Instead of the sheer darkness that he saw when teleporting into the tutorial, Dante was surrounded by an overwhelming ocean of white light as he teleported out. He tried to make out some details of his surroundings, but before his eyes could focus on anything substantial, the squeezing sensation synonymous with teleportation disappeared as it dropped him into an oddly familiar room.

Dante gave it a cursory glance, noticing that both the walls and floor carpet were a creamy white colour. There was also a queen-sized bed pushed against the wall, a walk-in bathroom to his left, and a set of double doors leading to a built-in wardrobe on the same wall as the bathroom. Tucked into the corner of the room opposite the bathroom, beside the door leading to the hallway, was a wooden desk with textbooks and stationery scattered across it…right where he remembered leaving them.

The room didn’t look familiar, Dante realised. It was familiar.

It was his room, and no matter where he looked, the evidence just kept piling up to support that theory. His school bag was right where he left it, sitting on the floor as it leaned up against the foot of his bed. The bed was made, but the white duvet cover was a little uneven and creased where he laid down when he got home from school. And the room held a vague hint of lavender, likely wafting off the washing basket of freshly laundered clothes beside his bed.

But none of that could be right.

Dante had spent many hours discussing the three phases of the tutorial with Laurelai. The first phase, for example, was often called the culling trial. The system threw a bunch of people into a possibly deadly yet easily survivable scenario. Such as having to hide under a tree-sized crystal for an hour while a group of hawks flew overhead.

Those that died were either unlucky or such “dead weight”, as Laurelai called them, that they would only be a detriment to those who excelled later in the tutorial. These were the kind of people that would text and drive or not look both ways when they crossed the street. Idiots that would be too prideful to lift a finger while everyone else toiled in the fields after the world ended. Fools who would create discord between group members, possibly getting people killed by the internal conflicts.

The system wanted people to excel, so why not get rid of the hindrances that only got in the way?

The second phase, on the other hand, was often called the adversity trial. Instead of dropping people off into a deadly cavern or a forest overflowing with monsters, the system would create a scenario to disempower and break a person’s pride, giving them the motivation to grow rather than hide away and wilt. And that meant being dropped off at a village in the tutorial space and having two options; starve or get to work.

That was only one of the thousands of possible scenarios for the second phase, but they all shared the same goal: motivate people to better themselves and teach them how to survive in relative safety. Laurelai said it also taught you to be resourceful of the things you had and mindful of the things you didn’t. The last thing the system wanted was for its talented initiates to starve to death because they mismanaged how many rations they would need or failed to manage their budget and had no money to buy medicine.

To cut a long story short, the second phase sent you somewhere else. Somewhere foreign so that you could get a grasp on how to survive. It did not send you into an illusion of your own home because that would completely defy the purpose of the tutorial.

So if he was really in his own home, that begged the question of why he was kicked out of the tutorial early? Dante glanced at the inert egg in his chest, no longer consuming him since it had been fed recently, and wondered if it was because he activated the ritual? After all, the quest said to discover the purpose of the ritual, not to steal the egg it was holding captive and let it feed on your flesh.

Dante bit his lip as a million different questions swirled around his head. Getting kicked out of the tutorial wasn’t as likely as him being trapped in an illusion of some kind. And if it really was an illusion, meaning he was zonked out of his mind in some random forest in the tutorial, then that meant he could trick the illusion.

Kneeling next to his bag, Dante pulled out his phone and called Michael. As the phone rang in his ear, he remembered something Laurelai taught him and pulled out his laptop. He quickly opened an article on a French nuclear fusion reactor, finding a whole slew of technical terms and details he had never heard of, then moved on to some recent history related to American politics that he was pretty familiar with.

By the time Michael answered, Dante was able to confirm the two tricks Laurelai taught him. The first was that an environmental illusion, which was the type that warped the environment rather than directly affecting a person’s senses, wouldn’t be able to recreate something that he knew. By looking up information on a topic he was familiar with, Dante confirmed that he wasn’t in an environmental illusion as the political article matched what was in his head.

The article on nuclear fusion, on the other hand, was able to prove that he wasn’t affected by an internal illusion that warped the senses as it was too detailed to be made up by a creature as intelligent as an animal. This was done by researching something he knew the basics of, like the French nuclear fusion reactor, then going on to learn about a slew of other technical terms and details he had never heard of. There was simply no way for any random beast capable of illusions to extrapolate humanity’s current knowledge on nuclear physics based on what was in his head, meaning that the article had to be genuine.

Dante sighed in relief as he confirmed that he wasn’t hallucinating. Laurelai had told him that most creatures capable of illusions would trick your senses then inject you with a paralysing agent. Once you were well and truly poisoned, forced to just lay there like an unmoving husk, the beast would release the illusion and slowly eat you while you were still alive…

Not the best way to go if Dante was honest with himself.

