Chapter Six: New Management
In our remaining hour within the Tutorial I got healed at a General Tutorial Store before running around with my super speed for several minutes finding an unoccupied Evergreen Blade Blood Ice Palace, spending several more minutes literally carrying Jonathon to it, then helping him speedrun it. At the end I quickly killed the blood- and cold-aspect beasts and allowed the man to test his skills against the Level 20 boss before using the last of our time browsing the shop, practicing our techniques, and ogling our new Titles and Status Menus.
[Titles]
Slayer Extraordinaire: Slay a wild spirit beast at least 20 Levels above your own without assistance. +5 to all Attributes and +5 to two Attributes of your choice.
Just like me, Jonathon had gained the Title for killing something 20 Levels higher. Unfortunately, just like Jonathon, that was the only related Title I got. It seemed despite me being the first person to kill something 10 Levels higher, somebody had beaten me to killing something 20 Levels higher. Likely because I was Level 1 and the minimum Level for spirit beasts I needed to kill was 21, making me wait to achieve it until the Zone Boss appeared.
However, I had gained far better rewards than another a “First” Title.
[Tutorial Objective “Solo a Zone Boss” complete. Tutorial Title updated. Tutorial Points earned: 10,000]
[Tutorial Objective “First to solo a Zone Boss” complete. Tutorial Title updated. You are now on the Path to Sovereignty.]
[Tutorial Objective “First to solo three Tutorial Objectives” complete. Tutorial Title updated.]
[Titles]
Path to Sovereignty: City Lord System privileges are unlocked to you. +5 to all Attributes.
[Titles]
Tutorial: Complete Tutorial Objectives to receive better rewards. +130 Attribute Points and +65% to all Attributes.
[Titles]
Hard-Working Specialist: Achieve 100 points in a single Attribute before reaching Level 20 without the majority of points coming from Daos. +5 to all Attributes except the highest, and early Dao-related Quest opportunities.
There was a lot to unpack, first and foremost being the lacking Attribute Points. I had gained a whopping +25% to all Attributes, but only 10 total Attribute Points to spend. I chalked that up to the original rewards being +10 Attribute Points for everyone who significantly participated in the slaying of the Zone Boss, which would have made me feel bad for hogging it had the rewards for soloing it not existed.
And perhaps there would no longer be a ton of Attribute Points awaiting me at the end of every Objective? I could only find out for sure when we were all next sent into the Tutorial.
“City Lord System privileges” sounded pretty neat too, but that was less to benefit me and more to help build a better home for my people. I still loved the Title and was excited to make life in Yorgefan more comfortable, but it wasn’t as awesome as the next Title.
[Hard-Working Specialist] cleared some of my doubts about how I’d only gained 1 Attribute Point from leveling up. It didn’t explain the details about it all like the Lord of Yorgefan probably had to everyone who’d stayed behind to listen and figure out cultivation, but it made me feel less paranoid. After all, the Title gave no mention of the Tutorial—which is where I got most of my points—nor was it called something like “Genius Specialist”. Therefore, there was an element of hard work to gaining more points.
Hard work… Could it really have been so simple as exercise and training? I supposed I’d find out upon returning to Yorgefan and listening to everyone’s testimonies.
Definitely of most interest to me was the “Early Dao-related Quest opportunities”. Knowing what “Dao” meant, I had earned a very valuable reward that might possibly give me a lead over the rest of Humanity greater than everything else I’d lucked into combined.
I lovingly gazed at my updated Status Menu, then added another 5 points to Endurance in order to make it align with my other Attributes.
