Langa was torn on where to put his free attribute points. On one hand, it would be good to place them all in Mind, increasing his mana, and thus increasing the damage from Thunderbird’s Stunning Strike. On the other hand, his Flash Step scaled with Agility, and the higher his Agility, the more damage he could deal. Still, he already got one point in Agility from every level up, so he placed two points in mind and one in agility.

”A demigod, a dark elf and a human all walk into a maestril’s bar…” Kindaro murmured, and Liv glared at him. “What? I’m just trying to lighten the mood. The three of us are really going to defeat a monster that seven of us couldn’t?”

Langa scanned Calpu again. His HP was sitting at 908/3000. “I think we can do it. We’re at full health, full stamina and full mana. We’re all level 7, same as Calpu.”

Liv nodded. “That’s right, and besides, we’re the strongest members of our team. They all know it, we know it, and so does Calpu. That’s why he kept trying to kill you two and drain my karma.”

”I do feel bad for Eniche and the others though. All that work, and they didn’t get to complete the quest,” Langa said, worried about Makoto, and the karma he’d lost.

”Don’t worry, their contributions won’t go anywhere, as long as we complete the quest, they’ll get their experience as well as even more karma than what they lost,” Kindaro assured him.

Liv nodded, taking his stance. “Yes. Now, here’s the plan, none of us can die, otherwise he will just heal himself. We hit him hard, and fast.”

“Fine, I’ll support you guys,” Kindaro said, his staff at the ready.

Liv ran up to the maestril, and released a barrage of blows into his stomach, landing all of them in quick succession. Calpu tried to claw him back and slash at him with his one sword, but Liv blocked all of them. He caught Calpu with a quick sidekick, glowing with power, and knocking him off balance. Langa swept at the maestril’s legs with his glaive, keeping him unbalanced enough that Kindaro’s knives were able to stab his abdomen again inflicting death damage, but he fled into the shadows, and the three of them took a moment to breathe.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask, the orange glow on your fists and kicks, is that solar aura?” Kindaro asked.

“Yes,” Liv said impatiently, breathing heavily.

“I can’t believe you’ve already unlocked a special stat,” Kindaro regarded him impressively, “You’re crazy though. A dragonkin using aura instead of mana? How do you still have any stamina left?”

“I’m a demigod,” Liv said as if that was the answer to it all. “And you're a Mage, I'm pretty sure you unlock the special stat: Wisdom when you choose that class. Now focus. The maestril is up to something.”

Calpu threw off his broken breastplate, leaving his chest bare. The wound left by Langa and Kindaro’s earlier attacks was half healed, and Kindaro’s DOT attribute attack had slowed down to only taking 5HP per second. It was impressive that it was still active, over 20 minutes later, and they could probably wait Calpu out, although he would obviously not sit still waiting to die. No, he would kill one of them to heal himself.

Calpu pulled shadows from a tree behind him, and covered his bare chest with them, like some kind of shadow armour. Langa cursed. This guy seemed to pull skills out of his arse, although it seemed like he had skills that he could keep spamming like his mental attack, and the shadow circle, while other skills seemed once off, like calling forth the corrupted animals, and this shadow armour.

“I’ll create an opening for you. Be ready,“ Liv said, dropping his buckler on the ground, and cracking his knuckles. This man -demigod, but still- was about to fight barehanded against a maestril. Langa admired him, but he would never do that. The pain alone would kill him. Liv was a different breed.

Liv kicked out high and his leg disappeared into the shadow armour, but he pulled it out. Calpu swung down at him with his broadsword, but Liv sidestepped him and crouched low before his aura-covered fist caught Calpu’s chin in a fierce uppercut, and the maestril spat blood, his scream lost in the air. He panicked and swung one sword at Liv again, but as if he had been waiting for just that, Liv sacrificed his arm, letting the blade sink deep into his arm, and then he pulled it out, arm still bleeding, and punched Calpu in the throat with the bleeding arm. It was as if the injury did not faze him in the least, and he threw away the sword, leaving Calpu with only one weapon!

“Abomination of the gods! Cursed being!“ Calpu screamed at him clutching his throat.

