“Death trap…”
“Yes. The main cause of this is the imperfection within the cycle…or so the divinities claim.” The Hollow God paused for a moment. “But in the course of investigations, I found something interesting. There is no cycle…at least, not in the way I once assumed it was. First off, the concept of the Omen and the Salvation Star is not unique to our world.”
“Not unique?” Claud frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Every universe has them. When civilisation grows to a point that there is waste, it will be tested in one form or another. If found wanting, the civilisation will be wiped out. This is a grand law of all existence, but this law was subverted by an immense existence long ago in our world.” The Hollow God paused. “Mana. Prana. Lifeforce. These are the ways in which the world attempts to resist its ruination, but you, of course, know about the key method.”
“The Salvation Star?”
“Indeed. At any rate, however, the Omens of the previous cycle are not able to exist. They either destroy themselves with the current civilisation, or are slain in their attempts to upend it,” the Hollow God continued. “There’s the first problem. The previous Omen still lives.”
“The Black God,” Claud muttered, and his future self raised an eyebrow.
“You know?” Future Claud asked. “Interesting. What changes did my successor make? No matter. I’ll find out soon enough. But yes, the Omen still lives. What should have been your sole inheritance is now shared, which is why you still need a personal quest to advance Absolute One. As a side-effect, your Third Tutorial does not update your personal quest too; you won’t know what the requirements are.”
“And you do.”
“Yes. But the reason why I said fate has it out for Lily is because of the second problem.” The Hollow God breathed out slowly, and the field of flowers seemed to darken. “Fundamentally, the Third Tutorial and your personal quest are at odds.”
“What’s my personal quest?” Claud asked.
“…It is to prove the tenacity of life,” the Hollow God replied. “Specifically, you are to submit to the tribulation of the Third Tutorial and allow your lifeforce to hollow out entirely. Endure this for an entire year, and you’ll pass.”
“What? But doesn’t that mean I need to—”
“Fail the Third Tutorial. Yes.” The Hollow God shook his head. “It was a trap for me…and you. It’s counterintuitive, isn’t it? You must let the Third Tutorial tear you apart, or else you’ll follow the same route as I did. Your Mana Control Proficiency is at least at Master-rank, if I didn’t get it wrong. You’ll need to exert more strength to not pass the Third Tutorial than the other way around.”
He paused, and then said, “Once an entire year passes, use seven thousand…for you — three thousand and five hundred — years of lifespan, if Crown is still with you, and use it to recreate your seventh mana circuit all over again. That will allow you to retake the Third Tutorial.”
“So there is a way to redo the whole thing,” Claud muttered.
“Ten times the usual amount,” the Hollow God added helpfully. “You must shatter your seventh mana circuit entirely, and then recreate it. Once you enter the Third Tutorial all over again, you can clear it normally, and that will allow you to bypass the trap.”
He shook his head. “You must get past the next year, however.”
“It’s going to be painful. And I’ll need to explain a lot to Lily...”
“Exactly. But it is infinitely preferable to having her die in your arms,” the Hollow God replied, his voice flat and painful. “The me who came before you left one last set of arrangements in the Last Tutorial. I wish you the best of luck.”
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“Wait. Can’t you tell me more?” Claud asked.
The Hollow God shook his head. “But I can give you one last gift.”
He pointed a finger at Claud’s head, and a flash of light bobbed into his forehead. “This way, you won’t suffer a loss at the hands of the divinities from now on…or at least, are able to struggle for a time when faced with them. It’s all my combat data and precautions I took when facing them.”
“…Okay.”
“Remember, you must let yourself be torn apart by whatever is to come. The Third Tutorial must fail. Otherwise, you will inevitably walk my path. I’m not going to lie — I’ll be pissed if I see you show up in the same space, trust me.”
“Got it.” Claud shook his head. “All this…it’s a bit unbelievable.”
“It is. Your immediate predecessor was quite surprised when he learned about all this…well, it’s your turn now, me.”
“Yeah. I know.”
The Hollow God waved his hands once, and the vast field began to fall apart. “I don’t know if I’ll see another you in the future, but let me leave you with this one advice. Study all your current skills now and see what you can gain from it. What is the main defining trait of these skills?”
Claud nodded. White and black dots clouded the world a heartbeat later, and soon, he found himself standing in a white world. Claud looked at it blankly for a while, and then frowned.
He had been in this place before. More specifically, when he first become a mana-user. It was the First Tutorial, although practically no one thought of it that way until they did…at which point they would neglect to mention it to their juniors. This world had also appeared in his Second Tutorial, if only briefly, before the whole thing about the Frozen Emperor began.
That said, it would seem that this place would be the venue for his Third Tutorial.
[Initialising Third Tutorial.]
He glanced at the notification once, and then nodded. Claud had long wondered about the reason behind why no one could talk about the Third Tutorial, but…was it personalised for everyone? Did each Third Tutorial serve their own purpose, and not that of their tutorial taker?
Claud couldn’t help but think that way. After all, the Third Tutorial had succeeded in screwing over the past him…
The white world shuddered, and a single word flashed across his vision.
[Survive by manipulating your own mana.]
A flood of blue-purple light, so solid that it was no different from water, rampaged towards Claud. His instincts screamed, and the first thing he wanted to do was to manipulate this very familiar mana away from him. However, Claud crushed those instincts and closed his eyes.
He was probably going to be the record-breaker for the person who failed the Third Tutorial the fastest. It was definitely a dubious honour, but this honour was one he really had to accept this time.
Claud sighed. Even if there wasn’t an issue, his personal quest was literally…
It was unbelievable. What kind of quest would have him fail his Third Tutorial on literal purpose? Lily would grab his ears and shake his head when she found out, not to mention how dumb the whole thing was. One good thing, however, was the fact that he had found out a way to overcome the problems caused by failing the Third Tutorial, which was to use ten times the lifeforce and convert them into mana.
However, his personal quest needed him to endure his debilitated state for an entire year. It also wanted him to ‘die’ once right now, as if it wasn’t sadistic enough. The Hollow God was right — fate really had it out for Lily. If he didn’t know any of this, Claud knew that he would have acted according to his instincts.
He would have passed his Third Tutorial, and failed his personal quest.
How would it feel like, being torn apart by a flood of mana? Claud was about to find out.
Claud felt his heartbeat speed up as the gigantic wave of mana crashed onto him directly, and the feeling of being caught in an inferno flooded his senses. His instincts stirred, and the desire to manipulate the mana — his own mana, apparently — grew.
His body, however, didn’t move a single inch. Claud simply immersed himself into the burning sensation, allowing himself to be completely submerged and drowned by the mana.
A faint, awful hollowness began to spread out from his chest, and his body turned lighter and lighter. His vision began to dim at the same time, and the detailed sensations of the world around him started to vanish, winking out one at a time.
He trembled once, but Claud didn’t defend himself. He trusted the future him through and through. Therefore, this was something he had to do.
No matter what.
The sensations he felt from his body continued to dwindle, and for a moment, Claud couldn’t help but think about the long years of torment the Risti in his Second Tutorial had undergone. What did she feel back then? How did she struggle on with life?
How did she endure this hollow awfulness?
Smiling bitterly, Claud endured the burning sensations and closed his eyes, waiting for his first death to claim him.
The world turned black a moment later, and a single notification appeared in his eyes.
[You have failed the Third Tutorial.]
His consciousness winked out a heartbeat later.