Niko Tess
Strength: (50+70%) = 85
Endurance: (40+70%) = 68
Chi Condensation (Level 1)
Agility: (75+70%) = 127.5
Vitality: (40+70%) = 68
Race: Human (Tier 1)
Intelligence: (40+70%) = 68
Wisdom: (40+70%) = 68
Attribute Points: 59
[Titles] Hard-Working Specialist
[Quests]
I was beyond superhuman. Just two days ago, power like mine would have been considered…godly. I could consistently move faster than some cars could drive at top speed on a flat road. I had physical strength comparable to that of the biggest, strongest land animals. My bare skin’s durability might not be able to completely stop bullets, but bullets were probably the only thing a normal person could use to hurt me. I was probably immune to most poisons and venoms, and could probably wipe any alcohol clean from my blood. I didn’t yet notice differences in my cognition or anything related, but I presumed that I could learn information and retain it a lot more easily.
Of course, that was all under the stipulation that I was powered up, cycling and expending my Chi. Without that magical energy I was still just mortal…which made defensive treasures all the more important. Boy was I glad that those three murderous sickos came after me. Though, it was a shame that the wealth which landed on my lap only came to be in the first place because they’d killed innocent people.
I sighed and said my goodbyes to Jonathon as the Tutorial clock reached 0, at which point my environment seamlessly transitioned from the ice palace’s boss room to the grocery store parking lot. I was even still on my car’s roof!
As I turned to get a good view of my people—who’d also appeared in the same spots they’d been in hours before when we were transferred to the Tutorial—screams and a hissing roar erupted somewhere to my left. I powered up and just about flew through the air before a cry for help could even be uttered. In less than two seconds my foot had already put the crocodilian spirit beast’s head into the concrete. I then jumped high into the air with a little twirl, scanning the majority of the complex with a glance.
Having confirmed there were no more curious creatures stomping around the likely future center of my City I returned to my car’s roof and waited for the confusion to die down. Slowly, everyone realized what had just happened as susurrations of information being shared washed over the parking lot.
However, despite my expectations of the crowds being unruly and uncertain before they looked up at me for help, many eyes turned to Agatha and a man I’d seen around yesterday but couldn’t name.
The crowd silenced and parted for Agatha as she walked up to my car and…smiled fondly at me. “Thank you very much for your support yesterday when the System welcomed us into the multiverse, Niko. You have done—and no doubt will continue to do—us all a great service. We noticed that you immediately left for the Tutorial’s second phase and weren’t present for what Yorgefan’s Lord taught us or the decisions we came to as a group, so I’ll fill you in later, but first, I can’t stress enough how thankful we are to have you. Had there not been a Tutorial you would have been the only guiding light in these strange times, but because we all received guidance and had a long meeting about it, we no longer have to burden you with all the responsibilities of a leader. May I step up onto your car?”
Looking around at all the eyes on me, I gulped, feeling a little nervous, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was just how what Agatha was saying felt scripted, but something wasn’t right, and I couldn’t quite describe it. I nodded to Agatha, lent her my hand, and soon the both of us stood on my car. She gave me a little bit of a side-eye, apparently having expected me to step down.
No chance of that. I also had a lot to say, but I was willing to let her go first.
Agatha looked out at all 200 something people and put on her manager face. Projecting her voice, she said, “Before we were returned here, the Lord graciously let us know we have ten days until the next Tutorial session, and though that might sound like a lot of time right now, we will soon find the days blending together, because we have plenty of hard work ahead of us.”
She swept her right arm up and around me, as though she were presenting me toward a table of judges at some kind of competition. “We will have a few exceptional cultivators like Niko here to help defend against the worst dangers, but an elite team cannot be everywhere at once, and as the Lord told us, we will always have to stay alert against the threat of spirit beasts, like the one that was sniffing around the parking lot while we were away.” She turned to face me. “Tell us, Niko: do you think we’ll come across a lot of beasts like this crocodile, which you just killed with such impressive speed?”
I looked over at the beast whose aura had given away that it was no stronger than any other Level 10 from the Tutorial. Not even a strong spirit beast for its Level, like the ones who could use techniques that I fought in the Blade Blood Ice Palaces. As far as I knew it’d been ordinary as fuck when it was alive, and if these people had decent weapons they wouldn’t struggle to take down beasts like it even if they were stuck at Level 0, so long as they teamed up. Kind of like prehistoric Humans when they hunted all the megafauna to extinction and stuff.
