Chapter Five: Slayer Extraordinaire

The System’s descent and our subsequent relocation had been surprisingly easy to adapt to, probably because most of Burgwynville had been transmigrated together. With the Lord of Yorgefan’s explanations everything became even clearer, and to my surprise I even “became a cultivator” faster than everyone else. Being talented in this new world was exactly what I needed in order to secure Justin’s future, and when presented with the opportunity to move on to the Tutorial’s second phase I took it without hesitation…

Now I doubted whether I should have. My poor Justin was all alone with the townsfolk listening to the Lord’s instructions while I’d been put on a rock in the middle of the sky. I imagined that he was crying his eyes out in fear, wondering why his mother had disappeared.

My own eyes watered at the thought, but it was for the best. This was the “second phase” of the Tutorial, and the Lord had promised it was to make us stronger and equip us with what we needed in order to succeed in our new world. Or rather, his world. After believing in the biblical God all my life it was very strange to think of a lizard man as the “Lord” of the planet I now inhabited, but evidence was evidence. And apparently he wasn’t even a “God”? We all had the potential to become as powerful as him?

I shook my head before refocusing on the task at hand. This second phase of the Tutorial was just the beginning, and if I didn’t do well here then I would truly be at the mercy of Burgwynville, and I couldn’t let that happen.

A continent appeared before me, and I unhesitatingly stepped into its jungles. I’d seen a spirit beast the day before and knew they were just strong animals. I would not even hesitate to fight a bear if it meant protecting Justin—I would be fine here, where I was now some kind of wizard.

……

“GodDAMN that was annoying!”

Rodents that could shoot icicles and slow me down, canines that cut clean through my 25 Endurance if I let them land a hit, and bugs that tried to siphon my blood all barred my path within the icy stronghold.

To my surprise, the blood bugs had been my biggest threat and had even forced me to allocate 5 more points into Vitality, bringing it up to 31.25. It turned out that the blood aspect was neither suited for offense nor defense on its own—I had easily tanked blood attacks and pierced many blood defenses. However, the one time a blood-wielding bug managed to draw blood from an attack, its technique had immediately burrowed into my body and gone on a rampage, making it very difficult to channel Chi. I was incredibly lucky to end the fight soon after and find a place to hide out where I could circulate my energy and focus on pushing the foreign Chi out, but even my active efforts were not enough to complete the task in a timely manner, and I had to put the extra points into Vitality just to counter the invasion of blood.

I knew from that encounter that if there were bosses at the end of the Objective, one of them would be a tank meant to soak attacks while the other would wield blood-soaked ice that would pierce my skin and immediately get to work on destroying me from the inside. I looked at my Status Menu and sighed, knowing I would be forced to allocate more points in order to win without taking even a little bit of damage.

I slowly stalked through what I suspected to be the last hallway of the ice fortress, heading toward an ornate door at the end. The previous rooms and halls had been laid in a round fashion that led me around the fortress in a large circle, and now I was very near the center.

As I stalked, I wondered about the distinct lack of technique-wielding spirit beasts outside the Objective and in the previous zone. Was it on purpose? Was the first zone designed to get us used to fighting pitched melee battles while the second one’s Objectives housed spellslingers to help us become accustomed to dodging projectiles? I pondered over whether I would have the chance to ask Yorgefan’s Lord about it. Probably not.

I finally reached the ornate door at the end of the hall, the only interruption having been some kind of snow fox that jumped out at me and got splattered by my mace while I was thinking about how I might approach my new world’s Lord. When I pushed the door open I was met with a sight not unlike the rest of the castle. A large, empty, unadorned room only populated by the spirit beasts I was to fight. However, instead of the two I’d feared, three beasts stood together at the room’s opposite end.

Good.

Judging by their auras they each wielded one of the Objective’s represented elements. A gross, fleshy caterpillar the size of my thigh sat farthest from me with an aura that told me it was blood-aligned and around Level 15. A land turtle covered in white scales and a large shell was the same Level as the caterpillar and definitely gave off a cold aura. In front of both those beasts stood a fearsome, bipedal, floppy-eared rabbit about half my height whose body rippled with muscles, and whose three-inch claws felt to my magical senses like they could tear through steel. Though it was hard to tell without killing it to confirm how many points I received, the jacked rabbit was probably Level 20, and I had a feeling that it was that Level in order to give Level 0 cultivators the next Title of the series.

Seeing as how I had three enemy bosses instead of a multitude of cannon fodder to fight, I erased the Water Whip Chi circuits and drew the Fireball ones, knowing I’d only have time to power one technique before the fight began and I’d be too preoccupied with melee combat to charge another. So I powered up a Fireball as much as I could before chucking it at the jacked rabbit and charging, mace already prepared to swing. As I’d hoped, the rabbit could not dodge the attack lest allow it to land on its allies behind it, so it swiped at the energy projectile.

To my astonishment, its claws ripped through and dispersed the flames, causing the energy ball to destabilize and only superficially burn the rabbit titan’s fur. I hadn’t known that breaking apart a technique was an option! However, the Fireball still served its purpose, because my mace found the rabbit’s flesh without much trouble. I heard a crunch from its shoulder and saw red splatter as the beast was knocked down.

