shiny. They looked upgraded; they probably used the upgrade medallions on them, Archie thought. The different-looking parts, steel, if I'm not mistaken, were made by their smiths.
The mages wore similar robes compared to the humans he saw in the gauntlet dungeon in the jungle; however they looked a bit more shabby, and their wands looked thinner with different colored tips. The vanguard, however, wore full iron armor and wielded a large shield and a mace.
No one has a helmet, Archie analyzed with furrowed brows. I guess they're unique in a sense. Maybe you can only get them from a dungeon reward or something.
The group of five guarding the entrance gripped their weapons tightly, “Hello! What’s gotten you guys all tense?” Archie asked with a confused smile.
“What do you want here?” The vanguard responded, his voice tense. His team responded in turn with guarded stances.
Archie looked at them with confusion, “Nothing, I just came over because I was told there was a camp in this direction from Xelgar.”
The vanguard was about to respond, but the same voice that had previously told him to stop spoke again within the camp: “Let him through.”
The five guards were a bit hesitant, but nonetheless, they stepped to the side and allowed Archie entry into their camp.
From within the camp, Archie saw many tents on the right-hand side, with various people leaving their tents and staring at him with a wary look. The left side of the camp was filled with various stands, Probably for Professions, Archie thought, remembering the many Professions Xelgar mentioned.
Within the stands, Archie saw people hunched over pots of various sizes and carefully stirring them. Nearby, others were sewing pieces of leather armor, and small wooden tanneries filled with animal hides were behind them. Further down, a single smith worked by his lonesome, hammering away at a piece of iron.
Not the same guy who ran out of Syllia’s smithy, Archie noticed before looking around the camp.
Archie Identified most of the people in the camp and noticed one thing. No one here has a race level higher than 41.
“Who are you?” said the voice who invited him in.
Archie turned to face the person who had spoken. I stand corrected. The man stood tall, at six foot three, clad in a full suit of armor. Probably steel, Archie thought, noting its darker shade. Iron has a lighter color.
The man had short hair, a grizzled beard, and a firm expression on his face. A large two-handed greatsword rested on his back, no other weapon on his person was visible. He was the highest level within the camp, Lv 42.
“I’m Archie,” he said, extending his hand for a handshake.
“Michael,” The man stepped forward, grasping Archie’s hand with a firm shake. “What brings you here?”
“I finished the Solo Tutorial and it teleported me to a random Group Tutorial. I got here this morning.” Archie explained after releasing Michael’s hand. “Where are you guys from?”
“Michigan. All of us here are from Michigan.” Michael responded with a faint smile. “You?”
“Illinois…We beat you last game.” Archie said with a growing smile, causing grumbles from the other men listening in on their conversation.
“That was a bullshit match,” Michael grumbled. “That last three-pointer cost us everything.” Murmurs of the other Michigan residents agreeing with Michael caused Archie to start laughing.
“Have you visited the other camp?” Michael asked.
“I was at Assistant village all afternoon. I didn’t have one at my tutorial, so I wanted to explore it a bit.” Archie answered.
Michael looked at him, puzzled. “You didn’t have one?” When Archie nodded, Michael exhaled sharply. “Holy shit, man. We barely survived—with all the plants and beasts attacking us nonstop, especially at nightfall. If it weren’t for the Assistants teaching us the basics of using our weapons and magic, a lot more of us would have died.”
“Yeah, I get it. I didn’t take this tutorial thing seriously until I nearly got killed by a wolf when I was asleep,” Archie replied, recalling the memory with mixed feelings. He almost died due to his carelessness, but it also led to him unlocking his bloodline, something that has saved his life, time and time again.
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“After that night, I went ham on trying to get stronger,” Archie said, remembering the days after the wolf attack.
“I guess that explains how you got this strong,” Michael said, looking at Archie, but not focusing on him. He probably Identified me and couldn’t see my level due to the Grade difference, Archie thought.
“You were saying something about if I went to the other camp, why?” Archie asked, causing Michael and the people around him to tense up.
