POV Raizen
It’s really a wonder what having adequate rest did for a person. It’s one of those things that you didn’t really know how much you needed it until you actually got a chance to rest fully. With that being said, I still haven’t had that chance.
Since this Tutorial has started, I have been essentially on the move doing many different things day in and day out. And as each day passed, the busier my days became, and it didn’t stop at my ‘days’, my nights eventually became just as busy.
From solo hunting in the forests, to late night Dungeon runs with Irene. To defending the Outpost almost 24/7 from 5th and 4th Cycle Hobgoblins. That last part was the most grueling out of anything else I did. The lack of rest, the monotony of it all, the mental strain was more than I thought it would be. I almost want to say it’s okay because ‘I’m only human’ but…I’m not human at all am I? I’m an Infernal. It’s that thought that makes me wonder just what the Infernal Elder I should be meeting soon would think about my performance thus far.
For some reason that thought sticks a bit longer than I’d like. Moving on, Brandon, Nate and Richard were all a big help these last days of the Tutorial. I still had to fight the 5th Cycle Hobgoblins in the morning by myself of course, but after that, I was able to sleep and rest for most of the remainder of the day. And every second of time to rest I got was needed and not wasted. There were definitely things I wanted to pursue, like aiming for Qi Refinement, or reading up more on the Monster Encyclopedia, or practicing the perfect thrust that the Outpost Leader showed me all those days ago, but I simply needed the rest. Some might say I’m not pushing myself hard enough perhaps, but perhaps they should taste my spe…ahem.
Anyway, speaking of my spear. I’m actually quite desperate for another one. I keep breaking the ones I have used now, and I suppose it makes sense since I don’t believe the armor and the weapons the blacksmith is currently able to make for us were supposed to be strong enough to contend with 4th and 5th Cycle opponents, much less to be wielded by someone in the 9th Cycle. The 9th Cycle. It still hasn’t resonated with me that I accomplished something as important as that, or even just how important of a feat it is. The Outpost Leader stressed that it was, but having only one point of reference still doesn’t paint a very clear picture.
Though something that did paint a very clear picture is the rate of improvement in comparison to others. It is likely not fair to compare myself to Richard and the others due to what I am, but Richard, Nate, and Brandon compared to Lance, Micah, Hubert, Vanessa etc…were clearly a step ahead. Those three were the only ones who managed to reach the 4th Cycle in these two months. While all the others in the core group all managed to reach the 3rd Cycle, which wasn’t to be looked down upon because there were plenty of others still in the 2nd and 1st Cycles, there were even still a few that haven’t cultivated at all.
All in all, out of the 200-ish people that now lived in this Outpost, we only had three 4th Cycle cultivators in Richard, Brandon and Nate. And now we have twenty 3rd Cycle Cultivators, with 16 of them from our core group, and 4 others from Nate’s, two of which were his brothers. From there we roughly had around 40-ish 2nd Cycle Cultivators between both groups, and roughly 30ish 1st Cycle Cultivators. The majority of those numbers belonged to the original group though. That was the state of the Outpost this morning when I woke up. On the second to last day of the Tutorial. Something a notification popped up this morning to signify. A very important notification at that.
Today Marks the End of Earth’s Tutorial
There will be no more monsters to fight, save for those in Dungeons
For Outposts who still stand, Select a Leader or One shall be Chosen for You
1 Day Remaining
It was a weird notification for many different reasons. All the monsters were gone? Just like that? Odd. It was practically a scam, because at some point they stopped dropping cores for us to sell at the shop. It was a good thing we did both Dungeons as much as we did and managed to make quite a bit of money. Well, quite a bit of money relative to the Tutorial. Who knows what those coins will be worth, if they have any worth at all. Though despite me saying that…the Dungeons are still up. So, we can hit the Green Den, and the Goblin Outpost. Of course…I plan on doing the Goblin Village. It required a minimum team of 4th Cycle Cultivators and seeing how I was at the 9th Cycle, I believe I should be more than ready for it. I will talk with the others about it later. Though that was not the only thing I would need to talk to them about. Selecting a Leader.