I said as much to the crowds, adding, “But we’re not in some video game where all the surrounding monsters will be Level-appropriate to us. There could be a Level 100 beast somewhere nearby that will wreck our shit if we annoy it. If you all don’t do your part to get stronger, then none of us will make it. Even the elderly can cultivate and become healthier from it. Only children have an excuse for not fighting, but they should also train. I’ll elaborate on that later.”
I gave the proverbial floor back to Agatha.
“Thank you for your valuable input, Niko. Now, he is entirely correct. On top of so much more, we’ll all have to cultivate and keep on our guards, ever-ready to defend ourselves or each other against spirit beasts, or the other Races the Lord informed us exist.”
I blinked at that last sentence, realizing I hadn’t given the idea of multiple Races here on Yorgefan much thought even though that was a super common occurrence in System apocalypse novels. I looked forward to meeting them and wooing an alien waifu. Or two. Or as many as there were Races.
The rest of Agatha’s speech was pretty typical motivational stuff that lasted for just a couple minutes before she stepped down from my car and stood next to the portly man in his fifties whom a lot of people had looked at already and who seemed eager to speak.
“For the sake of Niko and the rest who moved on to the Tutorial’s second phase, this man is Mr. Scott,” Agatha introduced the man, her hand on his shoulder. “He came forward during the Tutorial to inform us of his experience owning and running a snack-foods manufacturing company with over 500 employees for twenty-two years! We are all lucky to have him with us, as there is no doubt that his many years of running a company that large will be useful to our organizational efforts, because from here on out, despite most of us having been strangers or just acquaintances on Earth, we will have to work efficiently together, like ants. We will have to function like a well-oiled machine, with our eyes only looking forward, and our minds on the same page.”
My lips automatically pursed upon hearing of Mr. Scott’s history as a large business owner, but with a bit of effort my expression smoothed and I prevented any of my feelings from appearing on the surface, since I was still standing atop my car. I automatically disliked the man for the fact that being rich was an excellent way to lose touch of reality. After all, with enough money to throw at every problem that came your way, the obstacles you faced would naturally change drastically from what the average person encountered. The United States had countless examples of poor people who rose to the top of society by virtue of hard work and a metric shit ton of luck, then after spending a decade accompanied by obscene wealth forgot that under the current economic structure not everyone could succeed like they had. Or even half as well as they had.
‘After all, if they had made it, how hard could it be for everyone else? They worked so hard and earned their just rewards. Everyone struggling to feed themselves and their children just…couldn’t have been working hard enough, right? Oh, you’re working full-time hours for two separate part-time jobs that don’t offer benefits? Then…it’s your fault for not going to college! Oh, you couldn’t afford the money or time to attend because your area’s average rent eats up half your wages and you have vulnerable family to take care of? Well…just move and live somewhere else! With what money? Pshaw, how hard could it be to relocate and find two more jobs elsewhere?’
Just like how racism brewed between countries at war with each other because the nations’ average citizens weren’t exposed to each other, the rich who didn’t live around those less fortunate forgot that they were also people and their problems weren’t easily overcome.
I would never forget a conversation with my senior coworker, Raphael, that began with me exclaiming in surprise after he revealed he’d been working at the grocery store for 5 years. I couldn’t imagine myself working there for even half that length, but he’d been there for 5 for the simple reason that he had no other choice. Not only had he grown up poor, not even able to afford school lunches, but early into his high school years both his parents were involved in a car accident with a drunk driver that left them severely injured.
Obviously with the United States’ healthcare system being how it was they were only ruined further by the accident. The least Raphael could do was work as much as he could instead of enjoying his childhood. He worked, studied hard, went to college on scholarships, applied for any and every job that gave higher pay than minimum wage, and…cashiering at this grocery store had been the best paying position within a reasonable distance to accept, since he’d yet to graduate. Raphael had accepted his lot in life and barely complained about anything—despite even he having medical problems like scoliosis—but my heart ached for the man barely older than me every time he came to mind.