“Fuck them all!” An archer shouted from atop the wall. Various other people started to shout similar obscenities about the people within the other camp.
Archie looked taken aback at the vitriolic shouts coming from everyone.
“Enough!” shouted Michael, causing everyone to slowly quiet down.
“Sorry about that,” Michael said, gaining Archie’s attention. “It's just that…the other camp is full of cultists.”
“What? Like Satanic worshiper cultists?” Archie asked, completely taken aback at the revelation. “I know there are small groups of them across the states, but I thought they were just filled with emo kids?”
Michael gritted his teeth, “I wish, but no; these people are actual killers.”
“But surely, people wouldn’t join cultists? I mean it’s in the name, cults aren’t good.” Archie questioned.
“People aren’t logical, a bunch of people were confused with the change the system brought, and others took advantage of their confusion,” Michael explained with a pained expression. “Convincing others to follow the strength of a demon since this was ‘obviously’ the work of the devil himself as god would never punish us.” Michael’s tone turning sarcastic towards the end.
“Okay, but surely, this Satanic cult couldn’t fight against your numbers, you have like five hundred people here compared to their hundred. Why worry about them?” Archie reasoned.
“At the beginning, we had seven hundred people in this camp, but now we number five hundred,” Michael explained. “Oliver, their leader, did something to them…They didn’t act like humans; they went berserk attacking everyone and everything in sight…We think it was some type of brainwashing.”
Archie looked at Michael in shock, “Brainwashing?”
“We don’t understand it as anything else,” Michael said with a grim look. “People we’ve known for years suddenly going 180 and killing everyone in sight isn’t normal. Especially when they were killing people, they started frothing at the mouth and screaming about demons.”
“When did this happen?” Archie questioned.
“It was around a week or so ago. It was a normal night, everyone was eating by the campfire, joking around. But all of a sudden Oliver said something that caused people to start frothing at the mouth and start killing people left and right. Not all of them were frothing, but nonetheless, they were killing people left and right as well.” Michael explained.
“By the time everyone got their bearings together, it was too late; too many people died. We managed to kill a good chunk of them, but Oliver and everyone else who started killing people escaped.” Michael said angrily.
“But that shouldn’t be possible at F-Grade for him to do. Especially with how fast this all happened.” Archie said, still confused by what Oliver did to brainwash so many people so fast.
“Before any of this, some of the people who went berserk admitted to seeing Oliver during their hunting trips. They recalled blanking out afterward and later coming to, alone in the forest. We interrogated Oliver, but he always had an alibi.” Michael said as he stared at the campfire. “It might not be brainwashing, but he did something to them…to change them completely…”
“Okay, I’ll be on the lookout. Got a description of Oliver?” Archie asked, This sounds a bit off, like how can one guy manage to pick off people who move in groups and single them out as often as they say he did…Then again with the System in place, maybe some skills can brainwash people. Might even be a bloodline; Bralmir said bloodlines can be anything. Who's to say it can’t grant people the power to brainwash people?
“Oliver is six foot one, has short blonde hair, green eyes, tan skin, has a Mage class, and is an Alchemist.” Michael described.
“Okay, got it. I’ll be on the lookout for Oliver. In the meantime, you guys got any food? I’ve been eating burnt goat for the past month.” Archie chuckled trying to bring up the somber mood.
“Come, follow me to where our chefs are,” Michael chuckled as he led Archie towards one of the stands off to the left.
Everyone who was observing Archie, the only E-Grade within the camp, soon returned to their previous mood, realizing he had no relations towards the cult camp.
As Archie and Michael approached one of the stands with a large stone oven and small campfires. In front of the stand stood a woman who looked to be in her 50s, her blonde hair threaded with streaks of grey. “What can I do for you dearies?” She asked with a smile on her face when she noticed Archie and Michael.
“Hello, Mrs. Evelyn. How are you today?” Michael asked with a smile.
“I’m fine thank you, Michael. Would you two like some chicken casserole?” She smiled.
