Mark sat in the chair, settling back with a relieved sigh as his hunger finally abated. He thought back to his recent advances.
He’d finally figured out how to level up, and it wasn’t by fighting, as he had expected, though keeping the essences around would likely help. His Pathways should help with keeping them from dispersing. Meditation and comprehension were the way forward for him.
He had to increase his understanding of the Cosmos, and the rush of energy he felt proved he was far from good enough. While it was a lot of energy, it all felt hollow, and he could only conclude that his Insights and Concepts were too shallow. His plans going forward would be to keep fighting and working on his comprehension. He knew he could gain a lot of insight from meditation and inspecting the energy flowing through his pathways when he did, but he would also spend a lot of credits on books.
The bookstore was a cornucopia of knowledge, but the targeted, thorough books cost a lot.
He had saved up a significant sum, though, so he could afford a shopping spree, but that would have to wait, as he had to take on another mission. he was unconscious for longer than he’d thought, according to the notification he received.
[10 minutes remaining on mission dead-line.]
He rushed out of his house to the square and leaped on the crystal just in time. Seconds later, he found himself in a dark, damp tunnel with a huge rat charging him.
***
Mark stood in front of the mission crystal, heart racing. That was the last one.
Six months was the duration of the Tutorial, apparently, and the final mission was just finished. Wounds covered his body, but they were already scabbed over.
He’d been up against a hive of giant ants, and he was nearly overwhelmed, but he pulled through.
And, now, it was over.
He had improved over the last months, and he couldn’t help but look over his status as he waited for the hundredth time.
Name: Mark Johnson
Race: Karphan Human(F)
Class: Child of Cosmos
Level: 13
Stats:
Strength: 36
Dexterity: 38
Endurance: 39
Intelligence: 2426
Wisdom: 62
Free Points: 0
Truths:
* Cosmos
* Space
* Void: +120 Intelligence. +15% Intelligence.
* Movement
* Distance
* Fabric: +120 Intelligence. +15% Intelligence.
* Tear
* Sharpness
* Phase: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Isolation
* Shift
* Star
* Radiation: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Heat
* Light
* Fusion: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Burst
* Collision
* Matter
* Gravity: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Mass
* Density
* Orbit: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Motion
* Spin
Skills:
Cosmic Manipulation
Blink
Cosmic Eye
Chakram Mastery
Spatial Sense
He had shifted everything over to Intelligence, changing his truths to fit his build better, or rather to make them fit him better. The System helped when first discovering the truths, but that didn't make them perfect for him; now they were much closer. According to the guides, it was supposed to be something incredibly difficult, but once more, Mark felt it was too easy. Did his bloodline help with this? Was it his Cultivation or Body Method?
No matter what it was, he had a sinking feeling that something terrible was coming. There was no way he’d earned all this, so something had to break for balance to be maintained.
He shook his head and looked around to avoid falling into a downward spiral.
On the first day of the Tutorial, the square had been packed full; now, only he and four others remained. By Mark’s estimate, over a thousand people had died. They had lost over half of the remaining ones during this final mission, apparently, and the other four looked dejected, fearful; if this was the Tutorial, what would the real world be like?
The guide reappeared on the stage and looked at the five of them with sadness.
“You five have survived,” she said. “Now, you are owed an explanation.”
They perked up, not expecting that. They wondered if this was representative. If only five out of a thousand people should survive. If so, it didn’t bode well for their loved ones.
“To start, your Tutorial was abnormal. Ordinarily, you should have been given far more guidance and starting equipment. You should only have needed to take on a weekly mission rather than a daily one. On behalf of the System Administrators, I apologize.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Apologize?” said an unsteady voice. “Apologize! You fucking apologize?! Who the hell do you think you are?! You come here to our world and put us through hell, only to say it should have been easier, safer? And, now you apologize?”
The speaker was a slight man, wielding twin shortswords and leather armor. He stomped forward, approaching the stage, but a barrier appeared before he could reach the elf. The other three looked pissed as well, but Mark still found it off. Now the System Guides and Administrators said it was harder than it should be, but he still breezed through. The sinking feeling only got worse.
“Fuck you! I lost all my friends, and my family is probably dead too, and you’re fucking sorry?! Well, that’s not good enough!”
The elf looked at the man, but her gaze changed. She had looked sad and apologetic, but as his rant continued, Mark saw steel enter her eyes as they grew colder.
“I can sympathize, I assure you but do not take that tone with me. I did not make the rules,” she said with iron in her voice. “Settle down, and be quiet before I make you regret it.”
Her words held a hidden power as the ranting man stumbled backward and fell on his ass, seemingly mute.
The elf closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she continued.
“As I said, this Tutorial was abnormal. We noticed early on and have spent months trying to figure it out. Our conclusion… is that the System is pushing for something particular. Most Tutorials over your world have gone normally, but there are a few that have been abnormal, and we can only assume it was to push a few elites to the foreground. For what purpose, we don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” This time it was a woman who spoke. She had a bow slung over her shoulder and a quiver at her hip. “How do you not know? Aren’t you an Administrator?”