“Yeah, I can take that kind of crap from my grandmother, I won’t accept it coming from a wretched creation of The Dark Void though,” Liv said, and he wound up, then his right arm swung, glowing with red aura this time and he struck straight into Calpu’s breastbone. The aura burned light into the maestril’s shadow armour, creating a gap.

At the moment that Liv’s aura attack left a small gap in Calpu’s shadow armour, and he took a half step back, Kindaro’s ten knives flew into the air, aiming for that gap, and Calpu only managed to deflect three of the knives with his arm, the rest struck true. The reason why he failed to defend himself was because Langa had lunged at him, with Flash Step, Tonare cutting straight into the flesh of the maestril’s arm, into his bone.

Langa had seen how Kindaro had attacked, sending the knives straight into the gap that Liv left, without wasting a second. It was flawless, as if they had been working together for years. At that moment, Langa knew what needed to be done. He had taken advantage of Calpu’s momentary distraction with Kindaro to attack as well. He had managed to make that judgement in a split second, and right now, he recognised that this was skill, plain and simple. It felt as if Langa was running a relay race on the track, and the whole team was full of talented, hardworking individuals, and the outcome of the race did not depend entirely on him.

It was funny, he thought as he used his speed to run from an enraged Calpu, that he was reflecting on his life in this battle. He had always lived his life passively, keeping a cool head, never taking the initiative in anything his whole life. The reason that Langa lived like this was simple. After his father’s death, he had been taken to a sangoma, a Zulu traditional healer who could communicate with ancestral spirits, and Langa had been told that he had isiqalekiso somkhondolo, a generational curse that rejected life.

The sangoma told him that he was destined to die young and that as long as he lived, the curse would take all the luck from the people he loved. He would not suffer himself, and every success of his would steal someone else’s luck for him. Even as a child, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard about this curse. His father had told him a legend about how all the firstborn men in his family were cursed. At the time, Langa had thought that it was just another one of the myths and stories that his father always told him about.

But the curse had struck.

His father died because of him, and after confirming the truth about this curse, his mother abandoned him. His sister loved and cared for him, but his brother-in-law always blamed Langa for every one of his failed businesses, for his sister’s miscarriages, for Neo’s troubles with the law, and for Khaya’s academic ineptitude. So, Langa lived as passively as possible, so as not to take anything from the people he loved. He lived accepting that his death would be an end to his curse, and he could stop taking other people’s luck. He had lived his whole life not fearing death, believing that he could accept it whenever it came because it would mean the end of his curse.

But this moment right here, fighting alongside his teammates, death at his heels, risking his life, this was something that he had never expected to experience. 'Ah,' he thought, 'perhaps at the edge of death is when I truly begin to appreciate what it meant to be alive.' At this moment, he did not have to worry about his curse, about living as quietly as possible. Right now, there were only the three of them and an exhilarating fight to the death.

Fighting with Liv and Kindaro was liberating.

“Mortal scum! Foolish puppets of the detestable Order!” The maestril howled and tried to flee into the shadows to escape Langa’s attack, but Liv was already at Calpu’s back, and a hard kick to his spine sent the maestril flying. Kindaro used the moment to initiate a mental attack, freezing the maestril, making it easy for the other two to attack him.

This… Langa was inspired by the dance that followed from the three of them, they played at each other’s strengths, creating openings for each other, and defending each other. This was what a party should be. Strong, talented people working in tandem, each performing their role perfectly. It sucked to admit it, but the other four would have been more of a hindrance if they were here. This was true party play.

This, Langa thought, is fun.

He’d lived passively, except when it came to running. It was the only thing he could do to feel alive, the speed made him forget about his curse, and he grew addicted to it. Running, speeding cars and motorcycles, he’d tried it all. In the end, running felt the best. He was in control, chasing a challenge, competing against others, burning fast and bright like he was supposed to. It had been fun until no one could compete with him, and he stopped trying his hardest. There probably were people faster than him in other countries, in the world, but he got bored of it all. Of trying. Nothing stimulated him anymore, so he started to run passively too.