That would have been the rabbit’s end had the turtle not made sure to prevent me from landing a follow-up attack. The turtle opened its beak and released a cloud of cold energy that covered me in frost as an icicle formed in the air in front of it. The frost slowed and burned me so that the ice could kill me, but I knew that once it was launched it could no longer be controlled. At the moment the ice stopped growing in size I allowed gravity to take me, and I fell just in time to hear the air split above before it shattered against the closed door behind me. Dodging that way gave my Chi just enough time to melt away the debuff frost, and I quickly rose to my feet at the same time the rabbit did, at which point we exchanged blows. Its swift claws clanged against my mace before the blood running down its broken shoulder shot up and stabbed into my upper left pectorals just below my collar bone. Thankfully I’d been waiting for such an attack and was quick to throw an entire quarter of my internal Chi river at the invading energy, repelling the vast majority. Some still got through my defenses and began prickling at my spiritual body, attempting to interrupt my concentration, but it wasn’t enough to impact me significantly. I retreated as the turtle shot out another frosty mist, barely dodging it.

Despite these beasts being about the same Levels as the bosses at the ends of both Rolling Hills Tree Lairs I cleared, I would not win this fight as I currently was without taking serious injuries, so it was time to make a decision. After spending just a moment thinking, I distributed 15 Attribute Points into Agility, bringing it up to 56.25.

I’d considered putting points into Strength, but so long as I had a decent weapon I would always deal decent damage to all opponents except those who specialized in defense. Sure, one-shotting everything that didn’t specialize in defense was tempting, but I imagined that most my future fights would transpire like this one: land an attack at the cost of being open to more attacks. Even if my first attack killed its target, I might immediately be killed by the attack that landed on me. For example, had the caterpillar been a second frost turtle I might have become a pincushion by now. One would slow me down while the other shot, instead of one being responsible for both actions.

‘Speaking of the caterpillar, what the fuck is going on??’

As I hopped back and forth and side to side to get used to my increased speed, the long caterpillar raised its front end to point at the ceiling, making the entire room tremble as the walls and ceiling bled lines of blood that snaked toward the giant insect. They gathered and floated above the creature, slowly compiling into a formless blob. I had to stop whatever it was doing.

I darted around the room, testing my speed against the rabbit’s reaction time. Unfortunately I was nowhere near fast enough to be a blur, but at least the turtle wouldn’t be able to land another technique blast on me. I dashed in close to the rabbit, stopped just outside of its claw’s reach as they cut the air in front of me, then moved in for the kill. The teeth on my mace dug into the rabbit’s skull, but to my great startlement a cloud of frost encased both me and the rabbit!

I didn’t know they were willing to fire on friendlies!

Unfortunately my increased Agility did little to defend me against the freezing effects of the turtle’s technique and the skin all over my exposed body actually stung a lot more the second time around before the frost began to melt, but it wasn’t fast enough for me to move out of the icicle’s path because the turtle actually adjusted its aim to hit me as I fell! I could only barely put my mace into the spell’s way so that most of it shattered, but a large chunk still lodged itself into my left bicep—my left side just couldn’t catch a break.

I hit the ground screaming through my teeth but was aware enough to take aim and throw my mace toward the turtle, whose next technique was interrupted when it turned and let the weapon hit its shell. With the time I’d bought for myself with that little stunt I powered through the rest of the frost’s effects, rose onto my feet, and charged the now-unguarded turtle. My kick bounced off its shell just like the mace, but before the reptile could even think of casting another attack my right arm followed its head into its shell and latched onto it. I first used my fingers to find its eyes before poking those suckers hard, causing the spirit beast to squeal and squirm but ultimately achieve nothing as I then began crushing its head, all the while the caterpillar in the background continued collecting blood from all over the fortress, releasing a very frightening aura.

Upon feeling the turtle’s skull crunch between my fingers I immediately picked up my mace and leaped for the caterpillar, ending its life in just one swing…and causing its collection of blood to explode, covering me in a scarlet mess that sizzled against my skin. Closing my eyes and mouth I fell on top of the messy caterpillar corpse, twitching in pain while screaming again through my nose, devoting all my attention to my Chi and using it to fight against the blood energy.

Under most other circumstances that would have been the end of my road, but thankfully energy without anyone or thing controlling it would be destructive but not precise, and I had little difficulty burning up the blood Chi on my skin as it failed to concentrate its power on one location. I looked and felt like the victim of a light acid attack by the end of it, but I was alive.

With every little bit of movement aching and hurting I took a cross-legged position and began refueling on Chi.

[Tutorial Points earned: 50. Total: 682]

I internally nodded at my gains from this Objective. It wasn’t as much as I wanted, but Tutorial Points weren’t what I was mainly here for.

[Tutorial Objective “Solo the Evergreen Blade Blood Ice Palace” complete. Tutorial Title updated.]

[Tutorial Objective “First to solo two Tutorial Objectives in your Zones” complete. Tutorial Title updated.]

I would have stood up and danced had my “chemical burns” not made doing so quite painful. Eagerly, I opened my updated Title.

[Titles]

Tutorial: Complete Tutorial Objectives to receive better rewards. +120 Attribute Points and +40% to all Attributes.

“Hot damn.” I gulped at my rewards doubling. I had expected diminishing returns, but no. 60 more Attribute Points and +20% to all Attributes again. Soloing Objectives was definitely the way to go!

