The fear of the emptiness, within and out of oneself was a deep-rooted one. And something very wrong getting used to.

But Sophia found that gazing into the abyss and letting the abyss look at you was not nearly as terrifying as it once was, though it was still deeply uncomfortable. From the past four floors and her first death, as well as the many times she had retreated within herself for a system query, she had been embraced by that terrible feeling.

And yet she survived unharmed.

It was part of the accustomation process that made the experience slightly more bearable every single time, grounding herself with facts that kept her anchored despite the mind-boggling insanity of the void:

She was Sophia, a teenage former retired athlete, now reconverted as a Rogue and a Witch, though it would be more accurate to call her a magic singer and wannabe-archer with some edgy Archetypes. And she was going through all this to survive and hopefully save her loved ones from a prophetized yet distant apocalypse back on Earth.

49 years before the end of the world felt like an awful long time from her barely adult perspective. Anything could happen in that lapse of time. She could die. She could have grandkids and have a very happy and fulfilling life. Or anything between those two extremes. The thing was, that amount of time appeared even more ludicrous when her current life expectancy was under two months.

For no matter how superhuman she now was thanks to the system, it also cursed her and all her peers with a death sentence: 7% survival rate from the tutorial's last wave and even as far as 4% for the first, or the complete wipeout of the second one. She would never allow herself to forget it or get overconfident about her odds.

And she already had gone through so many mistakes and done so many stupid things all to improve her odds.

But it was now completely under the bridge, left behind on the tutorial's lower floors.

Now, she had to persevere and get better. And so she opened her mind to the already pending boon notification:

Criminal Mastermind Archetype Sneak Attack Hide Disengage Roguish Ingenuity

You can intuit actionable weaknesses of any foes you have an advantage against.

Advantage is acquired by things like utilizing the terrain, getting the upper hand in a fight, surprising your opponent, or sneaking behind them. Get creative!

You get a preternatural sense of stealth akin to precognition to help you prevent being discovered.

You can further hide from enemies by muffling the sound of your steps, sticking to the dark, and avoiding enemies' sightlines.

After taking a hit, drastically increase your ability to evade getting hit again, for six seconds.

You also get a preternatural sense of danger to evade projectiles aimed at you while fleeing combat.

You choose a specialization for your Rogue Archetype among 12 different choices.

Once selected, you must go through with your specialization selection, which becomes an integral part of your Primary Archetype and cannot be undone.

Weavesinger Archetype Song of Rest Grieving Song Faerzress Wild Magic Magus Arcana

Once per day, you can sing to the Weave to revitalize yourself and your allies.

Everyone who can hear your song recovers from physical or magical fatigue and gets a significant boost to their natural healing.

Commoners enjoy gathering for lunch breaks and listening to a bard Song of Rest, improving productivity by 50% for every workplace benefiting from it.

Your song is blessing the dead eternal rest, repulsing any undead and causing most necromancy spells within earshot to critically fail.

Though highly unpopular, this rare complementary boon to its cleric equivalent is highly sought after for funeral services and the occasional mass graves, especially on the battlefield.

Attune your Feywild magic to the Faerzress, the magical energy found in the Underdark.

While on the surface, this will stabilize your magic further, so long you make regular trip to the underdark.

While in the Underdark, this will temporarily empower your magic, making your spells more potent and your surges, even wilder.

Blend your Primary Archetype with any profane Secondary Archetype allowing you to cast spells. This functionally alters your secondary Archetype to [Magus Weavesinger]

[Rogue Archetype]

Arcane Focus: Choose one weapon to help you keep your concentration while spellcasting.

Spellstrike: you can imbue your chosen weapon with magic and deliver your spells through it.

Fighter Archetype Second Wind

Once per combat, you can draw on your stamina to heal yourself.

However, once the danger has passed, your fatigue will catch up to you.

You currently have:

[Criminal Mastermind Archetype (Primary): 4 ] [Weavesinger Archetype: 3/4 ] [Others: 0/4]

Survival Fitness, Weavesinging, Advanced Speed Archery, Song Healing, Dash, Luring Song, and Kingslayer: except for the last one, those were the very boons that helped her survive so long. She did not think any human, no matter how formidable could have survived the last four floors entirely on their own merits.

Now, she had to guess which one among the boon offered was the most likely to help her survive the unknown challenges of the next floor.

And though she wanted Magus Arcana the most after passing it up twice already, she still gave every boon a chance, weighing each and every one pros and cons.

Magus Arcana still came out on top. But she still wanted Hide, Song of Rest, and Sneak Attack next, in that particular order, unless some new options and constraints came out to once again upset her priorities.

After losing her ability to use Weavesinging, even temporarily, she felt even more pressured to double down on stealth.

And after nearly losing her life in the aftermath of her magic backslash, she now could appreciate even the minor boost to her natural healing that Song of Rest promised.

And finally, Sneak Attack cause it was a no-brainer for a Rogue and could use the extra versatility of using it with blades too, instead of being limited to her bow as she currently was. Even more, since she did not have the time to improve her archery further.

'I choose Magus Arcana' She beamed internally, confirming her choice.