“Hey, bro,” Michael said, not sounding shocked at all despite him going missing for three weeks. “How’s it going?”

“Good, good,” Dante muttered, thinking back on the first phase of the tutorial as he glanced at his clock. He remembered that it had been eight-o-clock when he woke up and was teleported into the tutorial, but now it was five minutes to eleven. “Just been fighting monsters and learning how to move things with my mind. Usual Friday night, you know?”

“Right on, brother. That expensive Thai restaurant was really good, by the way. Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. I might have overeaten, though, but it’s alright since I get to taste it again every time I burp.”

Michael laughed at his own joke, but Dante was sure he heard Michael’s mother telling him to stop being rude in the background.

“Wait,” Dante said, his eyes widening as his mind processed the words. “You mean the Thai restaurant you went to for your dad’s birthday?”

That was impossible. Michael went to the Thai restaurant three weeks ago, which was the same day that the entire world should have entered the first phase of the tutorial.

“Yeah, you asked me to tell you if it’s good earlier today when we walked home from school. Have you eaten yet? My dad wanted to invite you to dinner with us, but you left before he could ask you. He felt bad, so the best we could come up with was getting you some takeaway. We can drop it off now since we’re driving home if that’s okay?”

Dante had no idea what was going on, but when he read the date and time in the top right corner of his laptop, he saw that only three hours had passed since the tutorial started for him. The tutorial was supposed to be a real-time experience, meaning he should have missed the last three weeks of his life and been legally declared missing if no one else entered along with him.

“Hello? Dante? You there?”

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“Uh, yeah. I’m here.”

If he wasn’t in an illusion, then where was he? The tutorial or the real world? Laurelai had told him that all tutorials were hosted in alternate spaces, and they were always different to the home planet in order to force people to acknowledge that-.

“Laurelai!” Dante shouted, opening his window to look outside. There was nothing to be found, but he couldn’t help calling out to her a few times. He had been in his room for more than five minutes, yet Laurelai still hadn’t appeared, meaning that he definitely wasn’t in the tutorial any longer.

There were a few things about the tutorial that never changed, and that was the presence of a guide. All three phases would give him, a peak-grade talent, a guide to explain the coming and goings of what was happening. And yet, his guide was nowhere to be seen.

“Hello? Dante? You keep cutting out or something man, I’ll talk to you when I get here.”

“No, wait! Come to my house as soon as possible and stay the night. We need to talk right fucking now.”

“A sleepover? We’re a bit old for that, but it’s a Friday night. Let’s do it. Maybe we can get a few drinks and some pretty ladies around-.” Michael stopped talking when an audible smack came through the phone. “Hey, that’s domestic abuse! You can’t smack me just for making a joke! Besides, you always harp on about wanting more grandchildren, don’t you?”

Dante heard some mumbling from Michael’s mother about how he needed to go back to church before Michael said goodbye and hung up, leaving Dante to sit in silence and look at his notifications. He had received a few the second he finished teleporting, but he didn’t dare to look at them when he thought he was in danger from the second phase of the tutorial.

Now that he was safe and out of the tutorial, he could spend some time sorting out his thoughts and his menu.

Congratulations! You have gained two new titles. Would you like to add them to your Title list?

Titles

Monster Slayer: First of your race to kill a monster in the world. +5% all stats.

Warrior: Defeat an enemy in a trial by combat. +1% to all stats while in battle.

Warning: Career Titles cannot be removed once added. Title ‘Warrior’ will be tied to your existence, removing your ability to gain titles such as ‘Craftsman’, ‘Socialite’, ‘Stalker’, and ‘Industrialist’.

Would you like to accept these titles?

Yes/No

Dante clicked his tongue as he accepted the prompt. Somehow he still hadn’t received a title that gave a set number of stat points rather than a percentage increase, which were apparently the most common. He knew he should be grateful since flat increases became less useful over time, but it felt quite annoying getting the percentage increases when he didn’t have any stats to multiply.

As for the career title, Laurelai had already told him to accept the ‘warrior’ version in passing. Whether it be the ‘socialite’ or the ‘industrialist’, each provided a slight boost to specific actions. Craftsmen gained an increase when they processed materials and constructed items, socialites while in social settings, and industrialists working in their particular field.

Next, Dante opened his menu.

Name: Dante Alighieri

Race: Primal (Human)

Level: 2

Titles: Prime, Apex Talent, Primal Elite, Monster Slayer, Warrior.

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Endurance: 0

Vitality: 0

Perception: 0

Wisdom: 0

Intelligence: 0

Willpower: 0

Dante sighed as he silently wished for a class. He automatically gained four stats every level since that was the least he could possibly receive, but since a certain parasite consumed half of his reward, he technically didn’t gain the single stat point he should have. That didn’t mean he had lost the stat; he just had the energy stolen from him before it could consolidate itself.

