Chapter 43: Periwig.

The council members nodded slowly.

“Very good. Now that those issues have been sorted out, this session is at an end.”

Old man Park’s words had an immediate effect.

Not only on the council, but on all the nearby bystanders.

It was as if they’d all been holding a collective breath that was now coming out.

My fog was filled with their emotions.

Their relief.

It made me feel…

Good.

No, better than good.

I felt fantastic.

Not only had I saved the lives of over two hundred people, I’d also done it in a way that gave them a sense of shared purpose. A willingness to look out for each other and the means by which to do so.

Here was a stable, fair commune. Ready to face whatever challenges this Tutorial might throw at us next.

More importantly, a lot of them were Telepaths. Meaning no one would be overly put off by what I could do.

It was, so liberating.

‘Yes sir. Who said Telepaths had to be evil? I can use mind control for the good of my community. Why, I might very well be one of the Warehouse’s best citizens. And I’ll make sure it stays that way.’

I looked over to Jacob. Noting the rather absurd amount of hypocrisy on display as he downed the last tenth of a bottle of moonshine.

‘Keep it cool man. Keep it cool. You can drink as much as you like when you get back home.’

I approached him. Plastering an easy smile on my face.”

“Oh, come on. You’re all acting like I’m some kind of bear you’re keeping in a cage.”

Jacob chortled.

“That is a very apt comparison my friend. I was ready to die the second you walked out of that room.”

“What! Why?”

He shrugged.

“It’s a dangerous thing to come between an alcoholic and their booze.”

“I’m not an alcoholic.” I protested.

The statement drew a raised eyebrow from Jacob.

My fog also picked up chaotic surges of incredulity and downright ridicule from nearby onlookers, though most were polite enough to avoid voicing their opinions.

“I’m not going to kill people over a beer!?”

“Good.” Mr. Park cut in. “That means we can get on to more important matters. Let’s go over to the right. Towards the media room. You have to see the video.”

“Wait, we have a media room? There are videos?”

Charlie came out from somewhere, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I still don’t fully understand what a video is, but I saw it already. You better prepare yourself for some… unfortunate news.”

Oh boy.

I couldn’t wait.

The media room turned out to be a rectangular chamber at the end of a long narrow tunnel. I could clearly make out blackened sections of wall on the longer side opposite the entrance.

It didn’t look like a screen.

No, it was closer to a layer of obsidian.

Drinking in the surrounding light coming from lamps on the ceiling.

It wasn’t big enough to hold all members of our new community at once, but I was informed that everyone had seen it by now. Sometimes twice. This would be a more private affair with the council and some of the stronger or more skilled individuals on hand.

Essentially, they were here for my sake. To give context and answer what questions they could.

Slab walked over to the oily black stones, gave them a tap and moved back to sit amidst the furs lining the floor.

I watched as colours began appearing on the glassy surface, showing several children with exaggerated proportions and rosy cheeks.

One particularly egregious example walks to the forefront.

It’s a boy, I think?

Wearing a colossal white periwig and donning a long, flowing green army coat adorned with golden medals.

He’s dressed like someone who’s about to lose their head in the French Revolution for eating one too many cakes in front of starving peasants.

Worse still, Periwig is clearly a gnome, not a child.

“Hello lucky people! Congratulations on finding a safe zone inside the Labyrinth!”

The other caricatures explode in cheers.

“Yay!”

“Hurray!”

“Safety!”

“You made it!”

“Congratulations!”

Fury almost overpowers me.

Memories of dead people rising to the surface of my mind.

The empty eyes of all the people who don’t appear on the survivor count.

“Yes indeed.” Periwig continues. “You’re all either very lucky or very skilled and now you get to reap the rewards of all that hard work. Sit back and relax as I explain where you are and why you’ve been brought here!”

“About time.” Louise grumbles. One glance in her direction reveals that she’s fighting with herself, her claws having lengthened from anger alone. She’s not the only one. Borislav, Prudence and all those with Shifter powers are practically growling.

All except Mr. Park.

He retains an air of casual indifference.

Seeing much without revealing his own emotions.

“First of all, what is this lovely place?” A blond-haired she-gnome in a cowboy outfit asks.

“This is the Tutorial section. Where new species are brought in for basic instruction. Its way safer than pretty much all the other sections and allows new residents to get used to their Psy.”

“Wow! That’s so nice of you guys! Setting this all up so that people get a chance to land on their feet!”

“Of course! All of us here want you to succeed and get stronger. That’s the whole point of bringing folks here in the first place!”

“Really? Are there any catches? Any contracts or fine print?”

“Nope! We want all the sentient species in the multiverse to have the same opportunities. Think of it like charity. We are graciously providing everyone here with the chance to become enlightened! To get your simple grasping digits on the truths underlying reality! That’s why this section is very lenient on newcomers, while rewarding prowess handsomely.”

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“But why do you want us to get stronger? Aren’t you afraid that we’ll find you and torture you to death like the barbarians that we are?”

