Ding! (Previously Muted due to state)

Stage 5 of The Tutorial Begins Tomorrow

This is the final hurdle you will face

The Weak will be Killed and the Strong Tested

If you are weak, cling to the strong

If you are strong, don’t die for burdens

Survive or Die

It is now now the last day of stage 4, and this is the notification we were met with this morning. I’ve been thinking about it all morning actually. I wasn’t sure if there would be a defense this morning but there was and it was dealt with as usual, yet even then I couldn’t stop thinking about the notification.

The stage notifications have never really been worded in this sort of way. This one seems to be inferring something even deeper than just for the Tutorial. Or at least thats what Richard thought when we talked about it on the way to the small camp this morning.

He mentioned that he thinks the Tutorial most likely is trying to get rid of the weak links or something like that, and the strong shouldn’t kill themselves trying to protect the weaker people. Oh, he also mentioned that this exact type of notification is going to be the driving force behind multiple communities being formed once the Tutorial is over.

In times of danger or stress, people will cling to safety, no matter what the safety is, as long it protects them from a greater danger, people will feel like they have to stay with that safety. Basically he said a lot of things like that, and it all sounded very smart. He said it was part of a study or something he did in college.

I didn’t do any classes like that though.

Anyway, i’m still thinking about the message. Mainly, the strong will be tested part. What is the system, or the Tutorial’s definition of strong? I reached the 7th Cycle just yesterday. Am I strong? Maybe in comparison to the others yes, but with Greja? Or the Outpost Leader? I am weak.

Well, perhaps it’s just a comparison against the others yes Tutorial attendees, but even all strengths should still be varied. Apart from me, Richard and Nate are the strongest people here and both of them are only at the 3rd Cycle, is that considered strong? Are there others stronger than that? Will it adjust the difficulty based on the strongest person in the area? These are the type of thoughts I carried.

The Tutorial has already shown it could adjust at any point in time. Greja never gave us a limit on when we could use the upgrade ticket, which meant the ‘added danger’ could’ve been applied at any given point.

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Of course that seems like an obvious point, but when you realize that means things could be adjusted on the fly like that, it causes one to think. Now with the words from the Output Leader the other day, plus this notification, I think it’s realistic to expect the Tutorial to account for my strength in this new stage.

So with that thought in mind…would it account for my flames? Would it really send something that is capable of withstanding my flames. What would I even do at that point. Something that is as strong, or perhaps stronger and can resist my flames. How do I fight something like that?

The answer is I don’t know. I fight the Outpost Leader regularly and I still can’t even begin to get close to damaging him, and thats with him holding back. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but i can’t help but think about it anyway.

Sigh.

Moving on, today was moving day if you will, and Richard and I traveled to the camp this morning to pick everyone up. They were packed and ready to go which was nice so we didn’t have to wait.

Though the journey back took the entire rest of the day and most of the night. They didn’t have any elderly, but a good amount of them weren’t cultivators and even the ones that were, mostly sat in the 1st Cycle, so they all needed plenty of rest for bathroom breaks, eating, just a few minutes to sit down here and there.

Thankfully the theme of the quiet before the storm stayed true today and we weren’t attacked once throughout the entire journey so the only hindrance was time.

I didn’t really talk to them much apart from the initial greetings, and a couple words to Chao, but for the most part I stayed at the front of the group as we advanced. I don’t know, I kind of got the feeling they were scared, or perhaps wary of me? Not sure. Especially since I haven’t done anything to cause them to be scared.

It didn’t really matter much to me though.

Plus Richard mixed in with them just fine. He went around the group introducing himself and spent a lot of time talking to Nate his brothers. Both of whom were younger than him. The middle one, Nico, was only a couple years younger than him, while the youngest, Norman, was around my age.

All of them seemed like decent of people which was good, and no one complained too much about the journey which was even better.

After we made it to the Outpost, there was a big reception as pretty much everyone had gathered to welcome the big group.

Despite how late it was, and the exhaustion of a long journey, the former campers still somehow found it in themselves to be excited. There was a lot of mixing and mingling as people checked with hopeful gazes to see if their friends or families were apart of the group, but it didn’t appear so.

A shame. The beacon was still going strong so perhaps more people will show up before this is all said and done.

Of course, we don’t have any more space in the houses for that, but living in the Outpost in a tent was better than in the middle of the woods.

Speaking of space. Once the rest of the Outpost learned a large group was coming, folks took it upon themselves to vacate two of the houses in the back left of the Outpost for the former campers.

They wouldn’t all be able to fit in the houses, but 8 rooms, two bathrooms and as much cots as they could fit inside was better than nothing. They still had to set up a few tents outside of the houses, but none of them were complaining.

All in all, it was a long day, and I needed to get some rest so after they were settled and I took a moment to talk with Irene for a bit, I retired to bed. I wasn’t necessarily tired, but I wanted to be in top shape for what may come in the morning. I needed to be ready. Richard was also of the same mind and encouraged everyone to get some rest as well. I would take care of the defense myself if I could, but if the situation becomes one where I can no longer do that, then everyone else needs to be ready.