But right now, watching the way that Liv fought, like he was in full control of himself, with precision, accurate hits, determined grace and effortlessness, Langa felt the urge to chase after him. Kindaro was strong, but Langa felt like the two of them were either evenly matched, or Kindaro was slightly more powerful, but it was a gap he could easily bridge. Liv’s power and skill, on the other hand, was so far ahead of his own that Langa wondered, if he ran hard enough, whether he could catch up to him. A challenge, something he hadn’t had in years was in front of him. His heart was beating again, with excitement. Perhaps in the Tower, he could find motivation and relieve his boring, monotonous life.

So, they fought, Kindaro providing the much-needed support, Liv doing the tanking, and Langa dealing the damage. When Langa next checked the maestril’s health, it was finally down to 700/3000.

They were so close, and victory was in their sights. One hit from Langa and the maestril would be brought to his knees. But then a roar pierced the air, and the shadows condensed into a circle around them, just as Langa was about to trigger Flash Step. This was the monster’s final gambit too. He had activated his AOE attack. He needed to kill one of them in order to heal himself.

Langa got into his running stance. Once again, it felt like his heart was in his throat, and he could feel it beating hard against his chest, faster than normal. Was this his attribute trying to unlock? He knew that he was on the cusp of grasping something important, but he could not worry about that right now. Liv was standing in front of Kindaro, and he knew that the maestril would go for one of them. Would Calpu expect him to protect Kindaro who had low health again, or would he aim for Liv who had insulted him, and taken all of his attacks without breaking a sweat? Either way, it did not matter. This ended now.

He listened to his increased heartbeat, and it was exhausting just standing still as, every second, he felt the seconds extensively. Just as he felt time slowing down for him again, Langa shouted, “Freeze him!”

When he activated Flash Step this time, it felt like the skill drained all of his stamina, and, a path to Calpu opened up clearly before his eyes and he instantly reached the endpoint. He’d moved fast. Faster than he ever had before. It felt as if his Flash Step was reacting to the pulsing of his heartbeat. He saw Calpu’s eyes turn to look at him as he landed, but even within the shadow circle, the maestril could not move fast enough to stop him. Kindaro had heeded Langa’s warning and froze the monster the moment that he appeared behind Liv.

Langa thrust once more into Calpu’s chest, activating Thunderbird’s Stunning Strike, and it scaled with the extra damage from Flash Step.

A loud boom erupted in the air as lightning sizzled in Langa’s hands. Tonare burned straight into Calpu’s chest, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The backlash was intense, as Langa’s skin filled with heat and numbness, and his hands were charred black. The moment Langa pulled out his spear, Liv punched straight into the burning hole it left, his fist emerging on the other side of Calpu’s chest, and Kindaro’s death magic-infused knives also cut into Calpu’s chest.

The maestril fell over, skin burning, onto the ground, dead.

[Critical hit! (Calpu: -627.5HP)

Extra damage! (Calpu:-62.75HP) ]

[Backlash! (Langa Zulu:-52HP)]

[Debuff: Stamina below 5%. Reduced movement speed. You are paralysed until stamina regenerates to 10%. Time remaining: 2 minutes 14 seconds]

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

[You have killed a level 7 maestril mini-bosss.

Rewards will be issued by contribution.

Please wait.]

Calpu had only dropped a map when he died, and Kindaro picked it up. "Hmmm...it's the location of the final boss,” he said. But his voice sounded very far away to Langa.

Langa tumbled onto the ground and rolled around helplessly. The stamina drain this time was insane, especially when coupled with the backlash. He suspected that it had something to do with how fast he had moved on that last attack, following his heartbeat, but he was unsure. What had that been? That moment when it seemed as if time was bending to the will of his heartbeat? He had never felt so much power before.

His skin stung all over his arm, and he could not see clearly. He tried to blink, but it felt like his brain was too tired to even muster up a thought. The pain made him reel inside, it made him want to scream out loud fiercely, but he could not even bring up the strength to do that.

”Hahaha! We did it! We actually defeated that accursed dark creature!” Kindaro laughed, and he also collapsed to the ground next to Langa.

”Yeah,” Liv said, somehow still standing, not looking tired at all. “I honestly didn’t know we would be able to do it with just the three of us.”

"I'm dying..." Langa whimpered, the pain not going away. He wanted to tear off his skin just to stop the pain. “Please get me my health potion from my backpack.”