Archie’s eyes zeroed in on the casserole; his mouth watered as he stared at it. Michael chuckled at his expression, “Can we have two large slices, my friend here hasn’t eaten a meal other than unseasoned cooked meat for a month.” Michael chuckled
Evelyn lost her smile; she stared at Archie with horror in her eyes and put a hand atop her chest. “Y-You poor dearie…Please eat as much as you need.” Evelyn handed Archie a large plate of casserole and some wooden utensils.
Archie carefully used his spoon to grab a large scoop of casserole and placed it in his mouth.
Fireworks exploded in his head, his legs became weak, and his body shook.
Archie opened his eyes after he swallowed the casserole and immediately ate another scoop.
After Archie finished the plate of casserole, he looked at Evelyn with a face filled with gratitude. “If you need anything at all, just ask. I mean anything.”
Evelyn softly smiled, “Thank you, dearie. Tomorrow morning I’ll make some omelets and at night I’ll make kebabs.”
“Have you paid anyone with your Tutorial Points before?” Michael asked Archie in between bites of his similar-sized plate of casserole.
“No. How do I do that?” Archie asked as he had read that he could transfer Tutorial Points, but he hadn’t done it yet.
“You tap the back of your palm against the back of the other person’s palm and consciously think about how much you want to transfer to the person. A prompt will appear asking for confirmation after you do that.” Michael explained.
“Nice. How much do I owe you, Mrs Evelyn?” Archie asked.
“Everything should be 30 points, it’s a bit pricey today, I used a lot of my vegetables and chicken meat to make them,” Evelyn answered.
Just 30? That’s a steal, Archie thought, while tapping the back of her palm with his.
Payment Transfer
Do you wish to transfer 100 Tutorial Points to Evelyn Hill?
Archie mentally confirmed and saw 100 points disappear from his status page. Eveyln looked at Archie with worry, “I think you sent the wrong amount dearie; this is too much.”
Archie waved his hand dismissively, “Not at all. This was the greatest meal I’ve eaten in a long time, and I’ll be back for more.”
“Thank you, dearie. I’ll be sure to give you an extra-large slice when you do.” Evelyn smiled as she took the plate from Michael. The grandma vibes are insane, Archie smiled.
Michael gestured for Archie to follow him as he walked towards the tents. “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but there aren’t any kids within the camp. We have people of all ages, but no one under the age of 18.”
Archie nodded; he had noticed it when looking at the people within the camp. The youngest person he saw looked to be around 18-19 years old.
“We have an assumption that there is probably a separate tutorial for them, but we don’t know for sure. We’ve tried asking the Assistants, but they couldn’t tell us anything other than that the kids were safe and nothing bad would happen to them.” Michael informed.
“Noah, my son—he’s 12. I was just with him before the system teleported us away,” Michael replied, noticing the concern on Archie’s face.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Archie said, sympathetically as he placed a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Since this whole tutorial seems designed to help us, I’d assume it’s doing the same for the kids. They probably have their own tutorial, with Assistants guiding them in a more hands-on way.”
“We can only hope.” Michael nodded, grateful for what Archie said.
Arriving at one of the larger tents, which looked to be three meters tall and six meters wide, both Archie and Michael walked in. Archie looked around and saw a leaf-filled animal hide mattress with a similar-looking pillow and blanket.
“Here’s your tent, you can stay here if you want unless you have somewhere else to stay,” Michael said, causing Archie to chuckle.
“Thank you. Is there anything you need me to do, I assume that everyone has to pull their weight around here. And I don’t wanna be a freeloader.” Archie asked.
“If you kill any high-level animals, try and trade their corpses to the tanners and chefs, or if you find anything interesting just say. Other than that, if we are attacked and you’re here, we would appreciate your help.” Michael answered.
“No problem, I get a place to chill and eat great food, helping out is no problem at all.” Archie smiled
“Thank you.” Michael clapped Archie on the back and left Archie’s tent, leaving Archie alone in an almost empty tent.
Once Michael’s footsteps faded away, Archie summoned his bed and lay on it. Everyone here seems nice, I’ll go check out that blacksmith tomorrow morning.