Waking to the sound of rain, I rolled over and looked up to the skylight. There was no light coming down, my enhanced stamina requiring little sleep to feel rested, at least after a day of non-combat. I checked over the egg to see that nothing had changed. It felt warm to my hands, nestled in the blankets as it was. I didn’t know anything about falcon eggs or how to care for them, or really birds in general. I spent a minute trying to trigger beast companion with no success.

Eating a simple meal of mystery meat and vegetables, I thought over my priorities for the day. I still needed to go over the global notifications, find new sources of food for the mess hall, support the falcon egg and start planning a journey to Etes. The survival event had shown me how fragile I was living by myself, I needed companions to survive this new world.

With a heavy sigh, frustration still clouding my judgment regarding the framework, I willed forth the notifications under the global section.

Congratulations Subjects! Tutorial has now ended. You Survived!

Leaderboard now available!

Guild system now available!

Quest system now available!

Teleportation channels now available!

Regional and Global trading now available!

Warning! Beasts are now more active! New spawn locations!

Shrinking down most of the details to make it more manageable I slowly read each of them. The tutorial officially ended with the defeat of the beast wave for each city and town. It seemed the framework made the distinction based on population. The Old Mining Camp was considered a town with a population of one. There were many differences now that mostly applied to other people. It listed off skills that were now available for use and areas of exploration that had been unlocked. I skimmed over these, focusing on what would apply to me.

There were many listed dungeons available now that had been previously closed off. I thought of the second level of my own dungeon that was now available, when my appetite for danger was ready I would try it out. The first level had been difficult mostly due to my inexperience with the framework system and the bombs. Attempting that level again now would be trivial. If the second level was near that same level beasts it would be easy to clear.

A grim change listed in this section mentioned that you could now gain experience from killing allied humans. From reading the notifications and guide it seemed as if you could not gain experience or items from killing allied humans during the tutorial. It would be a bloodbath in the large cities as people read this. I wondered if this was the reason I was still above the Norx emperor. I didn’t know for sure that his name was Allain but it made sense with his high level after watching the scene in my dream play out.

Leaderboard was a concept I had never heard of. I brought up the guide and read that it was a visible list of framework subjects, which I hated being called, ranked by level. It defaulted to the highest 10 individuals but could be expanded up to 100. I triggered it in my interface and brought it up.

Leaderboard - Level

Sylar

25

Allain

22

Lina

20

Luor

19

Om'rock

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

15

Peter

15

Rale

13

Danemus

13

Anastix

13

Balorgon

13

Surely that must be a mistake? I looked at the leaderboard in shock. How was it possible that I was the highest level in the world? I knew the only thing that set me apart was that I was alone out here. The only name I recognized on the list was Rale, general of the 3rd army. Hope burst through my chest thinking about my mother, if the general was still alive maybe they had all made it back to safety in Etes. Briefly expanding the list to 100 names showed everyone else was at level 13. Foolish hope had me scour the list for my fathers name, to no avail. It had been so long now, I could still picture his face but I couldn’t remember the sound of his voice.

Level 25 seemed so high compared to the rest of the list, how was that possible? The crucian elite had said it was level 97. How many years would it take for someone in this world to reach those heights?

The beasts must give higher rewards when you are solo versus in a larger group. To understand the differences I would need to find another group to ask. Finishing the notifications surrounding the leaderboard let me know that there was a bounty on all leaderboard members. Referencing the guide explained that a bounty was an implicit reward for killing an individual. Experience, which was how we gained levels, gold and other treasures would be granted to anyone who killed someone on the top 10.

An even worse change tied to the leaderboard was that it would be announced globally when someone on the top 100 died. That seemed incredibly barbaric. I would be a target for anyone who recognized me. I took a deep breath to calm myself, I was an inexperienced styker and only 18 years old, no one would associate my name with the leaderboard.

I would have to act inconspicuous, minimize myself as a target for anyone looking. Grimly I thought of the upgrade my cloak had received, able to hide my appearance. Everyone below the top 6 was level 13. There would be a lot of notifications and changes coming from the rest of the top 100 until there was more separation of the levels.

Guilds were groups of people who had a similar profession that banded together for increased presence and strength. Joining one would come with a set of benefits determined by the guild council and granted by the framework. One needed the correct profession or skill to join and had to behave in a way accepted by the greater guild. They could be found in larger cities and towns and commonly involved the trades such as black smiths, alchemists, and merchants. This sounded interesting, a guild for alchemists could be a great boon to me.

Quests were much more complicated as I scanned over the system. They could be granted by the framework or individual people with rewards granted as the same. Some would be small like killing rodents or performing tasks while some would be world spanning. A separate menu labeled “Active” was highlighted so I selected it.

Active Quest - Defeat 4 regional beast lords (1/4) - Reward - 1000g / 5 Ruby Item Boxes.

Defeating the cave bear that had been designated as a country level beasts must have triggered a quest for others. There were now 3 markers on my map signaling the other three beasts. One was relatively close by, the other two much deeper in the eternal forest than I had ever been. I abhorred the idea of more killing right away but I knew the framework wouldn’t let peace last for long. I had a head start on this quest and needed to consider finishing it.

The teleportation channel description left me even more confused after I read it than I had been before. They would allow for instantaneous travel from one place to another with restrictions placed on distance, time and cost. I would just have to explore it myself to see what that even meant.

What interested me the most was the trading. I had resources that weren't overly useful to me that could be traded for what I needed. I walked over to the town interface to find a trading menu. Excitedly pulling it up, I grunted when everything was grayed out. It seemed I would have to establish trading partners first for this to work. If only it had been that easy. The teleportation tab on the interface was available but no destinations were listed.

As usual there were more areas of the interface that were not available to me. The framework given information was always spotty and only ever given as you discovered it or needed it. Mentally swiping away the notifications I wandered around the camp aimlessly.

The alchemy lab upgrade had given me enough supplies to craft a total of 17 major health potions. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making the potions much more so than the destructive bombs. My alchemy skill had already risen to 14, my highest crafting skill by far. I stockpiled all of the healing potions, if they were in demand I could sell or trade them for more supplies.

There was no way to tell how many other people had gained alchemy skills or how common the potions would be. There were so many ingredients in the supply pantry now that I didn’t have recipes for, one thing that I would need from a larger town or city was a book on potions or ingredients to help me identify everything I had.

After leaving the alchemy lab I spent an hour in the training room shooting at moving targets with my bow. My aim was expert level now, able to hit moving targets from different vantages and angles. It was finally starting to lighten outside so I readied myself for a trip outside. I would be planting simple bombs tied to poppers around the mine boundary field.