”I’m all taped out too, sorry. I can’t move either. It’s too far away from here for me to walk.” Kindaro said, breathing heavily.

Liv rolled his eyes and walked over to the thicket where they had left their belongings. He returned with Langa’s backpack, and tipped his head slightly up, bringing the flask containing the potion to his lips. Langa drank it hungrily.

He could feel his skin knitting itself together as he lay there, but still, his mind was foggy from the stamina debuff. He tried to sit up, but his body refused to listen to him and continued to lie still on the ground.

“Hey, I’m taking the maestril’s body, okay? It’s for a quest of mine that I’m doing,” Kindaro said, sitting up, and looking at Calpu’s broken corpse. Liv raised his eyebrows and Kindaro snorted. “What, did you think that you two were the only ones with hidden quests?”

Langa could not see what Kindaro was doing, and Liv spoke hurriedly, “Make it quick. We have to go back. The others must be worried.”

Strange, their voices sounded distant to Langa. “I… I’ll close my eyes for a second… “ he mumbled. His vision swirled, and he closed his eyes. Everything went quiet, as his fatigue overcame him.

*

When Langa woke up, he was in his room, back in the safe zone. He was lying on the mattress, his mind refreshed, and his body slightly sore. He checked his hands and they were fully healed, with not a scar in place. There was a thin silver bracelet on his wrist. Weird. Sitting up, he called up his interface and instantly regretted it. It was full to the brim with different messages. He blinked, and shook his head, reading everything from the top.

[You have completed tutorial quest #2.

Contributions:

Expected Contribution per player: 14.3%

1. Liv’Kungsadu - 22.2%

2. Langa Zulu - 21.4%

3. Fi Kindaro III - 20.6%

4. Eniche V Tigris Vale -12.2%

5. Sigurd Magnarson - 9.8%

6. Sato Makoto - 8.5%

7. Qin Ghol III - 4.4%

You have exceeded your expected contribution percentage.

Quest Completion Grade: A+

+1000 EXP

+500 karma

+50 bonus karma for A+ grade

+1 Shaman’s cyclopsskin protective headband

+3 Tutorial Rations

+1 silver coin]

[Congratulations! Level Up!

Level 8

+8 karma

+2STR, +2VIT, +1AGI

You have 3 free attribute points to distribute.]

[You have obtained 1000 karma before the end of the tutorial. Would you like to Ascend onto the 1st Floor?

Yes/No

Please note: If you Ascend onto the 1st Floor without completing the final tutorial quest, you will not be given access to the massive discounts in The Deiwos Tower karma store. Choose wisely.]

That was a lot to take in. So, he could leave the tutorial right now, and go into the Tower, huh? Three days ago, Langa would have done that without hesitation, but now… he checked Makoto’s karma, and he was just above 500. There was no way that Langa could leave the boy behind. Not after he’d given his life to save him.

[ACHIEVEMENT! Congratulations! Your party’s ranking in Tutorial Quest #2 is second.

Your party has received +9 skill points for your party leader to distribute.

+1 (12 slot) inventory bracelet each to the top three contributing party members]

[Party leader Liv’Kungsadu has distributed 2 skill points to you.]

All that hard work and they were only second place? No, Langa shook his head thoughtfully. The message to Earth had stated that there would be around 1.5 billion players, if the other nine floors also had that many players each, and adding on former NPCs from other floors as well as Chosen Ones from blessed worlds, this tutorial batch would have over 11 billion participants. If each party had ten players, that meant about 1 billion parties. And they were in second place?!!

“Holy shit! We’re in the top 0.000000000002%!” he exclaimed, and then frowned, not sure if his math was correct. He was not the sharpest tool in the shed, and this whole statistic was based on whether the other worlds were as overpopulated as Earth. “Whatever. The point is that we’re awesome.”

He wondered who got first place. Putting that thought aside, he continued reading his messages.

[You have unlocked your inventory! Please bind your inventory bracelet to your comcer to access your inventory.]

Langa removed the thin silver bracelet and infused it with his mana. It lit up, and then he placed it on his wrist on which he wore the comcer. The bracelet merged with the comcer. A small button appeared on the comcer.

