After being told to fuck off, we leave the place. It's the nicest way anyone’s ever told me to fuck off, and I don’t realize what's happening until we’re already outside, and she throws our shoes out behind us.
HOW! How is she not enamored by the chance to examine an arcane weapon? Just show me the goddamn robotic arm!
"Maya, I'm annoyed," I complain to the woman next to me.
"You should run [Focus] in the back of your mind to…" Maya swiftly dodges my mana projectile and deflects another by creating a barrier over the back of her hand.
She smiles playfully, "Just let it be before you make it worse. We can ask Tess or Channeler to talk to Miwa and at least get you your pizza."
"But the arm…"
"Oh, come on! What's even so fascinating about it?"
"It was made by Champion Keiron, the dude with the [Avatar] skill and the descendant of Cockroachsandra. That alone makes it interesting."
Her eyes burn on my skin as she asks, "Please tell me you are not planning on stealing that arm."
"Borrowing. I can give her both of my arms if she wants. They’re good arms."
She snorts, "Only Lily has any use for your arms, please act like a normal human. You shouldn’t be so laidback about losing an arm. I mean, what are you, a lizard or something? Having Lily on hand is making you even worse."
Grabbing my hand, she pulls me away from the house, "You have that arcane alloy you keep babying. Maybe she would like to examine that more, she seems like a blacksmith."
She lets go of my hand and I shake my head resolutely, "She would want a piece of it. I know that. I'm not willing, not even if she offers to give me the arm."
"Is it that good?" Maya wonders.
"Yes. It was made by someone who worked with the Champions on the 5th floor and was rewarded for it by their Absolute. His life’s work."
"But it's only arcane." She pauses, giggling. "Only arcane," she repeats. "You already have a damaged arcane ax."
"That's not how it works," I offer my hand to Maya and she puts hers onto it. Then I teleport both of us, appearing near our house, and I continue, "It's arcane even in its raw form. If you have, let's say, upper rare materials like metals or stones you can, with a lot of work, create low or maybe even mid epic items."
She pauses me there, "But I saw arcanadium, endurium, and some other metals and that’s not including the rare crystals she had, some of them were even epics.."
"Yes, that's the difference in the purity of the material. I don't know that much about it, but these metals are rarely found in their pure state, so they usually need to be purified. Nevan told me about a method he had to categorize the different grades of ore, but I ignored it back then."
"So that arcane alloy can be turned into a mid or upper arcane item?"
"Probably? There is a low chance that I may even be able to make something better than arcane, but probably not. Even Champions tended to carry arcane weapons and items. If the system hasn’t been reducing the grade of these items, then it means that mid and upper arcane are usually what the new and weaker Champions would have."
"And the system’s already been putting low tier arcane items in the tournament?" she asks unbelievingly.
"If I'm right, there is a huge difference between grades within arcane." It makes a lot of sense, in my opinion. As the rarities will grow, the difference between low, mid, and upper will only increase.
Maya smiles out of nowhere, "When you have the funds, buy me some arcane armor or something. I’ll be your personal minion if you do. We [Focus] holders have to stick together, right?" she pokes my side.
In retaliation for her shameless declaration, I ask, "So what level is your [Focus]?"
That silences her for a moment, and she sighs, "That skill is scary to level. Anyone who makes it to the higher levels can't be normal," she says, repeating her favored excuse.
"But I turned out just fine," I say, in defense of my favorite skill, and myself by extension.
She doesn't answer, so I turn to her.
Huh? Why is she looking at me like that?
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A few more hours remain until the start of the third event when I notice Biscuit returning from outside. It seems like he’s been doing that lately, going out alone to do Biscuit stuff somewhere in the common area.
At this point, I’m more worried about the people than the little corgi, but so far there have been no complaints, so we let him do whatever he wants.
Most of the group are outside, around a campfire they’ve set up. A few trees have been felled as a sacrifice, so we probably aren't good renters, but screw the system.
They’re roasting the marshmallows I bought along with some other things, like meat from some of the higher-level animals they fought on the 5th floor. Even Brainiac and Lootenant are here, leeching off us once again. They seem to have really hit it off with our boys and can often be found hanging around. The atmosphere seems to be cheery and very noisy. Ew.
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It’s at this point that Biscuit floats in through the second story window.
Activating my eyes and crown, I observe him, wondering what he’s been up to. I do have to be careful to avoid his detection; he’s getting better at it. Biscuit moves from room to room and for a while, he even stops next to Noodle; I can sense their signatures close to each other.
The future Danger Noodle is sleeping there on the couch and Biscuit floats over him. He does something and then leaves the snake alone, entering my room before leaving after a moment.
He floats at his terribly slow speed out of the window to rejoin the others while shouting something about sustenance. I'm just happy he got bored of shouting “bitch,” I was worried it was going to be his new favorite word.