“Though, no Title for killing something 15 Levels ahead. That’s a shame. Gotta find something at least Level 21 or 26, now. Maybe in the next zone?”

I belatedly realized that a tall, thin crystal obelisk had appeared behind me and painfully scooted over to rest a hand on it while I recuperated. The same window design as the one from the Rolling Hills’ Unique Tutorial Shop appeared, but containing mostly different options.

The first section I browsed was that of the Cycling Techniques, and to no surprise I didn’t find anything useful. I definitely had the qualifications, if not the points, for its strongest single-use Cycling Techniques, but the Tutorial had only just begun, so I would be a fool to choose one before I’d even reached my full potential here. Instead, I looked at the Heritage Cycling Techniques, but as I’d expected they revolved around the cold, sharpness, and blood elements.

The cold Heritage technique was unsuitable because our location on Yorgefan was not in an ideal climate to practice it. Had we been somewhere with annually cold temperatures that would have been fine, but we weren’t. The sharpness Heritage technique was obviously focused on creating offensive-specialized units, and with me at the helm my people didn’t need to deal damage, they only needed to stay alive long enough for me to deal with the problem. Lastly, the blood Heritage technique had higher requirements for individual talent and would produce fewer warriors, but each with more utility than a normal one. I disregarded that one because any kind of talent requirement would probably gatekeep most Humans, and I wanted the most general Heritage for my people possible. Those with talent would likely buy their own personal Cycling Techniques in the Tutorial. I had no more room to consider my people beyond that.

Next I browsed the normal techniques with a broad smile, finding the three I wanted next. Least important of them was an area-of-effect technique to slow down enemies exactly like the turtle used. Of middle importance was an incredibly simple technique that could line a weapon with sharpness Chi for increased damage. Of most interest to me was a blood technique that allowed the user to essentially make their own blood a spiritual poison if it entered an enemy, which would be incredibly useful for taking down enemies with high Endurance whom I couldn’t easily injure, because the few injuries I managed to inflict would do all the more damage.

With the entire suite of techniques I would slow my enemies with a cloud of frost, pierce their defenses with increased sharpness, and if my normal attacks didn’t kill them quickly enough, the blood technique would inject them with the same annoyingly invasive blood Chi that disturbed one’s focus, making it all the easier to kill them.

[You have purchased the single-use Frost Cloud technique. Remaining Tutorial Points: 602]

[You have purchased the single-use Sharpness technique. Remaining Tutorial Points: 522]

[You have failed to purchase this technique due to a lack of related talent.]

I balked upon reading the last message.

“Lack of talent?”

I let go of the Unique Tutorial Shop and looked down at my hands, my immediate reaction of disappointment quickly overpowered by elation as I comprehended the significance of that message.

“That means I have talent in the other 6 elements? Is that common? I doubt it!”

A broad grin found itself on my face. Lacking the talent to practice blood techniques was completely fine if I had talent in so many other areas!

“Damn, I’d thought these basic techniques were just something everyone could pick up! Or maybe everyone can learn and use them in the real world, but the Tutorial is designed not to let us waste our time with incompatible elements so that we focus on one’s we’re talented with. Either way, that’s good!”

Despite the pain of a thousand paper cuts I bounced up and down in excitement, wondering what my talents would mean for my future Cycling Technique and general combat style. With enough talent was it possible to acquire the hybrid style I so dearly wanted? Or could I become a mage that wielded a dozen elements equally? A rainbow wizard!

Fun speculations ran wild in my head, but I soon put them away in a mental cabinet labeled “for later”, because I had shit to do. Thanks to the atmosphere being packed so full of Chi I was already full, and despite still needing lots of time or lots more Vitality to heal the blood damage I decided to ignore it. There would probably be more General Tutorial Store obelisks sitting around with the option of a full heal, and they even cleaned your clothes, so I would hold out and deal with the pain until then.

I enforced my body again with the barest minimum of Chi to defend against the cold, held my mace tightly in my fully functional right hand, purchased the cheapest defensive treasure for 300 points and placed the amulet around my neck, then headed for the exit.

……

“No, I really don’t recommend going in there. He, uhh, threatened me to stay out and said he could complete it on his own. He showed me his Tutorial Title and it had crazy benefits!”

Tired, injured, and low on Chi from surviving an ambush of snow owls, I faced the three cultivators nervously, mentally preparing myself in case something went wrong. I blocked the paths of two men and a woman who stared at me angrily, so I held my spear low in a non-threatening manner that still kept its gleaming metal tip in full view.

As a cold gust of wind howled in our ears, the woman in the middle took a step forward, and I took a step back, closer to the ice stronghold’s orange entrance. “There are three of us. If he gets uppity we’ll deal with him. What are you worried about? And hell, why are you even still here instead of looking for a different Objective? Are you actually working with him? Something going on in there that you guys don’t want anyone else knowing about?”

I gulped and found it hard to look any of the cultivators in their eyes. I might have had a better weapon and even a compatible technique, compared to their two swords and a shield, but the numbers were most certainly not in my favor.

“N-no, not at all. I’m just tryna keep you alive! He said he soloed an Objective in his first zone and got all 60 points from it. His Title proved it! I’m just keeping you guys alive, really! He said if anyone messes up his solo run and he doesn’t get the solo benefits he’ll kill everyone around!”