[You have 12 inventory slots. You may only store nonliving items in your inventory, and the items will be kept in the same condition in which they were placed into the inventory. You can stack up to 100 of the same item in one slot.

To access your inventory, press the inventory button on the comcer, or open the inventory tab on your status page.]

Langa pressed the button, and his status vanished, and a blue window filled with square slots, with three rows and three columns opened up in front of him. All the slots were empty except one, which showed a headband. Langa reached into the slot and pulled out the headband. It was cool.

The headband was black, and it was quite thick in width. It seemed to be made of odd leather-like material which also seemed to stretch like an elastic. Otherwise, it was quite plain.

[Shaman’s cyclopsskin protective headband

Accessory Rank: Rare

Properties: A headband made by a mentally unstable shaman to protect her mind from the drawbacks of having a high-tier deity use her as a mouthpiece.

+5% Mental Resistance.]

Did the system intentionally choose to give him this reward to counter his greatest weakness? It was only 5%, though, so he was still in the negative. If the Tower wanted to raise his resistance, it should have given him lightning resistance instead, then he would not be in pain when he used Tonare’s skill. Still, Langa pulled up his dreadlocks and put on the headband. It fit him surprisingly well.

Next, he checked out the final message. The final tutorial quest.

FINAL TUTORIAL QUEST

Quest Rank: E

The maestrils that invaded the abandoned world of Zamone created karma portals using the fallen star of the world. In three days, the Void will overflow with karma, and swallow this world, and Zamone shall become a Void world. No mortal can survive for an extended period inside a Void world. The Elders of Zamone prayed to The Unrivalled Tower Master, that even when their world ceased to exist, their Legacies would be integrated into the Tower. In order to do that, the final tutorial boss must be defeated before the world becomes a Void. Quest Objectives:

-Kill the maestril final boss

-Ascend from the abandoned world into the Deiwos Tower

-Obtain 1000 karma

Time Limit: 3 days Optional Quest Objective: Hidden Quest Limitations: N/A Cautions: Even if the player slays the Final Tutorial Boss, no rewards will be issued until after Ascension. The quest is not considered complete until the player Ascends into the Deiwos Tower. Quest Rewards:

-Final Tutorial Reward based on contribution

-Access to the 1st Floor of the Deiwos Tower

-??? Karma

-???% Discount in the Deiwos Tower Karma store

-Hidden (Optional)

It had the same rank as the second tutorial quest, so Langa hoped that it would not be a difficult quest. He also still needed to go to the Elder and get a follow-up quest for his side quest as well.

Done with that, Langa put in his last two health potions, his wound healing ointments, his tutorial rations, and his backpack into the inventory. He then stood up and went to take a shower. It was dark outside, so he was unsure how much time had passed since the battle. He was going to go meet his teammates later. He needed to thank Makoto for saving his life.

Once it was light outside, he returned downstairs to the town hall. He was looking for Makoto, but in all honesty, he had no idea what to say to him. He ran into Ghol and Kindaro in the training room, and for some reason, Ghol looked downcast, and she was trembling all over. Kindaro, on the other hand, looked mildly annoyed.

”Hey, have you guys seen Makoto?” Langa asked, deciding that whatever was happening between them was none of his business. He could guess what was happening. Kindaro had probably severely reprimanded Ghol for her lacklustre performance in the battle.

”Oh, you’re up? I thought you were dead when Liv’Kungsadu had to carry you back here from the forest,” Kindaro said, his expression relaxing. “You look like shit.”

Langa raised his eyebrows. “I did almost die, so that’s understandable. What’s your excuse for looking like shit?”

The dark elf laughed, “Whatever. So, how many skill points did you get? Liv’Kungsadu only gave me one!”

Langa had received two skill points. “He probably used the contribution percentages. He gave everyone one skill point, and then for the top two, me and him, we got the extra two skill points,” he reasoned.

Kindaro snorted derisively, “What a load of crap. Those 9 skill points should have been shared among the three of us. We are the strongest people in this team. We should get priority. Half of these idiots died without doing a damn thing in that battle.”