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That raised more one question for me…why would we need to officially do so? Would the Leader be serving a purpose past the Tutorial? That seems unlikely to me…Then would the Leader have to make some type of decision regarding the Tutorial? Perhaps it would be tomorrow.
The notification said that the Tutorial was over, yet we have 1 day remaining. I hope this isn’t shaping up to be one of those cliche moments in stories where it forces a random tournament out of nowhere. Anyway, as always, it’s best not to stress myself over things I don’t know. We will all find out what happens when a Leader is selected. What I can think about now, is who the Leader should be. Though that question was already answered the second the notification flashed across my face this morning.
There was always only one answer.
Sometime later I was with Richard, Nate and others in my room. The conversation was mainly about our next steps and our plans for the remainder of the day. When the conversation reached the point of a leader being selected, I barely got to say a word out before Richard and the others essentially just said “Raizen’s the Leader” and moved on to Dungeon prep…If felt kinda weird. What happened to democracy? Not that I was planning on having a ‘fair’ vote in the fair place but…wasn’t that a bit too easy of a decision for them?
Anyway.
Even though the decision to choose me as the Leader was essentially made, nothing happened. I wonder if it was similar to the upgrade in the sense that the current Outpost residents would have to vote yes or no. Not sure but I will confirm with Greja after this meeting. Then came Dungeon Prep time. With only 1 more attempt at each Dungeon remaining, due to it being the last day, and the cooldown times of the Dungeons, this wouldn’t be a training run. The plan was to get in, clear the dungeon and get home safely. Irene, Lance, Trent and Vanessa would head to the Green Den, while Micah, Hubert, Brockers, Grant, Johnny, Sarah, Li and Trinity would head to the Goblin Outpost.
The only ones remaining from the core group would be Harrison, Nora and Micheal. They would be the only ones because Brandon, Richard and Nate will all be accompanying me into the Dungeon.
At first my plan was to enter alone as always. The first two Dungeons required them to be cleared or killed, and If the danger in the Dungeon exceeded my strength then I wouldn’t be able to protect myself let alone others, but they seem to all want this opportunity, so I wasn’t going to fight them on it. Which brought us to the end of the meeting. A Leader was chosen, Dungeon runs were planned, and things to do after the Dungeon runs, things like gathering weapons, potions and various other supplies in the event that we are able to return with our items. We didn’t know what we would return to, so it didn’t hurt to be prepared. After that…we would simply wait for the Tutorial to end.
With that out of the way, I made my way to the shop.
“Welcome in Raizen!”
“Hi Greja. I have a quick question for you.”
“Sure, go right ahead.”
“The system said to select a Leader. Is this something that the entire Outpost needs to vote on?”
“No, this is different. All you or anyone would have to do is to be a resident of an Outpost, then declare your claim to Leadership to the Outpost Leader. Though once declared, the claim will be announced for all to see, and anyone could challenge you within the allotted time for the position. Of course, seeing how the other residents treat you, I doubt you would have to worry about a challenge. Oh, one last thing, once you have become the Leader, the Tutorial wide message will be sent out, displaying that feat.”
“Hm, I see. Thank you as always Greja.”
“Of course, Raizen. Anytime!”
And with that I left and headed straight to the Outpost Leader’s office, and a short time later I was standing before his desk.
“I’m here to declare myself Leader of Outpost G.”
“I have received your declaration.”
(Outpost G Residents Only)
Raizen, has Declared himself Leader of Outpost G
You have 1 Hour to Oppose
The Outpost Leader didn’t have much to say after that, so I just left and waited at the gate just in case someone really did want to oppose. During the wait the other teams had already left for their respective Dungeons, meanwhile Richard, Brandon and Nate were simply waiting on me.
Eventually the time passed, and another Notification rang out.
Ding!
Raizen is now the Leader of Outpost G
Hm, I wonder how other people in the Tutorial will react to that. Anyway, let’s go to the Dungeon.