Placing an anchor, I teleport into my room and look around the place where Biscuit stopped. The sounds of people sitting around the fireplace are muffled and fade into the background, and there on top of the nightstand, I find a small piece of dried meat. It is clumsily wrapped in wrapping from the candies we’ve eaten. Biscuit must have seen how much we liked eating the cheap candy after a year in the tutorial, so he thought the jerky would taste better for us if he wrapped it.
Did he also carefully collect all the wrappers?
In quick succession, and ignoring the privacy of Min-Jae and the twins I check their rooms. In each, I find the same. A small piece of dried meat clumsily wrapped in pink wrapping.
For a moment, I imagine the little corgi using his mana tentacles to do that.
Teleporting to the living room with Noodle, I find him in his usual spot on the couch. And sitting there, in front of the little snake, is another wrapped hunk of meat and there is a blanket awkwardly thrown over his body unlike when he first went to sleep.
Noodle isn't sleeping anymore, and when I enter the living room, he looks at me and then at the candy wrapping and the blanket.
These two cute animals often clash, fighting for dominance. So the awkward form of affection on the part of the silly dog seems to surprise the white snake.
Noodle looks at me again with his green eyes, as if trying to understand the meaning of all of this. Why would the corgi do that?
"Figure it out on your own," I tell him before leaving the house.
Instead of teleporting, I walk over to the campfire where the others have gathered. The fake stars are in the sky and the night air is refreshing and warm accentuated by the crackling of the fire.
I pass by Brainiac, who is once again hitting on the girls, and bend down to pick up Biscuit.
(Asshole!) the corgi shouts, surprised by my actions, moving his paws and twisting his body in an attempt to escape.
Holding him under his front legs, I straighten up my arms, Biscuit's hind legs hanging and swinging slightly, the corgi turned towards me.
(Asshole!) he repeats in my head.
As a reward, I shake him slightly, but the doggo seems to be enjoying that.
I lean closer and touch his cold nose to mine, much to the corgi's surprise. But he quickly gets out of it and licks me while repeatedly shouting his first and favorite word.
(Food food food!)
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Only an hour remains until we get the notification for the third event. It's still night, yet from the hill where our house is, we can see thousands of lights shining in the common area. People moving around, lights of the houses, campfires set.
Nobody here is a normal human anymore, and that applies even to the weakest among us. Even a few levels are enough to put the average person on a footing with those who’ve trained their whole lives.
We are stronger, we can move faster, and our stats make us more resilient. It's easier to go without sleep for some time, and after the body upgrade, a lot of us require less food, water, and rest.
Even with that, only a few things would change if we returned to Earth. But it doesn't end with this.
Some people lack the proper scope. They see people from Hell as tactical weapons of mass destruction. Weapons to be used as deterrents by their respective countries. But that's straight up silly.
We’re in the process of the Pairing, we will be forced to fight a whole other planet and face its natives, who are likely to be much more experienced than us and have had more time to build their forces.
We’ve just been introduced to the system, everyone in the tutorial is our First Generation. People who went through the tutorial while learning as much as possible. The goal here seems obvious now.
We’re being groomed to lead, protect, and set the order once we return to Earth. Some of us will need to serve as teachers.
Every time I think about it, I feel the excitement in my chest. The boring life I had on Earth has been left behind, replaced by something new and grand. The pursuit of power in the name of taking on opponents who want to see me dead, and the opportunity to explore the powers we’ve received.
Champions, Absolutes, and their Disciples, Rulers, and maybe something over that? The mystery of what happens after reaching level 99 in a skill. The final Beyond trial and Beyond itself. And more.
Thinking on too small a scale is straight up stupid. This won’t end with Earth.
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Back in the common area, I examine the window that pops up announcing the event.
Please, create your avatar. You can decide the severity of your [Restriction] as well as any additional rewards.
Warning, if your avatar gets defeated, the additional rewards will be split between the challengers.
Warning, once you set a [Restriction], it can't be changed.
Looking at the window, I think of the love and hate relationship I have with the system and the tutorial. From a certain point of view, it also makes sense that Savant thinks that the system is fair.
But, the system is still an asshole.
I set my avatar and look around the common area, Lily next to me has finished setting up hers as well.
Then after a minute a notification appears for the difficulties under Hell and everyone starts scrolling through their windows. Then like clockwork, a conversation starts. Slowly growing shocked calls and hundreds of people looking around, some people look almost like their eyes are bulging out of their heads.
Some of them find me, poking their friend, and like that, hundreds of pairs of eyes are looking straight at me.
The reason is obvious, a simple small window they’ve all been shown.
Avatar: Noname, group 4
Restriction: 3rd Floor
Additional rewards: 80,000 shards