“Are you being fucking serious right now? Aren’t you a prince?” Langa raised his eyebrows, “What kind of a king are you going to be if you can’t recognise the value of support players? You’d have died if not for Sigurd healing you. Without Makoto refilling your mana, you would not even have been able to use your attribute! And if Eniche did not kill all those corrupted creatures, Calpu would have escaped, and we would have failed the quest,” he reminded him.

”Hmph, whatever. At least they did something. My useless servant just died, and caused that dumb maestril to heal himself.” Kindaro grumbled, not caring that Ghol was right next to him. She looked down, ashamed.

True, she wasn’t very strong, but she’d been the first one attacked with Calpu’s shadow circle, and none of them had been prepared for it. It wasn’t her fault. But Langa said nothing since he did not want to deal with whatever this was. “Do you know where Makoto is or not?”

Kindaro rolled his eyes. “The kid’s outside, in the courtyard.”

”Thanks,” Langa turned away.

Just as he was walking away, his body felt stiff, and he heard a distant voice in his mind, telling him to stop, to stand still. He could not resist it, at that moment. He stopped, for just a moment, and then the fog in his mind cleared, and he gasped.

”Oh, amazing! That almost didn’t work. I guess I do need eye contact to control you now. That’s a pretty decent accessory you’ve got there. Is it unique?” Kindaro asked in amusement from behind him.

Langa clenched his teeth, and turned around, fuming. He Flash Stepped in front of Kindaro and grabbed him by his throat. “Stay the hell out of my mind!” he said.

This bastard had tried to control his mind again just now, and even as he threatened to choke him, the guy just grinned.

Ghol disappeared and then reappeared behind Langa. ”Let him go!” She said pulling out her daggers, ready to slice him up for threatening her master. Langa almost rolled his eyes at her misplaced loyalty to this jerk.

”Stand down, you stupid cretin, this is a safe zone. He can’t hurt me,” Kindaro snapped at Ghol as Langa let him go. “Don’t be mad, I just saw that your mental resistance went up, and I wanted to see if you’d be able to resist my control.”

Langa glared at him, “Mind your own damn business. If you try that shit again, I’ll use my Calling on you.” He walked off once more, annoyed. Kindaro was strong, and a good teammate, but he was not someone he wanted to associate with outside of party battles.

But he put the two of them out of his mind and walked away to look for the kid.

He found Makoto doing some stretches in the courtyard. When he saw Langa approaching, Makoto tensed up, prepared for a scolding. It made Langa feel like he was about to have a headache. The boy had saved his life, and yet he expected a scolding… to be fair, Langa had been planning on scolding him, but now, he just sighed. He gestured to a small bench in the courtyard, and the two of them sat down.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” Makoto said quietly.

Langa looked out of the courtyard, to the destroyed town beyond and said, “You saved my life. Don’t apologise for that. I… I wanted to push you away because I hate responsibilities. I also didn’t want to steal your luck. But, since we’ve already come this far, let’s push on one more time, and let’s both get out of this place alive and go find your mother.”

“Together?” Makoto asked.

“Together,” Langa confirmed. This much was enough. He would not go out of his way for anyone, but he, at the very least, owed this boy a life debt.

“In that case, thank you too.”

“For what?”

Makoto smiled at him, “Brother, did you forget that I can see your karma? I honestly thought that you came here to say goodbye. I know you already have over 1000 karma, so you can leave anytime. Thank you for staying.”

“I’m not staying for you,” Langa smiled as he stood up. “I just want the massive discounts in the karma store, whatever that means. I'm a penny-pincher. But I will protect you in this tutorial, that I can promise you.”

"Brother," Makoto said hesitantly. "When you died, what was it like?"

Langa shrugged. "It was okay, just a few energies swirling over me, why?"

Makoto's voice trembled, "It was scary for me. It felt so final, and I was terrified as hell of that darkness. I don't ever want to go through that again."

This was how most people felt about death, Langa supposed. He was the outlier for feeling indifferent over it. "You won't have to suffer through it again. Like I said, I'll protect you," he said squeezing the boy's arm.

Yeah, Langa thought as he returned to the town hall, this would all be over soon. One more battle, and he could finally leave this godsforsaken world. For now, though, he was going back to sleep. Fighting a maestril was an exhausting business for a lazy person like him.