[Combat commencing. Please orient yourself]
A mechanical yet distinctly female voice entered Esther’s ears. She looked around and realized that she was sitting in a blank white room. And in the middle of it was a figure made of straw.
[Level 0 - The Beginning]
[Living Mannequin - 0-star
A mannequin that runs on the power of blood]
[Please kill the enemy
Time limit: 45 seconds
Failure: Removal from this world]
One simple “rule” was explained.
[Please select a weapon. We will provide a free weapon just this once]
[Club] [Greatsword] [Katana] [Bow and Arrows] [Staff] [Spear] [Cestus]
When Esther saw this, she waved the screens away. As soon as she did so, she could see the timer ticking.
[42 seconds]
She took her time to look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—just blank white walls and a bluish-black cube that floated right beside her.
…I should do the task. She knew better than to test Status in this situation. Taking out Requiem from her pouch, she swung the blade through the air.
The straw mannequin fell to the ground without any resistance. And from its wounds poured gallons upon gallons of blood.
If Esther wasn’t so familiar with death, she’d have puked right then and there.
[All monsters eliminated.]
That voice again. Esther narrowed her eyes and look around. It comes from the cube! Curious, she took Requiem and bashed the cube with it.
There was no visible damage, and her attack was blocked with a tinging sound. But then, time stopped, and a dove manifested above the cube.
“외국인 여러분, 큐브는 운영자와 사용자를 연결하는 도구입니다.” The dove opened its beak and spoke fluent… Korean?
Esther narrowed her eyes even more. She took a deep breath and tried to remember the lessons that her Ihwa had taught her.
I think it’s telling me not to hit the cube again. Eh, I’ll entertain it for now.
“예.”
The dove nodded. It finally opened its eyes to look at Esther. And when it did, it almost fell to the ground in shock.
“Y-You! You’re not—”
“Speaking Common now?” Esther laughed. Pointing the sheath of her sword at it, she growled. “Tell me, what’s going on? Why did I get into the Tutorial Dungeon?”
She’d never personally been here before, but she’d heard bad things about it. Really, really bad things. If possible, she wanted to threaten this creature into freeing her.
The dove was strangely calm. In fact… it almost exuded the same feeling as the Burning World.
Oh… Shit.
Esther laughed awkwardly and put away her sword. “No offense…”
“None taken. I am forbidden from harming any participants anyways; Otherworlder or not.” The dove flew around in a circle and landed on the cube again. “I’ll answer your questions, but first, answer mine. Why do you reek of Violence?”
No harm in telling. It can’t harm me. Might even intimidate that dove into doing what I want. “The Monarch took an interest in me and sent the Burning World.” Esther took an imposing step toward the dove. “I ripped it apart. Banished it from my body and took back control.”
Unexpectedly, the dove merely nodded in amusement and gasped as if it’d just found the answer to something important. “So that’s why she was so pissed off recently. Thank you, ermm… Nogitsune, for putting Spica in place.”
“...”
“Oh, you probably don’t know. Spica is ‘The Burning World.’ You don’t have to worry about her taking revenge. And be not afraid of me. Unlike her, I serve another Monarch. Now, I’m sorry for this, but I must take away your power.”
Esther jumped back and covered her body defensively. “Not gonna let you!”
“Please, this is for your own good. I can’t free you from here. And although you can clear the Tutorial easily with your current power, you’ll die before the second level. The Tutorial System routinely checks for abnormalities in power and removes them.”
Esther tensed. She didn’t really trust the dove, but what could she do? What it said made sense. If she could really clear the Tutorial that easily, Violence wouldn’t have sent her in the first place.
So, reluctantly, she stood before the dove and closed her eyes. “Do what you must.”
“Be not afraid. Your powers will return once everything is over.”
She felt the dove’s beak touching her forehead. A warmth radiated throughout her body, followed by sudden coldness. When she opened her eyes again, everything was already done.
Esther clenched her fists and opened them repeatedly. She stretched and let Mana and Aura flow through her.
“...I’m weaker.”
“Correct. You are now back to 1-star. Temporarily, of course. I also took away your armor—you’ll have to buy it back from a shop. Your sword is certainly…interesting. Since you can’t use any weapon, I’ll protect it and only it from the System. Oh, and don’t forget this.”
The dove coughed up a silver ring right onto Esther’s hand, making her squeal in disgust and drop the ring to the ground.
“Oh, be gentle with it.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“What the— what was that?”
“An enhanced ring, designed to hide anything ‘not human.’”
“So if I put in on… my fluff fluff….”
The dove tilted its head. “Your fluff fluff? Oh, you mean your tails and ears? They’ll be invisible, but they’re still there. You’ll need the ring to blend in with the others. But should anyone find out, just tell them that you’re ‘cosplaying,’ and you’ll probably be fine.”
Esther crouched down and wiped the saliva-coated ring with the hem of her shirt. As soon as she put it on her finger, her ears and tails disappeared.
She produced a shard of Ice to look at her own reflection. Nope, no human ears. But her long hair covered the side of her head anyways, so it was fine. Maybe.
“It seems that you’re adapting just fine. I’ll be on my way now.”
A portal appeared behind the dove, and time slowly began flowing again. But just as the dove was halfway through the portal, Esther called out to it. “Wait! Someone else also got pulled into the Tutorial!”
“I see. I’ll ask someone else to intervene.”
The dove was almost gone now. Esther had a feeling that she wouldn’t meet it again for a long time, so she must ask the question that’d been on her mind ever since the dove started talking to her.
“...Why are you helping me?”
The dove paused. It stayed silent for a few moments before answering, “Navr and Caedes have their eyes on you.”
Then, it disappeared.
Before Esther could fully comprehend the implication of that, time resumed, and a voice came out from the cube.
