Penny was going to die again.

There were just too many of them. At least three Shadelings lurked in the shadows of the pines bordering the imperial road. They loomed big as Komodo dragons, the setting sun glinting off their scales. Nothing gleamed in their beady eyes. No hatred. No fear.

One stepped closer, and its footfall was completely silent. It shouldn't have been, the thing was massive, its back armored with crimson ridges of translucent cartilage, but it must have had some kind of stealth magic. Beneath its skin branched veins of glowing black blood, delicate and fine as a single strand of hair.

It all looked so real.

The Shadeling growled, and the sound vibrated her bones.

Penny took a step back. Dirt crunched under her worn boots. This is just a game.

Penny unsheathed her sword from its rusted scabbard. The blade was so heavy it made her shoulder ache. How many times could she realistically swing it? Six? Seven?

She glanced over her shoulder to the wagon she was supposed to be escorting. It was still laden with a dozen of barrels of Illatria, a rare herb that, according to Viera, could be ground into even rarer medicine. Not one barrel had fallen off this time, although the speed gem installed in front of the cart was completely dark. In trying to fiddle with it to make it go faster she'd broken the thing entirely. Now she had no option but to fight and probably die.

"Penny?"

Viera, the Nyxie NPC who was her guide, peered around one of the barrels. Her fish-like eyes showed little human emotion, but Penny could tell from the way her small webbed hands clutched the barrel she was afraid. She was always afraid.

"Quiet," Penny rasped.

"Just listen." The Nyxie girl, not more than eleven, braced her shoulder and jutted out her chin. "You don't have to do this. This my fault."

"Viera," Penny snapped, her voice strangled. "Please."

Another Shadeling stepped out of the trees, its lips parted in a snarl that revealed its shark-like teeth. Its beady eyes focused on Viera.

"Over here, asshole." Penny lifted the sword, until the setting sun glinted off the edge of the blade.

The Shadeling cocked its head at her and flicked its scaly tale, which thumped against the ground behind the beast. Then its beady eyes narrowed, considering her.

Penny flinched. She could still feel the phantom pain in her shoulder form where it'd bitten her last run, but still she didn't move. Better her then Viera. Penny had her pain settings down to 30%, but Viera was an NPC, she didn't have pain settings, and whether she was real or not, Penny wasn't sure, but she did know she didn't want to hear her scream. Not again.

“You’re going to let me through,” Penny said. “I’m just here to deliver some medicine to the next town over.”

She had never tried stupidly pointless bravado before as a tactic to get them to back down. Maybe that would work.

The Shadeling opened its maw. Black ichor dripped down its teeth before hitting the ground with a sizzle. Then it did something it never had done before, in the many, many times, Penny had played through this tutorial.

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It spoke.

“Givvveee up.” Its voice sounded like rock grinding against rock.

Penny blinked, her sword slipping down an inch in her grip. “You can talk.”

“Youuu.” The Shadeling stalked closer. “Are weak. You try to run. We catch you. You fight. We kill you. You don’t learn and you die. The world has given you a choice. You must make it. Then this will end.”

The stench of sulfur wafted over Penny as it neared, along with a wave of heat that felt like she had just opened an oven. She barely felt it. Some part deep inside of her was too cold.

The Shadeling twitched for a moment, like it was fighting something off, then its mouth opened again, this time almost not of its own will, and a voice that was not the Shadeling's own sounded. It was the same voice that had echoed in her head five minutes ago, like it always did, at the halfway point of the tutorial.

“You have a choice Ms. Adams. Nothing in this world is gained without sacrifice. Civilization requires cruelty to survive. It is a cold equation that must be balanced.”

Penny gripped the sword hilt harder. “No.”

The Shadeling thrashed like it was fighting off the possession, then said, “Again and again and again. We will kill you. That is our function. Until you learn. Until you decide."

As the Shadeling moved closer it stats flickered above its head.

Lesser Shadeling

HP: 89/120

MP: 20/20

Penny didn’t have to bring up her menu to know her own stats were no match. She was a classless level-three Reborn, and until she passed this tutorial, that was all she would be. That was on purpose. Power was always a reward for doing what the game designer wanted you to do, and Penny had spent the better part of her time in Astrea doing the exact opposite of what Prince wanted.

The Shadelings encircled her, forming a wall with their bodies.

Penny widened her stance, like she’d learned in that over-priced sword skills class in Crossways. Then she tightened her grip on the hilt.

"Run," she shouted to Viera. "Run."

The nearest Shadeling charged.

Penny lunged right, knowing exactly the path the Shadeling would take. Unfortunately, that only meant she collided with the second Shadeling. Its body slammed into hers, but Penny was ready now, she thrust her sword into the creature's belly, slipping the blade between scales.

The creature gave a surprised grunt of pain.

Penny couldn't hear if Viera was running or not. She couldn't tell. She hoped.

Above its head the Shadling's HP plummeted.

HP: 20/120

She pushed harder, bracing herself with one foot behind her to thrust the blade deeper, but as she did she felt something sharp close around her leg.

"Fuck."

The first Shadeling had gotten teeth into her flesh. She screamed. It wasn't that it hurt, although it did, it was that she knew her own meager HP had probably just been sizably cut down. She couldn't take another hit like that.

You're going to die. You're going to die.

And then you'll have to do this all over again.

Penny ignored the voice in, and twisted the blade into the body of the Shadeling. Metal scraped bone as it hit the Shadeling's ribs. Above its head the red of its HP bar disappeared entirely.

One down.

Penny yanked at the sword, ignoring the waves of agony as the first Shadeling's teeth dug deeper into her flesh. If she could just get the blade out, she could attack, and thankfully it came free with surprising speed. She went to swing the sword, except… there was nothing there.

Her sword had melted. The blood of the Shadeling was just acidic as its spit, and where once had been a blade there was now just a stump like a burned-out candle. Another form filled her vision, the third Shadeling. The edges of her vision were going blurry. She was going to pass out, and then die.

No.

A wave of desperation crashed over Penny, but she let it. She let it drag her down, leaning into the panic and the fear. She knew both feelings well. Prince thought that losing would make her give up, like it had in the Academy, but by now Penny was used to failure, to pain, to loss.

She had known so fucking much of it.

And if Prince thought that losing would make her give up, fall in line, and follow his rules, he thought wrong.

Her eyes locked the with beast.

"Kill me, and I'll just--" she sucked in a breath as fought back a scream "--come back."

She thought she saw something strange flick through its beady eyes. Something new. Then it opened its mouth and closed its jaw around her head.