A full day of cultivation gained me another level and I was pretty sure that I would get the next one soon. Unfortunately, it was clear that the energy I needed increased with each level. I wasn't sure what I should do with the attribute points though. Every spell I had relied on Wisdom but I was concerned that I would turn into a one-trick pony if I relied on it. Plus the physical attributes were important, I needed to move faster and if I needed to fight without my spell I would be screwed. I went back and forth about it for a few more minutes before I made my choice. I put all three into Wisdom. The new shield spell made the difference. It was both my sword and shield and I couldn't afford to experiment with things without more knowledge. The latest titles also made a big difference. Honestly what I needed was something to compare myself to. I had doubled most of my attributes which was great but I couldn't tell where that placed me in regards to the wolf let alone a proper cultivator. I was sure I was toward the top among all the humans in the great tutorial.

I was pulled from my thoughts when the dull hum spread through my room. A mix of anticipation and excitement built in the pit of my stomach, it was time for the next quest. After a short walk, I stood amongst a sea of faces, as we all waited to hear what we would need to do. The mood was somber as if we waited to hear the verdict from a jury. Only that was a lot more hands-on. The volcano person sighed and shook his head. "Hello, it is time for your second assignment. As before you will be sent to a new location to either explore an area or defend an area. Perform your best and reap the rewards." The man almost seemed less interested than last time but there was nothing else to be said. The familiar sensation of teleportation took over and I closed my eyes.

When I next opened them I stood in the grounds of a medieval castle. The ground was churned dirt and the walls had seen better days. I didn't need the quest prompt to tell me that were in a castle under siege. Which meant that we had to defend this place. I tried to do a quick count of all the people around but there were too many people. A moment later the System's voice filled my mind.

Defend the Castle from all invaders until the time limit expires. Remaining Time: 11:59:59 Time till Attack: 2:00:00 Reward: Species Pill, Attribute Fruit.

I raised an eyebrow at the reward as the excitement in the pit of my stomach ignited like an inferno. I wasn't sure what the species pill would do but the attribute fruit sounded similar to items that existed in video games. It should improve some of my attributes. Despite my excitement, I had no idea what to do about the situation. I had no experience defending a castle nor did I know the first thing about warfare. I wasn't even sure what part of the castle had to be defended. If the gates were breached did that count as a failure or did we have to prevent entry into the throne room? Before I could decide on what I should do next a shrill whistle filled the air. I turned ready to blast whatever monster had found its way inside only to find a group of men. The trio wore regular street clothes that had seen better days. Two of them had two-handed swords while the third had a thin long sword. Once they had everyone's attention the one with the long sword spoke up.

"I am Lieutenant James of the U.S. military. I don't know many of you and I imagine you are reluctant to fight but if you do what I say we will live another day." He gestured to the men on either side of him. These are Privates William and Adam. We need each of you to line up in front of us and reveal what skill or spells you have. Once you do so we will give you an assignment and break you up into groups. Now form up and be ready to receive further instructions."

I raised an eyebrow at the trio as people tripped over themselves to form lines. I guessed it made sense. These three sounded official and represented order in a chaotic situation but I wasn't convinced. There was no way they knew more about the situation than anyone else. We didn't have the System on earth and I didn't think they had somehow figured out the secrets to the tutorial. There were no extra lessons as far as I knew. Thankfully someone else had already gone down this line of thought.

"Why should we listen to you anyway?" I couldn't see the speaker but the voice sounded male. It was like his question had disrupted the ingrained obedience in the crowd. The people closest to the voice stopped moving while the people further away moved with less urgency. I turned my attention to the trio curious about how they would reply.

Lieutenant James stepped forward."For starters, the three of us are level four already. We also performed well enough to receive a second skill after the last quest. Finally, we knew how to fight and kill before everything went to hell." A glance told me that the man's words had hit the desired effect. The rest of the crowd started to gather but I decided against it. One thing that I had gathered from the System was you needed to make a name for yourself. The people who favored safety would struggle to perform well. I stepped away from the crowd and made my way toward the outer wall. It didn't take me long to find a staircase that led to the top. What I saw at the top made me shake my head. A massive forest stretched into the horizon. Even the smallest of the trees was the size of a skyscraper back home.

