Two days after his soul was sent back in time. There was a bizarre phenomenon that occurred. The sky was covered in lightning. The unusual occurrence lasted a while and was witnessed everywhere on the planet. During that time, people were threatened. Some thought the world was ending. After an hour, the sounds made by the lightning quieted down. But they still remained in the sky.
"Greetings mortals. I am Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder, the ruler of gods, the king of Mount Olympus. Today, I came to invite humanity to a little game of mine. I believe you will like it. I will personally transfer every human who is eighteen years old and older to a new world I created, Pangea. Upon entering this world, you will choose one Olympian god to be your godfather or godmother. Unfortunately for you, yours truly isn't an option. So choose carefully. Because when you win the game, the god you chose also wins. In order to finish and win the game, you need to clear all obstacles in your way and reach Mount Olympus. Sending you to Pangea on such short notice wouldn't be fair; therefore, I decided to send you to another place for what you people call a tutorial. Any other living being remaining on earth will be put in a deep slumber. Failure to reach Mount Olympus and clear the game will result in the destruction of the human race by yours truly. That's all the explanation you need now. I'll start moving you over. May Zeus's strength be with you."
After the deity's thunderous voice faded, multiple people started vanishing. Aiken was obviously among them. He found himself in a new place he was familiar with. It was called the T-World. At first, many people believed that the T stood for Tutorial. But they later discover it meant Temporary. The young man had mixed feelings. He knew what they were about to go through. As the people around him were wondering about Zeus's announcement and their current location, there was a light that descended from the sky and a beautiful woman made her appearance. She was floating in the air, about two meters above the ground. All the male automatically had their eyes glued on her figure. A lot of the women were also charmed by the newcomer's ravishing appearance. Her silver hair, brown eyes, and smooth-looking skin were enough to attract the crowd's attention.
"Hi mortals, I'm a nymph. I was charged by Zeus to welcome you into this world and guide you a bit. This is not Pangea, but the T-World."
"Hang on a second, where the hell are we?" A middle-aged man asked.
Aiken slowly shook his head. He was prepared for this and had already resolved himself for what was to come. He knew the nymph's personality.
The woman turned toward the direction of the voice. She made a swift yet elegant throwing motion with her arm, and a dagger flew out and went through the man's skull before hitting the ground. Her victim dropped dead on the spot. The woman made a movement with her finger and the dagger came back to her and disappeared who knows where.
"Do not interrupt me. Do not talk unless it is your turn to talk. When I finish my explanation, you mortals can ask questions." She said calmly.
"What the hell? You killed him? You just fucking kill him?" Another voice said.
The same throwing motion happened. A dagger flew out again and killed another man.
"I will do this as many times as it takes for you to learn." She said looking at the crowd.
No one uttered a word. Most of them were still processing the situation as they were taken aback.
"Let's continue with the explanation. No one cares about what happens to you here, not me, not the gods, no one. In our eyes, you mortals may as well be insects. You're here to adapt to your new situation before getting sent to Pangea where the real game will begin. Your previous limitations are no more. In order to make this game interesting, the gods arranged a way for you to get stronger. Stronger than anything you thought possible."
She gestured to the two dead bodies on the floor. The skin and bones were rapidly dissolving leaving behind a reddish heart-shaped object. The two dead men left behind the same mysterious object, the size of a newborn fist.
The nymph landed on the ground and took both objects.
"These are called relics. It's what remains after a being dies. If you eat a relic, it will affect your body. An increase in Constitution, Strength, Agility, or Intelligence can be gained using the relics. The only way to know what characteristic the relic improves is to consume it. However, you won't always be lucky with relics. And if you don't use them in a timely manner, they disappear. These two relics are no good to me. Should I destroy them? Hmm, what else can I do with them? Any ideas?"
Aiken didn't hesitate and raised his hand.
"Oh, you have an idea?"
He nodded.
"Let's hear it."
"You can give them to me."
The nymph raised her eyebrows for a brief moment as she reevaluated the young man before her.
"What a bold suggestion! Well, boldness is good, you will need it." She said as she threw him the relics.
He caught them and quickly devoured them. He ignored all the nasty looks he was getting.
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"The goal of this tutorial is to give you the opportunity to strengthen yourself and get mentally ready. Don't waste the opportunity. Oh… before I forget, this is a game, so the gods devised a way for you to monitor your condition. If you mentally say stats, you will understand what I mean."
The crowd followed her instructions. Aiken was the first of course. He already knew the command.
[Aiken]
[Agility: 8]
[Constitution: 9]
[Intelligence: 55]
[Strength: 8]
[Notification: Strength increased by 1]
[Notification: Agility increased by 1]
"Pretty nice, no? You now get an idea of your overall power. Keep in mind that the cost to increase your stats won't remain the same. You will naturally understand when the time comes. Any questions so far?"
"Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, strength, what are they exactly?" An old man asked.
The nymph took the time to explain the terms.