Sweat coated my weapon hand and threatened my grip. If these guys pushed any harder I would be forced to let them through to preserve myself, but I really didn’t want the conflict to escalate that far. Of course, Niko didn’t seem the type to harm anyone if he got angry, but I didn’t want his solo run ruined any more than he did. After all, it wasn’t just me who stood to benefit if he succeeded. I had the feeling he was about as great a guy as he appeared, so our entire species…no, Race, would benefit from his gaining of the solo achievements.

“Dude, just stand aside. No way he can—“

“NO!” I shouted at the same time as I twirled my spear around and loudly slammed its butt against the ground, making my decision. “I will not let you ruin his solo run! Find a different Objective!”

One of the men narrowed his eyes and raised his sword slightly while the other two looked at me as though I were stupid.

I might really have been an idiot, but after reading so many novels on Wuxiaworld I was confident in recognizing a fish with the potential to jump the dragon gate, and Niko was one such fish! Plus, what happened to the friends of that fish once he turned into a dragon? They were showered with gifts for helping him along his path!

The trio began angrily cursing at me but I tuned them out in favor of watching their movements, ready to defend myself as I channeled Chi into the circuits of my spear technique.

“What is all the fuss about?! Oh, thank you for your work, Jonathon!” a familiar voice hollered from behind me over the trio’s clangor.

I turned around in excitement of my new ally reappearing, before recoiling in disgust and worry. The bloodstains were to be expected, but Niko’s exposed skin was lightly burned and warped while his left arm had gashes that exposed torn muscles! What had happened in there?! And…had he failed?

Dread like ice in my veins numbed my body as one of the men in the trio snarled, “Are you the asshole trying to hog the entire Objective to yourself? Get the fuck outta our sights before we make you! And be less of a selfish piece of shit in the future!”

Countless scenes of main characters butchering arrogant young masters and crowds of angry competitors flashed through my mind, and I didn’t know how to feel about the bloodshed soon to occur…

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

But to my surprise, despite being jeered at and treated like some random imbecile, Niko only smiled at the trio of fuming cultivators before casually waving his hand, causing a screen to appear in front of him.

[Titles]

Tutorial: Complete Tutorial Objectives to receive better rewards. +120 Attribute Points and +40% to all Attributes.

“I would appreciate it if you would be nicer to members of your own Race—or people in general—from now on,” he said kindly. “Yes, we are technically competing for resources here, but it is ultimately in order to secure our people’s future, right? That’s my goal, at least. So you should be happy that I’ve cleared this Objective on my own compared to if you three had done so, because now I am all the more capable of defending you in the future when a great power appears to threaten us all, whenever and whatever that may be.”

Then Niko looked up and around at the stronghold’s entrance. “Huh. I guess I’m still technically inside it.” With one more step, Niko fully exited the Objective, and a wave of red washed over the structure’s outside, replaced the orange. “There you go. That’ll clear up any and all confusion.”

Niko continued walking, and the man who’d insulted Niko raised his shield in a panic before the woman in the middle put her hand over it and shook her head. She nodded toward Niko as he passed, saying simply, “We’re sorry about how we behaved. We’ll find another Objective.”

Mouth agape, it took me a few moments to remember that I was allied with Niko. I hurriedly gave my awkward thanks to the trio for not ruining the solo run before running to catch up with the young man who hadn’t even begun growing a mustache. When I arrived at his side I nudged his shoulder, and Niko hissed in pain. I apologized, before whispering, “There’s a General Tutorial Store nearby where you can get fully healed for 100 Tutorial Points.”

Niko nodded but said nothing until we exited the field of ice spikes and were completely out of sight and earshot of the trio.

“Thank you so much,” he said, grimacing. “I’m in a lot of pain. Like, a lot. There was a blood-aligned spirit beast whose final attack I managed to interrupt, but it still hurt like a bitch when it exploded. And then after all that I come out to see a group of shitheads who can’t be bothered to think of other people.” He turned to look me in the eye. “Again, thank you lots. If they’d entered and killed even a single spirit beast that I’d missed, I don’t know if I woulda gotten the solo achievements. All Attribute Points, sure, but it’s those added percent bonuses to all stats that matter most.”

A warm and fuzzy feeling permeated my core upon receiving such sincere gratitude. I hadn’t made a mistake so far by choosing to follow this guy.

“No problem, mate. Even if I can’t be the main character I’m okay with helping the real one out. Being powerful is awesome and all, but everyone needs a higher purpose, so it’s fine if I help build a better world by helping you take just one more step toward greatness. If xianxia has taught me anything, it’s that every step counts. Who knows? Maybe if those punks had ruined your solo run you would have been missing that one percent of power you needed to save the world, or something.”

Niko laughed, and I did too.

“That is a possibility, I guess. So, which was is that Genera—“

[SUDDEN ZONE OBJECTIVE: Slay the Level 25 Evergreen Zone Boss when it arrives]

Niko and I stopped in our tracks. A red arrow appeared in my vision pointing southeast, and judging from the young man’s reaction it had appeared in his as well.