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Even now, my insides tightened into a knot while thinking about how yesterday had been Raphael’s day off, and because he wasn’t at work at the time of the System’s descent I could do nothing to make up for his shitty life with all my good luck.
All of those thoughts had me considering whether to take Mr. Scott out back and give him the Old Yeller treatment. Having a grocery store manager who didn’t understand the plights of those beneath her despite her situation not having been too different was one thing, but keeping around a tycoon who was probably the source of several hundred people earning barely enough to live off of when the company could easily afford to pay them well?
Again, I focused hard on keeping my outward appearance stable, because fury burned in my chest despite not having evidence of Mr. Scott being one such rich person. Hell, I didn’t even know if he was rich. I had to keep calm. Perhaps the man was good and just. I wouldn’t know until I conversed with him, but that would have to wait.
I zoned back in to find Mr. Scott delegating tasks—or at least, going over what everyone had apparently already agreed to back in the Tutorial, which I had missed. That group would be in charge of cooking. This group would rotate guard shifts. That one would keep the place clean. Etc.
He said that keeping things simple was best, which I had to agree with, to some extent. I largely didn’t care about how everyone had decided things would run, even though I’d been named “Head of the Cultivation Department” and second-in-command of the militia without my input.
I would drop my bombshells and then later have a private meeting with Agatha and Mr. Scott to discuss how the new information changed things. Then I’d meet with my elite squad and blow their minds.
“…and beyond. Now, to condense all of that into a shorter brief: we have to cultivate, we have to take care of each other, and we have to make progress in the next Tutorial session so that we can soon explore, find our families, and reconnect with other pockets of Humanity. We have the numbers to establish the smallest System-sanctioned community but not the resources or achievements, while other pockets out there might have accomplished it.”
I raised an eyebrow at that last sentence. I hadn’t expected Mr. Scott’s closing statement to perfectly segue into my bombshell.
“Actually,”—I spoke up with Chi unnaturally projecting my voice—“we no longer need to find more people in order to establish a City. I have that covered.”
Hundreds of eyes shot toward me with incredulity in their gazes. It seemed they’d expected me to be strong enough to one-shot crocodile monsters after returning from the Tutorial, but not bearing life-changing gifts.
“Pardon?” Mr. Scott asked, looking up at me with pure confusion. “Uhhh, did you hear from the Tutorial’s second phase about what System-sanctioned communities are? From Hamlet, to Village, to Town, to City, and further? Because we are a long way off from forming a City.”
In truth, I hadn’t, but I had a general idea of it all. Flashing my second-newest Title for everyone to see was answer enough to answer his question.
[Titles]
Path to Sovereignty: City Lord System privileges are unlocked to you. +5 to all Attributes.
Cries of joy and disbelief erupted from the crowd for a few minutes as everyone celebrated the fact that they wouldn’t have to slum it out without proper modern conveniences for too long.
When everyone was done expressing their delight, Mr. Scott asked, “And you’re sure that the Title means you can establish a City whenever you want? Instead of, perhaps, just grant you the ability to become the Lord of an already existing City?”
‘Okay, that’s a pretty good question,’ I thought as I watched the crowd go deathly silent, like a boot had just stepped on their hope’s neck. ‘The Title really doesn’t say anything about setting up a City at will, so it’s easy to see why he’d be skeptical. However…’
“Thankfully, the former is the case. Just like how we can all feel unread System prompts in our minds I can tell that there is a City core ready to appear at my will. I just haven’t dropped it yet because I wanted to give everyone time to consider whether this should be the center of my City.”