"Are we fighting humans?" I asked no one. The System's message only said invaders. I assumed that it would be human or at least human-shaped beings but what if it was something that could use the forest better? "We should clear out the trees," I remembered something from a show on the History Channel a few years ago. You were supposed to clear out the trees to allow archers to take aim and stop people from using the trees as covers. Did we even have archers? Before I could return to the group I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and found a dark-skinned man looking at me. He was bald and had a bow slung across his back. A quiver of arrows on his right side. It was a bit hard to tell but he looked like he was in his late thirties or early forties.

"I noticed you didn't gather up like everyone else." I wasn't sure if he was asking me a question or if he was just stating a fact. I nodded to him before gesturing to the forest. "I wanted to get a look at what we were dealing with. See it for myself you know."

"Do you know anything about defending a place like this?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I vaguely remember a show on the History Channel about sieges. I am guessing we don't have to worry about food so most of that is gone. We should clear out these trees if possible."

He looked out over the wall for a moment before he nodded. "You think that trees would be cover for our enemies?"

"Yeah, well not just that. I am worried that ranged combatants will struggle to hit the trees in the way. I doubt we will have the energy required for a protracted battle."

"That is what I thought as well. Yet you don't seem worried. Twelve hours is a long time to survive in the thick of battle."

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I nodded my agreement. "I would say it's more like the calm before the storm." I chuckled dryly. "I am terrified about it honestly. I had assumed we would fight people or at least people-shaped things but what if that's wrong? We could fight an assortment of who's who from mythology and ancient history for all I know. Tangled up with that fear is something else though."

He raised an eyebrow in an unasked question. I hesitated for a moment. It wasn't that I didn't want to share. Honestly, it was more that I didn't understand what I felt. It was like a part of me craved it. The fight itself would be terrifying but the results would be amazing. Two or more levels, maybe a new title? The attribute fruit at the end. Whatever a specified pill was. I wanted it all. "A hunger. A hunger for more attributes, for more levels for more power. In two hours I could have it all if I am strong enough to take it."

We stood in silence after that. I wondered if he thought that I had lost my mind and honestly maybe he would be right. It hadn't even been a full week but it felt like things had changed. Well, they had in a sense the old order was gone. At least in the tutorial, there was no government, no authority besides the System and the workers. Out here there was only survival not only survival we were told what to do.

"I will stick with you." I blinked several times as I came back from my thoughts. I had completely forgotten he was there. He must have seen something in my expression because he continued almost immediately. "I don't mean to assume but you are the only person here who doesn't look terrified at what's to come. There is a calmness to you and I would rather work with you than the others."

"What level are you?" I looked him up and down and he looked pretty strong though it was hard to know if he had always looked like that or not. "What's your name."

"Tyrone, Tyrone Ingram, and level 3. I have a skill that lets me shoot energy arrows from my bow. I can either create an arrow out of energy or imbue an arrow with energy."

I nodded. "Amari, Amari Jackson. I am at level 6." His eyes widened at that which made me chuckle. "Let's just say the experience from my first quest was mostly given to me. I don't have the best experience with teams. I can't guarantee anything but you are welcome to fight with me."

He nodded. "Do you think we have the time to cut down those trees?"

I shrugged. "Honestly I have no idea. Let's go and see if anyone has an axe to do it with or if they have the strength to do it. Those trees are massive." He nodded and fell into step behind me. I returned to the main ground and found the three lines were making progress but it was clear that it would be a while until they were done. The issue wasn't even the amount of people, it was the groups that had formed. Each time one of the three tried to send a person somewhere they would request that another person come with them. They would then need to convince them to either move on or change up the groups. This was made worse by the fact that not everyone had compatible skills and spells. It was a bit like watching someone herd cats only there was a literal timer on all of us.