“HA! Nonsense my dear! Most of you will never make it past the first tier! That’s a sad reality we all have to deal with. The best among you might have a shot, but chances are they’ll come to see things our way given enough time. They always do!”

“Really!? Because I’m pretty angry right about now!” Answers the cowgirl while drawing her pistol.

She shoots the smug Periwig in the face, emptying her revolver while laughing like a maniac.

Sand-coloured smoke clears and Periwig steps forward, completely unharmed.

“See? This is what I mean! You kept getting angry instead of getting over yourself and training hard! Now you’ve been left behind by everyone who put their heads down and got with the program!”

“Oh no!” Cowgirl cries out, as another figure warps behind her.

Laser beams erupt from the newcomer’s eyes, cleaving her in twain.

Her bottom half stands there, smoke rising from the spot where beams of energy struck.

“And that, humans, is why you should try your very best to level-up! Higher and higher until you reach a ceiling. Then, break that ceiling and keep going! Anything else is death by another name. With that in mind, allow me to provide some basic information. This Tutorial follows a standard template model and will disappear after all the cycles have been completed. Its dimensions are that of a cube, roughly 750 Quadrons in every direction. For those of you hailing from primitive universes, that means its very big when you look up and very wide at the same time. There were only 1000 of you in this Tutorial instance, so everyone got a fair chance to stretch their wings in peace.”

“That’s right sir! You are always the picture of fairness and equity!” Laser eyes says, fumes circling their sockets.

“Absolutely! We go to such lengths because we care about the new additions to our family, no matter how useless they may seem at first. Speaking of which, those who survive the whole time or defeat the Boss ahead of schedule will be transferred to Human City!”

“Wow! Human City! What’s that!?”

“It’s one gargantuan safe zone, filled with humans and no other sentient species! It’ll be about 10 times the size of the current trial grounds to start and will house your own people within the greater Labyrinth, as well as all your future descendants. From there, you can access the other sections and other outside dimensions via portals strewn about the streets.”

My ears perked up as I noticed a funny word in the middle of his rant.

“Did he just say that our descendants will be living in the Labyrinth?”

“Yes.” Jacob confirmed. “Hold on a bit, he’ll explain further.”

Indeed, he did.

“You see, from the moment the Labyrinth got a hold of you, you belonged to it. You may leave for temporary excursions, you may even visit your home worlds for a vacation or two, but those are temporary. This structure, this interdimensional marvel, is your cradle and your cell. This is where you’ll live out your days. This is where you’ll raise your families and rear your children. This is where your legacy will be built. You might influence events in the wider universe as you see fit, plundering and protecting as you will. However, that will only happen within the constraints of the Labyrinth’s rules. You will always end up back here. Always.”

“Always?” One of his attendants questioned.

“Always.” Periwig confirmed. “Unless you get a Tier V portal ability or an equally powerful reality warping ability that is. Its pretty much impossible for you so don’t even think about it.”

Two portals appeared next to him.

One blue and one red.

A confused granny came out of the blue one. Her bony fingers clutching tightly around a pearl necklace.

A puma came out of the red one. Lunging at the granny and disappearing together into the blue portal from where she had emerged.

“Outside dimensions will be accessible during the Tutorial as well, starting in the second cycle. This is where you’ll be introduced to excursions. To put it simply, there are members of your species throughout the multiverse that need help. Maybe they lost their cattle or maybe there are raiders come to savage them. It varies by case. The thing to take away is that the Ascended are, essentially omniscient and omnipotent and they love being worshiped. I mean, they really get off on it for some reason. Until now, they’ve left your rocks alone, as per their communal agreement. That contract was moot the second the Tutorial started though, so all of you will become heroes for hire.”

I blinked so fast that I thought my eyes were about to pop out of my skull.

“You will do this because you need to earn money and the Ascended have collectively agreed to be hands off when it comes to mortal affairs. They prefer to sit around and watch as we figure our own problems out. However, their interests are not limited to Espers. They do take notice of goings on outside the Labyrinth and will assess interesting situations based on any given individual’s need and judge said folks through the lenses of the Labyrinth’s moral guidelines. Which they wrote.”

‘Wait, is that the reason we’re not allowed to swear? Because some overpowered (Gnome) doesn’t like potty mouths?’

That notion was so ridiculous that it almost distracted me from the more important bit of information.

The one about all-knowing and all-powerful entities being real and about them having a vested interest in the drudgery of mortal affairs.

A chill, crept of my spine. My mind afire with all the implications.

“The people you help will receive System notifications telling them who helped them and the Ascended will take the opportunity to explain their personal gospels to all the smelly primates in your home dimensions. Thusly, they get to feel morally superior and have all the lesser beings worship them and Esper kind while you get to earn Store Tokens, which are the primary currency within the greater Labyrinth.”

Periwig nodded in such a way that his many chins flopped up and down.

“You get the chance to save a city or rescue people from a sinking ship or something, and they get to know how awesome Espers are and how benevolent the Ascended are. So make sure you do your best! Be presentable! Do not cuss! Shower at least once a month! I know it’s a lot to ask of you primates but our reputations are on the line here! Take one for the team!”