I could tell how a lot of people noticed my particular wording, and I was glad for it. If I created a City, it would be mine. Perhaps before the Tutorial’s first session I was skeptical of my ability to fully lead Humanity, but now? I had quite the head start on 99.9% of other Humans, so unless something went terribly wrong in my progress, I was going to keep far ahead of everyone and lead us into the future.
……
After the big group meeting with everyone ended I assured Agatha and Mr. Scott I’d be present for a private meeting later, then met up with my soon-to-be elite squad.
“Niko, Malachi, Sam, Annice, Diana, Brady, Lock, and me: Kate,” Kate counted aloud as she pointed at everyone in the circle one at a time, resting her new shortsword on her lap. “We are the militia’s Alpha Squad.”
Although I cringed at the naming convention, I understood that we were not a “squad of alphas” but instead squad “A”. It seemed the next combat-ready group amongst my people would be named “Beta Squad”, then “Gamma Squad” after that, then “Delta Squad” after that, and so on, based on the Greek alphabet. But so far we were the only awakened cultivators and thus the only ones in the militia, for now. Speaking of, Roger was named the militia’s general, as he had spent the longest time in the US military and the only one to work with tacticians while deployed in the Middle East.
“And if I recall correctly, Sam also left for the Tutorial as soon as he became a cultivator?” Kate asked the circle.
“Yep,” rainbow-haired Annice confirmed with a nod. “The rest of us took at least an hour after him to awaken and decided it was best to continue listening to the Lord of Yorgefan’s presentation while cultivating. Though, nobody managed to level up in that time, right?” she asked, looking around and finding only shaking heads. “How long did it take you to reach Level 1, and have you leveled any more, Niko?”
I shook my head. “Don’t continue cultivating Levels. Not if you want to be as powerful as possible. In my case, if I hadn’t received the Quest telling me to do it and thus gained my mace as a reward,”—I waved the weapon around for emphasis—“it wouldn’t have been worth it.”
Suffice to say, everyone’s jaws dropped farther than they had when I revealed my Path to Sovereignty Title.
“But, but, but…” Kate mumbled in shock.
“But that’s not what you were saying earlier!” Sam cried.
“Is it for Titles and Tutorial achievements?” Lock asked.
I regarded the young man for a moment before nodding, glad that he seemed calm and collected even when receiving strange news that befuddled everyone else.
“Yeah. I missed my opportunity to get the 20-Level-difference slaying Title because I was Level 1, so the first Level 20 spirit beast I killed didn’t count, and by the time I killed something at least Level 21 somebody had already gotten the Title first. That’s important because getting certain Titles first awards you other Titles. Getting a decent weapon a day earlier than normal definitely isn’t worth missing that ‘First’ Title, but I’m already so powerful that I really shouldn’t complain.”
Eyebrows were raised at that last comment, and Sam gave me a deadly serious stare.
“So…how powerful are you now? And more importantly, can we catch up? Either normally on Yorgefan, or in the Tutorial’s next sessions?”
More faces grew serious, and I could see in their eyes how they vividly remembered my 30+ Attribute Points head start from yesterday’s Titles. I felt bad having to tell them the truth, but I began my explanation anyway.
[Titles]
A Rookie no More: Slay a wild spirit beast at least 10 Levels above your own without assistance. +3 to all Attributes.
“This is the first Title I gained in the Tutorial. I think all of you can achieve it because…well, I don’t know for sure, but I think spirit beasts gain around 3, maybe 4 points per Level, and their stats aren’t even minmaxed. Which is to say that most beasts don’t specialize in anything. It felt to me like normal beasts had random stat distributions. I fought some that had claws but couldn’t easily pierce my skin, weren’t very fast, and lacked decent durability. However, other squishy spirit beasts like frogs and bunnies sometimes had super high damage output or Endurance. I fought and killed hundreds of spirit beasts and came out with the impression that most of them were randomized, but some of them clearly had a good Attribute spread. The strong ones might have been that way because they were bosses at the ends of Objectives or they were just lucky. I don’t know… What was I talking about? Oh yeah, every one of you can get [A Rookie no More] with a decent weapon, some basic combat training, and the luck necessary to not run into a particularly strong spirit beast. In the Tutorial, at least.”