[Level completed. Calculating rewards…]
[Coins x100
Points x3]
[Bonus for fulfilling the hidden requirement - Not choosing a weapon:
Coins x50
Points x2]
A pouch appeared out of thin air. Esther picked it up and looked inside. A hundred and fifty shiny golden coins lay there, waiting to be spent.
She then saw the blue screen of her Status flickering. “Status.”
==STATUS==
Name: Esther Raze
Species: Nogitsune
Class: Soldier of Stars
Sub-class: -UNCHOSEN-
Sub-class: -UNCHOSEN-
Rank: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (1/12)
Titles: -UNCHOSEN-
Gift: Kirion, the Blood-drinking sword (current rank: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ [3/12]) {DISCONNECTED}
Avaron, the Mana-eating sword (current rank: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ [3/12]) {DISCONNECTED}
Trait: False pragmatist (+4 to INT and DEX // -10 to Hidden stat: Emotional stability)
=================ALTERNATIVE STATUS=================
STR: 1 +
DEX: 5 (1+4) +
INT: 4 (0+4) +
END: 2 +
LUK: 0 +
ARC: 3 +
AUR: 4 +
Allocable Points: 5
Current state: Blessing of the [Outer Sun God] (Tier 1) // Blessing of the [Storms Monarch] // Curse of the [Monarch of Violence] (1)
=====
“Hmmm…. Allocable Points? So I just….” Esther tapped on the plus sign right next to DEX. She watched as the number changed to five.
“I see… This is certainly helpful.” After a few seconds, she decided to assign half of the remaining four to DEX, and the other half to ARC.
[The debrief is starting soon. The System will assign you a title based on your recent accomplishments. Please do note that keeping your name hidden is important. It is advised that you address others and yourself using titles, which are visible above everyone’s head. Future titles are gained through personal achievements during levels.]
Mhmm…. I think I got it.
[You can only have one title active at a time. You cannot change your title during a level. Active titles will give 100% of their listed effects. Inactive ones only give 50% of their listed effects.]
“I see. Get on with it, then.”
[Master Healer - Healing effectiveness increased by 100%]
[Works on both healing items administered by you and your healing skills]
“Yeah, figured.” Esther sighed. She’d healed herself many times right after exploding the Wolves, so it was only right that she didn’t get titles like ‘Demolisher’ or ‘Wolf Hunter,’ if they even existed.
[Since this is your first title, it is automatically equipped.
Prove that you have what it takes to survive in the world of Evalor. I bid you farewell.]
Esther’s vision went dark, and she was teleported somewhere else.
.
.
.
.
When Esther regained her senses, she realized that she was inside a large and dark cave. Yet, she could tell that even if she didn’t have night vision, she could still see everything just fine.
“我在哪里！？”
A shout came from behind her. Esther turned around and saw a man clutching his head and screaming. She noticed that his skin was somewhat yellow. Just like Ihwa’s. What?
“な、なんだとーーー！？”
Another shout. Esther turned to her side and saw another man yelling in absolute confusion.
And it wasn’t just him. There were two hundred or so people inside this large cave, all screaming and yelling in unknown languages. Though, Esther could notice some Korean in the mix of voices.
She decided to put the languages aside for now and observed the situation. Everyone was still trying to get a grip on what was going on. So much so that they didn’t even notice their titles above their heads.
Chef, Police, Petty Thief, Pervert, Recluse, Game Addict…. So the titles aren’t affected by languages.
As she was observing some more, a man approached her. He was tall and lanky; his eyes full of hope.
“神社の巫女さん、何が起こっているのか知っていますか？”
Esther scratched her head. She didn’t know what he was saying. But if she had to take a guess, then he probably approached her because of her clothes. Let’s see if he speaks Korean.
Sorry, I don’t know what you’re saying. “죄송하지만 이해가 되지 않습니다.”
“韓国人ですか？くそったれ。そして彼女は私たちの服を着る勇気がある”
The man stormed off angrily, leaving Esther behind. As she was still trying to figure out what she did that made him so angry, someone hugged her from behind.
Her breath quickened as her hand moved to her sword. She quickly kicked the figure away and spun around. “W—”
“Fox spirit!”
It was Freya. It seemed that the dove had helped her since Esther couldn’t see her branch-horns. She smiled sheepishly as she slowly got up from the ground; yet her eyes were strangely teary.
Well, it’d be weirder if she’s not crying. After all, unlike Esther, Freya was a child. A slightly perverted one, but still a child. So, Esther approached her and pulled her into a hug. “You okay?”
“Y-Yes….” She sniffed.
Their little moment was cut short by a monotone female voice.
[Please listen to my next words. Your survival depends on it]
Esther turned her head to the center of the cave. There, a pillar of bright white light descended, and… something stepped out of it.
She couldn’t perceive it clearly, but she was sure that it was vaguely humanoid.
And everyone was silent. Not because they listened to the figure’s words, but that its presence brought awe to everyone present.
[This is not a ‘prank,’ nor a ‘reality show,’ nor a dream. This. Is. Reality.]
It paused for a moment before continuing.
[That is all. Further information can be found in the manual.] Thin books suddenly appeared in everyone’s hands. [Good luck. May you make it to Evalor in one piece.]
The figure disappeared, and a heap of supplies containing waterskins and food was dropped in its place.
[Level 1 - The beginning; again]
[Monsters will be released in five minutes. The way out will be unblocked in five minutes.]
[Objective: Get to Safe Haven ‘Escrat’
Failure: Removal from this world]
Two big holes simultaneously appeared on the wall of the cave. One ominous, and one had light rushing through it. Both were blocked by something transparent. It was clear which one the monsters would emerge from.
…Just great.