“Healing will have to wait,” Niko said urgently as he broke into a run, starting off slow so that I could keep up before doubling his speed, staying just ahead enough that I could see him, and then increasing his pace yet again until he left my sight completely because now the red arrow let us know the Objective was straight ahead. It seemed Niko focused on Agility, compared to me, who put all my points into Endurance and Strength. But then again, with 120 Attribute Points granted by his Tutorial Title he could easily have similar values in his other stats.

I considered what I’d do with 120 Attribute Points as I ran and dodged spirit beast critter attacks. Would I stay with my current build? Would I invest everything into Strength and Endurance and be unstoppable in the Tutorial? Probably not. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to continue using a spear or switch combat styles altogether. I’d probably keep a bunch of points in reserve for emergencies but mainly hold onto them in case I found a really powerful or unique build that suited my interests. What those interests were, I hadn’t decided yet, but definitely something cool. I imagine that Niko was the same way. He wielded a mace, which suggested a Strength build, but it could just have been his first weapon that he was still using to remain economical with his Tutorial Points. Plus, after killing so many spirit beasts and getting access to a Unique Tutorial Store he probably had a few techniques, so maybe his points were all in Agility, and Intelligence or Wisdom? I supposed that lobbing spells while evading enemy attacks with super speed would be a fun combat style.

Even before the “Sudden Zone Objective” came into sight I heard sounds of combat ring throughout the forest… Human on Human combat. Worried, I mentally prepared myself for a fight as I entered a circular clearing with a large boulder sitting in the middle. Not too far from me was Niko fighting two men, easily dodging sword swings and dishing out mace strikes, but despite his metal mace finding purchase several times on his target, the man only came out of the exchange with light wounds. For some reason, Niko didn’t just turn around to hit the other assailant who probably didn’t have as much Endurance.

“I’m here to help!” I yelled, charging with my spear forward.

“NO! DODGE!” was all Niko shouted in return, and I stopped, heeding his words. A glint of light reflecting off metal was all the warning I had as I dropped to the ground, and a whooosh sound passed overhead, accompanied by a deadly aura. There was a bowman in the trees to my right.

‘Why the hell are they doing this?!’ I thought as I regrettably retreated, taking cover behind a thick tree. ‘They even look like they’re all from different countries! Why would three strangers just team up to kill strangers in here?!’

As I watched the pitched battle for a minute, I noticed more strange details. Whenever Niko would aim for a blow to the head, the Endurance guy activated a charge of a defensive treasure. Every. Single. Time. He’d used 6 charges by the time Niko seemed to remember that there was also a sword wielder behind him, and when he turned to land a blow against that guy, he also activated a defense treasure!

What was going on?! How did they have so many treasures? The details from the shop showed that the most charges one treasure contained was TWO!

I believed that there was no way the archer also had so many treasures, but when I snuck a peek at the third guy from behind the tree an arrow followed where my head had been not too long after.

How was I going to help Niko?

……

I didn’t need help from Jonathon. The trio’s tank had a mentalist technique that made it really hard to focus on anything but him, but I didn’t need help. Every time I would land a serious blow on either the tank or the one who seemed to be focused on Strength but hadn’t landed a hit to prove it, a defensive treasure would activate and stave my blow, but I had this. The archer had already cost me my cheap defensive treasure’s only charge, but there was no way in hell I was losing this. I wasn’t even going to spend any of my 79 Attribute Points here. Though, it did help that their archer buddy was looking at Jonathon instead of me.

I was going to end them brutally only after using them for combat practice.

65.25 Agility was all I needed in order to dodge every one of the two assholes’ sword slashes. It was honestly quite easy because my head was on a swivel, noticing their every other movement, then placing myself where their arms physically had trouble swinging down on. What wasn’t easy was overpowering their tank with my Strength as it was, and I imagined that had I been talented in the art of blood and I’d been able to buy the blood technique this tank would already be dead, but whatever. I still had many tricks.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the archer aim towards me again so I waited until the last second before putting the tank between us, dodging the arrow. It seemed Jonathon wouldn’t be holding the bowman’s attention any longer, which wasn’t an issue. I just needed to speed things up.

I slammed my mace toward the tank’s skull, but yet again an energy barrier appeared for just long enough to deflect my strike, forcing me to dance out of the way of a sword thrust. I then aimed for his legs, but it was the same deal. He was willing to tank hits to his torso and shoulders, but not to vital areas. I had a feeling this guy was an active solider of some kind from before the System’s descent.

Thankfully his magical senses weren’t as keen as mine, because when I swung at his chest and “missed” he didn’t think to activate a defensive charge, allowing the sharpness Chi at the end of one of my mace’s spikes to dig directly into his chest between his ribs. Judging by the way he spasmed and clutched the injury as blood fountained from him, I’d struck his heart.

“No, wait—“ the other swordsman behind me began saying with fear, but I paid his begging no heed as I dodged arrows and exhausted the rest of his defensive charges before smashing in his torso, refusing to give him the quick death of a caved-in skull. These guys hadn’t even said a word before attacking me, nor had they responded to my fake pleading, so why should I show them mercy?