"Agility measures the ability to anticipate movement and react to it. It affects dodging ability, speed, and how well one moves without being detected. The Constitution stat determines the endurance and the toughness of the body. Intelligence represents the degree of knowledge retention. How well you process and retain information. It also affects how well one accepts different perspectives that may be unknown or seem far-fetched. Your intelligence stat is higher by far compared to the other ones because that's the only thing you mortals have going for you. Compared to beasts, you are naturally smarter. Strength measures your physical power."
After the answer, a woman raised her hand.
"I have a strength of 4. What does that mean?"
The nymph looked at her incredulously.
"Seriously? Someone with a strength of 5 is physically stronger than you, and someone with 3 is physically weaker than you. Any other dumb questions?"
There was no response. The nymph nodded.
"Your first trial in the T-World will begin shortly. I'm thinking about whether or not to give you some weapons. What should I do?"
Aiken wanted to yell and tell everyone to keep their mouth shut, but he couldn't. He could only helplessly bite his tongue.
"A trial? What trial?" Someone said.
"You should give us a weapon." Another said.
"And why would I do that? I already told you I don't care about mere insects. Oh, I forgot to mention that if you die, you're dead for good. This may be a game, but you're playing with your life." she said before vanishing in a stream of light.
In the next moment, everyone received a notification.
[T-World first trial, Babysitting Baby Minotaurs.]
[The Minotaur was born from Poseidon's revenge against King Minos. The god made Minos's wife fall in love with a bull and slept with it. From this was born the first Minotaur. A creature looking like a man with a bull's head and strength. Adult Minotaurs will make quick work of you lowly humans. Therefore, the gods have sent some newborns to entertain you. There are currently 476 humans in this particular place. The trials will end when 238 people remain or when all baby minotaurs are killed.]
They heard some noise under the ground. Then, holes appeared and small figures of the monsters they all heard about rose to the surface. Each baby Minotaur was holding a short sword. There were about 200 hundred of them.
The least courageous among the humans started screaming and running away. Aiken expected this much. It was a natural reaction. He didn't blame them. However, it was the worst move here. The creatures charged after the humans. It didn't take long for the first casualties. Turning your back to such monsters was a recipe for disasters.
Aiken didn't let the massacre affect his state of mind. He decided to take advantage of it. He saw a minotaur stabbing someone nearby. He rushed towards them and tackled the baby minotaur who was about 140 centimeters. It lost its weapon as it fell to the ground. The young man took the sword, went after the monster, and plunged the blade into its throat. A relic appeared. Aiken grabbed and swallowed the heart-shaped item.
[You consumed a relic.]
[There was no power in it.]
[Your stats remained unchanged.]
He cursed when he received the notification. He knew there was a chance of such a situation occurring. It wasn't guaranteed to gain something from the relics. However, Aiken wasn't worried. Though his body wasn't anything like how it was before it got sent back in time, his sense of battle gained from numerous conflicts was still there.
He charged forward, choosing monsters distracted by others and finishing them off. He picked up relics from his kills and immediately consumed them. He would get lucky at times and receive an increase in one of his stats. Some people, realizing the predicament they were in, started to fight back. The quick-witted ones used their numbers to their benefit and started ganging up on a monster. Little by little, more people were getting swords from the dead baby minotaurs.
They realized the creatures weren't as strong as they had thought. They only employed one simple tactic, which was to charge forward to attack an enemy. If one was careful, they could avoid lethal injuries and still countered the baby minotaurs.
Aiken didn't care at all about what others were doing. He wanted to kill as many minotaurs as he could. Only he knew they weren't the only ones having the trial. All the humans who were sent here were divided into groups for the tutorial. He wanted to do better than any of them. The more he killed the better his chances to get relics. He even considered killing humans but quickly dismissed the idea. He could use them another way for his benefit. Moreover, they could gang up against him. It would be bad since he was weak at the moment.
Due to his contribution, the trial ended with the second requirement. They had slain all the baby minotaurs. Aiken roughly estimated their number was still above 400. It wasn't too bad for the first time. People weren't that lucky when he did the same trial in the past. He checked his status.
[Aiken]
[Agility: 11]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 55]
[Strength: 10]
He sighed when he saw the number. After all the relics he ate, he only gained 3 points in agility, 1 point in Constitution, and 2 in strength.
The nymph reappeared shortly after.
"You guys are impressive. Very nice performance. Only 53 people died, leaving 423 of you mortals. I thought about earlier and realized I should have given you a weapon. So here it is."
She waves her hand. The weapons used by the minotaurs that some people were holding disappeared, and everyone received a simple sword.
Aiken was thinking of his next move. A part of him thought about getting some allies now, but he wasn't sure. The tutorial and the real game in Pangea are two completely different things. Moreover, the next trial was really brutal. Many people will die. It was best for him to do his best to get as strong as he can now. He couldn't afford to worry about others at this stage. The people who can best adapt to the situation would survive, and the rest would likely fail.