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Chapter 1: Embers

World Integration Complete.

Starting Class Selection.

With those words, his consciousness came back. His eyes flickered open.

‘Huh?’ was his first thought, shocked at the appearance of the empty, white room he found himself in.

‘Wher-’ Before he could even finish thinking, it all began rushing back. Though, surprisingly, having centuries worth of memories shoved into his brain didn't hurt. It just felt like he was remembering something he had forgotten.

For a while, he stood there in the white room, eyes closed with scrunched up eyebrows and a pensive expression on his face. Many thoughts rushing through his mind.

‘I'm back.’ That realization didn’t bring a single ounce of happiness to him. Just feelings of grim, and silent determination rose from his mind. Though a Guide prompt soon snapped him out of his reverie.

Your innate potential has been analyzed.

Mallory Wanless

Body Potential: Low

Mind Potential: Low

Spirit Potential: Negative

Based on your potential and personality, here are the classes that should fit you.

Brawler | Merchant | Archer | Gambler

He could ask for more information, but he already knew everything he needed to.

His lips pressed together into a fine line. Mallory’s gaze first turned towards the Archer class, his mouth beginning to frown. He recalled this so clearly, the emotions attached to this situation were so heavy, after all.

‘Okay, one thing at a time.’

“Can you get this screen out of my face? I need to think. Also, can you darken the room a bit? It’s an eyesore,” he asked.

The screen blinked out of existence, and the previously white room became several hues darker, a muted gray. With that all done, he took a seat on the floor, letting out a breath.

Everyone has a White Room, or more commonly called, a Room. It’s Guide generated, and in it, time is paused. Or his perception of time is so sped up, it seemed like it was.

Mallory didn't know, and as far as he was aware, nobody did either. But that doesn't matter, the only thing that does was the fact it gave him all the time in the world to collect himself, and think. And, boy, did he need to think.

‘What should I do?’ is the first thing he wondered. The most important and difficult question to answer. So, he just sat there. Head filled with thoughts.

‘What can I realistically do? Completing the quest Fate and The Guide gave me sound, well, mandatory, really. So, survival.’ He scratched his chin, halting the action just a second, momentarily surprised at not feeling any stubble.

“Okay, process of elimination,” he said to himself.

‘For survival in the short term, Archer is probably the best. As long as I party up with a competent group of people, I can hang in the back while I shoot my arrows. But, yeah, no.’

Picking Archer as his class while, not the worst mistake he made in his past life, was pretty far up there. The reason being that he never managed to find a bow in the Tutorial. Or any decent equipment, for that matter.

That's not even including the part where he either had too few arrows, not enough money to buy arrows, and that his shitty bows always broke at the least convenient of times. He had to make do with his fists more times than he can count. This, along with his potential, gave him poor class upgrade options, which led to more of the same.

‘Merchant is probably the poorest for short term and long term survival.’ Being a Merchant relied on having charisma, which there wasn't a stat point for, the closest equivalent being luck.

‘Luck…’ Mallory grimaced and shook his head, not even wanting to bother thinking about that stat.

‘Not to mention, how is a Merchant supposed to protect themselves?’ That is one of the most important things to have for surviving the Tutorial, and the world outside of it.

And with the world expanding, and animals evolving to more magical varieties, how is he supposed to sell anything? It'd be impossible, for him anyway.

As for Gambler? Well, he was sure the Guide was just mocking him at this point.

‘I guess being a Brawler is the only option.’ A Brawler was a Tier 1 unarmed combat class, a lesser version of the Tier 1 Martial Artist class.

And while Mallory could choose to pick one of the myriad of classes not recommended to him, that can have… rather dire consequences. Consequences he wanted nothing to do with.

‘Now, I need to plan my build. What do I want? Should I focus purely on survivability?’ While becoming unkillable sounded nice on paper, in practice, it was basically impossible.

‘Since I’m maintaining my Spirit and Mind stats, maybe a magical Brawler?’ Just because his Spirit potential was the worst, that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn magic. Just no mind blowing magic, unfortunately.

‘Or maybe… yeah.’ Adaptability, that’d be the way to go.

‘Good, onto another question. What should I do during the Tutorial?’ There were many, but simultaneously few, options he had. He had heard some things about it after the end of it in his first life, and experienced others himself.

With a thousand years of Guide know-how, he might be able to get himself in a good starting position. But that's only, and only if, he goes big.

Because, as much as he loathes it, he needed the strength to protect himself. Events and tragedies are coming. Some he knew why and how they happened, most he knew nothing about.

‘Strength…’ He looked at his soft hands. Unscathed, with no calluses.

‘No. I'll think about what I need to do and prepare for, after I complete the Tutorial. Or if I even complete it,’ he told himself.

Even if Mallory has knowledge of the past future, he mostly only has knowledge of his past future. There are too many variables. Too many things he can't change.