I turned hatred-filled eyes toward the archer’s back, who’d already begun running. Fatal mistake. If he’d stayed his ground and shot at me he might have gotten a lucky shot in. I went from 0 to approximately 60 in two seconds, caught up, dodged a hasty knife stab, knocked him flat on his ass, crushed both his arms with my mace, and dragged him by his hair back to the clearing. His screaming became annoying, so I downgraded them to sobs by kicking his teeth in. My stomach rebelled at the grotesque sight, but the trio had been the first group to arrive at the clearing, and Jonathon hadn’t been the only one to arrive since. There were people in need of an example, and the guy deserved it.

Waiting in the clearing for me was a small crowd of mostly fearful cultivators who’d come out of the trees once the fight had a clear winner.

“He’s clearly too violent and dangerous to leave alive! Look at that poor man!” a white girl seemingly my age said to the crowd with panic. She’d been the first to arrive after me, yet stood on the sidelines watching and now wanted to take out her strongest competition with the help of lies and deceit. She was just as bad as my attackers. “He and his partner with the spear attacked those three guys because they want their defensive treasures! They were defending themselves and now they’re dead because we didn’t stop them! We’re next if we don’t do something!”

I saw Jonathon angrily approach but shut him up with a gesture, nonverbally letting him know I had everything under control.

Surprisingly, the trio who’d been wanting to finish my Objective earlier arrived just then, and the woman in front cleared her throat. “I doubt it. We ran into him earlier and he seemed nice enough.” I turned to regard the woman, who shrugged as she looked at the disfigured men on the ground around me. “And since he’s here we don’t stand a chance of claiming the Zone Boss. Peace.”

My accuser gave the trio a dirty look as they walked away. “They might be working with him, too. Listen, society has collapsed and opportunists like this guy will be everywhere! We can do good here by working together to kill him before he can hurt anyone else!”

I allowed the girl to get her words out and watched the crowd’s reactions. About half of them were aimless and didn’t know what to do, but the rest showed at least a little bit of willingness to take action at just the girl’s accusations. These idiots needed to be taught a lesson.

“Enough!” I said with the help of Chi, my single word passing through the crowd that had gathered and stilling them as I projected my name into the air so that they would remember me after this. Then I pointed everyone out one by one who had showed skepticism or hesitation without any ill intent toward me. “You, you, you…you, you, and you. Leave. You’re all free to go. Look for other Objectives or travel the different Zones. I don’t care.”

“Don’t listen to him! He’s powerful, but we can take him!” the girl screeched, so I erased the Sharpness circuits, drew those for Gust, and after a few seconds launched a projectile of just air that knocked her down with a shriek.

“He attacked me! Niko Tess attacked me!” she screamed as she shakily rose to her feet, putting on a show. “I think the spell had a spiritual aspect to it because my insides burn! We have to kill him!” Despite supposedly suffering an invasive attack she powered up with no problem, as did a few people behind her who hadn’t liked the fact that I “struck” first.

“He’s aggressive! He probably attacked the other guys first!”

“This Niko guy isn’t even tryna defend himself! He must be guilty!”

“Maybe if we take him out fast enough we can save his other victims. Two of them are still alive! We need to get them to a store!”

Thankfully by the time some of them powered up, everyone I’d pointed out had begun leaving. Jonathon behind me said something nervously but I waved away his concern, repeating to him that I had everything under control.

But just in case, I dropped 15 more points into Agility, bringing it up to 87, giving me 8.7 times as much Agility as we’d all started with yesterday. If I wasn’t the fastest Human of our planet before now…

Ignoring the now-smaller crowd’s shouts, I said over them, “For the rest of you idiots, project your total Tutorial Points to me and then give me half—we all know it’s possible. Otherwise, you won’t be leaving in one piece. These three bleeding out into the snow attacked me without warning, so I have to assume that they’ve done so to other people. They are getting what they deserve.”

Finally, the one whose heart I punctured went to Hell, and I received a prompt that made my eyebrows rise. I displayed it to the crowd and Jonathon.

[Cultivator slain. Points earned: 1,000. Transferred points: 137. Total: 1,359]

“Holy shit. This explains why they attacked me and had so many defensive treasures—killing just anybody gets you 1,000 points. One of these guys must have killed somebody, bought a bunch of defense treasures, then recruited the other two so that they could rake in a killing. Literally.” I looked at the evil girl in a new light. “Is that why you’re trying to get the crowd riled up by lying? You already knew this information and wanted all the points I’d get from killing these guys?”

The girl paled, but it didn’t matter whether I was right—I knew she saw them attack me.

She began sputtering out vehement denials and claiming I was trying to turn them against her, but it didn’t matter. Even though a few people were clearly prepared to defend her, they could do nothing as I glided past them like a ghost. The girl’s eyes widened since she’d never taken them off me, and she seemed to have everything in Agility, but it just wasn’t enough. The difference between our stats was too large, and my fingers clamped around her throat before squeezing.

With the deed done I flashed out of the crowd who’d all armed and powered up, but had been unable to strike me because they were too slow and hadn’t wanted to risk hitting each other.

Screams and rage-filled shouts filled the air as the few people who weren’t shocked still charged me, but a prompt appearing in-between us caused their morale to collapse.