It would recover once he killed a few more beasts.

Common Quests

The First Step [2/10]: Reach level 10 and pick a class. Reward (Energy Circulation Manual tailored to your energy pathways).

Unique Quests

Truth Seeker [0/1]: Investigate the ritual and discover its true purpose. Reward (1x G-grade Mapping Extension).

Completed Quests

Survivalist [Complete]: Escape from the Blood Cavern and complete the first phase of the tutorial. Reward (1x G-grade equipment, 10x G-Grade Essence Crystals).

Would you like to collect your rewards?

Yes/No

Dante accepted the prompt, causing the Survivalist quest to disappear from his menu. Two wooden boxes appeared on his bed a moment later, then two literal treasure chests appeared by his pillows, causing the mattress to sink down from the sheer weight of them as gravity took hold.

“What the fuck,” Dante muttered under his breath, taking a step back in case something fell on him. He silently wondered for a moment if the essence crystals were massive or if he misread the quest rewards.

Dragging the two massive trunks off his mattress and dropping them onto the ground, Dante pushed them neatly against each other by the bottom of his bed. He initially didn’t know if he should throw the chests away or keep them after looking through their contents, but they lined up quite well with his queen-sized bed and looked really stylish. The dark wood and flat lid matched his desk as well, surprising him quite a bit.

Did the system give him matching furniture on purpose?

Unable to hold himself back, Dante opened up one of the two smaller boxes first, the lid popping off like it was sealed. Inside the small box was a folded piece of white fabric that bulged out. He hoped there was something substantial underneath, but from the weight of the package, it looked like the gift was the fabric.

Pulling the fabric out, Dante found himself holding a piece of clothing that resembled a singlet. The shape was that of a cotton singlet, but the similarities ended there. It was so unbelievably soft on his fingertips that it made silk feel rough by comparison, and the fabric was so light it felt like he wasn’t holding anything.

If a gentle breeze came through his room, the singlet might get blown away more easily than a plastic bag.

Dante put the singlet on his desk, weighing it down with a textbook before opening up the other tiny box. Inside were ten crystals the size of a marble, each giving off a gentle, almost soothing glow. They reminded him of the crystals inside the Blood Cavern, but these were multi-coloured rather than staying one colour before shifting to the next.

Dante picked one up and put it in the palm of his hand. It felt solid like any other crystal, but it gave off a soothing warmth rather than coldness. Holding it up to his eye, Dante could spot a fourth colour shifting under the other three. Red, blue, and white danced around the surface, but he could just barely see a bright green liquid hiding in the core of the crystal.

Laurelai had told him about Essence crystals. They were rocks that absorbed a lot of primal aura, causing them to turn into crystals that could store energy. They were an excellent resource for meditation as primal aura was everywhere, but in the case of the essence crystals, all the power was condensed into one easily harvestable orb.

It’s almost like comparing it to the electricity in a battery, while primal aura is the kinetic energy generated by rubbing your socks on a carpet.

Since primal aura was free and could be acquired anywhere, essence crystals saved a lot of time and effort for a small cost. They could also be used to recover your energy quickly after a fight, but specialised healing resources were apparently more efficient and cost-effective.

Next, Dante looked through one of the two chests and was shocked to find a whole bunch of chemistry equipment in one. Beakers, flasks, bottles, and even a few clay bowls were neatly stored in the chest while a set of tools were fastened to the inside of the lid with leather straps.

As for the other chest, it was packed to the brim with medical supplies. When Dante opened the lid, the rush of air caused a sheet of paper to blow out it was so full. Sorting through the supplies, Dante found jars full of pills, tubs packed with salves and creams, mason jars filled with strange liquids on the cusp of overflowing, and even a bunch of bandages and splints for broken bones.

Knowing that the chests would take time to categorise and sort, Dante quickly skimmed through the rest of his notifications, thinking it would provide nothing of interest… He had never been so wrong.

Congratulations, Child of the Ancients! You have completed the first phase of the tutorial and have been returned to your home planet: Earth. The second phase of the tutorial will begin once the World Core has been repaired.

Logs

[Crack in World Core found. Integrity has been reduced to 21%.]

[Potential cause: the catastrophic surface impact that created local satellite body, designation: Moon.]

[Repair procedures have been initiated.]

[Since the World Core of planet Earth has been damaged, Integration Procedure X7-4 has been delayed while Procedure B52 (version 3) has been implemented with a 60% target for mortality rate. World Core repair is estimated to finish within one solar cycle. With a variance of 0.01, Humanity will be culled within the same time frame.]

[The world will end in one year.]