So he won't waste time on complex or well thought out plans, as they'll only fall apart. The only two things he could truly do is act, and get stronger as best he can, and see how everything plays out from there.

“Class Selection, Brawler.”

Are you sure?

Y/N

“Yes.”

Class Selected.

Personal Guide Integration Complete.

You can now interact with The Guide via thoughts.

Commencing Tutorial…

Everything goes dark

----------------------------------------

His dark world rocked and rumbled. Sensation came back, but slowly. First, was his sense of smell.

Grass. The scent of grass wet with morning dew, and the sooty smell of soil that the grass shot up from. Next, touch.

He felt ticklish. The soft blades of grass he was using as a makeshift bed caressing his entire back. A hand was shaking him, making his skin itch against the grass even more.

And then, all sensation came back.

“Mallory! Mallory, c'mon! Wake up you bastard,” somebody cursed under their breath.

His eyes snapped open. In spite of the stinging pain his eyes felt at the sudden difference in light, he forced them to remain open.

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He saw a blue sky in-between all the touching branches and thick leaves of trees. To his right, was a man crouched down beside him. Early to mid thirties, maybe. He wore a white dress shirt, loosened tie, and a pair of black dress pants.

‘Who is he?’ While having a stat upgraded brain helped with memory retention, even the strongest of memories could fade in a thousand years.

‘Or maybe I just don't have a high enough Retention stat,’ he thought mirthlessly.

The man removed his hand from Mallory’s shoulder. “Oh, good, you're awake,” he breathed a sigh of relief and fell back onto his butt from his crouched position.

“Have you seen this craziness?” He doesn't respond, instead deciding to sit up and look around.

Him and the office drone are next to a small clearing in a forest, where he can see four figures in relatively similar attire to the drone beside him. Lowering his head, he noticed he was in the same attire

‘Work? Right. I was at work before the Tutorial happened.’ His recollections of the time before The Guide are especially fuzzy and incomplete.

The man started talking, but Mallory tuned it out as he called upon his status.

Welcome to the Tutorial!

This here is your-

‘Skip the Tutorial's Tutorial and show me my status.’

Mallory Wanless

Race: Human

HP: 50/50 | SP: 30/30

MP: 200/200

Class: Brawler 0/10

Sub-Class: N/A

Sub-Class: N/A

Total Level: 0

Stats

Body: 9 | Mind: 85(94) | Spirit: -225

Stat Points: 0

Brawler Skills

Two Class Skill Selections Possible

Titles

ill-Fated, Vertex Mind, Integration Initiate,

‘Vertex Mind…’ He had heard about this. Those with the highest stat of the people in their Tutorial, gain a title.

Titles are precious. They can affect the way your class evolves. Even more so the ones that offer percentage increases like Vertex Mind. His actual Mind is 85, but it's increased by 10%, an increase of a total of 8.5.

“Mallory.” It seemed choosing his class skills would have to wait.

“Hm?” He turned his head to gaze at the office drone.

“Oh, you, uh, weren't listening, were you?” the man said. He just shrugged.

‘I don't see why I shouldn't be friendly to them.’ Oftentimes, sticking with a group was better than blazing it out alone. It's one of the reasons he survived for so long.

Though there were downsides. Like, splitting Guide rewards. Not to mention having to coordinate and take care of more people.

And death. A death in a group was a tragedy. And every tragedy tension rises, mistakes made more and more often, until another death. Ad infinitum.

“What were you saying?”

“I, it doesn't matter. We should go to the group,” he said. It was clear to Mallory that he was trying to hide his uneasiness.

He just nodded his response, and they walked out of the forest, into the clearing. The four figures turned as they heard the stepping of feet. Two men, and two women.

The person who stood out the most to him was a handsome man in a clean cut suit. A manager, most likely.

‘Hopefully a good one too.’ Leadership skills are vital in a group. And Mallory really didn’t feel like leading, especially considering that he knew none of their names.

“Are you alright?” the manager asked.

“As fine as I can be, I guess,” he said.

“Did Paul catch you up?”

“I think I understand the situation, well enough, at least.”

“You already read the Tutorial?” Paul chimed in, misunderstanding why he didn't listen to him. Seeing no need to fix the misconception, he gave a firm nod.

“Okay, good. Well, we were just discussing what we should do. Any ideas?”

“Probably nothing better than what you four have come up with.” After that, the manager explained the plan to him and Paul.

It essentially boiled down to find more people, settle down, and then wait for the duration of the Tutorial to end. Find food and water, ect.

There was one pending plan of action, kill beasts for Points and levels to make sure they survived. The other unnamed office drone verbally disagreed, with another one nodding fiercely in approval of his words.

All the while Mallory just silently observed it all, offering little input. At least, that was until they started walking.

“What are all of your Classes?” Everyone's eyes locked to him as their trek temporarily paused.