[Cultivator slain. Points earned: 1,000. Transferred points: 1,104. Total: 3,463]

“M-maybe she killed enough spirit beasts—“ the man who’d been leading the charge began saying, but I cut him off with a Gust spell that laid him flat before straightening my back, holding my chin high, and putting my hands behind my back.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I cleared two Objectives entirely on my own and still hadn’t earned even nine HUNDRED points from all the beasts I killed. The simplest answer is usually the correct one; she recently killed somebody but hadn’t yet found a General Tutorial Store before the Zone Boss prompt brought her here. Then she saw these guys attack me, watched for an opportunity to claim more points, and lied to you all so that she could land the final blow and gain all my points.”

As I finished speaking I noticed some eyes drift toward the two men bleeding out on the snow around me, so I quickly crushed their skulls and ended their whimpering, netting me another 2,276 points before glaring at the opportunists. It seemed each of my attackers had wisely set aside 100 points with which to purchase full heals…only for their wealth to land in my lap due to their wickedness and greed.

“Now, get on with it,” I demanded. “Show me your points, then transfer half.”

My would-be-attackers’ faces paled as they donned mixed expressions of fear, regret, and hatred. Two of them immediately followed my orders and transferred a total of 182 points before giving me their apologies and leaving.

“But… Man, it was an honest mistake! How is this fair?!” the guy in the front demanded, seemingly contemplating fighting his way out with his points by the way he held his sword.

“THIS WORLD ISN’T FAIR!” I shouted back at him with my voice amplified, cycling my Chi and blaring my aura with its inflated stats. “You all would have attacked despite me being the victim here! I just came back from nearly dying in an Objective, then a trio of sick pieces of shits try to kill me for points, then another sick piece of shit tries to do the same right after! How is any of what happened to ME fair?! Because I’m strong enough to come out on top? If anyone else had been in my position they would be dead! I have half a mind to kill you and enrich myself further! But you’re lucky I’m looking out for Humanity, because you guys DID just make a mistake. A stupid one, but you didn’t choose to be evil, or anything like that. So I’m letting you off with a lesson: THINK before you act from now on so that no one else in a position like mine gets treated unfairly. CAPICHE?! Hand over your points and GET LOST!”

I was breathing heavily with a tomato-red face by the end of my rant, but I’d gotten my message across. The rest gave me half their points and fled.

“And to everyone who arrived late, I’ve claimed this Zone Boss for MYSELF! You can stay and watch me fight it and warn everyone else not to touch it, but if anyone attacks it in any way except self-defense I’m killing you TOO! It’s Level 25, and I want to know if there’s a Title for killing it solo!”

I projected my rage as best I could through my voice toward the dozen or so cultivators who’d arrived after I’d killed the trio and the opportunist. Then without expecting a response from the new people I turned around to face Jonathon, who looked like a stone statue.

“Regret your dealings with me yet?” I asked him point-blank.

He quickly shook his head before releasing a long, tired sigh and leaning on his spear. “N-no. Not at all. You’re really a xianxia main character. I was just wondering how you could stand up to everyone like that on your own right after fighting a life-and-death battle. I…I think I’d be crying too much to speak coherently.”

I chuckled mirthlessly and shook my head, raising my hand and holding it parallel to the ground so that he could see it tremble. “You can’t see it because of my pants, but my legs are quivering a bit too. Thanks to playing competitive shooters I can yell at people without my voice cracking, but nothing stops the adrenaline from making me shake.”

Jonathon smiled at that, then jumped when a prompt showed me transferring 500 points to him.

“Oh, thanks, but—”

“You didn’t do much?” I finished his sentence. “Perhaps. Or maybe, like you suggested earlier, I would have died here had I not soloed that ice palace Objective and gained those sweet, sweet bonuses. Now, help me loot all those defensive treasures. You can keep two.”

Jonathon nodded, and we got to work. By the time we finished looting the corpses, equipping the various jewelry treasures, recharging them, and refueling our own Chi stores, an even larger crowd had gathered around the clearing. However, thanks to all the information being shared in whispers, everybody knew what happened and not to enter.

I was further familiarizing myself with the Sharpness technique when another prompt hit us.

[Tutorial time remaining: 1 hour]

Dozens of disbelieving voices arose from all around the clearing, and even my eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but I quickly regained myself, telling Jonathon, “Since we clearly haven’t seen everything the Tutorial has to offer, this must mean that we’ll return here on some other day. My hunch says a month.”

Jonathon nodded, before muttering, “It’s unlucky you have to fight in this condition.” He pointedly glanced at my left arm and acid burns. “If only the Boss announcement had included a time, we could have gone to the store and back to get you healed.”

I shrugged. “If I’d gotten the heal before coming here I would have missed out on all these points. And if we’d gone to the store after, we might have missed—“

The ground rumbled.

“Speak of the devil,” I laughed.

The boulder in the center of the clearing released an aura more potent than mine even if I disregarded its higher Level, and pale blue lines all over the stone creature lit up. The air grew so much colder as cultivators began screaming to retreat, and I told Jonathon the same. Soon nobody even stood amongst the trees around the clearing, and only I stood in front of it as it rose on two thick legs. It turned slowly in a circle until a large crystal embedded in its torso—because it lacked a head—faced me.

This had been the Level 25 Zone Boss all along. I’d suspected it but had no way to be sure. Though, it’s not like I would have done anything to it had I known, because I needed as much time to recuperate as I could get. By now my burned skin didn’t hurt nearly as much as when I’d faced the trio, so even though I still couldn’t use my left arm, I figured I’d be fine.