I took a chance to approach the trio after a particularly tough situation when a mother and son were brought up. The boy looked to be in his late teens and had a great sword while the mother looked like she was in her forties and held a martial arts staff. The pair refused to do anything that meant they wouldn't be with one another. As the timer ticked down the trio of soldiers were forced to give up. It didn't help the duo were both level three and could throw their weight around.

"Stand in line like everyone else we will get to you soon." The Private Williams said with a grumble. When I didn't move he looked up at me and shook his head.

"We should have some people attempt to cut down the trees outside the walls. I am worried that whatever we fight would be able to use the trees as cover against our range combatants and they could climb them to get over. They might have skills or spells related to tree manipulation as well." I decided to get straight to the point to avoid the whole fight of authority and control but it wasn't meant to be.

"I appreciate your concern now return to the line and we will get with you in a moment." He placed a hand on his sword hilt in a not-so-veiled threat. When I didn't move he held out a hand to the next person in line. The poor woman looked like a deer caught in headlights as he moved toward me. He glared at me but before it could come to blows the Lieutenant got between us.

"Now just what's happening over here?"

"I was in the middle of explaining why we should have some people attempt to cut down the trees outside the wall. At least the ones in front of—"

"And I was explaining to this civilian that we would address his concern after we finish with the accounting. We need a proper understanding of the weapons at our disposal before the fight begins."

I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at that. "I doubt most of the people here have had a chance to understand how their skills and spells work nor do I think they have any ideas on how long their spiritual energy will hold out in a fight. We need to start taking action."

"Listen we appreciate the effort but for now we need to gather information. Your idea with the trees is good but if those trees are anything like the ones from my previous quest then it would take hours to get through them. Unless you have a skill or spell that would help?" I shook my head. "In that case could you let us continue? What level are you?"

I considered lying about it but quickly decided against it. I worked hard for what I have and risked my life for my levels so why shouldn't I be proud of it? "Level 6 though I imagine at the end of this quest I would reach seven or eight."

The duo stared at me for a moment as if they weren't sure how to respond. Part of me wanted to push my luck with it but I decided against it. Ultimately we had a job to do and this wasn't helping. "Right well, I will see what else I can learn while you do that." I turned and stepped away from the group not wanting to get dragged into another argument. I looked around until I spotted Tyrone and then invited him over. I decided to go and do a quick search of the grounds. There might be weapons or an armory or anything that would help the defense of things.

It took us nearly thirty minutes to search the castle and we made a few discoveries. The first was that there was a fully stocked armory though the weapons weren't as strong as the things the others had gotten. The Bows and Arrows were nothing compared to the ones that Tyrone used. Still, I found a dagger that I could use if things got really bad. The more important discovery was that there was a throne room and as soon as I entered it a prompt from the System told me that it was the designated zone. We had to keep any enemies from reaching the throne to succeed. When I informed the military trio they immediately insisted on moving their command inside.

Despite our minor conflict I had to admit that their goal made sense. They had arranged everyone into three groups of front liners, long-range and in-betweeners. The arrangement reminded me a bit of ancient Roman Legionnaires but without all the big shields. I had no way to know how many of them would hold in the actual fight but it was pretty good. I did make a note that I wasn't on their lists at all which was interesting. Not because they didn't include me, but because they didn't insist on it. They more or less let me do what I want. Tyrone settled in as my official bodyguard which was a bit funny. The rest of the people stared at me with a wide range of emotions. Some of them looked like they hated me for not joining the teamwork drills while others were curious as to why none of the three military guys seemed to care.

Despite our best efforts, the air was solemn. A bit like someone held a sword over all of our heads. A sword that slowly approached and that would eventually kill some of us. I sat down on the wall alongside a group of archers as the timer counted down. Part of me felt like an army would appear out of the sky like some kind of Sci-Fi movie. Of course that didn't happen. Instead, the timer hit zero and the voice of the System filled my mind. A glance told me that everyone else heard it too.

Countdown has Ended. Commencing Attack now.