I suddenly recalled the strange inconsistencies between the beasts of the Rolling Hills and Evergreen Zones.
“Before I continue, can you guys tell me anything Yorgefan’s Lord said about spirit beasts? Did he divulge much? And what about how we gain Attribute Points? Leveling only gave me 1.”
Kate and Sam looked to Malachi to respond since they had left for the Tutorial, but Diana—the other girl apart from Annice in their clique—spoke first.
“Regarding us, we gain most of our points from training what we want to gain points in—that’s it. Regarding beasts, the Lord said a ton of interesting things. They’re born from ambient Chi but if they reach Tier 2 they can reproduce. They do gain a lot of Attribute Points from every level up, like you hypothesized. And they differ in the qualities of their ‘bloodlines’, which can happen in a few ways. The vast majority of beasts are born from Chi, probably with random stat distributions if your observations are to be believed, and sometimes there’s a chance that they’re born with more cultivation talent than others, making them grow faster or slightly stronger. That’s the first, least common way they have better bloodlines. The second most common way is to eat special magical stuff that triggers a metamorphosis and advances their bloodline. And the most common way they have a better bloodline is by being naturally birthed by Tier 2 or higher spirit beasts. Apparently, the better a beast’s bloodline, not only does it start with a decent or good stat spread, but they might also be born knowing hereditary techniques.”
The entire time she spoke her expression and cadence barely changed, and I extrapolated that she wasn’t a very excitable person. Not a bad trait to have in the apocalypse.
‘All that spirit beast info sounds like common xianxia stuff. Easy to remember. For me, at least.’
“Thank you, Diana. Knowing all of that is not only a relief, but clears up some questions I had. You see, unless the Tutorial is different in the second session, the second phase plops you down in a one-biome Zone that has some random spirit beasts prowling around but also Tutorial Objectives to clear, which amount to RPG dungeons. They’re full of spirit beasts you have to fight through to reach the end, where there’s a unique store different from the general stores you can find out in the open—those stores take Tutorial Points, which you gain from killing beasts. It’s as simple as that…or it would be, except for how the second Zone I visited had Objectives with a shit ton of technique-wielding spirit beasts. Now I know that they had better bloodlines than the ones in my first Zone. You guys have to watch out for that because they were scary as fuck.”
Everyone nodded and I prepared to move on, but Kate looked just about ready to explode. Her face was red from seemingly holding her breath as she stared at me with wide eyes, before shooting glances down at the sword on her lap.
‘Ah. I didn’t think to ask, but whatever.’
“I take it you were successful in the Tutorial, Kate?”
She sat up straight, took in a deep breath, and beamed. “You betcha! I farmed the weaker spirit beasts hanging around the desert I spawned in before fighting through the first few floors of a tall cactus-themed Objective until I had enough points to buy a weapon at the general store, which I used to get THIS!”
Kate displayed to us the Title [Punching Up].
“Ayooo, way to go!” Sam exclaimed first, followed by everyone else’s praises.
“But that’s not where it ends, because I bought a plain spear from the general store,” she said, fondling the shortsword on her lap.
“Then where did…?” Malachi humored her with a smile, pointing at the sword, to which Kate dropped a second Title.
[Titles]
A Rookie no More: Slay a wild spirit beast at least 10 Levels above your own without assistance. +3 to all Attributes.
The Alpha Squad lost their minds, oohing and aahing in their excitement, garnering puzzled gazes from others sitting around in the parking lot or in their cars. Even I couldn’t hold in my excitement for her accomplishment, and before I could ask her how it happened she began explaining on her own.