And the system confirmed it by removing all the boon but the one she had selected from its current display, which she immediately collapsed afterward, before willing to wake up and escape the void.

★☆★

The respawn pod was really a misnomer for the jelly-filled tank flesh printer she was waking up in every single resting area of every single floor. Sure, her body was disintegrated in every teleportation circle she stepped in. But it wasn't the same as actually dying running the floor.

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But she did not have a better name for it.

Reaching for the hatch, she escaped the tube and wiped herself clean of slime before going straight for her safe to open it and get changed. She could not believe that guy on the third floor who chose to keep wearing their respawn suit over actual clothes. Her padded armor was feeling so warm and comfy that she would not trade it for anything else.

Plus, sometimes, the clothes do make the man and it helped her with her confidence issue, empowering her inner warrior. The boots and weapons completed her new fashion statement and projected values. She was a badass archer. She was a survivor. Ans she was not to be messed with.

Or at least, most people would think it twice before trying, which was good enough.

This time around, however, she had woken up alone in the respawn room and was getting anxious she got separated from her group again, Prince included. But her worries were washed out as soon as she opened the door

Michel and Lono were already playfully training. And though Prince, Moana, and Paolo were nowhere to be seen, she could bet the team seven remaining golds that he was already ransacking the library. Though to be fair, no one even remotely knowing Paolo would take her on that bet. Then her familiar was most likely napping on someone's bed after being trapped in her safe for so long. As for her only female companion, she did not know her well enough to even hazard a guess.

The familiarity of the resting area had grown on her and it finally felt like getting back home. She was safe, at least for a short while. And she would get to indulge in food, enjoy the luxury of a real bed and modern comfort. All things she had so easily taken for granted for so many years. She now could genuinely feel excited over something as simple as taking a shower. It had been five days since her last one.

But for all the discomfort of the respawn pod slime, it actually kept her clean and quickly evaporated over her skin.

And so she decided to join Paolo in the library, who was already doing their customary inventory of every book it contained for new resources. Under the system, knowledge was indeed power and the amount they got was always extremely regulated.

"So, what did we get?" She asked without preamble.

"More lore and magical theory. A thesis on the tutorial proprietary magic. And a guidebook about advancing one's Archetype." Paolo summarized, handing her the last mentioned book with a wide smile, anticipating her next action.

"You are the best." She concluded, before sitting on the other side of the library desk.

It felt like it had already been a long since the last time they had spent cramming through books together. And it had been her first detailed records of the gatherer, crafter, and scholar civilian Archetypes, as well as the few civilian exclusive martial specializations such as Town Guard, Ranger, or Hunter. But what picked her interest the most had been the Bard entry under the Scholar Archetype, confirming the insane prerequisite she had somewhat guessed:

Whatever specialization one wanted, a bard needed to know a fair amount of lore, especially of the oral tradition variety. It also required genuine talent in whatever sort of showmanship one was aiming to perform. Actors, dancers, and musicians obviously did not rely on the exact same set of skills though there were bridges between those. And finally, one needed charisma. To have a knack for pleasing and entertaining people was absolutely mandatory, whatever sort of bard one wanted to be.

And so, she would most likely never be a true bard. Despite spending most of her time singing, thanks to the unique perks of her witch contract, she never had what it takes to begin with.

Which helped her narrow down her options for a third Archetype even further.

Now that she had a book on the subject, she could confirm that taking Fighter as a secondary was not worth investing in. And also that Arcanist wasn't an option worth pursuing in the immediate future. It required years of studying the arcanes as a Scholar before casting a single spell. And though not mandatory, Lady Magic's favor was a huge boon to advance that Archetype both figuratively and literally.

It was what the true mages were made of, as opposed to their Wizards counterpart. But she doubted she had the patience to pursue it. Though she noted it down in her system interface, both for Paolo or anyone else interested.

And so, she was once again back to square one, shopping for short-term investments that could improve her survivability without completely dooming her in the long term.

Her contract obligations to Lady Silverhair were already bad enough without adding any more burden to her future self.

But in the end, the only progress she made was about her Rogue specialization. Getting to know what her 12 options were as well as the far-reaching opportunities and consequences tied to each one before committing to it was pure gold.

She dismissed Assassin, Charlatan, Field Surgeon, Inquisitor, Phantom, and Revenant without a second thought, either because she couldn't meet the prerequisite or because they were downright undesirable. And she double-crossed the two options that would have played into Lady Silverhair's hand for good measure.

Then, she was left with Arcane Trickster, Mastermind, Scout, Soulknife, Swashbuckler, and Thief.

Doubling down on magic even more was tempting, especially since she already met the requirements, but the actual magical benefits were lackluster.

On the other end of the spectrum, Soulknife would allow her to unlock psionic powers, but it was also dependent on her talent for it. She might be good or completely suck at it and she frankly could not risk her entire future on that gamble.

Then Mastermind was also an option she wanted to cross because it felt like it was playing to Lady Silverhair's tune. But what it could do for her, mainly helping empower her allies, was too good to pass up, especially if she could achieve some synergy with guidance.

