Going back to the early morning before Raizen began day 2 of his training.

Ding! (Previously muted due to state)

Welcome to Stage 2 of the Tutorial

Monsters have been Improved

Survive

“I’m sure everyone has gotten the same message as me by now. The Goblins outside have gotten stronger. I know we tried our best to cultivate once we got the warning, but

so far only three of us have managed to make it to the Body Tempering realm as they call it. Of course, this is only because we were able to take potions to help with the process.

For everyone else to receive the same resources, we need to go kill more Goblins, so that we can acquire cores. With all the expenses we have as a group it’s getting harder and harder to stay afloat, which is why despite the danger I will lead large hunting party to not only scout how much stronger the Goblins got, but also hopefully kill a few of them. Myself and Brandon will go along with 10 others on this hunting trip while Trent will remain here to provide assistance and protection if anything goes wrong. Please continue to try and cultivate despite the lack of potions. Are there any questions?”

After giving something of a speech within the house to the individuals who mostly helped him manage the large group, Richard just calmly waited for everyone to think about what was being said and process it.

Eventually it was Trent who raised his hand first.

“Richard, I know we decided that only you will speak to the other person living in this Outpost, but we noticed the training he was doing, shouldn’t we take a closer look at that man, he can’t be trusted.”

After hearing what Trent had to say, Richard began massaging his temples due to the stress the question brought him.

“Trent…we talked about this. We are not to bother him. I will be the only one to deal with him, please don’t take this farther than it needs to go.”

Trent, who clearly didn’t seem to like that answer, raised his voice in his response.

“So, are we going to just let him walk all over us?! It’s over a 100 of us and only of him, plus, we are in the Body Tempering realm too! We don’t need to be scared of him. I think we should pay him back for what he did to Jax.”

Jax, who was also in the house, decided he wanted to speak up as well.

“I agree Richard, I was just trying to have a conversation with him, and before I knew it I was knocked unconscious. Who knows how far he would’ve went if we were out in the forest and no one could see his actions? Or even if Trent wasn’t there with me? We don’t need to kill him, just show him actions have consequences.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“That’s enough guys! Are you both even hearing yourselves at the moment?! Did you forget that you two were the aggressors in this situation?! I only asked you to keep

people from coming in because the shopkeeper didn’t like crowds, not to try and block the path of someone who isn’t even a part of our group!

We are not random villains in a story starting stupid fights for no reason! He is a human just like we are, trying his best to survive in this blasted world! Do you remember what it took to make it to this Outpost?! How many people did we lose on the way here?! Do you not remember them? How we had to leave their bodies to rot because we were running for our lives?! Do you not remember?!!

And now you’re here trying to teach someone a lesson all because your pride got hurt?!

Grow the fuck up! This is real life! We were in the wrong, and all he did was defend himself! Stop bringing up this stupid argument. We are going to do our best to live peacefully in this Outpost.”

At this point in time, everyone in the house was dead silent. Trent and Jax included. For the ones who knew him before the Tutorial which was most of them, and the few who

have only known him for a few days, hearing Richard raise his voice like this was unheard of. He had never once lost his calm to this extent. There were times when he let his frustrations show, or his sadness when people passed, or his excitement when something good happened, but to be angry to this extent? Never.

It caught all of them off guard so much that everyone was stunned, unable to speak at the situation.

The silence gave Richard the chance to calm down a bit, and he could only begin to feel a little embarrassed. He didn’t know what came over him, but he just couldn't let those two make such a foolish decision in his eyes. There was too much at stake to worry about putting some guy in his place apparently.

Nevertheless, he still felt embarrassed at his outburst.

Before Richard could open his mouth to apologize for his outburst, it was Trent who started talking first. Clearly affected by everything Richard said.

“I...I’m sorry Richard. I don’t know what I was thinking. I think being in this Tutorial for the last couple days has taken its toll on me, all the killing, all the death, it’s a lot to handle, so I’m sorry. I won’t bring this up again don’t worry.” After giving his piece to Richard, he turned to Jax and continued.

“I know you wanted revenge Jax, but Richard is right, we were in the wrong, we should drop it. There’s no point man for real.”

Instead of immediately responding, Jax looked around the room at the faces of everyone present. He slowly realized that no one else was on his side. That he would have to suck up being knocked out cold, that he would have to deal with the embarrassment of not being able to fight back. He truly felt no one could understand him anymore.

He thought Trent would support him, but one little speech from Richard and he was singing a different tune.

Jax couldn’t understand, why didn’t they want to help him? Couldn’t they see what he saw? That guy was clearly dangerous, yet no one wanted to do anything about it. How long would it be before that man succumbed to his craziness and killed one of them?

With nowhere to vent his frustrations, Jax gave Trent and everyone else one last look before grabbing his sword and angrily stormed out of the house.

“Jax! Jax wait man! Richard don’t worry I’ll go talk to him. Jax…!”

Trent kept calling out to him as he left the house, he was in The Body Tempering realm while Jax wasn’t, so keeping up wasn’t very hard.

Richard stared at the door that Trent and Jax left through for a few seconds before continuing to the rest of group.

“I apologize for that everyone, but I truly do feel that way about everything I said, despite everything this new world is throwing at us, we can’t forget to still be good people. Sigh Lets move on from that though, shall we? The plan Is still the same. Brandon and ten of you will join me outside to try and scout out these improved Goblins and kill some of them if possible.

And with that Richard quickly gathered a team together, and they stepped out of the Outpost. The team was a little confused that the man that usually guarded the gate was no longer there, but they figured he needed rest too and didn’t think too much of it before making their way into the forest.