“I spent all my time in that desert farming Tutorial Points and gathering teammates. The people I met there were lovely and from all over the world! And the System translated everything we said! We worked together to farm random beasts and the early floors of every cactus Objective until we all had weapons or techniques. Then we worked together as a group of five to reach the tenth floor where there was a Level 10 spirit beast, and while my team killed the other beasts I one-shot the Level 10! I had to put all my points into Strength for that, but I don’t care. I wanna hit stuff really hard, and that’s just who I am! In the end we cleared two entire Objectives and I bought this neat sword before the session ended. Guys, guess what it does!”
Doing the math in my head, I figured Kate had gained 47 Attribute Points during her time within the Tutorial. 5 from [Punching Up], 18 from [A Rookie no More], and 24 from the two Objectives. On top of the 10 from awakening as a cultivator before the Tutorial, that put her at 57 points more than everyone else who hadn’t awakened as a cultivator yet, which was a really good head start. Not an extraordinary head start like mine, but definitely something to celebrate.
“Remember to add at least 15 points—for a total of 25—in Agility before you continue adding to Strength or Endurance. That should be every melee fighter’s baseline before specializing because Agility is…” I struggled to find words describing how essential Agility was to survival. After a few moments of thinking I said, “High Strength can take out an opponent in one hit, but only if you land the hit. High Endurance can allow you to survive many hits, but not necessarily to defeat your opponent after that. Sure, everything depends on the matchup, like what abilities you both have and your opponent’s stat spread, but there are two points that makes having enough Agility worth it for every melee combatant: if someone unable to defend themself is in trouble nearby, or you need to escape a battle you cannot win, speed is your friend. Nothing else.”
I could see the arguments building up in my squad, so I continued with, “For clarification, I know we’ll need people of all different kinds of builds. I’m specializing in Agility, but if an enemy has too much Endurance I’ll need someone with more power to take care of them, I know. I’m just informing you all that from my experience fighting nonstop in the Tutorial, what everyone lacked was speed. Weapons and techniques both made up for the differences in Strength and Endurance, but fights end so quickly at our Levels that when people or spirit beasts were losing, any attempt at fleeing was a guaranteed death sentence. We just don’t have enough survivability, even with Endurance builds, to survive an escape attempt. And speed can make up for a difference in skill, too.”
I put a hand to my chin, thinking for another moment of how to summarize my points. Eventually, I came up with, “I’m pretty sure Agility has the biggest effect on small fights at our current power scale, assuming equipment isn’t an issue. When we have a lot of comrades we can depend on, having variances in abilities will be useful, but the Tutorial gives you more benefits if you’re working solo. Speaking of…”
To Annice’s clique’s confusion I began removing pieces of jewelry, and the eyes of Kate and Sam lit up.
“I was wondering if those…” Sam said, unable to finish his sentence as I handed the treasures around.
“These are defensive treasures, which are why you should invest less in Endurance and more in Agility for now. Just send a tiny trickle of energy into them and you’ll intuitively understand how many charges they have and how to refill them. They’ll expend energy in order to cast a defensive technique. I gave you each a treasure that activates automatically, and I’ll hold onto the ones activated manually, for now. I might give them all out in time.”
When everyone finished marveling at their new toys I looked at Kate, who smiled sheepishly.
“Weeeeell, okay. I have 20 Agility but I’ll put the next 5 in it, too, I promise! And I only put 10 in Endurance, by the way.”
That meant she probably had a Strength score of 47, just 3 points shy of my base Strength. She probably didn’t need to hit most spirit beasts more than once, unless she grazed it the first time or the opponent’s build was Endurance-based.
“And you never guessed what my sword does!” Kate whined.
“It shoots a little blast of paralyzing lightning once per fight unless you manage to recharge it during battle,” I immediately answered, having recognized the sword from the General Tutorial Store’s catalog of melee weapons.
“W-wha… How… Dang,” Kate moped. “The surprise was ruined…just like that. Poof. Gone.”
Chuckles resounded.
“You told me to guess,” I countered.
“It wasn’t a guess if you already knew!” Kate parried.