A few seconds passed as the Zone Boss and I stared at each other, until I felt a change in the energy in the ground and I immediately dashed to the side, dodging spikes of ice as large as me that shot out from beneath my feet. After dodging its opening attack I flashed to its side and slammed my mace into the ten-foot-tall creature’s leg, breaking off the equivalent of a few layers of skin before sidestepping another icicle that shot up from the ground.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

I probably had enough Agility to dodge everything it threw at me, but my Strength and weapon were lacking—the spikes on my mace were even dented. I figured I could remedy the problem by just dropping 20 or so points into Strength, but I really wanted a hybrid mage build and didn’t feel all that threatened by the golem. Sure, I’d die if I was hit, but my solution to that was not getting hit! Plus, I had three necklaces, two bangles, and four rings, each treasure with at least one charge. Half of them were automatic treasures that activated when they sensed energy about to collide with my body and would keep me safe even if I messed up.

I moved in for another swing onto the golem’s same leg, but this time with Sharpness augmenting one of the spikes on my mace, when a burst of blue fog exploded from the area I struck, and one of my rings grew warm, producing a shield that kept the Frost Cloud away.

At least my technique had dug into the leg like I’d expected!

After retreating and dodging more ground-based attacks I took stock of my options. Whittle the Boss down with what damage output I currently had, or invest points into something that would end the fight sooner. I didn’t need more Agility, but I also didn’t want more Strength because just having a better weapon would have assured me a faster victory here.

So what about augmenting Sharpness? It was a technique I would use so long as I had a weapon to cast it with, and I was on the search for a Cycling Technique that would allow me to sometimes win fights with techniques alone.

I dropped 5 points into Intelligence and 5 points into Wisdom, bringing them both up to 36.25, just like Vitality, then recast Sharpness. With my related stats going up 7 points, I could feel a tangible difference in the sharpness Chi I gathered, but I realized too late that I couldn’t tell what each stat had done since I increased them together. Oh well. My mace still cut deeper into the golem’s leg, and that was all that mattered for the moment.

The fight went on in a repetitive cycle of dodging icicles, slamming the golem’s leg, then dodging the subsequent Frost Cloud for maybe two minutes until the thing finally fell, its leg breaking apart under its weight. The golem still defended itself just as efficiently as before, but at least now I didn’t have to worry about it suddenly exploding with speed and crushing me with its body, or something.

Plus, I could now reach that crystal in its chest.

Strangely disappointed that the golem hadn’t pulled out any techniques outside of the ice spike and Frost Cloud, I slammed my dented weapon into its crystal core and dodged more attacks until the thing’s aura became so weak it felt like a candle sputtering in the wind. I figured that it was so easy to kill because it was designed to fight a large group of weaker opponents rather than one heavy hitter.

Three ranged techniques suddenly came flying from the trees to land on the golem, and I was filled with wrath. I finished the golem off and received notifications, but not before the techniques had damaged it.

With a cursory glance at the prompts my wrath subsided a little because the System apparently didn’t qualify those killsteal attempts as worthy of taking away my solo streak, but I was not happy.

“THREE PEOPLE JUST VOLUNTEERED A THOUSAND POINTS EACH!” I roared into the sky as I dashed toward the two people who’d made the mistake of standing close to each other when they attacked. Seeing me appear amongst them, the spectating cultivators screamed and shouted, pointing in the offenders’ directions. I easily caught up with the two people who probably didn’t even have 25 points in Agility and mercilessly caved their skulls in with a swipe of my mace each. Then I turned and ran in the opposite direction to catch up with the third person.

Surprisingly, waiting for me was a well-built woman with a sword in-hand, standing over an unconscious, gaunt white guy who was bleeding from his legs and looked like a stereotypical meth dealer who’d made the mistake of sampling his own product. Before I could say anything, the woman nonchalantly said, “I want half the points and his stuff. But the points are more important than his stuff. Heck, I’ll take just 300, enough for a defensive treasure. You can keep the stuff.”

I looked at her in astonishment for a second before laughing, then asking, “Which novels did you read? Because I think your bargaining skills would make Meng Hao proud!”

The woman cracked a smile, and I flashed beside her with a stomp that ended the offender’s life. She gulped, took a nervous step back, and opened her mouth to say something, but the 500 points I sent her shut her up. She bowed at the waist before turning around and leaving.

When I arrived before Jonathon again, I fell to my knees and released a shaky breath.

I was suddenly very tired.

I’d just killed three people who hadn’t directly posed threats to me or anyone else. They’d only been attempted thieves, not even successful ones. My gut churned something awful as I remembered their blood spilling and bones being exposed and shattered by my mace. The awful sights and stenches that followed every step I took in this Tutorial.

Jonathon silently placed a hand on my shoulder, before patting my head and ruffling my hair, seemingly understanding what I was thinking.

“Did you get the solo rewards?” he asked solemnly.

I took in a deep breath, then looked up at him with a wicked grin. “Yeah. Those assholes were not enough to steal that one percent of power I’ll need in ten years to save the world. Hopefully everyone else will know better.”

That was the reason they deserved death. For the sin of trying to obstruct my path to power, whether directly or not didn’t matter. Whether with spite towards me or not didn’t matter. Had their attacks counted, I might not have become a Slayer Extraordinaire as quickly as I did.