“I think it'd be good information for us all to know. And picking skills sooner rather than later might be a prudent choice, knowing our Classes could help us synergize our skills and increase our chances,” he deftly explained.

The manager, who he found out was named Dayton, cupped his chin and said, “That's a great idea Mallory!”

“Alright, how about we all explain our classes, and then decide as a group which skills we should select?” There was no resistance to the idea.

‘At least this way, if any of these five try to betray me, I’ll know what to expect.’ While he knew it was unlikely to happen or even at all currently, but in a while? Who knows.

He always found it better to know more often than not. It’s why Retention was his second highest Mind stat.

“I'm a Brawler, it's, uh, exactly what it sounds like. I'm stronger when unarmed, or so the screen, Guide, or whatever says,” he voluntarily went first.

“I’m an Archer, it says I hunt, with a bow, but…” Dayton just waved his hands, indicating the obvious lack of the tool in question.

Mallory felt annoyance grow within him towards the man, but he knew he was just being biased. Because objectively, Archer was one of the best classes if somebody wanted to make it through this type of Tutorial alive.

The others went next.

Paul was a Fighter. The other office worker, Joshua, revealed himself to be a Gambler. One of the last two of his coworkers, Denise, was a Fire Mage, and the other, Sarah, an Artist.

‘So there are two melee combatants, two ranged options, one magical, the other physical. And finally, two life classes.’ All Life classes were useful in some ways, especially in later levels, but in a Tutorial? Worthless.

‘I’ll stick around for a few days, but first chance I get, I'll go.’ While pragmatism urged him to just leave the group, abandoning them would only leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Mallory, why don’t you select your two skills first?” Dayton suggested.

“Alright.” Finally, it was time to select his first two class skills.

Are you sure you wish to select your Class skills?

Y/N

‘Yes.’

Choose between these two skills.

Street Fighting | Trash Talk

While tempted to just pick the passive skill, as they were mostly always better than active ones, Mallory decided to read the descriptions anyways to be certain.

Street Fighting

Rank: Trash

Type: Passive | Mastery | Enhancement

Description

The long practiced art of hitting, and taking hits.

Effects

You are slightly more proficient when unarmed or using unconventional weaponry.

Your body takes slightly less damage when unarmoured.

Scales with Body.

Trash Talk

Rank: Trash

Type: Active | Control

Description

The ignoble act of insulting an opponent. Anything goes in a brawl.

Effects

Spend 5 MP to spit out an insult that, depending on your Luck and Belief, may or may not enrage the target.

Scales with Spirit.

‘Yeah…’ There was clearly only one correct answer. When he selected it… it's not that he really learned anything new, more like his already vast experience with fighting was being consolidated. Understood better.

Makeshift Weaponry

Rank: Trash

Type: Passive | Mastery | Enhancement

Description

Anything pointy enough, hard and weighty enough, can be used as a weapon.

Effects

You are slightly more proficient in being able to use unconventional objects as weapons.

Any object you use as a weapon is slightly more durable than usual.

Scales with Body.

Rough Skin

Rank: Trash

Type: Passive | Enhancement

Description

After being subjected to much abuse, your skin has adapted, becoming rough and leathery.

Effects

You take less damage to slashes.

Scales with Body.

‘Makeshift weaponry.’ Again, after having selected it, his comprehension of using anything as a means to kill increased.

“I have two options, which it’s telling me to pick between,” Mallory told them.

“One that’s a Passive skill called Street Smarts, it sort of gives me like… a sense? Intuition?” He used another common Brawler skill in place of his own. It’s one that he could easily mimic with his experience.

“What type of intuition?”

“To survive on the streets. I don’t know how much it’ll help in the forest, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

“What’s the other?”

“It’s an Active skill called… Trash Talk. Essentially, for 5 MP I can potentially enrage the person I’m talking to.”

“We’re trying to avoid fights, not start them,” Dayton muttered, everyone else agreeing.

They knew what he should pick. After that, he told them another common Brawler skill in place of the one he picked, and they all, “collectively,” decided he should pick Rough Skin.

After that, Denise went. They all decided she should pick Ember, to hopefully start a fire. After all, maybe other people might see it.

At that point, he just started tuning it all out, instead deciding to make use of this time checking the Tutorial for the first time in a long, long time.

Tutorial

Type: Survival

Number of Participants: 1,994/2,000

Duration: 49 Days, 22 Hours, 34 Minutes

Completion Criteria: Survive the duration of the Tutorial.

Bonus Criteria: Collect as many points as possible.

Your Points: 0

Looking at it, Mallory could finally accept the reality of his situation. He was truly back. He only wished he felt happy about this once in a lifetime opportunity.

‘I need to try my best, again…’ He licked his lips. ‘Hopefully this time it'll be enough.’ He shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts.

‘What am I doing, being all depressed? I can do this.’ He quickly got out of his negative mood. Because he could do this.

All he needed to do was to be able to adapt to anything.

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