Swashbuckler was also the best option for close combat, which was her main weakness. But she would rather play her strength than try and probably fail, to shore up her weaknesses.

Which left her with Scout and Thief.

Scout was everything she wanted to be when she first picked her Rogue Archetype: it would turn her into a supernatural survivalist capable of sneaking past any threat she would not be able to deal with. It was obviously the best option to survive alone. But she wasn't alone, not anymore.

And Thief... it would double down on what survival fitness did to her and improve both her hands and her nervous system even more, improving her three-dimensional mobility, her stealth, her reaction time, and allowing her to do even more insane feats of archery with faster hands. And though she never got to use it, fast hands would also help with locks, traps, and sleight of hands, compensating for her cluelessness with actual superpower.

In the end, her real choice would be between Mastermind or Thief, depending on which one appeared to be the best by the time she reached the eighth floor unless she changed her mind and took it sooner. At the very least, the priority of Sneak Attack over her specialization was arguable. But it was a problem for her future self.

Once she was done, she decided to break her habit and go for a nap. They did wake up pretty early in the morning afterall. And she was feeling the start of a growing headache.

★☆★

It was their first team meeting around the kitchen table. And it was a memorable moment as it previously was only Paolo and her, with Prince hanging around.

After her nap, Sophia had taken the time to cook and dress the table for the occasion. But Paolo was already back to his bad habit of stress eating and had already downed an entire box of cornflakes, so he did not have much of an appetite left.

"So let's open this first downtime team meeting," Sophia declared as she finally sat with them and started filling her plate. "Michel, you are good with this. What's your pitch for this floor."

"Phase spider in zero gravity." The man replied, still nonchalantly munching on his chicken wings.

And so Sophia signed him to elaborate.

"We are in a hexagonal-shaped corridor, about twenty meters in diameter, filled with floating objects and spider silk. And Prince is certain that the only monster we saw match the phase spider description."

He paused and she nodded encouragingly.

"Beyond that, the main hypothesis is that we are in an abandoned alien-crafted space station that got overrun by spiders. Else it might be an alien mothership of comical proportion or anything along this line."

'So this floor would be a horror show in space,' Sophia thought, trying hard to think of anything productive that could be done about it. Zero gravity would be a pain in their ass on its own. Dealing with spiders in that sort of environment, however... she had no idea of the extent of those monsters' home advantage this time around

"I'm clearly out of my depth here." She finally admitted. "Michel, Prince, let's talk about it later and figure something out. Paolo, anything worth mentioning since we last talked?"

"Yep. I have read the thesis about the tutorial proprietary magic and I have both good and bad news." The battlemage replied immediately.

"Bad news first." She responded giving him her full attention.

"Okay..." Paolo hesitated before he started explaining, " That paper is comprehensive. Each floor has its own wards and they are meant to be physically separated though it is technically possible to travel back and forth between floors. There are even wards between the resting areas and the floors.

And the reason for all those safety measures, aside from preventing outside intervention, is meant to protect us from one nasty tutorial proprietary magic: time manipulation. It is both good and bad news but first, please humor me, and ask the system for how long we have been within the tutorial."

Sophia frowned at this but did as he asked anyway. And the system response was immediate as if anticipating this very question.

You have been inducted into the tutorial for:

1 week, 5 days, 18 hours, 56 minutes and 35 seconds.

Sophia could not believe it despite the seconds that kept ticking at an excruciating low pace.

From her perspective, they had been in for over a month but the system kept telling her that it wasn't even actually half of it. Even more, each of the system seconds now felt like about half a minute. Which meant that time was flowing even slower than her first estimation.

And so she looked intently at Paolo for answers.

"I know." He said, raising his hands to calm them down. "It freaked me out too. But if we all secretly write our perceived estimated amount of time we spent within the tutorial on a paper and then compare them, I expect that most of you would have a very different answer than Sophia and I."

And yet it offered the paper and pens and everyone gave it a try before he collected them and showed them each other answers. For the twins, it had been two months, one week and a half already. For Michel, it had been one month and three weeks. And for Paolo and her, their answers were narrowly a month and differed by a single day.

"Those results are because of the tutorial time manipulation." Paolo concluded before explaining the actual implications of this newfound knowledge" And it intensified on every floor. So the good news is: Yes, Sophia, we have and should take the time to train and prepare for every single floor. The bad news is: We actually have so much time that we could die of old age within the tutorial, all within three months of real-time."

Everyone, even Prince, was left speechless at this declaration.

That sort of time acceleration, they were talking of it running hundreds of times faster by the time they reach the higher floor. Even now, on the fifth floor, the acceleration was about thirty times faster. Every single day she would spend on this floor would be a little less than one hour of real-time. And this distortion would only get worse with every floor.

She now understood perfectly Paolo's bad news.

It was putting the system's choice of choosing barely adult teenagers into perspective. They might be stuck within the tutorial for years. By the end of the tutorial, they might be adults in their prime. And unlike everyone else, Sophia would not age during that whole time.

Otherwise said, she was secretly in for a lot of trouble.