“Cool!”

“Awesome!”

“Gnarly!”

“Radical!”

Periwig faces the adoring fans and waves his arms, relishing the praise.

He turns back to the audience after a few seconds, his smiling face rosier than ever.

“Moving on, I’d like to address what Psy actually is. For those of you who are still not in the loop, Psy is the energy that connects you to one of four non-physical dimensions. These dimensions are filled with sweet juices that cause wonderful effects any time someone pokes a hole and lets them in to material universes. Naturally, this is how you get those neat Types and abilities! Each of the four categories connects to and siphons a specific dimension juice, which then makes things explode or make your body better or even lets you read and control minds! Isn’t that super cool!? Imagine you’re a big smelly loser one day and the next you find yourself commanding everyone who looked down on you. Imagine the nasty things you could do to them. Imagine the many ways that power could be abused.”

Oh boy.

He went and said it.

I was sure this was it.

It was right there, at that point, where original timeline Ryan would have called for my head.

It hadn’t worked, of course.

Sarcophagus Solomon had stunned all present with his Illusions and bolted for the door.

He hadn’t helped anyone grow stronger during his stay, which in turn had resulted in Randall and co wiping the floor with those they found when they stumbled across the Warehouse.

The current situation was obviously different.

No one looked even slightly bothered or surprised.

Why would they?

There were plenty of Telepaths keeping each other in check.

Anyone with funny ideas would be disciplined faster than they could blink.

The only exception was myself, but my openness had gone a long way toward soothing any misgivings.

Or so I hoped.

I opened my fog up to the minds of others. Taking in their innermost secrets.

‘He must be reading me right now.’

‘He’s definitely reading my mind right now.’

‘Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘Don’t think about anything.’

‘He’s not going to mind control me.’

‘If he wanted to control us, he would’ve done it by now.’

‘How would I even know if I was being controlled?’

‘Need to get the blocking abilities to a higher level.’

‘He won’t control me. He won’t.’

I willed myself to remain still.

Trying to keep my body from betraying my emotions.

I knew this would happen.

Overall, this wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

People still trusted me. As much as they trusted each other.

“All according to what your brain is capable of! More levels mean better affinity to these places, which in turn increases your Psy and the ways in which you can use it. Levels are gained by exercising your skills and by using them in new and creative ways. Observant viewers may ask themselves if its possible to earn them without fighting, and the answer is yes! Though it is very difficult and you really need to understand what the actual process is, and not just the effect.”

He paced back and forth, wagging a finger in the air.

“Now, levels are very valuable, especially inside the Tutorial. Bigger Psy pools mean more chances to attack and more reserves to scamper if things don’t go your way. More than that, you should all know that you have it very easy here in the Tutorial.”

‘This (Gnome).’

Rage roiled within my heart.

Tightening a knot in my belly that twisted around like a snake.

“Not only is your levelling speed increased thanks to all the monsters we’ve left for you, but you can also choose what abilities you get from your status! This will no longer be the case after leaving. People born in the Labyrinth never get a chance to spend points on whatever abilities they want. Instead, they need to find competent teachers who will walk them through the process of acquiring them. You guys are the lucky few that get this chance because your species has just been invited to join. Be grateful for this chance and make the most of it.”

I gazed over at my own screen.

Noting how, specialized I’d become.

Name:

Solomon Carter

Psy:

97, 920 / 97, 920

Type:

Telepath III Level 120

Abilities:

[Solomon’s Inescapable Domination X] 18 / [Solomon’s Overwhelming Delusion V] 12 / [Solomon’s Inexorable Suppression V] 12 / [Solomon’s Calamitous Insight VII] 19 / [Delirium III] 6 / [Sense Thoughts] 14 / [Message] 5 / [Mental Bolt] 4 / [Hide] 3 / [Faint Presence] 2 / [Mental Map] 10 / [Team Tactics] 5 / [Electronic Interface] 4 / [Floral Interface] 1 / [Fungal Interface] 1 /

Ability Points:

31

Granted, I didn’t think my choices had made me weak.

Far from it. I was definitely the most powerful person here by far.

That said, the other me had been just as strong. If not stronger.

He’d lowered his guard for a moment and that had been all Anezka needed.

Sarcophagus me did say that we needed to have [Electronic Interface] at Tier 4 though. All the points I had wouldn’t be enough, but they would get me closer to that goal.

Though, perhaps it might be better to spread my points out. I have the +1 bonus to all ability levels from [Insight]. And my abilities level much faster than other people’s.

I thought about all the times I’d gotten a new level from some new discovery or fresh exposure, rather than from monster hunting.

Then I recalled how many times I’d almost gotten killed by not having certain abilities earlier.

Like [Block Mental Attack], [Block Mental Detection], [Interrupt] and the three interfaces.

My eyes wandered back to my board.

To all the abilities I hadn’t taken.

To all the options that would vanish as soon as the Tutorial was over.

‘Right. Not making that mistake again.’