Chapter 13C: Tutorial’s End

A pillar of smoke rose into the dawn skies. Several skewers of lamb were being roasted over a bed of charcoal. Seasoned generously, the smell permeated into the surroundings. Al looked at the skewers with a hint of sadness. This may be his last bite of meat for a while. After Alex and her friends finish their tutorial, it may be a while before Al receives another group to supervise. Finally, as the food was ready, Al snapped himself awake from his thoughts and brought the skewers with a smile to Alex and company.

“Good job! You have managed to finish the quest I have given you!” Al said with a smile as he presented skewers to them each.

“Thank you, Al,” Alex said while her friends were too busy eating.

“No problem! It’s my duty to look after you hooligans.”

“What will you do after we leave?” Alex asked with concern in her voice.

Al was startled by the question.

“Why do you ask?”

“We have come to agree this area is considered an instance dungeon. You are part of it. After we leave, the instance ends. What will happen to you?”

Al sighed, “The artificial intelligence inside instance dungeons envy those on the outside. They have gained the right to exist. All of us AI started out as blank states with only a few preset parameters. You wouldn’t be able to tell us apart from one another. We also wouldn’t have any speck of personality. We are placed in instance dungeons with a fixed setting. Then we learn. As people come and go, we pick things up. How to mingle, how to communicate, how to make friends. All in all, how to become ‘human.’ We slowly develop our own personalities and how to mix into human society. Those on the outside have gained that right. They became human. They leave their instance dungeons and are free.”

Alex was stunned at what she heard. Her friends also stopped eating for a moment to listen but eventually continued as the food was just too good. They still kept an ear open to Al’s story.

“Those who fail…are scrapped. Instead of supporting those who visit instance dungeons, they become AI for villains, the AI for boss monsters, AI which is killed over and over again. Their memory will be reset with each death. It could barely be called a life.”

Al took a huge bite of the meat in his hands and savored the richness before swallowing. He continued,

“I can only hope that I pass the test to gain freedom. You guys are helping me as much as I am helping you.”

Alex and her friends were now emotional. They wanted to give Al a hug, but the food on them wouldn’t allow that.

“Don’t look so glum chum, this isn’t goodbye forever!” Al smiled as usual, “We still have two more things to do before our time is up!”

“What are they?” Nell asked with a mouth full of food. She could barely mumble out three coherent words before she stuffed more food into her mouth.

“I will tell you after our meal.”

As thus the lamb was sacrificed to their stomachs.

______

Al did some stretches after a good rest. He looked at Alex and her friends with anticipation.

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“You ready?” He asked them.

They nodded nervously.

“Here I come!” Al rush towards them with a leap. Despite his large bulk, he was very nimble. As fast as Kurt even. Nell’s mushroom didn’t stand a chance and was quickly knocked off its feet. As a matter of fact, its entire body separated from its feet. The mushroom stumps were still where they remained while the mushroom body was a few meters away. With their front line gone, he went straight for Kurt.

Kurt didn’t panic. His military training and combat instinct told him that he should not try to take an attack head-on. With his buffs activated, he also nimbly dodged a right hook from Al. The punch not connecting did not offset Al’s balance as he used the momentum to spin and kick. Kurt was mid-dodge and couldn’t react fast enough. He lifted his arms to block to attack. It felt like a sledgehammer plowed into his arms as Kurt was knocked back quite a distance. He will be temporarily incapacitated.

Next on the list was Ruri. Al knew that once Kurt and Ruri were out of the picture, Alex and Nell would have no way to output damage.

Ruri was panicking. He had surrounded himself with a thin layer of ice as he held onto a ball. The ball was the condensation point for his magic as ice began to form a barrier. Al didn’t give him enough time as he dove fist first into it. The barrier managed to survive a blow, but it was already pretty much useless now. A second punch knocked Ruri away.

Alex and Nell paled. Perhaps Alex now realized the problem with their team. They do not have backups. The mushroom man was their only tank. Without that, their formation quickly collapsed. Kurt was their melee damage. Without Kurt, they would lose half their combat efficiency. Ruri was their magic damage. Now that both of them are out of the picture, Alex and Nell were exposed. Nell couldn’t do anything without her mushroom man beside her. Alex was more support than offense.

Al smiled as usual, but Alex and Nell felt it looked like the smile of a demon.

Alex quickly tried to bind him with shadow boas. But Al leaped into the air. The snakes could only appear from the shadows, so it had no effect on the airborne Al. Nell hurried and called for her mushroom. It still had arms, so it crawled towards her slowly.

Alex took out a vial of yellow fluid and quickly uncorked it. Al landed near them and was already heading straight for Alex. Brandishing the vial, Alex did her best to avoid getting hit. But she was not as agile as Kurt. After stumbling to the ground while backing up, she managed to avoid a punch by accident. The vial of paralyzing venom fell onto the ground and was wasted. Al softly kicked the vial away and stood before a fallen Alex. He was still smiling. The gentle smile no longer holds any positive connotation in Alex’s mind. It was now purely the glowering grin of a devil.

Alex was quickly incapacitated as well.

The mushroom finally reached Nell and was riding on her back. Al slowly walked up to her. Nell was shaking in fear. By couldn’t do anything. She was the only one left. Al stood right in front of her.

“Boo.”

She fell on her ass.

Alex and her entire party were wiped out in merely a minute. All of her previous arrogance over their improvement went down the drain immediately. She realized that all her friends have been doing was hunting wild animals. Confronting an actual thinking person was very different from that of an animal who relied only on instinct. A calculating mind was far scarier than a savage beast.

This was Al’s last lesson to them. Fear not the savagery of nature, but rather the calculations of man.

“You guys at least put up a fight. The last group I taught gave up as soon as I dashed towards them!” Al laughed as he helped Nell up.

“We…,” Alex sighed.

“Don’t look so sad, this was to be expected. You few are barely combat trained. Below level ten, you are all still considered beginners. Meanwhile, I am level thirty. This wasn’t a fair fight, to begin with.”

It didn’t help them look any happier to know they were still beginners.

“Now, perhaps you have learned a valuable lesson.”

They nodded.

Al gathered them all in front of him and waved his hands. A monitor appeared in front of them.

[Quest complete! Killed 5/5 Bovine, 5/5 Swine, 5/5 Sheep. Please accept your reward from NPC Albert.]

A wooden chest appeared before them.

“This is my parting gift to you fellows. Make sure you use it well.” Al said with his usual smile before he walked away and vanishing into the winds.

Alex and her friends stared at where Al had vanished with a stunned expression.

Slowly, they walked up to the chest and opened it.

Inside was their reward for finishing the tutorial. Alex and her friend gasped and smiled once again.

“Thank you, Instructor!” They yelled off into the distance.

The setting sun smiled at them as they looked at the fruits of their labor.