‘Damn. She got me there.’
“Anyway, I’m gonna move on to the next Title of importance.”
[Titles]
Slayer Extraordinaire: Slay a wild spirit beast at least 20 Levels above your own without assistance. +5 to all Attributes and +5 to two Attributes of your choice.
“I believe Kate has a decent chance at acquiring this one with all the advantages she has, to include the defensive treasure, her lightning-based weapon treasure, and her Titles. Though, she’ll certainly fail if she doesn’t have enough Agility to dodge attacks that would end her life,” I said with eyes squinted.
“I promise: the next 5 will go into Agility!” she swore, exaggeratedly drawing an “x” over her heart.
“Good. Anyway, all of you can probably get [Slayer Extraordinaire] if you do what Kate did next time you’re in the Tutorial, but it really comes down to luck even if you do everything right. You need a small party that will help you get to the Level 20 bosses at the ends of more dangerous Objectives, and you need the skill to use your power effectively or you might still die despite having everything you need to win.”
What I left out was the fact that most of them would have to wait until the Tutorial’s third session to achieve [Slayer Extraordinaire], because unlike Kate and Sam, the rest of them were far behind.
‘Well, maybe not far behind the rest of Humanity, but the goal is to remain above average, so if they don’t pick up their acts…’
I shook my head of the potentially disparaging thoughts. I didn’t want to think less of anyone because they were average—after all, by definition most people were average by circumstances rather than choice. I was only so powerful because of luck. EVERYTHING was luck. I was lucky to have read System apocalypse and xianxia novels before the real xianxia System descended. I was lucky to be talented in combat, and to have found the motivation to fight. I was lucky to have a decent education. I was lucky to be physically capable of action on the apocalypse’s first day, which would not have been possible if I’d been, say, in a car accident that left me with debilitating injuries, or just down bad with an illness. I was also lucky to have good reflexes honed from competitive shooters and some light sports playing when I was younger.
Luck was EVERYTHING in life, which was why power came with responsibility. Those with the power to change the lives of the less fortunate had to do so, or else they were nothing but selfish pieces of shit.
I had to remember that so I never fell low enough to consider myself special outside of the context of statistics.
I awoke from my heavy thoughts to 7 pairs of eyes filled with concern.
Scratch that—8 pairs. A new face had nervously appeared without anyone seeming to notice.
“You’re Ming, from the Chinese restaurant. Did you just awaken? Awesome!”
Ming’s eyes widened with surprise. Apparently he hadn’t expected me to remember the names of the people who cooked the best food around here?
“Uuh, yeah. I’ve played a few games and seen some wuxia movies but not nearly enough to prepare me for this. I was really close to awakening during the Tutorial after hearing Yorgefan’s Lord’s instructions, but because I didn’t I got put in the cooking group. Now though, I’ve figured it out.”
He drew some Chi from his cells and began cycling it through his entire body, allowing his aura to prove his claim.
“The key to grasping Chi from the air—besides imagining its existence well enough—was to really want it. Really, really want it,” he continued, staring down at his empowered fist as chaotic emotions danced in his eyes. “My parents moved here some fifteen years ago in search of opportunity. They were met with a…less than preferred welcoming. But being from China and able to cook they easily acquired a large enough loan to open a restaurant, winning most of everyone over through their stomachs. All that was required to bend Chi to my will was consider what might have happened had their welcoming been just a little worse, or had the loan not gone through, or had their food nor been appreciated enough, or…”
He sighed and let go of his Chi, allowing it to fall dormant in his cells.
“Sorry if I’m being too dramatic. I’ve been working in the family business since it started and I’m fucking tired of it. I want to be a monster hunter now.”
I regarded the young Chinese man for a moment, realizing the reason I hadn’t seen him around yesterday and this morning was probably because he was with the rest of the cooks cooking all the raw meat on charcoal grills behind the store.
“I think you’re in the right place. Welcome to the Alpha Squad.”