“I am, but you seem to misunderstand our purpose or overestimate our authority,” the elf responded. “We have certain privileges over others regarding System access and can push certain things through, but the System is ultimately autonomous. We only deal with certain situations and handle any issue the System does not have an easy fix for.”
None of the others looked appeased by that, and the guy who ranted at the elf was still muted. Mark was just confused.
“As such, you shall get a secondary reward. You will be transported to a separate, private space where you will get a list of possible rewards. Regardless of how you feel about this Tutorial, I advise you to pick something, as your future will be tough, no matter what.”
She stood silently for a minute, waiting for someone to speak up, but when nobody did, she teleported away.
The Tutorial Square around him disappeared the next moment, and he found himself standing in a sterile, white room. In the center of the room was a table with two chairs opposite each other.
The elven woman sat in one and gestured for him to sit in the other.
Mark sat down and looked at the woman before him, but she said nothing.
“Is it possible to ask for information?” Mark asked after the silence grew awkward.
“Of course,” she said. “Although, some information will be quite expensive.”
“Why was my Tutorial so easy?” he asked. “When everyone else’s was lethal? I doubt they all chose the hardest difficulty, so what’s up with that?”
The elf smiled before answering.
“You had it particularly easy due to your bloodline and heritage, though that first test where you had to escape the forest clearing was your own achievement,” she said.
“You possess a deep heritage that goes back millennia, though it wasn’t natural. When you passed that trial, the System considered you a worthy candidate. When you held off on your advancement and worked on your understandings, and cultivation method, you earned the bloodline.”
“So, everything up until that was all me?”
“Not quite,” she shook her head. “I’m afraid the System was bound by covenant. While you were a candidate, it couldn’t push you too far, and once you earned it, the System was fully bound. So, it made the Tutorial easier for you, though that was only relative to the rest of your peers. It was still harder than what should have been.”
Mark sat in silence for a while, considering the new info.
“As for your advances on your Truth, that is also due to your bloodline. You gained the fundamental Truth of your ancestry due through it, but your most recent shift was still an impressive achievement. Most can’t pull that off until far later, usually spending years at the end of F-grade to reshape their path.
“Why did my bloodline grant me these Insights? That can’t be normal.”
“No, it isn’t,” the elf gave a crooked half-smile. “The Karphan race was a supreme race. That means, as they grew up, they would naturally rise through the grades. An adult, Karphani, was at the border to C-grade. You are already an adult, so the bloodline, with help from the System, gave you the fundamentals, as any Karphan child would know about that by the time they reached F-grade.”
So, basically, nothing he achieved was his own, barring the shift in his Truth.
“So, is there anything else?” the elf asked. “Due to you gaining a somewhat simpler Tutorial and the System demanding all that info be fairly expensive, you have around a third of your merit remaining.”
Mark had thought about what he was missing, and thanks to his decent collection of books and one of the mission rewards being a spatial storage ring, he had what he needed to start enchanting, but he lacked the materials.
“The metal used in my chakram,” Mark enquired. “How much does that cost?”
“Well, the metal itself is rather cheap, as it only gains value if used by a spatial mage, but the System has restricted me from giving you more weapons.”
“I don’t really need it to be a weapon. I simply want some more rings, so to speak. I have an idea, but I need more of them for it to work.”
“Same size?”
“No, two smaller and two larger, each to fit inside the other,” Mark said, using spatial magic to form a series of expanding rings.
“Ah! You intend to make an amplification array? Ambitious,” raised her brows and smiled at him. “Not many can do that this early.”
“Well, with how easy it was to gain the Insights, I decided to focus on something else, like a hobby that would advance my spellcraft. It really helped my mana shaping.”
“Certainly. One moment, and I shall see.”
Mark leaned back, hoping for a positive reply. It took no more than a minute before he got his answer.
“The System accepts, but they will not be infused, so you’ll have to find an area rich in spatial mana on your own before you can make use of the rings. I assume your chakram will be the central ring?”
“Yeah, that’s right, and no problem. I’ll deal with it.”
Not a moment later, four rings appeared on the table—each a dark gray rather than black and without the starlights within, likely due to the lacking spatial infusion.
“Now, with that out of the way, I wish you luck in your future endeavors.”
The elf waved her hand, and a portal appeared behind Mark. He pulled the rings into his storage ring and turned to leave but stopped.
“I might be out of bounds, asking for too much, but is there any way for you to let me know if my family is alright?”
The elf said nothing, but she threw an object at him.
“That’s a compass that will lead you to them, their last location, or where they should have reappeared after the Tutorial.”
“I thought I had gotten everything I could?”
“The road there is quite dangerous, even for you. You will be sufficiently tested on the road, and the compass doesn’t tell you if they live until you either find them or don’t.”
“I see… Thank you, anyway. Good-bye.”
“Go forth, and prevail.”